WebJunction

Bob, loved reading your article. I've shared it with a few of my colleagues. Thanks for sharing!

Not now, probably not likely given our governance structures, leastways for the high schools.

We're a township-sized district library serving a township where high school districts overlap. There are four, maybe five, high school districts serving various parts of the township. Serving the schools means also serving non-residents -- which is where it gets dicey. We'd likely have to get some type of agreement with the other libraries and some type of pro rata funding mechanism.

Also, these school districts are not poor (a new high school opens next fall about a mile north of the library) and *can* reach us via the web -- students with library cards can access our various online resources, as well as our catalog.

The two villages that are almost entirely within our district are another story -- it would be good to have a kiosk in each village hall. Right now, though, we're fighting one of them in order to proceed with a new parking lot. There are three other villages that are at least partway within our district -- but I don't think they're a critical part of the problem.

I'll do that Chrystie. I don't think it really warrants a new topic but none of the existing ones seem to be a very good fit. Do you have any suggestion as to which topic there would be most appropriate?

This past Tuesday, I met with one of the local grade school district superintendents. He greenlighted my proposal that the public library offer online book discussions for 7th and 8th grade students.

We're working out the details now, hoping to be up and running within a few weeks. This will be "conferencing" rather than "chat" so as to allow participation whenever a student has 'net access (from home or school) and also so as to make sure that our actual staff-time investment is reasonable.

We view this as a way to bring programming to YAs and as a way to keep them involved in the library when, so often, it looks to them as though everything's "on the web." The selling point to the school was that this was also "enrichment" that stressed reading *and writing* skills.

We hope to be expanding this to other schools and other grades, plus eventually giving home schoolers a place to interact with the public school kids. I, ah, didn't tell the public schools about this last bit. ;-)

We also hope to be able to offer other types of programming through this medium -- a writing program would be a natural.

Well, thanks, Chrystie ... I really don't expect us to be up and running for at least a month or two. Right now, we're identifying the software we want to use -- I'm hoping to get some type of "educational discount" from WebCrossing since I know someone on the inside there. But, if I can't, there are a couple of servicable cheap options that may lead the way to something better.

One requirement, I think, is that we can archive to CD. That way, 1) the school (and maybe also each kid) gets a record of what was done and 2) we don't have to keep old conversations on our server for very long.

Maddog asked about chat. It's a good point -- and it may be that we'll have a chat session or two, but I think asynchronous will work better in the existing school situation (little Jack or Jill can go online whenever classroom scheduling allows).

Thanks, 'dog. I'll point our IT guy at it.

The downside seems to be that we'd need a Linux box in an MS shop. Which, I think, means "not now" but maybe in the future ('cause if we're ever going to maintain local community web pages it would most likely be via Apache -- let the local script kiddies bounce off that for a while). :-)

It is a small stumbling block but Linux and MS can live together happily if the tech people are willing to make it so...

Oh, very true. My issue, really, is that I have to consider what happens if the current -- competent -- fellow gets a better job offer.

Pam, this is great!

Hey, do you have any pull with Alice? We are trying to get her on board for the "demonstrating impact" event at the end of the our focus (next week, actually!) which will take place in the "fundraising & development" forum. If you can persuade her to participate, we'd love to have her. I already know you'll be around, and it does help to have a friendly connection before hopping on board!

Also, this is another excellent starter for our library of the month column. Having that essay contest is a fabulous idea! If you'd like to be our feature, send me an email at [url mailto:community@webjunction.org ]community@webjunction.org[/url] with "library of the month" in the subject line.

I suppose it's safe to say that anyone wanting to nominate any library ... can do the same!