WebJunction

Now that the RLS project is really getting rolling, I'd like to meet all of you who will be participating in it. Since I can't visit all the small community libraries in the country (maybe when I retire?), I'm asking you to introduce yourselves and give me a glimpse of life at your library.

I'll start.

My name is Betha and I'm the Community Associate here at WebJunction. I get to meet-and-greet people from all over libraryland through the message boards --very cool! I'm the behind the scenes support for your project leaders, Jim and Michelle. I have a passion for small "heart of the community" libraries --maybe I'll get to work in one someday. In the meantime, I will be eagerly following the stories that you all have to tell.

Who's next?

Welcome, incredibles! I just looked up the location of the Lovington Public Library in New Mexico and it looks like it totally fits the category of rural. You must have an "incredible" staff to take to cross-training and keep everything operational.

As for the hotspot in your future, you might be interested to read this WJ member's story about [url http://webjunction.org/forums/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=23544 ]Making the case for Wi-Fi to the Board[/url]. I love library stories with happy endings.

I hope we'll hear more about the [url http://webjunction.org/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=193 ]outreach[/url] you do in your community.

Thanks for being the first brave project participant to jump into this conversation. I'd give you a 5-star rating for that! *****

My name is Shae Tetterton and I'm the Director of Collection Management for the South Carolina State Library. I will be participating in the RLS project as a trainer in the upcoming February workshop. Before coming home to South Carolina I worked for an automation vendor as a Trainer and Project Manager. I'm eager to put some of that experience to work with this project. In addition, I'm originally from a small town in South Carolina so I'm thrilled to have the chance to help the rural libraries in my state. I will be attending the workshop with our Director of Library Development Services. She has a long history of working with the public libraries in this state so I can't wait to see what her and I can put together to improve the sustainability of our rural libraries.

Hi, I'm Linda Braun. I am an independent educational technology consultant and work with schools, libraries, and other educational organizations to figure out the best ways to integrate technology into programs and services. For thie project I'm working with the state of MA to train and support rural libraries. Before going off on my own I worked in public and special libraries in the northeast and for a regional library system in MA.

Hello I'm Krista Griffiths with the Utah State Library. I am new to the library field, receiving my MLS a year ago, and have been working for the Library Program for the Blind and Disabled. My other experiences, as graduate student, have been in government documents and photo archives. Here at the Utah State Library we are undergoing some changes and I have been given the opportunity to expand my horizons and take on this project for the state of Utah. I look forward to meeting all of you in February.

Great to hear from so many of you that are coming to the Institute at the end of February, and thanks Rebecca for your suggested resource. It will be nice to see how the two groups (round one trainers and round two trainers) mingle in this space. So many of our round one trainers have learned a ton already, and I'm excited to see the sharing of ideas, innovation, struggles, etc.

It is so great to have all these new names and voices chiming in here. Welcome to all!

Cassandra, the book you recommend sounds so vital to the work we are all doing. I went right to my library catalog and put a hold on it. I'll give a 'book report' when I've read it. ;)

Hello, My name is Eric Trahan, and I am the Director of the Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery in upstate New York. I know that many people around the country don't believe that any part of New York is rural, but we, along with many other areas of the state, are. We are in a village with a population of 2,200. Our library is a combined library and museum, with a well known art collection. We are in the middle of expanding our facility to serve as more of a community center. I was introduced to this forum through my participation in the New York version of the EqualAccess libraries program of the Libraries for the Future Foundation.

Hi, I'm Linda Gens and I'm the project coordinator for Oklahoma. Oklahoma is one of the Round 1 states. Our trainer is Ginny Dietrich and so far, we have done 2 workshops. We will be in Seattle for Round 2 and look forward to meeting all of you. Putting these workshops together has been a great experience for me and the workshops have been very interesting. We are doing our 3rd one tomorrow and the rest (3) will be in April, so I will have 3 workshops under my belt and so will Ginny.

BTW, Cassandra, I checked out The Visible Librarian and it looks interesting.

I'm Elaine Stanley, the Reference Services Coordinator at the Maine State Library. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you at the meeting in Seattle at the end of the month -- it doesn't seem possible that's just next week ! It will be my second visit to Seattle (previous visit was in summer 2001). I'll be there with Ellen Wood, the web master for the Maine State Library web site and advocate of accessibility for all.

Much of my work time involves training, either of other librarians or the general public. I'm fortunate to have a small computer lab to offer classes in, but I'm also "on the road" in small public and school libraries as well. I'm looking forward to learning more about sustainability issues and sharing what is happening in Maine, but I'm eager to share and learn training tips, as well.

Since I'm "multi-tasking" right now (I'm covering the Reference Desk during a night shift as I write this), I will keep this pretty short.

See you all in a few days !

I'm Suzanne Reymer, a statewide technology consultant with the Montana State Library Billings Office. I'll be attending the training next week along with Maggie Meredith my colleague from Helena.

One nice thing about coming from Montana is that you never have to defend your right to participate in anything rural. I work primarily with libraries in south central and south eastern Montana. To give you an idea of what rural means in Montana terms, one of the counties I work with, Garfield county, has a population of 1,218 in an area of 4,668 sq. mi. (slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut). This gives a population density of .3 per sq. mi. To top it off, Garfield county is continuing to lose population - down 4.8% since 2000. Not only is it difficult to sustain public access computing under these circumstances, it's difficult to sustain any kind of library services. If the public library should fail in Jordan (the county seat), the nearest town with a library is Circle, 67 miles away. And McCone county's not in any better shape.

Of course, in the western part of the state we have problems with rapid growth and the difficulties of libraries serving growing and changing communities.

I think we really need to start thinking outside the box in terms of library services. That takes creativity and collaboration. That's why I'm looking forward to the institute in Seattle and our summer RLS workshop in Montana. I hope we can create real and virtual communities that can help inspire and support our remote and isolated colleagues.

**************************************
Suzanne Reymer
Statewide Technology Librarian
Montana State Library
c/o Parmly Billings Library
510 N. Broadway
Billings, MT 59101
Email: sreymer@mtlib.org
***************************************

Hi my name is Tom Sommer. I am a Librarian at the Oro Valley Public Library in Oro Valley, AZ. I have worked with the Arizona State Libraries and Equal Access in the past. I am very excited to be apart of this important project. The Oro Valley Public Library just had there grand re-opening and it was a big hit. The Teen Advisory Board that I assembled a few years ago helped the Architects and Interior Designers create the new Teen Zone. The teens had a lot of fun helping create the new Teen Zone. The teens provided ideas for the carpet, paint, and a/v in this new space.

See everyone in Seattle!

Tom

Hello:

My name is Cindi Hickey and I will be the coordinator (and a trainer) for the RLS project in Kansas. I will be working with Brenda Hough, our official trainer.

I work with the Kansas State Library on special continuing education projects. Another project we will be launching soon is the Kansas WebJunction Community Partner project.

I am looking forward to the training and to learning more about WebJunction.

See all you Round 2ers in Seattle!

Cindi Hickey
Representing the State Library of Kansas
1020 SW Washburn Ave.
Topeka, KS 66604
785-235-1383
chickey@kslib.info

My name is Jane Schoen. I am the Director of the Bridgeview Public Library in Bridgeview, IL. I am participating in a Sustainibility workshop and part of the deal is to register on Webjunction. So I am. I will be back to explore more at a future date.

We are a group of Southern Illinois Librarians and we are participating in the Rural Library Sustainability Project in Mt Vernon, Illinois. We have enjoyed meeting and sharing ideas today and we appreciate the Gates Foundation holding this meeting
for us to participate in.
We will be using Webjunction in the future.

I know where Antlers, OK is!!! I've been there!!! My brother n law and sister n law live there! Michael and Kristi Shetter.

Well, I am the Director of the public library in Los Lunas, New Mexico. We are a farming/bedroom community south of Albuquerque. We are a rural library that is quickly needing to expand with the population.

Hi my name is Sherry Bright and I'm the director at the Buchanan County Public Library in Grundy Virginia. I attended the Sustainability workshop in Roanoke. Great workshop. I hope to take advantage of several ideas discussed there.

My name is Brenda Hickman and I'm the Director of Gassaway Public Library in Gassaway, WV. We are a rural area. Our town has a population of about 1300. I've only been director for 4 years so I can't really give any good advice but thought I would acquaint myself with the program and see what good advice I can get to begin the Rural Library Sustainability Project.

Hello to all:
My Name is Connie Weber and I am the director of the Richmond Public Library in Richmond Kansas. Population here is about 518.

I have one other employee who works about 6 hours a week. I am in charge of summer reading, story hour, buying materials for the library, anything the library needs I do. I have a few really good board members who volunteer when needed.

This small library would be lsot without the help that NEKLS [North East Kansas Library System] provides.

Hello,

I am Dharani Kumar P, Lecturer in Dept. of Library and Information Science, Kuvempu university, Karnataka state, India. iam doing research in rural library services my topic is "rural community information needs ". Iam happy to share my ideas also get urs opinion. iam new one to this web junction but iam glad to share all the things with u people. i wantto know more about RLS and its activities.

(directed to Eric Trahan)
though u r Director of rural libraries i need ur help regarding my research. i need ur help regarding my research. i want to design a model for rural libraries sustainability, in this concern urs guidance and suggestions are needful. please post some ideas to me.

(directed to Michele Leininger)
I want to know more about RLS project though u are coordinator of this training program please give me some idea regarding RLS its objectivities and activities.

with regards
Dharani Kumar P

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Hi everyone, my name is Jerry Schell, and I am the Network Specialist in the IT department at North Country Library System. We provide services to 64 public libraries in northern New York ( I invite you to visit our new Web page at http://www.nclsweb.org for more information on what we do). I recently attended the RLS workshop in Watertown, and I had the opportunity to meet Michelle. We were talking about a couple of new services that IT will be offering to member libraries in the very near future, one of which ties in very nicely with the Outreach area of the continuum. She asked if I would share what we're doing with everyone, which I am more than happy to do. I will post the details in the Outreach section soon.

As a participant in the Illinois Sustainability Project I have undertake a pledge to participate , even so, Hello - I am happy to become part of this online community.

I am a user of technology and find that it is a wonderful tool, much like my car - it helps me to a destination in great comfort! When my technology is down I call an expert, much like I call my mechanic when my car is operating badly.

As a reading advocate I seek opportunities that support literacy and personally strive to make my family and community better, one reader at a time.

I believe in the power of information and am available to share information about my community via www.sugargrove.lib.il.us or IM SugarGroveInfo

Charlie, I am the branch manager of a small library in Davis, OK. I am the only person here, I don't have any part-time people at all. We just finished our Summer Reading Programs and we had a great time. We had dogs, magicians, puppeteers, and a fellow that made animals from balloons. It was great.

The reason I am writing is that I have a patron, a young man, whose grandfather was in the 10th Mountain Disvision in World War II. He recently went to Italy with a group of soldiers that had been there during the war with his grandfather. He is very interested in that division and the history of that unit. Since I read your message, I will inform him about the 10th Mt. being close to your library there in New York.

I really love being able to "talk" to people all over about what they do in their libraries and what I do in mine. WebJunction is terrific, don't you think?

I am so glad you put the info about the 10th Mt. in your reply.

Have a good day,
Earlene

My name is Cindy Thomas I run the Islesford Neighborhood House Assoc. Library on the island of Islesford in the Town of Cranberry Isles , ME. Our population is about 75 in the winter and 400 in the summer. The town consists of 5 islands . Two have year round communities. Both have Libraries.
We have a staff of one, and 2 volunteers to help man the library on Sat. in the summer, and 1 volunteer one evening a week during the winter.
We have almost 7000 books , and 350 video,tapes,CD's & DVD's. Two computers for internet access, and one for cataloging .

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islesfordlibrary

HI, Shelley. I'm Cassandra, CE Coordinator for the NM State Library and WJ New Mexico Team Lead. Are you looking to train the librarians or are you looking for info for the librarians to train patrons? I'm assuming you're looking to train the librarians. What sort of training were you looking for / interested in?

~ Cassamdra

Hi. My name is Lee Ann Barnes and I am the new director and librarian for the Okeene Public Library in Okeene Oklahoma. I am new to this position but not to libraries. I was the high school librarian and the elementary librarian for 20 years. I recently gave up the high school library and my classroom to do just the elementary library. As you can tell most of my experience is in the public school library not the public library( and I thought there was a lot of politics and paperwork in the school library--big mistake).
We have a very nice library here that just needs a push to get itself into a new century and be of greater benefit to the community. I am the staff at the moment with an aid that fill in when I can't be there. But I have a very enthusiastic board that wants great things and is willing to work to get them.
I am very new to WebJunction and to this format but I am learning something new and useful very time. Thanks for listening--LAB

Hi,
I am Rebekah Tanner, and have been the director of the Fulton Public Library since January, 2005. It is a mid-sized library with one small branch serving a what might not at first sound like a rural library -- our charter to serve area is the City of Fulton, NY which has a population of just under 12,000 and we get a small amount of funding through the school ballot so also serve the school district which is all-in-all about 26,000 population. However, the total area of the City of Fulton is just 3.8 sq.mi and is surrounded by two very rural towns: Volney & Granby. Our region is described by the NY State Education Dept. in this way:
"The Central New York Region is New York State's agricultural center. The five-county area, which encompasses 3,590 square miles, borders Lake Ontario to the north and embraces the State's heartland."
http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/career/nyteachers_central.htm
We have a 1905 Carnegie building and for the branch are using space donated by the local Catholic Charities, in their building. The City of Fulton has the Oswego River running right through the middle (north / south) so having the branch on the other side of town makes it possible to provide services to children, the elderly and disabled, many of whom live & or work at several facilities on the west side.
We have a total staff of 9 (6 FTE) including the custodian; I and our Youth Service Coordinator are MLS librarians.
Have a look at our Web site at:
http://fultonpubliclibrary.info
If you happen to need some homeschooling resources (a growing trend in rural areas of NY) feel free to go to the "Links" page and grab some ideas off our Homeschooling page.
What else? We were awarded the NEH / ALA "We the People" Bookshelves on Freedom & Becoming American in 2005 & 2006 and have leveraged them to get funds to expand our offerings of public programs, many of which take place at the David E. Vayner Branch Library now that it has been expanded and renovated and went online with our North Country Library System's SIRSI system at the start of 2006.
And if after all that you still want to know more about me you can check out my resume on my personal Website at:
http://foxgull.com

Hi! I'm Jan Peterson. I am the Director + at the Dunkerton Public Library in Dunkerton, Iowa. I have held this position for nearly 18 years and continue to learn more all the time just to keep up with the changes. We are in the early stages of building a new library to meet our needs. The library is currently in a flood plain and we had over two feet of water in the building in May, 1999. So, it is a must rather than just a desire to relocate. We have just formed our Friends' group and will begin writing grants very soon. The 50th anniversary of the library will be 2007 and we would love to be able to move into a new facility as part of the celebration.

Isn't Vinton where Mary Ingalls went to college (we've been reading my daughter the Little House books - we're on These Happy Golden Years)?

~ Cassandra

Hi Everyone, My name is Stacey Buick and I am the director of the Malvern Public Library in Malvern Iowa, and I attended the Libraries on the Prarie Conference in Omaha Nebraska on July 13. My library has just built a new addition and we have not been automated since the conference and I feel I may have missed a lot. I also have not been the director here for very long, just a little over a year and a half. I look forward to reading more about other libraries. I love implementing ideas into my library and seeing if I can make a difference. One of the new ideas that I took away from the conference was host computer training for our community patrons, first however, the staff and myself need to feel more secure in knowing what we are doing before we can teach others. I also would like to have more children's programs that offer homework help and afterschool projects that they can attend. Anyway, I look forward to talking with you.

My name is Teresa Genovese and I attended the RLS workshop for the Mid-Hudson Library System on May 3rd, 2006. I am a part-time clerk at the Beekman Library and until now have not had much chance to spend time on Webjunction during library hours, although I've taken a couple on-line courses on my own time. I'd like to become more involved, and wonder if other people in the Mid-Hudson in New York are out there on WebJunction. Just wanted to introduce myself for now...

Hi! My name is Jen. I attended the RSL workshop in Roanoke, VA in April. I meant to join and post then, but let time get away from me.

My library system has a main library and three branches. I work at the circulation desk at the main library.

Welcome Robin (and Evelyn!),
What a wonderful library you've "grown" with! Keep sharing all your great programs and technology solutions, and now that your working on building a new library, be sure to check out the [url http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=6281] Space Planning[/url] area. Keep us posted!

I think there are some schools that are totally online, when you decide to start. You could get your degree while you're still working. Florida State offers an online program, and the Alabama offers one too. There are others. I Googled "MLIS Online" with success.

http://ci.fsu.edu/go/graduate/online_degrees_grad
http://www.slis.ua.edu/mlis/index.html

Help! I'm getting lost in here! Will I find my way out in time to get on the plane to Washington?

It seems like there are so many threads on the Rural Library Sustainability Project....and subthreads! I just found a subthread (I guess that's what you call it) asking for a single word that describes rural libraries in each person's state.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to remember who's from where and who I really would like to talk to without printing all the messages...but then, I have to keep up with all the messages, too, because I might miss someone!

Suggestions, please...I just hope I can find my way back to read them!
Sue in CO

My name is David and I am the assistant director of the Jacksonville Public Library in Jacksonville, Texas.

I am the computer guy by default and sometimes think people assume I know more about computers than I really do. But part of being a librarian is knowing where to find the answers and we can usually sort out minor problems and know when we're in over our heads when large problems arise.

Looking forward to reading other's stories, seeing what we might be able to use ourselves, and sharing what we can to help others.