Nominate for LJ's Librarian of the Year Award by Nov. 10

Do you work with someone who is awesome? Someone whose accomplishments reflect the loftiest goals of the library profession? Then hurry up and nominate him or her for Library Journal's annual Librarian of the Year award! Deadline is this coming Wednesday, Nov. 10, so don't delay!! The details are here. 

Any working professional librarian in any type of library anywhere in North America (United States, Canada, Mexico) is eligible.

The Librarian of the Year gets plenty of publicity not only for him- or herself, but for their library as well. This is a great way to call attention to the great things your organization does. Want to be in the national spotlight? Want to get lots of positive press for your colleague and your organization? Then nominate by Nov. 10!

Reaching Teens via Cell Phones

If you want to learn how to reach teens through their cell phones, you might be interested in this webinar. YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Assn, is hosting a webinar on Nov. 18 called "Going Mobile: Teens, Libraries and Cell Phones." The speaker will be Jennifer Velasquez, teen services coordinator of the San Antonio Public Library and a lecturer at the School of Library and Information Studies at the San Jose State University. It will take place at 2 p.m. EST.

Participants in the webinar will learn how to:

• Use a free text-messaging service to alert teens to library events

• Host cell phone novel-writing programs or texting contests to engage teens in library services
• Understand teen cell use and demographics, as more minority teens use cell phones to connect to the Internet
• Learn how cell phones help diminish the digital divide and how integrating cell phones into library services is another method to reach teens in their own environment

 

Webinars cost $39 for individual YALSA members and $49 for all others. A group rate of $195 is available by contacting Eve Gaus, YALSA’s program officer for continuing education, at egaus@ala.org or 1 (800) 545-2433, ext. 5293. Registration is open at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.

'Transforming Our Image' Webinar Coming Nov. 15

On Nov. 15,  America's Public Library Association (PLA) will present a live, 1-hour webinar called “Transforming Our Image.” The presenter will be Valerie Gross, president and CEO of Howard County Library in Maryland.

The press release explains:

The webinar is designed to teach participants how to transform their public library and their profession by modifying the language they use. This simple, effective strategy will enable libraries to heighten their importance by replacing traditional words with powerful, intuitive, value-enhanced terminology.

Based on Gross’ award-winning article, “Transforming Our Image through Words that Work: Perception is Everything” (Public Libraries, Volume 48, Number 5 (2009):24-32), the webinar will help participants redefine their library and incorporate transformative words into the everyday lexicon; align their library with community valued education; and heighten their library’s visibility.

It sounds as if part of the advice will be something I've preached for a long time: Speak in the language and lingo of your listeners, not in library terminology. This will always help you to be heard and understood by your audiences.

Here are the prices for the webinar:

$ 28 for PLA members

$ 31.50 for ALA Members

$ 35  for nonmembers

Group rates are as follows:

$ 99 for 4-10 participants

$195 for 11-20 participants

$295 for 21 participants or more

The times (in the US participants) on Monday, November 15:

2:00–3:00 PM Eastern

1:00–2:00 PM Central

12:00–1:00 PM Mountain

11:00 AM–12:00 PM Pacific

Click here to get more information and to register.