Georgia Public Library Service news, Vol. 9, no. 1 (Aug. 2011 )

A newsletter for friends and employees of Georgia's public libraries

volume 9, issue 1 I August 2011

Dinah Bonesteel

WebJunction Georgia
announces enhancements
WebJunction Georgia (WJGA) members can now enroll
in unlimited courses without charge, choosing from more than 300 self-paced online classes that have been selected to meet a wide range of learning needs. Library employees, library science students and trustees across the state receive completion certificates and earn continuing education credits upon successful completion of the courses.

"Each course takes approximately one to four hours to complete," explained Jay Turner, director of continuing education for GPLS. Turner noted that the number of free courses for qualified individuals affiliated with a Georgia library was most recently capped at one per year. "Additional courses incurred charges of up to $40," he said.
WebJunction is also enhancing how it handles webinars. "WJGA members will now receive advance registration notices for webinars, along with attendance certificates that may also qualify them for additional continuing education credits," Turner said.
Since its launch in 2003, WebJunction has helped more than 50,000 library staff build the job skills they need to meet the challenges of working in today's libraries. The popular online learning community provides information, insights and online learning relevant to staff, organizations and the library field as a whole as part of its mission to foster collaboration and partnership within the library community.
It also partners with a number of Turner library-related and cultural heritage organizations to offer technology resources, a buying guide, a learning center and a community where librarians can draw on each other's knowledge and experience to solve common problems.
See WebJunction, page 3

Walk a mile in our shoes
Four employees at the Cobb County Public Library System won the county's top spot in the Walk Georgia competition June 2. CCPLS Walkaways team members (from left) Maryellen Baker, Alexandra Beswick, Patty Latch and Dorothy Shea walked more than 1,427 miles during the competition, which began in February and ended April 30. Baker took home the county's award for top walker, with more than 460 miles. Walk Georgia is an annual competition sponsored by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and its county affiliates. The goals of the program are to encourage participants to be more fit, develop healthy habits, and share support from others in the program.
PINES ends 10-day overdue notices
In an effort to provide patrons with faster notifications
and save taxpayer dollars, PINES -- the Public Information Network for Electronic Services -- is phasing out mailed paper notices for items 10 days overdue. Effective immediately, these notifications will be issued by e-mail and by phone.
PINES Program Director Elizabeth McKinney urges all PINES cardholders to make sure their up-to-date preferred e-mail address or phone number is on file. "Patrons who prefer to receive e-mail notices will also qualify for our new PINES `preminder' notice, which will be sent to them via e-mail two to three days before the item is due," she said.
Cardholders can verify or update their e-mail address simply by logging in to their PINES account at www.gapines.org and making the necessary changes in
See PINES, page 2

Grassroots Invitational Grants fund library projects statewide

Twenty-five Georgia public libraries have received 2011
Grassroots Invitational Grant Awards from the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA). According to GCA Director Karen L. Paty, the intent of the Grassroots Invitational Grant was to support arts programming and services in every county in the state. "Funded projects created opportunities for communitywide access to the arts, targeted underserved populations and contributed to activities with a positive impact on community development," Paty said.
Libraries used grant funds to support a variety of programs that brought art and culture in multiple disciplines to Georgians across the state. Activities included storytelling, musical performances and workshops that introduced patrons to new artists and organizations. Additionally, the various events contributed to achieving the GCA's mission of providing access to the arts for all Georgians, Paty explained.
For many libraries, the oral tradition of storytelling was a featured Grassroots Invitational activity. Family Literacy Night at the Piedmont Regional Library System's Banks County Public Library in Homer highlighted the storytelling talents of Grandmother Goose, who shared folktales, fairy tales and tall tales with an audience of all ages. As a bonus, each child also received a free book.
At the Lee County Public Library in Leesburg, patrons enjoyed both sides of storytelling, writing and sharing tales with one another in the Young Local Authors Write program. "The grant provided just the right opportunity for the youth in our community to develop their writing skills and talents," said Claire Leavy, director of the Lee County Library. "We were delighted and encouraged to see the number of young people who truly love the art and craft of writing. Our 2011 program was amazing! You never know -- the next Stephenie Meyer or Jeff

Kinney may come from Lee County, and the Lee County Library and the Grassroots arts program could have had a hand in that author's development."
Other libraries that received Grassroots funding featured musical performances. Among these was the Three Rivers Regional Library System's Brunswick-Glynn County Library, which hosted Music From the Marshes III, a series of performances that shined a spotlight on a
variety of distinct musical genres such as blues, jazz, big band, swing and folk music. At the system's Brantley County Library in Nahunta, listeners had the opportunity to revel in the Sounds of the Satilla, which featured music representing the history and tastes of the region.
Grassroots Invitational Grants also provided a number of arts-based, hands-on educational workshops at Georgia's public libraries. The Athens Regional Library System's Oglethorpe County Library in Lexington hosted Exploring the Wonders of Oglethorpe County Through Art, a six-week program that invited adults and seniors to re-create local landmarks using a different visual art medium every week.
Paty pointed out that GCA has distributed Grassroots funding to eligible organizations for more than 15 years, resulting in exceptional community-based arts programming and services. "The funded projects were also accessible and available to the general public or designed as outreach to specific underserved populations," she said.
Funding for GCA is provided by appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly, the National Endowment for the Arts and other private and public sources. I
-- Jhai James Public Information Officer Georgia Council for the Arts

PINES

Continued from page 1 the account summary. For those who prefer to receive 10-day notices by phone, patrons should verify or update their information in person at any PINES-participating library.
"Phone calls will not mention names or titles of overdue items,"

McKinney explained, "so if you share a phone number with others, you may wish to alert them to the possibility of receiving a notification on your behalf. If multiple PINES cardholders share a phone number, they will need to call their library directly or check their records for the titles that are overdue."

As stated by law, 30-day overdue notices will continue to be printed and mailed via the U.S. Postal Service.
PINES is the automation and lending network for more than 275 libraries and affiliated service outlets in almost 140 Georgia counties. I

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Georgia Public Library Service News August 2011

Teen library trustee wins praise in DeKalb

Nicole Caldwell, the teen member
of the DeKalb County Public Library board of trustees, completed her one-year term June 30, earning praise for her work from all concerned.

"My year on the board was an eye-opener," she said. "Here I was -- a 17-year-old at meetings with adult professionals. But people treated me with respect, and they respected my opinion."

GPLS sponsors first Cataloging Summit
Georgia Public Library Service will
host the inaugural GPLS Cataloging Summit at Unicoi State Park in Helen from Aug. 9-11. "This is an extraordinary opportunity for our cataloging folks to receive training from Library of Congress (LC) staff members," said Elizabeth McKinney, PINES program director.
"We will be receiving training in Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, Functional Requirements for Authority Data, and Resource Description and Access," explained Elaine Hardy, PINES bibliographic projects and metadata manager. "Our instructors will include Judith Kuhagen, senior cataloging policy specialist for LC's Policy and Standards Division, and Barbara Tillett, the division's chief of Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate."
Bin Lin, PINES cataloging specialist, will also be providing a half-day training session on e-book and e-audio cataloging. I
Reynolds to lead Okefenokee
Trent Reynolds has been named
interim director of the Waycrossbased Okefenokee Regional Library System. Reynolds has spent the past seven years managing Marine Corps and Army libraries in North Carolina and Georgia, most recently as director of the Sayers Memorial Library at Fort Benning. I

Board Chair Debbie Torbush said the group was very impressed by Caldwell's maturity and commitment, both to the position and to the library system as a whole. "She attended every meeting during her tenure," said Torbush, "and she was very knowledgeable, researched agenda items and made valuable contributions to our discussions."

A 2011 graduate of

Arabia Mountain High

School in Lithonia, Caldwell

was a member of the

Caldwell

library's Teen Advisory Board

for four years and decided to apply

for the teen position on the board of

trustees as the next logical step.

"She came to each meeting fully prepared to carry out her responsibility, which was to give the perspective of a young adult about matters concerning the library system," said Library Director Alison
Weissinger.
Caldwell, who plans to become a chemical engineer, has been accepted into a five-year dual program that will earn her degrees from Agnes Scott College and Georgia Tech. She calls her year on the board a great opportunity that she will never forget. "I enjoyed it, and I appreciate the experience," she said. I

WebJunction
Continued from page 1 "WebJunction helps GPLS
provide Georgia's public libraries with the tools we need to create locally relevant content, discussions and training programs," said Julie Walker, deputy state librarian. "It has saved our libraries thousands of dollars in training fees. Without WebJunction, the individual online classes and webinars could cost from $20 to $400 or more per person," she said.
Although anyone can visit the WebJunction Georgia site at www.ga.webjunction.org, some areas of it are available only for qualified WebJunction members who request Georgia affiliation. Those eligible to sign up include any

employee of a public, academic or school library in the state; employees of GALILEO; trustees of any Georgia library or library system, and library science students currently enrolled at Valdosta State University.
"Once someone is enrolled in a particular course, they continue to have access to the course for 12 months from the date of enrollment," Turner said. "Can't finish a class in one sitting? No problem. The system bookmarks your progress, and you can resume the course later."
WebJunction Georgia is made possible by an IMLS grant to GPLS under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. I

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August 2011 Georgia Public Library Service News

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CONTACT US
Georgia Public Library Service 1800 Century Place, Suite 150 Atlanta, GA 30345-4304 404.235.7200 404.235.7201 fax www.georgialibraries.org
Lamar Veatch, state librarian
David Baker, editor
Georgia Public Library Service News (ISSN 1546-511X) is published bimonthly by the Georgia Public Library Service, the state agency that supports public libraries and works with them to improve the quality and variety of library services available to Georgia citizens of all ages. This publication is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Georgia Public Library Service under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. Information presented in this newsletter will be provided in alternative formats on request. For more information about Georgia's libraries and literary events, or to post an event, visit our online calendar at www.georgialibraries.org

Courtesy Norman Cooper / North Georgia News

A more perfect Union
The Union County Public Library in Blairsville reopened with a bang on June 20, having grown from 6,300 to 13,300 square feet of space. The $2.5 million expansion was partially funded through a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax that received the support of more than 80 percent of the county's voters in 2008. Many of those supporters turned out to celebrate at the expanded facility's ribbon-cutting ceremony. "Attendance for the grand opening was more than 500," said Donna W. Howell, director of the Mountain Regional Library System. "The first day we were open for business, 850 people visited -- nearly three times the average attendance before renovation." The event drew a number of dignitaries from across the state, including Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge). "What a great day this is for the community," he said.

1800 Century Place, Suite 150 Atlanta, GA 30345-4304
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