News from SCRLC
7/1/2011
Upcoming Events:
SCRLC Office Closed, Monday, July 4th in observance of Independence Day.
Online Book Discussion, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Tuesday, July 12, 12 pm – 1 pm. This month’s book discussion will be led by Ann Voorhees, from Cayuga Onondaga BOCES School Library System. The online book discussions are held every other month, generally over lunch. They are a wonderful way to de-stress, add more energy to your day, and share with your colleagues! For more information, please email Mary-Carol Lindbloom at mclindbloom@scrlc.org or Al Oliveras at oliverasa@stls.org .
Connecting to Kids!, July 20 or 21, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm, see brochure for location details and registration information: http://scrlc.org/data/1303744305_20110720Connecting_to_Kids.pdf
News:
SCRLC‘s 2011-2016 Plan of Service is now available online at http://scrlc.org/data/PlanofService20112016.pdf . Printed copies will be mailed to members in the next few weeks.
Text Messaging Reference, Anyone? As you may know, SCRLC works with a national text messaging reference collaborative, My Info Quest. The service uses Text a Librarian for its platform, and there are over 30 libraries participating across the country. Librarians do not have to know how to text to participate—questions are received through a website.
SCRLC has automation money to help up to 8 regional libraries join My Info Quest at no charge from now until the end of December. Why text reference? The world has gone mobile, as studies including the Pew Internet & American Life reports, reveal. For many, texting is outpacing calling. Collaborating to reach this emerging audience enables participating libraries to do so at a very low cost and risk. Benefits of collaborative text messaging reference include:
· Meeting users at their point of need;
· Sharing desk shifts (1-2 hours per week);
· Offering the service to users more hours;
· Sharing a website/web design;
· Sharing uniform guidelines/quality assurance/best practices;
· Deeper discounts through cooperative bargaining (annual cost for 2011 was $399);
· Sharing marketing materials & PR strategies;
· Working with a fantastic network of colleagues;
· Presenting the library staff as the techno-savvy, up-to-date professionals they are.
For more information or to join, contact Mary-Carol Lindbloom at mclindbloom@scrlc.org .
New Pew Internet & American Life Report: Purcell, Kristen. E-reader Ownership Doubles in Six Months: Adoption rate of e-readers surges ahead of tablet computers. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, June 27, 2011.
Some findings from the study:
- “The percent of U.S. adults with an e-book reader doubled from 6% to 12% between November 2010 and May 2011. Hispanic adults, adults younger than age 65, college graduates and those living in households with incomes of at least $75,000 are most likely to own e-book readers. Parents are also more likely than non-parents to own these devices.”
- “Both e-book reader and tablet computer adoption levels among U.S. adults are still well below that of other tech devices that have been on the market longer. Cell phones are far and away the most popular digital device among U.S. adults today, followed by desktop and laptop computers, DVRs, and MP3 players.”
- “Further confirming the overall trend toward adoption of mobile devices, this survey marks the first time that laptop computers are as popular as desktop computers among U.S. adults.”
Do you have a new colleague working @ your library? Any swap & shop items to advertise? If you have any news or information that you would like us to share with the membership, please send it to Diane Capalongo at dcapalongo@scrlc.org . We will include your news in our next News from SCRLC.
