Maine Library Association

News

  • 17 Mar 2017 11:18 AM | Deleted user

    "Since its inception 20 years ago, the grants and programs administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services have provided critical support enabling museums and libraries across the country to make a tremendous difference in their communities. The institutions we serve provide vital resources that contribute significantly to Americans’ economic development, education, health, and well-being whether by facilitating family learning and catalyzing community change or stimulating economic development through job training and skills development. Our agency’s support enables museums and libraries to offer learning experiences for students and families, as well as to increase care for, and access to, the nation’s collections that are entrusted to museums and libraries by the public.

    We’ve invested in rural and smaller communities by supporting basic infrastructure and by developing libraries as local community hubs for broadband connectivity and digital literacy training — helping many residents gain job-related skills and, in many cases, find employment. In summary, our grants and programs support libraries and museums as essential contributors to improving Americans’ quality of life.

    More than $214 million of our $230 million FY 2016 enacted budget targets museums and libraries directly through our grant programs. This includes $155 million for library services to every state and territory in the country through a population-based formula grant program.

    As Congress now begins its work on the FY 2018 budget, our agency will continue to work closely with the Office of Management and Budget. More importantly, we will continue to remain steadfast in our work on behalf of the millions of Americans touched by the services of libraries and museums each day."


    Source:  IMLS's Press Releases

  • 17 Mar 2017 11:15 AM | Deleted user

    "In response to President Trump's proposal to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services in his FY2018 budget, American Library Association (ALA) President Julie Todaro today issued the following statement:

    "The President's proposal to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in his FY2018 budget just released, and with it effectively all federal funding for libraries of all kinds, is counterproductive and short-sighted. The American Library Association will mobilize its members, Congressional library champions and the millions upon millions of people we serve in every zip code to keep those ill-advised proposed cuts from becoming a Congressional reality.  Libraries leverage the tiny amount of federal funds they receive through their states into an incredible range of services for virtually all Americans everywhere to produce what could well be the highest economic and social "ROI" in the entire federal budget.

    “The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funded through IMLS is the primary annual source of funding for libraries in the federal budget. IMLS distributes the majority of LSTA funds to every state in the nation according to a population-based formula. Each state library determines how to best spend its allocated federal funds, which must be matched at the state level. The range of services provided to millions of Americans through LSTA grants is matched only by the creativity of the libraries that receive them: veterans transitioning to civilian life, small businesses seeking to expand their business online, summer reading programs, resources for blind and hearing-impaired patrons, resume writing and job skills workshops and computer coding courses to teach youth 21st century job skills.

    "America's more than 120,000 public, school, college and university and many other libraries are not piles of archived books. They're trusted centers for education, employment, entrepreneurship and free inquiry at the core of communities in every state in the country – and in every Congressional district. And they’re staffed by the original search engines: skilled and engaged librarians."


    Source: ALA Press Releases

  • 19 Apr 2016 12:50 PM | Anonymous

    Choose Privacy Week is coming May 1-7, and it's not too late to plan an event or two for your library and your patrons. Recently, there has been an enormous amount of press attention about FBI efforts to have Apple rewrite its operating system to bypass the security of its iPhones; even more recently about Microsoft's suit against the government to declare gag orders unconstitutional when government agencies subpoena its customers' information from Microsoft; and Uber's revelations that in a six month period, Uber provided government agencies with information that affected over 12 million (that is not a typo) riders and drivers.

    This heightened public awareness provides a wonderful opportunity for libraries, bastions of Intellectual Freedom, to offer events that deal with personal privacy in the digital age, a topic that more and more people are becoming concerned about. The American Library Association offers a variety of resources to help promote conversations about what privacy means and how to protect it in today's connected world within libraries and in the wider community. Head over to chooseprivacyweek.org and take a look. 

    Jim Campbell
    Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair


  • 12 Apr 2016 9:24 AM | Deleted user

    To all Maine libraries – public, school, academic, special…

    The Central Maine Library District (CMLD) Association is pleased to announce the statewide kick-off of ALA’s new Libraries Transform public awareness campaign. The CMLD Association’s contribution to this effort is the offer of a free set of posters to all Maine libraries who wish to participate.

    The Libraries Transform campaign is designed to increase public awareness of the value, impact and services provided by libraries and library professionals. The campaign will ensure there is one clear, energetic voice for our profession, showcasing the transformative nature of today’s libraries and elevating the critical role libraries play in the digital age. The campaign has one main idea: Libraries today are less about what they have for people and more about what they do for and with people.

    The CMLD Association will print and distribute the following five campaign posters:

    The five posters read:

    · Libraries Transform

    · Because 5 out of 5 doctors agree that reading aloud to children supports brain development

    · Because students can’t afford scholarly journals on a ramen noodle budget

    · Because more than a quarter of US households don’t have a computer with an Internet connection

    · Because employers want candidates who know the difference between a web search and research


    To receive a set of posters please complete a brief survey by no later than April 16th: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/libstransform

    We hope every library in the state will display the posters with pride!

    Stay tuned! This is just the beginning of a long-term state and national advocacy project that will benefit libraries of all types. For more information and resources to bring this campaign to your library and your community go to http://www.ilovelibraries.org/librariestransform/ or find the Libraries Transform link on the Libraries page of the Maine State Library’s web site.



  • 01 Mar 2016 1:01 PM | Deleted user

    We're looking for program proposals, Ignite Session entries, and poster session submissions for NELA's 2016 Annual Conference!

    Submission deadline is May 31st!

    Click HERE to access the program proposal form.

    Libraries play an integral part in building our global community. They are places where kindness, connection and preservation prevail, no matter the condition of the world outside. We're looking forward to gathering together again this year to learn from and network with our library friends and colleagues, so that we can continue to learn from each other.


    "Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries." - Carl Sagan

    Mary Danko, 2016 Conference Chair

    Megan Bishop, NELA Events & Communications Coordinator


  • 26 Jan 2016 5:15 PM | Deleted user

    Celebrate all things LIBRARY with the Portland Sea Dogs on Tuesday,

    April 19th at 6:00.


    -Pre-game parade for library workers

    -Each library picks a representative to throw out a first pitch

    -Discounted tickets


    We'll also use this as an opportunity for a Library Libations meet-up.

    When you submit your application to the Sea Dogs let me know as well

    so I can start planning!


    For more information, please check out this PDF: Sea Dog Invitation Letter.pdf


    Michelle Conners

    Assistant Director/Adult Services, KFL

    Maine Representative to NELA

    mconners@kennebunk.lib.me.us




  • 09 Sep 2015 10:00 AM | Deleted user

    Now is your chance to vote for the 2015 Maine Readers' Choice Award winner.  The poll is opened on the Maine Readers' Choice Award website and will run until September 15 at midnight.


    http://mainereaderschoiceaward.org



    The finalists are:


    *  Euphoria by Lily King


    *  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr


    *  Redeployment by Phil Klay




    These are three really classy books.




    If you are doing paper ballots please email me (Valerie) the results.




    Thank you!




    Valerie  Osborne, Consultant


    Northeastern Maine Library District


    Bangor Public Library


    145 Harlow Street


    Bangor, Maine 04401


    947-8336 ext. 114


    1-800- 427-8336 ext. 114


    Valerie.Osborne@bpl.lib.me.us

  • 08 Sep 2015 5:04 PM | Deleted user

    If you would like an easy way to send your thoughts to the Town Councilors

    of Millinocket, the Maine Library Association now has a tool through ALA

    that will help streamline that.


    Visit http://cqrcengage.com/alame/app/write-a-letter?2&engagementId=119793

    , fill out your information and click submit.  The next screen is an

    editable email that will go to all current members of the Millinocket Town

    Council.  The default message is brief, so feel free to expand and

    personalize your message.  Please pass the link freely, especially if you

    have contacts in or around Millinocket!


    This is MLA's first time using this advocacy tool, which ALA has used for

    years - many of us have participated in ALA's messaging campaigns over the

    years.  If you would like MLA to set this up for a local issue affecting

    your library, please let me know so we can work together - custom

    recipients can be added so that advocacy emails can go to school boards,

    town councils, individual committees, etc.


    Best,

    Nissa Flanagan

    MLA Legislative Chair

  • 03 Sep 2015 4:58 PM | Deleted user

    New England & Western New York ASI Chapters

    Fall Meeting

    Saturday, 26 September 2015

    10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

     

    The Black Center

    48 Lebanon Street

    Hanover, NH 03755

     

    Program highlights: Lisa DeBoer will be presenting One Is The Loneliest Number: Strategies for Collaboration Among Indexers, with interactive breakout sessions. Additionally, a panel of indexers, including Colleen Dunham, Steve Ingle and Joan Shapiro, will be addressing questions on the business aspects of indexing.

     

    Registration information: http://www.asindexing.org/chapters-and-sigs/chapters/chapter-meetings-and-contacts/#ma 

  • 02 Sep 2015 3:09 PM | Deleted user

    I Love My Librarian Award 2015


    Librarians touch the lives of the people they serve every day.  The I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users like you to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians.  We want to hear how you think your librarian is improving the lives of the people in your school, campus or community.


    Each year 10 librarians are selected. Each librarian receives a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and a travel stipend to attend the awards ceremony and reception in New York City, hosted by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

    Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.  Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.


    Nominations for the 2015 I Love My Librarian Award are open through September 28.


    Nominate a School Librarian


    Nominate a Public Librarian


    Nominate a College, Community College, or University Librarian


    If you want to resubmit a nomination from a previous year, we've made it easy.


    Sign up here to be notified about future I Love My Librarian Award activity.


    Questions?  Email Megan McFarlane, Campaign Coordinator,

    American Library Association, mmcfarlane@ala.org.

Maine Library Association

55 N. Main Street, Unit 49

Belchertown, MA 01007

207.744.7919

Business Manager / General Inbox 


© 2023 Maine Library Association 

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software