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Newsletter of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium
Winter Issue
In this issue:
TBLC Annual Meeting a Success On November 4, 2005, TBLC hosted its 26th annual meeting at Mote Marine in Sarasota, Florida. With approximately 100 attendees at the event, Richard Madaus presented the keynote speech on, "The Hurrieder we go, the Behinder We Get." Linda Gillon, was introduced as the new TBLC President for the upcoming year, by Nancy Pike, the current President.
Following lunch, Dr. Ernest Estevez, Director, center for Coastal Ecology presented "Catching the coming wave: Collections from the Florida Boom to Florida's Boomers" on the historical treasures buried in Florida, specifically the recently discovered Bass Biological Laboratories, a cutting edge Marine Biology Research Center in Englewood that had been lost in time.
The annual meeting presentations are available at: 2005 Library Champions Announced
The award is granted annually to elected or appointed officials who have demonstrated exceptional support for and attention to libraries. Representative Trey Traviesa (Brandon) is being recognized for his support for Florida libraries. Trey serves on the House Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee and has made a very big impact as a freshman legislator. He is being honored this year particularly for the leadership role he played in helping the multitype library cooperatives receive a funding increase. Rick Baker, Mayor of St. Petersburg, is being recognized for his long standing support for libraries in his community. The Mayor is a familiar presence at library events around the City. He is being recognized particularly because of the leadership that resulted in the West Community Library, a joint use facility bringing together the resources of St. Petersburg Public Library and the St. Petersburg College Library. Senator Mike Fasano (New Port Richey) is being recognized for his support of Florida libraries. Senator Fasano is always available and receptive to the library community. This year the Senator is also being honored because of the increased funding received by Florida's 6 multitype library cooperatives. The Senator chairs the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee. Commissioner Bob English, Polk County Board of County Commissioners, is being honored for the leadership he provided in the recent establishment of a Municipal Services Taxing Unit (MSTU) to support public library service in Polk County. Polk County is served by a cooperative that is funded by the municipalities that provide service to their residents and the county that compensates the cities for serving residents of unincorporated areas. The MSTU allows the county to tax only the unincorporated areas. This is a big step forward for Polk libraries.
Currently participating libraries are: Bay Pines VA Hospital, Clearwater Public Library, Heritage Village of Pinellas County, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Lake Wales Public Library, Largo Library, Mote Marine Laboratory, St. Petersburg Public, Safety Harbor Public Library, Stetson University College of Law, Tarpon Springs Public Library, and the University of Tampa. TBLC provides scanners and PC's for libraries to use in digitizing images for the database. This equipment is kept by each library for a limited period of time before being moved on to the next library in the schedule. Libraries are encouraged to use their own scanners, if available. St. Petersburg College, Citrus County Public Library, and Manatee Community College will be joining Legacy in the 2005-06 year. The database is open to all TBLC member libraries, and participation in 2005-06 for additional libraries may be possible, depending upon availability of equipment. Training is provided in imaging and creation of metadata records, and TBLC, with the help of database creator Richard Bernardy of USF, provides technical support for all database operations. Please contact Ellen Cannon at 813-622-8252 ext. 231 or cannone@tblc.org if you have questions or wish to discuss participating in the Legacy database. TBLC is updating its Reference Item Book Exchange Online. The new page, www.tblc.org/wiki is a wiki. A wiki is a community web page anyone can update or change. TBLC members are able to place items on the page for others to view and delete entries when titles have been claimed immediately. By registering for the TBLC wiki site updates, you will be instantaneously emailed when new titles become available. TBLC's last issue of Wavelinks had an article on wikis and their growing popularity. Lake Wales Joins TBLC's Reciprocal Borrowing Project
Libraries who are members of TBLC's reciprocal borrowing agreement have agreed to allow walk-in patrons to check out materials free of charge from any participating library. Patrons may use their own library card with a reciprocal borrowing sticker attached to check out materials. This program is available for patrons of participating libraries only. For more information on Reciprocal Borrowing, visit www.tblc.org/reciprocal/staff_index.shtml. Readers" Advisory SIG's New Chair TBLC's Readers' Advisory Interest Group has a new chair. Longtime Chair Nancy Fredricks, Pasco County Library System, has passed the chair on to Kristin Lohr, Largo Library. Kristin has held a long interest in Readers' Advisory. Kristin started at Largo Library in November 1997 as a part time clerk after a seven-year career in Real Estate. She worked her way up to full time and then Assistant I and Assistant II. She founded the Between the Covers with Kristin book discussion group in May 2003. Nancy will continue to maintain the group's blog at www.tblc.org/goodreads The Readers' Advisory Special Interest Group meets quarterly to discuss Readers' Advisory Tools available, top titles and Bay area resources. The next meeting is Friday, February 10 at the Pinellas Talking Book Library. To find out more about the group, please join their mailing list at http://lists.tblc.org/mailman/listinfo/readers-advisory or contact Kristin at klohr@largo.com. With over 3,300 checkouts in four months, TBLC's downloadable audio book project has been a hit with users and created a buzz in the library world. Most recently, the project was able to welcome three new libraries: Manatee Community College, New Port Richey and St Petersburg College. The successful downloadable audio book project is the focus of a current article in Government Technology Magazine. The story is available online at: http://www.govtech.net/magazine/story.php?id=97223. For more information on the project visit: http://digitalbooks.tblc.org The most checked out titles in the service are the following: Must Love Dogs, Work Less, Make More, City of Masks, Death Match and 25 Things to Say to the Interviewer, to Get the Job You Want.
Antique Database PriceMiner available through group purchase PriceMiner is the most up-to-date, innovative research tool for the art, antiques and collectibles market developed by GoAntiques.com. With more than 20 million records and 10 million pictures covering 5,200 categories and subcategories, it is used as both a price guide and an identification guide. Records from eBay.com, GoAntiques.com and TIAS.com are aggregated to offer the most complete guide of its kind. eBay records date back to the first of this year, compared to the 15 days of records you can search on eBay's site. GoAntiques and TIAS records go back to 1998. PriceMiner currently adds about two million records every month. PriceMiner also presents historical price data for same or similar items that you search. Search/sort criteria include price range, category type, sale date, data source and currency (converted to US dollars). For access to the demo and pricing information, please contact Diana Sachs at 813-622-8252 ext 234 or sachsd@tblc.org.NoveList TBLC's is proceeding with its annual renewal of NoveList. NoveList is a fiction database that provides subject heading access, reviews, annotations, and much more for over 120,000 fiction titles. It also includes other content of interest to fiction readers, such as Author Read-alikes, Book Discussion Guides, BookTalks, and Feature Articles. For school media specialists and teachers there are Standards-Based Thematic Units and Picture Book Extenders, as well as specific teaching guides for using fiction in the classroom.Libraries that have not participated in the past are able to join this group purchase opportunity at a significant discount. If your library is interested in a demo or pricing information, please contact Diana Sachs (sachsd@tblc.org).
Something's Always Buzzing
PODcasting will shift much of our time away from an old medium where we wait for what we might want to hear to a new medium where we choose what we want to hear, when we want to hear it, and how we want to give everybody else the option to listen to it as well. The buzz this time is about podcasting. I know, I know, you can't swing a dead cat* around these days without hearing about iPods, MP3s, filesharing, whatever. You're tired of it. But trust me, podcasting is a little different. First, you don't really need a portable music player for it - just a computer with an Internet connection (preferably high-speed, although not necessary). Second, this is both something that your library can offer access to as well as produce yourselves with just a minimum of tech knowledge and outlay. So, what is it? Essentially, a podcast is an audio broadcast over the Internet, most often in MP3 format, that users subscribe to using an RSS-type feed. This allows people to get updates automatically in one place, much like blogs are read through a reader such as Bloglines (Spring 2005 Buzzing column for more about blogs). These 'casts range in content from professional National Public Radio stories (www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php) to Crazy Joe's Surf Lounge (http://surflounge.com) and everything in between. Some are educational, some entertainment, some just, well, odd. But, like the rest of the Internet, there's something for everyone. So, what does this have to do with libraries? I think the time is coming, especially as the snowbirds start to arrive in Florida, that our users will want to listen to their podcasts from our computers. Do you have soundcards? Earphones? Software installed to play the files? But, it's more than that. Podcasting opens the door for outreach programming, and could be a great addition to any library's web site. Podcast storytimes. Visiting authors and other programs. Book reviews by staff members. Poetry slams. Computer classes. A list of current events. There are all sorts of podcasts that are being done by libraries. The Tame The Web link listed below lists considerations and questions librarians should consider. Have fun with it. Resources
Wikipedia (History, Uses and Criticism): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting *Note: no cats were harmed in the making of this Buzz. Developing a Disaster Plan Taught in three two-hour sessions over the course of six weeks, it guides participants through the development of a written disaster plan. Topics include:
Session 1: January 26, 2006 Sessions will be held from 10am to 12noon. Succeeding in an Intergenerational Workplace Today's workplace has workers from many different generations. Join us for one of five sessions on working in an intergenerational workplace. You'll learn:
Attend one of five sessions throughout the TBLC region:
FSC Authors Reveal Lakeland's Past in Vintage Images LAKELAND, Fla. (Nov. 3, 2005) -- Florida Southern College librarians Mary M. Flekke and Randall M. MacDonald have authored "Lakeland", a book of postcards published before 1950 and drawn from local libraries and personal collections. Detailed captions accompany the postcard images. Highlights include the original development of the downtown business district; Lakeland train stations at the north edge of Munn Park; local schools such as Lakeland High School, Lodwick School of Aeronautics and Florida Southern College; the "Welcome Arch," a familiar sight to downtown visitors for several years; and early residences, government buildings, churches, and agricultural sites. Flekke and MacDonald are senior librarians at Florida Southern College, with a combined 42 years of service to the college. Flekke is a member of several professional and community organizations including the Society of Florida Archivists and the Polk County Historical Society. MacDonald is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi; and Kappa Delta Pi, the International Honor Society in Education; and has served as a school volunteer for over twenty years. Lakeland is available at area bookstores, independent retailers, on-line bookstores, online through Arcadia Publishing, or at 888.313.2665. No More Rainy Days at Palm Harbor Library What started out as a brainstorming challenge for staff members last December turned out to be a "novel" idea for the Palm Harbor Library this Fall. In preparation for the library's annual Staff Development Day, Director Gene Coppola asked employees to suggest new ideas for innovative services that could be offered to patrons. Library Assistant Susan Plas took his request to heart, and came up with a clever idea. Why not offer umbrellas to patrons so they could check them out on rainy days? The library was already providing plastic bags to keep library items (books, videos, CD's, etc.) dry, but had nothing to keep patrons dry. Funding was provided by the Friends of the Library and 36 umbrellas arrived in September - what turned out to be one of the driest months on record. Within 24 hours, however, the torrential summer rains returned, and the library's Technical Services Department worked furiously to catalog and bar code the umbrellas. Department Head Nancy Sheffield-Warman was up to the challenge, as she had previously catalogued everything from the adaptive toys collection for special needs patrons, to in-house computers, to the library's newest offering, CD/MP3 players that can be checked out. The burgundy-and-white folding umbrellas, imprinted with the library's logo, circulate for 28 days and renew for an additional 14 days. Overdue fines are a modest 10 cents per day. Print version of newsletter WaveLinks is produced and distributed by the Tampa Bay Library Consortium. Please share WaveLinks with friends and colleagues. |
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The Tampa Bay Library Consortium has recognized four area leaders with its "Library Champion Award:" Senator Mike Fasano (New Port Richey), Rep. Anthony "Trey" Traviesa (Brandon), Rick Baker, Mayor of St. Petersburg, and Bob English, Polk County Board of County Commissioners. 
The Legacy database of digitized images and resources is now available for use by TBLC member libraries. Twelve participating libraries are contributing scanned images and creating metadata records to describe the resources. Some of the resources available in the database are photographs of the construction of Bok Tower (from the Lake Wales Public Library), historic maps and brochures from Mote Marine Laboratory, and records indexing the Clearwater Sun, from the Clearwater Public Library. Currently there are over 49,000 metadata records in the database, and more than 400 images. Other historic and cultural resources are available in the database, and more will be added as the project progresses.
In November, Tina Peak, Director of the Lake Wales Public Library announced that Lake Wales is joining TBLC's Reciprocal Borrowing Project. The project allows users to borrow materials from neighboring counties.