TBLC News

Mark your calendars for the 2010 Very Important Paraprofessional (VIP) Workshop!

The VIP Workshop is coming back in 2010 stronger than ever after a brief hiatus in 2009.  We have many great sessions planned for attendees and are launching an online version of the Workshop.  Mark your calendars for Friday, May 14^th and plan to attend the 2010 VIP Workshop: C U @ the Library!

The 2010 VIP Workshop will be held at the St. Petersburg College EpiCenter.

Additional information will be announced shortly.

The John Cotton Dana Award for excellence in public relations has been awarded to the Pasco County Library System for its innovative and highly popular teen event, Rockus Maximus. The John Cotton Dana Award is considered to be the most prestigious of all library awards in the field of public relations.

Six libraries are winners of the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award this year. “The committee was impressed by the high quality of the public relations campaigns by libraries of all types and sizes from across the country,” said JCD committee chair, Linda Holslander. “With reduced budgets and staff, the winning libraries showed creative use of social media and web marketing to convey their messages. In these challenging economic times, effective marketing techniques are essential to communicate the many valuable services and programs provided by libraries to meet the increasing needs of their customers.”

The winning libraries are:

San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Public Library

Seattle, WA – King County Library System

Trenton, NJ – New Jersey State Library

Austin, TX – Westbank Community Library District

Hudson, FL – Pasco County Library System

The award will be presented to representatives of the Pasco County Library System at the annual conference of the American Library Association to be held in Washington, D.C. beginning June 24 through 29, 2010.

We are very excited to announce and welcome TBLC’s newest addition.   Heather Lohrey is our new Member Services Assistant.  Heather will be the main contact for the Delivery Service.

Heather will help with any issues that arise with the Statewide Delivery Courier Service.  She can be contacted by phone at 800-622-8252 ext 225 and by email at deliver@tblc.org.

As always, you can report delivery issues through the web at, www.tblc.org/delivery.

(Tampa) The Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC) has recognized four distinguished leaders with its “Library Champion Award” for the exceptional support for libraries. The 2008-09 honorees are: Dunedin Mayor Dave Eggers, Senator Mike Fasano (New Port Richey), Representative Rich Glorioso (Plant City), and Representative Will Weatherford (Wesley Chapel).

The TBLC Library Champion Awards are granted annually to recognize elected or appointed officials who have demonstrated exceptional support for and attention to libraries.

Dave Eggers, Mayor of Dunedin – “Mayor Dave Eggers always mentions the Library and keeps our budget concerns on the table. The Mayor attends most of our Library functions and best of all his wife, Becky Eggers, is the President of the Friends of the Library. Together they make a fantastic Library support team!” This is quite a testimonial from Anne Shepherd, Dunedin Public Library Director. In light of Florida cities’ serious budget challenges, TBLC is impressed by Mayor Eggers’ positive outlook and the way he sees the library’s importance in the lives of Dunedin residents.

Representative Will Weatherford – Mr. Weatherford participated in the Pasco County Public Library’s Leaders are Readers program and read with a group of young Pasco library users. Will was featured in a library Read poster supporting reading with children and in a video public service announcement encouraging parents to read with their children starting when children are infants. Will also works with Pasco County schools to encourage all children to read. Representative Weatherford was nominated by Linda Allen, Pasco County Public Library Director. TBLC admires Mr. Weatherford’s warmth and enthusiasm and his willingness to reach out to and inspire young learners.

Representative Rich Glorioso – Representative Glorioso from Plant City is one of those rare people who stay cool and calm no matter what, so it is a good thing he was Chairman of the Florida House of Representatives Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee last May during a very challenging session. Representative Glorioso was always receptive to calls and visits from the library community. He still smiled and was gracious after listening to our pitches and appeals for the umpteenth time.

When the shortage of dollars made it appear that library programs might lose their funding, Rep. Glorioso calmly listened, and calmly kept working to see to it that the programs were funded. Representative Glorioso was nominated by Bruton Memorial Library Director Anne Haywood. TBLC also commends Rich for his passion and commitment to working for young people at risk – that makes him two times a Champion in our eyes!

Senator Mike Fasano – Senator Fasano has so consistently saved the day for Florida libraries that the Florida library community should call him Mr. Library. As Chairman of the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee for a number of years, Senator Fasano has often made the critical difference. This year, when funding was particularly tight in Tallahassee and it looked like we might lose state funding for libraries, Senator Fasano fought fiercely to keep it in the budget in the face of powerful forces and prevailed. Mike and his staff are always gracious and pleasant to work with, regardless of the hour and the craziness going on around them. Senator Fasano was nominated by Charlie Parker, TBLC Executive Director. Like the residents of his district, TBLC appreciates how no one in the Florida legislature works harder for what he believes in than Senator Fasano.

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium is a non profit multi-type library cooperative comprising 100 member libraries serving 13 west central Florida counties. The counties served are Citrus, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Okeechobee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota. TBLC is supported by funding from local member dues and fees, state Library Cooperative Aid Grants and federal Library Services and Technology Act Grants. For more information, log on to www.tblc.org.

Friday, November 6, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Tampa Bay History Center
801 Old Water Street
Tampa, FL 33602
Registration – $30
Please register at http://www.tblc.org/training/index.php

We are thrilled to announce that this year’s TBLC Annual Meeting will be held at the Tampa Bay History Center – a wonderful new facility housing a very exciting and re-energized regional cultural program. The facility is dazzling – and the organization is a model for how to do collaboration right.

We are also thrilled to announce that Susan Benton will be the keynote speaker at this year’s annual meeting.

Susan was recently named CEO of the Urban Libraries Council. Before taking the ULC position, Susan was Research, Development and Strategic Partners Executive at the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

Susan has a strong background with sustainable communities, community building, and civic engagement. While at ICMA, Susan began the ICMA Local Government and Public Libraries Partnership Initiative. The initiative developed an approach based around the idea of building stronger libraries by connecting them more closely with communities’ needs and service priorities. A significant aspect of this initiative involved building closer working relationships between city and county managers. Seminole Community Library Director Michael Bryan and the City of Seminole City Manager were both involved in that initiative.

Susan’s work with the Local Government and Public Libraries Partnership Initiative then led to a project with the Gates Foundation — the Public Library Innovation Grant Program. The Gates grant program drew over 550 applications, including many from Florida and several from the TBLC area.

Susan’s background and experience are particularly valuable in these times when libraries are struggling to convince funders of necessity to fund libraries when all types of services are being cut back and reduced.

Look for further announcements in the days ahead!