TBLC News

We regretfully announce that Michelle Oleson has resigned from her member services assistant position with TBLC. She recently earned her master’s degree in library and information science and has accepted a wonderful new job as the web/digital services librarian at Salisbury University in Maryland. Although we will miss Michelle’s presence in the office, she has agreed to handle our web programming and development on a long-distance contract basis.

Best of luck, Michelle!

Please direct any questions to Beth Farmer at farmerb@tblc.org or (813) 622-8252 (ext. 228).

Through our group purchase program, TBLC members are eligible for a discount on Morningstar Investment Research Center (www.morningstar.com), which provides independent and in-depth recommendations and research on stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds in an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand format.

Morningstar signed us up for a FREE trial period to share with our members until Sept. 15, 2008. To access, visit http://library.morningstar.com/Membership/setup.html and use the following codes:

User name: tampabay
Password: library

Please note that the cost of your subscription to Morningstar will depend on the total number of member libraries that subscribe through TBLC. If you’re interested in a quote, contact Vickie Frost no later than Sept. 20, 2008, at frostv@tblc.org or (813) 622-8252 (ext. 224).

Nominations are now open for TBLC’s 2008 Library Champion Award.

The TBLC Library Champion Award recognizes elected or appointed officials in any level of government who have demonstrated exceptional support for and attention to libraries.

The 2007 recipient was Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey.  In the past, we have also honored local officials including Rick Baker, Mayor of St. Petersburg, and Bob English, a Polk County Commissioner.

Voting representatives of any TBLC member library and the TBLC executive director may nominate someone for the Library Champion Award.  The TBLC Board of Directors will review all nominations and select the recipient. 

To nominate an elected or appointed official for this award, send an email to Charlie Parker at cparker@tblc.org by August 22, 2008, with “Library Champion Nomination” in the subject line.  Please include two to three paragraphs about why you believe your favorite official should receive this recognition.

The July 2008 issue of Wavelinks (our member newsletter) is now available for your reading pleasure here. A link to a PDF version of the newsletter is available on the “Welcome” page, or by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Through our group purchase program, TBLC members are eligible for a discount on Global Road Warrior (www.globalroadwarrior.com), a comprehensive social, cultural and travel database covering 175 countries and territories.

Global Road Warrior signed us up for a FREE trial period to share with our members until Aug. 31. To access the content for the entire site, visit www.globalroadwarrior.com and use the following codes:

User name: grw
Password: madrid

Please note that your subscription to Global Road Warrior will depend on the total number of member libraries that subscribe through TBLC. If you’re interested in a quote, contact Vickie Frost no later than Sept. 5, 2008, at frostv@tblc.org or (813) 622-8252 (ext. 224).

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium welcomes Traci Avet as the new Ask a Librarian virtual reference coordinator. Traci was with the Palm Beach County Library System for five years before accepting the position with Ask a Librarian.

“Traci has a combination of face-to-face and virtual reference experience that is vital for this position,” said Diana Sachs-Silveira, virtual reference manager for Ask a Librarian. “We’re confident that she’ll go far with Ask a Librarian.”

Born and raised in Houma, La. – a town just south of New Orleans – Traci earned her Master of Arts in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida. Her wide range of interests include glass mosaic tiling, sewing, snorkeling, reading and writing. She and her longhaired Chihuahua relocated from West Palm Beach to the Tampa area for this position, and Traci looks forward to exploring the area and getting to know the Ask a Librarian community.

Welcome, Traci!

We will soon be distributing the July issue of Wavelinks, TBLC’s member newsletter. If you have news and announcements about your library that you would like to appear in the member news section, please email them to Karyn Bardes at bardesk@tblc.org. Photo submissions are encouraged as well.

Please note that the newsletter is only emailed to those of you on our Wavelinks mailing list. Please visit http://lists.tblc.org/mailman/listinfo/wavelinks to start receiving our quarterly newsletter.

Thank you!

The Tampa Bay Library Consortium is excited to announce the launch of our newly designed website at www.tblc.org. The new site has a dynamic homepage, an enhanced news section and a more informative navigation panel for easier use.

Please note that although most of our pages’ URLs have not changed, we have reorganized some sections for efficiency. If you have bookmarked any pages on our site, you may find that those URLs no longer exist.

As with most websites developed today, we recommend viewing our site at a 1024×768 screen resolution, although 800×600 will work as well.

If you have any questions or would like TBLC to help you redesign your own website, please contact Karyn Bardes at (813) 622-8252 (ext. 235) or bardesk@tblc.org.

Please check out our new site at www.tblc.org, and let us know what you think. We hope you enjoy it!

Through our member discount program, TBLC members may subscribe to Facts on File for a discounted rate of $874 per library location per year. Facts on File offers curriculum-related databases for high school, public, and academic libraries. For more information, visit www.factsonfile.com.

If you are interested in an annual subscription to Facts on File, contact Vickie Frost no later than July 18, 2008 at frostv@tblc.org or (813) 622-8252 (ext. 224).

At the suggestion of several of our members, our marketing and technology team members here at TBLC have created a website assessment form so that you may rate your own website on content, aesthetics, accessibility and navigation. Is your site easy to navigate? Is it designed for your target audience? Is it visually appealing? This form can help you determine if you are using one of your most important marketing tools to its fullest potential.

Please visit www.tblc.org/marketing/webassessment to download the website assessment form, or email Karyn Bardes at bardesk@tblc.org to request a PDF.

Feel free to contact Karyn if you have any questions or would like further assistance with assessing your website.