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Resource Sharing Unbound Resources

Carolyn Noah — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:43:30 +0000

Links and resources from Resource Sharing Unbound on May 15 are posted on the conference webpage, and more will be added in coming days.

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MLS and MHEC Cooperative Purchasing Partnership

Catherine Utt — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:55:24 +0000

The Massachusetts Library System has entered into a new collaboration with the Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium (MHEC) for the Materials and Supplies Cooperative Purchasing Program. We anticipate this partnership will result in MLS members joining MHEC to take advantage of cooperative pricing for the procurement of library materials and supplies.

MHEC is a New England-wide purchasing consortium based at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst Campus and is open to all public and private institution of higher education, municipalities, schools and educational organizations throughout Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. MHEC uses its large member base and procurement expertise to negotiate high costsavings for members. MLS will be working closely with MHEC to ensure the same materials and supplies will be available, but at better price points. With this new partnership, MLS member libraries will join MHEC as members in order to take advantage of the new discounts. As with the current MLS Materials and Supplies Coop, membership will be at no cost.

For additional information on MHEC’s current member benefits, contracts, and participating vendors, please go to the following webpage: http://www.mhec.net/

Over the next several months, MLS will be working with MHEC to create, analyze and award bids for more competitive materials and supplies contracts. We anticipate new contracts will be in place for September 1. Wewill be working with our vendors to extend our current contracts so there is no gap in discounts being offered. In order to ensure the contracts meet the ongoing needs of MLS Libraries, we ask you to fill out the following 5-minute survey.

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5v91w0vh1j9le2o/start

In addition to the survey, we are looking for individuals that would be willing to participate in portions of the process should the opportunity arise. If you have questions or would like to volunteer, please email Catherine Utt at Catherine@masslibsystem.org or call 508-357-2121 / 866-627-7228. Or you may contact either Paul Coute (pcoute@mhec.net) or Stacey Wikar (staceywikar@mhec.net) at MHEC for additional information.

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Statewide Electronic Online Content Database Contracts Awarded

Susan Babb — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:48:23 +0000

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System are happy to announce the outcome of the procurement process for the next round of statewide databases beginning July 1, 2012. Please see the press release on posted on the MBLC website at: http://mblc.state.ma.us/mblc/news/releases/past-releases/2012/nr120504.php

A big thank you to all library staffs that participated in the process (see more about this in the press release). MLS member libraries will be receiving a letter at the end of this month with more details about the products and access.

The full list of titles that all residents and MLS member libraries will have access to is as follows:

Gale Cengage
Academic OneFile
Biography In Context
Books and Authors
Business and Company Resource Center
Contemporary Literary Criticism Select
Educator’s Reference Complete
Expanded Academic
Gale Powerpacks in assorted subject areas
General BusinessFile
General OneFile
Global Issues In Context
Health and Wellness Resource Center with Alternative Health
Health Reference Center Academic
InfoTrac Junior
The New York Times
Kids InfoBits
Literature Resource Center
Massachusetts History Online
Nursing Resource Center (new to Massachusetts libraries)
Opposing Viewpoints In Context
Science in Context
U. S. History In Context
World History In Context
50 Selected Gale Virtual Reference Library titles (titles forthcoming)

ProQuest, Inc.
The Boston Globe

Encyclopaedia Britannica
Britannica Online School Edition, PLUS read-aloud at all levels and translation for over 50 languages
Britannica Learning Zone (early childhood interactive learning resource)
Britannica Online Public Library, Edition PLUS read-aloud at all levels and translation for over 50 languages
Britannica Spanish Reference Center (Includes Enciclopedia Moderna, a reference collection for the high school and college ages and Escolar Online, geared to ages 6-12)
World Data Analyst (current and historical statistics on the countries of the world)
Annals of America (online Access to Original Source Documents From U.S. History)
Britannica Online Mobile Edition

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CE survey help! Twenty questions and a cup of Joe

Carolyn Noah — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:58:15 +0000

MLS needs your help!

Answer 20 questions and you can help plan future continuing education offerings and be entered to win a $25 Starbucks gift card.

Take the survey and tell us about your CE needs by checking any content that would be useful to you. Any staff member at an MLS library is invited to participate.

You can check as many boxes as you like. You don’t have to complete sections that are not relevant! The survey should take no more than ten minutes to complete.

If you would like to be included in the drawing for a Starbucks gift card, please be sure to give us your contact information at the end of the survey. Winners will be randomly drawn after the survey closes and announced on Monday, May 21.

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MLS Appoints Three New Advisory Committees

Greg Pronevitz — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:06:09 +0000

The MLS Executive Board recently approved the formation of three new advisory committees. MLS advisory committees serve an important purpose. The members provide direct input into MLS planning efforts. The staff and Executive Board rely on these committees to provide valuable perspective and recommendations that will allow MLS to be successful.

We’ve been saying for years that technology keeps moving faster. Now, it is moving faster than ever and in ways that impact all libraries and library users. When we look at technology and communications innovations, we see library patrons with new information alternatives for education, enrichment, and economic development. MLS services are essential to the success of member libraries and we need to evolve in order to assist libraries in facing these changes. And member input is essential to our planning processes.

New Advisory Committees
• Delivery Advisory Committee
• Continuing Education and Advisory Services Committee
• Online Content Advisory Committee

Members were selected from respondents to MLS’s call for participation. We strived to create committees with representation from all four MLS-member library types, i.e., academic, public, school, and special. We also considered the geographic distribution to make the advisory committees as representative of the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts as possible.

We had many more volunteers than we had advisory committee slots and thank everyone who volunteered. We will have future opportunities to assist MLS in our planning. We hope all members, those who have volunteered in the past and others to consider working with us in your areas of interest.

MLS Committee Charges and Rosters

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School Library Eligibility Update

Carolyn Noah — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:39:40 +0000

MLS is past the halfway point in contacting school library members to update their directory information and eligibility for membership. Of the first 523 libraries we contacted, 350 responded. Of those, up to 9 appear not to meet the staffing requirement for eligibility.

During the week of April 2, queries will be sent to school libraries with names beginning with “lilla” and ending with “Raynham”. This first contact is by email using the information in our member directory.

If you think your school library should have already been contacted, let us know.

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MLS Welcomes New Members

Carolyn Noah — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:05:43 +0000

MLS welcomes two new member libraries:

Center School, Stow
Educational Development Center, Waltham

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Thank You for Completing Our Survey: Snapshot of Satisfaction Results

Greg Pronevitz — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:28:59 +0000

More than 350 members completed the MLS Strategic Planning survey. The Strategic Planning Task Force has a great deal of data to analyze to design the best future for MLS. We are grateful to you, our members, for taking the time to complete our surveys. We will publish more results soon. For now, I am proud to present a snapshot of your responses on your satisfaction with MLS services. The large percentage of members who said they were satisfied and very satisfied is testimony to the dedication and high quality of the efforts of MLS staff and to the direction set by the MLS Executive Board.

We will review member comments and work with you to strive for even higher levels of member satisfaction in the future.

click chart for larger size

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MLS Assisting with MassBroadband Initiative

Anna Popp — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:20:02 +0000

The MassBroadband Institute (MBI) is a state sponsored program designed to supply high-speed internet to over 120 rural communities in western and north-central Massachusetts. (Here is a link to a map of the service area covered by this project.) MLS recognized the importance of this program and, thanks to a $200,000 Gates Grant, will be working with MBI to provide equipment and training to our member libraries being affected by MBI. Attached below is a press release for use by those libraries soon to get fiber-optic connections.

Where indicated, please include content personalized to your library. Your content may look something like this:

“We’re very excited with this development,” says Carnegie Library Director Jane Doe. “With the delivery of fiber optic connectivity our patrons will be able to use things like streaming videos, our staff will finally be able to avail themselves of web-based trainings. And we are so appreciative of the groups who are making this happen.” The Carnegie Library is located at 123 Main Street in Notarealtown. For more information call 413-555-1234 or email Carnegie@cargnegie.org.

If you have questions about the MBI project, please email Diana Davis. If you would like help with your press release, please email Anna Popp.

MBI Press Release for Libraries January 2012

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ALA Youth Media Award Winners

Susan Babb — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:23:46 +0000

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:
“Dead End in Norvelt,” written by Jack Gantos, is the 2012 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Farrar Straus Giroux.
Two Newbery Honor Books also were named: “Inside Out & Back Again,” written by Thanhha Lai and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers; and “Breaking Stalin’s Nose,” written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin, and published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:
“A Ball for Daisy,” illustrated and written by Chris Raschka, is the 2012 Caldecott Medal winner. The book is published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Three Caldecott Honor Books also were named: “Blackout,” illustrated and written by John Rocco, and published by Disney · Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group; “Grandpa Green” illustrated and written by Lane Smith, and published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership; and “Me . . . Jane,” illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell, and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The MLS Mock Caldecott Committee met in Worcester last week on January 18. After lively rich discussion, they made their decision.
The winner is “Me…Jane” by Patrick McDonnell, author and illustrator.
The sole honor book is “Swirl by Swirl”, illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Joyce Sidman.

More awards announced here.

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