New Jersey State Library

The New Jersey State Library and its partners have been reaching out to our customers and looking into the future to ensure that libraries remain relevant and useful in a changing society.  The Mid-Atlantic Futures Conference that we sponsored in partnership with the state libraries of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware and PALINET was a stellar success. Over 400 people gathered from libraries to listen, learn and be inspired by the ideas from speakers outside of the library field. There was such an overwhelming response that we followed up with a meeting of New Jersey participants at Princeton Public Library.

We were so ignited by the ideas that we had heard, I have instituted a “Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future” to continue the groundbreaking work begun by the conference.  Recognizing that it is imperative to have input from the people who are shaping the future of New Jersey’s libraries, I am offering an open invitation to anyone currently working in a New Jersey library who has an interest in the future of libraries to apply for a possible appointment to the Task Force. You can read details about the conference and the Task Force in the report below from the Library Development bureau.

Other exciting news I have to share with you is the State Library has filled several key positions. We are pleased to announce the appointments of Kathleen Moeller-Peiffer as the director of the Library Development Bureau and Victoria Rosch as assistant director.  In addition, I am pleased to announce that Adam Szczepaniak has joined the Library for Blind and Handicapped as the assistant director.

This summer we continue our statewide marketing campaign with billboards across the state at transit stations, on buses and billboards promoting the Three Reasons Campaign and the Super Librarian YouTube/Comic Contest.

I wish each of you best of luck with your summer programs. Not only are you enriching the lives of those who come through your doors but you are building the foundation for the next generation of library users. -Norma

The New Jersey State Library had been planning a Futures Conference to try and determine who our future customers would be and how they would want their information delivered. The State Library felt that this conference would have more wide-ranging impact if we could make it bigger than just a statewide event. We developed partnerships with the state libraries of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware and a regional library consortium, PALINET, and we presented a very successful conference, “The Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference” at the Borgata Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., May 7 & 8, 2007.  Holding a conference for librarians at a casino was the first extraordinary step we took in creating an event that would truly make its mark on our profession.

We were determined to hear from people outside of the library world – this became paramount in our planning process.

Our keynote speaker, Ray Kurzweil, amazed us with his vision of nanotechnology.  Bob Treadway taught us about scenario building. We invited a demographer, Dr. James Hughes, Rutgers University, to show us how our world is changing, a cultural anthropologist (Mary Catherine Bateson, Margaret Mead’s daughter) to talk about aging and lifelong learning and noted architect Jeffrey Scherer, to show us how to create community centers in library spaces.  Salvador Avila, from the Las Vegas, Clark County Library System, discussed the growing Hispanic population. Joan Frye Williams helped conference participants think about what they heard and try to apply the ideas to their libraries.  Leslie Burger challenged the audience to take risks in order to evolve.  There were close to 400 librarians in attendance and evaluations were uniformly enthusiastic.  We are already committed to presenting a follow-up conference in fall 2008.

We searched for questions to ask our audience at our evening “World Café” that would stimulate discussion and found a question posed by Phil Bowermaster at his blog, www.speculist.com.  The question we asked attendees was “If you live to be 100, what will be the biggest difference between the time you entered this world and the time you leave?”  Phil Bowermaster became so interested in our conference that he attended the event.  He participated fully, and even made three videos for us.  The videos are posted on Norma Blake’s blog: www.njstatelib.org/blakesblog.

The State Library convened a follow-up meeting at Princeton Public Library on June 4, 2007, in response to e-mails requesting an opportunity for conference attendees to brainstorm.  Fifty people participated in this follow-up meeting and spent hours discussing the ideas and concepts that intrigued them the most.  Norma Blake took this opportunity to announce her “Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future.”  Members of the library community will have the opportunity to apply for a seat on the Task Force to advise the New Jersey State Library about how to turn the visions generated at the Futures Conference into reality.

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The State Library successfully launched the Super Librarian comic book The Virus on May 5, Free Comic Book Day, in conjunction with INFOLINK and Diamond Comics. Over 200 libraries participated along with comic book stores across the state with special events featured at the Elizabeth Public Library and the Cinnaminson Branch of the Burlington County Library. The introduction of the Super Librarian comic book created quite a buzz and garnered considerable media attention with full length articles about the comic book published in prominent New Jersey newspapers such as the Star Ledger and The Record as well as in national trade media including Library Hotline and the School Library Journal. The media attention continued after the kick-off when Fox 29 TV in Philadelphia aired an in depth report about the Super Librarian comic book on June 1st.

• The Njlibraires.org website has been updated to provide easy access for the public to know about our statewide venues. Included in the updates are links to the NJ Summer Reading, OneBookNJ, press releases on events at libraries from around the state. All the marketing campaigns can be accessed via ¬ njlibriares.org.

• The public can also access, photos and events from NJ libraries AND the three new statewide campaigns launched this May. Look for billboard and posters throughout New Jersey promoting:

• Super Librarian comic book

• YouTube and Comic drawing contest

• Tell us your three reasons.
Everyone’s encouraged to submit three reasons why they love their library on the YouTube site or from the njlibraires.org website. The latter doesn’t require any type of registration and may be easier for people to use since YouTube requires membership to leave a comment.

• Libraries have received posters and bookmarks. If they wish to order more, just email ndowd@njstatelib.org. Comic books continue to be distributed to those libraries which request copies, again, they can order from Nancy Dowd.

• NJLBH staff organized a joint presentation with the Norma F. Krajczar Technology Resource & Development Center and Lifelinks Video Relay Service for the NJLA Special Populations Section “Use Assistive Technology to Help Your customers See and Hear.” LBH presented information on the Vision Van, the Assistive Technology Loan Program including assistive listening devices. A representative of the Technology Resource Development Center elaborated about the resources of their demonstration center for assistive technology and a representative of LifeLinks Video Relay Service discussed their offer of free video phones for VRS service to public libraries.

• At the May 15 ASL Story Hour at NJLBH, a representative of the Trenton Thunder, read “Casey at the Bat” while mascot Boomer acted out parts of the poem. Boomer gave an autographed copy of “Casey at the Bat” to the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf.