A Message from the State Librarian
• The Mid-Atlantic Futures Conference, which the NJSL helped to organize and participated in a few months past in Atlantic City, was such a success and so vital to libraries, I am convening a Blue Ribbon Futures Panel. The State Library recognizes that it is imperative to have input from the people who are shaping the future of New Jersey’s libraries. Everyone in the Library community is welcome to apply, including NJSL staff, and the deadline to apply is August 15, 2007. Ultimately the panel will make recommendations to me, which will be discussed at the next NJLA conference.
• Despite relentless efforts on the part of the State Library, we have not been able to restore a million dollar cut in NJKI budget by the State. Presently there is enough money to continue the program with access to all the proprietary databases until the end of February 2008. However, our efforts continue. There is a meeting scheduled for July 30 with Executive Director of Higher Education Jane Oates to discuss the next steps for the program. Meanwhile, NJKI continues to garner national and even international recognition. NJKI is one of 11 finalists for an Innovation Award from the Council of State Governments and a presentation will be made at their conference in Quebec City in mid August.
• Our marketing campaigns are going well. The “Three Reasons You Love Your Library” campaign includes billboards, train station posters and bus placards. In fact, a Thomas Edison State College trustee mentioned that he saw the train station poster in Newark for the “Three Reasons” campaign and was drawn to it, only to discover it was a New Jersey library project. He was very complimentary. The next statewide campaign will be “Solving Life’s Little Problems”, something that libraries do very well.
• There is a new phone system at the State Library for the first time since 1986. It goes into operation on August 1, 2007. The directory of new telephone numbers with extensions will be available on our website and the new general number is 609-278-2640 although the existing main numbers will remain in place indefinitely.
• The State Library is contracting with the Northeast Document Conservation Center on preservation workshops and preservation surveys of libraries, with the focus on public libraries due to the funding source. Library Development Bureau Consultant Michele Stricker is receiving further training to provide other in-state workshops on preservation.
SPOTLIGHT ON ROB ZANGARA
Say hello to a real Jersey guy, Rob Zangara, head of New Jersey State Library’s Information Technology Department. He was born in New Brunswick and went to Rutgers to pursue degrees in English and Political Science. After becoming a publishing house editor, Rob was discovered to be the most technologically advanced person on staff. As his technical expertise grew, Rob gravitated to TMP, the parent company of Monster.com. Fortunately for NJSL, Rob got tired of working in Manhattan.
Rob is a real music buff with very eclectic tastes – jazz, alternative rock, international music, etc. Rob use to play golf but finds that he spends most of his leisure time with his first loves, his wife Heidi and his two boys, Dean and Theo.
Rob and his family have seen much of the USA, particularly Oregon, California, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming where he and family visit relatives. He also enjoys the Island of St. John where he was married. Rob’s all time favorite trip was to Italy, where he hopes to take his boys someday, as he found the Italians to be very child friendly.
People sometimes stereotype technologists as techies who only speak to other techies in some kind of language that is foreign to the rest of us. The people who do this have obviously not met Rob Zangara and his wonderful IT team at NJSL!