New Jersey State Library Newsletter

The New Jersey State Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Adam Stephen Szczepaniak, Jr. as Director of the New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped. Szczepaniak has been serving as the library’s assistant director for the past year.

Prior to this, Szczepaniak served as librarian for the Maryland State Dept. of Education for seven years. He has held positions at the University of Maryland, the University of Alabama, the State University of New York, Johns Hopkins University, and the U.S. Army’s General Samuel Wood Scientific Technical Library. He holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Maryland. He is a member of the American Library Association and the Library Administration and Management Association, and has had numerous articles published in the Maryland Medical Journal.

The New Jersey State Library for the Blind and Handicapped played host to a very special visitor from Jenkinson’s Aquarium during its Children’s American Sign Language Story Hour on June 3, 2008. After New Jersey State Librarian Norma E. Blake read Tacky the Penguin, the children from the Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf (MKSD), home-schooled hearing children, and students with multiple disabilities from three classes at the Hunterdon County ESC School in Lambertville got to meet Dassen, an African penguin. Carla Demarest, senior Keeper at Jenkinson’s Aquarium, Point Pleasant, told the children all about penguins in this unique opportunity the children really enjoyed, which was funded by the Friends of the Library for the Blind & Handicapped.

Links: Photos
New State Library home page

New Jersey State Librarian Norma Blake was the keynote speaker for the New Jersey Association Of Library Assistants 22nd Annual Conference, "Staying Motivated in the Midst of Change". The event was held at the Enterprise Center at BCC and featured instructional presentations, hands on computer training, workshops and panel discussions. Congratulations to the Association for putting together an outstanding conference.

LINKS:
Photos from event
NJALA
NJSL Home page

A plan to preserve New Jersey’s rich cultural treasures held in museums, libraries and archives has come to fruition thanks to a Statewide Planning Grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through their “Connecting to Collections preservation initiative.

For the first time a consortium of New Jersey cultural institutions, including the New Jersey State Library, The Newark Museum, the Rutgers University Libraries, the New Jersey State Museum, and the New Jersey State Archives, have the opportunity to assess statewide preservation needs and to develop short and long-term plans to conserve New Jersey’s vast collection materials. Groups representing libraries, history museums and archives throughout the state, including the New Jersey Library Association are involved in the planning process.

For further information contact Michele Stricker, Consultant, Library Development Bureau at 609-278-2640 Ext. 164 or email mstricker@njstatelib.

FULL STORY