New Jersey State Library Newsletter

Christine Olsen, the Coordinator for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Awareness Program at the New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped (LBH) is delighted to announce that effective December 1, 2008, Monmouth County Library, Shrewsbury, and Sussex County Library, Newton, are new Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The two new libraries are committed to serving the entire community, including deaf and hard of hearing residents. They offer closed-captioned videos, books and materials on deafness and hearing loss for parents, teachers and interested individuals. Many new programs are in store for everyone in those communities. Residents should contact the libraries for all upcoming events.

LBH will provide the two libraries with various support services including specialized training for staff on how to serve and interact with deaf and hard of hearing customers, as well as how to access interpreter services through a Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing literacy program grant. The libraries, plus existing RRC Newark Public Library, will provide an Assistive Listening Technology Loan Program that assists hard of hearing individuals with participating in meetings, and Personal Listening Devices that may be borrowed to enhance hearing in person-to-person communication. In addition, they will have unrestricted access to the Library for the Blind and Handicapped’s many resources.

For more information, contact Christine Olsen at (877) 882-5593 TTY/VP, (888) 671-6983 Voice VP, or by e-mail at colsen@njstatelib.org.

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Library Journal, 11/15/2008

page 100, Professional Media

Pop Culture HQ

Brookover, Sophie & Elizabeth Burns. Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture To Connect with Your Whole Community.

This entertaining book by the creators of the “Pop Goes the Library” blog is a breath of fresh air for those progressive librarians wanting to secure their library’s future by making patron interests the focus of library services. Popular culture, assert the authors, is about library customers, not librarians. This shift in focus may seem obvious or trivial but in fact points up the great failing in many library promotional efforts—we approach library service from our own world view and not that of the people we serve. After offering multiple perspectives on the definition of “popular culture,” Brookover (an LJ 2006 Mover & Shaker) and Burns discuss ways to uncover the interests of library users, including surveys, focus groups, and other creative methods. Then chapters cover collection development, marketing and outreach, “trend spotting,” and the essential role of information technology in a library’s overall program of service. The final chapters offer terrific programming suggestions, including a month-by-month calendar of ideas. Throughout the book, “Voices from the Field” sections present different attitudes and strategies offered by real-world librarians on the topics under discussion. Appendixes offer sample survey questions, recommended web sites, and other resources. In all, this is an exciting and essential book for those librarians ready to take up the challenge of keeping their libraries relevant to the communities they serve.—Rachel Q. Davis, Thomas Memorial Lib., Cape Elizabeth, ME

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Trenton should be a city of libraries

October 27, 2008

Dear Mayor Doug Palmer,

Anyone could threaten to close Trenton’s library branches to save a few dollars. That’s just one reason why you shouldn’t do it. The City of Trenton needs uncommon solutions. Not, and it seems twisted to use this cliche for a budget cut, low-hanging fruit.

They say that desperate times call for desperate measures, and a time when the City of Trenton is in financial crisis, potentially well over $20 million in the hole, certainly sounds like a desperate time.

FULL STORY

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The New Jersey State Library announced the appointment of Mary Martin, director of the Long Hill Township Library, Gillette, to the New Jersey Library Network Review Board. The board consists of public, academic and school librarians from across the state and is charged with advising the New Jersey State Librarian in regard to the New Jersey Library Network.

Martin has been director since April 2007. Before that she served as assistant director at Glen Rock Public Library; supervising librarian/technology trainer at Morris County Library; and systems librarian at the County College of Morris. In addition to her new responsibilities, Martin serves on the Highlands Regional Library Cooperative’s Technology Committee, chairs the NJ Library Association’s Small Libraries Roundtable and is involved with Super Supervisors.

FULL STORY

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