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CTLS Board of Directors
Pat Tuohy Executive Director Larry Ringer Chair Eileen Altmiller Vice Chair Barbara Crossno Secretary Gretchen Pruett Treasurer Larry Koeninger Jean Phipps
From the Executive Director By Pat Tuohy
CTLS Newsletter August 2013 No. 126
IN THIS ISSUE:
We Did It! Page 1
Book Reviews
Page 2
Adult Programming Page 3
Youth News
Pages 4-5
What’s Happening Page 6
Puppetry Festival
Page 7
CTLS Calendar & Staff Directory
Page 8
Workshop Flyers Page 9—10
We Did It! August 2013 signals the completion of our first year of operations without state funding. During this year, CTLS has adapted more quickly to the challenging conditions than anyone ever anticipated. At the close of this 2013 fiscal year, CTLS is comprised of 121 member libraries that are spread out all across Texas. We are truly Connecting Texas Libraries Statewide. CTLS Board of Directors is the guiding force behind a suc-cessful and responsive system. The support and advocacy of our Board members during this exciting and challenging year of transition is one of the reasons why CTLS has stayed in business. We have left behind the outdated limitations on board membership which were written into the 1969 Library Systems Act. Now member library directors can run for Board of Director positions and serve as the voice of working profession-als on the Board. These voices and viewpoints help guide the services and activities of our nonprofit organization. Have you considered running for a CTLS Director posi-tion? This is our election season and there are open positions on the Board that need to be filled by inter-ested and qualified individuals. Both library staff and citizen library supporters are eligible to run and, in-deed, encouraged to do so. If your library is new to CTLS in 2014, you can still seek a Director position. Representation from all parts of the state is vital if we are to build a strong organization that gives an effective voice to Texas libraries from every region. The Board meets on-site 3 times a year and travel to and from these on-site meetings is reimbursed at the state rate. Four additional meetings are held during the year using electronic and telephone connections so your travel commitment is minimized. The term for new Directors starts January 1, 2014 and ends December 31, 2016. Take a few moments to think about serving on the CTLS Board. As a Di-rector, you would be building an organization that gives public libraries many ways to communicate with each other. Your service will foster strong networks and build partnerships between libraries across Texas. You will be helping the CTLS staff sustain and expand a strong consulting and continuing education program based on decades of experience serv-ing libraries just like yours. Give me a call at 800-262-4431 or email [email protected] to explore the options for joining the Board of Direc-tors of CTLS. With your help and commitment, CTLS will continue Con-necting Texas Libraries Statewide.
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News You Can Use By Laurie Mahaffey
Book Reviews
John Wesley Hardin, named for the founder of Methodism, was “the undisputed king of Texas gunfighters”. He wrote his own biography before dying in a gun-fight at the age of 42. Chuck Parsons and Norman Wayne Brown have written A Lawless Breed, which examines “his autobiographical claims against historical records.” Favorably reviewed in the Austin American Statesman on June 16, the book is published by TCU Press and sells for $29.95. The authors used previ-ous works and gathered new letters from Hardin associ-ates, along with previously unpublished photographs, to round out this book. Walter Cronkite was a fixture in the media world for dec-ades. Going overseas in 1942 to cover World War II, he didn’t return home to his wife Betsy for three years. The letters he wrote her, sometimes 5 per week, are compiled in a new book. Cronkite’s War: His World War II Letters Home was edited by Walter Cronkite IV (grandson) and Maurice Isserman, with a foreword by Tom Brokaw. Na-tional Geographic Books published this $28 book in May. It was favorably reviewed in the July-August Alcalde. Another World War II book is Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II. Boston University journalism professor Mitchell Zuckoff “uncovers the story of three plane crashes on the Greenland ice cap in 1942 and the epic attempts to find and rescue survivors in that vast and trackless Arctic wilderness.” Published by HarperCollins at $28.99, the book was favorably reviewed in the June 9 Austin American-Statesman.
Front Row Seat: a Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush has been published by University of Texas Press. Eric Draper, for-mer chief White House photographer, compiled many never-before-published photographs taken during President Bush’s 8 years in office. Buy this $50 book for $33.50 from the UT Press website: www.utpress.utexas.edu/. A new historical novel of the Great Plains, WIDE OPEN, has been written by Larry Bjornson and published by Penguin. It has won several awards and is appropriate for YA readers as well as adults. Western Writers of America honored the book with the 2013 Spur Award for best Juvenile Fiction and the book was a finalist for WWA’s Spur Award for Best First Novel. “Wide Open…(is set in…) 1871 Abilene, Kansas and presents a meticulously researched picture of town and settler life on the frontier.” Abilene was the premier trading center for Texas cattle, and the post-Civil War environment was unstable. The town hires Wild Bill Hickok to keep the peace. "… Larry Bjornson brings the West alive with such detail and clarity, if I didn't know better, I would think he’d lived through ‘it’, wrote Louis Sachar, author of Newbery Medal winner Holes.
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Teague Public Library has a few interesting features. It was a bank before becoming a library. There are different rooms for different book collections. One room is in the safe!
Adult Programming
Doing programs for adults at the library is a great idea! Talk to your patrons and ask what they’d like. Inquire about the best time of day for them. Some seniors won’t want to drive at night, while working people may have only evenings and weekends for programs. Could someone in your town talk about Social Security, Medicare, vacations on a budget, or spending wisely? Do you know a person with skills in crafts? Perhaps a knitting or crocheting group could start; it will get cold again at some point, we hope! Now would be a good time to start groups who want to get something com-pleted by December.
New Book in Professional Collection
Strategic Planning for Results by Sandra Nelson for the Public Library Association CTLS has items you can check out in our professional collection. We have books, Wii games, mystery programs, ipads, nooks and more. Go to the pro-fessional Collection Catalog on our webpage at ctls.net. To check out a book either reserve it online or E-mail us at [email protected]
Banking on a Community Library
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Youth News By Kim Lehman
Summer Reading Never Ends
Congratulations on completing another Summer
Reading Program! And now, just when you thought
it was over, comes the announcement for next
year’s reading program.
2014 Summer Reading Slogans
(general theme: Science)
Children: Fizz, Boom, Read!
Teens: Spark a Reaction!
Adult: Literary Elements
2015 Summer Reading Slogans
(general theme: Heroes)
Children: Every Hero Has a Story
Teens: Unmask!
Adult: Escape the Ordinary
2016 The theme will be Wellness/
Fitness/Sports For more information go to Collaborative Summer Library Program at http://www.cslpreads.org/.
Magic Science Trick This is a very easy magic trick to make. You will need a plastic bottle and a piece of PVC pipe. This is VERY cool and easy. It could be used as a craft, an activity center, a program on magic, science, air pres-sure, or water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JulCGEJK9d8&feature=em-subs_digest
Floppy Arms
Song This is a slightly cheesy song but it has some potential. It may spark you to cre-ate you own move-ment song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO0nBf-U4OQ&feature=youtube
Book Highlight Caldecott Fun: Poems, Songs, and Games with Caldecott Winners Nancy Polette Publisher: ALA Editions Price: $12.00 Digital Download: PDF e-book format Year Published: 2013 The most prestigious award for chil-dren's book illustration in the U.S., the Caldecott Medal has been presented annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, since 1938. Polette has selected 40 of the most popular winners and assembled an exceptional array of activity sheets to use with the books to enrich classroom, afterschool, and storytime programs. Enhanced with whimsical illustrations by Paul Dillon, this resource includes word search puzzles, songs, story strips, fill-in-the-blank fun, arts and crafts projects, and other activities all tailored perfectly to the content of each award book. Available as a PDF, Caldecott Fun is easy to download, and ready to copy and use. Children’s librarians, teachers, and anyone doing programming for chil-dren in preschool through the elemen-tary grades will find this collection an invaluable and fun introduction to Caldecott Medal winners.
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Is Your Library Partnering
with a Local School? By Jennifer Peters, TAPE Executive Director. The Texas Association of Partners in Education (TAPE) is interested in school/library partnerships that emphasize enhancing student success. Examples might include a school and public library co-locating, or a school partner-ing with a nearby branch to provide programming to stu-dents, or a school district partnering with a local library system to develop shared services. There may be other kinds we haven’t considered! We’d like to know how TAPE and CTLS might work together to en-hance and promote these relationships. If you’re involved in an effort like this, please contact Jennifer Peters, Executive Director of TAPE, at [email protected] or 512-473-8377. TAPE recognizes outstanding partnerships at an awards banquet each January and in Soaring to New Heights in Education: Powerful Partnership Practices across the State of Texas, now in its fifth edition. We’d like to encourage school/library partnerships to submit a nomination for this year’s Education Part-nership Awards. The nominations period will open August 31, 2013 and nominations will be due at the end of October. Please visit http://www.tape.org/awards/application/ to learn more about the award cate-gories and nomination process.
Star Wars Reads Day October 5, 2013 Star Wars Reads Day, a day-long cel-ebration of literacy and Jedi, Sith, Wookiees, and all things Star Wars, is returning. Last year, 30 authors and 1,500 costumed volunteers participat-ed in over 1,200 Star Wars Reads Day events across North America. The Barnes and Nobles in Austin is the only Texas location that is con-firmed to have an Official Star Wars Reads Day author event. Bookstores and libraries that would like to host their own Star Wars Reads Day event on October 5 can post their event details on the official Star Wars Reads Day Facebook page. An official Star Wars event kit (free of charge), including repro-ducible activity sheets and trivia, will be available for download at starwars.com/reads. Stay tuned to StarWars.com for more on Star Wars Reads Day! To see if the 501st Legion and others are in your local area, visit: 501st Legion - http://www.501st.com/ Galactic Academy - http://www.galactic-academy.com/ Rebel Legion - http://www.rebellegion.com/
Craft Ideas
from Fairfield Library
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What’s Happening
Madison County
Library
Youth in Madisonville read Jack and the Beanstalk and made the “newspaper” trees from the Sum-mer Reading Program Workshop. They were a huge hit even with the older kids. The kids are even working in the recycled tire garden and helping to plant some Mexi-can Heather, Mexican Petunias, and Moss Rose. Thanks to Veron-ica Grooms for sharing these pho-tos with us
Helping West Middle School Library
Among the numerous agencies and churches providing assis-tance to the people of West following the fertilizer plant explo-sion in April, the two Presbyterian churches in Waco (First) and Woodway (Central) have taken on the project of re-establishing the campus library at West Middle School which was completely lost - calling it Recovery Through Reading. If you would like to contribute to this project, you may send your donation to: First Presbyterian Church 1100 Austin Ave. Waco, TX 76701 Make checks payable to First Presbyterian Church and note in the memo field - West Middle School Library. Thank you, James Karney of the Waco-McLennan County Library, for sharing this information with us.
New Braunfels Part of
Pilot Program
The New Braunfels Public Library par-ticipated in a pilot program with the Edge Initiative, an assessment pro-gram that provides libraries with benchmarks, best practices, tools and resources that support continuous improvement and reinvestment in public technology services. Gretchen Pruett, the library director at New Braunfels Public Library, participated in a webinar and is featured on Tech Soups blog. If you would like to hear more from Gretchen Pruett, please view this webinar recording from July 2013. Click here if you would like to read the article.
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The Greater Houston Puppetry Guild invites you to attend the
Annual Houston Puppetry Festival!
7 Clock hours for attending the Puppetry Festival! Date: Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013 Time: 8:30 am - 3:30 pm Held at: Cypress Creek Community Center 6823 Cypresswood Drive Spring, TX 77379 Seventeen Workshops, including:
Puppets: Another Teacher in the Classroom
Spoon Puppets
Writing Scripts for Puppet Ministry
Storytelling with Puppets
Creating Puppet Mascots
Stage Shadow Puppetry
Fun Puppet Skits for Schools and Libraries
Sock Puppets
Spongee Puppets
Creating Original Stories from the Heart
Let There Be Black Light
Anything Can Be a Puppet
Storytelling with Puppets for Little People
Punch and Judy
Entertaining Young Children with Puppetry
Overhead Projector Shadow Puppetry Plaster Bandage Puppet Professional Performances Puppetry Store of Books and Puppets Puppet Parade
Cost: Adults: $60. (fee includes all activities and lunch) Youth: $40. Group Rate: Bring 5 staff: get $10 off each! For Info: call 281-655-5347 or email: [email protected] www.marionetteplayhouse.com Registration is due by September 17th For a registration form go to
http://marionetteplayhouse.com FESTIVAL_FLYER_WITH_REGISTRATION.pdf
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CTLS Calendar of EventsCTLS Calendar of EventsCTLS Calendar of Events
CTLS, Inc.CTLS, Inc.CTLS, Inc.
Connecting Texas Libraries StatewideConnecting Texas Libraries StatewideConnecting Texas Libraries Statewide CTLS Staff Directory
Patricia Tuohy, Executive Director [email protected] Laurie Mahaffey, Deputy Director [email protected] Kim Lehman, Youth Services Specialist [email protected] Katelyn Patterson, Office Coordinator [email protected] Samantha Simpson, Vendor Program Mgr [email protected]
CTLS, Inc 5555 North Lamar Blvd, Suite L-115, Austin, TX 78751 Toll Free (800) 262 - 4431 Office (512) 583 - 0704 Fax (512) 583 - 0709
We look forward to hearing from you!
August 16, 2013 Giving Great Customer Service Dr. Eugene Clark Library, 217 S. Main St., Lockhart Time: 9 - 3:00 pm Register Here
September 20, 2013 CTLS Membership Meeting Pflugerville Public Library, 1008 West Pfluger St., Pflugerville Registration: 9:15-10 a.m. Meeting: 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Register Here
September 20, 2013 Susan Wittig Albert The Story of a Book: From Legacy to Author Published Pflugerville Public Library, 1008 West Pfluger St., Pflugerville Time: 1-3:30 p.m. Register Here
Register with the above links or go to www.ctls.net
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Giving Great Customer Service
Presented by Jennifer John Patterson
August 16, 2013
Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart
217 S. Main St.
512-398-3223
Time: 9 - 3:00 pm
4.5 Continuing Education Credit
This workshop is designed to strengthen library customer service
skills, while giving practical tips on how staff can protect themselves
in tense situations. We will discuss typical customer service expecta-
tions and work together to solve specific problems you face in your
library. We’ll learn and practice a communications model which will
help you work more confidently with problem patrons. Finally, we
will explore ways to win the loyalty and support of your entire com-
munity!
At the end of the workshop you will know:
1. How to respond to common customer problems and complaints
2. An effective method for working with difficult customers
3. Today’s customer expectations and what customers value
4. How to create true customer loyalty
Jennifer John Patterson started her career as a reference librarian for
Houston Public Library. She has worked as a Sales/service rep, a
school librarian, a Consultant for Texas State Library, a Branch Man-
ager for Austin Public Library, and a CE Specialist for CTLS.
To register go to: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/7477472321/rss
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