Quatrefoil Parkland Regional Library Spring 2015 - Issue 33

2 Director’s Desk

3 Looking Ahead

4 News & Notes

8 Consultants’ Corner

12 Library News

Inside This Issue:

A Few Highlights:

Banff re-joins Marigold Library System

CLA Re-Evaluates

ACQ: Acquiring, Correctly, Quickly

Most popular PRL requests for 2014

Best Practices for Alberta Wide Borrowing

Garden seed packets can be seen at local gardening centers, snow is melting, and a warm breeze is blowing through Alberta. It’s spring fever time! Bust out your light jackets and puddle jumpers. YALSA releases their picks for best YA fiction of 2015 on page

6

Make the most of the library’s resources by using the full potential of your strategic plan on page 8

Tips for creating engaging tween programming on page 9

Measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing on page 11

Didsbury Municipal Library patron invents a safety device using 3D printing on page 14

Sundre Public Library partners with Shell Canada for literacy project on page 15

Spring Ahead!

page 5

page 5

page 6

page 7

Page 16

PAGE 2

The Quatrefoil is a quarterly publication of: Parkland Regional Library 5404 56th Ave Lacombe, AB T4L 1G1 Phone: 403.782.3850 Fax: 403.782.4650 www.prl.ab.ca

Send submissions or comments to Meredith: communications @prl.ab.ca

Ron Sheppard, Director

Director’s Desk Highlights of projects and developments at Parkland and beyond

Network Support Technician

Parkland has not been able to fill the

position of Network Support Technician.

The position has been vacant for 8 months.

Two competitions have been held and two

people had accepted offers of

employment. However, both candidates

changed their minds and later declined the

position.

The position has been reposted and is

available on our website.

Appointment of New CEO for The Alberta

Library

Grant Chaney has been appointed as TAL's

new CEO starting March 2nd, 2015.

Grant comes to TAL with extensive

experience leading complex cross-

organizational initiatives. Most recently,

Grant was President of Strategic

Technology Initiatives, providing senior

management consulting services to clients

such as Alberta Enterprise and Advanced

Education. Grant served as Executive

Director of ApplyAlberta, a not-for-profit

organization that he established.

Grant served as Chief Technology Officer

for Alberta Innovation and Science, during

which time he led the development and

implementation of The Alberta SuperNet.

As an Assistant Deputy Minister with

Alberta Public Works he was responsible

for strategic planning, leadership, and

support of all cross government

information technology initiatives.

With this appointment, the TAL Executive

Committee is confident it will have the

leadership it needs to build on existing

strengths and develop in ways that will

ensure future sustainability and growth.

More Hoopla Funding From PLSB

On February 24, the Public Library Services

Branch announced it was providing an

additional $155,000 for hoopla for

Alberta’s public libraries. Parkland’s portion

of this amount is $12,000. We are very

grateful to the Government of Alberta for

their support of digital resources.

Annual Report Results

Next PRL Board Meeting:

May 14th, 2015 at 1 p.m.

Parkland Regional Library

Annual Report for PLSB

Items Ordered 29,741

Items Processed 38,212

Items Catalogued 40,484

Total Items in System

Catalogue

659,305

Number of Workshops Held 44

Attendance of Workshops 623

Board Training Sessions Held 20

Attendance of Board

Training

168

Total Interlibrary Loans 191,733

Total Circulation for the Region 1,210,346

Looking Ahead PAGE 3

Mark your calendar

Mar. 13 2015 Minister’s Award for Excellence & Innovation in Public Library Service - nominations due

16-19 Canada Reads debates on CBC

20 World Storytelling Day - 2015 theme: Wishes

23 Libraries Advisory Group meeting at Parkland (10am—3 pm) Afternoon Training: Grant Writing

23-27 PLA (Public Library Association) Leadership Academy—Charleston

Apr. National Poetry Month

12-18 National Volunteer Week

20 Spring PD Day at Parkland

22 Rocky Mountain Book Award announced

30-May 3 Alberta Library Conference - Jasper

May Public votes for Alberta Readers’ Choice Award winner

1 Taleblazers (Young Alberta Book Society) bookings open

2-9 Canadian Children’s Book Week

14 PRL Board Meeting at Parkland (1-3 pm)

15 Deadline for submissions to Summer Quatrefoil

Late May Commonwealth Writers’ Prize winners announced

28-31 Alberta Association of Library Technicians (AALT) Conference- Canmore

After listening to Paul McIntyre Royston speak about fundraising at

Parkland’s Fall Conference, I was inspired to create a ‘culture of giving’ at our

library. He had said that you need to make it not only rewarding but also fun

for people to give. He said that every little bit helps, and sometimes by pre-

senting small opportunities to give it can open the door to larger donations.

So I decided to start a fun and creative way to give patrons an opportunity to

give. I set up ‘Monthly Question Jars,’ encouraging patrons to pay for used

books and give donations via these jars. It has been a huge hit! Our daily

donations are way up, and people are chatting and having fun because of the

jars.

- Lauren Anne Reid, Coronation Memorial Library Manager

“

PAGE 4 News & Notes

Creating Awareness for Heart Health in February

In Parkland’s catalogue:

Beat the Heart Attack Gene: the Revolutionary Plan to Prevent Heart Disease, Stroke and Diabetes

(9781494520298-Hoopla) / Bradley Bale (2014)

The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up: a Breakthrough Medical Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

(9781455547135) / Steven Masley (2014)

The Healthy Heart Cookbook: Over 650 Recipes for Every Day and Every Occasion (9781579129255) / Joseph

C. Piscatella (2013)

Heart Health for Canadians: the Definitive Guide (9781443405027) / Beth L. Abramson (2013)

Mayo Clinic Heart for Life!: the Mayo Clinic Plan for Preventing and Conquering Heart Disease

(9781603202046) / Kevin Kaufman, editor (2012)

Heart 411: the Only Guide to Heart Health You'll Ever Need (9780307719904) /Marc Gillinov (2012)

Saving Women's Hearts: How You Can Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease with Natural and Conventional

Strategies (9780470678459) /Martha Gulati (2011)

And a few others as purchase suggestions:

The Heart Health Bible: The 5-Step Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (978-0738217185) / John M.

Kennedy (2014)

The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook: Over 125 Delicious, Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes

(9781583335581) / Ann Crile Esselstyne (2014)

The Whole Heart Solution: Halt Heart Disease Now with the Best Alternative and Traditional Medicine

(9781621451433) / Joel K. Kahn (2014)

Staff at Parkland recently dressed up

for Wear Red Day to raise aware-

ness for Women’s Heart Health.

PRL cataloguer, Norma-Jean

Colquhoun, has put together a list

of titles in our catalogue aimed at

heart health for all, as well as a list

of purchase suggestions. “These

aren't necessarily geared specifically

to women, but hey, we're all people

with hearts! “

this

her

News & Notes PAGE 5

Canadian Library Association Reevaluates

Banff Public Library joins Marigold Library System

The Banff Public Library is now a part of the Marigold Library System. By participating in the system, Banff

Public Library can expand its local services. They will now enjoy access to provincial resources and be part of

the Alberta Wide Borrowing resource-sharing network. For those of us that like to visit the mountain parks,

we will be able to access the Banff collection by registering with ME libraries.

From the Canadian Library Association Digest: A Proposed New Vision for our National Association

January 31, 2015. CLA Executive Committee met with upwards of 40 representatives from library associa-

tions across Canada to discuss the recent CLA Executive published concept paper, Canadian Library

Association: A Proposed New Vision for our National Association.

As noted in the paper, which was shared with CLA members on January 2, 2015, the first step after sharing

the paper was to discuss the proposed approach with the major library associations in the country to deter-

mine whether there was interest. This was the purpose of the January 31 meeting.

Two key themes that arose during the discussion were:

An agile and focused national voice for libraries and information rights in Canada is critical;

There was a willingness to continue to further explore the federated model for CLA, recognizing that the

direct membership model is no longer sustainable for our national association.

Over the next few months, CLA Executive Council will convene a working group of library association repre-

sentatives to further refine the proposal, articulating options for funding, membership options, and

governance structures. These ideas will then be shared back with the library association stakeholder group -

we are hoping for a meeting during the CLA 2015 conference.

News & Notes PAGE 6

D

In lost cart limbo?

When placing a Library Services Centre MARC order

you must create and name a cart first. Carts are invis-

ible in main cart list until you have added your first

item to it.

It is VERY important that you select your own cart

name from the drop down list before adding your

first item. If you logout and return to your ordering at

a later time you must again select your own cart from

the dropdown list before adding more titles to it.

Acquiring, Correctly, Quickly: Tips from Acquisitions

YALSA names 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults February 3, 2015 - The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association

(ALA), has announced its 2015 list of Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA). This year’s list of 58 books was selected from a

group of 113 official nominations.

The books, recommended for ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both quality literature and appeal to teens, while comprising

a wide range of genres, styles and subjects, including contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, horror, science fiction and

novels in verse. The full list can be found at http://www.ala.org/yalsa/best-fiction-young-adults.

The BFYA Committee has also created a Top Ten list from its final selections:

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.

Foley, Jessie Ann. The Carnival at Bray. Elephant Rock Books, 2014.

Fombelle, Timothee de. Vango. Candlewick Press, 2014.

Johnston, E.K. The Story of Owen Dragonslayer of Trondheim. Carolrhoda LAB, 2014.

Kiely, Brendan. The Gospel of Winter. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2014.

lockhart, e. We Were Liars. Delacorte Press, 2014.

Lu, Marie. The Young Elites. Penguin Group (USA)/G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2014.

Nelson, Jandy. I'll Give You the Sun. Penguin Group (USA)/Dial Books, 2014.

Ritter, William. Jackaby. Algonquin Books for Young Readers, 2014.

Whaley, John Corey. Noggin. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum Books, 2014.

“The 2015 list reflects the results of Committee members’ dedicated reading of hundreds of YA novels to formulate its final

list. It is also a reflection of both the splendid diversity of literature for young adults and the wide-ranging interests of teen

readers,” said Michael Cart, Chair of the BFYA Committee. “The titles range from a novel in verse about identical twin

brothers who are gifted basketball players to an imaginative novel about a boy who is revived five years after his head was

cryogenically frozen.”

You can contact your consultant at any time with questions

about or help with ordering

PAGE 7 News & Notes

Parkland’s Most Popular Titles in 2014 1. Gray Mountain: a novel / John Grisham

2. The Fault in Our Stars / John Green

3. Leaving time: a novel / Jodi Picoult

4. 12 Years a Slave

5. Philomena

6. Downton Abbey. Season 4

7. Personal / Lee Child

8. The Collector / Nora Roberts

9. Burn / James Patterson

10. Hope to Die / James Patterson

11. Heaven is for Real

12. Sycamore Row / John Grisham

13. Frozen

14. Unlucky 13 / James Patterson

15. Maleficent

16. The Invention of Wings / Sue Monk Kidd

17. A House in the Sky: a memoir / Amanda

Lindhout

18. Blood Magick / Nora Roberts

19. Captain America: the Winter Soldier

20. Game of thrones. The complete third season

The top book and film are

highlighted in the list and

photo collage. Films are

green font.

James Patterson was the

most popular author in

the Parkland system for

2014. Tied for second are

John Grisham and Nora

Roberts.

PAGE 8 Consultants’ Corner

By: Colleen Schalm, Manager of Consulting Services

A good strategic plan can elevate your library from reactive to proactive, from ineffectual to invaluable, when designed to respond to community needs. It is only after you’ve discovered the greatest needs of the commu-nity and determined which of those the library is equipped to meet, that you can set library priorities. Then, those library service priorities will drive program development and specific activities. But what happens when meeting community needs means adding new programs or new activities?

Public libraries have a history of adding new services as community needs change and as new technologies emerge. But this is not a practical approach to library management, particularly when available resources are not increasing. That’s the beauty and strength of the strategic planning approach. Strategic planning is not about continually adding services. It is based upon the idea that the library has finite resources and that those resources will be allocated to provide the programs and services that are best aligned with meeting communi-ty needs.

Modern public libraries have become very efficient, thanks in large part to existing technology. But increased efficiency is not the solution to doing more with less. As management leader Peter Drucker pointed out many years ago: Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. No amount of efficiency is go-ing to help us if we’re not putting adequate resources towards the activities we need to be doing to be effec-tive.

This idea leads us to the next conclusion, which is that sometimes we need to let go of activities we’ve done in the past and that don’t align with our current service priorities. Or, in the words of Scott Hanselman (program manager at Microsoft, author, blogger and speaker),

“Don’t worry, just drop the ball. Dropping the ball is sometimes the right answer. Tell people, [we’re] just not going to do that.”

To decide what can and should be dropped, try using Stephen Covey’s four quadrants for decision-making:

Think about what you need to be doing and when you need to do it. Decide which activities you are currently doing that could be done by others in the community – hence the importance of building partner-

ships and maintaining meaningful conversation with community stakeholders. And identify those activities that you don’t need to be doing: that nobody would miss if you stopped or that do not help you achieve your goals and your service priorities.

Service priorities offer a guide to allocating funds and maintaining staffing patterns for library activities. Sometimes, this means abandoning programs or services that no longer meet community needs. At other times, it may mean choosing not to pursue new programs or services that do not align with the library’s priorities, no matter how sexy or cutting edge these pro-grams may be.

Managerial decisions should be strongly tied to service priorities. When the library needs to reallocate funds or change service offerings, your stra-

tegic priorities will provide a framework by which to make those decisions. Establishing relationships and part-nerships with other stakeholders in the community will make it easier to let go of the things that no longer fit with your service priorities so that you can focus your resources on the essential services and programs that your community most needs from the public library.

On Letting Go: Focusing Resources on Service Priorities

PAGE 9 Consultants’ Corner

The Tween Scene By: Lindsay McFarlane, Consultant Librarian

Tweens, ranging in age from 10-14, are an important target group for library programming. As of the 2011 Federal Cen-

sus, the Parkland region serves over 13,000 tweens. Keeping up with tweens and their programming needs is an essential

step in sustaining them as lifelong library users.

Tweens are often interested in teen programs, but can also be attracted to offerings for children, especially if they’re

branded as “tween only” events. But engaging tweens in library programs where they feel safe, comfortable, and catered

to can be challenging.

Here are some steps to help get started with tween programming in your library:

1. Plan to serve tweens by including them as a target audience in the library’s next Plan of Service, especially if there are

a significant number of tweens in the community. By including tweens in the plan, the library will stay dedicated to offer-

ing services to this age group.

2. Schedule programs at appropriate times, by questioning tweens about where they could fit a library program into their

busy lives. Consider offering a tween program on the same day at the same time every month to help tweens (and their

parents) commit.

3. Engage tweens in social media. Upload photos taken during programs to the library’s Facebook and/or Twitter ac-

counts. Encourage tweens to get online (or onto their parents’ accounts if they are under the age of 13), follow the li-

brary, and tag themselves in photos. Be sure to post a public photography notice in the library two or three days before

the program. A sample notice you can edit for your programs is available at http://prl.ab.ca/snapshotday

4. Ask tweens what’s popular in their world and what they want to see from the library’s programs. Here are some fun

(and cheap!) ideas to jumpstart your planning:

Hunger Games Training Day: Tweens try their hands at archery with Nerf Bows and Arrows and camouflage using

face paints. They can also test their survival instincts in a Cornucopia Game. In The Hunger Games tributes gather

their survival supplies at the Cornucopia before heading out into the arena. For the game, tweens take turns run-

ning to the Cornucopia to grab survival items. Caution them to think about what they’d need to attack, to defend

themselves, and to help them survive. When all the tweens have their items, run through a games scenario and

give the tweens points for items that would help them along the way.*

Secret Agent Training: Tweens select a secret cover story and pick various disguise items to demonstrate their

cover story for the group to guess. Play a game of telephone using spy phrases, to practice whispering and eaves-

dropping skills. Practice spy agility through a laser maze (yarn strung at different heights and angles between ta-

bles and stacks) and a tunnel (collapsible crawling tube).*

5. Join listservs, like PUBYAC, for more program ideas to add to your repertoire. Registration is free; just visit http://www.pubyac.org/subscribe.html 6. Remember that not every program you run for tweens (or any age group) will be successful. Don’t be discouraged.

Question why the programs didn’t work (content, advertising, scheduling) and try something different the next time

around.

Adapted from “The Tween Scene: The ABCS of Library Programming for Ages 10-14” by Tiffany Balducci and Brianne Wil-

kins-Bester (Voya magazine, Vol. 37, Num. 2)

*Program ideas from “Developing Engaging Tween Programming on a Tight Budget” by Jessica Miller (Voya magazine,

Vol. 37, Num. 2)

Consultants’ Corner PAGE 10

10 Quick Tips for Library Advocacy

1. Stay informed on intellectual freedom issues because challenges to library materials happen everywhere .

2. Never underestimate the power of one individual to have a positive or negative impact.

3. Have clear, concise materials selection and Internet policies and procedures for handling complaints.

4. Follow those policies and procedures. Don't act in the heat of the moment; both sides benefit from a deliber-ate process that allows cooler heads to prevail.

5. Focus on defending access to materials, not the content of the materials.

6. Treat people with respect! Listen, clarify, and refer if necessary, offer alternatives, provide policy and form, and thank patrons for their feedback.

7. Use common sense and good judgment in deciding when and how to publicize issues and when working qui-etly behind the scenes will be more advantageous. When appropriate, tell your story (select one person to be the primary media contact); issue well-written, concise press releases; articulate your reasons, the process, and the library's policies.

8. Keep library staff, board of directors, governance authority, and community leaders informed.

9. Get help, mobilize supporters, seek help from community organizations, and form coalitions.

10. Start this work before a challenge happens!

By: Robert P. Doyle, Accessed through Illinois Library Association

Consultants’ Corner PAGE 11

Measuring Social Media’s Effectiveness By: Meredith Bratland, Communications Coordinator

Are you feeling overwhelmed maintaining your library’s social media accounts? At some point, I bet you have. It’s difficult to

find new, interesting articles to share on top of day-to-day library business and creating programs for your community. You may

have even asked if Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest is helping your marketing efforts at all.

That’s why monitoring and tracking your social media statistics is important. They offer feedback and a glimpse into the pro-

gress being made each month. The statistics contain insights that can be used to deliver service your community wants. By cre-

ating a strategy with goals and measurable actions, you easily monitor and deduce information—like a new age private eye

(without the camera and a trenchcoat).

Let’s break it down into steps and examine Parkland’s results in 2014.

Plan your Measurements

Ask yourself, what information do you need to know to make your social media pres-

ence more effective for patrons? Parkland needed some specific information to help

choose what content and networks to focus on. To find the answers, we chose to

gather statistics from our social media channels and ask questions to our audience

through an annual survey.

For our social media, we track followers/audience, shares, views, and engagement

such as comments, likes, pins, reach in an Excel spreadsheet. There is a template in

the Q: Drive that you can download and use for your library.

For our audience survey, we wanted to know what content they preferred, their fa-

vourite social media channel, how often they read our posts, and who they are. We conducted the survey using SurveyMonkey.

Goals with Specific Measurements

At the very beginning, you must set goals that can be measured.

Be specific and this will make evaluation much easier. I write drafts for the survey questions a year in advance so I don’t lose

sight of my original goal. For example, Parkland’s goal was to integrate social media with the website and/or catalogue, and we

aimed for 30% of public responses to say they discovered our social media channels through either.

Often we use qualitative and quantitative measurements to see if we met our goal. For instance, we wanted to create more

engagement on social media. We decided we would track engagement on our channels and ask users in our survey.

Regular Collection

I collect statistics on PRL’s social media channels once a month. They are all located in one excel document so I can easily scan

for sharp increases or decreases. Facebook statistics can be easily found under the ‘Insights’ tab on your library’s Page.

Keep in mind, when using Facebook, that you now have to pay to reach your entire audience. This is called ’Boosting.’ If

Facebook is one of your main social media channels, you may need to consider budgeting a bit of money to promote important

posts in order to effectively reach your audience, the community, and their networks.

Social Platform Yearly Total Monthly Average of Engagement

Facebook 1,246 likes, comments, shares 103 likes, comments, shares

Twitter 700 RTs, mentions 58 RTs, mentions

Pinterest 28,274 repins 4,551 likes 2,439 repins

YouTube 12,946 minutes watched 6,266 views

1,078 minutes 522 views

PAGE 12 Library News

Submitted by: Lori Trudeau, Forestburg

Public Library Manager

Parentlink and Forestburg Public Library

have a great partnership that’s making a

difference in the community.

Parentlink visits Forestburg Library twice

a month to provide an active and engag-

ing storytime, craft, and games session.

We have been working together now for

the last year, and it has become a part-

nership that our moms and tots have

grown to rely on for quality time spent

with books and friends. They are able to

access a number of resources at the

same time courtesy of Parentlink.

Kid'nection is a special event that has

evolved from that partnership with the

Forestburg Library. Lego Day is a tradi-

tionally well attended event that has

been hosted by the library over the last

couple of years, and so we are sure that

this fun evening will be a huge success.

The Alberta Father Involvement Initative

became involved by partnering with

Parentlink to bring the Kid’nection pro-

gram to the library. The main goal of

Kid’nection is to offer dads the same

opportunities that moms get through

traditional play programs, which they

aren’t normally able to attend for due to

work schedules. It isn’t a father/son pro-

gram, but rather, geared toward chil-

dren of both genders.

The program will be taking place on the

evening of March 23, 2015.

Forestburg Public Library Partners with ParentLink to

Promote Father Involvement

PAGE 13

Library News

The Importance of “Polarity Programming” in Libraries Submitted by: Nicole Bannick, Program Coordinator of Camrose Public Library

Libraries house broad collections in order to meet the needs of as many people as possible in our communi-

ties. Library programs should be as diverse as our collection because programs not only provide extension

activities for existing members, but often draw in our future library users. Camrose Public

Library has held two events this winter that showcase this polarity in programming: Family Literacy Day

and Be Your Own Valentine.

Every year on January 27, libraries,

schools, and other education organizations

host Family Literacy Day celebrations as a

fantastic and fun event to teach parents

and caregivers some simple ways they can

foster literacy in their every-day lives.

Again this year, we partnered with Cam-

rose Family Literacy and the Camrose ECD

Coalition for an evening of learning

through play, creativity, silliness, and song.

Camrose Family Literacy provided activi-

ties and information for parents with chil-

dren 6 and under, while we built story-

starter dioramas with parents and older

children. After a short spiel from partnership organizations, our 90 visitors were entertained by the magic

of Professor Cornelius Copperpot and the musical styling of the lovely Fairy Godmomma.

In contrast to Family Literacy Day, we hosted a very adult evening for ladies on February 6. This was our

third annual Be Your Own Valentine for

women aged 18+, and the turnout was fan-

tastic. 350 ladies gathered in our library for

an evening dedicated to the luxurious side

of life. The lower level of the library be-

came a mini spa with beverages, hand

massage, reiki, reflexology, demo facials

and hand scrubs provided by local practi-

tioners and vendors. The main floor held a

buffet of hors-d'oeuvres, a chocolate foun-

tain, door prizes, spots for conversation, a

photo booth, and vendors of adult prod-

ucts. We also had a large display of books

for loan from the 613.96 section of the non-

fiction collection.

These two programs couldn’t be more different in terms of content and target audience, but they are

equally important to our members, both as recreation and a means of education. Try something different

on; it might fit your community!

PAGE 14 Library News

Didsbury: 3D Printing Seatbelt Hack Submitted by: Nancy Blain of Didsbury, Alberta

I am so grateful for the chance to share my invention with you. I was born with a disa-

bility so I have had the challenge of adapting my world on countless occasions. A cou-

ple of years ago, I noticed it was getting more and more difficult to release my seatbelt

in my car.

I went through a myriad of 'solutions'. I tried the corner of a CD case. (They are not as

durable as you might think). Then, I started using the corner of my phone. It worked

well but it occurred to me that if I ever went off the road there is a high possibility my

phone would fall out of reach. Without my phone I would be trapped in my car! Not a

pleasant thought.

I wanted something that could be attached to my seatbelt, not a permanent feature

but something that could be the extension I needed.

Inez Kosinski, the Didsbury Public Library Manager, described to me some of the possi-

bilities that could be created with the 3D printer. She agreed that the 3D printer may

very well be able to make my idea a reality. My initial conversation with Nate, the Mak-

erSpace coordinator, was over the phone describing my idea. He diligently searched to

see if anything already existed. Having found none, he made some preliminary drawings based on my description.

We met, took some

measurements, I made some modifications to the design, and…

voila! My 'seatbelt hack’ was a success.

I don't think the amazing team at the Didsbury Library realizes the

magnitude of what they enabled me to create?! They very well may

have saved my life. I am so fortunate to have access to such

technology and the added gift of a team that thinks outside of the

ever limiting box.

I am so excited! Think of the possibilities of all the things I can

cre- ate to make my world easier!

I cannot wait!

Pictured left: Nancy’s

seatbelt hack in action!

Pictured above: Nancy Blain

Below: Nancy’s seatbelt invention.

PAGE 15 Library News

Shell Canada & Sundre Municipal Library: a funding success story

Submitted by: Jamie Syer, Sundre Library Manager

In our region, the oil and gas industry is a strong supporter of community projects of all kinds. Playgrounds,

hockey teams, seniors’ transportation, summer camps, arts and culture events … all have benefitted from this

source of funding.

Shell Canada has been an especially prominent donor, and so it was to Shell that we looked for funding to sup-

port our expanding literacy programs at the Library. Shell, in common with most other large corporations, now

has an funding application online; it was also very helpful that I have known their local community liaison officer

for many years, and was able to have a personal conversation with her about the Library, our needs, and Shell’s

own funding goals.

I was delighted to find that “literacy” fits well with Shell’s social investment activities, which are themed around

science, education, innovation and business skills. I learned that Shell would be especially attracted by Library

programs that increase the skills and competency of all members of our community: not only their current

workers, but future employees as well.

The program for which we applied is focused on early childhood literacy; it’s a team project between the Library

and our local Parent Link organization. The curriculum — “Rhyme & Rhythm” — is designed and delivered by our

Program Coordinator. We’re very fortunate to have, in Karen Tubb, a teacher with many years’ experience work-

ing with young children and their families. Shell awarded us $2,500, split between 2014 and 2015. We are using

this to support further program development (including extra staff time), materials, promotion and publicity,

and future planning. We are required (we’re eager, in fact) to report program statistics, evaluations and effec-

tiveness to Shell, and we are in the process of collecting this information from all those connected to the pro-

gram. Our measures of success will include numbers of participants; anecdotal comments from parents, teach-

ers, and others who’ve been involved; and increased circulation of our “Easy” books, our specially chosen

“Storyland Express” collections, and our literacy themed “Busy Bags.”

We are also planning a follow-up application, now that we know that Shell is willing to consider longer-range

multi-year projects. So we are now enlarging the scope of what we call “literacy”. We’re interested not only in

helping develop reading skills in young children, but more broadly, in thinking of anything that has to do with

growing a literate society. This includes numeracy, digital and media literacy, information and scientific literacy,

artistic literacy … the list is long, and we have lots of ideas!

Shell explains that “we work with communities in which we operate to identify issues and opportunities, seeking

to maximize the community benefits of our operations. Our goal is to initiate, establish and support pro-

grammes that are aligned with our business. Since 2000, Shell in Canada has invested more than $765 million in

a wide range of initiatives, concentrating our efforts in four main areas: Environment, Education, Employees

and Community. Our support of the Sundre Library Literacy Program, and others in and around Sundre, is an

example of how we can help bring and expand enrichment programs to the community. We are proud to be

able to contribute to the Sundre community.”

And at the Sundre Library, we’re glad to be part of the team.

PAGE 16 The Back Page

Alberta Wide Borrowing is in Full Swing: Have you seen ME at your library?

Alberta Wide Borrowing, also known as ME Libraries, is a service that allows public library patrons to register online with other public libraries throughout Alberta and then borrow physical items just like a local patron. What do library patrons need to know about ME? 1. They must be 18 or over to sign up online.

Patrons under 18 may be registered on-site by library staff, with a parent/guardian present.

2. They must have an email address and complete mailing address in their Horizon borrower record. ** The postal code must be entered correctly in Horizon with zero and capital “O” where appropriate. If the postal code is incorrect, a patron cannot register online. **

3. Once registered through ME, their Parkland library card (paper or plastic) will function at the other li-braries with whom they have registered. No need for additional barcodes or another card.

4. ME registration at other libraries expires at the same time as their Parkland borrower expiry. When they renew their PRL membership, they will need to renew their ME registration online with other libraries they use.

5. ME service does not extend to digital library content; patrons cannot access ebooks, online databases, etc.

6. They will still need a TAL card (e.g. the paper Parkland cards) to use academic or government libraries. What do library staff need to know about ME? 1. When a patron comes into your library with a non-PRL library card, scan their library barcode to see if

they are registered as a ME borrower in Horizon. If there is a patron record, simply check out the items they wish to borrow.

2. If there is not a patron record in Horizon, you have two options: A) you can help them register with Parkland through melibraries.ca; B) or you can create a ME borrower record for them directly in Horizon with btype=me and location=alap, and copy the barcode into the second_id field. 3. You can register a minor (under 18) directly in Horizon as a ME patron, as they will not be able to

register with Parkland using the ME Libraries website. 4. You never need to issue a ME patron a Parkland card (plastic or paper) and you do not need to put a

Parkland barcode on the patron’s home library card. 5. The “me” btype applies only to patrons visiting your library from non-Parkland communities. Parkland

patrons should never be registered as “me” in Horizon. 6. There is no such thing as a ME library card. The beauty of ME Libraries is that patrons can use their

home library card in public libraries across Alberta. Both the plastic and paper Parkland cards can be used to register with the ME Libraries service.

Got a question about ME? Contact your consultant. Or check out the ME Account page on our website.