Sara Kelly Johns, http://www.skj4ala.com

• Library Media Specialist, Lake Placid Central School District. Middle/High School (grades 6-12), September 1999-present, Supervisor of Elementary Library Media Program, September 1999-September 2001.
• Library Media Specialist, Beekmantown Middle /Senior High School, Library Media Center (grades 6-12), September 1972-June 1999
• Served on two public library boards (president of the Board of Trustees for one)
• Served on state-wide policy making commissions and committees for all library types

• Director of Libraries, Multnomah County, Portland, Oregon, 2003-2009
• Director, District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) and DC State Librarian, 1997-2003
• President, Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA), 2008-09
• ALA Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC), 1993-97 and 2000-02, (Chair 1996-97)

READS-TO-GO is pleased to announce that two more kits have been added to the program.  They are, Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, being hosted at the Nashua Public Library, and Still Alice by Lisa Genova, being hosted at the Fitzwilliam Town Library.

For more info about Marilyn, visit these sites:

• http://www.thisbookisoverdue.com
• http://www.marilynjohnson.net
• http://www.twitter.com/Marilynajohnson
  

• It’s a new event for librarians from communities of 3,000 or fewer residents.
• It’s being held on Friday, April 16th, 2010 from 9:30-3:00 at the Local Government Center in Concord, NH.
• The event is invite-only, at least until March 5th.
• Thanks to the financial support of the New Hampshire Library Association, the cost of the Summit will be limited to $10 per registrant.
  
• All of the panelists at the Summit will be limited to 5-10 minutes, and
• All of the presenters will be from libraries in small communities or will be intimately familiar with issues faced by these libraries.
  

Source: http://fwd4.me/CIQ and http://fwd4.me/CIP

Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, announced the goal to provide $100 million of USDA’s Community Facilities ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds for public libraries. The VT/NH jurisdiction will have at least $2.2 Million in funding to offer to libraries for capital projects such as buildings and equipment. There are many excellent outcomes when we support rural libraries:

• Rural libraries not only play a vital role in educating their patrons, they also enhance the economic vitality of a rural community.
• Rural business owners receive an array of information resources at the public library. The educational opportunities afforded create more productive employees for rural businesses.
• The construction or renovation projects for libraries create and save jobs in the construction and library service fields.
• A new or renovated library facility in a rural community can be a catalyst for renewing that community’s downtown area.
• Public libraries are culturally and technologically critical to the rural communities they serve.  Public libraries offer a host of state of the art communication services to rural residents that are often otherwise unavailable in their community.
• Libraries are often a rural community’s cultural center; offering public programming to adults and children.
• Public libraries are important to bridging the digital divide and improving the quality of life in rural America.

• Community served must be under 20,000 in population
• Contact your local RD office regarding grant eligible service areas. Please visit http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/vt/vtstaff.htm to find an office near you in VT or NH.
• Note: Grants range from 0-75% and require matching funds. Please visit http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/vt/vtnhcfgranteligibilty.htm to see if your community is eligible for grant assistance. Note: Loan and Loan guarantees are available to all communities of 20,000 or less in population.
• Both Public and Non-Profit Libraries who are open to the public may qualify.

Download the complete flyer here. If you tweet about this, please include @nhlibrarians

Today I attended orientation for ALA councilors. I got to hear from the current ALA President and ALA's executive director. I also learned more about my role as a councilor and what my life will be like for the next three days, (pretty much solid council meetings and forum discussions...and some receptions.)

The highlight for me today was sitting in the dead center of the second row of the grand ballroom where I got hear Al Gore give a riveting 75 minute talk about his new book on the environmental crisis which is written for children and young adults, (unlike An Inconvenient Truth.)

I would be remiss if I didn't mention a little something about the exhibits. As you might imagine, the major vendors put together truly luxurious displays, mini-auditoriums and meccas to draw you in, but I must confess, their actual sales people or reps often seem more interested in talking to each other than welcoming conference attendees. It would be like if you approached the welcome desk at your library and the handful of librarians at the desk were all wearing Armani suits and chuckling amongst themselves. I really don't get it!

I'll be uploading some photos I took today to our Flickr account, so feel free to take a look if you'd like, http://www.flickr.com/photos/nhlibrarians.

One last thing for tonight. I'm also doing some tweeting during the day. You can read my tweets at http://twitter.com/nhlibrarians. In one of my tweets today, I discussed my initial inclinations as to who to support in the current ALA presidential election.

I have heard that a public library just over the border in Massachusetts, is switching from the Dewey system to the BISAC system, which is currently used in book stores.  If you, like me, are not familiar with the BISAC system, check out the October 1, 2009 edition of Library Journal.  The cover story is titled, "The Dewey Dilemma" by Barbara Fister.  Has any NH library made the switch, or is considering it?  Thoughts?