May 14, 2010; #1713 In this issue: SRP makes a splash Belen hit with budget cuts Carlsbad gets bookmobile Stolen paintings, questions answered E-rate training Grants For Libraries workshop People notes Mrs. Felicia Rivera reads to the kids from Pojoaque Pueblo early childhood center. MAKE A SPLASH It s Summer Reading time! Youth Services librarians are geared up for another year when kids flood their libraries (the theme this year is Water ) and float away with the books. There ll be programs, and pirates, and a few Captain Hooks. The SRP kickoffs this year, coordinated by the New Mexico State Library, got off to a rousing start with kick-offs held at two libraries. On Wednesday, May 5, the Pueblo of Pojoaque Public Library graciously welcomed Mrs. Felicia Rivera, wife of Pueblo of Pojoaque Governor George Rivera. Mrs. Rivera is also the Director of Education at the Pueblo. She read stories to some 20 children who attend the early childhood center. The kids ranged in age from 2 to 5 years. Mrs. Rivera was ably assisted by Adam Becker, Youth Services Librarian at the Pojoaque Public Library, who led the group in read-alongs and sing-alongs. Mrs. Rivera selected to read from two popular children's books, Otis and Llama Red Pajama. The second kick-off, held on Monday, May 10, at the Rio Rancho Public Library, Esther Bone Memorial Library Branch starred Youth Services Librarians Vaunda Nelson and Lori Snyder who entertained over 40 children from Rio Rancho Elementary School with songs, dancing, magic tricks, and reading done in pirate costumes! Here are their lyrics to the songand-dance number:
Make a Splash (parody of New York New York) Start making a splash. Aarrggh! We re reading today. We want to be a part of it Sum-mer, Read-ing. These pirate patch eyes, are longing to stray Across the pages of a book Take us away! We want to hear some storytellers, music, too. Magic and dancers will do. How about you? These pirate ship blues, are melting away We re headed to the library Sum-mer Read-ing! If we can make it there, Matey, there s fun to spare! It s Fab-U-Lous Sum-mer Read-ing. Sum-mer Read-ing We want to sail into the world inside a book, Where we ll find Percy Jackson! Skippyjon Jones! -- Peter Pan battles the great Captain Hook! Start making a splash! Start reading today! Come on and be a part of it - Sum-mer Read-ing! If you can make it there, you ll find a treasure rare. Come Make a Splash Sum-mer Reading!
BRIEFINGS Send your news or stories that you would like to share with the library community to the HH editor, Robert Upton, at robert.upton@state.nm.us Lemonade from lemons. The Belen Public Library moved into its beautiful new facility in 2008, but now, in 2010, the City of Belen is facing a $3 million budget deficit. By applying budget cuts, the City has reduced its deficit to $500,000. Those cuts, however, deeply impact the services the City is able to provide, including the new library. The library lost 2.5 FTEs, but that translated into the loss of the Teen s, and Children s librarians, a cataloger, and a page, leaving behind a staff of four, including the director, Deborah Graham. The former Teen and Children s librarians will be paid with the support of the Friends of the Belen Public Library to come one day a week for six weeks during the summer to do library events. The library is open 25 hour per week, down from double that, 55 hours per week, before the cuts. The library staff is now responsible for cleaning the library, since the custodial contract was ended. It takes the staff five to six work hours per day to clean the 16,000 square feet of library space and requires closing the library in the mornings. This is really a traumatic experience for any working team, Graham acknowledged. But she and her staff are determined to meet the crisis creatively. I want the library to be a place to go where it s not sad. There were about 200 jobs lost [in Belen] when the Solo cup plant closed. There are stores closing and the city is really hurting. The Library is considering various responses to the cutbacks and exploring new partnerships. The Masons felt so bad for the library, Graham said, that this year they donated seven bicycles for the Summer Reading prizes instead of the usual three. Another idea is to offer the use of the Library for literacy library birthday parties, and to create a volunteer group who will go around town to shop for grocery prices for the best deals, then charge the stores to advertise on the Library s website. The Development Staff at the New Mexico State Library has already heard of other libraries faced with similar problems in these difficult times. Stay tuned for more about how librarians are responding to challenges. Where the old bookmobiles go. The New Mexico State Library, with its three bookmobile offices to bring library services to areas without libraries, replaces its well-traveled but serviceable vehicles at regular intervals. What happens to the buses that have been retired? Here s the story of one of those vehicles. In 2007 the Rural Bookmobile Program based in Cimarron that serves the northeastern quadrant of New Mexico was replaced. Replaced, but not retired. The vehicle is 10 years old, but has a great deal of life remaining. The life span of bookmobiles is anywhere from 15-20 years with as many as 300,000 miles. It now belongs to the Carlsbad Public Library.
According to a news story in the Current-Argus, Route closure brings bookmobile to city posted April 28, by staff writer Valerie Cranston, Carlsbad Public Library Director Cassandra Arnold was in Santa Fe to attend Library Legislation Day. It was February and had been snowing all day, but she took a look at the parked Cimarron bookmobile and was impressed. She decided to learn how the library might go about purchasing it. The answer was 2006 New Mexico State General Obligation bond funds. When we went to get it at the end of March in Santa Fe, she said, Joy Poole, Deputy State Librarian, gave us a 45-minute practice driving course. And as a bonus all the books currently in the bookmobile came free from the state. The bookmobile will not have a set route. After a new paint job to announce where its new home, the bus will start fulfilling new duties as community outreach for the library. Plans are to take it to the schools, possibly the nursing homes, and even venues such as the farmers' market. The outside it will read Carlsbad Public Library and possibly have a mural with a 3-D look, Cassandra said. Right now we have some people we hand deliver books to at the nursing homes. This way we can reach out to everybody and get out into the community and share what the library has to offer. Once the bookmobile is painted and ready to schedule visits, the plan is that the book collection will reflect specific interests of the different venues. For example, when visiting at the farmers' market, it will be loaded with gardening books and possibly cookbooks. We're excited, and wherever there is an event, the library will be there, she said. Cold, folksongs, and stolen paintings; questions answered. It was cold in Korea in the winters of 1950 and 1951! And what do African-American folksongs have to do with a painting stolen by the Nazis? A New Mexico filmmaker needed to do some historical research on African-American soldiers during and after World War II. Jaenet Guggenheim, of Santa Fe, is making a film entitled, Great Danes. It s the story of a painting stolen by the Nazis in WWII, and of how the painting changes hands over time, with several successive stories involving multiple characters in the movie. In working out details about the players in this drama, Ms. Guggenheim turned to the Southwest Reference desk at the New Mexico State Library to find information about African-American folk songs and also to determine what kinds of winter uniforms would have been worn by American troops just after WWII (early 1950s). Southwest Librarian Faith Yoman was able to find both print and Internet resources to answer Jaenet s questions. Some books from the Southwest Collection which proved helpful were: Life Flows on in Endless Song, by Robert Wells, and Follow de Drinkin Gou d, edited by J. Frank Dobie. A recent acquisition, Lift Every Voice: The History of African American Music, by Burton W. Peretti, also has very good information about the history and cultural context of African-American music.
Additional resources were found in the Federal Documents Collection, including many illustrations of U.S. Army uniforms through the years, as well as a book entitled, Black Soldiers, White Army: The 24 th Infantry Regiment in Korea (similar uniforms) by William T. Bowers et al. Ms. Guggenheim expects to complete her film project by winter of 2011. We look forward to seeing the final production. New Mexico State Library reference librarians are always willing to assist libraries in New Mexico with research questions when they are short of time or resources. Call the Interlibrary Reference Hotline Number (for use by libraries only) at 1-800-876-2203 for assistance. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays. Or email the New Mexico State Library Reference Desk at reference@state.nm.us. HH notes. The Hitchhiker is about you and your libraries. We depend on you to let us know what is going on at your libraries, and what you like or don t like about the content of the newsletter. Please help by reminding others to send their email addresses so we can notify them each time a new issue is available. Send your news and announcements, and also new and corrected email addresses to robert.upton@state.nm.us ANNOUNCEMENTS Send event and training announcements for the library community to the HH editor, Robert Upton, at robert.upton@state.nm.us E-Rate training. Because of a number of requests for additional training following the training session held in Rio Rancho on May 6, EQC Technologies will hold an on-site E-Rate training session in Santa Fe at the New Mexico State Library on Wednesday, May 26. EQC Technologies is a local company which is an E-Rate provider. A number of librarians have expressed interest in E-Rate funding due to economic pressures on budgets. This is a good opportunity to get a better understanding of the process for applying for E-Rate and how to go about doing it. Feedback from those who have already attended this training was that it was well worth it a lot of good information and a note book to take home. Please contact EQC Technologies at (505) 944-1060 or etraining@eqconsulting.com to register for the May 26 E-Rate training and to get further details. There is no charge for the training and no obligation when you attend the training. Please note that seating is limited. Also, if you would like regional training, please let EQC Technologies know. They are considering regional training if there is enough interest.
Grants for Libraries workshop. In response to your requests and to address the tough economic times libraries are facing, the New Mexico State Library has just the workshop for you! The Grants for Libraries Workshop, presented by Pam MacKellar and Stephanie Gerding, will be held on Friday, June 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the New Mexico State Library, Piñon Room - 2027. Grants can support the changing needs in your community while your library budget is flat or shrinking. We'll discuss how to plan successful grant projects; find library funding sources, including grants for beginners; research grant opportunities; and prepare winning proposals. Designed for public library directors or anyone who works in or is connected with a public library, you will learn what you need to do to be successful while gaining new insights, skills, and a renewed sense of confidence in your abilities, mission and value. This workshop will be motivating, fun, easy to understand, and full of valuable tips and proven success stories. Discover the Grant Process Cycle, which explains the basics of ongoing grant work. The State Library is pleased to offer this free grants workshop. Pam MacKellar and Stephanie Gerding co-authored the successful book, Grants for Libraries: A How-To-It Manual for Librarians, and they write the Library Grants Blog (http://librarygrants.blogspot.com), which lists grant announcements for libraries in one easy-to-access location. They are currently working on a new book, Winning Grants: A Multimedia How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, forthcoming this fall. They are nationally known trainers and have been involved in all aspects of grant work, working as grant reviewers, proposal writers, and grant project administrators. Registration is required. Please go to the State Library website - http://www.nmstatelibrary.org/index.php - to register. Registration closes on Monday, June 7, at 5 p.m. Confirmation will be sent after registration closes. If you need confirmation earlier, or for additional information, please contact Eleanor Bernau, Continuing Education Coordinator, eleanor.bernau@state.nm.us or 1-800-340-3890. Lunch is on your own from 12-1:30. We d like to know. Has something you ve seen or read in the Hitchhiker in the last six months or so been of use or helped your library in some way? We d like to know If it has, please drop a line to the HH editor, Robert Upton, robert.upton@state.nm.us. PEOPLE NOTES Send announcements of new personnel, changes, achievements, and retirements in your library to the HH editor, Robert Upton, at robert.upton@state.nm.us New Mexico State University Library employee Kristina Martinez recently received the 2010 Carl Faubion Outstanding Library Staff Employee of the Year Award in a ceremony at Zuhl Library. Martinez, the Library's Development Officer, was honored for her
accomplishments with the development program. Library Dean Elizabeth Titus said, She has infused our development program with energy and enthusiasm, and has led or contributed significantly to strategic projects. She has explored and implemented new and creative fundraising events. She has made the Library a model for donor stewardship, and her genuine appreciation for the Library and its staff have attracted a positive response despite a decidedly negative economic climate. The Carl Faubion Award is presented annually to an exempt or non-exempt NMSU Library employee who exemplifies excellence in customer service, exceptional contributions to the library, innovation, and creative thinking in problem solving, or contributions which have reduced operating costs or resulted in administrative efficiencies. JOBS Please send your job announcements to the HH editor, Robert Upton, at robert.upton@state.nm.us. There is no charge for this service to the library community. There are no positions currently advertised. Watch this space in upcoming issues of the Hitchhiker for job announcements in libraries statewide.