No. 110 (2008, September) (PDF File, 2.9
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NEWSLETTER Number 110 August 2008 40th Annual Meeting Shelly Kilroy greeted Wikis Work! attendees and Frederic Meijer Gardens introduced David “Wikis Work for Libraries (Even Hooker, who also Botanical)” was the title of the & Sculpture Park welcomed the group. preconference workshop held on Grand Rapids, Michigan Mr. Hooker then and Wednesday morning, June 4, at the invited CBHL Grand Rapids Public Library. GRPL Shelly Kilroy, Librarian members to ask him librarians Asante Cain, Kelly Helder, and David Hooker, CIO BARNEY LIPSCOMB questions. As a result Rebecca Near, along with information David Hooker, CIO we learned, among systems technician Kolene Allen, were Frederic Meijer other things, that the the presenters. In lieu of the typical Gardens & handouts, each attendee was given a nifty Sculpture Park 132-acre garden, founded in 1995, bookmark printed with the workshop attracted 500,000 title and the Web address for the content visitors last year and online: http://www.grpl.org/wikis_work. currently has 17,400 A note to those who could not attend members. this session: it was a gem. You can access —Stanley Johnston the presentations and take the training Curator of Rare Books right from the URL. Save it; use it; enjoy The Holden Arboretum it; impress your organization; and—most Kirtland, Ohio of all—liberate yourself from your tether to the IT department! Woo-hoo! (More on this later.) continued on page 3 The American Horse by Nina Akamu From the President Leora Siegel Director, Lenhardt Library Chicago Botanic Garden Glencoe, Illinois Hello all, I’m just back from a thoroughly informative and enjoyable grocery store, two of our member libraries, the National 40th annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shelly Kilroy Agricultural Library (NAL) and the U.S. National Arboretum outdid herself as our host, seeing to each and every detail, library, are facing severe federal budget cuts in the upcoming leaving CBHL attendees focused on the speakers, forums, and budget cycle. For NAL, the cuts could curtail all interlibrary the beautiful Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. Thank loans and close the special collections department. At the you, Shelly! National Arboretum, the education department, of which the At our closing banquet on the shore of Lake Michigan, library is a part, faces complete shutdown. accompanied by a picture-perfect sunset, came high wind, rain, Because libraries are not revenue-generating departments, and a menacing water spout, but we enjoyed the scenic views advocacy is always an essential tool. It can be even more despite the weather. John and Judy Reed took us on a walk important in times of diminished funding. I encourage down memory lane with letters from former members and everyone to be an advocate and contact your legislators on reminiscences of previous meetings, starting with the founding behalf of the NAL and National Arboretum. Letter writing via in 1969. The stories and memories were exciting and wonderful U.S. mail is not recommended due to continuing screening. to hear, especially all the stories about the 1992 Columbus, E-mail or fax is best. If you’re not familiar with the process, start Ohio, meeting. by going to the ALA Web site (http://www.ala.org) and click on With a wiki training workshop and the Steering Committee Take Action. Type in your ZIP code and the Capwiz software wiki already in place, this was the wiki meeting. Plans are in will find your legislators and set up a template for you to e-mail place for the Steering Committee to meet several times in the them directly. It’s that easy! Legislators need to hear from their upcoming year, via conference call or webinar, to enable agenda constituents; a few people expressing the same opinion can items to be acted upon throughout the year. I encourage all make all the difference. committees to start using wikis. Need help? Gayle Bradbeer is Wishing everyone a wonderful summer! the “go-to” person. Best regards, While we’re all feeling the pinch at the gas station and Leora IN THIS ISSUE: 40th Annual Meeting by Stanley Johnston . .1 Wikis Work! by Deb Golanty . .1 From the President by Leora Siegel . .2 Getting Connected: Marketing Libraries by Leora Siegel . .3 2008 Literature Awards and Long Award of Extraordinary Merit . .4 Solo (or Two-Person) Marketing in a Horticultural or Botanical Library by Barbara Pitschel . .5 Librarians Can Gasp with Excitement by Sue Swisher . .5 Tour of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park by Patricia Jonas . .6 Sunset Banquet at Michillinda Lodge by Susan Eubank . .7 Minutes of the 40th Annual Meeting . .8–10 2008-2009 Board of Directors . .10 Board Meeting Minutes . .11 Postconference Tour by Judith Reed . .12 CBHL Lite by David Lane . .12 Book Review by Kathy Allen . .13 Calendar of Upcoming Events by Rita Hassert . .13 Member News compiled by Barbara Pitschel and Janet Evans . .14–18 Retiree News compiled by Judith Reed . .19 On the Web by Stanley Johnston . .19 Join us! . .20 2August 2008 Number 110 CBHL Newsletter Getting Connected: Marketing Libraries On Thursday morning, June 5, we financial resources libraries need. Get were captivated by Jenny Shangraw’s out of your comfort zone and attend BARNEY LIPSCOMB enthusiastic and exuberant marketing your regional economic club to meet talk, “Getting Connected.” Jenny, who interesting people and talk up your refers to herself as a “cybrarian” (the library and needs (and don’t forget coolest name for a librarian), stated to wear your name tag). Jenny writes a unequivocally that librarians are “must read” newsletter for her clients, extremely smart and have awesome creating a mechanism to get her skills. (No one in the audience message out. disagreed!) Librarians are experts in Specifically for botanic garden many areas, but when we are among libraries, she suggested creating a one- ourselves, we don’t give ourselves enough page document, with color pictures, on credit, a trend in need of reversal. the weeds of your zone to hand out She explained to us why it is to library users. Additionally, she important to market our libraries, using proposed writing kids’ books on examples from her own career and her watching flowers grow. current work in West Michigan at The In summary, marketing of libraries Right Place, a regional nonprofit is something that is needed and we all economic development organization. must do. Her recommendations for us were —Leora Siegel, Director Jenny Shangraw, Cybrarian, many and include reaching out to your Lenhardt Library The Right Place, Inc. business community, as they have the Chicago Botanic Garden Glencoe, Illinois Wikis Work! continued from page 1 stellar presentation, it’s likely there will effort to add new or correct current The presentation addressed three be another boom among botanical and content. Does this sound familiar to major questions: horticultural libraries. anyone else? •What are wikis and how did they Take a typical scenario, like ours at By contrast, wikis are Web-based and develop? Denver Botanic Gardens. Our marketing easy to edit. Staff—including all of us •Why are wikis so great for libraries? department has just unveiled a new site librarians—can update their own pages •Which wiki software is best for me? (http://www.botanicgardens.org), anywhere, anytime, directly! The syntax Wikis, it turns out, are more than developed over months of long days and is simple; you don’t need to know Wikipedia; they are a primary tool for late nights in cooperation with an HTML. If you can use Microsoft Word, collaboration on the Web and part of a outside vendor. We love it; it’s gorgeous. we were informed, you can create and larger, recent movement toward open But all updates, changes, and corrections easily maintain a wiki. source technologies. In fact, since 2003, funnel through one staff person working Most important, using wikis really the number of wiki Web sites has grown with our vendor. While there are still engages our communities because it at an exponential rate—and now that areas under construction, maintenance is decentralizes Web content. At the same CBHLers have been exposed to this an enormous task. It takes time and time, levels of control can be built in so that edits can be reviewed before they are added. Responsibility for maintaining a wiki can easily be spread among staff. In our Helen Fowler Library, I envision a “wiki week” for each of us to take the duty. BARNEY LIPSCOMB Applications? Booklists and research guides, committee collaborations, and professional development—fabulous examples abound on the GRPL site. The whiz team at GRPL took small groups of us through several hands-on exercises using the various software options that demonstrated just how simple this is. It sure made a believer out of me; in fact, I’m just about to try my hand at one. You should too! —Deb Golanty, Senior Librarian Helen Fowler Library Denver Botanic Gardens Wikis workshop instructors Kolene Allen, Kelly Helder, Rebecca Near, and Asante Cain. Denver, Colorado CBHL Newsletter Number 110 August 2008 3 Order Out of Chaos and Encyclopedia of Garden Ferns Sue Olsen’s Encyclopedia of Garden Ferns won CBHL’s award in the Win 2008 CBHL Literature Awards general interest category. An internationally comprehensive Order Out of Chaos: Linnean Plant Names and Their Types by reference to almost 1,000 ferns, most Charlie Jarvis (Linnean Society of London in association with of which are shown in color the Natural History Museum, London, 2007) and Encyclopedia photographs, the book includes of Garden Ferns by Sue Olson (Timber Press, 2007) have won history and taxonomy as well as the 2008 Annual Literature Awards from The Council on cultivation and propagation Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.