Student Writing Contests, A Summer Language Opportunity and Safe Schools

Yesterday I was interviewed by Doug Keel with SCETV Radio's Speaking of Schools about the Letters About Literature contest. You can listen to the podcast version at this link and the interview starts at the 6:20 mark.
Student Writing Contests, A Summer Language Opportunity and Safe Schools

Blind artists' work on display at State Library

Check out this video/news story about our student art gallery opening yesterday!

Blind artists' work on display at State Library: "The State Library unveils artwork created by visually impaired students."

The Lion's Roar - Grant and Funding Sources

Interested in learning more about the South Carolina State Library's grants and funding resources? Check out this quick video and then visit our web site to learn more!

The Lion's Roar - Talking Book Services

Know someone who is blind or visually impaired and would be interested in talking books delivered free to their home? Check out our talking book services program!

State Library’s Center for the Book Encourages Students to Write Letters

South Carolina State Library - State Library’s Center for the Book Encourages Students to Write Letters

Students can revisit their most powerful literary experiences through a contest that asks them to write a personal letter to an author and explain how his or her work changed their perspective on the world.

The national Letters About Literature competition is open to students in grades 4 through 12, and submissions are being accepted until December 10, 2010. The annual competition is sponsored by the South Carolina State Library’s Center for the Book and the South Carolina State Library Foundation in partnership with Target and the Library of Congress Center for the Book.
To enter, readers write a letter to an author, past or present, describing how that author’s work made an impact on their life. Contestants are cautioned not to summarize the book’s plot, but to express in an honest, conversational tone, how the book affected them.

The contest, which focuses on reader response and reflective writing, has three competition levels: Level 1 for students in grades 4-6; Level 2 for students in grades 7 and 8; and Level 3 for students in grades 9-12. State winners’ letters will also be judged to determine national winners and national honors winners. National winners will receive a $10,000 Letters About Literature Reading Promotion Grant for their library and national honors winners will receive a $1,000 Letters About Literature Reading Promotion Grant for their library.

To download the official entry guidelines, visit http://lettersaboutliterature.org.

The Lion's Roar - RSS Feeds

For this week's Lion's Roar I decided to show folks about our RSS feeds that we offer thorough the SC State Library. Let me know if you have any questions! :-)

2010 Friends of the Library Week Proclamation

2010 Friends of the Library Week Proclamation
Originally uploaded by South Carolina State Library

How important are South Carolina’s Libraries? How important are the Friends Groups made up of local volunteers who support them? According to the proclamation issued by Governor Sanford declaring October 17-23, 2010, Friends of the Library Week, they are very important.

Friends of South Carolina Libraries (FOSCL) is a statewide organization made up of volunteers with a great interest in keeping South Carolina’s libraries energized. FOSCL was founded in the late 1980's with the following objectives:
•To help foster and support local friends of the library groups, and to provide a means for these groups to work together for the betterment of library service in South Carolina.
•To promote wider knowledge and use of libraries as cultural and information centers for individuals and groups.
•To support improved library education in South Carolina.
•To support the Library Bill of Rights.

Governor’s Proclamation

WHEREAS,libraries are an essential part of the fabric of communities throughout the state and they link us to one another and to the ideas and events of yesterday, helping us prepare for tomorrow, and serving as a sanctuary in which we are free to read, write, and dream about events and ideas of the past, present and future; and

WHEREAS,libraries have become powerful equalizing forces in society where every visitor is welcome and knowledge is free to all regardless of personal wealth or position; and

WHEREAS,Friends of the Library groups energize libraries by enhancing their services and capabilities in communities across the Palmetto State; and

WHEREAS,Friends of the Library volunteers give their time and talents to sponsor recreational and educational programs for children and adults and organize book sales and other events to raise funds to meet special library needs.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mark Sanford, Governor of the Great State of South Carolina, do hereby proclaim October 17-23, 2010, as

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY WEEK

throughout the state and encourage all South Carolinians to support their local libraries and to recognize the Friends of South Carolina Libraries and all local Friends groups for their dedication to the Palmetto State.

Find out more about your library’s Friends group and support your library today! For more information about the Friends of South Carolina Libraries, visit www.foscl.org.

Reading Rooster READS The Crayon Box that Talked

Looking for a great storytime book? Watch this video till the very end :-) Enjoy!

Oconee County Public Library Staff Development Day

Yesterday I did a presentation at the Oconee County Public Library staff development day. I've been working through this presentation and think I finally have it they way i want it! :-) However, technology problems were crazy! Their county library operates in a very unique way - the county administration manages all of the library's IT. Needless to say, the Internet was down, an IT guy had to give me a small wifi thingie to give me internet access which was VERY slow. ..AND I was going to be showing YouTube and Vimeo videos. I ended up having to skip the IDEO video on The Future of the Book because of the internet speed but it can be found in the presentation below. I also was using one of their laptops that was so locked down that i couldn't even show youtube videos on full screen mode nor could I show my slideshare presentation on full screen and instead had to download it to that laptop just to get it on full screen... frustrating to say the least...

The library really needs to manage its OWN IT so that they can have control over what they do. They need to be able to hire their own IT person so they can do the things they want to and move forward on many different social media outlets. They really want to be able to do more with Twitter, YouTube, and other things. They have some great ideas for posting training videos, etc. However, because they cannot control their own IT, they are behind the curve. They really want to be able to do more but just can't and I could tell there is a lot of frustration among the staff about it...

We had a great brainstorming session after the presentaiton. Each group talked about what they want to be able to do with technology and social media.



Here are the high points of the brainstorming session:

• using YouTube to promote library services and provide training tutorials
• have multiple twitter accounts to communicate with patrons
• get more people involved with social media
• have a listserv or get a Constant Contact email marketing account
• use Flickr to post historical images
• have more control over the library's web presence
• have a manly book club for guys
• do a virtual book club
• create a blog that lists new library materials
• issues various types of press releases
• offer patrons the ability to sign up for a library card online
• use business cards to promote services
• and my favorite: find 5 things to stop doing that no longer work

Here is the presentation:

social media is changing libraries - how do you fit in?

View more presentations from Curtis Rogers.

THANK YOU again to the staff of the Oconee County Public Library for being so hospitable and for really putting a lot of thought into your brainstorming session!

The Lion's Roar - WorkSC.org

Here is our latest Lion's Roar about our WorkSC.org web site. Check it out and see how the SC State Library is helping libraries help people with workforce development.

YouTube Playlists

I don't know why I haven't played around with YouTube playlists before but they are simple and make for a great organizational tool! I made this playlist for The Lion's Roar.

Reading Rooster Recommends October 4 2010

Here is the latest Reading Rooster I produced. Watch till the end for outtakes! :-)