This summer, the American Library Association is holding its big Annual Conference & Exhibition right here in the Midwest! Events will be held Friday, June 28-Monday, July 1 in Chicago. If you would like to attend all or part of the weekend but haven’t yet registered, note that advance registration ends on Friday, June 21 at 11:59 CST.

Book your spot now! Registration includes unlimited access to the exhibit hall and admission to top-notch panels, keynotes, and discussion forums in every library-related specialty. (Preconferences and certain ticketed events cost extra.) If you have never attended an ALA-sponsored, national-scale conference, the links below lead to information on various facets of the programming, and may help you determine if 2013 is the year you finally make the leap!

• Preconferences
• Exhibits/Exhibitors
• Speakers and Related Events
• Awards and Award Celebrations
• Book Buzz Theater
• ALA Film Program
• Networking ‘Un’commons
• ALA JobList Placement Center

If your Friends of the Library organization submitted an entry to the 2013 Evy Nordley Award contest, it’s clear that you are pleased with the work your group is doing for your library. In turn, are you equally pleased with the work your library is doing in and for the community? If the answer is a resounding YES, and you are represent a community of under 25,000 residents, consider nominating your branch or system for “Best Small Library in America”!

The annual ‘Best Small Library’ distinction is bestowed annually by Library Journal and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As the name suggests, its intent is to encourage and showcase the exemplary work of modestly-sized libraries. The winner will receive $20,000, a feature story in Library Journal, and a number of other perks.

Judging is based on a number of factors, including: creativity in developing and implementing replicable programming, availability of computers/Internet and tech support, sustained cooperation with other libraries, and evidence of the library’s long-standing value as a community center.

Entry is free, and anyone – staff or volunteer, Friend or patron – is encouraged to submit a nomination. For more information, including eligibility requirements, comprehensive judging criteria, and step-by-step nomination instructions, visit Library Journal online. All materials must be postmarked by October 14, 2013.

Library staff, like practitioners of many other trades, rely on national and regional professional conferences to drive their dynamic field forward. These conferences serve simultaneously as think tank, exhibition, idea sharing platform, and professional development tool. In short, something you want to be a part of. The inevitable downside, of course, is that these ventures can be quite pricey with registration, hotel stay, and transportation costs factored in – to say nothing of the opportunity cost of work not getting done at the office. Each year, the American Library Association offers something by way of a middle ground: the two-day summer ALA Virtual Conference.

The ALA Virtual Conference is just what it sounds like. Registrants, from the comfort of their home or office, simply log in to enjoy a host of keynote presentations, lectures on any number of library-related topics, and interactive conversation-based Web sessions.

This year’s event is slated for Wednesday, July 24 and Thursday, July 25. The cost is $70 for ALA members, and $80 for non-members. Alternatively, groups of up to 15 may register an equal number of IP addresses for the flat rate of $325 for members and $350 for non-members.

This year’s theme is “Mapping Transformation: Experimentation and Innovation.” Topics of particular interest to Friends of the Library will include – but are by no means limited to! – new directions for libraries vis-à-vis digital content; transformational community engagement tactics; best practices for community space utilization; “gamification” and “loud programming” in libraries; and, the popular and growing Little Free Libraries project.

Click here for more information, including a complete itinerary and list of presenters. Click here to jump straight to registration. 

Southeastern Libraries Coordinating (SELCO) invites Minnesota library staff, Friends, trustees and Board Members to kick off the summer together with a special day-long workshop in Rochester.

If you are available, please join keynote presenter Chris Olson, Director of MELSA and former Minnesota Library Association of Friends President, at SELCO Headquarters from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18.

The agenda is built around synergy. After a morning keynote, attendees will share with each other through a combination of idea sharing modules, planning discussions, and Q&As. All pertinent topics are eligible for discussion, from fundraising, to programming, to legal issues.

Because of the collaborative nature of “Sharing Between Friends,” participants are strongly encouraged to come prepared with one or two best practices or programs to share with the group.

Complete itinerary:

• Registration & Refreshments: 9:00-9:30 a.m.
• Keynote Presentation by Chris Olson: 9:30-11:30 a.m.
• Catered Lunch: 11:30-12:15 p.m. 
• Sharing of Best Practices and Programming Ideas: 12:15-2:15 p.m.
• Wrap-up, Q&As, and Small Group Planning Discussions: 2:15-3:00 p.m.

The workshop is free, but there is a $10 fee to cover the cost of lunch. (Registrants will be invoiced upon registration) Click here to register. Please do so by Friday, June 14. Can’t make it? Don’t worry! All program ideas will be recorded and posted to the SELCO website after the workshop.

SELCO is one of Minnesota's 12 regional public library systems. The membership is comprised of a federation of locally autonomous public libraries and 11 counties. This unique blend of rural and urban members presents challenges and surprises in meeting the diverse needs of the consortium members and the patrons served by the libraries.

Many of Minnesota’s most active and dynamic Friends of the Library groups are located in rural areas. This stands to reason. Smaller communities have at their disposal fewer public spaces and free-to-all resources than do their larger counterparts, lending the library a larger public presence. If you are from such a community and represent such a library, The Libri Foundation wants to help you with its popular and generous “Books for Children” grant program.

Since 1990, The Libri Foundation has worked directly with Friends groups to augment the selection of children’s books available to patrons at rural libraries. To date, it has donated over $5.25 million worth of new, hardcover children’s books to 3,000 libraries in all 50 states.

The process is simple. Your group, through a fundraiser or other means, is asked to put up between $50 and $350 for new children’s inventory. The Foundation then matches this sum at a two-to-one basis – capping out at $1,050, if you do the math.

The Foundation maintains a 700-title (and growing) booklist, from which each partnering Friends group picks an assortment of books. The selection is diverse, geared toward: general circulation; toddler, preschool, after-school, and summer reading programs; “book buddy” clubs; school projects; and, teacher curriculum support.

Grant eligibility requirements:

• Libraries should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and an active children's department. For grant purposes, “rural” is considered to be at least 30 miles from a city with a population over 40,000.
• Applications are accepted from independent libraries as well as libraries which are part of a county, regional, or cooperative library system. A library system may also apply if all the libraries in the system meet these requirements.
• Interested county libraries should serve a population under 16,000. Interested town libraries should serve a population under 10,000.
• Applications are accepted from school libraries only if they also serve as the public library (i.e. it is open to everyone in the community, has some summer hours, and there is no public library in town).
• Town libraries with total operating budgets over $150,000 and county libraries with total operating budgets over $350,000 are rarely given grants. The average total operating budget of a “Books for Children” grant recipient is less than $40,000.

Click here to learn more and to begin the online application process. Alternatively, to receive a paper application in the mail, please email your name and your library's name and mailing address to The Libri Foundation at libri@librifoundation.org.

Applications must be submitted or postmarked by Thursday, August 15, 2013.