Please note this important legislative alert from the Illinois Library Association. The alert concerns Senate Bill 2784, sponsored by Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul (Democrat, 13th District-Chicago), which creates the “Internet Screening in Public Libraries Act”. A direct link to the legislation, which was introduced on January 30, is here: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2784&GAID=12&GA=98&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=78649&SessionID=85 The main objection to this…
Measuring What Matters to Stakeholders -Thursday, March 20, 2014
Join us Thursday, March 20, 2014, from 1:00pm-5:00pm for “Measuring What Matters to Stakeholders.” This continuing education session will be taught by Ruth Holst, Associate Director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region. Participants are eligible to receive 4 hours of Medical Library Association credit. This is a free session, but…
Conference Report – Linda Feinberg
I want to thank the scholarship committee for choosing me as one of the recipients of the Syed Maghrabi Scholarship. This enabled me to attend the meeting with less financial worries. The educational funds through my hospital are a lot harder to come by, as I’m sure everyone is aware and experiencing. Of immediate use…
Conference Report – Virginia Gale
The message I heard over and over again was technology in service of the library user and library staff. There is no substitute for knowing what your users want, but, as I’ve always said, we have to stay at least one step ahead of some our users and show others that technology has moved beyond…
Conference Report – Leslie Menz
Thank you so very much to the 2013 Syed Maghrabi Scholarship Committee for awarding me a scholarship to Midwest Chapter MLA 2013 Navigating a River of Information October 4 through October 8, 2013 in East Peoria, IL. It was an honor to be chosen. The conference was held on the banks of the Illinois River at the…
Illinois’ New Concealed-Carry Law
Hope everyone had a nice holiday. I’m sure many of you are aware that Illinois’ new concealed-carry law, which allows concealed carry by those individuals not deemed as posing a threat to the public, went into effect on January 1. As this article from the Springfield State Journal-Register notes, the law will not have much impact on…
Articles From ILA Newsletter of December 23, 2013
When you have a chance, please take a look at the following two articles from the latest edition of the Illinois Library Association’s newsletter. “For Illinois Senators, An Odd Public Friendship” This article discusses the unusual bipartisanship between Illinois’s U.S. Senators, Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk. (Such bipartisanship is uncommon in “split delegations”, or sets…
Grassroots Advocacy
The bumper sticker above was created by Susan Shelly and posted on MedLib-L. Another great suggestion from Dina McKelvy is: Does your doctor use a library? Don’t you think they should? Get the message out any way you can, hospital libraries are important!
Illinois Library Association Call for Proposals
The 2014 ILA Annual Conference will take place at the Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield, IL, on October 14 -16, 2014. They are now soliciting program proposals: Call for Proposals The 2014 ILA Annual Conference theme, Kickstarting Connections, Creativity, Community, focuses on how libraries align ideas, passion, and commitment to cultivate connections and create imaginative approaches, methods,…
Legislative update from ILA–2014 action agenda
When you have a chance, please take a look at the 2014 action agenda proposed by the Illinois Library Association. http://www.ila.org/advocacy/public-policy-initiatives These cover general issues and goals, rather than specific legislation. Also, note that there are currently no initiatives tailored specifically to hospital and medical libraries. (This point came up at the ILA conference back…