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State
Librarian of California,
Susan Hildreth
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Update from the State Librarian
We
have had a great spring as I hope you have as well. My last column
ended just before the Public
Library Association (PLA) Conference in Minneapolis. PLA
President and Californian Jan Sanders, PLA staff, and loads of
volunteers hosted a great event. For those who missed it, your
State Librarian went toe-to-toe with PLA’s hilarious closing
speaker, Paula Poundstone, who was interacting with the audience.
The library community is very lucky to have Paula as the
spokesperson for FOLUSA
(Friends of Libraries USA).
In
early April, I attended the groundbreaking for the North Natomas
Branch Library – an exciting collaboration of the public
library, the local school district and the local community
college. Though I primarily attend library openings, Natomas is in
our backyard (just 2 freeway exits from the Library and Courts
building!) so on a lovely spring day the entire Bond
Administration Office (formerly the Office of Library
Construction) team and I luckily joined local dignitaries for the
occasion. On April 4th, I was the featured speaker at a “Noon
Program” at the Auburn Library, one of my old haunts. I was very
glad that I was able to attend and see one of my mentors, Dorothy
Sanborn who sadly passed away on June 4th. After contributing so
much to Placer County, Dorothy went on after her library career to
teach junior high English in the Peace Corps in Thailand. She will
be missed.
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Senator
Dianne Feinstein (center) with Rosario Garza, Executive
Director, Metropolitan Cooperative Library System (seated) and
Jan Sanders, Director, Pasadena Public Library (at right) at
the Senator’s constituent breakfast during Federal
Legislative Day in Washington, DC.
[Photo courtesy Albert Tovar]
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Also
in April, I was a reviewer for Big
Read grant applications and participated in several conference
calls with other panelists to identify winning applications. I do
not review California applications but am proud to say that
nineteen California projects, including nine public libraries,
were funded. April 16th was California
Library Association Legislative Day, an event that lets us
welcome many library supporters to Sacramento. On this particular
“Leg Day,” my concerns that the Alzheimer’s group and the
victims’ rights advocates at the Capitol might overwhelm our
dedicated volunteers were for naught. Everyone worked, and
networked, with zest: it was just a normal day in Sacramento!
On
April 19th, I went to a tremendous event which marked a great day
for the city of Fontana, the grand opening of the Lewis Library
and Technology Center. On April 24th, I attended the annual trivia
spelling bee for the Stanislaus County Library Literacy Program in
Modesto. Even though hard economic times are upon Stanislaus
County, it was an upbeat occasion and the Stanislaus team kept
everyone on their spelling toes - many of the words stumped me and
I am a fairly good speller. I volunteered to be a judge next year!
On
April 27th, I had the honor and pleasure of addressing the first
cohort of the Eureka Executive Leadership Institute. The next day
I had to quickly move on to Salt Lake City for a meeting of the Western
Council of State Librarians (all twenty-two of us west of the
Mississippi) at the Salt Lake City Public Library. I had not
visited the new
library and was really impressed – please check it out if
you travel to Salt Lake City - it is worth it.
On
May 9th, I participated in the Library
Journal Design
Institute held at the San Francisco Public Library. Green was
the theme for this educational day, and I encourage everyone to
try to attend this exceptional event when it returns to the West
in the future. Soon after the Design Institute I moved onward to
Chicago where I attended a PLA Board meeting. I then made my way
to Washington DC for the Gates
Foundation’s meeting on broadband connectivity. Even though
the meeting was on Mother’s Day, the place was packed with state
librarians – a truly dedicated bunch! On May 13th and 14th I
joined the robust California delegation for Federal Legislative
Day. We had many formal stops on the hill but the highlight for me
was Senator Feinstein’s constituent breakfast. The Senator
graciously introduced the visiting librarians and someone in the
audience proceeded to complain about Orphan
Works legislation. Luckily for us, Jan Sanders, PLA President
and former ALA Legislative Committee Chair, rose to the occasion
and gave the Senator a primer on orphan works. Librarians to the
rescue!
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California
State Library, Stanley Mosk
Library and Courts Building.
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Also
in May, Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
staff was in northern California to promote funding opportunities
for libraries and museums. I attended the session in Sacramento
and California State Library staff provided information at
additional meetings. Don’t worry southern California – we have
advised IMLS that they need to make another journey to the West!
On May 29th I got up before dawn to participate in the kick-off
event for the Contra Costa County Library
a-Go-Go at the Pittsburgh-Bay Point Bay Area Rapid Transit
(BART) station. This book-lending machine in the path of busy
commuters is already doing a great business. There was so much
press coverage at the kick-off one would think no one had ever
borrowed a book! Partially funded by Library Services and
Technology Act (LSTA) funds, this convenient service provides
great visibility for the library. There is a similar installation
in Yuba County.
On
May 31st, several other colleagues and I attended a lovely
memorial service in Carmel for Vickey Johnson, former director of
the San Mateo County and Sunnyvale Libraries as well as staffer
extraordinaire at several other California libraries. Vickey
passed away in early May after a valiant struggle with cancer. She
was a 21st century library leader in the best sense of the word
and will be sorely missed.
I
was very pleased to join the retirement reception for Anna Tatar,
San Diego Public Library Director, on June 19th. Anna has been a
great leader, mentor and librarian and we wish her the best in her
retirement. With budget season in full swing June has already been
a busy month, and things will really gear up with the American
Library Association conference
in Anaheim.
More
to come on your State Librarian’s travels in the next issue.
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