The theme for the 2013 ILA Annual Conference is Ignite!, with fire symbolizing the burning enthusiasm of our profession, the sparking and catching of ideas, and the untamed ambition of all those who seek to offer warm atmospheres, transforming ideas, and hot services to their communities. Illinois library employees are proud to be trailblazers, consistently striving to spark new ideas for serving the burning needs of our communities. Through kindled inspiration, connectivity and collaboration, we actively share our ideas, Ignite! the conversation and, in doing so, light a path for others.

The ILA Annual Conference Program Committee is seeking program proposals that focus on engaging your community, stimulating imagination, fostering creativity and ingenuity, sharing gifts and talents, and demonstrating leadership for libraries of every size and every type.  Whether you are an academic, special, school, or public librarian; a human resources, marketing, facilities, or law professional; or in a rural or city library serving a large or small population, we ask you to consider submitting a proposal.  Please consider collaborating and partnering with each other.

Become catalysts for the larger world-Ignite! and help others blaze the trail for the present and future of Illinois library services. Let your bright minds shine! Attend the 2013 ILA Annual Conference at Navy Pier in Chicago, October 15-17, 2013! We encourage you to put a firecracker in your back pocket and participate in Ignite! Meet a fire-starter or one of our beloved Illinois Library Luminaries.  Discuss the burning issues for libraries. Network and share what fires you up as a passionate library employee, trustee, or friend of the library world.  Set your dreams ablaze and spark innovation. Illuminate the way and by all means, light your fire!

Outcomes + Outreach = Outstanding Summer Reading Programs

ILA and the California Library Association will be presenting a preconference at the 2013 American Library Association Annual Conference.  It is scheduled on Friday, 28 June 2013, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  It is titled Outcomes + Outreach = Outstanding Summer Reading Programs.  The hands-on workshop will help summer reading programs stay vital and dynamic.   Participants will receive training in planning, presenting, and evaluating an outcomes-based summer reading program, including:

• the value of outcomes-based programming;
• the difference between outcomes and outputs;
• getting staff and administration on board with outcomes-based programming;
• conducting a community needs assessment and effective outreach to underserved communities;
• developing summer activities that are tailored to your outcomes;
• using surveys and focus groups effectively to evaluate the impact of your summer reading program; and
• making the most of your results to improve library service, promote the library to stakeholders, and generate funding.

Presenters

• Lori Easterwood, Programming and Partnerships Coordinator, Sacramento Public Library
• Helen Fisher, Library Director, Ontario, Calif. City Library
• Cindy Mediavilla, Library Programs Consultant, California State Library
• Eva Mitnick, Acting Manager of Youth Services, Los Angeles Public Library
• Virginia Walter, Outcomes Trainer and Consultant, and Professor Emerita, UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
• Michele Wyss, Youth Services Director, Forman Valley Public Library District, Manito, Ill.

The price of the preconference is $125.  To register, please click here. 
This list is arranged alphabetically by sponsoring organization and the ILA preconference is approximately half down the list. 

If your library is working with either active duty or veteran service members, ILA would like to know more about what you're doing and start sharing it with other libraries around the state.  This could be programs, partnerships, resources, collections, special services, or other outreach.  We're hoping to start calling attention to the topic in the April issue of the ILA Reporter and the deadline is fast approaching, please click here send any information to Chris Watkins, ILA Communications Consultant, at your earliest convenience.