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In This Issue
From the State Librarian
Courier System Pilot Slots Going Fast
HeritageQuest Now Available Via Library Barcode
Libraries Host VHC's First Wednesdays Lecture Series
Vermonters Enjoy Parks, Historic Sites Via Library Pass Program
Trustees, Friends Gather for Annual Conference
VT Librarians Promote Books as Gifts
VPR Explores Geographic Naming in VT
2016 Teen Video Challenge: Get in the Game: Read!
VTLIB Staff News
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topFrom the State Librarian
MartaReidVTStateLibrarian
I am writing this on the first day of Agricultural Literacy Week (November 16-21), sponsored by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), and designed as a time for Vermont citizens of all ages to learn more about our local farms and our farmers and foresters. The Department of Libraries is proud to be a partner in this effort and this week libraries across the state will celebrate with film showings, programs for children, and speakers on a variety of topics, including the history of local farm families. Full article 
Courier System Pilot Slots Going Fast  
GMLC logo The Green Mountain Library Consortium (GMLC) is partnering with the Vermont Department of Libraries (VTLIB) to create a courier system for Interlibrary Loan in Vermont. The pilot project for this system is slated to begin the week of January 18, 2016. The pilot project will go from January to July 2016 and will be limited to the first 100 Vermont public libraries and Vermont State College libraries that sign up. Following the pilot project, VTLIB plans to bid the delivery contract and continue the service for all Vermont public libraries and Vermont State College libraries that wish to sign up. Full article 
HeritageQuest Now Available
Via Library Barcode
HeritageQuest logo The Department of Libraries makes available to all Vermont citizens free access to the databases included in HeritageQuest, via their local public libraries. One of the largest collections of online genealogical and local history content available by remote access to library patrons, HeritageQuest can now be accessed online with a Vermont public library card barcode. This replaces the former access which required a login and password. Librarians and patrons can find their library's link to HeritageQuest on the Vermont Online Library page. Full article 
Libraries Host VHC's First Wednesdays
Lecture Series 
First Wednesdays brochure The fourteenth season of the Vermont Humanities Council's (VHC) First Wednesdays lecture series began last month at nine sites statewide. The series runs October through May at 7:00 pm on the first Wednesday of each month. A free lecture series that has set attendance records each of its last two seasons, First Wednesdays began in 2002 at Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. It has since grown to statewide status, offering regular free lifelong learning opportunities to thousands of people in Vermont communities. Talks often feature names recognized nationally -- even internationally -- in their fields, as well as expert scholars from around Vermont and New England. Full article 
Vermonters Enjoy Parks, Historic Sites
Via Library Pass Program
Griffith Lake 
Griffith Lake (Peru, VT)
Another summer has ended -- and 2015 saw  
one million visitors to Vermont's state parks. How many visitors were carrying their local library parks pass? The 130 libraries surveyed saw Vermont state park passes go out 2,512 times -- pretty good considering the short season. Historic sites passes hit 501 circulations this year -- an excellent increase, given the number of sites distant from public libraries. Full article 
Trustees, Friends Gather for Annual Conference 
More than a hundred public library trustees, Friends of the Library, and staff came together at Burlington's Main Street Landing on November 7 to learn skills and ideas for improving the public libraries of Vermont. The day's theme, Try Something New!, proved energizing - celebrating new programs and services created across the state. Full article 
VT Librarians Promote Books as Gifts
Last Bus to Wisdom cover This December Across the Fence, the longest running daily farm and home TV show in the country, features two Vermont librarians. Jennifer Murray, Director of the South Burlington Community Library, and Amy Howlett, Library Development Consultant at the Department of Libraries, will review gift giving suggestions for the holidays. The list of books is online at Books for the Holidays. Tune in to WCAX at 12:10 pm, Tuesday, December 1 to hear about favorite authors for adults like Ivan Doig and Deborah Crombie; funny books for kids like I'm My Own Dog and Bug in a Vacuum; or perhaps a good read aloud, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Check in with your local public library or independent book store for more personal recommendations, from the latest Vermont bestseller to a beloved classic.
VPR Explores Geographic Naming in VT
From Ticklenaked Pond to Mskaskek Brook, Vermont locales have a variety of distinctive monikers old and new. Ever wondered how these places and natural features got their names? The Geographic Naming Committee, a subcommittee of the Vermont Board of Libraries, holds the responsibility for geographic naming decisions in Vermont. On November 17, State Librarian Martha Reid and author Mark Bushnell were interviewed on Vermont Public Radio (VPR) about how the naming process works and the fascinating history of some Vermont place names. Visit the VPR website to hear a recording of this episode of Vermont Edition.
2016 Teen Video Challenge:
Get in the Game: Read! 
Get in the Game slogan Each year, the Vermont Department of Libraries and the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) sponsor a video making contest for Vermont teens. The teen slogan for summer 2016 is "Get in the Game: Read!" To promote reading, libraries, and the upcoming summer reading theme, 13- to 18-year-olds, individually or in teams, are invited to create a short Public Service Announcement. The winner of the Vermont challenge will receive $150 and his/her sponsoring library will be awarded prizes worth $50. Last year's winner was Ella Staats, representing the Fletcher Free Library (Burlington). Full article 
VTLIB Staff News:
Sammis Departs November 25 
Aidan Sammis Aidan Sammis has been a valued member of the Department of Libraries since 2012. He started out in the Special Services Unit and transitioned to the Children's Department in 2014. In addition to his regular work, Aidan also took over as editor of this newsletter. Aidan has been an essential member of the support staff and we will miss his phenomenal editing skills, eye for detail, and his quiet dedication to the department. Aidan has taken a job with the Writing for Children & Young Adults program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. We hope they appreciate him as much as we do! Good luck Aidan!

ONLY COMPLETE ARTICLES BEYOND THIS POINT
MartyFrom the Vermont State Librarian
I am writing this on the first day of Agricultural Literacy Week (November 16-21), sponsored by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), and designed as a time for Vermont citizens of all ages to learn more about our local farms and our farmers and foresters. The Department of Libraries is proud to be a partner in this effort and this week libraries across the state will celebrate with film showings, programs for children, and speakers on a variety of topics, including the history of local farm families.
 
Over the past several years there has been a heightened awareness and an avalanche of writing and filmmaking on the link between our health as individuals, families, and communities and our working landscape, food supply, and local farms. Readers have lots of opportunity to explore these connections with writers Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, Marion Nestle, and Barbara Kingsolver, among others. And this week's focus provides a good reason to read (or re-read) some of our most eloquent writers on agriculture and rural life, including Wes Jackson, Wendell Berry, Verlyn Klinkenborg, and David Kline.
 
Chuck Ross, Vermont's Secretary of Agriculture, said it well when he helped launch this year's Ag Literacy Week: "Today, less than 2% of our national population makes a living farming. That is why it is critical that we actively cultivate Ag Literacy -- to ensure future generations appreciate and understand where their food comes from." We are lucky to live in a state where we can easily connect with our farming neighbors via an abundance of farm tours, farmers markets, and CSAs. In Vermont our economy, the quality of our environment and water supply, and the beauty of our landscape all depend on sustainable agriculture. And with this comes the need for all of us to be "Ag literate" so that we can be informed and engaged in community and statewide conversations on topics as diverse as logging, alternative energy, open lands, animal production, climate change, and hunger.
 
I am the granddaughter of an Ohio dairy farmer, and when I lived in Connecticut back in the 80s and 90s I lived in a passive solar house heated with the sun and wood, and raised a spinner's flock of sheep. Though I now live in a decidedly non-farm neighborhood in South Burlington, my love for and appreciation of farming remain deep in my bones. So let me recommend to you a book I read last week -- happily discovered in the new book section of the South Burlington Community Library: The Shepherd's Life; Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape, by James Rebanks, a sheep farmer in England's Lake District. Books like this remind us that our farmers work hard, day in and day out, often living on the margin to provide us with the food we need to survive. They are the guardians of our landscape and the heart of our communities and their work today follows a farming tradition that has a long and rich history. Long may it be so.
 
Happy reading!
 
Marty Reid 

ILLCourier System Pilot Slots Going Fast 
The Green Mountain Library Consortium (GMLC) is partnering with the Vermont Department of Libraries (VTLIB) to create a courier system for Interlibrary Loan in Vermont. The pilot project for this system is slated to begin the week of January 18, 2016. The pilot project will go from January to July 2016 and will be limited to the first 100 Vermont public libraries and Vermont State College libraries that sign up. Following the pilot project, VTLIB plans to bid the delivery contract and continue the service for all Vermont public libraries and Vermont State College libraries that wish to sign up.
 
There are multiple advantages for libraries to sign up for the pilot: First, VTLIB will pay one half the cost of one delivery per week to the first 100 libraries that sign up for one full year. That's six months beyond the pilot project. With the cost of each stop set at $15.00, that means that the total cost of one stop will be reduced from $780 per year to just $390 per year for those first 100 libraries.
 
Second, GMLC members will receive a starter kit of a heavy duty bin and multiple transfer bags, paid for by GMLC. This is well over a $100 value, and could significantly reduce costs for participating libraries. With approximately 150 member libraries, it is likely that the majority of libraries eligible for this pilot are already part of GMLC.
 
Naturally, a new, highly anticipated project of this scale raises a lot of questions. Take a look at the GMLC website for quick, clear answers to many questions: http://www.gmlc.org/index.php/delivery-service. Most importantly, the Delivery Service Interest Form is also available on the GMLC site. This form should be completed and submitted by December 1 by libraries that would like to be part of this project.
 
GMLC and VTLIB held an in-person meeting and simultaneous webinar on November 5. That webinar is archived on YouTube. The recording offers more in-depth information, questions and answers, and conveys the feeling of the optimism surrounding this project.
 
For more information, please contact Lisa von Kann, GMLC Administrative Coordinator, [email protected], or Mara Siegel, Head of VTLIB Interlibrary Loan, [email protected].
 
As of this writing, 55 libraries have already signed up. If your library is interested, don't miss the boat! Go to the GMLC site and fill out the Delivery Service Interest Form.


VOLHeritageQuest Now Available Via Library Barcode
The Department of Libraries makes available to all Vermont citizens free access to the databases included in HeritageQuest, via their local public libraries. One of the largest collections of online genealogical and local history content available by remote access to library patrons, HeritageQuest can now be accessed online with a Vermont public library card barcode. This replaces the former access which required a login and password. Librarians and patrons can find their library's link to HeritageQuest on the Vermont Online Library page.
 
Now powered by Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest includes the following databases:
  • U.S. Federal Census data featuring the original images of every extant U.S. federal census, from 1790 through 1940, with every-name indexes for all years.
  • Genealogy and local history books and directories deliver more than 40,000 family histories, local histories, city directories, and other books.
  • Revolutionary War Records, containing original images from pension and bounty land warrant application files to identify more than 80,000 American Army, Navy, and Marine officers and enlisted men from the Revolutionary War era.
  • Freedman's Bank Records, with more than 480,000 names of bank applicants, their dependents, and heirs from 1865-1874, and full-page register views, offering valuable data that can provide important clues to tracing African American ancestors prior to and immediately after the U.S. Civil War.
  • U.S. Serial Set records the memorials, petitions, and private relief actions made to the U.S. Congress back to 1789, with a total of more than 480,000 pages of information.
  • Periodical Source Index (PERSI) Archive (1800-2009), published by the Allen County Public Library, containing more than 2.3 million records covering both English and French periodicals published around the world since 1800.
Libraries should watch for information from the Department of Libraries on steps required to make available this new -- and much easier -- access to HeritageQuest for their patrons. Patrons will be able to access HeritageQuest by both the login/password and barcode for the remainder of 2015. At the end of the year, the password access will no longer be available.
 

WedsLibraries Host VHC's First Wednesdays Lecture Series
The fourteenth season of the Vermont Humanities Council's (VHC) First Wednesdays lecture series began last month at nine sites statewide. The series runs October through May at 7:00 pm on the first Wednesday of each month. A free lecture series that has set attendance records each of its last two seasons, First Wednesdays began in 2002 at Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. It has since grown to statewide status, offering regular free lifelong learning opportunities to thousands of people in Vermont communities. Talks often feature names recognized nationally -- even internationally -- in their fields, as well as expert scholars from around Vermont and New England.
 
First Wednesdays offers not only compelling speakers and topics, but also the opportunity for the audience to engage the speaker during the question-and-answer period following each talk. This format is fundamental to the series and one of the reasons for its success.
 
The 2015-2016 First Wednesdays season features forty-five new talks. Several talks this season focus on the history of Latino Americans, including "The Legacy of Cesar Chavez" with author Ilan Stavans (Brattleboro, October 7) and "Today's Latino Writers: Making Great American Literature" with Middlebury professor Gloria Estela Gonzalez Zenteno (Montpelier, January 6). These talks are supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) as part of an NEH initiative, The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square.
 
First Wednesdays also recognizes in 2016 the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Pulitzer Prize with six talks, some by Pulitzer winners, such as New York Times chief Washington correspondent David Sanger with "The Future of Investigative Reporting" (Manchester, March 2) and Frontline writer Hedrick Smith with "Who Stole the American Dream?" (April 6, Montpelier). Boston College professor Heather Cox Richardson explores the life of the Prize's namesake with "Joseph Pulitzer and the American Republic" (May 4, Rutland).
 
A brochure (PDF) for the entire series is available online:
First Wednesdays takes place in Brattleboro (Brooks Memorial Library); Essex Junction (Brownell Library); Manchester (First Congregational Church, hosted by Manchester Community Library); Middlebury (Ilsley Public Library); Montpelier (Kellogg-Hubbard Library); Newport (Goodrich Memorial Library); Norwich (Norwich Congregational Church, hosted by Norwich Public Library and the Norwich Historical Society); Rutland (Rutland Free Library); and St. Johnsbury (St. Johnsbury Athenaeum). All talks take place at 7:00 p.m. and at the above sites unless otherwise noted.
 
VHC thanks the National Life Group Foundation and the Vermont Department of Libraries, the statewide supporters of First Wednesdays as well as the libraries and local businesses who support the program.
 
To learn more about First Wednesdays, visit www.vermonthumanities.org or call (802) 262-2626.
 

passesVermonters Enjoy Parks, Historic Sites Via Library Pass Program 
Another summer has ended -- and 2015 saw one million visitors to Vermont's state parks. How many visitors were carrying their local library parks pass? The 130 libraries surveyed saw Vermont state park passes go out 2,512 times -- pretty good considering the short season. Historic sites passes hit 501 circulations this year -- an excellent increase, given the number of sites distant from public libraries.
 
This parks pass program began in 2009. The Vermont Department of Libraries co-sponsors the program with the Department of Forests, Parks, & Recreation. When surveyed about pass use, library staff sent in thanks, numbers, and stories, below. The biggest story? Children, families, seniors, and relatives spent time outside enjoying Vermont's beauty. The local library made that happen.
  • We have many large, lower income families that request this pass helping them enjoy a state parks experience that they wouldn't otherwise be able to. I know they really look forward to borrowing this pass.
  • I have noticed this year that we have had a number of people come sign up for their library card because they heard about the passes! Cool! We buy an extra State Parks Pass because that one is so popular.
  • [The library knows] a family with 3 kids who had kind of a chaotic summer -- they were moving houses, difficult family situation, etc. They used the Parks Pass several times as a way of escaping it all and going to swim. I remember the mom telling me how grateful she was that we had the Parks Pass -- "It makes it so easy for us to just pick up and go. It's so easy to make the kids happy."
  • Our local nursing home borrowed the pass to take a group of residents to Crystal Beach for a summer picnic outing. They had...a wonderful day enjoying walking along the water, mingling with families and picnicking outside.

trusteesTrustees, Friends Gather for Annual Conference
More than a hundred public library trustees, Friends of the Library, and staff came together at Burlington's Main Street Landing on November 7 to learn skills and ideas for improving the public libraries of Vermont. The day's theme, Try Something New!, proved energizing - celebrating new programs and services created across the state.
 
The day began with a showcase of innovative STEAM programming (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math). The Charlotte Library has microscopes available after school; at the Rockingham Free Library girls write programming code; adults turn sound into jewelry using a 3D printer in Orwell; and the literary classic The Polar Express comes to life at the Highgate Public Library. Other programs explored building board capacity, intellectual freedom, and library partnerships.
 
University of Vermont professor Trina Magi helped trustees and staff dig into questions about library confidentiality, responding to legal requests, and understanding core values of public librarianship. Library Development Consultant Rob Geiszler helped Friends of the Library understand incorporation, liability, and the requirements for filing for 501(c)3 status. Library directors Rubi Simon (Burlington), Amy Olsen (Hyde Park) and Lara Keenan (Shelburne) shared their experiences with creating and nurturing successful partnerships that benefit both partners and the community.
 
Conference-goers commented on the mix of fun, inspiration, and learning. Participants welcomed the opportunity to connect with colleagues and discuss issues and concerns common to libraries throughout the state.
 
Many resources and presentations from the conference can be found on the Department of Libraries website at http://libraries.vermont.gov/VLTFA2015.
 

teen2016 Teen Video Challenge: Get in the Game: Read!
Each year, the Vermont Department of Libraries and the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) sponsor a video making contest for Vermont teens. The teen slogan for summer 2016 is "Get in the Game: Read!" To promote reading, libraries, and the upcoming summer reading theme, 13- to 18-year-olds, individually or in teams, are invited to create a short Public Service Announcement. The winner of the Vermont challenge will receive $150 and his/her sponsoring library will be awarded prizes worth $50. Last year's winner was Ella Staats, representing the Fletcher Free Library (Burlington).
 
Forms and information on how to enter the contest are available on the summer reading page of the Department of Libraries website. Winning videos from previous years can be viewed on the CSLP website. The deadline for submissions is March 4, 2016.

Informational packets about the 2016 summer reading program were mailed to all Vermont public libraries in November. Watch for more news about upcoming workshops and other opportunities throughout the winter! 
 


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