C J R L C  UPDATE

Preparing Your Library for Transition:
Planned or Unplanned
September 27-28, 2005
Vincentian Renewal Center

    Part of a leader’s job is to prepare his/her organization for a change in leadership. Don Crocker and Barbara Miller of the Support Center for Non-profits will lead a short retreat at the Vincentian Center in Plainsboro on September 27 and 28, 2005, to help us think through the process.

    The program is part of the leadership training series planned by CJRLC and supported by the New Jersey State Library with state and federal LSTA funding. We will gather at 1:00 PM on Tuesday and adjourn by 3:00 PM on Wednesday. Lodging, breakfast and lunch on Wednesday are included in the $60 fee. We will have dinner in Princeton on Tuesday night, which is not included in the cost.

    A registration form will be on our website.

Highlights from CJRLC’s Membership Meeting

    On May 25, CJRLC members gathered at the beautiful newly renovated Middletown Township Public Library for our Spring Membership Meeting. Tours were provided by the staff and Director Susan O’Neal welcomed us as she told how the choices made during the renovation changed the way Middletown provides services to its customers.

    Renee Swartz, Leslie Burger, and the OceanFirst Foundation were honored for their support of libraries. CJRLC President Ingrid Bruck presented highlights of our year and Treasurer Karen Topham explained the budget which was passed. State Librarian Norma Blake gave a summary of the State Library’s accomplishments, and NJLA Director Pat Tumulty reviewed NJLA’s activities. Judi Tolchin, Monmouth County Library, will provide pictures for the web site. Thanks, Judi!

Phyllis’ Fabulous Finds for June/July

Absolute Shakespeare
http://www.absoluteshakespeare.com/

The Atoms Family
http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/

Avibase -The World Bird Database
http://www.bsc-eoc.org/
avibase/avibase.jsp
Bird Links to the World
http://www.bsc-eoc.org/links/links.jsp

Discover Shakespeare
http://www.folger.edu/
template.cfm?cid=865
Shakespeare for Kids
http://www.folger.edu/
template.cfm?cid=588

History Teacher.net
http://www.historyteacher.
net/index.htm

Jazz Age Culture
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/
~knichols/jazzage.html

Kay E. Vandergrift’s Children’s Literature
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/

The Norton Anthology of American Literature
http://www.wwnorton.com/naal/

SportsFigures
http://sportsfigures.espn.
com/sportsfigures/

TerraFly
http://terrafly.fiu.edu/

WildWorld
http://www.nationalgeographic.
com/wildworld/
WildWorld - Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
wildworld/terrestrial.html

The World Art Image Database
http://worldart.sjsu.edu/

World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
history/war/wwtwo/

Editor’s Note: To subscribe to an email list of selected daily websites,
5 days/week, email Phyllis above.

    The Distance Learning matrix on our BecomeALibrarian web site has been updated with current information.

    Once again we’re offering a deep discount for Wilson Biographies Plus. This is a great tool for student research, with extensive information from Current Biography and other sources. Go to www.cjrlc.org, click on the Discounts tab, and scroll down to H.W. Wilson to see the details.

    There’s still room in several of our workshops for June: Book Repair with Kim Avagliano at Monmouth County Library HQ in Manalapan on June 8th from 10:00 -1:00; and a Reference Skills Refresher and Database Training class at CJRLC on June 9th. Call the office to register.

    The next CJILL meeting will be at the CJRLC office, June 14 from 10:00 - 12:00. Staff involved with interlibrary loan at any library will benefit from the exchange of ideas and information.
    At this meeting, Paula Asch, from Palinet, will talk about OCLC’s new interlibrary loan module First Search and answer questions.
    RSVP to chair Linda Silverstein at 732-571-4405.

Getting to Know Karen Messick

    It’s hard to say goodbye to someone who’s contributed so much to youth services in New Jersey, but we’ll have to do just that when Karen Messick retires from LBH at the end of June.

    Karen discovered library work when her husband was a Naval officer and she worked at the base library. When he was at sea, working there inspired her to go to library school at Drexel.

    She was inspired by her Drexel courses in children’s services and worked in the children’s departments at several branches of the Philadelphia Free Library, eventually working in collection development for children’s services in the central library.

    Karen left the Free Library to move to bucolic Bucks County, where gardening and raising chickens occupied her time for a while. An offer to catalog Pearl S. Buck’s book collection brought her back into the library world. This was followed by 13 years at Merck, where she enjoyed the special library world until the advent of computers reduced the amount of customer interaction.

    She began to look around, and found a job at the Library for the Blind and Handicapped, first as coordinator for the 150 volunteers for the Audiovision service. As a former speech and drama major, she felt right at home. Since 1993, she’s happily been the head of Youth Services at LBH, where she’s enjoyed helping connect children and teens with literature while setting an example for Youth Services librarians around NJ.

Good luck in your retirement, Karen — we will miss you!

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