NOYS: Teen's Top Ten Books

The voting results are in, and over 11,000 teens voted for this year's top 10 books in YALSA's annual Teen Top Ten event.

Paper Towns by John Green

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Identical by Ellen Hopkins

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Wake by Lisa McMann

Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

When you're trying to think of a good book to recommend to your patrons, suggest one of these since they are all “teen-tested and approved”.

NOYS: Tranquility FTW! (For The Win)

As you heard at the ALM, Tranquility led the way in boosting SRP participation this year with an 89% increase, from 44 participants in 2008 to 83 in 2009.
It was close this year - Ivy had an increase of 80%. Let’s hear it for the smaller branches!

Actually the total number of SRP participants dropped 16% from 12,415 in 2008 to 10,377 in 2009. These numbers are probably not accurate though since we only collected statistics online through Summer Reader, and if patrons did not return their registration slips, they were not counted.

Statistics are important, and not just because we'll have to do some guessing when calculating prize numbers next year. From the input we received from branch staff (and everyone involved) we know the SRP had more participants than our statistics show, but it will be more difficult to plan accurately for next year. Due to this issue and through popular demand, we will return to using the more accurate paper registration for next year and we will do our best to calculate how many logs/prizes/etc. we will truly need.

Thank you for your contributions and involvement in this popular program, and Congratulations again to Tranquility!

Have fun at your kick-off party in 2010!

NOYS: Teen Read Week 2009

Teen Read Week starts Sunday, October 18th and goes through Saturday, October 24th. To celebrate teens reading, ReadWatchListen (our teen website) is offering a special deal. Any Fresno County teen who reads a book and writes a review for it during Teen Read Week can get $2 deducted from their fines. Each review is good for $2.

Details can be found on our website here.

Youth Services will take care of posting all reviews and removing fines from library accounts.

What this means for you:

• Please spread the word to teens at your branch and help direct them to the review forms (online and paper—you can print this PDF if necessary).
• You should receive paper review forms in shipment in the next few days. Usually we require review submissions to be in online form but for this week only, we’ll accept the paper forms. Just make sure to send them to us in Youth Services as soon as possible.

Questions? Email or call Connie Urquhart at 488.3205. Thanks, and Happy Teen Read Week!

Fresno State Interns

Roberta Barton, Headquarters

The Public Information Office is fortunate to have two new interns this semester. Thalia Garcia and Alisha Vargas are public relations students helping the library with a variety of projects to earn community service hours and some hands-on promotion experience. Please join me in welcoming these two hard-working young ladies:

At 17 years of age and attending Fresno State University as freshman, there are very few opportunities granted to intern in a field such as PR (Public Relations) however, the Fresno County Library has allowed me the gateway to gain experience for my major in Mass Communications and Journalism, and for this I am utterly grateful. My name is Thalia Garcia and from an early age I have always known that my calling, my passion was writing. I am currently working on my own short novel with high hopes of having it published in the near future. I aspire to pursue a career as a journalist and in due time, become a prominent magazine editor and complete my goal to touch someone’s life with my creations. Although education is the most important priority in my life, I also have many hobbies outside of school which I absolutely enjoy.

Sports have dominated my life from a very young age and to this day I continue to practice them vigorously. From the age of 7 I have played soccer and upon reaching high school, nothing could please me more than to be recognized for my talent by being enlisted on the Varsity soccer team as a freshman. I continued that sport with fervor until my junior year, upon which I received 4 concussions and was forced to terminate my soccer career. Nevertheless, this tragedy allowed me to seek activity in other sports and so I have been enrolled in kickboxing as well as yoga and ballet, for the past two years.

Yet, I can honestly say that books are the most essential “beings” in my life. One can always find a book in my car, my purse, and hundreds in my room. I have created a personal library in my room, as a matter of fact, with many books ranging from different genres such as mysteries, westerns, suspense, and my personal favorites, romances. It is from these novels where I draw my motivation and interning in a library filled with thousands of wonderful adventures brings me sheer enjoyment. I look forward to learning a great deal in my time here at the Library and meeting new wonderful people who could further teach me and most importantly, inspire me to achieve my goals and reach my dreams.

My name is Alisha Vargas and I am an intern from CSU-Fresno. I am majoring in mass communications, with an option in public relations and may add a minor or certificate. I transferred from Fresno City as a business major and found a great home in public relations, which has offered a lot of much-needed career guidance.

Two of my passions are music and books. I learned to read at an early age and have been soaking up any book I can get my hands on ever since. I also love to attend live shows and my dream is to be a personal band manager (and/or promoter) in the music business.

This semester is proving to be a busy one, including being a full-time student, volunteering at the Fresno County library, as well as working as an intern with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and stepping on-board as a member of a student-run public relations firm on campus. It has been a whirlwind experience and I have been enjoying every moment of it.

I would like to thank the library and Roberta Barton for making me feel welcome and giving me the opportunity to gain some wonderful work experience.

Promotional Calendar Ideas

Roberta Barton, Headquarters

The library promotional calendar has been reformatted and will be reposted to the Intranet. In the meantime, here are some suggested promotional opportunities for the remainder of 2009:

National Authors' Day - November 1
Grand Opening of New Orange Cove Library - November 7
TBLB Open House - November 7
Opening of Berlin Wall - November 9
Veterans' Day - November 11
America Recycles Day - November 15

November is also Diabetes Month and American Indian Heritage Month

Hmong New Year - December 26 through January 2, 2010

December is also a great time to highlight our annual Gingerbread House programs and all the winter holiday celebrations plus topics like stress management and cooking/party planning.

Professional Library Collection Has Moved

Camille Turner, Woodward Park

The Professional Library collection that has been located on the second floor of Central is being integrated into the regular collection.

Today library staff has access to professional issues, trends, discussions, etc., through a variety of internet resources. We have library blogs and online training, full text periodicals and more.

When the Fresno County Library Professional Library was created it was the main source of professional development resources.

The majority of the Professional collection has been available to the general public through Valley cat, besides library staff, but it has had low circulation. These materials will be incorporated into the Central collection and therefore also be browsed and perhaps enjoy greater use.

The Professional library currently spends much of its budget on professional periodicals that are routed. Many of these are now online in full text with very developed websites. I include a few of the links below. Accessing them is much faster than being on a list for routed print copy. If you want to remove yourself from a routing list please email Gaoneng Lee at Central who handles the routing of Central magazines.

In the next months we will be evaluating all the titles purchased by Professional Library funds to see if we can reduce the purchase of paper subscriptions and spend more resources on electronic sources.

Read the current issue of Library Journal, School Library Journal and Booklist on their websites:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

http://www.libraryjournal.com/

http://www.booklistonline.com/

SJVLS Logo Contest

Jeff Crosby, SJVLS

It's not too late!

The staff of all SJVLS member libraries are invited to participate in a contest to design the new system logo. The current logo is a colorized version of a line graphic adopted 22 years ago. The SJVLS Administrative Council is interested in developing a new logo that can be used for brochures, posters, a new library card design, and the system web site.

Designs can be submitted electroncially or on paper. Electronic submissions should be made to jeffrey.crosby@sjvls.org. Please type System Logo in the Subject line. Hand-drawn submissions on paper should be sent to Jeff Crosby at SJVLS through the system delivery. If you submit on paper, please write your name and library on the back side of the submission—not the front. All submissions must be received in the system office by 5:00 on Friday, October 16. The designs will be submitted to a review committee who will submit the three best designs to the Administrative Council at its November meeting. If a design is selected, the winner will be acknowledged in the next issue of News & Clues. Below are the rules/guidelines for this contest:

• Each staff member can submit a maximum of two designs for the new logo.

• The design can be computer generated or hand drawn.

• The graphic must be able to incorporate well in a variety of uses, including brochures, posters, business cards, ValleyCat and the web page.

• The graphic should employ a maximum of three colors.

• The logo should still be distinguishable when photocopied or FAXed.

• The winning logo becomes the property of SJVLS.

If you have any questions, contact me through e-mail.

TBLB Goes Digital

Wendy Eisenberg, Talking Book Library

Here are longtime patron Michael and his wife Susan receiving a hands-on introduction from Senior Library Assistant Ivy L. Bennett to one of TBLB's new digital machines. Michael, 86, is a military veteran and an active member of our monthly Book Discussion Group. He has been using Talking Books for many decades, and has had 6,115 cassette books to date along with uncounted thousands of books on records and in Braille. He is a lover of military fiction, Westerns, mysteries, and many other kinds of books. We were pleased to include Michael among our first 25 digital machine recipients.

NOYS: Hello, Howard

Everyone please welcome Howard, the newest member of our team here in Youth Services. His arrival gives me the chance to revive an old feature here at NOYS: "I'll make you famous!"

Name - Howard A. Hamme
Title - Youth Services Librarian
Location - Central Library located in sunny, downtown Fresno!

What does a Youth Services Librarian do?
As a YS Librarian I get to go out to the schools and talk about how great the library is. Games, movies, BOOKS, homework help…all can be yours with the smartest card you will ever get a chance to get. I also go out on the daycare bookmobile reading stories to young kids. One thing I’ve learned thus far…Cosby was right, kids do say the darndest things. Other fun things include working on content for the children’s website and ordering children’s graphic novels and children’s video games.

What is your favorite thing about your job?
Co-workers, variety of tasks, talking to the kids about goofy and silly things.

What is something that people wouldn’t generally know about you?
I moved here from the east coast… grew up in south central PA, and lived in upstate NY for the past ten years. I graduated from Syracuse University with my Masters in Library and Information Science, having focused on archiving at various internship experiences. I’ve been married for 11 years. Two cats, Hal and Charlie, run our household as they see fit. I study aikido (still terrible at it), and I’ve been trying to create my own sitcom (called Stacks) about a busy urban library. Anyway, I like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, I’m not much into health food, but I am into champagne. My father and Bugs Bunny are the major influences in my life. Strange, but true. That’s all, folks!

So...if you see Howard out and about (or here at Central!), say "Hi!"

In the future, you (yes, YOU!) could be the next person NOYS makes famous. Keep an eye out for a remarkably nosey email from me, asking you to tell us about yourself...

Plant Give and Take at the 2009 Annual Library Meeting

Hi Everyone,


As part of the Annual Meeting we are hosting a Plant Give and Take. The idea is you bring cuttings, seeds, bulbs, plants that you have harvested from your garden or want to share and take what you need.

We will conduct this on the Terrace of the Woodward Park Library. There is an area that stays shady all day where you can leave fragile plants till the end of the Annual Meeting so they don’t have to sit in a hot car.

The Plant Give and Take will be at 12 noon right after the Master Gardener workshop “Recessionary Veggie Gardening Tactics for Survival”.

Anyone can participate in the Plant Give and Take – not just workshop participants.


J

Guidelines for Annual Library meeting Attendance

Hello Everyone,
Attendance requirements for attending the Annual Library Meeting in the past has been unclear. As a result, staff have taken vacation, illness days, etc. during the ALM. This year, the guidelines for the Annual Library Meeting is now clarified, so please review.

"The Annual Library Meeting is the one time during the year when all library staff gather for renewal, training and recognition of our collective contributions to Fresno County communities. In recent years, some staff have not attended the meeting due to vacation, a regularly scheduled day off, illness or other reason. Please review the following attendance guidelines that will be enforced for the 2009 Annual Library Meeting.

-The Annual Meeting is a work day and all permanent library employees (with few exceptions) are required to attend
-The meeting day is considered part of the regular work week. Supervisors will schedule another day off for employees who are normally off on Monday
-Full-time staff are required to attend the full day. Please check the ALM Blog on the Intranet for the schedule
-Permanent, part-time employees who work public service may attend the full day if authorized by their supervisor
-Permanent, part-time Library Aides and Maintenance staff are expected to attend the morning session only.
-Extra-help is not authorized to attend the 2009 Annual Meeting due to budget shortfalls
-Supervisors are required to monitor their employees' attendance during the meeting

Annual leave will not be approved (unless authorized by your Manager prior to the meeting)
Employees who call in sick may be asked by their supervisor to provide a doctors' statement upon returning to work if abuse of sick leave is suspected


Employees will be docked and subject to disciplinary action if they fail to attend and do not have an excused absence."

have a great day everyone and I'll see you at the ALM

J

Fit for Life Veggies

Sara Gibbs, Fowler


Peas, corn, red cabbage, and carrots were the craft materials of the preschool children at the Fowler Library on September 8th, after our “Fit for Life” Vegetable Story Time! We started off the story time with a magical tale about a girl who grows giant onions, carrots, and other vegetables that are so BIG they have to be cut down with a forklift in Scarlette Beane by Karen Wallace. Then we stretched, rhymed, sang and stirred some “Stone Soup” with our flannel board. Next, we cautiously went into the Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements, where a little boy squirms, wiggles, and curls his toes until he turns into a horrible vegetable monster when he eats a…gulp…PEA! But he discovers after actually eating one that maybe they aren’t SO bad. Next, we danced “In My Garden,” a fun song where we all dug, hoed, planted, picked, and ate peas along with Raffi from his album, “One Light, One Sun.” Finally, we ate the ENTIRE alphabet when we read Eating the Alphabet: Fruits& Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert. All of these vegetables made us so hungry that we decided to play with our food and make silly faces, flowers, and designs together! As you can see from Keizo Fleuridor’s amazing vegetable face! At the end, we passed out “Fit for Life” fun, educational learning kits with balls, colorings books, puzzles, and nutritional information for parents.

“Fit for Life is a new countywide bilingual initiative focusing on brain health for kids and teens which highlights nutrition, physical activity, socialization, mental stimulation – complexity, and mental stimulation – novelty.” Check out Fresno County Public Library’s event calendar for more “Fit for Life” activities at www.fresnolibrary.org!

SJVLS Public Awareness Campaign

Roberta Barton, Headquarters

A campaign raising the visibility of SJVLS launched in late September. The goal of the campaign is to remind the public that even in these tough times, their local libraries are open 24/7 to meet their entertain, information and research needs. The announcements are broadcasting on Valley Public Radio on Monday, Wednesday and Friday around the morning news and evening public affairs programs through January 2010. Tune into KVPR, FM 89.3!

Library LIVE!

Roberta Barton, Headquarters

Attention California librarians! Catch the Orange County Department of Education's monthly live, interactive broadcast of Library LIVE! The show launched in August and runs on the last Thursday of each month throughout the 2009-2010 school year.

You can connect TWO ways: through live web streaming AND through a video conferencing unit (e.g., Polycom or Tandberg). Each broadcast will have its own unique URL link (for web streaming) and IP address (for videoconferencing).

Each show targets school librarians, media specialists and technologists across the country, featuring news about the triumphs and challenges facing the 21st century community. However, this show is NOT just for teacher librarians. Segments will explore four "spheres of influence," including community (educational partners), curriculum (resources and best practices), legislation (state and national) and technology (trends and innovations). Each show will feature at least one interview with Q&A time.

To be a part of Library LIVE! experience and receive up-to-date program information, sign up at the Orange County Department of Education website. If you have questions or programming ideas, contact Glen Warren at gwarren@ocde.us.

Best of Story Writing Contest

Roberta Barton, Headquarters

The William Saryoan Society is proud to publish Best of the Best, a collection of winning stories from their annual story writing contest for students in grades one through college. The book is the final element in the Saroyan Centennial celebration.

The 23 stories cover 26 years of contest winners. Stories were selected by Rod Janzen, Ph.D., professor and resident scholar at Fresno Pacific University; Paul Kaser, retired professor of English at Reedley College; and Norma Kaser, a teacher of reading and English at Madera College Center. Copies were distributed to those included in the book, schools and libraries in the areas represented by the winners. Copies were not printed for sale, but the Saroyan board will consider making the book available for sale if there is demand.

The Society thanks member George Ollikkala whose support made publication of the book possible.

Annual Library Meeting Blood Drive

Hello Everyone,
The Central California Blood Center will have a mobile unit at the ALM for attendees that would like to donate blood. The process takes approximately a 1/2 hour and you can donate whenever you want, whether it is at lunch or during a workshop. Sign up with Camille Turner by emailing her here or you can decide to donate on the day of the ALM and check available space.

For more info on the Central California Blood Center can be found here.

J

Big Read: School Grant Applications

It's October 1st, which means the application period is now open for schools to participate in the Big Read. Teachers, school librarians, and book club advisors can request to participate in several different ways, all by filling out this quick application form.

January - March, Youth/Adult Services staff plan to visit middle and high schools. Here are the choices we offer:

Book Discussion: a discussion of the themes & ideas in Fahrenheit 451 and how they relate to our current society

Booktalk: a presentation of contemporary teen novels that are similar in theme to Fahrenheit 451.

The Inflammatory Institution: a presentation on the history of book banning, censorship, and libraries as targets of destruction

Meet Ray Bradbury: a presentation about Ray Bradbury, including an overview of his life, works and accomplishments

-OR-

Just the books: 3 copies of Fahrenheit 451 and 1 copy of Tim Hamilton’s graphic novel adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 for your school library

We will also provide all schools with Fahrenheit 451 lesson plans, reader's guides, and audio guides. Any school library can ask for the books; 25 classrooms or book clubs who submit the form will be awarded the books and visit from our staff.  Schools will be notified by November 2nd, 2009.

Please spread the word. Any questions can be directed to Youth Services Division at 488.3205. Thanks!