April 19, 2016

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Despite the dark cloud of the Illinois Budget Crisis hanging over all of our heads, it’s important for all of you to know that SHARE is still going strong, still working for and with our members to make sure we maintain expected levels of service, and we’re still adding new members to SHARE. At present, we have 480 full and transitional members, all of the DREAM grant dollars have been accounted for, and we have six more libraries that are interested in joining the largest library automation consortium in North America. Circulation numbers keep growing, the collection keeps getting bigger, and the number of patrons served continues to increase.

But we are also working at being very careful with SHARE expenditures. We continue to look for ways to decrease expenditures without decreasing service, as well as increase revenue from sources other than tax dollars. For example, the more members we have in SHARE, the more member fees we receive to fund this program.

We’re also taking a close look at all of the grant opportunities that we find--and are now posting on the IHLS website for you to take a close look at, as well. In the last six weeks, I’ve submitted three grants, and have only received one rejection notice so far. Because of the current economy, the competition for grant money has increased dramatically, so I wouldn’t be surprised if all three of them are rejected—they are all three federal grants, which increases the number of applications submitted. However, we are going to keep trying to win grants, we are going to keep moving forward, and now that we’ve accomplished becoming the largest library automation consortium in North America, we’re going to continue to strive to become the BEST library automation consortium in North America.

The IPLAR form has changed this year! As a result, Traci Edwards has updated the instructions for completing the report, and where to find the data you need. Here is a link to the updated information.

It’s that time of year again--i.e., every few months, since you all keep getting new employees--to remind everyone about the purpose of the SHARE listservs.

The SHARE listserv and the SHARE DirectorsAlert listserv are both for the purpose of disseminating information from SHARE staff to members. If a member sends a post to one of those lists, it will most likely get denied or ignored. You can sign up for the SHARE listserv on the IHLS website.

The SHARE Directors listserv is to be used for communications between SHARE directors—to ask questions, to share ideas, and so on. SHARE staff add members to the SHARE Directors listserv and the SHARE DirectorsAlert listserv, so that both remain a closed list for just SHARE library directors. Printers not working right? It would be best to post to the SHARE Directors list, since there aren’t any non-SHARE members on the list. Non-SHARE members really won’t care if the printers aren’t working, right?

But if you want to give something away, or ask for help finding a book, or are looking for information related to IHLS, then the Exchange listserv is the one you will want to post to. That list is served by anyone who wants to sign up for it, and the sign up is at the same link noted above.

There are other listservs you might be interested participating on, and those are posted on that same link.

Tuesday, April 19, 9 to 12—Book Cataloging, IHLS Edwardsville

Wednesday, April 20, 10 to 12—SHARE Finance/Policy Committee meeting, Effingham Public Library

Wednesday, April 20, 1 to 2—SHARE Chat about Circulation & Resource Sharing via Adobe Connect

Friday, April 22, 10 to 12—Autism Spectrum Disorder, via v-tel at IHLS Edwardsville, IHLS Champaign, IHLS DuQuoin, Illinois State Library, and Effingham Public Library

Friday, April 22, 9:30 to 12:30—Free Form Free for All, Rochester Public Library

Tuesday, April 26, 9 to 12—Introduction to Authority Records, IHLS Edwardsville

Tuesday, April 26, 1 to 4—Library of Congress Subject Headings, IHLS Edwardsville

Tuesday, April 26, 1 to 3—SHARE Circulation Forum, Edwardsville Public Library

Wednesday, April 27, 1 to 2—SHARE Chat about Cataloging, Barcoding, Serials & Record Sets via Adobe Connect

Thursday, April 28, 1 to 3—Metro-East Public Library Management meeting, East Alton Public Library District

Friday, April 29, 10 to 12—Autism Spectrum Disorder, via v-tel at IHLS Edwardsville, IHLS Champaign, IHLS DuQuoin, Illinois State Library, and Effingham Public Library

Wednesday, May 4, 10 to 12—SHARE Semi-Annual Member Meeting, via v-tel at Effingham Public Library, IHLS Champaign, IHLS Edwardsville, IHLS DuQuoin, Illinois State Library, Decatur Public Library, Gilman-Danforth District Library, Marion Carnegie Library, Olney Public Library, Morrison-Talbott Library, Rend Lake College

Please note that the draft agenda for this meeting is now posted on L2.

 

Be sure to sign up for events of interest to you on L2!

 

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