[Publib] ARSL Annual Conference/WebJunction Connection

Tue Oct 9 21:14:06 EDT 2007

The Association for Rural and Small Libraries' 2007 Annual Conference was a very lively and successful one in Columbus, Ohio.  There were representatives from 28 states, Canada and the Philippines.  Several State and Regional Libraries provided financial support for their librarians to attend the conference.
Programming at the conference was in keeping with ARSL's mission statement:
The mission of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries is to provide a network of people and materials to support rural and small library staff, volunteers, and trustees to integrate the library thoroughly with the life and work of the community it serves. 
The first meeting of the expanded Board of Directors under the new member-approved Bylaws included strategic planning sessions to identify the Association's priorities and tasks for the coming year. BCR (of Denver) was hired to be the Association's fiscal agent and conference registrar, and it was decided to apply for affiliate status in the American Library Association.

A very exciting event at the conference was the announcement at the conference reception of the partnership agreement between WebJunction and ARSL for WJ to host an ARSL web site.  Details of that partnership are outlined in the press release below.

It was also announced that the next conference of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries will be held in California, Fall 2008.  Members are encouraged to submit program ideas for the next conference and to volunteer to present.

Updates and relevant documents will be posted on the new ARSL Wiki: http://arsl.pbwiki.com ( http://arsl.pbwiki.com/ ) 
Check out The Library Cheer to reinvigorate your psyche - thanks to California's Margaret Miles at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f0wfj3JBZg 

Please direct any questions and/or recommendations to:
Don Reynolds, ARSL President at Don.Reynolds at state.tn.us 

ARSL to collaborate with WebJunction

COLUMBUS, Ohio, USA, 29 September 2007 - The Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) is working with WebJunction to offer a vibrant new community on the Web to share best practices, research, ideas and discussion on issues most relevant to rural and small libraries.  The partnership was announced Wednesday, September 27th, during the ARSL Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio.
The developing online community <www.webjunction.org/arsl> combines content from the former ARSL Web site with the training, materials and community participation of library staff at WebJunction.  As part of the new community, ARSL contributed journals, newsletters and postings from its site to WebJunction, and will continue to provide regular webinars, updates and relevant advice to the community.  
"This partnership will help ARSL expand its reach, and help us in our efforts to become a national voice for rural and small libraries," said Ken Davenport, outgoing President of ARSL.  "We're very excited about this opportunity."
WebJunction is the online community for library staff to meet to share ideas, solve problems and develop their professional skills in order to help ensure relevant, sustainable libraries for every community.  The partnership with ARSL will help WebJunction continue to address the specific needs of rural and small libraries.
The WebJunction Rural Library Sustainability Project, a three-year workshop schedule with more than 6,000 library staff members involved in 42 states, was recently completed and all of the resources, best practices and discussions that have been developed and shared will now be combined on the WebJunction site with ARSL materials.
"WebJunction and ARSL working together is an important step forward in the effort to support and sustain a critical group of libraries," said Marilyn Mason, Executive Director of WebJunction.  "We are thrilled that this partnership with ARSL will help WebJunction continue to address the specific needs of staff at rural and small libraries."
About WebJunction
WebJunction is the online community for library staff to meet to share ideas, solve problems and develop their professional skills in order to help ensure relevant, vibrant, sustainable libraries for every community. WebJunction is supported in part by OCLC, grants from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, partners in state library agencies and other library service organizations, and by the library community itself.  Launched in 2002, WebJunction is based in Seattle, Washington. More information is available at www.webjunction.org ( http://www.webjunction.org/ ).
About the Association for Rural and Small Libraries
The mission of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries is to provide a network of people and materials to support rural and small library staff, volunteers, and trustees to integrate the library thoroughly with the life andwork of the community it serves. ARSL is an outgrowth of and works collaboratively with the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent and preservation services to 60,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories.  OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for finding library materials.  For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

Donald B. Reynolds, Jr.
President, Association for Rural and Small Libraries
Director, Nolichucky Regional Library
315 McCrary Drive
Morristown, Tennessee 37814
423.586.6251
423.586.7741 (fax)
Don.Reynolds at state.tn.us 
Further Information and Services:
http://noliwiki.pbwiki.com/ 
http://state.tn.us/tsla/regional/NRL/index.htm
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20071009/d57eed63/attachment.htm