Lincoln Trail Libraries System

C O N N E C T I O N S

March/April 2005 • Volume 28 No. 2

the rules committee. Visit

New Illinois
State Library
Director
Announced
Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse
White recently named Anne Craig as the
new Director of the Illinois State Library.
Craig, 43, has been employed with the State
Library since 1989 and served as Associate
Director for Library Automation
Technology before being named as Director.
Craig replaces Jean Wilkins, who retired as
Director in December. Chief Deputy Director
Mike Ragen, who has served as Acting
Director since Wilkins' retirement, will remain
as Chief Deputy Director. During her tenure
at the State Library, Anne served as
Coordinator of Public Services,
ILLINET/OCLC Network Coordinator, and
Reference Librarian. Prior to joining the
State Library, she worked at Founders
Memorial Library at Northern Illinois
University. Best of luck to Anne in her new
position, and thanks to Mike Ragen for doing
a terrific job as Acting Director.
On the
Legislative
Front
The spring session of the Illinois General
Assembly dealt with many issues of impor-
tance to libraries. LTLS librarians and librar-
ians around the state worked hard to bring
about outcomes favorable to the library com-
munity. Proposed legislation was defeated
that would have required all Illinois libraries
to filter their computers, made adverse
changes to the Illinois Library Records
Confidentiality Act, and created draconian
changes to the public library district act
regarding disconnection. A bill increasing
the bid threshold limit for public libraries was
passed. Several bills of interest to libraries
are currently moving through the legislative
process. Two bills of particular interest are
and
House Bill (HB) 3761 and Senate Bill (SB)
847.
HB 3761 would create a Public Library
Construction Act. The act authorizes the
Secretary of State to determine eligibility for
and authorizes the Capitol Development
Board (CDB) to make grants to public
libraries for public library construction proj-
ects. The act further amends the State
Finance Act to create the Public Library
Construction Fund. HB 3761 passed in the
house after short debate, passed out of com-
mittee in the senate and went to the floor for
full consideration, and was then referred to
http://capwiz.com/ila/issues/bills/?bill=71095
36 for more information.
SB 847 amends the Public Library District
Act of 1991 and provides that any municipal-
ity or township that has a public and tax-sup-
ported library established under the provi-
sions of any statute may be disconnected
from a public library district. A House
amendment to the original bill requires that
any disconnection must be approved by the
library district. The bill has been passed by
both the House and Senate and awaits con-
sideration by the governor. Visit http://cap-
wiz.com/ila/issues/bills/?bill=7044921 for
more information.
Be sure to keep up on national and state leg-
islation that affects libraries by visiting the
advocacy tools available through the web
site of the Illinois Library Association at
http://www.ila.org/advocacy.
Illinois Library Association
2005 Election Results
•Vice-President/President-Elect -
Tamiye Trejo Meehan, Indian Trails
Public Library District, Wheeling
•Director-at-Large - Nancy Huntley,
Lincoln Library, Springfield
•Director-at-Large - Julie M. Milavec,
Plainfield Public Library District
•Director-at-Large - Sally M. Duchow,
Danville Area Community College
Library
•Director-at-Large - Dean Bryan,
Metropolitan Library System, Burr
Ridge
 IN OUR LIBRARIES

Charleston Referendum Passes With Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Lian Ruan to Enter Doctora l
Wide Margin Marshall Main Street Program and the Program at GSLIS
Charleston Carnegie Public Library recently National Road Association will serve as com- Lian Ruan, Director-
passed a referendum to issue seven million munity partners for the program. Dr. Charles Head Librarian of
dollars in building bonds. The referendum Titus, a professor of History at Eastern Illinois the Illinois Fire
passed with a resounding vote: 2224 yes to University in Charleston, will lead a discus- Service Institute
837 no. Congratulations to Charleston sion of each session's award-winning docu- Library, was recent-
Carnegie Public Library. mentary presentation. Marshall Public was ly accepted to the
also selected as one of six sites for a special doctoral program
exhibit from the Smithsonian called “Key by the Graduate
Ingredients: America by Food.” The exhibit School of Library and Information Science at
explores the connections between the University of Illinois. Lian will begin this
Americans and the foods they produce, pre- fall and will continue on in her position as
pare, preserve, and present at table--a director of the library. Her research will focus
provocative and thoughtful look at the histor- on special libraries.
ical, regional, and social traditions that
Celebrating the Charleston referendum vic - merge in everyday meals and celebrations.
tory are (backrow l. to r.) Michael Monahan, “Key Ingredients” will be at the Marshall
Sally Turner, Pam Storm, Sheryl Snyder, Public Library for a six-week period begin-
Diana Glosser, Jolene Whitley, (seated l. to ning with the grand opening on Sunday,
r.) Rose Mary Shepherd, and Louise October 2, 2005. Marshall Main Street
Weidner. Program is partnering with the library to pre-
pare for this exciting event, and many pro-
Marshall Public Library Keeping Busy grams and local displays will supplement the
Marshall Public Library has been busy with a exhibit throughout the summer and fall. For
multitude of programs and grant projects. more information on the Museum on Main
Recognizing that grandparents raising Street “Key Ingredients” exhibit, visit the Library Lady Wins the Day
grandchildren is an all too common reality, interactive web site at http://www.keyingredi- Susan McKinney (above), Librarian at the St.
Marshall Public recently presented a pro- ents.org/. Finally, Marshall Public will be pro- Joseph Township-Swearingen Memorial
gram on Grandparents raising viding a range of computer classes through- Library, visits the St. Joseph Grade School
Grandchildren. Marshall Public was selected out the summer months: "Introduction to the every year to promote the Summer Reading
from a pool of more than 130 applicants to Internet" (Thursday, June 9, 6:00-7:30 p.m.), Program. This year to promote
receive a grant to be a pilot site for a WWI “Introduction to E-Mail” (Wednesday, June "Superheroes-Powered by Books!," Susan
program, “The World War I Years: America 29, 3:30-5:00 p.m.), "Introduction to eBay" dressed as Library Lady, "fighting summer
Becomes a World Power,” one of 50 libraries (Thursday, July 14, 6:00-7:30 p.m.), brain drain." She notes that visits to schools
nationwide selected by the National Video "Introduction to Microsoft Excel” generate increased interest and participation
Resources in Partnership with the American (Wednesday, July 27, 3:30-5:00 p.m.), and in both the Summer Reading Program and
Library Association. The project is supported “Introduction to Microsoft Word” the Junior Librarians Program.
by a major grant from the National (Wednesday, August 24, 3:30- 5:00 p.m.).

Submission of your library’s news is always welcome. Contact Amy Weber: fax 217-352-7153; e-mail aweber@lincolntrail.info.

Lincoln Trail Libraries System

Executive Director: Jan Ison • Edited by: Amy Weber • Designed by: Karen Wilkinson
C O N N E C T I O N S Connections is published by Lincoln Trail Libraries System, 1704 W. Interstate Dr., Champaign, IL 61822-1068.
This newsletter may be reproduced without permission. Please credit LTLS.
 Illinois
Library
Advocacy
Day
Approximately 300 library staff and friends
traveled to Springfield on Illinois Library
Advocacy Day to visit with legislators and
discuss issues of importance to the libraries
of Illinois. LTLS sends a special thank you to
the 25 delegates representing LTLS and
commends them for their willingness to take
time to advocate for the libraries of Illinois.
Thanks are also due to the Illinois Library
Association, the Illinois Library System
Directors Organization, and the Illinois
School Library Media Association for
sponsoring Advocacy Day.
LTLS invited a member of Generation Y to
join area librarians in Springfield for Library
Advocacy Day. Fourteen-year-old Kaitlyn
Duling of Paxton was able to visit with Illinois
Senators Dan Rutherford and Rick Winkel
and Representative Shane Cultra. One of
the exciting outcomes of her visit was an
opportunity to be a page on the House Floor
for Representative Cultra in May. Kaitlyn is
an eighth-grade student at Paxton-Buckley-
Loda Junior High and the daughter of Anne
Newman, director of Paxton Carnegie
Library.
(l. to r.) Anne Newman and Kaitlyn Duling
Senator Dale Righter
(back row, second
from left) meets with
part of the LTLS
group at Illiniois
Library Advocacy Day
on April 13, 2005 in
Springfield.
Public Library District), Alison Phelps
Institute
(Kansas Community Memorial Library), and
Participants Nancy Claypool (Marshall Public Library).
Selected
Abraham Lincoln
Award
Each summer an Institute for School and
Announced
Public Librarians (ISPL) is held on the cam-
pus of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.
ISPL is designed to help school and public
librarians develop their library related knowl- Participants in the first-ever Abraham Lincoln
edge and skills. Library staff from across the Illinois High School Book Award have cho-
state of Illinois apply to participate in the pro- sen their winner (by a significant margin!): A
gram. Congratulations to LTLS' Jillann Child Called It by Dave Pelzer (274 votes).
Abbott (Philo Public Library), Richard In second and third places were The Lovely
Balsamello (Westville Public Library District), Bones (141 votes) and Speak (135 votes).
and Kim Anderson (Champaign Unit #4, There were a total of 22 finalists, all of which
Carrie Busey Elementary) who were received at least some votes from Abe read-
selected for the Institute. ers. The Abe Award work group thanks all
who participated in the first Abe Award and
The annual Small Public Library hopes they will vote again in 2006, along
Management Institute is a week-long insti- with first time registrants. During the inaugu-
tute intended for directors of smaller public ral year, just over 200 schools and public
libraries and directors new to the Illinois libraries participated. The work group has
library community. The Institute is designed set a goal of 300 participants for FY 2006. To
to enhance participants' administrative and learn more about how your school or public
leadership skills. Fifty participants from library can participate in this readers' choice
across the state were selected to participate, award for high school students, visit
including three LTLS librarians. http://www.islma.org/grants_awards.htm.
Congratulations to Cheryl Switzer (Arcola
 Hoot
Wins Contributions Sought for IREAD 2006 Resource Guide
Caudill
The link for submitting suggestions related to the 2006 IREAD theme,
"Voyage to Book Island," is now live on the ILA website at
http://www.ila.org/pub/ireadsub.htm. The deadline for submitting ideas to
The winner of the 2005 Rebecca Caudill be included in the Resource Guide is August 22, 2005. Categories are
Young Reader's Book Award is Hoot by Carl also listed on the web site.
Hiaasen. The Caudill award is a reader's
choice award for children in grades 4-8.
The Award was developed to encourage
children and young adults to read for per-
sonal satisfaction. It is an Illinois award for
outstanding literature for young people and
is sponsored by the Illinois Reading
Council, the Illinois School Library Media
Association, and the Illinois Association of
Teachers of English. For more information
about the award and how your library can
participate next year visit http://www.rebec-
cacaudill.org/. Be sure to check out the
Monarch (Grades K-3) and Abraham
Lincoln (Grades 9-12) children's
choice awards by visiting
http://www.islma.org/grants_awards.htm.
LTLS librarians visit with Senator Rick Winkel (third from left) during Library Advocacy Day
in Springfield in April.

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