New Jersey State Library

Norma E. Blake has been the New Jersey State Librarian for six years. Previously, Norma has had over 25 years experience in New Jersey libraries including the directorship of both the Burlington County and Gloucester County Library Systems. Norma was selected as the New Jersey Library Association's Librarian of the Year, elected President of the state library association, chosen as a member of Leadership NJ Class of 2000 and recipient of the Distinguished Service Award 2005, by NJLA-CUS-ARCL NJ. At present, Norma serves on the boards of NJ Reads, New Jersey Network Citizens Advisory Board, the Southern New Jersey Development Council and CODE, the Committee of Distance Education, State Council of Adult Literacy Education Services. Her Professional organizations/affiliations include the New Jersey Library Association, American Library Association, Public Library Association, liaison to NCLIS for Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, secretary of Chief Officers of State Library Agencies in the Northeast, and secretary of ASCLA,  The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies. During her tenure as New Jersey State Librarian, the following were initiated:

1. “QandANJ,” a virtual 24/7 information system using live librarians.  This service is featured on the Governor's Web page.
2. A $463,000 IMLS federal grant to digitize NJ historical resources in partnership with academic and historical organizations. One thousand digital objects have been added to the Web site on immigration.
3. The first-ever statewide library marketing campaign featuring 2,200 commercials statewide and an online store.
4. A new interlibrary loan system, Jersey Cat, in which over 800 libraries participate. In fiscal year 2006-2007, 14,860,279 searches were done on JerseyCat.
5. Twenty-seven statewide databases that can be used from home, school, office or libraries were mounted on JerseyClicks, a Web portal that provides customers federated searching of all resources. This portal saved NJ taxpayers $26 million in cost avoidance.
6. An audiovision service (spoken newspapers) for the blind and handicapped that is now available via the Web 24/7.
7. A $45 million library construction program for 68 libraries that resulted in $220 million in economic development statewide.
8. A training institute for over 250 library trustees, the largest group ever trained in New Jersey. Held annually for the last four years.
9. A statewide summer reading club in which children read nearly 1.4 million books. Participation increased from 16,000 to 102,000 in five years.
10. Circulation of over 52 million public library materials last year, an increase of almost 1 million, and attendance at public libraries of 42 million, another increase of almost 1 million in one year.
11. A recruitment grant that increases urban New Jersey library staff. A total of 25 students were selected as scholarship recipients.  There are 5 AA, 8 BA, 10 MLIS, and 2 Ph D students.  This grant builds upon the 2003 IMLS grant for developing urban library staff who are better able to meet the needs of their multiethnic, multilingual communities. New Jersey has become a national model for leadership activities, by holding institutes and starting becomealibrarian.org Web site.
12. Consolidation of 14 tech hubs into three facilities offering uniform redundant internet services to libraries. Verizon donated $1.7 million worth of equipment.
13. Received $6 million to mount 12 high-end databases for businesses and researchers. To date, more than 10 million searches have been done. Saved New Jersey colleges and universities over $70 million by contracting statewide. Received additional $2 million FY 2008.
14. In addition to IMLS grants mentioned earlier, received grants of $34,000 from WebJunction for Spanish outreach; $200,000 from Gates for computer security; $56,000 from Verizon for literacy; $8,000 from Barnes & Noble for statewide summer reading; and $21,000 from the deForest Trust for a literacy van.
15. The State Library Information Center registered 2,046 new borrowers for a total of 21,809, a 10.4% increase over last year.
16. Library for the Blind and Handicapped had its first statewide summer reading club for its customers; held Braille literacy and accessible voting events and started American Sign Language monthly story times which attract 80-100 participants a month.
17. NJSL awarded $200,000 in grant funding to public libraries to develop literacy skills in local communities throughout the state. The NJSL awarded literacy grants to 11 libraries in 9 counties throughout the state.
18. NJSL awarded more than $87,000 in diversity grants.  Three grants are being awarded to public libraries and one grant is being given to a joint venture between two library consortia. The diversity grants are awarded on a competitive basis to help local libraries develop and sustain initiatives that address diversity issues in New Jersey’s communities.
19. Launch of JerseyConnect, built on the Hub Libraries program which was established in 1998 to help bridge the digital divide by providing low cost internet access and related services to public libraries in New Jersey.  It was officially launched in February of 2006 and currently serves over 320 library           entities. Core network uptime 99.999%
20. The New Jersey State Library was among five libraries in the nation honored for outstanding You Tube library-related video production at the Computers in Libraries Conference 2007 as part of the first InfoTubey Awards.
21. Director of Technology Rob Zangara received a Leadership Award for Demonstrated Excellence in Project Management from Government Technology magazine. Zangara's work on JerseyConnect earned the attention and recognition of the magazine, which is associated with the Center for Digital Government, based in California.
22. The New Jersey State Library partnered with the state libraries of Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland and PALINET, a regional library network, to       stage the “Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference” at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, May 7 and 8, 2007.  400 librarians from all over the country attended and had the opportunity to meet with visionaries from the disciplines of anthropology, architecture, public policy, and science to discuss the future of libraries.
23. The New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped and the Department of Human Services Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired celebrated the grand opening and dedication of the Regional Technical Assistance Center which will aid in computer training for people with visual impairments.
24. The New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped completed a customer satisfaction survey in which 98% of LBH’s customers rated their overall experience with LBH as excellent or good; 99% said that the library improved the quality of their life.

The State Librarian may be contacted at: (609) 278-2640, Ext. 101 or nblake@njstatelib.org