Congratulations to Christine H. King, Director of the Willingboro Public Library. The library was recognized for its innovation in remediating a brownfield site and serving as the anchor for future retail stores, open space, and an art gallery and was awarded the “2008 Philadelphia Sustainability Award.”

 ”The creation of a new Town Center (Park, amphitheater, fountain, Public Library) founded on a community consensus sustainable initiative and realized over a five-year period by a Town Council with minimal resources at hand is a powerful leadership lesson. The transformation of auto-centric, suburban, single-use projects to multi-purpose, diverse, secure and community centered environments promises the best of possible futures within the Greater Philadelphia urban influence area.”

I want to commend Christine King on this accomplishment, and if you are thinking of going green, you must tour this beautiful, green building.

For more information see the full article.

I have been doing a great deal of thinking about the suggestions made by my “Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future of Libraries,” presented at the NJLA Conference May 1, 2008.

 One of the primary recommendations of the panel is that libraries need to think green.  Buildings must be designed with green principles and sustainability in mind.  I know, I can hear you thinking: “Sure, I’d love to go green, but who can afford it?”  I’ve been thinking about that as well, and I may have an answer.

The Kresge Foundation has a “Green Buildings Initiative,” which awards planning grants from $50,000 to $100,000 to institutions in the United States.  For specific information, see the Kresge site.

Need more inspiration?  Just look at these beautiful library buildings, each named as one of the “Top Ten Green Projects” by the American Institute of Architects.  The Cesar Chavez Library  in Laveen, AZ made the 2008 top ten; the Ballard Library in Seattle made the 2006 top ten list. 

      Ballard Branch Library

Cesar Chavez Library 

 Dr. Gus Friedrich will be stepping down from his position as dean of Rutgers SCILS after ten years.  During Dr. Friedrich’s tenure, the New Jersey State Library and Rutgers SCILS have enjoyed a renewed spirit of cooperation. 

During this time, the State Library and Rutgers SCILS have partnered in new and groundbreaking ventures.  The New Jersey State Library presented a very successful Diversity Conference in 2004, with SCILS faculty participating as presenters.  Rutgers SCILS also partnered with the New Jersey State Library, Thomas Edison State College, the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, and the New Jersey Library Association and received two grants from the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program from IMLS, totaling more than $1.5 million, to recruit urban librarians.  As a direct result of this grant, eight students have received their M.L.I.S. degrees, ten students are currently enrolled in the M.L.I.S. degree program at Rutgers SCILS, and two students are enrolled in the Ph.D. program.  Dr. Friedrich’s encouragement of this grant program is helping to revitalize our urban libraries in New Jersey by providing new professionals eager to work in this environment.

These successes occurred because of Dr. Friedrich’s openness and spirit of cooperation, coupled with his strong support of libraries.

We wish Dr. Friedrich a retirement as long and successful as his career has been.

 Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Studies and the SCILS Alumni Association are hosting a party honoring Dr. Friedrich on April 24, 2008, from 5:00-7:00PM, Brower Commons Faculty Dining Room, 145 College Ave., New Brunswick, NJ.

Please RSVP by April 17, 2008, using this invitation: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/images/events/friedrichpartyinvitation.pdf

Congratulations to three New Jersey librarians that have received national recognition!Connie Paul, executive director, CJRLC was named the 2008 co-recipient of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) Leadership and Professional Achievement Award presented by the ASCLA, a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

“A series of announcements from publishers across the globe in the last few weeks suggests that the long migration to the Internet has picked up pace, and that ahead of other books, magazines and even newspapers, the classic multivolume encyclopedia is well on its way to becoming the first casualty in the end of print.”

For the full article, see the New York Times, March 16, 2008

The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Scholarship will provide financial assistance to a student of Asian or Pacific background who is enrolled, or has been accepted into a master’s or doctoral degree program in library and/or information science at a library school accredited by the American Library Association (ALA). http://www.apalaweb.org/awards/scholarship.htm

Eligibility Criteria for the Award * Applicant must be attending or admitted into a master’s degree or doctoral program in library and/or information science at a library school accredited by ALA.

Watch clips and interviews celebrating Norma Blake’s selection as  LJ’s “Librarian of the Year” at the Library Journal site.  Click here to watch the video.

A dinner was held in Norma’s honor at Bookbinders in Philadelphia during ALA Midwinter and guests reiterated all the reasons Norma was selected.

The New Jersey State Library has been selected by the Gates Foundation for their 2008 Opportunity Online Grant program and will administer this grant in partnership with PALINET.

Opportunity Online grants are designed to help public libraries secure sustained local funding for computer replacements. 

For more information  http://www.palinet.org/media/OppOnline-Gates.pdf.

Both PALINET and NJSL staff will be in touch with public libraries in the near future with details for our state’s program.

The New Jersey State Library is proud to announce that Norma Blake has been named “Librarian of the Year” by Library Journal.

Below is an excerpt from the article written by John N. Berry III, in Library Journal.  For the complete article, click here.

“Librarians and officials in education and government all recount the leadership and creativity brought to library service in New Jersey by State Librarian Norma Blake. She has sparked proactive, collaborative initiatives that have taken libraries of all types “out of their comfort zone,” as she puts it, and into working partnerships and relationships with educational and corporate institutions as well as the state’s economic development and commercial players, from small businesses to the huge biotech industry.

Under Blake, the New Jersey State Library (NJSL) supports everyone in New Jersey with a new kind of library service while it works to put the state’s libraries into the trenches in the highly competitive battles to bring jobs and business to the Garden State. NJSL also helps workers in the state, including those in libraries, grow and develop their expertise and talents for a more demanding future.

Rarely has LJ been blitzed with as much impressive evidence of the contribution of one librarian to innovation that converts formerly skeptical citizens, politicians, and other public servants to the view that strong libraries are central to the future of their states. For that leadership and more, Norma Blake has been chosen LJ’s 2008 Librarian of the Year.”

Norma Blake will accept this prestigious award January 11, 2008, during the American Library Association’s Midwinter conference in Philadelphia, PA.

The Libri Foundation is currently accepting applications for its 2008 BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grants. The next deadline is Jan. 25th.The Libri Foundation is a nationwide non-profit organization which donates new, quality, hardcover children’s books to small, rural public libraries throughout the United States. Since October 1990, the Foundation has donated over $3,500,000 worth of new children?s books to more than 2,300 libraries in 48 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.