IAShares Starting Soon!
As earlier announced in mid-August, the State Library is launching a statewide delivery service to every public library in Iowa. Today, important updates with additional information about this eagerly anticipated service. This article is contributed by Emily Bainter, Communications Specialist with the State Library.
First, because “Statewide Delivery Service for Iowa Public Libraries” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, we can announce the official name and branding to be known as IAShares. Pronounced “Iowa Shares,” the logo shown above will be on the bags, totes, labels, and other materials associated with this new delivery service.
We’ve also made updates to the State Library’s website so that IAShares now has a page where all of the information related to the program will reside. You’ll find an FAQ page that will prove helpful, along with additional information related to the routes, schedules, and more to be posted soon.
Save the Date
Please note the dates below and plan to attend one of the online info sessions later this month on the new IAShares system. This will be a chance to discuss procedures and answer any questions you may have. These sessions will be brief—just ½ hour—with no c.e. credit offered. The webinar link will follow later, but for now save these dates:
- Monday, October 28 at 1:30PM
- Tuesday, October 29 at 6:30PM
- Wednesday, October 30 at 10:00AM AND 1:30PM
- Thursday, October 31 at 10:00AM AND 1:30PM
Attention Library Directors
Later this week, the State Library will send an email with your library’s delivery information including route number, scheduled day of the week, and pickup time. Keep an eye out for that email. Equally important: Stat Courier, the delivery service vendor, will also be in touch soon with an introductory letter with still more information.
Emily talked with many attendees at the recent ILA-NLA Conference and remarked about many good conversations. "Many librarians at the ILA-NLA conference last week expressed excitement for this delivery service to begin. They all said that they are looking forward to an easy way to send ILLs and return Open Access items while reducing postage costs for their library. We are about a month out from official launch and working hard to make sure everyone is ready for deployment!”
Thanks to Emily for writing this article, for designing the new IAShares logo, and for ramping up the State Library website with info about this new service. More to follow, in the meantime check out the new IAShares webpage
October 20-26, 2019
This is very appropriate and worthy of touting: library friends groups have their very own recognition week! National Friends of Libraries Week is just ahead, coming up October 20-26.
This marks the 14th year for this fitting spotlight celebration of friends groups, now sponsored by United For Libraries, a division of ALA. This recognition week offers a two-fold opportunity to celebrate Friends. It's a great time to promote your group in your community, raise awareness of their efforts, and promote membership. This is also an excellent opportunity for your library staff and board to publicly thank your local Friends Group for their assistance and support throughout the year.
About United For Libraries
United for Libraries is a national network of library supporters, including friends, foundations, boards, and advocates who believe in the importance of libraries as the social and intellectual centers of communities and campuses. From their website: “…no one has a stronger voice for libraries than those who use them, raise money for them, and govern them. By uniting these voices, library supporters everywhere will become a real force to be reckoned with at the local, state, and national levels…”
Ideas and Resources
As you consider how to celebrate National Friends of Libraries, there are plenty of ideas and resources waiting for you at the event website. Find press releases, promos, and social media material. There's also a recorded webinar conducted by Judy Bentzen with Friends of San Juan Island Library and Katie Norris with Friends of Charleston Public Library. This recording runs 77 minutes and you have to complete a quick fill-in-the-blank form to access it, but once that’s done, the recording is free to view.
Make plans to celebrate National Friends of Libraries Week
and share your plans with each other on LibraryTalk!
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Selects First Title: After the Flood
There’s a new online book club on the scene. Thanks to a collaboration between ALA and OverDrive, this new national book club is called Libraries Transform Book Pick. The program connects readers nationwide by offering simultaneous access to the same book at the same time through their public libraries. The first book chosen in this inaugural year is After the Flood by Kassandra Montag. It's already waiting for you and your patrons in the BRIDGES collection, available for simultaneous download this week and next: October 7-21, 2019.
From the I Love Libraries website, here’s more about After the Flood: “…An inventive and riveting epic saga, After the Flood signals the arrival of an extraordinary new talent… A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America’s great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water.
Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Arctic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there…”
To help libraries promote the program and encourage local book groups to use this title, OverDrive has produced free marketing materials including customizable flyers and digital graphics. Tap into the toolkit below. Great opportunity to join hundreds of libraries across the country by participating in the first ever Libraries Transform Book Pick.
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