Vermont Library Conference 2008

I will be traveling to Burlington tomorrow, Tuesday, for the annual 114th Vermont Library Conference. These yearly events are attended by hundreds of Vermont and other New England librarians. The conference is there to renew your professional batteries, attend programs, and catchup with colleagues.

Each conference is unique, but there are some programs that one can count on from year to year. My favorite is the Rapid Reviews program spearheaded by Amy Howlett, Vermont Department of Libraries southern consultant. Amy and her fellow reviewers-Ernie Drown, and Dan Greene from U-32 High School-- do a tag-team match of their top book choices since the last conference. Here is the description from the conference program:

Interested in a quick look at the best books published since May for adults that were NOT best sellers? Try this program and bring a pencil to keep track of the gems you want to read


This is a combination of fiction, non-fiction, adult, young adult books. Here is a link to last year's crop. Amy will email me the 2008 choices after the conference and this will go into the Brattleboro Reformer's For the Love of Books Thursday column in the Ovation arts and entertainment supplement.

Next week I will do a podcast of my favorite conference programs. Watch this space for it, or tune into Brattleboro's WTSA-FM station to hear it.

25th Annual Party in honor of Brooks's volunteers

The River Garden was rock'n and roll'n on Saturday with "The Low Down Blues Band" --I think this name was attached to the trio +1 for the evening-- in celebration of our 40+ volunteers. The members of the group are: Stephen Frankel (Library trustee); Steve Vorhees; Lou Erlander; and the plus one is Danny Brooks, an incredible harmonical player who dropped in for the evening. Check out his web site. Danny left me with his book, a memoir, and two CD's that will be going into the library.

The volunteer program at Brooks began in 1983 with a handful of dedicated library workers, and has now expanded to over 40 who contributed 3,200 hour last year. The activities run the alphabet--from A "arts coordinator," to W "web site mistress," and all activities in between. Volunteers shelve books, DVD's, and other library material, provide service at the circulation desks, maintain the public bulletin boards, read at storytimes in the children's room, tape library programs for later broadcast on BCTV, and many other duties.

If you are interested in becoming a library volunteer, speak to Therese Marcy or Lindsay Bellville.

And, people asked me for a link to the little essay I read from the Washington Post on one library page's passion for her shelving duties. Click here for a copy.