Free Webcast - Libraries Are Essential

Libraries Are Essential:  Providing Core Services for Readers
DATE: Thursday, January 27, 2011
TIME: 2–3 PM EST

REGISTER FREE TODAY

Libraries are often a community hub, the place where everyone is welcome and where everyone can not only find the information they need, but also seek solace and support. In short, libraries are an essential part of any thriving community. In this first of a three-part series of webcasts on the essentialness of libraries, Robin Nesbitt, Sharron Smith, and Duncan Smith explore the value of readers’ services and best practices for conveying that value to the community.

Providing Core Services for Readers is first in the three part Libraries are Essential series of webcasts.

Panelists Robin Nesbitt is the Technical Services Director of the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Columbus, Ohio. She has over 22 years of experience in reference and collection management. Robin launched central selection at CML as well as implementing floating collections. She has presented at PLA about CML's technical services turnaround time of 48 hours or less for shelf ready materials. Robin is an avid reader who has done in-house Readers’ Advisory training for CML staff.

Sharron Smith is the Manager of Readers’ Advisory Services at the Kitchener Public Library in Ontario, Canada and a part-time instructor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario. She is the coauthor of Canadian Fiction: a guide to reading interests (Libraries Unlimited). A passionate readers’ advisor, Sharron works with readers helping them understand themselves as readers and why reading is so important to them. In 2008, she was honored as Ontario’s Librarian of the Year.

Duncan Smith is the creator and founder of NoveList, EBSCO Publishing’s electronic readers’ advisory service. Smith is currently the Vice-President for the NoveList Division whose products include NoveList Plus, NoveList K-8 Plus, NextReads, and NoveList Select. Smith is a nationally recognized trainer and researcher in the area of readers’ advisory service. He has published widely in this field and in 1997 received the Margaret E. Monroe Award from Library Adult Services from ALA’s Reference and User Services Division for his teaching and writing in this area. “Your Brain on Fiction,” his latest article, appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of Reference and User Services Quarterly. Smith earned a Master of Science in Library Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to NoveList and his work with continuing library education, Smith worked in public libraries in North Carolina and Georgia.

Can't make it on January 27? No problem!

If you are not able to make the live webcast of Libraries are Essential: Providing Core Services for Readers, register now and you will get an email reminder from Library Journal when the webcast is archived and available for on-demand viewing at your convenience.
(Library Journal, January 13, 2011)