PRESIDENT'S CORNER
CONGRATULATIONS to all our successful office seekers who won leadership positions in our national professional associations. North Carolina is proud to be the home to such talented individuals who are willing to step up and serve our profession at these levels. Your influence will be significant to this ever changing and dynamic environment. Good luck!!!
 
Thanks to Governor Roy Cooper for designating April as North Carolina Library Appreciation Month!! This is significant recognition for all of us who work in libraries and promote the values that librarianship represents. Please share this information with your stakeholders, co-workers, family and friends so they can help celebrate what you accomplish.
 
Our team traveling to Washington DC for National Library Legislative Day are prepared and ready to go talk to our legislators from North Carolina. This is an important activity that provides a strong voice for our needs and thoughtful influence on our behalf. Be sure to acknowledge and thank this team for their contributions to our advocacy efforts.
 
Our folks on sections and committees make a strong effort to provide programs throughout the year. Please take advantage of these exciting upcoming events by attending and participating as appropriate. These are quality events that support professional development needs and interest across a broad range of topics. I hope to see you at one soon.
 
Have a great May, spring is finally here!!!
Mike
Congratulations!
 Wanda Brown wins ALA Presidency!
Wanda Brown, director of  Winston-Salem State University’s C.G. O’Kelly Library, has been elected president of the American Library Association for the 2019-2020 term. Brown will serve as president-elect until the end of the 2019 Annual American Library Association Conference.
 
Brown has been an active ALA member for over 30 years. She has held numerous positions with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), including her current service as treasurer (2016–2018) and service as president (2014–2016), treasurer (1992–1996), and two terms as an Executive Board member (2001–2003, 2014–2016). She was the 2011–2013 president of the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA) and has held various other positions with NCLA. 
Other ALA Wins for North Carolina
Congratulations to these other North Carolina Librarians who were elected to the following sections and round tables!
 
• Anne Cooper Moore (UNC at Charlotte): President of Library Leadership and Management Association
 
• Bryna Coonin (East Carolina University): Member at Large of Reference Services Section (RSS) for Reference and User Services Association (RUSA)
 
• Ericka Patillo (Appalachian State University): Member at Large of Library Research Round Table (LRRT)
 
LIBRARIAN INTERVIEW
 
Snow Wildsmith
Collection Development Librarian
Cabarrus County Library System 
 
1. What inspired you to become a librarian?
I was hired as a page at the Beaches Branch Library in Neptune Beach, FL (part of the Jacksonville, FL system) in 1994 and by the time I’d been working there six months, I knew I wanted to be a librarian. I loved getting to help people find the information they needed! When I graduated from college, I moved in with my folks while I went to grad school. During that time, I took the only library job I could find, which was in a middle school. That was how I discovered how much I loved working with teens, especially middle schoolers, so I chose to focus on teen services in public libraries.
 
2. What has been your favorite part of working in libraries so far? Alternatively, what has been your proudest accomplishment so far?
Helping people is definitely my favorite part of library work! But my proudest accomplishment has been to achieve a goal I thought might be out of reach, which was being hired as a collection development librarian. I started in 2017 and it has been a dream come true!
 
3. Tell us a little about your interests and hobbies outside of the library. 
I am an avid quilter and sewist. In addition to that, I enjoy playing board games with my husband (current favorites are Dominium, Carcassonne, and Castles of Burgundy) and spending time with my pets: two dogs (Sirius Black and Charlie Weasley) and three rats (Astrid, Merida, and Fiona).

4.  Are you looking forward to any new books coming out soon?
My favorite series to recommend right now is Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. It’s about children who were taken to or who found hidden worlds (think Narnia, Neverland, Wonderland) and then are returned and have to deal with the trauma of that. Book 1 is Every Heart a Doorway, book 2 is Down Among the Sticks and Bones, and book 3 is Beneath a Sugar Sky. Book four (In an Absent Dream) comes out next year and I can’t wait!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Streaming Video:
So Many Options, How Do I Choose?
Tuesday, May 22 • 3 pm
Online Webinar: Save the date!
 
There are many options for streaming video and movies available to libraries and more coming all the time. Join the Resources & Technical Services Section and the Technology & Trends Round Table as we look at some of the options and learn more about them from librarians who are familiar with the resources.
 
More information will follow on the NCLA Listserv. 
 
 
NCLA Distance Learning Section (DLS) Meeting
Friday, May 18 • 1-5 pm
UNC Charlotte

The NCLA Distance Learning Section (DLS) is hosting a free meeting at UNC Charlotte after the NC LITE meeting.  In this meeting we will have breakout sessions about what NC librarians are doing with online learning, including creating digital objects and tutorials, instructional design, accessibility, working with online instructors and students, and more.  This is a face-to-face meeting, but there will be a virtual component for those who cannot make the trip. 
 
To register please visit this link. 
GRS/BLINC:
Hands-on Census Data Workshop
Tuesday, May 8 • 10 am-3:30 pm
UNCG Jackson Library
 
The Government Resources and Business Librarianship sections of NCLA are co-hosting a workshop on Census data, covering both demographic and industry/economic data. We will meet in a computer classroom in Jackson Library at UNCG.
 
The workshop is intended for librarians and library staff who want to better understand the people, businesses, and employment  in their communities, using the most recent data (not the 2010 Census, for example). The workshop will also help attendees better support classes and researchers using demographic and economic data. We will focus on the American FactFinder interface, but will also preview the new Census data platform under development.
 
To register please visit this link.

 
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
Looking for something new to offer?  Check out this awesome program!
The Titanic: Ship of Dreams
Thursday, May 17 • 6:30 pm
Asheboro Public Library
Dr. Melinda Ratchford will take audiences on a voyage in time to learn about the Titanic, as well as to see her extensive collection of Titanic memorabilia.  This presentation will offer the chance to experience the world of courage, fear, love, and cowardice that is still alive over one hundred years after the Titanic's sinking. Presented by North Carolina Humanities Council. 
 
For more information on this program or to learn more about Asheboro Public Library, please visit this link.
BOOK PICK
The Black Belt Librarian :
Real-World Safety & Security

by Warren Davis Graham

Sharing expertise gleaned from more than two decades as a library security manager, Graham demonstrates that libraries can maintain their best traditions of openness and public access by creating an unobtrusive yet effective security plan. In straightforward language, the author:
  • Shows how to easily set clear expectations for visitors behavior
  • Presents guidelines for when and how to intervene when someone violates the code of conduct, including tips for approaching an unruly patron
  • Offers instruction on keeping persistent troublemakers under control or permanently barred from the library
  • Gives library staff tools for communicating effectively with its security professionals, including examples of basic documentation
The Black Belt Librarian arms librarians with the confidence and know-how they need to maintain a comfortable, productive, and safe environment for everyone in the library.


North Carolina Library Association
1811 Capital Blvd.
Raleigh, North Carolina 27604
(919) 839-6252

www.nclaonline.org/