You can also refer to the text of Senate Bill 1225.

What: Telling your Financial Story to Best Support Fundraising
When: TUESDAY, JULY 12, 12:00-1:00pm EST
Free and Open to All
On July 12th at 12pm click here to join. (Try the link from the referral site above for best results…)

Text from the original post website:
Every organization has financial needs that must be incorporated into fundraising targets. Having a deep understanding of your nonprofit’s financials, and telling that story effectively, is a key component of successful fundraising. Expert panelists will answer questions about how to present your organization well, address any red flags, and make a strong case for various types of funding, including core support.

Library workshops are sometimes especially valuable for the networking opportunities brought by in person communication and time given to reflect on library ideals in the presence of others.
Below are some random musings I had at and just after the workshop.

What Do Libraries have in Common?:
-Library staff want people to use our organizations and valuable information resources to improve their lives and communities.
-Libraries think that literacy and good citizenship is important.
-Libraries value education for everyone who is interested.
-Libraries are asked to meet minimum service standards to receive funding.
-Libraries receive some combination of funding from government and donations. Most are not-for-profit, or are not charged sales tax.
-Libraries employ human beings and use technology to some level.
-Libraries all have collections of things we loan to people who want to borrow them.

What’s Different?
-Programs we choose to do
-Populations we choose to prioritize
-Items we decide to buy
-Marketing messages we send
-The politics of our local operation
-Local community needs we choose to meet
-How much money we spend
-Who pays for the services
-How long you have to wait in line
-How much space we have available and how well we maintain our facilities
-How we plan

In summary, librarians want people to use our organizations and valuable information resources to improve their lives and communities. We all have different specific ways we do it, but we believe in basic service standards that we aim to meet.

Don’t let money get in the way of serving people with a genuine need for library services. Focus on the positive, instead of on the budget changes. What can you try to reinvent? (See this handout from the DLC Leadership Workshop–Jonelle and Linda attended from our district): Destroy and Rebuild Your Business Model

Together we can demonstrate the value of resource sharing and collaboration in our library community, at the local library, system, district, region, state, and national level. Cooperation often trumps competition when we share the same core mission ideals of meeting literacy needs.

Feel free to continue the conversation below. What are your thoughts on libraries, cooperation, and resource sharing?

Below are some tips for writing a “Request for Waiver of Standards”:

TIPS TO WRITING A GOOD REQUEST for a Waiver of Standards:
-Seek input and guidance from the district library consultant in your district and the Office of Commonwealth Libraries advisors.
-Involve the Library Board. According to Section 103 of the Library Code, “The application for a waiver shall be adopted by a resolution of the board of directors at a regularly scheduled meeting of the board. Prior to the board of directors adopting policies or procedures for which a waiver is being sought, approval of the department (i.e. Office of Commonwealth Libraries) shall be required.”
-Clearly state what standard(s) the request is for.
-Include as much data and documentation as possible to support your request.
-Date your letter.
-Allow sufficient time for your request to be received, processed and responded to by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries.
-Each library’s situation is unique and is taken into account when requests are reviewed.

Here is an example of Waiver Documentation. You can do anything you want in your letter, but the headings suggested in this listing are good to keep your request organized and clear so it can be reviewed effectively.

________ (Library Name applying for Waiver)

Waiver(s) needed:
1. Weekly hours open
2. Collection Expenditures
3. Director’s education level
4. Decrease in LFE

Measures taken to produce needed revenue:
1 . A board member attends meeting of municipality to outline the services
provided by the library and the funds needed.
2 . Have held 3 fund raising events in 2009 and will probably do more in 2010.
3.

Financial distress:
1 . Income from ______ was cut by ____ (amount or percent) on _____ (effective date.)
2 . State Aid for 2010 dropped by ______ (percent) for total loss of _________ (amount).
3 . Income from Endowment fund has dropped noticeably plus gifts & donations are about _____% less than 2008.
4.
5.

Reduction in proportion to financial deficit:
1. Financial losses are over $______ while the budget was cut $_______
2.

Steps to meet library needs of community with reduced services:
1. Hours cut were based on documented library usage
2. Library continues to be open evenings and weekends for students and those who work.
3.

Reduction of library support by county, school district or local municipality is proportional over all programs and/or departments funded by that source:
1. All departments funded by ____ Borough/County were cut by 10%.

Digitization Grant Application Guidelines : http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-2011lstadigitization

K-12 Collection Development Grant Application Guidelines : http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-2011lstak12collectiondev

Major Innovation Grant Application Guidelines : http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-2011lstamajorinnovation

Mini (Try It) Innovation Grant Application Guidelines: http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-lsta2011tryit

Public Library Collection Development Grant Application Guidelines : http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-2011lstapublibcollectiondev

Technology Component Grant Application Guidelines : http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-2011lstatech

LSTA 2011 Grant Program Timeline : http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-lsta2011timeline

LSTA Five Year Plan: http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-5yearplanlsta

Reminder: If you plan to consider an LSTA grant, please notify the district consultant with a request for a letter of support and the justification for what you are applying for and what the outcomes of the project will be. This is an opportunity to apply for some funding for the thing you always wanted to be able to do to help your community. If you need any assistance or extra help to get your project to succeed, just ask and the district will do what it can with available resources. Take action on that great idea today.

Learn more about your recent state aid payment. Link to Webjunction list of payments made.

Learn other things at Webjunction too. Once you join and become a PA affiliate, you can take online courses for $5 for your staff and you’ll get access to information resources to help you to best support your local library in its operation: http://pa.webjunction.org/pa-resources

Try it. :)

Also on webjunction, follow the work of the e-content committee in the Capital Region. Notes from meetings are posted here in a group for the Capital Region as well. Use the new tools to be informed.

A balanced budget in PA and funding for many programs (possibly including public libraries) hinges on the successful passage of FMAP funds.
Here are some information resources about FMAP provided as a resource:

or just learn about the health care system and the different points of view: from The New Republic or this one from a .gov.

Be informed and provide information. If your reference staff have time to do more research, feel free to post new links in the comments below.

Speak your mind as a citizen about what matters to you. Libraries enhance democracy by helping to create an informed citizenry of people able to educate themselves about issues of finance, health care, technology, government services, living well together in a shared nation and world and so much more.

Here’s a brief quote:
“If the FMAP funding extension is not authorized by Congress, all state line items in the recently passed budget are vulnerable to cuts, including the public library subsidy. Because of this possibility, the public library subsidy will be paid out in the amount of one-twelfth (1/12) of the total amount of the enacted appropriation per month. This will allow for a budget reserve or reduction in 2010 -2011 enacted budget levels, if ultimately necessary.
Congress is considering the FMAP allocation this week (House of Representatives) and next week (Senate) and there is still time for you to communicate with your representatives and senators about the importance of the FMAP extension to Pennsylvania’s budget. You can find contact information for your senator and representative at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/US_Congress.shtml.”

Read more about PA’s changes to state funding for libraries in the convenient comparison chart here: http://pala.affiniscape.com/associations/9291/files/2008-09-10%20state%20budgets%20compared.pdf .

Want to know more? Here’s a state budget policy site with some more information about FMAP funds: http://www.pennbpc.org/FMAP-congressional-district For even more information, ask your reference librarian to do some research so you can have an informed opinion backed up by credible facts to share with the community about how this will effect your budget planning.

For those directors or trustees in the district who want to talk about budget planning for the coming year, contact your consultant.

Keep motivated and focused on delivering necessary services to your customers. Keep focused on ways you can show the positive impact of having strong public library service in your community. Impact stories and real outcomes will be useful tools to demonstrate the great return on government dollars invested in strong information and resources sharing services.

That’s what librarians and their supporters do.

Every day amazing people come together to make public library buildings and websites examples of welcoming community centers that offer beneficial resources and services to everyone. These libraries are places where information in many formats is collected, organized, and shared; education is provided and expanded to all ages; and the love of literacy, arts and sciences that enhance our society can thrive.

Public libraries are a place where people (regardless of age, income, race, weight, sexual orientation, religion, or politics) are free to ask for information or to borrow books owned by any other community library, to follow specific interests in any topical area, access technology tools to keep up with the rapidly changing economy, and to clear the pathway to leading successful lives.

Are you a library supporter? I hope so.

Budget proposals estimate a soon to be signed 9.1% state funding cut to the public library subsidy in PA.
Read this memo for more on what the budget holds for libraries. Memo

See calculations of 9.1% reduction for public libraries in the three county Capital Area Library District: Estimated calculations for Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry County public libraries as well as the District

And for those of you who want to see the whole state budget, here’s a file for that too. General Fund State Appropriations

The belt tightens a little more, especially for those libraries that do not receive much from local municipal or county funding, but the library spirit will stay strong. You can’t defeat a librarian! Libraries are backed by boards of trustees that know what community needs can be best met by sharing resources.

Good strategic planning allows libraries to make the most effective community impact with the resources they have. Continue to play big, focus on outcomes and results, and thrive within the economy you can control, always knowing that your community is 100% better because there is a public library. Call or email your consultant to schedule a consult or Q & A session on budgeting and planning for your library’s future.

To libraries, I would suggest that this isn’t the time to get mired in worry about what will happen if state funding isn’t available. You know you are doing your best with the resources that are provided. We’re not here to lobby; the valuable impact we make on the community often speaks for itself, but perhaps it could be time for public libraries to show their value and expertise in using and sharing valuable information.

I read an article over the weekend (thank you Google reader and friends for aggregating news on my interests all in one place) that showcased winners in a contest to make government information easy to access, display, use, and understand. Check it out to see how very complex information can be displayed in a more simple format to share with the public in some of these examples: Government Information Design contest winners. I particularly enjoyed this fun way to compare county level data showing each county’s level of each of the 7 deadly sins: countysinrankings.org/ which relied on data displayed at countyhealthrankings.org/ to give a data picture in easy to compare format.

How can libraries best design and share the information we have to help us showcase the benefits of keeping our funding level strong or of increasing it by 5% as advocated by the Pennsylvania Library Association?

How can libraries assist in the organization of information and facts and data to help our citizens and leaders be literate to can play a vital role as a part of an informed democracy.
Can we send an online information packed display to our public and the politicians showing them an infographic of the impact of budget decisions? As one example, can we show how increased library funding can coorelate with decreased prison funding? How can we use the ROI study to spread the news?

What did your library do today to show the public library role as an aggregator of the range of viewpoints, a wealth of information in multiple formats, and a place for education to enhance our great democracy?

Use this egovtoolkit to make sure your community knows how to access egovernment too.

Ideas always welcomed. :)

What do you think?
Feel free to comment, correct, ponder, question or share your thoughts and opinions here.

Application guidelines are available right here: http://www.education.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/library_services___technology_act/8738

Please inform your district consultant if you intend to apply for any of these opportunities.

R. David Lankes, Director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, gave a live presentation on New Librarianship.

See more of what he has done online: Use Online Presentations
· In the field of content (music, books, journals, movies, etc), there is a shift from ownership to rental: You own nothing except the right to use it.
· Libraries have biases!
· What is your library’s mission? What is your mission? Does it answer why?
· “The mission of librarians is to improve society (through facilitating knowledge creation in our communities)”
· What is your favorite book and WHY? It is usually what you learned that helps you be a better you is usually the reason.
· Librarians are often obsessed with process…we rarely ask WHY. Ask why and why not?
· To question something is to determine its value and its strength. It is not to criticize.
· Why get more stuff if you have less staff to make it useful?
· Artifacts (like contracts) are not the result of the conversation. Stop worrying about archiving old conversations and start worrying about starting the new conversations.
· A roomful of books is not a library. An empty closet with a librarian could be called a librarian.
· Route of things/artifacts is not the way to always go.
· What should we change about our ILS? Should libraries be the host for everything else?
· How can you share your library shelves with your community?
· Who loves to “read”? Most people love to learn, imagine, escape, enjoy. It is not the act of reading that people love.
· Librarians have an obligation to tell the community: “[this] is what you need to know.”
· “Take away my people, but leave my factories, and soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and soon we will have a new and better factory.” Carnegie
· Don’t rally on the steps with librarians because that looks like self-preservation. The people need to speak.
· Ask users: What problem are you trying to solve when they come to the library? That should answer the question of what resources are most valuable.

Libraries are not “natural”. There’s no theory. We, as people, built libraries—we are powerful.
Librarians should be radical change agents.
Policy should be rare, vague, and only what you need to apply.

David Lankes suggests that the best days of librarianship are ahead of us since libraries are positioned to lead in knowledge trends. Libraries are:
o Focused on knowledge and conversation
o Dedicated to social action, leadership, and innovation
o Dedicated to serving the people

Lankes shared two very unusual examples of lending. A library employee’s dog was “bark coded” and loaned! At another library, sections of a garden were bar coded and loaned to library users for seasonal use.

Lankes recommends that we consider the collection, the community, the library facility in our planning and “thought experiments”. He views public librarians as being intellectually honest and neutral, but not unbiased.

What is the mission of the library and libraries? He reminds us that people do things, not the library. The mission of librarians is to improve Society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities. Those who recommend greater collection size but fewer staff fail to recognize that staff will be far less useful to them as a result of such change.

Lankes compared the customer’s experience at the traditional tall reference desk to the experience of meeting the Wizard of Oz.

Take away the materials, the facades, and we are still libraries, the blood of the community. A cut in libraries is a slash in the community. People need to show scars from budget cuts. The public needs to stand up and defend us, and we need to serve them well.

We need to be “of the community” instead of “for the community”, and we need to ask what problems people are trying to solve, not what they want. The next step is to map out successes.

Make two assessments:
* Where will you have the greatest impact?
* Where do you need to make an impact? How will you be part of that conversation?

Three panelists participated in Lankes’ presentation: Trish Calvani, Mary Frances Cooper, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and Dan Parker, Oil City DLC,
-Trish emphasized the importance of getting out, seeing what’s important in the community, and looking ahead.
-Mary Frances shared that a library board thought elected officials would be seen as the enemy when cuts were made to the library. Eventually that board received funds needed to keep the library open for one year.
-Dan commented that poor communications are part of poorly performing libraries, and that we need to respond to pressure from staff and our community for innovation.

Lankes commented that virtually every component of a public library is a service. We give power to our communities through what we do. Question something to make sure it is good. He recommends that “policies be rare, vague, and employed only where needed.”

If you seek to serve everyone you end up serving no one.

Lankes gave an example of a central library frequented by the homeless who were destroying the bathrooms. The librarians hired the homeless to work as bathroom attendants and in this way resolved much of the problem that existed.

His final recommendation: You must prioritize services with communities. Librarians can be the mediators.

A Regionalized Approach to Library Services, presented by M Clare Zales, Commissioner for Libraries.
Here’s the handout: Regions PowerPoint

Basics: Commonwealth Libraries is redrawing the Pennsylvania Library Map based on the need to partner in library development across the state. We need to start thinking about how to use district funds differently.

Please contact me with any input, questions or comments after you have reviewed Clare’s handout related to this new regionalization. Feedback on regional planning will be included at the September 2010 DLC/System meeting.

Important note: Anne Kruger will no longer be our district’s advisor. We now have a team of advisors with Bonnie Young, Connie Cardillo, and BJ Urling as the primary contacts to work with our region, which includes the district centers of York (York and Adams), Lancaster, Lebanon, Chambersburg (Franklin, Fulton), and Capital Area (Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry.)

LSTA focus groups took place as a part of the LSTA funding process for the state and IMLS to understand what makes grants most effective.

A discussion of a possible statewide CMS (content management system) for library websites took place. Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress were discussed as options for a platform to make website creation easier and possibly more to a standard. Stay tuned for where ideas on this project go. The discussions were exciting for libraries who aren’t yet on an advanced CMS.

At the District Consultant’s Session:
Anne Kruger, Youth Services Advisor, announced that 9/1/10 is the deadline for statistics for the One Book, Every Young Child Trunk usage. The trunks were received on Friday, March 19, at the DLC meeting and will be available to libraries soon.
Two trunks are provided for our district. CCLS gets one. DCLS processes the other and will soon release instructions for its reservation through June Weaver at ESA-ill.

Diana Megdad, Bureau of Library Development, recommends that you join WebJunction if you have not already done so!
Sign up at webjunction.org
Pennsylvania has its own site:
* Continuing education and sharing of information in a community is the primary benefit.
* Many courses cost only $5.00. Some are free.
* Fund raising resources are listed.
* ACCESS PA training is offered at no charge.
* Library news is welcome. Consider Web Junction the “communications place.”
* Library Spotlight for special recognition

Mary Maguire, Montgomery County, Norristown Public Library, shared POWER Library news. Unfortunately some libraries purchased databases before realizing they would be part of the “new” POWER Library. She advises that libraries be patient and wait to see what is funded in the next state budget. One consideration is to get EBSCOhost on a regional basis.

Eileen Kocher, State Aid and Statistics, is working on an “accounting for dummies” manual that’s based on the kinds of questions arriving from libraries. She suggested that contracting on a regional basis for audits could save money. For cost savings, libraries also might go to a public accountant (PA) for audits instead of a CPA.

Eileen stated that a library can withhold providing special requests (holds and ILLs) for library materials from people outside the library’s service area. A vigorous discussion on this topic took place.

For cost savings it’s recommended that any system or district collaborate with others and plan to purchase OverDrive as a larger group and not as an individual system/district. OverDrive is open to this. Their customer service and tech support are superior to that of NetLibrary (which was just bought by EBSCO from OCLC.) There is discussion that a statewide OverDrive group could help us to reduce costs and increase service.

State-wide Integrated Library System (ILS) Task Force presented by Susan Pannebaker, Director, Bureau of Library Development, and Lisa Rives Collens, Schlow Centre Region Library.

Here are the handouts from that presentation:
StatewideILSGoalsandTaskForce

StatewideILSHandouts

Briefly, the ILS Task Force launched its work 5 months ago. The goals include statewide resource sharing and delivery. This is about the customer. Please see the handout for important details.

John Houser shared information on Evergreen, the open source software that will be at the heart of the state-wide ILS we are striving for. Almost the entire state of Georgia uses Evergreen for its ILS. Currently Houser and associates are working with a pilot for the new system. A statewide ILS should allow for:
* Greater functionality
* Ability to customize the interface

We will share customers and bibliographic records statewide when this ILS is in place. Libraries will not be able to see data from other libraries unless needed. Evergreen will allow:
* Emailing a citation
* Creating private or public lists and tagging materials
* Adding comments to an individual’s record
* Including reviews

Holds will be managed by Evergreen. Reports are created centrally and made available to libraries. We don’t yet have a cost model that can help recognize potential cost savings for state-wide Evergreen usage. Acquisitions are currently not part of the Evergreen model under consideration.

Clare Zales reported that a good portion of PA will be involved with Evergreen in 4 years. Houser predicts that current Millenium Libraries will be offered to make the switch this fall.

PaLA Next Generation Progress Report,
presented by Jonelle Darr, Director of the Cumberland County Library System.

Here’s the handout: LiteraciesfromPALA

The vision document has been approved and the task force is developing funding options. Meetings were held with 4 gubernatorial candidates.

State Budget Advocacy
Glenn Miller provided a state budget update. Pennsylvania’s 8.9% unemployment rate for February 2010 was the highest since the 1980’s. Glenn’s message: “Libraries are seeing the very people who need us the most. Don’t close us out. Help us restore more access to libraries for our constituents.”
PALAAdvocacyHandout2010

Glen highly recommends person-to-person communication in sharing these messages.

If you have further questions about the DLC meeting happenings, or input to share, please comment or start a conversation.

PALA is encouraging library advocates to ask for a $3 million dollar increase in the Library Access Appropriation, primarily to restore the POWERLibrary electronic resources, and a 5% increase in all other library appropriation funds.

Read all about it at their website: palibraries.org.

Also see a handout provided at the DLC Meeting in Grantville and at the Trustee & Friends Institute.
Share the information with your Trustees, Friends, and library users. PaLA Handout

Libraries strive to meet minimum requirements as outlined in the PA Library Laws, one of them being certification for accepting the role of library director with all the responsibilities of leading a community library. This is a case where the Middletown Public Library would write an official letter requesting a waiver of the standards. A library is likely to be granted the waiver of standards for a limited period of time if they can provide a reason why the standard is not currently met and a written plan for achieving the standard within a reasonable period of time.

The minimum standard in the case of libraries with population under 10,000 is Library Assistant. If you want more information about certification, the information is available here: Public Library Certification Application.

The Middletown Public Library Board of Trustees, employees and Friends are hard at work on sharing their plan to best meet the needs of their community within available resources. They are providing strong proof of the impact a public library makes on a community to help make the case for an appropriate level of staffing.