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CSL/DLD is excited to announce that we have been awarded an IMLS National Leadership Grant LG-254838-OLS-23 in the amount of $249,948 to design and implement a replicable, regional digital navigator sharing plan.

The Connecticut State Library, in collaboration with eight public libraries, will design and implement a replicable model for regional sharing of digital navigation services to underserved residents. The plan seeks to enrich the IMLS funded Salt Lake City navigator model to facilitate the participation of smaller libraries via a regional collaboration, simultaneously demonstrating efficiencies of scale.

The State Library of Connecticut’s Regional Navigator Sharing Plan will engage with 2,000 residents in need, distribute 400 computers, and create a toolkit for replication of such regional library collaboration. The implementation of this model is expected to inform those responsible for Digital Equity Act projects across the United States of ways to introduce centralization and efficiencies into the smaller navigation project models with which they are familiar.

This grant project builds on CSL’s ARPA funded Digital Navigator Pilot led by Chris Gauvreau. Stay tuned!  

To find those published plans, please visit the blog on the National Digital Inclusion Alliance website: Your Voice Matters: State Digital Equity Plans Seek Public Feedback.

Competitive Bidding Requirements for E-Rate for Category Internal Connections Equipment or Services

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

3:00-4:00pm | Register

This workshop will review the basics for filing a Request for Proposal and Form 470 for Managed Internal Broadband Services (MIBS) and Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections (BMIC). For more information, please visit the listing on our Continuing Education Calendar.

Information can also be found on our Annual Report LibGuide page.

**Participation in this survey is critical for state and national data gathering on public libraries.**

UPCOMING WEBINARS

There will be two webinars on how to use the Excel report form, changes to questions and form layout, what goes where, and some common mistakes and misconceptions. This webinar will be especially useful for new directors and for library staff who are new to collecting and entering data in the form.

The same information will be covered at both workshops, so please register for the date that works best for you:

• Thursday, August 10 | 10:00-11:00 am
• Wednesday, September 6 | 1:00-2:00 pm

Each session will be recorded, with links posted afterward to the data playlist on DLD's YouTube channel.

OFFICE HOURS

There will also be two drop-in virtual office hours to answer any further questions you may have as you complete the report. Office hours will be held on:

• Thursday, September 28 | 1:00-3:00 pm
• Tuesday, October 3 | 10:00 am-12:00 pm

The firm DEADLINE for submission of the Annual Report is 4:00 pm on Wednesday, November 1, 2023. Public libraries are required by statute CGS Sec. 11-25 (a) to submit an Annual Report to receive borrowIT payments or other state appropriations. 

Please refer to our Library Statistics LibGuide for more information about the report and past years’ data.

Have you already done all the easy repairs and have a shelf left over of difficult broken spines on hardcover books?

Do you have staff time to do repair work, rather than budget money to replace or rebind books?

This workshop is appropriate for library staff or volunteers who have done basic book repair or taken a basic book repair workshop and are ready to try some advanced repair techniques.

Emphasis will be on spine repairs for hardcover books, where professional rebinding is not an option due to brittle paper, or lack of access to a bindery or the funds to pay for rebinding.

The purpose is to get books back into circulation, rather than on archival or long-term preservation techniques, although conservation-friendly reversible repair techniques will be the focus.

The 2023 Annual Report form was released last month and is due on Wednesday, November 1 by 4:00 pm.

This workshop is perfect for new directors, library staff who are new to collecting and entering data in the form, anyone who wants a refresher or anyone with questions about the state Annual Report.

The session will be recorded, with link posted afterward to the Data Playlist on DLD's YouTube channel.

Discuss fonts and the ways they can work to enhance your flyers. After discussing design principles, participants will look at sample flyers and use their knowledge to improve them.

Participants are asked to “bring” (digital copy on your laptop is fine) a flyer from their library for group discussion and design brainstorming. 

If your library has databases or apps available for patron use, chances are you’d like to make a video explaining how to access them.

Learn to make instructional videos to promote your electronic resources using the WeVideo online site with this hands-on workshop and have the opportunity to try two different techniques to make instructional videos.

Since this is a small group class, participants will need a computer with a camera and microphone so they can share thoughts and ask questions throughout the class.

This is a beginner class - it is helpful if participants are comfortable with downloading things from the internet and adding web browser plugins. Participants will receive info about signing up for a free WeVideo account before the workshop. 

Visit our calendar

The eGO CT Program and the Palace App: A Look Back at FY23

We continue to work on connecting with the few remaining libraries that are not yet fully configured in the Palace Project app. So far, 134 libraries have gone live in the app and 169 sites are configured. As of June 30, we are sharing content with over 2,500 patrons.

DLD is also continuing to work with Baker & Taylor to bring the eGO CT Community Share Program to Connecticut schools. This program allows DLD to deliver eBook and eAudio content, including Nutmeg, Charter Oak, Summer Reading, and All CT Reads titles from eGO CT directly to schools in Connecticut. To date, we have 116 sites that are active in the program.

We also worked with Lyrasis to make a virtual library card available. Patrons can use the Connecticut State Library as their home library and create a virtual card using geoauthentication. This can be especially helpful for libraries that don’t have a compatible ILS.

FY23 saw a total of 10,892 checkouts on the Palace Project app. There were 7,767 checkouts of titles from the Connecticut State Library eGO ebook collection, which is more than double the number of checkouts compared to last year!

New eAudio Titles Now Available in the Palace Project app!

Theme boxes can be reserved in the Story Time Props category in our equipment catalog and have a 45-day loan period.

Themes include:

Cultures of the World

Families

Farms

Five Senses

Health & Safety

Life Cycles