Now that the school year has started, it's time for some well-deserving staff from our public libraries to take a deep breath. You survived Summer Reading!!!

Last week, a few of these creative and intrepid librarians gathered at the Suwannee River Regional Library for our first in-person Children's Services Interest Group meeting in quite a while. It's always exciting to hear about the successful programs our libraries run in the summer, as well as the plans they have going forward. If you work in Children's Services, you want to be a part of this group - be on the lookout for future meeting announcements!

Jenny Eason

[email protected]

Member Services Coordinator

**Only a few spots left! The 2023 NEFLIN Annual Meeting will take place on Friday, September 15th, from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm, at UNF’s Adam W. Herbert University Center.  

The day’s agenda will include:

• Annual Reports from the NEFLIN Staff
• Keynote Presentation by Peter Bromberg
• Presentation of the 2023 NEFLIN Awards
• Announcement of NEFLIN’s upcoming projects
• Innovation Project reports from NEFLIN member libraries
• Silent Auction benefiting the Jim Morris Continuing Education Fund
• and more content for library staff throughout the day!



Cost to attend:  $45.00 (includes a catered lunch)

Registration for all attendees will close on Friday, September 1st, unless the event reaches capacity before that date.

We invite you or your library to donate a basket to be auctioned off at this year's Annual Meeting.

All proceeds benefit the Jim Morris Continuing Education Fund, which provides financial support for NEFLIN members to attend conferences and other professional development opportunities.

To Contribute:

Choose a theme and begin to assemble your basket.

SUBMIT the Online Form by Friday, September 8th.

Bring your completed basket to the NEFLIN Annual Meeting on September 15 at the UNF Adam W. Herbert University Center.

We're thankful to have so many wonderful library directors to work with in the NEFLIN region, and we're excited to add a few new names to that list. Join us in welcoming these individuals who have recently been named library director at their institution. We look forward to working with you all!

• The Bolles School - Brian Nesselrode
• Clay County Public Library - Mary Canfield
• Daytona State College - Anibal "AJ" Delgado Gonzalez
• Duval County Schools - Lisa Scallan
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Hunt Library - Deborah Prosser
• Santa Fe College - Nance Lempinen-Leedy

Pictured above are (L-R):

Michael Clarke (facilitator); Amanda Stinchcomb (Clay County Public); Mary Catherine McFarland (Columbia County Public); Caitlin Ruvolo (Jacksonville Public); Kelly Handy (UF); Mary Thompson (Marion County Public); Cameron Burris (Alachua County Public); Alyssa Gilbert (Jacksonville Public); Ryan Merkel (Jacksonville Public); Deborah Horner (Columbia County Public); James Day (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University); Aaron Greene (Flagler County Public); Melody Royster (UF); Hannah Ringstaff (Jacksonville Public); Emily Grosskopf (Suwannee River Regional Library); Michelle Baxter (Jacksonville Public); Cassandra Konz (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University); Mari Meke (UF)

Not pictured: Catherine O'Brien (Marion County Public Library)

Thursday, September 7th

2:00 - 3:00 pm

Online

Get the most out of LibGuides' built-in features to create and design attractive, effective guides. We'll emphasize consistency and conciseness, leading to better results for your patrons. We will go over how to choose the appropriate asset and box types and write better, more concise web content. We will also review adding images to guides to enhance both content and appearance while maintaining accessibility.

You've been asking for LibGuides training from Springshare for some time. Everything finally came together and now NEFLIN is pleased to bring you our first session with Springshare! 

The Academic Libraries Interest Group has been enjoying in-person meetings at several of our member libraries, including St. Johns River State College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Bethune-Cookman University, Jacksonville University, and the University of Florida. These meetings have given the group the opportunity to have great discussions, network, and see firsthand how other academic libraries are serving their student bodies.  

For our third meeting of 2023, we'll be at Santa Fe College's Lawrence W. Tyree Library in Gainesville on Friday, September 22nd, from 9:00 am - 12:00 noon.  More agenda details will be coming soon. Register today to join us!

Last month, we congratulated three NEFLIN members for graduating from Year 17 of the Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute. This month, we're welcoming three NEFLIN members into SSLLI Year 18!

We wish Kaylee, Paul, and Olive all the best over the next year - they have an exciting journey ahead!

Kaylee Erdos

Florida Institute of Technology - Evans Library

Paul Lightcap

Alachua County Library District

Olive O'Meara

Alachua County Library District

For the past few months, we've been highlighting the 10 NEFLIN member libraries who are recipients of a 2023 Innovation Project Award. These libraries all submitted their innovative ideas to the NEFLIN Board, who then awarded up to $7,500 for each winning idea. All of the libraries are working now to put their projects into action, and at the NEFLIN Annual Meeting on September 15th, they will share their progress and results.

Our next featured project comes from Suwannee River Regional Library. Their project, Sensory @ the Library and Beyond, will benefit the Branford Public Library:

"In our small but growing community, we have noticed a need for services for our autistic patrons. Our library has begun offering programming with our Sensory Saturday events. Parents and caregivers are appreciative of the library’s efforts, citing a lack of services in our area for their loved ones. Some patrons have stated that they drive over an hour for similar services.

With rising fuel costs, patrons are looking for something closer to home. The resources for this project will be used for more sensory programming and also be available for patrons to check out.

By offering sensory programming the library becomes more inclusive. When we recognized the need in our story time programs, we made adjustments to ensure that all of our children have a comfortable and rewarding experience. Parents and caregivers began to open up and share the importance of providing programs that their children could benefit from. Having this kind of programming is welcoming to our patrons. By offering these free, in-house programs and the sensory kits to go, we will be bringing these services closer to our patrons including our low-income families.

Meanwhile, the University of North Florida is using their Innovation Project award to create the Eartha M. M. White Virtual Reality Experience:

"The UNF Virtual Learning Center (VLC) in the Thomas G. Carpenter Library proposes to create a virtual reality experience using one of the Library’s special collections: the Eartha White Collection. Eartha White was a prominent resident of Jacksonville known for her humanitarian and philanthropic accomplishments in NE Florida. In 1904 she and her mother Clara founded the Clara White Mission, an institution still existing on Ashley Street in Jacksonville. This collaborative project would bring the collection to life through a virtual reality experience using the resources of the VLC, Special Collections, the Clara White Mission, and UNF’s School of Computing.

This project will enable the VLC to acquire the specialized equipment and software to create the virtual reality experience. These tools include a 3-D camera to capture the environment at the Eartha White Museum in the Clara White Mission; a 3-D scanner to capture images of documents, photographs, and artifacts from the Eartha M. M. White Collection in the UNF Special Collections and University Archives; and one immersive virtual reality headset to allow the VLC to bring the virtual reality experience to the UNF and northeast Florida communities. "

Don't forget to attend the NEFLIN Annual Meeting to find out more about ALL of our 2023 Innovation Projects and how to apply for a 2024 Innovation Project at your library.