Children's Librarians Meeting

9/12/12

Gates Public Library

Present:

Amy Holland, West Irondequoit; Robin Benoit, Fairport; Matt Krueger, Brockport; Anne Hicks, Henrietta; Claret Bob-Duru, Lincoln; Judy Carpenter, Penfield; Jennifer Caccavale, Penfield; Jane McManus, Winton; Colleen Crispino, Webster; Olivia Durant, Webster; Bruce Tehan, Arnett; Amy Hogue, Parma; Joan Celentano, Rush; Miranda Hazen, Central; Peg Tyler, Pittsford; Elissa Schaeffer, Brighton; Missie Malo, Scottsville; Kelsy Hibbard-Baker, Fairport; Amy Joslyn, Fairport; Cathy Henderson, Greece; Shamika Ledesmas, Lincoln; Natalie Burch, Highland; Jeanne Slocombe, Winton; Meghan Kitz, Wheatley; Maria Heeks-Heinlein, Sully; Pat Connor, Lyell; Anne Strang, Ogden; Ruth Otto, East Irondequoit; Jason Poole, Webster; Shana Lynott, Webster; Mary Jo Smith, Gates; Tonia Burton, Central

General announcements:

~2000 more kids and teens signed up for summer reading this year – great job everyone!

Linda Schmackpfeffer of Baby Signing Time dropped off fliers with Mary Jo.  If you want to schedule classes, her email address is: lindasmk@yahoo.com

County civil service presentation:

Nicole and Eileen from the county answered questions about civil service.  They will email Tonia the answers to the questions, and Tonia will email to us.

Nicole and Eileen covered questions about county civil service – city civil service is different 

Librarian I & Librarian II exams are held twice a year – in April and October

• You have to apply for the exam two months prior to the exam date
• You can sign up for email notification for librarian exams here: https://www.monroecounty.gov/hrapply/subscribe
• Deadline is strict – if you miss the application deadline for an exam, you’re out of luck.

What makes someone reachable on the list?

• I won’t cover this question too much here, because I don’t want to mess up the answer.  Hopefully Eileen and Nicole will send the answers along and you can refer to that document.
• The one piece I’m sure about is that there is a randomization system for ranking people with the same score.
• Employers are encouraged to hire within the top 3 reachable people.

Canvas letters

• You have to respond to canvas letters, even if you’re not interested in the position – if you don’t respond, you will not remain on the civil service list
• You generally have to respond within 5 business days of receiving the letter – if you can’t meet this deadline, call the civil service office to make alternate arrangements
• On the letter, there are reasons for declining that you can check off – salary, location of job, etc.  In the future, civil service won’t canvas you for jobs containing those criteria

How can I get a copy of the civil service job description?

• If you are in the towns/villages, you should be able to get the job description from the personnel dept.  If not, you can call Allison Freeman at the civil service office: 753-1713

Transferring

• This means that if you are appointed to a permanent position as a Librarian I, if another Librarian I job comes along you can apply for it without being on the civil service list.
• This is the only way to get around being on the list
• Still, it’s good to remain on the list because if you’re not, you won’t receive the canvas letters for open positions.

Are there civil service limits to the number of hours you can work if you are not a civil service employee but work with other employees in the same job title that are civil service?

• Part time positions need to be at least 50% less than full-time positions.  So if full-time is 40 hours/week, part time should be 20/week or less.  If full time is less than 40 hours, part time needs to be less than 20 hours.
• Civil service doesn’t check this, but it is possible for hiring authorities to get fined for infractions
• Librarian I & II PART TIME are non-competitive positions; i.e., you don’t need to take the civil service test for these jobs.  These positions are a way for recent grads to gain experience so they can score higher on the exam.

What gets you off the list?

• Not responding to a canvas letter
• Getting appointed to a position
• You are on the list for 1 year; after a year one year your name comes off the list unless you take the exam again.

Scoring the exam:

• If you meet the minimum qualifications for the exam, you will receive a 70.  This is the base level score.
• The next level score depends on how much continuing education you’re received/when you received your MLS
•  If you received your MLS within the last 5 years, you will score higher
•  If you have at least 60 hours of continuing education in the last 5 years you will score higher
• The next level score depends on your work experience
•  You need at least 8 months supervised internship/leadership experience or 9 months post-MLS professional experience
• If you are just out of library school, it is hard to get 100% because of needing experience.  For recent grads, look for Librarian I non-competitive positions to get the experience to score higher on the exam.
• Librarian II scoring groupings are very similar to Librarian I – experience, training, when you received MLS

Demonstration of AWE Early Literacy Station:

«  Joan Wicks (wicksj@awelearning.com)demonstrated the system for us

«  They just came out with version 9, which has 63 programs

«  Librarians and educators helped to pick programs

«  Many programs correlate to state standards

«  Stations have touch screens and are very colorful – may be helpful for children with disabilities

• Can also use mouse

«  Can get the stations with headphones, but only 50% of libraries do this because of head lice (ew!)

«  Joan showed us a couple of programs, including My Amazing Body (with Seymour Skinless)

«  Can set up the stations so that they only display programs on a certain subject (i.e., you can set it up so station only displays reading programs)

«  Can connect station to screen/whiteboard – could do some programs with larger group, this is an idea especially for programs that correlate with summer reading theme

«  Can set up banners that appear when station isn’t in use – way to acknowledge group that paid for station

«  Can set up timed sessions – good if station is popular

«  Printing capability

«  Can set so station shuts down automatically during closed hours

«  Doesn’t really require training – very easy to set up

«  Grade levels aren’t assigned to programs – kids can choose based on their individual skill level

«  Has a cool painting program

Tonia – J stuff

Mentioned the importance of being in the room during programs – if you’re not there, attendees can say anything they want about what happened

• It’s also a good idea to have a reliable parent or second staff person present who can back you up should there be an issue

Performers showcase

• Will be in October at the Greece library
• Better for Tonia NOT to schedule, since she doesn’t book performers anymore
• Makes more sense for showcase to be planned by people who are actively scheduling VAPS

Booklists

• Have a section on the wiki for booklists – Amy, Meghan, Maria, and Matt will be on a committee to get this started
• This way we can update on a continual basis
• Don’t need multiple people to read the same book – as long as you think it’s a solid read, and it has received positive reviews, add it to the list
• We’ll still have paper versions – Jason and Miranda will look into the logistics of creating paper versions from the wiki

Booktalks

• Let’s aim for 2 per meeting.  Tonia will create some kind of sign-up sheet.
• You can booktalk any format (chapter book, picture book, etc.), but keep the books current

Consultant’s Page on J Wiki:

• This will be Tonia’s page for things she needs to communicate to us
• To access, go to wiki (mclskids.pbworks.com)
• In the Navigator menu, click on “Consultant News and Info”
• This will be especially helpful for summer reading info – Tonia will just post everything here as opposed to sending us multiple emails
• Don’t edit anything in the “Consultant News and Info” folder – Tonia will be only one to edit/add things here

Reminder on how to get into wiki:

• Go to this website: http://mclskids.pbworks.com/
• You can view all content without logging in, but if you want to add/edit anything on the wiki, you need an ID and password.  To get an ID and password, you can contact Jane McManus (correct me if I’m wrong, Jane!)

Future meetings:

• November 2012 – mentoring groups.
• Tonia will create new groups, but feel free to switch around.
• December 2012 – Best Books
•  This meeting will be at Evans (West Irondequoit)
•  Best Books committee is Kelsey, Missie, Joan, and Mary Jo
• January 2013 – Mentoring meeting
• February 2013 – Topic and location TBD.  Take a look at the NYLA conference offerings to see if anything appeals to you and let Tonia know.
• March 2013 – Mentoring meeting
• April 2013 – Mini Comics Conference
• Location TBD
• May 2013 – Mentoring meeting
• June 2013 – No meeting

Random Notes:

• Mary Jo is in charge of scheduling some programs for the 2013 NYLA conference in Niagara Falls – If you have any ideas for programs, let her know!
• Adrienne Furness is on the ballot for the 2015 (?) Caldecott Committee!  I believe the election will take place in the spring – make sure to vote for her!
• Tonia plugged the ALSC Institute
• Happens every two years, and it’s ONLY CHILDREN’S LIBRARIANS!
• Family Services Literacy Grant
• May replace SR mini-grants
• We need to apply as a system by 12/7
• We may want to think about switching up how we use this grant money.
• Our J meetings don’t count as CE, unless someone does a workshop on a specific topic
• Matt asked about a budget for having presenters at our meetings
• Tonia may be able to get funding for an outside presenter.  An idea is to get Kay Bishop to do a storytelling workshop, maybe for our February 2013 meeting.

Whew!  Hope I got it all right!

--Amy Holland, Pauline Evans