NMRT Newsletter

Vol. 12 No. 1

Texas Library

Association

2010 Conference Wrap-up

TLA Annual Conference was held April 14-

17, 2010 in San Antonio with a total of 6,544 attendees! NMRT

had a very busy conference this

year sponsoring multiple confer-

ence programs, holding our first fundraiser at our

booth, and meet-ing lots of new

members. The first of what we hope are many

collaborations with the TALL Texans Round Table to sponsor the preconference “Links

to Leadership: New Members Growing TALL” was a smashing success. Three

keynote speakers spoke to a packed room of eager new members looking to learn all

they could about TLA and how they could get involved. We continue to receive very

positive feedback from those who attended the preconference with the most

frequent comment being that they very much appreciated the opportu-nity to meet face-to-face a represen-

tative from their Division, District, and Round Tables.

On the morning of the first full day of conference, a great crowd

attended the NMRT conference pro-gram, “Making the Most of Your

Membership: TLA & You.” A panel of active TLA leaders spoke to the

crowd about the many benefits of TLA involvement including expanding

your professional network, building your leadership skills, and gaining life-long

friends. The panel also offered advice on how to foster your involvement by attending

business meetings, volunteering for positions no one else seems to want and introducing yourself to new people. Several attendees

said they left the program inspired and motivated to get involved!

The same evening, TLA sponsored the

first ever New Member Reception in the convention center grotto on the river.

New TLA members enjoyed refreshments and were introduced to the long lost new

member initiation ceremony and secret handshake.

Many thanks go to the NMRT Booth Committee chaired by Lynda Muller for their creativity and time dedicated to our

fantastic exhibit hall booth. Many confer-ence goers stopped by the booth and lots

of NMRT members volunteered for this year’s committees. At the booth NMRT

also held its first fundraiser—a gift basket raffle! Three themed gift baskets were

raffled off and garnered $200 for the NMRT general fund. Ideas are already

afloat for next year’s fundraiser. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to staff

the booth and who donated items and money for the gift baskets. We couldn’t

have done it without you!

There were tons of great conference

programs this year and if you weren’t able to attend you can still benefit from the

information shared at conference by view-ing the handouts and PowerPoints from conference sessions on the TLA Electronic

Handouts & Resources webpage. Hope everyone enjoyed this year’s

conference! See you next year in Austin!

Important Dates:

May is Texas Writers

Month

Children’s Book Week

May 10-16, 2010

TLA Annual Assembly

July 25-28, 2010

Austin, TX

Inside this issue:

Conference Sightings 2

Outstanding New

Librarian Award

3

Professional

Development Grant

4

In Case You Didn’t

Know...New website

5

Message from the Chair 5

TLA News 6

NMRT Logo Contest 6

New NMRT Executive

Board

6

New Members

Round Table

Next NMRT

Newsletter coming

Summer 2010!

Booth Chair Lynda Muller & new NMRT Chair Jennifer Anderson

Page 2 NMRT Newsletter Vol. 12 No. 1

“Making the Most of Your Membership: TLA & You”

“Links to Leadership: New Members Growing TALL”

Outstanding New Librarian Award 2010 Recipient

The NMRT Outstanding New Librarian Award honors an

individual who is new to the profession and working as a

full-time librarian. The award winner is chosen by a NMRT

committee based on their initiative as a new librarian to

improve their library and the field of librarianship. This

year’s award was given to Mrs. Diane Ramsay of Chapel

Hill ISD at the TLA Annual Conference in San Antonio.

Diane was nominated for the ONLA by her school

principal who stated, “Mrs. Ramsay has made an out-

standing impact to our school district within a very short

time period.” Soon after being hired, Diane supervised the

remodeling of the middle/high school library which turned

the outdated library into an inviting media center. In addi-

tion, Diane began a junior high book club and started Friday

Night Flicks where she shows a movie that was originally a

book.

Diane works hard to entice her students expand their

range of reading by conducting book conferences for students that choose books outside the AR test list, and she

creatively presents current books through book talks, Animoto, and MovieMaker book trailers, even teaming-up

with an 11th grade English teacher to teach students how to create their own book trailers of Young Adult Choice

Award books that will be posted on the school website.

And these are just a few of Diane’s projects as she oversees 2 libraries and has direct contact with every stu-

dent and teacher within the Chapel Hill school district. Her principal goes on to say, “Most importantly, she has

begun to weave all disciplines, the faculty, students, and community into the "web" of the library. She told us dur-

ing her interview that she believes that the library should be the hub of the school, and her actions have demon-

strated her deep, passionate belief in that philosophy.” Congratulations Diane!

NMRT Newsletter Vol. 12 No. 1 Page 3

ONLA recipient Diane Ramsay & ONLA Committee Chair Rosalind

Alexander

I taught junior high and high school English for a total of 17 years, and I loved how the library was very much a part of my teaching. But, it was not until I encountered Rose Brock, the librarian of Coppell Middle School West, that I was inspired to become a media specialist. I witnessed how the library was the central hub of the school and the opportu-nity someone had to change the lives of ALL the students, not just the ones I luckily had in my classroom. Moving to East Texas was a blessing in many ways, one of which was Chapel Hill ISD. The school district hired me with the belief that I could be an asset to its students, faculty, and community. I have found where I truly belong. I thank the Lord everyday that He led me on this journey and has placed me where I am. I am truly honored to receive the award Outstanding New Librarian. As my first year as a media specialist comes to an end, I look forward to growing and learning and hopefully one day being deserving of TLA’s Librarian of the Year. This is a profession for enthusi-astic dreamers, and my head swirls with what could be. I look forward to where the li-brary program is in five years.

Note from Outstanding New Librarian, Diane Ramsay

Rainy Days at TLA 2010 By Kristen Davis

Despite the grey atmosphere in San Antonio, this year’s conference theme was bright and sunny. The high pollen count aggravated my allergies and my persistent cough disrupted more than one speaker, but I had a splendid time through it

all! Many thanks to the TLA/NMRT/Quality Books Professional Development Grant selection committee for making this possible! During my four days in San Antonio, I attended General Session I, three business meetings, the President’s All-

Conference Party, a tour of the Sunset Station in downtown San Antonio, the New Members Round Table reception, and a total of seven programs. The moments I was not wandering the Riverwalk I spent on the Exhibit Hall floor. Day 1 began for me on Wednesday evening with the Library Instruction Round Table business meeting. As outgoing

Secretary/Treasurer I was able to officially hand over the LIRT binder to the next serving member. Although I won’t be an officer this year, I will stay involved with LIRT by helping to plan the second annual Information Literacy Regional

Summit. It will be held on September 17 in Corpus Christi. Stay tuned for more details… Thursday (Day 2) began very early with a rainy walking tour of the Sunset Station. This was followed by General

Session I, featuring National Public Radio journalist Scott Simon. His speech touched upon the similarities between jour-nalists and librarians and our quest for reliable, authoritative information. Later in the day I attended two programs that

relate directly to my position as Information Literacy Coordinator at TAMU-CC: the Animated Tutorial Sharing Project (ANTS), and Megan Oakleaf’s presentation on outcomes-based assessment for library instruction. A third program at

Net Fair I had to do with a new protocol called Google Wave. I rounded out the afternoon with the District IV Caucus and then headed straight for the NMRT Reception. For those who did not attend this wacky event in the Convention

Center Grotto, the Secret Handshake will remain a mystery… Day 3 was busy and filled with visits to the Exhibit Hall, more programs, keeping the incoming chair company at the

NMRT booth, and having fun “librarian style.” One of the most useful programs I attended all week was Friday morning: Problem-Based Learning Meets Web 2.0. Two librarians from UNT talked about a pilot project in which they incorpo-

rate short videos into their instruction sessions and have their first-year students define a problem raised in the video, identify their own information needs, conduct research, and propose a solution. I attended two other excellent pro-grams: one dealt with “digital citizenship” and the other with self-censorship among librarians. I also saw a detailed dem-

onstration of Meebo at Net Fair II. After the serious business of the day was done, I attended my first Book Cart Drill Team competition and then finished Friday evening with the President’s All-Conference Party at Sunset Station, enjoying

Mexican food, a live band, and the company of good friends. Day 4 was short but sweet. Saturday morning started with coffee and the New Members Round Table business

meeting. I was pleased to see several fresh faces who had never officially joined NMRT. After the meeting I took one last spin across the Exhibit Hall floor, then bid farewell to San Antonio.

I’ve gotten in the habit of writing a “Travel Haiku” and submitting it to my director along with my Annual Confer-ence Travel Report. I’m no poet, but I’ll share it with you anyway…

San Antonio. Librarians in the rain,

filtering chaos.

2010 Professional Development Grant winner

NMRT Newsletter Vol. 12 No. 1 Page 4

The purpose of the NMRT/Quality Books Inc. Professional Devel-

opment Grant is to encourage professional development and

participation in TLA and NMRT among new professionals by

providing financial assistance for the expenses involved in attending

the TLA Annual Conference. This year’s grant was awarded to

Mrs. Kristen Davis of Texas A&M University–Corpus

Christi at the TLA Annual Conference in San Antonio. Each year

the grant winner is asked to write an article about their confer-

ence experience. Below you will find Kristen’s article, “Rainy Days

at TLA 2010.” Congratulations Kristen!

Grant winner Kristen Davis

Message from the Chair

Greetings and Salutations! What an exciting time to

be a part of TLA—Transformation is happening

everywhere you look—and NMRT is part of it. I

begin my year as Chair after a wonderful week in San

Antonio for Annual Conference. For those of you I

met, Welcome! For those I haven’t met, I’ll look for-

ward to seeing you in Austin! It’s been a great year

for NMRT, with Kelly Brouillard as Chair there have

been some awesome changes. The Newsletter is

back, we had our first preconference with TALL

Texans, and a great conference program. We also

had our first New Members Social, thanks to the

amazing support of TLA!

This next year will prove to be just as busy and

exciting—with the new wiki and blog (Thanks Kelly!)

and the hard work of the Outreach Committee, we

have great resources to offer everyone. I’d like to

thank everyone who worked hard this past year and

a big thanks to those who have signed on to

Committees this year to keep things going.

I’m planning the Orientation Session for next

Annual Conference and working with the TALL

Texans to continue offering the preconference for

New Members. Kelly and the new Mentoring Pro-

gram Committee will revive the Mentor Program.

We are looking for some help with designing a new

logo for NMRT (see page 6). We’d also be interested

in feedback on the new wiki and all of the resources

we’ve gathered so far. Ask questions, start discus-

sions, and find ways to get involved! Keep checking

the wiki and blog for opportunities and ideas.

Remember to sign up to our Listserv (see page 6 for

listserv instructions). Don’t forget to check out the

new TLA webpage at http://new.txla.org and while

you’re there log in to MyTLA

(with your TLA username and

password) and set up your

personal profile.

-Jennifer

Page 5 NMRT Newsletter Vol. 12 No. 1

Jennifer Anderson

NMRT Chair

TLA unveiled a beta version of its new website

during conference, with the new site and social

networking platform scheduled to roll out late this

summer. The new TLA website will offer all TLA

groups a space for file sharing, discussion boards,

and announcements so that their members may

more easily connect and participate in group activities. The social networking component called

MyTLA is very similar to your Facebook or

MySpace in that you can customize your profile,

add Contacts, unload resources, and even form

whole new groups with other members who share

your interests. Preview the new TLA website at

http://new.txla.org/. Click on MyTLA and login with

your current TLA username and password to view

the interface. Some of the capabilities are currently

disabled until the new site goes live but you can

upload your photo and begin adding contacts now.

In Case You Didn’t Know…

NMRT Newsletter Vol. 12 No. 1 Page 6

T L A N e w s TLA Webinar Series http://www.txla.org/ce/

TLA offers year-round continu-

ing education through two

webinar programs. Upcoming

Premium presentations will

feature webinars on multimedia

presentations, library manage-

ment, and copyright law, while

the free Strategic Initiative

webinars will focus on leader-

ship. Webinar participation

does require registration, but

the only technical requirements

are an Internet-linked com-

puter and a nearby telephone.

TLA records each webinar and the Strategic Initiative webinar

recordings are available to any-

one for free. So if you missed

the webinar “Getting Involved

in TLA” with Gretchen

McCord Hoffman you can listen

and view the Powerpoint

presentation here. This is a

great webinar for new

members who were unable to a

attend Annual Conference this

year but want to know more

about TLA and how to get

New adult reading list,

The Lariat List Many have heard of the TLA

Reading Lists for grades K-12—

there’s the 2X2, Texas Bluebon-

net Award, Lone Star and

Tayshas. But have you ever

wondered why there wasn’t a

reading list for adults? Well

wonder now more! The new

adult reading list, The Lariat List,

was just released at the 2010

TLA Annual Conference and

features 25 titles of recom-

mended Adult Fiction. View the

complete list at http://

www.txla.org/temp/Lariat.html.

[PDF]

Task Force Reports At this year’s Annual Confer-

ence, the Task Force on TLA

Districts presented a preliminary

report in which they recommend

that TLA district boundaries be

redrawn to create a larger

number of districts that are

smaller in size and keep metro-

politan areas together. The Task

Force also recommended that

Districts be repurposed so that

their primary functions are to

provide geographical representa-

tion on Council and to be a local

venue for discussion of TLA

issues and news and networking.

The Task Force recommended that districts no longer serve as a

venue for continuing education

since CE opportunities are now

available elsewhere and in order

to ease the pressure on districts

to provide this mandatory pro-

gramming. View the Task Force

on TLA Districts preliminary

report here.

Also at conference, the

Technology Task Force presented to Council the 2010-2015 Tech-

nology Plan which can be viewed

here.

Other items being considered by

council:

Revisions to the TLA Bylaws

which would allow units to tran-

sition from unit bylaws to unit

operating procedures,

“simplifying unit operation and

making it possible to revise

operational procedures in a

more timely manner.” (TLA

Task Force on Unit Bylaws

Report to Council, March 25,

2010)

Unit self-assessments to help

units re-examine their mission,

goals, and activities in order to

refocus the purpose and goals of

TLA as a whole. From these self-

assessments, some units may be

dissolved or units with simi-

lar missions may merge into a

single unit. (TLA Unit Self-

Assessment Task Force Re-

port, March 2010)

Decisions on these issues will be made by Council at Annual

Assembly in July 2010.

Texas Library Association

NMRT Listserv

Be sure to utilize the NMRT Listserv for

the latest announcements and information from NMRT.

To subscribe: 1. Log into TLA's Members Only Section

2. Click on "Member Distribution Lists" 3. Click on "Lists for TLA Round Tables

and Interest Groups" 4. From the list of round tables, select

New Members RT 5. Click on "Subscribe to nmrt"

6. Complete the online form. When you have been successfully subscribed, you

will receive a welcome message.

NMRT Online

WEB:http://www.txla.org/groups/nmrt/

WIKI: http://newmembersrt.pbworks.com/

BLOG: http://txlablog.org/newmembersrt/

Announcing the

2010-2011 NMRT Executive Board!

Chair……...………………...….Jennifer Anderson

Vice Chair.....……………...Kimberly Herrington

Past Chair….……..……………....Kelly Brouillard

Secretary/Treas……Christine Freeman-Radcliff

Councilor…………………...….…….…..Erin Cody

Councilor Alternate.………….Elizabeth Sargent

Newsletter Editor…….................Kelly Brouillard

Webmaster……...………………..Kelly Brouillard

On the NMRT wiki, view photos of

our Executive Board and get their emails,

and view the list of our new committee members.

When TLA’s new website goes live late

this summer, each unit will have new

web pages, and on these new unit

pages there is space for their logo.

Problem is, NMRT doesn’t have a logo!

So here’s your opportunity to use your

creative talents and make your mark

on NMRT….design our logo! The logo

must incorporate NMRT and must be

square in size. To see examples of unit

logos click here.

Deadline for design submissions is

July 31,2010

All designs will then be posted for

NMRT members to vote for their

favorite. Submit your design to

tlanewmembers@gmail.com

Check out our New Member Resources wiki page for

information on library careers and jobs, professional

development, professional associations, blogs to read,

listservs to subscribe to, and other fun stuff!

http://newmembersrt.pbworks.com/New-Member-Resources

View more photos of NMRT activities on our wiki

http://newmembersrt.pbworks.com/NMRT-Photos