The Connecticut Library Association Support Staff Section
7th Annual full-day library paraprofessional conference
“Stepping Stones to Success”
ManchesterCommunity College, Manchester CT

DATE: Friday, October 28, 2005

PLACE: ManchesterCommunity College, Manchester, CT

DIRECTIONS & MAPS: Online at

PROGRAM

Coffee and Registration9:00-9:30 a.m.

Opening Remarks9:30-9:45 a.m.

John Cayer, CLASS Chairperson

Randy Fournier, Library Director, ManchesterCommunity College

Alice Knapp, President of CLA

Keynote Speaker9:45-10:30 a.m.

We are pleased to have Sandi Kahn Shelton as our keynote speaker. She is the author of What Comes After Crazy, Sleeping Through the Night and Other Lies, and You Might As Well Laugh, and is a writer for the New Haven Register. She will speak on "The Writing Life" - how it can take17 years to write a novel!

Session I 10:45 a.m.-12 noon

(choose one of the following)

A. Make Merchandising & Display Work Wonders Karen Ribnicky of Library Display Design Systems will discuss ways to make your library more attractive to your patrons. Marian Amodeo and Lisa Masten of Lucy Robbins Welles Library in Newington will share their secrets of success in creating a welcoming library.

B. Life and Times of Beatrix Potter

Betsy Bray, Director of the Cora Belden Library in Rocky Hill, and former children's librarian, will present a lively, interesting look at Beatrix Potter's remarkable life as a children's book author, illustrator, land conservationist, gardener, furniture collector, and sheep farmer.

C. Career Ladders-A Ladder You Can Climb Deb Sunday, University of CT, and Tara L. Hurt, Eastern CT State Univ., will present the foundations, principles and applications of a career ladders program being used within the UCONN library system, which provides support staff with the opportunity to advance and grow professionally and personally within their job assignments. The session will focus on the foundations of the system, steps to take to explore such a program at your library, and a discussion of the benefits of a career ladder system.

D. ILL-Good and Getting Better

Inter-Library Loan has come a long way with the benefit of resource sharing software. Kim Farrington, Librarian at Central CT State Univ., will speak about the new OCLC World Cat Resource Sharing product, the migration from Passport, and useful tips. Steve Cauffman, statewide ILL program coordinator, will present recent & planned enhancements to reQuest ILL.

Lunch (included)12:00-1:00 p.m

Session II 1:15-2:30 p.m.

(choose one of the following)

A. Know Your Personality Type

Find out your personality type and preferences in this interactive workshop. Learn how you prefer to interact with others and organize your work and life. Identify potential career weaknesses or "traps" to avoid, based upon your individual type. Workshop participants will take a quick personality inventory and discuss the results. Presented by Michael Stefanowicz, Professional Counselor at Manchester CC.

B. Cataloging Roundtable Discussion

Share problems and solutions with your fellow catalogers. Kris Jacobi, Head Cataloger at Eastern CT State University, will facilitate.

C. Professional Blogging

Arta Dobbs, Collection Management Librarian at the UCONNHealthCenter, takes you on a trip to the land of blogs, and shows you how they can enhance your library work world. Blogs are not webpages, but interactive online communication tools, and they are the new "darlings" of the internet world!

D. Hands-on Software Training-MS Excel
In this Excel workshop we will review the worksheet and how to enter formulas and functions. In addition we will focus on how to improve the appearance of the worksheet, how to perform web queries, and how to e-mail from within Excel. Presented by Sandra Rimetz, Computer Technology Department Chair from Manchester CC.

Session III 2:45-4:00 p.m.

(choose one of the following)

A. What Do I Do With the Local History Collection?

Barbara Austen, Archivist with the CT Historical Society, will provide basic information on managing local history collections (particularly manuscripts), including arrangement, description and preservation.

B. Hands-on Software Training-MS Publisher
In Microsoft Publisher we will focus on creating a simple newsletter or correspondence while taking advantage of templates and other offerings from the web. Presented by Sandra Rimetz of Manchester CC.

C. Metasearching-the New Interface at iCONN
Jane Emerson and Steve Cauffman from the iCONN statewide database project will demonstrate new features and ways of searching the iCONN resources.

D. Wages & Libraries: Bargaining in Hard Times
In the best & worst of times we are likely to hear that the library budget is stretched and wage increases will be hard to come by. Those with unions are in better shape to do something about it. Still, the dynamics and elements of a good wage agreement-solid research, an equitable proposal, and a plan to build support for it among the public- is essential for everyone, not just union representatives. Presented by Bob Reutenauer, Organizer, Congress of CT Community Colleges

No registrations will be accepted after 10/14/05.

Space is limited so don't delay!

Registration Form for "Stepping Stones to Success:
CLASS 2005"

Name: ______

Library: ______

Home Address: ______

Email: ______

Daytime Phone: ______

If you need a special accommodation, please call or email Pam Perll at least two weeks prior to the conference: email , call 860-512-3421.

Session Choices (you must pre-register for session choices due to spacelimitations):

First ChoiceSecond Choice

Session 1 ______

Session 2 ______

Session 3 ______

Cost (includes morning refreshments and box lunch) - check one:

[]$40.00 for CLA

Individual Members

[]$50.00 for Non-CLA

Members

Make checks payable to CLA and mail with completed form to: CLASS Conference c/o Tzou-Min Hsiung, Acquisitions Dept., Elihu Burritt Library, Central CT State University, 1615 Stanley St., New Britain CT 06050. Fax 860-832-2083.