Your ideas will be featured on the National Library Week website as a useful tool for other librarians looking for creative ways to use the National Library Week theme, You belong @ your library. Each idea will list the name of the librarian who submitted it and their library. The deadline for submitting your ideas is February 15.

As the You belong @ your library theme suggests, programming ideas should reflect a wide variety of library users, and should encourage library users that the library is a place with materials, programs, and activities for everyone in their community. The Campaign for America’s Libraries is looking for programming ideas for all types of libraries.

Librarians looking to promote National Library Week 2012 are encouraged to visit the National Library Week website. Public service announcements (PSAs) featuring author, TV host, and Honorary Chair of National Library Week, Brad Meltzer, are available for download.

As Honorary Chair, Meltzer appears in print and digital PSAs promoting National Library Week. The PSAs, developed by the American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries, will be placed in magazines and online throughout the spring. ALA also offers free customization of the PSA for libraries.

Additional promotional materials include a sample op-ed, proclamation, press release, and scripts for use in radio ads. All incorporate the 2012 National Library Week theme, You belong @ your library. Tools are available at the National Library Week website.

ALA Graphics products supporting National Library Week are also available, including a poster, bookmark and mini poster, as well as downloadable Web files and high-resolution art files. All Graphics products can be purchased through the ALA Store.

National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use.

Future webinars in the series include “Moderating Forums @ your library—Nuts and Bolts” on Tuesday, March 27; “Practicing Moderating @ your library” on Tuesday, April 24; and “Convening Forums @ your library—Nuts and Bolts” on Tuesday, May 22. More details and registration information will be added to Programming Librarian soon.

Our library, Laurel County Public Library, is located at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in southeastern Kentucky. We moved into our new library facility nearly nine years ago, and immediately began offering adult programming, starting out with just a couple of programs each month, and eventually growing into a schedule offering as many as twenty per month. Through the years, we’ve found that our community has a craving for both the entertaining and the intellectually focused programs we offer here at our library. Living in a small town doesn’t mean that people’s interests are limited—we have every bit the breadth of curiosity that urbanites do. We’ve also noticed that the community is anxious to show support of the library’s programs so they can continue, and they’re very willing to give new things a try because they trust that we work hard to offer quality opportunities.

We’re in the midst of our reading and discussion series as part of the “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War” program, so we’re offering several of the programs listed below during the five months of the series. To be honest, the biggest challenge we’ve faced so far with our Civil War programming is a greater than anticipated interest in the topic—a nice problem to have. Even if your library isn’t located in an area rich with Civil War sites, you’ll still be able to offer valuable, creative programs to commemorate the 150th anniversary of this historic event. Wherever you are, there are sure to be patrons interested in Civil War-related programs, and likely there are also resources nearby to help you pull them off.

But before you start planning your own events, I’d first suggest keeping these points in mind:

• Remember that your contacts have other contacts. Make a quick phone call or send a short email to speakers and presenters you’ve previously worked with asking if they know of anyone who can help you with a Civil War commemorative program—either in general or a specific program you have in mind.

• Adapt a successful program you’ve already offered. You’ll see below a program that we originally used as a Women’s History Month event, but could easily be adapted for a Civil War-related program. Just be sure you don’t wear a good thing out by repeating it too often.

• Keep your eyes and ears open for new program ideas. We skim area newspapers and visit other libraries’ websites for ideas we can adapt. During casual conversations with patrons, you might pick up on new ideas they’re interested in learning more about.

And now … some ideas that might get you started on your own offerings in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War:

• Civil War film series—Make your public performance license work even more for you by offering a multi-part film series. We’re currently offering a four-part, monthly series enhanced by introductory and closing comments by professors from our local community college, who add context to what is being shown and set the record straight about what might have been fictionalized for the film. An added bonus—so far, I’ve noticed that the films are attracting a whole new set of patrons from those attending either our Civil War reading series or our regular monthly feature films.

• Exhibits—We’re borrowing a Lincoln-themed freestanding exhibit from a nearby university and using that along with a display of a local patron’s Lincoln memorabilia. In exchange for nominal shipping costs, the community will enjoy an informative and enlightening exhibit. You might work with your local historical society to borrow or arrange a special display for your library. Or ask around—chances are that you’ll find a collector of Civil War items that might be willing to work with you on an exhibit.

• Continual readings—We did this last March for Women’s History Month and had continuous readings of writings by women from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Why not adapt it for a Civil War commemorative event? Arrange for continual readings of Civil War writings by asking college students, patrons, community leaders, and library staff to choose short read-alouds (ten to fifteen minutes each) one right after the other for several continuous hours. A great resource to start with is America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries, edited by Edward L. Ayers, an anthology of original Civil War source documents. Yes, it takes some scheduling, but you’ll be rewarded with a memorable and impactful event at your library.

• Reader’s theater—We all know that reader’s theater is a great tool for improving the reading skills of young students, but it can also be an interesting and enjoyable experience for families and community members. Without costumes, lighting, memorization, and other stressful factors to worry about, performers can focus on bringing their characters alive through the emotion in their voices. Just pick a script and start casting! Scholastic’s website has a script available on the life of Harriet Tubman, and there are lots more Civil War-related scripts to be found through a simple Internet search.

• Atypical lectures—Entice your patrons with a lecture (or lecture series) that goes beyond the usual topics. Think of subjects relating to the Civil War but a little outside the box, such as medical practices, female spies, the role of women, or advances in weaponry. This would be perfect for a breakfast series or a brown bag lunch series.

• Touring children’s theater productions—This one is a little tougher to come across, but has big rewards when it works out. Check children’s theater companies within a two- or three-hour radius to see if any of their upcoming touring performances will have a connection to the Civil War. Since they’re primarily aimed at children, Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman might be likely offerings. But just because they’re children’s theater performances, don’t be surprised when the grownups come, too. Since our town doesn’t have a professional or community theater, we have many adults who enjoy the programs and happily attend without a child or grandchild in tow. Even if you don’t have a theater or stage area in your library (we don’t), these touring groups are usually very willing to adapt their performances to your venue. Just discuss the arrangements well in advance so no one is caught off-guard on performance night.

• Cooking demonstrations or programs—Everyone loves food programs, so why not offer one related to the Civil War? Work with a reenactment group to offer an outdoor cast iron cooking demonstration, or with a local historian or professor to present a program on food costs, availability, or recipes. There are several vintage cookery books available online to use in programs, too. Your local cooperative extension service might also be a good resource in this area.

• Bus trip—Working with our local community college and our Friends of the Library organization, we’ve been fortunate to arrange a couple of day trips during the past year to regional attractions. Our next one is coming up in March with a trip to Ashland (the Henry Clay estate) and the Mary Todd Lincoln House, both an hour away in Lexington, Kentucky. With Friends sponsoring the bus transportation, students and patrons only have to pay for admission and lunch—a great bargain! College students like the trips because they’ve usually not had the opportunity to visit these attractions before, and patrons like them because they don’t have to worry about driving, parking, or other issues.

• Dance performance—We have several couples from a regional vintage dance troupe scheduled in May to perform dances from the Civil War era. They even plan to teach a few steps to anyone interested in learning! Don’t have a vintage dance troupe in your area? Try nearby dance studios or colleges with dance programs for performers willing to demonstrate a quadrille or waltz at your library.

• Musical performances—Most of our libraries probably can’t accommodate an entire Civil War brass band, but luckily there are other options to choose from. Piano and string music were also popular during the Civil War, so an area musician might work with you to provide appropriate music from the era. If a nearby college or university has a music department, check with them to see if a faculty member or student ensemble would be interested in performing, or you might have some talented high school musicians who’d like to showcase their musical skills. Other valuable resources are your state humanities council, local and state historical societies, and area museums.

• Debate—When we host the “Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War” traveling exhibition, we’re planning a debate between panels of students from an area university’s speech and debate team on the topic of union versus succession, moderated by a local judge. A similar idea might be arranged with high school history students.

• Quilt exhibit—Quilting is such a popular art form these days that you can probably find quilters in your community without looking too hard. Ask if the local group would be willing to exhibit Civil War–era reproduction quilts they’ve made. For our last quilt show, it only took a few well-directed emails to come up with an area quilter who was also qualified to date and appraise historic quilts. If you’re near a college or university, see if a textile historian might be willing to present a program on the subject of Civil War or Underground Railroad quilts.

• Civil War tea—If you have a reenactment group in your area, chances are the ladies of the group might share their knowledge of Civil War tea etiquette with your patrons. Ask them to dress in their period costumes and you’ll have the added bonus of a Civil War fashion show, too.

• Genealogy workshop—While experienced genealogists may already know how to research their ancestors during the Civil War, those new to family research may not. Partner with your local historical society to offer a Civil War genealogy workshop. End the workshop with a visit to a local cemetery for gravestone rubbings from the era.

• Historic walking tour—If your town has nineteenth-century buildings, try arranging a historic walking tour offering information about the role these structures played during the wartime. Again, local historical societies would be logical partners for this undertaking.

• Living history performers—Combine education and entertainment by offering a program featuring a living history performer. The best place to start is through your state humanities council, but an Internet search will also uncover more possibilities. Don’t forget about historical sites and museums, too—even if they don’t offer performances on-site, they may have ideas or contact information they’d be willing to share with you.

Now that you’ve got some ideas, you’re probably wondering how to pay for them. Here, too, there are a number of different options for consideration.

Several of the above ideas cost little to nothing to implement. Programs like the film series, continual readings, and reader’s theater take advantage of materials you either probably already have in your library or that can be accessed online. Don’t forget to consider copyright restrictions when planning your programs.

Local partnerships can result in win-win situations for both your library and the organization you’re working with—and they can cost little to no money. By partnering with a local reenactment group, for example, the library can offer an appealing program such as a Civil War tea or an atypical lecture. In turn the reenactors are able to share their interest with a new audience, maybe even resulting in new volunteers or members for them. Or you and a partner may each have resources the other needs to meet a common goal. When our local hospital was no longer able to hold their annual quilt show because of space restrictions, we became partners. We have a beautiful quilt display each year at the library, and the hospital’s volunteer group provides prizes and refreshments—everyone wins.

Granted, some programs, like professional theater or musicians, do cost a good chunk of money, but may become more attainable when carefully balanced with free or lower-cost programs to remain within your programming budget. While you may initially resist the idea of paying a good deal more for one of these programs, you might reconsider when you realize the larger potential audience you’ll attract and the impact that such a program might have on your local community. You might give thought, too, whether a local corporate sponsorship might be obtained for a more costly program.

Of course, don’t overlook your local Friends of the Library organization for special funding requests. I mentioned above that our Friends group covers the transportation costs for our bus trips, and they’ve funded special performances, too, from time to time. Check into the appropriate way to request funding from your own Friends of the Library.

A little research may uncover some grant funding, too. We’ve used mini-grants from our state humanities council to help fund special reading series. If you have any local facilities of major corporations in your area, check to see if they offer any grant opportunities that might be open to your library. A few years ago, we received a community grant from one such corporation that helped pay for some special performances for our annual International Day festivities. You can also subscribe to Programming Librarian’s newsletter to receive grant announcements.

Of course, we publicize in all the usual ways—newsletters, flyers, press releases, etc.—and if we offer a program where there’s a way of getting information directly to those it would appeal to, we do that, too. For example, we drop off flyers for programs appealing to men at a local outdoors store, and our quilt show information is included in the county extension homemaker newsletter. And these days, we’re especially conscious of using social media.

The best supplement, though, to all of these media outlets is something you can’t buy—word of mouth. When patrons see a program that might be of interest to a neighbor or co-worker, they happily share the details. They encourage newcomers to use the library as a way of getting to know people. In fact, at the first session of a special reading series last fall, five of the twenty people in attendance mentioned during introductions that they were new to the community and wanted to meet others who enjoyed good literature, too.

As I hope you see by now, there is a wide breadth of programming ideas (and ways to pay for them) adaptable to Civil War commemorations in public libraries, especially those serving rural communities. And these, I’m sure, are just the tip of the iceberg. You know your community—its needs, its interests, its resources. Keep in mind that just because you’re in a rural library doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with programs or find quality resources. It might take a little sleuthing, but you’ll be rewarded with appreciative patrons and programs you can be proud of offering to your community.

Selected Online Resources

• State humanities council listing, provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• The Civil War Trust, dedicated to preserving Civil War battlefields and educating the public about the war.
• The Civil War Discovery Trail, includes more than six hundred Civil War-related sites in thirty-two states.
• America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries, edited by Edward L. Ayers.
• Scholastic’s Harriet Tubman Reader’s Theater script.
• Mrs. Goodfellow’s Cookery As It Should Be: A New Manual of the Dining Room and Kitchen, an online version of the 1865 cookbook.

For complete job description, see www.bossierlibrary.org/jobs/.

Qualifications (for complete list of required qualifications, see job description):

• Master of Library Science from an ALA-accredited institution 
• Public library service experience with documented evidence of managerial and administrative effectiveness
• Knowledge of library practices and principles

All offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a substance abuse test and criminal background check.

Salary: $41,000–$42,000

Benefits: Vacation and sick leave, holidays, medical, dental, and life insurance, retirement and education allowance.

To apply: Send cover letter, resume and references to:

Bossier Parish Library
Heather McEntee, Assistant Library Director
2206 Beckett St
Bossier City, LA 71111
Phone: 318-746-1693
Fax: 318-746-7768
Email:  hmcentee@state.lib.la.us

The Bossier Parish Library is an equal opportunity employer.

MLIS or MLS degree from an accredited college or university is required. Current students who lack eight semester units or twelve quarter units of the educational requirement for a Master’s degree may also apply. Successful candidates must meet the full educational requirement within six months of employment.

A minimum of two graduate level library science courses related to children’s library services is highly desirable. Six months or 240 hours of experience providing children’s services in a public library setting is highly desirable. Bilingual ability in Spanish, Armenian and/or Korean is desirable.

Please note that resumes cannot be accepted in lieu of a City of Glendale Employment Application. Applications can be obtained in our office or downloaded from our website. Applications may be submitted in person at our office during regular business hours or mailed to:

City of Glendale
Human Resources
613 E Broadway, Room 100
Glendale, CA 91206

The supplemental application must be included with your City of Glendale application in order to be considered for the position. For additional details, please contact us at 818-548-2110.

Here are some cooking-related programs libraries have offered that you can adapt for your own National Culinary Arts Month events:

• Grande Prairie Public Library in Hazel Crest, Illinois, had professional chefs from the USA Cooking Camps teach how to whip up soul food favorites; recipes and food samples were provided.

• The Newport Beach (Calif.) Public Library also partnered with the pros in a gourmet culinary series. Participants watched live demonstrations, sampled new foods, and met with the top chefs in Orange County, including Southern California Restaurant Writers’ Chef of the Year, Dennis Brask.

• Deschutes (Ore.) Public Library offered comfort food cooking demonstrations, with chef Rose Makena preparing of some of her favorite comfort foods, including roasted butternut squash soup, chopped winter salad with blue cheese and pears, and oven-roasted fall fruits with ice cream for dessert.

• The Cape May (N.J.) County Library helped participants “Slow Down and Enjoy the Winter” with a cooking demonstration featuring Chef John Webersinn. The demonstration focused on using crock pots to create delicious and economical meals.

• Yorba Linda (Calif.) Public Library hosted local chef Renee Fontes for a healthy cooking demonstration that showed patrons how to make food that is low-fat, low-calorie, nutritious, and scrumptious.

• St. John’s County (Fla.) Public Library also focused on healthy cooking. Marian Thompson, certified health and nutrition coach, give a presentation on whole foods that are free of dyes and preservatives. There was also a discussion about how what you eat can be a prescription for better health and better living.

• The Fairmont City (Ill.) Library Center offered a cooking class for Latina women that focused on Christmas dinner. The women prepared a traditional American holiday meal with a non-traditional flair.

• Salem (Conn.) Public Library focused on another holiday—Valentine’s Day—with a cooking demonstration featuring Diane Gardner, author of What’s Cooking in Connecticut? What’s Cooking in New England? and What’s Cooking in Madison? For those of you who worry you don’t have the facilities to host cooking, note that Salem Public Library does not have a kitchen; instead, the chef brought her own crock pot and seared steak in a pan on the library’s hot plate.

• Another option for libraries without kitchens is to collaborate. Mason (Ohio) Public Library teamed with a local Whole Foods to offer a series of classes, including “Health Starts Here,” “Chocolate Tasting,” “Kids Can Cook,” “Dinner on a Shoestring,” “Learn to Love Tofu,” and “We Love Local.”

• Or take it outside: Corona (Calif.) Public Library offered grilling demonstrations as part of their Take a Hike! Health & Fitness Expo.

• Little Elm Public Library pushed culinary limits with their Food Fear Factor competition featuring fortune cookies, astronaut cinnamon apple wedges, potted meat, baby food, smoked oysters, sardines in hot sauce, prepared horseradish, goat cheese, pickled okra, pickled pig’s feet, anchovies, and dried larvae.

• Finally, just for kids, Flint Public Library in Middleton, Massachussetts, hosted “Cooking with Katie.” Children ages nine through fourteen were taught new techniques during a hands-on program.

You could also try holding your own Edible Book Show. Check out entries from shows held by Woodland Pattern Book Center; the Seattle Edible Book Festival, Western New York Book Arts Collective; and the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut. (You can find many more by Googling “edible book show.”) Or, if you already have an show in your area, consider holding an edible book workshop as the Milwaukee (Wisc.) Public Library did.

Finally, some additional resources to help you get started:

• Want to involve kids and their parents? Westerville (Ohio) Public Library offers a number of resources for cooking with kids.

• How about a book discussion focusing on food? Check out Morton Grove (Ill.) Public Library’s list of edible fiction.

• The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has an extensive list of food-related resources, including food and cooking magazines; course and ingredient; in the media; food research and policy, holidays and celebrations; local food, farmers’ markets, and Pittsburgh specialties; quick and easy cooking; vegetarian choices; and world cuisines.

• Newark (N.J.) Public Library has gathered an wide list of food-related topics on the Web, covering baking, beverages, ethnic and international food, food history, recipe collections, restaurant guides, and vegan/vegetarian.

RBPL will kick off African American History Month with “A Celebration of August Wilson.” A company of stage and film actors will share stories and memories of working with the playwright, who won two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama for The Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of ten plays, each set in a different decade, depicting the comedy and tragedy of the twenty-first-century African American experience.

The library partnered with the Frank Talk Multi-Media Network to present an afternoon of events, including “Out of Africa,” an exhibit that features African art and textiles; a screening of a documentary that looks at the Newark Museum’s “African Narratives” permanent collection, providing insight into African symbolism and art; and a reading by Dr. Gretna Wilkinson, creative writing teacher at the Red Bank Regional High School Visual and Performing Arts Academy, who will read selections from her recently published book of poetry, Opening the Drawer. Patrons are also invited to taste African food.

Finally, the library’s adult book discussion group, Readin’ on the River, will discuss Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Find out more about African American History Month, including related resources and more programming ideas.

Although this year’s Financial Wellness Month is just about over, I thought you might be inspired by the partnerships and programming the winning libraries have created, perhaps incorporating them into your plans for next year:

• Ada County (Idaho) Free Library District will offer an array of programs and electronic services through its LYNX! consortium libraries to meet the financial education needs of Generation Y residents (ages 18–32). The University of Idaho Extension and other state agencies will collaborate on a variety of project components, including finance book clubs for young professionals and a personal finance portal designed for mobile telephones and tablet computers.

• Albany County (Wyo.) Public Library is partnering with faculty from the University of Wyoming and a local technical college to provide Laramie residents with a better understanding of personal finances and tools to make optimal financial decisions. Workshops will emphasize finance basics, preparing to invest, retirement planning, and student loan debt management.

• Boone County (Ky.) Public Library and the Brighton Center, a social services agency reaching 84,000 clients in northern Kentucky, are collaborating to improve the financial literacy and fiscal health of families in the region. The project will challenge families to evaluate and improve their financial health through a series of interactive learning experiences.

• Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library will offer a combination of workshops, seminars, individual counseling sessions, and virtual investment clubs for adults and teens in the library ’s service area. The Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (the nation’s first community development corporation), the Coalition for Debtor Education, and Mind Your Money (an organization devoted to the financial literacy of teens and pre-teens) will assist with public programs and one-on-one counseling.

• Dakota County (Minn.) Library’s initiative, “Dollars by the Decade,” will promote financial literacy education as a lifelong process addressing the evolving needs of residents in various life stages. Recognizing that individuals will come to the program with different levels of knowledge and interests, the program will use print, digital and in-person workshops to teach personal finance fundamentals such as budgeting, saving, spending, credit, and financial protection.

• Delaware County (Pa.) Library System is partnering with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Delaware Valley and various Pennsylvania state agencies to improve the financial literacy and capability of low- to moderate-income families in the region. Educational experiences will help participants manage budgets and debt and plan for future needs.

• Fairfield (Conn.) Public Library will build on its award-winning job assistance program and offer a series of practical personal finance workshops for adults aimed at expanding investing capability with a combination of direct instruction and team-based learning.

• Genesee District Library in Flint, Michigan, will collaborate with Central Michigan University and the regional chamber of commerce to establish a “family financial freedom” education initiative with programming and services for K–12 students, current college students, recent graduates, and African-American women, among others.

• Greenville County (S.C.) Library System and its partners will pursue a multifaceted project designed to turn personal finance assumptions into changed attitudes, changed attitudes into changed behaviors, and changed behaviors into changed habits. Workshops on the psychology of spending, a public information campaign anchored by a dedicated project website, and help with tax preparation are just a few of the strategies planned to help female heads of household overcome obstacles and achieve their money goals.

• Jackson (Mich.) District Library is partnering with United Way and other community agencies to deliver financial education resources in the county and improve communications about finances among low- and moderate-income households. Participants will develop a financial plan, increase their knowledge about money management and investing, and gain better access to learning resources with support from a personal finance help desk service and classes based on the FDIC Money Smart curriculum.

• Niles (Ill.) Public Library District will work with university and government partners in the region to help adults ages fifty and older get prepared to make capable decisions in the years immediately preceding and during retirement. Topics will include a better understanding of Social Security, retirement preparedness, predatory financial practices, and investment fraud.

• Pioneer Library System in Norman, Oklahoma, will partner with the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central Oklahoma, Citizen Pottawatomi Nation, Chickasaw Nation, and employers in the hometowns of its ten member libraries to offer “fiscally fit boot camps” to employees.

• Richland County (S.C.) Public Library will combine traditional educational activities (workshops, story times, and outreach presentations) with creative and engaging experiences for families. The library will partner with Lunch Money, a children’s band that “brings indie-rock to family audiences,” to write a children’s song about money, earning, and saving for the future, and to schedule performances for young children. The library will work with Columbia College and local schools to engage teens in creating performances and games that teach younger children financial basics. The library’s African-American History and Cultural Events Committee will work with partner organizations to sponsor and promote a series of family-focused financial literacy events on topics ranging from home ownership and saving for college to the basics of investing.

• Seekonk (Mass.) Public Library and its partners will assist women ages twenty-five and over as they master financial basics, craft long-term financial plans, and acquire the saving and investing skills to put these plans into practice. Instructional programs will be organized around themes and will be supplemented by a series of networking events to add a social dimension to the program and allow participants to learn from each other. Guest speakers will address fiscal fitness for women. Business school faculty from Johnson & Wales University and staff from Money Management International (a nonprofit consumer credit counseling agency) will lead the seminars.

• The State Library of Iowa in Des Moines, in partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Ames Public Library, will expand a successful, mixed-methods (online and face-to-face), library-based financial education model to eighteen underserved rural communities across Iowa. The online courses will each last six weeks and will be segmented according to three generational cohorts: Starting Out (Generation X), Building Up (trailing Baby Boomers), and Making it Last (retirees). A capstone, face-to-face event in each location will follow the online learning and bring the local libraries into lasting partnership with community organizations.

• York County (Pa.) Library System will partner with seventeen high schools and seven urban elementary schools to improve the financial literacy and capability of students and parents by connecting them with the personal finance resources available through county libraries. The project will seek to teach York County high school juniors and seniors how to build a financial plan for post–high school success, and will equip parents of high school juniors and seniors with financial literacy tools to guide their teenagers ’ financial planning. Younger children will learn about spending, saving, and borrowing, and their parents will learn financial literacy tools to reinforce their own financial knowledge and help them positively influence their children’s future money management skills.

You will manage a staff of 5 full-time employees as well as part-time staff. You should have a demonstrated success in effectively promoting library services to the community as you will guide your team into our community and connect with schools, other town departments, local businesses and other community agencies.

The library has two branches, with a town population of over 59,000. The library circulated over 1,010,000 items in FY 2011 and is the second busiest library in CT. Our library team believes we are a World Class Library and want all of our programming to reflect that.

Qualifications: A master’s degree in library science from an ALA-accredited program and a minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in library administration and staff supervision.

Starting salary is $68,837 with an excellent benefits package.

Interested candidates should apply via email with a meaningful cover letter and your resume as Word or pdf attachments to Karen Ronald, Library Director at kronald@fplct.org. Initial review of resumes will begin the week of February 13, 2012.