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As you can see by this recent photo, while still very much a large, rambunctious puppy, our Sydney is becoming more dog-like. His puppy fluffy downy coat is turning coarser and redder, and he is learning to comply with some (not all!) commands. Also, Jim had to work at teaching him, but he now does know how to bark -- if only he would comprehend that a loud bark at the door would signal to us that he needs to go out to do his business! But, after all, he's still just coming up on five months old. We continue to be smitten with him.
On the job, things are also unpredictable, in a good way. On Monday, March 12th, Karren Reish, Deb Bacon-Ziegler, Sue Davidsen and I headed off to Detroit Public Library for the third of our thirteen town meetings. One of our Library of Michigan Board members, Representative Aldo Vagnozzi, took the time to join us for the entire morning, and it was much appreciated by one and all. The DPL meeting was a bit smaller than some others, but the discussion was just as lively and fruitful. The mix was good between Directory Nancy Skowronski's DPL staff and branch managers, and directors and staff from some of the suburban Detroit area public libraries. A few K-12 schools, specials and academics were also on hand. Several people from those varied contingents commented positively to me afterwards about how good it was to have a chance to hear the common and divergent perspectives of their peers from within the Detroit boundaries and without. 
After the MeL afternoon session ended, Margaret Bruni graciously toured me through the library, which I had not seen before except from Woodward Avenue. They are closed on Mondays, so there were no patrons, but even so, it's quite an impressive place, as many of you undoubtedly already know. Having been the Library of Michigan curator of rare books for several years, I had heard many times about the impressive nature of the DPL Burton Collection, and it was a thrill to see it on my tour with Margaret. Here I am looking like I'd like to be the master of all I survey.
Bright and early the next morning, Sheryl Mase, Karren and I made our way up to Flint to engage in our fourth meeting, at JoAnne Mondowney and staff's bustling Flint Public Library. We had all of the windows open in their lower level meeting room, since it was sunny and warm and breezy all day long. This meeting was characterized by a mostly half-and-half split of K-12 school library media specialists and public librarians, but there were a good number of academics as well. 
Before we got started, JoAnne gave Sheryl and me a quick tour and we also got to see the architect's models of the two designs for renovation and expansion for which Flint Public Library is in the midst of raising funds. It will be a long process, but it looks like it will be well worth it. The fact that the library is so well used on a daily basis and that the national and even international programming FPL brings into town is so well attended all testifies to the strong community support that exists for the library.That Thursday and Friday Sheryl [who did most of the work] and I hosted a whirlwind set of interviews for three representatives from the American Library Association's D.C. Office of Internet Technology Policy (OITP) who are working on a Gates-funded national study of the status of Internet connectivity for public libraries. While we were pleased that Michigan was one of only seven states being visited for the study, the weekend was a welcome time of refreshing our energies and focus.
After that, Karren, Deb, Sue and I were happy to get out on the road again on Monday the 19th to participate in meeting number five at another venue that was new for me -- Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Texas Township Campus, where Jim Ratliff served as our host. We had lots of academic library representation at this one, as well as good public library representation with a few specials and K-12 schools.
One of the things we are getting in the afternoon sessions of these town meeting is good ideas about where we can go with the Michigan eLibrary (http://mel.org) in the future and what quick additions to it might be useful right now. On the lunch break we all enjoyed a grand tour of KVCC's fabulous and beautiful campus. It's all in one inter-connected structure surrounding a garden-like courtyard and surrounded by a nature preserve. What a great setting for the students that attend there!
On Thursday, March 22nd, Sheryl, Karren and I trekked through some very spring-like thunderstorms to Spring Lake District Library for our sixth meeting -- almost halfway done with the series. Claire Sheridan and her staff were the recipients of one of the two 2006 State Librarian's Excellence Award Citations of Excellence, and it was great to get to see the library in person. As you can see, the rains ended and the sun streamed in for the day's meeting, and we had some great discussion that included a lot of comment about library funding issues and what the Lakeland Library Cooperative provides most of that meeting's attendees' libraries and their patrons.
The SLDL facility is wonderfully inviting and well laid out, including the outdoor patio with wireless access and which is accessible from the children's area as well as the meeting room space. There were patrons at the desk from the moment we walked in, and when Claire toured us through at lunchtime, it was fun to see a little girl take her stack of self-selected books to the self-checkout station and very seriously and methodically scan them all through the system. The picture's a bit fuzzy, but it gives you the vignette in any case, and a bit of a view of the expanse of the library, too.
We wrapped up the week at the Library of Michigan with a wonderful program that was arranged by LM Rare Book Curator Carol Fink with sponsorship from the Library of Michigan Foundation. Late in the day dozens of rare book enthusiasts arrived for a reception honoring the renowned fore-edge painter Martin Frost. Mr. Frost gave a presentation following the reception, and everyone enjoyed seeing some breath-taking examples of his work and the lovely exhibit of some of LM's special and fine press materials that were on display in the exhibit cases of the Martha W. Griffiths Michigan Rare Book Room. The example of fore-edge painting shown here is from one of the items in our Library of Michigan Rare Book Collection. Actually, when flipped the other way round, an entirely different image can be seen painted on the same fore-edge of this book's pages!
There is a lot that I'd like to catch up on this time, but I'm most excited about having launched the series of thirteen town meetings we've arranged through March and into the middle of April.
This past week, we kicked the series off at Brighton District Library, with probably about 50 participants. Everyone contributed. We came away with lots of ideas and input for the Library of Michigan, about what
libraries' needs are and ideas about the future direction of the Michigan eLibrary (http://mel.org), and the participants got to express themselves and hear what others from similar or different situations and libraries had to say.
Charlene Huget and her staff were wonderful hosts, getting us all off on the right foot! Many thanks to them and to everyone who attended.
The next day, we were off to the Clinton Township main branch of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library for our second meeting. After finding my way there a bit late -- yes, I got lost -- once again, we had a wonderful meeting. This time I believe we had 35-40 participants, with everyone offering great ideas and comments about their libraries' services, challenges, and needs. At this second meeting we had a very good mix of people from public and school libraries, and several folks commented to me that they
really enjoyed hearing what their school or public counterparts had to say. No surprise there, but I was glad to hear that reaction in any case.
Larry Neal and his staff arranged for a great lunch, and on the basis of our first two venues, we are confident that we have great host locations lined up for all of our town meetings. I certainly hope to see many of you there in the next several weeks.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, we'll be traveling to Detroit Public Library and Flint Public Library. I can't wait to see what ideas we gather at meetings three and four!
I've been running into library stories at home lately, as well as on the road. A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I spent the evening with friends and heard about one of their experiences the previous weekend. They had attended the annual Michigan Franchise Expo, held this year at the Southfield Public Library. Our friend was quite pleased about the quality of the venue for the day-long event which took place on February 17th. He was extremely taken with the fact that the Expo was able to utilize the meeting space at the library at no charge, and he added that he assumes libraries everywhere could benefit by offering their space similarly, as it can result in a lot of free advertising for the host library. Of course, this was not news to me, nor is it to you, but it was fun to hear the enthusiasm about libraries coming unsolicited and quite vocally from our non-librarian friends!
The other night, libraries popped up again, while Jim and I listened to the evening news while we cooked some supper. The story was about the passing of Ernest Gallo, who had recently died at age 97. The announcer referenced the famed brothers, Ernest and Julio (who had died over a decade ago), and noted that they had started up their well-known wine business in the 1930's after finding an old wine recipe in their local library. Who knew!? Well, perhaps it's an urban legend, but it's a fun one anyhow, and certainly it could be true ... Cheers!
Finally, for now, I have to comment on the wonderful afternoon I spent Saturday attending the 2007 Michigan "Poetry Out Loud" state finals at the Michigan Library and Historical Center. This program and event was organized by the Michigan Humanities Council, and was sponsored by them in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Poetry Foundation, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA), and the Library of Michigan. MCACA Director John Bracey remarked during the recognition and awards presentation how this type of event reminds us that, in spite of all of our bureaucratic and budget hurdles, this is what it's really all about -- and it's clearly worth whatever it takes. He is so right!
Each of the finalists from the nine Michigan schools who participated recited three poems from memory, and all were judged by a four-poet panel. These talented students (pictured above) came from Alba, Inkster, Midland, Dansville, Holt, Houghton, Ionia, Owosso, and Lansing. They all did a wonderful job, and I was glad not to be part of the judging, as the selection of a winner and runner-up must have been very difficult. The runner-up was Michael Rux of Ionia, and the winner was Sarah Harris from Holt (shown in the lower photo). Sarah will have an all-expense paid trip to the national finals in D.C. We certainly wish her well in that competition, and we'll look forward to hearing about her experience there. Good luck, Sarah!
It was nice sleeping in a bit on the morning of the seventh town meeting. We met that day at Jackson Community College, just a few minutes from my house!
