Are you in a storytime rut? Are you bored with doing the same songs and stories? Or maybe you’re just starting out and looking for some tried and true techniques? Join us for a program guaranteed to give your storytime programs new life! April Mazza, Advisor for Youth & School Library Services, will kick off the program with an inspiring selection of books, music and resources. Sharon Hawkes of the Lenox Library will get us moving with techniques that incorporate movement into storytelling (so be sure to wear comfy clothes). And finally we’ll wrap it up with  Guerrilla Storytime where you- the audience-share your best tips and tricks for successful storytimes!

If you are using and older version of Office and wish to upgrade, Microsoft has recently introduced Office 2013 for PCs ( a Mac version in to be introduced in the coming year).

It is has a very different look and feel from the older editions.  Before you order the software, you may want to check out this virtual test drive.

In this webinar, we will take a peek at Office 2013 and discuss the pros and cons of the new interface.   This demonstration will help you decide if you wish to make the switch.  

This workshop will be led by Rita Gavelis, LibAssist - http://www.libassist.com/.

Participants will receive GoToWebinar information in advance of the session.
Click HERE for a GoToWebinar Attendee Guide.

Do you have questions about procurement requirements?  How MHEC relates to those requirements? How can I use MHEC contracts effectively?  This program brings you information to answer those questions.
Here’s what you can expect:

• Natasha Bizanos, Senior Counsel/30B Coordinator, office of the Massachusetts Inspector General, will present a 30B overview and answer your questions about procurement law. 
• An overview of MHEC/MLS contracts and an introduction to related resources from the MHEC MLS Guide
• MHEC Website training presented by Joan Miller, Sr. Contract Manager, and Jennifer LaPointe, Outreach and Marketing Coordinator, MHEC.

This program is designed for library staff who are required to follow municipal and state regulations for procurement.

The Metrowest Readers' Advisory Round Table's Genre: Mystery, Police Procedural

Benchmark: Everyone Reads Michael Connolly's "The Black Echo"

We decided to do a mystery book for our first meeting and the subgenre of police procedural for the benchmark. If you can make it, please read "The Black Echo" by Michael Connelly and another book of this subgenre of your own choosing. During the meeting we can decide if we want to do a deeper study of the mystery genre for a few meetings or move to different genres. In addition to talking about the books themselves, please pay attention to appeal factors such as story, characters,tone, style, and pace.

Spend some time on the blog and introduce yourself!

Please read a 2nd title in the Mystery genre, police procedural subgenre--look on the MW-RART blog: for a list of links to suggested titles. Also, make sure to add your second title to the blog posts.

Appeal to be read for November meeting: ***Focus on all the appeal factors, but really think about setting and tone.

Hopefully, meeting every other month, the MW-RART will read from one genre--and then discuss the appeal of that genre with each other emphasizing the building of a skill set of appeal categories and familiarity of genre particulars. Everyone participating will be able to share analysis of titles and authors in unfamiliar genres that will stretch their capacity as readers' advisors.  The discussion leaders for this first meeting are Meena Jain (mjain@minlib.net) and Kristi Chadwick (kristi@masslibsystem.org).

Looking forward to seeing you!

Getting in shapefor the new year and not overeating during the holidays go hand in hand.
Gale’s Health & Wellness Resource Center's great reference, magazine & video content can help you with that!
Find resources that provide tools for healthy living - recipes, exercise tips, and more!

This webinar will be led by: Stacey Knibloe, Gale Senior Customer Education Specialist.

You have a website, a blog, an email newsletter, a Facebook page and a Twitter stream but your head spins when you think about what kind of content should go on each outlet. This workshop will teach you that instead of social media being “one more thing to keep up with” you can actually use it to simplify your communications strategy. With a simplified model of how your communication channels should work together, you will come away with an understanding of how to effectively reach — and build — your audience. Participants will work together to brainstorm regular content features for their websites and craft appropriate messages for each communication channel.

This workshop is presented by Brandy King of Knowledge Linking.

Did you know you have a wealth of information in your Gale resources that can help with STEAM classroom work?

In this 1 hour webinar we’ll explore several ways the Gale resources can be integrated into the classroom to support STEAM eduation (STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math).

This webinar will be led by: Stacey Knibloe, Gale Senior Customer Education Specialist.

Lucy Loomis will lead a 2+ hour workshop on preparing for, researching, writing, and administering grants. Participants should come prepared to discuss one or more projects that they’d like fund with grant monies. This will be an interactive grant discussion, with lots of participation and several group exercises.
The session will cover:

• Questions to ask (and know the answers to) before you start
• Getting Started
• Diving In
• Afterwards

Lucy Loomis is Director, Sturgis Library & Grant Writer/Consultant at grantsfornonprofits.blogspot.com.

Additional sessions are planned for spring 2015.

Have you recently been hired or promoted or need a refresher in supervisory skills?  Would you like tools to help manage your staff and projects?  Do you need some stress management techniques to help you manage your day-to-day responsibilities?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, this workshop is a must!  There will be a mix of information and tools shared, along with hands-on exercises and activities. This workshop is a great way for supervisors to build a support network.

The Northeastern Readers' Advisory Round Table's Genre: Historical Fantasy

Benchmark: Everyone Reads Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon.

We begin our Fantasy arc (three sequential meetings)  with Historical Fantasy, to be followed by Fantasy Romance in January 2015 and Fatansy Sagas in March 2015. In some ways this can be considered the fifth session on Historical Fiction; although we now change our primary focus to Fantasy and will be discussing the use of Historical elements in a Fantasy title. Notes on our Historical arc from September 2013 (Literary Historicals), November 2013 (Historical Sagas), January 2014 (Christian/Inspirational Historicals), and March 2013 (Historical Biography) can be found on our blog. The list of books and the notes on what we learned in our discussions on other genres are also available there.

Please read a 2nd title in the Historical Fantasy--look on the RA RT blog: for a list of suggested titles and some supporting materials.

Appeal to be read for November meeting: ***Focus on all the appeal factors, but really think about setting and tone.

Meeting every other month, the NE RA RT reads from one genre--and then discusses the appeal of that genre with each other emphasizing the building of a skill set of appeal categories and familiarity of genre particulars. They cover a different genre every meeting, allowing each of the participants to be introduced to the discipline of reading for appeal, as well as an initiation to broad genre categories. Everyone participating will be able to share analysis of titles and authors in unfamiliar genres that will stretch their capacity as readers' advisors.  The discussion leaders are Leane Ellis (ellis@noblenet.org) and Nanci Milone Hill (nhill@mvlc.org).