LSCA Put the Icing on the Cake:
You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!

Libraries are unique places in communities and they hold equally unique places in the hearts of their constituents. Librarians, as the caretakers of these special institutions, carefully balance the needs of their ever-familiar customers to the services they can provide with the limited funding from the local sources. Considering all the types of information and forms of media available now in demand by our public, librarians have done a competent job of keeping their communities at the forefront of library service. The Cake...

Now, in dealing with the creative aspects of the library world is where realism and idealism conflict. When the librarian's dreams and wishes for more than the practical aspects of the library come alive, an alternative form of funding is needed. Funds to promote special collections, cooperative development, outreach programs and other special ideas must look to more non-traditional sources of monies, such as the LSCA offered throughout its years of grant offerings. The Icing...

Creativity develops into interesting projects. Projects that become far reaching and vital to the areas that have had the fortunate experience of being awarded the capital for experimentation of an idea. The truth is that we all benefit in many ways from every grant given, whether directly from being in close proximity to the grantee or indirectly by example for similar projects. We can have our cake and eat it, too, no matter who the baker is...

The Collinsville Memorial Public Library was very fortunate during 1997, the last year of full funding from LSCA, to receive a grant to complete a project to assist area programmers in their efforts to help others — The Programming Resource Center. It has proven to be tremendously successful and a catalyst for increased library usage and cooperation between the libraries and groups of programmers in and outside of the school arena.

Programming Resource Center

Storytelling can be enhanced; lessons can be illuminated; and programs can be enriched when the proper materials are available. The same program does not have to be given time and time again due to shortage of different props or the inability to locate different sources of materials to borrow if a Programming Resource Center is available to programmers. Each individual location can only afford to expend limited monies on programming, and those monies will allow only a limited variety of topics. A depository of resources will allow the materials unlimited use by unlimited individuals. It would add a variety to an otherwise singular source.

Programming affects every individual and group that works with youth. Aspects of any learning experience can be conveyed to an audience of youngsters in creative and interesting ways by the inclusion of manipulatives and visual cues. The programmer is responsible for the development of a curriculum that is both informative and digestible to the palate of the audience he is striving to reach. Whether that programmer is working with an individual or a group, the same issues of creativity and variance are involved. The programmer becomes responsible for finding the appropriate tools to create his message and make the message become a lasting fixture in his audience's storeroom of knowledge. The finding of the appropriate tools is where the programmer becomes most frustrated. In many cases the support system for resources is minimal, if not all together nonexistent. School systems, public libraries, church groups, learning centers, or individuals working within their homes and communities find very few outlets where programming materials can be obtained. They revert to changing their prescribed activities to fit what resources are available to them or completely altering the program they had originally planned. In these cases many innovative and exciting ideas become watered down or are lost in obscurity.

The concept of the Programming Resource Center (PRC) room is to supply needed support to programmers who are working with others, from preschool through adult age levels in varied venues and individualized

*Barbara Rhodes, Director, Collinsville Memorial Public Library.

77

sessions to group settings. The PRC is a lending library of equipment and materials to aid these programmers in preparation and instruction.

The Collinsville Memorial Public Library has been able to set up a complete room devoted to this new vision of programming aids and ideas. A visitor, whether programmer or parent, can simultaneously consider the theme of their idea and how best to present it through the help of a multitude of hands-on materials and activities. Their ideas, displays, advance preparation and orchestration of the finalized vision can be worked through using items in the center.

The room is totally equipped to handle their every programming need, from idea conception to actual manipulation and production of the theme. The basics of staplers, scissors, tape, pens, pencils, etc. are provided for ease to assembly and work completion. Equipment, such as a copier, an Ellison machine, an overhead projector, a 16mm projector, a computer with an online connection and a printer, and paper cutter, is provided within the room for a complete work area for the convenience of the patron. Whether the patron is in need of searching the online database for more relevant resources for their work or constructing a file for future use, it is all possible without leaving the center.

In the center the client is assisted with the enhancement of his ideas by means of resource books, periodical newsletters and magazines. A vertical file is accessible to facilitate the growth of the developing concept. Countless materials in the areas and topics, including literature, human differences, psychology and the sciences, has been accumulated for a vast variety of learning levels. These materials, both conceptual and physical, help to enrich the preconceived notion of the direction of a program or help the planner build the program from the bottom. These materials have been selected to add versatility without restricting creativity. The actual objective is to intensify the originality of thought and make the plan as practical for the user as possible.

As the idea begins to take form and the time is right to begin to embellish the concept, the center again is able to help produce the visual effects to excite the audience about the coming program, unit or theme. The planner has access to lettering devices and previously constructed materials, such as printed posters and board displays, that heighten and stress the coming event.

Next, the individual can gather together any possible prop — materials for auditory, visual or sensory effect and, possibly, big books to reach a diverse audience of individuals. The center is well stocked with a diverse collection of materials, such as puppets, flannel board kits, big books, theme boxes, bi-folkal kits, video lessons, role playing hats or masks, rhythm instruments and other interactive materials. After the selection of the manipulatives needed for the completion of the concept, the support materials for the different items can then be coordinated. These support pieces may include a puppet theater, a flannel board, an easel, a slide projector, a camera or a big book rack.

The programmer is now ready to put his presentation to the test. The groups will be immediately aware of the difference in the presenter and will welcome the new innovations that have been included for their education and enjoyment.

A parent as well, working with his or her audience of one, will find the same benefits in the PRC. A parent may want to preview a CD-ROM product or get ideas for a birthday party. He or she may be looking for a new way to present a favorite book of the child or provide a puppet for the child to interact with the story. The home-schooling parent may be looking for new material on subject area that will permit a more personal approach to a difficult concept.

There are a multitude of possibilities in the center for every visitor and for every situation when working with a listener. Each person who tours and uses the Programming Resource Center will discover the center's significance for their own circumstance.

To provide more support for the Programming Resource Center the emphasis for the last months has focused on staff support and education. Through the grant several professionals have been availing themselves to groups, schools and organizations for talks to promote the use of the center. These 'traveling shows' that have been our outreach to the area schools and libraries have brought interested individuals into the building for a closer look at what has been shown to them briefly in a presentation.

In addition, the Collinsville Library has supplied a staff member devoted to the care of the center and its contents. For about 10 hours per week the staff member has worked diligently to maintain the collection of materials and equipment to ensure that everything remains in respectable condition for the next visitor. Since the center is an adult-oriented service, patrons are left on their honor to work within the room and ask for assistance if needed for the other 53 hours the library is open. The staff member is responsible for reorganizing, if needed, and assuring that the center preserves its integrity.

The ability of any library card holder to use the Programming Resource Center in-house is only one aspect of the versatile facility. Since the Collinsville Memorial Library is an online Gatenet Automated member of the Lewis and Clark Library System, all the items in the center are cataloged onto the database in Marc record

78

form. Any patron in any of the Lewis and Clark System libraries can request these items be delivered at their specified library. By telneting into the Gatenet system at 618-656-8240 and logging on with CVE_LIBRARY using the password CATALOG, a person can find the items in the center by using the subject search term "Programming Resource Center." Libraries throughout Illinois, but not in the Lewis and Clark Library System, can FAX the Collinsville Library (618-345-6401) with a request for materials found in the database, and the staff will ship the required materials needed through the ILDS courier route. With the exception of a few of the rather large puppet theaters and other large items, there is nothing that the couriers do not deliver for the libraries.

With agreements developing beyond system lines for automated services and exchange, the Collinsville Library is anticipating that eventually we may be sending the PRC materials even farther from our home base. To accelerate the news of the capability of this new service, the Collinsville Library has also been working to include an explanation of the Programming Resource Center on its home page on the World Wide Web. By traveling to http://gatenet.lcls.lib.il.us/cve/cmpl.htm, the user will be able to receive an explanation of the purpose of the service, a list of the materials included in the center, and possible ways to actually request the items for use. The Web page is evolving so the library does want to warn everyone of the delays of 'construction on the road.'

The Collinsville Memorial Public Library has promptly found that the Programming Resource Center is a service that Will enhance the mission of the library. Its popularity cannot be denied, and for these reasons the clamoring from its constituents for even more availability of items has already been noted. Even as the last of the grant monies were spent, new lists were being made for future purchases and new purchase orders were being processed. Meetings between the department heads were producing means of involving the room and all its assets into the everyday running of the library. Story hours for the children were transferred into the Programming Resource Center so that as the children listened to storytellers, their parents browsed throughout the room for materials to continue the children's excitement at home. The Community Recreation Center has contacted us to hold some of their enrichment classes for children in the PRC environment. Groups of teachers from various schools are coming during their regular school day as an outing to discover what the center may mean for their curriculum.

The Programming Resource Center has developed into a productive and exciting area of the Collinsville Memorial Public Library. With its approximately 1,000 items of varying age level complexities, it is gaming distinction in the area for the wealth of information and resources it provides. With the combination of the original grant and the second phase, the dedicated room for programmers now spans the range of preschool through adult materials and touches on diverse subjects for a wide gamut of flexibility. Programmers are increasingly spending more and more time in the room using the equipment and supplies provided for them to produce an effectual presentation for their audiences. Teachers, parents, scout leaders and librarians use about 400 items monthly, and this monthly total seems to be increasing as the word continues to spread of the centers existence. The PRC has already in its short existence exceeded our expectations and the library is committed to perpetuating the support needed for this essential area of expertise. Brochures have been produced to give an overview of the service, and the library staff would be happy to send some to any requesting library.

The adventure of grant writing is a quest that is an investment of time and patience, but the benefits are too numerous to ignore. The satisfaction of providing the extras to the community we serve is extremely rewarding.

The LSCA grant program was an inspiration and a novel vehicle to present and encourage the librarians throughout the state to reach beyond their boundaries. It inspired cooperation between areas and an excitement in the populace that frequented the libraries. The grant programs funded over the years have outlived the funds used to start them. Those funds have been the sparks that ignited the fire of response from the community, and the sustenance for the continued flame comes from the commitment of the libraries to develop and maintain the blaze. No one can deny the positive impact that grant funds have had on the distinctiveness that has set libraries apart from any other public service in Illinois.

79