Public Meeting on the Future of Your Library, April 4, 6:00 p.m., at Questplex

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS

ON THE PROGRAMS AND SERVICES THAT THE

MONTGOMERY CITY-COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

SHOULD OFFER AT

Questplex

 AND THROUGHOUT THE LIBRARY SYSTEM?

 YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND

AN OPEN PUBLIC MEETING AT:

 Questplex (One Dexter Plaza) – Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

 We really need your help to help us plan YOUR new library!

Please join us for exciting discussions about the future of the MCCPL.

Bring your ideas and your enthusiasm and

share your opinions about the role of the public library.

Public Opinion Counts at the Library

PUBLIC OPINION COUNTS AT THE LIBRARY

Montgomery’s first public library was opened 113 years ago above McBryde’s Drug Store on Dexter Avenue.  A century later, the Montgomery City-County Public Library plans to return its main branch to Dexter Avenue   -  specifically to Questplex at 1 Dexter Plaza, on the historic fountain square.  Mayor Todd Strange has graciously made space available at that location.  The library and the Children’s Museum of Alabama will occupy Questplex to form “Montgomery’s Community Enrichment Center”.

In truth, the public library is the cultural axis in our city to which all other institutions are connected.  Along with the city’s fine arts museum and the zoo, the library is a portal to a wider universe.  The museum and the zoo are incomparable venues for exhibits and exposure to “the real thing”, but the library is the incomparable source of information that explains those exhibits and enhances appreciation and understanding of the environments that produced them, the human resources that created them, and the material resources required to mount them.  Thus, the public library, that “museum of ideas”, is as vital to a great city as any other department.

Since its 1899 opening, the library and its staff have witnessed many changes in services, from the Dewey card catalogue system to kiosks that facilitate circulation beyond the library to  online research and downloads to e-books available for electronic circulation.  The Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library is the main branch; 10 other branches serve the entire county.  The Morgan Library was relocated to its present High Street location in 1960, where it shared space with the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts until 1991.  The library now occupies the entire building, although at least half the space was not designed for a library.

Beginning its long-range planning to find a new home, the library engaged a library consultant firm in 2007 to conduct a facilities study.   As justification for recommending the construction of a new main library, the study concluded that the present location had “insufficient facility space for public library services”; it further described the location as “a dysfunctional and technologically dated building that poorly fulfills the rule of a modern, inviting, efficient and technologically functional resource for the entire county.”

Notwithstanding its limitations, the library system has a collection of 530,578 volumes, including circulating and reference books, as well as media items.  The annual door traffic at Morgan is approximately 300,000, and its average annual circulation is 135,990 books, videos, CDs and other media.  The library system also conducts regularly scheduled events designed for children, teens and adults.

The library’s Board of Trustees has established a library foundation to help raise private funds to enhance the library’s current programs and to make it a more user-friendly, digitally-based institution for future consumers.  Following its decision to relocate, the library retained the Coyne Group as it library consultant to guide the growth and enhancement process.  Here are our service priorities:

•                 Library materials and online resources that assist adult residents and visitors in exploring personal, professional, and business interests and continue lifelong learning;
•                 Books, media, programs and services to ensure that all children and adults have access to high-speed Internet services;
•                 Venue for independent community gatherings and for library programs which reflect common interests;
•                 Unique and family-friendly exhibits and collections; and
•                 Library books, digital resources, and programs designed to enhance cultural experiences and stimulate imagination.

The library is the heart beat of the community.  Therefore, public input in this enhancement process is critical to achieving the goal.  We strongly encourages you to share your opinion at one of three public meetings.  The locations, dates and times are: Thursday, March 22, at 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. at Lewis Library; Thursday, March 22, at 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. at Lowder Library; and Wednesday, April 4, at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Questplex.

Please attend one of the meetings and share your opinions about the library’s future.  The public library is the community’s access to the world of information.  As we plan this move to Questplex, we solicit your help to create a 21st century environment at Questplex and throughout the library system.

This is an exciting time for all of us.  A central downtown location places the main library at the core of new urban development where it can provide maximum service to the community, enhance the quality of attractions to conventioneers and other tourists, and offer ready access to information about other Montgomery institutions and attractions.  In addition, as a “resident” of our historic court square, the public library will assume its rightful place in the heart of the city.

The institution we create may well endure for another fifty years.  To assure its success, we need your input to help us enhance access to materials, information and services to Montgomery’s citizens.  Whether the library user is researching for a school assignment, looking for employment,  planning a vacation, re-discovering family history, or waging cyber warfare, the library is “the” place to become enlightened, technologically savvy, or just have fun.

We welcome your comments on how to improve “The Museum of Ideas”.

by Thomas McPherson, Jr.
President, Montgomery City-County Library Board
from Alabama Voices, Montgomery Advertiser, March 19, 2012

Internet Safety for Young Adults

 

 

Social networking sites (MySpace, Blogger, Facebook, You Tube, AOL, MSN & Yahoo Chat Lines to name a few) are hot right now—especially for teens and pre-teens. Predators know this and flock to these social network sites. They come to social network sites not necessarily to start off chatting, but to look through profiles and find their perfect victims.

 

Online precaution for parents should limit their children’s participation in social networking. What’s even more crucial than overseeing their chatting is monitoring the profiles your children place on the Web.

 

Millions of youngsters of all ages give away all sorts of personal information on these social networking sites. MySpace is a very good example. Parents who take all sorts of precautions about watching who their children date locally, what time they get home, what they watch on television and who they associate with in their neighborhood don’t take similar precautions about their children’s online activity. They know they’re safe in their room. What could happen right?

 

As a parent, please consider the following guidelines to help your children make safe decisions about using online communities:

 

Social networking sites are a public space: Members should not post anything they would not want the world to know (e.g., phone number, address, IM screen name, or specific whereabouts). Tell your children they should avoid posting anything that would make it easy for a stranger to find them, such as their local hangouts.

 

Remind your child not to post anything that could embarrass them later or expose them to danger. Although these sites are public, teens sometimes think that adults can’t see what they post. Tell them that they shouldn’t post photos or info they wouldn’t want adults to see.

 

People are not always who they say they are. Ask your children to be careful about adding strangers to their friends list. It’s fun to connect with new MySpace friends from all over the world, but members should be cautious when communicating with people they don’t know.

 

Choose a nick name that’s not sexually suggestive and doesn’t give away your real name.

 

While MySpace and Facebook and the other sites mentioned above  are the most popular, there are hundreds, of others with more coming online each day. In the span of a year, social networking has proliferated—hundreds of millions of young adults have accounts on social networking sites. Listed below are just a few sites that you may not be familiar with:

 

Hi5: Estimated to have around 40 million users, Hi5 is a social network which has been gaining user-ship. One of its unique features is to purchase songs via iTunes to add to your profile and upload photos up to 1GB on a free account.

 

Orkut: Google’s social networking attempt was developed by a Google employee in early 2004. Orkut started off strong in the U.S. but has recently grown widely into the Brazilian market with more than 65% Brazilian users.

 

Cyworld: First started in Korea and turned into a national phenomenon with daily revenues averaging up to $300,000, Cyworld is slowly being bought into the U.S.

 

Tagged: A social network mainly for teens. Tagged provides a safe environment for young people to showcase the personalities, and to connect with friends and meet new ones.. Tagged has been slowly growing on the teen population most in the u.s. although still remains secondary to MySpace.

 

Panjae: Founded earlier this year, Panjea aims to combine social networking with an economy; money. It enables several ways for artists to get paid, and has its own unique points system.

 

For more information on how parents can education their children on how to use the Internet safely, access the site listed below:

http://www.getnetwise.org/.

This guide discusses risks for children online at different age levels—including teenagers—and from different types of online activity. Also includes examples of contracts for kids to maintain their safety.

 

 

Tagged: A social network mainly for teens. Tagged provides a safe environment for young people to showcase their personalities, and to connect with friends and meet new ones. Tagged has been slowly growing on the teen population mostly in the U.S. although they still remain secondary to MySpace.

 

Panjae: Founded earlier this year, Panjea aims to combine social networking with the economy. It enables several ways for artists to get paid, and has its own unique points system.

 

For more information on how parents can educate their children on how to use the Internet safely, access the site listed below:

http://www.getnetwise.org/.

This guide discusses risks for children online at different age levels—including teenagers—and from different types of online activity. Also includes examples of contracts for kids to maintain their safety.

 

Article written by LaRuth Martin, Computer Lab Manager, Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library

 

Internet Safety Websites

NetSmartz.org:  This National Center for Missing & Exploited Children brochure describes the Internet safety resources available through the NetSmartz Workshop.

http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/internet_safety.html:  Safe Surfing Tips for Teens

http://www.isafe.org/:World wide leader in Internet safety education

http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/missing/i_safety/whatyoushouldknow.htm:  Kids and Teens : What you Should Know about Internet Safety

http://staff.howard.k12.md.us/~gwynethj/internetsafety/internetsafety.html: Internet Safety for Parents and Teens