Through stories, songs, rhymes and play, Baby’s First Books provides children (from birth to 23 months) with a language rich environment, essential to brain development and provides the necessary foundation for the development of literacy and language skills. The program also naturally fosters positive parent-child interaction. For parents of newborns at the IWK Health Centre, Baby’s First Books has been promoted as an excellent follow-up to the Read to Me program at the hospital, which gives families of newborns gift books and resource information on the importance of sharing books and language with babies.

Baby’s First Books fills an identified gap in library services for infants and toddlers, with previous programs generally only serving ages 2 and up. Previous pilot projects for the program demonstrated a strong base of community support and the statistics for the Fall round of programs show that a strong need still exists.

Part of the funds received from the IWK Health Centre Foundation were used to send 30 Youth Services Librarians and Youth Programmers from around the region to a special day-long workshop on early literacy, which was part of the 2002 Canadian Library Association Conference held in June in Halifax.

The remainder of the grant was divided equally to provide both high quality program resources (infant-appropriate toys and other program materials) and enhanced lending collections of infant board books at all branches in the region.

This very successful funding partnership with the IWK Health Centre Foundation has enabled HRL to greatly enhance services to families by offering early literacy programs on a long-term and sustainable basis. The partnership also provides enhanced collections to support these programs.

Initiated as a community outreach effort to introduce library services to this age group, the program will be held the last Monday of each month from September through May and feature speakers and topics of interest to seniors. Every session will consist of two segments: the first part being structured with a guest speaker and the second hour consisting of informal introduction to library services. Future topics will address issues facing seniors today, which include estate and will planning, Tai Chi, income tax help, health issues, and the always popular computer training.

While the opening day of fishing season may be months away, winter is the time anglers replace that lost fishing fly. To help meet this need, the New Glasgow Library invited the Pictou County Rivers Association to hold a series of free fly tying classes for beginners. These informal sessions, which started January 30, are being taught by County resident Parker Wong, who has held similar events for organizations in Pictou County. Materials and tools for this program are supplied by the Pictou County Rivers Association at no cost.

PARL recently filled three positions within the Community Access Program (CAP). Assuming the responsibilities of Coordinator for the Northern Region will be county resident Bob Curley. Taking over the Pictou County Coordinator job will be Sandy Tate, who will be operating out of a new location on the second floor of the Trenton Town Building, close to PARL’s Trenton Branch. In Antigonish County Melanie Pauls will be the new representative for that region.

One of the main focuses of the Library Card Month Campaign was registration of students and teachers in schools throughout Yarmouth, Shelburne and Digby counties. This year six schools recorded 100 percent registration of students and staff. In recognition of that accomplishment, WCRL presented certificates of merit to each of the schools. A draw for a box of books, donated by Scholastic Inc., was held for the schools which achieved 100 per cent registration. Presentations were made to École Saint Albert in Salmon River and Hillcrest Academy in Shelburne.

This important annual initiative is sponsored by Optipress Inc., publishers of 25 community newspapers in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, including the Shelburne Coast Guard, Yarmouth Vanguard and Digby Courier.

Management decided to issue a press release after one media outlet carried a story based on the letter. The press releases went out to media outlets on December 17.

Response was immediate. All regional print media, as well as the Chronicle Herald, picked up the story. Board Chair Gary Archibald conducted numerous interviews, including a 20-minute special report on the CJLS Radio current affairs show, The Weekender and with CBC’s First Edition. Board member Jean Melanson conducted an interview with French radio station CIFA.

WCRL staff members were kept abreast of developments. As a result, when friends and family talked about the news, WCRL had nearly 60 ambassadors able to explain the Library’s point-of-view.

Book drop-offs were created in all 10 branches. New and like new books were solicited. Over a three week period branch libraries in Digby, Yarmouth, and Shelburne counties received donations of approximately 3,000 books. WCRL staff got involved as well, both individually and through their Union, CUPE local 2530, which donated $200 for the purchase of books. As well, dozens of cash donations were received.

Books purchased with some of the cash donations were selected by WCRL’s Joanne Head, Coordinator, Library Services.

Also joining the WCRL’s management team is Yarmouth native Belle Hatfield. Belle has been appointed Public Relations Manager. Belle’s responsibilities include working with the media and the public to promote WCRL, its 10 branches and their programs, and to build relationships between WCRL and its community and business partners. Belle is a lifelong resident of Yarmouth and joins the Library’s staff after a distinguished 20-year career in journalism. Belle replaces Paulette Sweeney-Goodwin, who has accepted a position as Coordinator of the Yarmouth Hospital Charitable Foundation.

The Nova Scotia Health Network offers one-stop shopping for anyone seeking health information. It includes access to reputable health sites, databases, full-text journals and libraries.

When it comes to health, it is important that the information is reliable. Tait said health consumers should ask themselves:

• is it from a reputable source?

• is the information up-to-date?

• Who is the author and is there a bias?

Tait said the links available on the Nova Scotia Health Network "are already peer-reviewed", which provides a higher level of reliability than would be found on a general search engine like Google. However, the health information from any source should never be used to self-treat or make a diagnosis. The Health Network gives health consumers a powerful tool to become more engaged as partners with their health care team. The information can help patients, "ask the right questions that will stimulate discussion with their health care professionals," expressed Tait.

Participants received an overview of how to search for health information on the internet and what to keep in mind when evaluating information. Library staff members are often approached by library users in search of health information. With this training staff will be better prepared to help.

The roots of the Health Network began as a local initiative of WCRL and the region's health community to establish a web-accessible database of local community health resources. The Nova Scotia Health Network has grown from those early efforts, spearheaded by Yarmouth Hospital's Librarian Jackie MacDonald and WCRL’s Director, Trudy Amirault.

"Actually, the 50-50 draws were easy, " admitted Elf Whitley. "Quite early on, we discovered that people were only too willing to buy tickets if we just promised to ‘stop jingling our !!@#*** bells.’ So, we just added bells for our second and third draws."

"A total of three draws netted over $370, together with the $100 surplus of the building’s staff coffee fund (thanks to the coffee committee), AND a great selection of presents from the gift tree for all four members of a single parent family somewhere in Metro. The generosity and thoughtfulness of the erstwhile elves’ colleagues gob-smacked even them. "Some people donated not only the gift they pledged for, but also another," said Ms. Smiley. "It’s wonderful."

"Everything came together December 18 in a wrapping bee during which rotations of staff spent their coffee break wrapping the gifts and swigging complimentary Cranberry soda or eggnog. Rarely in the history of the Christmas Spirit has so much been wrapped, by so many, in so short a time.

"When all the expenses were in, all the gifts bought, wrapped and tagged, and every Christmas wish expressed by the family fulfilled, there was still $133.35 left in the elves’ Christmas stocking. Other, lesser fairies- Enron Elves, for example - might have secretly diverted this remainder into a numbered Swiss bank account, fed VLTs, or held a beer bash, but No! The LRT/ NSPL bunch donated the entire amount to the Metro Food Bank’s Christmas drive. Proper thing, too.

"Congratulations to the elves and to all the Kempt Road staff who contributed, for a good job, well done. They made Christmas merry for a family out there who really needed one."

HOT TIPS & UPDATES
NOVA SCOTIA REGIONAL PUBLIC LIBRARY INTERLIBRARY LOAN MEETING
Frank Oram, Professional Services Librarian, NSPL reported that a regional public library interlibrary loan meeting was hosted by NSPL on Friday, January 10, 2003. Eighteen people, plus four NSPL staff members were in attendance. This turnout was excellent, given the inclement weather conditions on that day. A wide range of issues, including placing holds in another library’s bank, reciprocal borrowing, the library book rate, how to deal with library book clubs, interlibrary loan management software, requesting loans from US libraries, and requesting A-G Canada searches from NSPL were discussed. A number of positive results such as a revised interlibrary loan chart, a revised e-mail list of interlibrary loan contacts, an agreement to produce a stamp for copyright purposes, and a procedure to place holds on materials in another library’s bank were achieved. However, the biggest benefit of such a meeting was the exchange of ideas and knowledge among participants. All those in attendance felt that future meetings should be held at least once a year and preferably in the Spring or Fall to avoid bad weather conditions.

NOVA SCOTIA HEALTH NETWORK TRAINING
Training on the use of the Nova Scotia Health Network web site has continued during January and February. Training sessions have been arranged at all regional libraries and will also be provided to CAP site staff and volunteers and community health board staff. Training is being delivered by Industry Canada’s Student Connection Program http://www.studentconnection.ns.ca/.

The Network continues to add links to locally produced health information. One thousand patient care pamphlets from the QEII Health Sciences Centre are currently available through the site. Check out the Network at http://www.nshealthnetwork.org/.

WAC is an internationally recognized public education program designed to provide parents and other adults with resources to help young people be safe, well-informed and ethical when they go online. The primary elements include workshops on teaching kids to be safe and responsible online, authenticating online information, and online marketing to kids. WAC has online resources to help parents find great kids' sites, conduct effective online searches, track where their kids go online, protect their children from online predators, draft their own Family Online Agreement, and much more. MNet's WAC program is endorsed by CLA, the Canadian Teachers' Federation, the Canadian Association of Principals, and the Vanier Institute of the Family.

NOVA SCOTIA DIGITAL COLLECTIONS INITIATIVE WEB SITE LAUNCHED!
"Digital technology provides libraries, archives, and museums with exciting opportunities for preserving and sharing their collections", said Provincial Librarian Elizabeth Armstrong at the launch of the Nova Scotia Digital Collections Initiative Web Site. "Building digital collections contributes to skills development, and allows institutions to make their collections available beyond their walls."

Digital collections developed by NSDCI members cover a variety of subjects, from the lobster industry in River John http://www.parl.ns.ca/projects/lobster/index.htm at PARL, to Mi’kmaq culture and history http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/mikmaq/ at the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, to an electronic edition of George Elliott Clarke’s Saltwater Spirituals and Deeper Blues http://www.dal.ca/~etc/clarke/ at Dalhousie University’s Electronic Text Centre.

An inventory of digital projects from across the country is maintained by the Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries at the National Library of Canada. Links to the Nova Scotia projects in the inventory can be found at: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/initiatives-bin/rella?mode=cat&typ=province&cde=NS. "There are currently 60 Nova Scotian digital collections included in the inventory," said Elizabeth Armstrong, "only Ontario has more."

The Nova Scotia Digital Collections Initiative web site can be found at: http://www.library.ns.ca/services/NSDCI/index.htm.

For more information on the Initiative please contact Steering Committee Chair Bernadette Kennedy, 902.424.3791, or kennedba@gov.ns.ca.

TIME MANAGEMENT: GETTING THINGS DONE - TELECONFERENCE FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2003
Library workers, records managers, and students, gathered at NSPL, January 24, 2003, to take part in the Time Management program. The session, jointly sponsored by NSPL and CASLIS Atlantic Canada Chapter, included a two-hour live broadcast from the Distance Learning Division, College of DuPage, Glyn Ellyn, IL, featuring presenter Debbie Wilcox Johnson. She focused on the inability to say no at work and attributed this in part to such factors as ego, guilt, and stress. Ms. Wilcox Johnson identified barriers to effective time management as inefficient priority management, perfectionism, and everyday time wasters, such as e-mail, meetings, etc. She urged participants to be more self-aware, to recognise what motivates them and what is a time waster, and to learn to negotiate around tasks and assignments. Ms. Wilcox Johnson suggested that the best practices to a more efficient workload management are to find someone else to do the task, to stop doing something, to work smarter, and to learn to say no.

A videorecording of the teleconference can be borrowed via ILL from NSPL. To search the Professional Development Collection go to NcompasS http://ncompass.library.ns.ca/ and click on NSPL.

REFERENCE ON THE NET
Here are some recent reference questions referred to the Provincial Library, which were answered using resources found on the Internet.

A. There are different words for this, since different areas of the North, have different dialects. It also depends on whether the word is used as a reply to thank you or as a greeting. This said, at Jennifer's Language Page http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/ scroll down and select Welcome in more than 325 languages, then select the letter I. Inuktitut, which is the language of the Inuit, is listed here with several words for welcome given.

There is an IZupiat Eskimo Dictionary at http://www.alaskool.org/Language/dictionaries/inupiaq/dictionary.htm where you can enter an English word to get it’s equivalent in Eskimo or Inuit. The web site of The Nunavut Handbook at http://www.arctictravel.com/ has Useful Phrases at http://www.arctictravel.com/audio/phrases.html, including You are welcome which is Ilaali.

A. The Plants Database of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service at http://plants.usda.gov/ and NewCROP http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ the database of the Purdue University Center for New Crops & Plant Products are sources which have some information on these. For NewCROP use the Crop Index to look up common or scientific names. Another place to look is the HortiPlex Database at http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/, which brings plant information on the web together. When you search for a particular plant there are links to databases which have information on it.

LINKed
A number of Nova Scotian organizations have produced some very useful databases on attractive, well-organized web sites. This month’s Linked column will feature some of these which are on a variety of different topics.

LeughSeo at http://www.cbrl.ns.ca/search/leughseo.html is a catalogue of Gaelic books in CBRL and the University College of Cape Breton Library, which was jointly produced by these libraries. It is a winner of the Library Net Best Practices Award for 2001. You can search for material by author, title, or subject.

East Coast Birds at http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/nsbirds/ was produced by the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History with assistance from experts in this area from around the province. Much of the information on this site is from Robie Tufts' book Birds of Nova Scotia. Four hundred and eleven birds are listed and there is a colour picture of each along with information on its occurrence in Nova Scotia, a description of it and other remarks.

The Nova Scotia Community Organization Network at http://www.nsnet.org/ is produced by staff of the Technical Resource Centre at the Kings Regional Rehabilitation Centre, Waterville, N.S. It is an attractive and well organized directory of support resources and services for persons with disabilities and health challenges. The directory can be browsed by topic, region and alphabetical listings and searched by keyword.