Center for the Book - 603-271-2866

Recently we sent out bookmarks to nearly 100 NH libraries promoting the NH Center for the Book, specifically our "Granite State Readers Recommend" project. If you have read a book recently (or not recently) please consider submitting it as a recommendation to this project. The recommended books are listed on our website, some of them go into the newsletter, and some of them will be used on bookmarks to be distributed through libraries and bookstores in the state. Visit www.nh.gov/nhsl/bookcenter/programs/gs_recommend.html to see what has been recommended so far and to get to the form for making your own recommendation.

Electronic and Government Information Services - 603-271-2143

The state library has chosen the Thomson Gale product "Biography Resource Center" as its newest database offering. Access information will be sent to libraries in early March.

Library Development Services - 603-271-2865 (Concord) - 1-800-462-1726 (Lancaster)

The 2005 Annual Report has been delayed - for a variety of reasons that have us frustrated too! For the time, please know that the questions will be almost exactly the same as last year, so you may take a copy of last year's report and start your computations & data - and only have to fill in the answers when the report becomes available. As soon as the online report is open, all public libraries will be notified.

Information about the upcoming PLA Conference, including the NHLA-sponsored busses and the conference connection wiki, can be found on the NHLA website at http://www.nh.gov/nhla/

READS will sponsor a series of roundtables on the nuts and bolts of running book discussion groups. The roundtables take place in March at several locations. Please see http://www.nh.gov/nhla/READSspring06.htm for more information.

NHEMA is offering a workshop called "Considering becoming a School Library Media Specialist?" The workshop will be held on Friday, April 7, 2006 in Concord. For more information see: http://www.nhema.net/Conference.htm.

Library Services to Persons with Disabilities - 603-271-1498 - 1-800-491-4200

Senator John Sununu (R-NH) today (2/22) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has selected New Hampshire as one of six locations across the nation to serve in a Low-Vision Rehabilitation Services Demonstration Project.

The initiative, which will allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive vision rehabilitation therapy in their own homes, was modeled after legislation first authored by Sununu in 2003. Senator Sununu announced the initiative at a press conference on Wednesday, February 22 at the New Hampshire Association for the Blind’s McGreal Sight Center in Concord, NH. The five-year Medicare project will begin on April 1, 2006 and run through March 31, 2011 and will consist of six demonstration sites – New Hampshire, North Carolina, Kansas, Washington state, New York City, and Atlanta, Georgia.

At those locations, low-vision rehabilitation services will be provided in the home by vision rehabilitation professionals under the general supervision of a physician.

At the conclusion of the study, HHS and CMS will produce a report based on the data collected during the study to determine whether low-vision rehabilitation services should be covered nationwide for all Medicare recipients across the country.

Reference and Information Services - 603-271-2144

Donna Gilbreth, head of Reference and Information Services, reports that Ed Holden retired from the State Library on Feb. 24th. She says "Ed has been our genealogist, first as a volunteer then as part-time staff, for many years. He is well-liked and respected amongst staff and has an amazing coterie of devoted researchers that clamor for his advice and assistance. He will be greatly missed here."