Center for the Book - 603-271-2866

The National Endowment for the Arts has just announced the timeline for their next round of Big Read grants. If you would like to do a Big Read program in your community between September 2008 and June 2009 the deadline for grant applications is January 11, 2008. (They have switched to an annual grant cycle instead of twice per year.)

It was a Big Read grant that supported The Big Read: New Hampshire Reads Fahrenheit 451. I would encourage New Hampshire communities to consider applying for a Big Read grant for their community. If you are considering this and have questions about our experiences please email me at Mary.Russell@dcr.nh.gov. The Center for the Book at the NH State Library will not be submitting a Big Read application in this grant cycle.

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

The Library Services to Persons with Disabilities (LSPD)section of the New Hampshire State Library , also known as The Talking Book Library, is changing the way it offers Large Print material to the public library community. In order to implement this change, librarians were informed during June ,2007 that Talking Books had suspended its distribution of large print collections on a rotating basis and requested that libraries return their borrowed collections to Concord. All LP materials have been returned and we thank you for helping us with this important first stage.

As part of the change, Talking Books is offering it's entire collection of large print as "freebies" to school, public, and institutional libraries throughout the state. Over the next months, periodic announcements of freebie LP titles will be posted on the NHAIS-L listserv and will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis until the materials have new homes and new NHU-PAC holdings. As these LP books find permanent homes in our public libraries, we strongly encourage libraries to add their holding records to NHU-PAC to facilitate continued interlibrary loans between libraries.

Beginning this fiscal year, the State Library has allocated funds to purchase a continuous stream of large print materials for NH public libraries that will be owned by and loaned by the libraries themselves based on local patrons needs and requests. An announcement of this new large print collections development program by the State Library is forthcoming.

The LP circulating program as assisted public libraries and institutions throughout New Hampshire for 14 years. By having libraries choose and interlibrary loan titles themselves, local patrons needs can be better served. We greatly appreciate your help and understanding as we undertake this new system for providing you with LP's in the future.

Reference and Information Services - 603-271-2144

Please remember that libraries in the state have a few more options in obtaining magazine and journal articles beyond what is available through EBSCOhost on NHewlink. The New Hampshire State Library maintains the Article Express webpage (www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/aexpress/index.html) to assist libraries in obtaining copies of articles for their patrons. From that site you can access a list of available journals (with dates) that we subscribe to in hard copy or electronically. The list does include EBSCOhost journals, but also some other subscription services held by the State Library, plus our extensive print collection.

Libraries can request copies of articles from any journal they find on that list. The website includes submission guidelines and also our pledge to try to provide same day or next day copies when possible. If your desired journal is not on the list we probably do not have access to it and you will need to pursue other interlibrary loan options. You can check the NHUPAC or WorldCat for other libraries in or out of state that might own the desired journal. In a few circumstances (see the Article Express guidelines regarding MasterFile Premier) we can attempt to obtain copies of articles from retrieval services and we will absorb the charge (we cannot guarantee turn around time for these requests).

If you have other questions about our Article Express service please contact Donna Gilbreth at 271-2060 or donna.gilbreth@dcr.nh.gov.