Ever since we changed our name from NHEMA, the New Hampshire Educational Media Association, to NHSLMA, The New Hampshire School Library Media Association, we’ve been yearning for a new look to help us convey what that name change means to us. We’re librarians, and librarians are perfectly positioned to guide students into 21st century leadership by shaping the ways they gather and use information and fostering a desire for life long learning. We use all tools available — books included! — to build information literacy skills in students so their learning extends beyond the classroom and they use media in a way that is responsible, safe and ethical. Our new logo is a tool to help us convey all of that to the world.

We want to thank Rumbletree not just for the creation of this logo, but for guiding us through a thoughtful process that allowed us to really examine how we put forth a message, a brand if you will, about ourselves and what we do as librarians in schools. Their support and generosity made this process meaningful and we look forward to implementing what we’ve learned.

Hi all:
Want to give you an update regarding ongoing Ebsco situation. Had a meeting scheduled for week of June 1st in Concord. Meeting was cancelled due to time conflict with one participant. Meeting will be rescheduled for week of June 7th but don’t have an exact time or date as of yet. From those who have contributed to the discussion the consensus of opinion seems to be district sliding scale as the choice. Don’t know how it will go but will keep you informed. Kathy Lane

Here is a copy of an email posted to the listserv by Kathy Pearce

SUMMARY OF EBSCO SITUATION—
First of all—don’t panic! Michael York from the state library is eager to work with us to retain all of the current EBSCO databases for all school libraries. We are also talking with the state DOE to see if they can offer any funding or assistance to offset costs and at creative funding options such as grants and stimulus funding.

The gap that the state library needs to close is $64,000. One scenario that Michael York suggests is to ask 256 school libraries to each pay $250 which would close the gap and give access to all. We are still working on coming up with more details as to how this would work, and this is not a final plan, but it gives you an idea of what could be done to address the situation.

Michael York’s plan raised several questions:
•    Will school libraries that can’t pay have access? yes.
•    What will happen to any surplus we collect? One option: the Park Street Foundation could retain any extra money in escrow to offset costs for the following year. There could be other scenarios that we could explore as well. Your suggestions would be welcome.
•    Could schools that are able pay extra? Probably. Again, we still need to work out the details of how payment would work.
•    What about Biography Resource Center? Michael is hopeful that this resource will be reinstated at some point, but right now EBSCO is the priority.

If you are relatively sure that your school would be able to contribute $250 (remember that this is still a hypothetical scenario—final details/prices to come), please contact Michael York michael.york@dcr.nh.gov so he can begin to get an idea of how many libraries can help out.

Please stay tuned for further updates about the situation. We realize that this has been a stressful and uncertain time and that people need to plan out their resources and budgets for next year. Understand that you may need to set aside a few hundred dollars, but that the earlier figures thrown around that were in the thousands are not realistic.