Special Projects
Past Projects
NEFLIN has managed a variety of grant projects for and with different organizations.
Florida Library Association
2006-2008
The Florida Library Association (FLA) contracted with NEFLIN to provide administrative support for the organization.
Mini-Grant Program
NEFLIN Funds
2006-2007
NEFLIN established the Mini-Grant Program to allow NEFLIN member libraries to apply for funds that can be used for any project at their library. NEFLIN Full and Enhanced members were eligible to apply for up to two grants. Each grant application could be funded up to a maximum of $10,000.
Thirty-nine applications, requesting over $250,000, were submitted. The NEFLIN Board of Directors awarded $100,000 to fund 14 projects. The applications that received funding had a clearly defined purpose and detailed how this program will impact the community the library serves.
Library Directors' Meeting
LSTA Grant
October 2006
The 2006 Library Directors' Meeting was held from the afternoon of October 11 through October 13, 2006, in Jacksonville at the Embassy Suites - Baymeadows. 125 individuals attended this meeting which included a keynote by Christopher Holley and Diantha Schull as well as sessions by Mary Minow, Richard Madaus, Vincent T. Edwards, and Thomas Wilkes. This meeting also included a tour and reception at the new Jacksonville Public Library and a tour of Clay County Public Library Headquarters in Fleming Island.
Middle Manager Leadership Symposiums
LSTA Grant
May 2007
The Middle Manager Symposiums are designed for library branch managers and library department heads from libraries and library systems throughout Florida. Four sessions entitled "How Can I Help Them To Get Along? Conflict Resolution Skills and Strategies for Library Middle Managers" were facilitated by Pat Wagner in Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, Ocala, and Orange Park for 140 participants. Fifty-three NEFLIN members attended the sessions in our region.
Spanish Language Outreach Program
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant
2006-2007
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Spanish Language Outreach Program was designed to train public library staff to better serve their Spanish-speaking customers. This was achieved through regional workshops and a preconference at the 2006 FLA Conference in Orlando which was attended by 80 library staff from around the state. Selecting Spanish Language Materials for Adults, an introductory, Web-based course to help public library staff learn the basics of developing a Spanish-language collection was also offered from March-April 2007. Registration was made available in December and the course filled up within two days. 27 library staff from all over the state participated in the live chat sessions, which included ten NEFLIN members.
Rural Library Sustainability Program
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2006-2007
The Rural Library Sustainability Program was designed to provide approximately 80 staff at rural public libraries with an opportunity to create action plans that will help them sustain their public access computing programs. The program provides a train-the-trainer program at the Gates Foundation office in Seattle for the project coordinator, two workshops for rural librarians from around the state, and funding to send three workshop participants to ALA 2007 in Washington, DC.
NEFLIN Assistant Director, Stephanie Race serves as project coordinator and attended the train-the-trainer program in Seattle. Workshops were held on February 23 in Tallahassee and on March 9 in Ocala. Communication continues with participants on the WebJunction discussion boards and through Cvent. An open follow-up session was held on April 12 at FLA in Orlando. Four workshop participants attended the WebJunction Rural Forum Preconference and ALA 2007 in Washington, DC.
Additional funds were used to purchase a one year subscription to Live Meeting, online meeting software made available by WebJunction. Access will be provided to libraries for training, meetings, and other appropriate uses.
Technology Assessments and Training
LSTA Grant
2006-2007
Through a one-time LSTA grant, NEFLIN conducted a project to provide assessment of library's technology related services and to train library staff to help customers use technology. Assessments and training were provided by Mickey Boyd.
Assessments provided a thorough evaluation of eight libraries' networks, library management systems, e-mail and web services, bandwidth, security, and advice on purchasing hardware and software.
The ten on-site workshops were designed to support a wide variety of needs. They enabled library staff to become more proficient and comfortable with using many of the new technologies now present in their library. Staff have begun to understand issues such as purchasing decisions, implementation, bandwidth, library management systems, and security.
Technology Training To Go
LSTA Grant
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant
2004 & 2005
The Technology Training to Go conferences brought together IT and technology training staff from libraries throughout Florida to discover applications for new technologies and strategies, skills, and practices that will allow them to manage computers and provided technology training in a productive way. A keynote by Stephen Abram (Sirsi Dynix Vice President of Innovation) at the 2004 conference was followed by a variety of interactive sessions on technology issues for 119 attendees.