NNYLN Awards First CE Assist Grant

The St. Lawrence-Lewis School Library System (SLL SLS) will receive funding from the Northern New York Library Network’s CE Assist Program in order to bring a top-notch author/speaker, Ms. Loung Ung, to the area as part of its March 20, 2008 "Reading Rocks!" program.

This day will be devoted to the theme of "war and its consequences." Ms. Ung is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, having escaped from Cambodia during that reign of terror, and she wrote two novels relating to that experience. First They Killed My Father was chosen for the American Library Association’s list of Outstanding Books for the College Bound, in the category of history.

Although the "Reading Rocks!" program is specifically designed as part of the SLL SLS’s staff development program, the program is open to any librarian or educator. Some of the other "Reading Rocks!" presentations the SLL SLS is currently exploring deal with the Civil War, the Iraq War, World War II concentration camp liberators, and immigration/emigration as a result of war.

Along with the Northern New York Library Network’s CE Assist Program, SLL SLS is working in collaboration with the St. Lawrence Valley Teachers’ Learning Center, North Country Library, and St. Lawrence University to bring a person of Loung Ung’s caliber to their area.

For complete details on the CE Assist Program, go to www.nnyln.org/issues/84/pn84d.php, or contact Regional Services Coordinator Bridget Doyle by email, or phone: 315-265-1119.

People In The News

The Northern New York Library Network recently hired Amy Schirmer as the office assistant, and Agnes Hoey as the digital technician.

Michelle Young has been appointed library director at Clarkson University in Potsdam. She is currently the college librarian at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She will begin her duties at Clarkson in January 2008.

April Bliss was recently hired as the new director of the Jefferson-Lewis School Library System in Glenfield.

Carol LaDue recently retired from Massena Public Library, where she was a library clerk. She worked at the library for more than 23 years. Even though she is retired, she continues to work on the library’s website and serve as a substitute library clerk.