Debbie Glade
Smart Poodle Publishing
PO Box 817468
Hollywood, FL 33081
954-328-7465
www.smartpoodlepublishing.com
www.lillybadilly.com

There is only one week left before the December 1, 2008 deadline (5pm EST) to enter the Smart Poodle Publishing "What I Wish Everyone Knew About Librarians" contesst.

Grand Prize = $500.

Go to www.smartpoodlepublishing.com for full details and contest rules.

Winers will be announced by December 15, 2008.

It takes place during the 18th Havana International Book Fair where dozens of countries and scores of publishers exhibit their works.

It's a rare opportunity for professionals in library sciences, booksellers, educators and book lovers in general to get an unprecedented look into issues of freedom of expression directly from Cuban intellectuals, writers, librarians, publishers and curators.

If you're an American and your work involves any aspect of books, writing, publishing or education, you can join this program and visit the island legally. And we're glad to assist with your travel license.

The eight-day tour is chock-full of incredible activities. Tour participants are treated as honored guests while in Cuba and, in addition to spending significant time at the book fair they will:

* Visit museums, cultural and historical sites, libraries, publishing houses and attend special ceremonies

* Relish the island's best food, entertainment (including dance lessons), all in the five star comfort of the famed Hotel Habana Libre

* Take part in a special community sponsored block party for librarians and bibliophiles

* Meet with members of the Union of Cuban Artists and Writers (UNEAC), professors, library directors, publishing chiefs, and many other key literary personalities

* Tour the Museum of Literacy dedicated to the 380,000 young women and men who volunteered to teach reading and writing to their island compatriots in 1961

* Visit the famed hand made book publisher Ediciones Vigia in the city of Matanzas

* Spend a day on the wondrous white sand beaches and warm Caribbean waters of famed Varadero

* Our website details costs, flights, and an elaborate hour-by-hour itinerary that is amazing to view, even if you can't join us this year. Check it out at:

http://CubanAdventures.org

It's packed with photos and information on Cuba, Book Fair resources, and trip details and costs (so it is a little slow opening).

You can help increase awareness about Cuba by sharing this announcement with your friends and colleagues. We'd be grateful. Cuba Education Tours is a Vancouver Canada based organization dedicated to green, ethical travel that benefits Cubans and our guests who receive five star treatment round-the-clock from our Cuban and Canadian staff ensures worry free travel abroad.

Hoping to meet you in February 2009 at the 18th Havana International Book Fair.

All my best,
Marcel Hatch
Education Director
708 - 207 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1H7 Canada

info@cubafriends.ca Email

877-687-3817 Toll Free North America
604-677-2944 Vancouver and International
604-874-9041 Facsimile

http://CubaFriends.com Many more Cuba culture and education tours

* B.C. Travelers Assurance Fund Registration No. 34338
* Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) No. 11338
* IATA Travel Industry Designator Service (TIDS) No. 96520852
* Communications, Energy and Paper Workers Union, CEP Local 2000, Unit 46
* Member: Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC)
* VanCity Credit Union Socially Responsible Banking member
* Official travel agency for the World Peace Forum Society 2006 Vancouver

In times of yore, to trace the path of a meal from your table to the source may have only been a short jaunt out to some nearby woods. But in these days of modern transit, when the foods that people consume hail from various regions of the United States and even the globe, that path, many times, is much more complex.

To help people understand how geographic information systems (GIS) can show information and to celebrate Geography Awareness Week, Linda Zellmer, the government and data services librarian at Western Illinois University Libraries, has utilized GIS to prepare a guide that shows where the foods consumed at the traditional Thanksgiving meal -- such as turkey, cranberries, squash and green beans -- originate.

"GIS is a collection of computer software and data used to organize and view geographically referenced information -- it helps people collect and organize information about places, so that it can be easily displayed," Zellmer explained. "I used the data from the 1997 and 2002 Agricultural Censuses for this project. The data for the Census of Agriculture is collected every five years."

Zellmer has compiled a website, available at faculty.wiu.edu/LR-Zellmer/thanksgiving.html, that links to PDF (portable document format) versions of the maps from 1997 and 2002. Some of the conventional Thanksgiving Day foods Zellmer compiled include green beans, carrots, cranberries, turkeys, pumpkins and sweet potatoes.

"Several years ago, when was I working at Indiana University (IU), I was looking for an idea to explain how GIS can be used to show information. Knowing that Thanksgiving was the following week, I decided to develop maps showing where the foods we eat on Thanksgiving Day are grown," she said.

In addition to the individual maps, Zellmer has modified a poster to display where Thanksgiving foods are produced in the U.S.

"I have continued to update the maps since I made the first set, and I decided to recreate the maps and modify the poster, which was developed by a friend of mine from IU, and use them here at WIU," Zellmer said. "I am looking forward to next year, because the data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture will be available in February, so I will be able to develop a new set of maps and poster."

Zellmer noted GIS provides government and other research agencies with a useful tool for planning and analyses.

"GIS is an expanded service University Libraries provides to people who use data and maps. I have started to collect data so that people have a wider variety of GIS data available," she said. "The geography department here also uses GIS, as does the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA), which is housed here at Western. For example, the IIRA has developed the Illinois Site Selection tool to help companies identify potential locations for businesses or industrial development," Zellmer added.

Educators in elementary, middle and high schools may also find Zellmer's work particularly beneficial for pre-Thanksgiving Day lessons.

"Teachers might be able to use the Thanksgiving maps to relate the food we eat to geography. They might also want to have the students examine the maps (and data) more closely to identify which states produce the most cranberries, turkeys and other foods. They might also want to dig a little deeper and look at weather, climate and growing conditions to try and determine why pecans only grow in southern states and cranberries only grow in a few states. It might be a good classroom activity when the students are eagerly looking forward to a long weekend," she said.

Visit http://faculty.wiu.edu/LR-Zellmer/thanksgiving.html to access Zellmer's maps and the comprehensive poster online.

The Informed Librarian Online ( www.informedlibrarian.com) is the information professional's current awareness service.

Each month, we link you to the contents of 300+ valuable domestic and foreign library and information-related jourrnals, e-journals, magazines, e-magazines, newsletters, e-newsletter, and blogs.

In addition, Premium Members get free access to 15+ premium content articles each month, from Emerald, ScienceDirect, Sage, Taylor and Francis, Haworth, and IOS Press. A highlight of our site is ILOSearch, a database of 87,000 documents that are fully indexed and searchable. ILOSearch enables you to search through all the journals we link to.

All this and much more is accessible to our subscribers. Free memberships with limited access are also available. For more information go to https://www.informedlibrarian.com/authorize.net/premium_member.cfm

Arlene L. Eis
Informed Librarian Online
140 Norma Road
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Phone: 201-836-7072 Fax: 201-357-5575
URL: http://www.informedlibrarian.com
Serving the Information Professional since 1981

Invermere (B.C.) Public Library Goes Live with Evergreen
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Norcross, GA – November 20, 2008

Invermere Public Library has become the 12th library in British Columbia’s SITKA consortium to go live with Evergreen, the consortial-quality open-source library automation software.

Invermere Public Library’s migration to Evergreen is one more step in a process that will see up to 32 SITKA libraries running Evergreen by the end of 2009. Equinox Software Inc., the support and development company for Evergreen, is providing ongoing 24/7 technical support for SITKA’s Evergreen implementations.

"While Evergreen works beautifully for single-site libraries, the true power of consortial-quality library software becomes apparent in settings such as SITKA,” said Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. “With its powerful indexing, transaction, and other core functions, and user-friendly features such as self-placed holds and patron bookbags, Evergreen is a natural choice for resource-sharing systems, while the fact that Evergreen is open source translates to long-range security and confidence for Evergreen libraries and their systems.”

SITKA is following a gradual approach to moving libraries over to Evergreen; libraries opt-in on their own schedule. Many libraries are anticipated to join over the next several years when their existing automation vendor contracts expire.

Invermere, British Columbia is located near the border of Alberta. It has a growing population of about 4,000 people and serves as a popular summer destination for people from Calgary. Visit Invermere’s new online catalog at http://invermere.catalogue.bclibraries.ca/. Their website can also be viewed at http://invermere.bclibrary.ca/ The collective holdings for all 12 libraries are at http://catalogue.bclibrary.ca and a description of SITKA is at http://sitka.bclibraries.ca/ .

About Evergreen

Evergreen is consortial-quality, open-source library system software. Evergreen was initially developed to support Georgia PINES, a resource-sharing consortium with over 270 public libraries. While Evergreen was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia, its robust, fault-tolerant architecture elegantly scales down to the smallest sites. Evergreen is also adaptive software that due to its service-oriented, standards-compliant design can nimbly evolve to meet changing library needs and user expectations.

From its debut in September 2006, Evergreen has consistently outperformed expectations and resulted in acclaim and praise from users worldwide. Evergreen has received significant attention, including a Technology Collaboration Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Other Evergreen implementations include Michigan Evergreen, through the Michigan Library Consortium; Evergreen Indiana, from the Indiana Open Source Initiative; and several smaller implementations, such as Kent County Public Library in Maryland, Marshall Public Library in Missouri, Innisfil Public Library in Ontario, and the University of Prince Edward Island. Evergreen projects in the early-development stages include Project Conifer (five academic libraries in Canada).

For more information about Evergreen, visit http://evergreen-ils.org

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a growing team of skilled developers and other professionals who provide comprehensive support for Evergreen, the consortial-quality, open source Integrated Library System (ILS). Equinox develops, supports, trains, migrates, integrates, and consults on Evergreen, and engages with the rapidly expanding Evergreen community. Instead of one-size-fits-all support, Equinox works closely with libraries to ensure Evergreen is implemented in the manner that best fits their individual needs.

In addition to support, custom development and integration services, Equinox offers complete Evergreen hosting packages for libraries wishing to outsource their ILS infrastructure. Equinox also provides consulting services for libraries seeking more insight into the value proposition of open source software.

Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 678-269-6113

For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.

Evergreen is open source software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL. Evergreen and the Evergreen Logo are registered trademarks of the Georgia Public Library Service.