NJ SNAP is New Jersey’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that can help our friends, family and neighbors with lower incomes afford the groceries they need to feed their families. We are bringing special attention to SNAP during this season of giving where much attention is focused on the importance of food, fellowship and community. Far too many New Jerseyans struggle to put food on the table for themselves and their families. Today, nearly 900,000 New Jersey residents are food insecure, meaning they do not h ...Continue Reading

Hi, Everyone, ALA is opening a call for applications for $300 mini-grants to school and public libraries to facilitate an Hour of Code activity for youth using Google’s CS First Hour of Code activity. Libraries Ready to Code, an ALA initiative sponsored by Google, aims to ensure libraries have the resources, capacity, and inspiration to embrace activities that promote computational thinking and computer science among our nation’s youth. To apply for a mini-grant, visit the Ready to Code website. The deadline is ...Continue Reading

FYI, ** (I attended this last year and it was a lot of fun! ~Sharon) ** *LibraryCon Live - Wednesday, November 6th* *A Virtual Festival for Librarians, Book Nerds, and Fans of Graphic Novels, SF, and Fantasy* ** LibraryCon Live! is a free, completely virtual conference—no traveling and no cost! Join Library Journal and School Library Journal for our third annual LibraryCon Live! We're excited to offer a day-long celebration of fandom-beloved stories and characters, featuring the creators behind mind-bending sp ...Continue Reading

FYI,   The American Library Association (ALA) is now accepting applications for Library Census Equity Fund mini-grants. *Applications are *due Nov. 22*.*   ALA will provide 25 libraries with $2,000 mini-grants to bolster their service to hard-to-count communities and help achieve a complete count in the 2020 Census.    All types of libraries and library organizations are eligible to apply (e.g., public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries, tribal libraries, state library agencies, Library ...Continue Reading

FYI, *Maureen Hayes Award Application Open* Applications are now open for the Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Award. This $4,000 award was established with funding from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing in honor of Maureen Hayes to bring together children and nationally recognized authors and illustrators by funding an author/illustrator visit to a library. The applications are due Nov.15, 2019. Great Books Giveaway The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is acc ...Continue Reading

FYI,   Just forwarding this message for informational purposes only from Girls Who Code.  ~Sharon Dear NJ Libraries, So excited to share this milestone with you.  Girls Who Code now has 500 free Clubs in New Jersey!   I'm not just sharing the good news. It is a call to action - let's keep going and give lots more NJ girls the opportunity for a career in tech. Please join the many NJ libraries who have free Clubs.  https://girlswhocode.com/clubs/ No computer science experien ...Continue Reading

FYI,   Please share with any high school media specialists whom you think might be interested. Thanks.   ~Sharon Best regards,   Sharon Rawlins, MLS Youth Services Specialist for Lifelong Learning NJ State Library 185 West State St. P.O. Box 520 Trenton, NJ 08625-0520 sraw...@njstatelib.org 609-278-2640 ext. 116 609-278-2650 – fax /Pronouns: she/her/hers/ *From:* NJASL <adm...@njasl.org> *Sent:* Thursday, October 24, 2019 8:01 AM*To:* Sharon Rawlins <sraw...@njstatelib.org>*Subject:* High S ...Continue Reading

Hello, We used it for the first time this past summer.  Overall, I'd say it was a success.  My quibbles with it:   -It doesn't have any sort of instructions you can look up - there are videos, and they are helpful if you e-mail, but I like some sort of available FAQs. -It had a ton of features we didn't need or want, and they were rather in the way at times -At busy times of day it would get very slow, and get stuck at times.  You'd think it hadn't updated the data, and re-enter it, and then both en ...Continue Reading

Hi, Everyone,   How  many of you in public libraries are using READsquared for your summer reading programs – or even for other reading programs? If you are, do you like it? Your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks.   ~Sharon   Best regards,   Sharon Rawlins, MLS Youth Services Specialist for Lifelong Learning NJ State Library 185 West State St. P.O. Box 520 Trenton, NJ 08625-0520 sraw...@njstatelib.org 609-278-2640 ext. 116 609-278-2650 – fax /Pronouns: she/her/hers/ ...Continue Reading

Thought this perhaps could be useful to some (if you have not seen or used it already) .. https://naaweb.org/afterschooltechtoolkit   Doug BaldwinHead of Technology Piscataway Public Library dbal...@piscatawaylibrary.org 732-463-1633 x4114 ...Continue Reading