Library Web-Based online programming for September

[Lori Bell]

Greetings!  You are welcome to join us for these
September online events and programs sponsored by OPAL
(Online Programming for All Libraries). To attend,
please come to the online auditorium at 

http://www.tcconference.com/lib/?auditorium&nopass_field=1

Type your name and click enter. As you enter the room
a small software applet will download to your
computer.  All you need to participate are a sound
card, speakers, and an Internet connection.  If you
need further information on these programs, please
contact Tom Peters at tapinformation at yahoo.com or Lori
Bell at lbell at alliancelibrarysystem.com. Please check
the website at http://www.opal-online.org for program
updates.


Wednesday, September 8, at 10 a.m. central time and
2:00 p.m. central time, KLAS Online Training with Lori
Bell, Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center  Interested in
learning how to search the Illinois online catalog so
you can order your own books and place reserves?  Want
to see what is available by your favorite author or
what other books are available in a category? Come for
an informal training session on how to search the
catalog.


Wednesday, September 8, beginning at 4:00 p.m. Eastern
Daylight Time, 3:00 Central, 2:00 Mountain, and 1:00
Pacific: Bookshare Orientation Session with Heide
Stevenson. Heide is the Sales Manager and Pilot
Coordinator at Bookshare.org. In this session Heide
will help introduce MIDTB volunteers and other
individuals to accessing and using the content and
services available from Bookshare.org. 


Saturday, September 11, 2004 at the times noted below:
Special Edition of the Meting of the Minds Online Book
Discussion Group In honor of the We the People
Initiative of the National Endowment for the
Humanities and the Libraries Remember Initiative
spearheaded by the Bensenville (Illinois) Community
Public Library District, we will be reading and
discussing four books from the "courage" section of
the We the People Bookshelf.


10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time: Penny Mandziara from
the Bensenville Community Public Library will lead a
discussion of two books: Sylvester and the Magic
Pebble by William Steig (RC 50353 and BR 15008), and
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingels Wilder (RC
50922 and BR 04243). 

3:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time: Les Park from the
Bensenville Community Public Library will lead a
discussion of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, An American Slave (RC 30570). 

7:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time: Tom Peters from TAP
Information Services will lead a discussion of the
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (RC 43591
and BR 03066). For your information, various digital
versions of the novel are available at Blackmask.com.
An online edition in HTML format is available from the
Classic Literature Library. 


The general theme of the discussion of this set of
books will be how people (and other creatures)
manifest courage, especially in light of the events
related to the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001. 


Tuesday, September 21, 2004, beginning at 8:00 p.m.
Eastern Daylight Time, 7:00 Central, 6:00 Mountain,
and 5:00 Pacific:: The Meting of the Minds Online Book
Discussion Group will discuss the novel My Antonia by
Willa Cather. A lawyer recalls his Nebraska boyhood
and the girl who was a strong influence on his life in
this novel about pioneering conditions and the
assimilation of the immigrant. (RC 13491 and BR 11320)
(2 cassettes). Faculty members and graduate students
affiliated with the Cather Project at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln plan to join us for this online
event. For your information, various digital versions
of the novel are available at Blackmask.com. An online
version in HTML format also is available from the
Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial in Red Cloud, Nebraska.
A scholarly edition from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln is available online at
http://cather.unl.edu/works/se/antonia/entire/index.htm



Thursday, September 23, 2004 beginning at 4:00 p.m.
Eastern Daylight Time, 3:00 Central, 2:00 Mountain,
and 1:00 Pacific: eBookWorm Online Discussion Group
Our featured guest this month will be announced soon. 

Wednesday, September 29, 2004 beginning at 10:00 a.m.
central time - "Managing Your Health."  A guest
speaker will discuss Strategies for gathering personal
health information, making decisions about your own
healthcare and how to communicate with health care
providers including: talking with your doctor, your
health record, makign informed decisions, managing
prescriptions, immunizations, medical tests, living
wills and advanced directives.  Helpful websites and
books on this topic will also be shared.


Libraries participating in this initiative include: 
Chicago Public Library Talking Book Center, Cleveland
Public Library for the Blind,  Fondulac District
Library, Illinois State Library, Illinois State
Library Talking Book and Braille Service, Johnson
County Library, Library of Congress, Maine State
Library Outreach,  Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center,
Minnesota Library for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped, TAP Information Services, and the
Washington Talking Book and Braille Library. If you
are interested in becoming a part of this initiative,
please contact Tom Peters at tapinformation at yahoo.com
or Lori Bell at lbell at alliancelibrarysystem.com