Film Festival Workshop

The AALS workshop, Lights, Camera, Action! How to Run a Teen Film Festival in the Library was a real success! The presenter, Susan Conlon, Teen Services Librarian at Princeton Public Library showed some funny films and some serious ones too that teens created themselves. This was a pleasure to see because it showed how the program idea could work for public libraries. It also demonstrated how creative some teens can be when using technology. Several film editing programs could be used for this. Many teens have some type of film editing software at home. One example is Apple's Final Cut. Susan's library has been doing an annual teen film festival for five years now. She and the library staff have provided teens with an official public venue to demonstrate their creative works. This helps give teens confidence and provides inclusion within a meaningful program. It was nice to hear how one teen involved in the film festival program at her library went on after high school to study filmmaking at a university in New York. Great ideas were shared at this event on how to plan and promote this and how to ask for money to budget for this type of programming. Several of the participants said that they would like to start up a teen film festival at their library. Who knows? Maybe we start up a Texas vs. New Jersey film festival contest!

Records Management and Audits in the Library training

The workshop last Friday gave an overview of what records libraries should be keeping track of and what to do before your public library is audited. The feedback we received overall was that this was a great learning experience. Library staff are better equipped to organize their files and have a systematic method of doing so.

The first presenter, Jed Rogers, works as a Government Information Analyst in the State and Local Records Management Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin, TX. His presentation was practical and useful for all library staff, at any level, who maintain records in their jobs. Some examples of records covered include emails sent/received and official and general correspondence, plus administrative documents.

The second presenter, Phil Harris, works as an auditor for the City of San Antonio's Finance Department. He shared pertinent information on what a rural public library should be doing to avoid several mistakes before an auditor catches them. His info was practical and helpful. the attendees were very glad to hear this information from the auditor's point of view.