Artists' Bookmaking Experience
A book doesn’t have to be that thing you pull off a library shelf. It can be in the shape of a fan, a ladder, a hat box, or even a tennis ball! The Cerritos Library has a collection of over 200 artists’ books that challenge traditional ideas of just what is a book. Join Cerritos Library Public Services Librarian Stanley Strauss for an introduction to our artists’ book collection and make two books to take home with you – one made from a single sheet of paper!

Library Tour
Take a VIP tour of the world’s first experience library. On your Journey through Time – from our 15th Century Gothic style Reading Room to the 21st Century floor – you’ll be encouraged to ask questions and learn the philosophy behind our choices. We’ll even take you “back of house” through our staff areas. Tour groups are small to enhance interaction.

It is my pleasure to welcome you electronically to the Better Together Conference. The conference planners have designed the conference to provide you with a variety of learning experiences. Your comfort is a high priority at the conference. Since segments of the conference will involve walking on stone floor around the library, standing and sitting on a carpeted floor, we suggest you wear casual and comfortable clothes and shoes. We look forward to meeting you on April 8.

This email is the first of a series of Team Update communications you will receive about the conference.
All of these update emails will also be archived at the Better Together Conference blog team updates category

Key topics:
1. Participant information
2. Convening a team meeting
3. Pre-registration for selected conference sessions

1. Participant information:
I will list ALL of your team members as follows unless I receive different information from you by March 10

• arriving Saturday (between 2 and 3 p.m.)
• departing Monday (checking out by noon)
• nonsmoking room with king size bed
• NO special needs (e.g. vegetarian, allergies, low hotel floor, etc.)

2. We recommend that you convene a meeting of your team for the following purposes:

a. To get to know each other better in general and share specific objectives each partner has for the conference
b. To discuss a few possible projects your team might want to work on at and after the conference
c. To decide on who will attend those sessions that require pre-registration (see list below)
d. To remind team members to look at the conference website and blog for updated information
e. To remind team members about conference logistics

3. Sessions that require pre-registration:
For a description of all of the conference sessions, see the website schedule

Saturday 4-7 p.m.
• OPTIONAL one hour artists' bookmaking session
• OPTIONAL two hour tour of the Cerritos Library

Sunday 1:15-2:45 p.m. and 3:00-4:30 p.m.
OFFICIAL SESSIONS
Choice of TWO Concurrent Small Group Sessions (repeated twice)

• Interactive navigation and wayfinding techniques in physical facilities
• Interactive displays/booths for use at community events/fairs
• Interactive elements to enhance existing websites/portals
• Production of public programs using webcasting

If you have any questions, contact me at gmcgovern@macnexus.org or 916-446-2411

Gail
Gail Judith McGovern, Coordinator
Better Together Conference

Aging and Independence Services - County of San Diego [San Diego County LIbrary Team]
Alpine Library Friends Association [San Diego County LIbrary Team]
Basin Wide Foundation [San Bernardino County Yucca Valley Branch Team]
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose [San Jose Public Library Team]
City of Buena Park Cultural & Fine Arts Office [Buena Park Library District Team]
City of Camarillo [Camarillo Library Team]
City of Stockton Channel 97 [Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library Team]
City of Torrance [Torrance Public Library Team]
Community Partnership for Families (Stockton) [Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library Team]
Dublin Heritage Center (Livermore) [Livermore Public Library Team]
Fresno Art Museum [Fresno County Library Team]
Friends of the Camarillo Library [Camarillo Library Team]
Friends of the Lincoln Library [Lincoln Public Library Team]
Friends of the Yucca Valley Library [San Bernardino County Yucca Valley Branch Team]
Haggin Museum [Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library Team]
Hi-Desert Nature Museum Association [San Bernardino County Yucca Valley Branch Team]
KOCT Television (Oceanside) [Oceanside Public Library Team]
KTEH Silicon Valley Public Television [San Jose Public Library Team]
La Habra Old Settlers Historical Society [Orange County Public Library Team]
Lawrence Hall of Science [Lafayette Library and Learning Center Team]
Lincoln Arts [Lincoln Public Library Team]
Livermore Heritage Guild [Livermore Public Library Team]
Long Beach Museum of Art [Long Beach Public Library Team]
Maidu Interpretive Center [Roseville Public Library Team]
Museum of Latin American Art [Long Beach Public Library Team]
Museum on Main [Livermore Public Library Team]
Natural History Museum of Santa Maria [Santa Maria Public Library Team]
Orange County Mexcian American Historical Society [Orange County Public Library Team]
Parks and Recreation (County of Los Angeles) [Florence Library Team]
Pleasant Valley Historical Society, Museum and Garden [Camarillo Library Team]
Roseville Arts! [Roseville Public Library Team]
Roseville Electric [Roseville Public Library Team]
Roseville Environmental Utilities [Roseville Public Library Team]
Roseville Media Division [Roseville Public Library Team]
San Clemente Historical Society [Orange County Public Library Team]
Santa Ana Public Library [Orange County Public Library Team]
Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum [Santa Maria Public Library Team]
Santa Maria Valley Railroad Museum [Santa Maria Public Library Team]
Sierra College - Nevada County Campus [Lincoln Public Library Team]
SLS Creative Business Solutions [Buena Park Library District Team]
Torrance Art Museum [Torrance Public Library Team]
Torrance CitiCable [Torrance Public Library Team]
Town of Yucca Valley [San Bernardino County Yucca Valley Branch Team]
Tri-Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau [Livermore Public Library Team]
Victoria Gardens Cultural Center [Rancho Cucamonga Public Library Team]
Western Placer Unified School District [Lincoln Public Library Team]
Whittier Museum and Historical Society [Whittier Public Library Team]

Buena Park Library District
Camarillo Library (Ventura County)
Florence Library (County of Los Angeles)
Fresno County Library
Lafayette Library and Learning Center (Contra Costa County)
Lincoln Public Library
Livermore Public Library
Long Beach Public Library
Oceanside Public Library
Orange County Public Library
Rancho Cucamonga Public Library
Roseville Public Library
San Bernardino County Yucca Valley Branch
San Diego County Library
San Jose Public Library
Santa Maria Public Library
Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library
Torrance Public Library
Whittier Public Library

Program Schedule: (detailed information here)
Saturday, April 8.
Registration will be available from 3:00-6:00 p.m.
The first optional activity begins at 4:00 p.m. and the official opening session is at 7:00 p.m.

Monday, April 10
The last conference official session will end at 4:00 p.m.

Hotel Information:
The conference will provide a single room for each participant at the Cerritos Sheraton Hotel, located at 12725 Center Court Drive, Cerritos.
Participants do NOT need to make a reservation.

The hotel is located .9 miles from the library; it takes less than 10 minutes to walk between the two.
The hotel is located approximately 10 miles from the Long Beach airport and 25 miles from both Los Angeles and Orange County airports.

We have asked the hotel for an early check-in (two o'clock instead of three); however, we cannot guarantee that all rooms will be available at that time. Since Saturday lunch is NOT provided by the conference, you may be more comfortable by arriving earlier and checking your luggage with the bell desk if your room is not available. You can then eat lunch at the hotel or walk .2 miles to The Cerritos Towne Center and eat at one of its restaurants or its Food Court.

Room and tax will be charged directly to the conference; participants are responsible for any incidental charges.

ALL travel costs are the responsibility of participants.

Airline Information: For the best fares we suggest:
• to Long Beach (LGB), Jet Blue Airways
• to either Orange County (SNA) or Los Angeles (LAX), Southwest Airlines

Airport Ground Transportation:
Shared van and cab service are available from all airports: Long Beach (LGB), Los Angeles (LAX) and Orange County (SNA).

The time it takes to travel the 10 miles from LGB and 25 miles from either LAX or SNA varies according to the time of day and traffic (remember that a shared van may take longer depending upon the destinations of the passengers on any given trip). Prices are subject to change, but to give you an idea of cost, during the last six months, shared van costs from the airport to the Cerritos Sheraton were $30/trip from LGB, $33/trip from LAX and $38/trip from SNA.

Parking at the Cerritos Library:
Public parking is available west of the library building.
Please do not park in the first two rows of parking.

Driving directions:
Driving Directions to the Cerritos Library:
From the East: Exit the Artesia Freeway (91) at the Shoemaker offramp and go south.

From the West: Exit the Artesia Freeway (91) at the Bloomfield offramp and go south.
Driving Directions to the Cerritos Sheraton Hotel:
From the North: Take Interstate 5 South to I-605 South, then take Highway 91 East to the Shoemaker Exit South. Make a right on Park Plaza Drive and make another right on Town Center Drive. Then take a left on Center Court Drive.

From the South: Take I-5 North to Highway 91 West and take the Bloomfield Exit. Take a left on Artesia Boulevard, then take a left on Bloomfield Avenue. Turn left on Town Center Drive and then right on Center Court Drive.

From the East: Take Highway 91 West and exit at Bloomfield. Take a left on Artesia across the freeway and then take a left on Bloomfield. Turn left on Town Center Drive, and then a right on Center Court Drive.

From the West: Take Highway 91 East and exit at Shoemaker South. Take a right on Park Plaza Drive. Then take a right on Town Center Drive, and a left on Center Court Drive.

To visit the Museum of Nature free, OPL cardholders sign out a museum pass from any OPL branch. The museum pass allows two adults and three children or three adults and two children to visit the Museum of Nature, at no cost. 75 museum passes are in circulation; they are housed in each of the OPL's 33 branches as well as its bookmobile.

To visit the Canadian Museum of Civilization free, library cardholders must be Ottawa residents. They can use their library cards to sign out a Privilege Card from any OPL branch. The Privilege Card allows up to four people to visit the Canadian Museum of Civilization, which includes the Canadian Postal Museum and the Canadian Children's Museum, or the Canadian War Museum at no cost. 50 Privilege Cards are in circulation and they are also available at each of the library's 33 branches and bookmobile. The cards, which are in CD cases, can be borrowed for up to one week at a time.

The museum staff presented the travelogue and librarians guided virtual travelers by presenting print, audiovisual, and online resources.

Wayfinding is so much more than signs on the walls. Good design provides navigational clues, in addition to graphics, signage, and maps, which begin at the user’s arrival. While signage is typically added at the end of a project, wayfinding, or site logic, should be addressed collaboratively in the earliest planning stages. Extensive signage systems cannot overcome a site that is not logical. A good building should be easy to use!

Tools that are available to help users find their way through unfamiliar environments and that can mold user behavior within the environment include lighting, floor materials, color, color-coding, finish materials, and ceiling treatment. Floor treatment can be used to distinguish public from staff areas, to create a path to a special area, to define a queuing area, or to define a specific space without walls or signage.

Establish consistency in the location of customer service centers that combine site maps, copy and print facilities, self-service centers, and in-house telephones.

Besides homework help, games and surveys, Brooklyn Public Library's KidZone offers access to the Brooklyn Expedition, a joint project of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Public Library where kids can learn about Brooklyn's history, take a tour of its neighborhoods, and find out about authors, illustrators and artists. In the TeenZone be sure to check out My Own Biz that gets teens thinking about starting a business. For Seniors, check out the Internet Tutorial.

Another exciting interactive online feature is from the ImaginOn, a collaborative venture of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) and the Children's Theatre of Charlotte is Story Lab Online where kids can play games online and submit their ideas for the StoryJar. PLCMC's web site "family" consists of 15 sites that support its mission to provide direct access to resources, information and services.

The NYPL Archive includes:
Small Business How-to Video Seminars
SCORE: Essentials for Starting and Growing Your Own Business
Good Business Practices for Entrepreneurs
Retail Essentials: How to Open and Run a Successful Retail Store
A Quick Guide to Building a Successful Export Business

An Evening with Hal Prince
American theatrical producer and director, Hal Prince in conversation with Foster Hirsch, author of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre.

Free Speech Zone: Authors Read From Banned Books
Authors Judy Blume, Deborah Hautzig, Robert Lipsyte, Walter Dean Myers, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Peter Sís, and Rita Williams-Garcia read from their challenged books. Also a multi-media art installation by Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese was on display at the time of the program. A PDF is available to provide more background on the exhibit.

Destroying the Color Line with John Hope Franklin and President Bill Clinton
John Hope Franklin's upcoming autobiography, Mirror to America, recounts not only the story of his life but also the epic story of the twentieth-century fight for civil rights. In 1997 he was appointed by President Clinton to chair the President's Initiative on Race. On October 27, 2005, they discussed race in America and how to "destroy the color line that continues to divide our country."

The Battle Over Books: Authors & Publishers Take on the Google Print Library Project
NYPL and WIRED Magazine presented a provocative discussion about the competing interests and issues raised by the Google Print Library Project, and whether a universal digital repository of our collective knowledge is in our future.

This new feature of the Better Together Conference website is designed to provide ideas for the four conference collaborative project areas:

• interactive navigation and wayfinding techniques in physical facilities
• interactive displays/booths for use at community events/fairs
• interactive elements to enhance existing websites/portals
• production of public programs using webcasting

The first album in the Gallery showcases an interactive display designed for the Better Together Conference exhibit booth at the November 2005 California Library Association Conference.

The Cerritos Library and the Pacific Asia Museum, one of the Better Together Conference partners, collaborated on the design of the booth's backdrop. The museum provided images from the Nature of the Beast online educational and interactive exploration of the way artists of Edo-period Japan depicted animals and the natural world.

The Library provided selected items from its Art of the Book: The Book as Art special collection and designed an interactive visitor experience that resulted in the making of a new book for the collection.

Booth visitors were invited to add pages to the new book. Each page represents a visitor's wish for changing libraries.

Detailed information about the creation the Art of the Book: The Book as Art visitor experience will be provided at the Better Together Conference.

PNL's mission is "to serve America's communities by encouraging and enabling museums, public broadcasters, and libraries to work together to address locally-identified lifelong learning needs and opportunities."

The PNL initiative will provide $2.2 million in grant support for new and existing community-based lifelong learning collaborations and the infrastructure/technologies that enable them, in two rounds of funding.

The deadline for 2006 Community Collaboration Grant applications is March 1, 2006. For grant guidelines see the PNL website.

For details about the seven grants awarded to partnerships in Boston, MA; South Portland, ME; St. Johnsbury, VT; Charleston, WV; Haines, AK; Lincoln, NE; and Las Vegas, NV in 2005, see the online descriptions.

For specifics about libraries, partnerships and free-choice learning, see the Urban Institute and Urban Libraries Council 2003 publication, Partnerships for Free Choice Learning: Public Libraries, Museums and Public Broadcasters Working Together

For a good general overview and examples of activities for both families and older adults, see the website of the Institute for Learning Innovation.

For ideas about children and youth, see the executive summary of Optimizing Out-of-School Time: The Role of Free-Choice Learning by Lynn D. Dierking and John H. Falk, co-founders of the Institute for Learning Innovation.

If you want in-depth information, check out Dierking and Falk's book, Lessons Without Limit: How Free-Choice Learning is Transforming Education.