State Library of Louisiana

Louisiana Winners in 2010-11 Letters About Literature Writing Competition
Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is announcing the state winners of this year’s Library of Congress Letters About Literature competition, sponsored by the Louisiana Center for the Book in State Library of Louisiana in partnership with the Louisiana Writing Project.

The first place winners: Allison Walters of Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, Michel Elliot of Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in Lake Charles and Dillon Hutson of Destrehan High School each qualify for the national competition, with those winners to be announced in April.

Louisiana’s finalists were chosen out of more than 1,000 entries submitted to the Letters About Literature Center for the Book national headquarters. A panel of judges which included teachers and librarians from all over the state selected the winning entries in each age group.

“Letters About Literature is a unique program that allows our young readers to truly consider the meaning of the work as it relates to their own lives,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said. “In doing so, it adds another level of involvement which improves Louisiana’s culture of literacy.”

To enter, students wrote a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre explaining how that author's work changed their way of thinking about themselves or the world and how the chosen books impacted their life or worldview.

Michel Elliot, the youngest first-place winner wrote in his letter to Dr. Seuss, “Books take me out of myself and into adventures that I would never think of on my own. I don’t look for hidden meanings, or drama or answers to mysteries of the universe. I read for fun….books, like life, should be fun.”

The following are the Letters About Literature Louisiana winners:

Level I (Grades 4-6)
1st Place:     Allison Walters, Ursuline Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Katie Martin

2nd Place:    Imogen Hoffman, Ursuline Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Katie Martin

3rd Place:     Regan Appleton, Runnels School, Baton Rouge
Teacher: Marsha Curry

Level II (Grades 7-8)
1st Place:    Michel Elliot, Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, Lake Charles
Teacher: Paula McLean

2nd Place:      Emma Brouphy, Mt. Carmel Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Kristen Hode

3rd Place:    Justice Cressley, Belle Chasse Academ
Teacher: Stephanie Andrews

Honorable Mention:    Tori Elizabeth King, Alexandria Middle Magnet School
Teacher: Renae Broussard

Level III (Grades 9-12)
1st Place:     Dillion Hutson, Destrehan High School
Teacher: Lynn Thompson

2nd Place:    Monika Daniels, Bolton High School, Alexandria
Teacher: Nancy Monroe

3rd Place:    Margaret Parsons, St. Scholastica Academy, Covington
Teacher: Elizabeth Tocco

Honorable Mention:     Abraham Younes, Bolton High School, Alexandria
Teacher: Nancy Monroe

Read the Letters

LAL 2010-11 State First Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Second Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Third Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Honorable Mention Letters

 

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 21, 2011

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713   
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In celebration of National Poetry Month, Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is announcing a special event: Just Listen to Yourself: The Louisiana Poet Laureate Presents Louisiana Poets. Louisiana’s Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque is hosting the event from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, at the State Library.

Bourque has invited poets from around the state to participate in this reading of their work. Included are Caroline Ancelet, Jack Bedell, Marilyn Burel, Sidney Creaghan, Charles deGravelles, Elizabeth Foos, Julie Kane, Bonny McDonald, Alison Pelegrin, Brad Richard and Chancelier Skidmore.

“Darrell Bourque has worked tirelessly during his term as Louisiana poet laureate to promote poetry, literacy and creativity throughout the state, going far beyond the expectations of the role of poet laureate. He encourages appreciation for and development of the literary resources of our state,” Lt. Governor Dardenne said.

“This program is so wonderfully characteristic of Darrell Bourque’s selflessness and dedication to the art of poetry,” State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said. “Though he easily could have presented solo as one of the last appearances of his poet laureate commission, it was his preference to spotlight fellow Louisiana poets. It also speaks volumes about how much he is admired to see the number of highly regarded poets from across the state who responded to his call.”

The lunchtime program is free and open to the public. Attendees may bring their lunch and come and go as their schedules allow. The State Library of Louisiana is wheelchair accessible.

Darrell Bourque. Bourque’s work includes his most recent collection, In Ordinary Light: New and Selected Poems, Call and Response with Jack Bedell, Blue Boat and Plainsongs.

Caroline Ancelet, Acadiana High School, Scott. Ancelet is an active member of the Acadiana Writing Project and director of the Dead of Winter Poetry retreats sponsored by AWP. Her poems will appear in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Contemporary Louisiana Edition, forthcoming from Texas Review Press.

Jack Bedell, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond. Bedell is a professor of English where he is the coordinator for programs in creative writing, editor of Louisiana Literature and the director of Louisiana Literature Press. Bedell is a finalist for the next Louisiana poet laureate.

Marilyn Burel, teacher, Baton Rouge. Burel teaches at the O'Brien House, a treatment center for female alcoholics and addicts, many of whom are impoverished and have been incarcerated. She is published in Sojourn, Florida English and the Rose and Thorn Journal.

Sidney Creaghan, psychotherapist, Lafayette. Creaghan is a visual artist as well as a poet. She has work forthcoming in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Contemporary Louisiana Edition.

Charles deGravelles, Episcopal High School, Baton Rouge. DeGravelles’ collection of poems, The Well-Governed Son, was published by New Orleans Poetry Journal Press. He contributed original music for the Louisiana Imagining Lincoln Project as part of the national observance of the Lincoln Bicentennial.

Elizabeth Foos, Forest Heights Academy for Excellence, Baton Rouge. Foos has worked the region as an independent, traveling poetry teacher before becoming a dramatic arts teacher.

Julie Kane, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches. Kane is a professor of English. Her most recent book, Jazz Funeral, is the winner of the 2009 Donald Justice Poetry Prize. Kane is one of the finalists for the soon to be named Louisiana Poet Laureate.

Bonny McDonald, Math, Science, and Arts Academy-West Bank, Plaquemine. McDonald is a teacher in the Baton Rouge area who has worked with the Big Buddy. She is a frequent contributor to Louisiana Writing Project activities and has worked with the Dead of Winter poetry retreats sponsored by the Acadiana Writing Project.

Alison Pelegrin, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond. Pelegrin is on the English and writing faculty of Southeastern Louisiana University. She is a recipient of fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. Her most recent collections are Big Muddy River of Stars and Hurricane Party. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, and The Southern Review.

Brad Richard, Lusher Charter School, New Orleans. Brad is the chair of the creative writing program. His most recent book, Motion Studies, is the winner of the 2010 Washington Prize from The Word Works.

Chancelier “Xero” Skidmore, teaching artist with Big Buddy's WordPlay Teen Writing Project, Baton Rouge. Skidmore’s favorite movie is The Big Lebowski and he is currently the third ranked Slam Poet in the world.

State Library Announces 2011 Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award Winners and New Program for Teens

Nearly 28,000 elementary and middle school students across the state have chosen the winners of the 2011 Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award. Two Bobbies by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery and illustrated by Jean Cassels was the top choice of third through fifth graders. Found by Margaret Paterson Haddix received the most votes from middle school students. The second place winners, or Honor Books for 2011, are Molly the Pony: A True Story by Pam Kaster for third through fifth grades and Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis for sixth through eighth grades.

Next year’s awards will include a new category, the Louisiana Teen Readers’ Choice Award program for students in grades nine through 12.

The Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award, now in its 12th year, is a reading enrichment program of the State Library of Louisiana underwritten by Capital One with additional support by PermaBound Books. It is a model collaborative reading program involving students, teachers and public librarians in all regions of the state.

“The State Library of Louisiana’s expansion of the Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice program allows our state’s high school students to have a voice in the recognition of great literature,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said. “Students can now participate in this literacy program from elementary school through graduation, taking those skills of independent reading with them.”

Students who participate in the Readers’ Choice Award programs are encouraged to read the books that are on carefully selected, age appropriate lists. In 2010, the program saw an increase in participation of more than 10,000 students. Voting day is an exciting time in many schools and libraries throughout Louisiana as students cast their votes, sometimes using voting booths supplied by the Secretary of State’s Voter Outreach Division.

State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton is pleased with the continued success of the program. “We began this program 12 years ago in an effort to pursue one of the core missions of the State Library of Louisiana – to foster a culture of literacy in our citizens. Our children had a relatively low national reading rate,” Hamilton said. “But, once our children become readers, we find that everything else falls into place: they achieve much more throughout their formal education and grow into adults who do indeed value that culture of literacy.”

For information about the program as well as a list of books nominated for next year’s awards visit www.state.lib.la.us and click on Literacy and Reading, then on Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award.

Previous winners of the award include: Marley: A Dog Like No Other by John Grogan (2010), Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (2010), The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine (2009), Secrets of My Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita (2009), Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O’Malley (2008) and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (2008).

 

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 21, 2011

Contact:
Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713   
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jacques Berry
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225.342.8607
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The State Library of Louisiana is leveraging all of its assets to ensure that while the State Library itself must operate on a skeletal budget, Louisiana’s public libraries will continue to receive State Library services with as few interruptions as possible. To this end, changes to the Administrative Code have been approved and puts the State Library in line with policies that are being put into place by Louisiana’s other state agencies. These new rules went into effect on January 1, 2011.

Fines and Fees for Library Materials (Overdue Material and Replacement Costs)
Beginning January 3, 2011, the State Library began charging fines for overdue material as well as a processing fee for lost materials.  The per day fine for overdue items is now $.10 up to a maximum per book of $10. For lost items or destroyed material, the State Library now adds a $25 processing fee to the replacement cost of each item. If the item is then returned during the same fiscal year, the patron will receive a refund of the replacement cost. These fees and fines that the State Library will now charge fall in line with the best practices of other state library agencies and will ensure that patrons make every effort to return materials, which at this point are financially difficult to replace.

Meeting Room Charges
The State Library has four meeting rooms that seat from eight to 100 people each. Previously, groups that were under the auspices of a Louisiana state agency were not charged a fee. Under the new rules, however, the State Library not only began charging fees to rent these meeting rooms, but also has made them available to the general public for rental. Those charges run from $65 up to $500, depending on the meeting room, the length of use and the renter. The State Library charges additional costs for items or services such as equipment usage, supplies, security or cleaning. The meeting rooms will remain free for library functions and CRT meetings.

Gumbo Digital Images
The Gumbo images that are in the Louisiana Digital Library are quite popular.  The State Library gets frequent requests for higher resolution images for use in newspapers, advertisements, for educational use, and many other reasons.  Up until now, the Library charged a flat rate of $10 per image regardless of who was making the purchase or how the image was to be used.   Fees now range from $10 up to $100, with the State Librarian having discretionary leeway depending on the circumstances.

All told, the State Library continues to use every available means to continue services to public libraries as well as our own patrons. The primary goals are to make sure the State Library is able to maintain a healthy collection and that our resources are used fairly by the general public, state agencies and our own patrons. As always, we will continue searching new, more effective and efficient ways to meet these goals.

State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton was the keynote speaker at two separate conferences, in Maryland and Virginia, where she gave a presentation on disaster preparedness and recovery. Leading the State Library of Louisiana through four major hurricanes during her first three years as State Librarian, Hamilton has had plenty of hands-on experience as a leader during catastrophic disasters, specifically hurricanes.

Thus having had to become experts in the field, Hamilton and her team at the State Library of Louisiana have detailed their efforts before,  during and after the four major hurricanes they worked through, into a presentation to demonstrate issues and best practices for dealing with a disaster.  These efforts are currently being formalized into a plan that can be shared with the rest of the nation.

Key points include:

• Libraries become natural communications hubs after a disaster.
• Having a good communication plan that encompasses, staff, relatives of staff, library trustees, local officials, other libraries, the media and the general public is crucial.
• Business continuity takes precedence over all other emergency preparedness concerns.

In an effort to be better prepared for natural disasters, emergency preparedness officials around the nation are recognizing the role of libraries and are seeing the value of learning best practices for libraries during a disaster.

Hamilton has been able to share with the nation’s state librarians, academic library leaders and county and state emergency personnel what did work and what did not work in Louisiana in the aftermath of Louisiana’s 4 major hurricanes. The mutual goal of all involved is for libraries to be best positioned to do what they do best during a disaster and for emergency officials to be able to assist public libraries to plan for and respond to disasters.

Baton Rouge – The Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Program, a reading enrichment program of the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana, provided 60 complete sets of LYRC books to 13 parish library systems: 30 sets of the 3-5 grade titles and 30 sets of the 6-8 grade titles. This donation was made possible through a generous donation from Capital One Bank.

State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said, “LYRC is one of many programs that the State Library of Louisiana has developed where the primary goal is to encourage our children to read. This particular program, LYRC, fosters a love of reading among the children of Louisiana by giving them a voice in recognizing outstanding work in children’s literature.”

Founded in 1999, with the first award was presented in 2000. Participation in this program has climbed from 5,485 votes the first year to more than 29,000 students in 2009. LYRC is underwritten by Capital One Bank with additional support from Perma-Bound Books.  Now entering its 11th year, the program continues to encourage Louisiana’s youth to read for pleasure.

The library systems that received the book sets are: Assumption, Audubon, Avoyelles, Bossier, Calcasieu, Grant, Jefferson, Livingston, New Orleans, Richland, St. James, Terrebonne and Vermillion. These public libraries submitted grant applications stating their intended strategies to partner with local schools to promote LYRC and literacy. Grant requests were evaluated for feasibility, organization and potential effectiveness. The State Library is pleased to have been able to offer this opportunity to Louisiana’s public libraries. It is our hope that this project will cultivate valuable relationships between public libraries and their local schools.

For complete details about LYRC, please visit the State Library’s website at www.state.lib.la.us.

 

---

PRESS RELEASE
September 22, 2010

Contact
Paulita Chartier
Communications Director
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-9713
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Port Allen, LA  - The State Library of Louisiana today launched the free educational service HomeworkLouisiana, an online tool that connects Louisiana K-12 students, adults preparing for the GED and college students to a live tutor online for one on one help with homework. It also offers studying and test preparation in all core academic subjects including math, science, social studies and English. The West Baton Rouge Parish Library in Port Allen hosted the event.

The State Library is able to offer this resource as part of the Louisiana Libraries: Connecting People to Their Potential project, which is funded through an $8.8 million Broadband USA grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The State Library provides this service to every Louisiana public library, thereby making it available to all Louisiana citizens.

Tutors are available Sunday through Thursday 2 p.m. - 10 p.m. The network is comprised of more than 1,800 tutors who are certified teachers, professors, graduate school students, university students and professionals who are experts in their field.  Each tutor passes a third party security background check.

The SkillsCenter is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. HomeworkLouisiana can be accessed from a Louisiana public library or from a home computer by going to www.homeworkla.org.  Students travelling out of the state must have a Louisiana public library card to access the service.

State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said, “Last year, Louisiana public libraries saw well over 6.5 million uses of their computers by individuals. Research shows us that this is 57% of our citizens. Clearly, our public libraries are vital as access points to information. Without full access to the tremendous amount of information available through the Internet, a person cannot be a full participant in today’s world. This is particularly important for our students, whatever their age. This is why HomeworkLouisiana is particularly important for our students. We know that it is critical that students receive the very best learning opportunities available, and Homework Louisiana is one more valuable tool that students now have.”

Students who use HomeworkLouisiana’s online tutoring and homework services report they are able to better complete homework assignments, build their confidence in their academic abilities and improve their grades.  

“The State Library, one of five agencies that fall under the Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, is a strong advocate for literacy in all its forms. One of the driving forces of the DCRT is to provide informational and educational resources to our citizens so that they might grow and prosper, contributing to our state’s economic and intellectual well being,” said Pam Breaux, Secretary of DCRT. “I am very proud of the State Librarian and her staff, who worked long and hard on winning the $8.8 million grant that made this possible. For Louisiana students, bound to be the future workforce and backbone of our Louisiana economy, this is a tremendous coup. We very much hope that the use of HomeworkLouisiana as well as our other grant funded programs, becomes commonplace in Louisiana society,” she finished.

The HomeworkLouisiana Online Classroom has been optimized to enhance a one-on-one learning session.  It includes real-time chat, an interactive whiteboard, math tools that include drag and drop shapes and commonly used equations, graphing paper and much more.  A student and tutor can also share files or browse educational resources on the Web.

ProofPoint™ Real-Time Writing Center enables students to upload documents to receive a live review, edits and writing strategy assistance. SkillsCenter™ Resource Library includes thousands of vetted resources for independent study such as tutorials, videos and study guides that map to the subjects.

Tutor.com is the world’s largest online tutoring service. The Tutor.com network of more than 1,800 professional tutors have delivered more than 5 million one-to-one tutoring sessions in a proprietary online classroom optimized for learning, since 2001. Tutor.com powers tutoring and homework help programs for school districts including East Baton Rouge; the Department of Defense; the states of Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Louisiana and Rhode Island; and, thousands of public libraries and schools. For more information, visit www.tutor.com.

 

---

Press Release
August 18, 2010

Contact
Paulita Chartier
Communications Director
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-9713
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it