Offer Programs to Your Patrons Where they Are on the Web

Lori Bell writes “Join OPAL and offer programs on the web to your patrons where they are!

OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) – http://www.opal-online.org is pleased to offer the following programs during March. Programs are free and are open to anyone who is interested. Events take place in a virtual auditorium using web-conferencing software from Talking Communities with audio, text chat, and web co-browsing. Libraries who are interested in joining OPAL should contact Tom Peters, OPAL Coordinator at [email protected].
OPAL was recently recognized by Web Junction with an award for Building Digital Opportunity Through Community Engagement and will be featured at the ALA CLENE training showcase in June 2005.

Lori Bell writes “Join OPAL and offer programs on the web to your patrons where they are!

OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) – http://www.opal-online.org is pleased to offer the following programs during March. Programs are free and are open to anyone who is interested. Events take place in a virtual auditorium using web-conferencing software from Talking Communities with audio, text chat, and web co-browsing. Libraries who are interested in joining OPAL should contact Tom Peters, OPAL Coordinator at [email protected].
OPAL was recently recognized by Web Junction with an award for Building Digital Opportunity Through Community Engagement and will be featured at the ALA CLENE training showcase in June 2005.


To enter the online auditorium, go to http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_ field=1, type your name and click enter to go into the room. A small software applet will download to your computer as you go into the room.

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 7:00 Central, 6:00 Mountain, 5:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. GMT:
The Meting of the Minds Online Book Discussion Group will be discussing the 2003 award winning novel The Known World by Edward P. Jones. Manchester County, Virginia; 1855. At his death Henry Townsend, a thirty-one-year-old former slave who maintains a relationship with his owner William Robbins, owns more than thirty slaves himself and fifty acres of land. But now his plantation begins to fall apart as slaves betray one another.
RC 56918, 3 cassettes.

Thursday, March 10, 2005 beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, noon Central, 11:00 a.m. Mountain, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, and 6:00 p.m. GMT: Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. (RC 47833, narrated by John Polk) Join the Cleveland Public Library, Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to discuss this book in which a retired NASA engineer remembers his boyhood in West Virginia and his early experiments in rocket science. His first attempt burned down his mother’s garden fence! Please note: This special two-hour program will be held in the Cleveland Public Library’s online meeting room, which can be accessed at the following URL:
http://www.tcconference.com/lib/?cleveland&pas s.

Friday, March 11, 2005 beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, 10:00 a.m. Central, 9:00 a.m. Mountain, 8:00 a.m. Pacific, and 4:00 p.m. GMT: Health Information for Cyber Seniors Join presenters Sallie Klipp and Peg Burnette as they explain how to find the best health information on the Internet. This program is part of Project HEALTHY, which provides consumer health information programs of interest to senior citizens.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005 beginning at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 1:00 Central, noon Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Pacific, and 7:00 p.m. GMT:
The Unique American Woman: Stories of Sisters, Wives, Mothers, and Friends (Women’s History Month)
You know about Susan B. Anthony and Rosie the Riveter, but did you know about the Civil War soldier who revealed her identity only when wounded? Or the stories of women in covered wagons transversing the Great Plains, as slaves or the wives of famous men, or during the Great Depression? Presented by the Library of Congress.

Friday, March 18, 2005 beginning at noon Eastern Standard Time, 11:00 a.m. Central, 10:00 a.m. Mountain, 9:00 a.m. Pacific, and 5:00 p.m. GMT: Introduction to the Lincoln Collection Join Kim Bauer, Curator of the Lincoln collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, for this fascinating introduction to the treasures held in this unique collection.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 beginning at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 3:00 Central, 2:00 Mountain, 1:00 Pacific, and 9:00 p.m. GMT:
Online Interview with Jim Scheppke
Jim Scheppke has been State Librarian of Oregon since 1991. He’s worked at the Oregon State Library since 1986, and before that at the Texas State Library and the West Texas Library System. Before becoming a librarian he worked as an independent bookseller. He is a past-president of the Oregon Library Association and has written numerous articles for professional library publications. He has an Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin.”