DUBLIN, Ohio, September 27, 2007-The Association of Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) is working with WebJunction to offer a vibrant new community on the Web to share best practices, research, ideas and discussion on issues most relevant to rural and small libraries. The partnership was announced Wednesday during the ARSL Conference in Columbus, Ohio.
The developing online community
"This partnership will help ARSL expand its reach, and help us in our efforts to become a national voice for rural and small libraries," said Ken Davenport, outgoing President of ARSL. "We're very excited about this opportunity."
WebJunction is the online community for library staff to meet to share ideas, solve problems and develop their professional skills in order to help ensure relevant, sustainable libraries for every community. The partnership with ARSL will help WebJunction continue to address the specific needs of rural and small libraries.
The WebJunction Rural Library Sustainability Project, a three-year workshop schedule with more than 6,000 library staff members involved in 42 states, was recently completed and all of the resources, best practices, and discussions that have been developed and shared will now be combined on the WebJunction site with ARSL materials.
"WebJunction and ARSL working together is an important step forward in the effort to support and sustain a critical group of libraries," said Marilyn Mason, Executive Director of WebJunction. "We are thrilled that this partnership with ARSL will help WebJunction continue to address the specific needs of staff at rural and small libraries."
The ARSL Conference continues in Columbus, Ohio, through Friday, September 28.
About WebJunction
WebJunction is the online community for library staff to meet to share ideas, solve problems and develop their professional skills in order to help ensure relevant, vibrant, sustainable libraries for every community. WebJunction is supported in part by OCLC, grants from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, partners in state library agencies and other library service organizations, and by the library community itself. Launched in 2002, WebJunction is based in Seattle, Washington. More information is available at www.webjunction.org.
About the Association of Rural and Small Libraries
The mission of the Association of Rural and Small Libraries is to provide a network of people and materials to support rural and small library staff, volunteers, and trustees to integrate the library thoroughly with the life and work of the community it serves. ARSL is supported by the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship at Clarion University of Pennsylvania in cooperation with the H.W. Wilson Foundation of Bronx, New York.
About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent and preservation services to 60,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for finding library materials. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.
