Newsletters are archived on the OLIS website.

Assistive (also called adaptive) technologies are digital solutions that enable people with disabilities to live independently. Blind persons can hear computer-screen text, and people with visual impairments can enlarge text, enabling independent reading. People who are unable to manipulate a mouse can enter data, and those who cannot physically hear a computer prompt can view prompts.

Learn more about assistive technology for better serving low vision and blind patrons at the OLIS CE program scheduled for Thursday, December 6, 9:30am - 12:00pm at the Warwick Public Library. Lisa Labitt, Assistive Technology Practitioner & Director of the Children and Youth Resource Center at the East Bay Educational Collaborative, and Gloria Stuart, Senior Assistive Technology Specialist & Trainer, will present:

• Rhode Island vision support resources & digital literacy resources (PPT)
• Tablets, mounts and accessories to promote a physically accessible space for clients.
• Demonstration of assistive technology devices: hand held portable magnifiers, tablets and vision apps for reading, table-stationary technology devices for low vision and blind access.

Last year, hundreds of Rhode Islanders participated in the Share Your Favorites campaign, a celebration of literacy and the books that shape our lives. Across social media, more than 700 posts reminisced about the fairy tales, mysteries, biographies, and comedies that defined our childhoods.

During the week of November 26, will you join us and Share Your Favorites?

We had phenomenal participation last year, and we want to break 1,000 posts this time around. In order to do so, we need your help.Please help us spread the word, invite others to share their favorites, and join the conversation using the hashtag #RIReads!

OLIS is building it's LibGuide library at https://olis-ri.libguides.com!

Resources developed through the Young Adult Services Roundtable will be collected on the YART LibGuide at https://olis-ri.libguides.com/yart, and the Children's Services Roundtable materials will be at https://olis-ri.libguides.com/csrt. There is also a LibGuide for the Sensory Story Time Support Group at https://olis-ri.libguides.com/sensory.

These guides are currently a bit bare bones, but will grow as new content is developed through these communities of practice. A summer reading program LibGuide is also in the works and will be available this winter.

The University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies and John Pearce, Executive Director of Family Code Night, are teaming up to join librarians, students, faculty, and families for Rhode Island's first Library Family Code Night Event!

This workshop will train librarians and library staff to facilitate family coding events at public libraries using the Family Code Night curriculum. Family Code Night provides resources for creating events that ignite coding and computer science learning through family participation. Visit Family Code Night to learn more about their event kits and see examples of events.

Library staff can choose between 2 training sessions at the Cranston Public Library on December 11th:

Training #1, 9:30am-11am

Training #2, 4pm-5:30pm

All are welcome to attend the RI Public Library Family Code Night Event that evening, also at the Cranston Public Library:

5:30-6:00 pm: Press Event/Speakers

6:00: Reception

6:30 - 7:30 Coding Event with Families

This event is sponsored by a grant from the Infosys Foundation to URI's GSLIS, which is bringing together public libraries, university faculty and students, and OLIS, to learn and launch pilot coding programs for diverse families at public libraries.

State Poet Laureate Tina Cane and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) are putting out a call for poetry submissions as they work together to expand the impact of “Poetry in Motion, RI.” Based on a program that was started in 1992 as a collaboration between New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Poetry Society of America, Poetry in Motion introduces poetry to suburban and urban landscapes by posting poems, or parts of poems, on the digital display boards inside RIPTA buses, along with original designs created in collaboration with Rhode Island-based designers and artists. The poems on the RIPTA buses change monthly, and Cane said that she will choose a submission that will be displayed during January 2019. October’s featured poet was Moira Flath, Rhode Island’s inaugural Youth Poetry Ambassador – a position established by Cane last year.

Any Rhode Island resident can submit up to three poems for consideration between November 1 through December 1, 2018. Each submission must be accompanied by their full name, address, phone number, and email, and should be sent to poetryinmotionri@gmail.com. Tina Cane will select one winner who will have his or her lines displayed during the month of January 2019, and the winner will be notified by email in early December.

ALA's Great Stories Club Series on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (11/16)

Lands’ End Love Learning Award (11/30)

Autism Welcome Here Grant (12/1)

National Summer Learning Association Summer Learning Awards (12/21)

Walmart Community Grant (12/31)

YALSA/Dollar General Summer Learning Resources Grant (1/1/19)

YALSA/Dollar General Teen Summer Intern Grant (1/1/19)

Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant (3/31/18)

Bank of America Foundation Grants (varies)

Library Pipeline: Awesome Foundation Innovation in Libraries Grant (due between the 1st - 15th of each month)

YALSA Innovation in Teen Services Award (12/1)

NERCTL One-Day Conference Metheuen, MA (3/29/19)

November

Picture Book Month
National Native American Heritage Month
National Family Literacy Month
Dinovember
NaNoWriMo

Transgender Awareness Week

International Games Week (November 4-10)
Media Literacy Week (November 5-9)

December
Hour of Code (December 3-9)

February
World Read Aloud Day (February 1)
Take Your Child to the Library Day (February 2)

Registration for all OLIS fall 2018 continuing education programs is now open. Check the OLIS CE calendar.

Email: danielle.margarida@olis.ri.gov
Website: http://www.olis.ri.gov/
Location: 1 Capitol Hill Providence, RI 02908
Phone: 401-574-9309
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/olisri
Twitter: @olisri