Contact: Pat Wagner at Pattern Research, Inc.
pat@pattern.com 303-778-0880

Twenty-one cash awards ($100 each) will be presented to individuals or institutions that contribute to this year’s Jam Session, that are members of CAL or MPLA or that work for an institutional member. Employees, trustees and officially recognized library volunteers, including members of Friends groups, may participate in the contest, but anyone from libraries in our region can send in their ideas.

1. $100 for the jazziest idea from each MPLA state ($1200 total).
2. $100 for the jazziest idea each from a CAL public, school, academic and special library ($400 total).
3. $100 for the jazziest idea from a library institution (state library, library system, consortium ($100 total).
4. $100 for the individual who contributes the most ideas ($100 total).
5. $100 for jazziest idea from a library from a community of under 1,500 ($100 total).
6. $100 for the individual who can demonstrate they talked the most people into contributing to the Jam Session. (Must provide list of names!) ($100 total).
7. $100 for the jazziest idea from a trustee about trustee work ($100).

If a prize is not awarded, the remaining award money will be split between MPLA and CAL.

Deadline is October 1, 2004. Submissions can be e-mailed to pat@pattern.com or mailed to:

Pattern Research, Inc.
PO Box 9100
Denver CO 80209-0100

Please send us your:

Your name, position and library
Your cool tip or idea - 50 words or less.
You or your library’s affiliation (CAL, MPLA, etc.)

(If you mail in a submission, please include your contact information in case we have a question about your entry.)

Judges will include Pattern Research staff and library people from around the country, outside of MPLA region. All results are final.

Come Jam With Us!

Our region’s library community is considered one of the most innovative in the country! Please help us collect your best ideas to share with other libraries before and during the Colorado Association of Libraries/Mountain Plains Library Association meeting in October. We are looking for everything from tips on managing library users at closing to successful web initiatives to collaborating with teachers to developing bibliographic instruction for off-campus students. It can be a frontline tip from reference and circulation or a backroom strategy from tech services and cataloging. Volunteers and trustees are also invited to participate. Consider that your great idea is something some other library might want to copy, so please be clear and concise. Your contributions will be edited, organized and shared with other libraries before and during the CAL/MPLA conference.

Anyone who works in a MPLA or CAL library can contribute, including our great state libraries, systems and consortiums. We have two goals - that every MPLA or CAL library of every type contributes at least one idea and that we gather at least 1,000 ideas! You can help by sending in your ideas AND encouraging colleagues and co-workers to do likewise. Maybe you work with someone who takes for granted their contributions and needs to realize how good they really are. What is commonsense for you might be a magic solution for someone else! Big or little, you have something to share. Sorry, we can not return print submissions.