Helping state employees find information needed for their work is one of the most important jobs of the State Library.Our new and improved Services to State Employees page and Beyond the Lions blog were developed to make it easy for state employees to find and use all the resources available to them through the State Library.

The News for State Employees section will feature new and enhanced services and materials.  Look here for announcements about classes and other events,   additional databases and online subscriptions, and improvements to existing resources.

In 1960 the Telephone Pioneers of America were designated the official equipment repair group for the Library of Congress. Since then, Pioneers have repaired some two million of the special cassette and record players used by the visually impaired. We appreciate and depend on our Pioneers, especially Mr. Richard “Dick” Hawkinson. For twenty years, Dick came to the Library to repair the equipment he viewed as so valuable to those  who needed it to read their "talking" books.

The Friends of the Richland County Public Library recognized Christie Zimmerman Fant with the Lucy Hampton Bostick Award at its Annual Meeting on Sunday, September 9. The annual award is presented to a South Carolina author, someone who has written a significant literary work on South Carolina or someone in the Midlands who has advanced interest in books or libraries.

Now that school has started, students should be prepared to know where to go on the web to find the best information. It’s Discus – South Carolina’s Virtual Library that is a service of the South Carolina State Library and is the “information place” for all South Carolinians.

All of Martha's great food and dessert recipes, entertaining and home decorating ideas, ideas for cake decorating, baking, and kids crafts are now availble with Talking Book Services.

The serial code is SER-MSL3. 

Other magazines available on cassette recording:

Hey, Kids! Want a fun book to read? Visit the Kids Zone!

At the Kids Zone you can find “Good Reads” and series like C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter.  There are magazines too!  Just for kids.

The American Library Association (ALA) announces the release of five new radio public service announcements (PSAs) that are now available to help libraries promote Library Card Sign-up Month in September and the library card as the “smartest card" in your wallet.

Libraries are encouraged to share the PSAs with local radio stations.

The PSAs are available in 10, 15 and 30-second MP3 formats.

The Friends of the Richland County Public Library will host best-selling cookbook author and Chef Nathalie Dupree as the featured guest for this year’s Annual Meeting at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 9 in the Bostick Auditorium of the Main Library, 1431 Assembly St. This event is free and open to the public.

After going live on Monday August 6, 2007, the new socially interactive Discus web site is already a hit with users.

One user in Aiken County commented, "THANK YOU!  I think Discus is the best thing that has happened for small libraries since they started putting libraries in schools."

Bring a bag lunch and enjoy some FREE lunch hour learning, courtesy of: The South Carolina Center for the Book and the Humanities Council SC.  September 6, 2007 from noon to 1pm, 1430 Senate Street, Columbia, SC. SC State Library.