LibGuides Home: Connecticut Libraries Help Center: New CT Library Employees

New to working in CT Libraries?

Welcome to CT Libraries!

If you are new to working in CT Libraries, this page will have some helpful resources for you.

CT Library Acronyms
A list of common library-related acronyms and terms used in Connecticut

Search Tools

Search findIT CT - Statewide Library Catalog
Search Primo (Library Catalog)
Primo is the CT State Library catalog. Search for books, articles, and more!
researchIT CT
Connecticut State Library's free research engine for libraries, students, faculty, schools, and residents.

Connecticut Library Listservs

CT Library Listservs:

CASL - Connecticut Association of School Librarians
Conntech - Connecticut Libraries
CT-AcademicLL - Interlibrary Loan for Academic Libraries in Connecticut
CT-ILL - Connecticut Interlibrary Loan List
CTLibraryAdmins - CT Library Directors and Assistant Directors
deliverIT CT - Connecticut Statewide Library Delivery
eGO - Connecticut Statewide eAudio and eBook project
FOCL Forum - Friends of Connecticut Libraries
Goodnight Moon - Children's Services
researchIT CT - Free Online Resources
SOAR - Services to Older Adults Roundtable
SPEAK - Young Adult Services
WELCOME - Discussion of libraries service to multilingual populations

ConnTech User Agreement Guidelines
Last updated 6/10/24
CT Library Listservs [Excel document]
This Excel document lists all the CT Library listservs and how to join. Last updated 5/16/24

Professional Development and Continuing Education

Professional Development

Our Professional Develop and Continuing Education page, is filled with resources on opportunities from the Division of Library Development as well as our partners.

We offer many workshops and trainings for your professional development. Visit our Continuing Education Calendar for upcoming programs.

Professional Associations

Connecticut Library Assocation
Register to attend various trainings, meetings, and conferences offered by CLA or partners here.
Connecticut Black Caucus of the American Library Association
BCALA-CT hopes to strengthen our mission to serve as a source of recruitment for qualified African Americans interested in becoming Librarians and Para-professionals throughout the state of Connecticut and to continue to encourage the development of authoritative information resources about people of color and the dissemination of this information to the larger community.
Connecticut Association of Health Sciences Librarians
We're a Connecticut-based community of medical and health science librarians supporting research and evidence-based practice through shared resources, educational programming, and mentorship.
Connecticut Association of School Librarians
CASL is committed to excellence in education by ensuring that students are active readers and effective users of ideas and information to become lifelong learners. The Association provides leadership, professional development, publicity, networking and support to the Connecticut school library community.
Southern New England Law Librarians Association
The Southern New England Law Librarians’ Association (SNELLA) was founded in 1978 as a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. We are a not-for-profit organization of law library personnel from Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Southern Massachusetts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: People return books that belong to other libraries to my library and we ship them back to the other library, but it's not by U.S. Mail or UPS. How do they get back to the other library?
Answer: Your library uses a service called deliverIT CT (formerly Connecticar, or Ccar for short), to ship library materials to other libraries. deliverIT is a physical delivery service and it provides delivery to 215 public and academic libraries in the state. deliverIT delivers any of the items that people return to your library or put in your book-drop that belong to another library in Connecticut as well as your library's Interlibrary Loan items. If your library is part of a network that shares a circulation system, deliverIT delivers your library's "transit holds" or "circ holds." deliverIT is a service of the Division of Library Development, Connecticut State Library.

Question: What's up with all the acronyms?!
Answer: We can't help it - librarians like acronyms! Since we are in Connecticut, all the acronyms begin with 'C,' which makes it even more confusing. If you come across an acronym and don't know what it means, you can check out this list of commonly used Connecticut library acronyms.

Question: Speaking of confusing acronyms, what's the difference between CSL, CLA, and CLC?
Answer: They all begin with C, which stands for Connecticut, and they all serve libraries in the state, but they are different organizations.

The Connecticut State Library (CSL) is a state-funded agency that runs the state library in Hartford, administers the state archives and public records program, provides the Library Service Center in Middletown with circulating collections, and offers a robust Continuing Education program, among many other things. researchIT CT and deliverIT CT are part of the State Library.
The Connecticut Library Association (CLA) is the professional association for librarians, library employees, and library students in the state of Connecticut. Anyone can join! CLA offers a large annual conference for all members as well as smaller conferences and meetings for sections, such as the Support Staff section, College & University Libraries section, and Technical Services section. Many events are announced on their Facebook page.
The Connecticut Library Consortium (CLC) is a membership collaborative for libraries that arranges for product and service discounts for libraries, administers materials swap circuits, and supports subject and region-specific roundtables, such as Children's and Adult Services. CLC also offers a popular job listing service.

Question: I work in a public library. People from other towns can use their public library card to check out material in my library. Why can they do this and how does it work?
Answer: That's a statewide service called borrowIT CT, formerly known as Connecticard. Someone with a current public library card from one Connecticut town can use that card in any other public library in Connecticut. They can then return the item back to the owning library directly or they can return it to their local library so that the local library can send it back to the owning library using Connecticar - the statewide library delivery service. There is a small monetary reimbursement for participating in borrowIT CT. For details, visit our Regulations page.

Question: I'm a one-person department, and I have a lot of questions about how other libraries do things. Who do I ask?
Answer: Join some email discussion lists on your topic or try a roundtable from the Connecticut Library Consortium or a section from the Connecticut Library Association. There's also CAHSL for health sciences librarians, CASL for school library media specialists, and SNELLA for law library personnel. There are peer groups for all specializations and types of libraries.