In This Issue: 08.08.08

Understanding the Law • Mail-A-Book Service • The September Project • Reading Adventures • I Love AskAway • Using Computers Safely • Internet Filtering Software Tests • Merlin Popular Holds • E-cycling• Useful URLs • Reflection

August 20 Merlin and Directors Meeting, NWLS, 10:00 - 2:30
August 25 Library 2.0, NWLS, 10:00 - 2:30
September 20 NWLS Board of Trustees Meeting, NWLS, 10:00
September 22 Using Statistics to Protect Your Library from the Budget Knife, NWLS, 10:00 – 2:30

UW-Madison SLIS Continuing Education:

• Readers' Advisory in the Library, September 8 - November 28
• Genealogy Library Services, September 8 - October 3
• Collection Development, September 17 - December 10
• Basic Public Library Management, September 22 - December 12
• Library 2.0: 101, September 29 - October 26
• Back in Circulation Again: A circulation services conference, September 26-27

Understanding the Law: resources for library directors and trustees

From Jim Trojanowski, NWLS Director - To be an effective library director or trustee, it is important to understand Chapter 43 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the laws of the State of Wisconsin governing public libraries. In new director orientations and trustee workshops I emphasize how Chapter 43 affects local library service. I generally find that library directors and trustees are aware of state library law and that they work hard to abide by it.

There are, however, a variety of other state and federal laws that library directors and trustees must follow in addition to Chapter 43. These include the state’s Open Records and Public Meetings laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), state and federal versions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Understanding each of these laws and what they mean for the library is a daunting task. Fortunately, help is available. Each of the links below is to a website offering sound assistance on one of the laws. These links are taken from the Northern Waters Library Service website (provide hotlink). Northern Waters Library Service may be able to provide additional sources of information upon request.

American with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The Great Lakes Disability and Technical Assistance Center offers information, technical assistance, training, and advice on complying with the ADA.

Wisconsin Open Meetings Law
The Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office has written a compliance guide to the Open Meetings Law.

Wisconsin Public Records Law
The Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning has created an FAQ on the Public Records Law.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
The US Department of Labor offers compliance assistance for the Fair Labor Standards Act on its website.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The US Department of Labor website provides an overview of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Federal law permits states to pass laws providing more generous family and medical leave requirements to employees. The Department of Workforce Development website explains the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Act and links to several good sources of information including this comparison between Wisconsin and federal Family Medical Leave Act requirements.

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Mail-A-Book Service

From Linda Bailen, NWLS - People in the NWLS service area should be aware of a useful and valuable service offered by NWLS. The Mail-A-Book service is available to rural, homebound and disabled patrons in the NWLS 8-county area.

After filling out a special application, a patron can order books, videos, audios or other materials and the items can be mailed to a home address. The orders can be placed by telephone, mail, email or using the Merlin Online Catalog. To search the Merlin Online Catalog and submit requests online, go to http://merlin.nwls.lib.wi.us/search.

Mail-A-Book patrons can also request printed or electronic reader’s advisory book lists for help in finding ideas for materials to order. Items can be mailed back to NWLS - or returned to one of the 18 book drops or 31 member libraries throughout the area.

For information on Mail-A-Book service and to get an application, contact Northern Waters Library Service or visit the NWLS web site's "for patrons" section at http://www.nwls.wislib.org/forpatrons/index.htm.

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The September Project

The September Project: Connecting the world one library at a time is a grassroots effort to encourage free local events about freedom and democracy in all libraries in all countries during the month of September.

In 2004, the September Project was established to break the silence following September 11, and to invite all people into libraries to consider topics of patriotism, democracy, and citizenship. Events are scheduled throughout the month of September and focus on issues of freedom and democracy.

To date, public, academic, school, and government libraries around the world have organized September Project book displays, community book readings, children's art projects, film screenings, theatrical performances, civic deliberations, voter registrations, murals, panel discussions, and so much more. What will this year bring? How can you participate? Organize an event at your library, and tell us about it! We’ll post all events on this site as they develop around the world.

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Reading Adventures

From Marsha Sorensen, NWLS - On the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal is an article by John Hechinger ("Problem: Boys Don't Like to Read. Solution: Books That are Really Gross") addressing the challenges of motivating boys to spend more time reading and less time on computers and videogaming. According to the article publishers are trying to reach boys with “blood, guts and gore,” since boys are more likely to read about activities they enjoy, as well as funny, edgy fiction.

Matt is an example of a very poor student who thought that all he ever wanted to do in life was play videogames. Eventually he wondered what he was missing out on and quit his job making videogames to travel around the world. He updated his family and friends of his whereabouts with video clips embellished with his signature "bad" dancing. A company spotted the videos online and sponsored a trip for Matt to create dancing videos from 39 countries on all 7 continents. People from all over the planet contacted Matt about these videos, so he traveled around the world once again and invited the people who'd written him to come out and dance too!

Matt learned a great deal from the people and experiences in his travels around the world and thinks Americans need to travel abroad more. Besides carrying a guidebook for research, Matt recommends reading novels written about the places you’re visiting. “Guys like Hemingway, Orwell, Kipling, and Greene got around a lot in their day and wrote some pretty good stuff about their travels.”

Traveling is regarded as one of the preferred options for stimulating a tiring soul, and reading stories of the world’s rich history, cultures and landscapes can make traveling by foot or by imagination enjoyable and meaningful for people of all ages. Rick Steve’s Europe Through the Back Door has an online Graffiti Wall where travelers can post the perfect literary travel companion. Washington Post travel book critic Jerry V. Haines recommends that kids read travel adventures; “children can go to other lands and other centuries, unrestrained by logic, laws of physics or other unfortunate realities.”

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I Love AskAway

From the AskAway Publicity Committee - For the past two years residents across Wisconsin have turned to AskAway- a free online service staffed by professional librarians 24 hours a day, seven days a week - for reliable answers to all sorts of questions. Now AskAway is encouraging residents to share their positive experiences by creating and posting short videos as a part of the “I Love AskAway” YouTube video contest for teens and young adults.

Contest deadline: August 22nd!
Contest details and instructions: http://askaway.pbwiki.com/YouTube+Contest
Contest flyer: http://askaway.pbwiki.com/YouTube+Contest+Entry+Page

The 2nd annual "AskAway awareness week" is coming up in September; promote AskAway in your library during the week of Sept. 8, let us know what you did and be eligible for one of two $50.00 prizes!

Using Computers Safely

From The LibraryLaw Blog - A computer safety pamphlet is available for librarians to use to educate the public about using caution when using email, browsing the Internet, saving documents, and creating passwords.

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Internet Filtering Software Tests

San Jose Public Library staff explored the Internet filtering market and failed to find a reliable product able to distinguish text or image content including obscenity, child pornography, or “harmful to minors” material from other, legal content. Each of the filters tested blocked a wide range of constitutionally protected content in its attempt to filter content. Their research showed that today’s filtering market is not much different than in 2004. The detailed report (pdf) submitted in April 2008 can be viewed online.

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Holds/Copies
37/5 . . . . 21 [videorecording(DVD)]
16/11 . . . 27 dresses [videorecording(DVD)]
30/6 . . . . 10,000 B.C. [videorecording(DVD)]
23/2 . . . . Be kind rewind [videorecording(DVD)]
39/7 . . . . Breaking Dawn / Stephenie Meyer
27/4 . . . . Brisingr / Christopher Paolini
14/20 . . . The broken window : a Lincoln Rhyme novel / Jeffery Deaver
45/17 . . . The bucket list [videorecording(DVD)]
12/6 . . . . Can't take my eyes off of you / Judith McNaught
24/2 . . . . College road trip [videorecording(DVD)]
30/4 . . . . Definitely, maybe [videorecording(DVD)]
10/4 . . . . Drillbit Taylor [videorecording (DVD)]
157/41 . . Fearless fourteen : a Stephanie Plum novel / Janet Evanovich
20/10 . . . Fearless fourteen [sound recording(BookCD)] : a Stephanie Plum novel / Janet Evanovich
23/4 . . . . Fearless fourteen [large print]: a Stephanie Plum novel / Janet Evanovich
43/7 . . . . Fool's gold [videorecording(DVD)]
10/8 . . . . John Adams [videorecording(DVD)]
17/5 . . . . Jumper [videorecording(DVD)]
14/17 . . . The last lecture / Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
10/8 . . . . Mad money [videorecording)DVD)]
21/1 . . . . Miss Pettigrew lives for a day [videorecording(DVD)]
11/14 . . . Moscow rules / Daniel Silva
24/14 . . . National treasure 2. Book of secrets [videorecording(DVD)]
14/1 . . . . Now that's what I call music! 28 [sound recording(MusicCD)]
26/11 . . . The other Boleyn girl [videorecording(DVD)]
11/2 . . . . Over her dead body [videorecording(DVD)]
13/12 . . . P.S. I love you [videorecording(DVD)]
21/4 . . . . Penelope [videorecording (DVD)]
45/29 . . . Phantom prey / John Sandford
12/25 . . . Rogue / Danielle Steel
12/1 . . . . The ruins [videorecording (DVD)]
86/25 . . . Sail / James Patterson and Howard Roughan
12/14 . . . Say goodbye / Lisa Gardner
19/4 . . . . Semi-pro [videorecording(DVD)]
24/9 . . . . The shack / by William P. Young
19/7 . . . . Smoke screen / Sandra Brown
13/7 . . . . The Spiderwick chronicles [videorecording(DVD)]
11/3 . . . . Step up. 2, The streets [videorecording (DVD)]
16/7 . . . . Stolen innocence / Elissa Wall with Lisa Pulitze
36/20 . . . The story of Edgar Sawtelle / David Wroblewski
16/3 . . . . Sunset / Karen Kingsbury
27/19 . . . TailSpin / Catherine Coulter
16/16 . . . Three cups of tea / Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
40/22 . . . Tribute / Nora Roberts
16/4 . . . . Untraceable [videorecording(DVD)]
21/4 . . . . Vantage point [videorecording(DVD)]

[Print Version]

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E-cycling

From Marsha Sorensen, NWLS - Electronics waste is growing exponentially as technology rapidly grows and changes. E-waste includes but is not limited to personal computers, laptops, televisions, VCR's, cellular phones, and other hand held devices. Why is it a problem? About 70% of heavy metals found in landfills comes from electronic equipment. 315 million computers became obsolete between 1997 and 2004, and an estimated 1.2 billion pounds of lead and 2 million pounds of cadmium were contained in those units. Recycling, or "E-cycling," electronic items is critical for preserving landfill space and for ensuring that hazardous materials used to make electronics are properly disposed.

There are a growing number of computer recyclers. Several manufacturers offer recycling services for computer equipment. Dell, for example, will take your old PC (regardless of brand) and recycle it free of charge when you buy a new Dell. Other manufacturers offer similar programs. Apple offers an option to sign up for a recycling program for old Macs, iPods and other Apple devices when you make a purchase through the online Apple Store.

Third party groups are also working to improve our recycling options. The EPA has a list of recommended recyclers specializing in electronic gear. The US Postal Service recently began providing bags in 1,500 post offices to recycle ink cartridges, blackberries, PDAs, and MP3 players for free. Postage is even included. The Electronics Industries Alliance has a Consumer Education Initiative site that maps out places to safely recycle electronics.

Consider also ways to extend the life of an outdated and underpowered computer. There are many resources for selling or donating used electronics to local community groups or international communities. Kevin Purdy of Lifehacker has seven tips for giving an old laptop new life with some free software, a little know-how, and some creative thinking.

There are environmental and economic benefits to purchasing high performance green products, and all federal agencies have been mandated to buy EPEAT registered green electronic products for at least 95 percent of their needs. EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) is a system to evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. A searchable list of the more than 300 EPEAT registered products have reduced levels of cadmium, lead, and mercury to better protect human health and the environment. They are more energy efficient, which reduces emissions of climate changing greenhouse gases. They are also easier to upgrade and recycle. Manufacturers must offer safe recycling options for EPEAT registered products.

Participating in electronics recycling will help eliminate the amount of toxic materials in our landfills and help keep our environment clean. Many electronic product parts can be refurbished and reused and efforts are being made to move electronics products into the recycling stream or to give them to the community, either to schools, charities, economically disadvantaged or disabled citizens. Tax deductions are available for donating working electronics to schools or charities. These efforts benefit both the environment and your community.

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Stop, You're Killing Me!
Mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books chronologically listed by authors (over 2,500 discrete authors), including series. Browseable by author name, character name, genre, location or period of story, or the lead character's ethnicity or job. Oh yes, and they have a substantive list of read-alikes too.
URL: http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/

WhichBook.net
Slide a number of visual sliders, from happy to sad and unexpected to predictable to tell the site what you like. You can also choose factors specific to characters, plot, and setting. The resulting recommendation lists can vary from 2-200 books, depending on how specific you got! An innovative way to think about reading preferences.
URL: http://www.whichbook.net/

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"...when Boomer danced he looked like a monkey on roller skates juggling razor blades in a hurricane."

- Author Tom Robbins, from Skinny Legs and All

Contact NWLS for subscription services or to submit an article for publication: email Marsha at newsletter@nwls.lib.wi.us or call 715-682-2365.

NWLS: 3200 E. Lake Shore Dr. • Ashland, WI 54806 • Phone: (715) 682-2365 • Web: http://nwls.wislib.org • Serving libraries in Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Vilas and Washburn Counties.