From Linda Stobbe, NWLS - Northwoods Children’s Book Conference is pleased to announce Anita Silvey as the keynote speaker and presenter for this year’s conference to be held September 30 and October 1 at Lakewoods Resort in Cable, Wisconsin. Ms. Silvey is a nationally recognized author and advocate of youth literacy. She has devoted 35 years promoting books that will turn the young--and families--into readers. To do this she has appeared frequently on NPR, "The Today Show," "60 Minutes," and radio programs in the United States and Canada to talk about books for children and teenagers. As Publishers Weekly has said "It would be hard to find a more authoritative voice than Anita Silvey." Anita Silvey has been in the book industry as an author, publisher of children’s books, editor of journals in the field, and reviewer/evaluator.

In a unique career in the children’s book field, Ms. Silvey has divided her time equally between publishing and evaluating children’s books. But her lifelong conviction that “only the very best of anything can be good enough for the young” forms the cornerstone of her work. Ms. Silvey served for eleven years as Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book Magazine, a publication many call “the Bible of children’s literature.” As Editor of Horn Book, she read several thousand books a year, hunting for those of exceptional quality that children return to again and again. Bev Bauer, of Redbery Books and a sponsor of the event says, “I have followed Anita Silvey from afar my entire career. It’s a real highlight to have her here for the conference.”

Silvey will be delivering the keynote address on Friday, October 1st, the title of which is also the title of her latest book, “Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book. In addition, she will present a three-hour workshop Thursday, September 30 titled “Like a Rolling Stone, the Changing Landscape of Young Adult Books.” In the spirit of her title, the conference will conclude at the end of the day with a fun-filled hour of presenters and selected attendees sharing thoughts on the influential children’s book that gave them everything they needed to know to prepare the for life.

More information and registration details can be found online at www.northwoodsbooks.org or by calling Redbery Books, (715)798-5014. Other sponsors include Northern Waters Library Service and Children’s Literature Network.

Page up

Education of Rural Librarians Scholarship Award

In August BadgerLink will provide two additional resources - LearningExpress Library and the Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research Site. The addition of LearningExpress Library improves the ability of libraries throughout the state to help users identify new job possibilities and help them train to take tests to obtain jobs in this time of high unemployment. The Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research Site comes from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and provides critical access to the daily and weekly newspapers in Wisconsin.

LearningExpress Library

Online practice tests, courses, and ebooks for people of all ages to improve test preparation and test-taking skills. Elementary, middle and high school students can practice math, reading, and writing skills improvement. High school students can also prepare for the ACT, SAT, Advanced Placement, PSAT and TOEFL, CLEP and other college placement exams. College students can work on math and reasoning skills, and reading, science, and writing skills improvement. Adults can practice for taking a wide variety of exams in health care, teaching, real estate, law enforcement and other fields as well as building skills in math, reading, writing, and U.S. citizenship. Each user can set up an individual account and receive instant feedback and diagnostic score reports so that they can identify strengths and weaknesses.

Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research Site

The Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning team has worked with the Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA) to help fill the Wisconsin newspaper gap in BadgerLink. Through this new partnership, WNA’s The Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research Site will provide access to 235 daily and weekly member-newspapers. Newspaper content is available from April 2005 (with a two month embargo period) in a PDF, searchable format.

This service is available onsite in libraries and through entry of a library card number. It is not available statewide through IP address authentication as are other BadgerLink resources. Users will be able to access the website through the BadgerLink by clicking on Newspapers under Resources by Type.

Page up

In the July 14, 2010 issue of Streams the article "Mobile Technology" discussed how web technology is changing the way people interact with information. Many libraries and the vendors that serve those libraries are migrating to the “cloud computing” or “web scale” models built for efficiency, convenience and customer satisfaction. Staying ahead of the technology curve is changing the landscape of library services.

A wide range of cloud-based technology solutions for library management functions have been emerging and impacting key library operations, from the computer servers that support technical services to the online interactive public library catalog infrastructure. Libraries are moving computing applications from local computer servers to virtual servers in order to expend fewer resources on maintaining infrastructure. Library technical services are being outsourced to vendors who have fully embraced the cloud concept, freeing up staff time for activities with direct benefit on library services. Proprietary Integrated Library System catalogs are being replaced with open source versions that offer greater returns-on-investment, more accountability, and greater security.

In the public sector products such as online patron registration, online program registration, self checkout stations, self payment kiosks, and PC reservation systems allow people to help themselves to services previously requiring staff intervention. Virtual services available 24/7 allow online access to reference services, as well as next-generation discovery tools, and the gamut of online electronic databases. Self-service satisfies an increasingly independent public seeking efficiency and convenience.

Technology is challenging public libraries to work differently in the near future. Cloud computing offers libraries ways to reduce technology costs and increase capacity, reliability, and performance for some types of activities. Cloud-based technology solutions that allow libraries to shift tasks to users has made services more convenient and has resulted in new workflows. Libraries embracing cloud technology have done so (1) because budgetary constraints continually placed upon libraries afford them no other alternatives, (2) to help supplement current services, and (3) to offer a permanent replacement for services that do not work for current user needs.