Newsletter
In This Issue: January 2012
Reinforce Your Library • Digital Learning Day • Inspiration for Advocacy • WiscNet Extension Bill • KidStrong Grant • Updated Early Literacy Standards • Summer Library Program • Digital Media in Review • Technology • Training • Links • ReflectCurrent Events
February 1 Digital Learning Day
February 8 NWLS Workshops (Webinar)
• Annual Reports 9:30-10:00
• Library Policies 10:00-1130
February 14 Library Legislative Day, Best Western Inn on the Park (Madison)
February 23 Merlin Consortium Meeting (Online)
• Library Policies 10:00-1130
February 14 Library Legislative Day, Best Western Inn on the Park (Madison)
February 23 Merlin Consortium Meeting (Online)
Current News
Reinforce Your Library
Libraries are your tax dollars at work, in the best possible way. Together people can make a big difference in the health and longevity of such a valuable community resource:
• Donate - Materials, magazine subscriptions, money, time. Patronize fund-raising events. Local Friends of the Library groups made up of volunteers increase public awareness about their library and raise money for services such as summer reading programs for children, new technologies, and special events.
• Advocate - Ongoing community advocacy supports the vital role your library plays in the community. Contact local politicians and federal representatives of your district. Let officials know (supported with facts) how much the library is used for accessing computers, digital literacy skills, workforce recovery resources, e-government services, reference material, a learning environment for children, tutoring for children, reading programs, meetings and events, etc. Alert members of your community to funding issues. Support from the community (including senior citizens, kids, minorities, teachers, PTA groups, businesses, book clubs, schools, social services, and others using the library regularly) will make politicians aware of the groups to be hurt by cuts. When library funding is on the ballot in your local elections check the box that gives your support to the library.
• Use your library - Politicians look at circulation figures to determine how useful the library is to the community. Check out your library's local collections, interlibrary loan service, and online reference databases.
• Explore constructive ideas - Investigate ways of reducing expenses and cutting down on waste. Identify partnerships and build collaboration that can leverage limited resources and raise awareness of the impact of library services. Partnerships with schools, community service agencies, workforce agencies, local businesses and financial agencies on goals that share a common vision will solidify perceptions of the pivotal role a library plays in the community.
Digital Learning Day
Wisconsin will observe Digital Learning Day on February 1 as part of a national effort led by the Alliance for Excellent Education to explore successful digital learning strategies in schools and libraries. State Superintendent Tony Evers encourages students, educators, librarians, administrators and elected officials to sign up for a full schedule of events.
Wisconsin is encouraged to plan events in their schools and communities and share ideas through a collaborative website. Examples of successful digital learning initiatives will be showcased for the Digital Learning Day event open to the public and the media. The Wisconsin event will also include a Twitter town hall meeting hosted by State Superintendent Tony Evers and the release of the Wisconsin Digital Learning Plan by the State Superintendents Digital Learning Council represented by educators, parents, libraries and businesses.
A national showcase of exciting digital learning initiatives beginning at 10:00 a.m.
A national Town Hall virtual meeting at noon with guest speakers Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman and Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, and a profile of innovative technology projects used across the country.
Toolkits - Explore ways technology can help children learn
Showcase - Successful technology and digital learning practices
Articles - Planning tips for Digital Learning Day and integrating digital learning ideas
Inspiration for Advocacy
The Building Bridges Speakers Series includes four free one hour recorded presentations addressing important public library issues with discussion and practical advice from guest speakers and host Chrystie Hill, WebJubction's Director of Community Services.
Your Library's Future - Join a live discussion on the continued success of public libraries in our changing environment, February 2 at noon.
Principles of Advocacy - A recorded presentation of ideas for developing a public library advocacy program.
Community Outreach - A recorded webinar on the importance of building and maintaining strong community partnerships.
Communicating Your Value - A recorded event offering guidance for effectively working with the community and elected officials to align priorities and gain support.
WiscNet Extension Bill
A senate committee voted 6-1 recently to move forward a bill (SB 375) to extend the deadline to 2014 for reviewing and responding to the audit of UW's relationship with WiscNet. The decision now moves to the Senate Organization Committee. The 2011-13 state budget requires a state audit of WiscNet to ensure it is not competing with private broadband communications networks and restricts its relationship with the UW system. The budget language prohibits the UW from participating in any telecommunications cooperative or consortium, including connection to regional and national high-capacity broadband networks.
The legislation is important for WiscNet's 465 partner education and library organizations needing time to plan their budgets. The non-profit WiscNet cooperative is fully funded by its members to promote collaboration, efficiency and quality telecommunications at an affordable price. At the January 19th hearing WLA Legislative Chair Terry Dawson spoke in favor of the bill on behalf of Wisconsin Library Association, countering claims by telecommunications groups that there is sufficient broadband and cheap Internet service available to everyone in the state.
KidStrong Grant
Wisconsin Public Television, the UW-Extension and the Wisconsin Library Association are collaborating on a project to help Wisconsin military families with young children. They are looking one library in each library system to host a Wisconsin kidStrong "KidZone" for families to connect with a deployed family member via Sesame Workshop's Military Families Near and Far. Participating libraries will be provided with kid-friendly furniture, materials, and books to help parents and kids connect, share, thrive and learn different ways to become more resilient as a military family. Recommendations from system staff, leadership, colleagues, or self nominations can be submitted by February 16th for best consideration. For more information or to make a nomination, please contact Holli Kirchner at Wisconsin Public Television at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
The kidStrong project aims to provide support for caregivers facing the challenges of deployments, homecomings, changes, and grief. There are currently nearly 14,500 Wisconsin kids from toddlers to teens living in the stressful environment of uncertainty from being left behind by a deployed parent or sibling.
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Updated Early Literacy Standards
The Early Literacy section of the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS) has been recently updated. For those who have the 2011 Third Edition document, a stand-alone document of the revisions can be added by visiting the Collaborating Partners website.
The Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards specify developmental expectations for children from birth through entrance to first grade that can be used as a framework for families, professionals and policy makers sharing responsibility for the well being of young children to improve opportunities for positive development and learning. The standards reflect the shared values and commitments of the citizens of Wisconsin to prepare young children for success in school.
Implementation of the Standards is voluntary and recommended as a tool for planning a developmentally appropriate environment for children. They are consistent with the Head Start Performance Standards and are applicable to a variety of early care and education settings.
2012 Summer Library Program
Resources for the 2012 Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) are now available through the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning. The 2012 theme for children is Dream Big - READ, the theme for teens is Own the Night, and for adults the theme is Between the Covers. CSLP provides theme lists of fiction, nonfiction, audio visual titles, and websites (see Programs) for early literacy, for teens and for adults.
2011 marked a year of big changes and growing usage of the digital media collections available to NWLS area patrons. NWLS library borrowers have two different collections they can access for their e-media needs. EBSCOhost offers around 250,000 ebook titles through BadgerLink for full-text viewing or downloading. Access the EBSCO ebook collection by clicking the EBSCO "Database List" link in BadgerLink, then choose the "eBook Collection" link from the list. OverDrive offers 7,077 ebook titles, 8,364 audiobook titles, 319 video titles, and 178 music titles through the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium Digital Download Center.
Before the August transition to EBSCOhost, NetLibrary users accessed 311 titles, with "Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature" being the most requested (17 checkouts). Access to the new EBSCOhost ebooks included 986 searches, 164 full-text views, and 53 checkouts. To browse the EBSCO ebook collection, click on the EBSCO Database List in BadgerLink, and choose the "eBook Collection" from the list.
As for the OverDrive downloadable media collection, ebook circulation increased sevenfold (from 553 in 2010 to 4,084 in 2011). The support for Kindle ebooks since September may have made the difference since 919 (or 23%) of the ebook checkouts were Kindle format. The highest circulating ebook title in 2011 was "The Help" with 10 checkouts. The highest circulating Kindle title was "Explosive Eighteen" with 7 checkouts.
Audiobook circulation totaled 7,957, up 4% from 2010. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was the highest circulating title (16 checkouts). Circulation for both music and video formats dropped from the previous year. The music collection had 57 checkouts (down 31 from 2010) and the video collection had 76 checkouts (down 44 from 2010).
Technology
StaySafeOnline.org - Recommendations for using the Internet safely and protecting the technology and networks you access.
Recommended Internet Security Suites - Popular security suites reviewed and tested for Windows 7.
Buying a Printer - The How-To Geek guide to buying a printer to suit your needs.
Gadget Ecosystem - WebJunction gives you a tour of the gadget and apps ecosystem with ideas for integrating mobile landscape into library services.
Cloud Computing Basics - Thursday, February 9 WebJunction will present an overview of what cloud computing has to offer libraries.
Training
Teen Services Training - YALSA Academy provides short training videos created by and for teen service staff on topics such as customer service, social media, technology tools, programming, advocacy, and collection development.
BadgerLunch Winter Webinars - Thursdays at noon explore BadgerLink resources:
2.2 BadgerLearn: Wisconsin's Collaborative Training Portal
2.9 Consumer Reports
2.16 Found in Wisconsin Digital Collections
2.23 How to Promote BadgerLink
3.1 Q&A: Get answers to BadgerLink Questions
OverDrive Training - Recorded training sessions that cover OverDrive basics, community outreach, mobile apps and devices, assisting patrons, and collection development.
eReader Policies and Procedures - A WebJunction webinar January 31 on serving patrons with gadgets, policies and procedures for lending ereaders, and assisting patrons with accessing ebook collections.
Links
PIPA, SOPA and the OPEN Act Quick Reference Guide - American Library Association provides a quick reference chart on the status of the copyright-related bills as of January 10, outlining the primary issues and concerns of interest to the library community and those who use the Internet.
Library Bill of Rights - The American Library Association outlines the basic policies that guide library services.
Library Code of Ethics - The American Library Association outlines the ethical principles that guide library services.
Reflection
"If you cut funding to libraries, you cut the lifeblood of our communities."
- Richard M. Daley, former Chicago Mayor
Subscription
For subscription services or to submit an article for streams contact Marsha at NWLS: 682-2365 ext. 18 or email Marsha Sorensen.
NWLS: 3200 E. Lake Shore Dr. • Ashland, WI 54806
Phone: (715) 682-2365 • Web: nwls.wislib.org
Serving libraries in Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Vilas and Washburn Counties.