J.K. Rowling's Grand Finale for Harry Potter • Shell Lake Public Library Joins Merlin • New ALA Library Champions • Technology Competencies Guide • Rural Library Sustainability Course • WebJunction Awarded Grant • The Economic Impact of Public Libraries • Post Conference Resources • How Spam Works • Merlin Popular Holds • Useful URLs • Reflection

July 21 NWLS Board of Trustees Meeting, 10:00 a.m., NWLS

June 21-27 American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.

July 26 Merlin Consortium Meeting, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., NWLS

August 17 Too Many Teen Books, Too Little Time!, 10:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., NWLS

Summer 2007 UW-Madison SLIS Continuing Education Courses in Madison (If you have questions please contact Anna Palmer, ahpalmer@wisc.edu or 608-263-4452. Visit the School of Library and Information Studies for course descriptions and registration information. Continuing Education Courses in Madison:

• July 14-25 Travel Opportunity-Librarians' Tour to Scotland, Tour Director: Jane Pearlmutter
• August 13-17 Summer Camp by the Lake: Cataloging, Instructor: Debra Shapiro
• August 20-24 Puppets in the Library, Instructor: Susan Santner

Online Graduate Credit Courses June 18 - August 12: Cataloging and Classification, Collection Management, Digital Libraries

Online Skills Courses: In cooperation with a national network of educational institutions, we offer online courses on a variety of technical topics and a few non-technical topics. While the courses do not have a library focus, they may be useful to anyone who needs to develop these skills.

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J.K. Rowling's Grand Finale for Harry Potter
From American Libraries, May 2007

Libraries across the country are happily gearing up for another round of Harry Potter mania, as young readers eagerly await the July 21 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final installment in J.K. Rowling's blockbuster book series.

The scholastic website features lots of useful stuff for planning fun Potter-related activities for kids, including a "Discussion Chamber, "Wizard Challenge," and "Need-To-Know Guide."

Shell Lake Public Library Joins Merlin

Shell Lake Public Library will soon be a fully participating Merlin library. The Shell Lake patron records will be added to the Merlin database in July, giving patrons access to the online Merlin catalog to request and renew books and to view their patron accounts. People will be able to use their Shell Lake library cards at any Merlin library. Merlin is a network of NWLS libraries using an integrated library system of technology provided by Innovative Interfaces, Inc. for circulating and processing records for a shared database.

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Two New ALA Library Champions: Innovative Interfaces, Inc. & Mirrorstone
From American Library Association, June 18 Press Release

CHICAGO – The American Library Association (ALA) Development Office is pleased to announce two new Library Champion members, Innovative Interfaces and Mirrorstone.

Innovative Interfaces has supported libraries through technology and library automation since 1978. Mirrorstone is dedicated to offering books that will turn reluctant readers into lifelong readers. “Together with Innovative Interfaces and Mirrorstone, our 45 Library Champions express the best of ALA’s Corporate Partners and their commitment to our nation’s libraries,” said ALA President-Elect Loriene Roy.

ALA considers its Library Champions among its greatest proponents. Companies who become library champions demonstrate the importance and value of libraries as dynamic, modern community centers for learning, information and entertainment. With over 117,000 libraries across the United States, libraries play an important role in our communities. Library Champion dues are used to support The Campaign for America’s Libraries, one of ALA’s most successful public awareness and advocacy programs. Library Champions are the highest level of ALA’s corporate membership.

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Technology Competencies Guide
From Betha Gutsche, WebJunction

WebJunction has developed a library technology management guide (pdf) outlining the skills for managing the public computer programs, keeping the equipment operable, and satisfying the patrons using them. WebJunction’s competencies are divided into three sections—two of which address technical skills and knowledge and a third that addresses the management of public access computing programs.

Technology Competencies for Patron Assistance defines skills that frontline library staff need in order to provide direct assistance to patrons on the public computers. The System Administration section defines skills necessary to set up, configure and maintain the public computers and networks. The Management Competencies are the umbrella over all, covering the master-planning, coordination and integration aspects of running a public access computing program.

To navigate through the documents click the Bookmarks tab on the left of the pdf to open the linked Table of Contents. The longer titles indicate major section divisions. Refer back and forth to different sub-sections by noting the page numbers at the bottom of the pdf window. To jump to a specific page, type the number into the page number box and press Enter. WebJunction is very interested in your feedback. Please tell us what you think.

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Rural Library Sustainability Course
From WebJunction

WebJunction has launched the Rural Library Sustainability Online Course. This free, self-paced course developed out of the success of the Rural Library Sustainability workshops, in combination with the growing exchange of information, ideas, and expertise on WebJunction.org/rural. Come explore new strategies and action plans for sustainability!

WebJunction Awarded Grant
From American Libraries, June 21, 2007

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s U.S. Library Initiative will give $12.6 million to WebJunction, the online community portal of the library cooperative group OCLC. The five-year grant “will help us to sustain the programs that many library professionals are really beginning to depend on,” Bob Murphy of OCLC told American Libraries.

One of the grant’s goals is to ensure WebJunction’s self-sustainability within OCLC by strengthening its revenue-generating activities and creating additional services to assist all types of libraries. “The self-sustaining aspect is important,” Murphy emphasized, “because we want WebJunction to continue on and on, and to be a place that library professionals can count on for their continuing education needs.”

The Gates Foundation will also fund software upgrades that will include new content and learning-management systems, improvements that WebJunction Executive Director Marilyn Gell Mason said in a prepared statement are part of “the functionality and flexibility that partners and users tell us they need.”

The goals are in keeping with the vision Jill Nishi, manager of the Gates Foundation’s U.S. Libraries Initiative, shared with AL in a January interview, in which she said that USLI would focus over the next several years on “ways in which we can support better connectivity” and help libraries “position themselves as important community institutions and as the solution to other kinds of pressing public-policy problems.”

The $12.6-million commitment comes six months after Nishi announced a $3.9-million grant to WebJunction so the portal could help public libraries plan for and manage technology, train staff and patrons, and share best practices. Since its 2003 launch, WebJunction has more than 29,000 registered members, and more than 300,000 unique users have visited the site.

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The Economic Impact of Public Libraries

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction provides links to various studies designed to measure the economic impact or taxpayer return-on-investment for public libraries, as well as resources for conducting local studies. Results from many studies reinforce the critical role public libraries play in strengthening communities and reaching youth. Library economic impact studies for Pittsburgh and for Florida report a return of over $6 for every $1 invested. Studies involving public libraries in Southwest Ohio and South Carolina report a return of about four times the amount of operational costs.

Public libraries build strong economies! Library programs and services address issues such as literacy, workforce training, small business vitality and community quality of life. The power of new digital collections, information databases, and technology position libraries to help communities make the transition from manufacturing and service economies to high tech and information economies.

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Post Conference Resources

The Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries' post-conference resources are available online. The 2007 "Wisconsin Public Libraries: Raising Your Community's Net Worth" conference focused on programs to help increase your library's visibility and viability in your community.

How Spam Works
From Channell Weekly, June 28, 2007

Spam! You block it, you filter it, you unsubscribe from lists you actually want to be on, and still it lands in your inbox. Where does all of this spam e-mail (also known as "unsolicited commercial e-mail") come from? Why is there so much of it? Is there any way to stop it? This How Spam Works article from HowStuffWorks answers these questions and many others about spam. (Website courtesy of refdesk.com)

Merlin Popular Holds
From Deanna Regan, NWLS

The following titles have ten or more Merlin holds:
(Holds/Merlin copies)

93/26 . . 6th target / James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
18/3 . . . Apocalypto [videorecording(DVD)]
14/14 . . Bad luck and trouble : a Jack Reacher novel / Lee Child
14/3 . . . Because I said so [videorecording(DVD)]
13/6 . . . Blood diamond [videorecording(DVD)]
23/4 . . . Bobby [videorecording(DVD)]
14/5 . . . Book of the dead: a Scarpette novel / Patricia Daniels Cornwell
17/2 . . . Breach [videorecording(DVD)]
12/1 . . . Bridge to terabithia [videorecording(DVD)]
11/11 . . Bungalow 2 / Danielle Steel
21/5 . . . Children of men [videorecording(DVD)]
10/5 . . . Crossroads / Belva Plain
11/11 . . Double take / Catherine Coulter
22/5 . . . Dreamgirls [videorecording(DVD)]
18/4 . . . The good shepherd [videorecording(DVD)]
41/15 . . Harry Potter and the deathly hallows / J. K. Rowling
18/3 . . . High noon / Nora Roberts
16/11 . . The holiday [videorecording(DVD)]
25/22 . . I heard that song before / Mary Higgins Clark
93/25 . . Invisible prey / John Sandford
87/19 . . Lean mean thirteen / Janet Evanovich
22/8 . . . Letters from Iwo Jima [videorecording(DVD)]
10/2 . . . Little children [videorecording(DVD)]
19/3 . . . Miss potter [videorecording(DVD)]
21/5 . . . Music and lyrics [videorecording(DVD)]
32/12 . . Night at the museum [videorecording(DVD)]
13/17 . . The overlook : a novel / Michael Connelly
12/7 . . . The painted veil [videorecording(DVD)]
21/6 . . . Pan's labyrinth [videorecording(DVD)]
22/15 . . The Queen [videorecording(DVD)]
31/4 . . . The quickie : a novel / by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
26/4 . . . The secret [videorecording(DVD)]
35/23 . . Simple genius / David Baldacci
62/21 . . A thousand splendid suns / Khaled Hosseini
26/19 . . The woods / Harlan Coben

[print version]

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MindTools: Essential Skills for an Excellent Career

MindTools offers articles on essential skills and techniques that help you excel in your career. Learn leadership, personal effectiveness, goal setting, and stress management. Further, discover techniques that improve creativity, assist problem solving, organize time and deadlines, and improve your memory. Start building your skills by reading articles on the following subjects:

• Time Management • Leadership Skills • Stress Management • Information Skills • Practical Creativity • Problem Solving • Decision Making • Project Planning & Management • Communication Skills • Memory Improvement

You Don't Look Like A Librarian

You Don't Look Like A Librarian is a collection of talks and resources relating to the image and perception of librarians in the Internet age.

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Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

- Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

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, Wisconsin 54806 · Telephone: 715.682.2365

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