Workshop Report • Ancestry Library Edition • Merlin Popular Holds • Useful URLs • Reflection

March 30 LSTA Early Literacy Project: Infant Brain Development, 10:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Mellen Community Center

April 3 Digital Library 101 Online Training, 10:00 a.m. 

April 10 Serving the Legal Information Needs of the Public: A Program for Wisconsin Public Librarians, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Manitowish Waters

April 11 Serving the Legal Information Needs of the Public: A Program for Wisconsin Public Librarians, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Eau Claire Indianhead Federated Library System

April 18 Greener Pastures Rural Library Sustainability Workshop, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Mercer.

April 25 MilCirc Tips and Tricks, 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:

• June 4-7 Grant Writing, Instructor: Jane Pearlmutter
• June 25-29 Summer Camp by the Lake: Public Library Administration, Instructor: Kelly Krieg-Sigman
• 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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NWLS Workshop Report: Promoting Rural Libraries/
Children’s Services Roundtable and Idea Sharing

Promoting Rural Libraries

Boulder Junction Public Library Director Cherie Sanderson began the workshop by sharing what she learned at the Public Library Association conference panel discussion on Promoting Public Libraries: Using Data and Advocacy to Build Public Support and Funding. The presentation can be found by visiting the WebJunction website.

The discussion panel participants included a public librarian, a system librarian, a mayor, a county commissioner, a member of a foundation, and the director of a public advocacy association. The discussion focused on how public library needs assessments, impact studies, and advocacy can be used to build support and funding.

A needs assessment project can help a library tailor projects to the community needs. An assessment can involve surveys, interviews, suggestion boxes and online questionnaires for feedback on the library facility, staffing, collection, furnishings, technology, services, and outreach, and for determining trends, interests and needs of the community. Libraries can survey a broad spectrum of people with the cooperation of organizations such as schools, the community center, youth groups, the technology center, and senior centers.

Needs assessment studies can be used with impact studies to gain financial support. Measuring the impact library services have on individual lives and the local economy can prove that your library is an essential asset to the community. Effective impact studies illustrate the return on a dollar invested with stories from patrons that have gained from using the library.

Planning for advocacy involves identifying needs and how they can be met, identifying who will speak on behalf of the library, strategy, timing, accurate data, collaboration, and negotiation. What stands out to those making the funding decisions is credibility; compelling stories from patrons; and relationships with patrons and representatives from the community, county and state. Visit the Alliance for Justice online for advocacy resources.

The information Cherie gained from this presentation helped her successfully pass a referendum for funding a library building expansion project.

Summer Reading Program Round Robin

Ida Nemec, director of the Plum Lake Public Library in Sayner, started off the afternoon session with a scavenger hunt/ice breaker. A simple scavenger hunt can be organized by giving each child a packet of 25-30 of one item and having them trade until their packets have one of each item. Alternatively, items could be hidden in the library or at participating community businesses, offering a greater challenge for older children.

CLOSED CASES: Sharing successful ideas from the past year
Darrell Pendergrass from Washburn shared ideas for his “Grow With Books” program, based on the wonderful garden planted behind the library. Children and adults from the community were involved in planting, growing and harvesting vegetables. Programs included a garden field trip, a vegetable-tasting, and scarecrow-building. Library decorations included an apple tree branch stuck in a Christmas tree stand. Children attached a green, yellow or red paper apple for every two books they read.

Pat Lamon from Eagle River shared pictures of last year’s program with Dennis Tlachac, alias Dino, of Nature’s Niche, who brought live animals, including snakes, birds and lizards for the kids to learn about and touch! Bayfield had a Hat Parade through town with banners and kids wearing homemade hats. Superior had Northwood Harness bring in a miniature horse. and explain horse care. Children learned about horse care and had their pictures taken with the horse.

Other successful programs included: waiving fines in exchange for animal shelter donations, painting summer themes on the library windows, police and fire department employees talking about their jobs, a 4-H club presentation on dog training and animal senses, a local genealogy club presentation for kids, a craft night with recycled materials, a rodeo program with lasso training on wooden animal heads. For future reference the Superior Zoo provides an affordable traveling exhibit, Jim Ramsdell from the Bayfield area offers excellent art workshops and Truly Remarkable Loon is well worth the money!

NEW CASES: Brainstorming ideas for this summer
Have kids reach in and guess what object lies inside a box. For a beach theme, have a box display of “What did I find at the beach?” Each week display a picture taken from town and have kids identify it. Create objects from fingerprints. Pat Lamon from Eagle River can lend you a kit for a murder mystery she did last year that took 3.5 hours. A mystery play is available from the Dragons Dreams and Daring Deeds manual.

Other ideas include programs on astronomy, animal tracks, and dinosaurs. You can adapt just about any theme and have the children ‘get a clue about …….” In Washburn, Darrell is planning a bird theme to enhance last year’s garden theme. Projects include planting a flower garden for the birds; building bird houses, bird feeders, and bird baths; and a scavenger hunt for birds and bird sounds.

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Ancestry Library Edition is available at NWLS libraries in 2007
From Linda Bailen, NWLS

Ancestry Library Edition will again be available to NWLS libraries and patrons in 2007. This comprehensive genealogical database can be accessed by anyone at any NWLS member library. Ancestry Library Edition is a popular genealogy research tool that provides access to a wide range of unique genealogical and historical resources, including census, vital, church, court, and immigration records, as well as record collections from Canada and other areas. This collection includes more than 4,000 databases and two billion names

Ancestry Library Edition contains key collections such as U.S. Federal Census images and indexes from 1790 to 1930; the Map Center containing more than 1,000 historical maps; American Genealogical Biographical Index (over 200 volumes); Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage (over 150 volumes); The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1630; Social Security Death Index (updated monthly); WWI Draft Registration Cards; Federal Slave Narratives; and a strong Civil War collection. In the coming year, still more indexes and original images will be added to the new Immigration collection.

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Merlin Popular Holds
From Nikki Bolka, NWLS

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

70/22 . Step On a Crack by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
39/17 . Sisters by Danielle Steel
38/9 ... The Departed [videorecording(DVD)]
37/5 ... Casino Royale [videorecording(DVD)]
35/9 ... Babel [videorecording(DVD)]
34/10 . The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
26/2 ... Blood Diamond [videorecording(DVD)]
26/5 ... Stranger Than Fiction [videorecording(DVD)]
25/2 ... Happy Feet [videorecording(DVD)]
25/11 . Flags of Our Fathers [videorecording(DVD)]
23/5 ... Man of the Year [videorecording(DVD)]
22/0 ... Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
22/2 ... The Holiday [videorecording(DVD)]
22/11 . The Illusionist [videorecording(DVD)]
21/3 ... The Secret [videorecording(DVD)]
21/10 . Nineteen Minutes: A novel by Jodi Picoult
20/2 ... Eragon [videorecording(DVD)]
19/6 ... Flushed Away [videorecording(DVD)]
19/7 ... Marie Antoinette [videorecording(DVD)]
18/0 ... 6th Target by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
18/4 ... Borat [videorecording(DVD)]
18/5 ... The Prestige [videorecording(DVD)]
17/3 ... The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag
17/5 ... Running with Scissors [videorecording(DVD)]
17/11 . Open Season [videorecording(DVD)]
15/1 ... The Pursuit of Happyness [videorecording(DVD)]
14/8 ... Flicka [videorecording(DVD)]
13/0.... Night at the Museum [videorecording(DVD)]
12/0 ... I Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark
11/0 ... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
10/0 ... The Queen [videorecording(DVD)]
10/1 ... Children of Men [videorecording(DVD)]
10/2 ... Rocky Balboa [videorecording(DVD)]
10/3 ... Half Nelson [videorecording(DVD)]
9/0 ..... Bad Luck and Trouble: A Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child
9/0 ..... Charlotte's Web [videorecording(DVD)]
9/0 ..... Red Leaves by Belva Plain
8/0 ..... Book of the Dead by Patricia Daniels Cornwell
8/1 ..... In an Instant: A family's journey of love and healing by Lee Woodruff
8/1 ..... Snakes on a Plane [videorecording(DVD)]
8/4 ..... Flyboys [videorecording(DVD)]

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Storytellers: Native American Authors Online

The purpose of Storytellers is to "make the writing of modern Native American authors, particularly the poets, both more visible and more widely available." The site includes pages on or links to more than 40 authors. There is also a calendar of appearances by the authors, links to reviews of their works, a section on traditional storytelling, a page of links to the online works of early 20th century Native American authors, and another of links to related sites.

Oyate

Oyate is a Native American organization working to see that Native Americans' lives and histories are portrayed honestly. Includes book reviews, resource materials, and fiction by and about native peoples.

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"We must always remember that water is always more precious than gold."

- Walt Bresette, Anishinabe peace and justice advocate,
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Contact NWLS for subscription services to the Streams news: newsletter@nwls.lib.wi.us

NWLS · 3200 E. Lake Shore Dr. · Ashland, Wisconsin 54806 · Telephone: 715.682.2365

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