| Subsidized Online Courses • State Budget Update • Public Library Association Conference • Wisconsin Library Strategic Visioning Summit • Library of the Future Meeting in Ashland • Wisconsin Public Library Statistics • Children's Book Week • Libraries and Internet Filtering Software • NWLS Record Merging Update • Library Social Networking • Using the Merlin Catalog • Useful URLs • Reflection
C A L E N D A R
October 25 Merlin Consortium Meeting,
10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., NWLS
October 25 Bringing People Together at the Library: Rural Libraries as Place, Online WebJunction Presentation, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
November 2 Records Retention / Recruiting and Managing Volunteers,
10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., NWLS
November 10
NWLS Board of Trustees Meeting,
12:00, NWLS
December 5 Library Directors Meeting, 10:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Drummond
December 6 Library Directors Meeting, 10:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Lac du Flambeau
UW-Madison SLIS Continuing Education Courses in Madison.
Visit the School of Library and Information Studies for more information. Online Courses: (Technical courses are also offered)
- Cataloging Web Sites, Oct 29-Nov 25
- Travel Opportunity February 28 - March 9: Books and Beauty of Western Ireland
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C U R R E N T . E V E N T S
Subsidized Online Courses
From Bob Bocher, Technology Consultant, WI Dept. of Public Instruction
From now until December 15, 2007, most Wisconsin public library staff members are eligible to register for WebJunction courses free of charge. The Division for Libraries, Technology and Community Learning, in cooperation with the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies, is now extending this offer to courses taken via the Education To Go (ed2go) program. The division will pay for these courses from its Rural Library Sustainability Grant, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The ed2go courses have set registration deadlines of November 14,
and December 12. Note: Restrictions on the grant funding now require registration for any course by December 15, 2007 and completion of all course work by February 29, 2008.
To find out more about this offer* visit http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/wjcoursereg.html. The division encourages the 90%+ of the state's public library staff who qualify for these courses to take advantage of this offer.
*Note: to register for either WebJunction or ed2go courses, contact Linda Stobbe (lstobbe@nwls.lib.wi.us) at NWLS.
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State Budget Update
From Jim Trojanowski, NWLS Director
The budget compromise reached by the Governor and legislative leaders last week includes some good news for libraries:
- State aids to public library systems will increase 4% in each year of the biennium.
- Funding for the four statewide resource contracts, BadgerLink and Newsline for the Blind were approved at the cost to continue the services.
- Maintenance of Effort, which requires local governments to fund libraries at not less than the average of the past three years of funding, remains law. The Assembly version of the budget would have eliminated the Maintenance of Effort.
- The levy limits exemption for county library support is in the budget. Counties payments to public libraries (but not to public library systems) are not subject to county levy limits. This includes payments to libraries within the county and payments to libraries in adjacent counties.
The Joint Finance Committee approved the budget Monday. The Assembly and Senate are scheduled to vote on it Tuesday, October 23.
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Public Library Association Conference
From Jim Trojanowski, NWLS Director
The Public Library Association will hold its 12th National Conference March 25-29, 2008, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is a rare opportunity for librarians in our area to attend a premier national event.
Northern Waters Library Service will provide five scholarships of $400 each to member library directors interested in attending PLA and willing to write a brief report of their experience. Winners will be chosen at random among those who enter. Entry information will be forthcoming.
Indianhead Federated Library System is offering bus service to and from the conference, with pick-up locations located at eight sites throughout the IFLS service area. Bus fares are a bargain at $10 each, with refreshments included. Print copies of the registration form will be sent through delivery this week. Please note that you must reserve a spot no later than Friday, November 16.
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Wisconsin Library Strategic Visioning Summit
Madison – A Strategic Visioning Summit on the Future of the Library is being planned for the spring of 2008 by Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster and COLAND (Council on Library and Network Development.)
The purpose of the Summit is to develop a vision for how libraries of all types will contribute to the continued prosperity of Wisconsin and its communities by promoting the quality of life, health of our democracy, educational excellence, economic and workforce development and the preservation of our heritage and culture. The Summit will be an invitational event attended by 100 key library leaders and library advocates from across the State of Wisconsin. In developing the vision for libraries, Summit participants will take into consideration Superintendent Burmaster’s 21st century education initiatives as well as Governor Doyle’s Grow Wisconsin. Summit participants will develop recommendations for the Superintendent that can be included in future planning and budget initiatives.
Prior to the Summit COLAND will seek input from library practitioners, library organizations, library users, and library supporters. COLAND encourages people to think BIG about the following the questions: 1) How will the library of the future contribute to the quality of life in our communities? 2) How will the library of the future contribute to the health of our democracy? 3) How will the library of the future contribute to educational, economic and workforce development? 4) How will the library of the future contribute to the preservation of the heritage and culture of our communities? In addition to “blue sky thinking” COLAND is looking for practical suggestions for designing library services and infrastructure to effectively serve everyone in the community, and for ideas for leveraging the dollar investment in library services through collaboration.
COLAND has appointed an Executive Planning Group to develop the Summit agenda and select the attendees. Applications and nominations for the Summit will be solicited during the month of November. In December 100 people will be selected and Summit invitations will be sent in January.
Further information on the Summit is coming soon.
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Library of the Future Meeting in Ashland
From Jim Trojanowski, NWLS Director
In order to offer system-wide input into the Strategic Visioning Summit being hosted by COLAND (please see previous article), Northern Waters Library Service will sponsor a discussion on the library of the future. This discussion will be open to library staff and trustees from all types of libraries located within the NWLS service area. Details will be announced soon. Discussion will be centered around the questions listed in the above message.
The purpose of the Summit is to develop a vision for how libraries of all
types will contribute to the continued prosperity of Wisconsin and its
communities by promoting
- quality of life,
- health of our democracy,
- educational excellence,
- economic and workforce development, and
- preservation of our heritage and culture.
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Wisconsin Public Library Statistics
From Channel Weekly (Vol. 10, No. 1; Sept. 6, 2007)
The Department of Public Instruction's Public Library Development Team (PLDT) annually collects statistics from Wisconsin's 388 public libraries and 17 public library systems. Excel and PDF files of the latest statistics are now available at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/dm-lib-stat.html.
Information is provided on public library collections, services, staffing, funding, and non-resident use. The Website includes statistics back to 1996. Information is divided into four different files:
- State totals by System
- County totals by County
- Public Library statistics for each of the individual 388 libraries sorted by population
- Public Library statistics grouped by County by System
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Children's Book Week
From The Lamplighter, Wisconsin Valley Library Service
Since 1919 educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated Children’s Book Week during the week before Thanksgiving. Sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, CBW celebrates the written word by introducing young people to books, authors and illustrators and by encouraging young people and their caregivers to discover the complexity of a world beyond their own experience through books. The CBW web site has an extensive list of online resources that may be copied for classroom, library or personal use.
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Libraries and Internet Filtering Software
From WebJunction by Marcel H. Faulkner, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto
In 2000, Congress passed the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) denying portions of federal funding to libraries unless they use filtering or blocking software on all Internet computers (including those used only by staff), adopt and enforce stringent Internet use policies, and monitor Internet use by minors. Marcel Faulkner's article "Filter Schmilter" discusses the problems libraries face due to the lack of dependable filtering and blocking software technology. Until filtering and blocking software can can work effectively, libraries will continue to consider alternatives to filtering, such as zero tolerance policies against misuse of library computers, and putting computers in places where library staff can monitor what patrons view. To view Faulkner's article visit Webjunction at http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=1462
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T E C H N O L O G Y . N E W S
NWLS Record Merging Update
From Michael Sheehan, NWLS
NWLS is currently involved in a major record merging project. As of October 11, 2007, NWLS ILL/Database Assistant, Deanna Regan, had merged 590 titles in the Merlin catalog. The benefits of this project are two-fold but related: (1) patrons have access to a more uniform catalog, without needing to browse through as many duplicate titles; and (2) the database is prepared for the upcoming enhanced functionality of automatic patron placed holds. The decision to move to automatic holds was made at the last Director’s Meeting. Implementation will follow this major de-duplication of the Merlin catalog, which is expected to reach conclusion by Thanksgiving.
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Library Social Networking
In the last two years libraries have incorporated Internet social networking into programs, catalogs, and websites, expanding their community space into the social web meeting rooms for patrons who interact online. An online teen photo project, online book club discussions, library special collections or services spotlights, and social web workshops for the public could enrich the community and foster still more interest in a library's networks. Examples of how libraries nationwide incorporate vibrant online social components into library activities include:
If you’re interested in exploring Web 2.0 tools and new technologies, Project Play is a free, online, self-discovery program that introduces the emerging technologies that librarians are hearing about and patrons are already using. The Project is a collaboration of South Central Library System, Outagamie Waupaca Library System and Winnefox Library System and based on the Learning 2.0 Program created by Helen Blowers of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Anyone outside of the South Central, Outagamie Waupaca and Winnefox libraries can participate; however they are not eligible to register or to receive incentives. For more information about this program, visit the Project Play site at http://projectplay.owlsweb.info
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Using the Merlin Catalog
If you are experiencing problems with the Merlin catalog on your home computer when renewing items or when using the search history function, you can easily check to make sure your browser's security settings aren't disabling JavaScript. In Internet Explorer 7, JavaScript is automatically turned off if the Internet Zone Security Setting is set at High (the default setting is Medium-High.) Click on Tools, Internet Options, Security, Default (or choose to enable the "active scripting" if you use customized settings.)
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U S E F U L . U R Ls
Lifelong Literacy Campaign
The Advertising Council and the Library of Congress
In an effort to inspire young people to become lifelong learners and encourage reading, the Ad Council and the Library of Congress have launched a new series of public service advertisements (PSAs) to promote the Lifelong Literacy campaign. Young readers can connect to "The Storybook Adventure," a dynamic new online activity that
takes them on a series of expeditions through fantasy realms, each inspired
by a classic work of children's fiction. "The Storybook Adventure" journeys bring reading to life in an
educational way that is stimulating for young people.
Yahoo's List of Literature Review Sites
Yahoo offers an extensive literature review directory that can be browsed by catagory or sorted alphabetically or by popularity.
Keeping Up with Technology - Resources for Library Staff
The Colorado Department of Education provides a directory of library resources and technology links including news, guides, and online courses.
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R E F L E C T I O N
There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.
— Andrew Carnegie
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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