Vol. 6, No. 6 -- March 14, 2008
Index
- System Celebration 2008 scheduled Sept. 25 at Devil’s Head Resort
- SCLS staff will visit all member libraries in 2008
- Member/Staff News
- GVRL pilot project explores patron driven acquisition
- National Library Week promotional materials available
- LSTA funds support netLibrary patron driven acquisition
- LINK web workshops require a new plug-in
- ReferenceUSA subscription no longer includes Wisconsin Business Directory
- LSTA meeting, public hearing scheduled
- CCBC pod casts begin
- CCBC Choices 2008 now available
- NoveList and NoveList K-8 interfaces are updated
- Continuing Education Calendar
System Celebration 2008 scheduled Sept. 25 at Devil’s Head Resort
Plans are now underway for System Celebration 2008, which will be held Thursday, Sept. 25, at Devil's Head Resort & Convention Center in Merrimac.
In preparation for this annual awards ceremony we've posted nomination forms. All nominations must be submitted using the online form, and must be completed by April 30, 2008.
System Celebration is our annual thank you to the staff, trustees, and mayors/village presidents of SCLS member libraries for their support and efforts throughout the year, and our awards are an important component of that recognition.
The following annual awards will be presented that evening. To complete the online form, select the award name below.
- Library of the Year Award -- Recognizes a public and/or multitype library for its innovative user service(s). You may nominate your own library or any other library of any type which you think deserves the award. The library will be recognized with a certificate and a check for $200 (if one award is given) or $150 each (if both a public and multitype award are given.)
- Public Official Award -- Recognizes the outstanding contributions to a library or libraries by a mayor, village president, city administrator, supportive council member, legislator, or any other public official who does not serve as a library trustee and whom you feel should be recognized.
- Special Award -- Recognizes a friend of the library who has worked to promote and/or improve library services and who is not a trustee or public official. The person does not have to be a member of an official Friends group.
- Chester Pismo Snavely Award for a Nifty Activity -- Recognizes a library, other organization, or persons' out-of-the-ordinary nifty library activity or service. This award recipient is selected by SCLS staff.
- Trustee of the Year Award -- This award is given for each county. Local and county library trustees who have served during 2007, and have rendered outstanding or special service to libraries are eligible. Winners are honored with a monetary award to their local library.
- Partnership Award -- The SCLS Partnership Award is presented each year to a community organization, agency or business that works with the South Central Library System or its member libraries to provide new and innovative library programs and services. In some cases, a member library may also be acknowledged in conjunction with the community partner. This award is selected by SCLS staff, but nominations and suggestions from the SCLS community are welcome.
SCLS staff will visit all member libraries in 2008
In an effort to enhance communication with member libraries, the South Central Library System is implementing a program through which each library will be visited at least once each calendar year.
SCLS staff members from Administration, Delivery, and Automation will schedule and conduct library visits throughout the year. We’ll use these meetings as an opportunity to ensure that all contact information is current, to learn more about each library’s unique situation, and to answer specific questions you may have (or put you in touch with someone who can answer your questions).
Staff will begin scheduling visits soon, but don’t panic if you don’t get called right away. Everyone will be visited before the year ends.
Peggy Kindschi, director of the Columbus Public Library, has been elected President of the Columbus Literacy Council. Melissa Potter recently received a plaque from Columbia County Connects for "being a community asset" and working hard to bring kids into the library. The director of the Columbus School District’s After School Club nominated Melissa for this award.
Terry Cohn and Richmond Kinney (Hawthorne), Justin Wilson (South Madison), John Noyd (Lakeview), and Jacquelyn Grissom (Central) have all joined the Madison Public Library staff as desk pages.
Terry Waraksa has retired from Madison Public Library after 30 years of service. Terry's expertise and depth of knowledge, especially with business and investment materials, will be missed.
The Rock Springs Public Library renovations are complete, and the new meeting room is now open. The library has plans to add three adult only stations in the new meeting room by the end of the year. According to Director Norma Jean LeMoine, “With the new carpet, shelving and paint colors, we look like a completely different library!”
UW-Madison Libraries are the co-winner of “Best Online Archival Exhibit” from Publisher’s Bindings Online. Read more in the Capital Times.
Thanks to gifts from the Alexander Charitable Foundation and Charles and JoAnn Lester, the Lester Public Library of Vesper expanded its operating hours beginning March 1, 2008. The new hours are: Mondays 12-7 p.m.; Tuesdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m.; Wednesday 12-7 p.m.; Thursday 12-7 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Sunday Closed.
The March issue of WSLL @ Your Service has been published at http://wsll.state.wi.us/newsletter/0803.html.
GVRL pilot project explores patron driven acquisition
As explained in the last issue of Online Update, SCLS libraries have access to the online resource “Gale Virtual Reference Library” (GVRL) through the end of June. This is part of a pilot project to determine if there will be enough interest to continue the access using a "patron driven acquisition" model.
GVRL is a database that contains the full text of common reference books such as American Men and Women of Science, Newsmakers [annual cumulations], College Blue Book, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, American Decades, and many other useful titles such as Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, and Encyclopedia of Aging.
If continued after the pilot project, the way it would work is this:
- We would pay a certain amount of money for access to search all of the titles.
- As patrons access specific titles, we would purchase specific titles based on what was used the most, rather than guessing at what might be used. This is a very interesting collection development model because we would actually be buying what patrons want and use.
Having GVRL available through June will allow you to use it, and try it with your patrons. There is a link to it from the "Online Resources by Name" page at www.scls.info/resources/name.html, and it also is included in many of the subject areas on the "Online Resources by Subject" page. Please consider using it with your patrons to help answer their questions.
SCLS and Gale are forging new ground by exploring this new and different model for purchasing online content. We hope it will be mutually beneficial to all of us.
By the end of April, we will be contacting you to determine whether there is a commitment from any or all SCLS libraries in helping to pay for access to the database and the patron driven access model described above. If you have any questions about the trial, contact Cheryl Becker, Public Library Administration Consultant.
National Library Week promotional materials available
Public libraries provide a full range of programs, resources, and professional expertise that support the information, education and recreation needs of residents, so this year’s National Library Week theme—“Join the Circle of Knowledge @ Your Library!”—is particularly appropriate.
Scheduled April 13-19, 2008, National Library Week is a time to celebrate the many contributions libraries, librarians and library workers make to their communities.
2008 marks the eighth year of The Campaign for America’s Libraries, a multi-year public education campaign sponsored by the ALA and libraries across the country to speak loudly and clearly about the value of libraries and librarians in the 21st century. More than 20,000 libraries in all 50 states are being reached by @ your library, The Campaign for America’s Libraries.
To help you observe this annual event, please visit www.scls.info/pr/nlw/ to view the available materials. These include a press release, guest editorial, letter to the editor, public service announcement scripts, and a poster and bookmarks. SCLS will provide free copies of the poster and bookmarks to SCLS member libraries, so contact Mark Ibach with the quantities you need.
LSTA funds support netLibrary patron driven acquisition
SCLS deposited funds from our 2007 LSTA Technology grant with netLibrary for patron driven acquisition of technology-related eBook titles. As part of this project, records for 494 titles have been entered in LINKcat, and patrons can access them through netLibrary. The second time they are accessed by an SCLS patron, we purchase them from netLibrary, from those deposited funds.
There are titles on XML, mashups, Office 2007, artificial intelligence, PHP, and many other technology topics.
LINK web workshops require a new plug-in
As of January 2008, LINK web workshops now require installation of the new Live Meeting 2007 Client. Please contact Help Desk staff at least two days prior to the scheduled workshop to arrange a time to install the new software.
Automation will need the name of the PC you plan to use for training. This name is located on a white label usually found on the front or the side of the CPU. It always starts with your three letter agency code and, with a few exceptions, should end with a two digit number (ex. MTHSLAL09). Libraries are asked to designate one or two staff PCs to be used consistently for web workshops so as to minimize installation requests.
ReferenceUSA subscription no longer includes Wisconsin Business Directory
As part of our initial subscription to the ReferenceUSA Business database, all SCLS libraries got a print or CD-ROM version of the Wisconsin Business Directory as part of the subscription. The last time the subscription was renewed, InfoUSA was no longer able to provide those directory copies as part of the subscription. You will no longer be receiving these automatically.
LSTA meeting, public hearing scheduled
Wisconsin's LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) Advisory Committee will meet in Madison April 9 and 10 at the Comfort Inn and Suites Madison, 4822 East Washington Avenue, to discuss grant proposals and make award recommendations for LSTA projects for 2009.
As a part of the meeting, there will be a public hearing beginning at 1 p.m. on April 9 for interested individuals to make suggestions on the LSTA program for 2009. Final guidelines for the 2009 LSTA program will be developed in March 2009.
If you are unable to attend the public hearing, written comments may be submitted by letter, fax, or e-mail to Terrie Howe, P.O. Box 7841, Madison, WI 53707-7841; fax (608) 266-2529 (teresa.howe@dpi.wi.gov). Testimony must arrive by 4 p.m. on April 8 for inclusion in the hearing.
The Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) has begun weekly pod casts that provide a glimpse of what is happening at the CCBC, and featuring a few good books.
The pod casts are accessible on the CCBC website at www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/podcasts/podcasts.asp. RSS feed to automatically receive the pod casts will be available in the future.
CCBC Choices 2008 now available
This year’s edition of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s annual best-of-the-year list highlights 279 titles published for children and teenagers during 2007. In addition to descriptions of each of the recommended books, the Choices booklet includes author/title and subject indexes, and a commentary on the 2007 publishing year.
CCBC Choices is created by the librarians at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the UW-Madison and is published by the Friends of the CCBC Inc. The Friends make Choices available at no cost (except postage) to Wisconsin librarians, teachers, and other interested individuals in the state.
Copies of CCBC Choices 2008 are being sent to all Wisconsin public libraries through the statewide system youth services liaisons. If you would like additional copies sent to your library, please contact Megan Schliesman at (608) 262-9503 (schliesman@education.wisc.edu). Indicate what System your library belongs to when making the request.
NoveList and NoveList K-8 interfaces are updated
As announced in January, the NoveList and NoveList K-8 interfaces not only have a brand new look, but several new features to make them even more valuable to you and your users.
If you’re looking for help suggesting books to nonfiction readers from a source you can trust, then NoveList Plus, the exciting new product that will provide you with NoveList-like treatment for over 50,000 popular nonfiction titles will soon be available. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting new product (there will also be a NoveList K-8 Plus).
