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Adult Services & Programming Workshop

A few years ago, the Wisconsin State Law Library (WSLL) collaborated with library systems to bring a workshop to libraries about the court system. As a former reference librarian, my favorite part of that workshop was the Legal Research presentation. The resources available at the WSLL are incredible.

As part of this year's Adult Services & Programming Workshop on August 8, WSLL offered to host our annual gathering and present a workshop called "It's a Trap! How to Avoid Giving Legal Advice in Reference Services."

Librarians can be at the front lines of the legal system. Helping users to access legal information and resources can be complicated. Where is the line between research help and giving legal advice? How can you determine which sources are authoritative or up to date? This session gives examples and practical tips, including phrases you can use to manage your users’ expectations. Discover online sources for case law, statutes, and regulations, and understand how the Wisconsin State Law Library’s website and services can be used to optimize your legal reference services.

In addition to the workshop, come prepared to share your top 5 programs from the last year. Was there a program that was a hit? Or not? We want to hear about it! This is your opportunity to network and connect with other Adult Services and Programming Librarians in SCLS. As I did last year, I'll compile a list of the program ideas and share with all attendees.

After the workshop, librarians from WSLL will give a tour to all interested. I hope you can join me at the beautiful David T. Prosser State Law Library for this year's workshop.

Details: August 8, 2019 from 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin State Law Library - Rare Books Room, 120 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Madison. Parking is available in a variety of ramps around the square. Register here!

 

Wisconsin Veterans Museum

One of my favorite parts of my job is visiting our member libraries and I’ve been on the road a lot this summer. I always learn something new and this year it was the Traveling Exhibits from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM). Three of the libraries I visited, Cambria, Reedsburg, and Arpin, all recently had or were getting the Working Warriors: Military Life Beyond Combat traveling exhibit for their library. What a great opportunity to create connections with your community.

Next time you’re visiting downtown Madison, be sure to visit the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in person. It’s located on the Capitol Square, admission is free, and the exhibits are enlightening. However, you don’t have to visit in person to get the full benefits of the WVM.

Here is a sampling of the unique and fascinating pieces of information I found while exploring the WVM website.

Did you know there’s a functional submarine periscope that protrudes through the roof of the museum? (Note to self: make sure to see this next time I’m downtown.) You’ll find this interesting fact and many more by reading through the Fact Sheets. You can see the periscope being used in this photo* on the WVM Flickr page.

In addition to the physical exhibits in the Museum, there are Online Exhibits and Online Collections. I particularly enjoyed the Beard Bracket Challenge exhibit. It’s a fun way to learn more about some of our Wisconsin Civil War soldiers. Then, prepare to lose at least an hour browsing through the Online Collections Database. I highly recommend using the Random Images and then selecting an image that catches your eye, like Toby the Horse, and learning more. And, repeat...and, repeat...

Speaking of the Civil War, the WVM has databases that cover the Civil War and Spanish-American War. There’s also a World War I database that’s almost complete. These databases contain a huge amount of genealogical material that relate to Wisconsin men and women who served in the military. Are any of your ancestors listed here? In addition to the genealogical materials, there are collections of material and resources on Military History. These are great resources to know about for those students looking for help with school projects.

Oh, and one more thing. I mentioned the Traveling Exhibits earlier. I found Travel Trunks on the Educators tab. These trunks are filled with artifacts, uniforms, lesson plans and activities that can be used in schools or for library programs. I think there are lots of programming opportunities here. The cost is a very reasonable $25 plus shipping (unless you can pick it up from the Museum).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some more Random Images to check out.

 

*Photo used with permission of Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Wisconsin Digital Archives

One of the courses I took in library school at the University of Missouri-Columbia was Government Documents. I remember being a little intimidated by the Gov Docs department of the library with their SuDocs call numbers and shelves upon shelves of similar looking books. It turned out to be one of the most interesting classes that I took. As I mentioned in the first post introducing our State Agency Libraries, there is a wealth of information in our state and federal documents.

According to a history of the Wisconsin Document Depository Program, state documents have been a part of Wisconsin law since 1901. As you can imagine, much has changed since that time including the transition to electronic documents and creation of a digital collection. Managed by the Department of Public Instruction and established in 2004, the Wisconsin Digital Archives (WDA) contains a growing collection of electronic documents from 2001 to the present.

So, what can you find in Wisconsin Digital Archives? All sorts of interesting and cool things. You'll find reports and statistics about topics ranging from natural resources, education, transportation, corrections, and the economy to recently added reports on lyme disease, broadband, and even frogs & toads. For example, did you know that there is a frog and toad survey for Wisconsin? The Department of Natural Resources has been conducting these surveys for many years and you can find their reports from 1984 to the present online. Here’s a link to the 2012 survey report. There are lots of options for saving, downloading, printing or emailing the documents for patrons to use.

Looking for programming ideas? Check out the Resources for Teachers tab for activity guides and toolkits that you can use and/or adapt to fit your community's needs. The students in your community can use Wisconsin Digital Archives for researching their school assignments and reports for popular topics like climate change, recycling, nutrition and bullying prevention.

There are some libraries in Wisconsin that are designated depository libraries and they receive print copies of documents. If you’re not able to visit one of these depository libraries in person and the documents aren’t in WDA, request the item through interlibrary loan. You can see both the print and electronic document lists on the Document Depository website. If your library is interested, electronic documents are available in WorldCat or WISCAT and can be downloaded into your local catalog.

 

 

Legislative Reference Bureau

I know you all have a copy of the 2015-2016 State of Wisconsin Blue Book in your library along with some older editions, too. Have you ever wondered where it comes from? If you answered the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB), you get a gold star! The Blue Book is one of the many publications available from the LRB. In addition, the LRB publishes The Laws of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations, Wisconsin Administrative Code, and Administrative Register. 

The Legislative Reference Bureau, founded in 1901, is the “official reference source for information about the Wisconsin Legislature and its proceedings.” While the LRB mainly serves the legislature, they are open to and serve the public. Librarians and analysts are available to help legislators and the public find legislative documents, research legislative history and more.

The LRB’s library, Theobald Legislative Library, has over 85,000 items in four main collections: Wisconsin documents, a circulating collection, news clippings, and a reference collection. Wisconsin residents can get a library card and borrow materials from their circulating collection. The news clippings are also digitized and available in the LRB Digital Collections from the public computer stations in the LRB or on your own computer using the LRB’s wi-fi. LRB librarians recommend bringing in a thumb drive to save clippings instead of printing them. If you’re in Madison, stop in and visit, get a library card, and browse their collections - both print and online.

Check out the LRB Digital Collections online. In addition to the news clippings and the Blue Book archive (2005-present*), you’ll find publications from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Legislative Council, the Legislative Audit Bureau, and more. With the exception of the news clippings, you can access these collections from anywhere. The same goes for other LRB publications like the Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations. They’re all collected here along with lots of other legislative information. I like that I can search everything by using the search box on the main page or select the documents or publications I’m interested in and go exploring from there. Somehow, this one page is less daunting than seeing the multi-volume print set of the Statutes on the reference shelves!

*Older editions of the Blue Book can be found in the UW Digital Collections.

 

Wisconsin Historical Society

I recently had the opportunity to visit Washington DC. In addition to taking in the various monuments including the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, I visited the Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of American History. Both of these museums are sharing stories of our history and are very memorable experiences. You don’t have to travel to DC to find stories of our history, though. We are lucky to have one of the best Historical Societies in the nation in our state.

The Wisconsin Historical Society was founded in 1846 and is both a state agency and a private membership organization. There’s a short (6:38) video on the About the Society page that I encourage you to watch as it gives a really nice overview of the Society and all that it does. Then start browsing around the wealth of information on their main website.

There are over 3 million records including newspapers, books, photos, property records, and other documents to start your research into your family tree. In addition, WHS offers webinars, workshops, and classes.* There are guides, tutorials, and instructions to get you started, or you can email or call them with your questions.

I’m sure many of you have students in your community participating in National History Day. You’ll find resources on NHD and lots of other Wisconsin history topics here. Much of this is geared toward teachers, but there are lots of ideas for public libraries, too. Wisconsin history is a big topic during the fourth grade, and the textbook Wisconsin: Our State, Our Story  is available from WHS Press.

In addition to adding WHS Press books to your collection, you can also see if your favorite author is available for an author visit. There’s a Speakers Bureau with authors available to speak on topics ranging from archaeology to cooking to war history. Keep them in mind when planning future library programs and classes.

If you’re in Madison, you can visit the Wisconsin Historical Society on the UW Madison Campus. The library and archives are housed here and I highly recommend spending some quality time in the beautifully restored Reading Room. If you’re up on the capitol square, visit the Wisconsin Historical Museum or find one of the other 11 museum and historic sites near you.

While there are a lot more resources I could cover, I want to end by highlighting a few of the WHS Online Indexes and Collections. There is a Shipwreck Database, the Wisconsin Name Index (try looking for your name), Museum Collections (selected digitized objects from the Museum Collection), Oral HIstories: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust, Vel Phillips Papers, and Wisconsin in the Civil War are a few that I explored on my most recent visit here.

I almost forgot one of my favorite things on their site: This Day in Wisconsin History! (This image is from June 21.)

*SCLS has worked with WHS staff in the past to offer webinars and workshops for library staff. Let me know if you’re interested in another round of workshops.

 

Wisconsin State Law Library

As a reference librarian for a public library, some of the hardest questions to answer were the legal ones. Questions ranged from finding a local ordinance to helping someone find legal forms for wills, divorce, or bankruptcy and more. Where to start? The best place, in my opinion, is our own Wisconsin State Law Library (WSLL).

Established in 1836, the Wisconsin State Law Library is the oldest library in the state. Its mission is “to serve the legal information needs of the officers and employees of this state, attorneys and the public by providing the highest quality of professional expertise in the selection, maintenance and use of materials, information and technology in order to facilitate equal access to the law.” Take note of the word public - the State Law Library is open to and serves the public. While everyone can visit the library, not everyone can get a library card. You can, though, if you’re a librarian.

One of the ways that WSLL serves the public is through their website. Let’s start with Browse by Topic which takes you to a very comprehensive A-Z list of legal topics. This is a great place to start with any legal questions you get in your library. If your topic isn’t in the index, you can search by one or more keywords. Let’s use the Do Not Call Lists as an example. Clicking on Do Not Call in the D index takes us to Telemarketing. In addition to the Do Not Call list information, there is information on phone scams, robocalls and more. Each topic includes links to any statutes, code, or regulations that may apply. Related topics, Law Review articles, links to other library resources, and tutorials round out the information available here.

Select the Legal Topics tab for sources for legal forms, places to get legal assistance, and legal resources from the local Ordinances  & Codes to International Law. If you’re helping a patron with legal research, the WSLL has you covered. Select the Learning Center tab for Legal Research Guides to get you started. WSLL also offers both free and fee-based classes, a wide selection of tutorials, and Start Here guides. These quick guides are short, easily printed, PDF documents listing library and internet resources on frequently requested topics.

Keep up with the happenings at the Wisconsin State Law Library by subscribing to its Library Highlights blog and its monthly online newsletter. And, if you’re ever downtown Madison, stop by and visit.  

Now you have a site full of librarian recommended resources to share with your patrons. If you or your patron need additional help, use the Ask A Librarian feature or call the Reference Desk for help. As with any legal reference interaction, I have to end with the disclaimer that I’m not giving legal advice.

Seriously, though, your reference policy should include some language like WSLL Reference Service Policy about what library staff can and can’t do for patrons relating to legal reference questions.

Exercise Your Mind with State Resources

Continuing last summer's successful Super Librarian Powers (SLP) Project focusing on databases, we're going to exercise our minds while exploring our state's treasure trove of online resources.

Most every month, I meet with a group of librarians from state agencies like the State Law Library, Legislative Reference Bureau, Historical Society, Department of Transportation, Department of Justice, Employee Trust Funds, and Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning - just to name a few. I learn something new at every meeting and have found a way to share that knowledge with you.

Starting next Monday, June 13, we'll explore the publicly available resources for six or seven agencies on this blog. Look for a new blog post every other Monday through early September. Stay tuned!

Image from Pixabay