Index
- Flooding hits libraries & communities hard
- Member/Staff News
- Wisconsin Way public forums need library input
- Rally ‘round the Peace Pole
- WLA Scholarship Applications Due Sept. 15
- Online service provides phone message distribution
- SLIS offers scholarship for Public Library Director Certification Course
- AskAway now part of international reference service
- SLIS offers consumer health practicum, needs library participants
- Continuing Education Calendar
Flooding hits libraries & communities hard
Communities across Wisconsin, particularly those within the South Central Library System, have suffered significant flooding the past two weeks. In most cases libraries and their collections have been spared, but a number of libraries have experienced losses related to flooding, and several have suffered significant damage.
Of the four hardest hit -- LaValle, Pardeeville, Plain and Rock Springs -- only the Angie W. Cox Library in Pardeeville has reopened. Maureen Palmer reported this week that Plain will probably be closed for at least six weeks, and Norma Jean LeMoine indicated last week that Rock Springs will most likely be closed for months.
True to form, librarians and their libraries have stepped up in this time of need to help people communicate with relatives, to provide Internet access for information about insurance and federal emergency assistance, and to help maintain some semblance of normalcy for children by continuing children’s programs.
In an effort to provide SCLS member libraries with assistance, we’ve created a webpage at www.scls.info/pr/floodhelp/ where you can make financial contributions, offer resources, expertise or equipment, or volunteer time to help libraries in need. We’ve also included a form that libraries can complete to indicate the kind of assistance they need. If your library sustained flood damage that you'd like listed on this web page, please let us know so we can add your information.
Financial contributions can be made through PayPal directly to the SCLS Foundation, and all contributions are tax deductible. Simply indicate on the last page of the donation process whether you want the contribution to benefit a particular library, or just flooded libraries in general.
To help promote this library need to the larger community, we have drafted a press release that libraries can use locally to encourage contributions from local residents. Please feel free to modify the release for use in your community.
Following recent flooding events, Columbus Public Library Director Peggy Kindschi has been named Public Information Officer for the city’s Emergency Operations Center. According to the city manager, “The library really stepped up to the plate on this one. Thanks for doing a great job.” Kindschi said the recognition is really a reflection of the efforts of the entire library staff, who she said “are going above and beyond the call of duty serving our patrons and others in their time of need. Way to go guys! You make me so proud to work with such a great bunch.”
In his blog, titled “Retiring Guy's Digest: Recommended Reading From A Library Perspective,” Middleton Public Library Director Paul Nelson points readers to the June 2008 issue of “Governing” magazine, which he says “contains two generally upbeat articles on libraries. He encourages librarians to ponder two questions: “What do my policymakers know about my library?” and “What am I doing to keep them informed on a regular basis?”
Karen Wendt, youth services coordinator at Monona Public Library, will receive a Mayoral Award at the city’s Annual Appreciation Reception on Tuesday, June 24. The recognition will be presented in appreciation of the many contributions she has made to the City of Monona. Wendt has worked at Monona since 1984 and has been the youth services coordinator since 1994.
Wisconsin Way public forums need library input
The Wisconsin Way is a unique partnership of statewide organizations with the goal of finding a new and better way to fund public services. Members come from different backgrounds, but the organization’s website says they all want the same thing -- lower property taxes without lowering Wisconsin’s quality of life.
As the process continues with an upcoming series of public meetings, it’s imperative that the voice of libraries be included in the discussion.
The statewide effort is led by the Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA); the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC); the Wisconsin REALTORS® Association (WRA); the Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association; and Wood Communications Group (WCG). These partners have joined together in an unprecedented statewide effort dedicated to achieving significant and permanent reductions in the amount of property taxes Wisconsin property owners pay each year, while at the same time protecting the services that make Wisconsin a special place to live.
In phase two of the Wisconsin Way, public and private sector economists and analysts, as well as UW-Madison public affairs experts, have been studying hundreds of comments that were shared at the first set of forums. The goal is to help frame these comments into potential policy solutions. These solutions will be presented at a second set of statewide, public forums this summer, which are listed here.
To register for one of the forums so you can make sure libraries have a voice in the process, just click on one of the city names below.
• Eau Claire -- June 24, 6-8 p.m.
• Oshkosh -- July 10, 6-8 p.m.
• Green Bay -- July 17, 6-8 p.m.
• Waukesha -- July 21, 6-8 p.m.
• Wausau -- July 23, 6-8 p.m.
• Kenosha -- July 24, 6-8 p.m.
• Columbus -- July 28, 7-9 p.m.
• La Crosse -- July 29, 6-8 p.m.
• Janesville -- Aug. 4, 6-8 p.m.
• Platteville -- Aug. 5, 6-8 p.m.
• Superior -- Aug. 7, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
• Milwaukee -- Aug. 11, 6-8 p.m.
• Rhinelander -- Aug. 12, 6-8 p.m.
• Appleton -- Aug. 14, 6-8 p.m.
• Madison -- Aug. 19, 6-8 p.m.
More information about The Wisconsin Way an be found at www.wisconsinway.org.
What do the prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for decades, the Pyramids of El Giza, Egypt, the Allenby Bridge between Israel and Jordan, the war museum in Viet Nam, the Magnetic North Pole of Canada, 180 countries, and the Monona Library all have in common? They are all home to one of 200,000 hand crafted Peace Poles dedicated as international monuments to peace.
With an inscribed message, “Let Peace Prevail on Earth‚” in a variety of languages, these sculptural poles are designed to promote reflection, hope, and commitment to a fair and harmonious world. Last Saturday, a group of Monona Public Library supporters, City Council and Library Board members, community representatives, and most importantly, a single resourceful and motivated Girl Scout troop, gathered to dedicate the permanent installation of the Monona community’s new Peace Pole and garden.
The ceremony included remarks by each member of Girl Scout Troop 603, the Director of Black Hawk Council, Board President Beth Ryan, and Demita Gerber, Monona Public Library Director. There was music by singer-songwriter Ken Lonnquist and Girl Scout Abby Taylor. Some of the girls detailed the wonderful story of how the determined efforts of their troop over three years finally brought this gift to the Monona community.
The Troop’s Peace Pole initiative began in 2005 with the “1000 Peace Crane Project,” for which the girls folded 1,000 brilliantly colored origami cranes to promote peace and remember young victims of war, dating back to the destruction of Hiroshima. These cranes, many of which still hang in the Monona Public Library’s Children’s Area, won the troop a Junior Bronze Award. This project was the impetus for the troop taking the next step and focusing its efforts on working for peace on both an international and community level. Selling additional cranes, and donating proceeds from cookie sales and other fundraisers, helped Troop 603 generate the capital, manpower, and resources to install the Peace Pole and the surrounding garden. Once they were aware of the Troop’s goal, the Library was eager to support this project.
“A library can promote peace not just through the knowledge it contains, not just through the understanding it promotes‚ …but also through the practices and principles it embodies. …Reach out and keep your learning doors open to peace,” said Library Director Demita Gerber.
--by Toni Streckert (Library Assistant I, Youth Services)
WLA Scholarship Applications Due Sept. 15
WLA members and prospective library school students are encouraged to apply for the scholarships for library education and library continuing education sponsored by the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation. The six scholarships are funded by the WLA Foundation through generous charitable contributions.
The scholarships, in two general categories, are listed below.
Library Continuing Education Scholarships
- George Bauer Continuing Education Scholarship ($800) -- Available to a person employed in a library in Wisconsin, or someone who works with library employees in those communities, to attend a conference or other continuing education program within or outside Wisconsin.
- Gloria Hoegh Scholarship for Rural Librarians ($1,050) -- Available to a person employed in a library in a Wisconsin community with a population of 5,000 or less, or someone who works with library employees in those communities, to attend a conference or other continuing education program within or outside Wisconsin.
Library Education Scholarships
- Library Education Scholarship ($1,300) -- Available to a current or permanent Wisconsin resident admitted to a master’s degree program in library and information science or in library media at a Wisconsin school as a part- or full-time student
- Diversity Scholarship ($1,200) -- Available to a current or permanent Wisconsin resident admitted to a master’s degree program in library and information science or in library media at a Wisconsin school as a part- or full-time student and who is African-American, Latino/Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, of Native American/Alaskan Native descent, or physically challenged.
- Sally Davis Scholarship ($1,250) -- Available to a current or permanent Wisconsin resident admitted to the master’s degree program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison SLIS as a part- or full-time student.
- Vida Cummins Stanton ($1,400) -- Available to a current or permanent Wisconsin resident admitted to the master’s degree program at the UW-Milwaukee SOIS as a part- or full-time student pursuing a library media or youth services program.
Details on the scholarships and copies of the application forms are available by following the links on the scholarship website. Applications are due Sept 15, 2008.<
Online service provides phone message distribution
A recent request from an SCLS member library about the availability of technology to send phone messages to multiple numbers automatically prompted an exploration of options.
Specifically, the library wanted to call about 350 library users and deliver the same voice message. A service called Phonevite fits the bill, and all for $0.05 per call. Without any long-term contract requirement or technology investment, those 350 calls would cost the library $17.50.
You can send up to 25 messages at once for free, and beyond that the cost is the same $0.05 per call. If this is something your library wants to explore, check it out at www.phonevite.com.
SLIS offers scholarship for Public Library Director Certification Course
UW-Madison SLIS Continuing Education Services will offer a scholarship this Fall for a public library director certification course, and the award is limited to directors currently pursuing their certification in Wisconsin. The winner may take either Basic Public Library Management or Collection Development online free of charge during the Fall 2008 semester, which his a $415 award.
Complete scholarship information, including the application form, is available at www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/certscholarship.html. Completed applications should be emailed or mailed by Aug. 15, 2008, to Anna Palmer, Room 4285 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park Street, Madison, WI 53706. For more information, contact Palmer at (608) 263-4452.
In Spring 2009, the award will be repeated for Fundamentals of Cataloging, Public Library Administration, and Basic Reference (all online).
AskAway now part of international reference service
AskAway, Wisconsin’s statewide virtual reference service, has dramatically expanded the boundaries of the conventional library, and now that service has taken on an international flavor.
You may have thought it was amazing when a librarian from Maine or California -- or anywhere in between -- answered your question, but now it might be someone in the United Kingdom. That’s right, approximately 90 public libraries in England and Scotland are now part of the 24/7 Reference Cooperative.
Technology has helped make the world a smaller place, and this is just one new development that reminds us that it will continue to shrink.
The statewide availability of AskAway is made possible by an LSTA grant administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Like BadgerLink, AskAway is an online service that opens the vast resources of Wisconsin’s libraries to all residents, no matter where or when they need information.
The 24-hour-a-day AskAway service is staffed by the 24/7 Reference Consortium—a group of hundreds of libraries across the country (and now the UK) that work together to provide this service—as well as local Wisconsin librarians who contribute their time to the consortium. Wisconsin residents benefit from this expanded service.
You can access AskAway at www.askaway.info.
SLIS offers consumer health practicum, needs library participants
In conjunction with a consumer health course taught by UW-Madison SLIS, this fall the school will offer a practicum option and is in need of participating libraries.
The course will again be taught using distance education technology, and while SLIS never knows exactly who is in the class until about a week before it starts, the last class was about was about 50-50 Madison/local people and non-Wisconsinites, and also about 50-50 future-medical and future-public librarians.
This is a collection development practicum worth 40 hours (per term) designed to put the student in a real-life consumer health collection experience. Students are asked to evaluate an existing consumer health collection in a public, academic, or medical library by identifying resources for de-selection, new resources for possible purchase, and writing a reflective paper on the evaluation and the criteria used to make decisions.
Hospital libraries inside and outside Madison have expressed an interest, but Associate Professor Catherine Arnott Smith would like to get some public libraries in the mix. The library providing the practicum site would get collection development for free in its consumer health section, even if a formal section does not exist.
If you are interested in being on a Potential Practicum Site list, or know of libraries that might benefit from this, send an email to [email protected].
This course is being offered both as a graduate 3-credit course, and a CE opportunity. The CE flavor is described at www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/consumerhealth.html.