- Wisconsin receives nearly $23 million for broadband investments
- Applications due March 8 for SCLS Director position
- Reserve May 27 for All-Directors meeting
- Member/Staff News
- PTFS acquisition of LibLime canceled by joint agreement
- Order ‘Libraries for Real Life’ promotional materials
- OverDrive posters available
- ITG announces new relationship with SCLS member libraries
- Grant Awards/Opportunities
- UWSP hosts Central Wisconsin Library Conference 2010
- Celebrate! Celebremos!
- President Obama requests nearly $266 million for IMLS
- Continuing Education Calendar
Wisconsin receives nearly $23 million for broadband investments
Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Deputy Commerce Sec. Dennis Hightower yesterday announced Wisconsin will invest $28.7 million to expand broadband Internet access, including $22.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. The grant will provide high-speed Internet access to 467 sites in over 380 communities in all the state’s 72 counties.
“High-speed Internet access is critical to the success of our state’s entrepreneurs, businesses, students and families,” Gov. Doyle said. “This project will create jobs to lay and install fiber cable, for telecommunications contractors and technicians, and in fields like construction, manufacturing, masonry and electrical wiring. Through the Recovery Act, the Obama Administration is making major investments in Wisconsin’s broadband infrastructure to help our schools and libraries access high-speed Internet.”
Wisconsin is receiving one of several national Recovery Act grants for broadband development. The state’s project will expand broadband Internet access to 74 schools, eight post-secondary schools including two tribal colleges, and 385 libraries. Eighty-four percent of the school districts and colleges receiving the grant are in rural areas. Over 200 miles of fiber optic cable will be installed and more than $10 million will be spent on American-made telecommunications equipment and materials.
Extending fiber to the 467 sites will allow for future expansion of broadband throughout the state.
- 90 percent of sites are within five miles of a police station and 88 percent of sites are within five miles of a fire station, which has the potential to improve communication and coordination during disaster situations;
- over 90 percent of the sites are within 20 miles of the nearest hospital, which may be useful in improving the integration and sharing of electronic medical records; and
- over 125,000 households are within the market area of these sites, helping families gain access to broadband.
The Wisconsin Department of Administration will administer the grant, which will provide fiber connections to all schools and libraries on the BadgerNet Converged Network served by the BadgerNet Alliance. Over 90 percent of the libraries in the state and over 80 percent of the state’s school districts will be served by the BadgerNet Converged Network, which partners with independent telecommunication companies across the state. A list of schools and libraries that will benefit from this grant is available on the WisGov website.
The state will invest $5.7 million in matching funds from the Technology for Education Achievement (TEACH) program for $28.7 million in total investment.
Applications due March 8 for SCLS Director position
Applications for the position of SCLS Director must be submitted by March 8, 2010, to be considered. Qualified candidates interested in applying should visit the SCLS website.
Candidates must have an MLS degree and at least six years of library management experience, a sense of humor, a passion for service, strong communication skills, and the ability to function as a change agent.
Reserve May 27 for All-Directors meeting
The date of the 2010 All-Directors meeting is May 27, 2010. There are not yet any details about place, time, or content, but library directors are asked to reserve that day.
This will be the first annual All-Directors meeting as part of the new SCLS governance structure. In the document "Charges and Descriptions of the Governance Bodies" the All-Director's meeting is described this way under the Administrative Council -- Meetings: "One meeting per year will be designated as the All-Directors meeting for the purpose of approving the budget, plan and service priorities." This is an Administrative Council meeting, but this one time a year it includes all member library directors, not only the elected AC members.
Please watch future issues of Online Update, and the SCLS website, for more information.
Member/Staff News
Black Earth Public Library, as a fundraising project, is sponsoring an Italian Night dinner on Sunday, Feb. 28, at David W. Heiney's Dining and Spirits. For just $15 per person, residents can enjoy: stuffed shells, linguini with pasta sauce or meat sauce, assorted pizzas, Sicilian salad and lemoncini. Corporate sponsorships of eight or more include two bottles of red wine. For more information about this project, contact Carolyn Shaffer ([email protected]) at (608) 767-4905.
Demita Gerber, director of the Monona Public Library, was profiled in last Sunday’s Wisconsin State Journal. Gerber, who has been the Monona director since December 2006, said she owed late fines to the Phoenix Public Library as a youngster, but because she couldn’t pay the fines she was allowed to work as a library page to cover what she owed. The rest is history!
At its annual meeting on Jan. 27, directors of the Lodi Area Opportunity & Development Incorporated (L.O.D.I.) awarded the Lodi Public Library a “Going Green” award for its energy-saving efforts.
World War II Veterans of Mount Horeb is a digital collection that honors the sacrifices and achievements of Mount Horeb veterans, and ensures their place in local history. The collection brings together several types of materials: books, photographs, audio interviews, slides, and personal scrapbooks and memorabilia. Mount Horeb Public Library began this project by personally interviewing willing WWII veterans. Each of these men and one woman has compelling stories to tell about serving their country during WWII. Many had the opportunity to take pictures of a 1940s war-ravaged Europe, which are also included in the collection. The project was undertaken by Jessica Williams, the Programming Librarian for Mount Horeb, and was funded in part by an LSTA grant.
The Charles and JoAnn Lester Library in Nekoosa was chosen to receive a $3,700 grant for an AWE Early Literacy Computer. Also, the Town of Armenia has donated $500 for the purchase of large print books.
Stoughton Mayoral candidates recently participated in a televised forum, during which local resident (and Delivery driver) Richard Wambold asked each to describe their support for the library. You can watch the six minutes of responses, starting at minute 63:00.
Mary Whittington, Youth Service Librarian at Portage County Public Library in Stevens Point announced her retirement effective March 11, 2010. Mary has been at the library for 35 years.
PTFS acquisition of LibLime canceled by joint agreement
PTFS and LibLime announced last week that they reached mutual agreement to continue operating as independent companies providing integrated library solutions in the US and throughout the world.
The two companies made a joint statement on Jan. 13, 2010, announcing plans for a sale of LibLime to PTFS. However, PTFS and LibLime could not agree upon financial terms and have agreed not to proceed with the acquisition.
SCLS continues to work with LibLime to develop new software that will be the backbone of LINKcat. For more information about this project, visit the LINK 2.0 Koha Blog.
Order ‘Libraries for Real Life’ promotional materials Libraries are instrumental in shaping the quality of life in our communities, and capturing and sharing these personal stories is a way to capitalize on the goodwill libraries generate. This is the driving force behind the new project “Library For Real Life,” and the reason SCLS is urging every SCLS member library to use the available promotional materials.
The title -- “Libraries For Real Life!” -- reinforces the reality that today’s public libraries are vibrant, dynamic community resources that meet the information, education, and recreational needs of residents of all ages. There is little doubt about the impact libraries have, and sharing those stories is critical to the continued success of these vital community institutions.
We encourage each library to link to www.librariesforreallife.org, using one of the buttons designed for that purpose. We also encourage you to download the press release from the “Information for Libraries” link near the bottom of the page and ask your local newspaper to publish it. Posters, table tents, bookmarks, and printed story submission forms are available free of charge by placing a print request with Mark Ibach.
For more information about the project, click on the website’s “Learn More” link, or contact one of the committee members or Mark Ibach.
OverDrive posters available
SCLS, as part of its membership in the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium’s Digital Download Center, has received a limited supply of posters to promote the OverDrive downloadable audiobook collection.
The posters, which are 17 inches wide by 11 inches tall, are available by contacting Mark Ibach, SCLS Marketing & PR Coordinator. If requests exceed the number of posters available, we’ll work with OverDrive to obtain more copies.
ITG announces new relationship with SCLS member libraries
The new SCLS governance structure has been implemented, and another pending change is a new relationship member libraries will have with Integrated Technology Group (ITG) for the installation and service of self-check machines. Below is a letter from Patty Dwyer Wanninger, the Midwest account manager for ITG.
Dear Member of South Central Library System:
I am writing to introduce you to a new relationship with me and my company, the Integrated Technology Group (ITG). As you are no doubt aware, SCLS is undergoing a period of personnel, governance, and technology changes.
The retirement of Lauren Blough and the migration to Koha mean there will be changes in your relationship to ITG. In the past, SCLS had the relationship with SirsiDynix for the ordering and billing of ITG products installed in SCLS member libraries. Once an ITG item was installed, the library was ITG’s customer for the purposes of support. Now, however, each library will be ITG’s customer throughout the process—beginning with the acquisition of product quotes, to placing orders, to system maintenance.
I am very excited about developing these new relationships, and I am looking forward to working with you to meet your needs for self-service technology, security, and RFID. I know many of you from my years as the assistant director at Hedberg Public Library in Janesville and director at Manitowoc Public Library. I have all types of library experience, including early adoption of a library ILS in the CLIC consortium while working as the technical services manager at Hill Reference Library in St. Paul, and during a building project while at Hedberg. I have been the Midwest Account Manager for ITG since August of 2008.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have about ITG and our products. Although my address below is in an Atlanta suburb, I am actually based out of my home in Janesville, WI.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Patty Dwyer Wanninger
Midwest Account Manager
Integrated Technology Group
5000 Miller Court East
Norcross, GA 30071
877.207.3127 ext. 154(phone)
877.207.3129 (fax)
[email protected]
Grant Awards/Opportunities
ALA “The American Dream Starts @ Your Library” mini-grants -- In January 2010, the American Library Association (ALA) received a two-year grant of $750,000 from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation for “The American Dream Starts @ your library.” This funding makes it possible for ALA to fund 70 public libraries in Dollar General communities to develop literacy programs for adult English language learners. To be eligible for funding, the applicant institution must be a public library, or a public library with a bookmobile providing literacy services for adult English language learners, and must be within 20 miles of a Dollar General Store, distribution center or corporate office. Each funded library will receive a onetime $5,000 grant. The application deadline is Feb. 28, 2010. (More Information)
Pepsirefresh.com grants -- Pepsirefresh.com is looking for people, businesses, and non-profit organizations with ideas that will have a positive impact. Look around your community and think about how you want to change it. Applications are accepted from the 1st through the 15th of each month, or until 1,000 ideas are submitted, whichever comes first. Voting on accepted submissions takes place throughout the month, and if your idea was not accepted one month you can try again the next. Grant requests can be submitted monthly in the following categories: $5,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $250,000. (More Information)
UWSP hosts Central Wisconsin Library Conference 2010
The UW-Stevens Point University Library is pleased to host the first annual Central Wisconsin Libraries Conference. The objective of the conference is to build and foster professional relationships between Central Wisconsin libraries and their staffs, to provide a forum to discuss issues unique to our library community, and to provide a positive and exciting experience for library professionals working and living in our region.
The conference is free to all library staff working in the Central Wisconsin Region. So if you work at a school library, an academic library, a public library or a private library, please join us in Stevens Point on April 13.
For a schedule of events, or to register, visit the UWSP Library website.
Celebrate! Celebremos!
Join colleagues across the country as libraries nationwide celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day). Held annually on April 30, Día promotes the importance of advocating literacy for every child, regardless of linguistic and cultural background. Through Día celebrations, libraries showcase their multicultural programs and services.
While supplies last, ALSC is providing up to 100 complimentary bilingual brochures, with recommended book lists and tips on how to encourage children to read, to each library that registers its Día event at www.ala.org/dia. The registry of events is searchable by state.
For more information, contact ALSC at [email protected].
President Obama requests nearly $266 million for IMLS
President Obama has requested $265,869,000 for fiscal year 2011 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The request, which was transmitted to Congress on Feb. 1, is the same as the FY 2010 enacted levels for the Institute's programs and administration.
"We are gratified that these essential services have been recognized in President Obama's continued support of these institutions," said Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director of IMLS.
The President requested $213.5 million for Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) programs that support the nation's 123,000 libraries. Of that amount, approximately 80 percent ($172.5 million) is distributed through the Grants to States program to the State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and freely associated states, according to a population-based formula. These grants help libraries meet the community needs, use technology to develop new service models and reach underserved populations.
Library funding also supports the following programs.
- National Leadership Grants to support creation of new tools, research, models, services, practices, or alliances to shape tomorrow's libraries.
- Native American and Native Hawaiian Library Services Grants to support improved access to library services for Native Americans, Alaska Native Villages, and Native Hawaiians.
- Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grants that build the professional capacity of libraries by improving staff knowledge and skills.
The President's budget provides $2.1 million in continued support for research and policy activities, including funding for the Public Library Survey and the State Library Agency Survey.