Index
- SCLS email migration complete
- Changes to CE Grant Program – 2015
- Re-signing up for the SCLS blogs
- Member/Staff News
- Foundations of Successful Library Boards
- Apply to host a space, earth science or technology exhibition at your public library
- Continuing Education Calendar
SCLS email migration complete
SCLS tech staff completed our big email project and retired the old @scls.lib.wi.us email accounts and lists on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Office 365 email accounts hosted with SCLS that had been configured to check for old @scls.lib.wi.us email have been automatically unconfigured.
What does this mean for folks who had @scls.lib.wi.us email addresses?
- Email sent to old @scls.lib.wi.us addresses should bounce back to the sender. This may take anywhere from several hours to several days, so hopefully you did a great job making sure everyone knows you have a new address.
- If you were using Gmail or a provider other than SCLS's Office 365 to pull in your old @scls.lib.wi.us mail, you may need to delete the connection you had for your @scls.lib.wi.us account.
If you want to review the recommended steps for retiring the old email addresses to make sure you completed them all, you can find more information at http://scls.typepad.com/scls_technology/2014/10/preparing-to-retire-the-old-sclslibwius-addresses.html
Changes to CE Grant Program -- 2015
After February 19, checks for CE Grant requests will be made out to the library, not the individual requesting the grant. By reimbursing the library instead of the individual, SCLS will not have to issue 1099 forms for Miscellaneous Income to grant recipients.
In 2016, this information will need to be reported on your 2015 Annual Report (and ours). We will include this information with the other SCLS Payments to libraries next year.
Re-signing up for the SCLS blogs
If you’ve been receiving updates from SCLS blogs to your old email address, and would like to make sure you continue to receive those updates, please read http://scls.typepad.com/scls_technology/2015/02/keeping-up-with-the-blogs.html. This change is necessitated because of the migration away from the @scls.lib.wi.us email addresses.
Erin Foley is the new director at Adams County Public Library. She worked previously as the director of the Rio Community Library (June 2010-Jan. 20-15). Prior to that position Erin was the Archivist/Library Driector at Circus World Museum in Baraboo.
Michelle Veeneman, the Youth Services Director at Belleville Public Library, was one of three librarians featured in Demco’s Ideas+Inspiration newsletter in a new section called Real People, Real Stories (click on the stories tab).
The February issue of WSLL @ Your Service has been published at http://wilawlibrary.gov/newsletter/1502.html.
Foundations of Successful Library Boards
On March 3, SCLS will host a continuing education program with presenter Pat Wagner, who will address the topic Foundations of Successful Library Boards: Ethics, Roles, Relationships, and Recruitment. The program will be held at Fitchburg Public Library from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. (Registration & Refreshments begin at 9 a.m.)
Your Friends, Foundation, and Library Board members are all welcome and encouraged to attend. The program description is: What do the members of a library's board do? Do they pick the color of the carpeting, hire janitors, count pennies, and write the director’s reports to the community? Or are they focused on the better future of their community and the people the library serves? Too many people who sit on library boards don’t know their roles or the differences between micromanagement and oversight. One important step to a better board is recruitment: Creating a pool of candidates, bringing them to meetings, inspiring them with your enthusiasm, and sharing information about responsibilities. Learn your real job so you can make the most of your collective time, intelligence, and energy. Bring your issues and curiosity
Key Ideas
- The Purpose Of A Library Board
- Learn And Play The Right Role To Support Your Library
- The Relationship Between Board And Library Director
- Basic Strategic Plan, Budgets, And Policies Oversight
- Relationship With Staff And Community
- Relationship With Friends Groups And Library Foundation
- How to Manage Disagreements
- Evaluate Board Candidates Before You Commit
- Design An Orientation Program
- The Importance Of Mentors
Outcomes
- Define and maintain productive board/director relationships.
- Write guidelines creating budgets and strategic plans.
- Establish rules for managing personnel issues.
- Work with multiple agencies to create candidate “pools”.
- Write and communicate board job descriptions.
- •mprove effectiveness of new members.
Pat Wagner has been a trainer and consultant for libraries since 1978. She has worked with library governing and advisory boards across the United States and is a frequent visitor to Wisconsin libraries. Pat is a proud graduate of Tremper High School in Kenosha and knows how to drive through blizzards, fog, and around tornadoes. She is known for her practical and good-humored programs.
There will be a fee of $12 for lunch and vegetarian options will be available. If you have special dietary needs contact Jean Anderson. Register here!
Apply to host a space, earth science or technology exhibition at your public library
The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in collaboration with the Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Afterschool Alliance, invites public libraries to apply to host one of three science- and technology-focused traveling exhibitions.
The interactive exhibitions are designed to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning opportunities for all ages.
Each exhibition will travel to eight sites in 2016 and 2017. Roughly 800 square feet of space is required for optimal display. Applicants should apply for one of the following exhibitions:
- Discover Space will teach audiences how stars and planetary systems form and the role that gravity plays in our universe. Visitors will learn the similarities and differences between Earth and Mars and be introduced to the tools scientists use to explore planets. The exhibit will examine asteroids and comets, look at the sun as a dynamic star, and reveal electric and magnetic changes that occur in space. Exhibit components will include a 42-inch touch table on which visitors can play a variety of astronomy simulation games; a collection of meteorite specimens, including a touchable, 10-pound meteorite and a solar monitoring station. A Tinkering Station will include various hands-on activities such as designing and building robotic devices using Lego bricks.
- Discover Earth focuses on local earth science topics -- such as weather, water cycle and ecosystem changes -- as well as a global view of our changing planet. Visitors will learn how the global environment changes -- and is changed by -- the local environment of all exhibition hosts’ communities. Interactive, multimedia displays -- such as an 18-inch-diameter Magic PlanetTM globe and a 42-inch touch table -- will allow visitors to interact with digital information in a dynamic way, encouraging new perspectives on our planet. The exhibit components will incorporate personal narratives, stunning graphics, video, animations, weather artifacts and animal specimens. A Tinkering Station will include various hands-on activities such as puzzles and art projects.
- Discover Tech will help audiences understand the nature of 21st-century technology and engineering -- both high- and low-tech -- and their potential for helping to solve many of the world’s problems. Through interactive displays, the exhibition will illustrate that engineers are real people who, through a creative and collaborative design process, arrive at practical solutions to help solve society’s problems. Visitors will learn about the fundamental principles of energy, become aware of their own energy use, and understand the impact of engineering on communities worldwide. For example, using a hand-crank generator, they can produce electrical energy that can be used to power various types of light bulbs and learn which one uses the least energy to operate. Nearby, the Solar Power station will demonstrate the basic functioning of solar energy by allowing visitors to experiment with a light source and a large solar panel. A Tinkering Station will include various hands-on building activities, including an explanation of how gears work.
All grantees will receive:
- one exhibition for a 12-week display period; shipping is free for grantees;
- a cash grant of $1,000 to cover the cost of public programming related to the exhibition;
- a Discover teacher guide, family guide and hands-on activities for different age groups to help libraries develop programs and support classroom visits;
- a two-day, in-person orientation for two exhibition coordinators per site;
- periodic webinars on timely STEM topics to support programming in libraries;
- promotional materials to aid in local outreach; and
- access to the STAR_Net Online Community and a national network of STEM-oriented organizations.
Grantees will be required to plan public programs related to the exhibition and to participate in the STAR_Net Online Community throughout the exhibition period.
Full guidelines and an online application are available at http://apply.ala.org/STARNet-Discover. The application deadline is April 7, 2015.
For libraries that do not have the space to display an 800-square-foot exhibition, ALA and its partners will accept applications for smaller versions of the Discover exhibitions in summer 2015. These smaller exhibitions -- Explore Space, Explore Earth and Explore Tech -- will require roughly 200 square feet of display space. Check http://www.ala.org/programming/ in June 2015 for further details.
The Discover exhibitions are made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation. The exhibition and its educational support materials and outreach opportunities are part of the STAR (Science-Technology Activities and Resources) Library Education Network (STAR_Net), a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities developed by theNational Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute. For more information, visit www.STARnetLibraries.org.