Index
- Registration deadline is Sept. 7 for Social Services Symposium
- September ‘Talk of the Town' available
- Nominate your library for SCLS Foundation awards
- Member/Staff News
- Managing for Success and Accountability
- BadgerLink has done it again
- Musings on coffee, libraries & sales tax
- Continuing Education Calendar
Registration deadline is Sept. 7 for Social Services Symposium
Staff at public libraries deal with a variety of social services issues every day, brought to the library by the people they serve. True to the nature of the profession, every effort is made to provide assistance and support, but sometimes training and resources are lacking.
To help library staff members better serve their customers, the Library Innovation Subcommittee has scheduled a special Social Services Symposium for Sept. 11, 2015, at the Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells. Space is limited, so register before the end of the day on Sept. 7, 2015.
Below is the agenda for the day.
- 9-9:30 Registration & Refreshments
- 9:30-9:45 Welcome & Introductions
- 9:45-10:45 Opening session: State of Homelessness, with Paula Jero, executive director, Marshfield Area United Way -- Public libraries in Wisconsin report that they are serving more homeless patrons and families living in poverty than ever before. In this kickoff session, Paula Jero will provide up-to-date statistics about the growing homeless population in Wisconsin, and provide information about ways public libraries can partner with community agencies to serve the homeless, the unemployed, and families who are losing their homes.
- 10:45-11 Break (use break to reflect, connect, record ideas)
- 11-12 A Primer on Rural Poverty in Wisconsin with Dr. Katherine Curtis and Dr. Leann Tigges, Department of Community and Environmental Sociology, UW Madison -- Many people in rural Wisconsin struggle with low incomes and insufficient employment. This session will provide information about poverty trends and dimensions, and explore the implications of living with economic insecurity. Data will focus explicitly on rural areas, especially the South Central region, and the discussion will explore stereotypes of the poor as well as the complexities of life for the low income population.
- 12-1 Lunch (time to connect with fellow participants and discuss library needs) -- Lunch will be $10, and checks should be made payable to SCLS and sent to Heidi Moe at SCLS, or payment can be made on the day of the event. Lunch will be “South of the Border,” and will include Chicken Fajitas, Beef Tacos, with sautéed onions & peppers, seasoned rice, refried beans, shredded cheese, lettuce, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, hard & soft shell corn tortillas, fiesta salad and fresh seasonal vegetables. Vegetarian options will also be available. The hotel does NOT allow outside food/lunches to be brought in.
- 1-2:45 Good Work and Secondary Trauma: Serving Vulnerable Communities, with Valerie Walker, LCSW, ACSW, Human Services Program Faculty & Coordinator, HMS Student Club Advisor, William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, IL -- Valerie Walker has spent years directly working with vulnerable populations, teaching students of social work, and presenting workshops to organizations that directly serve the public. In this session she will discuss methods for working with vulnerable populations, provide information about partnering agencies, and address the needs of workers on the front lines of public service.
- 2:45-3 Wrap-up & Next Steps
This event is sponsored through funding from Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, awarded to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction by the Federal Department of Museum and Library Services, and by the First Business Bank Foundation, Madison, WI.
September ‘Talk of the Town' available
The September edition of "Talk of the Town" is now available. It features Susan Santner, director of Oregon Public Library, talking about Library Card Sign-Up Month. (watch below)
The October edition will feature Tracy Herold, director of the Dane County Library Service, who will talk about library fundraising.
Nominate your library for SCLS Foundation awards
Public libraries are unique local institutions, touching the lives of residents in untold ways. In recognition of the unique role libraries play, the South Central Library System (SCLS) Foundation will again present three library awards as part of the 2015 Cornerstone Award fundraising reception on Nov. 19 in Portage.
Library staff members, trustees, friends, or residents can nominate their library to recognize the amazing work public libraries do every day while serving their communities. To make an online nomination, click on the award name below. All nominations must be submitted by 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, 2015.
- Super Awesome Library Award -- For the library that was overall awesome in 2015. Maybe they handled a tough situation with grace. Or took a new approach. Or found a lot of money under a rock and did something really cool with it. Or got a lot of local support and kudos because they play well with others. Or are just plain super awesome every day.
- Program Wizard Award -- For a super creative, innovative and fun library program created by library staff. In the library or out. For babies or seniors or anyone in between. A one-off or a regular series. If Dumbledore thinks it's worthy of Wizard status, nominate it!
- Giddy Up Partner Award -- For those strong community partnerships that add value to the library and the community as a whole. It takes two, baby! Or three... or four. Nominate the library and its partner(s) and describe the amazing stuff they’re doing together.
Almost a year after Columbus Public Library developed its “Root for Columbus” campaign in October 2014, the city is sitting on the bench -- art benches, that is. Read more in American Libraries.
According to the founder of the Little Free Libraries movement, Madison is the city that made it all possible -- and recently Madison received the organization’s first “City of Distinction” award in recognition. Read more in the Cap Times.
Eric Norton, the Head of Customer Services at McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids, had a review about Science Fiction/Fantasy published Aug. 6, 2015, in Library Journal. (read review)
The September issue of WSLL @ Your Service has been published at http://wilawlibrary.gov/newsletter/1509.html.
Managing for Success and Accountability
Today’s librarians who are also managers not only have to perform their own professional duties; they also supervise a variety of staff.
Spend the morning of Sept. 24, 2015, at Verona Public Library with two UW-Madison directors who have combined experience of over 40 years in management, one from Human Resources and one from Training. They will share insights and tools to help you and your staff be successful. You’ll learn to identify the facts in a situation and ask good questions, which will enable you to have respectful accountability conversations when appropriate.
If you are interested in attending, please be sure to register on the SCLS Continuing Education Calendar.
Visitors to BadgerLink, Wisconsin's Online Library, may have noticed the site looks a bit different. Don't panic folks! The options and resources you were accustomed to on our previous site are still there, we've just improved functionality and the overall design.
- Enjoy a cleaner look and feel
- Take advantage of additional resource filters
- Filter by multiple categories at once (for example, magazine articles for middle school students)
Please keep these in mind as you continue to use our website
- The resources themselves and the authenticated URLs into the resources are not changing!
- We are now at http://badgerlink.dpi.wi.gov. Links to badgerlink.net will still work, but we recommend you make the change as well.
- Other internal badgerlink.net pages will redirect to our new homepage. Contact us if you have questions, we'll help you get straightened out.
- The training page will receive similar improvements in the next couple months. Stay tuned.
We hope you like the new BadgerLink website. Let us know what you think!
-- by The BadgerLink Team (Ben Miller, Gail Murray, Elizabeth Neuman, and Kara Ripley)
Musings on coffee, libraries & sales tax
More and more public libraries are making coffee, bottled water, and even snacks available to their patrons. The details and logistics may vary from library to library but the basic concept remains the same -- creating a public space that's an inviting, comfortable place to visit.
A question often asked of our Public Library Development Team is whether the sale of beverages and snacks in a library requires the collection of sales tax. I recently contacted the folks at our Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) to find out. Here's the (coffee) scoop:
- A useful resource is DOR's Publication 209: "Sales and Use Tax Information for Wisconsin Counties and Municipalities."
- According to the DOR, there's a difference between "prepared foods" which require the collection of sales tax and "food and food ingredients and beverages" which do not.
- If a library sells ready-to-drink coffee or other beverages, those are considered "prepared food" and require the collection of sales tax. Coffee that the patron makes using a single-serve "pod system" (like a Keurig) is not considered "prepared food" so does not require the collection of sales tax.
- Pretty much any snack/candy item is considered "prepared food" and will require the collection of sales tax.
- If a library sells items that are defined as "prepared food" then it will be the library's municipality that applies for the Wisconsin seller's permit and makes the necessary payments to the state.
- If a library doesn't charge a set price for coffee / beverages/snacks but instead asks for a donation, then it must truly be a donation; payment cannot be required or expected.
- If a library works with a private vendor to provide vending machines for coffee/beverages/snacks, then that vendor is responsible for collecting sales tax. The library would not be involved.
A helpful overview of this topic -- "Sales Tax Issues for Wisconsin Public Libraries" -- can be found on our DPI website.
--by Denise Anton Wright, Public Library Development Team,
Division for Libraries and Technology (DLT)