Index
- Check out SCLS maker kits
- SCLS Reads: Rising to the Challenge, part 3
- Libraries can give info to bill collectors, but not user information
- Encourage library users to ‘Speak Up’
- OverDrive Survey input sought
- MPL creates ‘New Releases’ list
- Libraries embrace digital future
- Continuing Education Calendar
Check out SCLS maker kits
Throughout the second half of 2015, the South Central Library System (SCLS) rolled out a number of maker kits that are available for use by member libraries.
It all began with a contribution of more than $3,900 from the SCLS Foundation to purchase Lego Mindstorms robots, which were divided into two maker kits. Following the Mindstorms was a scanning kit for digitizing photos, a stop-motion and video editing kit (iPad-based), sewing machines, and a printing press. We are currently working on three science literacy kits, a 3-D printer and scanner kit, and a kit with three electronic stencil cutters.
Any kits that require the use of computers also contain the computers, and all the kits are available for all SCLS member libraries to reserve. More information about the kits, and links to the reservation forms, are available on the SCLS Programming Resources webpage.
To help member library staff learn more about the maker kits, SCLS will be hosting two maker kit open house events, one on March 2 at the SCLS Headquarters in Madison, and the other on April 14 at McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids. These all-day events provide a flexible way to come and learn about the maker kits, ask questions, try them out, and get a feel for how much space each kit requires. SCLS staff will be on hand each day, so stop in and take a look. No reservations or appointments are necessary, and more information will be sent out soon.
SCLS Reads: Rising to the Challenge, part 3
We’re in the home stretch for reading Rising to the Challenge together. The All Directors Meeting is on March 17 at the DeForest Public Library (register). The afternoon part of the meeting will be devoted to discussing Rising to the Challenge in the context of setting SCLS -- and your -- service priorities for the year.
The assignment for this month was to read pages 7-31 of the report which focused on a Renewed Vision of the Public Library. The stories in this section of the report were quite inspiring to read and made me think about SCLS libraries and how many of you are already implementing key concepts in the report without realizing it.
More information is available in the Know More Blog.
Libraries can give info to bill collectors, but not user information
Wisconsin library directors would like it known that they are not snitching on patrons, even if they have embraced legislation that allows them to send collection agencies after deadbeat borrowers.
“Privacy is one of our core values,” said Greg Mickells, director of the Madison Public Library.
But the bill, Senate Bill 466 -- adopted by the Senate earlier this month, passed by the Assembly last week, and scheduled to be signed by Gov. Scott Walker on Monday, Feb. 29 -- will make it easier to recover millions of dollars in unreturned materials and overdue fines each year, supporters say.
Current law, with some exceptions, prohibits a public library from disclosing the identity of anyone who borrows or uses the library’s materials or services.
That has made it difficult for libraries to recover items that have been checked out and not returned, said Plumer Lovelace III, director of the Wisconsin Libraries Association. The association estimates that Wisconsin libraries log more than $3.5 million worth of lost property and fines each year.
“It’s a significant problem,” said Lovelace, who said the Eau Claire library, for example, has recorded $353,672 worth of unreturned materials over the past 12 years.
Read the complete article in the Wisconsin State Journal.
Encourage library users to ‘Speak Up’
As we move into 2016 and start to think about another round of budget development, now is the perfect time to make a renewed push to encourage residents who value the public library to speak up.
Budget times are still uncertain, and having the names and emails of library supporters is an excellent outreach tool that can pay significant dividends now and into the future.
We know you don't have the time to manage such an email list on your own, so that’s why we’ll do it for you. All you have to do is distribute and collect the South Central Library System’s “Speak Up for Your Library” card, and we’ll take care of managing the database of email addresses for you. You’ve already done the hard part of getting your customers to value the services and resources you provide, and the “speak up” card is the tool you can use to reach out to your supporters and call them to action.
Just collect the completed cards and send them to Mark Ibach at the South Central Library System, and he’ll take care of entering the email addresses into the database. Or, you can promote our online sign-up form at www.scls.info/pr/speak_up. Either way, this is a no-cost program that will allow you to reach out to your library’s supporters. To get a list of those customers who are willing to speak up for your library, contact Mark Ibach.
Distribution of the cards in your library, or promotion of the online signup option, also allows SCLS to create a base of support for system-wide and state-wide advocacy efforts.
The speak up cards and posters are free (they do not count against your annual print allocation), and you can request copies anytime by contacting Mark Ibach.
At the February Administrative Council meeting there was a discussion about member frustration with OverDrive. Here is your chance to tell the WPLC committee what you think by completing their survey, which also includes a section on the OverDrive magazines.
Each year, the WPLC Digital Collections Work Group gathers input from patrons and libraries on the use, value, and future of the library in order to grow a collection that is most beneficial to Wisconsin library users. The survey to patrons ran earlier this year, and now WPLC is asking library staff to share their input by completing the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DC2016library
The survey will take an average of 10-15 minutes to complete and is available through March 9.
MPL creates ‘New Releases’ list
The Madison Public Library (MPL) website now features a new list announcing upcoming new releases for patrons interested in placing holds ahead of the release date.
The list has links to individual records in LINKCat, and may be of use to those who are involved in collection development or readers advisory. The list includes some of the usual suspects (Winspear, Patterson) and some lesser known authors that are getting buzz or might have greater local interest. It will also be announced monthly on MADreads, with a link to the list on the MPL Reading and Viewing page.
Libraries embrace digital future
The digital revolution has forever changed the way people live, work and play.
Evidence of the disruptive power of digital technology is everywhere, including a place rooted in the technology of movable type now more than 500 years old -- the local public library.
“The circulation of physical print books in public libraries is down in recent years,” said library consultant Bill Wilson, a former Wisconsin state librarian.
But it turns out this is no simple story about people forsaking local libraries as digital content displayed on LCD screens rapidly replaces paper.
In fact, neither of those things is happening.
“In most cases, libraries are reporting that their door counts -- the number of people actually coming through the doors -- is up,” Wilson said. “There’s a mixed message there. Obviously, there are some people coming to libraries that are doing other things than simply checking out books.”
Public libraries are changing with the digital times in ways that place them at the edge of technological change -- and in other ways that would be familiar to library patrons of 100 years ago.
Read the complete article in the Reedsburg Times Press.