Index
- Wisconsin Counties magazine talks libraries
- Black Earth library adds recipe ‘sample day’ to Coffee with a Cop program
- Digital Bytes from WVLS
- ALA & PBS grants support ‘The Great American Read’ programming
- From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America
- Continuing Education Calendar
Wisconsin Counties magazine talks libraries
Wisconsin residents love libraries! The state ranks eighth in the nation for public library visits per capita. This month's edition of the magazine is dedicated to libraries -- from funding sources and county library planning, to library profiles and visions for the future.
People value libraries and use them -- both digitally and in-person. In 2016, there were more than 29 million visits to Wisconsin libraries and just under 4 million digital checkouts from the statewide digital library consortium.
Wisconsin’s public library law was enacted in 1872 and recognized that borrower subscription fees charged by mercantile and other membership libraries of the time were not only inadequate for funding library service, but also significant barriers to library use by the general public. A key provision of the bill was that “Every library and reading-room established under this act, shall be forever free to the use of the inhabitants of the city or village where located…”
Numerous changes to public library law in the past 146 years have extended the original free access provision across municipal and county boundaries.
The March issue of Wisconsin Counties includes the following articles:
- Times Change; Libraries Do Too
- Regional Libraries Supported by Shared Funding
- Library Profile: Walter E. Olson Memorial Library
- The Importance of County Library Planning
- Library Profile: Beloit Public Library
- Engaging, Inspiring, Advocating for Libraries
- Filling the Gaps: Public Libraries Engage to Better Serve Communities
You can read the issue on the Wisconsin Counties Association website.
Black Earth library adds recipe ‘sample day’ to Coffee with a Cop program
Creating community partnerships is what libraries, the staff at Black Earth Public Library found a way to for the library to partner in the local Coffee With A Cop (CWAC) program (http://coffeewithacop.com/). It is a national program that Director Carolyn Shaffer said has been going strong for several years.
Sometimes a Dane County deputy does a presentation on a special topic, and sometimes it’s just a chance for law enforcement officers and residents to talk. Usually, the contracted police officers from Mazomanie are there, too, as Black Earth and Mazomanie are in a combined school district and share a joint court as well. The event takes place in the village municipal building, where the library and "cop shop" are also located. Carolyn said all of these things seem to work in the library’s favor for this event, and is one of the few times that being small helps.
Carolyn said she was aware of a “Library Recipe Club” with a “Sample Day” at a library in Ozauke County, and she thought it was a great idea that would transfer well to CWAC. “Since we were having 20-40 community members stopping in monthly for CWAC,” Carolyn said, “I decided that would be a great day for "Sample Day" to occur, too.” She said it has added a dimension to the CWAC that maybe has helped with its popularity and attendance.
“Mostly, though, I think people just really like our cops because they are so approachable. People just like to have the monthly check in to see what's happening with the cops and other community members," Carolyn said. "This is a great way for the library to help support a community program that bring people together."
You can see all of the Library Recipe Club recipes on the library website.
Wisconsin Valley Library System (WVLS) has launched a new training series called Digital Bytes, the purpose of which is to provide short, consistent training in a recorded, digital format. Topics will include some tech topics like email etiquette, social media highlights, what's new in Facebook, and more.
The first episode launched last week -- "Customer Service, the Role of Positive Language" and can be found on the Digital Bytes page of the WVLS website.
If you like short video trainings, keep an eye out for these!
-- by Jean Anderson for TechBits
ALA & PBS grants support ‘The Great American Read’ programming
Apply now for a cash grant and resources to support library programming around "The Great American Read," the much-anticipated PBS series designed to spark a national conversation about reading.
The eight-part series will engage audiences with a list of 100 diverse books, encouraging the American public to read the books, vote from the list of 100, and share their personal connections to the titles.
Your public library could receive:
- $2,000 to support programs and events related to "The Great American Read"
- A DVD collection of the series with public performance rights
- Opportunities to host private, pre-broadcast screenings at your library
- A programming guide developed by ALA, PBS and librarian advisors
- And much more
For more information:
Applications are due by April 17. Up to 50 libraries will be selected. For more information, contact ALA's Public Programs Office at [email protected].
From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America
OCLC was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to explore attitudes and perceptions about library funding and to evaluate the potential of a large-scale marketing and advocacy campaign to increase public library funding in the U.S. The findings of this research are now available in the OCLC report, From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America.
Among the findings from the report:
- Library funding support is only marginally related to library visitation
- Perceptions of librarians are an important predictor of library funding support
- Voters who see the library as a 'transformational' force as opposed to an 'informational' source are more likely to increase taxes in its support
The report suggests that targeting marketing messages to the right segments of the voting public is key to driving increased support for U.S. public libraries.
Download the full report from OCLC.