Index
- Cambria seeks new library director
- Wisconsin libraries and the State Supreme Court ruling
- Social distancing and PCs
- Member/Staff News
- Recording available of WPLC annual membership meeting
- Registration now open for ALA Virtual
- IMLS, SBA offer webinar on the Paycheck Protection Program for museums, libraries
- Libraries Respond: COVID-19 Survey deadline is May 18
- IMLS announces FY 2018 State Library Administrative Agencies Survey results
- $15 million in IMLS CARES Act grants now available for museum and library services
- ALA invites applicants for STAR Net's new STEAM Equity Project
- Continuing Education Calendar
Cambria seeks new library director
The Jane Morgan Memorial Library in Cambria seeks a dynamic, community-minded director with vision for the future. The successful candidate must be able to enhance the library and its role as an integral component of the community.
Minimum qualifications
Applicants must be eligible for a Grade III library certification in the state of Wisconsin, requiring 54 semester credits (1/2 in liberal arts and sciences) from an accredited college, university or technical college. Applicants must fulfill requirements toward Wisconsin Public Library Director Certification under current regulations, currently 12 semester credits of library approved coursework.
Successful candidates will have excellent verbal and written communication skills; knowledge of current library technology; fiscal management knowledge; the ability to work effectively with library board, library employees, Village of Cambria and Cambria-Friesland School District officials and the community.
Salary and benefits
Salary range is $16.00 to $18.00 per hour depending on qualifications and experience. This is a 20-30 hour a week position and full benefits are available.
The application deadline is May 22, 2020 by 5 p.m. A complete job description and an Employment Application form are available on the Jane Morgan Memorial Library website at www.jmml.org/about-us. Please send a completed application, resume, and the names, addresses and phone numbers of 3 references to Glen Williams, Library Board President, Jane Morgan Memorial Library, PO Box 477, Cambria, WI 53923-0477.
The Village of Cambria is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants with a disability may request accommodations needed in the application and/or interview process.
Wisconsin libraries and the State Supreme Court ruling
In an effort to provide some clarity in the immediate term, staff from the Department of Public Instruction's Division for Libraries and Technology has issued the following statement.
While the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling has struck down the Safer at Home order, it has not changed any county or municipal public health emergency orders currently in place. Also, any action taken by a library board to close the library facility remains in place. (NOTE: the school closure portion of Safer at Home was not stricken and remains intact; therefore, schools will remain closed.)
Absent of a county and/or municipal order, a library board has the authority to reopen the library, or to keep it closed/offer limited services. Meetings by a library board must be properly noticed for a minimum of 24 hours, as reopening a library is NOT legal justification for the convening of an emergency meeting.
If your library board is considering reopening the library, be sure to check with your local (probably the county) public health and municipal officials to make sure that it is permissible under local order. If your workforce resumes at the library, all staff should continue to follow all guidance on quarantining library materials, social distancing, and public and personal health protocols. Any library board that reopens a library should consider approving a plan for closing the library in response to a local outbreak, staff illness, or exposure.
Libraries should continue to prioritize personal safety and capacity when determining the appropriate level of library service. While decisions are local, we encourage the continuation of contactless services, such as curbside pickup and virtual services while the Governor’s office, DHS, and legislature develop a new plan to reopen Wisconsin in a safe manner.
We will continue to work with all 16 public library systems and other library leaders across the state to develop a phased approach to reopening public libraries. While this new development has shifted our approach a bit, our commitment to assisting Wisconsin libraries through this transition remains unchanged. We will continue to communicate with you as soon as new information becomes available.
Resources for your consideration:
- WEDC Guidance on Preparing WI Workplaces for COVID-19
- Public Facilities OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19
- Guidelines for Reopening WI Public Libraries
- DHS and CDC Guidance
As libraries are starting to provide curbside service and planning for the future, we have received a couple questions and inquiries about patron and staff PCs. More specifically about moving PCs to help with social distancing once allowed to open up again. If your library has the space to move PCs we can help plan what to move and where, as well as making sure there is an internet connection. For libraries with limited space we can also make some recommendations too.
For libraries that already have a plan about PCs that’s great! Please submit a help desk ticket and let us know what you are moving just so we can keep our records up to date and accurate.
For more information and help please submit a help desk ticket or email Craig Ellefson, or Emily Waring.
--for TechBits by Emily Waring
Jill Porter (pictured at right) said she is excited to be the new director of the Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library, and anticipates starting in her new role on June 1, 2020. She previously served for seven years as Assistant Director for Public Service at the Traverse Area District Library in Traverse City, MI, and spent the early part of her career in law librarianship in New York Jill spends her non-library time feeding her obsession for fiber-related crafts and textiles and traveling, usually in tandem. She graduated with an MSILS from Pratt Institute and was honored to be part of the Public Library Association’s inaugural Leadership Academy.
Recording available of WPLC Annual Membership Meeting
Did you miss the WPLC Annual Membership Meeting on April 29? You can now view the recording of the meeting here: https://www.wils.org/WPLC/Recordings/WPLC%20Annual%20Membership%20Meeting%202020.mp4.
Slides from the meeting are also available here: https://wplc.info/sites/wplc.info/files/WPLC%20Annual%20Membership%20Meeting%202020%20Slides.pdf
Registration now open for ALA Virtual
Thanks to the generous support from ALA Virtual Sponsors EBSCO, Gale (a Cengage company), Ingram, OverDrive, OCLC, and SpringerNature ALA Members can register for ALA Virtual -- Community Through Connection for a discounted rate of $60.
Not a member? Join ALA today to take advantage of the discount and gain access to all member benefits 365 days a year! To take advantage of this special offer, use promotion code CONNECTION when you register.
If you’ve recently been furloughed or laid off or are experiencing a reduction of paid work hours, ALA invites you to join for no cost at all.
Be sure to visit the ALA Virtual website for a full listing of educational program offerings, featured speakers, live chat opportunities, and exhibitor showcase offerings. Register today!
Registration will close on June 17, 2020, at 12 p.m. Central Time.
Library staff can use SCLS continuing education grants to pay for conference attendance.
IMLS, SBA Offer Webinar On the Paycheck Protection Program for Museums, Libraries
Webinar now available on-demand
As Small Business Administration (SBA) Phase 2 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding remains available, IMLS hosted SBA Economic Development Coordinator Noah Brod in a webinar discussing PPP issues most relevant to museum and library communities.
The webinar is now available on-demand on the IMLS website, and addresses PPP issues pertaining to eligibility, payroll costs, and forgiveness calculations, as well as questions concerning unique business organizational structures. Along with the most up-to-date SBA guidance available, the webinar features a Q&A segment addressing PPP-related concerns specific to museum and library communities.
For more information, please visit the IMLS website and subscribe to email updates.
Libraries Respond: COVID-19 survey deadline is May 18
The Public Library Association (PLA) is seeking a new round of feedback about the work of libraries as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis, releasing a survey and requesting feedback by 11:59 p.m. CDT, Monday, May 18, 2020. Please complete the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/libraries-respond-to-covid-19-may-2020.
PLA and its ALA partners know that libraries across the U.S. are taking unprecedented steps to answer the needs of their communities, and this survey will help build a better understanding of those efforts. PLA and its ALA partners will use the results to advocate on behalf of libraries at the national level, communicate aggregated results with the public and media, create content and professional development opportunities to address library staff needs, and share some raw, anonymized data elements with state-level staff and library support organizations for their own advocacy needs.
Additional information about the survey:
- All library types are encouraged to respond.
- We are surveying at the library administrative entity level and are not collecting outlet/branch data.
- Financial-related data will only be used in aggregate and not shared in raw data format.
- Any raw data that is shared with states or other library support organizations outside of ALA will be anonymized.
The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete and all completed respondents will be automatically entered to win one of ten $30 gift certificates to the ALA Store.
Special thanks to the Colorado State Library’s Library Research Service and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Library Data Alliance partners, Association of Research Libraries, and the Academic Library Trends & Statistics Survey Editorial Board.
For updates on PLA and ALA’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, visit PLA Resources on COVID-19 and ALA Pandemic Preparedness Resources for Libraries.
IMLS announces FY 2018 State Library Administrative Agencies Survey results
State Libraries Supported Continuing Education, Youth Services, Reading Program
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has released the latest report on the State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAA) Survey. The biennial survey, conducted in 2019, assesses the condition of SLAAs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in FY 2018.
Expenditures across SLAAs totaled over $1.1 billion in FY 2018, and the report found the decreases in revenues and staffing that SLAAs experienced during and immediately after the economic recession from 2007 to 2009 had stabilized. Despite the declines during the recession, SLAAs continued to provide a wide array of services to the libraries in their states.
The IMLS report highlights the ways in which SLAAs respond to the particular needs within their states. For example, nearly all SLAAs provided statewide sharing of resources, consulting services for library development, continuing education, and youth services as well as reading programs. On the other hand, states varied greatly in the extent to which they were involved in literacy support, coordination of digital programs and services, and services around conservation and preservation of collections.
In FY 2018, there were 2,524 full-time equivalent positions across all SLAAs; nearly half (48 percent) were in library services, followed by library development (20 percent), other services (18 percent), and administration (14 percent). In line with the decline in revenues, the survey found that the number of SLAA staff members declined by 27 percent over the past twelve years.
Read the full report and access the data files and documentation here.
About the SLAA Survey
The purpose of the SLAA survey is to provide state and federal policymakers, researchers, and other interested users with descriptive information about state library administrative agencies. The federal government has been collecting statistical data on SLAAs since 1994, and this report marks the seventh release of state library statistics from IMLS. It contains data on SLAAs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for FY 2018. The data collection is a product of a cooperative effort among the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, IMLS, and American Institutes for Research.
$15 million in IMLS CARES Act Grants now available for museum and library services
Applications for Pandemic Response Funding Due June 12, 2020
The Institute of Museum and Library Services today announced two new funding opportunities for museums, libraries, federally recognized tribes, and organizations that primarily serve Native Hawaiians. The combined $15 million federal investment will provide direct support to these institutions, equipping them to respond to community needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Museums and libraries have never been more essential to their communities," said IMLS Director Crosby Kemper. "COVID-19 has not only created a public health emergency, but it has also created a deep need for trusted community information, education, and connection that our libraries and museums are designed to provide."
The CARES Act allocated funding to IMLS to enable libraries, museums, and organizations serving tribal communities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including by expanding digital network access, purchasing Internet accessible devices, and providing technical support services to their communities. The $15 million available through these new grants follows previous phases of funding announced over the past few weeks.
The deadline for submitting applications to either funding opportunity is June 12, 2020, with award announcements anticipated in August.
IMLS CARES Act Grants for Museums and Libraries support museums and libraries in addressing their communities’ immediate and future needs caused by the pandemic. Projects may focus on preserving jobs, training staff, addressing the digital divide, planning for reopening, or providing technical support and capacity building for digital inclusion and engagement. Applicants are encouraged to prioritize services for high-need communities.
IMLS CARES Act Grants for Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum and Library Services assist tribes and organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians in responding to the urgent and future needs of their communities. Applications focused on digital inclusion, technical support, rehiring or retraining staff, reopening planning, and other pandemic-related priorities are welcomed.
"Access to and use of all kinds of health, job, government, educational, social, and cultural resources are necessary to weathering the current situation, beginning efforts to reopen, and providing services to sustain communities,” said Kemper. "Together, we can brighten the future for museums, libraries, tribal communities, and people across America.”
Interested applicants are invited to view a recording of a May 14 webinar available on-demand on the IMLS website.
To apply for these grants, as well as to IMLS’s other available funding opportunities, please visit the IMLS website.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
ALA invites applicants for STAR Net's new STEAM Equity Project
STAR Net needs creative library leaders who would like work with us at the intersection of transforming library services, gender equity and cultural inclusion (especially with Latino families), STEAM learning, and positive youth development.
The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL/SSI), the American Library Association (ALA), Twin Cities PBS (TPT), Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) and Education Development Center (EDC) invite you to learn more about this new STEAM Equity Project!
Public library workers in small and rural communities are invited to APPLY NOW! See ALA’s website to:
- Start your application by submitting a brief Notice of Intent (deadline: July 20, 2020)
- Read the project FAQs
- Learn about the project advisors