|
|
|
|
|
|
November
2006 |
|
|
|
|
Long ago a deep thinker was sitting under a mulberry tree thinking about the world. He looked over at a garden where pumpkin vines were growing. "How strange it is," he thought "that mulberry trees have strong branches and such tiny fruit, while pumpkins have large fruit and weak vines. One would think that the Creator would have put large fruit on strong plants and small fruit on weak ones." Just then a ripe mulberry fell and splattered right on his forehead. "Ah, now I see why things are as they are. Who would want a pumpkin to fall on his head! Truly the world is as it is for a reason!" H-m-m, another reason to be thankful.
SPEAKING ABOUT THE WORLD BEING AS IT IS
Most of the peoples of the world would like to have some say in how they are
governed but they aren’t allowed to vote. We, fortunately, have that right yet
most of us treat it as though it has no value. Keep in mind that the only way
our vote will ever have any value is if we use it. Please exercise your freedom
(and responsibility) to vote on Nov. 7th.
THE NORTHWOODS FRIENDS CONFERENCE IS BECOMING SYNONYMOUS WITH THE CONCEPT OF
LIBRARY SUPPORT, FRIENDS AND FUN!
WVLS and the MCPL Friends sponsored the 2nd Northwoods Conference
for Library Friends, Supporters & Volunteers on September 30th in
Rothschild, WI. About 60 people from across the state (representing 30 Wisconsin
cities and 8 library systems – not to mention folks from a city in Michigan)
attended and shared their concerns and suggestions on the elements of successful
book sales. Sandi Cihlar, a WVLS Trustee and member of the Wisconsin Milk
Marketing Board provided many items that focused on the importance of dairy in
this state – great pieces for library vertical file information. Many attendees
brought items for ‘show and tell’ idea sharing and a dozen lucky folks went home
with centerpieces made from old Reader’s Digest Condensed books by Juanita
Thomas, the WVLS Office Manager. The group decided that, rather than hold this
event every year, it would be better to do it every other year. So, watch for
announcements for the 3rd Northwoods Conference in 2008. Thanks to
all who worked to put this conference together.
BACK IN THE SCHOOL ROUTINE
One hundred years of reading research indicates that kids and teens that
read a lot score higher on any test they take. In addition, library studies
conducted in 16 states since 2000 show that schools with strong school library
programs average 10-20% higher on test scores. Beyond the teacher, the best
friend a parent has in boosting a reader of any age is the school and public
library. And, best of all, both are free – well, almost – since we pay
taxes…Success in school begins with strong reading skills. Classroom teachers
work hard to develop and refine reading skills. School librarians play a
critical role in reading development, too. They assist students in finding books
that help them delve deeper into curriculum topics or that are of high interest
for pleasure reading. Public librarians offer reading support services for the
entire family as well as work with school librarians and teachers to provide
appropriate learning resources…
-- Heather Eldred
Win a Prize!
Jane Pearlmutter, Associate Director of the School of Library & Information
Studies, UW-Madison, was the first person to submit all correct answers to Quiz
I, and Nancy Becker, Colby School District Librarian, was the first to do so for
Quiz II. Congratulations, Jane and Nancy!
DVD DEPOSIT COLLECTIONS TO CEASE
Early in 2007 when all the deposit collections are returned to WVLS, the DVDs from the WVLS collection will be donated to member libraries. If you have any questions or concerns about this matter, please contact Marla Sepnafski (715/261-7252; msepnafs@wvls.lib.wi.us) or Ann Mroczenski (715/261-7256; annmarie@wvls.lib.wi.us)
It’s Time for Training on the…
NEW & IMPROVED
WISCAT Catalog and ILL Management System
Thursday, November 16th, 2006
Marathon County Public Library - Wausau Room
300 N. First Street, Wausau
9:00-12:00 OR 12:30-3:30
Auto-Graphics (AG) has been chosen as the vendor for the new WISCAT catalog and interlibrary loan management system. Since AG already manages the WISCAT catalog, the general look of the union catalog, how to search and how to create an ILL request in WISCAT will not change drastically. However, the ILL management system will have a very different look.
As a result, the Reference and Loan Library has stipulated that LIBRARY ILL PERSONNEL MUST ATTEND A TRAINING SESSION before being authorized to participate in WISCAT interlibrary loan activities – either as a borrower or as a lender. Training over the telephone will not be available.
Following the training, libraries will immediately be able to access the new system. Sometime in mid-December the current VDX and ZPORTAL systems will be discontinued.
Schedule for training at Marathon County Public Library
both sessions are the same – choose one!)
| SESSION I | |
| 9:00 – 9:30 | Registration & Refreshments |
| 9:30 – Noon | TRAINING ON THE NEW WISCAT – Session 1 |
| SESSION II | |
| 12:30-1:00 | Registration & Refreshments |
| 1:00 – 3:30 | TRAINING ON THE NEW WISCAT – Session 2 |
To register for a training session, fill out the form below, contact Leora Young, WVLS ILL Coordinator, at 715/261-7254 (
lyoung2@wvls.lib.wi.us); or mail the completed registration form to Leora Young; Wisconsin Valley Library Service; 300 N First Street; Wausau, WI 54403. If you cannot attend a training session on this date, please contact Leora for a calendar of additional training opportunities that are being offered by other public library systems.Registration deadline: Tuesday, November 14th
(If special accommodations are needed to attend a
training session, please call 715/261-7252.)
Promote Your Library to Children and Their Families!
KIDS! @ YOUR
LIBRARYŽ CAMPAIGN BEGINS NOVEMBER 12TH
- camera-ready, customizable materials libraries can use to hold bookmark contests and scavenger hunts, and to enliven programming;
- downloadable games, puzzles, and activities with library themes especially for kids;
- a media-ready Public Service Announcement (PSA) recorded by Grammy-nominated singer-storyteller Bill Harley, which libraries can share with local radio stations and schools for PA announcements;
- a list of Top Ten Things for Kids to Do @ your libraryŽ that can be downloaded and distributed throughout the community, promoting what the library has for children; and
- a Web page designed especially for families (www.ala.org/families) that links to family-friendly ALSC resources such as Great Web Sites for Kids, recommended book lists and online activities for children.
The Kids! @ your libraryŽ campaign will launch to the public and media at Boston Public Library on Sunday, November 12, the first Sunday of Children's Book Week. Singer-storyteller Bill Harley will perform with a local children's choir his original campaign theme song "@ Your Library" and other favorites at a free family concert, and media will have a sneak preview with Harley and the choir beforehand.
ALSC encourages libraries large and small to get involved with the Kids! @
your libraryŽ Campaign. Visit the site at
www.ala.org/kids and take
advantage of the tool kit materials, resources, and ideas there. Post the "So
Much to See. So Much to Do. @ your libraryŽ campaign logo (downloadable from the
tool kit) on your library Web site and link it back to the
www.ala.org/families
page.
(ALA News Release; 10/24/06)
It’s Free!
Educators and libraries may request the FREE DVD set of The Making of Milwaukee at http://www.themakingofmilwaukee.com/classroom/dvd_reqeust/ or by contacting MPTV Viewer Services at 414/297-7520 or tvviewer@matc.edu. Only one DVD set per school may be requested.
Also, an online curriculum of MOM has been written to accompany the DVD series and John Gurda’s book by the same title. The MOM curriculum will be available on PDF in the coming weeks at http://www.themakingofmilwaukee.com/classroom/materials.cfm
Funding for curriculum and web activities was provided by The Faye McBeath
Foundation.
(Adapted from CEO, newsletter of the Lakeshores Library System and
Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System; 10/11/06)
PRIMARY RESOURCES FOR
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
The website http://www.awesomestories.com/ is free for all educators, schools and libraries. Simply request an academic membership with the sign-up form at http://www.awesomestories.com/group_signup.php.
From LibraryU -
To take advantage of course offerings, you must first enroll in LibraryU. Once you are a registered user, you will be able to enroll in any LibraryU course and earn certificates of completion for all courses you complete.
Some of the courses currently available are:
- Master of Disaster: Developing a Disaster Plan
- Budgeting Basics
- Introduction to Cataloging for Non-Catalogers
- Merchandising That Works
- Basic Web-based Reference
- The Internet and Teens: Social Networking Safety
- You Can Do It: A Recipe for Designing Web-based Instruction
Enroll in LibraryU today at
http://learning.libraryu.org/home/welcome.html.
(adapted from article in Streams, newsletter of the Northern Waters
Library System; 10/19/06)
GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY
IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
Hamburger Helper is lending a helping hand to neighborhoods nationwide with its
"My Hometown Helper" grant program. Individuals from communities and
organizations across America can submit a written essay of 250 words or less
describing how the "My Hometown Helper" grant would help improve their community
project. Maximum Award: $15,000. Eligibility: Requests for funding must be
sponsored by a municipal or civic organization or public school. Deadline:
May 31, 2007.
Since public and school libraries serve their communities in a variety of
important ways, the Grants for Community Improvement Programs may be just the
grant opportunity you are looking for to purchase those new soccer uniforms for
the soccer team, playground equipment for the elementary school, or desktop
computers for the library media center. For more information, visit
http://www.myhometownhelper.com/
(pubyac listserv; 10/06/06)
BUBEL/AIKEN FOUNDATION
ABLE TO SERVE GRANTS
PEOPLE IN THE AREA ARE BLOGGING!
According to NetLingo.com, Dictionary of Internet Terms, "a ‘blog’ is a web site
(or section of a web site) where users can post a chronological, up-to-date
e-journal entry of their thoughts. Each post usually contains a Web link.
Basically, it is an open forum communication tool that, depending on the web
site, is either very individualistic or performs a crucial function for an
organization or company … On average a new weblog is created every second of
every day, and the popular blog ‘Technorati’ tracks about 1.2 million new blog
posts each day (that’s about 50,000 per hour)."
Part of the appeal of the blogging experience is not only about putting your thoughts on the web, but also hearing back from and connecting with other like-minded folks. And the programs used to publish a blog on the World Wide Web are so easy to use that you don’t have to be a computer programmer to start one up and keep it going.
According to a tutorial at Blogger, which is one of countless popular free online blog hosting services, creating a blog takes just three steps: Create an account; Name your blog; and Select your template. To view the tutorial, visit http://www.blogger.com/tour_con.g. Another easy-to-follow tutorial is available at Freevlog’s Quicktime Tutorial: Setup a Free Blogger Blog at http://www.freevlog.org/tutorial/
If you haven’t joined the blogosphere yet, you may want to consider doing so. Visit the Blogging Libraries Wiki (http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Welcome_to_the_Blogging_Libraries_Wiki) to see how small and large libraries of all types are doing good things with blogs. Also, take a look at the following web sites to see what library folks in the WVLS area are blogging about:
And, if your library does decide to join the blogosphere, let WVLS know and we will post information about your blog in the newsletter!
IT’S TIME TO CHANGE YOUR TIRES!
You should also change your tires when they are: damaged; over-inflated (tires have too much air in them and the center treads wear away); under-inflated (tires have too little air and the sides of the tires wear away); and treads are too low (Place a penny into the tread groove to determine if tires are worn down too much. If you can see Abraham Lincoln’s head on the penny, then that means that the tire treads have worn down past the legal limit of 1/16th of an inch.).
FROM
CRADLE TO GRAVE: THE UNIQUENESS OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES
So…how do we get the message across and assist those busy decision-makers to make well-informed judgments about investment in the libraries for which they have responsibility?
If it could be done, the quickest way of showing decision-makers what modern public libraries are about would be nationally coordinated, all expenses paid, study tours of the best of those libraries…they could not but be convinced by what they saw, and return home committed to improving their own libraries.
Friends groups are very valuable to libraries … just by their existence they say something to a [government body] about the importance of a library to the community as a whole. This is because few other [government] services are ever supported by a friends group.
Public libraries and their very large user base are a sleeping giant which needs to be awakened. We need to stir that giant from its slumbers and capitalize politically on that huge support base [many of whom are voters]. It is a potential support base which would be the envy of any other profession or industry…
There is a legal axiom that ‘He or she who pleads their own case has a fool for a lawyer’. That is often a limitation of professional and industry associations, including those in the library sector. Their advocacy for better treatment may be dismissed by government as yet another industry or professional ‘bleat’. Librarians should avoid emphasizing the need for better investment in them as a ‘library’ issue or professional issue. It is not. It is a library user issue.
We might be more effective if we focused on how good a deal library services
are for the approximate four million members of the voting public library users
in Wisconsin and used their (at least assumed) ‘power’ to make the point that
our state’s libraries and library systems are worth better state level funding.
WEB SITES OF INTEREST (tourist traps on the information superhighway!)
RECOMMENDED BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2006/october2006/Booksfortheholidays.htm
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of
the American Library Association, has created a list of new books recommended
for holiday gift-giving, as well as reading about the holidays themselves. The
gift-giving guide features titles suitable for readers from preschool age
through 8th grade and includes picture books, novels, fiction and
nonfiction. Children’s librarians and educators on the ALSC Quicklists
Consulting Committee compiled the lists. You might want to share this list with
parents, grandparents and others who may be interested in giving the gift of
reading and learning throughout the holiday season! (American Libraries
Direct; 10/25/06)
THE AMERICAN CRANBERRY
http://www.library.wisc.edu/guides/agnic/cranberry/
You won’t get bogged down as you explore how to plant, harvest, cook
and market this round red relative of the blueberry. From the Steenbock Memorial
Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
CALLINGID
http://www.callingid.com/Default.aspx
As obvious as it might sound, it is important to be ever vigilant
when browsing the web for any purpose. Keeping that in mind, visitors will
appreciate the capabilities of CallingId. With its well-designed toolbar, this
application automatically shows whether sites visited are real and safe, along
with displaying the site owner’s name and physical address. This application is
compatible with all computers running Windows 98 and newer, and either Firefox
or Internet Explorer.
ELECTION 2006
(Refdesk Site-of-the-Day; 10/06/06)ALLTHINGSPOLITICAL.COM
http://www.allthingspolitical.com/
The aim of this web site is to offer an efficient gateway to leading political and governmental online resources. The directories encompass many categories, ranging from the practical – with over 6,700 public school web sites, 5,600 municipal government web sites, and 2,100 county government web sites – to the partisan – with over 1,100 Democratic and Republican county party sites.
INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY: ELECTION 2006
http://www.ipl.org/div/election/
Annotated links to resources, both for informed voting in the
November 7 election and for elections in general. Includes candidate and
issue info, electoral maps and calculators, weblogs, and historical election
information.
PROJECT VOTE SMART
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm
This amazing resource offers so much information that browsing
here can be like drinking from the proverbial fire hose, but if you know
what you’re looking for, it will save wasted time hopping around the web
from site to site. Databases available here include: biographical
information and contact information for over 40,000 candidates and elected
officials; detailed breakdowns of campaign finance contributions for elected
officials at the state and federal levels; issue positions; interest group
ratings; congressional and state voting records; and public statements. This
essential source for candidate and policy info even offers a 24x7 toll-free
number for assistance.
November
(Marketing Library Services; September/October 2006)National Peanut Butter Month – for interesting information about peanut butter, visit http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com, the site of the Peanut Advisory Board.
November 7 – VOTE!!
November 13-19 – CHILDREN’S BOOK WEEK – This year’s theme is "More Books, Please!" For an extensive list of resources for celebrating this event, go to http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbw/celebrate
November 16 – Learn the NEW WISCAT! – a WVLS-sponsored workshop – Marathon County Public Library – for more information, refer to the WISCAT workshop flyer above.
November 18 – WVLS Board of Trustees meeting – Marathon County Public Library – 9:30 a.m.
November 19-25 – NATIONAL GAMES WEEK – Take this opportunity to provide a Game Night @ Your Library! For more information about NGW, visit http://www.nationalgamesweek.net/
November 23 – Happy Thanksgiving!
November 24 – WVLS office closed.
December 7 – V-Cat Council meeting – Loyal – 9:30 a.m.
December 16 – WVLS Executive Committee meeting – Marathon County Public Library – 9:30 a.m.
December 25 & 26 - WVLS office closed.
January 1 - WVLS office closed.
January 19-24 – ALA Midwinter meeting – Seattle, WA. This annual event includes over 100 discussion groups on a variety of hot topics and exhibits. A preliminary listing of topics and registration information will be available sometime in November at http://www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/midwinter/2007/home.htm
January 20 – WVLS Board of Trustees meeting – Marathon County Public Library – 9:30 a.m.
January 23 – Library Legislative Day
|
"I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; Yet strangely, I am ungrateful to those teachers." - - Kahlil Gibran(RefDesk Thought-Of-The-Day; 11/09/04)
|
ATTENTION: WESSLER SCHOLARSHIPS are available to cover some/all costs associated with attendance at reference and/or interlibrary loan continuing education events. If interested in becoming a Wessler Scholar, contact the WVLS office (715/261-7250) for more information. The application form and more information are available at http://wvls.lib.wi.us/About/wessler.htm
is a monthly newsletter of the Wisconsin
Valley Library Service.
300 N. First
Street / Wausau, WI 54403
Contributions are welcome!
Back issues are available at http://wvls.lib.wi.us/Newsletter/newsindex.htm
(Note: Web links in past issues are not checked for currency and may no
longer work.)
|
EDITOR: Marla Sepnafski |
Contributions are welcome!
News items should be submitted by the first of the month.
WVLS serves Clark, Forest, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Oneida, and Taylor counties.
When the most recent issue becomes available, readers are alerted by a notice
posted to WISPUBLIB, or sent an email.
To subscribe to WISPUBLIB, send an email message to wispublib@badger.state.wi.us
In the body of the message (subject line is ignored) type: subscribe WISPUBLIB.
Then send your email. To have The Lamplighter emailed to you without subscribing
to WISPUBLIB, contact Barbara Freimund at 715/261-7252, or email freimund@wvls.lib.wi.us
You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to friends, colleagues or customers, so long as the use is not for resale or profit and the information/article is attributed to this issue of the WVLS newsletter, The Lamplighter.
