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Dear Members of the WVLS Board of Trustees,

This is a letter to announce my retirement plans. With your permission, I would like to work through Friday, September 28, 2007….I chose this date because I think it will be easier for you, the staff, and your new Director if the system plan and budget are in place for next year before I leave. I submit this letter with bittersweet feelings of excitement and trepidation and trust that you will accept it in like manner.

The time is right for me to retire. As of September 2^nd I will have been with WVLS for 35 years. On September 4^th I will celebrate my 65^th birthday. Those years represent major changes in library service…

• from card catalogs to OPACS
• from regular manual and electric typewriters to computers
• from filmstrips and 16mm films to DVDs
• from reel-to-reel tape recorders to audiotapes, CDs and Playaways
• from carbon paper to almost instant copies
• from individual library collections to shared catalogs like V-Cat
• from ten member counties including Vilas to ten member counties without Vilas but including Adams to the seven member counties we currently serve
• from 13 to 10.5 FTEs
• from the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature to BadgerLink
• from limited local public library collections to interloan among public as well as non-public libraries to the world of information via the Internet
• from the U.S. Postal Service and snail mail to e-mail, courier service, instant messaging, and text messaging
• from not enough electrical outlets to wireless computing
• from reaching out to the community we serve via a weekly Saturday morning TV storytelling program called ‘Children’s Bookshelf’ to a 24/7 presence on our own web site
• from ‘feeding’ our patrons with what we thought they should have access to, to a Library 2.0 world where library personnel and trustees need to learn to respond aggressively to patrons’ needs based on what they say they want and to provide materials and information in the formats in which they want it. Libraries have always done this but the need to keep up with technological changes has put this need on a very fast track indeed
• from my initial position as the Field Consultant for WVLS to serving as System Administrator and then to my current position as Director – a position I have held for the past 24 years.

I have enjoyed almost every day of my 35 years of service and I thank you, and previous board and staff members, for your unfailing support of me personally and of WVLS collectively. WVLS continues to be an exciting, caring, responsible, and very well-received service and you should all be very proud of your individual roles in developing, constantly re-vamping, and maintaining the services WVLS provides.

Now it is time for me to move on and for WVLS to employ new leadership for a new world of library service. What are my plans for the future? I’m not sure – but I am confident that I am leaving a strong system structure and a totally dedicated staff who will carry on in the best WVLS tradition…

You will find that your staff is very capable of functioning at its normal high level of effectiveness under the direction of WVLS’ Assistant Director, Marla Sepnafski. If your new Director is not found prior to my departure, I recommend that you ask Marla to serve as your Interim Director so that there will be no gap in the formal leadership of the system.

Again, thank you for your always-gracious support and direction.

Sincerely, and with great affection,

Heather Eldred, Director
Wisconsin Valley Library Service

WVLS is sponsoring a technology workshop at the UW-Marathon County campus on Tuesday, August 21^st from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Following is a tentative outline for this workshop.

The latest technology and newest tools claim to help you improve your productivity; the hard part is knowing what to use and when. The morning session, Collaboration 2.0: Making blogs, wikis, and other tools work for you and your library, will help you determine the best and the worst of the latest collaborative tools. The entertaining duo of Stef Morrill (Associate Director at the South Central Library System) and Beth Carpenter (Library Services Manager at the Outagamie-Waupaca Library System) will lead, what promises to be, a very lively session!

During lunch, Matthew Sackel, Librarian at Marathon County Public Library, will provide a report about the Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium that is being held on July 22-24 in Chicago.

The afternoon session on RSS will feature Kim LaPlante, Library Services Manager at the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay. In this very informative session, workshop attendees will learn what RSS is and what it can do; how RSS can help you with work and the rest of your life; and, how to set it up by yourself.

More details about this workshop, including registration information, will be included in the July issue of The Lamplighter, but if you have any questions/comments at this time, please feel free to contact Marla Sepnafski at the WVLS office (715/261-7252; msepnafs@wvls.lib.wi.us)

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A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!
Heather Eldred, WVLS Director (center) and Alice Braun, Greenwood Public Library Director from 1976-1989 (right) help Nettie Berthold (left) celebrate her retirement on April 27^th after 37 years of employment at the Greenwood Public Library. Nettie will continue her service on the library board.

This well-attended retirement event was full of stories and hugs, and Nettie says the thing she’ll miss the most is the generations of people she has served. We’re sure they’ll miss her, too. Nettie looks forward to having more time to enjoy her many interests which include flower gardening, genealogy, knitting and baking. The recipe below is one of Nettie’s favorites.

White Bark Cookies (NOTE: These cookies freeze very well.)

• Melt together over hot water: 2 ½ pounds almond bark and 1 cup peanut butter.
• Turn heat down to simmer and, when smooth, add: 4 cups Rice Krispies, 4 cups salted nuts and 4 cups miniature marshmallows.
• Drop by spoonful on waxed paper.

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We Will, We Will Read Books (tune: Queen’s We Will Rock You)
Begin with the audience leading in a stomp, stomp, clap rhythm or a slap, slap, clap (slap knees) rhythm.

"Wha’cha gonna do? Wha’cha gonna do? / Wha’cha gonna do when the school year’s through?
Gonna hang around the place? Stuffin’ your face? / Bein’ a slob & takin’ up space?
NO! / We will, we will read books! / We will, we will read books!

Wha’cha gonna do? Wha’cha gonna do? / Wha’cha gonna do when the school year’s through?
Gonna check out a book, / Take a good look, / Its free, fast, fun & easy to do.
SING IT! / We will, we will read books! / We will, we will read books!

Wha’cha gonna do? Wha’cha gonna do? / Wha’cha gonna do when the school year’s through?

WE WILL, WE WILL READ BOOKS!"

(Julie Majkowski’s We Will, We Will Read Books in Rob Reid’s book Family Story Time: Twenty-Four Creative Programs for All Ages; pubyac listserv, 4/21/07 & 4/24/07))

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TECHSOURCE GAMING SYMPOSIUM PLANNED
ALA TechSource will host its first Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, July 22-24 in Chicago. It will be geared to both experienced gamers seeking to start library programs, and newbies who have no idea where to start.

More than 25 sessions in three tracks will cover everything from creating games for information literacy instruction to implementing gaming programs and teaching kids how to create their own games. One track devoted to Second Life will highlight how libraries are creating a presence in this virtual world and what they are gaining from it. The event will also feature open playtime as well as a variety of experts and implementers available to answer questions.

For more information and to register, visit http://gaming.techsource.ala.org

For those of you who are using the Get A Clue theme for summer reading, Kohl’s Cares for Kids has a special promotion just for you. Visit your nearest Kohl’s Department Store or shop online to purchase Ike LaRue plush toys and books based on the works of Mark Teague for $5.00 each. These may be used as SLP giveaways and also to set the scene for a great mystery at your library! For more information, visit http://www.kohlscorporation.com/CommunityRelations/Community02.htm

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HOW TO: DDR 101
You know that Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) is popular with kids, but you might not know what all the DDR options look like. Following is a basic overview:

You may have seen them in the stores, usually retailing for about $15-$40, depending on the brand. These pads are designed to just plug into a television via the RCA/Composite connectors (the yellow, white and red things). These require no console or computer to play. You simply plug them into the TV, change the channel (usually to the same channel used for playing your VCR), and use the pad to control the game. While these pads are limited in songs and features, they are very cost effective as a starter option, especially if you’re looking at a small group or if you don’t know if the game is going to take off at your library.

DDR games for consoles
Parts needed: controller pads, game console (Xbox or PlayStation), TV, game CDs compatible with the consoles
This is the most popular and scalable option. Various flavors of DDR are available for the Xbox, Xbox360, PlayStation (PS), and PlayStation 2 (PS2), which are all considered gaming consoles. These boxes hook up to a television, and work much like a CD player with external controllers.

The pads for the console games are different for this setup. You cannot connect the plug-n-play pads to a game console. For a console configuration you need the controller pads, one for each of the two players, which come in a variety of styles, the metal kind being the most expensive but most durable, and the padded kind being less expensive but not as durable. While there are wireless pads available, there can be issues of connectivity and slight delay in registering a step.

The downside to this setup is that it can be expensive initially. A PS2 alone can run about $130, the pads can run about $30 each, and the games are about $40. The upside is that you can use the console configuration for multiple games, so you can own the latest DDR release and provide other games as they become popular. For example, Guitar Hero is becoming very popular with kids as well. By already having the console, you just need to purchase the Guitar Hero CD and guitar controller.

DDR on a computer
Parts needed: Spare PC or Mac laptop or computer+monitor, controller pads, game CDs compatible with the computer
This is a pretty old school setup without much variety or longevity, but it’s still an option. In this configuration, you plug the computer-compatible controller pads into the computer, and pop a computer-compatible version of the game CD into your computer. The game then plays on the monitor, or, with the right wires, on a TV.

On the big screen
Parts needed: big screen, PS2 setup, LCD projector hooked up to speakers
Since some projectors don’t have very loud sound, purchasing speakers allows you to increase the volume as needed. Also a bigger picture is easier for everyone to see and it just looks cooler. (The author of this post claims that Guitar Hero is "awesome" projected to a big screen with speaker sound!)

(edited from Andrea Mercado’s post on the PLA Blog, 5/15/07; http://plablog.org/2007/05/howto-ddr-101.htmlprint/. See also Jenny Levine’s blog post DDR – Not Just for Libraries (http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/06/ddr_not_just_for_libraries.html) for her views about DDR and providing a DDR booth at the ALA’s recent Midwinter meeting in Seattle.)

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ELIZABETH BURR/WORZALLA AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front lines of the Civil Rights Movement, written by Ann Bausum of Beloit, WI and published by National Geographic, has been selected winner of the 2007 Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award by the Children’s Book Award Committee of the Wisconsin Library Association’s Youth Services Section. The Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award is given to the most distinguished work in literature for children published in the previous calendar year, written and/or illustrated by a Wisconsin book creator.

Ann Bausum exposes the turbulent and pivotal events of the 1960’s as experienced by two young men -- one from Wisconsin’s white middle class; one the son of black Alabama sharecroppers. Bausum’s photo essay engages readers with vivid pictures of burning buses, angry faces and battered young Freedom Riders who rode buses into the heart of the South, risking their lives to challenge segregation. The Committee also named Jim LaMarche the 2007 Notable Wisconsin Author/Illustrator for his contribution to the world of children’s literature. His realistic artwork, created in watercolor, colored pencil, pastel and acrylic wash, has been highly praised for its warmth and keen sense of color.

Ten books were also selected by the Committee for Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Literature. The titles, which were all published in 2006 and written and/or illustrated by Wisconsin book creators, are:

Love, Football and Other Contact Sports (Holiday House) by Alden Carter
Hearts of Stone (Dutton) by Kathleen Ernst
Rash (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) by Pete Hautman
Lilly's Big Day (Greenwillow) written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Up (Chronicle Books) written and illustrated by Jim LaMarche
Jackie's Bat (Simon & Schuster) by Marybeth Lorbiecki; illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet (Walker & Company) written and illustrated by David McLimans
Story of Salt (Putnam) written by Mark Kurlansky; illustrated by S.D. Schindler
Busy in the Garden (Greenwillow Books) written and illustrated by George Shannon
Flotsam (Clarion) by David Wiesner

The Children’s Book Award Committee includes: Chair, Maryann Owen, Racine Public Library; Sonja Ackerman, Wausau School District; Geri Ceci Cupery, E. D. Locke Public Library (McFarland); Kate FitzGerald-Fleck, Waukesha Public Library; Pat Freitag, Graham Public Library, Union Grove; Linda Jerome, LaCrosse Public Library, Leah Langby, Indianhead Federated Library System, Eau Claire.
(CEO; 5/30/07)

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Check it Out!
GOOGLE BOOKS @ YOUR REFERENCE DESK
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a keyword index to every book in your non-fiction collection? While every book in your collection may be farfetched, Google Books (http://books.google.com/) does, in fact, allow you to instantly search the full text of over a million digitized books. This is great news for us librarians! Case in point: A middle school student researching "global dimming" needs at least one book source from our library. Unfortunately, "global dimming" is not indexed as a subject or a keyword in the V-Cat or WISCAT. However, entering the keywords "global dimming" as a Google Book Search cites 33 book titles with these keywords. Guess what? Our library (as well as six other V-Cat libraries) has book #1 in the search (The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery) on our shelf and available for checkout! Success!

And, if you would like to take this process one step further to see the search results of Google Books along side two other search engines – MSN Live and A9.com (Amazon) - go to BookSearchx3 (http://kokogiak.com/booksearch/) When you type "global dimming" in the search box, results from each search engine will be displayed side by side, making it possible to compare the databases and the results.

Try these resources the next time you are stumped. You will be amazed at what you will be able to find on your library’s shelves! -- Michelle Gobert, Director of the Edward U. Demmer Library (Three Lakes)

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HENNEPIN’S BOOKSPACE.ORG DEBUTS
Reading may be a solitary act, but libraries build communities of readers – witness BookSpace.org, launched earlier this year by the Hennepin County Library (HCL), Minnetonka, MN. The site, expanding on the Books & Reading portion of HCL’s already popular web site, incorporates the best of HCL’s homegrown products, licensed databases, staff knowledge, and community feedback.

A "My BookSpace" area invites visitors to register for the opportunity to create book lists, sign up for author alerts, and contribute comments. The site offers more than 100 book club kits, including eight to ten copies of a title and a reading group guide, for checkout – an offering funded by the library’s foundation. Users can peruse both EBSCO’s NoveList readers’ advisory database and HCL’s own "If you like" product.

A team of five librarians developed the site, while more than 100 librarians provided content.
(Library Journal; 3/15/07)

CURRENT CITES
Roy Tennant serves as editor of Current Cites, a monthly publication that includes 8-12 annotated citations of current library literature. ‘A team of librarians and library staff monitors information technology literature in both print and digital forms, each month selecting only the best items to annotate for this free publication.’ You can subscribe to a mailing list to receive each issue via email (http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/currentcites) or pull the RSS feed into your news aggregator. Isn’t it nice of them to do all the hard work for us?
(OWLSweb: Tidbits; March 2007; http://www.owlsweb.info/tidbits/2007/mar.asp)

WLA SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
The Wisconsin Library Association Foundation sponsors annual scholarships for library education and library continuing education. The scholarships are funded by the Foundation through generous charitable contributions. WLA members and prospective students are encouraged to apply.

Continuing Education Scholarships (due August 1st)

· Continuing Education Scholarship ($750)
Available to a person employed in a library in Wisconsin for a continuing education program within or outside Wisconsin. Details and application are available at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/scholarships/CEscholarships.htm 

· Education for Rural Librarians Scholarship ($1,000)
Available to a person employed in a library in a Wisconsin community with a population of 5,000 or less for a continuing education program within or outside Wisconsin. Details and application are available at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/scholarships/rural.html 

Diversity Scholarship for Library Education or Continuing Education (due August 1st)

· Diversity Scholarship ($800)
Available to a person employed in a Wisconsin library or enrolled in a Wisconsin library education/media program. Information on the targeted populations, the application and other details are available by going to: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/scholarships/diversity.htm

Library Education Scholarships (due September 15th)

· Library Education Scholarship ($1,250)
Available to anyone who is or will be attending a master’s level program in library and information science, or in education media at a Wisconsin school during the coming academic year. Details and application are available at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/scholarships/lccle.htm

· Sally Davis Scholarship ($1,200)
Available to a Wisconsin resident admitted to the master’s degree program in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a part- or full-time student. Details and application are available at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/scholarships/sdscholarship.html

· Vida Cummins Stanton Scholarship ($1,350)
Available to a Wisconsin resident admitted to the master’s degree program in the School of Information Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a part- or full-time student pursuing a library media or youth services program. Details and application are available by going to: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/scholarships/lccvs.htm

For more information, contact Peg Branson, WLAF Scholarship Committee Chair, at 608/266-2413 or peg.branson@dpi.state.wi.us 

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READ UP ON LIBRARY 2.0!
While I was at the Computers in Libraries conference in April, I purchased three books that I thought would be helpful for library staff. If you are interested in borrowing any of these titles, contact Linda Orcutt at the WVLS office (715/261-7253; lorcutt@wvls.lib.wi.us).

Social Software in Libraries, Building Collaboration, Communication and Community Online by Meredith Farkas. Information Today, 2007.
Social software lets libraries show a human face online, helping them communicate, educate, and interact with their communities. This nuts-and-bolts guide provides librarians with the information and skills necessary to implement the most popular and effective social software technologies: blogs, RSS, wikis, social networking software, screen casting, photo-sharing, pod casting, instant messaging, gaming and more. The author presents numerous success stories and interviews to highlight the usefulness and impact of each technology.

Library 2.0, a Guide to Participatory Library Service by Michael E. Casey and Laura C. Savastinuk. Information Today, 2007.
This book both outlines the theoretical underpinnings of Library 2.0 and provides practical advice on how to get there. The authors have debunked the myth that Library 2.0 is only about new technologies and framed it as a customer service issue. They offer ways to improve library service to better meet the changing needs of 21^st century library users.

Blogging and RSS, a Librarian’s Guide by Michael P. Sauers. Information Today, 2006.
Sauers is an author, Internet trainer, and blogger in addition to holding his MLS. In this book he shows how blogging and RSS technology can be easily and effectively used in the context of a library community. Sauers begins with an introduction to blogging, a description of the library blogosphere and moves to creating blogs. He then moves on to RSS feeds following a similar pattern. Chock-full of examples, Web sites, references, and screen shots, the book provides practical Library 2.0 solutions for all librarians and information professionals.

FROM HITHER & YON

CICADAS … OH SO YUMMY!
As many of you have probably heard...the Midwest is about to be inundated with 17-year cicadas.

As the name implies, these large, flying insects come out of the ground once every 17 years, mostly in the Midwest, and quite literally swamp the area for a few months. There are hundreds of millions if not billions of them. They are mostly harmless, do not bite and at most cause an annoyance by their sheer numbers.

Their one big advantage is that like many insects, cicadas are edible and can even be very tasty if prepared correctly. The best time to eat cicadas is just after the nymphs break open their skin and before the exoskeleton turns hard. It is best to collect these in the early morning, just after they have emerged but before they have time to climb up out reach. The best way to do this is to simply go outside with a brown paper bag and start scooping them in. You can cook them immediately, or refrigerate them (they will remain alive but will mature much more slowly) to cook later.

If you are feeling adventurous, try this recipe...

SOFT-SHELLED CICADAS

Ingredients
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
60 freshly emerged 17-year cicadas
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups flour
Salt and pepper to season the flour
1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions
Marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for 1-2 hours.

Dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently sauté until they are golden brown.

Deep fried cicadas are preferred to be eaten with hot mustard or cocktail sauce. Any sauce used for lobster should also work well to garnish cicadas.

(edited from Bizarre News; 5/23/07)

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The Butterfly Site http://thebutterflysite.com/
Entomologist and artist Randi Jones aims to provide "the most complete and current butterfly information on the Internet." The site provides information on butterfly-friendly gardening, biology, picture resources, fun facts, activities for children, and plenty of butterfly supplies and gifts in Jones’ Butterfly & Nature Gift Store.
(Marylaine Block’s Neat New Stuff I Found on the Net This Week; 12/22/06; http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html)

CDC Division of Tuberculosis Elimination http://www.cdc.gov/tb/
From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this site provides extensive information about tuberculosis (TB), a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium Tuberculosis that usually attacks the lungs. This site includes fact sheets and other documents about topics such as vaccines, TB information for travelers, TB in minority populations, and TB and HIV/AIDS.
(LII New This Week, 5/31/07; Copyright 2007 by Librarians’ Internet Index, http://lii.org)

Get a Clue @ Your Library http://clue.owlsweb.info/
The Outagamie Waupaca Library System’s Summer Library Program web site is up and running and includes all kinds of neat resources – coloring sheets, puzzle sheets, word searches and mazes, books, projects and web sites – to help staff with Get a Clue @ Your Library programs.

UI Plants http://woodyplants.nres.uiuc.edu/
The University of Illinois has created this fine database for use by students, avid gardeners, and just about anyone with an interest in woody plants. The database contains copious amounts of information about woody plants found in the northern portion of eastern North America, and visitors are welcome to select plants from the database by their scientific name or by their common name. After making these selections, visitors can look over a number of illustrative photographs and also learn about each plant's habitat, size, color, hardiness, and texture. From abies cilicica to the zelkova serrata (or "Japanese zelkova"), this online database is a most welcome find. Additionally, visitors can send along some feedback on the site via a webform.
(From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2007; http://scout.wisc.edu/ ; June 1, 2007)

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June 7 – WVLS V-Cat Council meeting – Marathon County Public Library – 9:30 a.m.

June 21 – First day of summer!

June 26 – WVLS Executive Committee meeting – Marathon County Public Library – 9:30 a.m.; and, WVLS Collection Development Committee meeting – Marathon County Public Library – 1:00 p.m.

July 13 – The movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released.

July 17 – WVLS Board of Trustees meeting – Marathon County Public Library – 9:30 a.m.

July 21 – The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released.

July 25-26 – WiLSWorld Conference – Pyle Center, Madison – for details, visit http://www.wils.wisc.edu/events/wworld07/

August 7 – WVLS Library Advisory Committee meeting – Northcentral Technical College, Wausau – 9:30 a.m.

August 21 - WVLS Technology Workshop – UW-Marathon County, Wausau – for more information, see article above.

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"If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear!" -- Winnie the Pooh

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 

LAMPLIGHTER

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 Phone: 715/261-7252 FAX: 715/261-7259

msepnafs@wvls.lib.wi.us

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.

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