The WLA Blog

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in partnership with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) invites nominations for the 2010 Coming Up Taller Awards. The program, now in its thirteenth year, honors excellence in afterschool, out-of-school, and summer arts and humanities programs for underserved children and youth. Other program partners include the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Each year, the Coming Up Taller Awards recognize and reward exceptional programs that cultivate character development and life skills in young people. Award recipients receive $10,000 each, an individualized plaque, and an invitation to attend the annual Coming Up Taller Leadership Enhancement Conference in Washington, D.C. The Coming Up Taller Awards ceremony has traditionally been held in the fall at the White House, with the awards bestowed by the President’s Committee’s Honorary Chairman, First Lady Michelle Obama.

At the Coming Up Taller awards ceremony held at the White House last month, Mrs. Obama called the Coming Up Taller awardees’ achievement in the arts and humanities “a bridge to achievement in life.”

IMLS encourages eligible museums and libraries to apply via the 2010 nomination application available at www.cominguptaller.org.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, January 29, 2010.

If you have questions, please visit www.cominguptaller.org or contact PCAH at (202) 682-5409.

Labels: Afterschool, awards, Comming Up Taller, IMLS

The Winter issue of Communique (the WAPL newsletter) is now available online in MemberClicks.

Highlights include:

• Reflections on a Visit to Libraries in South Africa
• Post WLA Conference Resources
• Why do you Need a Library Building?
• News from the Talking Book and Braille Library
• Help for Jobseekers
• . . . and more!
  

To access the newsletter, just go to the WLA home page (http://www.wla.lib.wi.us), and

• click on MemberClicks on the right hand side.
• On the MemberClicks page, click on "Resources."
• On the Resources page click on "WLA and Unit Newsletters."
• Voila!
  

The newsletter will also be posted on the WAPL home page at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/wapl

Labels: Communique, newsletter, WAPL

On Friday the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced it awarded grants to fund state broadband mapping to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and to six other states. (Press release at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press/2009/BBMappinggrants_091106.html.) The PSC has already contracted with LinkAmerica (http://www.linkamericaalliance.com) to conduct the mapping for Wisconsin.

**Your input requested.** Next week Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) will be meeting with LinkAmerica to discuss the state of broadband access, focusing on Wisconsin's K-12 schools and libraries. As part of this process both Steve Sanders and Bob Bocher invite you to send them any comments, thoughts, concerns, etc., you have about getting your schools and libraries adequate broadband at affordable prices. They are especially interested in connectivity issues for the large majority of schools which do not qualify for a TEACH discounted circuit. Send any comments to Bob Bocher by this Friday, November 13. All comments will remain anonymous. Thanks for your input.

Bob Bocher, Technology Consultant
Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction

Division for Libraries, Technology and Community Learning
Madison, WI 53707-7841 - 608-266-2127 - robert.bocher@dpi.wi.gov

Labels: broadband, broadband mapping, DPI, NTIA

The Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries Act, or the SKILLs Act, was re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week with support from both sides of the aisle. This legislation is intended to ensure that all students will have the support and resources they need for a quality education by establishing a goal that all public school libraries employ no less than one highly qualified school library media specialist.

H.R. 3928 was introduced by Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-7) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI-3) and was referred to the House Education and Labor Committee.

From ALA District Dispatch:

Call your member in the House of Representatives and urge her/him to reform the USA PATRIOT Act now! Please ask your representative to co-sponsor the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3845), introduced by Rep. Conyers (MI-14) and others on October 20, 2009.

Mr. Conyers and the other cosponsors should be thanked for introducing H.R. 3845.
A mark-up in the House Judiciary Committee is currently scheduled for Wednesday, November 4. Your calls are urgently needed before this mark-up! Call your individual representative’s office or the U.S. Capital switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

BACKGROUND: Three PATRIOT Act provisions are set to expire on December 31, 2009. This is the best chance we have had in the last eight years to get significant reforms to Section 215, often called the “library provision,” and to national security letters (NSLs).
The USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009 protects constitutional speech and privacy rights by:

• Amending the NSL statute to ensure that the government only obtains financial, communication and credit records of people believed to be terrorists or spies;
• Requiring the government to convince a court that a national security gag order is necessary; and
• Ensuring that Section 215 does not authorize collection of library and bookstore records if they contain individualized information on the patron.

To find out who your member of Congress is, please go to the Legislative Action Center: http://capwiz.com/ala/home/

Library grassroots advocacy efforts have helped lead to the introduction of this strong Conyers bill to bring balance back to our civil liberties while allowing law enforcement to fight terrorist threats. We must do everything we can to ensure that the House of Representatives passes H.R. 3845, a bill that can lead to genuine reform of the deeply-flawed USA PATRIOT Act.

This is especially so because the Senate is set to pass a bill with far, far weaker reforms. Also, as expected, there is significant opposition to these reforms, including from the White House, the Department of Justice and the House Intelligence Committee. Many calls from library supporters and others will be needed to overcome this opposition. Call now with the following message:
THE MESSAGE:

• Pass H.R. 3845 to protect reader privacy and other First Amendment activities in libraries and bookstores;
• Reform Section 215 and national security letters so that a higher legal standard is required to obtain these types of orders;
• Ensure and maintain the legal right to challenge gag orders and require judicial review and reassessment to continue such gag orders;
• Continue the required audits and public reports so that Congress and the public can assess the impact of these laws; and
• Maintain the sunsets so that there can be regular Congressional and public oversight to protect against abuses of law enforcement powers.

On June 29, 2010, at 11 a.m., library advocates from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., will meet at Upper Senate Park on the U.S. Capitol grounds to participate in Library Advocacy Day (LAD).

Register now to attend!

LAD will feature guest speakers, photo ops, and a chance to cheer on libraries! After the rally, participants will meet with their elected officials and their staffs. The states with the most people will be featured front and center, which means they are the ones that will be in the majority of pictures. Make sure your state is the most represented so your group can be in the most pictures!

Presented by Michael Tyree, director, Kristin Pekoll, young adult librarian, Barbara Deters, board president, and Mary Reilly-Kliss, former library board member, all of West Bend Community Memorial Library.

Though I had followed the case closely, I was anxious to hear first hand the entire story of West Bend's experience in addressing multiple changes to young adult and GLBTQ materials during 2009.

Oh, what a story they had to tell! As the board president said, it could be you. And it very well could be. Is your collection development policy in place? Do you have a process and procedure for dealing with reconsideration of materials? What about complaints about your website (which is actually how these challenges started)?

In West Bend's case, the challenge/complaint kept changing, while the complainants were backed, and advised, by national, conservative organizations. The library was tried in the press, and in several blogs. Library board members whose terms were up were not reappointed, something that had never happened before, or happens rarely.

A highlight of the presentation was a video recording of one of the meetings at which citizens on both sides of the issue testified. Little or no commentary was needed.

I'd like to think that we all, if confronted by similar challenges, would handle ourselves with such courage, resolve, and grace.

Labels: censorship, West Bend, WLA Conference, WLA2009

presented by Marcy Heim, The Artful Asker.

Although her main focus is working with groups to help them with fundraising, this session was about "13 factors for joy and success." The mnemonic is "RELATIONSHIPS."

R = Respect
E = Encouragement
L = Listening
A = Appreciation/Gratitude
T = Trust
I = Intuition
O = Order
N = Nurturing/Understanding
S = Sense of Humor
H = Hope and faith
I = Integrity
P = Passion
S = Sleep and eat (and exercise)

For each of the 13 factors she asked us to come up with one action we will try to do every day.

Why are relationships important? Relationships, more than any other factor, determine the quality of your life. Choose to focus on the people in our lives at work and home--this is what helps you keep your passion.

Labels: motivation, passion, WLA Conference, WLA2009

Robin A. Jones, Director, DBTAC--Great Lakes ADA Center, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Excellent program, starting with a little review of ADA and its purposes, and legal obligations of entities under the law. Also takes a look at Wisconsin state law, which luckily for us, unlike some other states, apparently, is pretty consistent with ADA.

More citizens than ever are over age 55, and more citizens have disabilities. Jones spent time on educating us on the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 which will expand the definition of "person with a disability." In addition, limitations in the Act's list of major life activities may also constitute a disability.

Jones covered such topics of interest to libraries as: building access, service animals, communication, and virtual accessibility.

For more information see http://www.adagreatlakes.org.

Labels: accessibility, ADA, Americans with Disability Act, WLA Conference, WLA2009

Speakers: Lori Burgess, Fond du Lac Public Library, Christine Arkenberg, Milwaukee Public Library, Jeff Dawson, Lester Public Library (Two Rivers), Dave Mancl, Office of Financial Literacy.

This was great--The Office of Financial Literacy in the Department of Financial Institutions will help your library and others you partner with to sponsor workshops, seminars, programs, events, and other activities aimed at improving financial literacy. They'll help with printing, securing speakers, and other things. As Jeff Dawson of Two Rivers said, this is the 3rd year his library has participated in Money Smart week, "without lifting a finger."

Seems to me, given the current economy, these types of programs are a great idea. Partner with local college or tech school to offer programs for freshmen who are managing their money for the first time. Partner with senior centers to offer programs for senior citizens who are living on a fixed income. You get the idea.

Money Smart Week is October 2-9 in 2010. See http://www.moneysmartwi.org for more info!

Labels: financial literacy, Money Smart, programming, WLA Conference, WLA2009