AB 40, Common School Fund Bill, Passed By Legislature

Library supporters are urged to contact Governor Jim Doyle as soon as possible to ask him to veto AB 40, relating to the Common School Fund. The bill passed the Senate Tuesday by a nearly party line vote of 18-15. Not only did all 17 Senate Democrats vote against the bill, one Republican, Tom Reynolds, also voted against the measure. AB 40 has already passed the Assembly, so now it heads to the Governor for his signature or veto.

WLA is concerned that the bill will reduce the amount of money going into the Common School Fund, which is the sole source of funding for about 50 percent of school libraries. Under current law, 100% of forfeitures of money related to a drug crime goes into the Fund. AB 40 would reduce that to 70%, ostensibly to increase collections of these forfeitures by local law enforcement authorities. Unfortunately, no one can reasonably predict the actual impact of the bill. What if collections by local law enforcement don't increase? School libraries are already hurting for resources and this bill could exacerbate the situation.

There are two other bills pending in the legislature that would likely reduce payouts from the CSF to school libraries: AB 152 and AB 130. In the past, there have been many other attempts to raid the fund or reduce the amount contributed to the fund. While often well-intentioned and for other worthy causes, the constitutional intent of the CSF is to support school libraries. It should be preserved for that purpose.

Two Public Library Bills on Floor of Senate November 9

Library supporters are urged to call their State Senators this morning to urge approval of Senate Bills 272 and 273, relating to public libraries and public library systems. The bill is scheduled for action in the State Senate today; session starts at 11:00 a.m. More information about the bill is available in the online Legislative Status Report. Go to Who is My Legislator to determine contact information for your State Senator.

Apparently, the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security, Military Affairs, Small Business and Government Reform approved the bills via a paper ballot yesterday, and it was scheduled immediately. If approved in the Senate, it will go to the Assembly for action.

If you had a chance to enjoy the hospitality of La Crosse area librarians, you may enjoy this collection of articles from the Sunday La Crosse Tribune:

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2005/10/30/news/00lead.txt

and this editorial:

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2005/10/30/opinion/00mial30.txt

Well, I hope everyone made it home safely. Rick K. and I had a pleasant trip back across the state, enjoying the beautiful late fall weather.

Russ Feingold did, in fact, appear and delivered a rousing address, describing librarians as "warriors" in the battle to protect privacy and civil liberties. We gave him four or five standing ovations and generally "showed him the love" as Dave Weinberg-Kinsey would say.

Finally, a big WLA thank you to Kelly Krieg-Sigman and the entire conference committee. They did a terrific job on behalf of the entire association and we appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

Friday morning:

Nothing like starting the day with a business meeting. The Library Research Round Table is a small but sincere group dedicated to supporting and promoting library research (duh) -- and we always have entertaining business meetings. LRRT sponsored or cosponsored 5 programs at this year's conference -- close to the record, I'm sure.

One of the programs we sponsored was "MLIS Student Perceptions on Field Work Experience" in which Elizabeth Buchanan and Stephanie Reister presented some research about how fieldwork works out for MLIS students. The audience was a good mix of LIS faculty, students, practitioners, and people who had supervised fieldwork, so we had an interesting discussion. Generally, fieldwork seems to be a good thing but opinions are divided about whether or not it should be required. My own reference practicum at Middleton Health Sciences Library (about a hundred years ago) was very positive for me, but now I wonder how it was for the poor librarians who had to supervise me.

The last session of the conference I'm attending is "The Seven Million Books Project: Google Floods the Digital Plain" with Abigail Potter and Rebecca Dunkle. Google's digitization partnership with the University of Michigan (among others) has been pretty controversial but hearing this talk made me feel like this might just work - and even be a good thing. Many of the details about the project are confidential but you can find out more at http://www.lib.umich.edu/mdp/. It sounds like Michigan will be a good steward of the immense digital resource which is being developed.

The President's Luncheon is the final event of the conference and we've heard some pretty interesting talks over the years. As of late yesterday, we were still expecting to have Senator Russ Feingold as today's speaker. You never know, but it sounded pretty hopeful. I'll let you know.

Thursday pm:

Louise got us brainstorming in the afternoon: what do we value about libraries? who do we want to tell? how are we going to tell them? what stories are we going to tell? It got me thinking about all the cool things libraries mean to so many different people -- it's not just what libraries do for people but what libraries mean: they're a refuge, a place for independent learning, a jumping off point for new adventures, a place of hope and imagination and community....

The last session I attended today was, "Throw Me a Life Rope! Record Retention Strategies for Public Libraries and Public Library Systems" presented by Anita Taylor Doering, archivist at La Crosse Public, with the help of the ad hoc committee that developed the draft records retention schedule. Basically, this was a chance for the committee to talk about what they had done and to get some feedback on the draft. It was very interesting to me as a system trustee, as someone who needs to help get a records retention schedule implemented on our campus, and as a library historian. Records retention is all about deciding what you can throw away when and it's really useful to have a recommended schedule that's as complete and well thought out as this one.

The WLA/WLAF business meeting rounded out the afternoon. Nothing too controversial there; just a chance to get to hear how the association and the foundation are doing (both pretty well). Ron McCabe adjourned the meeting with a rendition of the old classic, "Some Enchanted Meeting..."

Had a nice walk downtown to the Campaign for Wisconsin Libraries fundraiser at the City Brewery Hospitality Center: beer tasting and good food in the shadow of the World's Largest Sixpack. Got to hear the Oktoberfest Singers -- a very fun group. And, of course, it's all for a good cause...

Thursday morning:

It was foggy and cold this morning in La Crosse, but once the fog burned off it became a gorgeous day.

Started out this morning at Kathy Pletcher's talk on "Leading to Excellence." As usual, her talk was well organized, well presented, and filled with good advice about becoming a better leader and manager. She recommended a couple of books, "Breaking the Rules," and "Good to Great" about excellence in management.

Followed that with Fred Heath's presentation about LibQUAL+, the library services evaluation tool. We've talked about using it at our library and it was good to find out more about it from "the source." One of the points he made was, "Only customers judge quality; all other judgments are essentially irrelevant." The idea of having some standard data that can be compared with other school's data is very apealing. His presentation is available at http://webspace.utexas.edu/fh355/www/ (select the Wisconsin La Crosse Powerpoint).

Louise Robbins gave an excellent talk after the WLTA (Wisconsin Library Trustees and Advocates)luncheon: "The Value of Libraries: What Research Tells Us". She presented a summary of some of the research on the value of libraries to their communities: it's all about the outcomes. One of the resources she mentioned was ALA's ROI (Return on Investment) page, which is a useful collection of citations to research on this topic. I'm looking forward to seeing many of these resources linked to from WisconsinLibraries.org once it gets up and running.

One thing about the new WLTA name: Wisconsin Library Trustees and Advocates. I really like that this change makes the group more inclusive, welcoming Friends, Friends groups, and any other library advocates. We benefit from having more voices telling the library story.

And speaking of the library story: I'm on the floor in the back of La Crosse Center D, getting ready for Louise's followup presentation about "The Value of Libraries: Telling the Story." More later.

Wednesday PM

Well -- the wireless connection kept cutting out on me last night, so here's a belated report from yesterday afternoon and evening.

After lunch, I attended Paula Ganyard's fun (and informative) program, "Browser Wars," all about the differences and similarities among the major web browsers. She gave a brief history -- it's amazing to think that Mosaic was just 12 years ago. I remember how much fun it was to see pictures from the web; now I wish most of them would go away. Ah well. Paula's outline is on the web (of course) at http://www.uwgb.edu/ganyardp/talks/browsers/

The WLAF program, "The Campaign for Wisconsin’s Libraries: What’s In It for Your Library?" was "an overview of the exciting new "Campaign for Wisconsin’s Libraries," an ongoing state level campaign to promote a wider understanding of the value and importance of Wisconsin’s libraries." The (developing) website at: http://www.wisconsinlibraries.org/.
The tagline they're using is "Support Wisconsin Libraries: Keep us all in a better state," which works pretty well for all different kinds of libraries. I'm really impressed with the work of the Foundation and hope we can help them reach their (ambitious) goals.

So then I had to go over and put a couple of bids on things at the WLAF Silent Auction. There's a lot of fun stuff there and, of course, it's for a good cause.

The keynote speaker, Martha Teichner, from CBS News, was great too. Her talk, about libraries she has known and loved, was a good reminder of what libraries mean to people. Plus, she has a terrific voice.

Stopped in at the SLIS/SOIS reunion in time to see most of "The World's Fastest Librarian," a DVD by the fun folk at SLIS. It's worth seeing if you get the chance.

The Awards Banquet is always a highlight of the conference. As just about every recipient noted, even the individual awards are about group efforts: it takes a lot of people to create, maintain, and support an award-winning project or library or (even) librarian. Celebrating all the great stuff we do is always worthwhile. More on the awards at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/awards/.

Blog the Conference!

It's lunchtime on day 1 of WLA 2005 in sunny La Crosse. I'm hiding out in a corner with our laptop and wireless connection. Conferences seem to be mainly about meetings and programs -- but they're really about catching up with your colleagues.

I made the point in my program (first thing this morning) that the convergence of events in 1876 (the founding of ALA, the founding of Library Journal, the publication of the 1876 Report, Public Libraries in the United States...) meant that, for really the first time, library workers actually had colleagues they could communicate with and ask questions of and get information from. Now we take that kind of communication for granted, but then it was a new thing.

So I'm going to programs, but also doing the "schmooze-o-rama" in the hallways and Exhibit Hall.

I attended a program this morning called "Where Have All the Journals Gone? UW-Madison’s Response to High Priced Subscriptions," ably presented Jean Gilbertson, Jeanne Witte, and Rachel Watters.

The program description:
This program will present data from a UW-Madison Libraries pilot project: subscriptions to selected Wiley and Elsevier journal titles were cancelled, but access to those journals was still available to UW-Madison patrons, due to the library purchasing articles from the publisher’s web site. As subscription prices soar and library budgets shrink, this project is an experiment to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing articles as needed from the publisher rather than through journal subscriptions.

You gotta be a librarian to love this kind of stuff, but they're doing some very interesting things at UW-Madison that will help us all figure out how to deal with the serials crisis. As Jean noted at the end of the talk, we have to be willing to "think different" about the future of our libraries. How will we provide access to scholarly stuff that we only need once a year or that costs as much a car for a year's subscription?

Gotta go check out the exhibits...

Two library bills introduced August 1

Two library bills which resulted from the State Superintendent's Task Force on Public Library Legislation and Funding were introduced August 1 by Sen. Joe Leibham: SB-272 and SB-273, to adopt several of the Task Force's recommendations to reform the way that libraries and library systems are operated and funded.

The Task Force finished its work in 2002; the bills were introduced too late in the legislature's last session to progress. For more information on the bills, including the text of the bills and a summary of the key points, go to the WLA Legislative status report: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/legis/BudgetStatusReport.htm.

WLA Awards Kevin Henkes Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award

The WLA recently named Madison author Kevin Henkes winner of the 2005 Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award for Kitten’s First Full Moon, published by Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins in 2004.

Shawn Brommer, chair of the Children’s Book Award Committee of the Youth Services Section of WLA, said the committee selected the book from dozens of contenders written by Wisconsin authors. Committee members were impressed by its simple story told elegantly in black and white charcoal drawings.

WLA will formally present the award, which includes a $1,000 honorarium, to Mr. Henkes at the WLA annual conference in October. Mr. Henkes will also do a book signing and speak at the conference, which attracts approximately 1,100 librarians, staff, and trustees from throughout the state.

Other top contenders for the award were named the Burr/Worzalla Outstanding Books of 2005: With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Vote, by Ann Bausum, (National Geographic, 2004); Godless, by Pete Hautman (Simon & Schuster, 2004); Blue Jasmine, by Kashmira Sheth (Hyperion, 2004). The 2005 Notable Author is S.D. Schindler, who received the recognition for his body of work.

The Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award is made possible by the Worzalla Publishing Company of Stevens Point, through a grant to the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation. Members of the 2005 Children’s Book Award Committee: Shawn Brommer (Chair), South Central Library System; Roxane Bartelt, Kenosha Public Library; Geri Ceci Cupery, Madison Public Library; Marge Loch-Wouters, Elisha D. Smith Public Library - Menasha; Maryann Owen, Racine Public Library; Pam Penn, Milwaukee Public Schools; and Sue Marie Rendall, Portage County Public Library – Stevens Point.

Maintenance of Effort Bill to Get a Hearing

Rep. Mark Gottlieb's bill, AB-483, will get a hearing before the Assembly Committee on Urban and Local Affairs next Tuesday, August 9, 1:00 p.m. in the North Hearing Room of the State Capitol in Madison. WLA opposes this bill and encourages members who are constituents of the committee members to urge them not to support it. Under Wisconsin Statutes 43.15 (4)(c), local libraries must meet several requirements of system membership, including that the local library be funded at a level that is not lower than the average funding for the previous three years. This requirement is commonly referred to as maintenance of effort (MOE). All local public libraries receive valuable services as a result of their voluntary membership in one of 17 regional public library systems. Elimination of the MOE would damage the valuable resource sharing network established through these systems.

While Rep. Gottlieb has suggested a compromise that would require library performance standards in lieu of MOE, an amendment has not been introduced. While WLA is generally in favor of library standards if they help achieve a higher quality of library service, many of our members are quite concerned about the difficulty of developing meaningful standards statewide. Right now, only four counties have adopted such standards.

Along with WLA, AFSCME and the Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) have taken positions against the bill. The Wisconsin Counties Association and the League of Municipalities have stated support for the bill.

Two organizations oppose SB-258 on constitutional grounds

The Motion Picture Association of American (MPAA) and The Media Coalition, Inc. have each issued a memorandum opposing SB-258. Both organizations state that the bill barring public libraries from lending or renting R-rated movies to minors without the consent of a parent or guardian would likely be found unconstitutional. The Media Coalition says, "Courts in nine different states have ruled it unconstitutional either to enforce the MPAA's rating system or to financially punish a movie that carries specific rating designations." MPAA elaborates that attempts to incorporate voluntary ratings into state and local law have been consistently found unconstitutional because "they unlawfully delegate legislative power to a private association."

MPAA also states that keeping the ratings voluntary is part of their usefulness and that government involvement would lead to film makers opting to leave their films unrated.

An informal survey of WLA members found that about 73 percent of respondents place some restrictions on minors relating to movie circulation. For instance, about 31 percent of all respondents allow parents to place a restriction on their child’s record, but without that request, all materials are available to any minor patron. On the other hand, nearly 21 percent bar minors from checking out R-rated movies altogether. Whichever approach the library took, most respondents felt this was an issue that did not require legislation because the library was meeting the community’s expectations.

For more information go to the Legislative & Budget Status Report, and see SB-258.

Mary Relindes Ellis's "The Turtle Warrior" is Banta Award Winner

The Literary Awards Committee of the Wisconsin Library Association's Reader's Section has selected Mary Relindes Ellis’s novel The Turtle Warrior as the winner of the Banta Award. The award is for the highest literary achievement by a Wisconsin author in 2004. The Turtle Warrior is Hammond resident Ellis’s first novel. It is a powerful tale of two brothers living on a failing farm in northern Wisconsin with a violent alcoholic father. The Turtle Warrior is a dark, emotionally powerful book that will stay with the reader for a long time.

The Banta Award is made possible by the Banta Corporation Foundation through a grant to the WLA Foundation.

The Literary Awards Committee also chose three Notable Wisconsin Authors for their body of work: Robert Bloch (Milwaukee), author of many short stories and novels in the horror field including the novel upon which Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho was based, Irving Wallace (Kenosha), author of bestselling novels including The Chapman Report, The Prize, and The Man, and historian John Gurda, a Milwaukee native whose most recent work is The Making of Milwaukee.

The Literary Awards Committee also selected ten books for Outstanding Achievement. These titles, all published in 2004, were also written by Wisconsin authors. The books are:
Chang, Lan Samantha (Appleton). Inheritance.
Davis, Tom (Green Bay). The Tattered Autumn Sky: Bird Hunting in the Heartland.
Kercheval. Jesse Lee (Madison). Dog Angel: Poems.
Logue, Mary (Stockholm). Bone Harvest.
Meacham, Rebecca (Green Bay). Let’s Do.
Mitchell, Judith Claire (Madison). The Last Day of the War.
Nelscott, Kris (pseudonym of Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Superior). Stone Cribs.
Stefaniak, Mary Helen (Milwaukee). The Turk and My Mother.
Tyson, Timothy B. (Madison). Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story.
Vreeland, Susan (Racine).The Forest Lover.

The 2005 Literary Award Committee members are: Sandra Sechrest (chair), Patricia Bordak, Nanette Bulebosh, Beverly DeWeese, Susan Bushouse Foran, John Hendricks, Anne Kasuboski, Constance Mahsem, Catherine Morris-Nelson, and Edell Schaefer.

For more information about the work of the Literary Awards Committee, go to http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/lac/.

Library funding and operations bills circulating

Two library bills which resulted from the State Superintendent's Task Force on Public Library Legislation and Funding are circulating and will likely be introduced in this session. The bills' sponsors are Sen. Joe Leibham (R- Sheboygan) and Rep. Stephen Freese (R-Dodgeville). WLA members are encouraged to contact their legislators to urge cosponsorship in order to boost the bills' chances of success. The deadline for cosponsorship is July 21.

The bills are LRB-0411/2 and LRB-0412/1, to adopt several of the Task Force's recommendations to reform the way that libraries andlibrary systems are operated and funded. The Task Force finished its work in 2002; the bills were introduced late in the legislature's last session and didn't progress. For more information on the bills, including the text of the drafts, and a DPI summary of the key points, go to the WLA Legislative status report: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/legis/BudgetStatusReport.htm.

Nominate a site for the 2nd Annual MATS Webbies Awards

Help the WLA Media and Technology Section celebrate excellence in Wisconsin web site design and nominate a site for our Webbies Awards. It's fun! It's easy! And the rules are simple:

• The site must be a Wisconsin library or educational institution web site.
• Anyone can nominate a site.
• Sites must be submitted via our online form by October 1, 2005.
  

The categories are slightly different this year with the removal of the "best site by a Wisconsin library employee not necessarily library-related" and the addition of "most accessible site." We have also broadened the rules a bit to include not only Wisconsin libraries, but also Wisconsin educational institutions.

We hope you'll take the time to nominate a site (or two or three), then we'll see you at the WLA conference in La Crosse in October where we'll announce the winners.

Thanks!
Beth Carpenter
2005 MATS Chair

Learn and Grow with WLA Leadership Involvement

Getting involved in WLA can help you develop your leadership and professional skills, meet people who can be a resource to you, and serve the library profession through support of your association! WLA has many positions, both appointed and elected, including short-term tasks and multi-year assignments. We urge you to consider getting involved.

Learn more about WLA volunteer opportunities, including FAQs about getting involved and specific positions available, on the website: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/membership/involved.htm.

Awards and Scholarships: Deadlines August 1, September 15
The library community is filled with people who work tirelessly to maintain access to information, provide quality reference services, help children learn to love reading, and do whatever is necessary to serve the needs of their institutions or communities. Do they get enough recognition? Probably not! But you can help by nominating one of these deserving individuals for recognition by WLA members. Or, nominate your own library for Library of the Year. Deadline is August 1: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/awards/awardprocedures.htm

Likewise, you can encourage future librarians by telling them about one of the WLA Foundation’s scholarship opportunities. Or, if your institution needs to stretch its continuing education budget, apply for one yourself. Deadlines are August 1 and September 15. We have both library education and continuing ed scholarship opportunities: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/scholarships/

Candidates for WLA Office Announced

The WLA Nominating Committee recently announced the following slate of candidates for WLA-wide elected positions:
WLA Vice President/President-Elect: Rebecca Berger, Director, Door County Library; Ed Van Gemert, Deputy Director, UW-Madison General Library System
ALA Councilor: Phyllis Davis, Associate Director, South Central Library System; Connie Van Der Heide, Reference/Outreach Services Librarian, Wisconsin State Law Library
WLA Foundation Board: Leanne Hansen, Director, Cofrin Library, UW-Green Bay; Kathy Schneider, Director, WiLS

Thanks to all the candidates for agreeing to run for office. The Nominating Committee members are: David Weinberg-Kinsey, Chair; Bob Bocher, Kay Ihlenfeldt, Jay Karow, and Carolynne Rosenberger.

WLA will publish candidates’ statements in the July-August-September issue of the WLA Newsletter and mail official ballots in early August.

State Senator Wants Libraries to Keep Minors From R-rated Movies

Sen. Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) is circulating a bill (LRB 2213/1) that would require parental consent before libraries loan R-rated movies to minors. Responses to an informal WLA survey indicate that most responding libraries already have policies that restrict minors’ access to movies in some way. The Motion Picture Association of America has issued a memo in opposition to the bill, stating it would be unconstitutional. For more information go to the Legislative & Budget Status Report, and see LRB 2213/1.

Bill Proposes Repeal of "Maintenance of Effort" Funding for Public Libraries

Rep. Mark Gottlieb (R-Port Washington) recently introduced AB-483, which would repeal the maintenance of effort funding for public libraries as a requirement for membership in a public library system. WLA is opposed to the measure.

WLA's position on this matter was outlined in a reply to a May 16 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (JS-Online) editorial that supported repeal of maintenance of effort funding. WLA President Terry Dawson stated, "Current law sensibly ensures that a municipality does not take undue advantage of neighboring libraries (and property taxpayers) while failing to support its own library...[and] that a municipality does not take undue advantage of state funded library system services while failing to support its own library." Dawson also pointed out that if the state provided adequate library system funding, fewer costs would fall to the local property taxpayer. He noted that the average local plus state per capita support for Wisconsin's public libraries is still under 65 cents per week, less than a can of soda.

Co-sponsors of the measure include Representatives Ainsworth, Gielow, Hines, Jensen, Jeskewitz, LeMahieu and Towns. WLA legislative leaders will be meeting with Rep. Gottlieb on July 13 to discuss the bill.

WLA Foundation Launches the Campaign for Wisconsin’s Libraries
The Wisconsin Library Association Foundation has embarked on an ongoing state level campaign to promote a wider understanding of the value and importance of Wisconsin’s libraries. The Foundation has made a commitment to raise a minimum of $100,000 each year to fund the campaign, and has set aside $15,000 of its current funds to develop an action plan for the campaign. The Foundation is also pleased to announce that the WLA and the Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries have agreed to become the first Supporting Partners in the Campaign for Wisconsin’s Libraries with a contribution of $5,000 each.

The Campaign for Wisconsin’s Libraries will provide a collective voice in behalf of Wisconsin libraries of all types. The campaign will take advantage of any national level efforts to promote libraries that are in keeping with the purpose of Wisconsin’s campaign. Some possible messages include: the impact that libraries have on the State’s economy; the importance of libraries to lifelong learning; and the overall contribution libraries make to the quality of life of the state’s residents.

The Foundation will use a variety of strategies to raise the funding necessary to finance a successful ongoing campaign including the recruitment of additional funding partners. Individual members of WLA can support the campaign by becoming a member of one of the Foundation’s clubs (see http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/wlaf/wlafjoin.htm ).

Online Training
The Media and Technology Section (MATS) has been working on gathering sites that offer online training on a variety of library-related topics. Take a look at the Online Classes page of the MATS web site to see what we have so far. If you know of other good sites, please email them to bcarpent@mail.owls.lib.wi.us, and we'll consider adding them. Thanks!

Beth Carpenter
2005 MATS Chair

Library-related Legislation: Opportunities and Threats
In addition to the state budget, several library-related bills and proposals will occupy WLA this session. First, the Common School Fund (CSF), the only source of revenue for many school libraries, continues to be a target for raids. AB 40 and AB 130 are both attempts to decrease the percentage of fines and/or forfeitures sent to the state for the CSF while increasing the percentage that localities can retain. WLA and WEMA share the concern that these efforts ultimately will decrease the funding available for school libraries. Proponents say the bills will provide an incentive to localities to collect and process fines and forfeitures and will actually lead to increased collections that will benefit the CSF.

Rep. Stephen Freese (R-Dodgeville) has agreed to reintroduce two public library bills from last session. One would modify statutes governing public libraries (language bill) and the second relates to the organization and funding of public libraries and public library systems (reform bill). Rep. Freese is also assisting WLA with the drafting of a bill to enable public library districts, but he has not yet decided if he will introduce bill.

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Budget Snapshot for Libraries
On February 8, Governor Doyle proposed his biennial budget; for a summary of this and other legislative issues affecting libraries, view the WLA's Legislative & Budget Status Report. The governor:

• increased public library systems aids by about $2 million
• provided $136,000 more for BadgerLink to cover the cost to continue
• flat-funded state service contracts (with WiLS, Milwaukee Public Library, Regional Library for the Blind and the Physically Handicapped, and CCBC), providing a victory on one hand, because contracts were not subjected to DPI agency operations cuts as they had been in the past, a decision WLA had lobbied for with DPI and Governor Doyle. Unfortunately, the total amount budgeted for contracts was held at base, and DPI will need to decide how to allocate the funds amongst the four agencies.
• did not approve the UW System’s request for $6 million to fund “One System, One Library”. According to one source, cuts to UW administration will likely mean cuts to libraries, as "administration" has been defined as everything not directly related to classroom instruction.
• cut DPI’s agency budget by 5 percent, rather than the 10 percent applied to other agencies. Apparently, Gov. Doyle felt that DPI had already suffered its fair share of cuts under previous administrations when other agencies’ budgets were increased.

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