Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Challenge and Opportunity: Update on WLA Restructuring

Get the latest scoop on proposed changes to WLA unit structure and viability requirements during the WAPL Spring Conference April 28 – 30 at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan. . The WAPL membership general session on Thursday, April 29 at 4:00 p.m. will answer member’s questions about a proposal under discussion and development throughout 2010 for presentation to the membership at the annual Business Meeting at the WLA conference in November. Find out what the proposed restructuring will mean to for your membership or leadership experience. Speakers include Lisa Strand, WLA Executive Director and Jim Trojanowski, Director of Northern Waters Library Service. Jim is the WAPL representative on the WLA Board.
Go online to find the WAPL spring conference schedule at-a-glance, plus the full program listing. The deadline for conference registration is April 9. Register online (where you can opt to send a check, using the receipt and confirmation email to submit to your library for payment) or print the PDF registration form and send it in.
To make room reservations at the conference center go to www.blueharborresort.com or phone 866-701-2583 and use code 7A9582. The room registration deadline is April 6.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Nominations Open for WLA/WEMTA Intellectual Freedom Award

Do you know of someone actively promoting intellectual freedom? Someone who exemplifies the spirit of intellectual freedom? If you do, you know someone that should be nominated for the WLA/WEMTA Intellectual Freedom Award.

Anyone who has actively promoted intellectual freedom in Wisconsin is eligible. Activities within the past five years are eligible for consideration.
A personal member of either WLA or WEMTA must submit the award nomination.

This award is sponsored by: TeachingBooks.net and the Center for Information Policy Research and the School of Information Studies at UWM.

Additional information on the award criteria and nomination process can be found at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/ifrt/. Nomination Deadline: May 1, 2010
--
Val Edwards, NBCT
Monona Grove High School - IMC
IFRT Past Chair

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

One Conference, One READ

One Conference, One READ, Book Discussion

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore will be the featured title during the WAPL spring conference “One Conference, One READ, Book Discussion on Friday April 30 at 9:00 a.m.

Gary Niebuhr, Library Director at Greendale Public Library will lead the discussion sponsored by READ. The New York Times selected this book as one of 2009’s best, and Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review. From Publishers Weekly: Moore (Anagrams) knits together the shadow of 9/11 and a young girl's bumpy coming-of-age in this luminous, heart-wrenchingly wry novel—the author's first in 15 years. Tassie Keltjin, 20, a smalltown girl weathering a clumsy college year in the Athens of the Midwest, is taken on as prospective nanny by brittle Sarah Brink, the proprietor of a pricey restaurant who is desperate to adopt a baby despite her dodgy past. Subsequent adventures in prospective motherhood involve a pregnant girl with scarcely a tooth in her head and a white birth mother abandoned by her African-American boyfriend—both encounters expose class and racial prejudice to an increasingly less naïve Tassie. In a parallel tale, Tassie lands a lover, enigmatic Reynaldo, who tries to keep certain parts of his life a secret from Tassie. Moore's graceful prose considers serious emotional and political issues with low-key clarity and poignancy, while generous flashes of wit—Tessie the sexual innocent using her roommate's vibrator to stir her chocolate milk—endow this stellar novel with great heart. (Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The WAPL Spring Conference will be held at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan April 28-30. Go online to find the conference schedule at-a-glance, plus the full program listing. The deadline for conference registration is April 9. Register online (where you can opt to send a check, using the receipt and confirmation email to submit to your library for payment) or print the PDF registration form and send it in.

To make room reservations at the conference center go to www.blueharborresort.com or phone 866-701-2583 and use code 7A9582. The room registration deadline is April 6.

WLA Foundation Scholarships Applications Due June 1

The WLA Foundation will award $6,800 in continuing and library education scholarships in 2010; applications are due June 1. Whether you plan to work on your MLS/MLIS this year or need cash to attend a conference, consider applying for the WLA Foundation scholarships.

LSTA Grant Awarded To Fox Lake Public Library

The Fox Lake Public Library was recently awarded a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant to work with the University Of Wisconsin Digital Collection Center to digitize part of the collection of trumpeter Bernard “Bunny” Berigan materials held by the library.

The information to be digitalized has been collected and organized by volunteers throughout the past 20 years to make it available to the public. The grant will allow for 1,000 archival items, which includes loose pages, newspaper clippings, letters and 250 photographs to be digitalized. The materials will be available online by the end of 2010 and accessible through the State of Wisconsin Collection.

Bernard “Bunny” Berigan was born in Hilbert, Wisconsin in 1908 and raised in Fox Lake. "Bunny” grew to be a popular trumpet player during the 1930’s and early '40s, playing with his own band as well as with Benny Goodman, The Dorsey Brothers and Paul Whiteman. Fox Lake honors “Bunny” each spring with the “Bunny” Berigan Jazz Jubilee, and this year's jubilee will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010, in the American Legion Clubhouse in downtown Fox Lake.

Friday, March 19, 2010

North Fond du Lac Parent Asks to Remove School Library Book

A parent in North Fond du Lac is requesting a book of poems be removed from the combined middle and high school library. John Larson, 489 Temperance Drive, said a poem in the book "Paint Me Like I Am" contains the "F" word more than once and other vulgar language. Read the full story in The Reporter.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

ALA's Chile Library Relief Fund

WLA President Alberto Herrera writes, "As you know, Chile was struck by a very strong earthquake that caused great damage. I read in recent news that central Chile has been hit by more strong earthquakes. For more information about ALA’s Chile Library Relief Fund, please go to http://www.ala.org/chile.

$2 million disagreement over Madison Central Library Project

Plans to start constructing a new downtown Madison Public Library have hit a big snag, as the city and the developers, the Fiore Cos. and Irgens Development Partners, cannot agree on the final cost of the project. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says the city cannot spend more than $37 million, while the developers say they need $2 million more.
Full story


Reports from 3/19/10 news media: The developer and city call it quits:
The Capital Times
Channel3000.com

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Milwaukee Public Library: Reinventing the Library

The cover story of this week’s Shepherd Express, "Reinventing the Library" features an interview with Library Director Paula Kiely and MPL Board of Trustees President David Riemer. Milwaukee County Federated Library System Director Jim Gingery and West Allis Public Library Director Mike Koszalka are included. All the photos in the story are from MPL.

http://npaper-wehaa.com/shepherdexpress

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

WAPL Spring Conference Highlights

What cool gadgets would be great for your library? How do you turn your annual report into gold? What will WLA restructuring mean for you? What changes are coming to WISCAT? Are e-books good for libraries? The answers to these and many other questions will be revealed at the WAPL spring conference “Anchoring the Past, Setting Sail for the Future,” April 27-30, 2010 at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan. Go to http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/wapl/conferences/2010/index.htm and you’ll find the conference schedule at-a-glance, plus the full program listing. The deadline for conference registration is April 9. To make room reservations at the conference center go to www.blueharborresort.com or phone 866-701-2583 and use code 7A9582. The room registration deadline is April 6.

Highlights of the conference include presentations by several great speakers. Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director, American Library Association, will present the keynote address. His library “State of the Nation” will address how national developments are affecting libraries of all types, including the current financial crisis and its impact on library funding, prospects for recovery, federal legislative opportunities, challenges for libraries and more. “How the Media Shape the News” will be addressed by Milwaukee journalist Joel McNally during Thursday’s luncheon and Friday’s luncheon will feature writer and historian John Gurda who will speak about “Saving Our Common Wealth.”

On Thursday evening you are welcome to a dessert reception at Mead Public Library. Shuttle bus service will begin at 8 p.m. at the Blue Harbor Resort taking WAPL attendees to and from the Library. Entertainment at the reception will be professional guitarist Rick Gustafson, retired Deputy Director of the Mead Public Library. The reception is sponsored by the Friends of Mead Public Library and the Mead Public Library Foundation.

Friday, March 12, 2010

WAPL newsletter available

The Spring 2010 issue of Communique, the newsletter of WAPL (the Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries), is now available in the Resources->Newsletters section of MemberClicks, or just go there directly.

Highlights include:
  • Registration and program information for the 2010 WAPL conference which will be held April 28-30 at Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan.
  • Thoughts on "Building a Common Agenda" with public officials
  • Information about applying for Wisconsin Library Association Foundation (WLAF) scholarships.
  • Remaining relevant by adapting to technological trends
and much more!

Friday, March 05, 2010

LSTA/Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Language

This week and next begins a time for critical advocacy to support libraries. We need as many members of Congress as possible to sign onto these letters for the following two programs – remember, every other group is doing the same thing we are. If we don’t advocate for libraries and library funding, the money that should be allocated to us could go to other groups who are calling in louder and higher numbers. Please call your members of Congress on the following two issues:

LSTA

Congress is currently busy drafting up the federal budget for fiscal year 2011. It has never been more important than now that Congress fully funds the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the only annual source for federal funding to public libraries. As Congress writes next year’s budget they need to understand that dollars from the state and local levels are at an all time low and libraries can not continue to do their important work with out this funding.

There is a letter circulating around the House of Representatives urging the Appropriations Committee to include $300 million in funding through LSTA in the FY2011 budget. Please go to http://www.capwiz.com/ala/home/ to find out the name and number of your Representative and call his or her office and tell them about work your library does in the community. It is always a good idea to stress what programs and resources your library provide to help build the local economy, help kids with their homework, and so much more. After you have explained how libraries are an incredibly valuable investment, please ask your representative to sign onto the “Dear Colleague” letter supporting LSTA.

School Libraries

In his FY2011 budget, President Obama consolidated Improving Literacy Through School Libraries with five other literacy programs. This would mean that school libraries will have to directly compete with other programs to receive federal dollars under the President’s plan. However, Congress is busy drafting up their own budget for FY2011 right now, and there is no word yet if they will go along with President Obama’s recommendation of consolidation. Congress needs to hear from their constituents NOW about the important role that school libraries play in today’s schools.

Right now there is a letter circulating around the House of Representatives urging the Appropriations Committee to specifically appropriate $100 million for Improving Literacy Through School Libraries. This amount means that this program will be available to every state, rather than the current competitive grant program. Please go to http://www.capwiz.com/ala/home/ to find out the name and number of your Representative and call his or her office explaining to them how important having a school library can be in a child’s education. Please ask them to sign on to the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries “Dear Colleague.”

Once your representative or their staff confirms that they would like to sign on to the funding “Dear Colleagues,” please ask them to contact the staffers below depending on their party affiliation:

Democrat

Ask them to contact Joseph Mais in Rep. Grijalva’s office and ask them to sign onto the Dear Colleague. His email address is joseph.mais@mail.house.gov and his phone number is (202) 225-2435.

Republican

Ask them to contact Rachel Fenton in Rep. Vernon Ehlers’ office and sign onto the Dear Colleague. Her e-mail address is Rachel.Fenton@mail.house.gov and her phone number is (202) 225-3831.

It is of the utmost importance that you contact your Representative today and urge them to sign on to these letters! We need to keep the pressure on our elected officials until the deadline for signatures on these critical letters expires. Grijalva and Ehlers plan to send the letter on Friday, March 12, so time is of the essence.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

2010 WAPL Conference: Anchoring the Past, Setting Sail for the Future

Join us for the 2010 WAPL Conference: "Anchoring the Past, Setting Sail for the Future," April 28-30 at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan! The program is chock full of fun and informative sessions related to all sorts of public library functions. You're bound to learn a lot, catch up with colleagues from around the state (and make new contacts as well), while enjoying the resort's nautical-themed amenities and a view of the Lake Michigan shoreline. Luncheon speakers include Joel McNally, Milwaukee journalist, and John Gurda, well-known Wisconsin historian. Register now through MemberClicks, or use the print registration form.

See you in Sheboygan!

Monday, March 01, 2010

WLA Conference 2010 - Marilyn Johnson is keynote speaker!

The 2010 WLA conference keynote speaker is acclaimed author Marilyn Johnson whose recent publication, This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, has been garnering rave reviews from readers inside and beyond our profession.

"What is it like to be a librarian in a world of too much information?
Constant change, exploding technology, shrinking budgets, growing numbers of the baffled...could there be a better spot than behind the librarians' desk to watch the digital age unfold?"

We are delighted to host Marilyn Johnson for what is sure to be a enlightening and humorous keynote address! For more information about the author and her works, check out http://marilynjohnson.net/index.htm.

Stop back often for new information about additional programing and events planned for this year's conference, to be held Nov 2-5 at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. Create adventure!