Call for Submissions: Frances de Usabel Outreach Services Award

The Outreach Services Round Table is the proud sponsor of the Frances de Usabel Outreach Services Award. The award is presented annually to a “library or librarian who has provided exemplary library outreach services to underserved populations.” The award may be for a specific project or projects or for outstanding lifetime achievement in outreach services.
Public, academic, school or special libraries and librarians are all eligible and encouraged to apply for this award. Nominees should be members of the Wisconsin Library Association but need not be members of the Outreach Services Round Table. The amount of the award is $500. The award will be presented during the Award Ceremony at the WLA Annual Conference in November. For more about the award or an application (due August 1) go to http://www.wla.lib.wi.us//osrt/deUsabel.htm.

Report recommends reductions in Common School Fund deposits

The state's Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) recommends that most of the approximately $50 million that is deposited into the Common School Fund from the unclaimed property program be placed instead in the State's General Fund. The LAB's review of the Office of the State Treasurer's administration of the $354 million unclaimed property program makes recommendations regarding internal controls, though it found those to be reasonable, and policy issues. Specifically, they recommend narrowing the definition of unclaimed property such that all but about 0.1 percent of proceeds would be deposited to the State's General Fund rather than into the Common School Fund where is it funds low-cost loans to municipalities and school library needs. They note that such a move would boost general purpose revenue in a time of budget constraints, but it is likely to be opposed on constitutional grounds by the State Treasurer and the trustees of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, administrators of the Common School Fund. (WLA and the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association also would oppose this change.)

Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award announced

The Children's Book Award Committee has selected the 2008 Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla award winner, "Rabbit’s Gift: A Fable from China." Written by George Shannon and illustrated by Laura Dronzek, the book emphasizes the importance of friendship, community, and sharing. The warm, beautiful illustrations are a perfect complement to the story. Both the author and illustrator of this year’s book have significant Wisconsin ties. George Shannon lived in Eau Claire for many years, and Laura Dronzek lives in Madison.

The committee also named seven titles as exemplary of Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Literature:

"The Silenced" by James DeVita
"The Perfect Nest" by Catherine Friend
"The OK Book" illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
"Babies Can’t Eat Kimchee!" Written and illustrated by Susan L. Roth
"Terrible Storm" illustrated by S.D. Schindler
"Circle the Truth" by Pat Schmatz
"Keeping Corner" by Kashmira Sheth


The Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla award is given annually for excellence in children’s literature to a book by a book creator with Wisconsin ties. The award is named for Elizabeth Burr, who made outstanding and important contributions to library services for young people during her 27 years of service in Wisconsin, and Worzalla Publishing Company, which funds the award through a grant to the WLA Foundation.

Librarians urged: remind parents about "summer slide"

School Library Journal, 6/2/2008, urges librarians to remind parents that an average student who doesn't read or engage in other learning opportunities can lose as much as 2.5 months of learning over the summer. The article mentions that the Institute for Museum and Library Services is touting this message and encouraging parents to take advantage of free and low-cost programs at museums and libraries. This includes, of course, the free summer library reading program which Wisconsin public libraries conduct so well! My local library already included this message in their materials.

Long live Google, but don't count on it

An interesting take on "The Library in the Digital Age" appeared in June 12 issue of The New York Review of Books. The author, Robert Darnton, argues that rather than characterizing our own era as The Information Age, we should consider that "every age was an age of information, each in its own way, and that information has always been unstable." It is because of information's inherent instability - no matter the format - that the library, and in particular he is talking about the research library, must be sustained. "Long live Google," he says, "but don't count on it living long enough to replace that venerable building with the Corinthian columns."

Gaming and Web 2.0 in libraries get media attention

Features in the Madison Capital Times and another in Governing magazine are the most recent exploration of libraries as places going beyond their "books" brand, where you'll find people playing Nintendo Wii and other video games, searching the Internet, and yes, reading. ALA President Loriene Roy points out that books are still the top reason people go to libraries. But for the teen population, the social aspect of going to the library to game is increasing their visits.

A related article in Governing, "Revolution in the Stacks," discusses how some libraries are becoming places to create content, not just find content, as part of the Web 2.0 revolution. They refer to libraries that have turned their Web sites into blogs (like our very own Menasha Public!) and turned to retailers for best practices on arrangement of materials (bye, bye Dewey) and added services that position the library as the "third place."

What are you doing to create the "third place" in your community - whether that be an academic institution, small town or corporation?

Keeping your own private library

An article published May 31 in the Wall Street Journal discusses the idiosyncracies of early book collectors, including one who died trying to light a fire to keep his books from getting damp and another who arranged his books from smallest to largest, but created false bottoms painted like the spines in order to make them appear to be the same height. It makes my family's stacks of books strewn throughout the house look quite pedestrian. Tell us about your private library.

National Library Legislative Day 2008

National Library Legislative Day, May 13 and 14, 2008 - Wisconsin delegation

Why is it important to visit Washington and tell our federal elected officials about libraries? Because we are the ones with the information they need to make informed choices about upcoming legislation. Librarians, trustees, and Friends are not paid commercial lobbyists. We are not making money by “walking the halls of Congress” and speaking up for libraries. We represent satisfied patrons who also don’t benefit monetarily from libraries. We represent patrons who vote, and who want their Congressperson and Senator to vote in favor of library legislation. We are passionate about the importance of libraries. By making a trip to visit our elected officials on their home turf we underscore that importance to a high degree.

The American Library Association does a terrific job of preparing the delegation. A briefing was held on Monday for all the first-timers. On Tuesday, all-day briefings were held. We heard from Emily Sheketoff, ALA Washington office Executive Director, on the hot topics. This talk was especially timely, including up-to-the-minute updates on library issues. We heard from Congressional staffers, lobbyists, and the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters before lunch. The delegation met together at lunch to discuss the issues and plan our Congressional visits.

After lunch, we heard from Lisa Graves, the Deputy Director for the Center for National Security Studies, on National Security Letters and FISA reform. Two breakout sessions came next: either John Windhausen Jr., Esq. Telepoly Consulting, on Internet & Telecommunications, or Nathan Brown, Esq., Ropes & Gray, on E-Government, along with ALA staff. After a break, we heard from Jonathan Band, Esq., on copyright. ALA always does a great job of bringing in the movers and shakers, the folks who created the legislation and have testified before Congress.

We received handouts on all the topics. ALA prepares packets for all the delegates and their federal legislators, and the Department of Public Instruction prepares packets also, including state information such as E-rate discounts and LSTA grants received, by Congressional district. This year DPI included the report just released on the Economic Benefits of Public Libraries. ALA’s packets contained issue papers on all the topics important to libraries: FY2009 Appropriations; a sheet on Wisconsin’s LSTA funding; School Libraries (No Child Left Behind/the SKILLS Act); the 3^rd edition of the Research Foundation Paper, “School Libraries Work!”; E-Government, Open Government, and Federal Depository Library Issues; Telecommunications and Broadband; E-rate and Universal Service Fund; Copyright; Privacy, National Security Letters & FISA Reform; a page on Economic Benefits of Libraries; and a sheet on Library Facts for Legislators. Find these handouts on ALA’s NLLD website here:

http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washevents/nlld/nlld2008.cfm

Bob Hafeman begins his four-year term next year as the Wisconsin Federal Relations Advocate so attended his first FLAN meeting – ALA’s Federal Library Advocacy Network. Each state has a FLAN coordinator who helps establish a network of library advocates. I work with WLA and WEMTA, as well as posting ALA’s legislative alerts to the statewide listservs.

The delegation met for dinner at Jaleo’s, a Spanish tapas restaurant within walking distance of the hotel, and everyone sampled several different delicious dishes.

Wednesday was the day of the visits. Bob Hafeman had contacted the legislators to set up the appointments, informing them of which members of the delegation were from their home districts. Sometimes there is nobody from the home district, but we visit anyway. We wear comfortable shoes and clothing, prepared for rain, heat, cold, and the security measures to enter the federal buildings. This year was the longest line I could remember. None of our delegation was stopped except for those with replaced knees.

A quick lunch was eaten in the basement of the Longworth Building, in a cafeteria with insufficient seating for the numbers of people trying to eat.

We continued our visits in the afternoon, personalizing library issues with our own stories as we met with knowledgeable legislative aides. We saw Congresswoman Gwen Moore in the hallway outside her office, and one of our delegation got to sit in her Congressman’s office at his own desk!

Finding the correct location of the Congressperson’s office often meant we walked past familiar Committees (Dennis Quaid was testifying at one hearing) and world-renowned office-holders, including all the Senators now running for the Presidency. It is truly a humbling experience, knowing that we citizens have open access to all those elected officials who are answerable to us voters.

During our visits, one of us filled out an evaluation form on each legislator for the top library issues. These evaluations are turned into ALA for their followup.

ALA holds a reception for the attendees with terrific food and wine after the visits; several of us were able to attend, although some of us had early flights home.

I have uploaded pictures onto Flickr (search under National Library Legislative Day 2008).

Start thinking now about visiting your Congressperson and Senators next year; NLLD 2009 will be held Monday and Tuesday May 11^th and 12^th, 2009. The American Library Association’s Washington office starts sending messages to the Wisconsin Federal Relations Advocate in the late fall. Book your hotel room and flight by January for the best price. You’ll be glad you did!

Jessica MacPhail, WLA Federal Relations Advocate

WAPL wrap-up

I've made an attempt at a complete list of blog posts about the 2008 WAPL conference, and posted it on the New Cybrary blog. If more postings show up in coming days, I'll try to update.

The list includes postings here, as well as on Tasha's Sites & Soundbytes, Michael's Notes from a Library Administrator, and Nichole's Auxiliary Storage.

Thanks to WLA, to WAPL, and to MATS for encouraging blogging!

WAPL - Closing Keynote

Rhonda Puntney introduced Dick Bennett using his comments over the phone about his children. His son is coach at Washington State, and his daughter was just named an assistant basketball coach at UW-Madison. He coached basketball at Eau Claire Memorial as well as UW-Stevens Point, UW-Green Bay, and took the Wisconsin basketball team to the Final Four in 2000.

He started his speech with his early connections to libraries, and his love of reading books. As a faltering high school student, a teacher got him started again on reading books like Mutiny on the Bounty so he got a degree in English as well as Physical Education. He actually wanted to teach more than coach. For the last 15 of his 40 years of coaching he felt a great deal of pressure, and the only way he could survive was to lock himself in a room with a good book.

When he retired, the first thing he did was get a new card. He got hooked on Cormac McCarthy among others. He really enjoys reading both fiction and non-fiction like Doris Kearns Goodwin, and McCullough's 1776. He finds parallels in history and his coaching style. Instead of focusing on winning, he (and George Washington) focused on "not losing" as the tactic.

He then spent time talking about his experiences coaching. He noted that Rhonda did not give his win/loss record. He noted that his role was to re-build basketball programs. He was hired on the heels of someone getting fired.

He closed with a letter written to him by his granddaughter. The letter from a 4-year old, asked him to try to be happy. A month after getting the letter, he announced his retirement. He had enjoyed the good times and lived through the bad times.

Dick graduated from Ripon College. Classmates include Harrison Ford and Al Jarreau.