Ron McCabe: Libraries Play a Key Role in Education

This column, by WLA President-elect Ron McCabe, appeared in the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune on June 24.

In our democracy, everyone is allowed and encouraged to participate in the political, social and economic life of their community, state and nation. Public education is the most powerful means we have to encourage and enable this participation. Libraries play a vital role in this effort to create a more perfect union.

Education often begins in the classroom, but it doesn't end there. Libraries provide opportunities for lifelong learning that extend beyond the classroom and beyond graduation. Libraries allow us to share costly educational resources that we might not be able to purchase on our own. Today, networks of library cooperation expand this local sharing by providing access to library collections throughout the state and nation.

As president-elect of the Wisconsin Library Association, I am learning more everyday about the amazing contributions of libraries of all types to the education of the citizens of our state. Here are a few examples that relate to public libraries. I was surprised to learn that more people visit Wisconsin's public libraries every week than the Packers home game attendance in an entire season. There were 35.5 million public library visits in 2009. These visitors borrowed 65.6 million books and other materials that year.

Wisconsin is the No. 1 state in public library resource sharing. If all of the library materials borrowed from other libraries were purchased by home libraries, the Department of Public Instruction calculates the cost of these materials at more than $100 million per year. NorthStar Economics estimated the direct economic impact and the impact of Wisconsin public library services to be $753 million in 2008. In the same study, NorthStar estimated that the annual return per dollar of public tax support for Wisconsin's public libraries was $4.06.

The United States built the best system of public education in the world and the world's greatest economy. Since 1970, however, our country has declined in its educational performance compared to the rest of the developed world. In a recent international study, American 15-year-olds were ranked 15 of 34 nations in reading. Our students scored 17th in science and 25th in math. We cannot win the economic competition with other nations or even neighboring states if Wisconsin fails to provide a good education for its citizens. Supporting our school, technical college, university and community libraries contributes to the educational and economic success of our state and nation.

WLA and WLA Foundation Candidates for Office Announced

The Nominations & Elections Committee announces the following candidates for WLA and WLA Foundation offices:

• WLA President-elect: Paula Ganyard, Director, Cofrin Library, UW-Green Bay; Julie Schneider, Director, Ebling Library, UW-Madison
• ALA Councilor (WLA Board position): Marge Loch-Wouters, Youth Services Manager, La Crosse Public Library; Lynn Stainbrook, Director, Brown County Library, Green Bay
• WLA Foundation Director: Cheryl Becker, Public Library Administration Consultant, South Central Library System, Madison; Nikki Busch, Grants and Research Librarian, Memorial Library, UW-Madison

Congratulations to all candidates and thank you for offering to serve!

Ballots for these and unit elections will be provided to individual members of WLA no later than September 15. Results are announced by mid-October. Online ballots are provided for every member who provides an email address; others receive paper ballots. If you do not receive your ballot by September 15, please contact Brigitte Rupp Vacha at 608-245-3640 or email ruppvacha@scls.lib.wi.us.

Concealed Carry Bill Allows Libraries, Colleges, Universities to Ban Firearms with Notice

SB 93, a bill allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons (with conditions), was approved by both houses of the legislature and awaits Governor Walker's signature. The bill relaxes the prohibition on carrying weapons on school grounds to allow security personnel and others authorized by the school to do so. State and local units of government and their subunits (including libraries) and public and private universities and colleges are allowed to post notice in their buildings prohibiting an individual from entering with a concealed weapon.  Individuals violating the prohibition could be subject to a class B forfeiture (an amount up to $1,000). 


Signs notifying visitors of the weapons ban must be posted in a prominent place near all entrances to the building or part of the building where the restriction applies. Signs must be posted so that individuals entering the building "can be reasonably expected to see the sign."
Officials in the City of Madison and Dane County have already taken steps to ban firearms in public buildings. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported yesterday that the Milwaukee Public Library board approved a ban on firearms in its buildings. 

Public libraries should consult their city or county attorney for more details. Depending on when the bill is signed, it would take effect October 1 or November 1, 2011.

WLA Literary Award: "Burned: A Memoir" by Louise Nayer

The Literary Awards Committee of the Readers’ Section of the Wisconsin Library Association has chosen Burned: A Memoir by Louise Nayer of San Francisco (B.A. Madison, 1971) as the winner of the 2011 Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award, given for the highest literary achievement by a Wisconsin author for a book published in 2010.

Burned: A Memoir is a beautifully written, touching, and emotionally charged story of a family and the tragic event that changed their lives forever. Weezie is only 4 when the accident happens. Through her young eyes we see the struggle of her parents to recover not only their physical but emotional selves in the aftermath of horrific injuries. Weezie and her sister, swept away to other caregivers, struggle to understand what has happened and to believe they will be reunited with their parents.

“In recreating the setting, emotions, and dialogue, Nayer writes in a way that makes the reader feel like a part of the story,” said Jean Anderson, Co-Chair of the Literary Awards Committee. “We want to reach out and stop Weezie’s mom from lighting the match that ignited the fire. We are deeply touched by the resilience and strength shown by the author and her family and are grateful she chose to share her story with us.”

The Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award is made possible by a grant from the WLA Foundation.

Also recognized this year is Bette Pesetsky, who is being honored as the 2011 Notable Wisconsin Author for her body of work. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Pesetsky’s works include: Stories up to a Point, Author from a Savage People, Digs, Midnight Sweets, Confessions of a Bad Girl, The Late Night Muse, Cast a Spell, as well as many short stories published in anthologies and periodicals.

The 2011 Outstanding Achievement awards for 2010 publications include the following 10 titles by Wisconsin authors.
•    Deborah Blum (Madison)—The Poisoner’s Handbook
•    M. Caren Connolly & Louis Wasserman (Milwaukee), and
Zane Williams (Madison)—Wisconsin’s Own: Twenty Remarkable Homes
•    Susanna Daniel (Madison)—Stiltsville
•    Lesley Kagen (Cedarburg)—Tomorrow River
•    Danielle L. McGuire (Janesville)—At the Dark End of the Street
•    Michael Schumacher (Milwaukee/Kenosha)—Will Eisner: A Dreamer’s Life in Comics
•    Mona Simpson (Green Bay)—My Hollywood
•    Skibell, Joseph (Madison)—A Curable Romantic
•    Patrick Somerville (Green Bay)—The Universe in Miniature in Miniature
•    Mary Helen Stefaniak (Milwaukee)—The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia

The 2011 Outstanding Achievement in Poetry awards for 2010 titles include the following four titles by Wisconsin authors.
•    B. J. Best (West Bend)—Birds of Wisconsin: Poems
•    Rebecca Dunham (Milwaukee)—The Flight Cage: Poems
•    Nick Lantz (Madison)—We Don’t Know, We Don’t Know
•    Nick Lantz (Madison)—The Lightning that Strikes the Neighbors’ House

The 2011 Literary Awards Committee members are: Jean Anderson (co-chair), Pat Chevis, Katrina Collins, Jane Jorgenson, Amy Lutzke (co-chair), Anne Paterson, Gerard Saylor, Andrew Scott, Deb Shapiro, and Jean Yeomans.

For more information about the work of the Literary Awards Committee, visit www.wla.lib.wi.us/readers/WLAC/lac.html.

Governor Walker's Partial Veto of WiscNet Language: Analysis of Impact Not Completed

The Office of Governor Scott Walker released the governor's remarks on the state budget and the governor's partial veto of some measures, including the compromise language on WiscNet. It's possible that the partial veto requires the entire legislature to act, rather than just allowing Joint Finance to postpone the effective date of prohibitions on the UW's telecommunications involvement. It's unclear at this point, but UW officials are analyzing the language. Stay tuned for more information as we learn it.

Copied directly from the memo:
19.
Joint Committee on Finance Authority to Postpone Telecommunications Services Prohibition
Section 1015x
This section defines telecommunications services and third-party entity and, beginning July 1, 2013, prohibits the University of Wisconsin System from becoming a member, shareholder or partner in any third-party entity or other person that offers, resells, or provides telecommunications services to the general public or to any public or private entity unless the third-party entity or other person does not offer, resell or provide telecommunication services that it did not offer, resell, or provide on June 15, 2011, and the third-party entity or other person does not offer, resell, or provide telecommunications services to a private entity, to the general public, or to a public entity other than a university or a university-affiliated research facility or a facility approved by the Joint Committee on Finance that it is not already serving on June 15, 2011. The section allows the Joint Committee on Finance to postpone the July 1, 2013, effective date for these prohibitions through majority vote.

I am partially vetoing this section to remove the authority of the Joint Committee on Finance to postpone these prohibitions because the University of Wisconsin System should not compete with private sector businesses in providing telecommunications services. The bill does not prohibit the University of Wisconsin System from participating in a third-party comprised entirely of universities and university-affiliated research facilities. There is no need to delay the prohibitions included in the bill beyond July 1, 2013.

Audrey Barbakoff, Milwaukee Public Library, Receives FTRF Conable Conference Scholarship

CHICAGO - The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is pleased to announce that Audrey Barbakoff, a reference librarian with the Milwaukee Public Library, is the fourth recipient of the Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship.  The Conable Scholarship will provide for Barbakoff’s expenses to attend the 2011 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans.

As part of the scholarship, Barbakoff will attend various FTRF and other intellectual freedom meetings and programs at the conference, consult with a mentor/board member and present a report about her experiences and thoughts.  She will be recognized at the FTRF Annual Member Reception from 5 - 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 23 in room 354 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

Barbakoff holds a B.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington, which she received in 2010.  In her capacity at the Milwaukee Public Library, she provides reference and readers’ advisory services; coordinates programs and displays; and blogs.  She also coordinates the Teen Advisory Board and leads preschool story times.  Barbakoff is a member of the WLA's Intellectual Freedom Round Table and recently had an article about the ethics of filtering computers in public libraries published on the peer reviewed website In the Library with the Lead Pipe.  This will be her first ALA Conference.

“Audrey’s application stood out amongst a group of excellent applicants because of her eloquent and passionate advocacy for policies and practices that protect the intellectual freedom rights of all library users in today’s digital environment.  The committee also was impressed by her dedication to library services for young people, from preschool to teens,” said Conable Scholarship Committee Chair Candace Morgan.

The Conable Scholarship was created to advance two principles that Gordon Conable held dear: intellectual freedom and mentorship.  Gordon Conable was a California librarian and intellectual freedom champion who served several terms as president of the Freedom to Read Foundation.  His unexpected death in 2005 inspired his wife, Irene Conable and the FTRF Board to create the Conable Fund, which provides funding for the Conable Scholarship. 

To donate to the Conable Fund, please visit http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/othergroups/ftrf/relatedlinks/conablememoralfund.cfm or call (800) 545-2433 x4226.

 

AWSL to meet with SLIS students

As part of the Special Libraries class at the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies, come down to the Memorial Union Terrace in Madison around 4:30 on Wednesday, June 29 and meet students taking the class. Last year, eight special librarians joined about the same number of students to enjoy a beautiful evening by the lake. If it rains, we'll meet in Der Rathskeller. All special librarians are welcome!

Contact Carrie Doyle at carrie.awsl@gmail.com or 608-338-2142 with questions. We hope to see you there!

WLA Board Approves Federal Legislative Agenda

The WLA Board accepted the LD&L recommendation to accept the federal legislative agenda proposed by Julie Schneider, WLA's federal legislative advocate. Though there are many other federal legislative issues, this agenda provides the focus for WLA's communications to members throughout the next year. Issues on the agenda include federal funding for various library programs, measures to improve access to federal research and government information, net neutrality, school library staffing; support and protection of e-rate funding; and other issues.

Rome Public Library Seeks to More than Double Size

The Lester Public Library of Rome is looking to raise $900,000 for an expansion of the library from 2,500 square feet to 6,000 square feet. The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune reports that the South Central Public Library System recommended that the library be expanded to 12,000 square feet to serve the community properly. However, city officials wanted that scaled back. Director Lore Ponshock estimates that about 50 children attend summer library program throughout the week.

The library capacity according to fire codes is a maximum of 30 people. Early plans for the new library include a program room that would hold 60-85.

Jeanne Radke, Cambria Director, Retires

Since June 10, 1983, Jeanne Radke has been director of Cambria Public Library, welcoming first graders, planning reading groups and working with the historical society and local service groups on library programs.

“We’re not just here for books,” Radke said. “I’ve been pleased for our library that several times a family has come in that is thinking about buying a house here, but they check out the library first.”

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