The Library Connection
The Monthly Newsletter of the Eastern
Shores Library System
www.esls.lib.wi.us
Volume 31 Number 12 December 2011
Click here for the Winter 2012 Bookmobile Schedule
Creating Aging-Friendly Communities in Wisconsin: How Prepared is Your County for the Coming “Age Wave?” Part Three
This
is the final installment of three articles by Jane Jensen. Ms
Jensen spoke on July 20 during the Sheboygan County Government Works Week
on this timely topic.
The Summer
2009 issue of Generations,
a journal published by the American Society on Aging, was devoted
entirely to the topic of creating aging-friendly communities. One of the articles in this issue (Thomas and Blanchard’s
piece entitled, “Moving Beyond Place:
Aging in Community”) describes six attributes of aging-friendly
communities.
1. Inclusive. People of all ages, races/ethnicities, and abilities, especially elders, are welcome.
2. Sustainable. Residents are committed to a lifestyle that is sustainable environmentally, economically, and socially. Size matters. People need to know each other, and scale determines the nature of human interaction. Small is better.
3.
Healthy.
The community encourages and supports wellness of the mind, body,
and spirit, and, to the same degree, plans and prepares programs and
systems that support those dealing with disease, disability, and death.
4. Accessible. The setting provides easy access to the home and community. For example, all homes, businesses, and public spaces are wheelchair-friendly and incorporate universal design features. Multiple modes of transportation are encouraged.
5. Interdependent. The community fosters reciprocity and mutual support among family, friends, and neighbors across generations.
6.
Engaged.
Promotes opportunities for community participation, social and
civic engagement, education, and creative expression.
The UW-Extension Aging in our Communities Team has
launched a blog aimed at helping to create aging-friendly communities.
The blog contains information that may be helpful to communities.
It also affords the opportunity for communities to share what they
are doing –to highlight “best practice” examples of aging-friendly
environments. The web address
is: http://fyi.uwex.edu/agingfriendlycommunities/
There are questions that we all need to ask: Is your community a good place to grow up and grow old? Will your community met your needs when you are 65, 75, 85, 95 or even 105? If not, what can you do now to begin to make your community a friendly and supportive environment for persons of all ages?
For more information please contact:
Jane E. Jensen, Family Living Educator, UW-Extension Sheboygan
County, 5 University Drive, Sheboygan WI
53081 Telephone:
(920) 459-5900 E-mail: jane.jensen@ces.uwex.edu
Welcome Mike
ESLS welcomes Mike Keppel as the new Technical
Support person and Monday Delivery Driver.
Mike is familiar with library automation issues, as he worked for the
City of Sheboygan IT department for 16 years and was often at Mead Public
Library helping the library staff with their network.
His primary duties for the City were to install and troubleshoot
computers, maintain and upgrade the city’s network, and train City
staff on the use of Microsoft office products.
His most recent employment after retiring from the City was to
drive a City Metro Connection bus for the Transit Department.
Mike will be driving the
Delivery Truck every Monday and then you may see him in your building
working on the installation and repair of the library’s computers.
Digital Learning Day- Schedule the Portable Labs Now
As reported by Channel Weekly, "State Superintendent Tony Evers has announced that Wisconsin will participate in the national Digital Learning Day (DLD) event being sponsored by the Alliance for Excellent Education (http://www.digitallearningday.org) on February 1, 2012. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is also a key partner on the national digital learning day effort (http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=8418)". ESLS librarians should plan now to utilize the 10 laptops that are available for events like this.
If you would like to use the laptops for Digital Learning Day or during the Summer Reading Program, Teen Tech Week or just for a program during the year contact Paula Siefert at 920-208-4900 ext. 310 or email her at psiefert@esls.lib.wi.us .
Children's
Librarians Corner
Where
Did All the Children
Go? And How Do We Get Them Back?
Betty McCartney, Director of the Elkhart Lake Public Library
I’m not sure how many of you
had the opportunity to see the article in The Sheboygan
Press (December 18, 2011, page C6) “Picture
books still hold universal appeal” by Lori Walsh. The article
explores how reading to children of all ages from picture books is still a
popular activity. The article cites the New York Times’ article “Picture
book no longer a staple for children” . The New
York Times’ article sounded the “death knell” for picture books
stating that parents are pressing their kindergartners and older children
to read only chapter books and picture books are languishing on the book
store shelves. After reading these articles I started wondering what the
impact was to my library’s circulation. I decided to do a little
analysis of our children’s circulation.
Our circulation has been down
compared to last year. In particular, circulation of children’s
materials was down quite a bit. In comparing 2010 circulation figures to
2011 I found that circulation of Board Books and Picture Books were up
along with Juvenile Non-fiction and Graphic Novels. The book collections
decreasing in circulation were Paperback series, Magazines, Juvenile
Fiction, E Readers, Intermediate Readers and Holiday Books.
Circulation of all media materials was down significantly: VHS down
more than 50%; DVDs down about 35%; and CD- ROM down 75%. So,
our experience has been that picture books are as strong as ever at our
library and that the biggest decreases were in the elementary chapter
books and media materials. I
can certainly understand why the media materials are not circulating, but
I haven’t figured out why the school-aged children are not coming and
checking out books. Do I need
to freshen up the collection? Are they getting what they need at the
school library? Is our elementary school population down? Are these types
of materials more accessible online?
Before doing my research, we
were already planning on launching our new early literacy program “Reach
for the Stars, READ!”- 1,000
books before kindergarten. We will be encouraging parents to read to their
preschoolers. We will have incentives at each level (100 books read).
Children will be able to put a star on our bulletin board and we will have
their picture in the Depot Dispatch when they reach 1,000 books. For each
child reaching 1,000 books they will receive a savings bond from the
library. Now, I need
to develop a program for children in Kindergarten to 3rd grade
to encourage reading in the early elementary years. I think there are
possibilities of working with our local school district and expanding our
summer reading program.
I like the following quote by
Mem Fox about the importance of reading together. “As we share the words
and pictures, the ideas and viewpoints, the rhythms and rhymes, the pain
and comfort, and the hopes and fears and big issues of life that we
encounter together in the pages of a book, we connect through minds and
hearts with our children and bond closely in a secret society associated
with books we have shared. The fire of literacy is created by the
emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading aloud –
it’s the relationship winding between all three, bringing them together
in easy harmony.”
E-Content Selection Committee
Eastern Shores Library System will have two members
on the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC) E-content Selection
Committee. The Library System was asked to choose an adult material
selector, a children's material selector, and an alternate if the WPLC
needed additional selectors for either the adult or children's selection
team.
The committee selectors are Annie Bahringer, W. J. Niederkorn
Library, Port Washington (Adult); Matthew Beinemann, Mead Public
Library, Sheboygan (Children's); and as alternate, Nyama Marsh, F.
L. Weyenberg Library of Mequon Thiensville. Anne is already a member
of the committee.
Our thanks to Jen Gerber, Director of the Saukville Public Library who had served on the Selection Committee and has decided to take a leave from that position.
Position
Opening at ESLS
Library Assistant/Driver
- Part time
Eastern Shores Library System is seeking an
employee to assist in the operation of its bookmobile library service and
drive the bookmobile vehicle. Applicants
should possess skills in customer service, library service, personal
computer operation, office work and bus vehicle driving skills.
The minimum requirements are a high school diploma, experience in
library work, and eligibility for a Commercial Driver’s License, but
course work in librarianship, office productivity software and bus vehicle
driving is preferred. Person
should be able to lift 50 pounds and be available for some late afternoon
and evening work. This is a
part-time job at 30 hours a week. Please
send a letter of application and a resume by January 23 to David Weinhold,
Eastern Shores Library System, 4632 S. Taylor Drive, Sheboygan, WI
53081 or by e-mail to eslsdirector@gmail.com
Retirements
Our congratulations to Jerry Petzold on his retirement from the Library
System as a Delivery Driver and Maintenance person.
Jerry joined ESLS in 2007, first as a maintenance person and
substitute Delivery Driver and then as the Monday Delivery Driver.
He is part of the team of drivers that makes sure library materials
are moved from library to library. Mondays
were not the easy days for delivery.
Because of the weekend, libraries would have a lot of materials to
return or ship to other libraries. Sometimes
he would have to ration the bins that he left with the libraries in order
to have bins for libraries at the end of the route.
Due to construction on the main roads in the system, Jerry learned
more about the rural areas between stops than many people.
Also serving as the ESLS maintenance person, Jerry
provided a clean and safe workplace for the staff.
Periodically he would change light bulbs in the office area, not
especially easy in the bookmobile movable stack area. In preparation for our 30th Anniversary event, he
painted the meeting room and front reception area.
Mary Petzold, the Technical Support person for the
library system, also left at the end of December.
Mary, who had retired from the Mead Public Library, joined Eastern
Shores Library System in 2007 to assist Paul Onufrak, Library System
Automation Librarian, with the set up and repair of member libraries’
computers. As libraries would
upgrade, Mary made sure that the new computers were compatible with the
shared library automation network, were secure workstations, and were
ready to be installed on the library system network. Her
familiarity with member library staff and the library system network
helped her anticipate the required software for the libraries’
computers.
We wish Mary and Jerry well as they motor down south
to spend some time in the warmth as we brave the chilly months of winter.
Best wishes.
Upcoming
Workshop Information
ESLS is working with other southeastern Wisconsin Library Systems to bring a workshop on the Wakanheza Project to this area. This training workshop will "offer tools and strategies to help you create welcoming environments, respond effectively to everyday, stressful situations between people, and prevent those situations from happening in the first place". Attend either session on March 21st and learn how you can bring these skills back to your organization. This workshop is open to social service organizations and library staff members.
The workshop will be held at the
Country Springs Hotel, 2810 Golf Road, Waukesha. The morning session will be from: 9:00 a.m. --12:00 p.m.
with the second session from 1:00 p.m.-- 4:00 p.m. Registration
information will be forthcoming. For more information about the
workshop, contact Claudia Backus, Waukesha County Federated Library System
(email: clbackus@wcfls.lib.wi.us
or phone: 262-896-8087).
News from the Area
Unlike
many libraries in the state the Elkhart Lake Public Library, starting in
November, increased their hours open to the public. The library has some
unspent funds and decided to increase hours on Friday afternoons.
The library had been closing at 2:00 p.m. on Fridays however, the schools
were not releasing the students until 3:30 p.m.
Director Betty McCartney thought that staying open longer for the upcoming weekend would be more valuable to the public. She has noted, "We are seeing more people coming in to grab a movie or a book for the weekend. Many of the people coming in are parents and kids. It should be beneficial during the summer months for our seasonal people who might not get to Elkhart until later in the afternoon".
Some might view it as competition but Director John
Hanson of
the U. S. S. Liberty Memorial Library in Grafton is eager for the
Little Free Libraries being planned by the Public Arts Board for the
Village of Grafton. John has had some experience with the free
libraries, " To help encourage them, I have shared pictures with them
of a little library I located in Minneapolis. It was only a few houses
from my nieces, and we had fun going to it and adding some books. I have
told the Arts Board that we will provide them with all the books they want
for their little libraries". To read more about the Little Free
Libraries that will help promote literacy and view a picture click here
to read the article in the Ozaukee Press from December 14.
The TEACH/BCN line at the Eastern Shores Library System
(ESLS) and the Manitowoc Calumet Library System's (MCLS) central
bandwidth site was upgraded to a total of 100Mbs (50Mbs between libraries,
50Mbs to WiscNet) late in December. Soon all member libraries
in the ESLS/MCLS will have 3.0Mbs service. This will be an upgrade from 1.5Mbs service
for the libraries mentioned below.
The schedule for the upcoming upgrades at local libraries: Sheboygan Falls -- 1/9/2012; Saukville -- 1/10/2012; Cedarburg -- 1/11/2012; Cedar Grove, Kohler, Oostburg -- 1/12/12; Elkhart Lake, Plymouth -- 1/17/2012; Brillion, New Holstein -- 1/18/2012. Kiel, Random Lake -- 1/25/2012; and Mequon -- 2/7/2012. Automation Librarian Paul Onufrak has stated that " Changes to the bandwidth at the libraries will not interrupt any network services".
The libraries at Sheboygan, Port Washington, Grafton, Manitowoc and Two Rivers were already at 3.0Mbs of service or higher.
The
Lakeview Community Library is offering two programs on the Ozaukee
County Local History Collection in the University of Wisconsin Digital
Collections. The public can attend a program at 2:00 p.m. or 6:30
p.m. on Thursday, January 19. To learn more about the programs contact the
library at 920-994-4825 or go to the library website www.lakeviewcommunitylibrary.org.
Interesting Items
* The Wisconsin State Journal has reported that the Monona Public Library will no longer be charging fines. For the story click here.
* For patrons needing voting information go to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board's Wisconsin Public Voter Access site or they suggest your local municipal clerk's office.
Happy New Year!