The Library Connection

The Monthly Newsletter of the Eastern Shores Library System
www.esls.lib.wi.us

Volume 32 Number 6  June 2012

Click here for the Summer 2012 Bookmobile Schedule

Polaris Upgrade August 14

On August 14, EasiCat and the Polaris client pack will not be available due a Polaris software upgrade.  According to Automation Librarian Paul Onufrak, staff should plan on not having the system available until after 5:00 p.m. that day.  Most changes for the 4.1 upgrade will be with EasiCat not the Polaris staff client. One of the noticeable points in the staff client will be seeing the number of holds attached to a bib record. 

The training server will be upgraded the last week in July, and the installation CDs will be sent to the libraries before August 14. Should any library want August 14 set as a “closed” day for them, they should contact Paul.  Access to OverDrive (and any other outside databases) will be suspended on Aug 14.

You can check out the upgrade information from Polaris by clicking here.  Sample screens from the Power PAC 4.1 can be viewed by clicking here.  The System will be sending out information to the newspapers and radio stations and in-house notices such as table tents and screen signs will be shared with the libraries.  

Please note that August 14 is also an election day.

Consulting Library System Director Named

Bernie Bellin, retired System Director of Lakeshores Library System (Racine and Walworth counties) will be a Consulting Library System Director for ESLS starting July 1, 2012.  Mr. Bellin was also the Director of public libraries in Franklin and Whitefish Bay.   In 2008, he was recognized as the Wisconsin Library's Association 2008 Librarian of the Year.  He retired in 2009.

Under the recommendation by the Human Resources Committee and approved by the full System Board: ESLS shall retain a Consulting Library System Director at $300 for 6 hours plus $50 per hour for any time over 6 hours per month. 

He will provide "system level administrative consulting for member libraries and provide consulting to ESLS staff and Board on system decisions".  The consulting will primarily be by phone or e-mail at the request of ESLS or member library staff and ESLS trustees.  The consulting will mostly be on state issues, library system administration and system level activities. 

Search/Merger Committee News

A Search/Merger Committee has been formed to investigate the possibility of ESLS merging with another system and the leadership needed to pursue that route or remain a separate system.  The seven members of the committee are: ESLS Board President Robert Nuernberg of  Mequon; Nancy Szatkowski of Mequon; Henry Nelson of Sheboygan;  William Goehring, Town of Sherman;  Betty McCartney, the Elkhart Lake Public Library Director ; John Hanson, the Director of the U. S. S. Liberty Memorial Public Library of Grafton; and Paula Siefert, ESLS Administrative Assistant.  

At the committee's first meeting on June 28 ,they agreed that letters of interest should be written to adjacent library systems inquiring about their interest in a merger with ESLS.  The adjacent library systems are Mid-Wisconsin, Winnefox, Waukesha, Manitowoc-Calumet and the Milwaukee Public Library System.  Manitowoc-Calumet has already shown interest in investigating a possible merger.

Additionally, it was decided that Board President Neurnberg would contact former Director David Weinhold about the possibility of his returning as a consultant to help guide them through the process of investigating a merger.  Responses from the library systems and the former director should be received the week before the next ESLS Board meeting on July 30.  The committee will then determine their next step.

Children's Librarians Corner

Boys and Books

Tammy Federspiel,  Lakeview Community Library of Random Lake

Last summer, I attended a library workshop on Connecting Boys With Books by Michael Sullivan.  It was a very interesting and somewhat frightening program! By the time the average boy is in eleventh grade, he is three years behind the average girl in reading skills.  More than half of incoming freshmen boys consider themselves nonreaders.  Sixty percent of “A” grades are awarded to girls.  Seventy percent of D and F grades are given to boys. Eighty percent of high school drop outs are male.  Eighty percent of convicted felons are high school drop outs. 

Why don’t boys read as much or as well as girls? Three main reasons were discussed at the program. 

1.  Boys and girls learn differently.  Brain scans have proven this.  Girls use both the analytical and the creative parts of the brain when learning.  Boys usually use one or the other.  Language skills require both halves of the brain.  In Kindergarten, classrooms are set up with a lot of stimuli and have both quiet and active areas.  Once a student gets in elementary school this changes.  Students are expected to stay quiet and focus on the teacher much of the time.  Studies have shown that boys and some girls focus better when they have a distraction such as a “stress ball” to squeeze.  The reason many students improve their school grades when taking medication like Ritalin is because Ritalin is a stimulant. It would be a lot healthier and less expensive to give kids a stress ball instead! 

2.  A lack of male role models.  Ninety one percent of elementary teachers are female.  Kids are more likely to see their mom’s and women reading than men.  Many men, when they do read, do it in isolation.

3.  Reading has been turned into work.  Little boys like Story Time.  They listen to stories, Sing, dance, jump around, make projects, and have fun. Unfortunately by the time they are in second or third grade, learning is much more structured.  Reading is just not fun anymore.   Many parents have given up reading out loud to their kids and pressure them to read “grade appropriate”  books.  There is no evidence that reading harder books makes kids better readers.  Reading is the only thing that makes better readers. 

What can we as public librarians do to help boys love to read?  Start them out right.  In Story Time, don’t go overboard on explaining the pre-literacy skills and why certain stories exhibit them.  Pre-literacy skills are turning boys off of reading, (ouch!).  Just tell the stories and show the pictures!  It is a learning experience without any extra hype!  (I do like the “new improved” list of literacy skills much better!) I hear words.  I like books.  I know letters.  I see words. I know words and I can tell a story.  Big improvement! 

When helping children find books to read, never ask how old they are or what grade they are in.  Ask, “What do you like to do?” or “Tell me about a book you enjoyed.”  Select a variety of books for them to choose from.  Be careful not to give children books that are too difficult.  Author Steven Krashen states in his book, The Power of Reading, when boys are consistently given books too hard for them, they come to hate reading.   I often encourage audio books for all ages of children.  I tell parents how much I enjoyed listening to audio books with my children and husband.  We began to do this on long car trips and soon began to listen at home also.  When faced with the parent who jubilantly says, “I’m so glad he knows how to read, now I don’t have to read to him anymore”, I am inwardly cringing.  I try to share how much my own sons loved being read to at any age. I share that experts have stated that we should “Never stop reading to boys” !!!  Don’t punish a child for learning how to read.  I also throw in the fact that listening to an audio book or someone reading out loud improves language skills just as much as reading to oneself.  I read because I love to read and I want kids to feel the same way.  I have always been an advocate of reading out loud to children, no matter how old they are! 

One idea from Michael Sullivan that I especially liked was the literary lunches program. I ran the idea past my director and was given her blessing to proceed. I go to the school twice a week and read out loud to fourth graders during lunch.  I contacted the fourth grade teachers early in the school year to propose the program to them.  They enthusiastically came on board and we now have a tremendous relationship with both the teachers and the students!  I began by doing a presentation to the entire fourth grade promoting the first book I would read,  Loser by Jerry Spinelli.  The students attend on a voluntary basis.  Out of 60 students, I have an average attendance of 15-20.  After Loser, we began The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  I try to choose titles that will be especially appealing to boys.  Why fourth grade?  Because that is the year that I start to lose them. Now I can promote upcoming events, joke around with them and be a presence in their school lives. 

For further information on this topic:

The Power of Reading by Steven Krashen

Connecting Boys With Books:  What Libraries Can Do by Michael Sullivan.

Connecting Boys With Books 2:  Closing The Reading Gap by Michael Sullivan

News From the Area

Mead Public Library staff organized two carnivals for participants in their teen and children's reading programs. The ACUITY Cool Picks Summer Reading Program for Teens, sponsored by ACUITY, and held at their headquarters, provided a kick-off event for over one hundred teens.  They played a variety of games, including some super-sized games owned by ACUITY and did Wii gaming.  Another great partner, The GameBoard store in Sheboygan, brought in a variety of fun board games and card games that their volunteers showed the teens how to play.  According to Karin Menzer, Youth Services Manager at Mead Public Library,  "professional staff and teen volunteers helped run the rest of the event".  Food was also served.  It included  walking tacos, ice cream sundaes and soda refreshments.  They were also able to give away twenty $20 gift cards to Highland House and an iPod Nano.  The prizes and food were purchased with donated funds from ACUITY.  To view photos from the event taken by the Sheboygan Press click here.  

Although this was the fourth carnival held for teens it was the first year Mead did a carnival for the younger reading club members. Children needed to be registered for the reading or read-to-me programs to attend, which meant a number of children were signed up that day.  Before entering the carnival the children received a golden ticket which could be punched at each activity station. Stations included a variety of games and crafts as well as face-painting and balloon animals. The last stop was to receive a bag of cotton candy. Karin said, " It was a hectic two hours but it all went quite well.   Our attendance was 491 people". 

Children turned in their golden ticket at the end to enter a drawing for a $20.00 pizza gift card or a “Summer Bag of Fun” which included sidewalk chalk, a t-shirt, bubbles and more.  They used youth services staff, teen library pages and volunteers to run the stations. They also hired Christine Wolf and Diana Baldry of Event Entertainment LLC www.EventEntertainment4You.com for the face painting and balloon animals.  Karin was very pleased with the outcome, "Everyone did a great job! It was a bit hectic, but we will probably do it again next year. The kids really enjoyed it".  

The next program celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Cedarburg Public Library will be author and speaker John Enright on "The Lighthouses of Ozaukee County".  He will be at the library on Thursday, July 19 at 6:30 p.m.   The program will be presented by the Cedarburg Friends of the Library.

John Enright is a lighthouse historian, author, photographer, and former cruising sailor.  He is a Director and a Curator at North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee's Lake Park and has been a volunteer at the Port Washington 1860 Lighthouse.  He has spoken on lighthouses to more than 1,000 persons over the past few years, including the Port Washington Historical Society, the Tallahassee Florida Historical Society, UW-Green Bay, Historic Milwaukee, several yacht clubs and the Door County Lighthouse Festival.  John is a regular contributor to The Beacon, the quarterly of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers' Association.  He teaches grade school students on the Sailing Schooner, Denis Sullivan.

John is a member of five historical societies, a contributing author to three societies including articles in the Ozaukee County Historical Society's TimeLines on lighthouses.  John has been a resident of Cedarburg or Grafton area since 1972 and is a member of the Ozaukee County Historical Society .

Interesting Items

* The Pew Report on Libraries, patrons and e-books is available by clicking here.

* Interesting article, Your E-book is Reading You from the Wall Street Journal.

* Job Seekers Networking Group Meetings for July
Meetings are from 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at the Sheboygan United Way Building (lower level).  

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 Topic: Coping With Job Loss

Guest Presenter: John Siminow (Rainbow Kids)
a) Discuss the feelings associated with job loss and the emotional stages a person goes through
b) Learn positive tips and techniques to stay focused on the future

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 Topic: Get Your Job Application Noticed

Guest Presenter: Travis Knier (Rockline Industries)
a) Learn important tips for completing job applications
b) Discuss ways to attract positive attention to your application

Wednesday, July 25, 2012 Topic: Use Age to Your Advantage

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