TV-Turnoff Week April 25-May 1, 2005
The Library Connection
Volume 25 Number 4 April 2005
TV-Turnoff Week April 25-May 1, 2005
Click here for the Winter 2005 Bookmobile Schedule
Last week, the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC) agreed to purchase the Overdrive e-book and digital audiobook service. The service is scheduled to begin on July 1. For the first six months, WPLC will pay the start up and initial fees, estimated to be $23,145. This will allow for all the WPLC partners to be participants. Beginning Jan, 2006, each WPLC's partner share will be prorated based on population size. It is estimated that ESLS costs will be $1400. WPLC voted to apply $15,000 from its netlibrary account for the Overdrive startup collection. The initial collection will concentrate on digital audiobooks. There is also interest in the e-book collection (which contains more popular fiction than netlibrary), but those purchases may be made later in the implementation period.
WPLC also plans to seek other funding sources for Overdrive content. For example, trucking firms may be approached since drivers may be customers of the Overdrive e-audio product.
To learn more about the company that will be supplying the Overdrive e-books, go to www.dlrinc.com/ There are links on the site to libraries who already include these books in their catalogs. Click "More Library Partners."
Two new Bi-Folkal kits have been purchased and are now
available. The kits are part of this year's Special Needs LSTA
grant. The new kits are Remembering Spring and Remembering Home.
Each of the kits has a media presentation on slide/tape, a videotape (same as slide/tape), large-print booklets, a sing-along tape, activities, pictures, and things to touch. A program manual is included for the leader.
The kits are available to anyone in Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties who works with seniors at a nursing home, assisted living facility, meal site, senior citizen group, etc. They can be reserved for a specific date (up to 3 months in advance) and go out for 2 weeks. Customers should contact the interlibrary loan person at the library where they want the kit delivered.
ESLS will be developing several more kits with LSTA funds this year. Possible themes include: Mothers, Fathers, Aprons, Inventions, Wisconsin, Seasons, and Gardening. A complete list of the kits and their contents can be found at www.esls.lib.wi.us/kits/bifolkal/bifolkallist.html
The Sheboygan County Board Chairman has appointed Sherry Speth to a three-year term on the Eastern Shores Library Board. Sherry, a resident of the town of Lima in Sheboygan County, has been a customer of the bookmobile at its stop at St. George Catholic Church in the town of Wilson for many years. She replaces Fred Kraemer, who left the board at the end of 2004 after serving four terms.
Children's
Librarians CornerI love looking around our Children's Room. Of course, we have all these wonderful picture books in our collection. They are my personal favorites. Where else can you find a book with a good story and gorgeous artwork on every page? But, at Plymouth, we are doubly blessed. Our walls are filled with colorful, original, framed artwork. And it didn't cost us a cent.
Our Junior Woman's Club has been conducting an art contest for 16 years. Actually, our first piece dates back further than that because they missed a year or two due to budgetary or committee problems. Early in spring the Art Committee canvases Plymouth School District teachers for work done by their students during the past school year. The committee chooses one piece as the winner from the group entered by the teachers. The piece is matted and framed by the club and a small plaque is attached. The piece is then presented to the Children's Room. We now have a collection of work that runs the gamut of styles from wood cuts to surreal. We have animals, (elephants seem to be a favorite subject) birds, self-portraits, landscapes, and flowers to name a few.
It is always amazing to me (and often to the artist) to see how matting and framing a picture transforms it from a cute simple picture to an impressive work of art.
Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and neighbors of the newest artist often stop in to view our gallery. We have even had some artists who have since graduated, come back to see their early art work displayed on our walls. They are usually surprised to see that we display all the pieces we have had presented to us. We do rotate the art at times, particularly during the summer library program when we may have to remove a piece or two temporarily.
Stop in and take a look at our art gallery. I think you will be impressed by the depth and imagination of our young artists.
Teen Read Week 2005 will be observed October 16-22 this year. The theme is "Get Real! @ Your Library." It's not too early to start planning! YALSA has announced the launch of it 2005 Teen Read Week web site: www.ala.org/teenread
The web site has annotated booklists, program ideas, logos that you can download, and more. You can purchase a manual from the web site for $10.00. The summer ALA Graphics Catalog, expected to be mailed in early May, will have some fabulous Teen Read Week products in it. The goal is to work together to get more teens than ever to read for the fun of it!
Stand Up for Libraries! The annual ESLS Legislative Day will be held Monday, May 23, 2005 at 4:30 p.m. at the Cedar Grove Public Library.
All area legislators have been invited to attend to listen to the comments from librarians, library board members, Friends of the Library representatives, and library customers. Everyone is invited to attend this event and meet the local legislators and tell them how important libraries are to the residents of Ozaukee and Sheboygan Counties.
WAPL invites you to join colleagues in a celebration of "Public Libraries for the Public Good" at the 2005 WAPL Spring Conference to be held at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton May 11 - 13.
A registration form and other conference information is available at www.wla.lib.wi.us/wapl/conferences/wapl2005.html.
The following will help library customers who want to pursue a living will or other documents to direct their health care and finances.
Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services: http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/forms/AdvDirectives/ADFormsPOA.htm
State Bar of Wisconsin: http://www.wisbar.org/
Legal Explorer: http://www.legalexplorer.com/
It's no surprise to those who order books or those who prepare the annual budget that book prices have gone up each year for the last 25 years. For the first time, the average price of a hardcover children's and young adult topped the $20 mark. The majority of the 500 librarians who responded to SLJ's Book Buying Survey anticipated that they would be spending the same amount of money as they did the previous year. This good news is not exactly a reason to celebrate, since the same amount of money will buy less books!
Read the full-text article on BadgerLink--use the MasterFILE Premier database and search for "2005 Book Prices" in the March 2005 issue of School Library Journal.
SLJ's Average Book Prices 2005
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| HARDCOVER (children's and YA title) | |||
| Average Price (all titles) | $19.18 | $19.31 | $20.52 |
| Preschool to grade four | $17.45 | $17.51 | $18.92 |
| Grade five and up (fiction) | $16.77 | $16.84 | $16.85 |
| Grade five and up (nonfiction) | $22.99 | $23.25 | $24.92 |
| PAPERBACK (children's and YA titles) | |||
| Trade paperbacks (excluding mass market) | $20.26* | $18.88* | -- |
| HARDCOVER (adult titles) | |||
| Fiction (excluding special editions, etc. | $26.02* | $24.81* | -- |
| Nonfiction | $40.64* | $41.07 | -- |
| **Nonfiction | $74.48* | $73.64* | -- |
| PAPERBACK (adult titles, excluding mass market) | |||
| Fiction | $17.23* | $14.95* | -- |
| ***Nonfiction | $32.82* | $27.38* | -- |
*Preliminary Prices. **Price includes single-volume reference titles. ***Prices include reference and related resources.
For the tenth year the Wisconsin Center for the Book offers communities an opportunity to celebrate and explore the literature of our state with its authors and illustrators. The Center for the Book will award up to ten grants of $250 each to qualifying organizations wishing to bring a Wisconsin author or illustrator to their community to speak at a public event. The event must be free of admission charges and be scheduled between September 1, 2005 and April 30, 2006. This program is made possible through the generosity and cooperation of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.
A Wisconsin author or illustrator is defined as one who has lived in Wisconsin for a significant period of time, including someone who may no longer be living in the state. The Center for the Book does not supply a list of possible speakers.
Wisconsin nonprofit organizations interested in books and reading are eligible to apply. Collaboration among groups is preferred. Such groups may include, but are not limited to, public libraries; public and private elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools; community organizations; and places of worship. Applications will be judged on the basis of community outreach and collaboration, thoroughness of planning, and rationale for the choice of a speaker.
Application information can be found at www.wisconsinacademy.org/book/basicinfo.html or contact Jane Roeber, Wisconsin Authors and Illustrators Speak Chair at jroeber@wisc.edu. Completed applications are due July 1, 2005.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its new interactive food guidance system and symbol knows as "MyPyramid." This replaces the Food Guide Pyramid introduced in 1992 and is part of an overall food guidance system that emphasizes the need for a more individualized approach to improving diet and lifestyle.
See www.mypyramid.gov/global_nav/pdf_anatomy.html for a picture of the pyramid.
To look inside the pyramid, go to www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/index.html.
You can enter the foods you eat and your physical activities for a day and obtain the energy balance between them at www.mypyramid.gov/global_nav/media_tracker.html
Questions? Go to www.mypyramid.gov/global_nav/media_questions.html
For a spreadsheet of various calorie levels and the recommended serving sizes, see www.mypyramid.gov/global_nav/media_mypyramid_patterns.html
May 2005 has been designated by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) as the second annual Latino Books Month to promote books by and for Latinos. This month-long celebration provides a fantastic time for booksellers, librarians, and others in the book industry to encourage people in their communities to read books by and for Latinos, in both English and Spanish. As part of the initiative, AAP member publishers will hold special author events, and the AAP Task Force on Publishing Latino Voices for America has created a Latino Books Month Resource Kit, which will include:
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A Latino Books Summer Reading List with recommended books for adults and children, in English and Spanish. |
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A Publishing Latino Voices Brochure, which includes a sampling of titles by and for Latinos published by AAP member publishing companies. |
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Get Caught Reading/Aja, leyendo! posters featuring celebrities including Gloria Estefan, Maya and Miguel, Jorge Ramos, Dora the Explorer, and others. |
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"Libros en Espanol" window clings to let everyone know that books are available in Spanish. |
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A fact sheet on the Latino community, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. |
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A "how-to" sheet on starting a Spanish-language reading group within a community. |
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Contact information for booking Latino authors for May appearances. |
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Resource kits will be available to booksellers, librarians, educators, and others who wish to promote a love of reading among Latinos in their communities. |
To learn more about Latino Books Month, please visit: www.publishers.org/press/releases.cfm?PressReleaseArticleID=248
May is Older Americans Month and a perfect time to display books with senior authors, or characters. Below are two sites for Webrary with lists of books that would be perfect for your displays. Both were compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list.
Little Old Lady Sleuths: www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/LOLs.html
Of A Certain Age: Fiction Featuring Older Adults: www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/Age.html
If you give a child a book, he's going to want to read it.
And as he reads, he's going to think about what he's reading.
And as he thinks, he's going to recall what he already knows and similar
experiences he's had.
And as he thinks about those experiences, he's going to want to write.
And as he writes, he's going to want to talk to his friends and share his
thoughts and ideas with them.
And as he talks with others, he's going to want to learn and discover more.
So, chances are he'll find another book to read.
And then another... and another.
And as he reads more books, he'll discover books that make him smile, laugh,
cry, angry, curious, frustrated, contented, thoughtful, happy.
And then, as time passes, he'll become a lifelong reader.
Thanks to a teacher (or a librarian) who gave a child a book.
-By Dr. Pam Farris, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Dept. of Literacy Education, NIU.
