The Library Connection
Volume 24 Number 9 December 2004
Click here for the new Winter 2005 Bookmobile Schedule
Both county library planning committees will continue to meet in 2005 before presenting a final plan for County Library Service to the respective county boards. The Ozaukee County Library Planning Committee submitted a plan for comment at a public hearing on November 30. More than 20 individuals attended the public hearing--many commented about various aspects of the plan.
Highlights of the Ozaukee Plan as presented for comment: The county public libraries should be reimbursed at the 85% level for providing service to non-libraried residents. Standards for the creation of a newly established public library must be at the same level as for a similar sized libraried municipality in the system. The county should not include any county library service capital expenses in the calculation of the county library service tax exemption requirement for a libraried municipality and not allow libraried municipalities to include capital expenses in its appropriation to meet the county library service tax exemption requirement.
Following the public hearing, the committee revised the plan as follows. They decided to not make a recommendation on the calculation of the county library tax exemption. They are also considering changing the wording of the statement on the standards for establishing a new library to a recommendation, rather than a requirement.
The committee made no recommendations on the county district library concept, on the creation of joint libraries for non-libraried municipalities, or on the establishment of standards for existing public libraries. They recommended that Ozaukee County continue to contract with ESLS for plan administration, but that the county not include reimbursement of costs for this purpose. The next meeting of the Ozaukee County Planning Committee is scheduled for January 6.
The Sheboygan County Planning Committee is continuing to discuss reimbursement of libraries for serving non-libraried residents. This discussion included crossover borrowing, but the committee decided to not incorporate crossover borrowing into the reimbursement formulas at this time. The Sheboygan committee will meet on January 11 for additional discussion on the plan.
ESLS applied for and received LSTA funds for the study of county district libraries in both counties, but both planning committees decided to not accept the funds and complete the studies.
Eastern Shores Library System has received word from the State of Wisconsin, Department of Public Instruction that two LSTA grant applications for 2005 were approved. In the Library Card Sign-up category, the system will receive $6,200 to work with the Oscar Grady Library in Saukville and the Lakeview Community Library in Random Lake to promote library services in their communities and encourage more residents to sign up for and use their library cards.
In the Seniors / Sensory Disabilities category, the system will receive $4,180 to work with the Eastern Shores Bookmobile in the creation and marketing of additional themed kits to be used by those who work with seniors in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and senior centers. Funds will also be available to purchase materials for those who work with and care for individuals with Alzheimer's. The kits and other materials will be made available for all residents of Eastern Shores through inclusion in the EasiCat shared catalog.
Work will begin on both of these projects following the official Notification of Grant of Award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington, D.C.
The Kacmarcik Education Resource Center at Columbia St. Mary's Ozaukee Campus is a consumer health library that has a number of links on its web site that would be of interest to library customers researching health information for themselves or family members.
The Consumer Health links lead you to information about everything from Acupuncture to Kidney Diseases to Women's Health. There are also dozens of links to topics dealing with Cancer Research.
Earlier this year, ESLS and Columbia St. Mary's concluded an agreement that allows ESLS libraries to phone, fax, or e-mail medical reference questions to Columbia St. Mary's. If necessary, customers may be referred directly to St. Mary's Ozaukee for additional information.
Wisconsin has a new poet laureate. Gov. Doyle has appointed Denise Sweet, an Associate Professor of Humanistic Studies and advisor for the American Indian Studies minor at UW-Green Bay, to the position. In addition to many individuals poems, fiction, and essays, she has published five poetry books.
She will choose and lead one large-scale project that contributes to the growth of Wisconsin poetry. She will also plan and attend at least four statewide literary events each year and perform in at least four government, state, and civil events as requested by the Governor's office, school systems, and literary organizations.
She replaces Ellen Kort of Appleton, who was appointed in December 2000.
Children's
Librarians CornerI was lucky my first week at Elkhart Lake, three years ago, to have a teacher who had just retired ask if she could volunteer at the library. With my only working twenty four hours per week I jumped at the chance to have Nan do story time. She has been doing it ever since. Once a year or so Nan is unable to do story time so she gives me everything I need including what stories and craft project she would do that week.
This was my opportunity to see how talented I could be as a children’s librarian. I had forgotten that the school offers four-year-old daycare, so most of my audience were two and three year olds. We always start with "Two little hands go clap, clap, clap. Two little feet go tap, tap, tap. Two little fists go thump, thump, thump. Two little legs go jump, jump, jump. One little body turns around, and everyone sits quietly down." I successfully got the group, except the parents, quieted down to start. I read my Christmas Kitten book, always do the book with the most words first and mention family pets that kids can relate to. I got through that all right. I got through; Take A Mouse to the Movies, and then Twelve Hats for Lena. Of course I pointed out different things on the hats because we were making Christmas hats next. Our story times always end with a small craft project. This week it consisted of glitter, stamps, and coloring their hats. Wow, I made it! I appreciate our volunteer storyteller “Nan” more and more. She manages to ignore the visiting parents and keeps the kids interested. I don’t know how she does it.
Our cooperative relationship with the schools continues. We just hosted the 5th and 6th grades for Mary Tooley’s Hispanic Heritage program. I was very impressed with how many questions the kids were able to answer in Spanish. We included time for the group to visit the library enticing them with dragon books, and we now have on display the artwork the students completed.
The Elkhart Lake High School has been added to our cooperative relationship. The school librarian searches EasiCat when they can’t find enough in their collection. She orders materials though a high school card and sends library registration materials home with students for parents to sign. We call the high school when the materials come in and they send the student, with completed registration materials to us. Then we call the parents to verify the information and we issue an Elkhart Lake Public Library card. The library went from having only a few high school students registered to steadily increasing numbers.
The library is again looking for a busy “Dragon, Dreams and Daring Deeds" summer. I have friends already looking for medieval clothing for me to wear when I go and do the school promos in May. Since we started our cooperative effort with the school, two years ago, our attendance records for programs has skyrocketed. This second year saw our circulation numbers increase. Since I mainly do laundry and cooking at Civil War events, I am looking forward to traveling back in time to the land of dragons, merriment, and knights on white horses.
A website designed to help School Library Media specialists in Florida with guidelines and suggestions for weeding their collections could be helpful to other libraries as well. One subject is targeted each month as a possible section to weed--October's topic was the Olympics and the Holocaust was November's.
You will see specific criteria for weeding for each subject, along with examples of titles you might want to consider weeding. For example, May's topic on presidential elections suggests weeding the title "Presidential Elections since 1789" that has a 1975 copyright date. After you have weeded the collection, you can view the list titles you might want to consider adding on the subject.
The website is located at: http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/weed/
Simon and Schuster is testing a new paperback format that, at 4 1/4 x 7 5/8, is smaller than trade but bigger than mass (Trass perhaps?). The paperback will be, like the Penguin version, bigger and more expensive--and hopes to expand margins by expanding square inches.
Several other mass houses are reported to be looking into similar tests.
According to the comments from customers of BiFolkal Productions (the creators of the kits our customers who work with the elderly use), slides are still the best. The images are big and bright and clear. You can set your own pace. You can leave an image on the screen as long as there is discussion and you can go back to any image. Unlike television, the medium invites involvement.
The latest issue of BiFolkal Times reports two companies still selling the slide projectors that Kodak quit making in June 2004. You can contact B&H Photo-Video (800/606-6969) or Adorama Camera (800/223-2500). eBay could also be a source for "like new" projectors.
BiFolkal Productions is continuing to explore their options for digitizing their images and editing their manuals. The newsletter article concludes with: "No one expects the DVD to be the final digital format, but we guess we'll plan to use it until the next technology becomes popularly available."
Google has announced agreements with major libraries to digitize books in their collections and make them available online. Google is funding the project, which is said to have strong support from founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who said that such dissemination of information has always been one of their goals. Under the arrangements, Google reportedly will scan all of the eight million books at Stanford University's library and all of the University of Michigan's seven million texts. For the others involved in the project—Harvard University, Oxford University, and the New York Public Library—only portions of the collections will be scanned. For books whose copyright remains in effect, Google will scan the entire text but make available only selected portions online. Books whose copyright has run out will be available in their entirety. The announcement follows similar programs from the Library of Congress as well as Amazon to digitize content of books.
CNN.com reports that the sixth Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will go on sale in Britain and the US on July 16.
You can now see Wisconsin history through the eyes of those who made it, without leaving the comfort of your home, office, or classroom.
Hundreds of eyewitness accounts of pivotal moments from our past have just been put on the Web by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Letters, diaries, newspaper stories, memoirs, photographs, posters, engravings, and museum objects are just some of the treasures now available for free at www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints. Though strongest on early Wisconsin history right now, materials that bring the site up through the 20th century will be added throughout the winter. New ones are being mounted daily.
Background essays show how local Wisconsin events were part of larger national and international trends. Notes explain the significance of each individual document or artifact. An online Dictionary of Wisconsin History describes 1,000 important people, places, and events. Nearly 100 reference maps depict historical data graphically, so you can get the big picture. Original manuscripts can be viewed as they were written or with a typed transcript alongside them. Accounts by early French explorers can be read from the original rare books or side-by-side with English translations.
Everything at Turning Points in Wisconsin History can be freely viewed, printed, copied, or downloaded for educational or other non-commercial use. No registration, license, or fees of any sort are required.
So come see copper tools 5,000 years old. View the first pictures made of Indian effigy mounds. Read Louis Joliet's letter about his 1673 voyage down the Mississippi with Father Marquette. Zoom in on a French map of Wisconsin in 1757. Examine contemporary paintings of the fields where Black Hawk stood up to U.S. troops in 1832. Peruse letters sent back East by pioneer settlers. See pictures of early Wisconsin railroads and steamships. Look at hundreds of Civil War newspaper stories and photographs. Witness the birth of dairy farming, logging, and mining. Find your place on 19th-century bird's-eye views of Wisconsin cities and towns.
Turning Points in Wisconsin History is made possible by generous support from private donors to the Wisconsin Historical Foundation, CESA6, and UW-Oshkosh's "Teaching American History" grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
The librarian was closing
She was locking all the doors
When she quickly turned around
And there stood Santa Claus
But she wasn't really startled
She seemed truly quite composed
As she said, "You have to leave now
I'm sorry sir, we're closed"
"But I'm Santa," the man said
"I've brought you presents, that's my creed"
The librarian said tersely
"There is nothing that I need"
"Then I'll let you have this elf"
Santa bellowed with a snort
She said, "I'd need him to shelve books
And I'm sorry, he's too short"
"I will leave to you my sleigh"
Santa stated firm and bold
"If I drive outdoors in that"
She said, "I'll catch my death of cold"
But soon her whole face brightened
The librarian felt dandy
As she said, "You have a reindeer
That would come in very handy"
Well, Santa granted her the wish
And as he drove clear out of sight
By the light of Rudolph's nose
She read her books all Christmas night!