The Library Connection
The Monthly Newsletter of the Eastern
Shores Library System
www.esls.lib.wi.us
Volume 28 Number 2 February 2008
Click here for the Winter 2008 Bookmobile Schedule
ESLS System Board Update
David Weinhold, System Director
Welcoming a New Board Member
Tom Hudson, a member of Port Washington’s W.J. Niederkorn Library Board, was appointed by Ozaukee County to serve on the Eastern Shores Library System Board for a three year term beginning January 1, 2008. Mr. Hudson is a computer programmer and develops graphics software. He is originally from Missouri, and moved to Port Washington after visiting the area a number of times.
He has served on the W.J. Niederkorn Library Board since 2001 and has been an alderman on the Port Washington City Council since 2001. He is a fan of EasiCat and appreciates the cooperative services that the libraries provide.
A Thanks to our Retiring Board Members
Sue Karlman, President of the Cedarburg Public Library Board, recently retired from the Eastern Shores Library System Board. She has represented the Cedarburg area and its Library for 18 years at ESLS. Ms. Karlman served as Vice President of the Board. She served on the Personnel Committee for 11 years and the Budget Committee for 7 years. Sue began her service on the ESLS Board at the time the Library System became a separate organization in 1990.
“Sue thought very highly of the ESLS staff,” stated David Weinhold, Director. “She would frequently report on the help that the ESLS staff provided to the member librarians.” As a member and President of the Cedarburg Library Board, she saw the value of cooperation and collaboration. Her advocacy for such cooperation was often eloquently expressed to fellow board members.
Pat Premo, member of the Cedar Grove Library Board, also recently retired from the Eastern Shores Library System Board. As the District Media Librarian for the Cedar Grove Belgium School District, she provided another perspective on the value of cooperation and the library’s impact on student achievement.
The Library System thanks Sue and Pat for their service. We wish them well in their future activities that we know includes libraries.
Bookmobile Service Planning
David Weinhold, System Director
During the preparation of the 2008 County Library Services budget, decisions and discussions by the individual county’s Finance committees regarding the funding of the bookmobile service within their respective County Library Service Plans indicate a need for both counties to review, evaluate, and determine the shared provision of bookmobile service in the non-libraried communities of the two counties.
In 2009, Ozaukee and Sheboygan County will be undertaking a joint review of their respective county library services plans. Ozaukee and Sheboygan County officials would like to gather information on bookmobile service for their joint review of their county library services plans. The most recent plans covering the years 2006-2010 include the shared provision of bookmobile service to non-libraried communities of Ozaukee and Sheboygan Counties.
The Eastern Shores Library System was asked by county officials in both counties to draft a proposal for an advisory referendum which would ask residents of non-libraried municipalities if the two Counties should continue to provide bookmobile service to non-libraried residents who pay for the service through the county library tax.
Those resolutions were sent to both Counties in January.
The Eastern Shores Library System Bookmobile service is in its 29th year of service - beginning as a county library service to rural Sheboygan County residents in 1979. In 1987, when Ozaukee County joined the Library System, both Ozaukee and Sheboygan County began to share in the cost of the bookmobile service on a proportional basis. The proportion is based on each county’s use of the bookmobile service.
The mission of the Bookmobile service is to serve residents of all ages and abilities in the Eastern Shores Library System at locations where people are likely to gather providing popular materials in various formats for recreation, information and education needs. The role of the Bookmobile Service is to provide popular materials in various formats to all ages, and to provide reading readiness materials for children. In a limited capacity, it provides reference service and programming. The Bookmobile operates in cooperation with other libraries in the System. Due to its limited capacity for reference service, it encourages the use of other libraries for specific library needs. It also promotes and encourages future library use among its customers.
The current Bookmobile vehicle was purchased in 1990 and placed into service to replace a then 26 year old vehicle. It has been maintained very well by Markwardt Sales and Service. The Library System has upgraded its ability to connect to EasiCat and the Internet through the use of a satellite antenna.
The Bookmobile service receives funds from each County’s county library tax - about 5¢ per $1000 Equalized Value in Ozaukee County and 4¢ per $1000 Equalized Value in Sheboygan County with a 2008 budget of $185,500. The county library tax is levied on residents of the non-libraried municipalities who are the primary users of the service.
Children's
Librarians Corner
WISCAT and the School Librarian
Sheila Miesfeld
Library Media Specialist
Sheboygan South High School
“I have all these ‘freebie’ books and no cataloging! What am I going to do?” Many times school librarians are faced with this delightful dilemma. Delightful because ‘freebie’ books can enhance the collection, dilemma because often times busy class visit schedules and other professional responsibilities don’t allow much time for creating original cataloging. What to do? WISCAT it!
School libraries in the Sheboygan Area School District use WISCAT on a regular basis for a number of reasons. Probably the most common use is downloading MARC records. With just a few keystrokes MARC records can be downloaded, edited, and saved into any circulation system. Books are closer to being ready for patron use very quickly. Another use is to see what schools within the district, or other libraries in the area, have an item that we may wish to borrow. At the high school level interlibrary loan is an important component of the WISCAT system. Each year at South High alone we fill about a dozen requests for materials and request about the same from other libraries. Our students think that it’s great that we can get that hard-to-find book for their British Authors class; teachers like that we can help with materials for their graduate studies; and I’ve been known to request a book to preview before I make a purchase decision.
WISCAT… positive public relations … quick cataloging … what a wonderful invention!
Resources at the Mental Health Association
Jenny Kuckuk, Youth Educator
Mental Health America
Mental Health America's resource library is available for use by the public during regular office hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Available materials cover a variety of mental health topics and are on loan for a two week period at no charge. Included are pamphlets, books, CDs, audio cassettes, DVDs and videos. This library is a great resource and provides information on topics such as stress, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, relationships, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Select materials are also available in Spanish and Hmong. If you are interested in bettering your mental health, learning more about a particular topic, utilizing resources in the classroom, or introducing mental health concepts to children, MHA has resources for all ages and purposes.
Staff and board members are available to present programs on mental health topics for classrooms, worksites, service organizations, churches, and other community groups. Programs are easy to arrange. Simply contact the office to discuss your groups needs.
To find out more information about Mental Health America or the resource library please call the office at (920) 458-3951 or stop in to check out materials. The Mental Health America office is located in the United Way building at 2020 Erie Avenue, Sheboygan.
Local Director Named to State Summit
Linda Bendix, Director of the Frank L. Weyenberg Library of Mequon-Thiensville, will be a participant in the statewide conference on the future of library services. The Strategic Visioning Summit will take place May 5 and 6, 2008. The group will "explore a vision for the future of library services." This includes technology changes, changing demographics and fulfilling residents' service needs.
The Summit is sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Council on Network and Library Development. It has been ten years since the state of Wisconsin has sponsored a statewide conference on the future of library services.
Judicial District Library Information Workshop
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduling legal information workshops
in Judicial Districts around the state. Ozaukee County lies in the 3rd Judicial
District and this legal information workshop is scheduled for Tuesday,
April 8 at the Mid-Wisconsin Library System offices in Horicon. This
is a full day workshop and will include a presentation by Supreme Court
and Judicial Court personnel including the Ozaukee County Court
Commissioner in the morning and a presentation by staff from the Wisconsin
Law Library in the afternoon. There will be contact hours awarded
for library directors who attend this workshop, however the presentation
is also useful for any reference staff.
Because ESLS is split between two Judicial Districts, this workshop is for
Ozaukee County Libraries only. Sheboygan County is in a different
Judicial District and its workshop will be scheduled later this year.
World Book and Copyright Day
The thirteenth celebration of World Book and Copyright Day will be held on April 23. The event was established in 1995 by UNESCO’s General Conference to promote reading, creativity, publishing and copyright and to encourage people to “explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.” Publishers, booksellers and other interested parties work together to promote books and reading for the personal enrichment and enjoyment of all. World Book Day is celebrated in over 100 countries around the world. The April 23rd date was first celebrated in 1923 by booksellers in Catalonia, Spain as a way to commemorate the death of author Miguel de Cervantes.
Every year thousands of events are organized in schools, bookshops and libraries to celebrate World Book and Copyright Day. Activities such as: author talks, poetry readings, book sales, book signings for adults and for children, dressing up as a favorite character, making group library visits, book cover designing ,favorite character contests, book quizzes, and readathons are just a few.
On World Book Day (March 6th) in the United Kingdom all school age children receive a free book token to be used to purchase books that are released especially for World Book Day. This year's main event in the UK is the chance for children to vote for their favorite animal in literature. Go to http://www.worldbookday.com/ for information on the British celebration.
Visit http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=5125&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html for more information on World Book and Copyright Day.
Interesting Items
* Project Vote Smart
Looking for unbiased information about candidates for U.S. President and other offices? Check out Project Vote Smart <http://www.vote-smart.org/>, where you’ll find candidates’ biographies, voting records, issue statements and much more.
* The DLTCL Electronic Newsletter
Volume 10, Number 17 - January 31, 2008
In order to enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture, Picturing America brings some of the nation's greatest works of art into school classrooms and public libraries. Public, private, parochial, and charter schools and home school consortia (K-12), as well as public library systems and school districts, are invited to apply.
Successful applicants will receive a set of forty high-quality
reproductions of American masterpieces, a teachers resource book, and
additional educational resources available at http://picturingamerica.neh.gov.
Awards will be announced in May 2008 and
distributed in September 2008 for display during the 2008-2009 school year
and beyond.
For more information about Picturing America, including a list of the
artwork featured, grant guidelines, and the online application, visit http://picturingamerica.ala.org.
* Think Better
http://www.somethingyoushouldknow.net/last-months-programs.htm
Visit the Think Better Blog at http://tenkaizen.blogspot.com/ by author Tim Hurson. His new book, Think better (your company's future depends on it--and so does yours): an innovator's guide to productive thinking is available in EasiCat at http://www.easicat.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=UTILEX&term=hz879608.
According to Hurson: "There is really good scientific evidence that suggests that in any brainstorming session, the first third of the ideas that people come up with are usually mundane, run of the mill, everybody's-thought-of-them-before ideas. Then you get to what we call the second third. Now the second third we're starting to stretch because we're in new territory, we're not repeating old ideas. And if you can stretch even further and get to what is called the third third - that's where the diamonds lie, that's where the energy is, that's where all of the potential lies."
* http://www.somethingyoushouldknow.net/transcript01_29_08.htm
Looking to make more money? Jordan Goodman author of Fast profits in hard times suggests: "If you have a website, all of the big search engines have online advertising services now that you allow them to serve ads on your website. Anytime anybody clicks on those ads you get twenty-five cents or fifty cents. For example on my website moneyanswers.com I have Google AdSense and I get a check for like five hundred dollars a month for basically doing nothing."
Find his book in EasiCat at http://www.easicat.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=UTILEX&term=hz888109. Goodman's web site is: http://www.moneyanswers.com/.
* VirtualHosting.com
Check out 30 Google Apps you've never heard of by Laura Milligan at http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2008/30-google-apps-youve-never-heard-of/. Also from the Virtual Hosting Blog, 50 things you didn't know you could do with a map by Christina Laun: http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2008/top-50-things-you-didnt-know-you-could-do-with-google-maps/, and The Cheat Sheet Cheat Sheet: top 100 lists of Web development cheat sheets by Jessica Hupp at : http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2008/the-cheat-sheet-cheat-sheet-top-100-lists-of-web-development-cheat-sheets/
* How have book covers changed over the years? Check it out at the Pelican Project http://drawn.ca/2008/01/29/the-pelican-project/.
* The Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians Annual Conference will be held in nearby Manitowoc April 16- 18 at the Holiday Inn. For more information on the "Winds of change: Setting Sail for Manitowoc" conference go to: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/waal/conferences/2008/index.html.
* Check out the updated web sites of the Frank L. Weyenberg Library of Mequon-Thiensville: http://www.flwlib.org/, Oscar Grady Public Library (Saukville): http://www.saukville.lib.wi.us/ and the U.S.S. Liberty Memorial Public Library (Grafton): http://www.grafton.lib.wi.us/.
