The Library Connection
The Monthly Newsletter of the Eastern
Shores Library System
www.esls.lib.wi.us
Volume 26 Number 1 January 2006
February is Library Lovers Month
Click here for the Winter 2006 Bookmobile Schedule
New Board Members at ESLS
The Eastern Shores Library System Board of Trustees has two new members. Robert Nuernberg from the city of Mequon was appointed to fill the term of Bill Schultz, who resigned from the board. William Niehaus, resident of the town of Saukville, was appointed to replace Dick Rupert. Dick had been on the board since 1994 and did not seek reappointment. Both Rob and Bill are members-at-large from Ozaukee County.
Bundling Items for Shipping on the Van
(from Joined at the Backbone, the South Central Delivery blog)
This has been touched on in the Blog before, but a recent incident made us think that we should send out this reminder.
On 1/17, the Arrowhead Library System received a large atlas that was bundled together with three small items, resulting in a bent atlas. Please remember not to make bundled stacks that are too tall and to keep like-sized items together. Stacks that are too tall are hard to get into and out of baskets. Stacks of multi-sized materials often result in damage to the larger items.
Guidelines for bundling items can be found on the South Central
Delivery website:
www.sclsdelivery.org/
While we are on the subject of delivery, why not check out the 2005 ESLS van delivery statistics: www.esls.lib.wi.us/van/vanstats05.html The South Central delivery statistics are also available: psw.scls.lib.wi.us/delivery/statistics/material/statistics_material.html
Children's
Librarians Corner
Music and Children's Programming
Connie Acker, Cedar Grove Public Library
Let me preface this little article by saying that I don’t have a great voice and my musical knowledge is limited, but I have always sung to and with my children and I enjoy a variety of music. I like to incorporate it into story times and class visits wherever I can. All of us, in our story times, use finger plays and various activities to break up the “sitting quietly and listening.” I have found that songs – simple words with familiar tunes – are even better. If you get a good familiar one, even the Moms and Dads will sing along – ones like, I’m a Little Teapot, Down by the Station, or If You’re Happy and You Know It.
During a series of story times on the alphabet we sang an alphabet song which included various nursery rhymes. We sang it every week for 20 weeks. The kids learned it by heart and loved to sing it. They learned Mother Goose rhymes than they may not have known - such as Wee Willy Winkie, Jack Sprat, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, and Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark. (A song like that may send you to the stacks to pull off those Mother Goose books!) After the first week or two, the kids got to choose some of the nursery rhymes we added. I will have to tell you that Humpty Dumpty and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star were the two most popular nursery rhymes for that group.
To add a new twist to some old tunes, take a look at the following website: http://www.preschooleducation.com/sfriend.shtml
This site has lots of songs to those tunes we are all familiar with. Some include hand motions, or you can make up your own. For example, we did the “Reindeer Pokie” – put your antlers in, etc – around Christmas. They are done according to theme, so it’s easy to locate one that will work with a particular story time.
Because most of the songs are really little ditties, they work well without any kind of accompaniment. Occasionally, especially for older kids, you may want that extra oomph that an instrument provides. You don’t have to be good, just passable – or recruit a friend! For National poetry week one year, I rediscovered “The Unicorn Song.” I remembered it was sung years ago by the Irish Rovers. I happened to be going through a Shel Silverstein book looking for good poems to share with the kids, when lo and behold, there were the words to The Unicorn Song! I had no idea that it had started life as a Shel Silverstein poem. With a simple guitar accompaniment and the chorus printed out for the kids to sing along, it was a great way to share poetry by a poet they all know and love – and those fourth graders actually sang!
My most recent music discovery for a group to use during story time is They Might Be Giants (thanks to my grandson!). They have two CDs - Here come the ABC’s and NO!. “Clap Your Hands” is a fun song, and “In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle” was perfect when we talked about safety. So, give them a listen – and you might just want to strum your rubber guitar (or sew buttons on your car)! Learn more about them at www.tmbg.com/froMain.html
Upcoming Workshops for Children's Librarians
Patti
Sinclair, editor of the "Paws, Claws Scales and Tales" manual,
will be the presenter at a workshop co-sponsored by Manitowoc-Calumet
Library System and ESLS. The workshop will be held at the Manitowoc
Public Library on Wednesday, February 8th from 12:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Patti always has great ideas for the upcoming Summer Library Program. Join
us for an afternoon of crafts, skits, games, books, and inspiration!
Contact Paula at ESLS if you would like to attend.
Also, be sure to mark your calendars for Wednesday, April 19th. Staff members from the Cooperative Children's Book Center in Madison will be at Mead Public Library to share information about what's new and what's hot in children's and young adult books. The morning session will be devoted to children's materials and the afternoon to YA materials. A catered box lunch and time for browsing will be available. All staff at both public and school libraries are invited to attend. Watch for the sign-up sheets!
2006 Literary Award Winners
The American Library Association has announced the 2006 award winners for outstanding children's and young adult literature. And the winners are....
Newbery Medal for most outstanding children's book - Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins. Newbery Honor books are: Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; Whittington by Alan Armstrong; Princess Academy by Shannon Hale; and Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.
Caldecott Medal for most distinguished picture book - The Hello, Goodbye Window, illustrated by Chris Raschka, written by Norton Juster. Caldecott Honor Books are: Rosa, illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Nikki Giovanni; Zen Shorts, written and illustrated by Jon J Muth; Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride, written and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman; and Song of the Water Boatmen & Other Pond Poems, illustrated by Beckie Prange, written by Joyce Sidman.
Michael L Printz Award for best book for young adults - Looking for Alaska by John Green. Honor books in this category are: Black Juice by Margo Lanagan; I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak; John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth by Elizabeth Partridge; and A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson.
The ALA website has the complete announcement of all award winners.
What's New at Columbia St. Mary's
Click here to read the latest Kacmarcik Education Resource Center News. The newsletter includes a list of new titles at the Kacmarcik Education Resource Center at Columbia St. Mary's Ozaukee Campus located at 13111 N. Port Washington Road in Mequon.
ESLS and Columbia St. Mary's have an agreement that allows ESLS libraries to phone, fax, or e-mail medical reference questions to CSM. If necessary, customers may be referred directly to St. Mary's Ozaukee for additional information.
A Day With Nancy Pearl (Part 2)
Darla Jean Kraus, Lakeview Community Library, Random Lake
Several staff members from ESLS libraries recently attended a workshop with Nancy Pearl as a presenter. Jan Gebhart from Kohler and Darla Jean Kraus from Random Lake were both so enthusiastic and inspired that they sent (unsolicited) articles for the Library Connection so they could share what they learned with others. Thank you Jan and Darla!
Reader’s Advisory Service is a discussion between you and the patron. The #1 rule is that it is NOT about you – your likes and dislikes, it’s about what the patron likes and wants. You need to find out what THEY want/like to read.
Libraries are set up to be reference, subject based. Libraries are geared for ‘information.’ Reader’s Advisory is set up for recreational needs of the public.
Reader’s Advisory is not black and white. Three qualities of a good reader's advisor:
1. Realize it’s not about you.
2. Believe in reading for recreation, that it is a good and valid thing for people to do. You need to believe reading is important – be enthusiastic!
3. You need to read ‘outside your comfort zone!’ Read what you normally wouldn’t pick up. Don’t abandon your likes, but sample something different every three books or so – set this a goal.
How to figure out what people like: It is NOT by the plot of the book – this matters very little. Work on the ‘appeal’ of the book. Examples of ‘appeal’ or ‘doorways’ into a book are character, setting, story, and language. This is the ‘doorway’ into the book. Some books have more than one ‘doorway’ as well as a ‘back door.’ To find the right doorways (or the appeal of the book) – you need to ask the right questions of the patron.
Example: "Tell me about a book that you liked." You want their response to the question to give you clues to find out what doorway of the book the patron liked.
Don’t recommend a book – say to the patron "let me suggest this title." Recommend is a really hard word.
Mysteries are generally plot driven.
For YA and children, story is the main appeal in a book--they have far less patience.
Science-Fiction/fantasy books mostly appeal through setting and place.
When suggesting titles, don’t be safe in suggestions. Give ideas between non-fiction and fiction. Someone who likes only westerns and has read everything you have might be steered to topics like the westward expansion, pioneers etc.
Language as an appeal: patrons will say "it’s well written," "the language was inspirational," "I had to re-read passages" or "write down the words."
Reader’s advisors do not make judgments of what people read. Make sure you tell people to "come back and tell me what you think of the book."
Reader’s Advisory is an ongoing process, the library a place where knowledgeable people talk about books. Every patron is a puzzle; you will always be trying to figure it out!
Locate bridge books that take you from genre to genre (example Undead Unwed, a chick-lit book that would be interesting to patrons who like horror/vampires)
Librarians suffer from desk paralysis – the inability to come up with a title when a patron asks you "do you have a good book that I can read?” Pearl suggested that you always wear clothes with pockets. She suggested that every morning you should walk around the library, going through the stacks and write down titles of different appeals (setting, story, character) and put that list in your pockets. You will be ready to suggest a title to a patron.
You should grow your knowledge of books and their categories at staff meetings. Have staff members describe (in 30 seconds to a minute) a book that they have read. In that time they will have talked about the appeal of that book. Keep a file box with suggestions of titles of different appeals. You can go to that file to get a suggestion of a title for a patron.
Everything that was talked about would also relate to non-fiction readers – this way of analyzing books will help those patrons too. If a patron has an interest in a topic, that trumps if the book is non-fiction or fiction, usually they wouldn’t care. The distinction between non-fiction and fiction is becoming cloudy. Non-fiction has sub-genre and genres also (relationships between husband/wife, person/pet – example Marley & Me). Suggest to a mystery lover the non-fiction 364’s real crime section.
Each participant was given the sheet “Using Appeal Characteristics in Recommending Books.” First each person needed to list five of their favorite novels. Then as a group Pearl asked for suggestions for the four basic doorways or appeal of books: character, setting, story, or language and for books that incorporated all four appeals. Authors suggested for the categories were:
Books/authors with Character as the major appeal (patrons will say "I feel so at home with the characters," "characters are so real," but won’t necessarily remember the main character name): Jan Karon, J. K. Rowling, Anne Quindlin, Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Jordan, Susan Shreve, Patrick O’Brien, Bernard Cornwell, Elizabeth Berg, Jane Hamilton, Anne Tyler, Elizabeth George, Margaret Mitchell, Lorna Landvik, Louise Erdrich, Nic Hornby.
Books/authors with Setting as the major appeal (patrons will say "a world created from life," or "feels so real I could step right into it"): Tim Winton, Larry McMurty, J. K. Rowling, Nic Hornby, James Michener, Edward Rutherford, Jean Auel, Charles Frazier, James Herriot, J. R. R. Tolkien, Diana Gabaldon.
Books with Story as the major appeal (patrons will say "I couldn’t put it down"): John Grisham, Dan Brown, James Patterson, John Sandford, Jean Auel, J. K. Rowling, Iris Johansen, Preston/Child, Mary Higgins Clark, Sue Grafton, Clive Cussler, Harlan Corbin, Stephen King, Lorna Landvik, Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Books with Language as the major appeal (few people are drawn to): Michael Cunningham, Iris Murdoch, J. K. Rowling, Ian McKeon, Alice Hoffman, Ian McEwan
Check out Pearl’s website www.nancypearl.com She posts new book reviews every two weeks. She also reviews books on radio www.kuow.org (click on The Beat, then click on Nancy Pearl). Her book Now Read This: a Guide to Mainstream Fiction 1978 – 1998 is available on EasiCat in ebook format from netLibrary.
Statewide Study Available
Paula Seeger, Dane Co Legal Resource Center
The Public Access to Legal Information Committee of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW) is pleased to announce the results of a year-long study of the public access to legal information and assistance in Wisconsin. Published in a 40-page report, the study compares access levels across libraries and courts, as well as noting success stories in the area of legal assistance to the public. An historical overview of the laws regarding county law libraries, as well as several sets of data, are included.
Print copies are available for $5.00 each, otherwise the report is available on the LLAW website at www.aallnet.org/chapter/llaw/paliguide/PALIFullReport2005.pdf
Many, many thanks go out to the LLAW members who helped with this study, especially those who offered significant comments on the drafts. A special thank you to Wisconsin State Law Librarian Jane Colwin, who read every single draft! Please note that study findings are only as current as the survey date and may have changed since then. Feel free to share this notice with others who may be interested.
It's Annual Report Time
In addition to the annual report that libraries are required to submit to the state, many libraries publish another version--perhaps one that is more chatty and conversational or one that just highlights specific events of the year. In other words--leave the (boring, but necessary) statistics for the required one and give your customers something they will want to read.
The latest online newsletter from Marketing Treasures has an article on preparing your annual report, including links to several that are quite eye-catching and interesting to read.
The current issue also has a good article about promoting your school library.
While you are on the site, you may want to sign up to receive future newsletters sent directly to your email.