The Library Connection

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

Volume 26 Number 5  May 2006

Click here for the Summer 2006 Bookmobile Schedule

Local Library Supporters Visit Congress

Vonna Pitel, Cedarburg, and David Weinhold, Sheboygan Falls, were among 525 librarians, trustees, friends of libraries, library supporters, and library customers urging Capitol Hill legislators to support libraries as part of National Legislative Day held on May 2 in Washington, D.C.  Participants from 47 states spoke with Senators and Representatives and staff about the needs of libraries for funding, telecommunications, copyright, and government information.

The Wisconsin group met with members of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation to seek support for library legislation now pending in Congress.

The event was sponsored by the American Library Association, the District of Columbia Library Association, the Wisconsin Library Association, and other concerned organizations.  The purpose was to raise awareness about the importance to local communities of federal funding for public and school library programs, such as the E-rate discounts on telecommunication services for libraries and school districts, fair use rights to copyrighted materials, and for access to government information.

As a retired school library media director in the Cedarburg School District, Pitel emphasized the value of the school library to the academic achievement of students.  National studies show that there is a clear link between quality library media programs staffed by experienced school library media specialists and student academic achievement.  Pitel said, “In Wisconsin, a recent study showed that students with access to quality school library programs provided by qualified library media specialists achieved higher achievement on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE).”  Legislators were asked to support increased funding for school library media programs in the No Child Left Behind program.  

Weinhold, director of the Eastern Shores Library System, spoke the value of the E-rate program to the Library System.  The Library System receives an annual discount on its telephone service of $1,500 to $1,600.  But equally important is the discount Wisconsin receives for support of the BadgerNet high-speed data network for schools and libraries.  The E-rate support of almost $8 million allows schools and public libraries to provide Internet access to students and citizens.  Overall, the E-rate program brings in more than $24 million of federal funding in support of schools and public libraries.  Weinhold stated, “Without these federal funds, local taxpayers in school districts and municipalities would be paying for this service.”

New Library at UW-Sheboygan

Jeff Ellair, Library Director, UW-Sheboygan

UW-Sheboygan celebrated groundbreaking ceremonies on April 27 for the Acuity Technology Center -- a new glass-fronted, two-story building to be constructed over the next year at the front entrance of the campus that will be visible from I-43.   The 28,300 square-foot building will contain new campus library facilities, distance education classrooms, and modern conference facilities.  The building is made possible by a $1.8 million gift from Sheboygan-based Acuity Insurance and additional funding provided by Sheboygan County.

The 19,000 square-foot library will include increased space and more varied seating options for users in a more comfortable, attractive and technology-equipped setting, a 36-workstation information literacy classroom and computer lab, improved staff offices and public service areas, and expanded and more accessible shelving for collections.  Wireless network access will be available throughout the building.

The lower level of the Learning Resources Building, where the library has resided since 1970, will be remodeled into additional classrooms and faculty offices.

SPECIAL NOTE:  The library will move into the new building in May 2007 and director Jeff Ellair is developing a list of potential volunteers to assist.  If you'd like to play a role in this historic event, contact Jeff at 920-459-6679 or jellair@uwc.edu   He will contact you closer to the actual moving date to confirm your availability.

Farm Technology Days

Sheboygan County will be hosting the Farm Technology Days this year.  The 3-day event will be held from July 11-13 at Quonset Farms LLC, W3018 Wilson-Lima Road, Oostburg.  It is the state's largest outdoor agricultural show.  The event showcases the latest improvements in production agriculture, including practical applications of recent research findings and technological developments.

ESLS Board Member Bill Jens is a member of the Executive Committee that is coordinating the event.  Linda Bosman, also on the ESLS board, is a member of the Family Living Committee.  Eastern Shores will have a booth in the Family Living Tent.  We plan to promote libraries and their resources.   If you are at the event, please stop in and see us!

To learn more:  www.sheboygan.2006farmtechnologydays.com/index.htm

Correctional Education Association Teacher of the Year

Sharon Abel, an instructor for Lakeshore Technical College, has been named Wisconsin Correctional Teacher of the Year by the Correctional Education Association-Wisconsin.  Sharon is responsible for providing on-site adult basic education to the inmate population at the Sheboygan County Detention Center.  She was also selected as the regional teacher and will represent Region III, which includes Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky at the International Correctional education Association Conference in Anaheim, California.

Sharon is responsible for organizing an inmate library at the detention center in 1998.  Sharon and Sue Mathews of Mead Public Library collaborated on the project.  Sharon applied for a $5,000 grant through the Sheboygan County Crime Prevention Fund and Sue volunteered to use her expertise to select appropriate materials for the library.   Eastern Shores Library System is also a partner is this collaboration.  ESLS receives the funds each year and pays the invoices and participates in the audit of the funds.  The books are ordered from Baker & Taylor, who give ESLS the library discount.  Five years ago, ESLS used funds from an LSTA grant to purchase children's paperbacks and board books for the waiting rooms at the detention centers in both Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties.  Sharon continues to be involved in this project in Sheboygan County, overseeing the collection and requesting that we use her grant funds to order more titles to replace those no longer usable.

Barb Huntington, DLTCL Special Needs Consultant, recently invited Sharon to speak at the system special needs consultants annual meeting in Madison.  Representatives from other systems also shared their experiences in working with county and state correctional institutions.

On one of her grant applications, Sharon states that periodically an inmate will admit that it was during incarceration that he/she read his/her first book ever in its entirety.

Children's Librarians Corner

Tracking Down Animal Information Pathfinder

Trix Tahtinen, Oostburg Public Library

One of the assignments for the recent online reference course I took was to create a pathfinder that would actually be used at our library. "Tracking Down Animal Information at the 0ostburg Public Library" is the pathfinder I created because animal information is one of the most frequent requests we receive at our library from students of all ages. For the most part, the students are able to utilize the online catalog and search for titles about specific animals and they are able to find several sources in our library searching this way. What I wanted to address with the pathfinder was helping these students in searching beyond the most basic search and locating other sources available through our library. Locating these other sources will not only broaden the information they can locate about "their" animal, it will help those students who are reporting on an animal that isn't a specific book at our library.

We have animal encyclopedias which have lots of information about a wide variety of animals. While these are indexed in the individual volumes or in the index volume, the listings of the animals are not included in the online catalog citations. In addition, I wanted to make sure that the regular encyclopedias are also part of the bibliography. It seems that at one time people automatically reached for an encyclopedia when they were doing research, but today they are a forgotten resource--people just don't think about them.

I also cited magazines which can also be a wonderful source of information about animals and these too are something people don't often think about using. By listing them in my pathfinder, I wanted to encourage the patron to learn to consider a larger variety of sources.

With that in mind I also listed some of the videos we own that cover animal topics. While we have a quite limited number, it gives the patron another format of information to consider. And if we don't have a video on their particular animal, maybe seeing videos listed as a resource, they may think to use the online catalog to search other libraries' collections for videos as a source of information.

And of course, no bibliography today would be complete without internet resources. I wanted to make sure I was able to give the user a direction when it came to internet searching. The websites I cited are all credible sources and ones that I want to encourage people to use to go beyond Google. I especially wanted to use this pathfinder to help encourage use of the Badgerlink resources. This is such a wonderful source and not used as much as it should be.

Librarians in Literature

IFLS NewsFlashes - April 19, 2006

If you are looking for librarians in novels, fictional librarians or novel librarians, try the following sources:
--Where there's a book - http://www.lakeco.lib.in.us/library_lovers_month.htm
--Libraries and Librarians in Fiction: Kitchner Public Library - http://www.kpl.org/fyl_booklists_libraries.shtml
--Librarian Lit: Librarians Are People Too - http://www.hcpl.net/booklists/liblit.htm
--Librarians in Fiction - http://www.jocolibrary.org/index.asp?DisplayPageID=274

China Rejects Wikipedia, Starts Its Own Version

Edupage - May 12, 2006

Baidu, the leading search engine in China, has launched a site that approximates Wikipedia but with none of the content that prompted the Chinese government to block Wikipedia last year. Chinese authorities exert strong control over Internet content available in the country, and Wikipedia includes enough material deemed objectionable that the entire site is unavailable. Robin Li, chairman of Baidu, said his company's new site, Baike, was inspired by Wikipedia, though he said he has never actually seen Wikipedia. China is second only to the United States in Internet users, and Chinese users have reportedly written more than 25,000 Baike entries in the past week. Li said, "I certainly hope our encyclopedia will be the most authoritative one for any Chinese users." 

WAPL Notes and Handouts

The WLA blog (http://wlaweb.blogspot.com/) has notes and handouts from many of the presentations at the 2006 WAPL conference.  There are some great handouts for this year's SLP, as well as websites that relate to the theme.  The complete 12-page booklet from Mark Ibach's presentation on Successfully Marketing Your Library Programs is available there.  More handouts and links will be added as they become available.

The Area Research Center (ARC) Network

from a presentation by Bob Shaw of WiLS at the spring ILL meeting

Many libraries and their customers routinely use MADCAT, the catalog of items at the UW-Madison libraries, including the Wisconsin State Historical Society.  Many of these items can be obtained through interlibrary loan.  Newspaper and census microfilm are particularly popular with customers who are doing genealogical research.  

There is another catalog (ArCat) for items located in the Wisconsin State Historical Society Archives.  It is located at http://arcat.library.wisc.edu/  It contains information about original records of use to genealogists, unpublished genealogies, and genealogical research files.  While some of these materials do circulate, genealogical and rare items and items with less than 50 pages do not.

Library customers have another option.  They can request that the item be sent to one of the fourteen Area Research Centers located at 11 UW campuses, Superior Public Library, Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Each of the centers has its own special resources but most of them have census records, Wisconsin maps and atlases, city directories, tax rolls, etc.

Customers in Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties should contact the Golda Meir Library (askarch@uwm.edu) for hours, availability of staff and collections, and location and parking information.  For more information about the Area Research Center Network:  http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/arcnet/

Libraries focus on Baby Boomers

SEAchange, May 9, 2006

As the first of the baby boomers turn 60, public libraries are preparing to offer creative alternatives to retirement to a generation well-known for their idealism and activism. A new report from the Americans for Libraries Council (ALC) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) describes this demographic revolution and offers examples of model programs to public libraries interested in connecting these active older adults to new opportunities for learning, work, and community service. Designs for Change: Libraries and Productive Aging gathers insights from a Library Leaders Forum held last year in Washington, D.C. The Leaders Forum is part of ALC's Lifelong Access Libraries, an initiative to advance a new model for library services focused on active, engaged older adults. A new website with information on serving active older adults is available at http://www.LifelongLibraries.org. Complete story at http://www.dpi.wi.gov/seachange/sea0515_3.html.

        From the Wisconsin Valley Library Service Website:
One public library in Germany had its book budget cut drastically. Consequently, the library director requested that books be read more slowly to make them last longer.

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