Online Update

Index
Online PR Toolkit, discussion list now available
Patrons sought for SCLS project
Please update directory information on SCLS website
SCLS changes ILL reporting requirements
Arts Board announces Wisconsin Folks online resource
Turning Points in Wisconsin History now available online
Libraries eligible for gift issue of The Bloomsbury Review
CEs

 

Online PR Toolkit, discussion list now available

In an effort to enhance the marketing and public relations efforts of public libraries, a new Online PR Toolkit is available whenever libraries need it.

The kit, developed in consultation with the SCLS Public Relations Advisory Committee, includes basic press release templates, examples of releases written for libraries, planning checklists, photo tips, and links to ALA marketing, PR, and advocacy materials. The Online PR Toolkit is not a static set of files, but rather a dynamic set of resources that will be expanded and updated regularly. The goal is to make it useful for member libraries, so if there is something you’d like added, just let us know.

In addition to the toolkit, we realize that peers at other libraries are a valuable marketing and PR resource. To encourage and enhance communication on issues related to promoting your library and its programs and events, we’ve created a new e-mail discussion list. The new list, which is open to all our member libraries and will be unmoderated, is called scls-pr_help. To subscribe, visit http://lists.scls.lib.wi.us/mailman/listinfo and select “scls-pr_help” from the list provided. You’ll then be prompted to provide your e-mail address, a password, and some other settings to configure your account. Once you subscribe you will receive an e-mail note asking you to confirm your subscription. You must complete this last step before you can receive or send messages.

After you confirm you’ll receive one more e-mail that will give you instructions on managing your subscription. Be sure to save these instructions for future reference.

If you have any questions about the Online PR Toolkit or the new discussion list, contact Mark Ibach at (608) 246-5612 (mibach@scls.lib.wi.us).

 

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Patrons sought for SCLS project

South Central Library System is embarking on a project for which we need library patrons who are willing to be videotaped talking about the value of their library and the important role it plays in their lives. Other individuals appropriate for this project would be local elected officials and other civic leaders. It should not be library employees, trustees, or members of Friends groups or library foundations.

You’ve heard the stories of how your library has changed someone’s life, and this is an opportunity to share that valuable information with others. Because of the number of libraries in the system, each library should submit only one name. Please obtain their permission before you forward their name and phone number to me. It would also be helpful to have a very brief description of their comments so we can get sufficient diversity of comments.

Please send the names and phone numbers by Dec. 17 to Mark Ibach.

 

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Please update directory information on SCLS website

In the last issue of Online Update (Nov. 19, 2004), libraries were asked to review their directory information on the South Central Library System Website, make the necessary changes, or indicate that there are no changes. As of the Nov. 30 deadline, about one-third of our member libraries had reviewed their data.

The data from this website will be used to create the printed version of the 2005 South Central Library System Directory of Public Libraries, which is made available to member libraries each year. But we need your help to ensure your library’s information in our database is correct.

To get the printed directory distributed as soon as possible in 2005, we’re asking that you take a few minutes before Dec. 13 to make sure your library’s information is current. Begin by visiting psw.scls.lib.wi.us/pro/directory.html and selecting your library from the list, review the information presented there, then proceed to the online form at psw.scls.lib.wi.us/directories/directoryform.html (there is a link at the top of the page) and make the appropriate changes. If your library’s information is correct, simply enter your library’s name in the form and put “no changes” in the address field. By following this procedure we’ll know when all libraries have reviewed their information.

 

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SCLS changes ILL reporting requirements

Beginning in 2005, SCLS will no longer collect all the monthly ILL statistics that were required in the past. Instead, only nonLink libraries will be asked to submit those statistics that are reported to the SCLS Board at its meetings. These are total:

• circulation for the month;
• items loaned to other libraries for their patrons during the month; and
• items borrowed from other libraries for your patrons during the month

For LINK libraries, SCLS will get these figures from LINK reports so you will no longer be required to submit monthly ILL statistics reports.

NonLINK libraries will still need to provide monthly statistics, but only those listed above. You will still report these using the online form at psw.scls.lib.wi.us/ill/statistics/illstatsnonlink.html, which will be revised to include only these statistics. Libraries will begin using the new form in February 2005, when you report your January 2005 statistics.

Because the LINK statistics do not include items loaned to other libraries or borrowed from libraries other than LINK libraries, LINK libraries will still need to keep track of these data items for reporting in the State Annual Report. Depending on how you circulate these items to your patrons, you may be able to get these numbers from LINK annual reports. 

For all libraries, you will need to keep track of any ILL activity that takes place outside of LINK and WorldCat, to be reported in your State Annual Report. We will be working on making use of the statistics we can collect on your ILL activity through WorldCat, and will make that available to you.

For more information about this issue, contact Cheryl Becker, SCLS Public Library Consultant, at (608) 246-7973 or by email.

 

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Arts Board announces Wisconsin Folks online resource

With a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wisconsin Arts Board has created an innovative online educational resource -- Wisconsin Folks -- that features exemplary traditional and ethnic living artists from across the state.

Wisconsin Folks is a curriculum for students, a resource for educators and community members, and a hiring directory for artists who are eager to present in libraries and schools. To help promote the new online resource, a Wisconsin Folks poster is available from the Wisconsin Arts Board (click on the image for a larger view of both the front and back of the poster).

For more information about how libraries can use Wisconsin Folks, contact Anne Pryor, Wisconsin Arts Board folk arts education specialist, at (608) 266-8106 (anne.pryor@arts.state.wi.us). For copies of the poster, stop by the Arts Board’s Madison office at 101 East Wilson Street, attend a conference at which the posters are being distributed (contact Prior for a schedule), or send $3 to the Arts Board to cover expenses.

You can visit the Wisconsin Folks website at www.wisconsinfolks.org. More information about the programs and resources of the Wisconsin Arts Board is available at www.arts.state.wi.us.

 

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Turning Points in Wisconsin History now available online

This week, the newest digital collection from the Wisconsin Historical Society -- Turning Points in Wisconsin History -- became available to anyone with an internet connection. Site visitors can examine precious documents about Wisconsin's past and see the state’s history through the eyes of those who made it.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has put online hundreds of eyewitness accounts of pivotal moments from our past. 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.

Turning Points in Wisconsin History is made possible by generous support from private donors to the Wisconsin Historical Foundation, CESA 6, and UW-Oshkosh's "Teaching American History" grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education.

To visit Turning Points in Wisconsin History, go to www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints.

 

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Libraries eligible for gift issue of The Bloomsbury Review

The publisher of “The Bloomsbury Review” is making a special holiday offer to public libraries for free copies of its November-December gift issue. The Bloomsbury Review is a national book review and author interview magazine.

To obtain your free copies, send an e-mail to Editor Marilyn Auer at BloomsB@aol.com and ask for as many copies as you want (most order between 25-200). They will be shipped to you at no cost, but UPS does require a physical mailing address (cannot deliver to a P.O. box). This special offer is for this one issue of The Bloomsbury Review only. It is not a subscription offer!

The magazine covers quality books of every genre -- the best of the regional, small and academic presses.

 

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Continuing Education -- psw.scls.lib.wi.us/ce/

For more information about marketing and public relations, contact Mark Ibach at (608) 246-5612 or by email.