Online Update

Banned Books Week is Sept. 24-Oct. 1

This year’s observance of Banned Books Week, Sept. 24 through Oct. 1, features the theme “Read Banned Books: It’s your freedom we’re talking about. Promotional packets have been sent to libraries and materials are now available on the SCLS website at www.scls.info/pr/bbw/.

Since 1982 the annual event has reminded Americans to celebrate the precious freedom to read. Each year the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives hundreds of reports on books and other materials that were “challenged” by people who asked that they be removed from school or public library shelves.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. The Library of Congress Center for the Book also endorses the annual observance.

 

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SCLS Intersystem Delivery Service celebration is Sept. 27

This summer marked the 15th anniversary of the humble origins of our SCLS Intersystem Delivery Service, and on Sept. 27, 2005, from 3:45-6 p.m., we plan to celebrate our accomplishments with an open house and party.

Everyone is invited, so join your co-workers and colleagues over cake and nonalcoholic refreshments and speculate upon the next 15 years of Statewide Resource Sharing. The party will be held at the Delivery facility, 1601 Gilson Street, Madison. (map).

For more information about the history of this valuable service, see the earlier Online Update article.

-- Bob Blitzke, SCLS Delivery Coordinator

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‘Black Issues Book Review’ added to SCLS Professional Collection

A new periodical, “Black Issues Book Review,” has been added to the SCLS Professional Collection. It is the only large circulation forum solely devoted to covering both fiction and nonfiction books written by black authors, and should be helpful to library staff responsible for book selection as they strive to maintain diversity in their collections.

For more information about BIBR, visit www.bibookreview.com/Index.asp.

If you are interested in having this title routed to your public library, use the form at www.scls.info/pro/forms/routing.html. Since our small collection of professional journals is available for routing only to our member public libraries, this form is available from the "Resources for SCLS Public Libraries Only" web page, for which your password is required.

Thanks to John Seery, Monona Public Library director, for recommending this title.

--From Cheryl Becker, SCLS Public Library Consultant

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RFID trip to New Berlin, Gurnee scheduled Oct. 18

Details are still sketchy, but a special trip to explore RFID technology will be held Oct. 18, 2005. The destinations are the New Berlin Public Library and Gurnee, IL.

More information will be distributed next week, but if you have questions before then, contact Stef Morrill at (608) 245-5799 (or by email).

 

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Hands-on Database training…and more!

This fall, SCLS Continuing Education will be offering many opportunities for hands-on database training for library staff. Be sure to check out the CE Schedule at www.scls.info/ce/program/schedule.html.

Next Wednesday you’ll be able to learn about Ref USA Business with MPL Librarian Tana Elias. Register for this session by Monday Sept. 19. While there, be sure to scroll down the schedule page for more training opportunities. Hands-on learning, facilitated by librarians from throughout our system will be offered on Ancestry Library/Heritage Quest, What Do I Read Next? and Literature Resource Center. You’ll also be able to learn about the many aspects of the BadgerLink databases at hands-on sessions in Madison, Nekoosa, and Stevens Point.

Also next week, Deborah Spring Laurel will present “Bridging the Generation Gap,” a three-hour workshop in Madison, with a videoconference link to Portage County Public Library. Attend this workshop to learn how generational differences are often at the root of misunderstanding, poor customer service, and conflict in work ethics, interpersonal styles, communication needs and motivational concerns. The registration deadline for “Bridging the Generation Gap” is also next Monday, Sept. 19.

Be sure to sign up for these programs soon! If you have any questions or suggestions regarding Continuing Education opportunities, contact Mary Wepking at (608) 246-5613 (or by email).

 

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Monetary donations are greatest need for libraries in Louisiana & Mississippi

In response to SCLS member library inquiries about the kinds of help libraries in Louisiana and Mississippi can use, we learned today that the greatest need is for monetary donations. The primary reason is because the needs will be far greater than only replacing the damaged books. Both Mississippi and Louisiana have established funds to receive donations.

The Louisiana Library Association (LLA) Disaster Relief Fund is now accepting monetary donations to assist school, public, and academic library restoration efforts in Southeastern Louisiana. Checks should be made payable to: LLA-Disaster Relief and sent to the LLA, 421 South 4th St., Eunice, LA, 70535.

The Friends of Mississippi Libraries, working with the Library Commission and Mississippi Library Association (MLA), has established the “Rebuild Mississippi Libraries Fund” for donations to rebuild those Mississippi libraries severely damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Tax-deductible donations can be made by sending contributions to: Rebuild Mississippi Libraries Fund, c/o AmSouth Bank, 210 E. Capitol Street, Jackson, MS 39201.

We’ll pass along any additional information that we receive.

 

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September WSLL@Your Service available online

The September issue of WSLL@Your Service was recently published at http://wsll.state.wi.us/newsletter/issue05sept.html. This month's features include:

• The WSLL Media Collection; Prose & Cons videos
• This Just In...:  Newly acquired Media materials
• Tech Tip:  Foreign file formats; Using Media materials on your PC
• Odds 'N' Endings:  Multimedia acronyms; September Notables

Comments or questions should be sent to Connie Von Der Heide, MLS Reference/Outreach Services Librarian, at (608) 267-2202 (Connie.VonDerHeide@wicourts.gov).

 

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PLA offers grants for use toward MLS degrees

The Public Library Association (PLA) is offering grants of $8,000 each to five public libraries to help staff members working toward MLS degrees, in a program called "Grow Your Own @ Your Library." The application deadline is Dec. 1, 2005.

Under the terms of the grant, $6,500 of the grant must be used directly for undergraduate-level tuition or graduate level education at an ALA accredited library school program for as many staff as the receiving library chooses. The remaining $1,500 is to be used to support attendance for one or more staff to attend PLA sponsored continuing education programs.

More information, including criteria and application, is available at www.pla.org/ala/pla/scholarshipapp.pdf.

 

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Apply now for new tour of ‘Forever Free’

“Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation” is a traveling panel exhibit that re-examines President Lincoln's efforts toward the abolition of slavery during the Civil War.

Organized by The Huntington's John Rhodehamel, Norris Foundation Curator of American Historical Manuscripts, the exhibit consists of reproductions of rare historical documents from The Huntington's collections and those of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, and draws on the latest scholarship in the field.

Each copy consists of six panels (total length 75 feet), each of which contains reproductions of rare historical documents, period photographs, and illustrative material such as engravings, lithographs, cartoons, and political ephemera. The sections of the exhibition focus on young Lincoln's America, the House dividing, war for the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation, the role of black soldiers in the Civil War, and the final months of the Civil War and Lincoln's life. Two copies of the exhibit are traveling to 40 libraries around the country between September 2003 and February 2006.

Thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, two additional copies of the exhibit will travel to a total of 60 libraries from September 2006 through May 2010. Applications for this tour are available now, and the application deadline is Oct. 3, 2005.

Libraries selected for the tour will host the exhibition for a six-week period. Participating libraries are expected to present at least one program for library patrons and community members that features a lecture/discussion by a scholar on exhibition themes. All showings of the exhibition must be free and open to the public. Additionally, one staff member from each library hosting Tour Two will attend an orientation seminar at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA

For an application and guidelines, visit www.ala.org/ala/ppo/currentprograms/foreverfree/Application.pdf. The application deadline is Oct. 3, 2005.

 

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Continuing Education -- www.scls.info/ce/

Upcoming CEs

September 21 -- Reference USA Business, with Tana Elias, Madison Public Library, 9-11:00 a.m., SCLS Training Room E.

September 22 -- Bridging the Generation Gap (compressed Video Broadcast), with Deborah Spring Laurel, Laurel & Associates Ltd., Madison (WI), 9 a.m.-noon, with broadcast sites at SCLS Administration and Portage County Public Library, Stevens Point.

September 26 -- Ancestry Library & HeritageQuest, with Jean Anderson, Sun Prairie Public Library, 9-11:30 a.m., SCLS Training Room E.

September 29 -- Badgerlink: Newspapers, with Linda Miller, 9-11:30 a.m., Charles & Joan Lester Library, Nekoosa.

October 5 -- What Do I Read Next, with Liz Amundson, Madison Public Library, 9-10:30 a.m., SCLS Training Room E.

October 14 -- Literature Resource Center (LRC), with Dawn Foster, Portage Public Library, 9-11:30 a.m., SCLS Training Room E.

October 20 -- The Boomers are Coming! What Do They Want? (compressed video broadcast), with Allan Kleiman, Chair, RUSA/RSS Library Service to an Aging Population Committee (ALA) and Head of Reference, Westfield Memorial Library, (NJ), 9-11:30 a.m., SCLS Administration & Portage County Public Library, Stevens Point.

November 8 -- Badgerlink: Humanities, with Linda Miller, 1:30-4 p.m., SCLS Training Room E.

November 11 -- Reference USA Business, with Tana Elias, Madison Public Library, 9-11:00 a.m., SCLS Training Room E.

November 17 -- Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales: 2006 SLP Workshop, with Kathy Ross (keynote), Geri Ceci Cupery, Kim Ropson, and Karen Wendt, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Olbrich Gardens, Madison.

November 18 -- Libraries in a Google Universe, Soaring to Excellence Teleconference Series (DuPage), with Steven Bell, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., MATC Reedsburg and Truax, Marshfield Clinic, MSTC Wisconsin Rapids, Monona Public Library, UW-Stevens Point, and the Pyle Center at UW-Madison (tentative sites).

November 30 -- Badgerlink: Humanities, with Linda Miller, 9-11:30 a.m., Pinery Room, Portage County Public Library, Stevens Point.

November 30 -- Badgerlink: Resources for Kids, with Linda Miller, 1:30 to 4:00 p.m., Pinery Room, Portage County Public Library, Stevens Point

December 2 -- Badgerlink: Ethnic Information, with Linda Miller, 9 - 11:30 a.m., SCLS Training Room E.

 

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