1. LSTA category for emergency job support announced
2. Recommended literacy materials for students
3. National Library Week video contest
4. Earth Day celebration ideas
5. Worlds Connect @ Your School Library
6. Website of the Week: Great Websites for Kids
7. Calendar
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1. LSTA CATEGORY FOR EMERGENCY JOB SUPPORT ANNOUNCED
The federal budget that was recently signed by President Obama included an unanticipated increase in LSTA 2009 funding for Wisconsin of about $200,000 over 2008 funding. Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning (DLTCL) staff proposed using these funds to help the public library community respond quickly to the current economic situation that has affected families and individuals across the state.
After endorsement by the LSTA Advisory Committee, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster has announced that the increased funding will be used to support library efforts to help people in their communities who are unemployed, underemployed, or seeking to improve their job skills. In 2009, $200,000 is available to library systems on a formula-basis. For 2010, $150,000 will be set aside for a competitive grant category open to applications from both library systems and individual public libraries.
Many libraries and library systems already have services and resources for jobseekers, and are working cooperatively with employment and social service agencies around the state that are also assisting the unemployed and underemployed. This grant category is intended to supplement and expand these efforts with support for training, collaboration, and additional resources.
Introducing a new LSTA category at this time, with an expectation that the projects be completed by the end of the year, creates certain challenges. We are therefore using a simplified application process and will award grants as soon as applications are submitted and approved. Systems can use the funding to support many different types of services at the system and local library level. Training library staff to effectively help people looking for employment is a priority use.
It is essential that systems and/or participating libraries work collaboratively with employment service agencies as part of these projects, because these agencies have considerable expertise and existing resources that support jobseekers.
2. RECOMMENDED LITERACY MATERIALS FOR STUDENTS
In the course of her work, Department of Public Instruction (DPI) reading education consultant Jacque Karbon recently provided some guidelines for choosing literacy experiences for students.
"We strive to have our students read high interest, quality texts while engaging in more challenging comprehension tasks," says Karbon.
Karbon recommends the summer reading program offered by most public libraries in Wisconsin. "Be Creative @ Your Library" is the children's theme in 2009, and "Express Yourself @ Your Library" is the teen theme. Consisting of a variety of events to engage students in reading during the months when learning loss is greatest, the program is coordinated statewide by the DPI's Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning, and is part of the national Collaborative Summer Library Program.
TeachingBooks.net, a portal to thousands of online resources for exploring children's and young adult books and authors, is based in Madison and serves 21,000 schools coast-to-coast. The site is made available in Wisconsin by DPI through its BadgerLink network. TeachingBooks.net provides access to useful materials and exciting programs (short movies, audio book readings, book discussion guides, and more) designed to add a multimedia dimension to reading in the classroom, library, and home. The site can be used to look up favorite authors, to supplement lesson plans and professional development.
Karbon is also interested in the ePals program, which connects students with their counterparts around the globe via the Internet. And, Karbon is keeping tabs on the new Wisconsin Connects partnership between ePals and the office of Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton. Among the ways that ePals connects classrooms is to let the web-user pick a wide range of topics, such as global warming, black history, or human rights, and post messages to forums that other classrooms view around the world. These efforts build global literacy and reading literacy at the same time.
Karbon also loves Reading Rockets, a website offering techniques, resources, and strategies to help developing readers; and Colorín Colorado, a bilingual website for teachers and parents of English Language Learners. Those sites are educational initiatives of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital.
Other good bets are websites recommended by professional associations or developed by public educational television, like the resources available at pbskids.org. Of those, "Between the Lions is exceptional for early readers," says Karbon. (From SEAChange, Vol. 8, No. 14: April 13, 2009)
3. NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK VIDEO CONTEST
In honor of National Library Week, Gale Cengage Learning has announced its third annual video contest. Library fans are invited to create a one-minute video promoting their library. The video should explain how the library brings "power to the users." The winning entry will be awarded $2,500 to the individual and an additional $2,500 will be presented to the winner's favorite library. Entrants must load their videos to the Librareo group on YouTube. The deadline is June 1. For more information go to
http://www.youtube.com/group/LIBRAREO.
4. EARTH DAY CELEBRATION IDEAS
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has compiled a list of activity ideas to help teens learn about their environment on Earth Day, April 22. In addition, YALSA offers a booklist called "Change Your World," highlighting titles nominated for the 2010 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults booklist, which offer books about activism, politics and volunteering.
Earth Day activity ideas include geocaching seminars, recycled jewelry programs, community clean-up programs and more. Librarians looking for activity ideas related to Earth Day can find them at
http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Teen_Volunteering_%26_Service_Projects#Earth_Day, or libraries who have events planned for Earth Day can add their own.
In addition, librarians can use the books listed on the Change Your World booklist (
http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/poppaper) as a starting point for displays or handouts. Books include calls to action to aid the environment ("MySpace/Our Planet," "Fight Global Warming Now") as well as fiction titles about the environment ("Hoot") or getting involved in your community ("Hope Was Here").
5. WORLDS CONNECT @ YOUR SCHOOL LIBRARY
Let's celebrate! Not only is it spring, but it's also School Library Media month. April is a great time to revisit a school library media center. Be prepared, it may not look or sound like the same school library you once knew. Although you may see some students working quietly, you are also likely to see students working together on projects. You will see teacher librarians navigating students through a vast array of information, some of it in a book and some of it online. Many of those resources will be different than those their parents used when they were in school. A teacher might be working with a school library media specialist to plan an upcoming lesson or they might be co-teaching a lesson. The school library media center is definitely not a static place! The worlds truly do connect @ your school library. If you can catch up with a school library media specialist please thank them for the work they do!
6. Website of the Week
Great Web Sites for Kids --
http://www.ala.org/greatsites -- This site from the American Library Association features selected sites for parents and children. The site was originally created in 1997 by the first Children and Technology Committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association. It is currently maintained by the ALSC Great Web Sites Committee.
7. CALENDAR
April 1-30, 2009 - School Library Media Month
April 12-18, 2009 - National Library Week
April 21-24, 2009 - Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians Annual Conference, Green Lake
May 6-8, 2009 - Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries Spring Conference, Wisconsin Dells
May 15, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, Stevens Point
June 8, 2009 - Library Information Technology Advisory Committee, Madison
June 28-July 1, 2009 - National Educational Computing Conference, Washington D.C.
July 9-15, 2009 - American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago
July 10, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, Madison
October 12, 2009 - Library Information Technology Advisory Committee, Madison
October 20-23, 2009 - Wisconsin Library Association Annual Conference, Appleton
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To access previous issues of Channel Weekly, or to subscribe or unsubscribe, go to:
http://dpi.wi.gov/channel/chweekly.html
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Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (609) 266-8770
For questions about this information, contact Roslyn M. Wise (608) 266-6439
Last updated on 4/17/2009 10:05:25 AM
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