1. Librarian certification work group begins review
2. Federal broadband grant information released
3. BadgerLink content continues to expand
4. IMLS publishes national public libraries survey report
5. Free online publication, Foundation Grants for Preservation
6. IMLS Launches Libraries to the Rescue Podcast Series
7. Website of the Week - Resources for Learning
8. Calendar
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1. LIBRARIAN CERTIFICATION WORK GROUP BEGINS REVIEW
On July 8, a Librarian Certification Work Group will meet for the first time to begin a review of the current Wisconsin public library director certification rules and guidelines. A review of these issues was one of the recommendations of the 2009 COLAND visioning summit. The current rules and guidelines were last updated in 2004, and are available at
http://www.dpi.wi.gov/pld/cert.html.
The volunteer members of the work group are listed below. Please contact any of these members or Terrie Howe (at
teresa.howe@dpi.wi.gov) if you have suggestions for improving Wisconsin's public library director certification rules and guidelines.
Mark Arend, Winnefox Library System
Jess Bruckner, Portage Public Library
Inese Christman, Wisconsin Valley Library Service
Catherine Hansen, UW Milwaukee SOIS
Norma Jean LeMoine, Rock Springs Public Library
Anna Palmer, UW Madison SLIS
David Polodna, Winding Rivers Library System
Eileen Schroeder, UW Whitewater
John Thompson, Indianhead Federated Library System
2. FEDERAL BROADBAND GRANT INFORMATION RELEASED
On July 1 the federal government released the application requirements for the $7.2 billion in broadband funding that was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. There will be three grant cycles and this first one has a short application deadline of August 14. The latter two grant cycles will open in 2010. For this first cycle the following funds will be committed:
1) Broadband Infrastructure projects will be awarded $1.2 billion;
2) Public Computer Center projects will be awarded $50 million; and
3) Sustainable Broadband Adoption projects will be awarded $150 million.
The actual grant announcement (121 pages) is at
http://broadbandusa.sc.egov.usda.gov/files/BB%20NOFA%20FINAL%20with%20disclaimer_1.pdf. A more readable 2 page summary is at
http://broadbandusa.sc.egov.usda.gov/files/BTOP_NOFA_Fact_Sheet.pdf. DPI's Broadband Website (
http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/arrabbfunding.html) will be updated next week with more information.
3. BADGERLINK CONTENT CONTINUES TO EXPAND
Beginning July 1, 2009, Reference and Loan Library staff revised the BadgerLink website to reflect the new content that is now available. The vendor icons have been eliminated and staff has provided groupings by topic. The BadgerLink website continues to allow users to search databases from different vendors together through a federated searching box at the top of the website screen and also to allow users to search databases separately by clicking on a selected resource. While most EBSCO databases can be searched together using EBSCOhost, a few also have subject oriented interfaces making it easier to get at complex content. Examples include Business Source Premier, Consumer Health Complete, Auto Repair Reference Center and Novelist. K-12 student resources such as Searchasaurus, Kids Search, Student Reference Center, and Novelist K-8 have age appropriate web interfaces.
New resources from Britannica Digital Learning will be added. The Britannica Online School Edition includes encyclopedias for elementary, middle, and high school students. Each has age appropriate reference articles, journals, magazines, selected websites, multimedia and curriculum content. The elementary encyclopedia contains the Britannica Learning Zone for PK-2 which contains voice instructions on use, an interactive atlas, online art activities, games and learning materials, audio and video, and vocabulary builders. The Learning Zone teaches concepts that children ages 4-7 are curious about, such as geography, numbers, time, sounds, and much more.
Educators have quick, easy access to every state's curriculum standards and benchmarks. There are hundreds of curriculum-based lesson plans and printable learning activities for use in the classroom, media center, or computer lab. The encyclopedias include 124,000 articles, over 30,000 illustrations, graphics, maps and student activities, and 3,300 educational videos.
4. IMLS PUBLISHES NATIONAL PUBLIC LIBRARIES SURVEY REPORT
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has issued the Public Libraries Survey (PLS) report for fiscal year 2007. This is the second PLS report released since IMLS was given responsibility for the annual survey, which includes information on population of service areas, service outlets, library collections and services, library staff, and operating revenue and expenditures. New this year, IMLS has included trend data (7-10 years) with graphs and maps on selected items. IMLS reports will continue to document these trends during subsequent fiscal years. More than 9,000 libraries were surveyed in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The survey had a 97.6 percent response rate.
"IMLS is proud to release this report six months earlier than last year," said Anne-Imelda M. Radice, IMLS Director. "The report highlights a steady increase in library use over the last 10 years, with patrons accessing an incredible range of information resources and programs across the country. Recent national news reports suggest that public library use is even more pronounced in the last 6 months as a consequence of the economic downturn. In these difficult times, people are turning to a trusted, relevant community resource for vital information and support."
The report includes a number of key findings to assist the library community, and policymakers, at the local, state, and national level, in making decisions to better their communities.
- The growth in per capita circulation from FY 2006 to FY 2007 was a continuation of the steady growth that has occurred since FY 2000. Per capita circulation grew from 6.4 materials per person to 7.4 materials per person from FY 2000 to FY 2007, an increase of 16 percent.
- Nationwide, visits to public libraries totaled 1.4 billion, or 4.9 library visits per capita, a small increase from the 4.8 visits per capita that were made during FY 2006. As in the case of per capita circulation, this is a continuation of a larger, longer upward trend. Per capita visitation increased from 4.2 to 4.9 between FY 1998 and FY 2007, an overall increase of 17 percent (Figure 1).
- In FY 2007, total nationwide circulation of public library materials was 2.2 billion, or 7.4 materials circulated per capita; these were slight increases from the 2.1 billion total materials and 7.3 materials per capita that were circulated during FY 2006.
- Internet terminals available for public use in public libraries nationwide numbered 208,000, or 3.6 per 5,000 people. These were increases from the previous year's figures of 196,000 total terminals and 3.4 terminals per 5,000 people.
- Nationwide circulation of children's materials was 739.7 million, or 34 percent of total circulation during FY 2007. Attendance at children's programs was 59.0 million in FY 2007, up from 57.6 million the prior year.
The FY 2007 survey is the 20th in the series. On October 1, 2007 responsibility for the PLS was transferred from to IMLS from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), along with the State Library Agencies Survey. The U.S. Census Bureau collects the data under a contract with IMLS. The survey's extraordinary response rate results from the cooperative effort between the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, IMLS, and the Census Bureau.
The report is available in PDF format at
http://harvester.census.gov/imls/pubs/pls/pub_detail.asp?id=122#.
5. FREE ONLINE PUBLICATION, FOUNDATION GRANTS FOR PRESERVATION
The Library of Congress and the Foundation Center has just updated its publication, Foundation Grants for Preservation in Libraries, Archives and Museums - 2nd ed. 2009, and it is now available as a free PDF download. The publication is linked in the "What's New" section with other preservation resources here:
http://www.loc.gov/preserv/.
The publication, a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the Foundation Center, lists 1,944 grants of $5,000 or more awarded by 488 foundations, from 2004 to date. It covers grants to public, academic, research, school, and special libraries, and to archives and museums for activities related to conservation and preservation.
Presented in PDF format for easy scanning or downloading, grants are arranged alphabetically by state, then by names of foundations and recipients. Includes hyperlinks from foundations listed in the volume to additional information featured in Foundation Finder, a free foundation look-up tool on the center's website. Additional links lead users to free tutorials about proposal grant-writing and introduction to foundations.
Information and a link to the document can be found here:
http://www.loc.gov/preserv/foundtn-grants.html.
6. IMLS LAUNCHES LIBRARIES TO THE RESCUE PODCAST SERIES
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source of federal funding for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums, has announced the launch of the Libraries to the Rescue series of podcast episodes. Library use is on a steady rise and the economic downturn has resulted in even greater need for library services. IMLS introduced Libraries to the Rescue to share with libraries steps that other libraries have taken to help their communities.
"Libraries have emerged as one of the go-to place for people looking for work or filing for unemployment, starting new businesses, or learning how to use computers for the first time," said Anne-Imelda Radice, IMLS Director. "Libraries are proving just how important they are to their communities. In these episodes, library leaders share their expertise so others don't have to reinvent the wheel."
The five episodes cover a range of topics, including how libraries are increasing access to key information through virtual libraries, the importance of broadband access, and new partnerships between libraries and state and federal agencies to help citizens access all types of assistance. The Libraries to the Rescue episodes are short (12-15 minute), digestible audio episodes designed to educate IMLS's library audience.
Accompanying the series is a list of online resources for libraries that are still navigating the new terrain. To view the list of resources, visit
http://www.imls.gov/news/2009/062409_list.shtm. If you have additional online links to share, please email them to IMLS Public Affairs Officer Jeannine Mjoseth at
jmjoseth@imls.gov.
Libraries to the Rescue can be accessed and enjoyed at the listener's convenience. Audio can be accessed on the IMLS Web site or through iTunes.
7. Website of the Week
Resources for Learning --
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/index.php -- This site from the American Museum of Natural History, is a collection of activities, articles, evidence and analysis and more, for educators, families, students and anyone interested in teaching or learning about science. There are over 1180 resources to choose from at the current time.
8. CALENDAR
July 9-15, 2009 - American Library Association Annual Conference, Chicago
July 10, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, Madison
September 11, 2009 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, TBD
October 15, 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 7/7/2009 2:05:56 PM
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