1. SLP Update
1a. Fall Preconference for 2010 SLP
1b. No State Incentive for 2009
2. Teen Services
3. Libri Foundation Awards
4. Upcoming UW-Madison Continuing Education Courses
5. Two Ways to Get an Estimated Reading Level
5a. Reading Level Search on WISCAT
5b. Testing Your "Readability"
6. First Lady Doyle's Recommended Children's Titles for this Month
7. Monthly Postings are Archived on the Youth Services Web Page
8. Upcoming Events in 2008
1. SLP Update
1a. Fall Preconference for 2010 SLP
The current plan is to have an SLP pre-conference workshop in October 2009 to introduce the 2010 SLP themes "Make a Splash-Read!" and "Make Waves @ Your Library." Several systems have already agreed to co-sponsor this pre-conference event along with the Youth Services Section (YSS) of the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA). More information will be sent out as the plans are developed.
1b. No State Incentive for 2009
Please remind your librarians that DLTCL will not be offering a state incentive in 2009.
2. Teen Services
Systems will be sponsoring Adolescent Literacy workshops beginning in March 2009. These training opportunities involve co-sponsorships by all the regional systems. Please encourage all your librarians to send representative to one of these training sessions. As the systems complete their scheduling arrangements, the complete list of workshops will be available on the DLTCL Adolescent Literacy web page at www.dpi.wi.gov/pld/adolit.html.
3. Libri Foundation Awards
The Libri Foundation is currently accepting applications for its 2009 Book for Children grants. The next deadline for applications is April 15. The foundation has three application deadlines each year, so if you miss this one, applications are also accepted August 15th and January 15, 2009.
The Libri Foundation is a nationwide non-profit organization which donates new, quality, hardcover children's books to small, rural public libraries throughout the United States. Since October 1990, the Foundation has donated over $3,500,000 worth of new children's books to more than 2,600 libraries in 48 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
In order to encourage and reward local support of libraries, the Libri Foundation will match any amount of money raised by your local sponsors from $50 to $350 on a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, a library can receive up to $1,050 worth of new children's books. After a library receives a grant, local sponsors (such as formal or informal Friends groups, civic or social organizations, local businesses, etc.) have four months (or longer if necessary) to raise their matching funds.
The librarian of each participating library selects the books her library will receive from a booklist provided by the Foundation. The 700-plus fiction and nonfiction titles on the booklist reflect the very best of children's literature published primarily in the last three years. These titles, which are for children ages 12 and under, are award-winners or have received starred reviews in library, literary, or education journals. The booklist also includes a selection of classic children's titles.
Libraries are qualified on an individual basis. In general, county libraries should serve a population under 16,000 and town libraries should serve a population under 10,000 (usually under 5,000) Libraries should be in a rural area, have a limited operating budget, and an active children's department. Rural is usually considered to be at least 30 miles from a city with a population over 40,000. Libraries with total operating budgets over $150,000 and county libraries with total operating budgets over $350,000 are rarely given grants.
A school library may apply only if it also serves as the public library (i.e., it is open to everyone in the community, has some summer hours, and there is no public library in town). A branch library may apply if the community it is in meets the definition of rural. If the branch library receives its funding from its parent institution, then the parent institution's total operating budget, not just the branch library's total operating budget, must meet the budget guidelines.
Previous Books for Children grant recipients are eligible to apply for another grant three years after the receipt of their last grant. Libraries that do not fulfill all grant requirements, including the final report, may not apply for another grant. Grants will be awarded April 30th and August 31st. Application guidelines and forms may be downloaded from the Foundation's website at http://www.librifoundation.org.
For more information about The Libri Foundation or its Books for Children program, please contact Ms. Barbara J. McKillip, President, The Libri Foundation, P.O. Box 10246, Eugene, OR 97440; 541-747-9655 (phone); 541-747-4348 (fax); libri@librifoundation.org (email). Normal office hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Pacific Time.
4. Upcoming UW-Madison Continuing Education Courses
Connecting Teens with the Best in New Teen Literature; February 23-April 5
www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/connectteens.html
Children, Technology, and the Library; March 9-April 3
www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/kidtech.html
Graphic Novels in the Library; March 11-April 8
www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/graphicnovels.html
Tutorial: Spanish for the Library; Begins the 1st of each month
www.slis.wisc.edu/continueed/spanishtutorial.html
5. Two Ways to Get an Estimated Reading Level
5a. Reading Level Search on WISCAT
Reading Level Search is a new resource available in WISCAT to assist K-12 educators, librarians, and parents, to find student reading-level appropriate material in the WISCAT Union Catalog. Look for the Reading Level Search tab at the top of the page.
Reading Level Search is based on the Accelerated Reader (AR), Lexile, and Reading Counts reading study programs. The "Search For" text box may be left blank when results showing all items is desired. A specific reading level may be selected or a range entered into the text boxes.
For more details, please see the information sheet at www.dpi.wi.gov/rll/wiscat/pdf/readinglevelsearch.pdf.
If you have any questions about this or any WISCAT topic, please contact Vickie Long, WISCAT Training & Technical Support, Reference & Loan Library (608) 224-5394.
5b. Testing Your "Readability"
Both Microsoft Word and WordPerfect have built in "readability" tools. These tools analyze documents and return information such as the grade level, difficulty, and the percentage of passive voice sentences. Readability tools are touted as a way to improve writing for clarity and comprehension.
To access the readability function in MS Word, go to Tools and select Spelling and Grammar. Click on Options and check the box "Show Readability Statistics." After running spell check, readability statistics will be displayed.
WordPerfect's readability tool appears to provides more analysis and a better display of results. In WordPerfect, it's possible to compare one document to the readability of another document. Writing samples of Hemingway and the Gettysburg address are pre-loaded for comparison. See Determining Reading Levels in WordPerfect 10 for step-by-step procedures.
Both MS Word and WordPerfect utilize the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test and grade level rating. See the Flesch-Kincaid test entry in Wikipedia for more information about that formula
--from Tech Tip in Brief - Heidi Yelk in the December 2008 edition of WSLL@ Your Service, an E-publication of the Wisconsin State Law Library
6. First Lady Doyle's Recommended Children's Titles for this Month
Wisconsin's First Lady, Jessica Doyle, has initiated an online book discussion club for children and adults. Each month her web page for the book club, called "Read On Wisconsin," lists the titles for discussion. All books were carefully selected by a Literacy Advisory Board and reflect a commitment to diversity in their content and message. Mrs. Doyle hopes readers find them as interesting and appealing as she does.
The titles recommended for this month are:
Preschool: "Rabbit's Gift" by George Shannon
Primary: "The Three Cabritos" by Eric A. Kimmel
Intermediate: "The Librarian of Basra" by Jeanette Winter
Middle School: "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
High School: "Mister Pip" by Lloyd Jones
For more information, or to join the "Read On Wisconsin" book club, go to http://readon.wisconsin.gov
7. Monthly Postings are Archived on the Youth Services Web Page
The 2008 monthly postings for the system youth services liaisons will be archived on the DLTCL Youth Services web page at www.dpi.wi.gov/pld/ys-postings.html.
8. Upcoming Events in 2008
The listing of Upcoming Events is posted on the archive page at www.dpi.wi.gov/pld/yspost-events.html. The list of upcoming events will be updated each month. This change is intended to reduce the length of this monthly posting. We will finish 2008 with this being an email document. However, in 2009 DLTCL will look into distributing the information as a web page. Current staffing limitations only allow for periodic archiving, but hopefully we will be to send a link to a web page in 2009.
Return to the System Youth Services Liaison Postings home page.
For questions about this information, contact Jamie McCanless (608) 267-9280
Last updated on 12/22/2008 8:17:43 AM
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