August 2008 Archives

Don't forget to sign up for our next continuing education workshop on September 16th at the Ripon Public Library! Sue McCleaf Nespeca, nationally-known speaker and author, will be presenting "Raising Literate Children Begins at Birth: Books and Literacy Experiences for Babies and Toddlers" and "Every Child Ready to Read." More information about the workshops and a link to register are available on the CE Workshops page on OWLSweb.

> contributed by Beth

I've been reporting on the status of the 'Casting @ OWLS grant, "Enhancing Library Services via Podcasts, Screencasts, and Vodcasts," for some time now. But I'm really excited about this post, because I can now tell you that the 'Casting Kit is ready to circulate to your library!

You can see what equipment is available, check our online calendar to see what's available when, then reserve the equipment you'd like to try out via our online form. All of this information is available on the new 'Casting Kit page on OWLSweb. (Thanks much to Evan for designing the calendar and reservation forms!!!)

I also have a few Come & Play dates set up for you to come and try out the equipment at OWLS. Check the Computer Lab Classes page for dates and times. These sessions will take place in The Nest at OWLS rather than in the APL computer lab. I hope you'll sign up, as these sessions will not only let you play with help on hand - we'll also take a look at some great examples of what libraries have done with 'casting out there in Libraryland. If you can't come to a session, I'm happy to do one-on-one training with you for specific projects, as needed.

If you have any questions about the 'Casting Kit, classes, or anything else related to this grant, please don't hesitate to contact me!

> contributed by Beth

Kaukauna Public Library and their historic Kaukauna photos were recently in the news. Take a look at "Identifying the Faces in Old Photos" on Fox11. Here's the description of the video news story:

Is a picture always worth a thousand words? What's it worth if you have no idea what the picture is, or who's even in it? Kaukauna Historical Society members say they're still worth holding onto and are trying to attach some names to pictures in their collection before those who may know the names are lost for good.

You can see KAU's photo collection on Picasa. Let us know if you have more names for the faces and places since this aired, okay Maggie?

> contributed by Beth

Last year we looked at a number of additional EBSCO databases, including NoveList and the Automotive and Small Engine Repair Reference Centers. Trials to these and other databases are again available through the State.

To login to the trial go to: http://trial.ebscohost.com
User Id: wisconsin
Password: trial

We have had a couple of requests asking if we could add NoveList. If this is something you are interested in, please take a close look and then email me your comments. Very soon we should also have a trial to Gale's Books & Authors so we can compare the two products.  As always, if you have any questions about these trials or any of our databases please contact me.

> contributed by Evan

There are a variety of events coming up this Fall that you can promote at your library. Here's a gathering of a few with links to ideas and additional info.

Library Card Sign-up Month
September
The InfoSoup PR Committee sent out some cool posters to all OWLSnet directors to be posted in your community by September 1st to help celebrate this event. Please be sure to get the posters up, and if you need more, order some from Bradd. Read more about the Poster Campaign on the InfoSoup Info page.

AskAway Week
September 8-12
Help promote the Wisconsin Virtual Reference service AskAway. A press release, article, scripts, MP3 files, logo, and more are available for your use on the AskAway PR Wiki. 

Banned Books Week
September 27-October 4
Celebrate the freedom to read! Learn more about Banned Books Week, how to celebrate it at your library, and order promotional items on the ALA website. I also came across some great quotes to use via the PR-Talk discussion list. Here are a few:

• "Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance." Lyndon Baines Johnson
• "We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." John Kennedy
• "The ultimate expression of free speech lies not in the ideas with which we agree, but in those ideas that offend and irritate us." Chuck Stone
• "Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed." Dwight D. Eisenhower
  

Teen Read Week
October 12-18
This year's theme is Books with Bite@ Your Library! Read more about this event and how to promote it at your library on the YALSA website.

Will you be celebrating any of these events or others in your library this Fall? Let us know what you have in the works!

> contributed by Beth

Bloggers David Lee King and Michael Porter (a.k.a. Libraryman) have created a fun music video entitled "Hi-fi Sci-fi Library" which includes "a slew of Libraryland folks from around the world" singing their original song. You can read about the release of the video at David Lee King or view a large version here.



I think it does a great job of talking about the changes in libraries with the social web and other emerging trends. What do you think? Add your thoughts in the comments.

> contributed by Beth

Check out these exciting continuing education opportunities sponsored by OWLS!

Friday, August 22
Project Play Date on OPAL: "More on LibraryThing"

Tuesday, September 16
Raising Literate Children Begins at Birth: Books and Literacy Experiences for Babies and Toddlers/Every Child Ready to Read with nationally-known speaker and author Sue McCleaf Nespeca. (co-sponsored with Winnefox Library System)

Tuesday, October 14
Leadership for Your Library/Providing GREAT Customer Service at Your Library with Jeffrey Russell, co-director of Russell Consulting, Inc. (co-sponsored with Nicolet Federated Library System)

More information about these programs is available on the CE page on OWLSweb, along with links to online registration, so sign up today!

And just as a heads up, we're also going to have Joan Frye Williams and George Needham present "It Ain't Necessarily So: Challenging the Assumptions of Legacy Librarianship" online in the OPAL Auditorium sometime this Fall (fingers crossed!) They're busy these days, so we're trying to pin down a date that's good for everyone. Once we have a date, I'll let you know ASAP, because you won't want to miss their presentation!

If you have questions about any of these programs, please feel free to contact me.

> contributed by Beth

I've been running across loads of articles in the news about libraries in email, my feed reader, and different podcasts I listen to. Thought I'd share a little collection of them here, just in case you might be interested.

Local news:

• Audio books allow 'readers' to get up and go
• Public libraries are keeping up
• Internet offerings keep libraries booked up
• Library gives connection to community
• Wife, husband pursue mission work during EAA

National news:

• Economic slump a gain for south Florida libraries
• Libraries shine in tough economic times (NPR broadcast)

How are things at your library? Busier than ever in a sagging economy? Post your thoughts in the comments.

> contributed by Beth (found via Terry Dawson's blog the New Cybrary, Channel Weekly, and misc. email listservs)

Frequently libraries email me requesting a DDC number recommendation for books that are lacking an 082 (call number field) in the MARC record. OCLC is running an experimental program called Classify. The program searches WorldCat for instances of the book and then maps the call numbers associated with the title.

Here is an example search:

 

Searching the tool, you can see that the most frequently applied call number is 025.524.

The tool allows for ISBN, UPC, ISSN, and OCLC number searching as well as title and author. This cool tool might help you in a pinch though it is a tad slow. Try it today!

> contributed by Holly

Most of you know by now that I like graphics. I'm a visual learner, so it helps me to process data if I can see it in a picture or graph or some visual representation. Today I came across a screencast showing how to create in-cell bar graphs in Excel and thought I'd share it here. (I have a vague sense that I may have covered this some time ago, so excuse me if this is a repeat!)

In-cell bar graphs allow you to kind of trick Excel into showing you numbers in a bar graph without having to actually add a chart. If you're curious, take a look at this screencast and see if it might work for you.

 

 

> contributed by Beth (found via Lifehacker)

OCLC recently released a report entitled From Awareness to Funding: A Study of Library Support in America. The study's purpose was "to explore attitudes and perceptions about library funding and to evaluate the potential of a large-scale marketing and advocacy campaign to increase public library funding in the U.S." A few key findings from the report are:

Library funding support is only marginally related to library visitation.

Perceptions of librarians are an important predictor of library funding support.

Voters who see the library as a 'transformational' force as opposed to an 'informational' source are more likely to increase taxes in its support.

You can download a PDF of the report (though it's quite large!), read it online, or view/print individual sections at the link above.

> contributed by Beth (found on The Shifted Librarian)