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At noon on Thursday, July 31, WebJunction and the Association for Rural and Small Libraries will present a free hour-long Webinar focused on a topic important to the work of sustaining Rural and Small libraries, "Motivating Your Board: Money, Lawsuits, and Facilities."  This is the second Webinar in a series on board relationships and strategies.  Presenters Ellen Miller and Jim Connor will facilitate the session outlining proven techniques for motivating the board and empowering them to make the most from their position.  Information about the Webinar, instructions on connecting to the session, and an archive of related Webinar can be found here:
http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=13496.

> from Channel Weekly, Vol. 10, No. 39 - posted with permission

(From Channel Weekly, Vol. 10, No. 36, posted with permission)

Three more chapters of "Administrative Essentials: A Handbook for Wisconsin Public Library Directors" are now available on the DPI website at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/aecontents.html.

The new chapters are

• AE 15: Policies and Procedures, covering typical public library policies, legally defensible policies, the PLA "Policies for Results" process, and the distinction between policies and procedures.
• AE 16: Planning for the Library's Future, covering the importance of planning, PLA's New Planning for Results, utilizing Wisconsin Library Standards, county library standards, addressing technology planning, and an example of a plan outline.
• AE 17: Membership in the Library System, including the benefits of library system membership, the history of library systems in Wisconsin, system membership requirements for public libraries, membership requirements for counties, and required system services.
  

The Administrative Essentials handbook is a Web-based resource designed to assist directors of small public libraries and those with limited administrative training and experience while also serving as a review for experienced library directors.  Its chapters can help focus thinking and suggest resources when dealing with particularly challenging or unique situations.  It also can be useful to public library trustees and public library system staff members who have a responsibility for assisting and supporting public library directors, and as a tool to assist in the orientation of new public library directors.  Other completed chapters cover broad areas of public library service, the relationship of the director to the board and staff, employment issues for libraries, as well as developing and managing the library's budget.  Future topics include open meetings and public records law, managing the library facility, collection development, and copyright law.

Last year the Legislative Audit Bureau was charged with conducting a best practices review of public library services in Wisconsin. The final report was issued this week and can be found on the Legislative Audit Bureau website. The full report and a shorter report of the highlights are available. You can also listen to a podcast of the highlights.

> contributed by Rick on News for Directors

We have added "News for Directors" to our family of blogs hosted by OWLS. Like the title says, it will focus on information specifically directed toward directors and will be fed into the Directors Info to Go page on OWLSweb. This will provide a way to track past posts and will also allow you to search by topic or tag.

Current posts on the blog include:

• Strategic Visioning Summit
• 2007 Circulation Summary
• Send Me Your Board Documents
• CE Librarian Position
• How We Compare

Feel free to add your comments on the blog or ask Rick if you have any questions about the posts.

News for Directors is addition to other blogs hosted by OWLS, which include: Carpe Hootem; 'Casting @ OWLS; Children's Services News; InfoSoup Development; Libraries, Literacy, and LSTA; and Network News.

>> contributed by Beth

The Copyright Advisory Network (CAN) is a Web site, bulletin board, blog and wiki established to help librarians discuss copyright issues with colleagues facing similar concerns, share solutions, and learn more about copyright from trained copyright specialists. Pose your copyright query on the Network Forum, and trained copyright specialists - known as the CAN Scholars - will respond to your question within 48 hours. The Scholars will not provide legal advice but informed opinion on your topic. Anyone can join the Network by registering at http://www.librarycopyright.net. This is a free service offered by the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP). Contact Carrie Russell, Copyright Specialist, at crussell@alawash.org with questions or comments.

From Channel Weekly, Vol. 10, No. 20, posted with permission.

This summer Anna Yackle from the North Suburban Library System (NSLS) in Wheeling, IL, wrote an article about Return on Investment (ROI) calculators. ROI calculators are a great way to demonstrate cost savings directly to library users. Anna writes, “impressive examples and statistics help state the case, but nothing is more effective in making a point than demonstrating how something impacts the individual.” The users are asked to enter the number of books, videos, magazines, cds, etc checked out, programs attended, and databases searched. Then the user clicks a button to discover how much they’ve saved by using library services. Check out NSLS’s calculator, and the one for the Salem-South District Library. NSLS’s can be added to your home page. Please contact me if you are interested, and I’ll follow up with Anna. Also worth adding to your web site is an accompanying document that can be used to develop talking points about the value of library services.

>> contributed by Leslie

Employers are now using free sites like Google, MySpace and state public records databases to uncover background information about potential employees. Simply searching a person’s name or email address can provide important details about them. Web sources can be used for verifying information on education histories and association memberships. People who post content on social software sites often share details about their hobbies and interests, possibly revealing more than they would like to potential employers.

>> contributed by Leslie

If you haven't seen the Wisconsin Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Public Library Administration and Governance web page, you'll want to be sure to check it out. The page provides an index to relevant articles and to questions from library trustees that have been answered in issues of Channel, the bimonthly DLTCL newsletter. I frequently get questions from library directors that I know have been addressed in Channel, but it's always been difficult to find the specific articles. Now it's not! Thanks to John DeBacher, DLTCL Public Library Administration Consultant, for putting together this page.

>> contributed by Rick

Joan Bernstein wrote a thought-provoking article for Computers in Libraries (June 07) about patron privacy and the importance of library policies. No library expects to become involved in a privacy challenge but the reality is we must be prepared for one. Ms. Bernstein uses an experience from her library to make us think about the roles staff training, communication, record retention, and privacy policy play in handling tough situations.

Does your library have a privacy policy and procedures for handling privacy issues? Is staff trained on both? What does the law require? A good starting place for developing policies and answering questions related to WI law is the WI DPI’s FAQ on Public Library Administration and Governance that Rick mentioned above.

>> contributed by Leslie