Channel Weekly
Vol. 8, No. 16, January 5, 2006

1. COLLABORATIVE SUMMER LIBRARY PROGRAM CONTINUES TO GROW

The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) is a grassroots consortium of states working together to provide high-quality summer reading program materials for children at the lowest cost possible for their public libraries.

Currently, thirty-two states, including Wisconsin, are CSLP members. It was recently announced that Hawaii, Mississippi and a regional system in Florida have all submitted letters of intent to join CSLP in 2006.  New York, Vermont, South Carolina, and Alabama all have signed letters of intent to join in 2007. 

By combining resources and working with a commercial vendor to produce materials designed exclusively for CSLP members, public libraries in participating states or systems can purchase posters, reading logs, bookmarks, certificates and a variety of reading incentives at significant savings.

The children's theme for 2006 is "Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales!" and the 2006 teen theme is "Creature Feature."  CSLP has a newly-designed website available at http://www.cslpreads.org/ that includes further information on the 2006 themes.

CSLP began in 1987 when ten Minnesota regional library systems developed a summer library program for children, choosing a theme, creating artwork and selecting incentives that public libraries in the regions could purchase and use. State libraries and systems continue to join and CSLP continues to evolve, but its guiding principle remains the same, librarians sharing ideas, expertise and costs to produce a high-quality summer reading program for children.

2. ALA SOLICITS NOMINATIONS FOR THE SULLIVAN AWARD

The Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children honors an individual who has shown exceptional understanding and support of public library service to children while having general management/supervisory/administrative responsibility that has included public library service to children in its scope. The recipient will receive a commemorative gift and a 24k gold-framed citation. The donor is Peggy Sullivan, a library consultant in Chicago. Deadline for nominations is March 1st, 2006. The nomination form can be found at: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=awards.

3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO LEGAL INFORMATION

The Public Access to Legal Information Committee of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin (LLAW) announced the results of a year-long study of the public access to legal information and assistance in Wisconsin. Published in a 40-page report, the study compares access levels across libraries and courts, as well as noting success stories in the area of legal assistance to  the public. An historical overview of the laws regarding county law libraries, as well as several sets of data, is included.  Print copies are available for $5.00 each, otherwise the report is available on the LLAW website at: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llaw/paliguide/PALIFullReport2005.pdf.  Paula Seeger of the Dane County Legal Resource Center chaired the Public Access to Legal Information Committee.

4. UW ADDS TO DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

The following new resources were recently added to the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. For more information about digital resources at UW Madison, contact Peter Gorman (pgorman@library.wisc.edu) or visit the UWDC Web site at http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu.

THE STATE OF WISCONSIN COLLECTION  

A History of Agriculture in Wisconsin; Schafer, Joseph (1867-1941);
1 volume / 280 pages, added 12/1/2005  
This volume constitutes the general introduction to the Town Studies of the Wisconsin Domesday Book. It also presents a tentative sketch of the history of agriculture in this state, at the time of publication (1922). http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.HistAgSchaf

Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience; 
19 manuscript collections / 1,702 pages, added 12/1/2005  
In collaboration with UW Oshkosh and the Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience presents letters, diary entries, journals, and other correspondence by Wisconsin soldiers and citizens, and conveys their unique Civil War experiences. New content includes Letters and Papers of Mrs. L.P. (Cordelia) Harvey, 1862-1864; Henry Clay Taylor, Papers, 1858-1865; and Lucius Hinkley, Papers 1844-1905. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIWar

The Home Front: Manitowoc County in World War II;  
12 video minutes, added 12/1/2005  
The Home Front: Manitowoc County in WWII presents photographic images, oral histories, published sources, artifacts, and other resources which document the county's home front and wartime experiences from 1939 to 1947. New content includes a 12-minute video which presents wartime shipbuilding in Manitowoc County and discusses how the industry influenced street-naming conventions at this time. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.HomeFront

United States Agricultural Information Network;  
43 issues / 4,065 pages, added 12/1/2005  
New content includes Wisconsin Butter Factories, Report of the State Veterinarian, Annual Report of the Wisconsin Ginseng Growers Association, and the Annual Report of the Drainage Association. The History of Wisconsin Agriculture and Rural Life presents primary and secondary resources that document the history of Wisconsin agriculture and rural life through 1945. Journals, publications from professional organizations, handbooks, and other reports offer a range of topics including agricultural engineering, animal sciences, plant sciences, forestry, rural sociology, and agricultural economics. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.USAIN

FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES COLLECTION  

Foreign Relations of the United States;  
43 volumes / 48,631 pages, added 12/1/2005  
New content includes Diplomatic Papers, 1943-1944 and 1958-1960. The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. The series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian and printed volumes are available from the Government Printing Office. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/FRUS

HISTORY COLLECTION  

Reader Services in Libraries: A Day in Honor of Margaret E. Monroe; John J.Boll, Editor.   
1 volume / 126 pages, added 12/1/2005   
This small volume pays tribute to two remarkable women, Muriel Fuller and Margaret Monroe. It contains the second Muriel L. Fuller Memorial Lecture which was part of a day of activities planned in honor of Margaret E. Monroe, on the occasion of her retirement. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.BollReader

HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTION  

Supplements to Cyclopaedia, or, An universal dictionary of arts and sciences;   
2 volumes / 2,032 pages, added 12/1/2005   
Ephraim Chambers' acclaimed eighteenth century classic, "Cyclopaedia, or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences," in two volumes, appeared in 1728. The Supplements, in two volumes, were published 1753. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia

Mémoires pour Servir à L'histoire Naturelle des Animaux; Perrault, Claude (1613-1688).   
1 volume / 418 pages, added 12/1/2005   
Memoir's for a natural history of animals: containing the anatomical descriptions of several creatures dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HistSciTech.Perrault

PUBLISHERS BINDINGS ONLINE: THE ART OF BOOKS  

245 new books, added 12/1/2005  
In partnership with the University of Alabama Libraries, this project presents books bound in 19th century decorative bindings. Publishers' Bindings Online expands awareness of the book as artifact and of the role decorative bindings play in providing a window into historical, cultural, and industrial period of 1815-1930. Decorative bindings cover many of the books that people have in their homes today, but their owners are often unaware of their cultural and historical significance. These bindings reflect not only social and cultural history, but bibliographic history as well. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/PBO

SCIENCE COLLECTION  

Thermophilic Microorganisms and Life at High Temperatures; Brock, Thomas D.
1 volume / 488 pages, added 12/1/2005   
From 1965 through 1975, Thomas Brock conducted an extensive field and laboratory research project on thermophilic microorganisms. The major focus is an attempt to understand the ecology and evolutionary relationships of thermophilic microorganisms, but also presents research on biochemical, physiologic, and taxonomic aspects of thermophiles. This volume serves as a reference to past work on these organisms and aims to provide some insight into the directions future research might take, especially for field-oriented work. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Science.BrockTher

Veterinary Anatomical Illustrations  
80 images, added 12/1/2005  
The illustrations are taken from the classic works of the German veterinary anatomists, Wilhelm Ellenberger and Hermann Baum, and medical illustrator, Hermann Dittrich. The texts, from which the images were derived, are works published in 1898 and 1911 through 1925, all entitled Handbuch der Anatomie der Tiere für Künstler which can be translated as Handbook (or Atlas) of Animal Anatomy for Artists. The primary focus of these illustrations is on the integumentary and musculoskeletal systems of the horse, cow, dog, lion, goat and deer. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Science.VetAnatImgs.

5. NCES STUDY SHOWS 11 MILLION ADULTS NONLITERATE IN ENGLISH

Some 11 million Americans, about 5% of the adult population, are nonliterate in English, meaning interviewers could not communicate with them or that they were unable to answer a minimum number of questions, according to a government report released December 15.

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, (available online at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006471) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, also shows that U.S. adults have not advanced since 1992 in their ability to read and understand English sentences and paragraphs or to understand such documents as prescription drug labels. Although quantitative literacy scores that show the ability to understand numbers in text has improved by eight percentage points, adult prose and document literacy remain the same.

"It's really hard to have a well-educated and highly intellectual population of children if they go home to parents who do not have adequate reading skills," American Library Association Literacy Officer Dale Lipschultz said in a December 15 Associated Press report.

"One adult unable to read is one too many in America," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who the same day pledged to coordinate adult education efforts in 2006 across multiple federal agencies. "We must focus resources toward proven, research-based methods to ensure that all adults have the necessary literacy skills to be successful."

NCES Commissioner Mark Schneider broke down some of the results by race and ethnicity since the survey was last conducted in 1992: "In 2003, White adults had the highest prose literacy, followed by Asian/Pacific Islanders, Blacks, and then Hispanics. White adults had higher quantitative literacy in 2003, while their prose and document literacy did not change significantly. Black adults had higher literacy on all three scales." Schneider added that "Hispanics were the only group whose prose and document literacy scores decreased," a decline he attributed to demographic and immigration changes.

6. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

NationMaster -- http://www.nationmaster.com/ -- Welcome to NationMaster.com, a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF and OECD. Using the form above, you can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease.

7. CALENDAR

January 13, 2006 - Council on Library and Network Development, Fitchburg

January 20-25, 2006 - American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, San Antonio

January 31, 2006 - Library Legislative Day, Madison

March 5-7, 2006 - Wisconsin Educational Media Association/Brainstorm 2006 Spring Conference, Wisconsin Dells

March 10, 2005 - Council on Library and Network Development, Madison

March 21-25, 2006 - Public Library Association National Conference, Boston

March 28-31, 2006 - Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians, Stevens Point

April 11-12, 2006 - Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Advisory Committee spring meeting and public hearing, Madison

May 2, 2006 - National Library Legislative Day, Washington DC

May 3-5, 2006 - Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries meeting, Wisconsin Rapids

June 22-28, 2006 - American Library Association Annual Conference, New Orleans

October 31-November 3, 2006 - Wisconsin Library Association, Wisconsin Dells

For more details about these and other meetings, see the WISDOM calendar at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/wisdom.html and the BadgerLink and WISCAT training site at http://www.wiscat.lib.wi.us/pdf/Gates08282004.pdf.

For questions about this information, contact Roslyn M. Wise (608) 266-6439

Last updated on 4/4/2006 2:26:33 PM