1. LSTA grant awards approved for 2007
2. Last chance to respond to LSTA survey
3. Putting a massive library at the public's fingertips
4. Website of the Week - Children's Nutrition Research Center
5. Calendar
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REMINDER - Due to the upcoming holidays, Channel Weekly will not be published for the next two weeks. The next issue of Channel Weekly will be the January 11, 2007, edition.
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1. LSTA GRANT AWARDS APPROVED FOR 2007
State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster has approved Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) program grants totaling $3.1 million for 2007. The grants are contingent upon the availability of FY 2007 LSTA funds from Washington. (Congress and the president have not completed action on the FY 2007 federal appropriations bill that includes funding for LSTA.) The Wisconsin LSTA Advisory Committee met in Madison November 29-30 to review the grant applications and make recommendations to the state superintendent on grant awards. Grant award letters were sent out December 15.
Highlights of the LSTA Program for 2007:
* Virtual Reference - $70,100 will be made available for statewide virtual reference services that will provide Wisconsin residents with 24/7 online reference service through a global consortium, Ask?Away.
* Economic Impact of Public Libraries Study - $92,317 will be used for a study to determine the economic impact of taxpayer investment in Wisconsin's public libraries. The Division will collaborate with the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation on the study as well as with public libraries in the state that have indicated an interest in detailed data collection for their cities.
* Shared System Study for Schools - $15,000 of LSTA funds will be used to conduct this study. Using libraries and/or CESAs interested in pursuing shared system participation, Division staff will determine the advantages and disadvantages and costs of school media centers joining an existing shared integrated library system or developing a new one based on a CESA or other regional group.
* Delivery - $75,000 will be used to help support the statewide delivery service backbone ($60,000) and delivery services in the Northern Waters Library Service area ($15,000).
* System Technology - Public library systems will receive $370,000 on a noncompetitive formula basis for a variety of technology projects. The funds can be used for shared system development, datalines/WANs, electronic materials, and other technology projects.
* Shared Systems - $276,425 will help public libraries and public library systems expand or merge existing shared automated systems. By the end of 2007 it is expected that approximately 88-90 percent of the state's public libraries will participate in shared integrated library systems.
* Digitization - $40,597 will enable nine public libraries to digitize resources that are unique or special local interest. The digitized materials will be placed on the Web through the UW-Madison Libraries State of Wisconsin collection.
* Literacy - $252,613 will be used for eleven Adult, Family, and Early Literacy projects. The funds will help public libraries and public library systems plan and implement programs that promote adult, family, and early literacy.
* Disabilities - $102,648 will be used for six project that will help promote and demonstrate the role of public libraries in meeting the information needs of those with sensory or mobility disabilities.
For more information about the LSTA program, contact Peg Branson at (608) 266-2413 (peg.branson@dpi.state.wi.us).
2. LAST CHANCE TO RESPOND TO LSTA SURVEY
The Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning is conducting an evaluation of the federal LSTA program to assess the use of the LSTA funds in Wisconsin from 2003-2007 and to develop a new five-year plan for the use of LSTA funds for 2008-2012. An assessment and review of the LSTA program by the Wisconsin library community, including librarians in academic, school, public and special libraries, is very important to these evaluation and planning efforts and we would appreciate it if you would respond to a web survey designed for this purpose. The survey is available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=767802912053 and will take 15-20 minutes to complete. Josh Morrill of MorrillSolutions Research is conducting the survey and compiling the results.
We hope you will respond to the survey. Thanks very much. If you have any questions, contact Peg Branson at 608/266-2413 or peg.branson@dpi.state.wi.us.
3. PUTTING A MASSIVE LIBRARY AT THE PUBLIC'S FINGERTIPS
A 15-year-old home-schooled boy ... college students in Illinois ... the nephew of Bangladesh's president... According to a profile on the Wisconsin Idea published by the University of Wisconsin, the people on this list have a common trait: They are all Wisconsin Idea recipients, thanks to the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/index.shtml (UWDCC).
In the mid- to late-1990s, the university's digital collections began on a small scale. Initially, librarians were digitizing an assortment of collections for specific, targeted audiences. "Digital libraries were a very new idea," says Peter Gorman, head of UWDCC. "At that time everybody who was doing this kind of work was doing it very much on a project-by-project basis - 'Let's take this book or this group of images and put it on the Web.'"
Today, however, is a different story. Now the UWDCC is thinking big, satisfying the needs of a remarkably wide array of users who are accessing large but well-defined sets of content. These "umbrella projects," such as the State of Wisconsin Collection http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/ and Ecology and Natural Resources http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/EcoNatRes/, became necessary to provide the organization that keeps users from drowning in the UW System's ocean of digital material.
We've gone from early exploration through high-impact projects to growing large collections," Gorman says. "It's a maturing that's happened throughout the digital-library world." During the maturation process of the UWDCC, which officially was founded in 2000 as a system wide initiative, the librarians have distinguished themselves in the world of digital libraries through their steady commitment to the Wisconsin Idea, the concept that the work done at the university level provides benefits for the state and beyond.
In fact, one of the first online collections, the Wisconsin Electronic Reader http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/ - a compilation of mostly firsthand accounts from important events in the state's history that was completed in 1998 in conjunction with the Wisconsin sesquicentennial - is still heavily used today by schools around the state.
"It's a great time to be a librarian," Gorman says. "As a service organization, we've been able to adapt very readily to the information age. It's a very natural transformation of what libraries have always been about: providing access to materials, helping users find materials, and taking care of the research and instructional needs of the university, and by extension, the state. I think libraries are more relevant than ever in the information age."
The complete article is available at http://www.wisconsinidea.wisc.edu/profiles/Gorman/.
4. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Children's Nutrition Research Center -- http://www.kidsnutrition.org/ -- This site is the official website for the federally funded Children's Nutrition Research Center, which conducts research on the role of maternal, infant and child nutrition in optimal health, development, and growth. (Website courtesy of refdesk.com.)
5. CALENDAR
January 12, 2007 - Council on Library and Network Development, by videoconference
January 19-24, 2007 - American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, Seattle
January 23, 2007 - Wisconsin Library Legislative Day, Madison
February 9, 2007 - Library Information Technology Advisory Committee meeting, Madison
February 22, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Madison
February 27, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Waterford
March 7, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, DePere
March 9, 2007 - Council on Library and Network Development, location to be announced
March 13, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Rice Lake
March 25-27, 2007 - Wisconsin Educational Media Association Spring Conference, Madison
April 3, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Fond du Lac
April 12, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Fennimore
April 17-20 - Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians, Wisconsin Dells
April 18, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Hurley
April 19, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Wausau
April 26, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Sparta
May 2, 2007 - Gates Foundation "Greener Pastures" Rural Sustainability Project workshop, Eau Claire (WAPL preconference)
May 2-4, 2007 - Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries, Eau Claire
May 11, 2007 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, location to be announced
May 11, 2007 - Library Information Technology Advisory Committee meeting, Madison
June 21-27, 2007 - American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington DC
October 12, 2007 - Library Information Technology Advisory Committee meeting, Madison
October 16-19, 2007 - Wisconsin Library Association Annual Conference, Green Bay
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/training.html.
Return to the Channel Weekly Home Page
For information about Channel Weekly or to submit article ideas, please contact:
Roslyn Wise, Editor, at (608) 266-6439
For questions about this information, contact Roslyn M. Wise (608) 266-6439
Last updated on 1/2/2007 12:39:04 PM
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