1. Joint Finance Committee approves county levy limit modification
2. SB-1 approved by State Senate
3. March-April 2007 issue of Channel now available online
4. Marcia Sarnowski appointed to State Superintendent's Adolescent Literacy Task Force
5. RFP released for public library economic impact study
6. Five to attend ALA and Rural Library forum
7. Website of the Week - Home Energy Saver
8. Calendar
1. JOINT FINANCE COMMITTEE APPROVES COUNTY LEVY LIMIT MODIFICATION
On May 3, the Joint Finance Committee approved a budget proposal that modifies a provision in the budget bill that would exclude from levy limitation the amount that a county levies to make payments to an adjacent county for library services to instead apply to all county payments to public libraries. (This exclusion does not apply to a county that maintains a consolidated county library.) The motion was adopted on a 13-3 vote.
2. SB-1 APPROVED BY STATE SENATE
Senate Bill 1 (SB-1) passed the Wisconsin State Senate on May 9 by a voice vote and has been messaged to the State Assembly. SB-1 allows a library board to transfer donations made to the library to a charitable organization exempt from federal income tax under the Internal Revenue Code, provided the organization's purpose is to provide support for the public library. Under current law, the library board of a public library may transfer donations made to the library to the treasurer of the municipality or county that established the library; entrust them to a public depository; or transfer them to the library board's financial secretary.
The author of SB-1 is Senator Russ Decker and the bill is supported by the DPI and the Wisconsin Library Association.
3. MARCH-APRIL 2007 ISSUE OF CHANNEL NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
The March-April 2007 issue of Channel, the newsletter of the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning, is now available on the web
at http://dpi.wi.gov/channel/pdf/chn4204.pdf. Among the articles in this issue of Channel are:
* Preliminary 2008 LSTA grant program and budget
* 2003-2007 Wisconsin LSTA activities evaluated
* New LSTA Advisory Committee members appointed
* Verizon Foundation launches Thinkfinity.org
* Libraries encouraged to link to statewide online services
* Steve Sanders wins 2007 Making It Happen award
Previous issues of Channel are available at http://dpi.wi.gov/channel/channel.html. Issues of Channel Weekly are available at http://dpi.wi.gov/channel/chweekly.html.
4. MARCIA SARNOWSKI APPOINTED TO STATE SUPERINTENDENT'S ADOLESCENT LITERACY TASK FORCE
State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster announced membership of her adolescent literacy task force during a Summit on Adolescent Literacy Instruction held on May 7. One of the task force members is Marcia Sarnowski, Library Consultant with the Winding Rivers Library System.
"Adolescents must read proficiently to be successful," Burmaster said. "As educators and policymakers, we have focused most reading initiatives and funding at the elementary level. We must now focus, as well, on whether our middle and high school students can read and comprehend the sophisticated materials they will encounter in the modern workplace and digital world."
The task force is made up of educators from PK-12 and higher education, school administrators, library and reading specialists, policymakers, parents, and elected officials. In its work, the State Superintendent's Adolescent Literacy Task Force will
* review state and local policies and initiatives that support adolescent literacy;
* identify research-based resources related to effective practices that promote literacy development, raise performance, and close the achievement gap; and
* develop a comprehensive adolescent literacy plan for the state of Wisconsin.
More information on the adolescent literacy task force is available at http://www.dpi.wi.gov/eis/pdf/dpi2007_43.pdf.
5. RFP RELEASED FOR PUBLIC LIBRARY ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY
A Request for Proposal (RFP) for a study of economic benefit of Wisconsin public libraries was released May 2, 2007. The RFP asks vendors to submit proposals establishing the procedures and data collection methods to identify and describe the economic impacts and benefits of Wisconsin public libraries and determine the taxpayer return on investment for supporting public libraries. The deadline for submission of proposals is June 12, 2007. The proposals are solicited by the Wisconsin Department of Administration, based on an RFP drafted by John DeBacher and Al Zimmerman of the Department of Public Instruction Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning. The project will be funded in part with grants from the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation.
The RFP is posted on VendorNet for vendors and other responders. A link to the bid announcement and a copy of the RFP document can be found on the Wisconsin Public Notices site here: http://publicnotices.wi.gov/NoticeView.asp?lnid=237020.
6. FIVE TO ATTEND ALA AND RURAL LIBRARY FORUM
After exceeding attendance goals for the "Greener Pastures" Rural Library Sustainability Project workshops, five workshop participants (instead of three) will be able to attend an all-day forum on June 22 in Washington, D.C. prior to the American Library Association annual conference. The project is supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Participants selected to travel to Washington D.C. to participate in the forum and attend the ALA conference are Nanette Bulebosh, Kiel Public Library; Deborah Kabler, Barneveld Public Library; Mary Friesen, Wyocena Public Library; Bob Stack, Portage County Public Library; and Matt Rosendahl, Milltown Public Library. Their expenses will be reimbursed as part of the grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning. The grant will also permit the participants to stay up to four nights and attend the ALA conference.
The Rural Library Sustainability Project is a collaborative effort of WebJunction, State Library Agencies, and rural and small library staff throughout the U.S. In Wisconsin, DLTCL consultants John DeBacher, as trainer, and Bob Bocher, as project coordinator, conducted ten regional workshops throughout the state with assistance from the regional library systems. Over 260 public library directors attended the workshops, exceeding Wisconsin's goal to include at least 80% of eligible libraries. Information about the project can be found at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/rural.html.
7. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Home Energy Saver -- http://hes.lbl.gov/ -- Home Energy Saver is an interactive web site environment for residential consumers, designed to help consumers identify the best ways to save energy in their homes, and find the resources to make the savings happen. The Home Energy Saver was the first Internet-based tool for calculating energy use in residential buildings.
8. CALENDAR
May 11, 2007 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, La Crosse
May 14, 2007 - Library Information Technology Advisory Committee meeting, Madison
May 22, 2007 - Public library system interlibrary loan staff meeting, Madison
May 23, 2007 - Delivery Services Advisory Committee, Madison
June 1, 2007 - Government Information Roundtable Government Information Day, Madison
June 21-27, 2007 - American Library Association Annual Conference, Washington DC
July 13, 2007 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, Verona
September 14, 2007 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, Cable
October 12, 2007 - Library Information Technology Advisory Committee meeting, Madison
October 16-19, 2007 - Wisconsin Library Association Annual Conference, Green Bay
November 9, 2007 - Council on Library and Network Development meeting, location to be announced
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://dpi.wi.gov/rll/wiscat/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 6/5/2007 1:36:03 PM
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