Technology

At 10:30 a.m. on March 24, 2020, the State of Wisconsin issued a press release regarding Emergency Order #12, the “Safer at Home Order,” that prohibits all nonessential travel, with some exceptions as clarified and defined in the order. The order goes into effect at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, and will remain in effect until 8:00 a.m. on Friday, April 24, 2020, or until a superseding order is issued. The following sections of the Order pertain to public libraries:

Order 4: Closures. The Safer at Home Order expressly orders the closure of all public libraries “for all in-person services, but may continue to provide on-line services and programming.” Compliance with this order would include the cessation of curbside and drive-thru services and any other distanced in-person services currently offered by libraries.

Order 12: Essential Government Functions. This order instructs government bodies such as a library board to continue to follow the guidance provided by the Office of Open Government (OOG) regarding holding meetings, as necessary. At a minimum, library boards should continue to convene monthly to audit and approve the payment of all expenditures of the public library, pursuant to Wis. Stat. sec. 43.58(2)(a). The OOG advisory on open meetings is available at https://www.doj.state.wi.us/news-releases/office-open-government-advisory-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-and-open-meetings. For help with additional questions about open meetings requirements, please contact the Open Meetings Help Line at (608) 267-2220.

Other functions exempted under this order could include food distribution and other activities deemed essential by the municipality, such as when the library acts as the municipal polling place. In-person library service to the public is not defined as an essential government function under this order.

Order 14: Minimum Basic Operations. This order allows the minimum necessary activities to preserve the library facility and equipment, address information technology (IT) issues, ensure physical and cybersecurity, process payroll and fulfill business services obligations, as well as activities that facilitate the ability of staff to work remotely from home.

DLT acknowledges that public libraries are a matter of local control. We encourage you to contact your municipal attorney, county corporate counsel, or independently contracted attorney for advice when interpreting legal issues.

The Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association (WEMTA) Conference on March 22-24, 2020 brings together current, future and past educators to share knowledge of library and technology topics. This conference provides opportunities for collaboration between school and public libraries. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Division of Libraries and Technology will be presenting multiple sessions on these collaborations, highlighted below.

Unable to attend one of these sessions? Come visit us at a booth in the Expo Hall on Monday, March 23 from 10:30am-4:30pm.

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The Future Belongs to the Connected on Sunday, March 22 from 2:45 – 3:45

As a state agency, the Wisconsin Department of Instruction’s goal is to ensure every child graduates ready for further education and the workplace. Yet national statistics tell us that as 17% to 20% of Wisconsin students do not have Internet services at home. This session will explore some strategies and free tool kits districts can employ to identify and assist the over 140,000 Wisconsin students that quietly struggle with the digital divide. Solving this problem for our state will take many hands, come join in and see what you can do.

Libraries and Technology Update from the DLT Team on Sunday, March 22, from 4:00 – 5:00

Join us for a quick overview of several projects and tools that support the work you are doing in your schools. This will include an introduction to the Broadband Strategy, Future Ready Librarians, Student Data Privacy Consortium, Cyber Security resources and more.

Accessing BadgerLink at School and Beyond on Monday, March 23, from 1:15-2:00pm

BadgerLink is Wisconsin’s online library which provides access to licensed content such as magazines, newspapers, scholarly articles, videos, and images. BadgerLink is licensed for all Wisconsin residents, so your students can use these resources at school and home for all their research needs! Find out how BadgerLink can help your students research whether they are in school or out! At school, you can integrate BadgerLink resources into your school’s Single Sign-On tool, learning management system, or library services platform like Follett’s Destiny, continuing to make it easier for your students to use BadgerLink. At home, the easiest way to access BadgerLink resources is automatic access with registered Wisconsin networks, however many students don’t have this type of access to BadgerLink from home. Do your students have a school login to access BadgerLink resources easily? Get started on setting up a school login for your students!

Library Planning: Answering Questions, Sharing Ideas, and Being Future Ready on Monday, March 23, from 2:00 – 3:00pm

Have you been to a library planning workshop? Have you taken the ISTE U class this year? Are you trying to navigate library planning and looking for answers? Are you working through the plan you built last year and wondering what’s next? Answering “yes” to any of these questions should put this session on your list! Practical library planning and its effective implementation allows your program to demonstrate success. And, that success becomes a wonderful advocacy tool. Please join us as we answer questions, showcase helpful tools, and provide opportunities for you to share stories and ideas with other Future Ready Librarians about this important foundation of your library program.

Engaging Researchers Through Digital Image Inquiry on Tuesday, March 24, from 8:15-9:15am

After traveling to the Library of Congress in Washington DC for a professional learning institute dedicated to school librarians collaborating with classroom teachers to use primary sources to engage students, build critical thinking skills and construct knowledge, I am excited to share knowledge and strategies with other educators. Explore how to help others locate, analyze, and even participate in crowdsourcing with these quality, reliable resources available to all learners. Using digital primary sources in the classroom supports the Knowledge Constructor and Digital Citizenship strands of the Wisconsin Information Technology Literacy Standards and supports collaborations in all content areas. I will be joined by Emily Pfotenhauer from Recollection Wisconsin who will share information about our local primary source collection.

Working Together: Cyber and Data Security are Everyone’s Responsibility on Tuesday, March 24, from 10:45-11:45am

Whether you are an administrator, a teacher, a learner or education support, we all play a crucial role in protecting valuable district resources in an online world. Join Wisconsin DPI in this collaborative discussion as we examine the spectrum of preventive measures we can all practice.

Student Data Privacy: How the Wisconsin Alliance Can Help on Tuesday, March 24, from 1:00 – 2:00

The Wisconsin Alliance is a group of Districts that have joined the Student Data Privacy Consortium through the DPI. This consortium offers two tools at no cost to districts: 1) Sample contract language to use with vendors to provide a legal and consistent expectation for student data privacy and 2) A list of apps that meet the standards established and defined in the sample contract. You will leave this session knowing the criteria for selecting apps as well as who you can work with around the state when purchasing, selecting and negotiating software purchases. If you don’t already have access to the consortium, we will also help you gain access to the resources.

Written by Jen Champoux and Monica Treptow

Guest Post from COLAND Chair, Bryan McCormick

The Public Library System Redesign (PLSR) Steering Committee recently turned in the Final Recommendation Report to the State Superintendent, Ms. Carolyn Stanford Taylor, completing the work that so many individuals throughout the state participated in and helped make possible. This was a huge undertaking and everyone involved in the process should be very proud of this achievement. To my knowledge no one else nationally has been successful with a statewide effort such as this; front line staff providing the information to help make decisions that will benefit our library patrons. It was not the legislature or government officials deciding on best courses of action, it was those of us in the library community.

Upon receiving the report, COLAND (the Council on Library and Network Development) has been informed that the Superintendent would like for there to be one final round of comments and has asked that several listening sessions be held across the state. COLAND is setting up four in-person listening sessions, to be held regionally throughout the state. The four sites and dates, as well as a link to the final report, can be found on the COLAND page here. One call in session for those unable to make it to one of the regional sessions will be scheduled and announced later in the process. I would encourage anyone with comments about the report to attend one of those meetings and provide feedback. COLAND will then compile and share feedback with the Superintendent.
Thank you again to all who have participated in this project, and to the future implementation of ideas that will further support and strengthen the programs, services and resources that Wisconsin’s public libraries provide to their patrons.

Bryan J. McCormick
COLAND, Chair

Today, the American Library Association released the Libraries’ Guide to the 2020 Census, a new resource to prepare libraries for the decennial count of every person living in the United States.

The Guide contains practical information to assist library staff in addressing potential patron and community requests regarding the upcoming 2020 Census. The Guide includes:

• basic information about the Census process;
• highlights of new components in the 2020 Census, such as the online response option;
• frequently asked questions;
• a timeline of key Census dates;
• contact information and links to additional resources.

ALA teamed with the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality to develop the Guide, with support from ALA’s 2020 Census Library Outreach and Education Task Force.

ALA plans to provide additional resources for library practitioners in the months leading up to Census Day on April 1, 2020. The Libraries’ Guide to the 2020 Census is available for free download at ala.org/census.

Helping residents and others who use your library's Wi-Fi or public computers to complete their census survey online can benefit your community, schools, and county in the future, since every individual counted helps to maximize federal and state funding for municipal services. Assignment of House of Representatives seats, federal funding apportionment, and our own LSTA "Grants to States" award are all based on the decennial census. More information on the importance to your community can be found in this blog post from last July, and more information specific to Wisconsin can be found in this post from January to help you learn how to determine is a "Complete County" committee has been established in your community or county.

Adapted from an ALA press release by John DeBacher, Public Library Development