Council members develop and implement goals and objectives that are important to all Wisconsin libraries and information services. Listed below you will find the 2017-2019 Goals and the results of COLAND's efforts:
GOAL I:
To support the recommendations of the Public Library System Redesign project and to assist with communication of the plan and activities to ensure that comprehensive, accurate and timely information about the system restructuring is conveyed throughout the Wisconsin library community.
Results:
In August of 2015, State Superintendent Dr. Tony Evers appointed an ad hoc 10- member Steering Committee and a DPI staff liaison to oversee a process endorsed and recommended by the Council on Libraries and Network Development (COLAND). In order to gather information on how best to serve library patrons of Wisconsin, the Steering Committee created a number of workgroups made up of library professionals from throughout the state to complete this work. Highlights of this PLSR process:
Workgroup reports were completed and submitted to the Steering Committee in April of 2018. -Using the workgroup reports as a foundation the Steering Committee submitted their Recommendation Report to the Superintendent of DPI in February of 2019.
COLAND held 5 listening sessions throughout the state, including one virtual session, as one final round of feedback regarding the project.
At the May 10th meeting of COLAND, feedback from those sessions was presented to State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor. With the Recommendation Report now in the hands of DPI, COLAND will continue to monitor the progress of these recommendations and will provide timely feedback and suggestions to DPI regarding implementation of the recommendations.
The Steering Committee Recommendation Report can be found here: https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/pld/Final_PLSR_Recommendatio... March_2019.pdf .
GOAL II:
To support and encourage library professionals to form alliances with local, state, and national decision makers to demonstrate the value of libraries in education, literacy, employment, entrepreneurship, and digital access.
Results:
In 2015 the U.S. Employment and Training Administration sent a memorandum to state and local workforce development boards, workforce agencies and American Job Centers asking them to collaborate with public libraries to complement and extend the career and employment services available to job seekers and unemployed workers. To that end, efforts have been made to bring public libraries and workforce development resources together to assist job seekers. Over the past couple of years the following have occurred:
The Department of Public Instruction and Department of Workforce Development have had regular meetings to talk about ways that public library resources can be leveraged to help assist in workforce development initiatives.
A discussion panel was held at the state library convention about workforce development issues.
A Laura Bush Grant application was submitted to help with workforce development. DPI was the lead applicant, with participation also from WLA, DWD, WWDA, LLS and RCWS.
Wisconsin was successful with the Laura Bush Grant, entitled LAWDS: Libraries Activating Workforce Development Skills.
The LAWDS Project Advisory Council includes representatives from 8 organizations and was launched this past spring.
COLAND will continue to work with DPI on workforce development issues and will provide feedback to the LAWDS Project Advisory Council.
GOAL III:
To encourage the conversations related to ebooks, cooperative contracts, access to digital information, and other information technology development.
Results:
The Wisconsin Schools Digital Library Consortium is a partnership of the CESA Network, DPI, and WiLS designed to create a strong, shared collection of ebooks and audiobooks for public schools based on the public library model, which minimizes duplication and maximizes collective purchasing power. Begun in 2014 with leadership and funding from DPI, community and vendor surveys were utilized to determine needs and interests of districts and vendor capabilities. A think tank of school media specialists and others with knowledge of K12 finances and technology was convened to further develop the proposed structure for the collection and consortium. An interim board of the partners and media specialists was established to develop policies and procedures with an intended start date of Fall 2017. Interested school districts are currently being sought for participation. Funding will come primarily from Common School Funds, so funds used by districts for digital materials can be redirected to this initiative or districts may identify other funds. There will be three collections: K-4, 5-8, and 9- 12, consisting of fiction and nonfiction titles. The target cost for participants is $2/student. For guidance, projects from other states have been reviewed and products from six vendors are currently being evaluated. For more information, please see: http://www.wils.org/wsdlc/
GOAL IV:
To support the partnership with the Department of Corrections (DOC) and DOC Library Services and Educational Technology Coordinator.
Results:
There are 19 Correctional Institutions with libraries, 3 Correctional Centers with staff that look after expanded resource rooms/law library as a small part of their duties, and 4 Mental Health Institution Libraries in Wisconsin. The 19 Correctional Institutions use SirsiDynix EOS Integrated Library System (ILS), though they are currently in the process of adopting a new ILS, Follett’s Destiny Library Manager. The DOC’s Bureau of Technology Management is putting into place a new OTIS (Offender Technology Infrastructure System) network. This system will be using RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hotspots for Education and Learning) devices to deliver high quality, secure offline educational materials to inmates in education programs, as well as develop kiosk mode solutions for our Electronic Inmate Law Library Services (currently using LexisNexis) as vendor, and developing approaches to deliver re-entry, employment, and transition resources in secure kiosk mode. The DOC Library Services and Educational Technology Coordinator is working to communicate to DOC staff that “An inmate who is reading a book, is an inmate who is not causing you a problem.” There are several areas where this can be improved on: -
High quality donations: inmates are in need of good, quality nonfiction materials that will help keep them occupied and/or able to learn a new skill, ie, ‘the realm of ideas’.
eBook access: improved access to an electronic collection. Would prefer books that can be downloaded to a device, however there are currently very few tablets or secure laptops available. Audiobooks access would also be nice (for something like ‘Chapter A Day’) if the tablet/laptop issue could be resolved.
Badgerlink access: finding an alternative way to access materials. The big issue is security, the inability to lock down sites/contact forms, etc.
GED/HSED testing, Career and Technical Education: working very closely with DPI, GED Testing Service, Pearson VUE and 30 remote sites to keep the testing program in good order. Gently used GED Test prep materials are always welcome.
GOAL V:
To support revisions to ongoing issues for school librarian licensing and professional standards, and advocate for adequate staffing of school libraries.
Results:
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction approved new program content guidelines for the Library Media Specialist (1902) license in December, 2016. The license will be a stand-alone, bachelor’s level program. School library media specialists will no longer be required to have a teaching license before pursuing licensure as a school library media specialist. The LMS license will be moved to the Early Childhood-Adolescence teaching category. Applicants will need to complete an approved LMS licensure program, but will not need any other teaching license. Existing teachers can add it on. The Instructional Technology Coordinator license is moved to obsolete status. The Department will develop a transition plan with the field based on programs being ready to prepare in the new content guidelines as early as the Fall of 2017. The DPI will be working with educator preparation programs to develop transition and implementation plan The Department has developed a new optional Wisconsin Library Media Specialist evaluation rubric based on requests from school districts following the implementation of the Educator Effectiveness system. The 2016-17 school year will be a pilot year for districts to use as part of their LMS evaluation process. The Department is working with CESAs to train school library media specialists on the Future Ready Framework. It is based on extensive research and emphasizes collaborative leadership which is an integral part of systemic change. The Wisconsin Digital Learning Plan also places equity at the center of the gears. Understanding the importance of equitable access the US Department of Education also realized the value of Future Ready Librarians. Aligning the school library planning process with the Future Ready Framework provides an opportunity to connect library programs with educational innovation in their own schools.
For more information, the COLAND Goals 2015-2017 pdf provides a complete list of objectives and action plans for past goals.