Wisconsin Library Stories

A recent news release from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction summarized some of the exciting ways that libraries are preserving and disseminating information in the digital age: Wisconsin citizens conducted 18.8 million searches using BadgerLink, the state’s on-line library during 2006. The University of Wisconsin Digital Collections continue to grow with the recent addition of the Great Lake Maritime History site. Local public libraries have used federal funding to create electronic resources from local history materials. Wisconsin libraries recently formed a consortium call Wisconsin Heritage Online to encourage even more digitization of such materials. Finally, every public library in the state provides public Internet connections and school libraries help children learn to evaluate and use digital resources properly. Read the complete news release to learn more.

Academic and public libraries are using social networking to appeal to patrons. Read an article in the Capital Times about how libraries in the Madison area are using these new tools.

The Milwaukee Public Library was honored for its "Excellence in Individual Teamwork" by the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum recently as one of its 2007 "Salute to Local Government" award winners.

The management team at the Milwaukee Public Library partnered with the Northwestern Mutual Foundation as the primary private source of funding to provide free computer training programs at the Central Library and several neighborhood libraries. For those seeking to upgrade employment skills or those without computer access at home, the programs are invaluable. All classes are taught as hands-on instruction in a computer lab. Each class is two hours long, and students adhere to a curriculum and receive a certificate upon completion.

(Reprinted with permission from Channel Weekly, Vol. 9, No. 39, June 28, 2007)

"Librarians? Aren’t they supposed to be bespectacled women with a love of classic books and a perpetual annoyance with talkative patrons — the ultimate humorless shushers?

Not any more. With so much of the job involving technology and with a focus now on finding and sharing information beyond just what is available in books, a new type of librarian is emerging — the kind that, according to the Web site Librarian Avengers, is “looking to put the ‘hep cat’ in cataloguing.” "

Read the full story.

"With more than 25,000 librarians pouring into town for the convention of the American Library Association (June 2007), now is the time to ask a not-so-random Random Friday Question: In a world in which every home computer provides access to more information than used to exist in your friendly neighborhood library, exactly what is the function of a library now?"

Read the full article and comments.

As library media specialist at Menomonee Falls High School, Kathryn Kostelnik does everything from helping teachers integrate technology into classroom learning to helping students research major issues in required reading for a language arts class. She never expected to be recognized by DPI as one of four Teachers of the Year.

Librarian stereotypes abound, and "The Hollywood Librarian," a revealing documentary by first-time Madison film director Ann Seidl, explores those stereotypes as well as the actual roles librarians play in today's society. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, 85 libraries across the U.S. and seven in Canada screened the film to coincide with Banned Books Week. Those included UW-Madison's School of Library and Information Studies and Racine Public Library.