Where Are the Children?

Link to July 6 adweek.com post, "Nielsen: Kids Flock to Web. Their usage rate far outpaces that of general online population".

Excerpt: According to Nielsen, kids 2-11 spent nearly seven hours online per month five years ago vs. 11 hours a month in 2009, with boys spending slightly more time on average than girls. That disparity is perhaps most evident in online video viewing, as boys accounted for 61 percent of video streams among kids on the Web.

11 hours per month? That leaves plenty of time for reading.

Mukwonago Library Board Selects Architectural Firm

Link to July 6 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, "Firm selected for proposed Mukwonago library expansion".

Excerpt: The expansion is necessary because the library building at 300 Washington Ave. is too small, library officials have said. The building, constructed in 1996, is about 12,200 square feet.

Officials are planning a 24,000-square-foot addition, according to information posted on the library's Web site.

L. E. Phillips Library Starts Renovation

Link to July 6 Eau Claire Leader Telegram article, "Reconstruction under way at L.E. Phillips library".

Excerpt: The project is a couple of weeks ahead of schedule, and Stoneberg said the library is looking toward a reopening ceremony in November, instead of late December.

The $1.57 million project already has gutted the youth services area and parts of the lower level, but the phase scheduled for July 16 to Aug. 7 will replace ductwork, carpet and ceiling tiles on the main floor. During that time some services will be limited, but Stoneberg said the library is still planning to maintain its regular summer hours.

New Madison Central Library: Build or Renovate?

Link to July 6 Wisconsin State Journal article, "New central library would boost Madison's image, economic development, proponents say".

Excerpt: Despite being in a dated, worn building, demands on the central library are up. From 2003 to 2008, circulation rose from 780,600 to 886,300, visits from 424,000 to 459,800, and computer use leaped 216 percent to 135,900 individual uses.

Now, Madison must decide whether to build new facilities like Minneapolis, with a cost of $139 million, Des Moines, $33 million, Austin, Texas, $90 million, and Seattle, $165 million.

“Madison is one of the most literary, creative, engaged communities in the country,” said Sari Feldman, president-elect of the national Public Library Association who got her master’s degree at UW-Madison. “The Madison public library should be the best library in the United States.”

After months of study, a special committee and the Library Board this spring recommended the proposal by Fiore and Ingrens Development Partners of Milwaukee to demolish the worn, 95,000-square-foot library on the 200 block of West Mifflin Street and build a 105,000-square-foot facility at the corner of Henry Street and West Washington Avenue.

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's blog.

Link to July 7 Capital Times editorial, "Mayor Dave's excellent adventure on the Web".

Excerpt: What the mayor's doing with his blog is important -- especially in cases such as this one. He's providing clarity and insight, and doing so in a frank and focused manner. That doesn't mean that he won't be self-serving. Blogs are self-serving. Nor does it mean that he will always be right. As we all should know by now, the Internet is not fact-checked.

Even when he pokes at us, we like Cieslewicz's blog. It lets us know what the mayor is thinking. It broadens the discourse.

Rockford Mayor Says No to Library Pension Contribution

Link to July 6 Rockford Register Star article, "Mayor seeks end to library pension payments".

Excerpt: The library’s property tax, about 32 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, is separate from the city’s. There is no plan to get rid of or redirect the library’s 32 cent levy, Mayor Larry Morrissey assured me Monday. But there’s more to the story. The city pays the yearly pension contributions for library employees. For 2010, the estimate is $683,000. The library has an $8.9 million budget. The $683,000 subsidy is what the mayor plans to eliminate.

Polling for the Sake of Polling

Link to July 4 CQ Politics blog post, "Five Polls, Five Pieces of Gloomy News for Democratic Governors".

And the potential losers are.......

Deval Patricvk (MA)
John Lynch (NH)
Jon Corzine (NJ)
David Patterson (NY)
Ted Strickland (OH)

Bonus round: Jim Doyle (WI)

Excerpt: Of course, there's a caveat in taking these polls too much at face value.

As our colleague Bob Benenson says, "The most important thing to remember is that these approval and candidate matchup polls are being taken at a time when all voters are hearing is 'Governor Struggles With Budget Shortfall' or some variant. There's a hint in the fact that some of these polls show large segments of respondents saying they don't know who the heck the challengers are, but saying that they'll vote for them anyway.

"Awful Library Books" Goes Viral

Even Time features an article on this amusing website.

Maintenance of Effort & the Mead Public Library

Link to July 5 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, "If Sheboygan cuts budget, library might have to leave Eastern Shores system".

Excerpt: A consortium of 13 libraries in Ozaukee and Sheboygan counties could lose its flagship library and $200,000 - about one third of its state funding - if Sheboygan's Mead Public Library is forced to pull out of the system because of budget cuts contemplated for 2010.

While the budgeting process for 2010 is barely under way, Mead Library Director Sharon Winkle said, the portents are not encouraging for the library as the city struggles to deal with a projected $2.2 million deficit in 2010.

"Unless we can work something out, it's very likely going to happen," Winkle said. "I'm certainly hoping we can work something out."

You Can Contact Mr. Kristof at his Ivory Tower

In his Sunday New York Times op-ed piece, Nicholas D. Kristof exhorts parents to get their children to read during the summer months so that they won't fall behind when school resumes. Kristof then chooses to help the cause by offering a list of what he considers the best children's books ever.

Little Lord Fauntleroy? (It's ranked #10, in ascending order of difficulty.) I count 9 copies among the 50 LINK libraries. Collection development oversight or egregious reader's advisory? You make the call.

I must say that I'm aghast at his missed opportunity. Every public library in U.S. is currently offering reading incentive programs and other activities for childrens and teens. Children's librarians spend many hours planning and promoting these programs -- and have been offering them as a regular service for decades. At a minimum, I hope that the New York Public Library has already taken Mr. Kristof to task.

Kristof's blog is found here. And be sure to let him know that summer reading programs aren't just for kids anymore.

West Bend Library Serves as Research Center for Cemetery Project

Link to July 4 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, "Woman does historical research on area cemeteries".

Excerpt: Don't bother knocking on the door of Beverly Hetzel's home on weekday mornings or calling her on her cell phone.

She's probably occupied at the West Bend Public Library, buried in research for up to five hours every day, documenting where people are buried, how they died and how they lived.

Over the last 25 years, Hetzel, 68, has recorded the location of graves and the information contained on their tombstones throughout Washington, Ozaukee, Dodge, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac and other counties.

Dozens of those cemeteries are the final resting places of the area's first settlers whose locations are known to only a few people.

2010 Wisconsin State Budget: Devil is in the Details

Link to July 5 Sheboygan Press article, "Local officials bristling at state mandate to fund police/fire at current levels in 2010".

Excerpt: Linda Barth, a spokeswoman for the Department of Administration, said that municipalities would receive some extra money for police and fire through a 75-cent-per-month fee on telephone bills, which is going into a statewide fund dedicated for public protection and safety. The fee is expected to raise $107 million over the next two years.

"We want to make sure that this fee goes specifically for police and fire and isn't used to make up other areas," Barth said.

Some strong strings are attached to that fee money — should a city fall short of maintaining the same amount for police and fire, the Department of Administration would cut shared revenue by whatever amount is cut from those departments.

What's unclear to me at this point is whether the "same amount for police and fire" includes both local and state funds -- in the latter case, the new money from the phone fee.

Then there's the obvious question.

Does this police & fire provision in the state budget help or hinder libraries' maintenance of effort arguments? Or will it be the tipping point for what Sheboygan Police Chief Tim Elrich says is "state government dictating to local governments what they can and can't do"?

It looks as though all of the stops are going to have to be pulled out this fall.

High-speed Catch-22?

Link to July 5 Marshfield News Herald article, "High-speed Internet access slow to reach rural areas".

Excerpt: Expanding high-speed Internet access into more areas of central Wisconsin will require more customers who can afford or want the service, providers say.

While broadband access is common in cities such as Marshfield and Stevens Point, for more rural areas, it can be difficult to find.

The farther away from larger municipalities, the lower the speed of Internet access, said Chris LaRowe, manager of external affairs for the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association, which represents about 70 telephone companies in the state.

Ginny Annotates the West Bend Daily News

"Orders from headquarters."

Link to her latest whining. (So, West Bend, how do you feel about the librarians that you pay to represent you appearing as "special guests" to speak about how they shut you down? )

Do I hear a concession here?

Sticks Nix Hick Pix

[I've always wanted to reproduce this Variety headline.]

Link to July 4 Daily Kos post, "Sanford Loses Book Deal".

Excerpt: Sentinel is the conservative arm of Penguin Group, so maybe they could switch to a different division, change the title from "Within Our Means" to "Within Her Jeans" and they'll have a blockbuster!

I suspect another, less strait-jacketed publisher will float Sanford a deal.

But not if Mr. Appalachian Trail keeps confessin' -- blabbin' all his material to anyone who'll listen.

(Sentinel is the proud publisher of this comic's collected scribblings.)

Libraries Get Stiffed

Link to HometownNewsGroup.com post, "Sun Prairie named one of 10 best cities and towns for families by Family Circle".

Excerpt: Family Circle partnered with Onboard Informatics, a New York City research firm that provides real estate, demographic and other data, to assemble an initial list of 1,700 cities and towns with populations between 15,000 and 150,000. From that, nearly 800 localities were selected with a high concentration of households with an average income of $75,000. We then assessed which places best met our family-friendly criteria --including affordable homes, quality schools, access to health care, green space, low crime rate and financial stability-and ranked them from top to bottom. Family Circle then selected the ten winners from among the highest-rated towns.

Family-friendly criteria? How do public libraries not make the cut?

The article appears in the August 2009 issue of Family Circle, available for sale on July 7.

Check out for yourself how the Sun Prairie Public Library contributes to the quality of life for families.

Library Collection Development Suggestion

Link to July 4 La Crosse Tribune article, "Staying afloat: Book traces the history of boathouses"

Excerpt: These boathouses are year-round, stationary and can’t move anywhere without being pushed or towed. Poles at each corner keep them in place, and they’re connected to shore by walkways. They stand on logs or plastic barrels, freezing into the ice in winter and floating in summer, moving up and down with changing water levels. They’re the humble homes of people and their boats.

Among them is Marti Greene Phillips of Rio, who became fascinated with them during a hike along the river nine years ago, She saw a lighted beer sign in a window of one of the odd little buildings, and was invited inside by the owner for a beer and some storytelling. Charmed by the intimacy with the water, waterlilies and wildlife, she bought one on the Minnesota side of the river in Brownsville for a weekend getaway.

She wanted to learn more about boathouses and their history but found nothing but a few newspaper articles and local lore. So before the generation of people who built them were gone and their stories lost forever, she decided to find them and write a book. “The Floating Boathouses on the Upper Mississippi: Their History, Their Stories” was self-published this spring.

Check out Martha's website here.

Thumbs Up for Net Neutrality

Link to July 2 cnet news post, "Net neutrality gets a boost from the feds".

Excerpt: Net neutrality advocates got a boost of support Wednesday from the Obama administration when it released grant guidelines for spending the government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package.

Companies winning grants to help build new broadband infrastructure will have to follow the Federal Communications Commission's Internet Policy statement, which prohibits companies from deliberately blocking or slowing Internet traffic on their networks.

Libraries in OverDrive

Link to July 3 La Crosse Tribune article, "Libraries embracing digital media".

Excerpt: The Winding Rivers Library System, comprised of 34 public libraries in the La Crosse area, paid $2,437 this year for access to the digital content provided by OverDrive. That’s less than $100 per library.

Under the license agreement, libraries can’t circulate a copy to more than one patron at a time. But there’s no need to return items at the end of the seven-day loan period: The files simply stop working.

“There’s no such thing as a late charge on these things,” Krieg-Sigman said.

Among other benefits, the files are available to any patron with a library card and a computer, no matter where. On a business trip or on vacation, if you can access the Internet, you can download a book.

And since there’s no need to lug around multiple cassettes or discs, the digital format is more convenient for listening while traveling, exercising or gardening, said Kristen Anderson, education consultant for the Winding Rivers Library System.

The OverDrive catalog has been available for a couple of years, Anderson said, but now that the offerings have grown to include about 4,000 audio books, music and videos, libraries are promoting it.

City of Oshkosh 2010 Budget Picture

Link to July 3 Oshkosh Northwestern article, "City of Oshkosh cuts $700,000 from budget".

Excerpt: The biggest hit to many municipalities will be the decision to cut state shared revenue. The 2.8 percent reduction will amount to $306,090 less in aid from the state, said finance director Peggy Steeno.

"That's our second largest revenue source after property taxes," City Manager Mark Rohloff said. "That money has been basically frozen since 1995, was cut back in 2001 and now this is cutting it even more."

The budget also requires municipalities to contribute more to the Wisconsin Retirement System, which will amount to at least $250,000, likely more, from Oshkosh's coffers, Steeno said. Winnebago County estimates the city will pay about $140,000 next year as a result of an increase in the state garbage tax that was also included in the budget.

Rohloff is unsure what, at this point, will need to be cut, but is asking departments to prioritize services to get an idea of what's most important to the city. He has directed city department heads to start work on their 2010 budgets as soon as they return to work from the long weekend.

Library Collection Development Suggestion

Link to July 3 Oshkosh Northwestern article, "The Great Depression in Winnebago County is remembered in new book, 'Decade of Despair'".

Excerpt: "Decade of Despair, Winnebago County during the Great Depression, 1929 to 1939," a book by local authors Werner E. Braatz, professor emeritus of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and Thomas J. Rowland, history professor at UW-O, describes the economic conditions of the time and outlines the efforts made locally to ease the searing hardships faced by the people who lived through it.

The book, a regional study, contains both careful research and a human element as it describes what life was like in our nation's, and certainly the city of Oshkosh's, most trying economic time.

Rowland, whose area of expertise is Civil War-era history, came on board after the book had been started and was happy to help. He learned much about local history in the process. One thing that surprised him was the disparity of economic hardship in different parts of the county.

"Neenah and Menasha, anchored in the paper industry, were not unscathed but were not hit as hard," Rowland said. "The American public, despite its impoverished state, was still partial to the use of tissue paper."

State Budget Cuts Impact Towns

Link to website.

Link to July 3 Stevens Point Journal article, "Towns struggle with less as state budget cuts municipalities' funding".

Excerpt: Signed by Gov. Jim Doyle this week, the state budget includes a 3.5 percent cut to the amount of shared revenue distributed to local governments. According Stadelman, whose association represents 1,253 of the state's 1,257 towns, those cuts likely will result in towns being able repair fewer roads.

"Any cut (between) $3,000 and $10,000 probably means less road work; that's their biggest expenditure," he said. "You can't cut fire protection and some of those other things, and we don't have police protection in most towns. Roads are one of the areas where they can try to get by with less maintenance or improvements."

My 1,000th Post

Newsweek. Down.

Time. Down.

The Economist. Up.

Link to theatlantic.com, "The Newsweekly’s Last Stand".

Excerpt: The secret to The Economist’s success is not its brilliance, or its hauteur, or its typeface. The writing in Time and Newsweek may be every bit as smart, as assured, as the writing in The Economist. But neither one feels like the only magazine you need to read. You may like the new Time and Newsweek. But you must—or at least, brilliant marketing has convinced you that you must—subscribe to The Economist.

Not So Special Anymore

Link to July 2 Library Journal post, "'Special Libraries' Name a Burden, So SLA Considers Name Change".

What's in a name?

Well, in the case of the Special Libraries Association -- confusion and a lack of "positioning in the marketplace".

Your feedback is encouraged.

They could go the KFC route -- what fried chicken? -- and just emphasize the acronym.

All of this makes me wonder....how did special librarians feel back in the mid-1970s when the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was all over the news.

City of La Crosse 2010 Budget Picture

Link to July 2 La Crosse Tribune article, "City’s early budget outlook is grim".

How grim?

An additional $1.5 in expenses.

$250,000 reduced state aid

$400,000 projected loss in investment earnings

$592,000 increased health insurance costs

$220,000 increased contribution public retirement system

Excerpt: The increased spending doesn’t take into account requests from individual departments or union contracts still under negotiation.

Those aside, La Crosse leaders would need to cut at least $500,000 from its general operating budget to comply with the 3 percent state-mandated cap on how much the city can increase the local tax levy, Delagrave said.

Paint the (Manitowoc) Library Red, White, and Blue

Link to July 2 Herald Times Reporter article, "Painting the town red (white and blue): Decorating the library becomes an annual event".

Excerpt: Like fireworks, Manitowoc Public Library's window-painting event draws "ooohs and ahhhs" throughout the Fourth of July.

And the growing popularity of Paint the Library Red, White and Blue means more patriotism each year.

"Every year it seems like the (kids) that have done it in the past come back," said Ann Herrmann, youth services manager at the library. "They enjoy it so much, and they spread the word and new ones come."

Herrmann said the Manitowoc Public Library has held the activity for at least five years, and usually between 200 and 300 kids come out to paint patriotic pictures on the library windows.

One of Our Essentials

Since 2002, KT has been the Director of the Cooperative Children's Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also served as a children’s librarian at Madison Public Library for nine years. She is the author of From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books (HarperCollins, 1997). She was named the 2010 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer for the American Library Association/ Association of Library Service to Children.

Click here for more information on KT's distinguished list of career accomplishments.

Link to July 1 School Library Journal post, "KT the Magnificent: An Interview with Kathleen T. Horning".

KT answers these and other questions.

As an undergrad, you majored in linguistics. How did you wind up becoming a librarian?

You’ve also been a public librarian. What did you learn from that experience?

There’s a new edition of From Cover to Cover coming out next spring. What inspired you to write the book in the first place?

If you possessed superpowers and could have any job in the world, what would it be?

Big Duh

Link to June 30 Eau Claire Leader-Telegram article, "Internet, email cuts [sic] big into post office business".

Excerpt: More people paying bills online and sending e-mails instead of letters has meant a staggering drop in mail going through the U.S. Postal Service, said Pete Nowacki, spokesman for the agency's Northland District, which covers most of Minnesota and the western third of Wisconsin.

"Mail volume is way down," Nowacki said. "Last year it was down 4.5 percent, and this year it will be worse."

Libraries were early adopters in this area. The Middleton Public Library's expenditures for postage dropped from $12,931 in 1996 to $2,428 in 2003 -- although they had increased to $4,482 by 2007. (Last year for which I have a final figure at my quick disposal.)

On the other hand, I still write and (snail)mail a weekly letter to my now 88-year-old, off-the-grid mom.

U.S. Census Bureau 2008 Population Estimates

Link to July 1 Capital Times article, "Madison population up 10.7% from 2000 to 2008 (with searchable database)".

Excerpt: City figures showed Madison had one of the state's highest growth rates, adding about 22,500 residents or 10.7 percent between 2000 and 2008, including 1.4 percent growth from 2007 to 2008.

Between 2000 and 2008 Kenosha gained 7 percent and Sheboygan lost 6 percent.

Chapter 43 Refresher Course

Link to July 1 Appleton Post-Crescent article, "Appleton alderman Jim Clemons criticizes Appleton Library Board's planning process".

Excerpt: The library board on June 16 approved establishment of a library building committee, but Clemons said Tuesday that the committee, to be appointed by Mayor Tim Hanna, would include too many members with ties to the library.

Library Director Terry Dawson said the proposed planning committee needs library-friendly members to give a voice to private donors willing to help pay for construction of a facility with an estimated price tag of $33 million.

"This project is unlike others in the city because we will be looking for significant private dollars to help fund it," Dawson said. "We need to have a voice for those people because the library board will have to be accountable to the donors."

Consultants in June outlined options for a new, 140,000-square-foot library in the downtown area. The library is coping with record use, including 2,969 patrons on June 10, at its 88,000-square-foot facility on Oneida Street.

Program design study found here.

Marathon County Explores Internet Access

Link to July 1 Marshfield News Herald article, "Marathon Co. could provide Internet access to rural areas".

Excerpt: The county will pay telecommunications firm Elert & Associates about $80,000 to study "gaps" in access and determine what it would take to make improvements, said Ed Hammer, county director of conservation, planning and zoning.

Officials working on the project say it could dramatically improve access for businesses and county residents.

"Hopefully, the independent study is going to be able to find out exactly what is out there and what the shortfall is. And is growth in business being hampered because there is nothing?" said County Board member Kurt Gibbs, who lives in the town of Cassel, where many residents have poor access.

The plan is in its early stages, though, leaving many questions unanswered.