Saturday, January 29, 2011

Pepin County: A Half-Century of Growth in Public Library Use

Part 46 of a county-by-county overview, one that doesn't fit the established pattern.


Pepin County
Population and Circulation, 1960-2009
Source:  Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 1999, 2001, 2009)

No circulation total is listed for the Durand Public Library in the 2000 service data report, so I took the average of 1999 and 2001.  

Durand allegedly experienced a circulation surge in 1997 and 1998.
1996:    41,467
1997:    80,892
1998:  106,869

By 2001, it had dropped to 73,862.


Pepin County, 1960-2009


Pepin County public libraries
Durand Community Library


Pepin Public Library


Pepin County is a member of the Indianhead Federated Library System.

Wisconsin's Common Agenda for the Sustainability of Library Services

Wisconsin State Statutes
Chapter 43:  Libraries

43.001 Legislative findings and declaration of policy.
The legislature recognizes:
(a) The importance of free access to knowledge, information and diversity of ideas by all residents of this state;
  
Wisconsin Public Library Systems:
Partners in Cooperation

(b) The critical role played by public, school, special and academic libraries in providing that access;

Partners in Cooperation





(c) The major educational, cultural and economic asset that is represented in the collective knowledge and information resources of the state’s libraries;

(d) The importance of public libraries to the democratic process.



Partners for the Future:  Public Library and Local Governments

(e) That the most effective use of library resources in this state can occur only through interlibrary cooperation among all types of libraries and the effective use of technology.




(2) The legislature declares that it is the policy of this state to provide laws for the development and improvement of public libraries, school libraries and interlibrary cooperation among all types of libraries.




Illinois Struggles to Maintain Statewide Resource Sharing


Libraries’ budgets strained by patrons’ digital demand.  (Chicago Tribune, 1/29/2011.  Not the most enlightening of headlines.)

Excerpt:    However, the massive state budget deficit has threatened what library officials said is one of the most critical services they provide – the ability for patrons to order hard-to-find titles through an online database and have them delivered to their home libraries within a few days.

Although the interlibrary loan system avoided the budget ax last year, officials at the five parts of the Illinois Library System that serve northern Illinois are preparing to merge staff, services and facilities to save money.

Officials hope the merger, which has been approved by the boards of the five systems, will take effect July 1, in time for the start of the next fiscal year.

Because of budget constraints and space limitations, no single library can offer all of the books and resources that its patrons demand, and the online database and interlibrary loan system automatically increases a library’s holdings to include everything that all member libraries own, officials said.

“The fact is that there won’t be a way to move a book from the University of Illinois to the Downers Grove library, for example, unless you have a statewide system,” said Tom Sloan, the executive director of the DuPage Library System
.

Related articles:
Systems received funding for rest of fiscal year.  (12/2/2010)
'Illinois was exemplary at one time'.  (5/28/2010)
Layoffs and service cuts in store for North Suburban Library System.  (5/14/2010)
Illinois Library Systems Still Await the Remaining 65% of Their State Funding.  (3/6/2010)
State funding shortage may doom library systems. (2/14/2010)
"Save Illinois Libraries" Campaign Shakes Loose Some Funds. (1/22/2010)
Save Illinois Libraries: Tweeting Up a Storm of Support. (1/20/2010)
Sarah Long: Illinois Regional Library Systems and Boiling Frogs. (1/13/2010)
lllinois Regional Multi-Type Library Systems Hit with Cut in Funding. (8/13/2009)

Former Rosholt Residents Pledge $50,000 to Expand Library


Couple who donated $50,000 to Rosholt library project come forward. (Stevens Point Journal, 1/27/2011)

Excerpt:   Rosholt native Louise Lenz remembers the village's downtown as a bustling marketplace.

Lenz, and her husband, Ed, currently live in Wauwatosa, but for much of their lives, they split their time between the two villages, watching with some sadness the decreased activity on the once vibrant Main Street.

When they found out that a group of residents -- the Rosholt Library Group -- was spearheading an effort to expand the village's cramped public library, the couple made a pledge of $50,000 to the effort. Their only stipulation was that the library remain downtown
.

Related articles:
Branch may move into former firehouse.  (3/27/2010)
Rosholt Branch Library offered anonymous donation...with strings attached.  (2/3/2010)
Editorial supports more space for Rosholt Library.  (12/11/2009)
Rosholt Branch Library needs more space.  (12/5/2009)

$35,000 Pledge to Help with Purchase of Land for New Library in New London


Personal pledge puts spark in library project. (Appleton Post-Crescent, 1/28/2011)

Excerpt: Cramped quarters within the public library and the museum, both located inside the Carnegie building on Pearl Street, have prompted city officials to discuss the future of the facility.

Studies were conducted in 2002 and 2009 to determine what was needed to properly serve the community. According to the 2009 study, a nearly 28,000-square-foot library is necessary. The current space is just short of 8,000 square feet.

With the city unable to fund such a large project due to budget concerns, a new library has been a distant hope — until now.

Library/museum board president Ron Steinhorst recently pledged a personal gift of $35,000 to help purchase land that has been selected by the board as the site for a future library. It lies directly across the street where a former auto parts store operated. The property is in foreclosure
.

Related articles:
Building project update.  (12/3/2010)
Council grants library board authority to choose site.  (7/19/2010)
New London library and museum plan unveiled.  (6/28/2010)

Friday, January 28, 2011

We Could Use a Wisconsin Version of This Advocacy Story Right About Now


Rafael Anchia: How the local library helped shape my path to Austin.  (Dallas News, 1/27/2011)

Excerpt: When I was a child, I spent countless hours in my local library. Like many Americans, I am the son of immigrants. My father is from a small town in northern Spain. My mother is from Mexico City. I grew up in a neighborhood of immigrants, and English was not my first language. One of the ways I learned the language was by going with my mother to the public library.

We didn’t have a lot of money and could not travel to exotic places, but by going to the library, I could intellectually travel all over the world. I could learn new concepts that I might never have been exposed to otherwise. The library was a place that opened my mind to the world and helped me learn English, an all-important tool that gave me a foundation for success in this great country.

But my association with libraries doesn’t end there. My mother-in-law was the head librarian at Hebbronville High School in Jim Hogg County, in deep South Texas. My wife is on the board of the Dallas Public Library. I think my mother-in-law would have never approved of my marrying her daughter if I had not pledged my continuing support for public libraries
.

Anchia's key message:

Despite the difficult challenges we face in this trying budgetary session, we must do everything we can to avoid cutting essential library services.

I'm sending this article to my State Senator and Representative with a note that reflects the sentiment of this post's headline.

Ozaukee County: A Half-Century of Growth in Public Library Use

Part 45 of a county-by-county overview.


Ozaukee County:
Population and Circulation, 1960-2009


Ozaukee County, 1960-2009


Ozaukee County public libraries
Cedarburg Public Library


U.S. Liberty Memorial Public Library, Grafton


Frank L. Weyenberg Library of Mequon-Thiensville


Port Washington Public Library


Oscar Grady Public Library, Saukville 


Ozaukee County is a member of the Eastern Shores Library System.

The Boston Globe's Alex Beam wonder, "Will anyone ever print another reference work again?"

Madison Public Library weeds its reference collection (2009)

The definition of change. Print versions of dictionaries and other reference books are fading away, but there’s much to learn — and spend — online. (Boston Globe, 1/28/2011)

A trip down memory lane.
2009 yearbook found at 7 of 49 LINKcat library locations.

Excerpt:   Oxford execs don’t like to speculate whether the ODNB or the better-known, 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, which is undergoing a decades-long, aardvark-to-zebra revision, will appear in new print editions. “I wouldn’t rule out future print editions of these great works,’’ says scholarly and reference director Robert Faber. “There’s no reason to make that decision now.’’

Dust had settled on the tops of these books.

The venerable Encyclopedia Britannica needs to decide soon whether to invest $6 million to $7 million in a 16th edition, or invest the money in its online products. “The economics [of print] are almost antiquated,’’ says senior vice president Michael Ross. “And the minute after you go to press, the books start turning into brown bananas.’’

MUST KEEP city directories --
at least until they are digitized

My exchange with Oxford’s Poetry Man prompted me to wonder: Will anyone ever print another reference work again?


Not to mention....

Let’s tour America’s reference boneyard: Microsoft’s Encarta dictionary; the Random House Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language; Webster’s College Dictionary; the Merriam-Webster Biographical Dictionary, and the Encyclopedia Americana, among others
.

Where 3 ranges of reference shelving used to reside at the Middleton Public Library.   The much-reduced collection now shares shelf space with back issues of magazine.

Wehrmann's at Hilldale: "I can’t stay in business being someone’s showroom"

Closing the book on a chapter in Madison's retail history.

Hilldale shortly after it opened in 1962.

Wehrmann’s Travel Shop is closing at Hilldale. (Wisconsin State Journal, 1/27/2011)

Excerpt: Wehrmann has been with the store for 36 years, beginning when it was on State Street. Her husband Jeff, who died in 1993, was the great-grandson of founder Charles Wehrmann. Charles Wehrmann, a German immigrant, started it as a saddle and harness business in 1886.

Generations of travelers bought their luggage and other travel supplies at Wehrmann’s. In recent years, the economic downturn and online shopping have had a significant impact on her business, Wehrmann said.

“With the new smart phones and other technology, people will come in and scan barcodes and then go online to check to see where they can buy them cheaply anywhere in the world,” Wehrmann said. “For some people, Wehrmann’s became a showroom. And I can’t stay in business being someone’s showroom
.

Those darn apps.

Dane County Library Collections Grant in Collaboration with the Madison Community Foundation


Deep in the shelves: Revel in distinct topic at each Dane County library. (The Capital Times, 1/28/2011)


Excerpt: As a condition of the foundation's grants, each library chose a specific subject area, like ecology, music, sustainable living or small business. Then each library expanded its collection in a focused way, investing in multi-episode film collections or large, costly books that were unaffordable before.


"It was a phenomenal project," says Tom Linfield, a grantmaker at Madison Community Foundation. "The libraries loved it. We really encouraged them not only to keep fundraising, but think about programming."


The Dane County Library Collections grant began with 12 libraries in 2008, extending to all 27, including the county bookmobile, in 2009. Libraries received $742,500 in total, drawn from the foundation's $1.3 million in unrestricted funds.


Individual grants were at first $25,000 each, but the foundation added an extra $2,500 to cover the costs of culling other materials and adding each item to the catalog. Materials purchased, from large print books to DVDs, games, novels and nonfiction, are in circulation now across the seven-county South Central Library System
.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Outagamie County: A Half-Century of Growth in Public Library Use

Part 44 of a county-by-county overview.


City of Appleton and Outagamie County:
Population* and Circulation, 1960-2009
Source:  Wisconsin Public Library Service Data (1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2009)
*Includes Appleton population that spills into Calumet and Winnebago counties.)


As we have previously seen, there are probably some public school library circs in the 1960 tally.


City of Appleton and Outagamie County, 1960-2009


Outagamie County public libraries
Appleton Public Library


Black Creek Village Library


Hortonville Public Library


Kaukauna Public Library


Kimberly-Little Chute Public Library
James J. Siebers Memorial Library, Kaukauna
Gerald H. Van Hoof Memorial Library, Little Chute


New London Public Library
Muehl Public Library, Seymour


Shiocton Public Library


Outagamie County is a members of OWLS.