1. AmeriCorps VISTA members create a job opportunity center
2. YALSA opens registration, mini-grant applications for Teen Read Week® 2010
3. ALA announces American Dream Starts @ your library® grant recipients
4. Website of the Week - Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day
5. Calendar
=================================================
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EDITOR'S NOTE - Channel Weekly will not be published next week. The next issue of Channel Weekly will be the May 7, 2010, edition.
***************************************************************************************
1. AMERICORPS VISTA MEMBERS CREATE A JOB OPPORTUNITY CENTER
A job support project at the Fond du Lac Public Library was featured recently on the national Serve.gov website that highlights what VISTA volunteers are doing around the country. The project is a DPI VISTA project and is also supported by an LSTA grant awarded by the Department of Public Instruction. The website article is below:
As unemployment rises due to a troubled economy, library patronage is rising. This projects aims to address the first trend by building the capacity of the second. The economic hardship that Wisconsin residents are facing falls hardest on low-income and high-poverty communities. Libraries are critical to meeting economic recovery needs such as job training, financial literacy, home loss prevention, and legal assistance.
AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) members placed in libraries across the state have established job training centers, connected libraries and patrons with relevant community resources, developed financial literacy programs, and worked with library staff and community members to eliminate barriers to employment including education level, transportation, and access to computers and the internet.
AmeriCorps VISTA members Sara Byrnes and Josh Cowles were instrumental in helping the Fond du Lac Public Library create the Opportunity Center, which provides library services to displaced workers. Byrnes and Cowles have been offering Job Smart U classes for the community. The classes help individuals gain important skills in the job search including resume writing, interviewing, financial literacy, re-entering the work force as older adults, and computer skills. The courses are offered free of charge and taught by volunteers recruited by Byrnes and Cowles.
Key partners in this work include the Volunteer Center, the Job Center, and the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac. Opportunity Center use has increased by 62% since it opened and more than 200 individuals have taken classes through the Job Smart U program. Additionally, within their first month of service, the VISTAs secured Library Services and Technology Act grant that funded a mobile computer lab, bringing the library services and employment training to surrounding county libraries.
Library Director Ken Hall commented, "With assistance from our VISTA volunteers and the increased communication between libraries, we hope to use these programs to make a real difference for people who could benefit from our help."
2. YALSA OPENS REGISTRATION, MINI-GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR TEEN READ WEEK 2010
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), launched its Teen Read Week® 2010 Web site at http://www.ala.org/teenread on April 15 (Support Teen Literature Day). In addition to free registration, visitors to the Teen Read Week® Web site can find activity ideas relating to this year's theme, planning resources, publicity tools, and applications for Teen Read Week® mini grants.
Teen Read Week® will be celebrated October 17-23, with a theme of Books with Beat @ your library®, which encourages teens to read poetry, audiobooks, books about music, and more, for the fun of it.
3. ALA ANNOUNCES AMERICAN DREAM STARTS @ YOUR LIBRARY® GRANT RECIPIENTS
Seventy public libraries in 21 states have been selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to receive $5,000 grants as part of "The American Dream Starts @ your library®" literacy initiative. This initiative is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. The two Wisconsin grant awards went to:
Madison Public Library, South Central Library System
Portage County Public Library
The grant recipients include libraries in large cities and rural towns throughout Dollar General's market area. The grant funds will be used by the libraries to build innovative literacy services for adult English language learners living and working in their communities. The libraries will expand their print and digital literacy collections, offer classes and conversation clubs, develop mobile tech labs and reach out to immigrant organizations. A complete list of the winning libraries is available at http://www.ala.org/americandream.
4. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day -- http://www.nelsonearthday.net/ -- April 22, 2010, is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Historical Society have launched a comprehensive website commemorating the date using the archived papers of Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day.
5. CALENDAR
April 1-30, 2010 - School Library Month
April 20-23, 2010 - Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians (WAAL) conference, Milwaukee
April 28-30, 2010 - Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries (WAPL) annual conference, Sheboygan
April 29-30, 2010 - School Library Staffing Summit, Rothschild
May 10-11, 2010 - WiscNet conference, Madison
May 14, 2010 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Milwaukee
May 17, 2010 - Delivery Services Advisory Committee (DSAC) meeting, Madison
June 24-29, 2010 - American Library Association conference, Washington, D.C.
==================================================
To access previous issues of Channel Weekly, or to subscribe or unsubscribe,
go to: http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly
==================================================
Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (609) 267-9207
2. YALSA opens registration, mini-grant applications for Teen Read Week® 2010
3. ALA announces American Dream Starts @ your library® grant recipients
4. Website of the Week - Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day
5. Calendar
=================================================
**************************************************************************************
EDITOR'S NOTE - Channel Weekly will not be published next week. The next issue of Channel Weekly will be the May 7, 2010, edition.
***************************************************************************************
1. AMERICORPS VISTA MEMBERS CREATE A JOB OPPORTUNITY CENTER
A job support project at the Fond du Lac Public Library was featured recently on the national Serve.gov website that highlights what VISTA volunteers are doing around the country. The project is a DPI VISTA project and is also supported by an LSTA grant awarded by the Department of Public Instruction. The website article is below:
As unemployment rises due to a troubled economy, library patronage is rising. This projects aims to address the first trend by building the capacity of the second. The economic hardship that Wisconsin residents are facing falls hardest on low-income and high-poverty communities. Libraries are critical to meeting economic recovery needs such as job training, financial literacy, home loss prevention, and legal assistance.
AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) members placed in libraries across the state have established job training centers, connected libraries and patrons with relevant community resources, developed financial literacy programs, and worked with library staff and community members to eliminate barriers to employment including education level, transportation, and access to computers and the internet.
AmeriCorps VISTA members Sara Byrnes and Josh Cowles were instrumental in helping the Fond du Lac Public Library create the Opportunity Center, which provides library services to displaced workers. Byrnes and Cowles have been offering Job Smart U classes for the community. The classes help individuals gain important skills in the job search including resume writing, interviewing, financial literacy, re-entering the work force as older adults, and computer skills. The courses are offered free of charge and taught by volunteers recruited by Byrnes and Cowles.
Key partners in this work include the Volunteer Center, the Job Center, and the University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac. Opportunity Center use has increased by 62% since it opened and more than 200 individuals have taken classes through the Job Smart U program. Additionally, within their first month of service, the VISTAs secured Library Services and Technology Act grant that funded a mobile computer lab, bringing the library services and employment training to surrounding county libraries.
Library Director Ken Hall commented, "With assistance from our VISTA volunteers and the increased communication between libraries, we hope to use these programs to make a real difference for people who could benefit from our help."
2. YALSA OPENS REGISTRATION, MINI-GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR TEEN READ WEEK 2010
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), launched its Teen Read Week® 2010 Web site at http://www.ala.org/teenread on April 15 (Support Teen Literature Day). In addition to free registration, visitors to the Teen Read Week® Web site can find activity ideas relating to this year's theme, planning resources, publicity tools, and applications for Teen Read Week® mini grants.
Teen Read Week® will be celebrated October 17-23, with a theme of Books with Beat @ your library®, which encourages teens to read poetry, audiobooks, books about music, and more, for the fun of it.
3. ALA ANNOUNCES AMERICAN DREAM STARTS @ YOUR LIBRARY® GRANT RECIPIENTS
Seventy public libraries in 21 states have been selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to receive $5,000 grants as part of "The American Dream Starts @ your library®" literacy initiative. This initiative is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. The two Wisconsin grant awards went to:
Madison Public Library, South Central Library System
Portage County Public Library
The grant recipients include libraries in large cities and rural towns throughout Dollar General's market area. The grant funds will be used by the libraries to build innovative literacy services for adult English language learners living and working in their communities. The libraries will expand their print and digital literacy collections, offer classes and conversation clubs, develop mobile tech labs and reach out to immigrant organizations. A complete list of the winning libraries is available at http://www.ala.org/americandream.
4. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day -- http://www.nelsonearthday.net/ -- April 22, 2010, is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Historical Society have launched a comprehensive website commemorating the date using the archived papers of Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day.
5. CALENDAR
April 1-30, 2010 - School Library Month
April 20-23, 2010 - Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians (WAAL) conference, Milwaukee
April 28-30, 2010 - Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries (WAPL) annual conference, Sheboygan
April 29-30, 2010 - School Library Staffing Summit, Rothschild
May 10-11, 2010 - WiscNet conference, Madison
May 14, 2010 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Milwaukee
May 17, 2010 - Delivery Services Advisory Committee (DSAC) meeting, Madison
June 24-29, 2010 - American Library Association conference, Washington, D.C.
==================================================
To access previous issues of Channel Weekly, or to subscribe or unsubscribe,
go to: http://channel.dpi.wi.gov/chn_chweekly
==================================================
Roslyn M. Wise
Editor, Channel Weekly
Department of Public Instruction
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (609) 267-9207
For questions about this information, contact Roslyn Wise (608) 266-6439