Channel Weekly, Vol. 14, No. 36, June 21, 2012

1. County reimbursement requests must be submitted by July 1
2. 2013 LSTA information grant writing training session
3. BadgerLink announces updates to EbscoHost Curriculum module
4. Summer Fun with BadgerLink Games
5. Applications being accepted for library public programming grants for Civil War 150
6. Weathering the Storm: U.S. Public Libraries Infographic
7. Website of the Week -- iNaturalist
8. Calendar
=================================================

1. COUNTY REIMBURSEMENT REQUESTS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY JULY 1

Public libraries eligible to receive county reimbursement for library services under Wisconsin Statutes 43.12, are reminded that they should submit necessary information by July 1, 2012, for their 2013 reimbursement.

Wis. Stats. 43.12(2) states:
"By July 1 of each year, each public library lying in whole or in part in a county shall provide a statement to the county clerk of that county and to the county clerk of each adjacent county, other than a county with a population of at least 500,000, that reports the number of loans of material made by that library during the prior calendar year to residents of the county, or adjacent county, who are not residents of a municipality that maintains a public library under s. 43.52 or 43.53 and the total number of loans of material made by that library during the previous calendar year."
To receive reimbursement by March 1, 2013, you must provide the following information to the county clerks by July 1, 2012. The relevant information can be found in the library's 2011 Public Library Annual Report and includes:
-- The number of loans of material in 2011 to residents in the county who do not live in municipalities that maintain public libraries.
-- The library's total 2011 circulation.
-- The library's total 2011 operating expenditures (exclude capital expenditures of federal funds).

In some regions, the public library's regional library system may either submit the request on behalf of the member library, or may facilitate the request for reimbursement by compiling necessary information. In other regions, the public libraries directly submit their own requests to the county clerks. Information on county public library funding under both Act 150 and Act 420 is available on the Department of Public Instruction's website at http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/act150.html.


2. 2013 LSTA INFORMATION GRANT WRITING TRAINING SESSION

There is still time to register for the 2013 LSTA grant-writing information session being held Thursday, June 28, 2012, from 10-11:30 a.m. Non-competitive categories are Delivery Services and Public Library System Technology Projects. In 2013, there will be four (4) competitive grant categories that include: Digital Creations in Public Libraries (new in 2013); Digitization-Local Resources; Accessibility in Public Libraries; Literacy Initiatives. If you would like to participate in the webinar, contact Terrie Howe (teresa.howe@dpi.wi.gov) to obtain instructions to join. The recorded information session will be posted to the web shortly following the live session.

Grant category descriptions are located in the final version of the 2013 LSTA Information and Guidelines located at http://www.dpi.wi.gov/pld/pdf/guide13.pdf. If you are looking for help developing a project, visit the LSTA Grant Writing: Evaluation to Measure Impact section on the LSTA website (http://www.dpi.wi.gov/pld/lsta.html). Also online is a worksheet example of a successful LSTA grant application's essential elements and a blank form for use as a model; it can be found at http://www.dpi.wi.gov/pld/doc/lsta2013worksheet.doc.


3. BADGERLINK ANNOUNCES UPDATES TO EBSCOHOST CURRICULUM MODULE

BadgerLink is pleased to announce that the EBSCOhost Curriculum module has been updated!
Curriculum Standards, including Common Core Standards, are now a part of the following interfaces:
  • Student Research Center (Teacher Resources section)
  • Kids Search (Teachers Resources section)
  • Searchasaurus (Teachers Resources section)
  • History Reference Center (Reference Shelf feature area)
  • Science Reference Center (Reference Shelf feature area)
The Curriculum Standards module contains over 1,050 standards aligned to the curriculum for specific U.S. states and U.S. Common Core. For details on how best to use the Curriculum Standards application, please review this FAQ: How to use the Curriculum Standards Application.

The Common Core Standards and Common Core correlated materials are also available in Teachingbooks.net and Encyclopædia Britannica. Please visit BadgerLink's Training page to learn more about how you can use BadgerLink in your classroom! http://www.badgerlink.net/training.html

If you have questions about Badgerlink, please complete the BadgerLink Technical Support Request Form: http://dpi.wi.gov/rll/bl_sup.asp


4. SUMMER FUN WITH BADGERLINK GAMES

Studies show that students who do not engage in educational activities during the summer typically score lower on tests at the end of summer than they did at the beginning. Summer learning loss is a very real phenomenon and can affect all children. It is estimated that two or three months of learning can be lost over summer vacation. Three months of education constitutes a significant portion of the educational school year!

It is very important that students participate in summer educational activities. BadgerLink (http://www.badgerlink.net) provides access to online learning games and modules, book recommendations, and information. BadgerLink is available to all Wisconsin residents and is accessible from home, work, and from libraries of all types!

Encyclopædia Britannica, in addition to great articles, has Learning Zone which is comprised of fun games that help kids (ages 4-7) learn. Additionally, Encyclopædia Britannica provides access to educational games in the "Learning Materials" section of Elementary School Edition, Middle School Edition, and High School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica is also available on mobile devices!

LearningExpress Library provides test preparation and skill building for children, teens, and adults. Kids can practice their math skills, learn about grammar, prepare for the SAT or ACT, practice for AP tests, and more!

NoveList and NoveList K-8 provide book recommendations, book lists, and book discussion guides for fiction books. Find what book you want to read next!

TeachingBooks provides multimedia for K-12 books. Watch a video of your favorite author. Watch a book trailer. Listen to a section of the book as read by the author. Find book lists and book discussion guides.

One study indicated that just reading 4-6 books over the summer helps readers maintain their skills, and reading 10-20 helps readers improve their skills. Summer reading incentive programs across the state provide a variety of enriching activities at no or very low cost to library patrons. Art, music, hands on science, and storytelling programs engage young minds and accommodate diverse learners and learning styles. Many summer reading programs also offer adult programming. For more information about learning loss or this year's library program theme go to http://pld.dpi.wi.gov/pld_slp.html.

Don't let summer be a lost learning opportunity! Go to the BadgerLink Home page at http://www.badgerlink.net or visit your public library and let the games and fun begin!

If you need BadgerLink Technical Support, please complete the BadgerLink Technical Support Request Form: http://rl3.dpi.wi.gov.

If you have questions about searching BadgerLink, please contact Kara Ripley, the BadgerLink Training Librarian, at kara.ripley@dpi.wi.gov.


5. APPLICATIONS BEING ACCEPTED FOR LIBRARY PUBLIC PROGRAMMING GRANTS FOR CIVIL WAR 150

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, in partnership with The Library of America, is now accepting applications from libraries and National Park historic sites for grants to develop public programming around the free traveling panel exhibition Civil War 150. The exhibition is part of Civil War 150: Exploring the War and Its Meaning through the Words of Those Who Lived It, a major three-year project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project is centered on the four-volume Library of America series The Civil War Told by Those Who Lived It and includes a collection of readers (discussion guides) drawn from the series.

Fifty sites selected by competitive application to host the Civil War 150 exhibition will each be awarded a grant of $1,000 to plan accompanying public programming. The exhibition is available for three-week periods from October 2012 to March 2015. Hosting sites will also receive supporting interpretive and contextual materials, including the Civil War 150 readers and access to a multimedia website with robust digital resources. Public, academic, and special libraries as well as National Park historic sites are invited to submit applications for the public programming grants and exhibition. The application deadline is July 15, 2012. To apply, please visit http://www.gilderlehrman.org/civilwar150grant.


6. WEATHERING THE STORM: US PUBLIC LIBRARIES INFOGRAPHIC

Public libraries continue to transform lives by providing critical services and innovative solutions to technology access, in spite of years of cumulative budget cuts. An infographic from the American Library Association's Office for Research and Statistics informs library patrons about how public libraries have weathered the storm. A link is included for embedding the graphic in your library website. The infographic can be found at http://www.ala.org/research/plftas/2011_2012/weatheringthestorm.

7. WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

iNaturalist.org -- http://www.inaturalist.org/ -- iNaturalist.org began in 2008 as a final Masters degree project for a group of students at the University of California-Berkeley. The site offers a place for visitors to record and share online what they observe in nature and to learn about the natural world. (Website reference courtesy of refdesk.com)


8. CALENDAR

July 13, 2012 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Hartford

September 14, 2012 - Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) meeting, Oshkosh

October 23-26, 2012 - Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) annual conference, La Crosse

==================================================
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 and Technology
PO Box 7841
Madison, WI 53707-7841
Phone: (608) 266-6439
FAX: (608) 267-9207
For questions about this information, contact Roslyn Wise (608) 266-6439