Consulting

Senate Bill 58 Update

As of this writing Senate Bill 58, which is now the “Parental Bill of Rights” bill has been vetoed by Governor Kelly. The Senate overrode the Governor’s veto (27 – 12) however the House did not receive the 2/3 needed to override the veto (72 – 50) short of the 84 votes needed to override the veto. Therefore, the bill has been officially vetoed by Governor Kelly and the veto stands.

May’s “Talks with Ted” Date

For those that have been keeping up with Auto-Graphics (Verso) and the Talks with Ted series the next date has been released. It will be on May 10, 2022 at 10:00 am Central Time. This is the time where our librarians can ask Ted questions concerning Verso. To join in on the session follow this link to register. If you would like to send in your question ahead of the session you can do so at this link.

New PSA’s for Oceans of Possibilities Summer Library Program

The Collaborative Summer Library Program has produced two new PSA’s for libraries to use as PR pieces on their website or Facebook Page. Below are the two versions that are available for 2022.

myLibro Session Scheduled

Consulting

April 22 Full Board Meeting

The next Full Board meeting is coming up this next Friday, April 22. The board meeting is a hybrid meeting you can attend by coming to the Dodge City Public Library or through Zoom. The meeting will begin at approximately 10:00 am. If you haven’t registered yet you can do so at this link. The Zoom link to attend virtually is at this link.

2022-2023 APPLE Participants

Meet the current class that just began April 12, of APPLE. Savanah Moomaw, Director of Lane County Library, Sara Munn, Director of Plains Community Library, and Sara Koehn, Director of Haskell Township Library. The four of us spent the last two day at Rock Springs Ranch for the kick off of the Class’ next year of workshops that various System Directors, Consultants and Library Professionals instruct. We wish them all a good year of learning and continued support from the System Office during their studies.

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Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL

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March’s CatExpress Usage Report / Link

4/12 Train U.P.! Two Topic Tuesday

How to print your own library cards + VERSO: How to print your own barcodes – Directions and recording / Link

Our April 6th workshop in Dodge City was a success! We are grateful to Dr. Marche’ and Erica Young for being our special guests. Additionally, Baker & Taylor has kindly provided us with lists of DEI bestsellers, divided by age group. Complete information about each title is present, including ISBN, publisher, summary, etc. / Link

Last year, Kelly Easton, Sara Koehn (Haskell), and Casandra Norrin (SCCC) formed a DEI Planning Team to prepare for this workshop, and we will now be called the SWKLS DEI Task Force. Monthly, via Zoom, we hope to arrange for guest speakers, share collection development ideas, write policy documents, create title challenge forms, discuss intellectual freedom, and support ALA’s freedom to read. If you’re ready to become involved in the movement towards greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in our libraries (and planet), email Kelly to join. All are welcome!

Consulting

SB 496 & HB 2662 have become SB 58

Senate Bill 496 and House Bill 2662 have become Senate Bill 58. This new version keeps the language of SB 496 (paraphrasing) that a parent has a right to see what their child is being taught and the parent has the ability to lodge a reconsideration of materials used in School Districts. Both Houses have approved Conference Committee Reports (Agree to Disagree) as of April 1, 2022. As of this writing this is the last activity on SB 58.

Mystery Writing Workshop Possibility for a Library Program

Steven Kolbe contacted the System Office and asked that the Office relay that he and his family are traveling the State during the last two weeks of June and are scheduling his Mystery Writing Workshop with different libraries along the way. He has extended an invitation to any library to possibly schedule a workshop at your library by reaching out to him for a possible date. Since he is already in the area he states that he would only charge mileage between libraries as the cost of the workshop. You will need to visit with Steven for particulars.

Steven already has Dodge City Public Library booked. If you are interested please contact him for more information at KolbeStevenJ@gmail.com or visit his website with this link.

Library Patrons Privacy Niche Academy Webinar

On Wednesday, April 20 at 1:00 pm Central Time, the Niche Academy is offering another free webinar. This webinar is over “Library Patrons’ Privacy: How to Navigate Concerns with Emerging Technology”.

“It is imperative not only to ensure that patrons have an excellent experience, but also that their rights to privacy and intellectual freedom are protected.” This webinar will address these issues in a library setting as we continue to stay up to date on emerging technologies for our patrons while still considering their rights.

If you are interested in attending the webinar you can register at this link.

Technology

Consulting

Southwest Kansas Library System has 4 Library Journal Star Libraries

This year’s America’s Star Libraries – Library Journal Index of Public Library Service of 2021 has 12 libraries from the state of Kansas on the Index. The Southwest Kansas Library System has four in our region. We want to congratulate the following libraries that are on the Star Index for their level of budget: Cimarron City Library with 5 Stars; Hamilton County Library with 4 Stars; Greeley County Library with 3 Stars; and Lane County Library with 3 Stars!

We are proud to have these libraries represent the Southwest Kansas Library System on Library Journals Star Library Index!

National Library Week is Here!

If you haven’t already planned some activities for next week, make sure you do. National Library Week is here again! We’d love to hear what your library did to celebrate for 2022.

One recommendation from the Kansas Library Association is to “share stories and photos on your library’s social media pages. Tag your elected officials” so they can see that the library is an active place. It’s not all about books anymore, but people talking and attending programs within your community.

Reader Zone Application is not Offered this Year

For the past two years the State Library of Kansas through one of the Pandemic grants purchased Reader Zone for the State’s libraries to use. This grant has expired. The State Regional System Youth Library consultants are using this current year to look at the different companies type of library reading applications that might be included in future year’s. So for all of our libraries that used Reader Zone the past two years it is back to the old with recording books read for the Summer Library Program.

Recipe for Success in the School Library Workshop

We don’t have many school librarians that are on the System’s ListServs. If you, as librarians in your local communities, can pass this workshop along to your school librarians it would be appreciated.

Northwest Kansas Library System is having a Zoom Workshop “Recipe for Success in the School Library” presented by Amy Brownlee. “Amy will discuss the ingredients needed for a successful library program with a buffet of resources and strategies to appeal to every palate.” The workshop will be May 12, 2022 through Zoom. If you register for the workshop you will also receive a link to the recorded session so you can go back and review for things you might have missed during the live Zoom session.

If you are interested it will be May 12, 2022, starting at 9:00 am and last through 11:00 am. To register follow this link.

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Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL

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This workshop will be held exclusively in-person.

We are unable to provide recordings, due to nature of this workshop.