---

Future Dates & Training Opportunities

January 27, 2023 at 10 am – State Library Survey Workday at Scott County Library/Registration Link

March 4, 2022 – KASL Connect & Learn West District Workshop/Registration Link

---

Consulting

By Richard Brookman

---

KASL Connect & Learn West District Workshop

Hello Librarians!

We invite you to connect and learn with other librarians in Ulysses, Kansas on March 4^th.

This workshop is open to school librarians, public librarians and staff, and friends of libraries.

-Come meet author, Cindy Cook-Grant and illustrator, Beth Arnold-Demont as they share about their books featuring Gus the Therapy dog and more!

-Learn about hosting a Fairy Tale Fair at your library!

-Lunch will be served!

-Connect with and learn from Richard Brookman (SWKLS) about book challenges and Kansas content curricular standards!

See flyer for details! March will be here before you know it so register today! Click on the flyer or here https://forms.gle/5BsJ5Ncyh8pDujUW6 to register.

Questions?

Contact Tammy Barb: tbarb@usd214.org or Jessica Dearden: jdearden@usd466.org

Early Childhood Transition Task Force

An Early Childhood Transition Task Force is being created with Executive Order 23-01. The task force will include representatives from a fairly board catagory. The Director of Appointments showed interest in considering librarians that might be interest.

If you are interested follow this link to the Initial Application. The task force won’t be included in the drop-down menu, but individuals can select “open to any board/commission” and they’ll note that it’s for the task force.

---

Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL

By Sara Wilson

---

Collection Development Inspiration

---

---

In literary news . . .

What’s Hot and What’s Not

It’s state reports time, and although we may all be knee-deep in statistics right now, here are some statistics for you to relax with that someone else has put together. 🙂 Publisher’s Weekly recently published statistics that they were able to pull from NPD Bookscan, a company that tracks book sales across the U.S. Here is a breakdown of what’s hot and what’s not, in today’s book marketplace.

According to 2022’s report, the most popular adult fiction genres were Romance, with a 52.4% increase in sales, Fantasy, with a 17.4% increase, and Horror, with an 8.7% increase. Following closely behind the leaders were Suspense/Thriller, Graphic Novels, and General Fiction. Action/Adventure, Classics, Mysteries, and Sci-Fi didn’t fare so well, with sales of these genres in the negatives.

Nonfiction took a nosedive as a whole in 2022, with every nonfiction sub-genre except Travel (which had a sales increase of 13.4%) reporting negative sales. The hardest hit was History/Law/Political Science with -20.8%. According to Publisher’s Weekly, “The big slide in history/law/political science was due in part [to] the lack of a huge bestseller to match 2021’s million-copy-selling American Marxism by Mark R. Levin” (Milliot, 2023, p. 12).

If these trends continue, it looks like it may be honeymoon season, as far as literature is concerned. Love and travel are where it’s at. It’s a good time to stock up your romance section with the latest from popular authors like Colleen Hoover, Meghan Quinn, and Lucy Score. You might also want to make sure your travel guides are up to date for all those with cabin fever, itching for a getaway. Beach read time will be here before you know it!

Milliot, J. (2023). Romance was hot in 2022. Publisher’s Weekly, 270(03), 12.

---

---

For VERSO Users . . .

From VERSO Product Manager Rae Schneider:

The video and annotated PowerPoint from the January Talks with Ted Q&A session have been posted.  They are available both in VERSO (Support Pages / VERSO) and on the Auto-Graphics Portal.

---

---

Future Dates & Training Opportunities

January 13, 2023 – 1 pm – State Library Survey Workday at Meade Public Library/Registration Link

January 16, 2023 – System Office Closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

January 18, 2023 at 1:00 pm – Niche Academy’s “Leveling Up Your Book Displays” Webinar/Registration Link

January 20, 2023 at 10:00 am – Online System Board Meeting/Registration Link & Zoom Link

January 23, 2023 at 10 am – State Library Survey Workday at System Office/Registration Link

January 27, 2023 at 10 am – State Library Survey Workday at Scott County Library/Registration Link

---

Consulting

By Richard Brookman

---

Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

On Monday, January 16, 2023, the System Office will be closed in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. The office will open again Tuesday morning at 8:00 am.

January System Board Meeting

The January SWKLS Board Meeting is an Online Meeting scheduled for Friday, January 20, 2023. We will begin at 10:00 am.

To register for the board meeting you may do so through this registration link and the Zoom Link is available here.

Kansas History Month

Take time this month to set up a display for Kansas History Month. You can do passive and regular programming with your communities by providing: 1) coloring pages (copyright free); 2) trivia question sheet or trivia night with questions all related to Kansas or individuals from Kansas; 3) have a movie night in the library showing a movie based in Kansas or adapted from a Kansas author’s book, and/or 4) a painting class for your community with an artist doing a sunflower.

Level Up Your Book Displays Webinar

What can I do to spruce up my book displays? To get ideas Niche Academy is having a webinar on this topic entitled “Level Up Your Book Displays”. The presenter is Faithe Miller Lakowicz and is on Wednesday, January 18 at 2:00 pm ET (1:00 pm CT). The webinar is to assist with this because, “a well-crafted display captures patrons’ attention, sparks imagination, and sends subtle (or not-so-subtle) messages about your library’s values and institutional culture.”

Attendees will come away with:, “practical approaches for maximizing the impact of book and media displays, including low-cost ‘hacks’ for maximizing visual appeal; highlighting diversity, equity, and inclusion; honoring an institutional voice;…and ensuring that displays are accessible and compelling for a variety of patrons.”

If you are interested in “Leveling Up your Book Displays” you can register through this link.

---

Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL

By Sara Wilson

---

Collection Development Inspiration

---

---

Introducing Our Upcoming Workshop . . .

*Details and registration information to come!

---

In literary news . . .

Bannerman Series Bought by AMC

John Maxim’s Bannerman books – a series of spy novels – may very soon end up as a TV show on AMC. The network purchased the rights to the series and announced their intentions, this week. Fans of the series will be pleased to know that the author will serve as consulting director on the project. If you haven’t purchased any of the Bannerman books, now is good time to stock up!

---

---

In Case You Missed It . . .

---

---

Member Spotlight

by SWKLS Staff

Plains Community Library STEAMs Up Programming & Makes Friends

From Sara Munn, Plains Community Library Director:

On December 15th, the library hosted an AR party for the 5th grade to close out the school year before starting the break.  This week, we received a public thank you from the school recognizing the library and its importance to the community as well as the newest items we have to offer.  The library has been working hard to gain community sponsors to add STEAM kits to the library.  This is going alongside my new goal of doing outreach with the school. All activities are STEAM-based.  We now offer 5 different ready-to-go STEAM kits along with 3D printing pens.  On the 15th, this was the first rollout of the 3D pens in the hands of students.  It was a huge success and very popular.  Starting in February, I will be doing regular lessons with the 5th grade using the different STEAM kits.  Third and fourth grade will follow.  We are so excited to offer these new kits and we will be using them this summer too for our Peace, Love, and Reading June program.  

The Library has relaunched a Friends Group and we are having a Friends of the Library recruitment dinner Monday, January 9th with guest speaker Amy Brucker.  Our Friends Group loves the TV show Friends so that is their theme.  The Friends of the Library motto is:  “The One Where We Promote Literacy & Inspire Community”.  We are thrilled to have a group and hope to gain even more members this month.  

Congratulations to Sara and staff!

---

Future Dates & Training Opportunities

January 10, 2023 – Train U.P. “Retention Schedule Pt 1/Registration Link & Zoom Link

January 13, 2023 – 1 pm – State Library Survey Workday at Meade Public Library/Registration Link

January 20, 2023 at 10:00 am – Online System Board Meeting/Registration Link & Zoom Link

January 23, 2023 at 10 am – State Library Survey Workday at System Office/Registration Link

January 27, 2023 at 10 am – State Library Survey Workday at Scott County Library/Registration Link

---

Consulting

By Richard Brookman

---

January Train UP: Library Retention Schedules

The monthly Train UP for January is next Tuesday at 2:00 pm. The topic will be a walkthrough of the Library Retention Schedule created by Chris Rippel, former consultant of the CKLS. You can still register through it using this link and this is the Zoom link we will be using that day.

January System Board Meeting

The January SWKLS Board Meeting is an Online Meeting scheduled for Friday, January 20, 2023. We will begin at 10:00 am.

To register for the board meeting you may do so through this registration link and the Zoom Link is available here.

2023 IRS Mileage Rate

The IRS has distributed the new mileage rate for 2023.  The rate has gone up to 65.5 cents per mile for business travel.  If you need a copy of the release for your library board or files you can access it through this link.

2022 State Library Survey Now Open & Workdays

The State Library Survey is now live and you can start entering data.  The Survey is due by February 5, 2023.  If you need an extension Ray, the State Librarian, informed the System directors that libraries will need to go through the System office. The System office will contact the State Library to inform them that a library needs more time and the reason why.

I also visited with Alice, LSTA & State Data Coordinator, about any new questions that have been added to the survey.  She mentioned that there have only been a few minor changes to the survey.

First is Programming, section 11.20

 – Number of views of recorded program content.  They have extended the data collection from 7 days to 30 days of viewership.

Second is State Aid, section 12.4

 – Indicate the amount of State Aid your library requests for state fiscal year 2025 (next budget cycle).  This question is new.  The State Library wants directors, within reason, to provide an amount if they could request it that they would like to receive in State Aid funds.  There is no guarantee that the library will receive this amount.  This is just information gathering at this point in time.

Alice did not mention that they would be conducting a webinar this year.  If they announce one I will forward the information to you.

The System Office is currently reviewing directions on how to retrieve data from Verso and gathering the website & wifi statistics to place on the Wiki.  Update will be available next week at the latest.

The System Office has scheduled 3 workdays for the 2022 State Library Survey.  If you would like a quiet place to do your data entry you can join me:

January 13, 1 pm – 5 pm, at Meade Public Library in Meade/Registration Link;

January 23, 10 am – 3 pm, at SWKLS Office in Dodge City/Registration Link; or

January 27, 10 am – 3 pm, at Scott County Library in Scott City/Registration Link.

I am also available for one-on-one sessions with any of you.  You can email me or call the office and we will schedule a date and time for me to come to your library.  

Our first year directors, I will be calling this week to set up dates and times, but the assistance is not limited to them.

---

Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL

By Sara Wilson

---

Collection Development Inspiration

---

---

In literary news, this week . . .

Royal Rumble! Prince Harry Tells All

Prince Harry, son of King Charles and the late Princess Diana, has written an explosive autobiography that those who follow the royal family will not want to miss! He pulls no punches in exposing his family’s drama and addresses such issues as that infamous Nazi outfit he wore to a party in his 20s, the question of his paternity, and of course, all the details of what life has been like growing up as a “spare.” Harry’s new book, The Spare, will be released January 10th.

---

---

Verso Users, In Case You Missed It:

From Auto-Graphics Product Manager Rae Schneider:

All,

Registration is now open for the January Talks with Ted Question and Answer webinar, to be held on Tuesday, January 10, 2022, at 11:00am Eastern (10:00am Central, 9:00am Mountain, 8:00am Pacific).

Use the URL below to register:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/1165596002130880779

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Send us your questions!  These webinars are more successful when you – our customers – send us your questions and concerns in advance.  Please send your questions using the following URL:   https://forms.office.com/r/6P4NyW3hNN

Sincerely,

Rae

ILLers, In Case You Missed It:

Please register for Sharing about SHAREit #12 on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET:

https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/1176925370764497411

In this Q&A we’ll answer more questions on managing ILL requests and other SHAREit questions. Please enter your question(s) on the registration form.

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the training.

---

Technology

By: Christopher Dressler

---

A New Addition

Chris is a graduate of Kansas Wesleyan University where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science. A noteworthy leader and team player with 20 years’ experience in IT and over 12 years’ experience at the Dodge City Public Library. In his free time, you will find him tinkering with a HAM radio, watching movies, playing with RC airplanes and trucks, and occasionally playing the saxophone in the community band.
– cdressler@swkls.org