February 28, 2024 – 1 pm – 2 pm CST – Best Picture Books Published in 2023 for Ages 1-6 Webinar/Registration Link
Feburary 29, 2024 – NON-Public Library ILL Survey is DUE
March 5, 2024 – 10 am – 3 pm – Tech Workshop: Social Media at Dodge City Public Library in the Lower Level Meeting Room/Registration Link
March 12, 2024 – 2 pm – 3 pm – Twosday Takeaway: BookTok, Bookstagrams, & YouTube Book Trailers/Registration Link
March 15, 2024 – 10 am – SWKLS Hybrid Board Meeting at Jetmore Public Library
March 15, 2024 – SWKLS Sampler Day following the board meeting at Jetmore Public Library
Consulting
By Sara Wilson
March’s Twosday Takeaway
BookTok, Bookstagrams, & YouTube Book Trailers
Are you wanting to find new ways to connect with your patrons online? Let SWKLS Technology Trainer Chris Dressler get you geared up to facilitate Book Discussion Groups on your social media pages! Register here!
SWKLS Hybrid Board Meeting & Sampler Day
March 15th, we will be having a hybrid board meeting at Jetmore Public Library, followed by SWKLS Sampler Day!
What’s SWKLS Sampler Day? The staff of SWKLS will all be available to provide on-the-spot training, demonstrations, and advice on topics of your choosing. Whether you want to know about website management, the new cataloging interface, marketing, library issues in government, programming ideas, budgeting, or whatever – bring your laptop, notebook, and any questions you may have. You’ll have us all to yourselves!
Lunch will be provided. Registration will be available next week. You won’t want to miss out on this fun, educational opportunity. See you then!
Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL
By Sara Wilson
Collection Development Inspiration
Adult Fiction
Children’s & YA Fiction
For ILLers:SHAREit Update 02/20
SHAREit was updated on Tuesday, February 20th. Please see the release notes posted below, which were sent out by SHAREit Product Manager Deborah Hensler, to see what was addressed in the update.
VERSO was updated on Tuesday, February 20th. Please see the release notes posted below, which were sent out by VERSO Product Manager Rae Schneider, to see what was addressed in the update.
Phishing is a technique through email that cybercriminals use to gain access to personal, private, or sensitive information like bank accounts, credit cards, browser histories, or a total remote takeover of your computer. This includes access to your social media accounts and may even create mirror/copies of them. The goal is to identify a phishing email before you fall victim to the crime. Most of these cybercriminals go unpunished for these crimes.
A request for information like a personal information or simply a reply to the email.
Buttons to click
Attachments. Usually malware.
Links to other websites.
Spelling and grammar mistakes.
For one example in the images to the left, the email account it was sent from (noreply@coin…) and the actual address (bakarjadejumoxdrew@…) which do not match and therefore is not trustworthy. Based off of that bit of information (let alone the generic greeting, the attachment with a strange name, and the poor grammar) delete this email immediately.
February 22, 2024 – 4 pm – 5 pm CST – Switching it Up! Creating a Video Game Collection for Your Library Webinar/Registration Link
February 23, 2024 – 10 am – 3 pm CST – Summer Reading Workshop Featuring Will Stuck/Registration Link
February 28, 2024 – 1 pm – 2 pm CST – Best Picture Books Published in 2023 for Ages 1-6 Webinar/Registration Link
Feburary 29, 2024 – NON-Public Library ILL Survey is DUE
March 5, 2024 – 10 am – 3 pm – Tech Workshop: Social Media at Dodge City Public Library in the Lower Level Meeting Room/Registration Link
March 12, 2024 – 2 pm – 3 pm – Twosday Takeaway: BookTok, Bookstagrams, & YouTube Book Trailers/Registration Link
March 15, 2024 – 10 am – SWKLS Hybrid Board Meeting at Jetmore Public Library
March 15, 2024 – SWKLS Sampler Day following the board meeting at Jetmore Public Library
Consulting
By Sara Wilson
March’s Twosday Takeaway
BookTok, Bookstagrams, & YouTube Book Trailers
Are you wanting to find new ways to connect with your patrons online? Let SWKLS Technology Trainer Chris Dressler get you geared up to facilitate Book Discussion Groups on your social media pages! Register here!
Image provided by pexels.com contributor juan mendez
Kansas Bills that have been Introduced – Richard Brookman
It’s been a whirlwind for the start of the year with Legislative Day mixed in and producing different programs for Library Board training and beyond. During Legislative day I was able to visit with 9 out of the 10 Senators and/or Representatives that make up our area. With the upcoming election coming up for all of the legislators we have at least 1 that will be moving out of our area with the redrawing of the map. Senator Straub mentioned to me that her area and being changed and Senator Doll will be picking up what she used to have in our area.
I was able to have roughly 15 minutes of each of their time at the Capitol. I introduced myself to each Legislator from being the System Representative and that led into how the Systems are structured and the mission to support our member libraires. I mentioned about funding for our libraries and how if State Aid was increased and given a base level how it would help the libraries. Within these conversations I was able to work in stories that were sent in or told to me. Thank you for doing that for me.
Some bills that have been introduced either last year that carried over and some that were introduced this year that are of interest to the library community:
HB 2176 – was introduced last year and has been moved to the Senate Committee on Local Government. This is the bill that would wave the statute for Arkansas City Public Library and Udall Public Library to form districts. The committee had a hearing on February 15 to continue discussion of this topic. The main thing here is that I asked the Senators from our area that are on that committee to look over the pros and cons for what this bill would do in funding. It would help the local library, but be mindful that it would take funding away from the Central Library System to support it’s mission.
HB 2573 – has been introduced this year and has been referred to the Committee on Taxation. This bill’s short title is “Requiring certain libraries that have budgets approved by taxing subdivisions to be subject to the revenue neutral rate independent of the taxing subdivision.” The way this would effect our profession is that each type of library would have to have there own separate RNR hearings from their local governments and be subject to all requirements set forth with the RNR.
HB 2700 – has been introduced in this session and has been referred to the Committee on Education with a hearing set on February 14. The short title for this bill is “Establishing the school library rating system task force to develop a rating system for materials available to students in public school libraries and requiring school districts to implement such rating system.
This is a fairly short bill and if passed the task force would contain: 1 member appointed by the State Board of Education; 3 members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives (1 being a member of the House, 1 being a parent of a student enrolled in a public school, and 1 from a school districts board or superintendent); 1 appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives from the House; 2 appointed by the president of the Senate (1 being a member of the Senate and 1 being a parent of a student enrolled in a public school); 1 appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate from the Senate; and 1 appointed from the Kansas Association of School Librarians that is a School Librarian.
Many expect that if this bill does get passed and goes to the Governor’s desk that it will be vetoed.
SB 358 – is another short bill that has been introduced during this session and has been referred to the Committee on Federal and State Affairs. No hearing has been set for this bill at the time of this writing. The short title of this bill is “Prohibiting school districts and local libraries from prohibiting, banning or restricting books or other media unless certain requirements are met.”
This is one that librarians are pleased to see introduced, but it is uncertain if it will gain any traction. There is some wording that is questionable, described below. Still it is nice to see someone try to help libraries during this time.
For both school or public libraries their has to be at least 5% of qualified voters in the school district or locality of the library have to sign onto a request to prohibit, ban or restrict the media. This low percentage has some librarians concerned.
The other section of this bill for both school or public libraries is the wording of “age-based restriction on obscene or pornographic material.” The courts have defined “obscene” however the courts have not defined “pornographic” or porn. The reason that this hasn’t been defined is because what one person thinks is porn might not be what another person thinks is porn.
You’ve heard of Sip ‘n Paint or Paint Parties. Switch it up with a Glow in the Dark Paint Party! Popular with teens, glow in the dark paint parties are a fun, simple, and memorable way to get creative! Read this library’s experience to see how they pulled it off. Maybe you could try it at your library!
Additional Sharing about SHAREit webinars are scheduled for:
Wednesday, March 20
Wednesday, April 25
Wednesday, May 22
The link to register for each session will be sent about a month in advance.
Technology
by Christopher Dressler
MS Publisher EOL in Office and O365
“On February 15, 2024, Microsoft announced that Publisher will reach its end of life on October 13, 2026. After this date, Publisher will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 plans, and existing on-premises installations will no longer be supported. This date will mark the end of Publisher as a standalone Microsoft program since its initial release in 1991.”
Don’t fret though. If you have been using Publisher for signage and marketing, there are alternatives. One such alternative that I have been using is called Canva. A basic version is free to use at https://www.canva.com/. If you are interest in a Canva Basics presentation, there is a training event scheduled for March 5th, 2024 at the Dodge City Public Library. You can sign up on UBMe here.
On Wednesday, January 31st librarians and library lovers from across the state gathered at the state capitol and the State Library of Kansas for the Kansas Library Association’s Legislative Day. Nearly 30 advocates were on-site, engaging with legislators and attending committee meetings and chamber proceedings. Senator Cindy Holscher and Representative Mark Schreiber addressed remarks to the attendees. THANK YOU to everyone who attended!
Rolla Library’s First Story Hour of the Year Off to a Lovely Start
Future Dates & Training Opportunities
February 13, 2024 – 2 pm – 3 pm CST – Twosday Takeaway: Benfits of Children’s Pictureless Books/Registration Link
Feburary 13, 2024 – 9 am – 3 pm CST – SWKLS In-Office Clinic/Registration Link
February 22, 2024 – 4 pm – 5 pm CST – Switching it Up! Creating a Video Game Collection for Your Library Webinar/Registration Link
February 23, 2024 – 10 am – 3 pm CST – Summer Reading Workshop Featuring Will Stuck/Registration Link
February 28, 2024 – 1 pm – 2 pm CST – Best Picture Books Published in 2023 for Ages 1-6 Webinar/Registration Link
Feburary 29, 2024 – NON-Public Library ILL Survey is DUE
Consulting
By Sara Wilson
February’s Twosday Takeaway
Picture This: Benefits of Pictureless Children’s Books
Join SWKLS Consultant/Program Coordinator Sara Wilson as she shares with you the many benefits of providing pictureless books and services to the blind and vision impaired in your community. SWKLS Director Richard Brookman will also be sharing Talking Books resources for the blind and vision impaired that are available to your library. This presentation is in affiliation with the SWKLS DEI Taskforce. Register Here!
Read Your Way to CE Credits
We love to remind our patrons and communities how vital reading is – let’s also remind ourselves! You can earn continuing education credits for the time you spend reading books from our Professional Collection and brushing up on your skills and knowledge. We have some great options in our collection – all the way from strategic planning to podcasting with youth – there’s sure to be something to spark your interest and help you grow in librarianship. Scroll on down to the Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL section to see what’s new!
Kansas Talking Books Display-In-A-Box Kit
The State Library of Kansas is offering a display-in-a-box kit to those librarians who wish to celebrate Kansas Talking Books Week: Your Perfect Fit, March 4-8. The kit includes a digital player and cartridge, brochures, applications, signs, and other information. It’s got everything you need to set up an attention-getting display! All you have to do to take advantage of this opportunity is to fill out this order form. The kits will start shipping out on February 12th. For more information, please contact KTB@ks.gov or 1-800-362-0699
Environmentally Friendly Fidget Toy Craft
If you’re looking for something fun to do with the iREAD “Read, Renew, Repeat” summer library theme, here’s an idea! Tweens and teens can enjoy this fully biodegradable, mesmerizing fidget toy that they can make themselves with some colored paper and some strategic folding. This inexpensive activity would make for a great add-on to a program or even a self-directed program.
February is Library Lovers’ Month and we love our libraries, our librarians, and all the hard work that you put in every day. Thank you for all the wonderful things that you do to enrich and inspire our SW Kansas communities.
The following titles have been added to our Professional Collection this past week and are available for checkout! Just a reminder – SWKLS Collections are available and open to ALL library personnel to check out. If you see a book below that you would like to check out, please just have your ILL personnel request it on SHAREit, call our office, or shoot me an email. We’ll send it to you on the courier! To see if anyone has it currently checked out, just click the image of the book and it will take you to the record in our catalog.
For Catalogers Using Cat Express: WorldShare Record Manager Training
As you are aware, Cat Express will be discontinued April 30th. You should have received an email from OCLC with your personalized URL and login information for WorldShare Record Manager.
I will be conducting some training sessions on this – I hope to have them ready to go this month and I’ll reach out to you when that happens. In the meantime, OCLC has a very detailed training video on copy cataloging in WorldShare Record Manager as well as an accompanying Learner Guide that features some exercises to get you more familiar with the platform.
I strongly encourage everyone who catalogs in your library to view this training video and complete the exercise/quiz at the end.
A couple of notes about the video: you are set up with the Simplified Cataloging role and we will be adding local data. However, we don’t print from OCLC, so that part is not anything to be concerned with.
Once you watch the video, let me know so you can get CE credit! You will also get credit for any time that you spend reading the Learner Guide and doing the quiz, so be sure to report those to me as well.
Please write down any questions that you have so we can go over them at a future training event. Thank you!
For ILLers:
SHAREit Update
SHAREit was updated on Tuesday, February 6th. SHAREit Product Manger Deborah Hensler shared with us what was addressed in the update. Please see the document linked below.
Caroline Handwork of NEKLS has informed us that some libraries have joined the courier or changed their shipping arrangements. Therefore, you will need to update your lender lists to reflect those changes. Please see the copied text from her email below for details:
Garden City Community College/KS356 has joined Kansas Library Express! They will receive 3 day/week direct service.
*Also, North Central Kansas Library System/KS355 now has their own shipping label. They will receive indirect service via Manhattan Public Library. Manhattan Public Library/KS201 also has new shipping labels.
1) Please throw out the shipping labels that read “Manhattan Public Library/ NC KS Lib Sys” and print off the new labels that read “Manhattan Public Library/KS201”.
2) Please print out the new shipping labels for the “North Central Kansas Library System/KS355”
3) Please print out shipping labels for “Garden City Community College/KS356”.
Please be sure to update your courier lender lists in Shareit!
The circulation by user type report has been updated to resolve the issues regarding the library selector. The library selector has been correctly mapped to the transaction location to display the number of items circulated at the selected library.
AG-2899
The circulation by material type report has been updated to resolve the issues regarding the library selector. The library selector has been correctly mapped to the transaction location to display the number of items circulated at the selected library.
AG-2923
The circulation by collection type report has been updated to resolve the issues regarding the library selector. The library selector has been correctly mapped to the transaction location to display the number of items circulated at the selected library.
AG-2930
In UX Admin > Settings > Design > Logo and Title under the “Branding Information” dropdown menu, libraries can select “Use Library Name,” “Use Image,” “Use Custom Text,” or “Use Image and Text” for the branding information displayed in the upper left corner of the header. Only the first two options, “Use Library Name” and “Use Image,” were working as expected if the library had not previously used custom text and/or images in UX Admin. This has been fixed so that all options are working as expected.
AG-2961
On full records with MARC 856 tags (Electronic Location and Access), the “Online Content” box was displaying when the “856 – Electronic Location” field was not configured to display in the Details section on the full record. With this release, the “Online Content” box will only display if the “856 – Electronic Location” field is configured to display. The display of the “856 – Electronic Location” field on the Details screen of the full record is configured in Pac Admin > Full Record Display Profiles.
IMPROVED
AG-2836 Improvements to “Title Exact” and “Title Begins With” searches
Improvements were made to search functionality when using the “Title Exact” or “Title Begins With” search index. Search results have been optimized when searching for short titles with common words such as ‘the great’ or ‘water.’
Technology
by Christopher Dressler
SWKLS In-office Tech Clinic and Business Workday
February 13th and April 9th
Our staff will also provide mini-training sessions and technology demonstrations on various topics throughout the day. Our office capacity is limited to 6 individuals each day. Start and end times will be 9am to 3pm, and attendees may come and leave at their discretion. Lunch breaks will be tentatively 11:30am and 12:30pm on your own or bring lunch with you.
February 2, 2024 – 2 pm – 3 pm CST – Library QuickBooks Users Discussion: Transition from Desktop to Online/Registration Link
February 5, 2024 – State Reports DUE
February 7, 2024 – 10 am CST – SEKLS Summer Library Program 2024 Adult Idea Share (on Zoom)/Registration Link
February 13, 2024 – 2 pm – 3 pm CST – Twosday Takeaway: Benfits of Children’s Pictureless Books/Registration Link
Feburary 13, 2024 – 9 am – 3 pm CST – SWKLS In-Office Clinic/Registration Link
February 22, 2024 – 4 pm – 5 pm CST – Switching it Up! Creating a Video Game Collection for Your Library Webinar/Registration Link
February 23, 2024 – 10 am – 3 pm CST – Summer Reading Workshop Featuring Will Stuck/Registration Link
February 28, 2024 – 1 pm – 2 pm CST – Best Picture Books Published in 2023 for Ages 1-6 Webinar/Registration Link
Feburary 29, 2024 – NON-Public Library ILL Survey is DUE
Consulting
By Sara Wilson
February’s Twosday Takeaway
Picture This: Benefits of Pictureless Children’s Books
Join SWKLS Consultant/Program Coordinator Sara Wilson as she shares with you the many benefits of providing pictureless books and services to the blind and vision impaired in your community. SWKLS Director Richard Brookman will also be sharing Talking Books resources for the blind and vision impaired that are available to your library. This presentation is in affiliation with the SWKLS DEI Taskforce. Register Here!
State Reports
Whew! It’s been a whirlwind of a month, getting those state reports done but you DID IT!! 😀 Congratulations and high fives to all of you!! If you missed my email, please remember YOU CAN NOW SUBMIT YOUR REPORTS! Please don’t forget to go in and verify and submit your state survey. If you have any trouble at all, give me a call or email me at swilson@swkls.org and I’ll be happy to help you out.
Thank you again to the directors who volunteered their space for our state reports workdays! Teamwork makes the dream work!
Summer Library Program
Just a reminder that your CSLP summer reading merchandise is shipping out on the courier today! If you have any discrepencies with your order or you need more of anything, please give us a call and we’ll help get you squared away. The Summer Library Program Workshop is going to be held on the 2nd floor of the USD 443 Administration Building here in Dodge City on Friday, February 23rd, from 10 AM – 3 PM with registration beginning at 9:30 AM. Our guest speaker is the fabulous and funny Mr. Will Stuck, we are having pizza for lunch, and there will be tons of programming ideas shared and of course, prizes!! What’s not to love?! Register here and join us for the adventure! You won’t want to miss it.
Speaking of programming ideas, Swank has compiled a list of programming ideas especially for both the CSLP “Adventure Begins at Your Library” AND the iREAD “Read, Renew, Repeat” themes along with movie recommendations! To see their ideas, click here!
If you’re wondering how to make a fun, simple camping-themed decoration for your summer library program, see the video below:
From State Library of Kansas Resource Sharing Librarian Nikki Hansen:
Just a reminder that the NON-Public library ILL survey is due February 29, 2024 and can be filled out at the link below. Submitting ILL statistics is one of the requirements of KICNET membership, so please let me know if you need any assistance or think you won’t be able to make the deadline.
Additional Sharing about SHAREit webinars are scheduled for:
Wednesday, March 20
Wednesday, April 24
The link to register for each session will be sent about a month in advance.
Call for Issues to Bring to KILT
We are having a KILT meeting on February 15th. I am putting out a call for you to reach out to me with any issues or concerns that you would like me to bring up at the KILT meeting as your representative. This is an opportunity for you to communicate your issues directly with the state ILL hub, so please take advantage of this opportunity if you have issues that need addressing. Thank you!
For All VERSO Users: Versed in VERSO
From VERSO Product Manager Rae Schneider:
The next Versed in VERSO will be on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
The webinar’s theme will be “Reports and Statistics.”
If you or someone at your library has reporting needs, we’d like to go over your questions and feedback about VERSO’s current reporting and statistics capabilities.
The goals are to 1) provide strategies for getting at the data you need, 2) get insight into how we can improve our current functionality, and 3) share tips and tricks with each other.
If you have any “how do I …?” questions or “I wish I could…” comments related to reports and stats, please send an email to ras@auto-graphics.com and sls@auto-graphics.com.
If you have any other questions, please ask via the question for as usual, and we will be happy to answer VERSO questions as time permits: https://forms.office.com/r/K9BkzqFWUs
Our staff will also provide mini-training sessions and technology demonstrations on various topics throughout the day. Our office capacity is limited to 6 individuals each day. Start and end times will be 9am to 3pm, and attendees may come and leave at their discretion. Lunch breaks will be tentatively 11:30am and 12:30pm on your own or bring lunch with you.
