System Spotlight
By Christopher Dressler
“Words of War: New Poems from Ukraine“
Discussion led by Dr. Galen Boehme
Poems read by Kinsley citizens
“Our Understanding Enhanced” – By Lyuba Curtis
It’s National Poetry Month and Joan Weaver (Director of the Kinsley Public Library) welcomed Lyuba Curtis to read “Our Understanding Enhanced”. She grew up in Kremenchuk, Ukraine but lived most of her life in the city of Kiev.
Future Dates & Training Opportunities
April 21, 2023, 10:00 am – SWKLS Hybrid Board Meeting at Dodge City Public Library/Registration Link – Zoom Link
April 26, 2023, 1:00 pm – Niche Academy “Display It! Kickstarting Library Exhibit Programs/Registration Link
May 5, 2023, 10:00 am – #TrendyLibrarian – Registration Link
Consulting
By Richard Brookman
April 21 System Board Meeting
If you haven’t signed up for next Friday’s System Board Meeting you can still do so at this link. The meeting will be held at the Dodge City Public Library upstairs in the Lois Flanagan Room. Lunch will be on your own if you come in person.
Then at roughly 1:00 pm we will have a Director’s Forum for discussion topics that you wish to share with the group. To encourage in-person attendance remember that any CE after the meeting is for those that attend the meeting and will not be recorded.
If you can’t come to the System Board Meeting you can attend through Zoom using this link.
Image provided by Pixabay.com contributor geralt
Scanning Items and Copyright
This past month Federal Judge John G. Koeltl ruled in the case of publishers against the Internet Archive. The ruling was in favor of the publishers stating that the scanning of books and lending on the internet, that the Internet Archive model presents, does not meet the “Fair Use” standards.
Some quick points the judge brought out were: 1) scanning the book did not have a transformative effect on the item; 2) “first sale argument” isn’t a factor as “in ReDigi, the Court of Appeals held that the first sale doctrine…does not include a right of reproduction”; 3) the model of the Internet Archive did have an impact on “market value”, because of the current e-content market and that the model incentivized libraries “ ‘to offer IA’s bootleg e-books’ rather than to ‘pay for authorized e-book licenses.’ ”
The judge did state that anything that is within the public domain can be scanned and distributed by libraries.
Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, has stated that they will be appealing the ruling.
So when scanning something for your local collection be sure to follow copyright law. This includes books and pictures.
Reference – “In a Swift Decision, Judge Eviscerates Internet Archive’s Scanning and Lending Program, Publishersweekly.com, Andrew Albanese, March 25, 2023. Reference link to read the full article.
Image provided by Pixabay.com contributor prverss
Webinar on Exhibits in Your Library
Niche Academy is offering a webinar entitled “Display It! Kickstarting Library Exhibit Programs”. This session will be on April 26 at 1:00 pm Central Time.
Patti Gibbons, co-author of Exhibits & Displays: A Practical Guide for Librarians, will be the presenter. The discussion will entail ways to kickstart and grow an exhibit program. Key points discussed will be: key exhibit development; curation; outreach advice; and tips to engage and “wow” visitors at your library.
If you are interested in attending “Display It! Kickstarting Library Exhibit Programs you can register at this link.
Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL
By Sara Wilson
Collection Development Inspiration
Adult Fiction
Children’s & YA Fiction
New Resources for You!
StoryWalk®s
These new StoryWalk®s are now available! The Little Blue Dragon is a bilingual (English/Spanish) StoryWalk®, A Chair for My Mother is an English-language StoryWalk®, and Un Sillón Para Mi Mama is the Spanish-language version.
Professional Collection
Fiction Core Collection has been updated to the newest edition. We’ve also added “Pairing STEAM with Stories: 46 Hands-On Activities for Children” for those of you looking for STEAM-centered children’s programming ideas. This book would pair nicely with the STEM Challenges card box we added to our STEAM Collection last week. 😉
In Literary News
Guardians of the Galaxy Expanded Upon in New Book
Fans of Guardians of the Galaxy will be excited to find out that a new book that expands upon the popular saga, Annihilation Conquest, will be coming out on June 27th. From Space.com: “We’re just a month away from the third and final installment of director James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie trilogy and only one week from the launch of Marvel Comics‘ new “Guardians of the Galaxy” ongoing series by writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly (“Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty”) with artist Kev Walker and its pivotal Grootfall story arc.” Click this link to read more.
Recent Book Challenge Issues Making the News
Libraries are feeling the impact of book challenges across the country. Here are some recent news reports involving book challenges and bans across the United States. (Special thanks to Sara Koehn, Director of Haskell Township Public Library and Sean Bird, Interim Dean of University Libraries at Washburn University for their contributions to this list!)
Illustrated Anne Frank Book Removed by Florida School
Canby School Meeting Turns Heated Over Book Ban Push
Book Ban Plan Fails to Advance out of Indiana House Committee
TN Bills Targeting Library Book Publishers, Changing Police Oversight Boards Advance
ALA OIF Blog 04.07.23: https://www.oif.ala.org/intellectual-freedom-news-04-07-2023/
First Amendment Coalition: https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/news-opinion/first-amendment-news/
Empowered by Reading (Unitedagainstbookbans): https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Empowered-by-Reading-final.pdf
Next Saturday (04/22) is Earth Day!
It’s time to start planning those Earth Day displays! The theme for this year is “Invest in Our Planet” and EarthDay.org has some free graphics that you can use for your social media! The Library of Congress has a collection of selected resources for Earth Day that you can link to and share with your patrons, as well, & here are a few really cute display ideas:
In Case You Missed It
Barcode Order!
Just as a reminder, I sent out an email on the listserv at the beginning of this week asking if your library needs more barcodes ordered through SWKLS. Here is the text of that email. Please reply by the end of day today to make sure that you get your barcodes sent out with this batch!
I’m getting ready to place another order for barcodes. If your library would like to order some, please respond to this email no later than 04/14. If you order barcodes through SWKLS, we will have them shipped to us and we’ll send them to you on the courier, along with the amount your library owes.
The information I would need from you would be:
1. The barcode number that you would like this batch to start with.
2. How many barcodes you would like. I can order in batches of 1,000.
3. Whether you would like barcode sheets or barcode rolls. The difference in price is about $5, with the rolls being more expensive.
4. Your library name as it appears at the top of your barcodes.
5. A picture of 3-4 of your barcodes in order.
If you have any questions or would like more details, please get in touch with me directly! Thanks!
For ILLers: Sharing About SHAREit
From SHAREit Product Manager Deborah Hensler:
The next Sharing about SHAREit Q&A is scheduled for Wednesday April 19, 2023 at 1pm.
The topic for April’s webinar is ILL Statistics.
Registration is open at: https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/3028270957240247809
As usual, there’s space on the registration form to ask questions in advance, and we try to answer as many as possible that are asked during the session.
Technology
by Christopher Dressler
Tech Clinics/Business Working Day
Next week we have round 2 of the SWKLS Tech Clinics/Business Working day at the SWKLS office. Bernardo will be introducing and demonstrating to our attendees the different types of 3D printers that we have here at the office. The first is and Ender 3 and prints with PLA. It does a great job and is one of the better printers I have seen.
The second is a ToyBox. This small printer is easy to use, and it doesn’t take up too much space. The media it uses is PLA and the company calls it “Food”. Our official taste tester here at the office gave it a thumbs down for taste and texture.
Thirdly, we have a resin printer. This printer uses a liquid media and using UV light produces a rigid plastic object. Quality of these prints are slightly better than the Ender 3.
A couple of other demonstrations we will do include the Osmo kits. These fun and family friendly games are geared for children 4 to 10. These game help children learn to read, count, and be creative with art. Compatible with Fire Tablet and iPad. We can also demonstrate our Snap Circuits. These fun educational toys are used to make simple electronic circuits that help children understand electric connectivity.
Some of the other sessions we will have are general budgeting and Excel for intermediate users.
Check the https://SWKLS.org calendar for times and dates. We hope to see you at the next Tech Clinics/Business Workday.
If you are interested in joining us, our roster is currently full but you can send Steve an email letting him know you’re interested in joining the next Tech Clinic/Business Working Day.
As always, if you have specific needs for a video or an in-person training, please feel free to reach out via phone or email.