System Spotlight
By Christopher Dressler
Lane Co. Childrens Dept.
We redid our kid’s area. It has been a two-year project. We won America’s Farmers Grow Communities in 2021. We bought new shelves with that money. Then our library foundation helped us buy the rest of the shelving with some of the money that was left to the library from someone who had passed away. The foundation also bought us the chairs. We were able to use some other memorial money for the rest of the decorations. The border is made from books that we have bought and took the covers off. We were also able to weed a lot of the books that needed to go. Now our area is in alphabetical order so you can go back and find what you are looking for. We are very proud of what we have gotten done. It will be ready for Summer Reading.
Future Dates & Training Opportunities
May 26 – Aug 13, 2023 – Sunflower Summer Program/Website for Information
May 29, 2023 – System Office Closed/Memorial Day
June 15, 2023, 1:30 pm – After-Lunch Course Intellectual Freedom: Privacy/Registration
June 16, 2023, 10:00 am – System Board Meeting (Online Only)
June 19, 2023 – System Office Closed/Juneteenth
Consulting
By Richard Brookman
Image provided by Pixabay.com contributor MUHANN
System Office Closure
The System Office will be closed Monday, May 29, in recognition of Memorial Day. For all the soldiers that have given for this country we wish to honor you and your families.
Image provided by Pixabay.com contributor Mariakray
June System Board Meeting
The next System Board meeting is on June 16, 2023. This meeting will be an online meeting only through Zoom. It will begin at 10:00 am. The registration link will be up today for Board Members to register for the meeting. June is usually a smaller meeting so it shouldn’t take to long. The primary business will be the review of the audit that Kennedy and McKee prepared for the System.
Image provided by Pixabay.com contributor muellkiller1
State Park Passes
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks is providing passes for libraries to purchase for their patrons again this Summer.
If you are “interested in purchasing single-use Kansas State Park permits to give to library patrons can contact the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks (KDWP) Office in Pratt to request permits. Permits are $5 each and are sold in books of 25 Permits. Once permits have been received, it is up to the library to determine how to distribute permits to library patrons. Each library may have a different permit check-out process.
The program ends December 31st, 2023. Participating libraries will have one month to return unused permits and libraries will be invoiced for the number of permits used or not returned to the Pratt Office.”
To learn more you can visit the Department of Wildlife and Parks website.
Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL
By Sara Wilson
Wishing you all a safe and meaningful holiday weekend, honoring those no longer with us.
Collection Development Inspiration
Adult Fiction
Children’s & YA Fiction
In Literary News
Winnie the Pooh School Shooting Book Distributed in Texas Schools
A.A. Milne’s beloved character, Winnie the Pooh, is being used to teach pre-K and elementary school children about school shootings. The character, who is in the public domain, was recently used by a law enforcement consulting firm in Texas to create the books, which were sent home in students’ backpacks on Monday. This also happens to be the same week as the one-year anniversary of the Uvalde shooting. Click here to find out how parents and teachers are reacting.
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!)
Illinois Set to Become First State to End Book Bans
PEN America, Penguin Random House Sue Florida School District Over Book Bans
Book Removals May Have Violated Students’ Rights, Education Department Says
Book Bans? Beavercreek, Bellbrook [OH] Schools Review Books After Gender, Sex Content Complaints
ALA OIF Blog 05.26.23: https://www.oif.ala.org/intellectual-freedom-news-05-26-2023/
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
In Case You Missed It
For ILLers
Courier Holiday Notice
From Caroline Handwork of NEKLS:
Next Monday, May 29 is Memorial Day and a KLE holiday. The courier will not run on May 29, 2023.
Thank you!
New Book Discussion Set Library Added
From State of Kansas Resource Sharing Librarian Nicole Hansen:
Derby Public Library has joined the Book Discussion Group Set list and has added the titles “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell and “The Other Typist” by Suzanne Rindell. Please see the Library Information tab on the spreadsheet for their borrowing and contact information.
Library Closing
From Caroline Handwork of NEKLS:
The Wetmore Acad Ctr-Prairie Hills USD 113 is closing and is no longer on the KLE Courier. Please remove their shipping labels from your collection. They are listed as Wetmore Acad Ctr-Prairie Hills USD 113/KS241.
Their code will be removed from the SHAREit lender lists, so there is no need to update those on your end.
Technology
by Christopher Dressler
Ransomware Roulette
In last weeks “Cyber What?” article I wrote about the many types of cyber threats that are on the internet and I thought I would start a series breaking down the different threats in more detail. The first is Ransomware.
What is Ransomware? In my story last week, I stated that its “Software that is used to lockout a user from accessing his/her own equipment and accounts.” What does that look like though? The way this works is by encrypting files on your computer that have a common file extension and are associated with productivity software. These file extensions may be familiar to you and include .jpg, .doc, .xls, and .ppt so you cannot access or open them till you pay money for an encryption key to unlock those files.
Why is Ransomware still widely used as a form of attack? According to ProofPoint.com, “80% of the businesses experienced a ransomware attack in 2020.” and 68% of those that were attacked paid the ransom.
How do we protect ourselves? First thing is education. Learning about this type of attack and what the plan is for when it happens (internet self-defense 101). The second, is making sure that your Windows updates are occurring regularly. Thirdly, make sure your computer backups are running. With these 3 operations running, we have tools to fight against these attacks.
Next week I will write about Adware.
Always feel free to contact me for training requests, library cards, or technology issues at cdressler@swkls.org or (620)225-1231. – Christopher Dressler 5/26/2023
Spanish PaperCut Instructions
Hello and welcome to the special update section here with Bernardo you’re SWKLS Systems Administrator with a great announcement. I’ve been putting together my limited knowledge in Spanish writing and google translate to the test in creating Spanish translations of our Papercut mobile printing instructions while trying to keep them fluent and easy to understand! At the moment only Windows laptops, IOS, and Android devices are translated for patron use but I am working on the rest as time fits into my schedule. If you see any inaccuracies in my translation, please email me to make changes. – Bernardo Gamboa