Inside this issue...

Thoughts from the WAAL Chair--Gene Engeldinger

While I have not had the opportunity to read all the comments and evaluations from the attendees, those I have seen were uniformly complimentary. The most serious criticism, and one that is warranted, was unhappiness with the size of a couple of the presentation rooms. But, then, I suppose, if the speakers the committee had chosen for the programming had not had such interesting topics, there would have been more room in the rooms. Kidding aside, if we return to the Osthoff in the future, we will want to look seriously at the room sizes. Especially since we really do have excellent presenters each year. I am always impressed with the ability of WAAL conference planners to continually attract such talent to our meetings.

As of this writing, we are still putting together our final report (actually not due until July). But, it looks like we broke the 200 mark for conference attendees and it looks like we made a nice profit. But, more about that next time. In the meantime, I would like to congratulate Marlys Brunsting and Mary Rieder, conference planning co-chairs, and their hard working committee members for the excellent job. Those of us who have done conference planning know what a challenge it can be. The true rewards come in knowing the job was well done, and that our peers and colleagues have benefited from it socially and professionally.

Other committees are hard at work as well. Michael Strahan and the Publications committee are producing several WAAL newsletters this year as well as working on a new WAAL brochure. Michael Watkins and his committee are putting the finishing touches on the directory, while Evelyn Payson, as legislative liaison, reports a quiet year state budget-wise but cautions us to be alert to the difficulties experienced by our colleagues in the school libraries. Evelyn Payson and Sylvia Linton, co-chairs of the Membership committee, report that membership is down 13% this year and urge all WAAL member to assist with recruitment among our colleagues.

Nominations chair, Lisa Weikel, reports that we have an excellent slate of candidates for officers next year. In a state like Wisconsin, with such high quality librarians, good candidates are not hard to identify. The greatest challenge is finding, among this group, individuals that are not already over-committed and being tapped by their home institutions for important duties there. Laurie Swartwout, chair of Professional Development oversaw the selection of five recipients of scholarships for attendance at the WAAL conference this year. And what an interesting, talented group they were. It bodes well for the library profession when we see such talented young people interested in librarianship. We WAAL members can feel pleased that they are doing good work by facilitating such recruiting efforts.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate Cristine Prucha, from UW LaCrosse, as the winner of the first annual Information Literacy Award. There is much happening in Wisconsin with information literacy so choosing just one person for the award is a daunting challenge. Jill Markgraf, David Dettman and Eliot Finkelstein have ‘done good’ with this task.

There are more things that could be said, but I am hoping this overview of our activities, so far this year, gives our members a flavor of what the association is accomplishing. I hope, too, that reading these achievements will prompt others to volunteer their time, energy and talents. New talents and ideas are always welcome. Volunteers can contact me or Julie Fricke, WAAL chair for 2005, if they are interested in serving on a committee.

Cristine Prucha, of UW-La Crosse’s Murphy Library, was the winner for her use of Problem Based Learning (PBL) and faculty collaboration in information literacy instruction.

The conference kicked off on Wednesday morning with a plenary session given by Kathy Pletcher of UW-Green Bay, who spoke on the importance of legislative advocacy by librarians. Luncheon speakers included Randy Burke Hensley, of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, addressing the topic of student engagement and why higher education, and librarians in particular, should care about it. Phyllis Holman Weisbard, UW-Madison Women’s Studies Librarian, also gave a colorful presentation of her tour to India in 2003 as a guest of the American Information Resource Centers there, speaking on women’s studies resource development and dissemination, evaluation of web sites and other information literacy issues, and audience/purpose/design concerns for activist web sites. Congratulations go to Phyllis for being the winner of the 2004 ACRL Women's Studies Section Career Achievement Award, which she will be receiving at the ALA Annual Conference in June!

Workshops were also presented by Dane Ward, of Illinois State University, on “Building an Exemplary Information Literacy Program,” and Dr. Lynn Miner. of Marquette University, on seeking, “Library Grants Without Grief.”

Six full scholarships for attendance at the conference were awarded by the WAAL Professional Development Committee. Undergraduate winners were Tracy Hilgendorf and Kathleen Lacey. Graduate student recipients were Kimberly Babcock, Kristin Beebe, Susan Coenen, and Bart Schmidt. We hope the scholarship winners had an educational and enjoyable time, and send out a special thanks to the librarians who served as their mentors during the conference!

As usual, the Planning Committee members put lots of extra time and effort into putting on a great conference for you. Our thanks go to Stacey Burkart, Ron Edwards, Gene Engeldinger, Linda Hartig, Anna Lewis, Todd Mountjoy, Nerissa Nelson, and Laurie Petri for their work on this year’s committee.

We hope you left feeling like this attendee: “I always get a lot of ideas that may be applied at my library and in my area from attending the conference. I feel energized and enervated after attending.”

We are glad you had a good time and hope to see you in Madison next year at Monona Terrace, April 18-20, 2005!

Post-Conference Resources

Evaluation Form--Print and Send...

Thoughts from Scholarship Recipients

Photo courtesy of Mary Rieder.

Six students, at various stages in their studies, had the opportunity to attend the WAAL Conference in Elkhart Lake in April, thanks to a generous scholarship awarded by WAAL's Professional Development Committee.

Two of the scholarship recipients, Kathleen Lacey of UW-Green Bay, and Tracy Hilgendorf of Carthage College, are undergraduates majoring in English. Kathleen will graduate in May, and Tracy is in the first year of her studies. Four graduate students, working toward their Masters in Library Science, were the other scholarship recipients. Kimberly Babcock of UW-Madison is a first-year graduate student. Kristin Beebe, also of UW-Madison, and Bart Schmidt and Sue Coenen, of UW-Milwaukee, will graduate in May of this year.

All scholarship recipients agreed that attending the conference was a worthwhile experience. The students found the luncheon program, "I'm Not Going to Learn and You Can't Make Me" informative, and an excellent way to illustrate the theme of the conference, "Information and Technology Literacy for Lifelong Learning." In addition, during the luncheon, the students' mentors, (professionals who were paired with the students based on their areas of interest in librarianship), shared their insights and experiences with the scholarship recipients.

The other sessions offered throughout the conference were informative as well. Students were able to attend some of the sessions with their mentors and could choose workshops most closely related to their interests. When not attending sessions, the students could converse with librarians and each other to learn more about the library field.

The students found the conference an excellent chance to meet people and to learn more about academic librarianship. They are very grateful for the learning opportunity the scholarship provided.

LRRT Survey of WLA Members Research Interests

--Colleen Angel, LRRT, UWSP and Rob Clint, UWSP

The Library Research Round Table (LRRT) conducted an electronic survey of WLA members to discover their research interests. The study was conducted from August 4, 2003 through September 15, 2003. The subject pool for this study was comprised of the people subscribed to the Titan mailing list (wla@titan.wils.wisc.edu) for 2003. This article will present a brief history of the survey and will offer highlights of the survey results.

History of the LRRT Survey
Those of you who have done survey research are probably aware of how infrequently people respond to surveys. People often do not want to take the time, or do not want to give people information about themselves. But, if it is not perceived as too much trouble to do so, some people do respond--sometimes on topics they are concerned about, sometimes to help researchers.

"If it is not too much trouble" was noted at the beginning of this research. The survey was created to be short and impersonal, but to allow people to share as much as they wanted. It was one page long. Most of the questions were “check offs,” but most questions also allowed additional input from those who wanted to give it.

The survey was the idea of Colleen Angel, UW-Stevens Point, but many people helped in its creation. People who gave of their time and expertise included Jana Reeg-Steidinger, UW-Stout, and Dr. Patti Becker, UW-Stevens Point. Lisa Strand, WLA’s Executive Director, took time to read the survey and cover letter. Because the survey was created on a UW System campus, there was easy access to an IRB—otherwise known as the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects. Fortunately, no librarians were harmed while conducting this research.

Others were also supportive of the research. In the fall of 2003, WLA gave permission (as did both UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison reunion planners) for a pilot of this survey to be conducted at the library school reunions. Jana Reeg-Steidinger, Dr. Axel Schmetzke, UW-Stevens Point, and Colleen Angel conducted the pencil and paper pilot. WLA conference participants understood the questions and responded to them. There was not enough data collected that night for a study, but the pilot did show the survey worked.

Rob Clint, Associate Information Processing Consultant at UW-Stevens Point, later made the survey available on an Internet web site so researchers could provide access to the survey to many people with minimal expense, little or no paper, and no use of the U.S. Postal Service. WLA then allowed the survey link to be sent to the Titan mailing list. Many of the WLA members on the list were kind enough to respond to the survey, resulting in the research data presented here.

Survey Responses and Research Results
The following highlights of the survey data are presented to answer the question, “What have people shared that is worth knowing?” The rate of response shows WLA members are an unusually responsive group.

Question One asked about experience WLA members had with library/information science research.

Subject Information:

18% (231) of Titan subscribers responded to this survey.

Of those 231 people:
76% (175) have done library/information science research at some time in the past,
89% of that 175 (156) did this kind of research in college,
72% of that 175 (126) did this kind of research for work,
6% of that 175 (11) did this kind of research for personal interest or for organizations.

[Some people did research in multiple categories].

Question Two asked WLA members what they would like to research.

"I want to do research on…”

[It is noteworthy that so many WLA members want to do research. From only 18% of Titan subscribers—those who responded to this survey—there are 143 potential researchers, perhaps potential collaborative researchers].

62% (143) of survey responders want to do research.

Of those 143 respondents:
65% of that 143 (93) want to research library usage,
57% of that 143 (82) want to research library users,
56% of that 143 (80) want to research library resources,
44% of that 143 (63) want to research librarians,
32% of that 143 (46) want to research related topics.

Many people want to do research on more than one of these topics.

Question Three asked what WLA members think needs to be researched.

"Someone should do research on…”

[This question was of special interest because there were no “check off” options. People who responded shared their own ideas by putting text into the answer].

Of the 100 who responded to this question there was interest in research on these topics:
37% measurement of usefulness and relevance of libraries,
34% staffing concerns,
22% better PR, improved image of libraries/librarians,
21% funding/budget concerns,
18% technology issues,
13% patron access.

Question Four asked people who responded to the survey if they were WLA and LRRT members.

96% (222) of 231 are WLA members,
6% (14) of 231 are LRRT members.

It is in the scholarly tradition to question the value of research and to look for what might have been done better. So, now to what could have been better.

First, the original intent was to survey only WLA members, but a few non-members were Titan list subscribers and offered their opinions too. This was not detrimental to the study, just unexpected.

Second, a retrospective look at what might have improved the study showed two changes would have been advantageous. One question could have identified whether WLA members wanted to collaborate on research. Another could have requested information on how many WLA members are currently doing research, are planning to do research, or need help getting started doing research. This information would have enhanced the study by allowing researchers and readers to see how many of these WLA members are currently doing research and how many of the respondents would like to be collaborative researchers.

While it is not possible to recall the survey and add those questions, LRRT offers one way to share member research interests with others and to share information on how to contact others who may be interested in similar research topics. On the WLA web site on the LRRT page there is a link to the Research Interests Database and a link to a form to use to submit an entry to the database. The URL for the page is: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/lrrt/. The links for the Research Interest Database and the Submission Form are clearly marked and easy to use. Jill Markgraf, UW-Eau Claire, manages the database and can answer any questions about how to submit an entry.

Thank you to all of the people who responded to the LRRT survey. Should anyone want more detailed information on responses, please contact Colleen Angel at cangel@uwsp.edu for more specific details.

A Message From Barbara Arnold, WLA Foundation...

Please note, Barbara Arnold, President of the WLA Foundation, wants WLA members to know that the WLA Foundation is in the planning stages of establishing a program that would provide resources for special projects, research and development grants and access services. A big part of this program's development is going to involve a large capitol campaign. The foundation’s endowment fund needs to grow to a level where the interest will provide a significant amount of dollars while preserving the principle. The proceeds from interest and investments will be available for WLA members.

What LRRT can do is spread the word that all members of WLA are members of the WLA Foundation. Our members are the most important source of contributions. We need to grow our WLA membership and grow the WLA Foundation through member contributions. If all WLA members contribute even $50.00, the endowment fund can grow to provide resources for future library research.

Watch for more information on the capitol campaign in the WLA Newsletter and at the fall conference in Lake Geneva.

National Library Legislative Day Honors Senator Feingold --Sue Center, WLA Federal Relations Coordinator National Library Legislative Day was held on Capitol Hill, May 4, with over 500 delegates participating from throughout the country. This was the largest delegation ever to assemble for this purpose.

Photo courtesy of Sue Center.

The Wisconsin Delegation was well-represented by Nancy Beszhak (WEMA), Tom and Lee Brown (SCLS), Don Bulley (South Milwaukee Public Library Trustee), Sue Center (WLA Federal Relations Coordinator), Terry Dawson (SRLAAW and WLA President-Elect), Richard Grobschmidt (Wisconsin Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction), Jessica MacPhail (SRLAAW), Mark Morse (SRLAAW), Pamela Penn (WASL), Bob Smiley (WEMA), Jack Taft (SCLS), and Kristi and Roger Williams (SCLS).

At the Congressional Reception following the congressional meetings, Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Representative Bernie Sanders (D-VT) received special recognition from Friends of Libraries of the USA in appreciation of their efforts and proposed legislation to limit the excesses of the Patriot Act. Photo courtesy of Sue Center.

Most of the Wisconsin Delegation turned out in force for this national celebration and to applaud these two elected officials for their dedication and support of the individual right to privacy and for promoting and guarding access to libraries where all citizens may freely read, explore, and satisfy their information needs. At this time, Senator Feingold was presented with the 125 signatures collected at the WAAL Conference thanking and congratulating him. Bob Smiley also presented Senator Feingold with WEMA signatures collected at the WEMA Legislative Forum. Wisconsin pride was in abundance and it was a fitting conclusion to an exciting day of library advocacy.

During visits to the offices of our ten elected officials, the following Key Issues were highlighted:

Fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $232 million to enhance shared public access to information, to promote the use of technology, to encourage the sharing of resources and other collaborations, and to foster outreach not otherwise feasible across local and state boundaries.

Fund the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries at $100 million to increase student achievement by providing books and professional development opportunities for school librarians, to increase collaborations among teachers and librarians, and to expand access to the school library during non-school hours.

Encourage support of the Consumer Access to Information Act of 2004 (H.R. 3872), which narrowly defines the definition of misappropriation of a database and calls for Federal Trade Commission oversight and enforcement while prohibiting private parties the right to sue.

Seek additional sponsors and support for the Digital Consumer Media Rights Act (DMCRA – H.R. 107) which reaffirms fair use in the digital environment.

Seek co-sponsorship of the Security and Freedom Ensured Act (SAFE – S. 1709) which would require the FBI to articulate specific facts to the Court for records sought under the USA Patriot Act including the fact that the FBI has “reason to believe” that the person whose records are sought is “a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power” (a suspected terrorist or spy); the SAFE Act would also exempt libraries from “national security letters” (under Sec. 505) and would add Sec. 505 to the provisions that will sunset on December 31, 2005.

Seek co-sponsorship and support of the SAFE Act in the House (H.R. 3352) and the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157).

Promote permanent public access to government information, maintain a healthy Depository Library Program, and support funding for the Government Printing Office.

In addition to asking for support for these issues, appreciation was expressed for passage of the Museum and Library Services Act which was signed into law last September. Elected officials were also thanked for making telecommunications affordable through the E-Rate program which has been very successful under the Federal Communications Commission as one of the universal service programs.

WAAL Directory 2004

While this newsletter is going to press, members of the WAAL Directory committee are diligently working on updating the WAAL Directory. Members of the committee include Mike Watkins, Chair, UW Oshkosh, Sylvia Beardsley, UW Parkside, Jeanne Foley, UW Oshkosh, Stephanie Judge, UW Milwaukee, and Yvonne Niesen, UW Colleges.

The 2004 version of the WAAL Directory will be released in late June or early July. The password-protected Directory will be available from the WAAL web site. Members of WAAL can access the directory from the WAAL web site http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/waal/ using the username and password which will be provided to them through the WAAL email list. The Directory is presented in an Adobe pdf format with clickable index and live web links to the libraries included. WAAL members will be notified through the WAAL email list when the Directory is released.

Wisconsin Library Association Foundation, Silent Auction

November 3 – 4, 2004 in Lake Geneva

Don’t miss the fun at the fifth annual WLAF Silent Auction, to take place at the WLA Conference in Lake Geneva! Bid on items such as art works (jewelry, pottery, painting), tickets (concerts, theater, sports events), personal services (a dinner for six), collectibles/antiques or professional services (consulting).

All items will be distributed to the highest bidder with bids closing on Thursday at 3:30 PM.

WLAF SILENT AUCTION NEEDS: Your Donation
Maybe you would be willing to prepare a dinner and auction off your services? Or you could donate your cabin up North for a weekend! We hope that you can give a donation to help the WLAF reach its goal of raising $5000 in auction proceeds to build its endowment. Your talents, your collectibles, your own artwork are all welcome donations. The fair market value (determined by the auction committee) of your donation is tax-deductible and must be worth $50 or more to be placed in the auction.

See Auction Contribution form at: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/waal/newsletter/auctionform.pdf

WLAF SILENT AUCTION NEEDS: Your Time
Help the WLAF by donating your time at the WLA Foundation booth that will be set up in the Exhibit area on Tuesday, beginning at 2pm, or volunteer to help staff the booths on Wednesday and/or Thursday.

If you would like more information please contact:
The WLA office at: wla@scls.lib.wi.us
or Auction Co-chairs: Alice Sedgwick (ssedgwic@execpc.com) and Pat Bakula (pbakula@webtv.net).

People & Places in the News

Edgewood College

Mary Jane Scherdin retired April 30, 2004. She reports that she is traveling to the Czech Republic and Germany in May, and will thereafter have an opportunity to read and to garden to her heart's content. Photo courtesy of Mary Jane Scherdin.

Marquette University

The Libraries welcomed two new staff members: Alberto Herrera Jr., Coordinator of Research Services and Michelle Sweetser, Department of Special Collections and Archives.

UW La Crosse

John Jax reviewed the book, “Bioterrorism and Political Violence: Web Resources,” for the journal Collection Building (Vol. 22, No. 4, 2003). He also presented “Shared Collection Development: The University of Wisconsin System” to the library faculty and staff of the Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Bern, January 21, 2004, Bern, Switzerland.

Stefan Smith received an UW-L International Faculty Development grant to visit Beijing Union University during the summer of 2004 as a visiting librarian.

UW Madison

Helene Androski and Beth Harper have been named GLS Librarians of the Year for 2004. Helene, Reference & Instruction and Beth, Documents have distinguished themselves by their commitments to their respective departments and to the public service initiative of Memorial Library. Photo courtesy of Don Johnson, Library Communications

Jo Ann Carr has learned that her article, "Information Literacy Collaboration: a shared responsibility" published in the September 2003 American Libraries, has been selected by LIRT as one of the top 20 information literacy articles for 2003.

Karl Debus-López, former Chief Acquisitions Librarian and head of the Acquisitions and Serials Department in Central Technical Services, has begun a new position with Georgetown University as the associate university librarian for Collections and Technical Services (March 2004). He was named one of the GLS Librarians of the Year (2003) and contributed significantly to campus efforts to migrate acquisitions data from NOTIS and to implement the Voyager Acquisitions module in 2000.

Vince Jenkins, formerly with the Maricopa Arizona County Community College Libraries, has joined the staff of the CIMC as technical services librarian.

Julie Pohlman joined Wendt Library in February 2004 as a research intern and circulation manager who will be working, additionally, in Reference and Instruction. She received her master's in library science from the University of Arizona and worked at Yale University before coming to Madison.

Lisa Saywell has accepted a position with the Digital Content Group as a user support manager for an institutional repository that UW-Madison Libraries and DoIT are developing. She holds a master's degree in the History of Science from UW-Madison and will graduate from the School of Library and Information Studies in May 2004.

Tanner Wray, former head of Access Services, Memorial Library, has begun a new position as the access services manager at the University of Maryland (March 2004). He contributed to campus efforts to implement Library Express and ILLiad. Prior to his Access Services appointment in November of 2000, he also worked in Interlibrary Loan.

The Ebling Library will include:
Seating for 350 library users,
Wireless access throughout the library,
A library instructional lab,
Twelve photocopiers,
Sixteen group study rooms to accommodate 2-8 persons each, and,
Consolidated service area with reference and circulation services easily accessible near the entrance to the library.

The new Ebling library, inside the Health Sciences Learning Center, is expected to open June 21 with full access to collections and services. If you are interested in learning more about the new library, visit the web site at http://hsl.wisc.edu.

As a special note:

The three Health Sciences Libraries will CLOSE May 29, 2004 so that collections can be moved and consolidated. During that time, and until June 20, there will be no physical access to the journals, books, or other materials from the Middleton, Weston, and Pharmacy Libraries. Staff members will be minimally accessible via the Library’s email reference service askhslib@library.wisc.edu or voice-mail at 262-2020. These services will be monitored closely for urgent requests.

Requests for loaned items (books and audiovisuals) will be held and processed after June 20, 2004. Library staff recommends that requests for journal articles be placed as far in advance of May 28 as possible. [Medical Library Service]

Steenbock Library Launches Information Commons

In an effort to provide greater library support to students using computing lab software and equipment, Steenbock Library has launched an Information Commons. The Information Commons, located on the main entrance level to Steenbock Library, enjoys a spacious facility, new furniture and natural lighting. In this shared space, librarians and lab consultants work collaboratively to provide assistance with information research and retrieval and software/hardware solutions, respectively.

UW Milwaukee Libraries

Karen Jander has been permanently reassigned to the role of Head of the Serials Department. She has served in the role on an interim basis for the past three years.

Janet Padway, Assistant Director for Collections and Technical Services, has taken on the additional role of managing collections.

UW Parkside

Barbara Baruth was named Director of the Library and Instructional Technology, February 2004. Barb has held several other positions during her 24 years at the institution, including Head of Technical Services, Associate Library Director, and Interim CIO.

Kim Bartosz has been appointed Coordinator of Collection Development. Kim has been a reference/instruction librarian at UWP since 2001.

Erika Behling has been appointed Coordinator of Instruction. Erika has been a reference/instruction librarian at UWP for two years.

Dina Kaye has accepted a one-year appointment as Assistant to the Director. Dina, who also serves as cataloger and library webmaster, will be working on special projects for both the Library and Instructional Technology Support.

UW-Waukesha

Scott Silet started as the new Director of Library and Media Services at the University of Wisconsin Waukesha in March, 2004. Scott comes to Wisconsin from the University of Virginia Library in Charlottesville.

Viterbo University

Elizabeth Schieber is the new Technical Services Librarian at the Todd Wehr Memorial Library. Liz recently earned her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Before coming to Viterbo University, Liz worked at the Cardinal Stritch University library.

The WAAL Newsletter welcomes articles of interest to academic librarians. Please consider sharing summaries of research or research in progress, announcements/results of meetings or conferences, and news of staff changes and/or accomplishments. Deadline for the next issue:

Material should be sent to:
Karen Dunn
Steenbock Memorial Library
550 Babcock Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1293
(608) 263-3899
kdunn@library.wisc.edu

WAAL Publications Committee:
Michael Strahan (Chair), Julie Fricke (Web), Stacey Burkart, Karen Dunn (Newsletter Co-Editors)

© 2003 Wisconsin Library Association. Portions may be quoted or copied if credit is given. Contact the WLA Executive Director when quoting or reproducing extensively. WLA Phone: 608-245-3640; Fax: 608-245-3646

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