The SELCO Librarian

I had the opportunity to attend the Minnesota Digital Library's (MDL) 11th Annual Meeting on June 4, 2013 at the University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center in St. Paul.  It is an awesome thought that the MDL has been in existence for over a decade now!

The meeting kicked off with a keynote from Michael Mouw on Digital Storytelling.  Mouw is an independent media and technology consultant from Minneapolis currently but has done work in the past with the Minnesota Historical Society and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.  He presented an overview of his process of digital storytelling.  His point was that the stories yet to be told start with "piles of stuff," from old audio/video tapes of someone's speeches to even the content in Minnesota Reflections.  He then discussed using various technology platforms and formats to build a bridge from these piles of stuff to, as one attendee of the meeting put it, "ephemeral experience of history."  One of the sites that he mentioned in his presentation that he was impressed with was Cowbird, a site to share documentary footage.

For me, the session right before lunch was the most exciting.  While seemingly low-key, the session where the MDL Management Team gave updates was fascinating.  Minnesota's involvement with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) was highlighted and how it is connected with the work done with Minnesota Reflections.  In fact, one of the initial exhibits on DPLA was produced by Leah Bowe from the Minnesota Historical Society entitled History of Survivance: Upper Midwest 19th Century Native American Narratives.   In addition to this mention of Minnesota Reflections, it was announced that another round of grants will be made available to organizations that would like to add materials to Minnesota Reflections.  Finally, the highlight from this session was an announcement by Jennifer Jones from the Minnesota Historical Society that the beta version of the Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub was due to be released on June 19, 2013 (unfortunately that date has been further delayed!).  This development is exciting as it will allow the ~200,000 pages of newspapers that SELCO has had digitized as part of its Legacy projects to finally be visible.

The afternoon included presentations on Minnesota's contribution to the DPLA, including the online exhibit by Leah Bowe, mentioned previously.  It is to note that the DPLA is not about accumulating content but rather connecting users through metadata.  It is a way to connect to the vast number of digital libraries already in existence.  In addition to building digital libraries, there is work being done on digital preservation by MDL and the University of Minnesota.  John Butler and Jon Nichols presented the work going on at the University of Minnesota.

Video and handouts from the meeting can be found here.  All in all, a good annual meeting.

Backstage Library Works recently announced they are hosting a free RDA webinar on June 18th. Backstage Library Works is an authority control agency much like Marcie. This free webinar will  cover the background of RDA, the basics of the FRBR model on which RDA is based, some of the major differences between RDA and AACR2, and MARC fields added to accommodate RDA elements. 

These topics and more are covered in the SELCO RDA cataloging classes being offered throughout the next year. However, RDA represents is a significant change for catalogers it's often beneficial for learners to hear new material in more than one manner for more complete understanding. 

More information on the free June 18  RDA webinar is here

Register for SELCO's Cataloging Classes here

The following information was sent via e-mail on June 5, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

State Budget Overview

The Legislature and Governor Dayton agreed on a budget for the 2014-15 biennium that erases a projected $627 million deficit and provides additional funding for education and local governments.  In order to raise the revenue to accomplish this, income taxes were increased on the top 2% of income tax filers, cigarette taxes were increased by $1.60 per pack and the sales tax was broadened to include some business services.  With DFL majorities in both the House and Senate and a DFL governor, the budget negotiations were far less contentious than they were two years ago when most of state government was shut down for 20 days because Governor Dayton and the Republican-controlled Legislature were unable to agree on a budget. 

 Here is a summary of legislative action affecting libraries:

Education Payment Shift

Repayment of the shift has proceeded much more rapidly than many had expected.  Under current law, whenever a state economic forecast projects a budget surplus, the surplus must first be used to replenish the state budget reserve (if necessary) and any remaining surplus must be used to repay the shift until a 90% /10% payment schedule is achieved. Although the November 2012 and February 2013 forecasts both projected a deficit for the 2014-15 biennium, those forecasts also projected surpluses at the close of the current biennium, which ends on June 30.  Hence, the shift was reduced by $1.3 billion after the November forecast and by another $290 million after the February forecast, resulting in a current payment schedule of 86.4% / 13.6%.  Under the budget deal reached by the Governor and Legislature, if there is a surplus after the close of the current biennium, that amount will be used to repay the shift without waiting for the November forecast.  The current estimate is that this will be another $300 million.  This should be sufficient to reach a 90/10 payment schedule. 

Library Appropriations in the K-12 Budget

Current funding was maintained for Regional Library Basic System Support (RLBSS), Regional Library Telecommunications Aid, Multitype funding, ELM and Telecommunications Equity Aid. We also succeeded in getting an amendment included in the omnibus education bill changing the terminology for RLBSS and Multitype funding from "grant" to "aid" to better reflect how these programs are administered. 

Homework Help

Our bill to fund an online Homework Help service statewide was introduced in both bodies but did not receive a hearing.  There was heavy emphasis this year on providing additional funding for large existing programs, leaving little room in the budget for new initiatives. Our bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator John Hoffman (DFL - Champlin) and in the House by Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL - Mankato). 

General Education Formula

The general education formula (which is the main source of funding for school media centers) will increase by 1.5% in each year of the biennium.  It will rise from the current $5,224 per pupil to $5,302 in FY 2014 and to $5,806 in FY 2015.

Total Operating Capital

MDE included language in its omnibus policy bill that would have prohibited school from using total operating capital to pay for annual licensing fees for software.  I raised a concern about that language on behalf of MEMO.  After much negotiation, MDE agreed to amend the language to specifically allow the use of total operating capital for software and annual licensing fees.  This passed in the omnibus education bill.

Minitex and MnLINK

Funding for Minitex and MnLINK was increased by $300,000 per year.  It is the first increase for Minitex and MnLINK since the 2007 session.  Our authors were Senator Kent Eken (DFL - Twin Valley) and Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL - Golden Valley). 

Higher Ed Systems

MnSCU funding was increased by $102 million and the University of Minnesota by $79 million.  Most of these funds are earmarked for freezing undergraduate tuition. 

Legacy Funding for Regional Public Libraries

Regional Public Library Systems received $3 million per year to provide arts and historical programs. This is the same level of funding provided during the current biennium.  The funds will be distributed via a revised formula that replaces the equalization factor with a "qualifying system entities" factor.  We had to fight hard to retain this level of funding after the Senate bill proposed to reduce it to $1 million per year in an effort to maximize the funding for the State Arts Board.  Many thanks to everyone who contacted their senators and the members of the Legacy conference committee to urge them to maintain the current funding level for regional public libraries.  You were definitely heard! 

Legacy Funding for the Minnesota Digital Library

The Minnesota Digital Library received $300,000 per year.  This is an increase over the current $250,000 per year appropriation.  As in the past, this funding is appropriated to the Minnesota Historical Society with a directive to cooperate with Minitex and jointly share the appropriation. 

Legacy Percentage to the State Arts Board

The Senate Legacy bill added a provision in statute requiring that 50% of all future appropriations from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund would be allocated to the State Arts Board.  Senator Cohen insisted that this was the intent when the Legacy Amendment was passed.  The final bill requires that 47% go to the State Arts board in the future. 

Data Privacy

Our bill to extend current data privacy protection for public library patron records to electronic data stored by a vendor was introduced by Senator Kari Dziedzic (DFL - Minneapolis) and Rep. Steve Simon (DFL - St. Louis Park).  It was heard in both bodies and passed out of the House Data Practices Subcommittee before we learned that other provisions in current law already afforded this protection to such data.  Our bill became the vehicle for the omnibus data practices bill, but our provision was deleted after we learned it was unnecessary. 

Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants

Although it was not a traditional bonding year, the Governor and the House were eager to see a large bonding bill pass. We were encouraged to get a bill introduced to fund Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants, and so a bill to provide $3 million was introduced by Rep. Mary Murphy (DFL - Hermantown) and Senator Alice Johnson (DFL - Spring Lake Park).  The House included $1.5 million in the final version of its bonding bill, but the bill failed to get the required supermajority on the House floor.  It needed 81 votes and only got 76 votes.  The Senate never did produce a major bonding bill.  In the end, a very small $176 million bill passed, with most of the funds allocated for renovation of the Capitol.  A major bonding bill will be on the agenda for 2014. 

Aid to Cities and Counties

Aid to cities was increased by $80 million and aid to counties was increased by $40 million.  The trade-off is that levy limits will be in place for 2014.  The limits are relatively generous -- the city or county's aid plus levy for either 2012 or 2013, whichever is greater, plus 3%.

Sales Tax on City and County Purchases

Cities and counties will no longer have to pay sales tax on their purchases beginning January 1, 2014.  The sales tax was imposed on local units of government (except for school districts) in 1992 as a way to solve a budget deficit.  There have been repeated attempts to repeal the tax since then, and despite broad agreement that the tax was bad policy, it was difficult to repeal it because of the loss of revenue to the state. This is a great win for cities and counties.  Public libraries were partially taxed and partially exempted in 1992 when the tax was first passed.  We won a full exemption a few years later, so this will not have a direct effect on public libraries.

Kathy Ness, Enhancing Quality Staff Symposium Scholarship Recipient, Northfield Public Library

My Adventures at the Conference.   Kathy Ness

The opening session was very interesting it was a “guess what medical device this could be?”  And luckily I was chosen to be one of three panelists on the stage to guess what the items were.  Staff from the Owen H. Wagnesteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine brought 5 objects for the panel to guess what they were.  It was quite humorous as we made weird but somewhat practical guesses.  It was great to learn they are open to the public.  They do this type of guessing game at the Minnesota State Fair.   http://hsl.lib.umn.edu/wangensteen

 The first session I went to was-

“What Makes an Award Winning Children's Book?” 
presented by Lisa Von Drasek from the U OF M libraries- Kerlan Collection

From the thousands of children's books published each year, how do professional reviewers and educators select and evaluate them for excellence? How do titles meet award criteria ? We examined award-winning new children's books, picture book, chapter books and young adult books to provide a framework for examination and judging content, production and relevancy to intended audience.

Ms Von Drasek told us about being on a Newbery committee and reading 300-400 books and also about being new to Minnesota.  Every year @9,000 books are published for kids and YA, not including non-fic!  She had samples of great books that nobody has heard about like, Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Chodos-Irvine and Amber was Brave and Essie was Smart by Vera Williams. She said to not go by Amazon’s great picks because it’s the publishers “pushing” product to drive sales- go by what you know the kids in your library would like. 

She suggested looking at the Bank Street best of the best and the Co-operative Children’s Book Center at the U of W- Madison as great sources!

Then I went on a tour of the Raptor Center

It was a cool and rainy walk to the Raptor Center, a place I have wanted to visit for a long time, and well worth it!

Pictured on the left is the smallest raptor in Minnesota a Kestrel and the other is a Bard Owl- I have lots of them saying  “ Who cooks for you?!  Who cooks for you?!” at night around my house.

Time to think! Public Response to the Active Intruder (Shooter)

Presented by Sargent Jim Nystrom from the U of M Police Department.

Even Sargent Nystrom said this is hard to think about but is something we have to do.  Active shooters like the one at Sandy Hook don’t know the people they are killing they are only interested in causing injury to as many people as they can.  Once they start, they are usually committed until the police or their self ends it. The first person to do this was in 1966 in Texas http://www.nowpublic.com/world/university-texas-clock-tower-shooting-1st-campus-shooter-1966-2684459.html

Columbine’s shooting changed the way police across the world react to events such as this.  The perpetrators planed bombs by exits which luckily did not detonate but their idea was to injure and kill as many students, teachers and  first responders as possible.  The cops waited for a SWAT team to arrive before they entered the school- something that has changed because they had all that time to kill more people. 

What should we do?

GET OUT-Wherever you are look for ways out of a room or building.  Always have a possible incident in your mind. Doors, windows anyway out.

CALL OUT- call 911! Don’t think other people will do it, the more calls the better because different people will have different views of what’s going on.  Be descriptive and say on the line until they say to hang up.

HIDE OUT- turn off the lights and hide or get out, if they don’t have a reason to come in they probably won’t waste time looking for people.

KEEP OUT- If you can close/lock/barricade doors, slow down their entry. Make it difficult for them.

TAKE OUT- fight back, throw things, distract, talk to them, yell what’s going on.  If everyone attacks they have less chance of getting everyone- it’s a tough choice but do it.

Don’t have a code word for emergencies- just yell out what’s going on and tell people to run!  Try to stay calm- yeah right!  But train and talk about it so you have some preparation.

Have a safe point for staff to meet and account for everyone.  Stay around to give evidence.  You may be treated as a suspect- be patient and wait, it’s ok.

This was a great session and I will present it at a library staff meeting soon.  It’s something we all have to think about where ever we are.

Here are his Slides

Next session- Genealogy: Begin Writing Your Own Story

With Joan Krey, Minitex and Janet Roseen, U of M Libraries.

I have been interested in genealogy research since highschool, and luckily one of my Grandma’s was too.  She and one of her cousins had great stuff for me to start with.  There are so many more ways of finding information than ever before.  They had a great hand out on local and national sources.  And the best thing is perseverance!  And when you get stuck on one person work on another for a while! Be opened minded on the spelling, pronunciation of names and family stories, there are many variables!  Remember- you’re not the only one- distant relations may have done all the work for you and all you have to do it link yourself in- just make sure it’s all documented!

It is like reading the best of all detective stories knowing that the excitement will never end and you are the main character!

They gave many, many sources and links if you’re interested I can email them to you.

My last session was- Becoming a Micropreneur: Practical Strategies for Turning Your Hobby into a Micro-Business

Anthony Ihrig, freelance musician, music educator, writer, speaker and consultant- just Google him and you will see all the micorpeneur stuff he is up to.  He’s a stay-at-home dad with lots going on but also feels very comfortable blending his businesses to family life.  His wife works full-time and has benefits- ah ha!

Do you have a hobby that you are passionate about, specialized knowledge on a topic or a unique skillset that you think others would be interested in learning about or could use to help solve a problem they have? If so, you may have a micro-business on your hands! Whether your motivation is to make a few extra bucks, become a thought leader in your field, or just help others learn about something you are passionate about, it has never been easier to try your hand at being a micropreneur.

Define terms like “micropreneur,” and “micro-business” and discuss why the barrier for entry into starting your own business has never been lower

• Analyze case studies of successful microprenuers and discuss the hazards and risks of starting any business- a book he relies on is Art of the Start by Kawaski
• Outline practical strategies for turning your hobbies and passions into a micro-business

You can do it- set up a website, comment on blogs, set up a blog, find a nitch that isn’t being filled.  You never know until you try.

CONCLUSION!  This was a fun, interesting and unique conference, I really enjoyed it.  The food and layout of the sessions was great and easy to maneuver thru! I am passing on to many people the information I learned.  Thanks for the opportunity SELCO!  I really appreciated it, it was rejuvenating!

Emily Soltis, Enhancing Quality Staff Symposium Scholarship Recipient, Rochester Public Library

My Enhancing Quality Staff Symposium started with an interesting and informative session about award winning children’s books. This session was presented by Lisa Von Drasek, curator of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota (otherwise known as the Kerlan Collection). Ms. Von Drasek was energetic and passionate about children’s books and provided us with insight as to what “good” children’s books should possess. I especially liked her story about sitting on the committee for the Newberry Award.

Another session that I found very informative was on genealogy. This was presented by two librarians who have extensive knowledge in researching family history. They gave us many great online sources to examine while trying to put together a family tree. Their enthusiasm has inspired me to do a little research and see what I can discover about my family!

I ended the symposium with a couple of fun sessions about online map resources and camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. A librarian from the University of Minnesota Map Library presented both sessions and gave me some great ideas on building my own maps of my trips to the BWCA.

I’m so glad I was able to attend this symposium and I thank SELCO for the opportunity. It was a fun and productive day and I’m sure I will find the information useful in the future.

Laurie A. Kodet, Enhancing Quality Staff Symposium Scholarship Recipient, Northfield Public Library

Meditation Essentials: Creating a Personal Meditation Practice
Paul Abdella- Twin Cities Tai Chi Ch’uan & University of Minnesota

Posture, breath, and quieting the mind our the three essential elements in meditation. We practiced a short meditation using each of these elements. The breath and quieting the mind meditations were very relaxing. The posture meditation was quite energizing. In addition to practicing these meditations we were taught several stretches. I believe I will be able to include several elements from this session in our Summer Fun for the library staff. I can see doing 5-10 minute stretching sessions or meditations. These tools will be easy to teach to the staff.

Food is Medicine
Dr. Andrew Litchy- Neighborhood Nauropathic LLC
Healthy food choices and lifestyle were the focuses of this session. I found the information very interesting and informative. Not that all of the information was new to me but this lecture just reinforced that food choices are critical to over-all wellness. One thought for our Staff Summer Fun is to have staff bring in health snacks/foods and the recipe to share.

What Can We Learn from Cookbooks? The Doris S. Kirschner Cookbook Collection
Megan Kocher, University of Minnesota Libraries
This was a very interesting session, Ms. Kocher took us on a tour of the Kirschner Cookbook Collection. She shared some background of Doris Kirschner and the history of the collection. She talked about all of the things we can learn from cookbooks. We talked about history, popular culture, family, and gender roles. One of the slides showed a cookbook from the 1960’s called the Playboy’s Cookbook, which was written for bachelors. I talked to one of our reference librarians about the possibility of during a similar program at our library.

Diana Tallent, Enhancing Quality Staff Symposium Scholarship Recipient, Lonsdale Public Library

Sending a big thank you to SELCO for the scholarship they awarded me to attend this wonderful event that the University of Minnesota has been putting on for 21 years. I learned a lot and got to spend time with some friends from Northfield Public Library with whom I used to work.

Opening session, which was titled “What was This Used For?” was a funny, if grim, window into the world of antique medical instruments. The panel of three audience volunteers had some amusing guesses before we were told each instrument’s use. My favorite was the soft tissue removal device (sorry, I blacked out at that point and didn’t write down the proper name) with the mini bicycle chain which inspired the invention of the chain saw. Gak!

Session one, “What Makes an Award Winning Children's Book?” presented by Lisa Von Drasek, queen of snark, was fun. Audience participation which I always egg on was more enthusiastic than you can usually get from a crowd of shy Minnesotans due to the interest in our subject matter – reading children’s picture books aloud. Lisa’s criteria for a good children’s book was a little surprising, riveting story, juicy language, compelling art, dramatic page turns, age-appropriate, consistent style, read-aloudable. I plan to regularly check out the recommended Bank Street College of Education’s book lists http://bankstreet.edu/center-childrens-literature/childrens-book-committee/best-books-year/best-books-year-2013/

The second session I attended, “Self Help Legal Resources for the Public” with Sara Galligan and Mary Ann Van Cura was really informative. The list of links and resources for patrons seeking legal aid was impressive and included www.mncourts.gov and www.leg.state.mn.us to name just two. The heads up that the state is looking to make electronic filing for many legal documents a requirement in the future was good to know.

The session, “Public Response to the Active Intruder (Shooter)” with Sgt. Jim Nystrom of the U of M police, was a little alarming, so I was wishing I had chosen to follow that up with Laughter Yoga, but, alas, I did not. It was good to know that my first instinct, to run if someone is brandishing a gun and trying to shoot me, was correct. The five outs to remember, get out, call out, hide out, keep out and take out (which does NOT involve food, but let’s don’t go there) align with common sense practice and the message that only you can decide what the proper response is in any given moment was good to hear. Still, I needed a few minutes of calming meditation after that session.

Next was “Liberating e-books from Difficult Publisher Platforms” with Charlie Heinz and Joe Manion, neither one of whom actually set any books free as was my (perhaps slightly elevated) expectation. All kidding aside, these guys gave insight into each of their specialties regarding e-books. Joe’s insight into the world of libraries collaborating with authors to self-publish content was amazing and Charlie’s e-book how to guide will serve all librarians well at www.lib.umn.edu/howto/ebooks

The last session of the day, “The Role of Libraries in the Success of First Year Students” with Jan Fransen was especially hopeful since I am making a career change to an academic library. The study she conducted at the U of M to try to establish a link between library use and freshman student academic success was encouraging. The initial findings indicate that there is a correlation between library use and both increased GPA and retention rates. Surprisingly, the College of Liberal Arts (where my fellow English majors all land) did not reflect the highest library use. I was so shocked at this data that I failed to look and see which college actually did use the library the most.

The day was well worth the horrific traffic congestion I had to slog through going to and fro. Well done!

As the school year is winding down, I would like to draw your attention to 5 locations that will be open for the Summer months.

Goodhue School, Lyle School, Ridgeway School, Shattuck St Mary's School and Crossroads College.

They will be doing their pull lists and also will be having delivery every Wednesday. This is a great opportunity to get items that you might not have been able to in the past because the location was closed. Have a great Summer!

Media Com Internet outage estimated time of repair has been changed to 8:00 P.M. CST.

The following information was sent via e-mail on May 20, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

UPDATE: Click here for the Legacy Conference Committee Report.  Specifically, see pages 68-69 for regional public library funding (listed under Department of Education) and pages 71-72 (starting on line 71-28, specifically) for information on the Minnesota Digital Library.

Great news! The Legacy Conference Committee just released its spreadsheet. They have agreed to the House position of $3 million per year for regional public libraries. Thank you to all who contacted your legislators. It clearly made a huge difference.

The Minnesota Digital Library received $300,000 per year. Since this was the funding level in both the House and Senate bills, this was expected. (Note: The original amount requested was $750,000.)

After the the first RDA class, the catalogers and I (Becky. Kristi and with help from Cindy) evaluated the class and decide to break the class into two separate offerings.
 Each cataloger may choose which class they feel is appropriate for their cataloging level. Both classes fulfill your RDA cataloging requirement. Each classes will last approximately 3 to 4 hours. 

• Cataloging Fundamentals -  will cover the basics of the MARC record and how to utilize OCLC, how to bring records into Horizon and up to minimum record standards.

• Copy Cataloging: The Next Steps - is designed for those who are comfortable with MARC and OCLC. We will cover the most common international standards that govern cataloging and SELCO's policies and procedures. We will go more indepth into the differences between AACR2 and RDA and catalogers will learn how to identify quality records beyond minimum standards. 

Cataloging Fundamentals sessions are available for the fall.

Copy Cataloging : The Next Steps is the class most of you will be interested in. 

Please visit the coursewhere site here http://www.solutionwhere.com/selco/cw/main.asp if you would like to sign up for a class. 

On Friday the Minnesota House will take up the bonding bill on the floor.  The bill as it emerged from committee did not include any funding for libraries.  However, Rep. Alice Hausman, chief author of the bill, has posted an amendment to the bill online that would appropriate $1.5 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants. 
 Please e-mail your representative immediately and urge him/her to support the Hausman A-13-0703 amendment to the bonding bill.  Explain that it includes $1.5 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants.

The House and Senate conferees for the Legacy bill have been appointed.

Please contact them and urge them to support the House position on Legacy funding for regional public libraries. 

The House maintains the current funding level of $3 million per year, whereas the Senate reduces it to $1 million per year.  With the Senate version, SELCO would go from  $308,016 it received in FY2013 to $96,000 in FY2014, greatly affecting SELCO's ability to support local programming efforts.  Call or email your these folks today and share your story about Library Legacy activities in your community.

The Legacy Conferees are:

The House conferees for the Legacy bill were appointed this morning.

Please contact them and urge them to support the House position on Legacy funding for regional public libraries. 

The House maintains the current funding level of $3 million per year, whereas the Senate reduces it to $1 million per year.  With the Senate version, SELCO would go from  $308,016 it received in FY2013 to $96,000 in FY2014, greatly affecting SELCO's ability to support local programming efforts.  Call or email your these folks today and share your story about Library Legacy activities in your community.

The House Legacy Conferees are:

The following information was sent via e-mail on May 15, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

With just a few days left in the legislative session, final decisions are starting to be made on budget bills.

Minitex/MnLINK

Great news!  The higher education conference committee reached agreement on the omnibus higher ed bill this evening (May 15, 2013) and it includes the $300,000 per year funding increase for Minitex and MnLINK that was included in the Senate bill. Thank you to all of you who wrote to the conferees urging them to support the Senate position.  Please write to thank the conferees for their support, especially Senator Kent Eken, Senator Terri Bonoff and Rep. Gene Pelowski.

Aid to Cities and Counties

The tax conference committee is still negotiating the omnibus tax bill, but they have agreed on an increase of $80 million in aid to cities and $40 million in aid to counties. 

Legacy

Tonight (May 15, 2013) the Senate passed its Legacy bill on the floor.  I'm pleased to report that during the debate several senators gave Senator Cohen quite an earful about the reduction in funding to regional public libraries. Thank you to all of you who contacted your senators. It is making a difference.  The conference committee will be appointed tomorrow.  As soon as the conferees are appointed I will send out their contact information.

Legacy funding for SELCO's cultural programming is in jeopardy of being reduced by 2/3.

In FY2013, SELCO received $308,016 but under the proposed Senate Legacy bill that amount would be reduced to $96,000 in FY2014, greatly affecting SELCO's ability to support local programming efforts.

Call or email your Senator today and share your story about Library Legacy activities in your community.  Ask your Senator to influence his or her colleagues on the conference committee to agree to the appropriation of $3 per year as proposed by the House.

Click here for a flyer with more information.  Please share with staff, board members, library Friends, city officials, and anyone interested in library programs.

The legislative session concludes Monday, May 20.  Time is short.  Call or email today.

Thank you,
Ann Hutton, Executive Director

The Senate Legacy Bill (SF 1051), authored by Senator Richard Cohen (D-St. Paul), was unveiled in the Senate Subcommittee on Legacy on Thursday, May 9, 2013, and included funding for $1 million/year for regional public libraries.  This amount is a major reduction from the $3 million/year currently allocated to regional public libraries.  In the House companion bill, HF 1183, the House maintained the $3 million/year allocation to regional public libraries.  A conference committee will be named later this week to work out differences with the House and Senate versions of the bill. 

For SELCO, this reduction would mean that rather than receiving ~$300,000/year in Library Legacy Funding, we would receive closer to ~$100,000/year in Library Legacy Funding.  A nearly 2/3 reduction will have a MAJOR impact on what projects and services we would be able to provide our member libraries.

Action needed:  Please contact your own senator to express concern about this reduction and how important Legacy funding for libraries is to your library.  Ask them to raise the issue with Senator Cohen. 

According to Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist

We are not going to change Senator Cohen's mind. However, if it's clear that his Senate colleagues are unhappy about the level of funding for libraries it will be more likely that the Senate conferees will agree to the House appropriation when the bill gets to conference committee.

If you do receive a response from your Senator, please feel free to let Michael Scott know about it.  Send him email to mscott@selco.info.

Thanks!

A new grant competition will award $150,000 to libraries, museums, and other nonprofits to provide hands-on learning opportunities this summer for youth across the country to help make the online experience more civil, safe and empowering. The Project:Connect Summer Youth Programming Competition is administered by the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC), with support from the MacArthur Foundation through a grant to the University of California, Irvine, and in partnership with the Born This Way Foundation. Grants will support a series of local hands-on events July through September where young people collaborate and compete through activities such as hackathons, maker spaces, digital journalism and communications labs, and mentoring workshops. Programs must be based on the understanding that learning happens anywhere, anytime and should be equitable, social, participatory, and reflect kids’ interests. Applications are due June 10. More information can be found on the Digital Media and Learning Competition website.

The following information was sent via e-mail on May 12, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

It's crunch time.  The Legislature must adjourn on May 20, 2013 -- one week from Monday.

Budget Deal

Today (May 12, 2013) the Governor and legislative leaders announced that they have agreed on a budget deal. The deal includes significant increases for E-12 education ($475 million) and higher education ($250 million) and a smaller cut in health & human services than legislators had proposed (a $50 million cut rather than $150 million). The school funding shift will be repaid. To pay for all of this and cover the $627 million deficit, income taxes will be increased on couples with taxable income of $250,000 and on individuals with taxable income of $150,000. Sales taxes will be expanded to some business services but not to consumer services or clothing. The cigarette tax will be increased. Details will be worked out by the various budget conference committees.

E-12 Education

The conference committee met for the first time on Thursday, May 9, 2013.  They adopted several identical provisions, including two items important to MLA/MEMO. 

1. The change in terminology from "grant" to "aid" for RLBSS and Multi-type funding
2. Clarification that total operating capital funds can be used for computer hardware, software and annual licensing fees

Higher Education

The conference committee will meet for the first time on Monday, May 13, 2013. The funding increase for Minitex/MnLINK that is included in the Senate higher ed bill but not in the House bill has a better chance now that the agreed-upon target ($250 million) is closer to the Senate target ($260 million) than the House target ($150 million).  Our Senate author, Senator Kent Eken (DFL - Twin Valley) is on the conference committee and told me he intends to fight hard for the increase included in the Senate bill.  If you haven't yet contacted the conferees to urge them to support the increase in the Senate bill, please do so.

Legacy

The House Legacy bill passed on the floor on Friday, May 10, 2013. The Senate Legacy bill was unveiled in the Senate Legacy Subcommittee on Thursday, May 9, 2013.  It includes $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library (the amount requested) and $1 million per year for regional public libraries.  This is a huge reduction from the $3 million per year currently allocated to regional public libraries.  Senator Dick Cohen, chair of both the Senate Finance Committee and the Legacy Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, has opposed Legacy funding for libraries from the beginning. His position has been that only those who advocated for the constitutional amendment should share in the funds generated.  He views all other recipients as interlopers, including libraries.  Senator Cohen's goal has been that 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund is to be allocated to the State Arts Board.  Currently about 43% is allocated to the State Arts Board.  The Senate bill includes a provision requiring that in the future 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund shall be allocated to the State Arts Board.  The initial version of the Senate Legacy bill distributed the funds to regional public libraries under the RLBSS formula, as has been done the past two biennia.  I subsequently spoke with Senator Cohen and he agreed to amend the bill to change the formula in accordance with the MLA/MEMO platform and to require that the funds be distributed in 10 equal payments.  That amendment was adopted on Friday and the bill was passed out of the Subcomittee. It will be heard in the full Senate Finance Committee on Monday, May 13, 2013.

On April 11, 2013, the Minnesota Education Media Organization (MEMO) held a workshop entitled The Flipped Classroom and You at TIES in St. Paul.  A "flipped classroom" is, at its simplest, switching the traditional lecture and homework model.  A common approach is for teachers to record video lectures that students view at home and the time spent in the physical classroom would be used for learning exercises, projects, or discussions.  According to EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's 7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Classrooms, "the term is widely used to describe almost any class structure that provides prerecorded lectures followed by in-class exercises."

With that basis in mind, MEMO's workshop was kicked off by Kristin Daniels from the Stillwater Public Schools.  Kristin presented on Stillwater's experience with flipping their elementary math curriculum.  They have found that this model has helped students raise their math scores and the school is looking at other opportunities to implement flipped classrooms.  Additionally, they are working on implementing the flipped classroom model with professional development for their staff.

The idea of using the flipped classroom approach with professional development of school staff, particularly teachers, was a common theme throughout the workshop.  At the Park Center High School in the Osseo Public School District, a program called Technology Teaching Tools (TTT), allows staff to learn about new technology tools that might be useful to their jobs.  Participants can complete the requirements for each of the tools on their own in a time frame that has been established (looks to be a one tool per month).  In addition to doing it on their own time at home, for instance, their are dedicated times in the school's computer labs set aside just for staff.

I felt this workshop was a very good introduction to flipped classrooms and the variety of uses being implemented in Minnesota.  For more information about this workshop, go to The Flipped Classroom and You page on the MEMO website.

The Group 2 OCLC Project Kickoff that was scheduled for today will be postponed to a later date.  With several folks unable to attend due to closed libraries, no power, or anything else that this crazy May snow is wreaking havoc with, we will find a new date in the next week or so to have that kickoff.  Cheryl will be in contact with those of you who are in that group of libraries.

I can't believe I'm even writing this on May 2, 2013, but with the horrible road conditions around the region and travel not advised almost everywhere, we are cancelling Delivery for today.  We plan to resume regular Delivery on Friday, May 3, 2013 when we hope to be able to safely deliver your tubs.  Stay safe!

Continuing on with our OCLC reclamation project, over 400 boxes of books were picked up from SELCO on Monday April 29 by Better Futures Minnesota formerly known as Network for Better Futures. Rushford-Peterson School and Red Wing Public Library were 2 additional stops made on Friday April 26 with over 30 boxes each.  Better Futures Minnesota will attempt to resale the books, give some to local prisons, work with Better World Books to deliver books to Africa and recycle what is left. 

 Boxes came to SELCO through our delivery courier, Alliance and also some libraries chose to bring their cars full to quicken the process of getting them here. SELCO will continue this service for the next few years as the OCLC project continues for the region. If your library would like to participate and has not already contacted SELCO, please contact Cindy Baker who will coordinate pickup of the boxes from your library. For more information about Better Futures Minnesota, please click here.

SELCO will schedule another pickup from Rochester when we have another full load (typically 300 boxes).  If you have an excess of 30 boxes, let us know and we can schedule for Better Futures Minnesota to come to your location. Keep up the good weeding and let us know if you have any questions.

National Science Foundation "Pushing the Limit" Programming Grant

If your Friends group represents a small and rural Minnesota library looking to bolster its Adult programming offerings in the S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields, the National Science Foundation wants to work with you!

Last year, in a special pilot program, the Foundation and its partners collaborated with 20 libraries throughout the country to bring adult science programming to the masses. This year, organizers want to roll out something similar at 75 more institutions.

Details may vary considerably by location and according to community interest. To apply, all you need is a scientific theme, the kernel of an idea, and the cooperation of a local science professional or teacher (who will help library staff conduct the program). If your library is chosen, you will receive $2,500 toward expenses, curriculum development support from National Science Foundation partners, free materials, and comprehensive online training for library staff and volunteers. 

Applications are due by* May 15, 2013.*

For General Information

For the application

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Preservation Assistance Grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities annually awards grants focused on inventory preservation and cataloging to help worthy “libraries, museums, [and related institutions] improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects…  historical objects, and digital materials.”

Grants vary in size according to need, as determined by the NEH judging committee. If you have an ongoing or potential project that fits into the description above, you are strongly encouraged to apply. In the last five competition cycles, NEH received an average of 316 entries each year and, averaged out, provided financial assistance to 113 (a full 36%!) each cycle.

For General Information

The following information was sent via e-mail on April 29, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

The Legislature must adjourn three weeks from today (April 29, 2013).  Most of the omnibus budget bills were passed on the floor of the House and Senate last week (week of April 22, 2013).  Conference committees are in the process of being appointed and will begin meeting later this week. Here is the status of the major bills affecting libraries:

Omnibus Higher Education Bill (SF 1236)

The bill has passed both the House and the Senate.

The Senate higher education bill includes a $300,000 per year increase in funding for Minitex/MnLINK.  The House maintains current funding.
 
Please contact the conferees listed below and ask them to support the Senate funding level for Minitex/MnLINK:   

Omnibus E-12 Education Bill (HF 630)

The bill has passed both the House and Senate. Here are the highlights for MLA and MEMO:

• Both the House and Senate versions of the bill maintain all library appropriations at current levels.
• Both the House and Senate change the terminology in statute from "grant" to "aid" for Regional Library Basic System Support and Multitype funding.
• The Senate includes language clarifying that total operating capital can be used by schools to purchase computer, software and annual licensing fees. I expect the House to accept this language in conference.
• The House increases the general education formula by 2% in FY 14 and 2% in FY 15. The Senate increases the general education formula by 1% in FY 14. The House had more money to spend than the Senate did.

House conferees are:

Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL - Dilworth)
Rep. Carolos Mariani (DFL - St. Paul)
Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL - Mankato)
Rep. Will Morgan (DFL - Burnsville)
Rep.Dean Urdahl (R - Grove City)

Senate conferees are:
Senator Chuck Wiger (DFL - Maplewood)
Senator Patricia Torres Ray (DFL - Minneapolis)
Senator LeRoy Stumpf (DFL - Plummer)
Senator Alice Johnson (DFL - Spring Lake Park)
Senator Kevin Dahle (DFL - Northfield)

Omnibus Tax Bill (HF 677)

The bill has passed the House and is currently being debated in the Senate. Both bills raise a substantial amount of new revenue via increases in income taxes, sales taxes and and cigarette taxes. The House also raises taxes on alcohol.  Both bills include property tax relief.
 
The House bill increases aid to cities by $80 million and aid to counties by $30 million.  The Senate bill increases aid to cities by $80 million and aid to counties by $40 million.  These increases will be helpful to public libraries.

Legacy

The House Legacy bill was scheduled to be taken up on the House floor 10 days ago and then was pulled.  Rumor has it that controversy over the outdoor heritage appropriations have made it questionable whether the bill can pass.  The Senate has not yet put its bill together.

MnLINK has informed us that the MnLINK Gateway is back up. Some text from their message:

The MnLINK Gateway and VDX are now available to use. You may experience some slowness with request searching or updating requests. The system's indexes are catching up, but we expect this to be OK by tomorrow. You may want to avoid doing large bulk actions today.

The MnLINK Gateway will be going down for a software upgrade on Monday April 22, 2013 around 9:00 PM. We expect the system to return Tuesday April 23 around noon. Thank you for your patience during the downtime.

The following information was sent via e-mail on April 17, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

Total Operating Capital

Doug Tomhave, technology director for the South St. Paul Schools, recently raised a concern that a provision brought forward by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to prohibit using total operating capital to pay for annual licensing fees for software might prohibit paying for licensing fees for electronic texts and library media resources. I communicated that concern to MDE's government relations staff.  After some conversation, MDE agreed to drop the language about annual licensing fees.

Grant to Aid Amendment

The amendment changing the terminology in statute from "grant" to "aid" for Regional Library Basic System Support and Multi-type funding was added to both the House and Senate omnibus education bills late last week. The bills are scheduled to be taken up on the floor in both the House and Senate next week.

Aid to Cities and Counties

The House omnibus tax bill was unveiled Monday evening (April 15, 2013).  It increases aid to cities by $80 million in the second year of the biennium and and in subsequent years.  It increases aid to counties by $30 million in the second year of the biennium and in subsequent years.

Legacy

The House omnibus legacy bill is scheduled to be taken up on the House floor tomorrow, April 18, 2013.  The bill includes $3 million per year for regional public library systems and $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library.  The Senate Legacy Subcommittee has not yet begun meeting. Legacy proposals are being heard first in the appropriate divisions of the Senate Finance Committee.  The Minnesota Digital Library proposal will be heard in the State Departments and Veterans Division on April 23, 2013.  The regional public library system proposal will be heard in the E-12 Education Division during the week of April 29, 2013.

The latest Delivery Count was done on Monday, March 25, 2013 and 3423 items passed through SELCO Delivery.  Compared to the Delivery Count done in March 2012 of 3740, this shows that Delivery decreased in March by 8.5%.  This time around, we found that the number of items from schools increased while the number of items coming from public libraries and academic and special libraries decreased slightly.  However, please don't fret; over 3400 items in a day is definitely a large number of items.  Please keep filling those requests and we'll make sure they get delivered!

The next Delivery Count will occur on Monday, August 27, 2013.  For more information regarding Delivery, please click on the Delivery "tab" on the ILL & Delivery page.

The following information was sent via e-mail on April 9, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

House Omnibus Education Bill

The House omnibus education bill was posted online this afternoon (April 9, 2013).  It maintains current funding for all library appropriations -- Regional Library Basic System Support (RLBSS), Regional Library Telecommunication Aid (RLTA), Multi-type funding, the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) and Telecommunication Equity Aid (TEA).  The bill also increases the general education formula from the current $5,224 per pupil to $5,328 in FY 2014 and $5,433 in FY 2015.  It also repays the education funding shift to the 90/10 payment schedule.

Senate Omnibus Education Bill

The Senate bill will be released Thursday morning, April 11, 2013.

Senate Higher Education Funding Bill

Great news! The Senate higher education bill increases funding for Minitex and MnLINK by $300,000 per year.  Please send thanks to our chief author, Senator Kent Eken and the Committee chair, Senator Terri Bonoff.

House Higher Education Funding Bill

As expected, the House higher education bill maintains current funding for Minitex and MnLINK.  Once the higher ed bill gets to conference committee, we will need to press the conferees to go with the higher funding level in the Senate bill.

Bonding

We had not planned to pursue funding for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants this year, but were encouraged to introduce a bill by House leaders.  We did have a bill introduced to provide $3 million, but today the House bonding bill was unveiled and it does not include any funding for libraries.  We will pursue it next year.

Legacy

As previously reported, the House Legacy bill includes $3 million per year for regional public libraries and $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library.  The Senate has just announced the process it will follow.  Our Legacy request for regional public libraries will originate in the Senate E-12 Education Division before going to the Senate Legacy Subcommittee.

One of the more interesting sessions that I went to today talked about using a WordPress site as an internal staff micro-blogging site.  When I say micro-blogging what I mean is that they were able to setup a WordPress site to function as their own internal Facebook social media tool.  It would allow staff the ability to post, and make comments much like you can do on Facebook.  But it still had the power of WordPress, allowing staff to tag different posts and group them, making it much easier to navigate and find different conversations.  What brought all this social media functionality to WordPress was a WordPress theme called P2.  Information about P2 and a screen shot can be found on the following url, http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/p2.

What this enabled them to do within their organization was to create a place where staff members from different departments, could stay in the loop on projects that were happening within the organization.  Members from different departments could also comment and provide feedback into some of the different conversations.

While this approach has great potential, there are shortcomings that I can see with using this method.  One of which is, while the library forced users to have userids and login to post or comment, this was still a publicly visible blog.  Meaning anyone on the internet could see this blog and read the conversations.  Privacy concerning users and projects immediately makes me cringe at this approach.  I think doing some digging, you could adapt WordPress to lock out the rest of the internet so users had to authenticate in order to read what was going on.  The other shortcoming that they mentioned, is that a lot of staff did not want to learn or adopt to using a new tool.  They found that half of their staff read the P2 blog, but only about a fourth of their entire staff posted or commented.  This means they had a long way to go to get staff using their P2 blog, but I think overall it is worth the extra steps to educate and get the staff on the same tool.

Something like this can create great inter-staff and inter-departmental cooperation, pooling people and resources from other departments one may not have considered before.  And just as a tool to keep all the staff on the same page, goes a long long way to keeping an organization moving forward.  And as I am writing this from Washinton DC, it seems only appropriate to quote Abraham Lincoln who said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  So it seems a worthy endeavor to use an internal social media tool like this to unite different staff and departments and get everyone on the same page.  I know I am planning at taking a look at the P2 WordPress theme and see if it can be integrated into my work.