In this Issue:
- Core MLS course set for state; June 2001
- Library Leadership Institute applications due Friday, March 30
- Five states join ranks of BCR
- Personnel-ly speaking
- American Library Association votes to challenge CIPA
- Around the State
- Trustees' Corner: Titanic, Beatles changed history; so can your trustee decision
- WYLD Things
Core MLS course set for state; June 2001
The Wyoming State Library (WSL) and the University of Missouri, Columbia, are teaming up to bring courses to the state that are geared toward a master’s degree in Library and Information Science, and the first course for the program will be offered June 2001.
"Management of Information Agencies," a core course for the program, will begin with an orientation and advising session in March or April.
Tuition for the course is $564 plus the cost of books and there is a $25 registration fee.
The class includes assignments prior to and after the June 4 to 8 class at Casper College. Students will fullfill requirements for the course via the Internet and in the classroom.
Dorm rooms on the Casper College Campus will be available at a low cost.
Onsite, compressed, online
The courses can be taken for UM-C graduate credit, undergraduate or audited.
Dr. John Budd, who is on the faculty of the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri-Columbia, is the instructor for the course.
In May, a Web site will go online with information about the course and initial reading assignments. The program is fully accredited by the American Library Association and is 42 semester hours in length.
Students can register before or during the June course. Preregistation is made by contacting Judy Yeo at jyeo@state.wy.us, 307/777-5914 or 800/264-1281, 1 to continue, then 3, by April 4.
Students do not have to take the GRE to attend this class.
If students want to complete the UM-C program, the GRE must be taken within the first nine hours of courses. Education funding is available from: LSTA Competitive Grants, WLA Nora Van Burgh Development Grants and MPLA; check the Wyoming Library Association Web site at, http://www.wyla.org.
Library Leadership Institute applications due Friday, March 30
Because developing leaders in Wyoming’s library community is a goal of the Resource Sharing Council, individuals are invited to submit applications for the first (and hopefully annual) Wyoming Library Leadership Institute.
The institute is a tool for nurturing both degreed and non-degreed individuals in leadership roles.
It is not a workshop on becoming a library director or a workshop on library administration.
The institute will be held July 16 to 18 in Casper (July 16, evening dinner). Lodging, materials and meals will be provided through LSTA and other grants; however, participants may be requested to pay travel expenses if necessary.
Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, March 30, and 12 to 15 selected participants will be announced on May 15. Interested individuals should consider applying if they want to learn more about leadership potential and style.
The institute will help those attending to define his or her styles and traits through the DISC profile and Hall Conflict Survey.
Participants will also learn how to be a leader through attitude, communications skills, interpersonal relations and conflict resolution techniques.
Those attending are expected to take future committee and leadership responsibilities in the Wyoming Library Association (WLA), WYLD Network, educational committees and other library initiatives.
To track results, participants will be surveyed several times following the institute on leadership initiatives. Individuals associated with all types of libraries (academic, public, school and special) are invited to apply.
Trustees, support staff, paraprofessionals, library media specialists and librarians are eligible (trustees must have at least one year remaining in the term of his or her appointment at the time the institute is held).
Presenters will be Jep Enck of Enck Resources, Fort Collins, Colo., and John Kanengieter of the National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander.
Questions should be directed to Chris Van Burgh at cvanbu@state.wy.us, 307/777-3642 or 800/264-1281, 1 to continue, then 3. See http://will.state.wy.us/training/lstaleadership.html for additional information and application. The page will be updated when more information becomes available.
Five states join ranks of BCR
The Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR) welcomes the state libraries of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon and Washington as new state members, the latest partners in BCR’s multistate, nonprofit library network.
The five new states join the BCR member states of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. This is the largest territorial expansion ever undertaken by a U.S. library network.
To find information about BCR and the many benefits it offers, see
Personnel-ly speaking
Courtney Hall has joined the Wyoming State Library (WSL) as a contract public information specialist.
Hall graduated from Laramie County Community College in May 2000 with an associate’s degree in mass media.
She was co-editor for the Wingspan newsmagazine from 1998-1999, and the Wingspan online editor from 1999-2000. She recently was employed by the Warren Sentinel as a production assistant.
Hall is originally from Norwalk, Conn., but has lived in Cheyenne for 10 years.
She will marry Paul Herceg in May 2001.
American Library Association votes to challenge CIPA
The executive board of the American Library Association (ALA) voted in late January to initiate legal action challenging the recently enacted Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), signed into law on Dec. 21, 2000.
The decision came after more than a week of intense discussion among leaders and members during the association’s annual midwinter meeting. The ALA contends the act is unconstitutional and creates an infringement of First Amendment protections.
The federal rider, which was attached to the Labor HHS Education Appropriations Bill, mandates libraries and schools install content filters on all computers that offer Internet access as a prerequisite to receiving federal grant funds. Funding sources include the e-rate program, the Library Services and Technology Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The association is researching and exploring its options in preparation for litigation.
Around the State
Staff changes
- Susan Vittitow, public information specialist, Wyoming State Library, is now the grants clearinghouse coordinator for Wyoming Health Resources Network Inc. (WHRN).
WHRN is a Cheyenne-based nonprofit organization that works to improve and enhance rural health services and promote healthier individuals and communities in Wyoming.
- Carrie Anderson has left the position of library manager, Big Piney Library, and Debi Morley has taken on the responsibilities of the position.
- Kashawna White, a seven-year-employee with the Laramie County Library System, was named manager of circulation and satellite services for the organization.
White previously served as a checkout desk assistant and the assistant manager/billing specialist within the circulation division.
Programs
- For the fourth year in a row, the Pinedale Library meeting room hosted the Stop ‘n’ Shop.
The event allows residents, who run a business out of their home, to display and sell items during the holiday season.
Susan Noble, organizer of the event, said the library is the perfect place to hold the event because of the large room and lots of parking.
- The Albany County Library has implemented a 90-day trial period with Unique Management Systems, a collection agency that specializes in libraries.
Patrons of the library have $22,000 in fines and $53,000 in lost items charges.
- In response to demand for more classes, the Teton County Library has added a second Spanish computer class. The classes are booked more than a month in advance, and the library’s computer center has seen an increase in Spanish-speaking patrons using the Internet and word processing machines.
Donations, grants
- The Buffalo Bill Historical Center recently received a two-year $112,500 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Funds will be used to market the center and strengthen the center’s education program.
- The Burns Branch Library received a $2,000 gift from X-JWC, a Cheyenne women’s club. The money will be used for custom bookshelves and a computer table.
Fund-raisers
- Friends of the Sheridan County Library raised $39,000 at the Friends of the Library Auction. More than 160 items were sold.
Trustees' Corner
Titanic, Beatles changed history;so can your trustee decision
By Jerry Krois
deputy state librarian
What do the following events have in common: the maiden voyage of the Titanic, the 2000 presidential election, and the release of the Beatles’ first song, “Please Please Me?” The answer: None of us would have expected the outcomes in our wildest dreams.
Within each event, a series of decisions were made that changed history and the lives of people
Some of the decisions were based on anticipation, some on pride, some on expectations of others and some on a lack of information. As the trustees for your library, you must look at your decisions using good information in a rational and focused environment.
You must maintain a broad perspective to see whom you affect, when you affect them and why you want to affect them. Without such an approach, your decision may seem non-discriminatory on its face value but could be discriminatory in its application.
In today’s increasingly complex environment, a decision is not a single event since unrealized external and internal factors arise to have implications ranging beyond our initial intention.
Consumers of services, watchers of government operations and observers of social change all take interest in what reasoning and influencing factors lay behind the change you make.
We initiate changes for such general reasons as safeguarding the taxpayers’ investment, helping staff or making the library a better place. But your response to trends and situations require setting aside experiences and preferences. They require your attention, fact-finding and consensus.
Decision-making means that we have enough information on which to base a good policy or action and are capable of justifying the route selected. It also means looking beyond the face value of a short-term change to the underlying statement it says about the library to the community.
WYLD Things
- Marc Stratton and Desiree Sallee (Wyoming State Library, WYLD) have finished another server software migration.
The “Will” server is now ready to offer more improved email services. The WYLD Office will let users know more about the planned email strategy after an options study is completed.
- Bobbi Thorpe is working on all the necessary policy files work that will move the Crook County School District Libraries and the Yellowstone Research Library toward WYLD membership.
- Cheyenne Veteran’s Administration records are now in the WYLD database.
- Sallee has the Wyoming State Law and Cheyenne V Libraries now available through the Web2 service.
- Thorpe, Stratton and Trish Palluck have been busy cleaning, converting and adopting the Follett records of Crook County School District’s Libraries with the help of a software package — MARC Magician.
- Kim Capron is now providing WYLD IT support services from Northwest College in Powell.
- Since our “all@will” list has become more than just a list for informing people about WYLD-only related issues, Stratton has created a new list just for sharing information about WYLD. The list is wyldnews@will.state.wy.us.
- Brian Greene is assisting eligible libraries with E-Rate Years 2, 3 and 4 issues.
Additionally, a general statewide catalog that shows all holdings for all libraries is again available for searching (choose “all” from the main menu). Patrons can initiate their request process from this catalog and will be directed to their own catalog to complete the hold or interlibrary loan.
Her work address is now Kim Capron, c/o NWC, 231 W. 6th St., Powell, WY, 82435-1880. Other contact information is: desk phone, 307/754-6766, cell phone, 307/272-2072, Faxes, (send to NWC Library) 307/754-6010. Capron’s email address remains the same: kcapron @ will.state.wy.us.
The WYLD office and staff appreciate the efforts of Kay Carlson and the NWC administration for paving the way for a smooth transition.
All WYLD accounts have been subscribed to the list.
Anyone with a different account (i.e. will, hotmail, etc) who is not forwarding their WYLD mail to that account (Don’t want to get duplicate messages do you?) should visit the distribution list Web page at More than $50,000 in reimbursements is coming in for Year 2 for those eligible on the library network.
In the spring of 2001, he will be seeking Year 3 reimbursements of approximately $70,000.