BadgerLunch Summer Webinar Series

Focus on Reader’s Resources

Thursdays at noon

30 - 45 minute sessions

July 14, 21, 28, 2011

Not sure what to read next? Can’t find a book your reluctant reader wants to read? Join us Thursdays in July for resources in BadgerLink that will help you select summer reading materials.

July 14: TeachingBooks – Explore thousands of resources about fiction and nonfiction books used in the K-12 environment to encourage the integration of multimedia author and book materials into reading activities.

July 21: NoveList K-8 – Learn about this fiction database designed with a bright, appealing layout especially for elementary and middle school age students.

July 28: NoveList – Focus on readers’ advisory service! NoveList provides access to information on fiction titles as well as feature content includnig author read-alikes, book discussion guides, reading lists and more.

All sessions are open to everyone. Topics include a description of the information/learning resource, searching techniques, and helpful features. For a flyer with complete schedule and links to the webinars, visit the BadgerLink home page at http://www.badgerlink.net/ and click on the BadgerLunch Webinar Series Announcement link.

The archive of previous sessions is found at http://www.badgerlink.net/training.html

For more information, please contact:

Kara Ripley
Reference and BadgerLink Training Librarian
Department of Public Instruction
608-224-6165
Kara.Ripley@dpi.wi.gov 

BadgerLink provides access to quality online information resources for Wisconsin residents at http://www.badgerlink.net/.

BadgerLink is a project of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning. The project is funded through the Wisconsin Universal Service Fund with partial support provided by the Library Services and Technology Act using funds received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

BadgerLearn - A Collaborative Learning Space

BadgerLearn is a joint project under active development by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Resources for Libraries and Lifelong Learning (RL&LL), Wisconsin Library Services (WiLS) and the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC). Our immediate vision is to be a place where librarians can discover & access resources of professional value. Some examples of the resources you'll currently find here include:

•Streaming tutorials about OverDrive e-book use
•Archived BadgerLunch webinars
•Streaming tutorials about Adobe Digital Editions
•Tutorials for productivity tools such as MS Word and Excel

BadgerLearn's ultimate vision is to be a sort of co-op where library staff can use existing resources and share new resources they develop with the greater community. By reducing the need to re-invent the wheel, librarians can spend more time doing what we do best: serving our users.

BadgerLearn continues to evolve. We've made some pretty major changes of the past weeks & we'd like to share just a few of them with you:

• An introduction/tutorial video is now available on front page. This video describes some of the key search, browse, and user features.
• The color scheme has changed to a more neutral palette. We'd love to know what you think!
• You can now create a profile on BadgerLearn. Creating a profile allows you to access an ability to rate resources, and to post on forums (that's right, forums are coming too!).
• Resource ratings. Users now have the opportunity to rate resources they encounter. The ratings you assign to resources are then used to suggest other resources you may be interested in whenever you click the "get recommendations" link in the navigation bar.
• Lastly, the team is in the process of setting up forums, so that discussions can take place about training materials, as well as provide a venue for open discussion about BadgerLearn itself.

We've developed a survey. Feedback from this survey will help us to steer our ongoing development efforts, and we'd love it if you'd be willing to help us by taking it.
YOU CAN ACCESS THE SURVEY HERE.

Thanks for all you've done to help us so far. Your feedback has been invaluable & we've high hopes for the future.
-The BadgerLearn project team.

June Is AudioBook

June is Audiobook Month

Are you looking for some fun ways to celebrate Audiobook Month?  Well here are some great suggestions from Booklist Online.

Grab great Get Caught Listening promos
 – sound clips of favorite authors to incorporate into a radio Public Service Announcement, posters to highlight your library’s audiobook downloads or physical collection, YouTube videos to add to your website – all highlighting the pleasures of listening to literature.

Teachers can use the audiobook fact sheet in summer reading packets to provide parents with the benefits of listening. Summertime is here and the time is right for listening!
(Booklist Online, June 1, 2011 posted by Mary Burkey)

Wisconsin Valley Library Service - Financial Assistant (Part-time)

Wisconsin Valley Library Service - Financial Assistant (Part-time)

Due to a retirement, the Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS) in Wausau, Wisconsin is seeking a part-time Financial Assistant. This position is responsible for various office, financial and human resource functions of the system which includes but is not limited to payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable and state/federal reporting requirements. Position reports directly to the WVLS Director.

WVLS is a federated public library system, located in Wausau, Wisconsin, and provides service to 25 public libraries in its 7-county area. For more information about WVLS, visit our web site at:  http://wvls.lib.wi.us/

Qualified candidates should hold a 2- or 4-year degree in accounting and have 2-3 years accounting experience. Experience in use of QuickBooks and Excel software programs is required. Candidates must possess strong oral and written communication skills, enthusiasm for new and emerging technologies, ability to handle multiple projects, ability to work collaboratively with others, and a sense of humor. Candidates must have a valid driver’s license and the ability to travel independently.

Compensation range for part-time position: $16.46 - $20.32 per hour, depending on experience and qualifications. Attractive pro-rated benefits package is provided.

A complete job description is available at:  http://wvls.lib.wi.us/Jobs/2011FinAsst.pdf

Submit cover letter, resume, and application available at: http://wvls.lib.wi.us/Jobs/WVLSjobapp.pdf  with complete contact information for three references by June 27, 2011 to: Barbara Freimund at freimund@wvls.org or Financial Assistant; Wisconsin Valley Library Service; 300 N First Street; Wausau, WI 54403.

Position will remain open until qualified candidate is determined.
Equal Opportunity Employer.

Counterpoints to Access Wisconsin's statements regarding omnibus motion 489, the BCCB grant, and WiscNet

Access Wisconsin statement:  The UW created WiscNet despite a statutory prohibition and staffs it with $1.4 million per year in UW-Madison employees.

Counterpoint:  WisNet was founded as a consortium of 24 equal partners from public and private colleges in 1990 with UW Madison administering the startup grants from the National Science Foundation.  The network expanded beyond the original charter members using two subsequent NSF grants and then evolved a series of sustainable business models that permitted many other institutions to participate. The $1.4 million is funding that WiscNet pays to the UW for technical support rather than a UW subsidy to WiscNet.  WiscNet has been providing Internet access and related services long before most telephone companies entered the market.

Access Wisconsin statement:  Nothing in the Jt. Finance action prevents the UW from meeting its own telecommunication needs.

Counterpoint:  Point #25 in the Jt. Finance action clearly prevents the UW from being a member or partner with any other entity that provides telecommunications services or information services.  Taken at face value, this prevents the UW from being part of advanced research networks, like Internet2.   

Access Wisconsin statement:   Taxpayer money should not be used to subsidize a government agency such as UW-Extension to duplicate and compete with our services.

Counterpoint:  Access Wisconsin members and other private sector telecommunication carriers in the state currently receive a subsidy of over $90 million annually in taxpayer money from the federal Universal Service Program as an incentive for expansion to underserved populations. WiscNet was designed to link public institutions in service areas where the private sector had declined comparable development of affordable infrastructure.

Access Wisconsin statement:  On the UW grant, to add insult to injury, the UW planned to hire an out-of-state firm to lay the fiber optic cables.

Counterpoint:  The UW reached out to numerous Wisconsin phone companies via an open bid process seeking their partnership on the grant.  None agreed to participate.  

Access Wisconsin statement:  The UW grant would harm the BadgerNet  network, which already offers reliable, affordable broadband services.

Counterpoint:  While being very reliable BadgerNet is less than affordable to many community institutions.  For example, a 100Mbps service is $6,000 a month and a 1,00Mbps service is $49,500 a month.  While these costs may drop with renewal of the BadgerNet contract, reliable evidence of future affordability is not available at this time.   The UW grant clearly shows a return on investment of 3.5 – 4.5 years.  After that an institution will be able to get 1,000Mbps service for about $10,000 annually vs. $594,000 annually, which is the current BadgerNet rate.

BadgerNet is a beneficial network for many of our schools and libraries only because it is heavily subsidized ($16.8 million annually) by state funds (an indirect subsidy to the telecommunication carriers.)  This state subsidy is limited. As schools and libraries need more affordable bandwidth not supported by the subsidy, they must pursue other options besides BadgerNet.

Access Wisconsin statement:  UW’s grant claims to serve rural areas but it will also serve more urban areas like Wausau. 

Counterpoint:   As stated above, BadgerNet is less than affordable to many community institutions, in both rural areas and urban areas.

Access Wisconsin statement:  At a time of limited pubic resources, these types of wasteful spending (i.e., UW grant) are unacceptable.

Counterpoint:  Limited resources demand investment in quality services like WiscNet, supported by fair share contributions on a statewide basis.  

General statement: WiscNet and the Building Community Capacity through Broadband (BCCB) grant are killing the Badgernet Converged Network (BCN).

Counterpoint:  The availability of WiscNet services over the BCN are a major part of the value of the BCN.  If WiscNet were no longer a service option, the BCN would still hold much of its value for site to site data connectivity at moderate data speeds, but would lose value as an Internet transport medium.  In fact, many BCN consumers would be financially constrained to obtaining lower quality, but affordable consumer broadband Internet (ie. through Charter Business Cable, or through CenturyTel DSL).  This direction could be a real disservice to the BCN.

The BCCB grant and the Community Area Network (CAN) projects are designed to build local, interconnectivity and the capacity to support large scale collaboration between local resource pools (ie. Universities, Colleges, Hospitals, Clinics, K12 schools Libraries, Emergency Services, and other public entities).  The networks fill a service and infrastructure void, and would allow private telecommunications companies access to a lucrative high end service market that currently does not exist.

Information on Points 23-26 in Omnibus Motion 489

Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS), a local government library system entity which serves 36 public libraries and branches across 7 counties:  Clark, Forest, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Oneida, and Taylor.

 

I will open with some context, painting a brief picture of how WVLS and its member libraries consume network and Internet services.  Then I will clarify each of the four major points of concern in omnibus motion 489, points 23-26, and explain how they will impact Central Wisconsin communities (from a library oriented perspective).  While the Central Wisconsin library and K12 community will certainly be impacted, it is the Wausau community that will see the biggest direct impact as it is most effected by the millions of federal grant dollars that will no longer be available.

Opening Comments:
There has been much confusion as to the nature of WiscNet services vs. Badgernet Converged Network (BCN) vs. AT&T or other private telecommunications services so first, let me provide some context which should help clarify.

WVLS is a member of WiscNet and utilizes WiscNet as its Internet Service Provider (ISP), providing internet connectivity to all but two of our libraries over Wisconsin TEACH/Federal eRate subsidized Badgernet Converged Network (BCN) data lines.  Our Wide Area Network (WAN) consists of the WVLS aggregation site or “central site” with 34 remote sites, each connecting back to the WVLS central site via BCN data lines. 

So to use an apt analogy that I unfortunately can’t take credit for, BCN provides the hose, WiscNet (or another ISP) supplies the water.  One can hook up their BCN hose to any of several State of Wisconsin approved ISPs.  WiscNet is on that list and for WVLS and its member libraries, is the most cost effective.  The conversation should not be about BCN vs. WiscNet, as that would be like having a conversation about garden hoses vs. a water source.  It just doesn’t make sense.

The WVLS central site maintains two “circuits” or virtual connections over a single physical data line (two smaller hoses within a larger pipe).  One of those circuits connects us to our WAN members; the other connects us and all of our WAN members to our Internet Service Provider, currently WiscNet.  The total bandwidth connecting those remote sites back to WVLS is approximately 100 Megabits per second (Mbps).  WVLS currently connects the WAN to the Internet at 30Mbps, about one third of the total potential consumption by member libraries.  At first glance, only maintaining a third of the potential bandwidth consumption may seem like a disservice to the member libraries, but in actuality, the libraries average peak usage is just under the 30Mbps.  That ratio is efficient for our system.

Our cost for Internet and membership services through WiscNet is approximately $12,500.00 annually and this is shared by our connected member libraries.  Our cost for the central site BCN line is about $3000.00 annually and most of our connected members each have a $1200.00 annual cost for their own BCN lines.  This combination of communications framework and low cost Internet data transport is a real boon to public entities like libraries and schools, especially those in the most rural areas. 

Point 23:
[Telecommunications Services: Prohibit the Board of Regents, the UW System, any UW institution, or the UW-Extension, directly or indirectly, from doing any of the following: (a) receiving funds from any award from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce for the Building Community Capacity through Broadband (BCCB) project; (b) disbursing, spending, loaning, granting, or in any other way distributing or committing to distribute any funds received with respect to, budgeted to, or allocated for the BCCB project; and (c) participating in the planning, organization, funding, implementation or operation of the BCCB project.  In addition, require the Board of Regents to reduce the amount expended on telecommunications services during the 201-13 biennium by the total value of any funds, goods, or services that have been or will be distributed or committed to be distributed by or on behalf of the Board of Regents, the UW System, any UW institution, or the UW-Extension on or after May 1, 2011, to any participant, contractor, or supplier related to the BCCB project.]

Breakdown:
The Building Community Capacity through Broadband (BCCB) grant is intended to support demonstration efforts in four Wisconsin communities, one of which is Wausau.  These are pilots, or demonstration exercises intended to discover the value of community owned Community Area Network (CAN) infrastructure.  The grant funded project is explicitly designed to offer private telecommunication providers access, so they may compete for service offerings to connected public anchor institutions.  

These demonstrations are designed to show public and private sectors, as well as community members and taxpayers the value a CAN might bring to all parties involved.  Point 23 describes the elimination of University of Wisconsin’s leadership participation in this grant which, all things considered, would effectively kill it.  The need for such intervention is questionable as there is no unfair competition created in the project.  The grant dollars are not being utilized for a huge research project. It’s a matter of whether any business opportunities are created (successful BCCB project demonstration), or the market remains unchanged (unsuccessful or legislature prevented BCCB project demonstration).  Private telecommunications companies will potentially benefit from a successful demonstration.

What it means to Wausau and Central Wisconsin constituents:
Wausau is one of the demonstration communities.  Connecting many of the Wausau Area community anchor institutions (schools, libraries, colleges, hospitals, and various city-county services) is a planned project that has been in development for many years and has a long term plan behind it.  Leadership in this CAN project is found in Chet Strebe, CIO of Northcentral Technical College.  The BCCB project works in conjunction with a mission that’s already in place, allowing the Wausau CAN project to grow faster than expected in return for providing an example of what a CAN may offer to a community in the form of technology benefits. 

Planning reports of the BCCB project indicate that this project would bring several million federal NTIA dollars into the community and would help further develop community owned infrastructure that is already in development.  The BCCB grant is creating a (currently non-existent) network in Wausau to which local and national private telecom providers can connect and offer advanced services.  Currently available private infrastructure is neither adequate nor cost effective to accommodate projected growth beneficial to public/private partnership and beneficial to economic expansion.

The prevention of this project would reach out beyond Wausau.  As a CAN member/subscriber, WVLS would gain low cost access to additional bandwidth which would allow us to connect to our members via the BCN line at the full 100Mbps of the pricing tier we can afford.  We would have a second data line via the CAN, which we could use to connect to the most competitive ISP available (in all fairness, likely WiscNet under current pricing models).  This combination would allow us to serve nearly 100Mbps of Internet service to member libraries, along with all of our other network services.  Maintaining our 30% peak usage ratio means the libraries could utilize a combined 300Mbps (an average of just under 10Mbps each) bringing their service levels in line with modern needs and demands.  If the CAN stalls, we would be limited to sharing our 100Mbps BCN line with WAN and Internet connectivity limiting us to a maximum of 50Mbps of Internet served, or about 150Mpbs total library service, which is an average of just over 4Mbps each; a very limiting figure in today’s information rich societal needs.

Point 24:

[Modify current law to specify that the Board of Regents shall not offer, resell, or provide telecommunications services, directly or indirectly, that are available from a private telecommunications carrier to the general public or to any other public or private entity.  Define telecommunications services as including data and voice over Internet protocol services, Internet protocol services, broadband access and transport, information technology services, Internet access services, and unlit fiber.]

Breakdown:
Point 24 is questionable as there is already an explicit statement (on page 8 of motion 489) that these actions are already discussed and prevented under current law.  It is possible that the intent is to “update” current law with additional limitations and/or terminology, but the point is moot as the UW, to my knowledge, does not participate in any such actions (since they are already prohibited by law).

What it means for Wausau and Central Wisconsin constituents:
I find myself confused by the apparent redundancy of Point 24.  This point may be better addressed by UW staff directly if any additional implications are to be considered.

Point 25:

[Prohibit the Board of Regents, the UW System, and UW institution, or the UW-Extension from becoming or remaining a member, shareholder, or partner in or with any company, corporation, non-profit association, join venture, cooperative, partnership, consortium, or any other individual or entity that offers, resells, or provides telecommunications services or information technology services to members of the general public, or to any private entity, or to any public entity other than the Board, the UW System, any UW institution, or the US-Extension.]

Breakdown: 
Point 25 is already under heavy scrutiny by key members of the legislature.  Staff members in Sen. Kapanke’s office (and possibly others) are working to revise the language.  It basically states that the UW group of institutions can’t connect to anyone, anywhere, but themselves.  This has generated media attention because it would put the UW into a very tight and small container.  It is essential for the UW to be connected to the world; and vice versa.    

What it means for Wausau and Central Wisconsin constituents:
The UW is a world renowned academic system and a vast and invaluable information resource for Wausau and all of Wisconsin.  Preventing telecommunications connectivity outright, or even forcing it through the limiting constraints of current private sector infrastructure, would be detrimental to University of Wisconsin Marathon County, Northcental Technical College, local private colleges, many local and regional hospitals, local libraries, and K12s, and to other local public institutions.  Losing access to the shared resources represented by the UW group would impede progress for Wausau’s Community Area Network and severely limit local public and private technology and network infrastructure growth for many years.

Point 26:
[Specify that WiscNet could no longer be a department of office within the UW-Madison Division of Information Technology beginning July 1, 2012, and delete $1,400,00 PR from the UW System related to WiscNet in 2012-13.  Require the Legislative Audit Bureau to conduct a program audit and a financial audit of the Board of Regents’ use of telecommunication services and relationship with WiscNet.]

Breakdown:
WiscNet is a 501(c)(3) entity and separate from the UW group, and the specifically named UW-Madison Division of Information Technology.  As a WiscNet member and service consumer and as a general technology services consumer, UW has an interest in minimizing the resources it commits to technology services. 

What it means for Wausau and Central Wisconsin constituents:
The potential for damage to the Wausau and Central Wisconsin community is severe.  Prohibiting UW from being a WiscNet consumer, coupled with not allowing UW to save costs by closely partnering with their cooperative, means increased costs all around.  Even if WiscNet survives the loss of UW as an eligible consumer, WiscNet’s overhead would remain, and would be distributed among a smaller contributing pool of members.  This will in all likelihood be unsustainable. 

Final Comments:

If the telecommunications providers had the infrastructure, the capacity, and the pricing to offer the services needed by public sector in a way that was cost effective to taxpayer supported institutions, I would be all for utilizing the market competition to gain the best services and use my limited technology dollars to their utmost efficiencies. That landscape does not currently exist.

Reading Between the Lines

“One World, Many Stories” is this year’s Wisconsin Summer Library Program theme. Many of our colleagues have been making the rounds of area elementary schools in recent weeks, visiting individual classrooms to promote summer reading at the public library.

I admire the children’s librarians who possess enough self-confidence to deliver the pitch without needing the camouflage crutch of a goofy costume. During the 27 summers that job was mine at the Rhinelander District Library, I found it much more comfortable to hide behind a character and costume that matched the theme.

The last “Reading Between the Lines” told the story of the year I almost got arrested as Super Librarian. Some other incarnations were as a raccoon, ringmaster, antique car driver, rock ‘n’ roll queen, gorilla chasing zookeeper, fisherwoman, tacky tourist, reading coach, Captain Book the pirate, and frontierswoman Sally Ann Thunder Whirlwind Crockett.

During the “Readlicious” summer of 1990, I spent three days in a rented chicken suit that reeked of cigars and lost 10 pounds being chased through the school district by library assistant Kay Pohnl, who was dressed as a meat clever wielding chef.

The Children’s Department traveling road show began in 1974 when the theme was “Yankee Doodle Rides Again.” I impersonated Doodle while our two high school pages, Cheryle Zettler and Arlene Warmouth alternated as the front and back ends of my faithful horse.

Cheryle literally should have quit while she was a head. During the next eleven years, she portrayed a burglar, a creature called The Whangdoodle, and a hodag among many others.

In 1978 for “Star Worlds at the Library” Cheryle played straight woman to my character of a lost space traveler named Koob (book spelled backwards). Covered head to toe by a hooded metallic fabric suit with gloves and boots, my identity and voice were further disguised behind a tinfoil-lined fencing mask.

Our skit called for me to suddenly enter a classroom or school library, interrupt Cheryle’s discourse on summer library fun and snatch a book to use as fuel for my disabled spacecraft. A bumbling attempt to “freeze” her with my finger when she thwarted the booknapping resulted in freezing myself instead. This allowed her to finish her speech while I stood motionless for a time before gradually thawing to deliver the exit line, “Take me to your library!”

One afternoon found us waiting for the first three grades from West Elementary School to assemble in their small basement library. I was hiding in a closet in the far corner of the room opposite the only exit where Cheryle was stationed. Excitement crackled in the air as weary teachers exhorted their charges to squeeze closer together so everyone could sit on the floor.

My sudden appearance was greeted by a tumultuous response. “Star Wars” had just been released and interest in all things galactic was at a fever pitch. As I waded through a sea of up-turned faces and reaching hands to a point about six feet from the door, I realized this was something more than the ordinary chemical reaction to our antics. Tiny hairs began standing up on the back of my neck.

The children started poking the calves of my legs as I stood frozen, then progressed to pinching my space creature bottom and delivering surreptitious karate chops to the backs of my shiny knees while I thawed. At my first step toward the exit several kids leaped for each leg and clung to my boots like sucking mud, dragging me down to the floor.

“Good grief!’ I thought, “They’re playing for keeps!”

The scene took on the texture of a South American soccer stadium riot as thirty children tried to rip the silver suit from my body to see what was inside. I was unable to defend myself because I couldn’t see anything and feared ending up unconscious in the middle of the floor clad in nothing but my underwear!

Until the day I check into that great library in the sky, I will never forget the look of pure ghoulish glee on the face of one blond-haired cherub who seized the opportunity (while I was momentarily pinned on the linoleum) to press his nose against the mesh of the fencing mask and gaze deeply into my panic-stricken eyes.

Fear gave me strength. Shaking the children off like a grizzly bear being pestered by a pack of beagles, I somehow regained my feet and charged for the exit, shouting, “TAKE ME TO YOUR LIBRARY!!!”

Cheryle and those teachers who realized I was genuinely in trouble had been unable to reach me or be heard above the melee. Now she and I fled across the hall to the furnace room, closed the metal door and put our backs to it until library aide Gerrie Martini sounded the all clear.

“Dear Space Creature,” began one of the many apologies delivered to my desk by day’s end, “We are sorry that we pushed you kicked you pinched you tripped you and shoved you and we will never ever do that again and if we do you can send us to the prinsibel (sic)!” The colorful spaceships decorating the letters proved it was worth a few bruises to capture the imagination of a room full of young readers.

We had a wonderful summer.

Kris Adams Wendt

Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library is a Summer Library Program Partner

Librarians strive to serve everyone in their community. However, one audience that may be more difficult to support is youth with vision or physical disabilities.  The Wisconsin Talking Book & Braille Library is here to help!

The 2001 Summer Reading themes "One World, Many Stories" for children and "You Are Here" for teens provide a wonderful opportunity to learn about diversity and other cultures. 

The Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library has created theme related bibliographies and is offering incentives to encourage young readers to listen to the highlighted titles on their digital players.  Applications for digital players are available at the Wisconsin Talking Book & Braille Library website.

This specialized library is one of four statewide resource contracts supported at the state level by Universal Service Fund money through the Department of Public Instruction.  It offers audio books to children and adults who have a hard time reading standard print.  This includes, but is not limited to those who have a vision impairment, physical handicap or reading disability.

Colleagues on the friendly staff at the Wisconsin Talking Book & Braille Library are happy to assist librarians throughout the state.  Visit the website or call 1-800-242-8822 for more information!

Reading Between the Lines

Comic book figures are all the rage at the multiplex this year as the Green Lantern, Thor, X-Men and Captain America leap onto the silver screen.

While women superheroes have chronically been in short supply, one of the more visible female counterparts of 20th century comic book lore was someone we book pushers could relate to.

Batgirl, aka Barbara “Babs” Gordon, was the daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner Gordon. The cover of the comic book in which she made her 1967 debut carried the tantalizing question, “What is her startling secret identity?”

You guessed it! Concerned about the attention that her meteoric academic progress is generating, Ms. Gordon decides to cultivate a lower profile by earning a library and information science degree. After which she becomes head reference librarian at the Gotham City Public Library and fights evil in her spare time.

Although Gordon’s alter-ego was initially stereotyped as passively dowdy so as to give greater contrast to her exciting adventures as Batgirl, her depiction as a career oriented woman (albeit in a mainstream occupation deemed acceptable for an unmarried young woman) was symbolic of women’s empowerment in the 1960’s. By the 1970’s, the character had given her civilian identity a makeover by running for Congress.

One wonders how many little Batgirl impersonators getting dressed for trick or treat from 1967 to 1988 knew they were also “going as a librarian.” Let’s face it; even librarians don’t attend Halloween parties dressed as other librarians. (“Who are you supposed to be?” “Melvil Dewey!” “Uh-huh. Sure.”)

That does not mean, however, that librarians – particularly children’s librarians – don’t relish secret identities.

In May 1978, I spent a week dressed as a Super Librarian touring every classroom in 12 elementary schools to promote that year’s Summer Reading Program theme “Super People Enjoy the Library.” Wearing an eclectic costume combining blue leotards and red satin gym shorts, knee high black boots, and a Superman logo shirt with a scarlet lined U.S. Navy nurse’s cape, I used a red eye mask to conceal my true identity.

On the afternoon of Day Two, my loyal assistant Kay bet me five bucks that I wouldn’t walk from the Rhinelander District Library up Stevens Street to Zion Lutheran School and back.

In full costume. In broad daylight.

Hey, easy money!

Hands on hips, I strode along the sidewalk as though the only thing on my mind was a pressing appointment with the Green Hornet. We didn’t find out until later that a concerned citizen had actually called the Rhinelander Police Department to report some nut in a supersuit was roaming the city streets, presumably looking for a tall building worthy of leaping over in a single bound!

Luckily, the police chief’s secretary (whose secret identity was president of the Friends of the Library) was at her post when the call came in.

“Oh, don’t worry; about THAT!” Helen told the dispatcher. “It’s just the children’s librarian!”

Librarians may not wear a red cape in real life but we perform amazing interventions as superheroes every single day. Our greatest superpower is the ability to organize great collections of things so that they can easily be retrieved even after many years.

We don't get in the news much for saving the world, but we save most of the information that the world produces. And we know where to find it again, even on the Internet, which resembles a library tossed by vandals.

Librarian superheroes save people every day. We save them time and money. We save some from needless anxiety. We save others from unemployment and a lack of educational opportunities. We save them from boredom and poor consumer choices.

Sometimes, we even save lives. Not in the classic fireman’s carry from a burning building sense, you understand, but in myriad ways large and small that can make a profound difference, especially to a child.

Consider, for example, award winning author Gary Paulsen who ran away from home at age 14 and lived with relatives or on his own. He sold newspapers to make money for food and clothes. One day Gary went into the public library to get warm. The librarian there offered him his own library card and began recommending books to him. The way Paulsen tells it, "I don't think of any of the good things that have happened to me would have been possible without that librarian and libraries in general....It saved me, it really did."

Librarian superheroes save communities, too. Public libraries in Smallvilles across the nation are being faced with an unprecedented level of demand, expectation and responsibility due to a phenomenon I’ll call “rural shrink.”

Amidst economic upheaval and ongoing withdrawal of services and agencies from small towns – losing businesses, local doctors, closing post offices and government agency service centers – the public library has become more and more of a recognized community focal point, meeting place and access facility for a broad range of purposes. Not the least of these is meeting the need for high speed Internet access while assisting the technological disadvantaged to successfully negotiate the maze of a digital world.

The fictional Barbara Gordon fought evil in her spare time. Real librarians fight evil every single day behind the circulation desk – the evil of ignorance, of discrimination based on income or geography, of adversity that can only be mitigated by fair and equal access to information.

Super Librarian certainly deserves a rightful place in the League of Justice!

For a bibliography of Batgirl comics featuring librarian Barbara Gordon go here.

Kris Adams Wendt

WLA Support Staff One Day Conference May 25, 2011

WLA's Support Staff Section will host its annual One-day Conference for support staff from all types of libraries on Wednesday, May 25, at the UW-Milwaukee Student Union.

At just $45 for members ($60 for non-members and $25 for students), with all meals included, this conference is a great value!

Breakout session topics include implementing RFID, support staff certification, degree completion, how to find and use free multimedia software, and more!

Joyce Latham, Ph.D., UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies, will provide a keynote address on "This is What Democracy Looks Like: Supporting the Right to Know."

Take a look at the complete schedule and register online today!