System Spotlight
By Staff
Future Dates & Training Opportunities (All Times in CST)
August 30th – Summer Library Program Evaluations Due!
September 2nd – SWKLS Office Closed for Labor Day
September 4th – 12 PM – 1 PM – Emergency and Crisis Management in Libraries/Register Here
September 10th – 2 PM – Twosday Takeaway: Multicultural Community Programming with Miguel Coca/Register Here
September 11th – 12 PM – 1 PM – Transform and Thrive: Fostering Wellness in Our Work/Register Here
September 19th – 10 AM – 4 PM – Auto-Graphics SHAREit In-Person Training at SEKLS in Iola, KS/Register Here
September 20th – 10 AM – 4 PM – Auto-Graphics SHAREit In-Person Training at Advanced Learning Library in Wichita, KS/Register Here
September 26th – 27th – SWKLS Retreat/Register Here
Consulting
By Sara Wilson
Twosday Takeaways Are Back!
Did you miss us? Summer Reading has come to a close (don’t forget to submit your Summer Library Program evaluations, due today!!) and we are kicking off the start of the fall season with our first Twosday Takeaway since April! Our new Collection Specialist Miguel Coca will tell you about his experiences with planning and hosting multicultural events and how you can apply the same to your library programming. Join us Tuesday, September 10th, at 2 PM on Zoom. Register here! This program is in affiliation with the SWKLS DEI Taskforce.
Kansas Visiting Artists Grant
If you’re interested in incorporating art into your programming – and with next year’s summer library program being all about art and color, who isn’t? – you may be interested in this grant made available through the Kansas Arts Commission. Visiting Artists grants allow community organizations to bring artists to perform and engage with audiences to enrich communities with exposure to the arts. From visual arts to music and performing arts, there is quite a roster available! The maximum grant amount is $8500 and applications are accepted year round, but must be accepted at least 60 days prior to the event. For more information and qualification requirements, please see the touring roster linked to in this article, plus the application page here. Thank you to Stacey Strickland of Stevens County Library for this valuable info! 🙂 If you know of any grants or performers that you would like to share with your fellow librarians, please send them to me! I’ll be glad to spread the word.
Thank you to everyone who was able to take some time out of their day to offer their input at the Kansas Public Library Guidelines public comment forum last week! Richard shared your comments and suggestions with the team working to update the document and the system directors will meet the first part of next month to address any changes that may need to be made.
The Kansas library community is a huge part of what makes our state a wonderful place to call home. We welcome and value your input and hope that you will take pride in knowing that you helped inform this important document. Thanks again! 🙂
Cataloging, Collection Development, and ILL
By Miguel Coca
Collection Development Inspiration
Adult Fiction
Children’s & YA Fiction
In the SWKLS Professional Collection
Grant money can make all the difference in developing new services, creating worldwide access to your unique collections, or enabling you to showcase awarded projects that advance your career. But competition for grants is as fierce as ever. To get a leg up, you need an insider who will share proven strategies for success. In this book, Bess G. de Farber, who has led the management of 187 awarded grant projects from under $5,000 to more than $1 million at the University of Florida, does just that. Drawing from profiles of 57 grant proposals, sponsored by 31 funders including federal agencies, foundations, and library organizations, her detailed 10-step workflow guides you through submitting and managing collaborative grant proposals.
In September 2011, Occupy Wall Street activists took over New York’s Zuccotti Park. Within a matter of weeks, the encampment had become a tiny model of a robust city, with its own kitchen, first aid station, childcare services—and a library of several thousand physical books. Since that time, social movements around the world, from Nuit Debout in Paris to Gezi Park in Istanbul, have built temporary libraries alongside their protests. While these libraries typically last only a few weeks at a time and all have ultimately been dismantled or destroyed, each has managed to collect, catalog, and circulate books, serving a need not being met elsewhere.
Libraries amid Protest unpacks how these protest libraries—labor-intensive, temporary installations in parks and city squares, poorly protected from the weather, at odds with security forces—continue to arise. In telling the stories of these surprising and inspiring spaces through interviews and other research, Sherrin Frances confronts the complex history of American public libraries. She argues that protest libraries function as the spaces of opportunity and resistance promised, but not delivered, by American public libraries.
Kansas Library eCard System Back Up & Running
Please see the following from State Library of Kansas Director of Statewide Services Andy Schafer:
We’ve reinstated all libraries’ access to the Kansas Library eCard system via koha. You can now log in at https://staff-kslib.bywatersolutions.com.
A technical error was caused by someone typing in the User ID field when creating an eCard account. It is vital to the system that no one enter anything into the User ID field. This field is autogenerated by the system. The library has requested an edit to the system to make it more apparent that this field must remain empty.
Additionally, please remember that, when you’re creating a new eCard account, remember that the patron’s date of birth must be entered into three separate fields:
- Date of birth
- Password
- Confirm password
Unless these fields are completed, the patron will not be able to use their Kansas Library eCard.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we worked to resolve this technical error and get the system back online.
Technology
by Christopher Dressler
Secure Our World
Cyber Security Awareness Month starts in October. During October, I will be doing a cybersecurity webinar series which will be over Zoom discussing the Cyber Security Awareness topic of the week and a topic suggested by a SWKLS library member. This information can be used for new staff onboard training or programming for your patrons. If you have a topic suggestion that you would like to learn more about, please email me at cdressler@swkls.org. So, join me live on Tuesday mornings in October at 11am for an hour of information about how to secure your digital footprint and lifestyle. Schedule will be released soon. Check your email for more information.
Some of the topics that will be discussed:
- Strong Passwords and Password Managers
- Multifactor Authentication
- Recognizing Phishing Scam Emails
- Updating Software
- Plus, your recommendations
