News Monthly Newsletter July/August 2004	Contents: Joanne Budler - New State Librarian of Ohio Angela Thomas - NAFDUG Vice President - Angela Thomas State Library Board Report Prison Libraries vs. Public Libraries - Steve Cassel

Joanne Budler - New State Librarian of Ohio

The State Library of Ohio is pleased to announce the appointment of Joanne Budler as the new State Librarian for Ohio effective July 1, 2004. Here, Jo answers a few questions to introduce herself to the Ohio library community.

As the newbie to our neighborhood, I made it a point to introduce myself to my neighbors. One neighbor was having a garage sale and I dutifully made a purchase: 4 jigsaw puzzles (which he assured me "had all the pieces"). What he did not say is that the box picture matched the pieces inside because it did not! The first puzzle I attempted to complete was a coastal scene on the box but the pieces produced a town square complete with a gazebo. Now putting that together was a challenge.

As the newbie to the State Library community, I am looking forward to meeting you, the librarians across the state. I am proud and happy to be part of Ohio's library community. Ohio has long been the envy of librarians in other states for the stable funding of its libraries and for the excellent library service provided to its residents.

Right now I am still learning about the intricate pieces of our library community. I can see that all the pieces have a commonality: all contribute to the valuable library service available in Ohio. I would like to think that somehow all these pieces fit together and that this will lead to greater efficiencies and, more importantly, greater strength for all libraries. We may not know yet how the completed picture will look but I feel confident that together we can better meet the challenges and continue to provide ever-improved library service to Ohio's 11 million residents.

A Little Background

I have been Deputy State Librarian at the Library of Michigan for nearly 4 years and prior to that I was the Director of Network Services at the Nebraska Library Commission for more than 6 years. In both capacities, I coordinated statewide services and planned and participated in training opportunities.

I worked for more than 7 years in the Nebraska Legislative Reference Library. Ours was a very small operation (4 people) and our acquisitions budget was never more than $3,000. The library team was a dedicated and very creative group. We offered a service which we called a Current Awareness Profile service. Each legislator or legislative staff member had a profile which defined what subject areas were of interest to him or her. This helped us choose the most appropriate material (with only $3,000 for material we couldn't afford to get things that weren't useful to our customers) and allowed us to provide pertinent material and information to our customers before they even asked for it.

My public library experience was at Lincoln City Libraries (Nebraska) where I served as Curator for a special collection. Our operation was funded with "soft money" so I learned how to write and administer grants in this position. It was a matter of necessity!

My emphasis has always been on providing excellent customer service. Before one can provide excellent customer service, it is necessary to define what one is delivering and what customers want. I have been asked from time to time to describe an accomplishment of which I am most proud. I may choose different accomplishments to describe, but always these accomplishments have involved identifying what will best serve our customers and working with a team to accomplish the task.

I believe in teamwork and know that the very best work is achieved when people of varying strengths and talents are brought together to accomplish a shared vision.

Why did you want to come to Ohio?

Ohio has a rich and wonderful history of collaboration and cooperation among libraries and a strong history of providing excellent library service to its residents. I have always admired and wanted to be part of this library community. Quite frankly, the job of State Librarian of Ohio is my dream job and I could not be more pleased that I am going to have the opportunity to serve in this position.

What is your vision? What do you want to achieve?

I want everyone - from the politicians to the public - to share my view that every healthy, vital community must have a well-funded, strong library at its heart. The library is where learning takes place at all levels whether it is an entrepreneur looking for business information, a child attending a storytime, or an adult learning how to use the Internet. Libraries eliminate "haves" and "have-nots." There is a lot of talk these days about libraries closing the digital divide but closing divides is nothing new to librarians. For centuries libraries have been "closing divides" by providing information and books to folks who could not afford to buy the treasures they find and use at the library!

I think that State Libraries do incredibly important work but very few people know that they have a state library, let alone what services the state library provides. In the future, when I tell someone I work at the State Library I would like to have that person say, "Wow. I have been there and I couldn't believe that kind of service is available to every resident!" instead of "State Library? What's that?"

What I expect we will be working on together in the coming years:

• Increasing the collaboration and cooperation across types of libraries;
• Developing partnerships with other types of agencies in the public and private sector so we are all stronger;
• Advocacy because the value of libraries and their services should not be a well-kept secret!

Angela Thomas - New Vice President of North America Fretwell Downing Users Group

Angela Thomas MORE Project Manager

Angela Thomas, MORE Project Manager, was elected vice president of the North America Fretwell Downing Users Group (NAFDUG) at the ALA Conference in Florida in June 2004.

NAFDUG represents all groups of libraries, public, school, academic and special located in North America who use the Fretwell Downing software. Members include: Ontario Council of University Libraries, University of California, Colorado State Library, Wyoming State Library, State of Wisconsin Libraries, Access Pennsylvania, Minnesota's MNLINK, and Two Consortium in NY.

The function of the group is to represent their users by:

• Giving new enhancement recommendations to Fretwell for future changes to new releases of the software;
  
  
• Communicating any existing problems that could be corrected;
  
  
• Giving input on how future releases are rolled out;
  
  
• Giving input on Fretwell Downing company processes which affect staff who configure the software to make sure it works for the end user;
  
  
• Receiving communication on future releases and what's included.

This helps MORE because our users' input is represented at these meetings. A special group of users within Ohio has volunteered to be on a committee to give input on future enhancements and the new roll out of version 2.7 coming in the Fall.

As Vice-President, Ms. Thomas will support the President in her role. As an executive committee member, she will assist with setting up, communicating, and running all future NAFDUG meetings. She will help in the decision making as to whether a special user meeting needs to be called. Ms. Thomas will also insure that Fretwell has followed up and incorporated all suggestions given by NAFDUG. Ms. Thomas will serve as President next year.

According to Ms. Thomas, "As Vice-President, I would hope to have an inside connection for the MORE users on communication from Fretwell. I will continue to be a major voice for Ohio and will represent enhancements for the Ohio MORE users."

July State Library Board Report

July 29, 2004

At the July State Library Board meeting, new State Librarian Joanne M. Budler was introduced and welcomed.

The State Library Board approved three Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Automation grants. Receiving awards were:

• Hicksville Exempted Village Schools, $14,397 to automate the districts three buildings with INFOhio.
• Metropolitan Educational Council Data Center (MEC), $706,986 to automate 141 schools in Franklin and Fairfield Counties, including 92 schools in the Columbus City School District.
• Tri-County Educational Service Center, $44,940 to automate eight schools in Ashland and Wayne Counties.

For this grant round, the State Library received 10 applications with a federal request of just over $1,450,000.

Roger Verny, Deputy State Librarian, reported that there had not been enough LSTA money to a grant that had been designated as "Definitely Fund" by the grant review committee. This is the first time that a grant so designated has not been funded. Mr. Verny reported that the issue will be taken to the LSTA Advisory Council to decide whether there is any type of commitment to an un-funded grant that has been so designated or if the grant must be re-submitted and compete for funding in the next round.

Carl Stich, Board member, said that he saw no obligation to a grant program in this circumstance. The grant should be re-submitted in the next funding cycle and compete head to head with the other grants submitted. David Miller, Board member, said that the first level of grant review should find grants based on the dollar amount available.

Mr. Verny will take the Board's opinions back to the LSTA Advisory Council.

Diane Fink, Head, Fiscal Services, updated the Board on the status of the State Library budget. The budget was delivered to the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) on July 15, meeting the deadline. She then gave the Board an overview of the history and development of the budget. Ms. Fink expects the first budget meeting with OBM in September.

Roger Verny reported that Dan Farsow from Schoolnet conducted training classes for public libraries on how to apply for the E-Rate program. Last year, without training, only 40 Ohio public libraries applied for E-Rate funds. This year, after training, 80 Ohio public libraries applied. State Library consultants when they meet with libraries are encouraging them to apply for E-Rate funds.

Mr. Verny shared with the Board the content standards for school libraries and media centers just released by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). He also shared a cd-rom produced by the Ohio Educational Library Media Association (OELMA). It contains information schools can use to conduct a survey study of their libraries and media centers.

He also told the Board that Jay Burton, Head, Library Programs and Development, has been collaborating with INFOhio on joint training matters. And that school organizations held a joint meeting to keep the momentum going after the impetus of the Ross Todd study. A second meeting is planned.

Mr. Verny reported that the 24/7 Reference project is progressing with kick-off planned for September 7. Paul Porman, Executive Director of NOLA Regional Library System, reported that 26 public libraries have volunteered to act as information providers. The After Dark portion of the project will have 50-60 librarians as information providers.

The next State Library Board meeting will be held at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County during the Ohio Library Council (OLC) Annual Conference at 1:00 on September 30, 2004.

For the minutes of State Library Board meetings, go to http://winslo.state.oh.us/boardmin.html.

Prison Libraries vs. Public Libraries The differences are more than you think

Steve Cassel Library Consultant

"There are libraries in the prisons!?" Across Ohio, librarians and non-librarians alike have expressed this surprised inquiry.

The library in a Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DRC) institution has a collection like a small neighborhood branch of a public library. But there are differences that widely separate the DRC libraries from your neighborhood public library.

First there is the large legal collection that is required by the courts to assist inmates in their legal affairs. Legal collections are largely print editions of law books. CD-ROM legal titles because of security concerns have not been widely acquired. CD-ROM disks can not have active Internet links. Legal materials can not be accessed via the Internet.

For other security concerns there are no telephone white-page directories (print or electronic) found in DRC libraries. Many reference books that contain telephone numbers and addresses are kept in the office of the librarian and must be requested by an inmate. Institution security takes priority over patron access and privacy.

Outside of a teaching classroom, it is illegal for inmates to have access to the Internet in the state of Ohio. To insure that no inmate can gain Internet access, none of the DRC librarians have Internet access in their libraries. Just in the last few years, more DRC librarians have begun to have departmental e-mail and Intranet access. Of thirty-two DRC institutions (including the Corrections Training Academy), and two non-DRC correctional institutions in Ohio, thirty have e-mail and twenty-two have the DRC Intranet.

One of the links on the DRC Intranet home page connects the librarians to the State Library of Ohio's web page: WINSLO. Should a WINSLO link lead to a source not kept on any State Library server, the DRC librarians can not access it without the link being opened from the Central Office of DRC in Columbus. This includes the research databases from OPLIN and OhioLink. Even though many of the databases are closed systems, they are accessed via the Internet. This currently prevents DRC librarians and other DRC staff members from other professions, from being able to directly access the OPLIN and OhioLink databases from their desks.

Except for links to the State Library and the Southeast Ohio Library Center (SEO), as a rule interlibrary loan requests from DRC librarians cannot be transmitted or verified electronically. DRC librarians can not view most online catalogs of public and academic libraries. DRC libraries can not take advantage of the MORE statewide resource sharing project with other Ohio libraries. Co-operative relationships with the State Library, SEO and local academic or public libraries help DRC librarians to provide information and materials for their customers.

There are two last differences between a prison library and a public library. A tall fence topped with razor-wire surrounds the prison library. The prison librarian also has a good chance that books will be returned to the library some day. After all, the book is still behind the tall fence somewhere. When a book goes out of the door of a public library, there is no sure bet that it will ever return.