WiLSWorld Member Breakfast on July 23rd, 2010. Discussion topics will include WiLS new Level 1 services and the first year of the Community Manager Program.

Having been involved with WPLC since its creation, it seemed natural for WiLS to step in when Linda Miller, the previous Project Manager, decided it was time to move on to other things. Best known for the wildly successful shared collection of digital content from Overdrive, WPLC has other claims to fame, including The Wisconsin Library User (and non-User): Outcomes of a Statewide Survey. WiLS has worked with WPLC on collection development ever since the initial NetLibrary shared collection for public libraries was created. We here at WiLS are very excited to be taking on an expanded role to be taking on an expanded role with the Consortium.

The WPLC goals are:

1. To provide Wisconsin citizens with access to a collection of electronically published materials in a wide range of subjects, from expensive reference titles to recreational reading materials, which they may access from home, work or school or from any library in the Consortium.
2. To undertake other such projects, primarily concerned with research and development and/or new technologies, as the Consortium shall from time to time determine.
3. To increase public awareness about the availability and advantages of electronic materials and such other projects and services as the Consortium may from time to time undertake.
4. To increase public library staff understanding of new technologies and other Consortium undertakings, and to develop training programs so that staff may help the public understand and use these products and services.
5. To maintain a decision-making and fiscal model for public library cooperation that will allow libraries to collaborate to explore and implement new information technologies and issues, sharing the costs as well as the knowledge and resources.

BadgerCat, Wisconsin's view of WorldCat, that has been available through WiLS to Wisconsin libraries by subscription, will not be renewed for FY11. The WiLS BadgerCat subscription expires the last day of the current fiscal year, June 30, 2010. WiLS will, however, continue to offer Wisconsin libraries a group subscription to WorldCat. If your library/system is a current BadgerCat subscriber, please remove all references and links to BadgerCat in your website/catalog, and send patrons directly to WorldCat. Access to BadgerCat will be denied starting July 1, 2010.

Updates to the OCLC Billing Detail in your My WiLS Account

When you login and click on OCLC Billing Detail, there are now two drop-downs of dates under the Detail Report, as well as two options under Reprint report.

The first report, OCLC Billing Detail: "From" month only with subtotals is the new version of the original single month report with subtotals by category, i.e. Cataloging and Metadata, Resource Sharing and ILL etc. The month listed on the "From" month is the report that will be generated when you click on this report. The most recent month of OCLC Billing is the default. You will notice, however, that if you change the "From" month to an earlier month, it will gather and display all of the data From and Thru the months you asked for on the page below. ONLY the "FROM" month will pull to the report. So, if you want to look at a single month of OCLC Billing with subtotals by category, use the first report.

The totally new second report, OCLC Billing Detail: multiple months; includes OCLC symbol(s) by product; no subtotals, offers multiple month data by date, as well as by OCLC symbol, which should be especially helpful to institutions that get data under multiple OCLC symbols. All institutions will benefit by having the ability to get a report showing multiple months of activity, by date, which may be useful for your annual reporting or comparing usage over a number of years.

First, choose the From and Thru months you would like to look at, then click the link to the second report. The report will include the OCLC symbol that each product was charged to, as well as the date each item was charged.

From there click the export button on the Business Objects Menu at the top of the report, choose the MS Excel 97-2000 (Data Only) format option to export the report to Excel. Once you've exported the report, you can sort and manipulate the data.

Take a look at these new features when you have a chance and use them to your advantage. Please contact Shirley Schenning (608.263.5051) with questions and/or concerns about OCLC Billing through WiLS or if you forgot your My WiLS Account User ID and Password.

Shirley Schenning
Financial Accounts Manager

FY11 OCLC Quotes and Replenishments

By now, every Wisconsin institution that has a subscription to one of OCLC's Core Services (Cataloging, Resource Sharing and ILL and Access) should have received an FY11 quote renewal letter in the postal mail, cosigned by OCLC and WiLS. If you have not, please contact me, as soon as possible.

If you have any questions regarding the amount on the quote in relation to your usage, please contact OCLC's team of consultative librarian specialist at 1-877-747-4819 or via e-mail. Questions about replenishing your WiLS/OCLC deposit account should be directed to Shirley Schenning at WiLS, as WiLS continues to serve as your OCLC Billing Partner. You purchase OCLC products and services; WiLS processes the OCLC charges, and some WiLS charges, through your deposit account.

I will be emailing replenish invoices to cover FY11 WiLS/OCLC expenses, to institutions that have not already replenished their deposit accounts, after the June 2010 OCLC Billing is posted next week. A prepayment bonus will be posted to your deposit account, if you deposit 100% of your estimated FY11 charges. Please feel free to email replenish requests at any time.

Shirley Schenning
Financial Accounts Manager

Tech Note Does an individual plugged into social networks have any privacy? Tom discusses issues of privacy and social networking in Privacy, Socializing, Libraries (pdf). If you are a Level One member in need of the login protocol, please contact Tom Zillner, tzillner at wils.wisc.edu.

Community Manager Program
WiLS is assessing our first year of the Community Manager program. We evaluated new services and heard what you had to say via the UserVoice Forum. The following 5 services were voted of highest interest:

1. Enhanced Cooperative Purchasing
2. Database Statistics
3. Collection Maintenance Services
4. Product Research on Demand
5. Electronic Resource Management Systems

Join us at the WiLSWorld Member Breakfast on July 23rd, 2010 for an informal review of these new WiLS services.

If you have comments or questions about your Level 1 services, please feel free to contact your community manager or Jen Champoux at jchampoux @ wils.wisc.edu.

Library Remodeling Kirsten Houtman had the opportunity to visit both UW-Superior and Northland College last month and reports that both libraries are beautiful after extensive remodeling. She also had the chance to meet the resident library newt (Tommy) at UW-Superior. Level 1 Library Wins Award The Related Items Bookshelf (RIB) at the University of Wisconsin (UW), Oshkosh, a "browse-able, virtual bookshelf of related items embedded into the Voyager OPAC," has won Ex Libris's Elympics competition, which recognizes the best code extensions to Ex Libris products. There were 45 submissions. To read article inLibrary Journal . . .

Recorded Books and WiLS welcome you to join us for this informative presentation of One Click Audio.

Register for a session by clicking a date below:
Wed, Jul 7, 2010 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT
Tue, Jul 13, 2010 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT
Wed, Jul 14, 2010 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT
Thu, Jul 15, 2010 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM CDT

Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the Webinar.

System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000

Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

1. Almost half (49.3%) of Peer Council attendees responded to the survey sent out a week following the event.
2. 100 % of survey respondents said the time in Madison was worth the time away from the library.
3. 97 % said keynote speaker Karen Coyle held their attention.
4. 65% found hearing about trends and "the big picture" very important.
5. 100% of survey respondents said they would recommend Peer Council to other staff or colleagues.
6. 100% of survey respondents were satisfied with the meeting overall.

Read what some of our attendees had to say:

Peer Council always provides interesting speakers and is a valuable day in which to communicate with fellow catalogers from around the state.

Peer Council provides a good opportunity to meet in person with other professionals who understand developments and question possibilities in the cataloging world.

It is a useful learning experience as it provides you with the opportunity to stay current and learn about the latest trends in technical services in a smaller group that provides you the ability to ask questions of each other. It also provides you with an opportunity to meet and get to share information with your peers.

Thank you to those that responded to the survey! We look forward to see you all again next year.

-Jane Richard
WiLS Member Services Librarian

• Tools for Original Cataloging with Connexion Client
• CatExpress
• Local Holdings Maintenace
• And many more

See Minitex OCLC webinars

Paratext is an independent information company founded in 1993 and based in Austin, Texas. Paratext publishes bibliographic and provides technological services to academic, public and special libraries worldwide. They currently offer threeproducts:

Reference Universe allows users to search the back of the book indexes and article titles of your print and e-reference simultaneously, and realize a return on the sizable investment libraries have made in their library's reference collection. You can find some accounts of the value some current customers have found in Reference Universe.

Public Documents Masterfile is a straightforward, low cost, continually growing bibliographic resource for locating public documents. If a full-text version of a document exists, "Public Documents Masterfile" points you to it. The Paratext search engine is designed for rapid search and retrieval from millions of bibliographic records. "Public Documents Masterfile" improves all manner of document research providing electronic, single search access to the overwhelming majority of US government documents from 1774 to date.

19th Century Masterfile is the largest resource for research into the published output of Anglo-American (and additional non-English) materials produced prior to 1925. The goal is to include all relevant indexes to periodicals, books, newspapers, patents and US and many UK government documents. There are more than 8,000 periodicals, as well as extensive indexes sources for books, newspapers, patents and US and UK government documents.

For any questions concerning these trials,contact Kirsten Houtman at khoutman at wils.wisc.edu.

Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels
Underground and Independent Comics is the first-ever scholarly online collection for researchers and students of adult comic books and graphic novels. Beginning with the works that inspired the first underground comix from the 1960s and encompassing modern sequential artists such as Dan Clowes and Los Bros. Hernandez, this resource shows the evolution and development of an art form. From the shocking and explicit work of young artists exploring newfound freedoms to intricate and beautiful designs of aesthetic craftsmanship, the comic book has shown itself to be a medium capable of both the offensive and the sublime. This collection documents the entire spectrum of underground and independent North American and European comics and graphic novels, with 75,000 pages of original material from the 1950s to today along with more than 25,000 pages of interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism from journals, books, and magazines, including The Comics Journal.

Beginning July 1st, WiLS will no longer carry 3M Security products. WiLS members will be able to order from MINITEX and receive even deeper discounts than were previously available through WiLS. To order please contact Tim Peters at 800-462-5348. Please see 3M direct order vendor information.

If you participated in the Career Online Databases Trial last month we want to hear from you. Please take a moment to fill out the 5 question survey and let us know if you are interested in any of the databases. The more libraries that participate in a purchasing group the more money each library saves! Career Online Databases Survey.

To order please see: Amerikit Technology Solutions

Make sure to indicate you are a WiLS member when placing your order Amerikit offers complete solution and lock-down solutions that effectively address issues that arise as a result of offering public access computers to multiple users. The solutions we offer are ideal for libraries, computer labs, hotel lobbies, correction facilities, daycare facilities, retirement homes, classrooms, community centers, museums, state employment agencies, or any computer used by multiple people.

As a partner to one of the most giving non-profit organizations, Amerikit's management team proudly facilitated the largest library technology program in U.S. history. We managed the deployment of 60,000 custom-built computers and accessories to over 15,000 libraries across the country. Our years of experience and your requests for assistance have uniquely positioned us to offer complete comprehensive public access computer solutions customized specifically to your needs. The computer solutions we customize are specifically built with your issues and concerns in mind. Technology Solutions (ATS) offers products dedicated to enhancing IT control while increasing user satisfaction and productivity. Our solutions will eliminate workstation damage and downtime by making computer configurations indestructible. See related article in the May issue of Your WiLS.

Legal Information Reference Center™ Providing exclusive online full text for many of the top consumer legal reference books, Legal Information Reference Center contains more than 320 full-text publications and thousands of legal forms, with more content being added on a regular basis. This database offers the everyday user the necessary tools and detailed "how-to" instructions to independently address a wide-range of legal issues, including: Business law Financial planning Family law Property & real estate Rights & disputes And much more. . . A majority of the full-text legal reference books are provided through Nolo, the nation's oldest and most-respected provider of legal information for consumers and small businesses.

Small Business Reference Center™ provides up to date information on relevant topics from starting a company, operations management and sales to growing or rescuing a business. The database contains nearly 400 full-text periodicals and over 450 full-text reference books.

The user-friendly interface guides users through small business and entrepreneurial subject areas, common business types, a help and advice section, and provides information on how to create business plans that lead to successful funding. Business videos provide critical information for business owners: interviews, "lessons learned" features, lectures and "how to" videos help foster success in all aspects of managing a business. A collection of state-specific resources supports the researcher with demographic data and other local information.

Please note: These trials cannot be accessed until July 1st.

For trial URL and login information, please contact Sara Gold at 608.265.4167.

The June 2010 Access Newsletter is available on the WiLS web site.

Several new Wisconsin Heritage Online Content Providers are now taking their first steps in digitization and will have exciting new materials online in the coming months. Whitefish Bay Public Library is digitizing their Mimi Bird Historical Document Collection, 39 volumes of area history compiled by local resident Mimi Bird. Blanchardville Historical Society is preparing to upload two community history publications to a CONTENTdm collection hosted by the Milwaukee Public Library. In July, WHO Outreach Specialist Emily Pfotenhauer will be on the road to provide training to staff at St. Norbert College and volunteers at the New Berlin Historical Society. Both groups plan to digitize collections of historic photographs. 

OCLC has released Connexion Client 2.20—a version of that is compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows. If you want to run the Client with 64-bit versions of Windows, you can find upgrade instructions at the URLS listed below. If you are going to continue running the Client with 32-bit versions of Windows, you need not upgrade at this time.

Information about Connexion client and a link to download the software is here.

The Americas Regional Council (ARC) is the voice of OCLC members in the Americas and we continue to find ways to engage with all members of Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean and the United States. ARC member leaders have set up a social networking site where members can post discussions, create and join groups, meet the ARC candidates, and chat about subjects important to you, as members of the cooperative and the library profession. If you are an OCLC member in the Americas, this is YOUR forum. Join now and contribute to the conversation.

Take a minute to go to: arcm2m.ning.com and register today. Or, if you just want to read what others are saying, feel free to browse the site. All discussions and comments are open to the public, though you do need to join the site to post or comment. And ARC leaders are online to help facilitate member discussions and respond to questions about the cooperative.

OCLC is issuing a new policy statement on the rights and responsibilities of OCLC members in the use of bibliographic data. Here's OCLC's announcement—with links to the policy and other related resources.

The new WorldCat record use policy has been approved by the OCLC Board of Trustees. WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities for the OCLC Cooperative will be effective August 1, 2010.

Our 12-member Record Use Policy Council undertook a detailed investigation of the issues and drafted a new policy that we introduced for community review In April 2010. More than 275 comments were gathered via e-mail, phone, meetings and letters, in an online forum, and by monitoring blogs, listservs and Twitter. Your comments resulted in additions and changes to the draft. At the end of May 2010, we submitted our revised policy statement to the OCLC Board, which approved the document during its June meeting.

Red Laser is an iPhone app that turns your phone into a barcode scanner. Check and compare prices for items such as books, videos and more- including library results. As the #1 Paid Utility App in the iPhone App store, Red Laser reminds thousands of consumers what is available in the library through the convenience of their mobile phone.

Recently, WiLS librarian Mark Beatty received some questions regarding Red Laser and its library-related functions and uses. Here are his pros and cons to using the OCLC product.

• Red Laser is a commercial product designed to help people shop by retrieving information about products through their barcodes. OCLC opened their indexes so that book info would be revealed, too. It's not specifically a "book discovery product" and certain data must align for good results.
• It works by matching specific ISBNs against items in WorldCat with that ISBN. Every book in the world has multiple ISBNs, and sometimes there are multiple cataloging records for each ISBN. Therefore, unless the ISBN and your holdings are attached to the same cataloging record, then you are NOT going to match. Similar titles are not collocated.
• Please note that there is a tricky process where the initial results are "ALL". But "ALL" does NOT show the libraries. In order to see the libraries results you need to tap on the "LOCAL" tab.
• To test, scan a large number of recent titles to see if any of them show up. In Red Laser you can type in directly a barcode number, so you could try that method with a known item from your catalog. Just be aware of your OCLC holdings updating schedule.
• If you still don't get any hits, please contact WiLS or OCLC for additional assistance.

-Mark Beatty
WiLS OCLC Training Librarian

Check out these OCLC newsletters:

• NexSpace
• Cooperative eNews
• OCLC Abstracts

UW System is now recruiting for a full-time library consultant. The position announcement can be found at: www.uwsa.edu/hr/employment/announcements/20100603.pdf

Application deadline is July 1st.

Looking for a single source for technical services news? Check out the Minitex Blog About Technical Services.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services Library Statistics Program recently announced that the latest update of the Public Libraries Survey (PLS) data is now available on the IMLS site. The site now includes verified data from the 2008 public library survey.

While the large data files sets may be more appropriate to researchers than to individuals, the IMLS also provides a link to an excellent online tool, Compare Public Libraries.

"Compare Public Libraries" allows users to compare one library (the library of interest) with similar libraries (the comparison group). For example, a user may wish to compare one library's total circulation with the total circulation of a group of libraries with similar total expenditures. Libraries can select specific libraries for comparison, or use various criteria to generate a comparison set. The results are displayed in on-screen tables, with icons to generate bar graphs of individual data elements, or multi-year line charts to show timeline comparisons. The steps involved in using Compare Public Libraries are:

1. Select the library of interest for which you want to find a comparison group.
2. Choose the basis for identifying similar libraries (the "Comparison Group"): e.g. size of staff.
3. Choose the information you would like displayed in the report.
4. View the report, which compares your library of interest with its comparison group.

Comparisons with libraries in other states may yield odd results where governance and funding structures differ significantly. Please be aware that "Local Revenue" is defined at the federal level as the total of local and county funds. Also be aware when comparing very small libraries, that the IMLS policy dictates that they not disclose some information where personal data can be inferred. Because public use data must protect the confidentiality of respondents, changes were made in the file used by the tool. For libraries where Total Staff is less than or equal to 2.00 FTE, the expenditures data shown for some categories such as Salaries and Wages for those public libraries have been removed, indicated as "D/S (data suppressed)."