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ABOUT US: Publications - Reports: 2001

South Dakota State Library
Annual Report 2001
It has been another year of growth and change at the State Library. Our goals were to improve continuing education opportunities for all library personnel, to insure that the State Library has sufficient and qualified staff to meet the needs of libraries around the state, and to build new relationships which will benefit the library community. This report highlights the year's events as we worked to meet these goals.
-- Suzanne Miller, State Librarian
South Dakota Library Legislative Day
The South Dakota Library Association held their first annual Library Legislative Day reception in the State Library on February 14. The theme was "Discover the Future @ Your Library." Librarians from around the state gathered for a brief orientation by Ethelle Bean and Ronelle Thompson during the afternoon. Librarians then mingled with legislators and interested library supporters during the evening reception. The reception was beautifully planned and presented by the Augustana Library staff.


TECHNOLOGY
State Library Web Page
The State Library web site http://www.sdstatelibrary.com/ was given a complete facelift this summer. The new look was developed by library intern Lindsey Tilberg. The project goals were to enhance the usability of the web site, make all library forms available and downloadable online, and improve site indexing. She also created automatic listserv signups for local/ regional library listservs. Check it out at http://www.sdstatelibrary.com/forlibrarians/jobs/index.htm.

New Children's Web Services
In an effort to provide children with a safe and enjoyable Web surfing experience, the South Dakota State Library has updated and redesigned its Kids' Web page. The page, which can be found at http://www.sdstatelibrary.com/forkids/, is loaded with links to Web sites dealing with everything from homework help to fun and games. The page was designed with a graphical interface for use by children ages 3-12.

A Performer Database is now available which lists performers for library programming (special programs, summer reading program, and so on). Appearance on this list is not an indication of State Library approval or disapproval. Letters soliciting performance information from local talent were distributed. Find this information at http://www.sdstatelibrary.com/forlibrarians/youthservices/.

ProQuest
Statewide access to ProQuest provided by the South Dakota State Library continues into its second year. Usage of ProQuest showed a steady growth over the course of the school year as libraries signed on and training sessions were conducted. Training sessions at conferences and inservice workshops were conducted by Dana Ruby throughout the state. A series of four training opportunities were also offered by ProQuest staff.

Monthly ProQuest Usage
MonthTotal Views
July 2000 915
August 1,306
September 8,718
October 30,570
November 39,560
December 19,514
January 2001 21,942
February 34,122
March 36,286
April 44,637
May 17,401
June 10,554


"Total uses" of ProQuest reported during the first year in South Dakota (July 2000 through June 30, 2001) is 265,525 views (citations, abstracts, text, page images). The reduced usage in May and June reflect the end of the school term and dramatically illustrate the heavy use by K-12 schools.

netLibrary
To date, over 6900 copyrighted and public domain ebook titles are available through the Minitex netLibrary collection. The Minitex collection strengths are in Literature, Religion, Sociology, Computer Science, and Business and Management. netLibrary has shown a small but strong beginning in South Dakota. Twenty South Dakota libraries have registered as "branded" locations with IP filtered access, and 306 individuals have registered to use the collection. Actual usage statistics are still preliminary.

Confident that this will be a valuable resource for this region, the SDSL purchased an additional 185 titles, many of which were selected to meet the needs of public library users. Purchase suggestions were made by Siouxland Libraries, USD, SDSU, and DSU. Minnesota also expanded the consortium collection, adding netLibrary's Life Questions Collection. This includes many self-help, wellness, caregiving, and lifestyle topics as well as family and parenting resources. National American University also invested in the joint holdings, purchasing the Business School Collection. This is a significant contribution to the joint holdings for the region.

To insure the best access to these materials, catalog records are available for inclusion in local catalogs. The State Library has loaded all records in order to be a single access source for all libraries.


TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Over 65 presentations with more than 850 participants were sponsored by the State Library this year. This represents 35% more continuing education opportunities over last year. Topics ranged from the State Library website, State Library services, SDLN, ProQuest, InfoTrac, trustee training to Mother Goose Asks "Why?".

Workshops, Training Labs, Teacher Inservice - Highlights
SDSL was happy to again sponsor the College of DuPage Soaring to Excellence Teleconference Series. Presented this year were Human Values in a Technological Age with Michael Gorman; Policies, Technology and Human Values on library policies and quality customer service; and Agents, 'Bots and Intelligent Dots: The Technology Behind Electronic Documents. Soaring teleconferences were held in Rapid City at the TIE office and in Aberdeen at NSU. Siouxland Libraries also hosted a site for the Soaring Series.

Two additional teleconferences were sponsored this year. The ALA UCITA teleconference featured a panel presentation by experts on this proposed uniform law. An Illinois teleconference entitled Internet Dilemma: Filtered or Non-filtered discussed CIPA and filtering options. All teleconferences were videotaped and can be checked out from the State Library.

A workshop on Federal Economic Census which is published by the U.S. Census Bureau on the Internet was conducted by Denver Census Bureau staff. Librarians from throughout South Dakota and local State Government employees participated in the full day sessions.

The new "Jumpstart Summer Reading" workshops were a big success and we hope to make this an annual program. The workshops were an opportunity for librarians across the state to come together and discuss summer reading programming ideas and concerns. Workshops were held in Rapid City, Watertown, Chamberlain and Vermillion. They were moderated by Lori Wagner, Youth Services Librarian at Mitchell Public Library and Betty Gilchrist, Youth Services Librarian at Huron Public Library. The workshops covered a broad range of summer reading issues and ideas from securing summer reading prizes and prize ideas, to programming activities. Jumpstart Summer Reading Notes are available on the State Library web site under "For Librarians."

South Dakota has been a partner with the Vermont State Library in the Mother Goose project for the last two years. The National Science Foundation has funded the Vermont application for Count on Mother Goose and the SDSL will continue to participate in the program. The Children's Services Coordinator and the Deputy State Librarian attended the national training session for Count on Mother Goose. As with Mother Goose Asks, "Why?", the goal is to train parents of preschool age children in basic math concepts and in the art of using children's literature to reinforce these skills as a part of daily living. This program links children's picture books with activities that introduce and build on the national math competencies. The NSF grant will furnish 100 sets of Count on Mother Goose activity materials (books, activity kits, and parents manuals) for distribution throughout South Dakota.

The 16th annual Library Training Institute was held again for two weeks in June at Northern State University in Aberdeen. This year, the Institute focused on Children's Services under talented instructors Anita Ditz, Schlow Memorial Library, State College, Pennsylvania and Maxine Swanson, Madison Middle School, Madison, South Dakota. The Library Institute is under the direction of Continuing Education Coordinator, Dana Ruby with the assistance of new Children's Services Development Coordinator, Pam Chamberlain. 2001 graduates were Marguerite Cullum, Custer County; Rea Weyrich, Whitewood; Ardis Ladely, Bennett County; Marla Paulsen, N.D. State Library; and Brenda Gibson, Alfred Dickey Library, Jamestown, N.D. Each received their Certificate of Public Library Management. The 2002 Institute will focus on library management and policy development.


BRAILLE and TALKING BOOK PROGRAM
This was the 11th year for the Governor's Summer Reading Program for the Blind and Visually Impaired. 83 students participated in the "Reading Road Trip" and submitted 300 book reports in the one month duration of the program. An awards ceremony was held Saturday, August 4 at noon on the Freedom Stage at the State Fair in Huron. The six first place winners (three in the recorded book category and three in the Braille category) received plaques from Joyce Hazeltine, Secretary of State who substituted for the Governor. Ray Schley from the Lion's Club presented two $50 savings bonds for the top readers, Derrick Nelson and Nicolas Pavel, and carnival passes to all winners.

BTB Governor's Summer Reading Program Awards
Recorded Books Braille Books
Division 7-9
Callie Palmquist, DolandAnalis Dannen, Hurley
Division 10-12
Christopher Waldner, Upland ColonyNicolas Pavel, Scotland
Division 13-15
Derrick Nelson, Hayti Max Blaschke, Sioux Falls


The South Dakota Braille & Talking Book Program and the South Dakota School for the Blind & Visually Impaired co-sponsored the Tactile Graphics Workshop presented to the S.D. Braillists March 26 & 27 at the Federal Prison Camp, Yankton. The workshop was attended by fifteen Braille instructors, one special education teacher, and ten NLS Certified Braille Transcribers. The trainers were Janie Humphries from American Printing House for the Blind, Murrain Dussenberry from Braille Transcribers of Florida and Connie Sullivan South Dakota Braille & Talking Book Program. Narrator training was provided by Dan Boyd to the cassette book narrators of the Federal Prison Camp on March 27.

LSTA GRANTS
The FY 2001 LSTA grant program funded nine library projects, representing $83,184. Grants were approved in two rounds this year due to the small number of applications during the first round.


LSTA EVALUATION
The Library Services and Technology Act legislation requires that a complete in-depth evaluation of the impact of the federal dollars be completed by the end of the five year funding period. As part of that evaluation, a study of the Library Training Institute and its impact on the delivery of library services in rural areas of South Dakota was conducted by Mary Bushing, Montana State University. Ms. Bushing was contracted as an outside evaluator to look at the 15 year history of this project in which over 90 people have participated. The evaluation included all participants from the first Institute through the current year. The results of the evaluation will be a major component in the LSTA five year evaluation and will also be useful in planning for the future. Other LSTA program components to be reviewed by in-house staff include Braille and Talking Book services, the courier service, and reference service satisfaction.


STATE LIBRARY PERSONNEL
Ann Eichinger (formerly Documents Librarian) accepted the position of Access Services Librarian. This new position will oversee all patron services including circulation, reference, interlibrary loan and documents. Under Ann's direction, these services will be better integrated to offer improved patron service and promote staff coordination. With this change, Ann's former position was reassigned as a combination Reference/Documents Librarian to give the library better flexibility when working to meet patron needs.

Pam Chamberlain started work as the Children's Services Coordinator in March. Pam comes to South Dakota from Sacramento, CA where she was the Children's Librarian in a branch library.

Fritz Herrick assumed the duties of the Reference/Documents Librarian position in May. Fritz is a recent graduate of McGill University Library Program, Montreal, Quebec.

SDSL has instituted monthly continuing education sessions for State Library staff. Some presentations are of interest beyond our staff and all are open to the general library community. For additional information check the State Library web page or contact Dana Ruby.


JOB OPPORTUNITIES
The State Library currently has two positions open. We are looking for a Technology Librarian to manage the new digitization program. We also have a web master/HTML specialist position open. More information is available on the State Bureau of Personnel web site or from the State Library. Positions are open until filled.


STATE LIBRARY BOARD
The State Library Board was joined last fall by new member, Kraig Keck. Mr. Keck is from Sioux Falls and is employed by Wells Fargo Banking Services. Warren Wilson, Beresford and Board of Regents representative to the Board, serves as Chair of the Board and Joe Van De Rostyne, Aberdeen, as Vice Chair. Richard Van Beek of Aberdeen rounds out the current Board.

The Board has been meeting monthly in preparation for writing the next five year plan as required by the IMLS/LSTA federal program. A modified mission statement has been drafted along with a comprehensive set of goals and objectives. These will be used to stimulate focus group discussions this fall.


COOPERATIVE PROGRAMMING
The State Library continued to work with other agencies on continuing projects and developing new ones.

The Solo Artists in Libraries (SAILS) program, a joint project of the State Library and the South Dakota Arts Council, awarded $12,000 in grants to libraries. The program provides weeklong artist-lead residencies to libraries in communities with populations of 5,000 or under. Libraries participating this year were Alcester Public Library, Beresford Public Library, Bison Public Library, Bristol School/City Library, Canton Public Library, Centerville Community Library, Cozard Memorial Library(Chamberlain), Priscilla Club Library (Corsica), Carnegie Public Library (Dell Rapids), Freeman Public Library, Hand County Library (Miller), AH Brown Public Library (Mobridge), Wakonda Public Library, Deubrook Community Library (White). Artists conducting residencies were Cheryl Peterson Halsey, Tom Roberts, Bob H. Miller, Edward Thompson, Nancy Losacker, Allison Hedges Coke, Randall Blaze, Mary Wipf and Mark Zimmerman.

A new collaborative project with the Arts Council announced this fall is Put Art in Towns (PAinT). This project has been developed to enhance community access to fine art collections. The project utilizes the expertise of the Arts Council and the extensive fine art collections that exist in the State Library. Six mini collections of 20 art books have been created which will rotate between six libraries every two months. Throughout the course of the year, each participating library will receive 120 different art titles.

The State Library has worked with the DECA Head Start program for many years, supplying expertise in children's literature and early childhood literacy. As part of a program to encourage reading, the State Library selects and creates small collections of children's books which are distributed to Head Start centers throughout the state. Head Start teams are trained in ways to use the books in their programs. Collections, which are rotated every two years, were returned and rejuvenated this year. Over 500 new books were ordered for the program. Betsy Pollack (DECA Head Start) and Pam Chamberlain have spent many hours ordering, organizing, compiling and distributing these collections throughout the state. Eleven of the fifteen S.D. Head Start Centers participate in this program.

After a series of meetings with the Department of Transportation research team, an acceptable draft agreement has been reached to create SDLN branch status for the SDDOT research library. The DOT library contains approximately 13,000 documents which are currently uncontrolled and virtually inaccessible to all DOT personnel. This project will help to organize their library according to standard library practices and make it available to all DOT personnel, regardless of their location.

The State Library is participating in the Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS) jointly sponsored by the Library of Congress and OCLC. CDRS is an emerging international network of libraries intended to deal with issues such as question interchange and shared access to expertise. Ultimately, this service will also include a chat reference component. The Access Services Librarian and Reference/Documents Librarian are taking the lead on this project.

In accord with ALA's @ your library Campaign for America's Libraries, several activities were planned @ the State Library to celebrate National Library Week. A brief tip on the use of the State Library web site was emailed to South Dakota library listservs each day. The staff submitted annotated references to their favorite books which were compiled for distribution in a "Staff Favorites" Bibliography. Special library tours were conducted by library volunteer, Robert Townsend. The library received many positive comments on the tours and the tips.
Perhaps no place in any community is so democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.
--Mrs. Lyndon Baines Johnson

VISIONS FOR THE FUTURE - 2001-2002!


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