Cutting Edge Librarianship

Blogging in Libraries, Bonnie Shucha: Part II, RSS Readers, The Pros & Cons of Library Blogs, and Blogging Policies.

I apologize for the length of this post. This presentation was so full of good information, I wasn't sure what to leave out! I hope you'll bear with me and keep reading, but if you don't want to read the whole thing, the handouts for this presentation are available on WisBlawg, the blog Bonnie Shucha runs for the UW-Madison Law Library.

Ms. Shucha started her discussion of RSS Readers (also known as “News readers,” or “aggregators”) with Bloglines. Bloglines is an Internet-based reader, and is the reader that Ms. Shucha uses. She demonstrated how she weeds through the hundreds of posts she gets every week. Essentially, she has it set up so that she can scan the headlines, and if a headline looks interesting to her, she can read a summary or the beginning of the post. If that looks interesting, she’ll read the whole post. She estimates that she reads about 10% of the summaries, and uses about 2% of the content. This is one reason that it’s important to choose good titles and introductions for your blog posts!

News readers can also be used to get notices of new content from newspapers and Web sites other than blogs. Bloglines can even be used as a way to track your listservs, so that your email inbox does not get too full. Some feeds can be tailored to look for items on a particular subject. One great example of this is “GovTrack,” which allows you to select any specific legislation, bill, or subject before U.S. Congress and monitor it.

One RSS Feed that allows you to subscribe to headlines from various newspapers is “Media Drop.” From this feed, you can get headlines for papers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You may need a subscription to the newspaper in order to read the actual articles, though.

As mentioned in the first post about this presentation, there are search engines for blogs that allow you to find posts on various subjects. These search engines (Feedster and Google Blog Search) also allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds based on your search terms. For example, Ms. Shucha stated that she subscribes to a search of one of the UW-Law School professor’s (and some of the students’) blogs for mentions of the UW Law Library or librarian. This way, she can keep on top of complaints about the library (even when they’re not mentioned to the library itself), and she can respond to them by commenting on the blog post.

Ms. Shucha also discussed two tools that allow you to get an RSS feed from any page, even if the author of the page has not created an RSS feed (which is usually required in order to be able to receive the feed). The tools are called FeedYes and Ponyfish.

Ms. Shucha then went on to examine reasons a library might want to have a blog. She stated that Blogs can promote collaboration and offer another avenue of communication to staff and users of the library. For example, in communicating with users, a blog can act as a newsletter, a way of alerting patrons to new library services, a way to publish lists of recent acquisitions, or as a way for staff to disseminate recommendations for books, Web sites, and research resources. Blogs can also be used internally, like an intranet, to communicate staff announcements, for knowledge management, or for project management. She emphasized that if your library already has an intranet, there’s no need to use a blog for that purpose, but if your library does not, a blog can be an easy way to set up an intranet.

Some of the benefits of library blogs are that they are an inexpensive communication and marketing tool; they are easy to use – no knowledge of HTML is required; they may be seen as innovative; they attract tech-savvy users; they allow user feedback through comments; and they can be career boosters for bloggers. The drawbacks of library blogs include the large commitment of staff time for training, set-up and posting. Also, there may be a need to educate both users and staff about blogs.

How do you decide if blogging is worth your time? Ms. Shucha recommends considering the following points when making this decision: Weigh the cost of your time; assess skills and training time needed; consider other time-consuming projects your library might already have undertaken; consider other blogs or Web pages that offer similar information (if there are already resources on the Internet that do what you want to do, it may be better just to link to those resources).

There are a number of different options when it comes to choosing the right blog software. The software packages Ms. Shucha mentioned are Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, and MovableType. See the handouts for this presentation for a more detailed description of the pros and cons of each of the packages (p. 10-12).

In the final part of her presentation, Ms. Shucha talked about the importance of having good blogging policies. Two of the resources she cited about creating good policies are The Library Blogger’s Personal Protocols and Sample Corporate Blogging Policy & Blogger Code of Ethics. Some important questions to consider when writing a blogging policy include staffing issues, such as deciding who will post to the blog (one person or a team) and deciding how best to train staff to blog. Ms. Shucha also emphasized the importance of allowing the staff the necessary time to write posts for the blog.

It’s also important to consider issues involved with posting content to a blog. There should be a policy about the type of information the blog will post. The blog should have a consistent style between posts (this is especially important if there is a team of bloggers). Develop a consistent frequency so that readers know when to check back. How often you post (monthly or daily, for example) is less important than that you post at regular, predictable intervals. Use “your own voice” whenever possible, especially when posting content found on other blogs. If you are only repeating what someone else says without adding to it, there’s no reason for the reader to look at your site instead of theirs.

Once you have a blog, it’s important to promote it. Some ideas for promoting your blog are to include the URL on library publications, seek links from other Web sites and blogs, list with search engines and blog directories, create bookmarks, business cards, etc., announce the blog in the library newsletter or ask other publications to announce it, email users directly, and share by word of mouth.

The presentation ended with a live demonstration of how to create a blog using Blogger (a free, web-based service). Cathy Martin of North Carolina volunteered to be blogger for a day. Despite some technical glitches, she was able to register and post an entry right before our eyes.

Ms. Shucha mentioned a new book that she thinks will be a good resource for librarians interested in blogging (it’s so new she hasn’t read it yet). It is Blogging and RSS: A Librarian’s Guide, by Michael P. Sauers.

I hope you stuck with this long summary. This program really was densely packed with information. I would love to hear if anyone has tried blogging since this session, either for work or for fun. Please post your experiences below!

Post conference comments from Pat

I just wanted to wrap up my conference experience by mentioning a few things I learned outside of the programs.

I have never blogged before and while it takes time to compose, edit, and post a blog, there are considerable time considerations to blogging during a conference so I felt this added pressure to put good, accurate information out there for others to read. Live blogging was really not an option but our goal was to post the same day as the program if possible. My goal was to post what I felt were some of the more interesting points in the programs I blogged and I encourage other attendees to add their comments to fill in points I overlooked. I also took pictures and as soon as I figure out how, we will add them to the program posts we each blogged. Was my experience good? Yes, but only because the three of us discussed it before the conference started and decided who was going to blog what program. A suggestion for libraries that have smaller staffs, ask conference attendees to volunteer to blog a program or two and ask which programs they want to blog. I don't think a blog should or could replace attending a conference. If all you really want is the information in the programs you can probably get that in a book or journal article. You attend a conference, like the LRL PDS, for the opportunity to ask the presentors questions and to network with people you never get to see and to ask questions of people who have a similar work environment as you do. Would I blog again? Probably, but I would want it to be another conference or similarly short term project.

I also enjoyed the social interaction with the other LRL librarians. I was just starting to put names and faces and states together when they all left. Hopefully we'll meet again at another PDS or annual meeting. The weather was not as good as we had hoped and the temps were a little below normal but it wasn't as bad as the day after the conference - over 2 inches of snow fell Sat. night into Sunday. It's mostly gone now, just a little bit in some shady spots, but it did set a record for amount of snow that fell on that day. You guys were fun to hang out with and I hope you enjoyed your time in Madison, Wisconsin.

P.S. This one is just for you Bonnie -- our cat Mabel.

State Capitol Tour

Posted on behalf of Marian Rogers:

On Friday afternoon we took a one-hour tour of the state capitol. For those who took the tour and want more information and details about the capitol building, here are some links to some good online resources:

The feature article in the 2001-2002  Wisconsin Blue Book :  "Restoring the Vision: the First Century of Wisconsin's Capitol" / Michael J. Keane; photos by Kathleen Sitter / Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau.  It is the story of Wisconsin’s Capitol Building, from its construction in the early 1900s, to its recent renovation and includes color photographs.
Chapters 1-3, p.99-139  http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/01bb/ch2a.pdf
Chapters 4-7, p.140-190     http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/01bb/ch2b.pdf

Capitol tour home page: http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/capfacts/tour_select.html

For those who really want to get into the fine details about the capitol, The University of Wisconsin Digital Collection provides access to the gargantuan Wisconsin State Capitol Historic Structure Report.
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/subcollections/WICapitolAbout.shtml
The report "... presents the architectural history of the state's capitol building in 6 volumes published between 1995 and 2005.  The first volume describes the Capitol Building as a whole and details its history, use, and alterations. This volume also documents the building's restoration and rehabilitation projects occurring between 1998-2000. The subsequent volumes address specific areas of the Capitol, including the north wing (v.2); west wing & northwest pavilion (v.3); south wing, southeast & southwest pavilions (v.4); central portion, dome and rotunda (v.5); and east wing and northeast pavilion (v.6)."--UW Digital Collection Web site

   

Wisconsin’s Legislative Oral History Project

Wendy Jackson, Legislative editor at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, gave an overview of the Wisconsin Legislative Oral History Project. This project is a joint initiative led by the Senate Chief Clerk’s Office, and includes staff from the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislative Council, the Legislative Technology Services Bureau, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Wendy explained that a lot of planning and effort has gone into this project. One of the more challenging aspects of the Legislative Oral History Project was that they decided it would be preferable to make video oral histories rather than just audio recordings. This is more expensive, requires more equipment and a studio, and is much more complicated to record. It can also be more intimidating for the person being recorded. Overcoming all of these various challenges has delayed progress on the project, but once these are mastered, they are confident that we will be able to produce an invaluable historical legacy for Wisconsin.

Some of factors that the project staff has had to consider are: who will be the interview subjects? Who will do the interviewing? And what questions will be asked? The Wisconsin Legislative Oral History Project is very fortunate to have a retired radio journalist who has agreed to conduct the interviews. They also plan to produce written transcripts of all the interviews. A lot of deliberation went into creating an editing protocol for the transcripts outlining the extent of the editorial control allowed the interview subjects.

The project staff also had to decide how the recordings would be preserved and what legal issues that they needed to anticipate in terms of the open records law, confidentiality, and consent forms for the release of the recordings. Finally, Wendy shared some of the lessons the project staff have learned through their trial recordings about what equipment is needed and how to record a successful interview.

Wendy's handout is available here Download oral_history_handout.pdf

This accompanying bibliography was also given to program attendees Download oral_history.pdf

Podcasting for Libraries: What, Why and How

Simply stated, podcasting is a means for posting audio or video files on a website. These audio or video clips can be played on a computer or downloaded to an MP3 player. Combined with power of RSS feeds, individuals can subscribe to any number of podcasts and automatically receive new broadcasts whenever they are released.

Laura Kunkel, Legislative editor at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, gave a lively presentation on the nuts and bolts of podcasting at your library. Since the emergence of podcasting in 2004, the popularity of this new technology has skyrocketed to the point where there are now millions of podcasts on every imaginable subject are available on the Internet. Laura stressed that producing podcasts is really much simpler than you might expect. Even a technical novice can do this without much investment in equipment or technology.

So why would you want to podcast at your library?

• To capture the youth demographic
• Podcasts are portable, you can deliver content to individuals while they are walking, on the bus, or virtually anywhere
• Appeals to people who prefer to learn orally rather than visually
• Podcasts offer one more medium to get your message delivered
• Podcasts are free and people love free stuff!

Laura made several recommendations for launching a successful podcasting series. Planning is critical. Carefully consider the content that you want to deliver. How formal do you want the tone of the broadcasts to be? Do you want to include any music? What equipment will you use? Who will be a good participant?

Laura recommended using inexpensive equipment until you are more experienced. The Legislative Reference Bureau uses free Goldwave software to record and edit its podcasts (She also suggested Audacity as another free recording software). Laura demonstrated how to record and to edit the podcasts. She recommended creating a pilot recording and getting feedback about it from colleagues. Once your library has created several podcasts, you should plan to market your podcasts. Be sure to add the podcasts to podcast search engines, create news releases about the podcasts, feature them on your web site, send announcements to listservs, etc.

Laura’s final words of advice were to remember that when it comes to producing podcasts, content is king, but audio (in terms of the quality of the recording) is queen!

Laura's handout is available here Download PodcastingBasics.pdf

This accompanying bibliography on podcasting was also given to attendees Download podcasting_bib.pdf

View all the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau podcasts.

Blogging in Libraries, Bonnie Shucha: Part I, Blogs and RSS Feeds

Bonnie Shucha, Head of Reference at the UW-Madison Law Library and the author of “WisBlawg – from the UW Law Library,” gave a talk about how to set up a blog and why libraries should consider blogging in the first place. For the handouts from this presentation, see Ms. Shucha’s blog post about it. The presentation was so full of information, I will post this summary in two parts.

Ms. Shucha began by explaining the difference between a blog and a Web site: there is no difference, really. A blog is a Web site, but the structure is different than a “regular” Web site. She said a blog is a kind of Web site, just as a convertible is a kind of car. Ms. Shucha went on to talk about some of the basics about “the blogosphere” (the world of blogs). She said it’s important to keep in mind that there are some really good blogs out there. People are often dismissive of blogs, thinking they’re all just fluff about personal things, such as someone’s cat. But in reality, there are many blogs of substance, as a previous speaker at the conference mentioned, there are even some legal blogs with writing that is on par with what you might find in a law review. Two examples of substantive blogs are “Library Law Blog” and “beSpacific” (both blogs are linked from WisBlawg’s “Blogs I Read” section on the right-hand side of the page).

She pointed out that there are over 50 million blogs on the Internet now, the blogosphere doubles every six months, and on average, two new blogs are created every second (as of August 2006 from Sifry’s Alerts ).

A basic blog contains brief informational posts, presented in reverse chronological order (in other words, the newest post at the top of the page). Blogs generally allow comments by users, though it is often a good idea to mediate comments to remove any spam. Blogs also generally provide an archive of previously posted content. Some also offer search engines; most allow RSS feeds. A “blawg” is simply a law-related blog.

Blogs can be useful for benchmarking (seeing what others in your field are doing) and networking, and can also be valuable for monitoring public opinion. Ms. Shucha illustrated this point by describing the controversy a few years ago over Kryptonite locks. Someone figured out how to pick one of the locks using a ballpoint pen in only a few seconds. The company denied it was possible to defeat their lock so easily, but eventually a video showed up in the blogosphere documenting a person picking a Kryptonite lock in well under 10 seconds. The company had no choice but to issue a recall.

Ms. Shucha offered two valuable resources for finding authoritative blogs relevant to legislative and legal research. They are the NSCL page, “Links to State Legislators’ Blogs” and “Blawg: Law & Legal Related Weblogs.”

Further resources for finding legal and legislative blogs are: First Reading, the Hawaii LRB Blog, WisBlawg, and “Law Library Blogs." To search for blog entries on particular topics, several search engines are available, including Google Blog Search, Feedster, and Technorati.

A question was raised about how to judge the quality of a blog. Ms. Shucha said that blogs can be judged just like any other Web site. She suggests looking at the information about the blogger (available on most blogs), and check to see what kind of institutional connection the blog has, if any. Another way to check the quality of a blog is to go to a site called Blog Pulse, where you can enter the url for a blog and see who is citing it.

Ms. Shucha then went on to talk about RSS feeds. “RSS” doesn’t really stand for anything, though some people say it means “Really Simple Syndication,” “Rich Site Summary,” or “Ready for Some Stories?” Sites that offer RSS feeds will have an orange button, either saying “RSS” or “XML” or just with a square orange logo with two arcs and a square on it. This button allows you to subscribe to a feed that will provide updates of new content as it’s posted on the Web site or blog in question. [For one explanation of RSS, see the Wisconsin LRB’s page “What are LRB News Feeds?”]

In order to be able to use RSS feeds, you must have an aggregator, in the same way that in order to read e-mail you need to have an e-mail client (such as Hotmail or Outlook). RSS aggregators (or readers) can be either Web-based or installed on your computer. Which you choose will depend on how you use it. Web-based readers can be accessed from anywhere, but you need an internet connection. Installed readers can only be installed on your computer, but once the information is downloaded, it can be accessed offline, which can be helpful if you’re traveling with a laptop, for example. RSS feeds can also be used to manage e-mail listservs.

More about using news aggregators in the second part of my summary. In the meantime, I thought it might be interesting to get your input on blogs and RSS feeds. Does your library use either? If so, in what way? If not, can you think of ways you might use blogs or RSS feeds to serve your clients? Post your comments below - we'd love to hear from you!

Wildlife Disease Information Note, Cris Marsh

"Wildlife Disease Information Node: Not Your Traditional Librarian Gig" presented by Cris Marsh, Content Manager, USGS National Wildlife Health Center.

Every federal agency or program has an acronym and where Cris works is no different; Wildlife Disease Information Node http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/aboutus.jsp is WDIN and pronounced "wo-din." I hope Cris will look at this blog and comment on any mistakes I make but WDIN is one of several nodes established around the country by the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII). Each node has a different focus whose main function is to serve as a gateway to information on plants and animals.

Why should we care what these nodes are doing, especially WDIN? The diseases they track and any emerging threats can devastate wildlife populations, there is potential transmission of zoonotic diseases (transmission from animal to human), increased concern over emerging diseases that haven't devastated a region or species yet but have that potential, the economic impact on commerce, possible transmission from wildlife to domestic animals, and something that never would have occurred to me, wildlife can be sentinels of environmental health hazards.

That's what one of WDIN's partners tries to do. http://canarydatabase.org tries to bridge the barrier between human research, wildlife research, and domestic animal research to say "hey, did you notice that your research has an impact on this research and look, you're using the same data, why not check out this study too." (or something like that)

There are two parts to WDIN's approach to sharing and compiling their data; one is a database approach and the other is a Web site. The web site is open to the general public. The database applications are password protected, but some do have a public view that provide data summary reports and maps. In development is a single network, Wildlife Health Monitoring Network, that would include all the information collected on each animal disease monitored; but for now, there exists separate databases, which include the CWD Data Clearinghouse about chronic wasting disease in deer; Seabird Ecological Assessment Network, or SEANET, which involves a citizen science volunteer program; and the National HPAI Early Detection Data System, or HEDDS, which contains avian influenza surveillance sampling data. That URL is http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/ai and is updated almost every Fri.

It makes sense to have one place to collect, organize, and make accessible all this data that is useful. One of the challenges to make this information available to different disciplines is the ability to share information. Major difficulties to overcoming this challenge include cultural, financial and technology barriers. The cultural barrier mostly stems from the fact that researchers typically are rewarded for the number articles they publish not the amount of data they share. In addition there are no authoritative rules to require proper acknowledgement and recognition if shared data from another institution is used in a publication. The funding for wildlife health surveillance is still lagging far behind if compared to the funding support provided for monitoring human and domestic animal health. Lastly, technology is a barrier. Even if institutions or agencies want to share data the technology resources available to them may not be adequate.

The Web site, as I mentioned earlier, does have information that the public can access and Cris uses a cataloging tool, developed by NBII and modified by the WDIN technical staff, to catalog Web based information. All the information cataloged for the site is Web-based; the information, journal articles, documents, etc. do not exist in a physical collection. Cris indexes using a professional, controlled thesauri and only creates terms as needed because the thesauri doesn't always cover wildlife issues. When you click on "Search WDIN Only", the screen defaults to a basic search but a guided search is also available; the searching is pretty robust. I did a basic keyword search, "chronic wasting disease Wisconsin," and found 30 records. The seventh record down was a memo from the Wisconsin Governor on disposal and landfilling of deer carcass (hope you're not reading this over lunch). So don't think that there's nothing but scientific journals and statistics on this site; there are a lot of state documents available too.

It wasn't until I started clicking around on their Web site that I appreciated everything Cris was talking about today. There's A LOT of information there, cool maps, links to other Web sites, and on and on. Here's a factsheet if you want to learn more: http://www.nbii.gov/images/uploaded/8496_1121829090750_WDIN.pdf

To wrap up: If you or your state has any concerns about West Nile disease, CWD, or the avian flu, you gotta check out this site because it is a terrific resource!

Succession Management, Donna Scheeder

I elected to blog the program "Succession Planning and Workforce Transformation: Foundation for the Future" presented by Donna Scheeder,Director, Law Library Services, Law Library of Congress. But first a caveat, I have never blogged before. I know what a blog is but I haven't taken the time (yet) to really monitor a blog so I hope my comments are blog-worthy.

Download succession_planning_and_workforce_transformation.ppt

Early in the presentation Donna cautioned us that succession planning is continually evolving and the current trend is to take a wholistic approach and not stop at personnel issues. Because it's evolving, Donna suggested the following definition of succession management: "a set of processes and tools that organizations use to insure that they have human resources necessary for future success."

What has prompted organizations to start succession planning is unavoidable: the first baby boomers are reaching retirement age. That's a lot of people to replace in the next five years. And with globalization and a more competitive employment market it won't be easy.

Donna's example of how the Congressional Research Service (CRS) employed succession planning in the mid-1990s is a great illustration of a smart approach with some unanticipated outcomes. To keep this entry short, CRS conducted a survey to find out who would be eligible for retirement in the next five years and what subject areas would be affected. They also looked at what subject areas needed more staff and what areas had too much staff. Then they pursued funding to increase positions so they could hire new people to learn from the existing staff so the knowledge base could be passed on. What happened was people didn't retire when they originally thought they would. Some existing staff were resistant to mentoring their replacement and there was little or no training of the mentors in how to mentor. On the other hand, the new people who were hired didn't always stay. And lastly, the financial support for the extra staff did not last as long as anticipated. Lessons learned: don't do just one survey (maybe an annual survey is needed), remain flexible, develop a staff retention program (what training and continuing education can you offer new staff?), and don't focus on just the personnel.

But the CRS experience was 10 years ago. Today's approach, the more wholistic approach, or Workforce transformation, goes beyond replacing people. It is future oriented, strategic, competency based, and links succession planning with re-engineering the process, workflow and career development. When someone leaves, don't look for someone with the same skills and knowledge as the person who left but reassess the position description to see where this position fits within the function of the organization and what skills and knowledge is required and redefine the position if necessary.

Donna's presentation continued with a description of five steps in the process of workforce transformation. I won't describe it here because I believe her presentation will be posted to the LRL Web site. When it is I will post the link here.

There was a handout at the session that you might already have; it's an NCSL publication from July 2005 "Succession Planning in the Legislative Workplace: A Guide for State Legislatures." Resources Donna mentioned (but I didn't catch the URLs): "Workforce and Succession Planning Guide" by Nancy Kiyonga, NY State Dept. of Civil Service, "12 Keys for Succession Planning" by Stephen Moulton, Action Insight, and "Three Models of Succession Planning" by Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, Government of Australia.

If there is more job turnover among people in their 20's and 30's, and I've heard it mentioned at more than one presentation over the years, then I can see succession management evolving again over the next 10 years into efforts to retain knowledge and how do you train someone with this knowledge base you already have.

Tour of the Wisconsin Veteran’s Museum Library and Archives

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum was created in 1901, and originally housed the collection of the Grand Army of the Republic, an important Civil War Veterans’ group. The collection was located in the Wisconsin State Capitol until 1993, when it moved across the street to a building that formerly housed a drug store. For more information about the history of the museum, see their “FAQ” page and their history page.

The first part of our tour was conducted by Russ Horton, Processing Archivist. It began in the basement in the storage area for the objects collection. We had the opportunity to see some fascinating objects, including a Civil War era sword, made by Tiffany & Co. and presented to a Wisconsin Colonel by his regiment upon his escape from a prisoner of war camp. We also saw a civil war drum from Maryland, with the Maryland state seal, apparently the only one still in existence. It’s in the Wisconsin collection because it was brought home by Wisconsin soldiers. Another fascinating object was the vest worn by Lucius Fairchild, who would eventually serve three terms as governor of Wisconsin, that he wore during the battle of Gettysburg. The really interesting thing about the vest is that he was wearing it when he was shot in the arm. The arm had to be amputated, and the vest bears the marks of his adventures: blood stains, missing buttons, and a tear through the left shoulder. There were lots of other things, but it would take up too much space for me to go into too much detail here. To others who were on this tour: what did you find most interesting about it? Post a comment below! I’d love to get your impressions.

The second part of our tour was conducted by Jaime Healy-Plotkin, Librarian, and Abigail Norderhaug, Reference Archivist, and covered the library and archives section. We learned a bit about the scope of the museum’s collections. They will take anything relating to military involvement in war, including personal narratives and stories about the home front, as long as it has some Wisconsin connection. That connection can simply be that the veteran’s children now live in the state, even if the veteran did not. This means that their collection does not only focus on one branch of the military or one war. Their collection spans the time from the Civil War to the present conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, from all branches of military service. They also work to present multiple points of view, rather than a purely pro-military perspective. Everything the Veteran’s Museum does is cataloged on OCLC. Their library collection does not circulate, but is available for researchers to use in-house.

The Veteran’s Museum is also conducting an oral history project, and we got to hear a bit about that. Right now they have four interviewers, veterans from various wars. The histories are transcribed in order to ensure preservation (video cassettes are not a very stable medium) and to allow easier access by researchers to particular statements by the interviewees. The museum is hoping for some grant money to digitize the histories so they can provide streaming audio and video through their Web site.

We were also able to see some interesting pieces from the archives (all the “paper” that’s archived there – photos, manuscripts, diaries, etc.). One interesting piece was a sheet of paper, rescued from a fire in the capitol when the library was located there, called a “family roll” from the Civil War. It lists soldiers’ names, the name of the person who was authorized to receive their pay (usually a wife or the parents) and how many children the soldier had.

It was a fun and informative tour, and I know I missed some of the high points. Does anyone who was there have anything to add?

Ambassador Tom Loftus: The State of Things Today in American Legislative Politics

  Ambassador Loftus began his presentation with a memorial of long time Chief of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, Dr. H. Rupert Theobald, who died last year. He said that Dr. Theobald “trained several generations of the Wisconsin Legislature.” Ambassador Loftus offered a brief biographical sketch of Dr. Theobald. He was born in Berlin in 1930, and came to Wisconsin after World War II, arriving in the U.S. in 1950. Ambassador Loftus contrasted what he imagined might have been one of the last things Dr. Theobald saw as he left Berlin, the burned-out hulk of the Reichstag, representing the death of German democracy, with Dr. Theobald’s commitment to American democracy during his service for the State of Wisconsin. He served as Chief of the Wisconsin LRB from 1964-1994, and during that time had a “great influence over the process.” For a more complete biography of Dr. H. Rupert Theobald, follow the link to the Wisconsin LRB publication, “Ask the LRB” (pdf). The biography is found on page 18. For more biographical sketches of Dr. Theobald, see the Library Services page about him and the 1995-1996 Wisconsin Blue Book Dedication to him (pdf, pages 986-987) [Warning, this link is to a pdf of the entire Blue Book and may take some time to load].

Ambassador Loftus then moved on to a discussion of the “state of things today in American legislative politics.” He stated that gerrymandering of districts has caused a lot of the issues that states face today with seemingly un-beatable incumbents, but he pointed out that gerrymandering has been around for a long time. The main difference now is that the tools for doing it are more sophisticated. He stated that “uncompetitive districts create the ‘true believers’” because ultimately races are decided in primaries, whose voters tend to be more loyal to the specific core beliefs of candidates or parties. But, he also pointed out that “things are not static.”

He mentioned that when he was first elected to the Wisconsin Legislature, in 1976, there were 67 democrats out of 99 representatives. Towards the end of his tenure as Speaker of the House, his party had a much smaller majority – only 2 or 3 seats. He found that it was easier to lead a group with a small majority than a group with a large majority, because there was more motivation for cooperation and compromise within the party.

Ambassador Loftus believes that the relative weakness of political parties in this country (for example, Wisconsin political parties no longer endorse particular candidates for office) has caused a shift in focus toward fewer, larger races and away from local elections. It has also led to a situation in which it is very difficult for third parties to participate in the political process. He argued that states with a strong party structure tend to have wider political participation by multiple parties than states with weaker party structures.

He emphasized the important role that non-partisan legislative reference libraries play in helping legislators “steer the boat,” by providing a consistent, professional base of knowledge that legislators can draw on to govern.

He then opened the floor to questions. The wide range of questions raised by audience memebers reflected Ambassador Loftus’ wide experience. One of the most interesting questions was about WisconsinEye, the new network set to begin broadcasting Wisconsin Legislative activity next year. It is similar to C-SPAN, but is privately funded, and the legislature will have no editorial control over it. The Senate won the concession that when the camera is on, there will be a red light visible. The goal is to allow citizens to observe the legislative process, and it stems from a Wisconsin Legislative Council study on the topic. The broader goals of WisconsinEye are to provide a pool feed for television coverage of the Legislature and to act as the first verbatim archive of legislative activity. A question was raised about how political candidates could be prevented from using the footage in their campaigns; restricting this kind of use will likely rely on intellectual property law. Another attendee asked who would archive the material. The private entity running WisconsinEye will control, own, and store the archive, but the content will belong to the citizens of Wisconsin.