Summer 2012

FOUNDATION NEWS

The sun came out just in time for Earth Day bikers to participate in Ride the Eastside, a community bike event. Riders who showed up at Great Dane-Eastside or Pinney Branch on April 21 or 22 received a free tote full of goodies and entered for their chance to win earth-friendly prizes. The big winner took home a kids’ bike from Pacific Cycle!

The Great Dane-Eastside, just up the road from Pinney, is sponsoring Sunday hours at the branch through May and helped host a recycled book drive to support the Friends of Pinney Branch’s used book sales.

Looking for more ways to go green? Don’t miss Pinney Branch’s extensive Sustainable Living collection.

Donors whetted their literary (and literal) appetites at the foundation’s Annual Donor Thank You Reception on Friday, May 4th. After a continental breakfast at the Madison Club, Dan Chaon entertained guests with a discussion about his new collection of short stories, Stay Awake.

This once a year party is the foundation’s way of honoring donors who have achieved “Patron” status or higher with a total annual contribution of $250 or more.

Book and Bike Enthusiasts Ride the Eastside

a quarterly newsletter from the Madison Public Library Foundation

One Way We Say Thanks

Donors Tom Linfield and Karin Wolf listen intently as Chaon recounts his childhood love of the neighborhood bookmobile.

Chaon autographs his book for donor and author Margaret George Kaufman.

A happy rider shows of his 100% recycled material tote.

Find us on Facebook for more photos of the event!

Board President Al Friedman, Author Dan Chaon and Foundation Executive Director Jenni Collins

Two brothers try their luck at the raffle.

Q: What kinds of resources does the Madison Public Library provide for book clubs?

A: The longer I serve as president of the Madison Public Library Foundation, the more I learn about our Madison libraries. The 15th Annual Book Club Café on May 10th and the Book Club Challenge now have me thinking about book clubs. I knew our libraries hosted and led book clubs, but I never knew about Book Club Kits until this week!

I always thought of book clubs as groups of do-it-yourselfers. It turns out Madison Public Library offers almost two hundred titles to book clubs in Madison and all over the South Central Library region. Each kit contains eight copies of the book, author information and discussion questions. Kits can be requested at any library and checked-out for up to three months by any cardholder. Extra copies of some titles are available if your book club includes all your cousins.

This is just another of the free services from a library that knows its community and does everything it can to contribute to our well-being. The original book club probably took place around a fire circle. Many of us had a first book club experience while sitting in a circle, listening to a book being read aloud. The satisfaction and camaraderie generated by a book club has kept reading friends together for decades.

Madison Public Library will develop this program, making new kits as books become available. The remodeled Central Library will have many meeting rooms and spaces available for book clubs. Contact your local librarian if you want to start a book club, or just check out a book club kit and call a few friends and cousins to read a book with you.

Good Summer Reading to All,

Al Friedman

Madison Public Library BranchesAlicia Ashman• 733 N. High Point Rd.Hawthorne• 2707 E. Washington Ave.Lakeview• 2845 N. Sherman Ave.Meadowridge• 5740 Raymond Rd.Monroe Street• 1705 Monroe St.Pinney• 204 Cottage Grove Rd.Sequoya• 4340 Tokay Blvd.Goodman South Madison• 2222 S. Park St.Central Library Interim Location• 126 S. Hamilton St.

A published quarterly by Madison Public library Foundation, inc.

Executive Director JenniFer J. collins

Newsletter Editorcourtney davis

Contributing Writerstana elias

callie Padway

Newsletter Designerrebecca curran

201 W. Mifflin StreetMadison, Wisconsin 53703 608.266.6318mplfoundation.org info@mplfoundation.org

Inquiring MindsYour Questions

Answered

We Want to Know... What is your Book Club reading?

FOUNDATION NEWS

Al Friedman, President, MPLF

Participants in the 2012 Annual Book Club Café fundraiser told us what their groups read in the past year. Here are the most popular responses:

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Driftless by David Rhodes

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Three Junes by Julia Glass

Book Club Challenge

The Goal 100 Book Clubs in support of the New Central Library

The Challenge Make a group donation of $250 or more and your book club’s name will become a part of a one-of-a-kind work of art in the new Central Library.

The Artwork Award-winning furniture designer and sculptor at the University of Wisconsin, Hongtao Zhou will feature each book club name in a custom-made bench using varying hues of natural wood.

The Community Campaign for a New Central Library

Learning for a Lifetime

To learn more about the artwork and the challenge, visit mplfoundation.org

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Book Club Corner:Meet the Chiclets Book Club

The Chiclets Book Club, formed in January 2005, named themselves after “chick lit” with a box of Chiclets gum as their logo. Despite their name, they read books of all genres from teen lit to horror, rating them on the Chiclets-specific scale from 1 (I’d rather gouge my eyes out) to 10 (The BEST book I’ve ever read). Their highest rated book: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

What book are you currently reading? Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

What author would you like to have as a book club guest? We chose a few – Jennifer Weiner, Jodi Picoult, Maeve Binchy, and Stephen King. We did joke that the “famed” Tucker Max from I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell would be an interesting guest but we’d probably have to kick him out in short order!

If you could host book club anywhere, where would it be? We are warm weather fans so a private cabana on the beach in Fiji with a supply of great fruity drinks and yummy hors d’oeuvres.

If you could invite any person to join your book club, who would it be? Hands down, Ellen DeGeneres.

Events Not to Miss

Thursday, July 12, 201211:30 AM

Black Hawk Country Club

After our fall fundraiser sold out weeks ahead of time, we are excited to introduce a brand new annual event. Join us at Lunch for Libraries: Dish with David, featuring Pulitzer-prize winning author David Maraniss discussing his newest biography, Barack Obama: The Story, to be released June 19.

Seating is limited.

Thursday, October 11, 20126:00 - 8:00 PM

Boardman & Clark LLP

Ready your taste buds! We’re back with more brewers, more chocolatiers and a brand new pairing menu for volume two of Ex Libris: A Review of Beer & Chocolate.

Congratulations to The Chiclets Book Club!They’ve won a gift card to Barriques. If you’d like to be entered in the drawing for next quarter’s newsletter,

send an email to newsletter@mplfoundation.org including a brief description of your book club and your answers to the four questions above.

Please designate my gift for “Learning for a Lifetime: The Community Campaign for a New Central Library”

Back row, left to right: Lynn Niebuhr, Jennifer Engel, Carrie Nemke, Jayne Wanless, Sarah Van Hoof, Krisi WollermannFront row: Staci Hannes, Colleen Dring, Dana Otto, Laura D’AgostinoNot pictured: Trina O’Gara, Sheri Roe

for

LibrariesDish with David

LIBRARY NEWS

Teens have their own summer reading program – an interactive online community where they choose prizes, log their reading and see what their friends are reading. Teens can get more involved by entering city-wide gaming tournaments, reviewing books for the Teen’s Choice Award, or volunteering to help with the summer reading club and library events for children.

As always, Madison Public Library offers numerous other interactive storytimes, classes and events incorporating art, science, music, movement, and gaming as well as performances by regional entertainers all summer long. Families can wrap up their summer of reading at the Dream Big – Read! Concert & Picnic at Olbrich Botanical Gardens on August 14 from 6:30 to 8:30.

Happy reading!

Want to keep your kids reading all summer long? Register them for the library’s Summer Reading Club starting June 1. It’s free, easy to join and fits perfectly into busy summer schedules.

Summer Reading Club is a self-paced reading experience that allows children to pursue their own reading interests and earn prizes donated by area businesses. They’ll have fun while retaining or improving reading comprehension and vocabulary skills.

Recognizing that many families may not have the time or resources to visit the library, youth services librarians implemented the Group Summer Reading Club where summer reading activities are extended to daycares, summer camps and other summer child care sites. Over 500 children were already signed up in the first week of group registration!

Summer Time Is Reading Time

Carissa Christner

Sign up for Summer Reading Club beginning June 1.

Alicia Ashman Librarian Wins Award for Online Summer Reading Program

Carissa Christner, Youth Services Librarian at Madison’s Alicia Ashman Library, was awarded the James Krikelas Award for Innovative Use of Information Technology for creating the framework for the library’s new online teen summer reading program. We caught up with Carissa to find out what this honor was all about.

Q: Tell us a little more about the project you submitted.

A: Our group worked on the initial structure and planning for a new web tool that Madison Public Library will use this summer for teens to keep track of their summer reading. A big part of our project involved us trying to learn to program in Drupal (a new skill for everyone in the group!) and mapping out the specifics of this online reading tracker.

Q: What’s unique about this program?

A: This year, for the first time, teens can choose the order in which they earn their prizes. We’ve also incorporated a “challenge question” that will allow teens to answer questions and increase their chances of winning prizes.

Q: What other technology-related projects are you working on?

A: Last semester, I discovered a new web service for librarians that allows us to record videos of ourselves reading books online called “A Story Before Bed.” It’s sort of like having a personalized e-book. Thanks to the support of the Alicia Ashman Friends group, we’ll be rolling it out in time for our summer reading program. I’m also planning for a new blog about all of the art & craft classes I offer at the Alicia Ashman library.

Q: What is your favorite part of your job at the library?

A: I love all of the creative opportunities my job allows me to pursue and connecting the best books and music with the right readers and listeners.

Congrats, Carissa! Keep up the good work.

A Moment in Time: Madison Libraries Then and Now

As the youngest board member in the history of the Central Friends group, it was no surprise when Nellieyah Ngai became co-president of her own branch’s friends group 2 years ago. Together with co-president Mary Ann Mayhew, Ngai spearheaded efforts raising nearly $10,000 for the new Goodman South Madison Library.

“I just play the role of spokesperson,” said Ngai, “The credit belongs equally to all the other members.”

With funds from their biannual book and bake sales, these 35 members fund Youth Summer Reading, Anime Club, programming on African American Genealogy, and more. In 2011, they purchased a “Giving Tree” where staff hangs requests for books and patrons are encouraged to donate them. Their newest project is a “Top Teen” t-shirt design, modeling, and photography contest designed to engage artistic youth in the community.

LIBRARY NEWS

On April 27, 1965, a sampling of library and community materials were gathered into a time capsule and sealed under the cornerstone of the then brand new Central Library at 201 West Mifflin Street. Forty-seven years later, on the eve of the next chapter in Central’s ever-evolving story, it was uncovered and opened as part of the official kickoff of the $30 million reconstruction of a new Central Library.

Materials in the time capsule provided ample evidence as to how much libraries have changed since 1965. Here’s just a sampling:

Remember date stamps?A 240% increase in circulation in the 1950s prompted the implementation of

Regiscope check out technology from 1964

Friends of Goodman South Madison Branch: Dan Zeller, Mary Ann Mayhew, Nancy Salzwedl, Linda Zeller, Chris Wagner, Pat Christensen, Nellieyah Ngai, Margaret Jensen, Janice Zmrazek

Co-president Nellieyah Ngai

the Regiscope, a “photographic charging” microfilm camera early in 1965. The new “speedier” technology eliminated stamping and filing of paper transaction records as items were checked out, and prompted a mass replacement of old library cards.

Today, all checkouts are done with the click of a mouse in the library’s online LINKcat system, which allows libraries to share real-time check-out and hold records and library users to borrow and return materials from over 42 cooperating libraries in South Central Wisconsin. No stamps. No Regiscope tape.

More Branches, More AccessIn 1965, there were only five Madison public libraries. Since then, the Hawthorne and Lakeview Branches have moved to new locations, and the Pinney Branch, Meadowridge Branch, Goodman South

Madison Branch, and Alicia Ashman Branch libraries have opened, totaling nine branches.

Paperless Books in the Digital AgeIn 1965, projected books, film strips and records were the “new” media. There were 120 projected books on film and 5,000 phonograph records in the new Central Library when it opened. Today, Wisconsin’s Digital Library collection offers thousands of ebooks and digital audibooks for use on cell phones, tablets, eBook readers, MP3 players, and computers.

A page out of the 1965 Library Phone Directory

The 1965 version of an eBook

Meet your Friends Group - Goodman South Madison Library

Just-in-Time-for-Summer Book, AV and Bake SaleGoodman South Madison Library

June 1, 10 AM - 8 PM and June 2, 9 AM - 2 PM

“[The library] is the one place in your community where you must be an active participant. It is the center of our democracy – available to everyone and personalized to everyone.”- Margaret Jensen, Friends of Goodman South Madison Library Member

For More Pictures from the PastVisit the library’s online Flickr page at

www.flickr.com/photos/madison-public-library

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage

PAIDMadison, WI

Permit No. 1110201 W. Mifflin StreetMadison, WI 53703

mplfoundation.org

A quarterly newsletter from the Madison Public Library Foundation

John E. Wall Family and DEMCO Make a DifferenceIn the library business since the late 1960s, the John E. Wall Family and their Madison-based company DEMCO, Inc. have come through in a big way for the new Central Library. Their combination gift of cash and in-kind donations has helped push the campaign’s total to nearly $6 million.

DEMCO, a major library supply company for over 100 years, will provide state-of-the-art furnishings and equipment for the new library. The list of donated items includes furniture, specialty shelving, book trucks, laptop charging stations, and interactive TouchIT LCD monitors.

“It’s a great statement of support from the Madison business community for the Wall Family and DEMCO to step up in this way,” said Jenni Collins, Foundation Executive Director, “and this incredible and generous gift will definitely help transform Central into a modern, world-class library.” Left to Right: Library Board Member Larry Palm, J.H. Findorff President Rich

Lynch, Campaign Chair Tripp Widder, Mayor Paul Soglin, construction crew, Executive Director of the Madison Public Library Foundation Jenni Collins, Foundation President Al Friedman, Former Library Director Barb Dimick

Construction is Underway!Suited up in hard hats and goggles, representatives from the library, Madison Public Library Foundation, the City of Madison, and J.H. Findorff kicked off construction of the new Central Library on March 27. The construction team removed the building’s corner stone revealing a time capsule from 1965, the year the library was built.

Central Library is scheduled to reopen in summer 2013.

Learning for a Lifetime Campaign Updates

The Community Campaign for a New Central Library

Learning for a Lifetime

“[This gift] is a great statement of support from the Madison business community.”