Teens, gaming and charity

The library literature is crazy about gaming (both good and bad). Well if your library is looking to raise funds, this holiday season, for a fabulous charity and -- perhaps -- highlight the work gaming does in bringing teens in to the library. Why don't you check out Childs Play.

Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child's Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over two million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children's hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

This year, we have continued expanding across the country and the globe. With over 45 partner hospitals and more arriving every month, you can be sure to find one from the map above that needs your help! You can choose to purchase requested items from their online retailer wish lists, or make a cash donation that helps out Child's Play hospitals everywhere. Any items purchased through Amazon will be shipped directly to your hospital of choice, so please be sure to select their shipping address rather than your own.

When gamers give back, it makes a difference!

There's even a hospital, that would benefit, in Oklahoma.

Psych classes for MLIS students?

SLIS student, Library Computer Guy writes:

It has been quite a while since I took Psych 101 and I’m just thinking some refresher might be in order for the public librarian in an MLIS program.

And he gives a couple of examples as to why he considers this

...There was the man who was angry that the Devil seemed to be blocking his Yahoo email account... but he seemed to believe I was in league with the Devil at some point...

Luckily for LCG, it's just not a public library thing. When I worked in academia we had all sorts come in - and some with tenure.

One gentleman wanted the "secret government document" that allowed President Clinton to come into people's homes at night and take their guns without them knowing about it. I got yelled at by a female student once for not doing my "f*cking job" which she believed included me writing her English essay. I got berated, while at the reference desk, by a crying emertis faculty member for withdrawing (and giving to another library) an incomplete series of journals. I got scolded over the phone for not recording an entire commercial VHS tape for someone to have a personal copy of because she "needed it". One lady wanted to know the average length of the ...err... male member so she could prove to her boyfriend he wasn't below average (hello can you say TMI!!!) ...and oh the list goes on...

The fact is -- no matter where you work in libraries you'll encounter individuals, both public and colleagues, who you'll question their mental state and eventually your own for working in libraries. But that's the joy of being part of a society and having human clients. And just when you think you've learned how to deal with a certain type of individual a whole knew category of WTF will pop up. It's a never ending adventure. ;-)

That's why it's important to have a strong support network, be it professionally (in person, like coworkers, or virtually, via dicussion groups) or personally (friends and family in which you can confide). And truth be told I don't know if a Psychology class would help -- all it would do in my case is confirm my fear that I'm an enabler of all those around me and foster their invidual psychosis. (Which probably applies to all librarians)

So what stories do you have to share?

1st book eligiblity

Adrienne shares how you can be eligible for the 1st book winnings

Dear Librarian,

Congratulations to everyone who helped Oklahoma win the national First Book contest. As a result of our efforts, the state will receive 50,000 new books to give to children at-risk for low literacy.

The First Book contest tallied more than 133,000 votes. More than 34,000 of those votes selected Oklahoma as the state to receive the windfall of books.

This contest provided a wonderful demonstration of what can happen when many organizations join together to share the gift of reading.

The big book giveaway is tentatively scheduled for September 20 in Oklahoma City.

Many of you have been curious about how the books will get into the hands of children. Eligible organizations throughout the state may apply to receive a portion of the books for giveaway to young readers. Eligibility requirements are:

* programs that predominantly serve children from low-income families; and,

* programs that do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or physical or mental disability.

Is your library eligible? Perhaps. Your library may be located in an area that predominantly serves low-income children, or you may have an early literacy program targeting these youngsters, or you may be aware of organizations in your community that would be eligible. First Book will make the determination of eligibility as well as the quantity of books to be distributed to qualifying organizations.

To be considered for participation, organizations must register at http://register.firstbook.org

The next step will be to fill out an application in order to receive free books. Very soon, First Book will be forwarding a link to this application form to those who are registered. So, if you are interested, please register as soon as possible.

Once the online application process begins, selection of free book recipients will be made on a first come, first served basis.

Organizations approved to participate will need to have someone attend the Oklahoma City event on September 20 in order to pick up their free books.

Congratulations, again. We did it! I am so proud to be State Librarian of Oklahoma—where there has been this tremendous outpouring of support for children and literacy.

Sincerely,

Susan McVey, Director
Oklahoma Department of Libraries

Literacy Behind Bars

Literacy Behind Bars: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) included the first assessment of the English literacy of incarcerated adults since 1992. The assessment was administered to approximately 1,200 adults (age 16 and older) incarcerated in state and federal prisons, as well as approximately 18,000 adults living in households. Three types of literacy were measured: Prose, Document, and Quantitative. Results were reported in terms of scale scores (on a 500-point scale) and four literacy levels—Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. The findings in this report—Literacy Behind Bars—indicate the changes in literacy among incarcerated adults between 1992 and 2003. The report also compares the literacy of adults in the prison and household populations and across groups of prison inmates with different characteristics, including race/ethnicity, gender, educational attainment, age, language spoken before starting school, and parents’ educational attainment. The report looks at the relationship between literacy, education, and job training, including traditional academic education, vocational education, and skill certification. Additionally, the report examines the relationship between literacy and experiences in prison other than education, including prison work assignments, library use, computer use, and reading frequency. Finally, the report looks at the relationship between literacy, criminal history, and current offense. The results show how the relationship between literacy, type of offense, expected length of incarceration, expected date of release, and previous criminal history has changed since 1992.

Is your website reaching all your patrons? ADA compliance revisited.

Two gentlemen from OSU walked us through Section 508 compliance. This is particularly important for higher education institutions because of HB 2197 (EITA)

Roy Degler talked about the tools non-web developers can utilize to check the compliance level of their websites -- and you can see his presentation at ada.atyourlibrary.com

Kevin Sesock in the IT accessibility department at OSU talked about the different special needs web users may have -- the list included things such as:

• Blindness / low vision
• Dyslexia
• Deaf / hard of hearing
• Limited Mobility
• Epilepsy
• Cognitive impairments

And he discussed how each one of these impacts users ability to use a website -- and considering 23% of Oklahomans have a disability (12.3% have limited internet access because of that disability) it could directly relate to how your patrons view, or rather not view, your websites and library services.

Some of the websites the two gentlemen shared with the audience to help test your sites accessibility include:

• http://www.vischeck.com/
• http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2.html
• http://hisoftware.com/hmcc
• http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/

Of course there are many more sites linked to from Roy's presentation. So how does your site meet the needs of those with limited internet accessibility?

America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Shelters

For those who haven't spent a significant amount of time in a library that is open to the public (academic or public) some of this may be mild compared to your stories -- others of you it may be an eye opener.

America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Shelters
By Chip Ward, Tomdispatch.com
Posted on April 2, 2007, Printed on April 2, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/50023/

Ophelia sits by the fireplace and mumbles softly, smiling and gesturing at no one in particular. She gazes out the large window through the two pairs of glasses she wears, one windshield-sized pair over a smaller set perched precariously on her small nose. Perhaps four lenses help her see the invisible other she is addressing. When her "nobody there" conversation disturbs the reader seated beside her, Ophelia turns, chuckles at the woman's discomfort, and explains, "Don't mind me, I'm dead. It's okay. I've been dead for some time now." She pauses, then adds reassuringly, "It's not so bad. You get used to it." Not at all reassured, the woman gathers her belongings and moves quickly away. Ophelia shrugs. Verbal communication is tricky. She prefers telepathy, but that's hard to do since the rest of us, she informs me, "don't know the rules."

Margi is not so mellow. The "fucking Jews" have been at it again she tells a staff member who asks her for the umpteenth time to settle down and stop talking that way. "Communist!" she hisses and storms off, muttering that she will "sue the boss." Margi is at least 70 and her behavior shows obvious signs of dementia. The staff's efforts to find out her background are met with angry diatribes and insults. She clutches a book on German grammar and another on submarines that she reads upside down to "make things right."

Mick is having a bad day, too. He hasn't misbehaved but sits and stares, glassy-eyed. This is usually the prelude to a seizure. His seizures are easier to deal with than Bob's, for instance, because he usually has them while seated and so rarely hits his head and bleeds, nor does he ever soil his pants. Bob tends to pace restlessly all day and is often on the move when, without warning, his seizures strike. The last time he went down, he cut his head. The staff has learned to turn him over quickly after he hits the floor , so that his urine does not stain the carpet....

Web Accessibility Research: Disabled Users Still Locked Out

OSU-Tulsa Library

Faculty Research Excellence Series

Please join us Thursday, March 29th at OSU-Tulsa for "Web Accessibility Research: Disabled Users Still Locked Out."

Although accessibility guidelines for the Internet were issued in 1999, many Fortune 500 companies' web sites are virtually inaccessible to people with disabilities. Dr. Nicholas C. Romano, Jr., assistant professor of management science and information
systems at OSU-Tulsa, will discuss website accessibility for the visually impaired and give instructions on making websites accessible to these users. Dr. Romano has noted that librarians have been very active in website accessibility research.

The lecture will begin at 6 p.m. in OSU-Tulsa's Conference Center North Hall 150). OSU-Tulsa is located at 700 North Greenwood Avenue, near I-244 and Detroit Avenue.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.


The Faculty Research Excellence Series is sponsored by the OSU-Tulsa Library.

School for Deaf expands video library services

School for Deaf expands video library services

The Oklahoma School for the Deaf (OSD) in Sulphur now hosts the only educational video library of its kind in the U.S. OSD’s National Accessible Learning Center, which operates in collaboration with the Oklahoma School for the Blind, houses approximately 70,000 educational videos specially formatted for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired.

Since the early 1960s, OSD’s lending library has distributed films and videos free of charge with onscreen text that translates spoken words and sounds. Now, the program also offers audio descriptions of images and actions for students with vision disabilities.

“Our video library program is better for parents and students than a mail order system like Netflix because it’s free and educational,” Larry Hawkins, OSD superintendent. “Even better, this program is funded by a grant rather than state tax dollars.”

The center is the only video library in the United States with the sole purpose of providing described and captioned videos to students who need assistance because they have hearing or visual disabilities. It is currently performing the operations once shared by more than 60 libraries across the country.

“Now that we’re the only depository in the nation, we expect to send out 5,000 videos per month during the school year,” Max Martin, NALC director, said.

In a progressive move, the OSD video library will begin phasing out all VHS videos by only adding new DVD’s that contain both captioned and described programming making the mailings more cost effective and storage feasible. Each year the program is projected to receive 300 new pieces of dual media for distribution.
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