Newsletter -- From the Ground Up

• Summer 2008

 

News

Findorff, Alliant Energy support 2008 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture

July 31, 2008

J.H. Findorff & Son and Alliant Energy contributed about $4,500 through the SCLS Foundation to support two days of programming and activities in celebration of math and science and literacy.

Findorff donated $2,500 to pay for an honorary luncheon at the Madison Club for David Macaulay, who was in Madison to present the 2008 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. Each year, an individual of distinction in the field of children’s literature is chosen to write and deliver a lecture that will make a significant contribution to the world of children’s literature. The award is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

His lecture, titled “Thirteen Studios,” was held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, 2008, at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison. This year’s host was the South Central Library System, which helps libraries serve the public in Adams, Columbia, Dane, Green, Portage, Sauk and Wood counties. Dan Peterson, Vice President of Finance, and his wife, Mary, represented Findorff at the luncheon.

More than 600 people attended the lecture, a video archive of which can be accessed at www.scls.info/arbuthnot08/.

The Arbuthnot lecture was a part of a two-day celebration of math and science literacy that SCLS kicked off with the “Building Blocks: Early Math Concepts” workshop on April 16 at the Overture Center in Madison. Alliant Energy provided $2,000 to help fund this workshop for 50 librarians representing the system, state, region and even Kentucky.

Whether it’s including counting activities and appropriate concept books in preschool programs or creating after-school activity programs for older kids, public libraries are perfectly situated to address these academic shortcomings by including very early math (and science!) skills in their library story times and other programs for youth. The goal of the workshop was to help librarians learn more about early math and discover ways to seamlessly weave math and science concepts into library programs.

The Madison Community Foundation Awards $330,000 to Support SCLS Foundation’s Collection Development Work

August 31, 2007

The Madison Community Foundation has awarded $27,500 to each of 12 Dane County public libraries to enhance subject specialty collection development. The library recipients and its collection focus include:

Each grant award will span the two-year period, 2007-2008 and also covers the cost of cataloging the new materials. The acquisition of new works in each subject area will build upon an already strong LINKcat shared collection and will extend both its range and depth. This substantial Madison Community Foundation gift will benefit all 52 member libraries and patrons of the South Central Library System.

“These grants from the Madison Community Foundation are a recognition of the incredible value public libraries provide to the communities they serve,” said Bob Blitzke, executive director of the South Central Library System (SCLS) Foundation. “The SCLS Foundation will capitalize on this kind of community support by raising private funds to further the important work of public libraries in Adams, Columbia, Dane, Green, Portage, Sauk and Wood Counties.”