The Wednesday Word: Library News from Around Indiana

The Indiana Center for the Book, a program of the Indiana State Library, honored 70 Indiana fourth through twelfth graders at the 2012 Letters About Literature Awards Ceremony. The ceremony was held at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis. Over 200 guests, including students, teachers and family, attended the ceremony which was headlined by award-winning, young-adult author Margaret McMullan.

This year’s ceremony was particularly noteworthy since it featured Indiana’s second National Honor winner in the history of the contest. Paw Soe, a sophomore at New Tech Academy at Wayne High School in Fort Wayne, will receive a $100 GiftCard from Target® for taking national honors. Her school’s library will also receive a $1,000 reading promotion grant from Target as a result of her accomplishment. Both of these awards will be presented in a special ceremony at New Tech Academy later this month.

Letters About Literature is a national reading-writing contest that asks students to write a personal letter to an author, explaining how his or her work changed their view of the world or themselves. Letters About Literature is sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores, and is administered statewide by the Indiana Center for the Book.

For more information about Letters About Literature, including a listing of 2012 finalists, visit www.centerforthebook.org.

Encore of Digital Preservation Workshop Scheduled May 31

Due to popular demand, the Indiana State Historic Records Advisory Board (SHRAB), in conjunction with the Indiana State Library and Indiana Commission on Public Records, are hosting an encore Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Program (DPOE) workshop on May 31 at the State Library. The workshop is based on curriculum developed by the Library of Congress' and is geared towards volunteers and professionals responsible for managing and preserving digital content.

This workshop introduces fundamental concepts for managing your digital content over time through a series of six modules:

Identify – what digital content do you have?
Select – what portion of that content is your responsibility to preserve?
Store – what issues are there for long-term storage?
Protect – what steps need to be taken to protect your digital content?
Manage – what provisions should be made for long-term management?
Provide – what considerations are there for long term access?

This event is free and includes a complimentary lunch courtesy of Indiana SHRAB. Certified public library professionals are eligible to receive six Technology Library Education Units. Registration information for this event is available online. Contact Stephanie Gowler at sgowler@library.in.gov or 317-591-5220 x376 for more information.

New Content Added to Indiana Memory & Digital Archives

Both the Indiana State Digital Archives and Indiana Memory have added useful content to their respective platforms. Last week, the Digital Archives added:

Adams County Naturalization Index: Fifteen naturalization books containing 1,625 entries and spanning the era from 1854 to 1957;
Indiana Women’s Prison Index: Includes nearly 20,000 names of women committed to the Indiana Women’s Prison from 1873-1969;
Indiana Boys’ School Index: Includes more than 12,700 male juveniles’ names, inmate numbers, dates admitted, and more from 1867-1937.

Digital collections were also recently added to Indiana Memory, including:

Grant County Veterans Oral Histories (Ball State University)
William Henry Harrison Papers, 1794-1864 (Indiana Historical Society)
Civil War Home Front (Indiana Historical Society)
Climate Data Indianapolis IN (IUPUI)
Conner Prairie Textiles (IUPUI)
Conner Prairie Transferware Collection (IUPUI)
Crispus Attucks Museum (IUPUI)
Hamilton County History (IUPUI)
Indianapolis History (IUPUI)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection (IUPUI)
Park Tudor School Words of War Oral History (IUPUI)
Service through Sponge Cake (IUPUI)

View these new additions and the entire list of available collections on the Indiana Memory Collections page.

Welcome New Directors

APlease join the Indiana State Library in welcoming these new public library directors from around the State:

Cassandra Thompson, Director, Bloomfield-Eastern Greene County Public Library

Joe Skeen, Director, Farmland Public Library

Peg Harmon, Interim Director, Kokomo Howard County Public Library

Best of luck to you all!

Update to ADA Law Affects Library Renovations

Updates to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) went into effect on March 15, 2012. The new standards — known as the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design — focus specifically on creating “wayfinding” signage for the visually impaired. The new ADA standards require a non-glare finish on all signage and recommend a 70 percent contrast between the sign background and lettering. New signage must now include large, bolded characters in both upper- and lowercase and thin, beveled, and widely spaced lettering (for tactile readers).

Libraries remodeled or newly designed after March 15, 2012, must comply with the updated rules. For all other libraries, there are steps that can make existing signage more patron-friendly. (Tips can be found via the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (Source: American Libraries Direct)

Upcoming Workshops,
Events & Important Dates

Spring LEU workshops
When: May 17 @ 9:30 AM
Where: Spencer Co. Public Library

Budget Basics Workshop
When: May 21 @ 9:45 AM
Where: Live Online

Serving Seniors
When: May 24 @ 10:00 AM
Where: Live Online

Overdrive Digital Bookmobile Visit
When: May 24 & 25
Where: Indianapolis Public Library - Central Library

Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Workshop
When: May 31 @ 8:30 AM
Where: Indiana State Library

OCLC: Best Kept Secret: Marketing the Small & Rural Library
When: June 7 @ 2:00 PM
Where: Live Online

EdCamp Indy
When: June 12
Where: Plainfield High School

2012 Indiana Vision Expo
When: September 29 @ 10:00 AM
Where: Indiana State Library

View free LEU
opportunities from:

© 2012 Indiana State Library. All rights reserved. The trademarks used herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Indiana State Library, 315 W. Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202. www.library.IN.gov

The Wednesday Word is a free publication of the Indiana State Library, distributed weekly in an electronic format.
Past issues are archived at the State Library's Newsroom.