Tactile Graphics Available

Many states are able to contact their Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped for assistance with having items Brailled or print images created in tactile graphics that can be felt. However, many librarians, and some state consultants, indicated they did not have easy access to Braille and tactile graphic services. The CSLP Diversity Committee has arranged for any CSLP member to have a set of tactile graphics based on activities in the 2010 CSLP manual.

These materials have been made available through the cooperation of the Outreach Department of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The Center staff, under the direction of Stacy Grandt, helped select and redesign appropriate materials that will work with children who are blind as well as children with vision impairments who use tactile graphics.

The set will include 6 tactile graphic sheets.

1) The Word Find from page 128.

2) The Parrot Pattern from page 164.

3) The Skull and Crossbones Pattern from page166.

4) The Fish Pattern from page 191.

5) The Shell Game from page 197.

6) The Smiling Crocodile Pattern from page 223.

The cost of the set will be $20.00. There will be no shipping costs.

If you have any questions about tactile graphics contact Rhonda Puntney at rpuntney@lakeshores/lib.wi.us or Barbara Huntington at barbara.huntington@dpi.wi.gov. If you have any questions about ordering tactile graphics the contact information for Stacy Grandt is on the bottom of the order form.

Please let me know if you're interested in seeing the sample set!

Orders can be placed online at www.wamp.k12.wi.us.

Book Reviews

Romeow & Drooliet by Nina Laden

Outstanding! A cat and dog fall in love and are secretly married by a mouse. Similar to Romeo and Juliet until the end (yippee!). Drooliet is near death when Romeow saves her in the only way a cat can! Very clever and poetic, too! Great introduction to the real play.



Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor
by Emily Arnold McCully
A great book for Women's History Month!! Thanks to Colette & Kim for showing me this book, right on our library shelves, about Margaret Knight who invented the machine that makes the common paper bag. She was an inventor all her life and nicknamed "Lady Edison". Too cool!






~ Elizabeth Timmins, Muehl Public Library

Outreach Services Award

The Outreach Services Round Table (OSRT) is now accepting applications for the
Frances de Usabel Outreach Services Award. This $500 award is presented annually at the WLA Conference to a “library or librarian who has provided exemplary library outreach services to underserved populations."

The award is named in honor of the former Special Needs Consultant for the Wisconsin Division for Libraries, Technology and Community Learning, Frances de Usabel. Frances worked diligently and successfully to advance outreach services in Wisconsin public libraries for many years. Public, academic, school or special libraries and librarians are all eligible and encouraged to apply for this award.

The application is due Thursday, July 1.

More SLP Resources

With summer reading fast approaching, YSS has been compiling SLP resources and posting them on the YSS website.

Some of the links are to handouts and resources from last year's WLA pre-conference, but we've also including resources we've been gathering from all of you.

-Jill Lininger

Stephenson Library Kicks Off R.E.A.C.H. a Child

Through the R.E.A.C.H. a Child organization, the Stephenson Public Library is teaming up with the Marinette Fire Department, Police Department, Bay Area Medical Center Ambulance Services, and the Friends of the Library to put books in the hands of local children experiencing crisis situations. The goal of this endeavor is to put a smile on a child's face in the midst of a personal catastrophe, including domestic violence calls, house fires, car accidents, home displacement, and other traumatic events.


The big kickoff for this program will be held in the Children's Room of the Library on Thursday, May 27 at 3:30pm. The children's book author and co-founder of R.E.A.C.H. a Child, Paul Gilbertson, will be reading his books and talking about the program to anyone who wants to come. Hopefully, many children and their parents will be here to support this initiative. Representatives from the Fire Department, Police Department, and Friends of the Library will also be in attendance.


Contact Mariel at 715-732-7570 for more information.

Website Faves

Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917

This website is the online version of the current blockbuster exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917. The exhibition is a curator's delight - an in-depth examination of a specific, productive period in Matisse's long career. The exhibit is an opportunity to bring together works never seen before in the same place and many of the paintings in the exhibit were conserved before the show, dark varnishes removed, and colors brightened. Twenty-one works have been selected for the online exhibit, including Bathers by a River, one of Matisse's largest paintings. There is also a video of the installation of this large painting in the new modern wing at AIC, as well as a curators' overview. (Internet Scout Report, 5/7/10)

Neil Gaiman on Libraries - The Book Case

Gaiman explains why he believes that in these difficult economic times, despite the glut of free information from the net, "libraries are as important as they have ever been, and they may be more important than they have ever been." (Neat New Stuff I Found This Week, http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html, Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2009,4/23/10)

Road Trip Planning - Tips, Resources and Advice

Offers advice on all aspects of road trip planning, including routes, destinations, road food, road trip gear, a fuel cost calculator, and lots more. Learn from other road trip adventurers and contribute yourself on the forum. (Neat New Stuff I Found This Week, http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html, Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2009, 4/23/10)

Ruhama’s Blog: C2E2 Evaluation

Jennifer Wharton, Sara Soukup, Ruhama and I attended C2E2 in Chicago last month. In addition the expo, several sessions of interest to librarians were presented that day. Here’s Ruhama’s blog entry about our day.

- CEO, Youth Services Update, Issue 342, May 10, 2010