Wyoming State Librarian Jamie Markus and State Archivist Sara Davis were recently awarded adjunct faculty status by the University of Wyoming.

Jamie and Sara will serve as adjunct faculty members with UW Libraries. Adjunct faculty appointments are courtesy appointments that recognize the services of those who have attained recognition in their fields of scholarship, creativity or other distinguished accomplishments relevant to university programs.

“We are delighted to welcome two library leaders to our UW Libraries team as adjunct faculty,” said UW Libraries Dean Ivan Gaetz. “Jamie and Sara have often worked with us on various projects in recent years, so formally adding them to our team will help support their involvement with UW Libraries by widening their access to resources and fostering communication. We look forward to strengthening partnerships with the state government.”

Wyoming State Librarian Jamie Markus

Jamie Markus joined the Wyoming State Library in 2005 and was appointed as the State Librarian in 2016. He has a Master of Library Science from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Science in liberal studies from Montana State University-Billings.

Under Jamie’s direction, the WSL collaborates closely with UW Libraries on several high-impact projects and partnerships. In 2021, UW Libraries and the WSL partnered to create a digital historic Wyoming newspaper collection. The Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection is managed jointly by UW Libraries, the WSL and the Wyoming State Archives (WSA). Funding for the project comes from UW Libraries, the WSL and National Endowment for the Humanities grant awards for the National Digital Newspaper Project. The digital repository provides access to millions of pages of newspapers for Wyoming residents and researchers worldwide. It is accessible at www.wyomingnewspapers.org

UW Libraries and the WSL also collaborate on collection development to share resources. In summer 2021, UW Libraries partnered with the WSL, Wyoming community colleges and county libraries to provide statewide and university-wide access to e-content provider OverDrive and Libby, a one-tap reading app. Through the partnership, UW community members and Wyoming residents have full digital access to e-books, e-audiobooks, magazines, videos, comics and more. Additionally, UW Libraries provides access to academic articles with shared collections from ProQuest, Gale and other publishers.

“The Wyoming State Library and UW have been collaborative partners on a variety of projects — from digitized newspapers to statewide library research resources,” Jamie said. “This will increase our ability to cooperate on future grants. It’s a great way to further connect our institutions, and I’m pleased to be asked to share both my expertise and the support the state library can offer.”

Wyoming State Archivist Sara Davis

Sara Davis, who served as the university archivist at UW’s American Heritage Center from 2018-2021, was appointed as the state archivist in 2021. She is the recipient of two bachelor’s degrees from UW: one in English and one in humanities and fine arts. Additionally, she earned a master’s degree in library and information science, with a concentration in archives management, from Simmons College.

Under Sara’s leadership, the WSA collaborates closely with UW Libraries and the university on several projects. The WSA and UW Libraries are the two primary repositories for collections of Wyoming print and microfilm newspapers. Master copies of all microfilmed titles are held by the WSA and are made available for UW Libraries to duplicate and digitize for the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection. Davis and the WSA are integral partners as UW Libraries continues to develop its archival collections of rare books and special collections.

“As an alumna of the University of Wyoming, it is an honor to be able to give back to a place that contributed to my learning and growth,” Sara said. “I am grateful for this opportunity and hopeful this will foster a stronger partnership between the Wyoming State Archives and UW Libraries to further enhance the services we provide to our diverse community.”

Did you know there’s a National Deviled Egg Day? Yep, November 2! So, let’s look at Wyoming Newspapers for what they were saying about deviled eggs in the early 1900s.

Access the collection on GoWYLD.net alphabetically or under Wyoming in the subjects area.

You can now check the “Hide restricted content” box to eliminate newspapers that have restricted use from your search results. This lets you search only the non-copyrighted/open access newspapers.

Place your terms in quotation marks to search for an exact phrase, ex “deviled eggs.”

On the results page, scroll below the additional search features. Here you can VIEW specific pages or filter your results by using the options on the left.

By going into the old newspapers, you get a peek at what life was like in Wyoming, the United States, and around the world. For this particular search, results include recipe ideas, an article on a Red Cross welcome home dinner for returning soldiers to Basin (July 1919), a column called Hints for the Hostess (Sept. 1910) highlighting a September luncheon menu (lots of deviled eggs mentioned in the society pages!), and a cameo appearance in chapter 4 of the book So Big, by Edna Ferber (a 1925 Pulitzer Prize winning book). Newspapers often published poetry, short stories or books-a chapter or two at a time.

And why did we not know about this tip?! (From Moorcroft Times, August 22, 1912)

Use Help in the top navigation bar or Searching Tips on the right to learn more about this digital collection. Wyoming Newspapers is available freely online. Many other licensed GoWYLD resources are available free at your local Wyoming library or from anywhere with your library card number and PIN. For more information about GoWYLD.net databases, training, or marketing materials, contact Chris Van Burgh, Wyoming State Library Database Instruction Librarian at chris.vanburgh@wyo.gov.

There’s only one week left until the 2022 Wyoming Innovations in Learning Conference. This low-cost ($25) conference will be held virtually on November 3-4. The Innovations Conference is an opportunity for educators from kindergarten through higher education to share and explore innovative teaching and learning practices for classrooms and distance learning environments.

This conference is hosted by the Wyoming Department of Education, the Wyoming Distance Education Consortium, the University of Wyoming, Wyoming’s community colleges, and the Wyoming State Library.

Questions may be directed to Robin Grandpre at (307) 777-5315 or robin.grandpre1@wyo.gov.

Friends of Libraries groups have their very own national week of celebration! United for Libraries will coordinate the 17th annual National Friends of Libraries Week from October 16-22, 2022. The celebration offers a two-fold opportunity to celebrate your library’s Friends.

Use the time to creatively promote your group in the community, to raise awareness, and to promote membership. This is also an excellent opportunity for your library and Board of Trustees to recognize the Friends for their help and support of the library. Learn how to get involved, find marketing materials, and more.

As part of the weeklong celebration, United for Libraries is hosting a free webinar, Friendraising and Fundraising Ideas for Friends Groups and Libraries of All Sizes, on Wednesday, October 19, at 12 p.m. MDT. Register to hear from Friends of the Library groups across the country about their unique and scalable fundraisers and how they work with the library to raise funds and support. A Q&A session will follow.

National Friends of Libraries Week is coordinated by United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association with approximately 4,000 personal and group members representing hundreds of thousands of library supporters. United for Libraries supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries, and brings together library trustees, advocates, friends, and foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. For more information, visit www.ala.org/united.

 

International Podcast Day™ on September 30 is an international celebration of the power of podcasts. Join the fun and learn more about podcasting with GoWYLD!

From the GoWYLD home page, select LinkedIn Learning from the By Title list at the top. You may also find it under the Job & Career Support and Test & Skills Preparation subject areas.

Use your Wyoming library card number and PIN to get started. LinkedIn Learning includes more than 16,000 expert-led courses in three categories: Technology, Business, and Creative. Browse these categories through the link at the top left.

There’s also a search box — enter “podcasting” to find video courses on producing, promoting, or monetizing podcasts. There are also videos for podcast interview techniques, hosting a podcast, and choosing the right equipment.

This resource is available at your local library or from anywhere with your Wyoming library card and PIN. For more information, about the databases, training, or marketing materials, contact Chris Van Burgh, Wyoming State Library Database Instruction Librarian, chris.vanburgh@wyo.gov.

Wyoming Snapshot Day 2022 is on the calendar for Tuesday, October 25. On Snapshot Day, we gather photos and stories from libraries around the state to share how libraries make a difference in their communities every single day.

We’d love to have your library’s participation. Contact Susan Mark, Wyoming State Library Outreach Librarian, at susan.mark@wyo.gov or (307) 777-5915 to sign up.

Although October 25 is the official date, we invite libraries to celebrate Snapshot Day on any day that week that works for them. For any questions, contact Susan.

On July 29, the Laramie County Community College Ludden Library dedicated the Strickland Family Study Room. The room is a place where LCCC students, employees, members of the public, and their children can gather to study in family groups.

The study room was made possible through the generosity of Paula and Dale Strickland. Paula was an elementary educator for 33 years in the Laramie and Cheyenne school districts. Dale was a scientist and educator devoted to learning his entire career.

A dedication plaque noted “The Strickland Family values education and sees learning together as a family as a top priority for a new beginning on life, no matter what the age.” It concluded, “They both feel strongly that when families learn together, they grow together.”

 

Cyber-in-a-Box School Video Challenge

The School Video Challenge was created to encourage Wyoming middle and high school classrooms to create original video content promoting public cybersecurity awareness as part of the Cyber-in-a-Box program. This video was created by a student in Casper.

See more cybersecurity videos at library.wyo.gov/wyocan

The Wyoming State Library partners with the Wyoming CAN (Cybersecurity Action Network) Committee, to offer this free “cyber-in-a-box” educational program. This 10-minute video-based program is designed to be distributed at local libraries to increase cyber safety in Wyoming communities.

Share to social media

Want to spread the word about cyber-safety? Use the pre-sized images below for Facebook and Twitter and include a link in your post text to library.wyo.gov/wyocan. Click the images to bring up a full-size version for download.

The American Library Association (ALA) announced on June 1 that the Fremont County Library System (FCLS) has been awarded one of only 77 national grants from the ALA COVID Library Relief Fund. The $20,000 grant will assist libraries that continue to experience substantial economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic. The grantees include academic, correctional, public, school, and tribal libraries from 32 states and Puerto Rico. The ALA COVID Library Relief Fund is one of the largest non-federal grant opportunities for libraries.

The grant will help FCLS purchase print and digital books for public checkout, book kits for loan to school classrooms, books for children learning to read, and promotion of the library system’s services and resources throughout Fremont County.

Library Director Anita Marple commented, “This award is an important source for supplementing our budget during this difficult economic period. Thank you to ALA and Acton Family Giving for helping us in the most practical way to continue our mission of meeting the resource needs and desires of our whole community.”

The impact of the pandemic and the economic downturn resulted in a 47.2% reduction of the FCLS operating budget over two years. To meet the challenges of reduced staffing and loss of funding for purchasing collection materials, the Library has relied increasingly on the generous support of the Fremont County Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library groups. These volunteer organizations have funded temporary staffing during summer months and have been provided most of the funds for purchasing new materials, as well as supporting literacy programming.

FCLS Assistant Library Director Shari Haskins said, “All of this represents hard work and good communication among all our stakeholders. Library staff and volunteers are committed to maintaining a high level of service to our county citizens.”

About the American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit www.ala.org.

About Acton Family Giving

Acton Family Giving supports distinct initiatives and collective efforts. Its Empathy Building Initiative, launched in 2014, partners with organizations building connections across difference and reaffirming our common humanity. This work is rooted in the belief that an empathetic society fosters stronger, healthier, and more just communities. Acton Family Giving is part of the Wildcard Giving philanthropic family.