Winter 2011
a quarterly newsletter from the Madison Public Library Foundation
FOUNDATION NEWS Monroe Street Library League Establishes Branch Endowment Fund Just before the two-year anniversary of the Monroe Street Branch’s reopening, the Monroe Street Library League donated $10,000 to seed an endowment fund for their neighborhood branch as an investment in its future. “This is a much beloved branch,” said Orange Schroeder, president of the Monroe Street Library League. “We believe that it is not only a place for making use of the library’s extensive collection of materials and other resources, but also a place for us all to interact with our community. We invested in this endowment fund to ensure that this branch library will serve the Monroe Street area well into the future.” Endowment funds ensure a perpetual stream of income to support collections, programs and other library needs of coming generations.
“Endowment funds allow us to adapt to what tomorrow brings, whether it’s new technology, changing community needs, or innovative ways of accessing information.”
“The landscape of library services is constantly evolving,” said Jenni Collins, Executive Director of the Madison Public Library Foundation. “Endowment funds allow us to adapt to what tomorrow brings, whether it’s new technology, changing community needs, or innovative ways of accessing information.” When a library campaign exceeds its goal, the additional funds are used to establish a branch endowment. After the Goodman South Madison Branch met its fundraising goal in June of 2010, the foundation created an endowment of $136,000. The Madison Community Foundation currently manages endowment funds for Sequoya, Lakeview, Hawthorne, and Pinney Branches, as well as funds for special collections. “Endowments are a great way to ensure the future health of our public libraries,” said Collins. “It’s a gift that keeps growing and giving for years to come.”
A Review of Ex Libris Thank you to our event partners:
This October, the Library Foundation teamed up with local brewers and chocolatiers for its annual fall fundraising event. The event, ‘Ex Libris: A Review of Beer and Chocolate,’ featured a presentation by Madison author Jim Miller and artisanal beer and chocolate pairings from local brewers and chocolatiers. “From a culinary perspective, the novel pairings provided many delicious surprises,” said Tom DeChant, event committee chair, “and we brought together many long-term supporters and new friends to make the event a success.”
— Tasting Partners —
Event Committee Member Lainie Barber and friend Annie Levihn sampling a local brew.
— Contributing Sponsors —
The event netted over $20,000 for the Madison Public Library Foundation to support facilities, services, and programs in each of the nine library branches. “We’ve set the bar high for future fundraisers,” DeChant said. “We can’t wait for next year.”
— Sustaining Sponsor —
Husband and wife jazz duo Megan and Nick Moran entertain the crowd.
FOUNDATION NEWS Inquiring Minds Your Questions Answered
Al Friedman, President, MPLF
We Want to Know... We asked our new board members, what is your favorite holiday movie and why? How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animated one). Dr. Seuss, of course, great music, and the sleigh ride at the end down the mountain with the Grinch and the “reindeer” (dog) riding along.
Q: What does the annual fund support?
A: Firstly, I am happy to introduce myself as the new president of the Madison Public Library Foundation Board. I thank our past president, Rick Chandler, for all his good work and for his role in building this impressive organization. It will be a pleasure to work with the foundation and library staffs, your foundation board, and so many friends and volunteers. Stating the obvious, the next two years couldn’t look more exciting. To answer the question, let me start by describing exactly how important the Annual Fund is. Ten per cent of all Annual Fund donations go to our endowment fund at Madison Community Foundation. Being a good steward of your donation is our first imperative. To give you an idea of how important the remaining ninety percent is, since 2006 we have distributed almost $390,000 in direct support of long- and short-term library programs. This year the Madison Public Library Foundation Grants Committee distributed $45,000. The 2011 grants support Sunday hours at the east side Pinney Branch and the purchase of an early literacy workstation (furniture, hardware and software) at the Hawthorne Branch. $29,000 of this year’s award funded Madison Public Library’s participation in a statewide initiative to purchase e-books and downloadable audiobooks. This investment in digital collections responds to one of the library’s fastest growing areas. It also complements a generous grant from Alliant Energy Foundation supporting technology education for library patrons. The Annual Fund is the heart of what we do -- what we would not be able to do without you -- every year. Thanks for your contribution to this important fund.
Rich Arnesen
I have two holiday movie favorites. For its sentimental feel good qualities, there’s nothing that compares with It’s A Wonderful Life. I like to balance that with some good giggles that I get when I watch A Christmas Story. Some of the childhood adventures bring back fond and laughable memories. Nancy Carpenter
Matt Weygant
Home Alone - It’s a family classic, great for all ages. I think everyone sees a piece of their own family traditions or personalities somewhere in the movie. The end lesson is great- just being together as a family can be the most important part of the season. Pam Woodman
Film Fact: Madison Public Library circulated over 1.5 million adult, children’s, and young adult films in 2010!
A published quarterly by
Madison Public Library Foundation, Inc. Executive Director
Jennifer J. Collins Sequels Editor
201 W. Mifflin Street Madison, Wisconsin 53703 608.266.6318 mplfoundation.org info@mplfoundation.org
A Christmas Story - It has become somewhat of a family tradition to watch it every Christmas day and our three kids frequently break out quotes from the movie long after the holidays have ended. Plus, what did my parents say after I asked for my BB gun when I was about Ralphie’s age? “No way, you’ll shoot your eye out!”
Courtney Davis Contributing Writers
Anna Bukowski Tana Elias Sequels Designer
Rebecca Curran
Madison Public Library Branches • Alicia Ashman 733 N. High Point Rd. • Hawthorne 2707 E. Washington Ave. • Lakeview 2845 N. Sherman Ave. • Meadowridge 5740 Raymond Rd. • Monroe Street 1705 Monroe St. • Pinney 204 Cottage Grove Rd. • Sequoya 4340 Tokay Blvd. • Goodman South Madison 2222 S. Park St.
Book Club Corner: Meet The Rukun Book Club
Kris Turner Wins Elizabeth Moon Proctor Foundation Scholarship
We have been meeting for about 20 years! We are all women, ranging in age from 50 something to 60 plus. Our former (some of us are retired) and current professions include work with international students, science professor, Episcopalian priest, technical editor, physician’s assistant, biologist, elementary and high school teachers, and others. We are an educated lot who love to read and learn!
The Madison Public Library Foundation is proud to announce Kris Turner as the 2011 recipient of the Elizabeth Moon Proctor Scholarship! Turner, a Page at Meadowridge Branch, will graduate in the spring of 2012 with his Masters in Library Science from the School of Library & Information Studies at the UW-Madison, after which he aspires to be a public librarian who, in his words, “encourages a productive environment for all patrons by promoting adult outreach and youth reading programs.”
What book are you currently reading? The Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson What author would you like to have as a book club guest? Barbara Kingsolver
Family and friends established this scholarship in the memory of Elizabeth “Betsy” Proctor, to support library employees planning careers in library and information studies. Proctor enriched and enlivened the Madison Public Library from 1967 until her retirement in 1996.
If you could host book club anywhere, where would it be? Perhaps a small town, to get a sense of that culture If you could invite any person to join your book club, who would it be? President Obama
The Rukun Book Club
Turner receiving his award from the family of Elizabeth Proctor Moon.
Congratulations to The Runkun Book Club! They’ve won a gift card to Barriques. If you’d like to be entered in the drawing for next quarter’s newsletter, send an email to newsletter@mplfoundation.org including a brief description of your book club and your answers to the four questions above.
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LIBRARY NEWS Meet your FRIENDS Group – Central Library This year, the Central Library Friends group is giving back in a big way. Normally, the Central Friends raise between $20,000 and $30,000 annually to enhance library collections and special materials and support library programs and services. By combining fundraising efforts from 2010 and 2011 the group was able to give a $100,000 gift to Learning for a Lifetime: The Community Campaign for a New Central Library, the largest in the group’s history. “Our members know the new Central library will be the keystone of a Madison Public Library system, and that it will remain a critically important cultural and educational component of our community,” Janice Zmrazek, Friends group President, said.
The Central Friends are famous for running the Friendshop used book store in Central Library. Their final blow out book sale before the big move raised nearly $11,500, about six times as much as their normal book sales. The event spanned both floors of the library with books, tapes, videos, and old, rare materials. Happy customers took home “Our members know hundreds of the new Central library boxes, bags will be the keystone and even a of a Madison Public few cart loads of materials Library system.” with them. During the upcoming move and construction of the new building, the Central Friends will focus on member recruitment, library service in the community and plans for the bookstore in the future library.
In the mean time, “our many volunteers will be happy to devote their energy to support the fundraising events that the Library Foundation will be coordinating for the Central Campaign,” Zmrazek said.
Friends Book Store.
Central Library: We’re Moving out!
eBooks for the Holidays
Madison Public Library’s Central Library will be closed to the public on Friday, November 11 at 6 pm.
This holiday season brings more options than ever before for holiday shoppers who want to use library eBooks and downloadable audiobooks. In a recent survey of 14,000 Madison Public Library customers, more than 30% indicated they used eBooks and eBook circulation has increased nearly 40% every year since 2007.
The Central Library will reopen at a temporary site at 126 S. Hamilton St. during the first week of December, and will remain at that site until the new Central Library is completed in 2013. The temporary location will be open Mondays-Thursdays 9 am – 9 pm, Fridays 9 am – 6 pm, and Saturdays 9 am – 5 pm and will have the same main phone number, 608-266-6300. It will have a smaller service area and a smaller collection focusing on popular and new books, DVDs, CDs, books on CD, rotating display collections, and a small children’s book collection. There will be 22 internet access computers available to the public. The majority of the Central Library’s collection will be moved to off-site storage on the east side of the city, but will be available through online reservation and delivery to any public library in the South Central Library System. Some services housed at the Central Library may be temporarily suspended during the move. Construction of the new Central Library is expected to begin in February 2012, with the new library expected to open in the summer of 2013.
Just in time for the gift giving season, the library’s eBook collection is compatible with Amazon’s Kindle, as well as the Barnes & Noble Nook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Sony Reader, smartphones, and PCs and Macs. Madison Public Library participates in a statewide project called the Digital Download Center, which makes eBooks and downloadable audiobooks available to public libraries throughout Wisconsin in partnership with the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium and OverDrive. Next year, the consortium plans to add many more titles to the collection through increased funding.
Coming soon: eReader workshops at Ashman and Hawthorne Branches Rendering of new Central Library.
LIBRARY NEWS Family Fun at Goodman South Madison The Goodman South Madison Branch Library hosted a popular series of Family Fun Nights on Fridays, September 16 – November 18. Program support was provided by The Capital Times Kids Fund and St. Mary’s Hospital. “We encourage all parents to take advantage of Family Fun Night,” said Paul Yochum, President of Cap Times Kids’ Fund. “It’s a great opportunity for families to have fun with each other in an environment that’s both educational and stimulating for creative young minds.” The ten programs featured a mix of familyoriented entertainment including crafts, popular family movies, and visits from Fabu, Great Scott!, Pretty Bad Jugglers, David HB Drake, and the Dane County Humane Society Dancing Dogs. Mark your calendars! Family Fun Nights return in March.
Family Fun Night at Goodman South Madison.
Madison Librarian Wins Award for Outreach Service
Pinney Branch Introduces Sunday Hours
Ruth Sias, a youth services librarian at Madison Public Library’s Goodman South Madison Branch, received the Frances de Usabel Outreach Services Award for her work promoting early literacy.
Despite the lovely fall weather, the Pinney Branch was packed on September 11 as weekend library users enjoyed the first day of the branch’s new Sunday Hours.
Sias was chosen for exemplary work with children and families in local hospitals in conjunction with the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health’s Department of Pediatrics Early Learning Projects and Reach Out and Read. She was nominated for the award by Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, the director of the Pediatrics Early Literacy Projects. Sias was instrumental in developing an outreach program to promote reading and literacy to children and families visiting the American Family Children’s Hospital and nine Madison clinics using the Reach Out and Read model. In addition to providing direct services, Sias trained volunteers to engage children and parents in stories using effective modeling and reading techniques, expanded knowledge of public library services in the community, and shared her experience by teaching other librarians about this innovative collaboration.
“We know from past experience at the Central and Sequoya libraries that Sunday hours are extremely popular,” said Mary Burton, Branch Supervisor for Pinney Branch. “We’ve been delighted to offer this extra time for people to pick up their “We’ve been delighted to offer library materials, access this extra time for people to a computer, or spend some pick up their library materials, family time in the library.” access a computer, or spend some family time in the library.” Pinney Branch’s Sunday hours are funded by a grant from the Madison Public Library Foundation through May with support from the Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co. starting in spring of 2012. “Sunday hours are an important public service,” said Jenni Collins, Executive Director of Madison Public Library Foundation. “The Foundation is thrilled to be able to support something that meets the community’s needs and interests.”
Learning for a Lifetime Campaign Updates After six months of active fundraising, the foundation is pleased to announce that it has reached 48% of its goal. With some major contributions from new and old library supporters, the campaign is going strong heading into construction for the new library. •
A long-time supporter of Dane County libraries, the Madison Community Foundation has announced a leadership gift of $500,000 toward the campaign.
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In just eight short weeks, 169 individuals rallied to meet the goal set by an anonymous donor who promised to match up to $100,000 raised by the end of 2011.
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New major gifts propelled the campaign forward including $250,000 from local philanthropist Mary Burke, an anonymous individual gift of $200,000, $175,000 from The Irwin A. and Robert D. Goodman Foundation, and $50,000 from CUNA Mutual Foundation specifically designated to advance the library’s services to vulnerable populations.
The foundation is encouraging end-of-year gifts and pledges for those interested in participating in the campaign.
Rich Lynch, MCF Board Chair and Tripp Widder, Learning for a Lifetime Campaign Chair.
A quarterly newsletter from the Madison Public Library Foundation mplfoundation.org 201 W. Mifflin Street Madison, WI 53703
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