February 2010 Archives

As part of National Library Week this year there is going to be a National Bookmobile Day on April 14. On the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center website there is a bookmobile page which chronicles some of Wisconsin's bookmobile past.  National Bookmobile Day provides an opportunity for any library that has had bookmobile service in the past to communicate that legacy to the public. There are some wonderful photographs which show the heritage and contribution of the bookmobile to public library service in Wisconsin. Why not see if you have any of these and show them off on National Bookmobile Day. If you still have a bookmobile how about a bookmobile open house. The image above shows Racine Public Library Librarian Muriel Marchant with a vehicle that was referred to as the "library car". 

November 25, 2010 will be the 175th anniversary of the birth of Andrew Carnegie. This is a great year to celebrate Carnegie's legacy to the sixty Wisconsin communities and two academic institutions that benefited from library building grants from Carnegie. If a Carnegie building is part of your library's heritage, why not highlight that legacy during this year.  How about a Carnegie birthday during the week of November 25 (Thanksgiving Day) or on some other date that is significant to your library's Carnegie experience.  Take advantage of National Library Week to highlight Carnegie's legacy. Find out about the story of how your community got its Carnegie grant and the subsequent history of the building and try to get an article about the building in your local media. Locate artifacts and photographs that can be used to help tell your Carnegie story. This can be done even if the Carnegie building in your community has been razed. Put your Carnegie story on your blog and/or website. Create an exhibit in the library using artifacts, archives, and photographs. See if you can find souvenir items such as postcards and china items for your exhibit. Postcards are relatively easy to come by on eBay. You may also be able to purchase images of your Carnegie building from the Wisconsin Historical Society. Arrange with your local post office to have a special postmark created to mark your special occasion related to Carnegie. You can even create a postage stamp depicting your Carnegie building (the Baraboo Carnegie building is depicted above). Of course, even if you don't have a Carnegie building you can celebrate your library's heritage around its prior buildings or prior librarians. The Wisconsin Library Heritage Center has an exhibit of Wisconsin library memorabilia that may be available to assist you in your celebration. Contact Larry Nix at nix@libraryhistorybuff.org to explore this possibility. More on Wisconsin's Carnegie library buildings can be found HERE.

On February 11, 1891 (119 years ago today) a group of librarians and educational leaders gathered in the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the purpose of organizing the Wisconsin Library Association. At that time the State Superintendent's office was located in the State Capitol.  Among those in attendance were K. A. Linderfelt, Librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library; R. G. Thwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society; Frank A. Hutchins, Township Library Clerk of the Department of Public Instruction; E. A. Birge, Professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin; Minnie M. Oakley at the State Historical Society and formerly Librarian of the Madison Public Library; and Issac S. Bradley, Assistant Librarian of the State Historical Society. Theresa West Elmendorf, Assistant Librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library, played an important role in bringing the meeting about but was not present at the meeting. At the meeting Linderfelt was chosen as President, Thwaites as Vice-president, and Hutchins as Secretary-treasurer.  The first conference of the Association was held in Madison on March 11, 1891. The State Capitol building shown above was where WLA was born. That building was destroyed in a fire in 1904.

On February 16 the Wisconsin Library Association will hold its annual Library Legislative Day. For a little historical inspiration for this event, there is nothing as appropriate as the story of Margie Sornson Malmberg and the legislative battle for a bill to provide state aid for a bookmobile demonstration project during the 1949 Wisconsin legislative session. This story is well told in Benton H. Wilcox's The Wisconsin Library Association 1891-1966 (WLA, 1966).  Malmberg who was director of the Appleton Public Library from 1946 to 1949 took a leave of absence from her Appleton job to serve as WLA's executive secretary and legislative representative at the meager salary of $150 per month. According to Wilcox, "... Mrs. Malmberg, without any previous experience, almost by her own efforts ... secured passage of the bill through both houses of the legislature ... ." The bill, however, was vetoed by the Governor. Wilcox continues, "No one gave even an outside chance to the veto being overridden.  But Mrs. Malmberg would not give up. She worked tirelessly, buttonholing assemblymen and senators. ... When the legislature reconvened in September the day of decision came, the veto was overridden, and the Demonstration Bill became law. That, in the minds of many, was the Wisconsin Library Association's finest hour." The significance of this event was that it was the first time the State had appropriated direct support for community public library service.  The result of the legislation was the Door-Kewaunee Bookmobile Project which has been well documented by Christine Pawley. Prior to her service in Appleton, Malmberg (then Margie Sornson) served as librarian of the Chippewa Falls Public Library and the Viroqua Public Library. After her service to the Wisconsin Library Association she and her husband moved to Big Island, Virginia. In 1950, probably because of her legislative experience in Wisconsin, she was appointed Director of the Washington Office of the American Library Association. The Malmbergs moved to Toledo, Ohio in 1960 where Margie went to work for the Public Library of Toledo and Lucas County. She retired there in 1976. The picture of Margie Malmberg above is from the Toledo library's Images in Time digital collection (Object ID: 22342). Take some inspiration from Margie and attend WLA Library Legislative Day. It's not too late.