WAPL -- A Summary

I summarized PLA the other day, now it is time for WAPL. The same certification rules apply, and given that I have five years to complete 100 hours of CE, I am well on track. With last year's more than 20 hours, and almost 25 hours so far this year, I have nothing to worry about (I think). As a further note, Terry Dawson compiled what he (and I) believe is a complete list of blog posts on WAPL. If you are interested in the various views (and some of us blogged the same sessions), visit his list.

The Keynote address at WAPL was critical. In it David Ward of Northstar Economics presented the basic information from the economic impact study which his firm completed. In it he positioned the public library sector as a key to economic development. David presented a number of key economic concepts. The message which we who are library workers need to deliver to our stakeholders including elected officials, city managers, and business leaders is that for every dollar invested in the operation of a public library, the community receives, at a minimum, $4.06 of direct economic impact.

After the keynote, I attended the break out session which included further discussion of the economic impact study. The focus of this session was how to present the results of the economic impact study. There are several talking points, and here is what I learned (I sent this as a quote to the WLA Executive Director yesterday): "For a long time we have known that the Library was the single busiest destination in Downtown Eau Claire with over 1,500 people visiting us each day, seven days a week. What this study shows is the dollar value attached to those visits. If 30% of our visitors spend and average of $25 per person, the economic impact of having the Library downtown is $11,250 per day, which is more than it costs to run the library for a day."

The other key concept is that for every $1 of tax dollars invested in operating a public library, the local economy gets at least $4, and for every library job there is another job in the community. One of the key issues about the $4 is that most of that money is spent within the local community since that is where our library workers live.

We need to frequently communicate that message.

I am skipping the luncheon speakers for both days, I may blog that separately, if I feel so moved.

After lunch I went to a session on strategic planning for results. Cheryl Becker talked about the new PLA publication which served as the basis for the library's recent RFP for a strategic planner. I learned some of the key concepts underlying the process, and now more clearly understand the nature of one of the responses to the RFP. It was a critically important program for me.

My "official" day ended with CE in Your Pajamas. At the very least, go to the blog post to see John DeBacher in his PJs for the program! The panel covered a number of different technologies used for distance CE including some live demos. It was well worth it to learn about some of the many options out there.

Friday morning I was a little late getting to the program Have You Heard About? which was an incredibly fast paced move and demonstration of a huge number of various technology sites and tools around the web. They used a del.icio.us page (which is linked here). It has helped me to begin to understand del.icio.is a little, even if I don't use it much....and there is a wealth of information to be mined here.

I did not blog the one other program I attended, and the two luncheon speakers are on the WLA blog (Thursday, Friday).

WAPL - A complete list of posts

I posted to both this blog and to the WLA Blog for this conference. Here are the posts, in chronological order, linked to each.

Thursday

Initial post and Beginning to blog for WLA

Opening Keynote

Economic Impact of Wisconsin Libraries

Luncheon: The Writer's Life

Where are You Going: Strategic Planning for Results

Continuing Education in Your Pajamas


Friday

Have You Heard About

[I did not blog my second program of the day.]

Closing Keynote

WAPL - Joining the WLA Blog

As I was getting ready to blog the last WAPL program, I got to chatting with Lisa Strand, the WLA Executive Director. After we chatted, she said, "Oh, I should invite you to the WLA Blog." Well, even as I was blogging, I got an email inviting me! I have signed up, and will cross-post. Actually, I will probably put most of the additional programs on the WLA Blog, and post my personal comments here (with a link from there).

WAPL - Economic Impact of Wisconsin Public Libraries

This was the breakout session after the keynote. The state library will be posting the slides from the keynote. They also promised to publish the slide show this break-out session. [Links to be added when verified.]

David Ward talked about how to present the study on the economic impact of libraries. He started by talking about his company, as a background. They do a lot of work in regional economic studies. [I have heard his parts of his basic economics speech and on his business before. He spoke to the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce a while back.]

He talked about the "new economy" and the importance of regional organization and thinking. He talked about the New North, and other joint planning efforts including Momentum (which includes Eau Claire).

It is important to set the context by talking about the four economic trends highlighted in his main speech. He offered slides for use to libraries who are making the presentation.

There are so many things happening in the world today that people are confused.

His income gap slide (which shows family income by educational attainment) shows the critical role for libraries which support people's acquiring a better standard of living. From 1976 to 2000, real family income (that is adjusted for inflation) has decreased for those with less than high school education and only a high school education.

Economic multipliers are acquired from various sources some are often available locally.

Be careful to not overstate your case. Libraries are not an economic engine. First mission is to provide services. But....public libraries are in important part of the new economy.

One slide showed three key points:

1. ROI is $4.06 for every $1.00 of taxpayer investment
2. Overall (conservative) economic impact of $753 million
3. Library serves as a knowledge/information resource base

The last point may be the most important and includes not only the collections by the value of the people.

Messages to use:

1. Public libraries are a good and necessary investment in a rapidly changing economy.
2. Public libraries are a consistent source of information and technology. They won't be acquired closed down or moved offshore.
3. With an increasing gap in income levels, public libraries level the information and technology playing field.
4. A growing wave of retiring baby boomers will use libraries as a key part of their working and non-working lives.

He then went to questions.

There has not been a study done of Minnesota. The state economies of Wisconsin and Minnesota were equal in size in 1990, that is no longer true. Minnesota has half a million fewer people. Some think the brain drain is the reason, but that may not be true. However, Wisconsin does not attract "new brains" while Minnesota does. Financial risk-taking has always been greater in Minnesota than in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a manufacturing state with a guarded mind-set. Minnesota has had a broader vision, and companies like 3M encouraged spin-offs. There is change in Wisconsin, but it is slow.

It is important to use the ROI argument in print but verbalize the services argument. The economic multipliers come from the Implan Group in Minnesota (ironically).

WAPL -- Keynote Address: Economic Impact of Libraries

WAPL is the public library division of the Wisconsin Library Association. Each spring there is a meeting. For me it is a lot like going to the PLA National Conference because it is all programs!

The Keynote Speaker was David Ward of NorthStar Economics. About a year ago the state's LSTA Advisory Committee recommended an economic impact study. NorthStar Economics won the contract through a competitive bidding process.

He handed out both the slide show and the Executive Summary of the final report. The session was scheduled to be followed by a breakout session, which is scheduled to be repeated Friday morning. He started with one of his favorite jokes (I have heard him before). "An economist is someone who does not have enough personality to be an accountant."

He started with an overview of the current economic situation including the shift from agriculture to manufacturing and now to services. The second shift is in the nature of work. The proportion of work that is "nonroutine interactive" has increased dramatically while "nonroutine manual" has decreased. The analysis was done using the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and the occurrence of skills required. The chart shows types of skills base-lined to 1960, and graphed them over time.

He gave the example of the new economy using Google which is about a decade old, and is already 6 times the market capitalization of Ford and General Motors. He showed the size of the US economy related to the size of other parts of the world. Total world population is 5.5 billion but the US population is only 0.3 billion. The world economy is $48 billion. The US is only $14 billion and the EU is $13 billion.

The four key economic trends:

1. The nature of the economy is shifting rapidly as economic sectors expand and decline.
2. The nature of work is shifting away from manual labor to higher level analytic and interactive skills.
3. The pace of econonmic change has accelerated.
4. The US is an important but shrinking share of the global economy.

He showed the change in family income based on education. He also told his "Rotary" story about using key states for comparison of data. People from Wisconsin always believe that Wisconsin is behind Illinois, but cannot accept that Wisconsin is behind Minnesota -- smaller in population, and has even worse weather! [I don't get the rivalry....] Wisconsin is in the upper part of the lower third of educational attainment. The comparison of per capita income shows that Wisconsin is about $4,000 behind Minnesota. (There is a huge potential impact on state revenue.)

This was a basic introduction to the study. He held up the USA Today which had economics based stories all over the front page.

The study started in October 2007, the report is essentially done, and the presentation was the formal unveiling. There were surveys and focus groups and they reviewed other studies of public library impact studies. He reviewed the basics of impact studies which calculate the amounts acquired from various sources and spent. The model takes the direct economic impact and use the economic multiplier and calculate the "total spending impact." In Wisconsin that is $326 million. This is spending that mostly affects "Main Street businesses." A second part is jobs: there are 3,222 jobs, but another 3,058 jobs are created by the spending from people in the first set of jobs for a total of 6,280 jobs.

They also looked at the market value of services provided by libraries. He presented a chart which I will need to analyze more before talking about it. However it is included in the full report. They assigned values to materials, the value of a reference transaction, computer and Internet access (which has been consistently undervalued in prior studies -- Kinkos charges $0.30 minute), and then for programs. The total was $750 million which he advocates saying is 3/4 of a billion dollars.

After discussing the preliminary results they added values for meeting rooms, career and job info, periodicals and subscriptions, electronic databases, specialized materials, and wi-fi access. The best way to present the data is to talk about things like economic impact per capita.

The key message on the ROI is that the annual return for each dollar of public tax support is $4.06.

After some further review of the report, he ended with some observations:

• The value of libraries is particularly evident in rural and low income areas.
• Library use is increasing by baby boomers who are recently retired. (A key demographic to stay on top of!)
• Libraries are a central community gathering place and are very valuable.
• Despite concerns, libraries are increasingly important in the Internet Age
• Availability of specialized knowledge is crucial
• Electronic access to library is critical (example of picking up requested items).
• Important to inform the public about the mission of the library
• Operating money and space are key issues
• Even in the Internet Age it is important to maintain the physical facilities and maintain a knowledgeable staff.

It was a great summary of a report which will play a huge role in promoting the value of libraries in Wisconsin.

WLA Conference - Summary Redux

The conference is over, but the association web master (web mistress?) has created a page with links to many of the presentations. So, if you want to check my report, or read about a program I did not attend, you can visit the 2007 Conference Page of the WLA web site.

WLA Conference - Summary

Well, it is over. I am about to power down and head back home.

I learned a great deal at this conference. Some was about the local scene and the rules in Wisconsin. There were some great authors (that is always a good part of conferences). I also learned more about technology.

Of course the networking was important. Some of the best ideas come from the informal meetings and discussions that take place outside of the formal sessions.

WLA Conference - The 411 on Mashups

Julie Fricke of Lawrence University (Appleton) did a great job of explaining mashups. I was standing for the beginning, and the PowerPoint will be on the WLA Conference Web site.

Among others she talked about:
Facebook (and Facebook apps)
Book Carousel
Chicago Crime Statistics
Housing map (from Craigs List)
SuprGlu (and Frickeglu) (seems like a place to have a bunch of your own stuff come)
Frappr

How do I make one: add this app (point & click...like Facebook, iGoogle); clone (Pipes); program (server side --to do some programming need to request and get a key).

When is it OK to mix? Many have creative commons copyright licenses, but other have limitations (like Google Maps). What is the provenance (the Wikipedia problem)? What is its authority? How simple and what support will you get? Will there be upgrades? What happens with changes in software.

An account for the presentation has been set up:
http://del.icio.us/wlamash
(password is web2.0)

Another interesting site is mashable.com (inlcudes news related to social networking software), can subscribe to an RSS feed. There is more an more info on mobile computing.

Others are listed on the PowerPoint (which I will try to add as a link). Now the question and answer session is going on, but I am going to post anyway.

Small World

When I used to talk to Library School classes, I always mentioned that this is a small incestuous profession. This was brought home to me yesterday. I was at a networking part of the Conference, when someone said: "Oh, you are the Michael Golrick, I have heard a lot about you!" Well, it turned out to be someone who worked in Tucson after me, and had heard about me. Likewise, I had heard of her from our mutual Tucson friends.

Ironically, after I moved East (to Connecticut), she moved to New York (Westchester County). As we sat and talked at breakfast this morning, we both moved to Wisconsin on the very same day last December, and started our current jobs on the same day.

For some reason our paths had not crossed until now, even though it has been 24 years since I left Arizona.

WLA Conference - Wisconsin Public Library Standards and Certification

Panel discussion:

First presenter was David Polodna (Winding Rivers): Certification in Wisconsin started in the 1920s. In 1965, state library re-organized, and certification went to DPI. In 1975, expiration dates for certification and renewal required continuing education. In 1980 Certification Manual was published. In 1985, new higher level added, and limited to directors. In 1995 new ranges of population established. Changes since, refinements.

Panel: Where do the Standards help in providing good public service? Excellent libraries and staff in the state. There are areas where we do well, and others where we need improvement. ILL is one area of excellence (including delivery), support of intellectual freedom is also high.

Discussion on certification and standards. Certification is one of the requirements to belong to a library system. The Standards are simply voluntary, and have no enforcement value. We have some fabulous people running very small libraries in Wisconsin. Many directors in small towns have lots of community connections. There was much discussion on the very small libraries in the state. Issues of community of identity, and funding.

There was much discussion about professional versus non professional, salary levels, changing roles and job descriptions. One panelist reminded us that libraries expend 60-70% of the budget for salaries. Economic constraints should not drive the discussion of deprofessionalization of any position. There needs to be a Board and community commitment to library training. Discussion about job ads and include requirements for 2-3 years experience.

How do Standards help? How will they help make sure we do well in the future? Provide a target for library development. Assist library boards to assess the quality of their own programs. Provide benchmarks and positive reinforcement for library activities. Ther may be too many categories in the Standards. For small libraries, the number of hours open helps a great deal.

How do we measure quality? Are we even counting the right things? If you measure people's expectations and the service you provide, for many small libraries the gap is small. Can we meet the expectations of a changing population (growth, influx of immigrants, etc.)

The program was more diffuse than I expected, but there were some interesting discussions.

WLA Conference - Thursday Afternoon

No blogging this afternoon.

Lunch was an inspirational speech from Kevin Reilly, President of the University of Wisconsin system.

After lunch I was part of the panel for WLTA entitled "Library and Community Involvement."

After the break I attended the WLA Legislative update on state and federal issues. No predictions were made about when Wisconsin will have a state budget. Rick Grobschmidt did a great job on the budget issues. Paul Nelson covered the other state issues, and Jessica McPhail covered the the federal agenda.

What follows is the Annual Business Meeting, and then the Annual Banquet and Awards.

WLA Conference - Non-Profit Marketing

Don McCartney, UW-Green Bay

What is marketing? Any/all activities that help to facilitate and expedite exchange relationships. It is manipulation, but can be in a good way. Can't control the relationship.

Factors for exchange: must have more than one entity; both entities must have something of value; both entities must be willing to give up their something of value; both must be able to communicate all of the above.

What does this mean? What do we have to offer that is of value.

Market segmentation: Who are your customers? What does your customer want? Have to be careful how to segment, you can cut the market too small. There is difference between mass and targeted marketing. Mass marketing has a lot of overkill. There are internal and external customers. Pay attention to trends.

Social identification: perceived oneness with or belonging to an organization or group. A higher perceived identification results in

Social identity: classification based on demographic categories, social class and membership in organizations.

Self concept: combination of personal identity and social identity. People participate in activities that improve their self-concept.

Organizational membership helps define our self concept. What can your organization offer people, in various segments. People who are passionate about their organization forget that not everyone knows all about that organization.

Perception of prestige increases members' feeling of identification. Has to be prestigious not elitist. Prestige is meant to imply that there is something of value.

The extent to which offerings confirm what the member expects to receive, the higher the level of identification and therefore commitment. Frequency of appropriate contact with the organization will increase member identification.

Participation with similar organizations decreased the depth of identification with any single organization. Level of education impacts identification negatively. More highly educated people tend to be involved in more activities and organizations.

Free is not the reason people become members. Intangible factors like enhancement of self concepts and identification with the organization's mission, are primary reasons for identification.

A strong and visible mission statement is important. Keep it where people can see it often.

Increased contact must occur to increase identification.

Projecting an image of prestige without being elitist is critical to fostering identification and affiliation. Ask both your users and non-users. Could use the University to do a survey at a lower cost. Can tout openness and friendliness, which builds prestige.

Reality is that getting people involved is harder than most people understand. The theory of publics states that communication behaviors can be best understood by measuring how they perceive situations which have organizational consequences.

Only 7% of the general population will ever become an active member of a non-profit organization. [Based on survey, on campus, over 10 years.] Those 7% will do everything for you. Need to pay special attention to this. It is a group which is literally dying.

Need to think about how to position the organization and have a strong mission statement. Can't take anyone for granted any more. People will often stick more with the organization which has built a personal relationship. Solicit ideas from volunteers, even if you may not be able to do everything. Build affinity.

Effective communication creates awareness by the relevance of the material to the person. Latent readiness is subconscious and developed through experience. Each time they hear about the organization they make a positive or negative association.

Knowledge of what an individual has to lose if the organization does not have their support can build latent readiness. Triggering events provide an opportunity to act. It is essential to solicit feedback.

Each time you communicate, decide what the intended results, and figure out how to measure the success.

Must constantly adapt and change based on changing needs. Feedback is the way to figure out what people want and need.

Resources and hints

Journal: Marketing Library Services
Wilson Web: Electronic services won't sell themselves
What do we say to our user, what makes an effective message?
Be graphic............
ProQuest: Promoting Library services in a Google world
www.olc.org/marketing [Ohio Library Council?]
www.librarysupportstaff.com (special issue?)

Establish a "marketing board" and ask for advice.

Dynamic interactive talk, used PowerPoint very well, as the launching point for his talk.

WLA Conference - Open Meetings

Krista Ross did a great presentation on the Wisconsin Open meeting laws. She originally did it for her library system's board of directors.

The open meetings law creates a presumption that meetings of governmental bodies must be held inopen session. The Open Meetings law applies when there is a purpose to engage in governmental business (including discussion, decision or information gathering on matters within its realm of authority) and the number of members present is sufficient to determine the governmental body’s course of action (i.e., you have a quorum).

The two most basic requirements are to give advance public notice of each of its meetings, and conduct all of its business in open session, unless an exemption to the open session requirement applies.

Notice must be given to:

1. The public (as a general rule, in 3 different locations where the public is likely to see it.)
2. Any member of the news media who have submitted a written request for notice
3. The official newspaper, designated pursuant to state statute, or if none exists, to a news medium likely to give notice in the area.

In general the notice must give “time, date, place, and subject matter of the meeting, including that intended for at any contemplated closed session. Governmental bodies may not use general
subject matter designations such as “miscellaneous business” or “agenda revisions” or “such matters as are authorized by law” as a way to raise any subject.

There are four open session requirements:

1. Accessibility: A meeting should be held in a place reasonably accessible to members of the public and open to all citizens at all times,preferably in a public place such as a municipal hall or school, rather than on private premises.
2. Tape Recording and Videotaping: Citizens have the right to attend and observe meetings that are held in open session. They also have the right to tape or videotape open session meetings as long it does not disrupt the meeting.
3. Citizen Participation: The law does not grant citizens the right to participate in the meeting. The governmental body itself is free to determine whether to allow citizen participation at its meetings and may limit the degree to which citizens participate.
4. Minutes of meetings and records of votes: Requires that a governmental body keep a record of the motions and roll call votes at each meeting of the body.

Closed session:

• Dismissal, demotion, discipline, licensing, and tenure
• Compensation
• Conducting public business with competitive or bargaining implications
• Conferring with legal counsel about litigation

Notice must indicate the subject of the closed session. If vote unanimous, do not need a roll call. Must announce in open session the nature of the closed session.

All voting should be in open session, unless doing so would compromise the need for the closed session. Should have minutes of closed session which become public after the issue is resolved.

If you do not re-open in open session, you cannot meet or do any business for at least 12 hours.

Enforcement: Attorney General and the District Attorney have authority.

Penalty: any member of the body who "knowingly" attends; fine is $25 to $300 for each violation.

Other sites:

• League of Municipalities web site: www.lwm-info.org
• Wisconsin Department of Justice

Can go into closed session, without advance notice, but only for an item which is already on the agenda, but cannot come back into open session. If you put times on the length of closed session or on agenda it will limit the length of the session.

WLA Conference - Flash! The Future of the talking book

Marsha Valance from the Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped talked about the new device for blind readers. The new device will begin arriving in mid-2008 for digital talking book machine.

Priority is for veterans, centenarians, and students. It will be 2012 before everyone gets the new hardware. They will maintain cassettes as a format until 2012.

The hardware is 2/3 the size as cassette player. The digital device is about the same size as a cassette with whole in one end to both distinguish end, and for the device to be removed from machine. It weighs only 2 pounds compared to the current 7 pounds. The battery life is now up to 23 hours. You can place up to 1,000 bookmarks. If you push a button on the machine, and nothing is in the machine, it will tell you what that button does.

They are not using the MP3 format, instead they use AMR-WB+. An entire book will fit on a single chip. There will be no more flipping sides. A VictorReader Stream will play NLS digital talking books, and content can be downloaded. A VictorReader Stream costs about $300. IT is sold by HumanWare.

Must join the Library for the Blind. Can sign in to download. User name is the person's email address. Contact by phone (800/242.8822) or email lbph@milwaukee.gov. You can also visit the web site.

The presenter talked about other items available widely on the web. These include Overdrive, Playaways, Baen Free Library, Guttenburg. She also covered the Web Accessibility Initiative. and Section 508.

The web site for the Library has a great page of links for blind readers.

WLA Conference - Learning Games and Simulations

Ulrikr Dieterle who is a health sciences librarian is doing a great presentation on gaming and what we need to know. Right now she is talking about the demographics of gamers. I will later add a link to her presentation on the WLA web site -- she notes that it will be there.

She notes that some of the first simulators include "Rescu-Annie" used to teach CPR and flight simulators for pilots and astronauts.

She has talked about the early games like "Sims" which date from the 1980s and ran on DOS. The military is the largest producer of games in the US.

An interesting presentation and introduction. She presented a good reason for using games as part of the educational process, with many specific examples from the health area.

WLA Conference - Applying Survey Methodology in the Real World

Thomas Walker, Associate Dean, UW Milwaukee SOIS)

Teaches Research Methods, the room was very, very full (about 45-50).

He noted that UIUC also does library research (part of where he learned about surveying), for a fee, as will other consultants. He promised to also talk about the way research reports are reflected in the media. Below is a rough transcription of his presentation with some additional notes.

Introduction to Surveys

• What are they?
• How to plan a survey
• How to collect data
• Sampling
• Questionnaires
• Questions

Surveys: a formal method of gtathering informationk about a group of poeple through a sample, A carefully chosen sampl can be used to project results to a larger population

They are NOT collected from 100%; from a self selected group; collect from a group njust because that "sample" is easy to get data from

Data is gathered systematically using standardized procedures, not associated with individuals, but creates a composite profile of the whole group

Library Surveys usually are to assist in the planning process: identify needs, perceptions of what libraries are and should be, etc.

Surveys and methods of collection:

• telephone
• mail
• in-person at the library or other location
• website or email
• while methods of data collection can be used to describe the type of survey, methods should not be the main reason a sample is chosen

Planning a survey

1. Development [establishes parameters]
   
2. Pre-test [important step]
   
3. Final Draft Plan and survey
4. Implementation
5. Coding
6. Analysis and reporting

Development: define budget, staffing, time; define outcomes; broadly define population and sample; draft data collection method; draft questionnaire

Pre-test [should this be one word or two?]: More clearly define population and sample; refine questionnaire; pretest again; evaluate pretests and continue or pretest again

Final draft of plan and survey

• Finalize population and sample
• Prepare final questionnaire
• Organize logistics of implementation

Implementation: select sample; collect data

Coding: evaluate the validity of data (remove invalid responses and otherwise clean up); prepare data for analysis (code)

Analysis: prepare data sets and subsets; analyze data

Final reporting: contextualize data in pre-established framework of survey plan; prepare report

Two Critical Tasks

• Questionnaire Design
• Sampling

Questionnaires: define what kind of information is required and from whom do you need data;break down complex problems into very simple ones; create clear simple questions, not complex ones; may be self administered or done by an interviewer; should be introduced to let the respondent know what the purpose is, who will analyze it, and whether the results will be made public; should conclude by expressing appreciation; should be written at an appropriate reading level

Confidentiality: statements assuring confidentiality are desirable and may be required; inform respondents that responses are voluntary; if children are involved, extra precautions must be taken

Clear simple questions: scales may be useful (on a scale of 1 to 5...); multiple choice may be clear, if all possible choices have been anticipated; open-ended questions can yield rich data, but are difficult to analyze or quantify; questions should be pre-tested; special terms should be defined

How to Sample

• Define overall population
• Determine accurate ways to sample the population
• There is not one magic formula for determining sample size

Confidence level is important.

• Factors include how exact data needs to be, budget, time, ease of administration
  

Wisconsin Library Association Conference - Keynote

Today was the beginning of the WLA Annual Conference. I'll blog what I can. For the opening session I could not blog live (there was access, but I did not yet have the password). I do now, and these notes are adapted from what I typed in Word and pasted here. It is not all complete sentences....be forewarned.

The keynote was delivered by David Maraniss.

He is a writer from a Madison family and grew up in Madison. He was a writer for the Washington Post and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for articles on Bill Clinton, he has been a finalist at other other times.

He notes that he used to start speeches with his connections to librarians, including aunt, uncle, cousin, and sister (Jean Alexander). He said that he has stopped doing that after hearing his sister come back to his home after a DC conference.

A writer’s life is incredibly boring, about 50-60% is just sitting in a chair writing. He has spent thousands of hours in libraries doing research. Started on Clinton when elected. Living in Austin, found Oxonian, an obscure journal for alumni at UT, and found class notes written by Bob Reich (later Secretary of Labor. Also found 1972 Texas campaign info (Clinton was Texas co-chair) on meeting between McGovern and LBJ at LBJ Presidential Library.

To do the Clinton book, spent time in Arkansas. First day in Hope (Ark) found that half the people claimed to be related to Bill. Motel clerk was great-aunt, invited over to house. Had boxes in attic, effects of grandmother on his mother’s side. Included stash of letters from Georgetown U (1964-68) written to grandmother, also a diary. At University of Arkansas in Little Rock were papers including papers from Fulbright and his last senatorial campaign. Documents from 1974 campaign for Congress.

Hard to find governor documents. Kennedy Library is the tightest and of all the Presidential Libraries, Gerald Ford was the most open.

Moved to Green Bay for 4 months in the winter to work on bio of Lombardi. Deeply Catholic person. Trained by the Jesuits at Fordham. Needed to spend time at Brown County Library. Always go there, is a cardinal rule. Needed to live here to write the chapter on the “Ice Bowl.” Local paper did an article which included phone number. Got lots of calls. Some resulted in contacts that would not have been made otherwise.

Fordham Library was incredibly valuable born Sheepshead Bay, lived in Brooklyn, coached in high school, assistant at Army, assistant for NY Giants. Turned legend on its head: big city kid goes to little town. One of “Seven Blocks of Granite.” Fordham has the actual scrap books from that era. Writers who covered Fordham in that era were Damon Runyon and Grantland Rice.

They Marched in to Sunshine

Protest at UW, and then battle in Vietnam. In 1967, first major war protest which resulted in violence. Asked at Washington Post morgue what was going on in Vietnam that day. Found very small story, where battalion on search and destroy mission where 60 killed, 60 wounded of 140 men. Among those killed was Terry Allen (son of a WWII general), Don Howlett(?) (football player recruited to Army by Lombardi). Then went to LBJ Library to read minutes of meetings LBJ attended. At the very moment of the Vietnam battle Johnson turned to McNamara and asked “How are we ever going to win?” [silent moment.] Also in LBJ archives are the reports from the situation room. It was lied about and presented as a US victory. Also was note from Joe Califano (an aide) about the Madison protest.

State Historical Society has the best collections of alternative newspapers in the world. In danger, and archivist just retired, partly in frustration. Also have archive of other materials including a collection on the San Francisco mime troupe which led the students up the hill. Also, military historians keep very good records. Carlisle PA. Fort McNair found the most important. Interviewed all the survivors could find. Can’t always trust memories. Can trust miniscule, but important details. The rest of chronology can be in error. Military investigation done two-three days after including tape recording of survivors. Wrote report, buried by authorities. Wheaton IL archive operated by Col. McCormack. Includes all the medal winners from 1^st Infantry Division. Found papers on commander (general) getting silver star.

Roberto Clemente book

Papers of Branch Rickey are in LoC. After Brooklyn (Dodgers), went to Pittsburg where he got Roberto Clemente. Had male secretary who took notes as Branch Rickey talked at baseball games. Clemente died en route to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. Found in National Archives and found State Department papers. Looked at relationship with Samoza government. Nixon concern that there not be a revolution, and good health of Howard Hughes.

Clemente tried to get aid because he had been there a few weeks before with a Puerto Rican team.

Lombardi trove from son – water logged boxes.

Clemente book – lawsuit on the plane crash. All the legal documents were missing. Finally found a lawyer in DC who had three cardboard boxes of documents including depositions about the suit.

Next book, coming out next year: World changing in 1960 with the Olympics: race, cold war, women sports (Wilma Rudolph), television, doping scandal, etc. Began right after Gary Powers spy trial. First black African got gold medal as African nations began independence. East and West Germany competed on a combined team. This time able to ask, “How would you like to go to Rome?” Then went to Lausanne Switzerland to Olympic headquarters and archive.

Owe all librarians a debt of gratitude.