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So, good morning
It's indeed pleasure and an honor to address you today
Stephen Abram, a former tech guru of Sirsi/Dynix Corporation and
currently the CEO and executive director
of Federation of Ontario Public Libraries said,
"We have an opportunity in this early part of the
21st century to invent the future
and not just react to it."
I want you to mull that statement over a little bit and we'll get back to it later.
Our vision at the State Library is to see all South Dakota libraries
well-resourced and effective. We believe libraries are critical to the
social, economic and educational development of our communities and
vital to our democracy.
As in the past the South Dakota State Library is committed to:
Supporting the work of South Dakota libraries through education and advocacy
Working to expand and
strengthen citizen access to library services
Digitizing specific specialized collections and
state publications and Improving the work of state government
by providing timely access to information. In fact our Mission Statement states that--
The South Dakota State Library provides leadership for 21st century learning,
innovation and excellence in libraries
and research services for state government.
This is our 100th Birthday. Did you know that? Here at the State Library.
You might remember this past June we
celebrated by inviting the OverDrive folks to come to South Dakota
with their Digital bookmobile. And this was a first for them to be in South Dakota.
They parked one day at Rawlins
in Pierre. It poured that day! I have never seen
sheets of rain come down. But we had fun.
And the following morning it was at Watertown Regional
That was another soggy day, right Mike?
[Mike Mullin, Watertown Regional Library responds off screen] Yeah, no, it was more like freeze.
Yeah [laughs], more like freeze. Nevertheless, they were both noteworthy events.
So since 1913 the South Dakota State Library has worked to strengthen
and expand access to library services to all South Dakotans.
In fact, by law, we are to:
Supplement the services of local libraries,
Increase the proficiency of librarians by providing training and continuing education
Provide specialized services or materials to individuals and to libraries
Provide access to specialized digitized collections and state publications.
Serves the research needs of state government employees.
And in collaboration with other libraries
and organizations the State Library plays a vital role
in the collective effort to: Preserve our state's heritage
and provide more accessible resources,
Build and strengthen communities by enabling citizens to engage in lifelong learning,
Promote information literacy
among our citizens with the widest use of modern technology,
Link communities to new economic opportunities; and
Promote access among diverse groups of people. That's a lot.
Although the mission of the South Dakota
State Library has not altered substantially over the past
century, the means and strategies used to achieve
our goals have adapted to the tools and technologies
of the times. As South Dakota becomes more deeply
engaged in a 21st century global knowledge
based economy, the need to adapt has never been more important.
The State Library continues to
emphasize library development, expand
online collections, and improve research services.
The State Librarian and the Library Board,
working with the Secretary of Education and DOE staff,
work hard to ensure that existing resources
are being effectively utilized and the State Library
is adequately funded to meet stated 21st century goals.
This included this past winter, a complete review,
both of our strategic plan and our
organizational structure for the most effective and efficient
use of our time, resources and staff.
We reorganized some of our staffing and their responsibilities.
We added a State Data Coordinator's position. Most notably,
looking toward the future, we merged under one area
the reference, government documents and digitization staffs.
Like most of you, we have seen fewer calls
and walk-ins needing traditional reference service.
However, as folks rely more on their computers,
the Internet and their iPads for quick facts and information,
the work is shifting to behind the scenes.
This has necessitated getting more print information available
online as quickly as possible.
Libraries and the work within libraries
is not going away, but in many ways, the work is shifting rapidly!
the in the technology arena, though the State Library does not have
direct funding to distribute to libraries, we have continued to be a facilitator and a
conduit for other state agencies
and private grants---most notably the Bill and Melinda Gates
Opportunity Online Hardware Grant. This took place
between 2009 and 2013. 24 South Dakota libraries participated.
During that time nearly a quarter of a million dollers
was distributed to those 23 public libraries
and one branch. Most recently, and
still ongoing is the South Dakota Broadband Initiative
funded through the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications,
affectionately known by us as BIT.
First three rounds, to date over $90,000 was awarded to 17 public libraries
in addition to thousands of dollars of in-kind expert technology
consulting, advice and final written reports to their city/ county.
They are actively seeking
grant applicants for this fall and in 2014.
The first three rounds of this grant resulted in 59
statewide grants; 17 (29%)
were awarded to public libraries because of the
work that the State Library to communicate and encourage.
This has amounted to a cash value of $92,742
for our local communities!
This does not include school districts
which applied and received funding, also benefiting their school libraries.
Funds were used to install firewalls (cyber security)
to protect computers, network switches to ensure
uptime and stability as well as increase
network speeds and performance, wireless equipment
for mobile connectivity and increased performance
and new and additional laptops and desktops
to provide increased access to broadband services.
Maximizing the value of resources
devoted to libraries across the state entails
a collective effort to link libraries of all shapes and sizes
on an integrated information system.
Over the past several decades, the South Dakota
Library Network known as SDLN
has done very well to benefit its member institutions,
but the system has suffered in recent years
from the lack of participation of the majority of
smaller public and most school libraries.
The State Library will continue to explore ways to integrate or link
more libraries into a common system. The only way
to build a more equitable resource sharing
model is to have an integrated information system in which all libraries and
institutions can voluntarily and affordably participate. This may take time
and a great deal of education of those in leadership and among those
who hold the purse-strings within the state. However,
equal access to information is a worthy and necessary
aspiration. And the State Library stands ready and willing to work with SDLN
and willing to work with SDLN as they begin the process of re-envisioning themselves!
The cost of traditional resource
sharing (ILL) continues to increase
due to increasing transportation and postage costs.
Today, for many books, a "single"
interlibrary loan transaction now exceeds
the price of purchasing the book outright! An ILL transaction
is clearly not a replacement for a book budget.
The State Library will continue to work with the library and school communities
to educate librarians and classroom teachers
about the responsible use of interlibrary loan and
about the most current information already readily available through
ever-expanding statewide electronic resources.
In fact, the State Library was able,
I am happy to report, to completely take on the responsibility
of the statewide COURIER system this year, not
expanding it, but fully funding it at a slightly reduced cost
over the previous year. However, with gas prices rising
this will not be the situation in years to come.
Finally, the State Library will continue
to work with other state agencies to improve
their knowledge of services offered by the State Library
and to make it easy and convenient for state employees
to access the State Library's resources. This is not something most
of you see or have much interest in
but it is important to realize it is one of our goals and responsibilities.
Soon, you can read our new Strategic Plan in more detail.
It is still a draft and we welcome your comments.
It will be officially approved by the State Library Board
in November and available on our website.
In the meantime, may I share with you our Four main goals?
These aspirations are:
All South Dakotans will have access to library services.
South Dakota's libraries will
meet all citizens' information needs through the leadership
of the State Library.
The State Library will meet South Dakota state government agencies' information needs
through access to timely and relevant information.
and Goal 4: Designated collections,
both print and non-print, of the South Dakota State Library
will meet specific specialized needs of the state's libraries
and state government.
Of course, the State Library cannot meet everyone's
needs; we cannot, nor should
we be the "local library" for a community. We have finite
funds and few who understand or want to champion our cause.
And this coming year we will feel the effects
of the 10% across the board "sequestration"
cuts Congress made last March and the looming threat
of another 7% cut in federal funding next spring!
Unbelieveable! Yet we,
like you, must still find ways to deal with these
constant constraints and challenges.
Yes, we all experience it—libraries, especially around budget time,
can feel like a 2nd class citizen. It is hard to compete with
bridges and roads that need repairing and new ambulance equipment
or fire and police needs. We can get to feeling "mighty
poorly" about our situations even with the federal government
saying public libraries are "essential services" and
"anchor institutions" within our communities. But we have to
do what librarians have always done—work creatively on our budgets
and then Educate and Inform! In other
words, we make "lemonade out of our lemons!"
That is not always easy with tight budgets
never-ending proposals to "cut our budgets" one more time.
We here at the State Library
pulled up our boot straps this past year, smiled
and got to work. I am pleased to report
that we have made some tremendous progress!
Legislation was passed in 2012 to allow us to collect
and organize state publications in digital format (This is a tremendous
improvement over the previous law which required
us to organize and distribute 13
print/paper copies of each and every state
publication.) This accomplishment alone will
save the State hundreds of thousands of dollars
if not more in the years to come.
I am also pleased to announce we just signed contracts to offer statewide
the databases, Mango and Chilton's Auto Repair.
These are the first new databases the State Library has purchased
in over five years! We have already heard from technical school
and public librarians that this will save them thousands of dollars
besides making this information readily available online to everyone!
I am also happy to announce that for the second year in a row,
we are able to put some fiscal year '12 federal funds
toward the purchase of additional audio and e-books within SD Titles to Go!
issue on you and us is up
tax yup which time source
we don't know sup
By the way, if your public library hasn't joined this consortium,
you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to enrich your
collection by thousands
of new and popular book titles.)
Many have told us how surprised they were that this service is so popular
and it seems to have
awakened interest in the local public library!
At one small public library,
a patron told his librarian, "This is the Best thing
you have ever done for this community!"
Now that says it all, doesn't it!?
We continue to have a successful
Public Library Institute, now in its 27th year. In fact,
demand has been steady and growing.
At some point we will have to cap attendance
at 40 students. And we had our wildly successful
School Library Boot Camp for the second year at the University
of South Dakota with plans to do more collaboration
with the academic institutions in our state.