The Tallest Building in Town

Shauna and Steev speak with two library staff members from school/public library collaborations--Kay Heiting from Granton Community Library and Bobbie Kuehn from the Denmark branch of the Brown County Library. The two libraries, located inside public school buildings, have very different ways of dealing with their situations. Also, we learn the word "colocated".

The formerly rural community of Waunakee is now a northern suburb of Madison and is home to nearly 14,000 people. Their library, which opened in August of 2019, was over a decade in the planning and is the result of much hard work and cooperation by community members and local government. We visited the library on a sunny day in September and had a guided tour of the staff workspaces and public spaces.

This month we’re visiting the Dream Bus, a new bookmobile that the Sun Prairie Public Library is utilizing this year in order to expand library services. The bookmobile operates through the Dane County Library Service (DCLS), and their Director, Tracy Harold, was kind enough to stop by and provide some background information about DCLS.

The McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids is one of 15 libraries in the country that is a finalist for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. It is also only the second library in Wisconsin to ever be nominated and the smallest! Find out more as Shauna talks with McMillan director Andy Barnett.

This month we start a series on rural libraries in WI, and Rock Springs Public Library is the perfect place to begin. The smallest library in the South Central Library System is tucked within land that is rich in natural and geological history. In Rock Springs, “The Village that Roars,” the library sits among beautiful rolling hills, and their library staff are experts when it comes to facing extreme weather conditions. Shauna visited the library in its temporary location in St. John Lutheran Church and spoke with Katie Schofield, Library Director, and Jean Holtz, Library Board President. We learn the story of what happened last year (and years prior), but also see firsthand the potential of their interim space. Shauna asks Katie about work-life balance and what it’s like being a new library director.

This month we talk about collections that exist in Wisconsin that are not easily found, inside and outside of libraries. Some collections live in libraries and are professionally organized and curated, but still manage to be hard to find. Others force us to be in the right place at the right time in order to experience them out in the world.

There are 11 Federally-recognized tribal nations in Wisconsin, many of which have a library located within the borders of their reservation. Kymberley Pelky, a library staff member at the Oneida Community Library, creates all-ages programing and helps to write federal grants. She talks about some of the programs the library hosts for people both on and off the Oneida reservation. Stephanie Julian, the Education Director for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe, has been given the task of providing library access to the Bad River library. She discusses their partnership with the TLAM Project from UW Madison, and what it will take to fully reopen the library.

What is a poet's work and what role do libraries play in it? This month we talk about poets we love. Amy Ludtzke, Assistant Director of the Dwight Foster Library in Fort Atkinson, introduces us to Lorine Niedecker, a modernist poet who lived on Blackhawk Island. We gain a healthy respect for the office of Poet Laureate of Wisconsin and talk to current Poet Laureate Karla Huston.

With the recent Zinefest in Milwaukee, WI and Print and Resist Zinefest in Madison, WI, it only made sense to talk about zines this month! Shauna and Steev talk about the definition and history of zines and zine culture. Voices in this episode include zinesters: John Porcellino (King-Cat Comics), Chris Wilde (Co-founder of QZAP), and Kristopher Pollard (Kpolly). Librarians include: Kristina Gomez (Milwaukee Public Library) and Katherine Charek Briggs (Assistant Director, LGBT Campus Center, UW-Madison).

How can a drag queen reading a story affect a community? Why do drag queens and public libraries create partnerships? Is this happening in Wisconsin? We find out in this month's episode as we tell the story of Beloit Public Library's first EVER drag queen story time, in Beloit, WI. Shauna speaks with Cass Marie Domino, a queen and activist based in Madison, WI, as well as Marilyn and Rob Schuh, co-founders of The Yellow Brick Road Organization, a non-profit based in Beloit, WI.

We start Season 2 with a deep dive into some of the ideas Shauna brought back from the Inclusive Services Institute. Shauna talks with Leah Langby (IFLS) and Rene Bue (Hedberg Public Library) about what other Wisconsin libraries are doing to make their spaces and policies more inclusive, then we discuss how the Sun Prairie Library is doing (spoiler alert: we could be doing better).

Shauna and Steev talk about a document titled “What Does It Mean to Be Inclusive?” from the Department of Public Instruction’s Division of Libraries and Technology. We hear from Irma Keller, Director at Tomah Public Library, about the Inclusive Services Institute that she recently attended with Shauna. Ms. Keller shares her story as it relates to WI public libraries becoming more inclusive in their services.

This month Shauna and Steev talk about music and libraries. Not only do libraries house collections of music, but some actually host live shows and even help people create their own music! Our interviews come from two musicians and Wisconsinites: Rob Dz, a hip-hop artist who also works at Madison Public Library, and singer-songwriter J.E. Sunde.

Libraries are publicly funded institutions, so what happens when one of our patrons thinks a book, movie, album, or magazine shouldn’t be here? Is it ever ok to censor materials? How does the first amendment fit in to this? Shauna and Steev pick at these ideas with help from Kristin Pekoll, Assistant Director for the Office of Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association and Lynn Montague, Head of Youth Services at Sun Prairie Public Library. Then Steev interviews Shauna about censorship from the perspective of a prison librarian. Shauna talks about her former job as Librarian at Dodge Correctional Institution.

Shauna and Steev talk about their love of comics and graphic novels. Some authors and artists we mention or play clips of include: Mariko Tamaki, Scott McCloud, Craig Thompson, Alison Bechdel, Neil Gaiman, Lynda Barry, Jeff Smith, Mike Mignola, Art Spiegelman, Christophe Chabouté, and MORE.

Has the moment come and gone for the “Makerspace” movement? What business to libraries have in providing their patrons with things that aren’t books? What does a makerspace look like? Your hosts discuss this and try to answer some of these questions. Steev visits the Fond du Lac Public Library’s Idea Studio. He talks with Josh Cowles of FdLPL and adjunct lecturer Shannon Crawford Barniskis from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Shauna interviews collaborative art and perfomance duo SALYER + SCHAAG, who were Artist in Residence at Madison Public Library’s the Bubbler in 2015. They were also co-curators/organizers for Mad Theory 1 in 2014, and Mad Theory 2 in 2015, at Madison Public Library; with artist/scholar collaborators Dijana Mitrovic, James Burling, and Megan Marsh-McGlone..

We interviewed some future and current library people to see what they thought about the Master’s Degree requirement for most full-time library jobs. Yes, librarianship is a professional degree! In this episode, we hoped to introduce the topic to the general public.

We asked to take over the library’s 30-minute “news” radio show. They said, “Great, how about next week?” So we went into the studio live and recorded this, ON AIR, interviewing each other and talking about our hopes and dreams for the show. We knew we didn’t want it to be a news show or upcoming programs show, but we didn’t know exactly what form the show would take.