Tech Tuesday: National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Did you know that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM)?  This national campaign is jointly sponsored by The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) among others.  Cyber Security Awareness focuses on education.  It educates the public, businesses, government, and schools on how to secure their computers and our national infrastructure. 

Visit: www.dhs.gov/national-cyber-security-awareness-month for tips and resources to help protect your own piece of cyber space. 

"We live in a world that is more connected than ever before. The Internet touches almost all aspects of everyone’s daily life, whether we realize it or not. National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) is designed to engage and educate public and private sector partners through events and initiatives to raise awareness about cybersecurity, provide them with tools and resources needed to stay safe online, and increase the resiliency of the Nation in the event of a cyber incident." - DHS Cyber Security Awareness Month

Here are some additional resources for NCSAM:
Stay Safe Online: www.staysafeonline.org
U.S. Homeland Security: www.dhs.gov
Iowa's Cyber Security Awareness: www.secureonline.iowa.gov

Tech Tuesday: Funbrain

Funbrain is an online learning resource for children.  Children from Kindergarten to 8th grade can play games while learning math, reading, and logic skills.  In addition to games, Fun Brain offers books parents and children can read together and a variety of other education-based activities.  Check is out for yourself: http://www.funbrain.com/.

Tech Tuesday: EBSCO

Today we are sharing with you about EBSCO, a research program our library offers.  Through EBSCO, patrons have access to a wide variety of reliable research without having to sort through the wide array of results that often arise through searching online via a search engine.  

To access EBSCO, please visit our webpage: www.wellman.lib.ia.us and select the EBSCO button on the home page.  When prompted, enter username: wellmanr and password: remote.  You can choose to search through the EBSCOhost databases or use Explora to access primary school level information on a large variety of subjects.  There are also Explora teacher resources.

At the bottom of the program list on EBSCO, you will find NoveList.  NoveList is a great tool for book suggestions, finding more books by a specific author, accessing lists of series, and more. 

Our Open House

 WSPL turns 100 this year!  To celebrate we held an open house last Saturday.  It was great fun visiting with patron, board members, past board members, and past directors. 

 

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Saturday.  Thank you all for making our library a success!  Here's to another 100 years!!

What's Happening in Our Library

There is a lot going on around the library this summer.  Be sure to check out our Library and Community Events page on our website for easy access to our calendar and upcoming events!

We're Accredited!

We are so happy to announce that after a few years lull, we are once again an accredited library!  The Standards and Accreditation program exists to encourage the ongoing development o f high quality public library services in Iowa.

Iowa's voluntary public library standards program was established to give public libraries a tool to identify strengths and areas for improvement.  It is also used to document the condition of public library service in Iowa, to distribute Direct State Aid funding, and to meet statutory requirements.

Every three years, each library is asked to report its progress toward achieving accreditation by completing the application and supplying support documents to provide proof of its achievements and service standards.  A fully accredited library must meet 46 standards and an additional 16 out of 33 non-tier standards.

In addition, our library participates in the Open Access Program which opens our library to patrons outside of the Wellman area.  We also participate in the Interlibrary Loan Program, which allows our patrons to check out books from libraries across the state and other libraries to access our books for their patrons as well.

We are so happy to once again have our accreditation and will continue to strive to make our library a better place to serve our community.

Thank You!

We are so thankful to live in such a great community.  A huge thank you to all the businesses, groups, and individuals who have contributed to our Summer Reading Program.  This great program would not be possible without your support!  Be on the look out for"Proud Supporter of On Your Mark, Get Set...Read!" signs around the community.

Remember to sign up and join us for this years Summer Reading Program.  It will be 8 weeks filled with fun activities, crafts, and most importantly good books!  You can sign up anytime beginning May 1st. 

Check Out our Children's Computer

Recently, we've added a children's computer to our Children's Area.  It has access to games and education resources online such as PBS Kids Go, ACB Ya, and a subscription to ABC Mouse.  Bring your little ones in and try it out!

Community Events Calendar

Stay up to date on what's happening at the library and in our community by visiting our Library and Community Calendar. 

Planning a community event?  Be sure to let us know and we'd be happy to add it!

Flashback Friday

We're going to do a little Flashback Friday today.  As we continue our 100 Year Celebration festivities, we thought it would also be great to share a little history of our library.

Our Beginnings

It's Your Library

We are always looking for ways to improve the library and better serve our community.  After all, it really is your library!  We'd love it if you'd take a couple of minutes to answer a brief survey so we can learn how to better serve you.

Click here to begin the survey.