Archive for July, 2022

Tuesday, July 19th, 2022

TinyCat’s July Library of the Month: The Maurice Ritz Resource Center

TinyCat’s Library of the Month is a rather timely one: Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s Community Library, the Maurice Ritz Resource Center. I interviewed the Center’s Resource and Training Specialist Anne Brosowsky-Roth who was kind enough to field my questions this month:

Who are you, and what is your mission—your “raison d’être”?

The Maurice Ritz Resource Center is the Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Community Library. It was founded in 1972 with seed money donated by a board member. It is Wisconsin’s only library dedicated to human sexuality and sex education. Housed in the Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Milwaukee headquarters, it provides materials and resources for parents, educators, health care providers, social workers, case managers, youth workers, and others working to improve their capacity when addressing sexuality with their own children, students, patients, clients, and participants. 

The collection includes over 3,000 books, curricula, and audiovisuals. The resource center also houses a non-circulating research collection of historical materials relating to human sexuality dating from the 19th century onward.

Tell us some interesting things about how your library supports the community.

We are the only library in Wisconsin that specializes in human sexuality. We have a variety of unique holdings, including a section dedicated to sex education for people with disabilities. Our library offers resources and support for families who need to have conversations they might never have expected to need to have for their children with unique needs, like supporting kids with sensory differences coping with puberty, or people with cognitive disabilities navigating relationships.

What are some of your favorite items in your collection?

My personal favorite items are historical sex guides and manuals that live in our archival collection. They really open a window to the ways sex, sexuality, and gender have evolved in the United States over the last 100 years or so. One of my favorites was a book written for newlywed young husbands in the late 1800s, which includes “everything” he needs to know about marriage—except for intercourse. (Though it does contain “scientific” evidence about the importance of having separate beds lest couples become too overcome with passion.)

Another is a script for a radio program from the 1950s, which role-modeled ways parents could incorporate instruction about sex using everyday teachable moments. A mother tells her daughter about menstruation as they bake together. A father explains the facts of life when a neighbor’s dog has puppies. And there is this conversational lead in to a conversation about wet dreams…

FATHER: (THE CAREFUL LEAD-IN) You know, Bob, you’re getting to be a pretty big fellow! Yes sir – maybe this is a good idea. Chance for us to have a little talk.

BOB: Why sure, Dad. What’s cookin’?

FATHER: Mind if I smoke in your room?

BOB: (PLEASED AT BEING ASKED) Why, no, Dad. Go ahead!

FATHER: Thanks. Your mother will probably have a fit. She just had the curtains washed. (PUFFS AS HE LIGHTS PIPE…BOB CHUCKLES THROUGH PUFFS) Remember the last time we talked about this old body of ours, Bob?…

Sex, stereotypes, and smoking, all in one tiny piece of dialogue. It doesn’t get much better than that.

What’s a particular challenge your library experiences?

As a library within a larger organization, we have bounced around through different departments over the years. When we began, we were housed within community education, as we supported our staff educators who would provide programming to the public. When our organization experienced budget cuts that eliminated educational programming, we were moved into patient services, to support a program that supported nurse practitioners (NPs) working on their certification. When our state required NPs to get a degree through an accredited university, we were moved into development. It’s been a constant struggle to explain the reasons for continuing to support and value the maintenance of a library.

That seems to be a constant struggle for too many small libraries! 

Switching gears a bit: as a supporter of small libraries, ourselves, can you tell us your favorite thing about TinyCat, and also something you’d love to see implemented/developed?

TinyCat was revolutionary for us. We are very small, in terms of the size of our collection and our budget. One staff person oversees the library, and that is not their primary role. Until a few years ago, everything was done on paper—acquisitions records, materials processing, I even hand-typed cards and book labels. This made access difficult for all but a few dedicated users. Since the library serves staff at 23 different sites, and most of the public that uses our library doesn’t live in our region, there was no way for them to browse or access the collection. 

While we knew an OPAC was always the gold standard, there was no way we could afford access with our tiny budget. TinyCat was a game changer. The low cost combined with an easy-to-use interface for the first time meant that people could access our materials in the same way they might look things up at their local library. Even for people unfamiliar with doing searches, I can just send them a link to search results. It has made acquisitions easier as well. We have a very niche collection—it’s easy to see what other similar collections contain and add that might be of interest to our users.

I would love to see a robust circulation option built in—that could be used to solicit and track patrons.

Great suggestion. While we don’t (yet) have a way for you to message patrons within TinyCat en masse, you can add/import/track your patrons and their circulation data, and we will continue to make improvements to the system as we grow. Thanks for your feedback!

Want to learn more about the Maurice Ritz Resource Center? Explore their full TinyCat collection here.


To read up on TinyCat’s previous Libraries of the Month, visit the TinyCat Post archive here.

Want to be considered for TinyCat’s Library of the Month? Send us a Tweet @TinyCat_lib or email Kristi at kristi@librarything.com.

Labels: libraries, Library of the Month, TinyCat

Tuesday, July 5th, 2022

July 2022 Early Reviewers Batch Is Live!

Win free books from the July 2022 batch of Early Reviewer titles! We’ve got 145 books this month, and a grand total of 3,157 copies to give out. Which books are you hoping to snag this month? Come tell us on Talk.

If you haven’t already, sign up for Early Reviewers. If you’ve already signed up, please check your mailing/email address and make sure they’re correct.

» Request books here!

The deadline to request a copy is Monday, July 25th at 6PM EDT.

Eligibility: Publishers do things country-by-country. This month we have publishers who can send books to the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Malta, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland and more. Make sure to check the message on each book to see if it can be sent to your country.

The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold WaySpeak to the WindsWord of HonorBody of EvidenceYou Know Exactly: The Third Collection of All Over CoffeeThe Lost MelodyBook of Extraordinary TragediesClimaturity: A Journey Into the Muddy Climate MiddleThe City Beneath the Hidden StarsAnything but PlainThe Secrets of EmberwildYou Can Shine So Bright!Dead Man’s WoodDEBT: Sink or Swim: Survival of The FastestThe Weirdest Read While You Poo On The Loo: A Collection of Bizarre True Stories About Pop Culture, Science, History, And More To Satisfy Your Curious BrainDragonSinTime Traveling to 1982: Reliving a Very Special YearAre All Lives Equal? Why Cost Benefit Analysis Values Rich Lives More and How Philosophy Can Fix itRenewalThe Portals of Sparkling FallsWhat the Bread Says: Baking with Love, History, and PapanMy Mother's Secret: A Novel of the Jewish Autonomous RegionAll that GlittersThe Forgotten Artist: The Story of Evylena Nunn MillerLove and the Dream Come TrueBy Way of the MoonlightThe Unlocked PathSouth Central NoirBloody PagesOliviaTime ProblemsA Handful of PearlsThe RavensAlien's TemptationAndromeda's GuardianMisery Loves CompanyFire Magic & Ice CreamMiranda WritesLies Lead to DeathTruelove TrailWrinkles in SpacetimeA Matter of TimeBond BittenCoyote CallingRevenge Is Better Than MurderPregnancy Guide for Men: How to Be the Best Partner and Father from Conception To Birth and Beyond—Plus 10 Life Hacks for New DadsThe Enlightenment Project: How I Went from Depressed to Blessed and You Can TooNature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for LeadershipProject Management QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Precise Planning, Strategic Resource Management, and Delivering World Class ResultsUngodly, Unamerican, and Unhinged: The New Radicalized Democratic PartyCast Your Cares: 30-DAY ChallengeSex, Bugs & UFOsBusiness Plan Essentials You Always Wanted to KnowMicroeconomics Essentials You Always Wanted to KnowAlzheimer's Canyon: One Couple's Reflections on Living with DementiaDylan Dover: Into the VortexBreathing Lake SuperiorHow to Draw 100+ Animals: The Birds and the Bees and the Monkeys and the SeasLearn to Write My First Writing Workbook: Pencil Control, Tracing Lines, Curves, Shapes, Letters, Numbers, Words and MoreLet No One SleepStars Are EverywhereThe Natural Laws of ViolenceARTPurloined PoinsettiaBest of British Science Fiction 2021Forever Is Shorter Than It Used to BeBlood AtonementThe Pain Killer: Finding Meaning After MurderEven in the GraveFangscreenHouse BoyThe Long Road to Loving MitchellThe Playful Mind: How to Restore the Happiness We Experienced as ChildrenMumbles of A Soul: Poems, Prose and ThoughtsDagger QuestHut-Yo Cull: The Hunt BeginsMysterious AislesKei & Brie's Amazing Escapade on ABC IslandTasmanian GothicLucid BodiesOut of the Shadows: A Mafia Christian RomanceLeviticusThe Geek Girl Squad: NadiaBecoming a Reiki Master: The Ultimate Guide for Advanced Degree Students and Igniting Your Inner Fire When Training for Reiki Levels I, II, and IIIThe Mer-Girls and the Saved SevenWoodstock to St. Joseph'sHeirs of EriadPieces of Past: Hurts...The Blood CrystalThe Grifter's RazorDanny's Boys: A NovelSmall Stories: A Perfectly Absurd NovelBantar: The Savage Stone Age SurvivorWeeping SoulSummary and Analysis of Plays Well With OthersOne of Our Spaceships is MissingGirls Who Green the World: Thirty-Four Rebel Women Out to Save Our PlanetMy Girly UnicornWest of the SoundThe Stray SpiritThe Villains Who Snapped My Spine: A MemoirSummary and Analysis of The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned AmericaSummary and Analysis of Why I StandSummary and Analysis of The Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood SugarSilhouette LostBowwow BedtimeThe Wright Engineers: Inventing the AirplaneGugulu, The Little Bear DaresLeadership For The New Female ManagerLittle Does She KnowThe Murder of the MudlarksAmateur Assassin: A WolfLady Mystery NovellaGod’s Labyrinth of Good and Evil: Encountering the SelfBlood Red DesertSnake FoodOne Little CoinBag Lady: How I Started a Business for a Greener World and Changed the Way America ShopsThe Pennymores and the Curse of the Invisible QuillSuper Mentors: The Ordinary Person's Guide to Asking Extraordinary People for HelpThe Man from AfghanistanSuper Mentors: The Ordinary Person's Guide to Asking Extraordinary People for HelpMidnight Calling: A Memoir of a Drug Smuggler's DaughterMidnight Calling: A Memoir of a Drug Smuggler's DaughterDemon Hunter AcademyThe 3-Part Beginner's Guide to Manage PCOS Symptoms: A Modern Guide to Improve Your Hormone Balance and Repair Your Metabolism: Complete With Anti-Inflammatory PCOS RecipesFall of the DragonsTrapped in Iran: Israelis in the Iranian RevolutionTuko's CaveMensch und Kosmos: Die ,Theory of Everything’ vom lebendigen UniversumStorm and Solace: A Beauty and the Beast RetellingBurning America: In the Best Interest of the Children?Die BergtruppenPerchance to DreamSevered Branchbreaking open: a healing journey back homeA Doctor's Journey Back to HealthA Doctor's Journey Back to HealthPreventing Her Shutdown: Losing My Wife to Alzheimer'sNewbie Werewolf: The First 8 Adventures of Sara FloresThe Ultimate Guide To Daycare: A Parent's RoadmapStreet People: Invisible New York Made VisibleThe Hedge Witch & The Musical Poet: Poems & Flash FictionStarting AgainThreads of Awakening: An American Woman's Journey into Tibet's Sacred Textile ArtThe Hand We Are Dealt

Thanks to all the publishers participating this month!

Akashic Books Beaufort Books Bellevue Literary Press
Bethany House BHC Press Black Rose Writing
Book Publicity Services BookViewCafe Brick Mantel Books
Butterfly Light Press, LLC Cardinal Rule Press City Owl Press
ClydeBank Media First Steps Publishing Fontreal
Funlighter Hub History Through Fiction Hot Tree Publishing
Islandport Press Kakkle Publications Mike November Media LLC
Mirror World Publishing NeoParadoxa NewCon Press
PublishNation Revell Rootstock Publishing
Sea Vision Publishing TFIG Vibrant Publishers
West Margin Press Wise Media Group WorthyKids

Labels: early reviewers, LTER