NFLS Blog

Here are the headlines from the October 28, 2022 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:  

• WLA Mentorship Program Seeks Applicants for 2023 
• Become an ARSL Volunteer 

• 2023-2027 LSTA Plan Now Available 
• ALSC/Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Program Grant 

 
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Arrowhead Library System serving Rock County and Lakeshores Library System serving Racine and Walworth Counties are merging to form Prairie Lakes Library System. Each of the area’s 22 public libraries support the merger and are excited for the new three-county federated system to take effect January 1, 2023. ​

The Wisconsin Heritage Center, an initiative of the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation, has announced Door County area retired librarian and long-time library advocate Miriam Erickson as the 2022 inductee into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame.

Induction into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame is granted to individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the statewide improvement of library service in Wisconsin over a sustained period. Erickson has served and supported Wisconsin’s libraries for more than 50 years, including a 30-year career as a school library media specialist at Gibraltar High School (Fish Creek), local and state-level library trustee involvement on the Door County Library Board, the Door County Library Foundation, and the Nicolet Federated Library System Board. In 1991, she was appointed by Governor Tommy Thompson as a member of the Wisconsin Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) and has subsequently been appointed for successive three-year terms by five different governors since then.

On a national level, Erickson was appointed to serve as delegate to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services in 1991 and helped to make recommendations that served as a political platform for national library advocacy for years. Through her work on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction PK-12 Technology Plan Committee, she helped influence the use of educational technologies of all types in statewide PK-12 school districts. Retired as a librarian since 1999, Erickson continues to advocate for all types of libraries and remains very active in library, educational, and cultural activities in her Door County community and at the state level. Erickson’s past awards and honors include the 1984 Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) School Library Media Specialist of the Year; the 1986 Wisconsin Educational Media Association​ Special Service Recognition Award, and the 2000 WLA Trustee of the Year award.

​The official Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame induction will take place Thursday, November 3 at 7:00 p.m. at the Awards & Honors Ceremony held during the Wisconsin Library Association’s Annual Conference at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. For more information about Erickson and past Hall of Fame honorees, please visit heritage.wisconsinlibraries.org.

Here are the headlines from the October 14, 2022 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:  

• Erickson to be inducted into 2022 Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame 
• Three NFLS members elected to 2023 WLA leadership positions 
• Celebrate National Friends of Libraries Week October 16-22, 2022 
• Join the 2022-2023 IDEA Advisory Committee 
• 2023 Call for ARSL Volunteers 
• Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions 
• WLA Conference Early Bird Registration ends this Monday, October 17th 
• Save the dates for the Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference 

 
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Here are the headlines from the October 7, 2022 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:  

• Cast Your Vote for 2023 WLA Leaders today 
• Hiring: Full-time Library Director at Oconto Falls Public Library 
• WLA Conference Early Bird Registration Extended to Monday, October 17th 

• 2022 WI Public Libraries CE Topics Survey 

 
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With the Nicolet Federated Library System (NFLS) continuing education funds (and a bit more help from the Friends of Shawano County Libraries, Inc.), Shawano County Library was able to send three of its staff members to the Association of Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from September 14-17, 2022.

Those that attended were Paige Crawford, Cataloging Librarian; Cathy Pescinski, Teen Librarian; and Kristie Hauer, Director (shown from left to right).