Below are the headlines from the 7/10/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Annual Report Summer Programming Update
• Opportunity Out of Adversity: Digital Access in Rural and Small Libraries
• Professional Development: Digital Bytes in the Time of COVID-19
• Tips for Leading Productive Meetings with Microsoft Teams
• Resilient Communities: Libraries Respond to Climate Change
• Mini-grant Opportunity: Support Health Insurance Enrollment in Your Community
• IMLS Opens Library Grants for National Leadership, Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Programs
• Simple Animations in Canva for Social Media Posts

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is now accepting FY 2021 proposals for National Leadership Grants for Libraries (NLG-L) and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program (LB21). 

Applicants have through October 2, 2020, to submit their two-page preliminary proposals.

Resilient Communities: Libraries Respond to Climate Change, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA), will help libraries engage their communities in programs and conversations that address the climate crisis.

The pilot program project will fund film screenings, community dialogues and related events based on local interest in 25 public and academic libraries in 2020, and it will fund the creation of a suite of free programming resources about the climate crisis that will be available to all libraries. 

​Public and academic libraries are invited to apply between July 1 and August 28, 2020.

Learn more and apply here.

Below are the headlines from the 06/26/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• InfoSoup Placing Holds Update
  
• Update to the WLA COVID-19 Response
• Palaces for the People Virtual Discussions
• 2020 Census: Last Chance for a Complete Count
• Advancing Racial Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace Symposium
• Wisconsin Humanities CARES Grant, Round 2

The 2020 Leadership Development Institute live event will be postponed to December 8-10.
​More details and application information will be shared in the coming weeks.
​Read more details in the Update to the WLA COVID-19 Response.

Original Post: 4/28/2020

The second round of CARES grant funding opened June 15. Applications will be due July 15. For more information, see details below or visit Wisconsin Humanities CARES Relief Grant.
 
***
The Wisconsin Humanities Council is providing rapid-response funding to nonprofit humanities and cultural organizations that are facing financial hardship resulting from the COVID-19 coronavirus. 

• How to apply
• Guidelines
• FAQs

Below are the headlines from the 05/29/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Wisconsin Youth Services Program Palooza Webinar
• NFLS Sponsoring Pulitzer Prize Nominee Nigel Poor at WLA Fall Conference
• Census 2020 Activities Resume
• Beanstack Tips
• Compassionate Accountability: Dealing with Problem Behaviors in the Library
• Free Recorded Webinars from Information School, UW-Madison
• Unemployment Insurance Basics: Assisting Library Patrons (Webinar)
• Upcoming WebJunction Webinars
• REMINDER: WiLS Ideas to Action Fund Applications are Due Monday, June 1st

Below are the headlines from the 05/22/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Palaces for the People: Part 4
• IMLS CARES Act Grant Reminder
• Register for Trustee Training Week
• Virtual Training: BadgerLink's TeachingBooks & Book Connections
• Record-setting Learning on WebJunction
• June is Rainbow Book Month
• Color the Great Lakes

Below are the headlines from the 05/15/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Palaces for the People/Libraries as Social Infrastructure Discussion
• WiLS Ideas to Action Fund: Apply by June 1st
• IMLS CARES Act Grants Available: Apply by June 12th
• Virtual & Remote Programming Resources from YSS & ALSC

On May 8, 2020, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced two new funding opportunities for museums, libraries, federally recognized tribes, and organizations that primarily serve Native Hawaiians. The combined $15 million federal investment will provide direct support to these institutions, equipping them to respond to community needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

• IMLS CARES Act Grants for Museums and Libraries support museums and libraries in addressing their communities’ immediate and future needs caused by the pandemic. Projects may focus on preserving jobs, training staff, addressing the digital divide, planning for reopening, or providing technical support and capacity building for digital inclusion and engagement. Applicants are encouraged to prioritize services for high-need communities.
• IMLS CARES Act Grants for Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum and Library Services assist tribes and organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians in responding to the urgent and future needs of their communities. Applications focused on digital inclusion, technical support, rehiring or retraining staff, reopening planning, and other pandemic-related priorities are welcomed.

The deadline for submitting applications to either funding opportunity is June 12, 2020, with award announcements anticipated in August.

Below are the headlines from the 05/08/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Welcome, Kim Meyers!
• Grant Opportunities
• Crossroads: Libraries and COVID-19
• In Times of Crisis: Managing Key Relationships
• Latest Youth Services Blog Posts on Youth Services During COVID-19 (WLA)
• Modified CSLP Summer Library Program Materials
• Miss Wisconsin Summer Library Program
• Ben's Bubble Show

This newsletter contains the following headlines:

• Libraries and COVID-19: Town Hall Recap, Evolving Resources, New Research Project
• Community Engagement Award.  OCLC is accepting nominations through May 31 for the new OCLC Community Engagement Award, recognizing libraries who have created impact and extended the library's reach through a recent project. Read more in the recent Next blog post and nominate your library for one of three $5000 awards.
• More Buy-In = Better Marketing.  In a guest post by Kathy Dempsey, read about the 2020 PLA panel session, The Marketing Value Proposition: Why Buy-In Makes All the Difference. Panelists shared strategies for helping library staff to understand the value of marketing and to support that work, even when it's not part of their jobs.
• Library Storytimes during COVID-19 – a Different Kind of Connection.  In part one of a two-part series, Saroj Ghoting, early childhood literacy consultant, looks at ways to adjust storytimes for virtual engagement. While virtual interactions are not the same as meeting face-to-face, this is a time to explore what works well in an online environment, what we can capitalize on, and what we can learn for the future.
• Upcoming Webinars
  • ​MAY 27: Online Reference and the Open Web: Boosting Strategies and Sources
  • JUNE 11: Libraries Prepare to Answer Civil Legal Questions in Times of Crisis
  • JUNE 16: Getting Started with Virtual Storytimes
• Additional Online Learning​

Below are the headlines from the 05/01/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• NFLS Libraries Offering Curbside Pickup
• WLA Leadership Development Institute ​Conference Scholarship
• WLA 2020 Conference Call for Program Proposals: Deadline Extension to May 29th
• Ancestry Library Edition: Remote Access Extended
• CE Opportunities Added Recently
• Virtual Training on BadgerLink Resources
• Guidelines for Reopening WI Public Libraries Released
• Beanstack: Investment in Online Reading Platform & Mobile App for Wisconsin Libraries
• Wisconsin Humanities Cares Grant
• Magician Daniel Lusk's ONLINE Magic show Package
• Colossal Fossils Online Summer Programs: Dinosaurs and Dragons

Below are the headlines from the 04/17/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• National Library Week, April 19-25, 2020
• Looking for a Few Good Stories
• Libraries as social infrastructure: Palaces for the People Virtual Discussion
• Professional Development Opportunities: Youth Services Resources
• Top Ten Tips to Educate Your Board
• Small, Rural and Independent Libraries Conference
• All of Us Dementia Awareness for Public Libraries
• Financial Resources during COVID-19 Crisis: A Webinar Event for Wisconsin Practitioners & Educators
• IMLS Federal Emergency Relief Funding for Wisconsin Libraries
• DPI Wi-Fi Mapping Survey

The 2020 application period for the WiLS Ideas to Action Fund is open!

WiLS encourages your ideas that are collaborative and have the potential to benefit other organizations in the state and beyond.

• Has our current unpredictable world made you think of a new way to get work done?
  
• Did you hatch a good idea that you’d like to implement?
  
• Or maybe you have a project that has already been successful and you’d like to scale it up?
  

Apply for project management support and up to $5000 from WiLS in a short and simple application process. 

The deadline to apply is June 1st.

Read more about the program, eligibility, and selection criteria on the WiLS Ideas to Action website.

Questions? Want to run an idea by WiLS? Let them know at information@wils.org.

Below are the headlines from the 04/10/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• WiLS Ideas to Action Fund
• Crossroads: Youth Programming Goes Virtual and a COVID-19 Town Hall
• Plain Language Webinar Recording available for One Month
• Mitigating COVID-19 When Managing Paper-Based, Circulating, and Other Types of Collections (Webinar)
• Tips for Parents: Families & Tech During COVID-19 (Infographic)
• Wiscat: How to Suspend an Account

Below are the headlines from the 03/06/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Additional Funding for Wisconsin's Digital Library
• Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grants: Apply by March 31
• Library 2.0 Webinars with Dr. Steve Albrecht
• Remote & Online Services to Children (Webinar Recording)
• Learning While Away from the Library
• Ancestry Library Edition: Remote Access Available while Libraries are Closed
• Wisconsin Newspaper Archive Expanded to Include Entire Collection while Libraries are Closed
• Online Storytime Resources
• For Libraries Offering Online Storytimes
• Events Cancelled or Postponed
• NFLS Librarians' Advisory Committee Meeting: April 3

The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is dedicated to supporting arts and literacy programs in public schools and libraries across the country. It has announced its annual call for proposals.

Approximately 70 grants, up to $500 each, will be awarded to teachers and librarians in public schools and libraries whose proposals reflect imagination and a desire to make learning fun. The foundation welcomes mini-grant proposals focusing on any subject.

View examples of exemplary mini-grants here. Applications are due by Tuesday, March 31, 2020.