Below are the headlines from the September 3, 2021 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Grant Opportunities
  • Library Marketing Plan Workshop and Mini-Grant Opportunity
  • East Asia in Wisconsin Accepting Grant Applications Through October 1
• Library Programming & Resources
  • Chad Lewis: Author of the Strange and Unusual Offers Virtual Openings for Fall & Winter 2021
• Continuing Education Opportunities
  • How to Write More Effective Email and Web Content
  • Midwest Archives Conference: Call for Session Proposals

Please check the NEWI list of free webinars to find online continuing education opportunities you may attend from where you are. Most sessions are 60 minutes long, and are provided – at no charge to you – by associations, agencies, companies, and library systems. There’s a lot to choose from, so here’s a sample of topics that may be of interest to you.

Managing stress & building resilience; click title to register:

• Put Yourself on Top of Your To-Do List: Lessons in Self-Care - Noon on Wednesday, Sep 15
• Embracing Discomfort - 3pm on Thursday, Sep 16
• Compassion Resilience and Anxiety Management During Tough Times - 1 pm on Wednesday, Sep 22

Equity, diversity and inclusion; click title to register:

• Anti-Racist Education: Building Your Inclusive Collection & Curriculum - 1pm on Wednesday, Sep 8
• Autism in Libraries - 1pm on Wednesday, Sep 15
• Developing Welcoming Spaces for Members of the LGBTQ+ Community - 8am on Friday, Sep 17
• New Service Models for Patrons with Intellectual Disability - 1pm on Wednesday, Sep 22
• Voices Matter: The Power of Diversity in Picture Books - 1pm on Wednesday, Sep 22
• Actively Anti-Racist Library Service to Leisure Readers: A Discussion - 1pm on Thursday, Sep 30

Tech Days Webinar Series; click title to register:

• Digital First: All Library Planning Starts with Digital - 10am on Wednesday, Sep 15
• Canva Demo and Q&A - Noon on Wednesday, Sep 15
• Free Online Tools to Increase Your Workflow & Productivity - 1pm on Wednesday, Sep 15
• Video Production: Tools, Tips and Tricks - 10am on Thursday, Sep 16
• Canva Demo and Q&A - Noon on Thursday, Sep 16
• Emerging Tech Trends for 2021 and Beyond - 1pm on Thursday, Sep 16

A sample of webinars on other topics; click title to register:

• Kicked Out!: How to Safely ask Someone to Leave (Without Calling the Police) - 1pm on Thursday, Sep 9
• Beanstack Library Administrator Essentials: Admin Tools Tour - 1pm on Tuesday, Sep 14
• Less Ostrich, More Owl: 5 Steps to Quickly Improve Your Library's Ability to Respond to a Sudden Disaster - Noon on Wednesday, Sep 22
• How to: TikTok - 1pm on Wednesday, Sep 22
• Hiring in 2021 and Beyond - 1pm on Wednesday, Sep 29
• How to Write More Effective Email and Web Content – 2pm on Thursday, Sep 30

Please check the NEWI list of free webinars to find online continuing education opportunities you may attend from where you are. Most sessions are 60 minutes long, and are provided – at no charge to you – by associations, agencies, companies, and library systems.

There’s a lot to choose from, so here’s a sample of topics that may be of interest to you.

Managing stress & building resilience, click title to register:

• Coping with Stress Through Journaling - 10:30am on Thursday, July 8
• Mental Health Matters! Finding Support in Challenging Times – 10am on Wednesday, July 14
• The Art of Saying No: Setting Boundaries & Making Space for What Matters - 11:45am on Thursday, July 15

Equity, diversity and inclusion, click title to register:

• On Implicit Bias and Communication - 2pm on Thursday, July 8
• Leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Through Collection Analysis and Development - 4pm on Wednesday, July 21
• Using Courage to Confront Bias - 1pm on Thursday, July 22 [no registration required]
• Accessibility Features in Microsoft - Noon on Tuesday, July 27

Google tools, click title to register:

• Google Forms Basics - 11am on Thursday, July 8
• 10 Chrome Extensions You Can't Live Without - 12pm on Thursday, July 8
• Getting Started with Google Drawings - 3pm on Thursday, July 8
• Choose Your Own Adventure with Google Slides - 4pm on Thursday, July 8

A sample of webinars on other topics; click title to register:

• Youth Perceptions of Online Harassment, Cyberbullying, and “Just Drama”: Avenues for Support and Guidance [no registration required] - 10am on Wednesday, July 14
• Beanstack Reports Bootcamp - 1pm on Wednesday, July 14
• Introduction to Library Ethics - 1:30pm on Monday, July 19
• Supporting STEM Education in Rural Communities - 2pm on Monday, July 19
• Canva: Design Basics for Your Small Business - 5pm on Tuesday, July 27
• Canva: Advanced Design Skills for Small Business Owner/Marketer - 5pm on Thursday, July 29

Here are links to county-specific sheets created by Covering Wisconsin that provide your patrons with the contact information they need to obtain health insurance and other services.

Below are the headlines from the May 28, 2021 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Door County Library: A Digital Readiness Case Study
• Apply Now: NASA@ My Library
• Wisconsin DNR Explorer Program
• Dismantling Racism in Collaborative Collections
• Digital Readiness Fairs
• Build a Better Library Website Boot Camp

Website design presents many challenges and considerations. From thinking about the user experience to accessibility to navigation, websites are a true extension of the library's services. Thanks to the New Jersey State Library, a new course is available in the WebJunction Course Catalog (for free) to help library staff improve their websites to better serve the community. The Build a Better Library Website Boot Camp is an online course made possible in part by a 2020 award from the Catalyst Fund at LYRASIS.

The training is designed to help libraries improve the overall look and function of their websites. Through the boot camp, learners have the self-guided instruction, tools, and support to improve the user experience and design of their websites.

Source: Crossroads newsletter from WebJunction

Below are the headlines from the May 14, 2021 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Take the Marketing Toolkit Survey: Libraries Activating Workforce Development Skills
• Submit a PLA 2022 Program Proposal
• Grant Opportunities & News
  • Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Registration Open May 12, EBB Registration Webinar on May 19
  • National Preservation Program: Preservation Needs Assessment and Preservation Plan
  • Brown County Library Recipient of Grant to Fund Materials about East Asia
• Continuing Education Highlights
  • Registration Open for May 27th SSCS Conference
  • Customers Without Masks (by Ryan Dowd) - Free 1-Hour Webinar May 20th
  • Talking about the COVID Vaccine In Your Community

Below are the headlines from the May 7, 2021 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• 2021 Rural Libraries Summit: May 25-26
• Submit PLA Webinar Proposals through May 31
• ADANN 30th Anniversary Spotlight on ADA Resource Portals
• Grant Opportunities
  • WiLS 2021 Ideas to Action Fund Application Period Is Open
  • ARSL Conference Scholarship Applications Now Accepted
• Programming Resources
  • ARSL Program-Palooza Round Table: May 20th
  • CSLP Newsletter: April 2021
  • Stealing Away: Stories (by Wisconsin author Kevin Revolinski)
• The “Marketing Funnel” Approach to Customer Engagement
• Don’t Forget: Encourage Your Library Patrons to Share their Stories

Below are the headlines from the April 30, 2021 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Welcome Shannon Nichola Stoner, Gillett Public Library Director
• Everyone Has a Story to Tell: Library Stories Toolkit
• Employment Opportunities
  • Shawano County Library is Hiring Library Assistants
  • NWTC Searches for Library Circulation Technician
  • Executive Director/CEO, Wisconsin Library Association
• Continuing Education Highlights:
  • Present at the WLA SSCS Conference
  • Passive Programming That Pulls Them In: Provocative Passive Programming Ideas
  • U.S. Census Bureau Data Summit for Librarians
  • REMINDER: WAPL Conference is May 4-7

Below are the headlines from the January 29, 2021 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Take ALA's Survey For a Chance to Win National Library Week Swag
• TeachingBooks' New Book & Author Chrome Extension
• Beanstack: New 2021 Challenges
• LAWDS Training on Use of Labor Market Indicator Tools
• ALA's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Training Calendar

The conference will take place on January 27-28, 2021. Fourteen sessions will be available in four different tracks, including Public Services (new!), Management, Marketing, and Small and Mighty.

Presenters include Dipesh Navsaria, Angela Hursh, Beck Tench, Helyn-Luisi Mills, Julie Biando Edwards, and more.

Planning has been underway since April to give those who work in public libraries an excellent conference experience, without having to leave their library or work space.

All 16 public library systems in Wisconsin, along with the Department of Public Instruction, are providing support for this conference. All of the sessions will be recorded and captioned in the event people are unable to attend the live session.
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Each session is worth 1 contact hour for public library certification.
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For more information on the conference, contact Jamie Matczak at jmatczak@wvls.org or 920-455-0668.

Below are the headlines from the November 20, 2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• ALA Midwinter Virtual: Registration Open
• SIJO: A Ready-to-Go, Virtual Library Program and Contest for People of All Ages
• WiLS Helps Small Libraries Develop Strategic Plans - Together!
• Apply for Compassion Resilience Facilitator Training
• Annual Grant: American Dream Literacy Initiative
• Promote Digital Resources Using OverDrive's Resource Center
• On-Line Music Programs for Your Library Community

Below are the headlines from the September 18, 2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Gillett Public Library has a New Website
• Professional Development Scholarship: 2020 Local History and Historic Preservation Conference

As of September 15, 2020, Gillett Public Library's official website address has changed to www.gilpubliclibrary.org. The new web address also comes with a new look.

​We encourage you to check it out - and please let the library's staff know what you think.

Below are the headlines from the 7/24/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Be Ready to Help Patrons Prepare for the InfoSoup Update
• Closed Captioning Library YouTube Videos
• COVID-19 Recovery Resources Guide
• Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference Call for Proposals
• Rural Libraries Invited to Apply for Digital Access Grants
• Register for September 23-24 Tech Days
• The Public Library's Role in Elections: Voter Education in a Post-Truth Era
• Lead the Way: Libraries at the Heart of Community Engagement
• PLA 2020 Virtual Conference: Available On-Demand

During the COVID-19 stay home orders, Whatcom County Library System kept staff whose library work couldn't be done from home busy by having them work from home to close caption the many videos on the WCLS YouTube channel. Getting this closed captioning done to make the videos accessible to more patrons had been on the system's to-do list for a long time, but they hadn't had the staffing to take up the project. It was a great way to keep staff busy from home during the closure, and they are proud of the fact that (almost) all of the videos they are creating about library services are now accessible to those who are hard of hearing. (They are still working through some of the backlog.)

If you still have library staff who can't return to their normal schedules 100%, this might be a good project for them to take up. 

Below are the headlines from the 7/17/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly:

• Register now for Trustee Training Week 2020
• Three Things You Can Do to Promote Anti-Racism Efforts In Your Library
• COVID-19-related Cybercrime: Microsoft Takes Legal Action
• Marketing Materials for the "New" InfoSoup Coming this August
• Transition Planned In-Person Adult Programs to a Virtual Environment
• Antiracist Collection Development & Programming for Middle School & High School Youth (InfoPeople Webinar)

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

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​

Please see below the call for program proposals from the WLA Conference Program Committee:

The theme for National Library Week (NLW) 2020, “Find your place at the library,” was chosen before the COVID-19 pandemic forced most libraries to temporarily close their physical spaces. Most people can’t visit their libraries in person, but libraries are still very much open for business. To celebrate that, ALA flipped the script a bit on the theme. “Find the library at your place” highlights how libraries are offering virtual services and digital content their communities need now more than ever. You are free to use any of the NLW materials with either theme. If your library plans to participate in NLW, please use the hashtags #NationalLibraryWeek and #LibrariesStrong to bring attention to the valuable role libraries are continuing to play.
 
The new “Find the library at your place” digital graphics and media tools in English and Spanish are available for download on the National Library Week webpage. For libraries that don’t have plans yet for NLW, or are unsure about how they can get involved this year, check out ALA's 20 Easy Ways to Participate in NLW 2020 tip sheet. ALA also has new Because statements that are relevant in our time of social distancing that can be posted to websites and social media.