Check out the headlines from the 01/24/2020 - 📢 Nic News Weekly.

• Free Programming Resources for Earth Day
• Join the WLA Mentorship Program!
• 2020 Collection Development Grants: Coming Soon
• Now Hiring: Youth Services Manager for Brown County Library (Central Library)
  
• An Introduction to Creating a Library Marketing Plan
• Voices of Women in America: Survey Due January 31

An Introduction to Creating a Library Marketing Plan
Thursday, Feb. 13, 1 pm
1 contact hour
Register
 
Except for the shelves of books, today’s libraries would be mostly unrecognizable to the patrons of 30 years ago. One of the challenges for libraries is finding effective ways to promote what they do, and developing a comprehensive marketing plan is an excellent starting point. A marketing plan provides focus to a library’s marketing efforts and ensures that limited resources are used effectively and efficiently. It helps keep you and your staff focused on the big picture of what you do—your vision and mission—and saves you time promoting individual events or projects. The marketing plan is the guide that provides order to your messaging and efforts. 

A state-wide public library system marketing cohort has drafted a marketing plan template that any library of any size can model and adapt.  Based on Kathy Dempsey's "Cycle of True Marketing," Jamie Matczak and Mark Ibach will walk through the marketing plan template that has been developed, answer questions, and seek feedback before the plan is officially presented to Wisconsin libraries. 
 
This webinar will share: 

•  A customizable marketing framework that can be adapted to suit a library’s unique needs and community
•  Sample marketing plan, budget, and calendar guides
• Links to resources that expand on the information presented

Below are the headlines from the latest 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.

• New Mileage Reimbursement Rate for 2020
• FREE Courses on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Free webinars on teen outreach, guiding staff through change, programs for babies & more this month (NEWI)
• Website Accessibility Checks Anyone Can Do
• Are You Using Images Legally? Get FREE Sources Below!
• Time to Register for Library Legislative Day

The Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference is a state-wide web conference developed by the Nicolet Federated Library System and supported by 15 other library systems in Wisconsin since 2013.

This year, we welcome two new session tracks in Adult Services and Library Management. ​

The sad reality is that most PDFs found online are not very accessible to screen reader users. For many PDFs, screen reader users can only access the words in the document and not the structure (like headings or lists). In an online survey of over 1000 screen reader users, over 75 percent of people said PDF documents are likely to pose significant accessibility issues. By contrast, just over 30 percent said the same thing about Microsoft Word documents. Considering the large number of PDFs on websites, this is very troubling.
​
The good news is that the process for creating accessible PDFs can be very straightforward. For example, it often only takes a couple minutes to turn a well-structured and accessible source file (like a Word document) into an equally accessible PDF.

Source: ​https://www.macfound.org/pages/get-started/pdf/

NFLS member library staff: if you need further assistance making your documents or media more accessible, please contact Lori Baumgart.

It takes a specialized skill set to conduct a complete web accessibility evaluation, but there are several things anyone can do to evaluate a website. Below are 6 things you can do without a knowledge of HTML.

Start by watching this 6-minute video demonstrating these evaluation steps. Then use the details below to try it yourself.

Below are the headlines from the latest 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.

• 2019 Library Improvement & Innovation Grant Purchase
• ALA Announces Free Facilitation Skills Training for Small & Rural Library Workers: Applications Due January 20, 2020
• Registration Open for Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference
• Important Update on the CSLP 2020 Artwork and Products
• Marinette County Libraries’ New Website
• PLA Awards & Grants Applications - DUE TODAY

​Go to the NEWI list of free webinars to find continuing education opportunities in which you can participate without leaving your library; most sessions are 60 minutes long, and are provided – at no charge to you – by associations, agencies, companies, and library systems.
 
Here’s a sample of webinars offered this month:

• Say Yes to Census 2020 – learn how your library can help your community be counted; this census has the potential  to create changes to political representation and Federal funding; (December 3)
• Getting Ready for an Audit: Everything You Need to Know (December 3)
• Summer Library Program and Early Literacy (December 5)
• PR + Media Relations 101 (December 10)
• Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with CodeSciGirls (December 11)
• eBooksForAll Campaign Update on Macmillan Publishers’ embargo on new eBook titles for public libraries (December 17)
• Recruiting and Retaining Younger Generations as Trustees and Friends: Advocates of All Ages (December 18)
• Summer Reading Program 2020: Imagine Your Story (December 31)

Missed a webinar? It might have been archived, so check NEWI’s list of webinar recordings you can watch for free, anytime.
 
NEWI is a continuing education (CE) partnership of library systems located in North Eastern Wisconsin.  The NEWI website aims to be a central source of CE info for staff working at libraries in four library systems: Manitowoc‐Calumet Library System (MCLS), Nicolet Federated Library System (NFLS), Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS), and Winnefox Library System (WLS).

Learn how outcome data can be used to guide programming changes, strategic planning, communication, advocacy, or new funding requests. REGISTER NOW!
 
This webinar is open to everyone. PLA’s Project Outcome is a free online toolkit designed to help public libraries understand and share the impact of their programs and services by providing simple surveys and an easy-to-use process for measuring and analyzing outcomes. Learn more at www.projectoutcome.org.