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.

Lots of information and resources are coming across the wire. WiLS has created this continually-updated list of them to serve as a reference point for its members. If you would like to see something added to this list, let WiLS know at information@wils.org.

Click Here to Access WiLS' List of Information Resources

Follow-up message from WiLS:

It was wonderful to have you at our 2020 Membership Meeting last week. Thank you so much for being part of the community and for your interest in what we are doing to support our members.
 
The meeting recording and slides are available.
 
Also, we are excited to share that the WiLS 2019 Annual Report has been published and you can find it here.
 
Please let us know at information@wils.org if you have any questions.
 
Thank you!
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WiLS General Information
information@wils.org

See below for WiLS learning opportunities in January - February 2020:

Check out more Upcoming Events that WiLS is hosting at
​https://www.wils.org/wils-events/wilsevents/upcoming-events/.

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

• Free Webinar: Addressing Ableism in Your Built Environment
• Apply for PLA Awards & Grants by December 6
• CSLP 2020 "Imagine Your Story" Incentives & Decor Catalogs: Arriving Next Week
• Figure Eight: A Northern Lakes Mystery by Jeff Nania
• Is Internet Explorer going away?  Not really.
• Ryan Dowd's Librarian's Guide to Homelessness: Online Training Coming in 2020
• Small Library Strategic Planning: Funding Available

Webinar content will help prepare participants for conversations with their organizations’ key stakeholders such as administrators, IT personnel, and content creators. Participants will gain knowledge and confidence to navigate digital preservation discussions and advocate for their organization’s long-term digital asset management and preservation work. Join us for this free learning opportunity! 

In case you missed the September 6, 2019 webinar, you can now review the slides, watch the webinar recording and view supporting materials.

Another round of the WPLC OverDrive Support Course is set to start on September 30th.  It’s an online 5-week course, designed to help library staff provide front-line support to OverDrive users.
 
It covers:  

• the basics of OverDrive (including Libby)
• common and not-so-common support questions, and
• the tools for providing support such as Marketplace, OverDrive Help, and the WPLC OverDrive Support Google Community.

Below are the headlines from the 08/02/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.

• Best of Luck to Megan!
• BadgerLink Outage August 9 - 12
  
• WLA Spotlight on Inclusive Services: Submit Your Example and You’re Done!
  
• Perspectives on Reading - Call for Submissions
  
• WiLSWorld Shorts: Digital Preservation Advocacy
  
• Digital Readiness Survey from Recollection Wisconsin
  

Below are the headlines for the 06/14/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.

• 2019 Library Improvement & Innovation Grants Awarded
• NEWI-Area Library Staff Named Members of 2019 Youth Services Institute Cohort
  
• WLA 2019 Awards: Now Accepting Applications
  
• Door County Library is Hiring
  
• WiLS Ideas to Action Fund: Applications Due Today
  

Eight scholarships of up to $350 each will be awarded to current or future library professionals who may face barriers to attending WiLSWorld. 

​People from underrepresented groups in librarianship are strongly encouraged to apply, as are library school students, folks that have to stay overnight to make the travel work, and new professionals. ​Apply by July 1, 2019.

Below are the headlines for the 06/07/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.

• NFLS Website has New InfoSoup Page
  
• New Delivery Tubs are Coming
  
• Something to Keep in Mind During Your Summer Library Program
  
• WiLS Ideas to Action Fund: Deadline Extended to June 14
  
• Winnefox Library System is Hiring: New Assistant Director
  
• Are you planning a visit to a legislator's office while at ALA?
  

Below are the headlines for 05/24/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.

• Things got a little wild at the NFLS office last week!
• WiLS Ideas to Action Fund: Submissions Due May 31
• Water Summit June 4-6, Door County
• iSchool CE Payment Policy Change
• Programming & Resource Ideas for Libraries
• 2019 LIBRARY IMPROVEMENT AND INNOVATION GRANT

WiLSWorld, on July 23rd and 24th at the Pyle Center in Madison, is going to be jam-packed with great learning and sharing opportunities. Here are just a few exciting highlights:

• Keynote speaker Rebecca Stavick of Do Space and Open Nebraska,  LJ Mover & Shaker, and member of the Urban Libraries Council Executive Board.
• Plenary speaker, Madison Public Library - Pinney Branch's own Sarah Lawton, LJ Mover & Shaker, featured speaker at Library Journal's Design Institute, and member of the PLA Task Force on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice.
• Programs on library data, web accessibility, ebook innovations, Pressbooks, expanding broadband access, and so much more!
• Morning workshops on how to get things done through process design, talking the language of user experience, and making the case for open educational resources
• A reduced-cost afternoon workshop on the role of libraries in advancing racial equity with Gordon F. Goodwin from the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, a program of Race Forward, and plenary speaker Sarah Lawton.

​Read more on the WiLSWorld 2019 website.

Here are some upcoming WiLS Events for April, May, and June - including Peer Council and the 2019 Ideas to Action Fund!  Learn more about WiLS at https://www.wils.org/about-wils/.

WHAT:  The Games in Libraries Conference is open to all library staff from public, academic, or special libraries. It encompasses all types of games - board, card, video, etc.
WHEN:  May 31, 2019
WHERE:  UW-Eau Claire's McIntyre Library
WHY:  Whether your library uses games currently or not, the Games in Libraries Conference is for you! 
​COST:  FREE! Funding provided by the Ideas to Action grant from WiLS. 

As many things in our society become "gamifed" (e.g., Snapchat streaks), we need to learn and understand the various ways in which games of all types can be used as educational tools. This conference is one in which we hope to show, share, and learn from peers about how they use games in libraries, why adding games to a collection might be useful, and how they can promote their use with their users.

BiblioBoard 101 Webinar
Friday, March 8th at 1:00 pm

Learn how to provide tools to support your local authors while also growing your readers' access to digital resources - all available for free and with no waiting!

​For creators, those resources include Pressbooks, SELF-e, and the Wisconsin Author Project. For readers, BiblioBoard Library provides access to much of this content created by Wisconsin authors and a lot more, all available to read immediately - no waiting for holds and no logging in.

Join WPLC Project Managers from WiLS, Melody Clark and Andi Coffin, in a free and virtual webinar as they share information about these four resources and how you can help users find and use them. This presentation will be recorded and shared.