One of the most impactful things you can do for libraries: Library Legislative Day registration deadline is tomorrow
We are lucky in Wisconsin. As a result of years of hard work and strategy at the state level we have bipartisan support in Madison for library funding.
That could change! Attending Library Legislative Day is crucial to the success of the state team. The work you do every day at the library is important, valuable, and worth standing up for!
This is a budget year, so it’s especially important to show up and advocate for libraries. Speaking from experience, the team walks you through every step of the way. It’s a fascinating peek into how things work at the capitol, and it’s fun to hear stories about libraries from our elected officials.
We especially need attendees from Polk, Price or Rusk, Pierce or Pepin, and Bloomer and Cornell. If you’re from these libraries and have already registered, please let John know (thompson@ifls.lib.wi.us).
Register for Library Legislative Day (deadline is Jan 10!), and get details about the schedule on the Wisconsin Library Association website, including information about lodging.
ANY questions, please contact John (thompson@ifls.lib.wi.us) or Reb (kilde@ifls.lib.wi.us).
We’ll bring your stories to Library Legislative Day
If you can’t make it in person, your stories can speak for your library! Use the form, or send scans of paper comments to Reb to enter or enter them into the form yourself.
Library Love Story support is in the toolkit, including how to add a blurb to your website, and how to request help. Just added: coloring pages!
Yes, library staff can fill out the form with their own stories, too! Staff could talk about how system services help their library. Please ask board members and Friends groups to fill out the form. Invite community partners to contribute! Stories entered by February 5 will make it into the publication. We also share a link to the spreadshseet with you, so there’s no hard cutoff for participating.
Let’s flood the capitol with the good work our libraries are doing for our communities!
2025 Innovative Users Group (IUG) Conference Scholarship Opportunity
The 2025 Innovative Users Group (IUG) Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado, and MORE is excited to offer a scholarship to help cover attendance costs for one MORE member library directors or staff members. This is an excellent opportunity to attend a conference focused on Innovative Interfaces’ library automation products, such as Sierra and Decision Center. The event, taking place from March 13-15, 2025, will feature informative sessions on best practices, new product developments, and practical solutions for optimizing library technologies.
Attending the IUG Conference will give you access to valuable insights, hands-on training, and networking with other library professionals and innovators in the field. Whether you’re looking to deepen your knowledge of Sierra or explore new features and integrations, this conference is a fantastic chance to enhance your library’s services and stay ahead of technology trends.
For more details on the conference, please visit the official IUG 2025 page: IUG 2025 Conference Information.
To Apply:
Submit an email to roholt@ifls.lib.wi.us by January 13, 2025, including the following information:
- Your name and library(s)
- Your role at the library, including experience with Sierra and other Innovative products
- A brief explanation of how attending IUG will benefit your library and the MORE Consortium
Grants and awards
American Heart Association
For the past several years, the American Heart Association has offered grants in to rural libraries in the Midwest to help them become agents of change for health. This year, they are offering a small number of grants, between $500-$1000 to help with things like blood pressure management and nutrition security. Applications are due February 7. For more information, check out the grant overview.
In 2024 Colfax Public Library received a grant for an in-library blood pressure monitor, and according to the AHA, “Given that there is no other (known) free place to check blood pressure in the area, that availability has become an important lifeline,” including for a father of two young children who uses the library’s blood pressure monitor most days to make sure he is on the right track with his efforts to get his blood pressure under control.
John Cotton Dana Awards
Each year, up to eight $10,000 awards are granted by the H.W. Wilson Foundation to libraries displaying excellence in public relations. The John Cotton Dana Awards will be announced in June 2025 by ALA Core and EBSCO Information Services.
Applications for the 2025 John Cotton Dana Awards should be submitted electronically and received by March 3rd, 2025. Apply now.
ARSL Award Nominations
The ARSL Awards for Libraries and Library Workers will be opening for nominations on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Awards will be based on nominees’ accomplishments during the preceding year (January-December 2024), with the exception of the Distinguished Service Award that can take into account nominees’ career-long community engagement. Nominators will be asked to describe their nominees’ commitment to ARSL’s Organizational Values, as well as the strength of their professional practice in the focus area of the award for which they are being nominated. Learn More About the ARSL Awards
Marketing support for Transparent Language
Transparent Language Online has a language (or 130+) waiting for them to discover. Would you like to focus on language learning in the new year? Transparent Language has done a lot of the work for you.
You’ll find a 2025 social media marketing calendar on their website, as well as a brand new “Featured” section in their Marketing Kit with materials tailored specifically for January. You can access it easily here.
Coming up
WAPL 2025 Session Proposal Workshop
Thinking about submitting a proposal for the upcoming WAPL spring conference, but aren’t sure where to start? Need some help fleshing out an idea or paring a big idea down to size?
The Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries (WAPL) Conference Committee is here to help. Drop into this interactive session on Tuesday, January 14 at 1:00 p.m. at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88617271636?pwd=tCPblNuRPGId4bJqWoTNARzoc12C2S.1.
The committee welcomes proposals from libraries of all sizes and from individuals who work in a variety of roles – from front-line staff to technical services to programming and more. They also welcome proposals from vendors, consultants, trustees, friends, and other library partners.
Can’t join us for the meetup but still want to discuss an idea? Please contact the WLA Office at wla@wisconsinlibraries.org or WAPL Conference Chair Heather Thompson at hthompson@mykpl.info.
Annual Report support from IFLS
IFLS staff is hard at work compiling data for your libraries’ annual reports, including physical and electronic collection and circulation information, borrower counts, wireless and public computer use, and any other data we can access directly. Thank you to all who helped with year-end data clean-up projects to ensure accurate reporting! Keep an eye on TWAM for annual report updates.
IFLS is also repeating its very popular annual report in-person workshops.
- Annual Report Workshop (IFLS Office)
Thu Jan 30th 9:30am – 3:00pm - Annual Report Workshop (Somerset Library)
Tue Feb 4th 9:30am – 3:00pm
The February 3 Marketing Tea will go over some ways to use your annual report data throughout the year to communicate how your library supports your community.