Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference
The Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference is:
- a FREE 2-day conference for library workers in Wisconsin on January 22 and 23.
- Fourteen different high quality webinars on a variety of topics.
- Extra-fun to attend live, and also available as recordings!
Leah will be sending a few highlights by email every day until the conference, or check out the whole line-up at the WWWWC Website!
Highlight: Looking for tips for public speaking, advocacy, or difficult conversations?
- Crucial Conversations on Thursday, January 23, 1-2 pm
- Embodied Communication on Thursday, January 23, 1-2 pm
Get an intern
Registration is now open for the 2025 Teen Inclusive Internship Program webinar. This webinar will introduce attendees to the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funded Wisconsin Teen Inclusive Internship Program.
Thursday, February 7, 2025, at 10 a.m. REGISTRATION LINK
Last summer, six Wisconsin public libraries participated in the program receiving funding to recruit and hire paid summer teen interns that reflected the diversity of their communities. The interns highlighted and showcased their skills, interests, and experiences by developing and implementing a community focused Connected Learning Project under the guidance of librarian mentors. For 2025, up to $2500 in funding is available for each of the Wisconsin public libraries chosen to participate in the program that runs from June 1 to August 31, 2025. This is expected to be a competitive process.
For more information on how your library can apply to become one of the participating libraries in this year’s Teen Inclusive Internship Program, register to attend the upcoming informational webinar:
For more information or questions, please reach out to the DPI’s Library Services Team Public Library Consultant Jeni Schomber at jeni.schomber@dpi.wi.gov.
Please join The Trustee Project, so we can learn about trustees and how to best support their work!
Study title: The Trustee Project: Understanding Public Library Trustee Selection, Training and Collaboration for Equity, Access, and Civic Engagement
Overview: Public Library trustees are foundational in library administration. They generally hold decision-making power over policies, hiring directors, and budgets. Yet we know almost nothing about who they are, what they value, how they make decisions, are trained, or how well the trustee-administrator relationship functions. The last substantive national study of them occurred in 1973*! The Trustee Project is a 3-year research project exploring all these issues and more.
Invitation: We are looking for any trustee, former or current, or library administrator who works closely with trustees to participate in a 30-minute survey, located here: https://tinyurl.com/mryabrrc
We hope that YOU will take the survey, whether you are a trustee or a library administrator who works closely with them. If you’d like to speak further about the survey, please reach out to us at TrusteeProject@uky.edu.
If you would like to participate further, we seek participants for in-depth interviews, and in Year 3 of the project we will be building a Participatory Action Research Council from earlier participants (travel expenses paid). We will host a PA Council symposium where we will develop a modular toolkit of evidence-based training, selection and collaboration materials aimed at all sizes and types of libraries. We would love to hear from people who have had trustee experiences across the spectrum of positive and negative, and/or those who have ideas to share. A link in the survey will invite further participation, if you are interested. You may choose the level at which you would like to participate.
Research team: The research team includes PI Shannon Crawford Barniskis, PhD, MLIS, Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky School of Information Science, and research assistants Ash Pechon and Aiden Stivers.Sponsor: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, grant #RE-256642-OLS-24.
Shannon Crawford Barniskis (she/her/hers), Assistant Professor, UK School of Information Science, www.DrSCB.com
New on the website
Library Love Story QR code
Reb added a QR code that links to the Library Love Story form to the Toolkit article. QR codes are most useful on print material where people are likely to have their phone and don’t have access to a computer.
I can tell when you promote this because a little flurry of responses come in. You’re doing a good job promoting this! Please keep promoting it right up to the February 5 deadline. If you want to see comments, they’re in this spreadsheet.
An easier way to find the IFLS Staff Academy
We added this information to the Continuing Education page and the Article Index. You’ll find a button that takes you directly to the IFLS Staff Academy on the For Librarians page.
Hosted on Niche Academy, the IFLS Staff Academy is full of short tutorials about things you need to know: Using MORE and Sierra, Interlibrary Loan, Library Ethics, Youth Services, Collection Development, Trustee Development, and Administration. It is also where Ryan Dowd’s famous Homeless Academy lives.
The IFLS Staff Academy supplements material on the Article Index. Where appropriate, Niche Academy videos are linked from the relevant article.
You will need to create an account to access most of the content. Be sure to use your library email.
Take a look, more content will continue to be added! If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Leah.
Coming up
Annual Report workshop change of location
Because IFLS will be getting new flooring we decided to move the locale for the January 30th Annual Report Workshop to Fall Creek!
Alzheimer’s and dementia
Ryan Dowd: How to Work with People with Dementia and Alzheimer’s, February 13, 1-2 pm Register
- Symptoms of dementia and how it impacts the brain
- Communication “Do’s” and “Don’ts” when talking to someone with dementia
- Tools staff can use and how to “redirect”
Note: This webinar is available to all public library workers in Wisconsin thanks to sponsorship by the Department of Public Instruction Public Library Team, with funding assistance from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. A recording of this session will also be available on the IFLS Staff Academy , where you can watch other archived webinars and also the core training. If you don’t have an account, you will need to start one using your library email address. Let Leah know if you have any questions!
On the calendar