National news: IMLS terminated grant funding reinstated
Today, the American Library Association (ALA) greeted an announcement by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that it had reinstated all the agency’s grants, including those to libraries and library organizations across the country.
Read ALA’s press release with all the details.
Local new and notables
Cricket Lafond, Clear Lake Public Library director, steps down
After more than two decades of serving her community as library director, Cricket is stepping down. We’ll miss her! A farewell gathering will be held at the Clear Lake Public Library on Thursday, December 18th from 1 – 4.
The library will be closed temporarily from December 22 to January 16. You’ll notice that it won’t appear as a pickup location after December 5.
Planned TEACH outage
From Kris: The IFLS/NWLS change from Badgernet to TEACH Network services has been scheduled for December 12, 2025 at 8am. All Badgernet/TEACH libraries will lose their internet connections during the change. We are hoping this will be a short outage (less than an hour) but if there are issues that require troubleshooting by AT&T it could be longer. Please inform both your staff and the public of this planned outage. Additional updates will be shared as they become available.
Changes coming to website training
From Erica: Expect some changes to the LeanWI website training approach in 2026. Watch Erica’s emails for updates. Not on that mailing list? Request to be added or ask a question by submitting a HelpDesk ticket on the LeanWI training website.
Inspired by the Palooza
From Lindy at Rice Lake Public Library: Staff at RLPL were inspired by Staff Palooza to give their break room a makeover! The standout points about staff burnout got us thinking about our own “decompression” space, and how we could make our staff room a more relaxing getaway during a possibly stressful workday.
Their Friends of the Library kindly donated a sound machine, space heater, a “happy lamp” for winter days, and a furniture upgrade. More photos at the end.
Before
After
Good news for mystery and comics lovers
Please share with mystery- and comic-loving staff and patrons!
The WPLC has added 493 ebook mysteries to Wisconsin’s Digital Library. They can be found here: https://libbyapp.com/library/wplc/curated-1746301/page-1 in a curated list titled “Available Now Mystery”. This package is similar to the All Access Romance collection which has prove to be a popular and very cost effective addition, with the cost per circ averaging $.06 per circ.
The WPLC Selection Committee also approved adding an all access comics package to Wisconsin’s Digital Library beginning Jan 2026. The collection contains over 5700 titles for all ages from Disney, Marvel, IDW, Image, and Dark Horse. This collection will help offset fill gaps left from discontinued hoopla subscriptions.
These new titles will be available with no holds or waiting. Subscriptions are a very cost-effective way to add to our collections. The project managers welcome questions: [email protected]
Let’s go to the PLA conference!
The chance to go to the Public Library Association Conference, in Minneapolis April 1-3, is pretty exciting. A national conference that is focused specifically on the needs and interests of public libraries is…well…WOW! Please check out the IFLS Learning Loop Blog post for great opportunities to get help attending the conference in a way that best works for you! Some deadlines are coming up, so please take a look:
- Interested in taking a coach bus on April 2 that will go from Eau Claire to the Convention Center (with stops in Menomonie, Baldwin, and Hudson on the way)?
- Fill in this form by TOMORROW, December 5—not a commitment to take the bus, just trying to ascertain interest to know if we should hire a bus.
- You can get an exhibits-only pass for $55 (or apply for a scholarship to get one). The exhibit hall has over 100 exhibitors and a How-To stage with hourly 20-minute presentations about practical topics.
- You can also apply for a scholarship to attend the whole conference, take a look at the blog post for more information! Applications due December 12.
MORE end of year clean up: patron records
From TWAM: Another year-end clean-up project: patron records! Just as with the item record clean-up shared by Jackee, there is no form for you to complete this year for patron record clean-up. Patron records will be deleted in the last week of December per MORE policy: all records with an expiration date more than 3 years in the past, less than $5 owed, and unused in over one year.
Once the project is complete, Lori will distribute a list of deleted patron records in case you have paper registration records to maintain.
If you do not want your patron records deleted by system staff, let Lori Roholt know by December 22.
Learning opportunities and calendar highlights
Watch for Feedback That Actually Works Recorded Webinar Next Week
As part of our contract with REALiving EAP, we will have access to a recorded webinar created for us by Jesseca Erb, called Feedback That Actually Works from December 8-December 21. Leah will be sending out the link to access it bright and early Monday morning, so watch for it.
End of Year Director check-in
December 19, 10-11 am What better way to round out the year than gathering with your colleagues from around the system for a Director Check-In? We’ll spend time talking about landmarks for your library over the past year and resolutions you have for the coming year. And of course, if you have questions for the group about another topic, bring them along, we’ll allow some time at the end for that. Register
Just added: Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference
Registration is now open for the 15th Annual Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference, held January 21-22, 2026. Fourteen sessions will be available in four different tracks, including Collection Development, Management, Programming and Smorgasbord (new!).
Coming up
