Staff News

WLA election results

Congratulations to Katelyn Dubiel (IFLS) and Nick Andrews (Elmwood) for being elected to serve our state on WLA’s Wisconsin Small Libraries board, and to our soon-to-be IFLS staffer Jackee Johnson for her election to the Technical Services Section’s representative to the WLA Board. Thanks to all who step up to lead our statewide organization and represent our area and interests!

New NWLS director

Northern Waters Library Service (NWLS), headquartered in Ashland, Wisconsin, is pleased to announce the hiring of a new director, Katherine Elchert. Katherine comes to NWLS with over 10 years of public library management experience, most recently as director of McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. (She also served as the Rice Lake Public Library director.)

Her experience includes effectively advocating for libraries, skillfully communicating with local and state leaders, and improving policy/procedures for organizations she serves. Her leadership style centers on fostering teamwork, empowering staff, and creating a welcoming, inclusive environment for all community members. Throughout her career, Katherine has demonstrated a commitment to breaking down barriers and enhancing access to library services. She is enthusiastic about supporting, listening to, and collaborating with our member libraries.

Library Love Story and Library Legislative Day

Our goal this year is to have strong representation at Library Legislative Day (Feb 11) from every assembly district in the IFLS service area. It’s a budget year, and we’re probably heading into some challenging times, so this is the year to dive in! There’s little preparation needed, and the event is easy and fun to participate in. Please participate with as many of these options as you can:

• Commit to going yourself. Registration closes on January 10. Please let us know when you register! We don’t find out until a day or two before the event.
• Commit to sending someone from your library community (staff, trustee, Friends or Foundation member, community partner). Please let us know when they register. If they can share contact information, that would be great.
• Identify community partners to personally invite to add a Library Love Story. The form officially launches on Jan 2, but you can use it now.
• Create a short (less than 60 seconds or so) video featuring community partners sending a virtual message to their elected official.
• And, of course, start collecting love stories. Reb will be getting everything you need out on Monday. Erica is planning a hands-on work session to add a button to your website.

Watch for an email from John with all the details. Reb will be at the next Directors Check-in to answer any questions. Our colleagues at OWLS put together a great Beginner’s Guide to Library Legislative Day.

Please include your building project!

It would be great to see IFLS libraries included on this statewide resource! Since 2019, has your library completed a space reconfiguration, renovation/refresh, or other building project? If YES, please consider sharing it with the Wisconsin Library Buildings and Spaces project.

The deadline to add your project is Monday, December 30th, 2024. Share your project now!

Call for Proposals

The Upgrade: Enhancing Library Services with Technology conference explores the intersection of technology and library services. Call for proposals now open for presentations, workshops, lightning talks, and roundtable discussions. The deadline to submit your idea is March 2, 2025!

The conference is scheduled for October 6-7, 2025 at the Pyle Center at UW-Madison. Keynote speakers will be Dr. Brandy McNeil (Deputy Director of Branch Programs and Services at the New York Public Library), and Dr. Alex Hanna (Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute). Registration will open Spring 2025.

A wealth of opportunities

Free online course: Complementary and Integrative Health

The Network of the National Library of Medicine has developed a free online class, Exploring Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH). If you’re curious about CIH and how you can help your patrons find evidence-base resources, this course is a great opportunity to expand your knowledge and skills at no cost.

• Dates: January 13–31, 2025
• Platform: Moodle (available 24/7 for your convenience)
• Commitment: About 2 hours per week, with a short 1-page assignment due at the end of each week
• Contact Hours: 6.00
• Registration: You’ll need to create an free account to register.

In this 3-week, work-at-your-own-pace course, you’ll:

• Understand CIH, including perspectives from both Eastern and Western medicine.
• Explore different CIH approaches, their risks, and their benefits.
• Learn strategies to avoid scams and fraudulent claims related to CIH products and services.
• Discover trusted resources like NCCIH, PubMed, and MedlinePlus for finding reliable CIH information.

Raising Wisconsin’s Children free virtual conference

Get ready for an exciting, day-long event designed for everyone who raises and educates Wisconsin’s children—dads, moms, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers. This FREE and VIRTUAL conference is also approved for up to 4 Wisconsin Registry hours for early childhood professionals. Discover cutting-edge, science-based ideas from today’s leading experts.

This year, dive into the transformative power of social and emotional skills in children and teens. Topics include:

• Early brain and child development
• Mindfulness and compassion
• Navigating challenging behavior
• The transition to kindergarten
• Anxiety in children and teens
• Raising resilient teenagers

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to enhance your skills and knowledge. Learn more and register here: http://go.wisc.edu/raisingwi

Looking for neuroinclusion study participants

Faculty and graduate students from the Information School at the University of Washington are seeking librarians to participate in an IMLS-funded research project to create a toolkit to improve neuroinclusion in library workplaces.

You are eligible to participate if:

• You are a librarian or library supervisor as defined within your organization
• You identify as autistic and/or ADHD (a medical diagnosis is not required) OR you identify as neurotypical (not neurodivergent in any way)
• You are currently employed at a public or academic library or have worked in public or academic libraries within the past five years.

The goal of the study is to is to build libraries’ capacity, at the team level, to improve employment outcomes of neurodivergent librarians, including representation, empowerment, equity, belonging, and advancement. Participants will take part in a 90-minute virtual session over Zoom in January to provide input and feedback on toolkit design. During the session the research team will ask you to review our preliminary toolkit design and share your ideas.

If interested, please complete the intake survey at bit.ly/ToolkitDesign to participate in a design session to verify your eligibility to participate and ask you to identify which sessions you are available to participate in.
This research study has been approved by the University of Washington Institutional Review Board. If you have questions or concerns, please contact the research team at neurodiversity@uw.edu.

Just added to the IFLS calendar

• Annual Report Workshop (Somerset Library)
  Tuesday, February 4th 2025, 09:30 CST
• Annual Report Workshop (IFLS Office)
  Thursday, January 30th 2025, 09:30 CST
• Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference
  Thursday, January 23rd 2025, 09:00 CST

Coming up