Data Dashboard pilot extended to June 30, 2025
All library staff are encouraged to utilize this free tool! The dashboard includes over 35 data points from the Annual Report, as well as some customized calculations. All public library service data (as reported to DPI) from 2015-2023 will be available in a visualized format that allows for peer library comparisons. In addition, the dashboard offers cohort options based on library locale and resident population size for optional benchmarking options when examining library data.
You can access the dashboard on the WPLC website at: https://wplc.info/dashboard. (Please note this webpage is unlisted on the WPLC website so you will not be able to navigate to it from the main page.) No login credentials are needed!
As part of the pilot, feedback is being solicited from users about the benefits and challenges of dashboard use and the ways in which library staff utilize tools such as this one. To that end, users are being provided with training materials on how to use the dashboard and different ways to consider/engage with the included data. Your experiences will be an essential component of improving public library data access and use as part of this pilot! We hope you will participate.
For any questions about the dashboard pilot, please reach out to Kim at WiLS – her email address is kim@wils.org.
Directors: please send stories!
(from Tessa Schmidt, DPI. You should have gotten the complete email, this is a reminder.) A delegation of Wisconsin library supporters is scheduled to talk with members of the US Senate and House of Representatives about the significant work libraries are doing in our state and how federal funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and in particular the LSTA Grants to States program, makes that work possible.
Please write a brief letter on your library’s letterhead to share your story. If you’d like to address your letter to a specific federal representative, you can find their contact information at Congress.gov.
Send a digital copy of your letter to allyson.hanz@dpi.wi.gov by February 28. Our Wisconsin delegation will leave printed copies of all of the letters we receive at each of the offices they visit during Voices for Libraries.
New on the website
New Youth Services Web Resources
You can find these new resources on the Youth Services Page of the IFLS website:
- Early Literacy and Child Development Resources and Ideas
- A four-hour Youth Services Basics Course from Indiana State Library–you’ll have to create an account, but the course is free. Great for those new to youth services and/or libraries!
And new in the article Resources on Accessibility and Inclusion:
ALSC Library Services to Underserved Children and Their Caregivers Toolkits
- Trauma Toolkit (September 2024)
- Spanish Speaking Populations (December 2020)
- New Americans (February 2022)
- Financial and Housing Insecurity (October 2020)
- Children with Print Disabilities (April 2021)
- Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder (May 2022)
- Access to Technology (February 2021)
See what’s new in the Article Index and new staff
Towards the bottom of the For IFLS Libraries page, you’ll find a list of the most recent additions to the Article Index. Scroll down, it’s in the right column after the Tech Support information.
Check out the Contacts and News page for updated staff listings.
Jeesh.
I don’t know about you all, but your friendly Digest editor (Reb) is done with February, and also feeling pretty anxious about March. Weird times! Here’s a little gift for you, wonderful library community.
Seven hours of birdsongs. (Sorry about ads for those of us that have the free version.)
Coming up on the IFLS calendar
Website training: Scheduling Elements with the Divi Supreme Pro PluginThu Feb 20th 2:00pm – 3:00pm