Weekly Digest: DPI collecting stories, mental health first aid, SRP 2026 & 2027, coming events

Reb on Vacation

Reb is on vacation this week, hooray for Reb! She entrusted the Weekly Digest to other IFLS staff and will be back at it next week.

DPI Wants to Hear from You!

September is fast approaching and our friends at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction are interested in hearing about any innovative programming or initiatives you have planned for Library Card Sign Up Month. They want to highlight your stories in upcoming communications from DPI, including the Wisconsin Libraries for Everyone newsletter. Contact Jeni Schomber at jeni.schomber@dpi.wi.gov if you have cool stuff to share.

In addition, Assistant State Superintendent Dr. Darrell Williams is a supporter of and advocate for libraries. He is hoping to schedule visits to public libraries around the state during the month of September. If you’d like to schedule a visit from him, please reach out to Beth Tomev to work out logistics and scheduling. You can reach Beth at Elizabeth.Tomev@dpi.wi.gov.

Reminder: Mental Health First Aid

The Rusk County Community Library will be hosting a Mental Health First Aid training on August 30th from 9am-2pm. In addition, the library is working on offering a virtual training. Library workers from around the area have first dibs! Register for the live training OR to express interest in a virtual training by filling out

this form. If you haven’t yet taken this training and you work with the public in any capacity, please consider this opportunity! Library workers have found that having more information and understanding is helpful in a large variety of situations!

Two Ways to Influence CSLP Themes and Slogans for 2026 and 2027

Themes and slogans for 2024 (Adventure – Adventure Begins at Your Library) and 2025 (Art – Color Our World) are already in place, but you can weigh in on slogan and theme for 2026 and 2027 (see the list below). You have two options:

Reach out to our state representative on the CSLP board, Jeni Schomber (schomber@dpi.wi.gov) with your preferences on the list below by September 13.
Join in on a nation-wide listening session on either Thursday, August 24 at 12 pmor Friday, September 8 at 2 pm. Register here to get a reminder/connection information: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJNTvKeq7-h8FDowG5GGMEDysAx-2s0tZS_I9Q6mVKKmYprw/viewform Note: these listening sessions are not for wordsmithing, all of the slogans have already gone through a process to make sure they don’t violate copyright, etc.

Voting Slate

2026 Potential Slogans for theme: Dinosaur

Big and Small Adventures for All / Grandes y pequeñas aventuras para todos
Explore with a Roar! / ¡Explora con un rugido!
Romp, Stomp, Read / Corre, pisa, lee
Unearth a Story / Desenterrar una historia

2027 Potential Themes

Cooking/Food
Games/Play
Engineering/Invention/Technology
Mystery/Detective/Suspense
Outdoors/Nature/Camping
Plants/Flowers/Gardening
Time Travel/History
Travel
Vehicles/Transportation
Weather

Lost in Transit: Rubber Bands

A box destined for River Falls with a bag of large rubber bands and CD bubble bags was lost in transit in late June. If your library received this package by mistake, please route to River Falls and let Katelyn (noack@ifls.lib.wi.us) know. Thanks!

Coming up outside IFLS

DPI Presents Solar Eclipse Activities for Libraries (SEAL) Workshop Opportunities

Two solar eclipses are coming to North America – an Annular Eclipse in October 2023 and a Total Solar Eclipse in April 2024 – and it’s time for public library staff to get ready!

The in-person workshops will prepare and empower public library staff to facilitate meaningful solar and space science programs for their patrons that build curiosity, knowledge, and inspiration. Attendees will receive hands-on training on operating solar telescopes and other methods for direct and indirect solar viewing, best practices for developing and facilitating STEM programs, and how to engage with community partners and library-specific digital resource networks. Attendees will also be able to sign up for free solar eclipse glasses to distribute to their communities in advance of both eclipses! These workshops will use materials from the circulation kits (one designed for younger audiences and the other designed for multi-generational audiences) and will highlight best practices in using those materials but the strategies, activities, and resources shared during the workshop will be useful to attendees whether they have access to a circulation kit or not.

The workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and lunch will be provided for participants. Please register for ONE WORKSHOP ONLY using one of the registration links below.