Posts from the ‘WiLS Events’ Category

WiLS Takes the Virtual Office to the Next Level!

Increases productivity by meeting in dreams

Since July, the WiLS staff have been working in a virtual office.  This arrangement has been going so well that they are now beginning a bold experiment to virtualize themselves and to meet with one another in the dream world.

Meeting in dreams, also known as  mutual dreaming, has been the stuff of romance novels and science fiction movies.  Now, WiLS is planning to harness that power to hold staff meetings between 2 and 4 a.m. to increase productivity and free up daytime for other projects.

“Once I read that some people believe that it may theoretically be possible, I was sold!” says director Stef Morrill, “We believe in innovation and experimentation – so why not this?”

While their virtual office provides WILS staff with flexibility in dress code, there are higher expectations for attire at dream meetings.  The group believes that wearing formal meeting attire to bed increases the chances that the experiment will work. “Sure, it took time to adjust to sleeping in a tie and dress shoes,” says staff member Jeff Brunner, “but it puts me in a meeting frame of mind….and I’ll look snazzy at our future dream meeting!”

While they have not yet had a successful meeting in their dreams, there is progress.  Says Morrill, “At first, people were dreaming about cats playing baseball and cover art from the Wisconsin Digital Library.  Now, we are all dreaming about meeting.  We make steps forward every day, and I can’t wait to see where we go next……in our dreams!”

WiLS Announces Return of Popular ‘Gods of Wisconsin Libraries’ Collection

After a brief hiatus, WiLS is happy to announce that it is again accepting submissions for its popular Gods of Wisconsin Libraries Collection.  The Collection celebrates the gods who live with Wisconsin librarians and library workers.

“We’re really excited to re-launch this great community-building project,” said Stef Morrill while playing fetch with Enlil, the Sumerian god of the wind and divine ruler of the Earth and its human inhabitants.

“Isn’t Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of embalming and tomb-caretaker who watches over the dead, just so cute?” gushed Melissa McLimans while trying to get his god to sit still for a photo. “He loves playing fetch, going for walks and weighing the hearts of the dead to determine their worthiness to enter the ancient Egyptian underworld.”

Clearly, WiLS staff are excited about the project and they’re lining up to submit their personal and household deities. But it’s not just WiLS staff.  Some members of the Wisconsin library community have gotten wind of the project and have already submitted their favorite gods to the project.

“My god is Freyja, the ancient Norse goddess of love, sexuality, beauty, fertility, gold, war, and death.  She’s super active, even though she’s getting older.  I imagine she’ll be with us for three or four more centuries at least,” reported Angela Vanden Elzen, Web Services Librarian at Lawrence University.

Ted Mulvey, Information Literacy Librarian at UW-Oshkosh tells us that “Apollo, son of Zeus, Greek god of the sun, music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague and darkness, prophecy, poetry, purity, athletics, manly beauty, and enlightenment, is forever drinking from the toilet.  I just can’t seem to train it out of him!”

So don’t delay!  Submit a description and photo of YOUR god (as long as his or her divine likeness can be captured by the insignificant technology of mankind) to today!