WiLS

May 1

Call your Senators to Support Federal Library Funding

The Fight for Libraries! has moved to the United States Senate. On April 26th, two “Dear Appropriator” letters began circulating in the Senate, one seeking $186.6 million for Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the other $27 million for the Innovative Approaches to Libraries (IAL) program for FY 2018. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are again championing funds for LSTA, while Senators Reed, Grassley (R-IA) and Stabenow (D-MI) are leading the fight for IAL. Read more

Apr 20

New Teaching Tool for World Laws

Global-Regulation.com is the largest search engine of world’s laws in English offering 1.6 million laws from 85 countries. Unlimited annual subscription is just $100 per school.

See here for teaching examples with this resource.

Please contact Dr. Sean Goltz at with questions.

For pricing, please use our price quote request form.

Apr 19

WiLS April 2017 Member Interview: Carrie Portz, Spring Green Community Library

One of our greatest joys at WiLS is hearing our members tell the stories of the big and important work they are doing – interesting new projects or initiatives, or even interesting and new approaches to old projects. And, in addition to hearing about it, it makes us even happier when we can share those stories with other members. Each month, WiLS is proud to feature an interview with one of our library members. This month, we interview Carrie Portz, Director of the Spring Green Community Library.

WiLS Webinar: SimplyE for Consortia on May 16th

Join WiLS for a free webinar with Valerie Horton and Paul Swanson of Minitex to learn about developments for SimplyE, a mobile app that combines ebook collections from multiple vendors into a single, easy-to-browse collection for library patrons. Minitex is working with the New York Public Library and other partners to expand SimplyE‘s ability to federate and combine ebooks from multiple collections to support consortia. Join us to learn how the project is progressing and hear from Minitex about the experience of working and contributing to a national open-source project. Read more

Apr 14

Academic Library QuestionPoint Webinar April 19, 1:00 p.m.

Your users’ information needs don’t end at the library door or when the sun goes down. QuestionPoint provides a complete virtual reference management system, integrating chat, e-mail, a reference knowledge base, reports and analytic tools to give you a complete view of reference activity. Expand your hours of service to offer live help anytime through membership in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative.

Join OCLC staff on April 19th at 1:00 p.m. for an informational webinar about QuestionPoint. WiLS members receive a 10% discount on the service.

To register, please see this link

For questions please contact Karri Sites at

Apr 11

Public Library Stories for National Library Legislative Day

On May 2, 2017, members of the public library community have an opportunity to meet with Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. to advocate for libraries in Wisconsin. Our public library members are seeking your support in the form of a story (two sentences) and photo to share from each Congressional District on how LSTA and eRate funded projects have impacted patrons. Read more

Apr 7

QuestionPoint Webinar April 20, 1:00 p.m.

Your users’ information needs don’t end at the library door or when the sun goes down. QuestionPoint provides a complete virtual reference management system, integrating chat, e-mail, a reference knowledge base, reports and analytic tools to give you a complete view of reference activity. Expand your hours of service to offer live help anytime through membership in the 24/7 Reference Cooperative.

Join OCLC staff on April 20th at 1:00 p.m. for an informational webinar about QuestionPoint. WiLS members receive 10% the service.

To register, please see this link

For questions please contact Karri Sites at

Apr 7

Report Out! Library Technology Conference 2017

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Library Technology Conference at Macalester College in St. Paul. It was the second time I have attended this conference and found it so enjoyable and engaging that I felt compelled to share it with our members. Read more

Apr 5

ASCLA eBook Webinar for Public Libraries: May 17

We invite you to join our friends at RAILS in Illinois for a webinar on May 17th that promises to be enlightening!
Libraries have the power to drive ebook discovery because they know what people need and read in their communities. Hear how RAILS created partnerships with publishers and an ebook vendor with a project called PopUp Picks to leverage library expertise to connect community members to their next great read and increase community engagement.

Registration is required and there is a cost associated with the webinar. For complete information and registration, please see: http://www.ala.org/ascla/online-learning/ebook-innovation

Apr 4

Upcoming Films on Demand Webinar

Infobase is offering a great informative webinar about Films on Demand for WiLS members in early April. Films On Demand, the flagship streaming video platform from Infobase, offers more than 24,000 titles across 855 subject categories, all of which have been specifically selected for academic use and include public performance rights. This session will highlight specific subject strengths of the collection and will also outline the wealth of methods provided for finding, playing, and sharing videos. We will also cover the service’s many customization options, such as creating custom segments and playlists, adding an intro video to an existing playlist, and much more!

Films On Demand from Infobase: An Overview and Introduction (WiLS)
Tuesday, April 11, 2017, 10:00 AM CST
Registration Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2802951289015725314

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.