WiLS Virtual Booth for WLA 2025

New Resources from WiLS

In the last year, we’ve added new and popular products to our Cooperative Purchasing catalog, including these highlights:

• Unlimited access to streaming services with Access Video on Demand
• Cooking demos with Library Chef
• Materials for older adults like GetSetUp
• Career and test prep support with Peterson’s Career Prep

Baker & Taylor Alternatives 

 When one chapter closes, WiLS helps you write the next.  
The recent announcement of the closing of Baker & Taylor has caused WiLS members to pivot quickly to secure new sources for their print books. The good news is that the WiLS Cooperative Purchasing team has partnerships with trusted, reliable library suppliers who provide discounts to program participants.

MyWiLS Orientation Toolkit for Public Libraries

 In a world where staff transitions are hard, WiLS makes it easier.  
Are you new to your public library position? The WiLS Cooperative Purchasing team can ease your transition with the MyWiLS Orientation Toolkits for public library staff! The Toolkit is specifically designed for public libraries to help you document your subscription information – URLs and access information, usage stats, invoicing preferences, and communications from WiLS – to make staff transitions easier and ensure uninterrupted access to your resources. In addition, it includes information on our partners and other valuable resources. Are you an academic or K12 librarians? Don’t worry! We have MyWiLS Orientation Toolkits especially for you, too!

Join CooPAC

 It’s the WiLS Cooperative Purchasing Advisory Committee….and it rhymes with Tupac. 
We are seeking new members of the WiLS Cooperative Purchasing Advisory Committee. It’s a win-win: you can share your valuable insights as WiLS grows and strengthens its Cooperative Purchasing program, as well as have a new feather to add to your résumé hat! The time commitment is minimal, the people are great, and the WiLS staff is always there to make your participation easy.

Interested in learning more about these Cooperative Purchasing products, resources, or opportunities? Visit the WiLS Cooperative Purchasing website, complete this short form for a quote, or reach out to the team at coop@wils.org.

Custom Strategic Plan Development

 Planning the future one library, one community, one story at a time.  
We’ve worked with library systems and libraries large and small in Wisconsin, as well as non-profits, to develop custom strategic plans. We offer a flexible framework that relies on data collection to help make the best decisions and is rooted in the belief that the library is important to its community and its community is important to the library. We listen to what you need and work with you to make it happen within your budget. For more information, contact Melissa McLimans at melissa@wils.org.

Strategic Plan Coaching

 Strategic planning made possible, with WiLS by your side.  
WILS’ strategic planning coaching services is a budget-friendly strategic planning process that may be an ideal fit for a library who has time and capacity but would like support and direction during the process. Strategic planning coaching is a WiLS supported strategic planning process in which the library carries out the bulk of the work – including writing your own plan – with training support and guidance from WiLS along the way. For more information, contact Kim Kiesewetter at kim@wils.org or Melissa McLimans at melissa@wils.org.

Small Library Strategic Planning Cohort

 Every library deserves a roadmap. Every community deserves a voice.  
A strategic plan helps libraries make decisions, big and small, and every library should be able to afford a strategic plan. Each year, we offer an opportunity for a cohort of public libraries in small communities (5,000 people or fewer) to learn about their community’s needs and aspirations and use them to craft strategic directions for the next 3-5 years. The next application period opens in the summer of 2026. If you have any questions, contact Laura Damon-Moore at laura@wils.org.

Data and Research Services

 From data to discovery – see your library in a whole new light.  
Whether it’s a deep look at your service numbers, a survey to understand community needs, or general research and data analysis, WiLS can provide the answers you need. We offer automatic visualizations of dozens of Annual Report metrics and basic community demographic data with the Data Dashboards for Public Libraries. We also offer WiLS Data Classroom, an opportunity to learn practical data skills specifically for public libraries and with public library peers. With a data analyst on staff and over a decade of experience in library research projects, our warm and approachable team will craft the best process for you. Contact Kim Kiesewetter at kim@wils.org for more details.

64 ideas. 9 winners.
One chance to change everything.

And the nine 2025 Ideas to Action Fund awardees are: 🥁🥁🥁

• Ashland High School Library and Makerspace, Anishinaabe Handcraft Literacy
• Burlington Public Library, Compassion Kits @ Your Library
• Chilton Elementary and Middle School Library, UNPLUG and CONNECT – Screen Free Week
• America’s Black Holocaust Museum, Expanding Access to Black History: Digitizing the Beckum-Stapleton Little League and ABHM Archival Collections
• Edgerton Public Library, Monthly A1C and Blood Pressure Testing
• Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center, Walls for Community Art Shows
• Prairie Lakes Library System, Passport Packs: Check Out the World
• Racine Public Library, Racine Participatory Defense Hub
• Ridgeland Area Library, Read, Paint, Quilt: A Celebration of Local Art

We are so excited to see this work come to life! Read more about each project on the WiLS blog. From digitizing history to fostering creativity and health, these projects show that one idea can spark a movement. Could your library be featured in the next chapter of this thrilling saga? Up to $5,000 awaits the next visionary project when applications open in April 2026.

Taco Tuesday

A stirring film fest of product trailers starring WiLS vendor partners. Showings on November 11th and 25th at 11:30 am CT.

WiLSWorld Shorts: The People Are The Power

Showing Friday, December 5th, 1:00 pm CT
Register to attend

Seven years of care. One mission: making every employee feel valued.
For more than seven years, the WiLS Staff Development Group has been working one-on-one with staff and in coordination with one another for the sole purpose of making sure WiLS employees know they are valued. While some of our projects have been large scale endeavors, like incorporating a flexible-hour work week or expanding employment benefits, we’ve also created a substantial toolkit of easier-to-implement efforts that have built a workplace culture of trust and respect.

Join Jennifer Chamberlain, Melody Clark, and Andi Coffin as they share the practical strategies and actions WiLS has taken to care for employees.

WPLC Strategic Plan

Work on the WPLC’s strategic plan is underway. The Board has formed a Website Workgroup to review and revamp the WPLC web presence and a Communications Committee to help increase member library awareness of and engagement with WPLC services. The Board has also been developing a core set of institutional values to help guide the work of the WPLC. 

WPLC Technology Collaboration

In partnership with the WI Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the WPLC facilitated a statewide data dashboard pilot and the WPLC Board has approved extending access to the dashboard through the end of 2025. You can access the dashboard and training materials on the WPLC website. No login needed!

The Technology Backup and Digital Archive Backup Collaboration projects work to provide a backup storage platform for systems. The two workgroups governing these projects have been diligently monitoring this critical service and onboarding new systems to the platforms. Resources on the Digital Archival Storage process can be found on the WPLC website.

Statewide Delivery

The WPLC has completed its first full year of governance over the statewide library delivery service. During this year, the group focused on strengthening communication and providing opportunities for sharing and support between systems. The group is now hard at work developing standards for statewide delivery. 

WSDLC Collection Updates

This year, the Wisconsin Schools Digital Library Consortium (WSDLC) expanded its content access levels from three to five, providing more refinement options of local control of materials for media specialists. The collection also increased the number of copies of Battle of the Books titles, grew its Deaf Awareness Collection, added a phonics collection, and developed a collection for littlest readers including Sesame Street titles.

Continued Growth in Collection Usage

Checkouts from the WSDLC collection continue to grow! In 2024, the collection reached 6 million checkouts, which quickly grew to 7 million in February of 2025 and, by June, to 8 million lifetime checkouts. Schools and districts continue to see the excellent value of the WSDLC collection; at just $1.68 per student, schools get access to nearly 70,000 copies of more than 26,000 titles.

Upgrading the Library Experience

After an extensive ILS exploration process in 2023-2024, WISPALS, a consortium of 11 Wisconsin technical colleges, selected OCLC’s WorldShare ILS platform in June 2024. Migration began in August 2024. In December 2025, WISPALS began twice-weekly training and meeting sessions with staff at OCLC. Throughout this time, the libraries worked to clean up and update their data in their current ILS before the data migration began at the end of March 2025. All libraries went live by July 1, 2025.

Collaborating on Shared Needs

In November 2024, responding to expressed need from member libraries, the Executive Committee formed the Archives Interest Group. This Interest Group provides a dedicated space for staff with experience in or looking to create digital or physical archives to share information, build a network, and identify specific learning needs. The Group has met three times to learn about options for digital archives, including options from Recollection Wisconsin, and to share their experiences storing, selecting, and processing materials for archiving.

Digitize Your Collections with RWDI

Calling for all Wisconsin libraries to participate in the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative (RWDI)!

Hoping to digitize but need support scanning and creating metadata? We’re here to help! Recollection Wisconsin seeks new host sites to digitize local history collections starting in spring 2026. Trained information graduate students will complete the work and receive a stipend from us. Your historic collection will be publicly shared via Recollection Wisconsin. It’s a win-win.

Applications are being accepted now for spring and summer semesters. Read more about the opportunity on the Recollection Wisconsin website, or contact Vicki Tobias at vicki@wils.org for more information.

About the Culture Keepers Collective

WiLS is honored and proud to administer the Culture Keepers Collective, a Native-led initiative that supports cultural workers in tribal libraries, archives, and museums. The Collective empowers cultural workers through networking, training opportunities, supporting the annual Culture Keepers Convenings, and assisting with grant project work, all to ensure that communities can tell their own stories on their own terms.

The Collective also encompasses and sustains the Mukurtu Midwest Hub, which provides training and support for Mukurtu CMS, a free, open-source content management system designed to support Indigenous cultural protocols for digital preservation, allowing communities to manage access based on their own protocols.Join the Collective for more information on convenings, monthly Coffee Hours, training sessions, grant opportunities, and a shared listserv where we connect, share resources, and troubleshoot together.

Learn more and join the Culture Keepers Collective.