Happy Spring!

I don't know about you, but I am so thrilled with our beautiful weather. Are you getting outside more? What about library programs and events? Anything going on outside? I'm trying to do some gardening - we have some existing perennials in our yard and I'd like to plant more, but I'm still leery of frost! Just a few more weeks...

One of my goals in creating this newsletter is to avoid flooding your inbox with forwards and random short messages. I know everyone's time is valuable and our inboxes are always jam packed. Unless something is urgent or has a pressing deadline, like an advocacy alert or computer virus issues, I'm saving it for Woodlands Wanderings. I want the content in this newsletter to be interesting and useful for our member libraries.

Please feel free to forward this to your staff members, your trustees and your friends and advocates.

National Library Legislative Day

This year's attendance at National Library Legislative Day broke records - there were over 500 attendees representing nearly all 50 states. Michigan's contingent was made up of 35 librarians and vendor representatives, and 9 fantastic Woodlands Library Cooperative members. Pictured above is some of the Michigan contingent with Senator Gary Peters - that's him in the back, on the left side of the Mackinac Bridge! You can follow this link on Facebook to read all about the day's events and see the pictures associated with #NLLD17.

Save the Date Alerts!

The 2018 Loleta Fyan Small & Rural Libraries Conference will be held from April 30 to May 2, 2018 at the Grand Traverse Resort in Acme, MI. Registration will open in early 2018. Keep your eye out this summer for the call for program proposals.
Michigan library safety programs are coming this fall! Join MCLS, Michigan Library Cooperative Directors Association, Library of Michigan, Michigan Academic Library Association (MiALA), and Michigan Library Association (MLA) this fall for programs on safety in libraries. "Library Security: A Safer Place" will be Wednesday, September 6 in Gaylord. "Creating a Culture of Safety and Security in Your Library" will be Thursday, September 7 in Dearborn. Dr. Steve Albrecht will be the keynote for both programs. Registration will open in June.

2017-18 Great Michigan Read

The Michigan Humanities Council is pleased to announce the 2017-18 Great Michigan Read-X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon. X: A Novel recounts Malcolm X’s formative years in mid-Michigan and how his experiences, both good and bad, shaped him into one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century.

Programming will run from August 2017 through May 2018. Partner sites are eligible to receive reader’s guides, teacher’s guides, bookmarks, posters, and up to thirty copies of the book. Registration for the 2017-18 Great Michigan Read is now open.

Need new equipment? The Device purchasing window has opened!

The long anticipated day has arrived! The purchasing window opened on April 19, 2017. All public school districts, public school academies, non-public K-12 schools, pre-school buildings, intermediate school districts, and Michigan public libraries are eligible to purchase off of the 2017 REMC Device Purchasing Bid Contract. This year there are 43 mobile and desktop devices along with related accessories and options available. For a spreadsheet of items available on this contract, click on the Device Purchasing Planning Spreadsheet. For more information on setting up a SPOT account or making a purchase on SPOT, see the SPOT FAQs. Questions should be sent to spot@remc.org.

Cool Tools for You

OverDrive Marketing & Outreach - click through to find great things to use to help get the word out about your OverDrive digital library. Explore the free resources to print, distribute, or share digitally. Looking for graphics to promote your new OverDrive website? Click the Digital Resources tab!

MeL and MeLCat - Toolbars, Widgets, Apps & Promotional Materials - this page is chock full of useful information you can use to promote using MeL in your library.

Free webinars from TechSoup- Having a hard time getting away from the library? Bring the training to you! Free webinars are a great way to increase your skill-set and network with colleagues around the world.

Library Tourism!

Are you a Library Tourist? Do you go on vacation and find that you just have to stop and visit the local libraries? Schoolcraft Community Library's director, Faye VanRavenswaay visited the Kyoto Prefectural Library while traveling in Japan earlier this year. You can see the original article about her visit in Japanese, along with this translation:

Faye VanRavenswaay, Director of Schoolcraft Community Library and who is now being a host family of a person from Kyoto, visited our library the other day. We introduced our library in general and took a little tour. Miss VanRavenswaay was interested in our more-than-100-years history and our automated bookshelves. Also, we discussed about the situation of Japanese librarians, such as professional trainings currently provided. In 2016, we had guests from American Library Association and from Taiwanese National Central Library. We also had many foreign visitors e.g. from including France, Hawaii and Taiwan. We aim to continue communicating with foreign institutions.

Don't Forget!

You have until September 15, 2017 to submit your professional membership grant reimbursements and your 2017 mini-grants applications.

Professional Membership Grant
Organizational membership grants are available again this year, as is the option for our member libraries to join other professional associations or organizations.

Option 1: Pay for and then receive reimbursement for an institutional membership in MLA for your library.
Option 2: Pay for and then receive reimbursement for your library's membership fee(s) in another professional organization or association, up to the cost of what your library would have spent on an MLA membership. The grant funds cannot be used for political or religious organizations, historical societies, nor can they be contributed to a millage campaign. If you're unsure, drop me a line and we can talk about it.

Mini Grants are still available!
Woodlands Library Cooperative is again offering $1000 mini grants to each member library. The application is online. The funds can be used for electronic resource purchases, equipment purchases, special programs or innovative projects to support patron services. We're pretty flexible, but this does mean that your library can't use the funds to add on to the building, supplement a construction project or hire/pay staff. The funds are dedicated supporting your efforts in serving your patrons and communities. As in years past, your library director will need to complete the application and return it to Woodlands. Once your application has been received at the cooperative, your check will be processed & sent out to your library. You will need to provide documentation on how your library spent the funds in a brief written report by September 30, 2017.

The deadline to receive your mini grant check or your reimbursement for your professional association fees is September 15, 2017 so that we can cut your check before the end of the cooperative's budget year.

This little stinker is two years old now! Jennifleur goes to daycare a couple days each week and comes home full of new words and ideas. Just this weekend she told me she needed a stethoscope so she could listen to our "heart beeps!" We're working on potty training (yay!) and she loves to read - instead of being read to, she likes to read to the cat or her stuffed animals, and often includes the thumb lick before trying to turn pages.

We'd love to come out and visit your library, together! If you're having a program or an event that is friendly to a very busy toddler, drop me a line and we'll try to make it happen. Sometimes bringing another grown up (like her dad, seen here with her and Pete the Cat at the Eaton Rapids Public Library) makes it easier - this kid can RUN!

Related: If you are aware of any drop-in childcare centers in your region, please drop me a line with contact information or links. There are times when our childcare options are limited and I don't want to miss out on visiting our libraries!