Jeni Schomber's DPI Youth Services Weekly Reminders and Resources is an email newsletter chockfull of great resources we've come to rely on. If you are a WI youth library staffer and you don't receive this weekly missive in your email inbox, please contact Jeni (jennifer.schomber@dpi.wi.gov) to be placed on the list!
Here is the February 19, 2026 edition:
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Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library is back with her monthly column and has some great advice on making sure your collections are updated.
Last month, I attended a webinar through the Wild Wisconsin Web Conference (Post-Conference Resources - Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference) about Managing Library Collections (because we can always learn something new from others, amiright?) presented by Kymberlee Powe a children/young adult consultatnt at the Connecticut State Library (Kymberlee Powe - LibGuides Home at Connecticut State Library.). She was interesting and engaging. It was a great refresher course for me, as I know I tend to get hyper-focused on one way of doing things sometimes. I also learned some new ideas about managing collections.
One of the best
takeaways I found was who weeds and how. In my library, front desk staff (and sometimes
even the pages), typically only give me books that are damaged to see if I can
repair them or if they should be discarded. However, in her presentation, Powe
points out that all staff members need to understand why weeding is essential
in libraries. When they understand the importance, they can look at items and
think, this looks really old and outdated, or this looks too damaged, etc. For
their library, they have a “weeding slip”:
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| Managing Library Collections 2026.pptx |
I love the idea that staff could see something and think, ‘I wonder if this should really still be circulating?’ I am tempted to come up with my own, similar slip for our staff to use for materials when they come back in and encourage them to look at items just beyond their condition. Of course, they don’t have the authority to just delete items from the system, which is why a slip would be great - it covers most everything and leaves space for other notes. Items should then be given to the person(s) responsible for collection development so they can make the final decision.
What do you do in your library? Is it time to make some changes to
your weeding ways?
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| Photo by Katie Moum on Unsplash |
You can find the post here.
[Talking to Kids about ICE, Immigration, and More. Langby, L. IFLS. 2/13/2026.]
https://iflsweb.org/keeping-up-with-kids/talking-to-kids-about-ice-immigration-and-more |
| Photo from Midlibrary.org |
In each of us, there are stories waiting to be told. In this session, Kelly shares her journey to publication and how her life informs the stories she creates. The audience will receive tips on mining their lives for ideas, using their senses to fill stories with meaningful detail and showing instead of telling. Readings and a Q&A are part of this inspiring program.
Kelly Starling Lyons is a founding member of The Brown Bookshelf, a teaching artist, and an award-winning author of more than 30 books for young readers. Among her acclaimed picture books are Caldecott Honor winner Going Down Home with Daddy, Christopher Award winner Tiara's Hat Parade, Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award winner, My Hands Tell a Story, and Bank Street Best Books selection, Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice & Sing Inspired Generations. Kelly is also the author of three popular series for young people - chapter books starring her characters Jada Jones and Miles Lewis, and the Ty's Travels early readers which won a Geisel Honor for Zip Zoom. She regularly presents to schools, libraries, festivals, and conferences around the country. Learn more at www.kellystarlinglyons.com.
Please join us for this special event!
Register to attend this event here.
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MADISON AREA MEETUP! WLA is hosting a Madison area meetup to watch the documentary THE LIBRARIANS. This event is
FREE and open to everyone (not just WLA members). See below for the details:
WLA will be hosting a virtual discussion group after the movie for its members on February 25th from 3:30-5:00pm. Thank you to the Wisconsin Union Directorate Film Committee for hosting the film and for the invite to our members!  |
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Kate Davis, YSS Board Member and Programming Consultant for the Prairie Lakes Library System has introduced a new new email blast for her library system called The Genius Files. Here's the newest edition:
Greetings!
Today's genius idea comes from me (Kate Davis). It's a passion project I've been working on for months and I'm finally ready to release it to the big wide world... The Launchpad: Lift-off Ready Programs
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Image by Sophie Janotta from Pixabay |
The Middleton Public Library hosted an indoor snow day this past weekend, and what an amazing time we had! Library staff began collected shredded paper from the community in October, and had just enough to fill one of the small conference rooms at the library. Kids from 0-99 had an absolute blast building piles, having snow fights, and burying their librarians!
One thing to prepare for...DUST! So much paper dust. We were unprepared for the amount of dust that covered every inch of the room, and us! Was it worth it to hear the squeals and giggles of the over 125 happy kids who attended. Yes! Would we do it again? Ask us in a couple years and we'll see.
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The next Midday Mingle is coming up quickly!
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| Image by cottonbro studio from Pexels |
Join us on Monday, February 23 at 1:00 PM (Zoom Link) to chat about teen services - specifically
programming. We will round table topics like:
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| Photo from readbrightly.com |
To see the full list of titles you can read the article here.
[Books for Kids About the Immigrant Experience in America. Lambert, L. Updated in 2026. readbrightly.com]
https://www.readbrightly.com/books-about-immigration-for-kids/
