The Montello Public Library and the Brandon Public Library were recently awarded Libri Foundation grants for children's and young adult books.

Christy Shannon Smirl asked PubLib folk for suggestions for simple ways for to use book donations for replacements and/or additional copies of popular titles.  Her library's selectors "would like to find a better system for identifying and 'trapping' donations that we need for the collection.

On a recent site visit to the Mill Pond Library in Kingston, Sara and I talked about ways to make it easy for the public to donate items (books, DVDs, supplies, etc.) to the library.  After discussing some options, Sara agreed that setting up an Amazon Wish List for her library would be a good fit for her & her customers too.

The Wisconsin Center for the Book’s 2010-2011 "Wisconsin Authors and Illustrators Speak" program will award up to 8 grants of $300 each to qualifying organizations wishing to bring a Wisconsin author or illustrator to their community to speak at a public event.

Applications will be judged on the basis of community outreach and collaboration, thoroughness of planning, and rationale for the choice of speaker. Application information is at the WAIS page.

Application deadline: July 1, 2010.

The Public Library Association (PLA) national conference was held in Portland, Oregon March 23 - 27, 2010.  If you didn't attend, you can still get great info from the articles and blog posts from the editors of Library Journal and School Library Journal.

Preservation Assistance Grants of up to $6000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities help small and mid-sized institutions — like libraries, town & county records offices, and historical societies — improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections. These may include books, photographs, and digital materials.

If you want free Campaign for Wisconsin Libraries notepads, posters, and/or bookmarks to distribute to your customers or use at your library, download & fill out the form (PDF) and fax to