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DLD Weekly Wrap-Up | March 14, 2025

In honor of Women's History Month:

“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.” 



— Eleanor Roosevelt

Using their hometown cards, non-residents may visit any public library in person and borrow any of the materials that participating libraries lend to their local borrowers. 

Libraries are required to have accurate and complete figures in place by the March 14 deadline or they will not receive a reimbursement payment. Libraries who did not submit expenditure reports by October 31, 2024 for the previous 18-month period are not eligible for payment.

Download and use the 2024-2025 borrowIT CT Report Form to report your library's non-resident loans during the March 2024 thru February 2025 reporting year.

You are required to:

• Report on monthly loans to each individual library's card holders.
• Certify the accuracy and completeness of the report as well as your library's adherence to borrowIT regulations.
• Email the completed form to the borrowIT CT administrator by the March 14 deadline.

Please submit reports to Brad Bullis at Bradley.Bullis@ct.gov. Please direct any questions regarding borrowIT CT regulations and payment requirements to Dawn La Valle at Dawn.Lavalle@ct.gov.

Libraries today are lauded as being spaces where everyone is welcome. Librarians are praised for their neutrality and receive vocational awe. Despite libraries' stated values of inclusivity and equal access, their actions have often contradicted these principles. This session will delve into the historical context of libraries as racialized organizations, highlighting their deep-rooted connections to white supremacist culture.

We will examine the establishment of the American Library Association, founded by individuals who perpetuated a white supremacist mindset, and discuss how contemporary concepts such as neutrality and vocational awe continue to uphold this ideology. Historical evidence from libraries in the southern United States, which denied entry and library cards to people of color, is well known; this session will also trace the largely erased history of exclusionary practices of libraries in the northern states.

As the first workshop in the Decolonize This Space: Making Antiracism Real in Public Libraries series, we will demonstrate the critical need for librarians to recognize and disrupt these historical foundations, setting the stage for the subsequent workshops.

Please note the five sessions in this series build on each other. You are not required to attend all five sessions (or watch the recordings in advance), though it is recommended.

Upcoming webinars in this series:

What Does it Mean to Decolonize (Part 1)

Tuesday, April 15 | 10:00 am-12:00 pm

Register: Decolonize (Part 1)

What Does it Mean to Decolonize (Part 2)

Tuesday, May 20 | 10:00 am-12:00 pm

Register: Decolonize (Part 2)

Equity in Action: Decolonizing Library Practices (Part 1)

Monday, June 16 | 10:00 am-12:00 pm

Register: Equity in Action (Part 1)

Equity in Action: Decolonizing Library Practices (Part 2)

Monday, June 23 | 10:00 am-12:00 pm

Register: Equity in Action (Part 2)

Join us! All CT Reads 2025 Adult Author Talk with Monica Wood

Thursday, March 27 | 2:00-2:45 pm

Register for All CT Reads 2025 Adult Author Talk

We are thrilled to welcome you to an extra-special All CT Reads Adult Author Talk with Monica Wood, author of How to Read a Book, the 2025 All CT Reads primary adult pick. Monica will be virtually joining us to share insight into her work and life as a writer and her particular experience with How to Read a Book. 

Following her talk, Monica will engage in facilitated Q+A and conversation with CT librarian and All CT Reads 2025 Adult Committee member Cindy Haiken of the Wallingford Public Library. 

Presenter:

Monica Wood is a novelist, memoirist, and playwright; the 2024 recipient of the Sara Josepha Hale award for excellence in New England literary arts; the 2019 recipient of the Maine Humanities Council Carlson Prize for contributions to the public humanities; and the 2016 recipient of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Distinguished Achievement Award for contributions to the literary arts. She lives in Portland, Maine, with her husband, Dan Abbott, and their cat, Susie.

Recording and Slides:

Recordings will be available on the All CT Reads website.

Who Should Come?

Everyone! Please share this with your patrons and student - they're invited to join the event too! You can add it to your library calendar and newsletter.

Accessibility

This webinar will be captioned. If you require another access service to participate fully, please use the Accommodation Request Form at least 14 days prior to the event.

For example:

• Visit the Libraries Without Borders Libguide and Niche Academy recordings from this month and last’s workshops on community partnerships, and GIANT Room Libguide for Community Engagement.
• Visit the Technology Libguide for last month’s Social Media Update for 2025.
• Visit the Lead Your Library Libguide for a wide range of Management and Administration recordings including Succession Planning and Strategic Planning.
• Visit the Collection Management Libguide for information and workshop recordings on weeding, readers advisory and creating inclusive Collections.

Opportunities to learn about these topics and more can be found in the DLD Weekly Wrap-Ups and Monthly Newsletters, monthly workshops/webinars emails, or by subscribing to the Statewide CE Calendar feed. Happy learning! 

In 2024, CT received $2,164,184 through the LSTA Grants to States program.

Federal funds do not directly support public libraries who are funded locally by their municipalities.

LSTA Grants to States funding allows for the following:

Accessibility

• Adult Services | Accessibility
• Connecticut Library for Accessible Books (CTLAB) 
• Veterans and Military Families

Digital Connectivity

• E-Rate and Internet Connectivity 
• Regional Digital Navigation

Division of Library Development Resources

• Early Literacy 
• Middletown Library Service Center (MLSC) 
• Professional Consultants 
• Professional Development
• Summer Reading and Enrichment
• Visiting, Collections, and Equipment

Statewide Digital Resources

• State Archives | National Digital Newspaper Program
• Statewide Databases 
• Statewide Digital Library 
• Statewide eBook and eAudio Platform
• Statewide Resource Sharing 
• Workforce Development

For more information, including details on all projects and services mentioned above, please visit the Federal Library Funding in CT Libguide.

This event seeks to collect 10,000 stories from folks across Connecticut to make the history of Connecticut more inclusive and complete.

For more information or to get involved, visit History Chip’s website. 

• ‘An Extraordinary Force in the Law:’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Legacy on Gender Equity | The 19th

Books, Reading and Authors:

• Maya Angelou: The Extraordinary Life of the American Writer and Civil Rights Activist, and Her Poem 'Still I Rise' | The Independent 

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Centers Women’s Lives and Bodies in Her New Book | NPR

• How Tariffs Will Impact Book Costs for Readers | Bookriot

For the Love of Learning:

• 7 Fascinating Facts About the Vestal Virgins | The Collector



• A Neuroscientist Says You Should Stop Setting Goals and Do This Instead. It’s Brilliant Advice | Inc.

Regulation Updates: BEAD and USF

Libraries in Response presented a program on February 27 entitled, "Regulatory Turmoil: BEAD and USF." Watch the recording for updates on these two critical federal programs from Doug Dawson, President of CCG Consulting.

Just a reminder that our workshops and programs are always FREE and open to all library workers throughout the state. Please join us!

Visit our calendar for additional workshops and programs!

CT Digital Library

MLSC March Madness: Puppet Edition

The competition continues - and it is FIERCE! Our puppets are in a “Battle for the Best” here at MLSC. Which will prevail? That’s up to YOU!  

This week, use our March Madness Puppet Voting Form to pick your favorite four from our final eight:

• Camel vs. Teddy Bear
• Funny Bird vs. Clam
• Sheepdog vs. Cheshire Cat
• Arthur vs. Griffin 

The puppets with the most votes this week will advance to the FINAL FOUR! Happy voting and may the best puppet win!

New Large Print Book Discussion Sets from MLSC

We have a new category of discussion set available at the Middletown Library Service Center. Make sure every reader is included in book club! Large Print discussion sets contain five large print format copies.

These titles were selected from our most popular adult discussion sets: 

• Beartown by Fredrik Backman
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
• Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune
• How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
• Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Take My Hand by Dolen Perkens-Valdez
• Trust by Hernan Diaz
• Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Large print sets can be reserved on their own or alongside a reservation for one of the standard print sets. Book sets circulate for 45 days. Browse all available discussion sets in our Equipment Catalog.

Other Large Print Offerings

Browse and reserve single volume large print titles through the Primo catalog. Reserve a book bundle to receive an assortment of titles or to explore a theme or genre. If your library would like to receive ongoing deliveries of large print books from MLSC to share with your patrons, email Abbey at Abbey.E.Lynch@ct.gov to get set up.  

Book kits circulate for 90 days. Reserve your Dyslexia Support Kit through our Equipment Catalog.

Questions? Looking for more book kits? Please call MLSC at 860-704-2200, or email Abbey at Abbey.E.Lynch@ct.gov, or Cathy at Catherine.Potter@ct.gov.