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DLD Weekly Wrap-Up | March 21, 2025

In honor of Women's History Month:

“It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. What matters is your determination and passion to protect your country.”

— General Ann E. Dunwoody*

*Ann Elizabeth Dunwoody (born 14 January 1953) is a retired general of the United States Army. She was the first woman in United States military and uniformed service history to achieve a four-star officer rank, receiving her fourth star on 14 November 2008.

Summer Reading Updates

Summer With the Library

Summer Reading is right around the corner and we're ready for it. This year's summer reading theme for the State Library is "Level Up at Your Library" hosted by iREAD. All codes for the iREAD Resource Guide were shared with one person from the libraries that registered the week of November 24, 2024. Check with your colleagues, one of them may have received the access email. The sign-up list for the 2026 resource guide will open in May.

There are other helpful resources on the Summer with the Library Libguides page:

• Summer Reading Canva Templates. Find bingo boards, drawing slips, calendar templates, and more!

• Resources from our first-ever Summer Symposium, including program swap resources, programs pulled from the iREAD resource guide, and slides from our presenters.

• Frequently Asked Questions on Summer with the Library with everything from the iREAD resource guide to the summer reading report.

The suggested list is just that, suggested! It's been created to provide guidance to library workers and a starting point to library users that matches the age breakdowns and number of titles as the Department of Education reading challenge lists. 

A short video has been created to help users through this transition, but always feel free to reach out to Kym Powe at Kymberlee.Powe@ct.gov.

Don't forget, we've shared some great ideas on ways libraries can use their summer reading results.

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 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. 

• Meet the Feminist Resistance Fighter Who Created the Modern Kitchen | Gastro Obscura

Books, Reading and Authors:

• Breaking Gender Barriers: An Interview with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai | Harvard International Review

• Jane Austen's Life and Work | Flipboard

• 17 Epic Fantasy Series to Read If You Love The Wheel of Time | Winter Is Coming

For the Love of Learning:

• First Day of Spring 2025: The Spring Equinox | The Old Farmer's Almanac



• Everyday Philosophy: Three Rules for Discussing Controversial Topics | Big Think

This month’s agenda will feature:

1. A report by Bonnie Solberg, the Hartford Public Library's Director of Public Services on a digital inclusion grant. Hartford Public Library (HPL) was awarded $49,776 through the Federal Digital Equity Capacity Grant, administered by the State of Connecticut Department of Administrative Services, Commission for Educational Technology and National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Funding will support HPL’s Community Digital Literacy Pilot, designed to enhance digital literacy skills for economic and workforce development and civic engagement.

2. A report by Elaine Braithwaite from the Bridgeport Public Library on their new Cybersecurity Pilot grant award.

3. An introduction to the new National Digital Inclusion Alliance handbook by two CT navigators who were asked to contribute.

*Please contact Chris Gauvreau at Christine.Gauvreau@ct.gov for the link to this program if you would like to attend.

Remember: our workshops and programs are always FREE and open to all library workers throughout the state. Please join us!

The graphic above was created with the help of AI.

This program addresses the needs of new-to-the-field and newly hired instruction librarians as well as experienced librarians through a suite of options embedded in the library instruction program. This session will explore the rewards and challenges of building a community of practice that meets the needs of a group of instruction librarians across a range of disciplines and experience levels. 

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.

Visit our calendar for additional workshops and programs!

CT Digital Library

MLSC March Madness: Puppet Edition

We are down to our FINAL FOUR, and we're counting on YOU to help us determine who deserves the title of "MLSC's FAVORITE PUPPET" for 2025!

Please use our March Madness Puppet Voting Form to pick your favorite two puppets:

• Camel vs. Funny Bird

• Sheepdog vs. Griffin 

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

Check out all the book bundles available at MLSC.

The kit can be used by people who are blind, people who have low vision, and by people who are sighted. The kit circulates for 45 days and includes:

• Lego Braille Blocks

• Lego braille kit activities sheets

• Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille – Twin Vision Book

• Clark the Shark – Twin Vision Book

• Bear Came Along – Twin Vision Book

• Exit Sign with braille

• Braille alphabet cards/bookmarks

• Print/Braille alphabet flash cards

• Kitten’s First Moon – board book with braille

• That’s Not My Train – board book with braille

• My Braille Blocks – practice braille blocks with instruction booklet

• Muffin tin and 6 tennis balls – provides large braille cell to practice the braille alphabet

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.