This year marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Wisconsin Library Association. A special task force has been established to plan for the celebration of this milestone. The members of the Task Force believe that it is not only important to recognize our past but also to envision our future. To help ensure that our celebration includes as many voices as possible, we are inviting Wisconsin’s library community to consider ways to participate in this celebration by focusing on the history and contributions of all Wisconsin libraries.
The 125th anniversary celebration was kicked off at WLA’s 2015 Conference in Middleton, and will continue throughout 2016. Another major kickoff event will occur on February 9th during WLA Legislative Day at 12 noon in the Capitol rotunda. This event which will occur just two days before the February 11th founding day of WLA is open to the public. So please encourage library staff, trustees, and friends to attend this event.
On the night before Legislative Day ((Monday, February 8) at 7:00 p.m. at the Madison Public Library, the Task Force and the Library Legislative Day Planning Committee will sponsor a special event, “Portrait of a Legislative Success Story: The Development and Passage of Public Library System Legislation in Wisconsin”, presented by Charles Bunge, Professor Emeritus, School of Library and Information Studies, UW-Madison (and WI Library Hall of Fame member).
The 2016 WLA Annual Conference in Milwaukee will provide an opportunity to conclude the celebration in grand fashion.
The Wisconsin Library Heritage Center website and blog will be the place to keep up with other activities related to this event. Regular blog posts on the site will recount stories of Wisconsin’s library history. Subscribe to the blog at http://heritage.wisconsinlibraries.org/ to follow these stories.
Other information about WLA’s history and the 125th anniversary celebration can be found at the following links:
For more information or to share ideas and suggestions, please contact Paul Nelson, Anniversary Task Force Chair, at bennel62@gmail.com.
125th Anniversary Task Force Members
Paul Nelson, Chair
Sara L. Andrews, Wisconsin Historical Society
Roxane Bartelt, Retired Librarian
Janis Berg,DeForest Area Library
Cate Booth, WLA Foundation
John DeBacher, Department of Public Instruction
Plumer Lovelace, WLA
Larry T. Nix, Retired Librarian
Brigitte Rupp Vacha, WLA