Digital Content? Statewide Advertising? How great is it that your library received thousands of free audio and ebook content available in perpetuity through OverDrive for your community? And a statewide marketing campaign to let all residents know what is available at their local library? Pretty great, right? We agree! But we aren’t done yet…we need your assistance. Since these items were purchased with grant funds through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), certain requirements need to be completed as with any grant. So, can we count on you to help with the following three items? SURVEYS. Please click the link to complete the STAFF SURVEY about the digital eaudiobook and ebook content your library received. The survey for the public: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Mi83 Please share the PATRON SURVEY via email, newsletter, your website, and your Facebook or Instagram platforms. Responses will be collected from August 1 through September 9, 2022. The survey for library staff: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Mi83forLibraries STORIES AND TESTIMONIALS. For the last question on the surveys, we would love for you to share any stories or testimonials about the digital content items your library received through OverDrive. STAFF TESTIMONIALS: There are thousands of new audio and ebook titles available like job-seeking skills, educational needs, and health and wellness topics. Perhaps you have helped guide a patron to this new content? Maybe you had a program where not only did you promote the physical books you had on the same topic, but you also highlighted what was available on OverDrive with the new content? PATRON TESTIMONIALS: Have patrons commented about the television ads they have seen promoting MI Library is NOW? Have they seen the social media posts and wondered what YOUR library received through the grant? Please share your stories! THANKS TO LEGISLATORS. If someone gave you much-needed grant funds, you’d be sure to thank them, right? Well, federal legislators, through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), gave our state $4 million in ARPA funding. We need to make sure we let them know how much it means to libraries and our communities. Take a few minutes and say thank you. Not sure who to contact? Click here. On behalf of the Michigan Cooperative Directors Association, the Library of Michigan, and the Michigan Library Association, thank you for taking part in this statewide program! Funding for the MI-83 Digital Library Connection project is provided in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library of Michigan, an agency of the Michigan Department of Education. Project partners include the Michigan Library Cooperatives and the Michigan Library Association, Lakeland Library Cooperative, Mid-Michigan Library League, White Pine Library Cooperative, and Woodlands Library Cooperative. I want to thank Kate Andrade, Woodlands Library Cooperative, Sheryl Mase, Mid-Michigan Library League, Kate Van Auken, White Pine Library Cooperative, Debbie Mikula, Michigan Library Association and Janet Cornell, Terry Cross and Niki Johnson at Lakeland Library Cooperative for their extraordinary efforts this past year! Carol Dawe ( Grant Administrator) Cooperative Director 616-559-5253 x2001 630-207-1205 (cell) www.llcoop.org Lakeland Library Cooperative | 4138 3 Mile Rd NW | Grand Rapids, MI 49534 | 616-559-5253 x2001 Our mission is to strengthen our member libraries covering eight west Michigan counties by providing the means to share resources, services and expertise for the benefit of individuals and communities.