July 2023

Get Outdoors With Your Library

Make the most of summer with free resources to get you outside!

Enjoy a StoryWalk®

Take a walk and read a book at the same time! StoryWalks® and Storybook Trails are a fun way to promote reading with children while doing something active outdoors!

Try a Thing or Two

Libraries offer a wide range of recreation items and activities to enjoy this summer!

Borrow sports gear, games, tools and kits and try something new outside!

Get out on the water with kayaks or fishing poles. Explore the zoo, nature center or botanical gardens with a day pass. Play bocce ball or make some bubbles in your backyard!

Meet the Things: Borrow from the Library of Things: Yard Games, Passes for Local Attractions, Kayaks & Paddleboards, Fishing Poles, Telescope & Binoculars, Craft Kits, Backyard Movie Kit, Pickleball Set & Badminton Set, Gardening Kit, Bubble Fun Kit

Explore the Library of Things

Explore All 24 for a Chance to Win!

Join the Library Passport Challenge this summer!

Pick up a passport from your library and explore the libraries in Waukesha and Jefferson counties! Collect stamps along the way and then enter for your chance to win a prize basket valued at $300!

Learn More

Chance to Win Books, Gift Cards, Experiences and Swag: The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story Hardcover Book by Ron Faiola, Wisconsin Themed Coloring Book Illustrated by James Steeno, $25 Culver's Gift Card , $50 Kwik Trip Gift Card, $75 Supper Club Gift Card, $50 Local Experience Gift Card, $25 Shutterfly Gift Card, Water Bottles, Travel Game and more!

The Library Passport Challenge was featured by Suzanne Spencer on Fox 6 Wakeup!

Watch the Segment

Screenshot of news segment on Fox 6 Wakeup News of Anchor Suzanne Spencer and Emily Heller with Bridges Library System sitting on chairs in the studio.

Meet the Library Rock Snakes

Painted rock to look like a snake head to make the rock snake named "Dwight"

"Dwight" the Rock Snake

Dwight Foster Public Library

Dwight has grown to over 330 painted rocks at Dwight Foster Public Library in Fort Atkinson. The community has been enjoying watching him grow.

See Dwight grow on Facebook

Photo of painted rocks outside on the ground forming a chain of rocks to become a snake named "Rocky"

"Rocky" the Rock Snake
Muskego Public Library

Rocky has been growing at Muskego Public Library! Visitors have been adding their own painted rocks to his tail to help him grow near the community garden beds.
See how Rocky is doing on Facebook

On The Shelf

July is Disability Pride Month

Celebrate people with disabilities for who they are!

Disability Visibility: First-person Stories from the Twenty-first Century

Edited by Alice Wong

Deaf Utopia: A memoir-and a love letter to a way of life

by Nyle DiMarco

Sitting Pretty: The view from my ordinary resilient disabled body

by Rebekah Taussig

Around the Libraries

Three children in a low-lite room with glow-in-dark artwork on the walls around them.

KidsLab is Glowing

Pauline Haass Public Library in Sussex

The Enchanted Forest in Pauline Haass' KidsLab is filled with forest-themed decor that glows in the dark as part of the "Forest of Stories" Summer Reading Program. The KidsLab is also hosting great events all summer long!
See the Library Calendar.

Did You Know Tour

Waukesha Public Library

Dan Kyle, from B93.3 Radio, took a tour of the Waukesha Public Library to learn about Explore Passes, cooking in the demonstration kitchen, and the newly renovated Andrew Carnegie Library area!

Watch the Tour on YouTube.

Mother is holding young boy who is leaning in to kiss a tan cow.

Cows in the Courtyard

Brookfield Public Library

Visitors celebrated National Dairy Month with the sweet cows from Cozy Nook Farm at Brookfield Public Library. Their courtyard hosted fun games and delicious dairy treats were sampled.
View the photos on Facebook.

Screenshot of news segment on Channel 3000 of two young girls with large snake over one of their shoulders.

Up Close With Snakes

Karl Junginger Memorial Library

Channel 3000 captured all the fun and excitement at the "Snake, Rattle and Roll" Snake Discovery Summer Library Program at Karl Junginger Memorial Library in Waterloo.

Watch the Segment.