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Author Archives: Susan Knisely
Friday Reads: The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living, by Meik Wiking
This past weekend I listened to The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living, by Meik Wiking (duration: approximately three hours). Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, narrates with a delightful Danish accent.
You’ve probably heard at least a passing reference to the Danish word hygge (pronounced HOO-GA). According to a blurb on the back cover of the book’s print edition, hygge “loosely translates as a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being.” You may even have read an article about hygge—they proliferated during the pandemic when people were struggling with how to feel better about being stuck at home. But according to my new understanding, spending time consuming a whole book about hygge is definitely more hyggelig (the adjectival form of hygge) than spending 5 minutes scanning an article about it!
Wiking spends a lot of time talking about what is and isn’t hygge. Candles and low lighting are hygge. Wool socks and blankets are hygge. Cake, coffee, and chocolate are hygge. Cooking and eating a meal with friends at home is hygge. Bling and boastfulness, on the other hand, aren’t hygge. The idea that “bigger is better” isn’t hygge. And neither is champagne and oysters at a fancy restaurant.
At its most basic level, hygge is about relishing simple, everyday pleasures, especially in the company of close friends and family. The fact that this practice contributes to happiness isn’t an earthshattering revelation, so why do the Danes seem so much better at it than other nationalities? According to Wiking, “What might also be unique for Denmark when it comes to hygge is how much we talk about it, focus on it, and consider it as a defining feature of our cultural identity and an integral part of the national DNA. In other words, what freedom is to Americans, thoroughness to Germans, and the stiff upper lip to the British, hygge is to Danes.”
The intentionality with which Danes approach hygge is undoubtedly one reason Denmark consistently ranks among the happiest nations in the world. But Wiking also points to policy factors, including a good work-life balance and the welfare state, which “reduces uncertainty, worries, and stress in the population.”
Policy change, while worthwhile, is hard and takes time. Hygge, on the other hand, is easy and accessible to all of us if we are so inclined. So if you’ve been feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and unhappy, plan intentionally for a hyggelig evening sometime soon. And if you want to learn more about why Danes are among the happiest people in the world, consider reading or listening to The Little Book of Hygge.
Wiking, Meik. The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living. HarperAudio, 2017.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Database Trials
Encyclopaedia Britannica is offering Nebraska libraries trial access to a number of their online resources through April 20, 2023. These resources also happen to be available at discounted subscription rates through the Nebraska Library Commission. The next subscription term through NLC begins June 1, 2023 so this trial is well-timed to give librarians a chance to try before they buy! Here are the products included in the trial:
- Britannica Academic
- Britannica School
- Britannica Library [public library edition]
- Original Sources
- ImageQuest
- Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged
- LaunchPacks: Social Studies
- LaunchPacks: Science
- Language Products:
- Britannica Escolar (Spanish Elem/MS)
- Britannica Moderna (Spanish HS/Academic)
- Britannica Online Japan
- Encyclopaedia Universalis Senior (French HS/Academic)
- Universalis Junior (French Elem/MS)
- Expedition Learn!: Science and Social Studies
Trial access information was distributed via a March 17, 2023 message to the Trial mailing list. Nebraska librarians who didn’t receive this information or would like to have it sent to them again may contact Susan Knisely.
Note: If you are a Nebraska librarian and you’d like to receive future database trial announcements directly in your email inbox, please make sure you are signed up for the Nebraska Library Commission’s TRIAL mailing list.
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NewsBank Trial Access Through April 8, 2023
NewsBank is a web-based subscription service that offers library access to current and archival content from newspapers, newswires, transcripts, and other publications. They have agreed to offer Nebraska libraries trial access to the following resources through April 8, 2023:
- Access World News (covers 1980-present; contains over 13K global sources, including Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World Herald)
- America’s Historical Newspapers & Timeline (covers 1690-2000, includes 448 U.S. Newspapers)
- Black Life in America
- Hispanic Life in America
- ResearchRocket (Primary)
Trial access instructions, including product login URLs and a temporary username and password, were distributed via a March 8, 2023 message to the TRIAL mailing list. Nebraska librarians who didn’t receive this information or who would like to have it sent to them again can email Susan Knisely.
Note: If you are a Nebraska librarian and you’d like to receive future database trial announcements directly in your email inbox, please make sure you are signed up for the Nebraska Library Commission’s TRIAL mailing list.
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Friday Reads: How Y’all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived, by Leslie Jordan
I listened to Leslie Jordan’s How Y’all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived, shortly after the 67-year-old actor’s October 24th death. Jordan was well known for his roles in “Will & Grace” and “American Horror Story,” but his profile shot through the roof during the pandemic. Stuck at home, he started making regular posts to Instagram to keep himself entertained. The posts were short and silly but obviously resonated, because before he knew it he had five and a half million followers and a book contract!
When describing his Instagram posting philosophy Jordan states: “On my Instagram page, I usually follow the old rule of not discussing politics and religion in company. I don’t know what I don’t know, and who would want to hear about what I don’t know? All I know is comedy and my sweet self.” And therein lies the appeal of listening to Jordan narrate the audiobook edition of How Y’all Doing? – it is a chance to spend four hours and 14 minutes in his sweet, hilarious company, listening to him tell stories in his delightful Tennessee accent.
Jordan writes about how much fun he’s had with Instagram, crediting the need to tell a story in around a minute with improving his comedic delivery: “Get to the point. Cut to the chase. No meandering around.” But he also celebrates the comedic freedom he experienced writing this book: “Who knew that writing for the printed page could send an artist soaring? To be able to tell not only the story but the backstory as well. And the story that led up to the backstory.”
Jordan’s memoir doesn’t have to be read in any particular order, since its chronology isn’t linear. Instead, most chapters are structured around a theme on which Jordan riffs, sharing stories from his life that are in some way related to that theme. In “The Bride Doll,” for instance, he talks about everything from the negative connotations attached to being a boy who loved playing with dolls, to being a man who, due to work he did in recovery programs, could walk into an American Girl doll store without shame and purchase one as a gift. “[I]t was a milestone moment,” Jordan writes. “Not one with trumpets blaring and angels singing, but a nice quiet realization that I had changed.”
It’s not until the chapter’s end that he tells the story of the bride doll he asked Santa to bring him back in 1958, when he was three. Initially, his father, “a man’s man” who died in 1967 when Jordan was 11, told his mother there was no way he was buying his son a bride doll. But on Christmas Eve, confronted with his son’s exuberant anticipation and unwilling to be the cause of his crushing disappointment the next morning, his father snuck out and procured one. “Thank you, Daddy. For having enough love for your son to buy him a doll,” Jordan writes in his conclusion. “And thank you, Don Norman [Jordan’s recovery advisor]. For helping me live a joyful, shame-free life.”
And that’s how most of the chapters unfold, including the final one, poignantly titled “”Until We Meet Again.” Jordan starts out reminiscing about the Florida vacations his family took each summer, and how bereft he felt when they ended: “It was then I realized how hard goodbyes can be.” He then pivots to the fact that even though the book is ending, it won’t really be the end because he has an endless supply of stories to tell. Knowing of his recent death, it was impossible not to choke up at his optimistic concluding words, which promise something that will now never come to pass:
So, to all my dear new friends, this is not goodbye forever. It is only goodbye for now. Goodbye till I get revved up and ready to launch into a whole bunch of new stories.
See you then.
Jordan, Leslie. How Y’all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived. Read by the author. Harperaudio, 2021. Audiobook, 4 hr., 14 min.
Computers in Libraries 2023 Conference (March 28-March 30) Discount
The Nebraska Library Commission is offering a group discount to all Nebraska librarians who attend the Computers in Libraries 2023 conference. This year it will be held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA, from March 28 through March 30, 2023. Detailed information about the conference can be found on the conference web page.
This year the Gold Pass will be available for the group rate of $649 (regular rate is $899). The Full 3-day Pass will be $379 (regular rate is $599). No discount rates are available for the preconference workshops, unless purchased as part of a Gold Pass.
In addition, a discounted price of $619 (regular $749) on the Library Leaders Summit (includes all three days of CIL) is also available.
To receive the discount:
- Go to the Computers in Libraries 2023 Registration page: https://secure.infotoday.com/RegForms/ComputersinLibraries/
- Type priority code NLC23 in the Priority Code field at the top of the form, and click the “Activate Code” button. Discounted rates should appear on the registration form after you successfully activate the code. If you don’t see the discounted rates on the form, please contact Susan Knisely for assistance.
- Complete and submit the online form by the deadline.
Deadline: Online registrations can be made until February 24th to receive the discounted rates. Please Note: If the deadline is extended for regular registration, your deadline will also be extended. After this time, rates will go up by $20.
Join the Nebraska WebDewey Group Purchase
This is a good time of year to remind Nebraska librarians that they can save money on a subscription to WebDewey by participating in the Nebraska WebDewey Group Purchase! Enjoy web-based access to an electronic version of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC ) database through WebDewey. It is a full representation of all published numbers, plus other mappings and new terms that have been approved by the Dewey Editorial Policy Committee (EPC).
WebDewey also includes:
- Searching or browsing DDC numbers, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and mapped MeSH headings.
- Adding your own notes and displaying them in context.
- An easy-to-navigate, simple user interface that is suitable for the novice as well as the power user.
Our next WebDewey Group annual subscription will begin on January 1, 2023 and run through December 31, 2023. Libraries may join the group at any time. Mid-term subscriptions will be prorated. If your library is interested in subscribing to WebDewey, you’ll find pricing information on our online WebDewey Group Order Form. OCLC Membership is NOT required to purchase WebDewey.
If you have questions please contact Susan Knisely.
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NewsBank Trial Access Through October 22, 2022
NewsBank is a web-based subscription service that offers library access to current and archival content from newspapers, newswires, transcripts, and other publications. They have agreed to offer Nebraska libraries trial access to the following resources through October 22, 2022:
- Access World News (covers 1980-present; contains over 13K global sources, including Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World Herald)
- America’s Historical Newspapers & Timeline (covers 1690-2000, includes 448 U.S. Newspapers)
- Black Life in America
- Hispanic Life in America
- ResearchRocket (Primary)
Trial access instructions, including product login URLs and a temporary username and password, were distributed via a September 15, 2022 message to the TRIAL mailing list. Nebraska librarians who didn’t receive this information or who would like to have it sent to them again can email Susan Knisely.
Note: If you are a Nebraska librarian and you’d like to receive future database trial announcements directly in your email inbox, please make sure you are signed up for the Nebraska Library Commission’s TRIAL mailing list.
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Friday Reads: A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020), by David Sedaris
I’m currently 14 hours into listening to the audiobook edition of A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020), by David Sedaris. I have about three hours left and will be sad when it ends, which I’d say is a pretty good endorsement. Nevertheless, I suspect the most receptive audience for this title will be individuals who already know and adore Sedaris—either because they’ve read his previous books or heard him read from them in person or on public radio.
A Carnival of Snackery is actually Sedaris’s second diary volume. His first, Theft by Finding, covered the years 1977 through 2002. Sedaris’s diary entries aren’t deep dives into personal development, but in the first volume you can definitely observe his life unfolding. When it starts Sedaris is a 20-year-old college dropout, bouncing between bad jobs and bad apartments; when it ends he is a famous 45-year-old touring author, in a long-term relationship with boyfriend Hugh Hamrick.
By comparison, throughout the entirety of A Carnival of Snackery, which begins when Sedaris is 46 and ends just after his 64th birthday, his status doesn’t change—he’s still a famous, touring author and still with Hugh. As Sedaris, himself, writes in the introduction to A Carnival of Snackery, “Theft by Finding . . . had a narrative arc. ‘David Copperfield Sedaris,’ Hugh called it. If there’s an arc to this book, I don’t know what it is.”
Narrative arc isn’t the draw though. Instead, it’s the joy of spending time with someone who excels at sharing interesting observations and anecdotes from daily life. Sedaris begins each diary entry with a date and a location. And the number of locations from which he writes is astounding–countless U.S. cities, but also a surprising number of international ones (e.g., Perth, Tokyo, Odessa, Bucharest, Riga, Reykjavik, Dubai), representing stops on his various book tours. There are also recurring locales that reflect Sedaris’s various home bases—most notably Rackham, in West Sussex, England, where he and Hugh live, and Emerald Isle, North Carolina, where he vacations with his siblings in a beach house named the Sea Section.
Diary entries range in length from a couple sentences to a couple pages. Some record memorable jokes, which Sedaris regularly solicits from people in line at his book signings. Others consist of obnoxious sayings he sees printed on t-shirts. Most often, they feature snippets of conversations overheard while traveling, and also accounts of interactions he’s had with drivers, hotel staff, store clerks, barbers, flight attendants, and others he encounters on the road. He also writes about trash—specifically what he picks up with his grabber as he walks the roads of West Sussex. (He applies himself to this task so diligently he’s had a local garbage truck named after him.) Among the most poignant diary entries are those recounting conversations with his elderly father, whose dismissive attitude toward Sedaris clearly remains a source of pain. (Sedaris’s father died at the age of 98, several months after the last diary entry in this volume.) In the end, Sedaris’s diary excerpts teach us that an interesting and curious person can turn interactions and observations that most of us would consider boring and mundane into engaging snapshots.
Sedaris, David. A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020). Little, Brown and Company, 2021.
Internet Librarian 2022 Conference Discount (Oct. 18-20)
The Nebraska Library Commission is offering a group discount to all librarians in Nebraska who attend the 2022 Internet Librarian Conference. This year it will be held at the Monterey Marriott in Monterey, California on October 18-20, 2022. Detailed information about the conference can be found at https://internet-librarian.infotoday.com/2022
As in the past, InfoToday is offering select groups the opportunity to participate in their Group Discount Program. The Gold Pass is available to groups at the discounted rate of $699 (regularly $899 and it is the only pass to include preconference workshops). They are also offering a special rate of $449 for the 3-Day Pass (regular rate is $599). (No discount rates are available for the separately priced preconference workshops.)
To receive the discount:
- Go to the Internet Librarian 2022 Registration page: https://secure.infotoday.com/RegForms/InternetLibrarian/
- Enter priority code 22NLC in the Priority Code field at the top of the form and click on the “Activate Code” button.
- Complete the registration form, checking to be sure the discounted rates appear on the form. (Clicking on the “Activate Code” button should have triggered the rates to update. If you don’t see the discounted rates, please contact Susan Knisely for assistance.)
Deadline: Online registrations can be made until September 23, 2022 to receive the discounted rates. Rates will go up by $20 after the deadline.
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Friday Reads: Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship, by Catherine Raven
This book was a nice respite. It didn’t tackle a contentious political or social issue, nor did it build a fictional world fraught with challenges and interpersonal drama. Instead, it was a quiet meditation, shared by a purposefully solitary individual. The drama that did make it onto the pages was that of the natural world—ebbing, flowing, occasionally bloody, though not in a “man’s inhumanity to man” kind of way—and of metaphysical ruminations on the relationship between humans and nature, science and intuition.
Author Catherine Raven doesn’t share an in-depth backstory, but offers enough details that we know she’s been on her own for years. She left an unhappy home at fifteen, started college at sixteen, spent years as a backcountry ranger for the National Park Service, and eventually earned a PhD in biology. At the start of Fox & I she is living in a cottage on a small plot of land in Montana, miles from civilization.
Although Raven has some interaction with people—she teaches online classes and the occasional in-person field class—their presence is peripheral. The central characters of her narrative are the living things she shares space with—Gin and Tonic, two nearby juniper trees; Tennis Ball and Torn Tail, the two magpies she can distinguish from the rest; the voles inhabiting her pasture; and, most significantly, a fox (whom she calls Fox) that comes visiting every day at 4:15.
At first Raven, trained as a scientist, feels self-conscious about her relationship with Fox. She worries about anthropomorphizing him, and feels professional pressure to turn him into a research subject capable of yielding data points. As time passes, though, she becomes more comfortable with their companionable coexistence, which she acknowledges as friendship.
One of my favorite things about this book is Raven’s frequent invocation of world-weary Ishmael, narrator of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince (the book she reads aloud to Fox during his visits). By linking her own introspection about the nature of existence to theirs, she connects herself to a literary tradition in which plot is a convenient excuse to wrestle with the bigger, existential questions of life. If this is the sort of narrative you need right now, you’ll appreciate Fox & I.
Raven, Catherine. Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2021.
NewsBank Trial Access Through May 14, 2022
NewsBank is a web-based subscription service that offers library access to current and archival content from newspapers, newswires, transcripts, and other publications. They have agreed to offer Nebraska libraries trial access to the following resources through May 14, 2022:
- Access World News (covers 1980-present; contains over 13K global sources, including Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World Herald)
- America’s Historical Newspapers & Timeline (covers 1690-2000, includes 448 U.S. Newspapers)
- Black Life in America
- Hispanic Life in America
- ResearchRocket (Primary)
Trial access instructions, including product login URLs and a temporary username and password, were distributed via an April 12, 2022 message to the TRIAL mailing list. Nebraska librarians who didn’t receive this information or who would like to have it sent to them again can email Susan Knisely.
Note: If you are a Nebraska librarian and you’d like to receive future database trial announcements directly in your email inbox, please make sure you are signed up for the Nebraska Library Commission’s TRIAL mailing list.
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Computers in Libraries 2022 Conference (March 29–March 31) Going Virtual
The Computers in Libraries Conference, originally scheduled for March 29th through March 31st at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, in Arlington, VA, is switching to a virtual format. See their online announcement for more information.
The virtual event is scheduled for the same week that had been set aside for the in-person conference, and a Virtual Pass for March 29-31 will provide you with access to all keynotes and main conference sessions, networking, and the virtual exhibit hall. It also includes access to archived session recordings for viewing through June 30, 2022. (Note: This pass does not provide access to workshops.) See the Computers in Libraries Connect 2022 website for more details.
Nebraska librarians are still eligible for a discount if they sign up for a Virtual Pass to this conference using the Nebraska Library Commission discount code: NLC22. The discounted rate for a Virtual Pass is $199. This is a $100 savings off the regular $299 price.
To receive a Virtual Pass discount:
- Go to the Register page and click “Attendee.”
- Complete the form and click “Proceed to Tickets.”
- Add 1 Virtual Pass ticket and scroll to the bottom of the form.
- Type NLC22 in the Promotion Code field and click “Apply.”
- You should see a pop-up telling you the code has been successfully applied. At this point you can enter your payment information and click “Checkout.”
Note: During the Early Bird registration period all registrants will receive the $199 rate, so during this time entering the code NLC22 will just be for tracking purposes. On February 25th (at midnight ET) the Early Bird pricing will end and the regular rate will change to $299. At that time, the NLC22 group code will adjust the rate to $199 when users register and apply it.
If you have questions, please contact Susan Knisely
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Friday Reads: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, by Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest book, Empire of Pain, released on April 12, 2021, is a timely account of three generations of the Sackler family and the role they’ve played in the ongoing opioid crisis. It starts out as a classic American rags-to-riches story–three entrepreneurial brothers, born to poor immigrant parents in Brooklyn in the early 20th century, who succeed beyond their wildest dreams, winding up as billionaire philanthropists. It also tells a darker tale of corporate greed, coupled with personal hubris, leading to devastating social consequences.
Most of us know a bit about the Sacklers, due to media coverage of the multiple lawsuits filed against their privately owned company, Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin. Purdue Pharma introduced this highly addictive extended-release painkiller to the market in 1996, and it was a game changer. Indeed, many view its arrival on the scene as the most significant precipitating event leading to the now-decades-long opioid epidemic.
If you want to know more, Keefe’s extensively researched book provides compelling evidence of why this family and their pharmaceutical company are viewed as culpable. And sadly, it feels like a too-familiar narrative:
- There’s the FDA employee who, shortly after overseeing approval of OxyContin, wound up accepting a well-paid position with Purdue Pharma.
- There’s the misleading marketing strategy of touting OxyContin as less addictive and less prone to abuse because of its time-release coating, even though company insiders knew from monitoring online discussion groups that users were crushing and chewing the drug to get a bigger “hit.”
- There’s the sales force that continued to call on and sell to doctors who were clearly running pill mills, because of unending pressure to increase revenue.
- And finally, there is the pathological refusal of family members to accept any responsibility for the problems that proliferated in conjunction with OxyContin sales. They seemed to view reports of OxyContin-related addiction and overdose deaths as PR problems that unfairly sullied the reputation of Purdue’s prized product, not as human tragedies: Addicts were the victimizers and Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers were the victims.
If you’re a fan of corporate exposes, this book will be right down your alley. It would also be a good companion read if you are watching the limited series Dopesick, now streaming on Hulu.
Keefe, Patrick Radden. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. New York: Doubleday, 2021.
Computers in Libraries 2022 Conference (March 29 – March 31) Discount
The Nebraska Library Commission is offering a group discount to all Nebraska librarians who attend the Computers in Libraries 2022 conference. This year it will be held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA, on March 29 through March 31, 2022. Detailed information about the conference can be found on the conference web page.
This year the Gold Pass will be available for the group rate of $649 (regular rate is $899). The Full 3-day Pass will be $379 (regular rate is $599). (No discount rates are available for the preconference workshops, unless purchased as part of a Gold Pass.)
In addition, discount prices of $619 (regularly $749) on the Library Leaders Summit (includes all three days of CIL) is also available.
To receive the discount:
- Go to the Computers in Libraries 2022 Registration page: https://secure.infotoday.com/RegForms/ComputersinLibraries/
- Type priority code NLC22 in the Priority Code field at the top of the form, and click the “Activate Code” button. Discounted rates should appear on the registration form after you successfully activate the code. If you don’t see the discounted rates on the form, please contact Susan Knisely for assistance.
- Complete and submit the online form by the deadline.
Deadline: Online registrations can be made until February 25th to receive the discounted rates. Please Note: If the deadline is extended for regular registration, your deadline will also be extended. After this time, rates will go up by $20.
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Internet Librarian (Oct. 26th-28th) 2021 Going Virtual, Discount Still Available
The 2021 Internet Librarian Conference, originally scheduled to be held on October 26th-28th in Monterey, California, is switching to a virtual format. See their online announcement for more information. While this is a disappointment for those who were planning to attend in person, it does open up opportunities for those interested in attending virtually.
The virtual event is scheduled for the same week that the in-person conference was scheduled to be held, and a Virtual Pass for October 26-28, 2021, will provide you with access to all keynotes and main conference sessions, networking, and the virtual exhibit hall. See the Internet Librarian Connect 2021 website for more details.
Nebraska librarians are also still eligible for a discount if they sign up for a Virtual Pass to this conference using the Nebraska Library Commission discount code: 21NLC. The discounted rate for a Virtual Pass is $199. This is a $100 savings of the regular $299 price.
To receive a Virtual Pass discount for Tuesday, October 26th – Thursday, October 28th, 2021:
- Go to the Register Now page and click “Attendee.”
- Complete the form and click “Proceed to Tickets.”
- Select 1 Virtual Pass ticket and scroll to the bottom of the form.
- Type 21NLC in the Promotion Code field and click “Apply.”
- You should see a pop-up telling you the code has been successfully applied. You should also see that the Virtual Pass price of $299 has been reduced to a total of $199 on your form. At this point you can enter your payment information and click “Checkout.”
If you have questions, please contact Susan Knisely.
Friday Reads: All In: An Autobiography, by Billie Jean King
Forty-eight years ago, on September 20, 1973, 90 million people worldwide watched top women’s tennis player, Billie Jean King, 29, defeat former champion, Bobby Riggs, 55, in the Battle of the Sexes. I was eight and not a sports fan, but King has been on my radar, at least peripherally, ever since.
Just because you know a few facts about someone doesn’t mean you really know them, though, so it’s been a delight listening to King narrate her recently released autobiography, All In. It’s a long listen—18 hours—but King provides an engaging, enlightening account of her lifelong fight for equal treatment and pay for women in sports. And the fact that I don’t understand or particularly care about tennis didn’t inhibit my enjoyment of the book one bit!
One surprising takeaway is just how early King’s sensitivity to injustice and inequality, along with her commitment to rooting it out, kicked in. As an athletic, sports-loving girl growing up in the 1950s, King regularly ran up against gender-based stereotypes and restrictions. They ranged from being yanked from a photo of junior tennis tournament participants for wearing shorts instead of a skirt, to watching top teen boy tennis players getting comped for meals at the Los Angeles Tennis Club while she, a top teen girl, ate brown-bag lunches from home, to being told at 15 that she’d be good because she was ugly. “Even if you’re not a born activist, life can damn sure make you one,” she says of these early experiences.
Though young, King’s own run-ins with gender-based slights and limitations sensitized her to race-based discrimination as well. In 1955, while attending a championship tournament at the Los Angeles Country Club, she was particularly struck by “how white everything was.” She had what she describes as an epiphany:
I told myself that day that I would spend my life fighting for equal rights and opportunities for everyone, so no one felt scorned or left out. I believed our church’s teaching that I was put on this earth to do good with my life. Now I had a better idea what my calling could be: I could bring people together through tennis. If I was good enough and fortunate enough to be No. 1 in the world, tennis would be my platform.
King achieved number 1 ranking in the world for the first time in 1966 (she’d go on to achieve it five additional times) and she stayed true to her calling–leveraging personal success to fight for social change. All athletic champions feel pressure to stay at the top of their game, but for King the stakes were higher than personal glory: “Unless I was number 1, I wouldn’t be listened to,” she’s stated. And to me, learning more about these fights for equal rights, especially what went on behind the scenes, was the most interesting and inspiring aspect of the book.
Here are just a few of the fights you’ll learn more about if you tackle All In:
- In 1970, despite threats of suspension from the male-run tennis establishment, King, along with eight other women, signed $1 contracts with Gladys Heldman, publisher of World Tennis magazine, to create the first women’s pro tennis circuit.
- King campaigned vigorously for equal tournament prize money for women tennis players who were paid significantly less than their male peers—sometimes by a margin of eight to one. The U.S. Open was the first major tournament to offer pay equity, in 1973, after King threatened to boycott, but Wimbledon didn’t come around until 2007.
- When King started college in 1961 she’d already won her first Wimbledon championship, but no sports scholarships were forthcoming because she was a woman. Just over a decade later, King testified before Congress in support of Title IX. Passed in 1972, this legislation prohibited sex discrimination in all federally funded school programs, including sports. This meant schools had to start distributing athletic scholarship dollars equitably between male and female student athletes.
If you like inspiring reads that shows how much work goes into achieving incremental social progress, All In is definitely worth checking out!
King, Billie Jean, et al. All In: An Autobiography. Random House Audio, 2021.
Internet Librarian (Oct. 26-28) 2021 Conference Discount
The Nebraska Library Commission is offering a group discount to all librarians in Nebraska who attend the 2021 Internet Librarian Conference. This year it will be held October 26-28 at the Monterey Marriott in Monterey, California. Detailed information about the conference can be found on the conference web page.
As in the past, InfoToday is offering select groups the opportunity to participate in their Group Discount Program. The Gold Pass is available to groups at the discounted rate of $699 (regularly $899). They are also offering a special rate of $449 for the 3-Day Pass (regular rate is $599). (No discount rates are available for the separately priced preconference workshops.)
To receive the discount:
- Go to the Internet Librarian 2021 Registration page: http://internet-librarian.infotoday.com/2021/Register.aspx
- Click on the Register Now graphic at the top of the page.
- Type priority code 21NLC in the Priority Code field at the top of the form, and click the “Activate Code” button. Discounted rates should appear on the registration form after you successfully activate the code. If you don’t see the discounted rates on the form, please contact Susan Knisely for assistance.
- Complete and submit the online registration form before the September 24th deadline to receive the discounted rates. Rates will go up by $20 after the deadline.
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Friday Reads: Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, by Michelle Zauner
Michelle Zauner was born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Eugene, Oregon, by her American father and Korean mother. She is already well known as an indie pop singer/songwriter, who performs and records under the name Japanese Breakfast. (Her third studio album is scheduled for release later this month, and she will be in Omaha on July 31 at the Maha Music Festival.) Her debut book, Crying in H Mart, is an expansion of an essay of the same name that she published in the New Yorker in 2018.
If I had to sum up Crying in H Mart in a single sentence, I’d say it’s a memoir by a daughter about a fraught relationship with her late mother. But that’s reductive. It’s also an exercise in grieving, a culinary celebration, and an exploration of what it’s like to straddle two cultures, not feeling like you completely belong in either one. There’s also a love story slipped in.
H Mart, Zauner tells us on the opening page of her book, is a U.S. supermarket chain that specializes in Asian food, “where parachute kids go to get the exact brand of instant noodles that reminds them of home.” It’s also frequently a trigger for Zauner’s grief over the loss of her mother, who died in 2014, at the age of 56, after a brief, brutal battle with cancer. This death is the animating event of the memoir, but Zauner’s narrative stretches backward and forward in time. She recounts both the prickly relationship she had with her mother growing up and the love of Korean food they shared. She also addresses the alienation she feels from her Korean self after losing her mother: “Am I even Korean anymore if there’s no one left in my life to call and ask which brand of seaweed we used to buy?” she asks herself at one point, while shopping at H Mart.
Zauner’s writing is often visceral, which leads to a powerful reading experience: Her descriptions of food—how it tastes, what it feels like to share it, the yearning to be able to prepare it—are transporting; however, her descriptions of the hands-on care she provided to her mother in her final days, as her body deteriorated, are raw and gut wrenching. The latter may be too much for someone who has recently gone through something similar, but it’s a testament to Zauner’s talent that she is able to bring all types of experiences to vivid life.
Zauner, Michelle. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir. New York: Random House Audio, 2021.
2021 Computers in Libraries Virtual Conference (March 23-25) Discount
“Computers in Libraries Connect, organized and produced by Information Today, Inc., provides a unique, annual opportunity for library and information professionals from all over the world to gather together and discuss the myriad of ways technology continues to impact libraries and the people who use them. While we can’t yet meet in person, we invite you to join us online to learn, share, and celebrate the technologies and people that are shaping the future of libraries.“
The Nebraska Library Commission is pleased to announce that Information Today has again provided us with a discount code we can distribute to Nebraska librarians to use when registering for Computers in Libraries Connect 2021. This conference will be held virtually.
Discount code: NLCCIL21
Link to register: https://pheedloop.com/cil2021/site/register/
When you register using this discount code, you will be eligible to receive $100 off the Virtual Pass, which is normally $299. This means you will only pay $199.
The Virtual Pass (Tuesday, March 23rd through Thursday, March 25th) includes access to all keynotes and main conference sessions, networking, and the virtual exhibit hall. It also includes access to archived session recordings for viewing through June 1, 2021. (The Virtual Pass does not include access to workshops unless purchased separately. Workshops are separately priced and are not eligible for discounts.)
There is no deadline, so you can use this discount code through the event dates and will be able to view the archives if you miss any live sessions.
You can review programs here: https://pheedloop.com/cil2021/site/schedule/
If you have questions please contact Susan Knisely
Friday Reads: Conventionally Yours, by Annabeth Albert

Since last Sunday was Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d select something romantic for this week’s Friday Reads. My choice: Conventionally Yours, by Annabeth Albert. If you’re a fan of the “enemies to lovers” and “forced proximity” romance tropes, this might be right down your alley. If you enjoy reading about gamer culture, even better!
Conventionally Yours falls neatly into the new adult romance subgenre. Conrad (21) and Alden (23), the two protagonists, are both navigating fraught transitions between college and uncertain adult futures—Conrad because he had to drop out of college after his parents cut off financial support when they found out he was gay; Alden, who’s neurodiverse, because of failed attempts to get into medical school, followed by pressure from his mothers to come up with immediately-actionable alternate plans.
Conrad and Alden’s initial interactions are at a local game shop, where both participate in a small group devoted to playing the popular card game, Odyssey. At this point, they don’t get along at all. Conrad views Alden as rigid, rules-bound, and no fun, whereas Alden sees Conrad as a popular but irresponsible college drop-out working a series of dead-end jobs. Then, due to a cascade of chance circumstances, and to their mutual horror, they wind up stuck together in a car on a cross-country road trip to “Massive Odyssey Con West,” where they’ll compete for a seat on the pro Odyssey tour—an outcome that both view as a miracle solution to their near-term problems.
While this might seem like a recipe for disaster, in true romance fashion the drive time provides opportunities for the two to get to know each other better, correct misconceptions, and develop feelings. Alden grows indignant on Conrad’s behalf when he learns his family disowned him, and when he realizes Conrad is skimping on food because of tenuous finances he begins “accidentally” ordering more than he can eat in order to share. Conrad, for his part, really listens when Alden lashes out at him after he makes caustic comments about Alden always trying to be perfect. For the first time, Alden feels like someone understands how imperfect he feels after his moms spent years trying to get him diagnosed and fixed. And for the first time, he feels acceptance: “You’re just you. Just Alden. It’s who you are. Changing any of it isn’t necessary,” Conrad assures him.
Though Conrad and Alden experience a détente, coupled with growing attraction and affection, during their time on the road, there is still plenty of drama and tension to be resolved, not least of which is competing against each other in the tournament after learning how much the other needs the win. However, as you can probably guess given this is genre romance, there are happy resolutions in store for Conrad and Alden, both individually and as a couple, in the end.
Albert, Annabeth. Conventionally Yours. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2020.