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Category Archives: General
Finalists for 2016 One Book One Nebraska Announced
Finalists for 2016 One Book One Nebraska Announced
Two nonfiction books, one poetry collection, and three novels—all stories with ties to Nebraska and the Great Plains—are the finalists for the 2016 One Book One Nebraska statewide reading program. The finalists are:
- Backstage: Stories from My Life in Public Television by Ron Hull. University of Nebraska Press (2012)
- The Meaning of Names by Karen Shoemaker. Red Hen Press (2014)
- The Naked Mountaineer: Misadventures of an Alpine Traveler by Stephen Sieberson. University of Nebraska Press (2014)
- Nebraska Presence: An Anthology of Poetry edited by Greg Kosmicki and Mary K. Stillwell. The Backwaters Press (2007)
- The Plain Sense of Things by Pamela Carter Joern. University of Nebraska Press (2008)
- While the Patient Slept by Mignon Eberhart. University of Nebraska Press (1995)
The One Book One Nebraska reading program, now in its twelfth year, is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission. It encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss the same book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme or setting. A Nebraska Center for the Book committee selected the six finalists from a list of twenty-seven titles nominated by Nebraskans. In the coming weeks, Nebraska Center for the Book board members will vote on the 2016 selection.
Nebraskans are invited to attend the Celebration of Nebraska Books on November 14, where the choice for the 2016 One Book One Nebraska will be announced at 5:30 p.m. at the Nebraska Library Commission, 1200 N Street in downtown Lincoln. This year’s One Book One Nebraska, Death Zones & Darling Spies: Seven Years of Vietnam War Reporting, by Beverly Deepe Keever, will be featured at the Celebration in a presentation, “Beverly Deepe Keever: An Unconventional Woman for An Unconventional War,” by Thomas Berg, PhD, Dept. of History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. See http://onebook.nebraska.gov or https://www.facebook.com/OneBookOneNebraska for more information about ongoing 2015 One Book One Nebraska activities.
The November 14 Celebration of Nebraska Books is scheduled for 2:30 – 6:30 p.m., with the Nebraska Center for the Book Annual Meeting to be held at 1:30 p.m. Awards will be presented to the winners of the 2015 Nebraska Book Awards, and some of the winning authors will read from their work. A list of Nebraska Book Award winners is posted at http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/awards.html. The Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book and Nebraska Library Commission, with support from Friends of University of Nebraska Press. For more information, contact Mary Jo Ryan, maryjo.ryan@nebraska.gov, 402-471-3434 or 800-307-2665. Confirmed presenters will be announced at www.centerforthebook.nebraska.gov and http://www.facebook.com/NebraskaCenterfortheBook
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, bringing together people and information.
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website, http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.
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National Book Award Finalists
Here is the list of fiction, non fiction, poetry, and young people’s literature nominations for the National Book Award revealed this morning. Winners in each category will receive a bronze sculpture and a purse of $10,000, at a ceremony in New York City on Nov. 18.
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Friday Reads: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Haunting of Hill House tells us the story of Eleanor an
d her visit to Hill House, where she has been invited to take part in the exploration of its possible haunting. Eleanor is in a bad place in a sad life as she travels to the house—she has been the caretaker for her recently deceased mother, and her remaining family is caught up with their own busy lives, and they don’t seem to care about her health or well-being. At Hill House, she meets colorful characters she never would have met otherwise. There is Dr. Montague, who wants to scientifically quantify any eerie occurrence they find, to finally connect science and the supernatural. There is Theodora, who is a free spirit who seems to have figured out a lot of things about life that continue to baffle Eleanor, but who still doesn’t have all the answers. And there’s Luke, who will inherit Hill House someday, and all the baggage the house represents—and symbolizes. The group of psychic adventurers has to work out their interpersonal dynamics with each other and with newcomers.
Jackson’s novel is a quick read of, as Dorothy Parker says in the blurb on the back, “beautifully written, quiet, cumulative shudders.” The text can be enjoyed as a breezy distraction, or there are plenty of plot points to reflect upon if the reader wishes. For example, Eleanor has been invited to the house by Dr. Montague because of a psychic experience as a child—what does it mean to have been a “special” child who grows up to be an adult that seems quite ordinary? How much can we rely on childhood memories and how do they affect us? How do we use memories to reconstruct traumatic family events?
This is one of those stories that will have you questioning what the characters believe—and will inspire you to think about what is really frightening in life. Ghosts? Loneliness? Bad architecture? Home ownership? Letting someone else do your thinking for you?
The Haunting of Hill House is a great example of the female gothic novel, where issues affecting women are explored through the themes of gothic literature. These themes include the influence of place, power dynamics, our struggle to reconcile logic with nature, and the reliability of memory, among other interesting issues.
This novel was adapted to make the 1963 movie The Haunting, which is enjoyably stylish but less nuanced than the novel. (The movie was remade in 1999 with an impressive cast and poor result.) Shirley Jackson is also the author of many other novels and stories, including “The Lottery,” which you may have had to read in school. If you already appreciate Shirley Jackson, you might enjoy this quiz: http://the-toast.net/2015/04/20/how-to-tell-if-you-are-in-a-shirley-jackson-story/
Free Webinar –Marketplace.cms.gov: The Official Marketplace Information Source for Assisters and Outreach Partners
A live training webinar, “Marketplace.cms.gov: The Official Marketplace Information Source for Assisters and Outreach Partners,” will be presented on Thursday, November 12, 2015.
Register today for “Marketplace.cms.gov: The Official Marketplace Information Source for Assisters and Outreach Partners”
- Start time: 2 p.m. (Eastern)
- Duration: 60 minutes
- Speakers:
- Maria Everette, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Content Manager, Marketplace.cms.gov
- Valerie Perkins, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Writer, Marketplace Consumer Products
- Learning outcomes: Marketplace.cms.gov is the official online Marketplace resource for assisters and outreach partners. During this webinar, CMS staff will present an overview of the information that’s available on Marketplace.cms.gov. The site provides information about assister programs and tools to help existing and new Health Insurance Marketplace consumers. The presentation will highlight the outreach and education section of the website, where users will find materials for consumers, resources for presentations, and promotional tools. The webinar will include a walkthrough of the site.
- Expected level of knowledge for participants: No prerequisite knowledge required.
The webinar is free, but registration is required. Upon registering, a confirmation email will be sent to you. This registration confirmation email includes the instructions for joining the webinar.
Registration confirmations will be sent from sqldba @ icohere.com. To ensure delivery of registration confirmations, registrants should configure junk mail or spam filter(s) to permit messages from that email address. If you do not receive the confirmation, please notify GPO.
GPO’s eLearning platform presents webinars using WebEx. In order to attend or present at a GPO-hosted webinar, a WebEx plug-in must be installed in your internet browser(s). Download instructions.
Visit FDLP Academy for access to FDLP educational and training resources. All are encouraged to share and re-post information about this free training opportunity with others.
Throwback Thursday: Gothenburg Carnegie Library
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SBA Awards $100,000 to GROW Nebraska to Support Native American Small Businesses
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced today that it has awarded $100,000 to GROW Nebraska for projects promoting the development, success, and long-term survival of Native American firms eligible for assistance under the SBA’s 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program. Project funding is provided by SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs.
The SBA grant program announcement sought unique and innovative proposals to provide specialized training, executive education, and tools to promote business development of Native American small businesses. This funding will help to address some of the challenges Native American firms and other 7(j) eligible firms face, including teaming with other businesses; mastering the process of federal contracting; and reversing declines and re-energizing small businesses.
GROW Nebraska will work with partners Lakota Hope and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL) Extension to capitalize on the talents and interests of entrepreneurs on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and in the Whiteclay, Neb., area to create a group of entrepreneurs who work together and support each other as they build scalable small businesses that will generate a livable income for the business owner and his/her family, create jobs, and have a positive impact on Reservation residents. With this grant, GROW Nebraska, Lakota Hope and UNL Extension will create an innovative, entrepreneur-focused program that builds and supports a powerful business strategy for each participant involved in the program.
To learn more about the SBA’s Office of Native American Affairs, please visit www.sba.gov/naa.
The Data Dude – OverDrive Data Prefilled on Survey
Just as the Dude was ready to start on a couple of rather extensive posts in response to some abstract concepts, he received a call from some overachievers who were compiling their OverDrive circulation data since their fiscal year has now ended. Actually, this was a good thing, because it led the Dude to revise the Bibliostat page of the NLC website and brought his attention to some material there that was just a tad outdated. The pages should now be up to date, but if you notice any errors, please let me know.
This reporting on the survey is always confusing. For one, the survey asks for “Children’s” circulation, but OverDrive doesn’t use that same terminology. It uses Juvenile and Young Adult. Some might disagree, but the survey instructions indicate that you include young adult titles with children’s, so that is where they are counted.
Here’s the good news: You don’t even have to open that guide if you don’t want to. For OverDrive, all these numbers, for both consortium holdings and OverDrive circulations (both adult and children’s) should be prefilled on your survey. In past years, this was the source of a lot of undue stress and confusion about how to get these figures and how to do the necessary math to fit them into both adult and children’s categories. Well, math no more; prefill is our friend. It should be noted that if you have another service other than OverDrive, get out your calculators because you will need to add those numbers to the prefilled amounts. And for those of you who have a subscription to eBooks or Audiobooks with a patron-driven acquisition model (that’s a fancy way of saying that your library has access to a massive collection of eBooks or Audiobooks and you only pay for what your patrons want to read/listen to), then you need to get a bit creative.
For these types of things (we’re talking eBooks, Audiobooks, or videos here) the key is whether or not they are “returned” or permanently retained. Keep in mind that downloading something to a device only to have it disappear after a set period of time is the same thing as returned. For these things, you count the number of items circulated both as holdings and circulations. In other words, if you have access to a service that has a catalog of 1,000,000 eBooks and during the course of your fiscal year there are 10,000 eBooks that are downloaded, then you count 10,000 for your eBook holdings and 10,000 added to your electronic materials circulation. If the items are retained and not returned, then you count those under electronic collections (in the technology part of the survey). There is a guide on the website that was originally created by the state data coordinator from Arizona, and tweaked for use in Nebraska. Shaka.
Book Award Winners to be Honored at November 14 Celebration of Nebraska Books
Book Award Winners to be Honored at November 14 Celebration of Nebraska Books
An awards presentation ceremony will highlight the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Celebration of Nebraska Books on November 14 at the Nebraska Library Commission, 1200 N Street, The Atrium, in downtown Lincoln. Winners of the 2015 Nebraska Book Awards will be honored and the celebration will include readings by some of the winning authors, designers and illustrators. And the winners are:
2015 Nebraska Book Award Winners
Anthology
The Wheeling Year: A Poet’s Field Book by Ted Kooser. University of Nebraska Press.
Cover/Design/Illustration
As All My Fathers Were: A Novel by James A. Misko. Cover and design by Jonathan Friedman. Northwest Ventures Press.
Cover/Design/Illustration Honor
Intimates and Fools by Laura Madeline Wiseman. Art by Sally Deskins. Internal layout and design by Adam Wagler. Les Femmes Folles Books.
Fiction
Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert. William Morrow.
Fiction: Short Story
In Reach by Pamela Carter Joern. University of Nebraska Press.
Non-Fiction: Investigative Journalism
The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food by Ted Genoways. Harper.
Non-Fiction: Memoir
Leaving the Pink House: A Memoir by Ladette Randolph. University of Iowa Press.
Non-Fiction: Nebraska as Place
This Place, These People: Life and Shadow on the Great Plains by David Stark and Nancy Warner. Columbia University Press.
Non-Fiction: Nebraska History
Nebraska POW Camps: A History of World War II Prisoners in the Heartland by Melissa Amateis Marsh. The History Press.
Non-Fiction: Nebraska Spirit
Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II by James J. Kimble. University of Nebraska Press.
Non-Fiction: Reference
History of Nebraska by Ronald C. Naugle, John J. Montag, and James C. Olson. University of Nebraska Press.
Poetry
Morning: Last Poems by Don Welch. pigeonpress.
Poetry Honor
Always the Detail by Barbara Schmitz. Stephen F. Austin State University Press.
The celebration, free and open to the public, will also feature presentation of the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Jane Geske Award to a Nebraska organization for exceptional contribution to literacy, books, reading, libraries, and literature in Nebraska. The Jane Geske Award commemorates Geske’s passion for books, and was established in recognition of her contributions to the well-being of the libraries of Nebraska. Jane Pope Geske was a founding member of the Nebraska Center for the Book, former director of the Nebraska Library Commission, and a long-time leader in Nebraska library and literary activities.
This year the Celebration marks the eleventh year of One Book One Nebraska, selecting and promoting a book title for Nebraskans to read to celebrate the literary richness of our state. Death Zones & Darling Spies: Seven Years of Vietnam War Reporting, by Beverly Deepe Keever is the 2015 One Book One Nebraska, and Nebraska libraries and other literary and cultural organizations across the state are hosting activities and events to encourage all Nebraskans to read and discuss this book (see http://onebook.nebraska.gov.) The Celebration keynote will be presented by Thomas Berg, PhD, Dept. of History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, on “Beverly Deepe Keever: An Unconventional Woman for An Unconventional War” at 2:45 p.m.
The Nebraska Center for the Book Annual Meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m.—just prior to the 2:30-6:30 p.m. Celebration. An awards reception honoring the winning authors, book signings, and announcement of the 2016 One Book One Nebraska book choice will conclude the festivities.
The Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by Nebraska Center for the Book and Nebraska Library Commission, with support from the Friends of the University of Nebraska Press. Humanities Nebraska provides support for One Book One Nebraska. The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people and information.”
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website, http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.
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Celebrate National Reading Group Month!
October is National Reading Group Month and to celebrate I wanted to investigate what makes a group endure. I located plenty of information on starting a group, selecting titles, and leading a discussion but very little on how to keep it going through the years. My book group celebrates its anniversary in the fall so as we are wrapping up our 13th year, I interviewed them and posed the question, what makes you keep coming? The answers not surprisingly resemble the qualities of any other long-lasting and good relationship:
- I keep coming because of the people and the chemistry of the group.
- The discussions are rich and varied.
- The group is respectful and agrees that completing and actually discussing the book is an important part of our gathering.
- The frequency of the group (six times a year) keeps me coming because my personal reading isn’t always being interrupted.
- The group is intimate because we’ve created trust which allows us to share things we otherwise might keep to ourselves.
- The discussion can really turn around my opinion of a book. Sometimes it seems we have each read a different book with the same title!
- I like the way the group selects titles (everyone takes a turn); it provides a variety of reading and makes each one of us take the roll of selecting very seriously.
The takeaway is, now that you’ve created a book group, how are you gauging their dynamics? Reading a book takes precious time and discussing it is an additional level of commitment. Perhaps taking time to ask about your book group’s assessment might be worthwhile to iron out any kinks and keep it running satisfactorily for all.
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Winners of NEST $529 Read to Win Recognized in Capitol Ceremony
Statewide Winners of NEST $529 Read to Win Drawing Recognized in Capitol Ceremony
More than $11,500 awarded to children and libraries across Nebraska
Lincoln, Neb. (October 5, 2015) – Treasurer Don Stenberg and First National Bank of Omaha presented $529 NEST college savings scholarships today to winners from Nebraska’s three congressional districts in the NEST Read to Win $529 Drawing, sponsored by the Nebraska Educational Savings Trust (NEST), First National Bank of Omaha, and the Nebraska Library Commission.
Winners were recognized today in the Capitol Rotunda. Not all winners were able to attend the ceremony.
More than 20,000 children and teens were entered in the drawing after completing summer reading programs at their local libraries across the state. Five winners were chosen in a random drawing from each of Nebraska’s three U.S. Congressional Districts. They were awarded $529 each in a NEST 529 College Savings account, and their respective library branches received $250 each.
First National Bank of Omaha, program manager for NEST, provided the prizes.
Winners and the libraries where they took part in summer reading are as follows:
District 1
Calleigh Chmelka, 5, Lincoln, Victor E. Anderson Library
Landon Bliss, 7, Lincoln, Charles H. Gere Library
Andrew Furasek, 10, Lincoln, Bethany Library
Taylor Searcey, 13, Lincoln, Victor E. Anderson Library
Haylee Young, 13, Lincoln, Victory E. Anderson Library
District 2
Ava Brooks, 4, Omaha, Millard Library
Keaton Irwin, 5, Omaha, Swanson Branch
Brayden Sanchez, 7, Omaha, Saddlebrook Branch
Landon Flora, 11, Omaha, Millard Library
Melia Minnich, 11, Omaha, Elkhorn Branch
District 3
Grace Eickhoff, 5, Grand Island, Grand Island Public Library
Jack Reents, 7, Hastings, Hastings Public Library
Taylin Rhoads, 8 Grand Island, Grand Island Public Library
Aydrien Vetter, 8 Ravenna. Ravenna Public Library
Lened Reyes Estrada, 10, Grand Island, Grand Island Public Library
Libraries receiving donations in the Read to Win event are as follows:
Omaha Public Libraries, $1,000, for four branch libraries
Lincoln City Libraries, $750, for three branch libraries
Grand Island Public Library, $250
Hastings Public Library, $250
Ravenna Public Library, $250
Friday Reads: Make Your Home among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet
In this excellent debut novel by a newly transplanted Nebraska author, Jennine Capó Crucet demonstrates that she is a gifted writer who can create strong multi-dimensional characters. Relocating to Nebraska from Miami, she teaches English and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
In Make Your Home among Strangers: A Novel, Lizet leaves Miami to venture north to an Ivy League school for her first year of college. The change in climate is not the only thing she has to get used to in her new environment. Besides adjusting to a very different life—academic and social—she has to traverse some unanticipated emotional territory. Learning to live with people with very different backgrounds and expectations than she’s ever been exposed to is just one part of the adjustment process. She also has to manage her own feelings about those she left at home—and maybe left behind? (And what a great colorful crew of well-developed, interesting characters they are!) Lizet has to decide how much her sense of responsibility for family and friends at home will trump her own needs—where the past ends and her future begins. She has to deal with managing her own expectations about her ability to help and steer the ones she loves vs. her ability to do this for herself in her own life.
All of this is explored in the context of very engaging storytelling and true-to-life dialog. We come to really care about Lizet and her family. I found myself really cheering for them all by the end of the book. This story is fun to read and I really enjoyed the author’s wicked observations of human nature—portrayed with gentle humor, not malice. There’s a fascinating sub-plot about what goes on in Miami’s Little Havana while Lizet is away at school and it leaves the reader wanting more of that story about Lizet’s family and friends. I hope I get to read about what happens next for them. Welcome to Nebraska, Jennine Capó Crucet. We can’t wait to read the rest of your stories.
This would be a good book for library book clubs. They would have a great time reading this book—and talking about it. Maybe you could even persuade the author to come to your library to make a presentation. I would love to come to that program!
The Data Dude on Social Media – Pt. 2
After last week’s post, which admittedly was thrown together at the last minute in order to meet the one post a week deadline (yes, I’m playing a self-inflicted weekly match-it game with Lori Sailors), the Dude got to thinking more about libraries and social media. If you look at the library markers on the public library maps from the NLC website, there are links to selected social media sites for each library (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr). The bar chart to the right uses the data from the map, showing the distribution of social media sites used by Nebraska libraries. The data comes from the NLC supplemental survey, and after looking at the supplemental survey, some revision might be in order. How many of you have active Delicious accounts? LibraryThing? These are both options on the supplemental survey but not Pinterest or Instagram. Well, perhaps we will work to revise the supplemental survey so that these might be options. Are there others? If so, let me know.
Now, as the chart illustrates, Facebook (or is it facebook?) is the dominant force here (if you don’t understand why, check out last week’s post (or just look at the bar chart) for a better understanding of the dominance of facebook. Perhaps you could also double check your marker on the aforementioned maps to make sure that they provide the correct link to your library’s social media pages. If they don’t, you can update that information via the supplemental survey. This can be done at any time, although reminders are sent around the time of the public library survey.
Arguably, what’s more important is keeping your social media sites updated. Having a twitter account and only tweeting once a year is neither worthwhile nor effective at getting your message out there. Which brings the Dude to the next point and that is what icon to use for these various sites. Facebook isn’t too difficult, anything with the lower case f on a blue background. Twitter, however is a bit trickier. Do you use the lower case t or one of the variations of the little birdy? Do we assume that everyone knows that the birdy represents twitter? For Pinterest, the cursive p will do, but should you choose the circle or square background? Flickr’s are a bit more complicated, with numerous blue and pink dots and various renderings of lower case fr’s. The Dude imagines that someday we will have throwback icons similar to that of baseball uniforms and soda packaging (if we don’t already). Shaka.
Throwback Thursday: Geneva Carnegie Library
Exterior photo of the Geneva, Nebraska Carnegie Library built in 1912.
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The Data Dude on Social Media Use
Today’s post will be a little blip about social media use. A recent Pew Research Center study took a look at gender and social media use and compared it to findings from previous years. While there once was a noticeable gender gap between men and women (with women being more likely than men to use social media), there is no longer such a noticeable difference. Does your library use social media? If so, what do you use and for what purpose? If you are interested in setting up social media sites or pages are you aware that there is help from the Nebraska Library Commission? If you’ve been meaning to do this but need some assistance, contact the NLC Technology and Innovation Librarian, Craig Lefteroff.
According to the Pew survey, there are some differences in the type of social media used by gender. As the chart indicates, Facebook, while still used more by women than men, remains the most frequently used site overall. Pinterest is dominated by women, and men are more likely to use discussion forums and slightly more likely to use Twitter. The point to this is to have a better understanding of the various social media options for your library, and to understand the benefits of using social media to reach your community. Of course, this is only the starting point in gathering data on the demographics of your local community. Another great source for information to help with setting up and maintaining a social media site is the Nebraska Libraries on the Web site and blog. Check it out and you might come away with a fresh new idea or two. Shaka.
Young Readers Invited to Write to Favorite Authors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 22, 2015
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Mary Jo Ryan
402-471-3434
800-307-2665
Young Readers Invited to Write to Favorite Authors
Young readers in grades 4-12 are invited to write a personal letter to an author for the Letters about Literature (LAL) contest, a national reading and writing promotion program. The letter can be to any author (living or dead) from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic—explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s view of the world. The 23rd annual writing contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which promotes the contest through its affiliate Centers for the Book, state libraries and other organizations. This reading and writing promotion is sponsored in Nebraska by the Nebraska Center for the Book and Nebraska Library Commission, and supported by Houchen Bindery Ltd. and Chapters Books in Seward.
Prizes will be awarded on both the state and national levels. The Nebraska Center for the Book’s panel of judges will select the top letter writers in the state, to be honored in a proclamation-signing ceremony at the state capitol during National Library Week in April 2016. Their winning letters will be placed in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors at Bennett Martin Public Library in Lincoln. Nebraska winners will receive state prizes, and then advance to the national judging.
A panel of national judges for the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select one National Winner per competition level (Level I for grades 4-6, Level II for grades 7-8, and Level III for grades 9-12) to receive a $1,000 cash award, to be announced in May 2016. The judges will also select one National Honor winner on each competition level to receive a $200 cash award.
Teachers, librarians, and parents can download free teaching materials on reader response and reflective writing, along with contest details and entry forms, at www.read.gov/letters. Nebraska-specific information (including lists of Nebraska winners of past competitions) is available at http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/programs/LAL.html. Listen to Nebraska winners, Ashley Xiques and Sydney Kohl, read and talk about and their winning letters to authors that meant something to them in their own lives on NET Radio’s All About Books (http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/radio/all-about-books). Submissions from Grades 9-12 must be postmarked by December 4, 2015. Submissions from Grades 4-8 must be postmarked by January 11, 2016. For more information contact Mary Jo Ryan, 402-471-3434 or 800-307-2665.
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, bringing
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website, http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.
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The Data Dude – Wednesday Watch: SOA and Silicon Valley
Today’s Wednesday Watch will focus on a snippet (ok maybe a bit more than a snippet) of FX’s Sons of Anarchy (SOA), a show the Dude really wanted to like but abandoned in the middle of the final season (to be honest, it should have happened much earlier). After the SOA analysis, the post will then shift to a new show with high hopes that is thus far exceeding expectations, HBO’s Silicon Valley.
First: The bad. Sons of Anarchy (various seasons) are part of the holdings of approximately 5 or 6 Nebraska public libraries, depending on the season. If your library is considering it, the Dude recommends that you put your money toward something else gangster-related (such as the Sopranos or the Wire), and spend the rest on Silicon Valley (see below). Yes, SOA does have some high points, generally during the first two seasons, and often centered on the witty one liners coming from Katey Sagal (Gemma) or Ron Perlman (Clay). The acting on the show is solid; however the low point is the unravelling of the show’s writing over time into the abyss of absurdity. SOA creator and writer Kurt Sutter has a response to the Dude’s criticism, namely that all the other non-haters “get it”, and we simply don’t. Well, that may be the case, but our disappointment comes from the fact that we believe the show could have been much better, if the unbelievable, irrational parts were sufficiently cleaned up. And it had potential. Without giving away too much, let’s dive in a bit as to why SOA misses the mark. The Dude started watching the show at the urging of various individuals, including some motorcycle aficionados. Now for the record, the Dude isn’t particularly interested in cycles (except for the human powered kind), but certainly has nothing against them. Not quite mid-way through the final season, the Dude had enough, and didn’t even have the desire to see how the show ended. Yes, it was that disappointing. Here are the reasons why.
Number one: The overuse of the musical montage. Works occasionally, but too much of even a good thing is well, a bad thing. Some of the music comes across as just plain tacky (e.g. changing the lyrics in “House of the Rising Sun” from “New Orleans” to “Charming Town” – the fictional town where SOA takes place) and at other times it’s just plain clichéd. As the series goes on, the musical montage gets more and more used and thus more and more annoying.
Number two: The prison scenes started out just OK, but became completely unbelievable over time. Well, it should be noted that they held a period of believability on a sensationalized, Hollywood version of what occurs behind bars. Even if we accept the fact that some of this stuff is a bit overblown, what writer Kurt Sutter’s character (Otto Delaney) is able to accomplish in prison is pretty comical when you think about it. All of it could never happen that way. The difficult part to swallow is that Sutter seems to have no problem serving it up on a platter with the manner of Anthony Hopkins in the Remains of the Day. The truth of the matter is that for most people who are either in prison or work there it is a mundane, repetitive, smelly, depressing, argumentative, limiting environment with small amounts of possessions and privacy that zaps one’s daily energy (inmates and staff). Admittedly, it is in fact an environment charged with violence, testosterone, manipulation, and sexuality, but to a much lesser degree than portrayed by Sutter.
Number three: The level of trust demonstrated by certain rival gang members that ultimately leads to their murder is off base. Some of these characters are hyped up as “major playas”, yet when they have a sit down with another gang and they roll in with only 2 or 3 of their crew and when they sometimes turn their backs on potential rivals, it ultimately leads to their predictable demise. It happens more than once, and it seems that guys of this caliber (if you believe the hype from the accompanying dialogue) would roll in on 3-4 tinted window Escalades or Suburbans, after setting up a few guys on the perimeter ahead of time, and toting no less than a few machine guns. And never, ever, turn their backs on anyone or exhibit any degree of trust. Furthermore, some of the alliances formed among the various thugs (under the circumstances) seem a bit perplexing or preposterous.
Number four: The kill count. Basically, the crew consists of about 8-9 guys, give or take throughout the series. True, the club has numerous other “charters” in different towns or cities, but the core group, SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original – the main charter) is generally around or less than 10 guys. The kill count for just the members over the 7 seasons is a whopping 144 (see chart). By comparison, the total deaths (including those not directly caused by Tony’s crew) in the Sopranos was 92. Some of these SOA kills are of the persuasion that they would most likely draw significant attention from not just local but national law enforcement.
Number five: The continuity errors. This is a minor complaint, but part of a larger criticism related to editing as a whole. Every show has these types of errors and they sometimes are noticeable, sometimes not. On SOA, they seemed to be noticeable and distracting, and for a show of this caliber, it was unexpected. These include blood and tattoos that either disappear or change places from scene to scene, cars that change make and model from scene to scene, actors that have or wear items then don’t have them, etc. It’s a minor complaint, but a complaint nonetheless. Details matter.
Now on to Silicon Valley. According to WorldCat, season 1 is held by just 2 Nebraska public libraries. The show follows main character Richard Hendriks (Thomas Middleditch) and his friends or colleagues (however you might see it) who all live together under one roof in a startup incubator in or near Palo Alto. Erlich Bachmann (played brilliantly by TJ Miller, and adequately filling the no-nonsense sharp witted gap left by the departure of Roger Sterling) lets Richard and his friends stay in his house rent free in exchange for a 10% stake in the projects they invent while living in the incubator. Richard develops a powerful search algorithm (Pied Piper) and the show follows the path from Pied Piper’s inception to startup, as well as the rest of the Silicon Valley world. Now, before someone mentions that there is a certain degree of unbelievability in Silicon Valley (see SOA criticism above), the difference is that Silicon Valley isn’t pretending to pass everything off this way (as SOA is with a straight face).
The show’s creator, Mike Judge (Beavis and butt-head, Office Space, King of the Hill) has previously worked at a Silicon Valley startup, and does a pretty good job of satirizing the culture. Although some, such as Elon Musk, are not quite as amused. Now for the record, the Dude is a Musk (and Tesla and Solar City) fan, although his frequently quoted response to Silicon Valley actually does more to prove that the HBO series hits, rather than misses the mark. Musk is quoted as saying:
“I really feel like Mike Judge has never been to Burning Man, which is Silicon Valley. If you haven’t been, you just don’t get it. You could take the craziest L.A. party and multiply it by a thousand, and it doesn’t even get … close to what’s in Silicon Valley. The show didn’t have any of that.” Judge didn’t bite when he responded to Musk’s comment, merely stating that: “I mean, he’s Elon Musk and he knows more about the tech world than I do, so I would never argue with that. But we’re doing a comedy. This isn’t a documentary.” In a way, Musk’s comment seems self-satirizing (read it again a few times and it will become more apparent). TJ Miller also had an apt response: “Yeah, but, and I’m not gonna name names, but if the billionaire power players don’t get the joke, it’s because they’re not comfortable being satirized, … And they don’t remember that to be a target of humor is an honor — you have to be venerated to be satirized. Like, I’m sorry, but you could tell everything was true. You guys do have bike meetings …”
For the record, perhaps Judge will think of a way to work Musk’s thoughts into a future episode, and I could go on about Burning Man and Silicon Valley, but it would be hard to beat this Burning Man spoof (complete with a great Petyr Baelish imitation). Shaka.
Posted in General, Library Management, Technology, Uncategorized
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Nebraska Then and Now
When looking at pictures of historical buildings in Nebraska Memories I’m always surprised at how many buildings and places I recognize. Many of these buildings have been around for 100 years and are still being used today. Over the years, as I’ve traveled across the state, I’ve tried to take pictures of some of these historical buildings because I thought it would be fun to see how much or how little these buildings have changed.
As I’ve taken pictures of these buildings there are a few things that I have noticed. First of all there is a lot less clutter in the historical photos. Today many of the pictures I’ve taken are full of stop lights, street signs, and electrical lines. Also it appears that we have planted a lot of trees over the past 100 or so years. I like trees. I think it’s great we have planted so many but it really makes it hard to take a picture of a building when it is surrounded by trees. The last thing I’ve noticed as I’ve looked at the old photos is angle from which the photos were taken from. The photographers were either able to stand further away from the buildings or they had access to a neighboring building and took the picture out the window or from the rooftop. Also you can only move so far back when you are standing on a street corner in downtown Omaha surrounded by tall buildings.
I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures to see how some of these buildings have and have not changed over the years. Click on an old picture to learn more about the building. Click on the new picture to see a larger version of the new picture.
Flat Iron Building – 17th, St. Mary’s, Howard, and 18th Streets, Omaha
Picture: 2015
Read about the recent renovations to this building.
Flat Iron Building,
17th, St. Mary’s, Howard and 18th, Omaha, Nebr.
Built: 1912
Postcard: 1912-1920
Omaha Public Library – 19th and Harney Streets, Omaha
Omaha Public Library
Built: 1894
Picture: 1898
Picture: 2015
Little Building – 11th and O Streets, Lincoln
Little Building
Built: 1907
Picture: 1928
Picture: 2015
Omaha High School – 20th and Dodge St, Omaha
Omaha High School, Omaha, Neb.
Built: 1902
Postcard: 1902-1907
Picture: 2015
Mitchell High School – 19th Ave and 18th St, Mitchell
High School, Mitchell, Nebraska
Built: 1927
Picture: 1927
Picture: 2012
Exterior of Glidden Paints building – 31st and Leavenworth St, Omaha
Exterior of Glidden Paints building
Picture: 1946
Picture: 2015
Public Library, Schuyler, Nebr. – E 10th and C Streets, Schuyler
Public Library, Schuyler, Nebr.
Built: 1912
Postcard: 1920-1930
Picture: 2015
Post office, South Omaha, Neb. – S 24th and M Streets, Omaha
Post office, South Omaha, Neb.
Built: 1899
Postcard: 1907-1920
Picture: 2015
Donley Stahl Building – 13th and N Street, Lincoln
Donley Stahl Building
Built: 1925
Picture: 1928
Picture: 2015
Carnegie Library, Ashland – N 15th and Boyd Streets, Ashland
Carnegie Library, Ashland, Nebraska
Built: 1911
Postcard: 1920-1930
Picture: 2009
Pavilion at Miller Park – Millier Park Drive, Omaha
Pavilion at Miller Park
Picture: 1900-1910
Picture: 2015
Keeline Building – 17th & Harney Streets, Omaha
Keeline Building
Built: 1911
Picture: 1938
Picture: 2015
Sharp Building – 13th and N Street, Lincoln
Sharp Building rendering
Built: 1928
Rendering: 1928
Picture: 2015
Security Mutual Building – 12th and O Streets, Lincoln
Security Mutual Building
Built: 1915
Picture: 1928
Picture: 2015
First National Bank – 16th and Farnam Streets, Omaha
First National Bank, Omaha, Nebr.
Built: 1917
Postcard: 1917-1920
Picture: 2015
Visit Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, contact Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
Posted in General, Nebraska Memories, Technology
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