Do you have 10 minutes to help us transcribe a handwritten inscription?

John Ellis AlbumRecently we added two autograph albums to Nebraska Memories. The albums belonged to May Martin Ellis and her husband John Ellis. They contain many handwritten inscriptions with the majority of inscriptions dating from the late 1800’s. While it is fun to read the inscriptions it can also be a challenge to read some of the handwriting. We would like to remove this challenge by providing a typed transcription of each page. Typing the transcriptions is a bit of a daunting task however because there are about 150 pages between the two albums and each page was written by a different person. The quality of handwriting varies from page to page so some are easy to read while others take a bit more effort.

John Ellis Album (page 24)To help with the task of transcribing these albums we wanted to try using crowdsourcing. If you are not familiar with crowdsourcing in this context it is a way to divide up the labor of transcribing the text among a group of people who are willing to give a few minutes of their time to the project. This is not a new concept but it is the first time we are trying it and hope you will be willing to help us.

What do you get out of helping with this project? To start with you get the enjoyment of reading a page or two in the autograph books. While I haven’t read all of the pages yet here is one inscription that I found amusing. This is from page 42 of May’s album.May Martin Ellis Album (page 42)

Dear Friend May:

Remember me and my best wishes
When far away washing dishes.

From your friend.
Eva Miller.

July 26th 1885.

Second, by helping to create a typed transcription we are making both the inscriptions and the name of the person who wrote them legible, searchable and findable. After the pages have been transcribed we will add the transcribed text to the corresponding album page in Nebraska Memories.

Third, if your relatives lived in Nebraska during the late 1800’s maybe you will find an inscription they wrote. Many of the inscriptions include both a date and place name. Some of the place names I’ve seen include: Alliance, Box Butte, Genoa, Hemingford, Osceola, and Grand Lake (According to information on the Nebraska State Historical Site’s webpage Grand Lake was located near Alliance.)

If you are up to the challenge here is how you can help. We have set up a Google form for each album so we can easily collect the transcribed text and then display the text in a corresponding spreadsheet. You do not need a Google account to help us. Everything you do is anonymous. We have no way of tracking who has helped us with this project. Here is what you need to get started.

Links That You Will Need – Please make sure you read the instructions below.

May Martin Ellis Album

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone’s help the May Martin Ellis Album is done.

Album: http://memories.nebraska.gov/cdm/ref/collection/donated/id/127May Martin Ellis Album

Spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/ZVFXwx

Form: http://goo.gl/ebYc52

John Ellis Album

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone’s help the John Ellis Album is done.

Album: http://memories.nebraska.gov/cdm/ref/collection/donated/id/178John Ellis Album

Spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/TOvyi2

Form: http://goo.gl/D2rDfx

Instructions

  1. Open either May’s or John’s spreadsheet. On the spreadsheet you will see a column labeled Page. If a page number is listed in the spreadsheet that means the page has been transcribed. You will see the transcription in the corresponding column. Determine which page or pages need to be transcribed.
  2. Open the corresponding album and locate a page you want to transcribe.
  3. Open the corresponding form. Enter the number of the page you are transcribing and then type the text as it is written.
  • Press the enter key at the end of each line.
  • Do NOT correct misspellings, grammar errors, punctuation, odd capitalization or anything else we may consider wrong. I know this may be the hardest part for some folks but it is important that you type the text exactly as it was written. For example I’ve seen a couple of folks who have written the word tomorrow as two separate words. In May’s book on page 6 her Pa wrote it as “to Morrow”. That’s the way it needs to be typed.
  • John Ellis Album (page20)If you cannot read a word, letter or are unsure of something please put a question mark in the transcription at the point you have the question. The question mark will be a signal to us that someone else will need to look at that text. For example if I was transcribing page 20 of John’s book there is a line where I would need to insert a question mark because I’m not sure what is written between the word in and albums. In the form I would enter: If scribbling in ? Albums:
  • toolbarSome folks wrote at all kinds of odd angles. You may need to rotate or zoom in on the text to make it easier to read. Use the buttons on the toolbar above the image to do this. Put the text in the order you think is most logical.
  • If you see a transcription in the spreadsheet with a questions mark in it and you want to try deciphering that page please go ahead and try. Multiple forms can be submitted for each page. We will be looking at all of the transcriptions before they are added to Nebraska Memories.

John Ellis Album (page 39)Now that you have spent five minutes reading this I hope you will be willing to spend 5 more minutes transcribing a page or two in the albums. You never know what funny saying you may transcribe.

Thank for your help. If you have any questions please leave a comment or send me  an email.

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, or contact Beth Goble, Historical Projects Librarian, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.

Posted in General, Information Resources, Nebraska Memories, Technology | 1 Comment

Congress Passes Legislation Recognizing Libraries in Workforce Development


IMLS

Congress recently took a giant leap forward to improve the delivery of job training and workforce development by passing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA).  Overwhelmingly approved by both the House and the Senate and supported by the President, the legislation is the result of a bipartisan agreement that recognizes the vital role our government plays in providing the services and resources job seekers need to access the kinds of skills training, career information, and education that are required for today’s job market.

The bill includes several exciting changes that update past workforce development laws and better coordinate federal resources by modernizing job training and identifying strategic workforce investments. IMLS has long recognized and supported the services libraries provide to help the American workforce rebound. And it is especially gratifying to see lawmakers from both sides of the aisle acknowledge the essential connection of public libraries to communities as career improvement partners in WIOA.

For public libraries, the new bill identifies them as eligible for funds as One-Stop partners with the ability to provide an expansive array of job search services. Also, it recognizes libraries as important providers of federally supported training and employment services for adult education and literacy. The legislation instructs State and Local Workforce Development Boards to boost “digital literacy skills” at training centers—the very definition of “digital literacy” originates from the law that created IMLS and is referenced in WIOA!

We are delighted that the public library’s role in improving our workforce development system has been acknowledged. IMLS will continue to support this work with public and private partnerships and grants. As an example, we recently partnered with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) to assist the estimated 3 million Americans who are seeking access to federal job information, education, and training by connecting them through resources at their public libraries. We are also partnering with the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to highlight effective practices and encourage additional collaboration between the workforce investment system and public libraries.

Every day, people in communities across the U.S. are using libraries to access the Web for career development—participating in GED institutes, improving their English literacy and digital literacy, and finding work.

We applaud Congress, especially longtime library supporters Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.) and Rep. Rush Holt (NJ), on passing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 and for President Obama’s continued leadership in assisting American workers and employers. We also thank them for what it will do to serve our nation’s job seekers and help libraries be better equipped to contribute to the country’s economic vitality.

**By Susan H. Hildreth, Director, IMLS. Reprinted from UpNext: The Official Blog of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, July 16th, 2014.

Posted in Education & Training, General, Information Resources, Library Management, What's Up Doc / Govdocs | 1 Comment

Doc Spot: Lincoln and His Printers : GPO in the Civil War

GPOintheCivilWarThe U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) first began operations on March 4, 1861, the same day as President Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration. The GPO set up shop in a printing plant originally built by Cornelius Wendell, a longtime contract printer for Congress. Located at the corner of North Capitol and H Streets NW, the facility was the largest printing plant in Washington and one of the largest in the U.S. at that time.

The first head of the GPO was John D. Defrees, an Illinois newspaper publisher, politician, and friend of President Lincoln. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the GPO grew rapidly to keep pace with military and civilian printing needs. In 1864, GPO employees participated more directly in the war when Company F of the Interior Department Regiment, comprised of GPO printers and pressmen, marched into Northwest Washington to help repel Confederate forces under General Jubal Early.

Lincoln and His Printers : GPO in the Civil War is a brochure published by the GPO to accompany an exhibit of the same name. It is a short history of the GPO during the Civil War years, and includes pictures of some of the people, buildings, and documents (including the Emancipation Proclamation) that were most important during the early years of the GPO.  Click on the title above to view the full-text online, or visit the Nebraska Library Commission to find this and many other state and federal documents.

 

Posted in Books & Reading, Education & Training, Information Resources, What's Up Doc / Govdocs | Leave a comment

Who says you can’t learn from history?

NLM LogoThree great topics were recently presented at the Breezing Along with the Regional Medical Library session on July 16. Judi Bergjord, Creighton Health Science Library, along with Chris Carmichael and Madonna Knutson presented their event featuring the NLM Traveling Exhibit – Shakespeare and the Four Humors.   They collaborated with other Creighton faculty/services to provide a lecture on the four humors, a Maypole dance, fortune telling, a soliloquy performance and Renaissance food.   Most inventive and a great way to give some attention to both the Health Science Library and the Reinert undergraduate library.

Further, John Schleicher, Head of Special Collections from UNMC, presented a humor/cartoon collection covering more than 50 years of medical humor.   The times have changed and so have cartoons!

And as another tie-in to History of Medicine, Trenton Boyd presented a fascinating look back on Veterinary History of Medicine, and the collection at the University of Missouri – Columbia.

The session is viewable at:  http://goo.gl/b4kBYj

Marty Magee
National Network/Libraries of Medicine
Education and Nebraska Coordinator
McGoogan Library of Medicine
Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center

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Throwback Thursday: Interior photo of the Broken Bow Carnegie Library, circa 1900-1920

BB Carnegie

Interior photo of the Broken Bow Carnegie Library, circa 1900-1920.

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Storage ideas for your older books

Connecting to Collections Webinar: Caring for Books

Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern). This 60-minute webinar will cover the basic storage and handling concerns for any institution holding books, whether special collections, circulating, or strictly reference. The appropriate storage furniture, considerations for storage areas, and the do’s and don’ts of storage will all be covered.  As always, you do not need to be a registered member of the Online Community to participate in this webinar. Simply click on the green “Access Meeting Room” button on the right-hand side of the home page. Once there, enter your name and location and click enter. You will be redirected to the webinar. If you’re having difficulty, please take a look at our technical check page. An archive of the event will be posted to the Online Community following the live event.

What: Caring for Books (A webinar and live chat event.)

When: Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern)

Where: The C2C Meeting Room

Featured Speaker: Donia Conn, Preservation Consultant for Cultural Heritage Collections and adjunct faculty for the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Featured Resources:

Posted in Books & Reading, Library Management, Preservation | Leave a comment

What’s Sally Reading?

No Flying No Tights: A Graphic Novel Review Website —

No Flying No Tights is a wonderful resource for librarians looking for information, explanations, and lists of graphic novels, comics, manga, and anime (but not about superheroes!) including a “Comics 101” section on the web page.  Librarians unfamiliar with anime will appreciate the web page’s staff picks for “Must Have: Anime for the Uninitiated.”  It will give you a good place to start.

The 2014 One Book for Nebraska Kids is Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen.  The Library Commission has a book club kit librarians can borrow.  If it is out when you would like it, we have plenty of other book club kits of previous One Book for Nebraska Kids and One Book for Nebraska Teens.  Take a look at the web page for book club kits, or the web page to look at previous One Book for Nebraska Kids or Teens titles.

Here is my book talk about Lawn Boy:

(The Nebraska Library Commission receives free copies of children’s and young adult books for review from a number of publishers.  After review, the books are distributed free, via the Regional Library Systems, to Nebraska school and public libraries.)

Posted in Books & Reading, General, Youth Services | Leave a comment

NCompass Live: Engaging Writers with a Community Novel Project

NCompass live smallJoin us for next week’s NCompass Live: “Engaging Writers with a Community Novel Project”, on Wednesday, July 16, 10:00-11:00 am Central Time.

Libraries are well positioned to encourage customers and community in fiction writing and content creation. The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library’s Community Novel Project is an opportunity for the Topeka community to work together to conceptualize, write, edit, narrate, and publish a complete novel. Each successive year we experiment and expand our annual project to model the evolving skill set necessary for writers wishing to self-publish their own work in digital, print on demand or audiobook formats. Engage with your community of writers and readers and establish the library as a trusted resource for 21st century writers!

Presenters: Lissa Staley and Miranda Ericsson, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

Upcoming NCompass Live events:

  • July 23 – Opportunity – Collaboration – Engagement: UNL Extension’s Community Vitality Initiative
  • July 30 – Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Branding Your School w/ Twitter
  • August 6 – #SVYALit Project: Using Young Adult Literature to Talk with Teens About Sexual Violence and Consent
  • August 13 – Harlequin Take Me Away: the NLC Booktalks Romance

For more information, to register for NCompass Live, or to listen to recordings of past events, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website. The show is presented online using the GoToWebinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoToWebinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

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Throwback Thursday: NLC bookmobile, circa 1939

SB 9039

Nebraska Public Library Commission bookmobile parked in front of the Hastings Carnegie Library, 1939.

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NEH Digital Humanities Start-up Grants – Applications due Sept. 11, 2014

Closing Date for Applications: September 11, 2014
Award Amount: Up to $60,000

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) invites applications to the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants program. This program awards relatively small grants to support the planning stages of innovative projects that promise to benefit the humanities. The closing date for applications is September 11, 2014. Proposals should be for the planning or initial stages of digital initiatives in any area of the humanities. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants may involve:

  • research that brings new approaches or documents best practices in the study of the digital humanities;
  • planning and developing prototypes of new digital tools for preserving, analyzing, and making accessible digital resources, including libraries’ and museums’ digital assets;
  • scholarship that focuses on the history, criticism, and philosophy of digital culture and its impact on society;
  • scholarship or studies that examine the philosophical or practical implications and impact of the use of emerging technologies in specific fields or disciplines of the humanities, or in interdisciplinary collaborations involving several fields or disciplines;
  • innovative uses of technology for public programming and education incorporating both traditional and new media; and
  • new digital modes of publication that facilitate the dissemination of humanities scholarship in advanced academic as well as informal or formal educational settings at all academic levels.

Innovation is a hallmark of this grant category, which incorporates the “high risk/high reward” paradigm often used by funding agencies in the sciences. NEH is requesting proposals for projects that take some risks in the pursuit of innovation and excellence.

Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants should result in plans, prototypes, or proofs of concept for long-term digital humanities projects prior to implementation.

Details are available at http://www.neh.gov/grants/odh/digital-humanities-start-grants.

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Nebraska Librarians Invited to Attend Financial Education Webinar July 10

20140707161018093IMLS’ partner, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, is holding its first financial education webinar for librarians on Thursday, July 10 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. We invite you to attend using the login information below.

TO ACCESS THE WEBINAR:

o   Conference number: PW7282426

o   Audience passcode: LIBRARY

If you are participating only by phone:

  • Phone: 877-960-9067
  • Participant passcode: LIBRARY

 

CFPB also has new resources for librarians, launched during the ALA conference last week at www.consumerfinance.gov/library-resources. These resources include:

 

  • Program ideas – program ideas from CFPB, its partners and other libraries (updated monthly).
  • Partnership guide –22-page guide to local partnerships, developed with input from librarians.
  • Links and web resources – a selection of 50 financial literacy websites, videos and courses using guidelines consistent with the National Strategy for Financial Capability and other financial literacy organizations.
  • Free print materials – more than 20 free publications from the CFPB, Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Department of Labor, which can be ordered in English and Spanish (up to 200 copies of each publication).
  • Marketing materials – social media share graphics and web banners, as well as a preview of posters, bookmarks and displays that will soon be available for bulk delivery.
  • Librarian training – monthly one-hour webinars for librarians on a variety of financial literacy topics. The webinars will be recorded and archived for viewing anytime.
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Book Clubs and Government Improvement

Baltimorebook-club1When you think of a book club, does your mind go to a circle of friends, great food and beverages, and a rousing discussion of the best new fiction? Mine did. Until I read a recent article in Governing magazine entitled, “Can a Book Club Improve Government?” A group of Baltimore city employees started spending their lunch breaks at book club meetings and the lessons they are learning are being applied to the challenges the city faces. Government book clubs are open to all employees and are attended by staff at all levels, from agency heads to mid-level managers, to front-line employees. And talking about the ideas in books is giving employees strategies that can be implemented at every level.

Some successful titles for government-based book clubs include:

  • If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government, a collection of success stories by William D. Eggers and John O’Leary
  • Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government, by Gavin Newsom, with Lisa Dickey, provides ideas for community digital communication and engagement
  • The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization, a guidebook for designing the workplace to encourage creativity and teamwork by Tom Kelley and Jonathan Littman

See http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-good-government-book-club.html for a complete list of books and more about the Baltimore city government book club. How about it, Nebraska librarians: would you like to host a book club for your city employees?

 

Posted in Books & Reading, General, Library Management, Programming, Public Relations | Leave a comment

Nebraska Learns 2.0: Video Mashups and ‘The Social Life of Information’

The Nebraska Learns 2.0 Thing for July is Mashup Video with Popcorn Maker.

For this month’s Thing, we’re going to learn how to use Popcorn Maker to remix video, audio and images to create new video mashups that you can use to promote your library and its services.

Another facet of Nebraska Learns 2.0 is BookThing. Each month we pick a single title that we feel has relevance to librarianship and/or information theory. Some of the titles will be very obviously related, while others may not seem so on the surface but there is a connection. Your assignment will be to read the book and create a blog post answering some questions about the title.

The BookThing for July is The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown & Paul Duguid. 

Nebraska Learns 2.0 is the Nebraska Library Commission’s ongoing online learning CarhengeCrop5program. It is a self-discovery program which encourages participants to take control of their own learning and to utilize their lifelong learning skills through exploration and PLAY.

Each month, we offer you an opportunity to learn a new Thing (or lesson). You have all month to complete that Thing and receive one CE credit. You may choose which Things to do based on personal interest and time availability If the Thing of the month doesn’t interest you or if you are particularly busy that month, you can skip it.

If you are new to Nebraska Learns 2.0, your first assignment is to sign up to participate. This program is open to ALL Nebraska librarians, library staff, library friends, library board members and school media specialists.

We hope you’ll join your library colleagues in the fun as you learn about new and exciting technologies!

Posted in Books & Reading, Education & Training, Technology | 1 Comment

Recently on the NCompass Podcast

Have you listened to the NCompass Podcast lately? Here are the episodes from June 2014. To get all of the episodes delivered to you automatically be sure to subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

 

 

Episode 287: 20 Cool Tools for You and Your Library

Episode 288: Broadband + Libraries = Community Growth

Episode 289: EDGE: Connecting Technology and Community

Episode 290: Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Enter the Mozillarian: Weaving the Mozilla and Library Communities

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NCompass Live: Is It Copyrighted? Can I Use It?

NCompass live smallJoin us for next week’s NCompass Live: “Is It Copyrighted? Can I Use It?”, on Wednesday, July 9, 10:00-11:00 am Central Time.

Copyright! Complicated, confusing, and not clear-cut. What does a librarian need to know? Michael Sauers and Laura Johnson, from the Nebraska Library Commission, will present scenarios to discuss, as we all shine a light on the subject and try to figure out what a librarian needs to do.

Upcoming NCompass Live events:

  • July 16 – Engaging Writers with a Community Novel Project
  • July 23 – Opportunity – Collaboration – Engagement: UNL Extension’s Community Vitality Initiative
  • July 30 – Tech Talk with Michael Sauers
  • August 13 – Harlequin Take Me Away: the NLC Booktalks Romance

For more information, to register for NCompass Live, or to listen to recordings of past events, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website. The show is presented online using the GoToWebinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoToWebinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

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Rising City Memories

An assortment of items from Rising City Community Library joins Nebraska Memories as its newest collection. The photographs and postcards in the collection highlight many aspects of Rising City’s history.

Rising City DepotRising City was established when the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad was extended across Butler County in 1878, and the collection includes photographs that show the town’s railroad roots. In this photograph, the town’s railroad depot appears to be a site of bustling activity.

The establishment of the railroad brought increasedOpera Block population to the area, and businesses grew accordingly. The business community of Rising City is well represented in this collection. Images of local businesses, including a hotel, banks, and a meat market, provide a Ruins of the Opera Blockview into Rising City’s business scene throughout its history. One of the most notable commercial buildings in Rising City was a prominent brick building known as the Opera Block. This structure was built in 1892, and it was destroyed by fire in 1923. This collection includes scenes of the destroyed building after the fire.

Samuel and Polly RisingA group of portraits of members of the Rising family, after whom the town is named, is another highlight of this collection. Samuel W. Rising (seen here with his wife Polly) and his son Albert W. Rising each gave 40 acres of their land to be used for the Rising City town site. Portraits of Samuel’s other sons, Dennis and Joseph, are in the collection, as well.

Take a moment and explore this collection to get a glimpse into Rising City history, and be sure to 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, or contact Beth Goble, Historical Services Librarian, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.

Posted in Nebraska Memories | 2 Comments

Throwback Thursday: Nebraska traveling library, Strang circa 1900-1920

SB 9036

The traveling library was a program of the Library Commission where they provided books to towns which did not have libraries.  The wooden box holding the screen door open is how the books were transported to the towns.

 

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Benches Encourage Reading

benchSeussFifty “book benches” are illustrating the joys of reading on the streets of London this summer.  Each book-shaped bench is covered with a colorful picture.  The benches are part of the National Literacy Trust’s Books about Town campaign  to celebrate books and reading.  Benches feature Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Mary Poppins, the works of Dr Seuss, and many others. This fall, the benches will be auctioned off to raise funds for the NLT.  It’s an impractical wish, but wouldn’t it be great to have one of them?

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Who’s Most Likely to Speak Up?

Governing magazine answers that question and provides some interesting insights on getting participation and feedback from community members.  “The Citizens Most Vocal in Local Government,” by Mike Maciag, discusses the results of a survey by the National Research Center on the demographics of people who participate in discussion and debate of local issues.  It offers helpful info for library directors and boards who are working on strategic planning and looking for community input.

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Small Business Administration at work in Nebraska…

SBANebraska beef plant reopens, creates jobs thanks to SBA International Trade Loan financing

For five years, the meatpacking plant in this part of ranch country in northwest Nebraska stood vacant and silent. Now, thanks in part to new owners and SBA financing, the plant has re-opened as a supplier for organic, natural grass-fed, premium and halal beef for domestic and overseas markets, and given a small town a big economic jolt.

Open Range Beef purchased the shuttered plant from the city of Gordon in late June 2013, and have spent the last few months upgrading the operation with state-of-the-art equipment and material. With the purchase and re-opening, the business also created 100 new jobs, said co-owner Pat Shudak (pictured, left), a big deal for a town of around 1,800 people.

The company was approved for $3.8 million in financing in April using the SBA’s International Trade Loan program, one of only four guaranteed loans of this type in the four-state region this fiscal year.   Beef Plant

The 36,000-square foot plant expects to hit a target of 250-300 head of cattle per day, or about $120 million worth of cattle per year, from local ranchers for its USDA-certified beef processing operation. Open Range Beef chiefly will serve Rastelli Foods, a New Jersey-based humane and sustainable agricultural company with high-end clients in both domestic and overseas markets.

Serving as a hub for specialty and organic meats for export, the company had to buy more expensive equipment such as hot water to clean carcasses, and follow strict guidelines. For example: there’s a long list of specific requirements for meat to be certified halal if it’s to be exported to Muslim customers.

“We’ll be sending beef to Japan, Hong Kong, the Middle East, Europe,” Shudak added.  “The qualifications and restrictions are long; some dictate cattle only be 30 months or younger, and some countries don’t allow importing certain parts, such as livers, kidneys and parts outside the main cuts of meat.  Each country’s certification is different.”

Because the plant is mid-sized, explained co-owner Jill Noetzelman, “we can switch gears whenever we need to for custom slaughtering, which benefits meat producers and the packer,” a competitive advantage over bigger plants, such as those which process up to 5,000 head of cattle a day. Those enormous operations leverage economies of scale with relatively inflexible work flows can’t allow for smaller, specialty orders.

As a result, Shudak claimed, Open Range Beef’s operation expects to have a direct positive impact of nearly $5 million a year and an overall economic impact of $22 to 25 million a year for the area.

“We also purchase our supplies as much as possible locally from retail, lumber yards and hardware stores,” Noetzelman said, a move which generates significant secondary economic benefits for the town from the plant’s presence.

“It’s too soon to say what our revenues look like,” Shudak added. But the outlook is bright: “The cattle market was at an all-time high when we took over, and it’s even looking a lot better now.”

Ranchers also will benefit with Open Range Beef’s location: the next closest packing plants for livestock producers in the area are Lexington and Hastings, Neb., and Fort Morgan, Colo., some hundreds of miles away.

Shudak said the ownership team moved from building a solar development company in Hawaii as part of its investment portfolio to the specialty beef industry after a high school friend of Shudak’s mentioned he had considered going into the fast-growing specialty beef business. Private equity supplied the financing to purchase the plant, but the team needed more for the equipment, operating capital and cattle purchases.

“This wasn’t a conventional loan like for a retail or storefront business,” Noetzelman said. So they turned to BizCapital, a multi-state lender which offers competitive loans to small- and medium-sized companies located in underserved markets, and one of Missouri’s Lenders of the Year for 2012, and First Bank of the Lake, an Ozarks-based lender experienced with SBA applications. With their help over the six-month application process, Open Range Beef was approved for $3.8 million in financing in April 2014 using the SBA’s International Trade Loan program, one of only four guaranteed loans of this type in the four-state region this fiscal year.  This program which offers a 90 percent guarantee to the lender, offers access to capital for a small business in a position to expand existing export markets or develop new export markets.

“I don’t believe we would have put this together without the SBA,” Shudak said. “The nice thing is that we had a lot of equity in this plant and had real strong appraisals. In approving our loan, the SBA focused on job creation, helping the local economy, exporting, things that really matter to our business. Without the SBA, we found banks weren’t keen on certain businesses, and packing houses were one of them.”

And for a good reason: the business of beef harvesting and processing industry is cash-intensive and a volatile commodity-based one.

Shudak said future plans call for expansion of the plant’s cooler space and adding more jobs as the company’s capacity grows.
“The majority of our employees we have now we first hired at the beginning for construction work during the renovation,” Shudak said. “When we started the remodeling there was a real lack of available construction crews in the area, so we brought in a construction manager and hired former plant workers and trained them.”

When they finished the construction work, those same employees put down their hammers and put on their frocks, and Shudak noticed “there’s a huge amount of pride in the building, because they did the work to bring it back.”

While the town’s residents, along with members from the nearby Oglala Sioux Tribe reservation, who filled many plant positions in the past, make for a healthy labor pool, the plant’s promised growth is enough so a challenge for Gordon’s city manager is to address potential housing shortages incoming workers likely are to face.

Open Range Beef also points to the area’s diverse work force as a benefit, with Native American, African-American, and Guatemalan and other Hispanic employees of all working ages on staff, and young professionals in the area also seeking to be part of the business.

“You know, our philosophy coming into the business here is that you treat your employees like family, appreciate each individual, and create the positive work environment where employees who spent 8-10 hours a day here want to come to work here,” Noetzelman said.

Reprinted from SBA.gov.   For more information about the U.S. Small Business Administration. and how it’s loans and grants can help, visit SBA.gov/Loans & Grants.

 

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