NCompass Blog

Readings by winning Nebraska writers and book designers will highlight the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Celebration of Nebraska Books on October 26 at the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Museum of Nebraska History, 15th and P Streets, in downtown Lincoln. Presenters will include the following 2013 Nebraska Book Award Winners:

Fiction writers: Joy Castro, Hell or High Water and Sean Doolittle, Lake Country: A Novel.

Non-fiction writers: Ron Hull, Backstage: Stories from My Life in Public Television; Lisa Knopp, What the River Carries: Encounters with the Mississippi, Missouri, and Platte; Tom Lynch and Susan Maher, Artifacts & Illuminations: Critical Essays on Loren Eiseley; James Potter, Standing Firmly by the Flag:  Nebraska Territory and the Civil War, 1861-1867; and Robert Puschendorf, Nebraska’s Post Office Murals: Born of the Depression, Fostered by the New Deal.

Writers of books for children and youth: Ted Kooser, House Held Up by Trees and Nancy Plain, Light on the Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher, Photographer of Nebraska’s Pioneer Days.

Cover/Design/Illustration artists: Elysia Mann, In Times of Considerable Wars and Interludes by Don Welch and Nathan Putens, Nebraska’s Post Office Murals: Born of the Depression, Fostered by the New Deal by Robert Puschendorf.

The celebration, free and open to the public, will also feature presentation of the Nebraska Center for the Book’s Jane Geske Award to the Nebraska Library Commission 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 ninth year of One Book One Nebraska, selecting and promoting a book title for Nebraskans to read to celebrate the literary richness of our state. O Pioneers! is the 2013 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 the same book (see http://onebook.nebraska.gov.)

The Nebraska Center for the Book Annual Meeting will be held at 2:30 p.m.—just prior to the 3:30-6:30 p.m. celebration. An awards reception honoring the winning authors, book signings, and announcement of the 2014 One Book One Nebraska book choice will conclude the festivities.

The Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission, in partnership with the Nebraska State Historical Society, Museum of Nebraska History, and the Friends of the University of Nebraska Press. 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.

In conjunction with Teen Read Week, ALA’s the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) created an online campaign to raise awareness of the important role libraries play in helping teens develop and master critical literacy skills. Nebraska library staff and supporters are invited to help get the word out about it by using a platform called Thunderclap to flood Twitter and Facebook with the “take action to support teen literacy & libraries” message. The Thunderclap allows people to pledge a Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook message that is unleashed at the same time. It’s completely safe and will automatically post exactly one message on your behalf at noon CT , on Oct. 19. The message has been pre-created by YALSA and says: “Teen Read Week is ur chance 2 support teen #literacy & #libraries! Check out these 10 easy ways 2 take action! http://ow.ly/pBXXy” 

It takes 10 seconds to join the Thunderclap so you can send out the message—here’s how:

•             Click on this link http://thndr.it/GJ9MSd
•             Choose Twitter, Facebook and/or Tumblr
•             From the new screen, log into your Twitter, Facebook and/or Tumblr account
•             That’s it!  You can opt to share the Thunderclap with others (please do!), or just close the box

Please sign up for the Thunderclap by no later than 11:00 a.m. CT, on Oct. 19.  To learn more about Teen Read Week, visit www.ala.org/teenread. To learn about other ways to support library services for teens, visit www.ala.org/yalsa/advocacy

The American Library Association (ALA) is now accepting nominations for the ALA Excellence in Library Programming Award, sponsored by the ALA Cultural Communities Fund. The award recognizes a library that has created and presented an exemplary cultural/thematic program or series in the past year (Sept. 1, 2012 – Aug. 31, 2013) that encouraged community participation, planning or sponsorship, addressed a community need and made a measurable impact. All types of libraries are eligible — school, public, academic and special — but the nominated program or series must have been for a public audience. To learn more about the award, and the 2013 award winning programming, visit http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/ala-excellence-library-programming-award.

The award consists of $5,000 and a citation of achievement that will be presented during the ALA Awards Presentation at the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas. Submit your application here: http://www.ala.org/tools/ala-excellence-library-programming-award-nomination-form.

Through a generous challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the ALA Public Programs Office established the ALA Cultural Communities Fund to support cultural programming in all types of libraries. Ten years later CCF continues to make possible high-quality professional development for librarians, development of new program models and recognition of excellence in library programming through achievement awards. To see a list of donors who have generously supported CCF, please visit http://www.ala.org/offices/ppo/ccf/ccfdonors.

Funding for Nebraska’s regional library systems has been limited for a number of years due to reductions in federal LSTA monies and in state general fund monies, as well as rising operations costs. The Commission has appointed a task force to make recommendations to the Commission on how to address this issue, in particular, how the current number of systems might be reduced. The first meeting of the group occurred Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at Lexington Public Library.

Rod Wagner appointed the following members to the Regional Library System Configuration Task Force with the charge that it make its recommendations sometime during the first calendar quarter of 2014. Members of the task force are:

Francine Canfield, Baright Public Library, Ralston (representing State Advisory Council)

Deb Carlson, Lied Scottsbluff Public Library (representing State Advisory Council)

Jessica Chamberlain, Norfolk Public Library (representing Northeast Library System)

John Dale, Wayne (representing State Advisory Council)

Gail Formanack, Eastern Library System (representing Eastern Library System)

Denise Harders, Republican Valley Library System (representing Republican Valley Library System)

Vickie Retzlaff, Grant County Library, Hyannis (representing Panhandle Library System)

Kathy Thomsen, Lexington Public Library (representing Meridian Library System)

Dorothy Willis, Pawnee City (representing Southeast Library System)

The task force will continue its work with Rod Wagner and Richard Miller to develop its recommendations.