NCompass Live: 2025 One Book One Nebraska: ‘The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific’

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Christa Porter

Celebrate the 2025 One Book One Nebraska selection, The Long March Home, with us on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, January 22 at 10am CT.

The One Book One Nebraska reading program is entering its twenty-first year. Nebraska libraries and other literary and cultural organizations continue to plan activities and events to encourage all Nebraskans to read and discuss the same book. Join us to hear more about this state reading promotion activity, sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and the Nebraska Library Commission.

We are excited to talk about the 2025 selection The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee (Revell, 2023).

Join authors Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee, Nebraska Center for the Book President Pat Leach, Nebraska Center for the Book Board Member Becky Faber, and Nebraska Library Commission Director Rod Wagner to:

  • Hear from the authors about this year’s selected book and ask questions.
  • Learn about how to create a successful local reading promotion using Nebraska’s year-long, statewide celebration featuring The Long March Home.
  • Brainstorm strategies to read and discuss The Long March Home.
  • Find tools to help engage your community in local activities to encourage them to come together through literature to explore this work in community-wide reading programs.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • Jan. 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech: Tech Kits for STEM Career Exploration
  • Feb. 5 – Fostering Healthy Communication in Your Library

To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, 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 GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

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Apply Now: Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Christa Porter

For more grants like this one, check out the NLC’s Grant Opportunities for Nebraska Libraries.

The American Library Association (ALA) invites library workers to apply for the Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant, an annual award supporting innovative and meaningful community engagement efforts in libraries.

Applications will be accepted between December 2, 2024, and February 3, 2025. View the full award guidelines and apply online at www.ala.org/LTCEG.

The Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant recognizes, promotes and supports innovative and meaningful community engagement efforts in libraries. It will provide two grants of $2,000 for a school, public, academic, tribal or special library to expand its community engagement efforts.

Libraries are invited to apply by designing and outlining activities for a library-led community engagement project. Community engagement is the process of working collaboratively with community members – be they library patrons, residents, faculty, students, or local organizations – to address issues for the betterment of the community.

Each year, the grant will focus on supporting a community engagement project with a specific theme. For the 2024–2025 cycle, libraries are invited to submit applications for a community engagement project that focuses on building neighborhood connections. Libraries should work collaboratively with community members and at least one partner organization to develop a project that addresses a local issue and builds upon community assets.

Visit the grant guidelines for more information.

Some examples of proposals could include a project that brings people together to discuss community tools such as “how to start a block party,” a program that collaborates with a local partner to host heritage or multicultural events, or a project that develops community identity by exploring local history through archives.

ALA announced the creation of the Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant in 2019, an initiative made possible by a matching grant and ongoing support from former ALA president and longtime generous supporter Nancy Kranich.

Last year’s grant was won by the Hoboken (NJ) Public Library and Independence (KS) Public Library to support the libraries’ efforts in community empowerment. Their initiatives aim to promote food security and address homelessness within their communities.

The 2023 grant was won by the Carlsbad (N.M.) Public Library and Lexington (Neb.) Public Library to support the libraries’ efforts in adult literacy and early childhood education.

The Libraries Transform Communities Engagement Grant is part of Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC), ALA’s community engagement initiative. Since 2014, LTC has reimagined the role libraries play in supporting communities. Libraries of all types, from across the country, have utilized the free dialogue and deliberation training and resources to lead community and campus forums; take part in anti-violence activities; provide a safe space for residents to come together to discuss challenging topics; and have productive conversations with civic leaders, library trustees and staff.

LTC is administered by ALA’s Public Programs Office. To stay informed about future grants and awards offered by ALA’s Public Programs Office, sign up for the Programming Librarian e-newsletter.

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Friday Reads – The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Aimee Owen

Leopold “Larry” Berry is average, perfectly average, if you believe the results of his aptitude test given by the pricey college admissions counselor his father hired. And in the Berry household “average” equates to “failure”. The boy is a dreamer, spending his free time tinkering with his late mother’s old car and recreating scenes from an old TV show he found on VHS. Absolutely hopeless!

What Larry’s dad doesn’t know is that the old TV show, “Max’s Adventures in Sunderworld”, is not merely a corny, poorly-filmed fantasy series. It’s also one of his only connections to his mom, who died when Larry was 12. But Larry is starting to suspect that Sunder is more than make-believe; could it be a real world that exists below (or next to? inside of?) his hometown of Los Angeles? Lately, it seems the line between Sunder and the real world is blurring. Larry is seeing things that don’t (or shouldn’t) exist in his world. Worried that he is losing his mind, Larry confesses his experiences to his best friend Emmett, and the two set off to find out why Sunder is revealing itself to Larry. Will they find something truly extraordinary? Or will it just be another in a long list of extraordinary disappointments?

This is the first book in a new Young Adult fantasy series, Sunderworld by Ransom Riggs, the author of the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series. The second book will be released in fall 2025.

Riggs, Ransom. (2024). The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry. Dutton Books for Young Readers.

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#BookFaceFriday “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Aimee Owen

Fortune smiles on the #BookFace!

Jump for joy, it’s #BookFaceFriday with “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan (Ballantine Books, 1989)! Now considered a “modern classic”, Tan didn’t have high expectations for her first novel.

Decades (and numerous awards) later, she can joyfully admit she was wrong; her debut was a bestseller that is still a book club “best bet” today! Read Mackenzie Marrow’s excellent Book Club Spotlight review to find out even more about this title and its legacy. We have 14 copies for your reading group to borrow in our Book Club Kit collection, and you can also find it in eBook format in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries “Joy Revolution” curated collection.

“Wonderful…a significant lesson in what storytelling has to do with memory and inheritance.”

— San Francisco Chronicle

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Throwback Thursday: Great Cathedral Choir in the State Capitol

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Bailee Juroshek

Do you hear the music #ThrowbackThursday?

Taken around 1925, this photograph shows the Great Cathedral Choir with director John Roseborough on a staircase in the Nebraska State Capitol. The choir was organized by him in 1919.

This image is published and owned by the Polley Music Library (Lincoln City Libraries, Lincoln, Nebraska), which contains just over two hundred fifty pieces of Nebraska sheet music, as well as concert programs, manuscripts, theatre programs, photographs, and other Nebraska memorabilia which features an element of music. You can also listen to a dozen performances of selections from this music collection performed by local musicians. 

See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!

The Nebraska Memories archive 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.

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United for Libraries and Penguin Random House Grants to U.S. Rural and Small Libraries’ Friends Groups

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Christa Porter

For more grants like this one, check out the NLC’s Grant Opportunities for Nebraska Libraries.

Applications now open for Penguin Random House and United for Libraries Grants for Friends Groups. Grants of $500 and $1,000, along with book donations and free virtual training, will be awarded to small and rural libraries; applications close Feb. 18.

United for Libraries and Penguin Random House have partnered for a new grant opportunity for Friends of Libraries in small and rural communities across the U.S. Grants of $500 and $1,000 (totaling $25,000), will be awarded to support libraries in need.

Sign up for grant information sessions and/or training

These funds will assist Friends of Library groups with priority projects. In-kind book donation grants of $500 will also be awarded to 20 libraries to purchase Penguin Random House titles.

Each grant recipient will also receive complimentary eLearning from United for Libraries. This includes a year of access to United for Libraries Learning Live monthly webinars, which present in-depth training to library Trustees/Board Members, Friends, Foundations, advocates, and those who work with them, and training on how to leverage the grant funds to build support for the library and the Friends group.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for a cash or in-kind grant, Friends groups must support a rural/small U.S. library in the 50 states, District of Columbia, or U.S. territories (Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) with a legal service area population of 25,000 or less, and in any area 5+ miles outside of a U.S. Census defined urban area (as defined by the Institute of Museum and Library Services IMLS). A library that meets the same eligibility and is able to demonstrate it has started the process of forming a Friends group will also be eligible.

How to apply

The grant application is open now through February 18, 2025.

  • The application is hosted on the ALA Apply platform.
  • Download a PDF of the application questions. Please note that (1) this contains all questions, you will only answer those applicable to the specific grant for which you are applying ($500, $1,000, or $500 in-kind), and (2) all applications must be submitted online.
  • You will need to create an account on the ALA Apply platform if you do not have one already. This account is different than your ALA website or membership account.
  • You can save the application and return later to complete. Be sure to submit the application once you have finalized all information.
  • Refer to the Dec. 18 information session Frequently Asked Questions for details about the grants, eligibility, and more. If you need additional assistance, please email united@ala.org or call (312) 280-2161.

Grants will be administered by United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, whose mission is to support those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for all types of libraries. Grant funding is provided by Penguin Random House.

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E-rate Form 471 Application Filing Window Opens Today

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Christa Porter

The E-rate Form 471 application filing window for Funding Year 2025 opened today at noon EST and will close on Wednesday, March 26 at 11:59 pm EDT. You may now log on to the E-rate Productivity Center (EPC) and file your FCC Form 471 for FY2025.

This makes Wednesday, February 26, the deadline to post your Form 470 to the USAC website, meet the 28-day posting requirement for the competitive bidding process, and submit a Form 471 by the filing window closing date.

However, we do not recommend waiting until the last day to submit your Form 470! If there are any issues that day, like the E-rate servers are slowed down because it is the last day to submit, or you can’t submit the form due to reasons on your end, such as illness, weather, power outage, etc., then you would miss the deadline and lose out on E-rate altogether. So, get your E-rate Form 470 submitted as soon as possible!

IMPORTANT: Before you file your Form 471, check your Form 470 Receipt Notification for your Allowable Contract Date – the first date you are allowed to submit your 471. Do not submit your 471 before that date! Remember, after you submit your Form 470, you must wait 28 days to submit your Form 471. You can find your Notification within the EPC portal in your News feed.

Do you need help completing your forms? Do you have questions about E-rate? You’re in luck!

Today’s E-rate Special Edition News Brief has detailed tips and instructions, as well as information about upcoming online training opportunities from USAC. To keep up on E-rate news, subscribe to the USAC E-rate News Brief.

And more recorded webinars, demos, and training materials are available on the NLC E-rate webpage.

If you have any questions or need any assistance with your E-rate forms, please contact the State E-rate Coordinator for Public Libraries in Nebraska, Christa Porter, 800-307-2665, 402-471-3107.

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Apply for Programming Support with the Fifth Annual ALA Peggy Barber Tribute Grant

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Christa Porter

For more grants like this one, check out the NLC’s Grant Opportunities for Nebraska Libraries.

The American Library Association (ALA) invites library workers to apply for the fifth annual Peggy Barber Tribute Grant, a programming grant named after the transformative ALA leader responsible for the creation of National Library Week and the Celebrity READ series.

The Peggy Barber Tribute Grant is an annual grant that recognizes, promotes, and supports meaningful programs in libraries that have limited and/or no access to budgetary support for programming. This grant aims to help ease budget challenges by annually awarding three libraries $2,500 to support a proposed program, program series, or programming effort.

Applications for the award will be accepted from December 2, 2024, to February 3, 2025. Read the grant guidelines and apply online.

Each year, the grant will focus on supporting a specific type of library programming. For the 2024–2025 cycle, libraries are invited to submit applications for a grant combatting isolation for older adults. Remember: your proposal should be focused on a program that combats isolation for older adults, such as a technology training club to teach seniors how to use technology so that they can stay connected online or a social club to bring adults together around an activity like crafting, gardening, etc.

All library types — including public, academic, K-12, tribal and special libraries — in the U.S. or U.S. territories are eligible. Applicants must have a personal or institutional membership with either the American Library Association OR the Association for Rural & Small Libraries.

Peggy Barber served as ALA’s associate executive director of communications from 1970 to 2000. In that role, she established ALA’s Public Information Office, Public Programs Office and the ALA Graphics department. After leaving ALA, she was a principal consultant with Library Communication Strategies and served as co-president of Friends of Libraries USA, now known as United for Libraries. She passed away in August 2019.

The Peggy Barber Tribute Grant was created with donations from Barber’s friends and colleagues. To support the grant, make a contribution to the Peggy Barber tribute fund within ALA’s Cultural Communities Fund.

To stay informed about future grants and awards offered by ALA’s Public Programs Office, sign up for the Programming Librarian e-newsletter.

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Book Club Spotlight – When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Mackenzie Marrow
cover for When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr. A young girl, shown from the chest down stands at a train track with a suitcase behind her. Her pink overcoat is the only color against the sepia background.

January 27th, 2025, is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In commemoration, today’s Book Club Spotlight takes a look at the life of a young Jewish girl during Hitler’s rise to power. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by children’s book author Judith Kerr, has been lauded as an ALA Notable Book, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and was awarded the prestigious Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Award). Kerr’s book, taught in classrooms across Europe, is a semi-autobiographical novel about her own childhood as a Jewish refugee. Just like Anna, Kerr’s father was a theatre critic and political essayist in Berlin, who, under fear of Hitler’s regime, fled with his family to Switzerland. Later, his works were banned and burned by the Nazis.  

Nine-year-old Anna supposes she is Jewish, though her family isn’t very religious. With an election soon, Anna knows her ancestry is important, but she is more focused on her friends and school. When it looks like a man named Adolf Hitler is going to become Chancellor of Germany, Anna’s father, a prominent cultural critic, flees to Switzerland as a wanted man. Soon, Anna finds herself living in Switzerland with her family as refugees! Together, they move all over Europe to avoid the Nazis, searching for a permanent home. Each country brings new people, customs, and languages that Anna must learn and follow. While she enjoys the adventure of being a refugee, the stress of moving and the looming threat of the Nazis is hard for her to ignore.

“She tried to remember that she was a Jew and must not be frightened, otherwise the Nazis would say that all Jews were cowards- but it was no use”

Judith Kerr

The first in the Out of the Hitler Time trilogy, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, follows a young, sheltered girl as she escapes the Nazi regime- having to leave friends, family, and her comfortable life behind. Our main character, Anna, is very removed from the violence happening in Germany, but Judith Kerr artfully includes clues, events, and characters that will key readers into the broader context. Kerr, who based the story on her childhood, is only a few years older than Anne Frank, reminding us that stories of the young and vulnerable in times of hardship persist as they show the human cost behind war and fascism. Appropriate for ages 9 and up, classrooms and Book Club Groups can learn about the rise of the Nazi party and how changes in political climates can affect everyone, especially children.

If you’re interested in requesting When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 10 copies. (A librarian must request items)

Kerr, Judith. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Puffin Books. 1971

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Nebraska Library Commission Announces Public Library Accreditation

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Bailee Juroshek

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 13, 2025

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Christa Porter
402-471-3107
800-307-2665

Nebraska Library Commission Announces Public Library Accreditation

Nebraska Library Commission Library Development Director Christa Porter recently announced the accreditation of thirty-eight public libraries across Nebraska.

Porter stated, “We are dedicated to helping Nebraska libraries meet Nebraskans’ information needs, opening up the world of information for citizens of all ages. The Library Commission continues to work in partnership with Nebraska libraries and the regional library systems, using the Public Library Accreditation program to help public libraries grow and develop.”

Public libraries in Nebraska are accredited for a five-year period. To learn more about this process and to see a complete list of all accredited Nebraska public libraries, go to http://nlc.nebraska.gov/LibAccred/Standings.asp.

The Nebraska Library Commission congratulates the public libraries listed below as they move forward toward the realization of this vision for the future: “All Nebraskans will have improved access to enhanced library and information services, provided and facilitated by qualified library personnel, boards, and supporters with the knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes necessary to provide excellent library and information services.”

Nebraska Public Libraries Accredited through December 31, 2029:

  • Ainsworth Public Library
  • Alice M Farr Library, Aurora
  • Arlington Public Library
  • Bayard Public Library
  • Bennington Public Library
  • Bob and Wauneta Burkley Library, DeWitt
  • Broadwater Public Library
  • Clarkson Public Library
  • Columbus Public Library
  • Crawford Public Library
  • Dvoracek Memorial Library, Wilber
  • Elmwood Public Library
  • Fairbury Public Library
  • Gibbon Public Library
  • Grand Island Public Library
  • Hastings Public Library
  • Hildreth Public Library
  • Hooper Public Library
  • John A Stahl Library, West Point
  • Kimball Public Library
  • Laurel Community Learning Center
  • Lied Scottsbluff Public Library
  • Lied Winside Public Library
  • Lincoln City Libraries
  • Loup City Public Library
  • Madison Public Library
  • Morton-James Public Library, Nebraska City
  • Newman Grove Public Library
  • Oshkosh Public Library
  • Palisade Public Library
  • Plainview Public Library
  • Raymond A Whitwer Tilden Public Library
  • Scotia Public Library & Heritage Center
  • Sioux County Public Library, Harrison
  • South Sioux City Public Library
  • Syracuse Public Library
  • Weeping Water Public Library
  • Yutan Public Library

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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What’s Up Doc? New State Agency Publications at the Nebraska Library Commission

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Mary Sauers

New state agency publications have been received at the Nebraska Library Commission for November and December, 2024.  Included are reports from the Nebraska Board of Barber Examiners, the Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects, the Nebraska Children’s Commission, Nebraska’s Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, and the Nebraska Office of Violence Prevention, to name a few.

With the exception of the University of Nebraska Press titles, items are available for immediate viewing and printing by clicking directly in the .pdf below. The University of Nebraska Press titles can be checked out by librarians for their patrons here: Online Catalog.

The Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse in 1972 as a service of the Nebraska Library Commission. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, and provide access to all public information published by Nebraska state agencies.  By law (State Statutes 51-411 to 51-413) all Nebraska state agencies are required to submit their published documents to the Clearinghouse.  For more information, visit the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse page, contact Mary Sauers, Government Information Services Librarian; or contact Bonnie Henzel, State Documents Staff Assistant.

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Continuing Education: Weekly Resources (1/13 – 1/17)

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Holli Duggan

Below is a list of free training opportunities coming up this week and some recently recorded webinars! There is also a monthly list of free training resources which is compiled each month by the Maine State Library and WebJunction.

Many webinars are recorded and can be watched later.

For more information, please visit NLC: Free Webinars or WebJunction: Free Training

To submit CE hours for the NLC certification programs:

Questions about CE hours or the certification programs, please contact: Holli Duggan

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#BookFaceFriday “Attack of the Black Rectangles” by Amy Sarig King

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Aimee Owen

This #BookFaceFriday can handle the truth!

Celebrate intellectual freedom with this week’s BookFace title, “Attack of the Black Rectangles” by Amy Sarig King (Scholastic, Inc, 2022,).
When 6th grader Mac opens up his assigned classroom reading, he finds some words blacked out. He and his classmates set out to get the full story. This book is one of the 2024-25 Golden Sower Award nominees in the Meadowlark (grades 6-8) category, and is available in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries as an ebook and audiobook.

“Sixth graders stand up against censorship and systemic bias… The protagonists clarify the various issues for readers who may not be aware of them, and the story skillfully encourages keeping open minds and extending grace to the oblivious and hostile alike… A searingly relevant opus to intellectual freedom.”

— Kirkus Reviews

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Friday Reads: “The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club,” by Helen Simonson

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Susan Knisely

Helen Simonson’s latest novel, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, is set in a fictional British seaside town, in the immediate aftermath of World War I. Its main protagonist is Constance Haverhill, a capable young woman of modest means, who spent the war years managing the estate of her mother’s childhood friend, Lady Mercer. Now that war is over and men are returning, Lady Mercer has informed Constance her services are no longer needed; also, Constance will need to move out of the cottage she’s been living in to make room for the new estate manager’s family. As a temporary courtesy, Constance has been asked to accompany Lady Mercer’s mother, Mrs. Fog, on holiday, but once this interlude is over she will be out of a job and a place to live.

Given its setting and subject matter, this could have been a much grittier book. There are oblique references to the population’s overall gauntness, mentions of crippled soldiers begging for alms at London railroad stations, and multiple accounts of family members lost to influenza. Instead, Simonson ensconces her characters in the charming resort community, Hazelbourne-on-Sea, and directs them in what book publicity material calls “a timeless comedy of manners.”

To pull off this production, Simonson enlists an extensive cast of supporting characters, representing many ranks of British society. There’s Constance’s new friend, Poppy Wirrall, the trouser-wearing daughter of a local baronet, who runs the titular motorcycle club in collaboration with women she served with as a dispatch rider during the war. (She’s also organized Wirrall’s Conveyance, a motorcycle taxi and delivery service to provide employment for less well-off members of the club.) There’s Poppy’s brother Harris, a morose former Royal Flying Corps pilot who lost a leg in battle, and Jock Macintyre, his mechanic, who survived the war but turns to drink upon losing his wife and daughters to influenza. There is Kumar Pendra, an RFC pilot from British India, who notes to Constance that service members from countries with dominion status (“the Anzacs, the South Africans, and even the Chinese Labor Corp…”) receive more favorable post-war treatment than those from colonies like his, which are agitating for home rule. And there is Percival Allerton, a wealthy American engaged to Lady Mercer’s daughter, Rachel, who is concerned Mrs. Fog’s renewed friendship with the de Champney siblings, rumored to be “of mixed bloodline” even though they are the children and acknowledged heirs of a prominent Barbados sugar planter, will damage his family’s reputation.

Together, through clever dialogue and revealing interactions, these characters—some wittingly, others unwittingly—bring to life the social and familial upheaval caused by war and epidemic. You have an old guard adamantly attempting to restore pre-war hierarchies of race, gender, and class; emotionally and physically damaged soldiers whose status as landed gentry no longer guarantees them employment, fiancées, or respect; families decimated by influenza; and women who embraced new jobs and freedoms during the war, only to be laid off and sent home now it’s over.

As expected, characters mostly allude to their consciousness of these rifts and inequities indirectly, through droll and circumspect dialogue. Nevertheless, it is clear who is embracing change, who isn’t, and what some of the collateral damage will be. This book is recommended to readers who appreciate a British sensibility, historical fiction without too much grit, and social commentary in the tradition of Jane Austen.

Simonson, Helen. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club: A Novel. The Dial Press, 2024.

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Throwback Thursday: Exterior View of Brick House

Posted on January 9, 2025 by Bailee Juroshek

Are you staying warm this #ThrowbackThursday?

This 3-5/8″ x 4-3/4″ black and white acetate negative is dated around 1935-1945 and shows an exterior view of a one-story, cross-gabled brick house. The house has a garage underneath part of the first floor, and there are retaining walls on each side of the driveway leading up to the garage. A tree stands in front of the house, and there is snow on the ground. This house is located at 812 N. 38th Street in Omaha, Nebraska.

This image is published and owned by the The Durham Museum. The William Wentworth Collection at The Durham Museum consists of 4663 negatives of images that document life in Omaha, Nebraska from 1934 through 1950. William Wentworth worked as both a freelancer and a commercial photographer, providing a unique view of architecture, businesses, and community life in Omaha.

See this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive!

The Nebraska Memories archive 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.

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2025 Big Talk From Small Libraries Schedule Now Available

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Christa Porter

The full schedule for the 2025 Big Talk From Small Libraries online conference is now available!

You will find all the details on the Schedule page. Information about our presenters is available on the Speakers page.

If you haven’t registered yet, now is the time to jump over to the Registration page and sign up – the conference is free and open to anyone in the world to attend! However, please be aware that all times are listed in US Central Time – UTC-6.

You are welcome to watch as an individual or to host a group viewing of the conference. If several staff members from the same library want to attend, you can just register for one seat and have staff members view/listen together via one workstation.

You can also host a viewing party this same way and invite staff from other libraries. For any group viewings, if you know who will be there, you can list your Additional Attendees on your one registration or you can send us a list after the event. Be sure to take all necessary health and safety precautions into account when planning group viewings.

Big Talk From Small Libraries 2025 will be held on Friday, February 28, 2025 between 8:45 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (CT) via the GoTo Webinar online meeting service.

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Nebraska Nonfiction Book Available on BARD!

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Bailee Juroshek

“Song of the North Wind : A Story of the Snow Goose” by Nebraska author Paul A. Johnsgard is now available on cartridge and for download on BARD, the Braille and Audio Reading Download service. BARD is a service offered by the Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille Service and the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled at the Library of Congress.

A chronological account of one year in the lives of a pair of snow geese. Includes a considerable amount of accurate scientific observation and information in a novel-like manner.

TBBS borrowers can request “Song of the North Wind: A Story of the Snow Goose” DBC02029 or download it from the National Library Service BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) website. If you have high-speed internet access, you can download books to your smartphone or tablet, or onto a flash drive for use with your player. You may also contact your reader’s advisor to have the book mailed to you on cartridge.

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Continuing Education: Weekly Resources (1/6 – 1/10)

Posted on January 6, 2025 by Holli Duggan

Below is a list of free training opportunities coming up this week and some recently recorded webinars! There is also a monthly list of free training resources which is compiled each month by the Maine State Library and WebJunction.

Many webinars are recorded and can be watched later.

For more information, please visit NLC: Free Webinars or WebJunction: Free Training

To submit CE hours for the NLC certification programs:

Questions about CE hours or the certification programs, please contact: Holli Duggan









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NCompass Live: Best New Teen Reads of 2024

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Christa Porter

Join us for the first NCompass Live webinar of 2025, where you will hear about the ‘Best New Teen Reads of 2024’, on Wednesday, January 8 at 10am CT.

Sally Snyder, the Nebraska Library Commission’s Coordinator of Children and Young Adult Library Services, will give brief book talks and reviews of new titles recommended to school and public librarians, covering both middle and high school levels, that were published within the last year.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • Jan. 15 – Talking Book and Braille Service: Improving Accessibility to Books
  • Jan. 22 – 2025 One Book One Nebraska: ‘The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific’
  • Jan. 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech
  • Feb. 5 – Fostering Healthy Communication in Your Library

To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, 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 GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

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#BookFaceFriday “New Year’s Eve Murder” by Leslie Meier

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Tessa Timperley

Ringing in a new #BookFaceFriday!

Happy New Year from the Nebraska Library Commission! Ring in the New Year with all new reading goals, like read 100 books this year, try a new genre each month, or even to save some dough by reading free books at your library. Make sure you get the Libby App downloaded on that brand-new Kindle or iPad you got for Christmas; all you need is a library card to read all the amazing books available on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. One of those great titles is “New Year’s Eve Murder: A Lucy Stone Mystery” by Leslie Meier (Kensington Pub Corp, 2005,) available as an ebook and audiobook. It’s the twelfth novel in the Lucy Stone Mystery series, with 31 books total, and you can find them all on OverDrive!

“In Meier’s solid 12th cozy to feature Tinker’s Cove, Maine, reporter Lucy Stone (after 2004’s Star Spangled Murder), Lucy and her oldest daughter, Elizabeth, travel to New York City after winning an all-expenses-paid mother-daughter makeover from Jolie magazine. But after arriving in the Big Apple, the duo find the contest is fraught with cattiness, tension and mistrust, complicated by the magazine’s haughty editor and bickering staff. The outing turns into a nightmare after Jolie’s controversial fashion editor suddenly dies and Elizabeth falls ill from what turns out to be exposure to anthrax. Dividing her time between her daughter’s bedside and sleuthing, Lucy discovers a host of misdeeds involving real estate deals, animal rights and long-held secrets. Fans won’t mind that Meier’s light tone is sometimes at odds with the serious hot-button issues she raises.”

— Publishers Weekly

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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