NCompass Live: The Heartland Honors 9/11 Victims and Survivors

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Christa Porter

Hear how ‘The Heartland Honors 9/11 Victims and Survivors’ on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, June 1 at 10am CT.

September 11, 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Many of our library patrons weren’t yet born and didn’t have a good understanding of this tragic event that took place on American soil. Several Nebraska librarians commemorated the day by hosting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum’s “September 11, 2021: The Day That Changed the World” poster exhibit and related activities. Each of us treated the poster exhibit a bit differently in our respective communities, but all were impactful, thought-provoking experiences for our patrons.

Presenters: Erin Hanna, Librarian, Lexington (NE) Middle School; Joanne Neemann, Director, Beatrice (NE) Public Library.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • June 8 – Policies of Yes
  • June 15 – CES 2022 and Libraries
  • June 22 – Retirement: Time to Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road
  • June 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech
  • July 20 – Learning Opportunities and Resources from WebJunction
  • August 10 – Reinventing Programming Kits
  • August 24 – Team Up with your Community!

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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#BookFaceFriday “Keeping Faith” by Jodi Picoult

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Tessa Terry

Keep your hat on ‘its #BookFaceFriday!

Some authors are just perfect for book club discussions and #BookFace! With subjects and characters that keep the conversation flowing check out “Keeping Faith: A Novel” by Jodi Picoult (William Morrow, 2006,) available in the NLC Book Club collection. We have twenty, say that again, TWENTY Jodi Picoult titles in our Book Club Kit Collection! If that’s not enough for you, there are even more Picoult books available in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries collection, both in eBook and Audiobook format.

“Keeping Faith is a raging success. . . . A triumph. This novel’s haunting strength will hold the reader until the very end and make Faith and her story impossible to forget.”
— Richmond Times-Dispatch

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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Friday Reads: Nonbinary: Memoirs of a Gender and Identity

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Amanda Sweet

I found myself talking about all-girls code clubs in an NCompass Live presentation earlier this week. Mid-sentence, I remembered an episode of the Queer Eye where a trans girl was trying to find groups in school that fit her identity. As I recalled her troubled face, I ended the sentence to include people who identify as girls. I tried to limit the verbal word vomit as I struggled to find the right words to describe people who don’t identify as male or female.

That night, I went on Hoopla and checked out the audiobook for Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity by Micah Rajunov, hoping to find the right words. Plus, it’s almost Pride Month, so it might be a good book to help people understand a changing world. The nonbinary narratives in this book give a voice to those who do not fit neatly into the gender categories of male or female. As with any large group of people, one collection of stories can never represent an entire subset of the population. Each individual defines themselves.

Honestly, I find it difficult to neatly define what nonbinary means when the nonbinary population is still trying to define themselves, and struggling for acceptance in the world. Before reading this book, I knew that some nonbinary people used the they/them pronoun instead of she/he. Several years ago, I met them in a writing group and heard their story. Yes, you read that sentence right.

To this day, I still hear my grammar school teacher saying on repeat: ‘They’ are a group of people. She is an individual. He is an individual. We had to practice proper pronoun use around the room. Now, I still have to override the grammar side of my brain to be inclusive to all genders. So, I met them in a writing group. Just one person out of many people I met in that group.

I heard their story in that group, and now I have read the memoirs in this book. I learned from a man who finally gained the courage to transition to a female after fifty years. A trans advocate revealed the struggle of the trans nation. I added new words to my vocabulary: femme, gender rebel, genderqueer, nonbinary. These words are not my own, so I can’t help but pronounce them as though practicing a foreign language. The words are not wrong, just new. My voice tilts up at the end, as though asking if I got it right. Femme? Genderqueer? They’re never there to answer. This book gave them a voice and helped me find better words.

Stories are how we come to understand ourselves and the world. Sometimes we find a piece of ourselves we never knew was missing. New ideas give deep-seated, intangible feelings a name.  Naming an enemy gives us power to stand strong in the face of adversity. Like Rumplestiltskin. I read and wondered how many people saw ‘nonbinary’ and found peace after decades of mental anguish. Personally, I would prefer them to be nonbinary rather than depressed or suicidal.

So next time I talk about a Girls Who Code club, I will say that they are welcome. Anyone who wants them to feel safe and included is welcome. Anyone who wants to degrade them and make them feel insecure, unsafe, and less than human can see themselves out. Maybe not forever, just long enough to process. We are all human. Read their story, then we can all learn together.

Rajunov, Micah, and Scott Duane, editors. Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity. Columbia University Press, 2019.

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Throwback Thursday: 1921 Freight Train Wreck – Benkelman, NE

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Kayla Henzel

It’s another #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!

This 3 x 5 black and white photograph shows destroyed freight cars from a derailed freight train at the train station in Benkelman, Nebraska. The derailment resulted in total destruction of 3 freight cars and 13 others badly demolished.

This image is owned by the High Plains Historical Society and Museum. It is published by McCook Public Library. The High Plains Historical Society and Museum and the McCook Public Library worked together in partnership to digitize photographic images from the historical society’s collection. These images document early growth of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in McCook and the surrounding area. The collection spans from the early 1880s through the 1960s.

See the full collection on the Nebraska Memories archive.

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. 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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Book Club Spotlight – The Ghost Bride

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Mackenzie Marrow

For our last spotlight of Asian American & Pacific Islander month, I thought I’d bring a brand new addition to our Book Club Collection; The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. Choo is a fourth-generation Malaysian of Chinese descent currently living in California, and her most recent novel, The Night Tiger, is a NYT bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick.

The Ghost Bride takes place in 1890s Malaya (now Malaysia), where people of all backgrounds intermingled under British rule. The Chinese population work to hold onto their ancient traditions, especially those involving death. According to these traditions, unpleased spirits, or those who had no death rites performed, linger in our world and can cause trouble for the living. When their son dies, the wealthy and powerful Lim family look to Lin Lan to placate his soul by asking her to be Lim Tian’s bride in a rare ghost marriage. Unfortunately for Li Lan, ghosts are real, and she must travel through the Chinese afterlife to rid herself of her specter and this marriage. 

“It seemed to me that in this confluence of cultures we had acquired one another’s superstitions without necessarily any of their comforts”

Yangsze Choo

Perfect for a YA or an adult book club, the Ghost Bride is a coming-of-age novel that melds a murder mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, and a bit of supernatural romance. Throughout the story, readers learn about ancient Chinese traditions, how influences of the West changed their society, and the never ending bureaucracy of the afterlife. With the aid of the Notes section, readers can learn even more about the history of ghost marriages, Chinese notions of the afterlife, and other historical notes of life in Chinese in Southeast Asia. It was also recently adapted into a Malaysian-language Netflix series which looks incredible, and I will absolutely have to binge the it this weekend.

If you’re interested in requesting this book for your book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here.

To see more of our Asian American/ Pacific Islander Book Club Kits, visit the link here.

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Apply Now for the PLA Digital Literacy Workshop Incentive to Expand Digital Literacy Skills in Your Community

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Christa Porter

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

Every day community members who lack basic computer knowledge and skills access their local public libraries hoping to complete life tasks many of us take for granted. The Public Library Association (PLA) is proud to partner with AT&T to expand upon its work helping libraries and their communities close the digital divide through new and improved DigitalLearn.org courses and training materials.  

Applications are now open for the PLA Digital Literacy Workshop Training Incentive, supported by AT&T!

The new incentive program is designed to support library adoption of the new digital literacy courses and training materials, which are freely available in English and Spanish at DigitalLearn.org. All public libraries in the United States and Washington, DC, are eligible to apply for one of two incentive amounts.  

  • Tier 1 Incentive recipients will receive $4,000 and be required to conduct a minimum of three workshops reaching a total of 18 learners.
  • Tier 2 Incentive recipients will receive $7,000 and be required to conduct a minimum of five workshops reaching a minimum of 50 learners.  

The application deadline is June 10, 2022, at 11:59 PM Central. Applications will be reviewed and selected by PLA this summer and recipients will be announced in August. Learn more and apply at https://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/digitalliteracy/incentive.  

Reviewers Needed

PLA is also seeking library workers who are interested in serving as peer reviewers for the PLA Digital Literacy Workshop Incentive, supported by AT&T application. Serving as a peer reviewer on a national grant offering is an excellent professional development and member service opportunity that can be added to your resume or CV!  

Current ALA/PLA membership is required in order to serve as a peer reviewer for this grant application. Application reviewers will be asked to read and review up to 20 applications between Monday, July 11, 2022, and Monday, July 25, 2022. Each application will take between 10–15 minutes to review. Submit your reviewer volunteer form by Friday, June 3, 2022.  

Learn more about this volunteer opportunity.

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NCompass Live: Pretty Sweet Tech: Computers in Libraries 2022 Highlights & Trends

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Christa Porter

Hear the Highlights and Trends from Computers in Libraries 2022 on next week’s ‘Pretty Sweet Tech’ NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, May 25 at 10am CT.

Special monthly episodes of NCompass Live! Join the NLC’s Technology Innovation Librarian, Amanda Sweet, as she guides us through the world of library-related Pretty Sweet Tech.

Computers in Libraries is the world’s leading technology and innovation conference for librarians! This year, we laughed, we cried, we learned, and good times were had by all. In this session I will cover some of the main trends, highlights, and resources I enjoyed the most in the sessions. So if you weren’t able to make it, or are trying to decide if the Replay Pass is worth getting, this is the session for you!

Here are is a preview of some of the trends/ resources I will cover:

  • Hybrid Services: How, When & Why?
  • Digital Engagement & Marketing
  • Tech Gadget Goodness (It had to be done)
  • Collaborations & Partnerships to Expand Services
  • Strong & Healthy Teams and Communities

I hope to see you there! As a side note, if you’re looking for more emerging tech trends in the library, check out Computers in Libraries magazine.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • June 1 – The Heartland Honors 9/11 Victims and Survivors
  • June 8 – Policies of Yes
  • June 15 – CES 2022 and Libraries
  • June 22 – Retirement: Time to Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road
  • June 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech
  • July 20 – Learning Opportunities and Resources from WebJunction
  • August 10 – Reinventing Programming Kits
  • August 24 – Team Up with your Community!

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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Friday Reads: The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Shoshana Patocka

“The first person I met in England was a hallucination.”

When a book starts with a sentence like that, you know it will be interesting, at the very least. First published in 2017, and still going strong today with over a million copies in print and multiple holds on the e-book and audiobook versions in Overdrive. Of course, being chosen for Reese Witherspoon’s book club helped, but in my opinion, “The Alice Network” by Kate Quinn is worth all the hype and so much more than just interesting.

“The Alice Network” follows people “chasing… (the) legacies left by lost women in past wars”. Told from the alternating perspectives of “Charlie”, a young woman wanting answers about her cousin who went missing during the ravages of World War II, and Eve, now of middle age but who spent World War I as a young spy in German-occupied France.

Based on real lives and events, “The Alice Network” is all at once a romance, thriller, mystery, historical fiction, and a work of social commentary. Engrossing and touching, I highly recommend this book and cannot wait to get my hands on Kate Quinn’s “The Diamond Eye”, a story about a librarian turned sniper in World War II.

Quinn, K. (2022). The Alice network: a novel. William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

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#BookFaceFriday “Daisy Jones & the Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Tessa Terry

It’s all happening with #BookFaceFriday!

Rattan furniture, curtain bangs, there’s no denying it, the 70s are making a comeback. So we’re diving into the era’s music scene with this #BookFaceFriday! “Daisy Jones & the Six: A Novel” by Taylor Jenkins Reid (‎Random House Publishing Group, 2020) is available for check out in our Book Club Kit Collection. You can also find it as an eBook and an Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a New York Times bestselling author, you can find four other Reid titles in our OverDrive collection, including, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” “Malibu Rising,” and “Maybe in Another Life.”

“Reid’s novel so resembles a memoir of a real band and conjures such true-to-life images of the seventies music scene that readers will think they’re listening to Fleetwood Mac or Led Zeppelin. Reid is unsurpassed in her ability to create complex characters working through emotions that will make your toes curl.”

– Booklist (starred review)

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

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 188 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 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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Throwback Thursday: Court House Rock

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Kayla Henzel

Happy #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!

This week, we have a 5 1/2″ x 3 3/8″ black and white photographic postcard featuring two rock formations: Courthouse Rock on the right and Jail Rock on the left. These two formations are located south of Bridgeport and could be seen in the distance for several days by pioneers traveling the Oregon Trail.

This image is published and owned by the Nebraska Library Commission. This collection includes material on the history of libraries in the state of Nebraska, mainly those built with Carnegie grants. Also included in this collection are items from the 1930s related to the Nebraska Public Library Commission bookmobile, as well as items showcasing the history of Nebraska’s state institutions.

Check out this collection on the Nebraska Memories archive!

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. 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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Authority Control class registration is now open!

Posted on May 16, 2022 by Shoshana Patocka

Libraries use authority control to manage the names, uniform titles, series titles, and subject headings in their catalogs. Participants in this class will learn what authority control is and why it is needed, how to read a MARC authority record, and how to use the Library of Congress authority file. This class is one of the REQUIRED classes for the NLC Cataloging Certificate program.

Audience: Library staff with knowledge of AACR2/RDA, MARC records, and cataloging.

This class will be held online from June 13th to July 24th, with a week off for the Fourth of July holiday. To receive full credit, participants must complete all assignments and receive a 75% in the class.

Class participants will access the course website to read materials and complete assignments. The class is held asynchronously, which means that participants are not required to be online at any particular time during the five weeks. The instructor will interact with the participants during the course to offer feedback and help clarify the material.

A few days before the class starts, class participants will be sent information about accessing the class.

To register: Go to Authority Control in the Nebraska Library Commission Training Portal. Registration closes on June 5th.

This workshop is approved for the NLC Cataloging Certification Program. This is open only to Nebraska residents or those who are employed by a Nebraska library.  

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NCompass Live: Digital Literacy Training for Seniors – sponsored by the Nebraska State Unit on Aging

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Christa Porter

Attend this presentation to learn about this great new resource for your older library patrons, ‘Digital Literacy Training for Seniors’, on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, May 18 at 10am CT.

The Nebraska State Unit on Aging is sponsoring online training for adults aged 60 and over, through a contract with GetSetUp. Over 4 million adults in 160 countries are using this platform, which is designed to help adults get comfortable with their own devices. Training is offered in small live classes. With new skills, adults can reach out to family and friends more easily, meet with their doctor over telehealth, learn a new skill, and socialize. The sky is the limit!

Presenter: Cynthia Brammeier, Administrator, State Unit on Aging, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • May 25 – Pretty Sweet Tech: Computers in Libraries 2022 Highlights & Trends
  • June 1 – The Heartland Honors 9/11 Victims and Survivors
  • June 8 – Policies of Yes
  • June 15 – CES 2022 and Libraries
  • June 22 – Retirement: Time to Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road
  • June 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech
  • July 20 – Learning Opportunities and Resources from WebJunction
  • August 10 – Reinventing Programming Kits
  • August 24 – Team Up with your Community!

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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#BookFaceFriday – “Millennial Cervantes” by Bruce R. Burningham

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Tessa Terry

We’re tilting at windmills with this week’s #BookFaceFriday.

Go on an adventure with this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “Millennial Cervantes: New Currents in Cervantes Studies (New Hispanisms)” edited by Bruce R. Burningham (University of Nebraska Press; Illustrated Edition, 2020.) The Nebraska Library Commission’s Collection is always growing, the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.

“Millennial Cervantes explores some of the most important recent trends in Cervantes scholarship in the twenty-first century. It brings together leading Cervantes scholars of the United States in order to showcase their cutting-edge work within a cultural studies frame that encompasses everything from ekphrasis to philosophy, from sexuality to Cold War political satire, and from the culinary arts to the digital humanities.”

—Book jacket

“This collection of nine provocative, beautifully elaborated essays explores the impact of Cervantes’s writings in their own time and place, and well beyond.”

—E. H. Friedman, Choice

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

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Friday Reads: Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship, by Catherine Raven

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Susan Knisely

This book was a nice respite. It didn’t tackle a contentious political or social issue, nor did it build a fictional world fraught with challenges and interpersonal drama. Instead, it was a quiet meditation, shared by a purposefully solitary individual. The drama that did make it onto the pages was that of the natural world—ebbing, flowing, occasionally bloody, though not in a “man’s inhumanity to man” kind of way—and of metaphysical ruminations on the relationship between humans and nature, science and intuition.

Author Catherine Raven doesn’t share an in-depth backstory, but offers enough details that we know she’s been on her own for years. She left an unhappy home at fifteen, started college at sixteen, spent years as a backcountry ranger for the National Park Service, and eventually earned a PhD in biology. At the start of Fox & I she is living in a cottage on a small plot of land in Montana, miles from civilization.

Although Raven has some interaction with people—she teaches online classes and the occasional in-person field class—their presence is peripheral. The central characters of her narrative are the living things she shares space with—Gin and Tonic, two nearby juniper trees; Tennis Ball and Torn Tail, the two magpies she can distinguish from the rest; the voles inhabiting her pasture; and, most significantly, a fox (whom she calls Fox) that comes visiting every day at 4:15.

At first Raven, trained as a scientist, feels self-conscious about her relationship with Fox. She worries about anthropomorphizing him, and feels professional pressure to turn him into a research subject capable of yielding data points. As time passes, though, she becomes more comfortable with their companionable coexistence, which she acknowledges as friendship.

One of my favorite things about this book is Raven’s frequent invocation of world-weary Ishmael, narrator of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince (the book she reads aloud to Fox during his visits). By linking her own introspection about the nature of existence to theirs, she connects herself to a literary tradition in which plot is a convenient excuse to wrestle with the bigger, existential questions of life. If this is the sort of narrative you need right now, you’ll appreciate Fox & I.

Raven, Catherine. Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2021.

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Throwback Thursday: Bluffs of Niobrara River

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Kayla Henzel

It’s Thursday and that means it’s time for a #Throwback!

For this week’s #ThrowbackThursday, we’re featuring a color postcard of an artist’s rendering entitled “Bluff of Niobrara River, Valentine, Neb.”

The Niobrara River headwaters originate in Wyoming, 35 miles from the Nebraska border. The waters become swift and the channel drops nine feet every mile. East of Valentine, it passes through sandstone, clay and shale. Eventually, it passes through the last of the rock walls and by Norden is broad and shallow. It drains about 9,795 square miles, about 13 percent of the state of Nebraska.

This color postcard is owned and published to Nebraska Memories by Omaha Public Library. The items in this collection include early Omaha-related maps dating from 1825 to 1922, as well as over 1,000 postcards and photographs of the Omaha area.

If you like history, especially Nebraska history, check out the Nebraska Memories archive! It’s full of materials related to Nebraska and its history.

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. 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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Get Internet : The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)

Posted on May 11, 2022 by Mary Sauers

Learn how President Biden is reducing the cost of high-speed internet and find out if you qualify to sign up.

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, President Biden and Vice President Harris worked with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to create the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides eligible households $30 per month off their internet bills. To deliver maximum cost savings to families, the Biden-Harris Administration has secured commitments from 20 leading internet providers to offer ACP-eligible households a high-speed internet plan for no more than $30 per month. Eligible families who pair their ACP benefit with one of these plans can receive high-speed internet at no cost.

Find Out If You Qualify

There are three different ways to qualify for the ACP benefit. You are eligible if you meet any one of the three qualifications below:

  • Your income is at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (see chart below)
  • You or someone in your household participates in one of these other programs:
    • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps
    • Medicaid
    • Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
    • Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
    • Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA)
    • Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit
    • Free and Reduced-Price School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program, including at U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Community Eligibility Provision schools
    • Federal Pell Grant (received in the current award year)
    • Lifeline
    • Certain Tribal assistance programs, including Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Head Start (only households meeting the income qualifying standard), Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Tribal TANF), and Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations
  • You meet the eligibility criteria for a participating broadband provider’s existing low-income internet program.

How To Sign Up for the Affordable Connectivity Program

Step 1: Claim Your Affordable Connectivity Program Benefit. 

Step 2: Contact a participating internet service provider to choose an internet plan. 

  • Once your application is approved, contact a participating internet service provider to choose a plan and apply your benefit to that plan.
  • More information on how to apply can be found at https://acpbenefit.org/how-to-apply/ or by calling (877) 384-2575.

Participating Service Providers

These internet service providers offer a high-speed internet plan for $30 per month or less. If you apply your ACP benefit to one of these plans, you will have no out-of-pocket cost for internet.

You can also choose to apply your ACP benefit to a different provider. There are over 1,300 providers that accept the ACP benefit. To find one near you, visit https://acpbenefit.org/companies-near-me/.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What if I also need help getting a tablet or computer?

ACP-eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from certain participating providers, with a small copay. To get a discounted device, contact a participating provider. The providers offering discounted devices are listed at https://www.fcc.gov/affordable-connectivity-program-providers

How much is my Affordable Connectivity Program benefit?

Most eligible families can receive a benefit of up to $30 per month applied to the cost of their internet service. ACP-eligible households who live on Tribal lands are eligible for a benefit of up to $75 per month.

Are these plans fast?

Yes – they offer a minimum of 100 Mbps download speed, which is fast enough for a typical family of 4 to video conference, stream movies or TV, and more.

Learn more about ACP.

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Roger Welsch Book Added to BARD!

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Tessa Terry

“It’s Not the End of the Earth, But You Can See It From Here: Tales of the Great Plains” by Nebraska author Roger Welsch has been recorded by our Talking Book and Braille Service!

“In this rather slight collection of monologues, stories and essays, Welsch–a regular on CBS’s Charles Kuralt show, a columnist and collector of Great Plains lore–celebrates small-town America’s leisurely pace, human scale and the ordinary man or woman who “moves mankind and shapes destiny.”

Publisher’s Weekly

The book is a collection of stories which demonstrate that small-town Nebraska life is filled with color and variety, ideas and humor, wit and warmth. Some pieces are short narratives; others are descriptions of characters. The book was previously recorded in the TBBS studios and has been reformatted for national distribution.

TBBS borrowers can request “It’s Not the End of the Earth, But You Can See It From Here,” DBC 01987, or download it from the National Library Service BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) website. Another Welsch title available for download is “Mister, You Got Yourself a Horse: Tales of Old-time Horse Trading,” DBC 13621. 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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Book Club Spotlight – The Henna Artist

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Mackenzie Marrow

In order to kick off Asian American & Pacific Islander month, I thought I’d spotlight The Henna Artist, written by Indian immigrant Alka Joshi. This story enraptured me completely, which is in no small part thanks to the incredible audiobook narrator, Sneha Mathan. 

The Henna Artist, set in 1950’s Jaipur, India, is a story of run-away Lakshmi who fled her abusive marriage and is now a henna artist to the upper class. While she paints the ladies’ hands, she provides herbal remedies to both the men and women she services. Suddenly finding herself in charge of a 13-year-old sister she never knew she had, the life she worked so hard for comes to a crashing halt. Lakshmi’s story is fiction, but her perseverance, love for her family, and her culture’s art and medicine are far from the realm of fantasy. Here, Joshi presents a reimagining of what her mother’s life could have been if she had been given the opportunity to shape her own destiny. 

_________

“She was brought up to obey her parents and her husband, not to defy, question or contradict. She told me Pitaji’s books had filled my head with too many silly ideas. They had given me the useless notion that I could make my own decisions.”

Alka Joshi

No stranger to book clubs, this title was featured in Reese Witherspoon’s book club at its debut in 2020. Always an evergreen topic, body autonomy is at the heart of this novel, as well as a diverse and colorful portrait of Indian culture. This book is perfect for adults, and vivacious young adults who are ready to face these conversations head-on and talk about their own experiences and viewpoints. 

If you’re worried about your knowledge of India going into this book, do not fret! Our copies at the commission all include a list of characters, a glossary of terms, information about the Caste System in India, the history of and recipe for Henna, and some food recipes! Or all of that information is available here.

If you’re interested in reading this book for your own book club, you can find the Book Club Kit Request Form here.

Joshi, Alka. The Henna Artist. Mira. 2020

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

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Mary Sauers

New state agency publications have been received at the Nebraska Library Commission for April 2022.  Included are reports from the Nebraska Legislature, the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, the Nebraska Department of Transportation, and new books from the University of Nebraska Press, to name a few.

Most items, except the books from the University of Nebraska Press, are available for immediate viewing and printing by clicking on the highlighted link above, or directly in the .pdf below.  You can read synopses of the books received from the University of Nebraska Press in the Book Briefs blogposts.

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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NCompass Live: Overcoming Impostor Syndrome: Leading with Radical Acceptance

Posted on May 6, 2022 by Christa Porter

Learn how to overcome our feelings of inadequacy by ‘Overcoming Impostor Syndrome: Leading with Radical Acceptance’ on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, May 11 at 10am CT.

For many of us, feelings of falling short are right around the corner. It doesn’t take much – hearing of someone else’s accomplishments, being criticized, getting into an argument, making a mistake – to make us feel that we are not okay. Learn how to lead with Radical Acceptance by recognizing our strengths and weaknesses with compassion and accepting situations that are outside our control. Radical Acceptance doesn’t mean that we are non-reactive to challenges. Instead, we can use that acceptance to overcome challenges and become more self-aware. This session will teach how to radically accept what comes in our lives so we can overcome our feelings of inadequacy. Regardless of your position at your library, you can learn to lead and overcome.

Presenter: Patrick Bodily, Library Manager, Independence Public Library, OR.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • May 18 – Digital Literacy Training for Seniors – sponsored by the Nebraska State Unit on Aging
  • May 25 – Pretty Sweet Tech: Computers in Libraries 2022
  • June 1 – The Heartland Honors 9/11 Victims and Survivors
  • June 8 – Policies of Yes
  • June 15 – CES 2022 and Libraries

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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