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Monthly Archives: June 2011
Apply to host “Discover Earth,” an interactive traveling exhibition opportunity for public libraries
The ALA Public Programs Office, in partnership with the National Center for Interactive Learning at Space Science Institute, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the National Girls Collaborative Project, announces a new traveling exhibition opportunity for public libraries. Following a competitive application process, 10 public libraries will be selected to host an interactive exhibition called Discover Earth: A Century of Change. Online applications must be submitted to ALA by September 2 and can be found at www.ala.org/discoverearth.
Discover Earth is made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation. The exhibition and its educational support materials and outreach opportunities are part of the STAR (Science-Technology Activities and Resources) Library Education Network (STAR_Net), a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities.
The Discover Earth exhibition will focus on local earth science topics—such as weather, water cycle, and ecosystem changes—as well as a global view of our changing planet. The primary message of the exhibition is that the global environment changes – and is changed by – the local environment of all exhibition hosts’ communities. Interactive, multimedia displays will allow exhibit visitors to interact with digital information in a dynamic way, encouraging new perspectives on our planet.
Discover Earth will tour from January 2012 to December 2013, visiting each of the 10 selected sites for a period of eight weeks. The exhibition requires approximately 500-750 square feet of space for optimal display. Each site will be awarded a grant of $1,000 to support public programs related to the exhibition. Each host library will be asked to join a national Community of Practice (CoP), accessible at http://community.discoverexhibits.org. For more information about Discover Earth, STAR_Net and the CoP, visit www.ala.org/discoverearth.
******************************
ALA Public Programs Office
www.ala.org/publicprograms
publicprograms@ala.org
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Funding Available to Libraries for Community Conversations
Is your library the place for community conversations? The Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC) has launched a new program to promote civil discussion in our communities. The program, which offers structure and funding, is available to any nonprofit or governmental organization—with a special invitation to Nebraska’s libraries, which we know would be great hosts for community conversations. The new program has been developed in response to the call for more civility and dialogue in community life. “NebraskaConversations: A Guide for Civil Discussion” is designed to provide Nebraska communities with a structure and funding to create safe, comfortable and reflective environments for discussion of any important issue.
NHC invites nonprofit and governmental groups to apply. Eligible organizations include schools, libraries, museums, civic groups, service clubs, tribal organizations, educational institutions and local governments.
NHC will provide funding for facilitation, presenters, meeting space and materials, and refreshments.
NOTE: Organizations are strongly urged to submit a proposal form at least 60 days before the proposed meeting date.
For more details or to apply for “Nebraska Conversations,” visit the NHC website at www.nebraskahumanities.org. A descriptive brochure is available online or by contacting the NHC by mail at 215 Centennial Mall South, Ste 330, Lincoln, NE 68508, by phone at 402-474-2131, or by e-mail at nhc@nebraskahumanities.org .
Posted in General, Public Relations
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To Live and Die on the Plains
Presented by Jeff Barnes of the Nebraska Humanities Council as part of the Eastern Library System Annual Meeting on the campus of Midland University in Fremont, NE on 10 June 2011.
Posted in Education & Training
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More U.S. Statutes at Large Online
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has released volumes 95-115 of the United States Statutes at Large, which spans from 1981 through 2002 (97th-107th Congresses). FDsys now provides access to all available United States Statutes at Large content from 1951 through 2007 (82nd – 110th Congresses).
The United States Statutes at Large is the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress. Publication began in 1845 by the private firm of Little, Brown and Company under authority granted by a joint resolution of Congress. In 1874, Congress transferred the authority to publish the Statutes at Large to the Government Printing Office, which has been responsible for producing the set since that time. Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage. Until 1948, all treaties and international agreements approved by the Senate were also published in the set.
Join the Nebraska CatExpress Group
If your library needs basic copy cataloging and MARC record delivery for up to 7,000 titles per year, CatExpress may be right for you. CatExpress provides web-based copy cataloging, with limited editing capabilities, at a low, flat-fee subscription price. And, when you join the Nebraska Group, you will receive discounted pricing on your CatExpress Subscription.
Even if you have little or no cataloging experience, you’ll be amazed at how simple it is to use OCLC CatExpress with minimal training. And since it’s a Web-based product, there is no special software to install or maintain.
OCLC CatExpress accesses records in WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog. Used by over 72,000 libraries in 171 countries, WorldCat is the world’s most comprehensive database of bibliographical records containing over 202 million records. By accessing WorldCat through OCLC CatExpress, you have available to you records for all formats, including sound recordings (spoken and music), videos, electronic resources, journals, maps, and microforms. You can achieve hit rates of over 98 percent for English-language materials – all through an easy-to-use Web interface. You also may expand your resource sharing capabilities by adding your own holdings information to bibliographic records.
With OCLC CatExpress, you have…
• Full search capabilities in WorldCat
• The ability to set or delete holdings in WorldCat
• Delivery of OCLC-MARC records for you to load into your local system
• Affordable, predictable pricing options for all sizes of libraries
To learn more about CatExpress, to see the discounted Group pricing, and to join the Nebraska CatExpress Group, go to the NLC’s CatExpress webpage.
Posted in Information Resources, Technology
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New White House Report on Women
A new report providing a statistical picture of women in America was released in March. This report, Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being, was prepared for the White House Council on Women and Girls and presents selected indicators of women’s social and economic well-being currently and over time. The report is intended for a general audience with the hope that it will be useful to policymakers, policy analysts, journalists, policy advocates, and all those interested in women’s issues. By presenting a quantitative snapshot of the well-being of American women based on data compiled from varying Federal statistical agencies, the report greatly enhances our understanding how far American women have come and the areas where there is still work to be done. It presents this data in five critical areas: demographic and family changes, education, employment, health, and crime and violence.
RDA Implementation Decision
The Executives of the Library of Congress, the National Agricultural Library, and the National Library of Medicine have issued a statement regarding the implementation of Resource Description and Access (RDA).
According to the statement, “the Coordinating Committee recommends that RDA should be implemented by LC, NAL, and NLM no sooner than January 2013.” The decision is also contingent upon the completion of, or significant progress toward the completion of, some particular tasks and action items.
The full Report and Recommendations of the U.S. RDA Test Coordinating Committee will be available before the ALA Annual Conference on the Library of Congress Testing Resource Description and Access Home Page. An executive summary of the report is available now in PDF format. A statement from the executives of the LC, NLM, and NAL is also available in PDF format.
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Farewell to Doreen Kuhlmann
Doreen Kuhlmann is retiring from her Business Manager position with the Nebraska Library Commission effective tomorrow, June 15. Doreen has served as the Commission’s Business Manager for over 25 years. We will greatly miss the many contributions that Doreen has made. Her responsibilities have included management of the Commission’s office services, budget, accounting, personnel, facilities, and more. Her extensive experience, knowledge and good judgment have served the Commission well. We thank Doreen for all her efforts in support of the Commission’s work with libraries, organizations and people across the state of Nebraska. Very best wishes to Doreen on her retirement!
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Flying the Flag
The U.S. flag has been displayed for many different reasons and occasions. In Nebraska Memories, some photographs and postcards show flags on regular display both outside and inside buildings. An example is this colorful postcard of the “Old People’s Home, Fontenelle Boulevard, Omaha, Nebr.” from the Omaha Public Library collection. On some of the larger images of the flag, try counting the stars—many of these flags would have had only 46. Here are more images.
More photographs show the flag being used to decorate buildings, cars and floats for celebrations and special occasions. If one flag is good, more must be better, as in the “Decorated automobile” to the left, right? And, of course, you can always borrow the design, as the “Man and woman wearing flag print clothing” to the right have done. Both photographs are from the Nebraska State Historical Society collection. Also see these special occasion images.
The flag is also used for ceremonial purposes or solemn occasions by the military and other groups. Several Nebraska State Historical images show the American flag at Native American gatherings including “Tipis of chiefs” from 1911. See more ceremonial images.
Before “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the U.S. national anthem in 1931, other patriotic songs were also written using our flag as a rallying point to protect “the republic for which it stands”. The musical score, “The Memory of You Will Be a Flag, Dear” from the Polley Music Library collection, is one of several available in Nebraska Memories.
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://www.nlc.state.ne.us/nebraskamemories/ for more information, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
Registration opens June 8 for Basic Skills: Library Governance
Registration opens June 8 for Basic Skills: Library Governance on the Nebraska Library Commission Training Calendar. The class will start on July 11 and run for two weeks. This is one of the elective modules to fulfill the Basic Skills requirements for librarian certification.
For a complete list of the Basic Skills modues, see: New Basic Skills for Nebraska Librarians 2011 Schedule.
If you have any questions, contact Laura Johnson, via Email or at 402.471.2694 or 800.307.2665.
Posted in Education & Training
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Discover Health survey
The ALA Public Programs Office is collaborating with the National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) on a series of exhibits that will tour libraries. NCIL is in the beginning stages of planning a new, interactive exhibit entitled “Discover Health,” which will engage library patrons and others in learning about their bodies and health.
Please fill out the survey NCIL has designed to gain valuable feedback from you to assist in planning their proposed exhibit. You can find the brief, online survey, at this link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N8DSNKT
If possible, please fill out the survey by Friday, June 19. However, if you should receive it later, please fill it out, as NCIL will leave the survey open until June 30.
Many thanks in advance for your participation.
******************************
ALA Public Programs Office
www.ala.org/publicprograms
publicprograms@ala.org
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Less than one week to register for PLA’s summer advocacy program!
Become your library’s strongest advocate when you register for the free online Turning the Page 2.0 advocacy training course. This six-week blended learning program is led by professional facilitators who will lead you through the creation of a customized Advocacy Work Plan for your library.
Turning the Page 2.0 is open to any interested library staff member or supporter. We encourage you to build an advocacy team including staff, trustees, Friends, and others–there is no limit to the number of attendees per library.
Registration for the upcoming summer session (July 5-Aug. 8) closes this Wednesday, June 15.
Register Today!
Turning the Page 2.0 will be offered four more times through 2011 and 2012 with kick-off events scheduled around the country. For a full list of session dates and kick-off locations, click here.
Click here for more details about Turning the Page 2.0. If you have any questions, please email ttp2@ala.org. Turning the Page 2.0 is developed and presented by the Public Library Association (PLA) with generous support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Booktalks With a Bang – Recorded Online Session
Join Sara Churchill, Library Media Specialist at Blair Community Schools, as she highlights a few ways to create book talks that will grab people’s attention. Using Google Lit Trips, iMovie, GarageBand, and more, multimedia presentations will gain the attention of kids and adults alike. Student created Google Lit Trips and iMovie Book Talks will be displayed.
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Arbor Park Library Wiki
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What’s Sally Reading?
New YALSA Readers’ Choice Booklist Seeking Nominations.
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) of ALA is seeking nominations of titles for their new annual booklist: Readers’ Choice List. It would be great if teens in Nebraska suggested their favorite titles. Visit this site for information and the nomination forms.
The purpose of this new list, according to the web site, is:
“YALSA’s Readers’ Choice list seeks to engage a wide audience of librarians, educators, teens and young adult literature enthusiasts in choosing the most popular teen titles in a given year, as organized by broad genres. The list will also provide librarians with a timely means of identifying popular teen titles on an ongoing basis. Nominations will be posted monthly, with a final vote taking place each November. Any individual, provided he/she is not the author or an employee of the publisher, or a current member of the Readers’ Choice List Committee may nominate a title via an online form, while only YALSA members are eligible to vote for the final ballot.”
You, your teens, teachers, almost anyone may nominate a title published between November 1, 2010 and October 31, 2011. This could be a great project for your teen group. You could also give them the monthly lists to see which titles they would choose for the overall list at the end of the year (after they are updated).
Back in January I read and blogged about the newest Caldecott Medal winner, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, and found it fun. I finally had the opportunity to read the newest Newbery Medal winner, Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool, and greatly enjoyed it. Abilene Tucker (12) is sent to live in Manifest, Kansas, by her father, who is going to work for the railroad in Iowa. Over the summer of 1936 she learns a lot about the town and the people who have lived there, but never hears a mention of her father living there. Frequent flashbacks to 1917 & 1918, as told to Abilene by the local clairvoyant, recount stories of two friends: Jinx and Ned. This book covers a lot of topics with a gentle hand: prohibition, making moonshine, responsibility, labor rights, immigration and acceptance, con men, war, the 1918 flu epidemic, and family love.
(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 to Nebraska school and public libraries.)
Posted in Books & Reading, General, Youth Services
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Keystone Pipeline Controversy Heats Up
On the final day for comments the EPA announced that it had filed a comment letter stating that it had placed the project in a category headed “Environmental Objections” and that the Impact Statement is based on insufficient information.
The same day the State Department announced that it plans to host more public meetings within the first 30 days of the 90 day comment period that will follow issuance of the final Environmental Impact Statement. The meetings are intended to give the public an opportunity to voice their views on economic, energy security, environmental and safety issues, and will be held in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma,Texas, and Washington D.C. The Department expects to make a decision on whether to grant or deny the permit before the end of 2011.
A print copy of the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL Project is available for loan from the Library Commission. Call number S 1.2: K49/2011 To request a loan contact the
Reference Desk
WebDewey 2.0 installs DDC 23
WebDewey 2.0 gives you the power of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system on the Web. Now, WebDewey 2.0 includes all content from DDC 23. The new WebDewey is easier to use than ever and features:
• An easy-to-navigate, simple user interface that is suitable for the novice as well as the power user
• BISAC-to-DDC mappings
• An easy-to-personalize screen display, often done with a single click
• Continuous updating
DDC 23 is the default database and you still have access to DDC 22 from the dropdown menu. DDC 23 also features:
• New provisions in 004-006 Computer science and elsewhere to reflect changes in technology
• Updates to provisions for the Orthodox Church and Islam in 200 Religion
• Improved provisions in 340 Law for legal systems based on civil law
• Significant updates to 370 Education
• Updated provisions for food and clothing
• Updates to 740 Graphic arts and decorative arts
• A new location and expanded development for cinematography and videography at 777
• Significant expansions throughout 796 Athletic and outdoor sports and games
• Significant expansions in Table 2, with parallel provisions in 930-990, for the ancient world, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam and Canada
• Updated historical periods throughout 930-990
Current WebDewey subscribers can access the new system with their existing authorizations and passwords at http://dewey.org/webdewey. The existing WebDewey interface will be available until mid 2011, at which time users will be redirected to the new service. Abridged 15 and Abridged WebDewey 2.0 will be available in late 2011 or early 2012. Please visit WebDewey on the web for more information.
Join the Nebraska Dewey Group Purchase to receive discounted pricing on WebDewey, Abridged WebDewey and the DDC 23 and Abridged Edition 14 in print.
Posted in General, Library Management, Technology
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Wedding Bells
To celebrate the beginning of June, a traditional month for weddings, take a look at some of the images of weddings in Nebraska Memories. The celebrations range from large family gatherings to small wartime ceremonies, and they show how wedding customs have changed over the years.
This 1902 portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Duffek is one of many wedding portraits taken by Harvey Boston, a photographer in David City. William Wentworth, an Omaha photographer, also took many wedding photographs in the 1940s, including this one at the Kelly wedding.
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://www.nlc.state.ne.us/nebraskamemories/ for more information, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
What’s Sally Reading?
Free Book Friday!
Doesn’t that sound great? Visit here to find out what teen book will be given away this coming Friday, and enter to possibly win. There is also this site which will direct you to the Teens page, Fiction (for adults), Romance, and/or Indie books. One or another of the categories may be closed for a while, but will reopen when books are available. It’s a quick, easy, and fun way to find out about some new titles.
I recently read Frankie Works the Night Shift by Lisa Westburg Peters. Frankie, a cat wearing an apron, “works” in a hardware store. The simple text and clever illustrations in this counting book reveal all of Frankie’s duties (he calls three meetings – with neighborhood cats and dogs). But when a mouse is on the scene, Frankie really gets to work. Kids will love the mess left behind, and the fact that Frankie “doesn’t do much of anything during the day.” Photos of real animals, tools, and furniture blend with drawings to give us a fun look at Frankie’s night. This picture book will work well (if you are planning ahead) for the 2012 Summer Reading Program about nighttime: Dream Big – Read!
(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 to Nebraska school and public libraries.)
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NCompass Live: Wanna get hAPPy? Using the iPad in Schools and Libraries – Recorded Online Session
iPads, iPods, and tablets are the most popular devices around today. There is a wealth of educational and literary apps available for these devices. Sara Churchill, Library Media Specialist at Blair Community Schools, will focus primarily on apps for the iOS and how they can be used in schools and libraries.
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Posted in Technology
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Nebraska Learns 2.0: A New 23 Things…for Your Professional Development
The ongoing Nebraska Learns 2.0 program is now 2 years old! Yup, our very first Thing was in May 2009. Every month since then, we’ve offered you a new resource to learn about. But this isn’t the Nebraska Library Commission’s first foray into a 23 Things program. We debuted our first Nebraska Learns 2.0 program in October 2008. That original program ran for 16 weeks, through the end of January 2009.
Why are we giving you this 23 Things in Nebraska history lesson?
Many library staff have participated in both our original, 16 week program and in our ongoing program. But, we’ve heard from some of you that you’d like to do another 16 week learning program. Well, you’re in luck! We’ve discovered a new 23 Things program that we think would be very useful, engaging, and fun. It’s called 23 Things for Professional Development.
From its own website, “CPD23 is a free online programme open to information professionals at all stages of their career, in all types of roles, and anywhere across the world. Inspired by the 23 Things programmes for social media, this new programme will consist of a mixture of social media ‘Things’ and ‘Things’ to do with professional development. The programme starts on 20 June and will run until early October 2011.”
Sounds great, doesn’t it? We thought so, too. So, we have decided to change things up here at Nebraska Learns 2.0. For the next 5 months, we’re going back to our roots. Instead of 5 new Things from June through October, Nebraska Learns 2.0 is going to follow along with 23 Things for Professional Development.
You will have the opportunity to learn 23 new Things to help you with your professional development. And we at Nebraska Learns 2.0 will be here to assist you in participating in this new, 16 week 23 Things program.
But wait…there’s more! Nebraska library staff who complete all 23 Things for Professional Development by October 14 will earn 15 CE Credits.
You will find all of the details about this new learning opportunity on the Nebraska Learns 2.0 website.
We invite all Nebraska librarians, library staff, library friends, library board members and school media specialists to join us on this new international learning adventure. Please share this announcement with your colleagues, your director, your staff…with anyone who you think might be interested in working on their professional development.
