Author Archives: Laura Johnson

Registration for the required Basic Skills course, Communication, will open Thursday, August 18th on the Nebraska Library Commission Calendar at: http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/calendar/calendar.asp?Month2Show=9/1/2011.  The class will be held September 19 – 30. 

Communications has been named the most important skill for library directors.  In this class, we will cover general communications skills as well as some specialized forms of communications such as community relations, advocacy and marketing.

Other Basic Skills classes coming up in 2011 are:  Library Services to Children and Youth, Reference, Intellectual Freedom and the Core Values of Librarianship, and Collection Management.  Registration has filled up for Library Services to Children and Youth.  Registrations for the other classes will be announced.  The complete 2011 schedule is available at:  http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/CE/BasicSkills/NBScalendar.aspx.

The 2012 schedule of Basic Skills courses will be announced at the NLA/NEMA Annual Conference.

The Basic Skills: Leadership class starts August 1 and runs until August 12.  You can register on the NEW NLC Calendar until July 26.  Leadership is one of the elective courses to fulfill Basic Skills requirements. 

There’s still time to register for Basic Skills: Library Governance.  That class starts July 11 and runs until July 22.  Registration will be available through next Wednesday, July 6.

Twenty-six programs are named on this month’s Free Webinars list–and that doesn’t even count the late additions that are sure to happen!
In addition to all those new titles, we’re featuring the WebJunction Archive this month–98 past programs that have been recorded and are available at your convenience.
This month’s new titles–all free–include:

• Screenagers and the Digital Window: Teaching, Learning, and Reading with the Digital Screen
• Grantseeking Basics
• Nebraska Online Legal Self-Help Center
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics for Libraries
• Tackling Tough Topics in Books for Youth
• Introduction to Fundraising Planning
• Introduction to Finding Funders
• Teen Literature Update 2011
• Superbooks: How Graphic Novels Can Save Your Library
• Selections to Consider for Your Book Club
• Inside Out: A sneak peek at Gale World Scholar from the advisors who helped guide it
• Creating a Web Presence for Every Library
• Guide to Online Grantseeker Resources
• Advocacy in Academic Libraries: Conversation Series
• Census 2010: Your Table Is Waiting! Accessing and Using the Data
• Streaming Video in the Library: Trends and Best Practices-One Year Later
• Tech Talk with Michael Sauers
• Working With Your Workforce Center
• OPAC on EBSCOhost: Library Resources Exposed!
• E-Government Questions: helping users navigate online government resources without practicing law!
• The Reference Interview: Time for a Tune-up
• The Entrepreneurial Librarian – Running the business of your library
• Beyond Bestsellers: High-Demand Mysteries in Libraries
• Introducing Alma: Ex Libris’s Cloud-based Next-generation Resource Management
• The Power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, with Peggy Barber
• Serving Two Masters: Physical and Virtual Services in the Academic Library

Twenty-one (and there are sure to be a few additions to the list) great new webinars are available for you to view in March! Here’s a list of the titles:

3/1/2011

Diderot Goes Digital: Why Authority, Comprehensibility, and Utility in Reference Sources Still Matter

Library Evaluation for Grant Writers and Others

3/2/2011

One World, Many Stories: Summer Reading Program 2011

Project Management and Measuring Success for Digital Projects

3/4/2011

More About Google Sites

3/8/2011

George and Joan on Conflict Resolution Techniques

3/9/2011

Now That Talking Books Are Digital: Talking Book Readers Describe a New Way of Reading

3/10/2011

Reader-friendly Library Design

Essential Troubleshooting Tips for Windows 7

You Are Here! Maps for Business

Hope is Not a Strategy: Raising Money in a Challenging Economy

3/11/2011

More About LinkedIn Sites

3/15/2011

E-rate: Form 471 and Beyond!

3/16/2011

Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Live from Computers in Libraries!

PR: Telling Your Library’s Story with a Smile

3/17/2011

Social Media, Libraries, and the Law

Proposal Writing Basics

Ten Tips for Web Searching

3/23/2011

Online Patron Training: A Project Review

Spotlight! On National Library of Medicine Resources

3/29/2011

Developing Online Patron Tutorials

Check out the programs at Free Webinars on the Nebraska Library Commission Website. And when you’ve viewed a Webinar, be sure to let us know with the Online C.E. Activity Report so we can record the C.E. credits you’ve earned.

See the list of Free Webinars available in February! Titles include:

• Collections for Your Community – Tools? Cake Pans? Toys?
• E-rate for Beginners
• Inside Google eBooks: The Platform, Partners, and Titles
• Is It Time to Upgrade Your Phone System?
• Spring Nonfiction Book Buzz
• Tech Tools With Tine: 1 Hour of Google Documents
• YA Alert: New Teen Titles for 2011
• Teen Book Buzz Spring 2011
• Accessing Courts through E-Government
• Ten Tips to Effectively Serve the Genealogy Searcher with Willie Braudaway
• Getting Down to Business with Social Media Marketing
• How to be a Great Webinar Moderator
• Tech Tools With Tine: 1 Hour of Google Presentation
• Library Reading Incentive Programs for Summer and Beyond
• New and Tantalizing Spring Titles from Workman
• ADA Update: Revised Regulations for Disability Accommodations for the Public
• Understand Your Climate Control System
• New Basic Skills
• Self-Service in Libraries: Lessons from the Retail World
• Juggling Balls and Other High Wire Acts: How a Wellcrafted Collections Management
• Policy Can be the Safety Net that Saves Your Collections
• Tech Tools With Tine: 1 Hour of Google Spreadsheet
• Introduction to Digital Storytelling Communities: How to Engage the Public
• Spring 2011 Nonfiction Announcements
• 2010 Access to Learning Award: Veria Central Public Library, Greece
• Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Introducing the First Google Laptop
• Teens, Tweens, and Social Networking.

And remember that your Season Ticket to the Trustee Academy is good until July 1.

The Nebraska Library Commission is pleased to announce that they have agreed to fund grants totalling $16,858.00 for projects involving Continuing Education and Training. The recipients are:

• Eastern & Southeast Library Systems, Spring Colloquium 2010, $2,475.
• John A. Stahl Library, Attending MPLA Conference 2011, $1,000.
• La Vista Public Library, Attend Mountain Plains Library Association Conference 2011, $1,217.
• Lincoln City Libraries, InService Day Speaker: Word-of-Mouth Marketing, $2,368.
• Lincoln City Libraries, Attend National Center for Family Literacy Conference, $920.
• Meridian, Northeast, Panhandle, and Republican Valley Library Systems, Branding Your Library, $3,465.
• Nebraska Regional Library Systems, Michael Sullivan: Connecting Boys with Books & Breaking All the Rules, $2,000.
• Nebraska Regional Library Systems, Shortcuts to Greatness Or 10 Things that Great Libraries Know and Maybe You don’t, $2,650.
• Sump Memorial Library, Consumer Digital Media Education in the Library, $763.

To see who has received grants previously from the Nebraska Library Commission, see our Grant Recipients Database.

The Basic Skills program has started off with a bang in 2011. The first course of the year, Customer Service, just finished with 48 successful participants. The next course, Readers Advisory, will start next Monday, January 31. Meanwhile, registration for Management & Supervision is open now. That class will be held February 14 -25. And registration for Library Finance starts February 3. Class will start March 7.
For a complete schedule of all the Basic Skills classes and their registration dates, see the Schedule of 2011 Basic Skills classes. If you have any questions about the classes, contact Laura Johnson, C.E. coordinator.

We’ve had some additions to the list of Free Webinars for this month that sound like mighty good programs. Check out “What’s Next for Your Career? 7 Steps To Get You Moving in the Right Direction” from the ALA JobLIST Placement Center on 1/11; “How to Tell Your Digital Story” from TechSoup on 1/13; “Everyone is a Publisher: Talking Content with Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman” from Radian6 on 1/14; the Midwinter Tech Wrap Up from ALA on 1/19; or “Choosing Technology: How We Decide What Technologies Work Best in Our Libraries” from Georgia Public Library Service also on 1/19. Tech Soup is offering “Tools for Digital Storytelling” on 1/20 and Library Journal and EBSCO are presenting “Libraries Are Essential: Providing Core Services for Readers” on 1/27.

Happy New Year!
There are some great free Webinars coming up in January. They’re listed on our Free Webinars page. Titles of programs include:

• Emergency Preparedness for Public Libraries
• Wikipedia in the Classroom
• Social Networking to Your Advantage
• Internships: A Good Fit for Your Library?
• Tech Tools With Tine: One Hour of Facebook
• Introduction to Digital Storytelling: Everyone Has a Story to Tell
• Best Small Library in America 2010
• Tech Tools With Tine: One Hour of Netvibes
• Become a PowerPoint 2010 Rock Star
• Pennies for Peace
• Battle Bullying with Books
• Reader-Friendly Library Design
• Get Your Geek On: Improve Local Funding Outlook through Community Advocacy
• Tech Talk with Michael Sauers
• Measuring the ROI of Online Learning
• Understanding Unemployment Insurance and Its Impact on Your Library Customers

Remember that there may be additions to the list later, so check back occasionally.