Author Archives: Sam Shaw

It’s crunch time for the annual IMLS public library survey (submitted via Bibliostat). The survey deadline is February 17, 2017. Completion of the survey is required for your library to receive state aid if you are accredited. If you aren’t accredited, you still have an incentive to complete the survey ($200), called Dollar$ for Data.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and thank you in advance for your participation.

Every five years the Nebraska Library Commission is required to conduct an evaluation of its implementation of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) “Grants to States” program. The LSTA Grants to States Program is a federal program that provides funding to each state based on a population‐driven formula. Decisions regarding how these funds are spent are made at the state level; however, expenditures must be consistent with the purposes and priorities that are established nationally.

As part of our evaluation, if you have not done so already, we are asking those we serve to answer a short survey designed to gather information about the impact that our LSTA‐funded programs and services have had on individuals and libraries in Nebraska. This is your opportunity to give us some feedback about how the Library Commission’s activities have affected your ability to provide quality library service. Please help us by answering the survey by February 10, 2017. Here is the link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BPT6H2Q

Thank you for your involvement in this important evaluation!

The annual IMLS public library survey (submitted via Bibliostat) is now available. The survey deadline is February 17, 2017. Completion of the survey is required for your library to receive state aid if you are accredited. If you aren’t accredited, you still have an incentive to complete the survey ($200), called Dollar$ for Data.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions throughout the process. You can always start the survey, save your submissions, and then resume at a later date. It doesn’t have to all be done at once. Tip: It’s always a good idea to click on the red “save” button in Bibliostat before clicking “next” to the next screen. Thank you in advance for your participation.

Shaka. Thanks again to all of you who submitted your public library survey via Bibliostat, and to those unaccredited libraries who submitted the survey on paper, answering the federally required questions. Our data has been submitted to IMLS, and as soon as some cleanup occurs, the full data set will be available on our website. Our response rate jumped a bit this year, up to 89%. For those of you who might be new to the survey, now would be the time to start collecting your statistics for next year’s reporting cycle, which begins mid-November. If you are a new director, take a look at our guide for new directors. If you are one of those unaccredited libraries who responded to the survey on paper, if those statistics are submitted online next cycle, you will be eligible for a Dollar$ for Data grant payment.

Shaka. The 2016 state aid calculations are now complete. State aid letters have been mailed and payments are in process. In the meantime, if you want to know more information about state aid (in general) go to that part of the NLC website. Here is a list of the state aid distributions for 2016, and here is a link to a press release you can customize and use for your particular library.

For those libraries that aren’t accredited, now may be the time to consider the accreditation process, as you would then be eligible for state aid next year. You also need to submit your public library survey online with Bibliostat. The accreditation process starts later this summer, and the next public library survey collection cycle begins in November.

Thanks to all of you for submitting your annual public library surveys. Our data collection is now closed, and we have upped our response rates to almost 90%. Now begins the process of submitting the data to IMLS. In the meantime, in case you missed it, check out our latest data summary handout, using the most current 2014 data. Special thanks goes out to Tessa Terry here at NLC, for helping the Dude with these illustrations. Shaka.

State aid time is just around the corner. But first, let’s talk about this little thing called maintenance of effort (a/k/a MOE). Some of you are aware of this, as you recently received letters explaining it. If you didn’t receive a letter, then you don’t have to worry about it. But for future reference, read on. The MOE requirement applies to libraries who will be receiving state aid, which means that they are accredited and they have submitted an annual public library survey via Bibliostat online. The maintenance of effort requirement is that the “local income support for the library is at least equal to the lowest annual income from the three previous years.” In other words, we look at the local funding (as reported on your public library survey) for the three prior years (in this case 2011, 2012, and 2013) and compare that to the current data that we use for state aid calculations (in this case 2014 data). The most recently submitted public library survey covers the 2015 year, and that data will be used in next year’s calculations. If you did not receive a letter in the mail, then your library met the MOE requirements. For those libraries that didn’t meet the MOE requirement, it’s possible that their state aid will be reduced by the percentage proportionate to the decrease in local funding. Now today’s post is also a quick reminder for those that received MOE letters that the deadline to file a waiver is April 15, 2016. Some of you have already filed waivers or otherwise explained reporting errors, and that data has been adjusted. If the city clerk can verify that the library budget was reduced at the same percentage as that of the rest of the city budget, then that is grounds for a waiver. So, if you are filing a waiver, get it in soon – like by the end of the week. State aid letters indicating what your payment will be will be send out toward the end of April. Photo of the jacked up car awaiting maintenance by the William Masters lookalike is courtesy of Nebraska Memories. Shaka.

Are you aware that the Library Commission has a number of public library maps available on its website? In addition to a number of other maps, this page includes the basic public library maps (both by population and library system), a map of libraries and legislative districts, and the Pioneer Consortium participating libraries map. Now for today, the Dude asks that you check your library marker on these public library maps to make sure it displays accurate information. The markers have some of the generic information but also links to the library’s website and social media pages. If you have not updated that information via our supplemental survey, your information on the map may not be up to date. So today is a short little reminder to check those things and let the Dude know if you notice any errors, or log in to your supplemental survey and review the information there. Shaka.

Today’s post is a friendly reminder to complete your NLC supplemental survey. If you have not completed yours, log in to the supplemental survey and knock it out. It won’t take much time. The supplemental survey provides information used in online web pages, public library maps, and other directories. The survey asks questions about public library staff, board members, friends groups, hours, website URL’s, and library social media accounts. It is important to keep this information up to date. The survey can be completed at any time the library information changes, but reminders are sent around the time of the annual public library survey (that’d be now). The ID and password for the supplemental survey are the same as your Bibliostat ID and password. If you don’t remember yours, contact me and I will send it to you. Shaka.

Emotionally, watching Nurse Jackie gives you a taste of what actually living with or having some sort of relationship (e.g. romantic, ex-spouse, work) with an addict might feel like. Albeit the Nurse Jackie TV experience may not be quite as dramatic as living it in real life, certainly the TV Nurse Jackie gets a lot of the typical behaviors of an addict right. And, let’s face the truth, it ain’t pretty. Nurse Jackie, played splendidly by Edie Falco, is a NYC nurse in an ER trauma center. At first, we feel empathy for Jackie because she is a really good nurse. She cuts through red tape to make things happen, is responsive to her patients, saves lives, gets things done when they need to be done, and has a good bedside manner. Rather quickly, however, we discover the sketchy moral ground Jackie walks on, and while we still feel some degree of empathy when it comes to her work relationships (e.g. between Jackie and the ER patients), in the other areas of her life things start to slowly erode. Yet still, as these things diminish, the affinity the Dude felt for those other people in Jackie’s life increased. In addition to Jackie’s sketchy interpretation of the code of nursing ethics, she often makes questionable life choices when it comes to the other areas of her life. Jackie’s drug of choice is prescription medication (mostly painkillers).

Just like real life, there is much comedy surrounding the tragedy, and this is mostly due to a strong cast of supporting characters. Notably, these include nurse Zoey (Merritt Wever), pharmacist Eddie (Paul Schulze), best friend of Jackie Dr. O’Hara (Eve Best), Dr. Cooper (Peter Facinelli), hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus (Anna Deavere Smith), and nurse colleague Thor (Stephen Wallem). The comedy is not always under the blanket of Jackie’s addiction, but rather the recurring oddball characters, strange ER situations, and typical daily life situations. And because this is Showtime, it probably lends itself to a bit more believability, as the normal network constraints are absent. Many times in the past, we’ve seen male lead characters unravel in front of us, often predictably so as they sink down a moral mudslide (e.g. Walter White, Don Draper, Dexter Morgan, Ray Donovan, Hank Moody, and Frank Underwood to name a few), but in rarer times do we see this in female leads. Arguably, Nancy Botwin (Weeds) and Carrie Mathison (Homeland), might fit the ticket, but that also might be a bit of a stretch. There is a parallel here (with the unraveling bit), and as Jackie wavers here and there she undoubtedly is headed down that same path.

According to FirstSearch and depending on the season, only 4 Nebraska public libraries have Nurse Jackie in their collection. If your library is looking for something that is half drama half comedy, Nurse Jackie would fit the bill. Thank you, Showtime, for permissions on the cover art. Shaka.