Search the Blog
Categories
- Books & Reading
- Broadband Buzz
- Census
- Education & Training
- General
- Grants
- Information Resources
- Library Management
- Nebraska Center for the Book
- Nebraska Libraries on the Web
- Nebraska Memories
- Now hiring @ your library
- Preservation
- Pretty Sweet Tech
- Programming
- Public Library Boards of Trustees
- Public Relations
- Talking Book & Braille Service (TBBS)
- Technology
- Uncategorized
- What's Up Doc / Govdocs
- Youth Services
Archives
Subscribe
Category Archives: Public Relations
NCompass Live: Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Branding Your School w/ Twitter
Join us for next week’s NCompass Live: “Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Branding Your School w/ Twitter”, on Wednesday, July 30, 10:00-11:00 am Central Time.
Make the power of social media work for your district to tell your story, celebrate your students, and create transparency for stakeholders, as well as create professional development resources for staff and learning networks. Presenter: Cynthia Stogdill: School Librarian at Bellfield/Milliken Park Elementary at Fremont (NE) Public Schools. Tech Nerd, Cat Lover, and Massive Reader. Passionate about teaching research and authentic learning.
In this monthly feature of NCompass Live, the NLC’s Technology Innovation Librarian, Michael Sauers, will discuss the tech news of the month and share new and exciting tech for your library. There will also be plenty of time in each episode for you to ask your tech questions. So, bring your questions with you, or send them in ahead of time, and Michael will have your answers.
Upcoming NCompass Live events:
- August 6 – #SVYALit Project: Using Young Adult Literature to Talk with Teens About Sexual Violence and Consent
- August 13 – Harlequin Take Me Away: the NLC Booktalks Romance
- August 20 – What You Need to Know to Apply for a Youth Grant
- August 27 – Tech Talk with Michael Sauers
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.
NCompass Live: Opportunity – Collaboration – Engagement: UNL Extension’s Community Vitality Initiative
Join us for next week’s NCompass Live: “Opportunity – Collaboration – Engagement: UNL Extension’s Community Vitality Initiative”, on Wednesday, July 23, 10:00-11:00 am Central Time.
The future is before us! The opportunity exists for innovative collaborations to help Nebraska communities expand their capacity to be vibrant, prosperous places where people want to live and raise their families. A new University initiative, Community Vitality Initiative (CVI), brings partners together throughout the state. CVI engages organizations and communities in three areas:
•Creating 21st Century Communities
•Developing and/or Growing Business
•Engaging Youth and Young Adult
The presentation will provide an opportunity to discuss local and statewide collaboration, engagement and involvement!
The University of Nebraska is a land grant institution committed to serving Nebraskans through research, education and engagement (or Extension).
Presenters: Connie Hancock, Connie Reimers-Hild, and Kim Bearnes; UNL Extension
Upcoming NCompass Live events:
- July 30 – Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Branding Your School w/ Twitter
- August 6 – #SVYALit Project: Using Young Adult Literature to Talk with Teens About Sexual Violence and Consent
- August 13 – Harlequin Take Me Away: the NLC Booktalks Romance
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.
Book Clubs and Government Improvement
When you think of a book club, does your mind go to a circle of friends, great food and beverages, and a rousing discussion of the best new fiction? Mine did. Until I read a recent article in Governing magazine entitled, “Can a Book Club Improve Government?” A group of Baltimore city employees started spending their lunch breaks at book club meetings and the lessons they are learning are being applied to the challenges the city faces. Government book clubs are open to all employees and are attended by staff at all levels, from agency heads to mid-level managers, to front-line employees. And talking about the ideas in books is giving employees strategies that can be implemented at every level.
Some successful titles for government-based book clubs include:
- If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government, a collection of success stories by William D. Eggers and John O’Leary
- Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government, by Gavin Newsom, with Lisa Dickey, provides ideas for community digital communication and engagement
- The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization, a guidebook for designing the workplace to encourage creativity and teamwork by Tom Kelley and Jonathan Littman
See http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-good-government-book-club.html for a complete list of books and more about the Baltimore city government book club. How about it, Nebraska librarians: would you like to host a book club for your city employees?
Benches Encourage Reading
Fifty “book benches” are illustrating the joys of reading on the streets of London this summer. Each book-shaped bench is covered with a colorful picture. The benches are part of the National Literacy Trust’s Books about Town campaign to celebrate books and reading. Benches feature Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Mary Poppins, the works of Dr Seuss, and many others. This fall, the benches will be auctioned off to raise funds for the NLT. It’s an impractical wish, but wouldn’t it be great to have one of them?
Nebraska Libraries Urged to Participate in September: Library Card Sign-up Month
This September, Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, the Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four, will encourage children to get the most important school supply of all: a library card.
As the Honorary Chair of Library Card Sign-up Month, Lee has donated his image to a print and digital public service announcement (PSA). ALA will place the PSA in magazines and on websites to remind parents and educators that a library card is a key tool in achieving academic success.
Lee’s latest creation is Zodiac, an action-packed illustrated novel written by Lee and Stuart Moore and illustrated by Andie Tong. In the first story, we follow Steven Lee, a young Chinese-American teen who is drawn into a mysterious conspiracy surrounding 12 mystical pools of energy and a power-hungry secret organization.
Librarians looking to promote Library Card Sign-up Month locally can download the print and digital PSAs featuring Lee at www.ala.org/librarycardsignup. Free customization is available.
In addition to the PSA, sample media tools are now available to remind the public of all the resources available for free with a library card. Tools include a sample press release, op-ed, proclamation and PSA scripts.
To download free promotional materials, visit www.ala.org/librarycardsignup.
Library Card Sign-up Month is a time when libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. Thousands of public and school libraries join together each fall in a national effort to ensure every child signs up for their own library card.
The Campaign for America’s is Libraries is the ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible in part by ALA’s Library Champions.
Please comment below to share your plans for participation in Library Card Sign-up Month.
Posted in Books & Reading, General, Programming, Public Relations
Leave a comment
Attend Free Webinar, Declaration for the Right to Libraries, on June 9
Nebraska library staff and supporters are invited to a webinar featuring a panel including Nebraska’s Mary Reiman, director of Library Media Services at Lincoln Public Schools. Learn more about how the Declaration for the Right to Libraries initiative has flourished as a successful public awareness, advocacy and community engagement tool since its launch last year. This final, free webinar in ALA President Barbara Stripling’s Libraries Change Lives series will feature case studies of how this initiative is being used to create positive change in libraries. The webinar takes place from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. CT on Monday, June 9, 2014.
Libraries of all types from coast to coast have hosted Declaration signings, and speakers for this session will discuss their approach and share examples of how they used the Declaration as a means to engage their communities in discussions about their needs, as well as the value of the library. Presenters include Hadi Dudley, library director of the Bentonville Public Library (Ark.), Jeff Simpson of Troy University and the Alabama Library Association, Mary Reiman, director of Library Media Services at Lincoln Public Schools (Neb.) and Lisa Hoenig, library director of the Redford Township District Library (Mich.). ALA President Barbara Stripling will moderate the webinar and discuss her vision for the Declaration during her presidential year and beyond.
Registration is mandatory and limited to the first 100 participants who arrive in the virtual room. Visit the Adobe Connect event page to sign up today.
This webinar is presented by the ALA Office for Library Advocacy and co-sponsored by Stripling’s Presidential Advisory Committee. For more information about this series or for questions about registration, please contact the ALA Office for Library Advocacy at advocacy@ala.org.
These webinars will be archived and accessible to ALA members, and are part of Stripling’s Libraries Change Lives 2013- 2014 Webinar Series.
These informative, timely sessions are intended to showcase best practices, successes, and to transfer knowledge among ALA members.
Posted in Education & Training, General, Public Relations
Leave a comment
NCompass Live: Doing Smart ‘Social’ Media
Join us for next week’s NCompass Live: “Doing Smart ‘Social’ Media”, on Wednesday, May 21, 10:00-11:00 am Central Time.
Have a Twitter/Google Plus/Facebook account and don’t know what to do with them? Do you want to effectively incorporate social media into your library’s online presence? This hour will cover the how and why of your library’s media presence and how to effectively incorporate newer promotion outlets into your library’s marketing plan. Also tips on how to make your library stand out via these new media outlets.
Maurice Coleman, host of T is for Training, member of the ALA Learning Round Table and 2010 Library Journal Mover and Shaker will show you practical tips and tricks of managing and designing your new media presence.
Upcoming NCompass Live events:
- May 28 – Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Introducing GAFE (Google Apps for Education) to Elementary Students
- June 18 – EDGE: Connecting Technology and Community
- July 9 – Is It Copyrighted? Can I Use It?
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.
Nebraska Librarians Invited to Celebrate Children’s Book Week May 12-18
Children’s Book Week is the annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading. Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes — wherever young readers and books connect! May 12-18, 2014 is the 95th anniversary of this nationwide celebration. For more information, see http://www.bookweekonline.com/about. Order free posters at http://www.bookweekonline.com/poster.
Join Us Online April 30 for Smart Investing: Reference Strategies and Resources
Learn how librarians can take advantage of “Smart Investing: Reference Strategies and Resources,” a self-paced course to promote confidence and competence in responding to library customers’ questions on personal finance and investments. The April 30 edition of NCompass Live: Smart Investing: Reference Strategies and Resources will give you a guided tour to the resources that can help you direct your library customers to the best in money management resources.
This online training course was originally developed for Santa Clara County Library District (SCCLD) reference staff. It is available to all Nebraska librarians who would like to improve their reference strategies and knowledge of financial literacy concepts and resources.
This online curriculum is being offered as part of the Nebraska Library Commission and Northeast Library System’s “Smart Investing @ your library® Builds Nebraska Communities” project funded by a $100,000 FINRA Investor Education Foundation grant. Although the 22 public libraries participating in that project will benefit by receiving Financial Literacy Resource Kits and customer financial literacy training in their libraries later this year, all of Nebraska’s libraries are welcome to participate in the online librarian training.
This program is made possible by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation through Smart investing@your library®, a partnership with the American Library Association. The project is coordinated in Nebraska by the Nebraska Library Commission.
Nebraska Libraries Urged to Apply for Citizens Save Libraries Grant by May 5
Applications for cycle two of the Citizens-Save-Libraries grants from United for Libraries, made possible by a grant from the Neal-Schuman Foundation, are due May 5.
The 10 libraries that are selected will receive two days of onsite consultation by advocacy experts, who will help friends of the library groups, library directors and trustees develop individual blueprints for advocacy campaigns to restore, increase or save threatened library budgets.
Among the criteria to apply is a willingness to “pay it forward” by sharing what is learned with others in their states through presentations at local conferences, articles written for the state library association journal and a willingness to answer questions and support other advocacy campaigns via digital media and Skype. The first 10 libraries were selected in 2013.
As part of the grant, a Citizens-Save-Libraries Power Guide that lays out a step-by-step blueprint for libraries to follow in generating advocacy campaigns is available to all libraries at no cost. The Power Guide is available at www.ala.org/united/powerguide.
To apply for the grants, visit www.ala.org/united/grants_awards/neal-schuman.
The Neal-Schuman Foundation, established in 2000 by Neal-Schuman Publishers‘ founders Patricia Glass Schuman and John Vincent Neal, strives to aid and promote charitable research and education for the improvement of libraries. An active American Library Association member and past president (1991-92), Schuman founded the Library Advocacy Now program and co-founded the Library Champions program.
United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the American Library Association that supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries. United for Libraries brings together library Trustees, advocates, friends, and foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. For more information or to join United for Libraries, visit the United for Libraries website or contact Jillian Kalonick at (312) 280-2161 or jkalonick@ala.org.
Posted in General, Library Management, Public Relations
Leave a comment
You can now follow us on Google+ and Tumblr
If you’re a user of either Google+ or Tumblr, you can now follow the commission on those services. As a reminder, you can check out all of the Social services where you can find us on our Social Networking Links page.
Small Business Administration Grants Available
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced today that it will award grants to state and local economic development agencies, business development centers, colleges and universities to support programs for innovative, technology-driven small businesses under SBA’s Federal and State Technology (FAST) partnership program. Applications for the grants are open now through April 11.
The FAST Program is designed to stimulate economic development among small, high technology businesses through federally-funded innovation and research and development programs like the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR). The project and budget periods are for a 12-month period.
FAST may provide up to $100,000 per award to pay for outreach and technical assistance to science and technology-driven small businesses. The program places particular emphasis on helping socially and economically disadvantaged firms compete in the SBA’s SBIR and STTR programs.
FAST funding awardees must demonstrate in their proposals how they will help support areas such as:
- small business research and development assistance,
- technology transfer from universities to small businesses,
- technological diffusion of innovation benefiting small businesses,
- proposal development and mentoring for small businesses applying for SBIR grants; and,
- commercializing technology developed through SBIR grants.
Proposals will be considered from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Only one proposal per state may be submitted. Proposals must be submitted to http://www.grants.gov by 11:59 p.m on April 11.
Proposals will be evaluated by a panel of SBIR program managers. The SBA, the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation will jointly review the panel’s recommendations and make awards based on proposal merit. The grant requires varying levels of matching funds from each participating state and territory.
Companies supported by the SBIR and STTR programs often generate some of the most important breakthroughs each year in the U.S. For example, about 25 percent of R&D Magazine’s Top 100 Innovations come from SBIR-funded small businesses.
For more information about the SBIR and STTR programs, visit SBA’s website at: http://www.sba.gov/about-sba-services/7050.
Nebraska Libraries: What are you doing for National Library Week, April 13-19
The Campaign for America’s Libraries would like to hear about any plans your library is making for National Library Week 2014 around the theme Lives change @ your library. Nebraska libraries are asked to email their National Library Week plans to atyourlibrary@ala.org to be shared on the National Library Week tools page. In addition to these tools, a downloadable PSA featuring author and intellectual freedom advocate Judy Blume as the Honorary Chair of National Library Week is also available. Instructions on how to request a customized PSA are also available on the website. See this press release for details. Please be sure to share any ideas about ways to enhance this year’s collaborative social media efforts.
Posted in Books & Reading, General, Programming, Public Relations
Leave a comment
Nebraska Libraries to Celebrate National Library Week April 13-19, 2014
Judy Blume has been named the 2014 Honorary Chair of National Library Week (April 13-19, 2014). This year, National Library Week will be celebrated with the theme Lives change @ your library. As Honorary Chair, Blume will appear in print public service announcements (PSAs) promoting National Library Week. The PSAs, developed by the American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries, will be placed in magazines and online throughout the spring. ALA will also offer free customization of the PSAs for libraries. Visit ala.org/NLW to learn more.
Adults as well as children will recognize such Judy Blume titles as: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret; Blubber; Just as Long as We’re Together; and the five book series about the irrepressible Fudge. She has also written three novels for adults, Summer Sisters, Smart Women and Wifey, all of them New York Times best-sellers. More than 80 million copies of her books have been sold, and her work has been translated into thirty-one languages.
Blume is a longtime advocate of intellectual freedom. Finding herself at the center of an organized book banning campaign in the 1980’s she began to reach out to other writers, as well as teachers and librarians, who were under fire. Since then, she has worked tirelessly with the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom to protect the freedom to read. She is the editor of “Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers,” and is currently writing a novel.
Additional promotional materials include a sample op-ed, proclamation, press release and scripts for use in radio ads. All incorporate the 2014 National Library Week theme, Lives change @ your library. Tools are available at www.ala.org/nlw. ALA Graphics products supporting National Library Week are also available and can be purchased through the ALA Store.
National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use.
The American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries (www.ala.org/@yourlibrary) is a public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – participate. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions.
Posted in General, Programming, Public Relations
Leave a comment
Data Doodles: Library Advocacy Edition
Every year the Library Commission prepares for the Nebraska Library Association Advocacy Day by producing an infographic that shows, through the use of statistics, the value of public libraries in the state and how much they are used. You can download a copy of this year’s brochure by clicking on the graphic above.
Here are a few notable statistics from the brochure: Nebraskans used their public libraries 8,656,034 times in 2011-2012; the number of public access computers available at libraries increased by 15.5% last year; 79.5% of all Nebraska residents can download free e-books from their public library. Here’s another interesting fact I discovered recently. This January the ever popular Henry Doorly Zoo announced that their attendance for 2013 topped 1.6 million. About a week later, the Omaha Public Library issued a press release noting that the number of visits they received last year totaled almost 2.4 million.
Posted in General, Public Relations
Leave a comment
Start Planning for April: School Library Month
Jeff Kinney, New York Times bestselling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, has been named the national spokesperson for the 2014 observance of School Library Month. Celebrated in April and sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), School Library Month honors the essential role that strong school library programs play in a student’s educational career.
“I don’t know where I’d be without my school library,” said Kinney. “Our librarians were passionate about putting great books in the hands of kids, and making us into lifelong readers. School libraries introduce kids to whole new worlds and new perspectives and are so important in broadening kids’ minds. It’s crucial that we support our school libraries, especially in times of tightening budgets. I’m so grateful for the well-stocked libraries and knowledgeable, dedicated school librarians that were a part of my childhood.”
Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid is the story of middle-school underdog Greg Heffley who shares his life in a journal filled with cartoons and text. The first book in the series was released in April 2007 and was an instant bestseller, capturing the attention of reluctant readers, their parents and librarians everywhere. There are now eight books in the series, the most recent, “Hard Luck”, released on Nov. 5, 2013. It was the No. 1 bestselling book of 2013, adult or children’s.
“In creating such widely appealing characters, Jeff has enriched the lives of both students and school librarians,” said Susan Hess, School Library Month committee chair. “As such a popular author and illustrator, AASL is extremely fortunate to have Jeff Kinney as the School Library Month 2014 spokesperson.”
More information on the 2014 School Library Month celebration can be found on the AASL website at www.ala.org/aasl/slm.
The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has been a fixture on the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. The series has remained consistently on the New York Times lists since the publication of the first book. The books have been sold in more than 44 territories in 42 languages. Published by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, Kinney’s work has been widely praised for its ability to turn reluctant readers on to books. Jeff Kinney was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people in the world. Three movies based on the book series have grossed more than $250 million internationally. The book series won Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and Jeff Kinney won a Children’s Choice Book Award in 2012 and 2013. Books in the series have won numerous awards voted on by students and teachers around the globe. The Wimpy Kid Island (Wimpy Wonderland) on poptropica.com, a virtual world for kids, remains one of the most visited on the site.
Nebraska Libraries Invited to Apply for Grant
Nebraska Public libraries are invited to apply by March 6 to receive $8,000 Libraries Transforming Communities grant and 18 months of professional development in community engagement. The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office is accepting applications for the Libraries Transforming Communities Public Innovators Cohort, an 18-month, team-based professional development opportunity for public libraries, developed by ALA and the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation.
The Libraries Transforming Communities project, made possible through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, addresses a critical need of the field by developing and distributing new tools, resources and support for librarians to engage with their communities in new ways; strengthens librarians as community leaders and change agents, and strengthens ALA’s capacity as a lead library support entity.
In April, up to 50 individuals representing teams from 10 public libraries nationally will be selected to participate in the Public Innovators Cohort. Selected libraries will receive:
• An $8,000 grant to support Cohort expenses.
• An intensive 18-month Public Innovators Cohort experience, including training and team coaching to develop and implement a community engagement plan.
• Cohort training at the intensive three-day Public Innovators Lab, May 20-22, 2014.
• Virtual and in-person “innovation space” meetings.
• Access to six in-depth distance learning session.
• Monthly coaching and peer dialogue calls with a Harwood Institute coach and cohort peers to support implementation work.
• Access to publicity and marketing resources to support local-level communications.
The Public Innovators Cohort is grounded in the Harwood Institute‘s approach of “turning outward,” which emphasizes shifting the institutional and professional orientation of libraries and librarians from internal to external. Participants will develop and implement a plan for community engagement and learn how to:
• Identify community issues rooted in people’s shared aspirations;
• Strategically share this knowledge with your community to build public will for action;
• Develop strategies that align with local context;
• Create community conditions that enable change;
• Identify the right community partners to work with; and
• Develop networks for innovation and learning.
Complete guidelines and application instructions can be found at: ala.org/LTC. A conference call for interested applicants will be held at 1:00 p.m. central time on February 12, 2014.
For more information contact:
Mary Davis Fournier
Deputy Director, ALA Public Programs Office
312-280-5056, mfournier@ala.org
Registration now open for Big Talk From Small Libraries 2014
Registration for the 2014 Big Talk From Small Libraries online conference is now open! Details can be found on the registration page.
The schedule of presentations has not yet been set. We’re in the process of contacting presenters now, and we’ll have a schedule available for you soon.
More info about the online conference can be found on the event website.
Nebraska Learns 2.0: 2013’s Best Tech Tools and United Breaks Guitars
The Nebraska Learns 2.0 Thing for January is The Best Tech Tools of 2013.
For this month’s Thing, we’d like you to tell us what you think was the Best Tech Tool or Service of 2013. The ‘experts’ have had their say, now it’s your turn.
Another facet of Nebraska Learns 2.0 is BookThing. Each month we pick a single title that we feel has relevance to librarianship and/or information theory. Some of the titles will be very obviously related, while others may not seem so on the surface but there is a connection. Your assignment will be to read the book and create a blog post answering some questions about the title.
The BookThing for January is United Breaks Guitars by Dave Carroll.
Nebraska Learns 2.0 is the Nebraska Library Commission’s ongoing online learning 
program. It is a self-discovery program which encourages participants to take control of their own learning and to utilize their lifelong learning skills through exploration and PLAY.
Each month, we offer you an opportunity to learn a new Thing (or lesson). You have all month to complete that Thing and receive one CE credit. You may choose which Things to do based on personal interest and time availability If the Thing of the month doesn’t interest you or if you are particularly busy that month, you can skip it.
If you are new to Nebraska Learns 2.0, your first assignment is to sign up to participate. This program is open to ALL Nebraska librarians, library staff, library friends, library board members and school media specialists.
We hope you’ll join your library colleagues in the fun as you learn about new and exciting technologies!
Nebraska Libraries Invited to Learn More about Library-led Community Engagement
The American Library Association calls its “The Promise of Libraries Transforming Communities” program a groundbreaking libraries-as-change-agents initiative. ALA has partnered with the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide librarians with the tools and training they need to lead community engagement and innovation. The two-year project includes in-person training and coaching of librarians and ALA staff and member leaders to support the transformation of library services and the expanding role of libraries as community conveners. ALA will also offer conference-based and distance-learning opportunities.
Libraries interested in the in-person training and coaching to advance library-led community engagement will be recruited through an open application process that will be announced in January 2014. Please take a look at the details at http://www.ala.org/transforminglibraries/libraries-transforming-communities and comment below about whether you would be interested in getting involved in this program.
