Tag Archives: Book Covers

#BookFaceFriday – “The Silence of the Library” by Miranda James

Hey, all you cats and kittens out there! Is your formerly silent library thinking about opening it’s doors again? The Nebraska Library Commission has resources available to make the process as purrfect as possible. Check out our Pandemic Resources page for recommendations and guidance from local and national organizations, as well as examples of policies and procedures being used by other Nebraska libraries.

If you’ve not yet told us that your library is reopening or modifying services for the pandemic, please fill out our Nebraska Library Services Form. The information you submit helps us keep our Nebraska Libraries Spreadsheet on closings, reopenings, and modifying services up to date in these rapidly changing times.

Keep an eye out next week for information on applying for CARES Act funding.

“The Silence of the Library” by Miranda James (Berkley, 2014) is a part of the Cat in the Stacks mystery series.

“Combines a kindhearted librarian hero, family secrets in a sleepy Southern town, and a gentle giant of a cat that will steal your heart.”—Lorna Barrett, New York Times bestselling author of the Booktown Mysteries

Our models this week are our tireless Computer Services Director, Vern Buis, and his lovely cat Bernie. A former stray, Bernie decided to move into Vern’s place about a year ago, and that was that. Now he’s living the good life and modeling for bookface photos on the side.

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens

Sweet summertime is so close, the days are getting warmer and all I can think about is that perfect summer read. Keep your book clubs going all summer with titles like “Where the Crawdads Sing” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018) by Delia Owens. This New York Times bestseller is a part of our book club kit collection and available for your group to borrow. Check out all of our Book Club titles!

“A painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature…Owens here surveys the desolate marshlands of the North Carolina coast through the eyes of an abandoned child. And in her isolation that child makes us open our own eyes to the secret wonders—and dangers—of her private world.”—The New York Times Book Review

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

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#BookFaceFriday “Panic” by Sasha Dawn

Keep calm, don’t panic, it’s finally #BookFaceFriday!

Has the pandemic got you feeling anxious?  This week’s #BookFace is for you. In “Panic” by Sasha Dawn (Carolrhoda Lab, 2019), Madelaine has become overwhelmed by events both online and in real life, and struggles to make sense of it all.

This YA page-turner is available to all Nebraska OverDrive Libraries in eBook format. 173 libraries across the state share this collection of 16,670 audiobooks and 28,473 eBooks. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use.

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!

“Dawn (Blink, 2018, etc.) draws in readers, showing them that there is more to a person than what one sees on the surface. The author makes it easy to be both frustrated with the characters’ choices and yet to empathize with them. Compelling and captivating.“―Kirkus Reviews

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

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#BookFaceFriday “The Shop on Main Street” by Carolyn Brown

If Small Business Saturday was a #BookFaceFriday!

Described as “Steel Magnolias meets The Ya Ya Sisterhood,” New York Times bestseller Carolyn Brown knows how to bring the fire. Even if pink isn’t your signature color, this week’s #BookFace is for you. Check out “The Shop on Main Street” by Carolyn Brown (Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2019) it’s available to all Nebraska OverDrive Libraries in eBook format. 173 libraries across the state share this collection of 16,670 audiobooks and 28,473 eBooks. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use.

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!

“Hilarious…fast-paced…A high-spirited, romantic page-turner.” ―Kirkus

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “The Case of the Missing Books”

The game is afoot, it’s #BookFaceFriday!

Today we’re solving the mystery of the Nebraska Library Commission’s prodigious book club kit collection. Where do all of those books come from, you may ask? Well, we build our Book Club Kits one or two books at a time, sometimes buying from book sales, but also through donations. Is your library passing the time with some overdue weeding? Before you discard those extra books, take a look at the NLC Book Club Kits list. Increasing the number we have of each title allows us to service larger book clubs or split them between several book clubs at one time. We also accept donations of Children and Young Adult titles for our annual book drive benefiting the Salvation Army, the Center for People in Need, and the People’s City Mission. One such donated book is this week’s title “The Case of the Missing Books” by Ian Sansom (William Morrow Paperbacks, 2007.)

“[Sansom’s] fish-out-of-water dilemmas and encounters with kooky locals will resonate with Alexander McCall Smith fans” – Publishers Weekly

One of our Book Club Kit users recently sent us a kind note about the service.

Everytime I have space left in a book club kit box, I look to see what donations we have received that might match up with one of your book club kits. Appreciate all you do,” Lisa Flaxbeard – Bennington Public Library

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

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#BookFaceFriday “Undercover Princess” by Connie Glynn

Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo it’s #BookFaceFriday!

Life isn’t exactly a fairytale right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get lost in one. Is your little prince or princess in need of a mental escape? Don’t forget eBooks and Audiobooks are for kids too! Nebraska OverDrive is full of YA, Juvenile, and Children’s books, like this week’s #BookFaceFriday! “Undercover Princess” by Connie Glynn (HarperCollins, 2018) is available to all Nebraska OverDrive Libraries in both eBook and Audiobook format. 173 libraries across the state share this collection of 16,670 audiobooks and 28,473 eBooks. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use.

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!

“With a message of kindness, YouTube star Glynn’s middle grade debut, a series opener, is a story of devoted friendship and fierce loyalty that is sure to win readers over.” (Publishers Weekly)

This week’s #BookFaceFriday model is Princess Elsa! Or maybe it’s princess Margot, disguised as Elsa…. we may never know.

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “This is Not the Tropics”

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya to #BookFaceFriday!

Since it snowed yesterday in much of Nebraska, this title couldn’t be more right. But unlike the fickle ways of Nebraska weather, NLC Book Club Kits never let you down. The Commission’s Book Club Kit service is still running like clockwork, and sending out titles like “This Is Not the Tropics: Stories” by Nebraska author, Ladette Randolph (University of Wisconsin Press, 2005.) While many library services have changed, we realize your book club groups may be functioning a little differently right now. But with book pick-ups and online group discussions, book clubs are still going strong. Of course with your health in mind, we strongly encourage you to keep any in-person book club meetings to ten people or fewer.

“Ladette Randolph’s stories sink their teeth into the deep Nebraska Midwest the way that Flannery O’Connor tore into the heart of Georgia. There’s a wonderfully sly, deadpan sweetness at work here, so that it may take a moment to realize how odd and twisty the stories are. Randolph seems like such a nice, earnestly polite young woman—and then suddenly your wallet is missing and she’s driving away in your car! These are beautifully crafty, beguiling stories: witty, wise, and wicked.”—Dan Chaon, author of You Remind Me of Me and Among the Missing

This week’s #BookFace model is one of our NLC Commissioners, Lois Todd-Meyer!

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

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#BookFaceFriday “The Light in Hidden Places” by Sharon Cameron

Hello, is it a #BookFace you’re looking for?

Feeling a little bit trapped lately? A little panicked as your TBR pile grows smaller and smaller? Don’t worry, you will never run out of books to read with Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. New titles are added almost daily, like this week’s #BookFaceFriday! “The Light in Hidden Places” by Sharon Cameron (Scholastic Press, 2020) is available to all Nebraska OverDrive Libraries in both eBook and Audiobook format. 173 libraries across the state share this collection of 16,670 audiobooks and 28,473 eBooks. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use.

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!

“Both a politically charged adventure and culture study, this thought-provoking dystopia stands firmly on its own.” — Booklist, starred review

This week’s #BookFaceFriday model is Mary Sauers, our Government Information Services Librarian!

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “Will Giraffe Laugh?”

It’s basically a zoo in here for #BookFaceFriday.

We’re taking a walk on the wild side with this week’s #BookFace. Take your virtual storytime to a whole new level with “Will Giraffe Laugh?” by Hilary Leung (Cartwheel Books, 2019) and a virtual field trip to the zoo. This title comes from our large collection of children’s and young adult books sent to us as review copies from book publishers. When our Children and Young Adult Library Services Coordinator, Sally Snyder, is done with them, the review copies are available for the Library System Directors to distribute to school and public libraries in their systems. Public and school library staff are also welcome to stop by and select some titles for their library collections. We think this one would be a great addition to any library. Contact Sally Snyder for more information.

“A clear and winning guide to a key social grace; share and repeat as necessary.” — Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

This week’s #BookFace model is, well, a giraffe. I didn’t get a name, but you can still visit the giraffes at the Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium with their “Do the Zoo at Home” program. Looking for other things to do with your kids from the living room? Check out the list of resources we’ve put together for families!

Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available in our Book Club collection, permanent collection, and Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Alexander’s Bridge” by Willa Cather

Sit back and relax, it’s #BookFaceFriday!

You know all those classics you always have to lie about having read? Well now’s your chance to really read them! Nebraska OverDrive Libraries just added a huge selection of classic novels, 1,010 classics including this week’s #BookFaceFriday! “Alexander’s Bridge” (Duke Classics, 2012) by Willa Cather just one of many Cather titles available to all Nebraska OverDrive Libraries in eBook and Audiobook format. 173 libraries across the state share this collection of 16,670 audiobooks and 28,473 eBooks, with new titles added weekly. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use.

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!

From the book jacket

“Construction engineer and world-renowned bridge builder Bartley Alexander has everything in mid-life: wealth, good looks, and fame. Yet he finds himself restless and discontented with life—until he meets a former love from his student days and resumes his relationship with her.
Living a double life, Alexander is torn between Winifred, his American wife—a cold woman with clearly defined standards—and Hilda Burgoyne, his alluring mistress in London who helps him recapture his youth and sense of freedom. Alexander’s affair, which eventually gnaws away at his sense of propriety and honor, proves disastrous.
Willa Cather’s first novel—a fascinating study of a man’s growing awareness of the breach in his integrity—is essential reading for fans of this great American novelist.”
” … exceptionally well-conceived and well written.”—Outlook
” … told with a good deal of charm and skill.”—New York Times Book Review
” … a story of brilliant and unusual power.”—McClure’s

This week’s #BookFaceFriday model is Rod Wagner, the Director of NLC!

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

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#BookFaceFriday “The Wednesday Wars”

Eek! It’s #BookFaceFriday!

"The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt Bookface photoLooking for a middle grade read for your newly housebound kids? Check out this Newbery Honor-winning novel by Gary D. Schmidt! Join the unforgettable antihero Holling Hoodhood as he tackles the 7th grade in this week’s #BookFaceFriday! “The Wednesday Wars” (HMH Books, 2009) is available to all Nebraska OverDrive Libraries in both ebook and Audiobook format. So no matter how you like to read, this book is for you. 173 libraries across the state share this collection of 12,407 audiobooks and 24,143 eBooks, with new titles added weekly. 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!

 “Schmidt…makes the implausible believable and the everyday momentous…a gentle, hopeful, moving story.” —ALA Booklist, starred review

This week’s #BookFaceFriday model is Hollin Attendola, one of our Talking Book & Braille Service Library Readers Advisors. Unfortunately, (well maybe fortunately) we were unable to find a rat or mouse willing to pose with Hollin.

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “No Truth Without Ruth”

Dissent is patriotic, and so is this #BookFaceFriday.

Nothing says Women’s History Month like the notorious R.B.G. so settle in for storytime with “No Truth Without Ruth: The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Nancy Zhang (Quill Tree Books, 2018.) This title comes from our large collection of children’s and young adult books sent to us as review copies from book publishers. When our Children and Young Adult Library Services Coordinator, Sally Snyder, is done with them, the review copies are available for the Library System Directors to distribute to school and public libraries in their systems. Public and school library staff are also welcome to stop by and select some titles for their library collections. We think this one would be a great addition to any library. Contact Sally Snyder for more information.

“Large, colorful illustrations complement and highlight the text. Zhang captures the look and style of each era in Ginsburg’s life. Employing a strongly admiring tone and accessible language, the author emphasizes Ginsburg’s struggles, strengths, and triumphs. Informative, well-told biography.” (Kirkus Reviews)

This week’s #BookFace model is Mary Geibel, our Information Services Technician!

Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available in our Book Club collection, permanent collection, and Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday – Comedy & the Woman Writer: Woolf, Spark, & Feminism

Who’s afraid of #BookFaceFriday?

March is Women’s History Month, and we’re kicking things off with “Comedy & the Woman Writer: Woolf, Spark, & Feminism” (University of Nebraska Press, 1983) by Judy Little. This title is published by the University of Nebraska Press, which we collect from for our state document program.

“This attractive and engaging work begins with a consideration of the sometimes dark, but profound comedy of Virginia Woolf, proceeds to an appreciation of the neglected humorous fiction of Muriel Spark, and concludes with a final chapter on that kind of “Feminist Comedy” that celebrates a ‘radically overturned world, a world in which Orlando shrugs off civilization after civilization.'”—Journal of Modern Literature

This week’s #BookFace model is Lynda Clause, our Interlibrary Loan Staff Assistant!

Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available at Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Boy in the Black Suit”

Everybody’s crazy for a sharp-dressed #BookFace!

We’re throwing back to this #BookFace as we celebrate Black History Month. The author, Jason Reynolds, was recently selected as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress! We highly recommend “The Boy in the Black Suit” by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2015.) Not only was it the 2019 One Book for Nebraska Teens selection it’s also available as a part of the NLC Book Club collection. This excellent YA novel is also a 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book. You can reserve this kit today for your youth book club!

“Matt is a wonderfully sympathetic, multidimensional character whose voice is a perfect match for the material and whose relationships with Love and Mr. Ray—also a fascinating character—are beautifully realized. This quiet story is clearly a winner.” -Booklist

This week’s #BookFace model is one of our Commissioners, Vernon J. Davis! He began his three-year term as Commissioner this past July after his appointment by Governor Pete Ricketts.

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “Crushed”

It’s just ahh little crush on #BookFaceFriday!

Happy Valentine’s Day readers! Don’t let the lack of the perfect book club read get you down. We promise there’s a book out there for everyone, like “Crushed” by Laura and Tom McNeal (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2006) This YA novel is written by a husband and wife duo from Nebraska and can be reserved for your book club!

“A sympathetic documentary of human interrelationships and the consequences of choices, with an underlying emphasis on the value of real connection. McNeal fans and other young believers in human possibility will find food for thoughtful hope here.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

This week’s #BookFace model is our new Library Innovation Studios Staff Assistant Chelsea Lemburg! She started just a few weeks ago and will be assisting all of our LIS makerspace libraries!

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”

#BookFaceFriday celebrates Black History Month!

We’re throwing back to one of our first-ever #BookFace photos with “The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As told to Alex Haley” by Malcolm X (Grove Press, 1963.) We originally featured this title as a Nebraska 150 Books List selection, and it’s available in our book club kit collection. Check out this Nebraska Author of color for your book club!

“Malcolm X’s autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me; the blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will.”—Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father

“The most important book I’ll ever read, it changed the way I thought, it changed the way I acted. It has given me courage I didn’t know I had inside me. I’m one of hundreds of thousands whose lives were changed for the better.”—Spike Lee

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “The Lady and the Panda” by Vicki Croke

We can all be explorers with a good #BookFaceFriday!

There’s nothing like adding a little non-fiction to your reading list! “The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China’s Most Exotic Animal” by Vicki Constantine Croke (Random House, 2005) is a part of our book club kit collection. Reserve it for your book club to read today!

“A remarkable journey beautifully described, The Lady and the Panda brings to life one of the most astonishing and overlooked stories of American adventure, the 1936 quest by Ruth Harkness to bring a giant panda to America. Vicki Constantine Croke’s canvas is the mystical and wondrous China of the 1930s, her heroine a most remarkable woman, and her gift the ability to understand that this is a great love story.”
ROBERT KURSON, author of Shadow Divers

This week’s #BookFace model is Cynthia Nigh, our new Infrastructure Support Technician! She was previously working as the Library Innovation Studios grant assistant. In her new position, she will be working on the Better Broadband For Public Libraries initiative, to help libraries improve their broadband speed.

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “The Unbearable Lightness Of Being” by Milan Kundera

Hold on to your hats, it’s #BookFaceFriday!

“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera (Harper & Row, 1984) is one of many classic titles your book club can reserve from our collection! You can browse our classics by using the “Search by Genre” drop-down list in our book club kit search options: http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub/.

“Kundera is a virtuoso . . . A work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness.”– Elizabeth Hardwick, (Vanity Fair)

This week’s #BookFace model is Allana Novotny, our Technology & Access Services Librarian!

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “Madness” by Zac Brewer

Mrs. Rochester’s got nothing on this #BookFace.

“We’re all mad here” for this week’s #BookFaceFriday, it’s “Madness” (Harper Teen, 2017) by Zac Brewer. “New York Times bestselling author Zac Brewer delivers his most honest and gripping novel yet, about a girl who believes she’s beyond saving—until she realizes the only person who can save her is herself.” -book jacket.

“Readers will cheer as [Brooke] navigates her way toward a degree of peace with her mental illness…Best-seller Brewer’s honest and highly personal story will speak to a wide audience.” (Booklist)

This title comes from our large collection of children’s and young adult books sent to us as review copies from book publishers. When our Children and Young Adult Library Services Coordinator, Sally Snyder, is done with them, the review copies are available for the Library System Directors to distribute to school and public libraries in their systems. Public and school library staff are also welcome to stop by and select some titles for their library collections. Contact Sally Snyder for more information.

This week’s #BookFace model is Amanda Sweet, our Technology Innovation Librarian!

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “Midwestern Strange” by B.J. Hollars

The truth is out there… and it’s a #BookFace.

You see a lot of strange things in flyover country, unidentified drones, crop circles, Iowa fans. Learn all about them in “Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover Country” (University of Nebraska Press, 2019) by B. J. Hollars. This title is published by the University of Nebraska Press, which we collect from for our state document program.

“Crazy tales, from the turtle the size of a dining room table, which turned an Indiana family’s life upside down, to stories of pancake-flipping visitors from outer space. Hollars meets some fascinating people in this quirky account that contends with the ways such oddities retain cultural footholds.”—Marjie Ducey, Omaha World-Herald

This week’s #BookFace models are Vern Buis, our Computer Services Director, and his trusty lieutenant, Janet Greser, Computer Help Desk Support !

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

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