Celebrate Libraries!

As you may know, School Library Month has always been April, to coincide with National Library Week. This year’s theme is “Communities thrive @ your library®” and the spokesperson is Laurie Halse Anderson. Sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the theme of the first year, 1985, was “Where Learning Never Ends: The School Library Media Center.” For more information, visit:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslissues/slm/schoollibrary.cfm

National Library Week is April 11 – 17, 2010, again with the theme “Communities thrive @ your library®." The National Library Week Honorary Chair is Neil Gaiman. Visit:
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/pio/natlibraryweek/nlw.cfm

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve is about an extraordinary farm. They grow chocolate rhubarb (yum!), giant rhubarb, medicinal rhubarb and regular rhubarb. Every Monday at 1 pm it rains and visitors ride the umbrella ride during the rainfall. But now, the rain has stopped. Polly (11), one of the children of the owners, is deeply concerned. What has happened to the magic? Polly needs to find her gift and hope it will rescue the farm. She can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’m really enjoying this quirky story and can’t wait to find out what happens next.

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.

We’ve added 10 new kits to our collection. Each title includes 8 copies and an audio CD. From Geraldine Brooks’ Pulitzer Prize winning novel March to the very popular Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, I hope one of these kits will pique your club’s interest for their next discussion. Other titles added include: The River of Doubt by Candace Millard; The Lady and the Panda by Vicki Crone; Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman; Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder; Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart; Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Suite Francaise by Irene Nemiovsky. Please contact us if you’re interested in reserving any of these titles for your club.

Book Activities

Publisher HarperCollins provides an A-Z list of some popular picture book titles that includes activity ideas teachers and librarians may like to use. So far, my favorite is a sheet of A-Z items to make a stinky alphabet soup, to go with the book I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullen. And I have just started to explore. The list can be found here: http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/Teachers/BookActivities.aspx
Hope you find some terrific ideas!

I just finished reading a review copy of Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs by Ursula Vernon. This is the second book about Danny Dragonbreath, an actual dragon, his best friend Wendell, an iguana, and their new friend Suki (well, Wendell’s friend anyway). Suki brings in a possible girlfriend aspect to the story as Wendell likes her quite a bit. Danny currently is fascinated by the martial arts and when they discover that ninja frogs are following and trying to capture Suki, it’s like a dream come true for Danny. Real ninjas! Told mostly in text with numerous black, white, and green illustrations, the story is occasionally told with a page or two of graphic novel format and then back to text. It’s great fun. Danny is almost fearless and Wendell is overly cautious so they balance each other nicely.

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.

Top 100 Children’s Books

Betsy Bird asked readers of her blog to each send her their list of the top ten children’s novels ever published. She compiled the lists received, and the top 100 titles receiving votes are being announced on her blog. To see her final list, in sections, visit her blog on the School Library Journal site: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379.html
She lists them in groups of five, except for the first post where she started with numbers 91-100. As of today, February 18, 2010, she has listed numbers 51-100. The books’ publication dates range from 1908 – 2009 (so far). It really gets me thinking about the many books I have read over the years and what my Top 100 list would be, or my Top 10. Or what a Nebraska children’s librarians’ Top 100 list would be.

I just started and finished a review copy of Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshall by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. This 32 page book is a great introduction to this real historical figure. She tells a little about his childhood, but focuses on his years as a lawman. As she says in her author’s note, “Bass’s story is so incredible it comes close to sounding like a tall tale.”

(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.)

March 2 is Read Across America Day!

Celebrate Dr. Seuss and reading aloud! Sponsored by NEA (National Education Association) here are two sites you can visit for information and ideas:
http://www.nea.org/readacross/
http://www.nea.org/grants/13019.htm

more ideas and handouts are here:
http://baucomes.wcpss.net/readacrossamerica/readacrossamerica.htm

I love the idea of taking time to read aloud to children, family and friends. It’s a great way to share time together with a favorite book, old or new. Another chance for promotion of reading aloud will come in November: our state’s “Read Aloud to a Child Month” sponsored by Read Aloud Nebraska. Visit http://www.readaloudnebraska.org/ and click on “Read Aloud Favorites” to find out what other Nebraskans love to read. You can recommend a book, too.

Once again I am reading a library book: Notes from the Dog by Gary Paulsen. I’m enjoying short books right now; Paulsen’s book is 132 pages.
Finn (14) is planning to spend the summer reading, avoiding talking to anyone, and spending time with his true friend Matthew, who understands his goal. A 24 year old MLS student is house-sitting next door to Finn’s. She is a breast cancer survivor, still getting chemo, and soon Finn and Matthew are helping her raise funds for research, put in a garden, and more. Oh, yeah, the dog. Finn has a border collie named Dylan who occasionally runs up to him with different torn pieces of paper bearing cryptic messages, such as “You’re not as ugly as you think.”

Remember the Baby-Sitters Club?

According to an article in the December 30, 2009 New York Times book section, Scholastic is planning to re-release “The Baby-Sitters Club” by Ann M. Martin. She has written one new book, a prequel titled The Summer Before which will be released on April 1. They have “slightly revised” the first two books in the series to gear them to the 7-10 age range and update some older terminology. Here’s a link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/books/31babysitters.html

Right now I’m reading another book from the library: Double Eagle by Sneed B. Collard III. Michael, 13 or 14, is spending the summer of 1973 with his father on a small island off Alabama. A salvage ship is looking for treasure nearby, and Mike would really like to know what they have found. Mike and his new friend, Kyle, make a surprising discovery at the old fort, and the salvagers may want what they found. A good adventure story for this summer’s “Make Waves @ your library” theme.

One Book One Nebraska 2010 invites citizens across the state to read The Home Place, by Wright Morris, a native of Central City, Nebraska. This “photo-text” is an account in first-person narrative and photographs of the one-day visit of Clyde Muncy to “the home place” at Lone Tree, Nebraska.

We know that library involvement is the key to success of our Nebraska statewide reading efforts. We also know that the staff and volunteers of Nebraska public libraries are very busy with a variety of library services and reading promotion activities. We continue to request your input into the resources and tools that can help libraries bring communities together through literature by hosting reading and discussion activities.

Is your library interested in celebrating One Book One Nebraska 2010 by reading The Home Place by Wright Morris? Please take a look and the Website, http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/onebook/2010/and comment below with suggestions and ideas for tools that might help you with reading/discussion activities and other events.

Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan

In cooperation with NetLibrary and Lyrasis, the Nebraska Library Commission is pleased to announce the launch of the NetLibrary Shared Collection 9!

About the Shared Collection 9: The 9th Shared Collection opened in January 2010. Projected to include 2,500 to 3,000 titles, this collection continues the tradition of Lyrasis regional shared purchasing of front list titles and post-2000 imprints newly available in electronic format. The collection is projected to include content from leading publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Oxford University Press, AMACOM, Taylor & Francis, and university presses. Content will be available later in 2010, depending on member participation.

For more information about this collection, including pricing and ordering instructions, go to our NetLibrary Shared Collection 9 web site.

To learn more about NetLibrary, including background information on past shared collections (e.g., title lists, participants) go to our NetLibrary Consortium Information web site.

On January 27th, NetLibrary released a new holds feature that will allow users to place popular eBooks and eAudiobooks on reserve. With this enhancement, users will be able to:

• Place hold requests for titles that are already checked out by other users
• View their place in line for each item, or cancel hold at any time
• Receive e-mail notification when the content is available for check-out

Holds are available to all libraries that purchase content from NetLibrary. Users will be able to request a hold for up to 40 titles, with 2 days to check out titles once they become available. When the holds feature is initially released, functionality will be activated for eAudiobook content only. To activate holds for eBooks, e-mail OCLC’s Customer Service Department at support@oclc.org

Holds management, including the ability to turn holds on and off for each content type, modify the number of hold per patron, and view reports on popular titles held each month, will be available through the Library Resource Center in summer 2010.

With over 200,000 eBooks and 10,000 eAudiobooks available in the NetLibrary catalog and a growing number compatible with portable devices including mobile phones, laptops, iPods and iPhones, this new feature will enhance the user experience and increase circulation and management of NetLibrary content.

News About Rick Riordan

The first book in Rick Riordan’s new series, The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid will be released on May 4, 2010. It features a brother, Carter, and his younger sister, Sadie, who will face Egyptian gods in the present day. Riordan says the characters will age with the series. In the first book, Carter is 14 and Sadie is 12. The publisher plans to release one book a year for a total of three books (unless he decides to write more). The 11/5/09 Publisher’s Weekly has a article on the series, visit: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6705617.html

The article also mentions that his next Camp Half Blood series will debut in the fall of this year. An earlier article (4/2/08) stated it would debut in 2011, so we will have to wait and see if they have moved up the date. I’m looking forward to them both!

After finishing The Monstumologist (good, but gruesome!) I needed something different, so I just finished Gauge, book two of “The Dragons of Wayward Crescent” by Chris D’Lacey. Lucy’s mother makes dragons and other things to sell from clay. Every once in a while she uses a very special item on the small clay dragon she is creating, and it comes alive to help the household. Fun for readers grades 2-4. Who wouldn’t want a special dragon (or five) in their house?

ALA Book Awards

Welcome to the first of what I plan to be weekly blog entries about my perspective of goings on in the book world, from articles in library journals to whatever book I am reading that week. Let me know your opinion of the titles I mention by adding your comment to the appropriate entry.

The ALA book awards were announced this week, visit: http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/january2010/ymawrap2010.cfm
or see the Commission’s announcements page for the winners), and I was pleased to notice that one of the Honor Books for the Printz Award, The Monstumologist by Rick Yancy, is the title I checked out of the library last week. (I can’t be too smug because I did not check out the Printz winner, or the Newbery winner, etc.)

The main character, Will Henry, is 12 and is the assistant to Dr. Warthrop, a monstrumologist: one who studies and defeats various monsters in the world. A knock at the door in the middle of the night begins this adventure when a local grave robber brings in a strange and fearsome dead creature. The monstrumologist is certain there are more such creatures and they must be destroyed as soon as possible.

It already has offered a couple of scary places that make me happy to be reading it during the day (I am easily scared!), still I can’t wait to know what will happen. I wish it had a drawing of one of the Anthrpophagi they are after, but maybe my imagination is enough. It will appeal to readers who like things a little scary and Rick Yancy is a proven story teller, his Alfred Kropp books are such fun. Visit his website at: http://www.rickyancey.com/

We are grateful to Kathy Tooker at the Eastern Library System for donating the following book club kits to our collection:

The Big Four by Agatha Christie
10 Copies

Chinhominey's Secret by Nancy Kim
11 copies

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
15 copies

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
13 copies

Disobedience by Jane Hamilton
12 copies

Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte
12 copies

Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline
11 copies

Gravity by Tess Gerritsen
13 copies

Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson
11 copies

The Leopard by Giusseppe di Lampedusa
9 copies

Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen
12 copies

Seven Sisters by Earlene Fowler
11 copies

All of our book club kits can be viewed here: http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/ref/bookclubkits.html/. Please contact us to make a reservation!

I'm attending the Library Commission's weekly NCompass Live session and Sally Reed is sharing tons of information for library boards of trustees, friends groups, foundations, and other library supporters. Sally Reed is the Executive Director of the American Library Association’s newly re-designed Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF). ALTAFF is the result of the merger of Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA), which Reed headed, and the former Association of Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA). Sally is a great speaker and this session will be archived and available as a recording from the Commission Website.

She is pointing out the benefits of Nebraska’s unique statewide ALTAFF membership (funded by the Nebraska Library Commission)--how this membership can benefit Nebraska – its libraries and people. (More information at http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/libdev/altaff/altaff.html) To access the resources, contact the Nebraska Library Commission Reference and Information Services for username and password at 402-471-4016 or 800-307-2665; e-mail.

Sally also encourages all Nebraska library supporters to join the listerv at www.folusa.org. I think that some of the free toolkits available at www.folusa.org (through funding from the Nebraska Library Commission) sound really valuable, including toolkits on pricing and selling books online.

Please comment below re: the resource needs in your area to support your library trustees, friends and foundations.

You can find all of our CC-licensed titles in our collection by searching "creative commons" in our collection. Here's the list of the eight newest titles along with their OCLC record numbers.

Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal (465215368)
Behemoth by Peter Watts (465215372)
Blindsight by Peter Watts (465216747)
Maelstrom by Peter Watts (465216749)
Starfish by Peter Watts (465216750)
Choices by Lindsay Brambles (465216878)
Zero-Option by Lindsay Brambles (465216881)
Star Dragon by Mike Brotherton (465212105)

I am thrilled to let you know that Ellen Klages, author of our current One Book for Nebraska Kids, The Green Glass Sea, would like to visit Nebraska! We are planning to have her arrive in Scottsbluff on Sunday, October 11, ready to talk with students and library patrons starting Monday morning. She will travel across the state (visits have not yet been determined) and leave from Omaha on Sunday, October 18. Yea! And the best part is she emailed me offering to come to Nebraska! Wow!

We have decided to ask public librarians and media specialists to let me know if you are interested in hosting a visit from Ellen Klages. Her route through Nebraska will be determined by 1) who is interested and 2) what is physically possible. So it will be a little bit like a raffle – having your name pulled out of a hat – with the addition of needing to be sure the route will not completely wear Ellen and I out.

We have only a few requirements:
1) You send an email to me stating that you are interested, and tell me you have already had a group of children/students/tweens read and discuss the book or will have before Ellen’s visit.
2) Reading her book is a requirement – copies are available from each of the library systems and from the Library Commission, some copies have already been reserved, it is first come, first served.
3) You agree to hold an “after” event, anything from a discussion session about what Ellen Klages shared with everyone during her visit to having your students research something about the atom bomb or World War II. What your event is, it is up to you.
4) If there is a great deal of interest we will end up pulling names out of a hat.
5) You are not eligible if you hosted Ben Mikaelsen during his visit (unless no one requests a visit from Ellen)

Please let me know if you are interested no later than 4pm CDT on September 4, 2009 so we can set up the route!

Sally Snyder
Coordinator of Children and Young Adult Library Services
Nebraska Library Commission
1200 N Street, Suite 120
Lincoln, NE 68508-2023
800-307-2665 or 402-471-2045
email

The NetLibrary 8th Shared eBook Collection, which allows members to pool financial resources to obtain thousands of titles in a broad range of subjects, now includes: 3,173 titles (exceeding goal!); 40 publishers; and enhanced printing functionality. Plus, 75% of collection are 2008 and 2009 front list titles.

The deadline for ordering the 2008 NetLibrary Shared Collection VIII is October 31, 2009.

For more information about the 2008 Shared Collection VIII, including pricing and ordering instructions, go to our 2008 NetLibrary Shared Collection VIII web site.

To learn more about NetLibrary, including background information on past shared collections (e.g., title lists, participants) go to our NetLibrary Consortium Information web site.

Plattsmouth and Omaha Awarded 2009 Big Read Grants

The Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS) in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently awarded Big Read grants to 269 arts, culture, and science organizations, libraries, and municipalities. Nebraska is proud to announce that Plattsmouth Public Library and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo are among the organizations that will use the grants to host Big Read celebrations that bring communities together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of thirty selections from U.S. and world literature.

Plattsmouth Public Library’s community activities will focus on The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Our Town. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is the inspiration for the activities planned by Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo. Plans are underway for promotion and implementation of:

■a kick-off event to launch the program;
■activities devoted specifically to its Big Read book(s) or poet; and
■events using the selection as a point of departure in diverse locations, aimed at a wide range of audiences.

Click on Comment below to share your experiences with Big Read activities or updates on plans for 2009 activities.

We the People Bookshelf—Nebraska Winners

Nebraskans across the state can now go to their local libraries and learn about America from coast to coast. The We the People “Picturing America” Bookshelf is the sixth We the People Bookshelf program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Instead of paint, marble, silver, or glass, words are the media used to portray significant themes in American history and culture. Readers are invited to steer their way across the continent by river with Lewis and Clark in 1802, travel the railroad with Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879, or drive along the open highways with John Steinbeck and his dog Charley in 1960. Through the life and poetry of Walt Whitman emerge powerful images of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln or through the life and lens of Dorothea Lange, we witness the impersonal forces and human faces of the Depression.

Congratulations to the following Nebraska libraries for their successful applications for We the People Bookshelf grants:
Aurora
Alice M. Farr Library

Blair
Blair High School Library

Broken Bow
Broken Bow Public Library

Ceresco
Ceresco Community Library

Clay Center
Clay Center Public Library

Clearwater
Clearwater Public Library

Elgin
Pope John XXIII Central Catholic High School

Elkhorn
Bess Johnson Elkhorn Branch of Omaha Public Library

Fremont
Keene Memorial Library

Gibbon
Gibbon Public Library

Gresham
Gresham Public Library

Holdrege
Holdrege Area Public Library

Hooper
Hooper Public Library

Litchfield
Litchfield Public Library

Neligh
Neligh Public Library

North Platte
Madison Middle School Media Center

Omaha
A. V. Sorensen Branch
Benson Branch
Charles B. Washington Branch
Florence Branch
Millard Branch
Milton R. Abrahams Branch
Omaha Burke High School Library
South Omaha Branch
W. Clarke Swanson Branch
W. Dale Clark Branch
Willa Cather Branch

Papillion
Tara Heights Elementary School Library

Pender
House Memorial Library

Plattsmouth
Plattsmouth Public Library

Pleasanton
Pleasanton Public School

Ponca
Ponca Carnegie Library
Ponca Public School Library

Saint Paul
St. Paul Library

South Sioux City
South Sioux City Public Library

Table Rock
Humboldt Table Rock Steinauer Middle School

Tilden
Raymond A.Whitwer Tilden Public Library

Wakefield
Gardner Public Library
Wakefield Community Schools

York
Kilgore Memorial Library

If you received a grant, click on Comment below to share your ideas for booktalks and local library programming.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2009, the Nebraska Library Commission premiered our new weekly online event, NCompass Live. Since the first broadcast, more than 230 people have attended NCompass Live sessions and the recordings have been watched over 125 times.

NCompass Live will be taking a short break while the Nebraska Library Commission switches to new online meeting software, Microsoft Live Meeting. We're not sure how long the transition will take, but we hope to be back with new NCompass Live sessions sometime in July. As soon as the new system is ready, we will announce the new schedule via our mailing lists and blog.

Until we are back live again, you can watch archived recordings of our previous NCompass Live sessions.

For those who are interested, please contact the Reference Desk to check out or reserve the following VHS to support your One Book/One Nebraska discussions. We have multiple copies.

Call #: HUMANITIES Video history of Bess Streeter Aldrich

Title: A video history of Bess Streeter Aldrich [videorecording]

Publishing Info.: Elmwood, Neb. : The Foundation, c2000.

Description: 1 videocassette (60 min.) : sd., col. with b&w photos ; 1/2 in.

Note: VHS

Participant/Performer: Carol Miles Petersen.

Summary: Tape contains two versions of a biography of Bess Streeter Aldrich. The first (18 min.) is an abridged version of the second (42 min.). Carol Miles Petersen introduces and concludes both versions. Details of Aldrich's personal life and writing career are narrated against a background of photographs depicting her family, homes, works and related events.

Two new additions to the Nebraska Library Commission’s book collection discuss intellectual freedom in the context of school and academic libraries. Policy writing advice and tips for training new staff are included in each. Issues in collection development, Internet access, exhibit spaces, programs, rooms, privacy and confidentiality are all illustrated by the case study approach. If you have an issue you are dealing with you can use them as a reference source, but they are also entertaining for cover to cover reading.

Scales, Pat R. Protecting Intellectual Freedom in Your School Library: Scenarios from the Front Lines. Chicago: American Library Association, 2009.

Jones, Barbara M. Protecting intellectual Freedom in Your Academic Library: Scenarios from the Front Lines. Chicago: American Library Association, 2009.

Let us know if you would like us to send these to you! http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/ref/contactus.asp

It's time for the census of 2008 library gaming programs!

Did your public, academic, school, or special library run a gaming program in 2008?

Did you have Chess, Scrabble, Computer games, Console games or ANY other type of gaming as a library program?

Then please take the Gaming Programs in Libraries - Census of 2008 Programs. The survey will be open until May 31st.

This is an annual survey done by Dr. Scott Nicholson, associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, and is designed to develop a better understanding of how libraries supported games and gaming activities in 2008.

The Library Game Lab of Syracuse has been collecting this data for the last two years, and it's been very valuable in helping them to understand how libraries are using data. This data is useful in getting grant funding for the field and helps to demonstrate how we are taking gaming seriously.

If you have questions about the survey or the research, please contact Dr. Nicholson at srnichol@syr.edu

You can find publications that have come from the previous surveys on the Library Game Lab website.

Looking for creative and innovative ideas for a gaming program in your library? Check out the winning proposals for the American Library Association’s (ALA) Libraries, Literacy and Gaming Grants, funded by the Verizon Foundation. You're sure to find inspiration from these libraries!

The winners, representing a broad spectrum of libraries – seven public, two school and one academic – will use the funds to develop and implement gaming and literacy programs that provide innovative gaming experiences for youths 10-18 years of age. The 10 libraries were selected out of 390 that applied for the grant.

The following libraries were chosen:

• Anderson Public Library, Anderson, IN
• Brewster Ladies Library, Brewster, MA
• Cascade Middle School, Cascade, WA
• Henshaw Middle School Library, Anchorage School District, Anchorage, AK
• Indian Trails Public Library, Wheeling, IL
• Manhattanville College Library, Purchase, NY
• San Pablo Library, San Pablo, CA
• Sewickley Public Library, Sewickley, PA
• Wayne Country Public Library, Goldsboro, NC
• Weber Country Library System, Ogden, UT

“These library gaming programs will help tweens and teens build 21st-Century literacy and learning skills,” said Dale Lipschultz, literacy officer with the ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services.

Read the full announcement, with descriptions of each of the winning projects.

Legislation was introduced in March by U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) to amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) to exempt ordinary books from the lead limit within the act. This is a welcome step toward ensuring libraries will not be adversely affected by the law.

In August 2008, Congress passed CPSIA, an important law to protect children from the real dangers of toys made with lead-based paint; however, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) misinterpreted the law to apply to ordinary books for children 12 years of age or younger.

The law was set to go into effect on February 10, 2009, but in late January 2009, the CPSC issued a one-year stay of implementation for enforcement of the new lead limits in children’s products, stating that the commission will not impose penalties against anyone for making, importing, distributing or selling a children’s product to the extent that it is made of certain natural materials, such as an ordinary children’s book printed after 1985.

Fortenberry’s bill, H.R. 1692, would remove the pre-1985 provision and states that CPSIA was not intended to apply to ordinary books – those books that are published on paper or cardboard, printed by conventional publishing methods, intended to be read, and lacking inherent play value. H.R. 1692 also states that testing has shown that finished books and their component materials contain total lead content at levels considered non-detectable, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that there is little risk to children from lead in ordinary books.

“We are grateful for this bill since it supports what the ALA, libraries, teachers and parents know to be true – books are safe and should not be regulated by this law,” ALA President Jim Rettig said.

“Reading is critical to child development, and libraries should be free to continue providing services to children without the fear of having to comply with unnecessary and expensive testing. Rep. Fortenberry’s bill corrects the CPSC’s misinterpretation that would deny our children access to books and limit their opportunities to learn.”

Read the full text of the bill here.

CHICAGO – Libraries are changing and dynamic places, and no better evidence of that exists than the spread of gaming in the nation's public, school and academic libraries.

In recognition of this trend and the increasing value of gaming to literacy improvement, the American Library Association, with assistance from a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation, has developed an online toolkit to aid librarians in serving this growing constituency.

The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming @ your library offers content contributed by expert gaming librarians across the country. The toolkit includes a wide range of resources to help librarians create, fund and evaluate gaming experiences in the library.

Games, from traditional chess games to authentic board games to popular video games, help libraries fulfill their mission by providing educational, cultural and recreational resources for patrons of all ages.

“Games of every type play an important role in developing fundamental competencies for life,” said ALA President Jim Rettig. “They require players to learn and follow complex sets of rules, make strategic and tactical decisions, and, collaborate with teammates and others, –all things they will have to do in college and in the workforce."

By providing grant dollars to fund the project, Verizon recognizes the growing importance of gaming in promoting literacy.

“We at the Verizon Foundation believe that learning is not only for the hours between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the classroom,” said Albert J. Browne, national program director and vice president of education and technology for the Verizon Foundation. “We believe that libraries can help children learn more and continue to learn even when they are not in a classroom environment.

“We also think gaming in itself is a powerful tool that has an amazing ability to help in learning 21st Century skills,” he added.

Librarians are also recognizing the potential of gaming. On Nov. 15, hundreds of libraries across the country celebrated the ALA’s first annual National Gaming Day @ your library. Libraries of all types joined in the celebration by registering for two national gaming activities: a national video game tournament and board game challenge.

Evidence of the growing influence of gaming on library programming is backed by recently collected data. In 2007, a pilot study was conducted by Dr. Scott Nicholson, University of Syracuse.

Four hundred libraries randomly selected public libraries responded to the survey. The study found that at least seven out of every 10 supported gaming, four out of 10 public libraries run gaming programs, including both board and Web-based games, and more than eight out of 10 libraries allowed patrons to play games on library computers. Nicholson wrote, “Over the last few years, some libraries have been turning to gaming activities like Dance Dance Revolution as a way of bringing in new demographic groups and exposing them to library services.”

For additional information contact: Dale Lipschultz, Literacy Officer, Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, by phone, (312) 280-3275, or e-mail, dlipschultz@ala.org.

The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Literacy and Outreach Services is seeking applications from public, school and academic libraries interested in developing and implementing innovative literacy gaming services for youth ages 10-18.

This program is part of ALA’s Libraries, Literacy and Gaming initiative funded by Verizon.

Ten $5,000.00 grants will be awarded to libraries clearly demonstrating creativity, capacity, sustainability and a strong commitment to literacy-related gaming services. In addition, the winning libraries will receive ongoing support and technical assistance from a team of nationally recognized library gaming experts. Winners will be announced during National Library Week April 12-18, 2009. The grant application is available online. All applications must be submitted by 11:59 pm, Friday, March 20, 2009.

“There is no doubt that gaming and literacy go hand-in-hand. Board and video games come with text of all kinds including instructions, menus and much more. Learning the language and mechanics of any game, from chess to Little Big Planet, involves acquiring a new vocabulary and a new set of 21st century literacy skills,” said Dale Lipschultz, Literacy Officer, Office for Literacy and Outreach Services.

Gaming is one example of how libraries continue to change to meet the needs of their communities and users, offering innovative programs and services that educate, entertain and expand interaction with their patrons.

On Nov. 15, 2008, hundreds of libraries across the country celebrated the ALA’s first annual National Gaming Day @ your library. Libraries of all types joined in the celebration by registering for two national gaming activities: a national video game tournament and board game challenge.

For additional information about the grant contact: Dale Lipschultz, Literacy Officer, Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, by phone, (312) 280-3275, or e-mail, dlipschultz@ala.org.

NCompass Live, the Nebraska Library Commission’s weekly online event, has now been online for seven weeks. Session topics thus far have included an overview of the Commission’s departments, Bibliostat, new downloadable audio books from Library of Congress Talking Books, free health resources from the National Library of Medicine, and a wrap-up for Nebraska Learns 2.0.

Future topics already scheduled include the new NebraskAccess web site, tips on buying computers, and One Book, One Nebraska. We don't schedule too far out, so if a hot topic comes up, it can be fitted in quickly. If you have a suggestion for a topic of interest to Nebraska library staff, please let us know by e-mailing Christa Burns.

Sessions usually fill up quickly. So if you are interested in a topic when it is announced, sign up right away. If the class is full, do join the waiting list. When a topic is super popular, we will try to accommodate additional attendees.

Attendees are encouraged to ask questions and make comments. If you have a microphone, you may chime in vocally. If you don't have a microphone, you may use text chat. Or, if your library doesn't have a microphone to use with your computers, you may request one from the Nebraska Library Commission, at no cost to your library, by contacting Jeannette Powell at least a week in advance of your session.

NCompass Live sessions are recorded and may be played back at anytime via the Internet. Library staff who attend the live sessions or watch recordings may receive Nebraska Library Commission C.E. Credits. For more information, see http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/ncompass/ncompasslive.asp.

On Wednesday, January 7, 2009, the Nebraska Library Commission will premiere a new weekly online event, NCompass Live.

NCompass Live will cover NLC activities and library topics presented by NLC staff and guests. The free one-hour sessions will be offered every Wednesday at 10:00AM (CT) and will include a mixture of presentations, interviews, book reviews, Web tours, mini training sessions, and Q & A sessions.

NCompass Live will be presented online using Centra Live eMeeting software. Centra sessions are live presentations that you access from your own computer via the Web. Audio is provided via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) using a microphone. Sessions will be recorded for anyone who may want to see it again or who cannot attend it at the scheduled time.

Check out NCompass Live for the schedule and to register for a session.

FOULSA will award 20 matching grants during 2009 for $500 each to Friends of Library groups, librarians, women's clubs and other official entities with an interest in early childhood literacy to purchase Books for Babies kits to distribute in their communities.

Applications for the first grant cycle are due by April 1, 2009. Recipients will be notified by April 15 and kits must be ordered by June 1. Applications for the second grant cycle are due by October 1. Recipients will be notified by October 15 and kits must be ordered by December 1.

More details are available online at www.folusa.org.

In cooperation with NetLibrary and SOLINET, the Nebraska Library Commission is pleased to announce the launch of the 2008 NetLibrary Shared Collection VIII!

About the 2008 Shared Collection VIII: The 8th Shared Collection opened in November 2008. Projected to include 2,500 to 3,000 titles, this collection continues the tradition of SOLINET regional shared purchasing of front list titles and post-2000 imprints newly available in electronic format. The collection is projected to include content from leading publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Oxford University Press, AMACOM, Taylor & Francis, and university presses. Content will be available in 2009, depending on member participation.

For more information about this collection, including pricing and ordering instructions, go to our 2008 NetLibrary Shared Collection VIII web site.

To learn more about NetLibrary, including background information on past shared collections (e.g., title lists, participants) go to our NetLibrary Consortium Information web site.

OCLC has released the new NetLibrary Media Center, a full-featured desktop application that allows library patrons to easily search, manage, transfer and listen to eAudiobooks from their local library. The free software application allows users to connect to NetLibrary, and then download and begin listening to eAudiobooks with just one click.

The Media Center combines familiar user functions available from NetLibrary’s Web-based platform to browse, search and check out materials, and adds enhanced features and functionality—such as a full-feature audio player; seamless download to a portable listening device; a new, feature-rich, easy-to-use interface; and desktop access to a library’s entire eAudiobook collection—for a superior user experience.

In order to provide users with access to the Media Center, libraries will need to complete a Media Center Activation Request and return to NetLibrary.

OCLC will continue to accept activation request forms through December 31, 2008. As of December 19th, 2008, librarians will be able to turn the NetLibrary Media Center on themselves through the Library Resource Center (LRC). Instructions on how librarians can activate the NetLibrary Media Center through the LRC will be communicated to you as the date approaches.

About the Media Center

Media Center Brochure

We know that library involvement is the key to success of our Nebraska statewide reading efforts. We also know that the staff and volunteers of Nebraska public libraries are very busy with a variety of library services and reading promotion activities. We continue to request your input into the resources and tools that can help libraries bring communities together through literature by hosting reading and discussion activities.

Is your library celebrating One Book One Nebraska 2008 by reading Restoring the Burnt Child, by Nebraska’s own State Poet William Kloefkorn? Please comment below about resources that helped with organizing book discussion sessions and other events.

Are you interested in celebrating One Book One Nebraska 2009 by reading A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich ? Please comment below with suggestions and ideas for tool that might help to assist with reading/discussion activities, as well as a suggested timeframe for distribution.

Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan

The Laura Bush Foundation (LBF) is to provide books to the school libraries and students that most need them. Consequently, funds are available only for library books and magazine/serial copies and subscriptions.

The Foundation strives for wide geographic distribution in the support it offers, making grants of up to $6,000 to update, extend, and diversify the book collections of the libraries that receive them. All LBF grants are made to individual schools rather than to school districts, county systems, private organizations, foundations, or other entities. Only one application per school is allowed per year.

For more information and application, see http://www.laurabushfoundation.org/web2/index.html.
Specific questions regarding this application should be sent to areid@cfncr.org.

We are interested in knowing if any Nebraska libraries have received this grant in the past. If you are aware of Nebraska recipients of this award, please share information by clicking on Comment below.

Can your patrons outwit other library gamers?

Hundreds of libraries across the country are preparing to celebrate the American Library Association’s (ALA) first annual National Gaming Day @ your library on Nov. 15, 2008. ALA invites libraries of all types to join in the celebration by registering for two national gaming activities: a national video game tournament and board game challenge. Libraries also can develop their own National Gaming Day activities by using free resources from the ALA Gaming Resources Website.

The national videogame tournament uses a GT System, a free service of the Ann Arbor (MI) District Library that provides web-based tools for running tournaments for players of any age or experience level. On National Gaming Day, library gamers will be able to see how they rank on local, regional, and national leaderboard.

In addition, libraries will try to set a record for the most number of people playing a board game at the same time. Through a generous donation from Hasbro, every public library branch in the U.S. will receive a free copy of Pictureka!”, a frenzied version of finder’s keeper’s. Hasbro will ship the games in early November. Libraries interested in participating in either activity and receiving additional products are encouraged to register online.

The ALA is also providing a National Gaming Day @ your library publicity tool kit to help libraries promote their gaming programs and events to the media. The online tool kit includes downloadable artwork, a customizable postcard, a sample press release, a sample letter to the editor, and much more.

To learn more about National Gaming Day @ your library, or to register for national activities please visit the ALA Gaming @ your library wiki.

From Timothy Schaffert:
It’s at that point in the promotional process of the (downtown) Omaha lit fest that I start contacting you regularly, in my desperation, to remind you that the event is THIS WEEKEND (Sept. 19 and 20). Please don’t forget! Visit www.omahalitfest.com, print out the schedule, take it to Big Brain, and tattoo it to the back of your hand. I’ll just be heart-broken if I don’t see you there.

Meanwhile, to tantalize, I’ve offered the first few bits of an essay by Lit Fest author Laurie Stone, writing about the infamous JT Leroy, a topic that will likely come up during out “Plagiarism, Fraud & Other Literary Inspiration” panel at 11 am Saturday (at the Bemis). The rest of the essay is here: http://www.theliteraryreview.org/tlrweb/stone.htm Laurie was the first person to publish JT Leroy, a young man who turned out to be a middle-aged woman. Fraud? Performance artist? Or simply fiction extending beyond the page?

(Oh, and we have the parking lot right next to the Bemis, on the north side of the building, reserved for Lit Fest, so feel free to park there…)

“Lies and the Memoir” by Laurie Stone…

In 1996, when I was gathering pieces for an anthology of memoirs, the writer Bruce Benderson, a friend, suggested I read the work of a 16-year-old boy he was exchanging emails with. I said, “Why would I be interested in the writing of a kid?” I’d collected pointed work from Phillip Lopate, Catherine Texier, and Lois Gould. In rich, image-driven pieces, each breathed life into a ruthless parent, capturing their seductivity as well. Peter Trachtenberg and Jerry Stahl, former heroin addicts, chronicled in rollicking fashion the pleasure of sooty falls. There would be no recovery or uplift in this book, no advertising for how we should live. I was interested in expanding the range of subjects we could speak about in public. I liked writers who didn’t try to win love.
“He’s literary,” Bruce promised.
“How can that be?”
“I don’t know, but you have to read his stuff.”
He went by the name Terminator—a joke. A picture Bruce kept on his bookcase showed a gawky, towheaded slip of a thing. …

As part of the centennial Louis L'Amour celebration, Bantam is giving away hardcover editions of L'Amour's Education of a Wandering Man. To request your copy, just fill out the online form.

Thanks to Unshelved for the tip!

Nebraska libraries offer summer programs for children of all ages to encourage their continued exposure to books and reading. The goal of See to Read is to highlight the resources offered to Nebraska's young people through their local libraries, with the understanding of how healthy eyes are vital to the ultimate benefits of reading.

Complimentary copies of the See to Reader are available at Nebraska public libraries. Included in the Reader are:
• warning signs of vision problems,
• booklist for children relating to vision,
• first aid for eye emergencies,
• puzzles,
• ideas for developing a child into a strong reader,
• information for receiving a FREE professional vision assessment for any three-year old in the state, and
• reminders for parents with children entering kindergarten regarding vision evaluations now required by Nebraska law.

This information can also be found by visiting www.NEchildrenvision.org, under See to Read. One out of five children entering kindergarten in Nebraska has an undetected vision problem. This "unseen" health issue may greatly influence the outcome of a child's academic and social behavior as they struggle to keep pace with other students. Parents and educators need to be aware of this potential link to poor reading performance and other developmental skill lags in children. Is raising this awareness a good role for public libraries? Have you heard the radio PSA about this partnership in your area?

For more information contact: Sally Snyder, 402-471-4003, 800-307-2665.

Have you ever wondered how books are nominated for One Book One Nebraska? This year, the Nebraska Center for the Book is inviting recommendations for the 2009 One Book One Nebraska book selection.

The Nebraska Center for the Book will consider books written by a Nebraska author (living or dead/with current or former residence in the state), or that have a Nebraska theme or setting. Books should have a broad appeal to readers across Nebraska and lend well to group book discussion. Books may be fiction, non-fiction, biography, memoir or poetry. They should be in print and readily available. Of course, please nominates a book that you have read and judged to be a great book for generating discussion.

Book recommendations should be sent via e-mail to Maria Medrano-Nehls by August 1. Recommendations may also be sent via the US Postal Service to The Nebraska Center for the Book, c/o Nebraska Library Commission 1200 N Street, Suite 120, Lincoln, NE 68508.

The Nebraska Center for the Book will announce the 2009 One Book One Nebraska choice in October.

For information about the One Book One Nebraska program, including current and previous book selections, see www.onebookonenebraska.org.

What book will you nominate?...Click on comment below.

Grant applications are now available for "Let’s Talk About It: Love & Forgiveness," a scholar-led reading and discussion program for libraries interested in exploring themes of love and forgiveness in everyday life through classic and contemporary literature. The American Library Association and the Fetzer Institute, as part of its Campaign for Love & Forgiveness, invite public libraries to apply for $2,500 grants to support the program in their community. Deadline: July 15. For more information see www.ala.org/ala/ppo/programs/currentprograms/letstalkaboutit/ltailove.cfm or e-mail: publicprograms@ala.org. Are any libraries in Nebraska interested in this grant opportunity?

The Nebraska Humanities Council wants to expand Prime Time Family Reading Time to public libraries in Nebraska communities and neighborhoods where student reading scores are not meeting state standards. Since 2002, the Nebraska Humanities Council has funded Prime Time—a six-week reading and discussion program for low-income families with children ages six to 10—at 14 libraries and five schools in 13 communities across the state.

Last summer, Prime Time expanded beyond Spanish-speaking families to help fund sessions at Omaha’s Washington Branch library, serving African-American families from neighborhoods where poverty is high and student reading scores are low. According to John Bernardi, director of the Washington Branch, several participants told him that Prime Time was “one of the best programs the library offers and that it has become very important to them.”

For more information or to apply as a new Prime Time site, go to: http://www.nebraskahumanities.org/programs/prime.html or contact the NHC office at (402) 474-2131 or e-mail: nhc@nebraskahumanities.org.

Yesterday we added five new Creative Commons licensed titles to our collection. They are:

• The Baum plan for financial independence and other stories by John Kessel
• Mothers & other monsters stories by Maureen F. McHugh
• Stranger things happen by Kelly Link
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
• Wireless networking in the developing world a practical guide to planning and building low-cost telecommunications infrastructure

More are coming. Also, I'm working with the Skokie Public Library in Skokie, IL to get some CC-licensed music cataloged. More details will be supplied as they become available.

To find all of our CC-licensed titles, search for "creative commons" in our catalog.

You and your library staff are invited to attend a FREE, 60-minute web-based session for an overview and demonstration of NetLibrary and how users can get the most from your library's eBook collection.

Topics will include: getting started, creating end-user accounts, searching for titles, copying and pasting text, printing pages, adding notes, saving titles to a favorites list, plus other features and functions. The session will also review the essential resources available to help your users access NetLibrary eBooks with ease.

If your library is new to using NetLibrary, has experienced a recent staff change, or simply needs a refresher on end-user features, this session is right for you!

This interactive session is delivered live, over the web and via teleconference, by an OCLC Implementation Specialist. This session also provides a great opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion with other library participants.

Register today!

New Online Demos Now Available

Five self-paced demonstrations give the users perspective on how to access NetLibrary, create a user account, search and view eBooks, plus download and transfer eAudiobooks, all with ease. For added convenience, these demos can be linked directly from your library's website.

View Demos

During National Library Week, libraries of all types will host special gaming programs in support of a new literacy initiative called gaming @ your library.

Historically, libraries have provided print resources, but as new formats have been introduced, libraries have included them in their collections. Videogames are one more format, one that has grown in use and popularity during the last 30 years.

Interesting gaming facts:

• Adults of both sexes play games over seven hours a week
• The average age for players is 33
• 25% of game players are over 50 years old
• 38% of game players are female

  Source: ESA’S 2006 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry

Visit gaming @ your library for Library Gaming Resources and a logo to use for your event.

For all the details, read the ALA Press Release.

You can also share photos of your event in the gaming @ your library Flickr group.

Leave a comment and share your gaming @ your library stories with us!

In cooperation with NetLibrary and SOLINET, the Nebraska Library Commission and NEBASE are pleased to announce the launch of the first Shared Collection of NetLibrary eBooks for Public Libraries!

Building on the success of the previous SOLINET Shared Collections, we are now offering a collection created especially for public libraries. This unique and exciting collection is projected to begin with 350 titles and expand to 1,000 as participation grows.

The Public Library Shared Collection is expected to include content from leading publishers such as McGraw-Hill, AMACOM, Beacon Press, Class Publishers, and Elsevier. Having no duplications of other SOLINET shared collections, the Public Library Shared Collection’s emphasis will be on 2006 and later.

The initial title list includes books on consumer advice, do-it-yourself, parenting, general science, and gardening as well as titles for children and young adults. eBooks will be available in early 2008, depending on member participation levels.

Features:

• MARC record sets included in price.


• No additional licensing for those who have completed eBook and Subscriber Agreements in connection with purchases of NetLibrary eBooks since January 2003.


• Reference Center functionality will be enabled for all participants, extending to their other Reference Center holdings as well.

The following features will also be available to subscribers:

• Available 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week
• Can be viewed online on any PC connected to the Internet
• Remote access available
• Real time usage reports are available from your Library Resource Center.

For more information about this collection, including pricing and ordering instructions, go to our Public Library NetLibrary Shared Collection web site.

To learn more about NetLibrary, including background information on past shared collections (e.g., title lists, participants) go to our NetLibrary Consortium Information web site.

We've added three new titles to our Creative Commons collection:

• The Joy of Cooking: A Cookbook for Small and Rural Libraries (OCLC # 212625340)
• The Joy of Cooking: Recipes of a 5-Star Library (OCLC # 212625336)
• The Future of Reputation (OCLC # 212625186)

Additionally we've added the CC license information into the 540 field for all of the CC titles. As a reminder, the easiest way to find all of the titles in the collection is to search the OPAC for the keyword "creative commons".

I've been a fan of the idea Creative Commons (CC) for several years now. The idea behind it was created by Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig; to offer an alternative to traditional copyright in which the creator of the work states which uses they grant upfront instead of the more traditional "all rights reserved" and pray that you have a good understanding of what exactly is and isn't fair use. In that spirit science fiction author and copyright reform advocate Cory Doctorow has been releasing his books in both print form and under a CC license. Professor Lessig has done the same. More recently other authors have started experimenting with releasing their work under CC.

About a month ago I was asked the following question: Why don't libraries start cataloging and offering CC-licensed works? Why not, I asked myself. Why doesn't the Commission try this. So, I spoke with others and everyone loved the idea. (At first anyway. We'll come back to that in a moment.) The basic idea was to take electronic versions of these titles, post them on our Web server, catalog them in the OPAC, then offer them up to those that wanted them. Additionally, for some titles the license allowed for physical printing of the works so we sent those files off to the print shop to turn them into spiral-bound books to be added to the physical collection. (A few days later the print shop called back to question our right to print these works. A few pointers back to the CC Web site and the relevant licenses straightened it all out.)

Books and PDF files in hand, off to cataloging they went. I not being a cataloger myself I can't give a completely accurate accounting of what I put our cataloger through, but I owe her a lunch. Some of the questions raised by these items were just who the "publisher" was and what should be listed as the publisher's "location". Larger issues such as whether these were newly unique editions or just reprints of a previously released edition also needed to be addressed. Discussion ensued and decisions were made. Are the records perfect, I'll leave that for others to judge.

The end result: We now have a collection of nine CC-licensed electronic titles available through our OPAC along with seven of those titles also available as circulating print editions that we created. Also, seven of the nine titles resulted in brand new records in OCLC. (Two of them already had records for the CC versions so we just added a link to the copies on our server in the local record.) Here's what we've added:

• Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (OCLC 192003856)
• Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow (OCLC 192003897)
• Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow (OCLC 192003917)
• Trigger Happy by Stephen Poole (OCLC 192003815)
• Shike by Robert J. Shea (OCLC 192003727)
• My Own Kind of Freedom: A Firefly Novel by Steven Brust (OCLC 192003635)
• The Future of Ideas by Lawrence Lessig (OCLC 192004088)
• Code version 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig
• Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig

Unfortunately, our OPAC doesn't allow for direct linking to individual records so if you'd like to see what our local records look like you'll either need to search for them or check out the screenshots in our Creative Commons flickr set. There you'll also find photos of the print copies we created.

So, check it all out and let us know what you think. The plan is to continue to add other CC-licensed works as deemed appropriate in the future. Due to the costs involved the chances of creating additional print editions is small but it hasn't been ruled out.

Oh, and we've already gotten responses from some of the authors involved. I had an e-mail conversation with Steven Poole as the project got started and he completely supported what we were doing with his book. Cory Doctorow left a comment on one of the photos in which he stated that it "Warms the cockles of my heart!" When I explained further what we were doing he replied with "Holy moly, Michael. This is made of awesome." As you can probably guess, so far I'm quite happy with the project.

UPDATES:

The easiest way to find the Creative Commons collection is search the catalog for the keywords "creative commons".

A few new titles have been added including: Tips for Conference Bloggers (OCLC #,192095102) and the two recent MaintainIT cookbooks for small libraries.

We're getting some press. Cory Doctorow has posted about this project over on BoingBoing.net and LISNews has picked it up too.

OCLC Language Sets: Prepare for the Multilingual World

OCLC Language Sets is an easy and inexpensive way to build your multilingual collections with fiction and non-fiction books, videos and DVDs. Language Sets offers pre-selected sets of current popular materials in 17 languages - Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Panjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Vietnamese. The Custom Collection option lets you design a collection based on your library users’ specific needs.

You receive the most current and popular titles, full-level MARC records for each title, plus free shipping and cataloging. Your new holdings are added to the WorldCat database of shared records from libraries around the world, which means your users will be able to find library materials on the Web through familiar sites such as Yahoo! Search and Google. Language-specific posters and bookmarks are included to help you promote your non-English resources.

Libraries who wish to order Language Sets do not have to be members of OCLC. The sets are available to both OCLC member and nonmember libraries.

Attend this session to see an overview of Language Set content, delivery options, pricing and information about how you can create your own custom collections.

Presented by Christa Burns on 10 October 2007.

Presentation Visuals
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The Nebraska Library Commission will bring children’s author Ben Mikaelsen to Nebraska for an April statewide author tour. Mikaelsen will present programs for school children and the general public in ten Nebraska communities, in cooperation with the Regional Library Systems. Author Ben Mikaelsen, has won the International Reading Association Award and the Western Writer’s Golden Spur Award. In addition, his novels have won many state Reader’s Choice awards, including the 1995 Nebraska Golden Sower award. Mikaelsen is the author of Rescue Josh McGuire, Nebraska’s 2007 One Book for Nebraska Kids selection. He lives in a log cabin near Bozeman, Montana, with a 750 pound black bear that he adopted and has raised for the last twenty-five years. For more information see his Website, http://www.benmikaelsen.com.

Join us on the Nebraska April Author Tour with Ben Mikaelsen

School visits (not open to the public):
Broken Bow, DeWitt: Tri-County Schools, Elgin, Fremont, Gretna, Hastings, Ogallala, Plainview

Public Library programs for the general public:
Ogallala, Goodall City Library: Becoming the Author of Your Own Life – April 14, 4:00 p.m.
Hildreth Public Library: Becoming the Author of Your Own Life – April 15, 4-5 p.m.
Holdrege Area Public Library: Becoming the Author of Your Own Life – April 15, 7:00 p.m.
Mahoney State Park: Research—Finding the Heart of the Story – April 16, 7:00 p.m.

This is not the first time Mikaelsen has visited Nebraska. We've heard lots of stories of his travels across the state. Please share your memories of previous Mikaelsen author tours in Nebraska by clicking in the Comment space below.

For more information about the tour, contact Sally Snyder, Nebraska Library Commission Children’s Services Coordinator, 402-471-4003, 800-307-2665.

The We the People Bookshelf, a collection of classic books for young readers, is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ (NEH) in cooperation with the American Library Association (ALA). Nebraska public and school (K – 12) libraries are invited to apply for the fifth annual We the People Bookshelf grant. We are interested in hearing about how these collections are received by Nebraska public library customers. Please comment below if your library has received these grants in the past.

To apply for a set of classic books for young readers on the theme “Created Equal,” complete the online application at www.ala.org/wethepeople by January 25, 2008.

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

All Nebraska Library Commission web sites, including NebraskAccess and Nebraska Memories, will be down for 10-12 hours on Saturday, January 5th, beginning at 6am.

This power outage is due to electrical work being done in the Atrium building and affects all NLC web sites. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to your own services.

1. If your library links directly to the database resources from your own library web site, and does not go through or login via the NebraskAccess web site, the power outage will NOT affect your use of the resources.

2. Libraries that use the NebraskAccess web site to link to the databases can use direct links and passwords during the outage. If your library has IP access, you will not need the usernames and passwords from within the library.

3. For those libraries and patrons that use the NebraskAccess web site to link to and login to the databases, you may use the direct links to login to select resources during this time.

A message with the direct database links and passwords has been sent to all Nebraska Library Commission mailing lists. If you did not receive this message, please contact the Reference Desk for the information at 800-307-2665 or 402-471-4016. Please note that the Commission closes at 5:00pm tonight.

The Nebraska Book Festival is Nebraska's premier opportunity to showcase our fantastic Nebraska writers and publishers. The Festival is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Nebraska Humanities Council, and Nebraska Library Commission. Held in downtown Lincoln October 26-28, this year's festival included a variety of activities for adults and children. Photos from the 2007 Nebraska Book Festival are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/librarycommission/sets/72157603170787072/.

Answer: "Enter what you're reading or your whole library—it's an easy, library-quality catalog. LibraryThing also connects you with people who read the same things." LibraryThing

One of the sessions I attended at the American Library Association conference in June was a presentation by Tim Spalding, developer of LibraryThing. He was part of a group of three presenters in a session entitled, “Harnessing the Hive: Social Networks in Libraries.” I’d heard quite a bit about this new cataloging tool, but wasn’t sure how I could use it. As I listened to Tim, and watched him demonstrate just how useful and easy this is to use, I decided to give it a try.

For nearly 11 years, I’ve been part of a small group of people who produce a weekly radio show on a community radio station on KZUM. Our program, BookTalk, is described as the show “for people who love to read and love to talk about what they read.” I thought it might be helpful for me to start listing books in LibraryThing as I finished them. I would then have an easy reference point for books to talk about on the radio.

So I created "My Library" in LibraryThing. I added some favorite titles I’d read awhile ago, but for the most part, I added titles as I finished them. This has replaced my boring Excel spreadsheet I’ve used to track books for our radio show. LibraryThing is easy to create and update, and easier to share with others. A free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. The cataloging provides “social data” so I can see how many other personal libraries include my titles, reviews, and conversations about a book. I can also see whose libraries contain a lot of books similar to mine. What a great way to find books to read!!

Larger issue – will this kind of collaborative cataloging (folksonomy) replace Dewey in libraries? Some libraries have already made a change. According to Library Journal, the Danbury Public Library in Connecticut was the first to offer access to LibraryThing’s “collaborative book cataloging” as a service to their customers. (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6445695.html) Since then other libraries have signed on, and LibraryThing continues to grow -- over 200 million books have been cataloged!

We know that library involvement is the key to success of our Nebraska statewide reading efforts. We also know that the staff and volunteers of Nebraska public libraries are very busy with a variety of library services and reading promotion activities. What resources and tools help libraries bring communities together through literature by hosting reading and discussion activities?

Is your library celebrating One Book One Nebraska 2007 by reading Crazy Horse: Strange Man of the Oglalas, by Nebraska author Marie Sandoz? Please comment below about resources that helped with organizing book discussion sessions and other events.

Are you interested in celebrating One Book One Nebraska 2008 by reading Restoring the Burnt Child, by Nebraska’s own State Poet William Kloefkorn? Please comment below with suggestions and ideas for tool that might help to assist with reading/discussion activities, as well as a suggested timeframe for distribution.

Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan

The 2007 Nebraska Book Festival, rescheduled for October 26-27, is moving to downtown Lincoln where events will be staged at locations along Centennial Mall near 15th and P Streets, including the Nebraska State Historical Society’s Museum of Nebraska History, Lincoln Children’s Museum, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) College of Journalism and Mass Communications in Andersen Hall. Other downtown locations include the Nebraska State Capitol at 15th and K Streets and the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center at 13th and Q Streets. The locations for the Festival are surrounded by coffeehouses, restaurants, bookstores, theaters, shops, and night spots.

The Warner Chamber in the Nebraska State Capitol will serve as the site for the keynote address on Friday, October 26, at 5:30 P.M. Native American scholar and author Joseph Marshall III will open the Festival with an address focusing on the great Sioux warrior and tactician, Crazy Horse (the subject of Nebraska author Mari Sandoz’ biography, Crazy Horse: Strange Man of the Ogalala, the 2007 One Book One Nebraska selection).

On Saturday, October 27, the Nebraska Center for the Book will announce the winners of the annual Nebraska Book Awards in a ceremony in the Nebraska State Capitol Rotunda, at 11:00 A.M., to be followed by the annual Book Festival luncheon in the Chez Hay banquet hall in the Noodles and Co. building at 14th and P Streets. Luncheon guests will hear readings by Nebraska Book Award winners.

At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 26, Coup de Torchon, a mystery film, will screen at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. Outside the Lines: Creative Storytelling Activities for Children is scheduled for Saturday, October 27 at the Lincoln Children’s Museum. Admission is free. The schedule of activities for children is available www.unl.edu/NCB/CreativeStorytelling.html.

Nebraska Book Festival Director Michael Cartwright comments, “The 2007 Nebraska Book Festival is shaping up to be a memorable event.” The Nebraska Book Festival is sponsored by the Mari Sandoz Heritage Society, Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Center for the Book, Nebraska Humanities Council, Nebraska Library Commission, Nebraska Secretary of State, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and University Press.

For more information see www.unl.edu/NCB/current_festival.html or contact Michael Cartwright, Nebraska Book Festival Director, 402-471-4006, 800-307-2665, e-mail: Michael Cartwright.

Please comment below on the plans for Nebraska's Book Festival. Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan

Nebraska Astronaut READ® Posters Available

Could the young people that visit your library relate to an astronaut from Nebraska? Nebraska native Clay Anderson, currently aboard the International Space Station, describes his experience in space as “the ride of my life.” Anderson, born in Omaha and raised in Ashland, is the first native Nebraskan to fly in space (and the first to walk in space).

When he returns to earth, he plans to visit classrooms and other groups to encourage youngsters to pursue their dreams. In a recent broadcast from space, Anderson reflected on the fifteen times he applied to the astronaut program before being accepted. “Don’t ever give up...You can be whatever you want to be. You just have to set your mind to it...and go get it,” he said.

Anderson generously posed for READ® posters and bookmarks for Nebraska libraries and school media centers to use to promote books and reading. Upon request, the Nebraska Library Commission will send Nebraska libraries and school media centers a CD with the posters and bookmarks. They can be printed at a local print shop or quick-copy shop. One hundred and fifteen CDs have already been distributed. To use this promotional tool with your customers, contact Alyssa Bundy, Nebraska Library Commission Student Intern, e-mail:
Alyssa Bundy.

Please comment below on your use of READ® posters and other READ® materials with your library customers. Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan

Do you have some favorite YA titles to recommend to YALSA for this new list to help celebrate their first 50 years?

YALSA's 50th Anniversary Taskforce is asking your help in compiling its "Librarians' Choice: 100 Super Summer Reads for Teens" list. If you know of a great summer read, please add it to the list. You can access and add to the list from YALSA's wiki:
http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Summer_Reading

Since the focus is on summer reads, lighter leisure reading for teens, please suggest titles that are fun and frivolous.

I'm going to suggest Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. What title will you recommend?

The 50 states are in a race to see who can vote the most for "What Book Got You Hooked." Right now, Nebraska is running second to Oklahoma, with Louisiana, last year's winner, coming up fast on the outside. The latest intelligence reports that Oklahoma has a good lead but "it is still very much anyone's race." The stakes are 50,000 free books for kids in Nebraska--and coming out on top of any traditional rivalries.

You can vote once every 24 hours. So vote at home and at work. Ask your library users and your spouse and children and neighbors and friends to vote for Nebraska--every day until the end of July. Go to What Book Got You Hooked.

50,000 new books will be awarded to the state with the most votes at What Book Got You Hooked? This giveaway is being sponsored by First Book to celebrate the distribution of its 50 millionth book this summer. You may vote once every 24 hours through July 31. Nebraska ranks 38th right now. Let's go to What Book Got You Hooked and vote--and tell them what book got you hooked!

First Book is a nonprofit organization with a mission to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.

Thanks to Brenda and Becky for the tip.

We've heard for a long time that adult book discussion programs are great for encouraging readers to come to the library. Currently, libraries in every state but Nebraska and Deleware are set to receive funds to support The Big Read library book discussions. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. Big Read grants, ranging from $2,500 - $20,000, are available to revitalize the role of literature in American culture.

Organizations selected to participate in The Big Read will receive a grant, financial support to attend a national orientation meeting, educational and promotional materials for broad distribution, Organizer’s Guide for developing and managing Big Read activities, inclusion of your organization and activities on The Big Read Web site, and the prestige of participating in a highly visible national initiative. Approximately 200 organizations of varying sizes across the country will be selected in this cycle.

Go to www.NEABigRead.org to download the Guidelines and Application.

Questions? Call Arts Midwest at 612.341.0755 or e-mail TheBigRead@artsmidwest.org
Deadlines
Intent to apply deadline (strongly encouraged): June 29, 2007

Application deadline: July 31, 2007

Project activity: January–June 2008

Please comment below to let us know if you intend to apply (or if you don't, please let us know why). Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan

The 2007 Nebraska Center for the Book deadline for the Nebraska Book Awards competition is June 30. Even though lots of great books were published in 2006, entries have been very light this year. Please take a moment to comment below and let us know what books should be considered for this prestigious award.

If you suggest an eligible book (written by Nebraska authors, published by Nebraska publishers, set in Nebraska, or relating to Nebraska--2006 copyright), we'll contact authors and publishers to suggest that they enter. Entries are accepted in any of the following categories:
Nonfiction
Children/Young Adult
Fiction
Cover Design/Illustration
Poetry
Anthology

For more information and the entry form, see http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/publications/BookAwardsInvitation.pdf.

A movie of The Golden Compass, the first book in the "His Dark Materials" series, is scheduled for release on December 7, 2007. The web site for the movie:

http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/

has a place for the visitor to discover their own personal daemon (companion creature). Take a look at the site, find your daemon, and tell your teen patrons know about it. I predict they will love finding their daemon!

Mine is a gibbon named Callum. What is yours?

For those that haven't run across this yet, it seems Scholastic it attaching some "rules" to libraries receiving copies of the new Harry Potter book.

The publisher of the new Harry Potter novel has strict rules for libraries handling the book this summer.

Among them: Libraries must limit the number of employees who handle the books before the July 21 release and provide names and contact information for each branch manager, according to the contract from Scholastic Inc.

Further details can be found in an article on SFGate.com

Readers across the state are celebrating One Book One Nebraska by reading Crazy Horse: Strange Man of the Oglalas, by Nebraska author Marie Sandoz and by participating in local discussions throughout the year. Nebraska libraries are invited to join in the fun by organizing book discussion sessions and other events.

To help you get started, see http://www.onebookonenebraska.org/2007/index.html for discussion questions, program ideas, and a calendar of events.
Book Club Kits, www.nlc.state.ne.us/ref/bookclubkits.html, are available from the Nebraska Library Commission and the Nebraska Regional Library Systems.

2007 One Book One Nebraska is coordinated by Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center at Chadron State College and cosponsored by Nebraska Center for the Book, Nebraska Library Association, Nebraska Library Commission, Nebraska Regional Library Systems, and other organizations.

Please comment on this posting with your ideas for programming, reactions to the book, etc.
Thanks, Mary Jo Ryan

March 2 was Read Across America Day. A reminder to all to read aloud to children, and to celebrate Dr. Seuss. The staff at the Nebraska Library Commission marked the day with two Dr. Seuss books read aloud. Shannon read Yertle the Turtle and Sally read The Cat in the Hat. It's fun to take some time and acknowledge the joys of reading aloud.

How did you celebrate Read Across America Day?


  

What is your favorite title for this summer’s reading programs? Either for “Get a Clue @ your library®” or for the teen theme “YNK @ your library®” – let everyone know! Share your favorite title and learn about other titles you may want to add to your collection before summer arrives.

You’ll hear all about my favorites at the summer reading program workshops in February and March.

If Library 2.0 is all about encouraging patron collaboration, feedback, and participation in library services, and fostering connections between people, then Ann Arbor District Library's newly-enhanced OPAC is a true embodiment of this philosophy! 

In a January 21 post to his blog, John Blyberg, System Administrator and Lead Developer at the Ann Arbor District Library, writes about implementing "The SOPAC" (short for Social OPAC) at his library.  Blyberg describes the SOPAC as " a set of social networking tools integrated into the AADL catalog.  It gives users the ability to rate, review, comment on, and tag items." 

If you'd like to take a closer look at his innovation, Blyberg invites readers to visit the AADL catalog.  Once you get there, scroll down the page to view the "Top Ten Tags," "10 Most Recent Tags," "10 Random Tags," "Last 10 Reviews," and "10 Random Reviews." 

You need an account to create content (e.g., add tags, write reviews, etc.), but you don't need to be a cardholder or Ann Arbor resident to get one - just click on "My Account" and follow the on-screen instructions.  Then, look up a book you've recently read, and "[b]e the first to write a review" or add a tag! 

For fun, make sure you click on the "Card catalog image" link associated with your title.  If you've created an account you can add marginalia to the card and save it to your "Personal Card Catalog."

Is this cool, or what?

On Edgar Allan Poe's 198th birthday, the Mystery Writers of America have announced the 2007 nominees for their annual awards.

The Best Novel nominees are:
The Pale Blue Eye, by Louis Bayard
The Janissary Tree, by Jason Goodwin
Gentleman and Players, by Joanne Harris
The Dead Hour, by Denise Mina
The Virgin of Small Plains, by Nancy Pickard
The Liberation Movements, by Olen Steinhauer.

The nominees for a Best First Novel by an American author are:
The Faithful Spy, by Alex Berenson
Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn
King of Lies, by John Hart
Holmes on the Range, by Steve Hockensmith
A Field of Darkness, by Cornelia Read.

Awards are presented in categories including Best Paperback Original, Best Fact Crime, Best Young Adult, and Best Juvenile, among others. Award winners will be announced on April 26 in New York.

I'm never sure if an award nomination is a good reason to select a book for the library's collection (maybe not,) but it's a good reason to consider the book, and awards can make a great theme for an in-library display. We'd love to see pictures--and publish them--of any displays on mysteries or on Edgar Allan Poe.

The Library Commission has added several book club kits to our collection that are available for your library to use. If you already have book clubs, please feel free to share this list with the leaders and if you are thinking about starting a book club, this is an excellent way to provide multiple copies of books. Contact information for check-out is listed on the page below.

Here is a list of our titles:
Book Club Kits available from the Nebraska Library Commission.

Does your library support book groups? If you do, click on the Comments link just below this post and share your comments with us!