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Contact Us
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Office
2727 West 2nd Street #233
Hastings NE 68901 -
402.462.1975
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Denise Harders
402.705.1409
denise.cpls@gmail.com -
Deb Fairbanks
cplsasst@gmail.com -
Nicole Ruzicka
cpls.nicole@gmail.com
December Social Media Programs
October is gone and November has started. That means, in this year of 2020, it is time to prepare some activities for December which may involve your patrons through social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. Here are seven program ideas that can be done either in-person or virtually during the last month of the year.
Read a New Book Month
There are so many to choose from! Encourage your patrons to take a risk and read something outside their comfort zone. Choose titles randomly and include one in each checkout or curbside pickup this month (with patron approval, of course). This will improve circulation numbers, too!
Wear Brown Shoes Day (December 4)
Invite your patrons to wear brown shoes today and then encourage them to post pictures or videos to your social media websites with your library-specific hashtag. Create a fashion show with the pictures.
Mitten Tree Day (December 6)
Select a picture book with the theme of mittens to read aloud online for your early December story time. Offer your patrons the opportunity to help the community by “warming hearts and hands.” Ask them to put a new pair of mittens (child- or adult-sized) in your book drop to add to your Mitten Tree. Take pictures of each pair as they come in and post them on your social media. Also take and post weekly pictures of your Mitten Tree. Click here for some in-person mitten activities. Near the end of the month, donate all the mittens to a local shelter or church.
Gingerbread House Day (December 12)
Nothing brings in the holidays like the smell of fresh baked gingerbread. Encourage your patrons to bake (or build) a gingerbread house any way they can. Have them post pictures with these special hashtags for the day: #GingerbreadHouse #NationalGingerbreadHouseDay #BakedGoods
Bake Cookies Day (December 18)
Many family traditions involve preparing and sharing foods. Invite patrons to share the cookies that are part of their families’ holiday traditions by posting pictures of the recipes and baked goods to their social media accounts with your library-specific hashtag. They could let you post the (non-secret) recipes to your Facebook page, too.
National Hard Candy Day (December 19)
December 19 is all about the hard stuff as we celebrate National Hard Candy Day. Hard candy has long been a preferred sweet snack by many societies. Banks have done this forever and not only during December. On this day, maybe your library can give out a piece of hard candy to each patron you serve.
Blizzard of Snowflakes (December 28-31)
Send out a request for your teen, young adult, and adult patrons to help you redecorate the library’s windows after the holiday season. Send home printable snowflake templates for them to fold and cut into charming paper snowflakes. When they are returned, hang the snowflakes in the library and post pictures to your social media to encourage more returns until you have a beautiful blizzard.
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E-rate: What’s New for 2021?
These important workshops are now open for registration! Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all workshops will be held online only via GoToWebinar.
NOTE: This online workshop is being offered on multiple days and at varied times. The same information will be provided at each workshop, so you only need to attend one session. A recorded version will also be made available after all of the live sessions have been held.
What is E-rate? How can my library benefit from E-rate? How do I apply for E-rate?
E-rate is a federal program that provides discounts to schools and public libraries on the cost of their Internet Access and Connections to make these services more affordable. This includes Broadband, Fiber, and Wi-Fi Internet access as well as Internal Connections, such as wiring, routers, switches, and other network equipment.
The E-Rate Productivity Center (EPC) is your online portal for all E-rate interactions. With your organizational account you can use EPC to file forms, track your application status, communicate with USAC, and more.
In this workshop, Christa Porter, Nebraska’s State E-rate Coordinator for Public Libraries, will explain the E-rate program and show you how to access and use your account in EPC to submit your Funding Year 2021 E-rate application. Dates and times:
· November 17 – 1:00-4:00pm Central / 12:00noon-3pm Mountain
· November 19 – 9:30am-12:30pm Central / 8:30-11:30am Mountain
· November 23 – 1:00-4:00pm Central / 12:00noon-3pm Mountain
· November 24 – 9:30am-12:30pm Central / 8:30-11:30am Mountain
To register for any of these sessions, go to the Nebraska Library Commission’s Training & Events Calendar and search for ‘e-rate 2021’.
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Year-Long Access to Reader Zone
Great News!
Many Nebraska libraries used the online record-keeping tool, Reader Zone, which is a user-friendly way to collect reading data for their Summer Reading Programs. We racked up nearly 1.7 million minutes of reading this summer. In light of the continuing need for online programming, the Nebraska Library Commission awarded a grant from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide year-long access to Reader Zone free of charge for Nebraska libraries.
This access is for public libraries, school libraries, and academic libraries. If you want your patrons to keep track of the reading they do, either by minutes, pages, chapters, and/or books, Reader Zone can do it. If you want to help parents in your community keep track of the books they read in the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, Reader Zone can do it. If a classroom teacher wants to have a reading competition (girls vs. boys or Mrs. Smith’s class vs. Mr. Jones class), Reader Zone can do it. Any kind of reading program recording-keeping, Reader Zone can do it.
Here is a link to an educational video that will help you understand the program.
Click on this link to sign up and get your password for Reader Zone. +
This project is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Nebraska Library Commission.
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Do You Need A Disclaimer?
A question that has been coming up frequently now that libraries are opening to the public is whether or not there should be a disclaimer stating that the library is not responsible should a visitor or patron become ill with COVID-19. Recently, the Western New York Library Resources Council asked an attorney that exact question. Go to this website to see the answer.
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Nebraska 1K Reading Challenge
Reader Zone website.
In this difficult year, librarians learned about using technology to do a wide variety of tasks. One example is using Reader Zone to keep track of Summer Reading Goals instead of collecting that information on paper reading logs. Some found it difficult to manage. Others liked the way it was set up. Some patrons struggled to record their minutes and others loved using the app. Just like any other bit of new technology, Reader Zone takes some time to master.
Reader Zone has given us the chance to collect some pretty amazing statistics. As of the end of July, Nebraska readers have read 244,781 pages; plus 11,206 chapters; plus 19,085 books; plus 1,553,361 minutes!! Readers have also completed more than 2,500 literary activities. Reader Zone allows each library to designate what type of goal their patrons should work towards (i.e. pages, chapters, books, or minutes read). So, it is not just about the minutes…there is a LOT of reading going on!
Now we have another great opportunity and all you need to do is advertise it. The Nebraska Library Commission, the Nebraska Regional Library Systems, and Reader Zone are joining forces to offer the Nebraska 1K Reading Challenge for all ages. Every Nebraskan that reads 1,000 minutes in August and records it in Reader Zone will receive an exclusive vinyl sticker and be entered into a drawing for a new waterproof, 32 GB Kindle Paperwhite. Two Kindles will be given away to Challenge Winners and their libraries will also receive a matching Kindle.
Click on this link, print the poster of your choice, and put it up in your library. It features the five-digit code (NEB1K) that will get your patrons started on the challenge. The first time a person logs in with this code, he or she will be asked for an address. That is so we can mail the sticker to everyone that completes the challenge and the Kindles to the drawing winners. I will be able to sort the data and provide each library with the number of their patrons that participate (and win!).
Please help promote this terrific program to keep Nebraskans of all ages reading through the month of August!
This project is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Nebraska Library Commission.
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Two Important Websites to Review
Strong libraries are essential to the recovery of communities devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. To help guide communities, library workers, and library supporters along the path to recovery, on July 15 ALA launched a curated, online repository of tools, guides, and resources. The ALA COVID-19 Recovery website includes everything from the latest information on safely reopening libraries to funding opportunities available on the local, state, and federal level. It will be updated often and replace the existing COVID-19 Response page that has served the community through the pandemic thus far. The online resource center is arranged into four sections: Advocacy and Policy; Education; Data and Research; and Guidance Content and Protocol.
This site provides interactive context to assess the risk that one or more individuals infected with COVID-19 are present in an event of various sizes. The model is simple, intentionally so, and provided some context for the rationale to halt large gatherings in early-mid March and newly relevant context for considering when and how to re-open. Precisely because of under-testing and the risk of exposure and infection, these risk calculations provide further support for the ongoing need for social distancing and protective measures. Such precautions are still needed even in small events, given the large number of circulating cases.
Chande, A.T., Gussler, W., Harris, M., Lee, S., Rishishwar, L., Hilley, T., Jordan, I.K., Andris, C.M., and Weitz, J.S. ‘Interactive COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool’, URL http://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/
Weitz, J.S., Harris, M., Chande, A.T., Gussler, J.W., Rishishwar, L. and Jordan, I.K. (2020) Online COVID-19 Dashboard Calculates How Risky Reopenings and Gatherings Can Be. Sci Am. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/online-covid-19-dashboard-calculates-how-risky-reopenings-and-gatherings-can-be/
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YouTube Channel
The Central Plains Library System has a new means of communication. We have a YouTube Channel! This will allow us to post videos of our CPLS Board Meetings and to offer a way for all of our librarians to participate in continuing education for the Public Librarian Certification Program. In the future, we will also be producing videos with instructions for STEAM activities that you can choose to offer as virtual programming on your social media platforms.
Here is a link to our first video on our channel: https://youtu.be/CECSH-gRsqA. It is the System’s first virtual Annual Meeting. Be sure to watch the tours of two attractions in St. Paul after the meeting.
Please let us know if you have any requests or suggestions for future videos. And don’t forget to subscribe and hit the bell if you want to receive notifications every time we upload a new video.
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CPLS Annual Meeting to be Monumental
The Central Plains Library System will be hosting their FIRST EVER Virtual Annual Meeting via Zoom! We might not be able to get together in person, but that will not stop us from celebrating all that has been accomplished this past year, despite a pandemic, as well as look forward to what the future holds!
FRIDAY, JULY 10th, 2020
11am CPLS Board Meeting Begins
12:30 – 1pm Lunch
1:00-1:30pm CPLS Annual Meeting
1:30pm Virtual Tours
**Museum of Nebraska Major League Baseball
**Loup River Distilling
To register for this event, please click here. Zoom meeting invitations will be sent the week of the meeting. We look forward to “seeing” all of you there!