NCompass Live: United for Libraries - Trustees, Advocates, Friends, and Foundations

Good morning and welcome to this week's edition of Encompass Live. I am your host Krista Porter here at the Nebraska Library Commission. Encompass Live is the commission's weekly webinar series where we cover a variety of topics that may be of interest to libraries. We broadcast the show live every Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. Central Time, but if you're unable to join us on Wednesdays, that's fine. Um we do record the show as we're doing today and it will be available in our show archives for you to watch later at your convenience. And I'll show you at the end of today's show where you can access all of our show recordings. Both the live show and the recordings are free and open to anyone to watch, so please do spread the word, share with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, anyone you think might be interested in any of the topics we have on Encompass Live. Um for those of you not from Nebraska, if anyone um is here um live or watching recordings, uh the Nebraska Library Commission is the state agency for libraries. So similar to your uh whatever state library. So we provide training and resources and databases and grants to all types of libraries in the state. So you will find shows on Encompass Live for all types of libraries. Um public, academic, K-12, corrections, museums, historical societies, archives. Uh really our only criteria is that it's something to do with libraries. Uh we have Nebraska Library Commission staff that sometimes do presentations for us uh on services and programs and things that we offer here through the Library Commission, but we also have guest speakers that we bring in and um that is what we have today. Uh today we are talking about United for Libraries and joining us is uh Beth Nowlenski. Good morning, Beth. >> Morning. >> Good morning. And um I'm getting my screen here. She is going to um she's the executive director of United for libraries and she's going to tell us all about the what it's all about what it's for and our Nebraska statewide membership where you all Nebraska library staff and board members have access to these great resources and trainings and and events happening through United for libraries. So I will hand it over to you Beth to tell us all about it. >> All right, great. Thanks so much Krista. All right, welcome everybody to those attending live and those who will watch on demand. As Krista said, I'm Beth Nawalinski. I'm the executive director of United for libraries. We are a division of the American Library Association that works with trustees, advocates, friends and foundations. And we've had a long-term relationship with the Nebraska Library Commission. Rod Wagner served on our board a number of years ago and this partnership even dates back to what some of you may remember as Friends of Libraries USA or Felicia it was commonly known which was a separate organization for friends groups that actually started out of the American Library Association and then separated and then in 2009 came back together with the trustee division to become what is United for libraries. So I'm going to walk through our website the statewide training how to register things you have access to things that are forthcoming and if at any point there are questions you can put them in the chat and Krista will pop in and ask me and then also I want to hear from all of you about what you are interested in. What are the issues that you're facing in your libraries whether you're a library director or staff member board member member of the Friends of the Library or the Library Foundation. You know, what are some of the things that you would love to see from us here at United for libraries. Okay, so right now on the screen you'll see our United for libraries website. As I said, we are part of ALA, so our URL is ala.org/united. Um we don't use an acronym. Acronym, if you're familiar with ALA, you know that the divisions and round tables and offices use acronyms. So PLA, ACRL, OLOS is an office for literacy, um etc. Uh so they most of the parts of ALA use an acronym, but we don't here at United for libraries because it doesn't resonate with our typical um uh person that we're working with, which is generally a member of the public, a volunteer, a trustee, friend, or foundation. And of course, we are there also working with library directors and staff because when everyone is working together in a partnership, and they all have that same information, it helps all those groups work together for the betterment of the library. So if we have to >> I thought that it wasn't a Yeah, I've always just said it out. It never really dawned on me that it even could be an acronym or something. >> Yeah. >> Um it just flows nicely, I think. >> It does. It does. And if we have to shorten it for anything, we put just United in all capital letters. Um and so and yes, occasionally I've had a phone call from someone thinking they were reaching United Airlines. And I always Um but uh you know, we try within what we're presenting to make sure that we don't just use acronyms across um ALA as well because it doesn't again resonate with with all of the folks that we're working with. But that'll kind of help you understand how ALA is structured. We're one of the divisions. And again, we're the only division that focuses primarily on those who don't work in libraries. Um so again, trustees, friends, foundations, and of course library directors and staff. So here on the front page of our website, which you could bookmark, um we we put what's forthcoming, the the most popular things, and the things that our people are really looking for. So right now in October, we have our 21st celebration of National Friends of Libraries Week. And this is one of my favorite initiatives that we have here at United for Libraries, and it's that opportunity uh for friends to be recognized by the library director, staff, um and trustees, but also for the friends to promote themselves. Um so this opportunity to do a membership drive, to put a table at your library, um highlight all the things that the friends have done to support the library, the things they have purchased. Um and again, for the director, staff, and the trustees to say thank the friends for all they do. Um so I'll just click and go to that page on our website real quick. Uh and this year is October 18th to 24th. We will very soon have a link up and I'll send it out to Chris as well, where you can sign up to receive graphics. So we provide you both graphics you can use on your website, as well as graphics and sample social media posts for um all of the major social media platforms, uh a flyer size um that you with editable area so that you could print out and do like a tabletop sign and a larger one you could blow up at like 11 by 17. So we provide you this um whole zip drive of graphics, basically. And you just sign up to receive that, and then we send you the link where you can download that. So they're all being updated for 2026, and we'll have those out shortly. Um here on this page on your on our site, we also have some on-demand webinars that you may be interested in watching. Uh so feel free to check those out. They're all actually also available within the statewide course, but these we make available free broadly across the country because of course not every state does the wonderful thing that Nebraska does by providing this access. Um and then we also see it says coming soon the PR marketing materials. That'll be again where you can sign up to download that that folder of files. And there's some other things that you can click through and find some ideas for friends groups and libraries. Um and then we also do a National Friends of Libraries Week Award where every year we have two friends groups that are selected to win. It's a $250 um prize and the recognition. Um and in this year when I talk about 2026 United for Libraries virtual in a few minutes, you can see where um you'll be able to easily go in and register and access. Um we had a 15-minute what we call microlearning with one of our award winners from last year um in Minnesota and the great things that they did to celebrate. So, that's coming up. Mark your calendar. Um lots of great ideas in those materials um whether you're with a library, the board, or the friends of how you can celebrate and use this opportunity to engage. Usually um it's fairly easy for friends groups to get some publicity in the local paper, um sometimes go on local TV stations or radio um stations for the mayor to do a proclamation or city council depending on the structure in your community. Um but there's plenty of time to get started and and have a fun celebration. And we want to hear about all the fun things you do. Okay. So, let's um go back to the homepage. I'm not going to go Go ahead. >> The Nebraska library that won that award one year. >> I know I was thinking that as I said it and I couldn't remember the the the the library off the top of my head, but I will I will look for that and um and send the link. And I believe that we also had them on of one of our prior webinars, too. >> Yeah, yeah, we did. >> find it. I'm going to make a note here. Um and send that to you. And send that in some a follow-up email to Krista, too. She may find it in the meantime. Um So, generally under the e-learning, um I'd say everything that's listed on here is typically included for your statewide access. Um so, you will receive emails. Um I know they come to you if you're signed up for in your own state, Nebraska, for um the communications. And then if you've ever registered for anything from us, you receive our our monthly e-newsletter and we promote things in there as as well. Um so, these the virtual conference just happened. It was our seventh year. It was the last week of July. Um and Nebraska has each year's paid for statewide access. So, I'll show you where you can access all of those great resources. Um and right now these are all recent things. Um our newest fall things, which I'll talk about in a few minutes, um are not finalized yet, so they aren't linked here. Um and primarily we want to look I'll scroll down and just show you some other things. There's a calendar built in here. So, um as we put those scheduled things on there, the they'll show up here in the calendar and you can click here for more information. They usually show up under here under e-learning or news and updates. And of course, they're in those emails that I talked about. Um you'll find links to popular resources on this main page. Here, for example, you can click across this menu to go through and find resources from ALA or from United for Libraries. Um Friends of Libraries we merch if you're interested. Uh this uh uh this company that ALA partners with called Spreadshirt actually does allow you to personalize. So, if you wanted to order something with one of the Friends of Libraries Week logo on a front, you can actually upload something to put on the back as well. Um if you wanted to put your own friends group, or reverse it. Um and so, that information is there as well. Um and then, information about some of the publications that we have, etc. But, let's scroll back up and go to the Statewide Training. So, I'll talk before we go in show the Statewide Training, I'll just go into how the registration works. Um so, if we scroll down here and click on Nebraska and expand that, essentially you have access to just about everything that we offer. There are some slight differences between personal membership and the Statewide Training. So, personal membership in ALA or for personal membership in ALA and United for Libraries has a couple of um small things that are different. But, by and large, the Statewide Training access includes the overwhelming majority of those things. But, I do like to make that uh a careful distinction because, for example, ALA membership includes like a 10% discount in the ALA store and 10% on ALA e-learning and a copy of American Libraries, and those aren't things that are part of this Statewide Training cuz those are very specific to personal membership in in ALA. But, for for what comes from United for Libraries, you can pretty much consider that it's all included. So, there are a couple different ways that you can register. And for those who are already registered, wonderful. This is just, you know, reminder of this information for when you have new folks with your staff or library boards. This access includes everybody in Nebraska. So, whether you're a public library, a school library, an academic library, a prison library, a special library, a museum library. For example, we have many things on fundraising that would be great for any type of library or advocacy or community engagement. Um so, there's it doesn't matter what kind of library you are and it includes the director, all the staff, the library board members or trustees. Um I think typically in Nebraska you all are referred to as trustees and some For example, in California in some places they're called commissioners uh or trustees or board members. So, it just varies by state and by library often. >> Yeah, mostly here it's a board member, library board member. Yep. >> Okay. All right. And then um friends of the library group and the foundation. So, you they're all included, right? Any type of library um and any role with that library. So, if this form doesn't show for you, depending on your browser or whether you're on your phone, um the embedded form doesn't show, then you click that button open registration form in a new window and the same form opens up. So, we collect very minimal information here. Your email address, each person does need their own unique email address. And um this comes up um uh sometimes with very small rural libraries that might have one email inbox for that library. Um and so, if multiple people are trying to register under that email address, um we can't give you unique um logins. Uh so, you know, I suggest you can make go make a free Gmail address, for example, or a free uh ProtonMail's popular right now, too, or Yahoo or whatever you're [clears throat] working with with your with your ISP or an email provider. Yeah, each person does >> a question about the registration that I want to address right now so that we can make sure everyone understands. Um they wanted to know how do we get the password. It used to be that there was a statewide password that you would contact us here at the Library Commission for and everyone just use that one password to get in it, but that has changed. So, if you remember that old way of doing it, um it's no longer that. Now it's each individual person has their own um login that they would set up for this um with their own password that you all will create and make up. So, if you remember that old if you have some old paperwork from us, we used to hand out flyers at conference about that, that's not how it's done anymore. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, and there's two reasons for that. One is as the systems got better, right? Because you've been partners with us for so long that when things were primarily paper, right? And we we all switched over digital, um is that um people there became at one point within the ALA structure where somebody could change a password and so that statewide password kept getting changed by by by people not realizing that it was one account for everyone. >> What it would affect, yeah. >> But more importantly, I think is that, you know, with your individual login, you can track what you've done and then that's information you could submit to your state to the Nebraska Library Commission for um for credit for their program, right? So, um and then you can see what you've done um and the state library also has that engagement tracking available to them as well. So, there are benefits to that and it is then your own login. So, if you fill this out and you don't have an ALA login, we create one for you and we send that to you along with the directions on us how to set a password and if you have any trouble setting your password, you give us a call and we can set that over the phone. We don't send a password via email, but I can give one over the phone. I can reset it and tell you over the phone what it is. Um but most people have no problem setting that that password um on their own and we're always available to help. So, we're and let me clear make sure I make it clear that you don't need to be an ALA member to register for this. So, we create what's called a free website account for you and it just allows you to log in to both ALA website but also to the e-learning site where everything's hosted and if you ever did want to buy something from the ALA store or register for an ALA conference or register for a different free or paid webinar through ALA or another part of ALA, that's the same login that you would use because we have what's called single sign-on across all our web properties. >> I use it for all sorts of different things that are just vaguely ALA related. [laughter] >> Yep. Yeah, because there's often free webinars that ALA does but you know, you do need a login to be able to access that. We ask about your primary role. If you click other, it asks you, "Okay, what is your primary role?" This is just some demographic information to help us see who's you know, what what role people are that are participating in different types of training that we do. How you hear about the statewide access, that's just again helpful information to see where is the information getting out. What you're most interested in and then we include some of the additional things that are coming up. So, these all are recent things and as the new e-learning comes on in the fall, I'll put them here as well. So, this form if you fill it out and you don't and you check none here, then you'll go in the statewide training course that I'll show you in a few minutes. But you can also opt in to some of these additional things as well and then I'll go ahead and pop you into those additional courses. You can always do it yourself through the statewide training and I'll show you that but then it's a little one-stop shopping here. I don't include everything that you have access to because the list will be way too long. Um this will always have the most recent and the and upcoming e-learning and will pop you into those courses. >> And if you don't check it here, that's okay. It's you you just get it late you can just go to it later and find it. It's not like this is the only way to access these things. No. >> Correct. Yep. Yep. There are multiple ways. Um for example, the stronger together power partnerships for library leadership webinar shows in the ALA e-learning catalog. Um and if you go to that page, there'll be instructions there if you're in Nebraska for how you get access to it. But and I'll say this many times during this um this time here with you is that you can call us at any point or you can email us at any point. Um our email address is united@ala.org. So u n i t e d @ala.org and we will help you. We watch those emails evenings and weekends and holidays because yes, board members, friends and foundations are sometimes accessing training on holidays. Um it does happen or during holiday breaks. So um you know, we monitor those evenings, weekends and holidays and of course during business hours. And the form does say to please allow one business day, but it rarely I mean usually I'm checking them twice a day. Um and then on the weekends as well and if there are any requests, I go ahead and handle them at those times. So it's it's rare that it takes that one business day, but again, anytime you have a question, you can reach out to united@ala.org. Okay, so I said there were three ways. This is one. The other way is just to email me at united@ala.org. Um it's helpful if you go ahead and include your full name, um of course your email address is the one you're sending from, the library you're you're associated with, and your primary role. Because I'll if that's not in there, I'll reply and just ask for that information um so that we can set up that account for you. Um so that's no problem. You can just email, we'll get that, we'll take care of that. Um sort of a part two of emailing there is that a library director is welcome to just send a list of board members, send a list of your friends board members, your your library board members, your staff, whoever you want to be registered. Um we have this is something that happens uh frequently in Nebraska. I'm always happy to help. For example, for the virtual conference, I had a couple of directors who just emailed the list of people, we got them set up, and sent everybody their individual emails. So that's that is also another way. Don't sit there and fill out that form. If you as a director are attempting to fill out that form seven times to put each of your board members in there, don't waste your time. Just send me one email and list the folks on there and say, "Here's my board, uh library board." And give me full name and email address. Now I already know which library they're from, what their role is, and you've given me their information. Um and then the final way is you can always call. So our business hours ALA is based in Chicago, um and uh the United for Libraries office is actually based in Pennsylvania because that's where Friends of Libraries USA was. So um it's basically 9:00 to 5:00 Eastern our typical business hours. I do want to let you know that our phone system is set up to go direct to voicemail after business hours. So um uh if you call at 5:01, it will go to voicemail. But if I'm still working, I'll get it and I'll handle it. So not a problem. So those any other questions on registration, Krista? >> Uh, not yet. Um Um Yep. If you have Like I said at the beginning, um if you have any questions, go ahead. There's the um the new place to look for it is there's the speech bubble with a question mark in it. Click on that. It will open up where you can type in any questions or comments or anything you want to um share or ask about. >> Okay, [clears throat] great. So, the login that you have If you have an existing login to the ALA site, that's the same login you use to the e-learning site. And I'll show you that in just a moment. Um but if you are new to this and we're giving you a login for to access the e-learning site, again, it's valid here on the ALA site. It doesn't get you access to ALA membership things, but it does give you access to anything that requires a login, um which may be uh registering for a free webinar from ALA, for example, or if you wanted to purchase something from the ALA store. Um let's say you wanted to order some band book weeks band books week materials, for example, or library card sign-up month, uh posters or bookmarks and stuff. You still need a login, and that same one works for all of across all ALA properties. All right. So, the ALA e-learning website, and this is where all of the things are hosted for on-demand access. Um now, some folks just attend everything live or most stuff live, and then they rarely come in here and access anything on demand, and that's fine. Um but it's always here if you miss something or you want to go You're newer in your role, and you want to go back and see what's there, because so much of what we are presenting is evergreen. Now, the COVID era things are no longer in the course, because um they aren't applicable here in the same way they were 5 years ago. Um but most things are evergreen and stay on here for a long time. We have a committee of our board that looks at um our materials each year to see what might might need to be refreshed or replaced. So a topic that we did 3 years ago for webinar might come back with different speakers and in the you know for example in 2027 as we're planning out those because perhaps there's some things that have changed. Of course there are over the past 5 6 years we've seen a huge increase in materials challenges program challenges etc. The need to update library policies around collection development and policies for reconsideration. So those materials get updated on more regular basis right now because so much is changing. For example also we've had some things on privacy in the past in particular around vendor negotiations for databases and such that a library might be negotiating or a system might be negotiating for a database set of databases. We have some materials on that but we're doing a fall trustee retreat library board member retreat focusing more detailed there because things have changed right in the last couple years. We know that policies on that different vendors have have changed around privacy etc. So some things will get refreshed over time. All right. So this is the site. As I mentioned your login you can it won't work for the free member exclusive training because that's ALA member exclusive training. If you're an ALA member of course your login works for that. But there is other free training that's not tied to ALA membership that you can access so you can do that browse free training. And you can always look if you ever want to see sort of did I miss something from United for Libraries, you can click the Trustees, Friends, and Foundations, and you can go through and see um what's here, and uh it'll tell you, for example, let's look at last year's um trustee retreat that we had. When you scroll down in this before you register, you can already see that in Nebraska you have access to this. So, you wouldn't go and click to pay for this because you have access to it. And it's again the 2025 one that did focus on intellectual freedom, um meeting room policies, policies for reconsideration, and then also AI. So, that was again something that's newer in recent years, and we'll refresh those materials again probably next year as well. So, the the course listings for anything that's listed here, it will have this before you register and and what you need to do to get access. If you have any questions, call or email me, always. Um so, we'll go back just to that home page there. Um oh, it clicked me and I I had this whole I have this whole series of of pages open, so you can see the progress of logging in. Um so, pretend that still says login in the upper right corner. Once I move to a new page, it realized I was already logged in and and did that. Um but, let's say if we were back um on the fresh page in the upper right corner, you would actually see a login button, you click that login button, and it'll take you to this page. So, the account that I've logged in with is a generic account. I have one for every state that we partner with um for me to use so that I can see exactly what you see without seeing any other things. If I log in as myself, there's a lot of other stuff in there. Um, so, um, that's why it says Nebraska training in the name up there in the Nebraska statewide because I only use this account for demo purposes and testing. Um, but when you click that login button in the upper right, this is what you'll see. Uh, so I wanted to comment a couple of things on on this interface. This is the interface that you currently see, um, whether you log in to the ALA site or one of our other, um, ALA properties or the e-learning site. So, I'll point out a couple of things on here. The username, your username could be your email address. Typically, when I create accounts, I do it with an email address, but, um, some you can change that username later, uh, and I will show you that and you can change your password later. That's not a problem. But, your username, um, maybe, depending on when you set up your account or if we set it up, it could be your email address, it could be whatever you chose. Um, some people could be your name, it could be any username you created. Um, and then, of course, a password of your choosing. So, um, you shouldn't need to make an ALA account, this first bullet under here, because you either have one or we've created one for you. Uh, before you go to do don't don't do that, um, unless you've double-checked to see if you have an ALA account, so you don't end up with a duplicate in the system. Um, if you forgot your username, you can click that link, which will take you to this page. It will ask you your email address, you put submit, and then you'll get an email at that email address on your record with, um, your username. Now, if the email address on your record is different than the one you're using now, you won't see an email show up. For example, some people move from Gmail to Yahoo or whatever. Um, and if you don't have access to that old email, of course you won't show it in you won't it won't show up in your current email box. So, just email me united@ala.org or give me a call. Um, we know people switch around email addresses on a regular basis. Um, so then then if you get your username retrieved, now you know that and if you've forgotten your password, you can click that forgot your password and that'll bring you to this screen. You need your username to get your password. So, if you've forgotten both, then you can either email me or call me and I can help you or you can go through the two-step process to get your username then use your username to get your password. That was confusing, I'm sure. So, Chris, if there's any questions, let me know. I think if there's one thing you can remember from today, it's that you don't need to worry about any of this because you can just simply call or email and we'll help you. All right. >> Yes, I think yes, Beth is Beth and they're very responsive and very um, willing to help any any anything you need to get into there. Yeah. >> Yeah, and also, you know, in recognition, of course, that Nebraska has many very rural areas, I don't think again, we've been partners for so long that I remember a time when, you know, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, um, we might have sent a CD-ROM out with something on it to a library because because their internet access was not not good. We haven't had something like that in quite a while, but I will just say that if there is an issue, know that we record everything and the recordings are always available on demand and we'll work with you in whatever way you need to make sure you get that access. But, we have on occasion made a file a video file downloadable because when somebody wants to run a playback for their board, they're not really sure whether their internet is going to be steady and strong, and we can do that. We can create a temporary download where you can do that. Um so, it doesn't happen very often, but just know we're we're here to help. Okay. So, now you've clicked that login button, you do know your news username, you do know your password, and in this case, mine for this um account, this test account, is Nebraska's the username, and then there's the password. You would click login. And then once you do that, of course, you're now logged in. And you end up on what's called the dashboard um or it may take you to the last place that you were. It all depends on the cookie setting on your own device, right? So, it may take you to the last course you were in, it may take you to um the dashboard. It's just going to depend on your own cookie settings. Um so, over on the left under my courses, you'll see some of the things that typically list the things that you've most recently accessed or uh that are upcoming if it's something that's live. This piece right here on the signup codes, if you ever buy a training from another part of ALA, the system as of today issues what's called a signup code. That allows a library director to purchase multiple registrations for staff members or whoever, and use their own discount. It's like a coupon code, but they're called signup codes. By and large, um most people who are coming to us, especially board members and friends and foundations, you never have to worry about the signup code piece, um because typic- everything we do, like I said, is pretty much included for you. But if you're a library director or staff member, and you do purchase something from another part of ALA, your it will issue a sign up code and it's a two-step process where you then find your sign up codes up here under your account and then and you can see I don't have any in here, but if I did, I'd copy that sign up code under that column and paste it over here in that box. Um and that registers you. I like to just give that quick informational piece so that you don't wonder, am I supposed to have one or not? Um the only case you'd need a sign up code was if somebody paid for a training for you or you're paying for a training that's not included under this um partnership. Um so that way you know now you know what that is. Um you'll see all your courses if you scroll down, you can sort them by the course name or last um access. Then currently this is on a card setting, but you can also do it on a list setting and then you can um make them alphabetized, you can search for them. So there's a lot of things that you can um do there and then your recently accessed ones will be here as well. So we'll go to that statewide training course and I'll talk you through what's in the menu. Chris, did we have any questions? >> Um no, nothing new. No. >> Okay. All right, great. So we just had our virtual conference at the end of July. It was fabulous, three days of great sessions. Um you have access and I'll show you in a moment where you can access the past historical um virtual conferences well. This is the third year where we've done it as a trustee or board member day, a foundations and fundraising day and a friends of the library day, but you in Nebraska have access to all three days and all of the micro learnings that were interspersed in there. So I'll show you that um in a moment as well. Jam-packed with lots of great resources and materials. We had one technical snafu on the Friends Day with one of our presenters for the successful online book sales for fundraising for friends. She'd been attending all three days as an attendee but couldn't get into her own session as a presenter. No problem. We are scheduling that for this fall. You all will have access to attend live if you want. Um and and to watch it on demand. And we spent that hour instead doing a a facilitated conversation about online book sales. So it's bonus content. So you have access to that and to you will to the actual session as well. So I thought we did pretty well with only one tech issue over the three days. >> Not bad, yes. And it's it's a lot to do for I do a one-day conference and it's a lot sometimes and I'm always nervous cuz there's like you got like seven different speakers coming in in a day or how many different and all the planning and all the testing and prep work you do, something could just like choke and say, "No." >> Yep. >> Exactly. And then in the moment you just go, "Hey, we're going to do what we do and we're going to lean into just being flexible and do this on the fly." So >> Everything can be And that's what's great about these the fact that these are online events, it can always be rescheduled for another time and then recorded then. And it's not like an in-person where oh, they didn't make the plane so no one's ever going to see this. No, we'll just find another time to do it. >> Exactly. Exactly. Um and and and it was great because everybody who was on for that session was really engaged in chat and kind of we had some people come off camera and and unmute and share their experience and so it really enhanced it overall. So a couple things that are coming soon. Oh, again, just to get registered in that virtual course, you click this link and it takes you right into the course. Right? It just pops you right in there um and you don't have to go through a shopping cart, you don't have a sign up code, anything like that. It just pops you right into that course and we'll look at it in a minute. Um so, a couple of things to note, Learning Live runs September to May on the second Tuesday of each month at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. They are recorded. Maybe once a year we'll do virtual roundtables and we don't record those because people are in breakout rooms. Um but uh but we know we make that notification in advance that that's what that is and they aren't recorded. But by and large, they [clears throat] are recorded and available. They run 2:00 to 3:00 Eastern. There's no perfect time to hit all time zones, so this is the one we've kind of just settled on that works. Very occasionally, it might move to a different day um out of need for um speakers or a rescheduling, etc. But think you can pretty much count that um we get most of them in on that Tuesday. So, the topics right now are um we've got those for September through November and we're just getting the final details from the speakers and um getting those uh descriptions finalized, so those will be up very soon with that registration. If you ever want to attend one of those live, you do need to register. We don't just send everybody a Zoom link because it would be thousands of people. Um so, you do opt in to attend it live uh and we send that out in multiple emails, etc. Um and then as I mentioned, we have our uh board member retreat focused on privacy that's um that's also being finalized, the repeat of this or the repeat, the do-over of successful online sales for Friends of the Library fundraising. And then the third one is kind of a part two of a session in um the virtual conference. So on the foundations and fundraising day, the first session of that day was the library director and the foundation director from Cedar Rapids Public Library talking about their capital campaign and then this part two is going to go into the nitty-gritty of it. So exactly how they did a community assessment and feasibility study, making the ask and celebrating completion. So that's also getting on the calendar as well. And then again recent webinars whether it's to watch a learning live or stronger together was presented in April. This striking a balance is an on-demand training series that does feature some folks from Nebraska in one of the sessions. I highly recommend that great three-part series that has a wonderful workbook and it's really around how developing your board and working with your community partners and how to really develop a sustainable successful board. All right. So the I'm going to run through these other menu items and they're very evergreen things get added to them but we don't really change those menus. Um we might add something occasionally but they're they're very stable. So sometimes we get asked about data collection and reporting. If you for anything related to the access to what's covered under this umbrella, that [clears throat] data is access can be provided to the Nebraska Library Commission. So that might include your registration, your name, email address, library and primary role, course completion, course feedback. It's an anonymous compilation of responses for Nebraska and you know what files and resources you downloaded. If you do anything else, a webinar from the Public Library Association, a free webinar from ALA, that none of that is is reported to the Nebraska Library Commission because it is completely separate from what is under. So, only what's under this umbrella of the state registration. So, that's why we make that clear there so that you know that. Um and then I do update this page here probably about once every other month or so that includes links to kind of the things that people are asking about most frequently. So, do check that out. They're kind of like the top 10 things of what people are reaching out asking for most frequently or that we know are regular resources that might be helpful and those links will take you to those things. So, under resources, these are these are not webinars here. So, under this tab, they are graphics, the publications, tip sheets, and our old copies of our old print newsletters downloadable because again tons of evergreen ideas in there as well. Graphics, now I know Nebraska Library Commission used these a few years ago. I even recall I think you made some luggage tags as I recall. >> And we uh buttons, button makers was a big thing we did our maker space equipment that we gave to libraries and that was perfect for buttons and people love those, made so many of those. >> [laughter] >> I love this logo. I love the Friends of Libraries Week logo, but I don't know, this one just has a special place in my heart because I just think it's so vibrant and and I love it so much. So, you can download this logo for free. Also, there is a bookmark template with space where you can add information about your library so that's both with a bleed meaning it prints to the edge if you were having it professionally printed or without a bleed that has the white margin around it so that you can print it on your a local printer and cut those and then also a poster file that does a letter size or 11 by 17. Um, and so it's it's fun. It leans into the social media kind of friending a bit. Um, but I think it's all very evergreen information and you can download those things. Um, under the publications, I'll just say there's different types. There's tool kits that are somewhere between typically um, five to seven pages long. There are practical guides that are um, geared for library boards that are a little bit longer than that and there are whole bunch of tip sheets which are one to two page um, handouts on a variety of topics and they are divided up under trustees, friends groups and foundations. Um, so because you have statewide access, you can download, print and share these materials within your own library or other libraries in your state. So, um, you know, you've you've downloaded a tip sheet that is just wow, this was great for your situation and you know that a colleague in another um, library on the other side of the state is facing the same issue. You don't have to say, "Hey, you need to go and register and sign up and do all this." You can send them that tip sheet because they're in your state and then they can register to access everything else. But don't share them outside your state. Right. And if you're looking, go ahead. >> This is say this is something I get a lot of questions from libraries about um, how do we start up our friends group or a foundation and what is it all about and and um, what's the process or how do I do this you deal with this issue in my friends group or um, with my board? And I refer people to these things all the time. So, these are very good resources. It's I don't have to like recreate here's what a friends group is and here's how you need to do things. I just send people to these. I said, "Here, go ahead and look at these." Or let me send you something. Yeah, like same thing. I find them in here. I download them and here here's something we have and by the way, don't forget to check into attending, you know, looking at this stuff yourself, but >> Yeah. Great. That's wonderful to hear and I and I love that. And we are we work on creating new ones all the time and refresh it. Again, we have a committee that looks at these and says, "Hey, we need to update this." And we'll update those and load them in. They are PDF files, so um very easy for folks to open and and print from. And if there's a topic that is coming up frequently, then we'll create new ones as well. Um so, the the other thing um that I like to say about this is that there's we're trying to hit all learning modalities, right? So, you've got a tip sheet's a very basic kind of top 10. Not They're not all structured as top 10, but the top things you need to know. It's really starting to get at that surface level and maybe a little bit deeper on some. And then um a toolkit or a um practical guide goes more in-depth and then a webinar is going to go um even more in-depth typically um with a lot more and it's presented in in a different format, obviously. Um that may come with additional resources as well. So, we do try to have we try any topic we cover for the most part to try to have something in each of those three categories. But, if there's something you say email and say, "Beth, I'm having trouble with this." or I I'm looking for resources to help my friends group with um new fundraising ideas, then I can send you the list of things that I think will be helpful for you as well. And then we also get questions about this a lot. Um there are actual books in here that you can download. So, 101 plus great ideas for libraries and friends and even more great ideas for libraries and friends. They have on my bookshelf back here. Uh there's multiple copies of each one. They're out of print. Um and while some libraries might have them or you can get them through interlibrary loan or buy them um on the used um book market, they are like recipe books. So, you can flip through and say, "Oh, this sounds like a great idea." And then it'll lay out, you know, here's what the idea was, here's how they did it, here's the outcome, and then what were the lessons learned. I hear very frequently folk from folks about how much they love these. So, they are PDFs and they're larger files, but download them, you'll find a lot of great ideas. So, I know we're um got about 9 minutes left here. Um these next few tabs go pretty quickly. So, learning live, again, we've talked about that. How do you find all the past learning lives? They're all here. So, they are all here. You can go through all of them um and uh and watch them on demand again unless they were a round table discussion and they weren't recorded. And if you want to see the whole catalog of the learning live webinars, then let me go just go back to the main site here. Um We have the whole list of past learning live webinars at the bottom of this page. So, you can go in and by year, that was it for example one that was not recorded because it was the virtual round tables. But, you can go in and read the description and see the presenter. Um and again, if you're contacting me for any particular topic, then I would send you a list of things I think would be helpful. About once a year, we try to do this ask the experts um where when you register, you let us know what question you want to ask, and then we pose that to our board members um who are presenting for that, and they answer that, and we provide follow-up resources as well. All right. So, let's go back in here, and I'll just show you let's take for example April. This was a really fun one on um on uh kind of communication and um getting your message out there. And this speaker is actually a member of her local friends board, and she's a professional um presenter as well. So, she's really fab fabulous. So, these are all set up in very much the same way um where you'll see a link to download slides and or a handout if there is one, then the video plays right here in the screen. You can't um full screen this. Uh you can turn on closed captioning. You can change the speed of it. And I'll show you a little trick here. If you go in the upper left corner of your screen and click that what looks like a little hamburger, that actually will make the screen larger. Um but by simply clicking the full screen, it will take up the whole screen. And you can do this on your um on your phone, on a tablet, on your PC, your Mac, whatever. So, you play the video that's in there, and then after you play the video, you can download a certificate. So, all of those things are set up in here um in the same way. So, live webinars, um again the the fall ones will be posted here shortly, but let's say you wanted to go to stronger together. It's going to pop you right in that course. All right. Video and handout just like we saw with the uh learning lives plays right here in the course. All right. Um and then a huge catalog of on-demand webinars. Uh they're they're categorized by advocacy, friends groups, foundations, and trustees, and then one page that has all of virtual on it. A webinar might be under two pages if it's applicable to more than one audience. Uh but I had mentioned earlier about how you have access to all those past learn you know United for libraries virtual. So here they are. Again, you click the little link and it'll take you right over into the course. So right there you bypass the shopping cart and you just went right in there. Okay? Um so let's go back. Oh, I went too far back. Okay. Um so again on that virtual page you'll see that you can go through and see the past sessions from all those years and go into them. And then the final tab is the trustee training that takes you into short takes for trustees and or or trustee Academy which has short takes for trustees or short videos and the trustee Academy has longer videos. >> And those short takes I would also recommend those as well. We have and and we know we hope that library boards will do a lot of training and education and and lifelong learning and keeping up with things but we know that they can't always have the time. These short videos we definitely recommend. You can watch one at the beginning or somewhere during one of your board meetings. They're about 5-10 minutes not even >> Depends. Yeah, the newer ones were a little longer cuz intellectual freedom has been such a big topic but they range I would say the shortest one currently is 8 minutes and the longest one is this is one of the longer ones but they are they they are very manageable in a board meeting. >> Right. So you can play them, have a discussion, learn about the topic and then you can earn that continuing education credit for watching it at your board meeting. But these are great things just to toss in as a little extra thing for your board members to do that's not maybe not as intimidating as a sitting through an hour-long session. >> Yeah, absolutely and they're done in an interview conversational format. So they're not somebody sitting at a a kind of pointing a finger saying you must do this. So, they're very uh um approachable I I think as well. We are this um fall looking to do some um we're taking our longer form trainings and excerpting out like 5 minutes and then making those 5 minute kind of teaser videos available and then people can learn something in that teaser and then um you know, then delve into the longer form as well. So, we're working on that for all of our fall training um to see how that will work out and how we'll present those. Um to your point on the the she called certification. I'm sorry. Um >> Mhm. Yes. >> You for for you right for Nebraska Library Commission, they're filling out a form right to you of what they attended. But um if a library as a library director you needed some information about what your board uh participated in, you can reach out to me. But also, I did want to show you all if you go back to your dashboard or actually it was right there on the left to transcript. Now, this one's going to be a little wild looking cuz it's just used again for this um I just used this account for training purposes. But here's an example. It will show you um now complete in this case is going to mean that you did everything in that you watched every video in that course. So, don't ever worry about whether or not something shows complete. Um but this says it's in progress, how much time you've spent in the course, and if you have earned Let me go down so I can see. I think um I don't on this in this particular account I haven't completed anything with a certificate. But if you watched a video and then a a certificate was issued, then in this column where it says certificate you actually could click on the certificate. So, you can find the certificate in the course, but you can also find it here in your transcript. And you can download this transcript as well as a Excel CSV or PDF. >> I know some for us here at the Library Commission for your board certification, you don't have to submit one of these certificates to us. We have a our separate form that you use to submit CE hours for your boards, but I do know that sometimes um library directors or other administrators in your community do ask for a certificate proof of something you did, especially for both for them for library boards or staff. More often for staff probably, but this is where you can get one of those. We can't give you a certificate that proves it. We at the commission, we can say well they applied for CE hours, um but this is where you can get that piece of paper that you might need to give to your library director, your mayor, whoever is wants the real proof that you did something. >> Yep, and those certificates have the day you received them. The date the date it was issued and it does give you the hours of learning is what it's called. So if it's a one hour webinar, it'll have one hour learning on there. The short takes for trustees is one certificate for the comprehensive, but if you have any questions or you're having trouble getting a certificate again, just reach reach out because we're here to help you and and get that information to you. And and I really would love to hear from folks email and say I would love to see information on XYZ and I might be able to say hey, we've got these couple of things, but you know what? I'd love to refresh this. Something that came up in one of the sessions during virtual was around we had a session on author programming and something that came up with questions around doing festivals, book festivals with authors in attendance. So we are in the process of seeking out some libraries and friends groups and foundations that do either participate in local book festivals or literary festivals or hold one themselves and we'll put together a session on that. So we'd love to hear from folks. That's on the fun side, but we also do them when there are challenges. So this building a stronger relationship with your library board actually came from a series of questions and requests for help from both trustees or board members and directors about how to really build that relationship. So our what we're putting out there is in direct response to the needs in the field. >> Mhm. And we do have a comment that did come in. Yeah, which is what I was saying too. One of our library directors, Tony, our library board appreciates the short takes and discussion questions. That's true, too. There are It's not just watch a video and that's it. There is extra info in there. And he says we can easily fit these into our bi-monthly meetings. Great. Well, that's great. Now this is someone actually doing it. >> Yeah, that's great. And you know, it just reminded me too that there that's something we could do for the longer form things as well is have discussion questions. It's It's They are baked into those short takes for trustees, but I think it's a great idea to add to some of the longer form things and also when we do these shorter excerpts that we're talking about kind of also having some questions to prod discussion and thoughtful um questioning about next steps. So I made a note here. Thank you so much. All right. Well, I think that is That's it from me. >> Okay. Great. Yeah, it's just a little after 11:00. Not a problem. As those of you who join us regularly know, if you We don't cut things off right at 11:00 Central Time. If you do all have any other questions or comments, definitely type in the question section there. Um, I did have some did mention and I I ask about and this is for me, um, about the whole certification with boards and whatnot and I will talk about that then, yeah. So, you all know where this all then feeds into our certification program we have here at the Library Commission. Um, now these resources here through ALA through Night for Libraries, um, they're for any all library staff as as, um, uh, Beth said, let me see if I'm trying to get the right page. >> Well, can I add a comment there? So, um, you know, we found that staff that are doing their own professional development who may want to consider becoming a library director in the future, right? You're doing that that personal professional development. There are great resources in there about working with boards and we know that by and large when you go to library school, right? You go work on a master's degree, it's not typical that you have training and course work on working with boards. So, it's really wonderful. Consider that for your library staff. The short takes for example are fabulous for folks to learn about what it means to work with a board and from both sides. If you want to serve on a board in your local community, understanding that role. But we are finding that there's a good number of library staff who are doing them even if their role isn't to work with a board or to work with a friends because they're learning that for a future role they may have in in their library or in another library. >> Yeah, and it's good to know, yeah, what it what why do boards exist? What is the whole purpose of what we're doing here? >> Mhm. >> Yeah, um, so, yeah, so this is for anybody and everybody in the in Nebraska and I will I want to pop back here before I forget. We're talking about this earlier. The, um, Nebraska library that did win the National Friends of the Library Award, it was back in 2017, but it was the 2016 award year. Holdridge, our Holdridge area public library Friends of the Library was the one and that won it back then. So, if you know if you think if you think your friends group is doing great work, nominate them for I guess next year would be the next one to do. >> Yeah, it will open in December the award form. We also used to have a another award that was for friends groups and a Nebraska library won that as well. It was the Baker and Taylor award for innovation and we had a Nebraska library that won that and we did feature them in a webinar too. But unfortunately that that that award is not currently being given as you all know Baker and Taylor is no longer in existence and we're taking a step back and looking to see if we can find another sponsor for that award and that award was $1,000. So, it might come back. >> That was the first one that I found and then we were talking about the Friends of the Library group and I was like, wait a minute, which one was it? So, yes, that was also Yeah, this is so this is the recording when we talked about that here on Encompass Live in 2020 and it was our Keene Memorial Library in Fremont. Laura England Big, she is still the library director there. They won that award. Yes, you want to hear about what they were doing there in innovation. And Keene, this is a library that if people may remember and you might remember Beth, they had the Dave's Drive-In which was a drive-thru liquor store. >> That's right. >> Which was Yes, which was also the book sale for the library. >> I loved that. >> And and I have to tell you they and nobody panics, it's okay. They closed down for like 16 a year 18 months and they totally switched gears and it is now Dave's coffee and smoothies, but it's still the drive-thru for the for the books sale for the library. So they just switched like business model from being liquor to being coffee and smoothies instead. >> Right. Which hey, either one of them goes. I'm seeing more and more library friends groups and foundations doing partnerships with breweries. And in fact, when I mentioned that Minnesota library, Morehead Friends the Morehead library that's in the microlearnings of 2026 virtual, they did a partnership also with a local brewery and we're going to be featuring them on another webinar that goes more into detail with that. >> Our Northbrook Public Library did that. Jessica Chamberlain who's in your sessions, they did and I think it was something like the a new >> [clears throat] >> a new beer named after the library somehow. I don't know, somehow connected, yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah, you know what? There's another great webinar idea. You know, maybe we'll do something like that for National Friends of Libraries Week, right? Like the part partnering with coffee shops or breweries, etc. Local microbreweries and how to do that, yeah. Yeah, some of them do them with a trivia contest which is a great fit for a library. Okay, another great idea. Let me write that down here. I'd love to do a free webinar for everyone during National Friends of Libraries Week or leading up to it. And I want to hear from you all again how you're celebrating, what you're looking for, what information, what burning questions you have. Um and if you want to present for us, whether you think I can't do a 1-hour webinar on this topic, but I could do 15 minutes, reach out. Those microlearnings that we do during virtual are very popular. Another great one in there was hosting a friends book swap. Check that one out. What a fun event without a lot of work. Um we can do um an we can just record a microlearning and share it out, right? So let us know. We want to hear from you all. >> We want to share and that's what we do Yeah, that's what we do for United for Libraries. That's what we do here at Compass Live, sharing all the cool things our libraries are doing. Um so, about the board certification that someone was asking about. Yes, so um we here in Nebraska, and this is going to be very short. Board certification, librarian certification, you need to earn a certain number of CE hours to be certified, you as a librarian individual or your board as a whole. Um and there are There are forms to submit your CE credits. So, anything that you attend through United for Libraries, you would then come here, if you're library staff, you use the library certification one. If you're If you're board, you use the board um CE um application form, and just tell us what um what what the event was, when you did it, all the names of people participating. Um for boards, it is 20 hours of CE over a 3-year period, and that is the board as a whole, not each individual learning 20 hours. So, if you have five board members, each one has to only earn 4 hours if you split it up evenly over the whole 3-year period period. If all five of you watch a 1-hour webinar, you've earned 5 hours of CE. Each one earns that hour for sitting there. So, that is how you can um submit your CE um to get your hours to keep up your board certification, and same thing for librarian certification. Um librarians earn more hours, but um whatever you attend, you can submit to us as well. >> Wonderful. That's amazing. >> Yeah. All right. So, uh I think we will and get back to my Compass Live page. There we go. All right. So, anyone have any last-minute desperate questions you want to ask or any comments you want to make? Um another comment that came through. Thank you, Kristen Beth. This is a great resource for information and training sessions. >> Wonderful. I can't reach out. I'd love to hear from everyone. I want to know what what you're doing and how things are going and it's always such a pleasure to work with Nebraska. And someday I'm going to visit you all. I promise. >> [laughter] >> You should you should definitely, yeah. We've been supporting United for Libraries and had a statewide membership as long as I remember. I don't even know how long it was was started. Um, and uh, it is something we'll always keep up cuz it is very used a lot and it is so so useful for all of our um, boards and staff. >> Yep. Keep up the great work everyone and uh, we'll be in touch. >> Yeah, all right. So, all right. So, thank you so much Iffat for being here. Thank you, Beth. Good to see you again. Um, as I said, the show is recorded and it will be available um, by the end of the day tomorrow at the latest. Uh, this is our main Encompass Life page and underneath there um, is our link for our archive shows. Most recent one is at the top. Uh, and that is where today's will be. We will have a link to the recording which goes onto the Nebraska Library Commission's YouTube channel. Um, and if you saw earlier, I did a search here. You can search to see if we when I was trying to find that um, previous session that uh, the Keenum Keenum Oral Library was in. Uh, this is our full show archives. You can search to see if we've got a show on a topic you're of interested in. You can limit it to just the most recent 12 months if you want to or just search everything. Um, we do and that is because this is our full archives and so hold on, I'm going to scroll down really quickly. There we go. And you can see here we've got 2015, 2016. Now, Beth was mentioning evergreen sessions that are always good. Uh, we do not drop off anything on here. This is just our full recordings going back to when the show first premiered, which is in January 2009. So, we are on our 18th year of the show. Oh my gosh. >> [laughter] >> And everything is here. So, do pay attention if you are watching any old shows. Some things will be good to watch stand the test of time, but some things will be coming old and outdated. Resources may have changed drastically. Might not exist anymore. Links might be broken. People are going to work at different places than when they presented for us. But just pay attention to that original broadcast date so you always know when something happened. Was [clears throat] was first broadcast. But this is something libraries do. We keep things for historical purposes. And as long as we have a place to keep all of our show recordings, which right now as I said is the commission's YouTube channel, we will always have them available for you to watch. When the recording is ready here, everyone who attended today's show and registered will get an email from me letting you know that it's been uploaded and ready for you to go and watch or share. All right. So, here's our main page. We've got our shows upcoming. I'm working on more date more shows in September and October. Actually, I just got a whole bunch of October dates already figured out. So, they'll get they'll appear on here soon. So, keep an eye on our schedule. Next week we'll be talking about health and fitness literacy programs in your library. Nicole Miller who's from Minnesota Minnesota library Cannon Falls Minnesota library is going to talk about a health and fitness fitness literacy program that they have been doing. And how you can have one of these at your library. So, please do sign up for that and any of our other upcoming shows and keep an eye on the schedule for new topics coming. All right. Anything else over here? No, we are good. All right. Thank you everybody. Thanks Beth. And hopefully we'll see you all on a future episode of Encompass Live. Bye-bye.