Spring 2001Page 7

The Nebraska Library Commission is launching a new venture this spring: Making a Difference @ your library^TM.

Sometime during the coming months, Nebraska Library Commission representatives will visit public libraries across the state to talk with library staff members, trustees, and other interested community members.

Library Commission representatives will facilitate two different sessions in each library:

A discussion with library staff members on how any Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants or other grants made to the library during the past three years are "Making a Difference @ your library^TM."

If a library has not received a grant from the Library Commission during that time, they will discuss other Library Commission services that have been useful.

A Dialogue Session with the library staff, trustees, customers, and other interested community members to gain a better understanding of local issues, concerns, and goals, as well as to learn how state and regional services impact local library services.

Twenty-one Library Commission staff members will serve on two-member teams. Teams will visit all public libraries in Nebraska over the course of a ten-month period between April 2001 and February 2002. Library Commission representatives began contacting libraries in April to schedule the visits and provide additional information. Results of these local library visits will provide the Library Commission with valuable planning and needs assessment information to further develop goals and priorities. (See related column on page 2.)

Advocacy Workshops Held

The Nebraska Library Commission, Nebraska Library Association Trustees, Users, and Friends Section, and the Regional Library Systems are participating in the second year of the Communities and Libraries project sponsored by Libraries for the Future and the Viburnum Foundation. Several activities have been planned as part of the project. The first workshops were in North Platte and Columbus. The theme was "Blueprint for Building Infrastructure." Approximately 120 people spent the day with Mary Jo Ketchum, Elma, NY and Penny Hummel, Portland, OR learning about working with various groups in their communities to expand the base of their support.

The workshops were designed for trustees, Friends group members, directors, and other community activists who are interested in building library support on a sustained basis. The sessions stressed the importance of forming partnerships within the community and provided the tools for achieving those partnerships.

The morning session focused on "why, how, and where" to find support for the library, with spheres of influence and related topics. The afternoon session was a working session to build the action plan from beginning to celebration. The presenters provided concrete examples and techniques to achieve the goals of the audience. For more information contact Maggie Harding, 402-826-2636, e-mail: gh12521@alltel.net or Richard Miller, 402-471-3175, 800-307-2665, e-mail: Richard Miller.

Small groups work on advocacy action plans.

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