University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nebraska Libraries Nebraska Library Association 5-2014 Nebraska Libraries - Volume 2, Number 2 (May 2014) Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/neblib Part of the Library and Information Science Commons "Nebraska Libraries - Volume 2, Number 2 (May 2014)" (2014). Nebraska Libraries. 6. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/neblib/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Nebraska Library Association at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nebraska Libraries by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. NebraskaLIBRARIES May 2014, Vol. 2, No. 2 The Journal of the Nebraska Library Association NebraskaLIBRARIES May 2014, Volume 2, Number 2 Published by the Nebraska Library Association CONTENTS Membership in NLA is open to any individual or Editor’s Message 3 institution interested in Nebraska libraries. Omaha Public Library’s Common Soil Seed Library 4 To find out more about NLA, write to: Emily Getzschman Nebraska Library Association c/o Executive Director, Michael Straatmann Google Glass in the Library 9 P.O. Box 21756 Jake Rundle Lincoln, NE 68542-1756; Banding Together [email protected] Kim Gangwish, Sara Churchill, Stephanie 11 Schrabel Opinions expressed in Nebraska Libraries are those of Connecting School & Public Libraries 13 the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by Melody Kenney NLA. Random Acts of Kindness 15 Articles in Nebraska Libraries are protected by Rebecca Brooks copyright law and may not be reprinted without prior The Sociology of Knowledge, Technology, and the written permission from the author. Library: HQ in the Stacks 17 Oliver B. Pollak Nebraska Libraries Staff Library Advocacy Day Speech 19 Editor, Lindsey Tomsu Sara Howard [email protected] C&U 20 Nebraska Libraries Editorial Board ITART 21 Jen Barnason Sue Ann Gardner NMRT 22 Melody Kenney PLTS 24 Emily McIllece Lindsey Tomsu S&I 25 Amy Wenzl YART 26 Rachel Zill My Own Personal Library 27 © Nebraska Library Association How I Roll 32 Nebraska Libraries (ISSN 2326-3237), formerly known The Knee Bone’s Connected to the . 34 as Nebraska Library Association Quarterly, or NLAQ, is Teens in the Library 35 published online quarterly in spring, summer, fall, and winter by the Nebraska Library Association. Book Bites: Book Reviews (and More!) 37 Editorial Policy 38 Cover Photo Credit: The Common Soil Seed Library project at the Omaha Public Library. Photo by Emily Submission Policy 39 Getzschman. Picture This 40 2 EDITOR’S MESSAGE Welcome readers to our May issue of Nebraska Libraries! This month we have some excellent feature articles and Some may remember from the February issue that columns from NLA’s sections and round tables. These changes would be occurring to our publication, and include a look at Omaha Public Library’s Common Soil starting this issue they are going to be unveiled. Seed program and some pieces about successful public and school library collaborations. We are also launching a new column this month called “My Own Personal Library,” The biggest change is that the journal is now being which looks at the private collection of a Nebraska created with new software tools. This results in a better librarian. Our first volunteer is UNL’s Richie Graham who looking journal, but will result in some growing pains. has an amazing graphic novel collection. The journal has also created an editorial board. Besides Our next issue will be in August with a fast approaching myself, the other members include Jen Barnason, Sue Ann submission deadline of July 1st! The editorial board will Gardner, Melody Kenney, Emily McIllece, Amy Wenzl, and begin soliciting authors shortly, but don’t hesitate to Rachel Zill. What this means for everyone is that there are contact me right now if you have an idea for the journal. multiple points of contact one can approach with regard to writing for a future issue of Nebraska Libraries! It will take some practice before we perfect the new look of the journal, but until then I’d love to hear what you The editorial board is also busy working on a new version think of the changes! Please email me at of our editorial policy and submissions guidelines. We aim [email protected]. to have these finalized next month. We currently also have an author guideline template we can pass along to anyone interested in writing. We understand that some Lindsey Tomsu Editor, Nebraska Libraries potential writers out there might want to write for us but have no idea how to get started! The template is meant to make the job of writing submissions much easier for the author. and acts as a guideline to help you brainstorm and write wonderfully informative and entertaining pieces for our readers. 3 FEATURE Omaha Public Library’s Common Soil Seed Library Emily Getzschman Omaha and Douglas County are home to a vibrant gardening community that continues to grow each year. The agricultural landscape is peppered with gardeners of all levels of expertise, working patches of land from their own backyards to shared, community gardens. Elizabeth Goodman is a member of the gardening community, and after returning to Omaha from Seed School in Tucson, Arizona, she wondered if there was a way to connect Omaha gardeners with the tools, education, and resources to help create a culture of abundance in our community. “Omaha seemed like a great location to establish a seed saving program,” said Goodman. “It’s a community rich with agriculturally-minded and aware people.” The Common Soil Seed Library logo is included on packaging and promotional material. The logo includes OPL’s logo in its design This idea eventually took root and found a home at to reinforce that the seed library is part of something bigger. Omaha Public Library (OPL), and is now recognized as the Common Soil Seed Library. Introduced in March 2013, Background Common Soil was the first of its kind in Omaha. The seed library is a place where gardeners from all experience levels can check out seeds to grow. Resulting saved seeds The first seed library housed in a public library was may be shared with the library for others to enjoy. established at the Gardiner Public Library in New York in 2003. It all started with a conversation between the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL) founder Sascha The process for checking out seeds is not unlike that of DuBrul and librarian Ken Greene. Greene recognized a checking out a book, with a few exceptions. Library connection between the worlds of books and seeds, and patrons may check out up to six seed packets at a time. proposed the idea to start including seeds in the library’s Unlike a book, however, the seeds do not need to be catalog. By 2010, seed libraries started sprouting up across returned, so there are no due dates, penalties, or fees for the country. unreturned seeds. The process is all very simple for the patron, and the seed library is flourishing thanks to the hard work and dedication of OPL staff, passionate Emily Getzschman is the marketing and media manager at volunteers, and the philanthropic community. Omaha Public Library. Prior to joining the library team in 2010, she was a director of communications and government relations for the American Red Cross. She holds a master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Learn more about Omaha Public Library at omahalibrary.org. 4 FEATURE Building the Seed Library Once the Benson branch was established as the location, the next step was to research the community and talk to people in the area. OPL wanted to know what things grew The conversation that started OPL’s Common Soil Seed well in the area, and what kinds of seeds were worth Library occurred between Goodman and her neighbor and procuring and encouraging others to grow. OPL also friend, Naomi Solomon, a library specialist at OPL. Could wanted to know what people thought about the idea of a this model work at OPL? Solomon approached library seed library and seed saving. Would they use it? These administration with the idea and found them supportive. conversations led OPL staff and volunteers to believe that Fortunately, there were many good models of seed this project would be supported and used by the libraries around the country, but it was important to figure community it served. out how this collection and related programming would best work at OPL. Some of the most immediate questions that needed to be answered included: Who needs to be involved in this project? Where will we keep this collection? How will we let people know about this project and what will we call it? Where will we get the seeds? How will it be packaged and displayed? How will we teach people how to use the seed library? Many more questions popped up along the way. The first and most important step was establishing key players, roles, and communication. What started with just Goodman and Solomon quickly expanded to include library programming managers, a branch manager and staff, Seeds were originally labeled with both their Latin and library collections and cataloging, marketing, fundraising, common names. OPL now organizes seeds by common and volunteers. Together, this team established a plan for names to simplify the process for users. how to introduce Common Soil to the library and its community and worked through the steps required to help OPL acquired its first seeds through donations from educate about its use and benefits. various community organizations and seed suppliers. Once the scope of the project became clearer, the Common Soil OPL has 12 branch locations.