"Delight your kids with the enchanting characters as they teach them the alphabet or numbers." There are eBooks in English and Spanish, and content added regularly. Also available as an app for iPad or Android tablets. Paid for by the Alaska Dept. of Education and Early Development.
Having issues with your institution's wifi network? The tips below from the most current version of the Towards Gigabit Libaries Toolkit (TGL) may be of help.
The most significant component of your library’s WiFi is the broadband connection that it is distributed through the WiFi router antenna(s). However, there are multiple things outside of the broadband connection that can be slowing down the WiFi connection, many of which can be addressed with quick fixes and laptop/smartphone tools (and are detailed at the end of this section):
If you’re having trouble with your WiFi, it can sometimes be tough to troubleshoot. There are a couple of simple tricks you can try -- even if you are a tech novice - to keep your WiFi humming.
“Cycle the power” on your WiFi Router on a regular basis: Sometimes the brain of your router can get a little “scrambled,” cycling the WiFi router-- in other words turning it off and on again(also called “rebooting”) -- can set things straight. Some libraries reboot their WiFi routers once a week at a time when there are no patrons using it such as first thing in the morning.
“Cycle the power” on your mobile device: The “brains” on mobile devices can get scrambled too. If just a particular device is having trouble connecting to the WiFi network, try rebooting it to see if it helps.
Move the router or extend its antennas: WiFi uses radio waves to send and receive data signals and sometimes those waves can be hindered or even blocked by building materials, walls, shelving and other elements. If your signal seems weak, try moving your router (moving it up high is an especially good one to try). When moving your router, be sure to take care that all cables remain properly plugged in -- or replace them with longer cables if needed. If your router has an external antenna or antennas, you can try extending those too, in different directions, to see if it helps.
To learn more about the TGL Toolkit, visit the most current version of the Toolkit or check out our guide to the TGL Toolkit and related resources.
In December 2020, the OWL Videoconference Network hosted 151 videoconferences with a total of 660 participants. Representative videoconferences included:
Remember, if your patrons have home or mobile internet access, you can use your library's instance of Zoom as your virtual meeting room. Your library's account holder would start the meeting. The account holder could either stay and monitor the meeting, or could make one the participants a host and leave the meeting. Ask Daniel, Jack or Kyle to show you how.
If you already have an OWL Zoom account, we ask to give descriptive names to your meetings so we can better document the types of things through OWL. So instead of "LibrarNameHere's Zoom Meeting" or "LibraryNameHere's Personal Meeting Room" something like "LibraryNameHere: Cooking with canned Salmon." THANKS!
If your public or school/public library does not yet have an OWL issued Zoom account to schedule your own videoconferences OR If you are a non-profit, local, state or federal government agency interested in doing outreach/training through library partners, please contact OWL Program Manager Daniel Cornwall.
Basic Facts:
| Name of Library | Sessions |
|---|---|
| Sitka Public Library | 12,869 |
| Kenai Community Library | 3,073 |
| Petersburg Public Library | 1,382 |
| Seward Community Library and Museum | 1,075 |
| Anchor Point Public Library | 974 |
Aside from telling you the total number of wireless sessions per month, WhoFi can also document how often your wifi is used for every hour your wifi is on, whether inside the library or out in the parking lot. Learn more at our Getting Wifi Statistics page from our wireless networking guide. If you'd like to sign up your library to WhoFi at no cost to you, please check with your IT people - if you have them - then contact Daniel Cornwall.
The E-rate Application (Form 471) filing window opened January 15, 2021 and will close March 25, 2021. All services that libraries wish E-rate to provide discount for during the upcoming funding year (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022) must be submitted via an E-rate form 471. If you have questions or need help with filing for E-rate please contact her at valerie.oliver@alaska.gov or call her at (907) 227-4051.
The Alaska State Library is currently accepting applications for a summer internship at a public library. The intern will be reimbursed for approved travel costs, per diem ($60/day for 50 days, $3000) and an honorarium. The internship is sponsored by the Alaska Library Network.
The Alaska State Library Internship Project is a grant-funded project that will place an intern who has recently completed or is near completion of their Master’s degree in Library or Information Science to work in an Alaska public library for two months in the summer of 2021. The goals of the project are to provide assistance to public libraries in Alaska who lack staff expertise to sustain long-term projects that would benefit their libraries and communities, provide internship and professional development opportunities to MLIS students and increase the number of MLIS students applying for jobs in Alaska. Application period will close February 19, 2021.
To learn more about the Alaska State Library Internship Project or to apply, visit our library internship page.
From our Friends at the Alutiiq Museum:
With a $32,578 grant from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak and the Alutiiq Museum are collaborating on a tool that will help people locate, view, and study Alutiiq objects in the world’s museums. The Amutat project, which started this month, will begin developing a database of ancestral Alutiiq objects linked to the museum’s website. Visitors to the page will be able to search and study a wide range of Alutiiq tools, clothes, and ceremonial pieces assembled in one place.
“Examples of our ancestors’ tools are part of numerous museum collections spread across the United States and the world,” said Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “Large collections, like those in France, and Finland are relatively well known. But there are many smaller collections. For example, the Logan Museum of Anthropology in Wisconsin has an embroidered sewing bag, the Rochester Museum and Science Center in New York holds a pair of historic whaling lances, and the National Museum of Scotland cares for at least six Alutiiq items collected on Kodiak. These items are hard for our community to find and access. The database will create a central place for people to see and study Alutiiq objects. Amutat, the Alutiiq word for cod, also means ‘things to pull’. Here, it refers to pulling objects from collections so they can be studied.”
The Amutat project will begin with a focus on the Alutiiq Museum’s holdings. Curator of Collections Amanda Lancaster, who is leading the project, explained. “This year we will develop the database and the webpage and populate them with ethnographic items from the Alutiiq Museum’s collections. We are piloting the database with our own holdings. We will eventually expand Amutat to include collections from other museums, like the masks and regalia from the Pinart Collection at the Musée Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France.”
The database will focus on ethnographic items, cultural objects from the recent past. It will include a photo and description of each object, the Alutiiq word for the item, and detailed information on its current location. Counceller said, “People traveling contact us to learn if there are Alutiiq objects in the area they plan to visit. The database will help travelers locate such objects and help us to learn from their research.”
“Once the database is running, we will be able to add to it for years,” said Counceller. “We will need to collaborate with other museums to identify Alutiiq objects, gather information on their collections, and obtain permission to share objects in the database. In short, the Amutat project is launching a long-term research effort designed to reunite ancestral objects with our community.”
As part of their ongoing efforts to share exhibits and collections with all Alaskans, the University of Alaska Museum of the North (UAMN) posted a virtual instance of their 2018-2019 UAMN special exhibition, ShAKe: Earthquakes in Interior Alaska. Visitors can explore the 21-part video tour (69 minute running time) to learn about earthquakes in Interior Alaska from guest curator Carl Tape.
In addition to the video tours, the vitrual exhibit offers the following sections:
No matter the season or community health status, institutions across Alaska are hard at work documenting local history and making it accessible to all Alaskans and the world. A case in point is the Palmer Museum of History and Art (PMHA), which maintains the Matanuska Valley Historical Photo Project - a database of digitized photos launched in 2017.
From the project's about page:The three goals of the project are
The photo database is searchable, and also contains online gallery exhibits, featured photo blogs, and more. The database represents the highest quality and most relevant images of our photo collections, and will continue to grow as we add more resources and images.
Some of the available galleries from the project include:
Sealaska Heritage Institute has published four new books to bolster its efforts of teaching Indigenous language and culture to kids. One is an original story written by kids from Harborview Elementary School in Juneau.
In “Raven and The Hidden Halibut,” two animals that are complete opposites want to play with each other.
“Halibut really wants to play with the Raven and has to talk him into it, and they end up playing hide-and-seek. And Halibut, as it turns out, is a very good hider,” said Katrina Hotch, who worked with the students who wrote the original story.
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has announced its 2021 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list.
The list consists of 126 titles selected from 145 official nominations, which were posted and discussed in blog posts on The Hub. The books, recommended for those aged 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens. View the full list.
In addition to the full list, the blogging team chose the following titles as its top ten:
The suggestion form for the 2022 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list is open. If you’d like to suggest a title to the blogging team for consideration as a nominee, please fill out the form.
YALSA’s portfolio of book and media awards helps strengthen library services for and with teens by identifying quality, age-appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in their communities. Learn more about YALSA’s other book and media lists here.
Members of the 2021 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Blogging Team are: Crystal Chen, coordinator, The New York Public Library, Bronx, NY; Erin Durrett, Clinton-Macomb Public Library, Clinton Township, MI; Denise Farley, Dekalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA; Traci Glass, Lincoln City Libraries, Lincoln, NE; Thea Hashagen, Mill Valley Public Library, Mill Valley, CA; Kacy Helwick, New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA; Tina H. Lerno, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; Matisse Mozer, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; Mike Pawuk, Cuyahoga County Public Library, South Euclid, OH; Christine Pyles, Euclid Public Library, Euclid, OH; Celeste Rhoads, The American Library in Paris, Paris, France; Shaira Rock, Elmhurst Public Library, Elmhurst, IL; Becky Standal, Longview Public Library, Longview, WA; Isaiah West, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Largo, MD
The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.
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