Here are significant months, weeks or days in February that we have found to be of interest either to libraries, archives and museums or to Alaskans at large:
Month long observances
Week long observances
Specific day observances
Conferences
If you are aware of other such events and observances, please let us know.
The Alaska State Library is accepting applications for two summer internships in public libraries. Interns will receive travel reimbursement, per diem ($60/day for 50 days), an honorarium and free housing during the eight-week internship. The internship is sponsored by the Alaska Library Network.
The Alaska State Library Internship Project is a grant-funded project that will bring two interns who have recently or are near completion of their Master’s degree in Library or Information Science to work in Alaska public libraries for two months in the summer of 2019. 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 graduates and increase the number of MLIS graduates applying for jobs in Alaska. Application period will close February 16, 2019.
To learn more about the Alaska State Library Internship Project and apply visit the project page.
For more information contact Julie M. Niederhauser at 907.465.2916 or julie.niederhauser@alaska.gov
The start of a new year is a traditional time for personal and professional resolutions. If you’ve been thinking about getting a better handle on your library network, we have a new tool for you:
This resource consists of an inventory and education document in Word format along with some handy online tools to help you estimate your broadband needs, measure your current speeds and analyze your wireless network.
If you work through the toolkit, you will have an inventory of your current network equipment and associated passwords and likely a greater understanding of how your library network functions. You’ll also have a document to help the next person in your position.
The toolkit was development by Internet2 and intended to be completed by non-IT staff, though it would be helpful to have an IT knowledgeable person around to help. If you’d like to complete the toolkit but need help, Daniel Cornwall is available to help by phone, e-mail or OWL videoconference. Contact him at Daniel.cornwall@alaska.gov
Just in time for people’s New Year’s resolutions for lifelong learning, we have updated the Computer Fundamentals and Job Development pages of the State Library’s Digital Literacy guide with resources from the Learning Express Library available through SLED.
We updated the Computer Fundamentals page with:
We updated the Job Development page with:
If you are located in Alaska and cannot access these new Learning Express resources, contact Daniel Cornwall at Daniel.cornwall@alaska.gov. Include a description of the problem and your IP address. If you don’t know your IP address visit https://bgp.he.net/ and send the number that appears next to “You are visiting from.”
Although Windows 10 has been problematic for some libraries, we are recommending that you upgrade your computers from Windows 7 to Windows 10 before January 2020. According to Windows OS End of Life Fact Sheets, “extended support” for Windows 7 will end on January 14, 2020. End of extended support means that after January 14, 2020, Microsoft will not issue security updates for Windows 7. Machines with Windows 7 will still work, but be at increasing risk.
Nearly all new PC’s come with Windows 10, so if you can afford, this might be a good year to get new patron computers. If money is tight but you are a member of Tech Soup, you can take advantage of their $16.00 per license cost for Windows 10.
Need more information about Windows 10? Visit the Computer Fundamentals section of our Digital Literacy Guide and choose the GCF LearnFree tutorial on Windows 10.
As of June 2018, Deep Freeze had compatibility issues with Windows 10. If either compatibility or cost is an issue for your library, consider a free "freeze" program, like Reboot and Restore RX freeware.
The Juneau Douglas City Museum held a model train event on Saturday December 22, 2018. According to Elissa Borges, Public Programs Coordinator, “The event went very well. We had 6 trains set up and 132 visitors. There were small Thomas the Train sets as well as large gauge rails and cars set up on the floor and on a display case.”
The Juneau Empire (paywall) reported on this event in a 12/24/2018 article titled Train-ing day at Juneau-Douglas City Museum by Ben Hohenstatt.
We received a January update from the Clausen Museum in Petersburg. A few items we wanted to pass on to you:
Arlene Schmuland of the UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections section recently blogged about their busy December which included quake recovery and collections processing. We wanted to pass along some of their processing and digitizing described in the blog entry.
Processing:
Digitizing:
Part of the Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks was transformed into a life sized Candy Land game. From the event description, “Yummy family fun! Travel through the Peppermint Forest and the Gumdrop Mountains on your way to find the Candy Castle. You will create a goodie bag before you begin to collect your treats as you travel along the colorful path in this life-size Candyland game.”
The event was written up in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner on 12/30/2018 in an article by Kris Capps titled Candy Land can: Board game brought to life at Noel Wien Library.
Pam Verfaillie of the Valdez High School library shared this note on how the 2018 Alaska Week of Code went in her library:
At Valdez High School, we're finishing up Alaska Week of Code - organized by me and hosted in the library. As of Thursday, we've logged in over 400 hours of coding by over 150 different students! That doesn't count all of the hours where we're seeing kids coding during breakfast break & lunch or after school and even at home!
We even had some middle school students walk over to join us at the coding event! It was nice to make some connections with students we'll see in a year or two or three.
Photography by Pam Verfaillie. Used with permission.
Alaska Native Languages (www.alaskanativelanguages.org) is a clearinghouse for Alaska Native language resources originally funded by Alaska Humanities Forum with in-kind support from the Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council. It is divided into the following sections:
The front page features a calendar of events related to Indigenous language revitalization and continuity.
The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program is designed to strengthen the capacity of multi-sector consortia to address substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder (OUD) in rural counties identified to be at the highest risk. The overall goal of the program is to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses in high-risk rural communities. More info on the grant page.
Consumer Action’s updated and expanded small business guide, Micro Business: Preparing for success, walks those who are in the planning stage through the crucial steps for getting their business off the ground, from writing a business plan and choosing their business structure to finding funding and avoiding common start-up mistakes.
For existing businesses, the guide offers information and tips for establishing good bookkeeping practices, finding money to grow the business, expanding their business to the internet, and finding legal and consulting services if needed.
The 12-page guide can be downloaded—free—from the Consumer Action website, and it’s available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean (immigrants are more than twice as likely to start a business as U.S.-born residents). Community educators can also place a bulk order for printed copies online, or use the attached form to order by fax or mail.
If you have any questions, please email info@consumer-action.org or call 800-999-7981.
The November issue of American Libraries features an article titled Resume Yea or Nay? that may be useful to people in many kinds of institutions. It offers opinions on these topics related to resumes:
Let us know whether you found the article helpful or would have different advice for job seekers.
An 11/27/2018 Book Riot article titled Paper for Books is getting harder to come by: Why the backbone of publishing may make book prices rise makes the case that an important factor raising book prices and keeping some books out of the physical marketplace may be the declining availability of good book paper. Why is book paper becoming rarer? A quote from the article explains:
“I hadn’t realized it, but the backlash against plastic noted in the article is an interesting domino to have fallen in this situation: the backlash against plastic in packaging materials, fast food packaging, other shipping/packaging—means that paper manufacturers found they could suddenly make more money on cheaper paper products than fine book paper. They deprioritized the publishing industry. Add to that other global factors affecting the production of paper, and the dominoes fall to eventually mean that publishers trying to print books and magazines are running into supply delays and printing delays as a result, and higher paper prices on top of everything,” she [Stacy Whitman] said.
For more on what appears to be a significant problem in the market for paper suitable for books, newspapers and journals, check out:
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