NEMO NEWS Volume 8, Issue 4 April 2012

1

NEMO NEWS INSIDE THIS ISSUE

MPLA/NLA/NEMA

Conference and

Presentations

1

Library Science

student luncheon

1

Important Dates and

Reminders

2

Tips for a Great

Conference

Presentation

2

Library Student

Travel Photos

3

Student Spotlight:

Megan Klein-Hewett

4

NLC Webinars 4

NEBRASKA-MIZZOU

LIBRARY SCIENCE

STUDENT NEWS

Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22 Mis-

souri and UNO library science faculty will be

hosting a taco luncheon for UNO and Missouri

library science students from 11:00 a.m. to

1:00 p.m. in the student lounge area on floor 2

of Roskens Hall. All students and alumni are

invited to stop by, grab some food, and socialize

with colleagues. Vegetarian, gluten-free and

meat taco options will be available. We look

forward to seeing you there!

Ideal Bookshelf by Jane Mount

Mark your calendars for the MPLA/NLA/NEMA

tri-conference October 17-19 at the LaVista

Conference Center. The 2012 theme is “Back to

Basics,” and the keynote speaker for the

conference will be former congressman and

Nebraska football coach Dr. Tom Osborne.

Registration opens April 10, and the students

rate is $50 for students who register online.

Students are encouraged to present or

participate in the student poster session at the

conference. Program proposals must be

submitted to the NLA Conference Planning

Committee through the NLA website by April 30.

All programs must be sponsored by one of the

many sponsors within MPLA, NLA, or NEMA, and

the list of programming sponsors can be found

here .

Additionally, the New Members Round Table

section of the NLA (NMRT) sponsors a conference

poster session, which typically includes students

and/or practicing librarians that each present a

poster on the topic of their choice. Poster session

presentation lengths vary on the amount of

participants, but are around 10-15 minutes. If you

are interested in presenting during the poster

session, please e-mail your contact information

and a brief description of your topic to

nmrt.officers@gmail.com. This is an excellent

opportunity for networking and resume-building,

so don’t miss out!

TRI-CONFERENCE PRESENTATION PROPOSALS DUE APRIL 30

TACO LUNCHEON AT ROSKENS

NLC SCHOLARSHIP DUE JUNE 1

The Nebraska Library Commission’s 21st

Century Librarian Scholarship helps recipients

with tuition, fees, class-related materials,

professional association fees and conference

fees. All Nebraska residents pursuing an

education in library science are eligible to apply.

The new deadline for this year’s scholarship is

June 1. Students may apply for this and other

scholarships at http://nlc1.nlc.state.ne.us/

nowhiring/scholarships.asp.

Claire LaCosse of Bellevue Public Library was the winner of a

drawing for a stuffed Mizzou Bengal Mascot at the Spring

University of Missouri Library Science Information Meeting.

From left to right: Dr. Denise Adkins, Claire LaCosse, and Dr.

John Budd.

NEMO NEWS Volume 8, Issue 4 April 2012

2

10 TIPS FOR A GREAT CONFERENCE PRESENTATION IMPORTANT

DATES &

REMINDERS

Registration Registration for Summer

and Fall 2012 classes

begins March 5. Consult

your Plan of Study and

course schedules.

Classes fill quickly on a

first-come, first-served

basis Be ready to register on your

assigned date and time!

Visit http://

mudirect.missouri.edu/

_catalog/index.asp

to complete your registra-

tion.

Comprehensive Exams Summer 2012 comprehen-

sive exams will be held June

9 through June 17.

Graduation Ceremony

– University of Missouri

Hearnes Center

Saturday, May 12,

2012 6:30 PM If you are graduating in

Spring 2012 and planning

to attend the ceremony in

Columbia, you need to be

making your travel arrange-

ments immediately as

hotels are filling NOW!

If there aren’t rooms

available in Columbia, there

are also hotels in

Boonville, Jefferson City,

and Moberly.

Bromberg, P. (2010). Learning Round Table of the ALA. Re-

trieved from http://alalearning.org/2010/02/02/10steps/

A small meme developed on Twitter yesterday

prompted by the following tweet by David

Wedamen, “Just had a GREAT idea from

@brandeislibn. Conferences should be built

around TEACHING not PRESENTING. Wouldn’t

that be something?” Alice Yucht built on the idea

with her tweet, “how about Conferences should

be about LEARNING, not Show-n-Tell ?”, which

got me thinking about how we approach confer-

ences, and conference presentations, in the li-

brary profession. If the goal of the conference is

that attendees will learn, what do conference

presentations have to look like to achieve that

goal?

I believe the goal of presenting should be to a

create a change in the listener; a change of be-

havior, thinking and/or feeling. Any good teacher

or trainer will tell you that to be effective in creat-

ing that change, you must begin with the learning

objective(s) in mind, and work backwards from

there to design the lesson or the talk.

Wedamen’s tweet points out an interesting fea-

ture of many library conferences—they seem to be

designed around topics that presenters wish to

present on, more than they are designed around,

or focused on, the learning that participants

need. In too many conference presentations

speakers design their talks as core dumps of

data, or long, dry recountings of “how we did it

good”, without giving enough attention to the key

question, “As a result of hearing me speak, peo-

ple will do/think/feel_________ “(fill in the blank).

The answer to that question is the main organiz-

ing principle, the guiding star, of any well-

constructed talk. Leaving out all of the other vari-

ables that go into an effective presentation

(emotion, humor, pacing, eye contact, vocal varie-

ty, body language, visuals, questions, room envi-

ronment, acoustics, etc.) it is very difficult to have

a successful presentation if what constitutes suc-

cess is a mere afterthought.

Ask, “What do I want them to do, think, and/or

feel as a result of hearing this program?” Ask and

answer this question before you write one word or

create one slide. The answer to this question is

your OBJECTIVE. Let the objective guide you con-

tinually as you construct your presentation, throw-

ing aside anything that does not help achieve the

goal of the talk.

Share your objectives with the audience at some

point during your presentation–preferably during

the first few minutes. If the audience knows what

you intend to achieve with the talk it will give

them context that will help them make meaning

and ground the learning. It will also help them

evaluate whether you have effectively achieved

your goal. Or not.

Have a strong opening. The first two minutes of

your talk gives you a great opportunity to grab

and hold the audience’s attention, but it’s likely

that you already have their attention during the

first two minutes. It’s the next 58 that present

the challenge! So what do I mean by a strong

opening? I mean an opening that engages the

audience, creates some positive expectation for

the rest of the talk, and/or provides a framework

for the learning that is about to take place. Olivia

Mitchell, who blogs over at Speaking and Pre-

senting, suggests three possible openings –

Organized Opening, Story Opening, Dramatic

Opening — and discusses when/why to use each.

Use examples to illustrate your points. For exam-

ple… Don’t just say, “Merchandising your collec-

tion is good.” Say, “When we created a ‘recently

returned’ display at the front door and displayed

them all covers out, 98% of them recirculated

within the same day and our circulation stats

increased 20%.” Examples support the learning

by attesting to the truth of your message, and

also help ground the learning by clarifying and

fleshing out your meaning.

Use simple, clear, engaging visuals to reinforce

your points (or don’t use them at all.) Good visu-

als can help you focus the audience’s attention,

help them make meaning, and promote future

recall, by connecting intellectual ideas with visual

representations. As for bullet points… I’m not one

of those people that believes bullet points should

never be used, but if you use them, do it sparing-

ly, with a large readable font, and a supporting

image (if room permits.)

Tell stories. Our brains are actually wired to en-

joy stories. And because stories have the power

to simultaneously engage the listener both cogni-

tively AND emotionally, they are highly effective in

getting your point across (assuming you know

your point–see #1). And speaking of engaging

the listener…

Appeal to emotions as well as reason. Unless

you are presenting on the planet Vulcan, your

audience probably consists of human beings,

and research shows that it is our emotions that

lead us to act. If your goal is get listeners to DO

SOMETHING, you need to rouse some feeling

within them by appealing to their empathy, their

self-interest, or some combination of both. As

the Heath Brothers suggest in Made to Stick, you

want to appeal, “not only to the people they are

right now but also to the people they would like

to be.”

Practice, Practice, Practice: There is no substitute

for practicing your talk, preferably in front of oth-

ers, to work out the kinks, identify and clarify

muddied points, and become comfortable with

the material. When you know your talk cold you

will relax, let you personality show, and more

easily connect with the audience. You may have

Continued on page 4

NEMO NEWS Volume 8, Issue 4 April 2012

3

LINKS TO

STUDENT

RESOURCES

Graduate Office University of Missouri

Graduate Offices

Academic Calendar Registration dates, class

dates, and holidays

Graduate Record

Exam GRE requirements, tips,

and practice tests

Transcript Request

Procedures University of Missouri

transcript procedures

MU Online

Continuing and distance

education support

(formerly MU Direct)

Course Schedule University of Missouri

course schedule search

page

From top left: Jessica Johnson, a Mizzou library science alum, snaps a picture with Big Ben in the background in London, England.

Top Right: The 1st Amendment engraved on the exterior of the Newseum in Washington D.C. photographed by Mizzou library

science student Annette Parde. Bottom Left: Photo of the Nebraska State Library inside of the Nebraska State Capitol taken during

the 2011 Nebraska Library Association "Libraries, Law, and Lee Lawrie" Preconference by Annette Parde. Bottom Right: Mizzou

library science student Melanie Schulz stands in front of the main parking garage at Kansas City Public Library, which was designed

to resemble a giant bookshelf.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR MIZZOU COLLEAGUES

Aimee Owen has been promoted from Library

Aide at Swanson Branch to Clerk II at the

Washington Branch of the Omaha Public

Library.

If you have been promoted or changed jobs

recently, please let us know! E-mail Karen

Pietsch at nemogradassistant@gmail.com.

Melanie Schultz has been promoted from Clerk/

Typist II to part-time Library Specialist at the

Millard Branch of the Omaha Public Library.

Naomi Solomon has been promoted from Library

Aide at Benson Branch to part-time Library

Specialist at the Elkhorn Branch of the Omaha

Public Library.

PHOTO COLLAGE: MIZZOU LIBRARY STUDENT TRAVEL PHOTOS

NEMO NEWS Volume 8, Issue 4 April 2012

4

What is your education/library/professional

background?

I have a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communi-

cations from Creighton University. After college I

bounced around working in retail for a couple of

years, then attended the Summer Publishing

Institute at New York University and received a

certificate in publishing. I worked as a freelance

graphic designer and editor while I lived in Itha-

ca, New York (where my husband attended grad-

uate school), then moved back to Omaha and

began working for the Omaha Public Library as a

library aide. I'm still with OPL and currently work

full-time as the senior clerk in the circulation

department at the W. Dale Clark Main Library.

What is on your reading list? What are your fa-

vorites/your recommended/your want to read

lists?

I'm currently reading Lady Almina and the Real

Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon.

I've also recently read The Sense of an Ending by

Julian Barnes, and Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Those books offer a pretty good representation

of what I love to read: non-fiction, literary fiction,

science fiction with dystopian themes, and YA

fiction (among other things).

What is on your professional reading list?

Well, I'm currently on the hunt for a book to read

for Dr. Pasco's Collections Management class,

so I have quite a stack that includes Too Big to

Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the

Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere,

and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the

Room by David Wineberger, and Alone Together:

Why We Expect More from Technology and Less

From Each Other by Sherry Turkle.

Name one of your personal or professional quali-

ties that make you, or will make you, a leader in

21st century library and information centers.

I am incredibly patient and love using that

patience to work with people and help them

better navigate their world. Whether I'm training

new employees who are struggling to learn our

ILS, or trying to explain the purpose of a banned

books week display to a patron, I love taking the

time to help someone understand. This quality is

useful not only when working with co-workers

and patrons but also when advocating for

libraries. I look forward to having the opportunity

to fight for our libraries and their users on a

large scale.

What idea / experience / topic / speaker in your

library science education journey has impacted

your practice or thinking?

Interviewing Melissa Cast-Brede as part of an

assignment for Reference Resources and

Services was such an enlightening experience.

Not only was I was able to see and understand

how what we're learning in class relates to and is

used in the real world, but speaking with a

professional who is so excited about and devot-

ed to her field was inspiring. Her enthusiasm and

passion for library work served as a great

reminder of why I got into this field.

What advice do you have for your fellow gradu-

ate students?

Work in a library! I was fortunate to be employed

by a library when I started the program, but I

can't imagine going through school without some

working knowledge of a library. Plus, you get your

foot in the door. I don't think there's a library in

the world that wouldn't appreciate a library

science student who wants to gain real-world

experience.

What deep dark secret would you like to share?

I once saw the off-off-Broadway show Jollyship

The Whiz-Bang: a Pirate-Puppet-Rock Odyssey.

And it was awesome.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Megan Klein-Hewett UPCOMING NLC

WEBINARS

All webinars can be

found on the Nebraska

Library Commission

(NLC) website.

QuickBooks for Non-

profits and Libraries

4/18/2012

1:00-2:00 p.m. Learn more about how

you can streamline your

day-to-day business with

the new 2012 updates

to Intuit’s QuickBooks.

During this webinar, we

will be hearing from

QuickBooks Made Easy

instructor Gregg Bossen

about how this tool can

aid your nonprofit or

library, giving you an in-

depth look at the new

updates to the Quick-

Books software.

Trends in Library

Architecture and

Interior Design

2/22/12

10:00-11:00 a.m. Steve and Desta Krong

of Krong Design Inc. will

discuss some of the

latest trends in library

architecture and interior

design such as: how

libraries have trans-

formed through the

years, the importance of

design, identity, and

branding, how to prepare

for the future of library

design, budget and

scope considerations,

architect‘s and interior

designer‘s working rela-

tionships, finish materi-

als, furniture, lighting

trends, case study re-

views, and sustainability

in library design and

operations.

Continued from page 2 noticed that it’s difficult to

connect with a presenter who reads his talk in a

monotone and seldom glances up from his

notes. Conversely, it is very easy to tune out and

start twittering during such a talk.

Have a strong closing, and telegraph when it’s

coming. You don’t have to bring tears to the audi-

ence’s eyes, or bring them to their feet. But you do

need to let them know that you’re wrapping it up,

and use the closing as an opportunity to reinforce

your goal. You can do this by simply restating your

main points and asserting why/how the listener

will benefit by doing what you want them to do. Or

you can end with a provocative question (engaging

them cognitively), or with a story (engaging them

emotionally). However you choose to close your

presentation, use vocal variety and word choice to

telegraph that your are concluding so the audience

realizes that it is now appropriate to clap wildly.

Missouri faculty and students pose for a picture at the spring

Library Science Information Meeting, held in Roskens Hall on

the UNO Campus. From left to right: Dr. Denise Adkins,

Kathryn Brockmeier, Dr. Rebecca Pasco, Brian Maass, and

Dr. John Budd.

NEMO NEWS Volume 8, Issue 4 April 2012

5

DON’T FORGET MIZZOU!

As Missouri students you are eligible to fill out the

Missouri Application for Graduate Scholarships. By

submitting a completed Application for Graduate

Scholarships, you will be considered for over 100

scholarships available through the University of

Missouri College of Education.

The 2011-2012 application will be available to down-

load on November 1, 2010, and completed applica-

tions are due March 1, 2011. This is a great op-

portunity to fund your education, so don’t miss out!

For more information and to download the application

form, visit:

http://education.missouri.edu/academics/

financial_aid/scholarships-graduate.php

There is funding available for students pursuing library

studies. Please take advantage of these opportunities.

These scholarships are waiting to be snapped up by

deserving students like you. Please make the decision

to apply. Your educational journey is worthwhile, but it’s

not free. Let NLC, NLA, and NEMA help!

For Nebraska Educational Media Association Scholar-

ships, visit:

http://www.schoollibrariesrock.org/scholarships.html

For Nebraska Library Commission Scholarships, visit:

http://nlc1.nlc.state.ne.us/nowhiring/Scholarships/

ScholarshipInfo.asp#apply

The new deadline for this scholarship is June 1, 2012

Nebraska Library Association Scholarships

http://nebraskalibraries.org/member-resources/

scholarships/

NEMO NEWS CONTACTS

Dr. R. J. (Becky) Pasco

Professor, College of Education

Coordinator, Library Science Education

University of Nebraska Omaha

Roskens Hall 308

6001 Dodge Street

Omaha, Nebraska 68182

402-554-2119

rpasco@unomaha.edu

1-800-858-8648, ext. 2119

Bridget Kratt

Instructor, Library Science Education

University of Nebraska Omaha

Roskens Hall 308

6001 Dodge Street

Omaha, Nebraska 68182

402-554-3673

bkratt@unomaha.edu

Karen Pietsch

Graduate Assistant

nemogradassistant@gmail.com

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

It’s important for all of our students to keep up with the current

library job postings. You never know when your “perfect” job

might come along. We regularly send out an email with the

current postings. Please read these! Even if you’re not looking

for a job, you may see something that you want to pass on to a

classmate or colleague. In addition to reading these emails, take

the initiative to check the website periodically. We only send out

Nebraska postings, but you can view regional postings by

accessing the website.

Visit: http://nlc1.nlc.state.ne.us/NowHiring/JobsAndCareers.asp

and check out who is looking to hire in Nebraska and in other

states as well. Directions: Once you access this link, select “view

by location”, pick your state and then hit “GO”. This site provides

access to postings in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,

Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.