Coming up in NE Iowa

NE Open forum

Join us for NE Open Forum this Friday (April 7) at 10:30 am. These are informal gatherings in Zoom, casual conversations where we talk about whatever issues are on your mind. It's an great chance to pose questions of each other and share solutions that work for you.

Eunice's Zoom Room

Director Roundtables in May

These annual events present a guided discussion format, giving library directors a chance to connect with peers in person and adapt ideas. This year, it's partnership ideas.

Director Roundtables 2023 will follow our overall education theme for this year: “Productive Partnerships.” With last year's theme (“Make Room for Yes”) as a jumping off point, we’ll spend time this year discussing the benefits of finding partners in a common cause. And we’ll discuss how productive partnerships can advance mutual missions for community betterment. Among likely partners to consider:

• Teachers and school librarians
• Businesses and community groups
• Friends Groups
• Other city departments
• Other libraries

Come ready to share success stories about the productive partnerships your library enjoys. That's the main focus, but there will also be time for open-ended conversation on other topics that attendees would like to discuss.

The webpage linked below displays all of the Director Roundtables happening across the state. Zero in on the three dates / locations for Northeast in May. This helpful at-a-glance page shows all the dates so you can match them against your calendar and choose the one that’s most convenient. You're certainly welcome to attend sessions in other Districts if those dates work out better for you. Check your calendars and make plans to join Director Roundtables in May!

Director Roundtables - May 2023

Earth’s Bounty in Iowa: Then and Now

The State Library is launching an exciting Oral History project, Earth’s Bounty in Iowa: Then and Now. Members of the public will be able to tell their own stories about growing up on a farm in Iowa. Their recorded narratives will focus on the firsthand experiences of ordinary Iowans. The interviews will be posted on The Iowa Heritage Digital Collection website, along with verbatim transcripts of the interviews.

If you would like to listen to two sample recordings, and to read the verbatim transcripts, please click on this link:

Search Omeka (152 total) · Iowa Heritage Digital Collections

Here are some commonalities for each interview:

• Library staff at participating libraries will schedule the interviews and provide a staff member to ask the questions and record the interview.
• Participants will be asked to sign a written release, allowing the State Library to record and put their recorded words on the IHDC web site, and to allow researchers and the public to use the content of their interviews.
• Interviews will also be transcribed through a commercial service (Rev.com), and posted on the IHDC web site.
• Each interview will be recorded on the same kind of portable recording device (Zoom H5); devices will be sent from the State Library and returned to the State Library via IA Shares.
• Each mailing will include a packet of information, instructions, and forms.
• State Library staff will transfer each interview to the IHDC web site.
• Interviewees will be asked the same set of eight questions (whether currently farming or no longer living on a farm).
• Each interview will last up to 45 minutes.
• We encourage interviewees to send us their photographs so that we can include them on the IHDC website (alongside their interviews).
• Library staff and the public will be invited to fill out a short written evaluation of the process.

Helen Dagley will serve as the staff contact for the project at the State Library. If you have questions or would like to book an interview, please contact her by phone or email: 515-281-3063 or [email protected]

Click Here for more information.