If you're looking for tips on making your website more accessible, the WebAIM Newsletter is a great place to start. WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) is a non-profit organization based at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. Its mission is to empower organizations to make their web content accessible to people with disabilities.
The September WebAIM newsletter has a few topics that really stood out: Free Webinar:Tools for Building Digital Skills with Your Patrons and Staff Thursday, September 26, 2019 | 1-2 p.m. Central Public libraries have long been leaders in bringing people into the digital world, providing programs and services that help patrons get jobs, gain knowledge, increase productivity, and engage with others online. Leveraging and strengthening existing library and community resources can help reduce staff burden and increase the library’s impact on digital literacy. In this free webinar, a panel of digital literacy experts will share tools, resources, and partnership strategies to help you enhance digital skill development among patrons and library staff. This webinar is presented as part of the Public Library Association's (PLA) DigitalLead: Rural Libraries Creating New Possibilities project. PLA and Microsoft Corp. are helping rural populations reap the benefits of broadband internet connectivity. Below are the headlines from the 07/19/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.
Below are the headlines from the 07/12/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.
Facebook has announced the addition of 22 new digital marketing training courses as part of its free Facebook Blueprint education platform. The new Blueprint courses will be available at facebook.com/blueprint at the end of the month. One module that is particularly valuable for libraries is Get Started with Events, which shows you how to use Facebook to create, share, and promote events. Even the experienced Facebook user is likely to pick up some great tips to make their next library event or program really stand out! Looking for more tips on effectively marketing your library? Be sure to check out the Marketing category on the right for handy tips and tricks you can use on the library's social media page, website and more! NFLS member libraries are also encouraged to reach out to the NFLS marketing contact for additional assistance, training, or answers to questions regarding library marketing and communication needs.
Below are the headlines for the 06/21/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.
Below are the headlines for 05/17/2019 - 📣 Nic News Weekly newsletter.
We have been told for years how bad it is to use the same password for more than one account, as anyone who acquires that password will then have access to more of your data/information. Yet, I am sure we are all sick and tired of coming up with new passwords and then trying to remember them. There has been a solution out there for a while now - but is it truly safe?
A password manager is a program that stores all of your passwords in a secure/encrypted place on your computer/device. These programs will enter the password for you at the website. Some even create passwords for you so you don't have to fret over coming up with another new one. They are the random kind, which are much more secure than what people usually come up with. Here is a great SCLS blog post about it: https://scls.typepad.com/techbits/2019/03/random-passwords.html This sort of fully automated system sounds pretty sweet, but it is not perfect... TechSoup is hosting a webinar, 5 Things Every Nonprofit Needs to Consider About Its Website, on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. This webinar will walk you through five things that every nonprofit should consider about its website and will give practical advice on how to make yours better.
Reminder to NFLS member libraries: For assistance with your library's website (big or small), please contact Lori Baumgart. She is the new Marketing, Communications and CE Specialist at Nicolet Federated Library System and is ready to help!
Learn more about how the NFLS staff can assist your library at http://www.nfls.lib.wi.us/who-to-contact.html. Google's Applied Digital Skills library has a great series of videos that walk you through creating a resume. Your patron can use their Google account to log into Google Drive to follow the lesson exactly or use any other word processing program (i.e. Word). Check it out here: https://tinyurl.com/y4p7wgys.
This is a great post on internet safety, something that affects us all at home and work. We must all remain vigilant to protect our staff and patrons, as well as ourselves. - John Kronenburg, NFLS IT Coordinator This Safer Internet Day, we teamed up with ethical hacking and web application security company Detectify to provide security tips for both workplace Internet users and web developers. This article is aimed at employees of all levels. If you’re a programmer looking to create secure websites, visit Detectify’s blog to read their guide to HTTP security headers for web developers. More and more businesses are becoming security and privacy conscious as, they should be. When in years past, IT departments’ pleas for a bigger cybersecurity budget fell on deaf ears, this year, things have started looking up. Indeed, there is nothing quite like a lengthening string of security breaches to grab people’s—and executives’—attention. Purely reacting to events is a bad terrible approach, and organizations who handle and store sensitive client information have learned this the hard way. It not only puts businesses in constant firefighting mode, but is also a sign that their current cybersecurity posture may be inadequate and in need of proper assessment and improvement. How many times have you realized that the information you were reading online was inaccurate because it was outdated? How many times do you suppose that happened without you realizing it...? Have you ever wished you could search for things released on/around a certain date? Well, Google has a tool that will allow you to control the exact time-frame of your search results and I love it! Below is an image showing you where to find this feature. Enter search criteria into the Omnibox (address field at the top of any web browser) or from wherever you Google things. At the top middle of the Google results page there will be a Tools button. Once you select that, two new menus will appear on the left: Any time and All results. Select Any time and the drop down box will reveal your options within the last year. Select Custom range... and a calendar will appear for you to select the exact start and end dates. This tool has endless possibilities for improving your search results and for dialing in specific time-periods for research. I may not use it every time, but it is invaluable when I need it. Enjoy! Written by John Kronenburg, NFLS Information Technologies Coordinator
The TechSoup blog post below is not just interesting on its own, it also references numerous other organizations and programs worth looking into like: Edge Benchmark project; Pew Research Center; Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries; Public Library Association (PLA); International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA); Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA).
Here is the beginning of the original post: From 1997 to 2018, the Gates Library Foundation (a program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) invested $1 billion over 21 years in public libraries both domestically and globally. Its investments have ensured that millions of people around the world have better access to digital tools that can help improve their lives. The program has left a powerful legacy, nothing less than bringing digital inclusion to many thousands of public libraries and their patrons around the world. TechSoup is deeply proud to have had the chance to work with the Gates Foundation to empower public libraries everywhere. In 1997, Bill and Melinda Gates created the Gates Library Foundation to bring computers and digital information to public libraries in the United States and Canada. When the foundation began this work, less than a quarter of U.S. libraries were connected to the Internet, and fewer provided Internet access to patrons. Today, nearly all U.S. libraries are not just connected, they've been transformed into critical community resources for today's digital world by supplying public-access computers, software, and training to their communities. Read on... I recently read a piece about the News Literacy website in my WiLS Community Chronicle e-newsletter: The News Literacy Project is a national education nonprofit offering nonpartisan, independent programs that teach students how to know what to believe in the digital age. Check out their website for more information, their professional development opportunities, the Civics Connection blog, and to subscribe to The Sift, their newsletter in which staff “sort through recent rumors, hoaxes and other misinformation to bring you the best teachable moments in news literacy.” I then explored the website, finding it to be an interesting mixture of educational snippets and opportunities for educators to take classes in preparation for guiding/teaching others. It is definitely worth checking out, especially since it has such a wonderfully constructive goal of helping all of us to better navigate the often manipulated news and views found through any form of media. Written by John Kronenburg, NFLS Information Technology and Technical Support
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