Okay, I'm Tammy Thiem, I'm the Library Director at Genoa Public Library and I'm also the System Peer Coordinator for Antelope Boone, Madison, Nance, and Platt Counties. And Rosa Schmidt is with us today too. She is from Oakland Public Library. You want to say, Rosa, what your System Peer Coordinator Counties are? No, I should have my list in front of me. I do not. I don't have it. Sorry. Sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. Rosa takes care of Stanton Colfax, Cumming, Dodge, Burge, and Washington Counties. Thank you for putting a plug out there that there are two areas of the Three Rivers Library System that use the Peer Coordinator. They're from Knox, Pierce, Steter, Wayne, Dixon, Dakota, or Houston. That area needs a representative. The Douglas Serpian Cast Counties need a representative. And you wouldn't just be thrown out there, Rosa's awesome, and she and I would be willing to help and work during zones also. So just a thought. It's a lot of fun. So we had talked about we wanted to do this as a trial because we do quarterly dispel meetings, but it's hard for people to get away sometimes. There's travel. There's weather. I understand. But we thought we'd just try this as another means of promoting it. So that's what we were going to see e-credits, so if you can submit it independently or if you can email me, I can see your name since you're in. And we want to hear from you. This is the meeting where everybody gets to share. So when you speak, if you could say your name, library, and your position there, that would be great. Okay. So we will start out with just like we do at dispel meetings. I don't know if Rosa does this and hers, but recent successes and I'll start rattle one off quick. We just finished a scholastic book fair exceeded our goal. So the library gets, I think we got like $850. So the library gets $425 worth of free book. If you do scholastic book fairs, you know how awesome they are and if you don't do them, let me know and I can get you hooked up because it's really cool. So someone else want to share their recent success with us? My name is Jenny White and I'm from the Schuyler Public Library. And we recently moved into a brand new building that was built for us. It was a long time coming, but the construction was finally finished and we moved in and we opened our doors April 4th. And we later on in the month, we had a whole week of special opening activities like a ribbon cutting and gallery night and a volunteer appreciation evening. Right now we're just working out the kinks that you have when you have to move an entire library to a new building. What's lighting? Thank you. Anyone else to share some successes? This is Becky at Papillion. We just implemented the CERC, ILS. We're about a week, maybe two weeks in. And it's going pretty well. Contract negotiations were a little hairy, but once you get through all of that, working with the CERC implementation staff, that was fantastic. And we're just getting used to it again. Some of us have used it before. And it's just really cool. So it went off, I won't say without a hitch, but pretty much without a hitch. Which was nice. What system did you have before CERC? Co-Ha. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's, I mean, Co-Ha was fine for what it did, but we're going to be expanding into our city's community center, and I have a presence over there. And there's just a lot of stuff that Co-Ha just couldn't do that CERC will. And it's already, you know, it's like plug and play. And so that was really important for us. Is that an acronym, CERC? I don't know where it came from. It's just the name of the company for as long as I've ever known them. They combined with Dynex. So now they're CERC Dynex. And I think some people are still on horizon and we're on symphony. So those may be some names that you're familiar with. Okay. Yeah. Very exciting. Anyone else successes or you can go with challenges or any summer reading program ideas, anything like that? This is a little harder when you don't have a table you can see around to see whose turn is next, isn't it? It is a little trickier. Just at the Nebraska Library Commission, we're hosting the meeting today. I just want to let everybody know that you're all unmuted by default. So you came in after we'd already started. So you're welcome to chime in whenever you want to. You should be able to see everyone who's attending looking at the attendees section of your GoToWebinar interface. And if you do want to mute yourself underneath the orange arrow at the top of your interface is that button right underneath there, the green one, you've got value, self-mute. But otherwise you guys are all open, open mic and welcome to chat as you want to. Everybody have their summer reading programs lined up. Oh yeah. Here at Pavilion we're not doing the one that everybody else is doing. I'm not sure what they ended up calling it. But I think because we've done something like that recently, so they are doing something else. Is there kind of a theme to it then? There is, but I don't know what it is. I've been so tied up with this other stuff. So, you know, Kathy's got it under control and I'm like, okay, I'll figure it out along the way. Well, I'm Kathy Stender and I'm from the LEED library. And I'm still kind of getting my summer reading program together. I'm hoping to have a gentleman come and do some science experiments with the kids. And hopefully I can get that worked out. Hopefully it'll go okay. We just recently got a new program at our library too. We have Alexandria that's made by the companion system. We're getting automated with that. Because when I first started, we still just had the old library checkout cards in the library pockets. Wow, that's really exciting for you, Kathy. Yes, very exciting. I don't know if I'm going to get it done in a year or not, though, since it's just me and one volunteer. Wow. Do you need some help? Well, the board members have said that this summer, when things slow down a little bit for them, they'll help out. So hopefully they're going to stick to their promise. Well, do feel free to keep us in mind if you need some help. Give me a call. Okay, I'll do that. Okay. Yeah, huge. That's a huge process. It is. I know that maybe a little later, we're supposed to talk about whether or not we're registered for that Mark 21 program coming up. I registered for that. I'm hoping that's going to help me along in some of the cataloging process. Because sometimes you come up with a book and you're just not sure where it belongs. All right. Is anybody else signed up for that? My cataloger was speaking of it. I believe he has registered for it. I considered it, but it's pretty busy during the summer. It's hard to do it all. I will say that when your program has the capability of allowing you to copy and paste other cataloging, it makes it so much easier. I took some cataloging classes, but I really love the automated way I can download it and then make it our own. I agree with you on that. The Alexandria has some of that, but sometimes every once in a while the book doesn't pop up and so you end up entering everything in yourself. Okay. Sometimes when you do look for a book and it doesn't come up, it does help to search for it specifically just by title because maybe the addition you're looking up, maybe there are other additions that would pop up. Right. That's a good hint and I've used that. Sometimes when you search just with title, it does come up. I agree. Yeah. Good. But I had this one book that what it is, I don't recall the title right now. I'm sorry, but it's a book that describes all the different books that Agatha Christie wrote. Oh. Okay. So the previous librarian had that in the fiction section, but I kind of thought that maybe it should be in the non-fiction section because it's not really telling a story. It's just describing all these different stories that have been told by Agatha Christie. What do you guys think? Maybe somewhere in the 800s. Yeah. Maybe that's where they have like critique. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nebraska is a great place to search out things like that to see how other libraries have cataloged it. What place to search? I didn't catch that. I go to Nebraska access a lot to see how other libraries have cataloged something. Oh yeah. And look in the World Cat. Yes. Okay. I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I don't have a Master of Library Sciences and the training that I have doing cataloging is kind of, I was instructed by a librarian how to do it at my old place. She said that the Dewey Decimal System is really good, but it's not cutting and dried. It's not perfect. And sometimes you have to be a little, I don't want to say artist, sometimes it's an art, sometimes it's a science, and it's a blend of both. One thing. She did say, this kind of think logically where people would look for this kind of book as a guideline. Yes. The other thing I've done sometimes, if I'm really stuck and World Cat hasn't done it, is to go to the Library of Congress online catalog, catalog.loc.gov, and even if you can't find a Dewey number, you can find an LC number and then go see what subject headings they've assigned to it and work it backwards that way. Okay. Because even if you just find the subject headings, that'll tell you more. And when you're thinking about the Agatha Christie, think of it this way. If you have a book that is on Tiger Woods, it's not a biography of him necessarily, but maybe it's about him and how he's done and that kind of thing, well, you're going to put it in the golf collection. Right. So it seems weird to put a book about Agatha Christie and, you know, to put that in the 800s, but by that method of thinking, that's where it should go. Okay. Okay, gotcha. Thanks everybody. Cataloging is weird. Yes. Yes. Sometimes you even think about just how big is the library and how many areas do you have? You know, would it make sense to your patrons if it were shelved with your other Agatha Christie books, maybe the very first book to give them some assistance in what they want to read? Right. And maybe, yeah, maybe that's why it was where it was, but to me that didn't make sense. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm inclined to keep fiction in fiction and nonfiction in nonfiction. Right. Right. Yeah. Has anybody started using the BISAC or sort of the bookstore model? I have not. I have not. I've heard of other libraries in the house. Yeah, I mean it's a huge conversion process, but I was just wondering how it was going. If anybody here is using it. I'm Connie at Springfield and, yes, we did change to the BISAC method. We were a smaller library and it was a huge undertaking even with being a small library, but we did it. We moved probably about two to three years ago and we started with our smaller sections and then just did it, you know, scheduled it so that we started with YA, which we had a smaller collection of nonfiction in YA and then we moved in to the adult area and then I think we finished up with children's last. And it has assisted us in, you know, assisted our patrons in finding nonfiction and I think our, and our statistics have gone up, you know, our check-up statistics. That's good to know. Yeah, it's a lot of work though and we had a really good volunteer and that helped and, you know, a lot of everybody working together to get it all done. Well, I was just thinking about the library that's converting from cards, you know, if you're going to convert anyway and you think BISAC might work for you, it would probably be easier to just, you know, if you're doing it from scratch anyway. Right. And I had actually thought about that, but I had also thought about then while I'm cataloging the books on the spine of the book, putting the label that identifies which genre it is like Western romance mystery, that kind of thing. I thought about doing that instead of going to that method. I'm still thinking about those two. I hadn't decided which to do. I'd love to hear more about it. It sounds like the one person said that it increased their circulation and that's great. Well, didn't, did Gretna go to BISAC? I think they did. I'm not sure, but there was a Encompass Live webinar on the topic before we actually converted. You can still access that. So that kind of spurred me, because I've been thinking about it for a while before we converted. And that kind of spurred me on to do it. And then also I used as a resource the Anything Library in Colorado. You can go on their website and they use the BISAC method also. And so they were a great resource for looking at records, because you could look at their records and see how they had what subjects they used. It seems there would be a lot of overlap. That's what is scary about it to me. It is a little challenging when you're cataloging books, but you can look at the subjects. You can use other resources to figure out. And we've had a few issues trying to figure out where things go. But overall, we think we have placed our books into pretty good subject areas. And some of it is what your population, what you think, you just have to think about what your patrons would be looking for and kind of, I think you have to kind of put it where you think they would be looking for something. And that webinar is a great resource talking about that too. Do you remember what the name of it was? Oh my gosh, it's been such a while. I'm trying to find it and I'm not seeing it. Krista might know. Yeah, I was trying to look, search our archives and it might be and so I was trying to search using BISAC and obviously that wasn't used in the description of the session, unfortunately. But the most recent thing we have had to do the cataloging that might have been mentioned it was about developing local cataloging standards that Emily Nimsikant did. Let's see if she, that was just done in 2016. It was actually, as I was searching, I couldn't find that I did a general search in our archives. We have a search feature now in the archives for just cataloging. And we haven't actually done anything since this one, so I think I need to do an update on that. She did mention BISAC in that session though, so that might be the most recent one that we've had, yeah. So it's a session, it was done on July 6, 2016. It's in our archives called Making Your Catalog Work for Your Community, How to Develop Local Cataloging Standards. And I think it might be Killing Dewey. There was that one too, yep, we had a Killing Dewey session. There's also Life After Marks Cataloging Tools in the Future. Yeah. Killing Dewey. There are people that are about doing something different than usual, yeah. That might be a good one to do an update on. Yeah. Like you were saying, and maybe get some people like Connie and if Gretna did it to even do a panel and talk about what worked and what was hard and, you know, that kind of thing. And I think it was a good one. Things they wish they'd known when they got started. Yeah, yeah. That'd be perfect. I will work on that, yeah, getting something. And then somebody else, maybe it was Blair, or maybe Blair went to BISAC, I can't remember. And they have a fairly new library, right? Yes, they do, it's beautiful. So maybe they did that transition when they changed over? I don't remember. I just remember talking with Gail, and I think she said they went to BISAC. And I'm like, holy cow. But I do think it's easier on a smaller collection in some ways, because there just isn't that much to look at. But on the other hand, with a bigger collection, you're going to have more variety that you have to think about so you might set yourself up better for the future. I don't know. I worked at a bookstore for about four years, and sometimes that model worked extremely well, and sometimes when it got bigger, it was frustrating as heck. Because if you want a book on a certain battle in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, everything's organized alphabetically by author. Even if you get to Vietnam War, then you're still sort of going through stuff. So I think that's kind of the trade-off point for me. How big is the nonfiction collection, and how specific do you need to be? Probably the hardest area is your larger section, to get that down to the different subjects, to dividing it up. For instance, history and then war. Then if you want to divide it up further, it could just go on and on and on. Yeah, to the point where you may as well just use Dewey. Yes. That's probably like our history section. But we did get it down, I think, pretty well. Anything else anyone wants to share? Everybody excited to start their summer reading programs or dreading it? We're excited to start ours. We actually have brochures out just as we start reading registration next Monday, and our programs start June 4th. But we have brochures out on the front desk just to get people excited to come back and sign up. And it'll be super busy, but we're excited. Excited to put it over with, I don't know. Any other successes or challenges? Thank you. We ran into it with the friends. Well, we went from a governing board to an advisory board and discovered that our agreement with the friends was with the governing board. So it was no longer legal. So we had to redo it, and they had a new president, and it took quite some time to hash out the agreement between the city and the friends group. Anyway, one of the things that came out of that was that they had requirements for requesting funds. And we went around on that for quite a while. We finally come up with a form that seems to collect the information that the IRS asks of groups like foundations and friends. So I have a pretty good form now if anybody wants one, if you want to see it. Is that like a 5013C? They are, yeah. I think it'd be interesting to see your form. Anybody who wants it, if you want to email me, or do you want me to send it to one person who's got the mailing list? Sure, you can send it to me. That's books, B-O-O-K-S, at oakland-library.org. I'm sorry, Oakland? Oakland is O-A-K-L-A-N-D, and then a hyphen or a dash, library, L-I-B-R-A-R-Y dot O-R-G. Great, okay. Thanks Becky. Then if you want to send it out to anybody, and then just modify it for your use, because I'm not making any guarantees that people are going to like it. But hey, it's a start. Since you invested so much to hash it all out. Oh my goodness. Wow. Okay, has everybody used talking books in Braille from the Nebraska Library Commission? Yes. I'm just asking, because I just had my first experience with it, have a lady at the nursing home, and it's fantastic. So I just wanted everybody to know and to hear about other people's experiences. I've not used it before. I'd be interested to hear. This is Kathy and Lee, and I've never used it before either. We used to have information out about it, but I gather the usage has just dropped off. Oh. Hmm. Well, at the nursing home, there's a 90-year-old lady having trouble with her vision, and they asked if we had a lot of audio books. Oh, I think I know something that would be the perfect fit. And it took no time at all. They got the player and a couple of books, and the lady is so excited. She still tries to read some large print books, but it's such a struggle with her. This is a great option. And she's just so excited, and I'm so excited that we could help. And so if there's anyone in your community who could use something like this, I totally recommend it. Yeah, this is Christa. Becky, were you the one that said they think that usage has dropped off? Are you talking in your community? Yes. You know why? We don't have anybody asking for it at all. I think that they are in great part just taking advantage of what technology offers to begin with. It depends on how technologically sophisticated they are. My brother-in-law is blind, he's in Alabama, but he doesn't use the books that much because he just reads off the Internet. Now, he's got a lot of assistive technology, but there's also apparently an underground of people with vision issues who share audio books. Yeah, he wouldn't tell me much about it, but I think that that may be leaching some of the business. Now, people like my grandmother, when she was still alive, she didn't want anything fancy. She wanted to hit this button and let it play. And the talking books is marvelous for that. Yes. Yeah, it is. And they've been doing a lot of updates to the system. It's all going digital. The players now are pretty much like a different player smaller. Hit the button, let it go. The books are now on little credit card sized cards that insert into there rather than those bigger tape type things. They also have a digital version now that you can do on to any of your devices, Android, iPhones, iPads, whatever, Kindle as well. So for people who are, you already have those devices, you can get now all the things from the talking book and braille. Very nice. I know over the years we have used it a lot, but it's slowing between patrons. You have to have someone who fits that need. And then when you find them and are able to get them set up with it, it is such a rewarding feeling because you know that they are getting what they need. And really once we have given them the information and they're set up, there's really nothing for us as a librarian to need to do anymore because in Lincoln and the commission, they take care of them so well. I've never had anyone really have to come back and have any issues or any unhappiness. They're just thrilled with the service that they have gotten at the commission. Yeah, we have a staff, staff members here that are readers advisors for the program. So they, and we track what people are reading and give them, you know, just like you do readers advisory in the library. Well, here's some other titles you might like. And, you know, so it's not just tell us what you want and we'll send it to you. There's a lot of back and forth between our staff and the people who use the program. Right. The service. I have always explained to families that their, their, their loved one will have basically their own librarian at the commission who will help them find the materials they need. That's pretty much what it's like. Yeah. Yeah, your personal personal curator of what you might want to read. One thing about it too that I think a lot of people don't realize is the talking book and Braille is actually for anyone who with either visual or physical reasons can't. Traditionally read regular print and even for temporary things. So for example, if someone is injured and they just physically can't hold their book and they want to, you know, listen instead, they can, they can submit an application and get, you know, get access to these audio books for the amount of time they need it for. So, or if it's not just a vision reason why they can't read, you know, permanently, but a physical reason why. That's what it's, it's as far as well. Anyone who just can't use traditional print media. I did not know that they do still need a doctor signature or. Someone assigned off and say, here's what's going on. Here's. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, there's information on our website all about eligibility and everything and what physical disabilities. Yeah. And if the wording is certified by a competent authority is a government techno wording, I guess. I don't know. And it can be either permanent disability or temporary and you can do it. Yeah. I'm wondering if it helps someone who has cataract surgery. I know I have people who go through a phase where they just can't read. They're waiting to have the second eye done their glasses aren't quite up to par. So this could be something that could help them out in the meantime. Absolutely. Yeah. Mm hmm. Fantastic. Is everybody here a member of read aloud Nebraska. No. Oh, I have no idea. What read aloud Nebraska is. It's just a program that promotes reading, of course, to children, but it's easy to sign up to be a member. And then twice a year, they give free books to members of the two children, but you can only do it once a year, but there's two window frames of time. So like I think last year, I believe I got 59 books that when kids came in, I could just give them books that these are yours to keep. You don't have to bring them back. It's pretty cool. But besides that, they offered a mini grant this year. I think they only gave out two and yay, I got one. Wow. So. Congratulations. Thank you. So it was a $250 grant that kind of helps. We give a lot of snacks after school for kids. So I mean, not to mention different activities. There's a lot of expenses that $250 can go a long way to help with that kind of stuff. So read aloud Nebraska. If anyone wants to say information about it, I can send it to them. I believe it's from Seward Library is where I get my books from. You have to physically go pick them up. Or if you're going to conference, they'll bring them there that time of year, but it's a great program. I like that information. Kathy from Lee. Kathy from Lee. Okay. And Jenny from Skyler. Okay. And Becky. Becky from Papillion. Okay. I will get the website, the information out and send it to you. Well, I guess I know it's not on here, but I mentioned I had just had a book fair. Does anyone else do Scholastic book fairs at their public library? No. No. Our school does it. So I have never done it. Our school does it in the fall. So we do it here at the spring at the public library. But it's, they send the, they pay the shipping, send the boxes to you.  You sell books for a week.  So like I said, our goal was 800. We sold 857. So we got 50% of that. So we got to pick out over $400 worth of books to keep for the library. I mean, it's a huge reward for that too. If you want information on that, I've got the Nebraska representatives number and information. It's a lot of work, but it's, I mean, it's a huge reward, I think. If it's Scholastic, do you get mostly softcover books? Are you able to get hard covers? There's a variety. Most of it's softcover, which are cheaper than that way too. Besides that, you can actually go to their catalog. And you can pick out the catalog too. So you can pick the library bound if you prefer. And then they would, you don't have to pick from just what they have here. You can do it that way. And then they would send it to you without tipping and handling, which me, I think that's huge. Not having to pay that extra expense. I agree. Any way to save my thing. Right. Were there any other questions while you have peer librarians here that are all professionals? By the way, Scholastic is doing a warehouse sale in Levista. I think it's May 17th. And they give quite a good deal. If you have any cash on hand, it is a really good way to fill out your collection. We use it. We get some money from the Lions Club. And then our big summer, a million days, we're able to just hand out books during the parade. Oh, fun. Yeah. The Lions Club does part of it and the Friends Funds part of it. And with the sale, you get such a good deal. I think, Kathy told me, you pay by the box. And boy, can she pack a box. So it might be worth looking into if not this year next year. I love that. I know one year I gave out books for Halloween from the reed allowed in Nebraska. And that was such a cool feeling. Yeah. And a parade. The Lions Club has a truck or something. And they just walk along the parade route. And just, you know, it's like some people give candy and they give books. Nice. I like that. So anyway, I think it's May 17th. I think you have to register for it. I don't know. You could probably find the information online. Yeah. And it's glastic.com. Yeah. Pretty basic. And it's like warehouse sale or something like that. Events, warehouse event. I'm not sure. I could find out if anybody's interested, you could email me. They have a pretty user friendly website. Do they want to have any other questions? Oh, very good. And LaVista. Nice. They have a window of time. Yeah. They have a put your zip code in search and then tell you what's close by. Okay. Well, we'll just keep moving on then. Like I said, this was just kind of a trial run to see if an online meeting would work. Does this seem like something that people would like thoughts? Good idea because sometimes you just can't get away from your office. Sometimes it's really nice to get away from your office or maybe the weather's horrible.  I liked it to spell meetings. But if I'd had to drive to meet today, I wouldn't have done it. In an hour, does that seem about right? I mean, to be honest, I had, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm sorry. What we're talking about maybe more. Yeah, I kind of thought going forward, maybe each one would have a more specific topic. Today I really had no idea what to expect or how many people. So it was just pretty general. I do agree that sometimes it's nice to get out of your office. But to be honest, I had totally forgotten about it until I looked at my calendar and I'm like, oh, I can still log on and join the meeting. So I like the convenience of a WebEx meeting as well. Is Monday a good day for it or should we rotate days? Monday's really not good for me. So maybe rotate.  So I'm sitting here at home. Oh, bless you. Yeah. Then maybe we'd be able, not everybody would be able to come every time, but maybe would be a fit if we could rotate it. I think that'd be great. Does 1230 to 130 work well? Well, that's lunchtime. But yeah. And sometimes that helps. Yes. I think because we're all, we don't, we don't plan a whole lot of activities around lunchtime. So I think that works. So next month on Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah, I think so too. First Tuesday of the month, which is June 5th. Thank you. I was just going to look that up. June 5th at 1230. This is Christa. We can do that. Thank you, Christa. Available. These would work for this. The only thing time that, of course, would not. Um, since we use this as the go to webinar system that we use for, um, encompass live, as you guys mentioned, um, Wednesday mornings are the only time that it's always booked. But if you move things around, um, in the future, we can know, you know, almost everything else is probably available. Well, if we just, you know, every month progress one day through the week and then say, okay, it's going to be around lunchtime, then we can build a schedule off of that and see what's going to work. Right. And I think we can try to be flexible if someone says, oh, that will never, ever work for me. Well, if it's going to fall on the 4th of July, you know. Right. Yeah. We're closed on the 4th of July. So as we all are, yes. Just be nice to try to accommodate. So at least everybody can come once in a while. And I wouldn't everybody to have to be here every time, but it's nice to have a resource. If you have a question, there's going to be someone who's experienced that same problem or has really good ideas on it. Well, I mean, I think this would be a good resource for everybody. July meeting would fall on the 4th. It would if it was going to fall. Yeah. So that one, you might bump to Thursday to make it. Yeah. Yeah. Thursday to 5th. Yeah. Awesome. And I know I had thought about having topics or speakers, but, you know, Chris already offers that each week for Encompass Live. So I think it would probably be more of a communications meeting as in everybody gets a platform to share or complain or ask questions or whatever they need at that time. Does everybody agree that sounds pretty good? Yes. Yes. Yes. I agree. Just some things going forward. The Dispel meeting for my group, which anybody can come to them, even if they're not from those five counties, is at Orchard Public Library at noon from 9.30 until noon on May 22nd. Rosa, did you have one planned for the next quarter? No, we don't yet. I think you'd have one. And again, if anybody has an interest in being a system peer coordinator that's in the other counties that aren't already represented, it's a lot of fun. Norfolk Literature Festival. Does anybody attend those? Well, I have never gone. Has no one else ever gone? I think that I've had my children's people go before and they did not find it that useful anymore. They thought it was really good to go a couple of times, but then they're like, okay, you know, we've done it. Yes. We've got other stuff we need to do, too. Right. Anyway, that's July 28th. It's a great week to get city credits, and it is a lot of fun. They have different authors there every year. I'm not going this year because I'm going to be going to the Plum Creek Literacy Festival, which is in Seward. I just wanted to throw that out there. And of course, the Encompass Live is every Wednesday morning and sessions recorded, so archives are available. But it sounds like everybody's already familiar with that, but I think that's a huge resource. And does everybody read their newsletter from Three Rivers Library System or at least skim through it when you get it? Yes. Yes. So that's a good way to spotlight your library. I think Chelsea's always looking for information to fill it. So I think that's a good idea, too. If you ever have anything exciting happen, I think she'd really be happy to hear from you. Just a thought. Anybody else have any upcoming events that they would like to share? This is Krista. I just wanted to, while you were mentioning that Encompass Live is recorded, for some of you that may have come in later and didn't realize, we are also recording this meeting, and we're going to continue with recording them for people who can't make it on whatever times they are scheduled. And I'm going to be, Tim and I talked about it before we started today. I'm going to be posting them up to our YouTube account and the Library Commission's YouTube account like I do with Encompass Live. So that will get sent out this afternoon and send her the link and then she can share it with everybody. So just so you know, if there are some of the dates and some of the topics and you can't make it that day, there will be an archive of it of these meetings as well. Thank you, Krista. Anybody else have anything coming up? I was glad to hear about the Scholastic Warehouse Fair or sale, that's fun. Or any other questions? Well, that was all I had on the list then. But if anyone has any more to say, please speak up. Okay, well, I thought it was a lot of fun. I took a lot of notes for hosting this. Thank you. Well, thanks for coming everybody and thank you, Krista, for doing this for us. Yeah, no problem. I'm happy to do it, of course. Thanks, Tammy. You bet. Thank you. Bye.


Howdy how's it going? My name's Dabby Shappy and it's time to get spooky because a new book just dropped and I want to talk about it. So today we're going to be going over Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft as I detail the new lineages and subclasses as well as go over the dozens of characters, locations, and adventures that you can have in the Demi-Playing of Dread. As always keep in mind that a lot of this is just my opinion so if you want to avoid what is easily the edgiest book in 5e history feel free to play your games however you want. But with that out of the way let's begin. So let's start with what you're here for. Old Rick DV's guidebook comes with three new races referred to as lineages due to their inherent nature of not actually being races but instead being afflictions that happen to races. These being Dampere, the half vampire, half middle school fantasy, the hexblood, a hag that hasn't hit prime haggitude yet, and the reborn, a person afflicted with dye who had good enough health care for it to not be a serious condition. The Dampere gains the limited powers of their vampire forebears, giving them the suck without giving them extreme sunburn. In addition to show how they used to be a normal person they can forego the two proficiencies offered by the Dampere to instead take the proficiencies of a specific race. Their speed also becomes 35, they get dark vision, they don't need to breathe, only suck, and their skin becomes so sticky that they can suddenly climb along any surface they'd like. Finally the star feature of the Dampere is their neck romance. Get it? Cause vampires bite the neck?   The Hexblood is most commonly a person who has been influenced by a hag, and if you know your hag, Laura, might be on their way to becoming one. But if hagetry isn't your thing, the Hexblood can also be thought of as somebody who tampered with magic until that magic hit back.  Ancestral Legacy from before makes a play here, and you join the dark vision club with half of the races in the game. But then things start to get weird. Hexbloods can gift somebody else a token in the form of their hair, teeth, skin, and use that token to slide into the recipient's telepathic DMs, or go into a trance that destroys the token but lets them view the token's surroundings. And of course, Hexbloods wouldn't be complete without the Hex Spell, which they get for free along with Disguise Self, and it scales off of any mental stat you'd like. There's even a passage on how Hexbloods can eventually transform into full-blown hags, but that's a story for your adventures to tell. The folk who don't survive said adventures, but really want to play their character again anyway, could potentially rise back up as a reborn. Crawling out of the afterlife to take the form of a ghost, a zombie, a Frankenstein monster, a creepy child with a teddy bear that's holding a knife. As long as it's dead-themed, it's fair game, despite reborn not actually being considered undead. The actual stats are reminiscent of the Warforged, giving you the same ancestral skills as the others, anti-poison resistances you don't need to eat, sleep, breathe, and you can recall your past life to add a D6 to your skill checks. Also, being dead for a while has really soured you on the whole experience, so you can now make Death Saves at advantage to the envy of all your party members. In addition to the lineages provided, the Ravenloft book also comes with two spooky subclasses for the Bard and the Warlock. The Bard can evoke the power of a haunted item as their spellcasting focus, and from that focus they call forth the ghosts of stories told and then forgotten, whispered into the mind of the Bard for one last oratory tale. These stories manifest in a lot of different ways, and stay in the Bard's mind until they're ready to replay them in the real world, such as the Tale of the Avenger, which deals extra damage for a full minute to a target of their choice. The connection to the haunted item gets stronger over time, emboldening spells and giving the Bard more control over the stories that they tell, and the power of the spirits also gives them the power to perform a ritual with their allies, giving them access to spells from any spell list up to a certain level dependent on the number of people who took part in the ritual. The College of Spirits doesn't have a lot to it, but the spirit's tales are powerful enough to be useful, although having to roll a d12 every time means that there's a very low chance of predicting what ability you're gonna get, devoting this subclass to players who really enjoy gambling. The Warlock, however, is a lot more upfront. Having made a deal with the ancient powers of liches, vampires, and dark lords, the power of the undead can be channeled through the Warlock to create a dreadful form that gives them temporary HP and frightens enemies all around them. As their power grows, they lose the need to eat and breathe, their spells turn twisted, necrotic, and more powerful, the necrotic plague no longer rots them, they can stave off death and respond by exploding in necrotic energy, and they can eventually learn the powers of astral projection, allowing their spirit to exit the body and inflict its will upon the world. The undead Warlock doesn't change the nature of the class, it enhances it by having all the other abilities draw upon the dread form to buff them up. So, as long as you don't immediately throw up your vampire cloak every chance you get, you will feel like an undead powerhouse when it counts. The races and subclasses are probably why most people want to buy the book, but they sure aren't the end of it. Vizze Rees' guide also dives deep into the domains of dread, a concept born out of the Ravenloft setting where individual people are trapped and then tortured for all eternity, in a unique hell crafted specifically for them. The most famous prisoner being Strahd von Zarovich, the vampire wizard who rules over Barovia, constantly simping for love and trying in vain to find a replacement that will never be good enough for him. Obviously, if you want Barovia, you can just buy Curse of Strahd, but beyond the mists are countless other realms of dread, each surrounded by the same mist and keeping its own lord imprisoned. Seventeen realms are presented in detail, with twenty-two more realms presented, more as concepts for you to just do what you like with. Two in particular that I was drawn to were the Carnival, an eerie, lifeless circus owned by the grumpiest eladrin you've ever seen, where freak accidents just keep happening to murderous results, as well as Sire 1313 the Morning Rail, a train that was set up to evacuate citizens during the morning of Sire, but got held up by one influential VIP and ended up caught in the blast. Now it barrels through the mists of Ravenloft, trying to outpace an explosion that it doesn't know it already succumbed to. And if you don't like those, there's an entire chapter dedicated to creating your own domain, including its own Dark Lord, and a helper on what specific brand of horror you want to subject your party to.  My favorite is The Bag Man, a horror that climbs out of one random bag of holding each night and pulls its victim inside, where they're lost forever. The mythos surrounding The Bag Man is great to imagine, and the book does a good job of explaining what makes a creature actually scary besides just ooo big number. Finally, the Raven book has a small adventure from levels 1 to 3 titled The House of Lament. I don't want to spoil anything, just look at this picture. Honestly, if you wanted to, you could replace Death House from Curse of Strahd with this instead, although the vibe will be a little bit different since Curse of Strahd plays off of classic monster movies so it has a bit of a 1930s black and white buckets of blood vibe, whereas The House of Lament seems to pull more from modern ghost stories where a team of investigators go romping through a spooky house. I know it's a subtle difference, but it still might be noticed. That said, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is a great book for any DM or player that wants to run through a horror slash mystery campaign, and even if you want to run a traditional adventure, I'm sure that the DM won't mind if you take elements from this book and monster mash them together. Buuuut that'll about do it. I hope you enjoyed this video. Be sure to leave a like, comment, subscribe, ring the bell, check out all my social media in the description below, and maybe support me on Patreon so that I can finally make enough money to get out of my own Demiplane of Dread. But yeah, Daffy out.


Really tough issues. We were part of a press conference. It was zeroing in on our opposition to issue four. We were there at the invitation of Governor Asa Hutchinson. It was held at the State Chamber of Commerce. So we were there with their folks, along with the Arkansas Truckers Association and the General Contractors Association of Arkansas. To get the word out, we are urging a vote against issue four, the legalization of recreational marijuana. Whenever it is against the law, that makes a difference on usage. And you could also see it in terms of the states that have decriminalized or made it okay to use marijuana. Well, usage goes up. States that have legalized recreational marijuana have seen staggering increases in the number of workers who test positive for marijuana use. In the state of Nevada, their rate went up 162%. And in the state of Washington, they saw 190% increase from 2012 to 2019. Arkansas's economy cannot afford this impact. And our trucking industry workforce cannot afford this impact. If this passes, this industry does not know how to handle this problem. And it's not being handled very well anywhere else. And when you're trying to have no injuries and no recordables on a workplace and you have to withstand some kind of a challenge like this, it is just the kind of thing that is just a nightmare for the industry. And when I say that, I mean the people that we had to work on the highways and on buildings and the people that manage them and supervise them are gonna have the extra challenge of trying to determine who can come to work that will not create a problem or have a terrible accident during the day. The potential negative impact on our industry's ability to recruit and retain talent should be obvious. And the number one issue facing our industry today is the shortage of qualified candidates seeking careers as drivers. There was a report done last year by the Hudson Institute called The Colorado Experiment. And it goes into excruciating detail about the impact on testing, workplaces, accidents, traffic accidents and fatalities, suicide rates, teen suicide rates, all of those really tough issues. The reality is the legalization of marijuana drastically impacts the availability and significantly increases the number of users. The impact that it would have on our workforce in the ag community, as well as in the general population we think would be very detrimental. And so that being the case, this is not a good thing to pursue. Marijuana, as cases have shown, is a gateway drug that leads to other drug use and abuse. And to make it so readily available, again, we feel would not be helpful for the general population of our state.


The University of Pikeville's undergraduate teacher preparation program was recognized by the National Council on Teacher Quality earning an 8th grade in NCTQ's new teacher prep review strengthening elementary reading instruction report. The National Council on Teacher Quality assesses and reviews all of the education programs across the country. The University of Pikeville received notification this past week that our elementary education program received an A quality, meaning there are several different areas that they review. Part of it is the intentionality of preparing elementary students for reading. U-Pikes teacher prep program is among 23 percent nationwide and four in Kentucky to earn an A from NCTQ. The program has met standards for coverage of the most effective methods of reading instruction. We have over a billion students across the nation who really have just challenges with reading. A fourth of our students in school districts have trouble mastering basic reading levels. And so our program is very intentional about helping teachers and supporting teachers. We also work with cooperating teachers in our districts and so we're very thankful for districts being open to our students being placed and practicing the experiences that they learn in the classroom. The University of Pikeville is proud of their teacher preparation program and is dedicated to meeting the needs of the community. For Mountain Top News, I'm Kelsey Dean.


Dion, the FA Cup this weekend, nice to have a bit of a change of pace and a change from the league. Yeah, obviously it's another opportunity to impress the fans, impress the gaffer, get three points for the club. But like you said, you want to go through to the next round in the club, so it's a nice feeling. And what does the FA Cup mean to you as a player? Obviously you grow up wanting to play in it, you love watching it. But mainly obviously to be a part of it, so being able to be a part of it this weekend in front of the home fans is something really special. It is a home game and it's knockout football. Does that have kind of a different flavour to when you're in the league? Yeah, I feel like like you said in the league, you have opportunities to make it right the week after, maybe even a couple of days later. Whereas the cup, it's a knockout stage, so you have to make it right on the night or on the day. So it's a really important game to make sure you get the three points. You've obviously had a couple of those occasions already this year in the league cup. Has that kind of, you know, those tastes of going up against the big sides and taking the fight to them made you eager to have the same kind of experience? Yeah, I feel like obviously I go into every game wanting to win every game, wanting to score, wanting to assist and wanting to get the three points. But at home, being in front of the home fans, knowing that you can go into the next round and play someone big or better, it's all the motivation you need. And on the scoring and assist front, it's clicked in again the last couple of weeks? Yeah, definitely. It's been a long time coming, but to score finally, especially with that type of goal, I think it's been a long time coming, so I'm happy with that. A really special moment in front of the cup too? Yeah, definitely. In front of the home fans, in front of the cup, it's something you dream of before going into the game, so it's nice. And that reception as you came off the field as well, it all really felt like a crescendo? Yeah, I remember when I first came and came when there was a sub, they were singing my name for the return, but that was a really nice feeling coming off as a substitute and them singing my name again. It was that deja vu. So also now, in successive weeks, we've seen you and Tyreek combine for a goal for him, a goal for yourself. Is that something we're only going to see build and build? Yeah, definitely. If we're connecting like that in the first month or so, then by mid-season, I'll be upset if we don't have double-figures for each of us, so I think it's going in the right direction, definitely. The manager's been talking about your form recently as well, and how maybe it started out a little mixed, but you really starting to come to the fore and feel more comfortable in this side now. Yeah, obviously to begin with it was hard getting used to new players and new team, new style of play, but as the gaffer says and as the fans can hopefully see that I've become accustomed to it now and linking up with the forwards, Brad behind me, and it's going really well, I think. One player obviously, who is on his way back and who you are familiar with is Jamie Walker. Now back out there running won't be long till he's in full training with you. Is he someone you're looking forward to linking up with again? Yeah, of course. Me and Jamie had a really nice connection last year to finish the game with, I think it was three wins on the bounce, so we were creating chances left, right and centre, and we're doing that now without him. With him backing the team, mixing around the players and getting minutes here and there, I think it will be really good for the team. That partnership obviously came to fruition working under this manager. Effacult weekend reminds you of some of his achievements in the game. So when you've got these knockout moments, how does that affect his ability to inspire? I feel like the gaffer's got experience that no one else can offer around the club and with his experience and advice and almost composure in the situations where some people might get nervous. He can pass it on to us as the players and help us deal with the pressure of getting the three points and obviously for attackers like me, myself, to regrow Andy Cook and Harry Chapman telling us where to get in the position, stuff like that for big games I think is really important.


Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan. On behalf of the National Black Republican Council, I'd like to welcome all of you here this evening and the President of the United States. We would like to have everyone please take their seat at this time. We need to have him with us tonight. Let me present Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mrs. Daniels, I thank you very much for those most generous words. Mr. Toastmaster, Reverend clergy, the distinguished honorees and the ladies and gentlemen here at the head table and you ladies and gentlemen.  We know that you're in the forefront of one of the most important political battles of this election season, and we're with you heart and soul. Now, I know that there are those who have accused the Republican Party of writing off the black vote. Well, I'm here to tell you that we're not writing off anyone. And Mr. Claiborne, a Marie Montessori once said that if she were trying to climb a ladder and a dog was snapping at her heels, she could stop and kick the dog or climb the ladder. And you have encouraged Nancy and myself to keep on climbing the ladder. I'm sensitive to the unique and sometimes difficult position in which you often find yourselves as black Republicans. What you're doing takes great vision and true courage. Under the superb leadership of individuals like your chairperson, I'll agree, Daniels, black Republicans have been performing above and beyond the call of duty. The rest of us in the GOP are grateful for your commitment and deeply impressed by your tenacity. For too long now, black Americans seem to have been written off by one party and taken for granted by the other. And for the vast majority of black Americans, that's been a strictly no-win situation. Changing it will require a commitment from all of us. So tonight, I want you to know that the Republican Party stands ready and willing to reach out to black Americans. This conference is part of that outreach effort, as are the regional conferences and our support for black congressional candidates. And this is only the beginning of the outreach efforts. Perhaps if we failed at anything in the past as Republicans, it's been a failure to let black America know us. To know our hearts and our sincere dedication to improving the well-being, expanding the opportunity, and protecting the rights of every American. And while there's been a certain lack of communication on our part over the years, the other party seems to have capitalized on the rhetoric of compassion. They don't accomplish much, but they sure do talk about it. It's time to set the record straight. When I first ran for Governor of California, I ran against an incumbent with impeccable liberal credentials. And then I was elected and discovered that in eight years he had made only a handful, a tiny handful of minority appointments, all to relatively minor positions in state government. I figured it was time to play catch-up. I appointed more blacks and other minorities to executive and policy-making positions in state government than all the previous 32 governors of California put together. And my continued commitment at the national level is no 11th hour conversion. So far, we have placed blacks in over 130 top executive policy-making positions. But more important, these appointments are not on the basis of color. They have been made because of ability and skill, and they cover a wide range of responsibilities. When it comes to improving the economic well-being and protecting the rights of all our citizens, our party doesn't play second fiddle to anyone. When I entered office less than 20 months ago, we were in the midst of an economic catastrophe from which we're just now beginning to recover. All of us were suffering, especially the poor, the elderly, and the disadvantaged. Some of our political leaders were even saying that nothing could be done and that we'd had to accept a lower standard of living and that America's best days were behind us. Well, that to those on the bottom end of the economic ladder, that kind of talk is disaster. It robs them of hope and condemns them to a life of dependency and deprivation. Our economic hardship is not some kind of mysterious malaise suffered by people who have suddenly lost their vitality. The problem is that the liberal economic policies that dominated America for too long just didn't work. It was not that those in power lacked good intentions. In fact, most of the compassionate rhetoric I mentioned a moment ago was not about accomplishments. It was about the wonderful intentions of the costly liberal programs. Well, too often the programs didn't do what they were supposed to and in many cases they made things worse. You know, they reminded me those programs and I've told this before, if you'll forgive me, that's life not only begins at 40, but so does Lumb Vego in telling the same story. They reminded me of that old story about the fellow ride in the motorcycle on a cold winter day. The wind coming through the buttonholes in the front of the jacket was chilling him so finally he stopped, turned the jacket around, put it on backward. Well, that protected him from the wind but it kind of hindered his arm motion and he hit a patch of ice and skidded into a tree. When the police got there and they elbowed their way through the crowd and they said, what happened? They said, we don't know.  The record is there for all to see. This country entered the 1960s, entered the 1960s having made tremendous strides in reducing poverty. From 1949 until just before the great society burst upon the scene in 1964, the percentage of American families living in poverty fell dramatically, from nearly 33% to only 18%. True, the number of blacks living in poverty was still disproportionately high but tremendous progress had been made. With the coming of the great society, government began eating away at the underpinnings of the private enterprise system. The big taxers and big spenders in the Congress had started a binge that would slowly change the nature of our society and even worse, it threatened the character of our people. By the end of the decade, the situation seemed out of control. At a time when defense spending was decreasing in real dollars, the federal budget tripled and to pay for all this spending, the tax load increased until it was breaking the backs of working people, destroying incentive and siphoning off resources needed to, in the private sector, provide new jobs and opportunity. Inflation had jumped to double-digit levels. Unemployment was climbing and interest rates shot through the roof, reaching 21.5% shortly before we took office. Perhaps the saddest part of the whole story is that much of this federal spending was done in the name of helping those it hurt the most, the disadvantaged. For the result of all that big spending and taxing is that today, those at the lower end of the economic ladder are the hardest hit of all. The decrease in poverty I referred to earlier started in the 1950s. By the time the full weight of great society programs was felt, economic progress for America's poor had come to a tragic halt. By 1980, the trend had reversed itself and even more people, including more blacks who were living in poverty than back in 1969. It's ironic that if the economic expansion and low inflation of the years prior to the great society had been maintained, black families and all Americans would be appreciably better off today. In fact, if we had just maintained the progress made from 1950 through 1965, black family income in 1980 would have been nearly $3,000 higher than it was after 15 years of great society programs. In 1980, the American people sent a message to Washington D.C. They no longer believed that throwing tax money at a problem was acceptable no matter how good the intentions of those doing the taxing and spending. In 1980, the people turned to the Republican Party because we offered hope. Setting things straight would not be an easy job. Bringing back real growth to our economy and real increases in our standard of living would not be easy. But we Republicans knew it could be done and we still know that. America's best days are not behind her. And we're moving forward to tackle the serious problems just as we said we would. Having said all that, you can see that 20 months ago when I started my current job, there were some tough decisions that had to be made. It wasn't easy, but together we've laid the groundwork for better economic times ahead. The signs that our program is working are just now on the horizon. Gross national product is up, the leading economic indicators are up, inflation is down dramatically and so are interest rates, housing permits are up, the stock market is up, and so for the first time in years is real income. Yes, there have been other indicators saying the economy isn't well yet, but we've managed despite all the gloom and doom spouted by our opponents to instill a new spirit of confidence in the country. It's been tough on all of us, but we Republicans made a commitment not to try quick fixes, but to get to the heart of our economic problems and turn things around. It's taken time, you can't reverse 20 years of irresponsibility in 20 months, but we've made a great start. I reworded that from a speech I made out in the Middle West the other day when I said you can't clean up in 20 months what's been piling up for 20 years and I decided to say it the other way. Our critics to the contrary, the poor and disadvantaged are better off today than if we had allowed runaway government spending, interest rates and inflation to continue ravaging the American economy. A family of four, for example, on a fixed income of $15,000 would today be $833 poorer, that much weaker in purchasing power if we hadn't brought inflation alone down as far as we have from the double digit rates that we inherited. A similar family living at the poverty level would be $472 poorer if inflation continued at the 12.4% rate. It's been 5.4 since January. When one considers that the poor spend most of their family budgets on necessities, food, shelter and clothing, leaving few ways to cut back to beat inflation, the importance of solving inflation is better understood. We must remain firm and not be lured again into inflation spending patterns.  Some critics, especially in a political season, seem to forget that this administration didn't create the problem. The poverty and unemployment of today is the outgrowth of policies and problems of the late 1960s and the 1970s. Our program has just gone online, and if the current indicators are any suggestion, it's beginning to work. It should also be noted that we've taken steps, along with our basic program, which is aimed at restoring health to the economy in general, to make certain that economic stimulus is channeled into the areas of greatest economic need. Since the end of the Second World War, too many of our major cities have become stagnant and depressed. End claves of despair, even when times were good. Federal spending programs didn't make a dent in the problem. For example, from 1965 to 1974, the Federal Urban Renewal Program spent over $7 billion and ended an abysmal failure, destroying more housing units than it replaced. The Federal regulations and grants of the Model Cities program in the late 1960s again spent billions, yet it was unable to halt urban decay. On March 23rd of this year, I proposed a new experimental approach to the problem, enterprise zones, which would harness the energy of the private sector and direct it toward providing economic opportunity for some of our most needy citizens by removing regulations and offering tax incentives. We seek to accomplish what hundreds of billions of tax dollars and millions of hours of bureaucratic planning failed to do. The plan seems to have popular support. 13 states have already passed their own enterprise zone legislation, not even waiting for action from the federal level. Hundreds of cities across the country are already mapping out enterprise zone sites. And in a recent survey of Fortune 500 chief executive officers, 67% said they would seriously consider investing in the zones after seeing the final version of the legislation. Most of those who responded said they wouldn't have invested in depressed areas before considering the incentives offered by our enterprise zone initiative. Now at a time of high unemployment, at a time of high unemployment and even higher black unemployment, you'd think the Congress would be anxious to move on an innovative idea to tackle such a serious national problem. Well, think again. The liberal leadership of the House of Representatives has refused to even put the bill before hearings of the main committees responsible for it.  The liberals have had a decade to tackle the problem of urban decay and failed. It's time for them to give a chance to some new ideas, even if it runs against their ideological obsession for ever bigger and more extensive governance. Or is it the coming election? Do they want the economy to remain stagnant so they can use that as a campaign issue? Later this month, I'll announce a program which will promote minority business development. Of course, the most important item for minority businessmen, as with all small businessmen, is the tax and regulatory reforms we've instituted over the last 20 months. But beyond these, we've committed the federal government to promote an economic environment in which minority entrepreneurs can fully marshal their talents and skills to make a go of it in the marketplace. There are many things that we can do to help minority business take root. Part of this administration's overall initiative for minority enterprise will include a plan for the federal government to procure substantial amounts of the goods and services during fiscal years 83, 84 and 85 from minority businessmen. And beyond that, we're going to bring the leaders of American industry together with minority businessmen, something that should prove valuable to both parties. This is the type of approach which will strengthen the economic underpinnings of the minority community and strengthen the overall economy as well. Putting the American economy back on the right track has clearly been the top priority of this administration. But I think it's important for all of us to understand that at the same time, we haven't forgotten the federal commitment to civil rights. Thomas Jefferson once said that no man ever leaves the presidency with as good a reputation as he brought into the job. That's because even in Jefferson's day, there was a constant barrage of wild politically motivated charges aimed at the man in the White House. Well, usually I try to ignore personal attacks, but one charge I will have to admit strikes at my heart every time I hear it. That's the suggestion that we Republicans are taking a less active approach to protecting the civil rights of all Americans. No matter how you slice it, that's just plain baloney. There's no room in the Republican Party for bigots, and the record shows that we've been firm in protecting civil liberties ever since entering office nearly 20 months ago. And this is the government that can give liberty in its constitution ought to have power to protect liberty in its administration. In this administration, I've appointed individuals for whom I have the deepest trust and admiration to head the Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Civil Rights Commission. They are committed as I am and as every other member of this administration to protecting the civil rights of all Americans to the fullest extent of the law. Again, I say, look at the record. The level of activity of this administration in investigating and prosecuting those who would attempt to deny blacks their civil liberties by violence and intimidation has exceeded the level of every past administration. The Department of Justice has, since we came to Washington, filed 62 new cases charging criminal violations of civil rights laws and has conducted trials in 52 cases. And these numbers are greater than those in any previous administration. In addition, the Justice Department has filed nine new anti-discrimination cases against public employers and has reviewed more than 9,000 electoral changes to determine compliance with the Voting Rights Act, and that, too, is a higher level of activity than in any prior administration. Consistent with this spirit, on June 29th of this year, I signed into law the longest extension of the Voting Rights Act since its enactment. As I've said on many occasions, voting is the crown jewel of our liberties, and it's something that we as Republicans and Americans will never permit to be infringed upon. The record of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC, is equally impressive. Under the first full year of this administration, the Commission dramatically increased its activity over the previous year. The number of charges of discrimination processed by the Commission increased by 25%. The number of persons assisted through negotiated remedies increased by 15%, and total back pay and other compensation provided in negotiated remedies increased by 60%. Similarly, the number of suits filed by the Commission increased by 13%, and the number of suits settled by voluntary agreement increased by 25%. And in this era of necessary budget cuts, we've maintained the funding levels necessary for this vital protection. Over $531 million is proposed for fiscal year 1983. The difference between 1980 actual expenditures and proposed 1983 expenditures shows a 24% total dollar increase for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and 15% increase for the EEOC. Now, no less important is this administration's first commitment to strengthening the historical black colleges, institutions which have played an important role in the progress of black America. More than 85% of black lawyers and doctors, for example, finished their undergraduate training at these schools. We have done our best to ensure that even in these times of necessary cuts, historical black colleges not only will survive but progress and will serve, and they will serve future generations of black Americans as they have so faithfully for the last 100 years. Now, these are more than numbers. They represent this administration's solid, unshakable commitment to civil rights and human betterment. In the coming months, getting the message out about the progress being made in the economic front and our continued commitment to civil rights will be a major challenge for all of us in the Republican Party. We've got a story to tell and a record worth standing on. We Republicans are the hope for all those who seek expanded opportunity. You and I know that most of those trapped in welfare dependency would like nothing better than a chance for dignity and independence. Alexander Hamilton, one of our greatest founding fathers once said that a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will. What we've seen in too many cases in the inner city is the broken will of people who desire to be as proud and independent as any other American. Perhaps unintentionally, many government programs have been designed not to create social mobility and help the needy along their way but instead to foster a state of dependency. Whatever their intentions, no matter their compassion, our opponents created a new kind of bondage for millions of American citizens. Now together we can break this degrading cycle and we can do it with fairness, compassion and love in our hearts. No other experience in American history runs quite parallel to the black experience. It has been one of great hardships but also one of great heroism, of great adversity but also great achievement. What our administration and our party seek is the day when the tragic side of the black legacy in America can be laid to rest once and for all and the long perilous voyage toward freedom, dignity and opportunity can be completed. A day when every child born in America will live free not only of political injustice but of fear, ignorance, prejudice and dependency. Earlier in the program, you sang Lift Every Voice and Sing. The third verse to that beautiful hymn ends with the words may we forever stand true to our God and our native land. Tonight, let us make that pledge. Let us be true to our God and native land by standing by the ideals of liberty and opportunity that are so important to our heritage as free men and women. Let us prove again that America can truly be a promised land, a plan a land where people of every race, creed and background can live together in freedom, harmony and prosperity. And let us proclaim for all to hear that America will have brotherhood from sea to shining sea. Thank you very much. I hadn't expected to be one of the speakers tonight but I'm delighted to be here and thank you for all those kind words that were said. I appreciate it very much. And now, I'm afraid we're being told that we have to leave and I'm sorry but it was lovely to be here with you and I hope we can do it again soon. Thank you. One more round of applause for the President. Please be seated so we may continue with our program. It will end shortly.


Cyperus platystylis stem fibres are a promising alternative fibre source for use in biocomposites due to their high cellulose content and crystalline structure. They also possess good tensile strength, thermal stability and low energy to break. This article was authored by Anupkumar Bhunia, Demon Mondal, Sonjupta Mondal Parui and others.