Stephanie Silvers, SELCO-MLA Scholarship Recipient, Harmony Public Library
Here are some notes from the sessions I attended on Thursday (November 20) at the 2008 MLA Conference.
8:00 am – Harnessing Google to Accomplish Daily Tasks
Presenter discussed iGoogle, Google Docs, Google Notebook, and how to use them. I can see how these could be very useful, especially in larger libraries and universities as several people can collaborate on documents without having to email copies back and forth. There are lots of applications that I will be trying out when I get back to Harmony! I am so excited.
10:00 am – When Love Hurts
This was not my original workshop I had planned on attending, but ended up here anyway. We talked about romance novels in the library. Romance novels are the top selling fiction books in the U.S. There are many sub genres of the overall romance genre. Most people though do not want to admit that they read romance novels. Some websites to check out are:
This was a very interesting workshop. They talked about some ways that have worked for them in reaching boys and getting them to read. The most important part is that you really should have a man, perhaps a college student or even a High School Senior leading the boys book discussion group.
3:30 pm. – Inspirational Fiction
Sharon Hincks, an inspirational fiction author talked about this genre of fiction and how it is the second most popular, best selling genre of fiction books, behind romance novels. I didn’t realize the extent that this genre has evolved into and how much it has taken off. It was very inspiring to me as this is the books that I like to read and many of my patrons are also interested in.
I spent the first part of the morning talking to people, going through the Silent Auction, more networking, and then stopping back up at my room to work on a couple of tickets assigned to me. So the MILE 2009 session was my first today. I was very pleased that the room was packed and with a strong showing of interested potential attendees. As one of the initial session's graduates in 2005, MILE (Minnesota Institute for Leadership Excellence) has my support and interest and I am thrilled with the success of the 2007 graduates. I see them in strong leadership roles in their libraries, being active in MLA subunits, and advocating for developing leadership skills. MILE is a springboard for anyone wanting to explore their goals and advance their career while getting involved in MLA. As I was not the only SELCO attendee to this session, I will stop here.
Right after this session, I went into the Library Management Round Table business meeting. We spent most of the meeting planning and setting some goals and then for one of them, doing some action steps for me to do right away, over the next few months. And I think this is cool and exciting; we are going to hold a conference call where we can talk about a management topic. The first one was selected today. So LMRT members can call in and talk and I'll take notes, and then get them onto the subunit's blog where people can comment. Then I will send out email encouraging LMRT members to go read and comment, continuing the conversation. So the three areas of communication that seem to be comfortable to a large percentage of library managers - blogging, conference calls, and email - will all be used and hopefully integrated together into a more seamless conversation as time moves on.
As promised in the title “Taking the Fear Out of
Capital Campaign Fundraising,” this session summarized everything you need to
know about conducting a successful capital campaign.The program was presented by two nationally
accomplished fund raising specialists, Peter Pearson
– President of The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library and Morgan Rasmussen
– Consultant, Library Strategies.
With years of experience advocating for public funding and
successfully requesting private donations to enhance St. Paul Public Library’s
programs and services, Peter identified several key factors for successful
fundraising.
Time – If the library is planning to break ground in three
months, it is too late.Working with
major donors requires time to develop personal relationships.Even if such a connection already exists, it
may take time for a donor to commit to a significant contribution.Start the campaign 2-3 years before breaking
ground.Plan a minimum of 18-24 months
for the private or quiet phase of the capital campaign before announcing the
broad, community-based campaign soliciting general public support.
IRS approved 501(c)(3) – While individuals may be willing to
make small contributions on behalf of good cause without documentation, the tax ramifications of a
major donation require accurate accounting records with approved credentials.
Have a track record – Generally, capital campaigns will be
more successful if the library or its supporting organizations (Friends and/or
Foundation) have already done fundraising.This way you build on previous successes and donor involvement and pride.
Supportive
endeavors are successful – Generally, when conducting a capital campaign for
brick-and-mortar, whether new construction or major remodeling,
donors will support supplemental endeavors such as a book endowment for
future collection development or a opening day collection when adding extra
space.
Yet to come in another post – The importance of planning and fundraising in
today’s environment.
Carla Johnson Cataloging Services Librarian, SELCO
I can only imagine the rolling eyes and snickers at this title (I say this because of my experiences with non-catalogers). I realize that the thought of entering detailed map information into MARC format does not thrill most people and I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to sitting through a 3 hour workshop on this topic.
I was pleasantly surprised! Things got off to a slow start as we went over fixed field information, but the session picked up as we moved on to the main body of the MARC record and focused on 2 fields that I was unfamiliar with, the 034 and 255 - Cartographic Mathematical Data (it's fun to say). I learned how to convert a map scale to a representative fraction and where to find that information if I forget. Remember latitute and longitude? Presenter Stacie Traill kept us going with sample maps that she brought in. She went on to talk about physical description, notes, and map subject analysis.
Perhaps I became so engrossed in this session because - ah - well - there's something about cataloging that I enjoy and I love to read maps! Put the two together and it adds up to one great workshop. Most catalogers will appreciate this as well as any library staff having to work with map collections. It was a worthwhile and enjoyable session all around.
Though the day isn't over (but the sessions almost are!) I thought I'd share a few thoughts about Day 2 at MLA. The morning started off with a great session by the author Will Weaver and the value of children's literature and publishing. Will recently made the switch to writing for young people and in particular has targeted his writing to young men. Being a "car" guy, his latest books "Saturday Night Dirt" really reaches out to those young guys who are interested in cars and what he calls "technical literacy" -- they can fix anything. It certainly was motivating to me. Though not a car guy, I certainly grew up around "gear heads" and getting them to read anything is certainly no small feat! Check out his stock car that he takes out to schools: http://www.motornovels.com/
Keeping with the technical services/cataloging theme, I attended the session "Rethinking Tech Services: A Workflow Analysis." Library staff from Macalester College, Minnesota State University (Mankato), and Dakota County discussed how they had done major overhauls to their technical services (i.e. cataloging, serials, acquisitions) functions. If I could take anything away from their presentations (which were all different) it was to continually ask "Why are we doing the things we do and do we need to continue doing them?" They all found ways to add efficiency to their processes, eliminate unneccessary work, and have staff buy-in as well.
Finally, I had the opportunity to see the work being done at Rochester Public Library on developing a staff wiki. Brian Lind from RPL presented "Creating a Jimmy Choo Staff Wiki on a Shoestring Budget." Great presentation and certainly a good solution for RPL to organize all the information their staff needs to access quickly. Certainly makes a wiki worth consideration!
Day 2 was a great day at MLA and I'm looking forward to the MLA Business meeting and the Awards Banquet later this evening.
The most interesting conversation of the day, for me, was definitely LibraryThing. I've used the product a couple of times and I've liked it, but Tim Spaulding really pressed the audience to rethink the way we've not only started cataloging, but also how we've implemented tagging. I really want to see our library catalogs move in a similar direction. I shouldn't have to go to LibraryThing to find Zombie romance books. I want to find those in my library catalog. I also liked his point that most LibraryThing users have read the whole book, rather than a cataloger who is guessing on the subject based on the table of contents. Spaulding also reaffirmed the need for subject headings and their value. He also clearly loves books and libraries, and that always makes such constructive criticism easier to take.
The second session I attended was about the change to RDA and how it will incorporate FRBR. I was glad for a little bit of an introduction, and the seed planted to go and research more. However, I am not a cataloger, so I'll leave more details about this session to the experts.
The final session of the day, for me, was "23 Things: Better Than a Deep Fried Twinkie". Four 23 Things participants presented on their experiences with the 23 Things program. Linda Weinmann from the SELCO region was the first presenter. She did a great job covering Picasa. Of course, not everyone pictures will end up looking like hers, even if they used the tools she demonstrated. That takes photography talent. We also got to hear from a librarian from Concordia that adopted Meebo as an IM client for their users. Tim Johnson of the University of Minnesota libraries covered all of the things he's added to his library's blog as a result of the program. Lynn Wyman of the Ramsey County Library presented on how they implemented the program at their library and mentioned the surprising popularity of Facebook at their institution. Overall, a very exciting session and a good first day at MLA.
Interested in seeing all the info posted by SELCO staff and scholarship recipients during this year's Minnesota Library Association Conference? Simply click MLA2008 in the CATEGORIES list on the left and voila!
Well, if that doesn't get some attention, I don't know what will! More on that in minute.
While my first day at MLA was mostly focused on preparing for the 23 Things Party on a Stick: Social Networking in Real Life reception put on by the Multitype Library System Directors, I was able to attend a couple of programs. First, the keynote for the conference, again sponsored by the Multitype Library System Directors, was a presentation Tim Spaulding, the developer of LibraryThing, on the topic of social cataloging and social networking. He created LibraryThing to catalog his own library for his friends and it is now a huge phenomenon! It has some really great features that I truly can see anybody wanting to see in their library's catalog. Things like the possibility of tagging books, DVDs, and other library materials with words that have more meaning to them (cookery, anyone?) or the ability to more easily find a "similar books" or "you might like this" list.
Later in the day I attended a session, Introduction to RDA/FRBR. Frankly, I was a bit scared of this session but as Resource Description & Access and Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records are the items of discussion amongst catalogers, and as the SELCO Cataloging Team reports to me, I thought I should attend. Plus, I was just curious. The update, provided by Chew Chiat Naun from the University of Minnesota Libraries, asked more questions than provided answers. RDA is a new set of cataloging rules being developed while FRBR is a model used in these new rules. Essentially, the goal is to find a way to move cataloging forward to continue to meet the needs of patrons (as well as library staff) to electronically access the materials in libraries. We'll certainly be watching the development here at SELCO.
Finally, I served ice cream during the 23 Things Party on a Stick. Who knew that ice cream bars (note: the Blue Bunny Sundae Crunch Bar was the MOST popular) would be such a hit! Watch the SELCO Flickr site for photos from the party and you'll get to see me at work (and maybe a backup career!) handing out ice cream bars to librarians. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to talk "23 Things" and enjoy ice cream. By the way, all ice cream treats were "on a stick" to fit the theme.
Stephanie Silvers, SELCO-MLA Scholarship Recipient, Harmony Public Library
The first conference session I went to was AskMN: The Librarian Is In. Most of the information was on statistics and how much it has been used since it came up in April 2008. The website is AskMN.org. It is a service that is available to anyone 24/7. Member libraries staff the time, spending 1 to 1 ½ hours per week on average. You can chat live with a librarian and have an answer within a few minutes at anytime.
The second conference session I attended was 23 Things: Better Than a Deep Fried Twinkie. This session discussed the 23 Things on a Stick program and how it has been used in library settings. It was very interesting to hear how 4 libraries have incorporated it or sections of it into their libraries. Metronet has included in their technology plans and have had their whole staff going through the program. Winona has used the experience with Picaso from Google to make posters for the library. Facebook and Meebo is used in reference services in libraries. I have come away from this with some neat ideas I would like to try in my library.
I put my volunteer hat on early today and helped with the MLA Silent Auction for a good portion of the morning. What fun!! It was a blast to visit with conference attendees and to make sure all the items were visible and matched up with the correct bidding sheets. AND I got to keep an eye on my own items I'd like to win--I tell ya, the selection is great and I'm getting lots of awesome gift basket ideas from the auction!
After volunteering, I attended Creating a Jimmy Choo Staff Wiki on a Shoestring Budget, presented by Rochester Public Library Reference Librarian Brian Lind. We are thinking of implementing some sort of wiki at SELCO, so his ideas were fabulous not only for me, but for any library staff member that is interested in starting a wiki. You are able to pick a wiki that meets the standards that you have set. The five Wikis Brian talked about were Media Wiki, PB Wiki, Wiki Spaces, Wet Paint Wiki, and Zoho Wiki. There is a website you can visit to see what wiki is right for you--Wiki Matrix. Wiki Matrix and the Wiki Choice Wizard help narrow down what type of wiki you are looking for to perform the job you want it to do.
Brian also presented the "8 Commandments of Wiki Implementation":
1. Make things findable without a search box 2. Choose navigation links wisely 3. Think about ALL users 4. Use specific language 5. One page -- multiple links 6. Choose a realistic timeline to get going 7. Link to redundant information from your public website 8. Understand your wiki won't be perfect
A Wiki does take a lot of work to set up, but in the end, it's super easy to maintain. Overall, A highly enjoyable presentation!!! I'm excited to take the information back to SELCO!
Thank
you for addressing issues with Pharos during the upgrade. My question is; how
will this affect patrons using ELM, SELCO, or locally-licensed databases
remotely that require authentication via their library card
number?
Good
question! The databases will work normally in library buildings but
patrons will be unable to access the databases over the internet. Why
is this?
We have a table of IP Addresses of
libraries authorized to access the databases. Any connection from one
of these addresses is automatically allowed access. A patron on the
internet, say at home or at work, is required to present a valid
library barcode number. These numbers are checked against the Horizon
database to ensure they are valid. Since Horizon will be down during
the upgrade, this authentication process will be impossible and the patron will be denied access.
During the Horizon Upgrade on Dec 8th., can there be an
online notice that the catalog is down for the upgrade? For instance, if a
patron logs on to the SELCO catalog from home/work to search/check patron
account/reserve an item, etc.; what will they see when they log in that day? It
would be nice to have a notice that it is due to a software upgrade that the
catalog is down at that time. Thanks.
Another good question! All attempts to access the iPac
web-based catalog will be met by a splash page informing the patron
that the catalog is down for system maintenance. We will also include
a link to the Member Directory page on the SELCO website to help patrons contact their local library for assistance, if needed.
Keep those questions coming to the SELCO Help Desk!
I have to
admit my first day at my first MLA conference was a really great experience.The luncheon keynote by LibraryThing
developer Tim Spaulding broadened my perspective and made me reevaluate my
initial opinions on the usefulness of the site.I think it offers an invaluable way for readers to share
their collections and hopefully widen their scope on materials they choose to
read.
The first
session I went to was an introduction to RDA/FRBR.As a non-librarian, going to a session on the very detailed inner workings of cataloging had me a little concerned that I’d
made a terrible mistake in my choice of sessions (and I was in over my head a
good majority of the session).However,
I’m still glad I chose this session.This new set of cataloging rules that is being prepared and which could
be implemented in as little as two years from now, will have a major impact on
the library community.It will require coordination
for ILS compatibility, as well as with LC and OCLC for effective training for
staff, and a period of testing and evaluation.This is a process I will now be sure to follow to see how things
develop.
The second
session I attended was a recap of the 23 Things on a Stick program by program participants.They all did a terrific job of presenting what
they saw personally as the highlights of their participation in the program and
it was fascinating that they each looked at it from such different
perspectives.One speaker enjoyed
learning the photo sharing tool Picasa and demonstrated some of the
functionality of the site.Another discussed
how participating in 23 Things together as a library staff affected their
working relationships in a positive way.Two other speakers, both from academic libraries, demonstrated how their
libraries had implemented an instant messaging service such as Meebo to offer instant internet helplines for their students on their websites.I found this in particular to be a great way
to integrate a Web 2.0 tool into library service.
My Day 1 ended
at the 23 Things reception where attendees were served ice cream personally
from Michael Scott out of an ice cream hand truck complete with umbrella and[...]
Jeanne M. Steinbrink, SELCO-MLA Scholarship Recipient Austin Public Library
Preconference Day 1 started early Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. preconference when I attended Library Security: Everyone's Responsibility. Speakers Ben Trapskin, a senior librarian at Hennepin County, and Jeremy Johnson, a computer forensic evidence technician, kept us awake during the three-hour morning session talking about the transitioning of libraries from being information resources to becoming centers of culture and social gathering places.
Ben Trapskin started his presentation by referring to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Ben emphasized that safety needs were second only to biological and social needs. With the advent of mobile devices such as cell phones and hand-held Internet devices, libraries are less needed as sources of information. Statistics show that 25% of youth are unsupervised at least part of the day, and the Internet and on-line games draw them to the library. Because of the shift to becoming gathering places for socializing and non-quiet activities, libraries have had to change their primary emphasis from providing collections to making library staff and patrons feel secure in the library. Patrons who do not feel the library is a safe environment will not walk through its doors to use its resources.
Jeremy Johnson discussed person crimes (gang activity, criminal sexual conduct such as child porn, e-mail threats) and property crimes (identity theft, selling stolen property on Craig's List) and how these crimes can take place at the library. Computer forensics involves gathering evidence from desktops, laptops, hand-held digital devices, and digital storage (discs, CDs, thumb drives) and is useful for recovering and analyzing data.
Ben talked of the importance of having procedure manuals in place and written policy. They both stressed the importance of documenting incidences to establish patterns of behaviors and getting the police involved early. Their presentation was timely as I am sure we have all seen the changes in the numbers and types of incidences in our libraries.
The noon luncheon featured Tim Spalding with his LibraryThing.com presentation on social cataloging. Tim entertainingly updated those of us new to world of social cataloging, and tenderly stepped on a few library sacred cow toes in the process. While being treated to a great lunch, we learned that LibraryThing offers users a way to personally catalog books they've read. Users can rate the book, tag it by category or subject heading, provide non-traditional catalog information, write a personal review and show cover pictures. LibraryThing helps you find others with similar interests. Tagging lets you search by non-Library of Congress subject headings, such as "chick lit" and you can combine tags to narrow your search. Overall, a fun way to spend my noon hour--but I missed my three mile walk.
Lauren Burnett's early afternoon conference session on Managing Negativity in the Workplace kept us alert as our minds slowed while our stomachs were digesting lunch. Lauren said we usually have six seconds from a trigger to a reaction. She helped us realize when we understand our triggers, we can control our reactions. She taught us how to relax during conflict by standing firmly with shoulders down, arms at our sides and calmly breathing in and out through the nose. She said, "The person conceived to be the calmest is the person conceived to be the most confident." I've been to one of her presentations at an earlier conference and this was a good refresher.
The final Wednesday session I attended was 23 Things: Better Than a Deep Fried Twinkie.[...]
I always have so much fun at these conferences because I get to visit with library friends throughout the state that I don't get to see on a regular basis AND I get to learn new and exciting things about what's going on in libraries!
My day started with the keynote speaker luncheon that featured Tim Spalding, founder of LibraryThing. I've been a LibraryThing user for a little over two years now and to listen to Tim speak was really great! To think I can actually compare my personal collection and Thomas Jefferson's personal collection is incredible!
After lunch, I headed to the silent auction. Currently, I'm in a bidding war for a super cool Minnesota Wild Hockey Pack! I hope I win it.
The first conference session I attended this afternoon was Managing Negativity at Work. Lauren Burnett, facilitator for and President of the Center for Inner Quality, presented information about how to deal with negative situations in one's life and how to prevent negative situations from occurring. Lauren shared the top 11 causes of negativity in the workplace, saying that if we are all aware of these things, we can possibly prevent a negative situation from occurring:
1. Hurt feelings, seldom given support or positive feedback 2. What you want to do is in conflict with what you feel you should do 3. Not feeling as good about yourself as you'd like 4. Being taken advantage of 5. Hurt feelings, being rejected by others 6. Work criticized by others 7. Being isolated from people 8. Fear of change 9. Taking action too slowly 10. Being forced to lower job standards 11. Negativity has become a habitual pattern
Here are some other interesting ideas she presented:
You have six seconds to hi-jack any negative objects before they affect you.
The person who is perceived as the calmest is the person who is perceived as the most confident.
To calm your own personal negative feelings, think of 3 things that are bugging you, then 2, and then 1. Then, switch the focus to something positive by thinking of 1 positive thing, then 2, then 3.
Exhale to relax your body when in a stressful situation.
She also talked a little about work gossip and how that can totally affect a working environment. She basically said if you have listened to gossip, you have engaged in it (even if you didn't say anything). If you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, just say straight out, "I'm uncomfortable talking about this" or switch to another common positive topic--avoid becoming "one of them." Lauren said that the supervisor role is key because that person needs to be able to identify the gossipers when things get out of hand and needs to set the standards as to what is acceptable in the workplace. Gossip grows because communication is lacking, so always keep communication between workers flowing. Overall, it was a very interesting presentation!
The
first session I attended after the Luncheon Keynote at MLA this
afternoon was the MLA Confrence Orientation. While I have been to
Conference the last couple years, I still learned more about the ins
and outs of the MLA, and also got some tips for making the most of my
conference expereience. The best advice I got from this year's session
was to not be afraid to go up to other attendees and introduce
myself. Wendy Wendt, current MLA President, credited the networking
she has done in the past to where she is today as the director of her
local library.
I can see how this works. You meet such a
broad range of people at MLA - both newcomers and veterans at a
conference like this one. And the library community in Minnesota
really isn't as large as we might think sometimes. This networking can
be done all year round, not just at an annual conference. Any meeting
or training session can be put to good use as a chance to meet more of
our collegues. Who know where it may take you!
I enjoyed the Wednesday luncheon speaker, Tim Spaulding, LibraryThing.com founder who calls his site a 'social network of some fairly intelligent people." He discussed not just the adding of records into the 'shared mental universe' of LibraryThing, which is all it is, being a metadata database about books, not the books themselves. But also he spoke of the tagging, of the weighted results lists you can pull up, of the Legacy Libraries ("I see dead people's books") and how you can compare your own library to other people's and discover shared interests and common bonds. He shared some of the more interesting tags and how they can be TagMashed to narrow down your results, something it is not easy to do using LoC subject headings. And I found it interesting that he had a great passion for his product and what it had added to the world. He said of tagging "These are real. Tagging tells us what a book means to people and how they see the world." Tagging and reviews are usually written by people who have completed the book and are moved to say something. However, this augments subject headings, it does not replace them. In this room of librarians, he was careful to point this out.
I have a LibraryThing account but did not realize how much I have missed, how much more I could be doing with it. I want to try it out, figure out what would be useful for me and others and teach other people how to use it. So before I go into the Vendor's area for refreshments, I wanted to post this. I will confess I cannot figure out yet how to see the Legacy Library list, of people like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and Marilyn Monroe's private libraries, but I will.
From Awareness to Funding, the most recent report from OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc., affirmed aspects of my own experiences based on years of advocating for libraries and offered some surprises. Primary findings of this lengthy and statistically sound demographic study funded through the generous and continuing support of the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation include:
Library funding support is only marginally related to library visitation
Perceptions of librarians are an important predictor of library funding support
Voters who see the library as a 'transformational' force as opposed to an 'informational' source are more likely to increase taxes in its support.
Cathy De Rosa, OCLC Vice President for the Americas and Global Vice President of Marketing, keynoted a recent MINITEX workshop. She shared the good news that there are increased possibilities to change the trend of flat or decreasing library funding as there is latent support for libraries. However, the challenge will be to shift these latent feelings about the library into real support at a time when there are ever increasing demands on the public sector. Library advocates must do a better job positioning the library as part of local infrastructure.
Two key results did not surprise me. First, the correlation between support for library funding and library visits is fairly low and secondly, the positive impact library staff on funding potential. For years, I have worked with dedicated community residents around southeastern Minnesota who take great pride in their library but are not necessarily among its regular users. While I considered this disconnect between support and use strange, I’ve never rejected the proverbial “gift horse” of their support. Despite a myriad of rules (2-week checkouts for some items, 3-day checkouts for others, different fine rates, etc.) library staff members come to work each day ready and willing to help the library user. And, library customers respond with repeat visits and speaking well of library services.
The response by local elected officials regarding library visits was a surprise. Based on the survey responses, elected officials report 19 library visits a year. While this certainly contradicts anecdotal reports from local library directors and library registration records, the good news in Chapter 3 istates 73% of local elected officials have a positive impression of the library and 77% feel the library provides essential resources that some people could not otherwise afford.
The “Emotional and Intellectual Rewards Framework” graph in Chapter 4 depicts my other surprise. The four-quadrant chart is defined as “Transformation, Information, Purpose, and Escape.” Respondents firmly classify the public library as providing “information with a purpose.” Great – right? We accomplished the goals of so many publicity campaigns denoting the library as an information place. But – no! The report reveals that those willing to spend more money on libraries want the library to transform. Despite publicity that shouted information, library audiences did not make the intuitive leap that possessing information can transform one’s life. After nearly a decade of the @your library campaign, ALA can claim a degree of success but will want to craft a new message based on this OCLC study.
On October 23rd, I drove down to Kansas City, Missouri for the Midwest chapter meeting of the Music Library Association. While we all know that the library world is a little too full of organizations with the acronym of MLA (the Modern Languages Association, Medical Library Association, Minnesota Library Association, just to name a few), this particular MLA is near and dear to my own heart. Ive been attending various MLA functions since starting library school, and every conference has been nothing less than stellar. This meeting was no different, full of useful information and learning opportunities blended with copious prospects for networking and social interaction with fellow music librarians. The session on providing access to sheet music collections was particularly enlightening, considering my work with the Chatfield Brass Band collection. Though new to this particular chapter (previously I attended chapter meetings in the Southeast region), I felt immediately welcomed and encouraged by my new peers.
I have now been working with SELCO for just over three months, on the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library project. My excitement for the project has only grown in this time, and I particularly wanted to take the opportunity at this conference to spread awareness of this amazing collection and the work that SELCO is doing to make it more accessible. By the end of the weekend, the question that I had answered the most was, without a doubt, What is SELCO? The majority of music librarians work in academic library settings, so to be confronted with a name-badge bearing our unfamiliar acronym, rather than a university or college, was initially baffling to some. Once explanations were made, however, I received nothing but praise and excitement about the project. Most of the people I spoke with had never heard of the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library, and were stunned to hear of the size and scope of the collection. It truly is a unique resource, and I was overjoyed to see such a positive response from these fellow music librarians to both the collection itself and the work that SELCO has done on its behalf. Eliciting this kind of response was truly my goal for the conference to spread the word about the collection and SELCOs role in its transformation. By all accounts, this mission was an overwhelming success.
About a week and a half ago, I posted some information about the upcoming Horizon upgrade. I'd like to follow up with some more details about Pre-Overdue Email Notices. As described in my previous post, Pre-Overdue Email Notices:
are email only. Patrons receiving paper notices will not get them.
are optional by Online Library. If you don't want to use them, you don't have to.
go out a few days before the due date with the exact timing determined by each library. The timing can be set by BTYPE.
can be
enabled at the time of the upgrade or at a later date. They can also
be disabled if the library changes its mind.
A few more details have come to light as we digest the release notes for the upgrade:
Each patron record will have a check box that determines if he/she will get Pre-Overdue Email Notices. If your Online Library chooses to have this functionality enabled, all patrons with your library as their Location will have this checked by a script run against the database.
We're still unclear about what happens after the upgrade. Will you have to manually check this box every time you create a new patron record or will it be checked by default? We don't know yet. If it is not checked by default, we will modify your patron record view to check it automatically for you. That's Plan B. Plan A is that Horizon will take care of it for us. Either way, however, you're covered.
Because this functionality is enabled in each patron record, an Online Library could choose to have only some patrons get Pre-Overdue Email Notices. SELCO does not recommend such an approach without a REALLY good reason. The opportunities for confusion are just too great. A better approach would be to not put email addresses in the record of any patron who you don't want getting Pre-Overdues.
That's it. It's pretty simple, really. Once you decide to enable this functionality, it just works. Like other email notices, you don't have to do anything on a day-to-day basis to send them out.
Based on this information, SELCO would like email from each Online Library to let us know if you want Pre-Overdue Email Notices enabled. If you're not sure or need to talk to your Board or Principal, don't worry. We can turn them on (or off) for you at a later date. Please send your email to preoverdues@selco.info by 12-04-2008. If you have any questions, please contact the SELCO Help Desk.
In our never-ending attempts to block spam on the SELCO email server, while leaving legitimate email intact, we have taken another step. Last week, we began blocking all email from carefully selected countries known to be spam havens. This is not a step we took lightly. We first considered blocking such email about a year ago and decided against it as too overreaching a solution. Increasingly sophisticated messages, including some inviting recipients to click links to get "Presidential election news", caused us to reconsider.
Having decided to block all messages from spam havens, we consulted a number of lists maintained by anti-spam groups. The highly regard anti-spam group Spamhaus, for example, gave us this top 10 list of spam origin countries:
United States
China
Russian Federation
South Korea
United Kingdom
Germany
India
Brazil
Japan
France
Well, we knew we weren't going to block email from the US. Nevertheless, comparing such lists with the statistics from our spam filter yielded good results. In the end, we decided to block all messages from the following six countries. This table also shows how many messages came to the SELCO email server from each country from 10-14 to 11-13:
Country
Email Messages Sent to SELCO from 10-14-2008 to 11-13-2008
Email Messages Blocked as Spam
Aruba
115
115
Russia
12,000
12,000
Taiwan
4,500
4,500
Hong Kong
350
350
China
12,000
12,000
Ukraine
5,500
5,500
You read that correctly. All of the email received from these countries during the month examined were spam. During this time period, we blocked 212,000 spam messages. Adding up the numbers on this chart, we find that 34,465 came from these six countries. That's about 16%.
As part of
our planning for the upcoming
AquaBrowser catalog implementation, SELCO is gathering information on
research databases purchased locally by Online Libraries.Along with the databases provided by the
state and by SELCO, these databases will be searchable in the new catalog.Please return, via email to me, the names of
any databases your library has purchased that you would like in the new catalog
by Friday, November 21.I realize that
MLA is coming up but we need a quick turnaround on this question in order to
get contract negotiations moving.
In case you
are wondering, locally licensed databases will be searchable only by patrons
who are entitled to access.There are
several means of achieving this and we are still working out the method that
will work best for us.You can rest
assured however, that including your databases in the catalog will not
automatically make them accessible to the entire region and thus violate your
license agreement with the database vendor.
FYI--The Minnesota Library Day at the Legislature has been announced for 2009! MN Library Day will be held on March 25, 2009. Save the date and spread the word by telling your friends, board members, and supporters. Registration and other information about the day will be forthcoming, so keep checking back for more info.
Also, big news regarding the Cooperative Summer Library Program! The artists have been announced for the 2010 children's and teen programs. Henry Cole will be creating the artwork for the children's 2010 program and Ursula Vernon will be the artist for the teen 2010 program. I know the 2009 SRP program hasn't taken place yet, but the news is exciting nonetheless! If you haven't gone to the 2009 SRP website yet, check it out!
With today's announcement that the SELCO Horizon ILS is to upgraded in December, a lot of you in the Online Libraries are sure to have questions. We are still pulling together release notes and other documentation for the SELCO website but I can tell you a few things now:
Q. Is the entire ILS really going to be down for the whole day on December 08? A. Yes, with a few caveats. The upgrade will include all four major subsystems of the ILS: Horizon server & databases, Horizon client (the software you use on PCs), iPac, and WebReporter which means that every subsystem will be down at some point in the day. Hypothetically, it is possible that some subsystems might become useable before the rest are ready. For example, if everything is working except WebReporter, the other subsystems will be useable. If some subsystems come up then we'll let you know. For example, if the staff client and Horizon server are ready for use while iPac is still down, we will contact you. Such updates will be sent out via email to Directors and Automation Contacts (DIRPUB, DIRSCH, CONPUB, and CONSCH). As to the timeframe, SirsiDynix will begin first thing in the morning, at 8:00 AM Central. Right now, we have a best estimate of four to eight hours but it's not an exact science. Keep an eye on your email for the most recent and accurate information. An alternative option to save you the hassle is to simply tell your staff and patrons to expect things to be down all day. Each Online Library will have to make its own judgment on that. If you're not sure what to do, give us a call and we'll talk it over with you.
Q. Will I have to upgrade my Horizon client software? A. Only if you are not moved onto Citrix MetaFrame. For Citrix sites, your client software runs on our server farm and we'll upgrade it (the one upgrade we're still allowed to do). You can just sit back and relax. If you are not up on Citrix, we'll send you an upgrade CD about a week before December 08. You'll need to run it on all of your Horizon PCs. This is the same procedure we've used on past upgrades.
Q. What will happen to Pharos when the Horizon patron database is not available? A. When the Horizon server and databases go down, Pharos will be unable to authenticate your patrons. Your public internet PCs will still be usable. Pharos will continue to run and will ask patrons to enter their barcodes but will do nothing with the data. The good news is that things will appear to be working normally. The bad news is that Pharos will not catch repeat patrons, those with delinquencies, or others who should not be able to log in. Once the Horizon server and databases are back up, Pharos should resume working normally, even if the rest of the upgrade is not yet completed. We'll send email updates to Pharos sites using the PHAROS_SITES distribution list as the situation changes throughout the day.
Q. What is the best new feature that comes with the upgrade? A. Most of the modifications made by this upgrade are bug fixes and small, behind-the-scenes changes. There is, however, one very cool new feature: Preoverdue Notices. Preoverdue Notices are just what the name implies: notices that go out to your patrons BEFORE their items are due. A few things you should know:
Preoverdue Notices are email only. Patrons receiving paper notices will not get them.
Preoverude Notices are optional by Online Library. If you don't want to use them, you don't have to.
Preoverdue Notices go out a few days before the due date.[...]
On October 27, 2008, I had the opportunity to visit St. Mary's School in Owatonna, a SELS member. St. Mary's School is a Kindergarten - 8th grade school which also houses a preschool for children ages 3-5 years old. The student body is 352 in K-8 and 55 preschool students. The school is affiliated with 2 Catholic parishes in Owatonna, St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
During my visit, I met with Sharleen Berg, the school's library media specialist. Sharleen has been with the school since 1996 and started working in the library in the past couple of years. The library is located on the second floor of the school and houses a collection of books and other library materials for students. There is a reading area that is set aside for storytime which has a wooden throne for the reader of the story to sit in and wooden bleacher-style seating for those enjoying the story. The furniture in this area was built by volunteers and is really beautiful. You can check it and other pictures from my visit on SELCO's Flickr site.
The school has been very supportive of its library and has continued to provide additional funds to enhance the collection. In addition to enhancing the collection, Sharleen is working with teachers at St. Mary's School to further integrate the library into the curriculum (which she is very passionate about!) The library does have an online catalog (Follett) for its students and staff. To see more about library, click here.
I want to say a big "Thank You!" to Sharleen for allowing me to visit St. Mary's School.
Lately, we've had a rash of questions about record indexing and the iPac web-based catalog and it seems like a good time to explore the topic.
When bibliographic (title) records are added or updated to the Horizon database, they are indexed immediately. Any changes or updates will show up in searches with no delay. This is not the case with iPac. Unlike Horizon, the iPac is a separate application with it's own server and software. It searches the database just like Horizon does but there are a number of extra "moving parts" in the process. Besides making the whole process more complex, this means that there is more that can go wrong. Or just slow things down.
The iPac server has an indexing process that runs continuously in the background. It's job is to index changes and updates in the Horizon database so they can be included in searches. It's not an instant process; changes to the Horizon database can take anywhere from one to eight hours to show up in patron search results.
Why the wide variation? That's a good question and, like most good questions, there is no single answer. Indexing times can vary based on:
how busy the server is
the condition of the indices
The first bullet point is fairly straightforward. If the server is busy, say in the middle of the afternoon, everything runs a little slower.
The second bullet point requires a longer explanation. Over time, the indices in iPac degrade from use. It's a gradual process which SirsiDynix can't really explain but is not unheard of with complex database systems. As this degradation gets more pronounced, searches start to take longer and database updates start to take longer before showing up in searches. The official remedy for this situation is to do a complete reindexing of the database in iPac. When we started using Horizon, Dynix (as they were called at the time) recommended we perform a reindex every three months. This worked pretty well for us until a few months ago when we noticed that the three-month schedule wasn't working as well as it used to. So we now reindex every two months.
For those keeping score, we last reindexed in mid-October. The next reindex is scheduled for November.
Please note that everything in this post pertains only to the iPac. The Horizon staff client uses an entirely different set of indices and is not subject to these issues.
I hope this sheds a little light on what goes on behind the iPac curtain. As always, please don't hesitate to contact the SELCO Help Desk if you have any questions about searching behavior in iPac.
On October 17, 2008, I had the opportunity to visit the West Concord Public Library in West Concord. I met with Rita Hawes, the Director of the Library, as well as library staff member Sharon Dahms. West Concord was my second library visit that day as I had visited the Kenyon Public Library earlier that day.
The West Concord Public Library is located on Main Street in West Concord, in the West Concord Government Center (as can be seen in the photo accompanying this blog post). The library consist mostly of one large space that houses the majority of the collection (both adult and children's) but contains a separate reading room located near the front entrance. Patrons can also access the library through a back entrance. The library has a good collection of materials in various formats and also makes two public access computers available to patrons. On the day I visited, the computers were in use and several patrons made their way in to check out and return materials. Though not part of the circulating collection, the library has several teddy bears that were designed and donated to the library by a local patron, including one made from a cheerleading outfit! Check out the bears and other pictures from my visit on SELCO's Flickr site.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the library and even got to experience a little nostalgia. For those librarians who have been on the SELCO system for a number of years, remember when SELCO produced a "reports guide" to automation reports available from the DRA system (the system we had previous to SirsiDynix Horizon) that came in a thick black binder? The staff found a dusty copy at West Concord that I was more than happy to dispose of for them. In a way, it was a bit sad that this guide was now useless but boy, do I remember the work involved in creating it!
Thanks to Rita and Sharon for welcoming me to the West Concord Public Library.
Clifford the Big Red Dog made visits to eight SELCO public libraries participating in the Family Book Event program during the month of October. Over 650 adults and children attended these programs--woo hoo!! Thank you, Clifford!!
Preston Public Library Director Beth Anderson poses with Clifford.
We are now working on an exercise where the participants are talking about what challenges they foresee for libraries taking on buzz marketing? Here are the responses (they are being written down on the white board):
Staff
Same message
Tried that before and it didn't work
Time
We've already tried that before
Evaluation/outcomes
Endpoint, transition to the next thing
Answers for negative attitudes
Consistency plan
Sensitivity to listener about message
Follow-up
Have to be precise with your message
Money/Resources
Get over negativism
We've never done it before
Enthusiasm
Staff--some better messengers than others
Which of the 500 things do you want to start with?
Deciding who your target audience is
Shyness
Competition with other local groups
Apathy
Staff
Same message
Tried that before and it didn't work
Time
Too much telling people already
Uniqueness
Correct advertisement by local newspaper
Getting the right focus--not too narrow, not too broad
Population that changes frequently
Competing with electronic devices as well as using them
Diverse cultures and languates--especially with the language barrier
Now Judy and Denise are up to talk about Buzz Marketing!! They were introduced to Buzz Marketing or Word-of-Mouth Marketing through a LSTA grant, and they opened the grant up to all types of libraries. What is Buzz Marketing? Well, it's talking to people and getting them to talk to others--and it's FREE!! It's something libraries can afford to do.
Studies show that face-to-face promotion is the best way to get people's full attention about something. We see 200-1,000 sales messages a day, everything from Ice Mountain to Caribou Coffee to billboards to computers--what's going to influence you more?An ad or the face-to-face contact?
Everyday examples of buzz marketing -- restaurants, movies, politics, book reviews, Oprah Book Club books.
Here are some ways to get others to spread the word:
Have a remarkable product or service and know what to say about it
Create a message that's easy to spread
Do something creative
Who are the influencers when it comes to Buzz Marketing? Enthusiasts, eager volunteers, "famous people", decision makers, innovators, constructive complainers, and library defenders will all influence the process in a good way. We are doing a group discussion--I'll post more in a bit.
Why, I decided to live-blog from the "What's the Buzz" Marketing workshop! Woo hoo! Mark Reidell is here at SELCO today to discuss why it is good to publicize the need for a marketing plan. Mark will be one of the two consultants that will be available for marketing questions during the Special Consultants Project. Mark's presentation will be available via the web after the presentation. Here are some introductory facts about PR & Marketing:
PR/Publicity means marketing, branding, positioning, communications, public relations, publicity, advertising
Researching your needs is very important! Test the waters so you can identify the market to reach. That way you can decide what types of things you can market. Be self analytical with your ideas. Understanding your audience is key.
Branding, or using consistent logos, colors, tag lines, and fonts, is something that appeals to people.
What can good PR initiatives get you? More traffic, more usage, more resources, stronger advocates, energized staff, greater customer satisfaction
When you are planning for your events, always think backwards!! Here is a list to follow when planning for your events: 10. Room set-up, refreshments, AV equipment -- 1 to 2 days prior 9. News releases distributed -- 1 week prior 8. U.S. Mail, email announcements sent -- 2 weeks prior 7. Handouts, poster distributed, posted on web -- 3 weeks prior 6. Materials sent to the printer -- 4 weeks prior 5. Final content and design approval -- 5 weeks prior 4. Content and design reviewed, edited -- 6 weeks prior 3. Content and design work commenced -- 7 weeks prior 2. Event planning meeting (tasks & timeline set) -- 8 weeks prior 1. Presenter/author availability confirmed -- 10 to 12 weeks prior
Poor planning can get you unrealistic expectations, stress, late mailing, lack of coordination, and mistakes (usually typos).
Great stuff about PR and Marketing!! Now on to Judy and Denise's portion of the workshop! Can't wait!
On October 17, 2008, I had the opportunity to visit the Kenyon Public Library in Kenyon, MN. I met with Linda Barsness, the Library's director and also got to meet two of her staff members, Barbara Bonde and Erin Vieths. The library is located in the main City Hall building within the business district of Kenyon. The library itself is a nice bright space and the ever important but often missing STAFF WORKROOM! The children's area is located at the back of the library with a nice mural with storybook characters painted on the wall. There is also several seating areas for patrons and public access computers available as well.
On Fridays, the library has storytime for children in the morning. I was able to witness a great storytime with the topic of dinosaurs on the schedule the day I visited. Barbara Bonde did a great job of incorporating books, music, dancing, and crafts into her storytime and even had a "dinosaur egg" that was about to hatch. Take a look at the photos on Flickr to see this and other photos from my trip that day (including a wonderful photo of a dancing library director!)
I always enjoy my visits to our member libraries and continue to work hard and getting out to our libraries. If I haven't been to your library yet please don't worry; I'll be calling or emailing you in the near future. Then you too can have a "Visit" posting on the SELCO Librarian blog.
Thanks to Linda, Barbara, and Erin for a great visit!
In a post last week, I wrote a bit about the different catalogs under evaluation by the ILS Operations & Technology Policy joint committee. After analyzing the different catalogs to the best of our ability, the committee decided to let library patrons have a crack.
Each vendor was asked to provide two links to catalogs that they felt were the best implementation of their product. We took this step. We took this extra step because all three catalogs are heavily customizable by libraries; the choices those libraries make can make a huge difference in how the catalog is perceived by patrons. Here are the links we got:
Armed with these links, each library represented on the committee conducted patron testing. We chose to keep the process decentralized: each library was free to conduct testing as they saw fit. Some asked patrons to try out all the catalogs. Some had patrons focus on one catalog and provide in-depth feedback. Some asked patrons lots of questions while others let the patrons do their own thing and observed the outcome. All the libraries documented their process and results. And all put a lot of thought into their methodologies. There were some great, in-depth email conversations between committee members discussing various approaches.
At the October meeting of the joint committee, everyone brought their documentation and we had a wide-ranging discussion. Results varied but a number of points seemed to come up repeatedly:
Patrons really liked the Endeca catalog as implemented at Phoenix Public Library
MasterKey was seen as lackluster pretty much across the board
Patrons either really liked or really disliked the AquaBrowser Constellation. There wasn't a lot of middle ground.
Among patrons who liked the Constellation, there was a lot of serendipity and exploration in the searches. Committee members had differing opinions on whether this was desirable.
Best quote from a patron came from students at Rochester Public Schools upon seeing the Constellation: "Let's get to the end of it!"
At the risk of oversimplifying the discussion, it really came down to a basic question: "Is Endeca better than AquaBrowser by such a degree as to justify the much greater cost and staff time required for an Endeca implementation?" In a roll-call vote, the committee decided unanimously to recommend that the SELCO Board of Directors authorize the purchase of AquaBrowser for the[...]
Check out this cool opportunity for teachers and students!!
The Minnesota History Center in St. Paul will be hosting History Day @ Your Library on November 12, 2008 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Metronet, MELSA, and History Day are joining forces to present a conference-style workshop to help teachers and students effectively use library resources. Participants will learn about the steps of a History Day project and how it differs from the ordinary research project. Eight break-out sessions on finding and using library resources, locating online primary sources, collaborating with your local libraries, using the Research Project Calculator, making the most of a library visit, and more will provide tools and tips on making History Day a success for students, teachers, and librarians. A special panel of "Individuals in History" will highlight the day.
SELCO was the successful recipient of a 2008 LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) entitled Community Libraries as Online Partners. The purpose of this grant is to bring the collection of the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library (CBBMLL) into our iPac. They currently have 33,498 item holdings in their online catalog which is only a subset of their card catalog. In addition to those items, there are approximately 1000-1200 boxes of material stacked on top of their filing cabinets. The contents of these boxes are largely unknown. The driving factor behind this change from their system to adding into SELCO catalog is their Insignia system is no longer supported by the vendor. Also, their Insignia catalog was set up in such a way that, while viewable, any ordering had to be done by making a phone call or writing an email. It is our belief that by merging their catalog into SELCO’s fully-functional Horizon iPac (which is linked to MnLINK and OCLC), their circulation will increase.
The first step in our process was to map and move the data from the Insignia database to an off-line Horizon one. We have hired two full-time and three part-time catalogers to clean up and supplement the converted records. The other major facet of this project is the collection of mystery boxes. To begin the process, 250 of the boxes were moved to the SELCO building. CBBMLL temporarily lent us one of their employees to start organizing the material and give us a process to continue. Learning from the experience of their employee working here, we now feel confident in hiring an employee to work part-time on sorting out the material in those boxes.
We really believe that this will be a worthwhile endeavor the CBBMLL, the library community as a whole, and the world of brass bands. This music is just such a find! We’ve currently been unable to locate any other library that houses and lends out music for brass bands in a playable format. Most collections we’ve found either bind their music or store it in archives. Of course, this means that we’ve also had to create a system for cataloging the music and how to handle the items. It was a bit tricky at first, but I now believe we’ve got all of that well in hand.
Cataloging sheet music is just so different from regular cataloging. We never quite know what we’re going to find, especially as some of the pieces are 80-100 years old. Some of the titles are amusing, shocking, or clearly from a different time (especially those with racial context) but the amusing ones just make it worthwhile. Our favorite so far has been, “Lookie, Lookie, Wolf Boy!: A calypso”
Since March 2008, the ILS Operations & Technology Policy Joint Committee has been looking at new web-based catalogs to replace the Horizon iPAC. We have a number of objectives:
Provide more powerful search capabilities for patrons
Provide better information delivery tools for patrons
Provide a more elegant interface for patrons
Extend the life of the Horizon ILS
For more background on next-generation catalogs, why we are interested in one, and our process up to September, I will refer you to presentations I made at the Technology Users Group meetings in May and September (respectively):
At their September meeting, the joint committee had a lengthy discussion of the demos we saw for the three catalogs under consideration: Endeca, AquaBrowser, and MasterKey. They presented an interesting set of strengths and weaknesses:
Endeca is not a catalog, per se. It's a search engine that you embed in your webpage. It can be used to search any structured database. A handful of libraries have used it to search MARC databases but Endeca customers also include John Deere, Barnes & Noble, and Winona-based Fastenal. To use Endeca, you program it to understand your particular database and then create a webpage (also called a Discovery Layer) that your customers will use to access it. Endeca provides tools and expertise to help but make no mistake about it--you are designing your catalog almost from scratch. Based on the implementation process used by Phoenix Public Library to create their Endeca-based catalog, we estimate that it would take one to two SELCO programmers working full-time for 18 to 24 months to create a catalog using Endeca.
Of the three catalogs we looked at, AquaBrowser is the closest to a conventional library catalog in that it comes out of the box complete and (almost) ready to use. Since it is a stand-alone catalog, it also has to be programmed to search your database. Unlike Endeca, however, it was designed specifically to search MARC so the more basic work is already done. It also comes with an interface. It's HTML, so you have a lot of freedom to modify it but you don't have to create it from scratch. Based on information from other AquaBrowser implementations, we estimate that one SELCO technician will need to work part-time for 4 to 6 months setting up an AquaBrowser catalog.
As some of you may already we have had to switch pc vendors from Gateway to Dell. This was due to the fact that Gateway was having problems on their manufacturing end that was holding up five of our pc projects. We tried to work with them, but there was no solution in sight for the near future. Therefore we have switched our PC vendor back to Dell. Making this switch has come with its price, as we have had to start new vendor relations and get new system specifications from Dell. As well as update and re-write some of the leasing contracts we are putting into place for the PC Leasing Value Added Service. We have been able to get systems and complete the Summer 2008 PC Purchase. We will be doing a Fall 2008 PC Purchase still to come with deployments completing by end of the year. This purchase again has been held up by making the change from Gateway to Dell. The Winter PC Purchase order form that would normally go out on December 1st will instead go out on January 1st. We will make this our new cycle as we feel this will work better with your annual budgets. So in the future the computer systems purchased through the quarterly Cooperative PC Purchases and the PC Lease Value Added Service will be coming from Dell. We appreciate all of you for being patient on this as we have been making this change. If you have any questions or concerns about this please feel free to contact me with your concerns.
Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport of the UK has touched off a national conversation about the role of libraries in serving their public. I'm fascinated by the discussion that's occurring, as I often feel conflicted about the role of libraries myself. I saw this reflected in the public I served as a public librarian, too. Many of our patrons really wanted to still be able to find a quiet spot to escape the noise or activity of a busy home life, especially when they were using library resources for research or homework. (Yes, we had plenty of people that still used the library for research.) At the same time, I know many of our preschool mothers were so appreciative of the fact that they mostly got understanding smiles when their children acted like, well, young children and cried or tried to play hide and seek in the stacks. Serving both types of patrons is ideal but not always practical.
The first article describes Burnham's plan. The second article is in defense of the library as a quiet place.
First, apologies to Dodge Center Public Library for taking so long to get a post onto SELCO Librarian about my visit there on August 26, 2008. It truly was a privilege to visit with Angie Meyer, the director, and to find out what was happening at her library. The day I visited was a fairly typical Tuesday afternoon. The public access computers were all in use and people were coming in and out to check out or return library materials. The place was certainly alive with activity.
The library is quite a nice space with plenty to offer Dodge Center patrons. There is a meeting room located near the front of the building that community members can use. The children's area is large and contains a large collection of materials for children. The staff at Dodge Center Public have large work area located behind the information desk so that they have a place to work on cataloging or other projects. The adult area is large and contains a number of seating areas for patrons. One of the features that I truly liked were the custom-made shelving units which went on the end of the larger stacks and held DVDs and CDs for easy access. For more pictures from my visit, click here.
I wanted to thank Angie Meyer and her staff for allowing me to visit the Dodge Center Public Library.
SELCO has partnered with KSMQ and AmeriCorps to bring Clifford the Big Red Dog to eight public libraries in Southeastern Minnesota. The Family Book Event series is a three program series that was spearheaded by KSMQ Public Television, SELCO, and the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation-AmeriCorps LEAP members. Together, the groups are working to support families and children reading together at home, at the library, and at schools. Program #1, the kick-off program at each location, features Clifford the Big Red Dog. Families are able to take pictures with Clifford, enjoy the special Parenting Counts program for parents/guardians, and the kids are able to participate in a fun activity with the AmeriCorps members. The second and third sessions will continue the focus on social and emotional development.
To view pictures from the first five events, please click the below links:
If you missed Clifford at the above locations, you still have three chances to see him and get your picture taken! Please see the schedule below for options:
Preston commemorated 100
hundred years of library service with a celebration of the past and a look to
the future.Friends and well wishers
attended an anniversary party on Saturday, September 27, 2008.Board President, Robert O'Reilly, served as
the gracious emcee.
Ila Mae Olstad, Preston
resident since birth and long time library user, shared memories from childhood
and thanked the numerous individuals and groups for their contributions.Ila Mae serves as a member of the Preston
Public Library Board, the SELCO/SELS Board of Directors and the SELCO Library
Foundation Board.
Former library director, Janene Roessler (1994-2007)
chronicled the library’s history.Janene
also proclaimed the names of the 14 librarians who have served the community
with dedication from 1908 to the present.
As the SELCO Executive Director, I directed attention to the
most recent 40 years and the involvement of the Preston Public Library in
regional cooperation.Beth Anderson,
current library director, described current library services.While the adult presentations were
informative, the highlight of the event was a special library song sung by some
of today’s juvenile library users.
Some of the SELCO–Preston
highlights:
1968 Preston resident, Margaret Morse, represented Fillmore County on an investigative commission
whose study resulted in the creation of SELCO in 1971.Margaret went on to serve on the first Board
of Directors.
June 1973
Preston joined SELCO.
1974 Participating in the newly created interlibrary loan system,
Preston borrowed 62 books from other
libraries.It is important to note that
in the intervening years the number of titles shared with and by Preston has grown tremendously.In 2007, Preston
borrowed 2,860 items.Even more
dramatic, is Preston’s lending record.It regularly lends more to others than it
receives and in 2007 lent 5,466 items to other libraries!
December 1975 Preston was among the first of three libraries to
participate in the newly created SELCO children’s services programming along
with Dodge Center
and Lake City.
December 1979 Through SELCO, Preston
began offering 8mm and 16mm films for check out.
May 1985 Preston, and 22 other
libraries, received SELCO purchased Apple2e computers.For many this was the first public access
computer in the library or the community.
January 1986 Committed to joining SELCO library automation and came an
Online Library in March 1987.
1987-1997 Focused on a building expansion project and used SELCO
services such as the Space Needs Assessment and Accessibility Access grants
from SELCO to define library needs.
1998 Crafted the library’s first written technology plan which
included moving from limited access on the SELCO automation system to a full
participant.
To the present Library staff members have been and remain active in SELCO
programs and services, through the migration to a new Integrated Library System
(ILS) in 2003 to today’s well connected library which offers new formats such
as PlayAways.
Congratulations
to Preston on its 100 years of local library
service and deep appreciation for the 40 years of regional cooperation!
Lots of cool events are taking place at our local libraries!
The G.H. Cachiaras Memorial Library, located on the Crossroads College campus in Rochester, went live with SELCO on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Now that students and faculty are back for the fall semester, the library is hosting an open house to celebrate! The open house will be held on Monday, October 27 from 10 a.m.-noon. Refreshments will be provided.
The La Crescent Public Library, ISD #300 Early Childhood Family Education, and Childcare Resource and Referral are collaborating to offer a series of six free Saturday morning workshops designed for friends, family members, neighbors and others who provide childcare, as well as licensed child care providers. The workshops are scheduled for the first Saturday of the month and will be held at the La Crescent Public Library, 321 Main Street, La Crescent from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. The Saturday Morning Story Shop workshops will be centered on a seasonal theme, and all workshops will include refreshments, resource materials, a picture book to take home, a flannel board story and interaction wtih others who care about children. Registration is limited to 20 people. To register or for more information, please contact the La Crescent Public Library at 507-895-4047.
The Friends of the Spring Grove Public Library invite you to meet MN author and teacher Lin Enger on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. at the Schmidt House in Spring Grove. The cost is 25 dollars per person. Enger teaches writing in the MFA program at Minnesota State University--Moorhead. His book, Undiscovered Country, is widely popular and available for check-out via the SELCO catalog. Patrons can also purchase copies of the book for $17 at the Spring Grove Public Library. For more information, please contact the Spring Grove Public Library at 507-498-5800.
The Rushford Public Library will be hosting An Afternoon with Lorna Landvik on Saturday, November 8 at the Rushford-Peterson School Theatre. Lorna will be visiting with guests from 3-5 p.m.--there is no admission, but free will offerings will be accepted at the door going towards the construction of a new building. There will be a silent auction where guests can bid on a chance to have supper with Lorna from 5-7 p.m. Six lucky individuals will get to dine with Lorna! For more information, please contact the Rushford Public Library at 507-864-7600.
At the last Technology Users Group, I demonstrated how we are now able to rearrange the columns on a couple of reports that everyone uses on a daily basis. We have had four libraries respond, asking us to modify either the Notices for Review List or the Request Pull List, or both of them. This will save staff time since the changes made within the tables of the system are permanent. Staff will not have to go in each day and rearrange the columns to suit their needs – changes made on the client side do not stick but have to be redone each day.
I hope more of our Online Libraries will take advantage of this opportunity, either now or when it is convenient to them. Information about this can be found in the “Did you know Horizon could do that?” document found on this page. It’s very satisfying to be able to help streamline someone’s workflow.
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