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SELCO Librarian
Ann B. Hutton, Executive Director
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.
SELCO has copies of From Awareness to Funding in the professional collection and I encourage you to check it out
Abbey Thompson, LSTA Project Cataloging Librarian
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.
Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian
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.
Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian
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%.
It's another step forward.
Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian
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.
Please contact the SELCO Help Desk with any questions.
Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian
Happy Friday!
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!
Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian
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. The exact timing is determined by each library. The timing can be different for different BTYPEs.
- Preoverdue Notices 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.
Further information on Preoverdue Notices and other changes to Horizon will be emailed out and posted to the SELCO website shortly.
As we learn more about the December 08 upgrade, we will post it here and send email to Directors and Automation Contacts. Please feel free to contact the SELCO Help Desk if you have a question that has not been addressed.
Michael Scott, Assistant Director
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.
Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian
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.
Michael Scott, Assistant Director
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.
Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian
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.
Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian
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
- The "buzz" gets stale fast
