News from October, 2008

October 01, 2008 -- We have added the Software Development Specialist (PDF, 68 KB) position to the SELCO Job Postings page.  The Software Development Specialist is responsible for:

   1.Developing and maintaining software, with emphasis on web-based applications
   2.Providing technical support to Online Libraries as a member of the Help Desk & Training team
   3.Assisting with administration of servers as a member of the Systems & Networks team

This position will remain open until filled.

October 01, 2008 -- SELCO has accepted Tom Coffee's resignation as Software Development Specialist. During his short tenure here, he refined our web presence and helped move us towards a content management system where all can post and everything is transparent. Please join us in offering Tom our appreciation for his services and our best wishes.

During the coming few days, we will reassign any projects and Help Desk requests for which Tom was responsible.

October 2, 2008 -- Meeting materials for the October 8, 2008 SELS Advisory Committee Meeting have been posted to the Meeting Materials page for the SELS Advisory Committee.  The meeting will be held in the Avila Room at SELCO starting at 4:00 PM.

October 6, 2008 -- Please join us to help kick off SELCO's Special Consultant Program with What's the Buzz:  Word of Mouth Marketing on Tuesday, October 28 at 9:30 a.m.!  Special guest Judy Hoffman from the North Suburban Library System and Denise Zielinski from the DuPage Library System will be presenting "What's the Buzz:  Word of Mouth Marketing."  Judy and Denise will share information about a number of recent marketing and publicity projects in their library systems in a repeat of their recent PLA program. After their presentation, each attendee will participate in small group discussions to formulate their own Buzz Marketing Plan.  Denise and Judy will also work with the small groups.  Lunch will be served in the afternoon. To access the program flyer, please click here.  To register, please visit the SELCO training page or call 1-800-992-5061.

October 6, 2008 -- SELCO announces two scholarships for public library staff interested in attending the 2008 Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference.  The SELCO scholarships will cover conference registration, hotel accommodations, and other conference related expenses such as mileage and meals, up to $735 per scholarship awardee.  The deadline for consideration will be Wednesday, October 15.  Submit your name or the name of a public library staff member today!

October 6, 2008 -- The G. H. Cachiaras Memorial Library, located on the Crossroads Collegecampus 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 at the library.  Refreshments will be provided.  Please contact Mollie Pherson with questions.  Hope to see you there!

October 9, 2008 -- We are all aware the battle against Spam email is an ongoing problem.  Nearly a year ago, SELCO installed a new Spam filter, that has greatly improved the amount of Spam getting into SELCO email boxes.  Like every solution, the firewall we have is not perfect, and Spammers continually strive to "beat the system" and get their unwanted messages through.  We recently loaded new features onto our Spam email filter.  We thought that it may be good time to point out again what we're doing to continue to battle Spam.  Please see Mick Reese's recent blog post about the new features that have been implemented.

October 9, 2008 -- The SELCO/SELS Annual Report (July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008) is now available.  Please click here to access the annual report.  The report is also accessible via the Studies and Reports webpage on our website.

October 10, 2008 -- Day End processing has completed.  All notices and statistics are now available.

October 10, 2008 -- DayEnd did not run last night and has been restarted this morning. This process takes several hours and we will update this page when completed. Online Libraries can access yesterday's reports at that time.

October 15, 2008 -- A few minutes ago (at about 01:20), we experienced a Citrix problem which caused some users to lose their sessions.  This has been resolved.  If you were kicked out of a Citrix session, please attempt to reconnect.  If you experience further difficulty, please contact the SELCO Help Desk.

October 21, 2008 - Video of the ILS Operations & Technology Policy Joint Committee meeting held on October 16, 2008 has been posted to the committee meeting materials page:

• Meeting Video - Part One of Three(FLASH)
• Meeting Video - Part Two of Three(FLASH)
• Meeting Video - Part Three of Three(FLASH)

October 17, 2008 -- SELCO selected Stephanie Silvers, Harmony Public Library, and Jeanne Steinbrink, Austin Public Library, as the lucky recipients of this year's SELCO-MLA scholarships.  Each is eligible for up to $735 to defray registration and housing costs, as well as incidental travel expenses including mileage and meals.  Stephanie and Jeanne have indicated their willingness to blog their experiences on the SELCO Librarian while attending the event.  Congratulations to both!

October 17, 2008 -- Ground was broken on October 9, 2008 for the new Lonsdale Public Library.  The library will be in leased space in the new Villages of Lonsdale retirement and assisted community development being built in Lonsdale.  A large crowd of Lonsdale city officials, officials from the builders and Three Links Care Center who will own and manage the development, community members, and library staff from Northfield Public Library and SELCO who have been assisting Lonsdale with the design of the library space were on hand to celebrate the occasion.  The development is schedule to open in Fall 2009.  Check out additional photos from the groundbreaking here.  Congratulations to Lonsdale!

October 22, 2008-- Spots are still available in October 28th marketing workshop. Each participant will be given a chance to work directly with a consultant on a marketing project for their library. Presenters Judy Hoffman and Denise Zielinski will being the day with brainstorming from their previous experience with Buzz Marketing. Projects that developed were wide ranging, including new building promotion, promotion of specific services or collections and training staff on word of mouth, day-to-day marketing. Registration can be found at the SELCO training site.