News from December, 2009

Five SELCO scholarship recipients will attend the National Public Library Conference in Portland, Oregon in March 2010 with SELCO financial support.  From a applicant pool of 11 interested library staff members, their names were drawn randomly.  Scholarship awardees will receive up to $1,500 to defray costs for registration, housing, meals and travel.  Each applicant agreed to share their impressions of the conference via the SELCO Librarian blog.   The 2009 SELCO - PLA Scholarship winners include:

• LaVonne Beach, LaCrescent Public Library
• Elizabeth Anderson, Preston Public Library
• Cheryl Hill, Van Horn Public Library - Pine Island
• Sharon Grossardt, St. Charles Public Library
• Lezlea Dahlke, Winona Public Library

Through extensive discussions with area library directors, library staff and library board members regarding the Arts & Cultural Heritage funds, much emphasis was put on the desire to digitize local history resources within our region. Before we can proceed with a digitization project, SELCO needs to know more about the collections and the digitization needs at SELCO member libraries. A survey was created to capture this information.

This survey is intended to gain a better understanding of the digitization needs within our SELCO/SELS member libraries. Information provided in this survey will help us better serve our libraries' needs as we move forward with digitization projects in this grant cycle and in years to come.

To complete the short survey, please click the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9CLFFJ3

The survey will be open for two weeks, until Friday, December 18th. Thank you very much for your input!

Due to extreme weather conditions, the SELCO - Gold Cross Delivery Service will not be on the road today.

We have received word from St. Charles Public Library that they will be closed today (December 9) and have asked us to post this message to our website to help notify their patrons.

At the request of the library, we are informing you that Stewartville Public Library has closed due to bad weather.

Our first annual Free Cataloging Day has begun!  We picked December 10th as our day to offer free cataloging to our online member libraries as this day is the birthday of Melvil Dewey for whom the Dewey Decimal System is named (by the way, he would have been 158 years old today!)  Watch for a video later today on SELCOtv that will include short interviews with each of our catalogers:  Kirby Johnson, Carla Johnson, Tracy Waterman, Tyler Irvin, Abbey Thompson, and guest catalogers Jeannie Johnson, Janice Kunkel, and Jane Cabaya.  Check out photos from the day on SELCO's Flickr site .

SELCO staff wish you and yours a very happy holiday season in this video holiday card.

In anticipation of the new SELCO catalog that is debuting January 12th, SELCO has nine orientation sessions scheduled. For the first time, we will be offering online sessions in addition to our regular face-to face sessions. You can find a list of both types of sessions on our training website here. Please note that the sessions on the top of the page are all face to face, in the SELCO building. The sessions listed lower on the page under the heading Online Sessions will be offered only online.

12-20-2009, 9:52 AM

To resolve a minor problem with our Pharos Nerve Center, we have rebooted the Nerve Center server.  Normal functionality has been restored but each Online Library using Pharos will have to reboot their Pharos Signup server before the system can be used. 

We don't anticipate any further problems today but if you experience any problems after rebooting your server, please contact the SELCO Help Desk for assistance.  If you are not sure where your library's signup server is located or do not know how to reboot it, the Help Desk can provide assistance.

Thank you for your help in this matter.

Greetings!  The Introduction to New Online Catalog session this morning has been cancelled.  We apologize for the inconvenience!  We have other training sessions available, so check out our training page for more information.

In observance of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the SELCO office will be closed on Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25.  There will be no Automation Support on Christmas Day.  On-call Automation Support will be available on Christmas Eve Day from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. 

There will be NO delivery service on either Thursday or Friday.  Delivery will resume on Monday, December 28.

The Wednesday morning, December 22 Introduction to the new Online Catalog class has been cancelled due to low (1) registration.  SELCO is offering other training opportunities to explore the new catalog.  Please check out our training page for more information.

12-23-2009, 9:24 AM

We are having some problems this morning with thin clients being able to connect to Citrix.  So far Citrix connections through the Automation Portal seem to be working fine.  We are working to resolve this issue and will send more information out as it becomes available.

Monday Dec. 28th - 9:52 AM

The problem with some thin clients in the region not connecting, has been resolved. Thanks for your patience. Please call the SELCO Helpdesk if you are still encountering issues.

Greetings!  SELCO is happy to announce the addition of the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook to our E-Book Reader Techie Toybox.  The kit also includes the Sony E-Book Reader.  To book this kit, please send a request to SELCO at booking@selco.info.  The email must include the title of the kit, the date needed and a requested due date.  Check out our other available Techie Toyboxes by clicking here.

The Introduction to the new Online Catalog class this morning (12-30-09) has been cancelled due to low registration.  SELCO is offering other training opportunities to explore the new catalog.  Please check out our training page for more information. 

Great news from SELCO Headquarters!  As a region, we have collectively created 1,000,000 bibliographic records in the SELCO catalog!  SELCO Project Librarian Tyler Irvin entered the millionth record yesterday.  The item?  Dreams Under Fire - A Documentary About Gangs, a 50-minute video owned by SELS member, Parenting Resource Center . 

Greetings!  The Poetic Strokes poetry contest has been revived!  SELCO encourages residents who are 16 years of age or older and who live in the eleven-county SELCO region to submit original poetry to be considered for the Poetic Strokes regional anthology.  For submission guidelines, please click here .  Send poetry submissions between January 1, 2010 and February 15, 2010 to:

Poetry Submission
SELCO
Attn: Mollie Pherson
2600 19th Street NW
Rochester, MN  55901
mpherson@selco.info

After the February 15 deadline, a qualified panel will review all entries and make the final selections for the anthology.

Spread the word to co-workers, family, and friends! 

Questions?  Contact Mollie via email at mpherson@selco.info or via phone at 1-800-992-5061 or 507-288-5513.

This project was funded in part or in whole with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008 which dedicated funding to preserve Minnesota's arts and cultural heritage. 

In observance of New Year's Day, the SELCO office will be closed on Friday, January 1.  There will be no Automation Support on New Year's Day.  Automation Support for New Year's Eve will be available until 5:00 pm on Thursday.

There will be NO delivery service on Friday.  Delivery will resume on Monday, January 4.

Today, December 30, marks the first deadline for libraries and partner organizations to request Arts and Cultural Heritage Library Legacy funding with SELCO sponsorship.  Eligible categories include Art and Culture Live! and Community Collaborations .  Submit your idea for a writer, artist or performer using the quick and easy online application .  Applications will be accepted each month, December 2009 through May 2010 on the 30th of the month.  Additional information about SELCO sponsorships is available on SELCO Legacy website including instructions , the online evaluation form , and additional information about valid project outcomes .

This project was funded in part or in whole with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008 which dedicated funding to preserve Minnesota's arts and cultural heritage.

The Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Minnesota Humanities Center have been enthusiastically soliciting information from around the state for a 25-year framework and a 10-year Arts and Cultural Heritage plan.  A draft was released on December 21, 2009 and public comments are encouraged.
This work is in response to a legislative requisite in the first Legacy Amendment appropriations bill requiring that "...programs and organizations funded through the arts and cultural heritage fund shall conduct a collaborative project to develop...a ten-year plan and a 25-year framework for use of the funding that includes goals and measurable outcomes and includes a vision for Minnesotans of what arts, history, and cultural heritage will look like in 25 years." 

In observance of New Year's Day, the SELCO office will be closed on Friday, January 1.  There will be no Automation Support on New Year's Day.  Automation Support for New Year's Eve will be available until 5:00 pm.

There will be NO delivery service on Friday.  Delivery will resume on Monday, January 4.