News from June, 2009

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

The month of May 2009 seems to have become a month for visiting school media centers for me!  On May 11, 2009, I had the opportunity to visit the two elementary school media centers in Red Wing:  Burnside Elementary and Sunnyside Elementary.  I started my day at day at Burnside Elementary School, which serves students in Third through Fifth grade and has an enrollment of about 660 students.  The school opened in 1994 and replaced an older building from 1931.  I arrived at the school's Media Center and met with Jackie Trulen, the media specialist at Burnside.  The media center was quiet in the early morning as the first class was to arrive around 10 AM.  The Media Center's space is large, bright, and welcoming.  A large amount of natural light flows in through big windows that look out on the playground area as well as partial views of the bluffs to the south.  There is a large collection of books for students to use and a few computer workstations for students to search for materials (there is a computer lab attached to the Media Center as well.)  The space also contains a large area for storytime sessions with students as well as a classroom that Jackie uses to teach library skills.  Additionally, there are a number of study carrels and study tables and chairs for student use. The large information desk is centrally located and has the largest collection of storybook characters I think I've ever seen!

Jackie shared with me that students have regular visits to the Media Center every four days.  Students are able to learn library skills, check out books, and listen to a story quite often.  The Media Center uses on online library system (Follett's Spectrum), common among many SELS school members' media centers.  At this time, Red Wing Schools do not use a reading program such as Accelerated Reader or Lexiles.

After my visit to Burnside Elementary, I headed closer to downtown to visit Sunnyside Elementary School.  Sunnyside Elementary serves students in Kindergarten through Second grade and has an enrollment of 530 students.  The building was built in 1956 with an addtion and renovation done in 1989 which includes the Media Center.  When I arrived, I was greeted by Sunnyside's Media Specialist Susan Richardson and Media Aide Lynn Lund and was given the grand tour of the Media Center.  The space, just as the space at Burnside, is a large, bright, and inviting space.  Plenty of natural light enters the space through large windows that look out onto a park-like setting.  The large information desk greets students when they arrive and is at a height that works for all students.  There is a large book collection available for students and plenty of tables and chairs to sit and read or study.  There are a few computer workstations for students to search for materials as well as a computer lab attached to the Media Center.  The storytime area is large to accomodate a number of students (complete with a rocking chair!) and the area can be closed off when other parts of the media center are being used.  On the day that I visited, the school had just been visited by author Patricia Polacco (Chicken Sunday, Thunder Cake) and a large banner and display greeted students near the main entrance of the school.  In the media center, a bulletin board had been decorated with beautiful hats as well as a basket of eggs to celebrate Polacco's book, Chicken Sunday.  Addtionally, author/illustrator Rick Chrustowskihad paid a visit earlier in the year and several illustrations (signed by Rick) were hanging on display in the Media Center.  Besides author visits, the Sunnyside Elementary School had participated in Pennies for Peace, a program of the Central Asia Institute whose co-founder is Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time.  The school raised $350 for the effort and a display honoring their efforts was found at the entrance to the Media Center.

I also had the opportunity to sit in on a storytime session with a First grade class.  The current author/illustrator being studied was Tomie dePaola and Susan read the students Strega Nona.  The students seem to enjoy the story and Susan did an excellent job.  This is actually the first time during my school visits that I had the opportunity to sit in on storytime.  It was great fun!

I really want to say a big "Thank You" to Jackie at Burnside and Susan and Lynn at Sunnyside Elementary for such a great visit.  To view photos from my visit, please take a look at the Red Wing Schools folder on SELCO's Flickr site.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

SELCO upgraded our WebMail Exchange Server back in February 2009, and with this upgrade, there are new features and options available for us to use.  This episode takes a look at the Outlook Calendar and the new options available with it.

• Introduction to Outlook Web Access's Calendar

Donovan Lambright, Automation Librarian

Wolfram Alpha has been all over the news lately, though descriptions of the website have varied.  Is it a search engine?  Is it the newest competitor to Google?  Who is Stephen Wolfram?

Wolfram is a brilliant scientist and mathematician who has done ground-breaking work in particle physics and computerized modeling of natural phenomenon.  Widely described as a child prodigy he got his PhD in particle physics from CalTech at age 20 and joined the faculty shortly thereafter.  He supplied the vision behind Mathematica, a computer algebra system that is used by scientists and mathemeticians to model, well, almost anything.  In 2002, the publication of his book A New Kind of Science, provoked controversy in the scientific world by postulating that the universe runs on systematic principles that cannot be modeled through traditional mathematics alone but rather through computational systems of the kind that Mathematica can model on a computer.  Wolfram built on these concepts to develop Wolfram Alpha, which he describes as a "computational knowledge engine".

I will pause here to admit that I don't really know what most of the last paragraph means.  Wikopedia is good.

So, what does Wolfram Alpha do?  According to the FAQ, it "generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links".  So, it's not a search engine.  It tries to answer questions by doing calculations based on it's internal database.  In that database is a host of statistical and scientific information such as the CIA World Factbook.  It's a little unclear what exactly is in that database but it seems to be a lot of "deep web" stuff that is not available for free.  Wolfram himself described it as "about nine-tenths of what you'd see on the main shelves of a reference library".

The point about calculations vs. searching is a key concept here.  Unlike Google and other search engines, Wolfram Alpha doesn't serve up pages from its data source.  It uses that data source to calculate an answer to your query.  For example, I asked "Who won at Gettysburg".  Well, the engine didn't know how to interpret that query.  So, I tried "Who won the battle of Gettysburg".  The engine responded with a page showing how many miles are between Gettysburg, PA and Battle, UK.  It also gave some interesting demographic information on both communities.  Nothing on the Civil War battle.

Enter two stock symbols, on the other hand, and the engine will return a wealth of information on the stocks and their comparative performance in the stock market.  It will also solve any mathematical query.  These results make sense if you understand where the engine came from.

What does all this mean?  Wolfram Alpha shows huge potential to provide basic data mining and calculations on some kinds of questions.  Instead of merely presenting data, it attempts to interpret that data.  In it's own way, it's continuing the encroachment of the internet onto turf libraries have traditionally owned.  That, in and of itself, makes it worth watching.  Here are some links if you'd like to read further:

• ALA TechSource writeup
• Article from Slate comparing Wolfram Alpha to Google
• Initial review from the ReadWriteWeb blog
• Video of Stephen Wolfram discussing Wolfram Alpha (1 hour and 45 minutes long)

Ann Hutton, Executive Director

In an era of economic downturn, the possibilities abound for libraries undertaking new or expanded arts and cultural heritage activities, so much so that we made the national library news.  With the flurry of last minute legislative details, libraries will receive a portion of the new Arts and Cultural Heritage funding generated by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment.  The Legacy Amendment, approved with overwhelming voter response in November 2008, raises revenue for Clean Water, Outdoor Heritage, Parks and Trails, and Arts and Cultural Heritage.  Libraries will be beneficiaries of a portion of the Arts and Cultural Heritage  funding, with $4.25 million allocated to regional library systems and distributed via the Regional Library Basic System Support formula.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

Continuing on with the my "Schools in May" tour, I had the opportunity to visit the Glenville-Emmons Schools in Glenville, MN.  The district is made up of two schools:  Glenville-Emmons High School, which includes Grades 7 -12 and Glenville-Emmons Elementary School, which includes Grades Kindergarten - 6th Grade.  Both schools are located in the city of Glenville.  I started my visit at the High School, where I met with Glenville-Emmons' Media Specialist Mike Hockert.  The Media Center at Glenville-Emmons is a large space with study tables & chairs available to students, a large book collection, a number of computers for student use (plus an attached computer lab) and a location near the entrance to the school.  On the day I visited, students were using both the computer lab and the media center for study.  The Media Center has an online catalog (Follett's InfoCentre) that students can access at school and at home to find books and other materials.  Though students in the High School do not have regularly scheduled "library" time, use of the Media Center is still high.

In the afternoon, Mike and I headed across town to the Glenville-Emmons Elementary School Media Center.  The Media Center is located near the center of the building and is built in a very open fashion:  no walls and surrounded by classrooms.  The Media Center is sunken and two wide steps around the entire space allow access.  The Media Center has a large book collection and several study tables & chairs for student use.  Computers for student use are located in a lab located near the Media Center.  Students do have regular "library" time in the Media Center to check books in and out.  As Mike covers both media centers as well as teaches computer classes, serves as the Senior class sponsor, and coaches baseball, he works with the elementary teachers to ensure that they can assist their students in finding books to read.  Using the Accelerated Reader program has also helped in this effort as well.

I want to say thanks to Mike Hockert for allowing me to visit the Glenville-Emmons School Media Centers. To see more photos from my visit, check out the Glenville-Emmons set on SELCO's Flickr site.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

My "Schools in May" tour wrapped up on May 20, 2009, when I paid a visit to the Zumbrota-Mazeppa Elementary & High School Media Centers.  The Zumbrota-Mazeppa Elementary & High Schools(Z-M) are located in Zumbrota and the two buildings are connected together.  The Elementary School serves students in Kindergarten - 4th Grade and the High School serves students in 9th - 12th Grades.  I started my visit at the High School Media Center with Z-M Media Specialist Ron Miller.  The High School Media Center is a large and bright space.  On entering the Media Center, most of the large book collection and study tables are located to the left.  The large information desk is located just inside the entrance and occupies a space in the center of the Media Center.  On the right side of the Media Center is a large number of computers for student use as well as a new current fiction book section.  On the day I visited a number of students were making use of the Media Center, both at the study tables and of course, at the computers.  Attached to the Media Center is a large computer lab and television production space.  Students produce regular TV programs, including a short morning news and annoucements program.  The Z-M High School Media Center also has something I have not seen in any other school media center:  a green screen that can be used for television or other media programs.

After visiting the Z-M High School Media Center, Ron and I made our way down the hall to the Elementary Media Center.  I arrived at the Media Center just in time to find 4th graders listening to a story being read by Zumbrota Public LibraryChildren's Librarian Flora Burfeind who was there to promote the Library's Summer Reading Program.  The Media Center is also a large and bright space, with a large book collection, study tables and chairs for students, and an attached computer lab.  The Media Center was to receive new carpet over the summer and Elementary staff members Kathy Flotterud and Heidi Hanson were in the process of moving books.  Elementary students have 'library" time at the Media Center on a rotating schedule and are taught library skills as well as get to check out books.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa Schools has one more school building in the district:  Z-M Middle School located in Mazeppa.  I'm planning on a visit to the Middle School next fall, so stay tuned.  I want to say a big "Thank You" to Ron, Kathy, and Heidi for welcoming me to the Zumbrota-Mazeppa Elementary and High School Media Centers and for allowing me to visit.  To see photos from my visit, including a picture of the "green screen" in the High School Media Center, check out the Zumbrota-Mazeppa seton SELCO's Flickr site.

Ann Hutton, Executive Director

As the State's biennium draws to a close in just days, the Governor will unallot  more than $3 billion to balance the FY2010 - FY 2011 budget as required by the State Constitution.  While we have seen Governors unallot previously, never to this magnitude.   The nonpartisan House Research department prepared a 14-page briefingthat provides background on the unallotment law and outlines the extent of executive authority in this process, as well as those instances where the unallotment law is not clear. During the next few days and months, Minnesota cities and counties and by extention their libraries, regional libraries like SELCO, and the State as a whole will be moving into uncharted financial waters.

Ann Hutton, Executive Director

There are more questions than answers about how libraries might fit into the American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA PL 111-6) funding streams.  A good starting point for information on broadband infrastructure as part of this relief effort is a shortFAQ (frequently asked questions) handout prepared by the Wisconsin State Library.

As broadband investigations move forward, emphasis will be placed on projects that demonstrate long term impact, including collaboration and partnerships especially with regional or statewide impact, and projects that can demonstrate long-term sustainability.  Since managing a Wide Area Network (WAN) is a major portion of SELCO's operational responsibilities, we are deeply interested in a robust telecommunication environment, including broadband, which enables each library the greatest level of flexibility in offering online customer services.  SELCO and the other regional library systems are represented on Minnesota's Broadband Task Force and will continue to investigate broadband initiatives.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

Tyler Irvin, Aurora Jacobsen and Rachel Gray travel to Chatfield to the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library on June 2, 2009 to assist in their first day of being on the SELCO Network.

Note:  The audio quality is not the best with the small, handheld camera that was used to create this video.  We apologize for this.

• Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library goes live

Ann Hutton, Executive Director

On Monday, June 1, representatives from the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB)  were in Rochester garnering input on the expanded Arts and Cultural Heritage programs that will be possible with Legacy Amendment funds.  As they continue their travels around the state - Bemidji today, Granite Falls tomorrow and a very full schedulethrough the month - MSAB and the regional arts councils are seeking input on a vision for Minnesota and guiding principles for arts & arts access, arts education and  arts & cultural heritage.

The handout from the public discussion includes basic information about the Legacy Amendment and posses specific questions for the participants on the clarity of the vision, principles, and potential purposes for the funds.  They have promised to post the PowerPoint to the MSAB website but as they are traveling at the moment, here is a PDF of the handout for your review.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

This recording is from the SELS Advisory Committee meeting held on June 3, 2009. The SELS Advisory Committee is made up of nine elected representatives from public libraries, school media centers, public and private academic libraries, and special libraries. The group meets 4 times per year. This video has been broken down into 4 parts for ease of viewing.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

Jonya Pacey and I visited Kenyon-Wanamingo Middle/High School's Media Center (kwsmh) today  to get them started on a collection inventory this morning.  Both Lisa Nelson (kwsmh) and Cindy Baumgartner (kwselm) were on hand for the training and to scan in the Media Center's collection.

Inventory is a chance to take a snapshot of your collections, getting a list of items that the system says are available but are not there. Additionally, an inventory helps you find items that are incorrectly cataloged or that belong to another location or that have the wrong status. Like a spring cleaning. There is even dust sometimes kicked up!

Jonya and I have traveled to a total of seven school media centers this spring to assist with inventories.  KWSMH was the  last one on our  schedule.  If you are interested in doing an inventory of your  library's collection, please contact the help desk (helpdesk@selco.info).  We would be happy to visit your  public or school library and get you set up for one!

Ann Hutton, Executive Director, Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian & Michael Scott, Assistant Director

Three SELCO staff and a selection of public library staff from SELCO libraries attended the Minnesota Public Library Budget Shortfalls: A Conversation webinar, sponsored by the Public Library Divison of the Minnesota Library Association,on June 8, 2009.  Five public library directors from across Minnesota, representing different size libraries, spoke on ways they are attempting to cope with budget shortfalls in the current economic downturn.  Using a panel format, each presenter addressed these questions:

• What is your library doing to address shrinking budgets - especially at a time when library use is growing?
• How have you developed strategic priorities for using available funds?
• How do you develop political capital and when do you spend it?

A few themes emerged during the webinar that all types of libraries could use.  First, look for ways to continually improve your work processes.  Look for ways to do things more efficiently.  As the number of staff in libraries decreases, work processes must be more efficient.  Second, look at partnerships with county or city departments, and other organizations.  As one of the speakers stated, avoid pulling within and look at partnerships as critical to maintain outreach and goodwill.  Finally, communicate, communicate, communicate!  Let everyone know what you're doing to save money and don't be afraid to ask for help.

As the speakers addressed the budgetary situations at the local level when library use is increasing, they discussed the importance of staying true to the library's mission and focusing on the core services patrons expect when visiting and using the library.  Some key points stressed were don't keep your staff or patrons in the dark.  Make your staff aware of the library's fianancial situation and make yourself approachable in these trying times.  The more open you are about the info you know with the staff, the better.  Also, let your patrons know about what's going on.  If your services are changing, let them know why and ask them to support the library.  Depending on the library, some are increasing fines to make up for budget cuts while some refuse to place any barriers on patron usage.

While there was a great deal of consensus among the speakers, differing viewpoints were also shared ranging from continuing a no fines practice to increasing fees and trying new funding streams which clearly demonstrated the attention paid to local sentiments.  A selection of the options that have been implemented or that are being investigated include:

• Rochester Public Library - undertook a continuous improvement study and is implementing changes based on the findings
• Washington County Public Library -  investigating technological improvements and possbile alternative service options such as a remote kiosk installation
• Martin County Library - wrote successful grant applications to cover costs to paint the building and additional programming
• Cloquet Public Library - installed a self-check machine
• Kitchigami Regional Library - using volunteers for more daily functions.

MLA-PLD posted the webinar meeting materials on WebJunctionMN and heartily encourages library staff to continue the conversation initiated by the thoughtful contributions of the presenters.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

Note:  I noticed in reviewing the site visits I had done in May 2009 that I'd forgotten to include a visit to the Stewartville Schools.  Apologies to the media center staff at Stewartville Schools!

On May 8, 2009, I had the opportunity to visit the media centers at the Stewartville Schools.  The district has 3 media centers; one media center at Bonner Elementary, Central Intermediate, and a combined media center for the Middle and High Schools. I started my visit at the Middle/High School media center with Susan Dailey, the district media specialist (Susan has since retired from Stewartville at the end of the 2008-2009 school year.)  The media center at the Middle/High School, which serves students in grades 6 -12, is a large space with access from the middle school "wing" and the high school "wing."  The space houses a large book collection, a large number of public access computers, a space for classroom-style instruction, and offices and workspace for staff.  The information desk is centrally located for easy access.  There is a computer lab that is located off of the media center as well.  Though quiet on the morning I visited, the space is heavily used by students. 

Susan continued as my tour guide and the next stop on our tour was at Central Intermediate School.  This school serves grades 4-5 and was not in use on the day I visited.  The space is located on the second floor of the building.  Large windows line one wall of the space so plenty of natural light spills in.  There is a large book collection for students and computers that can be used as well.  I did see the old wooden card catalog which Susan pointed out that she used to show how much has changed with libraries.  The other outstanding feature in this media center is the grass green carpet.  You can't miss it!

Our final stop on my Stewartville Schools tour was to Bonner Elementary School.  Bonner serves grades Kindergarten-3.  The media center is a large, brightly lit space (thanks to some large windows near the high ceiling.)  There is a large book collection for students, some office space and a large information desk for staff, several public access computers, tables and chairs for study, and the student's favorite part of the space:  three big comfy couches.  The couches are especially popular for students to sit and read during their designated "library" time.  These couches are definitely motivation to find a book or two to read quickly!  On the day I visited, a third grade class was visiting the media center and it was quite fun to watch the students return their books (each table was called in turn) and then make a quick sprint to the stacks to find a new book or two to read.

For photos from my visit, check out the Stewartville Schools set on SELCO's Flickr site.  I want to say thank you to Susan and her staff for allowing me to visit their media centers.

Rachel Gray, Information Services LIbrarian

SELCO upgraded our WebMail Exchange Server back in February 2009, and with this upgrade, there are new features and options available for us to use.  This episode takes a look at all of the options Outlook  Web Access gives users, and recommends a few options to select.

Outlook Web Access Options video

Joyce Koerner, SELCO-EQS Scholarship Recipient, Red Wing Public Library

One of the classes I took at EQS this year was Geocaching 101.  They explained, although quickly, how to register on the geocache website, the different types of caches, and some of the terminology used.  Then we all went outside to find some caches they had set up for us so we could see how the GPS units worked.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

As a follow up to a recent post by Ann Hutton regarding H1N1 (Swine) Flu, I wanted to provide an update.

On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6indicating that a global pandemic is underway.   According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and WHO, the alert was raised as a reflection of the virus' spread, not the severity of the illness caused by the virus.  More than 70 countries have reported cases of the H1N1 flu.  As of June 12, 2009, there have been 17,855 confirmed and probable cases of H1N1 flu in the United States.  On a more regional level, Minnesota has had 274 (as of June 15, 2009) confirmed and probable cases, Wisconsin has had 3008 (leading the nation), and Iowa has had 92.

As a reminder, the CDC recommends the following actions to stay healthy:Take everyday actions to stay healthy.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
• Stay home if you get sick. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

As the situation continues to develop, here are some very useful websites that contain a wealth of information about the H1N1 Flu.  Please check these sites often as more information becomes available and knowledge about the disease is discovered.

• CDC H1N1 Flu information (Of particular note, check out H1N1 Flu & You for information including how long the virus can survive on objects such as books)
• WHO Influenza A (H1N1) information
• MedlinePlus  (choose "H" under Health Topics) from the National Institutes of Health & the National Library of Medicine
• Minnesota Department of Health's H1N1 Flu information

Amy Lerum, SELCO-EQS Scholarship Recipient, Red Wing Public Library

This was my first time attending the EQS Symposium and it was a great experience! All of the sessions I attended throughout the day were informative but I especially enjoyed "The Hirschfield Materials" session. I have to be honest and say that I knew nothing about this collection and figured if nothing else, I could maybe learn a little something about special collections. Well...when Jean-Nickolaus Tretter started telling us about the collection, I was amazed! This collection was purchased from the Magnus Hirschfield Estate and is now in the Tretter Collection at the University of Minnesota. The Nazis burned down The Hirschfield Library on May 10, 1933 in Germany but Mr. Hirschfield had some of the items with him on tour at the time. The rest of the journey for these items is pretty amazing so if you get a chance to read up on it, do so. It will be worth your time to learn all about the collection. http://special.lib.umn.edu/rare/tretter/tretterletterjan07.pdf

I want to thank Selco for giving me the opportunity to attend this event!

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

This recording is from the SELCO Advisory Committee meeting held on June 9, 2009. The SELCO Advisory Committee is made up of the directors from all of the public libraries in the SELCO region. The group meets 6 times per year in February, April, June, August, October, and December. This video has been broken up into four segments for ease of viewing.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Patti Tieskoetter, Red Wing Public Library

Note:  Patti was one of 4 SELCO member library staff from across the region who were sponsored by SELCO to attend the 18th Annual Minitex ILL Conference on May 19, 2009.

On Marshall Breeding, "Next Generation Library Automation & its Implications for Resource Sharing":

Marshall Breeding operates the website http://www.librarytechnology.orgon which he organizes his ideas, maintains statistics, archives his journal articles.  His quest is a library operating system that uses the technology and vision of web presences that so many library users are familiar with. He feels that Open Source software is the direction that libraries should go, and that the proprietary companies should be looking at what Open Source programming offers library users.  "Real competition for the major companies isn't themselves, but Open Source..."

He uses e-commerce (specifically Amazon.com) as a comparison point for software developers: "If users can't figure out where to click, they're not going to send their money." He owns a copy of a Harry Potter book because "it was too easy" to buy through Amazon (and conversely, hard to get through library catalogs). Users love contributed ratings and reviews. Users love cloud computing.

Interlibrary loan module is by far the most difficult to design to work smoothly, and that's why it's the last to be developed. OCLC's record sharing protocol is the direction to go. Cloud technology (our own private cloud?) High level of usability. Innovative Open Source software. All will help the ILL process.

As part of the comments from participants, Breeding asked whether we want to allow Google/Amazon to provide library services. "we need to be sure that searching Google will profit libraries." He pointed out an article appearing that day, May 19, in the Washington Post :  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051802637.html  "How Google threatens books" / Brewster Kahle, which makes it clear that libraries need to watch what the commercial world is doing.

Jonya Pacey, ILS Help Desk Manager

On May 19, I attended Minitex's 18^thAnnual Interlibrary Loan Conference in order to gleam ideas and suggestions for the Help Desk from the speakers. Marshall Breeding, Vanderbilt University Libraries in Nashfield, TN, writes about developing network technologies and automation systems, analyzing trends and speculating on the future based on his experience and knowledge. Some tools on his websiteare very professionally useful and I recommend you take a looks-see. Having a resource to check Today, with travel in my near future, the lib-web-cat advanced search feature for finding libraries that offer wifi caught my eye. (Fortunately, Iowa reststops have free wifi so most of my journey's blogging can be right on I35.)

 Ray Wilson, president of Ray Wilson & Associates, author and afternoon speaker, spoke about 7 continuous improvement tools we could use. Some were for time management, some for figuring out how to narrow and focus energy. As I find the time, I want to revisit his suggestions, probably via his published work, to put more of it into practice. Reviewing my notes, the "Force Field Analysis" and the 'Cause Analysis" tools were both making parts of my brain work; I was doing some of these there at the conference. I really need to do them here, at work, where I can apply them.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

I came across an excellent article in the May/June 2009 issue of Marketing Library Services entitled "Five Ways You Can Save Money by Marketing" by Kathy Dempsey.  The main point of the article was that even in the most difficult of financial times, marketing is one of the last things that should be cut from a library's budget.  Dempsey goes on to outline five ways that marketing can cut costs:

• Use customer input to determine which services to keep (and which to cut)
• Use better marketing and promotion to tell patrons what you've already got
• Use quick tutorials or videos to save training time
• Make your website work for all it's worth
• Lean more on colleagues and consortia

The other point that Dempsey makes is that marketing is a circular process.  By studying the habits of your current patrons AND potential patrons, you can divide them into groups and really find out what they want from you.  Knowing more about them will allow you to create products and services that each group wants, release them, then publicize and promote them so patrons know they're available.  Later, ask for feedback about what you've offered and use that feedback to improve your services, relaunch & re-promote, thus continuing the "circle" of offering products and services your patrons really want.  This same process can be used if you discover from studying your current and potential patrons that some of the products and services they want you actually provide.  Go ahead and relaunch & re-promote these too.  Sometimes those things we take for granted as things we've always done may actually be "new" to potential patrons but also to current patrons.

Melanie Olson, Delivery and ILL Assistant II

This was my second venture to this symposium, and I had just as great a time, if not more, as last year while still learning quite a bit. The classes I attended were all informative, interactive and just downright fun.

My first class was titled "Cybercrime - What this means for you" and was presented by Special Agent Craig W. Sorum, Minneapolis Division FBI. Amid funny and more serious stories about catching "cyber-bandits", Special Agent Sorum showed us how a seeming innocent little machine like your work or home computer can become a thief's super-highway into your personal information. Even worse, how easy it is for predators to get at your children and especially teens through your home computer without your knowledge. He discussed several ways to safeguard your computers, and what to do if you think your security has been violated, or your children have been solicited. Scary stuff, but I felt really safe to have someone like Special Agent Sorum out in cyberspace protecting the innocent.

My next class was supposed to be Family History 101, but unfortunately it was cancelled. Instead I sat in on "Extreme Googling" which I had attended last year, but wanted to see if any new tools had been created. Most were unchanged, but some had been upgraded to be more user-friendly. One of the tools had even gone from beta status to actually launched as a tool, so that was very interesting.

Next was lunch, where we were joined at our table by Special Agent Sorum. It was great chatting with him again about his career and other aspects of his life. He truly loves his job, and keeps saying how he'd do it for free, but they keep paying him. ☺  After lunch it was on to "The Visual Bridge: Getting Kids Interested in Reading Through Comics and Graphic Novels". The presenter was Brent Schoonover, a young freelance illustrator. He spoke about how parents, educator and librarians can spark interest in reading for young people using comic books and graphic novels.

After a break with some ice cream (boy, they sure feed us a lot at these things!), I headed off to "Pass It Along: How Wanda Gag's Picture Book 'Millions of Cats' was Imagined, Retold, Written, Illustrated, Archived, Researched and Translated to Impact Readers". This class was presented by Karen Hoyle, curator for the U of M Children's Literature Research Collections, a part of the library that holds many original manuscripts of children's books, including the book "Millions of Cats". This funny, sad, uplifting story, written & illustrated by Wanda Gag, has been in print since 1928, and has been translated into many languages around the world.

My final class was by far the most fun. "Geocaching 101: Use Multimillion Dollar Government Satellites to Find Tupperware in the Woods". This class was tag-teamed by Andrew McCracken from the MN Geocaching Association, and Therese Sonnek, a librarian at White Bear Lake Public Library. The first part of the class we learned all about what geocaching is, what kind of GPS devices are best, where you can go online to get more information and to sign up, and why this has become a great tool to get patrons into the library via their GPS! For the rest of the class we all got a loner GPS and went outside to find some caches they had set out for us earlier. It was great fun using the GPS to navigate to each of the caches; some of them were hidden really well! We had such nice weather that it was great to get out of the classroom environment for a bit & laugh & run around like kids on a treasure hunt. As a matter of fact, I am buying a GPS myself soon and taking up this hobby that I can share with my nieces & nephews. Good fun and good exercise, all wrapped up together.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

This is a recording of the June 18, 2009 meeting of the SELCO ILS Operations & Technology Policy Joint Committee.

We have split the video into three segments for your convenience:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3 

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

Mike Flores, SELCO's User Technology Manager, talked to Linda Weinmann,Winona Public Library's Automation Contact, about how they use Pharos for the Public PC computer management. This video shows a few extras WPL uses, such as Pharos Printing & Sign-up/Queue Stations.

• Video