News from September, 2009

Rachel Gray - Information Services Librarian

The ping command is a great way to see if you're connected to the internet. This episode of SELCOtv shows you how to use ping throught the Command Prompt program.

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

On August 13, I had the privilege of being a "Camp Counselor" at the first annual SELCO Camp Read-A-Lot at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, MN.  What a fun-filled day!  The morning Keynote speaker, Anita Silvey , was absolutely amazing!  Some interesting facts she shared with the group:

• Millions of Cats by Minnesota's own Wanda Gag has never been out of print (over 80 years).
• The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf was the first banned picture book. 

I got to participate in wonderful group discussion as the leader of the Brown Bears (ggrrrrrr...) in the morning and afternoon.  It was great to see connections being formed and ideas being shared between teachers, media specialists, and public library staff. MN Children's Author Chris Monroe presented in the afternoon and shared her experiences as a comic and author.  Overall, a wonderful day!  Hope to see you there next year!

Front Row:  Rachel Gray-SELCO, Laura Randolph-Rochester Public Library, Jane Cabaya-SELCO, Mollie Pherson-SELCO, Aurora Jacobsen-SELCO, Aimee Lake-SELCO

Back Row:  Lezlea Dahlke-Winona Public Library, Beverly Hall-Wabasha Public Library, Kathy Herrera-Spring Grove Public Library, Sara Berquam-SELCO, Pat Martin-Red Wing Public Library, Michael Scott-SELCO

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

Today I attended an orientational webinar for the Library of Congress’s website led by Judy Graves, LC's Digital Projects Coordinator, and learned a lot about what they have available online for researchers.  I was joined by other librarians and researchers from VA, TX, NJ, FL, Washington DC and MN who were interested in a variety of topics including Presidents Washington and Lincoln to sound recordings the LC has available online.  All in all, we were a diverse group!  I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in seeing what exactly is on the Library of Congress’s website to attend the orientation for themselves; it is offered the 2^ndWednesday of each month at 10am CST.   

While the webinar covered as much of the Library’s website as it could in an hour, the librarians leading it focused on a couple specific areas that they find the most helpful for most researchers.  A sampling follows:

• Digital Collections and Services - includes links to print, pictoral and multimedia collections and other digital services.  Graves highlighted the Historic Newspaper and Rare Book collections, but encouraged us to explore all these digitalized works. 
•  THOMAS - covers legislative information from 1989-present.  You can search on bills, legislation, committee reports and just about anything else Congress deals with.
• Research and Reference Services - includes specific information and pathfinders on a variety of topics. 
• Global Gateway - includes international collaborations and also different collections put together by LC librarians on a variety of world cultures. While most of this gateway has English language resources, it does include information in other languages.

These four specific areas of the Library of Congress allow you to mine a lot of great information, including primary resources, yet the knowledge they share are really just the tip of the iceburg that can be found on this website.  If you have specific questions about this great site or the information therein, the LC has Ask A Librarian to answer them.  You can email Library staff and get a reply within five business days. 

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

Making sure what's on your shelf matches what's in the catalog is very important for customer service. In this episode of SELCOtv, Jonya Pacey, Help Desk Manager at SELCO, talks to Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian, about the whys and hows of doing an inventory, and also explains how you can schedule one.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

On August 31, 2009, I had the opportunity to visit the Hokah Public Library for their end of summer reading program party.  I hadn't paid a visit to Hokah for awhile and thought this was a great time to visit.

Fifty kids participated in Hokah's summer reading program and as a reward, the Library throws a party at the end of summer.  This year's party was held at Twin Creeks Golf in Hokah.  Around 30 kids plus their parents attended the party.  Mini golf, sand volleyball, disc golf, and feeding the deer (the MOST popular activity) were just a few of the activities available to the kids.  Hot dogs & s'mores were made over a campfire so everyone had a full tummy!  All who attended seem to have a great time.

I even got a personal tour (via golfcart, of course!) from Bob, the owner of Twin Creeks Golf.  He told me how he had changed his business after the devasting floods from 2007.  Eight feet of water covered the area where Twin Creeks sits and the 5-hole golf course they originally had was destroyed.  However, rebuilding did happen and in place of the 5-hole course, the popular disc golf course was added.  This addition has made Twin Creeks a popular place for locals and non-locals alike to gather and have some fun.

In addition to the party, I also received a mini tour of Hokah.  Barb Bissen, the Hokah Public Library Director and lifelong Hokah resident, was my tour guide.  We visited local park in Hokah, complete with a waterfall.  This hidden jem was been rebuilt with money from various funding sources since the 2007 floods.  I also got to see the local swimming pool which is not your typical municipal pool.  Though it has a diving board, it is not a cement pool but rather a natural bottom pool complete with a sandy beach.  I also got to see the newly rebuilt baseball diamond (just down the street from the Library) which was built with funds from the Minnesota Twins.

Of course, my visit wouldn't have been complete without a visit to the Library.  The Library is located in the lower level of the old City Hall building.  Though a small space, every inch of spaced is maximized to house 25,000 items!  There is a children's area with a large collection of items for the younger ones.  There are plenty of books and videos for the adults to choose.  Public computers are available and were in use by some of the "regulars" when I visited.  Outside of the main library space, a small hallway is utilized to house part of the collection.  There is a shared kitchen/staff room space and Barb has her eyes on another space currently housing some storage for the City.

I want to say thank you to Barb for inviting me down to the party and for allowing me to visit the Library.  For more photos from my visit, check out the Hokah Public Library set on SELCO's Flickr site.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

The September Users Group meeting on 9/8/09 included a demonstration of a new service SELCO will be supporting - WiFi Hotspot Printing. Aaron Moeckley of Metro Sales led the demo. He can be reached at amoeckley@metrosales.com if you have questions about the printer itself. Please contact the SELCO Help Desk if you have any questions about SELCO's support of this new service.

Rachel Gray - Information Services Librarian

Miss the September Users Group meeting? Not to worry! In this episode of SELCOtv, we have the complete meeting screencast and all the audio from the presentations and audience questions. This video has been split up into 4 parts for ease of viewing. 

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Note: The audio quality of these recordings depends a lot on where a speaker/participant is in the room in relation to the audio equipment.  You may hear some people better than others because of this.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

SELCO hosted its first Camp Read-a-Lot on August 13 at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, MN. Anita Silvey, author of 100 Best Books for Children, 500 Great Books for Teens and other titles (see her complete works here ) was the morning keynote speaker. Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian, interviewed Ms. Silvey about her favorite children's books and how she got involved with children's literature.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

SELCO hosted its first Camp Read-a-Lot on August 13 at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, MN. Chris Monroe, author of Monkey with a Tool Belt, and Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem was the afternoon keynote speaker. Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian, interviewed Ms. Monroe about her inspirations behind her writing and illustration style.

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

If you want a super collection of ideas from actual friends groups from public, school, and academic libraries, Even More Great Ideas for Libraries and Friends by Sally Gardner Reed is for you!  This book is a sequel to 101+ Great Ideas for Libraries and Friends (2004) and offers the reader strategies and advocacy tips.   Chapters cover fund-raising, organizing book sales, programming for outreach, raising public awareness, and building membership in friends groups.  The advocacy and awareness sections are particularly useful and have an extremely positive and encouraging tone.  Both titles are great tools for all sizes and types of libraries.

This book ties in with the SELCO Special Consultants program--to learn more about this program, please click here .  To view Even More Great Ideas for Libraries and Friends in the SELCO catalog, please click here . 

Lisa Reuvers, Library Technician

Faribault Buckham Memorial Library

Wednesday, September 17, 2009, was the dawning of a new sense of respect I have for the SELCO automation team. With that, an even deeper sense of awe with what our PC support does in the background when we ask them to “load a computer”. I spent the day with Mike Flores and he guided me in building one of our public internet machines.

I like to approach things from the chocolate or sweets perspective, so let’s talk about cake. The first thing Mike and Paul do with a new machine, or cake, is to throw out the prepackaged cake mix. They clean off the drive, for our machines, and that is the “cake plate” so to speak and then starts the machine building or the cake tiers.

Each layer is then applied, the Operating System, administrator profile, the drivers, the updates to the Operating System, the updates to the updates of Operating System, plug ins for all the nifty internet programs, antivirus, creating a D drive, patron profile and finally Windows Steady State. Yes, that was one sentence. I emphasize that because, that is one machine build. Let’s try to say that all with one breathe! In all, 9 or 10 layers go into the cake.

Now, when you build the cake, the layers all have to fit with each other and you don’t make one layer bigger than the layer under it. It is a simple structure and it doesn’t take a whole lot of intellect to piece those layers together. Not so with the computers that our master chefs whip together. They have to make sure that the operating system is compatible with plug ins, Steady State, antivirus and that no one takes too much icing. This might seem like a simple thing, however how many operating systems are they working with? One of them might be round, say like XP, and the other is square, namely Vista.

Time is the next factor I would interject at this point. Each scratch build is 4 to 5 hours of time. The research and testing to be sure all of the ingredients blend must be done outside of this mixture, because who wants a cake with too much salt or not enough chocolate? Hours of testing and research must take place to find each programs strengths and weaknesses, and that along with deployment, all in a 40 hour week.
I have been working with the computers at our library for 14 years. I thought I had a pretty good overall feel for what was on the machine, it’s the tweaking and testing and research that I took for granted. To say that I am blown away would be an understatement. To say that this is just Mike’s or Paul’s job and they are getting paid to do this diminishes the knowledge and know how these two HAVE to have.

As I was driving home, I expand those thoughts out to each and every member of the Automation Team at SELCO. What goes into making the network work with each machine? What goes into loading a driver into Citrix? I now know that loading a machine isn’t simply popping in a disc and letting it run. What about Pharos? What about Horizon? What are the nuances that go into this automation system that I know I took for granted? The PC’s are a very important piece to a much larger puzzle that I now know is more than a farm of computers sitting in a room at SELCO.
I am thankful to SELCO for letting me monopolize one of their chefs for a full day.  I enjoy that the cakes that they bake and are so delectable to the public we serve and the fellow staff members we work with everyday. This being one division of SELCO, I would also like to thank all of those that work in the background in their own specialties, catalogers, ILL workers, and to those I left out, consider yourselves patted on the back as well. We couldn’t do what we do without you!

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

This is a recording of the September 17, 2009 meeting of the SELCO ILS Operations & Technology Policy Joint Committee.

We have split the video into two segments for your convenience:.

• Part 1

• Part 2

Rachel Gray, Information Service Librarian

Did you want to go to Camp Read-a-Lot, but just couldn't make it? Watch this short video to get a taste of the day's activities and discussion!

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

Beth Anderson from Preston Public Library (PPL) uses a lot of Web 2.0 tools to help promote the PPL and the programs they offer. Rachel Gray talks to Beth a bit about the tools she uses, and how well they help her get the word out about programs and new materials at PPL.

Michael Flores, User Technology Manager

Some of the things that I use here at SELCO, and would recommend for you, are some Clorox wipes, other brands would work too.  Make sure they are anti-bacterial as well.  Before you get started make sure to power off your computer before cleaning the keyboard to avoid accidentally hitting some of the keys.  What you want to do with the wipes is basically wipe down your keyboards, but go over them very lightly.  You want to make sure you don’t have any liquid dripping into the keyboards, so maybe wring them out so they are just damp, not wet.

As for the monitors you can look for some antibacterial monitor wipes, such as the link below.  If you cannot get those, then perhaps get an antibacterial glass cleaner, preferably something that is not very harsh or has too many chemicals on it.  Spray it on the cloth as opposed to on the monitor and gently wipe it down.  As per above make sure the cloth is damp, and not wet.  You want to avoid having liquid dropping down onto the system.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antibacterial-Plasma-Case-Cleaning-Wipes/dp/B000MJPLBM

I hope that this helps answer some of your questions.  If you are a PC Support Customer please feel free to give us a call at the SELCO Help Desk with any questions or concerns, thank you.

Rachel Gray, Information Service Librarian

MayoClinic.com is a wonderful reference tool when helping patrons with all kinds of medical questions. This episode of SELCOtv gives a brief tour of this website full of information written by Mayo's doctors.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarian

Regional Librarian, Mollie Pherson, talks about the promotional items that are available through SELCO for the Hot Reads for Cold Nights winter reading program.

Rachel Gray, Information Services Librarain

Ann Hutton, Executive Director, highlights the discussion points of the SELCO/SELS Executive Committee Meeting held on Monday, September 28, 2009. The Board Recap is a regular program posted once a month after Board & Executive Committee Meetings.

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

Did you want to attend the Personnel Management in the Public Library workshop, located in five spots across the state, but couldn't make it?  No worries!  Presenter Ann Goering's workshop handbook, Managing the Human Resource -- Back to the Basics, is available to you!  This general document includes information about hiring, orientation, relevant statutes for employees, dealing with difficult employees and employee rights.  To access a PDF copy of this document, please click here .

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

Just a few random ideas, thoughts, and inspirational stories for your pleasure today!

I was reading some back issues of the Post-Bulletin and came across an article featuring BookCrossing, a website that tracked registered books around the country and the world.  Users register personal copies of books they have read, label them with a special identifying label inside the cover, and leave the book in a public place (coffee shop, park, etc.).  Really quite interesting!

While catching up on my newspaper reading, I started in on the library-themed articles I have been collecting for a few months.  I found the article, Building Better World a Book at a Time by Stephanie Elam, to be highly interesting!  The article featured Better World Books , a reseller of used books of all types, and how the company is reaching out to libraries.  While it started out selling used text books, Better World Books is now a leader collecting and selling used materials of all types.  The organization brings in 40,000 to 50,000 books a day, and all of the books purchased through them are shipped at no cost to customers!  AND it donates 5-10% of its revenue to libraries and literacy programs.  Better World Books, located in Mishawaka, Indiana, has more than 2 million books in its warehouse at any given time--unbelievable!  To read the article, please click here .

Lastly, I have a new favorite book.  Go out and read A Pearl in the Storm:  How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean by Tori Murden McClure.  It's a memoir about the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean.  It's amazing! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  A perfect read for a lazy October afternoon.