The SELCO Librarian

After the the first RDA class, the catalogers and I (Becky. Kristi and with help from Cindy) evaluated the class and decide to break the class into two separate offerings.
 Each cataloger may choose which class they feel is appropriate for their cataloging level. Both classes fulfill your RDA cataloging requirement. Each classes will last approximately 3 to 4 hours. 

• Cataloging Fundamentals -  will cover the basics of the MARC record and how to utilize OCLC, how to bring records into Horizon and up to minimum record standards.

• Copy Cataloging: The Next Steps - is designed for those who are comfortable with MARC and OCLC. We will cover the most common international standards that govern cataloging and SELCO's policies and procedures. We will go more indepth into the differences between AACR2 and RDA and catalogers will learn how to identify quality records beyond minimum standards. 

Cataloging Fundamentals sessions are available for the fall.

Copy Cataloging : The Next Steps is the class most of you will be interested in. 

Please visit the coursewhere site here http://www.solutionwhere.com/selco/cw/main.asp if you would like to sign up for a class. 

On Friday the Minnesota House will take up the bonding bill on the floor.  The bill as it emerged from committee did not include any funding for libraries.  However, Rep. Alice Hausman, chief author of the bill, has posted an amendment to the bill online that would appropriate $1.5 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants. 
 Please e-mail your representative immediately and urge him/her to support the Hausman A-13-0703 amendment to the bonding bill.  Explain that it includes $1.5 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants.

The House and Senate conferees for the Legacy bill have been appointed.

Please contact them and urge them to support the House position on Legacy funding for regional public libraries. 

The House maintains the current funding level of $3 million per year, whereas the Senate reduces it to $1 million per year.  With the Senate version, SELCO would go from  $308,016 it received in FY2013 to $96,000 in FY2014, greatly affecting SELCO's ability to support local programming efforts.  Call or email your these folks today and share your story about Library Legacy activities in your community.

The Legacy Conferees are:

The House conferees for the Legacy bill were appointed this morning.

Please contact them and urge them to support the House position on Legacy funding for regional public libraries. 

The House maintains the current funding level of $3 million per year, whereas the Senate reduces it to $1 million per year.  With the Senate version, SELCO would go from  $308,016 it received in FY2013 to $96,000 in FY2014, greatly affecting SELCO's ability to support local programming efforts.  Call or email your these folks today and share your story about Library Legacy activities in your community.

The House Legacy Conferees are:

The following information was sent via e-mail on May 15, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

With just a few days left in the legislative session, final decisions are starting to be made on budget bills.

Minitex/MnLINK

Great news!  The higher education conference committee reached agreement on the omnibus higher ed bill this evening (May 15, 2013) and it includes the $300,000 per year funding increase for Minitex and MnLINK that was included in the Senate bill. Thank you to all of you who wrote to the conferees urging them to support the Senate position.  Please write to thank the conferees for their support, especially Senator Kent Eken, Senator Terri Bonoff and Rep. Gene Pelowski.

Aid to Cities and Counties

The tax conference committee is still negotiating the omnibus tax bill, but they have agreed on an increase of $80 million in aid to cities and $40 million in aid to counties. 

Legacy

Tonight (May 15, 2013) the Senate passed its Legacy bill on the floor.  I'm pleased to report that during the debate several senators gave Senator Cohen quite an earful about the reduction in funding to regional public libraries. Thank you to all of you who contacted your senators. It is making a difference.  The conference committee will be appointed tomorrow.  As soon as the conferees are appointed I will send out their contact information.

Legacy funding for SELCO's cultural programming is in jeopardy of being reduced by 2/3.

In FY2013, SELCO received $308,016 but under the proposed Senate Legacy bill that amount would be reduced to $96,000 in FY2014, greatly affecting SELCO's ability to support local programming efforts.

Call or email your Senator today and share your story about Library Legacy activities in your community.  Ask your Senator to influence his or her colleagues on the conference committee to agree to the appropriation of $3 per year as proposed by the House.

Click here for a flyer with more information.  Please share with staff, board members, library Friends, city officials, and anyone interested in library programs.

The legislative session concludes Monday, May 20.  Time is short.  Call or email today.

Thank you,
Ann Hutton, Executive Director

The Senate Legacy Bill (SF 1051), authored by Senator Richard Cohen (D-St. Paul), was unveiled in the Senate Subcommittee on Legacy on Thursday, May 9, 2013, and included funding for $1 million/year for regional public libraries.  This amount is a major reduction from the $3 million/year currently allocated to regional public libraries.  In the House companion bill, HF 1183, the House maintained the $3 million/year allocation to regional public libraries.  A conference committee will be named later this week to work out differences with the House and Senate versions of the bill. 

For SELCO, this reduction would mean that rather than receiving ~$300,000/year in Library Legacy Funding, we would receive closer to ~$100,000/year in Library Legacy Funding.  A nearly 2/3 reduction will have a MAJOR impact on what projects and services we would be able to provide our member libraries.

Action needed:  Please contact your own senator to express concern about this reduction and how important Legacy funding for libraries is to your library.  Ask them to raise the issue with Senator Cohen. 

According to Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist

We are not going to change Senator Cohen's mind. However, if it's clear that his Senate colleagues are unhappy about the level of funding for libraries it will be more likely that the Senate conferees will agree to the House appropriation when the bill gets to conference committee.

If you do receive a response from your Senator, please feel free to let Michael Scott know about it.  Send him email to mscott@selco.info.

Thanks!

A new grant competition will award $150,000 to libraries, museums, and other nonprofits to provide hands-on learning opportunities this summer for youth across the country to help make the online experience more civil, safe and empowering. The Project:Connect Summer Youth Programming Competition is administered by the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC), with support from the MacArthur Foundation through a grant to the University of California, Irvine, and in partnership with the Born This Way Foundation. Grants will support a series of local hands-on events July through September where young people collaborate and compete through activities such as hackathons, maker spaces, digital journalism and communications labs, and mentoring workshops. Programs must be based on the understanding that learning happens anywhere, anytime and should be equitable, social, participatory, and reflect kids’ interests. Applications are due June 10. More information can be found on the Digital Media and Learning Competition website.

The following information was sent via e-mail on May 12, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

It's crunch time.  The Legislature must adjourn on May 20, 2013 -- one week from Monday.

Budget Deal

Today (May 12, 2013) the Governor and legislative leaders announced that they have agreed on a budget deal. The deal includes significant increases for E-12 education ($475 million) and higher education ($250 million) and a smaller cut in health & human services than legislators had proposed (a $50 million cut rather than $150 million). The school funding shift will be repaid. To pay for all of this and cover the $627 million deficit, income taxes will be increased on couples with taxable income of $250,000 and on individuals with taxable income of $150,000. Sales taxes will be expanded to some business services but not to consumer services or clothing. The cigarette tax will be increased. Details will be worked out by the various budget conference committees.

E-12 Education

The conference committee met for the first time on Thursday, May 9, 2013.  They adopted several identical provisions, including two items important to MLA/MEMO. 

1. The change in terminology from "grant" to "aid" for RLBSS and Multi-type funding
2. Clarification that total operating capital funds can be used for computer hardware, software and annual licensing fees

Higher Education

The conference committee will meet for the first time on Monday, May 13, 2013. The funding increase for Minitex/MnLINK that is included in the Senate higher ed bill but not in the House bill has a better chance now that the agreed-upon target ($250 million) is closer to the Senate target ($260 million) than the House target ($150 million).  Our Senate author, Senator Kent Eken (DFL - Twin Valley) is on the conference committee and told me he intends to fight hard for the increase included in the Senate bill.  If you haven't yet contacted the conferees to urge them to support the increase in the Senate bill, please do so.

Legacy

The House Legacy bill passed on the floor on Friday, May 10, 2013. The Senate Legacy bill was unveiled in the Senate Legacy Subcommittee on Thursday, May 9, 2013.  It includes $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library (the amount requested) and $1 million per year for regional public libraries.  This is a huge reduction from the $3 million per year currently allocated to regional public libraries.  Senator Dick Cohen, chair of both the Senate Finance Committee and the Legacy Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, has opposed Legacy funding for libraries from the beginning. His position has been that only those who advocated for the constitutional amendment should share in the funds generated.  He views all other recipients as interlopers, including libraries.  Senator Cohen's goal has been that 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund is to be allocated to the State Arts Board.  Currently about 43% is allocated to the State Arts Board.  The Senate bill includes a provision requiring that in the future 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund shall be allocated to the State Arts Board.  The initial version of the Senate Legacy bill distributed the funds to regional public libraries under the RLBSS formula, as has been done the past two biennia.  I subsequently spoke with Senator Cohen and he agreed to amend the bill to change the formula in accordance with the MLA/MEMO platform and to require that the funds be distributed in 10 equal payments.  That amendment was adopted on Friday and the bill was passed out of the Subcomittee. It will be heard in the full Senate Finance Committee on Monday, May 13, 2013.

On April 11, 2013, the Minnesota Education Media Organization (MEMO) held a workshop entitled The Flipped Classroom and You at TIES in St. Paul.  A "flipped classroom" is, at its simplest, switching the traditional lecture and homework model.  A common approach is for teachers to record video lectures that students view at home and the time spent in the physical classroom would be used for learning exercises, projects, or discussions.  According to EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's 7 Things You Should Know About Flipped Classrooms, "the term is widely used to describe almost any class structure that provides prerecorded lectures followed by in-class exercises."

With that basis in mind, MEMO's workshop was kicked off by Kristin Daniels from the Stillwater Public Schools.  Kristin presented on Stillwater's experience with flipping their elementary math curriculum.  They have found that this model has helped students raise their math scores and the school is looking at other opportunities to implement flipped classrooms.  Additionally, they are working on implementing the flipped classroom model with professional development for their staff.

The idea of using the flipped classroom approach with professional development of school staff, particularly teachers, was a common theme throughout the workshop.  At the Park Center High School in the Osseo Public School District, a program called Technology Teaching Tools (TTT), allows staff to learn about new technology tools that might be useful to their jobs.  Participants can complete the requirements for each of the tools on their own in a time frame that has been established (looks to be a one tool per month).  In addition to doing it on their own time at home, for instance, their are dedicated times in the school's computer labs set aside just for staff.

I felt this workshop was a very good introduction to flipped classrooms and the variety of uses being implemented in Minnesota.  For more information about this workshop, go to The Flipped Classroom and You page on the MEMO website.

The Group 2 OCLC Project Kickoff that was scheduled for today will be postponed to a later date.  With several folks unable to attend due to closed libraries, no power, or anything else that this crazy May snow is wreaking havoc with, we will find a new date in the next week or so to have that kickoff.  Cheryl will be in contact with those of you who are in that group of libraries.

I can't believe I'm even writing this on May 2, 2013, but with the horrible road conditions around the region and travel not advised almost everywhere, we are cancelling Delivery for today.  We plan to resume regular Delivery on Friday, May 3, 2013 when we hope to be able to safely deliver your tubs.  Stay safe!

Continuing on with our OCLC reclamation project, over 400 boxes of books were picked up from SELCO on Monday April 29 by Better Futures Minnesota formerly known as Network for Better Futures. Rushford-Peterson School and Red Wing Public Library were 2 additional stops made on Friday April 26 with over 30 boxes each.  Better Futures Minnesota will attempt to resale the books, give some to local prisons, work with Better World Books to deliver books to Africa and recycle what is left. 

 Boxes came to SELCO through our delivery courier, Alliance and also some libraries chose to bring their cars full to quicken the process of getting them here. SELCO will continue this service for the next few years as the OCLC project continues for the region. If your library would like to participate and has not already contacted SELCO, please contact Cindy Baker who will coordinate pickup of the boxes from your library. For more information about Better Futures Minnesota, please click here.

SELCO will schedule another pickup from Rochester when we have another full load (typically 300 boxes).  If you have an excess of 30 boxes, let us know and we can schedule for Better Futures Minnesota to come to your location. Keep up the good weeding and let us know if you have any questions.

National Science Foundation "Pushing the Limit" Programming Grant

If your Friends group represents a small and rural Minnesota library looking to bolster its Adult programming offerings in the S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields, the National Science Foundation wants to work with you!

Last year, in a special pilot program, the Foundation and its partners collaborated with 20 libraries throughout the country to bring adult science programming to the masses. This year, organizers want to roll out something similar at 75 more institutions.

Details may vary considerably by location and according to community interest. To apply, all you need is a scientific theme, the kernel of an idea, and the cooperation of a local science professional or teacher (who will help library staff conduct the program). If your library is chosen, you will receive $2,500 toward expenses, curriculum development support from National Science Foundation partners, free materials, and comprehensive online training for library staff and volunteers. 

Applications are due by* May 15, 2013.*

For General Information

For the application

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Preservation Assistance Grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities annually awards grants focused on inventory preservation and cataloging to help worthy “libraries, museums, [and related institutions] improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects…  historical objects, and digital materials.”

Grants vary in size according to need, as determined by the NEH judging committee. If you have an ongoing or potential project that fits into the description above, you are strongly encouraged to apply. In the last five competition cycles, NEH received an average of 316 entries each year and, averaged out, provided financial assistance to 113 (a full 36%!) each cycle.

For General Information

The following information was sent via e-mail on April 29, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

The Legislature must adjourn three weeks from today (April 29, 2013).  Most of the omnibus budget bills were passed on the floor of the House and Senate last week (week of April 22, 2013).  Conference committees are in the process of being appointed and will begin meeting later this week. Here is the status of the major bills affecting libraries:

Omnibus Higher Education Bill (SF 1236)

The bill has passed both the House and the Senate.

The Senate higher education bill includes a $300,000 per year increase in funding for Minitex/MnLINK.  The House maintains current funding.
 
Please contact the conferees listed below and ask them to support the Senate funding level for Minitex/MnLINK:   

Omnibus E-12 Education Bill (HF 630)

The bill has passed both the House and Senate. Here are the highlights for MLA and MEMO:

• Both the House and Senate versions of the bill maintain all library appropriations at current levels.
• Both the House and Senate change the terminology in statute from "grant" to "aid" for Regional Library Basic System Support and Multitype funding.
• The Senate includes language clarifying that total operating capital can be used by schools to purchase computer, software and annual licensing fees. I expect the House to accept this language in conference.
• The House increases the general education formula by 2% in FY 14 and 2% in FY 15. The Senate increases the general education formula by 1% in FY 14. The House had more money to spend than the Senate did.

House conferees are:

Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL - Dilworth)
Rep. Carolos Mariani (DFL - St. Paul)
Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL - Mankato)
Rep. Will Morgan (DFL - Burnsville)
Rep.Dean Urdahl (R - Grove City)

Senate conferees are:
Senator Chuck Wiger (DFL - Maplewood)
Senator Patricia Torres Ray (DFL - Minneapolis)
Senator LeRoy Stumpf (DFL - Plummer)
Senator Alice Johnson (DFL - Spring Lake Park)
Senator Kevin Dahle (DFL - Northfield)

Omnibus Tax Bill (HF 677)

The bill has passed the House and is currently being debated in the Senate. Both bills raise a substantial amount of new revenue via increases in income taxes, sales taxes and and cigarette taxes. The House also raises taxes on alcohol.  Both bills include property tax relief.
 
The House bill increases aid to cities by $80 million and aid to counties by $30 million.  The Senate bill increases aid to cities by $80 million and aid to counties by $40 million.  These increases will be helpful to public libraries.

Legacy

The House Legacy bill was scheduled to be taken up on the House floor 10 days ago and then was pulled.  Rumor has it that controversy over the outdoor heritage appropriations have made it questionable whether the bill can pass.  The Senate has not yet put its bill together.

MnLINK has informed us that the MnLINK Gateway is back up. Some text from their message:

The MnLINK Gateway and VDX are now available to use. You may experience some slowness with request searching or updating requests. The system's indexes are catching up, but we expect this to be OK by tomorrow. You may want to avoid doing large bulk actions today.

The MnLINK Gateway will be going down for a software upgrade on Monday April 22, 2013 around 9:00 PM. We expect the system to return Tuesday April 23 around noon. Thank you for your patience during the downtime.

The following information was sent via e-mail on April 17, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

Total Operating Capital

Doug Tomhave, technology director for the South St. Paul Schools, recently raised a concern that a provision brought forward by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to prohibit using total operating capital to pay for annual licensing fees for software might prohibit paying for licensing fees for electronic texts and library media resources. I communicated that concern to MDE's government relations staff.  After some conversation, MDE agreed to drop the language about annual licensing fees.

Grant to Aid Amendment

The amendment changing the terminology in statute from "grant" to "aid" for Regional Library Basic System Support and Multi-type funding was added to both the House and Senate omnibus education bills late last week. The bills are scheduled to be taken up on the floor in both the House and Senate next week.

Aid to Cities and Counties

The House omnibus tax bill was unveiled Monday evening (April 15, 2013).  It increases aid to cities by $80 million in the second year of the biennium and and in subsequent years.  It increases aid to counties by $30 million in the second year of the biennium and in subsequent years.

Legacy

The House omnibus legacy bill is scheduled to be taken up on the House floor tomorrow, April 18, 2013.  The bill includes $3 million per year for regional public library systems and $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library.  The Senate Legacy Subcommittee has not yet begun meeting. Legacy proposals are being heard first in the appropriate divisions of the Senate Finance Committee.  The Minnesota Digital Library proposal will be heard in the State Departments and Veterans Division on April 23, 2013.  The regional public library system proposal will be heard in the E-12 Education Division during the week of April 29, 2013.

The latest Delivery Count was done on Monday, March 25, 2013 and 3423 items passed through SELCO Delivery.  Compared to the Delivery Count done in March 2012 of 3740, this shows that Delivery decreased in March by 8.5%.  This time around, we found that the number of items from schools increased while the number of items coming from public libraries and academic and special libraries decreased slightly.  However, please don't fret; over 3400 items in a day is definitely a large number of items.  Please keep filling those requests and we'll make sure they get delivered!

The next Delivery Count will occur on Monday, August 27, 2013.  For more information regarding Delivery, please click on the Delivery "tab" on the ILL & Delivery page.

The following information was sent via e-mail on April 9, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

House Omnibus Education Bill

The House omnibus education bill was posted online this afternoon (April 9, 2013).  It maintains current funding for all library appropriations -- Regional Library Basic System Support (RLBSS), Regional Library Telecommunication Aid (RLTA), Multi-type funding, the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) and Telecommunication Equity Aid (TEA).  The bill also increases the general education formula from the current $5,224 per pupil to $5,328 in FY 2014 and $5,433 in FY 2015.  It also repays the education funding shift to the 90/10 payment schedule.

Senate Omnibus Education Bill

The Senate bill will be released Thursday morning, April 11, 2013.

Senate Higher Education Funding Bill

Great news! The Senate higher education bill increases funding for Minitex and MnLINK by $300,000 per year.  Please send thanks to our chief author, Senator Kent Eken and the Committee chair, Senator Terri Bonoff.

House Higher Education Funding Bill

As expected, the House higher education bill maintains current funding for Minitex and MnLINK.  Once the higher ed bill gets to conference committee, we will need to press the conferees to go with the higher funding level in the Senate bill.

Bonding

We had not planned to pursue funding for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants this year, but were encouraged to introduce a bill by House leaders.  We did have a bill introduced to provide $3 million, but today the House bonding bill was unveiled and it does not include any funding for libraries.  We will pursue it next year.

Legacy

As previously reported, the House Legacy bill includes $3 million per year for regional public libraries and $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library.  The Senate has just announced the process it will follow.  Our Legacy request for regional public libraries will originate in the Senate E-12 Education Division before going to the Senate Legacy Subcommittee.

One of the more interesting sessions that I went to today talked about using a WordPress site as an internal staff micro-blogging site.  When I say micro-blogging what I mean is that they were able to setup a WordPress site to function as their own internal Facebook social media tool.  It would allow staff the ability to post, and make comments much like you can do on Facebook.  But it still had the power of WordPress, allowing staff to tag different posts and group them, making it much easier to navigate and find different conversations.  What brought all this social media functionality to WordPress was a WordPress theme called P2.  Information about P2 and a screen shot can be found on the following url, http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/p2.

What this enabled them to do within their organization was to create a place where staff members from different departments, could stay in the loop on projects that were happening within the organization.  Members from different departments could also comment and provide feedback into some of the different conversations.

While this approach has great potential, there are shortcomings that I can see with using this method.  One of which is, while the library forced users to have userids and login to post or comment, this was still a publicly visible blog.  Meaning anyone on the internet could see this blog and read the conversations.  Privacy concerning users and projects immediately makes me cringe at this approach.  I think doing some digging, you could adapt WordPress to lock out the rest of the internet so users had to authenticate in order to read what was going on.  The other shortcoming that they mentioned, is that a lot of staff did not want to learn or adopt to using a new tool.  They found that half of their staff read the P2 blog, but only about a fourth of their entire staff posted or commented.  This means they had a long way to go to get staff using their P2 blog, but I think overall it is worth the extra steps to educate and get the staff on the same tool.

Something like this can create great inter-staff and inter-departmental cooperation, pooling people and resources from other departments one may not have considered before.  And just as a tool to keep all the staff on the same page, goes a long long way to keeping an organization moving forward.  And as I am writing this from Washinton DC, it seems only appropriate to quote Abraham Lincoln who said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  So it seems a worthy endeavor to use an internal social media tool like this to unite different staff and departments and get everyone on the same page.  I know I am planning at taking a look at the P2 WordPress theme and see if it can be integrated into my work.

Looking back at the first two days of Computers in Libraries, I'm struck by the number of sesions dedicated to web design.  It's not really surprising; websites are still the bread and butter when it comes to delivering information and services online.  Rather than describe any of these sessions in detail, I'm going to pick and choose the bits that jumped out at me.

Responsive Design is one of the hot topics in web design right now and it came up in a lot of sessions.  Responsive Design techniques create web pages that appear differently based, not on the patron's device, but simply on the size of the patron's screen.  Design elements such as headers, text blocks, sidebars, and pictures will be arranged differently for a smartphone screen than they would for a tablet.  Both will differ for a user on a laptop or desktop PC with a large monitor.  Some design elements may be omitted altogether on smaller screens.   Responsive Design is completly automatic for the patron; the webserver can detect the patron's screen resolution and serve up the appropriate layout.

There are numerous WordPress themes developed using Repsonsive Design to make it easy to develop such websites.  Other platforms are similarly providing tools for this purpose.  One of the most compelling advantages of Responsive Design is that it allows developers to avoid the traditional model of providing different websites for mobile devices.  Having a single website for all users is not only more elegant but avoids the "seperate but not equal" feel that plagues so many websites designed for mobile.

I heard a couple of presenters stress the need to avoid separate websites for hosted solutions.  Libraries are using more and more services provided by vendors who host their software.  While this is a very postive trend, it leads to services that take the user out of library's web site to one provided by the vendor.  OverDrive is a common example of this phenomena.  It's great when our vendors create compelling interfaces for using their products but it comes at the cost of taking patrons out of the library's website, with consequent loss of branding opportunities.  Integrating hosted solutions within the library's website ranges from being tricky to complicated to impossible, depending on the tools at the library's disposal.  More vendors are creating Application Programming Interfaces (API) and Web Services features, which hold the promise of greater integration of services within a single web site but such features are not yet universally available.

In one way or another, each of the presenters I heard alluded to the tension between content and design.  At a conference dominated by techies, it's probably not surprising that most (if not all) recommended putting content first, sacrificing design if it gets in the way of the information.  I don't see this as an either-or proposition.  A well-developed web site will get both right, strking the right balance of design and content.  Sparse designs, with lots of white space and minimal use of menus, links, etc. continue to be popular.  Having said that, websites featuring content over a single large picture have also become popular of late and can be both informative and visually striking.

Several presenters plugged Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug as a good book on designing web sites and user experiences.  I have not read this book yet but I would mention that another of Krug's books, Rocket Surgery Made Easy, has been immensely helpful for us at SELCO as we have carried out usability testing on our own website.  Recommended.

For me, one of the main events of the Computers in Libraries conference is the session Marshall Breeding does each year on the state of the automation marketplace.  A few of the highlights from this year's session:

Last year, Breeding reported that 2011 had seen a lot of investement into research and development by the largest Integrated Library System (ILS) vendors.  He now reports that trend continued in 2012, with the major players looking for ways to either adapt existing solutions to new challenges such as mobile access and eBooks or to develop whole new solutions.

The mergers of the last few years have subsided, leaving fewer, larger companies providing automation solutions.  The largest are:

• Ex Libris, with a customer base of 3,729 libraries
• SirsiDynix, with 3,616 customer libraries
• Innovative Interfaces, Inc. with 1,436 libraries.

The K-12 media center automation marketplace is very different from the public or academic marketplace but it is worth noting that Follet is the largest vendor serving media centers, with about the same number of customer libraries as Innovative Interfaces, Inc.

As noted above, all of these companies have invested heavily in research.  Ex Libris seems focused on developing new catagories of solutions, many of which cater to unique needs of academic libraries managing a wide range of electronic resources.  SirsiDynix, on the other hand, seems focused on developing solutions that expand their tradtional ILS.  SirsiDynix is also working hard to erase the perception that they are phasing out support for Horizon.  For a number of years, the company lost Horizon customers that refused ot migrate to Symphony.  This trend has stopped, following a new committment to support Horizon.  But SirsiDynix has gone further, pushing ahead with a suite of web-based staff modules for functions such as cataloging and circulation that will provide a single interface regardless of which ILS is used.  The first of these modules is slated for release in 2013.

Open source solutions have remained relatively static, with modest gains in customer base. They do not seem to putting as much into research and development, instead relying on a steady revenue stream from software support and providing Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions.  While this is proving effective in the short term, Breeding wonders if this is a viable longterm strategy.

Innovative Interfaces saw a major shakeup in ownership in 2012 with the acquision of the company by two private equity firms and the subsequent departure of Jerry Kline, the sole remaining founder.  After Kline's departure, the company's management team was revamped with new leadership.

At the same time, Innovative Interfaces ended their anti-trust lawsuit against OCLC over the SkyRiver bibliographic record service.  SkyRiver, nominally an independent company, has been folded back within Innovative Interfaces.

Golden Gate Capital, another private equity firm, acquired Ex Libris in 2012.  Golden Gate is no stranger to library automation, having acquired Geac in 2005.  According to Breeding, neither acquisition has shown any reason for alarm among customer libraries.  To the contrary, both companies have shown positive signs of growth and development since the aquisitions.

For more analysis of these trends, as well as others not covered here, I recommend you check out the full article.

While the second day at the conference has been full of a great keynote and many great sessions on technology, I really would rather focus this blog post on one topic, Hacking 101 by Blake Carver.  This session talked about the dangers of being hacked, preventative steps, and how to protect sites and users.

The first thing Blake talked about where some basic truths of information security.  One of the things people have to realize is that we are all targets to getting hacked.  No matter how good of a security setup you may have, it only takes one thing overlooked to get hacked.  The truth of it is being the good guy is hard, while being the bad guy is easy.  And right now bad guys are winning.  Because even thought we are getting better at being secure, we are getting worse faster.  The trick is not to try to be completely unhackable, but to make it difficult.  Bad guys like to take the path of least resistance, and in most cases if you make it difficult for them, they will move on.

Blake took a look at security in reference to your basic computer.  He pointed out that it isn't necessarily what is the most secure, it is what the bad guys focus on.  This is true if you look at Apple, Windows, and Linux, part of the reason Windows is often the target, is because it is what the bad guys are focusing on.  As far as viruses go, even if you have an antivirus a lot of them are setup to run undetected and try to hide, except when it comes to Ransomware.  Ransomware is a malware that takes over control of your computer, and makes it look like an official posting from your government, asking you to pay in money to unlock your computer.  Don't, to fix this kind of mess you are best just to reload your computer.  After outlining some of the threats, Blake also touched on some quick wins, things you can do to help protect yourself.  One of the primary things you want to do is make sure that your operating system and plugins are updated and patched.  This includes things like Java, and Flash, as well as Windows updates.  I know I have been tempted to put off doing Windows updates as it is time consuming, but if you get hacked you are past the point where an update will help you.  Don't trust nothing and nobody, including suspicious links, emails, and downloads.  And make sure to keep your data backed up, as you never know when you might need to rebuild your computer.  I was glad that Blake touched on this, as I recently talked about this very thing in the latest SELCO TechCast, Backing Up Your Computer.

Another topic Blake touched on that is also very important is passwords. We have talked about those before, but it is still useful and a good reminder to cover there again.  One thing Blake pointed out as a good rule of thumb is, if you can carry it put a password on it.  This applies to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.  You never know when you might lose your phone or tablet, and without a password locking it anyone who finds it will have access to all of your data.  Blake also suggested using two factor authentication.  A lot of services offer that now, such as LastPass and Google.  This means in addition to knowing your username and password, you must also provide a random code that is generated to login to your account.  One of the things Blake talked about, which was something that took me by surprise was killing your password policies.  Meaning, that by not imposing a strict password policy, you allow users the freedom to come up with more complex passwords, and also make it more difficult for hackers to crack them.  For example, he showed us AT&T had very strict password policies listed on their website outlining a lot of things, but particularly that the passwords had to be between 6 to 24 characters.  Putting that kind of documented limitation actually helps hackers set the parameters of their tools to crack the passwords even faster.  One thing I wish Blake would have covered a little more in depth are randomly generated passwords or password managers.  While he did talk about passphrases, I think it is safe to say that any kind of word or phrases are easier to crack.  I particularly use LastPass for this reason, so that I can randomly generate different passwords for all of my accounts.  That way if one account is compromised, they all are not compromised, I like to call this avoiding the Domino Effect.  One person did ask Blake about LastPass, and while he did admit he uses it, he did not cover this.  I think that was something he should have covered as it is such an important topic in today's online world.  If you do want more information on passwords and LastPass, Donovan has done a very good job outlining some of these password manager tools in his SELCO TechCast, Password Management Part Three.

Blake then went on to talk about browsers and what you can do to make these more secure.  As he pointed out, a lot of the vulnerabilities do not come from the browsers themselves, but rather from the plugins and add ons, particularly Java, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Reader.  Keeping these plugins updated, or in some cases disabled or use an alternative program might be a good way to go.  As there has been a lot of exposure with Java lately, he recommended disabling that entirely.  Blake also suggested using a third party PDF reader, such as FoxIt, instead of Adobe Reader.  The other thing is to make sure your browser is updated, and even use multiple browsers for different things.  Another good suggested was to look and know your browser settings.  That way if you do get hacked, you can know if the settings where changed.  I know this has been the case on a lot of the computers I have worked on, especially in reference to the network settings and proxy server.  Some of the basic things you can do with your browser to try and make it more secure is to find a plugin to block ads, and make sure to use https instead of regular http, so that it is secured.

Web Servers was the next thing that Blake focused on, particularly WordPress.  Some of the basic things he suggested for WordPress was to use a free tool called WPScan, which will scan and check your WordPress sites for vulnerabilities, such as themes, plugins, and your WordPress version.  Blake also mentioned if you are a system admin for a web server, some of the areas you could focus on were to encrypt all your passwords, backups, and drives.  Also watch file and directory permissions.  And to lock down as many programs, and PHP as you can.  Using security and backup plugins, especially for WordPress sites, is a good idea.  Blake also mentioned to pay attention to your log files, and even do some external monitoring.

A lot of really good information was covered in this session, and I think it is all worth repeating.  In fact I know we have said a lot of these same things on the SELCO TechCast as well.  And to quote Blake, if there is anything you take from this, please "Do something to make the bad guys' job harder!"

It’s time to start getting the band together---because libraries are going to ROCK at the MLA 2013 Annual Conference!

The MLA Annual Conference equips library staff with new ideas and tools to stay up-to-date, innovate, and succeed in their careers. A presentation at the conference can have an immediate and lasting impact on local libraries. Please help shape the playlist at the 2013 conference.

Have a great idea for an MLA 2013 Annual Conference session that you would like to present or coordinate? Audition! Just complete our proposal submission form.

Sessions will run 60 minutes---a length appropriate for 1-3 speakers. The format of the presentation may include single or multiple speakers, panel discussions, case studies, and/or demonstrations of projects.  The Program Committee will select sessions based on consistency with conference themes, coverage of topics of timeliness and interest to members, and credentials of presenter(s).  Deadline for session proposals is April 26, 2013. Everything you need to know about submitting a session proposal can be found on the MLA website.

Learn more and audition

Day One of Computers in Libraries kicked off with a keynote address from Brent Leary, Co-Founder & Partner, CRM Essentials.  Leary started off with a few numbers:  In 2005, Eric Schmidt of Google estimated there was five Terabytes of data on the Web.  Since then, much as changed.  Recent estimates are that every minute, 200M emails are sent and 40K apps downloaded to mobile devices.  According to Mashable, more iPhones are now being sold annually than there are babies being born.

While there is no denying that our connected society has resulted in more people knowing more about more things than ever before, there is a downside.  Information overload has become a real problem for people facing a constant barrage of data.  How they deal with it contains a few answers on the question of how libraries can best engage patrons.

As a specialist in customer relations, Leary believes that peoples' attention has been totally occupied.  Therefore, the only way for libraries and other organizations to get peoples' attention is to steal it from some other organization.  For many, the key to stealing a bit of their attention is to focus on the mobile devices they use so much.  In a recent blog post, I noted the latest findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project showing that 25% of American teenagers report using the internet pirmarily from a mobile device; this would seem to support Leary's thesis.

The marketing powers behind the NCAA college basketball tournament has supported their TV coverage with a range of apps and websites that allow basketball fans unprecedented access to the tourney.  Online, fans can access deeper information, communicate amongst themselves, and create an online community dedicated to college basketball.  These online efforts have not canablized TV coverage.  In fact, TV ratings have gone up from past  years.  The combination of watching the games on TV while participating online has proved a potent means of increasing viewership.

Amazon has shown the power of user communities.  Members of Amazon's Prime program have been shown to still purchase through of Amazon, even if the price is a little higher.  While the perks of Prime, such as free, two-day delivery play a role in this behavior, the greater motivation seems to be the feeling of being part of a community with Amazon and other customers.  Amazon fosters this community in a variety of ways, including user reviews.  Many, including Leary, believe Amazon recently bought GoodReads to bolster this feature.  According to Amazon, 19% of their customers account for 80% of their sales.  These folks tend to trust reviews from each other more than from more "authoritative" sources like professional reviewers and publisher blurbs.

So, the key to keeping libraries in the attention of patrons is to build communities, preferably online and optimized for mobile devices.  Library use must be frictionless, like the one-click ordering and fast, free delivery that Amazon Prime offers.  And, like Amazon, libraries must harness patron data to provide features like personalized recommendations that patrons have come to expect from other online service providers.

There are tremendous challenges to libraries who wish to operate within this model.  Most ILS's still allow little, if any. access to patron circulation data.  Librarians worried about privacy and liability have demanded no less.  If you accept Leary's thesis, this mindset must change.

The first day of the Computers in Libraries 2013 Conference is coming to an end, and my mind is fairly blown.  The morning started off with a keynote from Brent Leary, who discussed modern internet trends with technology.  Specifically about Amazon and how their model is working.  He addressed how libraries need to build a better experience, experience more than anything is what will create relationships and keep costumers (or patrons) coming back.  He used the example that even though some things are cheaper else where you might find yourself still buying it on Amazon for a little more just for the ease of experience.  I know this has been true of myself as well.  He also talked about the recent purchase of Good Reads by Amazon and the reasons behind it.  Amazon is looking for our information to bring us a better shopping experience and keep us coming back to them.  With the acquisition of Good Reads, they will be able to reach you and others through a social media network allowing them to better customize the experience for you and increase the relationship so that you will keep coming back.  While access to data can be scary, using the data for your benefit may not be nefarious reason.  A truly awesome opening keynote and very enlightening to modern internet trends.  If you are interested in this, you can get more information from Brent on his website at, http://brentleary.com

Another session I went to was about Getting Into the Hardware Biz and using Open Source hardware.  In this session Jason Griffey talked about using Arduino and Raspberry Pi to build devices to accommodate library needs.  While I have heard of these, I had not spent a lot of time researching  them or getting acquainted with the technology.  Basically Arduino is a board that allows you to take in data and output it.  Some of the examples Jason used is that you could use this to build things like temperature monitors, barcode scanners, and even your own RFID reader. The cost of doing this is significantly cheaper in a lot of cases.  Instead of paying $1500 for a high level temperature / humidity sensor you could accomplish the same thing with Arduino for under $100.  Of course, this is very much a do it yourself project, and requires programming the device after assembling the sensors.  However as Jason pointed out, most of the programs for this open source system are already written and the programming language is fairly simple.

The other device he mentioned is called Raspberry Pi.  This one I had heard of, but as I said had not done a lot of research into it.  Basically Raspberry Pi is a full computer, as opposed to Arduino which is just for input and output.  Jason described how using a few access ports and an SD card you can even program Raspberry Pi with a Linux OS.  Making it work as a regular Linux computer.  One of the immediate uses I thought of for this was to possibly build a Raspberry Pi to function as a catalog computer.  As the catalog computer mostly just needs browser access, a Raspberry Pi system should be able to accommodate this, without the cost of buying a full computer.  I plan to do some looking into this once I get back to SELCO as the more I think about Raspberry Pi and Arduino I can think of a lot of niche uses these low cost, open source devices could fill.  If you want more information on Jason Griffey, you can follow him on his website at, www.jasongriffey.net.

While it has only been the first day, just these two main points have already made this conference worth the trip.  I am looking forward to some of the sessions that tomorrow will bring and will post the highlights here tomorrow.

Since RDA focuses on relationships it's no surprise that that many of the RDA changes taking place are occurring in the Authority Records for authors, subjects and series. These records work behind the scenes in our ILS to connect records. 

Last August the Library of Congress (which we utilize for their subject and name authority file) identified thousands of records that were not up to RDA standards and began updating and re-releasing those in a phased approached. 

As part of our regular monthly notification file from Marcive a file of several thousand RDA files were delivered in late August. I did not load this into Horizon until this week as I was waiting for the 7.5.2 upgrade and time to develop a better understanding of RDA and Authority Records. There is a second phase of records that was released right at the end of March that will be loaded into Horizon shortly. 

You will begin to see these new updated authority records reflected in the author, subject and series browse searches (among other places). 

Mostly you will see 4 major changes:

1. Keeping with RDA abbreviations are spelled out thus Sandford, John,$d1944 Feb. 23-   becomes Sandford John$d1944 February 23
2. Death dates move from d. 1977 to -1977
3. Authority records for the Old and New Testament will no longer be Bible N.T. and O.T. but instead will bible. Bible.$pN.T.$pMatthew  will become Bible.$pMatthew with a see from reference for the previous method.
4. If you look inside of an RDA authority record you will see many more fields and subfields that identify the profession, gender, place of residence, associated countries, place of birth etc. Adding this detailed information to authority records is the first step toward making library data more interactive with the larger information world. 

If you would like more information about PCC RDA and RDA Authority Records, including more examples, please follow the link to the SELCO RDA/FRBR website.

Back when smartphones were new, most of us were thrilled to be able to check email on our phones. Before the proliferation of apps and mobile websites, in fact, email was the killer app that made the phone worth having. Now, a few years later, many find checking email on their smartphones to be more of a chore than a thrill. The worst culprit, I think, is simply the increasing volume of email that we get. Email apps have tried to improve the smartphone email experience by cramming in more features to check and send messages. What's been largely missing has been features to make it easier to organize your email. Enter Orchestra's new app, Mailbox.

Mailbox is an app for the iPhone that helps manage your Gmail account. The philosophy behind Mailbox is that most people use email on their phone differently than they do on a desktop PC or even a tablet.  Unlike those platforms, email use on a smartphone is mostly about triage; that is, making quick decisions about email to keep the inbox from becoming too cluttered before returning to the tablet or PC. Mailbox attempts to aid this process by providing a set of tools that make it quick and easy to organize messages as they come in, keeping your inbox clear while ensuring that nothing gets lost.

Mailbox lets you organize your email through a series of actions, accessed by swiping your finger across the message. Depending on how long and in which direction you swipe, you can:

• Archive the message
• Delete the message
• Archive and add the message to a list such as to watch, to read, and to buy 
• Snooze

Snooze is probably the best of these features. A snoozed message disappears from your inbox and reappears at a later time. Options include, Later Today, This Evening, Tomorrow, This Weekend, Next Week, In a Month, and Someday. You can also pick a date. I haven't tried Someday so I can't say exactly what that means. But I can attest that This Evening and This Weekend are great when I'm at work and a personal email comes in. Tomorrow is useful for the opposite situation: a work email that comes in during personal time and doesn't demand immediate attention.

The lists (which are really just Gmail labels) are useful and you can expand them by creating your own. I use one called to do to keep track of emails that require some kind of action. Unfortunately, Mailbox doesn't allow you to move messages to other labels you've created outside of the app. This is a major flaw and I hope it will be rectified in a future release.

It took me a day or two to really master the swipes. The difference between deleting and archiving a message is simply the speed in which you move your finger as you swipe and it took me a few tries to get the hang of it. Now that I've mastered the learning curve, however, it's become second nature.

Is Mailbox the cure-all for your inbox blues? Not necessarily. The ability to keep your inbox clear is valuable and discourages procrastination, especially once you get used to having a nice, clean inbox. The snooze ability, however, could be procrastinator's dream if not handled with care. Mailbox provides the standard features for reading and answering messages. It works but is nothing to write home about. The organizing features are the real star. Since I first tried Mailbox, about three weeks ago, it has become my default email app for the iPhone.

And, of course, one would hope than an Android version is on the way.

A word about trying Mailbox. In order to avoid the system performance and user support nightmares that often accompany the launch of a popular new app, Orchestra is limiting the rate at which new users can start with Mailbox. When you download it from the app store, you are prompted to register and you then are entered into a queue to wait your turn. The app provides a nice display showing how many people are ahead of you in line, as well as how many are behind you. You can check anytime to see how close you are. When I registered in February, the wait was about five weeks. With much of the early adopters now on board, the wait is currently a week or two.

Rather than adding a lot of pictures to this post, I will simply provide links to a couple of sites that have already posted more extensive reviews of Mailbox. You can also watch the SELCOtv TechCast, where I will demonstrate Mailbox in the very near future.

• Mailbox App is Gmail on iPhone Done Better - Byte
• Mailbox for iPhone - The Verge

In the world of computers there is one thing that people should be doing, that almost never happens, backing up your computer.  The reason it is important to backup the data on your computer is that your computer can become infected with malware, or suffer a hardware failure.  While there are lots of ways to recover your data if this happens, none of them is absolute, and if you have a recent backup of your data when something like this happens, you are light years ahead of the game.

First let's talk about the difference between a local backup, and an offsite backup and some of the advantages.  A local backup is where you copy your data to an external hard drive or another computer in your home or office.  This is the easiest and cheapest one to do as you do not need any special services, but if there is a fire or your building goes POOF, you risk losing your backups along with your computers.  An offsite backup is where you send the data offsite to another location, to avoid the previous scenario.  This can be as simple as storing a hard drive at another location, but usually this refers to a cloud based backup solution.  These are very common today as we live in the age of the cloud.  These cloud based backup solutions will upload your data offsite, and store it on the servers of the provider you have chosen, but they usually come with a hefty price tag as well.  So let's look at some backup options that are easy, and free to use.

Believe it or not but the newer version of Windows, such as Windows 7, does include a backup utility.  If you go into your Control Panel you will see a Backup and Restore feature.  Inside Backup and Restore near the top, is the Backup section.  You can click on Set up backup and configure Windows to copy your data off of your computer.  Typically this is done to an external hard drive, so for this option getting a hard drive would be highly recommended, or at least connect to a network drive.

Another option is to write your own backup program.  If you have some DOS skills you can use XCOPY or ROBOCOPY to write your own backup program to copy your data to an external hard drive, or a network drive.  This is the option I use myself, mostly as I am not at a point I want to pay for cloud storage.  Plus I found it fun to make my own, so if you are techy, or know someone who is techy to help you setup something like this up, this is another good option as it can be very customizable to your needs.

Probably the easiest, and most robust if you are looking for a backup program is CrashPlan.  CrashPlan is pretty straight forward to use, and comes in different packages, the basic one being free. The basic program allows you to configure and backup your data to an external hard drive, or network drive.  You can even set it up to backup to a friend's computer if you know someone who you can trust.  But CrashPlan also has options for cloud storage, and this is where you start paying.  Basically you do not pay for CrashPlan unless you want to backup your data on their servers in the cloud. The basic cost for a computer using CrashPlan+ is as low as $2 per month for up to 10GB.  I don't know about you, but I have more than 10GB, but there are other plans for CrashPlan+ that go up from there to accommodate unlimited data and even multiple computers.  They even have packages for Business and Enterprise options  as well.  So with all these options, even if you only do the free local copy, there should be something in there to fit your needs.  There are a lot of other services that will do online cloud backup such as Carbonite, and Norton Online Backup, I still learn towards CrashPlan as it provides a nice, easy to use interface and has many options to fit your needs.

So whether you want to go with a local backup, or a cloud backup, the important thing is to get some kind of backup.  You just never know when your computer will take a nose dive, or get infected. And while data recovery has a lot of options as well, nothing is absolute.  As someone who has to recover data from these kinds of issues, it always takes a lot of pressure off when the user says, "Don't worry, I have a recent backup."

The following information was sent via e-mail on March 29, 2013 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information added.

The Legislature is taking its annual Passover/Easter break this week and will return to work on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. At that point the Legislature will have seven weeks to conclude its work before the constitutional adjournment deadline of May 20, 2013.

Committee Deadlines

Last Friday (March 22, 2013) was the second committee deadline. To meet that deadline, bills must have passed through policy committees and have been referred to either the floor or a finance committee in both the House and the Senate.  Bills that have not met the deadline cannot proceed on their own, but they can still be amended onto other bills that are moving forward.

Budget

Last week House and Senate leaders released their respective budget targets for each area of the budget (E-12 education, higher education, health & human services, transportation, etc.).  Over the next two weeks committees will be unveiling their omnibus finance bills, marking them up and passing them.  The deadline for passing omnibus finance bills out of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee is Friday, April 19, 2013.

Legacy

The House Legacy Committee will release the Arts and Cultural Heritage article of its omnibus bill on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.  We have strong support in the House and I expect libraries to do well in that bill.  The Senate Legacy Subcommittee has not met yet (except for two joint hearings with the House on items unrelated to libraries) and no meetings have been announced. Mark Ranum and I have met with most of the members of the subcommittee and they have been supportive. However, we have not been able to meet with the chair, who has previously taken the position that libraries should apply to the State Arts Board for grants rather than receiving Legacy funding directly.  We have submitted a proposal for funding to the Legacy subcommittee and I have met with the subcommittee staff twice.  I'm told we will have an opportunity to make a presentation at some point, but no schedule has been mapped out.  This is consistent with the pattern that has existed since the Legacy amendment was passed in 2008.  The House comes out with its bill first, and the Senate takes a look at it and then puts together its own version.

Minitex/MnLINK

As reported previously, our bill to increase funding for Minitex and MnLINK was heard in the Senate Higher Education Policy and Budget Division on March 19, 2013, and it was well-received by the committee.  We have a very supportive chair in Senator Terri Bonoff and her committee has a fairly generous budget target, so I am hopeful we will see an increase for Minitex and MnLINK in the Senate.  The House is another matter.  When Mark Ranum, Valerie Horton and I met with the House Higher Education chair, Rep. Gene Pelowski, he told us flat out that this was not the year when we could expect to see an increase, even though he agrees that Minitex and MnLINK are valuable programs.  His goal for this year is structural reform of what he views as a bloated higher ed system.  He said that we would have our chance in the next budget cycle two years from now. The House budget target for higher education is far lower than the Senate's target ($150 million in new spending in the House vs. $263 million in the Senate).  Our bill has not received a hearing and the omnibus bill is scheduled to be unveiled on Wednesday.

Homework Help

I am very disappointed to report that our bill will not receive a hearing in either body. There are several reasons for this, but I think the main one is that, like the Governor, legislators are focusing resources on the big pieces in the budget -- the general ed formula, special education and early learning (all day kindergarten and preschool scholarships).  The chair of the House Education Finance Committee, Rep. Paul Marquart, reacted quite negatively to the idea of Homework Help when we met with him.  He said, "We are struggling to find the money to adequately fund the things we already have -- we can't fund anything new."  I had hoped that he would come around after budget targets were announced.  The House education target is a healthy number -- $550 million in new spending.  I again asked for a hearing but was told no.  Senators on the E-12 Education Budget Division, including the chair, were supportive of Homework Help in our meetings.  However, the Senate's budget target for education is quite skimpy when one takes into account that legislative leaders have dictated that the bulk of the target be spent on buying down education levies and fully funding all day kindergarten.  The Senate will probably have to choose between increasing the general ed formula and special ed -- they don't have enough money to do both. In this scenario, Homework Help became a casualty.

Bonding

Although we have normally pursued funding for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants in the second year of the biennium because that's when the Legislature traditionally passes a major bonding bill, the House has been pushing hard for a significant bonding bill this year.  At the urging of Rep. Alice Hausman, chair of the House Capital Investment Committee, we had a bill introduced to provide $3 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants.  The bill is HF 1501/ SF 1473.  Rep. Mary Murphy and Senator Alice Johnson are our chief authors and we have a great bi-partisan group of co-authors.  The Senate seems to be warming up to the idea of a larger than usual bonding bill in the first year of the biennium, so there may be an opportunity for us.  Stay tuned.