School Media Center End Dates for Pull Lists & Delivery 2018

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The end of term dates for 2018 are:

  • Pull Lists will be deactivated for all school media centers on the first Friday of May: May 4, 2018.
    • Outstanding requests with school pickup locations will be deleted on the date listed above.
    • MNLINK items received at SELCO for school locations after this date will be sent back.
  • Final due date for all school media center patrons will be the third Friday of May: May 18, 2018.
    • MNLINK items will also follow this due date.
    • Note: This does not include public library patrons. This means school items loaned to public libraries will not use the school’s final due date, but will follow the school’s normal circulation rules.  
  • Last day of Delivery for all school media centers will be the Friday after Memorial Day: June 1, 2018.
    • School items received at SELCO after this date will be returned to their library in the fall. 

Delivery will resume and Pull Lists turned on the first Wednesday after Labor Day, which this year is September 5, 2018.  If you have any questions about the Pull Lists please contact the SELCO HelpDesk (helpdesk@selco.info or 507.529.4469); if you have any questions about Delivery please contact the Delivery Team (delivery_team@selco.info). 

TECH ALERT – Horizon Upgrade on April 7

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On the evening of April 7, SELCO will be working with SirsiDynix to upgrade the Horizon database to version 7.5.4.1. We will start at 5:00 and work over the evening to have everything up and running again by Sunday morning.
 
This upgrade contains two major features which SELCO staff will investigate before enabling:
  • Family Groups – borrowers can be grouped together to allow different members to see and/or interact with each others’ checkouts, blocks, and/or requests. This is only in Horizon, not Enterprise yet.
  • Functionality which allows requests to take place inside of Horizon itself. This should mostly be invisible but will stop some intermittent errors in requesting.
Again, these features come with the upgrade but we will not be implementing them until we have tested them.
 
SELCO will post a notice on Enterprise late next week to notify borrowers that while the catalog will be searchable, requests and My Account will be unavailable. OverDrive ebooks will go onto a temporary rule allowing uninterrupted service. Please contact the SELCO Help Desk with any questions on the upgrade. 

SUMmit Q&A

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As previously posted, on April 27, SELCO will host an all-day meeting titled SUMmit (SELCO/SELS User Meeting). There will be presentations, conversations, discussions, and demonstrations of various issues affecting the library community as a whole and some on the SELCO region in particular.
 
One of the events will be a Q & A with the administrative team of SELCO. For 45 minutes, Krista, Donovan, and Jen will answer your questions on why SELCO does what it does, how it does what it does, or anything else which you care to ask.
 
If you’d like to submit a question, please fill out the form here: https://bit.ly/2IgI2nz
 
We’re asking for the questions to be submitted by April 18 so we can research any answers needed. And while the form does ask for your name, it is in confidence. Tyler Irvin is the only one who will see what you ask and will scrub identifying information before passing the questions on if you are worried about anonymity. Your name is only requested so he can ask for clarification or pass on a response if you are unable to attend on the day.
 
Any SELCO/SELS library staff member is welcome to attend SUMmit. Registration isn’t strictly required but we ask that you do so in an effort to coordinate rooms and refreshments. You can do so here: http://bit.ly/2prboaM
 
The information for SUMmit has now also been posted to the SELCO website here: https://www.selco.info/services-for-libraries/continuing-education-and-training/summit/

DELIVERY CANCELLED – 4.3.18

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Due to the winter storm, all delivery routes are cancelled for Tuesday, April 3, 2018. 

A reminder that when delivery is cancelled due to weather conditions, all libraries who were set to receive delivery on the cancelled day are to receive delivery the following day.

Should you have any further questions, please contact the SELCO/SELS office.

Spring 2018 Cooperative Technology Purchase Announced

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We are pleased to announce the Spring 2018 Cooperative Technology Purchase. The offerings for this purchase are much like those of the previous purchase.

Spring 2018  Cooperative Technology Purchase Order Form

  • We are using an online order form for the Spring 2018 Cooperative Purchase. Please fill it out online, once we receive your order, we will send a confirmation email. Please respond to the confirmation email so that we can ensure your order is correct.
  • We will be offering iPads for purchase in this order. As these devices are very subjective and require user specific iTunes accounts, SELCO cannot provide support for them.
  • We are using Faronics Deep Freeze to lock down the public computers. You will notice this option on the bottom of page one for Deep Freeze, select this if you are planning on getting a public computer or using a Nettop for an iPac computer.
  • The Dell Optiplex Desktops, and Dell Latitude Laptop computers come with Windows 10 (Windows 7 upon request). New Deep Freeze licenses may be required from public computers, but libraries may choose which operating system once the systems are ordered.

Please submit your orders online by Friday, April 27, 2018. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the SELCO Help Desk.

Horizon Reset Report

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Last fall, we launched the Horizon Training Reset year, which requires every user in the system to take the training within a year. Today, we have completed five months of the reset and 154 Horizon users have already completed the required Library Basics training through SELCO’s online training site: CLOTH.

Feedback we have received indicates that people in the region are happy to have the online option, which takes about an hour to complete. Consistent training makes the system more secure and more efficient for all users. For those who prefer not to take online training, the same training is offered in-person at the SELCO office.

Check the Training Page for class offerings, dates and times. The next Library Basics is scheduled for May 1 from 9:30-12:30 at SELCO.

Any new staff will have 60 days to complete the Library Basics training online before their Horizon login will expire. Please contact the Help Desk if you need more time.

 

Enhancing Quality Staff 2018 Scholarships Available

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SELCO is pleased to offer ten scholarships of $75 each to cover early bird registration (opens April 2) for the Enhancing Quality Staff Symposium held on Wednesday, May 23, 2018. This symposium is presented by the University of Minnesota Libraries and is designed for library paraprofessionals and support staff, although everyone is welcome to attend.  Scholarship recipients will receive reimbursement following the symposium and completion of a short conference report sharing your experience. Lunch is included in the registration fee.

The application deadline for those interested in being considered for a SELCO scholarship is Friday, April 13, 2018 at 12 noon. Please complete the application found here.

In the event there are more than ten scholarship applicants, names will be drawn by lot. Contact the SELCO office with any questions.

Discontinuation of Hot Reads for Cold Nights Program

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After 20+ years and an in-depth assessment of the program, we here at SELCO/SELS have decided to discontinue Hot Reads for Cold Nights.  When it was originally conceived, no one here could’ve guessed how many libraries we would’ve been able to reach over the many years, shipping orders to California and Michigan and New York, along with the many libraries in our home state of Minnesota.

It’s been a true pleasure to provide this opportunity to so many and we wanted to advise you of our decision early in this calendar year so that libraries who do this kind of reading program have time to plan for next winter.
 
Thank you for your support over the decades and we wish you luck in your future winter reading programs.

OverDrive Big Library Read

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The next Big Library Read from OverDrive will be April 2-16, featuring the title Flat Broke with Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha. It will be available in both ebook and audiobook format for unlimited simultaneous downloads during the run of the program.
 
Big Library Read Marketing Materials
If you plan to participate in the upcoming program, be sure to take advantage of all the available FREE assets to help make BLR an even bigger success for your library, including flyers, press releases, images, posters, social media graphics and more. It’s a great way to get your patrons excited.
 
Be sure to join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #biglibraryread. And your readers have have a chance to win a Kobo Aura ONE when they use #biglibraryread on social media. Visit biglibraryread.com for the official rules.
 
 
Flat Broke with Two Goats
Jennifer McGaha and her husband foreclosed on their beloved suburban home and moved their family to a one-hundred-year-old cabin in a North Carolina holler. But what started as a last-ditch effort to settle debts became a journey that revealed both the joys and challenges of living close to the land. Told with bold wit, unflinching honesty, and a firm foot in the traditions of Appalachia, Flat Broke with Two Goats blends stories of homesteading with the journey of two people rediscovering the true meaning of home.