No. 05-05                                                                                                              FEBRUARY 4, 2005      

•        
  MARISA IACOBUCCI, Adult Services Coordinator

Nancy Harbison to be leaving Phillips Free Library! 

Nancy has just informed us she will be leaving Phillips Free Library as of June 6^th 2005 after 16 (!) years.  She plans on subbing at the library, so we will still, hopefully, hear from her.  In the meantime, we hope to see her at meeting between now and then.

2005 Public Officials Guide will be in your delivery bag next week.

Annual Reports!

I have been hearing from many of you out there regarding the Annual Report.  I am very glad to hear from you – if you have questions; it means you are working on the report!  Good job!  If I haven’t heard from you, I’m going to assume that you are working on the report also, but just don’t have any questions.  (I see you all nodding ‘yes’.)

I received an e-mail from Maria Hazapis regarding the report. It seems like they have revised the report a little so that Questions 12.1B – 12.5B were deleted. The message is as follows:

The revision is on Part 12, Q12.1-12.5, Staff Expenditures.  Questions 12.1B-12.5B were deleted.  The original intent of breaking down staff expenditures by library funds and municipal funds to avoid post-submission FSCS edit checks did not work out as planned, and we reverted to the 'old' way of reporting staff expenditures.

By way of background, paid staff is a criterion to meet the FSCS definition of a public library.  We have several municipal libraries whose staff are paid directly by the municipality and therefore showed no staff expenditures.  

The 12.1-12.5 A&B was - I thought - a way to solve this.  All that was really accomplished was a programming and edit check nightmare, and much confusion.  My apologies.

The bottom line:  If library staff are paid directly by a municipality, $0 will be entered in Q12.1-12.5.  This will trigger an edit check on Q16.5, FSCS Public Library Definition (a locked field).  If the library does get this edit check, the library should annotate using the Federal note that staff salaries and benefits are paid directly by their municipality.

I would recommend that you focus on “the bottom line” mostly.  And of course, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  Thanks!

 

• ANNETTE BIRDSALL, Youth Services Coordinator

Summer Reading Planning
Manuals -Everyone should have their Summer Reading Program Manual by now, so please contact me if you didn’t receive yours.

Ideas - You can find links to all the summer reading resources you’ll need at http://www.flls.org/youth/srp/
Performers- Flyers sent by performers have been streaming through the deliveries and you can also check the New York State Performers Web Site and our list for more suggestions. 

Prizes - Please remember that all prize orders are due February 18, 2005.  Have fun planning!
Save the Date – The March 24, System Meeting will be devoted to summer reading.  Be there for a chance to swap prizes, exchange ideas, review performers, share your plans, get craft suggestions, talk about books and have fun!

 

• KAREN CREENAN, Executive Director

FLLS member library staff and trustees are invited to attend: 

COMBINED BOOK EXHIBIT

February 7 – 11, 2005
Monday, Wednesday, Friday:  9 a.m.  – 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday and Thursday:  9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

TST BOCES

555 Warren Rd.
Ithaca, N.Y. 14850

Administration building, room A-14

This exhibit will feature new books for examination from nearly fifty publishers.  These will span the entire K – 12 Spectrum.  Librarians, teachers and those involved with youth and literacy will find a great deal of professional value in attending. Books are not for sale, but for perusal; come, take notes, have a cup of coffee, find out the truly best books for your collection needs by taking time with the books themselves.

For more information contact:

Patricia Neal, School Library System Coordinator
Phone 607-257-1551, ext.306
Fax 607-257-2825
E-Mail pneal@mail.tstboces.org 

Free Microfiche Reader Available.  Interested libraries should contact Rose Pellegrino, 607 272 8259 for details.

 

• KATHY PARKHURST, ILL/Reference Coordinator

Reference books recycled:
If you are interested in receiving any of these previously-owned reference books, contact Kathy Parkhurst, Reference/Interlibrary Loan Librarian, by Feb 18, 2005.  (All items are one-volume, unless otherwise indicated.)

Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary, 2004 (4 vols.)

       Encyclopedia of Associations, 2003 (4 vols)
       New York Manufacturer’s Register, 2004
       New York State Directory, 2003/2004
       Peterson’s Graduate Programs, 2004 (6 vols)
       Peterson’s Study Abroad, 2004
       Writer’s Digest books:

·       Artists and Graphic Designer’s Market, 2004

       Photographer’s Market, 2004
       Songwriter’s Market, 2004

 

·        REX HELWIG: Computer Network Services Manager 

The get acquainted demonstration at last Thursdays System Meeting seems to alleviated many fears, raised some questions and increased the excitement level about Polaris.  There were 3 unanswered questions that arose during the demo and I have received the answers. 

1)    Will we be able to permission the ability to set user defaults in the Find Tool?

        Ans.  Currently, this is not permissionable but has been entered as an enhancement request. 

2)    Will Polaris print Transfer and Transit slips?

        Ans.  Yes, this functionality has been included in the 3.2 version that was demonstrated.

3)    Ability to search for the donor information from the item record in the Find Tool?

        Ans.  This will not be available in the 3.2 version but has been entered as an enhancement request.

 

Below is latest timeline which has started to firm up.  The timeline is also attached as a Word document.

Timeline updated: 2/3/2005    1:49:18 PM

Please discard all prior versions.

 

Polaris Migration Timeline
Note: I will be sending out updated timelines as new information becomes available.

January
Contract with GIS signed (1/6/2005)  FIRM  DONE
Phone contact with Migration Consultant (1/14/2005)  FIRM  DONE
Servers/Hardware/Software orders placed (1/26/2005)  FIRM  DONE
Polaris Demo for all that want to attend at the System Meeting (1/27/2005)  FIRM  DONE

February
Complete and submit Site Installation and Network Surveys (Rex)  FIRM
Conference call with Unique Management on migration of Debt collect Module (1/15/2005)  FIRM
Demo Polaris to TCPL Staff (Rex & Jan 1/18/2005)  FIRM

March
Migration Consultant Site Visit (3/2 – 3/4/2005)  FIRM
Circulation parameter profiles for each library to be filled out and returned to GIS (3/7 - 4/6/2005)  FIRM
Polaris computer servers installed & training(4 new Dell servers) (3/21 - 3/22/2005)  FIRM

April
System Admin Training in Syracuse for Rex, Jan & Eric (4/6 – 4/8/2005)  FIRM
Implementation Profile final Review (4/8/2005)  FIRM
Load, Index and link records on server (4/25 – 4/28/2005)  FIRM
GIS review and test of data on server (4/29/2005)  FIRM

May
Data review and feedback to GIS (5/2 – 7/1/2005)  FIRM
Polaris training for FLLS staff and trainers (5/23 – 5/27/2005)  FIRM

June
Regional Polaris training for the member library staff (6/1 – 6/30/2005)
3 days of System Administration training for Jan, Eric and Rex

July
Offline period from Dynix prior to going live on Polaris (7/7 – 7/11/2005)  FIRM
Go live on Polaris (Tuesday 7/12/2005)  FIRM
Regional Training on Cataloging/Holdings Maintenance (7/18 – 7/29/2005)  TENTATIVE

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• Directors’ Advisory Council (DAC) members: 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding FLLS library service, you are welcome to contact a DAC member from the list below. 

Beverly Dann, Waverly Free Library
Gail Park, Southworth Library Association, Dryden
Janet Steiner, TCPL, Ithaca
Judy Barkee, Ulysses Philomathic Library, Trumansburg
Kay Zaharis, Cortland Free Library
Lois Maki, Newfield Public Library
Mary Frank, Peck Memorial Library, Marathon
Sally Otis, Hazard Library, Poplar Ridge
Stephen Erskine, Seymour Library, Auburn
Susan Robey, Groton Public Library