• JAN AGUIRRE, Specialist & Training Coordinator

Polaris “Tip of the Week”

If a patron wants a particular title as soon as possible and you know the copy your library owns is checked out and not due back for awhile, how can you determine which available copy will fill this patron’s request the quickest? Again, using the Preview function is the most efficient way. Using the Find Tool, search by Bibliographic Record and after retrieving all the records, highlight one, right click and select Preview. This screen displays

By examining the Assigned Branch column, you can determine which closest library owns the item and by examining the Status column you can determine which items are Checked In.

If ALL items are checked out, you can right click on the specific item record, select Properties, and the due date will display, as indicated below

 

  

• MARISA IACOBUCCI, Adult Services Coordinator

 Upcoming Workshop: “Your Library’s Financial Management”

Just a reminder to those of you who have signed up for the Financial Management workshops on April 18^th & 19^th   (please remember you must attend both days):

Please fill out the pre-workshop questionnaires you received from me and return them to my attention by April 12^th. 

I have the following people signed up for this workshop:

Barbara Gerlach                  OVID
Carla Piperno-Jones           UNS
Carolyn Burgess                  CORT
Cheryl Austin                        WEED
Donna Burleton                    PORT
Elizabeth Messina               CATO
Jean Cadwallader               HOM
Joanne Kopp                       POP
Julie Widger                         MCGR
Karel Titus                            LODI
Karen Bernardo                   OWE
Kathleen Hennessy             CORT
Kay Zaharis                          CORT
Leslie Joshi                          MOR
Lois Maki                              NEW
Mary Charlton                       WAV
Mary Frank                           MARA
Mary Quant                           PORT
Sally Limoncelli                   OVID
Tammy Cooper                   UNS 

If you do not see your name on the registered attendees list, please contact me as soon as possible.   

If you have not received the pre-workshop questionnaires, also contact me as soon as possible.  Trustees should have received the questionnaires in the mail, and directors would have received them through FLLS delivery.

ANOTHER REMINDER: Part of the pre-workshop questionnaires was a list of documents you need to bring, along with a calculator, to the workshop.  I thought I’d list them here to give you a head start on locating everything:

Your library’s most recent NY State Annual Report
Bylaws of the Board of Trustees
Long-Range Plan
Most recent audit
Current operating budget
Last month’s, or most recent, financial reports

Thanks – I look forward to see you there!
 

Workshop Offered by South Central Regional Library Council

SCRLC is proud to announce that Mary Lee Kennedy (Director, Baker Library, Harvard Business School) will present “Transforming the Library and Making a Visible Difference” on Wed., April 26, 2006 in Ithaca, NY.

During this workshop, Kennedy will demonstrate the significance of assessment of libraries' current users, and non-users, in identifying the services which will meet their needs (current and future) and exceed their expectations. Library directors, managers, and those concerned with their libraries' strategic planning should attend this workshop to help assess their libraries' direction and identify critical measurable, visible, targets for growth.

In a recent interview for the Harvard Business Library Notes, Kennedy said, "You have to align what you do with the core processes of the organization that you serve."  That principle holds, whether your library serves a community of families, a university, or a hospital.

This presentation at Tompkins County Public Library is part of the “Library: Place, Service, or Both?” series, funded in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Information about all SCRLC workshops and events is available on our web site at http://www.lakenet.org/scrlc/calendar.html

**********************************************************

South Central Regional Library Council
Transforming the Library

          And Making a Visible Difference

Date/Time:    Wednesday, April 26, 2006, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Location:      Tompkins County Public Library, Borg Warner Room,                                 Ithaca, NY

Instructor:     Mary Lee Kennedy, The Kennedy Group, Harvard Business School

Registration: $30/SCRLC members; $35 non-members. Lunch and refreshments included.

Audience:     Public, academic, and special librarians & library staff.

Support:        This training is funded in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

 This workshop can be the beginning of delighting your patrons and exceeding their expectations!  Our presenter, Mary Lee Kennedy, will demonstrate how to create a framework to assess what is known about customers and non-customers. Then she will show how to use that knowledge to build services and products that deliver a positive and unique experience.

What are the real possibilities for the spectrum of library services and products to fit with the many types of information today? This workshop will help libraries transform their services to match their audience's needs and wants, even the unexpected ones.  At the workshop's end, attendees will have: 

 1.  Identified gaps in their knowledge about customers and non-customers

2.  Articulated the value of their library and information to their

patrons in terms that can be used in a marketing and outreach program

3.  Identified holes and required shifts in current work and plans.

4.  Identified critical measurable, visible, targets for growth.

5.  Outlined a relationship map, including a relationship management strategy and communication approach.

 Mary Lee Kennedy is a leading practitioner in the formulation and implementation of knowledge strategies that positively impact organizational performance. She founded The Kennedy Group in 2004, now a global partnership in Canada, France, South Africa and the U.S.A.

Kennedy is currently the Executive Director of Harvard Business School's knowledge and information program. She has a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University, U.S.A. She has been published in CIO Magazine, Bloomberg News, Harvard Management Update, Information Week, Intranets, KMWorld Magazine, Library Journal, Online Magazine and PC Week.

 Library: Place, Service, or Both? To assure continued relevancy and meet user needs, libraries must rethink and transform many traditional spaces and services.  SCRLC's workshop series brings experts to our region to present many of the issues and options facing libraries as they recreate and reconfigure services and spaces that they provide for their communities.  This training is funded in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

 ************************************************************

South Central Regional Library Council

Transforming the Library, April 26, 2006

 Please email kjackson@lakenet.org, send or fax this form and payment by 4/12/06 to:  

 SCRLC, 215 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca NY 14850  

Telephone: 607-273-9106  Fax: 607-272-0740

Name______________________________________________________________

 Institution___________________________________________________________

 Address____________________________________________________________

 Telephone(day)________________________Emergency*____________________

 Email Address__________________________________________________________

*Emergency phone (home or cell) will only be used for a last minute change or cancellation.

 REGISTRATION FEE:   Lunch and refreshments included.         Make checks payable to SCRLC

            ________      $30 per person for SCRLC members, including staff from

SCRLC-member public and school library systems

________      $35 per person for non-members

 

•  ANNETTE BIRDSALL, Youth Services Coordinator

 Summer Reading Update 

Thanks for returning your book orders for your free books from the summer reading mini-grant to participants in the statewide summer reading program.  The Janway supplies and t-shirts should be in around mid-May and you will receive your invoices with your orders. The library card protectors should be available at the same time, and quantities will be based on the number of summer readers you have! 

Please let me know if you have any questions or need help connecting to this year’s theme. 

 Have a great time planning & preparing for another round of summer reading!

  

• LINDA BEINS, ILL/Reference Coordinator

 Reference Books Recycled

 Call or email me if you are interested in these previously owned reference books for your library:

• 2005 National 5-Digit Zip Code and Post Office Directory

• Magazines for Libraries: 13^th Ed. (2004)

• Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists (2005, 4v.)

• Ulrich’s Periodical Directory 42^nd Ed. (2004, 4 vols.)

• Weiss Ratings’ Guide to Property and Casualty Insurers (Fall, 2005)

• 2004 Harris New York Manufacturer’s Directory

• 2005 Photographer’s Market

 The OCLC FirstSearch database package includes:

§ WorldCat - the OCLC union catalog
§ ArticleFirst – OCLC index of journal articles
§ ERIC – journal articles and reports in education
§ Medline – index of medical articles
§ GPO – U.S. government publications
§ Wilson Select Plus – full text articles in science, humanities, education, and business
§  World Almanacs

Contact me to get a password and authorization code. These databases are important tools in locating out of system resources which you can then ask us to access.

 Time is on My Mind

Spring, Easter, Passover, Daylight Savings Time are all upon us. Check out these sites for more information about these seasonal events and others:

• The Gregorian calendar which we currently use is only one of many calendars used around the world. Learn more about our calendar as well as others at Calendars through the Ages.
   

•  With TimeandDate.com you can create printable customized calendars.
  
  A Morass of Movable Feasts describes the relationship between Passover and Easter.

   Passover: Feast without the Yeast explains the dietary restrictions associated with this holiday.
   

If you have ever wondered how the date of Easter is determined then here is a web page for you.

1.         Go to Grolier online, one of our Electronic databases.

2.         Use “Easter” as the search term

3.         Click on the Websites tab at the top of the page

4.         Click on Determining the date of Easter

5.         You will be on the Educational page of the Australian Space Weather Agency, select Date of Easter under Other Topics

6.         Select Determining the date of Easter

 Scroll down the page for a ten-step algorithm to determine when Easter falls in a given year. If you run out of time and/or patience, follow steps 1-5 above and then select Date of Easter Calculator. Enter the year and get the date.

• April 7 is National Mourning Day in Rwanda, Women’s Day in Mozambique, Day of Beauty in Armenia and World Health Day throughout the world. The Earth Calendar lists holidays by dates, countries, and religions.

•  Learn all about Daylight Savings Time . Did you know that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorizes changing Daylight Savings Time (DST) to begin on the 2^nd Sunday in March and end on the 1^st Sunday in November starting next year? Apparently one reason given to extend DST is to provide more daylight for Halloween trick-or-treaters.

I will be out of the office next week. If you have any emergency ILL subject requests contact the TCPL Reference Desk (272-4557, ext 259) or Marisa at FLLS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• 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
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