No. 06-30                                                                                                                     July 28, 2006

• JAN AGUIRRE, Specialist & Training Coordinator 

     Polaris “Tip of the Week” 

Rex has designed a custom report now available in Report Manager on the Web, which will identify “On the Fly” records that need to be cataloged. This report prompts you to select your library and then displays the barcode, call number, title and current status of the item. Print this report and add these records to a permanent BIB record or delete the item record. This report should be run periodically. It is found in the Cataloging folder and then in the Item folder and is called AA-On The Fly Items that need Cataloging

  

Please fill out the Gates Staying Connected 2 Survey.  This survey will determine what training topics are scheduled for the rest of 2006 and early 2007. Please indicate your level of interest for each topic and the anticipated number of staff attending. The top 3 Novel Databases you select will be demonstrated. So if you want some input on the topics chosen for training, PLEASE complete this survey.   http://www.flls.org/cns/survey/traininggrantsurvey.htm

If there is not enough interest in any of the topics, sessions will be cancelled. To determine which topics will be scheduled, I need to hear from you. The deadline has been extended to August 28th.  Thank you!

  

• ANNETTE BIRDSALL, Youth Services Coordinator

Please Note:  I will be on vacation from July 27 – August 7.  Please contact Kate at kmonaco@flls.org or 273-4074 x.47 if you need help with puppets, die cuts, big books or storytime extensions. 

Upcoming Workshop Dates

Please remember to register for the Growing a Reader Workshop.  August 1, the workshop becomes open to anyone so please reserve your spot.  Registration is limited and must be done online! http://earlyliteracy.sals.edu.

Visit our webpage at www.flls.org/youth for a direct registration link and dates for all upcoming youth services events!

 

• REX HELWIG, Computer Network Manager

Please Note:  I will be on vacation for the next 2 weeks returning on Monday August 14^th.  Please call the department extension number 37 unless you want to leave a message for me.  I will be checking my email during my vacation and will respond to any voice mail messages when I return.

 

•  LINDA BEINS, ILL/Reference Coordinator

Please Note - I will be on vacation from July 28 through August 8. During that time, if you have any questions about holds to and from member libraries, please call Joyce Northrup and for questions about out-of-system requests, call June Gilligan, both at 273-4074, ext. 43. For reference assistance, you may call the TCPL Reference Desk at 272-4556.

Ready Reference

Keep sending me the titles of the reference books and databases that you consider most essential and use most frequently so that we can compile a list of Recommended Ready Reference for FLLS Member Libraries. I’d appreciate receiving your recommendations by August 15.

 Holds with Transferred Status for longer than 10 days

Thanks for your efforts in trying to locate these items and for the responses I have received to date. More than 50% of the items have been located so far and sent on to the appropriate destination. When I get back from vacation, I will email the list of items still not located, so you can all take another look at your shelves. You can monitor the status of your patrons’ holds by running the Request Manager report and changing the status (in the upper right hand corner) to shipped, expired, unclaimed, etc.

 Recycled Reference Books

If you are interested in receiving any of these previously owned reference books for your library, email Linda Beins no later than August 10.

• Editor & Publisher Market Guide (2004)

• Encyclopedia of Associations, vol. 1-3, 42^nd ed. (2005)

• Federal School Codelist (2006-2007)

• Foundation Directory (2005)

• Library of Congress Subject Headings, 25^th ed. (2002)

• Modell’s Drugs in Current Use and New Drugs (2004)

  

 Last Week’s Question of the Week: Which gas-powered push lawn mowers earned the Consumer Reports’ Best Buy designation? (Hint: you do not need a subscription to Consumer Reports to answer this question)

Consumer Reports (June 2005) gave the Best-Buy designation to the Troy Bilt (11a-436A) and Yard –Man (11A435D) lawn mowers. This question was my way of reminding you that you can get full-text articles from Consumer Reports and their Buying Guides, through MasterFileSelect, 1/1991 to present, and through General Reference Center (Infotrac), 1/1999 to present, both with a three month delay. So you can discard your older issues of Consumer Reports knowing that patrons will still have access to its contents.

 

This Week’s Question of the Week: I will be spending a few days in Gettysburg, PA next which leads me to these questions. When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or Life among the Lowly, he said “so you are the little lady who made the big war.”

1. In which publication was Uncle Tom’s Cabin first published in serial form?

2. What was Stowe’s inspiration for Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

3. What was the first published work of Harriet Beecher Stowe?

 

• MARISA IACOBUCCI, Adult Services Coordinator

Please Note:I will be out of the office Monday, July 31^st &
Tuesday, August 1^st. 

Free radio public service announcements with actor George Lopez now available for Library Card Sign-up Month 

With Library Card Sign-up Month just around corner, libraries have a new tool to help get the word out -- free, downloadable radio public service announcements (PSAs).

The two 30-second PSAs are available at www.ala.org/librarycardsignup and were recorded by actor-comedian George Lopez on behalf of the American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries. Libraries are encouraged to share the PSAs with their local radio stations.

The theme for Library Card Sign Up Month is "The Smartest Card. Get It. Use It @ your library." Other free tools include a summary of best practices from public libraries nationwide that are using the "Smartest Card" theme, a list of "52 Ways to Use Your Library Card," a sample proclamation, press release, op-ed, letter-to-the-editor and "Smartest Card" artwork.

Libraries are encouraged to let the ALA Public Information Office know how they are celebrating Library Card Sign-up Month. Send an email description with contact information to: atyourlibrary@ala.org. The strongest examples will be shared with the press as part of ALA’s national media relations efforts.

Observed the month of September since 1987, Library Card Sign-up Month is a time when ALA and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all - and this year - the smartest card a student can own

 Library Card Applications

About a month ago, I put out an e-mail asking who out there had a formal library card application.  I received both index card application and some 8½ X 11 forms as well from many of you, indicating that many of you have this procedure in place.

I would like to make a couple of recommendations:

1.  All libraries should have some form of library card application that a new patron getting a card is required to fill out and sign.  These signed applications should be kept until either a) the patron permanently moves away and no longer uses your library or b) the patron is no longer living.  Why keep them?  Imagine if a credit card company never had an individual sign an agreement before issuing them a card…they have no recourse if the customer refuses to pay the bill.  It is important for a library to have a signed agreement from their patrons that states clearly that they will honor the rules.

2.   If you have a patron fill out the card form of the application, please have your library name on the card somewhere.  Many of you use generic Gaylord cards and that is fine; simply stamp your library name on the card. 

 OVID uses a great card that has all the pertinent information outlined.  It states: “I apply for the right to use the Edith B. Ford Memorial Library and promise to obey all its rules, to take care of all books and other materials I borrow, to pay promptly fines or damages charged to me, and to give immediate notice of change of address.”    They also have a spot to check off: “I reside in: ___Village of Ovid  ___Town of Ovid  ___Romulus  ___Other.”  This helps when filling out information on Polaris.

Other libraries have equally complete page-size applications.  If you would like samples of any of the applications I have, or if you have any questions please contact me.

 

• 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. 

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