No. 06-36                                                                                                                  September 8, 2006

• CAROL HENDRIX, Administration

Important dates to remember:

• September 8, 2006 – TODAY—is the deadline for the Annual Brochure Member Library information.

• September 25, 2006 – deadline for the Annual Meeting registration.

• October 11, 2006 – Annual Meeting.

• October 13, 2006 – deadline for the construction grants to FLLS.

 If you have any questions on any of these deadlines, please contact me ASAP.    Thanks.

 

•  JAN AGUIRRE, Specialist & Training Coordinator

There are still openings for the Reports Workshop being held regionally. This workshop is a more in depth detailed look at the various reports available in Report Manager on the Web.

Topics covered will be: finding the right report, including a list of all reports, what they are, why you should run them and how often you should run them, printing and exporting options, scheduling reports to run automatically and a few tips and tricks using Excel.

The dates are:

Location	Date	Day	Deadline to Register	Workshop Topic
CAN	9/11/06	Mon	9/8	Reporting Services
MCGR	9/13/06	Wed	9/11	Reporting Services
TRU	9/20/06	Wed	9/18	Reporting Services
WEED	9/27/06	Wed	9/25	Reporting Services

 

Polaris Tip of the week

A new custom report has been added. It is entitled AA-Items with Transferred Status. This report will list items that have had a status of transferred or shipped for over 10 days. This report is located in Report Manager on the Web.

• Polaris folder

• Circulation Folder

• Holds Folder

This status is assigned to an item when that item is checked in to fill a hold for another library’s patron. Normally when this happens, a transit slip is printed which travels with the book and the book is sent to the requesting library. However, we have found that occasionally those items never reach their destination.

Perhaps they were checked in and put back on the shelf, OR checked in and sent to the requesting library that didn’t check it in, it’s hard to say.  

So this report will list by the library it was sent FROM, items that have a status of transferred or shipped and never reached their destination. 

This is a system wide report so look at the From column for your library code. Check your shelves for the requested item. If you find it on the shelf, check it in again, print the receipt and send it on its way to the requesting library.  

Now look in the To column for your library code. These are items that you should have received already and checked out to the patron. Check your shelves for this item just in case it mistakenly got put back on your shelf. If the patron never received this item, you will need to re-place the hold.

Here’s an example of how this report displays:

The arrows indicate items coming FROM Alternatives Library TO Groton. Notice the date (7/9/2006) this item should have been received by Groton and checked out to the patron by now. Where is it? Was it checked in at Alternatives, linked to the hold but then put back on the shelf? Was it sent to Groton and never checked out to the patron? Run this report periodically to catch these items "in limbo"

  

• MARISA IACOBUCCI, Adult Services Coordinator

 Banned Books Week 

A recent NYLINE message expressed concern over the lower reporting of book challenges to libraries.  Below is a message from the Chair of ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. 

 If you have experienced a challenge, or are experiencing one, please e-mail one of the addresses below, or go online to the link and fill out a challenge form.  It is very important that these challenges are tracked! 

Thanks!

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

 From the ALA Council Listserv:

August 29, 2006

Dear Colleagues, 

In recent years, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom has seen a steady increase in reported book challenges in our libraries.  That is, until this year.  This year, for some unexplained reason, there have been fewer challenges reported to the office.

Our sense, based upon news reports, is that challenges continue to occur at a high level, yet they are not being reported.  Due to budget cutbacks, the OIF no longer subscribes to a clipping service that can provide this valuable information.  It is extremely important to our defense of Intellectual Freedom that the Association is able to track these challenges.  It is especially important as we approach Banned Books Week (September 23-30).  The data we gain through reported challenges help us prepare this program and understand the issues facing our members. 

Please spread the word in your state and region that the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom would like to receive reports of all materials challenged in our libraries.  Reports--all kept confidential--can be made to ebyrne@ala.org  or dstone@ala.org    

or online at:  http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/challengesupport/reporting/challengedatabaseform.html.

 Further information concerning challenges may be viewed on the OIF Web site at: http://www.ala.org/oif/challengesupport. 

Thank you for your help!

Kent Oliver

Chair, Intellectual Freedom Committee 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF PUBLIC LIBRARY AND U.S. CENSUS DATA ON THE WEB

Janet M. Welch, State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries, announced today that a new U.S. Census data module is now available as part of the Bibliostat Connect Public Library Data Product on the State Library’s website at: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/libs/index.html.   

The State Library is scheduling three half-day training sessions in Fall 2006 to introduce New York’s Bibliostat Connect/U.S. Census product to interested librarians. Expert trainers from Baker & Taylor’s Informata Division will demonstrate ways to use the software to conduct meaningful comparisons. Workshop dates and locations will be announced on NYLINE and posted on the State Library website when available.

NOTE: The workshop location closest to FLLS members is at Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES, Syracuse on Thursday, October 19^th.  I don’t know the exact time, but I’m guessing 9am to noon.  Linda Beins and I will be going - if anyone is interested in riding with us in the system van, please let me know.

The Census module adds U.S. Census data to Connect’s knowledge base.  Through this module, Connect’s users will have free access to comparative statistics about public libraries and the demographics of their local communities in New York State and across the country.  The Census module will allow users to identify peer communities based on key socio-economic measures including income, education, age, ethnicity and more - all of which can be converted to charts, graphs and other presentation formats with the click of the mouse.

“Public library directors, managers and trustees can use this important data to benchmark the local library’s progress in keeping up with trends and clearly show how the library compares with other libraries of similar size and demographic characteristics.  Especially in these difficult times when resources are at a premium, accurate information about local library services, community demographics and funding is critical,” said Ms. Welch. 

Bibliostat Connect/U.S. Census users have quick access to information about the 754 public libraries in New York State as well as access to the latest national data from the Public Library Association’s Public Library Data Service (PLDS), and the National Center for Education Statistics’ Federal State Cooperative System for Public Library Data (FSCS).  Fourteen years of New York public library annual report data (1991 through 2004) are currently available.  As soon as the 2005 data set is complete, the 2005 annual report data will be available as well.

The New York State Library’s Public Library Data Collection and Dissemination Program is supported by Federal Library Services and Technology Act funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. 

For technical assistance using Bibliostat Connect, please call Informata Customer Support at (866) 785-9935, Monday through Friday, between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.  For further information regarding the data reporting process for New York State's Public and Association Libraries in relation to Bibliostat Connect, please contact Maria Hazapis, Education Program Assistant, Division of Library Development, New York State Library, at (518) 486-1330 or by e-mail at mhazapis@mail.nysed.gov.  

 (from NYLINE, August 24, 2006)

 

A Contest!

Annette found this great announcement of a contest that we thought would be great to pass on to you all!  Good luck!  If you enter and win, please let me know.

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

Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers are putting out new editions of a bunch of Agatha Christie books and part of their promotion is a contest open only to working librarians - the grand prize is a trip to London for two that includes airfare, hotel, and an invitation to tea at Brown's Hotel (supposedly the model for Bertram's Hotel) with Dame Agatha's grandson.

Details are at this link:    http://www.agathachristie.com/victims/site/libraries/

 

•  LINDA BEINS, ILL/Reference Coordinator

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 September 15.

• American Jewish Yearbook (2004)

• America’s Top-Rated Smaller Cities: a Statistical Profile (2004/05)

• Books in Print (2005-2006) 6 vols.

• Federal Directory & Federal Regional Directory (2005) 2 vols.

• Financial Institutions Directory (July – Dec., 2005)

• International Who’s Who (2006)

• Nations of the World: a Political, Economic & Business Handbook (2004)

• Petersen’s College  Money handbook (2006)

• Petersen’s Scholarships, Grants & Prizes (2006)

 Database Trial – LearningExpress.com

I am eagerly awaiting your comments about this interactive test preparation site for both academic and career exams. It has unlimited access to online self-paced courses in preparation for:

• elementary, middle school and high school math, reading and writing skills improvement

• college and graduate school entrance and some advanced placement exams

• TOEFL and GED exams

• US Citizenship exam

• careers as a firefighter, police officer, emt, paramedic, postal worker, cosmetologist, nursing, journeymen, real estate, in the military (ASVAB), etc.

      In addition there are Computer Skills courses in Access, Adobe Acrobat, Excel, Internet Explorer, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. Learning Express also includes e-book versions of study and test preparation guides, as well as parent guides for elementary school aged children and home-schooling parents.           

 Access LearningExpressLibrary, at www.learningexpresslibrary.com/evaluation, and enter the 14-digit username and password provided below.

Your Username is:  99552 plus the first 9 digits of your home phone number (Ex.  If your home phone number is 607-123-4567, your username would be 99552607123456)

Your Password is: Trial

Please share this access information with your other library staff so we can get feedback from as many people as possible.

 ILL

Please follow these steps when a multi-part item (for example, a two-part video), that has each part bar-coded, arrives to fill a hold for one of your patrons?

1)  Check in the 1^st part

2)  Respond “Yes” to the screen that says:
        This item is held for ________
        Continue to hold the item?

3)   Don’t bother to check in the 2^nd item but

3a) If you inadvertently check in the 2^nd part, respond “No” to the screen that says:
        Item does not belong to this branch

        Do you want to put it in transit to ______?     

4)  At the time of Checkout, to ensure that all parts of the item are on the patron’s record, check out all parts

5)  Respond “Yes” to the screen that says:

        This Item is assigned to ________

        Do you want to continue with this transaction?

6)  Please be sure that you check in all parts when the patron returns the item. You only need to put one In-Transit receipt in the item when you put it in your delivery bag.

 

Web Resources

The Associated Press has created 9-11 Five Years Later that captures images then and now in NYC, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

The World Resources Institute’s publication Earth Trends reports that “less than 1% of the water on Earth….is available for human use.”

I just came across http://www.awesomelibrary.com, a child friendly website with links to 31,000 reviewed web resources. Explore their Reference link for a variety of online resources that you can use to help patrons with everyday inquiries.   

Last week’s Question of the Week - What works comprise Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy?

In Novelist, using the search terms “Cairo Trilogy” in Quick Search - Series, you will find Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, and Sugar Street listed as vols. 1-3 of the trilogy.

 

This week’s Question of the Week

On September 12, 1954, the first episode of the TV show Lassie aired.  (I can’t believe that was 52 years ago.)

What year did the series end? What was the name of Lassie’s first companion and who played this little boy?

 

• 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.