• ANNETTE BIRDSALL, Youth Services Consultant

Teen Spaces Library Makeover Contest 

The deadline is November 1, so you have only 5 days to submit your application, and I encourage all of you to apply!   

You may gain some valuable insight specific to your:
§         large/small,
§         old/new,
§         well-designed/poorly designed,
§         dream/real teen space,
and
§         you may win the grand prize of $500 in DEMCO products with $500 in reimbursements for your renovations
and
§         a one-year subscription to E*vanced online summer reading software. 
§         This contest is for all of our members and will be relevant to everyone. 

Apply; then call or email to reserve your spot in the workshop.  Please contact me if you have any questions, concerns, need a new application, or for any reason have decided not to apply so I can convince you otherwise.  See you at the workshop on December 13^th! http://www.flls.org/youth/Teen%20Spaces%20Flyer.pdf

 

December 13^th Workshop

9*am ~ 1:30pm

In the Borg Warner Room of Tompkins County Public Library

*9am registration – program begins promptly at 9:30

Funded with a generous grant from The Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library, and donations from DEMCO and E•vanced Solutions.

Submission Forms Must Be Received By November 1, 2007

 

November 10 (Saturday) Join the fun at the 10th annual Kids’ Book Fest: "At Home with Books"! Free for all families! Bookmaking, music and art activities all based on children’s books. Storybook characters to meet and costumes to wear.  Boynton Middle School, 10am-4pm.

  

·     LINDA BEINS, ILL/Reference Coordinator

 

I will be out of the office through Monday, Oct. 29. Contact June Gilligan, ext. 42 with question about out-of-system requests. Otherwise I will get back to you as soon as possible after I return on Oct. 30.

 

ILL

·        Please change your printer ribbon when the print begins to get faint.

·        When sending in an out-of-system request, please tear off the bottom cardboard copy for your records and send in all the other copies to FLLS.

 

DELIVERY SERVICES

I f you haven’t already done so, please complete the Delivery Services Survey that was sent to you in your delivery bag.  We rely on your feedback to improve services. Send your completed survey to Linda Beins by November 5.

 

DATABASES - Learning Express 

Let me know if you want any 8.5 x 14 posters and how many additional LearningExpress bookmarks to announce this new resource to your library patrons. Call or email me if you would like help in exploring this new database.

 

LAST WEEK’S QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK:  Find three articles about global warming, written in the last twelve months that would be suitable for elementary and/or middle school-aged children.

I used the Global Warming link in the Top Searches section (lower left hand corner) of Kids Search database to get many appropriate articles for school-aged children. Kids Search can be accessed at www.flls.org → Homework Help → Kids Search (or Searchasaurus Kids Search)

As part of NYS Novel, FLLS provides the databases Primary Search and Topic Search with the kid-friendly search interfaces, Kids Search - the student-friendly menu is divided by topic which allows kids to easily search for magazines, newspapers, photos, transcripts, and encyclopedias and Searchasaurus - the kid-friendly menu allows kids to search Primary Search magazines, Encyclopedia of Animals, General Encyclopedia, and American Heritage Children's Dictionary).

 

·        Primary Search contains full text for nearly 70 popular, elementary school magazines. All full text articles are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for nearly 100 magazines.

·        TOPICsearch™ is a current events database that allows researchers to explore social, political & economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics discussed in today's classrooms including controversial opinions and viewpoints. TOPICsearch contains full text for over 105,000 articles from 1,622 diverse sources.

These databases may include Lexile Rankings in citation information. The Lexile Rankings assigned to a result gives an estimate of the reading difficulty of the result, and the approximate grade level reading ability required for comprehension. The grade level does not necessarily reflect the student's actual grade. The relationship between grades and Lexile Rankings are seen here: 

Grade	Text Measures (from the Lexile Map)
Grade 1	200 to 400
Grade 2	300 to 500
Grade 3	500 to 700
Grade 4	650 to 850
Grade 5	750 to 950
Grade 6	850 to 1050
Grade 7	950 to 1075
Grade 8	1000 to 1100
Grade 9	1050 to 1150
Grade 10	1100 to 1200
Grade 11 & 12	1100 to 1300

 

In Searchasaurus you can limit searches to a particular range of lexile rankings.

 

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION OF THE WEEK 

Where is the corporate headquarters of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts located?

How many Krispy Kreme doughnuts are produced every day?

 

 

·     JAN AGUIRRE, Specialist & Training Coordinator

 

Polaris Tip of the Week: 10/26/2007

 

Do not search for item records when helping a patron in the Check In screen. If you click on the Find button in the Check In screen, search for an item, highlight and press enter, that barcode shows up in the Check In barcode field and is then checked in, which may have repercussions.

 

You should only be searching for an item in Check In using the Find Tool if the item is missing its barcode and you need to check it in. There is a distinct possibility that an item will be checked in accidentally when a basic search is done from  Check In.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·     MARISA IACOBUCCI, Adult Services Coordinator

 

Download Audiobooks & eBooks Available Soon

 

Patrons in all FLLS libraries will be able to download recorded versions of books and Ebooks from the Finger Lakes Library System website and from our catalog beginning November 12th —for free!

 

To check out a downloadable audio book, patrons can simply go to www.flls.org and click on the “Download Audiobooks” icon or go to our catalog and choose the Digital Downloads tab.  They would then install the free OverDrive Media Console software and begin browsing our collection of young adult fiction, adult fiction and nonfiction. Titles can be checked out and downloaded to their personal computer. Once on their computer, the audiobook files can be transferred to a portable MP3 player, and some audiobooks can even be burned to CD.

 

Downloadable audiobook files expire automatically after 7 days, so there are no late fees, no overdue notices.  On the day a title expires, if there are no requests outstanding for it, patrons may check it out one more time and will not have to re-download that title. A valid library card is required, and patrons are limited to checking out three downloadable audiobooks at one time.

 

The OverDrive Media Console software will operate on computers running Windows 98SE and above, including Microsoft Vista. At this time, OverDrive’s downloadable audiobooks service is not compatible with Apple computers and iPods, due to Apple’s rights management restrictions.

 

 

OverDrive Training Available

 

OverDrive is providing Web based/ conference call training for all public facing staff so they are prepared to answer questions about the service.  You will need to be on a computer with an Internet connection, and also have access to a phone to call a toll free number and participate in a conference call.   You might want to coordinate with the other staff in your library so you can share a phone line. 

 

You do not need to contact FLLS to participate in this training; it is on an individual basis. 

 

Possible Dates & Logins for training:

 

Oct 29^th at 10:00-11:30 EST login code: 5376005

Nov 1^st at 10:00-11:30 EST login code: 5736009

Nov 1^st at 3:00-4:30 EST login code: 5736000

Nov 7th at 3:00-4:30 EST login code: 5736009

 

Please read through the directions well before the sessions so you can verify that your computer has the correct software. 

 

The conference call will be conducted using the ReadyTalk service, which uses online web sharing and telephone conferencing. 

 

To ensure there are no problems connecting to the call, please be sure to log in to the session 10-15 minutes before the session is due to start or go to and click on “Browser Check” link in the Participant Login box.

 

1) For the online web sharing please go to the following URL:  http://www.readytalk.com/  It is best to open this URL in Internet Explorer. Java is required to use this service, please confirm you have the latest version of Java installed on the computer(s) you plan to use (http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp).

 

2) On the left hand side, you will see an option that says Participant Login Access Code.  Please enter the access code, for your training date and time, listed above.

 

3) Please be sure to enter your full name (first and last) and your email address when ReadyTalk requests it as our staff will use that to send follow up information after the call. 

 

4) For the audio teleconference, call 1-866-740-1260 from any touch-tone phone.  For the benefit of others on the call, please be aware that potentially they will be able to hear background noise around you so ideally call in from a quiet office/location.

 

Please note: Our ReadyTalk presentations are best viewed using a screen resolution of 1024x768 and with a hard line connection.  We have found that it is difficult to view the presentation through on a wireless network.

 

 

·     ELAINE KNAPP, Administration

 

Reminder to Library Directors:  please send in your Annual Brochure “request for extra copies” form by November 1^st.  Thank you.