MEMBER LIBRARY WEEKLY BULLETIN
No. 08-17

May 2, 2008

The Regents Advisory Council on Libraries and EBSCO Information Services are co-sponsoring this year’s Joseph F. Shubert Library Excellence Award. The $1,000 award will recognize a library or library consortium in New York State that has taken significant steps to improve the quality of library service to its users. 

For more information about the Shubert Award and the application form, please go to http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/index.html,

or contact Mary Woodward at (518) 473-8362 or via e-mail at mwoodwar@mail.nysed.gov. Applications must be received by June 1, 2008.

 

  •  KAREN CREENAN, Executive Director

I will be having foot surgery on May 14, and so my availability to answer questions or provide advice will be limited for several weeks after that.  I will be able to access my e-mail however and may accept some phone calls at home.  If you need speak to me during that period, please call Carol Hendrix or Marisa Iacobucci and they will get a message to me. 

 

Event Keeper Calendar

Thank you to all the libraries who have already sent your summer reading events.  If you have not done so, please send me the dates of your summer reading events so I can add them to our system wide calendar for all of FLLS and especially for your patrons who overlap service areas. The calendar will run from June 1st – September 1st and be available on our website. I will attend as many programs as possible.  Thanks for your help.

Gaming Lab

Many of you are planning teen summer reading programs complete with gaming events.  If you want to borrow the lab, please contact me soon as the calendar is filling up quickly! 

 

Twice in the last week I have had to change the Owner of an item record from “lib” to “br”. You may have noticed that accessing the drop down list under Owner on an item record displays your library name with either a “lib” after it or a “br”. This distinction is directly linked to certain permissions regarding accessing and modifying item records. There is NO reason for anyone to even access the drop down menu under Owner and you should NEVER change the Owner from “br” to lib”. Changing the Owner to “lib” will restrict you from accessing, viewing and modifying your own item records. Assigned is the ONLY field you should access to identify an item as belonging to your library. Once the Owner is changed to “lib” the only way to change it back to “br” so you can access those records is to call FLLS and have someone in Computer Network Services change it back.

 

You may see this in Record Sets also. The owner of a record set should always be your library name with “br” after it NOT “lib”.

 

ILL – Out of System
Recently, we have received an increase in the number of requests for newer items, owned by one of the member libraries but not available for hold requests from other library users. We, regretfully, can not submit an out-of-system request for these items. According to the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States, “The purpose of interlibrary loan as defined by this code is to obtain, upon request of a library user, material not available in the user's local library.”  [Section 2.1]

For our purposes “local library” is the material in the Finger Lakes Library System catalog. Patrons will have to wait until a copy becomes available for holds. This would be less of a problem if each member library instituted interlibrary loan lending policies that were as unrestrictive as possible. We will continue to consider special needs on a case by case basis.

DATABASE TRAINING - Literature & Books databases training will cover the updated Literature Resource Center, and NoveList and Twayne’s Author Series. Because of accessibility issues we will not be able to cover Patron Books in Print and Fiction Connection. We will review features and searching techniques for each database with lots of hands-on practice. There are still some seats left at each of these training sites:

      Wed., May 14            Trumansburg
      Fri., May 16               FLLS
      Wed., May 21            Weedsport

Contact Linda B. with questions and Jan to register. Space is limited to ten at each location.
 

BOOKLETTERS

TCPL is offering free newsletters to you and to your patrons in the following categories: Adult Fiction, ESL, World Languages Collection, Adult Non-fiction, Audio, Book Club Choices, Fiction Best Sellers, Mystery, New Fiction, Non- fiction Best Sellers, Romance, and Science Fiction & Fantasy. Sign up at:

http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/addnluser.html?sid=6631

 

LAST WEEK’S QUESTION OF THE WEEK: On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans turned out to demonstrate concern for the environment at the first Earth day. What former senator was instrumental in establishing Earth Day?

Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005), former senator of Wisconsin, based his 1969 idea for a grassroots demonstration of concern for the environment on an article he read about the Vietnam War-era teach-ins occurring on college campuses. A previous suggestion to Pres. Kennedy in 1963 that the USA begin to focus on the environment went nowhere.1

1 Nelson, Gaylord. “Earth day – an enduring planetary tradition”. Christian Science Monitor, Vol. 91, Issue 101, 4/21/99.

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION OF THE WEEK: For which book did Junot Diaz receive the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction? Where was he born and from which university did he receive his MFA?

Submit your own Question of the Week for inclusion in future FLLS Bulletins by emailing me at lbeins@flls.org !


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
  • Kay Zaharis, Cortland Free Library
  • Sally Otis, Hazard Library, Poplar Ridge
  • Sheila Anderson, Seymour Library, Auburn
  • Diane Pamel, Southworth Library, Dryden
  • Julia Schult, Groton Public Library
  • Beverly Dann, Waverly Free Library

FLLS HOME

2008 Bulletins, 2007 Bulletins, 2006 Bulletins, 2005 Bulletins, 2004 Bulletins
2003 Bulletins, 2002 Bulletins, 2001 Bulletins, 2000 Bulletins

Last updated 05/05/2008