Friday, July 22, 2005

CFLC Chronicles: Playing Catch-Up

Posting has fallen a bit behind, so here's a smorgasbord of news items.

A news release from the Secretary of State detailing some great news for schools:
July 19, 2005

Secretary of State Announces Unprecedented Initiative Providing Equal Access to Electronic Information for all Students in Florida's Public Schools

~Reinforces Governor Bush's Equity in Education Initiative~

TALLAHASSEE, FL- Secretary of State Glenda E. Hood announced today the Florida Department of State, State Library and Archives of Florida will provide access to a vast array of electronic resources to all Florida public schools through the Florida Electronic Library (http://www.flelibrary.org). The provision of this core set of databases contributes significantly to the Equity in Education component of Governor Bush's One Florida initiative by offering equal information access to all public schools regardless of their location or socioeconomic factors. "The Florida Electronic Library represents the next generation of educational resources," said Secretary Hood. "It is exciting to know that all students attending Florida public schools will have access to this wealth of information whether they live in the state's smallest community or a large metropolitan area."

Currently, Florida has approximately 2,600 public schools, educating over 2.7 million students. In the state of Florida, subscription-based, Internet-delivered research databases are traditionally purchased individually by each school district if their finances allow. An informal survey found that only 26 of the 67 school districts currently purchase some, but not all, of these databases. By funding these electronic resources, the Department of State is leveling the playing field for all students in Florida's public education system. This effort is unprecedented and invaluable. Now, 100 percent of Florida's public school systems will have access to the most comprehensive, accurate and reliable information available through the Florida Electronic Library. School systems that previously purchased databases will now be able to utilize these funds for other important programs and those that currently lack the resources will have equal access to information.

The Florida Electronic library is a gateway to resources that include electronic magazines, newspapers, almanacs, encyclopedias and books, providing information on topics such as current events, business and health issues. The Florida Electronic Library offers information for all age groups, including homework help for students and resources for teachers. These 12 databases, purchased via subscription from Thomson Gale, will be offered free of charge to all of Florida's 2.7 million students enrolled in the public education system.

A statewide study titled, Making the Grade: The Status of School Library Media Centers in the Sunshine State and How They Contribute to Student Achievement, states both statewide guidelines for school library media programs and state-licensed online databases aid in addressing inequities in access to information and quality resources. In addition to substantial per-pupil cost savings, online databases including reference materials, full text magazines, and newspapers guarantee access to students no matter the size or location of their school. "Purchase of the Thomson Gale electronic databases enriches the resources available to teachers and school librarians in planning their classroom curriculum," said State Librarian Judith A. Ring. "The timing is perfect, as educators across Florida are preparing for the new school year."

The Florida Electronic Library, which was launched in December 2003, is provided through a Library Services and Technology Act grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Florida Department of State, State Library and Archives of Florida. Guided by the Florida Library Network Council and the State Library and Archives of Florida, the Florida Electronic Library features access to a selection of electronic magazine and newspaper databases, Florida's digital library collections, and the Ask a Librarian online reference service.

In 2004, Thomson Gale responded to the great needs of Florida's schools and libraries that were damaged by the state's devastating hurricane season by providing them, free of charge, with much-needed information resources. Thomson Gale (http://www.gale.com) is a global leader in serving the world's information and education needs through resources that are used by students and consumers in their libraries, schools and on the Internet.
A related announcement from CFLC: For an extensive guided hands-on exploration of the Florida Electronic Library, come to the pair of upcoming workshops, Florida Electronic Library Overview and Florida Electronic Library Databases at Volusia on Tuesday, August 30.

An item pertaining to the statewide Ask a Librarian service: As of July 19, Ask a Librarian's screens feature "co-branding," with the logos of participating libraries sharing the banner with the Ask a Librarian logo once patrons have selected a participating library. Check out the CFLC/Ask a Librarian page here.

Finally, a CFLC workshop announcement posted on behalf of Daniel Wright, CFLC's Member Services Librarian:
I am happy to inform you that there are still spaces available at the Indian River Community College, St. Lucie West campus location, for the Gentle Introduction to Library IT workshop on Thursday, July 28, 9:30a.m. - 3:30p.m., with IT consultant Mickey R. Boyd.

The Orlando location for the first session is full but there are spaces available for the August & September dates.

Please register for the first in the series by Monday, July 25th at the
CFLC website or by calling 407-644-9050.
SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES; WORKSHOP WEALTH

Monday, July 18, 2005

CFLC Chronicles: More Grant Info from the State Library

This was just posted to the Fl-Lib list:
Subject: State Aid to Libraries Grant Applications available

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

GUIDELINES AND APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE FOR STATE AID TO LIBRARIES GRANTS

Grant applications and guidelines are available for the following program administered by the Florida Department of State, State Library and Archives of Florida:

State Aid to Libraries - Applications must be postmarked by October 1, 2005.

Grant guidelines and application packets for State Aid to Libraries grants are available on the State Library and Archives' Web page at http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/grants/StateAid/StateAid.html. The guidelines and application packet may also be requested by mail from the Grants Office, State Library and Archives of Florida, R.A. Gray Building, 2nd Floor North, 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250; by phone at (850) 245-6620 or SUNCOM 205-6620; or by fax at (850) 245-6643.

The completed application must be mailed to the address indicated above, postmarked on or before the October 1, 2005 application date.
SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES

Sunday, July 17, 2005

OCLC Oddments: Updates & Status Reports

Here are three recent posts of relevance to CFLC members from the OCLC Resource Sharing List:

Subject: OCLC Update: ISO-ILL Status 7/15

ISO-ILL Testing Status
OCLC recognizes the seriousness of the ISO-ILL system outage and has a senior development team working seven days a week to resolve this problem. In addition quality assurance and product staff, as well as experts from other divisions of OCLC, are assisting and trouble shooting and testing. Resolution of this problem is a top priority at all levels in OCLC.

Progress
Here is an update of where OCLC stands with testing:
* Lending - nearly all messages and workflows are succeeding.
* Borrowing - incoming requests are successfully getting into OCLC but we have not successfully taken an entire borrowing workflow to completion
* Data integrity -data transferring between OCLC and test systems appears to be solid

Success
We are happy to report that testing of lending functionality with CISTI (OCLC symbol: CAI) has been successful. As of Saturday morning, CISTI will be able to receive and process new requests. Libraries that sent requests to CISTI prior to their non-supplier designation on July 9, may begin to see responses to these requests sooner than Saturday morning, as CISTI begins processing their backlog.

We continue to test with four outside systems in parallel and have tested through most weekends including the July 4th holiday weekend.

We apologize again for this extended downtime, and thank our testing partners as we continue to resolve these problems.


Subject: OCLC: ILL Fee Management Program Borrower/Lender Reports (7/14)

With the change in numbering to WorldCat Resource Sharing request identifier numbers, the ILL Fee Management Program Borrower and Lender Reports are incomplete.

When we migrated the system we added an extra digit to the request number. Previously, if we hit request 999,999 we started over with request number 1. Now, we roll over to 10,000,000. The IFM reports only display 7 digits, so this is resulting in missing data.

For example:
A library has IFM data in request numbers:
10,000,001 and
10,000,002 and
10,000,003

The only request appearing in their report is: 10,000,00 (lopping off the last/8th digit in the request number) which actually indicates the first request in that string, but the other two are then being dropped from the report.

We have no reason to believe that the monetary transactions were affected, just that the report information is inaccurate. OCLC Usage Statistics are being revamped to accommodate the 8th digit of request identifiers. We expect this process to be corrected in 2-3 weeks.

We apologize for any inconvenience this is causing our users and will post a message when these reports are corrected. . This problem is not related to the previous problem with IFM reports related to data missing from June 2-30.


Subject: OCLC: Lender Local Data Record (LDR) Display in Requests (7/14)


OCLC regrets to inform users of an open issue regarding lender LDR routing. The following text outlines how lender LDR routing is currently working.

Lender LDR always appears on first lender of a lender string. Lender LDR appears on second/third/fourth/fifth lender IF the previous lender actively responds NO. If a request ages/advances to the next lender automatically, lender LDR data does not appear for the next lender in the string. You will need to check your local holdings manually to fill the request.

Here is an example of how this will work for a request with four lenders:

Lender 1 does not respond, request automatically ages and advances to next lender in the string
Lender 2 does not see LDR information, responds NO, request advances to lender 3
Lender 3 sees LDR information, responds NO, request advances to lender 4
Lender 4 sees LDR information and fills the request

We do not believe that the majority of our users will be affected by this.

This issue will be addressed in a future install, however no date has been determined.

SUBJECTS: OCLC ODDMENTS

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Workshop Wealth: Free from OPAL

OPAL, Online Programming for All Libraries, is offering a free "Webinar" from Bloomington Public Library entitled Thinking Inside the Box: Games, Teens and Libraries on Friday, July 15, 1:30-3:30 p.m. (presumably Central time; it does not specify).

Find details and instructions on The Handheld Librarian blog here. For those who cannot attend but would like to hear the content, there will be a podcast made available on the OPAL archives.

Games in libraries will be a major topic in the upcoming workshop, Boomers and Gamers: Serving Different Generations, at Volusia on the afternoon of August 16 and at CFLC on the afternoon of September 14. Podcasts, on the other hand, will be discussed in detail at an upcoming workshop, Technology Update, at Volusia on the morning of Wednesday, August 10.

Update 7/17/2005: The OPAL webinar is now archived and available here.

SUBJECTS: WORKSHOP WEALTH

Reference Riches: Wikipedia

It has finally happened. This particular resistor has broken down and added the Wikipedia to the CFLC Reference Desk list of tools. Why now, despite having been asked about it by members and workshop participants for quite some time?

Several things. Not using the Wikipedia costs libraries an immediacy not found elsewhere, e.g., the coverage of last week's London bombings began just moments after the first reports and it continues to be updated as news develops, and just today, the information about the rescheduling of the shuttle launch was posted almost the instant NASA announced it. Mostly, however, the answer lies in having found this particularly lucid and cogent description of Wikipedia's pros and cons, which has also been linked as a caveat on the Reference Desk page. (Thank you, Rebecca Hedreen, of the Frequently Asked Questions blog!)

If you have concerns (or especially if you haven’t!) about using Wikipedia, read that post and use the Wikipedia with the appropriate cautions.

More about Wikipedia in specific will be covered in the upcoming workshop, Ready Reference Using the Internet, at CFLC on the morning of Thursday, August 11, while the technology of wikis will be discussed in detail at an upcoming workshop, Technology Update, at Volusia on the morning of Wednesday, August 10.

ADDENDUM: 9:30 P.M.
After contacting Rebecca to notify her of the link to her blog, she responded with a citation to another great post about Wikipedia and how to use it for students (probably junior high through college) as both a critical thinking exercise and a contribution to Wikipedia itself. See Turning Wikipedia into an Asset for Schools by Andy Carvin in his blog, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth. Thanks for the heads-up, Rebecca!

SUBJECTS: REFERENCE RICHES; WORKSHOP WEALTH

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Workshop Wealth: Free from WebJunction

Another post from Fl-Lib today:
Ten Steps to Wireless for Libraries - Free 'Webinar' from Web Junction

WebJunction is the online community for library staff "where minds meet" to share ideas, solve problems, take online courses--and have fun.

On Thursday, July 21, 12-1.30pm EDT, you're invited to join a live, online presentation with Randy Nelson (IT Consultant for Blackfalds Public Library, Alberta) and Marshall Breeding (Library Technology Officer for the Jean and Alexander Heard Library, TN). This 90-minute online seminar from wireless and security experts will walk you through the Ten Steps to Wireless, take you on a security tour, and answer your questions, live and (virtually) in person.

This meeting will take place online using Live Meeting software and a telephone conference call. Just be one of the first 50 people to fill out the registration information, and you'll receive confirmation on the following page. You do not have to be a member of WebJunction to participate in this event. [Blogger's note here: the URL posted on Fl-Lib list was removed and the link above replaced, as the original link did not go to the registration form.]

WebJunction thanks OCLC for hosting this presentation.

SUBJECTS: TECHNOLOGY TALES; WORKSHOP WEALTH

CFLC Chronicles: Grant Info from the State Library

This was just posted to the Fl-Lib list:
MEMORANDUM

TO: Florida Library Directors

FROM: Judith A. Ring, State Librarian

DATE: June 20, 2005

SUBJECT: Community Libraries in Caring Program Applications Available

I am pleased to announce that grant applications are available for the Community Libraries in Caring Program administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services. A total of $200,000 was allocated by the 2005 Florida Legislature for this program.

The purpose of the program is to assist small, rural public libraries to improve library collections and services, improve adult and family literacy, and develop the economic viability in targeted counties and communities.

Eligible counties or communities may apply for grants from $3,000 up to $10,000. There is no local matching requirement. Applications must be postmarked by August 19, 2005 in order to receive consideration for funding.

To complete an application, forms and instructions are available on the Web at
http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/grants/CLIC/CLIC.html.

For additional information contact Carole Fiore in the Grants Office via telephone at (850) 245-6629, via fax at (850) 245-6643 or via e-mail at cfiore(at)dos.state.fl.us.

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Workshop Wealth: Disaster Preparedness

This is not intended as any sort of blog discussing current events; there are already way too many places where you can find that. This is intentionally focused through a very narrow lens. However, there are two recent major events, Dennis's close passage to our area and the London bombings, that make it impossible not to momentarily digress.

One of the blogs I monitor, librarian.net, has this very interesting turn in the coverage of the London tragedies that talks about the British Library's proximity to the events and the fact that staff and patrons became locked in place in the library.

Going today to the main page of the British Library, just out of curiosity as to what might be posted there still, one finds this gem of British understatement:
What's new
As a result of the recent major incidents in the King's Cross area, the galleries, bookshop and café at the British Library at St Pancras may close early on Sunday 10 July.
Is your library prepared for "major incidents" such as the two making today's news? If not, come to the Friday, September 9th workshop at CFLC Safety, Security, and Preparedness for Libraries and learn how to plan to keep your library ready for whatever comes!

SUBJECTS: WORKSHOP WEALTH

Friday, July 08, 2005

Terrific Tips: Excel Tricks

From Dawn, one of CFLC’s trainers, come these two great Excel tips. Thanks, Dawn!

1. Watch your cursor! In any given cell, the Excel cursor can have several shapes and do different things depending on the shape. When one or more cells are selected, the cursor can be:

The “fat plus” (Excel’s normal selecting cursor) – mid-cell – ready to accept data from you;

The “skinny plus” (Excel’s “AutoFill” cursor) – in the lower right-hand corner – ready to be dragged vertically or horizontally to create a series;

The arrow – on the borderline of the cell – ready to drag the contents of the cell to another and replace whatever’s in there.

2. Amaze your non-Excel-using friends and co-workers by adding astonishingly large numbers in your head (not!). It will simply seem like magic if they don’t know where you’re looking for the answer.

Enter a column of numbers, select all the cells, and look at the bottom border of the program (just above the taskbar). If you do not see “Sum = X” there near where it shows “NUM” as your data format, then right click on that bottom border. You should see a dropdown menu offering choices of Average, Count, Count Nums, Max, Min, and Sum. Click on Sum and the “Sum = X” choice should show on the border. Voilà! A veritable Rain Man has been created!

To learn both the basics and more tips and techniques for using Excel, come to either of the upcoming Excel 1 workshops – the first at CFLC on Friday, July 15, and the second at Volusia on Wednesday, August 3.

SUBJECTS: TERRIFIC TIPS; WORKSHOP WEALTH

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Blog Business: A Demo

Sitting in a classroom demo-ing the blog site...

And now, next day, editing same.

First, to point you to an interesting article from Reuters about the influential role blogs are expected to play in the upcoming Supreme Court nomination process. Check out Blogs seen as powerful new tool in U.S. court fight.

Second, to serve as a reminder that if you want to learn more about what blogs are and how to effectively read them or write them, the Library Blogs & Newsfeeds class will be held again August 16 in Volusia and September 14 at CFLC, both 9 a.m to noon.

SUBJECTS: BLOG BUSINESS; WORKSHOP WEALTH

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Reference Riches: Florida Electronic Library Additions

An announcement from the State Library of Florida:

The State Library and Archives of Florida and Thomson Gale are pleased to announce the availability of the following Gale Virtual Reference Library Ebook titles as an enhancement to the current database collection that the Florida Electronic Library licenses for Florida residents:

Macmillan: Biology, 1st Edition, 4V

Gale: Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, 2nd Edition, 4V

Gale: Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer, 1st Edition, 2V

Gale: Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, 1st Edition, 2V

Gale: Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 2nd Edition, 5V

Gale: Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, 2nd Edition, 3V

Gale: Gale Encyclopedia of Small Business, 2nd Edition, 2V

St. James: Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 1st Edition, 5V

Gale: Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America, 1st Edition, 6V

Gale: World of Earth Science, 1st Edition, 2V

More detailed information on each of these titles, as well as technical information for providing access, can be found at http://access.gale.com/florida/gvrl.

In addition, Thomson Gale is pleased to offer special pricing to members of the Florida Regional Library networks when purchasing Thomson Gale Ebooks from the Gale Virtual Reference Library for their individual collections.

When you call for a quote, be sure to tell your Thomson Gale sales representative if you are a member of one of the following networks in order to receive this special discount:

* Florida Library Information Network (FLIN)

* Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC)

* Southeast Florida Library Information Network (SEFLIN)

* Southwest Florida Library Network (SWFLN)

* Central Florida Library Cooperative (CFLC)

* Northeast Florida Library Information Network (NEFLIN)

Thomson Gale Ebook titles are available to all Florida Electronic Library users at any time either inside a library or by remote access. Since the Virtual Reference library operates on the database model rather than a circulation model, Ebooks are not checked out, but are available at all times. When the Florida Electronic Library migrates to PowerSearch, patrons will be able to search these titles simultaneously with other Thomson Gale databases.

For more information, please contact Mark Flynn, State Library and Archives of Florida, via e-mail at mflynn (at) dos.state.fl.us or via telephone at (850) 245-6626.

An announcement from CFLC: For an extensive guided hands-on exploration of the Florida Electronic Library, come to the pair of upcoming workshops, Florida Electronic Library Overview and Florida Electronic Library Databases at Volusia on Tuesday, August 30.

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES; REFERENCE RICHES; WORKSHOP WEALTH

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

CFLC Chronicles: Know an Outstanding Public Librarian?

Do you know an outstanding public librarian? If so, nominate him or her for The 2005 New York Times Librarian Awards. From the nomination form:

"The purpose of The Times Librarian Award is to recognize those librarians whose exemplary performance and outstanding community service have made their libraries friendlier and more accessible institutions.

Eligible nominees include any librarian with a master’s degree in library science currently working in a public library in the United States. School and university librarians are not eligible.

Nominators are encouraged to nominate librarians who consistently demonstrate the highest level of professionalism, knowledge and public service in the execution of their duties.

Winners will be announced in The Times in November and each will receive $2,500."

All nominations must be received by Sept. 2, 2005.

Wouldn't it be great to have a winner be from a CFLC member library?

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES

Monday, July 04, 2005

Web Search Stuff: Google's Logos

Happy Independence Day! Searching Google earlier today and seeing the fun holiday logo inspired this post to point out the all-too-well-hidden logo archives. For a break in the middle of a dull day, check out Google's Holiday Logo Archives.

Among some of the more entertaining postings to be found there are these gems: the Dilbert Doodle and the Easter Egg Applet.

For more "stupid Google tricks" and lots of searching hints and help, come to the upcoming workshop, Google Like a Goo-Ru!, at Volusia on Wednesday, August 10.

SUBJECTS: WEB SEARCH STUFF; WORKSHOP WEALTH

Friday, July 01, 2005

Reference Riches: CFLC Reference Desk Updated

The CFLC Reference Desk page has been updated. Check out the greatly expanded sections: Biography; Dictionaries, Grammar & Citation Aids, Thesauri, & Translation Tools; and Encyclopedias.

Some other individual new entries include: Acronyma, a multilingual searchable database of acronyms; Animal Diversity Web, a searchable database/encyclopedia from the University of Michigan; World Atlas of Maps, Flags, and Geography Facts, including free map clip art; and more.

For an extensive guided hands-on exploration of the site, come to the upcoming workshop, Ready Reference Using the Internet, at Volusia on the morning of Thursday, July 7.

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES; REFERENCE RICHES; WORKSHOP WEALTH