Iris' Idea File

Shutting Down This Blog

2009-10-28T02:33:00.005-05:00

As some of you may know, I retired from the position as SEKLS Library Consultant in Dec. 2008. I intended to make random posts to this site even after I was no longer working, but I'm finding my mind is no longer running in library circles.

The smallest things might trigger a blog entry when I was working. Now I go weeks on end without considering library issues. I've been busy gardening, canning, freezing, and now dealing with a divorce (no fun) and a new puppy (lots of fun).

I'm going to declare this blog closed and not try to add more posts, but I will leave it online because I feel there is valuable information here that can still be useful.

Happy Booking, folks!

RDA, AACR and Change

2009-07-27T08:57:00.009-05:00

I have just read a tribute to catalogers and cataloging that was written by David Badertscher on his blog, Criminal Law Library Blog. You can find the posting here

http://www.criminallawlibraryblog.com/2009/07/in_appreciation_of_library_cat.html.

Not only does David tip his hat to catalogers for the work they do describing materials and organizing collections, he gives an explanation of the need for cataloging rules. It's a great article and I heartily recommend reading it.

Cataloging rules are changing. This is a natural evolution. They have always changed because ways to store and retrieve information have changed and because librarians have always worked to find clearer ways to describe the materials being cataloged.

When I was in graduate school in the early 1970s librarians were excited by the first cooperative set of rules created by American, British and Canadian library associations. The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules of 1967 wasn't perfect, but it was a great step forward. Even though there was a British edition and an American edition to allow for areas where the groups couldn't compromise, it set standards we could all follow. These standards affected libraries beyond England, Canada and the US because catalogers in other countries look to the Library of Congress and the British Museum for leadership. The Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, generally called AACR, had worldwide impact. In 1978 the 2nd edition, soon to be called AACR2, came out. This revision brought cataloging into line with the International Standard of Bibliographic Description and changed the way corporate bodies were described.

Change is still in the wind. The third revision of AACR will be coming out in 2009. The committee charged with revising AACR found so much change needed that they have written an entirely new set of standards called RDA or Resource Description and Access. Since the formats of information have changed from print media, such as books and magazines, to electronic forms, such as databases and web pages, the new cataloging rules have had to develop more efficient ways to describe them. This isn't as easy as it seems, because the rules have to be written flexible enough to embrace the next generation of information storage, too, whatever that might be.

I haven't had a lot of exposure to RDA. When I was a full-time cataloger in Texas I subscribed to the AUTOCAT list. AUTOCAT is an online list where catalogers can chat with their peers worldwide. It's a wonderful group and helped to keep me, a solitary cataloger, in touch with the larger world of cataloging. It was great to be able to ask the group about things that stumped me.

Proposed sections of RDA would be posted on AUTOCAT from time to time and discussed in detail, but I didn't understand it well enough to join the discussion. I could see that its going to be quite different from AACR2 and will put many of us outside our comfort zones. Ah, well, why not? AACR, and AACR2 did that as well, but the result has been better service to our patrons in the long run. Come on, RDA, let's see what you can do.

You Know You Are an Urban Librarian When...

2009-06-14T11:51:00.012-05:00

This list of attributes was started by Scarlett Fisher-Herreman, Consumer Health Librarian
Librarian Extraordinaire, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, who says "My Superpower is Information." Response to this began "My gosh! What a contrast!"

...people routinely ask you the hours for the Burger King one block from the library.

...kids arrive by skateboard.

...the bike rack is completely full every summer afternoon.

...you move heaven and earth to get a book delivered at the last minute to a departing Bookmobile so the patron can pick it up and not drive all the way across town to the main library.

...you have panic buttons installed at every service desk just in case of an emergency.

...your bookdrops occasionally get graffitied by urban street artists.

...you have real cops with real guns on your Security staff.

...you have microbursts of crazy people converging at the service desks at least once or twice each day.

...you recognize library patrons at every bus stop in the city.

...you know homeless people by name and what they like to do at the library.

...someone comes to the desk looking for someone with "crazy hair and a lot of tattoos" and you realize that could describe any number of people currently in the library.

...you have an urban fiction collection.

...you are hailed as "Librarian sista!"

More from other urban librarians:

...you think nothing of developing special collections, such as a Job Resource Center, a Spanish Collection, or a Parenting Collection, to assist your patrons. Some of these collections may have nearly as many materials in them as some of the smaller libraries have in their entire library.

...you help a patron with an intricate college research paper. He comes back to tell you "WE got an A!"

...a patron who is away at college calls with a reference question; you find the answer and direct him to the online database that will help him complete his paper -- all without ever seeing him in person.

...your Tech. Department keeps a note posted by the delivery door telling how the reach the 4 addresses most commonly confused with your address, so they can re-direct delivery men.

...you Tech. Department receives a damaged book with a bullet hole in it. (It was on the back shelf of the car when someone drove-by and shot at the occupant.)

...you grew up where it was nothing to drive 30 miles to the grocery store, but your patrons complain it is too far to drive the six miles from their branch library to the main library.

...patrons compliment you on the friendliness and helpfulness of your staff and confide they prefer using your library over the one for their own town (10 minutes away.)

... you have patrons who have been shot, died of overdoses, given birth or conceived children, all in your library.

... you have kids who virtually live in your library because it is one of the few safe places to go, and even safer than home.

... there are at least three very poor and neglected children that you would steal away with if nobody could find out.

...your Senior Circulation Aide "accidentally" runs over a lecherous old man with her book truck. He had lain down on the floor to try to see up women's skirts when they climb steel stairs to your upper stacks. (This took place when women didn't wear pants as often as they do now.)

...you visit a smaller library, and look around for ethnic faces. Where are the East Indians, Tongans, Samoans, Somalians, Vietnamese, Hmong, Mexicans, Cubans, blacks, Native Americans and other nationalities that make your library interesting?

...you have to call the police because a 3 year old was left behind at closing. His father brought him to the library and left, forgetting the boy was with him. The hardest part is getting the boy to name his parents because you don't speak his language.

...you compare notes with area librarians and find out your top ten problem patrons are also their top ten problem patrons.

...when you're followed around in the Library by two teenagers who are probably gang members, and when you ask them where they're from and it's a school across town, you know they are, and they're here because they thought your library was part of the high school next door. So you know they want to cause trouble. When you offer them hot coffee (because it's freezing outside), they lighten up and talk. Soon you tell them they have to go to the main office if they're interested in classes. You contact security who contacts the police in the high school next door. And they're gone.
-Rita from Kansas

...when the students' life histories contain "time", parole officers, case workers, living in their cars, and lots of hard-luck problems, but they're still positive and willing to make a new start. And they love coming to the library to see the "Library ladies" and we love seeing them.
-- Rita from Kansas

...one of your favorite patrons confides he forgot his meds today so he may be getting a little strange.

...And you still love the place.

You Know You Are a Rural Librarian When...

2009-06-14T11:30:00.007-05:00

This list has been circulating (and growing) on the KanLib-L list. I've compiled all the contributions here. For privacy, I'm identifying the library or region of the contributor, but not the names.

...the "traffic" on your commute to work is 3 coyote and 2 deer.
- Southeast Kansas Library Consultant

your patrons arrive by 4-wheeler, tractor or lawn mower.
-Hepler (Ks.) City Library

... you sometimes get to work late because of the large farm implements going 15 miles an hour down the two-lane county road to your library.
- Eager Free PL, Evansville, Wisconsin

...you slow down for a parade of field mice -- 15-20 of them -- crossing the road.
-Pleasanton (Ks.) Lincoln Public Library

... your genealogy materials are rarely used because everyone knows each other and their family histories.

...the highway snowplow stops by your library for audio books.
-Stanley Community Library (Idaho?)

...you have to drive behind the herd of sheep that have to be moved down the main highway.
- Valerie

...you hear gunshots in the distance because it is turkey hunting season.
- Claremont, NH

...the explanation for overdue books is "there was overtime at the meat processing plant and Mama didn't have time to bring in my books."
- Kathleen

...fire engines go roaring by several times a day because it is pasture burning season and the fires have gotten out of hand.

...you are working late and someone drops by to make sure you are all right because they know the library should be closed...then offers to walk you to your car.

...automotive repair manuals are filed under "landscaping".
-Daryl

...the two books enjoying the highest checkout in the library are The Chicken Health Book and How to do Your Own Divorce in Texas.
-Texas librarian

...if a perfectly valid reason for calling off work is "my road flooded out again."
- Brad

...you get to work in the morning and the bunnies scatter from the parking lot as you pull in.
- Lambton County Library, Wyoming, Ontario, Canada

...you're late to work because you were stuck behind a tractor, or a combine.

...the UPS man knows to drop off your packages at the library if you are not at home.

...you are happy to adjust employee's schedules around their county fair competitions.

...your whole area's Internet connection goes down because a farmer's horse dies. (The farmer used a backhoe to dig a hole for burial and accidentally cut a cable in the process.)
-Beaufort Branch Library, Beaufort, SC

...a boy's book is overdue and his excuse is his mother kept him at the hospital day after day while she was sitting with her brother who had a log run through his stomach. (The man lived. EMS confirmed the story.)
- Alexander County Library, Taylorsville, NC

...you enjoy bird watching on the way to work --and can identify the birds you see.
- Pleasonton (Ks.) Lincoln Public Library

...Someone comes into the library asking direction to a person's house without having the address, and the library employee can give correct instructions for getting there.
- Stanton County (Ks.) Public Library

...a patron comes in and says "I want to read that book by that author that I liked last year..." and you just know what book s/he is referring to.
- Osawatomie (Ks) Public Library

...if the state library consultant is asked to run the library for a few minutes because the librarian is the only one on duty and a patron called needing help canning beans (true story).
- State Library of Kansas

...if staff members know the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins of the kid checking out books. - Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System

...if you know -- and call-- the owner of the dog that wandered into the library.
- Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System

...if staff members can walk to any store downtown during their break.
- Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System

...if patrons bring you vegetables from their gardens.
- Iola Public Library/Southeast Kansas Library System

...your director wants to have a "living display" for National Dairy Month and brings in a cow to show the college kids. Then when she says "Who has milked a cow before?" all three other staff members chuckle and raise their hands.
-Technology Center, Kansas State University at Salina, Kansas

...when your patrons see you coming in your vehicle and hold their returns out the car window for you to grab as you pass by.
- Weir (Ks.) Public Library

...UPS delivers to your home because the library is closed.
- Bison (Ks.) Community Library

...your maintenance man/courier is late getting from one building to the other because he had to wait 15 minutes for farmers on horseback who are moving a herd of cattle down the only road between two of your libraries.
-Coffey County (Ks.) Library

...you are stopped at the Casey's Convenience Store in a near-by town and are asked if you have such-and-such book.
- Bison (Ks.) Community Library

...you have a newborn baby goat in your office at the library because it was rejected by its mother, and you are bottle feeding it.
- Kansas librarian

...you come to work with chicken poop somewhere on your person.
- Kansas librarian

...you are late to work because you had to drop animals off at the sale barn.
- Kansas librarian

...you need to leave early to take your kids and their livestock to the 4-H weigh in.
- Kansas librarian

...a patron had to pay for a damaged book because it fell in the sheep dip.
- Kansas librarian

...you stay open when the electricity is out because people will be in for books to read until the power comes back on.
- Kansas librarian

...it doesn't surprise you when the reason for the power outage is a combine took out a telephone pole.
- Kansas librarian

...the book is dirty "because I was reading it in the field why I was waitin on..." makes perfect sense to you.
- Kansas librarian

...you suggest checking the trucks and tractors for that missing audiobook CD.
- Barton County Community College Library, Great Bend, KS.

...your first reference question is from a 4-H member asking how long to leave a rooster with hens before what he wants to happen, happens.
- Hays Public Library, Hays, Ks.

...the regular library person forgot that it was her day to work, so an 8th grader who volunteers on Saturdays finds the key, opens the library and runs it.
- Sabetha, Ks.

...you are late to work because the railroad crossing was blocked by railroad cars moving forward and back while switching to the grain elevator tracks (this can take 20 minutes or more!)
- Abilene (Ks.) Public Library

...patrons use your car as a bookdrop, anywhere within a 60-mile radius of the library
- Kansas librarian

...you are late for work and kids knock on your front door to ask why you are not at the library.
-Courtland and Formoso (Ks.) Libraries

...people meet you at the grocery, then run to their cars to find library books to return to you.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library

...you come home to find book donations on your front porch.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library

...patrons ask you to bring books they have on hold to meetings and baseball games.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library

...patrons come to your house when the library is closed and ask to check out a book because they have nothing to read.
- Carbondale (KS.) City Library

...staff members bring chickens, calves and horses to visit storytime.
- Belleville (Ks) Public Library

...you carry bits of paper in your pocket when going to the grocery store, etc., because you know someone will request a book or have a question.

...you check out and take books to an elderly patron because she kinda, sorta threatened to tell your Dad if you didn't.
- Cedar County Library

… a firefighter stops a young vandal from damaging your vehicle by saying "No, that car belongs to one of the librarians

-Greenfield (Ma,) Public Library

… the only time you lock your car is in the summer so people won't leave bags of squash in it.

- New Braunfels (Tx.) Public Library

… when delivery people bring packages to the library, not your home, irrespective of what the address says.

- Debra, a former rural librarian

… your library has a hitchin' post.

- Allen County Public Library

… your library has a watering trough. Though no longer being used.

- Darla

... the grandfather across the street is your security system (True!)

... you list the names of probable readers next to every book you order (in the order of their VIP standing or watch out!), and if there aren't enough possible readers you won't be ordering it. (Sadly, also true)

... you know every card-holder by name, and could take a stab at age and ancestry for two generations in either direction.

... you walk to work (because you CAN), every car stops to ask if you need a ride and what happened to your car?

- Quincy (Ill.) Public Library

… patrons are personally affronted if you ask to see their library card at checkout.

- Melissa (another former rural librarian)

… you refuse to issue a card to Billy Bob jr. because the picture ID he brought in is his father's. You know this because you know where both he and his father live, and the address on the driver's license is the father's.

- Decatur (Ill.) Public Library

... a patron asks to trade you either a dozen eggs or a freshly baked pie in lieu of paying a fine.

- Algonquin Area (Ill.) Public Library District

… in the winter, "I can't get out of my driveway" is due to the snow.

- Beaufort (SC) Branch Library

… Everybody knows you have not been walking very well and one night as you leave and head for your car a pickup going the other way stops and just sets there until you are in your car then goes on their way.

… the Chief of Police lets you park in a no parking spot while you are at work in the library.

- Sedan (Ks.) Public Library

… "there's a (grizzly, porcupine, moose, name your wild animal) on my porch and you can't get out."

- Great Falls (Mt.) Public Library

… you cannot open the library's dumpster because a bear was jumping on it and smashed the top, and you have chipmunks living the ceiling of the library eating the wiring (both true stories from another library I worked in).

- Benton County Public Library, Corvallis, OR

… every other patron asks about your mama-by name.

- Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington, DC

...a man walks in with a shoe box in his hands, asking for the Reader's Advisor. He then takes the top of the box and says, "Can you identify this (very much alive) snake? I've never seen one like this around here.

- Alexander (NC) County Library

… when you ask a patron applying for a library card his phone number, he rattles off the last four digits (sadly we now have to dial the area code but natives or long timers still rattle off just the last four digits)

… you get a call at home on a Sunday to your unlisted (for personal reasons) phone number telling you the book drop's overflowing and it's raining

… you go to lunch and a patron hands you a book and asks if you can return it for her

… you get complaints about staff when you're at the roller rink in the next town

Do you CREW?

2009-06-08T14:12:00.003-05:00

Do you CREW? CREW stands for Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding of your library collection. EVERYONE should CREW.

A library is more than a collection of books. It's a collection of books that are significant and useful to the population served by the library. If you blindly put every book donated to you on the shelves because you don't want to offend the donors; or you keep every item the library has every owned because it might be useful to someone someday, you are not doing your job as a librarian. You are merely maintaining a warehouse. If you are doing this your shelves are so full of clutter that your patrons can't find the things they really want. (Ugh. That's sounds like my spare room...)

What is the solution to the clutter? Weeding your collection. Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding -- CREWing. Determine your criteria for keeping material or withdrawing it. You might start with age plus circulation. If the book is over X years old and hasn't checked out in the last 5/10/whatever years, withdraw it. It is no longer serving the needs of your patrons. If that one someone who might have used a discarded book turns up next week, you haven't let him or her down. You can get the material back through Interlibrary Loan for the short time that person will need it.

But what about materials that don't get checked out, but are used a lot in house? What about classic literature? What about history books that keep their value longer that 5/10/whatever years? You don't have to invent the wheel. The State Library of Texas has been giving serious thought to the technique of CREWing for the last thirty years. Joseph Segal wrote the first CREW manual; it was later updated by Belinda Boon. The lasted revision has been released by Jeannette Larson. You can find it at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/index.html

Read the CREW manual. Discover the philosphy of Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding. If your collection is very small, you may not be able to weed as extensively as first suggested by the book, but you can follow it's philosphy. You may keep a few titles that are older than the cut off date given in the manual because they are the only ones you have on the topic -- right now. That's part of your evaluation of your collection. Now you know you need to get some newer materials in that area so you can weed those older titles next time.

How often do you weed? Larger libraries have to review their collections on a rotating schedule. Fiction and 1/4 of non-fiction this year; Juvenile and 1/4 of non-fiction next year, etc. until it's done. Then start over again. Smaller libraries can review a section each month and cover the entire library in one year. Pace yourself, but always have something under review.

Does it work? Oh, yes. Patrons who come into the library after weeding find the shelves more open and inviting. (They will swear you have purchased new books instead of getting rid of old ones.) The books that are there are brighter, newer and more inviting. They can find what they want because the clutter is gone.

What do you do with the ones you withdrew? If they are in good condition, but not appropriate for your library -- say a college textbook offered to a small hometown library -- consider offering it to a larger library that might need it. Most of the books can go into the library book sale. You can use the money earned to buy something for the library. Never held a booksale? Check with your Regional Library Consultant or State Friends of the Library organization for ideas for organizing one.

If the books are still useful, but in bad condition, try repairing them. Again, your Regional Library Consultant can give you pointers on book repair. If you don't have access to a Library Consultant, check the library supply catalogs for book repair manuals and videos. My first exposure to book repair came from a Gaylord video. Some books may need to be rebound. Check with libraries in your area to find out what binderies serve your area. If you have a bindery budget and will be sending materials to bind regularly, you can invite bids from two or three binderies to see who can offer you the best prices. If you will only send a shipment rarely, you will probably pay regular prices.

Last of all, if the books are not useful to any one, or so damaged they can not be salvaged, THROW THEM AWAY. It's not sacrilige to discard a book. Even books are consumable items. Be certain to stamp them WITHDRAWN. Remove them from your catalog and remove any book plates or book cards from them before throwing them away. Send them to paper recycling or put them in the trash. If you have self-appointed dumpster-divers who retrieve the books from your trash and give them back to you, you may have to discard them in the dark of night in trash cans far far from the library. Do it. It's worth it.

Kansas Notable Books

2009-05-29T11:21:00.001-05:00

This posting has been cheerfully stolen from a posting to KanLib-L by Cindy Roupe:

On May 28 State Librarian Christie Brandau and Roy Bird, Director of the Kansas Center for the Book at the State Library of Kansas unveiled the 2009 Kansas Notable Books List. This fourth annual roll of honor includes fiction, nonfiction, adult and children’s books, each of which was published during 2009 and identified as outstanding for different reasons.

A committee of the KCFB identified the titles and submitted them to the State Librarian Christie Brandau, for the final decision. The 2009 Kansas Notable Book advisory committee included representatives from academic, public and school libraries, authors, booksellers, publishers, and the media. Press releases were sent out across the state to daily and weekly newspapers on May 28. The authors of the 15 Kansas Notable Books will be honored at a reception hosted by the State Library of Kansas later this summer.

Begun in 2005, with the first titles announced in 2006, the Kansas Notable Books List has quickly become a highly respected honor among the state’s writers. The project was singled out along with others in the citation for the Kansas Center’s 2008 Boorstin Center for the Book Award, the highest accolade a state center for the book can receive. Authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians have featured Notable Books in presentations, displays, and literary events around the state. Authors have appeared at many venues in the state as well. The summer 2009 issue of Kansas! magazine listed Kansas Notable Books as number 12 in their list of “13 Reasons We Love Kansas.”

The 2009 Notable Books List continues to raise awareness of writing by Kansans and about Kansas.

Amelia Earhart: The Legend of the Lost Aviator by Shelley Tanaka, illustrated by David Craig

Artfully Done Across Generations: An Art Cookbook by Friends of the Wichita Art Museum

Burn by Kathleen Johnson

Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock

A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth Bunce

The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots by Bob Gress and Pete Janzen

Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate by Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris

Kansas Opera Houses: Actors and Community Events 1855-1925 by Jane Glotfelty Rhoads

Making History: Quilts & Fabric From 1890-1970 by Barbara Brackman

Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade As A Postmodern Travel Writer by Rolf Potts

The Nature of Kansas Lands by Barbara Worster

A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir by Donald Worster

The Pizza Hut Story by Robert Spector

Seeding Civil War: Kansas in the National News, 1854-1858 by Craig Miner

Survival of Rural America: Small Victories and Bitter Harvests by Richard E. Wood

William Allen White Award Books Curriculum Guides

2009-04-24T13:39:00.003-05:00

Taken from a post on KanLib-L submitted by

Barbara Stransky, Acquisitions Librarian and Sociologist

Kansas City Kansas Community College Library:

As in past years, the utilization of books selected for the William Allen White Children's Book Award master list has been enhanced with the addition of curriculum guides for use in teaching or preparing instructional units based on these books. These curriculum guides, written by Kansas teachers and librarians who volunteer to do this service, provide summaries along with discussion questions and suggested activities as well as bibliographic and author information for each title selected by the William Allen White Committee. These guides will help the books really come alive for our young readers in Kansas! Thanks so much to guide-writers Jane Burton, Bev Nye, Mary Ann Sadler, Mary Harmon, Wendy Morris, Kim Glover, Barbara Bahm, Retta Eiland, Barbara Clark-Evans, Vickey Long, and Amy Brownlee.

The guides for the 2009-2010 contenders for next year's award are now posted. Check out the WAW website at Emporia State University for the curriculum guides that can be used by teachers and librarians to encourage Kansas students to read these exceptional books, and vote for next year's award:
http://www.emporia.edu/libsv/wawbookaward/curriculumguides/cg09-10.html .
Studies by respected educators have shown that connecting discussions and activites with books used in classrooms is a truly effective teaching and learning strategy. "When highly qualified teachers and library media specialists value children's literature and know how to locate and use it effectively in collaboration with students, an environment where children learn can be created."
Nancy L. Williams and Patricia T. Bauer, Source:The Reading Teacher 60.1(Sept 2006):p14(9)

Two of My Favorite Library Quotes

2009-04-20T19:24:00.002-05:00

Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest. -- Lady Bird Johnson

"Libraries can get you through times of no money better than money can get you through times of no libraries." -- Ann Herbert, The Whole Earth Catalog

Sorry for Lack of Postings

2009-04-19T09:58:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone,
I see by the Statistics Counter that this blog has had more than 1600 hits, most of them first time readers. I apologize for being slow to post in 2009. I retired on Dec. 15, 2008 and have been highly distracted. It's amazing how busy you can get when you stay home all the time. :)

I have several ideas for more postings -- particularly on universal topics like cataloging and basic librarianship. I promise to get back to the blog soon.

Kansas students pick 2009 William Allen White Children’s Book Award winners

2009-04-19T09:53:00.002-05:00

News Release hot off the presses from Emporia State University

“Clementine,” by Sara Pennypacker and “Yellow Star,” by Jennifer Roy are the choices of Kansas schoolchildren for the 2009 William Allen White Children’s Book Awards.

The awards will be presented Oct. 10 in Emporia. The 57th annual ceremony will cap two days of activities ranging from author autographs to story telling, attracting school children from across Kansas.

Each year, approximately 50,000 third- through eighth-graders take part in naming the two White Award-winning books. “Clementine” was the choice of third through fifth graders, while “Yellow Star” won the sixth through eighth grade award. The books were among a list of 24 chosen by a selection committee for the students to consider.

Pennypacker’s “Clementine” is the first in a series chronicling the adventures of the eponymous eight-year-old who sorts through difficulties in her friendship with Margaret, her neighbor. Pennypacker has written seven children’s books, and lives on Cape Cod, Mass.

“Yellow Star” is Roy’s story of a four-year-old girl named Syvia, a Jewish girl who struggles to survive with her family in Poland’s Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation of World War II. The book is a novelization of the true experiences of the author’s aunt. Roy has written more than 30 books for children and young adults. She lives in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Pennypacker and Roy are first-time William Allen White Children’s Book Award winners. They have been invited to participate in the October awards presentation.

The White Awards program is the nation’s first statewide reader’s choice award. It is directed by Emporia State University and is supported by the Trusler Foundation. The program was founded in 1952 by Ruth Carver Gagliardo, a children’s literature specialist, to honor the memory of one of the state’s most distinguished citizens by encouraging Kansas schoolchildren to read and enjoy good books.

ABOUT THE BOOKS:

Pennypacker, Sara. Clementine. New York, Hyperion Books for Children, 2006.

Roy, Jennifer. Yellow Star. Tarrytown, NY. Marshall Cavendish, 2006.

Dewey in a Nutshell

2008-12-16T16:56:00.019-06:00

Many times new librarians in small libraries have asked me, “What exactly is the Dewey Decimal Classification? Why do I need to use it?”

The short answer is: Using a classification system groups all of the information in your library together by subject so people can find things easier. It gives a book an address so it always returns to the same place on the shelf.

Let me digress a minute here to define the difference between cataloging and classification. Cataloging is a verbal description of the book: author, title, publisher, date, number of pages, subject headings. Cataloging creates the index. You can catalog your entire library without ever classifying it.

Classification is how you place the material on the shelf -- how you sort the information to make sense out of it. Classification is the address -- it's the block number and house number so you can find something.

The Dewey system is one way to organize knowledge. In the United States, 95% of all public and school libraries, 25% of college and university libraries and 20% of special libraries use Dewey. More than 200,000 libraries worldwide in 135 countries count on Dewey Classification to keep their collections in order. Because it is so widely used, once people understand it, they can move from the smallest library to the largest and know how to find things.

Melvil Dewey, who developed the Dewey Classification in 1876, set it up to handle ALL kinds of knowledge. His plan was to have a logical method to organize information, even information that did not exist in 1876, such as computers and space flight. He did this by dividing all knowledge into ten broad categories that were each given a number code. These categories are:

000 Computer science, Information and General works
000 Philosophy and Psychology
200 Religions
300 Social Sciences
400 Languages
500 Science and Mathematics
600 Technology and Applied science
700 Arts and Recreation
800 Literature
900 History, Geography, and Biography

Fiction falls into this classification scheme as 800: Literature. Most libraries find that fiction grows too fast to keep it in the 800s, however. If fiction is kept it in the Dewey numbers, the library would constantly need to shift shelves to make room for the new books. Instead, librarians pull fiction out of the Dewey scheme and move it to another spot in the building. If there is demand, they might break the fiction collection into subgroups according to genre: mysteries, westerns, science fiction, romance, etc. The thing to remember it there is still a place for fiction in the Dewey Classification, but the individual library has chosen not to use that number. The numbers for fiction are usually saved for literary criticism and works about authors rather than their works.

With that said, how does the classification system work? Knowledge is organized from general to specific. A broad category might be 600: Applied Science. Every digit after the 6 moves to a more specific level of information: 610 is medicine; 620 is engineering; 630 is agriculture, etc.

The next digit is a more specific 634 = Orchards, fruits, forestry; 635 = Garden crops ( Horticulture); 636 = Animal husbandry. Each number is more specific than the last, fine tuning the information grouped there. They can get pretty fine, too! The longest number I've seen had 21 places after the decimal point.

There are also some code numbers called Standard Subdivisions that almost always mean the same thing: 03 = dictionaries; 092 = biography; 973 = United States; 064 = professional sports, etc.

When you see long call numbers on books, they are often created by grouping some of these standard subdivisions after a “regular” number.
796.33 (Sports played with balls)
796.332 (Football)
796.332064 (Professional sports)
796.332064973 (United States)
796.332064973092 (Biography)

S0 796.3320647973092 is the grouping for all biographies of American professional football players. If you use this number for all of these books, your patrons will find all of those books together on the shelf.

Only big research libraries use the really long numbers. Most other libraries have a policy to only use 3 digits past the decimal place or to stop at the first reasonable break. In this case, that could be 796.332 (3 digits past the decimal or first significant break) or they might drop some of the intermediate information and use 796.332 (football) 092 (biography) to get 796.332092. (Ok, dyed-in-the-wool catalogers may quake at leaving something out, but this is practical cataloging. :) )

So you have assigned a Dewey number to an item. Is that all there is? No. Not usually. The Dewey number is the block number that gets someone in the right area to find a topic, but you need more to get them to a specific book. Charles Ammi Cutter, developed a different classifcation system about the same time Melvil Dewey developed his system. Many libraries use a variation of Cutter's system called the Cutter-Sanborn Table to create a author code to go with the Dewey Number. This is called a Cutter Number.

Assume you have a book called World War II by Simon Adams. The Dewey number is 940.53 (World War II). To create a Cutter number, you would start with a capital A (Author's last name) add the Cutter-Sanborn code (217) and finish with a small case w for the title. The Cutter number would be A217w. This would be written on the second line after the Dewey number and make the complete call number:

940.53
A217w

Cutter numbers are very specific and librarians and shelvers love them. Patrons don't understand them. You will find patrons in the middle of the 200s (Religion) looking for A217w, the World War II book. Because of that, many libraries have quit using "real" Cutter numbers but still call the information they put in the second line of the call number a "Cutter." Most frequently, the second line information is the author's last name or some part of the last name. (I recommend using the entire last name rather than X number of letters. It's more specific.)

940.53
Adams

There you have it: why we use Dewey numbers. They are the address of the book to help patrons locate them on the shelf.

Lists of Grant Sources

2008-12-08T11:34:00.002-06:00

One thing SEKLS librarians are always interested in is sources of grants that might help their libraries. Below are some websites that list sources of grants for libraries.
Please remember, websites change rapidly. Lists that looked good when this was compiled may be dated when you check them. Happy hunting!

Academic Library grants
http://homepage.mac.com/amanda.moore/Grants.htm

Internet Library for Librarians, list of grant sources:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=library+grants&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz2

Library Grants blog
http://librarygrants.blogspot.com/

Scholastic Books list of Library Grant Sources
http://www.scholastic.com/librarians/programs/grants.htm

Technology Grant News
http://www.technologygrantnews.com/grant-index-by-type/library-grants-funding.html

Top giving foundations in the state of Kansas
http://www.tgci.com/funding/top.asp?statename=Kansas&statecode=KS

US Dept. of Education, Improving Literacy through School Libraries
http://www.ed.gov/programs/lsl/index.html

Please Be Selfish!

2008-10-06T15:19:00.004-05:00

A dialog on Kan-LibL asked how to remind patrons not to speak loudly on their cell phones in the library. Hollis Helmeci at the Bradford Memorial Library in El Dorado, Ks. shared the sign they use. It's wonderful! She has given me permission to share it here:

Please be selfish.
Keep your business to yourself.

Use headphones to listen to your music.

Take your phone calls outside.

Speak quietly to keep your conversation private.

Please!
Don’t share your noise with others.

Thanks.

Parts of a Book

2008-08-19T21:53:00.023-05:00

Have you ever wondered why the information at the top of a page is called a "Header"? Or why the stuff at the bottom is a "Footer?"

It all goes back to the names for the parts of a book. Some book parts carry the names of the body. The top of a book is it's head, the bottom is it's foot. The front of the cover is it's face and the back is the spine. That is why the words printed on the spine are called a "spine title".

When the book is open, the human body analogy goes away. Covers are made from "boards" covered in fabric. Boards may once have really been board, but today they are made of a very stiff pressed paper. The fabric covers are cloth, leather, or paper. The more valuable the cover fabric the more expensive the book becomes.

When the outside cover is in place, its edges are glued down and a large, heavier weight piece of paper that is twice the width of the book is glued over the fabric edges and the inside of the board. The other half of that sheet extends over the text block to become the fly leaf. The fly leaf may be left plain, or be decorated. It's not unusual to see maps or simple illustrations running across the flyleaf. Intricate ones will continue the action from the front cover and fly leaf to the back cover and fly leaf. In older books, gold marbling was used on the fly leaves. Yep. That made the book more expensive, too. The edges of the pages were treated with gold and "gilded," too.

The text block is just what it sounds like. Its the block of pages that makes up everything inside the covers of the book. It is attached to the spine in one of several ways, but the flexible part that lets the cover open is always called the hinge (just like a door hinge). In older books cloth straps helped hold the covers together and were stitched and glued to the spine. Later the text blocks were still stitched together, but they were attached to the covers with cloth hinges. Today, the spine is one piece with the cover fabric and the text block may be attached to it directly. The only hinging is created by the flyleaf and the other pages.

In paperback books the edge of the text block is cut in ridges to hold glue. The text block is passed through a special hot glue, then attached to a paper spine that is one piece with the covers. When the glue dries, the glue in the cuts works like stitching to keep the pages from falling out. Some papers adhere to the glue better than others. The heavy clay-based paper used for books with lots of photography doesn't hold glue well. It is difficult to keep these covers from popping loose if a book is read a lot. You have probably had a paper cover come loose on a book like that and seen the scored edge and the remains of the glue.

Why were the text blocks stitched? It was to hold the pages together. The printing process causes pages to be printed with two, four, eight, or more pages to a sheet of paper. Each time more pages are printed on a sheet of paper, there is an intricate folding process that brings all the pages together in the proper order. After the sheet is folded, all of the pages that came from one sheet of paper is called a signature. Originally signatures were stitched together to make the text block solid. Just before the block is attached to the covers, the three open sides are run through a machine that trims the edges so the pages will open. There was a time that the outside edge of more expensive books were left uncut. It was supposed to be a big honor to be the original owner who cut the pages of a book. (Personally, I'm glad to give up that honor. I have always managed to tear one of the pages when I tried that trick.)

Today some books are stitched and others are glued. Libraries can buy books with "library bindings" that have sturdier covers and stitched text blocks that will hold up to the heavy circulation seen with library books. Library bindings are particularly popular in children's books because they see a lot of heavy use.

If a library buys an ordinary (or trade edition) book that doesn't stand up to library use, the librarian can choose to send the book to a bindery to have it repaired. The librarian can determine how the book will be fixed. Some will be sewn and given covers in a strudy fabric called buckram. Other books may have their original dust jackets turned into paper covers on a text block with a glued spine, much like some trade editions. This has the advantage of being colorful and keeping the look of the original book. It seems every bindery has its own name for the dust jacket to cover process. The library where I worked longest called them "Dusties."

But I digress... there's are more book parts.

After the book is put together, there is a structure to the way the pages are put together.
We have already mentioned the fly leaf. In the early days of printing, books didn't have hard covers and they didn't have title pages. They just had the information on the first layer of the book. It didn't take long for those pages to get worn off and what was left? No way to tell which book you had. Publishers solved that problem by moving the title information deeper into the book, creating a "title page" and putting a blank page, then a page with a short version of the title (the "running title") on the page above the blank page. This was called the "half-title" page. If the half-title page got destroyed, there was the blank page left to protect the full title page. When publishers started putting hard covers on their books, they left the half title, blank page, then full-title page pattern in place. Today some publishers omit the half title pages; others still use it.

Writing wasn't a very lucrative business in its early years. Authors found it good to have patrons to help support them. Sometimes the patrons gave them money or gave them a place to live or just introduced them to the right people in society. It wasn't long before the authors were slipping a note in after the half-title page dedicating their works to this patron or that one. Being practical people, publishers called this "the dedication page." Today writers don't have patrons, but they still put dedications in their books. They dedicate their books to people that have helped them, or to people they care about. I always like the dedication that went "To Mom and Dad. Without you I wouldn't be." Some authors make their dedications inside jokes. There was one author who dedicated his book to his two pet cats (they had people-sounding names) who had given him so much assistance with the work.

After the dedication, you will usually find the title page. If there is a photograph beside the title page, it gets its own name: frontspiece, but the side with the words is called the title page. This is the official title of the book, a listing of its authors (usually), the illustrators, maybe the editors, the name of the publisher and the place where the material was published. Sometimes the date it was published is on the title page also.

On the back side of the title page, or the verso, as its called in publishing language, the publisher puts his legal information and other data about the book. This is where you find the copyright information, printing history, list of editions, ISBN number and other identifying information, and maybe the Cataloging in Publication information. (If that jargon is too much, go a few entries down and read the one on Cataloging Terms).

What comes after the verso varies according to the kind of book you have. If the book is fiction, you will usually leap into chapter one and get going with the story. Everything that comes before the first chapter is called "front matter." Every thing that comes after the last page of the main body of the work -- okay, the story, if its fiction -- is called "end matter." Fiction has minimal front matter and very little end matter. You may find an author's note somewhere and that's about it.

Non-fiction is not so streamlined. After the verso, non-fiction can really pile on the front matter.

There may be acknowledgments that go on like an actor at the Academy Awards. "Thanks to so-and-so for typing, and Uncle Arnold for proofreading, and Aunt Edna for bringing me a cherry cobbler..." Since I'm a wife, I always like the ones that read, "And thanks to my wife for putting up with me." In some ways, acknowledgments do today what dedications did in the days of patrons. After the acknowledgments, there may be a preface (sometimes more than one), and/or a foreword. The Free Online Dictionary defines a preface as "A preliminary statement or essay introducing a book that explains its scope, intention, or background and is usually written by the author." Merriam-Webster's online dictionary says a foreword does the same job as a preface, but it's written by someone other than the author.

There is usually a table of contents, so you can see what the book is about before you get into it. There may be a list of illustrations. After all of that the author may come back and give you an Introduction. It gets a bit hazy how an introduction is different from a preface or a foreword. The introduction is written more in the tone of the main body of the work and seems to spell out the ground rules or working information for using the rest of the book.

All of the front matter is paged with little Roman numerals. Catalogers have a lot of fun with books like this. They have to list the paging in the catalog record, and they have to count everything, so they will write something like "frontspiece, vi, 332 p. ; ill. : 24 cm."

I don't think anyone but other catalogers ever checks the paging information in a record, but we have a great time being able to look at it and tell a patron, "Oh, that book has a little more than 300 pages, so it's about an inch thick; and it's 24 cm., so that makes it about a handspan tall. Its call number is 636.7, so you will find it on the 3rd range of shelves, on the right side, about half way down. " The patron just stands there with his tongue hanging out, thinking we are psychic. (Or is that psycho?) As he wanders off toward the mysterious shelves just described, we give the parting shot, "And, oh, yes, it says "ill.", so it has illustrations. You should be able to find the picture of a German Shepherd in that one." Oh, the games librarians play... (Don't you love my German Shepherd picture? I just had to slip it in here. Hagar wanted to be a farm dog. He lived most of his life in Dallas, but got to enjoy country living at the end. He died last year and I still miss him.)

Back to the parts of a book. We've covered front matter. Now to the good stuff. The body of the work! That's pretty straight forward. It has chapters. It may have illustrations. Its numbered with Arabic numerals that we can all read without counting on our fingers. And it finally comes to an end.

Then you get to the end matter. Some dedicated authors put in an afterword, which summarizes what they just told you or tells you jokes or finishes things off in some fashion. Fiction writers might put in an epilogue, which is the chapter after the last chapter that ties up all the loose ends and gives you a glimpse of the characters some time later.

Non-fiction may have appendixes that give supplemental information that relates to the subject of the book. For example, the policy manuals librarians write frequently have appendices that list the Library Bill of Rights and other formal statements that support the principles expressed in the policies. I have seen some books that have more pages of appendices than there are pages in the body of the work. (Somehow that seems like overkill.)

Books with lots of photographs or other material that needs to have recognitions and permissions cited may have a List of Credits either before or after the appendixes.

Last will usually come the indexes. Some books don't find one index enough. Song books may have an index of authors, an index of titles and an index of first lines. Cookbooks may have a main ingredient list as well as a recipe name list. The indexes are the last thing written before a book is published. They give you an alphabetical listing of the subjects covered in the book with page numbers beside the subjects so you can jump directly to the information you want.

My hat is off to indexers. They read the entire book, take notes, and create the indexes for it in two weeks or less just before the book goes to press. I've been using indexes for years and I have very seldom found errors in them. There is an entire world of unsung heroes out there indexing books perfectly.Wow!

Blog Frustrations

2008-08-19T16:00:00.003-05:00

I love to blog, and I like Blogger because it lets me put lots of pictures in an entry, but I'm really frustrated with it today because all my careful formatting on the Cataloging Terms entry didn't print to the screen. It looks great in the edit module!

I very strongly DISLIKE programs that don't let you do creative things with fonts and formats. I really don't like programs that take away the indents and paragraph breaks that you really wanted to be there.

GRRRRRRRRR...

Okay. I feel better.

Please accept my apologies for the randomness of the next entry.

Cataloging Terms

2008-08-19T14:28:00.017-05:00

Does Library jargon drive you up a tree? When someone starts with something like this, do your eyes cross and your ears slam shut?: "Well, I was working with this bib. record, but I couldn't figure out which MARC tags went with what rules of AACR2, so I just merged it with another file that I pulled from a Z39.50 link. I hope it was right."

HAVE NO FEAR! Iris' Handy Dandy List of Cataloging Terms to the rescue. A quick read through this and you too can talk like a Cataloger. :)

AACR2 ______Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition. Gives standards for creating catalog records. Defines cataloging standards until RDA goes into effect in 2009.

ALA ______ American Library Association. The national professional organization for librarians in the United States. ALA provides training, reference materials, posters, legislative representation and other support for America’s libraries and librarians.

ALA Filing Rules______ Instructions for organizing the entries in a catalog. ALA Rules for Filing Catalog Cards, 2nd Edition, By Pauline A. Seeley, Chicago, Ill.: American Library Assn., c1968, gives filing rules frequently used by non-automated catalogs. Automated catalogs used the latest edition of ALA Filing Rules. Differences between the two sets of rules are created by the literal nature of computers.

Automated Library System (ALS). See Integrated Library System (ILS).

Bib. Record______ Bibliographic record. The computer entry that describes an item. It will show information such as author, title, date, paging, notes and subject tracings. Before computers, bib. records were called catalog cards.

Book Club Edition______ A popular book reprinted by a book club. It may be a bit smaller than the original edition and have different paging. Book club edition bindings are not as sturdy as trade editions because they are intended for a limited amount of use. The cover art may or may not look like the original edition. Book club editions do not have ISBN numbers. They often say “book club ed.” on the flap of the dust cover and have a short stock number either on the spine or back cover. Do not search online for an ISBN number for a Book Club Edition. The number you find will be for a different book.

Case title______ The name of a video, CD or movie that is printed on the disc or VHS case. It may not be the same as the title on the box it came in. If there is a difference, prefer the case title or screen title first. (The rule is to use the name that is on the item before the packaging.)

Catalog ______ An index of the holdings of a collection, such as the index to the materials owned by a library. Catalogs come in several forms: book catalogs, which are printed periodically and kept current by supplements (think of a telephone directory); card catalogs, which print separate cards for each item and file them in drawers (think of a recipe file); computer or online catalog, which have separate computer entries for each item and may have supplemental files ("holdings") linked to those records that give information about individual copies owned. These entries are stored and sorted by a computer to give quick access to the information. Sometimes computer catalogs can be accessed over the Internet.

Catalog card______ The (usually) 3x5" card that holds the information about an item in a card catalog.

Cataloger ______ The person who creates the entries for a catalog.

Children’s (Juvenile)______ Chapter books and non-fiction written for children from preschool to grade 8.

CIP______ Cataloging in Publication. Cataloging information placed in the book at the time of publication. This usually appears on the verso of the title page and may look like a small catalog card. CIP information is incomplete and may be inaccurate because it is created from galley proofs before a book has been set up for final publication. CIP can give you a start when you are doing original cataloging.

Copyright date______ The date the material was copyrighted. It is identified by the word Copyright or a small C inside a circle beside the date. This may be different from the publication date or the printing date. When cataloging, prefer the printing date that is show on the title page first; use the copyright date if no printing date is given for the item.

Cover title ______The name of a book as it appears on the cover. This may not be the same as the name on the title page. Cataloging rules say to catalog from the title page if it exists. Only use the cover title if there is no title page.

Cross reference_____ A catalog entry that leads users to the preferred form of a name or subject heading. The word “see” links the preferred term to the unused term. Examples: “Negros see African-Americans” “Clemens, Samuel see Twain, Mark”

Date ______also Publication Date. The date the item was published. It may be show on the title page or the verso of the title page. It will not have any qualifying words (such as copyright or edition) with it. Prefer this date first when cataloging.

Dewey Decimal System (DDC)______ A system of organization (classification) created by Melvil Dewey in 1876 where all information is grouped into 10 basic categories called classes. These classes are subdivided into smaller and smaller units, each identified by a number or number sequence so like things are grouped together. The Dewey system is used worldwide, particularly by public and school libraries.

Easy (Picture) books______ Material written for preschoolers and children. Illustrations dominate the work. These are intended to be “read-to-me” books .The text is not controlled vocabulary and may be up to a 6th grade reading level.

Easy Reader ______ Controlled vocabulary picture books intended for beginning readers. They come in 3 reading levels: beginning beginner, intermediate, and advanced (simple chapter books). Do not classify an item as an Easy Reader unless the publisher identifies it as such with as label like “Beginning Beginner” “Step into Reading” “Getting Ready to Read” etc. Remember, just because it’s by Dr. Seuss, doesn’t make it an Easy Reader. Easy Readers need to have controlled vocabulary and a certain structure.

Edition date______The date an edition was printed. When a book is popular enough to be reprinted with NEW INFORMATION added it is called a new edition. This may be shown in a group of edition dates, such as 1st edition 1949, 2nd edition 1959, 3rd edition 1969. If no publication date or copyright date is available, use the newest edition date to identify the age of an item when cataloging. Always identify the edition you are cataloging because that makes it a different book from other editions. (There are two different places in the record for edition information and date information.)

Half-title page______ A page right after the flyleaf on some books that only shows the running title (short version) of the name of the book. This is a throwback to early printing days when paper covers wore off easily. A half-title page helped to identify the item after the cover was gone and protected the full title page by one or two extra layers of pages. Half-title pages are not used in cataloging.

Integrated Library System (ILS) _____ A library management system that keeps track of what a library owns, what is ordered, what bills have been paid and what patrons are using the material. The system is automated and provides two formats, one accessible to the patrons that allows them to search the catalog, place holds and deal with materials in their own accounts, and one format available to the staff which allows access to the internal workings of the system. This is sometimes called an Automated Library System (ALS).

ISBN______ International Standard Book Number. This is the publisher’s stock number located on the item. It is usually shown in two places on a book: the verso of the title page and the back cover. Older books will show a 10-digit ISBN number; newer ones will have a 13-digit number. Some books will show both 10 and 13-digit numbers. Prefer the 13-digit number if it is available. Record both if you are in doubt.

ISSN______ International Standard Serial Number. Similar to an ISBN, this is the stock number for serials, such as magazines, almanacs, and things that are published regularly in series. If you do not find an ISBN number on an item, but do see an ISSN number, you can write “ISSN xxxxx” in the ISBN area of the pink slip.

KLC______ Kansas Library Catalog. A shared catalog listing materials held by nearly every library in the state. Source of a lot of the cataloging records used by local online catalogs.

Large print ed.______ Books specially published for the visually impaired. Print is at least an 16 pt. font Do not classify an item as large print unless it is identified as a large print item by the publisher.

Larger print book_____ An unofficial term used by some publishers, usually of paperback books, to show that the books are printed in type larger than standard paperbacks, but less than 16 pt. type, so not large enough to qualify as a large print book.

LC ______Library of Congress. The unofficial national library of the United States, source of the majority of library catalog records and arbiter of cataloging standards.

Library of Congress Classification (LC Classification) ______ A system of organization (classification) developed by the Library of Congress based upon a system developed by Herbert Putnam in 1897. The system uses a series of alphabet letters and numbers to identify areas of knowledge and subdivide them into smaller categories. The LC system allows for much finer division of a topic than the Dewey system does. That is why it used by the majority of university and research libraries in the United States and some other countries.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) ______ An extensive, controlled list of terms (the print copy is in several volumes) used to describe topics being classified. This is the most widely used list of subject headings in the world, but has an academic tone that can seem a bit stuffy at times. Subject headings are used in cataloging to help people find material about a topic when they do not know the author or title.

MARC______ MAchine Readable Cataloging. The standard for computer catalog records.

Obverse_____The front side, or face side of a page. The back side is called the Verso.

OCLC______ Online Computer Library Center. A not for profit computer service and research organization whose system helps libraries locate, acquire, catalog and lend library materials. Another large source of cataloging records.

P-slip (sometimes Pink Slip)______ A 3x5” work form used in libraries. Many times p-slips were made from the backs of old catalog cards. At SEKLS, “Pink Slips” are the work forms used to request cataloging for non-automated libraries. In libraries where there are lots of forms of a variety of colors, p-slip is the preferred form of the term.

Printing date______ The date when an item was printed. This may be newer than the copyright date or publication date, but is not significant. The information dates from the copyright date. A printing date only shows that the book was popular enough to be reprinted. Do not use a printing date for any cataloging.

Regular print______ Regular print books are usually published in 8-12 pt. font. (This document is written with a 12 pt. font.) There is no distinction for regular print in cataloging. This definition is included for your information.

RDA______ Resource Description Access. New cataloging rules being written for release in early 2009.

Screen title ______The name as shown on the screen of a movie. It is considered the most correct version of the title. (Screen titles are like title pages.) This title may not be the same as the title shown on the cover of the box (cover title), or case of the item (case title).

Sears List of Subject Headings ______ A shorter controlled list of terms (the print copy takes only one book) used to describe topics being classified. The language used in Sears is more "popular terms" than used in Library of Congress Subject Headings. These headings are often used by small libraries and schools. Subject headings are used in cataloging to help people find material about a topic when they do not know the author or title.

See also reference______ A double cross reference that points users to an equally valid, alternate term. Examples: “Horses see also Ponies” “Ponies see also Horses.”
Spine title ______The name of an item as printed on its spine. This may not be the same as the cover title or title page. Prefer to use a title page title first, cover title second and use a spine title last.

Title page______ The name of the book as it is shown of the first fully printed pages of the book. It will give the full title of the book and identify the author and usually the publisher, sometimes the date.

Tweens______ Junior high students. Pre-teens. They feel too old for children’s books but aren’t quite ready for some teenage materials. Materials aren’t usually cataloged separately for this age group, but librarians are aware of their reading needs.

Verso______ Verso of the title page. The back side, or reverse, of the title page. In library jargon, “verso” is the publisher data that helps a cataloger to identify unique information about an item. Publishers usually print their legal information, publisher’s address and printing history as well as CIP and ISBN on the back of the title page. That is why this information is called verso information. Some publishers get creative where they place verso information. It may be on the left. hand side of a two page title page, or at the end of the index, or with other “back matter.” Older books, particularly rare books, have limited verso information. The front of the page is called the Obverse.

Young Adult (YA)______ Material written specifically for teenagers. This may be fiction or non-fiction. The genre is read by both junior and senior high students. Material written for older teens may have more mature content than is appropriate for preteens.

Z39.50______ A computer standard for shared cataloging. Catalogs that accept the Z39.50 protocol can share information through the Internet. This promises to be a source of many free computerized cataloging records.

Kansas Health Online

2008-07-17T09:39:00.005-05:00

.
Did the Doctor tell your patron he had a disease with a name a mile long, and now the patron is asking you to explain it in language he can understand? Do you have a self-employed patron who wants to explore his insurance options? How do you help the mother who wants to know if coughing and a low grade fever are serious enough to take her child to the doctor? Where do you find information for the nursing student (or grade school student) who has to do a report on the circulation system?

Have no fear! Help is here! Search http://kansashealthonline.org

Kansas Health Online is sponsored by the National Libraries of Medicine, The Kansas Health Policy Authority, the A. R. Dykes Medical Library at the University of Kansas Medical Center and the State Library of Kansas. I'm really excited about it because it gives librarians and consumers "one-stop-shopping" for a world of quality health information. You will no longer need to "Google" the topic and wade through all the folks wanting to sell you an herbal treatment or home remedy instead of finding the hard facts.

This website links you to handpicked websites that offer all sorts of information: Symptoms, How to find a doctor, Information about a disease, the latest healthy living information. Going in for surgery? You can watch videos of surgical procedures so you understand exactly what will happen. This is particularly comforting to some children who don't understand what will happen to them during a procedure such as a tonsillectomy.

Coming this fall, Kansas Health Online will join more than 20 other states giving Go Local information. This portion of the website will link searchers to hospitals and agencies offering services in your hometown, county and region. Right now Mary Lou Chard is entering the GoLocal information that SEKLS librarians have shared with her. Other parts of the state will be covered by other data entry people. We hope to see the service "live" before Christmas.

Check out the website! It's one you will wnat to bookmark on the reference computer. Your patrons will love this service.

Free Louis L'Amour Centennial Book

2008-07-10T11:24:00.001-05:00

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Louis L'Amour's birthday, Bantam Books is giving a free copy of Education of a Wantering Man to free lending libraries that request the book.

As popular as Louis L'Amour's books are with patrons who read Westerns, this would be a good addition to your collection. It would let them learn more about the author. The offer expires July 14, 2008. The publisher expects books to be delivered by September 2008.

Go to this website to request a copy.

http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/lamour/

Transition Notebook

2008-07-02T12:11:00.019-05:00

Chris Rippel, the System Consultant at Central Kansas Library System, is encouraging his librarians to make a Transition Notebook. He says,

“A Transition Notebook captures the knowledge of the current library director for passing to the next director.”

I love this idea! Every job should have a transition notebook. What if you won a free trip around the world and had to leave tomorrow? Someone would have to carry on until you get back. You wouldn’t have time to write the manual as you are getting on the cruise ship. With a tip of the hat to Chris, here are some things to include in your notebook. You may think of more:

1. Copy of your library policies and personnel policies.
2. Board minutes for the last 12 months and its long range plan.
3. Copy of last year's budget.
4. Copy of last year's annual statistical report for your library.
5. Organizational chart.
6. Important phone numbers (Include SEKLS staff!).
7. Passwords for computers and all Web sites.
8. Schedule for maintaining computers.
9. A procedure manual that includes (but isn’t limited to):
Instructions for ordering books.
Instructions for cataloging.
Instructions for processing materials.
Instructions for operating the library’s computers.
Instructions for checking out every kind of material.
Instructions for making inter-library loans.
Checklist for opening the library.
Checklist for closing the library.
Lists of all reports you complete, when they are due, and how to do them.
Other information unique to your library.
Once the notebook is written, review it at least once a year and correct the things that have changed.

Please Write in This Book!

2008-06-30T09:35:00.007-05:00

There has been a discussion on the Kan-Lib-L list that fascinates me . A patron mentioned to his local librarian that he had seen at another library a piece of paper glued inside the front cover of book. It invited readers to rate the book. The patron said he liked it because it served two needs -- he found out how his peers liked the book and he could see if he had read it before. (As he got older he sometimes forgot which books he had already read.)

This sounds great. How many of you run through the reader reviews on Amazon or your online book clubs to get a feel for a book before you purchase it? Getting feedback from local readers is even better. In smaller communities you may even know the reviewer. it might prompt an informal book discussion next time you see him or her.

The reminder piece is also valuable. After my home town library automated, the large print readers took to penciling their initials and the year in the upper left corner of the back cover of books. It particularly helped my Mom because she brought home library books for both herself and Dad. She would check for his initials before choosing books for him so she didn't waste her time bringing him books he had already read.

My parents initialed their own books, too. I reread one of Mom's books this weekend. It was The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart, published in 1946. Mom bought it in 1947. I read it once when I was a teenager and picked it up for light reading Sunday. When I closed the last page, I saw Mom's initials inside the back cover and the date. It was two years before she died. Wouldn't it have been great if she had left a comment? What if there had been a sentence from 1947 when she first read it (one year before I was born.) Then another note from when my teenage self read it in the early 1960s. Finally another note from Mom in 1998 and myself again in 2008? What dialog might we have established? Would the discussion pass along to my daughter and granddaughter?

Most libraries don't want folks penciling in comments, or even initials, on the back cover. The Kan-Lib-L discussion knocked around techniques for promoting the discussion. The consensus was a 3x5 slip of paper, perhaps computer generated, that invited comments and provided lines for writing would be the best method. The slips could be rubber cemented into to book much as date due slips were done in pre-automation days. If the idea takes off, some library supply house might even preprint them for us!

Book Publishers Are Supporting Book Reading Groups

2008-06-30T09:10:00.011-05:00

Book Reading Groups have always been library staples, but they have become more popular that ever, most likely thanks to Oprah's Book Club. :)

I have seen discussion guides for various books at publishers' booths when I visit conventions. I recently received a catalog from Macmillan Group in the form of a short discussion guide. It's called Reading Group Gold and covers books published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Henry Holt, Picador, St. Martin's Griffin, St. Martin's Press and Tor/Forge.

Each book featured has a brief plot summary, 3-4 discussion questions and information about the author. There is a supporting website at http://www.readinggroupgold.com/ with more information on each of these books. In the back of the catalog is a listing of more titles covered on the website.

If you have a book your discussion group is planning to cover, check the publisher's website (even if it isn't one of the Macmillan Group mentioned above) to see if you can find information there. Many publishers are providing discussion aids because it is a good thing for them and for libraries. It puts more of their books before the public and it provides busy librarians with reliable discussion information. Check the Book Discussion Blog from ALA mentioned in an earlier post. too! Click on the "book.discussion.groups" tag on the left to get to it quickly.

Literature Resource Center

2008-06-03T14:38:00.005-05:00

The problem with blogging is everything posts in reverse order -- you are seeing the 3rd set of database notes before the first. For that reason, I'll repeat that this is a reprint (sans screen prints) of Robert Lindsey's handouts on the Kansas State Library databases from a workshop he did last spring.

This database lets you find information about authors, criticisms of their work, bibliographies, timelines and other information related to authors and their works.

Search by Author. These are long biographical and career overviews, between 12 to 30 or more pages, and they include extensive bibliographies of works by and about the author.

The Other Tabs

Literary Criticism, Articles & Work Overviews is the next tab, and it has three sub-tabs in green (see back side of page). For articles about one certain writing of an author, such as Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, look under the Work Overviews sub-tab.

Bibliographies tab mostly takes you back to the bibliographies listed under the Biographies tab.

Additional Resources tab takes you to reviewed websites such as official Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize, scholarly groups, or PBS sites.

Literary-Historical Timeline has nothing to do with your search. It is simply a timeline of events to put authors and books iton historical perspective.

Search for Author by Type from the front page:

Fill in any one or more fields.
If you get no results, eliminate fields one-at-a-time until you get results you are satisfied with.

For example, if I only pick Genre: Slave Narratives, I get results. If I pick Genre: Slave Narratives, AND Theme: Black womanhood, I get no results. I need to change one or the other back to *None selected*.

InfoTrac Databases

2008-06-03T13:59:00.003-05:00

This is another of Robert Lindsey's handouts that explains using the InfoTrak database.

InfoTrak offers three seach methods.

The “cross-searchable databases” drops you in at a “Subject Guide” search.
You can choose to do a “Basic Search” which is more like a keyword search,
or an “Advanced Search” which allows the most control.

In a Subject Guide search for Henry VIII the results will look like this: (don’t overlook the subdivisions)

Henry VIII (England)

see Henry VIII, King of England

Henry VIII (King of England)

see Henry VIII, King of England

Henry VIII, King of England

Henry VIII, of England

see Henry VIII, King of England

Henry VIII, King of England

Subdivisions

For Advanced Search youu would enter your search terms in the boxes labeled “keyword” and select the proper linking term (“and” or “or”):

Advance Search

Select index(es) and enter search term(s)

Keyword

and/or Keyword

Search

Either way, when you get the list of articles, you will see a screen with tabs at the top labeled Magazines, Academic Journals, Reference, etc.

Select the proper tab for your search.

Then you will get a list of citations.
The screen will give a box on the right that lists subject headings and a list of citations at the right.
Below each citation are links for: Full text About this Publication How to cite

Subject Terms on the left,

If they are Full-Text, Abstract, or Citation only,

How to Cite in MLA or APA,

Total number of articles found under this tab,

Tabs across the top indicate what kind of article they are (Multimedia includes transcripts of National Public Radio, or NPR),

The “cross-searchable” or all-in-one-search databases are:

Custom Newspapers, Military and Intelligence, Professional Collection, Religion and Philosophy, Business and Company ASAP, Health Reference Center Academic, General Business File ASAP, Computer Database, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, Expanded Academic ASAP, InfoTrac OneFile, General Reference Center Gold, Informe, Junior Edition, Student Edition, LegalTrac, and Academic OneFile.

There are other databases that you can use, but are not “cross-searchable” and must be searched individually. They are listed below:

National Newspaper Index 1977 - Current. Index only to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post.

Literature Resource Center - LRC Current. Find biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on nearly 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world…

Kids InfoBits 2004 - Current. Kids InfoBits is a database developed especially for Kindergarten through Grade 5. Featuring a developmentally appropriate, visually graphic interface. The curriculum-related, age appropriate, full-text content is from elementary reference sources and magazines. This database covers geography, current events, the arts, science, health, people, government, history, sports and more.

Business and Company Resource Center 1980 – Current. Business and Company Resource Center is a fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.

Health and Wellness Resource Center 1980 - Current. Provides instant access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference materials. Includes nearly 400 health/ medical journals, numerous reference volumes, over 700 health videos from partner Healthology, Inc., hundreds of pamphlets and health-related articles from 2,200 general interest publications in addition to a broad collection of Thomson Gale reference titles. Material contained in this Resource Center is intended for informational purposes only.

Using Heritage Quest

2008-06-03T13:43:00.003-05:00

Robert Lindsey, Instruction and Reference Librarian at Pittsburg State University did a Kansas State Library Databases workshop for us last year. His handouts remain popular with folks exploring the databases. He has given me permission to post them here so more people can access them. Unfortunately, his screen prints don't transfer to the blog very well, so I have deleted them.

Heritage Quest

Searching the Census: 1790 – 1930. 1890 has only 6,160 names from 8 states and DC. 1930 is not finished being transcribed yet. Heritage Quest does not search 1830, 1840, 1850. If you have series, roll & page number, or state, county & township you can get to your person for those years. 1850 is the first year the Census lists every name in the household.

Searching for names: Always look for various spellings. John, Jno, Jon, J; Robert, Rob’t, R, Bob, Bert; Lindsey, Lindsay, Linsey. Middle names were popularly used as the “common” name so look for that also. Sometimes the handwriting or the photocopy is just plain illegible and transcribers made their best guess.

Search can be done any number of ways, but must retrieve less than 1000 results.

Once you have a list, you can sort it by Surname, Given name, State, Age, County, Sex, Race, Birthplace, or Location.

You can view a census form up to 400% zoom.

Can view a negative for hard to read pages. Some names will be on Subpage B.

Printing a census form:

Print will print the whole page in miniature but with the citation information.

Download will allow you to select the section of the page you want to print, or print the whole page full-size. Chose PDF File.

Use the Snapshot tool to highlight the section you want to print.

When printing be sure Page Scaling says Fit to Printable Area.

After printing, write the Roll, Series and Page numbers on printout.

Searching Books:

Search by name and/or place.
Not very neat or easy.
Searches for words from the same search box that are on the same page. For example: in the name search box if you put William Smith it searches for “William” and “Smith” on the same page.
If you search for Place: Independence, Kansas, it searches for “Independence” and “Kansas” on the same page.
You can use quote marks, “William Smith” but then you might miss Smith, William, or William and Mary Smith, or William E. Smith.

Place can be a city, county, state or institution such as Kansas State Teachers College.

Keywords: Civil War, mining, railroad, libraries, Progressivism, Baptist, teacher, etc.

When your list of books appears, you have a choice to View Hits or View Image.

View Image takes you to the book,

You want to View Hits.

Click on the number on the left under Hits to see pages where your search terms appear.

Use the button to go to the next instance of your search term.

Searching PERSI: Similar to books, but no full-text. Just citations. A lot of information.

Revolutionary War: [Includes an estimated 80,000 pension and bounty-land-warrant application files based on the participation of American military, naval, and marine officers and enlisted men in the Revolutionary War.

The Talking Books Librarian Blog

2008-04-28T20:45:00.011-05:00

My colleague Jamie has started the Talking Books Librarian blog. Check it out at http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com/

The blog keeps you current on material available for older adults and those with disabilities, as well as promoting the free Talking Books program by the Library of Congress. You can add her blog to your RSS reader. If you’re not big into RSS readers and blogs in general, she has made it easy on you. You can subscribe to blog updates via email. Simply go to http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com/ and enter your email address in the “subscribe via email” box on the right-hand side of the page. It couldn’t be easier!

Take a peek at Jaime's blog. She's a great Special Needs Librarian. You'll find some good stuff on her blog.

Law Resources

2008-03-12T13:29:00.006-05:00

Andrew Evans spoke to an SEKLS workshop on March 6. He gave us a handout that gives links to online resources that libraries of all sizes can use to help their patrons with legal questions. He was particularly impressed with the Wilson County website because it included blank forms for many things people request. I was impressed with all the links that are available on the Washburn University Law Library site www.washlaw.edu.

Andrew graciously allowed me to share his handout on the idea blog so other librarians can access this information.

Law Resources Workshop for the Small Library Handout

Speaker: Andrew Evans, JD, MLS

Head of Reference & Government Documents Librarian

Adjunct Professor of Law

Washburn University School of Law

1700 SW College Ave

Topeka KS 66621

Introduction

Don't commit legal reference malpractice. The best method is to point patrons towards the information and do not interpret it. Oftentimes, the wrong kind of help can make the patron worse off.

Kansas Legal Services: 1-800-723-6953

Kansas Bar Association: http://ksbar.org/

http://www.martindale.com

Thoughts on collection development:

http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_sp9912/pub_sp9912_ProDev.pdf

Good Legal LIS Resources

http://www.aallnet.org/products/

www.washlaw.edu

http://nolo.com/

***[highly recommended] Nolo’s “Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law” by Stephen R. Elias & Susan Levinkind (14^th edition), August 2007

http://www.nolo.com/product.cfm/ObjectID/ADA3D233-2448-4AFE-96BF37FF240C53F7/104/

Statutes

Every library should have a copy of its state's statutes or law. Kansas Statutes Annotated is available from the secretary of state's office. http://www.kssos.org/forms/Elections/LS.pdf

The online version is available for free but does not have annotations. Kansas state legislators can give away 2 sets of the state statues each year. If your library cannot afford to buy a set, ask your legislator to consider giving your library one of those free sets.

http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-statutes/index.do

Kansas Administrative Regulations

What are they? http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-kars/karInfo.do

The regulations for administrative agencies are also available online.

http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-kars/index.do

Internet

Google is very interesting. It is frequently mentioned in pop culture. Google is also a verb. I googled that person I met at the conference.

http://www.google.com

I like Google, but it’s not the end all and be all. Perhaps it can be a good place to start.

http://digbig.com/4tcdf

For my area of work, going to a specialized database is the best method. Also, I prefer starting my searches narrow and then broadening them out.

Washlaw

http://www.washlaw.edu

Washlaw is regularly updated by the librarians and staff of Washburn Law Library. The information on the website tomorrow will probably differ from what is available tomorrow. Legal information is placed in easy to find categories. Stay tuned for changes.

http://www.washlaw.edu/uslaw/states/Kansas/index.html

Let’s look at the state materials. For Kansas, one thing I want to point out is the Rules of Evidence. As you can see, it is a word document. Since no website has consolidated these, we decided to take up the project. It was a lot of cutting and pasting to get all the statutes together. Government documents are often in the public domain.

Kansas Statutes

http://www.washlaw.edu/uslaw/states/Kansas

Kansas Attorney General Opinions

http://ksag.washburnlaw.edu/

Other states are available through www.washlaw.edu

City Codes

http://www.washlaw.edu/cities/

http://www.municode.com

Fredonia http://www.fredoniaks.org/

http://www.lkm.org/publications/sto/2007-sto-order-form.pdf

http://www.lkm.org/publications/upoc/2007-upoc-order-form.pdf

County Codes

Wilson County http://www.wilson.kansasgov.com/ (none online)

Shawnee County http://www.co.shawnee.ks.us/counselor/pdf/SNCode.pdf

County Appraisers

http://www.co.shawnee.ks.us/Ap/R_prop/Disclaimer.shtm

http://www.elk.kansasgov.com/MV2Base.asp?VarCN=10

http://www.allencounty.org/apprais/index.htm

Bill Tracking/Lobbying

http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/bills.do

Local Courts

http://www.kscourts.org/districts/

Wilson County

http://www.31stjudicialdistrict.org./atty0227wl.htm has attorney dockets

http://www.31stjudicialdistrict.org/Forms.html has very good forms available.

State Courts

http://www.kscourts.org

http://www.osca.state.mo.us

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/start.asp?viewtype=COURTS

Legal professionals who practice or work in Kansas, Missouri, or Oklahoma use these websites frequently. In addition to useful court information, one can also link to opinions of state supreme courts, state courts of appeal, and some of the district courts.

U.S. Court of Appeals

http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov

http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov

U.S. Supreme Court

http://www.supremecourtus.gov

Legal Directory

http://www.washlaw.edu/reflaw/refdir.html

News

http://www.washlaw.edu/news/index.html

Business News

http://finance.yahoo.com

http://finance.google.com/finance

http://online.wsj.com

Business Start-up

http://www.kssos.org/main.html

Securities and Exchange Commission

http://www.sec.gov

Guidestar

www.guidestar.org

Executive Paywatch

http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/index.cfm

Click on CEO pay database and check the database.

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/olms/rrlo/lmrda.htm

Department of Labor

http://www.dol.gov/

U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services

http://www.uscis.gov

Listservs, Blogs, Forums, and Wikis

Listservs

http://www.washlaw.edu/discussion

http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo

http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html

Discussion groups are a great way to network. Forums tend to have a lot of strange members; however, one can learn what not to do.

http://chat.lawinfo.com

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums

http://forums.legalmatch.com

Blogs often allow readers to make comments.

http://law-library.rutgers.edu/resources/lawblogs.php

http://www.blawg.com

Wikis can be information but also serves as tools for information.

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://washalr.pbwiki.com/Annotations

People Finding

http://switchboard.com

http://accurint.com

http://www.melissadata.com
http://www.pretrieve.com

http://www.facebook.com

http://classmates.com

William Allen White Award Nominees Promoted on YouTube by Topeka Area Students

2008-01-10T13:33:00.001-06:00

Robin Clark of Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library shared this with the members of Kanlib-L. What a wonderful idea!

Traditionally, William Allen White (WAW) book award nominee booktalks have been performed annually by Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library staff in person at local area schools. Realizing that it is impossible to reach all students in the service area in person, TSCPL bookmobile staffers Sandy Lane and Robin Clark collaborated with Topeka area gifted students to produce these highly creative student written and performed videos on Youtube featuring book reviews of the current William Allen White nominees for 2007-2008. The videos include interviews from “The Dr. Dyl Show”, several inanimate object reviewers, masked anonymous book reviewers, and one with exceptional headgear.

The boost in exposure includes posting the WAW video links on local, state, regional and national library listservs, the WAW official website, online library newsletters and blogs, as well as emails to area school media specialists.

Hopes are that as students view these peer produced video reviews, they will be more interested in reading the nominees and better prepared to vote by April 15, the end date for selection of the William Allen White award for 2008.

Videos may be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=TopekaLibrary

Leave a comment on Youtube and let us know what you think!

Booklist Book Group Blog

2008-01-10T08:44:00.000-06:00

Does your library have a book discussion group? Are you always in the market for new books to discuss and information about those books? The American Library Association's Booklist magazine sponsors a blog called Book Group Buzz. The link is http://bookgroupbuzz.booklistonline.com. I did a quick browse of the blog. It might be enough to encourage me to leave my knitting groups and join a book discussion group. :)

The blurb that appeared in my inbox today reports:

This blog will entertain you as it keeps you up to date on all things book group. A corps of bloggers posts about books that worked well (or books that bombed), and provides organizational tips and read-alike insights. The blog also points you to Web sites that offer book club ideas, reading guides, and other helpful resources. This blog will entertain you as it keeps you up to date on all things book group. A corps of bloggers posts about books that worked well (or books that bombed), and provides organizational tips and read-alike insights. The blog also points you to Web sites that offer book club ideas, reading guides, and other helpful resources.

Parents Lead Fight for School Librarians in Seattle

2008-01-04T09:35:00.000-06:00

Across the nation schools are trying to trim budgets by removing librarians from their libraries. We struggle with it here in Kansas just like the other states do. When I visit school librarians they are very aware that they need to be proactive in promoting their services and their value to their schools.

Librarians know that libraries are essential to education. One of the hottest topics for both K-12 and Academic Libraries is Teacher/Librarian Co-operation that brings library materials into the classroom in direct support of teaching units. They work everyday to remind teachers that they are not limited to the resources in their classrooms. The library puts a world of knowledge at their fingertips.

It's refreshing to hear that parents see this too. In Washington State, parents are standing up and demanding that the school libraries be staffed with trained librarians. In Seattle, Washington a loose-knit group of parents began defending their librarians and school libraries. They did e-mail campaigns and created a newsletter. They went to Spokane and lobbied their legislature.

The Los Angeles Times on December 23, 2007 reported

This month, they hand-delivered 2,500 signatures to a state government committee examining Washington's arcane school-funding system. "We did it to find out if anybody cared," said Layera Brunkan, who started the petition drive with Susan McBurney. Their children's elementary school was affected by the cuts.

"We realized that the school libraries are hemorrhaging, and it was far worse than we ever imagined," said Layera Brunkan.

State legislators, accustomed to professional lobbyists and official representatives of public education's many special interest groups, embraced the parents-turned-activists.

GOP state Rep. Skip Priest was buttonholed by the Spokane parents. He sits on the Basic Education Finance Joint Task Force, which will recommend education funding changes to the Legislature next year.

Here's a link to the full article from the Los Angeles Times as reported in American Libraries Direct. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-librarians23dec23,1,6494151.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

First-graders Solve Gingerbread Man Mystery

2007-12-15T22:38:00.000-06:00

This was in this week's Coffey County Republican. It's such a creative way to reinforce a joy of reading that I had to add it to the blog. The picture shows Principal Houchin and two class members discussing the missing gingerbread man.

From the Coffey County Republican, Dec. 14, 2007, pp 7, 10.

Amy Johnson
Reporter

WAVERLY — Yvonne Houchin’s first-grade class began the day in an ordinary way, Friday, Dec. 7, with the usual reading and writing assignments. About midmorning,the class took a break and worked together to make a gingerbread man. When the class went to retrieve
the gingerbread man from the school’s kitchen, he was gone. School cooks, Sandra McNabb and Dana Kistner, told the class that when they took him out of the oven, he jumped off the cookie sheet and took off running down the hall. They tried to catch him, but were unsuccessful.

Confused and concerned, the first-graders returned to the classroom to put together clues about where their gingerbread an might be. Some of the clues included a note left by the gingerbread man saying he had just begun his life and didn’t want to be eaten, suspicious crumbs in the hallway, and many unconfirmed sightings of the wayward gingerbread man at different locations around the school. However, he still remained at large.

Houchin sent the students in groups to different classrooms to ask the teachers and students if they had seen their gingerbread man. Most said no, and a few just laughed when asked if they had seen a gingerbread man with licorice eyes and buttons running around the school. But, Waverly Grade School Principal Tony Houchin told two students he did see the cookie frantically running down the hall toward the library. He said he tried to catch him, because of his strict policy of no running in the hall, but the gingerbread man was just too fast.

School custodian Dennis Tyson also said he saw the gingerbread man hurrying toward the fifth grade room, but was also unsuccessful in catching him. Armed with this information, the students told their classmates, and the first-graders quickly and quietly rushed to Patt Bray’s fifth-grade room before he could get away again.

When they arrived in the room, the fifth-graders were gone to computer class. This made it easier for the first-graders to roam around the room to search for the gingerbread man, as they were sure he had to be there. Haley Fischer was the first to sight the gingerbread man underneath the fifth-grade Christmas tree. He was trapped in a large zip-loc bag and had unfortunately suffered a broken leg during the escape attempt. The first-graders decided after all of the trouble the gingerbread man went through to not be eaten, they would respect his wishes. The gingerbread man now sits in the classroom, watching over the students and enjoying his freedom.

More Time Management Tips

2007-12-05T20:48:00.002-06:00

This Method from Getting Things Done by David Allen

You already know everything you need to know about time management – you just need to be consistent about applying it.

Dealing with “The Stuff of Your Life”

Empty your mind.

Any unfinished action is an “open loop” your mind will chew on until you deal with it.
You can’t keep everything in short-term memory.
Some things will get forgotten.

Write it down.
Store it in a trusted system that you will use.
Take first item – piece of paper or e-mail or sticky note.
Decide what to do with it.

a. Choices: Trash it, Act on it or File it.
1) If it can be completed in 2 minutes or less, do it now!
2) If more than 2 minutes, assign it to a list or file it.
DO NOT return it to the in basket, in-box or place you keep your notes.
Transfer notes to lists.

“The next-action decision is central. That action needs to be the next physical, visible behavior, without exception, on every open loop. Any longer-than-two-minute, nondelegatable action you have identified needs to be tracked somewhere” -- David Allen

Next Action List
Waiting For Response List
Phone Calls to Make List
Someday/Maybe List

Review lists regularly.

Decide which has most priority or which you have time to do now.
Do it.

Only put three kinds of things on your calendars:

a. Appointments
b. Things to do on a specific date
c. Information needed for that day.
d. DO NOT PUT TO-DO LISTS ON YOUR CALENDAR!

Decision Making/Filing

Have an In-Box that collects the things that come to you. Have one at every place you “live” – home, work, your computer, your car if you travel a lot. Have as many as you need, but no more than you need. Don’t let things grow roots and stay in the in-box.

Take first item.

Deal with first item before going to next item.
Don’t let yourself throw something back because you don’t want to think about it now.

What is it?
Needs no action.

a. Not useful. Trash. Toss it/Delete it.
b. Not now, but will need later.File in Incubate:
Put physical item Tickler file under the date you will need it OR
2) File item in Reference Files and
3) Put note on calendar on the date you will need it. (Note tells you where it is filed.)

c. Not now, may want to use it in the future. File in Reference:
1)Keep physical Reference files within swivel distance of your desk.
2) Files in A-Z order OR
3) Keep in folders in your computer in-box OR
4) Save e-mail to appropriate folder on your computer outside your e-mail system. (Save as text-file)

Does need Action.

a. Can you do it in 2 minutes or less?
Do it now.
b. More than 2 minutes?
Are you the right person to deal with this?
*No? Delegate
*Yes. Determine action.
-- Mark it on appropriate list.
--Take action on it at appropriate time.

Go to the next item

Iris’s Little Trick:

Keep Post-it Notes handy. When you are concentrating on one project and a random thought pops up about something else, capture it on a sticky note. Let go of the random thought and carry on with your project. Later put the Post-it Note in the appropriate file folder for THAT project and deal with it when you get to that project.

Beginning Cataloger Tutorials

2007-12-03T23:36:00.001-06:00

Are you cataloging more and enjoying it less?

If you are a beginning cataloger, you may find tutorials at one of the following sites useful. I queried catalogers on AutoCat (list for catalogers) and educators on CLENERT (The ALA Roundtable for Continuing Education instructors) for their favorite sites. Here is the response as I posted it to AutoCat. My thanks to everyone who responded to my query!

There is no special order to the list. I'm leaving in the commentary about the sites
because it is useful.

1. I don't know if you are an OCLC member library, but they have some decent online intro to cataloging tutorials: http://www.oclc.org/education/tutorials/default.htm.
Regardless of whether you use OCLC, all of the tutorials at this site are free and could have
potential value for other systems. I had my assistant work through the MARC tuturial as well as a number of the Connexion Client tutorials. She seemed to appreciate a better understanding of everything as she copy catalogs.

2. OCLC. Introduction to MARC Tagging: An OCLC tutorial. This tutorial introduces you to the basics of bibliographic records, specifically MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) format records-what they are, how and why they are used, and how to read them.
http://www.oclc.org/support/training/connexion/marc/default.htm

3. Idaho's Alternative Basic Library Education (ABLE) Program has a series of tutorials. Is this what you had in mind?

Introduction to Technical Services & Cataloging http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course5/01index.htm

Introduction to Subject Headings
http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course6/01index.htm

Introduction to the Dewey Classification System
http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course7/01index.htm

Introduction to the MARC System
http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course8/01index.htm

4. Idaho State Library. Includes: Introduction to Technical Services and
Cataloging; Introduction to Subject Headings; Introduction to Dewey
Classification; and Introduction to MARC Cataloging.
http://libraries.idaho.gov/able

5. Are you familiar with LibraryU (http://learning.libraryu.org/home/)? LibraryU offers 4 cataloging-related courses, that might be just what you're looking for.

6. You might also try WebJunction (http://webjunction.org/do/Home). There are several cataloging courses listed in the e-learning clearinghouse section of Courses.

7. I don't know if any of these will be of use to you, but these three tutorials are on the topic of cataloging. I am maintaining a website of free online library tutorials at
http://home.earthlink.net/~stephaniegerding/accidentaltechnologytrainer/ html

If you hear of any others, I'd be happy to add them. [I couldn't get this link to work. iij]

8. Utah State Library. A basic cataloging tutorial with many links. Explanation of the Dewey Decimal system, MARC records, and subject headings. Some information may be slanted toward Utah users, especially resources for obtaining bibliographic records, but most of the information would be useful to any librarian.
http://library.utah.gov/library_services/continuing_education/cataloging_basics.htm

and for good measure:

9. It's not a tutorial, but the most helpful web resource I've found is on the Follett software site. They list each of the common MARC tags with a link to a basic description of the information that belongs in the field.
The URL is: http://www.fsc.follett.com/clientsupport/community/tagofthemonth/index.cfm
I think that anybody starting out in cataloging will find it very useful.

10. I(Iris Jones) will add this one myself in the "not a tutorial, but useful category": Understanding MARC Bibliographic from the Library of Congress and Follett. http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/

Organizing a Personal Library

2007-12-03T12:31:00.000-06:00

Do you have so many books it’s getting hard to find the one you are looking for? Would you like to set up your personal library a little bit like the public library?It’s not necessary to put spine labels on the books or to follow the Dewey Decimal System. All you need to do is to create an index of your collection and keep it where you can find it – 3x5 cards in a box; a notebook; a computer file. Describe the location of the book on the entry and be sure to return the book to the same place when it’s used. To make it easier to find, you can arrange the books in alphabetical order by author or title in each bookcase.

The computer file is probably the most versatile because it can be sorted by the author field, or the title field, or the “wooden bookcase in the living room” field. If you have Microsoft Access on your computer, you can download a free template from Microsoft called the Book Collection Database. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010186431033.aspx?pid=CT102144001033

Use the “notes” box to identify where theitem is located: “Bookcase in children’s room” “Stored in hall closet”, “Bathroom”. If you are experienced with Access, you can go into the “Table View” and add extra fields, such as “Topic” or “Location.” (That would let you use the Notes box for other information.)

Computers aren’t your bag? Write the information on recipe cards and file them. You can add ABC dividers to make it easier to sort the cards. Where do you store them? Cards can be kept in a recipe box, a shoe box, or a purchased a file drawer from an office supply. There are single drawer traveling boxes that will hold a large number of cards. (100 cards take about 1” of space.) The benefit of file cards is they can be rearranged and cards can be inserted (or removed) between existing cards. Ah ha! Your own Card Catalog!

If you prefer to use a notebook, use a small ring binder (5x7 or smaller) and write one entry per page. That way you can interfile new entries or delete records without having to rewrite entire pages. Tab dividers can be labeled ABC so you can flip through the notebook easily.

Publisher Newsletter That's Useful for School and Children's Librarians

2007-11-27T09:01:00.000-06:00

WhatsNew@enslow.com or www.enslow.com
The above e-mail address is for the monthly newsletter from Enslow Publishing. I've added their website, too. They specialize in materials for K-12. The newsletter is jammed with good information and they cite review sources for many of their books when they promote them. Below is a sample of the articles published:

Collection Development List Created by Catherine Barr

As the world becomes a smaller place and our population becomes increasingly diverse, reading literature by authors of different ethnic origins is of course one of the best ways to gain insight. These three reader's guides will be particularly helpful for students in grades 9 to 12:

A Reader's Guide to Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club
A Reader's Guide to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
A Reader's Guide to Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun

Biographies also serve a useful role in stimulating conversations about multicultural topics, and can be used in many areas of study. Among new and forthcoming biographies offered by Enslow are the following series:

African-American Heroes (for grades 1-3): Muhammad Ali, Mae Jemison, Wynton Marsalis, Colin Powell, Chris Rock, Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey
African-American Biography Library (for grades 6 and up): Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, Barack Obama, Paul Robeson, Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Studying history is another excellent way to engage students in discussions of multicultural issues. Coming in early 2008 are titles in the From Many Cultures, One History series. These cover:

The Underground Railroad
Native American history
Puerto Rican history
School desegregation
Japanese-American internment during World War II
Latino civil rights

And, finally, holidays always offer opportunities to learn about important multicultural traditions. Among relevant Enslow series are:

Best Holiday Books (for grades 3–4), revised and updated editions of eight titles including Diwali—Hindu Festival of Lights and Ramadan and Id al-Fitr
Celebrate Holidays (for grades 5 and up), five titles including Celebrate Tet and Celebrate Kwanzaa

For details about these books click here or for more information about additional books, please visit http://www.enslow.com/

Sincerely,
Catherine Barr
Author/Co-author: Best Books for Children; Best Books for Middle School and Junior High Readers; Best Books for High School Readers (All available from Libraries Unlimited and http://lu.com/).

Getting it All Together: Time Management for Librarians

2007-11-21T13:45:00.000-06:00

An SEKLS Workshop

led by

Rosemary Honn and Lisa Farrar Wellman

of Ottawa Public Library

November 13, 2007

Icons for workshop handouts are shown at various parts of this blog. Double click on the image to see the handout.

We first did some brainstorming to identify the things that troubled us:

Habits of Ineffective Time Use

Interruptions

E-mail
Phone Calls
Co-workers/Patrons

Distractions
Avoidance
Procrastination
Short attention span
Setting priorities
Disorganization
Technological difficulties

After the brainstorming, we discussed ways to overcome those problems. Many of the ideas listed below came from the members of the workshop. Others came from Rosemary and Lisa. The dialog was going strong. We were on a roll!

Interruptions

Change the way you see the interruption: “This patron isn’t an interruption. This patron is my reason for being here.”
Don't think “I gotta do this dumb thing” but “I get to polish this skill!” Don't see the job as "Argh! I have to be on the Reference Desk” but “I’m getting a chance to give great customer service!”
If it takes 5 minutes or less to res olve, handle it on the spot. If longer, schedule an appointment.
Make complete notes so you can get back to where you were
Empower others to handle situations whenever possible (Don’t make yourself indispensable)
When in a spot where you will be interrupted (public desk) work on tasks that are interruptible. Pick tasks that are a. Small and b. Portable. A good example is taking review journals to the Reference Desk and reading the reviews. You can write notes on slips of paper for the ones you want to order, or make notes in the corner of the magazine.

Just say no:

State you are concerned.
Explain priorities (You have a deadline)
Stand up; walk with them (to escort them from your space)
Set up a time to meet later

Set boundaries
“Let me finish this so I can give you my full attention.”
“Thank you for your patience”
Patrons who give too much information: Smile. Say, “I’m sorry, but that’s not my business.”
Lonely talker monopolizing your time?
1. Keep a doorbell under reference desk to ring other staff for help
2. One person library? Keep cell phone in your pocket. Speed dial library phone to create a “rescue”
To e-mail or not to e-mail?
Pro: lets receiver read it at his/her convenience and answer after thinking about it or doing necessary research
Con: Takes lots of time – no immediate answer.
Rule of thumb: If it can be handled in a 5 minute conversation, telephone, don’t e-mail.
Telephone interruptions:
Hang up on conversation while YOU are talking – other person will think you were cut off (Who would hang up on himself??)
Sales calls:
Ask for a donation
“I’m sorry. Our budget is spent for this year. If you’d like to donate this book, we’d be glad to consider it”
Ask for reviews
“I’m sorry. We can’t buy books unless they have had a positive review in a critical review source. If you can provide me with reviews, I’d be glad to look at your material.”

Distractions

Self-discipline!

Dealing with troublemakers
1. Use humor/age
“Hey, Kids, I’m too old to listen to that kind of music. Would you turn it down a bit?”
“You know I’m old enough to be your grandma. I don’t need to hear language like that.”
2. Have programs for them
3.Enlist troublemakers as volunteers /have busywork ready
“Hey, Johnny, while you’re waiting for a computer, would you do this for me?”
4.Teen partners with younger readers
5.Teen Advisory Board
6.Let them have input on creating their space in the library – decorations, layout
7.Give them a list of recommended YA titles (YA core collection book from Neal Schulman publishers) and have them help you pick books for YA area
8.Magnetic board for poetry wall. They post their poetry (after librarian reviews it)
9.If really bad, have policy on dealing with troublemakers, and enforce it.
10.Know when to call the police.
11.Regularly occurring problem? Ask local law enforcement to walk through your building at that time of day once or twice a week.
Ottawa Public Library has targeted their “lost teens”.
Started an Anime Club
Invited guest speakers from college
Kids really enjoy it
Will be making their own movie

Procrastination/
Avoidance
Don’t make excuses. Just tackle a project.
Use peak time well – guard it!
Break a large project into smaller, more manageable parts.
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
Eat the whole frog, one bite at a time.
If a project takes less than 2 minutes, do it now.
Can’t get started? Bounce ideas off someone.
Post-it notes above desk/on computer:
“Don’t play Freecell”
Inspirational quotes
Post-It Portable Workspace by Tammy Cravit
Personal rewards: When I finish this I can take a break and …..
Vibrating timer: I have this much time to do this project.
Pick your projects. If likely to be interrupted, choose “Easy to get back to”
Don’t leave a project in a spot where you don’t know what to do next. (It’s harder to get started if you don’t know where you’re going.)
Listen to books on tape while doing housework
Use music:

Play classical music in background as white noise

Play music that is only 30-60 minutes long. Must be done when music ends.
Clean a room/ do a major project to upbeat music – Theme from Rocky; Sousa marches

Apply ideas found on Rosemary’s blog: http://dailyplanit.com/
Time map as discussed by Julie Morgenstern
Alternate negative and positive projects so you aren’t “stuck” doing the hard ones all at once.

Short Attention Span

Remove distractions.
1. Only have on your desk what you are working on.
2. Worst case scenario: bare desk with 1 paper and 1 pencil
Focus on one thing
Use a timer: “I have 15 minutes to complete this report”
Reward yourself when finished
Focus on focusing
Be creative

Let your mind wander
Jot down your ideas at random
Come back to them later when you can focus and act on them

Bounce ideas off others
Recruit Teammates to help you:

Tell what you are doing
Give them your priorities
Ask them the help you stay on task

Setting Priorities

Why are we here? Patrons!
Remember -- we are here to serve them.
What will serve them the best?
TIME!
What has outside deadlines?
What is most urgent?
Level of importance
What does the Boss say is most important?
What will give you the best return on your investment?
Plan ahead so you don’t have to live in the crisis zone.

Organizing
Plan your day each morning (in shower, while brushing teeth, while driving to work)
Review the day at the end (what needs to be carried forward? What was a success? A learning experience?)
Make a schedule and stick to it.

Keep most used items close to hand. Organize your desk to serve you -- not as just a flat spot to drop things.

Use a tickler file – file folders set up for day/month/year. This description comes from Making Time Work for You by Harold L. Taylor.

Calendars

1. Use only one calendar so everything is in one place
2. Highlight high priorities
Use online calendars so they can be shared and can be accessed from work and home
Yahoo calendar:

Shared family access
Syncs with Outlook and Outlook Express
Syncs with PDAs

To-do lists

Do the easy ones
Work on hard ones a little at a time
Electronic to-do lists: set alarms for repeating tasks
Cross it off when it’s done – there’s a lot of reward in this!
Prioritize items to know which ones are the most important, give the best return for your effort

E-mail

Use folders and filters to route e-mail to labeled areas
Route lists to a folder
Route specific people to their own folders
Move answered e-mail to a different folder (in e-mail or elsewhere on computer) so it doesn’t stay in Inbox
Delete after you have answered it!
Make decisions immediately
Just like paper mail there are only three things to do with e-mail:
Act on it
Pass it on
Discard it

OHIO = ONLY HANDLE IT ONCE

Post-it notes! :Portable folder with post-its listing to-dos. Goes with you.
Post-its above desk so you see them
Simplify!

Eliminate stuff.
Are you doing this for a good reason or just because we’ve always done it?
Keep only what you use and need

Consider alternative formats

E-books. Keep the content—get rid of the bulk
Audiobooks. Read (safely) while driving

Brainstorm aloud/ tape record your thoughts (Good use of travel time)
Fake yourself out – set personal deadline one day before real deadline
When feeling bogged down, listen to audiobooks of favorite time management books as a pep-talk.
Two good ones: 10 Natural Laws of Time and Life Management by Hyrum Smith
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Finish one project before starting new ones.
This doesn't mean you can't have more than one project in the works at the same time, it means when you are working on one thing -- don't multitask. Just do that thing. To keep those multiple projects afloat, schedule time each day to work on one part of each project.
Don’t re-invent the wheel. Use form letters, agendas, checklists, etc.
Bribe yourself with chocolate (or yarn, or whatever your weakness is!)

Getting Things Done
A synthesis of many good time management techniques can be found in David Allen's book Getting Things Done. The last two handouts covered the high spots and helped to summarize the workshop.

Good Reading

Best Organizing Tips by Stephanie Winston
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy.
Getting Things Done by David Allen
It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh
Making Time Work for You by Harold L. Taylor (of taylorontime.com)
Making Work Work by Julie Morgenstern
Manage Your Time, Your Work, Yourself by Merrill E. and Donna N. Douglass
Post-It Portable Workspace by Tammy Cravit
Productivity Power by Jim Temme
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (The Covey of Franklin-Covey)
Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young and Peggy Jones
Simplify Your Space by Maria Ramsland
10 Natural Laws of Time and Life Management by Hyrum Smith (the Franklin of Franklin-Covey.)
Task Order-Up by David Seah
Time Management for the Creative Person by Lee Silber
Woulda/Coulda/Shoulda by Arthur M. Freeman

Blogs/Websites

http://dailyplanit.com/
http://www.businessballs.com/
http://davidco.com/
http://www.flylady.net/
http://www.franklincovey.com/
http://www.shesintouch.com/
www.taylorontime.com/desktest/html
http://2time.wordpress.com/ime.wordpress.com/

Chris Rippel's Aisle Read Challenge

2007-11-16T11:26:00.002-06:00

At SEKLS Annual In-Service at Westminster Woods, Chris Rippel of Central Kansas Library System explained how patrons follow the path of least resistance when they use the library. The phenomena is so well known it has a name: The Principle of Least Effort. Patrons check out the books closest to the entrance; they check out books that are in the mid-range on the shelves (the ones that can be easily seen and that do not require stretching or bending to reach.) They don’t go any further into the library than they must to reach the materials they want.

How do we counter this bit of human nature? Chris had several suggestions. Since the books shelved within 15 feet of the front door get up to 137% more circulation that books outside that zone, put the books there that are being missed. Move the materials people know you have farther into the library so patrons have to walk through the building to reach them. They may find things they didn’t about as they go by. Then use that precious first 15 feet to promote things that aren’t being found.

The most valuable space in the building is to the right of the entrance. It’s the first area folks see when they come inside. So put your displays there. Don’t display things people will find anyway. Promote good books that haven’t been found. Pull something from those top shelves and bottom shelves that they aren’t finding and make a display of it.

Chris also told us to walk through our libraries as if we were patrons. What are they seeing? What is inviting? What is distracting? How do patrons get to the shelves? Does the path from the front door lead them through your merchandise the way the aisles do at a good department store?

Your main aisle is your “Yellow Brick Road.” You want it to stop at every department and important destination in the library. Is your environment comfortable and inviting? Would you want to spend time here? What can you change to make it more comfortable?

After telling us about marketing changes that can increase circulation, Chris challenged SEKLS librarians to give them a try and let him know how it worked. What did you do? How did it work? What did it change? Did you see a difference in circulation statistics for the areas that you marketed

If you use these techqniques, send Iris Jones an e-mail with your results. She will share it with Chris. Her e-mail is ijones@sekls.org.

Oswego Make Over

2007-11-15T05:50:00.001-06:00

Last fall Oswego Public Library and Southeast Kansas Library System partnered to do the Oswego Makeover Project. It has been a busy year, but the changes have been striking. We blogged the Project as it developed, from the beginning tour to see which library received the Makeover Grant to the Bus Tour where we showed off the results.

Slip over to the Oswego Makeover blog to see how it was done. The link is http://oswegomakeover.blogspot.com/

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

2007-11-15T05:27:00.000-06:00

How do you separate your meeting room from a library collection when they have to share the same space? The Chetopa Public Library has found a creative answer -- they put up a fence!
They purchased vinyl fencing at a local store and installed a lock on the gate. When the meeting room is used after hours, they can close off the Children's Area and lock the gate.

The fencing is cheery, provides display space and helps define the Children's Area. It's a win-win situation!

Halloween at Bowles Branch in Grand Prairie, Texas

2007-11-15T05:12:00.001-06:00

Besides having a Haunted Van to visit the branches, the Bowles Branch at Grand Prairie Public Library set up a Dia De Los Muertes display and had the kids "Bowling in the Aisles" Well, it was the BOWLes branch...

Truck or Treat!

2007-11-15T05:07:00.000-06:00

My friends at the Grand Prairie Public Library, in Grand Prairie, Texas had fun this Halloween. Instead of creating a Haunted House for library patrons to visit, they had a Haunted Van! The Library's courier van was decorated with spooks and treats. Of the bony fellow in the back of the van, they said "Mr. B.O. Nes (known to his friends as Slim) haunts the van, ever since he relied on his own outdated medical book, instead of coming to the Library for a current medical atlas."

Coffey County's Promotion Easels

2007-11-15T04:59:00.000-06:00

The Coffey County Library System has display easels outside each library near the front doors. They serve as an outdoor bulletin board for coming events. Library staff switch the decorations according to the season. Notices are stapled to the lattice work.

The easels are attractive, eye-catching, and inexpensive to make. They are constructed of 1x2s and lattice and given an all-weather stain.

Garnett's Library Donor Quilt

2007-11-15T04:50:00.000-06:00

Some libraries sell bricks and make a garden path outside their building when they want a fund raiser. Some have bake sales or book sales. The Garnett Public Library has a donor quilt!

The quilt is made to look like a book case with individual books clearly shown on each shelf. When donors "buy a book" they can have the information of their choice written on the spine as a title. "In memory of Mom and Dad", "In honor of Charles' high school graduation 2007", "Jonseys' Construction" -- whatever they want to say. Of course, the Library has final approval on the wording.

The quilt makes a colorful wall hanging near the Circulation Desk. The Library Director says the only thing she would do differently is to use machine embroidery to appliqué the titles. They have been handwriting the titles with a gold lettering pen. Over time the ink fades and becomes hard to read.

Welcome to Iris' Idea File!

2007-11-15T04:22:00.000-06:00

Hello! My name is Iris Jones and I'm the Library Consultant for the Southeast Kansas Library System. The librarians I work with are some of the most creative people I know. They come up with innovate ways to serve their patrons all the time. When I see what one library is doing, I want to share the idea with others, but there isn't always space in our newsletter to give the topic full justice. Ta da! Enter Iris' Idea File. I plan to post those neat ideas here so we can all share them.

If you have an idea to share with others, please drop me an e-mail and I'll post it here, too. My work e-mail address is ijones@sekls.org.

At some point this blog may migrate to a different address. Joe T., the SEKLS Technology Consultant, is reworking the SEKLS website. We want to connect this blog to it in some fashion. When that happens, I'll share the new address with readers. The present SEKLS website is www.sekls.org.