Expand Your Library’s Collection with Podcasts

Are you looking for a way to expand your library’s collection without using up more shelf space or spending more money? Consider directing your patrons to podcasts! Podcasts can be wonderful "additions" to your library's collection.

You might be asking yourself, “Why podcasts? We have plenty of audio materials here for people to listen to.” Why not? Podcasts might fill a gap in your collection and, best of all, they're free! Podcasts can help you learn a foreign language, allow you to listen to a museum tour (for an upcoming trip!), or help you learn a new skill. Listen to one of the podcasts below and see what you think!

It is realistic to think that many of your iPod or MP3 – carrying patrons already have a favorite podcatcher (like iTunes or Odeo), but what about people who haven’t invested in players and don’t want to deal with downloading special podcatching software? Luckily, there are some very simple solutions for finding and listening to an occasional podcast from a computer.

The following sites offer two ways to locate podcasts: by keyword searching or by browsing a directory. Each site allows registered users to rate, tag, and review episodes, as well as subscribe to the podcast series.

Yahoo! Podcasts
Podcastpickle
Odeo

Of the services mentioned above, Yahoo offers the simplest and most intuitive interface; I recommend that beginners start with Yahoo.

Try out one of the following podcasts. Click on the "play" button or "listen" to hear the audio.

Learn Spanish with Coffee Break Spanish
Travel with Rick Steves
Learn Grammar with Grammar Girl
An audio tour of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London)

Please note: Although these services do not require special podcatching software to play a podcast, they do require software to download the file and transfer the audio to your MP3 player or iPod.

Lost book list for March 2007

Submitted by: Lee, Merrimack Public Library
Butterfly by James M. Cain (PS3505 .A3113 B8 1947)
Belongs to Plymouth State University


Submitted by: Harrisville PL (van stop Nelson)
We have a patron who thinks she may have returned her books to another library...most likely Keene or Peterborough, possibly Dublin
The missing titles are:
An Instance of the fingerpost by Iain Pears (F Pea)
The Human Stain by Philip Roth (F R)
Sweetwater Creek by Anne Rivers Siddons (F Sid)


Submitted by: Goodwin Library, Farmington (Tami)
"Rosemary Remembered" by Susan Wittig Albert was shipped from Troy/Gay-Kimball to Farmington/Goodwin on 2-27-07. The book never made it here. Would you please give a quick look to see if you may have it by mistake?

Submitted by: Wilmot
"Don't Let's go to the Dogs Tonight" by Alexandra Fuller. Missing for a long time. (Sent to Conway)
"Before You Know Kindness" by Chris Bohjalian. Missing on its way to Hudson.

Submitted by: Rochester PL (Donna)
North Hampton sent us back our book in January that we never received... In the Absence of Sun by Lee, Helie 979.4 Lee Helie

Submitted by: Ackworth Silsby Library (Lois Corcoran)
Center Harbor called me this week looking for Lessons in Becoming Myself, by Ellen Burstyn. Our call Number is 790.02 for that. Our records show that it was processed on 2/27, and went out in the Friday, Mar 2nd van from Charlestown, but hasn't shown up in Center Harbor yet. No sign of it misplaced in the building, either.

Submitted by Candia (Jon Godfrey)
These library items showed up in our book drop with no library identification:

CD The ranch / Danielle Steel SILC CD#4
CD The orchid thief / Susan Orlean SILC CD#4
CD Telegraph days / Larry McMurtry SILC CD#4
VHS Ryan's Daughter 17473 9 7(2) Drama

To add an item to the next lost book list send it to Mary Cronin (librarian@madison.lib.nh.us)

OCLC Connexion back on track

OCLC reports that they were able to resolve the issues they were having yesterday (03/27/2007) If you have problems with Connexion, check the OCLC System Alerts to see what is going on.

If you are still using Connexion client version 1.60 you need to upgrade to 1.72 before April 15. Client 1.60 will not work as of April 15. (The end of life of 1.60 has been extended from April 1 to April 15.)

Spring Training

If you are new to using the NHU-PAC and need some training, or if you just want a refresher the dates have been set and the registration form is ready for this spring's NHU-PAC training in Hooksett (where there is plenty of parking) and Concord. The Hooksett date is April 13th so don't delay if you want to attend those classes.

OCLC Connection is having problems

As of 03/27/2007 9:31:55 AM ET OCLC System Alerts reports that

OCLC Connexion (browser and client) is experiencing problems at this time. At this point the problem appears mainly to be slow response time, some users are reporting receiving the "Transaction lost" error. Operataions is investigating the problem, we will update this message as we receive more information from them.

I have also found that a search error is being returned for any search entered into the connexion client.

Saving Your Bookmarks Online

Instead of saving your favorite Websites to your browser, think about saving them online! There are many excellent services specifically created to manage your bookmarks. One of the easiest to use is the bookmarking feature from Yahoo! If you already have a Yahoo account, simply log in and visit: bookmarks.yahoo.com (Sign up as a new user if you do not have a pre-existing account.)

The greatest benefit of using an online bookmarking service is having access to all of your bookmarks from any online computer - home, work, while on vacation, etc. Additionally, Yahoo saves a copy of the Website to your account. This is a valuable service in an age where online files are known to disappear in an instant. (Best yet, it will save entire PDFs to your account!) Why not give online bookmarking a try? Here are a few tips to get started:

1. Once you've logged in, you can get started by importing your existing bookmarks from your browser or from another online bookmarking service. (Visit the "Tools" link >> Import Bookmarks.)
   
   
2. Add a small "bookmarklet" to your browser's link bar. This makes it just as easy to quickly bookmark sites as using your browser's favorites option.
   
   
   
3. Add notes and tag (assign subject headings) each bookmark to find your sites quickly!
   
   
   
4. See your bookmarks from any Internet-connected computer!
   
   

Other bookmarking services:
www.blinklist.com
del.icio.us

Email me for more information: bslossar [at] library.state.nh.us

OCLC back up, at least for now

As of 12:22pm on Monday March 19 NELINET says that access to OCLC through Connexion is back up and running, but additional outages may occur.

OCLC is down

As of 9:15 Monday March 19, NELINET has announced that ALL OCLC SYSTEMS ARE DOWN. This includes Connexion, the website (including system messages), Resource Sharing, and all other services.

OCLC is working on the problem. We will be notified when systems have returned to normal.

NH Audio Book Records Available

The NH Downloadable Audiobook Consortium received 458 MARC records this week which have been added to the NHU-PAC. Happy listening!

SirsiDynix changes?

Word from the CODI (Customers of Dynix Inc.)listserve was just received that SirsiDynix has stopped all development and rollout of the next iteration of the NHU-PAC software known as Horizon 8.0. This improvement path seems to have landed on the scrap heap of now dead software. The new and, hopefully, improved path is being called Rome. I hope there's no correlation between this new path and the HBO series of the same name, that's coming to an end in the next couple of weeks!

To allay fears of NHU-PAC's end-of-life jitters, it is helpful to know just what is the relationship between NHU-PAC and Horizon. The relationship is analogous to the lights on the dash board of a car and the mechanics ability to effect changes within the performance of a car. The NHU-PAC is, to simplify, the lights and gauges on the dashboard. You can do somethings but alteration of the database is impossible from the web interface. At NHAIS Services we work under the hood. The tool we use is Horizon 7.3.4. To stop development of the tool we use is disconcerting, but not completely unexpected. SirsiDynix was recently bought by an investment group known as Vista. Naturally, any investor looks to maximize returns. Unfortunately, the maximization seems to include trimming some of the software products at SirsiDynix.

I have a request into our liaison at SirsiDynix as to the next steps for us to move to the new version of the ILL module of NHU-PAC. The request was made this past Thursday, 3/12/2007. I can now see why there wasn't a more timely response.

SirsiDynix has a great track record in keeping software functioning long after development has ceased. There is no reason to think that the current software and hardware configurations will simply not be supported. In fact, the yearly maintenance fees have been paid so there is a contractual agreement between SirsiDynix and the State Library to keep us going through 2009.

The NHAIS Board has empowered a committee to look into the Next Generation of NHU-PAC. There is a meeting scheduled for later this month to finalize the survey of NHAIS users to find out what is good, bad, or indifferent about the current system and how to improve the next one. We are looking to the future, however, the future may be here quicker than we think.

As more information becomes available it will be posed here under this topic.

Audios, Videos & Foreign Language

The question has been asked twice in the past 10 days, so it seems like a point worth repeating: NHAIS Libraries can request records from OCLC (through the brief record form) for materials in any format or language at no charge. There USED TO BE a charge for these items, called a non-guideline charge, but it was discontinued several years ago.

You will find many, many, many records for audios, videos, and materials in dozens of different languages in the NHU-PAC. Feel free to add holdings to these records and to download them for use in your local catalog. If the item you have in hand doesn't match any of these records add a brief record to the system and NHAIS Services will add an OCLC record for the item (if one exists) to the NHU-PAC at no charge to you. If you library participates in the NHAIS OCLC program the terms of that agreement apply to these materials the same as any other.

Some of these materials, but not all, are eligible for the NHAIS Original Cataloging Program. If you submit a brief record for an item and it cannot be matched on OCLC it will be considered for original cataloging and you will be notified if it is not eligible for original cataloging.

So, go ahead and add those audios, videos, and non-English materials to NHU-PAC -- it won't cost you a thing.

Enhanced content restored

Tuesday, March 6: NHU-PAC's enhanced content was restored this morning. We're still looking into problems with how some formatting characters are displayed but the reviews, tables of contents, summaries, and pictures that have been missing from the NHU-PAC since January 24 are now back. Most of the database's outages in the past month were related to work on this problem by Syndetic Solutions and SirsiDynix.

Some van routes canceled Friday 3-1-07

The following NH State Library van routes WILL run today (Friday, March 1, 2007):

North Country
Southwestern A (James Weatherbee)
Capital District

Van drivers have canceled other routes for today. For more information, contact Ruby Matott (271-2616 or rmatott@libary.state.nh.us).

Lost Books List - Feb. 2007

The robe/ Lloyd Doublas (audiocassette version)
CSS Douglas Newmarket PL

The war of the world: twentieth-century conflict and the descent of the West/ Niall Ferguson 303.6 Ferguson Newmarket PL

Adventures of a psychic/ Sylvia Browne
ANF 133 BRO Newton, Gale Library

Animals, disease and human society/ Jo Swabe
SF 615.S935 1999 Keene State College

This is Margaret Perry's last offering of the Lost Book List. Mary Cronin of Madison (librarian@madison.lib.nh.us) will be taking over starting with the March List. Don't forget to give her your item's call number!

To add a book to the Lost List you need to include:
author
title
spine label
information
owning library

NH Librarians on NHPR Tonight

Plymouth State Univerity’s information architect Casey Bisson and Lichen Rancourt will befeatured on NHPR’s “The Front Porch” tonight (3/1/2007) at 6:30. Casey and Lichen will discuss their award-winning work to develop an open-source software application specifically designed to allow Internet users access to library catalogs via traditional Web searches.