Squeet Out of Commission

When we initially set up this blog we included two options for receiving it via email: Feedblitz and Squeet. The Feedblitz option, which seems to be very reliable, provides a daily digest of everything that was posted to the blog the previous day. The Squeet option was supposed to provide email distribution of posts several times each day. This has not been reliably the case over the past year and now the Squeet site has been totally unavailable for several days. Consequently, we have removed the option of subscribing via Squeet from our site. If you want an email version of this blog, please use the Feedblitz digest option which is at the very bottom of the NHAIS blog on the far right. Of course you can also subscribe to the RSS feed using whatever reader you like. This change also applies to the Book Notes NH Blog.

NHU-PAC back to normal

Monday, Nov. 19, 12:30 p.m.: NHU-PAC is functioning normally now and e-mail access has been restored so if you sent any messages to NHAIS Services earlier today you should see ackowledgments soon. A couple of libraries report problems connecting to the Holdings Maintenance server but that's a known problem (addressed in another post) which we hope to have fixed next month.

NHU-PAC keyword searching restored

Monday, Nov. 19, 10:55 a.m.: NHU-PAC keyword searching is working again. If you see anything else not working in the NHU-PAC, please contact the NHAIS Help Desk at 271-2141. We're still unable to get at our e-mail messages.

NHU-PAC browse searches work

Monday, Nov. 19, 10:15 a.m.: NHU-PAC browse searches are working while keyword searches continue to yield no results. You'll find the Browse Indexes subtab available on either the Welcome to NHU-PAC tab or the Advanced Searching tab. Browse searches are not available in the ILL program.

NHU-PAC searching still down

Monday, Nov. 19, 10:10 a.m.: NHU-PAC searches still yield no results. We're working on fixing network issues which are keeping us from getting searching restored. The same issues mean folks at the State Library (at least at the main building) are not able to get at their e-mail messages. If you need to contact anyone at the State Library this morning, your best bet is the telephone.

NHU-PAC searching down

Monday, Nov. 19, 8 a.m.: NHU-PAC searches currently yield no results. It's taking us a little longer than usual to get things going on this Monday morning but we hope to have searching restored within an hour.

9 a.m. update: Still trying to get some network issues fixed, still no search results.

The Future of Bibliographic Control

The catalogers among you may be interested in this recent announcement from the Library of Congress blog:

"Bibliographic-Future Working Group Presents Report
I’ve previously blogged about the working group that has been assiduously looking at the Future of Bibliographic Control. Today the working group will present its draft report at 1:30 p.m. EST at the Library. A live webcast will be available."

North Country Route Cancellation

Today's (11/8/07) North Country van delivery route is being cancelled, due to illness. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Labelling ILL Materials for Van Delivery

A number of library staff, including your van drivers, sort thousands of items, coming/going on the van, each week. Errors are bound to happen. Proper material labelling will help to keep these errors to a minimum.

Included below are excerpts from the Van Delivery Service instructions (http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/van_delivery/instructions.html - scroll down to Guidelines) being sent as a reminder of proper labelling procedures.

Addressing Material to Be Sent on the Van - To ensure that the material is sent to its proper destination, it is important to address the material correctly. Please follow these instructions.


Routing Slip - Use a routing slip, which is at least 2 inches wide and 11 inches long. The State Library does not provide these slips. A sample sheet of these slips appears in a PDF file at the end of the online instructions.

The following information should be placed on the routing slip in this order:


Town - Enter the name of the town in which the library being sent the materials is located. Please do not abbreviate the name of the town. This may cause confusion (e.g. N. Hampton - is this North Hampton or New Hampton). It is important to include the town to assure proper delivery. For example there is a Weeks Library in Greenland and one in Lancaster.


Library - Enter the name of the library being sent the material. Abbreviations such as PL for public library and HS for high school may be used.


Drop-Off Library - If the material is being sent to a library which receives its materials at another library, enter "FOR" followed by the name of the library to which the material is being sent. For example, if material is being sent to Taylor Library, East Derry via the Derry Public Library, the routing slip should be addressed as follows:

Town: Derry
Library: Derry Public Library
For: Taylor Library, East Derry


FROM - Enter the name of the library which is sending the material, followed by the name of the town if it is not evident in the name of the library.


DATE - Enter the date that the material is being sent.


Lending/Returning - Place a check mark next to the appropriate box to indicate whether you are lending the book to a library or returning the book which your library had borrowed.


Initials - The staff member who is processing the book should enter her/his initials.


Message - The bottom of the routing slip can be used to enter a message, special instructions, etc.


Special Address Instructions for the N.H. State Library - When sending materials to the State Library, please include the section to which the material is being sent (Electronic & Government Resources, Fiscal and Administrative Services, Library Development Services, NHAIS Services, Reference and Information Services, Talking Book Services, and Technical Services). The "To" part of the address should read as follows:

Town: Concord
Library: NH State Library (or NHSL)
NHAIS Services

Packaging of the Material - Material (books, envelopes, videos, cassettes, etc.) are placed into open bins which are transferred from and to a van. Material that is picked up is sorted and then placed into the appropriate bin at the State Library. To ensure that the material arrives at its proper destination in good condition, libraries are asked to package the materials in the following manner.

Books - The routing slip should be placed in approximately the middle of the book with the top portion of the slip containing the TO: address showing. At a minimum, one rubber band should be placed around the book.
If the book is in poor condition, it should be placed in a padded bag. The routing slip should be taped onto the front of the bag.

Envelope - Write the same information (to and from address) on the envelope as would be placed on a routing slip. If the envelope has been used before, please cross out all old addresses. Fasten the envelope.

Video - The routing slip should be taped to the cassette case, and a rubber band should be used to keep the case closed.

Films - The routing slip should be taped to film case.

Boxes - The box should be taped closed and a routing slip should be taped to the top of the box. Boxes should be of reasonable size and weight. A box is considered manageable if the librarian or other staff member (with the exception of the custodian) can lift it.

Paper Bags - Please do not use paper bags to send material via the van.

ILL issue: no search results

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2:20 p.m.: Searches in the ILL program now yield an error message: "Server 1 of group SVR is not registered." This is being worked on.

2:22 p.m.: ILL searching service has been restored.

ILL issue for IE7 users corrected

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 1:50 p.m.: The frame display issue with Internet Explorer 7 mentioned in a previous post today has been fixed. If you run into any other odd behavior in the ILL program today, please call the NHAIS Help Desk at 271-2141 to let us know.

ILL issue for IE7 users

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 1:30 p.m.: While NHU-PAC's ILL program is functioning normally now after changes made last night were reversed, there appears to remain an issue for users of Internet Explorer 7. Users report multiple frames crowding the screen when they try to place requests in the ILL program. This appears to be the return of a problem we had a year ago when IE7 was introduced. Until a fix was implemented at the end of January 2007, we advised users having this problem to use a different browser for their ILL work. We've let SirsiDynix know that the problem has returned. While we wait for a correction, you might want to look at the blog message from last November 14 if you're an IE7 user.

ILL restored

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 11:30 a.m.: NHU-PAC's ILL program should now function normally. If you continue to observe irregular behavior in the program, please call the NHAIS Help Desk at 271-2141 with details.

ILL outage

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 11:15 a.m.: The ILL server will be taken offline shortly to fix problems observed this morning. We hope to have it back in service fairly quickly.

ILL issues cont'd

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 10:25 a.m.: Some users report this morning that they get multiple columns when they try to launch an ILL search and are unable to proceed further. Others report they can do all the steps up to submitting the request but then get the Reorder Lender String screen. These variations apparently depend upon your computer's configurations. If you're able to search in the ILL program, follow the steps in the previous post to specify your lender string and see if you're able to submit the request. The issues with our ILL program have been reported to SirsiDynix.

ILL issue: selecting lenders

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 9:30 a.m.: The normal procedures for selecting a lender string in NHU-PAC's ILL program are not working this morning but there's a workaround. After clicking on the Request from Selected Lenders button on the Select Union Lenders page, you'll be taken to the Reorder Lender String page, where the only location displayed is NHUPAC (not a valid lender). If you click Save Changes there, you'll be taken back to the Request Summary but the lender string will still say NHUPAC. If you know the HSA codes of valid lenders, you may enter them, one at a time, just below the NHUPAC entry and click the blue plus sign. After you've entered all lenders, you MUST get rid of NHUPAC from your lender string by clicking the red minus sign. If you're not sure about valid lenders, click the green check mark, jot down HSA codes, check off at least one, submit, go to Reorder screen, save changes, and return to Request Summary to enter codes. We have reported this problem to SirsiDynix.

Brief ILL outage 6pm Mon. Nov. 5

NHU-PAC's ILL server will be offline briefly starting at 6 p.m. on Monday, November 5, 2007. This outage is necessary to correct an issue with the way ISBNs are displayed.

Holdings Maintenance connection problem found

From time to time in the past year, the NHAIS Help Desk has heard about some libraries being unable to connect to NHU-PAC's Holdings Maintenance login page. We've had technicians from SirsiDynix and the state look at the issue and, at long last, we believe the cause of the problem has been found. Unfortunately, we can't provide an instant fix. The solution requires a hardware change which we expect to implement before the year is out. In the meantime, we're taking steps to minimize the occurrence of the problem but expect there will continue to be times when some libraries will be unable to load the Holdings Maintenance login page. We ask for your patience and that you please try again later. Thank you to the many libraries that reported this problem and helped run diagnostic tests that eventually led to our finding the source of the problem.

Automation Survey

Please complete a short survey about your automation needs that we can use to develop an Automation Vendor Demonstration Day!

It is important to us that we gather as much information about your needs and budget so that we can work to bring in appropriate vendors to the demo day. The results of the form are closed and private, and can only be accessed by the site administrators. We will be compiling the information and will not be sharing your specific information with the vendors. We simply want to present the vendors with a realistic picture of the automation needs and restricted budgets that our NH libraries face.

http://lc.webjunction.org/nh/automationvendordemoday.aspx

Please complete the survey by Monday, November 12th.

Van Delivery Service 11/6/07 Election Day

The N.H. State Library is Open on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 (Election Day).

If your van delivery is that day and your library is going to be closed, please send me an e-mail diana.decota@dcr.nh.gov so that I can alert the driver that he doesn't have to stop.