Securing Computer Equipment

Here are a few tips for securing public computer equipment:

Most of the tips for securing a computer mouse seem to involve either securing your PCs with cable and glue-on fasteners and running your mouse through a small "doohickey" attached to the cable, so that the mouse cannot be removed without disconnecting the cable. Or another suggestion is to bundle all of the computer cables together with plastic ties that would need to be cut in order to remove the mouse. (The thinking being that it would look pretty suspicious for someone to be fiddling for too long under the desk cutting the ties off.)

Read other librarians' solutions from this list:
http://www.cslib.org/conntech/2006/3797.html

Security kit for computers:
http://www.securitykit.com/pc_security_kits.htm

A way to secure the mouse to the cables:
http://www.tufnut.com/category.aspx?id=10

Additional computer security:
http://www.computersecurity.com/economy/index.html?id=2

NHU-PAC training dates added for Kingston & Hooksett

The NHU-PAC training roadshow has added the Seacoast and Merrimack Valley to its fall schedule, which also features a North Country visit and a just-completed trip to the Upper Valley.

Classes in using the NHU-PAC for interlibrary loan, searching, and copy cataloging will be offered October 17 at Bethlehem Elementary School, October 22 at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston, and November 5 at Hooksett Public Library. Further details can be found at our online registration site: go to http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/nhais/locations.htm and click on "online registration system." There is no charge for any of these classes.

Not sure which class is right for you? Call the NHAIS Help Desk at
271-2141 for more information.

Twitter: Reaching Patrons with Micro-blogging

Yesterday I wrote about how blogs are becoming more mainstream and how mainstream media are using blogs. Today, let's take another look at micro-blogging. Micro-blogging is abbreviated blogging -- posting short messages less than 140 characters in length. Why do people use micro-blogging services like Twitter? This video explains it so much better than I ever could!



Even after that great video, it might be hard to see how Twitter fits into your life and why you'd personally have a reason to use it. I'm not sure we should be asking ourselves if we'd find a use for micro-blogging in our personal lives, rather, can we incorporate micro-blogging as a publicity tool to reach younger patrons? As librarians, our job is to notice how technology fits into other people's lives and figure out how we can incorporate library information, events, and promotion into their lives as seamlessly as possible.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was a reluctant Twitter user (Twitterer?), and had to find things that were of interest to me before I was inclined to use it. The more I started researching Twitter, the more interested I've become in the phenomena of micro-blogging. Here is one of the major tools that really opened my eyes: Twitter Search. This site acts as a full-text search for real-time Twitter posts. Visit the site and do a search for a major political candidate. When you get the results, notice how many minutes apart people are posting. Chances are you'll get a page of posts all written in the last 5-10 minutes. And most interesting, notice how many updates you get every couple of minutes!

So why do I think micro-blogging is a trend to watch and try out? Two reasons: It is quicker to write a short post (and we are such busy, multi-tasking people!), and second, it is easier to send a short message on increasingly popular mobile devices.

If you are curious what other business or organizations use Twitter, check out this short list for a few examples:

The Nashua Telegraph
Seacoast Online
Birmingham Public Library

Why not create a Twitter account, take a minute each day or so to publicize an event or new book, and advertise your Tweets with a gadget on your blog?

Mainstream Media and Blogs Merging

There is a really good chance that some of the information you read online from "traditional" media sources is actually in the form of a blog. According to Technorati's Annual State of the Blogosphere 2008:

Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs (see The Bivings Group).

Read the full State of the Blogosphere report.

So what exactly is a blog?
To many people, a blog is a way to self-publish their life, thoughts, opinions, etc. For this reason, blogs are often looked down upon as being online diaries or one-person rants. Diaries and rants certainly still exist in the blogosphere, but blogs have become an important communication tool for traditional media, businesses, and even libraries!

Why are news organizations (and others!) providing content in the form of a blog?
In my opinion, blogs are the ultimate online publication tool because of their feature-rich and user-friendly software. Blogging software is built around a powerful database. Like content management systems, database-driven blogs provide functionality and ease of use typically unavailable in traditional HTML-based Websites.

How do you know if you are reading a blog?
Many people publish their blogs on free services like WordPress.com and Blogger.com. These blogs all have the domain wordpress.com or blogspot.com in their URL.

Also, look for the following features on blogs that a traditional Websites probably will not have:

• Full-text search
• Tags
• Comments
• Site navigation by date an article was published

(Keep in mind that content management systems also use the features mentioned above, as they too are database-driven sites.)

If you'd like to learn more about starting your own blog, consider attending a workshop on Blogger or WordPress.com this fall!

A Blog About Books

Keeping up with (much less staying ahead of) popular new titles can be a challenge -- especially for librarians who have a mile-long list of duties every day. Simplify your life a little by subscribing to a blog that is all about keeping ahead of the library reserve lists!

Check out Give 'em What They Want at:

http://earlyword.com

Latest Bib Formats & Standards is Available

I got this announcement from OCLC and wanted to share it in case anyone is interested. We use only the online version of this publication in NHAIS, and I would recommend that anyone using NHU-PAC as a source of cataloging redords should have an easily accessible link to OCLC Bib Formats and Standards as it defines all the tags, subfields, indicators, and such that you will find in NHU-PAC records. We decided several editions ago that the printed version was not a good use of money as the online is complete, up-to-date, easy to use and requires no filing.

Bibliographic Formats and Standards fourth print edition is now available for ordering though the OCLC Online Service Center. This guide to cataloging using OCLC’s WorldCat database provides you with essential information on creating and using bibliographic records in WorldCat, including:

· Input standards and guidelines for catalogers
· Tagging conventions
· Links to sources of related cataloging information

The fourth edition of Bibliographic Formats and Standards is the final edition available in print. The fourth edition will continue to be updated online and major revisions will be announced at Abstract & revision notes. Updates will be made available at Bibliographic Formats and Standards in PDF format so that holders of the fourth edition can keep their print copies up-to-date.

Bibliographic Formats and Standards fourth print edition is available at $50 U.S. Every order includes shipping to U.S. and Canada addresses. Shipments outside the U.S. and Canada may require additional duties and taxes.

Visit the OCLC Online Service Center to place an order.

ILL software being released

Thursday, 18 September 2008

SirsiDynix is releasing a new version of URSA today. In case that doesn’t mean anything to you – if you do ILL on NHU-PAC you are using URSA 3.0. The new and improved version is really nice and easy to use along with the same search capabilities of the NHU-PAC. Most of you are more likely than not wondering when is this guy going to tell us it’s available, or at the very least, that the planning process has begun. Well – it ain’t necessarily so. The fly in the ointment is that since there are greater capabilities there is also a software cost.

The dollar amount is unimportant since we will receive this upgrade as part of our maintenance agreement. The cost of which I speak is that there is a client software required. Each and every user would have to have this software installed on the computer used for ILL. This is an option that I will not implement. Having to install the software and maintain it is a burden too great for NHAIS Services to bear. The experience with the Gaylord Bros., Galaxy software, Supercat made it very clear to all of us in NHAIS that no matter how easy the supplier claims it is to install and maintain the software there are the inevitable difficulties that turn a good thing into a nightmare.

Believe me, please, NHAIS Services would very much like to see the newest Version of URSA up and running for ILL users. However, the reality of the client software requirement make that unlikely. Sirsi/Dynic has plans for an upgrade that will be useable through a web browser, just as the iPAC is now. This release is slated for sometime in 2009. Perhaps by then we’ll be well on our way through the bidding process for the “next generation system”

Charlie (10, 12)

Google's New Browser

Have you tried Google's new open source browser yet? I've been using it for about two weeks now and it has quickly become my browser of choice on my PC (there is no Mac version available yet). However much I like the browsing experience on a personal level, I'm not convinced that this early version of Chrome provides the security required on our public computers. 

Here is why I like Chrome:

• It's fast. On my home DSL connection my underpowered Vista laptop flys through the Web. 
• I like the combined search and URL boxes. 
• Tabbed browsing is always appreciated. 
• URLs displayed in the URL/search box are shown as such: "http://www.nh.gov/nhsl" - I think this is a terrific security feature. 

And the final clincher for me? Chrome provides suggested spellings for book title/author searches in Amazon.com/books. I use Amazon every week to look up audiobook reviews and have been hoping for this feature for some time now. 

Here is what I dislike about Chrome (from the perspective of a librarian):

• When a new tab opens, it automatically opens to a graphical display of the most visited sites - Everyone's sites! I can not seem to reset this option. (If there is something I'm missing, please let me know.) 
• There is no way to clear private data and history automatically when the browser closes. Each user would need to remember to delete their history and private data. 

I hope that either I've not been able to find these settings or that Google adds them to a new release. 

Would I install Chrome on public computers? Honestly, probably not at this time. Take a look at this paragraph from Information Week: 

One potentially negative aspect of Google Chrome is that it is more reliant on user browsing history than other browsers. Unless explicitly operated in Incognito mode or its default behavior is changed, Chrome records Web sites visited, recently closed tabs, recently saved Web pages, and frequently used search engines. It uses this information to populate a New Tab page when one is created.

Read the full article and user comments. 

Bottom line: Try out Chrome for yourself on your own computer. Are your patrons asking for an open source browser? If so, install Firefox and keep a watch for new privacy settings in future releases. 

Server upgrade - curtain call

Server Upgrade - Backups

As anyone knows who deals with computers doing backups of the database is critical. Well, SirsiDynix has a backup procedure for the iPAC configurations. This procedure compresses and rebuilds the records that make NHU-PAC appear as it does to your browser. This process takes all of two minutes to complete on the largest database, NHU-PAC. During the backups the server must be in single user mode. What this says is simple. No one else, excepting the administrator can access the iPACs during the backup process. The times when this script is run are as follows:

NHU-PAC FAQ -- 7:30 AM Mondays
Gilford 6:42 AM Mondays
Moose 7:01 AM Mondays
NHU-PAC 6:30 AM Mondays

So, the databases will be unavailable for a grand total of 2 minutes from the times listed above. The benefit of these backups is a backed-up, compressed, cleaned, and rebuilt configuration database. In the event of a configuration problem there will be a backup available for quick recovery. An added benefit, I’m hoping, is that My List will stop giving us problems. Keep your fingers crossed.

The server upgrade has been a long time in coming but it’s finally over – almost. There’s still the issue, which will require another billing from Sirsi/Dynix, of moving the Holdings Maintenance to one of the decommissioned servers. The move to a server class computer should eliminate the sporadic outages experienced by Holdings Maintenance users. The sporadic loss of connectivity to Holdings Maintenance was found to be a server inability to deal with the traffic load. This was determined by the State’s OIT (Office of Information Technology) people. Once again, Keep your fingers crossed.



On a more congenial note: a piece of sculpture was installed on the front lawn of the State Library this morning. Unfortunately the pictures of the sculptor and his work have been hijacked by Adobe and its damnable pdf format, so Shelley Auger provided me with a backup route. Gary Haven Smith is the creator of the granite sculpture with gold leaf in the inner part of the curves.

NHU-PAC training - fall 2008

Classes on using the NHU-PAC for searching, cataloging, and doing interlibrary loan are currently scheduled for Meriden on September 24 and Bethlehem on October 17. At least one more day of NHU-PAC training will be offered this season, either on the Seacoast or in the Merrimack Valley.

For details on times and locations, and to register online, go to http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/nhais/locations.htm and click on "online registration system" near the top. There is no charge for these classes. If the Upper Valley or North Country locations don't suit your needs, check back for additional classes soon.

Children's Book Review in Hooksett

According to Ann Hoey, (603-271-2865) the NHSL Youth Services Coordinator:

"Youth librarians in NH public and school libraries are invited to attend a Children's Book Review from September 22, 2008 through September 26, 2008 during operating hours of the Hooksett Public Library. (The Review will begin at 10 am on Monday, September 22 and will end at 4pm on Friday, September 26.) Librarians can preview over 400 new fiction and nonfiction titles for children and teens. They can also select a few titles for their library collection, which will be sent via van following the Review. If you would like to see the list of books featured at the Review, please go to NHU PAC, select the Librarian's Tools tab and then the Children's Book Review link. If you have
any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me."

Negative numbers in ILL stats

A NHU-PAC interlibrary loan user recently reported: "I just tried to run the statistics report for August 2008 and it showed we have -1 unfilled leading to a fill rate of 116%." According to documentation from Sirsi Dynix, "a minus number can occur when a higher number of items are shipped by a library within that time frame than the number of requests made to that library in the same period." In this case it's likely that a request received at the end of July wasn't shipped until early August. Looking at a larger time frame tends to lessen the chance of encountering negative numbers in the ILL statistics.

If you didn't know NHU-PAC's ILL program provides statistics, check out Mary Russell's posting on how to find those numbers.

Self-printing Large Posters

Have you ever wanted to create a large poster, something bigger than your standard printer can handle? If so, consider using PosteRazor. PosteRazor can help you "chop up" a large poster and print each piece separately. Put the pieces together with some tape or on a poster board, and voila, you have a larger poster! 

Disclaimer, I haven't tried this free, open source software out myself yet, but Mac World and PC World have reviewed it. Compatible with Windows, Macs, and Linux. 

Download PosteRazor from SourceForge. 

NHU-PAC outage Wed. 9-3

Wednesday, September 3, 1:10 p.m.: NHU-PAC is temporarily offline. We hope to have service restored shortly.

1:15 p.m. update: It's back!