Brief searching outage 4/30

Friday, April 30: NHU-PAC searching will be disabled for a few minutes starting at 7:35 a.m. to allow installation of an updated index. Searching service should be restored in about 5 minutes.

Lyrasis Classes are 25% off for a limited time

NHAIS member libraries can attend LYRASIS classes between now and December 21, 2010 at 25% off MEMBER Prices IF they register before JUNE 30, 2010. This offer includes LOTS of online classes as well as classes held at the LYRASIS New England offices in Southboro, MA. Training covers a wide range of library specific topics including management, weeding, cataloging, social networking technology, reference, preservation, and marketing. This offer is available to NHAIS libraries as part of a special offer LYRASIS has extended to legacy NELINET consortial associate members (like the NHSL).


To take advantage of this special training offer you need to:

• Create an online LYRASIS account for each person at your library who will be signing up for training. This is free and will allow you to take advantage of other LYRASIS benfits, like discounts on library supplies, that NHAIS Services will be announcing over the next few weeks.


• Register BEFORE June 30, 2010 for the classes you want to take. You can sign up for any class that will be held between now and December 21, 2010.
  
• Use the promo code LN2010AOS (first two are zeroes and the last is a capital letter "O") when you register to get the 25% discount. (I know--it is a confusing, weird code, I didn't select it.)


• You must either charge these classes to a credit card or have LYRASIS bill your library directly. When you set up your My Lyrasis account you will provide the billing address of your library to do this and there is no charge for creating this account. If you list the NHSL as the billing address the registration will get kicked back when it reaches the billing office and your registration in the class may be cancelled.

This offer provides staff development opportunities that require no travel and a good discount – I hope you can take full advantage of it!

NHAIS libraries will be able to take LYRASIS classes next year at Member Prices (through June 2011). The process to register for those will be the same (though your own LYRASIS online account and billed directly to your library). After that we are not sure what sort of discount (if any) will be available.

Brief searching outage 4/23

Friday, April 23: NHU-PAC searching will be disabled for a few minutes starting at 7:35 a.m. This is to allow installation of an updated index. Searching service should be restored within 10 minutes.

45 libraries need to complete NHPLAR

From Janet Eklund, Administrator of Library Operations, NHSL:

Thank you to all the librarians who called me yesterday and who worked on completing and submitting their 2009 NHPLAR! As of this morning, 45 libraries have either not started or have yet to complete & submit their annual reports. Please call me (603-271-2393) or email me anytime today if you are having problems and I am happy to help troubleshoot your survey. If you have lost your username & password, let me know!
Please remember that this report to the NH State Library is mandated by RSA 202 A:12, which states “all public libraries must make an annual report to the State Library.”
I will be making telephone calls this week to libraries that have not submitted their reports to inquire how I may assist them in completing this task. Thank you for
helping New Hampshire to meet this federal requirement.

Brief searching outage 4/20

Tuesday, April 20: NHU-PAC searching will be disabled for a few minutes starting at 7:35 a.m. to allow installation of an updated index. Searching service should be restored in about 5 minutes.

DEADLINE for NHPLAR is TODAY - April 19th

From Janet Eklund:

As of this morning there are 70 out of 234 libraries who have NOT finished their annual reports. By utilizing the "STATUS" tab in the survey, one can determine what is still lacking in the survey in the EDIT CHECKS and UNANSWERED QUESTIONS tabs.

If the edit checks are causing you difficulties, please remember that the report is looking for any text to be entered into the blank box to ensure that your data is correct. If it is correct, simply type "correct" in the text box or the "reason why the number is vastly different from last year." This text must be saved using the "save corrections" button. Once saved, the edit questions change from RED to GREEN.

All questions must have a response in them. If your library does not collect data on a question or the answer is zero, enter N/A or 0.

After reviewing and completing the status problems with your survey, select the "SUBMIT SURVEY" tab to finish.

Janet Eklund, Administrator of Library Operations New Hampshire State Library, is available every day this week to assist you. Please call (603-271-2393) or email her!

Thank you for making the 2009 NHPLAR a priority this week.

Brief searching outage 4/15

Thursday, April 15: NHU-PAC searching will be disabled for a few minutes starting at 7:35 a.m. This is to allow installation of an updated index. Searching service should be restored within 10 minutes.

Order Web Dewey for $240 by 4/26/10

NHAIS member libraries can subscribe to Web Dewey -- the online version of the Dewey Decimal Classification -- for $240 annually (a discount of $75) if they contact the NHAIS Help Desk (271-2141) before April 26, 2010. The Web Dewey subscription runs from May 1st - April 30th and additional libraries can only be added to the group subscription during the renewal window each spring.

Libraries who have subscribed to Web Dewey through NHAIS Services in the past should get a renewal packet in their next van delivery.

Cataloging Questions Answered

The NHAIS Services webpage now includes a Cataloging Resources page where you will find everything you ever wanted to know--and more--about cataloging and classification.
At least you will find everything I could think of that you might want to know about. If I missed things, there is a link on the page to send suggestions for improvement.

National Library Week

Next week (4/11/10) marks the beginning of National Library Week. What is your library doing to celebrate?

Emergency Assistance Available for Cultural Organizations

The following announcement has been made by the NH Division of Historical Resources, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.
=============================================
Emergency Assistance Available for Cultural Organizations:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that libraries, museums, archives, art organizations and other non-profit institutions open to the general public may be eligible for federal emergency assistance, either through the Small Business Administration (SBA) or from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following a Presidential disaster declaration. Such a declaration was issued for the State of New Hampshire on March 29, 2010.

To be an eligible applicant, a library, museum or other similar organization must be a certified public non-profit organization, the damage to its collection or structure must have occurred as a result of the storms between February 23 and March 3, 2010, and the facility must be located in one of the declared counties: Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, Strafford or Sullivan.

If you believe you qualify, your attendance at an Applicant Briefing is encouraged so that you can obtain further information about eligibility and possible assistance. Applicant Briefings are listed below.

If damages resulting in eligible costs from this event during the incident period were incurred, then your community/organization may be eligible for cost reimbursement under the Public Assistance Program. If your community/organization is interested in applying for disaster assistance, we ask that a representative who is familiar with the event and would be available to assist the Federal and State Teams throughout the process attend one of the following meetings.


Please note that there is a 30 day deadline from the date of the declaration to submit a Request for Public Assistance form to the State. That deadline date is April 28, 2010. If your community/organization is interested in applying for disaster assistance, we ask that a representative who is familiar with the event and would be available to assist the Federal and State Teams throughout the process attend one of the following meetings.

• April 7, 2010, 1:00pm, Barrington
  Public Safety Bldg., 249 NH Rte. 126, Barrington, NH 03825
• April 8, 2010, 1:00pm, Plymouth
  Plymouth Town Office, 6 Post Office Square, Plymouth, NH 03264
• April 9, 2010, 1:00pm, Concord
  NH Fire Academy, 98 Smokey Bear Blvd., Concord, NH 03301
• April 12, 2010, 1:00pm, Hampton Falls
  Hampton Falls Fire Department, 3 Drinkwater Rd., Hampton Falls, NH 03844
• April 12, 2010, 7:00pm, Londonderry
  Police Department, 268 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, NH 03053
• April 13, 2010, 1:00pm. Goffstown
  Goffstown Fire Station, 18 Church Street, Goffstown, NH 03045
• April 13, 2010, 7:00pm, Peterborough
  Peterborough Town Hall, 1 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH 03458
• April 14, 2010, 1:00pm. Claremont
  Claremont City Hall, 58 Opera House Sq., Claremont, NH 03743
• April 14, 2010, 7:00pm, Concord
  NH Fire Academy, 98 Smokey Bear Blvd., Concord, NH 03301
  

These meetings will provide you with information about the declaration process, eligibility and document preparation. It is imperative that a staff person of your organization (and, for municipal projects, the Road Agent/Public Works Director and/or Finance Director of your community), be present at one of these meetings to apply for federal assistance and facilitate the application process. If you have any questions and/or you cannot make one of the briefings, please call your Field Representative or Michael Poirier at 1-800-852-3792, or 603 223-3639. For more information, visit the NH Emergency Management web site.

Do you know an outstanding librarian?

LYRASIS, "the nation’s largest regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals," announced today that nominations are now open for two awards:

The LYRASIS 2010 Excellence Award will honor one individual who has made a significant and exceptional contribution in areas central to LYRASIS' vision of strengthening libraries through collaboration, creative solutions, and leadership for libraries. The 2010 Award includes a $2500 award and a one-year free membership to LYRASIS for the recipient's institution.

The LYRASIS 2010 NextGen Librarian Award will honor three librarians new to the library profession who demonstrate an innovative and fresh approach to the profession and are leaders in our rapidly changing world. They will receive an honorarium to cover registration and hotel accommodations to a library conference of their choice.

The deadline is April 30, 2010 for both awards. Self-nominations are not accepted. The winners will be announced in June 2010 and presented at the ALA 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

Another 5K bibs!

On March 2, 2010 there were 1,954,420 bibliographic records in the NHU-PAC to which 6,093,434 items were attached.

As of April 1, 2010 there were -- no fooling -- 1,959,353 bibliographic records in the NHU-PAC to which 6,114,101 items were attached.

The NHU-PAC grew by almost 5K bib records and more than 20K items in the past month.
This includes records for all the titles available through the NH Downloadable Book Consortium.

Since January 1, 2010 we have added 14,412 bibliographic records to NHU-PAC and 55,053 items. At this rate I expect we will have 2 million bibliographic records and 6.25 million items in the database by the end of 2010. That's a lot of materials for NH citizens to read/watch/listen to!