No LR van Fri 5/1

The Lakes Region (LR) ILL van delivery is cancelled for Friday, May 1. Affected libraries are as follows:

NH State Prison, Concord
Hill
Bristol
Meredith
Center Harbor
Moultonborough
Wolfeboro
Alton
Gilford
Laconia
Sanbornton

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library 

Linked data and URIs #1-- What are They?

This is the first in a series of seven weekly blog posts written by Zahra Gordon which will explain “Linked Data,” an emerging topic in the library field, and how it relates to “Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs),” which are appearing in the subfields of MARC records with increasing frequency.

 There’s been a lot of talk in the library community (especially the library cataloging community) lately about “linked data.” Linked data is “a set of best practices for publishing structured data on the Web” (https://www.w3.org/wiki/LinkedData). Simply put, linked data uses links to structure information in a way that makes it more readable by computers.

Why is this important to libraries? The idea is that using links to make library data more readable by computers will make it findable by automated tools outside of the library catalog and connect it to other sources of information outside of the catalog. So, people searching outside of the catalog can find our resources more easily, and we can more easily find further information about our resources that’s located elsewhere.

In catalog records, these links take the form of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), defined as “unique sequences of characters that identify abstract or physical resources” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier). The Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that we’ve added to our records for years (often in subfield $u of MARC field 856) are a type of URI.

URIs are increasingly being added to fields and subfields in MARC records and are just a preliminary step in turning library data into linked data. Eventually, the idea is that MARC will be replaced by tools and models such as BIBFRAME that allow library data to be entirely created and edited according to linked data principles.

The next post will discuss where these URIs show up in MARC records and what they mean.

Zahra Gordon is the Cataloger at the New Hampshire State Library. Before coming to the State Library, she worked as a cataloger for a contract cataloging agency serving government libraries in the Washington Metropolitan Area and then for YBP Library Services (now GOBI Library Solutions) in Contoocook, New Hampshire.

2025 Public Library Survey DUE TOMORROW

As of 11:30am today [Wednesday, Apr. 29], approximately 75% of NH public libraries have submitted their annual reports. Well done! However, I’m still expecting surveys from a little over 50 libraries. Let’s go, folks!

I’ve sent emails to the directors of those 50+ libraries requesting a status update. If someone other than the director in your ‘brary does the survey, forward this message to them and ask them to contact me, pretty please with data on top.

The end (of the survey) is nigh!

Thanks all,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
N.H. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources
20 Park St.
Concord, NH 03301
Office: 603-271-2060
Ref Desk: 603-271-2144
Jennifer.M.Finch@dncr.nh.gov

No NC van Wed 4/29

Due to illness, today’s North Country (NC) ILL van route cancelled [Wednesday, Apr. 28]. The affected libraries are:

Twin Mountain
Plymouth
Rumney
Wentworth
Warren
Lyme
Orford
Piermont
Haverhill
North Haverhill
Monroe
Woodsville
Bath
Lisbon
Littleton
Bethlehem

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
 

No SW-A van Wed 4/29

There will be no SW-A ILL van deliveries on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. The affected libraries are:

Dartmouth College
Hanover - Howe
Lebanon
Meriden
River Valley CC - Claremont
Claremont
Walpole
Keene
Peterborough
Wilton

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
 

Brief ILL outage Tue 4/28 10pm

The NHAIS ILL System will be offline briefly starting at 10 o'clock tonight (Tuesday, Apr. 28) to install software updates, including two fixes.

-After going from a List view of search results to the Full Record Display, the back arrow is supposed to bring users back to where they clicked on the list but, under certain circumstances, users could be returned to the top of the results page. This has been corrected. 

-Some users have been unable to set the Request Manager as their default opening page since that feature was introduced four weeks ago. Following tonight's update, all staffers logged in with a username ending with "ill" or "all" should see Request Manager as an option at Your Account > Your Preferences > Default Opening Page. 

No NC, SW vans Tue 4/28

The North Country (NC) ILL van delivery route is cancelled for Tuesday, April 28. The affected libraries are:

Whitefield
Dalton
Lancaster
Groveton
Stratford
Colebrook
Errol
WMCC - Berlin
Berlin
Gorham
Jefferson
Randolph
Jackson
Bartlett
North Conway
Conway

The Southwest (SW) ILL van route has been cancelled for Tuesday, 4/28.  Affected libraries are as follows:

Webster 
Salisbury
Andover
Wilmot
New London
Colby Sawyer
Sutton
Warner
Bradford
Newbury
Sunapee
Newport
Hillsborough
Henniker

Your patience and understanding are appreciated.

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
 

No LR van Mon 4/27

 There will be no Lakes Region (LR) ILL van deliveries on Monday, April 27. Affected libraries are:

Tilton
Franklin
Bristol
Meredith
Moultonborough
Wolfeboro
Gilford
Laconia
Belmont
Bow
Concord Public

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

When you need more copies...

From the NHAIS mailbox:

This morning I received 3 requests for the same title, from the same library, with the same book group note attached. This isn't the first time recently either. We know there are always new people doing ILL. Would you mind posting (or reposting) a blog or email to the ILL list about why multicopy requests need to be done differently and how to do them. 

In this case, the borrower had correctly used the Multi-Copy function to create 10 requests for a nonfiction title but then used the Rebuild Lender List feature on some of the requests that weren't filled. One more time: DO NOT use Rebuild Lender List with multi-copy requests. 

Here's more, originally posted in October 2023:

When you need to borrow multiple copies of a title, the Multi Copy function in the NHAIS ILL System helps you get what you need. If you've submitted a multi-copy request but still didn't get enough copies for your needs, DO NOT use the Rebuild Lender List function and DO NOT create a new multi-copy request based on the same edition. Doing either of these means your new or renewed requests will be routed to the same libraries that have previously seen your request. They've either already shipped the item to you or said they can't fill your request. To get your request before new eyes, your best bet is usually a message to the NHAIS-ILL list. Another option for some titles is to create a new request in the system for a different edition than the one previously requested. If you need further help with getting the copies you need, ask the NHAIS Help Desk.