Check out the recent blog post, "Update: A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System," by Mary Searles, the law librarian of the NH Law Library. The post references a Website, GlobaLex, a clearing house of Web-based resources for the federal legal system.
Don't forget to subscribe to or bookmark the NH Law Library blog!
The New Hampshire State Library will be closed the following days in January:
Thursday, January 1, 2009 - New Year's Day
Monday, January 19, 2009 - Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day
There will be NO VAN DELIVERY on those days.
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If your library is closing early on New Year's Eve, please let your van driver know, or e-mail me diana.decota@dcr.nh.gov so that I may let the van driver know before the day arrives, so they don't transport materials unnecessarily. Thank you to all those libraries who have already done so.
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For a complete list of all of the holidays the State Library is closed, please visit http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/van_delivery/instructions.html (the van delivery instructions) and scroll down to "NO Van Service".
If for any other reason (e.g. bad weather) van service on a particular route(s) does not operate, libraries will be notified via an e-mail message. If your library does not receive van service on a particular day, please check your e-mail before calling the State Library.
Today's (12/17) van delivery for the Lakes Region area is being cancelled. Jarod has made the swap in Plymouth with the North Country route driver and has decided to cancel the rest of his route and return to Concord, due to slippery road conditions. At this point, all other routes are running as scheduled. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Diana
PC World online posted an article today about the security flaw with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. To summarize the article, if you use Internet Explorer and visit an infected Webpage you can infect your computer with a trojan program. Unlike most viruses, you do not need to download or open a single thing; simply visiting the page is enough. Until Microsoft fixes this problem with a patch, this is PC World's solution:
The easiest way to keep your computer safe is to stop using Internet Explorer.Consider Firefox as an alternative browser for your staff and patron computers -- at least until the problem is resolved.
uesday, the day this year's feature-length movie Horton Hears a Who! was released on DVD, a check of the NHU-PAC by title would have turned up a DVD with the same title released earlier this year--a "deluxe edition" of the 1970 half-hour animated TV special. Based on the title and format match, a couple of libraries added holdings to that record Tuesday although it was the new movie they were trying to catalog. The record for the newer release wasn't added to the NHU-PAC until Wednesday morning and those holdings have now been shifted to the correct record. Ruby Mattot at the NHSL circulation desk reports:
"All van routes (EXCEPT Southwest) have been cancelled due to the weather.
Southwest Routes – If you don’t see Jim at his usual time he will probably be running late due to road conditions."
The September 15, 2008 issue of Library Journal included an article on Green Weeding (p. 32) that talked about ways to get rid of the stuff you weed out of your collection. As this is a question that comes up regularly on NHAIS-L I thought the article might be of interest.
Google has added print magazines to its Book Search. Like the newspaper archive, there does not appear to be a comprehensive listing of the included titles, but here are a few I've managed to find:
A couple of reminders:
Please remember to only send materials to those libraries listed in the Van Delivery Service Directory http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/van_delivery/directory.html. All other materials need to be mailed or sent via whatever other method you may wish to use.
Please remember to properly label your items which you are sending via the Van Delivery Service. This will help ensure these items make it to the correct destination in a timely manner.
If you need a refresher on how items should be marked for the van, please refer to the Van Delivery Service - Instructions, http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/van_delivery/instructions.html, and scroll down to number 3 of the guidelines, "Addressing material to be sent on the van".
Thank you for your cooperation,
Diana
Did you know that you can obtain MARC records for the titles listed in the Ebsco databases? This might be a good way to remind library staff and patrons alike that the journal titles are available through the database. You can obtain the MARC records from EbscoAdmin. Here are the steps to take:
The November 15, 2008 issue of Library Journal had an article in it on making sense of copyright that included links to some websites that would be useful in untangling copyright questions. It was Reference Backtalk: Crash Course in Copyright by Cheryl Miller Maddox. (p. 98).
Last week I showed how you can find an RSS feed for magazine titles listed in Ebsco. This post will cover how to sign up for a MyEBSCOhost account and register for email alerts.
If you use the OCLC cataloging system, particularily if you search OCLC Authority records, this updated documentation may be of interest to you.
From the OCLC announcement:
Authorities: Format and Indexes provides details on selected topics that catalogers need to identify and verify information in bibliographic and/or authority records via the OCLC authority file. This publication contains detailed authorities-related informationthat can assist the following library staff:
Ebsco makes it easy to get reminders about new issues of your favorite magazines. You'll need a newsreader to take advantage of the RSS feeds provided for each title. In this day and age, newsreaders are easier than ever to locate and configure. Take a look at this post for instructions on making a typical Google search page into your personal iGoogle page. One of the many uses of your iGoogle page is to manage RSS feeds.
I realize that many of the images are too small to see any detail. Click to expand the images.
I enjoy reading magazines, but it isn't always practical or economical to subscribe to every one I want to read. For these reasons I've set up alerts for my favorite magazine titles. What is the benefit of setting up alerts? Let's face it, it's easy to forget to check for new digital information, whether it be a Website or password-protected database. Unlike paper magazines that show up in your mailbox like clockwork every month -- forcing you to read, organize, recycle them -- electronic data can come and go without notice. Signing up for Ebsco alerts is kind of like having an electronic postman drop by to let you know that there are new articles to read.
There are two different ways to set up alerts:
Here is November's list. The list is always available for viewing, adding, and editing online at http://nhaislostbooks.pbwiki.com/ To get the password for adding or editing contact Mary Cronin at Madison Library.
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Cigarettes [videorecording]: Who profits? Who dies? Call number is AV QV137 . C571 1994. It was shipped from Concord, NH Hospital, Breene Library to Woodsville HS Library on 9/12/08 but it never arrived. The request number is 622669.
Thank you, Dorothy Kameoka
NH Hospital, DM Breene Memorial Library
36 Clinton Street, Concord, NH 03301
ph: 271-5420
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REQUEST: 599625
TITLE: The reverse of the medal / Patrick O'Brian.
Borrowed by Nichols Memorial Library in Center Harbor, returned to Wentworth Library on September 2, 2008. It never arrived.
Please contact Jon Kinnaman at the Nichols Memorial Library
Not sure if a periodical is available in an online database or in the NHSL periodical holdings? The easiest way to locate a journal or magazine is with the help of Article Express Periodical List. Article Express compiles the listings of titles from the statewide databases, databases purchased for the NHSL reference staff, and the NHSL periodical holdings.
If you discover that a title is only available in NHSL periodical holdings or through Library Literature & Information Science, contact the NHSL reference librarians. They will be happy to provide you with full-text articles, when available.
This is a sample result from Article Express for Library Journal:
More and more New Hampshire libraries are publishing blogs to keep people up-to-date on the doings at their libraries. As we hear about them we add them to the blogroll here on NHAIS Notes. The latest addition to our list is White Mountains Community College Library News. If your library has a blog and you aren't listed there, please let me know!
Is your library feeling the financial pinch? If you've had to cut back on your professional periodicals, don't forget that many publications are available online via our statewide Ebsco subscription. Most of the publications are available online without any or much delay (compared to the print edition).
The links below are permalinks to the publication itself. If your library has submitted a static IP address, you'll get direct access to that publication. If not, you will probably be prompted to enter your user ID and password. If you'd like more information on static IP addresses or to submit your IP address, please contact Bobbi at NHSL.
'Tis the season for shopping -- and for reference librarians that can mean an increase in requests for product reviews.
CommonsenseMedia.org
Video games were on my shopping list this year and with the popularity of the Wii, Nintendo DS, and Xbox I would suspect games might be on a lot of people's lists! Commonsense Media is a terrific resource for video game reviews. The site is geared directly towards helping parents make good decisions about games, movies, books, and other media that are appropriate for their children. Although the site is browsable and searchable, there is no advanced search that allows for searching by format; you'll have to go through all of the search results for "Hannah Montana" to find the desired format.
Consumer Products:
In addition to the traditional standby, Consumer Reports, there is a wealth of online product reviews. You could let Google guide your review search or you could use sites that aggregate online reviews from a variety of online sources.
ConsumerSearch.com
Consumer Search does a very good job of not only compiling and reprinting reviews, but summarizing the reviews. Unlike some mass review sites, you can tell that there is a human element involved in maintaining the site. Most of the original reviews come from sites that can be freely accessed online (Amazon, CNet, Cooking.com, etc.), but Consumer Search also provides a summary (when possible) from subscription-only sources, like Cooks Illustrated or Consumer Reports. Although the entire review is not available from the subscription sites, you usually get a hint of the review or at least an volume and issue number to find the review in print. Don't miss the comprehensive overview available on most topics.
ViewScore.com
View Score aggregates reviews on electronic products. The site is set up to be very easily navigated by browsing through the types of products, manufacturers, prices, features, etc. All in all, this is a user-friendly site for finding reviews on consumer electronics.
Buzzillions.com
Unlike the other sites listed here, Buzzillions only provides user reviews aggregated from consumer shopping sites. Generally speaking, the site is well organized and easily searched and navigated. There is an incredible assortment of products represented on this site, but be aware that the most helpful (and typically most positive reviews) are by default set to be displayed first. Use the dropdown box at the top of the reviews to sort to reviews in the way that is most useful to you.
Kaboodle.com
Kaboodle isn't specifically for finding product reviews; although, reviews can be found on the site. Kaboodle is a combination of shopping and social networking. Here's how it works: You sign up for a free account, save a bookmark, and as you are browsing the Web for holiday shopping, when you find something you want to remember, you clip the product to your Kaboodle account. (It could be a more secure to clip a gift item to your private account than to save a bookmark to your computer and have your spouse or child find your saved bookmarks!)
Happy shopping!
