Van Delivery News - July 2009

The NH State Library will be CLOSED on Friday, July 3, in celebration of the 4th of July holiday. There will be NO VAN DELIVERY on that day.

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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 / vehicle breakdown) 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.

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Due to the ever increasing load of materials transported by the New Hampshire State Library van delivery system, our vans can reach maximum capacity before the end of a van route, especially following long weekends and holidays. Our drivers can decline to accept materials if they feel they cannot fit them safely on their van. We are also asking libraries to please be aware of volume during times when there is likely to be a problem. You should prioritize your materials to be picked up, in case some items must be left until the next van pick up. That will allow us to immediately transport the most important items as quickly as possible.

If you have any questions you may contact Donna Gilbreth at 271-2060 or Diana DeCota at 271-2206.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Diana

NELINET to Join Lyrasis

According to an announcement from NELINET:

Atlanta, GA, and Southborough, MA, June 17, 2009 – Voting representatives of NELINET and Lyrasis overwhelmingly approved the resolution for NELINET to join Lyrasis with a “YES” vote of over 94%. Together, Lyrasis and NELINET will comprise the largest membership collaborative of its kind serving librarians and information professionals in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Southeastern United States. The expanded membership now includes libraries and cultural heritage institutions in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“This new union with Lyrasis will provide NELINET members much greater educational and service opportunities, as well as control institutional costs for these benefits. I am very pleased with the great support the membership has shown for Lyrasis as the right choice for providing services to New England libraries into the future,” said W. Lee Hisle, Chair of the NELINET Board of Directors, and Vice President for Information Services and Librarian of the College at Connecticut College

Kate Nevins, Lyrasis Chief Executive Officer notes, “Though we will now serve members in more than a third of the U.S., we are most proud of our commitment to local touch. We are here to serve our members wherever they are and we stay connected to them through member visits, participation in state and local conferences, and through our support of programs in each state, each consortium, and with specialized communities.”

The combined resources, shared expertise, and improved operating efficiencies will result in:

• Rapid implementation of new programs
• Greater consortial savings opportunities
• Extended networking and collaboration among members
• Innovative technology solutions in areas including open source, digitization, and collection management
• An expanded education curriculum covering the latest topics with industry experts from both networks
  
  NELINET Executive Director Arnold Hirshon will be taking on a new role with Lyrasis as Chief Strategist and Principal Consultant, “I am so pleased that we can continue build upon the many years of NELINET’s success serving New England libraries by joining with Lyrasis. It is most gratifying to see the enthusiastic support of the NELINET membership to embrace the new Lyrasis vision so wholeheartedly. As we move forward, I am eager to help contribute to the success of Lyrasis in my new dual role in strategy development and the provision of consulting services for members.”
  
  Work has already begun to transition NELINET operations into Lyrasis and representatives from both organizations will keep members informed of progress and new initiatives during this transition period. Plans are for NELINET to be fully integrated into Lyrasis by Fall of 2009.

Pictures, reviews are back

Pictures, reviews, summaries, first-chapter excerpts, etc., are again appearing in the NHU-PAC. We found a configuration error in our system which was keeping this enhanced content from being displayed during most of the past week.

Pictures, reviews, etc. missing again

Enhanced content (cover images, reviews, first-chapter excerpts, tables of contents, etc.) which should display when viewing an individual record in the NHU-PAC is temporarily unavailable. We're working with SirsiDynix to prevent further disruptions of this service.

NELINET Annual Conference 2009

On Monday I attended the 2009 NELINET Annual conference. Several of the presentations from Monday were just posted on the NELINET website. I thought the presentation by Christopher Mackie was particularily interesting as he talked about several open source initiatives that seemed potentially useful to libraries.

Kate Nevins of Lyrasis also made a presentation about the proposed merger between Lyrasis and NELINET which included a lot of information about what Lyrasis does and how this merger would benefit the two organizations.