NHU-PAC searching limited Fri pm/Sat am

NHU-PAC's keyword indexes are going to be rebuilt starting Friday (4/1) at 5:30 p.m. From then until Saturday morning, keyword searches in the NHU-PAC will retrieve only partial results, if any. While the first 50,000 records in the database are reindexed, you'll probably get an "unable to retrieve search results" error message. Then, you'll be able to search only the first 50,000 records the database. As subsequent groups of 50,000 records are reindexed, they'll become searchable, too. It will probably be after midnight before materials from the past decade start turning up in results and it won't be until later Saturday morning that the most recently added records should be findable through keyword searches. Browse indexes (not an option in the ILL program) should retrieve valid results from the entire database throughout this process. We have been routinely rebuilding keyword indexes in the background for years, requiring a very brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching to bring things up to date, but recent problems with the procedure make it necessary to do this "live" rebuild. We're hoping the Friday night start will minimize the inconvenience for NHU-PAC users.

“Let’s Talk About It: The Civil War” program grant

The ALA Public Programs Office and the National Endowment for the Humanities have announced an increase in funding for the “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War” reading and discussion program grant. Following the application process, 50 public, academic, and community college libraries will be selected to receive a $3,000 grant to support the reading and discussion series in their library, in addition to books, promotional materials and other programming support. Applications must be completed by April 19, 2011.

Microblogging is Official

Each week the Library of Congress releases a list of new and revised subject headings. The list for the week of 3/16/2011 included a heading to cover tweeting. "Microblogs" is the proper LC subject heading.

Here is the entry:

150 Microblogs [May Subd Geog] [sp2011000813]      [150 tag is the term you use]


450 UF Microblogging          [these 450 tags are terms the 150 should be used for (UF)]

450 UF Tumblelogging

450 UF Tumblelogs

450 UF Tweeting (Microblogs)

450 UF Tweets (Microblogs)

550 BT Blogs             [550 tags are broader terms (BT) or related terms (RT) that can be used]

550 RT Instant messaging

550 RT Social networks

NHU-PAC indexing still running behind

Wednesday, March 30: Have you been looking for new releases from the last 2 weeks in the NHU-PAC and not finding them? Try searching with the browse indexes (not an option in the ILL program). Our keyword indexes have not been updated since March 17. Yet another configuration tweak was implemented today in hopes of bringing our keyword indexes up to date. Because of the size of the database, we won't know until tomorrow whether it works.

NHU-PAC outage 3/29 am

Tuesday, Mar. 29: The NHU-PAC will be offline starting at 7:37 a.m. as part of a monthly server reboot routine. Most NHU-PAC services should be available again by 7:45 except Holdings Maintenance, which may take a bit longer to be restored.

NHU-PAC restored 3/25

Friday, Mar. 25, 7:30 a.m.: The NHU-PAC was unavailable for an undetermined time overnight but is back online now.

NHU-PAC classes in Concord 4/14 & Hooksett 5/24

Classes in using the NHU-PAC for cataloging, searching, and interlibrary loan will be offered in Concord on April 14 and in Hooksett on May 24. For details and to register online, go to http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/nhais/locations.htm and click on the "online registration system" link. There is no charge for these classes. If you need help registering or have questions about the classes, contact the NHAIS Help Desk by e-mail or phone 271-2141.

NHU-PAC back online 3/23 am

Wednesday, Mar. 23, 8:40 a.m.: The NHU-PAC is back online after a brief unplanned outage.

NHU-PAC "server is busy" 3/23 am

Wednesday, Mar. 23, 8:30 a.m.: The NHU-PAC website is currently displaying the following message: "HTTP ERROR: 503 Server+is+busy%2E++Please+try+again+later%2E." We're working to restore service.

NHU-PAC indexing still running behind

Tuesday, Mar. 22: Yesterday's tweak of indexing scripts didn't do the trick so we're still using keyword indexes which don't reflect changes to the NHU-PAC since last Thursday morning. Browse indexes (not an option in the ILL program) are up to date.

DDC23 at a discount for NH libraries

NHAIS Services was able to arrange a bulk discount with OCLC for the soon-to-be released 23rd edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification if at least 50 copies are ordered by NH libraries by May 15, 2011.


The list price for the 4 volume DDC23 is $399.
OCLC is offering a 10% discount on copies ordered by July 1, 2011
If NHSL/NHAIS orders 50 copies we can get each copy for $319.20
If we order 250 copies we can get each copy for $299.25

We have set up an online order form through which we will collect orders until May 15, 2011. If we get orders for at least 50 copies we will place the order and have the books shipped to the NHSL for redistribution via van delivery. If not, libraries will still have time to purchase DDC23 at the 10% early order discount.

Please note that we are collecting ORDERS, not reservations. By completing the online order form you are placing an order for the number of copies you indicate. If the minimum for a bulk buy is reached (50 copies) these copies will be ordered and you will be expected to pay the full cost of your order.
 
Questions about this should be directed to Mary Russell at the NH State Library (271-2866)

NHU-PAC indexing still running behind

Monday, Mar. 21: This afternoon we're still using a NHU-PAC keyword index that reflects changes and additions in the NHU-PAC only through last Thursday morning at 10:30. We hope to have a new, up-to-date index in operation starting tomorrow morning. In the meantime, remember that you can find materials added to the NHU-PAC since Thursday morning by using browse indexes (not an option in the ILL program).

KBA Grant Applications Due in 10 days

Last week's CHILIS Conference included the Kids, Books and the Arts Showcase. The Roster includes a mix of presenters for different ages. If you would like to apply for a grant to bring one of these presenters to your library community during the summer reading program, check out the complete description of the Roster presenters and complete a grant application, both of which are on the NHSL Kid's, Books, and the Arts page. Grant applications are due to Ann Hoey by 4pm on Thursday, March 31, 2011.

NHU-PAC keyword indexing running behind

Friday, Mar. 18: Indexing of records newly added or edited in the NHU-PAC is currently running behind. This doesn't affect what's in the database but does make a difference in finding materials that are new to the NHU-PAC. While browse indexes are up-to-date, keyword indexes currently cannot find materials added to the database after 10:30 a.m. yesterday. Even if SirsiDynix can fix the underlying issue today, it won't be until Monday at the earliest that keyword indexes are fully up-to-date.

Brief searching outage #2 3/18 am

Friday, Mar. 18: There will be another brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching starting at 7:50 a.m. Searching should be restored within 5 minutes.

Brief searching outage 3/18 am

Friday, Mar. 18: There will be a brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching starting at 7:40 a.m. Searching should be restored within 5 minutes.

ILL #1000000

Congratulations to Boscawen Public Library -- they placed ILL request #1000000 through NHU-PAC today. The request was for Christopher Lowell's you can do it! (NY: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, c2003.) Hopefully it will be filled soon.

DDC23

OCLC has announced that the 23rd edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification is now available for pre-ordering at a 10% discount. I have put in a call to OCLC to see if a bulk-purchase price can be arranged for NH libraries. Past experience with OCLC tells me it isn't likely, but I have asked anyway. Stay tuned!

NHAIS by the Numbers 2010

Statistics on the use of NHAIS during 2010 have been compiled and added to the NHAIS webpage. The published data include ILL loans and borrows for each NHAIS library (active ILL participant or not) as well as snapshot holdings data for each library for 2001, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Holdings data is collected each January, so the figure listed as "2011" is the number of items listed in NHU-PAC as held by the library in January 2011. There are a few libraries whose number of holdings decreased since 2010. This is, in most cases, because they have undertaken a major cleanup of data in the past year.

In reviewing the ILL statistics, you may notice that there are some libraries (mostly schools) that don't appear to be keeping up with the terms of their NHAIS ILL agreement. We will be following up with these libraries individually over the next few weeks to help them get back on track.

During 2010 there were 190,367 items added to NHU-PAC by NHAIS libraries and 122,613 loans filled through NHAIS ILL (10,200 per month, approximately) by the 309 libraries currently participating in NHAIS ILL.

• 9 libraries filled more than 2000 ILL requests each during 2010
• 24 libraries filled 1000-1999 requests
• 61 libraries filled 500-999 requests
• 86 libraries filled 100-499 requests
• 129 libraries filled fewer than 100 requests

Interestingly, there are 9 libraries with more than 100,000 holdings in NHU-PAC as of 2011 and 9 libraries that filled more than 2000 ILL requests but they aren't the same 9 libraries. Concord Public, Keene Public, Manchester City, and Nashua Public appear in both lists.

Workshops for NH Library staff

In a joint effort, the NH Library Association and the NH State Library announce the following workshops for librarians:

• Collection Development: Nuts and Bolts--Friday, April 29, 9:30 to 4:30 at Richards Free Library in Newport. Instructor: Andrea Thorpe, Director of the Richards Free Library, Newport.
• Library Programming: All Ages--Tuesday, May 17, 10:00 to 5:00 at Hopkinton Town Library. Instructor: Andrea Thorpe, Director of the Richards Free Library, Newport.
• Library Management: Budgets, Personnel, Buildings, Governance--Monday, May 23, 9:30 to 4:30 at the Local Government Center in Concord. Instructor: Mary White, Director of the Howe Library, Hanover.

These one-day workshops will offer six contact hours of continuing education and will cost $10 for NHLA members and $20 for non-NHLA members. Please make checks payable to: NHLA and send them to Ann Hoey's attention at NHSL, 20 Park Street, Concord, NH 03301. Please put name of workshop participant on the check as well.
Please contact Mary Ahlgren at hallmemo@metrocast.net if you have questions about your NHLA membership status.

Checks that are not made out correctly to NHLA or in the wrong amount will be returned--sorry!

Registration for the workshops is limited to one person per library.

To register, please visit the state library training calendar, go to the the month of April and click on the Collection Development link or the month of May for the links to Library Programming and Library Management and then complete the online registration forms.

These workshops are funded by the NH Library Association and co-sponsored by the NH State Library. Any questions? Please contact Ann Hoey at 603-271-2865.

Holdings Maintenance restored 3/9 am

Wednesday, Mar. 9, 9:55 a.m.: The Holdings Maintenance server is back online.

Holdings Maintenance outage 3/9 am

Wednesday, Mar. 9, 8:30 a.m.: The Holdings Maintenance server is currently offline. We're working to restore this service.

Brief searching outage(s) this week

Tuesday, March 8, 2 p.m.: As we do some followup server maintenance work this week, expect at least one more brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching during the daytime this week. This will result in "Unable to retrieve results" messages for no more than 5 minutes. We'll try to post warnings just prior to a searching outage but, with SirsiDynix doing some of the maintenance work remotely, we don't always know exactly when it will happen.

Holding Maintenance restored

Tuesday, March 8, 10:15 a.m.: Holdings Maintenance service has been restored. All NHU-PAC services should be back to normal now following an electrical failure at the state "server farm" late yesterday afternoon.

Holdings Maintenance down 3/8 am

Tuesday, March 8, 8:10 a.m.: Holdings Maintenance remains out of service but we expect to have it back online by 10 a.m. All other NHU-PAC services appear to be functioning normally in the wake of a network problem that occurred late yesterday. If you find otherwise, please don't hesitate to contact the NHAIS Help Desk at 271-2141.

Brief searching outage 3/8 am

Tuesday, March 8: There will be a brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching starting at 7:50 a.m. Searching should be restored within 5 minutes.

NHU-PAC is mostly back up

Access to NHU-PAC for searching and ILL should now be working as expected. The Holdings Maintenance module is not currently available.
The NHAIS servers (along with the computers here in NHAIS at the NHSL) lost our network connection for some reason. It was reestablished within a few minutes and a restart of each machine restored internet/network access. The server that has holdings maintenance on it is not letting me connect to it remotely, so a restart of it will have to wait until I can physically get to the machine tomorrow morning.
An update will be posted here when the Holdings Maintenance is back up and running.

NHAIS Outage

Something went south on the NHAIS server--and the PCs in NHAIS Services--about 10 minutes ago. I just got back into my computer and am looking at what's wrong with NHU-PAC.We will be back up as soon as I figure out what happened and how to fix it. Stay tuned.

Van Route Cancellation

The North Country van delivery route is cancelled for today, Monday, March 7, 2011.