Van Delivery News, May 2011

The NH State Library will be closed on Monday, May 30, 2011, in observance of Memorial Day. There will be NO VAN DELIVERY on this date.

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 and this blog. If your library does not receive van service on a particular day, please check your e-mail and this blog before calling the State Library.

Please remember to properly label each item 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".

To print a current van directory list arranged in alphabetical order by library, please use the PDF version which is available at http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/van_delivery/documents/vandirectory.pdf

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print this pdf file. If you do not have it installed on your machine, you may down load it for free from http://www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

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.

NHU-PAC back online 4/27 am

Wednesday, Apr. 27, 7:55 a.m.: The NHU-PAC is back online after being out of service for an undetermined amount of time this morning.

Brief NHU-PAC outage 4/26 am

Tuesday, Apr. 26, 7:50 a.m.: Our last-Tuesday-of-the-month system restart has been completed except that it will take a few more minutes for the Holdings Maintenance server to come back online. All other parts of the NHU-PAC are functioning as usual.

Brief NHU-PAC outage 4/26 am

There will be a brief interruption of NHU-PAC service on Tuesday, April 26, starting sometime between 7:35 and 8 a.m. The system should be offline for no more than 10 minutes. This is part of our routine maintenance schedule noted on the Known Issues page.

Preservation Week

April 24-30, 2011 is preservation week. Brought to libraries across the country by the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), in partnership with the Library of Congress and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, this national awareness campaign was developed to promote the understanding and importance of care for personal and community cultural heritage collections regardless of their format.
American Libraries Magazine recently published an article that gives a nice overview of the project.
The ALCTS Preservation Week Website has lots of useful info and resources including preservation facts,
a bibliography, and ideas for getting kids involved.

NHU-PAC maintenance update

Thursday, Apr. 21, 1:05 p.m.: A new drive has been installed on the NHU-PAC's main server and SirsiDynix tells us it will not be necessary to restart the system but you may notice a slight slowdown in NHU-PAC response times this afternoon while the drive is being configured.

NHU-PAC maintenance Thursday pm

Thursday, Apr. 21: One of the drives on the NHU-PAC's main server will be replaced today sometime between noon and 1 p.m. It may be necessary to restart the system during or just after this procedure. We'll try to post a message here if that's going to happen but because several parties are involved in the procedure we don't always get sufficient notice before somebody decides to restart things.

NHU-PAC maintenance delayed to Thursday

Wednesday, Apr. 20, 11:20 a.m.: We're now told there's a shipping delay for the replacement drive that NHU-PAC needs and the part won't arrive until tomorrow so there should be no interruption of NHU-PAC service today.

NHU-PAC maintenance 4/20 pm

Wednesday, Apr. 20: The NHU-PAC server drive replacement originally expected to happen late this morning won't happen until sometime this afternoon. It remains to be seen whether this will require any downtime for the system.

Add Brief Holdings issue

Attention, catalogers: Did you add holdings to the NHU-PAC using the Add Brief Records form yesterday afternoon? On Tuesday, April 19, between 2 and 5 p.m., you may have been able to enter information in the Add Brief Records form without that information being written to the database. If you were using the form during the time specified, please contact the NHAIS Help Desk by e-mail or at 271-2141 to check whether your information was received.

NHU-PAC repairs continue Wednesday

Wednesday, Apr. 20, 8:20 a.m.: The NHU-PAC's main server needs a drive replaced and right now it looks like that will happen today, probably between 11 a.m. and noon. It's not the first time this has happened and in the past it has sometimes been possible to swap the drive without any interruption of service. We'll try to post a message if an outage is necessary.

NHU-PAC restored

Tuesday, Apr. 19, 5:52 p.m.: NHU-PAC is back online and searching has been restored with up-to-date indexes. There will be further work done on the system tomorrow. It remains to be seen whether the work will require any further outages.

NHU-PAC Update

Some of the NHU-PAC problems that began earlier this afteroon have been figured out, but a complete "fix" is not yet in place. We hope to leave a searchable index in place for use this evening, but there will be some more ups and downs of the system before that is in place (and it isn't definitely going to work -- keep your fingers crossed).

There will be outages tomorrow-- whether things go up as hoped tonight or not--as more significant repairs are needed that won't happen tonight.

Thanks are owed to David Harris for working well beyond his normal workday trying to get the NHU-PAC back online.

NHU-PAC restart 4/19 pm

Tuesday, Apr. 19, 3:18 p.m.: The NHU-PAC will be restarted in the next 5 minutes, during which time you will be unable to connect to it.

NHU-PAC Not Cooperating

A few minutes ago we discovered that something is not working correctly with the NHU-PAC. It displays OK, but searches and such don't get anywhere. We are working on figuring out what the trouble is and will provide an update as soon as possible.

Banding books for bins

Hello librarians, As you know, our van drivers are quite busy transporting materials around the state to many libraries. I greatly appreciate your adherence to our guidelines as published on our website. It helps tremendously in making our van deliveries more efficient.

One suggestion not included in our instructions (yet) is that of placing each book (or other item) individually in your van bin. It is more difficult for van drivers to deal with several books grouped together with rubber bands. They are more difficult to place in crowded book bins. In addition, if the rubber bands break, books without a routing slip might not get to the appropriate destination. We are asking you, when feasible, to mark each book (video, dvd, etc.) with a routing slip and place at least one rubber band around that item.

Thank you very much for your assistance! Donna Gilbreth Reference and Information Services Supervisor New Hampshire State Library 20 Park St. Concord, NH 03301 603-271-2060 donna.gilbreth@dcr.nh.gov

Holdings Maintenance back in service

Friday, April 15, 3:10 p.m.: OK, catalogers, the coast is clear: NHU-PAC Holdings Maintenance is back online. It's now fuctioning on a newer, more robust server than the one we've been using since 2002. You may see a few differences on Holdings Maintenance screens, including the message at the bottom of the login page, but the functionality is the same. Please report any anomalies observed to the NHAIS Help Desk at 271-2141.

No Holdings Maintenance 4/15 1:45pm-?

Friday, April 15: A reminder: NHU-PAC's Holdings Maintenance feature will be out of service starting around 1:45 this afternoon. This will chiefly affect catalogers; other parts of the NHU-PAC are unaffected. Today's outage is to allow a server swap which should yield more reliable Holdings Maintenance performance. The work should be completed within an hour and a message will be posted here when it's OK to use Holdings Maintenance again.

Holdings Maintenance will be unavailable Friday afternoon

We will be switching to a new server for the NHAIS holdings maintenance module on Friday afternoon (4/15/2011). We expect work to begin at 1:45 and be finished within an hour. NHU-PAC searching and ILL should function as usual during the switch. Holdings Maintenance will be completely unavailable while we are working on it, so please don't plan to catalog this Friday afternoon.

When everything is working again we will post an update here to let you know that.

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

There are still seats available for tomorrow's NHU-PAC training at the State Library in Concord. The same classes will also be offered May 24 at Hooksett Public Library. Go to http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/training/ and click on "NHU-PAC" to sign up for these free classes. If you tried to register for the Concord classes last week you may have found them listed as cancelled because of a changing construction schedule at the State Library. That has now been adjusted so tomorrow's and most of the other classes planned for NHSL's training room this month will happen as originally scheduled. A bonus for those attending the Using NHU-PAC for Interlibrary Loan class tomorrow morning: added to the classroom presentation is an optional tour of the ILL van sorting facilities (thank you, Donna Gilbreth).

My List

Tuesday, Apr. 12: The NHAIS Help Desk received reports from several users late yesterday afternoon that the NHU-PAC was allowing no more than one title to be added to My List. We are unable to duplicate the problem this morning but welcome further details from users encountering this issue. You may contact the NHAIS Help Desk by phone at 271-2141 or by e-mail.

FAQ: How can I tell if I have old unfinished ILL transactions?

NHAIS libraries often end up with old transactions in the system that remain in Shipped, Received, or Returned status because somebody forgot a step or two in the process. Sometimes they end up with a lot of these. This doesn't need to be the case for your library as these transactions are easy to find and resolve.
Here's what to do:

Log into the NHAIS ILL system.
From Request Inquiry, run searched for search for older (<970000) request numbers that are

• Returned / Requests made TO your library
• Shipped / Requests made BY your library
• Received / Requests made BY your library)

If requests turn up from these searches check your shelves/records to be sure the items are where they belong in the ILL process and set the status of each request accordingly.

If you run into trouble with this, contact the NHAIS Help Desk at 271-2141.

LOST BOOKS - February & March 2011

Listed below are the items that have been reported as lost, misplaced, misdirected, etc. in their travels from library to library.


This list is always available at http://nhaislostbooks.pbworks.com/. Just create an account and sign in to edit the list. There is also a screencast (video) with instructions on how to use the wiki online list.

If there is an ILL librarian who would like to take over posting this monthly update, please contact Mary Cronin (603-367-8545) as she is ready to pass the baton.

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The book, For Whom the Bell Tolls, F/Hem, was sent from Sanbornville at the beginning of March on its way home to the Blaisdell Memorial Library in Nottingham but has not arrived. Please contact Rhoda at blaisdellml@comcast.net if you have seen this book.

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Breakfast with Buddha, READS-TO-GO book bag sent from Northwood (Chesley Memorial Library) to Thornton Public Library during last week of February. Large green book bag was never received. Please send to Thornton Public Library.

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Murder in Belleville, Cara Black; Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner and The Drawing of the Three, Stephen King left Acworth via Walpole in mid January and were never received by requesting libraries (Wolfeboro, Deerfield and Pembroke) . All three are fiction. If you have seen one or all, please route back to Acworth. Thanks, Susan.
Contact me at acworthlibrary@myfairpoint.net or at 835-2150.

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That Extra Half an Inch by Victoria Beckham (call number 646.34 BEC) was sent from Bedford to Windham on 9/9/10 and is missing en route. Thanks for checking! Emily/Bedford

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A title the Walpole Town Library sought to return to Lancaster on January 15 has yet to make it there:
Friedman, George: The Next One hundred Years, 2010
Call Number: 303.4922 FRE

Frankie Knibb
Walpole Town Library, Phone: (603) 756-9806
Email: walpolelibrary@comcast.net

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2010 Public Library Annual Report Deadline is April 30

According to Janet Eklund, as of Wednesday, April 6th, the 2010 Public Library Annual Report reporting status is:


Completed and submitted survey: 84 libraries
Started but not completed survey: 82 libraries
Not started the survey: 65 libraries

The survey survey deadline is Saturday, April 30. If you haven't started yet, here is the survey URL: http://collect.btol.com/ You still have plenty of time.

If you don't recall your User names and passwords, please contact Darlene Reinhard or Janet Eklund. Any questions you have with the survey should be directed to Janet (603-271-2393).

NHU-PAC keyword searching updated, at last

Friday, April 8: We now have up-to-date keyword indexes functioning in the NHU-PAC so, at last, keyword searches will find Bossypants and nearly 4,000 other books, DVDs, CDs, computer games, and such added to the database since March 17. New materials are now being indexed as they are added, just the way it's supposed to be.

Brief searching outage 4/8 late am

Friday, April 8: There will be a brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching this morning, probably starting around 10:10. Searching should be restored within 10 minutes.

Brief searching outage 4/8 late am/midday

Friday, April 8: It's very likely there will be another interruption of NHU-PAC searching today--probably late morning and for no more than 10 minutes. I hope to post a more precise start time later.

Brief searching outage 4/8 am

Friday, April 8: There will be a brief interruption of NHU-PAC searching starting at 7:50 a.m. This should last no more than 5 minutes.

Use browse search for new materials

Attention, catalogers: have you been searching the NHU-PAC in vain for the new books Scorpia Rising or Bossypants? Can't find the just-released DVDs Black Swan or Tangled? These and thousands of other items added to the NHU-PAC since March 17 cannot be found using keyword searches. Until this is fixed, use the browse indexes to find newer materials. You'll find subtabs for the Browse Indexes under both the Welcome to NHU-PAC and Advanced Searching tabs.

NHU-PAC training

NHU-PAC classes scheduled for next Thursday at the State Library in Concord will be held as originally scheduled. Sign-ups are still being accepted for the free training. A change in the construction schedule at the State Library led to these classes being cancelled yesterday--and another change in the schedule has us back with the original plan. E-mails about the cancellation were sent to those who had already registered for the classes; we'll be contacting them again today. Sign-ups are also being accepted for NHU-PAC classes at Hooksett Public Library on May 24.

NHU-PAC keyword searching problems

Monday, Apr. 4: There will be a brief interruption (~5 minutes) of NHU-PAC searching at 8 a.m. The weekend rebuild of NHU-PAC's keyword indexes didn't do everything it was supposed to do so we're switching the indexes back to the way they were Thursday---which is exactly the same way they were two Thursdays earlier. Additions or changes to the database since March 17 are not findable through keyword searches for now. Use browse indexes to find recently added materials (not an option in the ILL program).

Newspapers Online

The MakeUseOf  blog had an interesting post recently that outlined 6 places to read old newspaper online.

SW B, LR, CD van routes cancelled 4/1

Hello and happy April 1. 'Sno joke: the Southwest B (Jared), LR, and CD van routes have been cancelled for today. Check here to see which libraries are on which Friday route.