Tuesday, Jan. 31, 3:35 p.m.: Auto-Graphics is looking into limited search results in the NHAIS ILL System at this time. Results from the NHU-PAC (the union catalog) are displayed but results from Z-targets are not showing up in results lists.
As you search the NHAIS ILL System you may come across holdings for training libraries. There are five of them in the system--Birch Public, Finch Museum, Ladybug School, Lilac Public, and Newt School--with holdings counts ranging from 150 to 5000 titles.
These libraries are used for training and testing in the system and don't really have any materials they can lend to you. The training libraries are not included in your lender list so any request you create would never be routed to one of them.
In fact, you really shouldn't spend any time worrying about the holdings you see in your search results. The system isn't designed to show you who has what--it's designed to find an available copy of whatever material you've requested and it does its own searching of all catalogs in the system after you submit your request. Choose the record that matches what you're after, create your request, and let the system do what it's designed to do. If you're having trouble with a particular request, get in touch with the NHAIS Help Desk (nhu-pac@dncr.nh.gov or 603-271-2141).
Welcome to Week 2 of the Public Library Survey! (Warning: this is a long message.)
Before we get to this week’s section, a few people have had questions about the item asking for the Number of Registered Users, so I’d like to clarify that. Although what we are asking for sounds simple: The number of people registered in your library with an active, unexpired card, the meaning of “active and unexpired” varies widely.
For purposes of providing consistency in the survey, the IMLS has defined this as the number of people who have registered for a card, re-registered their expired card, or used their card at any time in the past three years. If all libraries adhere to this definition by only reporting the number of active cards within this time period, it will yield more meaningful data for everyone. If it isn’t possible for you to do that because your cards do not expire for many years, I suggest that your response to that item should be “Unavailable”, along with a note to that effect.
Let’s move on to the Services section:
1. Services
-Reference Transactions – The number of reference or readers’ advisory questions that were answered for the year. (Don’t count directional questions – “Where is the restroom?”)
-Reference Transactions Reporting Method – How you calculated this number.
-Programming Expenses – The amount spent from the library budget on programs (not including Friends or Trustee accounts).
2. Total Number of Programs
This part of the survey is a grid giving you a way to report the number of each type of program offered by age group. Remember to include the Summer Reading Program in these totals.
You will see that the IMLS now requires a breakdown of children’s programming by age. If this is something that you haven’t this way, please do your best to estimate for this year. Be aware that going forward, they will require us to report using this age breakdown.
-What is a program? - Any planned, scheduled event, hosted by the library:
o Story hours
o Summer Reading events
o Book Clubs
o Crafting Classes
o Lectures and demonstrations
o Family game nights
o Computer classes
-What is not a program?
o Meetings held by trustees or outside groups
o Programs held by outside groups using the library space
o One-on-one library activities
o Passive (Self-directed) activities
Programs are categorized by type:
-Synchronous Programs: Any program that is available to view as it happens.
• Onsite Program: An in-person onsite program is any planned event that includes an in-person attendance option and takes place at the library.
• Offsite Program: An in-person offsite program is any planned event that includes an in-person attendance option and takes place somewhere other than the library, like a classroom, senior center, etc.
• Live Virtual Program: Any planned event that is streamed and can be viewed live as it is happening.
Note: If you stream an event that is offered for both in-person and online access, that should only be counted once. Include it as an in-person program unless the virtual option has more attendees.
-Asynchronous Programs: Any program that is recorded and only available for viewing after the fact.
-Passive Programs: Any activities developed by the library that are self-directed and are available to people at any time, rather than as a scheduled event.
Enter the number of programs of each type in the grid. Remember, if you didn’t offer programs to one of these age groups, or in one of these types, you should enter zero, not “Unavailable”. If the number of programs is actually unknown to you, please add a note explaining why.
If you offered a program, but no one attended, that program can’t be counted here. (Sorry!)
3. Total Program Attendance
-For each of the categories of programs offered, enter the number of attendees.
-Please count every attendee regardless of age for each category. For children’s events, include parents and caregivers in your totals.
-Do not include participation in Passive Programs as attendance in this grid.
Remember, if you didn’t offer programs in any category, the attendance for that category should be entered as zero, not “Unavailable”.
4. Programming Totals
This is where all the numbers you have entered into the grids above are totaled. All fields are grayed-out because they are calculated totals. If anything here looks wrong to you, check your entries for typos.
5. Recorded & Passive Programs
Passive Programs: Informal activities planned by the library to engage visitors that are not held at a specific time and don’t require direction of a staff member, such as drop-in activities, maker-space stations, self-guided learning activities, etc.
Asynchronous Program Presentations: The number of recorded programs your library offered to be viewed online after the fact, not as a live performance.
Total Views within 30 Days: This is a change from last year when you were asked to limit views to one week. Report the number of views of all recorded programs for the first 30 days that they are available to view.
6. Summer Reading Program
Report the number of summer reading programs offered by age. These numbers are a subset of the total programs entered above.
Whew! That was a long section! If you made it this far, you are well on your way to completing this survey. I promise that next week will be shorter!
As always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me at 603-271-2060 or maryann.niles@dncr.nh.gov .
I’ll be back next week with the next steps. (And as before, feel free to continue this journey without me!)
MaryAnn Niles
Reference Librarian & State Data Coordinator
Phone: 603-271-2060
Email: maryann.niles@dncr.nh.gov
New Hampshire State Library
20 Park Street
Concord, NH 03301
www.nh.gov/nhsl/
The NHAIS ILL System will be offline for up to 15 minutes starting at 10 o'clock tonight (Thursday, Jan. 26) to install program updates. A couple of display issues are fixed:
-When the search results were set to “No Grouping,” the Pub Date did not display in List View. This has been corrected so the Pub Date will display as expected in both List and Gallery Views.
-Formats displayed in Gallery View were not in alphabetical order as on List View. This has been corrected so formats will now be listed in alphabetical order in both Gallery and List Views.
Current Gallery View of clustered results on left, List View on right:
There will be no North Country van delivery today (Thursday, Jan. 26) owing to slippery roads. Other vans are on the road but may take a little longer than usual to complete their routes.
When you create an individual request (as opposed to a multi-copy request), the lender list is built after you hit the Submit button. While the lender list build process is underway, the request is in Awaiting Lenders status. This usually takes less than a minute so you may not notice the Awaiting Lenders link briefly appearing in the top left of your Request Manager screen.
Welcome to Week 1 of the Public Library Survey!
If you are new to this or just wondering where to begin, I will be offering some tips on completing two of the survey sections each week. For those who prefer to break the job down this way, it should make it manageable to finish up well before the deadline. So, let’s get started…
1. How to log in-
If you are the person at your library who is responsible for completing the survey, you should have received an email from CountingOpinions.com. That email provides your username and password along with the link to the portal login. Remember, if you have completed this in the past, your username and password are still the same.
If you did not get that email, check your spam folder, and if it isn’t there, email me and let me know. It may be that I haven’t kept up with staffing changes at your library, or changes to your library’s email.
Once you have found the login info, you are ready to go.
2. Before entering your data-
-Once you log in and take a look at the survey questions, you will see that many of the answers are grayed out and cannot be changed. There are two types of questions that may be grayed out:
Items that have been pre-filled by us for each library. If you think there is an error with any of the pre-filled items, let me know so I can make corrections.
Items that are automatically calculated totals of other numbers entered. If you think there is an error with any of the totals, be sure that the numbers you are entering to be totaled are correct.
-When to use the response “Unavailable”:
This option is there for the times when you do have the things in question, but you don’t know the number.
When you do not have the thing in question, you do know that the number is zero, so enter 0.
-Last year’s number is shown to the right of the data entry box for comparison purposes
-Notes – You will see the notepad icon next to each data entry box. Please click on these to enter notes explaining your answers whenever necessary. Your notes are important to us and to IMLS, so please take the time to leave clear explanations for changes over the prior year.
3. Section 1:
In this section, you will see many items that are grayed out because they have been pre-filled. Review those for accuracy, and complete the 4 remaining questions. Note that the Reporting Period start and end date are shown there and this is the time period you are reporting on.
Library Visits – The number of people who entered your library for the year.
Library Visits Reporting Method – Choose the option you use to count library visits.
Number of Registered Users – The number of people registered in your library with an active, unexpired card.
Non-Resident Fee – If you charge a fee to people who are not residents of your town, enter the amount here.
4. Section 2:
Outlets
Public Service Hours Per Year – How many hours was your library open for the year in question.
Covid – 19 Questions – The IMLS has promised that this will be the last year for these questions. You are only being asked how many weeks in the year your library was completely open, closed due to Covid, or had occupancy limits in place. Please be sure these three boxes add up to 52 weeks.
Congratulations!
If you have been following along with me, you are now on your way to completing this survey. As always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me at 603-271-2060 or maryann.niles@dncr.nh.gov .
I’ll be back next week with the next steps. (Can’t wait for the next episode? Feel free to continue this journey without me!)
MaryAnn Niles
Reference Librarian & State Data Coordinator
Phone: 603-271-2060
Email: maryann.niles@dncr.nh.gov
New Hampshire State Library
20 Park Street
Concord, NH 03301
www.nh.gov/nhsl/
Due to the inclement weather and poor driving conditions around the state, we have decided to cancel all van routes for today [Monday, Jan. 23]. Sorry for any inconvenience this is causing, but we have to think of the safety of our drivers and vehicles.
Best,
Jill M Witham
Van Service Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
Due to the weather conditions around the state we are canceling all van deliveries for today [Friday, Jan. 20]. We will try our best to make up the once a week only deliveries next week.
Stay safe,
Jill M Witham
Van Service Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
In recent days, records for print serials have been displaying in the NHAIS ILL System as "eSerials." Auto-Graphics is aware of this bug and is working to fix it.
[It's public library annual report time again and state data coordinator Mary Ann Niles is writing a series of messages to help guide you through the process of completing the survey. In addition to appearing on the NHAIS-ILL e-mail list, her messages will appear in the NHAIS Notes blog for easy reference.]
Hello everyone,
I know that you will all be delighted to hear that the 2022 survey is now open!
Those of you who are new to the process may find it helpful to have a bit of background explaining what this is all about:
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency established in support of libraries, collects public library data nationally every year. As part of this process, the IMLS requires the NH State Library to collect the same data from all public libraries in NH that is being collected in every other state. They use this data to better understand your programs and services, and to see how our libraries compare to those in other states. Once the data has been entered, we at the state library, compile it and make it available to you so that you may use it to see how your numbers compare with those from similar libraries, articulate your value, and help to tell the story of the importance of your library to your community. The data from past years may be found on our website: https://www.nhsl.dncr.nh.gov/librarians/library-statistics
Questions you may be asking:
1. How much time do I have?
• This year's survey, covering the data from 2022, will be open for responses until the end of April. That means you have 15 weeks to complete 15 sections of questions. Since some of the sections have only a few questions, even if you choose to complete only one section a week, you will still finish on time.
2. What is different this year?
• Questions about Children’s and Young Adult programming and attendance are now broken down by age:
o Children 0-5
o Children 6-11
o Young Adult 12-18
• The time allowed to count the total number of views of recorded programs has been extended to 30 days.
• There is now a question asking whether your library charged overdue fines for the year being reported.
3. What help can I get to complete the survey?
Lots! I am here to help you in a number of different ways, so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me at 603-271-2060 or maryann.niles@dncr.nh.gov . Here are some things to help you get started:
• For a paper copy of the survey that you can print out and work on before entering the numbers online, go to nh.countingopinions.com and click on the "Download the Annual Report Worksheet" link at the bottom of the page.
• For instructions on how to complete each section of the survey go to the FY 2022 Annual Report Guide
• Beginning next week, look for an email each week with tips on how to complete two sections of questions. If you decide to follow along with me on those, your survey will be finished by the end of March.
• I will be offering a general overview of how to complete the survey on Zoom for anyone who would like more information. Stay tuned for dates and times of those.
• If you are in a Co-op or other library group that would like to get an overview of the survey via Zoom, let me know and we can set that up.
By the end of the day January 13, an email was sent to each library director from CountingOpinions.com including your username and password and the link to the portal login. Be aware that if you have done this in the past, your username and password are still the same.
Thank you for working with me to complete this process. The New Hampshire libraries have done a great job on the survey in past years and I’m sure this year will be no exception.
Let me know how I can help.
MaryAnn Niles
Reference Librarian & State Data Coordinator
Phone: 603-271-2060
Email: maryann.niles@dncr.nh.gov
New Hampshire State Library
20 Park Street
Concord, NH 03301
www.nh.gov/nhsl/
[This post edited 12/14/2023 to update a link.]
The NHSL Southeast-A van route has been canceled for today (Thursday, Jan. 19). The following libraries are affected:
Barrington
Nottingham
Stratham
Greenland
Hampton
Exeter
Brentwood
East Kingston
Plaistow
Atkinson
Hampstead
Sandown
Chester
Candia
Auburn
