tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17287467559077405082024-02-02T02:20:40.830-08:00To Serve Library PeopleAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00754782994816794954noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-41796438447549135192016-09-07T22:26:00.001-07:002016-09-10T18:06:25.374-07:00What Is Management? - By Marriah Kowalchuk<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 13.5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> To be a manager much is involved, there are
pros and cons and things that need to be done such as mastering basic skills
such as: organization, people skills, and leadership. To be a manager you need
to be able to peaceable and to be a people person or at least be able to work
with people, helping them, listening to them, encouraging them, and guiding
them. You need to be positive about your work and your employees, for what they
see you do and what you say, they as well will do to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> As
manager you need to treat your employees with respect, treat everyone fairly
and grant them more responsibility when jobs are done well, this makes them
feel worthy and wanting to please and do more. Make sure that your employees
have confidence and trust in you as there manager and teacher. Do not talk down
to your employees like they aren’t important, and don’t threaten them or use
fear to make them do what you want. Be sensitive to their needs and feelings
and self worth. Make sure to inspire, and have a good working friendly
environment, and help everyone reach their goals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Get
your employees energized, get them excited and inspired on their work. Empower
your employees and make an extra effort as their manager. Work together with
your employees, no one can work alone and succeed all on their own. Make sure
to support your team, managers to must be the teachers, coaches, colleagues,
cheerleaders, and advocates for their staff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Be
open about the business with all involved, create trust with one another. Make
sure to communicate for communication is a vital key for being manager. Let it
be known the expectations and goals for the business. As manager it is also
your responsibility to praise and give commendation for good work that is done,
even with the simple things for it enforces everyone to work harder, it is also
your job to enforce discipline and give needed counsel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Remember
to look at yourself as manager and see what you could work on. Make sure that
your business is organized for if you or the business is not, at some point it
will all fail. Keep on working, everything is a work in progress, everything
can always get better. Work on reachable goals for each employee and as a team.
Create plans to reach those goals, have confidence that they can get reached
and create excitement about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> Goals
are always needed, they provide a direction to go in, they show and tell how
far you have </span><span style="font-size: 21.3333px; line-height: 24.5333px;">traveled</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> and what has been accomplished, they make overall
visions attainable, they clarify every ones role, and gives everyone something
to strive for. Have SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant,
and Time-bound.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Encourage
employees, know what they need and want from you. Employees need you too; help
them learn, to be flexible, praise them, and put out the effort. As a team do a
SWOT analysis considering (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats),
then work on and build on the strengths, eliminate the weaknesses, recognize
and use the advantage of opportunities, minimize and eliminate threats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> As
a manager know your market, become familiar with customers buying habits, and
things that cause those habits to change, know why customers are loyal to their
suppliers and would cause them to change that loyalty to a different supplier.
As a manager don’t lower you management skills or your team just because
everyone else is doing it, use the way that is productive and works for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> You need to as a manager recognize and accept
your responsibilities. Face up to your obligations and actions, and work
compatibly with others. Use your communication skills, people will not respond
well if you are unpleasant, unkind, cold and are distant. Be comfortable
talking, don’t make things awkward. Make
sure be committed to your work, keeping up to date on schedules and plans and
regularly letting everyone know of any changes or updates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> As
a manager you need to be there for your team and employees. Make sure to be
accessible at all times, by email and/or phone. Take time to make sure your
employees know you are there for them. For being a good communicator and manager you
need to be good at the different forms of communication such as (1. Listening -
2. Speaking - 3. Writing - 4. Reading)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> As
a manager you need to learn to be flexible, for you, the business and your
employees. If you have to manage from a distance make sure that you make time
for people, schedule time to talk with your employees, make sure that you
communicate with your employees and let them know they can contact you without
hesitation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Nothing
is ever perfect so make sure you know the risks that are involved or could
develop within your business. As a team write a list of every pro and con, the
risks, the problems, the solutions and the back up plans. Be prepared and ready,
and know what to do if anything ever goes wrong and why. Things are always on
the move and are always changing keep up to date on such changes and be ready
to change with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> In
your business use technology to your advantage, use the internet as a marketing
tool, enhance the image of your business, to discover potential suppliers,
customers, product and service outlets, and providing up to date information on
your products, pricing and services.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: -0.5in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Here
are very essentials to be a manager whether you are new or just refreshing your
mind to know what’s involved. It a work in progress always and improvement is
always a good choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00754782994816794954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-75655295676542709642014-01-09T20:59:00.001-08:002014-01-10T20:31:46.339-08:00Computer maintenance and static electricity.<div abp="608">
<div abp="616">
It's really cold. My mom in Mississippi says the pond near her home is frozen. It was 7 degrees (F). The ducks are totally confused because there's no place to swim, and the cats seem to be purposely learning to slide on the ice.</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div abp="608">
<div abp="623">
Along with the cold often come static electricity problems which causes a lot of computer deaths this time of year. To stop the static put a little diluted fabric softener in a spray bottle and <strong abp="624">lightly</strong> spray the carpeting around the computer. Repeat every two weeks during winter. <a abp="53" href="http://www.rd.com/home/fabulous-uses-for-fabric-softener/" target="_blank">from reader's digest</a></div>
<div abp="626">
<br /></div>
<div abp="608">
<div abp="632">
Did you know your desktop computer (including the self-check system) has a battery that needs to be replaced every three to four years? If the computer is a Dell, it likely has a 3-volt lithium coin cell battery type: CR2032. You can obtain a replacement battery for your self-checkout computer from HPCS Library Services (for free if the system is under our maintenance program). You can also pick it up from any store that sells electronics including Wal-Mart.</div>
<div abp="633">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div abp="639">
Before you change the battery, please make sure to take preventative measures against static electricity. Take the computer to an uncarpeted area, and if possible use a static discharge wrist-band.</div>
</div>
<div abp="608">
<br />
Changing the battery in a computer can be daunting. If you are not comfortable with opening the computer and removing components to expose the battery, there is no shame in taking the computer to an electronics store to have some "Geeks" do the job for you. Again, for our self-checkout customers HPCS will pay a reasonable fee to have this done.</div>
<div abp="608">
<div abp="644">
<br /></div>
<div abp="645">
<div abp="650">
Thanks for reading,</div>
</div>
<div abp="608">
<div abp="652">
Bill</div>
</div>
<div abp="608">
<div abp="654">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-64366798040870790782013-08-16T21:09:00.000-07:002013-08-16T21:10:58.477-07:00At PNLA<div style="text-align: left;">
Hello again. This week I went to the PNLA conference in Boise. I must say I enjoyed it. Well done you conference organizers! As usual I asked the attendees what new things they are going to take home and use. One commonly cited theme was improved signage. Here is a librarian who stopped by and agreed to have her picture taken at our HPCS booth.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJMHqoIsF9oTrC1ngckP2FMi2pBolx04U-F7DN9_wEnvOx5Rmu23lSnAbgdhPRDaa7wtkzyuOyt4k6SNzEr0ZucY7nL4IWmShzND0cW0A-CnoO09JTlSlORVeS3tcb_UKSamCvMExfsw/s1600/PICT0097.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCO-3uMU2L0uQT0bx0z3Y0NdeIfX-KW_L4mjXFcFORzXQqx5nQKSdJBt5W7OSpZxufaT5Ib9Dl4QPp8VXE5uKDxUUoUMiEKu-jJg8tuLU7cjvBWcMTEfLvv-wEGxMi0N2ED4oXkzmLR0w/s1600/2002-12-31+23.00.00-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCO-3uMU2L0uQT0bx0z3Y0NdeIfX-KW_L4mjXFcFORzXQqx5nQKSdJBt5W7OSpZxufaT5Ib9Dl4QPp8VXE5uKDxUUoUMiEKu-jJg8tuLU7cjvBWcMTEfLvv-wEGxMi0N2ED4oXkzmLR0w/s1600/2002-12-31+23.00.00-31.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a><br />
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Thanks E.J.</div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJMHqoIsF9oTrC1ngckP2FMi2pBolx04U-F7DN9_wEnvOx5Rmu23lSnAbgdhPRDaa7wtkzyuOyt4k6SNzEr0ZucY7nL4IWmShzND0cW0A-CnoO09JTlSlORVeS3tcb_UKSamCvMExfsw/s1600/PICT0097.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></div>
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Here's the scanner used with our self-check. A few folks noticed the signage (false barcode) on the metal base plate. It says "Step 1 - place your library card here" in English and Spanish. They wanted to know if they could buy that, meaning just the scanner with that stand. "Of course" I said and took their names.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4pu5_q089Do_jBX9RSHLPYAhzsolV66wh6KUuWCoNo7qVUh4E98mkyT_kOLbuusjWY96cN1CIICFKuC8j9FAAiXBsOU-VGTtX03ut-Z1CnyC4CRqg_XOHsApJNkWOF2u2QvE8jtt6Zw/s1600/2002-12-31+23.00.00-33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4pu5_q089Do_jBX9RSHLPYAhzsolV66wh6KUuWCoNo7qVUh4E98mkyT_kOLbuusjWY96cN1CIICFKuC8j9FAAiXBsOU-VGTtX03ut-Z1CnyC4CRqg_XOHsApJNkWOF2u2QvE8jtt6Zw/s1600/2002-12-31+23.00.00-33.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's me. Do I really look like that?</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-38672956366402685802013-08-10T12:30:00.001-07:002013-08-10T12:36:13.607-07:00How to plan space for a small self-checkout system<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
When planning space for a self-checkout system there are two things to consider: Height and Workspace. For the system to be accessible by children, wheelchair users, and short folks I would suggest using a table or shelf about 30 inches or a little higher above the floor.</div>
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As for workspace, it needs to provide the patron with a comfortable area to set down their items. The sample cabinet below is about 32 inches wide and 2 feet deep. This also allows room for future peripherals such as an RFID pad antenna.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8GkJGjTYJDj8bDkfFWkCbFYqcQv0cFaj2c9sfkFSxFbnwAdwsCx_MoGplpvLCnmiruKdUw1pYS-rQI-dZ2gMv9G1z-XyS77CEAvdCICF-YvYhDX6ZNAoc1SEHbg35kvDkpT9Lx-Beyk/s1600/PICT0082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8GkJGjTYJDj8bDkfFWkCbFYqcQv0cFaj2c9sfkFSxFbnwAdwsCx_MoGplpvLCnmiruKdUw1pYS-rQI-dZ2gMv9G1z-XyS77CEAvdCICF-YvYhDX6ZNAoc1SEHbg35kvDkpT9Lx-Beyk/s1600/PICT0082.JPG" height="320" width="195" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9-G9wJPIqlZmRGO1l775zfYM5ANvX7Xzkwx5y6QL13B7lZpUO3wnNS6r5kmf3-HROfxYfTPNrwst7leC4vFiIYBsOfF8B0HS4fj0KWiq4pF2G5l4vb46RLHe1MqA_4BncWcufa7nlDE/s1600/PICT0084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS9-G9wJPIqlZmRGO1l775zfYM5ANvX7Xzkwx5y6QL13B7lZpUO3wnNS6r5kmf3-HROfxYfTPNrwst7leC4vFiIYBsOfF8B0HS4fj0KWiq4pF2G5l4vb46RLHe1MqA_4BncWcufa7nlDE/s1600/PICT0084.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Comments and inquiries are always appreciated. <a href="http://www.hpcslib.com/contact.aspx" target="_blank">contact page</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-53085691504315459842013-05-16T16:42:00.000-07:002013-05-16T16:42:15.060-07:00MakerspacesIntroduction: Makerspaces is a library buzzword to describe an area in the library set aside for learning some hands-on skills. They can be technical skills such as building robots or a bit more earthy like learning to tie dye tee-shirts.<br />
<br />
Thinking about makerspaces makes me think of my Dad's awesome work shop. (He passed away last summer.) As a child growing up in Rhode Island, I knew my Dad could build anything! He had very little formal education but was a good reader and became an expert with all things mechanical and electronic. A lot of his learning came from working at Cottrell's in the 1960s, building printing presses.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_GwH4DPkHOloaaNlnlsQyfP4pTYQcpIR2udBUQpcAEuRD6ChT8OUWkO2UG6gKIzAYCY04sGMhRDAWgrgzN5Vk3K2xDipwfOQsPRAVybTBZtg3R44lq3quMFF7kt1MX_7qI9R8W9DwQQ/s1600/cottrells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB_GwH4DPkHOloaaNlnlsQyfP4pTYQcpIR2udBUQpcAEuRD6ChT8OUWkO2UG6gKIzAYCY04sGMhRDAWgrgzN5Vk3K2xDipwfOQsPRAVybTBZtg3R44lq3quMFF7kt1MX_7qI9R8W9DwQQ/s1600/cottrells.jpg" /></a></div>
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As a young boy it was such fun watching my Dad work on things in his shop. There was always some project that required some work on the bench. When I was five he would let me hold the solder and push it onto the circuit board as he applied the heat. So naturally today I love electronics and it's a major part of my work.<br />
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I think I'll try to set up my own makerspace at home so I can work with my daughter to make an Arduino controlled robot, with blinking LEDs for eyes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-7022839592973404412013-04-25T20:51:00.000-07:002013-04-28T11:29:19.799-07:00Attending WLA-OLA Vancouver WA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9FJKAcT7IlS3dte6aUkaJmXHOYbu6OxQldjD3zcp388gvhw8PGrSjScjpvP0RtfhqcgUA8hgF_gb1MkPHNs99OumJRoU8ixa5MhHxWJoBRU2iL5NV7q-Sg-AVEgDoybpcvvyme2-WCc/s1600/DSCN1235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9FJKAcT7IlS3dte6aUkaJmXHOYbu6OxQldjD3zcp388gvhw8PGrSjScjpvP0RtfhqcgUA8hgF_gb1MkPHNs99OumJRoU8ixa5MhHxWJoBRU2iL5NV7q-Sg-AVEgDoybpcvvyme2-WCc/s320/DSCN1235.JPG" height="305" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pictured: Carol McGeehon of the Douglas County Library stopped in to see us.</div>
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Well this week Roy and I are attending the combined WLA and OLA conference in Vancouver, WA. It's been beautiful weather. The conference at the Hilton is being well managed. The free wifi is working great, which is pretty impressive considering the large number of folks using it.<br />
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We spoke to a manager for a consortium of 75 libraries. It was interesting to hear her account of trying to keep the Linux/Postgresql servers responsive under such a large load. They are hoping to improve responsiveness by adding solid state drives and more memory.<br />
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more later...<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-44987338335056359862013-04-23T23:55:00.000-07:002013-04-25T20:39:06.620-07:00Attending the MLA Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGOUXHUYds-ccqW8C4IxMdNigZ0_rrF1uqf4ZYrbRR4o4XsATMjAJk4Oh1KuFdfuUU085XYGU8uF-P_zDo71hJiWqeJVJpH70dRuatG35wTSwUsKtBFY7x_QqYDgARXADIUoPUPQrBEA0/s1600/DSCN1231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGOUXHUYds-ccqW8C4IxMdNigZ0_rrF1uqf4ZYrbRR4o4XsATMjAJk4Oh1KuFdfuUU085XYGU8uF-P_zDo71hJiWqeJVJpH70dRuatG35wTSwUsKtBFY7x_QqYDgARXADIUoPUPQrBEA0/s320/DSCN1231.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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(This is a picture we took on our way back home)</div>
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This week we attended the Montana Library Association (MLA) conference in Missoula. We had a wonderful time. We met Jim Semmelroth, Brett Fisher, Allen Seelye and many other hardworking volunteers who made all the technical stuff work so efficiently! It was a wonderful conference. I was glad to see that electricity and good quality wifi was made available to exhibitors without extra cost!<br />
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We took some pictures, but they are on Chaney's smartfone. (Chaney is the wife of my partner Roy Hicks.) I hope to add them to this post later.<br />
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We met many of the hardworking librarians who take seriously their service to small rural community libraries. Many of these wonderful people serve communities of less than 2000 people, and some work at school libraries with just a couple hundred students. Most are connected to the Montana state catalog in Helena. The state catalog is a consortium with an IBM AIX work-horse super-powerful computer system running Sirsi-Dynix software.<br />
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Well this coming week we will attend another conference in Vancouver Washington. I am kind of excited about it.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-24746991182453933582013-04-05T22:50:00.000-07:002013-04-08T11:58:46.902-07:00A lesson in RFID<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today I visited Kristynn Johnson at the Eugene Public Library. This library was an early adopter of RFID technology. They started doing RFID in 2002. They have done an awesome job implementing this awesome technology.</div>
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Here is a picture of their automated material handling system made by Tech-Logic. It is super cool and works great!</div>
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The conveyor system "talks" to the Polaris ILS to check-in items and get their collection code to determine which sorting bin to put them in.</div>
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Kristynn gave me some pointers on applying RFID tags to library items:</div>
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On the vast majority of items RFID tags can simply be applied without concern. Occasionally though to achieve the best results, one must understand the technology. For example RFID tags may not work at self-check if obscured by a significant amount of metal. The metal is sometimes found in a book jacket, especially a shiny one, such as Guiness World Records, popular with young people. (btw I googled that and found lots of really amazing/gross pictures!) It is best to position an RFID tag on an item that contains metal in a way that the self-check readers will have clear access and read the tag information clearly at check out. In a box set of CD/DVDs it is advisable to only tag one item. Otherwise the "noise" from multiple labels will not give a good read. </div>
Some items may not work well with self-check for what ever reason and these will need some sort of visual indicator like a special sticker to indicate that they need to be checked in and out manually to assure that they are posted and removed from the patron accounts accordingly. There are very few cases of when RFID cannot be utilized.<br />
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Thanks Kristynn! I appreciated the tour!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-69263023154183682082013-03-26T15:02:00.001-07:002013-03-26T15:03:29.067-07:00Go away Winter blues.Well Winter is finally releasing it's grip. I get pretty depressed in the winter. Here in Southern Oregon the sun seems to disappear from November to March. Being surrounded by mountains adds to the feeling of being caged in. So I am very happy to have a bit more sunshine.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-35039018660711288272013-03-19T11:57:00.000-07:002013-03-19T11:57:05.977-07:00Haley in the Self-check<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHMXBAIniWhjZc8M7Hj0XjaH62DdYZ2rT2kt8mdnjsowGnluAdRYoGsNeonLPTYzdNj5RAPYL6_84KMvw6ksNhnXb6hqDjS8_s_iT1L2YsMPO0XesEIsn25KYf2oL483uCaKf6IbYsAh0/s1600/DSCN1189.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHMXBAIniWhjZc8M7Hj0XjaH62DdYZ2rT2kt8mdnjsowGnluAdRYoGsNeonLPTYzdNj5RAPYL6_84KMvw6ksNhnXb6hqDjS8_s_iT1L2YsMPO0XesEIsn25KYf2oL483uCaKf6IbYsAh0/s320/DSCN1189.JPG" /></a><br />
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Thank you Haley for stress testing the hardware.<br />
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This is how Daddy really feels about it:<br />
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Sorry for shamelessly showing off some family pics.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-18035023073740172402013-03-07T20:29:00.000-08:002013-03-07T20:49:59.210-08:00Patrons are camera shy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Brenda in Paradise</div>
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Wylendia in Richmond</div>
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While visiting one of our customers last week I wanted to take a few photos of patrons using the self checkout. Wow was that hard. Hardly anyone wanted to have their photo taken, much less a short video clip, which was my preference. I was visiting the library on a Thursday and a staff member on duty suggested I would have better success on a Saturday when a lot of young people come in to use the library. Anyway I got a few pictures. The people in the above pictures are librarians.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-83635989531410722892013-02-22T05:52:00.001-08:002013-02-22T06:03:16.944-08:00Library GeniusesWhen you associate with library people, you start to realize, in general, that these are the smartest people around. It's amazing how humble and quiet most of these men and women are, given the vast knowledge they have acquired. I recognize a large talent in some of these folks that could have been used for great personal enrichment. There are quite a number of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs type of brainiacs, who seem to find more fulfillment simply helping an elderly neighbor, or a child to use the library effectively.<br />
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This makes me feel confident about the future of libraries. Even with societal changes caused by tight budgets and rapidly morphing technology, libraries and the geniuses in them are inventing brilliant new ways to serve people.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1728746755907740508.post-44029943766291116032013-02-19T09:44:00.000-08:002013-03-07T20:47:26.928-08:00Learning from Libraries Part 1Hi this is my first post to our new blog. The blog title is borrowed from the Twilight Zone "To Serve Man" episode. I hope to share what I learn about serving library people here.<br />
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Libraries are fun places. Most librarians seem happy and unstressed. Not always of course, but generally they are. I think stress does come with change. And libraries are changing. Budgets are tightening due to the long term affects of the recent recession. And of course technology is changing the core services of libraries. I hope to spend a lot of time in libraries observing the changes and report back to you weekly. Probably on Tuesdays.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0