Libraries Using Flickr

Some fun photos from Kansas libraries. Take a look.

Wiki Chart

This chart shows the most viewed articles on Wikipedia. Interesting stuff.

Blog Post about Dewey

Interesting discussion about organizing books in libraries. Read more.

July APPROVED Safety Comm. Minutes

Safety Committee Meeting
7-26-06
Minutes

Attending members: Ann Kamphaus – AM, Darlene Mullikin – FE, Sandy Prell – MR, Pat Williams – ADM, Craig Heaton – AUTO, Melanie Smithey – CD, Linda Kline – OE, Pam Newman – TS, Dianna Sissel – MI, Wanda Lawson – BA, Kristine Seitz – ADM, Gail Roberts – UT, Candee Shafer – GO, Patty Szuszkiewicz – BE, Dottie Ertel – WM, Dave Mezack – ADM

June minutes were approved.

Dave will have Laura post how-to instructions on the safety committee wiki.

Dave will check with Jacquie on when the violence in the workplace meeting will take place. He expects that the sexual harassment meetings will be completed first. Violence in the workplace will probably take place in the 4th quarter of this year.

Ann (AM) discussed a problem patron they had recently at Amelia. Dave is going to check on the procedure for notifying all branches when we have a problem patron. Amelia’s patron had some mental illness. Ann reported that the police had to be called and that Sue W. handled the situation very well. Dave also told us that in this type of situation, the branch should also call Liz. The question of if a police officer could come and teach us how to handle problems and/or self defense. Dave says he believes these types of questions will be answered in the violence in the workplace training.

Dave reminded us that repairs are to be done by the maintenance department instead of individual branches/dept. trying to handle these themselves. We need to have consistency in how things are repaired and what is used to repair things with.

Pat Williams handed out the list of supplies that should be in first aid kits. If there are things in your kits not on the list, please send them to Pat at Admin. Mark on the lists items you need and send to Pat within 2 weeks. Pat also let us know that Benadryl spray and booklets are on the list but are not yet available. These 2 items will be ordered soon.

Kristine has completed the fire escape routes for each branch/dept. These will be framed and posted in multiple locations at each branch/dept. Kristine is also working on fire drill and tornado drill procedures. Each location will have fire drills in the near future.

Dave is looking into portable radios that can be taken with us to safe places in the building. After the resent tornados, OE reported that their weather radio was not working. It has since been moved to a different location in the building. Remember that on Wednesdays there is a test of the weather system. Everyone responded well to the recent storms/tornado warnings. Dave reminded us that the closest NOAA tower (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is in Columbus so; alerts can sometimes be spotty in Clermont County. The weather radios the branches currently have are preset to get information on Hamilton and Clermont county weather only.

The Shakely group is aware of our October meeting date and we expect them back then.

All emergency procedures are being revised. Branches/Dept. may have old binder with emergency procedures in them. Keep these until they are replaced.

BWC report was posted to the Safety Comm. folder online by Dave. He felt the report was somewhat vague. Some of the information that was discussed with the inspector was not on the report. The problems that were talked about but not on the report will be corrected.

Dave also reminded us that if we transport CCPL items in our personal vehicles those said items are not covered by CCPL insurance while in our vehicles. If something would happen (i.e. a helium tank exploding in our car) the library is not responsible for the damage. Worker’s Comp would cover personal injury while driving to a CCPL meeting – not if we leave the meeting and go to lunch – only on CCPL business.

MSDS sheets –
We received MSDS training that is also being presented at other system wide meetings. This training is to be given to all employees yearly.

MSDS sheets are provided to protect the employees. We need to keep all sheets (even for items no longer used) for 30 years. Because of this requirement, Dave asks that we try to use items that we have used previously. Buying a different type of supply just to save a few cents is not worth the money it costs to produce and maintain the sheets.

If you should request a MSDS sheet from a manufacturer, they have 20 minutes by law to provide it. If a member of the public request to see a MSDS sheet, we have 20 minutes by law, to produce it.

By law, the MSDS sheets must be kept in a yellow binder. Dave is aware that the binders are not exactly user-friendly. Pat is taking suggestions on how maybe fix this. They are also looking into a separate binder for items no longer used by CCPL. Branches/Dept. may “flag” certain sheets if it would be helpful. If emergency personnel need too, they may take the MSDS with them in case of an emergency. If this happens, please call Pat and have her send a new one out.

Dave reminded us that we cannot have spray bottles without proper labeling. Items the janitorial staff brings in – they are responsible for. These items should be properly labeled also. If you have items at your location without labels, please call Pat to have this taken care off.

Next meeting – August 23 @ 10:00 am / Goshen branch

Millennium Circulation Training

Today I sent out a memo regarding a new round of training in Millennium circulation. The memo includes complete information, including sign-up. If anyone has questions about the training, please contact me. If anyone has special concerns about Millennium in general that they would like to share, please feel free to add your comments here.

Liz

Wiki vs Blog

People have asked about the differences between wikis and blogs. This PPT presentation about wikis by Meredith G. Farkas does a quick comparison.

Wikis:

• No one owns content
• No specific organization (hyperlinks)
• Anyone can edit other people’s work.
• Perpetual work in progress
• Good for collaborative group work

Blogs:
• A person owns their post
• Specific organization (reverse chronological)
• Only the author can edit their own work (others can comment)
• Posts are permanent
• Good for disseminating information/starting a dialogue

Program Cost Analysis

Just a reminder to branch staff to fill out the Program Cost Analysis forms. I noticed that several of the forms were partially filled out. Let me know if you have any questions.

This is depressingly familiar

The attached website has a lovely article about the use of real people to answer internet questions. You know, sort through all the hundreds of websites that a google question turns up and recommend the best answers to people.... I think that's called a - um - librarian?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081501142.html?referrer=emailarticle

I'm going to consider the possiblities this presents for some commentary somewhere....

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Movie

From SciFi.com:

"Philip Lord and Chris Miller told SCI FI Wire that they will co-write and co-direct a computer-animated film based on Judi Barnett's classic children's picture book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, turning it into a comic homage to disaster movies such as Twister and Armageddon. Meatballs is in development at the newly formed Sony Pictures Animation, part of the studio's initial slate of family-friendly CG films."

Read more.

OLC Backs Toy Recall

OLC Article

I have included the OLC article about the recall on the toys. Kudos to us for being proactive!

Technorati: State of the Blogosphere

From David Sifry's State of the Blogosphere post:

* Technorati is now tracking over 50 Million Blogs.

* The Blogosphere is over 100 times bigger than it was just 3 years ago.

* Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size every 200 days, or about once every 6 and a half months.

* About 175,000 new weblogs were created each day, which means that on average, there are more than 2 blogs created each second of each day.

* Total posting volume of the blogosphere continues to rise, showing about 1.6 Million postings per day, or about 18.6 posts per second.

* This is about double the volume of about a year ago.

* The most prevalent times for English-language posting is between the hours of 10AM and 2PM Pacific time, with an additional spike at around 5PM Pacific time.

Read more.

WorldCat is now available free online

From OCLC's WorldCat.

Announcing the release of the new WorldCat.org
Web site.

This site---and a downloadable WorldCat search box you can easily add to your Web site---opens the complete WorldCat database to the public, not just the smaller data subsets utilized by Open WorldCat partner sites such as Google, Yahoo! Search and others. WorldCat.org builds on the success of OCLC's Open WorldCat Program that has elevated the visibility of library materials on the open Web since the summer of 2003.

The main attraction of the new site is the WorldCat search box. Web users can now search the entire WorldCat database with the method most familiar to them: simple keywords. As in Open WorldCat, each linked result leads to a "Find in a Library" information page. From there, users can enter geographic information such as a zip or postal code, receive a list of nearby libraries that own the item, and link right to a library's online catalog record to initiate circulation activity or access electronic content directly. Users can also create their own WorldCat account and add book reviews, table-of-contents information and notes to many WorldCat items, helping to personalize their library search experience.

From WorldCat.org, any Web user or organization can also easily download and install the free, WorldCat search box to their personal or commercial Web page, allowing even more people to discover library content through WorldCat. Libraries and other groups inside and outside the OCLC cooperative are encouraged to add the box to their sites. We believe that sharing the ability to search for library materials to as many other sites as possible will help increase the awareness of libraries as primary sources of reliable information and helpful personal assistance.

To try the new WorldCat search box and download the box to your own Website, visit the site at http://worldcat.org

Remarkable ASL resource

For those of you who have been involved in the past year's American Sign Language training, this is a remarkable resource, thanks to Librarian's Internet Index:

http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/

Regards to all,
Aaron

Diane Craver -local author-possible speaker for Service Without Boundaries

Hey everyone, we need to get this speaker into the library. Diane is a mother of two Down's syndrome children and has written books about it. We need to get her in for a program for Service Without Boundaries. She is also a wonderful person, I've known her and her family for almost 20 years. If you would like her contact information, please give me a call.

Clermont resident gets three book contracts
BY LIZ VERNON COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF WRITER
OWENSVILLE -- Being published is nothing new for Diane Craver.
The Stonelick Township resident published a Christmas book, "The Christmas of 1957," about five years ago, and also has written a book about special-needs children, called "Celebrating And Caring For Your Baby With Special Needs," and has been published in Woman's World Weekly.
However, Craver's three latest novels, which will be published over the next few months, are her first published works of fiction.
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The first book, "No Greater Loss," is a contemporary romance that will be released in August.
"It's about a psychologist and she lost her husband and baby 15 years ago," said Craver. "She's afraid to fall in love again, and of course she does."
The second, "A Fiery Secret," is a chick-lit mystery, Craver said. It will be released in November.
"The main character's an investigative reporter ... and while she looks for Mr. Right, she tries to learn if someone murdered the janitor from her old high school," Craver said.
The third book is a mainstream romance, she said. It's called "Never The Same" and will be released next February.
"The main character's a fashion buyer," she said. "On a flight, she gets acquainted with a high-school senior who's pregnant. The plane crashes, and they both survive and realize their lives will never be the same."
Craver began writing several years ago.
"I originally started writing because my first child and my last child were born with Down's syndrome," she said. Although that book wasn't published, several short stories that came from it were.
After that came her other non-fiction books. However, she was having some trouble getting these most recent novels published. "I was about to give up."
But then a friend told her about Samhain Publishing, an Alabama-based company that was started almost a year ago. "She told me they were looking for new authors," Craver said.
And, Samhain accepted her as one of those new authors.
"She has several new books under contract, so they must be pretty good," said publisher Crissy Brashear.
And, the fact that Craver is from Stonelick Township just outside Owensville was a plus for Brashear, who used to live in Amelia.
"I was really excited to see her come on," Brashear said.
Craver, as well as other authors, worked with content editors on rewrites of their books, she said. "No matter how good it is, there's always something that can be improved."
Despite having more experience with writing non-fiction, Craver said she enjoys writing fiction as well.
"I think it's probably more fun to write fiction," she said. "You get in to the characters. It's neat when the characters take over and it's exciting. It's fun."
And, she's not finished yet. Another book already is in the works.
"I'm really excited," she said.
Samhain releases books every Tuesday, said Brashear.
Craver's books will be published online, as e-books, for three months each before going in to print, at which point they will be available at local bookstores.
To read the books online, visit target >http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/ -- Brashear's online bookstore -- and create an account. Users can then download the book in one of several different formats.

Key Ingredients, August 1-30, 2007

The Key Ingredients Smithsonian Exhibit is now one year away.! Please check out the link below and encourage your co-workers and library users to take a look. There is a wonderful online, searchable, recipe index included on the site. (And it's a gorgeous display!)

Start thinking about food programs for your branch, displays of dishes, dishtowels, antique kitchenware, teapots, etc. Start asking people in your neighborhoods if they have any interesting displays that we can borrow; book them for next year. Remember, we are celebrating all year, not just in August.

If you would like to be an advisor for this committee, you may. I would like to brainstorm some ideas at the next Adult Services, Youth Services, and Branch Managers meetings. Put on your thinking caps and start getting excited about the Clermont County Public Library's involvments in a Smithsonian exhibit!

Check it out!!!! Look Below!!!! Click on it!!!!
Key Ingredients

Taste of Clermont

Taste of Clermont

Taste of Clermont will be once again making it's way to Clermont County. I wanted to include the link for you, just as an FYI. Go Batavia Branch!