You can now add a line to notices other than lost or billing notices to show total amount of what borrower owes. A new circulation notice field type “Outstanding Balance” (outbal) has been added as an option for printing on notices. When this value is printed on the notice, it will show the total balance amount of what a borrower owes.
You can select what kinds of notices you want this to be added to, so if you only want this to appear on your final overdue notices, …
Tyler Irvin, Regional Librarian
The Minnesota Historical Society has released their library partner programs for the spring and summer. The new brochure is attached.
Here is a breakdown of how it will work in our region. SELCO will continue to offer the History Player programs in our Statewide Vetted Programs catalog. Be sure to check out the new Players for Toni Stone, the first woman to play professional baseball in the Negro League, …
Effective immediately, we’ve added a new search facet to the Online Catalog (AquaBrowser) that will allow you to find material by audience level.
The new facet is listed as Target Audience on the right hand side of AquaBrowser. The facet divides material into three categories, Adult, Juvenile, and Teen.
This division of material is determined by the audience level in a fixed field of the MARC record. MARC tag 008. …
After this month of bad news for publishers and Overdrive, at least one publisher that's not in Overdrive is reconsidering that position.
- For better or worse, predictions are officially coming in that Amazon will be jumping in the library lending game soon, too. …
It has come to our attention that the Date facet is missing from the Online Catalog (AquaBrowser). This appears to have been an unintended consequence of work that was carried out by AquaBrowser last night to fix an unrelated problem. AquaBrowser staff are working on the issue and we hope to have the facet back sometime today. Fixing the problem may require a new running of the Indexer script that we run every night to synchronize the AquaBrowser and Horizon databases. …
Greetings! The 2012 Minnesota Library Legislative Day at the Capitol on Tuesday, February 28 is coming up! On opening day of the Legislative Session, I'm happy to report 19 of our 22 SELCO Legislator appointments have been scheduled -- woo hoo! A tentative schedule will be sent out later next week, along with carpooling info, etc., so keep your eyes out!
Good afternoon! This is a reminder that the CSLP has launched the 2012 Teen Video Challenge, a national video competition for teens to get involved with reading and their public library's summer reading program. Teens across the country are invited to create a 30 to 90 second video with their unique interpretation of the 2012 teen slogan Own the Night in combination with reading and libraries. The idea is to involve teens in summer reading, before and during the summer months, …
| The Rochester Area Foundation will host the first showing of the second biennial easel exhibit tour. SEMVA artists installed the exhibit on Monday, January 23 and the Foundation offices will participate in Rochester's quarterly ArtWalk on January 26. easel will tour libraries and galleries from January 2012 through June 2013. Check the easel website for more information and the traveling art exhibit schedule. |
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On January 23, 2012, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults -- including the Caldecott, Newbery, Printz and Coretta Scott King award winners.
Here are the 2012 winners:
Excerpted from a news posting, January 23, 2012, on the American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office's District Dispatch: News for friends of libraries.
The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) and the Library Information Technology Association (LITA) have selected programs at Contra Costa County Library in Pleasant Hill, Calif., …
The SELCO CAT Express group will switch over to full membership level on Feb 1st.
OCLC needs January 31st to “flip” all the libraries over, and create new authorization numbers.
Therefore SELCO members will not be able to access CAT Express on January 31st.
The new authorization numbers will be sent to Cheryl Hill sometime on the 31st and she will begin sending them out to the current Cat Express members Feb 1st.As before, …
A number of easel artists, will be featured with short video clips on SELCOtv through YouTube. Check out the first of these episodes by Susan Crane describing Powerful Pastimes.
Viewers of the easel show will be able to view the artists' video interviews after scanning one of five specially prepared gallery name tags by using a cell phone with a QR Code app. …
With the start of a new year, new faces will be joining SELCO committees, some will be continuing and we bid adieu to one long-standing member.
Susan Hart from the Rushford Public Library has served as an elected small public library representative to the ILS Operations Committee since April 2003 through December 2011. Susan also served as Vice-Chair from April 2003 – July 2008. Her practical advice and dedication added much to our discussions. …
This is a little late in coming but with all the projects in changes going on in Cataloging at SELCO I guess it’s better late than never!
3rd Annual Dewey Day 2011 was December 8th.
We had six catalogers on Dewey Day itself - Tyler Irvin, Emily Kittelson, Jeannie Johnson, Janice Kunkle, Kirby Johnson and Cheryl Hill.
After Dewey Day Tyler, Emily and Cheryl finished up the rest of the Cataloging.
A total of 1251 OCLC records were loaded into Horizon the morning of December 8th. …
For an entertaining evening of art and community, enjoy Rochester's ARTWALK.
The Rochester Downtown Alliance along with downtown merchants and local artists will present an evening ARTWALK on January 26, 2012. ARTWALK visitors can enjoy the fresh air while experiencing all that downtown Rochester has to offer and, this time around, the city's artistic tour will include easel. …
10:47 AM--The issues we were experiencing this morning have been resolved. If you are still having problems connecting or accessing our services, please contact the SELCO Help Desk. Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Greetings! The 2012 Summer Reading Program Kick-off is right around the corner! Gail Nordstrom, Public Library Consultant for Viking Library System, will be encouraging you to "Dream Big – Read!" on Friday, February 10, 2012, 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the SELCO Headquarters in Rochester. Participants should bring a copy of the SRP manual if possible. From 1-3:30 p.m., …
07:44 AM--We are experiencing problems with some of our services this morning such as Citrix and email. We are aware of these issues and are working to resolve them as quickly as possible. We will be posting more information as it becomes available. Thank you for your patience in this matter.
I just got an e-mail containing the following information:
Effective immediately, Penguin Group has suspended the availability of download audiobook titles for library purchase across all vendors. This change does not affect any Penguin audiobook titles currently in your library's catalog. Your library will be able to purchase additional copies of titles released before 11/14/2011. However, titles released after this date and new releases will not be available, …
I received the following in an e-mail this morning, announcing that this new feature will be implemented tomorrow:
'Recommend to Library' Manager (RTL) for Patron Drive Acquisition:
With the 'WIN' Catalog (opt-in), users will be able to view and recommend titles from publishers' entire catalogs; even titles the library has not yet purchased. This patron-driven acquisition tool will be controlled by the 'Recommend to Library' (RTL) Manager. With 'RTL' Manager, …
| The Friends of the St. Paul Library still has funds to allocate towards expense reimbursement for Minnesota libraries (or affiliated non-profits) that sponsor programming featuring past Minnesota Book Awards winners. Funding of up to $500 is available to defray an author honorarium and/or any variable programming costs a library or Friends group may incur. Download the Author Event Funding Application Form. |
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The following information was sent via e-mail on January 17, 2012, from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information included.
Session Overview
The 2012 legislative session begins on January 24, 2011 -- one week from today. Due to a projected state budget surplus of $876 million, this will be the first session in several years where legislators are not forced to focus on cutting the budget. Instead, …
Due to a problem on our Horizon database, we are rebooting the server. This should clear up the problem but will result in all Horizon clients stopping. Once the server is back up, Online Library staff will have to re-login to Horizon.
The reboot will take place at 9:00 AM this morning. Library staff may login again and resume normal operations at 9:10 AM.
We apologize for this unscheduled reboot and thank you for your patience.
In observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the SELCO office will be closed on Monday, January 16. Automation Support will be available that day from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm via the Help Desk number. If you have an automation issue, please call (1-866)529-4469 or (507)529-4469.
There will be no delivery service on Monday. A regular Monday delivery will take place on Tuesday.
If you want to, you can choose to specify an exact date when a BTYPE’s registrations expire for your patrons. (For example, you might want your new student borrowers’ registrations to expire on the last day of school.) When you choose a specific date for a BTYPE registration to expire, the specific date overrides the number of days entered in the expiration (days) field of the btype view for the same BTYPE.
For example, …
Minitex has announced its Spring Semester (January - May) 2012 ELM (Electronic Library for Minnesota) Webinars. They are offering over a dozen new ELM, created for the purpose of sharing practical information that can be applied at work. The slate of webinars, linked to more information on specific class dates, times, and descriptions, is shown below. …
Greetings! The 2012 Summer Reading Program Kick-off is right around the corner! Gail Nordstrom, Public Library Consultant for Viking Library System, will be encouraging you to "Dream Big – Read!" on Friday, February 10, 2012, 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at the SELCO Headquarters in Rochester. Participants should bring a copy of the SRP manual if possible. From 1-3:30 p.m., …
Information from the January 9, 2012 edition of the GrantStation Insider online newsletter.
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is now accepting proposals for the 2012 cycle of the Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant program.
The purpose of Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives, …
I am happy to announce Gina Trussoni will join the SELCO staff as the new Systems Manager on Monday, February 6. She has over 10-years of technical knowledge and experience in Windows environments. She has worked with a variety of platforms and solutions, including several that are relevant to SELCO technology environment such as VMWare and Citrix.
Gina is currently working as the Network Services Analyst at the Moraine Park Technical College in Fond du Lac, …
The order form for the Winter 2012 Cooperative PC Purchase has been posted and an email has been sent to Online Library Directors and Automation Contacts. The deadline for orders is Friday, February 3rd, with SELCO placing orders in the second week of February. Equipment installations will be carried out as orders arrive.
http://www.tfaforms.com/219650
There are a couple of things to note on this purchase there are different from the previous one. …
Brilliance Audio will no longer be available through Overdrive. Overdrive released the following information:
January 31, 2012, as instructed by the publisher, BrillianceAudio will suspend the availability of all download audiobook titles for library purchase across all vendors. This change does not affect any titles currently in your library's catalog. You will not, however, be able to add any additional copies. If you have questions or comments, …
We got the following message this morning from Minitex:
Access to the ELM EBSCO databases is being restored today. Many libraries already have access this morning and access should return to everyone throughout the day. If you’ve already tried this morning with unsuccessful results, please close and reopen your browser and try again.
SELCO has awarded three scholarships of up to $1500 each to help defray the cost of attending the upcoming Public Library Association National Conference in Philadelphia, PA on March 13-17, 2012. The Library Directors receiving scholarships are:
- LaVonne Beach - LaCrescent Public Library
- Diana Tallent - Lonsdale Public Library
- Audrey Betcher - Rochester Public Library
Stay tuned, …
Any searchers of EBSCO today might notice that their options are severely limited: the only databases that are working are the Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts and the eBook Collection. Minitex is currently working on the EBSCO issue and we'll let you know when we hear more.
Doug Ohman, photographer of the Minnesota Byways book series, will be touring libraries in the Selco region January through March. He has photographed many structures important to Minnesota's history, including libraries, barns, churches, and schoolhouses. He will present various programs based on his photographs and experiences in capturing the photographs for the books. Please see the schedule below for dates and locations.
Thursday Jan. 12, …
Good news! We have officially received our first entries for the 2012 Poetic Strokes poetry contest! Let's keep them coming! Please send your poetry submissions between January 1, 2012 and February 15, 2012 to:
SELCO
Attn: Mollie Pherson - Poetry Submission
2600 19th Street NW
Rochester, MN 55901
mpherson@selco.info
For submission guidelines, please click here. …
It appears that OverDrive is still having trouble with use exceeding their capacity today. At the present time, both Browse and Quick searches are returning no hits. No information has come out from OverDrive today about this but it is consistent with the problems they have experienced ever since Christmas. While there is little we can do about this situation, we will continue to monitor it.
The agenda for the January 2012 Technology Users Group meeting has been posted in the Users Group section of the website. Topics include a celebration of our one-year anniversary of offering eBooks throughout the region, fun with mobile devices, and exciting developments in how SELCO handles cataloging and bibliographic database control. And lunch with your peers!
See you in January.
In observance of the New Year's Day holiday, the SELCO office will be closed on Monday, January 2, 2012. There will be NO Automation Support on Sunday; however, Holiday On-Call Support will be available on Monday from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
There will be No delivery service on Monday, with regular delivery routes resuming on Tuesday, January 3.
SELCO has awarded five scholarships to defray the cost of attending the Library Technology Conference at Macalester College on March 14 & 15, 2012. The Library Technology Conference provides a mix of sessions highlighting many of the technologies affecting how users interact with libraries and how libraries are using technology to create new and better ways to manage resources. …
I had already noticed some sluggishness with the Overdrive site, but I got an e-mail from Overdrive that confirms that people are hitting their site pretty hard right now. It reads:
Dear Library Partner,
This message is to inform you that we are experiencing extremely high traffic at some of our hosted library websites which may result in reduced performance. Our network engineers are actively working on this situation during this peak period. …
I can officially say it's happening. While we had slighly higher numbers (both in new registrations and in circulation) after Black Friday, it appears that most people were indeed purchasing those eReaders at steep discounts for altruistic reasons instead of selfish ones. I'm writing this on Monday at around 7:00, and we already have 170 new registrations on Christmas Day and today (though the numbers are continuing to climb), and we've circulated 466 items in that same period. For perspective, …
I just received an e-mail from Overdrive containing the following information:
This message is to inform you that Adobe Activation services experienced unexpected downtime which affected new device registration and support. We received confirmation from Adobe that Adobe Activation is now fully online.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
If you have any users mention difficulty with Adobe this weekend, it might be helpful to let them know they weren't alone, …
| The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) has issued its 2012-2013 Request for Proposal (RFP) for funding from Minnesota’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund beginning July 1, 2013 and would appreciate your assistance in providing notification and access to the public. The RFP is available on the LCCMR website. The deadline to respond is Friday, April 6, 2012. |  |
Greetings! SELCO and your local library encourage you to submit your original unpublished poetry to be considered for the 2012 Poetic Strokes regional anthology. Please send your poetry submissions between January 1, 2012 and February 15, 2012 to:
SELCO
Attn: Mollie Pherson - Poetry Submission
2600 19th Street NW
Rochester, MN 55901
mpherson@selco. …
Over the last few days, we have experienced serious performance degradation on Horizon. This has mostly (though not exclusively) been happening in the morning and is characterized by slow response times when performing operations such as check in, reports, and running pull lists. All this week, we have been working with SirsiDynix to fix whatever is going on. As of now, we do not have the problem resolved but have identified some workarounds which will hopefully keep it under control. …
In observance of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the SELCO office will be closed on Friday, December 23 and Monday, December 26. On-call Holiday Automation Support will be available Friday, Saturday and Monday from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
There will be NO delivery service on either Friday or Monday. Delivery will resume on Tuesday, December 27.
| The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library is pleased to announce Cave Paper and its founders, Bridget O’Malley and Amanda Degener, as the winners of the 2012 Minnesota Book Artist Award (MNBA) sponsored by Lerner Publishing Group. This annual award, presented by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) and the Minnesota Book Awards, … |
The American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office has posted information to its District Dispatch news blog about the $915 billion budget bill that passed by the U.S. House on Friday, December 16, 2011, and by the U.S. Senate on Saturday, December 17, 2011. Specifically for libraries:
- $28.6 million was appropriated for literacy, with about $14. …
As promised, Overdrive has rolled out the Overdrive WIN platform. Instead of Library BIN, library users can now select from Amazon, Books on Board, or Powell Books for items they'd like to purchase. SELCO will continue to earn a percentage on those purchases.
| Nearly 50 artists submitted their interpretation of books, letter, authors, reading, or the library for judging and possible inclusion in the second easel traveling art exhibit. The artwork was juried Monday, December 12 and 33 pieces were selected from artists residing in each of SELCO’s eleven counties. |  |
As SELCO’s first traveling art exhibit, easel, draws to a close, the Kasson Public Library sponsored a Gallery Talk highlighting easel artwork on Monday, December 12, 2011. Mariclaire Flemming, an Olmsted County artist, and Richard Hutton, artist and Past SEMVA President, were featured speakers. Hutton provided general background information from initial planning to installation of art on location, as well as details on the artists’ interpretation of books, letters, reading, …
SELCO is once again offering scholarships to defray the cost to attend the upcoming Library Technology Conference at Macalester College March 14 & 15, 2012. Five scholarships of up to $350 will be available. Scholarships are limited to one per library and recipients must be willing to share conference experiences on the SELCO Librarian blog. The application deadline for those interested in being considered is Wednesday, December 28, 2012 at 12:00 noon. …
It's up on the Overdrive blog. I have to admit that I'm a little frustrated with how vague the response actually is. Gary Price, author of InfoDocket, agrees in a blog post. In the meantime, …
The American Library Association's (ALA) Washington Office has issued the following alert regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), H.R. 3261. ALA is asking us to call our U.S. Representative and ask them to vote no on this bill. I've excerpted the action alert in this posting.
On Thursday, December 15 at 10:00 a.m. (EST) the U.S. …
SELCO will offer three scholarships of up to $1500 to defray basic costs to attend the Public Library Association (PLA) National conference in Philadelphia, PA March 13-17, 2012. The application deadline for those interested in being considered as a scholarship recipient will be Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 12:00 Noon. For more information, click here, or complete SELCO's online scholarship web form.
If you've missed it, the Librarian in Black has a new blog post up talking about how Overdrive restricts items from their library catalog. While this particular post is provacative and should influence further discussions about eBook rights, …
The latest Delivery Count was done on Monday, November 21, 2011 and 3735 items passed through SELCO Delivery. Compared to the Delivery Count done in November 2010 of 3740, this shows that Delivery has held relatively steady for the past two years. The next Delivery Count will occur on Monday, March 26, 2012. For more information regarding Delivery, please click on the Delivery "tab" on the ILL and Delivery page.
| Just a few hours left for area artists to submit artwork for the 2012-2013 easel tour! SELCO staff will accept pieces depicting the artist’s interpretation of books, letters, reading, authors, or the library until the end of the business day on Friday, December 9 or by special arrangement on Saturday, December 10. Judging will take place Monday, December 12 by three independent artists. The photo at the right offers a preview of pieces being considered. |
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Dewey Day 2011, the third annual "free day of cataloging" for SELCO ILS member libraries, arrived on December 8, 2011. Cheryl Hill, Technical Services Librarian; Emily Kittelson, Cataloging Librarian, and Tyler Irvin, Regional Librarian, were joined by guest catalogers Janice Kunkel, Jeannie Johnson, and Kirby Johnson to catalog a variety of materials from libraries across the region. …
SELCO staff wish you the happiest of holidays with their seasonal favorite books, CDs and movies in this year's video holiday card. …
Greetings! WebJunction Minnesota is offering an online webinar called Developing and Maintaining E-Reader Policies and Procedures for Libraries on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 2 p.m. Please see info below:
Developing and Maintaining E-Reader Policies and Procedures for Libraries
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012, 2 p.m. Central, 60 min.
Early Registration: click [here|https://oclc.webex.com/oclc/onstage/g.php? …
Overdrive has sent out the following message to anyone who has purchased materials from the LibraryBIN site:
Dear LibraryBIN Customer,
As of January 3, 2012 the LibraryBIN site will be discontinued. We are
contacting you so that you have the opportunity to download and archive the
titles you have purchased. After February 29, 2012 titles will no longer be
available for download from this site. …
Snow and cold weather have finally arrived! Looking for fun stuff to do at the library with your kids and teens? Check out some of the recommended titles from the SELCO Professional Collection:
- Start to Finish YA Programs by Ella W. Jones -- ideas for poetry slams, term paper clinics, hip-hop symposiums and more!
- Shake & Shout: 16 Noisy, Lovely Story Programs by Rob Reid -- give your kids a chance to get all of their winter wiggles out with these fun programs! …
Good afternoon! SELCO is happy to announce a partnership with the Rochester DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, the downtown Rochester Barnes and Noble, and Mayo Clinic Volunteer Services to collect books for young people receiving treatment at the Mayo Clinic. We are looking to collect 5,000 new or gently used books (picture books to YA materials) to hand out to young patients. …
Information from the December 5, 2011 edition of the GrantStation Insider online newsletter.
Better World Books and National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) have teamed up for their third annual Libraries and Families Award recognizes innovative library-based literacy programs for families. …
The following information was sent via e-mail on December 1, 2011 from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Lobbyist. Additional linked information included.
Late this morning (December 1, 2011) Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter delivered some much needed positive news about the state’s budget situation. In the weeks leading up to the forecast release most people predicted deficit news in the range of $500 million to $1.2 billion. …
Greetings! History Day preparations are in full gear around the SELCO region! Two History Day Hullabaloos are coming up in 2012 at the Rochester Public Library. …
CRPLSA visits MDE and meets Read-It the Frog |
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The Council of Regional Public Library Administrators (CRPLSA) were treated to a sneak preview of an upcoming reading promotion planned by Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. In the future, as the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education travels the state, visiting schools and libraries, Dr. Cassellius will be accompanied by Read-It the Frog. …
easel prep at Goodhue, Red Wing, and Crossroads |
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Area artists and SELCO staff visited Goodhue Public School, Red Wing Public Library, and Crossroads College, all future easel - Experience Art in Southeastern Libraries, exhibit locations. The visitors made notes and took measurements that will be useful during installation, as well photographed possible display space. For a complete look at photos from these three locations, …
Greetings! Planning any shopping in the Twin Cities this upcoming weekend? Or taking in the Holidazzle Parade? Doug Ohman and the author contributors to the book, Libraries of Minnesota, will be at the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul on Sunday, December 4 at 2 p.m. …
Greetings! This is a reminder....please join us for the 2011 Hot Reads Kick-off on Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 12:30-3 p.m. at the SELCO Headquarters. SELCO is happy to kick of the Hot Reads season and the Minnesota Book Awards Tour with a visit from award-winning Minnesota photographer Doug Ohman. Doug will be sharing his Minnesota Byways presentation, …
Beginning in October 2010 SELCO's first ever traveling art exhibit, easel, Experience Art in Southeastern Libraries, has toured the region. The Kasson Public Library will host the last of the public displays of this select collection depicting the artist’s interpretation of books, letters, reading, authors, or the library. The easel exhibit will be available for viewing from November 27 through December 22. …
Due to budget cuts and a decrease in participation, SELCO is discontinuing the Large Print Rotating Collection. The rotating collection was created in August 1987 when Member Libraries relied on this regional service to fill gaps in collection development. Because the purchase of Large Print materials is now more common, a handful of libraries have removed themselves from the rotation, and the participation keeps dropping year to year. …
