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August 12, 2008

Meebo

So many of our libraries are already doing some type of IM reference.  A patron is at home and has a quick question that a librarian can easily answer.  Why pick up the phone when you can send a quick instant message?  I know I would prefer to not pick up the phone.  Maybe some of you feel the same way.  We’ve recently added Meebo to the front page of the NSLS website.   So, if you have a question for NSLS, why not check it out.  There’s a very friendly NSLS-staffer on the other end awaiting your message.

posted by Debbie at 10:22 am | Comments (0)

August 1, 2008

A New Gas Crisis Strikes NSLS Delivery

On Tuesday, July 29th, interlibrary loan materials travelled a little farther than they would have on any other day. 

 Just before the time our vans normally start returning to NSLS with their daily load of materials, a contractor working near the new Wheeling Village Hall construction site ruptured an 8-inch natural gas line along Dundee Road.  Emergency personnel immediately closed down all traffic on Dundee for several blocks in each direction, leaving our drivers no way to get back to the garage.  In spite of several pleas to let our vans through from the side away from the damaged gas line, the Wheeling Police Department wouldn’t budge.  Fire personnel at the scene informed us it would be shut down for as much as 5 or 6 hours. 

 A back-up plan was quickly pulled together, and each driver was called and redirected to find their way to the parking lot of the elementary school across the creek that runs behind the NSLS building.  As each driver arrived, we unloaded the vans and transferred the book bags into large rolling tubs, and manually moved them over the footbridge, across our parking lot and down the driveway to the garage.  While drivers Ken, Matt, Alec and Saul worked out in the 95 degree heat of the parking lot to transfer bags between vans and into the rolling tubs, Larry, Don and our new temporary employee, Alex, shuttled the large tubs back and forth to our sorting area in the building.  Tuesday being our heaviest volume day, we estimate that the trips with the tubs equaled at least 2 miles of walking between them.

 Meanwhile, our front office staff jumped into action and took over the sorting operations inside.  At least a dozen staff members took turns sorting the materials as we brought the bags in.  Thanks to their help, what we expected to be an 11 hour day for the drivers turned out to be only about half an hour longer that a normal Tuesday.  According to Ken, who has been a driver for NSLS for well over 30 years, “We’ve never had to do anything like that before.  This was a first.” 

 The road was reopened to traffic sometime around 3:00 so we could get the fully loaded vans safely tucked away in the garage for the night.   

posted by Don at 1:42 pm | Comments (0)

July 31, 2008

A/V Equipment upgrade in NSLS Auditorium

To ensure that our members always have the best experience possible when they visit our building, we try to make sure we have current and state-of-the-art equipment available.  Something often overlooked is the projection screens used to project computer displays or overheads onto.

We recently replaced the projection fabric on the large 10 foot screen in the NSLS Auditorium.  The old screen was original from when the building was built and was actually made of glass beads glued to a canvas material.  Screen technology has come along way since 1974 and the fabric was replaced with a bright-white, high contrast fabric.  This new fabric makes the images on the screen look brighter and the colors more vivid.

posted by Rob at 2:06 pm | Comments (0)

July 25, 2008

Changes at the Daily Herald

No matter where you take in your news – print, online, or on-air – you have to be aware of the tough times for the newspaper industry. That wacky new-fangled thing called the Internet has turned things upside down for the print media. Sound familiar? In addition to the latest news from the Chicago Tribune regarding resignations, layoffs, and reduced coverage, those of us that deal directly with the press have had to circumnavigate the papers as a result of the fast-paced personnel reductions and reassignments.

In April 2001, the Daily Herald launched Sarah Long’s weekly “Our Libraries” column, which is found in the Neighbor section. To deal with the market flux, the Cook County editions of the Daily Herald have had to consolidate eleven Neighbor editions into one. One casualty of this change is that “Our Libraries” had to be pulled from the Cook County edition. It is still safe and secure in the Lake County edition, as well as on the Daily Herald website.

By the many e-mails (and letters) Sarah receives in response to her columns, we know that the library message is front and center in the minds of many “civilian” readers, as well as library staff and trustees. We would love to continue this level of presence for libraries throughout the paper’s footprint. The editors have been nothing but supportive, and we feel for them in these challenging times. There is hope that in the future the paper will be able to bring the column back in Cook County. Now would be a good time to let the Cook County editor know the impact of “Our Libraries.” Please send your comments to Assistant Managing Editor Renee Trappe, rtrappe@dailyherald.com.

posted by Judy H. at 3:20 pm | Comments (0)

July 23, 2008

“Here’s the Evidence” grant wrap-up

A year ago, the DuPage and North Suburban Library Systems received LSTA funding to develop and implement unique ways to look at the assessment of student learning. In other words, answering the ever-persistant question, do school libraries and librarians really make a difference?

You have probably heard about the Illinois Study that was conducted a few years ago that proved (statewide) that well-funded, well-supported, and well-staffed school libraries definitely make an impact on the bottom line–student test scores. The research created by the “Here’s the Evidence” grant project, once and for all confirmed those results on a very local level (the building level).

The project is over, but the work continues!

With the help of Grant Trainer Dr. Betty Marcoux, Pam Kramer (DLS) and myself are gathering data and compiling info for future articles and presentations. (I hope you caught the article on WEBJUNCTION IL.)

Our thanks to the following NSLS members who joined us for this project:
Linda Diekman, Central School
Katie Kirsch, Lake Bluff Middle School
Julia Langlois, Coleman Elementary School
MaryBeth McWilliams, MacArthur Middle School
Suzy Rabbat, Olive-Mary Stitt Elementary School
Kathy Ruck, Melzer School
Sydney Ryan, Emmons Grade School
Mary Spevacek, Hoffman Estates High School
Barbara Ungar, Central Elementary School
Deb Will, Zion-Benton Township High School
Erin Wyatt, Highland Middle School

More to come!

posted by sharon at 3:21 pm | Comments (0)

July 16, 2008

More on e-Newsletter Usability

In a continuation of my previous post on this topic, here are a few more bits of info I learned at the conference.

• Overlapping content or content that is repeated each week leads users to believe they are receiving it more frequently than they actually do.
• In their study, the main reason for not wanting to receive a newsletter was related to not wanting more mail, even when they liked a newsletter. The general feeling was that if they subscribed to one, they’d have to unsubscribe from they currently receive.
• Every single user used Google at some in their quest to find information for the study.
• Usually users only know how to report spam. Most do not know how to check their junk folders. If they cannot identify your newsletter, they will delete it.
• Users feel the most successful newsletters to them are the ones they don’t have to click through. This goes against how most of us measure newsletter success.
• Some do not want to specify information for customization. They are afraid of repeat headlines in each section.
• Offer easy solution for those having problems viewing in HTML. Having trouble seeing this? Click here to change to text version.
• Do not select boxes by default during the subscription process.
• Text newsletter in various email programs and browsers, including mobile phones and Blackberries. When images are blocked, most users do not know what to do.

I have more to share in a future post. Stay tuned…

posted by Christina at 3:14 pm | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

New librarian no longer

It’s strange…I still consider myself a new librarian, but I guess that’s not true anymore.  I wonder when other librarians stop thinking of themselves that way.  I got my MLS in 1997.  I work with the new librarians networking group here at NSLS, so I’d like to think of myself as one of the group.   I suppose we still have quite a bit in common, and maybe they can learn a thing or two from my successes/failures.  I know I certainly learn from them.  I’ve been working with Christina Stoll at the Metropolitan Library System on a joint meeting of NSLS and MLS new librarians.  We’re going to present on public speaking/presentation skills.  We’ve actually presented together a few times, and have hopefully improved a great deal.  It should be an interesting and enlightening meeting.  Hopefully, we’ll have a good turnout. 

posted by Debbie at 2:49 pm | Comments (0)

July 10, 2008

Themes

The NSLS staff and membership have been writing theme articles for the NSLS website each month since October 2005. It’s hard for me to believe it’s been that long! We’ve recently decided to publish these topical articles every other month and it’s possible that they’ll eventually be offered quarterly. We have some decisions to make on that front as we move forward with plans for a redesigned NSLS site. These decisions will be based on the recent survey results as well as available staff time. The newest theme should be up on the NSLS site today or tomorrow. If you’d like to see what we’ve published all along, there’s a comprehensive list on the site.

posted by Christina at 10:21 am | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

View the new NSLS 3rd Space

It’s been great to see our visitors spend time in the new NSLS lobby / 3rd Space. Heavy use of the two computer terminals, as well as taking advantage of the WiFi. By golly, I’ve even seen people just sit at the big table (replacing the “couch circle”), unfettered by technology, reading a newspaper or talking with colleagues. We’ve had requests for pictures of the lobby, so one better, here is a 360 of the new NSLS 3rd Space.

360 view of 3rd Space from Library Beat on Vimeo.

posted by Judy H. at 12:32 pm | Comments (0)

July 2, 2008

Newsletter Usability

I recently went to a usability conference and attended a workshop about e-newsletter usability. This was my second time in this workshop (the first was almost six years ago) and it was interesting to see what had changed and what stayed the same. For example, the latest research report now contains a section about RSS. I thought I’d share a few ideas from the workshop with you over the next few weeks and also let you know how we handle some of these issues with the NSLS weekly e-newsletter and website.

Let’s get started with some general findings in a bulleted list (because bulleted lists are good for web writing).

• Users look to the left navigation and bottom of the page for links to subscribe to e-news.
• Users feel a great deal of frustration when required to register for a site just to get the e-newsletter.
• When this study was first done 7 years ago, users defined spam as blatant messages that they did not want. Now it is defined as anything they don’t want, which includes newsletters. If they don’t want it, to them it’s spam.

So far we’re OK. Our e-news subscription area on the NSLS site is on the left side and users are not required to sign into the site to subscribe. I thought it was interesting that sometimes people subscribe to a newsletter, forget, and then consider it spam. I’ll share more general findings with you next time.

posted by Christina at 11:30 am | Comments (1)

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