Carpe Hootem

Upcoming Webinars

2010-03-08T17:13:15Z

The following six NISO webinars are available to OWLS members through an agreement with WiLS. Bring your lunch to the Nest and watch them with us, or OWLS members can log in remotely (details to come). All webinars are 12:00-1:30 CST.

RFID in Libraries: Standards and Expanding Use - April 14th

It's in the Mail: Best Practices for Resource Sharing - May 12th

Measure, Assess, Improve, Repeat: Using Library Performance Metrics - Sept 8th

Count Me In: Measuring Individual Item Usage - Sept 15th

It's Only as Good as the Metadata: Improving OpenURL and Knowledgebase Quality - Oct 13th

Unprecedented Interaction: Providing Accessibility for the Disabled - Dec 8th

Check here for updates and registration: http://www.owlsweb.info/ce/classes.asp?x=2

Free Speech and Banned Books

2010-03-05T21:58:08Z

"Free Speech and Banned Books" presented by Chris Crutcher
Monday, April 12, 2010, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Location: Appleton Public Library Meeting Rooms
Sponsored by: Fox Valley Library Council for members

11:00am - Noon: Presentation
Noon - 1:00pm: Lunch

RSVP to Sue Vater Olsen (svater@mail.owls.lib.wi.us) with the following:
1) Attending both presentation and lunch or presentation only
2) Vegetarian or non-vegetarian lunch
3) Any special needs

(1 contact hours for recertification)

CE: Fearless Forays into Facebook

2010-03-01T20:23:27Z

On Thursday, April 8th at the Appleton Public Library, OWLS will facilitate a discussion of Facebook pages for libraries. If your library does not have a Facebook page yet, join us in the morning to discuss why you might (or might not) want a Facebook presence and how to get started.

If you already have a Facebook page, join us at 11:00 for ideas on what to post, and how to maintain a consistent Facebook presence with limited time. We hope you will share your own Facebook experiences, challenges and best practices with the group.

Finally, if you are ready to jump right in, come back after lunch and build your Facebook page with help from Bradley and Evan. Registration for the afternoon workshop is limited, and this session will require some homework before you arrive, so sign up early.

9:15 – 10:45        Part 1: Starting a Facebook Page: Why and How?

10:45 – 11:00      Coffee and snacks

11:00 – 11:45      Part 2: Care and Feeding of a Facebook Page: Balancing Content and Effort

11:45 – 12:30      Discussion: Share your experiences with library Facebook pages. What’s working? What's not working?

12:30 – 1:30        Break for lunch

1:30 – 3:30           Part 3: Set up your page

Register for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or any combination of the three here.

Drupal Updates

2010-03-01T19:40:31Z

Drop by drop, or Drupal by Drupal, we are making progress with new OWLS web sites. On February 8th New London went live with their new site and just before Christmas, Seymour launched their new web site. If you have not visited them yet, take a look! OWLS is also hosting the new Fox Cities Book Festival site. This is a Drupal site designed by Beth Carpenter using the software program Artisteer http://www.artisteer.com. I have a copy of Artisteer at OWLS that I have been playing around with, so if you would like to learn more about the program let me know. Last year we also had five other libraries move over to Drupal. The five libraries are:

I will be working my way through my list of libraries this spring and summer. I've given up try to predict how long each site will take, but we are making progress and will get to the end of the list eventually!

While not influenced by OWLS moving to Drupal (as far as I know) I saw that the New York Public Library also launched a new Drupal based web site in December. This short YoubTube video introduces their site. As a large, multi-branched library, their needs (and resources) may be different than a smaller library, but I thought the video raised some issues appropriate to any size library. One point was that they did interviews to determine what information users were looking for when they visited their web site. How to use the library was one of the top responses and thus the top link on their site under Home. This seems like something libraries often don't promote prominently on their web sites. I also think it is interesting how little actual information is on the home page and how much space is dedicated to generally promoting the library and it's mission -- Discover, Get Inspired, Meet the Challenge, Inspiring lifelong learning, Strengthening our communities etc... I'm actually not sure yet what I think of the design, but I find it helpful to look at different sites like this and try to figure out how effective or not they are.

That's enough for now -- I have to get back to working on more Drupal sites. Libraries still waiting, thank you for your patience! Please contact me any time for Drupal questions or updates.

March BadgerLunch Webinars

2010-02-26T21:03:26Z

Three BadgerLunch webinars will be held in March on the topic of Health and Medicine:

March 11 -- Consumer Health Complete
TO REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/yfrztks

March 18 -- Health Resources from Britannica Online
TO REGISTER: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/960603880

March 25 -- Nursing Collection/AltHealthWatch/Medline from EBSCO
TO REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/yjbbdmt

All BadgerLunch Webinars are Thursdays at noon and last 30-45 minutes. These webinars are free. An archive of previous sessions can be found at www.badgerlink.net/training.html.

Register for CCBC Choices 2010

2010-02-22T17:22:50Z

On Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at the James J. Siebers Memorial Library in Kimberly, Cooperative Children's Book Center librarians Merri Lindgren and Megan Schliesman will highlight some of the books in "CCBC Choices 2010".

9:00 AM --Arrive/Browse

9:30-11:00 AM -- Great New Books for Children (Birth - Grade 5)

11:00-1:00 PM -- Browse/Lunch

1:00-2:15 PM -- Great New Books for Older Children and Teens (Grades 6-12)

2:15-3:00 PM -- Browse

Lunch will be available for $6. Register for the morning session, afternoon session, or both here: http://www.owlsweb.info/ce/classes.asp?x=1

Books R Us February - Romance

2010-02-02T20:54:20Z

Please join us in the Nest at OWLS on Tuesday, February 9 at 11:00am for Books R Us. This month's genre is Romance. Not sure what to read? Check out these lists:

Bookletters Romance titles on InfoSoup
2009 Rita and Golden Heart Finalists
All About Romance
Booklist's Top 10 Romance Fiction 2009
Top 100 Romance Novels by The Romance Reader

I will be reviewing Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart, and Lani Diane Rich.

Nine OWLS Libraries on Facebook

2010-02-01T20:34:21Z

Did you know that ~~eight~~ nine OWLS libraries have Facebook pages? According to Alexa.com, Facebook is the second most visited web site in the U.S. and the world, so it's a good bet that some of our patrons are among those Facebook users.

Check out what your OWLS colleagues are posting on Facebook by clicking the links below. If we missed your Facebook page, please send the link to Bradley.

Appleton Public Library
Black Creek Library
Clintonville Public Library
Kimberly-Little Chute Public Library
Muehl Public Library
New London Public Library
Scandinavia Public Library
Sturm Memorial Library

Thanks to Melissa for pointing out the Facebook page she created for Waupaca's Teen Room:
Best Cellar

OverDrive Patron Assistance Training

2010-02-01T19:53:51Z

The original training dates posted have filled up. New training session just for Wisconsin Libraries have been set up for:

Wednesday, February 17th at 2:00 PM CST.
Tuesday, March 9th at 10:00 AM CST.

If you are interested please contact me http://www.owlsweb.info/contact/evan.asp for access information. The training description still applies.

OverDrive is offering training on Patron Assistance in February. These sessions are open to all OverDrive customers in the country, not just Wisconsin. Training is done online. Note the links below to register for a session.

Course Description: We'll help take your understanding of OverDrive download media to the next level so you can share your knowledge through support and training. We'll review frequently asked questions, support tips, and online help resources.

Session #1: Wednesday, February 10th at 10:00 AM Central Time

~~Register here: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/yltv3ag73u1y~~

Session #2: Thursday, February 18th at 2:00 PM Central Time

Register here: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/z1b6kg9wag8q

Webinar: Library Laws for the Mobile Web

2010-02-01T14:42:58Z

Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 2:00pm.

This one-hour Infopeople webinar will be of interest to library managers, anyone who works public service, those who create content for library social networking sites, and those looking for guidance regarding a variety of situations facing libraries using the mobile web and social networking.

Speaker Mary Minow is an attorney, consultant, and a former librarian and library trustee.

Registration is not required. More details here: http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/352/index.html

Mango Languages Webinar

2010-01-29T22:50:25Z

Would you like to know more about Mango Languages? Mango is holding an introductory webinar on Wednesday, February 3rd from 1:00-2:00pm.

Register for the webinar here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/727500041

Free Online Conference - Feb 9 &10

2010-01-26T21:15:49Z

WebJunction is hosting a free two-day online conference, Technology Essentials 2010, focused on practical and timely strategies for leveraging technology to help you in a wide range of library services and operations, including:

Staff training
Marketing
Outreach, funding, advocacy
Services and programming
Technology planning
Virtual libraries
Your library's web presence

Registration enables you to attend both days of the conference but you can attend as few or as many of the sessions as you are able. View the details and registration here:
http://www.webjunction.org/conferences/-/articles/content/86891033

CE Webinar

2010-01-20T20:23:35Z

As you may have heard, Nicolet Federated Library System is sponsoring a continuing education webinar on Wednesday, January 27, 2010; 1 -2:30 pm. OWLS will be projecting the webinar in the Nest (OWLS meeting room).

Join us for 'Staying Current and Dealing with Information Overload' presented by Sarah Houghton-Jan of the San Jose Public Library (CA).

Sarah is one of the movers and shakers when it comes to libraries and technology. She gave an excellent presentation last year on web tools, and this webinar should not disappoint! She will share her methods for staying current with technology while not becoming overwhelmed.

Register here (https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/365287217) to log in from your desk.

Please let us know if you would like to join us in the Nest.

New Librarian @ Kaukauna

2010-01-08T21:53:18Z

From Kaukauna, Maggie Waggoner reports that:

Rose Selle is our new Youth Services Librarian. Rose lives in Larsen, WI and graduated from Winneconne High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from UW Oshkosh and holds Wisconsin teaching licenses for Elementary Education, Library Media Specialist, and Spanish. She has worked in libraries in the Winneconne and Appleton School districts, where her colleagues had high praise for her abilities and commitment. Rose started at Kaukauna on December 14 as the newest member of our team and is off to a great start!

Welcome Rose!

New OWLS employee

2010-01-06T20:36:29Z

It is with great pleasure that I announce that Bradley Shipps has agreed to become our new Continuing Education and Outreach Librarian. Bradley is a recent graduate from Syracuse University School of Information Studies. She is originally from the Syracuse area but spent 7 years in Columbus, Ohio before returning to Syracuse to earn her MSLIS. In Columbus, she worked primarily as a project manager for a publishing company. Her first day is scheduled for January 20th.

We are excited to have Bradley joining us at OWLS. I'm confident you will enjoy working with her and that she will be a great asset to us all.