Other GED Testing sites

On the Adult Ed page under GED Testing, I added a link to a document that our GED examiner sent us that lists two other places she does testing locally:
http://chandlerlibrary.org/core/gedtesting_2008.pdf

ICAN will supervise youth needing court-ordered community service

Added this to our volunteering page: ICAN - Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods (tel. 480-821-4207) will supervise youth 18 and under needing to do court-ordered community service. More info & application online

Courier Schedule

from Peter. . .
"Times are approximate and may change without notice on
any particular day."

Morning route
9:00 AM - Downtown
9:30 AM - Sunset
10:00 AM - Hamilton
10:30 AM - Basha

Afternoon Route
1:00 PM - Downtown
1:30 PM - Sunset
2:00 PM - Hamilton
2:30 PM - Basha

East Valley Tribune online archives

Lynne reminds us we have access to the East Valley Tribune online archives with our library account. Login and password are in the rolodexes. They have 2003-current archives available:
http://epaper.aztrib.com/

Can't use delete key?

Helpful email from Saren:
I had an interesting question from a customer today wondering why when he highlighted text on his Word document, and hit the delete key it did not delete. I could not see why it was not deleting, but you could still hit the backspace key to remove the text. I asked Jeff about it, and he figured it out.
When text is highlighted and the delete key is pressed, you will see on the bottom tool bar, left hand corner a message saying Delete Block? No (Yes) . So to delete the highlighted text you either need to press Y on your keyboard, or N if you don't want it deleted. This is a default setting right now, but customers can omit this function with each session by going to Tools, Options, Select the General Tab and uncheck Help for Word Perfect Users . By unchecking this box, text will be deleted right away without having to press Y. Jeff hopes to change this down the road, but this is the way it is on the public computers for now.

Free Flu Shots

Chandler Regional Medical Center
“Drive Flu” medical clinic
Free to first 1000 18 and older
Saturday, October 27, 8-11
475 S Dobson Rd.

Holiday assistance

I haven't gotten any calls yet, but I went ahead and checked with the Chandler CAP office; they say they don't know what they're doing yet regarding holiday assistance. She faxed over info from Salvation Army about what they're doing. . .
Salvation Army Christmas Assistance Signups (tel. 480-963-2041)
Applicants must be residents of Chandler, Gilbert, Higley, Queen Creek or Sun lakes

• Nov. 6, 8, 9: 9-11am & 1-2:30pm
• Nov. 7: 9-11 am
• Nov 12, 13, 15, 16: 9-11am & 1-2:30pm
• Nov 14: 9-11am
• Nov 19-20: 9-11am

Requirements--All those receiving Christmas assistance must have the following:

• Social Security Card for all members of the family
• Birth certificate for each child in household
• Picture ID for all adults/Mexico ID okay
• Proof of Current Address (current utility Bill/rental agreement)
• Proof of Income (current check stub or DES print out)
• Proof of Expense (rent, current bills)

Toda persona que reciba ayuda para Navidad debe traer lo siguiente:

• Tarjeta de Seguro Social para cada miembro de familia
• Acto de nacimiento o tarjeta de ACHHS
• Foto ID para todos los adultos/ID de México está bien
• Prueba de su más reciente dirección (recibo actual/corriente de utilidades o contrato de renta)
• Prueba de ingresos (talon de cheque mas reciente o copia de ayuda Welfare)
• Prueba de gastos (renta, recibos corrientes/actuales)

------------------------------

FYI, they're also having a Thanksgiving Dinner from 11-1 at the Community Center. I'll try calling some of the other places we have listed to see if they have any plans they want to share.

FAFSA forms

News from the U.S. Department of Education about the 2008-09 FAFSA forms:

For 2008–09 paper FAFSAs will not be available for order in bulk. Students will be able to obtain a paper FAFSA by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) or by visiting www.edpubs.org. Students may request up to three copies of the paper application and should receive their FAFSAs in three to seven business days.

Railway Museum collection

From Saren's email:

You have probably noticed on the catalog materials that have the call number as the Arizona Railway Museum. These items were cataloged many years ago by Libby. We rarely have customers request these items, but in case you do their collection is a non-lending collection. The museum has moved over near Tumbleweed Park, but at this time their library is still housed in their old building near Chandler Blvd. If any customer would like to view their library or just a book in their collection, all they need to do is contact Russell Lassuy, and he is happy to make the arrangements.

His phone number is 480-298-2860. I have written this information down on the rolodex card filed under the Arizona Railway Museum.

Volunteer Center closes

This is terrible! From their website:

Important Announcement
September, 2007
Since 1962, the Volunteer Center of Maricopa County has been dedicated to promoting and supporting volunteerism to enhance the quality of life in our community.
After 45 years of service to the community, the Volunteer Center has closed its doors.
"After a strategic in depth review of our organization and considerable deliberation, the Board concluded that the promotion of volunteerism and coordination of volunteer services within the community can be
enhanced by working through other community agencies", said Rosemary Gannon, Board Chair of the Volunteer Center.
While the Volunteer Center has successfully met community volunteer needs for 45 years, with our pending closure, we would like to ensure that volunteers and agency partners alike continue to get the volunteer services they need. The Make A Difference organization has been providing volunteer services in Greater Phoenix for 15 years and is well-equipped to handle any volunteer-related inquires from youth and adult volunteers, companies and other community service organizations. Please visit their web site at www.makeadifference.org or contact them directly at 602-973-2212. . . .

Programs and services will be operating through Friday, September 14, 2007. For more information call 602-263-9736.

I'll update the website asap.

No PIN through email

From Saren's email:

I verified with Peter and Dan, and Peter prefers that we do not give out a customer's PIN number through our email service. He would prefer they either call or come in person to get that information. On the phone have the customer verify their phone number and address, and in person either look at their ID or verify the address and phone number. He also said if we end up giving a customer their library card number and PIN number over the phone, we do not need to count it as a look-up.

Opening WPS (Works) files

It's possible to open Works (WPS) files on public computers, even though it may seem like it's not.

1. You MUST copy the file to the computer first.
2. Open MS Word.
3. Use the file open in Word to find the file and open it.
4. Follow directions to install the converter when prompted.
   
5. You MAY have to tell the computer several times to "Ignore" a problem with a registry key (Jeff is looking into fixing this)

Bonus steps:

1. Recommend that the person save the file as a Word document at that point.
   
2. Tell the person to take the extra step to save as a '.doc' when they create files on their home computer using Works in the future. This will save them the headache of not being able to open their files on other computers.
   

Graphic printing problems in Publisher 2003?

On the public printers, if a patron's graphics all don't print out, try the following:

On the File menu, click Print.
Click Advanced Print Settings, and then click the Graphics and Fonts tab
Under Graphics, click Print low-resolution linked graphics
Click OK.

Federal School Code List

From the Federal Student Aid office: "The 2008-2009 Federal School Code List will be available as of November 1, 2007, on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site at http://ifap.ed.gov/. You will be able to search the document online as well as print, download, and share the PDF file if desired. The online document will be updated on a quarterly basis with an errata sheet, to easily identify changes."
The list will no longer be distributed in hard-copy format.
Students can still access the code list on the FAFSA (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/) website or on the National College Access Network website, http://www.collegeaccess.org/NCAN/.

Problems with Anti Virus on public computers

From Ron: "With the new Anti Virus upgrade, we are finding problems such as this [inability to open certain pdfs] and are able to correct them if we can see the problem as it happens . We have the ability to log the problem and make any corrections, but we have to do it prior to the next session starting because the next restart eliminates any logs. If you can let the rest of the reference staff know this, and have then contact us as soon as these problems occur, we can come out and determine what setting we need to change in the Anti Virus settings to eliminate the issue."

Where to RECEIVE a Fax

Nearest places to receive a fax (please add any you find):
Staples at SW corner Alma School and Chandler: 50¢/page
Fedex Kinkos at NE Dobson and Chandler: $1/page

Photos of Graffiti

Ranger Rachael asked that we take photos of the graffiti that we encounter around the library. You can email it to her (she's in the Chanweb directory, look under her first name).

Christmas Tree Permits already!

It's beginning to look a lot like. . . Christmas? Already got a question about Arizona National Forests’ Sale-by-mail Christmas Tree Program. Guess you can't blame them--the deadline for lottery entries to be postmarked this year is October 1, according to the Christmas Tree Hotline number (602) 225-5258. The applications for the lottery will be available at various locations (presumably here, too) on September 4. They'll have info online on September 1.
Printable packet here: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/tonto/christmas/AZ_SBM_Xmas_07_Form.pdf

They are supposed to have Internet applications, but they aren't available yet.

Weeding & Discarding

New info on Chanwik:

Creating a weed list in Workflows

Discarding Procedures and Practices

Running a chkdsk on a flash drive!

I discovered today that you can run a chkdsk on a flash drive, not just a floppy! Follow the 'Repairing disks' directions in the 'Care and Feeding' manual, remembering to put the correct drive letter in (not 'a,' which would be the floppy drive). Today, for example, the drive was the letter 'g,' but you never know. Take a look in 'My Computer' first to confirm the drive letter.

New Business Listings

Joe tracked down a source for new business listings. There is a "Business Leads" column in both the Arizona Business Gazette and the Phoenix Business Journal, which lists new businesses in the greater Phoenix area (nothing limited to Chandler, unfortunately).

Holds for WEBCAT

We just saw a rash of holds for WEBCAT. Dan sent an email about this a while back -- I've long since deleted it -- but we can just delete these holds. They're generated when a hold is placed in the system but can't be tied to a patron, so there's nothing we can do with them. Just delete the hold and route the item wherever Sirsi tells you to route it (usually back to the shelf).

Real Estate Exam

Information about the Experior exam, from Deidre and Lynne's emails:

The Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE), a government agency, is charged with enforcing the laws and rules governing the real estate profession in Arizona. Thomson Prometric, formerly Experior Assessments, is an independent, professional examination company under contract with ADRE to develop and administer licensing examinations for salespersons and brokers in real estate, cemetery and membership camping sales. Arizona is not reciprocal with any other state or country. An applicant for a real estate, cemetery or membership camping license in Arizona must meet the Arizona requirements in effect at the time of application regardless of the applicant's licensed status in another state.

---

These exams seem to change ownership often. The last time I called Learning Express to find out if they were keeping up with new editions/owners of the test material, they claimed they were current within the last 6 months. Our database shows Thomson/Prometric (Experior) for the real estate exams.

Car hit in Library parking lot

Copied from Saren's email:

A car was hit in the Library parking lot today. I paged to see if someone with the license number and model of car was in the Library, but no one showed up. I called the Police, but they told me they do not send out an Officer if the incident happened in a private parking lot (although it is the City parking lot, but who knows), so all the driver needed to do was leave a note with her name, insurance information, and phone number on the vehicle she hit. That may be helpful for future fender benders.

Helpful tips (PDFs and Workflows)

Copied from Saren's email:


Just wanted to pass along a couple of things I have come across lately that may be helpful.
The first one is about printing a PDF file. Today a gentleman's print job was not being sent over to the printer, and since there were no pending print jobs I thought something was wrong with the printer connection. Of course it was first thing in the morning, but there always seems to be a print job or two pending. We called Ron and the issue was not our printer, but the PDF file the customer was trying to print. Apparently the document had been set up not to print, but was not giving any type of message to let us know that. The solution was to copy and paste the document or selected text into Word, and then print from Word. I would gather this does not happen very often, but in the future if a PDF file will not print, then just copy it into Word.

The other thing I found out about is on Workflows. Sometimes it is almost impossible to figure out when a library card was issued to a customer, but here is the trick. When you pull up the card information, go ahead and click on the customer's name, and that will give you a quick snapshot of the account, and will also tell you the user date created and privilege granted date. The user date created is when the account was first set up, and the privilege granted date is when the card was last renewed. Probably some of you already knew this, but this little trick does come in handy.

Flags at half mast

Thanks to Jan, I've figured out who's in charge of lowering the flags to half-mast. Jennifer Honea tells B&F to lower the flags, after she gets the order from the governor's office. If we get questions about why the flags are lowered (or if we're just curious), we can call Jennifer at x2228, or check the governor's press releases page at: http://azgovernor.gov/media/Press%20Releases.asp.

Baker & Taylor cart instructions

Creating and Transferring Carts in B&T (new procedure as of Spring 07)

Creating a cart

1. Go to the Carts tab.
   
2. Don’t use the Quick Setup. Instead, click the small link that says “Create New Cart – Full Setup.”
   
3. Name your cart. We should have these four carts each month:
   · DT Replacements mm/yy – Fic
   · DT Replacements mm/yy – NF
   · DT Customer Requests mm/yy – Fic
   · DT Customer Requests mm/yy – NF
   
4. Make sure Cart Availability is Open, and Cart Visibility is Private.
   
5. Check the Grid Enable: Yes box.
   
6. Click the Create Cart button.
   

Carts should be transferred at the end of the relevant month, or when the total quantity reaches 25. If you have the mending for the month, please transfer both the replacements and customer request carts at the end of the month.

Transferring a cart

1. Go to the Carts tab.
   
2. Make a note of the total list and discount prices for the cart. Forward this information to Lynne.
   
3. Use the Select Function pull-down menu to choose Transfer.
   
4. Click GINGER MILOSERNY, then click the Add button.
   
5. Uncheck “Keep a copy of my cart.”
   
6. Click the Transfer button.
   

Arizona Railway Museum

Copying the information from Saren's message, in case you're trying to find it again:

The Arizona Railway Museum has moved over by Tumbleweed Park.

Their new address and hours are:

Location - 330 E. Ryan Rd. (Ryan Road is south of Germann and east of Arizona Ave.)
Hours - September 9, 2006-May 27, 2007 Saturday-Sunday 12:00-4:00 p.m.

Also here is their website: http://www.azrymuseum.org/

Windows Vista / Office 2007 converter

Ron installed a converter for files created with Windows Vista/Office 2007 on Ready Ref 1 and 2. So if someone comes in with a file on a disk that's too new to open with our regular computers, we can put them on a Ready Ref machine.

"The Secret"

In case you haven't been bombarded with this request yet, or if you have but you just can't remember the author to look it up:

People usually ask just for "The Secret" or maybe "The Secret laws of attraction." The title of the book is "The Secret," the author is Rhonda Byrne, and the phrase "Law of attraction" appears in the book's blurb but is not part of the title. We've ordered a lot of copies of the book and audiobook, and there are a lot of holds. (It's been on Oprah -- small wonder.)

People might also ask for the title "The Secret" and an author of Michael Beckwith. Michael Beckwith appears on the DVD version, although we don't yet have a full catalog record for the DVD, so a catalog search on his name won't find it. You can find the DVD by searching for "Secret" and "Byrne".

Basha now has both federal and state forms

Everyone but Hamilton now has both state and federal. Hamilton only has state forms.

Web-based chat

I keep forgetting the name of this, so I figured I'd better post it so I can remind myself. Meebo is a website that allows you to sign in to your chat accounts without downloading the chat software. It supports several different chat clients, such as AOL and Yahoo messenger, and it will help those people who absolutely have to contact someone through chat and how come they can't download Yahoo messenger? It's also been suggested for libraries that do chat reference. However, it's blocked by the city, so you'll only be able to access it on public machines.

Scary study about filthy keyboards

Ugh!
Bacterial contamination of keyboards: efficacy and functional impact of disinfectants.
Source Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 27(4):372-7, 2006 Apr.
Abstract BACKGROUND: Computers are ubiquitous in the healthcare setting and have been shown to be contaminated with potentially pathogenic microorganisms. This study was performed to determine the degree of microbial contamination, the efficacy of different disinfectants, and the cosmetic and functional effects of the disinfectants on the computer keyboards. METHODS: We assessed the effectiveness of 6 different disinfectants (1 each containing chlorine, alcohol, or phenol and 3 containing quaternary ammonium) against 3 test organisms (oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus [ORSA], Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species) inoculated onto study computer keyboards. We also assessed the computer keyboards for functional and cosmetic damage after disinfectant use. RESULTS: Potential pathogens cultured from more than 50% of the computers included coagulase-negative staphylococci (100% of keyboards), diphtheroids (80%), Micrococcus species (72%), and Bacil!
lus species (64%). Other pathogens cultured included ORSA (4% of keyboards), OSSA (4%), vancomycin-susceptible Enterococcus species (12%), and nonfermentative gram-negative rods (36%). All disinfectants, as well as the sterile water control, were effective at removing or inactivating more than 95% of the test bacteria. No functional or cosmetic damage to the computer keyboards was observed after 300 disinfection cycles. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that microbial contamination of keyboards is prevalent and that keyboards may be successfully decontaminated with disinfectants. Keyboards should be disinfected daily or when visibly soiled or if they become contaminated with blood. Authors Rutala WA. White MS. Gergen MF. Weber DJ. Authors Full Name Rutala, William A. White, Matthew S. Gergen, Maria F. Weber, David J. Institution Department of Hospital Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Health Care System, 130 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. brutala@unch.unc.edu

Talk Time - for the record

So we have this available for future reference:
Kae and Kitty will be bringing some signs for us to post next Tuesday, Feb. 6, regarding Talk Time. It will be held in the 1st study room in the hall near the Learning Lab. The room number is 226, and the session will be held from 6:30-8 p.m.

Just to complicate things, the location for Talk Time will change after that to the 2nd floor conference room. Kae will ask Youth Staff to take care of putting signs on the second floor and locking the hallway, but we will still need to post 1st floor signs and be prepared to show people how to get to the appropriate room. Talk Time will continue through March 6. Thanks!

Internet search engine for Boomers

From Librarian's Internet Index:

cRANKy
"This search engine, fully launched in January 2007, bills itself as "the first age-relevant search engine," and is designed for those over 50. Only four results are displayed at a time, and users may rank sites (free registration required). From a company dedicated to creating media products aimed at the baby-boom generation born from 1946 through 1964."

Best Free Reference Web Sites

This is the Combined Index, 1999-2006
RUSA Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS)
http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/mars/marspubs/MARSBESTIndex.htm
See anything here we should add to our links?

Follow up on iPods / MP3 players

I had a talk with Jeff today about MP3 players, and he clarified some things. Basically, they probably won't work at all on our computers.

First off, when you plug the thing into the computer, it needs to have a driver installed for the computer to recognize it. Like any other outide software, drivers cannot be installed and run on our computers.

Even if a particular MP3 player did get recognized by our computers because the required driver was already part of Windows, there would be the problem of getting the songs on the MP3 player. There is very little music available for free download -- most of the free music is "streaming," which means you can listen to it instantaneously, but you can't capture it as a file and save the file. Various websites sell MP3 downloads, either by the song or by monthly subscription, but many of them require you to download, install, and run software to use their service. Again, we can't install and run outside software.

Jeff said he supposed we could add the necessary software to our computers, but there are so many different players requiring so many different devices, and so many different subscription services requiring so many different programs, that he wouldn't know which ones to install. If we pick the most popular five, the guy who uses the sixth will be left out. And, of course, we would have to learn to use, troubleshoot, and help patrons with all this stuff. We can track the requests we get from people, and Jeff can do it if there really is a lot of demand, but I suspect that people are finding other places to do this and they don't need to do it at the library.

So the short answer is, because of the drivers and music management software required to make MP3 players work, they probably won't work on our computers. As always, people are welcome to bring their device in and try it, but we can't guarantee it will work.

Site where people can get W-2s online

A patron came to the desk insisting that there's a website where anyone can get their W-2s. I tried to tell her that some employers have put their W-2s online, but she insisted that there's a website where you can get your W-2s no matter who your employer is. I suggested she ask her employer what site they use.

After searching for ten minutes, I found the site she was probably talking about. w2express.com offers W-2s from various employers, including Wal Mart, Home Depot, Office Depot, Kmart, and others. (I'm sure this is what gave her the impression that you can get any W-2, no matter who your employer is.) So if someone is looking for that site where they can get their W-2s, it might just be this one.

Black Belt Librarians

I finally got a chance to type up these notes from the Black Belt Librarians presentation at Burton Barr. Apparently the speaker's presentation was almost verbatim what he wrote in his book, so for more details, check out the book (we have copies at all 4 branches).

Notes are posted at this page on the wiki. (Requires a wiki login -- whaddaya mean you're forgotten your login?)

New wireless instructions

Check out the updated wireless instructions page on the Wiki (requires login). We have copies of all these things printed out: the public flyer is the half-sheet that we hand to people, the troubleshooting checklist is in the Care and Feeding manual, and the DT instructions are taped to the D-Link computer, but we can readily find them again on the wiki.

Public Computer Info -- please comment!

Deidre and I are thinking of ways to communicate answers to those frequently-asked public computer questions to patrons, and also which questions to answer. Please let us know what kind of questions you get frequently. You can comment on this post to add your suggestions.

So far we have:

1) Can I bring in a program on a CD and use it at the library?

2) Can I look at pictures on a CD?

3) Can I add songs to my iPod/MP3 player?

4) Can I save/burn to a CD or DVD?

5) Can I use a flash drive/thumb drive/USB drive?

6) Can I open a document that was created in Works/WordPerfect?