GED prep in Spanish @ MCC

Added this to the bottom of the Adult Ed page under Adult Ed & English Classes in the East Valley: 

Mesa Community College Spanish GED program/GED en Español
Raquel Leyva, Department Chair 480 - 461-6106 raquel.leyva@mcmail.maricopa.edu
145 North Centennial Way, Mesa, AZ 85201(Downtown campus)
Fee Based
Open to legal residents

More info:  http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept2/spanishged/

Windows shortcuts

I feel like I'm forever trying to locate 'My Computer.'  Finally figured out that there's a shortcut for that:

Windows logo Key+E will open 'My Computer'.

Here are other keyboard shortcuts, many of which you'll already know, but you may be surprised at how quick and easy it is to do things that you sometimes flounder around to do.  (Windows logo+M, anyone?  A personal fave of mine - it minimizes all your open windows, so you can see the desktop quickly.)

Try Keyboard shortcuts for Windows  or List of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP (We'll be getting XP soon.)

Adult Ed webpage updates

• Added the January through May GED testing dates to the Adult Ed page. 

Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 20, 2010, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday, April 17, 2010, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday, May 22, 2010, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

• Also added info about Winter Break and Spring Break 2010 dates, which only affects Talk Time and English Tutoring Small Groups:

Winter break December 18 through January 3. (Groups will resume starting January 4.)

Spring break 2010 March 13 through March 28.  (Groups will resume starting March 29.)

Finding a person by address or phone

Just a reminder of a variety of ways to find someone by their address:

ReferenceUSA (link on Information Databases page, among others) Search by address or phone.  This one is not always the best at reverse lookups, in my experience.

Superpages' reverse lookup Search by address or phone.

Cole Directory (print version behind reference desk) Search by address or phone.

Maricopa County Assessor for finding the owner of a property/house.  Doesn't list phone number.

There are some more directories on the Internet Resources/Phonebooks page.  While you're at it, check out the cool site Gethuman, suggested by Joe Schallan.  Who knew? 

Unfortunately, you won't find people in any phone directory if they're unlisted. . . .
Please comment if you have any other places you use regularly that work for you.

Google Toolbar at the desk

Thanks to Paul for installing the Google Toolbar at the adult desk.  It will be on the youth computers soon as well.  You can do a search from the toolbar instead of going to the Google site and then doing your search.  (See pic at right for where to look if you haven't noticed it.)

Marriage Licenses

Per Ted/Lynne, added links to info about marriage licenses in Maricopa County to the Internet Resources/Chandler page:  http://chandlerlibrary.org/internet/chandler.htm

FYI, when the City Clerk's office stops processing marriage licenses Jan 1, 2010, the nearest place will be the Southest Court Complex in Mesa (although it sounds like Chandler Municipal Court may start offering this service soon - will update info then):

Southeast Court Complex
222 E. Javelina, Mesa, Arizona 85210
Hours: 8am - 5pm / Mon. - Fri.
Passport Services: 8 am - 4 pm / Mon. - Fri.
602.506.3360 

Homeless outreach in Chandler Oct. 29

Homeless outreach in Chandler Oct. 29
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Chandler Christian Church, 1825 S. Alma School Road.
"More than 20 service providers will offer instant access to driver's licenses, employment services, wellness checks, shelter, counseling, food, clothing, haircuts and other services."

Recent Tweets about the Library :-)

• Getting my Chandler Public Library on. 
• Spending the day in the Chandler Basha library with kids researching. Cool topics, and there are no filters on the web!!!! FTW!
• some guy at the chandler library is asking people to sign his petition for medicinal marijuana. and i cant believe how many people said no
• Working my volunteer shift at Chandler Public Library then to downtown Chandler Farmer's Market.
• Sonja love i've figured out your computer problem!!! 2 words... CHANDLER LIBRARY!!! I know brilliant.
• Chandler Library? "Could there BE any more books?" 
• . . . is at the Chandler library, access the Wi-Fi.

First Post

Thanks to Deidre for inviting me to post. I look forward to sharing information with all of you!

Blog Search isn't working

I reported that the search for this blog isn't working.  It seems like only the very recent posts are being searched, which is not very helpful.  Hopefully the Google/Blogger folks will be able to fix this problem for us!

Scooters

We currently have motorized scooters at the Downtown and Sunset Libraries only.

Mending procedure change (no more pink slips)

[from Peter's email]
Beginning today, we will no longer use the pink mending slips to communicate mending issues. Instead:

1. Check the item out to MENDING
2. Take the Checkout slip from the receipt printer, adding an extra inch or so at the bottom when you do
3. Write a simple explanation of the problem (spine, pages, scratched)
4. Include your initials and the date.
5. Place slip securely sticking out the top of the item.

Basha, Hamilton, and Sunset staff - If you need to send an item to Downtown mending, follow the procedure above and place in a courier bin. Downtown staff will place the item on the Mending shelf

Downtown staff - Please all mending on the mending shelves in the Circ work area.A separate process will be set up for Rush mending and Replacement items.

Missing Top Margin in Word 2003?

Check out this page for help if you can't find the top margin in someone's document in Word 2003:
http://www.pratie.com/playground/misc/word2003/

Apparently there's a white space 'toggle' at the top of the page. . .

Easy way to start a new page in Word

Looking for an explanation of margins to be able to give to our patrons and ran across this. . .

From Microsoft Word 2003 for Dummies:
Starting a New Page
You can choose two ways to start a new page in Word. . . :

• Horribly wrong: Keep pressing the Enter key until you see the row o' dots tha tdenotes the start of a new page. . . .
• Impressively neat: Press Ctrl+Enter. Voila! New page.

I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't know this. I know the trick in Excel to force the line to wrap in the cell (Alt+Enter). Maybe I should read the rest of the book!

History Dept. Staff & Volunteers

from Lynne:

Jean Reynolds from the city's history department has begun a new research project about the San Marcos Hotel. Her staff and volunteers will be coming regularly to use view the Chandler Arizonan on our microfilm reader and save the images to a flash drive. A log plus a flash drive will be stored at our desk for researchers to use. See the white folder called San Marcos Hotel Research Project on the shelf with our notebooks (Policies, Reference Volunteers, Best Sellers, etc.). Each person who needs this material will ask for it at the desk and then return it after use. Thanks for your cooperation!

 

SCREEN IT! Movie analysis

Just a reminder that we have a subscription to Screenit.com for people who want to know more details about what's in a movie - everything from sex/nudity to0 profanity to "disrespectful/bad attitude."

Their description: "Screen It! was created to give parents a way to access the content of popular entertainment their kids are exposed to. It is not intended as censorship. Rather, it is designed to allow Hollywood and independent filmmakers to continue to produce movies, videos and DVDs while informing parents of the content in them. Some people argue over the moral quality of films while others want to ban certain releases that contain material that particularly offends them."

"cplyouth" is the login. Password is the same as our #2 login for B&T (check large Rolodex under "Movie ratings" if you don't remember.)

Random Color of the Day - Drug Testing

Anbolyn shared the site where people can see if they're supposed to go in for drug testing (usually court-ordered): http://www.tasc-arizona.org/ Click on "Random Colors of the Day."
I know they can call in and get the colors of the day, which would probably be a better option. The telephone for TASC is 602-254-7328.

Slow Gmail tip

From Saren's email:
Just wanted to let you know that Gmail has been kind of slow to connect on the public computers today, and may not connect at all for customers. I had Paul take a look at it, and there is probably not much he can do about it right now, but he did say when customers are trying to connect to Gmail and it is not loading, they can click on a link on the lower right hand side of their screen, which would say Load Basic. This should speed up the connection process.

No trash in new image

Paul informed me that there is no trash in the new image. When someone deletes something, it is permanently deleted. No need to find it to delete it permanently from the trash any more!

New Weeding Procedure

Ginger's email:
We have a new method of counting the number of items that we weed/deselect/pull from the collection. This method will distinguish those things that we withdraw due to age, condition, inaccuracy etc. from those that we lose via other means such as missing, lost, damaged, claims returned.

Beginning April 1 change the location on those items that you are physically (item in hand) pulling from the collection to a new home location called WEEDED .

This is easily accomplished by using the global edit feature in workflows. This applies to all materials other than periodicals. Periodicals still need to be deleted. A monthly report will be run that will change all items that have the home location of WEEDED to a home location of delete.

Culture Passes in catalog

Myron fixed it so that you can find Culture Passes in the catalog. Best way is to do a Title Search for "Culture Pass" or a keyword for "Culture Pass Program."

New Phoenix Library hours

New Phoenix Public Library hours start today:

11 a.m. - 7 p.m. on
Monday
Wednesday
Friday

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. on
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday

1 - 5 p.m. Sunday at
Burton Barr Central Library
Cesar Chavez Library
Cholla Library
Ironwood Library
Juniper Library
Mesquite Library
Palo Verde Library
Saguaro Library

All other locations closed Sunday.


http://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/spotlight.jsp?lwbid=8937

Updated municipal complex map

Someone recently updated the Municipal Complex Map to show where the future city hall is:
http://www.chandleraz.gov/default.aspx?pageid=338
And did you realize that they're constructing a new parking garage on the corner of Boston and Washington, across from the old one? (Next to the future fire headquarters.) Hopefully that will give our parking lot some relief!

Here's a link to the pdf, which is good for printing. I'm putting some copies in the cabinet with the maps and tax stuff, which Betty is organizing for us (thanks, Betty!).
http://www.chandleraz.gov/Content/MunicipalComplexMap.pdf

If you're trying to find the map on the city's site, the easiest way I've found to locate it is to just do a search for "map" in the search box. Let me know if there's something more intuitive.

Goodwill Career Center

You can find a link and info about the Goodwill Career Center in /Internet Resources/Jobs and also in /Adult Ed under Other Adult Ed Programs.
We recently received a flier advertising their free GED Program:
Orientation: Every 2nd and 4th Monday from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Please bring:

1. Social Security Card
2. Birth Certificate
3. Photo ID

Session hours are

Monday 12-4
Tuesday 10-2
Wednesday 10-2
Thursday 12-4
Friday-no GED session

Note: 1st Wednesday of every month, no GED session
930 N Alma School Rd, Chandler AZ 85224 480-792-0758 (always a good idea to call before going.)

Software on the Public PCs

For the record, if you don't remember what software we have on our public computers:
-Microsoft Office 2003, which is most of the following programs:

• Word 2003
• Access 2003
• Excel 2003
• Publisher 2003
• PowerPoint 2003
• Office Picture Manager
• Internet Explorer 6.0
• Paint

-Other: Record Now Version 7

-On ReadyRef and Lab 1-3(?): Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, WinWay Resume Deluxe 16

Reminder: We can convert Word Documents from Word 2007 to Word 2003 on the Ready Ref computers. Michelle has instructions on Sunset's blog for doing this.

New Mesa Library Hours

Effective Sunday, January 4, 2009 all City of Mesa Library branches will have the following modified hours of operation:

Main Library
Monday - Thursday: 10 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed

Dobson Ranch Branch Library
Red Mountain Branch Library
Monday: Closed
Tuesday - Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Thursday - Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed

Tax info page

The tax page will be updated regularly as forms come in and tax help sites set their hours. Lynne gave me the AARP tax help schedule, which has been posted there:

http://chandlerlibrary.org/internet/tax.htm#help

There's a graphic link on the lefthand side of the homepage, which you may have noticed: