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?

New Google Patent Search

Official Google Blog about it: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/now-you-can-search-for-us-patents.html

Annoying new ReferenceUSA interface

Anyone notice the new interface for ReferenceUSA? My guess is that they want our patrons to see the other databases that are available and pester us to buy them. :) I see there's a new "executive gender" search and a new "US business address search" (I didn't think that one was new--?). I thought the new "family tree" feature would be cool, but it kept giving me a 'page not found' error. Finally got Circuit City to work. A little underwhelming, but I guess it could be useful.

Ms. Dewey, our new competition

Have you seen this? Microsoft's new virtual librarian, "Ms. Dewey," who gives you feedback and sometimes attitude about your questions: http://www.msdewey.com/ You need speakers or headphones to hear her.
There was a segment on public radio's Marketplace a couple of weeks ago: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2006/12/13/PM200612138.html (you'll need Realplayer to hear, but you can read the transcript). Pretty silly, IMHO.

Some computer info/updates

Okay, here are some things that came up in the last couple days:

1) We've had a few people asking if they can add songs to their iPods or download iTunes at the library. (Now we know what people got for xmas.) The answer is no. iPods require you to download and run iTunes on your computer, and you use iTunes to add songs to the iPod. Like all outside programs, you cannot download and run iTunes on the library computers. You can download and save a file, any file, but if it's an executable program you cannot run it.

2) Youth called to report that two different kids were using two different computers on the same library card. I checked the history on PC Res and sure enough, there were two active sessions on the same card number. Jeff said the immediate fix for any anomaly like this is to reboot the PC Res computer. We should report the problem to him anyway, because it also suggests that the database needs to be "pruned," which he'll do as soon as he can.

3) We think we've found the secret key to bypass PC Res! We've long suspected that the kids are bumping the computers offline intentionally, and Lynne even heard one kid telling another about the secret keystroke that bypasses PC Res. We think we've discovered it now [see your email]. Jeff is testing a fix for it on the computers in the lab, but there's a possibility the fix will introduce some new anomalies. So keep an eye on the computers in the lab and let me or Jeff know if they start acting strange. We'll test it for a week or two and if there are no problems, we'll do the same to the rest of the public computers.

4) The public firewall went down this weekend, and we're using a dinky little temporary replacement. This is causing some funny firewall errors. For instance, people using Hotmail cannot download their attachments, because they can't come through the firewall. (The fix, if the patron has a Yahoo or some other email, is to foward the attachment to their other account. If not, it's up to us if we want to let them log in on a staff computer to retrieve the attachment or foward it to infodesk@chandlerlibrary.org to retrieve it.) Also, people are getting firewall error messages when they try to log into MySpace, although this seems to clear itself up eventually. Getting a replacement firewall is going to be a little tricky and it might not come soon -- long story -- but Jeff will keep us informed.

Wrong jacket image in Sirsi?

This is from an email Dan sent me when I asked about a wrong book cover image showing up in the public catalog. Something that's fairly easily fixed, apparently.
-----------------------------------------------
[Dan]
This thing with the wrong jacket cover (or review or table of contents or whatever) in iBistro happens sometimes. There are two reasons this might happen:
1) The bib record has the incorrect ISBN in it
2) Syndetics Solutions (the source of our enhanced content) has associated the wrong ISBN with the cover or other enhanced content.
In this case, the problem was #1, which is easy to fix. I simply searched Amazon to get the correct ISBN for the book, then edited the bib record in Workflows so it had the right ISBN. Voilà! Now the record has the correct book jacket.
If the problem had been #2 above, I could report the problem to Syndetics, but I don't know how long it would take to get fixed.
You can call or email Myron future #1 problems, and he can fix them. For Problem #2, you can send them to me. How do you know which type of problem it is? Simple. If you copy the ISBN from iBistro and search it in Amazon, and a different book comes up, then it is problem #1. If the same book comes up in Amazon that shows in iBistro, then it is problem #2.