Superpatron

Colbert: Librarians are hiding something.

What are they hiding? (seek about half way through)

They're hiding Time Magazine:

Thanks to Jenny who provided the question (and the answer)

Brooklyn Public Library exec director Dionne Mack-Harvin eyes Netflix

The august academic journal of record for New York City, the New York Post, reports that Brooklyn Public is looking at using Netflix to deliver materials. This excerpt from the Brooklyn Record blog:

Dionne Mack-Harvin was recently named executive director of Brooklyn's library system, and one of her first new initiative is to develop a home-delivery system so patrons could obtain books and other materials without having to visit one of the library's 60 branches. The library is reaching out to Netflix to serve as a provider of DVDs and videos. "What we want to do is work with Netflix and really get that inventory together, really use Netflix as the delivery mechanism," said John Vitali, the library's chief fiscal officer. "We're getting some good vibrations back. Nothing formal has been settled."

Mack-Harvin's initiatives go beyond home delivery - this from Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn and New York 1:

For the first time in the city's history, an African-American woman was appointed as the head of a major public library system Thursday. Dionne Mack-Harvin will serve as executive director of the Brooklyn Public Library, the fifth largest system in the country. She was voted in unanimously by the board of trustees earlier this week. "I have to tell you Dionne earned her position the old fashioned way: she earned it, very, very simple," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. “My vision for Brooklyn Public Library is that every Brooklyn library will be the center of the community,” said Mack-Harvin. “We will increase access so that the library doors are open at all 60 of our locations when they should be." Mack-Harvin started her career as a librarian at the Crown Heights branch more than a decade ago.

More on the official Mack-Harvin appointment announcement from the NYC Mayor's office.

Dionne received her Master of Arts in Africana Studies from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany in 1995 and her Masters of Library Science in Information Science from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at SUNY Albany in 1996. She graduated magna cum laude from SUNY at Brockport in 1994 with a Bachelors of Science in History and African and Afro-American Studies.

No cookies in the library

Michigan Notable Books "A Night for Notables"

again from MICHLIB-L

The Library of Michigan Foundation today announced that former Michigan
Governor William G. Milliken, former Detroit News political columnist
George Weeks and Dave Dempsey - author of "William G. Milliken:
Michigan's Passionate Moderate," a Michigan Notable Book for 2007 - will
serve as the featured speakers for the "Night for Notables" on Saturday,
April 14. A tribute to the sagas spun by the 2007 Michigan Notable
Books authors, the program takes place from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the
Library of Michigan and includes book signings with many of the Notables
authors.

To reserve your spot and get more details about this special event
sponsored by the Library of Michigan Foundation, please call (517)
373-4692. The Library of Michigan is located inside the Michigan
Library and Historical Center, 702 W. Kalamazoo St., in downtown
Lansing. Weekend parking is free.

The list of Michigan notable books for 2007 is really good - I just put a hold on this one

2. Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder, by Steve Lehto. Momentum Books.
This book explores the enduring mystery and drama surrounding the 1913 Christmas Eve tragedy at Italian Hall in Calumet. After a still-unidentified man falsely cried, "Fire," more than 70 people, many of them children, were crushed to death in the stairwell amidst the panicked crush to flee the building. The author expertly analyzes the objectivity of the local newspaper coverage, the coroner's inquest, and the mystery surrounding the doors (did they open inward or outward?), and reaches several thought-provoking, startling, and controversial conclusions.

Technorati Tags: michigan, books, awards

Michigan Library Cooperative Directors Association protests state budget cuts

(as seen on MICHLIB-L)

February 21, 2007

Governor's Office

P.O. Box 30013

Lansing, Michigan 48909

Dear Governor Granholm:

On behalf of the 13 library cooperatives that serve the 10,120,860 residents of Michigan, I would like to comment that the 50% cut in state aid in your proposed budget for 2007-08 will have a devastating affect on those residents. Public libraries provide vital educational services that no one else in the state provides. From free public Internet access to tax assistance; preschool pre-reading programs to homework help; books for all ages to books on disk; libraries are in every community providing direct services to our residents. State aid to libraries helps them fulfill this all-important mission. Library cooperatives, which depend on state aid for an average of 89% of their total incomes, are critical for libraries to fulfill their mission, as well. A 50% cut in state aid to libraries translates into an average cut of 46% to the 2007/08 budgets of cooperatives, essentially cutting their operations in half.

Cooperatives band together with their member libraries and other cooperatives to utilize the economy of scale that individual libraries cannot. Library cooperatives save money for libraries and for the taxpayers of Michigan.

* Staff Training—library cooperatives were able to train 907 library staff members in FY 05-06 in such diverse subjects as Internet use, children’s services, computer maintenance & repair, and customer service. Individually public libraries could not have provided such diversity on their limited budgets.
* Creating and maintaining shared library book catalogs and circulation systems—coops have provided leadership and coordinated the creation of shared library catalogs throughout the state. Only the largest of Michigan’s libraries can afford an automated catalog and circulation system. For smaller libraries it is not economically feasible. Seven cooperatives have automation systems serving 175 libraries, which together serve the majority of the state’s population. Just one of these systems alone circulated 10.5 million items in the last fiscal year. In addition, 42% of Upper Peninsula residents will have borrower’s cards from libraries in the U.P. Automated Library System by the end of this year.
* Library cooperatives serve as vital communication links between state agencies and public libraries—the Library of Michigan, Department of Transportation, Department of State, Department of Consumer & Industry Services, Office of Financial and Insurance Services, and others have used the communication network of library cooperatives to more effectively serve the residents of Michigan.
* Statewide Discounts—negotiated by cooperatives, statewide discounts have directly saved money for Michigan residents. Public libraries have saved $2.5 million dollars more than they would have using discounts that they could have negotiated individually, through discounts negotiated statewide by cooperatives. This resulted in 746,879 more books being purchased for Michigan citizens. $591,868 was saved on non-print purchases due to these statewide discounts, resulting in 39,458 more audio books and video/DVDs being purchased.
* Interlibrary Loan—cooperatives support loans of 1,983,003 items between libraries for Michigan residents statewide by either paying for the service directly or by paying for delivery costs.
* Group Purchases—cooperatives negotiated the group purchase of 650 computers, funded by the Gates Foundation, for public libraries that saved $300 per computer over what individual libraries could have negotiated, resulting in a savings of $195,000, that will be used to purchase even more computers for public libraries.

These are just a few of the ways that Michigan Library Cooperatives use economy of scale to extend the resources of Michigan’s public libraries. The proposed cuts in state aid to public libraries will devastate library cooperatives and will potentially cost the residents of Michigan as much or more money than is saved by the cuts themselves.

I urge you to reconsider the cut of 50% to state aid to public libraries and save Michigan’s library cooperatives. The residents of Michigan deserve excellent library service; Michigan’s library cooperatives help libraries deliver it.

Sincerely,

Kenneth B. Miller, Jr.

President

Michigan Library Cooperative Directors’ Association

Technorati Tags: michigan, library, cooperative

Ann Arbor District Library is hiring!

Official posting on their web site - I copied it out here.

Employment Opportunity
Regular Staff Position
Job No.: 07-037
Job Title: Systems Administrator
Department: Information Access & Systems
Supervisor: Manager, IAS
Pay Range: $51,998.00 - $64,998.00
Union Position: No
Benefits: Yes
Opening Date: 2007-03-14
Closing Date: 2007-03-28 (Application form Required)

Position Summary:
Under the direction of the Information Access and Systems (IAS) Manager, the Systems Administrator's responsibilities include infrastructure planning, implementation, administration and maintenance, as well as in-house software planning, development and development coordination, implementation and documentation. The Systems Administrator ensures the successful management and smooth functioning of the network infrastructure, network servers and software applications in use at the Library. The Systems Administrator works closely with the Manager and members of the IAS team in testing, acquiring, developing, implementing and maintaining network management solutions and software applications used by both the staff and the public in a high-availability, user-focused environment.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following; other duties may be assigned:

* Responsible for the successful installation, operation and upgrade of all network related hardware and software.
* Researches, develops, implements and supports IAS projects and services, including complete web application, catalog, and database development.
* Develops appropriate support staff to ensure qualified backup support for the Systems Administrator.
* Writes clear and concise documentation for supporting servers and staff/patron desktop support.
* Participates in interdepartmental committees to serve as a technical reference and as a representative of IAS goals and plans.
* Responsible for data integrity, system backups and maintenance of off-site backup storage.
* Trains network users, answers questions, resolves problems, and communicates changes in software and operations.

Minimum Qualifications include:

* Bachelor's degree in relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
* Cisco CCNP certification.
* Minimum 5 years experience administering a Windows Network.
* Minimum 5 years experience administering Linux-based servers.
* Minimum 4 years software development experience with MySQL, PHP, and Apache.
* Thorough knowledge of network infrastructure and firewalls.
* Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
* Self motivation and the ability to work well as a member of a team.
* Project Management experience.

Preferred Qualifications include:

* MCSE
* Experience with VPN/Tunneling and Squid Caches.
* Experience with Drupal or other open source CMS.
* Experience administering NAS.
* Familiarity and experience with networked digital library information products.
* Experience administering Microsoft Exchange Server.
* Experience administering Citrix Metaframe Terminal Servers

The above is intended to describe the major responsibilities and requirements for this position. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of all duties, responsibilities or requirements.

To apply, please submit a completed employment application form with optional cover letter and resume to:

Ann Arbor District Library
Human Resources
343 South Fifth Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Application forms are available on the first floor of the Downtown Library on South Fifth Avenue, at each branch location, and at http://www.aadl.org/aboutus/employment

The Ann Arbor District Library is an EEO Employer.

The Ann Arbor District Library reserves the right to change, amend, add, delete and otherwise assign any and all duties,responsibilities, and position titles as it deems necessary to meet the needs of its business

Technorati Tags: superpatron, jobs

sirsi/dynix to halt Horizon deployments

as noted on a library listserv I get

I wanted to make sure you received the below e-mail in advance of its general distribution. Later today, SirsiDynix will be announcing a new technology platform that will blend the best features of
Horizon/Corinthian, Unicorn, and other solutions. Horizon 8.0/Corinthian will not be moved into general release, and Horizon 8.1/Corinthian will not be released. More details are below in the letter.

Two items to point out to you as a library either in the implementation queue or preparing to implement:

All implementations of Horizon 8.x/Corinthian will stop. You will be contacted by SirsiDynix within the next few days to discuss the options referenced below.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me. Since this will not be shared with all SirsiDynix customers until later today, please do not further distribute this email.

if I had more in this as a patron, I'd refer to "the OPAC crisis" - fortunately AADL is at least a little isolated from this particular incident.

Technorati Tags: opac, sirsi, dynix, horizon, hip

Social Bookmarking and del.icio.us: a personal and professional productivity tool, Patricia Anderson, U of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries on Slideshare

A brief tutorial on using del.icio.us in health sciences libraries, for reference and research, by Patricia Anderson at the U of Michigan. (My delicious account is an example about half way through.)

Technorati Tags: delicious, del.icio.us, umich, annarbor, healthcare, library, superpatron

Google hiring a librarian (DC or Mountain View)

From the Google Librarian Central blog:

The follow-up question, typically, is whether or not we have current openings for librarians. We usually send people to www.google.com/jobs, where they can access the comprehensive list of Google job openings. However, I recently learned from a colleague in Google's new Public Sector Content Partnerships team that they're looking for a librarian to help the team navigate the world of public sector and government information, so I thought I'd send this on directly to you.

Content Analyst, Public Sector - Mountain View or Washington D.C.

Google is seeking an information professional to serve as the domain expert and analyst for a Public Sector Content Partnerships team. The candidate must have demonstrated background and skills in conducting quantitative and qualitative analyses of government and public sector information sources in support of strategic and tactical planning. The ideal candidate will be passionate about uncovering, interpreting, and helping to improve access to public sector information.

The relevant and active long-standing email list (which has been around since the early 90s when I first ran into it) is GOVDOC-L,

GOVDOC-L is a LISTSERV-based discussion forum about government information and the Federal Depository Library program. Many subscribers are librarians in and out of government, although private and public information producers are represented as well. GOVDOC-L gratefully acknowledges Pennsylvania State University's and Duke University's computing support as well as the hosting services of LISHost.

GOVDOC-L was started in January 1990 by UIUC grad Diane Kovacs - if you search for both our names on the google you get back results from 1992 and 1993.

(hm, create a government documents category here)

Technorati Tags: GOOG, GOVDOC-L, library, jobs