21st Century Library Design

One of the best sessions that I attended at PLA was called 21st Century Library Design. It was presented by Kim Bolan, Pam Vander Poeg and Cathy Hakala Ausperk.

Kim Boland is a library design consultant and author of Teen Spaces. She promised to post the images from the presentation on her blog soon after her wedding (which was Sat.-Congrats!).
Why is 21st Century Library Design important? Our population is changing. There are increasing numbers of baby-boomers using libraries, as well as increasing numbers of teens. Libraries are also the last free public space. So what is 21st Century Library Design? It is design that enables services that make the library a community space (the third place); it is built around the customer; it is comfortable, multi-functional and adaptable; and use by the community makes it successful. Specifically, the design should have a comfortable space, meeting rooms for group and quiet study, supported service (self-checkout, more interaction, portable service points, food service, drive up book-drops, etc), multi-functional children's spaces, a separate teen space, retail oriented merchandising, technology that is unobtrusive and promotes interaction, good way-finding (understandable signage!), and sustainable healthy environments.

Pam Vander Poeg is the Assistant Director of Kent District Library in Michigan. They have a system wide initiative to peer review or mystery shop at each of the branches. This initiative is grant funded and each library has a friends group that matches the grant amount. They are focusing on 4 areas of library design including Early Literacy, Teen Space, making it easy to find, and the Library Living Room. Early Literacy spaces should be playful and interactive, making the library a place of fun and learning. The Teen Space should have varied seating, snacks, computers and input from teens. The Library Living Room should be a cozy place with comfy furniture, books, reading lamps, art, plants and a view or a fireplace. Each of the branches was provided with a materials directory with suggested items, prices, and vendor information so the research didn't have to be done more than once.

Cathy Hakala Ausperk is the Deputy Director of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library in Ohio. They renovated the largest library and here are some of the innovations that I found to be exciting: They had artistic signage that was integrated into murals, moveable displays, roving reference, self service that includes pick-up lockers for holds, help phones, office supply vending, and healthy food vending.
--Katrina

Puppetry Workshop

Back in February I had the opportunity to go to the puppetry workshop presented by Circus Minimus. Shari and Chris, who make up Circus Minimus showed us examples of various types of puppets including glove puppets, stick puppets, sock puppets, shadow puppets and open-mouth puppets. We discussed the strengths and limitations of all these and got to practice with our own open-mouth puppets.

They also demonstrated how, with only hands as puppets and a lot of imagination, a concept such as "spring" can be conveyed. As groups we practiced creating city streets, a seashore and a farm using only our hands and imaginations.

After that, we all got a chance to work with a stick puppet. We did some exercises to "bring the puppet to life" like finding the ground and posture for the puppet, finding its focus or gaze, giving it breath, showing gestures, giving it action and finding its voice.

The second half of the class was devoted to story boarding. Chris and Shari used Little Bo Peep as the basis of the story. They created images for the beginning, middle and end. Then we discussed various ways the characters could have gotten from one point to the next. These became other images that told the story. Again in groups, we story boarded our own fairytales, showing how the characters worked through plot points. This part of the workshop really demonstrated how important it is be creative and to have a well planned out story for the puppets to really come alive.

--Katrina

TAX TIME INVESTMENT REFRESHER

At this time of year, people often need information on stock and other investment prices on a certain day for their tax returns. This is just a refresher on some sources that we don't use very often, but when you need them, you really need them.

Bigcharts and Yahoo! Finance. These free Internet sources have historical stock prices, but you won't find anything if the company has changed its name, merged with another company, or dissolved.
Daily Stock Price Record. This print reference source has daily stock prices going back to 1962 (New York Stock Exchange), 1967 (American Stock Exchange), and 1968 (NASDAQ). If you don't know the exchange it was traded on, you have to check all three. The NASDAQ book also has mutual funds in the front part, industrial stocks (what we call just "stocks") are in the back. The DSPR is located in the front of Nicholson by the park.
Capital Changes Reports. Sometimes patrons will ask for information on "stock splits". This resource lists these and any other history that effects a company's stock, such as mergers, name changes, and dissolution. It goes as far back as the beginning of the company's existence. This history can be helpful background information when you're having trouble finding a stock price. Capital Changes Reports is located on the Financials shelf in Nicholson. For fun, check out the extremely long entries on Enron and Worldcom.
Directory of Obsolete Securities. What if you are having a lot of trouble finding a stock price and you think the company might no longer exist? You can't prove a negative, right? Well, with this resource, sometimes you can. We recently had someone ask for a stock price for a company a month after the company has ceased to exist. You don't need this book often, but when you do, it's a lifesaver. It's kept in the Phone Room.
Investment Statistics Locator. What if you are asked for a more unusual type of financial statistic, such as bonds, silver, pork bellies futures, or foreign currency? Well, this handy book tells you where to to go for all these and more. Each entry has abbreviations that indicate where to look and if the information is daily, weekly, monthly, or annually. The abbreviations are explained in the front of the book. The Investment Statistics Locator is shelved in call number order in Nicholson.


--Andrea

PS. If stocks are worthless as securities, they still can be worth something to collectors if they are interesting or beautiful. This is called scripophily.

IT PLAYGROUP, MAR. 3, 2008

IT PLAYGROUP, MAR. 3, 2008

For this IT Playgroup, John L., Melissa and Pioneer Press technology reporter Julio Ojeda-Zapata discussed their experiences with the Kindle e-book reader. Ojeda-Zapata also brought in a Macbook Air and John discussed the free screencast software Jing.

The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader that uses the Mobipocket format and e-paper. E-paper is easier on the eyes than a computer screen, but it is not back-lit. You can buy a night light for an extra charge. The Kindle costs $400, but that includes free cell-phone style Internet access that works anywhere and with no monthly fee. As a web browser, it is clunky. The controls are clunky too, especially compared to an iPod, and it is easy to hit the "back" button by accident while reading. The Kindle is not compatible with older e-book formats, but many publishers are offering e-books in the Kindle format. It is easy to use the software on your computer to buy books, or to buy them online using the device, and you can save your whole e-book library on the computer while only having some items on the Kindle. You could save money by downloading free public domain e-books from sites like Project Gutenberg, but buying on Amazon is so easy that consumers may prefer it, as they do with iTunes. The Kindle also can be used for e-audiobooks. Whether libraries can loan out Kindles is currently unclear.

The MacBook Air is a notebook with a normal-size screen and keyboard, but very, very thin. It can fit into an interoffice mailing envelope. Because of the lightness, it is slower than other notebooks and there is very little hard drive space and no CD/DVD burner. The owner is expected to have external storage of some sort. It seems like it would be best for a second computer for people who travel a lot, or for students with limited space and access to networked storage. If the MacBook Air or similar notebooks take off, web-based applications may become more popular.

Jing is free software for creating screencasts. It captures video and sound of what you are doing on a computer screen. You can also draw on the screencast for for emphasis. This would be great for making instructional videos that staff could watch when and where they wanted. Previous screencast software was quite pricey. Jing will upload screenshots at screencast.com (there is a monthly fee for hosting), or you can host them on your own Internet server for free.

--Andrea

March is Voting Month for MN Book Awards' Readers' Choice Award!

SPPL library staff and all Minnesotans have the opportunity to vote for the Readers' Choice Award, sponsored by the Pioneer Press. Vote anytime during the month of March. In addition to voting, you can hear the finalists read from their work at 9 MELSA events from March 13th through April 11th. Details are at melsa.org and in the "Chat It Up!" Rake insert. Central will host the Poetry finalists on March 30th at 2 PM in the Magazine Room. All the winners will be announced at the Book Awards Gala emceed by Cathy Wurzer on the evening of April 12th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Saint Paul. Consider celebrating Minnesota authors at this event! Gala details including ticket information are available at thefriends.org.

The Minnesota Book Awards is a Capital City project of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, with the Mayor's Office of the City of Saint Paul and the Saint Paul Public Library.

--Barb S.

TOP TEN OBSCURE GOOGLE SEARCH TRICKS

We all know the basics of searching Google, but check out these advanced tips from the Lifehacker Blog.


Submitted by Lori L.

CREATIVITY AND AGING

On January 29th I had the opportunity to attend a MELSA sponsored event held at the Ridgedale Hennepin County Library. The guest speaker was Dr. Gene Cohen and he presented a Creativity and Aging workshop and also discussed highlights from several of his books, such as The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Mind and The Brain in Human Aging. Dr. Cohen is a Harvard graduate and the Georgetown University School of Medicine and currently serves as the director of the Center of Aging at the National Institutes of Health (an agency he founded). He also holds the positions of Professor of Health Care Sciences and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University.

Prior to the 1960’s images on aging was regarded as negative and scientists offered little research; common views held by the young were that “you can’t trust anyone over 30.” Psychoanalytic and cognitive development theorists (Freud & Piaget) stressed that development was complete by the end of adolescence or early adulthood. Such theorists have focused more on the negative inner forces holding one back then on the positive. However, changes in the late 1970’s began to appear as social responsibilities were redefined along with the transformation of geriatrics in the 1980’s. It was also widely accepted that brain cells do not regenerate and research in early 1998 disproved and changed this myth. Dr. Cohen discussed that people are able to sprout more dendrites and such sprouting of dendrites allows for greater brain activity and quicker firing at the synapses. Reading also contributes to more dendrites, but only reading of challenging material. Sudoku number puzzles were also mentioned as games that allow for mental thought-provoking ability. It was also mentioned that 95% of the people over 65 are not living in nursing homes.

Children’s views on aging are rather disapproving. Most children seem to view the aged as weird or weak and fairy tales help contribute to negative beliefs. Grimm’s and other fairy tales have left the perception that old seems to be directly related to wicked, as with the “wicked old witch” or the Old Woman in the Shoe.

Dr. Cohen said that individuals go through (4) phases later life that compliments early theorists beliefs.

1. Reevaluation / Exploration / Transition (Quest for more than crises)
Midlife Revolution Phase .+40 - +65 age group

2. Experimentation / Innovation (If not, why not or when?)
Liberation Phase .+55 - +75 age group

3. Recapitulation / Resolution / Contribution (Unresolved conflict resolution giving back)
Summing up Phase .Late 60’s - +90

4. Reflection / Celebration / Continuation
Encore Phase .+80 on

Q. How can libraries better assist the aged population?
A. Develop a resource section in the library pertaining to the 50+ that focuses on:

• Tapping into their latent talents
• Developing a social portfolio
• Job or volunteer placement
• Staying sharp (mental/physical abilities)

Submitted by Terry G.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND FLICKR

The Library of Congress is making over 3,000 photos available on the photo-sharing web site Flickr. Anyone can create tags, make comments or add notes. It seems to be pretty popular already.



--Andrea

CENTRAL EVENT CALENDAR FEED

A feed from the Central Library Events Calendar has been added to the Centralloop blog. It's on the left, just below the seal of the library. If anyone is interested in having the events calendar on Bloglines or another RSS reader, the feed is:

http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/sppl-central-calendar?Op=RSS

Although SPPL web page doesn't have am RSS feed, you can create one with the web site Page2RSS if you are interested in seeing what has been updated.

--Andrea

NEW FROM THE FOUNDATION CENTER

Foundation Directory Online now has country, zip code, and metro area searches. Trend Tracker, a new addition to the Foundation Center web site, lets you compare foundations and quickly create charts, graphs and tables. Here's a .pdf I made comparing 3M Foundation to the McKnight Foundation.

A new free e-course, Introduction to Fundraising Planning, has also been added to the web site. More info on these developments here.

PROGRAMMING IS NOT A NEW THING . . .

According to the new biography Schultz and Peanuts, Charles Schultz was inspired by this exhibit at the St. Paul Public library in 1934:

"Having peered at every panel in the exhibition, [Schultz] went home, eager to test himself against his predecessors."

Maybe someone who went to the graphic novelist panel last October will be similarly inspired.

--Andrea

BASIC MEDIA TRAINING FOR COOPERATING COLLECTIONS

This teleconference was about how to promote the Foundation Collection and how to talk to the media. The instructors were from Fenton Communications, a public relations firm that specializes in non-profits.

The press release is the standard form for new products or events which the media is used to receiving. The Foundation Center has templates that libraries can adapt for their own use. Here are some tips:

• Remember to think of your target audience and localize the information.
• Using a quotes about how the collection helps people is good. Press release authors often create a generic quote and submit it to the relevant person so that they can put it in their own words.
• Avoid jargon that members of the general public wouldn't understand.
• Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to send out press releases.
• Don't send press releases as attachments or spam filters may block them.
• Calling a reporter and "pitching" a story to them makes it more likely that they will print it.
• Do research on which reporters cover similar stories.
• If you have public relations staff, approach them with an idea and they can refine it.

When speaking to the media, here are some things to remember:

• Write what you want to say first.
• Do a "practice interview" with staff.
• Be concise.
• If the interviewer goes on a tangent, bring the conversation back to what you want to talk about.
• Remember, you are providing a service and giving them important information.

Schedule meetings with Doodle

Have you ever tried to schedule a meeting or get a group of colleagues together by e-mail?

Did you just end up with zillions of e-mail messages routed around and still not know what available time everyone had in common?

I just learned of a better way: Doodle. It worked great with a Minnesota Digital Library meeting, and that group is planning to keep using it to schedule its meetings.

Create a list of potential dates and times, direct attendees to a web page, check back, and schedule your meeting. Take a look and give it a try the next time you have to schedule a meeting!

Here's an example of what the scheduling table looks like:

-- John L.

PROQUEST NEWSTAND COMPLETE

ProQuest Newstand Complete is a database of over 500 local, national and international newspapers, 350 of which have full-text. Content is continually being added, including some obituaries and letters to the editor. The Star-Tribune is included, but not the Pioneer Press or the Duluth News-Tribune.

New features of ProQuest Newstand Complete include: smart search, search alerts, citation options, saving a search as a web page, and permalinks. Smart search is accessed under the “topics tab”. If your patron is finding it hard to get the right subject, smart search will suggest topics, compare search terms to index terms, and suggest options for narrowing the search such as additional terms, date, or publication. The patron may have to click on “next” or “view all” to see all the topic suggestions.

The “My Research” folder lets you save search results in order to manipulate them in different ways. This folder only lasts for the duration of the session, unlike MyEBSCOHost in EBSCO MasterFILE Premier, however registration is not required. Clicking in the “mark” box will automatically save records to the folder, no additional “save marked records” step is needed. Search results can be emailed, printed, or saved as a web page. The web page can be saved to a floppy or flash drive on a public terminal. A bibliography can be created which can be emailed, printed, saved, or exported to citation software such as RefWorks. The default citation option is the one ProQuest uses, but it can be changed to MLA, APA, AMA, or Chicago/Turabian.
Search alerts can be set up from the results screen. A pop-up window gives the option to search daily, weekly, or monthly on a topic and sends results to the email provided. It can be set up to stop after the project is completed. The default subject of the email is the search string, so the patron may want to change it to something snappier that they will remember.

One other thing I didn’t know: ProQuest has a “select multiple databases” option in Basic and Advanced Search. Unfortunately, historical databases and non-historical databases can’t be searched together, so you can’t search ProQuest Newstand Complete and Historical New York Times at the same time.

Supplementary materials are available in the “FYI” box in Cube City.

Plant Information Online

Plant Information Online, a database managed by the University of Minnesota Libraries, is now free and available to anyone with access to the internet. It is one of the world's largest resources for botanical and horticultural information and contains several databases of interest to plant and gardening enthusiasts as well as professional botanists, horticulturists, and plant scholars.

--Erin

Greetings. I have something for you to keep in mind when planning library programming for 2008.

On May 11, 2008, Minnesota celebrates its 150th year as the 32nd state of the United States of America. The Minnesota Legislature, in 2005, formed a Minnesota Statehood Sesquicentennial Commission. The four themes of the commission focus on: Education, Innovation, Arts and Cultures, Health and Wellness. In the Commission's own words, "Beginning in January 2008, the Sesquicentennial will be a yearlong, statewide commemoration and a catalyst, to learn from our past and connect all of us as Minnesotans in creating a thriving, innovative future. "

The Minnesota Historical Society has it's "Minnesota 150" exhibit open and there will be a number of events centered around the Sesquicentennial.

St. Paul Library has the book titled, "Minnesota 150" by Kate Roberts on order.

On January 23, I will be doing a book chat centered around 150 years of Minnesota history. Then, closer to May, I'll dedicate one month of the nonfiction display table to Minnesota history.

Here's some links to MHS activities:

http://www.mn150years.org/

http://events.mnhs.org/calendar/Results.cfm?ParentID=2168

Deb

WET MATERIALS RECOVERY WORKSHOP

What would you do if when you came to work you found out that some sort of emergency had occurred at the library and damaged materials were strewn about the floor in dirty water? This is what faced fifteen MPL employees and two librarians from SPPL who attended a Wet Materials Recovery Workshop led by Bob Herskovitz, MHS Outreach Conservator, at the Central Minneapolis Library. This was just a scenario but it tested us on whether we knew what to do. Most of us didn’t. We rushed to try to save the books, many not knowing exactly how to do even that. We later learned that this step was only to be taken only after several assessments for safety and peoples’ and the collections’ needs had been completed. It showed the need to have thought out emergency preparedness ahead of time by creating documents like a Disaster Management Plan. This plan should include internal and external contact information, plans for teams and the recovery directory to handle the emergency and different areas of the collection if needed, questions to answer for a disaster initial situation report, checklists for assessing people’s and the building’s safety and needs, as well as checklists for equipment and supplies, disaster re-entry, collection assessment, and recovery efforts.

We then discussed how to assess damage to collections in the wake of a disaster, how to determine collection salvage techniques, which salvage techniques should be used on each type of material, and appropriate safety garb when salvaging. We then reconvened in the loading dock where we had first encountered the damaged materials. Discarded books, cds, dvds, photos, newspaper clippings, and other items had been soaking in water and dirt for days. Working in teams of two, we were assigned the task of identifying the items, determining the best treatment, and then documenting what we had done. We also learned and practiced how to wrap monographs in freezer paper and pack them to be sent to a commercial freezing facility. This workshop helped us learn what to do and not to do in a library disaster, made us familiar with recovery methods and techniques, and taught us to work smarter and safer in an emergency.

--Erin

TCART 25TH ANNIVERSARY SYMPOSIUM, PART TWO

The second session was on Technological Solutions to Archival Issues.

Shawn Rounds of the Minnesota Historical Society talked about preserving the records of the E-Legislature, the electronic records of the Minnesota Legislature. She explained that when pursuing a project, collaboration and partnerships were necessary for sharing responsibilities, external skills, and infrastructure and that it was crucial to have a business plan which would show the value of the project to potential partners. She also said that projects needed to be built on practical business cases like helping with disaster recovery or enhanced access. Ms. Rounds recommended using standards for digital storage and making sure there were established routine processes as part of the work flow. It is also necessary to understand users’ needs and expectations and to justify why funding should be received.

Jason Roy from the U of M’s Digital Conservancy
talked about capturing University Web sites for preservation through the U of M’s institutional repository program. The goal of this project is to create access to digital scholarly and administrative works of U of M staff, departments, faculty, and centers. Mr. Roy spoke on how they were working to do this, the issues they encountered, and their need to pursue ongoing stewardship of online resources. He also spoke of trying to meet the needs of younger researchers as they transition through life by keeping up with and ahead of technological advances.

Heather Lawton of Minneapolis Public Library’s Special Collections
talked about using digital preservation for access when coping with a small staff. In 2003 when Minneapolis faced large budget cuts it meant a smaller staff and shorter hours and this was affecting researchers’ ability to use Minneapolis’ Special Collections. As the lone staff person in Special Collections (there had been 7), Ms. Lawton decided she needed to digitize in order to create better access. One project she has worked on is with the Minneapolis Department of Inspections. Both were interested in digitizing building permit cards and were able to work together to make this happen. They should be online in 2008. Minneapolis has also made some of its more popular photos and pre 1923 maps and plat books available through the Minnesota Digital Library (http://www.mndigital.org/). In the future Ms. Lawton will look at digitizing yearbooks in the public domain and pre 1923 city directories. She feels that digitization is becoming a core part of archives’ work. Ms. Lawton also stressed that it is important for archival collections to talk with each other so that there isn’t any duplication of digitization efforts. It was discussed that the Minnesota Digital Library is looking at how to create some sort of clearinghouse that would allow for this to happen.


--Erin

TCART 25TH ANNIVERSARY SYMPOSIUM, PART ONE

On October 30, 2007 in honor of its 25^th Anniversary, TCART (Twin Cities Archival Roundtable-a group of archivists, records managers, librarians, manuscript curators, and historians from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota) held a symposium on pressing issues for people working in archives.

The first session was on Legal, Privacy and Proprietary Issues in Archives.

Charles Rodgers from the Minnesota State Archives spoke to us on Managing State Institutional Records at the Minnesota Historical Society. Minnesota had many state hospital facilities now called regional treatment centers) most of which have closed, are closing or downsizing now. The type of records the State Archives tries to save for these institutions are those that show how the organization was governed and run and gives insight into patient and employee life. They don’t usually collect case files. Restrictions to records vary by type and agency, but generally those with private data are closed for 50 years from date of last entry. Mr. Rodgers spoke about the reasons for restrictions, means of maintaining physical and intellectual control of records, and how people may request access. (I have a handout from this presentation.)

David Klaassen of the U of M’s Social Welfare History Archives
spoke on the confidentiality of Social Service Records. Access to these archives is not directly controlled by legislation, but staff works to make others aware of privacy laws and bases its policies on the professional code of ethics such as being sensitive when individual names are mentioned in documents. Their collection contains some adoption records and these have restrictions on them if they are fewer than 50 years old and 50-100 years old.

Tony Jahn of the Target Corporation
spoke of the management of proprietary records and service in a corporate setting. Mr. Jahn also talked of the differences between corporate and public archives and access to corporate archives internally and externally. He advised that people seeking for information from a corporate archive should always try to ask for permission, remembering that it helps to show how giving access would benefit the corporation, but to know that there may be reasons why the corporation may not be able to give access.

--Erin

Minnesota Newspaper Database Available from Home!

Hello!

The Minnesota Newspapers database is now available to patrons from home. The announcement is on the homepage.

Melissa.