CJRLC Blog

I will be presenting a program at NJASL on what I have learned in my years as a librarian.  I asked the people attending our Summer Program to give me one of their favorite lessons.  Here’s what they said…

1. When you help a teacher just a little, they often keep coming back for more.

2. Lesson-take advantage of everyone else’s knowledge-listen more than talk!

3. The more enthusiastically I talk about a book or an author the more the children will read.

4. Get good/get comfortable with multi-tasking.

5. Be bold and never be afraid to ask for things to improve your library.  The worst that can happen is that you will be turned down.  If you don’t ask, it will never happen.

6. Librarianism is contagious. If books are ‘collecting dust’ on your shelves, do a book-talk on these titles.  Kids will check out anything you book-talk.

7. Ask teachers and students what they would like to see.

8…to be totally flexible,…to read, read, read…to use my computer, my friend…use of school center for introductions / use my program.

9. TO TELL PARENTS AT A BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT…”As a teacher, I’ll believe 50% of what your child tells me about you, if you believe 50% of what your child tells you about me.

10. Do weeding quietly. Get the book out of the school without anyone knowing.  People can’t let books, magazines, laser discs go…

11. When ordering books, supplies, etc., I usually order and write, “DO NOT EXCEED______.  This way I spend the entire amount in the account and don’t have to worry about back orders.

12.  Teachers and administrators do not know anything about Copyright Laws.

13. Principals have no idea about what a media specialist does.

14.  Keep a sense of humor and take a deep breath.

15. The use of a book place marker with children’s help keep the shelves in some order.

16. It is never too late to learn something new.

17. Make friends with the custodian.

18. Learn to have empathy for one another. Each child has a special quality in them…FIND IT.

19. Go with the flow.

20. I’ve learned after being given an additional front-door-duty, I have the power to make or break a child’s day by greeting them with a smile in the AM.  I’ve also learned that a sense of humor will get you through the most difficult times.

21. Don’t be afraid of yourself.

And what’s your favorite lesson????

Connie 

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It has been awhile since I have updated the blog, but I have been very focused on our switch-over from the TCNJ-hosted CJRLC listserv to our new CJRLC Goolge Group/Listserv! We have completed this process and now everyone should be using the new list!

In order to post to the new listserv, you must use the new email address: cjrlc@googlegroups.com . You must be subscribed in order to post and read messages. If you have not yet subscribed, be sure to go to the left of this post and enter the email you want to use and click on SUBSCRIBE!

PLEASE BE SURE TO REMOVE the old address and replace it with the new address in any address books or online places you may have it. Thanks!

Also, PLEASE NOTE: We have two special Summer programs scheduled:

1. SUMMER TREAT with Dr. Dornish and Linda Braun
This will take place on Wednesday, July 30, at Battleground Country Club. Due to popular demand, we have changed the schedule so that you may now join us for BOTH programs. Stay for lunch in-between and network with old and new friends! For more info, please see the flier and register. We need to know if you are having lunch with us.

2. OFFICE 2007 - An Introduction
If your library or school has upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007 (or if they are considering it) come to this hands-on program at CJRLC to learn about the major differences and changes in this newest version of OFFICE on Thursday, August 14. This is an over-view and will include Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point. Please see the flier and be sure to register early as space is limited!

We also have a new feature for our online calendar - you can now click on individual events on the calendar and go directly to additional information and/or the flier with registration. We hope that this will make using the calendar easier.

We will also be adding ONLINE REGISTRATION for our programs very soon! This will provide a fast and easy additional way to sign-up for events on the calendar.

Don’t forget: We also have an RSS FEED on our calendar. You can subscribe and be notified whenever something new is added to the calendar.  If you need assistance with this, let us know.

Over the summer we will be putting together some new and exciting programs - including our new STAFF SAVVY SERIES - watch for more information coming soon!!!!

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Upcoming

Tuesday, April 29-Thursday, May 1
NJLA CONFERENCE

Sunday, May 4-Wednesday, May 7
NJ Leadershp Academy

Monday, May 5
Monmouth Librarians Program - RSVP by May 2 to 732-449-654 or splklib1@verizon.net

THURSDAY, MAY 8
CJRLC SPRING MEMBERSHIP MEETING!!!!
2:30-5:30, Battleground Country Club

Monday, May 12
10:30-12noon NextReads Meeting and 1:00-3:00pm ListenNJ Meeting - InfoLink
If you’re considering using one of these services, this would be a great time to attend!
(Please contact the office, 732-409-6484, to indicate your attendance at one or both of these meetings. Refreshment and lunch will be provided.)

Tuesday, May 13
CJRLC Tech Group Meeting - ROBERT LACKIE, featured speaker!
3:30pm-5:00pm - Rider University

SLA Meeting: Organizing Information for Search and Discovery with Brandy King
Factiva, 5:00pm

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April 13-19
National Library Week! Join the Circle of Knowledge @Your Library! Let us know what your library does.

Thursday, April 17
NetLibrary Meeting - CJRLC - 10-12noon (please contact office to RSVP)
CJRLC Executive Board Meeting - CJRLC - 3:30pm

Wednesday, April 23 - sorry, this is canceled, Linda Braun is POSTPONED until July 30th - watch for more info
Open House at Princeton Day School - Open to ALL! (please contact office to RSVP)
Don’t miss this special afternoon with Linda Braun * !
3:30-4:00: Sign-in and Refreshments
4:00-5:30: Linda Braun, “Reading and Writing 21st Century Style: Literacy in the Age of the Internet“
5:30: Optional tour of the Princeton Day School’s renovated library
Sponsored by the CJRLC School Group

* Linda is an educational technology consultant who works with libraries to help them figure out the best way to integrate technology into their programs and services. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and has authored several books including Teens, Technology and Literacy, and Listen Up! Podcasting in Schools and Libraries. She is a WISE Excellence in Online Education Award winner for 2007.

April 18-20
New York Comic Con

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It’s time for TRY TEN THINGS - MONTH 3 (only slightly late)!

This month - BACK UPS!

We all know we should be backing up - but do we? The day you lose your stuff is the day you will be kicking yourself that you always “meant to” back up but never did.

Here are this month’s online backup options.

The first is JungleDisk - an Amazon.com product. THIS IS NOT FREE, but certainly is cheap. 15 cents per gigabyte. This offers you 20GB for $3.40. There is no minimum or maximum amount of storage to use.

Here are some examples of how much you can store (from their site):

1 gigabyte is a little over 1000 megabytes, and is enough for:

• 250 songs
• 500-1500 pictures
• 10,000 documents
• …or over an hour of high-quality video

How it works

1. You download a program (works for Windows, Mac, Linux)
2. You sign-up (you can use your existing Amazon.com account if you have one) - it’s free to sign-up and you pay only for the storage space you use
3. Use JungleDisk like a local hard drive

There is also an AUTOMATIC BACKUP feature, and some other features for a $1.00/month fee.
In case you are worried that Amazon will “own” your data - check out this part of their information:

Your data is YOUR data
Jungle Disk with Amazon S3 is the only online storage service where the application is de-coupled from the storage and you “own” your own data. When you use Jungle Disk, your files are stored on Amazon.com’s servers using S3, an open web-service based API. They never touch our servers, and we have no idea what (or how much) data you are storing. Access to your data on S3 is restricted at all times by your AWS Secret Key which is never sent to us or any other user. You can choose a custom encryption key so that all of your data is encrypted before it leaves your computer, and stays encrypted while stored.
To further re-enforce the idea that you are in control of your data, we have made available open source code that can be used to browse and download your data without even using Jungle Disk.
This alone is something you won’t find from any other online backup provider. Jungle Disk’s unique model means that the software and service will keep functioning, even if Jungle Tools LLC (the company that develops Jungle Disk) were to go away.

The second one is Carbonite.
This one ONLY WORKS ON WINDOWS (Vista and XP) and works in the background to backup yours files when your computer is idle. (The site says a MAC version will be available mid-2008?!) There is a 15-day free trial (no credit card required) but otherwise is also NOT a free service.

This one also has no limit to how much you can backup, and it seems to backup your entire system. It does warn that “As a practical matter, however, the speed of today’s DSL and cable Internet services will make it very slow to back up more than, say, a few dozen GB of data.”

The cost is a flat fee of $49.95 per year. Or, buy two years for $89.95 ($3.75/month).

The third one is MOZY.
Mozy IS FREE! The free version works on Windows or Mac.
You can sign-up for MozyHome Free click here. This gives you 2GB of 100% free backup space.

However, it also has fee-based personal and business package options.
Personal Plan (MozyHome Unlimited) = unlimited backup for $4.95/month; and Business Plan (MozyPro - only for Windows) = I didn’t check into the prices for this.

Here is a write-up from Yahoo! Tech on Mozy that I happened to find.

I am sure there are others, but these are just three to get you started. You really have NO excuse not to back up now!

One personal tip: I use the huge amounts of free Google storage available to do quick, free and easy e-mail backups. I have my work email forwarded to a Gmail account (Google’s free email) that I set up just for this purpose.
A copy of all of the emails I receive and send goes automatically to the Gmail account and also remains on my work server and in my email.
Every once in awhile I go to this Gmail account and mark everything read and archive them. (And, by they way, if you’re not using Gmail, you should be!)

You should also probably be backing up your work email (and other important email) to another source as well, but this is just one I use. (I started doing this originally to make my work email compatible with my iPhone, but I realized it has this excellent side-effect!)

If you have used any of these (or another backup system) or try any, please share with us here on the blog! Thanks!

Good luck and happy backing-up!

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Sunday, April 6-Wednesday, April 9
Computers in Libraries Conference

Thursday, April 10
Monmouth County Librarians Meeting: “Tourists Anyone?”

Monday, Aprl 14
Continuous Improvement

Wednesday, April 16
I Love Libraries Program - Neptune Township Public Library

Thursday, April 17
Net Library Users Group Meeting - CJRLC Lab, 10-12
CJRLC Executive Board Meeting - CJRLC Lab, 3:30

Friday, April 18
FREE! Informational SirsiDynix Symphony ILS Program - Woodbridge Public Library, 9:15-3pm
An information (NOT sales pitch!) presentation about SirsiDynix’s Symphony ILS, including migration options, a company update, and a Q. and A. session, will be held at the Woodbridge Public Library. It is an all day session (9:15 a.m.-3 p.m.) which is free and open to all who are interested in attending.

Background:
On October 1, 2007, a group of SirsiDynix customers met at the Springfield Public Library to discuss their experiences with SirsiDynix and to share information about their future automation plans. Susan Permahos of the Springfield Public Library organized this meeting and chaired the discussion, which was very lively and informative.

At meeting’s end, the consensus was to have a follow-up session in the Spring of 2008 with Scott McCausland and Kate Howe from SirsiDynix, who would be asked to do an informational presentation about Symphony, discuss migration options, and provide company update information, followed by a Q&A session. This follow-up meeting is now scheduled for Friday, April 18, 2008 from 9:15 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Woodbridge Public Library (http://www.woodbridge.lib.nj.us).

The agenda is as follows:
In the a.m.:
• Updates on Symphony 3.2, including a demo of current features that addresses the differences between Symphony and Horizon/Dynix
• Possible migration paths from Horizon, Dynix, and Unicorn
• Costs for various options, information on how quotes are derived
• Future plans
• Update from SuperConference

Lunch (provided by SirsiDynix)

In the p.m.:
• Q&A session

If you plan to attend, please RSVP on or before Friday, April 11 with your name, library or organization, phone number, and email address to:
Ellen Callanan
Sussex County Library
973-948-3660
callanan@sussexcountylibrary.org

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For those of you who attended the program on OPEN SOURCE with Nicole Engard of LibLime, I mentioned there is a way to set the defaults in Open Office so that documents will automatically be saved in an MS Office form…. I emailed the person who brought this up, but thought I would also post it here for anyone else who was there and/or anyone else’s interest.

If you have anything to add, please share. If you have questions, let me know!

Open the Open Office Word program

Go to TOOLS menu

Click on OPTIONS

Click on LOAD SAVE (click on the little plus sign to the left to open up this drop down menu)

You should see
General
VBA Properties
Microsoft Office
HTML Compatibility

Click on GENERAL

Look for the part that says DEFAULT FILE FORMAT

You can set this to be:

Document Type: Text Document Always save as: (and mine is on Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP)

[You can also do something similar if you upgrade to MS Office 2007 and want to be sure that your documents are compatible with people still using MS Office 2003 or earlier - you go into the default savings settings and have them save as MS Word 97/2000/XP so that people can open them even if they don’t yet have MS Office 2007.
This works for all the programs in the MS Office 2007 package. We did this in the office when we upgraded to MS Office 2007 b/c a lot of people are waiting and/or not upgrading to 2007. If you want/need more info on this, please let me know.]

There are other versions of MS Word in the drop down list for Open Office and other possible formats to “always save as” but I find this choice for Word is the one that covers most.

You can see that you can use the DOCUMENT TYPE drop down box to choose other types of documents that you might do in Open Office Writer and set their ALWAYS SAVE AS types.

Click OKAY

You have now made this the default document save-as type. When you save and send your Open Office documents and send them to someone with WORD only, they will work!

You can do the same type things with the other Open Office products and MS Office products, i.e., set the default document type ’save as’ for the PowerPoint type Open Office program to be MS PowerPoint, and same for Excel, etc.

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For those of you who want to be able to discuss the CJRLC gaming kits project you have two choices….

1. You can visit the wiki and read and/or edit the pages. You can also use the online form to request a gaming kit for your library - you don’t need to log-in to do that. If you want to log-in you can use the password/invite key gaming! You should be able to see the wiki without logging in. If you have problems, contact Amy.

and/or

2. You can join the CJRLC GAMING PROJECT GOOGLE GROUP and Listserv….. to join, go to the website and request to join….. if you have any problems with it, please contact Amy.

We can use the wiki and the listserv to ask questions, share ideas and experiences and just talk about gaming in libraries. You can be on one or both. Hope to see you there!

(If you missed the Gaming Kits Kick-Off Meeting, you can see some photos on the wiki here! More to come soon hopefully and VIDEO too!)

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CJRLC Gaming Kits Kick-Off Meeting!

Originally uploaded by amy_kearns
Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday and to all who helped make the Gaming Kits Kick-Off a big success!

And thanks very much to Middletown Township Public Library for the use of their community room, screen, projector and awesome sound system, and for their help!

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There is now a link to our new CJRLC Gaming Kits Wiki on the CJRLC website and here on the blog. Please check it out. Yesterday’s kick-off meeting in conjunction with the CJRLC Tech Group meeting at Middletown Township Public Library was a big success! All six of our kits are currently out in the world! Watch for photos and videos from the meeting.

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