Photo and document scanning is now available at the Reference Desk.

We are always looking for more ways to provide as many services as we can offer, (I prefer for our Patrons/Customers to be as spoiled as possible).

Now we have purchased an HP 5610 All-In-One Printer/Scanner/Copier. The unit does a very good job scanning photographs etc., but its strong point (in my humble opinion) is to take a document and save it in a .PDF format. It will do OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and save it into a text file, but the print needs to be quite clear on the original document or the scan spits out garbage.

Just ask for this service at the Reference Desk. If no one is there to assist you, please inquire about it at the Front Desk.

Online fuel economy guide.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

How to Avoid Colloquial (Informal) Writing

WikiHow

JOIN US FOR OUR NEW FOREIGN FILM SERIES

And best of all it's free! Click here for more details.

Laura Elliott -- a presentation on expressing yourself through art

Follow this link

2006 Annual Report for NCPL

The report is available here. We definitely made our goal for 2006, but there were some parts of the library (books and the like) that were not used as much as I had hoped. It is definitely difficult to purchase materials with such a diverse amount of titles available. This also doesn't take into consideration the vast amount of information that is quickly available on the Internet and the fact that many of the 13,000 people who used the public computers probably found their information online versus what we have in hard copy.

(side note) We just received a post card from a staff member in Florida. She went to use the computers at the library there (town is about 20,000+) and their library only has three public access computers compared to the 18 that we have for our patrons. (Did you know that we also have laptops available to you on request and that you can use them anywhere in the library with our wireless network?)

DO REMEMBER that patron requests are ALWAYS put at the top of the list and 99% of those requests are purchased. If a title is really obscure and/or uber expensive, we'll consider it, but chances are we'll get it for you through Inter-Library loan (still free of charge to our patrons).

Some changes really stood out, like the decrease for the children's department. Upon investigation we also found that in 2006 we stopped double checking in items (double checking in was a good check for us, but it also skewed our statistics). So we stopped doing that and it shows in our stats.

Financially we are in better shape than many libraries our size (and even a few larger ones). Our budget is fully funded for 2007 and we'll just have to "suck-it-up" in 2008 when the Circuit Breaker kicks in and slaughters budgets for libraries, municipalities and schools.

Gross usage of the library was counted at 190,936 (all book circulation, dvds, patron attendance at programs etc.) compared to 60,000 when we were at the old building. It's nice to see that the community is taking good advantage of the resources that we provide.

LOCAL FOOD PANTRY NEEDS HELP FROM THE COMMUNITY

The New Carlisle Food Pantry is in need of donations. From
February 18 thru March 3 we will be collecting donations. There will be
two boxes, one for staff and one for the community. We'll see which one
collects the most. Please tell your friends and family about
this and lets see how much we can collect.

Also, during this time we will have food for fines. One food item for
each dollar of fines (from items returned late...not fines already
incurred).

How the new Circuit Breaker law may affect the New Carlisle Public Library.

For the 2007 budget year our budget is funded, but such may not be the case for 2008 and beyond. The Circuit Breaker law, while well intentioned, may doom some of our programs and services not to mention for those of municipalities and school corporations.

Circuit Breaker will cap the amount of taxes collected from property owners at 2 percent of the net assessed value of their property. The problem is that libraries, municipalities and schools will not be able to replace the funds lost and will need to further reduce already shrinking budgets.

I will do my best to keep our patrons apprised of the situation. For additional information you may follow this Google link to articles that have been published in the South Bend Tribune. The library has an online account with the South Bend Tribune, so you may want to perform the search from here in the library. Article link.

Netlibrary.com (downloadable audiobooks issues)

Problems acquiring the license for downloaded content seem to be on the rise. A work-around is to return to the Netlibrary.com site, login and then click on the title that you downloaded. THEN (about the 3rd line down) click on RENEW. So far that has seemed to help.

Please e-mail me at sboggs@ncpl.info as well if you are experiencing problems.

ALSO THIS INFORMATION FROM NETLIBRARY.COM

Can you please have the patrons call us directly so we can work with them on a individual basis. Phone: 1-800-848-5800

 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m EST M-F or email: support@oclc.org.   We need to know how the patrons are connecting to

 NetLibrary by first going through the library's website or going directly to NetLibrary 

Have you tried downloading and acquiring license for eAudiobooks? If so are you having the same problem as the patrons?

What type OS they are using? (Windows XP SP2?)

What type of PC player are they using? (Windows Media Player 9 or higher?)

Do they have any pop-up blockers enabled?

OCLC Customer Support strives to ensure the support we provide meets your needs. Your feedback is very important to us.  

Please reply to this message to confirm that your needs have been met or to request further assistance. 

Using "Reply" will retain the Service Request number in the subject line, enabling our system to handle your

message correctly.

Time change on March 11

Daylight Saving Time

USA - United States of America from 2007

FROM 2007: Daylight Saving Time begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March. Time will revert to standard time at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November.

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.us/daylight-saving-time/usa/dst-2007.htm

NEW ONLINE DATABASES FOR NCPL

And free...for our patrons at least. We budgeted $5,000 for online databases and here are the ones that were selected: World Book Online, Reader's Advisor, Thompson-Gale Legal Forms and Chilton Library.

World Book Online -- the long standing fantastic encyclopedia for all ages.

Reader's Advisor -- Quite simply, it is the act of putting people together with the books they love. Librarians, booksellers, literature teachers—anyone in the business of helping readers find the books they love—are readers' advisors.

Thompson-Gale Legal Forms -- Just what the title says, if you need a legal form it's probably available on this site.

Chilton Library--quality information on car repair, parts etc.

Just e-mail the Director for usernames and passwords.

LIBRARY LAPSITS

Due to popular demand, we are adding an additional lapsit (toddler storytime) program on Monday nights starting at 6:30pm. Registration is for one month at a time and registration forms are available at the Front Desk.

Please sign up at the front desk and indicate on the registration sheet whether you would like (Fridays 10am) or (Mondays at 6:30pm).

Science Fair at Olive Township Elementary

I was indeed glad to volunteer to judge some of the submissions for this year's science fair entries. WOW. For more photos of the science fair click here.

INTERESTED IN HELPING THE LIBRARY?

We are always interested to know if people are willing to serve as Trustees for the Library. The requirements are that you must live in Olive Township for at least two years. That's pretty much it. Time commitment is about an hour a month (the Board meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. If you are interested, please contact me here

USB COMPATIBLE KEYBOARDS AND USB DRIVES

In order to best serve patrons we have invested quite a bit of money in new USB keyboards. These keyboards have ports on the right hand side for you to plug in your USB drive. Many new computers do not come with 3 1/4" floppy drives any longer and many people have their own USB drive so the decision was easy. We also are now SELLING USB DRIVES. 512 Mb drives are $13.00 and we also have 1Gb drives for $20.00. These drives are sold at cost.

TAX FORMS

Years past we used to receive federal and state tax forms. We do have a few, but most of what we receive now is on a cd. PLEASE ask at the front desk or at the Reference desk for the tax forms that you need. Do remember that we can't answer tax questions.

New teen services @ the library

We are grateful and more than honored at the gift from the Chad Hultgren Memorial Fund. Following the wishes of the donation (which paralleled our Long Range Plan) we will be purchasing the following: 50" plasma television, X-Box 360, wireless controllers for the X-Box, a play station 2 w/ Dance Dance Revolution AND (if any funds are available) a Wii machine. Our plan involves the library matching the donation dollar for dollar.

NOW for the strings.

It is not a teens right to play the games, it is a priviledge. In order to use the machines kids MUST bring in GOOD REPORT CARDS, GOOD GRADES ON REPORTS/PAPERS (spelling tests included) GOOD COMMENTS FROM TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS etc.

We need the library to be a friendly and nurturing environment for our kids, but we want for them to be as well educated and well brought up as possible.

Your behavior at the library

For the past few months we have noticed an increase in the amount of vandalism that is occurring at the library. Why people think it is "cool" to destroy public property is beyond me, but we have instituted the following: restrooms in the foyer are closed at 3:00 - closing, any patron vandalising any library property will be prosecuted.

NO PATRON COMPUTERS ON FEBRUARY 26 AND 27

We are having a new computer workstation management system installed on Monday, February 26 and Tuesday, February 27. Patrons will not have any access on these two days. After the system is installed patrons will need to apply for computer use at the front desk. We will need to create a username and a password for you that will allow you to log-in to the computers. After you have registered you will no longer have to register at the front desk, simply find a free computer, log-in with your information and you are ready to go.

We will also be using the time management portion of the software. Patrons will be given an initial time limit of 60 minutes and patrons can request additional time in increments of 30 minutes each.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

I FOUND MY PASSWORD AND USERNAME FINALLY!

Boy do I feel silly. I didn't worry about posting in December so I thought I'd get back at it in January. Nope. I put the password in a very "safe" place and...well anyway. Stay tuned.