Archive for the 'IT' Category

BEST Conference Registration Open!

Published by Christine on June 9, 2011 in General, IT, Public Libraries and programs. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I am excited to announce that registration is now open for  the BEST Conference (Broadband, E-rate, Sustainability and Technology) to be held on August 25 & 26, 2011 in beautiful Breckenridge Colorado. The registration form and a draft of the agenda can be found on the BEST website. Check back often as we continue to add details about the sessions and speakers!

Thanks to a Gates grant, registration, lodging, food and travel will be covered for one staff member per library (2 staff members may attend if your library serves a population of 100,000 or more). We will make the hotel reservations for you based on the registrations received. Continue reading ‘BEST Conference Registration Open!’

Marmot Council elects Executive Board

Published by JTMarmot on May 18, 2011 in Academic Libraries, IT, Public Libraries, School Libraries and Western Slope. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

May 11, 2011

The Marmot Council of twenty library directors elected four new members to the Marmot Executive Board. Eve Tallman (Director of Mesa County Public Library District) continues in the role of Treasurer. New Board members include President Barb Brattin (Director of the Wilkinson Public Library in Telluride); Vice President Nancy Gauss (Director of the Savage Library at Western State College); Gayle Gunderson (Director of the Fowler Library at Colorado Christian University); and Sherry Holland (School Librarian in Steamboat Springs School District).

About Marmot

The Marmot Library Network (www.marmot.org), based in Grand Junction (CO), is a non-profit organization providing information technology services to public, academic, and school libraries. Marmot hosts software and a database shared by 20 institutions comprising 90 library sites in Colorado; and provides internet, hardware, and software support services.

Changes in E-rate for Libraries

Published by Christine on February 8, 2011 in Continuing Education, General, IT, Public Libraries, School Libraries and funding. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I recently attended an excellent e-rate webinar presented by WebJunction. Even if you have applied for e-rate in the past, I would highly recommend viewing the archived webinar because there have been several changes to the e-rate process.

For instance, certified technology plans are only required for those seeking Priority 2 services. If you are applying for telecommunications or Internet access only, you are no longer required to submit a technology plan for certification. (Although no longer required for all libraries, technology planning is a crucial part of an organizations strategic planning, and highly recommended). Continue reading ‘Changes in E-rate for Libraries’

Flip Cameras, Upcoming Webinars, and More From TechSoup

Published by Michelle on November 5, 2010 in General and IT. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

This information on Flip Video cameras and upcoming webinars was taken from the November TechSoup for Libraries newsletter. To get the latest TechSoup news, visit their website and enter your email address under Subscribe to TechSoup. They also offer an RSS feed.

Flip Camera Donation Program
Public libraries are using lightweight, pocket-sized Flip Video cameras to collect community stories, record library events, and share knowledge. The camera’s one-button operation and a flip-out USB arm allows staff or volunteers with little technical experience to record, edit, and upload quality high-definition video to the web. The bundle includes two UltraHD 260 video cameras and one tripod for an admin fee of $175.
Want some great examples of how to use Flip cameras in your library? Continue reading ‘Flip Cameras, Upcoming Webinars, and More From TechSoup’

OITP Seeks Nominations for Best Library Practices Using Cutting-Edge Technology

Published by Michelle on October 21, 2010 in General, IT and Innovation. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) is once again soliciting nominations for best library practices using cutting-edge technology.

Last year, OITP’s America’s Libraries for the 21st Century Subcommittee launched the “cutting-edge” contest to showcase libraries that serve their communities with novel and innovative methods and to provide the library community with some successful models for delivering quality library services in new ways.

Christine Lind Hage, chair of the subcommittee, said the wide response to the 2009 call was so inspiring, the subcommittee knew another contest was in order. Last year, three libraries were cited for their outstanding work.

“These winners showed that libraries of all sizes can do innovative projects that are worthy of replication across library types,” Hage said.

“With all the creative technological work being done in libraries, I’m sure that this year we’ll see some exciting apps, projects or services that we’ll want to showcase.”

Nominations should be sent to the American Library Association, Office for Information Technology Policy, 1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW, 1st Floor, Washington, D.C. 20009 or to ainouye@alawash.org by November 1, 2010.  Details for the nomination process are available on the OITP website.

2010 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Survey Launched

Published by Michelle on September 14, 2010 in General, IT, Public Libraries and funding. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Each year, the American Library Association and the Center for Library & Information Innovation, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, surveys a national sample of public libraries regarding their Internet connectivity and computing access resources. The 2010-2011 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study survey (PLFTAS) is now open and survey announcement postcards should be arriving at libraries this week.

The survey portal is www.plinternetsurvey.org – respondents can find FAQs and other support, and then head to “start survey.”  That is also where you will find the 4 issue briefs (Broadband, Community Access, E-government, and Employment), as well as state summaries for Employment and E-government. The survey closes November 5, 2010.

Why participate in this survey? Continue reading ‘2010 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Survey Launched’

StoryBlocks: A New Tool To Build Early Literacy Skills

Published by Michelle on July 30, 2010 in Children's Services, Community Collaborations, Continuing Education, General, IT, Instruction, Public Libraries, School Libraries, Special Libraries, advocacy and programs. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

The Colorado State Library announces the launch of  www.storyblocks.org, StoryBlocks image
an online video collection featuring  one-minute songs and rhymes for babies, toddlers and preschool children in both English and Spanish. Filmed in partnership with Rocky Mountain PBS, librarians throughout Colorado share successful activities as well as literacy tips. Parents, child care providers and others will discover ways to engage very young children in fun and playful interactions that also build healthy brain development.

StoryBlocks.org is a project of the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL), an advisory group to the State Library. CLEL received a federal grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to create the videos and Web site. The goal is to build awareness and to encourage parents and others to engage with children from birth on early language and pre-literacy skills. The methods used in the videos are based on brain and child development research that show the impact that songs, rhymes and stories have on very young children. Continue reading ‘StoryBlocks: A New Tool To Build Early Literacy Skills’

NoveList meets VuFind at Marmot

Published by JTMarmot on July 15, 2010 in General, IT, Innovation, Public Libraries, Reference Services, Western Slope and databases. 0 Comments
We’ve done a nice job integrating NoveList content with the new “VuFind at Marmot” OPAC. Take a look at Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
“Similar Titles” in the upper right is NoveList content in the OPAC, right where readers can use it, instead of parked off on the side in some database of titles that may or may not be in this library catalog.
“Also in this series” shows this title’s position in a series. Most importantly, this is a proper series list from the NoveList database rather than an attempt by OPAC software to make the best of series data which is typically dicey in even the best bibliographic records.
“Similar authors”, under jacket art on the upper left, is more NoveList content.
These NoveList features are now available to open source developers like us as the “NoveList Select” add-on product. We’re still working on the print function, so a page like this will print nice instead of goofy. Watch for that improvement in a couple weeks.

VuFind at Marmot

Published by JTMarmot on June 11, 2010 in Academic Libraries, IT, Innovation, Public Libraries, School Libraries and Western Slope. 0 Comments

CJ O'Hara, Keith Dedman, Mark Noble

After 3 guys worked on it part time for 3 months, the Western Slope Libraries Catalog is now live. We started with open source VuFind, developed at Villanova U and first implemented in Colorado by CSU.

This month the team is fine-tuning relevance ranking, correcting links to electronic books, evaluating new catalog enrichment options, and developing an admin console to support a variety of  configuration options for our multi-type consortium.

This summer Marmot will work with members to brand, configure, and launch library-specific flavors of the catalog. Academics and schools should all be ready in time for fall term; publics will launch throughout the summer.

We’re certainly taking advantage of the openness of open source to do cool things for library users that no sane vendor would want to do in a commercial product. Give us a call at 970-242-3331 to hear more about it.

Plinkit: Library Websites Made Easy

Published by Christine on May 21, 2010 in General, IT, Innovation and School Libraries. 0 Comments

Horizon Middle School LogoI am thrilled to announce that the Horizon Middle School  in Colorado Springs is Colorado’s first public school Plinkit site as part of our Plinkit Expansion Pilot Project (PEP)! The Colorado State Library is currently investigating the need for website creation and hosting services for public school libraries in Colorado.

Like its public library counterparts, Horizon Middle School is now able to offer its students improved access to the online catalog and library account information, library databases and homework resources, and much more! Continue reading ‘Plinkit: Library Websites Made Easy’