 |
| Berkeley Heights Public Library 1978 |
 |
| Governor Livingston Rifle Corp circa 1978 |
Showing posts with label public libraries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public libraries. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
Berkeley Heights 1978: from the library archives
Monday, August 20, 2012
Reference Q & A
Q: Where is the DVD "The Secret"?
A: This turned out to be missing. I tried using the Secret itself (focusing your thoughts on what you want to attract into your life) to find the DVD, but it didn't work.
Q: I need information on the companies Menchies Frozen Yogurt and Yogo Factory.
A: We printed a report from ReferenceUSA on both of these companies. Searching for Menchies Frozen Yogurt brings up mostly franchises. To find the headquarters, I changed the "Verified" column to "Corporate Tree" and clicked the up arrow next to one of the franchises.
Q (from a telemarketer!): Are you moving or expanding?
A: I was tempted to say that BHPL is moving to Delaware, but in the end I said that we're not going anywhere.
Q: My Kindle won't download books anymore, even ones that I bought. It's a first generation Kindle. Is it dead?
A: Reset the Kindle (as we learned from calling Amazon for another patron having this problem). Usually you just hold down the power button for 30 seconds, but for a first generation Kindle, you have to slide off the back panel and insert the sharp end of a paper clip into the "Reset" hole.
Q: I need specs on the 1998 Ford Mustang, specifically horsepower and the compression ratio.
A: Google led us to Edmunds.com and another site that answered this question.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
There is no new library tax in Berkeley Heights
"There is No New Tax or Increased Spending for the Berkeley Heights Public Library
Berkeley Heights Public Library Board of Trustees
Tuesday, April 12 2011
A recent newspaper article suggests that there might be a new tax assessed on Berkeley Heights citizens to support our Public Library. That is not the case. A recent law signed by Governor Christie changes the way our local property tax bill displays how much of our taxes goes to support our local library.
Municipal Libraries, under state law and a citizen’s referendum, receive their support from local citizens via local property taxes collected by the towns. Funding goes into the Town’s general fund and is calculated as part of the Town’s budget CAP. The Town is directed by law as to what that percentage should be and the citizens never see exactly how much is raised to support the Library just like other town services, i.e., police, sewer, etc.
There is no new tax, there is no increased spending, the Town will have Library support calculated out of their CAP so there is no increase in local property taxes. Eventually there will be a different tax bill that shows dollar amount support for our Library.
The Local Finance Board, part of the State Department of Community Affairs, specifically summarizes the new law as follows:
“The law provides a dedicated line item on property tax bill to fund municipal free and joint free public libraries. It does not result in any increased taxes, but changes the way the minimum library appropriation is displayed to the public.”
We invite you to come visit our Town’s Library on Plainfield Avenue. If you haven’t been there in awhile, there’re lots of changes."
Link to the article:
http://thealternativepress.com/articles/there-is-no-new-tax-or-increased-spending-for-the---2
This blog post is a reprint of an article in The Alternative Press
Berkeley Heights Public Library Board of Trustees
Tuesday, April 12 2011
A recent newspaper article suggests that there might be a new tax assessed on Berkeley Heights citizens to support our Public Library. That is not the case. A recent law signed by Governor Christie changes the way our local property tax bill displays how much of our taxes goes to support our local library.
Municipal Libraries, under state law and a citizen’s referendum, receive their support from local citizens via local property taxes collected by the towns. Funding goes into the Town’s general fund and is calculated as part of the Town’s budget CAP. The Town is directed by law as to what that percentage should be and the citizens never see exactly how much is raised to support the Library just like other town services, i.e., police, sewer, etc.
There is no new tax, there is no increased spending, the Town will have Library support calculated out of their CAP so there is no increase in local property taxes. Eventually there will be a different tax bill that shows dollar amount support for our Library.
The Local Finance Board, part of the State Department of Community Affairs, specifically summarizes the new law as follows:
“The law provides a dedicated line item on property tax bill to fund municipal free and joint free public libraries. It does not result in any increased taxes, but changes the way the minimum library appropriation is displayed to the public.”
We invite you to come visit our Town’s Library on Plainfield Avenue. If you haven’t been there in awhile, there’re lots of changes."
Link to the article:
http://thealternativepress.com/articles/there-is-no-new-tax-or-increased-spending-for-the---2
This blog post is a reprint of an article in The Alternative Press
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Just Another Saturday at the Library
A lady who we helped sign up for a free Yahoo email account at the library a week ago has heard back from her friend in Japan. The friend lives in Tokyo and is OK but they have been losing electrical power.
Genealogist Tony Lauriano is regaling the audience in the meeting room with stories of how he found the maiden names of the women he descended from using various records. Church records brought to his attention a family member he had never known about because she died young, born and died between Censuses.
Mrs. Fuhro the children's librarian is talking about Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater with the children's book group. They are making penguins and icebergs out of clay and she is telling them, "Mr. Popper had a subscription to National Geographic and that's how it all started . . . "
Someone who saw last month's book display on solar energy wanted to know where all the solar energy books had gone (back on the shelves at 331 and 697). Miss Pettigrew's Last Stand and the dog mystery Play Dead were sought by others but they're out right now.
A lady and the circ staff wondered about someone who asked the patron why she had a library card. This question could be renamed, "Why aren't QVC and books purchased at Costco enough for you?"
Genealogist Tony Lauriano is regaling the audience in the meeting room with stories of how he found the maiden names of the women he descended from using various records. Church records brought to his attention a family member he had never known about because she died young, born and died between Censuses.
Mrs. Fuhro the children's librarian is talking about Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater with the children's book group. They are making penguins and icebergs out of clay and she is telling them, "Mr. Popper had a subscription to National Geographic and that's how it all started . . . "
Someone who saw last month's book display on solar energy wanted to know where all the solar energy books had gone (back on the shelves at 331 and 697). Miss Pettigrew's Last Stand and the dog mystery Play Dead were sought by others but they're out right now.
A lady and the circ staff wondered about someone who asked the patron why she had a library card. This question could be renamed, "Why aren't QVC and books purchased at Costco enough for you?"
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Library Parrot at Thanksgiving
Some libraries have library cats as recounted in Dewey, the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, or aquariums in the children's room like the one at the New Providence Library down the road; one library where I worked had a Guinea Pig in a cage on the big oak library table in the reading room. The G.P was low on entertainment value as he hid in his cardboard tube most of the time during daylight hours. By far, the most remarkable library pet I've ever heard of was a parrot: Decimal.
Decimal, the parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. Decimal swore like a sailor and could peel the wallpaper off the wall at thirty paces with his salty vocabulary. The library staff tried and tried to change Decimal's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and modeling proper library behavior in an attempt to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary, but to no avail. Decimal continued to offend everyone, including the library's patrons. The library Board of Trustees had received many complaints about the parrot's behavior and the Director felt pressured to rehabilitate Decimal or give him away.
One day, the Library Director was fed up and yelled at the parrot. "If you don't clean up your act, you're gone, I mean it, gone to that perch in the sky!" The parrot yelled back. The Director shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. "@!!??""**!!!"
In desperation, the Director grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer in the staff kitchen. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.
Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, the Director quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out and said,
"I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.
I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully
intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable
behavior."
The library staff was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude and wondered what had made such a dramatic change in Decimal's behavior, but before anyone could ask the reason, the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Thanks to my college roomate for sending me the email that is the basis for this story.
Decimal, the parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. Decimal swore like a sailor and could peel the wallpaper off the wall at thirty paces with his salty vocabulary. The library staff tried and tried to change Decimal's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and modeling proper library behavior in an attempt to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary, but to no avail. Decimal continued to offend everyone, including the library's patrons. The library Board of Trustees had received many complaints about the parrot's behavior and the Director felt pressured to rehabilitate Decimal or give him away.
One day, the Library Director was fed up and yelled at the parrot. "If you don't clean up your act, you're gone, I mean it, gone to that perch in the sky!" The parrot yelled back. The Director shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. "@!!??""**!!!"
In desperation, the Director grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer in the staff kitchen. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.
Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, the Director quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out and said,
"I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.
I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully
intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable
behavior."
The library staff was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude and wondered what had made such a dramatic change in Decimal's behavior, but before anyone could ask the reason, the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Thanks to my college roomate for sending me the email that is the basis for this story.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Our Book Blog to Attend NJ Librarian Convention - sort of
The BHPL Book Blog will celebrate its 5th anniversary this May and to celebrate that momentous occasion, the Reference Department bloggers wanted to share their collective wisdom and experience about library blogging with our colleagues at the annual NJ librarian convention 2010. First we had to submit a proposal to the Poster Board Session Committee. For all you laymen (non-librarians) out there, librarians are known to be amongst the most technologically connected professional groups and we like to attend professional meetings dressed in sensible shoes and dirt-resistant outfits whilst texting, blogging, podcasting and sending singing Gorilla telegrams.
Blogging as a Team Presents Unique Challenges
Working as a team on a blog and poster board session requires compromise. Let us share our decision-making process about the title for the poster board session application, keeping in mind that once submitted to the committee, the title is carved in stone- ie: printed on the NJLA program if they choose to accept our proposal. This process almost derailed the project from the git-go. Herewith, Ellen and Anne batting around ideas about the application title.
Proposed Titles
Possible Title #1:Anne- ‘Librarians from around the country call and say, ‘My director wants me to start a library blog, but what can I possibly write about day after day?’ Ellen –‘Too long.’(Eye roll)
Possible Title #2: Anne –‘Seriously Practical Ideas for Library Bloggers.’ Ellen- ‘meh! Too short.’
Possible Title #3: Anne,(exasperated) ‘21st Century Modes of Communicating Effectively to Targeted Library Demographics using Web 2.0 Mash-ups, Social Media Applications and other Solutions too Technical to mention in a Short Title.’ Ellen (also exasperated)-‘Anne, be serious.’
Brainstorming: What do we think we know about blogging which might be helpful for other librarians to know? 1. We know there are blogs which are way more sophisticated technologically, but we stand by the pretty good quality of our original content over time; our pretty consistent methods of producing content on a pretty regular basis; and the fairly readable and often, we hope, pretty funny style of our content. So that’s what we are going to present on our poster board: how to be pretty good, pretty painlessly?
Possible Title #4: Anne- ‘Content, it’s all about the Content. Except for a few bits about the Geeky stuff like our Side Bar RSS feeds.’
Possible Title #5: Ellen- ‘Will Blog for Readers: Tips & Tales from a Library Blog.’
Anne- ‘bingo!We've got our title!’
And so you see, single author blogs can devolve into the I & Me Show, but our blog involves brainstorming, compromise and, yes, Anne admitting that Ellen’s ideas are almost always better than hers.
Having decided on a title, finished the application, amazingly, the unsuspecting NJLA PBS Committee (librarians love acronyms) accepted our application and we are now beginning to think about the actual content of what I have come to think of as, our 21st Century Blogging Triptych. Ellen has made me promise not to put too much gilding on the frame or Carolina Blue as the background and will have to generally keep me in line. Just because Duke is doing better than UNC this year, I have to defer more than usual. Meh!
Blogging as a Team Presents Unique Challenges
Working as a team on a blog and poster board session requires compromise. Let us share our decision-making process about the title for the poster board session application, keeping in mind that once submitted to the committee, the title is carved in stone- ie: printed on the NJLA program if they choose to accept our proposal. This process almost derailed the project from the git-go. Herewith, Ellen and Anne batting around ideas about the application title.
Proposed Titles
Possible Title #1:Anne- ‘Librarians from around the country call and say, ‘My director wants me to start a library blog, but what can I possibly write about day after day?’ Ellen –‘Too long.’(Eye roll)
Possible Title #2: Anne –‘Seriously Practical Ideas for Library Bloggers.’ Ellen- ‘meh! Too short.’
Possible Title #3: Anne,(exasperated) ‘21st Century Modes of Communicating Effectively to Targeted Library Demographics using Web 2.0 Mash-ups, Social Media Applications and other Solutions too Technical to mention in a Short Title.’ Ellen (also exasperated)-‘Anne, be serious.’
Brainstorming: What do we think we know about blogging which might be helpful for other librarians to know? 1. We know there are blogs which are way more sophisticated technologically, but we stand by the pretty good quality of our original content over time; our pretty consistent methods of producing content on a pretty regular basis; and the fairly readable and often, we hope, pretty funny style of our content. So that’s what we are going to present on our poster board: how to be pretty good, pretty painlessly?
Possible Title #4: Anne- ‘Content, it’s all about the Content. Except for a few bits about the Geeky stuff like our Side Bar RSS feeds.’
Possible Title #5: Ellen- ‘Will Blog for Readers: Tips & Tales from a Library Blog.’
Anne- ‘bingo!We've got our title!’
And so you see, single author blogs can devolve into the I & Me Show, but our blog involves brainstorming, compromise and, yes, Anne admitting that Ellen’s ideas are almost always better than hers.
Having decided on a title, finished the application, amazingly, the unsuspecting NJLA PBS Committee (librarians love acronyms) accepted our application and we are now beginning to think about the actual content of what I have come to think of as, our 21st Century Blogging Triptych. Ellen has made me promise not to put too much gilding on the frame or Carolina Blue as the background and will have to generally keep me in line. Just because Duke is doing better than UNC this year, I have to defer more than usual. Meh!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Become a NJ Library Champion
The New Jersey State Library has a new initiative to encourage people to support libraries in these tough economic times. It won't cost you a dime to join the ranks of hockey star, Zach Parise and author Janet Evanovich, well-know NJ Library Champions. Click here to sign up for email alerts and news about the state of libraries in our state. Here is the explanation from the NJ State Library website:
'Library Champions are people who love their libraries and want to be in the know about issues that may affect them. Library Champions' email addresses will be entered into a distribution list. When important library issues arise, we will email Library Champions. The Champions can then take appropriate action such as phone calls, emails to legislators or simply talking up the library to their neighbors. Any information you provide on this form will only be used to send you occasional emails about library issues. We will not sell your personal information or use it for any other purposes.'
Read the Sports Illustrated article about NJ Devil #9 Parise and how he ended up shilling for libraries instead of more profitable sportswear makers. Librarians think it's cool Zach's on our side. Thanks and happy reading!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/njlibraryevents/ / CC BY-NC 2.0
'>NJSL
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time Management in Libraries: some thoughts on continuing education classes
Anyone who has ever attended Continuing Education (CE) classes knows that sitting in a chilly meeting room, drinking coffee that tastes like styrofoam, while watching a Power Point slide show, which duplicates the handout slide-for-slide, are the order of the day. A popular CE topic is time management. Obviously, time would be better managed if the presenters just put the slide show on their website, but the irony seems to elude the presenters. Regarding the frustrations of CE, we present this letter sent to us by a frazzled librarian somewhere in Libraryland:
'Greetings and Salutations Fellow Librarians,
Inspired by the Regional Symposium on Time Management which I attend annually, I submit the following ideas for your consideration.
Has everyone seen the TV ad for the search engine Bing that shows people madly babbling tidbits of unrelated factoids? The ad appeals to the overwhelmed in all of us. The phrase “information overload” is decades old, but the situation only got worse with the advent of the internet. Time, they say, waits for no man, but what it does do is get cluttered up with too much to do and too much information. Since every malady should have a remedy, here is a plan to solve the problem of how to fully acknowledge the many worthy causes which we just don’t have time for and how to manage other demands on our time and attention. Clearly autumn is overburdened with serious causes and holidays, so I propose that we move several fall events to February which has a dearth of activities, followed closely by the month of March. Using the ever-popular multi-tasking approach, we could even double-up some holidays. For example, Valentine’s Day and Banned Books Week (last week of September) are perfect together. Just think of the possibilities. Give your significant other Lady Chatterley’s Lover or some other racy banned book instead of those fattening chocolates, dying roses and expensive jewelry. Not only will it be a lasting tribute to your love, it may easily outlast your love, as your S.O. may realize what an unromantic cheapskate you are.
Library Card Sign Up Month (September) could coincide with Saint Patrick’s Day. Libraries would set up tables in bars and sign up unsuspecting revelers by intimating that they may win all the green beer they can drink if only they get a library card. You could even have green library cards with scratch and sniff beer smell as a little marketing gimmick. Will those beer-swilling bar patrons become best seller-swilling library patrons? Who cares, your library membership stats will shoot up.
But wait, there’s more! This multi-tasking/ schedule-rearranging approach to the information-glut can also be enhanced by using the web 2.0 mashup time-management tool, which no one really understands, but has something to do with elevating ones anxiety level by simultaneously blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, RSS reader-ing, texting, IM’ing and so on ad nauseum. When I say ad nauseum, take that literally. Take one aspirin and call me in the morning. Not by cell phone. Not email. Not texting. No tweets please. In fact, just take the pill and leave me alone because you can find this Time Management Power Point presentation posted on my website: Marian the Librarian Tells It Like It Is.
Yours in eternal bibliotherapy,
A librarian squished flat on the Information Highway
'Greetings and Salutations Fellow Librarians,
Inspired by the Regional Symposium on Time Management which I attend annually, I submit the following ideas for your consideration.
Has everyone seen the TV ad for the search engine Bing that shows people madly babbling tidbits of unrelated factoids? The ad appeals to the overwhelmed in all of us. The phrase “information overload” is decades old, but the situation only got worse with the advent of the internet. Time, they say, waits for no man, but what it does do is get cluttered up with too much to do and too much information. Since every malady should have a remedy, here is a plan to solve the problem of how to fully acknowledge the many worthy causes which we just don’t have time for and how to manage other demands on our time and attention. Clearly autumn is overburdened with serious causes and holidays, so I propose that we move several fall events to February which has a dearth of activities, followed closely by the month of March. Using the ever-popular multi-tasking approach, we could even double-up some holidays. For example, Valentine’s Day and Banned Books Week (last week of September) are perfect together. Just think of the possibilities. Give your significant other Lady Chatterley’s Lover or some other racy banned book instead of those fattening chocolates, dying roses and expensive jewelry. Not only will it be a lasting tribute to your love, it may easily outlast your love, as your S.O. may realize what an unromantic cheapskate you are.
Library Card Sign Up Month (September) could coincide with Saint Patrick’s Day. Libraries would set up tables in bars and sign up unsuspecting revelers by intimating that they may win all the green beer they can drink if only they get a library card. You could even have green library cards with scratch and sniff beer smell as a little marketing gimmick. Will those beer-swilling bar patrons become best seller-swilling library patrons? Who cares, your library membership stats will shoot up.
But wait, there’s more! This multi-tasking/ schedule-rearranging approach to the information-glut can also be enhanced by using the web 2.0 mashup time-management tool, which no one really understands, but has something to do with elevating ones anxiety level by simultaneously blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, RSS reader-ing, texting, IM’ing and so on ad nauseum. When I say ad nauseum, take that literally. Take one aspirin and call me in the morning. Not by cell phone. Not email. Not texting. No tweets please. In fact, just take the pill and leave me alone because you can find this Time Management Power Point presentation posted on my website: Marian the Librarian Tells It Like It Is.
Yours in eternal bibliotherapy,
A librarian squished flat on the Information Highway
Friday, October 30, 2009
Happy Halloween
While the library does not give out candy, if you go up to the circ desk and say "Trick or Treat" on Saturday, they will lend you a book for free.
The Cat in the Hat was shelving books in the Zoological Science section today.
The library's early literacy workstations have inspired one little girl to dress up as Stellaluna this Halloween. Stellaluna is the story of a fruit bat that gets separated from her mother (something we hope does not happen to the costumed Stellaluna).
Years ago at another library I once wore butterfly wings on Halloween, a decision I came to regret whenever I was called on to answer a serious reference question that day. Dressing up some year like a retro librarian with snazzy glasses and sensible shoes is still a possibility.
The Cat in the Hat was shelving books in the Zoological Science section today.
The library's early literacy workstations have inspired one little girl to dress up as Stellaluna this Halloween. Stellaluna is the story of a fruit bat that gets separated from her mother (something we hope does not happen to the costumed Stellaluna).
Years ago at another library I once wore butterfly wings on Halloween, a decision I came to regret whenever I was called on to answer a serious reference question that day. Dressing up some year like a retro librarian with snazzy glasses and sensible shoes is still a possibility.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Library Joins Facebook
Now you can be a friend of your local library:Berkeley Heights Public Library is now on that exclusive online community of a mere gazillion people - Facebook. We'll show you pictures of our library family, friends and events and you can show us yours! In addition to FB-ing, BHPL librarians tweet, blog, email, fax, phone, semaphore, FTP, Photoshop, have a Flickr account for pictures, a Gmail account for the staff calendar, a PBWiki for staff training, an email newsletter and lots of other web 2.0 apps we've tried a couple of times and lost the passwords for.(If you find those accounts wandering around, let us know.) All to reach out to the community with the good news that libraries support good over evil and have lots of swell materials and services, all free, free, free, as long as you return what you borrow on time. If not, you will be hit with the punishing fine of ten cents a day. You can't afford not to be a friend to your local library, can you?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Library Video Nominated for a Dewey Award
If there were an award for library videos, I would call it the Dewey and I would nominate Enchanted Summer for the 398.2 category (folk and fairy tales in Dewey Decimal parlance.) I can say this without being immodest because Ellen, my fellow blogger, made the video. It was a major undertaking to produce two minutes of film. Now I know why it takes hours and hours to produce a couple of minutes in moviemaking. For every minute of video shot, there are 7031 minutes of editing involved, plus incalculable amounts of time spent cursing Microsoft MovieMaker. And, being librarians who are professionally sworn to uphold copyright laws, we had to purchase the music and get permissions for it, rather than just putting any old thing we had lying around as backround music, which I'm pretty sure is what most YouTube posters do. So that took time. We had to work around the Butterfly's nap time and observe Butterfly child labor laws. Ellen filmed the Butterfly and edited all the footage and synchronized the soundtrack and did all sorts of technical stuff, as we movie people call it. Not that I wasn't involved also: I stood around trying to stay out of the way while looking helpful. I also was in charge of keeping the Butterfly's wings straight between takes. However there is no category in the credits for Wing Arranger (maybe that's what a Key Grip does?) That's ok, I'm just honored to be part of the process and it's an honor to be nominated even though I'm the one who made up the award and nominated us for it. Upcoming: nominations for library videos in other Dewey categories.
Possible nominees: click here
Possible nominees: click here
Monday, September 21, 2009
Our Most Searched For Blog Posts
Recently a new hit counter was added to the BHPL Book Blog (at the bottom of the page.) The new one, not content to merely click ever upward hit by hit, also leads to a website that shows how web searchers arrived at the blog and from what country, what time of day, which day of the week, which search engine and browser used and whether they like their martinis dry, shaken or stirred.
The source of this remarkably omniscient and slightly scary information is Bravenet.com.
If you don't already realize how someone out there knows what you are up to, what marketing demographic you are part of, this should convince you. Not that the website tells who our readers are specifically, name or ISP, or anything like that, but it gets close. For free. I'm wondering if we paid money for the enhanced service if Bravenet would actually serve up those martinis nicely chilled.
After following the Bravenet statistics charts for the last few weeks , we now know what some of our more popular posts are:
Book reviews for various titles
and the recent post about reference questions librarians hate really struck a chord in the librarian community. Not only did the hit count go up, but comments from librarians turned up with links to librarian blogs.
Also someone way way north in Scotland reads the blog. Hello out there! We love Scotland. If you are a librarian maybe we can arrange a job swap, wouldn't that be fun? Not in the winter though, thanks.
So now we know a bit more about who reads this blog and we hope that it convinces people that libraries are a force for truth, goodness and free stuff all over the world and thanks to all you web crawling people who mostly reside in North America, Western Europe and the U.K.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wowbrary Wows
Have you ever wanted to poke around the supersecret room at BHPL where all the new stuff is "in process"? Now you can, virtually. BHPL has teamed up with Wowbrary to provide you with a weekly email about all the new books, audiobooks and DVDs that have been added to BHPL's catalog in the past week. It's your chance to put a hold on a book, often before it even hits the shelf. Just click on the title you want in Wowbrary, then click Hold Request. To sign up for the email newsletter, go to the Wowbrary site.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
A Day in the Life of Libraries: Snapshot Day
Last week the New Jersey State Library (NJSL) coordinated a day where many libraries in the state counted all the books and other materials checked out, programs offered, movies shown, storytimes performed and so on. Berkeley Heights Public Library participated in the survey and sent BHPL's stats into NJSL. The Courier News covered Snapshot Day in an article in today's newspaper. Pat Tumulty, Executive Director of the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) is quoted in the article,
"We're looking at ... in these difficult economic times trying to figure out what would happen if we had no libraries in New Jersey by taking a snapshot of the incredible things that go on every day in New Jersey libraries."
All the library statistics are due today and will then be tabulated. For the results, go to the NJLA website and click on Snapshot Day (not yet posted.)
Here's what happened at BHPL on February 19, 2009:
300 library users came through our doors.
125 books classified as adult-level reading were checked out.
109 childrens books were checked out.
89 audiovisual items were checked out (DVD's, CD's etc.)
10 new library cards were registered.
29 newspapers and magazines were read in the library.
55 reference and research questions were answered.
55 people used the public computers for internet access.
1 volunteer
24 people watched a film at movie night
The meeting room was used by 5 different groups
The Technical Services Department cataloged 26 children's books, 28 adult books and 31 DVD's.
On this blog, we often write about reference questions. On Snapshot Day, the Reference Desk helped a mother find a poem for her 7th grader, found the date and time of the Columbia University Commencement, found and photocopied home remedies for age spots, and figured out who the detective in the wheel chair is for a fan of the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffrey Deaver.
If you were to add up the dollar amount that represented in savings for BHPL patrons, it would be ... a lot. I figured I saved at least $1,200. last year by borrowing books from the library instead of buying them and that's only the books I finished.
"We're looking at ... in these difficult economic times trying to figure out what would happen if we had no libraries in New Jersey by taking a snapshot of the incredible things that go on every day in New Jersey libraries."
All the library statistics are due today and will then be tabulated. For the results, go to the NJLA website and click on Snapshot Day (not yet posted.)
Here's what happened at BHPL on February 19, 2009:
300 library users came through our doors.
125 books classified as adult-level reading were checked out.
109 childrens books were checked out.
89 audiovisual items were checked out (DVD's, CD's etc.)
10 new library cards were registered.
29 newspapers and magazines were read in the library.
55 reference and research questions were answered.
55 people used the public computers for internet access.
1 volunteer
24 people watched a film at movie night
The meeting room was used by 5 different groups
The Technical Services Department cataloged 26 children's books, 28 adult books and 31 DVD's.
On this blog, we often write about reference questions. On Snapshot Day, the Reference Desk helped a mother find a poem for her 7th grader, found the date and time of the Columbia University Commencement, found and photocopied home remedies for age spots, and figured out who the detective in the wheel chair is for a fan of the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffrey Deaver.
If you were to add up the dollar amount that represented in savings for BHPL patrons, it would be ... a lot. I figured I saved at least $1,200. last year by borrowing books from the library instead of buying them and that's only the books I finished.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Use Your Library, it's good for you!
Not a day goes by, it seems, without an article in the newspaper about library usage being up during these bad economic times. Usually accompanied by a picture of library patrons surrounded by books or sitting at a computer terminal - looking for jobs on the internet (as per caption.) For any reporters looking for a scoop, there it is: Americans use libraries. A lot. Especially these days. Interview any librarian and they will tell you, business is booming.
Librarians like to be recognized as much as the next professional, maybe more, being the self-effacing introverts that we are. And anyone with a sense of the ironic will appreciate that while library usage goes up in bad times, library funding goes down resulting in closed branches, fewer hours open, smaller budgets for materials and so on. We are also noticing that using your local library is now included in those endless articles about how to live a more frugal life. Libraries have become a kind of Heloise Hint or bullet point in budgeting articles. Skip the video store, use the library! that sort of thing.
Regular library users have always known about the benefits of using the library and for those of you who, because of reduced circumstances, have been frogmarched to the library doors, Welcome! We wish we had met under better circumstances, but welcome.We hope you don't leave when boom times return. More than that, we hope that boom times return soon for everyone, not just for libraries.
Here are links to the latest news articles about libraries:
USA Today
Buffalo News
New York Times
Courier News
Wall Street Journal
Associated Press
Librarians like to be recognized as much as the next professional, maybe more, being the self-effacing introverts that we are. And anyone with a sense of the ironic will appreciate that while library usage goes up in bad times, library funding goes down resulting in closed branches, fewer hours open, smaller budgets for materials and so on. We are also noticing that using your local library is now included in those endless articles about how to live a more frugal life. Libraries have become a kind of Heloise Hint or bullet point in budgeting articles. Skip the video store, use the library! that sort of thing.
Regular library users have always known about the benefits of using the library and for those of you who, because of reduced circumstances, have been frogmarched to the library doors, Welcome! We wish we had met under better circumstances, but welcome.We hope you don't leave when boom times return. More than that, we hope that boom times return soon for everyone, not just for libraries.
Here are links to the latest news articles about libraries:
USA Today
Buffalo News
New York Times
Courier News
Wall Street Journal
Associated Press
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Library Cards Open Doors
Basketball legend and author Kareem Abdul-Jabar is honorary chairman of the American Library Association's Library Card Sign-Up Month which takes place annually in September. Most people know Mr. Abdul-Jabar for his basketball prowess, but he is also an accomplished author of books on African American history.
The American Library Association website states,
"The master of the sky hook, the 7-foot-2-inch Abdul-Jabbar led UCLA to three consecutive NCAA titles and the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers to six NBA championships. But Abdul-Jabbar’s achievements go far beyond the court. He has written several books, including “On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance; “Giant Steps”; “Black Profiles in Courage”; “A Season on a Reservation”; and “Brothers in Arms.” Four of his books reached bestseller lists.
It's often said that library cards open doors to a whole world of knowledge and human accomplishment. Just yesterday, ALA President Jim Rettig released a statement about the importance of libraries to provide free access to a wide range of materials for all Americans. Click here to see his statement in which he "reminds Americans not to take the precious democratic freedom to read for granted. "
So exercise your right to read, sign up for a library card today.
The American Library Association website states,
"The master of the sky hook, the 7-foot-2-inch Abdul-Jabbar led UCLA to three consecutive NCAA titles and the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers to six NBA championships. But Abdul-Jabbar’s achievements go far beyond the court. He has written several books, including “On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance; “Giant Steps”; “Black Profiles in Courage”; “A Season on a Reservation”; and “Brothers in Arms.” Four of his books reached bestseller lists.
It's often said that library cards open doors to a whole world of knowledge and human accomplishment. Just yesterday, ALA President Jim Rettig released a statement about the importance of libraries to provide free access to a wide range of materials for all Americans. Click here to see his statement in which he "reminds Americans not to take the precious democratic freedom to read for granted. "
So exercise your right to read, sign up for a library card today.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Libraries in the News: Attention Must Be Paid...please?
According to the Library of Congress blog, LC is given ten minutes of screen time in the new National Treasure: Book of Secrets movie starring Nicholas Cage. The LC blogger hopes this might help bring positive attention to our national library.
Library Journal reveals that Cuyahoga Library has extended its toy lending program of 15 years to all branches. Patrons can reserve toys from the library website. The website notes that each toy is inspected and disinfected between borrowers. MRSA anyone?
LJ also reports that the SanFranscisco library has a Book a Librarian service. Patrons can make appointments to meet individually with a librarian. SFPL librarians provide research and technology help. Note that BHPL reference librarians can usually give enough time to each patron to fully answer questions, but if you need more, we are willing to arrange a slightly longer than usual time to help you with your email for example.
Jacob Liebenluft wrote in Slate that Yahoo Answers is a Librarian's Worst Nightmare. Yahoo Answers is a website where people can ask any question and instantly get answers from any person at all who has signed on to be a member. It is very easy to become a member. I signed up last week and have answered a few questions and noticed that Yahoo Answerers rarely cite sources. Answers are generally people's opinions, anecdotes and casual personal experiences. Last fall there was a big push in the librarian universe for reference librarians to answer questions on websites like Yahoo Answers so that people would realize that libraries are a good resource also. This effort was Slamming the Boards which is now supposed to be a monthly event.
Libraries lending toys, lending librarians, being happy to get ten minutes in a major movies and proving our relative value on web answer sites - What do these four stories about libraries and librarians have in common? Again it's the common theme in the library profession: are we obsolete yet? and please notice that we are still useful.
Well, no we aren't and yes, we are. Are we the self-designated buggy whips of professions? We are still here. Quiet, but here. Stop by, give us a call, ask a question.
Library Journal reveals that Cuyahoga Library has extended its toy lending program of 15 years to all branches. Patrons can reserve toys from the library website. The website notes that each toy is inspected and disinfected between borrowers. MRSA anyone?
LJ also reports that the SanFranscisco library has a Book a Librarian service. Patrons can make appointments to meet individually with a librarian. SFPL librarians provide research and technology help. Note that BHPL reference librarians can usually give enough time to each patron to fully answer questions, but if you need more, we are willing to arrange a slightly longer than usual time to help you with your email for example.
Jacob Liebenluft wrote in Slate that Yahoo Answers is a Librarian's Worst Nightmare. Yahoo Answers is a website where people can ask any question and instantly get answers from any person at all who has signed on to be a member. It is very easy to become a member. I signed up last week and have answered a few questions and noticed that Yahoo Answerers rarely cite sources. Answers are generally people's opinions, anecdotes and casual personal experiences. Last fall there was a big push in the librarian universe for reference librarians to answer questions on websites like Yahoo Answers so that people would realize that libraries are a good resource also. This effort was Slamming the Boards which is now supposed to be a monthly event.
Libraries lending toys, lending librarians, being happy to get ten minutes in a major movies and proving our relative value on web answer sites - What do these four stories about libraries and librarians have in common? Again it's the common theme in the library profession: are we obsolete yet? and please notice that we are still useful.
Well, no we aren't and yes, we are. Are we the self-designated buggy whips of professions? We are still here. Quiet, but here. Stop by, give us a call, ask a question.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)