Evasive Talent

According to a certain artist, Dave Archer can dodge questions like Keanu Reeves dodges bullets. Not one to believe "artists", we put this talent to the test. So, we went where no one has dared to go. We've asked the MOST personal questions to Mr. Millennium Contestant Dave Archer...aka Mr. Evasive. Below is an actual excerpt from the conversation--we know you will be amazed at his answering techniques...

Dave, do you have a girlfriend?

I care deeply for nature - ostriches in particular. Which makes my wearing of these ostrich-skin boots all the more heartless.

How much money do you make?

Accepting a salary would disqualify me for NSLS Volunteer of the Millennium award. I’m told that I am fortunate, however, to be the only staff member exempt from overdue fines.

What do you think of your boss?
My boss defies the rules by selling the steak AND the sizzle!

What’s your favorite food?

Whatever food product is in slot #3 of the staff lounge vending machine – it takes those pesky Canadian Loonies don’t ya know.

What’s your stance on overdue fines?

If elected Mr. Millennium, I will favor the incentive-laden approach such as: ‘Return a book on time, get a hug.’

Do you believe in corporal punishment for people who dog-ear pages in library books?

I’m more concerned about those ‘gently-used’ earbuds returned with the PlayAways.

What’s the gross national product of Djibouti?

741. The economy is based on service activities connected with the country's strategic location and status as a free trade zone in northeast Africa. Two-thirds of the inhabitants live in the capital city; the remainder are mostly nomadic herders. Scanty rainfall limits crop production to fruits and vegetables, and most food must be imported. Djibouti provides services as both a transit port for the region and an international transshipment and refueling center. Djibouti has few natural resources and little industry. The nation is, therefore, heavily dependent on foreign assistance to help support its balance of payments and to finance development projects.

Is the sky blue?

There is no such color as blue.

What color is your shirt?
Blue.

What’s the date today?

If elected Mr. Millennium, today will be the best day of my life.

So, do you think he has the talent it takes to be Mr. Millennium? Comment!

Word of the Week

Index

The word index can mean a lot of things to a lot of people – even in library land!
In the new Millennium system Index refers to the criteria you search by. If you go back a few Words of the Week to the word Record you can see that each record contains certain types of information. The information in each record is organized or “indexed” in a way that allows Millennium to easily search for specific types of information.

This leads us to Indexing. Indexing is the process that Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (the maker of Millennium) went through to set up our database. Innovative’s data analysts took a look at the data from our GEAC system and figured out which part (or “field”) of each bibliographic record was the title, which was the author, and so forth. Then they took the information from certain fields (author, title, and call number, for example) and made a list of every piece of information from every record for each of those fields – in other words, an index!

When you do a search in the Millennium database (whether using Encore, WebPAC Pro or the Millennium staff client), Millennium looks for your term in one or more indexes. If you do a title search, Millennium checks for your terms in the title index. An author search checks the author index, and so forth. Other pieces of information you can search (also known as indexed fields, because they are pieces of data – a.k.a. “fields” – that are included in an index) are the subject headings, ISBN, and call number.

Indexes are important in our patron data, also. Because our patron records are stored in a database, and we need to retrieve a particular patron record when that patron is standing in front of us at the circulation desk, fields like the patron’s name and barcode are indexed, so that we can search for one of those pieces of information to find the right patron’s record in the database.

Mary Andrew contributed to this week’s WOW. Thanks, Mary!

As Fabulous as Millennium

The incredibly talented Deb L. possesses the astounding ability to transform herself before our very eyes. On Halloween, you may have seen her transformation from lovely library lady to Thrift Store Bag Lady. Today, witness her transforming to the opposite end of the glamour spectrum -- to goddess of the silver screen.

The competition's heating up in the Mr. / Ms. Millennium contest. Who will be the winner? You decide!

Word of the Week

OCLC
People in Library Land toss this term around quite often. But what is OCLC? OCLC is actually a non-profit organization who exists to give libraries greater access to information while reducing costs. What does this mean to us chickens at Cook Library? Lots! This is where the library gets most of its catalog records. Why start from scratch when cataloging a book or DVD when it’s already been done and ready to go? After all, OCLC owns the Dewey Decimal System! These are uniform records all set up to work with computer systems.
But there is much more to OCLC than just cataloging. OCLC maintains NetLibrary, our eBook and eAudiobook provider. OCLC provides access to online indexes of journals, and documents. We might not subscribe to The Journal of Parasitology, but we can quickly retrieve complete articles from the journal through OCLC. OCLC gives our Interlibrary Loan Department access to material across the country, and this brings us to Worldcat. Worldcat is just what it sounds like; a library catalog including holdings from libraries around the world! We can see titles owned by libraries from Fremont to Freiberg, Germany!

This week’s WOW is brought to you by guest WOW-er Mary Andrew. Thanks, Mary!

Amazing Talents!

No matter where she is, or what she's doing, Mr./Ms. Millennium Candidate Katie Oakes can fall asleep instantaneously!

It's an art form first cultivated right here at the Cook Memorial Public Library District. Since discovering her unique talent, Katie has performed her amazing talent at the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, in the Oval Office, at the Emmys, and during an NFL game. Crowds near and far have been shocked at what some would call "an astounding feat".

According to one unnamed observer, Katie has a "real gift". Others say it's impossible to sleep undisturbed in such extreme conditions--yet after witnessing Katie's talents, admitted that "not only is it possible--but it's a miracle!"

Indeed, it is astonishing. But is it enough for Katie to win the Mr/Ms Millennium contest? You be the judge! Next week we will show you super talents from another contestant!

Word of the Week

Parameters:

Perhaps you’re wondering what’s going on with Millennium. We ILS folks talk about it a lot, but not much seems to be happening yet. What’s taking so long?

Although it seems like a lot of “hurry up and wait,” right now, the ILS Committee is hard at work setting up the parameters for Millennium. Parameters are rules that must be spelled out to tell the system exactly what to do in any given situation.

Parameters are used to determine everything that Millennium does automatically, such as:
· Assigning a due date (and making sure it’s the right one) when a patron checks out a DVD
· Printing overdue notices after the appropriate amount of time has elapsed, in the format we’ve specified, with the text we’ve specified
· Determining whether or not an item can be renewed
· Maintaining a list of patron holds
· Assigning an item that’s been ordered to the proper library, shelf location, and fund
· Printing a purchase order with the information we want to have on it

Think of our transition to Millennium like building a new library. Not only would we have to build a building, but we also would have to buy shelving, carpet, computers, tables, chairs, and copy machines. We’d have to hire staff and create a work schedule for them. We’d have to put in telephones, hang up signs, buy books, catalog the books, and put spine labels and barcodes on them. We’d have to put the books on the shelves and make sure they were in order. We’d have to do some publicity so the public would know about the new library and what its hours were.

Some of the parameters being set up are customizations — changing from the Millennium default to the specifics for our library district, so that they match the way we do things. Others are blanks to be filled in — meaning that until some information is entered, that part of the system will not function at all. All of them are essential to making Millennium work for us!

Mr/Ms Millennium Challenge #2

For the second part of the Mr/Ms Millennium Contest, we challenged our contestants to contact their inner-advertising spirit. We asked them to create an ILS slogan that we could use in public, that would get patrons excited to try Millennium. Our rules were simple:
the phrase can be short, long, asinine, funny, sweet, simple, bizarre, abstract, interesting, technical, inviting, invigorating...the possibilities were endless.

This is what the candidates came up with...

Katie Oakes:

It's better than chocolate, and fat free: Millennium!

Dave Archer:

I like “I heart Millennium.” Short & sweet. Another option is to incorporate some of the features of Millennium into the catchphrase. As you know, one of the features of Millennium is called ‘My Millennium’ which allows patrons to maintain reading lists, preferred searches, RSS feeds, manage reserves, etc. In the lead up to launch, we can promote ‘My Millennium Coming Soon’ or ‘Your Millennium Unveiled Valentine’s Day’ followed by ‘You’ll *heart it!’ (hmm...I think this is more than one slogan, Dave!)

Deb Lindahl:

Before Millennium, my life was like *Clem Kadiddlehopper...after Millennium, I am living like Sugar Kane from "Some Like it Hot!"
(*Baby Boomers will recognize this name from a clown character Red Skelton played way back when!)

What do you think? What's your favorite slogan? Or...can you think of a better slogan? Comment below!

Word of the Week / Snacker of the Month

First, the fun stuff -- Barb Jarvis has been selected as December's Snacker of the Month! She has elected to receive "something with chocolate in it." Congrats, Barb!

And now, the learning stuff (which is also fun, right?)... We're moving to a new format for the Word of the Week. From now on, check the I Luv Snacks blog for the new word of the week. A link to the most recent WOW, as well as (eventually, as I get them entered) to older WOWs, will appear in the right-hand sidebar.

So, without further ado, here's the Word of the Week!

Record:

A unit of information in the Millennium system. There are records for patrons, titles, items, and orders in Millennium.

Patron Record: contains identifying information for a patron, such as name and contact information, library card barcode, checked-out items, holds, fines and overdues.

Bibliographic Record: contains bibliographic information about a title in the library’s collection; that is to say: author, title, publication information, subject, and physical description.

Item Record: contains information about a specific copy of a title the library owns, such as the barcode, call number, and location.

Order Record: indicates that something has been ordered. This record includes information about how many copies were ordered, for what location, from which vendor, when, and with which funds.

Take a deep breath

Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle

Cook Library staff members are revving up for Millennium training; the Mr./Ms. Millennium contest is truly heating up; the WOW list is getting longer; and holiday shopping is upon us!!!

So..... let's all stop, take a deep breath and enjoy some library humor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SvdkP573ak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xYkiN4-gl8 (sorry if you are blond)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5obLJQHdyaM (for the beatnics among us)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrtYdFV_Eak&feature=related ( I wonder if Madonna knows she is part of a library video?)

If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane. - Jimmy Buffett

Attend an Introduction to Millennium in December!

Can you believe there are 2 months, 2 weeks and 4 days until February 14th, when we go live with Millennium? There's a lot to do and even more to learn before Valentine's Day.

If you'd like a quick overview of Millennium, the IDT trainers will be presenting an Introduction to Millennium class in December. This class will give you a broad overview of the system and you'll leave with some exercises to try using Millennium for the first time at your desk.

Look for an email in the next two weeks with class times. The IDT trainers are excited to be teaching their first classes. I've told them they can rely on our staff to be prompt, attentive, and supportive.

The Mr./Ms. Millennium Contestants are especially excited to prove their mettle with the new system. You might feel a little like Katie in the photo above, but by the end of the Introduction, you'll feel as confident as she looks in the photo below. The system is intuitive and has a wealth of fantastic features. There's a lot to look forward to with Millennium!

“The training really got me excited about the types of features our patrons will be using in Millennium. This enthusiasm will be a great marketing tool as we get closer to February’s launch date.”

David Archer, Mr. Millennium Contestant

I can't wait to see what all the excitement has been about and I am anxious for the "Millennium to begin."

Katie Oakes, Ms. Millennium Contestant

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!

The Shoemaker and the ILS

Do you remember the story of the Shoemaker and the Elves? While the shoemaker slept, little elves visited his workshop and made shoes from the materials he had left on his workbench.

While we are snacking and blogging and learning bits and pieces about Millennium, there are elves working hard among us! Today's I Luv Snacks update brings you an all-access pass to the behind-the-scenes of the migration project.

From the "enough to make you go cross-eyed" department, Julie A. recently combed through 50,000 (yes, 50,000) patron records to look for problems. Among the amusing typos she found were "Libertyvile" and "Vernon Ills."

Katie has been hard at work on an Introduction to Millennium class. There's a lot to learn, but with Katie as our guide, I think we can all be pretty confident that we will be pros at this!

A whole battalion of elves (Mary A., Carol H., Dave, Sonia, Heather, Jan H., Eileen, and many others) have begun spot-checking the data in the Millennium online catalog. The first load of all of our bibliographic records and item information resulted in all the call numbers displaying backwards. That's just one example of why we need to check lots and lots of records to make sure everything's correct. Since Geac PLUS and Millennium are different programs from different companies, they don't do everything in exactly the same way. Innovative (the company that makes Millennium) has had to do some guessing about the best way to "translate" our Geac data into Millennium-ese. Sometimes the guesses are right and sometimes they result in things like backwards call numbers, and need to be fixed. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 records (just a tiny cross-section of our database, which I believe has over 200,000 records) will need to be gone over with a fine-toothed comb between now and the end of next week. Yikes!

Lauren has been working with elves from all departments to determine the circulation parameters for the new system. Every detail, from the loan period for an item, to the fine per day overdue, to the statistical categories we use to analyze library use by different parts of the community, must be confirmed, and then entered into Millennium.

Pam Sk. has been doing more than I can possibly describe. She is keeping us (and Innovative) on schedule, assigning tasks to committees and committee members, reading lots and lots of user manual pages, and trying to ensure that our bibliographic records, item information, and patron data get plugged into Millennium properly so they will work properly.

Erin has been working on the December Ins & Outs newsletter, which will contain our first official notice to patrons about the change to a new system.

Laura H. and Andrea J. (oh, wait... that's me) have been creating make-believe item records and pretend patrons for trainees (that's you) to use in the Millennium training classes that begin next week. Lots of cutting and pasting for me... I tried to choose titles that would keep you entertained in class. The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, anyone? How about How Do You Spank a Porcupine?"

We're getting there, but there's a lot left to do! Stay tuned for more updates.

Me Talk Millenium One Day

Preliminary ILS staff training is about to begin! Starting this week, Katie Olsen will be conducting an Introduction to Millenium class. It is open to all interested staff members and attendance is highly recommended. I, personally, invite veteran staff members to join me as I try to refute the cliche', "you can't teach old dogs new tricks."

Topics covered will include how to:

• Log in
• Move around the applications
• Check in and check out
• Search the catalog (Web PAC Pro)
• Use the User Manual
  

Comprehensive training classes will take place in late December or early January.

For those of you who are not dog-gone tired of all the snacking we've been doing, try this recipe for Puppy Chow the next time you have little pups at the house:

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

8 cups Chex or Crispix Cereal

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butter together in a large bowl in microwave.

Pour over cereal in a large Ziploc or paper bag and add the powdered sugar. Close bag tightly and shake until evenly coated with powdered sugar.

Take out and enjoy!

The Moment You've Been Waiting For...

Sure, we thought we could fool you with a few baby pictures and some obscure questions about snacks.

Clearly, we were fooling ourselves. This staff knows each other too well! It wasn't too hard for fellow coworkers to tell who really loves Junior Mints, who can be found secretly watching trashy reality shows, and who would really like to be working with the late, great Mr. Rogers.

I'd like to congratulate Jeanne, Jane T., and Laura for being the first to correctly identify Dave Archer, Katie Oakes, and Deb Lindahl as our Mr./Ms. Millennium contests. You will be rewarded with a gift from the illustrious Bag O' Swag.

Stay tuned, as the contest is not done yet! Look for more Mr./Ms. Millennium challenges as we prepare to go-live with Millennium. During the month of February, we will open up the voting, letting you pick who will be crowned Mr./Ms. Millennium.

Perhaps after what we've taken to calling "Snacktober," with training and snacks and Snacktacular and snacks and Halloween and snacks, you've taken a turn to the virtuous and are snacking on lovely healthy things like this beautiful veggie plate. That's ok! Snacks can be healthy, too!

Here's a great article from Real Simple magazine featuring 9 healthy snacks (including this yummy cashew-butter treat)! Mmmmmmm!

I myself have been on a fruit kick lately. Just this morning I had some Skittles!

No matter what your snacking pleasure, you'll be thrilled to know we have a new Snacker of the Month! Susie P. is this month's lucky snacker. She'll be receiving her choice of snack -- healthy or indulgent -- simply because she posted a comment to I Luv Snacks!

You, too, could be a winner! Tell us what you think of the Word of the Week -- or what words you'd like to see featured there. Tell us if you've eaten all your kids' Halloween candy yet (I haven't, but I'm working on it!). Tell us what you had for lunch, or your favorite healthy snack recipe. Let the comments roll!

Mr./Ms. Millennium: Candidate #3

The moment you've been waiting for...Candidate # 3!

Basic Stats

Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Hobbies: Reading, of course. I'm also fascinated with fibers and fake furs
Favorite Book/Movie/Band: Gone With The Wind, Girl With A Pearl Earring, James Taylor
Personal Motto: Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is but a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Nickname: Dooby Doo (NOT Scooby Doo!!)

Fill In The Blank
When I grow up, I wanted to be...a ballerina or a nightclub singer.

If I was a snack, I would be Cheetos, because they are cheesy, crunchy and leave an oddly interesting residue on your hands.

My favorite letter in the word Millennium is M/m because I love those peaks and bumps!

I like to snack alone because audible crunching makes me crazy!

If I had to choose between a sweet or salty snack, I would combine chocolate coated caramel corn with peanuts

I would love to work with Mr. Rogers (R.I.P).

The next place I'd love to travel to is Spain, Italy, or a completed cool library.

I wish I could stop shopping at thrift stores but I seriously can't.

I'm deathly afraid being lost in a car--even with a map, I have no sense of direction!

People don't know that I worked as a maid for a millionaire.

On a random Saturday afternoon, I can be found doing laundry, going to a movie matinee or traveling to a new place.

To me, Millennium is like the little words shown on the screen at a Stars Wars movie. You know? You have to see dimensional letters fading to small in the background and large in the foreground. Or like Star Trek, "Beam me up, Scotty!" Yipes!


And those are our candidates!

Think you know who the candidates are? Be the first to correctly identify a candidate and win a prize from the Bag of Swag! We'll reveal who the candidates are next Thursday...and how they are going to compete for the Mr./Ms. Millennium crown.

Mr./Ms. Millennium: Candidate #2

The moment you've been waiting for...Candidate # 2!

Basic Stats

Hometown: Born in San Diego, grew up in St. Louis
Hobbies: Shopping
Favorite Book/Movie/Band: The last one I read/saw. Anything Motown.
Personal Motto: If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.
Nickname: Crash.

Fill In The Blank
When I grow up, I wanted to be...Annie Oakley.

If I was a snack, I would be an Oscar Mayer Weiner, because everyone will be in love with me.

My favorite letter in the word Millennium is I because it's all about me.

I like to snack alone so that I won't have to share.

If I had to choose between a sweet or salty snack, I would go sweet

I would love to work with the Food Network's Paula Dean.

The next place I'd love to travel to is Thailand.

I wish I could stop watching trashy reality shows but I seriously can't.

I'm deathly afraid of needles.

People don't know that I want a tattoo but I'm a germaphobic.

On a random Saturday afternoon, I can be found at TJ Maxx.

To me, Millennium is the next step.

Know who it is? Comment! And, stay tuned for Candidate #3!

Mr./Ms. Millennium: Candidate #1

I'm pleased to introduce our first candidate in the Mr./Ms. Millennium Contest. Without further ado...meet Candidate #1!

Basic Stats
Hometown: Emeryville, CA
Hobbies: World peace
Personal Motto: Never Surrender (unless I need a nap)
Nickname: Prefer ‘T-Bone’ but most people call me ‘Koko.’

Fill In The Blank
When I grow up, I want(ed) to be….an architect

If I was a snack, I would be a Junior Mint because it's a little mint. It's a Junior mint! It's chocolate, it's peppermint-- it's delicious!

My favorite letter in the word Millennium is I because it’s very slimming on me and brings out my eyes.

If I had to choose between a sweet or a salty snack, I would…be inconsolable

I would love to work with ...cheddar cheese

I wish I could stop questioning authority records but I seriously can’t.

On a random Saturday afternoon, I can be found...tap dancing like a maniac in the frozen food isle at Jewel.

To me, Millennium is…sweet unadulterated bliss

Know who it is? Comment below! And stay tuned, because candidate #2 will be introduced on Tuesday!

Your Attention, Please

A very important contest will now commence.

Let's call it the Mr./Ms. Millennium Contest.

Contestants will compete each month, on the blogosphere, in a pageant of sorts.

This month, you'll meet the candidates. We'll show your their baby pictures and tell you a little bit about each contestant.

Next month, we'll watch as the contestants vie to win the "Surfing the Millennium" challenge. In December, our brave three will compete in a talent competition. And in January, the contestants will attempt to answer common reference questions using Millennium at breakneck speed.

Then things will start to get crazy. In February, you will be the judge. Vote early and often for your favorite candidate, the person who embodies the true spirit of Millennium. The winner will be crowned Mr. or Ms. Millennium, and will be entrusted with a super cool t-shirt and the power to reign supreme over the kingdom of Cook.

Are you ready to meet the contestants? Stay tuned.

Spectacular Snacktober Snacktacular!

Some of the races were close, but here's the winners from yesterday's Snacktacular!

Sweetest Snack
Cook: Heather's Pretzel Turtles
Evergreen: Julie Forslev's Autumn Cupcakes

Healthiest Snack
Cook: Nicole Bosak's Fantastic Cantaloupe
Evergreen: Deborah Gafka's Hotter Then Hell Hummus

Saltiest Snack
Cook: Winnie Collins' Roll Gold Pretzel Sticks
Evergreen: Pam Strain's Bunch of Nuts Mix

Prettiest Snack
Cook: Danielle Quist's "It's All About The Presentation" Bundt Cakes

Most Chocolate-y Snack
Cook: Bungy Lowry's Best Damn Chocolate Cake In The World
Evergreen: Arlene Lane's Orgasmic Brownies

Best Dip
Cook: Winnie Collins' Ranch Dip with Crosscut Vegetables
Evergreen: Craig Backe's Brother's Ex-Wife's Crab Dip

Most Fun Snack
Cook: Carol Zwolski's Chocolate With Hats and Pretzel Brooms
Evergreen: Sarah Simpson's Licorice Haunted House

Contests
Guess The M&M's
Jar 1: Cindy Ugaste
Jar 2: Michele Esteve

Words In The Word Millennium
Winnie Collins found 30 words in the Millennium!

Winners, come claim your prizes! We have certificates, rubber duckies, and fun Innovative prizes for everyone who won.

And...thank you to everyone who contributed to the Snacktober Snacktacular. As Barb Jarvis said, "It was a Spectacular Snacktacular!"

You Can Talk The Talk, But..

Can you deliver the snacks?

We are looking for the best of the best at tomorrow's Snacktober Snacktacular!

Will you be named Queen of the Prettiest Snack? Diva of the Healthy Snack? Sir Salty Snack? Person With The Most Fun Snack? The Best Dip?

Only tomorrow will tell.

The Snacktober Snacktacular starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. at both Cook and Evergreen in the Staff Room (or Staff Area). Everyone who attends can vote for their favorite snack for each of the five categories. Each winner will receive blog recognition, a certificate of achievement, and loot from the Bag of Swag, so be sure to label your snacks!

W.O.W. stands for...

Turn the M in Millennium upside down, and what do you have? A W! And W stands for WORD! I'd like to introduce a new educational tool to help you learn about Millennium, the Word of the Week!

The Word of the Week will help you learn some of the new terms that we'll all be exposed to as we transition to the new system.

Notice the new Word of the Week section to the right. We've kicked it off with an appropriate term for this project.

You'll also see a W.O.W. sign in the staff rooms at Cook Park and Evergreen.

If you have any ideas for ILS-related terms that you or others may not know, tell your department's IDT Cheerleader or, even better, write a comment for this post and in addition to helping your colleages, you'll be entered in the Snacker of the Month drawing!

Word up!

Philosophy Debate

Today, deep in the basement of the Cook Park library, an important philosphical debate could be heard. Logic, emotions, blood, sweat and tears came out, as staff members struggled to answer the timeless question: what is your favorite letter in the word millennium...and why?


Continue on for actual excerpts from today's debate...

"My favorite letter in Millennium is the I, because it kind of looks like a lollipop, which is fitting because its a snack"-- Andrea Johnson

"The letter M. It's peaceful to me, kind of like the OM sound. Not the first M, but the last M because then it's Millenni-OM" --Donna Krause

"N, it's clean and has a certain simplicity. And it's more efficient then an M" --Katie Olsen

"I like the letter L--it's fun to write,"--Carol Hubert

"L, because it's tall and thin and I always wanted to be tall and thin,"--Winnie Collins

"Among all the double letters, the E stands alone. And it sounds like electronic" --Pam Skittino

"The letter I looks like an upside exclamation point, which is fitting because we are all excited about Millennium"--Nancy Hart

"L--it was my husband's first initial and it's a double letter. It sort of looks like railroad tracks...LaLaLaLaLaLa"--Barb Jarvis

Now it's your turn, readers. What's your favorite letter in millennium and why? Comment!


bonus points: the picture on the left contains 26 letters from famous logos (many of which are famous snacks!). Can you name all 26?

A Little Taste of Encore

Welcome to Encore. I know what you're saying. What now? What exactly is Encore? I thought our new system was going to be called Millennium?

Yes, our new system is called Millennium. Think of Encore as the face of Millennium. Encore is the interface our patrons will see when they use the online catalog. Millennium is the brain.

Encore consists of a simple (dare I say, Google-like?) search interface, with a lot of user-friendly features that will be familiar to Internet searchers, such as relevancy ranking (hello again, Google), tag clouds (Flickr or Del.icio.us), RSS feeds (familiar to blog readers and podcast listeners), and more. Get out your reading glasses, because here's a (teeny tiny) peek:

Let's take a closer look at some of this. On the left side of the screen are different ways to refine your search (think Amazon for this one). This is officially known as "faceted searching."

You can restrict your search based on where the search words are found. In this case, that means you could search for only those items with the words "harry potter" in the title, or in the subject, or in the author field (perhaps he's writing his memoirs).

Or, you can restrict your search by format. The choices at our example library include "printed matl" (I'd guess that means book or magazine), DVDs, Books on Tape, CD/Record, or Videorecording. The choices at our own library will reflect the formats in our collection, but the concept is the same.

Next, you can restrict your search by collection. In the example, there are several branch choices and a bookmobile. The "collection" choices for our own library might include Cook Park, Evergreen, and Bookmobile.

Language and publication date are among the other "facets" you can use to refine a search with Encore. You can combine the facets, say, to search for DVDs at Evergreen in Spanish from 2006. All of these capabilities mean our patrons will be able to zero in on the materials they want very quickly and easily.

Now let's look at the right-hand side of the screen. Searchers can see popular choices for their search terms (based on circulation figures) at the top of the right-hand column.

Below the popular choices area is what's known as a tag cloud. Each bibliographic entry has a unique tag cloud, with all kinds of tags that may be more or less relevant to that record. You'll notice that the tags are all different sizes. The relative size of a tag is determined by a complicated stew of factors (is it one of the subject headings for that title? how frequently does it appear? and so on...), but the upshot should be that the largest tags are the largest because they're the most relevant.

Encore will eventually include the ability to link to relevant parts of the library's online database collection directly from a patron's search results. Stay tuned for more juicy tidbits on using Encore!

Want to try it for yourself? You can play with Encore at the Scottsdale Public Library or at the Nashville Public Library. Other Encore sites include:

• Deakin University
• Michigan State University
• University of Queensland
• Yale Law School: Lillian Goldman Law Library
• University of Kentucky

Try searching with keywords such as "good to great", "global warming" or "United States economy".

Mmmmmm... Snacks!

Fall snacks are wonderful, aren't they? 'Tis the season of pumpkin pie, apple cider, cider doughnuts, Halloween candy, bobbed-for apples, pumpkin bread, candy corn, and caramel apples! Learn how to make your own caramel apples with this simple recipe (thanks, eHow.com!).






If caramel apples are too healthy a snack for you (all that fruit, you know) or if they're too bad for your teeth, try this lovely recipe for caramel apple cupcakes from the Cupcake Bakeshop. They look just like the real thing, but with cake! How bad could that be?




Finally, congratulations are in order for our Snacker of the Month, Deb Lindahl. Deb received some double-chocolate cookies, home-baked by the very talented Deborah Gafka. The cookies were declared to be absolutely delicious!





You, too, could be Snacker of the Month. Each month, a name is randomly chosen from all comments written to I Luv Snacks. Every comment gets you another chance to win! If you'd like to comment, but don't know how, ask one of your friendly neighborhood ILS folks for help.

"We Are Family..Now I Have More Staff Next to Me"

We've finally merged after weeks of anticipation, preparation and perspiration. Wear your deodorant, people,'cause we're in close quarters now!

Hats off to all you relocated staff members for adapting so well to your new surroundings. Your cheese has not only been moved, it's been EATEN!

The Periodicals/Book Discussion "nook" gets the newly-created "Make-do with Doo-Doo" award for the most creative use of space. They're the only employees who can put their feet up on the wall in front of them while leaning back against the wall behind them. Virginia can even simultaneously touch a side wall with her hand. She could be an extra in the next Spiderman movie.

The new Fiction, Movies and Music Department is a hit! Patrons like having the AV and Fiction items together in the same area. They also like the convenience of having both Fiction and Audio-visual staff at the same desk. One stop shopping!

Things are shaping up in the Reference area as well. Patrons find the periodical section easy to navigate and like the accessibility of back issues of both magazines and newspapers.
Many frequenters of the former AV department are awakening to the fact that there were actually non-fiction DVDs in that room as well. Browsing in the new location has been brisk,and the librarians enjoy being able to incorporate the DVDs into their resource recommendations.

As for the Audio-Visual Department, it doesn't get any better than this. Talk about multi-tasking! They have been clocked at record speed checking in dropboxes, assisting at the copy machine, checking people out, demonstrating Express Checkout, mooning Lauren in her window, and scraping formula off Baby Einstein DVDs.

The Circulation Department is beginning to reap the benefits of the Express Checkout(a daily record of 383 checkouts recently). We'll eventually be able to rid ourselves of the pleasant and responsible, allowing us plenty of time for the demanding and delinquent!

The Ambassadors

The Millennium Ambassadors

of

Cook Memorial Public Library District

What are Millennium Ambassadors? The Ambassadors are staff members from each department.

Why are there Millennium Ambassadors? These fellow workers are here to make sure everyone in each department has access to and understands all the Millennium info. The Ambassadors can also bring concerns and questions to the ILS committee.

Who are these wonderful Millennium Ambassadors?

Carol Hubert

Cindy Ugaste

Gail Finegan

Gail Tanimura

Jan Hastings

Jeanne Lamz

Libby Heumann

Sandy Kline

Connie Regan

Mary Andrew

Erin Maassen

Ask them about Millennium!

Core Training Essentials: The Windows Taskbar

A new Core Training Essentials tutorial is ready to go. This newest module is on the Windows Taskbar, an important element of Windows that you use each time you use a computer. It lets you open programs, manage all your open windows, and even displays the current time and date.

These Core Training Essentials tutorials are a great way to review and hone your basic Windows skills and will help Millennium training go more smoothly.




Feel free to take the tutorial and take the quiz later. The Quizzes are working now!



There will be 12 Core Technology Essentials tutorials in all. Three are already available if you're feeling ambitious...

Give Me An M!

Give me an M! Give me an I! Give me an L-L-E-N-N-I-U-M! What’s that spell?

The first meeting of the ILS Cheerleaders took place yesterday, and let me tell you, this is group has spirit! Our fearless cheerleaders have lots of fun things planned for the ILS transition.

First up? Snacktacular. A celebration of all things snacks. You heard it here first--we're planning a snack-inspired party on October 17. Bring your best snack and appetite, because we will be voting for the best salty snack, best chocolate snack, best healthy snack, best dip, sweetest snack, prettiest snack, and most fun snack.

Snacktacular signifies three things:

1. Innovative is shipping our new server to Cook the next day and training with Innovative will be starting. It's really coming!
2. The kick-off of a contest, details to be disclosed later, that will span the entire ILS transition.
3. Our undying love for all things snackable.

Watch out, Cook. Snacktacular is coming!

The ILS training is off and running!

Over 40 staff members attended the 1st training session!

You could hear a pin drop as staff listened to trainer Jason's every word.

Highlights:

• Overview of our new system; both technical and practical.


• Sure, we had seen his photo and found out where he was born, but we finally got to hear Jason's voice!


• Continual references to the CS Direct and Getting Started manuals. These manuals can easily be accessed on the I Luv Snacks blog, just scroll down a little and look on the right hand info bar!


• Staff members at Cook are the testers of our database info! Cook staff has the control (and the blame) over how we will access data in the new system.
• Staff prize winners:

Nancy Hart - Highsmith Eagle

Pam Strain - Windows Live Search water bottle

Leonor Abreu - tote bag

Fran David - Fran "won" the patriotic lap blanket. Ask her about it!

Staff who missed this session, GOOD NEWS!, Andy taped Getting to Know Millennium! Copies will be available for viewing. WARNING: There will be a quiz after you view the tape.

Here is a little exercise to let everyone practice taking online quizzes!

Click on the link and test your knowledge!

http://www.ccsd.edu/bardonia/learninggames/libraryskills/

Keeping up on Millennium happenings can be overwhelming!

All the training sessions, meetings, parties, and all those emails with dates and times.

What's a Cook employee to do!!!

The new Millennium Planner Calendar to the rescue!!

Anything Millennium is posted on a handy, one stop shopping, calendar. As an added bonus, the calendar can be easily accessed from any Internet computer!

• Find out when and what kind of training session is coming up!


• Look and see when a queen will be on vacation!


• See when the next blog entry will be posted!


• Check to see when the Cheerleaders will be meeting!

No more looking for old emails!

No more missed parties!

No more wondering when and where the IDT committee will be meeting!

Go to: http://www.airset.com/

use the email address: cook@cooklib.org

Use the password provided by your departmental ambassador or any IDT or ILS committee team member.

Extra Credit Opportunity: CSDirect

I know you're probably one of the many people who are really excited about the new ILS and you're chomping at the bit to get more than a preview of Millennium. Yes, the Getting to Know Millennium Training Session is next week (9/12 from 2-4 in the Program Room sign up to attend!). That will be a great preview of Millennium and Web CAT, but you want more.

We now have access to CSDirect, the customer service web site for Millennium. There is a lot of great information on this site including FAQs (frequently asked questions), news, user guides and manuals, but what sparked my interest was the Tutorials section.

You'll need the username and password to access this, but just ask your friendly departmental ILS Ambassador or IDT member and you'll be on your way to teacher's pet heaven because I'm betting Jason Boland, our Millennium Trainer from Innovative, will give extra credit to anyone who is extra prepared for the training later this year.

Feel free to go through any of these tutorials when time permits. Basic Millennium will be required for everyone attending the October 23-25 training session which covers WebPAC searching, Database Evaluation, Systems Administration, Web PAC Administration, Circulation Parameters, and Aquisition Parameters. There are also tutorials for WebPAC, Millennium Serials, and Millennium Circulation, which are among the modules we purchased, so you may want to check those out too.

The IDT wants you to have every opportunity to be prepared for the new system. Checking out CSDirect is one way you can start getting to know our new Integrated Library System.

Do you know the name of the Disney cartoon character below? He is from a Disney animated television series about a dog with a dream to go to school. Click on comments below to post your answer and you'll be entered for the Snacker of the Month drawing!

Snacker of the Month

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your mice! The race for Snacker of the Month begins again today!


Congratulations to Laura Hadjimitsos, September's Snacker of the Month!

Laura's name was randomly chosen from all those who left comments last month on the I Luv Snacks blog! Laura has chosen a chocolate snack, which will be delivered to her desk fresh from the oven later this week.

You, too, could win a homemade snack. Click below to leave a comment. The more comments you make this month, the more chances you'll have to win. I hope you're hungry!

We're Moving!

An important ILS milestone was achieved on August 29th. A copy of all the data from our Geac PLUS system was transferred to Innovative Interfaces Inc. This is essentially moving the library data to a new home. The moving van has taken our first load of boxes (data) and now Innovative will take this raw data, massage it, and then transfer it to our Millennium server. We can be proud that Pam Skittino made this happen 25 days before the deadline.

Our new server will arrive and be installed just before the October 23rd - 25th training. October is when we start moving into the new home, rearranging, making sure we can find things, and settling in. We will set up parameters (rules) for the new system and then test the parameters and settings to make sure things will work correctly when we "Go Live" in early 2008.

After the October training session, this data will be available for us to use while practicing on Millennium and it will not have any effect on patrons or items in the Geac PLUS system.

Here are some counts of the data that was transferred:
Bibliographic records - 238,009 titles with 328,883 items
Name authority records - 153,098
Subject authority records - 51,862
Circulation transactions:
58,103 checkouts
10,494 holds
61,022 fine records
53,344 patron records

Free Ice Cream!

Savor the last few days of summer with free ice cream!

Summit Ice Cream & Gelato is celebrating its first year anniversary on Saturday, September 1 with free ice cream and coffee all day long!


Also that day, Summit will have pony rides, face painting, and a Bouncy House.

School Supply time

Who doesn't love school supplies? With school getting under way, kids are stocking up on folders, notebooks, pencils and erasers, and a couple of my favorites: scissors and paste.

I always loved cutting and pasting. The scissors make that satisfying scratchy sound as they cut through construction paper. Paste was always fun, too. Some of my grade-school friends were gluers -- they were especially fond of covering their palms with glue and then peeling off the dried glue like a layer of skin. Not me, though; I was a paster. I liked troweling it out of its little bottle with that spatula thing attached to the lid. Glue sticks are just not the same, and liquid glue always left a little wet lump in the paper where it soaked in too much.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, I still get to cut and paste every day. Although it's lacking some of the visceral pleasures, like troweling, the Windows "cut and paste" feature is such an incredibly handy tool (and it's less messy, too). Once you've tried it, you can't imagine how you ever did without it.

Our own Katie Olsen has designed a little tutorial to show us the ways of computer cutting and pasting. This is the first step in this fall's training curriculum. Let's see who among us can complete the entire curriculum. Can you? Click here to try the tutorial.

Meet The Trainer

I'd like to introduce you to Jason Boland, the trainer that will be teaching us all things Millennium. Katie told me Jason was "funny and friendly" and after reading his responses to my questions, I have to agree. Jason's responses to my questions are below in orange...


Personal Stats:

Place of birth: The maternity ward of a hospital

Family: Occasionally

Current hometown: Atlantis. It's a heck of commute and my fingers are constantly wrinkled, but we get great seafood.

Jason, inquiring minds want to know...

When you visit Chicago, what's your favorite thing to do? I have lots of friends who have visited Chicago and raved about this one restaurant. I think it's called McDonalds.

When it comes to training, what's the best part for you (as an instructor)? The second part. No, wait the third part. Definitely the third part.

What do you think will be the biggest challenge for our staff? Getting through the door. I plan to seal it shut with Super Glue.

As a student, what is the one thing we should know? The alphabet. Trust me, it will really help a lot.

Ok, Jason, let's get personal...fill in the blank.

If stranded on a desert island, I'd bring... an entire civilization to keep me company
As a child, I always thought I'd... get the opportunity to fill out this survey.
In my free time, I'm... an inventor. Among my best work are the solar-powered flashlight and the inflatable dart board.
Secretly, no one knows I'm... completely devoid of imagination.

And, of course...

What's your favorite snack? (This is, after all, I luv Snacks!) Fruit, cheese and chocolate. I'm smart enough to come up with a straight answer when necessary.

And that, folks, is Jason. Do you have any questions for Jason? Leave them below!