Snack Like a Queen

The Cook kingdom has come to a great impasse, divided between a love of chocolate and salty snacks.

In the spirit of bridging a divide between the chocolate lovers and the salt addicts, we are sharing recipes to appease both camps. Enjoy!

Oh yea, and don't forget to share your favorite snack by voting on the right or commenting below.

Nancy Hart's Blonde Brownies

Oven 350 degrees
¾ C. butter
1 ¼ cup packed brown sugar or raw sugar or combination of the two. (I usually only use 1 cup sugar)
-Cream the two ingredients

Add:
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
-Beat into the butter and sugar

Add:
2 cups of Rolled Oats processed in a food processor until
resembles coarse flour.

Add:
1 ½ C. flour (unbleached or a combo of whole wheat and white)
2 ½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt

At this point you can add about 10 oz chocolate chips and chopped nuts if desired. When I put the dough in a pan to bake, many of the chips seem to lump in one place and there are few in others, so I usually sprinkle the choc chips over the dough after it’s been put in a greased pan. You can even them out more this way and then just press them into the dough with damp fingers.

Depending on whether you want a “cakier” or thinner cookie bar you can use either a 9”x13” pan or larger jelly roll pan. Of course the baking time will vary some depending on the pan you use. I usually make the 9”x13” version and bake for about 20 minutes. If I make the thinner ones, I will sometimes bake just the dough (10-15 min) and then sprinkle the chips on after they are baked. The heat will melt them and you can then spread the chocolate and sprinkle with nuts if desired.

Arlene Lane's Baked Potato Dip

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 of a large carton of sour cream
1/2 cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 can of Oscar Mayer bacon bits,
-Or 4-6 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
2 green onions chopped

Mix together all ingredients and spread into a small casserole or baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Serve with potato chips or crackers.

Sneak Peek

As much as we love snacks, there’s another reason we’re here. Soon, we’ll all be embarking on a journey to our new automation system.

‘What will it do?’ you may be wondering. Millennium will replace CL-CAT, GeoWeb, and the Plus Circulation Client. It will change the way many things are handled in tech services, such as withdrawals and fund accounting. It will feature a new way to handle ILL.

Today I’d like to tell you about the Online Catalog portion of Millennium. It will make it easier for patrons to find the items they’re looking for, and give them a lot of choices in their searches, such as looking only for books in the children’s department, or only for items that are “on shelf,” and so on. Features such as relevancy ranking and spell check will help searching our catalog work more like searching Google or Amazon.com. Patrons will be able to pay fines online with a credit card, create “favorite” searches, and more.

Millennium will also look very different from our current system. I can’t tell you yet exactly what it will look like; there are a lot of factors that will influence that. What I can do is show you some examples of how it looks in other libraries. These don’t look quite like our Millennium will, either, since we’re getting a newer version. Consider this a “sneak peek” at the possibilities. The photo above is my keyword search in Skokie PL’s Millennium catalog for “harry potter.” (Click on it for a larger image.)

Try these links for a chance to look at other Millennium catalogs. Search for "good to great," "lean mean thirteen," "global warming," or "foreign trade" to get a taste of relevancy ranking and the Millennium search process.

Skokie Public Library http://catalog.skokielibrary.info/search

Westerville Public Library http://catalog.westervillelibrary.org/
University of Michigan http://www.bus.umich.edu/KresgeLibrary/
Yale University School of Law http://morris.law.yale.edu/

Building a Better Future: An Insider's Look at Millennium

I had an afternoon chat with our fearless leader and former Millennium user, Director Dan Armstrong. Want to know what was said? Read on.

Me: I know Palatine uses the Millennium Integrated Library System. From your experience, what did you like about the system?

Dan: It was very flexible, especially the reporting functions. I remember one Board wanted to know particular reciprocal borrowing statistics from one of our branches. Within minutes, we had a block by block analysis detailed report on reciprocal borrowing—and it wasn’t very hard to do.

Me: Beyond reports, what’s it like to use when dealing with the public?

Dan: I’m someone that only occasionally worked the Reference Desk at Palatine, and as a result, I only occasionally used Millennium. When I did work the desk, I thought Millennium was very easy to use and very intuitive. If I got stuck, and a patron was there, a box would appear and guide me through the process. I didn’t need to know function keys or special commands.

Me: Well, that's great news. Speaking of changes, how do you think Millennium will change staff member’s day to day activities?

Dan: The system will definitely change how we do our job. Some things may look different, and different procedures might be used, but there will still be work to be done. Nobody's losing a job--but the look and feel of your job might change.

Me: Based on your experience, do you have any Millennium migration advice?

Dan: There’s a lot of work involved, and that work will fall to a small group of people. Those people will have to work really hard, and they deserve all our thanks and understanding. We have to remember to be patient, and learn to master the system’s basics before we start to take advantage of all the advanced features Millennium has to offer. I think you will find that the basics are easy to learn, but that some of our procedures will shift. Not everything will translate from Geac to Millennium—and that’s OK.

Me: One last question, will you be attending the Millennium training sessions?

Dan: Of course, and I’ll be much more comfortable this time around!

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. An "insider" look at the Millennium system. If you want to look at Palatine's catalog, powered by Millennium, click here. As always, leave questions or comments below.

Leave a Comment --> Get Snacks! Here's how:

The promise of brownies in Andrea's post below has whet a few appetites and people are hungry to learn how to leave a comment on the I Luv Snacks blog.

The process is simple, just click the word comments in the information area beneath the post. It looks like this:

A Post a Comment On: I Luv Snacks page will appear. Just fill out the "Leave your comment" section.

If you don't have a Blogger account, select Other in the Choose your identity section and type in your name.

Click Preview to see what your comment will look like and Publish Your Comment to post it to the blog.

You can return to the blog at any time by clicking on I Luv Snacks at the top of the form.

That's all there is to it! We're looking forward to all your ideas and comments. Enjoy the snacks!

What's Your Favorite Snack?

Mine is brownies. Ooey, gooey, fudgey brownies that get your fingers all chocolatey when you eat them and that are impossible to cut into squares without losing a few to brownie smush. (Then you have to eat the smushed ones, of course.) Such brownies must be consumed with a tall glass of milk.

Queen of Inspiration (a.k.a. Head Cheerleader) here to announce our monthly blog contest. To inspire all you loyal readers to keep checking in for snack news and updates on Millennium, I'm offering bribes. Check in, and tell us what you think. Share your ideas, your concerns, and your questions, by clicking the word "comments" below. Make sure to leave your name, because once a month, I'll collect all the comments and draw the name of a lucky winner. If you're the winner for the month, yours truly will provide homemade snacks.

That's right; you heard it here first! One lucky commenter each month will receive home-baked brownies (or another snack to be negotiated with the winner)! My mouth is watering already.

Naked Queens

Thank you to everyone who came and contributed ideas to our Brainstorming Meeting. We know this group will do a fantastic job transitioning from GEAC Plus to Millennium!

From Naked Queen Beauty Pageants to Royal Parties, pop quizzes and extravagant prizes, many fantastic (and sometimes crazy) ideas were shared at today's Brainstorming Meeting. If you missed it or forgot to take notes, here's a few of the ideas* that came out of this morning's meeting:

Inspiration

-Use countdown clocks to alert the staff and public that Millennium is coming.

-Publicize everywhere-- on the catalog, the website, the walls, email, bookmarks, blogs, buttons, on the patio, and in the staff room. If it's electronic, print it out and post it where we can see it.

-Create a slide show that continuously loops on screens in prominent areas.

Education

-What's an RSS feed, anyway? Create a glossary of terms and a check-list of necessary-ILS skills. Award completion prizes to anyone who finishes the check-list.

-Practice makes perfect. Create training sessions that are self-paced and available in advance, so we can learn how to "auto-pilot" Millennium before it goes live...but don't schedule it too far ahead. We don't want to forget everything we learned!

- Not everyone learns the same (or is available at the same time!). Offer a variety of ways to learn--one on one, self-paced computer courses, large classrooms, small groups. Use real-world examples. Class times should be less than an hour and convenient to most of us. Evenings, early mornings, or early afternoons are great. Don't even think of scheduling anything between 3 and 5 p.m.

-Bribe us, please. Candy, pens, gas cards, special parking passes, paid vacations...training is much more fun with incentives!

Inspiration

-Be honest and address concerns. Answer the old "Where's my desk?" or "How does this affect me?" question.

-Create stations "Let Me Show You" stations and enlist volunteers to personally show patrons how to use the new ILS. Offer something to patrons who use "self-service" functions.

-Build a buzz. Have trained staff members wear pins that say "Change Agent"--when patrons ask what the buttons are for, staff can talk about the new ILS.

-Make it fun! Hold a GEAC funeral or a Millennium birthday party. Host an after-hours party for patrons, with live demos. Invite the public to design a logo.

Brainstorming Wrap-Up

If you like to talk, teach, or spread good cheer, we want you to join the team! The IDT Queens are looking for cheerleaders, trainers, and ambassadors to help make the transition to Millennium. Send us an email or sign-up in the Staff Room.

As for the limited-edition, very cool Harry Potter bags....the winners were Libby Heumann and Rose Prouty. Congratulations, ladies!

As always, we love to hear your opinions! Feel free to leave a comment below or send us an email. Don't forget to check back here on Thursday for a special surprise!

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*Ideas: this blog merely represents notes taken during today's brainstorming session. In no way does this blog imply that everything published will be done.

The Perfect Tote

If you are anything like me, finding a new bag is a project.

I want something that is chic, roomy, and inexpensive. Something big enough to store all my stuff, but not TOO big that I can't find my stuff.

When I find something I like, I am compelled to share it with everyone I know.

That's why I'm so excited to be able to give away the perfect summer bag. It's spacious, cheap, and very fashion-forward.

Of course, I am referring to the limited-edition, exclusive Scholastic Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tote bag, pictured above and available only at the ILS Brainstorming Meeting.

Two lucky winners will receive this collector tote bag on July 10. Stop by the meeting on Tuesday, July 10, anytime between 8:30 and 10 a.m. to be eligible to win.

P.S. Beyond ALA conferences, where do you shop for the perfect bag? Share your comments below!