Thursday, December 23, 2010

Happy Holidays!

It's not as quiet in the computer area as I'd expected this week. Students are done, holidays are almost here - I figured we wouldn't see so many visitors. What do I know? All the visitors using guest cards sometimes gives me the opportunity to play Santa: people will want to add money for printing; when I check, we discover money already on the card from a previous user. It's a nice little surprise, and usually very much appreciated. Just one of the more fun aspects of working this desk...

A recent upgrade at the shared catalog level didn't go well, so we've been muddling through while they work to fix the new problems created. I can sympathize, and will continue to expect the worst anytime someone says "upgrade."

This is our final week with Alice, our retiring director. It's been an exciting 13 years! I'm wondering what the next director will bring to the library - we've come to expect a lot but there will always be opportunities for positive changes too.

Marry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Holiday Time

Holidays are always an interesting time in the library, probably a combination of the cold bringing more people in, and holiday stress aggravating whatever problems are already there. We're trying to stay agreeable, but have to sometimes resort to less-than-friendly interaction when some lonely individuals start hanging around for extended periods, trying to get involved in conversations about (occasionally) rather bizarre topics. Working a public desk begins to feel like a sitting duck - no escape!

We're planning a Gadget Fair this weekend, so people can come see some new things they may not be familiar with - Nook, Kindle, Flip Camera, etc. We've also gotten local stores to come in with some gadgets too, like the iPad. We're not going as in-depth as we would for staff training, or even a conference session; just an informal "this is what it looks like and some things you might be able to use it for" gathering.

My favorite thing about the holidays this year? With Christmas Eve and Christmas on Friday and Saturday (and we'll be closed) I get a 4-day weekend! Followed by a 3-day weekend for New Year's. That will seem like quite a vacation!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Silly me...

I really should learn but am always optimistic! Many computers have been updated, but three of the teen and all four children's still need to be done. So this morning I figured it was time to get to the teens - just 3 computers, how hard could that be? I installed both the new print and time management programs, tested all three (yes, I found a little glitch but was able to fix it - a file path I should have found right off) so figured things were great.

The CybraryN people receive error messages if things aren't quite right, so I was surprised to get an email from them asking if everything was OK this morning. I explained what I'd done, and reported everything seemed fine. A few more messages back and forth, with suggestions of what might be wrong and how to fix it in the morning followed. Later in the afternoon I did start to see a few problems (reservations were there but others could log in anyway, things didn't look quite right in our screen) so mentioned that in a message too. In the morning I'll take care of the little file problems that might be occurring, and maybe then things will be great!

I really should know better than to expect an upgrade to be right the first time.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

From the I Can't Believe It File...

We've had a nice large flat-screen TV for about a year - we bought it with the idea that eventually it might be an event monitor, and in the meantime it was in the storage room with the Wii. Since the Wii has been used all year for programs, this TV was just waiting - this month we finally brought it out, hooked up the laptop and ran an PowerPoint presentation showing weekly events in the library. To start, this was on a cart next to the circulation desk until we could decide where to permanently place it. A wall in the lobby was the likely choice.

Yesterday someone noticed there was no monitor on the cart. How a huge TV (48" maybe?) can just unhook itself from the laptop and walk off is a mystery. Oh, and open the lobby doors too since they should have been locked - we are closed Sundays. There was the Friends book sale going on so things were probably crowded, but really - didn't anyone notice a TV leaving the library?

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Summertime...

We're seeing evidence of summer, gradually - and not just outside where the grass is still incredibly green, the cottonwood trees haven't really been shedding cotton yet, and the hanging baskets on Main Street have only just appeared. We got tired of all the rain, but it really was a good thing.

So, our summer season is starting: a few Yellowstone Park workers, some snowbirds (what are they called when they come north for summer?) and some foreign students. The Mail.RU program that shows up on public computers is one of the first signs - students seem to have that promoted as the program to use to keep in touch, and it likes to automatically install on our computers. This year hasn't been quite as difficult - so far I'm not seeing the home page consistently hijacked by this as in past years. I made screen shots of removal instructions, so everyone is able to remove it, since none of us read Russian very well!

If we had the imaging system working this wouldn't be an issue, but that has sometimes caused more problems than it solved. I'm still making updated images for each group, so we can restore a computer if something happens, but that takes some time also. Still not sure what the answer is to keep all machines identical all the time!

Highlight of the day: a patron brought his own typewriter and sat upstairs in a study carrel, typing away, bell ringing on the carriage return and keys clacking. No one complained about the noise - maybe people were surprised to see the antique technology?

Friday, May 21, 2010

It's Easy to Forget

I was reminded recently to not assume that 20-somethings are automatically tech-savvy. We tend to group younger folks (especially those still in their 2nd decade, plus or minus a few years) into the "knows everything about technology" category. It's easy to do, since we all know of someone who has had help with something (computer, cell phone, fill in your own item) from a teenage relative or neighbor. And, they must be learning this stuff in schools, too, right?

Recently a young woman approached the Computer Services desk late one afternoon. Late teens, early 20's - I really don't know. She was extremely frustrated, because she'd spend most of her hour on a teen computer composing a document and needed to email it as an attachment to her instructor (so I'm thinking she wasn't college since that session is over, but perhaps she's attending a summer school course?). She complained that none of the library computers would send an attachment, and she'd just wasted her time trying to get this homework submitted. I explained that all the computers could do that, but people do need to be in their own email program - often someone will try to respond to a CraigsList add, which opens Outlook on the computers but won't actually do anything. We've been able to help people through that, too.

Someone else had already signed in to the computer she'd used, so I couldn't get back to her document. I asked if she could get it done on an Express computer, and she went to work. I checked on her when I thought her time might be getting short, and found she'd saved the document to the desktop, opened her email and addressed the message. This is where she ran into trouble. I showed her how to find the document to attach it, and could almost see the light bulb go off over her head. I left her to write her message, and when I passed by a little later she smiled and said "It worked!"

Another lesson in technology; one more person who will be able to pass the knowledge along to friends! That's what makes this job so fun.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Conference Season

What have I been doing? Preparing for conferences, attending conferences, recovering from conferences!

MLA was held in Bozeman earlier this month. We were involved in supplying some equipment at the conference hotels, and being available in case problems developed. Luckily, everything worked well. I was also a "vendor" with a booth promoting MPLA, so it worked well for me to be at the conference most of the time. I didn't get to attend many sessions, though, and there were some really good ones from what I've heard.

A week in Texas to relax, then on to MPLA in Oklahoma City. It was interesting to be back there after 20 years! Also, there was quite a bit of media coverage of the 15th anniversary of the bombing there. We went to the memorial site later in the week - it really is beautiful, full of symbolism. I presented a session on technology training for staff, which was well-attended. There was also an event at the downtown library - a beautiful new building that I enjoyed touring.

Next year it will be a joint MLA/MPLA conference in Billings so I won't have far to travel!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

It must be spring...

Snow is melting - we have almost all the parking spaces in the lot available again! This week is spring break, and we may see beautiful weather. For the Library, it means preparing for the upcoming MLA conference next month, since Bozeman is hosting. We also have a group presentation on fun technology gadgets. For me, I need to get my presentation ready for MPLA. I'll be away for 2 weeks, so getting the computers ready to run smoothly during that time is also a priority.

The Technology Plan is coming along; we've got everything on a wiki for easy access. I'm concerned it might not be totally private; I need to research that to make sure it isn't accessible to the whole world.

There have been several library director positions opening lately - retirements or moving. It will be fun to see who fills these - great opportunities!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

February?

Well, January slipped by too quickly. It does every year; some day maybe I'll be prepared for that. I taught the laptop class to a variety of users (Windows 7, Vista and XP). The frustrating part was having one person arrive late, with a brand new laptop that hadn't been turned on at all. There is an enormous amount of set-up necessary the first time, so he was a constant interruption whenever we moved on to something new. Later this spring I'll do Computer Safety again.

The RFID tagging has begun, and miraculously doesn't involve me! Teams are working in pairs, both in fiction and non-fiction, with a few other people tagging returned items before they get reshelved. Then the security gates get installed, and we figure out how to use the neat gadget that reads tags as you walk down the stacks.

Sadly we've had an express computer out of service for a few weeks, a result (I suspect) of the imaging software gone bad. Luckily it only affected one machine, but I shudder to think what could have happened if we'd used that on all the adult computers! I'm not too excited about expanding the imaging idea unless we find something more reliable.

The big project (for me) is updating the Technology Plan! We prepared one a few years before moving to the new library, so it's been interesting to re-read that. Not everything we planned on actually happened with the move to a new building. It will be hard to predict what might develop in the next several years, too.

Conference season is upon us: Offline, Broad Valleys meeting, PLA, MLA, MPLA, and others, I'm sure. I have to attend MLA and MPLA; I wish I could go to PLA and Offline; I may get to go to an afternoon session of Broad Valleys. I'm trying something new next week: on online conference through WebJunction. I can't go to all the sessions I'd like, but am curious how this will work. Lois and I really enjoy Computers in Libraries - we hope to attend that in 2 more years.