- Metrowest Marketing & Branding Project Update!
- Fall Forward At Metrowest
- Microsoft office 2007 – is it worth the upgrade?
- Metrowest is getting sociable!
- Libraries Gone Wild!
- Metrowest Members help get Math Off the Shelf!
- News from Wellesley Free Library Regional Interlibrary Loan Department
- Upcoming events at Metrowest
- News from the Reference Department of the Newton Free Library
- Friendly Reminder
- From The Bookshelf
Metrowest Marketing & Branding Project Update!
by
Sunny Vandermark
Over the summer the Metrowest PR & Marketing Committee (Katie Baxter, Noble and Greenough School; Charlotte Canelli, Dover Town Library; Jeff Cramer, Thoreau Institute; Dee Magnoni, Olin College; Bobbie Myles, Lincoln Public Library; Diane Wallace, Bacon Free Library; and Sarah Sogigian, Sunny Vandermark and Judy Zomer, Metrowest staff liaisons) continued working with our marketing consultant, Sue Edwards of Extra Mile Design.
In July we implemented an online survey to gather input from the membership. 350 members responded. From the survey results we learned that 75% of respondents attend Metrowest continuing education workshops and training, 68% learn about the workshops through email, only 45% of respondents know about “workshops to go,” and only 21% of libraries have booked a workshop to go. 74% of respondents indicated that on a scale of 1-10 (10 being extremely important) Metrowest is extremely to very important to the membership. The three most frequently used services are electronic databases, continuing education and delivery. Additional survey details will assist Metrowest to continue to focus its services to better meet member needs. Maximizing member use of Metrowest services is one of the primary reasons for the marketing and branding project.
Committee members assisted in the development of service messages, a new logo and tag line and additional communication tools. All of these branding initiatives will be available soon.
Committee members and Metrowest staff look forward to member response to these new materials. Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey and participated in the focus groups.
Your input is greatly appreciated, and helped the committee with meet its’ charge!
Fall Forward At Metrowest
by
Judy Zomer
As we transition to another season, and the beginning of the academic year, it is decidedly fall forward at Metrowest. Summer may be coming to an end but the Metrowest staff is busy planning new and exciting offerings for our members.
Soon the results of the branding and marketing project, complete with a new logo, and tag line, will be revealed. We are looking forward to sharing the results of this project with our membership.
MassCat is migrating to Koha, an open source platform. The holdings at Metrowest will be recatalogued in Dewey. We will be moving to an automated check out system complete with bar codes, which will make check out and record keeping more efficient.
Signing up for Continuing Education has never been easier with the implementation of the Event Keeper software! Now members are able to sign up and cancel classes at will in addition to viewing online records of classes attended. Only a password and username are required to put you in the driver seat!
Have you been to our new lab featuring MAC PC compatible computers?
On the Continuing Education front, Metrowest will continue to offer cutting edge classes, workshops to go, and new this fall, a Saturday workshop. As always we welcome your suggestions for workshops.
Metrowest has been hard at work creating an online presence! You can now find us on MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, and our own blog and via instant message! (Additional details in this newsletter).
Metrowest is a member driven organization propelled by the involvement and interest of our members. So share your ideas and thoughts with us so we can serve you better.
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Microsoft office 2007 – is it worth the upgrade?
by
Rita Gavelis
As you may already know, Microsoft Office 2007 is available and has been for quite some time. Many people have asked me throughout the past year or so if they should bother upgrading to this newer, and to some, more frightening version of Office. I usually do not tell people what they should or should not buy. What I will do, however, is give you a little more information about this newer, more friendly version of Office, so you can make a more educated decision.
When you first open any Office 2007 product, whether it be Word or Excel, you are met with a drastically different interface than all previous versions. We have become used to the universal menu choices such as File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, etc. With 2007, these items are gone. Instead you will see tabs labeled Home, Insert, Page Layout, (along with other tabs, which appear depending on what Office product or a particular Office feature you happen to be using at the moment). This new interface is actually more logical than the old menus. Don’t worry, I’ll explain.
In the Home tab, you will find all the basic commands you will need to create a new document. All your text features like alignment, font, size, color, borders, copying, pasting, are right there, in plain view. No more hunting through all the menus trying to find where you can create a border or find and replace a particular word. This saves quite a bit of time. With all the features right in front of you, you are more likely to use some of the cool ones like background colors, adding frames or drop shadows to images, or using color schemes. Your documents will look so much more interesting.
In Word 2007, the tabs are set up in a logical order. For example, the Home tab is first. Here you create your documents. The next tab is the Insert tab. Use this tab if you are inserting features like images, tables, and charts. The Page Layout tab controls how you wish your document to look. You can set margins, add watermarks, and adjust spacing here. The References tab allows you to add a table of contents, footnotes, citations, and captions. All the items you would need for a research paper. The Mailings tab allows you to quickly create labels and perform Mail Merges. The Review tab contains all the tools needed to proof your document and track changes, as well as lock your document to protect it. You can use the View tab to control how you want your document displayed on your screen. You can see an outline of your document, a web view, as well as show gridlines, zoom in, and view macros.
The other feature of 2007 you need to know is the Office button which appears at the top, left corner of your Microsoft application’s window. This is the multicolored circular logo that brings you to the menu listing the Save commands. It is extremely important to understand that you can save your document as a 97-2003 document. Why would you do this? Not everyone is using Office 2007 yet. If you save your new document as a Word 2007 document, those people using an earlier version may not be able to open it. If you need to email a document to someone, you might want to send the one formatted for Word 97-2003.
So, should you upgrade to 2007? Once you know where to find all those tools you used in earlier versions of Office, you may find 2007 to be much easier to use. You can open documents that were created in earlier versions, as well as save new documents as an earlier version, so it is versatile. Also, if many of your patrons have 2007 on their computers at home or you are teaching classes on Word or Excel, you may want to consider the upgrade.
If you are not sure what to do, you can always take our “Office 2007: Making the Transition” workshop in November, where we will navigate through the new interface and explore the features of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This workshop is for those who are already familiar with those products and only need a quick tour of the differences between 2007 and the earlier versions.
If you do not currently use Microsoft Word or Excel, we will be holding courses for those products in September, as well as a PowerPoint 2007 class in November.
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Metrowest is getting sociable!
by
Sarah Sogigian
Metrowest has been hard at work creating an online presence! You can now find us on MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, and our own blog and via instant message! If your library has an online presence on these networks, please stop by and say hello!
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/metrowestmrls
Facebook: Search for Metrowest MA Regional Library System
Instant Message:
AIM: ritaatmetrowest
Judyatmetrowest
SarahatmmrlsGTalk: ritaatmetrowest
Sarahatmetrowest -
Libraries Gone Wild!
by
Sarah Sogigian
All sorts of WILD things have been happening at libraries across Metrowest to celebrate Wild Reads!
In Concord, kids learned how to twist balloons into different objects. Children’s Librarian Karen Ahearn, reports that participants left with all kinds of crazy hats. She also is planning a repeat performance for next year.
Dedham Public Library involved Heifer International in their summer reading programming and had a visit from some exotic friends from Creature Teachers.
Stephen Lechner and his Water Wizardry Show, Creature Teachers, and concerts for all ages are a few of the programs presented at the Wellesley Free Public Library.
Christi Farrar of the Woburn Public Library dyed her hair pink in honor of her teens’ reading achievements this summer.
The Somerville Public Library had a visit from Animal World Experience for their summer reading club awards ceremony. Special guests included a millipede, a snapping turtle, a python, a frog and, everyone's favorite, a chinchilla. Ashland Public Library welcomed a very unique guest to their library—a kangaroo! He came as part of the Southwick Zoo’s Earth Limited program.
Over 250 kids and caregivers went to see the Toe Jam Puppet Band in Millis. The library also hosted Bubblemania with Casey Carle and the Sunny Rock 4-H Club. The club brought along some friends—goats, chickens, sheep and bunnies! The Middlesex Savings Bank donated $1000.00 to Heifer International in honor of the participants of the Summer Reading Program. Children’s Librarian Tricia Perry reports that the End of Summer Party was held in the rain, but that didn’t stop attendees from eating ice cream and doing the limbo!
Participants at the Cambridge Public Library received a visit from some Alaskan sled dogs and a goat in diapers, courtesy of Montana Mushers and Barn Babies. The dogs were a highlight for the kids, who enjoyed patting the dogs and hearing their stories. Children’s Librarian, Daryl Mark reports that, “one had been a lead dog for a team and saved his "musher" and the rest of the team from death.” Barn Babies provided participants with the opportunity to hold and play with baby kittens, rabbits, and even a pot bellied pig!
Mark Malcolm, from the Maynard Public Library, reports that: “While exhibiting his rainforest animal show, the man from Creature Teachers stood aghast as the boa constrictor he was holding slithered around his waist and through his belt buckle, unable to be extricated. Like a shot, a lady from the audience raced up, slid her hand under the surprised snake and over a precarious location of the man's anatomy, yanking the reptile free. The grateful instructor then announced to the relief of everyone in the stunned crowd that the heroic lady just happened to be his wife, who he continued to explain, was deathly afraid of snakes!”
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Metrowest Members help get Math Off the Shelf!
by
Sarah Sogigian
Several Metrowest libraries have been adding some unique workshops to their summer reading programming. Thanks to a partnership between TERC and Metrowest, our members have had the opportunity to offer math related programming to their patrons.
The Dover Town Library created an after school Gardening Club where participants used math skills to plant and grow flowers and vegetables at the library. Dover also included other town departments in their programming, asking kids to find facts about their town, including how many police cars the town uses. The library also put up calendars to track the weather through the summer months. Kids who stopped by were able to add a sticker denoting the weather that day. At the end of the month, kids helped find the percentage of rainy days, sunny days, and cloudy days.
Watertown Free Public Library:
“This summer the Watertown Free Public Library chose to use Mix in Math as the basis for our programs for 3rd-5th graders. We ran six programs incorporating math in different ways: Jewelry making, incorporated patterns-with the beads and with the rainbow goldfish snack; Yuck Stuff, was liquid and dry measuring and doubling to make ooblick, silly putty and gack; Duck Tape Origami, was measuring with a ruler and adding. Attendance for the programs ranged from 12 to 25 participants. It was a nice way to focus attention on the 9-12 year olds who often get lost in our summer reading.” --Aimee LambertHere are some quotes from the Cambridge Public Library, O’Connell Branch about the activities provided by TERC: Boy, 10: "Where do the questions come from?"
Librarian: "A program called "Math off the Shelves." They want kids to keep thinking about math during the summer, because it's good for your brain."
Boy: "Only fun stuff, because it's summer?"
Librarian: "Right."
Boy: "How do they find out the answers?"
Librarian: "Probably the same way you will -- by doing research, looking in reference books or on the computer."(size of a blue whale's heart) "But that's not math, is it? Oh wait, I guess it is." -- girl, 13
"Whales are enormous. But hearts aren't that big in your body. Your heart is smaller than your head." -- boy, 9
"Would a whale fit in this library?" -- girl, 5
--Christy MeislerIf you are interested in having your library participate in Math off the Shelf, please email Sarah Sogigian at sarah@mmrls.org
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News from Wellesley Free Library Regional Interlibrary Loan Department
by
Sue Kaler
Please save the date for an upcoming training session. On November 18, 2008 from 1 to 4 PM, Sue Kaler will present Introduction to Resource Sharing in Metrowest. The class will be held in Jackie’s Room at the Wellesley Free Library. This course is intended to be an overview of the various resource sharing options in the region. It is best suited for new staff members or those with a peripheral connection to resource sharing.
The course will cover intra-network Requests, Point to Point, the Massachusetts Virtual Catalog, Masscat, Boston Public Library’s Illiad system, copyright in ILL, WorldCat.org and Wellesley Free Library’s role as interlibrary loan department for the region.
Attendees will walk away with a good overview of how all of these systems interrelate. Sign up via the Metrowest website.
Introduction to Resource Sharing in Metrowest can be requested as a Workshops to Go. If you would like resource sharing training at your home library, please contact Sue Kaler to customize a course for your situation.
Speaking of getting in touch with us, did you realize that we have an 800 number? This rarely used number is 800-850-7450. It will connect you with the Wellesley Free Library. Then you can enter the usual departmental extensions (1112 for Sue Kaler, 1276 for Suzan Khoshnevis, 1111 for Debbi Lane and 1233 for Ann Callahan.)
For those of you already using the services of the Wellesley Free Library Interlibrary Loan Department, you’ve no doubt noticed that the library has a newly redesigned website. Have a look at the rest of the website when you are visiting it to check on your requests via our ClioWeb section. There are many new and interesting features. For those who’ve never visited, check us out at http://wellesleyfreelibrary.org.
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Upcoming events at Metrowest
by
Sarah Sogigian
For complete information and to register, please visit: http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/events.cfm?curOrg=MMRLS
Metrowest has some exciting programs planned for this fall! Libraries Gone Wild!-to wrap up Summer Reading 2008 and get a sneak peek at SR09! This is the perfect opportunity to share you experiences and learn from others in our region. Maureen Ambrosino visits us from the Central Region to share ideas for gaming programs at your library. She’ll also bring some gaming equipment for hands on fun! Remember to wear socks for DDR! We’re also excited to present a program on SchoolRooms: EXPLORE, DISCOVER and LEARN about the Boston Public Library's latest software for the K-12 community, parents, teachers and librarians. Ken Peterson from the Boston Region, will be here to demonstrate SchoolRooms and show you how to use it in your library. This great tool is available from home with a Boston Public Library card.
Metrowest presents an exciting daylong program on Comics in the Library, featuring four experts in the field. This program, co-sponsored and held at EDCO in Waltham, will cover several topics, including: a hands-on introduction to comics with drawing and writing, using comics in the classroom, core lists, starting a comics/manga/anime group, and comics as teaching tools
For those of you who would like to earn PDPs (professional development points), Metrowest is a provider! Be sure to take advantage of the classes we offer to earn your PDPs. To earn 10 PDPs, you can take 3 classes in a track (either literature or technology) and do one project. Metrowest will award you a certificate of completion, which you can submit to your school. Classes in each track are denoted with a
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News from the Reference Department of the Newton Free Library
by
Elinor Hernon
Upcoming classes:
There will be several classes offered to you through the Metrowest Region and held at the Newton Free Library this fall. They have all been developed by our reference colleague, Kate May, and have been very popular in the past. Previously Kate gave classes in Reader's Advisory Resources and her "Knapsack" blog is still a very useful tool that can be accessed through the Newton Library web site at http://raknapsack.wordpress.com/ Other topics Kate has addressed in her classes are Travel Information Resources and Mastering the Online Job Search and Application.
This fall Kate will be offering a workshop on Real Estate Information Resources. The focus will be on resources for first time home buyers and resources for making sense of the current real estate market. There is a real maze of government information resources, demographic databases, and other useful web sites that patrons will find helpful in their property search. Kate will cover topics such as what to do before you contact a real estate agent, how to acquire information about a community before you relocate, where to learn about various mortgages, and the best methods for buying and selling a home. Check the Metrowest calendar of classes to see when this one and others will be scheduled.
Tour:
The very popular, and according to one attendee last spring "drop-jaw great", tour of the Norfolk Law Library will be offered again on Thursday morning, October 30th. The Norfolk law librarians present a very informative workshop that is not to be missed. Registration on the Metrowest web site is limited.
Hours:
Hours at the Newton Free Library have changed somewhat this September. On Sundays, the library will open one hour later than it has in the past. We will be open from 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. As always, if you need to ask a question during a time when the library is closed, use the email question form at http://www.newtonfreelibrary.net/?sec=reference&doc=regionrequest or send a FAX to (617) 964-9549. Whenever the library is open, our Reference staff is ready to serve you by answering questions and by doing shelf checks. The Reference phone number is (617) 796-1380 or toll free at 1 (800) 748-5660.
We hope to hear from you some time during the fall season. We do welcome your questions and ideas about our service.
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Friendly Reminder
by
Carol Shilakowsky
As part of bringing our members great service, and updating the MBLC Library Directory, we rely on knowing who you are and where you are. We have a lot of librarians and staff to account for, and appreciate when you let us know if you have changed positions within your library, gone to another library, added staff, left the region, or retired.
Changes in phone and fax numbers, email addresses, organization / school / library location changes, and IP address changes are important to us, too.
Please contact Metrowest with any new Directory and file information, and your library changes, as they occur. Email Carol at carols@mmrls.org or call 781-398-1819, and we will be sure to get your up-to-date information into the directory and into your file at Metrowest.
Remember, too, that we’d like to get to KNOW you personally. So, come take classes at Metrowest in Waltham, and join us at our Annual Membership Council Meeting in November. Details for that event will be available soon!
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From The Bookshelf
by
Carol Shilakowsky
New Books for a New Season! Metrowest is updating our Professional Collection resources in various disciplines: new Technology manuals from Google to Moodle to Perl, DruPal and XML; books relating to teens and the Cyber-world; Merchandising and library brand reference books; books that will guide you through the latest Information Age trends, exploring how we understand the world as it has become and evolves.
A few new titles include:
TECH REF:
Conner, Nancy. Google Apps: The Missing Manual. Pogue Press/ O’Reilly: 2008.
Cole, Jason & Helen Foster. Using Moodle, 2 nd ed. O’Reilly/Community Press: 2008.
Hunter, David, et al. Beginning XML, 4 th ed. WROX/ Wiley Publishing, Inc: 2007.
Schwartz, Randal L., et al. Learning Perl, 5 th ed. O’Reilly: 2008.
YA REF:
Alessio, Amy, Ed. Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults, 5 th ed. YALSA:
2008.
Gibbons, Susan. The Academic Library and the NET GEN Student: Making the
Connections. ALA: 2007.
Goodstein, Anastasia. Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are REALLY doing
Online. St. Martin’s Griffin: 2007.
MERCHANDISING / BRANDING REF:
Doucette, Elisabeth. Creating Your Library Brand: Communicating Your Relevance
and Value to Your Patrons. ALA: 2008.
LaPierre, Jenny & Trish Christiansen. Merchandising Made Simple: Using Standards
and Dynamite Displays to Boost Circulation. Libraries Unlimited: 2008.
We also have a copy of Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder ( Times Books: 2007) by David Weinberger, business visionary and best-selling author of The Cluetrain Manifesto.
According to Esther Dyson, author of Release 2.0, “…Weinberger attacks the complexity of the real world, not by making it simple but by making it clear….and once he explains how things can be in more than one place at the same time-and make sense-you’ll never look at a humble bookshelf or store shelf the same way again.”
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