Something Wiki this way comes

http://pbworks.com/content/edu-librarians

self-hosted
media wiki
drupal (content management system, can do blogs and websites as well)

wikimatrix.org

Region 2 children's wiki --oh. theirs doesn't get "used" either. Well, they may be reading, but not adding.

Wyoming Author Wiki (why is there not a Kentucky author Wiki?)

Warren County Public Library Staff Wiki

Disaster and emergency plans
employee handbook
staff forms

SHORT MESSAGES, BIG RETURNS: MAKING THE MOST OF ONLINE AND MOBILE OUTREACH WITH TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND MYINFOQUEST

Adding services based on new tools:
building
media
staff
catalog
phones
computers
websites
email
chat
social media
text

Why?
Accessible
Popular
Flexible
Free

Marketing tools, but also provides service as well.

Applications:
Worldcat
weread/goodreads/bookshare
live chat/ ask a librarian
book clubs
libguides
catalog

Sync facebook with twitter


Use lists on twitter to send people information relevant to them? Teen events to teens, Senior events to seniors, movies to the movie watchers.

Searchtwitter.com
Does anyone know
I need
public library
where can I
what is the
books

#nowreading
#nky
#book
#library


Look at New York Public Library facebook page for ideas.

RA Day? Tell me what you've read, I'll give you a new author/series/book.


My info quest: reference consortium

Children's Computing, part 2

So now that I've decided on downloadable games, where do I go to buy them? Stephanie wanted games for kids ages 2~12, so I made up a list for her of games, prices, and recommendations.

Giggles Baby: Nursery Rhymes 6-24 months $19.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2009)

Bob the Builder Can-Do Zoo Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2009)

Dora’s Carnival Adventure Rated E $6.99

World of Goo Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2009)

Nancy Drew and the Phantom of Venice Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Fall 2008)

I Spy Funhouse Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2008)

JumpStart Advanced Preschool, JumpStart Advanced Kindergarten, JumpStart Advanced 1st grade, JumpStart Advanced 2nd grade, JumpStart Advanced 3rd grade
$14.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2008)

Thomas and Friends: Special Delivery Rated E $19.99

So I had Giggles for the babies, JumpStart for Edutainment Pre-K through 3rd grade, Dora and Bob the Builder for younger girls and boys, Thomas the Tank Engine because he is a local favorite, World of Goo (one of my personal favorites!) and Nancy Drew for the older boys and girls, And I Spy because it was a favorite from the older computers. I couldn't bring back Barney or Magic School Bus, but I Spy was still around.

I purchased 5 licenses for the Giggles game, and the JumpStart Games, though neither one of them required a license key or any sort of activation. I would rather cover my bases though. The Thomas Game specifically allows for you to install the game on five different computers with one license, so only one license was needed there. (It does require activation, so they are going to hold you to that five computer limit. No cheating!) The Big Fish Games site is awesome. Not only are their games only $6.99 a piece, but when I emailed them to inquire about multiple licensing, their tech support cheerfully replied that I only needed to buy one copy and I would be able to reinstall on all five of my children's computers. Hooray! Big Fish Games does have a client window that pops up underneath their games, but with SteadyState I was able to block the client from popping up, and the games still run just fine. (You wouldn't necessarily need to block the client from running, I just preferred they access the games from the desktop icon, and not through the client.)

(Just a note: Since you are downloading the entire game, many of these files are ridiculously big. Even if you have a fast internet connection, these downloads are going to take some time, so just be patient. The lack of disk-switching will be well worth it in the end!)

Children's Computing, the easy way

So we've recently had a dilemma that caused me a ton of headache and stress. The Library's Children's computers were terribly, horribly out of date (like original Gates computers, Windows NT out of date) but we had no idea how to recreate the setup. We liked the idea of a locked down computer, without internet access, and with pre-installed computer games the kids would recognize. But we ran into all sorts of problems! The major one being that most games produced now run off a disk, and require the disk to run as a copy-protection/space issue. But for our children's section, changing game CDs every time someone wants to play a different game is just impossible. Besides, then those CDs can be damaged through use, or even stolen. Not an ideal situation. So I thought. And thought some more.

First I tried Qimo, an open source linux desktop designed for children. Unfortunately, I'm not all that familiar with linux (I have some knowledge, but I'm by no means a linux expert. I'm a Mac girl.) and Qimo hasn't quite been perfected to lock down the system yet. Kids went to smash buttons, and the entire desktop would disappear. Poof.

So back to Windows we went. I tried a Windows XP install with TuxPaint, GCompris, Childsplay, and other open source games installed. It went okay, but a regular Windows install still allows for way too much fooling around on the desktop, adding folders, and moving/deleting/hiding icons, and things that I had to go back and fix when things went horribly wrong. And then I found Kiddix. Kiddix was it's very own operating system (linux based), but it was framed in such a user friendly manner that that didn't matter. Everything was locked down, so no mishaps with the entire taskbar disappearing or the language getting switched to Chinese without any indication as to how to switch back. And if something ever went wrong, they had awesome tech support who worked through it for me. We ran Kiddix for six months before the subject came up again.

Unfortunately, the computers we replaced the original children's computers with were still older computers. I don't know if it was the abuse the computers got from the kids, or the already aging computers limping around on their last legs, but we had issues with the computers freezing up and other various issues. Not major problems, just annoyances for the staff. So when fixing the children's computers came up again, the decision was made to buy brand new computers -and- to find games that the kids would recognize. Children and parents kept asking about games we had on the old Gates computers: Barney, and Magic School Bus, etc., and while they would play the no-brand games on Kiddix, it was decided to look again.

So I started at LibGaming. A search there lead me to GameTap, a game streaming service. I had considered game streaming before, but we always ran into a couple of problems. One, it required access to the internet. Two, most game streaming collections had far more extensive collections than we needed. These computers would only be used for roughly ages 2-12, and primarily for the younger set. (The older kids tend to use the public computers because they want to access the internet.) But looking at the Library Gaming Toolkit, GameTap looked like a pretty viable solution, as long as we could possibly use SteadyState to lock out all internet sites except for the ones GameTap needed to run. Why SteadyState? Well, it's free. Also, the Whitelist function. So I got an older test computer, and I tried it out. I managed to find all the servers to make the GameTap website load (*.metaboli.fr, *.gametap.com), but I never was able to get the plugin to connect. I contacted GameTap technical support, but all they could tell me was that GameTap had not been tested with SteadyState, and could not be guaranteed to work. Gee, thanks guys.

So GameTap was out of the picture. I began to despair, and then I realized I was a moron. No seriously. While searching for Bob the Builder downloadable games, I found....BOB THE BUILDER DOWNLOADABLE GAMES! Not streaming flash games, or anything like that, but games that you bought the license for, downloaded the installer, and put it on your computer, never to have to connect to the internet again. And best yet, since there is no disk, well, there is no disk to deal with! This seemed like such a simple solution, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before! I mean, I don't think I've bought any software in the past two years that came on CD. Everything has been downloaded from the internet. Why didn't I assume that children's games would be the same way? Of course, even the ALA's Great Interactive Software for Kids list, doesn't take this into account. Some of the games they labeled as "needs disk to run" I purchased as downloads, so maybe I shouldn't feel so bad.

(Part 2 coming, with links to where I purchased my downloadable games.)

Meme: What Dewey Decimal Number are You?

Emily's Dewey Decimal Section:

078 Newspapers in Scandinavia

Emily's birthday: 9/5/1983 = 95+1983 = 2078


Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works


Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.



What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

To do:

Make a manual of what to do if there was an issue and a request for preservation was issued.

PLI NOTES: Library Governance

310: No tax given to them
470: People vote to give money to library
710: People petitioned to give tax money to library


Do we have copyright law posted by the copy machine? We used to.

173.060 – Board must meet once a month.
173.040 – Missing four monthly meetings means automatic resignation.
173.040 – Library board is volunteer.
Trustee terms are 4 years each. People can serve two terms consecutively.
OMA – Board meetings must be open. Unless buying/selling land, discussing litigation, discussing appointment/discipline/dismissal of employee.
61.825 – Special meetings must abide by specific rules.
ORA – all records are open for inspection. NOT individual circ records. We can charge (up to .10 per page) to print out these records.

After being appointed/elected to public office in KY, you cannot fight a duel.

Fiscal Year July 1- June 30, by state law.
Boards have 5 members, also by state law. (Some with 7 have extenuating circumstances.)

Library board has one employee – the director.
Citizen visitors to board meetings do not have to identify themselves, unless they plan to speak.

Staff should not show up at the board meeting with a complaint, go through your director first please.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Hmmm.

Do you know your library's mission statement? “The Nelson County Public Library strives to anticipate and serve the changing needs of its growing community.” That's what is on our website, anyway.

Why don't we post our minutes on the webpage?