NHLA Blog

At last week's ITS quarterly drop-in meeting, we discussed the topic of providing printing services to library customers who are using their own laptop computers. Amongst the libraries represented at the meeting, two libraries were providing such a service, Langdon Public Library (in Newington) and Rochester Public Library. Does your library offer this service, and/or do you know of other NH libraries that provide such a service? If so, please leave a comment including the name and location of these libraries and how the service is implemented at them. As we gather the informtion, we will post the content on the following page at the unofficial NHLA wiki, http://nhla.pbwiki.com/Libraries-Offering-Wireless-Printing-Services. Thanks!

p.s. If you would like to add content to the unofficial NHLA wiki, send me an email, and I will give you the password. Admittedly, there still needs to be a lot of planning done before the wiki becomes an official NHLA resource. If interested in joining a committee to help design and plan the NHLA wiki, send me an email as well.

Posted by Steve B. at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new feature has been added to the NHLA website. It is a widget that displays links to one randomly selected "always available" downloadable audiobook at New Hampshire's OverDrive site. The widget is displayed on the left-hand side of the NHLA home page, so be sure to take a look.

The widget is the product of NHLA's new Information Technology Section. Section members already have ideas for how to expand upon this idea and may have updates sometime down the road. In the meantime, NH librarians are encouraged to add this widget to their own websites. For information on how to do this, visit this NHLA-ITS page, and/or direct questions to Steve Butzel.

Posted by Steve B. at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'd like to announce three upcoming NHLA-ITS events. On June 24th, ITS will hold its first hands-on content management system working group meeting. We will begin building a library website using Drupal, an open source content management system application. The event will be held at the Hooksett Public Library and runs from 10am-12noon. (We thank Mark Glisson and Heather Shumway for hosting us in Hooksett!)

On July 15th at 10am, ITS will hold its first official quarterly drop-in meeting. We will be meeting at the beautiful Portsmouth Public Library, and we've blocked out up to two hours for the meeting. While we will discuss a few organizational issues, the remainder of the meeting will be for open discussion of IT topics librarians are facing, battling, dealing with or considering dealing with. All existing members and anyone who is interested in becoming a member (it's free!) are welcome. If you do plan to come, please email me so I'll have an idea of how many people to expect. And why not plan on going out for lunch in downtown Portsmouth afterwards! (We thank Sue McCann and Mary Ann List for hosting us in Portsmouth!)

On July 28th from 10am-12noon at the Madison Library, ITS will be holding its first North Country Roundtable Discussion on the topic of open source software. The discussion will be facilitated by The Bobbi Slossar of the NH State Library. Everyone is welcome. Please email Madison Library Director Mary Cronin if you plan on attending this meeting, so she'll have an idea of how many to expect. (We thank Mary for hosting us at the Madison Library!)

And if you can't attend any of these events, but are interested in joining NHLA-ITS and perhaps attending future ITS events, just email me, and I'll set you up to join our Google Group.

Posted by Steve B. at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new NHLA Information Technology Section is going to be holding its first Content Management System Working Group meeting on Tuesday, June 24th from 10am-12noon at the Hooksett Public. The plan for the meeting is to begin building a website for an actual library using Drupal. (I will have Drupal pre-installed on the NHLA web server, so we won't have to waste any time installing software.) Ideally, we will all have a hands-on opportunity to build part of the site.

You don't have to be a Drupal expert to participate. I have only dabbled with it myself, but Bobbi Slossar will be there to share with us all that she knows. All that is necessary is that you have some knowledge of web design and that you are interested in learning about content management systems. If you happen to have taken Bobbi's CMS class at the State Library, that would be a plus.

Please let me know if you plan on attending.

Posted by Steve B. at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our next NHLA-ITS meeting is next Tuesday, April 8th, at 10am at the Bedford Public Library. I hope you can all be there, and maybe even bring along a colleague or two!  If you missed our first meeting, you are still welcome to come to this meeting!! Don't feel you will have missed out on too much.

Here is what I have on the agenda so far: (1) Update on Bylaws and Section Committee Structure (or lack thereof), (2) Content Management System group update, (3) Selecting roundtable topics for calendar year 2009, (4) Maybe creating a process and a schedule for electing officers, (5) Setting a time for our next meeting, (6) News and notes from members.

I'd also like to make this offer to the group: At the start of our Tuesday meeting, would anyone like to give a brief 5-15 minute presentation on a project, area of research, or organizational struggle that you and/or your library is working on? If so, that would be great. I kind of like the idea of having one member giving a brief presentation at each meeting.

Hope to see you there,
Steve Butzel

Posted by Steve B. at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)