Florida Library Webinars provides

“access to the new statewide training program featuring webinars on topics ranging from customer service to new technologies.  Our training is free of charge for all staff working in Florida libraries.”

Novare Library Services built the website for the new service using WordPress and customized the robust Events Manager Plug-in to handle reservations, classes and statistics.

Beyond building the interface,  we will be providing technology webinars every Wednesday at 12pm ET for the program.

Our programs this first quarter can be found at Florida Library Webinars – or check them out by instructor:
Diana Silveira
Chad Mairn

Florida Library Webinars provides

“access to the new statewide training program featuring webinars on topics ranging from customer service to new technologies.  Our training is free of charge for all staff working in Florida libraries.”

Novare Library Services built the website for the new service using WordPress and customized the robust Events Manager Plug-in to handle reservations, classes and statistics.

Beyond building the interface,  we will be providing technology webinars every Wednesday at 12pm ET for the program.

Our programs this first quarter can be found at Florida Library Webinars – or check them out by instructor:
Diana Silveira
Chad Mairn

Speakers for the day included:
Chad Mairn, Transforming Our Vision to Enhance Library Services
Linda Bruno – The Art of Communication
Author – Tim Dorsey

A Tim Dorsey/Florida-oriented trivia contest was held for attendees and Tim Dorsey autographed books were awarded to the winning teams.

- Front Page Slide Show featuring pictures from within the library (with image from a photographer, Esty Mickens and staff)
- Customized interface to the OPAC
- Customized Children’s Page with its own logo
- Links to Databases, Training and Community Resources

The site also debuts the library’s new logo created by Kace Montgomery at Iron Block Studios

1. We offer LearnSurge web-based programming direct to your users desktop with Andrew Sanderbeck
2. We can come to your library and offer training classes as a single session or a longer series.

Novare will start training the public at Eustis Memorial Library on April 23.

The initial classes include courses on:

• Computers 101
• Email Basics
• Internet Basics
• Intro to Windows Basics and Office

The site is augmented and allows users to:
- View Complete Program in  a mobile-friendly page – including Meetings, Poster Sessions and Conference Highlights
- Exhibitor Information with booth and contact information
- Create a Custom Schedule by adding programs to “Favorites”

In 2011, we exceeded first year expectations in three areas:

• Providing professional development to librarians via web-based and face-to-face training
• Developing underlying tools for libraries to provide new and innovative services through web programming and web design
• Modeling innovative behavior while advocating for relevant and emerging technology trends for librarians

Providing Professional Development

Novare Library Services began offering web-based training in July. In the 6 months of training, we offered 25 web-based training sessions on topics including:

• Facebook Marketing
• Twitter (Basic & Advanced)
• QR Codes
• Augmented Reality
• Cloud Computing
• Augmented Reality Applications
• Voice Over IP Resources
• SMS Services for Libraries
• E-books
• Social Media & Privacy
• Mobile Apps
• Google+

LearnSurge
Novare Library Services also began a partnership with PCI Webinars to bring web-based training to library end-users through LearnSurge (LearnSurge.com). This new service will launch in May 2012.  Demos are available upon request.

Staff Development Days

• Novare Library Services also coordinated and implemented a Staff Development Day for Pasco County Libraries in October 2011.  The Staff Development Day included:
• Keynote address by Peter Kageyama, Author of For the Love of Cities
• Programs on E-books, Stress Management and Social Media and Pasco County
• Integration with technology and engaging staff through group activities.
• Chad presented, “Transforming Our Vision to Enhance Library Services” as the Keynote Address at St John’s County Staff Day.
• Chad presented, “Ebooks: Empowering the Reader in a Digital World” at NEFLIN’s Technology Conference.

• Diana presented to the Dade County Library Association, “The Life and Times of a Digital Librarian: Past, Present and Future”
• Chad presented at the HandHeld Librarian Conference, “Building a Text Messaging Reference Service On a Budget”
• Chad presented the following programs at Internet Librarian 2011
• Handheld Librarians’ Mobile Tech Tutorial
• Practical Considerations for Public & Academic Libraries
• E-book Evolution & Revolution
• Diana presented two programs at the 2011 Georgia Library Association Annual Conference:
• Smartphones, Apps, and Libraries
• Taking the Leap: Moving From Hardware Solutions to Cloud Computing

We exhibited at the following conferences:

• Florida Library Association
• Georgia Library Association
• Indiana Library Federation Annual Conference (co- exhibitor with PCI Webinars)
• Handheld Librarian Conference (Virtual)

Other Exciting News:

• Diana was awarded the FLA 2011 Library Leader of the Year Award
• Diana served as Co-Chair for the NISO Committee developing Recommended Practices on Physical Delivery of Library Resources.
• Chad publishes a chapter titled ‘Acquiring, Promoting, and Using Mobile-Optimized Library Resources and Services,’ which will be published this month in “E-Reference Context and Discoverability in Libraries: Issues and Concepts” edited by Sue Polanka.

2011 Annual Report in PDF for Download

-  ”!” is no longer necessary for returning messages to users
-  The enhanced coding creates a more robust system that can handle the growing number of libraries and overall volume by Florida libraries.
-  The back-end runs through Google Apps – making it easier than ever for libraries to implement the service

These enhancements build upon the threading enhancement in version 2.0.

Mark Oypd, Novare’s Chief Information Officer said, “SMS 3.o has a new underlying code that creates a flexible, responsive and easy to implement service that can help libraries easily bring SMS Reference Services into their existing services.”

The Ask a Librarian Blog announced the new version yesterday.  They note, “Just another exciting enhancement to make your job easier!”

In 2010-2011, Florida’s Ask a Librarian service had 5,398 total texting sessions with Florida Residents.  This is roughly 7% of the overall 75,712 sessions (chat, email and text) overall.  This new service is definitely a hit amongst Florida residents.  The enhancements to the SMS Service will allow the service to create more local numbers and handle even more sessions with a quicker response time in 2012.

Diana Silveira, our President, has been working as co-chair of the NISO Workgroup creating New Recommended Practice on Physical Delivery of Library Resources for several years.   The document has been finalized and was released!   Below is the press release from NISO.

NISO Publishes New Recommended Practice on Physical Delivery of Library Resources

Identifies Methods for Reducing Resource Sharing Delivery Time and Costs

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the publication of the new recommended practice: “Physical Delivery of Library Resources” (NISO RP-12-2012). The physical delivery of library materials is an integral component of the library resource sharing process. Despite the ever-increasing availability of electronic journals, e-books, and other digital resources, the movement of physical items remains a major concern and a major cost for many libraries. In one state, borrowing of returnable items increased by 107.4% in six years. A recent study showed that the average academic library spends more than $6,800/year for delivery services, with some libraries paying as high as $60,000. Given such volumes, libraries are struggling to deal with the labor and equipment costs, material wear and tear, and transit and sorting needs.

“Physical Delivery of Library Resources” focuses on three key areas: the physical move, automation, and the management of physical delivery. While the scope of the document is limited to the external delivery of items between separately administered libraries, many of the recommendations could apply to delivery between branches of a single library system, as well.

Ranging from labeling and containers to automation and contracting with courier services, this Recommended Practice addresses both the lending and the borrowing library’s activities related to delivering and returning a physical item.

“The Working Group examined closely the workflow of resource sharing from patron to borrowing library to lending library and back,” explains Diana Sachs-Silveira, President Novare Library Services and co-chair of the Working Group. “We then identified practices at each step that would make services more efficient.”

“Our recommendations cover things as small as rubber banding and as large as automated material handling systems,” stated Valerie Horton, Executive Director, Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) and co-chair of the Physical Delivery of Library Resources Working Group. “I think there is something for every sized delivery service in these recommendation and every delivery manager who reads these recommendations can find many ways of improving their services.”

“With so much focus on electronic information, it’s easy to forget how much libraries and their patrons depend on sharing of physical materials,” said Todd Carpenter, NISO Managing Director. “The Physical Delivery Recommended Practice identifies the best of the many innovative resource sharing and delivery practices in use today.”

Physical Delivery of Library Resources is available for free download at:

http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/rp-12-2012.pdf

All libraries involved in resource sharing, as well as delivery, sorting, courier and transportation service providers, are encouraged to adopt these recommendations.

Jimmy Wales (of Wikipedia) tweets about his sites blackout on the 18th.

With SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act] (H.R.3261) and the PROTECT IP Act [Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011] (S.968), free and open communication via the Internet may be severely severed. The power to censor could be in the hands of the entertainment industry and from within our government if this legislation eventually passes. The proposed legislation gives the government the power to shut down unauthorized Web sites used for piracy even though most of these Web sites are outside U.S. jurisdiction. Going further, Web sites like Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook and any others with user-generated and shared content could be flagged and caught in this bill. This should be important to everyone especially if you value your intellectual freedom.

On January 18, 2012 Wikipedia and others will protest SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act by blacking out their Web sites. People visiting libraries that day will approach the reference desk asking why some of their favorite Web sites are gone and I think Librarians should be ready to provide unbiased information/commentary on this proposed legislation, so that our users can make wise decisions and realize that this is very important – not just for today, but well into o future.

Although piracy is clearly wrong, this proposed legislation will not stop people from doing it. Simply adding an IP address into a browser’s address field will allow pirates to still download materials illegally while legitimate links/commentary etc. may be considered copyright infringement and subsequently blocked while our freedom of expression dissolves into the ether!

Technically, it is illegal to share Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in any format and if SOPA, for example, passed then links to this amazing speech would be removed automatically. No one would be able to experience the speech unless they purchased it. EMI on behalf of The King Center has enforced their copyright and ordered its removal from YouTube. Their Web site says that they will sell you or your school a copy for $10 or you can buy the DVD at Amazon.com.  Although there are current ways for corporations to take infringed copyright content down (e.g., Digital Millenium Copyright Act, PRO-IP Act, Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), the passing of bills like SOPA and PROTECT IP would undermine the basic structure of the Internet while it’s open/sharing/collaborative aspect would diminish and this is very unfortunate.

The White House recently said that it wouldn’t support any bill that would “inhibit innovation” and they vowed to protect “the openness of the Internet” and this is fantastic news, but everyone (not just librarians or technologists etc.) should be aware of this threatening legislation and stand up and be heard. The Electronic Frontier Foundation makes it easy to send a “Please oppose the Internet Blacklist Legislation (PROTECT IP and SOPA)” letter to your representatives. So, if you oppose this proposed legislation, then please let your voice be heard!

Any Google search (right now at least) for SOPA will provide well over 120,000,000 results, but here are a few worth checking out:
Senator Ron Wyden’s statement opposing SOPA
What do you need to know about SOPA PIPA? Begin here
List of SOPA Supporters
List of Those Expressing Concern With SOPA & PIPA
SOPA: The debate in plain English