While the new NH Library Directory is still at the printers, the online version is now up-to-date & being updated weekly. Please send any updates to darlene@library.state.nh.us.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded the New Hampshire State Library a $23,550 grant to implement a Technology Training Program for public librarians in New Hampshire. Funds will be expended in calendar year 2004 and used for a training program with a focus on 4 broad technology areas: hands-on PC maintenance, web content, Internet resources for target audiences and fundraising to sustain technology. All employees of NH public libraries are eligible to participate in this training.

The Training Grant is another effort by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to sustain public access computing. The grant is a follow-up program to the Gates State Partnership Program, which awarded 34 libraries in New Hampshire $428,088 in hardware, software training, and one year of technical support during 2003.

A survey designed to assess the technology needs of New Hampshire public librarians was utilized in determining the training program. The grant application and tally of the needs assessment survey can be viewed at the State Library’s website. The Gates Training Lab at the Hooksett Public Library will be the principal training site for classes offered to librarians in the southern tier of the state. Classes will also be scheduled at computer lab facilities in the North Country. Small group hands-on computer maintenance and networking essentials classes will be conducted at libraries throughout the state. One training session will be offered at the annual New Hampshire Library Association conference to be held in May 2004 at the Mount Washington Hotel. The curriculum will incorporate the information portal, WebJunction, where appropriate into training sessions.

Since input was sought from the source, i.e. New Hampshire librarians, the New Hampshire State Library feels confident that the specific topics included in its training plan will be eagerly received. Watch for announcements in February and March for Technology Training offered in your area. Contact Diana Degen at the State Library for more information.

Library Development Services - 1-800-462-1726 (Lancaster)

Bibliostat and Sue Palmatier are still working on the NH Public Library Annual Report form; as previously announced, it should be available by the end of February.  We don't have a deadline for libraries to submit it yet, although Sue must send all figures to Washington by July 30 -- not a minute later than midnight -- and preferably by July 2.  The earlier Sue can get the information in, the earlier the final tabulations will be available.

Those of you accustomed to filling out surveys online should find the new system faster and easier than the old one; those of you who are a bit uncomfortable working online can print off the form, fill it in offline, and then enter the data online.  Only librarians who have no access to the Internet will be given a paper form this year.

This year most of the "edit checks" -- e.g., spotting differences in year-to-year figures, identifying figures that fall outside expected percentage ranges, and noting discrepancies among various parts of the survey -- will be done by the computer as you enter your data.  The system will actually ask you to explain or change things it sees as problems as you go along.   Sue will still have to hand check any paper reports.  As always, she'll be able to override the computer if there are mitigating factors that explain what the machine considers anomalies; for this reason, please let Sue know if odd and curious circumstances at your library caused great changes in your FY2003 statistics. 

One caveat:  You must use Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater to access the online survey.  Netscape or other browsers will not work.

More information will follow as it becomes available.  If you have questions, please contact Sue Palmatier at 1-800-462-1726 or spalmatier@library.state.nh. us. Thanks for your patience!

The Youth Services page has been updated. Check out the new links in Programming (Mystery Programs, Storytimes, and Young Adult Programming). All of the new links are at the end of these sections. Visit the page at www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/youth_services.html.

Network Services - 603-271-2141

Network Services is about to send out to each NHAIS registered library their ILL and cataloging activity statistics from December 2002 to November 2003. Mary Russell has compiled these statistics from the NHU-PAC. Each library is being given a count of the number of ILL requests made by it and to it as will as the fill rate for each category. The cataloging information includes the number of records added for or by that library as well as the actual count of "holdings" represented in the NHU-PAC. There is also the total number of "holdings" added to the database for all libraries within the time frame stated above.

NHU-PAC has been upgraded to the latest and greatest software. This upgrade did fix a couple of little problems, testing is still underway to determine if there are problems created by the upgrade itself. During the last week of December the entire database was re-indexed. The process was started on Christmas Eve at about 3:00 PM. It finished on Friday after Christmas at 11:45: AM. There are now well over a million and a half bibliographic records in the database with somewhere around 2 1/2 million items.

WebDewey is being offered through the State Library to registered NHAIS libraries wishing to use this OCLC tool. Information can be found at: www.oclc.org/dewey/versions/webdewey/. The cost for a single user is $228.00. Payment must accompany the request. For those wishing to have more than 1 user the most economical path is to subscribe directly with OCLC.

Reference and Information Services - 603-271-2144

The Periodical List supported by Article Express contains a listing of print and electronic journals to which the State Library subscribes. It is produced using Serial Solutions software. Originally, the list could only be accessed by title in alphabetical order (i.e. clicking on a letter of the alphabet and then scrolling down to locate the title.

Access has now been enhanced to allow you to search a journal by entering keywords in the title, exact title, title begins with and ISSN. You can also search by subject.

To try out these new features, click the Article Express entry on the State Library's homepage, under Resources for NH Libraries and then click on Periodical List www.nh.gov/nhsl/

To access the list directly, go to: www.nh.gov/nhsl_new/services/librarians/aexpress/

The New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration is the state resource for residents who wish to obtain records of birth, marriage, divorce and death events. DVRA also has a genealogical research vault that is open to the public containing records that date back to the year 1640.

DVRA issues certified copies of birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates and provides aggregated data files to qualified individuals and agencies that demonstrate a "direct and tangible" interest in obtaining vital records. To obtain request forms and find out about your ability to access records, visit the website of the New Hampshire Division of Vital Records Administration at www.nh.gov/sos/vitalrecords/ELIGIBILITY.html. Various documents and information are available on this website about how to access vital records and who may access these records.

If you are a town clerk, hospital or funeral director, researcher or member of the general public, this website will help you obtain the information.