The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has approved the New Hampshire State Library’s application for $172,520 in matching "Staying Connected" grant program funds to benefit New Hampshire’s public libraries. The grant period for use of these funds is January 2005 through December 2007. The purpose of this grant is to support the needs of all public libraries in New Hampshire in their public access computing sustainability efforts.

• $87,155 will fund training for public library staff who assist with public access computing
• $86,365 will establish a technology technical support program at the State Library for New Hampshire’s public libraries

Funds for training support ($87,155) will expand on the training provided through the Gates U.S. Library Training grant program which ends in December 2004. The Gates Training Grant brought $23,550 to New Hampshire to provide technology training for public library staff. Training reached 154 librarians in 30 sessions representing 148 library buildings during 2004.

The Gates U. S. Library Initiative began in New Hampshire with the submission of a State Partnership Grant application in 2001. This initiative brought $428,088 to 34 New Hampshire public libraries in the form of computers, software and training.

For more information on Staying Connected New Hampshire contact Janet Eklund, Administrator of Library Operations, New Hampshire State Library at (603) 271-2393 or jeklund@library.state.nh.us.

Center for the Book - 603-271-2866

We will be accepting nominations for next year's Ladybug Picture Book Award from December 1, 2004 to January 26, 2005. Nominations can be sent to Diana Greenleaf at dgreenleaf@windhamsd.org. For information about the nominating criteria, visit www.nh.gov/nhsl/bookcenter/programs/ladybug.html.

Electronic and Government Information Services - 603-271-2143

NewsBank has updated the interface for the Union Leader and NH Sunday News online newspapers . The more intuitive interface features:

• The ability to browse by "date" and "section," making it possible to read the electronic newspaper content much as you would a print version.
• "Quick links" on each article page for instant searches by author, page,section or date without starting a new search.
• The option to search within a specific newspaper section.
• The ability to view an unlimited number of search results. Previously, a search could return a maximum of 200 results.
• New "Search History" and "Saved Articles" functionality which tracks recent searches, lists them so they can be easily reviewed and consolidates all selected articles so each is only a click away.

The 2003 NH Public Library Statistics - the ones that you submitted in May & June 2004 for your previous fiscal year - are now available for your use. Go to www.nh.gov/nhsl_new/lds/public_library_stats.html and click on "2003 NH Public Library Statistics".

This posting is in a single Excel file, broken into 20 worksheets. Each presents the libraries in alphabetical order by the legal name of the library, e.g. the Byron G. Merrill Library is at the end of the B's, not in the R's under Rumney.

The 20 worksheets group the information by topic:

* General Information
* Leadership
* Total Hours & Patron Visits
* Card Holders
* Children's Services* Reference Transactions
* Print Materials
* Audio/Video/Print Serials
* Electronic Materials
* Interlibrary Loan
* Lending Periods
* Revenue
* Expenditures
* Equipment in Libraries
* Network Equipment
* Internet Equipment
* Facility
* Meeting Rooms / Adult Programs
* Personnel Data
* Staff Benefits

Note: If you do not have the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program on your computer, you may download a free viewer from Microsoft at the link below, which will allow you to view the data, but not to manipulate it.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4eb83149-91da-4110-8595-4a960d3e1c7c&displaylang=en.

For questions, please contact Tom Ladd at tladd@library.state.nh.us.

Library Services to Persons with Disabilities - 603-271-1498

NFB-NEWSLINE®, provided by the National Federation of the Blind, makes national and local daily newspapers, as well as weeklies and magazines, available free to anyone who cannot read print due to a physical disability. The Union Leader, NH's statewide daily, was the first newspaper in the Granite State available on the NFB-NEWSLINE®. The Nashua Telegraph is also available. Eligible subscribers can call the NH State Library Talking Books Program at 800-491-4200 for information and applications.

NHAIS Services - 603-271-2141

NHAIS services recently purged the NHU-PAC of over 2800 duplicated items from the database. We are analyzing where these duplicate "items" are coming from to be able to eliminate duplication of items in the database. There should be only one copy of any library's holding for a particular title. Once the purge was done, the entire database was reindexed without interrupting the searching or use of the database. An involved process allows the database to be reindexed while the "old" index is in place and presenting search results. Once the indexing is over the new and old index files are switched and the new index is activated.

Reference and Information Services - 603-271-2144

ProQuest and MyFamily.com Introduce New "Ancestry" Product for Genealogy Research in Libraries

New product features new interface and never-before-available content; site license model removes "simultaneous user" restriction

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 26, 2004 -- ProQuest Information and Learning and MyFamily.com are partnering to produce a new tool to support genealogy research in libraries. The Web-based database Ancestry Library Edition will replace and supercede the current library product offering, AncestryPlus, which will be phased out over the coming year. Ancestry Library Edition will be available effective August 30, 2004. ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and publishes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide.

Significant improvements will be available for subscribers of the new Ancestry Library Edition product distributed by ProQuest. The interface will have a cleaner look with more user-friendly search options.

Additionally, the new database features key genealogical resources not previously available electronically in the library market. Exclusive new content available in Ancestry Library Edition includes the Immigration Collection, which features New York and San Francisco passenger lists and the New York Petitions for Naturalization Index.

Current Ancestry library subscribers will still receive the vast majority of the data currently available in their subscription. Continuing content includes the U.S. Census Collection ("every name" index dating from 1790 to 1930); U.S. Data Collection (birth, marriage, and death records; World War I draft registration information; and Social Security Death Index); and the U.K. and Ireland Collection (England and Wales Census Images and Indexes; England and Wales Civil Registration Index 1837-present; and England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Parish and Probate Records, 1500s-1837).

"Ancestry Library Edition will provide library users with easier-to-navigate access to the valuable census and immigration data from MyFamily.com that they’ve come to rely on," said Chris Cowan, vice president of publishing, ProQuest Information and Learning. "And, to serve libraries more effectively, ProQuest will distribute the database with no restriction on the number of simultaneous users. Using a site license model, libraries will be able to provide unrestricted access to any number of users within the library."

ProQuest will provide site license subscriptions to current Ancestry customers at no additional cost from their current subscription for their Ancestry product.

"Ancestry customers with renewal dates after August will benefit from switching to the new Ancestry Library Edition product to ensure uninterrupted service next year," said Cowan. "The ‘old’ Ancestry edition will be disabled on August 30, 2005."

The Last Copy Center was begun several years ago as a repository for books that are the last (or almost last) known copy in the state. These books are available for interlibrary loan to other libraries. Selection criteria and a submission form were created for fiction books. Please visit the State Library page at www.nh.gov/nhsl/lcc/index.html to read the guidelines and to print off a copy of the donation form. We continue to review donations for possible addition to the Last Copy Center collection. At this time we accept only adult fiction books. Please remember to submit the donation form, not the book, for any book you believe should be in the Last Copy Center. If any librarian is interested in helping to write guidelines for the acceptance of nonfiction books and children's books, please contact Donna Gilbreth at the State Library (my phone is 271-2060 and my email is gilbreth@library.state.nh.us).