Administration - 603-271-2392

New Hampshire’s Department of Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that the process to apply for grants through its Conservation License Plate grants programs - also called “Moose Plate” grants - is now open. The deadline for the 2009 grant round is March 27, 2009.  Please see the following page for more information about the Moose Plate grants being offered by the State Library: www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/moose.

Electronic and Government Information Services - 603-271-2143

The computer lab at the state library will be available this spring.  Keep an eye out for the spring class schedule, which will be posted soon.

Library Development Services - 603-271-2865 (Concord)

The NH Public Library Annual Report (NHPLAR) data collection for 2008 is OPEN!  Please visit the following website for instructions on submitting your data: www.nh.gov/nhsl/lds/public_library_stats_instructions.htm.

The final date for submission of data this year is 20 April 2009. 

Please begin submission of data as soon as possible, so that we may assist you should you have any questions. Contact Tom Ladd or (603) 419-0086 with any questions.

The CHILIS Spring Conference will be held on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at Southern NH University in Manchester. The registration deadline is Friday, March 13. More information and registration materials are posted on the CHILIS website at www.nhlibrarians.org/chilis.

The 2009 Kids, Books and the Arts grant applications are now online at www.nh.gov/nhsl/services/librarians/kids_books.html . Libraries should submit their applications by Wednesday, April 8, 2009.

T-shirt orders for the NH Summer Reading Program are now being collected. Order forms can be found on the CHILIS website along with a link to the t-shirt designs.

READS Roundtables will feature the theme "Managing in Tough Times."

This structured roundtable discussion program will be offered three times:

• 23 March 2009  Monday Hanover Howe Library  10am - Noon
• 25 March 2009  Wednesday  Hooksett Public Library  10am - Noon
• 27 March 2009  Friday  Plymouth  Pease Public Library  10am - Noon

Watch the READS website for registration information: www.nhlibrarians.org/reads.

Tom Ladd, NHSL Consultant & Library Education Coordinator is in temporary quarters courtesy of the Weeks Memorial Library in Lancaster, and may be reached at:

New Hampshire State Library
North Country Office
c/o 128 Main Street
Lancaster, NH  03584

van:  LANCASTER / NHSL-NCO
Thomas.Ladd@dcr.nh.gov
temporary phone (603)419-0086

NHAIS Services - 603-271-2141

Due to some internal NHU-PAC workings the keyword & browse indexes titles will be re-created the weekend of 6-9 March 2009. The process will begin about 6:00 PM on Friday 6 March. From this time until the reindexing is complete only titles that have been indexed will show up in browse or keyword searches. As the process continues more and more titles will be visible through these searches.

The last time this reindex was done the entire process took 4 days. With the new server in place, I hope the reindex will be mostly completed by Monday morning, 9 March. If it is not, the bulk of the records will be available at that time through all searches.

The weekend was chosen to minimize the disruption of work flows caused by the database not being at 100% functionality. There are currently 1.9 million titles in NHU-PAC, with roughly 12 million "holdings".