WHAT'S HAPPENING IN NHAIS SERVICES
by Charles LeBlanc, Supervisor
N.H. State Library, NHAIS Services

The State Library, as an institution suffers from the stigma of being part of State Government. When I start a talk the opening line sometimes is: "I'm from the state government and I'm here to help you." When the laughter dies down, the rest of the talk proceeds. What this bit of humor shows is the innate mistrust of citizens for their government. This mistrust does not seem to carry over to the individuals serving in state government.

I would like to praise those in NHAIS Services that keep the work flowing; David, Margaret, Trish, Michelle, and Mary. Their efforts make the statistics shown below happen. Their efforts make concrete the goals and objective of NHAIS. Librarians know that the labor done here in Concord, by these people, makes their patrons' library use more fruitful. To more broadly publicize the quantity of work done, the report given at the annual NHAIS meeting is being included in this issue.

For other facets of our service, please see the web page for NHAIS Services at http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/network/index.html. Let me remind you of the Help Desk number for cataloging, system usage, or product delivery issues relating to NHAIS services ~ (603) 271-2141. If you feel an e-mail message would be easier to explain something, then that address is NetworkS@library.state.nh.us.

NHAIS Services staff are willing and, I cannot say waiting since there is too much to do, but are able to take your questions and either resolve them on the spot or refer them to someone who will trace down and research a solution that works for all of the New Hampshire library community. The sooner we hear about anything that either helps you or hinders your work the sooner we will be in a position to improve on or rectify that situation. Better library services is an elusive and ever changing goal that can only be meet through our mutual cooperation.

NHAIS membership

NHAIS membership as of February 2005 was 424 libraries;
215 publics;
136 school libraries (K-12) - 60 of these are high schools;
29 academic libraries;
44 special libraries (including government agencies).

Surveys were sent to the 272 ILL participants with the 2nd year reports and so far 84 (not quite one-third) have been completed and returned to us. Yellow surveys - please do them if you have not.

Many others are currently adding holdings and downloading cataloging records but do not currently have the staff, or perhaps the inclination, to lend and borrow through ILL.

Educational institutions have begun participating more actively in the past six months: Several high schools have begun adding holdings regularly as have a few colleges.

NHU-PAC

• During 2004 there were 68,531 new OCLC bibliographic records added to the database;
• 911,802 new holdings to were added to NHU-PAC in 2004;
• As of March 9, 2005 there were 1,579,388 OCLC bibliographic records in NHU-PAC and 4,553,255 items;
• We have periodically (every couple of months or so) been removing duplicate items from the NHU-PAC, including 6,082 deleted on March 9. The newest item on a record for any one library is retained

Reloading of complete holdings

• Since launch of the new system we have received requests from 49 libraries or systems - like the Tech Colleges);
• We began reloading with libraries whose record source is OCLC (or NHU-PAC) because they are the cleanest match to NHU-PAC records;
• 1 library's reload is totally finished;
• Library sent us 19,710 records reflecting their current local database;
• We deleted 12,729 holdings for this library from NHU-PAC;
• 19,551 matched existing NHU-PAC record OCLC control numbers;
• 159 did not match on an existing OCLC record # and had to be manually checked; some were serial titles for which monographic records had been used in the local system, some were records with extra digits in the OCLC control number in the library's local system (ours were all cleaned up prior to the new system launch);
• 24 records generated item errors on loading and had to be followed up on;
• 9 libraries records have been loaded, but still require follow-up work;
• 1 library's load is currently in progress;
• Thus far we have reloaded 610,464 records - we have an additional 25,276 that we have received but not yet completed loading;
• The reload request forms received but not yet begun reflect another 2 million + records to load.

Original Cataloging Pilot Project

• Since June 2004 we have been working on a pilot project for creating original cataloging records for materials that couldn't be matched on OCLC when they were requested;
• 33 libraries participated in the pilot project and 166 eligible titles were identified for the project (70% books, 10% videos (VHS & DVD), 20% sound recordings);
• New OCLC records were created for 89 of the titles (54%);
• OCLC records were located for 56 (34%) of the titles;
• 21 (13%) of the identified titles could not be processed - library couldn't send them because they were in use, or no longer owned them, or the items did not include adequate info to catalog from.

WEBJUNCTION NEW HAMPSHIRE:
COMING SOON TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU!
by Thomas Ladd
Library Education Coordinator
NH State Library, North Country Office, Lancaster

"WebJunction New Hampshire" will shortly be the newest web service from the N.H. State Library for New Hampshire libraries.

The national online community for libraries, WebJunction (http://webjunction.org) is where library staff meet to share ideas, solve problems, take online courses - and have fun. Funded for the first three years by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, WebJunction is now expanding to include state affiliates funded through state library agencies.

The N.H. State Library is excited to be in the 2nd group of states to set up their own affiliate site - WebJunction New Hampshire - which should debut on the web by early summer 2005.

WebJunction New Hampshire will be a mix of the great opportunities available nationally and locally developed and delivered resources such as:

• Continuing Education Opportunities and Online tutorials;
• National and New Hampshire-specific discussion forums;
• Resources to help get the job done, e.g.,
• Technology planning
• Policy development
• Buying hardware and software
• Marketing the library
• Training materials
• Local and national library statistics

ELECTRONIC INFORMATION RESOURCES
by Diana Degen, Librarian
Electronic & Government Information Services

Spring 2005 Workshops - The workshops being offered at the N.H. State Library this spring include:

Genealogy:

Ancestry Library Edition
HeritageQuest Online
 

Health:

Consumer Health: Complementary & Alternative Medicine
Consumer Health Information on the Internet
From Snake Oil to Penicillin: Evaluating Consumer Health Information
PubMed for Public Libraries
  Government:

Making Sense of the Census
NH.gov: State Government Online
  Education:

Homework Survival Skills for School and Public Libraries
 

Internet:

More Than Goggle: Power Searching the World Wide Web
 

NHewLINK Databases:

Searching EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost Administration
 

Reference:

Humanities Online
Ready Reference on the Run

Gates Technology Workshops: The Gates Workshops being held at various locations across the State include:

Your PC Inside and Out
Connecting PC's: Intro to Networking

NHewLINK Databases: Through the NHewLINK Project the State Library is able to provide access to a variety of databases for public libraries and public schools in New Hampshire. These databases include coverage of New Hampshire newspapers, general periodicals, health, business, genealogy and fiction. We hope that you and your patrons are finding these resources helpful. Listed below is a review of the databases included in NEewLINK, as well as access (in-library, home) information and the audience for each.

REFERENCE AND INFORMATION SERVICES
by Donna Gilbreth, Supervisor
Reference & Information Services

The N.H. State Library Collection Development Committee is excited to be able to purchase the recently published Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This sixty volume set (60,000 pages) has been in production for over twelve years. The Dictionary includes over 50,000 biographies of men and women who shaped Great Britain's history, from the fourth century BC to the year 2001. The new edition is a revision and expansion of the classic Dictionary of National Biography, published between 1885 and 1901. The original DNB published various supplements through the years. The State Library owns the original set, plus supplements updating biographies through 1970. The new edition revised or rewrote the original 38,607 biographical entries plus added over 16,000 new entries. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has recently been awarded the 2005 Dartmouth Medal, an American Library Association recognition for reference works of outstanding quality and significance. The staff of the N.H. State Library is looking forward to adding this essential reference work to their Reference collection.

THE TALKING BOOK PROGRAM
by John Barrett, Supervisor
Talking Books Section

The Talking Book Program provides reading materials in special formats to any resident of New Hampshire who is unable to read standard print due to permanent or temporary visual or physical qualifying disabilities. The Talking Book Program is part of the national network of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. Funding is provided by the Federal Government, State of New Hampshire, gifts and donations.

Talking Book Program patrons have access to fiction and nonfiction materials on a broad range of topics for all ages. The Talking Book Library includes books and magazines recorded on cassette, Print/Braille children's picture books, descriptive narrated videos, bi-monthly and annual catalogs and special equipment needed by our patrons to listen to our books and magazines.

We offer interlibrary loan and referral service to materials not available in our collection. The Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA provides most of our patron requests for books and magazines in Braille. We make recreational reading titles from our collection of Large print books available through local public libraries. There are some sixty-three registered patrons in the Talking Book Program age 12 or younger. This year efforts are underway to invite our youngest patrons to participate in the 2005 NHLA/CHILIS Summer Reading program, "Camp Wannaread." There is also discussion with staff at Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in the N.H. Department of Education's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to create discussion groups around the state.

To quote from a letter composed by one of our patrons and sent to Governor John Lynch, "They [Talking Book Staff] are efficient, friendly and always willing to go the extra mile." The Talking Book Staff is dedicated to providing excellent customer-oriented service. We continually strive to maintain high standards, to manage our resources wisely, and to earn the public's trust.

Betty Clark and Brenda Corey ~ perform various duties to assist our library patrons with reading and visual disabilities. Between them they review and process patron applications, initiate contact with new patrons to explain policies and procedures, perform readers advisory, assist in the explanation and operation of library equipment, and review patron book shipments.

Jody Matisko ~ facilities the delivery of library materials to our patrons by ensuring the maintenance of proper standards for the books recorded on cassette. Hundreds of records books (RC's) are shipped and received every weekday. Items are sent as "FREE MATTER" through the U.S. Postal Service. Jody inspects and evaluates the condition of RC's loaned to our readers, discards damaged audio books and deletes them from inventory, handles warranty claims, maintains the proper shelving of audio books, and oversees daily mail card production. She also trains volunteers to operate rewind machines.

Pam Ober ~ performs a variety of duties that include development of the Large Print book collection, cataloging, readers advisory, selecting large print materials for circulation at public libraries throughout the state and arranging service schedules to maintain a steady level of resources at those libraries. Pam coordinates the machine-lending activities; prepares work for the Telephone Pioneers, inspects special cassette players used by our patrons for damage, orders and tracks needed parts and accessories, and reviews equipment repairs. She instructs patrons in the use of playing equipment in person and by telephone. Pam also prepares and delivers presentations before various groups to explain our service and promote additional registrations.

Volunteer groups ~ provide an invaluable service for the Talking Book Program. They include The New Hampshire Telephone Pioneers who clean and repair cassette tape machines; the Work Opportunities Unlimited nonprofit agency that provides work opportunities for persons with disabilities; and students with disabilities from Concord High School.