Program Idea for Quadricentennial

If anyone has to plan a program for the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial, I just had Richard de Koster come from the Constitution Island Association do a talk on the Warner Sisters of Constitution Island. They were young ladies whose father lost everything in the financial panic of 1837 and they had to leave NY society and move to their home (supposed to be a vacation home) on an island in the Hudson. The older girl was devastated; the younger one loved being outdoors. As they grew up they began to support their family by farming, gardening, and writing and became very popular writers-almost as popular as Dickens and Harriet Beecher Stowe in their day.
He gives a nice talk about the sisters, about the history of Constitution Island, the house and gardens. You might be pleased. If you wish more info, go to http://www.constitutionisland.org/or contact me. Sara Rodgers

Westchester Library Association Conference May 8

Go to http://www.westchesterlibraryassociation.org/

Google in the News - Privacy Issues

A privacy advocacy group has asked the Federal Trade Commission to pull the plug on Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and the company's other Web apps until government-approved "safeguards are verifiably established."
If the FTC grants the request, hundreds of millions of Internet users would be unable to access their e-mail or documents until the agency's formidable collection of lawyers in Washington, D.C., became satisfied with the revised applications. The outage would extend to businesses that pay for access to Google Apps.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center submitted the far-reaching request to the FTC in a letter from its director, Marc Rotenberg, on Tuesday. It argues that a formal legal injunction halting all Google cloud-computing services pending formal government approval is necessary to "adequately safeguard the confidential information" of users.

Click on link for entire article
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10198740-38.html

Computer Usage Policies - formal & informal

How should Computer Usage Policies be changed? What do you want to see in such a policy?


Is the computer/internet usage policy readily available - at public computer locations, reference desk, circulation desk, anywhere else?


Do any libraries have ANY policies on a webpage in their website?





I have provided sample/model policies & KAT's 2002 policy for discussion purposes. If you also wish to provide a copy of your policy, please do so.





I recently ran into a problem that I find troubling. A patron registered for a PC and then, when his/her time was up, would not get up from the chair. I won't go into how our interaction proceeded, but let's just say very unsatisfactorially. This person was just plain determined not to get up. What to do? Call police? Threaten to call police?





Does anyone have a security policy?





ALA GUIDELINES


http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=otherpolicies&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=13098





New York State Library


http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/library/policy/inetpol.htm





New York Public Library


http://www.nypl.org/pr/pubuse.cfm





New Jersey State Library


http://www.njstatelib.org/LDB/E-Rate/ufiliup.php





Jasper Public Library


http://jaspertx.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=25





Keen Public Library


http://www.ci.keene.nh.us/library/kplint.htm

KAT policy

Kindle vs. Sony Reader

Hi all,

I am considering purchasing either the new Kindle, or the Sony E-reader and was wondering if anybody and any comments on either. Would appreciate any input...

Thanks!
Valerie
Somers

Read any good books lately?

Really, has anyone read any good books?

Which Almanac is Best

Reference librarians - which almanac is the most useful:
Times Almanac
World Almanac

Are there others that are more popular or useful? Is there an electronic almanac thats dependable? Or have people forgotten about almanacs - will they go the way of printed newspapers?

Very, very rarely, almost never are the almanacs even touched.

Pat H.
KAT

Kindle v. 2.0 vs. Downloadable Audiobooks

I understand that Amazon's Kindle v. 2.0 has the ability to convert text into audio using a computer voice. That is intriguing. Will this be the wave of the future? Are any libraries seriously considering to purchase Kindle? If so, how will they be used - loaned out, put digitized reference books on Kindle, download newspapers/magazines? The Kindle sounds very versatile.

Please "comment on" this posting, so that we can keep all Kindle interactions in one thread, instead of creating numerous threads.

I know that somehow we will discover all the "do-dads" that come with blogs. Can't wait to find out more.

Twittering Libraries

Thank you Liam for setting up this blog. As far as Twitter goes, I use Twitter all the time, both personally and for the library. We are also using Delicious Bookmarks, Shelfari and Facebook (see our homepage at www.somerslibrary.org.) So far, the response has been great! Let me know if you need any help.
Valerie
Somers

I want to add my thanks to Liam for getting this started. I have been thinking about using Twitter. I would appreciate help or comments from anyone on the blog who is using it for their library.

Mary

Thanks, Liam

Thank you, Liam, for taking the time to create this blog. It will be wonderful to share ideas and learn from other Westchester librarians! Your time is really appreciated!
Trish - Mamaroneck

Thank you.

Thanks, Liam. I'm looking forward to future posts and hope that the blog will enable us to discuss library issues in an informal way.

Marianne

Great Idea!

I think that this blog will be a great way to share ideas on all areas related to adult services and thank you to Liam for getting it going. One thing that I am interested in is if anyone has done or is planning on doing a public program on using the Internet to find jobs, job training, resume help etc. If anyone has done a program and has links to good sites and would post it to this blog that would be great!

Thanks,
Shelley

Hi

Hi everyone. Thanks, Liam, for following through on the blog idea. I hope we can use this for professional sharing and for fun. I have a lot of book lists I would be happy to share. I would also like to share or compare notes on doing book displays and evaluationg programs or people who do programs for the public libraries.
Sara

Welcome Everybody!

I think I invited everyone on the list.

This blog can be viewed by anyone, and they can comment on a post. However, only people whose address was on Pat H.'s email has the power to originate a post. Once I figure out how to delete my earlier posts I'll do so (I only said I could do it. I didn't say I was an expert). They are somewhat germane but not collegial enough, I think.

Liam