Some ambitious 3rd Graders...
Titanic Display By 3rd Graders At Library — Aplington Legion Memorial Library
29 January 2008 - 10:49
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Titanic Display By 3rd Graders At Library — Aplington Legion Memorial Library
January is mentoring month
Nice display at the Robey Memorial Library in Waukon....29 January 2008 - 10:47
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All Iowa Reads ICN session
Due to the impending weather, the All Iowa Reads session scheduled
for Thursday, January 17 at 6:30 p.m is being cancelled.
There will be an announcement next week about what will be done as
far as rescheduling the program.
16 January 2008 - 13:11
eunicer - announcements - No comments / No trackback - § ¶
Periodical shelving
The Waterloo Public Library has surplus periodical display units free to any library willing to come get them. The units, which may be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/dargan/PeriodicalShelves, consist of 8 frames, each of which has 8 shelves (four on each side) capable of displaying current periodicals and storing back issues.The units have been disassembled and are ready to go. Please contact me (Mike Dargan) by email or phone (319-291-4496 or 319-859-3284) if you want them. They will go to the first library (we need to transfer them to another government entity) that claims them by February 1. P
08 January 2008 - 11:43
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Watch your mail!
Your Open Access and/or Access Plus payments for this year, or a statement of direct deposit, were mailed Friday. Payment is based on your reported Open Access and Access Plus transactions for FY07 (July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007.) (Direct State Aid payments were mailed to eligible public libraries in November 2007.) As part of the mailing, you will receive an explanation of your library's funding.Instead of mailing FY08 (July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008) report forms
to each library, the State Library requests that you print your own
forms.
- Open Access Report Form, due July 31, 2008: http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/enrich-ia/open-access
- Access Plus Report Forms, due August 31, 2008 http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/enrich-ia/access-plus
07 January 2008 - 08:14
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Library Supply Vendors
The 2008 Iowa Library Supply Vendors list has been updated and posted at: http://www.nclsa.lib.ia.us/library_supply_vendors.htm. Be sure to take advantage of it.
04 January 2008 - 11:11
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Why do painters wear white?
Who cares! The painters are here.They've started painting around the new windows on the third floor. That means they'll be painting in our offices soon. Then we'll be able to put everything back where it belongs. We're getting by right now, but it would be so much nicer to not have to work around plastic sheeting and things piled high.
As for the original question -- a couple of possible answers...
- Painters wear white pants because it is easier to bleach out the paint that gets on them. If they wore any sort of dyed colored pants, the bleach would bleach it all out and it would wind up white anyway.
- So that they can see the paints that they have gotten on their clothes (it'll make sense, keep reading). They don't want to get paint all over their work. So, the white helps them keep track of spills, leaks, and other messes that could mess up their work. In other words, if you were a surgeon, would you have an OR and scrubs and gloves the color of blood? No, because you wouldn't be able to keep track of where the bleeding was, how much was lost and wouldn't be able to keep a sterile field.
02 January 2008 - 13:12
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Information Searches That Solve Problems
People who have faced one of several common government-related
problems in the past two years are more likely to consult the internet
than other sources, including experts and family members.
In a national phone survey, respondents were asked whether they had
encountered 10 possible problems in the previous two years, all of
which had a potential connection to the government or
government-provided information. Those who had dealt with the problems
were asked where they went for help and the internet topped the list:
- 58% of those who had recently experienced one of those problems said they used the internet (at home, work, a public library or some other place) to get help.
- 53% said they turned to professionals such as doctors, lawyers or financial experts.
- 45% said they sought out friends and family members for advice and help.
- 36% said they consulted newspapers and magazines.
- 34% said they directly contacted a government office or agency.
- 16% said they consulted television and radio.
- 13% said they went to the public library.
The survey results challenge the assumption that libraries are losing relevance in the internet age. Libraries drew visits by more than half of Americans (53%) in the past year for all kinds of purposes, not just the problems mentioned in this survey. And it was the young adults in tech-loving Generation Y (age 18-30) who led the pack. Compared to their elders, Gen Y members were the most likely to use libraries for problem-solving information and in general patronage for any purpose.
Furthermore, it is young adults who are the most likely to say they will use libraries in the future when they encounter problems: 40% of Gen Y said they would do that, compared with 20% of those above age 30 who say they would go to a library.
“These findings turn our thinking about libraries upside down. Librarians have been asked whether the internet makes libraries less relevant. It has not. Internet use seems to create an information hunger and it is information-savvy young people who are the most likely to visit libraries,” noted Leigh Estabrook, Dean and Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois, co-author of a report on the results.
She added that internet users were much more likely to patronize libraries than non-users (61% vs. 28%).
This report is the fruit of a partnership of the University of Illinois –Urbana-Champaign and the Pew Internet & American Life Project. It was funded with a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, an agency that is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The survey was conducted between June 27 to September 4, 2007, among a sample of 2,796 adults, 18 and older. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
The focus of the survey was how Americans address common problems that might be linked to government. The problems covered in the survey: 1) dealing with a serious illness or health concern; 2) making a decision about school enrollment, financing school, or upgrading work skills; 3) dealing with a tax matter; 4) changing a job or starting a business; 5) getting information about Medicare, Medicaid, or food stamps; 6) getting information about Social Security or military benefits; 7) getting information about voter registration or a government policy; 8) seeking helping on a local government matter such as a traffic problem or schools; 9) becoming involved in a legal matter; and 10) becoming a citizen or helping another person with an immigration matter.
There was some variance in the results, depending on the type of problem that people confronted. For instance, those who dealt with a health problem turned to experts more than any other source, followed by family and friends, and then the internet. And those who had issues related to big government programs such as Social Security or Medicare were most likely to go directly to government agencies for help, then the internet.
Most people were successful in getting information to help them address a problem no matter what channel they chose and no matter what problem they faced.
- 65% of those who approached the government for help said they were very successful.
- 64% of those who went to the public library were very successful.
- 63% of those who used the internet were very successful.
- 61% of those who consulted professionals and experts were very successful.
Among the sources consulted, the internet was the source that was most often cited as the one that provided a lot of the information people were seeking.
“It is important to stress, though, that even as our data show the internet is ascending, we also find that large numbers of people do not use the internet and this low-access population prefers getting information and assistance from sources other than the internet,” noted Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and one of the study’s authors. “Those without broadband connections at home or at work have very different needs and search strategies from those who have woven the internet into their lives.”
A major focus of this survey was on those with no access to the internet (23% of the population) and those with only dial-up access (13% of the population). This “low-access” population is poorer, older, and less well-educated than the cohort with broadband access at home or at work. They are less likely to visit government offices or libraries under any circumstances. And they are more likely to rely on television and radio for help than are high-access users.
Another important concern in this research was to see how the rise of the internet might affect the way government officials and librarians could work to meet citizens’ needs.
“The big message in this survey is that those who want to help citizens – whether they sit in government offices, libraries, non-profit organizations, or politically-active groups – live in a much more complicated environment now than they did a decade ago,” said Evans Witt, CEO of Princeton Survey Research Associates International, the firm that conducted the survey and one of the report’s authors. “They must serve citizen needs that run the spectrum from high-tech digerati who want everything served to them online to grandparents in rural areas who want the government to mail them key documents that are printed on real paper with real ink."
02 January 2008 - 08:57
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