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Cookbook Club

We have a cookbook club called Read It and Eat It that has been successful for the last 5 years, and this year we started a Read It and Eat It Jr. program for grades 3-6. At the end of the year we do a large Throwdown Edition event. This presentation will be about how the programs are structured.

Courtney Allen, Norfolk Public Library

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Wash and Read

New Bedford Free Public Library’s “Wash and Read” program is about making story time programs accessible in the community and providing free books inside laundromats.

Bethany Coito, New Bedford Free Public Library

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Welcome to Your Town 101

We will be hosting our 1st annual Welcome to Mansfield 101 open house on October 23.  The library sent out postcards to new residents inviting them to the library to receive a library card and a tour of the library.  Other town departments and local community groups were invited to have a table to share information. Local businesses were contacted to provide materials for "goodie" bags from the local bank and for raffle prizes.  There will be light refreshments served.  

Catherine Coyne, Mansfield Public Library

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STEM Kits: Facilitating Hands-on Learning

The Raynham Public Library created over 30 STEM kits with funds from an LSTA grant.  Each kit allows users the chance to explore science, math, technology, or engineering in a hands-on, fun way.  The purpose of the kits is to give kids an opportunity to learn by doing and playing, and to foster interest in STEM.  Learn how we created the kits and promoted them by partnering with our elementary school and parks and recreation department, and how we use STEM as a way of engaging upper elementary aged kids.

Jessie McKinney, Raynham Library

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Joining the C3L movement: Climate Change Conversations in Libraries

Last June, the ALA declared that promoting Sustainable Communities is a core value for American Libraries. There is an active Sustainability Round Table run by UMass Amherst librarian, Madeleine Charney. https://climatechangeconversationsinlibraries.umasscreate.net/

Here at West Bridgewater we participated in Climate Prep Week in September and held a Climate Conversation at our library after school that drew adults and teens alike.  Libraries are seen as vital hubs for information and connectivity around the Climate Change issue. I can share all the ways we have participated and our plans for the near future.

Ellen Snoeyenbos, West Bridgewater Public Library

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Dungeons and Dragons At Your Library

My presentation will focus on running your very own Dungeons and Dragons program for teens/tweens.  This crash course will touch upon topics such as character creation, what publications to have access to, inspiration for your story, and more.

Taylor Silva, Fall River Public Library

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Brew Night at the Library

The Norfolk Public Library held its first ever Brew Night at the Library on Friday, September 27, 2019.  It was a huge success with three local breweries participating. We limited it to 100 people, and registration was full in a day and a half - with over 30 people on the wait-list!  We chose this event for a couple reasons: 1) there was a need in the community as there isn't much in Norfolk in terms of evening socializing. 2) we wanted a program that would appeal to the 21-40's age range and people that haven't necessarily been using the library. 3) Once we had them in the library, we advertised our programs and Stuffbrary collection (we even had the Air Fryer going with apps!).  Although this program was a huge hit in the community, it had some unanticipated challenges during the planning process which I will also discuss in this presentation.

Libby O'Neill, Norfolk Public Library

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Electronic Resources in the Catalog

With Electronic Resources Central (ERC), you and your patrons can now see your library's Overdrive and Hoopla titles right in the Enterprise catalog! This demo will show you what you see and what you can do in your account and search results. We should even have time for search tips and Q&A.

Laurie Lessner, SAILS

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eBooks in Enterprise!

new buttons

ERC - Electronic Resources Central, has been added to Enterprise! This is a new service that makes Overdrive and *Hoopla titles available in the Enterprise catalog, giving you the option to "Download", "Preview", and "Place Hold".

You will need to log in with your library card number. If you log in with your ALT ID, the login information can't be passed on to Overdrive or *Hoopla. This means, if you try to download, place a hold or preview a title, you'll get an error saying "There was an error accessing your title. Please contact your library for assistance."  If that happens, log out and back in with the 14 digit number on your library card.

*Hoopla is available by individual library subscription.

In "My Account", look out for a new Digital Checkouts area. Here you can download or view your digital checkouts, cancel holds, return digital checkouts, and suspend Overdrive holds.

More updates to look for:

  • When you're on a mobile device, you'll see a much more attractive mobile-friendly version of the catalog.
  • When you go to the item detail's page, a pop-up (modal) window will display the detailed title information and not go to a separate web page. Most of the same information will appear, including Novelist content.
  • A "Print Books" search limit will show in the 1st drop-down list on the search bar.
  • A "Kids' Search +" search limit will show, which will search only titles with a juvenile subject heading - print and digital 
  • A "series" facet will be added
  • Facets will appear collapsed as the default, making for a less cluttered look.
  • Google preview will be enabled for all available titles - physical and digital
  • You will be able to update your SMS (text notification) information

Question about search results

We received the following question and believe others are probably asking it as well.

Question: In "item search and display", when I look up "Summer of 69" by Elin Hilderbrand, and look at the detailed display, it lists 97 copies in the main search window. When I open the record and click on the red book widget in the upper left hand corner, it says there are 53 volumes. I had assumed that to mean that 53 libraries owned it and among them there were 97 copies in the system. I now realize that is wrong because when look up "It" by Stephen King, it lists 25 copies and 33 volumes which doesn't make sense. Could you please tell me how these two numbers factor into the system?

Answer: Here is the breakdown of how items are counted in the system.

Title = the bibliographic/cataloging record - there is only 1 based on edition/format/etc. 

Volume = number of call numbers in the system. To use your example, Summer of '69 - here is the display of volumes in the system:

If you then expand to view the items, here is where the 97 copies comes from:


So one volume can have several copies/barcodes/items attached to it.

For "It", there are 33 call number records, but only 25 copies are available - not set to lost, missing, discard, etc. That is where the number of copies in the results list comes from.