August 16, 2010

Wi-Fi Policy

Jill Potter, Support Services

With Wi-Fi, or Wireless Internet Access for laptops, now being offered at many of our branches, and more to come, it is becoming increasingly important to be aware of the Library’s policies and procedures concerning the Public’s use of the service and the support offered to Patrons by library staff. Above all, the most important thing to remember is that Library Staff is not responsible for the patron’s laptops! With so many different brands, models, operating systems, internet browsers, etc, there is no way to be able to address each and every possible scenario that may come up when trying to access the Wi-Fi. Even the most tech savvy staff person could potentially click on the wrong thing while trying to help configure a wireless setup for a patron and be accused of causing damage to the patron’s laptop. Woodward Park has addressed this issue in the patron information sheet and it states, “You are responsible for understanding how to configure your own equipment. There is no staff available to assist with setting up wireless internet on your computer device or to do any troubleshooting. Please consult your user's manual, or contact your hardware or software provider for any additional assistance. “

Currently, Fowler and Mendota have SJVLS supported Wi-Fi and Woodward, Fig Garden, Auberry, Politi, and Reedley have Wi-Fi compliments of their Friends of the Library groups. With the different Wi-Fi setups, come different instructions for the patrons. The Wi-Fi branches maintained by SJVLS have a consistent set of policies and instructions. These are available for the public as a handout at the branches.

The branches with the Wi-Fi connections paid for by the Friends will be different according to which carrier is used for the service. Each of those branches should have a set of instructions that specifically address how to log on to the wireless network at that location. If assistance is needed in the creation of this set of instructions, please contact Tech Support.

Please read the Wireless Internet Access Policy for Fresno County Public Library here:

June 22, 2010

NOYS: Duplicate Copies

Some of you may have noticed that you are receiving duplicate copies of materials selected by youth services.  This is not a mistake and something we did intentionally as some of the popular materials can go out of print quickly.  You will most likely see this with popular books, video games and strategy guides.  If you have questions, please contact youth services.

June 2, 2010

Scorecard Summary

Roberta Barton, Headquarters

Task teams working on continuous updating of the library's Balanced Scorecard have prepared a handy summary of progress to date to provide staff with a snapshot overview of this important planning document. Please take a few minutes to read the summary now posted on our Intranet in the "Planning" section.

Chavez Commemoration

Ken Loders, Central

From mid March to early April, the Library’s Cesar Chavez Commemoration helped to inform and educate library patrons about Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement. With the help of dedicated staff, the commemoration offered a youth art contest, documentary showings, a lunch and learn event, branch displays, handouts, and a “widget” feature on the library website to advertise books and websites.

Jennifer Kish of Youth Services coordinated the Cesar Chavez Youth Art Contest., The contest encouraged students to learn about Cesar Chavez, tap into their imaginations and creativity, and create their own works of art. 58 students participated, and 88 people attended the art opening at Arte Americas. The room with the artwork was packed with students, families and their friends. It was also filled with camera flashes as students posed in front of their artwork for family photographs.

Cesar Chavez and Workers’ Rights: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow was the name of the Lunch & Learn event in the Fresno County Plaza Ballroom. The panel presentation featured two veterans of the Farm Worker Movement plus a member of SEIU Local 521 Latino Caucus. SEIU Local 521 provided free lunches. 68 people attended the event.

Speakers (left to right) Ernest Velazquez, Herminia Guitron, Venancio Gaona and moderator Ken Loders are pictured here. The speakers were well received by their attentive audience and responded to numerous audience questions following their presentations.

Displays are an important part of the commemoration, and Linda Aragon provided branches with materials for these displays. She also created a display at Central that included a PC that continuously played a documentary. Handouts were sent to all branches to enhance displays.

Thanks again to Linda Aragon and Jennifer Kish for all of their work. Thank you to Jeanne Johnson for her support. And a special thank you to Amy Johnson of Graphics and Michael Criado of Duplicating.

Deferred Compensation Plan

Cindy Freeland, Headquarters

Employees interested in enrolling in the County's Deferred Compensation Plan administered by Great West may enroll online or by calling customer service at (877) 693-2457. The County's Great West representative, Sherri Panttaja, can be contacted at 303-8304 or sherri.panttaja@gwrs.com to schedule an appointment.

Go Green with Duplex Printing

Jill Potter, Support Services

Duplex Printing (the automatic printing on both sides of a sheet of paper) can be done at many branches.  This saves paper and for some documents it makes the layout more appealing.  See the attached document for instructions as well as a list of the branches and printers that have this capability.

Basketeers

Terrance McArthur, Politi

What better day than Earth Day to explore pine needle basketry, re-using natural materials? Politi Branch Library held a basketry workshop the evening of Thursday, April 22 that attracted 9 beginning basketeers: pre-teens and seniors, women and men. Children’s Librarian Terrance Mc Arthur showed a variety of examples and taught the basic stitches and techniques. The basketmakers had such a good time coiling and stitching their projects that they plan to come back on Thursdays to learn and practice new methods, share their progress, and have fun together!

Career News

Bernice Kao, Headquarters

Bernice Kao, our own Career Coach received an autographed copy from Jane Jerrard, author of the ALA Edition, Special Reports: Crisis in Employment; A Librarian’s Guide to helping Job Seekers, 2009. In exchange, Bernice granted another telephone interview with Ms. Jerrard for her second book on the same subject but aims at “consumers” instead of librarians. Bernice’s work in our Library was rated one of the top three for best practice in outreach job services. In fact, her resume guideline, flyers for Resume Makeover Clinic, Interview Clinic, and other collaborative programs with Workforce-Connection and California EDD are all included. One can use Google and get all the contents of the book.
Bernice will be looking forward to get the second interview for the second book.

May 4, 2010

NOYS: Virtual Homework Center

Good news! The children's and teen homework pages have merged into one virtual homework center. It's a one-stop shop for student help in grades K-12. Because we wanted to keep the content browsable, it focuses heavily on our databases and gives users just the best of the best of web links. Check it out by clicking on any homework link from our website, or going straight to www.fresnohomework.org.

April 12, 2010

Big Read Fire Safety Program

Wendy Klemin, Bear Mountain

Kids and parents enjoyed a fun fire safety program at the Bear Mountain branch as part of The Big Read: Fahrenheit 451 in March. Activities included crafts, fire engine, firefighters reading stories, and a visit from Smokey the Bear!

April 14 is National Bookmobile Day

Ron Martin, Community Bookmobile

National Bookmobile Day is April 14. This is a good time to become aware of the bookmobiles operated by the Fresno County Free Library. There are three. The Community Libraries Bookmobile is a full-service library branch with 43 stops per month. The Children’s Bookmobile serves daycare centers exclusively. The Aprendo Van serves low-income communities instructing parents in fostering literacy.

The Aprendo van gives away books for parents to read to children and is funded through the tobacco tax increase that Californians voted in several years ago. It is based in Firebaugh and reaches out to families of agricultural workers.

The Community Libraries Bookmobile was housed in a new 33-foot vehicle in October 2007. It has a hydraulic wheelchair lift, and approximately 13 book cases with 63 shelves holding 3,000 items to lend in the same categories as the “stationary branches:” novels, nonfiction, magazines, children’s books, early-reader books, music CDs, books on CD, DVDs, videogames, and more. Borrowers have access to the entire collection listed in Valley Cat through hold requests; borrowers make around 70 hold requests each month.

Children patronizing the Bookmobile can participate in the Summer Reading Program, with presentations at two of the stops. Every visitor is given a schedule of stops printed with the days and times of their stop that they can write on their calendar to be ready to get their items returned at the next visit, which is their due date. The one-month stop cycle results in longer borrowing periods from the Bookmobile. If borrowers miss their stop, they can return items at any branch of the library consortium, in Fresno or from California City to Livingston. If borrowers misplace their schedule copies, they can access it at the library website, through the links to library branch hours.

The Bookmobile stops at a dozen senior residences and two convalescent care centers, near eight schools of the Central Unified School District and four of Fresno Unified and two other districts, and at two daycare centers near Auberry. It is in Auberry two days per month, and stops in Friant and and Cantua Creek. It visits four community centers, the Fulton Mall, and two southeast Fresno apartment developments. Schedule modifications are made near the beginnings and ends of school years.

When the Bookmobile workers are not on the road, during business hours they are in the Bookmobile office at the Sunnyside Regional Library. Just give them a call at 458-7323.

Politi Egg Wall

Terrance McArthur

From March 29 to April 3, Politi Branch patrons were invited to color eggs (paper ovals), which were stapled to the wall of our Children's Area. 88 eggs were colored by children, teens, and a few adults, and displayed among the shamrocks (formerly known as St. Patrick's decorations). It was a colorful, interactive activity that brought joy to the Politi community.