it's all fun & games

The Mansion of Happiness (1843)

There's nothing like a good game night to get me smiling and laughing with friends or family.  The Library of Congress' Picture This blog recently posted A Look Back at Board Games, which features beautiful images of vintage gameboards (including the one to the left).  The gameboards are part of the Prints and Photograph Division's collections.  If you've never done so, check out loc.gov sometime and browse the vast number of digitized collections available--it's amazing!

just what is a reference question?

In an effort to clarify what is and what is not a reference question we give you the following examples. All locations should be differentiating between reference and technology questions:

Example 1. If you help patrons set up equipment in the meeting room for presentations using power point or video streaming. That should be counted as a technology reference question.

Example 2. If you are in the stacks and a patron asks you for help  finding an author and you take them to that author section then suggest other similar authors, that is a reference question.

Example 3. If they ask you were the nearest anything outside our grounds is and you show them on a map or give them specific directions to give them a phone number, that is a reference transaction.

Example 4. Patron needs help setting up email, getting on NC Jobs, responding to another job offer basic holding their hand off and on for 30 to 45 minutes. You count two technology questions (set up email and getting on nc jobs) and two career job reference questions (nc jobs and finding the tax form on their job site). You should have a total of four ticks.

Example 5. Patron requests information on the history of the Middle East. You provide in house book resources ( reference) and show them NCLive ( technology reference- you are showing them how to  navigate a resource only available online). You would have a total of two ticks for that transaction.

It is important for you to record these transactions accurately as possible. If you have any questions please direct them to your supervisor. Thank you.

resource of the week: CBPP

Since 1981, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has conducted research and provided analysis for state and federal fiscal policy and public programs.  The reports, which go back to 2006, cover public policy regarding fiscal issues, poverty, health, housing, social security, taxation, and welfare reform.

free webinar: finding your african-american ancestors

Public Library Staff are invited to participate in the second in a series of genealogy webinars, Finding Your African-American Ancestors on Monday, May 19^th at 10:30 a.m.  Advance registration for this session is required – please register on the Train Station.  

This webinar is designed for North Carolina library staff and will introduce research techniques for finding African-American ancestors during slavery through the 1940 census.  Topics will include free African-Americans before 1865 and standard genealogical methodology.  Several strategies will be presented to help others who are beginning to research their enslaved ancestors.

A link to the webinar will be emailed to registered participants one week in advance of this session.  The webinar will be recorded and available on the State Library website for those unable to attend the live session.  This is an excellent training for personal and professional development--and the price is right!

resource of the week: Science Daily

Since its inception in 1995, Science Daily has provided breaking news about scientific discoveries.  Offering thousands of research articles, images, encyclopedia entries, book reviews, and educational videos.  Visitors can browse more than 500 individual topics, grouped into 12 sections.  Stories and videos are posted daily, selected from hundreds of sources from around the world.  Links to sources and relevant journal citations (where available) are included at the end of each post.

new items in the catalog UPDATED POST

Thanks to Rebecca's suggestion and Edward's ingenuity, there is now
a "New Titles" link at the top of the catalog.  It defaults to new books
within the last month, but you can remove those filters and add your
own by clicking "Remove" and "New Titles" as noted above.

(the instructions in this post will still work, but this method is simpler)

resource of the week: GetHuman

If you've ever contacted a call center, you know how frustrating it can be to go through dozens of menus only to be caught in a web of press 1's and say the number's and I'm sorry, I did not understand that's. 

GetHuman, the web's largest database of customer-service information, provides free access to a catalog of direct phone numbers for large companies in 50 countries.  This resource is backed by Consumer Reports, LifeHacker, Time Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal.

new items in the catalog

Want to find the latest in YA fiction?  Our newest audiobooks?  The latest in children's non-fiction?  It's super-easy in our new catalog!  Just use the following steps (click on picture for larger image):

resource of the week: Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a collaborative effort of natural history and botanical garden libraries to digitze their collections and make them available.  BHL now includes more than 50,000 titles and 100,000 volumes that can be browsed or searched, together covering more than 1 million species.  BHL includes collections from Harvard, the American Museum of Natural History (NY), and the Smithsonian.  -Excerpted from Best Free Reference, Library Journal, 03/01/12.