Editor's Note
Editor's Note | |
Welcome to another issue of News & Clues.
Our workplace is being improved and is currently under siege. For several days now I have worn ear plugs and speak slowly and carefully, like an old man who is afraid he talks too loud. You see, in the last two months I have grown accustom to the sudden appearance of plastic tents followed by the high pitched whir of giant fans and the accompaniment of song from mask-muffled asbestos cleaners. Lately, when the tents disappear, a team of workers replaces them with loads of materials. They begin to install new shelving. It is amid the echoes of dropped shelves, the rattle of electric drills, and the bone jarring thuds brought about by intermittent hammer blows that I write this small introduction. So let me shout my welcome over this din of power tools.
The spring issue of News & Clues features several articles that are meant to help library staff make better use of OCLC FirstSearch. Dennis Vanderwerff discusses the organization of the OCLC databases, how to search these databases, and the results of a search. Mark Stackpole, an OCLC trainer, has contributed a discussion of the FirstSearch administrative module. He writes about how to customize FirstSearch, including how to set a default library, how to create a custom library group, how to add your library’s logo, and how to link to a library’s local catalog. Also, Mike Drake discusses Worldcat, including how it can be used in the interlibrary loan process.
In the "Collections" column for this issue, libraries share their perspective on FirstSearch and in the "Technology" column, David Rodriguez delivers another tip for computer users. Along with these usual columns and features, a few changes have been made since the last issue. Hopefully, these additions will only make this newsletter more useful. A column on Internet resources has been added that will list any potentially useful Internet resources that come to our attention. Along with the web address for these resources, we will try to include a brief explanation of the web resource or tool.
Also, Mary Ellen Tychoson has begun her column on the role of technology in the Heartland Regional Library Network. In this issue she discusses the importance of new servers and the Heartland Virtual Library Catalog.
I continue to work on what I hope will become a more effective layout for the News & Events page. While this is a quarterly newsletter, this news page will be updated as news arrives. Eventually, I would like the News & Events page to become a user-friendly resource for library staff throughout the region. The layout and the presentation is my responsibility, but in order for this page to be truly successful, I need more libraries to submit their news and events so I can add them to this page.
I hope you enjoy reading this issue and that you will feel free to offer any criticism or comments. If you have any ideas for future issues or want to contribute, please do not hesitate to let us know.
--Chad McCully, San Joaquin Valley Information Service