Publications
Desktop News
NOLA NOTES

Member Resources
Book Discussion
Salary Survey
Vendor Discount
Experts on Call
CE Transcripts
NOLA Documents

Information
NOLA Calendar
Member Directory
Employee Directory
Desktop Search
NOLA Board
Directions to NOLA
NOLA Spotlights

Resource Sharing
AccessOhio
AskUsQuestions
Ellison Dies
RefLinks
More

NOLA Bylaws Up For Revision

It’s that time again! It’s been five years since we have actively reviewed our Bylaws for revisions. Not surprisingly, there are some suggested changes for your consideration. Please review carefully the geographical changes suggested in our membership area and the suggested revisions in Board Member representation. Other revisions include more "cosmetic" changes to include our new Mission Statement that has already been adopted, etc. The full suggested revisions to our Bylaws are located on the NOLA Desktop and have also been sent to our membership. Please feel free to comment on any of the suggested changes to Phyllis Cettomai at [email protected] , or you can call her at 1-330-296-2828. Any comments, suggestions, complaints etc. are needed prior to our March 16, 1999 NOLA Board Meeting, where these revisions will be formally voted on.

The New 3R’s: Retooling, Retraining, Revitalizing: Transforming Ourselves for the Future

 "The most effective way to cope with change is to help create it" L. W. Lynett

Click here to register: Tomorrow’s Trends/Today’s Libraries

Items submitted by:
Millie Fry - Email
NOLA Regional Library System

Search Engines. Where they are and where they are going

Now
You visit you favorite search engine, enter your carefully crafted search using Boolean operators, truncation and phrase searching and click submit. What do you get? Well it all depends. Likely it will be older and out of date at any search engine. If you're at Yahoo it won't be any site from the Mining Company (Yahoo won't list their content because they are competitors). If your at a site that sell their top result rankings expect to get pages supplied by the highest bidder, not the best matches.  And don't forget about search engines that fall victim to misued META tags or other common schemes used to alter search result rankings.

Want to know more about the state of search engines today?

Future
You visit your favorite search engine, enter your terms and click submit. What do you get? A list of the most popular matches based upon a number of previous searchers using the same (or similar) query as you. This concept, called the Popularity Engine, developed by Direct Hit has recently been licensed by sites like HotBot, Yahoo and others. Many people will find the Popularity Engine to be a valuable tool - after all you are getting site recommendations from others around the net looking for the same information.  This technology does pose some interesting questions for information professionals - are the sites being recommended any good (acurate, timely, etc.)? Who evaluated them? Also, what about the next step? - Direct Hit is preparing to debut a new search technique that provides targeted information based on age, sex and location. There are define benefits of this new technology; but, what are the privacy impacts? We'll have to wait and see but certainly expect to hear more in the coming months.

Want to know more?

Items submitted by:
Brad Stephens - Email
NOLA Regional Library System

Listening...It's More Than Just Being Quiet!

In today's society, people feel the need to stay busy. One of the ways we keep busy is talking...even when we have nothing to say. It's not that we are so taken with the sound of our own voices, it's just that silence seems so overwhelming and murky.

Think about it...much of our lives has been spent filling up...overeating to fill our stomachs...  overworking and filling up our time...overtalking and filling up our shared moments of silence. 

In sales and marketing, we are taught to allow for "silence"..it gives our prospect a chance to think and respond to our sales pitch. But, many people are uncomfortable with silence, so in the effort to "make the sale", they feel a need to drone on and on about their product or service. Notice this the next time you are trying to make a decision on a purchase, whether it's large or small. Also, check out yourself the next time you are talking with a library customer...do you allow them time to respond or time to think before you go on talking about their request? Take a moment...relax...and listen--really listen--to what the other person has to say...you may learn something!

The art of listening is a key component to good customer service for all businesses. To help you to learn information and skills to improve your relationships at work and home, NOLA offers to you a workshop on Thursday, February 25th entitled: Enhancing Listening Skills. This full day workshop, designed for all library staff, is an essential key to success in servicing your customers..please plan to attend or send some of your staff members to this important workshop!

"When people talk on and on, they usually are not listening to themselves."
Unknown

Items submitted by:
Lori Putt - Email
NOLA Regional Library System

The OLC Board of Directors met on Friday, January 22 at the OLC Executive Office in Columbus. At this meeting, the Board elected the following Board officers:

Chair: Joe Palmer, OLA, Mansfield-Richland County Public Library
Vice-Chair: Jim Switzer, OLTA, Akron-Summit County Public Library
Secretary: Lenore Koppel, OFL
Treasurer: Gregg Christenson, OLTA, Worthington Public Library

Item submitted by:
C. Allen Nichols Email: [email protected]

Don't forget to sign up for workshops EARLY.   NOLA is having more and more non members signing up for workshops.  We want to be certain that OUR members have priority over the non members by registering early.  Speaking of registering early look at some of the wonderful offerings in March.

Marketing ... it begins with a Plan, Tuesday March 2, 1999:  Marketing is the foundation to future growth of all libraries. Learn the 4 P;s of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, an how each relates to a successful marketing strategy for your library.

Managing Multiple Priorities, Thursday March 18, 1999:  Do you ever feel like their is not enough to time to finish all of your projects and meet their deadlines. Join Carol Ritz as she gives insights to Managing Multiple Priorities. Carol will be emailing you with a few questions.so that this class will be customized to your needs.

Train the Trainer, Tuesday March 23, 1999:.  If you're the person in your library who's responsible for (or does a lot of)
training ( adults or children), but you've never had any formal Trainer Training," this course is for you! You'll learn general training principles, how you personally prefer to teach/learn and how that affects your raining sessions, and how people differ drastically in how and why they learn. In addition , you'll get lots of tips and tricks on pragmatic issues like PR, creating follow-up activities, and how to teach hands-on skills without a computer lab. By attending you'll learn lots about training and yourself as a trainer... and have fun too! So don't miss it..sign up today!

Items submitted by:
Melissa Lattanzi - Email
NOLA Regional Library System

        CONTINUING EDUCATION TRACKS ARE READY TO LEAVE THE STATION!    

Beginning in 1999, NOLA offers Continuing Education Credits for all course participants on a voluntary basis.  The four tracks that have been developed and the hours required to complete the tracks within a two year period of time are the following:

• Management/Directors, Management/Supervisors - 48 Contact hours required (4, six hour classes per year)
• Public Service
  
• Youth -32 Contact hours required
• Adult -24 Contact hours required                    

• Technology  -48 Contact hours required
• Support Staff -24 Contact hours required

Realizing the limited time available to some library staff, we determined the hours required for each track based on past history of attending NOLA courses, as well as evaluating the skills required to reach copletion of each track.

To obtain more information about tracks and to sign up for a track click here.

Items submitted by:
Melissa Lattanzi - Email
NOLA Regional Library System

Cupid, draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover's heart
for me, nobody but me.....

So, it's almost Valentine's Day, and you're experiencing heart pains? Take two web sites and call us in the morning. American Heart Association National Center and NOVA Online | Cut to the Heart (616) are just what the doctor ordered!

A rose by any other name would smell so sweet.... For this and other sentiments of love try Bartlett, John. 1901. Familiar Quotations (808) for just the right words. (Oh, and visit Welcome to the Rose Resource (635) to prove the Bard wrong.)

Venus, if you will, please bring a little girl for me to thrill, a girl that wants my kisses and my arms, a girl with all the charms of you.....For your dancing and mythological pleasure, The Encyclopedia Mythica (292) will provide info on Cupid, Venus and Terpsichore (the Muse of Dance).

And, finally, Saint Valentine himself makes an appearance in Catholic Online Saints & Angels (282). The Ohio Reflinks Project wishes you hearts, flowers, and most of all, chocolate. You do know there are 4 major food groups....milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and other.......

Items submitted by:
Reflinks Members [email protected]

NOLA Regional Library System
4445 Mahoning Ave
Warren, OH 44483

Copyright � 1999 by NOLA Regional Library System.
Send comments to Webmaster.
Revised: 01/26/99 11:32:47 AM
URL: http://www.nolanet.org/tdn/issue147.htm