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Salary / Benefits Survey

The 1999 NOLA Salary / Benefits Survey is ready for public library directors or clerk treasurers to complete before August 30th. Our goal is to have 150 public libraries in Ohio complete this survey and share their salary and benefits information with other libraries. For the first time, this year's survey data will be collected and distributed entirely in a digital format.

The results will be available to participating libraries free of charge on September 1st. Before that date, the person who entered the data will receive a username and password via e-mail. You will be able to see how your library compares with ALL libraries or the participating libraries that you SELECT (e.g. libraries that are similar in size or all libraries in a county).

We invite your library to participate in this year's NOLA Salary/Benefits Survey. During August you can access the survey at: http://www.nolanet.org/salarysurvey/

Teen Read Week is October 17 - 23, 1999

NBC Television has become a national partner for the second annual Teen Read Week sponsored by ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). The network has developed a TNBC Reads" theme day for Saturday, October 23rd, and characters on NBC shows will read and talk about books. TNBC is the Saturday morning liveaction block of programming targeted at teen audiences. For more information, visit the TNBC web site at http://www.nbc.com/tnbc. (Library Hotline, July 19, 1999)

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

Building Traffic for Your Website -

I usually get two or three calls per month from webmasters asking me how their library can increase web site traffic, my answer - you can but it will take some work. There is no "magic bullet" to increase web traffic; however, I've outlined some techniques that should help bring users to your site (and keep them coming back).

1. First thing is to set some goals - How many hits does your site currently receive in a month?  What number of hits would you like to receive?  What is your time frame for reaching that number? (Note: once a library web site is established increasing hits more than 10%- 15% per month is very difficult)
2. Submit your site to search engines (Altavista, Hotbot, etc.) and indexing services (Yahoo, Mining Co., etc.) - this is the #1 method for the average web user to find your site.
3. Develop content for your site, not just a list of hours and your address - create something that will bring users to your site. Some ideas include: adding a list and short description of new additions to your collection, providing a calendar of community events, and/or develop a digital collection of historical resources.   All of these techniques give users a reason to visit your website.
4. Keep content up to date.  Nothing will send users away from your site faster than outdated content.
5. Add the URL of your website to your email signature file - doing this will send your URL to everyone that you correspond with via email and is a great way to promote your site without doing any work.
6. If you want a page to be popular increase the number of ways to access the page. Example - NOLA hosts an Employment Page - users can access this page by clicking on a link found on almost any page on the NOLA site. Generally - The more links to a page...the more users will visit.
7. Look at your web server log files to learn a great deal about your site. You log files can tell you which pages are popular and which are not. If a page isn't getting the traffic it should see if you can find a way to steer more people in that direction.
   

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

Want to try your hand at writing?

I am seeking a few good "authors" for some newsletter articles for either NOLA Notes, our quarterly newsletter, or for Kids Connect, NOLA's Youth Services quarterly newsletter.

Articles can be about special events at your library, your successes (no failures allowed!) or funny stories that we can laugh at with you! Pictures are a great addition, if available!  Please contact me at [email protected] and we can discuss what you may be interested in submitting for upcoming editions of both of these newsletters!

Get your pens out...or, better yet, turn on the computer..and start writing!!!

Excellence Is Never An Accident

"I did some excellent things indifferently, some bad things excellently. Both were praised. The latter the loudest." 
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Excellence is achieved in an organization only as a result of unrelenting and vigorous insistence on the highest standards of performance. It requires an unswerving expectancy of quality from the staff.

Excellence is contagious. It infects and affects everyone in the organization. It charts the direction of programs. It establishes criteria for planning. It provides zest and vitality to the organization. Once achieved, excellence has a talent for permeating every aspect of the life of an organization.

Excellence demands commitment and a tenacious dedication from the leadership of the organization. Once it is accepted and expected, it must be nourished and continually reviewed and renewed. It is a never-ending process of striving and searching. It is always a result of a creatively conceived and precisely planned effort.

Why talk about excellence now? We have had and experienced excellence on a daily basis with Millie Fry, NOLA's Executive Director. She strives daily to ensure that NOLA's members receive the most excellent service from their Regional Library that can be provided. She has set a standard for each and every other Regional Library throughout the state to try to match in areas of technology, continuing education, communication, and innovation.

Good Luck in your new position as Director of SOLO...we will miss your contagious enthusiasm and your ability to push us to new lengths in the standards of excellence that we provide to our members, and to our end-users in the communities that we serve. We'll miss you.

"Next to excellence is the appreciation of it."
William Makepeace Thackeray

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

‘Tis summer. And the world is in bloom. Plants are growing, flowers blooming and in gardens across the state you hear:

"My gosh Rose! We’re up to our Hostas in fertilizer! How much mulch are the daffodils going to need next year? Is this a perennial or an annual? No, wait! You can’t put the orchids near the ferns! Ewww! Slugs! and earwigs! How do I get rid of these? Oh why did I plant a garden! I need help!" And help you’ll find in Reflinks 635 (Garden crops and horticulture). No more guessing when to plant or harvest. Check out Hosta Faq, the American Fern Society, Ohioline’s Vegetable Crops, Perry’s Perennial Page and more! At our links you’ll find a virtual harvest of facts, fun and lore on horticulture. So stop digging through the manure (because we’ve done it for you) and start smelling the flowers. And eating the corn and tomatoes. And the squash. Yummm. Wow those roses are gorgeous!

Items submitted by:
Reflinks Members [email protected]

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Revised: 08/04/99 04:44:28 PM
URL: http://www.nolanet.org/tdn/issue170.htm