Desktop News - Issue 180

Desktop News
Issue 180	Wednesday, November 24, 1999	12:46:41 PM
For a bi-monthly wrap up of NOLA news and information, be sure to check out NOLA Notes! To receive The Desktop News in your email, go here. (You must be using Netscape, Internet Explorer or an HTML-based email program to use this service)

Ghosts, Libraries, and the web?
Interesting story, wrong holiday - but it's still worth sharing. Is the Williard Library in Evansville Indiana haunted? The first reported incident happened sixty years ago to a library employee who trekked through the snowy cold for his nightly duty. Since then, countless other employees and patrons have reported seeing this apparition, each giving an eerily similar description. Is the legend true? Well now patrons can become ghost hunters. The Evansville Courier & Press has installed a video camera in the 114-year-old Williard library which posts still images of the library on the newspaper's site every 90 seconds. Visitors are encouraged to point out pictures that they feel show "proof" of the ghost. These images are then available at the site for visitors to view.

The site which is a very imaginative use of technology and library has been a success - hundreds of thousands have visited since early October and the amount of attention brought to the library has been incredible. Wonder if there will be any "spot the alien at the library" webcams for Summer Reading? Interested in creating own library webcam? Drop me an email [email protected]

Visit the site: http://ghostcam.courierpress.com/

SmartGuardian - Intelligent filtering?
There's a new product in the Internet filtering market that is receiving much interest from both schools and libraries. Designed to allow Internet access without continuous supervision at public institutions,libraries and schools. Access to the Internet is controlled through the use of a smart card, which contains a coded list of web site types the user is authorized to access, as pre-determined by a parent or guardian.

The library issues smart cards to patrons wishing to use the Internet. These cards contain the user’s name and photo along with the web-surfing privileges for the child - as determined by their parent. Levels of privilege are very flexible and may range from very restrictive access to full and open access.

Want to know more? http://www.publicard.com/

Real Jukebox knows who you are and Bubble Boy is gonna get you!
It's been an interesting few weeks in techno-land. One of the biggest net players, RealNetworks admitted to embedding an ID number in their Real Jukebox software and forgot to tell consumers. The software sends regular updates the RealNetwork servers and uses the ID number to identify an individual user and the music CDs that a user plays along with information on how the product is used such as how many songs are recorded on a user's hard drive, the type of portable MP3 player owned, and any music preferences.

In another major story from last week many users had a chance to meet "Bubble Boy" a new macro based email virus that impacts users of the Microsoft Outlook email software. Bubble Boy is unique because it doesn't require a user to open an e-mail or e-mail attachment for it to wreak havoc instead a computer can become infected through the use of the Outlook or Outlook Express preview function. Many anti-virus scientists fear that this is just the beginning of a new varity of computer virus.

Read more - http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2390778,00.html

Y2K is near - are you ready?
So are your computers and other devices ready for 01/01/00? With less than 40 days to go Anchordesk offers an excellent guide for those of you who have been somewhat lax in your Y2K preparations.

Want to know more? http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_4138.html

Ohio sues Microsoft for $10 Billion
Lawsuits against Microsoft are gaining popularity since a federal court issued a finding of fact that Microsoft abused their monopoly power to hurt consumers, competitors and other companies. The latest suit of note comes from the state of Ohio and claims that Microsoft overcharged customers as much as $10 Billion for operating system software.

Read more - http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,32728,00.html

The best from Comdex
The Comdex computer show is always full of the newest technologies two of the best from the show this year:

The Voquette Media Manager software transcodes any audio output (CD's RealAudio, etc.) and passes it from the PC's audio jack to any portable music player or CD recorder, but not to a hard drive. The software includes a scheduling feature which allows user to automatically pull down and record an audio stream -- such as online book talks, or a concert -- as long as you know the link. For an additional $30, a deluxe version of the software includes text-to-speech software so you can listen to Word documents, HTML pages, and email by dragging and dropping a link onto the window.
Visit the site: http://www.voquette.com/

Low cost Wireless Internet Tablets were another popular item at Comdex. The pads are both small and light and feature touch screens, handwriting recognition, allow web browsing, email functions and support both streaming audio and video. This technology could have a significant inpact on library and school computing environments as the devices will be cheap enough to lend (est. $300-$400) and patrons/students could freely roam the building while still having access network resources. Many of these devises are based on National Semiconductor's popular WebPAD design and should be ready for market by the second quarter of 2000.
More on webpad - http://www.national.com/appinfo/solutions/images/web_pad.pdf

Team Building for Success
Organizations of all sorts feel that "teams" are the solution to many of their daily at-work problems... so they ask a few key employees to work on an important project together...and then sit back and let the process work. Does it? Not normally.

High performing teams don't just spring up ready to go and tackle a difficult work assignment. Teamwork takes work! It takes time, energy, experience, and learning for a group of people who come together as a team to learn how to operate as a well functioning unit.

Just what is "team building" anyway? The goal of team building is to have a group of people who work together-come together-as a team to achieve a certain objective. Each person on the team should have a chance to contribute in a personally meaningful way to reach the final objective.

There are several stages to forming work teams:
Forming - The beginning stage of a team. It's the stage where members start to feel one another out and get to know each other as team members, not just fellow employees. The members of the team at this point, depend upon one another and the leader to provide direction because they aren't sure of themselves. The forming stage of a team is important because it is the foundation for the team to evolve into a high performing unit;
Storming - In this stage, members begin to understand their task. They begin to develop their "roles" in the team. At this point, it's normal for members to become a little bit defensive because they are not making progress as quickly as they would like. They may become anxious and impatient with other team members. Think of storming like the second stage in learning a new sport, like golf. Once you've been introduced to the game, you want to play a round. Because you don't have a lot of experience, you start flailing at the ball, sometimes hitting it squarely and straight, and sometimes not!
Norming - In this stage, team members begin in reconcile differences among themselves and finally get used to working together. They accept each other, their roles, norms, and expectations. Team members begin to help each other. They make measurable progress toward meeting their objective;
Performing - In this stage, team members discover and accept each other's strengths and weaknesses. They communicate openly with one another and develop methods and techniques for effectively interacting with each other. You can tell when a team reaches this stage, because they start to get a lot of work done, quickly and efficiently. There is real synergy at work. They operate like a well-tuned engine, with all of the parts working correctly. There is no finger pointing when things go wrong. If one member has a problem, they consider it a team problem.

Where is your "library team" at in this process? You may think your work "team" is a lean, mean, fighting machine...but do they really work together...or just with each other?

"It's a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness."
Seneca
Epistles, 84, 13

If you need assistance in building your work team, NOLA can help! We provide on-site team building workshops (1 day) to help you to form your team (Stage 1). Working with all staff together, it is a fun, interactive way to learn more about your co-workers and begin to "break the ice" on initial problems and situations in your library, which can hamper forward development. Start the millennium with a fresh perspective and a new attitude for your employees, managers, and even Board members are welcome! A great workshop for staff development days in your library! If you would like to receive additional information on this program, please e-mail Lori Putt at [email protected]

The days were unending. The sun beat down, hot and relentless. The last drop of water in the barrel evaporated with a pop. The wooden raft's rag-tag occupants stared bleary eyed at the empty horizon when...suddenly...a dot of land appeared. Angelino Giuseppe Marco Benini shouted, "Spain? Portugal? The New World? It doesn't matter! We've found land!" Well...it mattered. For what they had found was the New World (Reflinks 973), which was not exactly the paradise they were expecting. Those testy Mayflower people (974) were not happy with more mouths to feed. It had taken them months to set up the seating the schedule for the first "big doo" with the local Native American population (970). Figuring they'd need some more meat, they sent the newcomers into the forest to get some, neglecting to tell them about the unusual flora and fauna, specifically the pesky, pecking fowl. And so it came to be that Angelino Guiseppe Marco Benini was chased out of the new world by wild turkeys (590 Virginia Dept of Forestry). . But he got his revenge by visiting Butterball.com (641). His only comment, "Tastes alot like chicken! Pass the cranberry sauce."

NOLA Regional Library System 4445 Mahoning Ave Warren, OH 44483	Phone: (330) 847- 7744 Fax: (330) 847- 7704 Email: [email protected]
Copyright � 1999 by NOLA Regional Library System. Send comments to Webmaster. Revised: 11/24/99 12:46:41 PM URL: http://www.nolanet.org/tdn/issue180.htm