Upgrade to Millennium 6.0

MHLS will upgrade to Millennium release 6.0 in the early morning of Tuesday, November 28th. The system, including the online catalog, will be unavailable for a period of time during the upgrade process. We hope the downtime will be less than 3 hours, but complications may extend that time.

The upgrade will begin loading onto your staff computers upon your first login to Millennium 6.0. This upgrade will behave very much like a patch, loading .JAR files before launching. This may take minutes for libraries with good connections and a good amount of memory and as much as 30 minutes for libraries with lesser connections and/or low memory.

You will also be required to download the new Offline circulation client [see packet for offline client installation instructions]. The old version of the offline client will no longer be compatible once we have upgraded. The new offline client has been enhanced to include receipt printing and multiple due dates.

Your library received a packet with detailed information regarding the release enhancements and instructions for installing the offline circulation client last week. The same information will be available on the MHLS Resource Sharing & Millennium page under Millennium downloads. If you experience any problems during or after the upgrade contact Laurie at x21 or the MHLS Tech Support Hotline 845.471.3440.

MHLS Announcements
MHLS will be closed Thursday, November 23rd and Friday, November 24th.
· No delivery on November 23
· There will be delivery on November 24

MHLS Libraries
The Friends of the Rosendale Library are honoring Rosendale Director, Wendy Alexander for her thirty years of service as the library director. At this event Wendy will be presented awards from the Town of Rosendale and Ulster County. The Reception/ Dessert Buffet will take place on Sunday, December 3rd from 2:00 - 4:00pm at the Rosendale Café, 434 Main Street, Rosendale. Music will be provided by world beat band Pisaro. Tickets are $10.00 each and can be purchased at the library or by calling 845.658.9013.

State Senator John J. Bonacic has secured a legislative grant of $20,000, which will go toward restoration of Stone Ridge Library's historic 1798 stone house. Visit the library's web site: http://www.stoneridgelibrary.org for more information.

Professional Development
Two Training Opportunities for New Staff:
1) Orientation for New Library Staff
2) Circulation Essentials
1) If you have not yet attended an Orientation for New Library Staff, you will want to register for the upcoming 10:00am-noon session on Tuesday, December 5th. Designed for new library staff and volunteers, but open to all who would like to attend, this workshop provides introductory, baseline information about working effectively in a public library and in the Mid-Hudson Library System. The workshop will cover:
· The role of the public library in our communities
· How your library fits into the NYS library structure
· Your role as a library representative
· Helping patrons find what they want
· Overview of the online catalog, HomeACCESS databases and interlibrary loan
· System wide resource sharing concepts and issues
2) Following the Orientation, Circulation Essentials will be offered from 1:00 - 3:00pm so you can get the basics in Millennium Circulation. Circ Essentials is designed for new library staff, but open to all who would like to attend. This workshop provides introductory, baseline information about Millennium including common circulation and patron data entry tasks. The workshop will cover:
· Patron Records: how, when and why we create patron records
· Checkin & Checkin for the book drop
· Checkout: Dealing with it all - from pop-up messages to missing parts
· Holds: How they work and what you need to know to keep on top of the process
· Fines and fees: How fines work, how to create and add manual fines, waiving fines and fine history
· Printing notices: Pages, bills, overdues, hold pickup
· Entering items at the circ desk
· Neat tricks-things to save you time and work!
Register for each topic individually through the MHLS web calendar: http://www.midhudson.org/evanced/lib/eventcalendar.asp

SUNY Albany Course to be Taught @MHLS: For the Spring 2007 semester, Josh Cohen (adjunct professor for SUNY Albany, College of Computing & Information, Department of Information Studies) is teaching Research Methods. This class (IIST608) will meet in the MHLS Auditorium in Poughkeepsie on Tuesdays from 4:30-7:20pm. Course Description: Basic research methods and statistics for students entering the information science professions. Covers descriptive and inferential statistics through correlation and regression; basic research process methods, quantitative and qualitative, and the creation of grant or research proposals. For more information: http://www.albany.edu/dis.

Want to learn about new and innovative ways to reach and serve baby boomers and active older adults in your community?
Attend the Lifelong Access Workshop on December 4, 2006, 10:00am - 2:30pm, at The Crossings of Colonie, 580 Albany Shaker Road, Loudonville, NY. No charge (lunch included), registration required. The Americans for Libraries Council (ALC), in partnership with the Albany Guardian Society and New York State Library, invites public library staff and trustees to attend. This unique training opportunity is part of ALC's National Lifelong Access Libraries Initiative. The workshop will emphasize the power of collaborations with local organizations that work with baby boomers and active older adults. To register: Send an email with your name, library, address, and phone number to Amanda Latreille at alatreil@mail.nysed.gov. The registration deadline is November 27, 2006. To learn more, visit the Lifelong Access Libraries website at http://www.lifelonglibraries.org.

The New York Library Association is launching a special holiday season membership drive. Any new member who joins between November 16th and December 15th will be entered into a raffle to win an ipod Shuffle. Visit http://www.nyla.org/index.php?page_id=89 to join online or download a membership form to send in.

Programming
New issue of Library Technology Reports reveals benefits of gaming services at libraries: ALA TechSource has announced the publication of its latest issue of Library Technology Reports, "Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services" by Jenny Levine, librarian, author of the popular The Shifted Librarian blog, and an avid gamer. "What if traditionally apathetic library users were instead motivated to get up early on a Saturday morning and plead for library staff members to open the doors?" she asks in the introduction to this highly accessible report. Numerous detailed examples of what libraries are already doing - including public, school, and academic libraries - provide Levine the springboard to illustrate how librarians can reap positive gains by proactively, creatively, and (above all) affordably integrating gaming into the services and programs already offered at the library. The case studies reveal that gaming programs often turn out to be among the most popular a library can offer. "I have yet to hear about a library of any type offering gaming that has received negative feedback from patrons," Jenny notes. Read more at http://www.techsource.ala.org/.

Trustee Resources
Robert Freeman, the Executive Director of the NYS Committee on Open Government will speak at the Newburgh Free Library on Wednesday, November 29th at 7:00pm. The event is free and open to all. The Committee on Open Government was created to facilitate access to public records and enhance community participation in public meetings (Open Meetings Law). For directions visit: http://newburghlibrary.org/.

Member Libraries are welcome to submit items of interest and job openings to the MHLS Bulletin: bulletin@midhudson.org. The MHLS Bulletin is available on line at http://midhudson.org/bulletins/main.htm.