Milwaukee County Federated Library System Home 
Monthly Newsletter
Quick Links
Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
Issue: 2 October 2009
Greetings!

Autumn is here and the public libraries in Milwaukee County are busier than ever.
 
The Drop-In Job Help at 18 public library locations in Milwaukee County has been enthusiastically received by patrons and staff alike and will be continuing through mid-December. As of September 30th, 90 drop-in sessions had been held with 321 total participants. Two job trainer specialists are present at each session to help patrons learn how to complete job applications, put together an online resume, search online job listings, and/or obtain a free e-mail account.

Since dates and times vary among the libraries, please consult this schedule or the events calendar at http://www.mcfls.org
 
Thank you for your continued support of libraries and the Milwaukee County Federated Library System.

Sincerely,
Jim Gingery, Director
Milwaukee County Federated Library System
MEMBER LIBRARY LISTENING SESSION
Listening Session Opportunity to Discuss System Issues on October 29th
A Member Library Listening Session is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, 2009, 6:30 p.m., at the Greenfield Public Library, 5310 West Layton Ave.

30 participants (staff and trustees) from the 15 MCFLS member libraries will meet together for discussion centering on:
  • What are our responsibilities as members of a library system? What is our role with each other in the areas of service reciprocity and collaboration?
  • What do members want and expect from MCFLS?
The facilitator for the listening session, Debra Wilcox-Johnson, is a highly regarded library consultant with expertise in working with libraries and library systems on a wide variety of issues. Debra recently facilitated the highly popular Library Directors Forum for MCFLS and the Waukesha County Federated Library System (WCFLS).

Additional staff and trustees are welcome to attend as observers.
REVIEWS, TAGGING AND MORE ADDED TO COUNTYCAT
LibraryThing for Libraries content added October 1st

Listening Session

Effective October 1st, LibraryThing for Libraries (LTFL) content has been added to the CountyCat online catalog. LibraryThing is a social networking site that allows members to share what they are reading, review books, and interact with other members.

LibraryThing for Libraries is a subscription-based service that allows online catalogs like CountyCat to display content from LibraryThing, including:

  • User reviews. Librarything.com reviews are included by default. You are able to add your own reviews as well.

    All reviews are moderated and may not appear until the next day.

  • Similar items. This provides you with a hyperlinked list of materials that are deemed to be similar to the title you are viewing AND part of CountyCat. It acts as a "you may also like..." readers' advisory feature that highlights other books in the collection that may be of interest.

  • Related editions. This feature provides links to bib pages of other editions and translations of a work that can be found within CountyCat.

  • Tagging. Tag clouds will appear for materials describing the content of the book. The larger the 'tag', the more relevant it is to the overall content. If you click on a tag it will bring up a small window with other materials within CountyCat that also have the same tag.
FEATURED DATABASE:
AUTO REPAIR REFERENCE CENTER
Auto Repair Reference Center Free information resources for you!

The Auto Repair Reference Center database includes automotive repair information supplied by Point 5 Technologies, Inc., under license from Nichols Publishing, the former publisher of ChiltonŽ Information and information from Delphi Integrated Service Solutions. Auto Repair Reference Center contains information on most major manufacturers of domestic and imported vehicles, with repair information for most vintage makes starting as far back as 1945.

Auto Repair Reference Center is available statewide as part of the Badgerlink project of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning. To give Auto Repair Reference Center a try, click on the logo above.
LINKS AND RSS FEEDS ADDED FOR NEW MATERIALS
RSS Feeds Feature dynamically sends information on new library materials directly to you

MCFLS recently added direct links and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to specific collections for the new materials page located here.

RSS feeds allow patrons to get dynamically updated lists of new materials within their RSS feed reader or aggregator (for example, iGoogle or FeedBurner).
 
A very basic review of RSS is available here.