North Central Library District Newsletter
Going the Extra MileAugust 2014
In This Issue
Technology Training
New Director at Priestley Forsyth
Trustee Town Hall meetings
Who is Sue Mayshock?
Summer Reading Survey
Juking with June
Why OCLC
Technology Training
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Our #1 priority for 2014 is staff training in technology. The first step to advocate for services is to make sure we can all provide them to our customers. 

Training dates and places: 

Degenstein Community Library,  Sunbury,
August 27  
Blossburg Memorial Library
September 9

Click here for the registration form.

Only two locations left! After the Blossburg training, we will evaluate the need for more training locations in other areas.

Priestley Forsyth Team
New Director at Priestley Forsyth Memorial Library in Northumberland

Jeff Johnstonbaugh accepted the position as Director at the Priestley Forsyth Memorial Library and officially began his new position on August 1. Jeff has been involved with the library in different capacities for over 20 years. A graduate of Lock Haven University, Jeff was a caseworker with the Department of Public Welfare for many years. His time as a caseworker made it clear to Jeff that reading and education are invaluable to all of us but particularly to our youngest citizens.He would often take discarded children's books to his office and hand them out to the children at work. Jeff was diagnosed with hearing loss as an infant and reading was a valuable tool for his development.

 Jeff's interests and hobbies include breeding and showing Afghan Hounds, fiber arts, gardening, and is a model and real train enthusiast. 

 

Welcome to the North Central Library District, Jeff!
Trustee Town Hall Meetings  
In case you haven't heard, Stacey Aldrich, State Librarian, will be conducting Trustee Town Hall meetings in 2 locations in the district, James V Brown on August 13, from 10am to 12:30pm, and Blossburg Memorial Library on August 19, from 1pm to 3:30pm. Please encourage your trustees to attend with you. You can register through the Compendium. 
Overdrive news and stats
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Your Overdrive users may now turn on automatic borrowing for items on hold. No more losing your place if you miss your notification. Find more information on automatic borrowing here.
And now users can suspend a hold. If you're in the middle of another book or going on vacation, you can suspend your hold but still continue to move up the waiting list. More on suspending holds here.

Click here for usage statistics for July for your library.
Greetings NCLD Members,
Here's the August issue of the NCLD newsletter keeping you up to date on district activities. 
Who is Sue Mayshock?

 

Sue Mayshock is the AV Specialist for James V Brown Library and is responsible for everything Overdrive from ordering titles to training us all on how to use the service. Here's a little bit about Sue:

 

"I am a Williamsport native who graduated from Bloomsburg University when it was still a state college with a degree in Elementary Ed. I married and left the area to follow my husband to Loring AFB where a lifelong love for Maine began. We have lived in NH, CT, western PA, NC, VA, NY, and Turbotville, PA.  We have 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren--our 5th is due in mid-August.

I began my library career at the Chesterfield County Library System, in Matoaca, VA, where I worked as a Library Associate. We were a small branch with a staff of approximately 8 people. I handled reference questions, the newspaper and magazine subscriptions, and helped with children's programming. From there, we moved north to Saranac Lake, NY, where I worked at the North Country Community College Library. I was in charge of circulation, periodicals, and interlibrary loan. I have been the AV Specialist at James V Brown since 1990 when we moved back to PA. I started when VHS was a fairly new format and we still had 16mm films that circulated and there was no internet-in fact, circulation was still done using cards and a Gaylord machine. I have always considered myself privileged to have a job where I was able to keep up with technological advances. We have moved from rotating VHS collections to DVD  collections to downloadable books in my time here. I hope that one day we will be able to deliver streaming video, audio, and music to our patrons.

I am an avid ebook reader and advocate. My daughters have gotten me hooked on Words and Scrabble with Friends. I love to spend time with the grandkids-Morgan, Dominic, Sawyer, and Owen. We also have adopted 2 shelter dogs, Nicky and Champ, who make sure we get our share of exercise. And of course, I love to sit on the rocks by the ocean in Maine!"

-- Sue Mayshock

Summer Reading Survey is available!
 

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Summer Reading is winding down. We all know what that means -- gathering those statistics and reporting them. Reporting statistics is a little different this year. The report can be found at pa.countingopinions.com. This is the same interface used for the annual report. Login using the same username and password as for the annual report. Find complete instructions here. Contact Susan Pannebaker (spannebake@pa.gov) or June if you have questions.
Juking with June
Geeking at the Athens ArtsFest
 
From Columbia County to Union County to Snyder County, Bradford County and beyond, my travels this past month have been delightful except when it rains buckets -- which it tends to do on 180 between Muncy and McEwensville at exactly the time I'm traveling through!

I had the opportunity to visit the Columbia Traveling Library and see the unique library on wheels. Check out this youtube video of Lydia talking about the Traveling Library and their new ILS, Atrium. 

And from Priestley Forsyth, I learned about a program they call Kindergarten Kickstart. How cool is it that the library brings in kids about to start kindergarten and teaches them things like how to form a line, say the Pledge of Allegiance, recognize and write their names? Check out Priestley Forsyth on Facebook for photos of kindergarten Kickstart. 

The libraries in Bradford County and the James V Brown Library are in the midst of a Geek the Library Campaign. It's great to see those customized "Geek" posters and banners throughout Bradford County and the customized Geek shirts at JVB. What a great way to give recognition to the people in our communities!

Several of you have expressed an interest in giving input on a handbook for new directors and system administrators. We're getting ready to start that project. If you would like to become part of a committee, let me know. We have an outline and are just beginning to work on content. 

"Geek" poster by Becky Kier Grace, Spalding Memorial Library. Cinnamon was adopted !

Here's where I've been:

Ulysses Library, Green Free Library in Canton, Monroeton Public Library, Columbia County Traveling library, Union County Library System, Snyder County Libraries, Inc., Towanda Public Library, Blossburg Memorial Library. 

We've also completed one technology training in Lewisburg.

By the way, I'm listening to Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman.
--June
Why OCLC?
 
We're taking a look at the services the district provides to member libraries and the costs associated with them. In that vein, we looked at our OCLC membership and interviewed the staff that uses OCLC most often. WorldCat is used by Linda Aston for ILL. Linda finds WorldCat is useful in addition to AccessPA for pinpointing locations of items even within Pennsylvania. The possibility exists that items could be requested from anywhere in the world using WorldCat but Linda requests from the continental United States to keep postage down. Look for more info on OCLC in the next issue.