Archive for November, 2007
We’ve been hearing from a lot of folks in Michigan libraryland who read about Louise Bugg’s retirement in the December News@MLC that was posted yesterday (and also the longer news item from MLC’s News & Announcements page). Louise has touched a lot of lives in Michigan libraries over the past four decades! 
Tomorrow is Louise’s last day working in the office at MLC. I’m not sure how MeLCat, or MLC, will get along without her – we’re all going to miss her and we wish her well in her retirement. Thanks Louise!
November 29th, 2007
This will affect CINAHL through MeL:
In late December, EBSCO plans to release an exciting new design of the Visual Search option in the EBSCOhost and several other user interfaces EBSCO offers, such as the Student Research Center, the Business Searching Interface, the Literary Reference Center, the International Security & Counter-Terrorism Reference Center, Kids Search, Searchasaurus and Consumer Health Complete.
A description of the new design’s functionality and some screen examples of its two user interface style choices are available in the first Top Story on EBSCO’s Support Site: (http://support.ebsco.com).
Please visit EBSCO’s Support Site (http://support.ebsco.com) to learn about new features, search among thousands of FAQs, download Flash tutorials, Help Sheets or User Guides, or communicate with Technical Support at any time, using the EBSCO Support Form (http://support.epnet.com/contact/askus.php).
You may also contact Technical Support by telephone, as follows:
In the United States and Canada: (800) 758-5995
Outside of the United States and Canada: access code, (800) 3272-6000
Sincerely,
Marcie Brown
Technical Communications Manager
EBSCO Publishing
10 Estes Street
Ipswich, MA 01938
November 27th, 2007
The Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA has announced the Outcomes of their October meeting on their web site. RDA – Resource Description and Access – is a new standard that will replace AACR2, scheduled for release in 2009.
We at MLC are excited to announce that RDA expert, Chris Oliver of McGill University, will be a presenter on RDA at MLC’s Technical Services Conference in Lansing on April 15, 2008. Chris is the author of “Changing to RDA.”
To see the complete conference agenda and to register online, see Technical Services Conference on MLC’s workshop registration page.
November 26th, 2007
Online registration is now open for MLC’s January-June 2008 workshops. Check out our line-up of 50 sessions at: https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/ We have something for everyone, including workshops on Flickr, YouTube, RSS, cataloging, reference, copyright, licensing, Second Life, podcasting, and more. Plus — new this February 26! — “Tune In! Media and Technology for Youth Services.” Register now before the holiday rush!
In addition to our regular hands-on workshops, we are offering three special programs this semester:
February 19, 2008 – MeL Users Day (Lansing Center)
March 17, 2008 – Jessamyn West’s Teaching Technology in Libraries (LCC West)
April 15, 2008 – Technical Services Conference (LCC West)
To register online and for complete descriptions of MLC’s regular workshops and special programs, go to: https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/ The print schedule will be mailed out this week and is also available online in PDF format.
If you have any questions about MLC’s workshops, special programs or registration system, please feel free to contact Heather Thomas at thomash@mlcnet.org or 800530-9019 x133.
November 20th, 2007
Are you attending the MLA Annual Conference in Lansing this week? MLC staff are involved with a number of presentations.
Evette Atkin is presenting a program on Second Life on Thursday at 10:45am (see News for details). Louise Bugg is presenting a MeLCat program on Wednesday at 4:00pm, and Suzanne Robinson is presenting on MeL Databases on Thursday at 8:45am (see MeL blog for details).
MLC staff will also be demo’ing the Evergreen open-source ILS at the MLC booth #23-24 (see Evergreen blog for details).
Hope to see you there!
November 6th, 2007
Time magazine Best Inventions of the Year
The Espresso Book Machine—meaning “fast,” not coffee—can churn out a 300-page paperback on demand, complete with color cover, in just 3 min. The $50,000 machine could transform libraries into minibookstores, making hard-to-find titles as accessible as cappuccinos. At $3 a book they might be cheaper too.
November 5th, 2007
