Manchester City Library

When I started my job here I was most excited to bring the Library and its vibrant atmosphere online. One of the first ways I endeavored to do so was participating in the 365 Library Days Project.

Flickr is one of the premier online sites for sharing photos; it boasts a large (some say 1.5 million users) and vibrant online community. There are Flickr Groups for any interest, many of them are geographically related - there’s even a special one for Manchester! The 365 Library Days Group is just over 400 worldwide libraries, each having made the commitment to upload one photo for every day of the year. We began participating on our in-library New Year’s Day celebration and have kept it up ever since. Today we uploaded our 200th photo!

The project, within the library, is a collaboration between me and Yvonne, one of our skilled reference librarians (she blog too!). Yvonne has done a phenomenal job taking lovely photos - really capturing the beauty and spirit of the library. You’ll notice a photo banner at the top of our library webpage created with the latest five of out 365 Libs contributions. Now that we’re over halfway to our goal of one for every day of the year…. What shall we do next year to top it?

Coming in August we will be getting a new system to help us keep track of books, movies, cds, more as well as manage library cards and accounts. This will be a huge change for us and there are a few things you should know:

1. We are turning off our old system on August 21st. After date you will still be able to find books on our website, but you will not have access to your account - renewals or placing requests - until we’re fully functional on the new system around August 27th. Other than that you probably won’t notice much, but please do be patient with us as we learn the new system.
2. Around August 27th, you will see a brand new look for the library catalog - things will be different, but don’t panic, we have worked hard to make sure you can still do everything you can do now. There just might be a learning curve.
3. If you have library materials saved in the My List area of your account, please save them or email them to yourself. They cannot be transferred to the new system and will be lost.

We are very excited about this change - we expect it will improve many of the services we provide. Most of all, searching for library materials should get much easier! If you have any questions, as always, please contact us.

Yesterday afternoon the City of Manchester launched their brand new website. This means a new look for the library too! When I was working on this, I decided to start with the cleanest slate possible so I only transfered a minimal amount of information.

The plan is to add to what is there as the need emerges. In order to know, I need your help. If, as you explore the new site, find that you miss something that used to be there, please leave a comment and let me know!

Their bark is worse than their byte. Computers are no mystery; they’re just tools. Come, get introduced, and learn the basics. For more information, please contact Lichen Rancourt at 624-6550 ext. 324. Registration is required.

Note: Space is limited and demand is high so please, if you sign up, plan to attend and arrive a bit early. Space will not be held after starting time.

Learn how to create a document so you can write a love letter, (you bring the love), format a resume (you bring the skills), and more. For more information, please contact Lichen Rancourt at 624-6550 ext. 324. Registration required.

Note: Space is limited and demand is high so please, if you sign up, plan to attend and arrive a bit early. Space will not be held after starting time.