Manchester City Library

Bringing you our Library events via RSS over the last year or so has meant duplicating efforts between two systems: our calendar and our blog. Blessedly for us, our calendar provider has added RSS capability saving us a lot of work.

• If you follow events via an RSS reader, please change our address to the new one.
• If you follow events via .ical (I know there’s at least one of you!), unfortunately, the new system doesn’t handle .ical. But please contact me to let me know that you used and/or will miss the service - if there’s enough of you, I will start to look at ways to reinstate it.
• If you follow our events via email, you should be all set - I made the appropriate change on our side last week.

Part of my work-a-day routine is to sign into my IM accounts on Meebo - often Meebo staff greet me with a little vignette, an insight into their company or some other interesting tidbit. This morning’s was particularly interesting:

October 16 is a special day. Though rarely celebrated outside the confines of grammar school classrooms or public libraries, Dictionary Day commemorates the birthday of American lexicographer Noah Webster, born October 16, 1758. I am not sure how long Dictionary Day has been around, but it appears we have been honoring good ol’ Mr. Webster for quite some time.

Greg goes on to discuss some of the reasons he loves words. I’m inspired to let you in on a little secret: my all-time favorite word is rutabaga. I don’t know why. I don’t even particularly like rutabagas. I just like the way the word feels in my mouth. If you have any of your own, please share below.

I am truly distressed to report that we are having severe problems with our public access computers in both library buildings. They are available for use but may reboot during your session. If they do, please see a staff member who will reset them and get you logged in again.

We are working with the City’s Information Systems department to diagnose and fix the problem. In the meantime, I request your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.

The library had a very busy summer. In addition to our usual activity we also took on a branch new library system that changed our online catalog. We really like it, but it is quite different. I got a good question today:

When searching and finding a book in the old format, one could get a synopsis of the object via several means. There was a librarian review, a publishers review,etc. My question is this: why is that not available in this new very complicated format?

All those things are still available on the items that have them - the trick is that not all items have the extra bits and bobs she mentions. In other words not all materials have been reviewed by publishers weekly or contain the synopsis - but this is a function of the item and not the new system versus the old.

So how do you find it? To show whether or not that extra information is available, simply click on ‘Full Display’ and you’ll be rewarded with all the yummy stuff. Our inventory-type information opens in a window below. The reviews and such opens just above and to the right. I put up a screenshot and if you mouse - over the photo you’ll see some noted detailing what I mean.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions about the new system - especially if you’re finding it complicated. It’s taken us awhile to get used to it too, but we are here to help!

Due to our migration (not south for the winter… that comes later) certain library services will be unavailable: placing of requests and renewals. When you visit the library during this time please be sure to bring your library card as we will need your barcode to check materials out during this downtime.

We thank you for your patience as we upgrade the system to serve you better.