Connecticut State Library News

News from CSL blog

Lincoln’s Birthday Closing Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:25:16 +0000 All State Library facilities will be closed on Saturday, February 11th & Monday, February 13th, 2012 for Lincoln’s Birthday. Filed under: updates

Disruption to Legislative History Index Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:42:47 +0000 The update to the State Library Digital Collections software has disrupted the links in the index to the Guide to Connecticut Legislative History Index. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please call the Law and Legislation Reference desk for assistance, 860-757-6590. Filed under: updates

Upgrade to Digital Collections: temporary disruption to aerial maps Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:06:11 +0000 The software for the Digital Collections at the Connecticut State Library will be upgraded this evening, Jan. 31, 2012 to provide a new look and improved user functions such as enhanced zooming and panning and viewing images in full screen. Unfortunately, during the transition, access to the maps for Connecticut’s Aerial Surveys will be disabled. We apologize for any inconvenience and will work to restore access as soon as possible. Filed under: digital collections, updates Tagged: Aerial photographs, Digital collections

William H. Thompson Photographs of Hartford, 1903-1906, Now Available in Digital Collections and Flickr Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:39:01 +0000 Main St. at the Old State House The Connecticut State Library has recently completed the digitization of the William H. Thompson Photographs of Hartford, 1903-1906 (PG 430), which is now available in its Digital Collections and Flickr site.  The photograph set in Flickr is arranged in chronological order.  The collection consists of approximately 93 black and white photographs and 6 prints that appear to be the originals.  An interesting note about this collection is the change in some of the street names.  Thompson from 1903-1906 took photographs of street scenes, river scenes, architecture, statues, and parks of central Hartford.       Filed under: Archives, digital collections, history, updates Tagged: Hartford, Thompson

“Cloud computing” seems to be all the rage, but what actually is it? This overview presentation will explain what cloud computing offers libraries, how libraries are using these services, and what you should consider when thinking about using a cloud service in your library. A distinction between services for end-users and services for organizations will be made, explained, and illustrated, as well as the terms used to describe cloud services. Learn how quick and easy it now is to deploy applications “in the cloud” using tools such as Google Docs, Google App Engine, and Amazon’s Web Services, among others. Resources for further exploration will be included.

*If you require Closed Captioning in order to attend this webinar, please contact Jennifer Peterson by February 3 petersoj@oclc.org.

Thursday, February 9, 2012
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m
Onnline

For additional details and registration information visit: WJ: Cloud Computing 101

Engaging today’s youth through technology is critical to reach a generation that has had access to advanced technology throughout their entire educational and personal lives. Reaching this “tech generation” may seem overwhelming as the proliferation of technology advances and the ever-changing trends make it difficult to determine what efforts will be effective. This webinar will focus on what you can do to educate and engage youth using technology.

*Find out how prevalent technology is in the lives of youth.
oTake a look at the facts
*Understand the opportunities to incorporate technology into your youth programs.
oCheck out what other libraries are doing
*Determine where to start.
oReceive tips and tools to engage youth using technology.
*Learn how to get things moving.
oReceive resources that can assist you with next steps.

By the end of this webinar attendees will have the basic knowledge to incorporate technology into your programs engage and educate youth.

This one-hour introductory webinar will be of interest to library staff that are ready to embrace online technologies to engage their young patrons.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Online

For additional details and registration information visit: InfoPeople: Youth Media Activities in Your Community: Teaching Digital Natives

The State Library continues its partnership with OCLC’s WebJunction project as it makes some important enhancements in the coming months.  In mid-March WebJunction Connecticut will disappear as a standalone domain (ct.webjunction.org) and will become one of the partner sections on a new www.webjunction.org.  This means all our current content will be moved to a new section of the main WebJunction website.  Navigation, organization, and functionality should improve with this new Connecticut section of WebJunction.  All the web content of the State Library’s Division of Library Development will continue to appear on WebJunction rather than in the State Library’s main web site.  And those who have book-marked specific web pages on our current ct.webjunction.org site will be re-directed to the appropriate page on the new web site.

As part of the upgrade, online self-paced courses will be made available in a separate system so that WebJunction members can plan and manage their course-taking more easily.  As a consequence of this change, however, you will lose a record of all incomplete courses that you are still enrolled in on February 29.  You should complete those courses before the 29^th, if you can.

Also, all WebJunction Connecticut members who have logged into WebJunction since July 2010 will automatically have their membership account transferred to the new WebJunction website.  If you have not signed in since then, however, you will want to do so before February 29 or lose your account.

The State Library looks forward to its continued partnership with WebJunction in providing professional development and continuing education opportunities for Connecticut’s library staff.