March 2010

Title: Winter Webinar: Simple Strategies and Tools for Keeping Up with Tech Trends
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Presenter: Jason Kucsma, METRO 3R’s first Emerging Technologies Manager, works to expand and enrich METRO’s online presence and interactive capabilities for members. Jason also manages METRO’s Digitization Grant Program. Prior to joining METRO, Jason worked as the founder and publisher of a nationally distributed, award-winning independent culture and politics magazine (clamor) and was a founding organizer of a national conference for independent media makers. Jason received his B.A. in Interpersonal Communication and his M.A. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University, and an M.L.S. from the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science.
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: Your computer
Fee: None
Description: As the World Wide Web matures, the amount of information we have access to is increasingly overwhelming. And the rapid speed which technologies change make it even harder to keep up with what’s new, what’s important, and what’s not worth your time and attention. Still, it’s important for librarians to be familiar with changes in technology, because they will inevitably influence our users’ expectations and may have implications on how we adapt to meet those expectations. This webinar will provide students with a few simple strategies for keeping up with shifts in technology without having to devote valuable work time that could be used more effectively. This webinar will also detail some of the freely available tools to help implement these strategies.
How to Participate: Participants WILL NOT be able to log on without preregistration.
To participate in a Webinar session, students will need:
* Computer with Internet connection.
* Valid email address.
* Telephone, preferably with speakerphone feature.
Students who sign up for a Webinar will receive information on how to log onto the class approximately two days before the scheduled class date.
Sign up for this webinar.

 

Title: Power Users Series: Excel Datases
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Presenter: James Crowley, Crowley Computers
Time: Sign-in: 8:30-9:00 am, Class: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm
Location: Northern New York Library Network, Potsdam
Fee: $10.00 for library staff members; $29.95 for all others
Description: Employees whose positions require tracking a fair amount of data often probably spend a fair amount of time working with Microsoft Excel. There are many tips and shortcuts in Excel that make working with data faster, more efficient, and effective. Students will learn to develop effective databases along with navigation tips to move efficiently through worksheets and workbooks and the use of PivotTables and PivotCharts for summarizing and analyzing large amounts of information.
Students will learn about:
Databases
  a. Databasics
    i. Laying out fields and records
       1. Formatting
    ii. Sorting
    iii. Filtering
      Navigation tips
      Printing
   b. PivotTable
   c. PivotChart
Data import and repair
   a. Importing from
     i. ASCII text files
     ii. Access tables
     iii. Web pages
     iv. Word tables
   b. To format or not to format, that is the guess
   c. Transposing rows and columns
   d. Cleaning and repairing bad data
Sign up for this class.

 

Title: Winter Webinar: Information Use and Reuse in the Library: The Creative Commons Solution
Date: Friday, March 19, 2010 (Please note: this webinar was rescheduled from Feb. 25 due to technical problems encountered that day.)
Presenter: Michael Sauers is currently the Technology Innovation Librarian for the Nebraska Library Commission in Lincoln, Nebraska and has been training librarians in technology for more than 13 years. He has also been a public library trustee, bookstore manager for a library friends group, reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller. He earned his M.L.S in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael’s ninth book, Searching 2.0, was released in March 2009 and he has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines.
Time: 1:00-2:00 pm
Location: Your computer
Fee: None
Description: With the debate over copyright raging, some are calling for the end of the "all rights reserved" regime, and libraries are feeling caught in the middle. What are the alternatives? Creative Commons (CC) is the most respected alternative available today with its idea of "some rights reserved" as set by the content creators themselves. This presentation will talk about the principles of Creative Commons; show students how they can easily apply it to their intellectual property today, and how they and their patrons can use CC to find material that can be legally reused in the creation of new content.
How to Participate: Participants WILL NOT be able to log on without preregistration.
To participate in a Webinar session, students will need:
* Computer with Internet connection.
* Valid email address.
* Telephone, preferably with speakerphone feature.
Students who sign up for a Webinar will receive information on how to log onto the class approximately two days before the scheduled class date.
Sign up for this webinar.

 

Title: Power Users Series: Access
Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010
Presenter: James Crowley, Crowley Computers
Time: Sign-in: 8:30-9:00 am, Class: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm
Location: Northern New York Library Network, Potsdam
Fee: $10.00 for library staff members; $29.95 for all others
Current users of Microsoft Access know they’re probably only using a fraction of this powerful program’s capabilities. Access users need to learn how to tap into database functions that will make work easier and more effective. However, most people don’t have time to grind through a 2,000 page manual to learn how.
Description: At the same time, most organizations’ decisions are largely driven by the data they collect. That’s why Access users should attend this half-day Access workshop. The class will explore queries, one of the most powerful and underutilized aspects of most databases. Queries can be used for sorting and filtering data, combining tables, adding / deleting / updating fields or records. Once students master queries, they can avoid entering redundant information, stop duplicating tables with annual information, and have more accurate tables.
What will be covered:
1. General query concepts
2. Select queries
   a. Sorting
   b. Filtering
3. Delete queries to get rid of information
4. Update queries to fix information
5. Append queries to add more records
6. Make queries to extract records and create a new table
7. Crosstab queries to compare two sets of information
Sign up for this class.

 

Title: WALDO Update: 2010
Date: Friday, March 26, 2010
Time: Sign-in: 9:30-10:00 am, Session begins: 10:00 am
Location: Northern New York Library Network, Potsdam
Fee: None; lunch will be provided
Description: 10:00 a.m. - Robert Karen, Director of Member Services, will present the spring update with highlights of recent additions and changes to the WALDO portfolio of online databases and services. The presentation will include highlights of all the new vendor contracts, and an overview of all the renewal changes and upgrades for 2010-2011.
11:15 a.m. - Jim Kropelin, Regional Manager for Ebsco, will present an update on new products and services available from Ebsco.
Sign up for this program.

 

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