On the Road-Whitman College's Penrose Library

Wow! What a pretty place to study. I love oak so the decor is extremely pleasing to me. I visited the IT department to set up using my laptop here in the library. I got a bookmark from them that helps their students access their personal space on the campus servers. I will make one up for us. All is a go so here I am posting! It is quiet. So far, I found all that I need but will be scrambling more when my classes start next Tuesday. Like finding out how to secure a copy card, ILL, etc.

I got a library card from the public library today. They were friendly and very helpful and I even got the business card from a library worker who is getting her MLS online, too. She is attending Drexel. We are going to meet and compare notes regarding our classwork. Fun!

There is wireless in the Herring House where I am staying across from the hospital. I am set! Radiation started yesterday and I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot of science. Fascinating!

Nuke-ville!

Pardon the personal nature of this post. I don't use this forum for my personal story very much but.....I will be absent from the desk in the ERC for 7 weeks to have radiation therapy in Walla Walla. This luxury is all thanks to the generous contribution of my classified staff colleagues who donated their vacation time to my recovery. The daily four hour drive to Walla Walla (plus the gas prices today) was not something we were looking forward to as a family. Staying in Walla Walla relieves both of us from being exhausted from the driving. I pushed very hard during chemo so this time to heal is quite a gift. I again thank them for their care and support! You may see me playing music in bands around town and environs during this time. That is the best medicine of all for me!

In the meantime, our student assistants will be here to answer questions and help you. Theresa, the reference librarian, will be on hand to assist you in your research. She is awesome!

I hope this all works out as everyone says-"It will be over before you know it." Now, if the hair would just grow back as fast!

Here's a link to news from the new Cancer Center at St. Mary's Hospital in Walla Walla. Not that I wish to EVER have chemotherapy again, the new facilities will be a lot more comfortable for new infusion patients. (And there are TOO many of them!)

Catch you on the flip side! I have a laptop-- so write!

Teamwork!

Sally strolled by my desk this morning and in one quality minute she set me straight on the Groupware distribution list option in Contacts! Yes! I now have my groups set up in the email system. Life is good!!

La Grande Public Library is moving!

The NEW!!!!!! La Grande Public Library is opening on September 19th! Town patrons are starting to wander in here in the interim. They are welcome to use our OPAC (online catalog) and our databases but internet access is restricted to students and faculty/staff at EOU. The students here pay a hefty technology fee and all our computers were paid for out of that budget. They were not financed by public funds.

We have our materials arranged using the Library of Congress classification system. This system does not have a fiction section that is popular in the Dewey Decimal classification scheme found in public libraries. Therefore, browsing for fiction is not easy unless you know the author or title of a book. Libraries are arranged to accomodate the patrons that they serve so there are understandable and necessary differences between public and academic libraries.

Groupware ....gotta love it!

Okay...I am as smart as the average bear but forgot how to make a distribution list out of my Contacts list. Yikes! I accessed the Help menu and it was vague. Guess I will humble myself by asking the IT folks.

Gearing up! Even the weather speaks 'fall'

I don't know about you but I am gearing up for Fall 2006. At Southern Connecticut I am taking Public Libraries, Library Management, and Cataloguing. Full course load and full-time worker! When my textbooks arrived, I started to get excited. The cataloguing class will be my Waterloo! Should be interesting.

We are starting to see students drift back. Some from the soccer team, some from other schools on their way to their own institutions. We got trained in our new Groupware software last week and that will be a fun thing to learn. Getting it to talk to my Axim handheld is a struggle. The Axim will talk to Groupware but I haven't figured out how to get the Groupware to talk to the Axim.

I will be in Walla Walla for radiation treatments when school starts here at Eastern. I am very sorry about that. It is the busiest, most fun, time of the year! I will miss meeting the new students and greeting students from last year. I have developed a fondness for many of them and will enjoy hearing about their summers. The new access to internet procedure will be tripping up some at first. The barcode and PIN issues will be an issue for the distance students. Oh, well. When I get back I will work hard at getting re/acquainted!

Color Printing-Upstairs in the Computer Lab

Since our color printer died, we often get asked for access to color printing. There is one upstairs in the Computer Lab. They charge 10 cents a page to print copies. The cost is not for actually using the printer but for the paper they use for that printer. It is a special dustless paper that aids in not clogging the printer. Maybe, that is why ours bit the dust!