State Library of North Carolina - Staff Professional Development Blog

New interface for EBSCOhost!

2008-07-16T10:40:00.002-04:00

If you search the EBSCOhost databases (available through NC LIVE) regularly, you’ll notice that EBSCOhost has a new search interface. If you work the reference or genealogy desk, you may wish to familiarize yourself with it a bit if you have not already.

The new interface was just launched today, but has been available for people to preview and test for a while.

If you are asked for the current NC LIVE password, NC State Agency employees with library cards at the State Library of North Carolina may call the reference desk to obtain it at 807-7450. You may also obtain it by logging in to your account with your library card number and PIN number at http://go.dcr.state.nc.us.

If you do not use EBSCOhost regularly, you may be surprised at the range of resources available through it! Through EBSCOhost, you may search a variety of resources including journals, newspapers, primary documents, images, and reference books. Take a moment to read over the descriptions of the databases that are included! In addition to academic journals for a variety of fields, there is also a “Military and Government Collection” as well as “Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts.”

Have fun! Happy searching!

Article about government blogging

2008-01-17T10:23:00.000-05:00

There is a nice list of Federal Government blogs at http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/News/blog.shtml Whether you are interested in staying on top of what might be going on at the Smithsonian American Art Museum or at the Department of Homeland Security, it seems there is a federal blog that may peak your interest! I have been enjoying Gov Gab, myself!

For those of us who work for government and contribute to a professional blog, they also have a nice article with guidelines on blogging for government at: http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/technology/blogs.shtml.

Perhaps we are on our way to Government 2.0!

NC Government blogs

2008-01-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

More and more North Carolina state government entities seem to be taking advantage of the usefulness blogs can bring. I've listed a few below. If you know of others, please post links to them in the comments. It would be helpful to have a comprehensive list, wouldn't it?

Drafting Musings: 31st Year on Jones Street
http://ncbilldrafting.wordpress.com/
The blog of Gerry Cohen, Director of Bill Drafting for the NC General Assembly.

NC Dept of Cultural Resources Project Green
http://dcrgreenteam.blogspot.com/

NC State Archives Blog
http://history4all.blogspot.com/

NC Dept of Environment and Natural Resources's Office of Environmental Education
http://eco-smartconsumer.blogspot.com/

NC Dept of Environment and Natural Resources's Division of Pollution Prevention's RE3 Blog:
http://re3org.blogspot.com/

Genealogy Services on del.icio.us

2007-08-15T11:20:00.001-04:00

Our Genealogy Services section now has a list of links on del.icio.us! To view them, simply go to http://del.icio.us/genealogync. Feel free to add "genealogync" to your del.icio.us network. If you come across other sites that are helpful to genealogy research, please send us a link to them through del.icio.us!

The Information Center is open

2007-07-17T13:51:00.001-04:00

The First Floor (Information Center) of the State Library has reopened. The hours are 10-5 Monday through Friday.

Genealogy will not be open this Saturday, July 14

2007-07-13T14:56:00.000-04:00

SPECIAL CLOSING NOTICE JULY 14, 2007

The Archives/State Library Building will be CLOSED on Saturday July 14,2007, due to emergency electrical maintenance.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Just a reminder...

2007-07-06T13:37:00.001-04:00

The Genealogy Collection will be open for business this Saturday!

Saturday Hours:
9:00am - noon; 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Location:
Mezzanine Floor, West
Archives & History/Library Building
109 E. Jones Street
Raleigh, NC

CLOSED July 4th

2007-07-03T13:56:00.000-04:00

The State Library of North Carolina will be closed on Wednesday, July 4th.

Genealogy reopens this Saturday

2007-07-03T13:11:00.000-04:00

The Genealogy Collection resumes Saturday hours on July 7th!

Genealogical Services staff will be on duty, beginning Saturday July 7th, to assist with your research on Saturdays. We are reopening a week earlier than expected, but Saturday hours will be the same: 9:00am to noon and 1:00pm-5:00pm.

Genealogy closes for lunch every Saturday from noon to 1:00pm.

Genealogy Services is now open for business!

2007-06-11T09:41:00.000-04:00

Genealogy Services at the State Library of North Carolina opened this morning at 8:30a.m.! Please come visit us and see the newly renovated space!

Here's a sneak preview!

Our public seating area:

Our microfilm reader area:

Our genealogy stacks:

Staff waited anxiously to see who the first patron through the door would be. Sure enough, at 8:30a.m., the door swung open! Who was behind it? Jan, the head of the Library Services Section, bringing flowers to celebrate Genealogy's opening!

Waiting for Genealogy to open?

2007-06-08T17:07:00.000-04:00

While you are waiting for the Genealogy Collection to open on Monday at 8:30, check out some of the pictures from the move...

Genealogy, before unpacking begins...

Pam Toms and Wanda Hearn shelve the first books in Genealogy.

Pam Toms and Cheryl McLean confer about where to put all these books!

Cynthia Jones and Christy Allen take a short break on the First Floor.

Genealogy Collection reopens on Monday!

2007-06-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

The State Library's Genealogy Collection will reopen to the public on Monday, June 11, 2007.
The Genealogy Collection is located on the Mezzanine Floor (West) and hours will be from 8:30am-5:30pm, Monday to Friday. Saturday hours will resume on July 14, 2007.

Unfortunately, the State Library Information Center (First Floor) will continue to stay CLOSED due to continued construction delays. A portion of the new sprinkler system must be reinstalled and the first floor may not reopen to the public until later this Summer.

State Library's Online Catalog Outage Is Back On

2007-05-24T09:39:00.000-04:00

I hate to say this, but the power outage scheduled for the State Library and Archives building is back on for the Memorial Holiday weekend. The Library's online catalog will be taken down shortly after 4:00 PM Friday May 25th, and will be down for the entire weekend. The catalog should be available again Tuesday morning, May 29th.

Outage of State Library's Online Catalog Cancelled

2007-05-23T09:38:00.000-04:00

The State Library's online catalog is up and functioning normally after last night's power outage. However, the scheduled power outage for the Memorial Day weekend has been cancelled. Therefore, the online catalog will be available over the holiday, May 25th-28th, after all.

Update on Outage of Online Catalog

2007-05-21T15:09:00.000-04:00

There is more news about the power shutdown and unavailability of the State Library's online catalog this week. There will be two power outages. Power will be turned off at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, May 22nd. To accommodate the power outage, the State Library online catalog will be shut down, probably between 4:00 and 5:00 PM on May 22nd. The catalog should be available again on Wednesday morning, May 23rd.

And as we mentioned before, power will also be turned off at 5:00 PM on Friday, May 25th. The server for the State Library's online catalog will be shut down about 4:00 Friday afternoon. It will not be available again until Tuesday morning, May 29th. Please bear with us as we undergo these changes. Thanks for your patience.

State Library's Online Catalog Will Be Unavailable May 25th-28th

2007-05-17T09:56:00.000-04:00

As part of our building renovation, power to the building will be turned off at 5:00 PM on Friday, May 25th. Because we will have no power, our servers will be shut down before 5:00 on the 25th. This means that our Voyager online catalog will be unavailable over the Memorial Day holiday, starting before 5:00 PM on the 25th and lasting until Tuesday morning, May 29th. We apologize for this unavoidable disruption in service.

Moving has ended and now unpacking begins...

2007-05-14T15:22:00.000-04:00

State Library staff assembled and cleaned shelving last week in preparation for all those boxes of books.

Today we are starting to unpack the first of 700+ boxes of books, beginning with the Genealogy collection. Pictures will be coming soon!

Still moving...

2007-05-09T11:35:00.000-04:00

It's Wednesday and All-American Relocation is continuing to move Library Services into our newly renovated home. The move began on Monday morning, and all boxes and furniture in the staff offices and the temporary library in the Basement have now been moved.

All-American staff are bringing furniture, shelves, and a large number of boxed books from an off-site storage facility while library staff are busy directing shelving placement, cleaning, and unpacking.

As the building renovation prepares to enter the next phase, there is more moving for other State Library staff! This week the Library Development Section is moving from their former area into a temporary office space so construction crews can start the next phase of renovation.

Getting ready to move!

2007-05-04T14:17:00.000-04:00

The State Library "public space" we occupied as a temporary home since December is now all packed and waiting for the movers on Monday.

Staff are saying goodbye to their temporary offices too!

2007-05-03T15:42:00.000-04:00

Even though we are all getting ready to move this week, staff are still trying to keep up with some of their other duties amidst all the packing and cleaning.

John tries to keep up with all the library materials that are still arriving.

And, earlier this week, Christy concentrated amid boxes as she prepared for her presentation at Best Practices Exchange: Libraries and Archives in the Digital Era.

While other documents staff are away at the conference, Swayzine and Roseanna discuss how they should pack their office!

We're packing and labeling and packing...

2007-05-02T16:41:00.000-04:00

This week State Library staff started packing materials and offices in our temporary spaces so we can move back to the first floor and to the mezzanine.

The State Library is closed.

2007-04-30T14:07:00.000-04:00

Beginning today both sections of the State Library (the Genealogy Collection & the Information Center) will close in order to move back to the West Mezzanine and First Floor of the Archives & History/State Library Building. We anticipate reopening in early June 2007.

While we are packing, please visit other libraries and historical collections across North Carolina!

At NC ECHO's web site you can browse for libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions by city, by county, or by the institution's subject strength.

The State Archives will be closed too.

2007-04-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

The State Archives is located in the same building as the State Library and will be affected by renovations as well.

The Archives will also close beginning April 30th; for updates about Archives hours and reopening date/location please visit the Archives web site or their blog, available at http://history4all.blogspot.com/.

3 more days...

2007-04-25T15:57:00.000-04:00

Friday will be the last day the temporary public space in basement room G33 is open.

On Saturday we will be offering limited service from the Archives Search room, and on Monday we are officially closed to the public and the packing begins!

Staff have already started packing their offices and making boxes for all the books we need to move.

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The State Library’s Genealogy Collection and the State Library’s Information Center will remain open until Saturday, April 28th, 2007. On Monday, April 30th 2007 we will be closing to the public in order to relocate to the Library's newly renovated spaces, which will reopen in early June of 2007.

Reserve your videos soon!

2007-04-24T15:13:00.000-04:00

Video customers are advised to book videos/dvds before Friday, April 27, 2007.

Staff may be inaccessible via phone, email, or fax during portions of May--particularly the second week in May.

While we are closed walk-in customers may pick-up videos in the Archives/Library Building Lobby. Please call Betty Milon in Video Services (919-807-7470) or the Reference Desk (919-807-7450) for more information.