NHAIS Notes

No LR van Fri 5/1

2026-05-01T08:05:00.003-04:00

The Lakes Region (LR) ILL van delivery is cancelled for Friday, May 1. Affected libraries are as follows:

NH State Prison, Concord
Hill
Bristol
Meredith
Center Harbor
Moultonborough
Wolfeboro
Alton
Gilford
Laconia
Sanbornton

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

Linked data and URIs #1-- What are They?

2026-04-30T14:00:00.015-04:00

This is the first in a series of seven weekly blog posts written by Zahra Gordon which will explain “Linked Data,” an emerging topic in the library field, and how it relates to “Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs),” which are appearing in the subfields of MARC records with increasing frequency.

There’s been a lot of talk in the library community (especially the library cataloging community) lately about “linked data.” Linked data is “a set of best practices for publishing structured data on the Web” (https://www.w3.org/wiki/LinkedData). Simply put, linked data uses links to structure information in a way that makes it more readable by computers.

Why is this important to libraries? The idea is that using links to make library data more readable by computers will make it findable by automated tools outside of the library catalog and connect it to other sources of information outside of the catalog. So, people searching outside of the catalog can find our resources more easily, and we can more easily find further information about our resources that’s located elsewhere.

In catalog records, these links take the form of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), defined as “unique sequences of characters that identify abstract or physical resources” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier). The Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that we’ve added to our records for years (often in subfield $u of MARC field 856) are a type of URI.

URIs are increasingly being added to fields and subfields in MARC records and are just a preliminary step in turning library data into linked data. Eventually, the idea is that MARC will be replaced by tools and models such as BIBFRAME that allow library data to be entirely created and edited according to linked data principles.

The next post will discuss where these URIs show up in MARC records and what they mean.

Zahra Gordon is the Cataloger at the New Hampshire State Library. Before coming to the State Library, she worked as a cataloger for a contract cataloging agency serving government libraries in the Washington Metropolitan Area and then for YBP Library Services (now GOBI Library Solutions) in Contoocook, New Hampshire.

2025 Public Library Survey DUE TOMORROW

2026-04-29T11:48:00.003-04:00

As of 11:30am today [Wednesday, Apr. 29], approximately 75% of NH public libraries have submitted their annual reports. Well done! However, I’m still expecting surveys from a little over 50 libraries. Let’s go, folks!

I’ve sent emails to the directors of those 50+ libraries requesting a status update. If someone other than the director in your ‘brary does the survey, forward this message to them and ask them to contact me, pretty please with data on top.

The end (of the survey) is nigh!

Thanks all,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
N.H. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources
20 Park St.
Concord, NH 03301
Office: 603-271-2060
Ref Desk: 603-271-2144
Jennifer.M.Finch@dncr.nh.gov

No NC van Wed 4/29

2026-04-29T09:26:54.463-04:00

Due to illness, today’s North Country (NC) ILL van route cancelled [Wednesday, Apr. 28]. The affected libraries are:

Twin Mountain
Plymouth
Rumney
Wentworth
Warren
Lyme
Orford
Piermont
Haverhill
North Haverhill
Monroe
Woodsville
Bath
Lisbon
Littleton
Bethlehem

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

No SW-A van Wed 4/29

2026-04-29T08:44:17.638-04:00

There will be no SW-A ILL van deliveries on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. The affected libraries are:

Dartmouth College
Hanover - Howe
Lebanon
Meriden
River Valley CC - Claremont
Claremont
Walpole
Keene
Peterborough
Wilton

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

Brief ILL outage Tue 4/28 10pm

2026-04-28T13:10:00.001-04:00

The NHAIS ILL System will be offline briefly starting at 10 o'clock tonight (Tuesday, Apr. 28) to install software updates, including two fixes.

-After going from a List view of search results to the Full Record Display, the back arrow is supposed to bring users back to where they clicked on the list but, under certain circumstances, users could be returned to the top of the results page. This has been corrected.

-Some users have been unable to set the Request Manager as their default opening page since that feature was introduced four weeks ago. Following tonight's update, all staffers logged in with a username ending with "ill" or "all" should see Request Manager as an option at Your Account > Your Preferences > Default Opening Page.

No NC, SW vans Tue 4/28

2026-04-28T08:23:00.000-04:00

The North Country (NC) ILL van delivery route is cancelled for Tuesday, April 28. The affected libraries are:

Whitefield
Dalton
Lancaster
Groveton
Stratford
Colebrook
Errol
WMCC - Berlin
Berlin
Gorham
Jefferson
Randolph
Jackson
Bartlett
North Conway
Conway

The Southwest (SW) ILL van route has been cancelled for Tuesday, 4/28. Affected libraries are as follows:

Webster
Salisbury
Andover
Wilmot
New London
Colby Sawyer
Sutton
Warner
Bradford
Newbury
Sunapee
Newport
Hillsborough
Henniker

Your patience and understanding are appreciated.

Thank you,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

No LR van Mon 4/27

2026-04-27T08:11:00.000-04:00

There will be no Lakes Region (LR) ILL van deliveries on Monday, April 27. Affected libraries are:

Tilton
Franklin
Bristol
Meredith
Moultonborough
Wolfeboro
Gilford
Laconia
Belmont
Bow
Concord Public

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

When you need more copies...

2026-04-24T11:56:00.000-04:00

From the NHAIS mailbox:

This morning I received 3 requests for the same title, from the same library, with the same book group note attached. This isn't the first time recently either. We know there are always new people doing ILL. Would you mind posting (or reposting) a blog or email to the ILL list about why multicopy requests need to be done differently and how to do them.

In this case, the borrower had correctly used the Multi-Copy function to create 10 requests for a nonfiction title but then used the Rebuild Lender List feature on some of the requests that weren't filled. One more time: DO NOT use Rebuild Lender List with multi-copy requests.

Here's more, originally posted in October 2023:

When you need to borrow multiple copies of a title, the Multi Copy function in the NHAIS ILL System helps you get what you need. If you've submitted a multi-copy request but still didn't get enough copies for your needs, DO NOT use the Rebuild Lender List function and DO NOT create a new multi-copy request based on the same edition. Doing either of these means your new or renewed requests will be routed to the same libraries that have previously seen your request. They've either already shipped the item to you or said they can't fill your request. To get your request before new eyes, your best bet is usually a message to the NHAIS-ILL list. Another option for some titles is to create a new request in the system for a different edition than the one previously requested. If you need further help with getting the copies you need, ask the NHAIS Help Desk.

Annual reports reminder!!!

2026-04-23T07:50:00.000-04:00

I think this cow might be wondering, “When are you going to submit your 2025 annual reports/public library surveys?” Don’t leave this cow in suspense!

In all seriousness, the data collected in this IMLS-funded annual project is critical to public libraries and for education about the impact of NH public libraries state-wide. I just finished my presentation for the NHLTA Conference and the state-wide annual stats figure prominently in it!

Please let the humorous, patient, and generally wonderful Jen Finch know if you need any help at all. You can do it!!!

Thanks,
Mindy Atwood
Administrator of Library Operations :: Assistant State Librarian
New Hampshire State Library
N.H. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources
20 Park Street :: Concord, NH 03301
603-271-2393 (w) :: 603-573-6402 (m)
mindy.atwood@dncr.nh.gov
nhsl.dncr.nh.gov

ILL issues Tue 4/21

2026-04-21T14:50:00.004-04:00

Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2:50 p.m.: If you were having trouble using the NHAIS ILL System earlier this afternoon--connection failure or sluggish response to searches--try it again now. Auto-Graphics restarted its servers in the past hour to address performance issues.

2025 Public Library Survey Countdown

2026-04-21T13:10:00.003-04:00

As of noon today [Tuesday, Apr. 21], 55% of NH public libraries have submitted their annual reports/public library surveys for 2025.

There are 10 days left for the remaining 100 libraries to turn in theirs.

You can do it, folks. I have faith in you!

Tip: Remember to click the SUBMIT button after Verifying. 😊

Please email or call me if you are having trouble.
Thanks!
Jen

Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
N.H. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources
20 Park St.
Concord, NH 03301
Office: 603-271-2060
Ref Desk: 603-271-2144
Jennifer.M.Finch@dncr.nh.gov

No SW-B van Wed 4/15

2026-04-15T08:56:00.003-04:00

The SW-B van route is cancelled today, April 15. The affected libraries are:

Nelson
Alstead
Westmoreland
Chesterfield
Winchester
Richmond
Fitzwilliam
Rindge
Jaffrey
Hancock

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

Title sorts in tables

2026-04-15T08:52:00.001-04:00

As promised, non-filing characters for initial articles in titles are now ignored in title sorts in NHAIS ILL System tables. That may not be evident when you open a table:

You need to click on the column header to get a proper sort. Clicking on that header several times will cycle you through ascending sort, descending sort, and the default (which is...semi-sorted).

Until last night's program update, requests created before last June 25 included initial articles in the sort so, for example, The Da Vinci Code showed up in the T's rather than the D's.

Public Library Survey/Annual Report Update

2026-04-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

As of 2:15pm today [Tuesday, Apr. 14], 50% of our NH public libraries have submitted their 2025 PLS (annual report). Thank you!

April 30, 2026 is the PLS deadline. 17 days remain to submit your survey/report.

NOTES
For weird, unknown reasons, the LibPAS survey software has been really laggy and slow to calculate totals. In several cases it has refused to update itself even after several days have passed. To add to that frustration, sometimes the survey is lagged on the library’s end but when I log in as the State Data Coordinator and look at that library’s report, it looks fine, with all numbers filled in appropriately.

Why is that happening? I hope to find out from the vendor asap.

TIPS
1) There are Save and Recalculate buttons at the top of your survey. If your survey is lagging or totals won’t total, try mashing Recalc and Save.

2) If #1 doesn’t seem to do anything, close the survey and your web browser and take a little walk. Get a nice beverage for yourself. Play a couple games of hopscotch. Practice some primal scream therapy.
3) After 15 minutes or so come back to the survey, log in again, and see if anything has changed.
4) If still nothing seems to populate/change/update in your library’s report, send me an email and ask me to look at it from my side. I might be able to kick it into submission.
5) After you click VERIFY and get the coveted “Verified!” message, make sure you then click on the SUBMIT/LOCK button. This will summon the email saying, “Thank you for your submission!” and then it will all be over.

Thanks again, folks. You can do this!
Jen

Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
N.H. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources
20 Park St.
Concord, NH 03301
Office: 603-271-2060
Ref Desk: 603-271-2144
Jennifer.M.Finch@dncr.nh.gov

Brief ILL outage Tue 4/14 10pm

2026-04-14T07:50:00.000-04:00

The NHAIS ILL System will be offline briefly starting at 10 o'clock tonight (Tuesday, Apr. 14) to install program updates.

-When sorting by title in tables (as in Staff Dashboard > ILL Admin > Borrower Requests or Lender Requests), non-filing characters have sometimes been ignored and sometimes not. That involves an update last June which affected new requests but not existing requests.

With tonight's release, all non-filing characters will be ignored for a more logical sort of titles, with The Antidote and The Assassin of Venice appearing in the A's rather than the T's.

-When running the Lending Activity report under Staff Dashboard > Statistics > Activity and Request Reports, an incorrect Customer Code occasionally displayed in the LibCode field. This has been corrected.

Another 2025 Public Library Survey UPDATE

2026-04-10T13:07:00.000-04:00

Hello, folks,

As of noon today, 46% of NH libraries have submitted their 2025 surveys.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

There are 21 days left to the deadline of April 30th.

Do not fret, don’t have a cow,
You can do it, ask me how!
Submit your surveys, one and all,
Then say “Hurray!” and have a ball!

Have a good weekend, everyone,
Jen

Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library
N.H. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources
20 Park St.
Concord, NH 03301
Office: 603-271-2060
Ref Desk: 603-271-2144
Jennifer.M.Finch@dncr.nh.gov

Searching NHAIS Notes

2026-04-10T09:21:00.000-04:00

From the NHAIS Help Desk mailbox:

Is there a way to keyword search the NHAIS Notes blog besides the Posts by topic list?

Yes, just look for the search box in the upper left of the screen:

It's small and it disappears when you scroll down even a tiny bit. You'll be searching text of the entire 20-year archive of NHAIS Notes posts. Be aware that messages from before the fall of 2019 may refer to the workings of the ILL program in use prior to the current one.

Searching by month/year or topic are also options.

Sending lists from the NHAIS ILL System

2026-04-08T10:09:00.000-04:00

Seen on the NHAIS-L e-mail list:

"If a patron makes a list on share it and supposedly sends it to me where is it? I have not done this before but it would be helpful if this is a possibility."

Anyone, whether logged in or not, can save titles to a list in the NHAIS ILL System and send that list to any valid e-mail address. How users add titles to the list varies. On screens with multiple search results, click the icon under "List" for the desired title.

When viewing a single search result on the detail screen, choose "Add to Your List" from the menu on the left.

To send the list, users can choose the Email List button if visible. If it's not on the screen, click on the Your List icon in the upper right (just above "Login"), then choose Email List.

An e-mail address must be entered--let your patrons know which address you'd like them to use to send titles to you. The default subject line is "Session List" but that should be changed to indicate who's sending the list, which will appear to come from no-reply-nhais@librarycard.com.

The resulting e-mail, with "ILL request from..." entered in this example to replace the default "Session List" in the subject line:

All the above can be done without a login. At libraries allowing patron-initiated ILL requesting, patrons have the option to log in to save lists for future sessions. Otherwise, the list disappears in SHAREit when the current session is ended.

Another option for anyone to send bibliographic information from the NHAIS ILL System: choosing the "Email This Item" option in the left-side menu of the detail screen.

This sends more details than the basic title/author info transmitted with the list option and has more editable fields (just don't change "no-reply@auto-graphics.com" in the FROM area) but it only deals with one title per e-mail.

The resulting e-mail, with a patron name entered in place of "guest" in the FROM area for this example:

NHAIS ILL: The Next 3 Years

2026-04-03T15:34:00.000-04:00

The NHAIS Interlibrary Loan system runs on Share-It, a product from Auto-Graphics (now part of Soutron Global for those keeping score at home). The first contract for this iteration of the system was approved by Governor and Council in July 2019. In 2023 we exercised our option to extend the contract for a period of 3 years. That extension will conclude on June 30, 2026.

We will be going before Governor and Council to seek approval for the remaining 3-year extension available to us in the original contract. If they approve we will continue with our current ILL system until June 30, 2029. We will begin the process of issuing an RFP for the next iteration of NHAIS Interlibrary Loan during 2028.

Today we submitted the contract amendment documents to the NH Department of Information Technology which will review and (hopefully) approve them. This is the first step toward having the contract amendment on the agenda for a June 2026 Governor & Council meeting.

Hello, new Request Manager screen

2026-04-01T13:38:00.000-04:00

Welcome to April and the new Request Manager screen. When you view that screen with the All tab selected (which is what you'll see when you first view the page after last night's software update), you may note several statuses that are not used in our system and were previously hidden. These include the following statuses on the borrower side:

ILL Review
ILL Review Awaiting Lenders
ISO Messages
NCIP Hold Placed
Passed to Local System
Request Transferred

And on the lender side:

ILL Review
ISO Messages
Request Transferred

Of course, you can now hide those statuses and all others with zero requests by choosing the Active tab, which most users will likely find to be the handiest way to view the Request Manager.

Remember that Items Awaiting Trading Partner Response is now Awaiting Borrower Action on the lender side and Awaiting Lender Action on the borrower side.

How do you get rid of those red dots? See the second half of a NHAIS Notes post from March 24. You should certainly have a look at notes on requests in your Borrower Action Items and Lender Action Items areas. It's probably not worth your time to deal with red dots for requests in Complete status. Remember that all requests in Complete or Expired status are automatically deleted after 365 days in either of those statuses.

We've received feedback that the font size on the statuses ought to be larger and have passed that suggestion on to Auto-Graphics.

If you need further help with anything in the NHAIS ILL System, contact the NHAIS Help Desk at nhu-pac@dncr.nh.gov or 603-271-2141.

Request Manager enhancements 3/31

2026-03-31T09:59:00.000-04:00

Tonight's the night the Request Manager page in the NHAIS ILL System gets a new look. The system will be offline for the software update starting at 10 o'clock tonight (Tuesday, Mar. 31). The outage should last no more than 15 minutes.

Key Changes:
• Borrower Action Items and Lender Action Items will be displayed in a default set of groups of related statuses.
o A count for the total number of requests in the Borrower Action Items and Lender Action Items sections is displayed.
• Awaiting Lender Action and Awaiting Borrower Action sections replace “Items awaiting trading partner response” for borrowers and lenders, respectively.
o A count for the total number of requests in the Awaiting Lender Action and Awaiting Borrower Action sections is displayed.
• A Complete section, with a count, includes just those requests in “Complete” status – they have gone through the full ILL cycle and have been checked in by the lender.
• There are three options for which statuses to display:
o “All” – this is the default setting and includes all statuses, even those with 0 active requests
o “Active” – includes only statuses with a count greater than 0
o “Unreviewed Notes” – includes only statuses with one or more requests with an unreviewed note
• The displayed status selection (All, Active, or Unreviewed Notes) is sticky and will persist between sessions for individual logins.
o The status selection remains available even when scrolling to the bottom of the Request Manager.
• Active statuses with at least one request with an “Unreviewed Note” will display with a red dot next to the status to easily alert staff that there are notes to be reviewed.
• The main sections (Borrower Action Items, Awaiting Lender Action, Complete, Lender Action Items, Awaiting Borrower Action, and Complete) can be individually collapsed or expanded.
• Direct access to the ILL Administration User Guide section on the Request Manager is provided.
• The Request Manager will automatically refresh every 30 seconds to display any updated statuses, e.g., new “Pending” requests in the Lender Action Items section.

The first two screenshots below are examples of the Request Manager with “All” statuses selected. These samples provided by Auto-Graphics include some spaces and statuses not used in the NHAIS ILL System. The order in which statuses are listed also varies from what you'll see in our system.

1. “All” is the default selection.
a. Click the 3-dot icon to access “Help” in the ILL Admin User Guide.
2. There are 17 requests altogether in the Borrower Action Items grouping (4 Awaiting Approval + 2 Overdue + 5 Not Received/Overdue + 6 Expired).
a. Click “^” to collapse the section.
3. Requests for which the borrower is expected to take the next action are indicated with the count of requests in that status.
a. Click in the row with a count to open that list of requests in that status.
b. Statuses with a count of 0 are displayed but grayed out.
4. The red dot next to a status indicates there is at least one request in that status with an unreviewed note.
5. When scrolling on the page, as shown below, the option to change the status selection remains available at the top of the page.

In the example below, the same Request Manager as shown above is limited to “Active” statuses.
• “No Request” displays when there are no active requests in a section.

In the example below, the same Request Manager as shown above is limited to “Unreviewed Notes.”

NOTE: Remember that the selection for All, Active, or Unreviewed Notes is sticky so it persists between logins. If “No Requests” is displayed for all sections, as above, check to be sure “Unreviewed Notes” isn’t selected as it will not display requests without an Unreviewed Note.

ALSO: The Request Manager has been added as an option for a staff user’s default opening page. To change the default opening page for your login, go to Your Account and select Your Preferences:

Select “Request Manager” from the drop-down menu in “Default Opening Page”:

No NC Van Mon 3/30

2026-03-30T09:18:00.001-04:00

The NC (North Country) ILL van route is cancelled today. Affected libraries are as follows:

Conway
Madison
Chocorua
Tamworth
Center Sandwich
Plymouth
Campton
Thornton
Lincoln
North Woodstock
Franconia
Bethlehem

Happy Monday to you.

Jennifer M. Finch (she/her)
Reference Librarian and State Data Coordinator
New Hampshire State Library

Your Preferences

2026-03-27T10:16:00.000-04:00

Did you know you can have the NHAIS ILL System go straight to the Staff Dashboard or Advanced Search or (coming soon) Request Manager whenever you log in? It's one of the settings on the Your Preferences page:

NHAIS ILL libraries are each assigned 3 different logins with different privileges. Each login can also store a preferred opening page, how search results are sorted, which indexes you'd like to see when you open the Advanced Search page, and a number of other settings. Go to Your Account > Your Preferences, make your selections from drop-down menus, click Save, and see how it works. If you're not sure, just leave settings at "Use Library Default."

New Request Manager views

2026-03-24T10:49:00.000-04:00

As previously mentioned, there's a new look ahead for the Request Manager screen in the NHAIS ILL System. Here's an updated look at what you might see at the start of next month.

When you first open the new Request Manager, you'll see all request statuses listed but the ones with a count of zero will be grayed out. The total number of active requests in each grouping (such as Borrower Action Items) is displayed to the right of the grouping's label. You can hide all those grayed-out entries by selecting the Active tab in the upper right.

In this view, any grouping with all zeroes will display "No Requests." Note the red dot in the above example, next to Overdue on the borrower side. That indicates there's an unreviewed note in one or more of the requests in that status. If you just want to see requests with unreviewed notes, you can choose the Unreviewed Notes tab in the upper right.

Changes to request notes were introduced earlier this month. The red dot is one more feature to increase the chances a note will be seen.

How do you make the unreviewed note icon and the red dot go away? You'll need to view the full request record--the red dot on the Request Manager screen and the unreviewed note icon on the status list will guide you to the title(s) you need to click on.

You could also choose the unreviewed notes icon near the top right of the status list to narrow the list down.

On the full record display screen, click on Review Notes (near the top left).

Once you've read the note in the pop-up window, click Acknowledge Notes to clear things--or choose Cancel if you want the request to continue to be flagged as having an unreviewed note.

CAUTION: Those All/Active/Unreviewed Notes choices on the Request Manager screen are "sticky" from session to session--whatever's selected when you log out will be in effect when you (or somebody else) next uses the same login. If you leave Request Manager with Unreviewed Notes chosen, you may be fooled by seeing a bunch of "No Requests" messages in each grouping the next time you use Request Manager. Choosing Active or All will reveal any requests waiting for your attention.