Upgrade your computer skills

Need a refresher or do you regularly describe yourself as "computer illiterate"? Time to give our free computer classes a go. We will increasing our class offerings as of May to include our round of Basic courses normally taught on Monday evening to be repeated on Wednesday evenings at the same time/same station, 6-7 in the classroom.
If you would like to join us for classes in computer fundamentals, beginning word processing, email basics and internet searching give us a call and reserve a spot. We'd love to help increase your comfort level when it comes to computers... and it's all free.
See our website for a full listing of our classes at http://www.missoulapubliiclibrary.org/classes#Computer Classes

It's a Techno World

A recent study conducted by the University of Washington found that nearly 1/3 of Americans ages 14 and older (about 77 million people) used a public library computer or wireless network to go online in the past year. What are all these people doing? Many are searching for jobs, applying for college or government benefits, learning about their health, and connecting with their community. (see survey results)

This isn't a huge surprise here in Missoula. Every month we field more than 1,000 questions in Web Alley, our public Internet access room. And those are just the people who ask a question. Even more are regularly using the computers, or linking into our free wifi (have you seen the new electric outlets set up by eddie's coffeeshop?).

Feeling left behind the technology wave? Or just interested in honing your skills? We're now offering computer classes each week on Monday evenings and Wednesdays at lunchtime on a variety of topics from the basic like using the mouse to more complicated Excel spreadsheets - or how to get those holiday pictures from your camera to your computer and beyond.

Plus, we're opening our computer classroom on Saturday mornings to anyone interested in taking a practice test (we have online tutorials for the SATs, GREs, citizenship, and more - try the LearningExpress Library) or working on a resume (we also have resources to help you get started in your job search).

So come to the library for a class or just to use the wifi - 1/3 of Americans are doing it!

Online Banking????

If you have ever wondered about the how's or why's or why not's of online banking our computer class offering for Wednesday, February 3rd will be your opportunity to find the answers. A representative from a local financial institution will be teaching the class and will cover security issues and some of the mechanics of using online banking as well as being able to answer some of your questions. Seating is limited so give us a call and sign up now.

Computer Classes Expand

Now I know that everyone loves the computer classes that we offer on Monday evenings and Wednesdays at lunchtime because we hear about it all the time from the folks that sign up for our classes.

Well, how about those of you that aren't free during the times that we have classes scheduled? How about trying out our latest option, self paced computer classes that cover Microsoft Office products like Word, EXCEL, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook in both 2003 and 2007 versions as well as Word, EXCEL and PowerPoint in MAC 2008 versions that are available 24/7 from your home computer? Or perhaps you'd like a little help with a resume or cover letter for that new job you're working on? Perhaps you are going to take an exam to get a better job or to get into college... all of these are available on our electronic database LearningExpress Library.

To try out this and other free databases go to the E-databases link on the right side of our home page and take a look. If you have any questions give us a call at the reference desk during our open hours.

Dispense it like it's hot

Our new DVD Dispenser is here! Up until now, you've had to bring an empty DVD case up to the Accounts desk, wait around and have one of us grab your DVDs, then go check out. This works fine, until we get really busy and then you get stuck in line for 5 or 10 minutes. Now we have a solution!

This machine, located in Entertainment Central, will allow you to check out your DVDs and then dispense the disks to you. We're still working on getting it set up, but look for this to be active in the near future. Hopefully it will get more DVDs out to you faster!

Entering A New World

Here at the Missoula Public Library we recently purchased our second Macbook. It may not seem like a big deal, but part of my job requires troubleshooting any computer in the Library. Today I butted heads with the new Mac on two different occasions. I did not find the operating system to be very user friendly, and felt naked without the right-click option. Not to say that Macs aren't user friendly, but this one is making problems for me. The especially frustrating thing is that it takes two or three times as long to do fairly simple tasks, such as locating the serial number, as it does on a PC. And the desktop background morphs and changes, making me think something is wrong, and making me feel strangely nauseous.

Really this boils down to me not being at all familiar with the OS. I'm getting better every time I face off with this formidable opponent, but I'm sure I'll never be comfortable in the Mac World. On the plus side, I'm using Ubuntu 7.04 at home, so I do know a thing or two about that world. Maybe someday we'll have all three running here at the library. Who knows?

The scent of old books

Ah, the history in Missoula Public Library. This book card pocket was removed from one of our books today. My how we've changed. Today I had fun doing a tour of the library for some 4th and 5th graders. One of my favorite parts is taking them to the Audra Browman room where we keep lots of really old things that impress our younger patrons. We also usually have some folks in there doing research for writing a book or tracing their genealogy, also very impressive. The students and teacher all thought the 1911 Missoula directory was really neat and I think they enjoyed seeing our collection of historical photographs of the library and its staff. So, although we have lots of new books coming in daily to add to our shelves we still have lots of older books. And although we have a new computer lab and an online catalog we still have plenty of those dusty tomes and vintage magazines for those that have a more historical bent.

And by the way, our current checkout period is four weeks for most items, 10 days for new fiction, and our fines are up to 10 cents a day.

Welcome To The Classroom

Ever since we opened Web Alley we've been busy getting a computer training lab open to the public. Well, the wait is over! Starting May 1st we're going to be offering free computer classes on everything computer. First up is a Beginning Word class to get you up to speed on this essential application. From there we'll move on to Basic Internet Use and beyond. We have six stations and a great volunteer instructor, all we need now is you. To sign up for a class give us a call at (406)721-2665 or stop by the information desk next time you're in the library. Don't worry if a class fills up, we'll be sure to offer it again. And if you want a class on something we aren't currently offering, just ask! We'll do as best as we can to provide instruction on anything the public asks for.

See Self Check Out For Yourself

Claire told you yesterday about the self check-out demo we had. But being geeky me, I had to take some pictures and let you all see for yourselves.This is the machine in action. You just place your card in on the machine, and it reads it. Then you just put your books in one by one and the machine checks them out to you and desensitizes in one swift blow. It even features a nifty video screen showing patrons where to place their cards. They told us we can film our own "tutorials" and use them instead of the stock footage. The bar code scanner is a real laser, unlike what we currently use. It is set to scan the barcode three times to verify your patron ID is what it is picking up, but don't worry, it only takes one or two seconds to do this. Then you just put your books up and let the laser do its thing. Once you're done, you can just walk out. It also features a touch screen. You can choose whether or not you want to a receipt by selecting yes or no on the screen.Of course I had to get a shot of the "guts" as well. It's pretty simple, just a Dell desktop running Windows XP pro. The really cool thing is that the system is RFID ready. We'll be making the switch to RFID labels for our AV collection when we implement the self check system so we can keep our items secure, but still let you check out by yourself quickly.

Self check has been a long time coming, look for it in the near future here at the Missoula Public Library