Chip Kruthoffer

Lisa Hires (Technical Services) retiring after 42 years of service

Lisa Hires (Technical Services) is retiring after 42 years of service to the Lane Libraries. Her last day on the job will be Wednesday, September 30.

Lisa started in Circulation on September 6, 1978 and moved to Technical Services a year later. She has seen the library change considerably in her career, right? We still used this and these.

Lane is losing history with Lisa. She’s a funny storyteller and also someone who remembers trying something we’ve all forgotten didn’t work, or simply why we did something a certain way. That’s been invaluable. I have appreciated Lisa’s tenacity when confronted with a problem. She’s been a terrific troubleshooter through the years and a keen thinker when presented with a confusing situation. She has been consistent. “Lisa, here’s a problem…” BAM…in short time Lisa has a fix. She’s always been mindful of the quality of service we provide patrons. I’ve been through three computer system migrations with her and can’t imagine that process without her participation. I’ve relied on her so much and will miss her professionally and, even more so, personally.

Like all of us, I am happy for Lisa and thank her for her service to Lane. We, and our patrons, have been the better for it for over four decades.

COVID prevents us from the celebration we’d like to have next week, but I am sure Lisa would appreciate your well wishes. The comments section below is open, or you can email her, or, like 1978, send her a card!

“Folding” against COVID

Sparked by an inquiry by an Oxford patron, The Lane Libraries has been using idle compute cycles on our servers to help with the Rosetta@home distributed computing project. Rosetta@home helps to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins in research that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases, including COVID-19. Running the Rosetta program on idle computers helps speed up and extend research.
Read more about this project here.

TUTOR.COM coming next week

This came together quickly. We will begin offering our patrons access to Tutor.com beginning sometime next week. This is a special offering due to the COVID-19 crisis and will be available through June, after which we will determine if we will extend the service period.

The Tutor.com Learning Suite combines online tutoring, homework help, and test preparation with powerful diagnostic tools and self-study resources to provide a well-balanced and flexible educational environment designed to meet the individual needs of all learners.

There will be a webinar for Lane staff on Friday, April 3 at 11:00 a.m. If you are interested in attending, your manager can send you the details. All staff are welcome to participate.

2020 Tutor.com Learning Suite – Overview (.pdf)

Public catalog upgrade overnight

SirsiDynix is upgrading Enterprise, our public catalog, overnight (Friday 1 a.m. – 2 a.m.)

After the upgrade, we should be able to quickly add RBdigital magazines, which will then be available directly through Enterprise. I’ve not seen this in action yet, but it sounds very useful.

I don’t like to do upgrades on a Friday but as someone said to me recently: “Everyday is Friday now.”

Ohio Public Librarian Certification Program

The Ohio Public Librarian Certification Program recognizes individual librarians who have met minimum standards established by the Ohio Library Council. An individual who meets these standards and has successfully completed the certification process is recognized as a Certified Public Librarian in Ohio.

The minimum standards for initial Ohio Public Librarian Certification are:

  • A master’s degree in library and information studies from a program accredited by the American Library Association
  • Two years of experience working in a library

Visit http://olc.org/resources/education/certification/ for more details.