Error message

Huh?

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool: "The Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool checks your Internet router to see if it supports certain technologies. You can use this tool on a PC running either the Windows Vista or Windows XP operating system. If you're planning to run Windows Vista, this tool can verify whether your existing Internet router supports advanced features, such as improved download speeds and face-to-face collaboration using Windows Meeting Space."

Game makers excited about Windows Vista

Game makers excited about Windows Vista - CNN.com: "The latest improvements, many believe, far surpass even the very best of what the consoles are capable of. Case in point: the upcoming PC shooter 'Crysis,' where players take the role of a battle-savvy soldier who has to uncover the secrets behind an asteroid that has smashed into Earth."

CIL2007: Gadgets, Gadgets, Gadgets

Barbara Fullerton, 10-K Wizard, Sabrina Pacifici, LLRX.com, and Aaron Schmidt, North Plains Public Library

• Simplify! But is it going to happen?
• What's coming
  
  
• march of the treos
• improved blackberrys
• smartphones w/ 2 keyboards
• google cell phone
• text messaging
• gaming on all levels
• monitoring energy uses
• storing information in a totally new format
• 680, 700p, 700wx, 750, 755p
• palm & Windows versions
• colors
• shredder scissors
• five pairs in scissors in one
• retro gadget
• TI's projector phone
• DVD quality on the wall
• not available yet
• 5th Gen iPod
• iCharge for iPod
• charge w/ a 9-volt battery
• nano batteries
• flexible & see thru
• one minute to charge
• lasts 1000 cycles
• 200 nanometers thick
• iPhone
• Cube World digital stick people
• ID Pilot
• Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset
• collapsible chopsticks
• jott.com
• voice to text
• phone or email sms
• free
• golan i.tech virtual keyboard
• illuminated waterproof flexible keyboard
• rear view computer mirror
• Sony's DVP-X810 DVD Walkman
• plamsize micro copter
• CRT's are on the way out
• Plantronics CS55 wireless convertible headset
• Targus Wireless Multimedia Presenter
• IBM Optical Transceiver
• USB Missle Launcher
• USB vision & posture reminder
• QR Code
• Google's Dodgeball
• Next generation robotic vacuum
• Cordinator
• Trillian
• Belkin compact surge protector
• Smallest MP3 player ever
• 2gb storage
• weighs less than headphones
• Meebo
• Pelican 760 LED flashlight
• Sony HDR-UX7
• HD Camera for consumers
• USB Toaster (joke)
  
  
• International AC Travel Adapter
• Fireplace iPod dock
• Clocky the alarm clock
• Retro phone handset
• Picknik Photo Editor
• Chocolate gadgets

Package Tracking Widget

Here's a great new Vista sidebar widget that allows for near-real-time package tracking. This is even better than doing is via RSS. It's available from the Windows Live Gallery.

Installing fonts in Vista

Well, here's something that hasn't changed in Vista. Get yourself to the "Add Fonts" dialog box and you'll see the exact some screen we've been looking at since Windows 3.1 (or maybe even earlier). The insanity of this is easily discovered when you attempt to browse for the file you dumped on your desktop. You do know the DOS path to your desktop, don't you? Come on Microsoft, why couldn't you bother to update this to use the same browsing interface the rest of the OS uses?

Exchange & Q

No, this isn't a Star Trek-related post... On Friday I got a Motorola Q and so far I'm liking it a lot. Most of the learning-curve issues involve switching from PalmOS to Windows Mobile 5. (For example, I had to install a third-party application to get threaded SMS messages, and WM5 doesn't sync Outlook Notes.) However, the big problem at the moment is using the Q to access the office's Exchange Server. To do this I installed Alltel's "Office Sync Personal" which installs a desktop client that the phone is supposed to connect to. This then allows me to sync my contacts, e-mail, and calendar from to the Exchange server and my My Documents folder. It also allows me to have Web access to this information. (Though, we do already have that via Outlook Web.) Well, the desktop client logs in just fine, and the Web access works, proving the working-state of the desktop client. However, when I finally try to log in with the Q, I get a server error.

So, this morning I spent the better part of three hours with Alltel tech support. They are helpful and friendly but they have no clue why the error is occurring. They're working on trying to find a solution and promise to give me a shout when they come up with something. (I do have contact info for the last tech support guy I worked with so they've got 24 hours before i get back to them.) I'll keep you posted.

When it comes to Vista, updated drivers are very important

I've seen the article Speed Up Windows Vista from ExtremeTech blogged about several other places so I wasn't going to mention it here. I did read it though and agree with the criticism regarding the section of the article dealing with Windows services. But the one thing that I got from the article was the importance of making sure your drivers are up to date; especially if you're upgrading from XP to Vista.

First a little background: In my workshop Tech Support on the Fly I talk about Windows update and the different categories of updates you'll find there. One category in XP is "optional hardware updates" and I stress that you should only install hardware (i.e. driver) updates when you're having trouble with said hardware or if the new driver gives you new features you want. This advice spawns from the times that I've had to rollback video drivers on computers where I can no longer see anything on the screen. That is not fun!

So when I upgraded my laptop to Vista I updated as many drivers as I could but was unable to find the updated driver for my video card. (As blogged earlier.) My laptop was running but it seemed a little more sluggish than I would like. I was poking around in the computer's properties last weekend and found something called the "System Rating".

The one pictured here is from my second office computer with known issues so don't worry too much about the low score. In the case of my laptop the score was 2.8 out of five. Looking for a little more detail I clicked on "Windows Experience Index" and found the detail and explanation I was looking for.

It turns out the the rating is based on the lowest score in five categories: Processor, Memory, Graphics, Gaming Graphics, and Primary Hard Disk. In my laptop's case, the graphics rating was 2.8. This may just have been the reason for the sluggish performance of my machine.

A commenter to this blog had recently pointed out where I could find the driver and a few days ago I download and installed the update. I then went to Windows update and noticed there was an "optional" update to my video driver so I took a chance and installed that next. After all the required reboots I went back to look at my computer's score. The score hadn't changed but it did inform me that it had "found new hardware" and needed to rerun the tests to recompute my score. I clicked OK and waited about five minutes. The score was updated to 3.8 and I was told that I could even comfortably run the Areo interface now.

I switched Aero on and started to play. My laptop is now back to the speed it was running at with XP. (Unfortunately, Second Life still won't run and my iTunes problems still exist but I've ruled out my video driver as the source of the problem.)

So, the bottom line, if you're running Vista, my current advice is to install those driver updates as soon as they become available. Might your system die as a result? Sure, but I'd say the benefits outweigh the very small risks in this situation.

The Customer-Centered Library: How to stop tweaking and start doing it with new steps for 2007

Karen Hyman, South Jersey Library Cooperative
Columbus Public Library, Columbus, NE

• After today's session you will...
• see from the customer's point of view
• focus on user needs and expectations
• development & implement things that support a customer centered library
• operate the library for the convenience of your customer
• make customer service a way of life
• What makes a library really great?
• money?
• size?
• luck?
• use?
• Really great for whom?
• Customer's have choices
• Google
• Amazon.com
• Barnes & Noble
• Movies on demand
• WiFi @ Starbucks
• Cell phones & PDAs
• The big fear
• libraries (and what they can offer) will be irelevant and invisible to the majority of people
• New opportunities to...
• provide value-added service
• embrace new roles
• be a "third place"
• take the library to new people
• fail to take advantage of new opportunities
• provide poor service in new and irritating wasy
• Value added equals
• current
• relevant
• in tune with customer needs
• beneficial from the customer's point of view
• defined by the quality of the result
• Service can be your competitive edge
• intelligent
• responsive
• personal
• Quote from OCLC Perspectives report
• Customer service basics
• first, do no harm
• everyone here is an expert on customer service because everyone here is a customer
• get a grip
• Of course there are other strategies
• you can change riders
• you can get a committee to study the dead horse
• you can benchmark how other companies rise dead horses
• you can declare that it's cheaper to feed a dead horse
• you car harness several dead horses together
• But after you've tried all of these things, you're still going to have to dismount
• change
• some people love change
• excitement
• anticipation
• curiosity
• some people hate change
• dread
• disorientation
  
  
• loss
• nobody gets to choose how they feel
• dealing with change is a learned skill
• all predicitions haev equal value
• we can all join each other on the edge of the unknown
• Step one: Care
• Caring
• some people just care
• some people just don't
• most of us fall in the middle
• caring and not caring is contageous
• blaming is the enemy of caring
• everything flows from caring
• the key to quality customer service is creative problem solving
• the key to quality problem solving is having a problem
• most care more when we...
• know and like the other person
• don't feel tired
• don't feel threatened
• aren't having a bad day
• get support and rewards for caring
• take pride in caring, or appearing to care
• try caring
• can improve your day
• uses your skills
• can increase energy
• can be fun
• you're paid to care
• make it a habit, and caring gets easier.
• caring begets attention, attention begets curiosity and curiosity is the fount from which all knowledge flows
• Step two: Think like a customer
• why don't we think like customers?
• we work at the library
• we don't understand the customer
• we're not trying hard enough
• we don't focus on results
• we hear but don't listen
• we think we know better
• we don't see options as options
• when you think like a customer you...
• put yourself in their place
• make it your business to see results for the customer
• make customer service a way of life and a part of every decision
• step three: see the problem(s)
• to define problems from the customer's perspective...
• somebody wants something and they're not getting it
• somebody's getting something they don't want
• step four: change your approach, not the customer
• why not change the customer?
• what do you do with someone who...?
• why can't people...?
• shouldn't people...?
• people used to...?
• children used to...?
• Because you can't!
  
  
• ditch the rules
• have a bonfire for the signs
• root out negatives
• solve problems when they happen
• work as a team
• what are the rules?
• do we really need this rule at all?
• can we say the same thing in a more positive way
• share expectations and look again
• to change your approach
• provide customers the opportunities to do what you want
• skateboard rack
• baskets for books
• try doing what they want
• express checkout
• eating in the library
• when it comes to customer service...
• every choice has a down side
• err on the side of customer services that is positive, welcoming, and empowering for the consumer
• step five: abandon victimhood
• is your library a culture of victimhood?
• we never get any more money
• we never get any respect
• why are we always the last to know?
• nobody understands all the great things we do
• we always have to clean up after these slobs
• Victimhood...
• obscures facts
• is powerless
• is personal
• saps your energy
• takes you nowhere
• Try telling the same story in a different way
  
  
• Step six: Organize your library to support quality service
• to support quality service
• easy to use continuous communication system
• morning briefings
• library blogs
• whiteboard in staff area
• email to customers
• newsletters, recommendations
  
  
• flexible, helpful, friendly signage
• create systems that support consistent great service
• make it fun
• create a supporting culture for risk, flexibility, curiosity, etc.
  
  
• set specific targets & measure results
• Deliver the goods
  
  
• step seven: walk through everything
• walk through every process
• in the building, on the web, phone
• to share the customer's experience
• to see what works and what doesn't
• to get your vendors on the customers' side
• to five vendor responses
• the default is...
• go to another source for support
• help notes explain that in section. 1.A.3(b)7
  
  
• it works here
• nobody else has complained
• in your library
• what makes it easy to find things
• what makes it difficult to find things
• what alerts or obscures possibilities
  
  
• what makes navigation a breeze or a chore
• easy/alerts to possibilities
  
  
• very open, spacious, neat, etc
• shelves well organized and documented
• overhead signs in adult stacks
• natural light, large windows
• large signs on soffits
• difficult, obscures possibilities
• lobby is dark & dull
• "NO" signs in the library
• nothing hits you when you walk in
• no encouragement to ask for help
• etc...
• self service library
• easy and intuitive
  
  
• helpful & friendly signage
• alerts to possibilities
  
  
• direct online interaction
• self-checkout
• drive-up window
• 24/7/365 access
• step eight: Get the book into the customers' hands
• if books are the brand, what could you be doing with books that you're not doing now?
• reduce processing time
• grab-and-go collection
• buy when it's fast and affordable
• float the collection
• Netflix model
• Weed!
• merchandise the collection
  
  
• Through merchandising you can
• transform the library experience
• find out what sells
• sell what you want to buy
• find out what nobody will read as part of the everyday process
• make it easier for your public to discover materials, "impulse buy"
• make it a little harder for your staff to find specific titles
• [photos of merchandising examples]
• Step nine: Transform the library experience
• find five things that would surprise and delight your customers and put them in the center
• a warm, inviting 21st century environment
• has a greeter
• comfortable
• allows food
• provides public computers & WiFi
• allows cell phones
• avoids too many rules
• the destination library
• enjoyable, friendly, fun environment
• comfortable seating
• extended hours
• hi tech, hi touch
• browsing, book clubs, author events
• drop in story hours
• supports personal use of technology
• community center
• fosters collegiality
• serve kids
• does your children's area have a percentage of floor space that equals their percentage of circulation?
• play fair
• Step ten: Overcome overdues
• reexamining the rules
• pay when $10 threshold is reached
• Fine Free Fridays
  
  
• no overdues -- but we love donations
  
  
• courtesy reminders -- consider Library Elf
• multiple renewals
• new motto: "Late is great!"
• step eleven: take the library to the people
• have an online application process and mail the card with the library info
• provide live online services
• put satellite libraries in the community
• experiment with mobile communication to cellphone & PDA
• [screenshots of examples]
• Step twelve: Make something happen
• did anything happen?
• depends on results for the customer, not the library
• depends on fit with everyday life of the customer
• how many things have to "go right" for this to work?
  
  
• focus on results for the customer will help you to...
• chose among the flawed options
• avoid "compromises" that produce no results
• handle the down side of a great choice
• do the extra work that makes a real difference
• 5 things you can start today
• look at the rules and remove or restate
  
  
• look at what people want & find ways to deliver it. ask them and listen when they answer
  
  
• walk through your building and fix what doesn't work for the customer
• incorporate customer service into every decision and problem solving process
• treat every customer like a person

Breakout groups: Five things your library can do to surprise your customers

• Suggestion box
• free paperback for every $1 in fines paid
• address customer by name
• more color in the library (too much tan)
  
  
• MySpace page
• check out off items: GPS, Projectors, Laptops
• WiFi
• "Check Us Out" sign
• Gaming Night
• AccuCut machine for public use
• No fines
• Allow cell phones
• Automatic reminders
• Recommendations in the OPAC
• Put holds in an ordered queue
• More classes for the public
• Audio book during a knitting circle
• Open 5-midnight one night
• 5-cent fine on unfriendly staff
• Live mystery at the library
• DVD checkout length as book
• group computer space
• public fax machine
• food allowed area
• fine free day
• cake pans
• door greeter / roving staff member
  
  
• allow food
• emphasize the e-resources
• teen hangout
• "We settle bar bets"
• new baby program
• book delivery program
• movie nights
• Director "open door"
• treat drawer
• no rural membership fee
  
  
• background music

• 
  
  

Microsoft Photo Info

Here's one for the metadata librarians: The Microsoft Photo Info download allows you to "Easily view and change 'metadata' properties in digital photographs from within Windows Explorer."

Vista doesn't "help"

It turns out that Vista Windows Help files (.hlp) any more as they're too old. (They've been around since Windows 3.1. Those needing the ability to read such files need to download the Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows Vista from Microsoft.

Vista Librarians

As an experiment I've set up a Ning social netowrk for the impatient librarians who are implementing, or attempting to implement, Windows Vista. Join Vista Librarians today.

iTunes & Vista - Update from Apple

As of yesterday, Apple has released iTunes 7.1 which supposedly addresses a number of compatibility issues with Windows Vista. I'll test it out tonight and report back.

To Vista or not to Vista?

Ok, so, what's my official advice on upgrading to Vista? I did it, so should you? Well, let's keep in mind a few important items:

• Some would consider me a bit of a geek and willing to futz around with my computer and change all sorts of settings just for fun.
• I specifically bought this laptop with the specifications needed to run Vista Ultimate edition and planned on upgrading it once Vista was released.
• I get paid to do this first and warn everyone else about the potential pitfalls.

So, with those things in mind, my official advice and this time is the following:

1. If you're going to be buying a new computer, get Vista. (Really, you won't have a choice but if you did I'd still say go with Vista.)
2. If you have a recently-purchased machine with one of those free upgrade coupons, go for it. I'm assuming you haven't had the computer long enough to customize it too much and you're probably not running any highly-specialized programs. (Check with vendors if you are. Hell, OCLC software had some problems with IE7. Who knows how they're reacting to Vista.)
3. You've got an older computer and the Windows Upgrade Advisor says the hardware can handle it, don't unless you're a masochist like me.
4. The Upgrade Advisor says you can't run at least Home Premium, don't even consider it. If you can at least run Home Premium, see #3.

To be honest, I love it despite the problems I'm having. (Second Life won't run, iTunes is fracked, I'm having some issues sharing files between the Vista computer and my XP computer, (let's not even consider the NT4.0 box,) and there's still an outstanding issue with upgrading my BIOS.) The bottom line, is that if everything's running fine on XP and you're considering upgrading everything in the library to Vista "because I can" or "because it looks cool" don't bother. Wait for the next round of computer purchasing and bring it into your system then. You'll be much better off in the long run.

Vista Window Switching

ALT-TAB still works in Vista but now gives you live previews of what's going on in the windows. It also gives the desktop as one of the switch-to-able options.

Additionally, Vista also gives you live window previews when you hover over a button in the task bar.

Lastly, if you're running Aero, you can get 3D-based window switching. I only wish there was a way to set this as the default so it works with ALT-TAB. (If there is, let me know since I can't seem to find the setting.)

Vista and Second Life - Part 2

I looked at the AMD site for a driver update to my Radeon X1400 video card and found no X1400 series listed as having available driver!

So, I took a look in Windows Update and I'm told there's an update available.

Let's see if that solves my problem...

Vista and Second Life

Well, I tried to run Second Life in Vista a got this:

I clicked Yes and then got

Who's fault is this? Well according to Linden Labs, it's ATI's fault:

Question
Under Windows Vista, my graphics card reports as a GDI Generic. Why is that?

Answer
Second Life requires that the Windows drivers for the system's graphics card fully support the OpenGL graphics standard. Any graphics card whose installed driver does not support OpenGL will detect as a "GDI Generic" instead. This message means that Second Life has detected no hardware OpenGL support.

It is up to the graphics vendor (Nvidia or ATI) to provide drivers that support both OpenGL and your operating system. As of this writing, we have successfully run Second Life on Vista under several PCs equipped with Nvidia's Geforce graphics cards. However, it does not appear that ATI has provided Vista drivers with OpenGL support. (Check ATI's website; they may have updated drivers since then.)

If you receive this message under Vista, are running graphics hardware that meets our Minimum System Requirements, and cannot find a driver provided by your graphics vendor which provides OpenGL support, you will be unable to run Second Life under Windows Vista on that computer.

As far as I can tell my driver's up-to-date so I'm stuck. Anyone got an answer that will actually help?

Of Time Zones and Appointments

Well, this is a problem I've finally solved and it has nothing to do with Vista. It seems that when you change Windows' time zone setting (as I've moved from Mountain to Central) Outlook reacts by adjusting the times of everything in your calendar. So, an appointment for April that I said was from 10-11am that I set while in MST was moved to 11am-12pm CST since that would technically be correct. Trouble is, the meeting still being held at 10am local time. (This gets worse when an "all day" appointment gets changed to 1am on one day to 1am the next day.) Well, a quick search and I found not only an answer but also an explanation of the issue. Check out Outlook, Appointments and Time Zones if you're interested.

Vista and AVG redux

It seems that my problems with AVG Antivirus were not solved in the long run. Whenever I rebooted the computer, the resident shield stopped working until I did a repair reinstall of the program. I figured that was a problem I'd deal with eventually since I didn't reboot the laptop all that often anyway. (I usually put it into hibernation when I shut it off.) Well, this morning, AVG ran it's automatic update and as part of that process it game me a blue screen of death! I don't blame Vista, I blame AVG. After that unpleasant reboot so long AVG. I went hunting and found Free antivirus - avast! 4 Home Edition which is free for home use. And, according to the site, "avast! antivirus fully supports Windows Vista". So, it's installed, and running as I expect it to.

Vista Upgrade and Antivirus Software

This post mostly relates to my experience with AVG AntiVirus and it's sudden non-working state after Upgrading to Windows Vista. However, anyone considering an upgrade should at least read through the next paragraph.

According to the booklet that comes with Vista one of this things you should do "before you begin" is to "update your antivirus program (if necessary), run it, and then disable it." To this I would add, uninstall it. I say this due to all of the Web pages I've read trying to solve my AVG-specific problem.

What happened to me has happened to many others from the sound of it. After upgrading to Vista, the free version of AVG insisted that the license code wasn't legit. Funny, since you don't generally need one for a free version. Every time it started (at boot) it asked me to reactivate my license with a code I didn't have. Because I couldn't fulfill its request, it failed to load and then continued to mess with Outlook since it wasn't running. So, off to the Web for a solution I went.

There were several suggested solutions that I found:

• Reinstall AVG over itself.
  This didn't work at all.
• Uninstall AVG then reinstall it.
  I, along with others, was unable to uninstall the program via any of the suggested methods.
• Delete the directory containing the AVG files then try to reinstall.
  I moved the files (so I could replace them if it didn't work) yet was unable to perform a successful reinstallation.
• Install an old version of AVG, then reinstall the current version.
  None of the previous versions I could find would install over the current newer version.
• Find an illegal license key online and try using it.
  None of them worked as a key & a user name were both needed. I no username so none of the keys would be accepted.

During one of the reinstall attempts I noticed that there was not only the "repair" installation option but also a "total reinstall" option. When I used the total option, a license key was displayed. So, I got that far and copied the license key. I then stopped the installation and reran the original program to force it to ask me for a key again. I pasted in the key but it still insisted that I needed a user name. I tried my name thinking I might have used it when I installed AVG way back when but that didn't work. Taking a chance, I tried the user name "free" and it suddenly worked!

I rebooted to make sure everything was alright and AVG did start as expected. However, the resident shield wasn't working. I performed a repair install and the problem was solved.

I hope someone else who has this problem finds this post and the solution works for them.

Want Vista and XP?

Here's a set of instructions for installing Vista in dual-boot mode with XP. (It looks like the hardest part is partitioning the hard drive. Installing a second drive might be easier.)

Windows 386 is on the attack!

Must be seen to be believed!

Windows Vista Myths

There's a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about Windows Vista out there these days. Here's a great article debunking 10 Windows Vista myths.

iTunes and Windows Vista

According to Apple, Inc. the current version of iTunes is bascially incompatible with Windows Vista. The document describing the problems offers several "solutions" for those that insist on upgrading to Vista before an updated "Vista compatible" version of iTunes is released. Worst case scenario: "Ejecting an iPod from the Windows System Tray using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature may corrupt your iPod. To always safely eject an iPod, choose Eject iPod from the Controls menu within iTunes." Apple is also offering an iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0 that will also supposedly solve some problems.

IMHO this is totally unacceptable. Vista has been gold since something like early December yet Apple has yet to solve the problem. I'm glad I ran across this before upgrading as I run my iPod off the same laptop I'll be upgrading. Hopefully, Apple will release the updated version in the next two weeks before I get the time to install Vista.

Vista & Office 2007

They've arrived! I'll be upgrading my TabletPC but I may end up waiting a little while as my laptop is my only computer for the next two weeks. In the mean time, I could download and read the Vista release notes...

An open letter to the members and customers of the Friends of the Aurora Public Library

IE6 users, if you can't see the whole post try reading it at the alternative location or use this as a great opportunity to update to IE7.

In January 2006 I was asked by the then FAPL board president to take over as the manager of the FAPL Book Outlet. I accepted the position and in the past year many changes have been made. Many of you have liked the changes, a good number have come to accept the changes, and a few of you still do not like most or any of them. Then came the recent sale at the central library and additional complaints have been received. This letter is both an explanation and a response to the criticisms I’ve received over the past thirteen months.

First, just a little about my background to help you in understanding where I’m coming from. I currently hold a masters degree in library science and teach computers and the Internet to librarians across an eleven-state region. I have also been a member of the board of trustees of the Aurora Public Library for the past four years. Prior to my present career, I was a bookseller (from clerk to management) for more than ten years (in both independent and chain bookstores), and have been a book collector for more than 25 years. I am by no means an expert in books but I feel that my knowledge of the trade is well above that of the typical book buyer.

When I was brought in as the new manager the store had recently moved to its current location at nearly triple the space of the previous location and at more than double the rent. (Even this amount is at a significant discount as we’re sub-leasing from the city and they’re giving us a great deal.) Our books were shelved by price, not by category, placing books of the same genre/ topic in as many as five different locations in the store. Some of the books were priced using stickers while others were priced by drawing stripes or other symbols on the bottom of the books with permanent markers. (Both of these methods reduced the book’s value significantly.) Ultimately, sales at the store had stagnated.

Before deciding how to address these issues I had to clarify the mission of the Friends. That mission is to, at its essence, make money to support the Aurora Public Library. With sales at a stand still, increased costs, and the difficulties customers (and staff) were having finding what they wanted, I set about making some significant changes in how the store was run and organized.

The two areas that customers noticed the most were the reorganizing of the books out on the floor and the way books were priced. In the first case, over a two-day period several volunteers moved nearly every single book in the store so that books of the same genre/topic were shelved together. Paperbacks and hard covers were still shelved separately, but no longer were there paperback romances in four locations in the store. The result was not perfect on the first try and as recently as four months ago we were still moving some sections around to shelve in a way that works best for both the customers and the staff.

The second change, pricing, was more difficult for many, staff included, to accept. About a dozen volunteers spent three days, writing a price, category, and date into every book in the store. The category and date make both shelving new and removing old stock easier on the staff. Having the price in virtually the same location in every book makes things much easier for the customers than the old system of different locations and/or markings on the books. This is a standard practice in the used book trade as it does not reduce the value of the book.

The actual prices of the book is where the largest number of complaints have come from and in many cases those that have not liked the new pricing fall into one of three camps: those that don’t like increases in prices in general, those that want the store to be something it no longer is, and used book dealers. Let me respond to each one of these in turn.

Even I fall into the first category: those that don’t like price increases in general. When people started noticing that we increased our prices they commented on it to me and the staff. Once we explained that our rent had more than doubled most people understood and didn’t comment further.

Those that want the store to be what it no longer is, is a harder category. There are generally three types of used book stores: exchanges, used, and rare/antiquarian. Stores run by Friends groups tend to be in the first category; the store has stock that it’s trying to sell of cheap and fast, usually having some sort of flat-rate pricing scheme. That is what the Book Outlet was but I felt we could be more than that. Used book stores have cheap books, mid-priced books, and expensive books with more varied pricing. Rare/antiquarian book stores specialize in the obscure and the expensive. What I’ve attempted to do is to move the Book Outlet away from the exchange model to the used model. Folks in this category loved the cheap prices of the old model and don’t appreciate the slightly higher prices of the current model.

The reason for moving to the used model takes me back to the mission of the Friends: to make money to support the Aurora Public Library. With this new model both sales and income have increased despite the additional costs of the new location, and because of this we were able to totally fund the 2006 summer reading program to the tune of $27,000 in addition to funding other programs and library remodeling efforts. I understand the folks who liked the old exchange model, but continuing to use that model would just not allow us to support the library as much as we would like.

As for dealers; for years we have been selling books to area dealers and have enjoyed doing so. We also look forward to continuing to do so in the future. However, in the past we were not exactly smart about doing so. Frequently we would hear stories of dealers buying books from us for less than a dollar and reselling it in their store for $20, $50, or sometimes more than $100. (Once or twice a dealer would come back to the store and give us additional money from part of the profit he’d made off the resale of one of our books.) To make myself clear, we don’t mind dealers buying from us and reselling in their stores. However, selling to them a book for $2.00 and having them make a $98 profit, does a serious disservice to our mission when instead we could sell it for $25 and have them make a $75 profit. This way, we’re a little happier and the dealers are only a little less happy.

This leads me to the next issue: our use of the Internet to price some of our stock. Yes, I will admit that when we find a book that we feel might be worth more than a few dollars we use the site bookfinder.com to guide us to an appropriate sale price. Whenever we do this we take into consideration many things including, but not limited to: the condition of our copy, the condition of copies for sale online, the number of copies for sale online, and the asking prices of the online copies. In most cases we end up pricing the book using our normal pricing guidelines. If we do end up marking up the price based on what we found online, we ultimately keep this fact in mind: all of our books are donations and therefore whatever we get for the book we can consider “profit”. In other words, unlike other book dealers we don’t have to make back what we paid for the book in the first place since we didn’t pay anything for it. So, with that in mind, we generally price the book lower than what is being asked for online.

Even then, the vast majority of our books in the store are not priced this way. Those in the locked cabinet and some of the books on the bookshelves at the front of the store are the result of Internet-based pricing, but that is a small minority compared to the rest of the books in the store.

***

Now, as for this past weekend’s sale at the central library, there were two complaints that were heard by both me and the other volunteers: the sale “wasn’t what I expected” and the books were “overpriced”. Again, please allow me to respond.

I believe that both of these complaints are connected as the second is a result of the first. What most people expect when they see that a friends group is holding a book sale is the traditional annual book sale with lots of cheap books that the friends are trying to sell off quickly. (We have the Book Outlet so we don’t do that sort of sale.) However, what we advertised was a sale of “rare, collectible, and used” books also stating a price range of “40 cents to several hundred dollars.” We did our best to make sure that this was stated in all the advertising we did. Unfortunately, despite these statements, some still expected the more traditional friends book sale with a majority of cheap books.

More than 75% of the books at the sale were from a single donated collection of mostly history and cookbooks. Some of these books were not worth as much as others but many were worth more than the usual $1-4 prices we charge in the store. A group of about a dozen volunteers spent more than six months valuing and pricing the books using the previously mentioned Internet-based method. We all did our best to keep the prices reasonable based on the research we performed. Remember, our mission is to make money to support the library, not sell off a valuable collection of books for pennies on the dollar.

In one case a customer came up to one of the volunteers and asked if the $2 price we had on the book was correct since the book was worth $500. In another, a dealer, toward the end of the sale pulled out a single book from his $375 purchase and pointed out that the $100 we were asking for the book was what he could get for it in his store and could he have it for a little less. We talked and I lowered the price of the book for him. In the first case a customer got a great deal, in the second a professional dealer validated the price we had set on the book. These two situations show me that we priced most of our books correctly, just not at the level that people expected.

Additionally some read the e-mail about extending the hours of the sale through Monday morning and offering most of the books at 50% discount as a sign that this was more of a traditional sale at which we were trying to “dump what was left”. This is incorrect. The extension of the sale and the discount was not planned. It was a decision I made on the spot based on a number of factors including the fact that we could have the library’s room an extra day and the poor weather on Sunday. Had either of those not have happened the Monday extension and discount may not have occurred.

In the end the sale made just short of $6000 which will all go to benefit the library. The books that are left over from the sale will not be disposed of, they will be dealt with as any other book we have in one of several ways. Many will end up being offered for sale in the store, some of the prices will be reduced, while others will be offered for sale online. Others, the lower priced ones, will be sold off to designers for use in show homes.

Overall, everyone involved in the planning, organization, and implementation of the sale believes it was a success.

***

The February FAPL board meeting will be my last. At that meeting I will be ending my tenure as the Book Outlet manager as I am moving to Lincoln, NE for a new job. I have enjoyed this position and I’m honored to have been able to support my library in this way. The reigns will be handed over to someone else who I hope will continue taking the store into the future and continue to fulfill the store’s mission. I appreciate the time you’ve taken to indulge me and if you wish to leave any comments please feel free to do so via the comments link at the end of this post.

Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft

Microsoft offers a lot of free Windows software, some of which is rather useful. The trouble is that finding it on the Microsoft site can be daunting unless you know exactly what you're looking for. Well, here's a page from The Road to Know Where blog listing all of them with appropriate links.

Search WindowsLive via SMS

You can now search Windows Live Search via SMS. Just send a text to 94583 (WLIVE) with your query. More details on the searches available cam be found on the It's All Mobile blog.

Stupid move of the day, a.k.a. a warning to others

So I'm at my desk uninstalling software I no longer use from my office laptop. Windows' Add/Remove Programs lists both Firefox 1.5.x and 2.0 as installed on my computer. Since I no longer use 1.5.x I chose to uninstall it. Well, that uninstalled Firefox from my computer, which happened to be version 2.0. Yes folks, I just lost my browser. Please, whatever you do, don't tell windows to uninstall an old version of Firefox after you've upgraded to 2.0. (Luckily reinstalling 2.0 did not require me to recreate my bookmarks or reinstall any of my add-ins but I'm still annoyed by the whole escapade.)

Vista has been released to manufactures

What does this mean. Well, it means that shortly you will be able to purchase computers with Vista pre-installed. Those wishing to purchase Vista to upgrade existing hardware will need to wait until 30 January 2007. Here's Microsoft's official Q&A regarding the release and Paul Thurrott's full review from his Windows Super Site.

Free online file conversion

This morning David Lee King pointed me to Zamzar.com by saying "Zamzar is cool". With a recommendation like that how could I not take a look?

Step one is to go to Zamzar.com. You may want to look at their list of convertible file types before you get to far.

Once you've decided what file you're going to convert, just click the Browse button and select your file. (There is an upload limit of 100MB per file.)

The file you've chosen to convert will appear at the bottom of the page. You can remove that file if you choose the wrong one, or add other files to be converted as a batch. (Be sure to only choose files of the same general type, such as video files, as you'll only be able to have one output file type.)

Step two is to choose which format you want the file converted to from the dropdown list. (This list will populate with only valid conversion formats.)

Step three: enter your e-mail address, (a link to the converted files will be sent to this e-mail address,) then click the Convert button.

You'll then be asked to confirm your choices by clicking OK...

...and your file(s) will be uploaded to the server for conversion. A status bar will keep you up-to-date with the progress and estimated time remaining of the upload process.

Once the upload is complete you will be told as such and reminded that the link to the converted file will be e-mailed to you.

A few minutes later (in my experiences) you will receive and e-mail with a link to the converted file.

However, this is not a link to the file itself, but to a Web page with the file link. So, do not right-click and select Save as on this link. Just click the link and open the Zamzar.com page for your converted file.

On this page, click the Download Now button to initiate your download and then confirm to your browser that you wish to save this file.

In this example I converted a Flash Video file (.flv) from YouTube (yes, there are ways to download YouTube videos) into a Windows .avi file. Here are the properties of both the original and converted files.

Yes, in this case I converted a smaller file into a larger file. However, with an .avi file I can burn it to DVD video and/or play it in Windows Media Player which allows me to view it in full-screen mode. (Neither of which I can do with a .flv file.)

As you can see below, the quality of the converted file is not noticeably different from the original.

Original

Converted

With this one experiment I can say that Zamzar does live up it its promises and should be bookmarked by anyone who might ever need to convert files from one format to another. The only two downsides I can fine is the 100MB limit, which should only be an issue for those looking to convert video files, and its current inability to deal with files from Microsoft Works (something that would be very useful to public libraries.)

Internet Explorer 7 released

For those that don't want to wait for IE7 to show up via Windows Update, you can now download it directly from the Microsoft site. (You've been warned in the past but now it's cofirmed: It won't work on anything less than XPsp2.)

Get ready for Internet Explorer 7

I just got this from Microsoft in my e-mail. I'm reproducing it for the benefit of others. (Hopefully Microsoft won't sure me for it.) Important note from Microsoft. Please review the action items and contents of this bulletin. Overview Microsoft will release the final version of Internet Explorer 7 (English) in October 2006. Internet Explorer 7 (IE7 ) provides significant enhancements in security, platform management, and usability. Microsoft recommends that all genuine Windows customers install this upgrade. Shortly after it is released, Microsoft will distribute IE7 as a high-priority update through Automatic Updates to help consumers become more secure and up-to-date. However, to ensure that customers are prepared to upgrade, IE7 will not install without user consent. Microsoft recognizes that, as part of a managed deployment plan, some organizations may wish to block users from receiving IE7 through Automatic Updates and is providing an IE7 Blocker Toolkit. IE7 runs on Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003. This announcement provides an overview of Microsoft resources and recommended actions that IT administrators should take to ensure their company's Web sites are ready for IE7 and that their browser-based applications will continue to work seamlessly with IE7. This announcement updates previous information about Automatic Updates delivery released on July 26, 2006. For more information about IE7, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/technet/updatemanagement/ windowsupdate/ie7announcement.mspx, or contact your Microsoft sales or support account representative. Key Delivery Details • October 2006 - target date for IE7 (English) • November 1, 2006 - date by which customers wishing to block Automatic Updates delivery of IE7 should have blocking measures in place Note: Product quality will determine the final release date. Call-to-Action for IT Administrators To prepare for the release of IE7 in October and subsequent distribution through Automatic Updates, customers should: 1. Use the IE7 Readiness Toolkit to prepare for the release of IE7 2. Test and resolve any issues with their Web sites and applications using the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 (ACT 5.0). 3. Determine if their organization is ready for IE7 or needs to delay deployment. Find information on deploying the nonexpiring IE7 Blocker Toolkit on our Web site. About the Automatic Updates Delivery Process To help minimize disruption, automatic delivery of IE7 includes the following provisions: 1. Automatic Updates will notify users that an upgrade to Internet Explorer is available prior to starting installation. 2. IE7 will not install until a user who is a local administrator accepts the update. (Users may also choose to decline installation or ask to be reminded to install later.) 3. Microsoft has made available the IE7 Blocker Toolkit, which allows IT administrators to prevent users from receiving IE7 as a high-priority update from Automatic Updates and the Windows Update and Microsoft Update sites. 4. Users will be able to roll back to Internet Explorer 6 by removing IE7 through the Windows Control Panel Add/Remove Programs utility. Find additional details and screenshots of the notification process on our Web site. Options for Blocking Automatic Delivery Microsoft recognizes that organizations may wish to postpone deployment of IE7 (for example, to allow time for user training or additional testing of browser-based internal applications and Web sites). Organizations using Automatic Updates to keep their unmanaged computers current can take one or more of the following steps to prevent users from automatically receiving IE7: 1. Download and deploy the IE7 Blocker Toolkit. The nonexpiring Blocker Toolkit includes both a Group Policy template and a script that sets a registry key to prevent Automatic Updates and the Windows Update and Microsoft Update sites from offering IE7 as a high-priority update. The Blocker Toolkit and FAQ were released on July 26. 2. Deploy an update management solution that provides full control over the updates you deploy to computers in your network. Microsoft offers the free Windows Server Update Services and the more advanced Systems Management Server 2003 update management products. 3. Prevent users from running as local administrators on their computers. Users who are not local administrators will not be offered the update and can be restricted from manually installing IE7 4. Instruct users to decline IE7 when Automatic Updates notifies them that the update is available for installation. All users will have the ability to decline installation. Find additional details and screenshots of the notification process on our Web site. About These Resources from Microsoft The IE7 Readiness Toolkit provides the following: • Pointer to the latest publicly available build of IE7 • Developer checklist, including new features and changes of interest to application and Web developers • Testing guidance and tips for isolating and identifying a particular compatibility problem • Tools for development and testing • Links to resources, technical articles and helpful blog posts • Various methods to provide feedback to Microsoft • The Micros