CODI - Beyond the Sessions

I hope those of you who attended the conference realized the added value you can get from the conversations with your peers.

Thanks especially to Luke, Patrick & Sharon for sharing ideas and some great conversation!

Luke from Texas gave me some ideas for this blog, and some strategies to help target my desired audience for computer classes.

Monday evening, Patrick from New York started talking about (cheap) wireless access for the public and mentioned Zone CD. We exchanged cards, and he sent me a hyperlink before breakfast the next morning!

I ended up sitting next to Sharon from Indiana at lunch one day, and as luck would have it she's "from the other side of the border" just 15 minutes away from my home library. The Illinois & Indiana libraries are in different consortia, so we don't interact much, but Sharon's open to sharing some ideas across the state line.

I was able to ask her how they handle Internet access for out-of-state residents, which turned out to be drastically different than what we do. (No wonder the Hoosiers complain when they come to our library to use the Internet.)

She also shared that they have "deposit" collections for their often-checked-out-and-never-returned books. For example: the GED test study guide books. Patrons leave a cash deposit, and receive a 28 day loan. If it's not returned on day 29, the patron "bought" it, and it is processed as a lost item in Horizon.

They do offer access to Learnatest.com/LearningExpressLibrary (I asked)