Blog posts in "About ICFL"

Job Announcement

david.guyer — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:59:13 -0600

Position: Digital Repository Librarian
Organization: Idaho Commission for Libraries
Closing date: August 16, 2009

The Idaho Commission for Libraries http://libraries.idaho.gov/ is recruiting a Digital Repository Librarian. Come to work for a true learning organization and live in beautiful Boise Idaho! http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/relocating/boise/idaho.html. For more information about the position and application information please visit: http://dhr.idaho.gov/dhrapp/stateJobs/jobannouncement.aspx?announcement_...

2009 Changes to Open Meeting Laws

Shirley Biladeau — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:23:32 -0600

Be sure to check out the changes in the Idaho Open Meeting Laws -- these impact the boards of both city and district libraries. You can read more on the Idaho Commission for Libraries' Website under Library Laws.

FY08 Public Library Online Survey

debby.wylie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:24:08 -0700

The online Annual Report Form for FY08 is now ready and available. This year we have a new form. You will find it here: http://collect.btol.com Usernames and passwords are the same as last year, but if you do not know, or have forgotten them, please call us and we will get that information to you. If we are not in the office you can leave a message on our answering machine and we will return your call.

Some of the improvements with this new version of Collect are that you can now access your previous reports back to FY2000, the program does not take over your computer screen, you can easily move back and forth between pages and the totals on each page show up as you enter them. No more having to click the UPDATE button. Also, you now can use Internet Explorer or Firefox to access your form.

We’re hoping that the pop-up blocker issue is resolved with this new Collect version, but if you have any trouble logging in do the following:
To allow access to this site, in Internet Explorer 7, go to Tools, Pop-Up Blocker, Pop-Up Blocker Settings and add collect.btol.com to the list of allowed sites. Click on Add then Close. You should be able to access the site now, but you may have to close Internet Explorer and reopen it for the change to take effect. We don’t know yet if it will be a problem with Firefox.

This year, you have the option to see or hide last year’s data. There is a gold button in the upper right hand corner that allows to you do this. For your library’s hours of operation, if your winter and summer hours are the same, there is a box for you to check. If the box is checked, we will enter that data for you. You will not have to reenter the same data in the Summer Hours area.

As always, you will be able to alert us to any changes in any area of the report by leaving a message in the note to the right of each question.

The due date for this report and the Board Certification page is January 31, 2009. You can get a copy of the Board Certification page here.

We hope that you will find this new version of Collect more user friendly. Please let us know if you have any problems or questions.

Frank Nelson
Debby Wylie
Idaho Commission For Libraries - Eastern Field Office
525-7211 1-800-548-6212
frank.nelson@libraries.idaho.gov
debby.wylie@libraries.idaho.gov

Your Feedback, Our Solutions

eric.hildreth — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:25:28 -0700

One of the biggest challenges web developers face is having to undergo a site redesign. The stakeholders involved (including the people that have to use the darn thing!) usually have their own notions on how things should work or how they should be positioned on the screen. The key is to strike a balance between these varying opinions, the vision of what the site will be, industry best practices, time constraints, and budget concerns to come up with a design that fits it all together. Easy, right?

Not always! Sometimes, the decisions we end up making need reworked and this is where your user feedback comes into play. If you find something on the site that isn't working for you or have an idea for a usability improvement, don't hesitate to contact us! In fact, based on user feedback I implemented a change to the site earlier today: I moved the Read Full Post Link and the Comments link to the end of the posts.

Backstory: A user sent us a message that they were reading a post and it was cut off in the middle and they couldn't find where to click to finish reading the article. The link was there in the grey bar, but it wasn't as visible as it should have been. Example:

Solution: Attempt to make the Read Full Post Link more visible. Since postings on the site are mostly text-based, icons have been added to help catch the readers eye when scanning the page. Also, the links have been broken out of the grey bar and the font-size has been increased. Example:

Keep those comments coming!

ICFL Publications RSS Feeds

eric.hildreth — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:38:09 -0600

With the launch of the new site, all of our publications now have the ability to tap into the power of RSS.

List of Feeds:

Books on Tape Update - http://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/books-on-tape-update/feed
ICFL Newsletter - http://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/icfl-news/feed
Idaho Library Statistics - http://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/statistics/feed
http://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/trustee-news/feed
The Scoop - http://libraries.idaho.gov/publications/the-scoop/feed