ICFL Staff have been on the road with the e-branch in a box workshops. E-branch in a box utilizes Drupal, a content management system. ICFL staff have created templates for libraries so they can create and update their own e-branch sites. E-branch uses a web-based interface for adding and updating website content.

If you’ve ever taken a look at the minutes of the LiLI Advisory Board meetings, you know that courier service has been a topic of interest in Idaho for quite some time. Some areas in the state have delivery service among libraries; these are often services associated with consortium participation. But, it’s a goal to bridge delivery services so that all libraries in the state can benefit from regular courier service.

Last week I and a colleague attended Moving Mountains: A Symposium Exploring Library Courier Services. We learned a great deal about the various types of delivery systems in place. Some groups hire their own drivers and provided their own vehicles. Many contract with courier vendors to provide the service. A few offer on-demand or point-to-point delivery where a call is made when an item is waiting to be picked up. Many more provide regular routes where a driver visits the library an specific days during a specified time window during the day; those drivers always follow the same route.

The ILA Annual conference is ended and now that I’ve had a couple days to get reacquainted with home, I thought I’d review some of my own highlights from ILA:

SPLAT - The SPLAT table rocked. It seemed there was always a crowd there wanting to learn more about IM, blogs, gaming, and other tools for social networking.

Intellectual Freedom Auction - Some folks from the Nampa Public Library shared about the events that took place in their library regarding the challenge of some books in their collection. It served as a good reminder for all of us about the real reasons behind the annual auction.

Kay Flowers from Idaho State University is talking about Digital Repositories.

Digital Libraries: are distinguished from info retrieval systems because they include more types of media provide additional functionality and services, and include other stages of the info life cycle (from creation through use)

DLs are also thought of as a new form of information institution or as an extension of the services libraries currently provide.

Digital Repository: A trusted digital repository is one whose mission is to provide reliable, long-term access to managed digital resources to its designated community, now and in the future.