I don't have time!

When we are shopping in the grocery store are we browsing? Looking for whether the split pea soup might be better than the vegetable beef? When you are online, are you browsing to see what the latest news flash is or are you headed to your favorite news website right away?

I begin to wonder at our ability or our attention span for browsing.......in light of the millions of other things on our to do lists (okay, so maybe I'm the only person who ever makes such lists). Have we lost our ability to just browse, to take a few minutes to enjoy the soup display or the book display and see what the staff have tried to put together to engage us for a few seconds and possibly a few dollars?

Even online, I feel like I don't browse any longer. I go to specific websites for specific reasons. When I need a recipe which has mushrooms and zuccini, I am not browsing and looking at the colorful photos of other recipes. When I want to find a book, I am simply typing it in the search box and off I go. Who has time to look for recommendations? Are we all just too busy? Are there websites or stores which entice you to browse? If so, how do they engage you further?

Interdependency

For the majority of you, I hope Sunday morning's non-access to the catalog was something you did not even notice. Like putting new tires on your car, you are inconvenienced but find it was worth the time and effort. Well, we had to replace the server which runs our catalog Sunday morning. This meant that you did not have access to materials for searching and placing holds. It also meant that access to many of the databases was not accessible.

We thank you for your patience during the morning while we made the switch. Our new server is running smoothly and we appreciate the time it took from your morning.

The catalog is what is running behind the scenes. What happens when you conduct a search from the website? Tt goes to the catalog and returns results. What happens when you want to check the status of holds in your account? The system is going into the catalog/user function. So you can see the interdependence between the website and the catalog and how the "right foot" doesn't dance very well without the "left foot."

Do You DVD?

Living in Colorado means not experiencing things like big rain puddles and the use of galoshes very often.....but last night it rained and rained and rained some more! My garden is so very happy.....does this mean an early winter, though?

We do not have much to report on the website side that is new from last week's post. We hope you are finding the titles you are seeking and that the cart is working for you. I have appreciated being able to search and place titles in my cart, search again and again and then check out all of my goodies with one login.

If you haven't taken the DVD survey yet, please take just 30 seconds to do so now. It's only 3 questions and your input is valuable as decisions are made about this popular collection format.

Welcome August!

Have you begun to hear the sound of leaves rustling....at your feet instead of in the trees? Have you been craving the scent of sharpened pencils? Then you know it's that time of year called back to school.......

Feel free to check out our website presences for great school/homework resources:

• Homework & Research in the teensite provides relevant databases & website links
• Homework in Tales Treehouse lists databases for children and subject guides (to some of the more common topics like biographies and biomes)
• Research & Business on the mainsite is one path to access the database products

Our work on the website continues on the back-end. We continue to work on importing records to have the most up-to-date information available on the website and try to have the covers available, too!

Let us know how your searches and interaction have been going with the new website! In the meantime, it's only 14 days left til school starts at my house!