Back to some serious blogging

Okay, that was a long gap without a blog entry from your favorite Rochester Public Library Reference Blog. What has Ripple the bear been up to since this past June (has it been that long?!? - yes, it has). Well, hibernation hits different bears in different ways. And now we're back! It's not Halloween yet, so that's not so terrible.

And it's been a busy summer. We've added several adult internet terminals on the second floor. We now have stations A-O (or A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N and O for those who like to see it all in virtual print), and an express terminal. But wait, as the Infomercialians say, there's more. And that more is station A which has not only a scanner, not only Word 2003, not only Excel 2003, but the entire Office 2003 Suite installed on it for your processing, spreadsheeting, and officing pleasure. You do have to sign up for it specifically - so please do so at the sign up terminal (or directly on the machine if no one is on it).

Which brings up another one of our somewhat recent changes: direct reservations on the adult internet terminals. We have set up the internet stations so that you can log directly on to a free internet terminal by walking up to it and signing on with your card and PIN number.

Admittedly this has caused a touch of confusion, at least initially. If someone goes to the sign on terminal and place a reservation a nanosecond before you start clicking on the screen, they will get that computer first. So, a tip for you if you're walking up to the terminal to sign on directly, start typing right away. That should take your computer out of immediate danger of being pulled out from under you. Sorry, "sign on at the terminal people". You can type and scan fast, too, if you want.

One reason that we made this change is that some patrons didn't care for the fact that they couldn't choose the location of their computer. With direct signing on, you can choose any open terminal.

There were some fears that allowing direct signing on would start a "Running of the Bulls" for internet computers when we first opened in the morning (you know who you are), but this has clearly not happened (you know who you aren't).

Anyway, that's all from Ripple's den at this point. Look forward to more Bear blogging as we power back into Web 2.0 territory. More pictures (which is to say any) next time. Promise.