In your online library account you have the ability to suspend holds. This means that you will continue to advance on the waiting list, but the item won’t be held for you prior to the date that you choose. Now here’s the caveat: If you get to the front of the waiting list for an item that you suspended and there is no one behind you on the waiting list, your hold will be activated. You might still be on vacation and have the item suspended for two more weeks, but the item will still go to the holds shelf for you. If there are other people behind you on the waiting list, however, the suspend feature will work as intended, so it’s more reliable for titles that have long wait lists.

Here’s how to do it:

Using our new catalog, log on and click HOLDS at the top. Click SUSPEND next to the items you want to suspend and select a date for the hold to be reactivated. To reactivate a suspended hold, click RE-ACTIVATE next to the item.

Suspending holds in the new catalog

Using our classic catalog, log on and click HOLDS in the left column. Now place a check mark next to the item(s) you want to suspend (hint: to select them all, put a check mark in the top box). Next, click SUSPEND above the holds list, and click the calendar icon next to the “Suspend until:” box to choose a date for the hold to be reactivated. Click OK, and you’re done. Suspended holds will display a small clock-shaped icon next to them. It is not possible to reactivate a suspended hold in the classic catalog, but you can use the process described above to change the reactivation date to the day after the current day.

Suspending holds in the classic catalog

Posted by Charles, a second floor librarian

This survey is sponsored by The American Library Association (ALA) and the Public Insight Network from American Public Media (APM), a producer of public radio programs that broadcast nationwide (e.g., Marketplace and Performance Today). They are partnering to learn more about how people use libraries, and the information, social and civic needs of communities.

On the survey website you can read an inspiring story about Oscar, once a young teen father who says he never would have graduated from high school without audiobooks and the libraries that provided them.  We hope you will consider sharing your library stories with us whether they are lighthearted or serious.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit

Martin Luther King press conference from Library Of Congress

The library will be closed on Monday January 17th in observance of the holiday honoring the late Civil Rights leader, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  This year (the 25th anniversary of the holiday) a website has been setup by the Corporation for National and Community Service highlighting ways people can celebrate the life of Dr. King as a “Day of Service”. On the site you can find volunteer opportunities across the country.

Listen (7.5MB MP3) to a recording of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech given during the Civil Rights rally on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. Read a transcript of the speech.
[audio from archive.org & text from pbs.org]

Posted by Christopher, a second floor librarian

Whether you knit, crochet, quilt, make other crafts, and/or garden (and there are a lot of you in Corvallis who do it all), I bet you have your own best books list.   Take a look at the list and let me know if you agree with the list or have your own list you’d like to share.

	Crochet in color: techniques and designs for playing with color by Kathy Merrick”Designer Merrick has created a book that veteran and novice stitchers will keep at their immediate beck and call. These 17 projects are amazingly seductive.”
	The Feisty stitcher: sewing projects with attitude by Susan Wasinger”Wasinger’s latest volume is a panoply of good-looking, well-designed, and ecologically sound items for homes and selves.”
	Growing a garden city. By Jeremy N. Smith”Bright, vibrant, and buoyantly accessible, this effervescent celebration of the local food movement thrums with regional, national, and international implications.”
	Growing tasty tropical plants in any home, anywhere.  By Laurelynn Martin and Byron Martin.Fun facts, handy tips, and eye-popping color illustrations and photographs round out a comprehensive yet accessible guide that will fascinate and inspire both beginning and established gardeners.
	Luxe knits: the accessories; couture adornments to knit & crochet. By Laura Zukaite.It’s hard to resist the seductiveness of the four collections presented here, with thanks to top model photography and airy illustrations.
	Of gardens: selected essays. By Paula Deitz. Deitz masterfully celebrates the myriad attractions of gardens great and small, public and private, and their ability to enrich, ennoble, and entertain.
	The Quilters album of patchwork patterns.  By Jinny Beyer.  An amazing amount of meticulous research elevates this compendium from a ho-hum aggregate to one that inspires and engages.
	Real life journals: designing and using handmade books.  By Gwen Diehn.This is a lovely, helpful volume that will inspire and attract journalers and scrapbookers alike.
	Thoughtful gardening.   By Robin Lane Fox.This immense wealth of practical information and insight supports the maxim that sometimes devoted gardeners love reading about gardening almost more than the actual act itself.
	Understanding garden design: the complete handbook for aspiring designers.  By  Vanessa Gardner Nagel.  In this thorough and thoroughly accessible book, Nagel’s reasoned yet personable approach to an often intimidating subject will benefit both home owners and design professionals.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian.

List credit: Brad Hooper, Booklist Magazine

1. Learn a language online with Mango Languages
2. Access the Consumer Reports subscription website
3. Download ebooks and audiobooks
4. Check out a Sony ebook reader
5. Listen to an audiobook on a Playaway (pre-loaded digital audiobooks)
6. Chat live with a second floor librarian online (link on the upper left of our homepage)
7. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook
8. Free wifi in the library, no password or login required
9. Private study rooms on the second floor
10. Did you know an average of 2,535 people came through our doors each day last fiscal year?

Please spread the word about the library! If you learned something new about us in this post, why not share it with your friends? I do like making people happy when I tell them what the library offers. However,  if there were less surprised faces it would mean more people know about us and all the great services we have, which can only be a good thing.

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

*Photo credit: Birthday Surprise Face by AmandaLeighPanda on Flickr

Stockholm Public Library, by elmindreda on Flickr

A while back, we had a nice exchange with one of our Twitter friends, John Bergquist (@johnflurry). He posted a link to a Huffington Post article with pictures of amazing libraries around the world. Readers have been voting on their favorites, and at the moment, the top library is the Long Room in the Trinity College Library in Dublin.

John suggested it would be interesting to do a blog post about what appealed to people about these libraries.

I’d like to turn the question over to you. What do you like about these libraries, or the more modest variety here in Corvallis? What do you not like in a library building?

I always find it interesting that in a time where more and more information is online, the discussion of library as a physical place hasn’t died; in fact, it’s growing. Our patrons can (and do) connect with our library virtually in a whole number of ways, yet we find that foot traffic at the library is only increasing.

What I love about these beautiful libraries is that they remind us of all of the great things that libraries represent in our cultural history, or they illustrate all the possibilities that libraries represent for our future. They are spaces for dreaming and learning, and I think these amazing buildings  honor the idea of libraries and all they represent.

There is a short (3 min.) video online that is fun viewing if you’re into library design. It’s a clip from a BBC architecture show called Dreamspaces, and it highlights innovative new public library buildings in France and England. Take a look!

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Thanks to all our loyal readers. We’ve had a lot of fun doing this blog the past year, and look forward to more in the future. We hope you’ve found it useful, and we’ve enjoyed interacting with you here.

Just for fun, here are the 3 most popular posts from the past year (excluding event-specific ones):

1. Top ten books checked out from January to June
2. 42% of the top 100 novels of the 20th Century have been banned or challenged
3. Staff picks bookmarks

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Frustration! by basykes, on Flickr

Why does the library have only one copy of (insert super-popular book title here)?!?

This is a very common question/complaint we get from you, our library users.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. You hear about a new book, say Game Change, by John Heilemann. You search the library’s catalog, and see that apparently we only have only one (1!) copy of the book, when there are fifty-two (52!) holds on it. ARGH!

But don’t fear, library users.  We are more on top of things than our online system shows. Though the public view of the system only shows one copy of that book, we actually have ten additional copies on order.

We run regular reports to find out which titles need additional copies ordered to maintain our holds-to-copies ratio for books. We order additional copies as needed, and when these books arrive, they are prioritized for getting processed and added to the system, filling all those hold requests (in order).

Unfortunately, our online system does not display the additional copies on order, so it can look quite discouraging if you’re number 52 in the holds queue for Game Change.

I hope this helps explain a little bit about what we do here and reassures all of you readers on hold for those books with huge hold queues.

If you ever want to give us feedback about something here at the library, just contact us.

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian