Author: NEKLS

Categories
Library News

KLOW news, including upgrade to WordPress 3.5 warning

I wanted to send out a few updates on the KLOW service (My Kansas Library on the Web — WordPress).

1. NEKLS is in a transition period between system administrators, as Liz Rea, longtime NEKLS and KLOW systems administrator left NEKLS in late October. Robin Hastings (NEKLS Technology Director) has been doing a great job maintaining the existing KLOW server, but a few more interruptions in service than normal have been occurring. We appreciate your patience as we work through these issues; a new systems administrator will be hired soon.

2. Monday morning’s outage was the result of one of the KLOW servers running out of space. Once Robin migrated that server to a larger one, your sites were working again.

3. However, you may find you can’t upload content to your sites today. As a result, further server maintenance will occur tonight, after 9pm, when your libraries have closed. All KLOW sites will be down while the maintenance takes place. The sites will be back up by tomorrow morning.

4. UPGRADE WARNING: WordPress 3.5 has been released, and many of you may see an upgrade notice on your sites. Some of you may have already upgraded. I strongly ask you to wait on upgrading. The upgrade appears to have broken several plugins that many KLOW sites use, and I am still investigating why this happened. Stay tuned for more information.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Categories
Tutorial

WordPress 3.4.1 has landed — Update now!

WordPress 3.4.1 is out!

Please update your sites

Here’s how (yes, these shots still say 3.0.4, it’s ok, the process is the same):

First, log into your website. Then:

1. Notice the yellow banner at the top of the page  and click the “Please update now” link.

2.  Click the Update Automatically button.

3. Wait while your site is updated and… that’s it!

As always if you have trouble please either send me email, file a help request at our website (http://mykansaslibrary.org), or contact your system KLOW trainer.

For more information about what is in this update, here’s a post with a great run down of what’s new.

Thanks for your prompt attention to this matter!

Categories
Content Ideas

Support for Job Seekers

Looking for a new addition to your library Web site? What about a Jobs and Careers resource page?  For examples, visit Atchison Public Library or Johnson County Library.  You could highlight the State Library of Kansas LearningExpress database, with its resume, cover letter and “Job and Career Accelerator”:

Other resources and library Web sites with Job and Career pages:

Are there other sites you recommend? Share them in the comments!

Categories
Content Ideas

Time to Replace Those Audiobooks, Music and More Links

At midnight, the contract with OverDrive ends and references to Audiobooks, Music and More should be found and replaced with the new Kansas EZ Library page.    We created a simple button for the Burlingame Community Library‘s site using an Image Widget, the hyperlink “http://www.kslib.info/digitalbooks” and this graphic:

You may also consider adding or embedding a OneClick Digital tutorial on your Web site, to help promote this new platform.  Videos can be found on the OneClick Digital Help Page.  Adding a link to the Kansas Library Card to help patrons register for the new service might be a good idea, too.

Categories
Events Library News

User-Friendly Library Website Watch Party

The Northeast Kansas Library System is hosting a watch party on January 25 for the ALA TechSource online workshop, “10 Steps to a User-Friendly Library Website” with presenters Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches-Johnson.  I thought I would share in case any of the other Systems or KLOW libraries were interested in hosting their own Watch parties.  We have limited our NEKLS registration to 20, to allow for some lab time.

January 25, 2011

1:00 – 4:00 PM

Join us at NEKLS for a half day of website rejuvenation! This day will be a hybrid of live on-site work and virtual presentations.

1:00 – 1:30

NEKLS Tech Staff will introduce best practices and will help you set website improvement goals

1:30 – 3:00

Watch the ALA TechSource online workshop, “10 Steps to a User-Friendly Library Website” with presenters Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches-Johnson. A clean, well-designed website can mean the difference between an informed library user and a confused one. With a focus on the needs and wants of the library user, Amanda Etches-Johnson and Aaron Schmidt will help you develop the skills to make your library website easier to use and more interesting. Topics include: Determining the purpose of your website. Identifying your users’ critical tasks. Wrangling content. Writing for the web. How and when to conduct usability tests.

3:00 – 4:00

Optional time in the NEKLS lab, getting input on your website and making changes (bring a laptop if you wish)

Preliminary Reading Material

Please read or view the following materials in advance of the event: