Slip of the tongue

Yesterday I was showing our new catalog to a lively group of seniors at our Cafe Connections program. The Cafe usually includes a speaker, then there's time for socializing. I started off by demonstrating how to reach the catalog from our web site and gave them the web address, "lpl.org." There was snickering and whispering among the group. I told them good-naturedly that if someone was telling jokes they needed to share them with everyone. A woman piped up, "It sounded like you said orgy!" That brought a bigger laugh from everyone, including me. I told them that I'd never thought of that before, but from now on I'd always be reminded of it.

A Look at the New Catalog

Our new catalog has lots of innovative features that let us provide many new services. To learn more, please come to one of my presentations. I'll give you a tour of the easy-to-use search tools, lists of new items, enriched content, RSS feeds and much more. The presentations are scheduled for Nov. 7, from 2:00 - 3:00 and December 5 from 7:00 - 8:00. Please register by using the Events Calendar on our web site.

Our new catalog is up and running!

It's been two weeks since my last post because we've been crazy busy getting ready for our shiny new integrated library system, Polaris. It went live yesterday and is running very well. It changes the way we do everything here, so there's been a lot of training and practice sessions. We're all wearing "Please be patient" tags and our patrons have been very understanding. If you'd like to have a look, go to our web site and click "Catalog, Holds and Renewals." Follow the link to the Onondaga County Public Library System Catalog. It offers lots of new features and services. I'll be blogging about these in the future.

So, back to the tech stuff:

First, there's a nasty new piece of malware called "Safewebnavigate." It'll cause lots of popups and install red wallpaper on your computer. Getting rid of Safewebnavigate is not easy, but Geeks to Go have posted a fix and instructions on their site. (The fix only works with Windows XP or 2000.)

Second, time to update your Adobe Reader software. There's a malicious PDF document on the Internet that exploits security flaws in Adobe Reader. The company has posted a fix. You can get it by going to Reader's Help menu and selecting "Check for Updates."

That is all. As you were.

Daveman Speaks

Last week I interviewed Kendall Phillips, a professor from Syracuse University who presents a series of horror films here at the library. Titled "Culture, Controversy & Horror Films," the series is beginning another session this month.

Each program in this series includes the viewing of a film followed by a discussion of the cultural climate and reaction to the film at the time of its making.

The interview is available as a streaming podcast on the library's web site. Just click the Listen Now link. It runs about 17 minutes.