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Spring Spruceup in New Tech at Danbury Library

New technology Center to open this spring

by Allen Mullen

 

IN SPRING 1998, the Danbury Public Library will realize a dream come true for the community of Danbury by opening its new technology center. The center will be a department of the Danbury Public Library and its purpose twofold: to increase community access to electronic information and resources, and to provide technological support to library staff for operations throughout the facility. These resources will both complement and add to the library services that DPL already provides.

Funding for the new technology center was seeded by the CityWorks 2000 bond issue, passed by Danbury voters in September 1996. Mayor Gene Eriquez then asked Library Director Elizabeth McDonough if the library would undertake the development and operation of the center (even as the library was just reopening after it's devastating fire). She said yes, and planning for the center began in earnest in the spring of 1997. Over the next several months, the library held a series of focus group sessions and outreach meetings to assist in planning and developing the new services, and on October 1, after a celebratory groundbreaking ceremony, construction began.

The library plans to offer both new and improved resources. Among these are a new Website design and an electronic library catalog. The Website upgrade was made possible in part by a generous donation from The Savings Bank of Danbury. The conversion of our traditional library catalog to a Web interface will make access to the library's print, audio and video resources easier.

Providing Internet-accessible resources has been a goal for the library, so some databases that were formerly accessed via CD-ROMS have migrated to Web access as well. These include Health Infotrac, a periodical database of articles, abstracts, and citations to medical-related journals, and Duns Online, a database of company information. We have also upgraded some hardware, in particular replacing the dot-matrix printers in our Adult Services area with quiet, color-graphics-capable inkjet printers.

Patrons will discover new resources in all parts of the library. Starting from the basement, two new computer workstations now provide a variety of ESL programs in our AV department, and our program room is now host to satellite downlink facilities, providing library customers with access to programming on C- and KU-band satellites. On the main foor, a new computer workstation provides access to resources and programs to assist job seekers. A new database, Encylopedia Brittanica, is also available, with access via the World Wide Web. In the Junior Library on the second floor, an updated 1998 World Book Encyclopedia and additional word-processing and homework research capabilities with the Student Writing and Research Center program add significantly to the library's ability to assist young students and researchers.

Our new resources will be supported by additional staff and additional classes. Tony Booth and Marvin Little have joined the DPL staff to assist with LTC duties, as have part-timers Chris Salaz, Howard Zang, and Justin Ragsdale. The new staff members will join members of the library's Internet team to increase the number of computer-related classes we can offer the public to ten per month. These will include many hands-on classes.

Arthur, the delightful fictional character created by Marc Tolon Brown, will be on hand to help open the new Danbury Library Technology Center this spring. Library staff are planning a series of programs to highlight services and resources, along with a grand opening day reception. On the day of the opening, we will host programs for children, give demonstrations of the databases and our new Website, and hold a drawing for prizes, among other fun activities. We invite all DACS members, their friends, and their families to join us!

In the groundbreaking ceremony for the Center in October 1997, Betsy McDonough, director of Danbury Public Library, spoke of the connector between the existing library and the new technology facility as symbolic of what DPL offers the community--a connection between traditional and contemporary library services, between those with computer-based knowledge and those seeking it, and between Internet "haves" and "have-nots." Danbury Library can now promise this technology and much more. Come by and see for yourself.


Allen Mullen, the Automation Coordinator for the Danbury Public Library, has spearheaded the planning and development of the Library Technology Center. He is a librarian and has helped develop automation and technology consulting and support for multilibrary systems in Kansas and Indiana.

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