Monday, February 26, 2007

Schools are closed, but we're not!

Area schools, including Hawkeye Community College, are closed today. The Waterloo Public Library, however, is open for business as usual.

The phones are ringing off the hook and students on snow-holiday are queuing up for time on our Public Access Computers. Morning has been busy and we'll probably have an even bigger crowd after lunch.

We'll be open until 9:00 p.m. this evening and barring on any new weather developments will reopen Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

Sunday, February 25, 2007

We'll be Open!

The Waterloo Public Library will be open today from 1:00-5:00 p.m. Thanks to the hard work of the City of Waterloo Streets Department!

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

Saturday, February 24, 2007

WPL Closed for Blizzard!

What a mess. We've had freezing rain, sleet, and snow since Friday afternoon and as I write this (Saturday evening) NOAA has issued a Blizzard Warning through 6:00 p.m. Sunday. The WPL employees who made it to work this morning were told to go home after intermittent power outages made work impractical.

Travel on all major highways in Black Hawk County is discouraged due to ice, high winds, and downed power lines. News media report that large portions of north Waterloo are without electricity.

The big question now is, "will the Waterloo Public Library open Sunday at 1:00 p.m.?" Maybe. Maybe not. The director will be evaluating road conditions Sunday morning. As soon as I hear her decision, I'll post it here.

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Test the Speed of your Internet Connection

Are there times when your Internet experience seems a bit slow? Do you wonder if the problem is caused by a poor connection? Or maybe a balky computer?

One way to tell what's going on (or not going on!) is to visit http://www.speedtest.com/ and find out just how good your connection is. Speedtest will check both upload and download bandwidth which are then displayed in both analog and digital formats. Download speeds at the WPL often approach 10,000 kb/second, while uploads are usually somewhat less. During busy times of the day, speeds will decline somewhat.

The upshot? If your connection seems slow, run speedtest. If you see more than 2,000 kb/s in bandwidth, maybe the site with which you're trying to connect is having problems.


c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

Friday, February 16, 2007

WPL backs the Panthers!

Waterloo Public Library Youth librarian and ILL specialist Kay S. shows her support for the University of Northern Iowa Panthers!

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Lost in the Stacks

A recent addition to the Waterloo Public Library blog collection is Lost in the Stacks. For several weeks now, library staff and patrons have been blogging reviews of items held by the library. This blog has become one of my favorites; I hope that you'll enjoy it too.

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

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