It's a New Photocopier!

Photocopying at the Waterloo Public Library made a great leap forward last week with the arrival of a new Ikon copier equipped with an excellent coin box.

The new coin box accepts dollar bills (I can't remember when the last one did so), and the new photocopier has a very easy-to-use duplexor. The copier enlarges, reduces, and is capable of making large format copies.

The price per copy remains the same at 15 cents, but the new machine is much faster and capable of better quality. This improvement is yet another example of the great work done by the WPL Friends!

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

Just For Fun

Enjoy this cartoon by staff member Tim K.!

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

Social Networking: MySpace.com!

Everyone's talking about the social networking phenomenon and www.myspace.com, the fifth most popular site on the Web, virtually defines the term.

Participate in a free Waterloo Public Library workshop over the next few days and you'll be able to hold up your end of the conversation! For more information, visit our website. To reserve a seat, call 291 4496.

c 2007 Waterloo Public Library

On Line Catalog Enhancements

The Waterloo Public Library WebOPACs (library jargon for On Line Catalog) have recently undergone significant hardware and software upgrades. The City of Waterloo recently provided the library with about a dozen surplus computers that are much faster than the old WebOPACs. As library MIS staff swapped out the old hardware for new, we also greatly expanded the resources available.

Traditionally, WebOPACs have only allowed access to materials in the library collection. Access to other Internet resources was limited to avoid having the machines tied up by other uses when a patron wished to lookup a book title. All of the catalog functionality remains, but users may now use the WebOPAC to access other selected online resources.

Examples include our EbscoHost (search and retrieval of full-text periodicals), Reference USA (phone numbers and addresses), Heritage Quest (genealogy), as well as our online newspapers. The WebOPACs also include links to other local and selected major libraries.

Other enhancements are on the way. We expect to add access to printing in the near future and will enable a link to our Virtual Reference service.




c 2007 Waterloo Public Library