Key Notes Blog

Bringing you weekly posts on conference planning, happenings at Keystone, or how better to put KLAS to work for you!

2020 Disaster Preparedness & Recovery Updates

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 01 September 2020 21:37; Published: Tuesday, 01 September 2020 21:37; Written by Andrea Callicutt

Here in North Carolina we usually think of late summer / early fall as the start of hurricane season. Well, this year is different (as is everything else in 2020) and we've already had a couple of named hurricanes develop, with one hitting Outer Banks in late July. Therefore, we wanted to go ahead and review what we do ensure we can continue to serve your library, your staff, and your patrons after a natural disaster, and share the additional improvements we've made this year to our Disaster Preparedness and Recovery plans. We've spent a significant amount of time building infrastructure, reviewing procedures, and planning for an untimely incident.

In fact, much of what we put into place as part of our disaster preparedness plan is what allowed our staff to begin to work from home in March and continue to do so even today and for the foreseeable future.

"Rest assured that we're well-equipped to keep your data safe and any interruptions to your service at a minimum."

Shuffle the Deck – Feature Preview

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 August 2020 20:34; Published: Wednesday, 26 August 2020 20:34; Written by Katy Patrick

One of the new features in the 7.7.36 update is the ability to Shuffle a Service Queue.

This feature was suggested by Arizona Talking Book Library staff, and I think a lot of you who are have transitioned to a Duplication service model will definitely be interested in it

From the Release List:

A function has been added to shuffle a Patron's Service Queue. This will place all titles currently in the Queue into a new, random sequence order, then rearrange titles that are in an Ordered Series to ensure that they are in order relative to each other.

This update is scheduled to be released at the end of the week, so let’s take a look!

A pair of hands shuffles a deck of playing cards on a wooden table.

COVID-19 Updates

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Thursday, 13 August 2020 18:10; Published: Thursday, 13 August 2020 18:10; Written by Katy Patrick

Previously, we've shared a number of guest blog posts on how COVID-19 is affecting KLAS libraries and resource centers. Since then, there has been plenty of re-opening, re-closing, and re-evaluating as each state and all of their associated agencies work to find the best course of action.

We recently reached out to our original guest bloggers for an update on their situation. Read on to see how things have progressed in Washington, New Mexico, and Kansas.

And if you would like to share how your library / organization is faring, and what policy, service, or other changes you have enacted in response to Covid19, we still welcome submissions from any KLAS user. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you're interested in contributing a post.

Keystone COVID-19 Update

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 18 August 2020 18:17; Published: Tuesday, 18 August 2020 18:02; Written by Andrea Callicutt

Last week we updated you on how our Washington, New Mexico, and Kansas talking book libraries are faring as their staff and patrons continue to face the ongoing challenges of keeping themselves healthy and safe while operating during COVID-19. Today we want to bring you a similar update from Keystone.

Illustration of Coronavirus

A New & Improved klas.com

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 July 2020 19:55; Published: Tuesday, 28 July 2020 19:46; Written by Andrea Callicutt

In March of this year, Katy and I undertook a rather large project that we're now happy to see come to fruition. For the past few years, we've been discussing updating the look and feel of Keystone's website with the goal of creating something more modern, with some additional features, but still maintaining our commitment to providing info on an easy-to-use and easy-to-navigate site. To help us with this endeavor, we chose to work with Alison Meeks of AM Graphix. We're excited to say that as of yesterday, the new and improved klas.com is now live!

Screen Shot of the new klas.com landing page. The top header has links to our social media and contact info. A main menu crosses the top of the page with sections for Products and Services, KLAS and You, About Us, Users' Community, and News and Events. The main graphic shows a woman at a laptop, which has a cloud of icons representing different media types rising from it.

The content we previously provided is still available, but we hope we've enhanced it and made it all easier to find. One of the great new features we added for current KLAS Users is the ability to submit a "Support" request from any page on the site using the "Support" button in the right-hand corner. Also, the whole site is mobile-friendly and responsive to the size of your browser window.

Below are some additional screenshots of the shiny, new klas.com. We invite you to spend some time checking it out!