I recently took a look back at Keystone's 2019, but New Year's isn't just about looking back... it's also a time to look ahead. The 2010's are coming to a close, the '20's are moving in, and our library customers are at a turning point in Talking Books service.

So what might be coming over the next decade?

Duplication and Beyond

Ten years from now, I expect that all Talking Books libraries will be duplication- and electronic-only for their circulation. Not only will all libraries have a Scribe or Gutenberg (or perhaps some third option!), but the majority of circulation will probably not go through the mail at all....rather, it will wirelessly download to the new generation of players.

With Duplication Service taking so much of our attention over the last year, and the transition being such a big topic... it's a little strange to look on down the road and remember that this likely won't be the primary mode of circulation for very long! Of course, that very much depends on when the new players come out, and if wireless delivery is the primary mode as we expect. If things do keep moving in that direction, though, the learning curve and work of transitioning to Duplication-only won't be for nought! We have done our best to make sure new development to support Duplication Service will also be able to support wireless delivery. Once we get specs for the new machines, you can be sure we'll get to work quickly on getting new workflows in place while using as much of the already in place "support structure" from duplication as possible.

New & Improved KLASusers

I also think there will be some big changes to KLASusers.com over the next decade. I want it to be easier for you to find, follow, and comment on the types of content you want.

The Talking Books libraries have a wonderful, supportive community, but emails get lost in the shuffle so easily, and conferences only come every so often. We've been seeing an increase in use of the forums, which is fantastic! I hope to see them become a better and better source for answers and community. The Instructional Resource Centers are also making those connections, including starting a series of online roundtable discussions!

We hope to continue facilitating more and more interaction on KLASusers, as well as storing instructional material in various formats and hosting webinars (or whatever other learning and networking opportunities future technology holds in store for us).

KLAS Version ???

We definitely have ideas about the future of KLAS. We want it to be better, faster, and easier to learn... all without losing any of the power and control you expect. We haven't forgotten our plans for a web-based version, which should offer us the above as well as better resizing and the ability to adapt to different displays. But just as this was put on hold to move Duplication to the forefront, we will continue to put our users' needs first in determining development priorities.

A big part of this is our work with KDAC and the rest of the Users' Group committees, but remember that you are also always welcome to post suggestions, requests, and considerations for future development on the forums.

I think the next ten years are going to be incredible--and I can't wait to see what they have in store.

Every year, Keystone's staff get together for a bit of fun one Friday during December. Everyone contributes a dish to our potluck lunch and brings a gift for our White Elephant gift exchange. For this week's blog post, I thought y'all might enjoy a look at some of last Friday's festivities.

We had a wonderful spread of food including all the holiday favorites like sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and more!

This year's potluck included a battle of the soups between John O's Sausage Toretellini soup and my Chicken Taco soup, but in the end, both were declared a winner!

This year James and Colin contributed what might have been "THE BIGGEST APPLE PIE EVER" (TM). In addition to being enormous, it was also super tasty!

It's always fun to try to figure out who brought what present. Be careful, heavy doesn't always mean good. ;)

Happy Holidays from the Keystone staff! One of the greatest joys of this season is getting to say THANK YOU for the opportunity to serve you and to wish you the very best for the New Year!

I don’t know about you, but when I stop and look back at how far we’ve come since January, how my goals and focus have shifted to keep up with your needs and all of our new developments...it’s been a long year!

KLAS Version 7.7

The new version of KLAS is a major update, with some big changes on the back-end, high-volume Duplication on Demand support, and a rapid “Agile” development cycle.

The Beta deployment of 7.7 to North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at the beginning of the year allowed us to track down and fix a ton of issues -- all while getting Gutenberg integration in place and developing the new deployment processes. We were finally able to start bringing more libraries on board in May, and are now working on bringing our IRC/IMCs up on the new system as well.

All but three Keystone-Hosted libraries now have at least a 7.7 Preview database, we’re making steady progress on self-hosted libraries, and we’ve begun work on the Perkins National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (PNDB)’s database as well as our first 7.7 IRCs!

It has been a long road, but we’re now well on our way to a full conversion to 7.7. Development for the new version has been rolling along beautifully all the way up to our current version, 7.7.20.

New Features

There have been too many New Features over the past year to name, but here are some highlights:

• The new installation and upgrade processes reduce or eliminate the need for admin access, IT assistance, and multiple downloads.
• KLAS can now handle the extended UTF8 character set, including more diacritics.
• HTTPS encryption replaces VPNs to keep your data secure while allowing a more streamlined installation.
• eCommerce Integration is now available.
• The Merge Query Function has been added to the Patron and Catalog modules, allowing you to do more with queries than ever.
• The ability to Query on Patron Subscription information is now available in Patron.
• The Apply / Remove Headings to Query Set tool allows you to update Subjects or other Headings on a batch of Titles all at once.
• The Batch Update Patron Medium tool allows you to apply Profile changes to a batch of Patrons.
• You can now print eDocs from the Shipping Wizard.

And that doesn’t include the numerous new features implemented to support Duplication on Demand!

Duplication on Demand

As those who’ve used or are still using the original PCC workflow know: it’s a very hands-on process and unfortunately prone to errors.

The new Duplication workflows, which leverage a dedicated appliance such as a Scribe or Gutenberg, were designed to shift as much of the work as possible from library staff and external programs back to KLAS itself. A complete conversion to Duplication on Demand, rather than just using DoD or PCC as a supplement to traditional circulation, is a huge paradigm shift which necessitated some trial-and-error -- and a whole lot of development.

We found it necessary strike a balance between updating and re-using old processes (like mail card batches and the nightly programs now used to refill Service Queues), completely new programming, and everything in-between.

We are very pleased that we now have four libraries actively using Scribe (with a fifth being brought online this month) and two live on Gutenberg!

The duplication workflows continue to be refined as we receive feedback from our pioneering libraries including the new KLAS screens (such as the Service Queue and Duplication Order tabs), the duplication appliances, and all of the communications in-between that make it all work.

KLAS Users’ Conference 2019 and More!

In early June, the Palm Beach County Talking Books Service and the Friends of the Palm Beach County Library hosted the 2019 KLAS Users' Conference in West Palm Beach, FL. It was a great opportunity to work with some of you in person during a hands-on pre-conference, a variety of Keystone- and user-led sessions, and even a duplication Petting Zoo where we demonstrated the workflows of both the Scribe and Gutenberg.

However, as we head into the off-year between conferences that doesn’t mean there aren’t any opportunities to learn more about KLAS or network with your fellow users. We introduced a variety of other opportunities this year -- from Q&A Webinars to an IRC Symposium. Thanks to all your positive feedback, we’ll be offering even more things like this next year as well!

KLASusers.com Content

Finally, we’ve made a significant effort in the last year to be more proactive in communicating what’s happening at Keystone and with KLAS. We hope you’ve found it beneficial even when we’re racking our brains trying to come up with yet another blog post topic or forum tip. So, if there’s something you’d like to have us cover in a webinar, a blog post, or a discussion forum tip please let us know.

In sum, it has been an amazing (and busy, and sometimes difficult, and ultimately rewarding) year, and I am looking forward to discovering what 2020 will bring.

Our office tree went up yesterday, and this morning Tracey and I decorated it. I love that we have a live tree because it makes the lobby smell wonderful! Here are some pictures of us decorating the tree and some of our other holiday decor. I hope you enjoy and have a lovely Holiday season!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas! (...or at least Christmas decorating.)

 And now that we're done decking the halls, we're off to an annual staff dinner!

I am excited to share a new online effort to bring IRC / IMC users of KLAS together for idea sharing, feedback, and networking. Jen Buzolich (Vice President, KLAS Users' Group) and Cyndi Reimer (Chair, KLAS Development Advisory Committee) will host an online IRC Roundtable in a similar vein as KLAS Users' Conference Birds-of-a-Feather sessions. We invite you and any other staff from your organization that can attend to do so. Below is the info on how to join as well as the agenda the first Online KLAS IRC Roundtable.

KLAS IRC Roundtable

Date: December 11, 2019

Time: 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern / 10:00-11:00 AM Pacific

How to Join:

Platform

WebExMeeting link: https://cde.webex.com/cde/j.php?MTID=md36b8ee4733665d86f257e65a81895ca

Meeting number: 924 810 855

Password: FBkjNPbr

Join by Phone

1-8663901828 Call-in toll-free number (ATT Audio Conference)

1-2167067075 Call-in number (ATT Audio Conference)

Access Code: 631 177 4

Agenda:

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Favorite Features
       a.    Participants will be asked to each share out about one of their favorite features of KLAS and speak to why it is so.
3. Future Planning
       a.    What might IRCs like to see out of these sessions in the future? How often would IRCs like to see virtual meetings such as this?
4. Web Ordering
       a.    California will provide demonstration of how we use this KLAS feature and open up for dialogue.
5. Closure

We hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving and look forward to any and all who can join us on December 11!

Drea and I are in Washington, DC exhibiting at the ASAE TEC 2019 trade show, meeting Association KLASusers and potential users. We'll be back with a regular blog post next week!

Join us next Tuesday for our regularly scheduled Key Notes blog posts.

Our "Stars of Keystone's Staff" series includes some basic info and insight into one of our staff members. We hope these posts will provide you a look into who makes up our diverse, supportive, and knowledgeable staff.

This week's post shares some insider info about a member of our Executive Managment Team. Read on to learn something new about James...

Basic Stats:

Name of Staff Member: James Burts

Year Hired: 1992 (27 years ago) -- Yikes! That’s a long time!!!

Current Job Title: Executive Vice President, Lead dishwasher, Junior Assistant Gopher 2nd Class

Getting to Know You Q&A:

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

A: Being a small company, no day is ever the same as any other day we’ve ever had. There is no routine, boring day of doing the same thing for the 1,000th day in a row. I really like how many different things I get to do here, how many hats I wind up wearing. Also, I really appreciate how what we do really makes a difference to the Patrons that KLAS helps serve. I think that it’s true of all of Keystone’s staff, but knowing that at the end of the day we’re really helping make people’s lives better is a huge draw for me.

Q: What did you do before working for Keystone?

A: I started working for Keystone as a summer job, while I was studying Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. My first tasks were helping write documentation for KLAS v2 and then v3. Over time, my work grew to writing some reports on the side, which turned to joining and eventually leading the software development team, and ultimately led to my current position.

Q: What are your hobbies outside of work?

A: Making stuff, strangely most of my hobbies involve fire or excessive heat. I do glassblowing. I do metalwork. Lately, my son’s been really excited with creating electric vehicles, so we’ve been working on the welding, metal fabrication, and electronics for that. Currently, we’re building our own version of a OneWheel, and have an EV club that he’s involved in where they’re starting to build their second electric go cart.

Q: If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?

A: Probably Bermuda. I’ve done a few trips there, and really love it. The snorkelling is fantastic, and I hope to learn to do some scuba there.

Q: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind and what are their names?

A: We have a dog, a Shiba Inu named Kuma.

This week we wanted to give you the opportunity to learn more about the woman who's usually the first voice you hear when you call our office, knows how to use the copier better than anyone else on staff, and can program the heck out of a barcode scanner. Hopefully, you know who I'm about by now...yup it's Tracey Fye!

Basic Stats:

Name of Staff Member: Tracey Fye

Year Hired: 2002

Current Job Title: Administrative Assistant

Getting to Know You Q&A:

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

A: Talking to customers when they call and hearing about their families, etc.

Q: What did you do before working for Keystone?

A: I did title work at an Infiniti car dealership.

Q: What are your hobbies outside of work?

A: Scrapbooking, taking my dog for walks, and playing with my granddaughter.

Q: If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?

A: Hawaii

Q: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind and what are their names?

A: I have a black lab mix named Deuce. He is 100 pounds and thinks he’s a lap dog. He’s about 11 years old. We just got a kitten named Cleopatra (Cleo). She is only 3 pounds and almost three months old. Her and Deuce have become best friends – they will curl up together and sleep. I also have a goldfish named Peaches. She has managed to kill her tank mates and prefers to be an only fish.

Deuce is wearing a purple harness and laying on the floor.

Cleo is asleep on the couch beside a throw pillow.

Our developers have been very busy lately, implementing Gutenberg, ironing out eCommerce, and gearing up to start converting IRC / IMC customers to version 7.7, among other things.

But amidst all of that, we’re still listening for your feedback—and even relying on it more than ever!

So here are a few notes on how you are helping guide us forward.

1. KDAC (KLAS Development Advisory Committee

KDAC has some new members! A big welcome to Sam Lundberg of New Mexico Talking Book Library and Shawn Lemieux of New York State Talking Book & Braille Library, and thank you so much for lending us some of your time!

So, what goes on in a KDAC meeting? We spend a lot of the timesharing what we’ve been working on that month (making your KDAC representatives a great source of “insider information” about what we’ve been up to), as well as our plans and expectations about what’s coming up next. Through all of that, we’re listening to their feedback and taking notes about what they think of new features, what questions they think need to be addressed, and their suggestions on prioritization.

We also frequently have questions for them: should we pursue Option A or Option B to fix a specific issue? How can we make this or that easier? If we did things this way, would that cause any problems for you?

KDAC has been a big help in steering and refining our development, so I’m especially excited to find out what the new voices will bring to the table this year.

(Want to learn more about KDAC, view a list of all current members, or review the new guidelines? It’s all in the KDAC Article.)

2. Webinars & Other Non-Conference Stuff

I’ve been happy to do several Q&A webinars with the Users’ Group, and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback (thank you all so much!)... but I don’t want mine to be the only voice you hear.

Are there topics you want to hear about, or something you’d like to share? Whether it’s a new initiative at your library, your experiences implementing Duplication on Demand, or a discussion focused on a specific area of KLAS (like Serials or Accounts), we want to hear your topic ideas!

If you’d rather collaborate with another user or a Keystone expert, don’t hesitate to suggest it anyway; we’d be happy to help out or help you find someone who can.

A very easy way to weigh in on all this is to fill out the 2019 KLAS Users' Conference Follow-up Survey! Yes, even if you didn’t attend the 2019 conference!

If you’ve completed the survey and think of something new, or something that didn’t fit in the form, you are also very welcome to email us at Keystone or any of your Users’ Group officers, or you can post about it on the Discussion Forums.

However you go about it, thank you for helping guide us and making KLAS and your Users’ Group better and better!

Keystone is offering a two-day in-depth training, round-table, and user feedback opportunity for KLAS Instructional Resource Center / Instructional Materials Center Users. An agenda with full details of each day's activities will be available soon.

Note: Keystone reserves the right to cancel or reschedule.

Prerequisites for attendance:

• Attendee must have a KLAS Administrator role in their local system
• Attendee has authority to change records and policies for their KLAS system

KLAS IRC Symposium Dates & Times:

• Tuesday, October 29 - Wednesday, October 30, 2019
• Each day's sessions will run from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

KLAS IRC Symposium Agenda

IRC Symposium agenda updated as of October 14, 2019. Also, you must be logged-in to klasusers.com to access these documents.

• KLAS v7 IRC Symposium UPDATED Agenda - MS Word
• KLAS v7 IRC Symposium UPDATED Agenda - PDF

Cost:

• $300 for the two-day symposium
• Please make checks payable to Keystone Systems, Inc

Hotels & Airport Transportation Information:

• Travel Information - MS Word
• Travel Information - PDF

Transportation:

Please contact your hotel to arrange shuttle service to and from the airport.
Local transportation to and from the hotel to Keystone's offices will be provided.

Please contact Tracey Fye if you have any difficulty making reservations, or have any questions about accommodations.

Tracey Fye
Keystone Systems, Inc.
Email:
Phone: 1-919-782-1143 or 1-800-222-9711

Registration:

Please use the below Training Registration Form to indicate that you would like to attend.

To reserve your space please register before September 30, 2019.

Staff of Instructional Resource / Materials Centers using KLAS met on Thursday, October 10 at the American Printing House for the Blind's annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Below is the PowerPoint presentation in both PPTX and PDF formats.

• 2019 APH KLAS Users Meeting - PowerPoint
• 2019 APH KLAS Users Meeting - PDF

We also recorded the screen sharing and audio portion of the meeting.

Whether you’re chomping at the bit or dragging your feet, sooner or later Duplication on Demand service will be coming to all NLS network libraries. As we get deeper into implementation processes at more and more libraries, we want to make sure we’re sharing what we learn with the rest of you, to help things go as smoothly as possible.

A big thing that we hope you’re hearing is that the time to work on your cataloging is now.

As you switch your patrons to Duplication service, they will very suddenly have access to your entire catalog of DB titles. That includes:

• Almost a decade of Retrospective titles, which you may not have done any cataloging for since no copies were ordered or expected.
• Anything and everything from Copy Allotment that you requested only 1 copy of, because it wasn’t a subject your patrons had much interest in.
• All of those titles you returned all of your copies of through the XESS process.

This can and will be a huge benefit to your patrons, as they will be able to receive their requests and reserves faster than ever, read series in order, and have access to all the classics and old favorites they may have had trouble getting before.

It can also have its pitfalls, especially if your catalog hasn’t been kept up. But don’t panic! You still have time to fix things.

Take a look at your catalog, and come up with a plan. If you have questions or need help strategizing, we’re here to help!

Some things to check on or try out:

• No Nightly Autoselect

Is this subject set up in your catalog and applied to titles that you don’t want circulating except on request?

• No Local Subjects

Make sure your back catalog can circulate (or be excluded!) appropriately. Run a “PDQ – Missing MARC Tags” to find titles with few or no 690s.

• Missing Exclusion Subjects

The Merge Queries feature in version 7.7 enables you to query for information that isn’t on a record, and this is a good time to use it! Run a query for books with “Strong Language” in the annotation, and select any result to get the search into your “recent queries list. Then, run a query for books with your strong language subject code or codes (likely SL). Use merge queries to subtract the second search from the first, and you’ve got a handy list of books that need their exclusion added! (Then, you can do the same for violence and sexual content.)

• Batch Add/Remove Headings

This version 7.7 feature will help you apply exclusion headings from the Rating Unrated Books project, or add new Local Subjects to appropriate titles quickly and easily.

• Series Info

As you add new books to those long, sprawling series... take that as a reminder to do a book search for the series and see if those older titles are cataloged as part of the series, or if its missing some of its lower numbers. Also take a look at the Link Titles screen: titles listed there will count as HasHads for the listed title.

• High Demand Requests

The “HD Titles – Requests” report can help you find titles with many outstanding requests. The listed titles (especially those with a high requests-to-copies ratio) are likely to see a big spike in circulation; make sure the cataloging is good so they can keep going even to patrons who didn’t think to ask for them.

• Outdated Requests

Do your patrons remember what they requested 3 years ago? 10 years ago? Think about how far back you want to serve request lists, and let us know if you want to clear out some of those ancient requests.

Next week, members of the Keystone Staff will attend the 2019 American Printing House for the Blind Annual Meeting. In support of our Instructional Resource Center / Instructional Materials Center KLAS users, we will host a KLAS Users' Group meeting at 8:00 AM Eastern on Thursday, October 10 in the Hialeah Room of the Hyatt Regency Louisville.

If you are an IRC / IMC KLAS user and plan to attend APH, we hope you will plan to join us for info about recent KLAS updates, an opportunity to meet with Keystone staff and fellow IRC KLAS users, and a chance to provide your feedback and thoughts on possible future development of KLAS. We are also excited to announce that if you are unable to be in Louisville, we are offering the option for you to join us live online via join.me, our online meeting platform.

We are offering the audio, PowerPoint, and KLAS demo online via join.me for KLAS IRC Users who cannot be at APH. Please email me (andreaATklasDOTcom) if you want me to send a personal invite with all the meeting access info and a calendar reminder. We also plan to record the meeting for later posting on klasusers.com.

To attend the online version of the 2019 APH KLAS Users' Meeting at Thursday, October 10, 2019, 8:00 AM Eastern Time (US & Canada), please use the following: join.me/622-044-032

To access the audio portion of the meeting by phone dial one of the following numbers and enter Conference ID: 622-044-032 # when requested:

• Boston, MA - +1.857.444.6500
• Camden, DE - +1.302.202.5900
• Denver, CO - +1.720.650.5050
• Los Angeles, CA - +1.213.226.1066
• New York, NY - +1.646.307.1990
• Salt Lake City, UT - +1.801.448.0006
• San Francisco, CA - +1.415.594.5500
• Seattle, WA - +1.206.636.0011
• Tampa, FL - +1.813.769.0500
• Washington, DC - +1.202.602.1295

Our meeting agenda currently includes:

• Welcome & Introductions
• Update on Keystone over the past year including news, new projects & customers, etc.
• Demonstration of new features in KLAS
• Q&A - open discussion of what you need / want from KLAS

We value your input and want to hear from you. Your shared experience helps guide future development of KLAS (especially for IRCs / IMCs). If there is anything, in particular, you want to ask about or to have us discuss, please let us know.

Also, we are offering four, hour-long one-on-one consultation meetings at APH on Thursday starting at 1:00 PM. To sign up for one of these time slots, please contact me and let me know your preferred time (Ex: 1:00-2:00 PM). Each meeting will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Finally, please invite anyone you feel may be interested - whether they are familiar with KLAS or not. We look forward to meeting with you!

We're dedicated to supporting each type of organization that uses KLAS. Here are a few examples of our ongoing efforts to connect with and serve our IRC / IMC users:

• Keystone staff attends the American Printing House for the Blind Annual Meeting where we host the IRC KLAS Users' Meeting.
• The KLAS Users' Conference Program committee makes it a priority to seek out / provide KLAS content that appeals our talking book library, resource center, and association users as well as content specific to each.
• In late October, Keystone is hosting an IRC Symposium at our office in Raleigh.

I wanted to take a few minutes today to highlight two upcoming IRC / IMC KLAS user events.

KLAS IRC / IMC Users' at 2019 APH Annual Meeting

On October 10th, Nancy and I will host the KLAS IRC / IMC Users' Meeting at the 2019 APH Annual Meeting. We invite you to join us at 8 AM in the Hialeah Room of the Hyatt to hear the latest updates about Keystone and KLAS, see new features being demonstrated, and provide us feedback about possible future development. Please let us know if you plan to attend before September 30, so we can have enough breakfast and (most importantly) coffee available.

Current meeting agenda includes:

• Welcome & Introductions
• Update on Keystone over the past year - news, new projects & customers, etc.
• Demonstration of new features in KLAS
• Question & Answer session - open discussion of what you need / want from KLAS

If there is anything in particular you want to ask about or to have us cover, please let us know! Your shared experience helps guide future development of KLAS (especially for IRCs / IMCs), and we value your input.

We will also offer four one-hour one-on-one consultation meetings on Thursday, starting at 1:00 PM. To sign up for one of these time slots, please contact me and let me know your preferred time (Ex: 1:00-2:00 PM). Meetings will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

IRC Symposium

Want an opportunity for even more in-depth training, round-table discussions, user feedback opportunities, and networking with Keystone staff and other IRC / IMC staff? Then make plans to attend the two-day KLAS IRC Symposium on October 29-30 at our office in Raleigh, NC.

We ask that all attendees have a KLAS Administrator role in their local system and authority to change records and policies for their KLAS system.

Interested? 

Here's the planned agenda:

We're offering this specially focused training workshop for $300 / attendee. Check out the "KLAS IRC Symposium" article for further details including travel and accommodations and the link to register.

I sincerely hope to see you at one or both of these events.

An updated version of the KLAS User Group bylaws was presented to the KLAS Users' Group on at the annual business meeting on June 6, 2019. The members of the Users' Group then proceeded to vote online to accept the bylaws with all suggested revisions effective July 1, 2019.

At 8:30 AM on Saturday, June 22 the Association of Specialized Government and Cooperative Libraries held their annual Achievement Awards Breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Washington as part of the American Library Association Annual Conference. Keystone is a proud sponsor of the breakfast and the ASGCLA / KLAS / NOD (National Organization on Disability) Award. This year two members of the KLAS Users' Community were honored at the breakfast, and I was excited to be there to see them recognized for their hard work to promote accessible libraries and inclusive library services.

Kim Charlson, Executive Director, Perkins Library, received the 2019 Francis Joseph Campbell Award citation and medal for "her strong commitment to inclusion and empowerment, her tireless efforts on the passage of the Marrakesh Treaty for the Visually Impaired, and her life-long passion for bringing the joy of reading to all."

• ASGCLA 2019 Francis Joseph Campbell Award Press Release

South Carolina State Library Talking Book Services received the 2019 ASGCLA / KLAS / NOD Award for its Assistive Technology Petting Zoo. "The Zoo was developed as a new outreach initiative in 2015 to raise awareness for Assistive Technology and its ability to make public libraries more accessible and inclusive. ... One of the most significant contributions the Zoo has made has been allowing South Carolina’s public librarians hands-on experience with Assistive Technology, creating a desire for the library to offer these tools on a daily basis."

• 2019 ASGCLA / KLAS / NOD Award Press Release

Below are a few photos I took during Saturday morning's Award Breakfast. You can see all of them in an album on Keystone's Facebook Page.

Kim Charlson poses for photos with 2 ASGCLA representatives after being recognized as the 2019 Francis Joseph Campbell Award Winner.

Kim shows off the citation she received as the 2019 Francis Joseph Campbell Award Recipient.

 Members of the South Carolina State Library staff gather around a table before the ASGCLA Awards Breakfast begins.

 ASGCLA representatives and South Carolina State Library staff pose with me for a photo after being presented with the 2019 ASGCLA / KLAS / NOD Award.

The certificate presented to the South Carolina State Library Talking Books Services as part of the 2019 ASGCLA / KLAS / NOD Award. They also receive $1000 from Keystone Systems as part of their recognition.

You can see the rest of the photos I took in the 2019 ASGCLA Awards Breakfast album on Keystone's Facebook page.

This brand-new feature for KLAS version 7.7 was debuted at the uc2019 pre-conference as part of the hands-on Effective Search Strategies session.

Queries in KLAS make it easy to find records that meet certain criteria. Unfortunately, it can be harder to search by what isn't there. Computer logic is just not very good at that kind of thinking... but now, there is a way to combine two queries in KLAS, allowing you to:

• Combine the lists of records that meet two different sets of criteria (i.e. match X and/or Y)
• Find records that are included in two different query sets (i.e. match X and Y)
• Subtract one Query from another (i.e. match X but do not match Y)

This feature is available in the Patron module in the version 7.7.8 preview databases, and will be available in the Catalog module later this week when the preview databases are updated to build 7.7.9

So... what's this about "subtracting" a query?

Queries have the option to search for fields that “do not equal” a certain value. However, this will only function correctly if that field can only occur once in the record, otherwise, it will find any occurrence where the field does not equal that value.

For example, you can query for Patrons whose “Main Status does not equal Active,” because patron records can only have one Main Status. On the other hand, if you query for “Patron Medium does not equal DB,” it will return all records that have another medium in addition to DB, because that medium does not equal DB. Furthermore, it will not return records without any Patron Mediums, because there is nothing for it to compare to the search value.

This is a matter of computer logic not working quite like human logic. To get the computer to understand what you’re looking for, break it down a little further to “find Active Patrons, then subtract all patrons with an Active DB Medium.”

Other times you may wish to use this tool include:

• Checking for Patron records with an Active Cassette medium but no Active DB medium.
• Checking for Catalog records by a certain narrator that do not have the “Foreign Accent” subject heading.

Ready to learn more?

Download this How-to document for step-by-step instructions, more information, and more examples. As always, if you have questions or need additional help, just let us know.

(And remember, this feature is available in version 7.7 only, so if you have not yet requested a preview database, be sure to get in touch! If you have requested a preview, you should be receiving a welcome packet and activation key shortly--we are quickly moving through the list of requests.)

• HowTo MergeQueries - docx
• HowTo MergeQueries - pdf

Last week the Palm Beach County Talking Books Service and the Friends of the Palm Beach County Library hosted the 2019 KLAS Users' Conference in West Palm Beach, FL. Attendees were offered hands-on training during the one-day pre-conference and then participated in three days of general and breakout sessions including workshops, seminars, and informal birds-of-a-feather discussions. Opportunities for networking with Keystone staff and other KLAS library staff beyond the official conference sessions occurred during breaks, lunches, the Welcome Reception, and our Thursday afternoon excursion to the Morkiami Japanese Gardens and Museum. Here are some of our favorite photos from the conference. To see more, you can check out our 2019 KLAS Users' Conference Photo Album on Keystone's Facebook page. If you want to share your own conference photos, feel free to upload them to this album on Keystone's Google Drive.

Below is the welcome slide we used throughout the conference. Drea took this photo from the second-floor balcony of the hotel on Sunday before the conference started--the rainbow seemed like a very lucky way to start the conference!

Keynote Speaker Carmencita Mitchell talks about the Waves of Change in inclusive library service.

Katy shares Tips & Tricks for Readers Advisors during a workshop on Tuesday.

Attendees loved the view from the balcony of the Lake Worth Casino during Tuesday evening's Welcome Reception.

We offered a choice of a seafood or a vegetarian paella option for attendees of Tuesday evening's Welcome Reception.

The cooks add shrimp to the paella just before it is served.

Drea and Chandra enjoying the Welcome Reception.

Nancy and Mitake answer the accumulated "Parking Lot Questions" attendees posted throughout the conference.

James and Chandra got the same wardrobe memo on Thursday. Like minds and such...

Excited attendees waiting on the Molley Trolley to head to the Morikami Japanese Gardens & Museum for an afternoon of networking with Keystone staff and other KLAS Users.

To see more, you can check out our 2019 KLAS Users' Conference Photo Album on Keystone's Facebook page. If you want to share your own conference photos, feel free to upload them to this album on Keystone's Google Drive.

Thank you for to all our attendees, speakers, and local hosts, and we look forward to seeing more photos and sharing more info from last week's conference in the near future.

We've uploaded all presentations for the 2019 KLAS Users' Conference submitted to date to a folder on Keystone's Google Drive and are working to link them into the conference app.

Also, we will be adding a link for each presentation below listed by day:

Monday Pre-Conference

• KLAS Scavenger Hunt IRC Version
• KLAS Scavenger Hunt TBL Version
• Effective Search Strategies in KLAS IRC Version
• Effective Search Strategies in KLAS TBL Version

Tuesday

General Sessions

• Roll Call / Ice Breaker
• 2019 Julie Klauber Award
• Keynote Address
• Keystone Highlights for the Past Year
• KLAS New Features
• Accessible Accessibility: Providing Access to More using Outside Sources
• Recording of Keystone Highlights and New Features Presentations - MP4

Breakout Sessions

• KLAS Administrators
• Interpreting KLAS Error Messages
• Tips & Tricks for Reader Advisors
• Handling Foreign Language Materials
• KLAS New Features

Wednesday

General Sessions

• NLS Report
• Responding to Changing Service Models
• Duplication on Demand: Better, Faster, Stronger, More!
  • Notes from the Scribe
• Online APH Census Registration
• IRC / IMC Roundtable

Breakout Sessions

• IRCs & TBLs: Brainstorming Ways to Partner
• Writing Accessible Instructions
• Making Friends with KLAS Statistics
• Training Your Support Staff
• KLAS New Features

Seminar Sessions

• Hits & Misses: A Look at Programming for those with Disabilities
• Duplication on Demand Petting Zoo
• Reporting on Reports
• Talking Book Service Ambassadors: Benefits, Challenges & Examples
• Curating Your KLAS Catalogue

Thursday

General Sessions

• KLAS Users' Group Business Meeting
• Connecting with KLASusers
• Keystone Staff Answers Your Parking Lot Questions

Breakout Sessions

• Circulation Birds of a Feather
• The Volunteer Experience: How to Grow and Retain your Auxiliary Staff
• Excel at KLAS: What can you do with KLAS & Excel?

Reference Documents

KLAS Users Directory
KLAS v7 System Recommendations
KLAS Windows Server Requirements
KLAS Linux Server Requirements

Note: These documents are subject to change prior to the conference and you must be logged-in to klasusers.com to access them.

2019 KLAS Users' Conference Overview Schedule

DOCUMENTS LAST UPDATED: May 28, 2019

Here's the latest overview schedule document for the 2019 KLAS Users' Conference in MS Word and PDF formats now including all general and breakout sessions as well as pre-conference sessions!

• KLAS UC 2019 Overview Schedule 05-28-2019 - MS Word
• KLAS UC 2019 Overview Schedule 05-28-2019 - PDF

2019 KLAS Users' Conference Agenda

DOCUMENTS LAST UPDATED: May 30, 2019

The conference agenda includes all pre-conference sessions and all general and breakout conference sessions as well as session descriptions, presenters, and locations. It is available in MS Word and PDF format.

• KLAS UC 2019 Agenda 05-30-2019 - MS Word
• KLAS UC 2019 Agenda 05-30-2019 - PDF

The Julie Klauber Award Committee and Keystone Systems are pleased to announce Brenda Boyd, Reader Advisor, South Carolina State Library Talking Book Services, is the recipient of the 2019 Julie Klauber Award. It was an incredibly difficult decision, but we were thrilled to have had three wonderful finalists from which to choose. We look forward to honoring Brenda on June 4 during the Opening General Session of the 2019 KLAS Users' Conference in West Palm Beach, FL.

This the nomination for Brenda submitted by Denise Lyons, Deputy Director of Statewide Development, South Carolina State Library:

Reason for Nomination

One of the most significant events that the State Library holds each year is the TBS Student Art Gallery and awards which is completely organized by Brenda Boyd. Children with different and special abilities, including a large number from the SC School for the Deaf & Blind, create pieces of art which are judged based on different age categories. All staff and people coming to the State Library are eligible to vote. The Director also selects a piece of art as a special recognition. It takes numerous months to plan such an event. There are the logistics of working with the art teachers well in advance of the contest and all the promotion needed to have the numerous selections. They need to be brought to the State Library for voting. After a month of voting, the winners are named in a press release and Brenda arranges the art on the first floor at the State Library, gallery style so that all may enjoy the art. All winners, families, and teachers are invited to the Awards Ceremony along with the TBS Advisory Board, patrons, and supporters. The awards are followed by a reception on the main floor. Staff help Brenda to implement a lovely and touching ceremony with the Agency Director as emcee and a guest speaker from the arts community. All participants receive some recognition. You can see albums of the last two awards here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/scsl/albums/72157679200574414 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/scsl/albums/72157692620252332. Staff attends the event and listens to guests talk about the importance of art for those with vision loss in particular and what inspires the young artists. Brenda coordinates the contest and the award ceremony each year and has done for several years. It is a program that has been copied by other State Library Talking Books Services. Brenda is a very strong advocate for the program and does tremendous work behind the scenes so that on the day of the event, everything looks lovely and runs smoothly. Art is celebrated and the artists and their supporters are recognized. The event is personal and heartwarming, and this spirit, the spirit of Julie Klauber, is in Brenda Boyd.

Effect on Library

Brenda’s ability to provide excellent service means that she takes as many calls a day as possible. The Readers Advisors take thousands of calls per month and there are only five RAs on staff. She provides regular and consistent information provided in a kind way to connect with the patron. We receive numerous recommendations from families who lose loved ones that used the service and from patrons themselves. Some comments from recent appreciation letters include “My grandmother is 93 years old and these books on tape are her LIFE,” wrote one patron while another expressed: “Thank you for sending me your Talking Books. They mean the world to me.” Finally, one gentleman in the southern part of the state wrote about his mother who passed, and he said “I want you to know how valuable this service is to those who cannot see.” Even one of our Library Board members recently wrote, “I can’t thank everyone for giving (name) her only pleasure these last several months. She lived with anticipation of the blue boxes in her mailbox. We are HUGE champions for this service.” Patrons sent donations to TBS based on appreciation for Brenda’s service, including one patron who stated they will set up a memorial in their will. This important service, running a special library within a library, is crucial to the culture of the State Library. We believe in serving the underserved and value inclusivity and accessibility in all we do. In the past few years, the TBS team has created a strong outreach program with accessible kits called the technology petting zoo, of which Brenda helps take into the field. They are working across departments to promote the service with the Communications Team and create an accessibility team with the Diversity and Inclusive Services consultant, part of the Library Development staff. These kind of cross-departmental programs are important for Agency staff to learn about the work of Talking Books and the patrons they serve. It is not only a mandate of ours but one we passionately embrace. For many staff, Brenda’s experience on the TBS team often makes her a great representative from TBS for committees and projects.

Job Responsibilities

Brenda is a Reader Advisor for the Talking Books Services department. Every day she provides assistance on the telephone to patrons to who call for a variety of services provided by the department. The TBS program is a lifeline for many elderly patrons who only have access to the talking book library (which includes digital and cassette recorders, large print, and braille collections) because it comes directly to their home. Others are restricted by health issues and cannot take advantage of traditional library service. Of the more than five thousand of TBS patrons, 226 are children. Being able to have a reliable system to access the information and connect to patrons preferences is an extremely important part of this very personal service. KLAS is most unique in this way and enables Brenda to be able to have reliable technology and a supportive community that assists the work serving our blind and physically handicapped community. Brenda is an active and knowledgeable user of the system, and participates in ongoing continuing education to increase her knowledge of the system and work of the Talking Books service.

Additional Comments

Brenda has been a wonderful asset to this agency, its work, and the work of Talking Books Services. Her dedication is unparalleled. She represents librarianship and its values in the best way, and stands as a model for others in the agency and across all libraries and service organizations. Thank you for your consideration.