Since WALS is preparing to move our e-mail system to an Exchange server, Winnefox will soon be recommending Microsoft Outlook 2000 as the new e-mail client, instead of Netscape Communicator or Pine.

Very soon WALS will be training library staff for the switch to Outlook. Those of you who will be attending the All-WALS meeting on October 30 will get an overview of using Outlook for e-mail (along with calendaring and other features.) Then WALS will schedule each library individually to convert to Outlook.

Each library already has a copy of Outlook as part of MS Office 2000, but there are some setting changes that need to be made on each PC before it will work with the new mail system.

While you're waiting for the training to begin, if you'd like a preview of what's to come take a look at the Basic Outlook Manual that WALS-staffer Jody Cleveland has prepared. Note: if you use Netscape and receive an error message after clicking on this link, re-try the URL and when this box pops up, choose "Save It To Disk" and then view in MS Word.

Since this month's Useful URL O' The Month is a frames-based web site, I thought this would be a good time to review how to print the individual frames of a web page.

If you use Netscape 4.5:

1. Click anywhere in the frame you want to print,
2. Then click the Print button.

If you use Internet Explorer 5.x:

1. Right-click the frame you want to print,
2. Click the Print button, then
3. In the print dialog box that opens, you can choose to print only the selected frame, or two other options:
   

Did you write a memo last year, forget what filename you gave it, and need to find it again? Or have you recently visited a Web site you want to return to, but you didn't bookmark it? Luckily Windows 95/NT allows you to locate any file on your computer or any Web site stored in your Web browser's cache.

You can search for a document based on a keyword or text, the document's file name or portion of a file name, or even by date. It can find any incidence of a keyword in a cached Web site, a document, and can even search through your PC's recycle bin. You can search either your entire PC, or any drives or directories that you choose.

Here's how to start looking:

1. Click the Windows Start button
2. Place your mouse pointer over Find
3. Then click Files or Folders
   
   
4. A small window will open and you can enter the text you're searching for in the boxes, and
5. Then click the Find Now button.
6. The default search is for Name & Location on the PC's c:\ drive, but you can click the tab marked Date or Advanced to perform other types of searches (see Windweaver's
Finding Files: Advanced Searching for details.)
7. When Find shows the result of its search, you can click on the files it lists to access them from there.
   

The Historical New York Times Project offers back issues that have been scanned and are now available online (no more fussing with microfilm reels and readers - yeah!) At present they offer 1860-1866 to chronicle The Civil War years, and they're adding more as they proceed with the project. (You can register with the Project, and they will notify you via e-mail as they put additional issues online.)

Once you enter the web site you'll see they've arranged access in a number of ways. You can...

• Access an Overview year by year ("1860: The Rumblings of War"),
• Browse by Topic ("Politics", "Social Issues"), or
• Go directly to Articles of Note like "Lincoln Elected President".

Once you choose a page you're presented with a column of text, and you can read through the newspaper column by column or by use the navigation frame on the left side of the browser window. You can also go backward and forward page-by-page, jump to another column on the page, go to the next issue, or jump to another month or year entirely. You can also click on the magnifying glass icon to zoom in on scanned text.

According to The New York Times, "Readers may not know that Bulgari, the Italian jewelry company, paid Ms. Weldon an undisclosed sum for a prominent place in the book, fittingly entitled The Bulgari Connection." So now that Fay Weldon has made this arrangement, how will other authors respond to the concept of sponsored novels if this experiment takes off? Modern Humorist has the answer at And Now, 12,000 Words From Our Sponsor.

"I always dreamed you'd be my library buddy."
     -- Lisa Simpson
     "The Simpsons" episode #BABF22

is Gobblin' Goblins.

This issue of The Ides was written on October 15, 2001
Copyright 2001, Winnefox Library System

The Ides is written by Joy Schwarz.
Please direct any questions, comments or recipes to schwarz@mail.winnefox.org

URL: http://www.winnefox.org/ides/idesoct01.html