I’ve got a New (Fiscal) Year resolution: to construct email subject lines that help people decide to read them or how to file them.

• If a response is required, I’ll start the subject with Response Needed:
• If my subject line is in danger of making people think they don’t need to read further,  I will use the phrase –keep reading at the end or consider crafting a second email instead (example:  No meeting today – keep reading) to indicate that there’ll be no meeting, but I’d still like committee members to do something.
• If I’m sending a report or notes from a meeting, I’ll say so in the subject line, preferably in the first word of it
• Rather than just a noun in the subject line, I’ll put something more revealing, containing a verb; in general, I’ll try to give the reader the idea that reading the subject is not enough, that there is unknown information that the reader will feel compelled to click no.  Ex.: Bring a t-shirt for silkscreening at MOBIUS or New Rules for t-shirts at MOBIUS instead of just t-shirts at MOBIUS

Anyone else have subject line advice to share?

Submitted by Rachel Brekhus

Check out this crossword of library terminology created by Sandy Schiefer:

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2011.05/0915/09154157.038.html

As a bonus, she is offering the first person to finish the crossword a button of “I [heart/love] my library”.

Free Angel Fish! My husband wants to give away his angel fish. Contact Sandy Schiefer if interested at SchieferS@missouri.edu or 884-8123.

Photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2621752&id=15935091&l=c11d33570a

COLUMBIA, MO (March 23, 2011) – City of Columbia TreeKeeper volunteers and Columbia Parks & Recreation will honor Missouri Arbor Day with a tree giveaway on Saturday, April 2. One thousand bare-root seedlings will be given away beginning at 8 a.m. at the parking lot of the ARC, 1701 West Ash.

TreeKeeper volunteers and Parks & Recreation Department forestry staff will be on hand to distribute the seedlings to the public and answer any tree questions. Eight species of trees will be available including flowering dogwood, bald cypress, redbud, northern red oak, pecan, blackhaw viburnum, river birch and blackgum. Members of the public may take two trees of different species.

TreeKeeper volunteers participate in a course on tree identification, planting, pruning and other management topics and are then asked to volunteer on tree projects in Columbia’s city parks and along trails and rights of way. In 2010, 86 TreeKeepers gave 816 hours of service to the city valued at more than $17,000.

The next TreeKeepers class will begin in early 2012. To find out more about the tree giveaway or volunteering with the city of Columbia, call Volunteer Programs at 874-7499 or visit www.GoColumbiaMo.com.

Good Thing LTS  (to the tune of Good King Wenceslas )

Good thing LTS is here, working on my P.C..
Windows Seven’s bugging me; all it does is tease me.
Intermittent wi-ireless, students want to log in
iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, bandwidth they are hogg–in’.

More computers every year, never a dull moment
Library technology’s… in a state of foment
EndNote, MoSpace, online books, audio is streaming
We are happy LTS… isn’t running  scre -ea – ming.

Good thing LTS is here; we’d all like to hug them!
Always full of wit and cheer, even when we bug them.
Just to prove we value the…help they are imparting,
Before we pick up the phone, we will try resta-ar-ting.

Created by Rachel Brekhus

If you have stuff at home you’re trying to give away or sell, post information about it in a comment, and interested parties can contact you by email.  You never know when your “junk” or unwanted items will be another’s treasures.