The Electronic Newsletter of the Palm Beach County Library System

Contents:
1/ Introduction to Books & Bytes
2/ Jupiter Branch Closed for Expansion
3/ State Library Slated to Close in Governor’s Budget
4/ Useful Web Links Section Highlight – “Florida” Links
5/ Database of the Month – Acxiom InfoBase Telephone Directory
6/ In Next Month's Issue

1/ Introduction to Books & Bytes

Welcome to the February issue of Books & Bytes. Our examination of the library’s newest Electronic Databases has been postponed for one month. This month the Jupiter Branch closed for expansion. We will take a moment to highlight the great library resources that will be available for Jupiter residents during this time. We will also alert you to the potential closing for the Florida State Library. This will be followed by an exploration of the “Florida” category in Useful Web Links. Finally, we will take a look at the Acxiom InfoBase Telephone Directory.

We hope you enjoy receiving Books & Bytes. Please let us know what you think of our publication by writing to: webmaster@pbclibrary.org

2/ Jupiter Branch Closed for Expansion

Expansion of the Jupiter Branch library is proceeding on schedule, and Phase 1 is now complete. The additional space has been added around the outside of the old building; now the inside -- what was the existing branch – must be completely rebuilt. Because of danger to library users and staff, the branch must be closed during this phase, which began on February 3 and will extend through the summer months.

Residents of the Jupiter area have several options for library service while the branch is closed:
- Children are invited to attend story hours at the North County Regional Library in Palm Beach Gardens and at the Jupiter Community Center.
- The North County Regional Library will host the ongoing book discussion series, Family Portraits.
- The Bookmobile is scheduled to be at the Jupiter Town Hall on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with a collection of over 2,000 books for children and adults.
- The Tequesta Branch will welcome residents who live further north.
- Reference services are available at the North County and Tequesta libraries, or through the library’s e-mail reference service, available at http://www.pbclibrary.org/email.htm

The Bookmobile is an excellent library service location for Jupiter residents while the branch is closed. Browse through adult and children's books, fiction and non-fiction, regular and large-print -- baby books to best sellers. The resources of the entire Library System are available to every Bookmobile user. Staff will be happy to help you locate books not on the Bookmobile or find answers to your reference questions.

For more information on story hours or the Family Portraits book discussions, contact the North County Regional Library: for hours of service and telephone numbers for North County and Tequesta, along with our other branches please visit:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/locations.htm

Stay tuned to our web site for more information on the Jupiter expansion during the next six months.

3/ State Library Slated to Close in Governor’s Budget

Governor Bush signaled the dismantling of the State Library when he released his 2003-2004 budget for the state. Under the Governor's plan, the Division of Library and Information Services, currently part of the Florida Department of State, would be eliminated. The Governor's budget and its attendant reorganization must be approved by the Florida Legislature. Ending the State Library will have a strong negative effect on library service across the State of Florida.

For more information on this issue, please look at the following web site put up by the Florida Library Association.
http://www.flalib.org/state_library/state_library.html

A petition to save the State Library can be found at:
http://www.floridahistory.info/petition/

4/ Useful Web Links - Florida

As a regular feature each month, we examine one section of our Useful Web Links. Our web directory is compiled by librarians who apply their knowledge and Internet experience to recommend web sites for each topic.

Do you need information on local nursing homes? Are you trying to track down an elusive Florida Statute? Or perhaps you need information on Florida-based businesses? If so, please check out the “Florida” section of Useful Web Links.
http://www.pbclibrary.org/links-florida.htm

The “Florida” section is divided into three sub-sections: General Sites, Government, and Business.

The General Sites contain the following sites:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/links-floridalinks.htm#geni

Florida Census Data
Census year 2000 data for Florida.

Florida Department of Revenue Tax Forms
Download various tax forms for the State of Florida.

Florida Guide to Nursing Homes
Links to the Nursing Home Watch List which identifies Florida facilities that failed to meet minimum standards.

Florida Information Resource Network
The Florida Information Resource Network (FIRN) is an extensive network which electronically links all of Florida's public education entities to computing resources which serve public education.

Florida Lighthouse Page
Contains information about the history and current condition of Florida's lighthouses including many photos.

Florida State Archives
Search the official state archives, provided by the Bureau of Archives and Records Management. Photographs from Florida's past can also be accessed through this site.

Palm Beach County Property Appraiser
Search the Property Appraiser's Public Access system to find information on real property including current appraisal, taxes, and recent sales.

The Government subsection contains:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/links-floridalinks.htm#flgov

Building Code Standards
The Florida Building Code and the Palm Beach County amendments to the Code (PDF file, requires Adobe Reader).

Criminal Justice Commission
This site includes crime, courts, and corrections statistics for Palm Beach County and links to sites with similar statistics for the state of Florida and the United States. It also links to local, state, and federal agencies of law enforcement, corrections, and the courts.

Florida Codes of Ordinances
Database of Florida city and county codes of ordinances.

Florida Statutes
A fully searchable electronic version of the Statutes.

MyFlorida
The State of Florida’s Internet information portal, MyFlorida.com is a resource tool to locate state government information. It allows users to search through databases and participate in online services available to citizens, businesses, state employees, and visitors of Florida.

Online Sunshine
Official site of the Florida legislature. Access the text of bills. Track a bill's status as it progresses through the legislative process. And check how Senate and House members voted on bills.

State of Florida Telephone Directory
The State of Florida's search tool for staff members, agencies, schools, and more.

The Business section is small, containing:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/links-floridalinks.htm#flbus

Florida Division of Corporations
Search for active and inactive registered corporations.

"Invitations for bid"
Doing business with Palm Beach County: the Purchasing Department's forms can be downloaded from their web site.

To visit these great sites and others, drop by the “Florida” category of Useful Web Links at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/links-florida.htm

5/ Database of the Month – Acxiom InfoBase Telephone Directory

Some of the most valuable information resources that the library offers are our Electronic Databases. These huge collections of information provide high quality information. Each month we will examine a different database in our collection.
http://co-op.pbclibrary.org/patronlinks.html

Acxiom InfoBase Telephone Directory (formerly Pro CD Phone) contains business and residential listings from U.S. telephone directories, searchable by a number of fields. The database contains over 110,000,000 listings from across the country. Acxiom InfoBase Phone Directory lets you find telephone listings by supplying as much information as you have, even if it's incomplete.

Residence Mode lets you search for all listings. In Residence Mode, you can enter a last name, a first name, an address, and a telephone number.

Business Mode lets you search only for commercial listings. In Business Mode, you can enter a company name, an address, a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code or description, and a telephone number.

To search, click on any field in which you want to enter information. In most browsers, you can use the <Tab> key to move down through the fields and <Shift><Tab> to move up. Click on [Submit Search] when you're done. You can use one or more wild cards if you are unsure of a spelling.

In the Street field, where North, East, South, or West precedes a street name, the direction is abbreviated to a single letter (e.g. N Lawndale or S Main), unless North, East, South or West is the street name (e.g. North Ave or West St). Also, avenue, street, and boulevard should be abbreviated to ave, st, blvd (e.g. Main St or Castro Valley Blvd), unless it is part of the actual street name (e.g. Avenue C or Boulevard St).

In the State field, you can enter either an official two-letter postal abbreviation (such as CA) or the full name of the state. In the SIC Code field (Business Mode), you can enter either a four-digit code or one or more words from the official descriptive phrase (for example, Retail Nursery, Lawn, and Garden Supply Stores).

If there is no exact match to what you've entered but there are similar listings, you'll be shown a list of possibilities. For instance, if you search for Penelope Frazitz in Newark, NJ and there are no exact matches, but there are other listings for Frazitz in Newark, Acxiom will show you those.

For certain fields, such as city, if there is more than one possible match, Acxiom will show you a page that lists all the possible matches, from which you can choose one. For the state field, an incorrect entry will produce a listing of possibilities.

If you are looking for a telephone number, check out the Acxiom InfoBase Telephone Directory on our Electronic Resources page:
http://co-op.pbclibrary.org/patronlinks.html

6/ Next Month in Books & Bytes

The library has been busy adding new databases to our growing collection of online resources. We will spend the next issue profiling our latest additions.