SUNLINK will be at FETC 2006 in Orlando on March 23 and 24. We will be in booth #5 in the hallway across from meeting room S230 on the second level. We will have some "SUNLINK and Reading" brochures and SUNLINK "tip cards" (both English and Spanish versions) for you to take or to order later from our eStore. Come by and tell us a good SUNLINK story! We look forward to seeing you there!

From time to time we get questions or comments that indicate some folks think that SUNLINK is a "live" database, meaning that new titles show up online immediately and discarded titles disappear as soon as you send us your deletes. SUNLINK is not a live database. We completely re-master the database once a year (released in August) and then do a mid-year update in January.

The August re-master includes the replacement of school holdings by district union transfers, recent retrospective conversions, and records from vendors who transfer purchase records as a courtesy for schools that are not in districts with unions.

The January update includes recent retrospective conversions and new records from vendors, but not replacement records from district unions.

Both the re-mastering and update also add additional cataloged web sites and new book jacket covers. During either the re-mastered or update, you may see new and improved features such as the addition of Florida Memory images just added January 2006!

The popular "age of collection" statistics and graphs (http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/collection/) are changed only with the August re-mastering. This is due to the cost of obtaining the statistics and the time involved in updating these pages. However, a once-a-year updating of this feature gives a clear "yearly" change record for schools and their districts to track. We hope you are monitoring your collection age on SUNLINK and using this colorful and easy to read graphic data to demonstrate the needs of your collection or its improvement from year to year.

So, the data in SUNLINK changes only twice a year. The rest of the time it remains "static." Unlike a district "live" union, we are dealing with over 2500 schools from 67 districts (18 of which have their own district unions and send us those replacement records every spring). We also accept records from over 60 different book/media vendors. It is a huge job to combine all that data from different sources, but our vendor, Brodart Automation, does a great job in producing a database that consistently works efficiently and looks great.

Thanks to each of you who sent your SUNLINK adds and deletes to us before the January 31, 2006 deadline. Like your own catalog, SUNLINK can only stay up-to-date if you report your adds and deletes accurately. If you're in Alachua, Broward, Clay, Collier, Duval, Hillsborough, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, or Seminole districts, you're doing the maintenance with your district and those records come into SUNLINK yearly, so thank you, too! If you didn't send your records this year, please hold on to them until next year. We do not have the capacity to store those records. Continue to add records for the new titles and those titles that were discarded or lost. Label them clearly and send them to us next fall after we send you the adds and deletes information packet and cover sheets. Your collection in SUNLINK is only as accurate as you keep it.

Remember, the vendor list sent to you in September contains the names of all the book vendors who will automatically send records of your purchases to SUNLINK. Keep this list posted prominently! And watch for a new list at the beginning of each school year.

For more information, including different methods of doing adds and deletes, go to http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/maintenance/, call 1-800-226-0085, or email sunlink@firn.edu.

The SUNLINK eStore (http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/estore/) continues to be THE source for professionally designed and printed materials that you can use to promote reading and SUNLINK to your staff, students, parents, and administrators. Use the handy online order form and we will ship your order to you within days. There is no charge for the materials or the shipping. (Some restrictions on quantities apply to certain items.) The following materials are currently available on the SUNLINK eStore:

• Curious Cat Research Organizers (best for secondary students)
• Diggity Dog Research Organizers (best for elementary students)
• Hands On Bookmarks
• Tip Card (English version)
• Tip Card (Spanish version)
• SUNLINK Supports Success in Reading for All brochures
• ILL Book Sleeves
• ILL Mailing Labels
• 3-ring SUNLINK Binders (limited!)

Congratulations to you if your school now has a partial collection in SUNLINK! You can use SUNLINK to show your students and staff the new titles you have purchased for them! Watch their eyes light up when they see your school library media center on the World Wide Web!

If you do not have your full collection in SUNLINK yet, applications are available to submit online now! (http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/application/) You can submit an application at any time as there are no established deadlines. Once you fill out this very brief application online and click on the "submit" button, you will receive an automated response letting you know the application was received.

A SUNLINK staff member will then get in touch with your district media contact to get her/his approval by email on your application. Once this district approval is received, John Prevosk of the SUNLINK staff will contact you by phone or email to request a sample of your shelflist records. You select a short "run" of records to submit. You can fax or mail your sample records to us. We do this ONLY so we can tell if the individual records have sufficient information for a retrospective conversion. John will stay in touch with you throughout the entire process in order to make sure it's done as painlessly and correctly as humanly possible!

Once your sample records are approved, you and your district media contact will receive an email of acceptance! We will then send you a short checklist (like you fill out for call-number preferences with your book vendors) to complete. Our vendor, Brodart Automation, will then send you a prepaid shipping label and box (or boxes) for you to send your collection shelflist printout or cards (if you are still using cards) for the retrospective conversion.

Fewer that 200 schools statewide still don't have their complete collections in SUNLINK. If you are the library media specialist from one of those "missing 200" schools, we hope you will consider submitting an online application soon.

It's easy. It's free. You will be working one-to-one with John Prevosk, our SUNLINK trainer, to successfully complete your application. It puts your library media records in the SUNLINK state union database where they will be available for your students and staff!