[mou] Birds of NA access fun

[Adele Binning]

Hi Thomas,
Sounds like you had a pretty frustrating time. I don't have a  
Minneapolis Library card either but my experience was much different.  
I simply entered my St. Paul Public Library card into the MPL website  
and promptly got an email that gave me access to the BNA the same day.

This is not to say that you didn't just go through lots of gymnastics  
to get access. I just want others to know that they may not suffer  
the same fate. From St. Paul, it was really easy.

Adele


On May 18, 2006, at 11:01 AM, Thomas Maiello wrote:

> I want to share with you how to gain access to the wonderful Birds  
> of North America Online Database (or at least as far as I have  
> gotten) without suffering the slings and arrows that I have over  
> the last month.  Bottom Line - make sure you go to a Minneapolis  
> Public Library to get the appropriate access numbers.
> I live in Anoka County and was (I am now) not very familiar with  
> how the metro area library system works.  I went to the library in  
> Brooklyn Center to get a library card so I could access the  
> database (Oops - the Brooklyn Center Library is a Hennepin County  
> Library - not a Mpls library!).  They gave me a temporary MELSA  
> card but told me that they couldn't issue me a library card because  
> I live in Anoka County.  They said I could use the temporary card  
> to access the database until I got my card - then I would get a  
> library card number over the internet and then a formal Anoka  
> County Library card in the mail.
> I got home and could not access the database with the MELSA  
> temporary card.  I waited and got the email with my library card  
> number.  I still couldn't access the database.  I waited and got my  
> formal card in the mail.  I still couldn't access the database.  I  
> made many phone calls to Hennepin County and Anoka County libraries  
> and got various degrees of help and suggestions on how to go about  
> gaining access.  None worked.  I finally got hold of a Minneapolis  
> Library.  (A big problem was that I didn't understand that only  
> specific libraries were Mpls and that they did not communicate or  
> link their library card information from any other libraries except  
> Mpls..)
> Bottom line- I now have to go to a Mpls library with picture ID and  
> my Anoka library card to get something so that I can get access to  
> the Birds of North America Online database.  They said it would be  
> only a minute and it would be easy.  I have faith that by day's end  
> I will have access to it.  (I also have faith that I will see a  
> Chestnut-sided Warbler today.)  If you don't hear back from me on  
> this assume one of the following: 1) Everything worked out and I  
> got access; 2) Something happened and I never made it to the  
> library and had to suddenly leave Minnesota; 3) Aliens got me; 4)  
> The food at the vegetarian restaurant I am going to before I go to  
> the library was ill prepared and my constitution too weak to handle  
> it; or 5) All of the above.  Please send your answer on a brand new  
> pair of very expensive binoculars and a new field book to me in  
> care of the Hennepin County Library System.  Answers submitted  
> after 10:50 a.m. on May 18, 2006 will not be accepted.  Winners  
> will get to hear me squeal with joy as I peruse the BofNA database  
> online.
>
> Bottom Line - make sure you go to a Minneapolis Public Library to  
> get the appropriate access numbers to access the Birds of North  
> America Online Database.
>
> Thank you for playing our game and I hope this saves anyone from a  
> similar ordeal.
>
> Thomas Maiello
> Spring Lake Park
> Anoka County Library System participant and hopefully soon to be  
> Mpls library participant
>
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