The ALA Emerging Leaders (EL) program is a leadership development program which enables newer library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. It puts participants on the fast track to ALA committee volunteerism as well as other professional library-related organizations. The EL program kicks off with a daylong session during the ALA Midwinter Meeting. Afterward, it grows and develops in an online learning and networking environment for six months. The program culminates with a poster session presentation to display the results of the project planning work of each group at the ALA Annual Conference. LITA will sponsor 2 Emerging Leaders this year. LITA will contribute $1000 towards expenses ($500 for each conference). The LITA sponsored EL’s will also be paired with the LITA Vice…
Month: July 2009
Casting a Wide Net: Using Screencasts to Reach and Teach Library Users
Speakers: Stephanie Rosenblatt, Eric Frierson, Carmen Kazakoff ,Mick Jacobsen Moderated by: Anne Houston Date time place: Saturday July 11, 2009 from 10:30am – 12:00pm at McCormick Place South, S105 a-d Sponsor: Reference User Services Association, Machine Assisted Reference Section (RUSA MARS)
BIGWIG Social Software Showcase 2009
The Social Software Showcase, presented by LITA’s BIGWIG, is a chance to learn about several different areas of software in a quick, efficient way. The way it works is that the content for the showcase is voted on beforehand, and presentations are created for that content. The presentations are made available online on the Social Software Showcase page. The presenters and their topics are briefly introduced at the beginning of the showcase, then the attendees are given the opportunity to visit each of the presenters to discuss their topic for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the attendees rotate and move on to the next topic. This provides the opportunity for attendees to visit each of the presenters or, as in my case, attend as many presentations as fit into their available time. The four which I attended were mobile websites and applications, information mashups with government information, cloud computing, and…
Ultimate Debate 2009
Sorry this is a little late, but there was some cleaning to be done on the blog before I could get it up. This is the audio capture from the Ultimate Debate 2009, from ALA Annual in Chicago. Great discussion, good questions, and an awesome program put on by IRSIG this year (and, frankly, every year).
Identifying libraries
Our ever-alert ALA Representative to NISO, Cindy Hepfer, has informed us that ISO/FDIS 15511, International Standard identifier for libraries and related organizations (ISIL) is now available for ballot. From the ballot text; “An ISIL identifies an organization, i.e. a library, an archive, a museum or a related organization, or one of its subordinate units, which is responsible for an action or service in an informational environment (e.g. creation of machine-readable information), throughout its life. It can be used to identify the originator or holder of a resource (e.g. library material or collection in an archive). It is intended to have a minimum impact on already existing systems.” As usual, ALA is not voting on the standard itself but rather is providing feedback to NISO as to whether to approve or disapprove the standard. NISO will review and consider this feedback prior to submitting the US vote. Permission is granted by…
Summer Reading Online
This ALA 2009 session started with Carole D. Fiore, the moderator, showing the efficacy of Summer Reading programs. Most telling was slide #8: SRPs play a vital role in communities, providing literacy achievement while school is not in session. It is not surprising, then, that 95.2% of public libraries have some form of Summer Reading. You can find the slides, handout, and follow-up Q&A at the ALA Presentations page. All of the panelists touched on some common themes: Tracking – Electronic data is easier to manage and parse for usage statistics. Even if registration or logging isn’t in the cards, a small database or even spreadsheet is a big help for keeping staff administrative tasks organized. Well-structured data is a great way to glean statistics for LSTA justifications and the like Apprehension– whether it be staff with doubts about difficulty and usefulness, or a perception that patrons would not buy…
Has Library 2.0 Fulfilled its Promise?
Title of conference program: The Ultimate Debate: Has Library 2.0 Fulfilled its Promise? Speakers: Meredith Farkas, Cindi Trainor, David Lee King, Michael Porter; moderated by Roy Tennant. Monday July 13, 2009; 1:30 – 3 pm; McCormick Place West, W-181 Sponsor: Internet Resources and Services Interest Group (IRSIG) This program was presented as a debate, with Roy posing questions for the panel. The room for this presentation was huge, and the room was packed with librarians! We were seated shoulder to shoulder, with nary an open chair in the room. Roy’s first question was “What does Library 2.0 mean to you?” Here are the panelists’ responses: Cindi: it’s not only a set of tools, but also a philosophy helps create space that welcome participation by users Michael: it’s what libraries do to fulfill our roles as community and information anchors it’s a plethora of tools that can help libraries become more…
ALA Session – Resuscitating the Catalog: Next-Generation Strategies for Keeping the Catalog Relevant
This session was sponsored by ALCTS Collection Management and Development Section (CMDS), RUSA : RSS Catalog Use Committee and LITA Next Gen Catalog Interest Group. Program Description: In today’s complex information environment, users have come to expect evaluative information and interactive capabilities when searching for information resources. A panel of experts will address various aspects of providing links to external information in library catalogs, implementing user-contributed functionality, and using computational data to support bibliographic control.
Content Management Systems in Libraries: Opportunities and Lessons Learned
Jonathan Blackburn, Eli Neiburger, Karen Coombs (absent due to illness) Jonathan Blackburn was formerly employed as the “web guy” at Florida State University (FSU). He currently is the Product Analyst at OCLC. Blackburn explained why a content management system (CMS) would be useful to create library websites: They’re good for collaboration and efficiency, though they can result in an incoherent representation due to collaborative work. CMSs matter to libraries because they can leverage library staff and potentially reduce costs. Uses and applications of a CMS include a public-facing website, staff intranet, digital library (asset management), and one-off projects (events, programs). If your library wants to try out a CMS for the first time, events or programs are a great excuse to see if a CMS is the right fit for your organization. CMSs create unique challenges for libraries. They need to allow for different “types” of content (hours, events, databases),…
In Defense of SciFi
The session “Science Fiction and Fantasy: Uncovering the modern world of information through metaphor and imagination” sponsored by Tor and Baen publishers featured Robert Charles Wilson, Ken Scholls, Margaret Weiss, John Brown and Eric Flint. All the authors expressed varying degrees of confusion regarding the topic of discussion, but their talks yielded surprisingly similar insights. Robert Charles Wilson spoke first. He used his latest novel, Julian Comstock, A Story of 22nd Century America, to illustrate his belief in the power of knowledge over ignorance and the idea that information “wants to be free.” He argues science fiction requires participation in the questions of society, culture and technology. Ken Scholls analogized science fiction and fantasy as a tent show performed by the likes of Tom Bombadil, Paul Atreides and Dorothy Gale. He spoke of the power of science fiction and fantasy to transport and transform. Margaret Weiss spoke of the author’s…