General information

LITA Updates, December 2014

This is one of our periodic messages sent to all LITA members. This update includes items as follows:

  • 2015 Election Slate
  • January Workshops in Chicago
  • Online Learning Opportunities
  • 2015 LITA Forum Call for Proposals
  • Emerging Leaders
  • LITA Blog Transformation

2015 Election Slate

The Nominating Committee recommended the slate of candidates, and, the Board approved the slate for the spring 2015 election as follows:

President:
Nancy Colyar and Aimee Fifarek.
Directors-at-Large:
Frank Cervone, Martin Kalfatovic, Susan Sharpless Smith, and, Ken Varnum.
The ballot will indicate that you may vote for two Directors-at-Large.

The Board thanks the Nominating Committee: Karen G. Schneider, chair, and, Adriene Lim, Pat Ensor, and, Chris Evjy, members, for their work in developing this slate. The Board thanks each candidate for their dedication to LITA.

Please note the corrected filing date:
Individuals who are not selected by the Nominating Committee may run for office by petition. You may file online Starting at this link, you must log into the ALA site as a member, select LITA for your petition and follow the steps. You may also File a paper petition form with the signatures of ten members of the Division with the Executive Director by the end of the day on January 20, 2015.

January Workshops in Chicago

Three full day workshops are planned for Friday, January 30, 2015:

  1. Developing mobile apps to support field research with Wayne Johnston, University of Guelph Library
  2. Introduction to practical programming with Elizabeth Wickes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and
  3. From Lost to Found: How user testing can improve the user experience of your library website with Kate Lawrence and Deirdre Costello, EBSCO, and, Robert Newell, University of Houston.

Registration is handled through the ALA Midwinter registration process. Please note: you do not have to register for the Midwinter Conference in order to register for one of these workshops. If you are registered for Midwinter, you can simply add a workshop to your registration. Registrations will be accepted on site as well.

Online Learning Opportunities

You still have time to register for two of the three webinars focused on re-drawing the map:

  1. OpenStreetMap: Trust the map that anyone can change with Mita Williams next Tuesday, December 9th. OpenStreetMap is the geospatial foundation of some of the world’s most popular sites including Pinterest, Evernote, and github. Learn how to both contribute to and make use of this “Wikipedia of Maps”. Mita is the User Experience Librarian at Windsor’s Leddy Library, director of Hackforge through the Windsor Public Library, and is lead of Open Data WindsorEssex.
  2. Coding Maps with Leaflet.js, the final re-drawing the map webinar, is scheduled for January 6th. Learn to create your own maps using the Leaflet JavaScript library. Cecily Walker is the local coordinator for Maptime Vancouver, and is interested in the human side of information visualization.

Getting Started with GIS, is a web course that runs from January 12 through February 9, 2015. Eva Dodsworth, University of Waterloo, is offering this popular course modeled on her LITA Guide of the same name. The course provides an introduction to GIS technology and GIS in libraries.

2015 LITA Forum Call for Proposals

The 2015 LITA Forum call for proposals is available. The deadline for submitting a proposal for the LITA Forum Planning Committee’s consideration, is February 28, 2015. The Forum will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota next November 12-15.

Emerging Leaders

Isabell Gonzalez-Smith is the newest LITA sponsored Emerging Leader. Gonzalez-Smith is the Academic Resident Librarian and Visiting Instructor in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Isabell is currently active in the User Experience Interest Group.

Additional LITA members who have been accepted into the Program include: Nik Dragovic, Sarah Espinosa, Amanda Goodman, Jennifer Nabzdyk, Bethany Tschaepe.

Congratulations to each of these LITA members who are participating in this leadership opportunity.

LITA Blog Transformation

Thanks to Brianna Marshall, LITA Blog editor, and her team of bloggers, the LITA Blog is your source for library technology news (e.g., short videos of members (deadline is 12/15), Top Tech Trends call for panelists (deadline 12/10 if you want to be considered), articles of interest, plus member products and services announcements).

I encourage you to connect with LITA by:

  1. Exploring our web site.
  2. Subscribing to LITA-L email discussion list.
  3. Visiting the LITA blog and LITA Division page on ALA Connect.
  4. Connecting with us on Facebook and Twitter.
  5. Reaching out to the LITA leadership at any time.

Please note: the Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL) journal is available to you and to the entire profession. ITAL features high-quality articles that undergo rigorous peer-review as well as case studies, commentary, and information about topics and trends of interest to the LITA community and beyond. Be sure to sign up for notifications when new issues are posted (March, June, September, and December).

If you have any questions or wish to discuss any of these items, please do let me know.

All the best,

Mary

Mary Taylor, Executive Director
Library and Information Technology Association (LITA)
50 E. Huron, Chicago, IL 60611
800-545-2433 x4267
312-280-4267 (direct line)
312-280-3257 (fax)
mtaylor (at) ala.org
www.lita.org

Join us in Minneapolis, November 12-15, 2015 for the LITA Forum.