Rachel Vacek announced at her LITA President’s program at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, the winners of annual scholarships LITA sponsors jointly with three organizations: Baker & Taylor, LSSI and OCLC. These scholarships are for master’s level study, with an emphasis on library technology and/or automation, at a library school program accredited by the American Library Association. LITA, the Library and Information Technology Association, is a division of the American Library Association. This year’s winner of the LITA/Christian Larew Memorial Scholarship ($3,000) sponsored by Baker & Taylor is Andrew Meyer who will pursue his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The LITA/LSSI Minority Scholarship ($2,500) winner is Jesus Espinoza who will pursue his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Young-In Kim, the winner of the LITA/OCLC Minority Scholarship ($3,000), will pursue her studies at Syracuse University. Criteria for the scholarships include previous academic…
Category: 2015
LITA at ALA Annual, give us your opinions
Did you attend the 2015 ALA Annual conference in San Francisco? Thank you! There were loads of dynamic, useful and fun LITA programming at the conference. Now we want your opinions. Please complete our LITA at ALA Annual conference survey! LITA programs included: 3 preconferences Sunday afternoon with LITA inlcuding the Top Technology Trends panel Rachel Vacek’s presidents program with Lou Rosenfeld A total of 20 programs LITA Interest Groups discussions and meetings You can review the LITA Highlights page for information on LITA programs and activities at Annual Conference, with the link to the full conference scheduler, and check out the LITA Interest Groups special managed discussions list too. We’re trying very hard to make sure LITA programming meets your needs. To help us we have an Evaluation Survey for all LITA Programs at 2015 ALA Annual conference. Now that you attended Annual we hope you’ll take the few…
Congratulations to the LITA UX Contest Winners
The results are in for LITA’s Contest: Great Library UX Ideas Under $100. Congratulations to winner Conny Liegl, Designer for Web, Graphics and UX at the Robert E. Kennedy Library at California Polytechnic State University for her submission entitled Guerilla Sketch-A-Thon. The LITA President’s Program Planning Team who ran the contest and reviewed the submissions loved how creative the project was and how it engaged users. From the sketches that accompanied the submission, and from looking at the before and after screenshots of the library website, it was clear the designers incorporated ideas from the student sketches. Conny won a personal one-year, online subscription to Library Technology Reports, generously donated by ALA Tech Source. She gets to have lunch with LITA President Rachel Vacek and the LITA President’s Program speaker and UX expert Lou Rosenfeld at ALA in San Francisco. She gets a free book generously donated from Rosenfeld Media….
LITA Annual Report, 2014-2015
As we reflect on 2014-2015, it’s fair to say that LITA, despite some financial challenges, has had numerous successes and remains a thriving organization. Three areas – membership, education, and publications – bring in the most revenue for LITA. Of those, membership is the largest money generator. However, membership has been on a decline, a trend that’s been seen across the American Library Association (ALA) for the past decade. In response, the Board, committees, interest groups, and many and individuals have been focused on improving the member experience to retain current members and attract potential ones. With all the changes to the organization and leadership, LITA is on the road to becoming profitable again and will remain one of ALA’s most impactful divisions. Read more in the LITA Annual Report.
Create, Build, Code and Hack with a choice of 4 LITA preconferences
Register now for one of four exciting LITA pre conferences at 2015 ALA Annual in San Francisco. On Friday, June 26, at the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) brings you a choice of 4 dynamic, useful and fun preconferences. These all-day preconferences, 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., will teach you how to create, build, code and hack the newest trends in technology for libraries. Register through the 2015 ALA Annual Conference website. The price to register is: $235 for LITA members (use special code LITA2015); $350 for ALA members; and $380 for non-members. Create Creating Better Tutorials Through User-Centered Instructional Design. Hands-on workshop with experts from the University of Arizona. Event Code: LIT1 Build Build a Circuit & Learn to Program an Arduino in a Silicon Valley Hackerspace: Panel of Inventors & Librarians Working Together for a More Creative Tomorrow. This workshop will convene…
Learn to Teach Coding – Webinar Recording
Tuesday May 26, 2015. Today we had a lively half hour free webinar presentation by Kimberly Bryant and Lake Raymond from Black Girls CODE about their latest efforts and the exciting LITA preconference they will be giving at ALA Annual in San Francisco. Here’s the link to the recording from todays session: LITA Learn to Teach Coding Free information webinar recording, May 26, 2015 For more information check out the previous LITA Blog entry: Did you attend the webinar, or view the recording? Give us your feedback by taking the Evaluation Survey. Learn to Teach Coding and Mentor Technology Newbies – in Your Library or Anywhere! Then register for and attend the LITA preconference at ALA Annual. This opportunity is following up on the 2014 LITA President’s Program at ALA Annual where then LITA President Cindi Trainor Blyberg welcomed Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code. The Black Girl Code…
Events surrounding the LITA President’s Program at ALA Annual
As LITA President, one of my initiatives for my presidential year was to improve the member experience. I’ve been doing this by applying user experience concepts that I’m familiar with in my everyday job to effect change and improve the overall experience for current members and those who are on the fence about joining. The LITA member experience encompasses all aspects of a member’s interaction with the association, including its programming, educational opportunities, publications, events, and even other members. The LITA Board, Committees, and ad hoc Task Forces have been instrumental to making a positive difference in the experiences of our members. Therefore, it was important for me to pick someone for my President’s Program at ALA Annual that is considered to be an expert on user experience (UX). Accomplished information architect and author Louis Rosenfeld and LITA President Rachel Vacek will discuss the curious world of user experience at…
Contest: Great Library UX Ideas Under $100
In case you haven’t noticed, user experience (UX) is all the buzz in libraries lately. If you aren’t already in the thick of a UX project now, you’re likely thinking of ways to start one. Accomplished information architect and author Lou Rosenfeld will discuss the curious world of user experience at the 2015 LITA President’s Program at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, on Sunday, June 28th, 2015, from 3-4pm. He’ll tackle your questions with moderation from LITA President Rachel Vacek on the importance of UX research and what libraries can do to provide better experiences. This is a conversation you won’t want to miss! As we approach ALA Annual, the LITA President’s Program Planning Team invites you to share your library’s successful UX projects through the LITA President’s Program Contest: Great Library UX Ideas Under $100. Join us as we celebrate library innovation! Contest Description Have you done…
Chat: UX Twitter Chat
Participate in LITA’s first ever UX Twitter Chat! When will this happen? Friday, May 15th, 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderators Amanda (@godaisies) and Haley (@hayleym1218), See Archive Friday, May 29th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Bohyun (@bohyunkim), See Archive Friday, June 12th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Whitni (@_whitni) Friday, June 19th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Michael (@schoeyfield) Friday, July 10th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Matt (@mreidsma) and Kyle (@gwydion9) Friday, July 24th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Matt (@mreidsma) and Kyle (@gwydion9) Friday, August 7th 2-3 p.m. EDT Friday, August 21th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Pete (@pfcoco) Friday, September 4th 2-3 p.m. EDT Friday, September 18th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Amanda (@godaisies) What is the UX Twitter Chat? Share your challenges, successes, techniques, and workflows that you have developed to improve user experience (UX) at your library. Use #litaux to participate. Additionally, you can ask…
Learn to Teach Coding and Mentor Technology Newbies – in Your Library or Anywhere!
Attend a free one hour webinar to discover what learning to teach coding is all about, and then register for and attend the LITA preconference at ALA Annual. This opportunity is following up on the 2014 LITA President’s Program at ALA Annual where then LITA President Cindi Trainor Blyberg welcomed Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code. The informational webinar is free and open to the first 100 log-ins: Tuesday May 26, 2015 at 1:00 pm Central Time http://ala.adobeconnect.com/teachcoding/ Enter as guest. The webinar will be recorded and the link to the recording will be posted to these same resource spaces. Here the link to the Recording now available. Register online for the ALA Annual Conference and add a LITA Preconference Black Girls CODE (BGC) is devoted to showing the world that black girls can code, and grow the number of women of color working in technology. LITA is devoted to putting on…