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)

The first speaker was Stephanie Rosenblatt Education Librarian, California State University, Fullerton.

• once she had created her screencast (i.e. video) tutorials she began to wonder if her students were really learning. In the classroom she is interactive and uses various techniques to get her point across and yet it seemed like it was supposed to be okay that she only used one technique to get her point across in the video tutorial. She is looking for better pedagogical approaches to incorporate into the tutorials. She is still not sure how much learning they can support due to the medium.

Eric Frierson, Education and Political Science Librarian, University of Texas at Arlington

• His focus was creating a sense of community through screencasts.
• His University is using LibGuides for their subject Guides and although they find them very useful they are still very wordy. He has created a You Tube video that he places prominently in the top left hand corner of the LibGuides that is a basic hello and encouragement to contact if they still have questions. He wants them to know there is a human being behind all of those links.
• He is more interested in the placement of the screencasts than there construction.

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane, Head – Extension and Inter-Library Loans, Brandon University

• She was representing the Animated Tutorial Sharing (ANTS) project and talking about their collaborative uses.
• ANTS wants to collaborate across institutions by syndicating screencasts
• They disseminate their information through a wiki
• For better syndication they are now using blip.tv with a channel called LION: Library Information Literacy Online Network “Participants in this project agree to make these episodes openly available for others to link to, embed, share, download, or edit, provided the appropriate credit is assigned to the author”
• They are using blip.tv because it has better resolution than You Tube
• From the LION site you can share to FaceBook, embed videos into your blog, course management system or LibGuide. Basically they want you to be able to put them anywhere you think your users will be. You get the code and you can put it where you’d like.
• She recommended using embedr with this service you can take videos from any site such as You Tube, Vimeo or Daily Motion and embed them into a playlist that streams from their site into another for example a course management system.
• She mentioned that in 2009 You Tube will be doing HD videos which may make them a more viable service for the videos that need better definition

Mick Jacobsen- Skokie Public Library

• He had tips for better screencasts
• Patrons only want to know about resources when they know it will answer their question. With that in mind you may want to put their question into the name of the screencast for example “how to get an A on your next research paper” or “how to answer your medical questions”.
• Additionally he warns not to put jargon in your screencasts or titles. You want to answer their question in their language.
• Make your screencasts more interesting by telling a story instead of just giving information, take them on a journey.
• Understand that your screencast is not forever, our site and databases change and so will your videos.
• Try to put screencasts at a patrons point of need for example, adding them into subject guides.
• Two free screencasting tools he mentioned were: Jing which takes loading onto your computer and Screenjelly which does not need to be loaded on your computer but you do need a Twitter account.
• Keep your screencasts short. Anything that is unnecessary should be out of the video.
• Give the audience one way to get their answer not three. It is like giving directions to your house. If you need to convey three different ways then you need to make three different videos.
• He noted to look up the screencasts at Westlake Porter Public Library, Orange County Library System, Nashville Public Library , Enoch Pratt Free Library, Pierce County Library System .

Q&A Portion of the presentation

• One presenter mentioned that in MERLOT there are screencasts that have learning objects added to them where people can for example manipulate things on a screen for citation correction or other ways to practice what they have learned.
• One presenter brought out the JUST DO IT philosophy. Just get something made and put it out there. Look at what others have done to help you but go ahead and make the world’s worst screen cast. That is better then nothing just get to learning.  Making = learning.
• Evaluation of screencasts should not be forgotten. Can put a link at the end of the screencast that goes to a survey that allows you to find out what works and what doesn’t work.

Mobile Websites and Applications

This session was presented by Cody Hanson of University of Minnesota Libraries. Check out his presentation: The Library as Any Place. He discussed the creation of a mobile interface to the library’s catalog through a simple PHP application. The library targeted iPhone and iPod touch initially, because it is about the most forgiving of mobile browsers. This makes it a good place to start, and the group can move on to other cases later. Currently, the site includes a web search interface for MnCat; it defaults to a search using the Primo interface, but also provides the ability to use a classic search. There is also a search for scholarly databases, which conducts an article search using MetaLib X-Server. Using MetaLib allowed them to create their own interfaces for search and search results, since most databases are not optimized for mobile. The site also allows users to see what items are available and what is on hold.

After building the website, they also started creating a native app for the iPhone. Currently, the application displays the mobile website using web views, which allows them to hide the browser chrome and use their own buttons. There was a question as to whether creating an app from the mobile site adds value: if it’s just a skinned website, why not just view the website in the phone’s browser? Someone asked if there are any problems authenticating users; Cody said they currently use central authentication. The authentication site isn’t mobile optimized but works on iPhone. As we move forward into mobile applications–and, in general, for other tech–my question is: why is each individual library developing a mobile site/app instead of having a customizable, general application from the OPAC companies that can then be deployed across multiple schools/locations?

Information mashups with government information

This session was presented by Rebecca Blakeley of McNeese State University Library. Check out her presentation: Gov Info Mashups. The session started off with a definition of mashups, which are web pages or apps that combine raw data from multiple locations to provide a new service. They often use APIs, rss feeds, and XML to bring multiple types of data together. For government information, data can be from data.gov, which includes information from NASA, EPA, BLS, and many other organizations. The current hot trend is the bailout, with many applications that allow the user to click on a map and see where and how money has been used. For example, the Sunlight Foundation’s Sunlight Labs had an Apps for America contest with the goal of apps that use data from Sunlight and their partners to makes Congress more accountable, interactive and transparent. They currently have an Apps for America 2 contest and apps submitted must use data from data.gov.

Having so much information available means that libraries can team up with tech people to bring new data to patrons. Libraries can’t always rely on everyone else to do it – if you have an idea about something your local patrons can use, talk about it, and you may find someone willing to work with you on it. It will also be interesting to see how the census data will be available, and whether it can be easily used in mashups–but keep in mind that some of the data won’t be comparable to the same 2000 data.

Some examples of government information mashups include:

• recovery.gov, which shows where stimulus money is being used
• opencongress.org, which provides government docs and information; it tries to make it fun and social, allowing the ability to support your favorite bill on Facebook, comment on bills, and aggregate bills by bills most blogged, bills in the news, etc.
• The Right-to-Know Network, which provides access to environmental information

A group has been created on ALA Connect to explore this: Government Information Interest Group. The session also briefly touched on online tools for creating your own mashups, such as Yahoo! Pipes and MapBuilder.

Cloud Computing

This session was presented by Matt Hamilton of Boulder Public Library and Cindi Trainor of Eastern Kentucky University Libraries. Check out their presentation: Libraries in the Cloud: Starting the Conversation.

Cloud computing is power drawn from the network rather than embedded in the device. An analogous example is plugging into a grid for electricity versus generating your own. Some of the benefits of cloud computing include configuring the types of resources you have access to, and the ability to pull power on-demand, as needed. One participant asked how this was different from a thin-client model. Cloud computing model is very similar; thin client is about the same thing in that you could either host a private cloud within your own data center or draw power from the web. For example, Userful and Open Sense use a thin client model. Cloud computing is like virtualization: creating a virtual machine from a pool of available large resources.

A big benefit of cloud computing is that an organization doesn’t have to have an on-site data center. Some cloud services which are focused on libraries include WorldCat and OCLC Copy Cataloging. There are available cloud computing applications, such as Google Applications. However, with cloud computing, organizations must be concerned with privacy and access. If your data lives elsewhere, you need to know the terms of service and consider the different implications. It must be treated as a risk to manage: figure out what you want to do, and then figure out the implications. Recently there has been the Cloud Computing Manifesto, which discusses the importance of security, open data standards, and application portability; libraries should be involved in these discussions.

Google Wave

This session was presented by Jason Griffey of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Check out his presentation: How Google Wave Changes Everything. To start off, Jason said that taking a look at the Google Wave video will help his presentation make more sense. Google Wave was announced about 3 months ago by Google and is designed by the people who did Google Maps. The idea is that it would be email if it was designed today, since the two main ways we communicate online (email and IM) were designed 30 or more years ago. Google Wave is both a synchronous and asynchronous and both a public and private way to communicate.

For example: Joe and I need to decide where to go to dinner. Get on Google Wave and ask a question. If we’re online, it pops up like a chat, if not it presents like email. It’s flexibly synchronous/asynchronous, depending on if people are online or not. He said this would literally be real time, showing as you type–in my opinion, that could get awkward! To continue the example, someone else could be brought into the wave – they can see what others have done, can interact with what has already happened. Sort of like collaborative documents. There’s also the ability to rewind – version it back to see what was added/removed before, and alter it again. Also the ability to replay back and forth in real time, to see the information flow happening.

Why do libraries care?

• Google has said it will be open source. Won’t have to be used at Google – could use it locally.
• Waves are embeddable objects. Don’t have to use a client to interact with the information flow.
• Imagine a reference wave, monitored by all reference libraries. If they’re online, interact in real time, if not interact as if email. Students ask questions publically and get responses depending on who is online in real time.
• Multiple libraries can manage the system because the protocol is open. Monitor same wave, collaborative wave reference happening transparently.
• Architecture is pluggable – write plug-ins. Write robots that will parse and interact with the information being given to them.
• Common question: “I’m a freshman in Sociology 102. I need resources in….” Write robot that does keywords – automatically return social resources (subject guide, databases, encyclopedia). Identify subject, push to database, return subject.
• Parse name of the book, send research results.

I think in particular the automatic results idea is great, but why do we have to wait for Google Wave to do that? Can’t we make bots that monitor IM and parse questions automatically, make a monitored email address or a twitterbot that automatically answers these kinds of questions? The hard part isn’t the automation — it’s the parsing of the questions and the keywords. It’s not clear to me that Google Wave will do more than just the automation and availability aspects, which means that the hard part — parsing — could be done now, and hooked up to currently available interactions such as IM or email without waiting for Google Wave.

Summary

I’m really glad that I was able to attend the Social Software Showcase, because technology–and using new technology to make information easier to access and use–is exciting to me. I like the point that Rebecca made, which is if you talk about ideas and think about new ways to present information, you might be able to find someone to put something together for you. Even if you’re not a programmer, applications like Yahoo! Pipes can make mashups easier–and why do we need to wait for other companies to innovate for us, such as through Google Wave, when we might be able to do some of those things already?

Thanks to LITA’s BIGWIG for all the time and effort they put into organizing this, and to the presenters for putting together great presentations. To see all of the presentations, visit the Social Software Showcase page.

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).

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 into an online component as much as hoped. The consensus was that online registration/tracking was easy-to-use and productive, and that staff bought in after a short while
• Paper – It is possible to eliminate paper registration and logs altogether with an all-online program; however, the panelists still had varying degrees of paper usage. In this sense, online programs are additive to the traditional SRP. As Irmgarde Brown said:
  

  It’s not about either/or, it’s about ‘and.’

  Paper provides access to those without computers or computer skills, and log printouts are a simple way to manage redeeming prizes

• Scale – commercial products can be a poor organizational fit for both small and large applications. Small libraries cannot afford the software, while consortia may have needs greater than the scale of some commercial designs. Luckily, homebrew systems proved possible and capable in both scenarios, though with sacrifices of features or support

Altogether, the introduction of online components correlated to increased participation at all four panelists’ libraries/systems. Among the many benefits:

• Resource sharing – one or more libraries can invest in an online Summer Reading Program and spread the benefit to other libraries
• Less paper and other overhead
• Simplicity lends to choice in programming language and DBMS. Choices ranged from ColdFusion to PHP, and from Access to MySQL
• Ease and incentive for increased community partnership (ie. Maureen Ambrosino’s example of cooperating with the Boston Bruins to the satisfaction of all)

I was surprised by one positive side-effect of the efficient online systems: possible non-summer programs:
Short video explaining Winter Reading Program

This was an excellent session, and the supplemental materials are great. I’m grateful that
Carole D. Fiore of Training and Library Consulting
Eric Sisler from Westminster Public Library
Maureen Ambrosino of Central Massachusetts Regional Library System
Rosanne Cerny from Queens Library
Irmgarde Brown of Harford County Public Library
put such effort into informing us about their impressive successes.

I will follow up with an Online Summer Reading round-up for those interested in the various software packages available. In the mean time, I’d be happy to track down answers to any questions in the comments. Likewise, if you know of some great free or commercial OSRP software packages, please also make note of them in the comments as well. Thanks!

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 relevant

Meredith:

• it’s about being user-focused
• seeing the creation of library services as an iterative process
• constantly assessing services to make sure they meet the needs of our customers

David:

• not just new tools, but also…
• a new philosophy, a new way to do things

Michael:

• let’s not focus on brands (like Twitter or wikis), lets focus on what these tools can do for us
• Michael read some of the tweets he received as replies to his tweet http://twitter.com/libraryman/status/2617070771

Second question: what is a Library 2.0 technology?

Meredith:

• technology that allows us to build communities and communicate with each other
• technology that allows us to form relationships with people who are bits and bytes online

David:

• a way to move content from one place to another, like RSS
• “made to connect me to you”
• “if the technology works, it doesn’t get in the way”

Michael:

• a problem with 2.0 technology is “it’s hard to know what to use”
• it’s hard to track the success of your institution’s success with 2.0 tools, in the report formats libraries typically have to submit
• Michael is working to put together something to help libraries track the success of their use of 2.0 tools

David:

• stated we have stats from blogs, and can see the number of Facebook friends/fans
• some of these tools will track stats, show engagement — but these tools cost money; he mentioned Radian6 as one of these for-fee tools

Cindi:

• how can you track engagement, how can you track the impact your library has on a person’s life?

Meredith:

• it’s important to look at how to do an assessment of 2.0 tool usage at your library

Michael:

• reports to supervisors are primarily numbers; anecdotal evidence and emotional impact is difficult to report

Third question: what are some of the barriers you to see to libraries adopting some of these Library 2.0 tools?

Meredith:

• “we’re entrusting our knowledge our hard work to 3rd party sites that might not be there in the future”
• companies that exist now, might not in the future
• she cited ma.gnolia as an example of a social bookmarking service that’s no longer in existence
• libraries aren’t planning for how they can have backup copies of their stuff
• they need to ask if the company is stable, and if their info will still be there a couple of years from now

Cindi:

• don’t be afraid to experiment, but take a risk-management approach

David:

• it’s very easy to set up a free blog, but the bigger barrier is you need to immerse yourself in a tool to learn it
• having a person in charge of a 2.0 tool, but when that person leaves, what to do about the orphaned blog or wiki that’s left behind

Michael:

• concerned that libraries are being usurped by commercial companies
• libraries don’t have the money to compete with content and delivery suppliers like NetFlix
• the relevance of libraries is at risk
• as an industry, we need to do something to not get cut out of the market share

Meredith:

• time is a challenge — we’re being asked to do new stuff, but none of our other tasks have been taken away
• just because they’re free tools doesn’t mean we don’t need to plan for them

Michael:

• “use these tools to show how awesome you are” and share that with your community

Meredith:

• admins should be gviing staff time to staff to do these things at work, not on your own personal time

Fourth question: Can we point to some successes of 2.0 technologies and principles?

Michael:

• Lester Public Library in Two Rivers, WI uses Flickr
• photos of library events and community events

Meredith:

• Chad Boeninger of Ohio University
• Business Blog and Biz Wiki
• when he knows an assignment is coming up, he puts the info up on his blog
• a photo of his face is all over his blog and wiki, so students recognize him and know they can apporoach him

• Skokie PL’s SkokieNet: a community-driven online portal for people who live in and care about Skokie

Roy:

• John Blyberg of Darien (CT) Library

Cindi:

• pockets of innovation within a library are using Flickr, wikis, etc.

David:

• encouraged supervisors to “let your staff go with it”

Meredith:

• “these technogies are not a magic wand”
• avoid technolust; stick with the tools that will give your customers what they need

Michael:

• if you stick with your mssion and role in your community, you can use 2.0 tools to support it

Cindi:

• it’s important to have awareness of the tools so when a need arises, you have a 2.0 tool that can fit a situation

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.

Next Generation Metadata

Renee Register, OCLC Senior Product Manager, spoke about the OCLC’s Next Generation Cataloging pilot.

Renee focused on metadata and its relevancy and visibility, in particular information produced early in the cycle by publishers for which there is no mechanism for later update. Renee explained that the time and money spent on metadata continues to rise, but that large gaps in the chain increase cost and create redundancies. Her vision for metadata is “an environment where metadata is exchanged seamlessly between different stakeholder systems” and “reduced cost of metadata creation, transformation and exchange for all participants”. To move in this direction, Renee argues that systems should homogenize data sharing, encourage interoperability, and encourage data flow that allows metadata to “grow up” over time–that is, participate in the process as data changes, from data before the publication is available through an item’s release process.

Renee then explained the “Next Generation” work, which is a seemingly complicated process involving conversion of publisher metadata from ONIX to MARC that is enriched in WorldCat, then converted back and supplied back to the publisher. The process was made to seem even more complicated with the graphic showing the process, but the essential purpose is to allow publishers to share their information earlier, and for catalogers to add value through terminology and authority work that then becomes visible in the publisher’s environment. OCLC is currently running a pilot of this process, and wants to incorporate additional information. They are working with publishers, vendors, libraries, and other partners on this project.

The Public Library OPAC – Not Resuscitating. Re-Thinking.

Beth Jefferson, president of BiblioCommons, discussed seven principles used in re-thinking and improving public library catalogs:

• Less is More. Information scarcity led to the idea that more resources are better, but users want to find the best choice. To provide a better search experience, two levels of search are done: one search on author, subject, and title, which will meet 99% of search needs; then access to a second search in all fields, displaying how many results would be available.
• Putting metadata to work where users expect it. Use authority information to inform type-ahead search. Enhance metadata – if 60% of the collection is fiction, subject headings don’t help. Let users add tags.
• Enabling “true” discovery. Number one searches: dvd, dvds. Among top 16 searches, 9 are format searches. For certain words, try treating the search box as a format search.
• Making it “truly” social. Adding reviews isn’t social, it’s individual. Add a way for users to comment, see others’ collections, follow users.
• It’s a space – not a database. See what the closest copy is to me, don’t want a long list of every copy (but can make that available with “view details” button).
• Making it practical – and personal. Create a username in place of a barcode. Most people want to keep track, so allow them to. See comments by trusted sources to inform decisions. If a user has added tags, button should be “edit tags” not “add tags”; similar with holds, “remove hold” if already have one. Allow users to use the collection to build conversations.

Lipstick on a Dinosaur? Keeping an Old-Gen OPAC “With It” in a Next-Gen World.

David Flaxbart from University of Texas Austin talked about adding features to an out-of-the-box system to make it more applicable to the needs of today’s users. In discussing the name of his presentation, he explained: “It’s hard to put lipstick on a dinosaur. Someone also might ask ‘Why bother? What are you doing this for?’” He described the work they did to customize their Millenium OPAC, including adding cover image (first Syndetics, then Amazon), Google Books info, SFX, links to e-books, local review blog link, and LibraryThing information (tag cloud, recommended books, other editions). Some concern about page loading times due to amount of information being displayed, but mostly okay since it’s just for one item on the full record view. Also talked about paths into the OPAC: new books list, search on external pages, and browser widgets. Assumptions going forward are that system is in perpetual beta, that it’s a bridge to the next system, that people won’t like change but won’t really remember the change later.

Installing an OPAC Discovery Layer

Ellen Safley from University of Texas Dallas discussed adding Encore to the library’s OPAC. The goal is to make a system that users don’t need training to use, allowing users to find things rather than search for them. The method for this include losing the jargon (“holdings”, acronyms, abbreviations), making it simple (show one box), and improving navigation by adding layers and facets. The basics are one box without drop downs, so there’s no confusion about type of search. The results are based on relevancy, and tag clouds/facets make it possible for searches to be refined. The catalog needs to speak English, not acronym: books instead of PRINTED MATL. To focus on the customer, add a spellchecker (one that doesn’t have an attitude): Did you mean ___? Show electronic books and print books together, link with other search results, provide more visuals. There are some issues in including all this information: complicated to display print and electronic titles together, some elements can be changed while others cannot, new system versions ay change functionality. The system continues to evolve, but working on such a project brings library units together.

My thoughts

It’s amazing to me that each individual library, even in the same university system (UT), goes through this level of extra work to customize something out of the box. Why don’t we have more open source, component sharing? After you’ve done the work for your library, share your whole, step-by-step process with someone else, so they don’t have to replicate work. I heard someone as I was leaving the session say something along the lines of, “I would love to use Encore, but I can’t afford it and we don’t have the tech resources to implement it.” I don’t know how expensive Encore is, but is it cheaper to hire a programmer who could make changes to an open source catalog (and then make those changes available to other libraries), than it is to have opac + discovery layer + changes? Either way, we need to share more–and not just principles and basics, but details and code.

Jonathan Blackburn

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), to be usable for people at different levels of expertise (different comfort levels in regards to technology), to be interoperable between systems (catalog, course management software, etc.), and to remain consistent for institutional branding or navigation (to follow guidelines set by the parent institution).

Jonathan Blackburn went on to illustrate FSU’s use of dynamic content on their website and their switch to content management systems.

• 2005: Static HTML and custom PHP/MySQL
• 2006: Drupal and custom PHP/MySQL
• 2007: Redesign and MediaWiki subject guides
• 2008: Staff intranet (Drupal)
• 2009: Migration to Drupal (unfinished) and LibGuides

He offers 6 lessons from his experience with content management systems at FSU:

1. Start with a content management plan: who does what, when, and how often (and how are they accountable)
2. Get staff input: find out what your content creators want
3. Secure support from administration: if they’re not behind it, it will never happen
4. Choose right tool(s) for the job: if it doesn’t meet the organization needs, don’t use it, no matter how “cool” it is
5. Be flexible and embrace workarounds
6. Outsource when possible

Lastly, Blackburn offers future opportunities for content management systems.

• Library “profiles”: CMSs built specifically for libraries and their needs
• Hosted solutions: “putting stuff in the cloud”
• Interoperability: “glue that can tie stuff together”

Eli Neiburger

Eli Neiburger is the Associate Director, IT and Product Development at Ann Arbor District Library (AADL). The AADL website first adopted Drupal in 2005, and in 2007, the library added SOPAC (Social Online Public Access Catalog) to their CMS.

During the presentation, we delved into the website, exploring all the neat things it can do. Because of SOPAC, their catalog allows the users to search as well as tag, rate, and review the items displayed (among other things). It’s completely customizable, unlike traditional catalog interfaces.

AADL’s Drupal implementation allows the library employees to make “rich posts” that display automatically resized images and linked text on the library website without having to know how to use HTML or CSS.

The library has a collection of recipes, Ann Arbor Cooks, that is fully searchable and browsable. It also has a blog that is seamlessly integrated into the collection (if you scroll down the main page).

Additionally, they have scanned 100 years of Ann Arbor City Council Minutes that is also fully searchable and browsable.

They even have an AADL Image Gallery where library users can upload their pictures of the town, new or old. If a patron would like to contribute a photo but does not have a way to digitize it, the library will scan it and upload it for them.

AADL uses the CMS to keep a Video Collection (an alternative URL for this is aadl.tv) of library events and programs.

As if all that isn’t awesome enough, AADL keeps a Game Tournament Leaderboard that allows users to create profiles and link to their stats. They also have a site devoted to the game tournament events at gtsystem.org.

The usability and richness of the site creates extended value for the items therein. For instance, the programs and events that were recorded at the library and uploaded to their video collection are continually viewed long after it took place.

Neiburger stressed that AADL would not have been able to do all they did with Drupal if they didn’t have programmers to make it work.

Last but not least, Eli Neiburger presented for Karen Coombs, Head of Web Services at the University of Houston Libraries. Through her presentation, she demonstrated that there is no perfect CMS. The CMSs that are currently available tend to require difficult tradeoffs:

• flexibility vs simplicity
• customization vs staff resources
• staff skill set vs ease of use
• empowerment vs responsibility
• support vs functionality
• one tool vs many tools

As an example, she offered that WordPress is a simple tool that is easy to use, whereas Drupal is extremely flexible and complicated.

There is also the option of building a custom CMS, but it would not have a support base like Drupal or WordPress.

There are many questions to ask when choosing a CMS.

• What tech resources do you have in house?
• What programming languages do you know?
• What systems do you already support?
• Who is going to maintain the content?
• How tech savvy are your content creators?
• What kind of content is part of your site?

The takeaway of these presentations is that there is no one-size-fits-all CMS appropriate to every library. Each library’s personnel and patron requirements will influence the choice of which CMS to use, if any. While CMSs can be powerful tools for institutions that want to support them, they may have hidden costs.

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 place in society.  An author should tell stories, the people’s stories.  She believes fantasy especially allows her to tell the stories of real people in extraordinary situations.  She offered the example of a character in her fantasy world who is an alcoholic in a culture where the tavern is the primary gathering place.  He lost his family, his home and his livelihood due to his alcoholism.  In the course of the novel he tries to recover some of what he has lost.  Weiss hopes this character’s story may help a young person better understand his alcoholic parent.

John Brown followed Margaret Weiss positing that reading is a drug.  Readers thirst and hunger for reading and that the physical response resulting from reading is not just analogous but the same as the physical response a drug user feels.  He hopes that his work gives young people a first taste of the reading drug and that they will be hooked for life.

Eric Flint approached the subject differently. He argued Contemporary Literary Fiction has lost its way.  Modern literary fiction requires extreme realism with “ordinary people in ordinary circumstances that they handle extremely badly.”  He argues that true literary tradition extends through Homer and Shakespeare who were not bound to realism and engaged in thought experiments with “ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances they handle well.”  He expressed disdain for the need felt by some to defend science fiction and fantasy and commented that if the definitions of genre fiction were applied to Moby Dick it would be in the science fiction section because “no whale that ever lived would act like that.”

The entire session was engaging.  The authors gave us some food for thought and plenty of encouragement.  I thoroughly enjoyed the session.

Saturday, 7/11/09

This 20th anniversary meeting of the Imagineering Interest Group was a well-run affair featuring free books, entertaining stories, and good-humored pandering towards librarians. The packed house thoroughly enjoyed themselves listening to TOR authors speak about metaphor, imagination, the state of the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, and the power of libraries.

Robert Charles Wilson gave an intriguing synopsis of his upcoming book set in a world run by a theological governing body. His protagonist, in the process of attempting to promote a sense of secularism, ends up creating a free library. While writing the book he said he needed to re-invent religion in America, a process he says “made me into a theologian, although I never volunteered for the post.” Wilson said that a recurring and powerful theme in Science Fiction is the “persistence of the book as well as the liberating power of information.”

Ken Scholes writes across many genres but was most influenced by Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons. He said that as a boy Science Fiction and Fantasy gave him a foster home, something to dream of, and essentially raised him. He recounted how as a young teenager he attempted to work in the local library repeatedly until he was finally of the legal age to work (16 in Washington state) at which point he was hired immediately. He also presented a mashed up narration with multiple characters, themes, and story lines from the readings of his youth saying this was how he was raised. He said he grew up reaching for heaven and found Oz, Middle Earth, and Mars among other worlds.

Margaret Weis told the story about how she got started in writing back when TSR first began Dungeons and Dragons. She realized “I could write those stories” and did so. She told her favorite anecdote about being a five year old in the public library who wandered into the adult section and found a copy of The Doll’s House. But the librarian wouldn’t let her check it out by saying “this isn’t about what you think it’s about.” She also related the story about how “writer’s are the ones who put on the bear skin and dance around the fire telling the people’s stories” which is all she’s ever wanted to do. For her, Science Fiction and Fantasy is not escapism, but a way to think about real life issues, but from a different perspective.

John Brown presented a compelling argument that Science Fiction and Fantasy is a “gateway drug” to literacy for youth. He related that the NEA has shown that in 2008 reading rates have increased and by the most in the 18-24 age group. Asking Bookscan if they had data to  go along with that, they provided the intriguing statistic that Science Fiction and Fantasy reading soared by 144% in roughly the same time period for juvenile readers. He said that for the young Science Fiction and Fantasy allows encounters with the “strange, weird, and wonderful.” He also said that the genre was big enough that it’s allowed him to explore more adult themes as he’s aged.

Eric Flint explored the reasons “Science Fiction and Fantasy” authors (and presumably readers) feel compelled to justify themselves in a “hostile literary world.” He maintained that the genre deals with “ordinary people placed into extraordinary circumstances which they deal with very well.” He contrasted this with a more literary view of storytelling that consists of “ordinary people placed into extraordinary circumstances which they deal with very poorly.” He wondered why Moby Dick isn’t placed into the fantasy genre because “no whales act like that.” But in the end he admitted that he, and other authors, depend on librarians to a large degree for his living because new authors are found through sharing and from libraries.

There were no questions from the audience as folks hurriedly lined up for author signatures. A line that extended out into the hall.

Author Biographies:

John Brown

Eric Flint

Ken Scholes

Margaret Weis

Robert Charles Wilson

Discovery Interfaces Expand Scope

The genre of Discovery Interfaces has been an ongoing trend for the last few years. These interfaces aim to replace the traditional, stodgy OPAC with a modern interface, delivering library content through an interface more consistent with what patrons experience elsewhere on the Web. They offer visually appealing design, relevancy ranking, faceted navigation, and other standard Web navigation techniques. These products offer an attractive replacement for the online catalogs delivered with the ILS.

The initial phase of this genre of products delivered a new interface. Yet, they remained largely tied to the content managed in the ILS, despite the ever increasing investments in electronic content. In many cases, a federated search component would aim to supplement the primarily print content of the ILS with a clumsy mechanism for accessing e-journals and database.

We’re now seeing a new wave of discovery products that deliver pre-populated indexes of e-journal content, providing access to the individual articles represented in the library’s body of subscriptions on equal footing with the print materials managed within the ILS. Products in this genre include Summon from Serials Solutions, WorldCat Local from OCLC, EBSCO Discovery Service, and Primo Central.

The technology for a new-generation library interface with Google and Amazon-like features has become increasingly commonplace. Every library automation vendor offers one – Innovative Interfaces’ Encore, Ex Libris’ Primo, AquaBrowser now owned by R.R. Bowker, LS2 PAC from The Library Corporation, VTLS Visualizer, SirsiDynix Enterprise etc, and open source versions prosper as well: VuFind and Blacklight. Open source components such as Apache Lucene and SOLR, make the construction of a modern interface less of a technical feat.

Today, it’s the scope of content addressed that differentiates discovery interfaces. It’s now within reach to produce discovery interfaces that address the full breadth of a library’s collection through a single consolidated index, spanning print, articles within e-journals, and each of the individual objects within the digital collections, institutional repositories.

The major change that enables this breakthrough involves a relenting of the stranglehold of publishers and providers of content. Until recently, few were willing to allow wholesale access to the content held within their information products. That left the primary means of discovery outside their native interfaces the far-from-elegant approach of metasearch that incessantly hammered their servers with a very low possibility of connecting a user to their content. The new paradigm of pre-populated indexes involves the risk of wholesale exposure of their key assets, yet stands to increase the use of their products through a more efficient search model.

Social networking powers library discovery

Web 2.0 concepts have been churning in the library technology space for half a decade, but have yet to become part of the core infrastructure that power libraries. Tags, ratings, and reviews have been an expected feature in new discovery interfaces, but have yet to make a substantial impact on the way that patrons interact with library collections.

Library Thing for Libraries and ChiliFresh have become popular add-ins to help existing library catalogs and discovery interfaces add a measure of user-generated content.

BiblioCommons aims to bring social networking into the patron’s basic experience of the library. An interesting new approach to discovery interfaces, BiblioCommons brings user-generated content, social interactions among library patrons, and other Web 2.0 concepts into the process of selecting reading materials. Following a longish period of development, a dozen or so libraries expect to launch BiblioCommons catalogs by the end of the year.

I anticipate that social networking components will increasingly become embedded into the inner fabric of library products and not merely add-ons and afterthoughts.

These interesting products have yet to displace the legacy catalog. Despite a plethora of products available to replace them with more modern interfaces, the vast majority of libraries continue to offer vintage OPACs. Even in the best of times, the replacement cycles of automation products in libraries turn extremely slowly.

The demise of the single-library ILS

In today’s environment of highly-scalable computer platforms and increased interest in resource sharing, the concept of each library operating its own ILS becomes less defensible. We’re seeing a trend toward larger-scale implementations that serve many libraries:

• Vendor-hosted Software-as-a-service offerings that aggregate many instances of their products.
• Consortial, Regional and state-wide implementations that aggregate many libraries into a single instance of an ILS platform.
• OCLC’s WorldCat Local cooperative library system that aims to provide a global platform for library automation to its member libraries.

Web Services and SOA advance

Development of technology products for libraries increasingly embraces SOA or at least offers legacy functionality through Web services. Projects such as the Mellon-funded OLE Project and Ex Libris URM aim to build new frameworks for library automation through a service-oriented architecture. Existing products increasingly use Web services to provide access to internal functionality and data. Today’s environment that fully embraces the concept of openness and holds distain for closed systems. Open source, open APIs, and open access content continue to advance into the mainstream of library technology.

Join us in person at the Intercontinental Grand Ballroom, Sunday afternoon at 1:30, or remotely via CoverItLive below.

Pop-out

RSS

Building an ILS for Service Oriented Architecture Structure

Beth Forrest-Warner, University of Kansas; Robert H. McDonald, Indiana University; John Little, Duke University; Carlen Ruschoff, University of Maryland.
Really, this has as much of a positive implication for public and special libraries as it does for academics, especially as regards financial and HR management integration (think payroll and acquisitions). Not initially, but wait and watch for the trickle-down.

Hmmm. Completely different lineup than advertised.
Doing the tweet poll. Thanking OLE and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Research in Information Technology Program.

What is OLE? Carla says, “the project will produce an ILS that is better suited to work with the workflow of libraries” (and will play well with other software and projects. Not just open source, COMMUNITY source. Why OLE? ILS now are too expensive and too inefficient for what libraries need to do now. Libraries need to be able to mod the technologies to adapt quickly. ILS systems don’t work with commercial systems for education and finance.
We want mobile, we want connected, we don’t want archaic.

The OLE Framework:
Flexibility
Community Ownership
Service Oriented Architecture
Enterprise-level Integration
Efficiency
Sustainability.
In poll, FLEXIBILITY ran HIGHEST for what is critical for the ‘future of your library’.
Hey. They had workshops. 11 Regional workshops. And webcasts.
They have developed a scope document here.

Robert says: “Slowed down by consolidation in Library ILS Marketplace.” Koha was not ready for them and if the big three did not have what was needed, oh well…least progress made is ERM components.
Community Source Aspect
Fits the academic model, and want to build the community up front, and then build the product to support the community.

KUALI Why not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a system that does what you need instead of one that doesn’t. Institutions don’t like to be locked in by vendors.

Beth says, “SOA”. Interesting point is that academics need the curation and management of internally produced content to be integral. And why is there not just one system, and integrated, for say, student info. We should be taking advantage of already installed financial and course management systems. End result, more secure data, more efficiency.
Define SOA Applications should do it once, and reach across the network to other processes. Instead of programming for each system, build it (a service) once and let other apps use it–example is a purchase order system.
Shared Processes which might need services. How do you find out what they are? BPM. (Business Process Model)
John says, “Theory and Reality”. How are we going to build this thing? 30 months is the build time that they have. They are going to have to build on existing good work, and Kuali has much of what they need. I really think this part should be an entire program, exposing the modularity and scalability of using Kuali. They will start with ERM.
Risks of Participation include failure to achieve consensus. Can they acquire the resources to do this affordably? Indications are that pricing can be made very competitive. They must also build a sufficiently large vendor services community. So interested academics willing to stake should open discussions with the presenters.

Truly, I vote this the presentation most likely to make libraries say, “Hey, I think I will outsource my scanning to Clemson University”. Loving care is evident in the selection, installation, and use of their equipment.

Put on by the Digital Library Technology Interest Group

Tricked us by putting business mtg. first–Good Idea! Call to the floor–what ideas do you have for programs for next year. No answer–she will try again.

Mike 8:00am–we need an idea 51 weeks before the next ALA. Program developed from specific types of hardware into “how to set up a scanning center”

Emily Gore and Mandy Mastrovita from Clemson University. Emily says: North Carolina was late in starting a statewide cooperative for digitization. They divided the state into 4 regions, and they have a lab to scan for libraries.

Brief overview of what you need to ask if you want to scan:

Budget, staffing, expertise, facilities adequate to house equipment?

What materials? Precious and rare?

Would you consider outsourcing?

Clemson had about $100,000 for equipment, much from a grant. Knew they had to get at least one full-time librarian to manage the scanning project. She combined the IT staff with the digital project staff–because she knew that they could scan.

equipment–

Had no space for a Zeutschel A0, needing 8 foot or more. Settled for a “Better Light” and a different room. In the basement. But it had no outside lighting. But it had nasty flourescent lights so they use another ambient light source. It gets hot in there, though.

Selected materials, they expected to do their large maps, manuscripts, photographs and negatives, and expected to scan those. Did not expect to scan bound materials which other large digital projects including Google would have covered already. (Note-They have Strom Thurmond’s pajamas.)

However, lots of libraries in the area have bound items, including old country store ledgers, etc. that have value that they needed scanned. Scrapbooks. Yearbooks. It’s a donor relationship thing. You scan what they give you. They would like another solution for bound items. So do you outsource that? You should always think about that first thing and approach it as a hybrid solution.

Disadvantages of outsourcing

You are removed (can’t change or adjust in middle of process)

Is it an experienced vendor?

Contracts need to be set up prior which clearly articulate needs from the beginning.

Disadvantages of in-house

large investment–especially because each type

retooling staff-complex skills to be developed.

difficult to set prices per digitized/encoded items.

$2.00 per item to scan–there is a difference between archival quality scanning & what some vendors will offer.

Mandy, Digital Production Librarian, will now offer specifics:

workstations

multi-platform, some programs work better with Macs, Better Light is really designed for use with Macs. However, most of library is a PC shop.Batch processing programs are on PC.

(Server-ContentDM) Dual/side by side comparison monitors are set up because lots of comparisons must be made.

Task Lighting, Ott lights make it look a little creepy, but daylight balanced.Redundant central storage with campus IT, and local RAID 5 attached drives.

Fave Scanner:

Epson Expression 100000XL, probably is THE scanner in use. read area of 12.2×17.2, negatives and doc feeder available can scan up to 100 pages at time.

Also a Kodak iQ3 scanner, and can scan glass plates, transparencies and negatives. But has not been as good in terms of support and software upgrades. But is a fast and beautiful machine, with templates to arrange your negatives, 4×5′s, etc., and you can cut templates yourself with an Xacto knife.

The setup of their lab for large format scanning was labor intensive, but just like Christmas, and an engineering student did some of the setup, and their qualified vendor set up their HID copy lights. The tripod itself was just under 8 feet. It fit, whew.

A very heavy crossarm, weighted–they had to pad that with some bubble wrap to prevent injury.

For shooting on the easel, they are using a parallelism tool, the Zig-Align to ensure focus across the plane of the image.

They highly desired a Planetary Scanner for bound items. Currently they use the Bookeye and the Zeutschel. She likes the Bookeye with its hydraulic lift.

You do still need to deal with analog film. But younger students may not understand negatives, or have even ever seen it–really, it is supposed to be backwards and reverse. “Us old folks had to chuckle.”

Q &A -

What about using LCD instead of CRT?

They do a lot of color calibration with cards, and take care.They try to move forward, and the LED monitors are quite good with color matching, new Mac monitors are coming out. Mandy: “The IT person in me says, O God I don’t want to see another CRT.”

Part 2

Better, cheaper faster, or down and dirty Evaluating Consumer-Grade Digitization Equipment

Professional grade, over $10,000, purchase direct from vendor. This is not the stuff you see in SkyMall.

Are you scanning for preservation or access qualities?

What are your available resources, including hardware, software and STAFF.

cost of proposed solution divided by benefits of proposed solution=cost-benefit.

A Tale of Three Scanners

In places they say: “My IT Department wanted me to buy this scanner.” (for $179.99) but that is not right for a digitization center.

Look at the technical details. Do not interpolate. Pixels for free!

One for $657, 48 bit color, larger format maybe for “access quality” scanner.

The Epson Expression is the only one that anyone is seriously considering and is available for about $2,400. 48-bit color, 16-bit b&w. 2400x4800dpi resolution. You may not use it, but you will wish you had it.

Camera Mount or 3 dimensional. Heavier is BETTER. It should be hard to move. Manfroto makes some prosumer grade overhead camera mount and lights. What kind of camera? Prices have come down and we are getting there on quality. She has a Canon Digital Rebel XSI and purchased better 50mm lens. Full-frame cameras will be more expensive, and the concept is relatively new in the digital world. These cameras may not be right for preservation level, because many of these don’t get up to the baseline of 400ppi recommended for archival–so something as large as an original which is 11×17 may only give you access grade images. Also, these all have CMOS sensors.

Bound item scanning-A Consumer grade alternative!

Plustek Opticbook 3600 Plus A4 Book Edge pdf OCR Scanner. For around $350, this scanner will work for ‘Bread and Butter’ scanning for access grade.

The benefits of outsourcing.

Large format, maps–someone who specializes in a type of format can give you a cheaper per unit cost than you can do yourself, or than a scanning generalist can do.

http://poll.fm/11sb2

This year’s discussion will be held Sunday, July 12, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Intercontinental.

Friday, July 10, 2009
LITA Happy Hour
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Potter’s Lounge, Palmer House
Please join the LITA Membership Development Committee and members from around the country for networking, good cheer, and great fun! Expect lively conversation and excellent drinks. Cash bar.

Friday Evening with LITA
Friday, July 10, 2009
LITA 101: Open House
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm, Water Tower Place in the Palmer House Hotel
LITA Open House is a great opportunity for current and prospective members to talk with Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) leaders and learn how to make connections and become more involved in LITA activities.
Andrew Pace, LITA President; Donald Lemke, LITA Membership Development Committee Chair; Holly Yu, LITA Interest Group Coordinator; and Scott Muir, LITA Committee Coordinator and many other LITA leaders will be present.

(and the reason we all get to annual on Friday night)
LITA Happy Hour
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Potter’s Lounge, Palmer House
Please join the LITA Membership Development Committee and members from around the country for networking, good cheer, and great fun! Expect lively conversation and excellent drinks. Cash bar.

Sunday Afternoon with LITA
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Top Technology Trends
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm, the Grand Ballroom at the InterContinental Hotel
This program features our ongoing roundtable discussion about trends and advances in library technology by a panel of LITA technology experts. The panelists will describe changes and advances in technology that they see having an impact on the library world, and suggest what libraries might do to take advantage of these trends.

LITA Awards and Scholarships Reception/Ceremony
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm, the Empire Ballroom at the InterContinental
Presentation of LITA Awards and Scholarships. John Blyberg will receive the Brett Butler Award for entrepreneurship, Bill Misho will receive the Frederick G. Kilgour Award for research, Meredith Farkas will receive the Library High Tech award for communications in continuing education, and Michael Silver will receive the Student Writing Award.

LITA President’s Program: Make Stories, Tell Stories, Keep Stories
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm, the Grand Ballroom at the InterContinental
In 2007, Erik Boekesteijn, Jaap van de Geer, and Geert van den Boogaard took off from DOK Delft Public Library to embark on a North American tour of libraries en route to the Internet Librarian Conference. Their popular video tour captured the passion and enthusiasm of the people working on library innovation in the States, a theme that they have recently repeated in Australia. Now it’s time to tell their story. Come learn about innovations from our library colleagues in the Netherlands and join Erik Boekesteijn (DOK Delft Public Library), Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian), and Michael Stephens (Tame the Web) as they discuss the current state and future of library innovation and the opportunities to learn from the vast network of international stories about library innovation. The panel discussion will be followed by a book signing, Shanachie Tour – a library roadtrip across America, with all three authors present.
Speakers: Erik Boekesteijn, Jaap van de Geer, Geert van den Boogaard, Jenny Levine, and Michael Stephens

Many other excellent programs are being offered as well. Get a complete list with descriptions and locations provided.

Annual Conference Highlights for Those Attending or Not
LITA is offering two pre-conferences on Friday, July 10, from 9:00am to 5:00pm in Chicago. You do not need to attend Annual Conference to register for a LITA preconference. Also, please note that LITA will accept registrations on site. The registration rate for each is: LITA Member $235, ALA Member $315, or Non-Member $380.

A Thousand Words: Taking Better Photos for Telling Stories in Your Library
9:00am to 5:00pm, McCormick Place, W-475
Speaker: Helene Blowers and Michael Porter are joining Cindi Trainor
In this hands-on workshop, learn techniques for shooting and editing better photos, camera settings that make for the best photos, and basics of editing an image. Learn how to capture library events more effectively and artistically, take and select better photos for websites and promotional materials. Licensing work and finding others via Creative Commons will also be covered. Participants should bring a digital camera and laptop; familiarity with moving photos from camera to computer is a must.

Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs
9:00am to 5:00pm, McCormick Place, W470a
Speaker: Karen Coombs, University of Houston
del.icio.us subject guides, Flickr library displays, YouTube library orientation; with mashups and APIs, it’s easier to bring pieces of the web together with library data. Learn what an API is and what it does, the components of web services, how to build a mashup, how to work with PHP, and how to create web services for your library. Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming and are encouraged to bring a laptop for hands-on participation.

[cribbed from LITA Update on 6/19]

See you in Chicago!

We would like coverage for as many of the sessions as possible, so see the current Blog Schedule and pick one (or more) and join the LITA Blogging Community.

Interested? Sign up HERE, and you’ll be added to the schedule. No experience is required to blog, though we would love to see some of our experienced volunteers back again. If you have any questions, email Michele Mizejewski.

A Thousand Words: Taking Better Photos for Telling Stories in Your Library
Presented by: Helene Blowers, Michael Porter, and Cindi Trainor

If you want to learn how to capture library events more effectively and artistically, don’t miss this hands-on workshop in Chicago this July. Learn the Who, What and Why of shooting, sharing and reusing your library photos, and see how to use widgets and other tools to tell stories and engage your users in your digital space. Learn techniques for shooting and editing better photos, camera settings that make for the best photos, and the basics of editing an image. Privacy policies and Creative Commons will also be covered. The hands-on portion of this workshop will involve using flickr, getting to know your camera, and using desktop and online image editing tools.

Participants should bring a camera and laptop. Be sure to bring your camera’s cable or a card reader for downloading photos to your computer.

Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs
Presented by Karen Coombs

del.icio.us subject guides, Flickr library displays, YouTube library orientation; with mashups and APIs, it’s easier to bring pieces of the web together with library data.

Learn:
-what an API is and what it does
-the components of web services
-how to build a mashup
-how to work with PHP
-how to create web services for your library

Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming and are encouraged to bring a laptop for hands-on participation.

More information is available at the LITA Web site.

You do NOT need to attend Annual Conference to register for a LITA preconference. Visit the 2009 ALA Annual Conference registration page to register for these events.

To add a workshop to your existing Annual Conference registration:
Call ALA Registration at 1-800-974-3084
OR
use your log in and password to access your existing registration using the online registration form:
Add events in the “Your Events” section; check out and pay for the events you’ve added.

A Thousand Words: Taking Better Photos for Telling Stories in Your Library
If you want to learn how to capture library events more effectively and artistically, don’t miss this hands-on workshop in Chicago this July. You will learn techniques for shooting and editing better photos, camera settings that make for the best photos, and basics of editing an image. You will also learn how to take and select better photos for websites and promotional materials. Licensing work and finding others via Creative Commons will also be covered. Participants should bring a digital camera and laptop; familiarity with moving photos from camera to computer is a must.
Presented by: Cindi Trainor, Michael Porter, and Helene Blowers Friday, July 10, 2009 in Chicago

Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs
Presented by Karen Coombs, University of Houston
del.icio.us subject guides, Flickr library displays, YouTube library orientation; with mashups and APIs, it’s easier to bring pieces of the web together with library data.
Learn:
-what an API is and what it does
-the components of web services
-how to build a mashup
-how to work with PHP
-how to create web services for your library
Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming and are encouraged to bring a laptop for hands-on participation.

More information is available at the LITA Web site

You do NOT need to attend Annual Conference to register for a LITA preconference. Visit the 2009 ALA Annual Conference registration page to register for these events.

To add a workshop to your existing Annual Conference registration:
Call ALA Registration at 1-800-974-3084
OR
use your log in and password to access your existing registration using the online registration form: Add events in the “Your Events” section; check out and pay for the events you’ve added.

Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs del.icio.us subject guides, Flickr library displays, YouTube library orientation; with mashups and APIs, it’s easier to bring pieces of the web together with library data. Learn what an API is and what it does, the components of web services, how to build a mashup, how to work with PHP, and how to create web services for your library. Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming and are encouraged to bring a laptop for hands-on participation.
Karen Coombs of the University of Houston is presenting.

A Thousand Words: Taking Better Photos for Telling Stories in Your Library Learn techniques for shooting and editing better photos, camera settings that make for the best photos, and basics of editing an image. Learn how to capture library events more effectively and artistically, take and select better photos for websites and promotional materials. Licensing work and finding others via Creative Commons will also be covered. Participants should bring a digital camera and laptop; familiarity with moving photos from camera to computer is a must.
Cindi Trainor, Michael Porter, and Helene Blowers are presenting

The LITA web site has more information about these and other LITA programs at Annual.

Visit the 2009 ALA Annual Conference registration page to register for these events.