2005

Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming…

Most of you (except Poor Pitiful LITA Councilor) are back at work and dealing with the onslaught of post-conference catch-up. But know that your conference posts have been appreciated, read, and enjoyed! At yesterday’s meeting, LITA Board members had many fine things to say about all your efforts. Reporters from Library Journal and American Libraries, our version of the MSM (Mainstream Media), have been following your posts, as well. I plan to complement Will’s “Federated Search” program write-up with a post once I get home, since, after arriving late, I caught the last speaker, which he missed, and I also snagged all the handouts. Will did such a great job on that post that I hesitate to even touch the topic, but I’ll try. I also have notes from the Google Scholar/Print talk, though I may just comment on Leo’s fine writeup. If you have notes from things you attended,…

2005

ALCTS PARS Reformatting Committee: Analog Digital Hat Dance

ALCTS PARS Reformatting Committee Sunday, June 26, 2005 8:00-10:00 a.m. Analog and Digital Preservation Technology Apologies for the lateness and the brevity of this post. I was both late for this session and had to leave early—the very worst kind of guest. However, I determined that I still really wanted to blog it. I went for the brief time allotted in part because I’ve been to good PARS sessions in the past. Even more, I went because this was the only session at ALA that came up in the event planner on a keyword search for microfilm. My day job is as a newspapers and microform librarian. This was held in one of the smaller conference rooms on the first floor of McCormick. Fairly well attended, i.e., someone in almost every third seat. When I arrived, the first speaker, whose name I did not get, was discussing video preservation strategies….

2005

The Delicate Process Dance

(Btw: we have over 80 posts on this blog. Woohoo!) I’m sitting here in ALA Council listening to discussion about the recommendations from the Task Force on Library School Closings. Earlier today I negotiated discussions about two draft resolutions, one on biometrics and one on RFID, and offered to bring the matter to LITA. When someone from IFC asked me why LITA needed to weigh in–after all, OITP had reviewed the resolutions, wasn’t that enough–I said that LITA’s strategic plan notes that emerging technologies is one of its central concerns. I did not add that it’s really good for LITA members to be continually challenged to think about intellectual freedom issues related to technology–and it’s really good for other divisions to be reminded that all library and information science professionals, including LITA’s members, have a place at the table on cross-cutting intellectual freedom issues, particularly issues that are so clearly…

2005

ALCTS Newspaper Users Discussion Group

ALCTS Newspaper Users Discussion Group Sat., 06/25/2005 2:00-4:00 p.m. Palmer House Private Dining Room 5 Smallish room, approx. 25 attendees tops. I recognize most from previous NUDG sessions at midwinter and annual. OCLC Terminologies Project and the Newspaper Genre List. Eric Childress and Diane Vizine-Goetz, both from OCLC The mapping of fields from the U.S. Newspaper Project (circa 1970-1990) to MARC fields should be useful for those projects still working with the old data. Attendees described OCLC’s efforts to convert USNP LDRs to MARC 21 MFHD later this summer. Mark Sweeney, not present, has been involved in efforts. Microfilm and Digital Newspaper Projects in Pennsylvania Sue Kellerman, Penn State University Libraries Overview of progress on the PA Newspaper Project, which went on hiatus for 15 years due to lack of funding. Old data, rechecking, cooperation among repositories, filming, next steps. Plus very successful project to digitize Penn State student newspaper….

2005

“We will all be out of our comfort zone for a while.”

“We will all be out of our comfort zone for a while.” Googling the Better Mousetrap: Cyber Resources on the Front Line of Reference RUSA 2005 President’s Program Monday, 06/27/2005 Sheraton Chicago Ballroom VI/VII [Mere minutes late! Getting better at timing leaving the McCormick wifi teat and busing to a hotel. In my next life, I’m staying at the Sheraton. It’s right on the river, and I found the ballroom easily! Large ballroom, not quite full but crowded.] Most complicated evaluation form ever seen. Eek—forgot to fill out! Will mail… Panelists: John Dove, President, Xrefer Chris Nasso, Gale Group Bill Pardue, Arlington Heights Memorial Library Marilyn Parr, Library of Congress J. L. Needham, Google Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia/Wikimedia Abstract: How do information/reference sources live and grow on the web? A panel of librarians, publishers, and search engine designers will discuss: Design issues for online information resources: past, present, and future Patterns…

2005

Greenstone Digital Libraries: Installation to Production

Sunday, June 26th, 10:30am – 12:00pm
Session descr. from the LITA site: Greenstone digital library software is a comprehensive, multilingual open-source system for constructing, presenting, and maintaining digital collections. Greenstone developer Ian H. Witten will introduce Greenstone and demonstrate installation and collection building. Washington Research Library Consortium and University of Chicago Library representatives will discuss Greenstone implementations at their organizations, including software requirements and selection, collection and interface customization and use of METS-encoded metadata. Laura Sheble will present results from the 2004 Greenstone User Survey.

2005

Google and Libraries: What's in Store for Google Print and Google Scholar

Boy, that was a packed program! I thought yesterday’s “Top Technology Trends” was packed. Today there were even more people. (see photos…) Participants What everyone came to see was the panel discussion featuring Google’s Adam Smith along with representatives from the five libraries that have agreed to let Google digitize their books. In order of seating, that was John Price-Wilkin (Michigan), Catherine Tierney (Stanford), Ronald Milne (Oxford), Dale Flecker (Harvard), and John Balow (NYPL). Maurice York (Emory) on the far left was moderator. Google Print Although the program was subtitled “What’s in Store for Google Print and Google Scholar”, most of the attention was paid to Google Print — quite rightly because it involves libraries handing over to Google the very things that make them unique, namely, their collections. It soon became clear however that some of the libraries appear to be engaged in “Pilot Projects”. Harvard for example, is…

2005

Radio Frequency Identification Technology in libraries: meeting with the RFID experts

I came expecting yet-another-panel-of-experts. I left psyched up about creative uses for RFID which I hadn’t considered before. In other words, I got something new from the LITA International Relations committee sponsored discussion about RFID. Considering it was 8:30 in the godforsaken morning, that says something. I also nearly got frostbite since the Hotel Intercontinental has the coldest ballroom this side of Antarctica. Word to the wise — take a heavy sweater if you find yourself going there. My wee cardigan was no match for air-conditioning gone awry. The details: The panel was introduced by Nancy John from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Pat Harris, executive director of NISO batted lead. The big news from that corner is that NISO is sponsoring a workshop on RFID standards integration Oct.25-26 at the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge. Mark your calendars. I intend to attend if I can save my pennies….