The Heads of Technology Interest Group began with introductions. Each participant told about a major project or issue that they were currently dealing with at their institutions. Most were from academic institutions. Projects and or issues ranged from how to write a RFP to Technology Planning. The Transformational change program was briefly discussed. An update on Core Competencies and the book that some members were working on was discussed. Also ideas for future programs and publication were explored with members.
Category: 2008
Education Committee, June 28, 2008
LITA’s Education Committee welcomed all incoming committee members. The main topic of discussion was the planning of a web based course. Results of a recent educational needs survey were also discussed. The areas identified in the survey as topics of interest include: Open Source Software for Libraries; Metadata Structure and Translation/Crosswalk; Integrating Licensed Electronic Resources; Digitization Project Design and Management; and Digitization-Technical Topic. A liaison to the Assessment and Research Committee was appointed. Support was expressed for the ALA Core Competencies for Librarianship. The new ALA Website redesign was also discussed and its provision for uniformity and an identifiable brand for the organization. LITA Camp was briefly discussed. It will tentatively take place in Dublin, OH and is set for May 4-5 2009.
ALA Annual Feedback – Help LITA help you!
Did you attend a LITA program at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference? If so, please take a few moments to tell us what you thought of LITA’s programming by completing an evaluation; your honest, candid answers will assist us in providing quality programs in the future. Click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oLUvesvZzmXutA3DhGEUKQ_3d_3d Please note, if you attended more than one LITA program, you will need to submit an evaluation separately for each program.
Electronic Resources Management Interest Group: Friday, June 27th, 6:30-8:00pm
SUSHI– Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) update: http://www.niso.org/workrooms/sushi Adam Chandler presented an overview of what was happening with SUSHI – it’s available at http://www.niso.org/workrooms/sushi/info/SUSHI_ALA_Annual_2008-nisoupdate.ppt. First he gave some background on SUSHI itself. SUSHI uses the COUNTER schema – it’s a protocol for moving statistics between two systems. Just the exchange – COUNTER actually codifies what’s in the reports. He presented conceptual diagrams of how the information is exchanged. Then he talked about a survey of content providers and consolidators done in May 2008. Most consolidators plan to have support for SUSHI 1.5 by late 2008 or one in early 2009. Content providers were mostly going to implement in 2009, although some would be early, and some are still deciding. Adam also called for volunteers for the NISO steering group, especially those with access to data such as those who work for a consortium. He also called for “Sushi Shokunin 
Science Fiction and Fantasy: Looking at Information Technology and the Information Rights of the Individual
Science Fiction and Fantasy: Looking at Information Technology and the Information Rights of the Individual, Saturday, 28 June 2008, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm in the Anaheim Convention Center, 304 A/B, Anaheim, CA (Disneyland) Distinguished science fiction and fantasy authors discussed their ideas about old and new technologies, how technology impacts humanity and future implications for privacy rights. Authors were Cory Doctorow, Eric Flint, Vernor Vinge, and Brandon Sanderson. Vernor Vinge was first to address the audience. Vernor Vinge, who argued back in 1993 that “we are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth. The precise cause of this change is the imminent creation by technology of entities with greater than human intelligence” (“The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era“) began the session with a warning of a possible coming “Informational Dark Age.” He mentioned that Digital Rights Management…
Next Generation Catalog Interest Group Meeting
Monday, June 30th, 2008 Anaheim Convention Center Sharon M. Shafer, Vice Chair, welcomed everyone to the 3rd meeting of the Next Generation Catalog Interest Group. The program panelists included Karen G. Schneider, Equinox Software, Sara Davidson, University of California, Merced, and Amy Kautzman, University of California, Davis, “Running a Free and Open Source Software ILS does Not Equate to a Tightrope Act with No Net†Karen G. Schneider began her talk with a definition of open source software from Wikipedia. Karen explained that open source software is free to use, free to download, and free to modify. Support is also available from the open source community or from a vendor. Karen further stated that “development†happens out in the “wild,†occurring on IRC, listservs, etc. It is important that development no longer take place in silos. With open source software problems can be quickly resolved. There is no need to…
Getting Started with Drupal
Getting Started with Drupal (a.k.a. Drupal4LITA Bootcamp) Preconference, June 27th, 2008 Anaheim Public Library Cary Gordon of the Cherry Hill Company, a vendor specializing in support of open source software, gave an extremely detailed introduction to Drupal 6.2, the latest version of the open source content management system. The attendees came from a variety of library types, including academic, public, and special, and with a variety of experience levels with the system. Flash drives with the XAMPP server/database combination pre-installed were distributed along with the components for a Drupal installation. The morning focused on setting up Apache, the MySQL database, some PHP settings, and a basic install of Drupal. The afternoon covered modules (the building blocks of a Drupal site), user permissions, basic content creation, and an introduction to Drupal’s specialized vocabulary: nodes, taxonomies, menus, blocks. The program concluded with an excellent list of Drupal-related resources available on the web….
If We Don’t Call it Distance Learning, Does it Exist?
If We Don’t Call it Distance Learning, Does it Exist? Saturday, 8 am-noon, Paradise Pier Hotel in Anaheim, CA (Disneyland) Presenters: Kim Duckett, Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning, North Carolina State University Libraries, Chad Haefele, Reference Librarian, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Samantha Hines, Assistant Professor, Distance Education Coordinator and Social Sciences Librarian, University of Montana, Howard Carter, Associate Professor and Manager, Instructional Support Services, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Harvey R. Gover, 2008 ACRL/Haworth Press National Distance Learning Librarian, Acting Chair and Consultant to the Distance Learning Section Guidelines Committee, and Assistant Campus Librarian, Max E. Benitz Memorial Library, Washington State University Tri-Cities. Kim Duckett believes librarians should adopt a philosophy of blended librarianship. Duckett says a focus on distance learners will lead to better library experiences for all because traditional learners are becoming more like distance learners as more and more students receive their education online….
Ultimate Debate 2008
Thanks to the Internet Resources and Services Interest Group (IRSIG), there was another Ultimate Debate panel at ALA Annual 2008. The title this year was “There’s No Catalog like No Catalog”, and we are remarkably lucky that we were able to get a full recording of the debate for podcast here on LITABlog. Enjoy!
You Know FRBR, But Have You Ever Met FRAD
Time and Location: Sunday, 1:30 pm – 5:30 pm, Anaheim Convention Center, 210 A-C One would expect for something that old (in Google time) such as Ferber (FRBR), which has been around since 1998, to have spawned some kin. Meet Fred, er, FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data). And they didn’t tell you that in this program, you also will meet Farsar (FRSAR – Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Records). Actually, the first hour and a half of this program dealt with updates on activities at the Library of Congress (by Dave Reser) and at OCLC (by Robert Bremer). The next hour and a half was devoted to the main program topic and the last hour was for a meeting of the LITA/ALCTS Authority Control Interest Group. The cataloging and metadata crowd must have been conferenced out by this time because attendance was low compared to the sessions Getting Ready…