Committees and Interest Groups

Introduction to Python: Join Us in Chicago for a LITA Preconference

Are you ready to start coding? Have you made your ALA Annual travel plans yet? The Library Code Year Interest Group (a joint ALCTS and LITA Interest Group) will be offering a full-day pre-conference workshop on Python before this year’s ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Attendees will learn the basics of the Python programming language with ample opportunities for hands-on, project-based practice. Using a curriculum based on the one developed by the Boston Python Workshop, we will teach attendees the syntax and key features of Python while providing them with an opportunity to work through practice exercises. During the second half of the day, attendees will have the opportunity to complete a short project in Python to use the skills they have learned. Experienced teaching staff will be on hand to provide support and feedback throughout the workshop. While we’ll cover a lot of ground, this workshop does not assume…

Committees and Interest Groups

Want to serve in ALA? Volunteer by November 2

One of my duties as LITA VP is to participate in the Committee on Appointments, which recommends names for appointment to several ALA-level committees.  The deadline for volunteering for an appointment that will begin after Annual Conference 2013 is November 2.  Appointments are generally for two years, but there are some exceptions. Please also note that these are ALA-level, and NOT LITA committees, though you can volunteer for LITA committees using the same form, and of course, I urge you to! 🙂 These are also not the Committees of the ALA Council. Click the name of each committee below to read its complete charge and current roster, or view all Committees of the Association. Committee on Accreditation “To be responsible for the execution of the accreditation program of ALA, and to develop and formulate standards of education for library and information studies for the approval of council.” American Libraries Advisory Committee “To review…

Committees and Interest Groups

It begins…

When I decided to write about my time as LITA Vice-President/President-Elect, I knew I would be writing about LITA committees and making appointments to them, about LITA Forum and my experience there, and about my experience with the LITA Board in general.  I’m delighted to learn that there are other responsibilities of the Vice-President, and my hope is that by writing about them, I might help others who are interested in division leadership, be it LITA or not. My first phone call with Mary Taylor, LITA’s Executive Director (ALA Staff) earlier this year was very pleasant.  She called to deliver the news that I had won the election, and that my term as Vice-President/President-Elect would start after the Annual conference in Anaheim.  She was clearly excited about the upcoming year, and reminded me of these Vice-Presidential duties: Attend training that would help Mary and me establish a working relationship. Attend…

Committees and Interest Groups

New ALCTS/LITA Metadata Standards Committee

LITA and the Association for Library Collections &Technical Services (ALCTS) , with the support of Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), divisions of the American Library Association, are pleased to announce the formation of the ALCTS/LITA Metadata Standards Committee. The ALCTS/LITA Metadata Standards Committee will play a leadership role in the creation and development of metadata standards for bibliographic information. The Committee will review and evaluate proposed standards; recommend approval of standards in conformity with ALA policy; establish a mechanism for the continuing review of standards (including the monitoring of further development); provide commentary on the content of various implementations of standards to concerned agencies; and maintain liaison with concerned units within ALA and relevant outside agencies. The Metadata Standards Committee will begin its work at the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association, January 2013. While composition of the committee is still under discussion, membership will likely include equal numbers of voting members appointed by ALCTS and LITA and a voting…

2011

The World (and Jason Griffey) interviews Vernor Vinge

On Saturday, January 8 at 1:30pm in Room 29 A-D of the San Diego Convention Center, I have the opportunity to interview an incredible author and thinker, Dr. Vernor Vinge. Dr. Vinge is most well known for being a multiple Hugo Award winning author, but he is also a Professor and technologist, famous for being a proponent of the idea of The Singularity. If you have time to pick up one of his works before ALA MidWinter 2011, I’d recommend Rainbows End…it has some of the most interesting discussions of libraries, digitization, augmented reality, and information immersion of any book in the last 50 years. He even name-checks the ALA in it. 🙂 I am taking questions both now and live during the interview. We will be streaming the Interview here on LITABlog, as well as at the LITA UStream channel, taking questions via Facebook and Twitter, but if you…

2010

Call for Proposals: ALA Annual 2010

This year, the LITA Program Planning Committee, in an effort to modernize the workflow for planning programs for ALA Annual, has moved the process entirely online! The following is the form that you can fill out if you are interested in proposing a program via LITA for ALA Annual 2010, June 24-30th in Washington, DC: http://tinyurl.com/LITAPrograms2010 The form will be available at the above link, on ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org/node/76611), on LITABlog, and anywhere else we can embed it. Once you submit your program proposal, the Program Planning Committee will be in touch with you by the middle of August, 2009. The deadline for submitting proposals to LITA for a program for Annual 2010 is July 31st, 2009. Questions If you have questions about anything relating to programs at ALA Annual, there is a public discussion board on ALA Connect designed just for that: http://connect.ala.org/forum/6608 You do have to have an…

2009

Assessment & Research Committee Midwinter 2009 Meeting Report

DATE: 1/24/2009 GROUP: Assessment and Research Committee CHAIRS: Diane Bisom, Bonnie Postlethwaite REPORTER: Bonnie Postlethwaite CONFERENCE: Midwinter MEETING: Committee meeting ATTENDEES: 12 CURRENT ACTIVITIES: Discussion Items & Actions: Approved minutes from prior meeting. Mary Taylor presented data files on LITA membership (available on Committee’s Google docs site).  Available data points cover various parameters, such as membership in other divisions; number of programs; etc.  Data seems to reflect a recurring trend of membership increases and decreases over time.  Personal membership trends over the past few years are: 2003: 3907 2004: 3776 2005: 3423 2006: 3500 2007: 3752 2008: 3447 Mary also indicated that ALA will have a data dashboard later in the spring which may provide data and trends over time.  She also mentioned that ALA is doing a mailing to all people who have dropped membership in the last three years. Reasons for membership attrition were discussed, with speculation that…

Committees and Interest Groups

LITA Electronic Participation Implementation Task Force

LITA has volunteered to assist in the implementation of the Electronic Participation Task Force report in any way that is deemed appropriate.  Mary Ghikas, ALA Senior Associate Executive Director, has posed the question, if ALA provides Internet connectivity in hotels as well as the convention center for Annual Conferences and Midwinters, what can we do to help regular committees (as opposed to governance groups) use it (e.g., develop a toolkit, tip sheet, actual on site help) to connect with absent members at no additional cost (e.g., no conference calls requiring telephone lines, etc.)? Charge: To explore the possibilities for providing technical support to committees which need to include absent members using Internet connectivity.  To develop an implementation plan for the 2009 Annual Conference. Identify levels of support needed and appropriate tool for each level; Identify existing tools and develop new tools as needed; Identify services that might be needed; Determine…

2009

Technology & Access Committee Midwinter 2009 Meeting Report

DATE: 1/25/2009 GROUP: Technology and Access Committee CHAIR: David Nutty REPORTER: David Nutty CONFERENCE: Midwinter MEETING: Committee meeting ATTENDEES: 9 CURRENT ACTIVITIES: Planning for a program at ALA Annual Chicago has been the main focus of the committee prior to and at the Midwinter Meeting in Denver.  The committee has focused the topic to Net Neutrality.  The committee has tentative commitments (later confirmed) from three outstanding speakers.  Due to the quality of the speakers and the timeliness of the topic, we have requested a larger room for ALA Chicago. Other business at the Midwinter meeting included discussion of the LITA Strategic Planning Meeting; a request from the Board to draft a resolution for Judith Krug on the 40th anniversary of the Freedom to Read Foundation; and the committee’s role in promoting access to LITA conference programming via low-cost or mobile technologies. FUTURE ACTIVITIES: The committee’s program at ALA Chicago: “Net…