2015

Congratulations to the LITA UX Contest Winners

The results are in for LITA’s Contest: Great Library UX Ideas Under $100. Congratulations to winner Conny Liegl, Designer for Web, Graphics and UX at the Robert E. Kennedy Library at California Polytechnic State University for her submission entitled Guerilla Sketch-A-Thon. The LITA President’s Program Planning Team who ran the contest and reviewed the submissions loved how creative the project was and how it engaged users. From the sketches that accompanied the submission, and from looking at the before and after screenshots of the library website, it was clear the designers incorporated ideas from the student sketches. Conny won a personal one-year, online subscription to Library Technology Reports, generously donated by ALA Tech Source. She gets to have lunch with LITA President Rachel Vacek and the LITA President’s Program speaker and UX expert Lou Rosenfeld at ALA in San Francisco. She gets a free book generously donated from Rosenfeld Media….

General information

Should LITA oppose Elsevier’s new sharing policy?

It’s come to the LITA Board’s attention that the Confederation of Open Access Repositories is circulating a statement against Elsevier’s new sharing policy. (You can find that policy here.) COAR is concerned that the policy imposes long embargoes for open access content (up to 4 years); applies retroactively; and restricts author’s choice of Creative Commons license. Numerous individuals and library organizations, including ALA and ACRL, have signed on to this statement; the LITA Board is discussing doing likewise. But we represent you, the members! So tell us what you think. Should LITA sign on?

General information

Call for Writers

The LITA blog is seeking regular contributors interested in writing easily digestible, thought-provoking blog posts that are fun to read (and hopefully to write!). The blog showcases innovative ideas and projects happening in the library technology world, so there is a lot of room for contributor creativity. Possible post formats could include interviews, how-tos, hacks, and beyond. Any LITA member is welcome to apply. Library students and members of underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged to apply. Contributors will be expected to write one post per month. Writers will also participate in peer editing and conversation with other writers – nothing too serious, just be ready to share your ideas and give feedback on others’ ideas. Writers should expect a time commitment of 1-3 hours per month. Not ready to become a regular writer but you’d like to contribute at some point? Just indicate in your message to me that you’d…

General information

Storify of LITA’s First UX Twitter Chat

LITA’s UX Interest Group did a fantastic job moderating the first ever UX Twitter Chat on May 15th. Moderators Amanda (@godaisies) and Haley (@hayleym1218) presented some deep questions and great conversations organically grew from there. There were over 220 tweets over the 1-hour chat. The next UX Twitter Chat will take place on Friday, May 29th, from 2-3 p.m. EDT, with moderator Bohyun (@bohyunkim). Use #litaux to participate. See this post for more info. Hope you can join us! Here’s the Storify of the conversation from May 15th.

2015

Events surrounding the LITA President’s Program at ALA Annual

As LITA President, one of my initiatives for my presidential year was to improve the member experience. I’ve been doing this by applying user experience concepts that I’m familiar with in my everyday job to effect change and improve the overall experience for current members and those who are on the fence about joining. The LITA member experience encompasses all aspects of a member’s interaction with the association, including its programming, educational opportunities, publications, events, and even other members. The LITA Board, Committees, and ad hoc Task Forces have been instrumental to making a positive difference in the experiences of our members. Therefore, it was important for me to pick someone for my President’s Program at ALA Annual that is considered to be an expert on user experience (UX). Accomplished information architect and author Louis Rosenfeld and LITA President Rachel Vacek will discuss the curious world of user experience at…

2015

Contest: Great Library UX Ideas Under $100

In case you haven’t noticed, user experience (UX) is all the buzz in libraries lately. If you aren’t already in the thick of a UX project now, you’re likely thinking of ways to start one. Accomplished information architect and author Lou Rosenfeld will discuss the curious world of user experience at the 2015 LITA President’s Program at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, on Sunday, June 28th, 2015, from 3-4pm. He’ll tackle your questions with moderation from LITA President Rachel Vacek on the importance of UX research and what libraries can do to provide better experiences. This is a conversation you won’t want to miss! As we approach ALA Annual, the LITA President’s Program Planning Team invites you to share your library’s successful UX projects through the LITA President’s Program Contest: Great Library UX Ideas Under $100. Join us as we celebrate library innovation! Contest Description Have you done…

2015

Chat: UX Twitter Chat

Participate in LITA’s first ever UX Twitter Chat! When will this happen? Friday, May 15th, 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderators Amanda (@godaisies) and Haley (@hayleym1218), See Archive Friday, May 29th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Bohyun (@bohyunkim), See Archive Friday, June 12th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Whitni (@_whitni) Friday, June 19th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Michael (@schoeyfield) Friday, July 10th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Matt (@mreidsma) and Kyle (@gwydion9) Friday, July 24th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Matt (@mreidsma) and Kyle (@gwydion9) Friday, August 7th 2-3 p.m. EDT Friday, August 21th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Pete (@pfcoco) Friday, September 4th 2-3 p.m. EDT Friday, September 18th 2-3 p.m. EDT with moderator Amanda (@godaisies) What is the UX Twitter Chat? Share your challenges, successes, techniques, and workflows that you have developed to improve user experience (UX) at your library. Use #litaux to participate. Additionally, you can ask…

2015

Learn to Teach Coding and Mentor Technology Newbies – in Your Library or Anywhere!

Attend a free one hour webinar to discover what learning to teach coding is all about, and then register for and attend the LITA preconference at ALA Annual. This opportunity is following up on the 2014 LITA President’s Program at ALA Annual where then LITA President Cindi Trainor Blyberg welcomed Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code. The informational webinar is free and open to the first 100 log-ins: Tuesday May 26, 2015 at 1:00 pm Central Time http://ala.adobeconnect.com/teachcoding/ Enter as guest. The webinar will be recorded and the link to the recording will be posted to these same resource spaces. Here the link to the Recording now available. Register online for the ALA Annual Conference and add a LITA Preconference  Black Girls CODE (BGC) is devoted to showing the world that black girls can code, and grow the number of women of color working in technology. LITA is devoted to putting on…

General information

LITA and ALA elections close on May 1, 2015

There is still time to vote for LITA and ALA candidates. The polls will close on Friday May 1, at 11:59 pm Central Time. So make sure you cast your ballot. LITA Division Candidates include: President Candidates: Aimee Fifarek Nancy Colyar Director-at-large candidates: Ken Varnum Susan Sharpless Smith Martin Kalfatovic Frank Cervone ALA Candidates who are LITA members include: Presidential candidate: Joseph Janes Council candidates: Brett Bonfield Megan Drake Henry Mensch Colby Mariva Riggs Jules Shore Eric Suess Joan Weeks ALA notified voters by email, providing them with their unique passcodes and information about how to vote online. To ensure receipt of your ballot, members should watch for emails from ALA Election Coordinator, noreply@directvote.net. The subject line will be “ALA 2015 election login information below.” To be eligible to vote, individuals must be members in good standing as of January 31, 2015. Although the election is being conducted online, there…