2007

Thanks to our bloggers

LITA and BIGWIG would like to thank the volunteers that put forward such a phenomenal effort to capture LITA Forum 2007 for us. Without them, we couldn’t have covered the conference in the detail that we did, and I would like to give them a round of virtual applause for their efforts. *applause* Thanks go out to: Danielle Plumer Krista Clumpner Jacqui Grallo Beth Winstead Virginia Kinman Beverly Stafford Kelly Drake Genny Engel Melissa Williams If I missed anyone, please let me know and I’ll append my list.

2007

Five Months with WorldCat Local

  Speaker: Jennifer Ward, University of Washington Libraries Jennifer started by showing a YouTube video, “Finding Time in the Penn State Libraries,” to illustrate the problems searchers have when looking for material through library catalogs. I was amused when I looked for the video that another librarian has posted a video response, “Finding Time Magazine at Humboldt State” that shows a simpler search process. Jennifer is head of Web Services at the University of Washington Libraries, and she described her experiences as a participant in the OCLC WorldCat Local Beta project. She noted that she was not free to share everything, due to a non-disclosure agreement with OCLC. She largely walked the audience through the uwashington.worldcat.org, which is available to all users although it may not behave as expected for users not in Washington state. The other Beta participant currently is the Peninsula Library System in California, with an implementation…

2007

Poster Sessions

LITA 2007 offers ten poster sessions covering a wide variety of topics. I will try to give you a glimpse of each of the offerings present. While ten were listed not all were present. Take your online services to the next level: audio, video and more! By Michelle Jeske (Denver Public Library) really showed how you could add visual and audio interest to your library’s virtual presence. Virtual storytime with a children’s librarian reading the book while the illustrations are shown was especially interesting, as was the ability to put audio instructions for using the web site in either English or Spanish. SFX usability testing at ASU by Tammy Allgood and Jenna Amani (Arizona State University) showed immediate applications to improving their pages. They observed users going through set tasks and began making changes immediately based on what they learned, cleaning up the pages and converting to more natural language….

2007

In Your Face(book): Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” said Alan Kay, father of the laptop computer, the apple/mac graphical user interface, and object oriented programming. Ruminations upon this quote kicked off Gerry McKiernan’s presentation on the social networking site Facebook, during which McKiernan used the Swiss Army knife as metaphor for online social networking, and Facebook as one of the multi-use tools. Why should librarians use Facebook? Because it’s a preferred medium of comunication among college-age and younger students as well as, increasingly, the rest of us. Studies indicate that tweens & teens use Facebook to discuss educational/homework topics; Facebook has the largest number of registered users among college-focused sites. So why haven’t more college faculty bought into the concept? McKiernan thinks it’s because some of us (I’ve heard repeatedly over the past couple days that 35 is the cut-off for being “cool” but I don’t believe…

2007

Preconference II: Library-wide IT Proficiency

Melissa has already blogged the general outline so I’m just adding my comments. There were 55 folks registered for this 6 hour preconference. Participants were from all types of libraries – academic, special, public, government, etc. Some support just IT proficiency for employees; others support employees and students. In the discussion on how to get staff involved and interested they suggested sharing the weekly video by David Pogue. He’s with the New York Times and does a weekly tech tip. Don’t reinvent the wheel – look for existing lists of proficiency topics, other teaching tips, etc. but do tailor what you find to your audience and your situation. You might want to consider doing a user assessment and tailoring needs to this but remember many staff that really need training don’t recognize it. Find fun and interesting ways to encourage people to show up or take part. We discussed the…

2007

Letting the Cat Out of the Box?

Presenter: Edward M. Corrado, Systems Librarian, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Library October 6, 2007, LITA National Forum Edward Corrado has presented on social software, Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 on numerous occasions and is interested in the use of open source software and Web 2.0 applications in libraries. He is the author of an upcoming chapter in a book from Libraries Unlimited. He has a Masters of Library Service from Rutgers University and is on the Code4Lib Journal editorial committee, an e-journal designed for programmers in libraries. Where are our users, and how can we meet them on their turf? The library web site is not necessarily the first place students go, e.g., a student in the library near the reference desk was looking at B&N to find books and then wondering if the library had it. Next Gen catalogs have generated lots of discussion and some implementations…

2007

From Plone to Plinkit to Public Libraries: A Tale of Four States

Darci Hanning, Oregon State Library, Sharon Morris, Colorado State Library, Kristi Lindsey, Penrose Community Library District, Beverly J. Obert, Rolling Prairie Library District, Tine Walczyk, Texas State Library and Archives Commission Plinkit is a program for developing database-driven web sites for libraries, that uses open-source software, and is free to the libraries who use them. Individual library projects are created with training and support by librarians from statewide/regional library organizations, using statewide funding. They work together to bring this resource into existence for the benefit of small towns, particularly in rural areas. The presenters all find it gratifying to help small libraries develop web sites with the Plinkit project. Each of the presenters gave a description of Plinkit from a different perspective. We heard viewpoints of trainers, administrators, and a librarian from a small town; all who are involved in using the Plinkit in different ways.

2007

Start-Up Process Management for Library Media Production Services

Presenter: Sean Cordes, Coordinator of Instruction Services, Malpass Library, Western Illinois University Libraries October 6, 2007, LITA National Forum Sean Cordes was previously Instructional Technology Library at Parks Library, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. He holds masters degrees in educational technology, and in library and information science from the University of Missouri. His responsibilities at Western Illinois include academic web designer, technology librarian and instruction coordinator. This presentation describes the rationale and practical considerations that went into creating the Iowa State library’s Media Production Services (MPS), a video editing studio that allows students to digitize, manipulate and create media, DVDs, slide shows, etc., over a one to one and a quarter year time period, including how the library and IT came together as a group to define roles and policies. The slides include visuals and photographs of the area, equipment, and signage. Why provide media production services for…