If you’re going to ALA Midwinter in Boston, don’t miss these excellent LITA activities. Click the links for more information. And check out the entire: LITA at ALA Midwinter schedule Friday, January 8, 2016, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm LITA “Makerspaces: Inspiration and Action” tour at Midwinter! How do you feel about 40,000 square feet full of laser cutters, acetylene torches, screen presses, and sewing machines? Or community-based STEAM programming for kids? Or lightsabers? If these sound great to you Register Now Saturday, January 9, 2016, 10:30 am to 11:30 am, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center – 104 BC All Committees, and all Interest Groups, meetings This is where and when all the face to face meetings happen. If you want to become involved in working with LITA, show up, volunteer, meet your colleagues, express your interests, share your skills. Sunday, January 10, 2016, 10:30 am to 11:30 am, Boston Convention &…
Category: ALA Midwinter Meetings
Register for “Makerspaces: Inspiration and Action” at ALA Midwinter
How do you feel about 40,000 square feet full of laser cutters, acetylene torches, screen presses, and sewing machines? Or community-based STEAM programming for kids? Or lightsabers? If these sound great, you should register for the LITA “Makerspaces: Inspiration and Action” tour at Midwinter! We’ll whisk you off to Somerville for tours, nuts and bolts information on running makerspace programs for kids and adults, Q&A, and hands-on activities at two great makerspaces. Artisan’s Asylum is one of the country’s premier makerspaces. In addition to the laser cutters, sewing machines, and numerous other tools, they rent workspaces to artists, offer a diverse and extensive set of public classes, and are familiar with the growing importance of makerspaces to librarians. Parts & Crafts is a neighborhood gem: a makerspace for kids that runs camp, afterschool, weekend, and homeschooling programs. With a knowledgeable staff, a great collection of STEAM supplies, and a philosophy…
LITA Annual Report, 2014-2015
As we reflect on 2014-2015, it’s fair to say that LITA, despite some financial challenges, has had numerous successes and remains a thriving organization. Three areas – membership, education, and publications – bring in the most revenue for LITA. Of those, membership is the largest money generator. However, membership has been on a decline, a trend that’s been seen across the American Library Association (ALA) for the past decade. In response, the Board, committees, interest groups, and many and individuals have been focused on improving the member experience to retain current members and attract potential ones. With all the changes to the organization and leadership, LITA is on the road to becoming profitable again and will remain one of ALA’s most impactful divisions. Read more in the LITA Annual Report.
ALA Midwinter 2015 LITA Preconference Review: How User Testing Can Improve the User Experience of Your Library Website
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Tammi Owens Last July, Winona State University’s Darrell W. Krueger Library rolled out a completely new website. This January we added to that new user experience by upgrading to LibGuides and LibAnswers v2. Now, we’re looking for continuous improvement through continuous user experience (UX) testing. Although I have some knowledge of the history and general tenets of user experience and website design, I signed up for this LITA pre-conference to dive into some case studies and ask specific questions of UX specialists. I hoped to come away with a concrete plan or framework for UX testing at our library. Specifically, I wanted to know how to implement the results of UX testing on our website. The instructors Kate Lawrence is the Vice President of User Research at EBSCO. Deirdre Costello is the Senior User Experience Researcher at EBSCO. I was a little…
ALA Midwinter 2015 LITA Preconference Review: Introduction to Practical Programming
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Anthony Wright de Hernandez The Friday before Midwinter officially started, I attended the LITA preconference session Introduction to Practical Programming. As a first-time conference attendee with SQL, XML, PHP, HTML, and Visual Basic experience, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from a session that encouraged attendance by participants with no programming background. I chose to attend because I want to learn Python and thought this session would provide a good introduction to the language. The Instructor Elizabeth Wickes, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, clearly knows programming in general and Python in particular. Her instructional style for this session was conversational and informative. Her passion and knowledge kept the daylong session engaging. The mix of basic programming information with Python-specific information ensured that no part of the day was wasted for anyone. The Session The session began…
LITA Board Meeting Two – ALA Midwinter 2015
If you would like to listen in to the LITA Board meeting at ALA Midwinter 2015, it is streaming (in audio) below:
LITA Board Meeting One – ALA Midwinter 2015
If you would like to listen in to the LITA Board meeting at ALA Midwinter 2015, it is streaming (in audio) below:
LITA Interest Group Events at ALA Midwinter
Are you headed to ALA Midwinter this weekend and curious about what the LITA interest groups will be up to? See below for a current listing of LITA IG events! Saturday, January 31, 2015 10:30am to 11:30am Imagineering Interest Group, Hyatt Regency McCormick Adler/CC 24C The Imagineering Interest Group will meet to plan for future ALA Annual programs and meetings. We will also talk about future group endeavors, such as creating online resources. Please attend if you are interested in working with the group. Additional Information: Librarianship, Adult Services, Collection Development, Popular Culture, Reader’s Advisory Open Source Systems Interest Group, Hyatt Regency McCormick Burnham/CC 23C Meeting to discuss future projects for the Open Source Systems Interest Group. Search Engine Optimization, Hyatt Regency McCormick Jackson Park/CC 10D Attendees will have an opportunity to share their experiences with search engine optimization. We will also discuss the SEO Best Practices Wiki entry in Library Success:…
LITA at ALA Midwinter 2015
If you’re making the hop to Chicago for ALA Midwinter 2015 then check out all the great LITA events. Get full details at the LITA Highlights at 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting web page. Friday, January 30, 2015 There will be 2 Pre-conference Workshops from 8:30-4:00 at McCormick Place in Chicago IL. Introduction to Practical Programming with Elizabeth Wickes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign From Lost to Found: How user Testing Can Improve the User Experience of Your Library Website with Kate Lawrence and Deirdre Costello, sponsored by EBSCO Information Services Costs for LITA Members start at $235 and you can still register at LITA’s Midwinter Workshops. Throughout the Conference LITA Committees and Interest Groups will be holding timely and vibrant discussions on topics such as linked data, drupal, games, coding, data-driven decision making, open source projects, user experience, library technology projects and more. Check out the Sessions web page as well as…
Register Now for LITA Midwinter Institutes
Whether you’ll be attending Midwinter or are just looking for a great one day continuing education event in the Chicago/Midwest area, we hope you’ll join us. When? All workshops will be held on Friday, January 30, 2015, from 8:30-4:00 at McCormick Place in Chicago IL. Cost for LITA Members: $235 (ALA $350 / Non-ALA $380, see below for details) Here’s this year’s terrific line up: Developing mobile apps to support field research Instructor: Wayne Johnston, University of Guelph Library Researchers in most disciplines do some form of field research. Too often they collect data on paper which is not only inefficient but vulnerable to date loss. Surveys and other data collection instruments can easily be created as mobile apps with the resulting data stored on the campus server and immediately available for analysis. The apps also enable added functionality like improved data validity through use of authority files and capturing…