When: Sunday, June 24, 2012 – 1:30pm – 3:30pm
Where: Anaheim Convention Center, Ballroom A

The panelists:

•     Stephen Abram, Gale Cengage Learning
•     Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC
•     Meredith Farkas, Portland State University Library
•     Clifford Lynch, CNI
•     Nina McHale, Arapahoe Library District, Colorado

Additional information and registration are available at http://www.ala.org/lita/learning/online/socialcatalog

New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 11:00 a.m. Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listing. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

Also, I encourage you to go and check out the awesome ALA Annual Conference Scheduler and build your own custom calendar for the conference.

Please note that the LITA Happy Hour will be on Sunday 6/24/2012 from 5:30pm – 8:00pm (a change from our usual Friday evening, so I felt it should be highlighted)

•     Cindi Trainor, Vice-President/President-Elect
•     Cody Hanson, Rachel Vacek, Directors-at-Large

Additionally, the proposed changes to LITA Bylaws Section 1, Article IX, were adopted. This change requires the Nominating Committee to present the names of candidates to the Board of Directors at the Midwinter Meeting , instead of the Annual Conference, preceding an election.

LITA members elected as ALA Councilors-at-Large include:  Aaron Dobbs, Mario M. Gonzalez, Joan S. Weeks, Karen G. Schneider, Eric D. Suess, and Courtney Louise Young

Anyone may join the meeting by clicking the following link 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting:
https://wfu.webex.com/wfu/j.php?ED=151748557&UID=1241898872&PW=NZTU5NzQzYTMw&RT=MiM3

The meeting number is 640 602 152. You will be provided a few options for audio connectivity. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: LITA.

Lauren Pressley, LITA Board director-at-large, is hosting this meeting. If you have any technical questions, please contact Lauren at pressllm (at) wfu.edu. The meeting agenda and documents will be posted in the LITA Board Connect Community.

If you have any questions, recommendations, or wish to discuss any of this, please leave a comment.

New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 11:00 a.m. Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listing. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New This Week

Associate University Librarian for Special Collections, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC

 
Director, Client Relations & Quality Assurance(Job ID# 5678),  Lone Star College System, Houston, TX

Director of Curation Services, ICPSR/University of Michigan,  Ann Arbor, MI

 
Learning Commons Reference/Instruction Librarian,  Zell B. Miller Learning Center, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, GA

Humanities Liaison Librarian for Spanish and Latin American Studies, The Pennsylvania State University Libraries
University Park,  PA

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Bonnie Postlethwaite as Dean of University Libraries for a two-year term, effective July 1, 2012. As the current Associate Dean of Libraries with a long history of administrative service and an extensive knowledge of UMKC and its complex libraries’ system, Postlethwaite is particularly well suited for this appointment.

Since coming to UMKC in 2006, Associate Dean Postlethwaite has provided leadership, strategic direction and administrative oversight for University Libraries operations, including the Miller Nichols Library, which houses the LaBudde Special Collections and Marr Sound Archives and the Music Media Library, the Health Sciences Library (Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy) and the Dental Library.

Among her accomplishments as Associate Dean, Postlethwaite has led the development of the University Libraries strategic plan and its implementation. She has worked with the Dean of Libraries and library directors to create and manage the annual budget and has provided leadership to divisional directors for operation management and planning. Postlethwaite has participated in the planning teams for the library additions and renovations and has managed the impact of construction projects on library operations. In addition, she has served as Principal Investigator on two successful grants for collections in the Marr Sound Archives: a $500,000 grant to catalog transcription discs in the Goldin Collection and a $127,536 National Endowment of the Humanities grant to catalog and preserve KMBC radio transcription discs.

Before coming to UMKC, Postlethwaite was Associate Dean of Information Services (2000-2005) at Baker University, and Associate Vice President of IS (2005-2006). From 1991-2000, she was the Director of University Library Technology Services at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

Please join me in expressing appreciation to Associate Dean Postlethwaite for agreeing to accept this new role as our Dean of University Libraries. Toward the end of the two-year term, we will seek input and make decisions about next steps for the Library.”

Bonnie Postlethwaite has been especially active with the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA).  She was president in 2006-2007, and a member of the LITA Board of Directors and its Executive Committee from 2002 to 2008.  Currently, she chairs the LITA Assessment and Research Committee.  Colleen Cuddy, LITA President, said “Congratulations to Bonnie and to the UMKC for choosing a technology leader to lead their libraries.  Bonnie is an asset to LITA and is sure to excel in her new role.”

Anyone may join the meeting by clicking the following link 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting:
https://wfu.webex.com/wfu/j.php?ED=151748522&UID=1241898202&PW=NN2U0OWZkNDlh&RT=MiM3. The meeting number is 641 130 480. You will be provided a few options for audio connectivity. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: LITA.

Lauren Pressley, LITA Board director-at-large, is hosting this meeting. If you have any technical questions, please contact Lauren at pressllm (at) wfu.edu. The meeting agenda and documents will be posted in the LITA Board Connect Community.

If you have any questions, recommendations, or wish to discuss any of this, please leave a comment.

Web Content Strategy for Libraries
Speakers: Nina McHale, Arapahoe Library District, Colo.; Chris Evjy, Jefferson County Public Library, Colo.
Your library’s new website is powered by a high-octane content management system (Drupal, WordPress, etc.) that gives you more power than ever to communicate with your patrons. But what are you saying? How are you saying it? What kind of service are you providing online? How can you ensure that it’s just as good as in your buildings? Content strategy to the rescue! Topics will include strategy development, training & adoption, production control and governance.

Creating Library Linked Data: What Catalogers and Coders Can Build
Facilitator: Debra Shapiro, University of WI-Madison School of Library & Information Studies
This preconference is positioned to take advantage of the growing interest in the library community to work to transform the wealth of quality, library-created metadata – billions of bibliographic records, finding aids, descriptions of digital content – into linked data. Some of the infrastructure necessary is already in place, such as the availability of the DDC as linked data, Library of Congress’ efforts making the vocabularies it maintains available in Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS), and the Open Meatadata Registry, where RDA, Dublin Core, and other element sets are available in Semantic Web-consumable form. Production level tools to create linked data, as well as discovery systems to deploy linked data, are yet to be built.

The preconference will be an un-conference-style event. We plan to start with a series of lightning talks from librarians and technologists involved in a variety of linked data efforts. Afterward, we will break into work groups, to begin to design linked data systems, and associated discuss issues. The project work will be followed with reports from each group, so that everyone can share in the progress being made. Please join us in this important effort to begin the migration of library data into linked data, woven into the Semantic Web! Please visit the LITA website for a list of confirmed speakers: http://www.ala.org/lita/conferences/annual/2012

Building Digital Collections Using Islandora
Speaker: Kirsta Stapelfeldt, University of Prince Edward Island; Mark Leggott, University of Prince Edward Island
This session will introduce the key concepts underpinning the Islandora Digital Asset Management system. Participants will learn the basics of running this rich repository system and how to utilize common “solution packs” to create and theme collections in Islandora. Participants will learn how to begin modeling and curating custom data collections and how to migrate from other repository systems, including ContentDM, DSpace and more. Textbooks and system access will be provided; participants should bring computers.

Please note: you do not have to register for ALA Annual Conference to attend a preconference. Visit the LITA website for more information on registration and other LITA events at ALA Annual Conference: http://www.ala.org/lita/conferences/annual/2012

New This Week

Coordinator of Library Technology,  McConnell Library, Radford University, VA

Metadata and Emerging Technologies Librarian, Yale University, New Haven,  CT

 System Administrator,  Naperville Public Library, Naperville, IL

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

Named in honor of one of the pioneers of library automation, the Atkinson Award recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management, and has made notable improvements in library services or research.

“John Helmer is recognized as an effective leader and champion of new ideas and initiatives in academic libraries,” said Mary Carmen Chimato, Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award committee chair and assistant dean of the University of the Pacific Library. “The committee was impressed with John’s breadth of experience, professional contributions, and his ability to facilitate collaboration across 36 individual institutions.  Most impressive is the genuine respect, appreciation and high esteem John’s colleagues hold for him, evidenced by the compelling nomination packet submitted to the committee.”

As the Executive Director of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, “John is a champion of new ideas and initiatives and is able to convert his ideas, and the ideas of others, into actions that are supported by the group and that ultimately improve the Alliance,” wrote one of Helmer’s nominators.

The Orbis Cascade Alliance is a consortium of private and public colleges and universities in Oregon and Washington.  The Alliance was formed in 2003 through the merger of Orbis and Cascade, two academic library consortia founded in the early 1990’s.  The Alliance serves the equivalent of more than 225,000 full-time students at 36 member institutions.  Membership includes all public institutions in both states.  As Executive Director, John Helmer is responsible for consortium leadership, strategic planning, budgeting, staff supervision, representing the consortium in professional and public meetings, and fostering collaborative relationships among member libraries and consortium partners.

Helmer received his B.A. in Applied Mathematics and Economics from the University of California, San Diego. He earned his M.L.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles and has completed additional graduate coursework in the Department of Economics Ph. D. program at Princeton University.

The Hugh C. Atkinson Award is jointly sponsored by four divisions of the American Library Association: the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) and LITA. The award is funded from an endowment established to honor Hugh C. Atkinson.

Mr. Choudhury was especially recognized by the award jury for his leadership in the field of data curation through the National Science Foundation supported Data Conservancy project, which expands the capabilities of research libraries in serving researchers and the institutions of which they are a part, and for his ongoing impact on the field of librarianship in applying the principles of librarianship to the curation and preservation of digital data.

In hearing of the award, Charles Henry, President of the Council on Library and Information Resources, said:  “I am delighted that Sayeed Choudhury has been selected to receive the Kilgour award. Sayeed has long been recognized for his astute and tireless leadership in support of library and information technology. He has been a source of acumen and illumination on topics such as data curation, digital architecture, and digital library innovation. His contributions transcend disciplinary boundaries: he is recognized and respected by communities as diverse as Medieval Studies and Astronomy, a rare and compelling achievement. I cannot think of a more appropriate recipient of the prestigious Kilgour award.”

Mr. Choudhury is the Associate Dean for Research Data Management and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. He is also the Director of Operations for the Institute of Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES) based at Johns Hopkins. He is a member of the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information, the ICPSR Council, DuraSpace Board, and a Senior Presidential Fellow with the Council on Library and Information Resources. Choudhury has BSE and MSE degrees in Civil Engineering and doctoral coursework in Geography and Environmental Engineering.

Choudhury has served as principal investigator for projects funded through the National Science Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Microsoft Research. He is the Principal Investigator for the Data Conservancy, one of the awards through NSF’s DataNet program.  Notified of the award, Mr Choudhury said:  “I am deeply honored by this award.  I have been very fortunate throughout my career to work with exceptional colleagues within the Sheridan Libraries and throughout the Libraries within Johns Hopkins University.  Additionally, I’ve had the pleasure and benefit of working with colleagues throughout our entire community so I hope they share this recognition with me.  I look forward to more opportunities to collaborate and advance the important work that lies ahead for libraries.”

Members of the 2012 Frederick G.  Kilgour Award committee are: Nancy Roderer, Johns Hopkins University (chair). Michael Witt, Purdue University (past chair);  Jason Battles, The University of Alabama; Cecilia Schmitz, Auburn University; David King, LITA board liaison; and Roy Tennant, OCLC liaison.

The award recognizes outstanding persons or institutions for their long-term contributions in the area of Library and Information Science technology and its application. It consists of $1,000 and a certificate of merit.

Art Hendricks, LITA/Hi Tech Award Committee chair, said, “Arguably few people have done more to disseminate ideas and deepen our knowledge about the digital future than Clifford Lynch.”  Dr. Lynch has been the Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) since 1997.  CNI, jointly sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries and EDUCAUSE, includes about 200 member organizations concerned with the intelligent uses of information technology to enhance scholarship and intellectual life.

Dr. Lynch holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, where he is an adjunct professor in the School of Information. Prior to joining CNI, Dr. Lynch spent eighteen years in the office of the president at UC Berkeley, including ten years as Director of Library Automation.

He is a past president of the American Society for Information (and recipient of their Award of Merit), a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the National Information Standards Organization. In 2011 he was appointed co-chair of the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information. He serves on numerous advisory boards and visiting committees and is much sought as a speaker at conferences.

LITA and Emerald, the publisher of Library Hi Tech, are pleased to present the 2012 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award to Clifford Lynch for his outstanding contributions to communication in library technology. The award will be presented before the LITA Top Tech Trends program on Sunday June 24, 2012 at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA.

LITA members who are ALA councilor candidates include:  George J. Fowler, Susan Castleberry, Karen G. Schneider, Jennifer Cabanzan (Canezal), Joan S. Weeks, Jim Kuhn, Aaron Dobbs, Kevin Bruce Gunn, Steven K. Bowers, Peggy Cadigan, Courtney Louise Young, Elisabeth Leonard, ShuYong Jiang, Cynthia D. Clark, Mario M. Gonzalez, and Eric D. Suess.

Committee members have the opportunity to:

• Gain valuable leadership experience while helping to shape the future of LITA,
• Honor outstanding colleagues for their contributions as part of an achievement award committee,
• Encourage the development of future library leaders by serving on a student scholarship award committee,
• Participate in planning professional educational opportunities, including program planning and managed discussions, regional institutes and online learning webinars,
• Participate in planning publications including the LITA Guides, ITAL (the division journal), and multiple LITA web sites,
• Develop in-person and virtual networking opportunities through membership development activities,
• …and much more!

Please consider volunteering for a committee to help us meet our objectives and move LITA forward in new and exciting ways. For most committees, service does not require travel. I encourage you to explore the possibilities for yourself.

In addition to committees, I will be appointing LITA representatives to ALA and other organizations. The list of open positions is included in the committee volunteer form.

Volunteering can be easily done by visiting the ALA online volunteer form (login with your ALA membership ID is required). You must be a LITA member in order to volunteer for committee and representative positions.

To find out more about what committees LITA has to offer, please visit the Committee page on the LITA website.  Don’t forget to indicate what committee(s) you are interested in when you complete the volunteer form!

Please feel free to contact either myself or the LITA Office (lita@ala.org) if you have questions about volunteering. There are still openings available on most committees and appointments will take effect in July 2012.

Zoe Stewart-Marshall

LITA Vice President/President-Elect

We appreciate the LITA membership’s patience as we work to find a solution for future LITA governance meetings that will allow for member participation. The meeting agenda and documents are posted in the LITA Executive Committee Connect Group in the 2012 LITA-Executive-Committee-Spring-Meeting folder; look for Minutes from the meeting to posted publicly in the LITA Executive Committee Connect Group within the coming weeks.

Please leave a comment or contact the LITA office, lita (at) ala.org, with any questions you may have.

What is LITA?

LITA is the technology division of “the oldest, largest, and most influential library association in the world.” Structurally, this is what sets LITA apart from all of the other organizations, communities, and conferences that serve those of us who are committed to libraries and to efficient and innovative uses of technology. LITA’s status within ALA means we are in a unique position, and have a unique responsibility, to encourage libraries and ALA to make wise decisions about technology and to use technology wisely when making non-technical decisions.

LITA is also an impressive assembly of people who work in and in behalf of libraries. Meeting many of you in person and following many others’ work online, as well as learning more about the people we have elected to LITA’s board, has made me eager to participate in its governance.

LITA has the best members anywhere, but it’s struggled with retention. How will you make the members feel supported by, and connected to, LITA?

When you’re given an opportunity to do work that matters and results in something tangible, you develop a sense of ownership and loyalty toward the entity that provided you with that opportunity. You also make the world a marginally better place, and you’re happier for it.

The board’s responsibility is to help LITA allocate its resources effectively, and its members’ energy and expertise are unquestionably its most valuable. There are innumerable ways in which each of us has the capacity to change libraries for the better. The more of that LITA helps us do, the more likely we’ll be to renew our memberships and recruit additional members to join us.

If you could focus on one effort during your time as LITA Director, what would that be? What one thing most needs your attention?

Two words, but it’s one effort: simplicity and transparency. That’s what makes anything more accessible, and LITA is no exception.

I think two of the most famous maxims about simplicity apply: We need to focus on making LITA as simple as possible (though no simpler), and we need to focus on explaining LITA simply (because if we can’t, it means we don’t really understand it). We also need to be willing to provide that simple explanation to anyone who’s interested in hearing it.

Given the current financial conditions, many LITA members are unable to travel to conferences. What are your views on the use of technology to enable virtual attendance to various LITA meetings and functions?

Short answer: I’m 100% in favor of enabling virtual attendance.

Real answer: I think our individual financial resources and our interest in virtual participation are separate issues, and I think it’s important to see it that way. For one thing, if you conflate these ideas then it’s almost impossible not to create a tiered membership that views virtual attendance as a sort of adjunct to “real” participation. As a librarian, I’m committed to obviating this kind of tiering, and as a technologist I love finding ways to help people get the most out of every mode of communication, including online and face-to-face.

What new collaborative opportunities between LITA and other divisions or round tables would you like to see happen?

What I would most like is for LITA to provide more opportunities for collaborative opportunities, for LITA to become the library world equivalent of Silicon Valley. We have an enormous capacity and inclination for collaborating effectively in unexpected ways. My goal is for LITA to provide the freedom and the resources that nurture the kind of activities I mentioned above, those intersections of librarianship and technology that ultimately help to make the world a better place.

For more about Brett, see his LITA election page.

What is LITA?

LITA is a community of library and information professionals of all stripes working together to explore the ways technology can enhance the services we provide.

LITA has the best members anywhere, but it’s struggled with
retention. How will you make the members feel supported by, and connected to, LITA?

This is a tough question. LITA is an organization both for and by its members. You get out of LITA what you put into it, and each member ought to be as responsible as the next for communication, and for embodying the supportive, welcoming, productive ethos that we love about LITA.

That said, “Ask not what LITA can do for you” isn’t probably the most effective sales pitch when membership renewal time comes around. When I look at the value that I get out of ITaL (especially now that it’s OA!), LITA-L, conference sessions, IG meetings, and (dead serious here) LITA happy hours, my membership dollars feel very well spent. Which segues nicely into numbers 3 and 4…

If you could focus on one effort during your time as LITA Director, what would that be? What one thing most needs your attention?

I’d be interested in exploring a concerted member-driven marketing and communications effort. LITA staff do a terrific job of promoting the association and our events, but by necessity speak with an official voice. I’d like to see a communications committee that could take responsibility for LITA’s blog, Twitter account, etc. and begin pulling together all of the fantastic work of the association and its members. I think that a coherent and ongoing voice documenting the day-to-day accomplishments and concerns of our members would provide a powerful illustration of the value and vitality of the organization.

Given the current financial conditions, many LITA members are unable to travel to conferences. What are your views on the use of technology to enable virtual attendance to various LITA meetings and functions?

Another softball, eh?

I feel that all appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that open meetings are as open as possible, and to ensure that LITA membership has value even when members aren’t able to travel to meetings.

This is a very thorny problem, and not just for the legal reasons addressed at the recent LITA board meeting (see Andromeda’s post for her analysis). Here’s a no doubt incomplete list of issues as I see them:

1. Technology – Yes, it is 2012. Yes, we still cannot rely on sufficient reliable bandwidth to stream meetings and sessions from our conference locations. The vagaries of convention center bandwidth mean that we often won’t know what’s possible until we fire up a webcam at the start of a meeting. Under these conditions, we can’t responsibly give our members the expectation that they can reliably attend our sessions virtually. If you had stayed home from this past Midwinter under the assumption that you’d be able to view and interact with meetings in real-time, you would have been sorely disappointed, but not for lack of trying by LITA members on-site.
2. Privacy – There is a big difference between asking someone to volunteer on a committee and asking someone to do that committee work in a video live-streamed to the entire Internet and archived on a third-party for-profit video service. Yes, the work of our board and committees should be transparent to our membership, but many people have legitimate reasons why they may not want their voice or likeness broadcast willy-nilly, and I would never want these concerns to keep someone from volunteering for LITA.
3. Revenue – LITA relies on income from event attendance. Yes, almost all of LITA’s meetings are open meetings, but historically they have been open to paid conference attendees, with minutes available to the membership at large. When we make the decision to stream everything, we no longer give members as much incentive to attend in person. Again, I say this as a strong supporter of enabling virtual attendance. But for the association to remain strong, we’ll have to find new sources of revenue to replace event income, or figure out how to make LITA function as a leaner organization than it already is.
4. Quality – UStream+Twitter?Being there. We can and should investigate tools to help make virtual attendance at LITA events as robust as in-person attendance. But at least for right now, it isn’t the same. If we can’t bring you the hallway conversations and happy hour virtually, you’re missing out.

These are problems that we need to solve. And these are areas where I think it’s LITA’s duty to ALA and to the profession to lead the way. Perhaps we turn the problem on its head by making everything virtual first and then porting it back to the in-person events. Find ways to provide appropriate access for members, and look for reasonable opportunities to monetize quality virtual offerings. But we will have to solve these problems deliberately and systematically, because they bear directly on the health and future of the association. I would urge LITA members to engage with the full range of issues implicated here, and to resist the temptation to mistake the absence of an immediate solution for a lack of commitment to transparency.

What new collaborative opportunities between LITA and other divisions or round tables would you like to see happen?

I’ve been really impressed with the recent work of LITA’s Program Planning Committee. Abigail Goben and company have an incredible number of sessions coming up at Annual that LITA is co-sponsoring with other divisions and round tables. I’d like to see this trend continue, for LITA to position itself as a resource for the rest of ALA on tech topics.

This does get tricky though, and I wouldn’t want to sugar-coat it. At present, LITA’s operation is dependent on revenues not just from membership, but from events. In both of these areas, we’re often in effect competing with other divisions and professional organizations for the same shrinking pool of revenue. The most important issue we need to collaborate on with our peer organizations is growing that pool, and bringing greater coherence to the slate of organizations and professional development opportunities we offer.

Heck, I’d really like to see LITA collaborating with Code4Lib.

For more about Cody, see his LITA election page.

What is LITA?

To me, LITA is a community of innovators, leaders, technologists and liaisons to one another and those outside of the community. LITA is also an association, which means that people voluntarily come together with similar purposes to share an interest or activity. I believe that people join LITA because they want to learn something, help their colleagues and improve the library profession as a whole. They know that together they can make a difference and have greater impact than if they worked alone.

LITA has the best members anywhere, but it’s struggled with
retention. How will you make the members feel supported by, and connected to, LITA?

I believe that there are many additional things that can be done to support potential and current LITA members:

1. Involve enthusiastic, active members who have already embraced
   LITA’s mission and values in making new members feel welcome. They
   are knowledgeable, involved and committed to LITA. Active members
   can serve as role models for new members as well as those who have
   watched from the sidelines. There could be a buddy system, a new
   member mentoring program, or even a phone call or simple letter of
   welcome from an active member to a new member. Making new members
   feel important at the onset of their joining LITA is critical.
2. Recognize more frequently the outstanding contributions of LITA
   members, whether or not that work is directly associated with LITA. This recognition doesn’t have to be through formal award processes, but I’d like to see new models of sharing and appreciating the outstanding things we do for our profession and one another.
3. Emphasize that a benefit to joining LITA is about expanding your network and circle of influence, and even having some fun while doing it. The LITA Happy Hour is a great example, and I’d like to see more programs that encourage networking, engaging others and having fun with like-minded individuals.
4. Ask current and potential members their goals. I think the best way to get LITA members to commit is to get them to participate in activities that will further their goals and those of the profession. If we don’t know their goals, we can’t easily create additional meaningful and relevant training opportunities or events.

I believe that if current and future LITA members feel that they have learned both practical and innovative new things, if they are able to participate in workshops or events that meet their goals, if they have expanded their network, and if they feel connected to LITA more by engaging with active members, those LITA members will feel inspired to participate in new ways, will renew their membership and encourage others to join.

If you could focus on one effort during your time as LITA Director, what would that be? What one thing most needs your attention?

If I have to choose one area, I would like to focus my effort in moving forward online programming and the communication about such opportunities. Since member retention is a challenge for LITA, providing more opportunities for member participation is key. LITA members could share their knowledge and experience in teaching a greater variety of workshops, webinars and other types of online programming than what is currently being offered. With additional online programs, pricing can also be more flexible for those in libraries with differing financial situations.

Given the current financial conditions, many LITA members are unable to travel to conferences. What are your views on the use of technology to enable virtual attendance to various LITA meetings and functions?

I think that utilizing technology to enable virtual attendance is both fantastic and crucial to LITA’s future. In order for people to feel engaged and connected with LITA, providing options for participation is essential whether face-to-face or virtual. I applaud LITA’s recent efforts to stream meetings, capture video and audio whenever possible and encourage participation. I’d like to see LITA become the leader and a role model in this area for other divisions within ALA.

What new collaborative opportunities between LITA and other divisions or round tables would you like to see happen?

Every division within ALA could benefit from collaborating with LITA on technology standards, best practices, and other technology recommendations. I would like to see LITA implement some sort of liaison program to each of the divisions and many of the committees and groups within those divisions as well as many of the ALA offices. One mutually beneficial partner could be the Learning Round Table which promotes continuing education, helps people network with other continuing education providers for the exchange of ideas, concerns and solutions, serves as a source and advocates for the continuation of education. For example, I’d like to see LITA participate in their Annual Training Showcase.

You can learn more about Rachel at her LITA election page.

1) What is LITA?

LITA is my Tribe. We are Librarians Innovating Technology
Awesomesauce. Well, so much for glib answers

More seriously, LITA is LITA members. We are all doing nifty things with technology.

As an Association, our IGs put on a boatload of conference programming, including:

• “here’s cool stuff to try”
• “attend this pre-conference and walk out with something implemented for your library”
• “here’s the direction we see technology in libraries is heading”

Our committees manage the programs and focus efforts to produce worthwhile educational events and content. We coordinate or co-present a bunch of awards and scholarships and we are about educating and improving libraries and library services through technology.

–What is LITA?

LITA is where the technology users, super users, administrators, and creators mingle, keep tabs on each other, and throw around ideas for improving the library experience.

Long story short: LITA is you and the awesome stuff you do.

2) LITA has the best members anywhere, but it’s struggled with retention. How will you make the members feel supported by, and connected to, LITA?

LITA has had its share of organizational challenges and we are making strides to present our efforts in a more modern wrapper; but that is not enough.

I want to radically open internal communications and push the bounds of ALA policy (which constrains and encompasses LITA policy). I will encourage interested-member participation in any conversation within LITA by pushing for posts which do not touch on issues of personal privacy (which is the main constraint applied by ALA policy) to be publicly available and pledge to follow up on discussion points raised but not satisfactorily addressed. I feel the membership *has* spoken, everything I have done on LITA Board has been informed by what I have heard from members.

When the membership speaks, LITA must listen and take appropriate action.

I invite all LITA members – past, present, and future – to let me know what you feel LITA can do for you. I will work to make it happen and I will get you into a space where you can work toward that goal with me.

3) If you could focus on one effort during your time as LITA President, what would that be? What one thing most needs your attention?

Only one thing? I see two biggies, which I will list in order of priority:

Communication:

LITA has a plethora of communication channels – LITA-L, LITAblog, lita.org, ALA Connect, IG email lists, ad nauseam – each with their own strengths and weaknesses. LITA does not have one central channel which incorporates all these other channels; how do we each know what everyone else is doing?

We need to get our organizational communication house in order, provide member-customizable ways of taming the LITA-firehose, and get the word out about the great stuff we do.

Revenue generating programming:

Yes, I said it: “revenue generating.” LITA is currently one of the smaller ALA Divisions and we cannot (and should not!) balance the finances directly through member dues. Dues are plenty high enough already.

The LITA Program Planning Committee had a banner year for program proposals this year. Several of those selected for Annual (and several of those not selected too) have been suggested as high-demand programs that would appeal both to LITA members and to librarians and library staff at large. These programs could be presented outside a traditional face to face conference (such as Midwinter or Annual) with a relatively low overhead and low cost to attendees (with a suitable discount to LITA members). Other ALA Divisions do this regularly, LITA can too.

Communication, inviting member participation by open discussion, and revenue generating programs are LITA’s big needs in the short–term.

4) Given the current financial conditions, many LITA members are unable to travel to conferences. What are your views on the use of technology to enable virtual attendance to various LITA meetings and functions?

Technology has developed enough that physical collocation is no longer required for effective presentations, discussions, and decision-making. A few years back the LITA Electronic Participation Implementation Task Force worked up an cheat-sheet suggesting possible tools for various participation scenarios, which would need just a little updating to keep up with new tools available.
LITA IGs have already had virtual meetings with good results, see the ALA Connect space for the Mobile Computing IG Virtual Meeting at #alamw12.

This spring the LITA Board has been holding semi-monthly virtual meetings to get the governance business done, allowing time for tasks which are more appropriate to face to face meetings (from brainstorming to final tweaking).

Virtual is the now and the future, LITA should jump in with both feet and virtualize or hybridize everything which makes sense.

5) What new collaborative opportunities between LITA and other divisions or round tables would you like to see happen?

LITA has always been a collaborative Division. We have had MARBI (Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information) Joint committee which spans ALCTS, LITA, & RUSA for a long time. In the last few years LITA partnered with PLA to bring a public-library flavored Top Tech Trends session to the last PLA conference.

While I was on the OITP Advisory Committee, OITP requested a formal LITA representative on the advisory committee, which is now one of the liaison duties of the LITA Councilor. This tight formal relationship between LITA and the Office for Information Technology Policy at the Washington Office puts LITA right at the forefront of IT Policy monitoring and gives us a seat at the table when federal IT policy gets wonky.

What other collaborations might be appropriate?

I would team LITA up more closely with NMRT to keep our awareness of the skills new ALA members bring to the Association – and recruit those new members whose interests include using, adapting, and building technologies to support their library services. For the leadership-inclined, LITA could easily team up with LLAMA and co-sponsor a technology leadership series. On the assistive technologies front, LITA could team up with ASCLA to bring a broader awareness of specialized technologies and how they interplay with more “traditional” library technologies.

Technology is embedded all over ALA and its Divisions, LITA is uniquely positioned to inform and educate ALA members and interested library personnel on the strengths and challenges technology can provide people as they try to improve their libraries and library services.

***
For more information on Aaron, check out his Connect profile and his posts on LITAblog.

1) What is LITA?

This question seems like it should have an obvious answer, but it can be elusive. LITA is a professional organization. LITA is a home for anyone who considers herself an advocate of technology in libraries. LITA is … what? At its heart, LITA is its members–all its members: people who are linked by an interest in or passion for technology in libraries, however they define it. This array of definitions is exactly what makes LITA hard to define. The bottom line is: as reflected in our long and shifting list of Interest Groupss, LITA is what we–the members–make it.

2) LITA has the best members anywhere, but it’s struggled with retention. How will you make the members feel supported by, and connected to, LITA?

Our membership data indicates that many ALA members join LITA but don’t stay. That says to me that we either piqued their interest with programming and lost them somewhere along the way, or LITA fell prey to “second division syndrome.” Last year’s data indicate that some 76% of LITA members are members of another ALA division. In tight economic times, we have to prove our value to members outside programming and publications that are open to all ALA members by being an engaging community centered around the technologies we use in our libraries. LITA’s Interest Group structure is a wonderful tool for this; as we say in LITA 201, “Don’t see it? Make it!”

3) If you could focus on one effort during your time as LITA President, what would that be? What one thing most needs your attention?

I want to continue to close the gap between LITA governance and membership by making all Board activities visible to members and by working toward systematic leadership training. Leadership skills learned in LITA translate directly into the workplace, and systematic transfer of these skills from our veteran leaders to our members-at-large has not happened. When we welcome members into leadership roles in our organization, we do not have the luxury of time to give them a year to learn the ropes. People stepping into leadership roles should be given clear guidelines and expectations for getting their (clearly defined) work accomplished. Concomitantly, members stepping into Committee and IG roles should also have clear expectations and should be able to see the path from Committee/IG member to chair to Board member, should they have an interest.

4) Given the current financial conditions, many LITA members are unable to travel to conferences. What are your views on the use of technology to enable virtual attendance to various LITA meetings and functions?

The reasons most often given for not offering virtual components to programming are economic. LITA is a small division, and as such doesn’t have extra funds available to contract with a company outside ALA, as other divisions have done. That said, there are myriad tools available, inside ALA and freely available on the Internet, that can be harnessed to do this. The key, again, is planning for this in a systematic and continual way, not the seat-of-our-pants way it’s been done in the past. Although LITA’s seat-of-our-pants nature is something I’m very proud of!

5) What new collaborative opportunities between LITA and other divisions or round tables would you like to see happen?

Collaborative opportunities abound, and I look forward to encouraging and pursuing them as LITA President. Technology is pervasive in our profession, and integral to getting our work done; partnerships could be made with most any division or round table. Joint Interest Groups are a great member-driven way to connect two Divisions and give these groups resources for meetings and programming at conferences. ALA Connect spaces for Joint IGs or for more informal Communities afford us the opportunity to collaborate between conferences. LITA members have played integral roles in ALA-level task forces, committees and work groups. Closing the gap between members and the board and providing members with systematic leadership training will insure that LITA members will continue to be the go-to tech people for ALA as well as its Divisions and Round Tables.

***

For more information on Cindi, check out her LITA Election page.

Modeled on Eva Dodsworth’s LITA Guide of the same name, Getting Started with GIS will provide participants with an introduction to both the online and desktop GIS currently being used by library administrators, librarians, library support staff and library users. Participants will learn firsthand how to create online maps; how to properly use maps in library Web pages; how to embed GIS technology into library projects; and how to enjoy GIS and mapping technologies in personal endeavors. Students will be exposed to many online resources that are currently being used by public, academic and special libraries across North America. No previous mapping or GIS experience is necessary. For registration and additional information, visit: www.ala.org/lita/learning/online/gis

New This Week

Library Digital Services Manager,  Edward’s University, Austin, TX

 
Voyager Support Analyst,  Ex Libris,  Des Plaines, IL

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

All LITA members are encouraged to “subscribe” to ITAL via the “Subscribe” link on the right side of the page; just register your e-mail address and you will then automatically get an e-mail notification when a new issue comes out.

As announced to LITA members in early January, ITAL is adopting an open-access, e-only publishing model. This will help ensure the long-term viability of ITAL by making it more accessible, more current, more relevant, and more environmentally friendly. ITAL will continue to feature high-quality articles that have undergone a rigorous peer-review process, but it will also begin expanding content to include more case studies, commentary, and information about topics and trends of interest to the LITA community and beyond. Look for a new scope statement for ITAL shortly on the ITAL website.

With the first open-access, e-only issue launched, the ITAL Editorial Board’s attention will be turned to updating and improving the ITAL website and expanding the back content available. Our goal is to have all of the back issues of both ITAL and its predecessor, Journal of Library Automation (JOLA), openly available from the ITAL site. We’ll also be exploring ways to better integrate the ITALica blog and the ITAL preprints site with the main site.

Suggestions and feedback are welcome: please send to Bob Gerrity, ITAL Editor, at gerrityr (at) bc.edu.

Anyone may sit in on the meeting. Simply click on the following link 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting: https://ala.ilinc.com/join/jmjkpfx.

This session will use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), you will need either computer speakers or headphones to hear and a microphone if you want to speak during the session or you can submit questions via chat. A USB multi-media headset is recommended. An Audio Settings window will appear once you join the session, select your speaker hardware and microphone hardware from the indicated Device drop-down lists and follow the instructions. If this window does not appear or you have any issues during the session, you can access the Audio Settings by going to Controls > Audio Settings.

The meeting agenda and documents are posted in the LITA Executive Committee Connect community in the 2012 LITA-Executive-Committee-Spring-Meeting folder.

Colleen Cuddy, LITA president, leads the meeting. The protocol for online meetings is the same as for f2f. If you want to speak, please raise your hand. The president will recognize Executive Committee members first and then other participants. Only Executive Committee members may make motions, second them, and vote in accordance with The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure by Sturgis.

If you have any questions, recommendations, or wish to discuss any of this, please leave a comment.

I’m pleased to announce that Cindi Trainor has agreed to enter her name into the race. Cindi does happen to be a sitting board member with a term that expires in 2013. Aaron Dobbs, the other candidate, is also a sitting Board member with a term that expires this year. It is not unprecedented to have a sitting Board member with time remaining on his/her term, run for President. Nor is it unprecedented to have two sitting Board members face each other for election. It was a daunting task for the Committee to find a candidate on such short notice, but it was vital to us that we first ensure that no Presidential candidate run unopposed in the election, and second that LITA have a good race for the position. I think we have fulfilled these goals, just as we did when the first slate was approved last year.

Please see the 2012 LITA Election Candidates page here: http://www.ala.org/lita/about/election

If you have any questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to contact either me or Mary Taylor at ALA for any clarifications, concerns, or (I hope) congratulations for the Nominating Committee.

Thanks,
Andrew Pace
pacea (at) oclc.org
Chair, 2012 LITA Nominating Committee

The LITA Top Technology Trends panel discussion at ALA Midwinter in Dallas took place on Sunday, January 22, 2012. This year’s panel of technology experts was a combination of veteran and new faces: Stephen Abram, Gale Cengage Learning , Marshall Breeding, Vanderbilt University Library , Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC , Nina McHale, Arapahoe Library District, Colorado and Sue Polanka, Wright State University Libraries

Each trendster came prepared to discuss two technology trends of their choice. During Round One, the issues presented were:

• frictionless access – smartphone technology that provides unfettered access to services without user interaction (Stephen Abram)
• advent of “enterprise IT staff” for libraries – bringing in professional programmers rather than librarians who like programming (Nina McHale)
• impending demise of the ILS (Marshall Breeding)
• trend toward self-service (Sue Polanka)
• rise of personal institutional curation services (Lorcan Demsey)

Round Two topics were:

• on-demand tipping point– libraries offering a hybrid model to provide the physical experience for users (Stephen Abrams)
• web analytics (Nina McHale)
• reintegration of discovery with the backend systems (Marshall Breeding)
• technologies that take instruction in a different direction, e.g. touch screens (Sue Polanka)
• platform wars in consumer space and the implication for libraries (Lorcan Demsey)

The session was well attended with time allotted in each round for audience comments and questions. The session was also streamed live so that those unable to be there could participate virtually; the recording can be viewed on LITA’s USTREAM channel.

New This Week

Director, Information Technology and Information Products, Knowledge and Library Services, Harvard Business School Boston, MI

Director of Library Information Technology,  California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA

 
Web Services Librarian,  University Library, Sonoma State University,  Rohnert Park, CA

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

New This Week

Assistant University Librarian for Systems/Assistant Professor,  Eli M  Oboler Library, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID

Associate Director for Library Applications and Knowledge Systems,  UMB-Health Sciences and Human Services Library, Baltimore, MD

Associate Provost for Information Ser – Chief Information Officer (CIO), University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Green Bay, WI

Biomedical Informatics & Emerging Technologies Librarian, The Pennsylvania State University Libraries,  Hershey, PA

Catalog Librarian, Assistant or Associate Professor,  SIU Edwardsville,  Edwardsville, IL

Discovery Services Librarian,  Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

Librarian for Romance Languages and Latin American Studies, Dartmouth College Library,  Hanover,  NH

Systems Librarian,  Belmont University,  Nashville, TN

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

New This Week

Campus Director, Learning Commons,  Cuyahoga Community College,  Cleveland, OH

Collection Access and Support Services Librarian,  The Pennsylvania State University Libraries,  Hershey, PA

Dean of Library and Academic Support,  Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA

Learning Design Librarian, Millersville University, Millersville PA

Science Data Librarian, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT

Special Projects Librarian, Library Information Technology,  University of Michigan,  Ann Arbor, MI

Software Engineer, MIT Libraries, Cambridge, MA

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

Anyone may join the meeting by clicking the following link 10 minutes prior to the start of the meeting:
https://wfu.webex.com/wfu/j.php?ED=149563712&UID=1233236302&PW=NZDdkYzliZTA4&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D.
The meeting number is 643 511 814. You will be provided a few connectivity options. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: LITA.

Lauren Pressley, LITA Board director-at-large, is hosting this meeting. If you have any technical questions, please contact Lauren at pressllm (at) wfu.edu. The meeting agenda and documents will be posted in the LITA Board Connect Community.

If you have any questions, recommendations, or wish to discuss any of this, please leave a comment.

The 2012 theme is: New World of Data: Discover. Connect. Remix.

Due Date for proposals: February 17, 2012.

The committee is especially interested in presentations highlighting projects that are experimental or involve risk-taking.

Find additional information and submit a proposal at: http://connect.ala.org/node/164487.

New This Week

Circulation Supervisor,  Oregon State University Libraries, Corvallis, OR

Library Applications Development Manager,  University of Massachusetts Boston,  Boston, MA

Postdoctoral Research Associate – Digital Humanities,  University of Virginia Law Library, Charlottesville  VI

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

Audio Stream

Broadcasting live with Ustream

Join the Chat

Live stream by Ustream

Join the Chat

Audio Stream

Free live streaming by Ustream

Join the Chat

LITA: Libraries. Innovation. Technology. Awesomeness: Choose your own adventure!*

We probably knew this on the day of the meeting, but “Choose Your Own Adventure” is a registered trademark, so this is probably a good place to start with the discussion.

You are invited to virtually join the LITA members present in Dallas for the LITA Town Meeting – Monday 1/23 from 8-10am CST.  Instructions and links for how to participate virtually will be posted to the LITA Blog (http://litablog.org) approximate 30 minutes before the session starts.

We will be using UStream (audio only) and ALA Connect Chat to facilitate virtual participation.  We will stream the audio for the outbound channel – so virtual participants can hear the general introduction and overview and then break out into three streams – one on each topic – so that the discussion in the room can be heard.  Remote participants can log in to ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org/) chat to send questions and comments to a discussion moderator who will share those with the participants in the room.

No account is required to access the audio streams.  However to participate in the chat, you must have an account set up in ALA Connect.  You do not have to be a member of ALA or LITA to create an account in ALA Connect.(http://connect.ala.org/user/register)

We also encourage you to send in questions for the LITA Leadership.  Those can be sent in in advance (post on the LITA blog in comments (http://litablog.org/2012/01/lita-president-elect-zoe-stewart-marshall-hosts-the-lita-town-meeting/#respond) or reply to this posting with your question.  Or you can send in your questions the day of the Town Meeting through any of the chat streams. Or you can submit your questions via Twitter – please use the hash tag #LITATM12 – so we will be sure to see them.

There will be three general topics for discussion:

*what is the value that participation in professional associations in general and LITA in particular provide;

* how LITA can provide support for developing leadership skills in emerging technology leaders;

* where and how should LITA provide support for development of technology skills.

My thanks to the LITA members who have volunteered to wrangle the software and equipment needed to facilitate virtual participation!

Please do plan to join us and help us beta test ways to improved and enhance virtual participation in the work of the association. Your input on these important topics is greatly appreciated.

Zoe Stewart-Marshall
LITA Vice President/President-Elect

Live video from your Android device on Ustream

EDIT: We will start the stream as soon as we work out Wifi issue. Please be patient.

Live video by Ustream

The 2012 theme is: New World of Data: Discover. Connect. Remix.

The Forum Committee is interested in pre-conferences and presentations about projects, plans or discoveries in areas of library-related technologies related to the identification, location, harvesting, harnessing, use, misuse, preservation and loss of data of all types and all formats in dynamic and emerging web environments. We welcome proposals related to all types of libraries: public, school, academic, government, special and corporate. Proposals on any aspect of library and information technology are solicited. View and download the complete call for proposals [pdf].

Due Date for proposals: February 17, 2012

Submit proposals to: http://lib.skidmore.edu/library/LITA_Proposal.html

Meet your fellow LITA members, and participate in a conversation about how LITA responds to and involves its membership in the larger information, association, community-building, and technology-related landscape.

LITA, like most of the library community, faces many challenges that strike at the heart of what it means to be a member of LITA and ALA. Meet members of the LITA Board and provide input regarding:

• the value that participation in professional associations in general and LITA in particular provide;
• how LITA can provide support for developing leadership skills in emerging technology leaders;
• where and how should LITA provide support for development of technology skills and
• other questions that are brought forward by the membership.

We welcome and encourage the open participation of all LITA members, and potential LITA members, in this meeting with the goal of strengthening the health of this community-based organization. Please do take some time and attend the Town Meeting. For those LITA members who are not able to physically attend, information about other avenues of input will be made available.

WHERE:

• Dallas Convention Center Room A201/202
• Twitter #alamwttt

We have a great slate of panelists for the Midwinter 2012 session:

• Stephen Abram, Gale Cengage Learning
• Marshall Breeding, Vanderbilt University Library
• Lorcan Dempsey, OCLC
• Nina McHale, Arapahoe Library District, Colorado
• Sue Polanka, Wright State University Libraries

Join us for a fun and casual discussion regarding technology trends to watch from some of today’s foremost experts.

We thank LITA members for their continued interest in and support of the Association’s publishing initiatives.

More information about the upcoming changes to ITAL will be available at the ITAL website.

Here’s your chance to catch-up with your LITA friends, and maybe make some new ones. If you’re new to LITA, the Happy Hour is a great opportunity to get to know other members in a relaxed atmosphere. The LITA Membership Committee hopes to see you there!

LITA Happy Hour is immediately followed by the Emerging Leaders Soiree at the same location – these two crowds are so attuned it would be a shame to miss either one!

Mark Phillips of University of North Texas Libraries is presenting Digital Curation at the Command Line. Curation of digital content for long-term preservation seems like an impossible challenge, but many core tools for this work are available at the Linux command line. This workshop will provide a hands-on review of basic filesystem structure and navigation, permissions and ownership, and other tools for bit-level preservation. Attendees should have basic computing knowledge and some experience with Linux. Participants will need to bring a laptop; Ubuntu Live USBs will be distributed in the session.

Nina McHale of Arapahoe Library District, CO and Rachel Vacek of University of Houston will present Getting Started with Drupal. This workshop will provide a thorough introduction to the Drupal content management system. Presenter will guide attendees as they create Drupal sites in a sandbox environment, covering the basics of content creation, themes, modules, and user management. Demonstrations of innovative Drupal sites, including library sites, library intranets, and an electronic journal will be provided. Previous web experience is helpful, but not required. Participants should plan to bring a laptop.

• More information on these workshops and other LITA events at Midwinter can be found at the LITA web site.

Visit the ALA Midwinter Meeting registration page to register for these events. Please note: you do not have to register for the ALA Midwinter Meeting in order to attend these workshops. You may register for the workshop only or add a workshop to your existing Midwinter registration by calling ALA Registration at 1 (800) 974-3084 or through the online registration form in the “Your Events” section. Online Registration for workshops is available through January 16 or you may register onsite in Dallas.

Jodie is currently a systems librarian at Vanderbilt University. Tasha is currently a library assistant IV at the University of California.

The LITA Board wishes to ensure that its’ Emerging Leaders have meaningful leadership experiences within LITA, therefore Jodie and Tasha will work closely with the LITA President-elect.

The ALA Emerging Leaders Program enables newer librarians from across the country to participate in problem-solving workgroups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. Each participant is expected to provide one year of service to ALA or one of its units.

LITA had a number of excellent applicants and congratulates these additional LITA members on being accepted into the ALA Emerging Leaders Program as well: Anita Dryden, Erica Findley, Shell McHugh, Willie Miller, Lilly Ramin, Heather Rayl, Coral Sheldon-Hess, Andrew Sherman, and Carli Spina. LITA has a very bright future with such bright, rising stars.

This five-day course will help participants learn how to bring pieces of the Web together with library data. Learn what an API is and what it does, the components of Web services, how to build a mashup, how to work with PHP and how to create Web services for your library. Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about Web scripting and programming. This is a synchronous course with a daily lecture in iLinc, in addition to course material and discussion through Moodle. By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• understand and apply the major terms of Web services;
• use simple Web services like Yahoo Pipes to bring multiple sources of data together;
• build simple mashups with Javascript; build simple mashups with server-side scripts (PHP).

Registration and additional information is available on the LITA web site.

New vacancy listings are posted weekly and appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listing. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New Posting:

Product Manager, WorldCat Quality  OCLC , Dublin  OH

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

“We know libraries of all types are serving their communities with novel and innovative methods, and we want to collect as many examples of this work as possible. We’ve kept the nomination process simple so we can focus on the content, and we hope a little extra time will encourage more libraries to share their work with us,” said Christine Hage, chair of the Cutting-Edge Technology in Library Services selection committee.

“Cutting edge” refers to tested and successful implementations of technological advancements used in services such as:

• Improvements in traditional services and processes by inventing/re-inventing/twisting technology
• Introduction of new, innovative services that are flexible and responsive to community needs
• Methods for connecting libraries to their communities
• Funding initiatives or organizational models that ensure library information technology will remain current

Additional details, including submission information, for the nomination process can be found on the OITP website.

A joint committee of members from the Subcommittee on America’s Libraries for the 21st Century and LITA will review all nominations and may conduct selected interviews or site visits to identify those libraries that are truly offering a best practice or most innovative service. Libraries or library service areas will be publicized via the OITP and LITA websites, as well as highlighted through ALA publications and programs at the ALA Annual Conference in 2012.

The nomination form (.docx) is available online and may be emailed or faxed to Larra Clark at lclark (at) alawash.org or fax 202-628-8419.

Integrated Technologies Services Coordinator,  Kansas State University Libraries,  Manhattan,  KS

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

New Posting:

Director of Digital Initiatives (search EPA Staff #8607), University of North Carolina at Charlotte,  Charlotte,  NC

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

The purpose of the award is to recognize superior student writing and to enhance the professional development of students. The manuscript can be written on any aspect of libraries and information technology. Examples include digital libraries, metadata, authorization and authentication, electronic journals and electronic publishing, telecommunications, distributed systems and networks, computer security, intellectual property rights, technical standards, desktop applications, online catalogs and bibliographic systems, universal access to technology, library consortia and others.

At the time the unpublished manuscript is submitted, the applicant must be enrolled in an ALA-accredited program in library and information studies at the masters or PhD level.

To be eligible, applicants must follow the detailed guidelines and fill out the application form, available on the LITA web site. Send the signed, completed forms by February 28, 2012 to the Award Committee Chair, Heidi Hanson, University of Maryland, McKeldin Library, IT Division, College Park, MD 20742-7011. Submit the manuscript to Heidi electronically at hhanson (at) umd.edu.

The award will be presented at the LITA President’s Program during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim.

The Kilgour Research Award recognizes research relevant to the development of information technologies, in particular research which shows promise of having a positive and substantive impact on any aspect of the publication, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information or how information and data are manipulated and managed. The Kilgour award consists of $2,000 cash, an award citation and an expense paid trip to the ALA Annual Conference (airfare and two nights lodging).

Nominations will be accepted from any member of the American Library Association. Nominating letters must address how the research is relevant to libraries; is creative in its design or methodology; builds on existing research or enhances potential for future exploration; and/or solves an important current problem in the delivery of information resources. A curriculum vita and a copy of several seminal publications by the nominee must be included. Preference will be given to completed research over work in progress. More information and a list of previous winners can be found on the LITA web site.

Currently-serving officers and elected officials of LITA, members of the Kilgour Award Committee and OCLC employees and their immediate family members are ineligible.

Send nominations by December 31, 2011, to the Award jury chair:
Nancy Roderer
Johns Hopkins University William H Welch Medical Library
1900 E Monument St, Baltimore, MD 21205-2113
nroderer (at) jhmi.edu.

The 2012 Kilgour award will be presented at the LITA President’s Program on June 24th during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim.

New vacancy listings are posted weekly and appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listing. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New Postings:

Assistant or Associate Librarian,  University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics,  St. Paul,  MN

Chief Technology Officer, Yale University Library, New Haven, CT

E-Learning Librarian, University of California, Berkeley Libraries, Berkeley, CA

Manager – Global Research Library,  Franklin Templeton Investments,  Fort Lauderdale,  FL

New Postings:

Academic Liaison Librarian, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

Associate Director for Library Applications and Knowledge Systems, University of Maryland, Health Sciences and Human Services Library, Baltimore, MD

Collection Management Librarian – E-resource Cataloging, MTSU James E. Walker Library, Murfreesboro, TN

Digital Collections Librarian, John Spoor Broome Library at California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA

Director – Research & Information Resources, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, Philadelphia, PA

Information Services Librarian – Specialist in Natural/Behavioral Sciences, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York City, Brooklyn, NY

Library Specialist, Baker & McKenzie LLP , Chicago, IL

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Project Assistant, Collection Development and Digital Initiatives, Digital Lab/ Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA

Systems Administrator, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Systems Librarian, John Spoor Broome Library at California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA

Web Designer, Cline Library – Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ

The award, given to either an individual or an institution, may recognize a single seminal work or a body of work created during or continuing into the five years immediately preceding the award year. The body of work need not be limited to published texts, but can include course plans or actual courses and/or non-print publications such as visual media. More information: http://www.lita.org/ala/mgrps/divs/lita/awards/hitech/index.cfm

Currently serving officers and elected officials of LITA, members of the LITA/Library Hi Tech Award Committee, and employees and their immediate family of Emerald Press are ineligible.

Nominations must include the name(s) of the recipient(s), basis for nomination, and references to the body of work and should be sent to bvah (at) pdx.edu. Electronic submissions are preferred, but print submissions may be sent to Arthur W. Hendricks, Portland State University, 951 Sw Hall Blvd, Portland, OR 97201.

The award will be presented at the LITA President’s Program during the 2012 Annual Conference of the American Library Association in Anaheim.

New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 11:00 a.m. Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listings. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New This Week

Digital Collections Librarian,  Joyner Library/East Carolina University, Greenville , NC

Digital Records Archivist,  The Pennsylvania State University,  University Park , PA

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

This year’s highlights include:

• Dynamic keynote speakers, John Blyberg, Karen Coyle, and Barbara McGlamery.
• Two full-day preconferences: Learning to leverage Cloud-based IT to better manage IT, presented by Erik Mitchell and Technology Impact by Design: Using Goal-Based Assessments to Achieve and Document Success, presented by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe. You can attend a preconference only OR include a preconference with your Forum registration.
• Concurrent and poster sessions on a variety of topics including: digital humanities, mobile technology, linked data, semantic web, cloud-based resources, ebooks, preservation, data management, and much more.
• Up to twelve sponsors will be on hand to discuss their latest products and services during the Sponsor Showcase.
• St. Louis, the Gateway City, offers something for every interest including unique attractions, historic sites, charming neighborhoods and many entertainment options.

Here’s what previous attendees have to say about the National Forum:

• “I came away with substantial knowledge about project management, among other things, that I will be able to immediately apply in my department. Well worth the trip.”
• “It was one of the best conferences I have attended. I met a far greater concentration of peers – colleagues at other libraries doing similar work – at LITA Forum than I have met at other similar conferences.”

Registration is limited to 500 – don’t miss out! See the LITA web site for additional information and registration.

Roadmap to JPEG2000: September 13, 10:00-11:30 am CDT
Presented by Bill Comstock (Harvard University); Gretchen Gueguen (University of Virginia); Andrew Laas (ProQuest)

The session will include presentations by three implementers of the JPEG2000 standard in three different institutions. The presenters will cover how they have used the standard for preservation or access or both. They will outline the steps in their workflow process, the settings and standards they are using, as well as their hardware/software/environment. This session will go beyond previous sessions that may have delved into the theoretical questions of “what” and “why” to begin the discussion of “how.” The hope is that this will contribute to the small but growing dialogue on best practices for the implementation of this robust and promising format.

As there are few established best practices and standards for use of the format as of yet, widespread adoption has been limited. By sharing the practices that are emerging in various institutions, the session can help those struggling to overcome this barrier to be able to enjoy the many benefits JPEG2000 can offer. While the session will cover in some detail digitization workflows and practices of interest to technical staff, it will still offer useful information to project leaders and other library staff to best take advantage of this new standard.

Registration and additional information.

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New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 11:00 a.m. Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listings. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New This Week

Developer , LYRASIS,  Atlanta,  GA

Digital Archivist Librarian ,  DePaul University,  Chicago,  IL

Scripter/integrator/cataloger, Index Data LLC, Boston, MA

The LITA National Forum is a three-day educational event featuring preconferences, keynote, concurrent, and poster sessions that explore leading-edge technologies and their applications in all types of libraries. Some of this year’s highlights include:

• Dynamic keynote speakers, John Blyberg, Karen Coyle, and Barbara McGlamery.
• Two full-day preconferences: “Learning to leverage Cloud-based IT resources,” presented by Erik Mitchell and “Technology Impact by Design: Using Goal-Based Assessments to Achieve and Document Success,” presented by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe. You can attend a preconference only OR include a preconference with your Forum registration.
• Many networking opportunities, including the informal Friday evening reception and Saturday evening networking dinners to get to know LITA leaders, Forum speakers, and peers.
• In addition, up to twelve sponsors will be on hand to discuss their latest products and services during the Sponsor Showcase.

Visit the LITA web site for registration and more info.

Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs
Presented by Jason Clark (Montana State University); August 22-26, live, synchronous lectures 10:00 am – 12 noon CDT each day.

del.icio.us subject guides, Flickr library displays, YouTube library orientation; with mashups and APIs, it’s easier to bring pieces of the web together with library data. Learn what an API is and what it does, the components of web services, how to build a mashup, how to work with PHP, and how to create web services for your library. Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand and apply the major terms of web services
• Use simple web services like Yahoo Pipes to bring multiple sources of data together.
• Build simple mashups with Javascript
• Build simple mashups with Server-side scripts (PHP)

Registration and additional information.

New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 11:00 a.m. Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listings. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New This Week

Digital Asset Manager,  MTV Networks , New York,  NY

Director of the Biomedical Libraries,  Dartmouth College Library, Hanover, NH

Library Systems Administrator, Cedar Rapids Public Library, Cedar Rapids,  IA

Web Administrator  (#20092315),  New York University,  New York , NY

Network Systems Administrator, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

Just a few reasons why this year’s National Forum is not to be missed:

• Dynamic keynote speakers, John Blyberg, Karen Coyle, and Barbara McGlamery.
• Two full-day preconferences: “Learning to leverage Cloud-based IT resources,” presented by Erik Mitchell and “Technology Impact by Design: Using Goal-Based Assessments to Achieve and Document Success,” presented by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe. You can attend a preconference only OR include a preconference with your Forum registration.
• Many networking opportunities, including the informal Friday evening reception and Saturday evening networking dinners to get to know LITA leaders, Forum speakers, and peers.
• In addition, up to twelve sponsors will be on hand to discuss their latest products and services during the Sponsor Showcase.

Visit http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/lita/conferences/forum/2011/index.cfm for registration and more info.

New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 11:00 a.m. Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listings. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New This Week

Application Support Specialist ,  LYRASIS,  Atlanta ,  GA

Coordinator of Reference and Electronic Resources,  Siena College,  Loudonville,  NY

Electronic Resources / Reference Librarian,  Boston Athenaeum, Boston,  MA

Project Manager/Records,  Federal Reserve Board,  Washington,  DC

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

When/Where is the Conference?
2012 Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA: June 21–26, 2012

What kind of topics are we looking for?
Anything relating to libraries and technology! (That narrows it down, right?) A few ideas might include: Comparing two or three library tools (LibGuides vs Google Pages), (Un)Successful Implementation of a New Technology, From the Trenches of an ILS Migration, Technology for Marketing, Marketing Technology, Managing Technology, Project Management, How to Quickly Build a Web App that looks Decent, Managing People and Technology, Supporting Continuing Ed for Technology, Video Creation and Editing, Including/Leveraging Users, Tech Tools for Data Management, etc etc etc. Please keep an eye on the LITA Listserv for a poll for more ideas soon!

When are proposals due?
August 5, 2011

How I do submit?
Fill out this form

When will I have an answer?
The committee will be reviewing proposals in August, final decisions will be made in September

Do I have to be a member of ALA/LITA/an IG/a committee?
No! We welcome proposals from anyone who feels they have something to offer regarding library technology. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide financial support for speakers.

Got another question?
Please feel free to email me (abigailgoben@gmail.com) and the group will figure it out.

New This Week

Dean, James E. Walker Library,  Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro ,  TN

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

Using Scrum to Streamline Web Applications Development and Increase Staff Involvement
Presented by Michelle Frisque (Northwestern University); July 18, Noon -2:00pm CDT

Are your web projects consistently taking more time to complete than originally planned? Are you having problems prioritizing your web projects? Is it unclear what roles staff will play in creating, designing, testing and/or approving a web project? If you answered yes to any of these questions Scrum may be the solution for you. Scrum is an iterative, incremental framework for agile software development. Work is done in short bursts, also known as sprints, of two to four weeks allowing the programming or web team to have features ready for use within weeks instead of months.

The Scrum framework allows programmers to move new features, updates and changes to the production environment faster. Web Committee members play a more active role in the development process, assisting in gathering requirements, working with the programming team to prioritize features, and coordinating the testing of features before they are deployed.

Registration and additional information

New This Week

Digital Archivist and Electronic Content Manager,  The Archives of the Episcopal Church,  Austin, TX

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a  job posting.

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