Our ever-alert ALA Representative to NISO, Cindy Hepfer, has informed us that ISO/FDIS 15511, International Standard identifier for libraries and related organizations (ISIL) is now available for ballot. From the ballot text; “An ISIL identifies an organization, i.e. a library, an archive, a museum or a related organization, or one of its subordinate units, which is responsible for an action or service in an informational environment (e.g. creation of machine-readable information), throughout its life. It can be used to identify the originator or holder of a resource (e.g. library material or collection in an archive). It is intended to have a minimum impact on already existing systems.” As usual, ALA is not voting on the standard itself but rather is providing feedback to NISO as to whether to approve or disapprove the standard. NISO will review and consider this feedback prior to submitting the US vote. Permission is granted by…
Summer Reading Online
This ALA 2009 session started with Carole D. Fiore, the moderator, showing the efficacy of Summer Reading programs. Most telling was slide #8: SRPs play a vital role in communities, providing literacy achievement while school is not in session. It is not surprising, then, that 95.2% of public libraries have some form of Summer Reading. You can find the slides, handout, and follow-up Q&A at the ALA Presentations page. All of the panelists touched on some common themes: Tracking – Electronic data is easier to manage and parse for usage statistics. Even if registration or logging isn’t in the cards, a small database or even spreadsheet is a big help for keeping staff administrative tasks organized. Well-structured data is a great way to glean statistics for LSTA justifications and the like Apprehension– whether it be staff with doubts about difficulty and usefulness, or a perception that patrons would not buy…
Has Library 2.0 Fulfilled its Promise?
Title of conference program: The Ultimate Debate: Has Library 2.0 Fulfilled its Promise? Speakers: Meredith Farkas, Cindi Trainor, David Lee King, Michael Porter; moderated by Roy Tennant. Monday July 13, 2009; 1:30 – 3 pm; McCormick Place West, W-181 Sponsor: Internet Resources and Services Interest Group (IRSIG) This program was presented as a debate, with Roy posing questions for the panel. The room for this presentation was huge, and the room was packed with librarians! We were seated shoulder to shoulder, with nary an open chair in the room. Roy’s first question was “What does Library 2.0 mean to you?” Here are the panelists’ responses: Cindi: it’s not only a set of tools, but also a philosophy helps create space that welcome participation by users Michael: it’s what libraries do to fulfill our roles as community and information anchors it’s a plethora of tools that can help libraries become more…
ALA Session – Resuscitating the Catalog: Next-Generation Strategies for Keeping the Catalog Relevant
This session was sponsored by ALCTS Collection Management and Development Section (CMDS), RUSA : RSS Catalog Use Committee and LITA Next Gen Catalog Interest Group. Program Description: In today’s complex information environment, users have come to expect evaluative information and interactive capabilities when searching for information resources. A panel of experts will address various aspects of providing links to external information in library catalogs, implementing user-contributed functionality, and using computational data to support bibliographic control.
Content Management Systems in Libraries: Opportunities and Lessons Learned
Jonathan Blackburn, Eli Neiburger, Karen Coombs (absent due to illness) Jonathan Blackburn was formerly employed as the “web guy” at Florida State University (FSU). He currently is the Product Analyst at OCLC. Blackburn explained why a content management system (CMS) would be useful to create library websites: They’re good for collaboration and efficiency, though they can result in an incoherent representation due to collaborative work. CMSs matter to libraries because they can leverage library staff and potentially reduce costs. Uses and applications of a CMS include a public-facing website, staff intranet, digital library (asset management), and one-off projects (events, programs). If your library wants to try out a CMS for the first time, events or programs are a great excuse to see if a CMS is the right fit for your organization. CMSs create unique challenges for libraries. They need to allow for different “types” of content (hours, events, databases),…
In Defense of SciFi
The session “Science Fiction and Fantasy: Uncovering the modern world of information through metaphor and imagination” sponsored by Tor and Baen publishers featured Robert Charles Wilson, Ken Scholls, Margaret Weiss, John Brown and Eric Flint. All the authors expressed varying degrees of confusion regarding the topic of discussion, but their talks yielded surprisingly similar insights. Robert Charles Wilson spoke first. He used his latest novel, Julian Comstock, A Story of 22nd Century America, to illustrate his belief in the power of knowledge over ignorance and the idea that information “wants to be free.” He argues science fiction requires participation in the questions of society, culture and technology. Ken Scholls analogized science fiction and fantasy as a tent show performed by the likes of Tom Bombadil, Paul Atreides and Dorothy Gale. He spoke of the power of science fiction and fantasy to transport and transform. Margaret Weiss spoke of the author’s…
Open Library Environment Project (OLE) ALA session
I attended this session on Saturday morning. For those not familiar with OLE it is a project to build an open ILS using service oriented architecture and business modelling. The presenters were Robert H. McDonald (Indiana Univ.), Carlen Ruschoff (Univ. of Maryland), Beth Forrest-Warner (Univ. of Kansas), and John Little (Duke Univ.). The project is just finishing its planning phase and its draft document can be accessed at their website oleproject.org While the end product hopes to be an open source ILS right now the project is formed as a community source entity – like an open source but with members that have made committments and thus formed a community dedicated to the project, unlike an open source where one main player hopes others will join in and form a community. It seems to me that the community source approach ensures something will come out of the project. Some of…
Science Fiction and Fantasy: Uncovering the Modern World of Information, Society, and Technology through Metaphor and Imagination
This 20th anniversary meeting of the “Imaginary Interest Group” was a well-run affair featuring free books, entertaining stories, and good-humored pandering towards librarians.
Marshall's Top Tech Trends for ALA Annual, Summer 2009
These trends are also posted on Library Technology Guides. Discovery Interfaces Expand Scope The genre of Discovery Interfaces has been an ongoing trend for the last few years. These interfaces aim to replace the traditional, stodgy OPAC with a modern interface, delivering library content through an interface more consistent with what patrons experience elsewhere on the Web. They offer visually appealing design, relevancy ranking, faceted navigation, and other standard Web navigation techniques. These products offer an attractive replacement for the online catalogs delivered with the ILS. The initial phase of this genre of products delivered a new interface. Yet, they remained largely tied to the content managed in the ILS, despite the ever increasing investments in electronic content. In many cases, a federated search component would aim to supplement the primarily print content of the ILS with a clumsy mechanism for accessing e-journals and database. We’re now seeing a new…
LiveBlog for Top Tech Trends 2009
Live Streaming by Ustream.TV Join us in person at the Intercontinental Grand Ballroom, Sunday afternoon at 1:30, or remotely via CoverItLive below. Top Tech Trends, ALA 2009 Pop-out RSS