2007

The library is open.

The Boyfriend and I arrived in DC Thursday night. We’re staying at the Holiday Inn on Thomas Circle. It is posh by our standards: we have two bathrooms, a fridge, a microwave, iron, blowdryer, coffeemaker, etc. I have been sick most of the last week with a stomach bug. I can finally eat again, but it’s not exactly enjoyable. Last night, we got in too late for the hotel restaurant, so we wandered about until we found something called Logan’s Tavern. Turned out to be a wine bar–zero beer on tap. This morning we slept late–jet lag kept us awake until around 1:30 am, so we slept until 10:00. Then we hopped on one of the free shuttle buses (if anything from Gale is ever free) and went to the convention center, which seems like a particularly uninspired exmple of civic architecture. I had never received my all-important conference badge…

2007

Notes from the LITA Standards IG meeting

Todd Carpenter, NISO’s new Managing Director (since September 2006) gave a talk about the new NISO organization that has evolved out of the recommendations from the 2005 “Blue Ribbon Panel” that reviewed the organization. He started by reiterating facts and perceptions about NISO — that it is the agency responsible for ANSI Z39 standards and the ANSI representative to the ISO TC46; that standards formation under NISO is a long, arduous process measured in years; that NISO has been reactive to situations within the community and has not been engaged in the incubation or early development of standardization efforts; and that it is focused on internal communities (libraries) rather than engagement with other groups and industries with similar needs to libraries. NISO status As a snapshot of what it is now, Todd said that NISO has 3 full-time professional staff, a dozen or so consultants and partners that make up…

2007

Some Thumbs Up

ALA RUSA MARS–Hot Topics Libraries2Go: Library Services for Handhelds Sat., 6/23 10:30 am-12:00 pm J W Marriott Salon IV Moderator, Mark Dehmlow of Notre Dame University joined via Skype. Home (Indiana?) awaiting birth of child. GRE word for the day is ubiquity. 95% of students have cell phones. Libraries need to portal their services to where the users are (except when driving :D). Services for handhelds are user-centered. First panelist, Bradley Faust from Ball State University. http://www.bsu.edu/libraries/lits/mobileproject/project_summary.html The Mobile Computing Project at Ball State began in 2004 with LSTA/IMLS grant. Better, faster higher capacity networks & handheld devices, now integrating with course management systems. Users want: Audio, ebooks, podcasts Mobile search Quick facts Directional tours of facilities, services Video tutorials, instructional videos Texting Regular web sites are unfriendly to small screens. Need short pages, easy to navigate, minimal images, anywhere access. BSU developed a new gateway to their catalog using…

2007

BIGWIG Social Software Showcase – David Free and David Lee King

As the second piece of the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase, David Free and David Lee King have put together an incredible resource on Twitter on the Showcase wiki: start with David Free, and then move to David Lee King’s to get the full twitter treatment. More Showcase information coming throughout the day. If you are in DC for Annual, please join BIGWIG today Saturday, June 23rd, from 1:30-2:30 in the Renaissance Mayflower Cabinet Room for discussion and conversation during the Social Software Showcase.

2007

BIGWIG Social Software Showcase – Casey Bisson

As the first piece of the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase, Casey Bisson has posted, as he describes it, “an almost-manifesto masquerading as a presentation.” In addition to being thought provoking, Casey has used the Showcase as a place to announce a new project: OpenLibrary. Read up, and feel free to discuss the project here, within the Showcase Forum, or on the Showcase Wiki Discussion pages. We have lots of venues for the virtual world to participate with us here at ALA Annual, so please, join in. More Showcase information coming throughout the day. If you are in DC for Annual, please join BIGWIG today Saturday, June 23rd, from 1:30-2:30 in the Renaissance Mayflower Cabinet Room for discussion and conversation during the Social Software Showcase.

2007

LITA BIGWIG Midwinter Meeting Minutes

Would we want to put on a face to face web 2.0 thing? Give people hands on experience with stuff? Could be a good chance to get techie and non-techie people together. Facilities might be available if we can come up with a plan for events and such in the next 60-90 days. —– Michelle Boule, U of Houston, Co-Chari Diane Hillman, Cornell, Standards Coordinator for LITA Erin McCaffrey, Regis U in Denver, Mark Beatty, VP, President-Elect Tiffeny McCall, UTKnoxville, new LITA person Jason Griffey, UT Chattanooga, Chair-Elect Karen Coombs, Co-Chair, U Houston Beth Hoffman, Newbie, Not Present but Important Kevin Clark, Tech Coordinator for Blog Jonathon Blackburn, volunteer wrangler for Blog — Program for ALA Annual Not quite sure what to do yet – social software something or other…. We need a name and brief blurb soon to get into the official ALA material – but viral marketing worked…