2008

Distance Learning IG at Midwinter

You are invited to the LITA Distance Learning Interest Group discussion! Saturday, January 12, 10:30-12:00pm, Courtyard Downtown, Salon III #3 on the map (PDF). The LITA Distance Learning Interest Group will meet at the 2008 ALA Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia to discuss current issues in distance learning and some of the exciting things the interest group has planned. Here are a few of the things we’d like to discuss: Our program, If we don’t call it distance learning, does it exist?, for Annual 2008. A possible LITA webinar on distance learning issues. A possible online course. Uses for our blog at http://dlig.wordpress.com/ . General issues in distance learning such as integrating library resources with course management systems. Are there other topics you’d like to discuss? Please feel free to leave them in the comments or email Karen Wetzel or Lauren Pressley and we’ll add them to our list. All are…

2007

Distance Learning Interest Group

The DLIG has had a few challenges leading up to our meeting this time. First, we weren’t assigned a room. Then, we were assigned a room, but it was too late to be printed in the program. Today, when we found it, someone else was meeting there and we were listed on the sign for a different day than we had arranged. So, by the time we were able to find a room, we were down to three people. Nevertheless, we had a lovely discussion and brainstormed ideas for what the interest group could do leading up to midwinter. We discussed how there is often only one distance learning librarian at an institution and the challenges associated with that when a new distance learning librarian is hired. We talked about how a designated DL librarian position can sometimes lead staff to assume all things DL are being taken care of,…

2007

LITA Town Meeting

Today, I attended my first LITA Town Meeting. It was great, and I hope to attend many more. I liked that it was a good blend of meeting other LITA members, learning about our users, and brainstorming about the future. The Town Meeting started with a breakfast and introduction to the LITA leadership. We were shown the LITA Wiki, the LITA committee volunteer form, and were told that there is still time to apply to be on a committee. Appointments will be made over the next three months. Then, even though it was a large meeting, everyone introduced themselves and revealed how long they had been LITA members. Reception was warm for new members, and the crowd was impressed with folks who had longer memberships. Then, Mark Beatty, vice-president/president-elect, gave a presentation on his presidential theme. He gave an overview of the OCLC Perceptions report, the Pew report on Social…

2006

LITA President's Program: We are Here. Where are our Users?

Cathy De Rosa, OCLC John Horrigan PhD, Pew Internet & American Life Project Cathy De Rosa, OCLC She started by asking, “What do we see going on with our users?” Users start their search on the internet. It is dominant. 84 % start there. Only 1% start on a library website Nothing’s changed! In 1947-1950 there was a public library inquiry: “Where would you go to get information on nutrition?” Still, only 1% said library! OCLC thinks & does research on internet behavior based on marketing theory. 280ish questions in perceptions survey Included a list of 16 technologies. It didn’t matter what it was, they were using it. Put it out there, they’ll come, they’ll use it. Technologies are really about behavior. Technologies let people do something. Total reference at ARL institutions are plummeting. The behavior is: I want to self-serve! What resources are they using in libraries: They are…

2006

Top Tech Trends: The Trends

Sunday, January 22, 8am-10am, Marriott Rivercenter, Conference Room 3/4 (This runs a bit long, so it’s been broken into two parts: the business meeting dealing with the TTT events and the Top Technology Trends discussion.) With a little bit of time left after the business meeting, the discussion moved to the juicer topic: Top Technology Trends. Here’s a quick overview of what was discussed: 1. It’s nice to experiment with high tech, but low tech can be good, too. Simple answers are good. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. (Okay, that really came from the discussion of the event, but it played into some of the TTT discussion as well.) 2. Is the promise of FRBR going to flesh out? Are we going to start seeing it for our libraries soon? The discussion pointed out that FRBR assumes that records have been prepared for FRBR. OCLC does have an…

2006

Top Tech Trends: The Business End

Sunday, January 22, 8am-10am, Marriott Rivercenter, Conference Room 3/4 (This runs a bit long, so it’s been broken into two parts: the business meeting dealing with the TTT events and the Top Technology Trends discussion.) The agenda for the Top Tech Trends meeting this midwinter was “more of a traditional business meeting than a discussion of trends.” The Top Tech Trends committee members and experts (or “Trendsters” as they came to be called) discussed the exciting increase in participation in the TTT events over the last few years, and evaluated how to make sure these events don’t lose due to their size. Karen Schneider posted some of her take-away points from the meeting, and I’m doing the same here. Top Technology Trends events (for those, like me, who haven’t been able to make them) have centered around experts who identify some trends to examine, discuss, and then they open the…