2006

Core Competencies in Library Technology: What IT Is and Where IT's Going

8:00 AM- 10:00 AM Location: Morial Convention Center room: Rm. 398-399 Kevin Moderow, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County In the 1990’s most of the Charlotte & Mecklenburg County branch libraries hired Automated Support Coordinators to handle public computer problems so the rest of the library staff did not have to answer those types of questions. The Coordinators were hired by and reported to the branch libraries, not central IT. A new director came on board and wanted to centralize computing support, reduce the number of IT staff, increase the technical skills of all library staff, standardize procedures, and improve communication between IT and the rest of the library. The solution, create a mobile front line support team. Instead of having Coordinators in each library, Level 1 support was responsible for several branches and would go where needed at the time of need. They created Level 2 support teams…

2006

LITA PreConference: Contracting for Content in a Digital World

LITA Preconference Friday, June 23, 8:30 am – 2:30 pm Contracting for Content in a Digital World A panel of experts discussed the forces and interests on the national and international scene that are shaping the new terms libraries, publishers, aggregators and search engines are negotiating in contracts and licenses today.  Sybil Boutilier, Manager of Contract Administration for San Francisco Public Library, the program coordinater and moderater welcomed the participants and introduced the session.

2006

Program: Next Stop Blogging

Despite the crowded Monday 10:30 a.m. time slot, this program was packed to the gills, with over 160 in attendance and many more possible attendees who wandered up and then away as they saw how full the room was. My notes are spotty as I ran out of the room a couple of times for extra forms and for AV support (the microphone was squealing mightily). The presenters were Jason Griffey, Karen Coombs, and Steven Bell. Jason talked about BIGWIG’s selection process for the blogging software we ultimately ended up with, Karen talked about useful add-ons, and Steven provided the “marketing and strategies” angles. Jason began by explaining the major differences between hosted and installed software, pointing out that LITA selected the installation route because we’re LITA and we wanted the geekier approach, but that an organization’s “technology comfort zone” might point to another solution. He emphasized the need to…

2006

Meeting Report from ALA Web Advisory Committee

ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans, Monday, June 26, 2006, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm, New Orleans Marriott, Convention Center Hotel, Natchez Room Members Only Content Report/Update The task force has gathered the existing Members Only policies however Michelle Frisque was unable to get the task force to come to any conclusions/recommendations based on what we discovered. Michelle will send what she has up to this point and WAC will continue this discussion after the conference. Event Planner WAC continues to have concerns about the usability of the Event Planner. WAC is writing a memo outlining our concerns that will be sent to Conference Services. Report from the ALA Executive Board Liaison, Jim Rettig Topics covered included how money from the dues increase will be used and conference attendance. Jim is ending his board liaison term; next year’s liaison will be Terry Kirk. WAC thanked Jim for his support and service…

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

"Copyright 101: Everything You Need To Know About Copyright but Were Afraid To Ask"

The Office of Information Technology Policy (OITP) Copyright Advisory Committee put a new twist on Copyright. The committee offered a poster session on Copyright titled “Copyright 101: Everything You Need To Know About Copyright But Were Afraid To Ask” which was held on Monday, June 26 from 1:30-3:30 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel in the Belle Chasse Room. Topics and presenters are as follows: Copyright Advisory Network, Maryam Fakouri, Columbia College Chicago and Tom Phelps, National Endowment of the Humanities; Fair Use, Dwayne Buttler, University of Louisville and Marc Gartler, Harrington College of Design; Legislation and Litigation, Carrie Russell, ALA Washington Office; International Copyright, Janice Pilch, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Copyright Duration and Public Domain, Barbara Oakley, University of Connecticut and Patrick Newell, University of California-Davis; Reserves (Print and Media) Brice Austin, University of Colorado-Boulder and Claire Stewart, Northwestern University Library; Authors’ Rights, Trisha Davis, Ohio State…

2006

Cataloging Transformed: From Traditional to Emerging Models of Use: Part II

Cataloging Transformed: From Traditional to Emerging Models of Use: Part II RUSA_RSS “Catalog Use Committee”Co-sponsored by RUSA-MARS “User Access to Services Committee” Sunday June 25, 2006 4:00-5:30PM Morial Convention Center Rooms 295-296 This is a continuation of my previous post which focused on Andrew Pace’s presentation (see his new blog here: http://blogs.ala.org/pace.php). To get an idea of the crowd you check out the following photos: From photographer jessamyn http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/175864344/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamthebestartist/175864643/ Photos I took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amerk/sets/72157594188529420/ Cindy Levine is the Director at Large of RUSA Public Services Quarterly editorial board and a North Carolina State University Reference Librarian. She started out her presentation by saying how difficult it was to overemphasize how refreshing she found trying a new approach to the online catalog. Her tenure as a librarian began when the online catalog was first coming into being. Cindy mentioned questioning the time and effort that was expended to make sure that…

2006

ALA Annual 2006: Web Coordinating Committee

Web Coordinatng Committee Meeting Present were: Kyle Felker (your humble correspondent) Tim Donahue: New Intern Michelle Frisque: Outgoing chair Aaron Dobbs Nick Baker Gail Herrera: IG coordinator, rotating off Steve Turner Rafal Kaprowski Online communications/community space: This has been implemented for a while now-how do we proceed from here/promote use? We already placed a link on frontpage of LITA site, what else? Make a larger graphical link to call more attention? Question on access-how do/can non-members of committees/IGs gain access to committee/IG materials in community space? People outside a group can access by clicking a button if the group is not marked as “private.” Most of the material is accessible to everyone. Maybe make a navigation button or link to community space? We can also (we think) make direct links to particular communities (EG Bigwig or Publications Committee community space). Maybe put links on committee/IG pages? Are there RSS feeds…

2006

LITA Internet Resources Interest Group Meeting

Sunday, June 25, 2006, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Marriott New Orleans at the Convention Center, Fleur de lis Introductions: Attending: Laura Cohen, Chair; Holly Yu, Vice-Chair; Joe Fisher, incoming Vice-Chair; and Mike Sainsbury, Greater Victoria Public Library. This was one of our smaller meetings in a few years, but membership numbers are less of a key to the success of this interest group than the activities of the core officers who continue to put out strong programs. Annual Conference Program: The members were very pleased about the success of its program at the Annual Conference this year, “The Ultimate Debate: Who Controls the Future of Search?” After the session, a number of people asked if the session had been recorded. The offer to make a recording has not been made to the IRIG by the LITA office since its Orlando program. When we meet with the Program Planning Commitee (PPC) on…

2006

Cataloging Transformed: From Traditional to Emerging Models of Use

Cataloging Transformed: From Traditional to Emerging Models of Use RUSA_RSS “Catalog Use Committee”Co-sponsored by RUSA-MARS “User Access to Services Committee” Sunday June 25, 2006 4:00-5:30PM Morial Convention Center Rooms 295-296 I was impressed by the size of the room and the attendance. There was an air of expectation and excitement bubbling quietly though the room as people filed in from their previous sessions, or perhaps the exhibit floor. Certainly many people had made the trek from the Questioning Authorities session further along the river in the Hilton Riverside. This was a very good program and full of rich information. As such, I’m breaking it up by speaker. So you know what to look forward to the speakers, in order, were: Andrew K. Pace Head of Systems, North Carolina Ste University, Columnist, “Technically Speaking,” American Libraries. Cindy Levine Reference Librarian for the Humanities, North Carolina State University John Blyberg Network Administrator…