Position Description The LITA Blog Editor has the following responsibilities: Recruitment and training of new authors as needed Developing a posting calendar and review process, and coordinating blog topics to ensure a wide variety of content Conduct regular meetings with the group Attend LITA Communications and Marketing Committee meetings as member Managing special topics, inviting guest bloggers, working with LITA leadership to post announcements for awards, scholarships, Forum, etc. Performing regular maintenance and updates of the Wordpress platform Marketing and promoting the blog in collaboration witth the LITA Communications and Marketing Committee Preparing an annual report to the LITA Board prior to the Midwinter and Annual meetings Term of Service This is a volunteer position that typically involves about 2-4 hours a month of work, depending on the editorial calendar. This is a two-year appointment that may be renewed with the approval of the LITA Board. The Blog Editor is…
Category: General information
Seeking Applications for eLearning Coordinator!
Position Description The eLearning Coordinator is charged with handling all of the logistics for scheduling, running, and completing LITA’s webinars and courses. The Coordinator holds a 3-year appointment with an option for one renewal for a maximum of 2 terms. The initial appointment will begin on October 1, 2019, and will continue through the end of June 2022. This person is expected to work approximately 4 hours a week for 52 weeks a year, although some weeks will likely require fewer hours while others require more. The total should balance out to 208 hours each year. Responsibilities Works with instructors and LITA staff to schedule webinars and courses at least 10 weeks in advance; Maintains a year-round calendar of elearning opportunities based on content selected by the LITA Education Committee and LITA Education Acquisitions Editor; Obtains signed letters of agreement from instructors; Provides ALA Member and Customer Service (MaCS) with…
Master Your Keynote Presentations with this LITA webinar
Sign up for a repeat of this popular webinar. You Can Keynote! Presenter: Dorothea Salo, Faculty Associate, UW-Madison iSchool Thursday, November 14, 2019 Noon – 1:00 pm Central Time That confident person there on the dais, holding the conference crowd in the palm of their hand? That could be you! In this 60-minute webinar, discover your strengths as a keynoter and learn how you prepare best — it’s not the same for everyone. Learn how to think about talk structure and slide design. Discover useful techniques for coping with nerves. Most of all, learn what to avoid! View details and Register here. Discover upcoming LITA webinars and web courses Courses are listed by date, Register here Taking Altmetrics to the Next Level in Your Library’s Systems and Services Presenter: Lily TroiaOffered: October 3, 2019 Guiding Students through Digital Citizenship(Re-scheduled) Presenter: Casey DavisOffered: October 16, 2019 In-house vs. Outsourced Digitization: similarities,…
Take Altmetrics to the Next Level with this LITA webinar
Sign up for a repeat of this popular LITA webinar. Taking Altmetrics to the Next Level in Your Library’s Systems and Services Instructor: Lily Troia, Solutions Account Manager, Digital ScienceOctober 3, 2019, Noon – 1:30 pm Central time Altmetrics are traditionally viewed as the realm of evaluation and assessment, but altmetric data can offer valuable insights throughout the research lifecycle. It can help inform researcher decisions around where to publish or self-deposit, with whom (and where) to collaborate, and provide those tasked with facilitating the scholarly process a richer, more complete view of research attention and influence. Register here, courses are listed by date This 90-minute webinar will bring participants up to speed on the current state of altmetrics, and focus in on changes across the scholarly ecosystem. Through sharing of use cases, tips, and open discussion, this session will help participants to develop a nuanced, strategic framework for incorporating…
Advice for the New Systems Librarian – A Day in the Life
On this third installment of my series aimed at new systems librarians (if you missed the first two posts, you can read them here and here), I thought it would be fun to provide a “day in the life” of one of my days. (At this writing, I have been in my role as systems librarian for 18 months). It is the summer semester, so the library is a little quieter. A quieter library means more opportunity to tackle the big and small tasks. 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.: I settle into my office and check e-mails. I check my work e-mail and our systems e-mail. A database issue came up, and I am thankful someone pointed it out to me. Off-campus users could not access the database, so I test and confirm this is true, and then I contact the database vendor. 9:15 – 10:00 a.m.: I receive a call…
PALNI Investigates the Usability of WorldCAT Discovery
OCLC’s WorldCat Discovery is widely used in academic libraries as a discovery layer, a search tool that attempts to offer the user a comprehensive picture of the library resources available for any given keyword(s). As more and more of the library seems to exist online, a sometimes loosely connected congeries of third-party databases and tools, many with very different interfaces, librarians are growing more concerned with the quality of the user experience when their patrons encounter these tools. Thus it is noteworthy when a sizeable consortium such as the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) decides to carefully investigate and report on the usability of WorldCat Discovery. PALNI has been doing user research on WorldCat Discovery since 2015 and their most recent report appeared in April. Here we’ll take a look at a few of the more significant findings from their research and give some general tips about how…
Interview with LITA Twitter chat panelist Thomas San Filippo
The LITA Twitter chat on May 31 (1pm Eastern/12pm Central) will feature two projects and four panelists. In this post, we feature panelist Thomas San Filippo (@WallaceLibrary) from Wheaton College, who will participate along with his colleagues, Kate Boylan, and Mark LeBlanc. They will talk about their project to expand the use of JSTOR Forum on their campus. We recently interviewed Thomas about their project. Q. Tell us a little about your role at your institution. What are you responsible for? I’m the Systems and Educational Technology Liaison at the Wallace Library. I work with students, faculty and staff to facilitate and enhance the use of technology in pedagogy and scholarship, and I develop, support and maintain systems for search, discovery, and delivery of library services and resources. That’s a long way of saying that I’m responsible for configuring the library’s catalog and discovery layer, Wheaton’s digital repository, JSTOR Forum,…
Interview with Ken Varnum, Editor of “New Top Technologies Every Librarian Needs to Know”
For over the past two decades Ken Varnum has become a leading expert in library technology, focusing his research on discovery systems and library analytics. He has lent this expertise once again as editor to two recently released titles from ALA publishers, the new LITA Guide New Top Technologies Every Librarian Needs to Know and Beyond Reality: Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality in the Library. He is the Senior Program Manager at the University of Michigan and the editor of Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL). In our interview he provides his insights on the landscape of library technology, future challenges, and what he hopes his reader’s take away from his books. What technology/technologies will have the largest impact on libraries in the upcoming decade? I think there are several intersecting trends that will continue to have an impact in the coming decade. The first is consolidation of metadata into increasingly…
Interview with LITA Twitter chat panelist Adam Olsen
The LITA Twitter chat on May 31 (1pm Eastern/12pm Central) will feature two projects and four panelists. In this post, we interview panelist Adam Olsen (@theloraxster) from Western Carolina University. Western Carolina University recently launched a media wall that displays study room availability, events in the building, and the library’s social media feeds. They are planning on adding a number of additional features in the future. We recently interviewed Adam about this project. Q. Tell us a little about your role at your institution. What are you responsible for? I’m the web development and user experience librarian at WCU Hunter Library. I handle the administration of most of our web-based applications, as well as do user experience studies, particularly regarding web sites. Q. Describe your project, its purpose, and its goals. The project was to create a “media wall.” This is four screens that can display content in different ways….
You can support LITA Avramcamp 2019 today!
Every year, LITA organizes AvramCamp at ALA Annual, a preconference centering women and non-binary individuals in technology work. This event allows attendees to not only discuss challenges in their work, but build community and self-reflect in a brave space. We are asking for support from you. Your donation supports scholarships for AvramCamp attendees including registration and travel, common barriers for students, as well as new and early career librarians, to attend ALA Annual events. We encourage donations of all sizes and hope you share this with your networks. Thank you and please let us know if you have any questions. For other questions or comments related to LITA events, contact us at (312) 280-4268 or lita@ala.org Learn more about AdaCamp and the Ada Initiative. Sponsor We thank our sponsor, OCLC, for supporting travel scholarships to help build connections for participants who would not otherwise have access to these opportunities.