A LITA Member Update (periodic messages sent to all LITA members) from Executive Director, Mary Taylor was sent out today. The update includes information about the following: Election Open Movers & Shakers Announced ITAL March Issue and ITALica Available Tech Set named 2011 Best Book in Library Literature Webcourse on Mashups and APIs Annual Conference Information Award Winners Announced Full text of update: http://eepurl.com/c52AE
Category: News & Noteworthy
LITA Election: Polls Now Open
Check out the slate of candidates for the 2011 LITA election. Positions up for election include Vice President/President-Elect and three Directors-at-large. Polls open March 16 and close April 22. Voting instructions can found through the ALA Governance Office.
John Wilkin named 2011 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award winner
John Wilkin has been named the winner of the 2011 LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology. Emerald Group Publishing Limited co-sponsors the award. Mr. Wilkin serves as the associate university librarian for Library Information Technology and Technical and Access Services in Ann Arbor, Mich. and is the executive director of HathiTrust. In addition to his work on the HathiTrust and the Google Books project, Mr. Wilkin was the primary investigator on a number foundational grants and projects including a Mellon Foundation grant for creating an OAI harvesting platform, and was the principal investigator in the Making of America IV, the American Voice project, a grant from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for conversion of 7,500 19th century US imprint monographs. Over the last 18 years, he has researched and published in the fields of digital libraries, open source software and multi-institution collaboration. His work in…
LITA Offering Web Course on Mashups and APIs
Creating Library Web Services: Mashups and APIs will be held April 18-22, 2011 and presented by Karen Coombs of the OCLC Developer Network and Jason Clark of Montana State University Libraries. Live, synchronous lectures will be presented each day from 10:00 am – 12 noon CDT. This five-day course will help participants learn how to bring pieces of the web together with library data: del.icio.us subject guides, Flickr library displays, YouTube library orientation. Learn what an API is and what it does, the components of web services, how to build a mashup, how to work with PHP, and how to create web services for your library. Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming. This hands-on course is synchronous with a daily lecture followed by a hands-on exercise. Instructors will be available for any questions during the exercises. By the…
Kilgour Award recipient named
LITA is pleased to announce the 2011 winner of the Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology, Daniel J. Cohen. Dr. Cohen is an associate professor of history and art history at George Mason University and the director of the Center for History and New Media. The committee chose Dr. Cohen from a strong field of nominated leaders whose work have positively impacted libraries and information technology. With support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Dr. Cohen leads the development of the free, open-source Zotero (http://zotero.org) software for managing and sharing research sources. Zotero is currently implemented as a set of Web browser and word processor plug-ins that can synchronize citations and other information with a public server, which also serves as a social network and discovery platform for fellow researchers. Work is…
LITA Preconferences Available at ALA Annual
There is still time to save $25 on your Annual Conference Registration – the Early Bird Deadline is Friday, March 4. Why not put that savings toward one of LITA’s three preconference offerings? All LITA Preconferences are full-day workshops held on Friday, June 24 9:00 am-4:30 pm: Getting Started with Drupal Speakers: Nina McHale, University of Colorado Denver; Rachel Vacek, University of Houston This preconference session will provide a thorough introduction to the Drupal content management system. Librarian Drupalers Rachel Vacek and Nina McHale will guide attendees as they create Drupal sites in a sandbox environment, covering the basics of content creation, themes, modules, and user management. Previous web experience helpful, but not required. Concludes with demonstrations of innovative Drupal sites, including library sites, library intranets, and an electronic journal. User Experience Design for Websites Speaker: Sarah Houghton-Jan, San Jose Public Library Learn how and why to create positive user…
Call for Proposals: 2011 LITA National Forum
The 2011 LITA National Forum Committee seeks proposals for high quality preconferences (8 hrs.), concurrent sessions (50 minutes) and poster sessions for the 14th annual LITA National Forum to be held in St. Louis, Missouri, September 29-October 2, 2011. The 2011 theme is: Rivers of Data, Currents of Change Due Date for proposals: February 18, 2011 The committee is especially interested in receiving proposals about projects that are experimental and demonstrate risk-taking. Find additional information and submit a proposal at: http://connect.ala.org/node/113177.
LITA Board Affirms Openness and Transparency
On January 8, 2011, a member of the LITA Board began an unannounced live video stream of the Board’s first session during ALA Midwinter. This action raised several complex policy and legal questions that could not be answered on the spot, some of which involved legal liability. Following a brief discussion, the board voted to cease streaming, pending discussion and resolution of those policy and legal questions. We are saddened that this incident has been interpreted by some as an affront to the open sharing of Association content and proceedings. The LITA Board is committed to fostering openness and transparency in its operations and communications. We are dedicated in particular to extending the rich programming and discussion that LITA fosters by reaching out to the LITA online community and pursuing the technological infrastructure and policy necessary to capture and stream high-quality content to the membership. The Board is currently developing…
Join LITA Tech Set authors for a conversation at ALA Midwinter
The LITA Publications Committee will be hosting a conversation and open discussion with three of the LITA Tech Set authors: Marshall Breeding, author of Next Gen Library Catalogs and recognized expert on all things ILS and library technology. Marshall was the 2010 recipient of the prestigious LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology. Kelly Czarnecki, author of Gaming in Libraries. Kelly is a technology education librarian at ImaginOn, an innovative collaboration between Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and the Children’s Theater of Charlotte. Lauren Pressley, author of Wikis for Libraries and So You Want To Be a Librarian? Lauren also writes one of the leading library blogs, http://laurenpressley.com/library/. Please join Saturday, January 8, 2011, 1:30-2:30 pm SDCC 31B for a lively exchange with these top technology authors.
Congratulations to LITA Members Selected as 2011 Emerging Leaders
The LITA Board of Directors is pleased to congratulate Bohyun Kim and Andreas Orphanides on being selected to participate in the ALA 2011 Emerging Leaders Program and on being selected for LITA sponsorship. LITA sponsorship includes a $1,000 stipend to help offset the costs of attending the 2011 Midwinter Meeting and the 2011 Annual Conference. In addition, Bohyun and Andreas will each work on LITA projects and be mentored by the LITA leadership. Bohyun is currently Digital Access Librarian at the Florida International University Medical Library. Andreas is currently Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning at the North Carolina State University Libraries. The LITA Board wishes to ensure that its’ Emerging Leaders have meaningful leadership experiences within LITA, therefore Bohyun and Andreas will work closely with the LITA President-elect on aspects of the LITA strategic plan implementation. The ALA Emerging Leaders Program enables newer librarians from across the country to…