January 28, 2009
January 27, 2009
Obama and Libraries
I certainly hope that President Obama is going to support libraries! I found out that Roberta Stevens, candidate for ALA President, meets monthly with Michelle Obama's staff so there is certainly going to be a direct line for support for libraries!
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ALA President
After hearing both candidates speak at the Chapter Relations Committee meetings here at ALA Midwinter, I'm planning to support and vote for Roberta Stevens. The fact that she has so much direct connection with the powers in DC for funding libraries, I think her fund raising connections will make her the better candidate. Both candidates are really great and this will be a close race but I think Roberta will benefit the association's interest the best.
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Learning about partnership at the Committee on Legislation today!
this looks like a really great partnership - see below for more information!
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January 26, 2009
Reference and Web 2.0 Panel
Reference Sources and Web 2.0 Meeting Notes
Monday January 26 2009
Panel consisted of Stephen Rhind-Tutt from Alexander Street Press
Jeff Penka from Cooperative Reference Services at OCLC
Samir Singh from ProQuest
Remmel Nunn from Readex
This was a RUSA sponsored event.
Jeff spoke first. He is the director of QuestionPoint which I personally thought had gone away. I was surprised to see that it actually still exists... He reviewed some basics of OCLC and Web 2.0. He showed an example using WorldCat.org. Users can create a free account, put it on your mobile phone, add search boxes to Facebook, etc. WorldCat has over 300,000 users. They will soon be adding LIbrary Profile pages. They also offer a QuestionPoint widget (Qwidget). They use RSS and Podcasts.
http://www.oclc.org/emailcontent/articles/worldcat/updatesoffers.htm
Remmel was next and spoke about how Readex is using Web 2.0 for higher education students. I did a quick search on the Readex web site for Web 2.0 and only found one hit: http://www.readex.com/readex/Press.cfm?press=39 which is an old press release from June 2007... He approached Web 2.0 very apprehensively. He said they do not like to use the term Web 2.0 for fear of Web 3.0 coming next. This was supposed to be a joke but came off more as fear of change... He also told a very boring story about when he was in college how he had to prepare for a final exam that took three years to study for (didn’t really understand what kind of a point he was trying to make). He talked some about Crossroads: http://www.readex.com/readex/product.cfm?product=248. Crossroads deals primarily with primary source documents. Remmel has an article at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3336451.0011.207 and from the looks of it, it doesn’t appear to be an easy to use or intuitive system. Overall his tone was skeptical and didn’t make this user want to investigate Crossroads... Also, it would have been helpful to have SOME KIND of visual presentation for this talk...
Stephen was the next speaker and apologized for not preparing a presentation. Not a good way to start IMHO... He explained what Alexander Street Publishing does. He used an old presentation from 2006. Like Remmel, his was a very academic presentation. He did actually do a live demo which was quite interesting. He showed the streaming music and video content. I personally think students would be more likely to visit YouTube than the Alexander Street audio and video page to find an aria. He also discussed tagging and folksonomies used in flickr which was good to see. He compared this against a taxonomy.
The last speaker was Samir and he discussed Web 2.0 in the most relevant terms. He was able to make good connections with what ProQuest is doing with popular uses of Web 2.0. He talked about how they are using Wikis to coordinate design discussions across teams. They use www.uservoice.com to get feedback on a site. They also use blogs to share info. Externally they are developing www.GradShare.com which is a Q&A community for graduate level students. He was by far the best panelist and actually made me want to explore the ProQuest resources.
Monday January 26 2009
Panel consisted of Stephen Rhind-Tutt from Alexander Street Press
Jeff Penka from Cooperative Reference Services at OCLC
Samir Singh from ProQuest
Remmel Nunn from Readex
This was a RUSA sponsored event.
Jeff spoke first. He is the director of QuestionPoint which I personally thought had gone away. I was surprised to see that it actually still exists... He reviewed some basics of OCLC and Web 2.0. He showed an example using WorldCat.org. Users can create a free account, put it on your mobile phone, add search boxes to Facebook, etc. WorldCat has over 300,000 users. They will soon be adding LIbrary Profile pages. They also offer a QuestionPoint widget (Qwidget). They use RSS and Podcasts.
http://www.oclc.org/emailcontent/articles/worldcat/updatesoffers.htm
Remmel was next and spoke about how Readex is using Web 2.0 for higher education students. I did a quick search on the Readex web site for Web 2.0 and only found one hit: http://www.readex.com/readex/Press.cfm?press=39 which is an old press release from June 2007... He approached Web 2.0 very apprehensively. He said they do not like to use the term Web 2.0 for fear of Web 3.0 coming next. This was supposed to be a joke but came off more as fear of change... He also told a very boring story about when he was in college how he had to prepare for a final exam that took three years to study for (didn’t really understand what kind of a point he was trying to make). He talked some about Crossroads: http://www.readex.com/readex/product.cfm?product=248. Crossroads deals primarily with primary source documents. Remmel has an article at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3336451.0011.207 and from the looks of it, it doesn’t appear to be an easy to use or intuitive system. Overall his tone was skeptical and didn’t make this user want to investigate Crossroads... Also, it would have been helpful to have SOME KIND of visual presentation for this talk...
Stephen was the next speaker and apologized for not preparing a presentation. Not a good way to start IMHO... He explained what Alexander Street Publishing does. He used an old presentation from 2006. Like Remmel, his was a very academic presentation. He did actually do a live demo which was quite interesting. He showed the streaming music and video content. I personally think students would be more likely to visit YouTube than the Alexander Street audio and video page to find an aria. He also discussed tagging and folksonomies used in flickr which was good to see. He compared this against a taxonomy.
The last speaker was Samir and he discussed Web 2.0 in the most relevant terms. He was able to make good connections with what ProQuest is doing with popular uses of Web 2.0. He talked about how they are using Wikis to coordinate design discussions across teams. They use www.uservoice.com to get feedback on a site. They also use blogs to share info. Externally they are developing www.GradShare.com which is a Q&A community for graduate level students. He was by far the best panelist and actually made me want to explore the ProQuest resources.
January 25, 2009
Expert Panel Meeting: Libraries, Literacy, and Gaming
I sat in on this meeting today (right next to Jenny Levine from ALA) and found it to be quite interesting! It was nice to run into another South Carolinian as well because Dwight McInvaill from Georgetown County Public Library is part of the Expert Panel.
Things that were discussed:
gaming grant for organizations - 10 $5,000 grants will be awarded
gaming @ the library toolkit
WISE consortium - there will be a 1 hour credit course offered on gaming that will be offered on YouTube
I had not hear of WISE and it looks very interesting: http://www.wiseeducation.org/home_p-home.aspx
It seems that the gaming grants will be quite helpful for libraries and I hope that some SC libraries apply!
Things that were discussed:
gaming grant for organizations - 10 $5,000 grants will be awarded
gaming @ the library toolkit
WISE consortium - there will be a 1 hour credit course offered on gaming that will be offered on YouTube
I had not hear of WISE and it looks very interesting: http://www.wiseeducation.org/home_p-home.aspx
It seems that the gaming grants will be quite helpful for libraries and I hope that some SC libraries apply!
Marketing Communications Committee Meeting Notes
Marketing Communications Committee Meeting Notes
Sunday January 25 2009
Marilyn Wilt, chair of the committee for LLAMA, began by discussing the main marketing plan they have developed. Fred Reuland, Marketing Specialist for LLAMA from the ALA was also in attendance. There were a total of 7 in attendance.
A new brochure was created and published.
A recruitment letter has been created and will be sent to 5000 library school deans, directors, and similar individuals that stresses and promotes LLAMA.
There are currently about 5000 members in LLAMA.
http://www.ala.org/llama
Fred discussed the new Continuing Education ventures. Regional institutes have been a regular part of LLAMA Ce programs. These institutes are purchased by large groups which has not been a very successful model. New and more institutes will be offered that will not be as costly as the old ones. A variety of new online sessions will soon be offered as well. The CLENE RT was mentioned as a possible partner for these new ventures.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/clenert/index.cfm
Marilyn discussed what she learned at the LLAMA membership meeting. “Put the Leadership in LLAMA” was mentioned as a new tag line. LLAMA was formerly LAMA. The current tag line is “Where LIbrary Leaders Grow”.
LLAMA is in the process of reaching out to many other groups to build membership.
The question about updating the organization’s image was discussed. There was a video produced but is now a little dated. There was discussion about how stories could be solicited about how LLAMA has helped members.
There was discussion about how to recruit new LLAMA members because many people seem to think that LLAMA is just for professional librarians, or deans and directors, etc. However, LLAMA is open to anyone interested ini library leadership and administration and management. It was suggested that a LLAMA representative attend Chapter Relations Committee meetings to get the word out about what LLAMA does and just get the word out to State Chapter presidents.
There was discussion about using Facebook and other web 2.0 marketing sites. This will be happening soon.
For more information about this meeting, contact Dr. Marilyn Wilt at mrwilt@rci.rutgers.edu.
Sunday January 25 2009
Marilyn Wilt, chair of the committee for LLAMA, began by discussing the main marketing plan they have developed. Fred Reuland, Marketing Specialist for LLAMA from the ALA was also in attendance. There were a total of 7 in attendance.
A new brochure was created and published.
A recruitment letter has been created and will be sent to 5000 library school deans, directors, and similar individuals that stresses and promotes LLAMA.
There are currently about 5000 members in LLAMA.
http://www.ala.org/llama
Fred discussed the new Continuing Education ventures. Regional institutes have been a regular part of LLAMA Ce programs. These institutes are purchased by large groups which has not been a very successful model. New and more institutes will be offered that will not be as costly as the old ones. A variety of new online sessions will soon be offered as well. The CLENE RT was mentioned as a possible partner for these new ventures.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/clenert/index.cfm
Marilyn discussed what she learned at the LLAMA membership meeting. “Put the Leadership in LLAMA” was mentioned as a new tag line. LLAMA was formerly LAMA. The current tag line is “Where LIbrary Leaders Grow”.
LLAMA is in the process of reaching out to many other groups to build membership.
The question about updating the organization’s image was discussed. There was a video produced but is now a little dated. There was discussion about how stories could be solicited about how LLAMA has helped members.
There was discussion about how to recruit new LLAMA members because many people seem to think that LLAMA is just for professional librarians, or deans and directors, etc. However, LLAMA is open to anyone interested ini library leadership and administration and management. It was suggested that a LLAMA representative attend Chapter Relations Committee meetings to get the word out about what LLAMA does and just get the word out to State Chapter presidents.
There was discussion about using Facebook and other web 2.0 marketing sites. This will be happening soon.
For more information about this meeting, contact Dr. Marilyn Wilt at mrwilt@rci.rutgers.edu.
Grassroots Advocacy Session Notes
Grassroots Subcommittee Meeting at Midwinter
Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 4pm
Attendees:
Eric Suess - COL
Joan Ress Reeves - RI
Kristin Murphy - ALA WO
Lynne Bradley - ALA WO
Curtis Rogers - SC
Stephanie Vance - Consultant
Vivian Wynn - Consultant
COL Protocol - appointees are for one year. COL has this as clear information on the appointment form. Two year terms seem to make more sense on the subcommittee. Can this be recommended to the COL? What are the other subcommittees of COL doing with appointments?
Why Should We Care? Kristin explained this as a potential PR document. Why libraries matter? Is there something like this already out there? What is currently available at ilovelibraries.org? how do we move from the toolkit to the personal level? Kristin will look to see what is already out there. Communications among all advocacy groups within ALA is being streamlined so there is more information being shared.
ALTA/FOLUSA advocacy groups were mentioned. We need to engage these groups for cooperation and assistance.
CapWiz was discussed. Maybe some more webinars could be offered on how to use CapWiz.
Suggestion: conduct annual online survey about individual contact with election officials, etc.
Definitions of Advocacy, Public Relations, and Marketing were discussed. It was suggested to use standard definitions. OLA has been working for a little over a year now. There was discussion about getting Marci to participate in the suggested webinar. OLA is the central location for library advocacy for the association. Kristin will investigate asking for PLA to participate in the webinar.
NLLD: Vote for Libraries was discussed to be used again. We can discuss more about this online. The hotels are already booked for 2010. Location is still being discussed. WHCLIST has disbanded and has given the remaining funds to ALA to fund non-librarians to attend NLLD. This information should be sent by libraries to boards and friends groups.
Workforce Investment Act - Kristin explained this as a one stop process and WO has has asked that libraries be included in this. Should there be a separate bill that libraries can be involved in?
Are there any awards we can provide to library champions? Staff award was discussed. There was discussion about the NLLD awards provided was from FOLUSA. How would this be provided this year?
Library Congressional Caucus - Kristin suggested this be created. Others agreed this is a good idea.
Mentorship program - Kristin suggested that this be implemented. Others agreed this is a good idea. There was some discussion about seeing what else is out there and that this be focused on the advocacy component.
The group will follow up with a conference call. Date and time TBA.
Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 4pm
Attendees:
Eric Suess - COL
Joan Ress Reeves - RI
Kristin Murphy - ALA WO
Lynne Bradley - ALA WO
Curtis Rogers - SC
Stephanie Vance - Consultant
Vivian Wynn - Consultant
COL Protocol - appointees are for one year. COL has this as clear information on the appointment form. Two year terms seem to make more sense on the subcommittee. Can this be recommended to the COL? What are the other subcommittees of COL doing with appointments?
Why Should We Care? Kristin explained this as a potential PR document. Why libraries matter? Is there something like this already out there? What is currently available at ilovelibraries.org? how do we move from the toolkit to the personal level? Kristin will look to see what is already out there. Communications among all advocacy groups within ALA is being streamlined so there is more information being shared.
ALTA/FOLUSA advocacy groups were mentioned. We need to engage these groups for cooperation and assistance.
CapWiz was discussed. Maybe some more webinars could be offered on how to use CapWiz.
Suggestion: conduct annual online survey about individual contact with election officials, etc.
Definitions of Advocacy, Public Relations, and Marketing were discussed. It was suggested to use standard definitions. OLA has been working for a little over a year now. There was discussion about getting Marci to participate in the suggested webinar. OLA is the central location for library advocacy for the association. Kristin will investigate asking for PLA to participate in the webinar.
NLLD: Vote for Libraries was discussed to be used again. We can discuss more about this online. The hotels are already booked for 2010. Location is still being discussed. WHCLIST has disbanded and has given the remaining funds to ALA to fund non-librarians to attend NLLD. This information should be sent by libraries to boards and friends groups.
Workforce Investment Act - Kristin explained this as a one stop process and WO has has asked that libraries be included in this. Should there be a separate bill that libraries can be involved in?
Are there any awards we can provide to library champions? Staff award was discussed. There was discussion about the NLLD awards provided was from FOLUSA. How would this be provided this year?
Library Congressional Caucus - Kristin suggested this be created. Others agreed this is a good idea.
Mentorship program - Kristin suggested that this be implemented. Others agreed this is a good idea. There was some discussion about seeing what else is out there and that this be focused on the advocacy component.
The group will follow up with a conference call. Date and time TBA.
January 24, 2009
Advocacy Session with Stephanie Vance and ALA Washington Office staff
Washington Office Breakout Session - Getting our Message to the New Congress & White House: Federal Advocacy Training
Highlights from this session were:
Lynne Bradley from the ALA WO introduced Stephanie Vance who conducted the session.
Over 50% of Americans have tried to communicate with their elected officials.
66% of those hoped to get a response.
only 20% were satisfied their responses.
Rule of thumb: If you send a form letter, you get a form letter back but if you send a personalized letter you usually get a personalized letter back and it’s this kind of personalized communication that is more important than just using form letters to communicate with your legislators.
76% of states have a budget gap that they are facing for 2009.
Libraries were mentioned 3 times in the Obama/Biden policy documents. This needs to be more.
The overall debt of the US is 10 Trillion dollars. ($34,000 per person).
Many people don’t understand the basic tenet of contacting their own legislators and not others from other states.
Economic Recovery Goals
immediate action to create good jobs in america
immediate relief for struggling families
immediate assistance for homeowners
rapid aggressive response regarding the economic situation
How can libraries help with reaching these goals?
Exercise: create a one minute speech to meet these goals of economic recovery:
“My fellow Americans, Libraries ARE places where you can check out books, but that’s not ALL! Libraries are job centers offering resume writing opportunities, places where families can bring their children to learn and understand the world around them. Libraries are places to go when times are tough to learn how to make this country a better place for everyone!”
It’s important to explain to legislators why cuts to libraries would only continue to hurt the public.
Issues over lead in children’s books (use as example)
When talking to legislators:
You have to know what you want
you have to be prepared to ask for specifics
you have to be prepared to ask what the politician can do about it
know who you are talking to
know what your legislators are interested so you can relate your issue to them
go to www.congress.gov to look up your representatives and see what bills they have introduced to see what their interests are
recognize the value of their concerns
google the politician’s name with the word library or libraries
know how to talk to them
build coalitions and have the same message
need to have personal and compelling stories
good idea to have some stats but make sure they are related to that politician’s district
know how to follow up
ALA Washington Office can help! Sign up for District Dispatch.
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/
Develop a calendar of activities for 2009 and figure out how you can connect library issues with advocacy issues.
Highlights from this session were:
Lynne Bradley from the ALA WO introduced Stephanie Vance who conducted the session.
Over 50% of Americans have tried to communicate with their elected officials.
66% of those hoped to get a response.
only 20% were satisfied their responses.
Rule of thumb: If you send a form letter, you get a form letter back but if you send a personalized letter you usually get a personalized letter back and it’s this kind of personalized communication that is more important than just using form letters to communicate with your legislators.
76% of states have a budget gap that they are facing for 2009.
Libraries were mentioned 3 times in the Obama/Biden policy documents. This needs to be more.
The overall debt of the US is 10 Trillion dollars. ($34,000 per person).
Many people don’t understand the basic tenet of contacting their own legislators and not others from other states.
Economic Recovery Goals
immediate action to create good jobs in america
immediate relief for struggling families
immediate assistance for homeowners
rapid aggressive response regarding the economic situation
How can libraries help with reaching these goals?
Exercise: create a one minute speech to meet these goals of economic recovery:
“My fellow Americans, Libraries ARE places where you can check out books, but that’s not ALL! Libraries are job centers offering resume writing opportunities, places where families can bring their children to learn and understand the world around them. Libraries are places to go when times are tough to learn how to make this country a better place for everyone!”
It’s important to explain to legislators why cuts to libraries would only continue to hurt the public.
Issues over lead in children’s books (use as example)
When talking to legislators:
You have to know what you want
you have to be prepared to ask for specifics
you have to be prepared to ask what the politician can do about it
know who you are talking to
know what your legislators are interested so you can relate your issue to them
go to www.congress.gov to look up your representatives and see what bills they have introduced to see what their interests are
recognize the value of their concerns
google the politician’s name with the word library or libraries
know how to talk to them
build coalitions and have the same message
need to have personal and compelling stories
good idea to have some stats but make sure they are related to that politician’s district
know how to follow up
ALA Washington Office can help! Sign up for District Dispatch.
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/
Develop a calendar of activities for 2009 and figure out how you can connect library issues with advocacy issues.
me waiting for a session at midwinter to start
another session is about to start and I'm waiting :-)
January 21, 2009
January 16, 2009
January 13, 2009
January 11, 2009
Reading Rooster Recommends January 10 2009
Watch the Reading Rooster Recommends videos to get great recommendations on children's books and literature!
Check out this January 09, 2009
How to use DISCUS
check out this funny and informational video about DISCUS, South Carolina's Virtual Library.
January 07, 2009
January 06, 2009
Census Bureau Seeking Applicants to Fill Thousands of Good-Paying Jobs in Area
The US Census Bureau is looking for qualified
applicants to fill more than 15,000 jobs in Kentucky, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to help prepare for the 2010
Census.
applicants to fill more than 15,000 jobs in Kentucky, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to help prepare for the 2010
Census.
The
Charlotte Regional census center has opened 15 local census offices in
the five-state region to carry out a pre-census operation called
Address List Development. Positions include address listers, office
clerks, recruiting assistants, crew leaders and field operations
supervisors.
“The census is a constitutional mandates that’s too
big for the federal government to carry out alone,” said William W.
Hatcher, regional director for the Charlotte Regional Census Center,
which supports 2010 Census operations in the five-state region.
“That’s why we must build an army of local people to help prepare for
and carry out the census in 2010.”
Charlotte Regional census center has opened 15 local census offices in
the five-state region to carry out a pre-census operation called
Address List Development. Positions include address listers, office
clerks, recruiting assistants, crew leaders and field operations
supervisors.
“The census is a constitutional mandates that’s too
big for the federal government to carry out alone,” said William W.
Hatcher, regional director for the Charlotte Regional Census Center,
which supports 2010 Census operations in the five-state region.
“That’s why we must build an army of local people to help prepare for
and carry out the census in 2010.”
Those interested in applying for these jobs can go to www.2010censusjobs.gov
for job descriptions, qualifications and applications. Potential
applicants also can call toll free 1-866-861-2010. Applicants must be
U.S. citizens, age 18 and older, have a valid Social Security number,
and pass a basic aptitude test. Most jobs require a driver’s license
and use of a car.
In spring 2009, the census employees will help
develop a confidential address list that will be used to deliver census
questionnaires in 2010. The jobs are temporary; both full-time and
part-time jobs are available. Census jobs offer flexible schedules and
allow close-to-home employment. Competitive pay begins at $8.75 an
hour and varies depending on job and location.
“It’s important
that we have qualified people who know their communities to help
develop our address list,” Hatcher said. “These important jobs offer
attractive pay, allow flexibility, offer on-the-job training, and
permit people to work in their communities, for their communities.
Census jobs count in many ways.”
Census
results are used to determine the number of congressional seats for
each state, the shape of legislative districts and local government
districts, and how $300 billion in federal funds is distributed
annually to communities across the country for important local programs.
January 05, 2009
SC State Library Launches My State Library Campaign
The South Carolina State Library has
launched a new campaign to let state agencies and their employees know
more about the host of free services it offers.
launched a new campaign to let state agencies and their employees know
more about the host of free services it offers.
•
All state employees are eligible for a free State Library Card which
entitles you to check out books from the library. Even better – the
library will send you the book right to your office at no charge via
the Budget and Control Board’s Agency Mail Service. And if the book you
need isn’t in the collection, it can usually be borrowed from another
library through interlibrary loan. To get your card, just go to www.statelibrary.sc.gov/obtaining-a-library-card.
•
State employees have free access to online databases and book
collections to help them do their jobs better, including Safari Books
Online, the e-reference resource for technology and business
professionals. State employees can view online hundreds of the latest
technology and business books published by O'Reilly, Microsoft Press,
Wharton School Publishing, and more.
• Free Wi-Fi is available to all visitors at the State Library’s reading room at 1500 Senate Street.
•
Library staff can help find a needle in a haystack when it comes to
work-related research. The library is the official depository for all
state government documents and has a large collection of books about
South Carolina. Got a question? Just call 803-734-8026, Monday –
Friday between 8:30am and 5:00pm or visit www.statelibrary.sc.gov and ask your question in an online chat session.
•
The library provides free virtual meeting/training hosting that allows
you to bring together up to 25 people in an online meeting.
"This
campaign is all about the tremendous value our State Library offers,"
said David Goble, Director of the SC State Library, in announcing the
campaign. He noted that at a time when the role of libraries is
evolving and there are increased competition and budget cutbacks, it's
more important than ever to fill the information gap about the value of
libraries.
To learn more about what the South Carolina State
Library has to offer state government employees, a promotional video
has been created and is available on YouTube (http://tinyurl.com/6kjjzt) and Blip.tv (http://scsl.blip.tv/file/1442890).
January 02, 2009
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