Me emerging

Found ALA's Midwinter Flickr set -- here you can see (?!) in all my emerging glory.


BTW - speaking of conferences - anyone heard any latest details on OLA Annual coming up?

So tired...

Just grabbing a cup of hotel room coffee and an oatmeal on the go bar before I jump on a 5:15 shuttle to the airport.

So ready to get home. Lots of information - lots of vendors - and lots of work to catch up on at work.

Once I get recouped I promise to write more -- perhaps if there's enough time between flights I'll load up some of the pics I took.

So if you see a tall tired grey wearing librarianish lady in the airport wave at me, say hi, and make sure I'm not asleep and haven't missed my connecting flights. :-)

Quick note

I am attending a meeting of the CLENE group of ALA.

An interesting group which has the following focus:

CLENE promotes quality continuing education for all library personnel. Make CLENE your NETWORK with other CE providers for the exchange of ideas, concerns and solutions; SOURCE for CE assistance, publications, materials, training and activities; and ADVOCATE for quality library CE at both the local and national levels.

People talk a lot about the need for our colleagues to expand their skill set -- and this group seems intent on helping those already in the field with their continuing education needs. At my work we even have an individual whose job is to develop staff training and she's created a pretty comprehensive on going program and with an interested individual any library should be able to develop a basic CE program.

So if this type of stuff interests you check out CLENE - it's on an additional $20 on your ALA dues.

-- I'll type up my reflections on my Emerging Leader day later. :-)

ALA Midwinter observation 1

ALA likes to keep a strict schedule and everyone here except for me realizes that.

This was the registration hall at 7:15 this morning


No one there but me, the conference center guy in a suite trying to figure out why I was there so early, and ALA workers saying registration doesn't open before 8:00. I'm officially a dork.

;-)

Almost on my way...

Well I'm gearing up for ALA Midwinter. I've never been to Philadelphia and I have a sneaking suspicion that January probably isn't the best time to experience all the city has to offer.
But since I'm only an "emerging leader" for ALA I don't have much say on the logic involved in conference locations. One nice thing is my group project doesn't really lend itself to a lot of outside work -- so perhaps it's not all bad.

Other than founding fathers type stuff the only other things I know about the city I learned from Trading Places . So any exciting things I should see while I'm in Philly?

ALA trains Oklahoman as Copyright Scholar

ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy conducted training for the eight new Copyright Scholars, the team of copyright specialists now serving as consultants on the Copyright Advisory Network (CAN)...The purpose of CAN is to encourage librarians to discuss copyright concerns, and for them to seek feedback and advice from fellow librarians and copyright specialists.

Janet Brennan Croft is Head of Access Services at the University of Oklahoma libraries. She earned her Master of Library Science degree at Indiana University in 1983. She is the author of War in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien (Praeger, 2004; winner of the Mythopoeic Society Award for Inklings Studies), has published articles on Tolkien in Mythlore, Mallorn, Tolkien Studies, and Seven, and is editor of two collections of essays on Tolkien. She is currently the editor of Mythlore and Oklahoma Librarian, and serves on the board of the Mythopoeic Press.

Got Oklahoma Gov't Info?

Since August I've been spending my Monday evenings at the OU SLIS instructing graduate students on Government Information.

Since this is my first time teaching the course I can only hope the students are getting as much out of it as I am (for the record - I'm really enjoying it). If their Mid Term is any indication they are at least discovering a few things. They've been working on a wiki project for ALA/GODORT

GODORT provides a forum for the discussion of problems and concerns and for the exchange of ideas among librarians working with government documents...

The project is the State Agency Databases

In every US State and the District of Columbia, agencies are creating databases of useful information - information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking. Some of this content is available on search engines, but much of it is part of the invisible web.

In any event, no resource we're aware of has tried to pull together all publicly accessible state agency databases until now....

The OU SLIS class has been collecting the entries for the Oklahoma Page.

The finds include everything Oklahoma related - Lottery numbers, Doctor inqueries, County Accessor information, and the list goes on. The Mid Term work is due next week Monday by midnight -- but I think you will agree with a little less than a week left they've compiled an impressive list of state databases available to the public.

I'll mentioned this project to the Oklahoma State Webmanagers Group yesterday, during the meeting at ODL. They seemed interested to know if all their hard work is actually able to be located by the public. What do you think?

Emerging from Oklahoma

I notice other folks are letting the word out -- even though the official wiki and blog hasn't said anything, yet. And being a joiner -- well -- I might as well share the news.

I was selected as a 2008 ALA Emerging Leader. What does that mean? First off it means I met a few of the below requirements:

1) ALA member, and
2) Young (under 35 years) or new librarians of any age with fewer than 5 years post-MLS experience, and
3) Recent MLS degree from an ALA or NCATE accredited program or in an MLS program currently, and
4) Able to attend both ALA conferences and work virtually in between, and
5) Ready to commit to serve on an ALA, Division, Chapter, or Round Table committee, taskforce or workgroup upon completion of program.

But knowing how to properly apply Boolean Logic I think I can figure out which one of the aboves I fell under. :-P

So why did I do it? Why did I decide to commit to additional work -- especially when those who know me know how busy my schedule is...? Good questions. I guess because I can't expect others to step up to the plate unless I'm willing to take a swing at it first. (And there is your required sports analogy for this post)

I've been a "Librarian" since 1999 - working in academic and, now, public libraries and I think I may actually have a vision for the profession that is partially workable -- and I'm hoping talking and networking with others nationally will help me finalize that professional (what I hope will be holisitic) vision. Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't extend a huge Thank You to Anne M and Audrey D for encouraging me to apply for the program and for writing me letters of reference -- I hope to do them (and maybe a few of you readers) proud.

So if there are any other EL08s out there give me a yell - perhaps we'll get put together on a project.

OLA endorsed ALA NSL Resolution

From PubLib

At its August meeting, the Executive Board of the Oklahoma Library Association endorsed the NSL Resolution as passed by ALA Council in July.

RESOLVED, That the American Library Association condemns the use of National Security Letters to obtain library records; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the American Library Association urges Congress to pursue legislative reforms in order to provide adequate protection for each library user's Constitutional right to be free from unwarranted and unjustified government surveillance, including:

* Judicial oversight of National Security Letters (NSLs) requiring a showing of individualized suspicion and demonstrating a factual connection between the individual whose records are sought by the FBI and an actual investigation;
* Elimination of the automatic and permanent imposition of a nondisclosure or "gag" order whenever an NSL is served on an individual or institution;
* Allowing recipients of NSLs to receive meaningful judicial review of a challenge to their NSL without deferring to the government's claims;
* Increased oversight by Congress and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice over NSLs and FBI activities that implicate the First Amendment; and
* Providing for the management, handling, dissemination and destruction of personally identifiable information obtained through NSLs; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the ALA communicates this resolution to the Offices of the President and Vice President, Congress, ALA members, and state chapters; and that ALA urges its members, state chapters, and all library advocates to ask Congress to restore civil liberties and correct the abuse and misuse of National Security Letters.

Future of library science podcast

Inside Higher Ed | The Future of Library Science (Podcast)

The new president of the American Library Association is a professor in a college not of library of science, but of information.

Loriene Roy, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has served as a reference librarian, a research associate, and a professor, and brings that varied background to the leadership of the ALA. In this podcast interview, she discusses the evolution of library science programs (including for some the evolution away from the “library name"), the role of professors within the association, and the growing role for library programs in training paraprofessionals who are taking on a growing number of roles in libraries.

The days - they blur together

So I made it home this evening. Direct flight from OKC and DC is very nice a little turbulence but nothing I'm going to complain about.

But as to yesterday -- another packed day and me being exhausted which means I'm posting my summary now. :-)

Vendors in the morning again -- there were so many and I had to schedule demos with a couple of them.

In the afternoon I did get to attend 2 sessions involving technology. The first was a smorgasbord of who's who in the Library 2.0 world -- they talked about 2nd life , wikis, tagging in your catalog -- but perhaps the most I got out of it was the lady I sat next to who was interested in web accessibility to persons with disabilities. I will hopefully be in contact with her and might be able to get involved with some ALA initiatives regarding that.

The next session I went to was on Social Software use in Technical Services. I went to this with a coworker of mine in charge of tech services. I wanted her to see applications other libraries were using and perhaps work at implementing some of them ourselves. They talked about RSS in the catalog and things like PennTags. An interesting little talk and a great way to show that tech service folks are social beasts too.

Anyways my brain is defragging so that's all from me.

Later!

Sunday - Day of lots o stuff

So first thing -- I forgot to mention that yesterday before I ran off to hear about Sirsi/Dynix & sympathy -- errr I mean Symphony -- I heard Sherman Alexie read a selection from his new YA book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian -- which sounds like it's a great book.

Oh and to all you out there wanting to teach Sherman's books in your classes but find the content a little too objectionable -- Sherman suggests blacking out the naughty bits because it will make it even more dramatic and mysterious to the readers. ;-)

So today I started out searching for a free cup of coffee -- found one next to the internet cafe (which is tucked behind the ALA bookstore). I then went down to the vendor area and tracked down a couple of other sales folks I had missed.

My first session of the day was a usergroup meeting of Counting Opinion customers. Note to all companies selling to libraries --> Online usergroup communications like listservs and or forums are a must. If I'm using a product for the first time or even if I've been with it a couple of years it benefits me to be able to talk with other customers to see how they utilize the product/service you provide. It can only better your product and help with sales. So don't wait just for conferences to get together -- start an online community. Ask a librarian you sell stuff to about 2.0 tech and I bet they can fix you up.

Next I arrived late to the Mobile Outreach session about book mobiles. My library dream has always been to create a mobile wireless computer lab -- to travel around to rural areas or areas with no libraries near by -- and to provide internet access and virtual library services to under-served folks. It was neat to hear other talk about their massive and not so massive book mobile services and what all is really entailed in the process. And the entire time I kept envisioning Barbara Streisand in Yentl visiting the book wagon guy -- yeah I know dorky. But over all an amazing session and it was an ashame more folks weren't there to hear it and participate in the break out session afterwards.

Next I stopped by the Training Showcase: Best practices for continuing library education -- too bad this session wasn't in a larger area because it was packed with people showing off posters and sharing information. It was a great opportunity to meet some folks involved in activities like 5 Weeks to a Social Library and other ventures that get library staff back on their feet educationally. Great chance to network.

I might stop by the Future Friends RUSA presentation next -- but I only have my little program on me and I'm hesitant about going because of the subtitle. "Marketing Reference and User Services to Generation X". Will the concept of "Gen X" being the target demographic please die? Gen X is statistically marginal in the population and is at minimum 27 years old -- unless this is really about catering to the 30-somethings. At least that's my jaded Gen X perspective. :-)

So are you all having fun?

Full Day - part 2 - Vendors, Sirsi/Dynix, and SRRT

I decided to go down and take a peek at the Exhibitor area. OMG! It was massive and vendors peddling everything from top tier scientific journals to shoe cushion inserts were there. Note: Stay away from creepy guy who's line was "Hey lady why don't you tell me your shoe size"

I got to talk to some of the vendors I wanted to about work stuff - being new in my job I needed to introduce myself to some of these folks. Other vendors seems too busy talking to their cohorts in the pimping-stuff-to-libraries field to pay much attention to me. Tons of free stuff though -- posters, bags, books, annoying blinkie things that I hope there aren't people prone to seizures seeing.

Anyways I did that for a while and still didn't see everything I got overloaded and then went to what turned out to be a giant sales meeting for Sirsi/Dynix and their new product. Be happy to know it's no longer called Rome -- but Sympathy -- err I mean Symphony. Anyway I think other people in the room were wanting answers as to how the change to this new product would impact their Horizon libraries -- but it really was just a glitz show and there was only about 5 minutes for Q&A before we were shuffled out for the wedding that was taking place next in the room.

So since the Sirsi/Dynix thing took me to the other side of town I decided to go back to my hotel and see the SRRT program on Librarianship and social movements. This program caused me to think a lot -- and I think for the most part the panel was speaking to the choir -- however I'm going to expand upon this in a later post.

Right now I need to figure out if I'm trekking across town for a usergroup meeting or if I'm staying in the conference center. To anyone of influence -- if you are planning a conference in a large metro area and are only allowing no commuting time between sessions please know it will impact the attendence -- everything is so spread out it's hard to see everything that might interest me.

That's all for now!

Full Day - part 1 - Digital immigrants and natives

Walked very quickly over to the registration booth to stand in line. Got my stuff so was late getting to the first session I wanted to attend -- "Information in the world of digital natives" -- so I had to stand out in the hall and listen. For those that were standing even further in the hall behind me apologies.

Anyways, from what I can gather the person who was suppose to be talking was not able to be there so some one else had to fill in for him.

So the long and short

Digital Immigrants: adapted to technology; think linear; like texts more than the bling of sites; and work idenpendently

Digital Natives: (/insert sarcasm "are so 1337" /end sarcasm) grew up w/ technology; enjoy the randomness of access; love multimedia; want to personalize everything; 71% of students in uni use the internet more than library (don't tell those database vendors that); 85% of students (at uni's represented on facebook) have a facebook account.

So Immigrants deal w/ tech externally while Natives centralize it.

I think the one caveat that should have been added to this was that Native and Immigrant does not encompass a specific age range -- you can have some in their 50s who is a Digital Native and some in their 20s who is a Digital Immigrant. I think a lot of it depends on how they take to the technology.

So that's all for now -- of to find another shin dig. Oh and the blogger room here -- nice; big; plenty of outlets; and across from the ALA Camp for Kiddos.

Later!

Day 1 - ALA / DC

End of partial day 1. Bumpy non-stop flight from OKC and long tram ride to the hotel.

Got to my hotel at 5:45pm and didn't have enough time to run to the convention center and register -- so need to do that early in the AM.

Went and met my roomies for diner at Potbelly's and had a yummy veggie sandwich -- then we walked from the Ford's Theatre area down to the Lincoln Memorial to see the mall at night.

SO tired but met lots of librarians. Early day tomorrow got to register and hit the ground running!

Watch out ALA here I come!

Just going over my suitcase items. I leave OKC for DC tomorrow afternoon -- Let's see:

Sensible shoes - check
Glasses - check
Exhibit hall pass - check
Laptop - check
Maps - check
Business cards - check
List of speakers I want to see - check
Not so sensible shoes - check
Dorky library themed t-shirt - check

Well -- I guess that's about it... Want to see a list of exhibitors at the conference? Try this link. And all the session information can be found here.

I hope I can sneak into the Hollywood Librarian premiere tomorrow night. I mean wouldn't you after seeing this trailer?

Gearing up for ALA

So I've printed off all my traveling information for my first trip to an American Library Association Annual Conference.

I get to fly in to Dulles and then make a trek to the metrorail. I've been to DC a couple of other times but have only ever flew in to Reagan. Any tips for me?

I've gotten a large stack of cards from vendors trying to woo my non existent branch dollars to their ALA booths (perks of being virtual -- I don't have real monies). One vendor is offering wine and cheese -- another a lovely disposable camera I can hardly contain my excitement.

Actually I am very excited about going to conference. I've never been to a gathering of librarians of this magnitude -- and I can't wait to exchange warmest sweater for cold offices and compare sensible shoe sizes.

So anyone have conference tips or any presentations I just HAVE to attend?

2008 Scholastic Library Publishing National Library Week Grant

Theme:
"Join the circle of knowledge @ your library®"

The Scholastic Library Publishing National Library Week grant will award $5,000 to a single U.S. library for the best public awareness campaign during National Library Week 2008. All types of libraries and library organizations are welcome to apply.

This year's grant focuses on the National Library Week theme, "Join the circle of knowledge @ your library®." All proposals must use this theme.

Funds are to be used to support the winner's National Library Week promotional activities as outlined in the application and cannot be used for capital expenses, such as books or equipment.

DEADLINE:
Applications must be postmarked by October 1, 2007

More information at the ALA Website

ALA asks about Bartlesville and Ms. Johnson

Where Is Bartlesville High School’s Bermudez Triangle?

Where Is Bartlesville High School’s Bermudez Triangle?
A series of blog posts by author Maureen Johnson claiming that her novel The Bermudez Triangle has been banned by the Bartlesville (Okla.) Mid-High has resulted in a May 10 Bartlesville Community Examiner-Enterprise story clarifying that the book is being reconsidered and not withdrawn. Johnson told the newspaper that a committee member had returned one of her phone inquiries May 4 to explain. “To be honest, I couldn’t get a lot of information about what was going on,” Johnson said.

Johnson began blogging about the controversy April 27, ... The Bermudez Triangle tells how the relationship between three high-school girlfriends shifts one summer as two of them begin to explore a romantic attraction to each other.

...

The final determination on the book will be made by Bartlesville Public Schools Superintendent Gary W. Quinn, who will take the committee’s recommendation into consideration after he reads the novel.

Norman Public Schools library media program recognized

Buffy sends this library story

CHICAGO -Norman (Okla.) Public School District, Harpeth Hall in Nashville, Tenn. and North Elementary School in Noblesville, Ind. will receive this year's National School Library Media Program of the Year Award (NSLMPY) from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The honors will be presented at the AASL Awards Luncheon at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday, June 25, 2007.

The 2007 School District award goes to Norman Public Schools in Norman, Okla., with 21 schools serving 13,000 students. The Norman library media program is aligned with the overall district plan of instruction, resulting in numerous opportunities for creative and innovative collaboration. There is evidence of strong support from the central administration, and the library media program is an important component of the district’s long-range strategic plan. The program is further strengthened through ongoing, cooperative relationships with the local community, including the Pioneer Library System and the University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies.