Conference Reports

ACRL 2013, Indianapolis, April 9-12

The first -- and the best -- session I attended at ACRL was The One-Shot Mixtape: Lessons for Planning, Delivering, and Integrating Instruction. The presentation was based on an earlier article called “10 Short Lessons on One-Shot Instruction” that appeared in Communications in Information Literacy, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2012. Lead author Megan Oakleaf and nine other accomplished librarians each picked a single critical aspect of the one-shot instruction model, resulting in a checklist of core factors to consider when “planning, delivering, and integrating” an information literacy session. My favorite topics include Note #3, “If you’re not assessing, you’re not teaching.” (Megan Oakleaf) and Note #5, “Your enthusiasm is contagious.” (Randy Hensley).

To spice up their presentation, they equated the checklist with a mixtape and each of the ten notes with a song that they felt represented their concept. While I loved the idea, the song selections were underwhelming and forgettable. However, when I returned to Manhattan, I downloaded their checklist handout and found the PDF of their original article. I plan on returning to them frequently.

Download Oakleaf_article

Electronic Resources & Libraries 2013

The eighth annual Electronic Resources and Libraries 2013 conference was held in Austin, TX from March 17^th through the 20^th.  Presentations at the conference varied on the topics of Collection Development, eBooks, emerging technologies, linking, e-resource management, scholarly communication, search and discovery, and workflows and organization.

In sync with the technocratic nature of the group, conference goers kept each other in the know using the Twitter tag #erl13 and many were able to attend the ER&L hosted Idea Drop House at the SXSW music festival. ER&L also made it possible to attend the conference virtually, streaming most sessions online. More information about ER&L can be found at their website.

Summary of Presentations:

Mike Eisenberg, of the University of Washington Information School discusses the “Google Generation” in “Listening to Users: What the “Google Generation” Says about using Library and Information Collections, Services and Systems in the Digital Age.

Developing Terms: Techniques for Electronic Resource Management. Jill Emery, of Portland State University spoke on TERMS (techniques for electronic resource management) project and the benefits of codifying the e-resources workflow into their 6 steps will benefit libraries.

Internal and External Clients: Why Do We Treat One Better Than the Other? Dawn McKinnon and Amy Buckland, of McGill University Library, offer their tips and tricks to evaluate the internal/external customer service climate in your organization and how libraries can change their culture to be more effective with customer service.

Improving Communication and Relationships Between Librarians and Publishers: A long-time veteran of both libraries and the publishing industry, Don Tonkery of Content Strategies, offered his tips and tricks on how libraries and publishers can communicate more effectively and build better business relationships.

What Would Google Do? Data Mining, Discovery, and Search Suggestions: Proactively Improving Search Relevance and the User Experience: Elizabeth German, Web Service Coordinator at the University of Houston, Lesley Moyo, Director of Research and Instruction Services and Tracy Gilmore, Technical Services librarian at Virgina Tech University and Andrew Nagy, Serials Solutions gave a presentation on how they worked together to evaluate academic user search behavior and how they used that information and a number of tools to improve searching in their libraries.

Instructing Future Librarians on E-Resources Management: The lack of e resources education in today’s library science programs prompted one librarian, Lori Duggan of Indiana University, to create a demo e-resources training program. She presented on the details of her course and its outcome.

You have A Problem, We have a Solution: The Future of e-Resource Management and Troubleshooting in a unified 2CUL Context: 2CUL (e-Resource collaboration between Cornell and Columbia universities) discuss their expectations of information sharing and planning in their new cross-institutional environment.

What Can Web Analytics Tell You About Your New Discovery Tool?: A presentation by Monica Moore and Lauren Ajamie from the University of Notre Dame, where they discussed how libraries can use online analytics tools, like Google Analytics, to test effectiveness of library discovery services.

Unified Resource Management in Action: Alma’s Impact at Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth University: Two flagship schools discuss their experience with the transition and implementation to Ex Libris’s new management system, ALMA.

Open URL Link resolvers: Measuring Effectiveness Overtime: One librarian from the University of Michigan University Library, Kenyon Stuart, details his experience gathering and processing data to identify common problems and successes with link resolvers.

Extreme E-Resource Endeavors: From PDA to POOF! To Interface Management and More…: The 2CUL group discusses their experience with implementing PDA in their libraries, and they’ve adapted their patron driven acquisitions workflow to fit their new cross-institutional environment.

KBART Phase II: The Next Step Towards Better Metadata: Chad Hutchens, of the University of Wyoming Libraries discussed the purpose of the NISO/UKSG working group, KBART, and how the group has been working on a new proposal to further standardize data transfer and consortia metadata.

Large Scale Digital eBook Initiatives: Checking in With Google Books, HathiTrust, Project Gutenberg and More. Naomi Eichenlaub of Ryerson University, updated her audience on the history of ebooks and what actions major eBook providers are currently taking.

I Steam, You Stream: The Growth of Streaming Video Collections and Ways to Manage Them. Susan Marcin of Columbia University and Jesse Koennecke of Cornell spoke on how libraries learned to stop worrying and love streaming video collections. They also gave some advice on how to approach the point where streaming video and copyright meet.

Rachel L. Frick, director of the Digital Library Federation Program at the Council on Library and Information Resources, presented “The Courage of Our Connections: Thoughts on Professional Identities, Organizational Affiliations and Common Communities. She gave her thoughts on how data can give librarians an active role in the scholarship process.

Open Conversations about Open Access, Norman, OK, February 28 - March 1, 2013

Open Conversations About Open Access

Norman, Oklahoma

February 28 – March 1, 2013

 

Summary of Presentations

 

1. Heather Joseph, SPARC Executive Director, “Open Access: Delivering on the Promise”

 

Open access has become a reality because of pressures like the Internet, Facebook and other ways of communicating. Also it happened because of the Digital Deluge (more information available because it increases at geometric rates). Finally, rising costs and shrinking budgets have made the old way of purchasing journals unsustainable. An open access infrastructure has been created including over 8600 journals, institutional repositories, and the development of policies encouraging or requiring open access, including the Obama administration order requiring federally funded research to be made freely available. Major challenges to open access include the need for copyright changes, including full re-use rights and change in culture, such as giving publishing in open access journals more credit. New metrics are available at Article Level Measures (ALMs) which will provide more information about the use of individual online articles. Everyone needs to work for reuse rights, ALMs for everything, and the FASTR bill which would make reuse rights law.

 

1. Mark Morvant, Executive Director, Center for Teaching Excellence at U. Oklahoma, “Open Access Course Materials: a STEM Faculty Perspective”

 

Curriculum innovation is limited by the available textbooks and resources. Open access educational materials can work to student strengths and weaknesses. Advantages to open access course materials include: avoiding expensive traditional textbooks; permits the integration of media and interactivity; course materials can be customized to the curriculum; materials can be updated when necessary, not according to publisher cycles. The ability to assemble your own open access materials makes it unnecessary to go to mainstream publishers. It can also enhance in-class and out-of-class experiences for students. Faculty can include more of their own research in their curriculum.

 

1. Michael Carroll, Director, Program on Information Justice & Intellectual Property, American University, “Author’s Rights and Open Access”

 

Copyright is at the center of the open access problem because academic authors have swapped their copyright rights for prestigious journals’ trademarks to get tenure. Traditionally, authors had to sign away their copyrights to be published. Part of the pressure for open access is coming from funders, who want to get the maximum return for their investment. Access to results of research by the maximum number of people is the key. Open access is the modern expression of the university’s mission and the Internet has made a realistic alternative to traditional printing to distribute knowledge realistic. We must change the culture of research to get researchers from giving up their rights. Open access serves a variety of audiences: serendipitous readers who run across links to articles; under-resourced readers who can’t afford traditional expensive journals; interdisciplinary readers; international readers; and, machine readers. Reaching these readers is good for authors because it will result in more citations, more uses of their research, and greater distribution of the knowledge they create. Creative Commons licenses allow the public access to research with conditions. The concept of peer review is changing because open access allows the greater public to judge research: the greater the number of uses, the more important the research is.

 

1. Jennifer Lin, Product Manager, Public Library of Science (PLoS), “Challenges of OA Publishing in the Next Frontier: Article-Level Metrics & Research Impact Assessment”

 

Open access allows users to select and read articles separately from the rest of the journal. The value of individual articles is measured in various ways, including citations, mentions on blogs and news, social network sharing, research community sharing, the number of accesses, and downloads. These new article level measurements (ALMs) complement traditional methods of measuring value; they don’t replace them. PLoS now includes ALMs for each article they load. The number of uses for ALMs is increasing and new uses are being discovered all the time. Academic hiring, tenure and promotion decisions based on ALMs are not yet widely accepted and which ALMs are most important are unclear. ALMs for all articles are needed, not just those on PLoS. Librarians need to collect ALMs and let faculty and others know about them and their importance.

 

1. Lorraine Haricombe, Dean of Libraries, University of Kansas, “How Can Libraries Help to Advance an Understanding of Open Access?”

 

Dean Haricombe reviewed the rise of open access at KU and contrasted it with the traditional scholarly communication process. Contributing factors to the growth of open access include the serials crisis, the birth of the Internet and new technology, the Budapest Open Access Initiative, and the Berlin Declaration. Libraries are appropriate leaders in open access because: it fits with the libraries’ mission; libraries connect users with information; libraries traditionally provide users with access to information; libraries have a tradition of liaison and outreach to academic departments; and libraries have high traffic web sites that can connect users with open access sites. The steps to open access include creating a digital repository, engaging faculty, and supporting open access policies. It is critical that faculty lead the open access movement on campuses. They are the authors who control whether to submit articles to open access journals and whether to keep their copyright. Each campus is unique and has its own culture, so approaches to open access must be tailored to each. Libraries play an important role and their hard work begins after an open access policy is adopted by the faculty. Open access should be supported because it maximizes the impact of research and it is an ethical issue to increase public good by making more knowledge available. Universities should consider joining the Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions, a part of SPARC.

 

1. Marc Greenberg, Chairman of the Department of Germanic Languages & Literature, University of Kansas, “Open Access for Faculty: What’s in It for Them?”

 

Professor Greenberg offered a faculty point of view of open access. Briefly, they consider: what will I lose, what will I gain, and why should I bother? They won’t lose anything, but they will gain greater visibility and leadership. They will have greater control over readership of their work, as well as helping to shape the fields of inquiry by supporting new open access journals. More information is available about who is using faculty creations (ALMs) and it is available more quickly than traditional journals. Free analytical tools are available, such as a Google Scholar page.

 

1. Kevin Droegemeier, Vice President for Research, University of Oklahoma, and Jerry R. Malayer, Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Education in the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, “Bringing Open Access to Oklahoma – A Pale from OU and OSU”

 

Prof. Droegemeier pointed out that currently a vast amount of data and many new ways of communicating it are available. However, many questions about learning from the data and who will control it and pay for it exist. For him, the key points in the open access debate include: facilitating research by faculty, so they can effectively utilize the data; provide credit for the work they do – not just the published article, but the creation of data which can be used by other researchers; the logistics and cost of curating data and information; and, changing ways of instruction and new business models – undergraduate education means undergraduate research to create a knowledgeable workforce. Students should be prepared for deep intellectual challenges and be prepared for careers. Oklahoma universities can use open access as one way to leverage cooperation between different institutions, so they can do more with the same resources.

 

Prof. Malayer believed open access can raise the visibility of science and technology. EPSCor (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) was created to help American students study abroad to learn from other researchers, while showing them ways of doing research. It is a way of doing more with less, thanks to open access to information. He reviewed existing cooperative ventures in science in Oklahoma now and called for more.

Electronic Resources & Libraries 2012

The 7th annual Electronic Resources & Libraries (ER&L) conference was held from April 2-4, 2012, in Austin, Texas. This year's conference was the largest on record, with over 500 in-person and online attendees. Conference attendees and observers were very active on Twitter, using the conference hashtag #erl12 alone or in combination with individual session hashtags. The conference's major themes and selected session highlights are summarized below. In addition, a recording of the conference's fascinating opening keynote by Andrea Resmini, current President of the Information Architecture Institute, is available for free at the conference website. It's well worth watching, especially if you're a fan of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose.

11th Annual Brick & Click

11^th Annual Brick & Click

November 4, 2011

Redefining Relevancy in the Electronic Age: The Library as a Real Place

Presenter: Alberta Comer, Dean of Library Services Indiana State University

The Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University uses an overstuffed chair with the caption “Your Campus Living Room” as a brand which expresses the idea of a comfortable and friendly place to study or gather with friends. 

Dean Comer describes how badly the library needed an uplift when she became Dean.  The library was just “pure ugly” with bare gray walls and an outdated 70’s look.  With no new funding, of course, most of the renovation had to be done with library funds.  Only two things were funded.   A building committee was formed with someone from each area—faculty, staff and students.  The committee was charged to make everyone aware of the changes—no surprises.   The list of changes is quite lengthy but some of the highlights are color, pictures, neon sign ASK?, workflow changes, combined rooms for easier user access,  writing center, beanbags.

Three events for the library are held every year.

1.       Authors and Artists published works event.

2.       Luncheon for retirees -- great way to give back.

3.       Extravaganza –university-wide

Plans for the future are to provide soft furniture throughout the building, expand cafe, promote “chair” with t-shirts and totes.  Also, the library wants to provide the access needed but are pointing out the costs of extravagant fees such – “We would be happy to get this article for you through Interlibrary Loan, but did you know it will cost the library $50?”

Tweet-a-Librarian: How to Use Twitter for Free Text Messaging Reference

Presenter: Faith Simmons,  Library Associate University of New Orleans

“Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets.”—Twitter 101

Two people handle Tweets at the University of New Orleans.  The University of New Orleans Library uses Tweetdeck software to download, and Apple has an app for that.  No smartphone is required; they have web backup;  and it is customizable.  Beyond the reference connection, Twitter helps  promote library resources, encourage library usage, provide engagement with patrons, and cross promote with other university entities.  Some other free Twitter software tools are Echofone, Social Oomph, bit.ly, and foursquare.  A book is planned for next year about using Twitter as a tool for reference.

 A Winning Strategy: University Library and Athletic Department Partnership

Presenter: Rosalind Alexander, Reference & Instruction Librarian University of Houston

The University of Houston has a 40,000 FTE, is a State public university and a commuter campus.  The athletic department has an average of 400 student athletes with 6 men’s sports/8 women’s sports. Rosalind’s strategy was to establish a relationship with Academic staff (what a concept).  She created a web page “Got Papers? which provides clear information on when she was available—Research & Information Assistance—When: Mondays (Noon-2pm) & Tuesdays (11 am -1 pm); Where: rm 2106 E Athletic Bldg: Who: Rosalind Alexander, Librarian; email address.  As you can see she went to them not the other way around.   With this partnership, Rosalind provides Library Guide information, Database instruction, orientations, student tutoring, arranges Library Game Days.  In a nutshell her strategy is to be everywhere and provide face recognition.  The Athletic Department staff and students know who she is and where she works.

Multilingual Zotero: Its Promises and Limits

Presenter: Fu Zhuo, Research and Instruction Librarian III, University of Missouri, KC

The Multilingual Zotero is an experimental variant of Zotero 2.1 and works only in the Firefox browser.  It allows one to translate, transliterate, and sort your citation data.  Also like Zotero, Multilingual Zotero allows users to collect, manage, cite and share information.  It also collects attachments, notes, files, PDFs, images, audio/video, links, and snapshots.  It also uses translators to ingest information.  What cannot automatically be added with the translators can be added manually.   Multilingual Zotero is not easy to “Romanize” with other languages.  The presenter also pointed out that with all the translation and transliteration capabilities, it still needs human modification. 

A Fine Balance: Tangible or Electronic?

Presenter Gretchen Gould, Reference Librarian & Bibliographer University of Northern Iowa

"Nobody uses government documents anymore." "We need space!" "It's all online!"  The presenter describes an end process like the changes made at K-State.  A task force was put together to decide whether or not the university library would remain in the FDLP as a selective depository.  An online survey for students, faculty and the community was created with 11 questions—90 responses were received.  Subject bibliographers provided input.  The task force looked at 5 different scenarios, and the decision was made to remain in the FDLP with the move to electronic documents wherever possible.  Tangible government documents of significant and historical and research value were retained.  The rest of the tangible government documents would be reduced through a special weeding project.  Contrary to popular belief, everything is not online.

 The Advantages of Importing Usage Statistics to Millennium ERM with SUSHI

Presenter: Li Ma, Senior Acquisitions/Serials Librarian St. Louis University

SUSHI stands for Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative which is a protocol that allows automatic harvesting of usage data through web services.  St. Louis University uses the ERM Millennium with allows for importing COUNTER JR1 usage statistics for individual resources.  Monthly usage statistics are automatically imported from publishers or 3^rdparty vendors which allows determination of cost per usage calculations when there is payment information available.  Before ERM and SUSHI, staff manually downloaded from publisher’s websites.  Payment information was calculated and information shared through spreadsheets.  Repeat the process each year.  Access is now available to everyone anytime and stored in ERM.

‘Jack Be Nimble…Quick’, and Communicative:  Flexible Staffing Positions for Changing Technical Services Workflows

Presenter: Angela Rathmel, Electronic Resources Librarian – Acquisitions University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

To counter more complex and fast paced demands from transitioning from print to electronic resources, the Acquisitions/ Serials Department at the University of Kansas needed a more flexible workflow arrangement.  No longer was every order the same, and new ways were needed to handle materials.  All new hires were assigned flexible assignments.  Each one shared duties and supervisors across three Units of the department:  Serials Records (print), Serial Orders & Claims (print and electronic), and Monograph Orders/Approvals (print and electronic).  The presenter pointed out several staff had an MLS.  They are no longer using the flexible shared assignments workflow at Lawrence, as they are short of staff.  At this time they are sure if they will continue with this model.

Is There Really an App for That?

Robert Hallis, Director, Information Services Librarian University of Central Missouri

Examples of tablets from the earliest to the latest were passed around.   A recent comparison of tablets  without the new Amazon Fire can be found at www.tabletpccomparison.net.   The Fire had not come out at this time, but the presenter pointed out it has less storage on cloud than the iPad.  Some interesting apps mentioned were GoSkyWatch Planetarium, and The Elements.  I am quoting the presenter because this is all way above my head which is why I needed the exposure.  Software for mobile devices is generally accessed through virtual storefronts, downloaded through the network, and automatically installed on the device (magic).  iPads use the iTunes Store, which organizes content into Music, Movies, TV Shows, App Store, Books, Podcasts, iTunes U, and Ping (a social network).   One can surf the store directly from the iPad through a network, or download apps from the store through a laptop or desktop.  Kindle is an eBook app that displays eBooks, stores your library off the reading device, and provides an interface to the eBooks, newspapers and magazines available through amazon.com.  It supports annotation through highlighting, bookmarks, and notes.  The contained dictionary can be supplemented through accessing Internet content from Google and Wikipedia.  Kindle synchronizes reader activity across multiple devices through WisperSync.  Fontsize can be adjusted, and the background can be switched to light text on a black background, or black text on a Sepia background.  “Kindle” for iPad excels because of its visual customizability, and its overall simplicity.  The Nook is an eReader that displays eBooks, accesses your library, and provides an interface to eBooks…and magazines available through Barnes and Noble.   There are several choices to customize the size and font of the text, and the background color brightness can be adjusted, but speed and access to public domain texts were not impressive.  Kobo is an eReader app that displays eBooks…and provides an interface to a virtual store.  It is also integrated with social media, permitting one to share comments and reading preferences using accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  You can sync your current page between devices, and can access locally created PDFs and ePub documents through transferring the files from Dropbox and iDisk.  iBooks is an eReader app that displays eBooks, accesses your library…. Like the Kindle app, iBooks is an excellent e-reader that feels impressively like the future---while simultaneously feeling a heck of a lot like an actual book.  Stanza is an eBook reader that offers many of the same features as those of the readers described above .  However, the number of virtual stores linked to Stanza sets it apart as an eReader.  Currently there are eight sites for free content, and four book stores, including BooksonBoard, O’Reilly, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords.  It can read books in a variety of formats, and files can be shared from your mac/pc through Calibre, and open source application supporting eBook conversion.  iAnnotate is a robust PDF annotation tool.  It is included in this section because it provides access to many of the same resources as the apps described above.

The presenter at the end discussed Overdrive.  Overdrive enables a library’s digital collection to be accessed from a number of reading devices.  The app comes with a countdown feature that reminds you how long the book will remain on your device before it expires.  Because Overdrive uses Adobe DRM, one needs to register with Adobe before content can be loaded on the device.  

 

 

 

 

ALA Annual 2011 - Jason Coleman's report

ALA Annual 2011 was held in New Orleans. I arrived Friday, June 24th at 4:00 p.m. and departed Tuesday, June 28th at 6:30 a.m.  While there, I attended 3 business meetings, 4 discussion groups, 4 panel presentations, a vendor-hosted luncheon, and battledecks 2011 (PowerPoint Karaoke). Below, I present highlights of each event, in chronological order.

1. RUSA RSS/MARS Virtual Reference Committee Meeting, 8am-10am, Saturday, June 25th.

• I attended as a member of the Virtual Reference Tutorial Subcommittee. As a member of the subcommittee, I reported on our progress. We have established guiding principles for revision of the Virtual Reference Adventure Tutorial bequeathed to RUSA in 2006. Those principles are: (1) retain the basic structure; (2) refocus from full-featured platforms to IM chat; (3) update content; (4) maintain a professional, yet accessible tone. Thus far the subcommittee has developed draft revisions of two of the tutorials modules.
• I volunteered to serve as secretary du jour. I submitted the minutes to the committee co-chairs on Monday, July 4th.
• The main business item for the meeting was finalizing plans for the committee's program to be held Monday, June 27th at 8am.
• In addition, the committee began brainstorming topics for its program at ALA Annual 2012. Among the topics put forward were: gadgets for virtual reference, free tools for virtual refernence, taking virtual reference to where the users are, and tablets for virtual reference.

2.  RUSA MARS Hot Topics in Virtual Reference Discussion Forum "How are we measuring up? Using new technologies to schedule, standardize, and assess reference services." Saturday, June 25, 10:30am-Noon - panelists: Joyce Champan from NCSU, Andy Huse, Barbara Lewis, Lily Todorinova, and Matthew Torrence from University of South Florida, & Ken Simon from Loyola Marymount.

• Joyce Champman described an open-source tool called Suma that she and her colleagues at NCSU are developing to help staff in reference services assess their services. Suma is designed for tablets so that reference staff can use it for a variety of data gathering functions including taking head counts. The interface helps staff gather data that is stored centrally. It also provides a means to view and manage the data. Joyce posted her slides on slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/JoyceChapman/introducing-suma-an-opensource-tablet-application-for-library-assessment-assessment-forum-ala-2011
  
• Andy Huse, Barbara Lewis, Lily Todorinova, and Matthew Torrence detailed the steps involved in making a recent decision to dramatically reduce staffing at the University of South Florida Library's main reference desk. They compiled data from a variety of sources and used the combined picture to identify several hours that would be staffed with one employee rather than one. They also decided to stop staffing the desk on Saturdays. They explained that there have been almost no negative comments from patrons in response to these changes. There talk was based on a journal article Lily Todorinova, Barbara Lewis, Andy Huse, and Matt Torrence. "Making Decisions: Using Electronic Data Collection to Re-Envision Reference Services at the USF Tampa Libraries" Public Services Quarterly 7.1 (2011): 34.
  • They mentioned that they use Aeon to track which of their Special Collections are being used by patrons.
  • They also mentioned that they use Knowledge Tracker to track what happens with referrals. 
• Ken Simon described Loyola Marymount Library's use of the reference transaction recording software Gimlet. He explained that Gimlet is a subscription-based, web-hosted tool designed by one of the people who created LibStats. His institution pays ~$10/month. Gimlet is similar to LibStats but includes the ability to tag, the ability to flag transactions for follow-up or e-mail, and has more sophisticated reporting options. Ken and his colleagues initially tried to tag questions according to the topic of the question. That did not prove sustainable. Instead, they moved to tagging questions to describe the sources used. Ken's PowerPoint is online at connect.ala.org/files/Gimlet%20Eye_0.pptx 

3.  Academic Librarian Lightning Round: Innovative New Roles, Saturday, June 25, 1:30-3:00

This session featured twelve five minute presentations by academic librarians (for details see http://connect.ala.org/node/137113). Each presentation described a program or project in which academic librarians are providing non-traditional services. Among my favorite presentations were:

• A librarian describing her work as an academic advisor. She has found this very rewarding and believes that librarians can make excellent advisors because they have no academic turf to protect. Her involvement as an advisor has helped her make many connections on campus.
• A librarian at Florida State Libraries describing some of their efforts to help undergraduates succeed. These efforts include extening service to 1am and hosting an undergraduate research symposium.
• A librarian from Wake Forest describing her involvement in a 5K race to help raise funds for the libraries. The race has become extremely popular.

4.  RUSA MARS Virtual Reference Discussion Forum: "Mobile goes both ways: Using the iPad for Virtual Reference." featuring kickoff speaker Stephanie Graves from SIU Carbondale.

 I was vice-chair (I became chair on July 1) of the Virtual Reference Discussion Group's Planning Committee and helped plan this session. Stephanie Graves described SIU Carbondale Libraries' use of 3 ipads for roaming reference. They received a $1,000 grant for purchasing the iPads and also purchased a keyboard and apple care protection. They use a single iTunes account for all three iPads and strive to keep them identical in every way. Stephanie updates the iPads monthly and as patches come out. They manage check-out via pen and paper and store the iPads in a locked desk drawer.

She explained that patrons approached librarians who were carrying the iPads and that this gave librarians a "cool factor." She and her colleagues have found the iPads very convenient for teaching patrons how to use the catalog in the stacks. They record stats online on the iPad too. The iPads have a 10 hr. battery life. They have also discovered several useful applications including papers, PLOS Reader, Worldcat, dropbox, and evernote. For a full list of the apps they downloaded to the iPads see their libguide: http://libguides.lib.siu.edu/ipads.  Stephanie and her colleagues use the iPads to conduct virtual reference in meetings. They use libraryh3lp's webchat via Safari. They are aware of, but do not use, an app called beejive for monitoring libraryh3lp.

After Stephanie's kickoff presentation, we broke into tables for small group discussions. We then came together as a group to share key points of each small group discussion. Most participants were excited by the possibility of using iPads for reference, especially now that Apple no longer requires a credit card for creating an iTunes account. One participant mentioned that dropbox was recently hacked. Waula was suggested as an alternate.

5. MARS Virtual Reference Discussion Group Planning Commitee Meeting, Sunday, June 26, 8am-10am.

I was vice-chair of this committee until July 1st and am now the chair. Our main order of business was discussing the outcome of our program on Saturday afternoon. Our chair, Amanda Clay Powers, reported that the evaluation feedback was positive despite the technical difficulties we faced (the hotel did not provide wifi to us). We also brainstormed some potential topics for our program at Midwinter. One that we considered is video chat for reference. The committee will meet online to finalize a proposal and submit it to MARS' executive committee in time for inclusion in the program. In the past we have submitted a generic description and then finalized the topic close to the date of the event. This has enabled us to make sure our topic is current. We will explore moving up our planning to get a more detailed description in the program.

6.  ACRL Distance Library Section's Discussion Group, Sunday, June 26, 10:30am-Noon

In February I received an appointment to this group. The appointment begins on July 1. I chose to join this group because I am interested in assisting Joelle Pitts, Laura Bonella, and others with efforts to enhance our services to distance patrons.

Prior to the start of the discussion, the chair, Cynthia Porter, asked me to serve as secretary for the day. I agreed to do so.

The topic of the discussion was assessment and Cynthia led it off by asking the approximately 25 members present what they are doing to assess their services to distance learners. Eastern Carolina University has implemented a robust assessment of their services. They recently sent an invitation to take LibQual to all of their distance patrons. The data shows that few are aware of their services. Another libray has assessed the impact of online information literacy classes for distance patrons. They have found that 75% of the students report using the skills and resources they learned about in their instruction in other classes. One librarian reported that she examined over 100 dissertations to assess whether or not online instruction made a difference. She found no impact.  

The discussion then turned to the implications of the ACRL report on the Value of Academic Libraries. Several members expressed concern about the feasibility of demonstrating clear impact. They stated that they see it as impossible to clearly separate the influence of the library's efforts from all the other influences students receive. In response, several librarians suggested that faculty testimonials, tracking performance after receiving library instruction, and e-portfolios could help us assess our impact. One librarian stressed that high impact requires becoming highly involved in developing and delivering curricula.

7.  Credo Luncheon, Sunday, June 26th, Noon-1:30

Representatives from Credo explained that Credo is exploring patron driven access for reference titles. They requested input from us to help them create a model that would appeal to a wide variety of libraries. One popular idea was to follow Elsevier's model in which libraries pay an up-front sum to gain access to a wide array of resources and then they evaluate usage data after a year and decide which products to purchase. Several of the attendees also noted that reference works might not be good candidates for p.d.a. since a use might involve only a small percent of the overall work.

8. RUSA RSS Reference Research Forum, Sunday, June 26th, 1:30-3:30. Presenters: Ana Dubnjakovic (University of South Carolina), Amanda Clay Powers (Mississippi State University Libraries), and Amy Van Scoy (PhD student at UNC's library school)

• Ana Dubnjakovic described a study in which she used NCES data to assess the relationship between gate counts at academic libraries,  expenditures on electronic resources, and the number of reference transactions. Her results reveal a positive correlation between expenditures on electronic resources and the number of reference transactions. This contradicts the widely held belief that increased access to electronic resources will mean the demise of reference services.
• Amanda Clay Powers described a project in which she and her colleagues reviewed virtual reference transcripts and used the data to help with a website redesign and training program development. She used Grounded Theory to group questions and assign labels to them. One key finding was that the number of topic searches declined after they implemented EBSCO's Discovery service.
• Amy VanScoy described a study in which she investigated practictioner beleifs of librarians by interviewing 8 academic subject specialists. She used an exploratory, qualititative method called interpretive phenomenological analysis. She indentified emergent themes in the interviews and grouped them into superordinant themes. She then grouped the superordinant themes into master themes. She found that all her interviewees focused on the user and saw the users as having power. Some described their work as giving answers, others as planning for answers, and others as fixing mental models. Her interviewees use a number of active strategies for engaging users. These include persistence, creativity, intuition, and reflection. They delight in the intellectual challenge of reference and the joy of helping.

 9. ACRL Instruction Section's Current Issue Discussion: "Library instruction in tough economic times" Sunday, June 26, 4pm-5:30pm

This was perhaps the best run discussion session I have ever attended. The facilitator, Joan Petit, was outstanding at keeping the group on task and asking provocative questions to spur our thinking. The room contained several large tables each with about 8 people (a total of about 32 people). Joan began by describing the need for instruction programs to think more innovatively about how to best serve students. She noted that budget cuts and calls to prove impact represent significant challenges to the status quo. She encouraged us to think boldly and honesly.

Joan then provided each participant with a sheet for individual brainstorming. The sheet had five questions we were to spend 10-15 minutes answering individually. The questions were: (1) If money and staffing were unlimited, what would your library instruction program look like? (2) Given that we don't live in a perfect world, what from the above list is most important? (3) Do your current library program and your personal work schedule reflect these priorities? If not, why not? What are you and your library now doing that you could stop doing and perhaps approach differently? What could you say no to? (4) What would you need to do or have in order to implement your top priorities? (5) Many of us make personal and professional sacrifices in order to get our work done. What sacrifices have you made?

After we each answered these questions, each table discussed there answers among themselves. Following that, the entire room came together to share the most interesting ideas at the tables. Several librarians stressed that it is not efficient or particularly useful to provide generic one-shot instruction sessions to students when that instruction is not interesting and not provided at the point-of-need. A librarian from Arizona State University revealed that her library has stopped doing instruction for any class that does not have a heavy research component. They have developed online tutorials and guides to meet other user's needs. This idea of abandoning one-shots was not popular with all participants. Some indicated that students benefit from these because they learn to see the library as a friendly place to go for help. These librarians worry that we will miss out on opportunities to reach undergraduates if we stop visiting their classes in-person.

Other ideas presented were: (1) the need to map library instruction intelligently across curricula. (2) the need to learn to say no to requests by saying yes to something more managable. (3) The possibility of removing librarians from the reference desk to free up time for becoming embedded in curricula. (4) The need to track outcomes centrally. The University of Wisconsin's Libraries coordinates and publicizes assessment of information literacy. See http://www.library.wisc.edu/inst-services/assessment.html#infolit

There were several suggested readings for participants. These are listed at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/sections/is/eventsconferences/2011andigesttoughecon.cfm

10. RUSA MARS/RSS Virtual Reference Committee's program "Behind the text: Pulling back the curtain on virtual reference" Monday, June 27, 8am-10am, Moderator: Peter Bromberg (Princeton Public Library), Panelists: Kris Johnson (Ask Colorado), Lisa Ellis (Baruch College), Jen Robinson (Seattle Public Library)

As a member of the virtual reference tutorial subcommittee, I helped plan this session by contributing a number of discussion questions and helping develop some SMS poll questions. I also served as a door greeter and compiled the responses on the evaluation forms. This session was over-capacity. We had 120 chairs and 135 people in attendance. I remained outside the room throughout the presentation and encouraged indivdiuals who left early to fill out an evaluation form. Unfortunately, this role meant that I was not able to hear or see the program.

11. RUSA MARS/RSS joint executive commitee meeting, Monday, June 27, 11am-Noon.

I attended this meeting to report on the progress of the virtual reference tutorial subcommitee. I explained that we have revised two of the tutorials modules and will continue to revise modules offline until RUSA finishes its migration to Drupal.

12.The Ultimate Debate: "Library Web Scale Discovery Services: Paradigm Shift or More of the Same?" Moderator: Roy Tenant (OCLC), Panelists: Marshall Breeding (Vanderbilt), Andrea Shurr (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), Anne Prestamo (Oklahoma State University), Monday, June 27th, 1:30-3:30

Sadly, I was an hour late to this session due to very slow service at the restaurant we chose for lunch. By the time I arrived, the panelists were fielding questions. From their answers to the questions, I surmised that most of the panelists were quite positive toward webscale discovery solutions. Marshall Breeding, in particular, seemed to see them as a key way for us to improve our usefulness and relevance to our patrons. All the panelists stressed that the tools are not perfect and that it is especially vital to develop sound relevancy ranking strategies and to work carefully on the language of filtering options.

13.Battledecks 2011, Monday, June 27, 5:30pm-7pm

I'd heard about battledecks but had never attended a competition. I was amazed by the showmanship and spectacle. This competition was a battle of regional representatives and featured several well-known librarians including Lisa Hinchcliffe (ACRL President), Steven Abrams, and Jason Griffey. The idea of battledecks is quite simple: each participant is provided with 10 PowerPoint slides they have never seen before. They are given 4 minutes to get through all the slides. Each participant has a different set of slides, but has the same task: create a coherent, humorous talk based on the common theme: The future of libraries.

I was amzed at the cleverness of several of the presenters and delighted by the slides themselves. Most were abstract pictures culled from creative commons repositories. After the session, Heidi Blackburn suggested that we have a battledecks competition at the Unconference. I have floated that idea to the Unconference planning committee and they love the idea!

 

NASIG 26th Annual Conference June 2-5, 2011

 Science Re-Imagined

Presenter: Adam Bly, Seed Media Group

This presentation was my very favorite part of NASIG.  Science is a part of everything!  However, to reach its full potential even though we do not consider science when we think of humanities the presenter suggests humanities could be a very vital part to science.  Artists and humanists together with scientists could bring together their ideas, art and design.  Some of this is happening now through blogs—the presenter would like to see science engaged in conversation around the world.  Too often important works are reported in periodicals which stop right there.  “Knowledge about the world, funded by the world, belongs to the world”.   Adam Bly proposes science needs to be open/free and the costs subsidized-- no longer controlled by the few.

 Leaving the Big Deal: Consequences and Next Steps

Presenters: Jonathan Nabe, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; David Fowler, University of Oregon

 As you can see, two different university libraries have left their Big Deals not only because of budget constraints, but also because the collections can now reflect the needs of the community.  Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a system with law, medical and dental schools as well as a sister campus, SIU Edwardsville.  The library had to take long and careful consideration into lost access and ILL requests if they left their Big Deals.  SIUC left 3 Big Deals after looking at the statistics which reflected the downloads vs the titles with few or no downloads from Springer, Wiley, and Elsevier.  By getting out, they were able to save around $300,000, but SIUC had to work through some of the problems with getting out of the deals—25%  content fee (“punishment” fee), loss of price cap, adjusted subscription price for titles, etc.  In other words, the publishers make leaving as painful as possible, but Nabe pointed out you have control because you have the money.  SIUC has had only 3 complaints so far, and response is manageable.  Effective response is to show statistics.  LOCKSS preservation was a particularly difficult clause to enforce with Springer.  The library at University of Oregon did not leave as many Big Deals—1 and ½ of another.  University of Oregon has a diverse campus with an enrollment of over 23,000.  Wiley was canceled outright and only titles affordable and desirable kept.  Elsevier was cut by ½.  Some of the questions at the end were interesting.  Faculty do have other methods of getting their research materials and are probably using those more often than not.  Also if everyone is ILLing, what happens if no one is purchasing?   A question was asked about how this impacts smaller schools, and the answer was smaller schools can get better deals.  Question --“Return to print”?  Answer—we have moved so far beyond print there is no return.  There was also a concern about ILL stats.

 Using Drupal to Track Licenses and Organize Database Information

Presenter: Amanda Yesilbas, Florida Center for Library Automation

 Drupal is an open access content management tool with modules to work much like our ERM, Verde.  Amanda mentioned using an ERM which failed.   FCLA, then,  experimented with Drupal and found it easy to use, control and share.   Drupal is customizable and updated.  Permission to view can be set for license and statistics viewers.  FCLA is using Drupal 6 now but is hesitant to download 7 until all the bugs are worked out.

Exploring Patron Driven Access Models for E-journals and E-books

Presenters: Kisa Kurt, University of Nevada, Reno; Erin Silva Fisher, University of Nevada, Reno

 I liked the write up for this session “Meeting user needs in a variety of new ways is a constant in libraries.  As formats change and delivery methods evolve, meeting demands for content are more challenging than ever.  Patron driven acquisitions is the future according to many and has had significant growth recently.  As budgets tighten, more institutions are looking into pay-per-view and patron driven service models for e-journals, books, and e-books. “   Sounds like a good service model.  However, with the unbundling of the Big Deal, Librarians are really not sure how they can meet the demands for online usage.  The presenters advocate collaboration early on, starting small, and trials.

 Books in Chains

Presenter: Paul Duguid, UC Berkeley School of Information

 Paul Duguid first talked about brands for the big companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Dell.  The brands can become blurred—who stands out?  They all become interconnected.   There are also many links in the book supply chain author, agent, publisher, printer, distributer, wholesaler, library wholesaler, institution, libraries, and consumer.  What happens when you go digital?  For the idealist –Information wants to be free.  For the pragmatists—Information needs to be constrained.  Can we prevent going MIA in a muddled world?  The supply chain will endure with the links constantly changing.   We should be Managers of the Structure of Information and not Managers of Information.

 Poster Sessions

 1.  Do students want mobile library services and are librarians ready to deliver:

Presenter: Angela Dresselhaus, Utah State University

 2. To Bind or Not to Bind: Collaborations and Decisions, Decisions

Presenter: Susan Andrews, Texas A& M University-Commerce

 3. Using Journal Evaluation as a Gateway to Collaboration

Presenter: Mary Ann Jones, Mississippi State University

 4. Progressing Print Periodicals Processing: One Urban Community College Library’s Perspective

Presenter: Jennifer Sippel, Minneapolis Community & Technical College

5. The @One eReader Bar: eReader Exploration at the University of Nevada, Rento Knowledge Center

Presenters: Lisa Kurt and Erin Silva Fisher, University of Nevada, Reno

6. On the Road to (Better) Discovery: Choosing a New Interface for our OPAC

Presenter: Kate B. Moore, Indiana University Southeast

 7. What can I do with electronic resources?: UBC Library’s License Database

Presenter: Kat McGrath, University of British Columbia

 

ELUNA 2011: SFX product update

SFX product update
Christine Stohn
Ex Libris

ELUNA 2011: An SFX failover system using MySQL replication

Providing an SFX failover system using MySQL replication
Anne Highsmith
Texas A&M University

ELUNA 2011: Verde product update

Verde product update
Carmit Marcus
Ex Libris

ELUNA 2011: "Next-gen" ERMI

"Next-gen" ERMI: recommendations from the NISO electronic resource management (ERM) gap analysis
Betsy Friesen
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

ELUNA 2011: A tour of a few ways to retrieve Primo statistics

"Discovering the DiscoverLibrary user: a tour of a few ways to retrieve Primo statistics"
Dale Poulter
Vanderbilt University

ELUNA 2011: Alma

Bar Veinstein, Ex Libris Vice President of Resource Management

ELUNA 2011: Opening session: Ex Libris strategic update

Ex Libris Strategic Update: Oren Beit-Arie, Chief Strategy Officer

ELUNA 2011: Opening Session: Ex Libris North America update

Ex Libris North America Update: Mark Triest, Ex Libris North America President

ELUNA 2011: Opening session: Ex Libris corporate update

Ex Libris Update: Mattie Shem Tov, President and CEO

University of Oklahoma Libraries March 3-4 2011 Conference

“Damn the Recession: Full Speed Ahead”

Rush G. Miller, Hillman University Librarian, University of Pittsburg

In the not too distant past, the library was the only information source available—not true today.   Libraries, which have always been the heart of the university, must transition and reinvent themselves—it is not enough to claim value.  For the past two decades libraries have been strongly impacted by increasing costs for emerging technologies.  The libraries future is not secure.  “No one is going to save you”, and the library cannot continue to be all things to all people.   Libraries need bold leaders and change agents.  Many librarians have been far too conservative, and we now need those who can think out-of-the-box and make bold changes.  “The train of change is leaving the station,” and some in the library field are being left behind.  Even with the recession, libraries cannot afford to sit back but need to seize opportunities, make changes, and direct the redesign itself before it is done for them.

“The Value of Partnership: Building New Partnerships for Success”

Joan Giesecke, Dean of Libraries, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Forming partnerships is not easy, but it is necessary for leveraging the costs of resources and sharing expertise.  Across the board, academic universities are struggling to maintain quality with fewer resources.  The presenter suggests one way to combat the economic barriers is to create new and improved partnerships to leverage resources and share expertise.  This will also provide better services and access wider collections for users.  Dean Giesecke used the Gallup Corporation to help create successful partnerships.  Some of the factors for success depend upon a common mission along with common goals and purpose, fairness, and an equitable distribution of the workload.  Plus trust people to return good for good and forgive mistakes.  Two University of Nebraska-Lincoln partnerships were discussed by the presenter—one failure and one success.  For the failure Dean Giesecke said one has to learn how to end the partnership with an amicable divorce for both parties.

“Creating Sustainable Futures for Academic Libraries”

Lizabeth (Beth) Wilson, Dean of University Libraries, University of Washington

The presenter used the term “Great Depression to Great Recession” to describe how scarcity can lead to great things and move from surviving to sustainability.  All planned sustainability is targeted to coordinate with the university strategic plan 2y2d-2 Years to 2 Decades.  The University of Washington Libraries is a large, public research library with over 7,000,000 volumes, and 50,000 serial titles.  The library was asked to use the university 2y2d plan to form their strategy.  Some of the questions asked were “Who are we, What’s next (What will we be?-What direction maintains/sustains excellence, vision and values), How will we get there? What are we doing now?”- the last question concerns the next steps: 2y (Sustainable academic business plan) and 2d (Focus on Society’s major problems).  

Two years (2y)

• Near-term action
• Practical
• Answers “How?”
• Creates a new business model

Two decades (2d)

• Long-term view
• Aspirational
• Answers “What?”
• Positions the UW to thrive in the 21^st Century

I could go on and on with this presentation, as it was tremendously informative and quite interesting.  I have the slides if anyone is interested; however, one big major change made was in the building itself after assessment, surveys, metrics, etc.  Areas were consolidated, lots of space provided for the various interests, movable furniture (Googie [sp?] and Jetsons) and white boards as well as white board table tops (very popular), banners, music, dining experiences, and wild colors –Feverish Pink,  Marvelous Mustard, and Paradise Green.  Dean Wilson also talked about how the money was acquired and went into great detail about various powerful partnerships.  This wonderful space brought many classes and workshops directly to the library.

“Are MLS Graduates Being Prepared for the Changing and Emerging Roles that Librarians Must Now Assume within Research University Libraries?”

James Mullins, Dean of Libraries, Purdue University

Findings from a survey sent to directors, deans, and university librarians at 10 ARL institutions, did not show a confidence in current MLS programs providing the right fit for Research University Libraries.  In fact many institutions are hiring outside the MLS degree, as they feel it is limiting—“need to hire the right person whether or not the individual has an MLS degree.”

“Advancing the Institutional Mission”

Brinley Franklin, Vice Provost, University Libraries, University of Connecticut

Because of budget issues, early retirement incentives were proposed—9 people accepted. Vice Provost Franklin points out the fact that librarians need to show value beyond collections and services, and create new roles that serve the universities needs for research libraries.  He suggests reading No Brief Candle:  Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21^st Century, especially the essay by Andrew Dillon.  Vice Provost Franklin asks “why not align libraries to the university academic plan”?  In other words, change the focus from the Library and its functions to the users and their needs.  Generating a campus buy-in helps constituents understand the library and its services.

  “Life is no brief candle to me.  It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations.”---George Bernard Shaw

“Short term Changes for Long-term Benefits”

David Spadafora, President and Librarian, The Newberry Library

In 2008 The Newberry Library completed a long-term strategic plan with big plans to increase staff compensation, but by November of that year The Newberry was in a crisis with endowments shrinking  by 28%.  Plans, instead, had to be made to create a leaner institution.  One of the biggest weaknesses was the facility itself.  By relentlessly focusing on the Newberry institutional strengths, using interdisciplinary teams, grants, and changing donations to unrestricted giving, The Newberry was able to make some of their facility changes.

“Global Resources: How a Cooperative Collection Development Enterprise Keeps Pace with a Rapidly Changing World”

Bernard F. Reilly, President, Center for Research Libraries

Bernie described how a cooperative collection development has evolved and adapted to radical changes in both technology and the information marketplace to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.  One of my favorite points from Bernie’s talk was “Libraries have to be more than a big box; they need to be more dynamic and assertive; they need to be stewards of knowledge and have a responsibility and obligation for future generation researchers.”

“Budgets, Services and Technology Driving Change---How Librarians, Publishers and Vendors are Moving Forward”

Tim Collins, President EBSCO Publishing

Mr. Collins first discussed the trends impacting libraries as a result of current low budgets—library staff not replaced, downgraded, reassigned, and positions frozen/eliminated; technical services show some of the biggest cuts in staffing as well as acquisitions and student workers.  The impact on publishers and vendors has been a 45% decline on overall business which has changed the way they are doing business.  The number one change is to provide more online, and bury the print.  Publisher staffing has taken the same toll as libraries—staff reorganized, not replaced, re-graded /realigned, and positions frozen.  Publishers are focusing on increasing cost per packages/collection as well as partnering in discovery services and eBook space, but not likely in full-text partnerships.  The presenter predicts the eBook will greatly expand.

“Let’s Get Cozy: Evolving Collaborations in the 21^st Century”

Paula Kaufman, Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Dean of Libraries, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Why collaborate?  More can be accomplished together with greater benefits to users as well as economic benefits.  Dean Kaufman described the Kanter Framework for developing collaborations.

• Courtship: attraction, shared vision
• Engagement: creation plan and formalize commitment
• Living together: surfacing disagreements
• Learning to get along: making accommodations
• Old marrieds: internal change
• Divorce

The Pre-Selection criteria

• Self-analysis – know thyself
• Chemistry
• Compatibility

At the beginning of the collaboration, set out the rules of the game to make roles and responsibilities clear as well as talk about what might trigger dissolution.  State expectations upfront and be clear about what must be measured and why.   Pool resources.

“In Transition: The Special Nature of Leadership Change”

Barbara Dewey, Dean, University Libraries & Scholarly communications, Pennsylvania State University

What is transition?—“a passing or passage from one condition, action, or (rarely) place, to another; change.”  Some types of transition might be leadership, political, social, cultural, economic, and technological. 

Elements for effective transition (Christy 2009)

• Identifying features worth preserving
• Communication throughout the organization
• Building strong management teams
• Completing major projects
• Recruiting and selecting successors
• Orienting and training new managers
• Building social networks

Demonstrating Leader’s Value Proposition

• Is the management team effective?
• Where is the organization doing well and where are the strategic gaps?
• Is the communication plan effective or does it need work?
• Does the staff understand the director’s vision and are they clear on priorities moving forward
• Are there organization issues to address?
• What changes are needed, in what order, by whom, and how?

As a summary Dean Dewey reminds us that we need to acknowledge that we are in permanent transition and can grow and thrive.

 

Electronic Resources & Libraries 2011: Highlights

ER&L 2011 sold out well in advance of the registration deadline and attracted over 400 attendees (huge for this conference). There was a very active Twitter presence under the hashtag #erl11; ER&L organizers tweeted the conference under the Twitter name @ERandL. For a while, at least, you can see the entire conference Twitter stream at:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23erl11
See data about the Twitter stream at:
http://archivist.visitmix.com/sambr/1

Charleston Conference

The 30^th Annual Charleston Conference (Nov.3-6 at Charleston, S.C.) included a packed schedule of thought-provoking keynote speakers, news from vendors, and concurrent sessions of interest to individuals working in acquisitions or collection development.

Rick Anderson from the University of Utah began the program by talking about "sane" and "less sane" practices in the library world. Among the "less sane" in his opinion are big deal subscription and approval plans, redundant cataloging, and print runs. More sane practices include article purchase, Wikipedia, shared cataloging, ease of use, patron-driven acquisition and print-on-demand. See the notes/slides here.

There were discussions about the current model of access to research (authors, sponsors, peer reviewers, editors, brand and process) and what is the public trust level. Raised questions included: whose responsibility is it to curate raw data; where is the infrastructure for stewardship; how do we capture scholarly inquiry/discourse using unstable and emergent technology such as blogs, wikis, open notebooks? Several contributors to the Scholarly Kitchen spoke during the conference.

Concurrent sessions covered everything from Patron Driven Acquisition models (successes and challenges), to what user statistics really mean, to various APIs available from vendors, to trends in publishing. A real value and learning experience at this conference is the opportunity for publishers, vendors, and librarians to have open, honest discussions in an attempt to reach the common goal of providing access to information. The Conference program can be found here.

Global Water--2010 and beyond. Denver CO, October 21 & 22, 2010

30+ attendees are here in Denver for this conference.  Attendees from the Center for Research Libraries and the Greater Western Library Alliance are present. The Global Research Network was originally under an ARL umbrella, but is now affiliated with CRL.

Keynote -- Donald Worster, professor of U.S. History and Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas.  Water and Empire in the American West, Past Present and Future. Worster reviewed the history of the US and the vast natural resources that laid the foundation for creating a free nation.  Early on it was referred to as a potential empire, but ours would be good and decent, not based on evil and a lust for domination.  Ours would be an empire of liberty.  Bad empires conquer people; good empires conquer nature.

The original concept of an empire (eastern USA) was an infrastructure of canals.  It was discovered that the western plains of the United States didn’t have enough water to meet the needs for all the needs  for agriculture.  In 1893, the Secretary of Interior John W. Noble predicted that irrigation will build a highly populated region west of the Mississippi.  The task of overcoming water issues in the west was the big motivater in the growth of government power and activity.  An early focus in the early 1900’s was diverting the water rich Colorado river to irrigate the Imperial Valley.  Hoover Dam was the result of this effort.  The federal government took on a project that was impossible for any private entity or state government to control the major rivers in the western US.

Willaim Smythe, The Conquest of Arid America (1899, 1905 reissue) called the conquest of the west as “colonial expansion at home”.

Our rivers are endangered.  They have silt and pollutants causing huge environmental problems. Around 1978 we reached the end of the water conquest of the American West.  There are no endless supplies. Should agriculture go on using 80-90% of this area’s water.  Population in the urban areas of the west will continue to increase, and along with that will be an increased demand on the water supply.

The first principle of water policy should be sustainability (Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission--Water in the West:  Challenge for the Next Century).  The Commission concedes there are existing water rights.  Persistent drought still challenges many areas in the American West.  Nebrasks, northern Kansas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, California, Arizona and Washington are particularly hard hit. 

Summary of trends:
    By the year 2078, much of the western water infrastructure will have fallen apart or been abandoned.  In the short term, there are less dramatic changes. 
We will be forced to improve efficient in water use radically. 
Investing in environmental repair and restoration.  It may involve taking water away from agriculture and dismantling dams.
Opening water policy to broader public participation.
Adopting a post-imperial mindset and values??  (He doesn’t know, but maybe.)  It could be a real cultural shift.

Q & A: 

Q:  What is the future of water governance?  A:  Some groups advocate privatizing; other groups want public control.  There is a fracturing in opinions today.  History shows we will change water law dramatically.  Nothing stays the same.

Q:  We see a current demand for data upon which to make decisions.  Do you see any movement for people wanting historic data?  A:  Yes, but the past is not a lot of help for guiding the future with the current water demands.  We are facing a long-term investigation. Understanding how we made decisions is important, but we have to use current data and look forward.

Q: Privatization is happening;  i.e, South America.  Current US water suppliers (municipal) are trying to keep the cost low to consumers, which increases demand. A:  Need to bring systems into reality of what we have to work with.

******************************

Session 1: Preservation of, and Access to, Water-Related Information
How libraries, archives, and other institutions have traditionally preserved documentation and evidence necessary for planning and allocation of water resources.

The National Water Information System
John Faundeen, Archivist, U.S. Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Speaker’s focus in on preservation of observational data.   USGS founded in 1879 .  Pioneered hydrologic techniques for gaging the discharge in rivers and streams and modeling the flow of complex ground-water systems.  As of October 5, 2010, USGS has a new director and a new organizational structure.

National Water Information System
Real-time data
Site information
Surface water
Ground water
Water quality

Real-time data typically are recorded at 15-60 minute intervals, stored onsite, and then transmitted to USGS offices every 1 to 4 hours, depending on the data relay technique used.  Recording and transmission times may be more frequent during critical events.  Data from real-time sites are relayed to USGS offices via satellite, telephone, and or radio telemetry.  Daily Streamflow Conditions are the kinds of data reported as real-time data.

Site information: The site inventory system contains and provides access to inventory information about sites at stream reaches, wells, test holes, springs, tunnels, etc.  You can filter down and select criteria on the website to clarify exactly what data you are extracting.  They analyze for things like heavy metals also.
 
Surface water data are collected by field personnel or relayed through telephones of satellites to offices where it is stored.  Time series data is gathered and used to calculate various kinds of statistics.

Ground water database consists of more that 850,000 records of well, springs, test holes, tunnels, drains, and other structures.

Water quality. USGS collects and analyzes chemical, physical, and biological properties of water, sediment and tissue samples from across the nation.  Cooperate with EPA, and can find additional water quality information through EPA.

Summary.  The National Water Information System  http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis covers all states DC, and territories of the US.  If you have a question about what you are interpreting, please contact for further explanation and information.

Q & A:

Q:  With all the real time data, there must be a lot of archived data.  How do you keep up with that?  A:  The National Archives has allocated $500 million to the effort to archive everything (all agencies).  All of our records are now required to be preserved. The records not visible now are in paper.  USGS is working to digitize older paper records.

California Water Data : current landscape and future
Linda Vida, Director/Head Librarian, Water Resources Center Archives, University of California, Berkeley
 
California Water Data on the Web.
California’s Water Library is on the Berkeley campus.  It is a hybrid of a library with published materials and archive of archived materials.  The mission is to collect unique historic and current information and data about the water in California in theWest.
The library has approx. 200,000 technical reports.  They provide typical library services.

Library projects:
Calif. Colloquium on Water lecture series
Clearinghouse for Dam Removal information
Grant Projects:
    -Dennis Underwood Colorado River Collection
    -NEH--Origins of Western Water
    -SF Water Supply Database
    -Cache Creek Database

Using OCLC Content DM to harvest, preserve and catalog digital only documents harvested from Web Sites.
Working with state agencies to use ContentDM to create metadata for digital documents and builds specialized online collections.
Web Archiving Service (WAS) that was built by CLD-WRCA has created a CA Water agency WAS and currently working on Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta WAS

Timeline for move to the UC Riverside campus from Berkeley.  Library is moving.  There is a public service outage from Oct. 15-April 25, 2011. The collection will be housed in the UCR Orbach Science Library.  A collaborate agreement will be developed with CSUSN to develop a statewide network to share resources more broadly.  They want to develop more digital resources.

California Water DRoP project.  It is a Data Repository Project.  Initial list of Tasks:
1--Evaluate existing CA water data sets/  2.  Create referencing system for existing data.  3.  Communicate with government agencies re: their limitations.

Survey of the users specified data needs of the users.  Watersheds and ground basins seem to be of biggest importance, and they want it online. They preferred very recent and current data over historical data.

Documenting Colorado water within and beyond its borders
Patricia J. Rettig, Head Archivist, Water Resources Archive, Colorado State University Libraries

The Colorado Water Resources Archives is the only entity saving water information from Colorado.  They also have information on surrounding states and some items from international sources.



Working Session 2: Toward an Action Agenda
What actions can libraries and partner organizations take to better ensure the survival and integrity of the most appropriate resources? What new models, partnerships, and investment strategies will best address these challenges? Where do we focus our efforts?

Facilitator: James Simon

Conclusions
Bernard Reilly, President, Center for Research Libraries