Conference Reports

NEKLS Tech Day: Lightning Rounds

Lightning Rounds have been common at tech-type conferences for several years now though I'd never actually been to one at a conference until NEKLS Tech Day. We do mini-lightning rounds at our library all staff meetings every now and then and they are a great way to get a brief overview of new technologies (or older ones) that are being used. I've always found them very intriguing!

Here are some highlights the NEKLS event:

NEKLS Tech Day: Open Source Community

Open Source Community: Your Ace in the Hole

Diana Weaver, Liz Rea and Mickey Coalwell shared their experiences using Koha and Wordpress. 

Koha is an open source ILS that has been implemented in many of the state's libraries, including the Northeast Kansas Library System. They have a shared ILS called NExpress

One of the perceived challenges in implementing open source is that there is no 800 number to call for troubleshooting, support, or enhancements. This appears to cause staff the most discomfort.

Solution: google it to solve problems; solve problems yourself; it's actually fun to search for answers to the problems!

NEKLS Tech Day 2009 - keynote

I didn't attempt to live blog yesterday because my typing on my ASUS Eee can be a bit iffy given the tiny keyboard. I've cleaned this up a bit but essentially what you are getting are the highlights of the session rather than a lovely, clean summary:

Amy Begg de Groff - keynote speaker from Howard County Library (HCL) in Maryland - her experiences as director of information technology:  how many $$ might be saved using Open Source software.

HCL overview: 6 branches, 6million items circulated annually; 316 public computer (using Ubuntu platform); 400 staff comp (65% running on Ubuntu, which is a Linux software)

ALA Annual, ALCTS/LLAMA/PLA, "Re-thinking Staff Resources in the E-Serials Environment"

What else is there to do on an early Sunday morning but attend an 8 a.m. meeting? Fortunately, this one was an interesting one that did not require vast quantities of coffee to remain engaged. I am hoping the presentation slides, particularly those from Rick Anderson of the University of Utah will be forthcoming.

It was somewhat reassuring to hear others across various institutions grappling with the same issues that our technical services area has been. The good news is some of the ideas others shared we already have incorporated. Other ideas have been mentioned and will likely be in the works in the future. K-State has also been very fortunate that budget cuts have not led to staff layoffs. For example, Rick Anderson shared the University of Utah received a 19% budget reduction and a 20% layoff of technical services staff.

ALA Annual, Electronic Resources Interest Group, “Pay-Per-View Options: Is Transactional Access Right For My Institution?”

Transportation challenges in Chicago caused me to miss the first 45 minutes of 1.5 hour presentation. That being said, I was able to glean a few useful bits of information. The meeting of the ALCTS Electronic Resources Interest Group focused on pay-per-view models.

What does pay-per-view have to do with libraries? Quite a bit in these tight budget times, actually. Some of speakers referred to the model as pay-per-view access while other speakers called the model transactional access. The model is one response to continued serials cancellation projects and is an attempt to provide users and library staff with nearly instant, desktop delivery of the most recent journal articles. It is quicker than traditional interlibrary loan and often involves the most current articles. Is a pay-per-view model right for your library? That depends.