11th 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 The library was just “pure ugly” with bare gray walls and an outdated 70’s look.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 3rdparty 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.
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