Conference Reports

More on CULS

Mary and Char have already given a good summary of some of the presentations I attended.  I also enjoyed the keynote and the speech on the Kansas orphan trains.

Tom Marini and Debbie Madsen gave an in-depth presentation on finding business information from government sources. It's amazing what you can find on .gov webpages. Talk with Debbie and Tom for more information or check out www.trade.gov, www.census,gov, and www.usda.gov.

Erma Verhage and Renee Gates gave a presentation on how ADAPT in K-State Libraries makes a difference for students.  ADAPT has evolved from ADA Policies Team to ADA Program Team.  The Adaptive Technology Lab is available in our library (213A) for use of any students registered with the Office of Disability Support Services.  Several timely and educational programs for staff have been offered by ADAPT.

The poster session had several interesting posters and handouts.  I particularly liked "Going the Distance for Distance Students" from WSU's Gemma Blackburn, Jane Hodge, and Janet Brown.  This mirrored a lot of what K-State Libraries has done for our distance students, including the use of ILLiad.

The dinner at the Smoky Hill Vineyard and Winery was a success.  Lots of good food, fun, networking, and shopping even for those not wine tasting.

More from CULS

A session presented by Terri Summey and Cynthia Akers from ESU on Library Ambassadors sparked my interest.  How exciting it was to learn that we at KSU have just started a Library Ambassador program.  (See KSU Libraries News & Events blog) A theme that came up several times at CULS was that students are more likely to ask questions of other students. Who better than student Library Ambassadors could promote the library at public events, in classrooms and or even in the resident halls.  I hope we will be hiring more and have an opportunity for the staff to meet our library ambassadors and for them to met some of us.  Part of ESU’s program includes training or some in-service time for the Ambassadors in different parts of the library to give them a better understanding of the areas that are more behind the scenes. 

Several Pittsburg State librarians presented a session on Outreach.  The question came up to define “outreach” and we found it could be any number of things depending on the context.  Suggestions of things that could be done went from article linking with SFX to library (and Friends) hosting receptions for new faculty or faculty authors on campus.  Seems to me the library is the perfect venue for a new author reception. 

Notes from CULS

The annual CULS meeting in Salina on Oct. 5-6 provided some invigorating topics, including presentations on a scholarly communications program at ESU, security issues in libraries from WSU, state librarian Christie Brandau’s keynote address on libraries relevance in the 21^st century, and Marilyn Holt’s wrap up on orphan trains at the luncheon closing.

Brandau’s speech affirmed many of the things we are already doing at K-State, essential things like being patron-centered/student centric, seeking customer input, assessing our services, taking the library to the students, getting to know them, and providing that personal touch. What do we need (i.e., libraries need) to do better? Solve access problems, be barrier - physical and virtual – free. We need to market, market, and market more. We can provide “one click” to good, relevant information that will save the user time! We have to be flexible because there will be continued, rapid change in the years ahead as we strive to connect people to information.

A number of K-Staters presented. I attended Kristin’s presentation on the residency program. She teamed up with a librarian from KU (Nikhat G.) who had been a resident at Wooster in Ohio a couple of years ago. It was a nice contrast of experiences at a large vs. small institution. Both individuals agreed the experience is invaluable.

Mohan and Tom presented on Multiculturalism in Libraries. They divided the session attendees into 3 groups to review issues and strategies surrounding multiculturalism: recognition of differences among users, expectations of users, and inclusiveness. Each group shared its ideas with attendees. Mohan & Tom plan to summarize the information so I won't go into any details here!

One other session I attended was very timely: security issues in libraries. You probably already knew this but you know those greeters at Wal-mart, or the ladies giving you cologne samples in department stores?  They aren’t just doing that to be nice. They’re putting a personal touch on customers, which apparently helps discourage shoplifting! Gwen A. from WSU discussed her library’s work with campus police on SCP (situational crime prevention). As an urban institution, WSU faces more challenges than KSUL but it was interesting to hear what they’ve done and their future plans. WSU has enforced age limits: no one under 14 may be in the library without an accompanying adult. They’ve redesigned their main floor to allow more visibility of both staff and patrons, placing their help desk very close to the entrance so users can get some eye contact with staff. They’ve discussed giving student workers walkie-talkies when they are working in the stacks. They may even place video cameras in the stacks.

Dalene Hawthorne and Cynthia Akers described the process to establish their scholarly communications program at ESU. They’ve been able to involve academic faculty and deans on a council that has been established to do some consciousness-raising, including creating interest for an institutional repository and encouraging support for open access publishing.

Marilyn Holt’s presentation on the orphan trains was fascinating. She discussed her research and books on this piece of U.S. history that occurred between the mid-1860s and 1929. Many of the trains stopped in towns across Kansas. She read from diaries and had notes from her personal conversations with individuals who were orphans, many of whom were adopted to provide labor on family farms.