Citegeist

New at TechSource: Lessons from ALA 2010

// July 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Conferences, librarians

Techsource Gadget Petting Zoo
Originally uploaded by cindiann

Three years ago, at the ALA Annual Conference in DC, I wrote this blog post. I was a month into a new job and trying to find my way into the impenetrable depths of the seemingly endless ALA. My past experience in other associations told me that Woody Allen was right when he said that eighty percent of success is showing up: associations like ALA and its chapters and divisions depend on volunteers to get business and planning done, and there are never enough volunteers. So, looking back, what have I learned?

Read more at the ALA Techsource blog.

Vote for Cindi!

// March 17th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Conferences, librarians

I’m running for LITA Board member at large.  If you’re a LITA member, I hope you’ll vote for me!  See all the details at my LITA election page, particularly my Candidate’s Statement.

LITA has led the way organizationally with Interest Groups and programmatically with Top Tech and BIGWIG but has not led the way in online programming or collaboration. I want to help transform LITA to fulfill these roles and to be a more nimble organization.

I believe that I have the skills and passion for the profession that make me a good fit for the job:

• Several years’ administration experience in academic libraries of varying type and size;
• Experience meeting effectively face-to-face and online, with a focus on getting things done;
• Curiosity for emerging technologies, paired with a passion for providing excellent service;
• A strong belief in the value of human connections, of teaching each other, and of the potential for ALA and LITA to provide structure for doing so.

I’d also like to take a moment to encourage you to vote for Colleen Cuddy for President, Adrienne Lim for LITA Councillor and Jason Griffey for Director-At-Large.  Jason’s running for Council, too!

Ballots are out this week–look for yours in your inbox.  Thank you!

Liveblog of Charleston Conference

// November 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, librarians

The Charleston Conference 2009

Techsource post: Let’s go camping!

// October 4th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Conferences, U2, librarians

I am very sad not to get to attend and speak at Internet Librarian this year. I will miss seeing all my library technology friends in beautiful Monterey. Perhaps most of all, I’ll miss the first unconference event at IL, which will be deftly and awesomely hosted by Amy Buckland and Jenica Rogers. Read more at ALA Techsource:

Internet Librarian and Computers in Libraries are two of my favorite library technology conferences.  All of the programming focuses on the application of technology in libraries, they have great keynote speakers, and feature shorter “Cybertour” presentations in the exhibit hall–quick, 15-minute introductions to whet attendees’ appetites.  This year, the organizers of Internet Librarian are trying something new and different: before the conference begins, attendees and anyone else who signs up on the wiki have a chance to attend LibCamp Monterey, a half-day “unconference” on library technology.  I had the opportunity to catch up recently with organizer Amy Buckland about LibCamp and what attendees can expect.  She and co-facilitator Jenica Rogers are very excited about the event.

On a personal note, the reason I’m not able to attend is that I’ll be attending and taking photos at the wedding of one of my best friends in the world, Ellen Fauver.  Ellen and I met on a plane in 2001; I was on the way to San Antonio for SLA, and she was on her way to Florida to grade AP English exams.  We each mistook the other one of our own: her things were stuffed into a canvas tote bag, and I was carrying Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.  We’ve been fast friends ever since.  (Didn’t hurt that she was wearing a U2 shirt; also on that weekend, we’ll see U2 in LA, our fifth show together.)

New post at ALA TechSource

// May 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, librarians

“Where the rubber meets the road… applying what I learned at Computers in Libraries 2009”

Have you ever cleaned papers off your desk, only to find lurking at the very bottom that list of nifty ideas from that awesome conference you attended months ago? It’s easy enough to report what was seen and heard at a conference; it’s more difficult to apply that knowledge and demonstrate its application. Life and work inertia typically get in the way, even at institutions that welcome new ideas. The Computers in Libraries 2009 conference was a month ago. Have I applied what I learned there? The answer, not surprisingly, is “yes and no.” Here is a brief summary of the takeaways from my favorite session at this year’s CIL—and what I have (or haven’t!) done with them.

Read the entire post.

On Writing The Darien Statements

// April 3rd, 2009 // 12 Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, librarians

Photo by Michael Porter

Following the “Not-Quite-Summit on the Future of Libraries” event at Darien Library, John Blyberg, Kathryn Greenhill, and I spent a day in John’s office (literally) drawing out the ideas that had sprouted there.  Our intention was to spend a day writing a Thing that expressed our concern and hope for the future of libraries, regardless of library type or community served.  We spent the next week in a three-person unconference, the product of which is now posted to John’s blog.  It was an amazing, enriching, exhausting experience,  forming interstices in our attendance at the Computers in Libraries 2009 conference.

We hope that the statements we’ve crafted on our future spark conversation to move us forward in a positive way.  There is a groundswell of passion and interest that we in our profession must harness, lest we become irrelevant in a rapidly-changing world.  A big thank you from the three of us to all the librarians who have been publicly writing and thinking about the future of libraries. I hope we channeled your thoughts with respect.

My own personal response to what we have written involves the concept of openness.  We already embrace “open source,” “open access,” “open space technology,” the “open library“; the openness I want us to espouse is not only related to libraries and our profession but to all of us as human beings. I believe we are on the cusp of an historic, societal change that libraries can push forward, be a part of, and preserve.

Openness requires us to trust instinctively, and to be open and honest with those around us.  Openness grows trust; trust grows connection; connection enables us to grow as people.  Conversely, hurt and hatred sever connection; lack of connection breeds mistrust; mistrust causes us to close ourselves off from each other. If we are closed, we do not grow.  For librarians to grow, and concomitantly, for our libraries to grow, we must throw the doors open: we can no longer afford to live in silos, whether it’s the silo of our individual or departmental expertise; the silos of data that comprise many library systems; the silo of a single library among institutions with similar missions; or the silo of libraries in the universe of other entities that gather and provide information.

Photo by Cindi Trainor

A quick note on collaboration:  John, Kathryn, and I used email, google chat, meebo, EtherPad, cameras, a whiteboard, flickr, an iPhone, iTalk, and Skype to do this.  Grateful that there were so many tools to get the job done, and grateful to John and Kathryn for their hard work and friendship.

The Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians, at Blyberg.net
On Writing the Darien Statements, by Kathryn Greenhill

In the Foothills: A Not-Quite-Summit on the Future of Libraries

// March 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries

John Blyberg writes:

ch-ch-ch-changes by twcollins (CC:by-nc-nd2.0)

At many Library conferences these days, we focus on technology so intensely that often we forget to consider the larger work for which technology is just a tool. And perhaps not the most important tool.

Yet, information technology has proliferated and become “humanized” over the last dozen years to the extent that we are now in the midst of revolutionary change. Some even see that change as a threat to the existence of libraries.

As information professionals, we occupy a significant amount of space at the epicenter of that change–but how are we really doing? Are we helping to direct that change or merely responding to it? Are we leveraging change, or simply managing it? As the world of information production and consumption undergoes a complete transformation, how is our place in society affected and what are our responsibilities? How do we justify our existence?

Please join us on Thursday, March 26th at the Darien Library for a conversation with John Berry (Editor-at-large, Library Journal, New York, NY) and Kathryn Greenhill (Emerging Technologies Specialist, Murdoch University Library, Perth Western Australia) about revolutionary change, youth, service, and civic responsibility, and the future of libraries.

Come prepared to participate in group discussion following both speakers. In fact, come prepared to help sketch out the role librarians should play in defining the future of libraries.

Coffee and bagels will be served at 9:00 and we will begin the program at 9:30. Lunch will also be served and we will go until we’ve exhasted the topic (around 5:00).

Attendance is free, but please sign up using the wiki.

LITA Candidates, 2009

// March 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, librarians

Just when you thought it was safe… it’s election season again!  ALA members should be receiving their ballot packages next week, between March 17 and 19.  If you’re an ALA member, please remember to vote.  If you’re also a LITA member, please read on.

I’d like to offer LITA members my personal endorsement of the following candidates:

• LITA President:  Karen Starr
  From her personal statement: “Creative change comes with long term investment, commitment, and patience. [...] I look forward to the opportunity to work with LITA’s members to collaboratively implement the vision that sustains our country’s 21st century information infrastructure.”
• LITA Director-at-Large:  Aaron Dobbs
  From his personal statement: “In addition to guiding and encouraging improvement of LITA services, LITA Board members should be aware of national and international policy debates affecting libraries, library services and library users. Some relevant policies include: personal data (privacy, protection, aggregation, and use thereof), preservation (physical, electronic, locked, obsolete technologies), orphaned works, and wiretapping.”
• LITA Director-at-Large: Maurice York
  From his personal statement: “Throughout my involvement with LITA, I have been a beneficiary of the openness, spontaneity, and impulse for innovation of the organization and its members. [...] I believe that LITA is positioned to represent the potential of a responsive and flexible professional organization to play an important role in shaping the profession at this critical turning point.”

LITA plays a vital role in my professional development.  It’s the home of such innovative ideas as the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase and the Top Technology Trends panels.  LITA connects me with other professionals in library technology departments and others who are interested in emerging technologies and their role in libraries.  It’s my hope that LITA will continue to lead the way with innovative technology programming, at face-to-face meetings and in the online world; it’s my opinion that the three individuals above are the best for that job.  If you’re a LITA member, please consider giving them your vote.

Thanks.

This endorsement represents my personal opinion and is in no way reflective of any committee, interest group, or other unit of LITA or ALA.

TechSource Post on DrupalCamp09

// March 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, Library Systems, Web Stuff, librarians

the instigators

Originally uploaded by cindiann

I have a new post at ALA TechSource about my trip at the end of February to Darien Library:

Drupal is hard. It has its own vocabulary. Its potential is so wide open that it is literally possible to do nearly anything with it, and while this idea is greatly liberating, it is also sort of paralyzing: Where do I start? What modules do I need? What can I DO with this thing?

But the way I see it, the fact that Drupal has a steep learning curve is no excuse. There’s no question that Drupal has a steep learning curve, or that it can be messy and complex to implement, but its potential is too great for libraries to ignore. There is also no question that we can do it.

Read the entire post.

Intro to LibX slides posted

// February 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, Library Systems, Web Stuff

One of the best parts of the recent ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver was getting to speak on a panel with David Lee King of the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library and Rachel Van Noord of WebJunction.  The program was titled “Thx 4 the txt: Communicating with Users in their Space,” and it was sponsored by OCLC Resource Sharing.  Unfortunately, none of us actually talked about SMS reference with users, a topic which I’m sure that many in the room were interested in.  [For that, see the excellent presentation on SMS reference service by Joe Murphy of Yale University and Ellen Peterson of Maui Community College from Internet Librarian 2008.]

David did a wonderful job showing us how Topeka reaches out to their users and welcomes user content inside and outside the library website, and Rachel gave a great introduction to WebJunction.  Both of them had beautiful slides!  You can see David’s on Slideshare.

My part of the program was an introduction to LibX.  We have just configured this browser extension at MPOW and will be testing it and making it available to users this spring.  My slides show the very basic capabilities of LibX; for a more focussed look, see the presentation by Annette Bailey and Godmar Back at last year’s Access 2008 conference [pptx] [pdf]. Thanks to Kathryn Greenhill, whose own LibX screencast inspired me to just try it.