Citegeist

My ALA Annual 2007 in a nutshell

// June 28th, 2007 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries

This post is my daily diary of what happened at ALA.

Day 2 – What a day at ALA

When I got to the Conference Center Saturday and realized that I had actually intended to stop at the Renaissance Washington for a session, I took it as a sign and just went down to the exhibits. I spent the morning there and visited lots of exciting booths.

From there, I went to the LITA BIGWIG Social Software Showcase roundtable session. I hung out at the Twitter table for a while, but the best thing was the Libraryman / Librarything Great Debate. It was a really great discussion at the Facebook apps table between Michael Porter and Tim Spalding about the concept of librarything, how it’s given libraryland a kick in the pants, and the implications of it being (and remaining) a commercial endeavor.

After BIGWIG, I went back to the exhibits to collect more Library Flair and ran into some folks I’d met along the way. I went to the LITA Happy Hour, the LISNews/Host meetup, was an accidental guest of ALA President-Elect Loriene Roy, headed to the Facebook party then met up again with my roomie, some buddies and Serials Solutions folks.

Whew. More Sessions on Sunday and the OCLC blog salon. Yeah!

Day 3, Sunday – Another whattaday

OK. So. I did stuff. And talked to people. And stayed up late. I’m beat.

I attended “Transforming your staff” and “transforming your space.”

I got lunch with Anna Creech at a very questionable Subway, on our way to the Mayflower.

I attended much of the LITA Top Tech Trends session at the Mayflower. When the information started bouncing off my forehead, I took the metro back to the hotel and took a short nap.

Hit the exhibits and played some games.

Attended the OCLC blog salon, which was the best event at the whole conference.

Went out with friends.

Day 4, Monday – Losing steam

Blew off 8:00 a.m. sessions and hit Conference Center about 10.

Couldn’t handle sessions: uploaded flickr photos instead.

RUSA President’s program: Time Odyssey. It was about 90 degrees in there, so I bailed after 45 minutes, lest I pass out.

Nap.

Conflict-free exhibits time.

Dinner with folks from Vanderbilt, perking up a bit. Brief stop at Kramerbooks, metro home.

Beer with friends, early bedtime.

Day 5, Tuesday – spent

Slept in, missed Garrison Keillor though I saw him leaving the Hyatt as I went to retrieve my bag.

Made it back to the exhibits for a final round of interest-expressing.

Took the train to BWI and rather uneventful flight home. I was one of the lucky few; there are many who are not home YET, though they left Tuesday.

ALA2007: transforming your staff

// June 24th, 2007 // 4 Comments » // Conferences, Libraries

The director of the Queens library talked about ways to transform a library’s staff. Takeaways:

. If library leadership don’t know where they’re headed, transformation is not possible and no one will follow.

. It is important to establish and publish the values your library will adhere to.

. Recruitment must be aligned to your vision and values. New hires must have competencies that you’re looking for.

Competencies are not skills but *how* an employee gets the job done. At Queens library, they have identified competencies and defined six “levels” for each. For example, someone who is expected to have “Level 2″ Initiative seeks answers. A “Level 3″ is expected to dig deeper, and a “Level 5″ anticipates things coming over the next year and plans accordingly. Competencies are much more important than degrees or experience.

Their values: providing quality services, the customers come first, use technology to *enable* services, value the importance of individuality in customers and staff, expect teamwork when getting the job done.

Managing performance: people must be held accountable; it is vital for management to recognize good behavior, good and bad work alike and provide good opportunities for staff development. At Queens library, there is a message of the day, a biweekly newsletter, and staff members who get thank-yous from patrons are sent flowers!

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR ORGANIZATION IS YOUR STAFF.

The last thing: it’s important to know where you are, where you’re going and how to get there!

PAR-TIC-I-PA-TION, or 37 pieces of Library Flair!

// June 24th, 2007 // 16 Comments » // Libraries, Photography

PAR-TIC-I-PA-TION, or 37 pieces of library flair
Originally uploaded by cindiann

Short version: If I’m willing to participate in an organization that is still largely “1.0″ and populated with traditional librarians, why can’t traditional librarians* put aside their fears and perfectionism and choose to participate in social software/web 2.0 activities in their libraries?

Long version: I am a “next generation” librarian, librarian 2.0 (1.5!), “young librarian,” whatever you want to call me, and I recently made the choice to get involved in ALA. I am currently attending the annual conference and having to make hard choices about what programming to attend and what to research later. Rather than continuing to believe that it’s hard to get involved, I chose to show up and agitate–ask people how to get onto committees, talk to those around me who are already involved in the organization, not be shy about talking to presenters, giving out my card, the whole nine yards. As a closet introvert, this is kind of hard for me.

So, if I’m willing to get over myself and get out there and (sssh, don’t tell anyone) try to transform the organization from the inside, what is holding traditional librarians* back from participating in the new web, which could transform every library in the world (for FREE, I might add)? The questions that were asked at the end of the “Reinventing Reference” pre-conference session were very revealing; it was as if people *heard* what was said but didn’t *listen* to what it meant for them, their libraries and their library users.

*I use the phrase “traditional librarians” because I have no other label, and I don’t mean to disparage librarians of long experience, advocates of books (*I* am an advocate of books), meticulous folks, those who are intimidated by technology, or anyone else. If the image below describes you, I am talking about *you*:

Thanks to David Lee King for “the culture of no”; Michael Stephens for “the culture of perfect” and the lead to Death by Risk Aversion. And to the great libraryguy who loaned me his tshirt. You are all super stars and I am privileged to know you.

David Free: podcasts!

// June 22nd, 2007 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, Web Stuff

For the best introduction to Podcasting I’ve ever seen, watch this Ask A Ninja Video. I mean, what else do you need to know?

Library uses for podcasts:
.audio tours (floor-by-floor, in different languages if appropriate!)
.booktalks
.children’s stories
.to talk up or introduce resources
.brief library instruction

Tips
.consider your voice (don’t have to be a DJ!)
.be passionate and entertaining
.use an outline or script (but don’t read!)
.remember your listeners
.find a quiet place
.multiple voice rock
.don’t miss the Creative Commons legal guide
.more at David’s wiki and (soon) blog

Listen now! to the Ode to Worldcat podcast from Worcester Polytechnic.

R U There? IM presentation @ RUSA’s Reinventing Reference

// June 22nd, 2007 // No Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, Web Stuff

Takeaways:
.Librarian in Black post on talking about IM with IT.
.”IM Talking points” from walkingpaper.
.Offering IM service all the hours that you offer reference service makes advertising hours much easier, makes keeping statistics easier.
.With an IM contact, you have 12-15 minutes with a user: what can you do for your user in that time?
.Get your IM into user spaces, whether they are user-created (flickr, twitter, browsers, buddy lists, Facebook, youtube, MySpace) or library-created (library website, catalog, wikipedia page)
.Consider: how is IM different from face to face reference interactions? What problem is IM a solution for? Does calling it “Ask a Librarian” make sense for the problems that people are having?

New trends affecting IM:
.1-to-many and many-to-many (meebo rooms etc)
.video, voice-over-IP
.virtual worlds
.gaming
.bots (see IM’s moviefone)
.SMS (text messaging)
.Twitter or Jaiku
.location-based services: Radius IM shows you who is on IM in your area

Reinventing Reference 3: Keynote by Michael Stephens

// June 22nd, 2007 // 2 Comments » // Conferences, Libraries, Web Stuff

Michael Stephens was the first speaker in RUSA’s Reinventing Reference 3 preconference. It was great to see him speak–he’s very dynamic and engaging. He gave us an excellent basic introduction to web 2.0, how it is affecting libraries everywhere and why we should be involved.

Takeaways:
• Libraries must evolve, let go of control and be visible.
• Evolve: your reference desk must not be a fortress.
  Let go of control: Don’t ban technologies such as cell phones because they are technology; ban the “bad behavior” that can result. Ask your users to be courteous, respect the space.
  Be visible: set up shop with a laptop where your users are: in the dining halls, in the coffee shops. The librarian can be “In” wherever there is free wifi.
• the hyperlinked library has open & honest conversations, is transparent about planning services (and everything else), and speaks in a human voice.
• Adopt a 2.0 philosophy:
  Drop the culture of “perfect” and develop a culture of “experiment and play.”
  …from top to bottom
  Trust your users. Trust each other.
  Learn from the gamers: if you make a mistake, back up and try again

Ideas:
• Advocate having a “Laptop Librarian” in dining halls, the Technology Commons, the IT helpdesk and in dorms.
• Create a library podcast tour – done by students.
• Create a subject guide wiki.
• Teach liaisons how to use RSS tools in databases and journals and advocate adding these feeds to department websites.
• Look into text messaging for reference.
• Add the meebo widget to OUR CATALOG! labelled “Live Help! 8a – 11p”
• Look at McMaster U’s Emerging Technology group blog
• Build a reference portal on NetVibes
• Stay away from “Death by Risk Aversion
• Have our architects build the Studio space in SecondLife and have staff and users explore and give feedback.

Coolness. Now, on to David Ward’s IM presentation. I’ll edit this later to add links.