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!

Reflecting on Committees

// January 25th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Libraries, librarians

3D Bar Graph Meeting

Originally uploaded by lumaxart

I’ve had the privilege (no, really) over the past couple of years to serve my profession and professional association as a committee chair, committee member, and task force member. ALA Committees could use a lot more sunshine than just this blog post, and I encourage other committee members across the organization to write and share your experiences.

LITA’s Top Technology Trends is often said to be the organization’s flagship brand. As an attendee, I had no idea how it worked. Turns out it works in a way similar to other committees and interest groups who put together programming for ALA conferences. For this purpose, it functions very smoothly: there is a group of folks who decide together via various online meetings and email threads who to ask to speak and how to share the session. Top Tech has been known for pushing the envelope, trying different technologies to bring in remote speakers and audience commentary and to push out audio and video. When we have failed, we have been criticized, but we have learned from our mistakes and tried something different the next time. I look forward to being off this committee so that I can actually listen to what is being said!

Technology lessons learned:

1. Live blogging via CoverItLive is pretty effective for sharing content and for soliciting comments and questions from those in the room and those reading or watching online. It feels redundant at the time if there are media streams, but it’s easier to refer back to and serves as a backup archive in the case where media is not saved—like this year.
2. Ustream.tv is invaluable, but we have to remember to record what we’re streaming.
3. The most effective use of the projector and screen is a rotating slideshow listing speakers’ and committee members’ names as well as the URL for the live blog, media streams and the hashtag. This helps people who drop in after the session has started.
4. Twitter is a great tool for learning what’s not going well and for addressing it on the spot. The audio stream was great, but remote listeners were asking for video. I asked over twitter if someone in the room could stream video; two people volunteered and voila, our remote listeners could also watch (Thank you Maurice York and John Blyberg!). Several listeners kept asking who was speaking; I wrote a note to the moderator to ask the speakers to say his or her name when speaking. People observed that this year’s panel comprised all academic librarians. This was not our original intent at all, but this result has made us glad that there will be a TTT panel at this year’s PLA conference.
5. Twitter, as mainstream as it’s become, is still not for everyone, and, as such, projecting tweets or a chat session still gets mixed reviews.

General lessons learned:

6. Good leadership is key; delegation is keyer. Just like at work, one person can’t do it all, and everyone has a contribution to make. It’s up to the chair to figure out what that is and to harness it for the good of the committee’s work and for that person as an individual.
7. It’s ok to fail, but you’ll get criticized for it. Just keep swimming. Reminds me of an email signature I saw this week, quoting Dr. Seuss: “Those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.” [Even better: acknowledge and learn from your mistakes!]
8. In-person business meetings at conferences could be much improved and might be completely unneeded in many cases. Particularly for LITA, all meetings should offer remote participation opportunities. Skype in members who can’t attend; create a live blog and hash tag to push out content and pull in comments; set up a free ustream account to stream out audio or video and provide a chat room.
9. ALA Connect is a great communication tool, but it requires setup of communities and friends. The latter could be made easier by adding a tool that checks one’s email contacts for matches.
10. Show up; speak up; get put to work!

Have you served on association committees? What has your experience been?

image cc:by-sa lumaxart

Know any fabulous library technologists? Nominate them!

// November 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // Libraries, librarians

Official press release stuff:

LITA/Library Hi Tech award nominations sought

Nominations are being accepted for the 2010 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award, which is given each year to an individual or institution for outstanding achievement in communication for continuing education in library and information technology.  Sponsored by the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and Library Hi Tech, the award includes a citation of merit and a $1,000 stipend provided by Emerald Press, publishers of Library Hi Tech.  The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2009.

The award, given to either an individual or an institution, may recognize a single seminal work or a body of work, created during or continuing into the five years immediately preceding the award year.  The body of work need not be limited to published texts, but can include course plans or actual courses and/or non-print publications such as visual media, for example.  More information and a list of previous winners can be found at on the LITA website in the Awards and Scholarships section.

Currently serving officers and elected officials of LITA, members of the LITA/Library Hi Tech Award Committee and employees and their immediate family of Emerald Press are ineligible.

Nominations must include the name(s) of the recipient(s), basis for nomination, and references to the body of work and should be sent to afifarek@scottsdaleaz.gov.  Electronic submissions are preferred, but print submissions may be sent to Aimee Fifarek, Scottsdale Public Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85251-4452.

The award will be presented at the LITA President’s Program during the 2010 Annual Conference of the American Library Association in Washington, DC.

Unofficial bits from me:

2009-2010 marks my third year working with this LITA committee.  It is gratifying to beat the bushes for and comb through nominations from my professional colleagues and recognize the best of those with this award.

The award’s entire title is “LITA/Library Hi Tech Award For Outstanding Communication for Continuing Education in Library and Information Science,” which is quite the mouthful and most often shortened to the “Library Hi-Tech Award.” Doing so leaves out its essence–in my not-so-humble-opinion–that this award is best given to someone who gives back to our profession, though his or her work, writings, presentations, or general professional outlook.

So, I urge you to think about who deserves this recognition. From whom do you learn most, either in writing, presentations, teaching, or even informal interaction? Whom do you know who is making a widespread and lasting impact on our field of library technology, however you define it? There is so much amazing work done by our libraries’ technology staff and our profession’s technology evangelists! Let’s dig in and recognize this great work.

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.

ALA TechSource Post: Virtual Participation at Midwinter

// February 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Conferences, Web Stuff, librarians

I have a new post on the TechSource blog about my recent experience in Denver:

The TopTech Round Table has been written up very well by Library Journal bloggers Josh Hadro (Part 1  and Part 2) and Roy Tennant (also a TopTech Trendster) and at the AL inside scoop; I won’t recap here. During the weeks leading up to the conference, several TTT committee members tested the live blogging freely available from coveritlive, its twitter integration, media uploading, simple reader polls, and comment moderation. The session’s hashtag, #ttt09 was also aggregated into the LITA & BIGWIG Friendfeed room. We were nothing if not prepared. The final stroke of luck was the unwavering wireless connectivity in the room; without it, there is no way that we would have been able to upload photos and stream live video of the session.

Read more…