Courtney's library life

Library Day in the Life: February 3

2012-02-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

Friday! My calendar was pretty open, so I spent a lot of time working through the VHS collection spreadsheet my LIS intern has been putting together. A frustration of trying to format modernize the film collection at my library is the surprising number of titles that are not available in DVD or BluRay. I was amazed to discover that The Spirit of Crazy Horse is not available on DVD. Don't even get me started on recordings produced by local historical societies. It's an interesting process.

I also spent some time reading though tweets and blog postings by other Library Day in the Life participants. It's always fun to get a glimpse into other library professional's lives. It is inspiring and encouraging. Best of all, it's an opportunity to start a dialogue with others. I'm all about making connections, collaborating, and learning. This project provides me with a real opportunity to have that experience in a new way.

Library Day in the Life: February 2

2012-02-02T17:30:00.000-05:00

This morning my full-time staff member and I met with University Libraries administration via conference call for our mid-year budget review. The meeting went well. Our agenda included the give back deadline (if we anticipated having any funds left over by the end of the budget year), additional resources needed, and "tactical initiatives as they relate to strategic plan and cost implications". We are on target with our budget although things might get a little tight to close out the year. We'll have a conference call sometime in late April to plan for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

During the afternoon I did some ordering for the circulating collection at my campus as well as the Diversity collection for the University Libraries. I am the selector responsible for the diversity fund for materials that are primarily housed at the University Park campus. Those purchases are funded through the Paterno endowment.

I also worked on revising the form for circulating digital equipment. I revised the form for our (limited) circulating laptop collection. The old form had a lot going on which meant it was confusing and took a long time to complete. The revisions I made to make the form easier to complete and streamline the process were well received by my staff and users, so I decided to use it as the template for the digital equipment form. Hopefully it will be met with the same positive response.

Library Day in the Life: February 1

2012-02-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

I don't have very much to report about my day. I did meet with my full-time staff member to plan for a budget update call tomorrow. We took a look at our budget and did some projections for the remainder of the year to make sure we stay on track financially. This is my second year going through this process and I'm happy to report it makes a lot more sense to me this year. Budgets are not as scary as you think.

I also participated in the ALA Committee on Legislation's (COL) monthly conference call. I am the ALA Executive Board liaison to COL, so I try to learn more about their work via their listserv, calls, and retreat. Today's agenda included discussing the Legislative Agenda, an overview and discussion of Midwinter, and any updates on legislation.

Library Day in the Life: January 31

2012-01-31T22:57:00.000-05:00

Today was a much busier day than yesterday. I had my monthly telephone meeting with my boss. She actually has a cold and sounded miserable. On the plus side she wasn't at the office, but she was trying to keep up with work from home. We had a productive meeting. I caught her up on my Midwinter and things in general at the campus library.

I met for a little while with my LIS intern. We touched base about a project I have her working on to evaluate the library's VHS collection. By comparing holdings with other campuses in the system, alternate physical formats (DVD, BluRay), streaming video services (such as Filmakers Library online,), and circulation statistics I'll make some collection development decisions. I will also have to consider the impact shifting to other formats will have on accessiblity including access to closed captioning and and subtitles.

My afternoon was spent covering my regular Tuesday afternoon virtual reference shift. I've been staffing our virtual reference desk on Tuesdays 12-3pm since September 2004. It's really hard to believe I've been part of our team for that long. Where does the time go? I really enjoy virtual reference, it can a rewarding learning experience and I can honestly say that the frustrations have been minimal.

In case you missed the announcement, National Library Legislative Day will take place April 22-24, 2012 in Washington, D.C.. Registration is now open.

Throughout the day I chipped away at email. I provided some feedback regarding an LIS curriculum review from the standpoint of an employer. That was an interesting process for me particularly as someone who has been mentoring more and more LIS students and graduates and my work within ALA. It is also a reminder that LIS education is indeed interested in providing students with the skills necessary to be successful in the workforce.

Library Day in the Life: January 30

2012-01-30T22:43:00.000-05:00

It's my first day back at the office after the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Dallas. Thankfully, things were pretty uneventful at the library while I was away. I caught up with my full time staff member Ruth. It was great to see her, she stays on top of so many things and makes my job that much easier. I was also greeted by this stack of mail. The overwhelming majority of them are book catalogs addressed to different librarians who have worked here.

I spent a lot of time getting through email and trying to respond to the really really important messages. One of those messages was from faculty wondering if I could help find impact factor information and article acceptance rates for a journal. I was happy to highlight our access to Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and highlight some of the data it provides for journals it indexes. Not all journals are indexed, which can be really problematic for interdisciplinary researchers. Article acceptance rate information is getting harder to nail down, especially with open access and e-only journals on the rise. Thankfully we can send emails to editors and ask these questions. I wonder at what point these "measures" are reconsidered.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will be the really important messages.

I had a really decent day, although it sounds somewhat boring. As in previous libday cycles, the week starts off slow but usually picks up.

Midwinter in Dallas: Day 2

2012-01-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

I split my time today between the retreats of the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) and the Committee of Legislation (COL). While both of these groups do a fair amount between Midwinter and Annual, it's always nice to be a part of their face-to-face discussions. Interesting discussions I heard included:

digital inclusion versus digital divide: linguistic shift reflects getting access to the technology is only part of the process; skills needed also important

Molly Raphael visited the retreat and spoke about the Digital Content in Libraries Working Group. She noted the need for coordination across the issues and a big picture look. She also said there is a need to make whatever the decision is association policy, particularly as this is what the Association's President must speak to.

I gave the Executive Board liaison report. The main question had to do with ALA's budget. It was a nice opportunity for me to talk about the budget, the resources available from the Treasurer's website, and highlight the creation of the Financial Learning Series.

Midwinter in Dallas: Day 1

2012-01-18T23:15:00.000-05:00

I've arrived inDallas and am getting ready for a crazy busy week. One of my more importantroles is as a member of the Executive Board and doing liaison visits to avariety of units. Here are some highlights from the talking points that arecompiled by ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels.

SchoolLibraries

Advocating for school libraries is a top Association priority this year. Between local budget cuts and the anticipated re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the urgency has never been greater.

President Molly Raphael has appointed a special Task Force on School Libraries, with membership from all the divisions, to lead ALA efforts to strengthen, and preserve school libraries.

AASL President Carl Harvey has initiated a White House petition on school libraries, which specifically petitions the Obama administration to “ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program.” 25,000 signatures are required in order for this petition to reach the President Obama’s desk, no later than February 4, 2012. It is a step towards creating awareness about school libraries, specifically for the need for an amendment for school libraries within the Early and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), due to be reauthorized this year.

E-Contentand Libraries

Dealing with new digital content is one of the most pressing concerns facing libraries of all types, and is a big part of the transformation referred to in ALA’s strategic plan. A 25 member Digital Content and Libraries Working Group has been appointed by President Molly Raphael. Sari Feldman (Cuyahoga County Public Library) and Robert Wolven (Columbia University) are the co-chairs and President Elect Maureen Sullivan is the Executive Board Liaison. The Working Group began its work online and will meet in-person for the first time during the Midwinter Meeting in Dallas. Preliminary talking points on ebook lending and principles for digital lending were developed in the fall. These will be reviewed and revised by the Working Group.

Drs. Stanley Besen and Sheila Kirby are developing a white paper for ALA on e-book economic models and licensing. This study will be released in the near future.

American Libraries established a new blog on e-content issues to provide a mechanism for rapid response. Christopher Harris, a school librarian and member of the Working Group, serves as the editor of this blog. If you have topics you'd like him to write about or want to write about yourself, please let him know. American Libraries has also created a dedicated section on E-content issues in AL Direct. Materials related to digital content and libraries will be on the Transforming Libraries website, managed by the ALA Library.

VirtualMembership Meeting

Mark your calendars! ALA’s second virtual membership meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 5^th, from 3-4:30 CST. Last year’s first Virtual Town Hall meeting was a great success, with 528 members participating. Real time member polling allowed participants to select the questions they thought most important for discussion.

Membership

ALA membership in November 2011 stood at 59,824, slightly lower (-2.69%) than November 2010. In the organizational member categories, increases were tallied for medium and large libraries and decreases for very small, small, and very large libraries. On the personal member front, membership increases were seen in the support staff, retired, non-salaried, international, friend, and continuing member categories while declines were noted in the regular, student, and trustee categories. For the first quarter of the 2012 programmatic year, seven round tables and three divisions had membership increases, while twelve round tables and eight divisions had decreases.

MidwinterFacts and Highlights

Advance registration for Dallas is 4823, compared to 5180 for the 2011 Meeting in San Diego. There are 3269 exhibitor personnel registered, representing 430 exhibiting companies and organizations.

Over 1200 separately scheduled meetings & events are planned. The number of committee meetings is lower, while the number of discussion group meetings has increased.

Meeting includes an array of new events, including “Dine Around Dallas,” the Masters Series, the Midwinter Conversation and Think Fit @ ALA (aka, The Fun Run).

The Midwinter Conversation, led by ALA President Molly Raphael and Dr. R. David Lankes will provide an opportunity to engage with colleagues in open conversation around “Empowering Voices: Transforming Communities”. These two conversations, on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, will use a “world café” process. The conversations will lead into the ALA President’s Program, with Rich Harwood.

Election Year Dosand Don’ts

During an election year, which is defined as beginning January 1 of the year in which the election will be held, ALA and its members must avoid any action that could give the impression that the Association — rather than you as an individual private citizen — is engaging in “political speech” (“the support of or opposition to a candidate for public office”) or that ALA resources are being used for that purpose.
ALA, because of its particular tax exempt status, is expressly, absolutely prohibited by the U.S. Internal Revenue Code from engaging in “political speech.” The consequence is revocation of tax exempt status. There are no “intermediate” or “warning” consequences, and the “zero tolerance” enforcement policy of the IRS has been upheld by the courts.
“ALA resources” would include any use of ALA titles (like councilor, chair of…, president of...); ALA discussion lists, blogs or wikis (including those of ALA divisions, round tables and other groups that are part of ALA); stationery; publications or websites; headquarters or conference meeting rooms; or, staff time.
“Political speech” includes activities such as soliciting or making campaign contributions, providing a forum for a candidate (in print or at a conference, for instance), expressing “support for or opposition to” a candidate or political party.
Political speech” is different from “lobbying,” which seeks to influence legislation or regulation. Even during an election year, ALA continues to lobby for legislation and regulation that will benefit libraries and the public. There are regulations and limitations on lobbying by organizations like ALA, of course — and ALA works within the applicable laws.
A number of background documents have been developed to guide ALA leaders and staff through a complex legal environment. Four such documents are available as PDFs: ALA Legal Framework, Election Year Rules, Election Year Rules – Additional Notes, and Lobbying and ALA: Fact Sheet.

Neal-Schuman

ALA has acquired Neal-Schuman publishers. Neal-Schuman will become part of ALA publishing, and operations will be moved to Chicago, they will continue to exist as a separate imprint. In reviewing the potential acquisition, ALA conducted extensive due diligence and developed a long term business plan, as well as an independent valuation. The purchase plan involves financing the acquisition through a bank loan, which will be repaid over a period of 5-7 years out of the proceeds from the operation. Under the terms of the agreement, information on the acquisition will be shared by Treasurer Jim Neal (not the Neal in Neal-Schuman) on Monday as part of his report to Council. This information will be available to the membership following his report. We are committed to total transparency, and will be answering any and all questions that are asked. This is a great opportunity for the association that supports our mission and goals.

Midwinter Preparations 2012

2012-01-17T19:30:00.000-05:00

It's that time again! Tomorrow I'm headed to the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Dallas. As usual, my calendar is pretty full. I'm actually looking forward to all of my meetings in addition to seeing many great colleagues and making new friends.

Highlights from my schedule include:

I'll be doing the introduction for the Special Masters Series: A Library occupies Occupy Wall Street.

I'll talk very briefly (5 minutes!) to the 2012 Emerging Leaders class about getting involved in round tables.

Attending all meetings of the ALA Executive Board, ALA Council, and the Budget Analysis & Review Committee (BARC).

Liaison visits to a variety of ALA divisions and committees.

And, of course, talking to people in the hallway of the convention center and at social gatherings.

Coming soon: Library Day in the Life 8

2012-01-16T23:31:00.001-05:00

I've signed up to participate in the Library Day in the Life Project: Round 8.

The Library Day in the Life Project is a semi-annual event coordinated by Bobbi Newman of Librarian by Day. Twice a year librarians, library staff and library students from all over the globe share a day (or week) in their life through blog posts, photos, video and Twitter updates.

It's a great way to get to know other library people from around the world and learn something new.

Ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program

2012-01-11T17:21:00.002-05:00

Carl Harvey, 2011-2012 American Association of School Libraries president, has initiated a White House petition on school libraries, which specifically petitions the Obama administration to “ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program.” 25,000 signatures are required in order for this petition to be viewed by White House staff, no later than February 4, 2012.

Please take a few seconds to sign this petition, spread the word to your member groups, ask your colleagues and library supporters in your circles to sign on, and spread the word via Facebook, Twitter and other channels!

* We’ve heard that the petition software is temperamental. If you cannot sign in on your first attempt, please log out and log back in. Or, try a different web browser, or as a last resort, try a different computer.

* White House petitions must be authored by individuals, not any association. Therefore, Carl has introduced this petition as an individual, not as a representative of AASL or ALA.

Thank you,

Marci Merola
Director
Office for Library Advocacy
American Library Association
800.545.2433, x2431
mmerola@ala.org

Power to the Patron: Panel Presentations

2011-12-09T12:41:00.000-05:00

The first panel, moderated by Cody Hanson, was Mobile Apps: What Do Users Need?

Nate Hill, Web Librarian doing design and development work at the San Jose Public Library, talked about the Scanjose.org project. Scanjose is a walking tour of San Jose using images from the library collection. It is best experienced when using it on a mobile device or a tablet in San Jose, CA. For this project, Hill had to decide if they wanted to create a native mobile app or just have it work in a web browser. Working in a browser meant they can could do what they already knew what to do. HTML5 and Drupal 7 were used, and jQuery mobile was also used for easy to use buttons. This project allows the library to engage people in a new way

Rebecca Ranallo, Internet & Media Services Manager for the Cuyahoga County Public Library, talked about CCPL Mobile. The library decided to go moble to support its mission: be most convenient public library. CCPL mobile is partnership with Boopsie. The app was also developed because the current library website is pretty inflexible. A great thing about the CCPL app is it allows you to check out materials via mobile device right there in the stacks. CCPL stopped security stripping materials as they found it was cheaper to replace missing items than security tag everything in their collection. Since implementing the app, they've seen a significant increase in use of digital materials. Approximately 4300 customers (predominately iPhone and Android) are using the app. Popular uses: catalog search, self checkout, digital media, library locator, my account. CCPL advertised the availability of the app via library website and social media: purchased Google ads and created QR codes.

Michael Whitchurch, chair of the Learning Commons Department in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young, was the next panelist. Whitchurch started by asking participants where they've seen QR codes. Next he ask when should we use QR codes in libraries? What is the Value Add? Value add included things like event details (lecture announcement poster), independence (audio tour, activity that allows for participation flexibility), an actionable task (reserving a room). Where should you put QR codes? Point-of-need, location specific information. Sign positioning is key, near signs with similar information. Why use QR codes? Convenience (quicker), simply a task, url duplication. Have a purpose beyond "hype" for your QR code, use when and where appropriate for the reason. Whitchurch also suggested visiting the Library Success wiki on QR Codes.

Dan DeSanto, Information and Instruction Services Department at the University of Vermont, was the final panelist. He discussed the Long Trail digital collection. He created an app using USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) headings. GNIS provides standardize latitude/longitude points to create graphical access point. The app is still very much in development. Building/designing using Xcode 4, and collaborating with the Computer Science department on its development. DeSanto likes working with apps because: extensibility, ability to put multiple collections in one app. He also likes working with apps because libraries create acces to digital collection at "point of interest".

After tweeting this session, I took a break to get away from the computer and eat lunch. I popped back later to catch the end of the final session and participate in the tweet-up.

For me, one of the true "power to the patron" things mentioned was CCPL no longer using tattle tape in their print materials.

During the tweet-up, one of the best questions I saw asked was posted by Stephanie Chase @acornsandnuts:

For the post-#ljtechsmt crowd: if you could point a non-librarian to one bk/blog/wbste/resource dscr what libraries are about, it would be...

I'd be really interested in what titles you'd suggest.

Overall this was a pretty thought-provoking event. I appreciated the opportunity to interact with others around these topics and services. As always, I learned many new things.

Also check out: LJ Virtual Tech Summit Explores How Libraries Use Tech To Connect with Patrons

Power to the Patron: Keynote by Bryan Alexander

2011-12-08T19:30:00.000-05:00

Lisa Carlucci, Director of design think do, put together this year's Library Journal Virtual Tech Summit "Power to the Patron". The event included a keynote, three panels, and a tweet-up #ljtechsmt. I was the twitter moderator for the keynote, first panel, and assisted with the tweet-up. This entry is focused on the keynote.

The keynote was presented by Bryan Alexander, senior fellow at the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education, which provides outreach, communities of practice, research. Here are some highlights from Alexander's keynote based on my tweets.

Emerging technologies: thinking about multiple layers that overlay each other, as well as what they expose and reveal. What strata haven't been revealed?

Extrapolation: use it to assess larger fields, rising fields and declining industries.

Environmental scanning: multiple sources, overtime, pattern glimpses. OCLC does a good job of this. Environmental scans are helpful for seeing trends, but be careful to to see things that do not exist. Alexander talked about one of his favorite environmental scans from Kevin Kelly: screening, interacting, sharing, flowing, accessing, generating.

Premise of social media is that we make stuff, and that making stuff keeps going.

Construction of scenarios: creating small narratives about the future. These are not predictive, but allow you to explore ideas.

Futures market: pretend market (a game) in which players buy and sell shares in a future event. These are often applied for example to the stock market, sports (my love of fantasy football!), predicting who will win the U.S. presidency. Alexander ran futures market on how many institutions would participate in Flickr's Creative Commons project by 3/26/09. Whenever you try to predict the future, there are wild cards aka Black Swans.

The Horizon Report: used Delphi process, asked five questions. Time to adoption horizon: one year or less.

Technologies to watch for: ebooks, gaming based, gesture-based computing. We don't talk about social media, it's already taken over. Social media example: blogs being used in education (courses, scholarship), podcasts still huge, wikis for coursework. Social media tools are being used in a variety of mainstream ways. According to Alexander, "It's simply gone wild in education."

Private closed-door spaces are now accessible via social media.

Media permeable classrooms changes the way we teach.

Ebooks: Project Gutenberg goes back to the '70's. Format variation and diversity one of the problems. However, the presence is enormous. We might see new ways of reading and sharing as a result of ebook growing pains.

The ecology of devices: multiple devices competing and reinforcing each other. What do we already use? Laptops, mp3, clickers, cameras, netbooks. Devices are offering us with ways to interact with content, such as smart pens, tablets, etc.

Augmented reality (AR): instead of creating a virtual world, push the virtual into the actual world. Example: Beatles "Abbey Road" experience with smartphone. Role of the gaming world in AR. Alexander discussed games and gaming, mentioning Angry Birds, Farmville, and others. Gaming in libraries.

Gamified reality: games seeping out into everyday life, they are connecting more directly in literal practical conceptual levels. Airlines create gamification experience with levels in rewards programs think of it as a leader board. Gartner Associates felt mouse was on it's way out with touch screen, hand-held, or hands-free (video capture) operation/interaction are coming in.

1. Storytelling. 2. Critical literacy. 3. Going around the web. Storytelling in social media. Digital storytelling allows you to remix content. Storytelling example uses 5 Flickr images (examples from groups here). Only text is the title. The pictures tell the story. Alexander mentions We are the 99% tumblr as an example of digital storytelling.

Information literacy is needed more than ever. Alexander cited Ann Blair's Too much to know. The problem isn't abundance, we haven't developed good lenses. - Clay Shirky. Alexander feels librarians are heroes in this (information literacy).

Alexander read an except from Long Live the Web and encouraged attendees to read the entire piece.

From the Q & A:
Alexander noted librarians have wonderful voices to advocate for standards. He is a self-confessed "librarian fanboy".

What should librarians be aware of with regards to privacy in libraries? Users are very happy to share their private lives, sometimes we even pay for the privilege. Library world has critical role in advocating for patron's right to read and consume media on their own.

There is a huge recognition that we need more information literacy. Libraries may need to to make more opportunistic alliances.

Reframing and rethinking = what libraries can do to help with the importance and existence of digital storytelling.

People's love of diversions = different devices. This goes back to the discussion of the ecology of devices. More is better. Libraries when planning for technology should keep in mind that diversion devices could be made available.

A question was asked about archiving the digital world. Alexander noted the Library of Congress tweet archive and internet archive are good, but how do we capture someone's Farmville progress? Emulation can be another good way to archive. Actual physical archives still have a role to play in this process.

Gaming in libraries: thematic, casual games (think tetris, mindsweeper). Alexander suggested Jay is Games for additional ideas.

You can follow Alexander on twitter: @bryanalexander

Academic Library Symposium: Bridging the Gaps

2011-11-12T17:25:00.005-05:00

I attended the LJ/Temple Academic Library Symposium in Philadelphia. The theme was "Bridging the Gaps". The keynote and panels for the day were great opportunities to identify, acknowledge, and begin exploring ways to close those gaps. Several attendees tweeted from the event using the hashtag #futurelib11.

The morning started with a keynote by Kristin Antelman from North Carolina State University. She talked about some of the cultural gaps in academic libraries. One of th gaps is everybody vs IT. Angelman argued communication style and differences in decision making are major components of this gap. She also mentioned everybody vs administration is another gap, "citing some of the controversy over the Taiga forum statements as an example of library culture clashes" (tweeted by @hadro). Antelman noted the commonalities of these gaps are the preconceptions, and when she added trust as a major contributor it strengthened that concept for me.

Antelman spent a good amount of time on the Competing Values Framework and how it can aid in revealing gaps with an eye towards bridging them. One of my favorite quotes was "Organizational culture should never be viewed as static." I think that this is often a contributing factor to culture gaps in academic libraries. Strategies for bridging these gaps include assessing them as an organization and setting goals around actionable specifics. Antelman asked "Can there be a shared vision if there isn't a shared understanding of the culture?" I don't think I was the only person in the room who had an "a-ha" moment when she asked that question. She closed the keynote by showing the video "What are our future library leaders thinking?"

Immediately following her keynote, Antelman facilitated the first panel of the day "Innovation: Freedom vs Control". Laurie Allen (Haverford College), Damon Jaggars (Columbia University), Bill Mayer (American University), and Jessica Rossi (Community College of Philadelphia) introduced themselves and told us why they were invited to be part of this panel. The majority of the time was spent answering questions from the audience. Those questions included:

How do we keep communication flowing in both directions despite the organizational layers?
How do you leverage individual effort and excellence for institutional benefit?
What do we do about the idea that libraries are just books? Is it the administration's job to correct this misconception?

Kristin Antelman facilitating the first panel.

I facilitated the second panel "People: Strengthening the Culture". I gave a very brief introduction:

This segment is a conversation focused on the people in and related to academic libraries. My colleagues who make up today's panel each bring a difference voice to our discussion. They will speak frankly about this pivotal gap in our culture.

Valeda Dent, Erin Dorney, Andy Burkhart, and Diane Skorina responded to the questions I wrote to frame the discussion.

What are the major misunderstandings in academic libraries? How do those misunderstandings manifest?
We've cited a number of "diversities of workforce" (generational, experience, students, status, user needs, etc.) and their associated misunderstandings that make academic libraries look very different, particularly moving forward. 
- How do we deal with resistance to current and future changes? 
- How does that resistance impact our library missions? College/university missions? 
- What effect does all this have on our ability to both recruit and retain the very best? 
In 30 seconds or less what is the most important gap to bridge and why?

I left time for questions from the audience. The questions and comments were very good and helped to expand the conversation. An audience member noted that in many academic libraries a large percentage (65% was cited for the speaker's library) of employees are support staff, but most of the responses were focused on librarians. One audience member noted that a gap related to ethnic and racial diversity of academic librarians was something the panel did not directly address. Challenges related to mentoring, retention, and having more frank and direct conversations about this topic were also identified.

Jody Condit-Fagan and Beth Bernhardt highlighted their experiences with the "Discovery Services Ignite Staff Collaboration and Empower End Users" session.

Beth and Jody answer questions.

After lunch, Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches-Johnson, principals at Influx Library User Experience Consulting, introduced the afternoon session on the User Experience. It was noted to close the user gap, need to know what to change and have the ability to change it. To know more about people, we need to study them. Focus groups and surveys are better for learning people's opinions. Contextual inquiry as a great way to see how people are using the library. Schmidt ended with the useful reminder that "user research is cyclical."

Schmidt and Etches-Johnson asked a group of Temple students (three undergraduates, one graduate) a series of questions about their experiences using the campus library as well as electronic resources. The process was then repeated with four faculty (three from Temple, one from Drexel). Here are my observations based on my session tweets.

Students:

students use the library to check out books, especially textbooks that are "overpriced", to do high volume printing, and find a quiet space to study away from their apartments. It is also a place to get help, Internet access, synergy of research process tools.I found it particularly interesting that quiet space was cited as a motivator to use the library.
One student wished the library were prettier and there were more libraries on campus so she could "library hop" to get a change of scenery.
Students wished there were more outlets, better seating arrangements and seating options, better lighting in the library.
Students did not use library when they were hungry or when they wanted to socialize and work. Certain coursework was cited as being okay to complete when hanging out with friends.
1 out of 4 students had a digital textbook required for class. Two of the three indicated they preferred print textbooks.
An undergrad just said he "doesn't really know what the qualifications to be a librarian are."
Despite not really using the library or librarians, student felt it would be a negative to the campus if the library closed.
Undergrad indicates there could be a circulation based determination (no circ for 2yrs) for converting a book to e-copy.

Faculty:

Most panelists using library in role of teacher as opposed to for their own scholarship.
Faculty want students to use the print, browse shelves.
Panelists use their librarian for course related instruction. One faculty member said "Using experts is part of research process."
One faculty member allows multimedia assignments, but most students choose to write a paper.
One faculty member noted "digital literacy is a limited literacy".
Students need to experience primary source research in archives.
Faculty asked how they think undergrads can evaluate sources. One faculty member cites inability of students to have the skills to begin to evaluate resources. Hard for undergrads to recognize scholarly literature as a conversation. Source evaluation skills lacking for print probably also laking for electronic.
Faculty using research guides for their discipline as a starting point for student research.
Future library would be a collaborative physical space for interdisciplinary scholarly interaction. Future library could be semi-intimate space: comfy chair, cup of coffee, book.
As a student said earlier, one faculty member feels the library is real heart of university, necessary on campus.
Curricular initiatives on campus need to be integrated with the library, such as internationalizing online teaching.

Steven Bell said a few closing remarks. I particularly liked when he said "We really need each other if we're going to do great things." He thanked everyone for attending and participating in the symposium. There was a lovely reception after the event.

I had an opportunity to eat the most delicious hand drawn noodles with Josh Hadro, Aaron Schmidt, and Lindsay Sarin before driving back to Pittsburgh.

ALA Executive Board fall meeting 2011

2011-10-23T23:54:00.004-04:00

After a full day of travel, also known as MRY-SFO-IAD-PIT-ORD, I arrived in Chicago for the ALA fall board meeting. Although I tried to limited telling my epic travel saga, I always ended it by making the point that I was still upright and smiling.

Friday morning was the traditional board effectiveness session led by ALA's professional Parliamentarian Eli Mina. I always find this session useful and learn something new. I must admit it was kind of exciting to realize that I've learned a lot about being an effective board member and know what strategies we were talking about when. The first time the "two hats" idea was presented I was a bit confused, but I'm happy to say I now know it inside and out.

The afternoon was spent at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel for the Joint Boards meeting. The boards/executive committees of the ALA Divisions and the ALA Executive Board have lunch and meet together, usually in a facilitated session. This time we worked through the transforming libraries goal area of the strategic plan. The goal statement is

ALA provides leadership in the transformation of libraries and library services in a dynamic and increasingly global digital information environment.

During the first breakout session, we focused "on what short-term and longer-term changes we see happening within libraries in order to respond to the external challenges and opportunities libraries are facing."
The areas we explored included:

Physical space
Virtual space
Library workforce
Service portfolio
Customer expectations
External relationships
Library Leadership expectations

We were assigned groups and each group was to consider the following questions based on one goal area:

What are the key factors influencing/driving change?
How do you see your area (breakout topic) transforming libraries in the short-term (1-3 years)?
How do you see your area (breakout topic) transforming libraries in the longer-term (4+ years)?

In our second breakout session we focused "on what we believe are the implications for future programs and services offered by ALA and its Divisions" and considered two questions:

What are the implications for collective ALA's programs and services (membership, partnerships, advocacy agenda, education programs, support to Divisions, etc.
What are the implications for Divisions (membership, education programs, partnerships, networking, etc.)?

I think we had a productive session and ALA Executive Board and Division leadership are getting a better handle on how to work towards transforming libraries and the Association. Hopefully the round tables will be folded into these conversations.

After the session was over I walked back to my hotel via Michigan Ave. I noticed that Lush products were being sold in Macy's, so I popped in for a bottle of The Olive Branch body wash. I also looked in various store windows and people watched.

That evening the majority of the board went to dinner together. I sat at the end of the table with Eli Mina and his lovely wife whom I'd met in D.C. in 2010. We enjoyed a good meal and lively conversation.

Saturday and Sunday were packed meeting days. We had very full agendas, check them out here. We heard several informative reports and had really good discussion. I thought ALA President Molly Raphael did a really great job getting us through everything and keeping us effective as a board.

I had a late flight back to Pittsburgh. I picked up a bag of Garrett's popcorn at the airport. I'm not sure how I've not managed to buy some until now. It is delicious! I'm definitely picking up more the next time I head to Chicago.

Internet Librarian 2011: Day 4

2011-10-19T21:31:00.152-04:00

This morning's keynote was the "Internet 2020: TrendWatch Smackdown". Roy Tennant moderated the panel featuring James Werle, Liz Lawley, and Stephen Abram.

James Werle gave a brief formal presentation, where he noted bandwidth will drive libraries ability to use and consume information online. He also thinks in/ability to keep up with bandwidth needs is approaching a dangerous level. Finally, he asked everyone to visit this url: http://bit.ly/pFcfRp

Then we got to the more smackdown portion of the session:

What is the role of lightweight tech that has same utility of broadband heavy tech?

Lawley asked about freemium use products: those you use for free then shift to using for a small fee. This is tied into people's willingness to pay for a good experience. "Context trumps content."

One of the most thought-provoking things said during this session was by Abram: "seamless frictionless experiences with technology will fundamentally shift our behaviors."

For a change of pace, and knowing I had to leave early to catch my flight back to Pittsburgh (only to turn around and fly to Chicago), I attended two CyberTours. I did this at Computers in Libraries and found it to be a great way to learn a little bit on a variety of topics. I tweeted both presentations.

The first CyberTour was "Streaming Media for Libraries". Cyrus Ford from UNLV led the tour. We've started providing streaming media at Penn State, with Filmmakers Library Online being the most recent acquisition. With video quality getting better as bandwidth increases, streaming media will likely take hold in libraries, especially academic libraries. Ford highlighted various free streaming media sites including: Academic Earth, America Rhetoric, Bio Interactive, Merlot, Oyez, Research Channel, Teacher Tube, YoVisto, and EDU YouTube. It was noted libraries should remember to work with companies to obtain cataloging records for streaming media, creating an additional access point to these resources. I also found it helpful to learn the subject heading is "streaming media". While we're often talking about streaming media as films and documentaries, Ford highlighted a more internally produced streaming media libraries could be involved: streaming as a benefit for instruction. Course lectures can be streamed and made available via a library streaming site. As the number of courses available online or remotely spikes, this may very well be a new complement to electronic course reserves.

The second CyberTour was on Google+ presented by Miles Kehoe (@miles_kehoe), president of New Idea Engineering, Inc. His tour was titled "Not your kid's social network." Kehoe described Google+ as "an interest network and information network" drawing on elements of twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, and social interests. He asked how many of the attendees were using Google+, Twitter, or Facebook. There was definitely a stronger showing for Facebook, then Twitter, and finally Google+. There are three steps to using Google+:

Create your profile.
Decide who to follow.
Interact!

One point Kehoe made was "Google+ is best when you're honest." He also indicated "If nothing is happening in Google+ you're not using it right." Google+ hangouts seems to have some interesting features. These included the ability to bring up a video (ex. YouTube) and it watch together, and collaborate on a GoogleDocs. Currently only individuals can set up profiles on Google+, so you would not be able to set one up for your library or organization. I thought that Kehoe's most important point of the session was "Remember you're not the user, you're the product."

After these CyberTours, I enjoyed a fantastic buffet lunch at Ambrosia India Bistro with Michelle Jacobs and Chuck Gibson, then headed to the airport. I had the nicest cab driver from Yellow Cab Co. He was looking for his usual classical music station that had seemingly disappeared overnight and shifted to a new music format. He finally settled on a light rock station and ended up talking about one of his and my favorite musicians, George Benson.

Before I left Monterey, I tweeted this: Thank you #il2011 for creative ideas, inspiration, and fun with old & new friends. The best time a first time attendee could experience. :)

Unfortunately my flight was delayed and I missed my connection in San Francisco. Not to worry, I've been pushed to a red eye headed to Washington, D.C. From there I'll fly back to Pittsburgh with just enough time to go to my car, switch suitcases, go back through security and catch my flight to Chicago. Wish me luck!

Internet Librarian 2011: Day 3

2011-10-18T23:41:00.216-04:00

Lee Raine was today's keynote speaker. Video of the presentation and his slides are here.
Here are my notes from the session, mostly based on my tweets.

5 questions for librarians as they ponder learning communities:
Future of knowledge?
Reference expertise?
Public technology?
Learning spaces?
Community anchor institutions?
Volume, velocity, and valence/relevance.
65% Internet users are on social networking sites, 13% using Twitter. This sharing is content creation story.
84% of people use mobile phones.

Importance of PEW data for librarians is we have to serve all users and the digital divides are real (my interpretation)

Social networks are more influential and differently segmented and layered.
Librarians as nodes in people's networks. Libraries as anchor institutions.

Cited Shanna Ratner (1997) Emerging Issues in Learning Communities.

Embedded librarian model: librarian as scout for relevant material, reviewer and synthesizer, organizer and taxonomy creator, on-call for just in time information.
Librarian as teacher of social media.
Librarians will be asked to recommend what analytics work, increased role with regards to "big data".

The phrase "new normal" was mentioned as a part of this talk. For me, this is not new, it is my normal. I've been engaged in social networking and participated in my community as an embedded librarian. The learning communities idea is very much a part of the knowledge commons concept. While much of this is a no-brainer in my mind, it is a good reminder that there are still a lot of librarians and educational professionals for whom these ways of thinking are new.

For the second day in a row, I decided to stick with Track D: Tools of Engagement facilitated by Jim Tchobanoff.

Track D: Collaborating: Students & Librarians.
Michelle Jacobs, Pepperdine University, had a high energy presentation chock full of information. Highlights from her session:

Go where students are to find out what they need for their complete educational experience. Jacobs would attend student group meetings to learn from and about her students.
They implemented a study room reservation system software as a result of student interest.
A Library Ambassadors program was put in place for peer to peer general assistance and service triage (reference, IT, etc.). Also used Library Ambassador to help decide where you really need signs. They're students so they know!
Student generated LibGuides: students gave feedback on what they felt would be most helpful.
Captive library audience in the bathroom = opportunity to install newsletter with useful student focused information.
Pop up lounge concept: students proposed ways to create new student spaces with flexible non-traditional furniture.
"Research support: more than reference."
Use google style beta to assess how new configuration for academic excellence area.
Collaboration with units on campus also means getting students involved to teach skills. For example, students wanted to teach a class on a particular software functionality (creating colorful tables and graphs, working with images to create slides, etc.). Allow students to be expert and share their knowledge.

Lisa Kurtz, University of Nevada-Reno presented on the @One project. They borrowed the Apple model for this project because they "design experiences". Developed @eReader Bar and a LibGuide based on their eReader experience. The project launched in April 2011.

Track D: Repositioning with Tablets, Social Media, & Outreach
Tim Donahue, Montana State University offered an interesting presentation on tablets in libraries.

Tablets as combo of personal computer and smartphone.
Donahue notes he did not find a standard definition "what is a tablet".
Tablets employ new technologies, are app culture driven, and have a non-textual thrust.
"You don't need language to use a tablet."
Implications for libraries?
- Ownership by our users will likely increase.
- Size may also increase popularity.
- Tablets interface better with mobile information (QR codes).
- Do libraries need to develop tablet-specific web sites? Mobile versions aren't always the solution.
- Are databases, online catalogs, and other popular library resources going to take advantage of tablet features such as rotating screen to move through results?

Allan Cho, University of British Columbia, highlighted the "Chinese Canadian Stories" project. This digital project is community driven. Members of the community provide the metadata to make the digital objects useful. A major challenge is that ancient village script is difficult to read. Elderly community members have been called upon to help translate. the resources contained in the project and giving it a digital life. Uses CONTENTdm, Drupal, and Dspace.

Arlene Keller, Multnomah County Library talked about "Using Facebook for your library." Her main points included

You want your patrons to engage with you where they spend the most time online.
Must monitor your Facebook wall for spam. The spam is not always negative information.
All posts from the library should be on topic and match library mission.
The Facebook fan place is a growing space to provide readers advisory to your community.

In the evening, I attended the "Great Web Tools Face-Off". Six speakers panelists, including the talented Lisa Carlucci, Michael Porter, Amy Buckland, and Blake Carver, were organized into two teams and had to represent their selected online productivity software. Web tools you expected to be covered were mentioned: Dropbox, Prezi, Doodle, Zotero. A tool that was new to me was Gliffy, an online diagram and flow chart software. The best quote of the night was Lisa Carlucci's proclamation "Go Prezi or go home!"

Internet Librarian 2011: Day 2

2011-10-17T23:42:00.170-04:00

The conference kicked off this morning with the keynote speaker John Seely Brown. His presentation was streamed, so if you missed it or weren't able to attend, you can check it out here. Here are my raw notes from his presentation.

Creating entrepreneurial learners -- want to continue to learn.
Reinvent social practices
Driven by computation -- evolve around technological infrastructures
Find new ways to pick up new skills: libraries and communities are at the center of these new ways

Moving from Stocks to Flows
- Stocks: protect/deliver authoritative assets
- Flows: participate in the knowledge flows
Quote by Carla Hess: "moments of encounter"

Are we prepared? Are we preparing our students to be entrepreneurial learners?
Requires new dispositions; dispositions cannot be taught
- cultivation of disposition: curiosity (technology amplifies curiosity), questing, connecting
We need new approaches to learning.
"We participate, therefore we are."
Make knowledge personal.
Content and context are more fluid.

Blogging as joint context creation: intimate, improvisational, yet collaborative
- Andy Sullivan
- Forthcoming David Weinberger book Too Big to Know

Collectives: shared participation, site for play and imagination
My learning more and sharing makes the group learn more with makes me learn more.

Entrepreneurial learners are master makers and tinkerers
- digital makes this even easier
Humans as makers of content and context
Imaginations role in shaping experience, context

Regrind our conceptual lenses
Homo Ludens: fail, fail, fail, succeed
Learning as riddles

And the last two pages of my notes as I took them:

tinkering, composed of knowing making and playing, leads to embracing change

networks of practice and communities of interest lead to action inspiring a networked imagination

I found Brown's talk very relevant to me and my library setting, particularly as I start moving forward with the idea of a knowledge commons for the campus library. The concepts of of tinkering through knowing, making, and playing leading to creating change really captures the direction I think we should move in to become a more 21st century library.

The room used for the keynote was also the room for Track D: Learning, Literacy, & Training. Bobbi Newman was the facilitator for those sessions. As a result, I attended some really good presentations and learned new things.
The first session was Bobbi Newman, Polly Farrington, and Emily Clasper. They focused on training librarians and staff. Newman highlighted 7 tips for training: know your stuff, make a connection, tell them why, set boundaries, admit defeat, listen, and reward. Farrington [slideshare] mentioned the importance of having safety nets for your training sessions and the importance of "canoe time" aka opportunity to do fun stuff away from learning. She also believes the most important thing is creating a culture of learning. Clasper [slideshare] noted using games for self-directed training and brought up an interesting question we should probably ask more often: are people asking for training or asking for learning?

Polly, Emily, and Bobbi at Internet Librarian 2011
The next panel was "From training to learning: strategic community conversations" presented by Nancy MacKenzie and Lisa Hardy. They described the Future Action Think Tank project at Calgary Public Library. It was interesting to think about how the communities' strategic goals can interface with the library/organization strategic plan. Future Action Think Tank is using a blog to start the conversations about the future of public libraries, and they welcome your comments.

Nancy and Lisa at Internet Librarian 2011
For lunch I enjoyed an egg and cheese crepes at the Monterey Crepes Company. The shop's hot interior was literally a warm welcome after freezing in Track D at the Marriott. I really wish there were some way for me to have easy access to crepes as well as beignets in Pittsburgh.

After lunch I attended "Transliteracy & 21st-Century Skills for Library Users". Jennifer Koerber briefly presented on the "Learning for life online" project. Next, Bobbi Newman presented a micro version of her transliteracy talk. She shared deeply personal family stories to illustrate why she is so passionate about transliteracy in libraries. I really appreciated Bobbi reminding us that passion is important to reaching, educating, and empowering all users. Jamie Hollier followed and talked about the BTOP project, transliteracy and 21st century skills for library users. She highligted that "partnerships are paramount to success" and partnering with other organizations important to your community can increase multitudes of literacy needs (health, financial, etc.).
I was pleased to meet and see Willie Miller from IUPUI present on using iPads and mobile devices in undergraduate teaching.

Miller shared projects other faculty in other disciplines on campus are developing using iPad in instruction.
Going to teach with an iPad? Your library should have a mobile site with links to all the mobile resources available.
Courses used iPads with news and media apps preloaded. Faculty designed assignments around those apps and had to consider where are audio, video, and text used in the course and assignments?
Miller used popplit app for collaborate content mapping.
Miller also conducted study on use of iPad in classroom, asking students if the device helped or limited learning class content. Size and portability of iPad meant students could collaborate better around devices. Computers and monitors can be physical barriers in collaborative learning. At the same time, app failures and time spent troubleshooting were viewed as time wasted.
Best practices using iPad for instruction: pay attention and test the tech, convey expectations, monitor actives, curate resources, cultivate mobile information literacy, and consider device limitations.
My favorite quote from Miller: you can't get "caught up in the iPadness of it all."

Follow Miller on twitter, @LibraryWillie. I really enjoyed his presentation and learning more about his work. Check out this short piece he co-authored in C&RL news. I look forward to presentations and publications about his projects in the future.

The Exhibit Hall Grand Opening Reception was a very nice event. It was fun to meet and greet attendees participating in other tracks. I was able to go to dinner with some new friends although the majority were twitter friends.

Internet Librarian 2011: Day 1

2011-10-16T23:36:00.000-04:00

I'm finally attending my first Internet Librarian (IL) conference. A colleague and I submitted a proposal 5 or 6 years ago but it was not accepted. We did not give up, and ACRL accepted the proposal. We presented at the conference in Baltimore and were invited to participate in the ACRL virtual conference in 2007. I've been interested in attending IL ever since.

On my flight to Monterey, I sat next to a nurse (BSN) who trains RNs and LPNs. We had a really interesting discussion about the parallels in nursing education and library education, particularly with regards to preparing the profession and the impact of technology. She also happened to be holding a Kindle and told me how she had not originally been interested in the device but saw the utility after receiving it as a gift. She also mentioned how she was using it to do other things, mainly play Words With Friends. When I told her that libraries were working to allow people like herself to check out books to their ereaders she lit up. I suspect when she returned home to San Diego she'll be investigating her options at the public library.

I took a very early flight with a connection through Phoenix. One of my oldest librarian friends Chuck Gibson, director at Worthington Public Library, was on that flight. It was a nice surprise since I did not know he was attending the conference. We got lunch on the Fisherman's Wharf and walked around town a little while.

In the evening I attended the Gaming and Gadgets Petting Zoo. It was well attended and lively. I saw a few friends, and met some new people. My new friends and I ate a delicious meal at Maha's Lebanese Cuisine.

Planning for long week of travel

2011-10-15T23:17:00.000-04:00

I'm getting ready for back to back trips. The first is Internet Librarian in Monterey. I'll be there Sunday to Wednesday. Thursday to Sunday I'm back in Chicago for the fall ALA Executive Board meeting. If my flights go as planned, I'll spend about 13 hours at home Wednesday night/Thursday morning. If I miss my connection on the way home (I land there at 3:30 but the flight takes off at 4:04), then things get complicated. So I'm madly packing for two trips and leaving bag number 2 in my car just in case. Hopefully that will be an uneventful leg of my trip.

I'm looking forward to learning new things and building on a my knowledge at Internet Librarian. I'm also looking forward to spending time with colleagues, not to mention meeting new ones. I've read up on Bobbi Newman's tips for IL. Actually it was her post that got me excited about the conference.

The board meeting should also be good and productive. It will be nice to see some of the ALA crew again and see board members. I've heard we have a pretty packed agenda. From the looks of all the documents I've received, it's going to be busy and informative.

I better get back to packing!

Academic Library Symposium 2011

2011-10-11T22:36:00.030-04:00

On November 11, 2011 Library Journal and Temple University are co-sponsoring the LJ/Temple Academic Symposium: Bridging the Gaps.

I'm excited to be facilitating Segment 2 - People: Strengthening the Culture.

“Why can’t my colleagues tolerate change?” Don’t these new librarians realize how we do things here?” “How come the deadwood always rejects my great ideas?” “Technology? That’s the new librarian’s job.” Our academic libraries can become fraught with misunderstanding and stereotypes about our colleagues, and when the gaps grow wide they lead to organizational dysfunction. To build better libraries we must confront these gaps. Doing so requires that we engage in authentic conversation focused on creating a better understanding of each other. Once we learn to appreciate our differences, and how our organizations thrive from the mix of skills we bring to it, we can begin to bridge the culture gap.”

The segment panelists are Andy Burkhart, Valeda Dent, Erin Dorney, and Diane Skorina. I'm looking forward to a rich discussion for this segment, not to mention the rest of the event. Consider registering (it's free!) and joining us in Philly.

ALA BARC fall meeting 2011

2011-10-08T12:45:00.005-04:00

This was my third trip to Chicago this year. I was able to kick it off by having dinner with Peter Hepburn at Yoshi’s Café. Peter is more than a regular at Yoshi’s. If you’ve followed his food and travel blog and photos on Flickr, then you more than likely have experienced some food envy.

Me with my Wagyu Beef Berger with Wasabi Blue cheese

I attended the ALA BARC fall meeting. This is my second year on BARC, and with these fiscal oversight matters also in the purview of the Executive Board, I work with this information a lot. It means that I am really starting to feel like I know what is going on and how the ALA budget and budget process work.

There is always an orientation for new BARC members on the first day before the committee begins its work. I decided it would be a good idea for me to attend that meeting. I felt it would be helpful in reinforcing my knowledge and I knew I would learn something new. I want to do my best to be engaged fully in the process.

Our meeting agenda included a fiscal year 2011 budget review, a final fiscal year 2012 budget review, a new business development update (closed session), and ALA Council referrals. We also discussed and assigned liaison assignments. I'm pleased to be the liaison to the new Games and Gaming Round Table. We met for about forty-five minutes as ALA-APA BARC, now under the leadership of Lorelle Swader, to discuss the budget.

We also discussed moving forward with four BARC webinars. These will be available by the end of the year. I hope these create opportunities for increased member engagement around the ALA budget process. They are a step in the right direction for what I proposed at our spring 2011 meeting.

I had the good fortune to eat breakfast one morning with Trevor Dawes. He was at ALA HQ as a member of a search committee. Trevor is also becoming well known as Mr. August from the Men of the Stacks calendar. All proceeds for the sale of the calendar go towards the It Gets Better Project™ project.

Quiche recipe

2011-09-25T23:07:00.005-04:00

I've had several requests from librarians on Twitter for a few recipes. One of them is my quiche recipe. I was able to tweet it, but I thought I would also post the full recipe here for librarians and non-librarians alike. Enjoy this any day of the week.

Spinach or Broccoli Quiche

Ingredients
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk (or heavy whipping cream for a a richer quiche)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 box frozen spinach or broccoli
2 cups cheese, shredded (mozzerella, any white Italian cheese blend)
1 pie shell

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Open and remove frozen spinach or broccoli from box, place in a microwave safe mixing bowl and cook for 4-5 minutes. Drain to remove excess water.

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk or heavy whipping cream, and black pepper. Stir in 1 cup cheese. Stir in drained veggies . Stir in remaining cup of cheese

Pour spinach mixture into pie shell. Place filled pie shell on a cookie sheet. Bake 45-55 minutes until golden brown. Allow quiche to cool before slicing. Slices well with a pizza cutter.

Enjoy!

Remember you can be as creative as you'd like with your quiche.

spinach with bacon, broccoli with pepperoni, broccoli with shrimp

*Tweet version: mix 3 eggs, 3/4c milk, 1pkg froz spinach (micro 4.5 min), 1.5c shred cheese, 1/8tsp blk pepper. Pour in pie shell, bake 50 min 375 degrees.

Teaching International 2011-2012

2011-09-22T21:39:00.015-04:00

Greater Allegheny has been doing the Teaching International program since 2004, and their library has played an active role in supporting this initiative. While I was a reference librarian at Beaver I had the opportunity to work with a faculty member to develop a resource website for Penn State faculty interested in Internationalization of the Curriculum.

This year's regional focus is the Middle East and the issue focus is the Millennium Development Goals. Today the library hosted an event for faculty and staff highlighting the University Libraries' resources. This includes the rich website I developed in collaboration with last year's LIS intern.

This afternoon during common hour, a no-conflict time from 12:15-1:35 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I hosted an event for campus faculty. They were able to view some of the materials from our print collection related to this year's Program, talk about upcoming events and assignment strategies, as well as enjoy a small selection of regional foods prepared by Housing & Food Service.

This year's LIS Intern did the layout for the cork board display.

RNC IV Denver

2011-09-19T22:44:00.071-04:00

I attended the REFORMA National Convention IV in Denver, Colorado. I arrived on the second day of the conference. It was my first time attending REFORMA. I've really enjoyed the opportunity to be a first time attendee at a few conferences over the past year. It helps me particularly in the context of ALA to understand what it means to be new and how important it is to reach out and welcome everyone who attends. While I knew even more attendees than I expected, there was still that new attendee feeling.

A session I got the most out of was "Why Libraries Matter: Empowering Community Voices" presented by Camila Alire, Molly Raphael, and Patty Wong. The program highlighted Alire's Libraries: The Hear of All Communities frontline advocacy initiative from her 2009-2010 ALA Presidential year and Raphael's Empowering Voices: Communities Speak Out for Libraries 2011-2012 ALA Presidential initiative co-chaired by Wong. There was a lot of audience participation for this session. While the focus was on Latino and Spanish speaking communities, the questions and strategies around community advocacy are applicable in any library setting and community.

Folder of materials from the session.

Friday night a reception was held at a branch of Denver Public Library. It was a really nice facility and the food was amazing. I spent the majority of that time talking with Loida Garcia-Febo. She was REFORMA president the same year I was NMRT President and we collaborated on an excellent program, The New Professional Paradigm: Redefining the New Librarian", at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. She gets the majority of the kudos because she approached me about collaborating. I also spent time talking with Alex Villagran with whom I have the pleasure of serving on ALA BARC. I get to see him again in a few weeks for our fall meeting.

Saturday's highlights included delicious Mexican food at a lovely restaurant Alfredo took Em Claire Knowles, Patty Wong, and me. We also drove around the Denver area a bit to see the mountains.

Saturday night was the Banquet and Dance. We celebrated 40 years of REFORMA.

With Camila Alire attending, I knew there would be lots of dancing.

Professional Travel for Fall 2011

2011-09-14T22:45:00.001-04:00

It's that time again. This fall I'm heading to the following conferences and meetings.

REFORMA - Denver, CO
ALA BARC Fall Meeting - Chicago, IL
Internet Librarian 2011 - Monterey, CA
ALA Fall Executive Board Meeting - Chicago, IL
LJ/Temple University Academic Library Summit - Philadelphia, PA
~~Penn State Forum on Black Affairs event - State College, PA~~
~~Penn State University Libraries Faculty Retreat - State College, PA~~ (canceled twice)

I'm excited to attend REFORMA and Internet Librarian. I'll be a first time attendee at both.

Class is in session

2011-09-05T22:45:00.012-04:00

The 2011-2012 school year started August 22, so my fall semester is in full swing. I'm starting the semester short staffed, but we finally received approval in August to advertise for a reference librarian. I'll be working with the search committee on that process. I'm looking forward to welcoming a new colleague later in the semester.

With decreasing federal funding, our work study student employee pool continues to decrease. I'm excited we've recruited a few great first year students. I think this is one of the best jobs on campus for a student. I'm also biased because I worked at the college library for four years.

Once again my library is participating in the Pitt Partners program and hosting an LIS intern. Allison Gallaspy has joined us for the next three semesters. She has a B.A. in History from Tulane. Her primary interest is in technical services and is looking forward to developing her reference skills and networking.

Room for Debate

2011-08-29T12:44:00.001-04:00

I was honored to be approached by an editor for The New York Times' "Room for Debate" to respond to questions related to a piece. That debated was published August 28.

My opinion piece appears here. There have been a number of really interesting comments on the piece. I also encourage you to read the other debaters responses.

I just found out from my boss the piece was published. Pretty cool to have her be the first to congratulate me.

My mother, were she still alive, would be incredibly proud.

Library Day in the Life: July 28 guest entry

2011-07-28T15:05:00.007-04:00

Sarah Denzer has been the awesome LIS intern at Kelly Library since August 23, 2010. She graciously agreed to write a guest blog entry about her internship experience as a part of this week's Library Day in the Life project.

When I began my MLIS last August at the University of Pittsburgh, I was fortunate to get an internship position at the Penn State Greater Allegheny library, Kelly Library. Today happens to be my last day as an intern at the library and it gives cause for a great deal of reflection regarding my time spent here. My internship, in combination with rigorous study and a move across country has not always been easy, but it has definitely been worth it.

When I think back to my first day I recall the following: intimidation, anxiety, feeling lost and completely out of my comfort zone (those feelings most feel when they begin something new). And this was certainly a new experience for me—I had never worked in a library before and although I had done a brief internship at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, it had prepared me only a little for this. Those feelings felt at first speedily went away as the weeks went by. My co-workers were incredibly patient and very generous with their time and resources to make me as comfortable as circumstance would allow. I generally create strong ties in the work-place, so this was essential for me to feel at “home.” Routine provided opportunity to smooth out those essential skills needed in myself as a developing librarian.

Due to the small nature of the Kelly Library, I was fortunate to participate in a number of activities. My primary responsibility was to serve at the reference desk: this was initially the most stressful position for myself (an introvert), but certainly the most rewarding. There is very little that can prepare you for your first reference interview—and nothing that can perfect it better than practice, practice, practice! It was thrilling the first time I realized I was no longer intimidated by the process. In addition to reference, I was also able to participate in the following: circulation, receiving and shipping and adding/withdrawing materials. Furthermore, I was actively engaged in a few projects: organizing, writing up citation guides, assisting the Head Librarian in the development of a YALSA webinar, and compiling resources for a research webpage for the campus’ 2011-2012 Teaching International program. I was also able to attend some instruction classes taught by our Reference Librarian, learn how the cataloging system works, and even travel with the Head Librarian to the Penn State Harrisburg library to interview/meet with a few of their librarians. In all, there was a rich variety of activities/opportunities for me to participate.

What I feel today is almost 100% the opposite of what I felt on my first day as an intern. In sum, I feel comfortable. I feel blessed. There are multiple benefits that spring from my time spent here: knowledge, confidence, experience, networks, and friendships. It is invaluable. Although graduating with an MLIS is an essential foundation, my internship provided a practical application of everything I learned in the classroom. In combination, these two serve to prepare me for the professional workforce. I am sad to leave, but am grateful that I can look forward to the new horizon with a confidence that would not be possible otherwise.

Library Day in the Life: July 27

2011-07-27T22:49:00.027-04:00

The major focus for today was a lunch for our LIS intern, Sarah. Her last day is tomorrow. I'm sure the year she's spent in the Pitt LIS program and the Pitt Partners internship program have gone by very quickly. It's been great having her part of our library staff. It's also been great for me to give back to the profession and play an even more active role in a new professional's development.

A running joke I have with Sarah is that she's worked here longer than I have. She started at this campus in mid-to-late August. I didn't start my position here until a month later. We both learned as we went, with our fall semester road trip being one of the many highlights.

Lunch would not have been complete without dessert

and of course a gift.

One of our staff members made a blanket to make sure Sarah would not forget her experience at Penn State.

Library Day in the Life: July 26

2011-07-26T23:54:00.007-04:00

I had a pretty busy day today, especially for this point in the summer. The morning was spent in a meeting. A faculty member teaching a media ethics course this fall wanted to brainstorm about ways to build in technology and civic engagement into the course. The students will be recording video and audio using an iPod Touch. My experience with blogging, video, and Facebook turned out to be useful for the discussion. It is always nice to be part of a major course assignment conception.

I left the media ethics meeting to present to students in the STEM program. I was invited to talk to them about the library during their lunch. I kept things short and sweet. I distributed a one page handout with a few general pieces of information. I also gave them each a library mug. I received the most questions about the mug.

It was a good day to be outside of the library, not just because of the beautiful weather. I think some people are still getting used to seeing me beyond the library building. Of course, library stuff is taking place beyond the building.

Of course I continued to write and respond to email throughout the day. :)

Library Day in the Life: July 25

2011-07-25T23:40:00.003-04:00

Today is the start of round 7 of the Library Day in the Life project. I enjoyed participating in round 6, so I'm back for more. When I first saw the announcement I figured that it would be a quiet summer week and I wouldn't have much to offer. Turns out there are a number of things that have made their way onto this week's calendar.

This is actually our LIS intern's last week at the library. She's finishing her program at Pitt. I kept telling her it goes fast, but even I was caught a bit by surprise when I returned from vacation last week and realized how soon she'd leave us. The mantra will be "it's not goodbye". I'm thankful for all she's taught us over the past year, not to mention her invaluable assistance on a variety of projects.

Today I spent most of my day completing responses to emails sent to me while I was out of the office. I managed to send two, and both recipients thanked me for the response. There are still a few more drafts I really want to finish this week.

A faculty member did come over to check style manuals for two articles accepted for publication. One APA, the other Chicago. It was nice when he told me my showing him in early May how to use Microsoft Word to change footnotes to endnotes was a tremendous help. Another win for information literacy.

I also did some prep for a meeting on Tuesday. A faculty member contacted me a week ago regarding a few different things. I don't completely know what we and a few other people will be meeting about, but I know it involves brainstorming for a course she's developing for the fall. At least two of the meeting participants will be attending from another campus via Polycom.

The day's had fits and starts. I'm not usually much of a "it's been a Monday" person, but today definitely had that quality. It started with a thunderstorm and discovery I was completely out of conditioner. It's ending with some sunshine and a trip to buy conditioner.

ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans - Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler!

2011-06-30T12:40:00.084-04:00

I had an amazing conference.

My flights to and from New Orleans were a bit stressful but successful. My flight from Pittsburgh not only boarded a bit late, but it was slow boarding. Once boarding is completed, we push back from the gate. Where we sit for about five minutes. Finally the captain announces over the intercom that there is a medical emergency on the flight and we have to go back to the gate where we'll be met by the paramedics. We return to the gate, the door is opened, and after 10 minutes a man is escorted off the plane by EMS staff.

As usual, my schedule was packed. Thankfully I was able to squeeze in three trips to Cafe Du Monde. Two times I walked there from the Hilton, so that made it okay in my mind.

I attended a lot of meetings. The Executive Board had three meetings. These were held on Friday morning, Monday afternoon, and Tuesday afternoon. We also had a [Thursday evening reception] and a joint reception with the American Booksellers of America board on Saturday afternoon. It was a nice group of people and we were even treated to an early evening rainbow.

The opening speaker was Dan Savage. I really enjoyed his presentation and the positive tone he set for the conference. I was fortunate enough to get a copy of "It Gets Better" signed and thank him for reminding me how important my role as an advocate continues to be as a librarian, a faculty member on campus, and a friend.

Personal highlights from the conference include attending the Library Journal Movers & Shakers recognition luncheon. It was exciting to meet others recognized this year and in previous years. It was humbling to be surrounded by so many good people who have made truly amazing contributions to the profession. I particularly cherished feeling that I was surrounded by friends, both old and new.

Sue Polanka Courtney Young, and Lisa Carlucci Thomas

I'm very proud that my mentor, colleague, and friend Susan Ware received the inaugural RUSA RSS Service Achievement Award. I didn't make it into the room to see her receive the award, but I did manage to congratulate and toast her at dinner with two colleagues.

The closing speaker was Molly Shannon. It was very exciting to meet and introduce her program. Shannon will publish her debut children's book Tilly the Trickster in September.

Courtney Young with Molly Shannon

The conference closed out with the Inaugural Banquet. The new division presidents and new members of the ALA Executive Board were introduced. Among there were my friend and colleague, RUSA president-elect Gary White.

Gary White, Courtney Young, Dan Mack

Roberta Stevens passed the torch to Molly Raphael. The ALA 2011-2012 year begins!

Annual Conference preview and early numbers

2011-06-20T21:01:00.006-04:00

New Orleans will be library central in a couple of days. Librarians and staff, library school students, vendors, and their friends will fill the Morial Convention Center, hotels near and far, and the French Quarter. I suspect attendees are doing what I'm doing: frantically packing and planning for meetings, events, and socializing with friends and colleagues.

A few facts and figures from HQ as of June 20, 2011:

Paid registration is at 10,007, compared to 11,163 for DC (2010) and 11,775 for Chicago (2009). The week-to-week gain in paid registration was 231.
Total registration as of this morning is 11,273, compared to 12,967 for DC (2010) and 12,966 for Chicago (2009).
There are 845 non-members registered, plus a couple of one-day registrations.
There are 328 international registrants, including all categories (e.g. students, members, non-members.)

Want to really dig into what's happening? Check out this fantastic document put together by Mary Ghikas.

NOLA Free WiFi Guide with librarian's touch

2011-06-09T08:20:00.000-04:00

If you're heading to ALA in two weeks and are looking for internet access beyond the convention center or your hotel, check out this post by Michael Golrick. I'm particularly pleased to see the airport has free wireless.

Play, Learn, Innovate.

2011-06-08T11:45:00.003-04:00

I attended "Play, Learn, Innovate. An OCLC/Library Journal online symposium." You can playback or download the event. I did take some notes during the session, but not as many as I wanted.

I also had the opportunity to ask Erica Rosenfeld Halverson a question live after her presentation. As a part of her response, Erica mentioned that "libraries understand the connection between tools and ideas." I think this was an important point and one we need to continue to market to our constituents. It is applicable in terms of information literacy as applied to library instruction and reference, as well as how we develop our collections as the University Libraries. The collections piece is going to be of even greater importance moving forward. Our shrinking collections budget, duplication policy, and rise of electronic access to scholarly content amplify the need to make that connection between tools and ideas. Concepts of holdings and format have shifted, but I don't think we have developed strategies to inform or educate our constituents about these changes. We're not compromising access to key scholarly content, and we're allowing for faster access across all campuses.

Admittedly my question evolved during the course of Erica's presentation, but it did get me thinking more actively about our campus' digital commons, the products student produce using the equipment, and how we are or are not engaged in that process. At my current campus, the flip cameras, digital cameras, and other materials to produce digital media are available for checkout in the library, but the actual lab with workstations and green screen are in the building with the computer center. At my previous campus the library did not have any of this equipment. I know other Penn State campuses have the entire digital commons in the library. Even in one university geographically dispersed there isn't a single approach to this process. Of course there are some space and access considerations in each location. I need to keep this in mind once I start moving forward with a knowledge commons task force.

Collections Summit and P&T Workshop

2011-05-20T22:13:00.036-04:00

I spent most of this week at the University Park campus for two meetings. The first was on Wednesday for a collections summit. There were 39 attendees representing different parts of the university libraries. Effective July 1, 2011 we are reorganizing. This is an opportunity for us to rethink a lot of things, including our approach to collection development. I think it was a productive meeting. I'll look forward to seeing what changes are made to the process and administration.

Thursday and Friday were the Tenure & Promotion Workshop. I'm a member of the faculty affairs committee, and we're responsible for planning the event. We settled on sessions for Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Thursdays agenda included an introduction by our fabulous dean, Barbara Dewey, some discussion of the journal review process, and selecting and identifying non-library venues for presentations and publications. On Friday morning Dr. Blannie Bowen, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs provided an overview of the tenure and promotion process, then we had updates on the Digital Measures software and a panel session on documenting the impact of your work in the librarianship criteria of the dossier.

It was a good trip. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with everyone.

Library Folk Talk postcast

2011-05-17T12:10:00.001-04:00

I met Philip Bolton Jr. at the 2011 ACRL conference in Philadelphia. He graduated this weekend from Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. Congratulations Philip!

Philip recently started a podcast interview show called "Library Folk Talk". I had the pleasure of being interviewed for his show on Friday the 13th. You can listen to the interview, it runs about 33 minutes. You can also listen to other interviews on his site and subscribe to them on iTunes.

ALA BARC spring meeting 2011

2011-04-26T19:01:00.005-04:00

I attended the ALA BARC spring meeting. During this meeting we worked through the ALA budget and requests from all units (divisions, round tables, offices). A significant portion of this information I'd worked through during the ALA Executive Board's spring meeting two weeks ago. I'm glad it was somewhat fresh in my mind, This made what is still a somewhat new to me process a bit easier.

Another great part of being on this particular committee are the academic library leaders with whom I've had the privilege to serve. Committee members Winston Tabb, Joan Giescke, and ALA Treasurer Jim Neal are three of the most highly regarded deans in academic libraries. They really know their stuff.

I encouraged the committee to consider moving the Budget session to an online event. There is clearly a need for this type of training and refresher for all division and round table members with budget responsibilities. We noted some of the challenges included conflicts due to the compressed midwinter meeting schedule, a perceived lack of new information for experienced divisions/round table treasurers or budget administrators, and travel constraints (especially budgets and time) for members. As a result, I'm working with ALA Finance Office staff and the Treasurer to put together some modules we hope will be available by the fall. In my mind this supports the Association's 2015 strategic plan goal area of organizational excellence.

Join me for a YALSA Webinar

2011-04-15T10:50:00.002-04:00

There's still time to register for "Job Hunting Simplified : Tips and Tricks to Finding Your Dream Job!"

Description from the YALSA monthly newsletter:

YALSA’s April Third Thursday webinar is free for all YALSA members! Tackling the job search process can be a daunting task so let YALSA help. Join Courtney Young at 2 p.m. Eastern on April 21 for a discussion of practical job hunting tips for new graduates and early career librarians. Courtney will walk participants through the job application process from start to finish. Participants will learn tips on where to look for job postings, how to write an effective cover letter and resume and how to choose suitable references. Participants will also learn how to use social media to help their job search and how to start building their professional network.

This webinar is free for YALSA members; if you are a YALSA member who would like to register, please contact Eve Gaus at egaus@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433 ext. 5293. Not a YALSA member? Register through ALA registration: $29 for student members who are not members of YALSA, $49 for all other individuals who are not members of YALSA.

ALA Executive Board Spring Meeting 2011

2011-04-11T17:04:00.123-04:00

I had a whirlwind weekend at the ALA Executive Board meeting. Our meeting had a very different flow to it than in the past. By "in the past" I mean the one spring meeting I've experienced as a seated board member, and the year before as an observer.

Before all the board stuff started, I spent a little time with Jenny Levine on Thursday. We were on the same wavelength. I brought her two packages of Reeses white chocolate peanut butter eggs. However, she totally outdid me with this amazing star shaped brownie with gold. Not a bad way to start my trip!

Friday morning featured the ALA Staff Awards. This is always a nice event. There are a lot of people that get things done at ALA. It's nice to attend their breakfast and see them receive their employment milestone awards and the two staff achievement awards. Of note is Jenny Levine's five years at ALA recognition. Congrats Jenny!

After lunch, the meetings began. The agendas, as always, are on the Meeting Agendas site. I'll highlight some of the interesting discussions.

Our conversation related to social media and the executive board was interesting. From my perspective I think it barely scratched the surface. We are at a point professionally and technologically where we need to be engaged in dialogues where they're taking place. There is a time and a place for a press release and a unified response at the top, but other times it makes more sense to have a one-on-one interaction in whatever the appropriate venue might be.I understand that this takes a lot of time and there are so many hours in a day, but I think we owe it to our members (and to ourselves) to make every best effort to connect, collaborate, and communicate.

Sunday morning after our closed session was the strategic dialogue on transforming libraries. It was facilitated by Paul Meyer who has worked with ALA on a variety of projects. I think it was the good start of a dialogue. One of the items we talked about what we thought the library of the future looked like. My contribution to this part of the discussion was the notion that the future library, and librarian, would be completely new and reconceptualized. A number of the challenges and issues facing libraries are augmentations of what we might refer to as historical or traditional services, particularly lending materials, reference and instruction services. While we've made some really great modifications to how we provide these and other services, it's becoming clear that emerging and innovative services simply cannot be based on their traditional counterparts. If success breeds success, then change breeds change. Just imagine what we get with successful change.

Not all of these shifts are driven by changing technologies. Over the past five years I dramatically shifted my approach to providing reference and instruction services. The amount of one shot course related instruction I delivered went down, but my one-on-one or small group reference consultations spiked. The faculty I regularly worked with often felt their students were not as well prepared as in the past and needed every possible class to foster learning. At the same time, they valued research and what I brought to the table as a reference librarian. They found it useful to meet one-on-one with me, so perhaps their students would as well. My previous experience with their courses and my experience as a reference librarian gave me an opportunity to reinvent my approach to working with students and, in turn, information literacy. These successes led to these students coming to me for help with other coursework, and that sometimes led to referrals from peers. Were reference and course related instruction still major components of my job? Absolutely. The way in which those activities are carried out have shifted in response to the curricular, teaching, and learning needs of students and faculty.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are degrees of change. What may not look like much of a shift to some of us is a major departure from librarianship for others. There's room for both during this period of transition.

National Library Week 2011

2011-04-11T16:28:00.001-04:00

It was my pleasure to be a part of two videos for National Library Week 2011.

Quotes about libraries.

What isn't great about libraries?

How are you celebrating?

My workplace wellness

2011-04-05T16:00:00.006-04:00

In 2008, one of ALA President Loriene Roy's initiatives was workplace wellness. I received this June/July 2008 issue of American Libraries and read it with interest. You see, on April 1 of that year I decided it was time to get healthy. I was pretty sure I would be granted tenure. I received the good news May 14 and was tenured effective July 1, 2008. That meant it was time to focus on me. The tenure process was a great excuse for why I didn't get any exercise, why I ate so much fast food, why I had such high blood pressure, and why I was gaining so much weight. There would be no more excuses.

April Fool's day, I used elliptical machine for 5 minutes.

Five. Agonizing. Minutes.

Slowly I got better. Five minutes turned into seven. Seven turned into twelve. Towards the end of the month I found Sparkpeople and signed up on April 28. I began tracking my foods and exercise. I incorporated basic workout DVD's and online videos to add variety to my exercise. By the time I went to the Annual Conference in Anaheim, I'd lost 12 pounds.

I slowly but surely made progress.

People didn't start to mention my weight loss until 2010. During the ALA Inaugural Banquet, an ALA member who'd just seen me at Midwinter asked if I'd lost weight. Soon everyone noticed. I suppose I was finally at a point where it was hard to ignore.

1/07, 1/08, 1/09, 1/10, 1/11
-70 pounds
I'm very proud of where I am three years later. I still have my copy of American Libraries with the articles I found inspiring. What I no longer have are high blood pressure and sixty-five pounds. 65 pounds and counting.

ACRL Day 4

2011-04-02T21:53:00.028-04:00

Today was the last day of the ACRL conference. I attended one panel presentation and the closing keynote.

Sue Polanka was the moderator for the panel featuring Marilyn Billings, Michele Sordi, Eric Frank, and Steve Acker. It was a thoughtful discussion regarding electronic textbook access from a variety of perspectives. Given many of the fund raising efforts for student books at the campus where I'm currently employed, I'm curious how this might shift those fund raising efforts. For example, owning a computer or mobile device with internet access would become even more important. Will this mean more electronic and wired classrooms? Are faculty and librarians ready to embrace this change and shift the way we teach?

The closing keynote was from Clinton Kelly. It was a great way to end the conference. I found his presentation refreshing, and really appreciated how much time he spent taking questions from the audience. Surprisingly there was a real balance between the number of men and women asking questions.

I waited in a very long line and had two copies of his book "Oh No She Didn't" signed. One is for my good friend Kristen who is certain Clinton and Stacy will show up at her classroom after one of our friends and I nominate her for crimes against fashion. One day it just might happen. I wonder if they offer a finders fee?

ACRL 2011 Day 3

2011-04-01T13:39:00.094-04:00

April Fools Day at ACRL!

I spent much of my morning going over my notes for my panel session in the afternoon. I did manage to get to the end of the Art of Presenting workshop. It was really good and I hope they are able to present again at future conferences.

The highlight of my day was being a panelist for "Stepping up the ladder: Succession planning in libraries". Maud Mundava and Angiah Davis were kind enough to invite me to speak alongside Camila Alire, Peggy Johnson, and Ravi Sharma. I was the final speaker, and asked by Maud and Angiah to speak about challenges in moving up, how my association involvement related to my moving up, and what advice I would offer for others interested in stepping up the ladder. The title I gave to my section was "From Professional Leadership to Leadership Professional." I talked about my internal and external barriers for moving, as Camila Alire characterized it, from level four to level three in the organization. Next I discussed the networking, mentoring, leadership, and organizational understanding opportunities that involvement in professional associations have provided for me. Finally, I offered the pieces of advice for those on all rungs of the ladder related to succession planning in the profession.

A summary of our program is here. I think my presentation was well received. I am glad I was invited to participate in this session. It was a great opportunity for me to think about where I am in my career right now and what I've learned along the way. It's been useful to contextualize my goals in the profession and understand just how I got here. I definitely think this is the start of something for me.

Aaron Dobbs, Roberto Delgadillo, and Camila Alire before the session.

I enjoyed a great dinner with several people at The Continental. The highlight of dinner was playing "two truths and a lie". I actually did pretty well guessing the false statement. The food was tasty, but the company was better.

American Gothic cotton candy

After dinner we went to the all-conference reception at the National Constitution Center. On our way to the reception we had the nicest taxi driver. He was almost done with his shift and had picked up a gift for his girlfriend's birthday. I held the big Macy's box on my lap while I rode in the front seat. The cab driver spoke so fondly about her and hopeful she'd enjoy the gift. All of us approved.

ACRL 2011 Day 2

2011-03-31T23:59:00.049-04:00

Today I took some time to get through the exhibit halls. I talked to some vendors, picked up some free stuff, and attended the Sage Reference Online product demo. I attended the Ebsco luncheon with a few friends. We scored a VIP table in the very back corner of the room where we enjoyed salad, manicotti, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

My afternoon was spent at a focus group sponsored by Sage regarding some product innovations. They definitely have some great resource ideas in development. It's always an honor to be a part of their process.

The evening was packed with various social events. I heard Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter speak at the ACRL Chairs Reception which took place in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Next up was some serious dancing at the event Bibliodiscotheque! Donations were collected in support of the ALA Presidential Initiative for Spectrum and Books Through Bars.The place was definitely packed. I ended the evening talking with new friends in my hotel lobby. Good times!
.

ACRL 2011 Day 1

2011-03-30T23:54:00.000-04:00

This morning I flew to Philly for ACRL.

It was a nice quick trip. The drive would have taken 5 hours and with the cost of fuel and parking it ended up being cheaper for me to fly. Plus after a busy and event filled conference, not having to face the five hour drive home sounded good.

I was lucky to have an afternoon tea with Peter. We sat in the lobby of the Marriott where Jim Rettig visited us and later we were joined by Aaron, LJ Lafleur, and Trevor. Mario also stopped by for a few before his room was ready, and we had our first Camila sighting. The start to the an excellent conference!

I attended the opening of the exhibits. Aaron and I explored the food offerings and had a wine sample courtesy of Credo Reference. We also ran into a lot of people. Aaron had some real vendor business to do, so wandered around the show floor while he talked shop with a few vendors.

The highlight of the evening was being the host of ACRL's 1st Battledecks. I dressed for the occasion in a sequined top. It was very shiny and added to the evening's fun. The real stars were all six participants who impressed the audience and the judges with their ability to relate the random decks to the conference themes. The winner was Nancy Sims from University of Minnesota. She won an iPad 2. It was a great night and we got done thirty minutes early.

View from the stage

Another view from the stage

Round table recognition

2011-03-25T07:21:00.000-04:00

Thanks NMRT for the congratulations!

Computers in Libraries, Day 5: Postconference

2011-03-24T23:14:00.083-04:00

I signed up for postconference workshop "Engaging, Interesting, & Practical Presentations to Capture Your Audience". Anna Creech, Amy Buckland, Cindi Trainor, and Maurice Coleman (via Wimba) were the presenters. The workshop goals were to discuss and demonstrate "a wide variety of very practical tips and tricks you can use to more effectively connect with audiences and help them engage with you and the information you present. It covers everything from how to increase the efficacy of your slides, images, multimedia and design down to concerns people have about how they look and sound when speaking to a group."

Cindi presented first. She talked about the importance of preparation and brainstorming when putting together a presentation. One of the reminders that got a little laughter was not building a presentation around "how many slides" or "how many bullet points" are needed.

As expected, Cindi highlighted the need for knowing your audience and deciding what your participants should take away from your presentation. It was nice to be told directly the purpose of slides for a presentation: to amplify your point and add value to what you have to say.

Amy talked about slide design. One of her great reminders was the fact that you don't need to have a logo on every single slide. I think it's easy to forget this, particularly when you're working with a work template. She also took us through what was possibly the worst presentation ever.

Maurice talked about pre-recorded sessions versus live sessions. He presented a variety of best practices. His great reminders were to remember to look at the presentation from the participant's point of view and and to know your limitations (technology, space, etc.)

Anna was the final presenter. She offered tips for engaging the audience, what to do when your technology fails, and reminded us the presentation is part of the communication process, not the entire process.

They added a twist and asked a couple of participants to participate in a 2 minute battledecks session. I was one of the volunteers. I didn't get through all of my slides, but I definitely was engaging and entertaining. I also had a lot of fun.

I'm glad I participated in this postconference. I picked up some tips that will come in handy in the near future. It was also nice to be reminded that I do many of these things pretty well.

Computers in Libraries, Day 4

2011-03-23T21:03:00.150-04:00

Today was the last day of the conference, but it may have been the best. The keynote was delivered by Lee Rainie, and the slideshare is here.

I was pulled into the "NCompass Live: Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Live from Computers in Libraries!" It was a great opportunity and I'm thrilled to have been in the right place at the right time. I learned a lot from the other participants as well as met people I look forward to spending time with at future conferences. We ended up having lunch together after the recording where we indulged in an amazing dessert of grilled cupcakes.

The "Planning & Realizing the Fourth Place" session was of particular interest to me. Jill Hurst-Wahl, Maurice Coleman, and Paul Signorelli led a session on the ways "people are using space differently in order to engage in learning." A few Penn State locations have worked through and begun implementing a Knowledge Commons concept for their libraries, and my library is the next logical location. Soon I'll put together a committee on campus. I have a superb road map courtesy of head librarian Val Lynn at Hazelton. Combining it with the "Fourth Place" session made this session a must attend. I think that many of us, myself included, will think about "how a library can create a fourth place using existing or recycled space", but need to be actively reminded about "the library services and resources that would support fourth place activities."

Speaking of those resources, Skype and Twitter were mentioned as tools useful in creating the fourth place. Ironically, this became very important to the session. Paul was joining the panel via Skype, but due to some technical difficulties Maurice was unable to bring him in. As Maurice started presenting Paul's portion of the session, I tweeted "Listening to @baldgeekinmd present Paul Signorelli's session on the fourth place". Paul saw this tweet, and he was alerted to the technology disconnect. Paul started tweeting to me and Maurice, and they were able to incorporate Paul via chat. Maurice told the audience "librarycourtney created the fourth place." It was pretty cool.

The "Fourth Place" session gave me additional food for thought not only for the library, but also for the campus. At the March campus faculty meeting, there was significant discussion regarding quiet spaces and student study spaces on campus. These discussions revolved around the limited number of places for students to work and an even smaller number of true quiet spaces on campus.

My last session of the day was Brian Hulsey and Gretchen Caserotti's session "Transliteracies: Libraries as the Critical "Classroom"".

Gretchen talked about the role of transliteracy in working with children. Gretchen mentioned "kids are learning leaders" and "flexibility is key". She noted library staff training is important to success of transliteracy making it everyone's job. Brian focused on transliteracy in higher education. One of my favorite parts of Brian's presentation was when he channeled Rhianna and invites everyone to stand under his transliteracy umbrella (ella-ella-A).

It was a useful, engaging and thoughtful session.. Be sure to check out the Libraries and Transliteracy blog.

That evening Boyhim Kim organized a tweet-up. Attendees included Bohyun Kim, Tiffini Travis, Jacob Berg, and Greg Hardin. I finally had the opportunity to meet David Lee King in person during the gathering.

Computers in Libraries, Day 3

2011-03-22T23:56:00.069-04:00

Today I'm going to take a cue from the sessions I attended today. Many of them were driven by pictures and by sound.

Today's keynote was Michelle Manafy, who talked about "Engaging Digital Natives: Strategies, Services & Satisfaction. The link is archived at CILlive.

Marshall Breeding talked about "Learning from inspirational libraries." He shared photographs and his experiences visiting amazing libraries around the world.

I attended Lisa Carlucci's Cybertour session "Capturing Attention: Design Tips". She talked about the double rainbow video and the responses it spawned. "The double rainbow inspired mashups, made it personal, inspired sharing." She left us with "Think social, think emotional, think customizable." It was a very engaging and thoughtful session. It would have actually made for a great full session in one of the tracks. After the session, Lisa and I had lunch.

In the afternoon, I attended NMRT Secretary Janel White's session in Track D on "New Alignments, Structures, and Services". An interesting piece of their session was how they used what they do best, audio, to set the tone for their talk. Various clips from NPR programs were played to demonstrate the ways the broadcast library contributes to programming. She and her colleague went on to talk about how their department adopted service level agreement (SLA) to add accountability to chart their course. They also adopted a pilot mentality, and this low risk tool has allowed for buy-in, and become the model for other groups within the organization. It was great to see Janel.

Tuesday night is a "famous evening of fun and learning" at CiL. The Adding value in our communities: Dead & innovative tech session featured a full panel of library who's who.

That blurred hand is actually concealing one of delicious cookies available before the session. Really.

Computers in Libraries, Day 2

2011-03-21T23:53:00.005-04:00

The welcome & opening keynote was a thoughtful impromptu panel moderated by Roy Tennant and featured Marshall Breeding, Stephen Abram, and Richard Kaser. After the opening session I ran into Sue Polanka. It was wonderful to talk with her and wander the exhibits until the Track sessions began.

James Crawford delivered his keynote remarks in the afternoon once his delayed flight arrived. His session was also streamed live and archived.

My twitter stream for the morning was filled with posts from Tracks A: Information Discovery & Search, B: Web Presence & Experience, and E: Internet@Schools. I tried to complement by attending and tweeting Track C: Communities and Collaboration. Highlights from the tracks morning sessions included Madeline Barratt, Libraries Strategy & Performance Manager for the London Libraries Consortium. She talked about the challenges and opportunities of providing library services to users as a consortium in London. These included the geographic and financial challenges and opportunities related to staff training and development. I found it interesting when Barratt mentioned they were working to improve use of their electronic resources before cutting them for non-use. Generally we look at the (often unreliable) use statisitcs for a database and decide it should be canceled. On the flip side, we also cling to the notion that an academic library (in my case) should have resource X because that's what you do. I found it interesting to turn that concept on its head and consider the lack of use may be a failure on our part to make our users aware of its availability. I'd actually take that a step further and say that we fail to make library faculty and staff aware of its availability and potential application for library instruction, reference, etc.

Barratt noted that one of the goals of this consortium related to the notion that libraries provide a vital lifeline and by joining together libraries would remain vibrant and central to community and lifelong learning. I found the London Library Consortium presentation interesting as it reflects the challenges and opportunities at my current institution, Penn State. Penn State is "one university, geographically dispersed". We are not a consortium, but the challenges of delivering materials across a large state, negotiating reasonable and affordable database licenses, serving a diverse population, and training were very familiar. Barratt's discussion of stakeholders concerns with lending their materials across libraries leaving their shelves empty has not materialized. No one library has ended up without books and the collections still remain more or less balanced. A few Penn State campuses are experimenting with floating collections. In this scenario a book sent to a campus library upon return is not shipped back to the owning library but stays at the library it is returned. It is going to take us a while to really understand what this might look like and how it will affect our collection, but I have a sense that the London model may be an indication that everything would be okay.

The other session I was very interested in was on on faculty collaboration: Digital Commons@ILR – Cornell University by Jim DelRosso. I particularly enjoyed his Prezi slides and learning more about his project. One of the gems from his presentation was the notion that "assessment is critical." While it is important we "don't overvalue anecdotes", we also need to be sure we "don't undervalue stories." At one point Jim indicated a key to faculty collaboration success has been making it so the faculty do nothing. I wondered how this was collaborative, so I asked Jim to clarify this statement after the session. We had a great conversation about how there are always faculty who will not be interested in this type of project and it is a success if you at least get them to provide you with a CV listing publications. As we talked further about the liaison approach to building the repository, I interpreted the approach to collaboration to be very similar to the approach development officers take: building the relationship, creating the comfort level, then doing the ask. Once you've been successful in developing that relationship, the donor will often bring their friends, or offer to throw parties or sponsor events so others can give. This is where the true collaboration comes in. I'm glad I asked my question.

I ate a quick lunch (turkey club) at the hotel restaurant. A librarian dining alone kept talking to the librarian also dining alone at the next table. At one point librarian A tells librarian B that she is anti-ereader because she prefers to touch and smell the books and they are yet another thing to contribute to her bad eyesight.

After lunch I had a call with a colleague about an upcoming ACRL event at the conference in Philadelphia. An hour later I also participated in the ALA Executive Board's monthly conference call. Our spring board meeting is in about two weeks. I'm looking forward to a full agenda and maybe even an outcome or two.
In the evening I attended one of the Dine-Arounds. Seven of us went to Ruth Chris Steakhouse. Although our prescribed conversation topic was "Trend Watching & Environment Scans", we talked about the conference, Washington, D.C., and our local libraries.

Computers in Libraries, Day 1

2011-03-20T23:11:00.000-04:00

I'm attending Computers in Libraries 2011. It is my first time at CiL. I decided this year in my new role as head librarian it might be interesting and useful for me to attend. I also signed up to blog the conference, so they made the snazzy QR code above for my blog.

I flew to D.C. early this morning. The conference is being held at the Hilton Washington. I did not sign up for a pre-conference, but I was sure to get here in time for the "Gaming & Gadgets Petting Zoo". There were tables set up for people to talk about a variety of gadgets including smart phones and tablets.

I spent the majority of my time gaming. I won two games of Wii Bowling, and I think I had the evening's first perfect aka flawless victory against Andy Woodworth on the gladiator game for the PS3 and Playstation Move.

Library Renewal provided copies of their posters as door prizes. Jason Griffey, member of the Library Renewal board, presented the posters. Two very lucky librarians each won a poster.

I was happy to see some familiar faces including Jason Puckett. I also got to meet Sarah Houghton-Jan and Maurice Coleman. I'd say it was a good start to the conference.

Professional Travel for Spring 2011

2011-03-19T22:33:00.001-04:00

The ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego was over two months ago. Must be time for me to get back on the road!

March 20-25: Computers in Libraries, Washington, D.C.
March 30-April 2: ACRL, Philadelphia
April 7-11: ALA Executive Board Spring Meeting, Chicago
April 25-26: ALA BARC Spring Meeting, Chicago

Then I start the University's Mastering SuperVision course and go to the Penn State Erie campus:
April 27-29
May 18-20
June 1-3
June 15-16

By that point, I'm practically to the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 22-29.

Selected!

2011-03-14T19:00:00.008-04:00

Library Journal's Movers and Shakers 2011

Wow.

I'm speechless, happy, trilled, and giddy. I'm even happier than I was at the photo shoot.

Thank you to my colleagues for nominating me and Library Journal for recognizing me as a Change Agent -- Driven to Diversify.

p.s. wait till you see the cover!

New Librarian Flashback

2011-03-07T11:41:00.005-05:00

One of the fun things about moving is unearthing forgotten stuff. One of the many items I've found during my latest move preparation cleanup is the 1998 Simmons College GSLIS catalog. I was featured as a recent graduate. I am actually impressed with what I wrote. It is also longer than the rest of the featured alumni's blurbs that year, but I'm sure that comes as no surprise.

I think they should feature me again.

Three cheers for Rachel

2011-03-04T20:50:00.009-05:00

Today was my reference librarian's last day. Rachel is headed to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Business & Downtown Library. Just in time for tax season! We'll definitely miss her here at Kelly Library. She did not want a big party or send off, but we compromised and had a late morning tea with muffins on March 3, 2011.

I was responsible for the muffins. Rachel approved.
Chocolate muffins three ways | Blueberry muffins

Of course there was a big "Congratulations" card and gifts.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to work with Rachel, although five months was simply not long enough. I'm glad I've gained a good colleague and a friend. Now she just has to put up with me socially, where we'll probably continue to talk about librarianship, shoes, and pop culture.

Job Hunting Simplified : Tips and Tricks to finding your dream job!

2011-03-03T14:30:00.001-05:00

Check out the ALA press release for the YALSA webinar I'm presenting April 21. The session title is "Job Hunting Simplified : Tips and Tricks to finding your dream job!" I'm very excited to partner with YASLA and offer strategies and a perspective to new graduates and early career librarians.

There will be madness

2011-03-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

March has arrived. Evaluation season is in full swing. In addition to getting my own evaluation materials in order, I'm preparing to be on the other side of the process. There are plenty of resources and people to ask to make sure the process goes smoothly. I can also see how it can be a rewarding experience. To think I've only been here five months.

Although I haven't done any work or conference related travel since Midwinter (shocker!), I've kept myself busy. On a personal note, I received an offer on my house and will be closing on the 14th. This makes me very happy, but my new housing search has been challenging. I'm happy to report I have found a place to live closer to my new job. I'll sign the lease and move next week. It's been a tight window since my realtor advised me to wait until we had a final commitment letter from the buyer. Thankfully it came through on Friday, a week earlier than anticipated. Fingers crossed I pull off the shortest move of my life.

After spring break (next week) and the students return, I'll be back on the road. Conferences and meetings await. Thank goodness for a move to break up the monotony!

SJSU web session

2011-02-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

Last night ALA Student Chapter (ALASC), San Jose State University hosted the webinar "Making the Most of Your ALA Membership." A few friends mentioned the session on Twitter, and then ALA President-Elect Molly Raphael mentioned it in passing during our monthly ALA Executive Board conference call. I decided to attend.

Program Description:
Do you have questions about the American Library Association? Do you want to get involved with librarianship at a national level? Do you want to learn what ALA can do for you and your career?

Join ALASC on February 22 in Elluminate for a session on "Making the Most of You ALA Membership." Speakers will include Ken Haycock, former director of SJSU SLIS; Tiffany Mair, a recent SLIS graduate and 2011 ALA Emerging Leader; and Molly Raphael, the 2010-2011 ALA President Elect.

I was pleased to discover Jamie Renton, SJSU's ALASC Chair, was moderating the session. I had the pleasure of meeting Jamie during the Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. We emailed a bit after conference, but it had been a while since I connected with her. It was great to reconnect and receive such a warm welcome.

I really enjoyed the program. Lots of great perspectives and advice about getting involved in the association, and some really great questions from the audience. I even contributed a little bit, adding a few tips via the text chat on ways to get involved in the Association (especially NMRT) based on my experience. I hope to participate in one of their programs in the near future.

Council Membership Information Session - 2012 changes

2011-02-09T11:26:00.001-05:00

The following was posted to the ALA Council list.

Dear Councilors,

We want to let you know about some changes we are proposing to make to the ALA Annual Conference meeting schedule.

As you know, we are actively working on ALA’s first virtual membership meeting. We’re excited that this virtual meeting will open the experience up to members who may be unable to attend the Annual Conference. The Committee on Membership Meetings is currently working on the date for the virtual membership meeting (they’re looking at either May or June) and the agendas for both the virtual and face-to-face membership meetings. The Annual Conference Membership Meeting will be held on Saturday, June 25th, from 3:30-5:00pm.

We are also proposing a change in the scheduling of the ALA Council/Executive Board/Membership Information Session beginning in 2012. This meeting will now precede the ALA Membership Meeting at Annual Conferences. This change will bring us into compliance with ALA Policy 5.5.2, which states: “there shall be at least one joint session of Membership and Council with the Executive Board, for information only, to be held prior to other meetings of Council and Membership.” We note that for many years, the membership meeting has preceded the information session instead of the other way around. Beginning in 2012, the Council/Membership Information Session will be now held from 2:30 to 3:30 on Saturday, just prior to the Membership Meeting.

We believe the Saturday date is optimal because so many members are there that day, and that focusing our attention on informing members about the one meeting will help us increase awareness and attendance. We also believe that the information session “fits” naturally prior to the membership meeting, as it includes reports from the officers and information on the Association’s financial state, all of which we want to share widely with members. The new schedule will also simplify communication with members about the meetings (in addition to bringing us back to conformity with our policy).

The purpose of this message is to let Councilors know that the Executive Board will be considering this change to the skeleton schedule at its next Board call (the Board has to approve any changes to the schedule). We want to let everyone know about the proposed change in advance, and will be sharing the updated schedule with you once it is finalized.

Roberta Stevens, 2010-2011 ALA President
Keith Michael Fiels, ALA Executive Director

Being busy is rarely my barrier

2011-02-04T18:32:00.002-05:00

I really enjoyed this piece and many of the comments from the Chronicle blog. It made me think about how I characterize the work I do. I believe other people tell me I'm very busy more than I do, and I rarely use it as an excuse not to do something. I keep saying that the limited use of "no" in my vocabulary will increase but I've been too busy. :)

I'm chipping away at my growing to do list. This week I managed to make progress on a few things:

Faculty Activity Report for 2010. I've copied most of my information into Digital Measures. Unfortunately it looks like all my book reviews are missing.
ACRL Panel Presentation. We have our third and hopefully final assigned time slot for the session. My speaker agreement is complete. Now to crack open the books and articles I've been carrying around and put together my part. April Fools Day is two months again.
Bits and pieces for a YALSA webinar. More soon, I promise!

I even crossed things off my list:

Wrote a letter of support for Janel. It still amazes me to be in a position to do this type of thing. I really enjoy it.
Budget update conference call on January 31. I'm very proud of myself for having a meeting with my my full time staff member January 28 to prepare for this meeting. After all, it's a new process for me and I want to minimize asking forgiveness on matters related to money.

Much to my surprise, my calendar was a relatively light on meetings. It allowed me to make some progress getting my files into my new file cabinet. There's still a lot to do. I'm not completely sure I'm happy with how I'm going to organize my files, but it will have to do for now. On the plus side I've been able to find things, so the system at least works.

I also sat down with my LIS intern Sarah to catch up. She actually asked to sit down with me which was great. This is as much her internship experience as it is ours to have an intern. She is demonstrating a growing confidence with reference service and taking full advantage of working a different schedule from last semester.

I'm hoping to get some more work done this weekend, specifically Saturday. Sunday it is all about the Superbowl.

new media = change = libraries

2011-02-02T17:36:00.051-05:00

At the end of January there were candidates on-campus interviewing for an assistant professor of communications position. I was able to attend two of the candidate's teaching demos. I wanted to show my support since I've been on that side of the hiring process recently and learn something new. I believe I managed both.

The presentation where I took the most notes and made me think was the candidate whose session focused around an introduction to new media. The goals for the session were to define "new media" and discuss it in conjunction with business communication studies. New media was defined as traditional media + interactive power of technology.

The candidate asked us as the class for examples of new media. We mentioned the internet, mobile phones, digital music, digital photos, and digital film. Then the candidate noted basic characteristics of new media included instant access anytime, the notion of a "global village", two way communication, and Democratization. He then added that new media adds user generated content and media mash-up.

New media = change

One other idea mentioned is that with new media, there is a "wildfire nature of passing information from ordinary people to ordinary people."

This got me thinking about how this applies to libraries. I have many colleagues who are more on the forefront of electronic content access for e-readers and e-books in libraries than me. However, I had an epiphany sitting in that candidate presentation: traditional media + interactive power of technology = 21st century libraries. Oh, and since we're already in the 21st century, that means today's libraries. Since new media = change, Library Renewal is completely on target.

ALA Future Perfect Presidential Task Force

2011-01-31T11:25:00.003-05:00

ALA President Roberta Stevens has charged a task force to look at the following question: "If there was no governing body currently in place, what structure would you envision that reflects ALA's goal of an engaged and collaborative membership, the effective use of new technologies and the changes in outlook and expectations occurring with the new generation of people working in libraries?" This group has been asked "to undertake a "blue sky" approach to envisioning a governing body of the future. Their work is intended to be the starting point for "potential alternatives for the governance of ALA in the 21st century." The task force's draft report should be released in the spring so the ALA Executive Board, Council, divisions, and round tables have an opportunity to review.

Library Day in the Life: January 30

2011-01-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

It's been a productive day of working from home. I read and sent a lot of work email, and queried colleagues on Facebook for a little help on a project. It's been nice to make progress on some projects and chip away at various tasks. There's still plenty more to do, but I definitely picked up some momentum this weekend. My to do list did not really shrink, but I'm definitely in a better position to cross some items off that list in the next couple of weeks.

Today is the last day of the Library Day in the Life project round 6. I had a really great week documenting my activities for others to read, see, and hear. I've also enjoyed the tweets, blogs, and video posts from others. Even when it seemed like people had similar positions or similar types of days, each one was really very unique. I learned a lot from documenting the experience and reading about others' experience. I still have quite a few entries to read, but I'm getting there.

Thanks so much for reading this week. I hope you'll continue reading. I already have some ideas for future entries. Plus you never know what else might come up.

Library Day in the Life: January 29

2011-01-29T23:56:00.004-05:00

It's Saturday. While I'm not at the office, I'm still doing the library thing. Today's work was mostly via email. I had plans to work on my part of a presentation for the upcoming ACRL National Conference in March, but did not get around to it. I also planned to do some ALA work. The planning counts as work, doesn't it?

Library Day in the Life: January 28

2011-01-28T18:41:00.004-05:00

Friday! It's been a very productive day.

Library Day in the Life: January 27

2011-01-27T20:47:00.000-05:00

My commute to work was slow this morning. There was some issue getting through the Squirrel Hill tunnel. Over each traffic lane was a big red X and the traffic light was red.

After sitting for a bit that truck on the right made a u-turn, the lights turned green, and traffic was moving again.

Once I got in I logged into my calendar and email. I responded to a lot of emails, a pretty even split between work-related and ALA-related. I also spent some time talking with my LIS intern about her classes this week and a project for YALSA later this spring.

My afternoon was filled with meetings. I attended the campus' faculty senate meeting. One of the reports did duplicate a report I heard at yesterday's Library Faculty Organization meeting, but the rest was reports from standing committees and other business. Next was another quick check of email and then a meeting with my reference librarian about a campus event the library collaborated on last year. I offered advice on how to make our involvement better parallel the other units participating. It was a really good meeting.

Library Day in the Life: January 26

2011-01-26T23:50:00.000-05:00

I started my morning viewing our Libraries Faculty Organization meeting via MediaSite Live. This type of participation is very important when you are at one university geographically dispersed. I am a member of the University Libraries faculty and that is my tenure home. Despite our multiple locations, it is important for my colleagues and I to participate as a member of the library faculty. The agenda included introduction of a new campus librarian (who happens to be filling the vacancy I created when I took this position), a report from the Dean (Barbara Dewey), reports from the University Faculty Senate, and some constitution and bylaws changes we'll vote on next meeting.

There were a number of campus tours on campus. I suspect students from one or two high schools were checking things out. I saw three or four tour groups go through the library. One of them was led by one of our work study students. She's actually interested in becoming a librarian, so I'm always excited to talk with her about the opportunities. She waved and said hello as she went past my office with her group, which meant that the generally disinterested groups of students looked into my office, smiled, and waved.

I spent most of my day in the office working on a variety of tasks. A meeting scheduled for the afternoon was canceled so we could use that time working on the subcommittee's task of recommending changes to our "Advice to the Untenured" document. I made good use of that time and worked through my part of the document. I also completed the agenda for Friday's Virtual Reference Team meeting. It's a bit more full than normal, but that's okay. It's nice to have a lot to talk about for the first meeting of the semester. By April we're all pretty worn out. I'll talk more about our meetings on Friday.

I also responded to various emails and made a couple of telephone calls. As a new supervisor it is expected that I will take the University's Mastering SuperVision certificate program. It will be offered this summer at a campus here on the western side of the state. The dates all actually fit into my schedule and I've confirmed my travel will be supported, so I'll plan to take that from late April to mid-June. I travel so much during the fall and spring semesters, not to mention the unpredictability of winter weather, it was hard to figure when I might take the course.

I did a little more unpacking of my office when I needed a break from the computer. I'm waiting for the order of hanging file folders to come in so I can finish. As I was flipping through some of my stuff, I found this note. Talk about a blast from the past. I also must have been in a hurry, that's some messy handwriting.

I'll recycle the original and preserve the photo.

Library Day in the Life: January 25

2011-01-25T19:24:00.004-05:00

It's damp and dreary today in Western Pennsylvania. Traffic this morning was terrible. I've been averaging a 45 minute drive to campus, today it took me about an hour and ten minutes. I wasn't the only librarian affected. A number of librarians on Twitter and Facebook noted their commutes were as bad and, in the case of one, worse (45 minutes turned into 3 hours).

Not far from the campus is a billboard. Since I started here in September there's been an attractive ad up for the campus. After the winter break, they changed it. A red light and this project motivated me to snap a quick photo.

It reminds me that as the head of the campus library, I need to keep in mind ways to tap into this selling point.

Once I got into the office, I spent some time reading and responding to email: agenda items for the Virtual Reference Team meeting on Friday, a collaboration with two student learning units on campus, and a request for a smoke detector in the building since we still have a smoking issue in the main stairwell.

Tuesday afternoons from 12-3pm ET I staff the University Libraries' Virtual Reference Service (VRS). I've been working this shift since I joined our VRS Team during the Fall 2004 semester. Statistically it is our second busiest shift. If memory serves me right, in 2009 we received 22% of our questions during this day/time slot. I also conducted 305 sessions that year. During a lull in my shift, a LIS student I recently became friends with on Facebook messaged me there with questions about his career path and attending ACRL. I find myself doing more and more mentoring, talking about the profession, and career goals via Facebook. I still do quite a bit of this via email as well.

Virtual reference and lunch this afternoon

I rounded out my day by meeting briefly with my reference librarian. We just checked in on two things. I'll meet with her on a more substantive topic later this week. I also went through more email, and was pleased to find a conference call scheduled for tomorrow was canceled so we could use that time to work on what we were planning to discuss. I intend to use the time precisely in that way.

A highlight of the day was to see a tweet from Spacesaver about their ALA Mid-Winter Wrap Up blog entry. There I am! I completely forgot they took a picture when I claimed my prize. I feel like a winner all over again.

Library Day in the Life: January 24

2011-01-24T18:13:00.001-05:00

I started my day off very early by responding to an email from the chair of an ALA New Members Round Table committee I serve as the supervising board member. A significant part of my work as a librarian is my involvement in the American Library Association. I strive to be timely in my responses to all email, so even at 1:01am I'm likely to write back. Why yes, one of my goals for 2011 is to improve my work-life balance. We'll blame my early email response on an eagerness to start off Library Day in the Life.

That is my library (taken about 3pm today). I've been here since September 20, 2010. I'm having a lot of fun in my current position. I get to deal with a lot of different things. In the morning I assisted our LIS intern, Sarah, with a student's reference question. It's always fun to collaborate with her and provide reference service mentoring. Sarah interns ten hours per week in our library and is here on Mondays and Thursdays this semester. She's going to be a great librarian.

This afternoon I spoke with a patron about an overdue lost item and associated fines. I had to gather information about the item from our circulation system and learn from my full-time library assistant how lost and replaced items have been tracked and dealt with in the past. I even found a little bit of time to unpack more boxes in my office. My new file cabinet and bookcase finally arrived last week, so I'm working on getting settled. I ate lunch at my desk but despite my intentions I did not really multitask. It did give me an opportunity to catch up on the #libday6 tweets.

This afternoon a candidate gave a presentation for an open position for an assistant professor of communications position. As a member of the faculty, I attended that job talk. Throughout the day I waded through lots of email. I even responded to some messages, including a request to be a reference for a scholarship applicant. I also spent some time talking on the phone with a colleague at another campus about some committee work and the upcoming ACRL conference in Philadelphia.

Library Day in the Life: Round 6

2011-01-23T13:24:00.000-05:00

Round 6 image courtesy of Library Day in the Life

I'm excited to be participating in Library Day in the Life Round 6. It's coordinated by Librarian By Day. I'll post blog entries, tweets, and photos from January 24-30, 2011.

While I kind of randomly (and blindly) participated during round 5 on Twitter when I saw the hashtag being used by others, this year I'm official. I think it will be particularly interesting since I'm in this new management role, four months as of January 20. There are a few interesting items on my calendar for the week I hope make it interesting for everyone, including me.

I also plan to tell my library intern Sarah about the project so she can follow along to get multiple library perspectives, not to mention global perspectives.

Feedback Needed: White Paper on ALA Midwinter Meeting

2011-01-22T09:46:00.001-05:00

On December 30, 2010 Keith Michael Fiels and Mary Ghikas distributed the "White Paper on the ALA Midwinter Meeting". The background cover information notes "the combination of technological change and economic stress has caused many members to question the way in which ALA groups accomplish work. In particular, they have raised issues related to the continuing viability of the ALA Midwinter Meeting." It further notes "that Midwinter must be "repositioned" in our conversation and shared understanding to reflect the current, not past, practice and a new understanding of "the business of the Association"."

The document is available as a PDF from the ALA Governance Office website.

As a member of the ALA Executive Board and an ALA member, I am interested in your feedback on this document and the concepts presented. I encourage you to read the document and either post your comments here on my blog or email them to me, cly11 AT psu.edu. Thank you in advance for your input and assistance in helping me serve the membership and lead the Association.

So you want to run for ALA Council

2011-01-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

I get asked about running for council on a fairly regular basis. People either come to me directly or are referred by someone else. In addition to my post from my first orientation session, I thought I should post some of what I've been sending to ALA members.

Council meetings are on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays. In addition, there are two council forums, usually one Sunday afternoon or evening and one Monday night. Attendance at the forums is optional but they really are valuable and until Midwinter 2010 I never missed one. The forums allow you to get to know councilors and discuss upcoming resolutions, referred resolutions, or anything else that comes up as a result of council work. There are Council committees, and they can add to the workload. I served on the Resolutions Committee for a year, expertly chaired by Michael Golrick.

I must say one of the surprises for me when I first started was the ALA/APA Council. You would also be an ALA/APA Councilor, and it is going through some interesting times right now. ALA/APA is not too much of a time commitment per se, but it was never mentioned to me when I ran for council as NMRT Councilor. It has equally important work to do and it too has committees. As with what we do on a daily basis, there is no shortage of work.

My first time on as the NMRT Councilor I'd say it took me 1.5 years to really get my feet under me with regards to what was going on and the like. I sought out mentoring and there were lots of people willing to help me with the processes, understand the discussions, and understand the history. There are also great people on Council and I appreciate that I was able to build that network. I agree Council needs fresh perspective from new members from all walks of life. I think they
welcome that and you will find the majority of people extremely supportive and interested in what you have to say.

I wrote the NMRT Councilor Handbook entry. There was no description for this position before I was elected. It also includes helpful information.

As always, if you have additional questions please let me know.

Tuesday at Midwinter

2011-01-11T17:56:00.014-05:00

Today's Schedule

8am-12:30pm Council III
1-5:30pm ALA Executive Board

Council managed to get through all of the agenda items that were moved from Council I and Council II. We even got done a little bit early. Not to worry, all of that time was filled by the Executive Board.

I know a number of people were stranded in San Diego due to the winter storm in the eastern part of the country. I am not looking forward to returning to the cold temperatures and snow. San Diego has been an amazing city for the Midwinter Meeting. I'm definitely looking forward to coming back either as a part of a future library conference or just for a vacation (I know and understand the concept of vacations, I just don't take them).

Monday at Midwinter

2011-01-10T17:17:00.023-05:00

Today's Schedule
8-10am OITP Advisory Liaison Visit
10am-12:15pm Council II
12:30-1:30pm ALA Executive Board Candidate Forum
2-5pm ALA Executive Board
8:30-10pm Council Forum - did not attend

Despite spending a good portion of Thursday with OITP at their retreat, I delivered my board talking points at their morning meeting. They're a great group so it's always nice to see all of them.

Many of the agenda items from Council I that were moved to Council II were once again moved, this time to Council III. I think this is a result of improved communication about resolutions via the Council listerv and discussions during the optional Council Forums.

I saw most of the Executive Board Candidate Forum. Having been on that stage in 2009, I know how exciting yet stressful the process can be. As I posted to the Council listserv in December, I am thankful to all the councilors willing to stand for election to serve on the ALA Executive Board.

The rest of my afternoon was spent at the ALA Executive Board meeting.

Sunday at Midwinter

2011-01-10T02:16:00.051-05:00

Today's schedule

9-10AM ALA/Council/Ex. Bd. Membership Info Session
10:30AM-12:15PM Council I
1-3PM Spectrum Luncheon (did not attend)
1:45PM Green Room
2:00-2:05PM Introduce Neil Gaiman and Nancy Pearl
2:30-3:30PM BARC/Division Leaders Joint Meeting
3:30-5:30PM ALA President's Program
6:30-10PM ProQuest’s Private Party Aboard the U.S.S. Midway
8:30-10PM Council Forum

Things are moving right along with my Midwinter. Council I ran a bit long so I didn't even attempt to attend the Spectrum Luncheon at Roberta Stevens' suite. I'm co-chairing a Spectrum subcommittee with ALA Past President Jim Rettig. We're working on ideas to get student chapters to participate in raising money for Spectrum. It is a pleasure to work with Jim on this initiative.

The highlight of the day was my opportunity to meet Neil Gaiman and Nancy Pearl then introduce them for the "An Afternoon with Neil Gaiman and Nancy Pearl" program. It was my first time meeting both, and they were incredibly nice. It was fun talking with Neil Gaiman while he and his publishing staff posted and read tweets @neilhimself.

Nancy Pearl, Neil Gaiman, Courtney Young

He also noticed my t-shirt and said that he liked it. When Jenny Levine asked me if I might wear it at Midwinter so many people would see it, I knew Sunday was the perfect day. This also made the shirt's concept originator very happy. You too can wear a shirt Neil Gaiman liked and support libraries, so go get one from the ALA Store! Size S | Size M | Size L | Size XL | Size XXL

Saturday at Midwinter

2011-01-08T06:47:00.015-05:00

Today's schedule
7:30am-9am Focus Group
8-10am Council Orientation
10:30-12pm NMRT Executive Board
12-1:30pm Budget Analysis Review Committee
1:30-2:45pm Closed Meeting
2:45-4:30pm Exhibit Hall
5-5:15 ACRL Meeting - Missed due to member conversations at convention center, no worries
5:30-7pm Sage Reception
7:30-9pm Dinner, much to my surprise
9-10 Council Reception
10pm-2am Facebook After Hours Social

This was probably my most conflict filled day. I had too many places to be at once Can you say 5 meetings during the 8-10am slot?) which meant attending all were a physical impossibility. There were also a few events I couldn't hit (NMRT Orientation, RMRT meeting, NMRT Social). I just have to hope for more success at the next ALA.

I didn't make it to the Council Orientation until a little after 9 when the chapter councilors had gone into their own meeting, but was greeted by applause and cheers by the attendees still in the room. It was later noted that I was the only person who received that type of reception and that I should feel very special. I did and still do.

I stayed for most of the NMRT board meeting. I presented our slate of candidates, all were approved by the board. We also received a visit from Betty Turock, chair of the Spectrum campaign, asking for the round table's support of the Spectrum Presidential Initiative. We are halfway to our goal. I strongly encourage you to give to Spectrum.

I'm really pleased I was able to squeeze in a little time at the exhibit hall with my good friend and NMRT past president Laurel Bliss. She currently lives in San Diego, so I was guaranteed to see her at Midwinter. This was also a great time for me to thank vendors for their support of ALA and exhibiting at the meeting.

We enjoyed ice cream at the Council Reception. It was nice to sit down for a few minutes and talk to my fellow councilors. I think I managed to meet a few new councilors.

The Facebook Social was good fun as always. No issues getting into the venue like Midwinter in Boston. I saw many familiar faces and got to meet a number of Facebook and Twitter friends face-to-face. Great stuff.

Friday at Midwinter

2011-01-07T23:47:00.002-05:00

Today's schedule
8am-12pm ALA Executive Board
12-2:30pm Budget Analysis Review Committee
2:30-4:30pm ALA Finances Best Practices Workshop
5:15-5:30pm Exhibits Ribbon
5:30-6:30pm Exhibits
6:30-8:30pm Sage Reference Advisory Board
9:30-11:00pm Emerging Leaders Reception

As you'd expect, I had a full day. This schedule does not include the meetings I was not able to attend (Committee on Legislation, Training, Orientation, and Leadership Development, Round Table Coordinating Assembly).

One of the highlights was the enthusiastic round of applause from the crowd when I was introduced as a member of the ALA Executive Board at the ribbon cutting. It made me smile a bit bigger and I think I even waved. I deeply appreciate the support and recognition by my friends, colleagues, and members. Working hard and having fun are just who I am. Now if only I can get more front and center in the photo in New Orleans.

Thursday at Midwinter

2011-01-06T23:11:00.006-05:00

I am the ALA Executive Board liaison to the Committee on Legislation (COL) and the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP). They both had retreats today, so I bounced back and forth between both.

OITP discussed a variety of items. Time was spent on some of the offices' priorities including international copyright/WIPO, e-rate, net neutrality, and the OITP E-Book Task Force. Considerable time was spent on the Traditional Cultural Expression (TCE) document, which was described as an attempt to clarify the issues.

The other major component of the meeting was a guest speaker panel called "Libraries: Where SHOULD We Be Going? Libraries, Library/Information Schools, LIS Research, LIS Industry, and National Public Policy". Jorge Schement (Rutgers), Michael Porter (WebJunction and Library Renewal), and Roger Levien (OITP Fellow) each presented. Each added interesting ideas to the conversation, and all of their observations and insights dovetailed well. It was a rich conversation to set the tone for a productive Midwinter Meeting.

Michael Porter and Jorge Schement

Midwinter in San Diego

2011-01-06T15:29:00.003-05:00

view from the Marriott Hotel & Marina

Greetings from the San Diego Convention Center!

My midwinter is already in progress. I've got two retreats going on at the same time. That's how I do conference. The most congested time slot has me in five places at once. Usually I'm double booked. I wouldn't have it any other way.

My meetings include all of the ALA Executive Board meetings (Friday, Monday, and Tuesday), BARC meetings (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), the NMRT Board meeting (Saturday), all ALA Council meetings (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday), and a bunch of liaison visits as a member of the ALA Executive Board and BARC.

The most high profile? I'm introducing Neil Gaiman and Nancy Pearl for the "An Afternoon with Neil Gaiman and Nancy Pearl" program during the ALA Midwinter meeting. I'm honored to have this wonderful opportunity.

The best part? Getting to see friends and colleagues.

Arrival In San Diego

2011-01-05T14:36:00.022-05:00

Me on my Chicago-San Diego flight.

I arrived this morning in beautiful, sunny, and warm San Diego. My flight left Pittsburgh at 6AM, but was well worth the early departure. There were several ALA staff members on my flight, including Cheryl Malden and Delores Yates from the Governance Office. It was really nice to see familiar faces in O'Hare Airport before the flight.

View from San Diego Airport

After checking into my hotel, I spent a little time getting settled into my room. The winter coat went into the closet. I think it will remain there for the remainder of the trip. I also went out and wandered around the Gaslamp Quarter. I'll probably get there a few times during the week, but most of my time will be spent running from meeting to meeting in one of the conference hotels or convention center.

It's great to be back in San Diego.

Midwinter Preparations

2011-01-03T20:15:00.002-05:00

I'm headed to the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego on January 5. My calendar is pretty full and still not complete. I'll post my calendar tomorrow, despite the fact that I'm sure it will still be incomplete. I'm really looking forward to the trip. I'll work hard and get to see a lot of great colleagues and friends, not to mention make new friends.

Not to mention I love San Diego and it's currently 58 degrees there versus the 30 degrees in Pittsburgh.

Two of the ALA Executive Board members will not be able to attend Midwinter due to illness and injury. I wish Linda and Pat speedy recoveries.

Librarians take no holidays

2010-12-29T20:42:00.001-05:00

For the holidays I went to visit a college friend and her family in the Philly/NJ area. It was a great weekend trip and I left just in time to miss the big winter storm. It also ended up being an opportunity to talk about what I do with new people. As one of her in-laws or other people married into the family would ask what I do for a living, I told them I was the head of a campus library. I'm still getting used to that part, now an entire three months into the job. My answer was always met with the response that I must sure like books. I smiled, and noted I like books, electronic information, and so much more. Oh, and I also like people, another important component of my job and the profession. During one of these conversations I was asked about how devices such as Kindles were impacting my library. I noted the timeliness of that question, briefly highlighting the challenges and opportunities of providing books and other content for Kindle/Nook/e-Reader devices as well as providing the devices themselves to someone who might not own one. Add to this the challenges I anticipate Penn State will face in a "one university geographically dispersed" environment. It's going to be a major issue. My conversation companion was concerned about the rising cost of access for all library materials, and the ways piracy might impact funding and use of all libraries. He wished me luck in dealing with these issues.

It was a great conversation.

Fortunately others far wiser than I'll ever be are already thinking about this and related issues. On the ALA side, A Resolution to Insure Equitable Access to All Formats of Electronic Content Through Libraries was passed during the 2010 Annual Conference and a Task Force was formed. On December 31, 2010, the non-profit Library Renewal will launch. Library Renewal " works to secure new models of electronic content access and distribution infrastructure for libraries everywhere through research, advocacy, outreach and also through the development of strategic partnerships."

Last work-related road trip of the year (I think!)

2010-12-13T16:40:00.006-05:00

Penn State Harrisburg Library
Originally uploaded by courtly

I was asked to attend a meeting on December 10 to discuss virtual reference services across the University Libraries. Sixteen librarians and staff from nine of the twenty-four Penn State campuses attended. In the morning we had breakout sessions where we discussed how we offer reference services at Penn State and to identify the top five priorities/features for virtual reference. During the afternoon breakout session, we considered all the results from the morning sessions along with three questions: how do we assess user needs, how do we get questions to the right people, and what are the next steps particularly for administration to consider? It was a productive first step.

This meeting was also the perfect opportunity for me to show our library intern another Penn State campus and library. Sarah is currently in the LIS program at the University of Pittsburgh and participating in a Pitt coordinated internship program at our library. Since she does not have classes this semester on Thursdays and Fridays, she was able to easily fit the road trip into her schedule. We drove east to Harrisburg the afternoon of December 9 and stayed overnight in one of the scholars apartments. It was a two bedroom apartment with a living room, dining table, and full kitchen.

While I was in the virtual reference services meeting all day, Sarah met with two librarians on campus and did other work. We were fortunate that Glenn McGuigan was available to give Sarah a building tour and talk about his role as the coordinator of reference services and business reference librarian. Glenn is also a Pitt graduate, so he enjoyed an opportunity to meet with a student from his program. Sarah also met with Heidi Abbey and learned about the special collections in the library.

Sarah and I had a successful road trip. We had great weather for driving, great music, and great conversation. There was a fair amount of laughter which is a must when I'm involved. I think it was useful for Sarah to see the similarities and differences between Penn State locations. Hopefully by the end of her experience with us she'll have a better perspective on the "one university geographically dispersed" concept. It was also beneficial for Sarah to interact with other Penn State librarians. Of course, Rachel and I think she's not doing too shabby with the two of us on a weekly basis.

Cue the Mötley Crüe

2010-12-09T11:26:00.003-05:00

Cue the Mötley Crüe
Originally uploaded by courtly

The past month we've had problems with someone smoking in our library building. This is a new experience for me. In all my years of working in libraries (and this goes back to my first job as a shelver at a branch of the St. Louis Public Library), I've never encountered a patron smoking in the library.

This is another example of why you never say never, especially in libraries.

Anyway, my staff have been alerting me to the smell of smoke in our stairwell and in the ladies room. I consulted with Police Services and suggested installing smoke detectors in the bathrooms and the hallway. The smoke detectors were installed sometime this week. This morning our reference librarian, Rachel, asked me if I'd seen the sign in the ladies room. After she told me about the sign, I did what any reasonable person would. I grabbed my camera and went to take a picture of "the sign". Despite my urge to change "Whoever" to "Whomever", I am glad to see the community announcing their displeasure with our female smoker. I'm also happy students are taking ownership of their library. It will allow me to be more effective in my role as the head librarian.

I couldn't have said it any better.

WebJunction Conference: Serving the 21st Century Patron

2010-12-03T16:16:00.008-05:00

Wednesday and Thursday afternoon (for those on the east coast) featured WebJunction's Serving the 21st Century Patron online conference. This free conference (thanks WJ!) "focused on the changing needs, approaches, challenges and opportunities related to customer service in your 21st-century library."

I was able to attend most of the sessions. While all the content was good, the session I found most thought-provoking and motivating was Pat Wagner's "Staying Committed to Great Customer Service When Your Library is in Chaos". Her session was focused on how library employees can provide great customer service when your library is in chaos. Pat encouraged us to take notes during her session. Here are mine.

Priorities
- plans take the drama out of work
- let people who work with you and for you know what to do; instill them with decision making confidence

Focus on details of your own behavior

Customer Service
- welcome: smile, nod, say hello and goodbye
- play fair: no exceptions for folks you like
- stay consistently positive
- manners are rituals of respect
- competent follow-through

Learned optimism

Hire for attitude, train for skill

Six steps to build momentum:
1. create momentum
2. establish vision
3. know current status
4. develop priorities
5. focus on aligning
6. track and share progress

The other highlight was Battledecks! It was highly entertaining thanks to the the audience commentary on the slides. Definitely check it out!

"Changing Reference Services to Meet Patron Expectations" was another useful discussion I took notes.
- engage committees to assess their needs
- learning new skills
- changing delivery modes for reference services
- role of coaching: consider your abilities and limitations
- information services as customer development

need present -> define need -> assess customer -> provide assistance -> follow-up -> repeat

I spent more time listening to "Morale Issues in your Library" than taking notes. I did jot down a few items that were key for me.
- improve communication to improve morale
- sometimes it is not about you
- develop your skills
- leave work stress at work
- leave home stress at home
- find joy in other parts of your life
- find success and motivation in other parts of your life

"2-1-1 and Library Partnerships" was a session featuring a service that was completely new to me: 2-1-1. It is a one stop shop for social services referrals. It is supported by the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems and the United Way. 211 provides
- basic human needs
- physical and mental health
- employment support
- support for senior citizens
- children and families
- volunteers and donors
- advocacy and legal services
- emergency and disaster services
2-1-1 is not available in this part of Pennsylvania.

Other blog posts on the conference:
21st Century Library Ideas

Georgia Wednesday Webinars

2010-11-17T18:47:00.002-05:00

One of the many great things about my Georgia COMO trip was meeting new people and expanding my professional network. Thanks to fostering new relationships, two free webinars hosted by the Georgia Library Association and the Georgia Public Library Service were on my radar: "Open Source Software in Georgia Libraries" by Jason Puckett and "How Ebooks, File Types and DRM Affect your Library" by Brian Hulsey.

Jason gave a great overview of open source software types and how they are useful for libraries. I was fortunate enough to ask him which resources we should be teaching students and faculty to use. Jason's first recommendation was Zotero, the open-source reference manager. He's also writing a book on Zotero to be published in the spring by ACRL. Other suggestions include LibX, Audacity, and OpenOffice.

Brian's presentation is was on a very timely topic. Unfortunately, I was interrupted several times so I did not view the content for the entire session. I do know questions were asked regarding support for multiple device platforms and challenges for lending. Good stuff!

Library instruction my way

2010-11-14T14:11:00.011-05:00

Over the past two weeks my reference librarian, Rachel, and I have been talking a lot about library instruction. Last week I observed her teach two classes, and this week she observed me teach two classes. All the classes were the general English composition course, English 015. Her teaching had not been observed by a librarian. After teaching her first session Rachel was eager to get my feedback. It was funny because suddenly I was the one being put on the spot! It was great how enthusiastic she was for my feedback. It was a rewarding piece of my new job I had not thought about.

With regard to content covered, she'd mentioned several times before my observation and then after how she felt a little pressured to cover as much about the library as possible. Reading this post today reminded me a bit of that part of our conversation. I completely understand where my reference librarian and other librarians are coming from. I've been there. Earlier in my career I felt like I had to tell people as much about the library as possible. This was my one and only chance to wow them with why the library was so awesome that they would keep coming back. Information overload and point of need? Totally lost on me, and frankly on many of us providing library instruction during that time. Fortunately several somethings happened. I attended a series of teaching workshops on campus, I participated in ACRL Immersion, and I built up a clientele of repeat faculty to work with on fine-tuning my lesson planning. I decided to try different things. Oh, and I took my ego out of it and reconceptualized my worth to the class in a different way. By this mean I mean I stopped worrying if students were playing solitaire/completing online tax forms/sleeping and focused on being a guest faculty member as a regular component of the course well versed in their assignment and offering thoughtful strategies. My value and the libraries' value would be evident.

Rachel was really interested in how I actually taught based on our conversations. I found that after she observed my first class I too was interested in feedback. She pointed out a number of things I do that she liked. Funny thing is they're so automatic now after 13 years of teaching I don't necessarily realize I'm doing them. One thing she mentioned was how much she liked my use of the word "we" when brainstorming or doing sample searches. To her this meant I emphasize that the students must take an active role in the research process and have responsibility for developing the topic, identifying the resources, and evaluating the information. The way I accomplish this is probably very different, but it's information literacy. I think I'm in line with the blog post mentioned earlier.

She also asked a great question about how I tell users to get to a few of our resources. Our redesigned website launched shortly before this semester began and I honestly was not sure how I would teach classes in this new look. Before observing her class I told her I was very interested in how she was going to teach from the site because I was not sure where to begin. Between the two instruction sessions my approach to getting to our online catalog changed. I guess that I learned and adjusted quickly between the two classes how I wanted to teach from our site. We agreed after talking it though that the reason I accessed the catalog in the way I did was driven by the goals of the assignment. It took me a while to articulate that, but after talking it through it made sense to both of us why I did it.

I have an awesome job.

One night in happy valley

2010-11-11T17:54:00.004-05:00

The last work-related trip I had scheduled for the year is for the Penn State Commonwealth Campus Libraries fall meeting. We met November 9-10 at the University Park campus, where I worked for about fifteen months.

For many this was their first opportunity to meet our new dean, Barbara Dewey, in person. I had the pleasure of meeting her back in August during my interview. Highlights from the agenda included an update on the Google Books Project a lightning round presentation on Source Evaluation and Citation Feedback, and an update from the Collections Mobility Task Force. For the Source Evaluation and Citation Feedback, Jennifer Gilley (head librarian, New Kensington) evaluated the proposed works cited pages for students in two courses. She provided feedback on the sources selected and the MLA citation style. She's found this process to be useful in understanding how undergraduates in certain courses select their references. She adjusted her approach to providing library instruction for these courses based on the types of sources the students use. I learned a lot from her project. It also reminded me it's important and okay to try new things and take risks.

I was also introduced as the new head librarian at Greater Allegheny. It was really humbling to hear the enthusiastic applause of my colleagues and be congratulated over and over.

Something a little different was the Digital Libraries Technologies and Information Technologies Open House. We were able to tour their space in Paterno Library. They also had party favors, pictured below. As they were handing out the drives, the first thing I thought of was this libraryman photo. It inspired mine.

Collection assessment and diversity published

2010-11-05T13:12:00.002-04:00

My article with Matthew Ciszek has been published in the latest issue of Collection
Building. "This paper aims to examine the methods of diversity-related collection assessment useful for large academic libraries." It's based on a task force I chaired at Penn State in 2007-2008 and presentation at the KLA/SELA/ARL Diversity In Libraries Conference, "Measuring Diversity in Collection Development: Strategies for the New Millennium".

Matthew P. Ciszek and Courtney L. Young, (2010) "Diversity Collection Assessment in Large Academic Libraries", Collection Building, Vol. 29 Iss: 4, pp.154 - 161.

Notes from a new councilor flashback

2010-10-30T09:01:00.006-04:00

I recently discovered my original notes from when I attended my first ALA Council Orientation in Chicago, June 2005. I was the NMRT Councilor.

General advice:
1. Don't be afraid to speak up.
2. Attend the Council Forums.
3. Learn and understand the Resolutions process.

Council is the policy making body of the Association. There are three meetings during the Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference. Council gives the orders/direction for the organization.

As a member of Council, you are encouraged to get involved and bring up questions.

Mentor program for Council
- reception at midwinter meeting for new councilors, a great place to meet people

Executive Board member elections take place at Midwinter

Use the listserv

ALA Council Suite
- always a suite for caucus

Actions of Council are posted on the web after each MW or AC

Resolutions
- guideline to resolutions
- be prepared for amendments (some are friendly, some are not)
- send to Resolutions Committee before sending them out to Council
- can be carry over; need a seconder
- you must give all amendments to the projectionist in writing on the appropriate form
- voting record is recorded

Membership meetings

Council Forums
- informal meetings of council
- one for chapter councilors, two general forums
- opportunity to meet and talk with other councilors
- meetings scheduled, open forums

ALA/APA
- we area also members of that council
- improve salaries for all library employeees
- certify individuals
- special session and information session
- has its own listserv
- will also have more committees

Lois Ann Gregory-Wood
- key person for all things related to Council

Parliamentarian: Eli Mina
- Roberts Rule of Order
- assists the president and president-elect
- assists the resolution committee
- reduce anxiety about process
- all councilors will receive a copy of the rules - standard codes of parliamentary procedure
- Councilors have three minutes to speak at meetings: green light, yellow light, red light
- "Suffering is optional"
- procedure brings structure to the meetings
- right to object from your seat
- quorum is shared responsibility

Library degrees and professional experiences put to use outside the library

2010-10-28T18:36:00.000-04:00

The article "What can you do, here and now, to broaden your scope of potential employers?" about my NMRT President's Program was posted yesterday on the ALA Student Membership Blog. As you can imagine, I'm very proud.

Breakfast with Peter

2010-10-27T15:53:00.004-04:00

I had a wonderful breakfast with the fabulous Peter Hepburn at the Omni Hotel Pittsburgh. He was in town for the ASIST conference. I'm glad he was tweeting from the conference, otherwise I might have missed the fact that he was here. Ironically, I was in Chicago when the conference started, but returned to Pittsburgh before he left.

I made sure not to disappoint in the footwear department and wore a great pair of boots. We caught up on all things library: tenure and promotion, my new job, and ALA. It was a refreshing conversation. I always find talking to colleagues at peer institutions fascinating. I'm looking forward to working with Peter on ALA Council since he'll be representing the GLBTRT for the next three years.

Of course, no post related to Peter would be complete without a photo of food.

Fall Board Meeting 2010

2010-10-25T12:53:00.004-04:00

Spider on the wall at Erie & Wabash in Chicago

I attended the ALA Executive Board fall meeting. Before our agenda driven packed meetings on Saturday and Sunday, we start with a Board Effectiveness meeting on Friday morning and then join the ALA Division Boards for an afternoon session.

Our board effectiveness meeting focused on just that: how to work together to be an effective and efficient board. We prepare for the discussions by reading or re-reading 101 Boardroom Problems by our parliamentarian Eli Mina, and 7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don't by ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership. Both are good and practical reads and we referred to them often. Eli Mina actually facilitated our morning session. I found it to be very beneficial. Hopefully I can continue to be a positive contributor to the ALA Executive Board.

The Joint Boards session was like a phase two of last year's session. In 2009 we were putting together a draft of the strategic plan. This time we have the plan and were talking about ways to implement the plan both by the divisions and by the association. Last year we did have the benefit of two round table representatives at that meeting, but this year they were not directly represented.

Saturday and Sunday were two long days of meetings. The agendas are available here. Coming full circle, Past President Camila Alire noted we were very effective as a board.

Georgia COMO Conference 2010

2010-10-16T09:44:00.019-04:00

I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at the Georgia Council Of Media Organizations (COMO) XXII conference in Athens GA. I was a panelist for the October 14 program "Getting Involved: Professional Organizations and the Opportunity to Make a Difference, Stay Connected, and Build Relationships". The program was sponsored by the Georgia Library Association Paraprofessional Division. Kara Mullen and Ashley Dupuy were the other two panelists. Karen Walton was the panel moderator.

Karen Walton, Kara Mullen, Ashley Dupuy, and Courtney Young
My role was to talk about getting involved in the American Library Association. I believe active participation in an association is beneficial to both the individual and the association. I have applied the skills and best practices learned from my involvement in ALA to my day-to-day work. Some of the satisfaction I have in my career has resulted from my involvement in the association. At the same time, those day-to-day happenings inform my perspective and work in the association. My leadership skills, which are still in development, are rooted in my involvement with ALA and were the key to me landing my current position.

I also highlighted opportunities and benefits with regards to ALA, particularly New Members Round Table and the Library Support Staff Interests Round Table, as great places to start and get to know what is often perceived as a large and unwieldy organization. Active participation by paraprofessionals and library support staff is important to the association. It reflects another dimension of diversity within libraries. ALA membership and involvement also means access to travel grants and scholarships to attend conferences, the Emerging Leaders program, and the Spectrum Scholarship. I also talked about the ALA-APA Library Staff Certification Program that was highlighted in other sessions by the GLA Paraprofessional Division.

I did not get to Athens in time to hear Michael Porter's keynote "Our Libraries, Our Communities: Technology Evolution, Change and Success". However, conference attendees who did were energized and buzzing about his presentation. Fortunately I did catch up with Michael before and after my session. That evening I had the pleasure of attending the GLA Awards Banquet dinner. The event kicked off with a highly entertaining Battledecks Competition. During dessert, ALA President Roberta Stevens talked about 21st Century Libraries. Various well-deserved award winners were recognized, and the 2011 board was installed.

Thank you GLA and Athens for a great conference!

ALA BARC

2010-10-02T10:38:00.004-04:00

I was appointed to ALA's Budget Analysis & Review Committee (BARC) as an Executive Board liaison. It is a two year term. September 30 and October 1 I attended the orientation and meeting at ALA Headquarters in Chicago. I learned about the other members of the committee and our ALA liaisons, the committee's role in the association, and the budgeting process. Thankfully there are a wealth of wonderful documents to help me including the Orientation Manual and Important Financial Terms. One of the most important things we did after the orientation part of the meeting was plan the Midwinter Financial Workshop. We are taking a slightly different approach for San Diego and putting together a session we hope will be more interactive and offer more in the way of best practices.

I am the BARC liaison to LITA, NMRT, and the newest round table RMRT.

October is for travel

2010-09-27T12:28:00.002-04:00

I have several trips this fall, similar to last year. It's not nearly as ambitious, but it's an equal amount of work. This year's trips include:

ALA Budget Analysis Review Committee - Chicago
Georgia Council of Media Organizations (COMO) Conference - Athens GA
ALA Executive Board Fall Meeting - Chicago
Penn State Commonwealth Campus Libraries Fall Meeting - University Park/State College

These trips are all between September 30 and November 10. I'm a seasoned traveler at this point, so to add to the challenge I'm trying to figure out how to avoid checking a bag for the first three trips. Like last year, I'll attempt to update more and take plenty of photos. Fewer trips might actually lead to some success.

Head Librarian

2010-09-20T19:36:00.004-04:00

On September 20, I started a new position as Head Librarian at Penn State Greater Allegheny. The University Libraries completed a national search and I was the successful candidate. In a way it has been interesting to refresh my knowledge of the job search experience. I am very happy after the telephone interview and two full days of in-person interviews to be in this new role.

As the Head Librarian, I am responsible for all library operations and services. This includes staffing, budget, reference, instruction, and collection development. My staff includes an awesome reference librarian, one full-time staff member, three part-time staff, and several work-study students. Greater Allegheny is an exciting campus for me to head a department, and it's an exciting place to rethink library services and the idea of 21st century librarianship.

The most immediate excitement is having cake in my honor. Yes, it is as good as it looks. In fact, it might be even better.

Selected pics from D.C.

2010-07-01T12:31:00.002-04:00

Robert Newlen and Courtney Young in the Member's Room, Library of Congress.

Presented by the NMRT Board, June 26, 2010.

Courtney Young and Laurel Bliss at the Newseum.

NMRT Awards Reception

Library Advocacy Day

ALA President Camila Alire at Library Advocacy Day

Courtney Young and Amy Harmon at Library Advocacy Day

Marci Melora and Aaron Dobbs at Library Advocacy Day

Dancing at the Inaugural Banquet

ALA Annual Conference - Washington, D.C.

2010-06-30T23:02:00.001-04:00

This was probably my best ALA annual conference to date.

Even with a visit to the ER.

This was my big conference as President of NMRT. I also completed my first full year on the ALA Executive Board. Both roles were incredibly rewarding and I accomplished so much. It was my pleasure to speak at the NMRT orientations Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. I think I got attendees excited to be there. Then my president's program, "Innovative Career Choices: Opportunities Beyond Public and Academic Libraries", was standing room only (mostly because of a room set-up error, but it would have been jam packed regardless). I along with others did not get the opportunity to hear the program because the room was overflowing, but our panelists were kind of enough to share their presentations here. The program was also featured on the ALA Member's Blog. I'm also proud to have partnered with Loida Garcia-Febo on the REFORMA/NMRT joint program "The New Professional Paradigm: Redefining the New Librarian". The last NMRT event was the Awards Reception where we recognized the winners of the 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant award winners and the Shirley Olofson Memorial Award winner. However, I took a point of personal privilege to recognize Past President Laurel Bliss with a plaque for her leadership and service to NMRT (pictured below), and to thank 3M for their 35 years of support.

Laurel Bliss and Courtney Young, 2010 NMRT Awards Reception

I also completed my first full year on the ALA Executive Board. In addition to participating fully in Executive Board meetings, my liaison visits with a variety of ALA divisions, round tables, and committees continue to be an eye opening experience. It's been a tremendous opportunity to serve the ALA membership in this capacity. It has also been incredibly rewarding to work with the people who make up the board. As a reference librarian at an academic library I might not have crossed paths with these library directors and deans, public library directors, library school faculty, school librarians, and Library of Congress staff. Add to that the chance to work with the incredibly hard working and talented ALA Staff. Ours is truly an association of good people.

Rod Hersberger, Charles Kratz, Jim Rettig, and Larry Romans

Both roles are incredibly rewarding and I accomplished so much. I am thankful for all the support I've received over the past year and the support I know I will continue to receive for many years to come.