By Derrik Hiatt

Inside ZSR

The 2015 Charleston Conference according to Derrik

This was my first time at the Charleston Conference. My overall impressions: (1) This conference has a lot of content (I was afraid I would run out of paper for notes); (2) The content was mostly very practical and detailed; (3) Those practical details were more “cutting edge” than in other conferences I’ve attended, i.e.... more

Derrik at ALA 2015

Since I am still serving on the ALCTS Standards Committee, I’ll start my ALA report talking about one standard (sort of) that you’ve probably heard of, and two you’re probably less familiar with. BIBFRAME (heard of it?) – I attended a presentation describing results from converting serials catalog records from MARC into BIBFRAME. I didn’t... more

NASIG 2015

Last week I attended the 30th annual NASIG conference, presided over by our own Steve Kelley, who looked more and more carefree as the conference progressed and he got closer to handing over the presidential gavel. Well, at NASIG the outgoing president actually receives a gavel; the new one usually gets a hat. This was... more

Derrik at the NC Serials Conference, 2015 edition

Well, the latest few PD blog posts have guilted me into finally writing about my trip to the 2015 NC Serials Conference. Now, if I can just find my notes … Aha! Here we are. Steve’s post already covered Katherine Skinner’s opening keynote address quite well. I’ll add an “Aha” moment I had. Do you... more

Derrik at ALA Midwinter 2015

Vendor highlights Lauren and I had a really good dinner discussion with a VP of a database vendor, talking about what is and isn’t important for researchers and libraries. That VP and our regular sales rep have already scheduled a campus visit to continue the conversation. I had a conversation with a publishing company’s VP... more

Derrik’s ALA roundup

I’ve sorted my 2014 ALA Annual Conference experience into 3 categories–Committee work, Vendor chats, and Sessions. Committee work The ALCTS Standards Committee was formed last fall to promote member involvement in and education about the development of information standards. Part of my assignment on that committee is to act as liaison to the ALCTS Continuing... more

Derrik’s takeaways from NASIG 2014

The 2014 conference of the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) was a good one, from my point of view. A wide variety of topics and some very good keynote addresses gave me lots to chew on. Since I started attending NASIG conferences 12 years ago, one of my favorite aspects has been the vendor... more

ALA Midwinter according to Derrik

Vendor meetings As usual, I spent a large part of this conference in the vendor exhibit hall. I learned that Alexander Street Press is close to signing a deal to offer a certain film collection that I’ve heard people here express specific interest in (I don’t want to jinx the deal by naming the collection... more

Charleston Conference online

I have never actually attended the Charleston Conference, but this year they broadcast a small number of sessions live over the Internet. I tuned in to watch two of those sessions. In a pre-conference segment, Judy Ruttenberg from the Association of Research Libraries spoke about legal issues in providing online resource access for print-disabled patrons.... more

Derrik at NCLA 2013

Here’s my summary of last week’s North Carolina Library Association conference. Overall, I thought it was a great conference, and I was glad I attended. E-books Christopher Harris, editor for the American Libraries e-content blog, gave a very good update on the e-book industry, although it was mostly geared toward public libraries. Some of my... more