Conference reports and more from ZSR Librarians
Yesterday, a group of us attended the virtual conference Handheld Librarian.It was presented as a combination of PowerPoint presentations with live voice-overs.Attendees had to log into the conference site to watch and listen; attendees could submit questions and comments to the presenters and moderators in real time via IM.The topic of the conference was delivering... more ›
Today, a group of us attended the Handheld Librarian, an online conference about using mobile devices to deliver library services. I’m reporting on the session about Cornell’s experience launching their text reference service. In August of 2008, Cornell University library launched their text-a-librarian service.Librarians there had recognized that approximately 90% of Americans carry mobile phones... more ›
This month, I was asked to select the journal article for our reading group. Since I’ve been in the midst of researching embedded librarianship, I chose a very current article about the topic, by one of the big names on topic, David Shumaker. The article Who Let the Librarians Out? Embedded Librarianship and the Library... more ›
On Wednesday, July 29th, Mary Scanlon and I participated in the ACRL OnPoint Chat series, “Are Reference Desks Passé?” While no definitive conclusion was reached, many salient points were discussed. The format of this series was a Meebo Chatroom with 80 participants. Two parallel threads emerged during the 45 minute conversation: the medium and the... more ›
Sunday at ALA was a busy day for me. It started off with me attending a program sponsored by the Anthropology and Sociology Section (ANSS) of ACRL titled “Chicago’s Ethnic Mosaic: Cultural Identity and Neighborhood Change”. Although I only stayed two of the four hours program, I heard and learned much on the history of... more ›
I started Monday morning off with a session entitled, “Resuscitating the Catalog: Next-Generation Strategies for Keeping the Catalog Relevant.”Four panelists discussed OCLC initiatives, and the public and academic library experience with the catalog.Several of the most helpful comments came from Beth Jefferson of Bibliocommons in Ontario.She has studied both public and academic libraries in Ontario,... more ›
Sunday morning started early at the Alexander Street Press breakfast, where they shared information about their upcoming releases.Breakfast was great and they had a very interesting speaker, Gary Giddens, a jazz critic and writer, who spoke about his career in journalism and his long connection with jazz music.After checking out the exhibits and Lauren P.’s... more ›
After arriving on Thursday afternoon and practicing our preconference presentation a few times, Lauren P. and I headed to our preconference on Friday.The preconference was held in the Fairmont Hotel, which was just around the corner from where we were staying, so we didn’t have far to travel!The session went really well and went by... more ›
On Saturday, I attended “Workflow Tools for Automating Metadata Creation and Maintenance” which was a panel discussion comprised of individuals who work on digital projects at their institutions. Much of the talk was highly technical and I didn’t quite understand everything, but one of the most interesting projects discussed was by Brown University’s Ann Caldwell,... more ›
A hurt neck kept me from lugging my laptop around combined with a lack of reasonably priced internet anywhere near my hotel kept me off the “real” internet for much of the conference. This was the first ALA I have attended where there were days that I didn’t carry a computer, and it made for... more ›