Inside ZSR
2010 ACRL Rare Books & Manuscripts Section preconference. RBMS was in Philadelphia this year, with an official theme of Join or Die: Collaboration in Special Collections. The opening plenary session highlighted the work of PACSCL (Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries), a 25-year-old consortium that now includes over 30 member institutions. Although the particular... more ›
On Tuesday, October 20th, I sat in on an online chat from ACRL. The topic was H1N1 and how libraries are responding to this issue. The chat was led by Marcia Thomas, Director of Collections & Technical Services, Illinois Wesleyan University and Meg Miner, University Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, Illinois Wesleyan University. Lots of... 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 ›
ALA snuck up on me this year, despite falling later on the calendar. This year is also a big one for me, as I had both a pre-conference and a book-signing on my calendar. Kaeley and I flew in and are rooming together. We ran into Elisabeth Leonard and Beth Bernhardt at the GSO airport,... more ›
Today was the first official day of the RBMS preconference in Charlottesville. It’s the 50th annual RBMS, so we learned a lot about the history of the section. Plenary sessions began with a reminiscence by David Stam, University Librarian Emeritus at Syracuse, who had attended the first RBMS as a 23-year-old brand new employee at... more ›
First day at the Rare Books & Manuscripts Section preconference in Charlottesville, VA. Today was pre-pre-conference workshop day, and I attended “Beyond Show and Tell: Teaching Strategies for Special Collections Professionals”. Presenters were Julie Grob, Digital Projects and Instruction Librarian for Special Collections at U. of Houston, and Matt Ball, Outreach and Student Services Librarian... more ›
I apologize for the length of this post, but it is encompassing both Saturday and Sunday, and both were extremely valuable days at the conference. Saturday, March 14’s first session was called Weaving a new net: Hauling multiple services into a New Learning Commons at Seattle University. They discussed the trials and rewards of bringing... more ›
I started my Saturday at a small Focus Group breakfast put on by ProQuest. I had asked a few questions at the ProQuest booth on Friday and was invited to this breakfast which was to talk to librarians about upcoming interface changes in ProQuest. A lot of what I saw I can’t talk about (nondisclosure... more ›
On Sunday, we woke up to HUGE snowflakes coming down, which turned an hour later into a cold rain. Seattle weather may be worse than Detroit’s. I dutifully trudged down to the convention center for the closing sessions. “Buzz Off! Tossing Traditional Collection Development Practices for Patron Initiated Purchasing,” Sue Polanka, Wright State University, Alice... more ›