ALA Chicago Conference Summary!

It has taken me a few weeks to post a summary of my activities at ALA Annual in Chicago in late June/early July. Chicago is a fun city and I arrived downtown when the Chicago Blackhawks Parade for winning the Stanley Cup was happening so crazy, red shirt, screaming fans everywhere - but I found then all to be polite and not too annoying (though a rolling suitcase through a crowds helps clear a path :)

view from room

I stayed -  not in a hotel this time  - but a dorm-like University Center housing called Chicago Summer Housing, that was secure, great location, simple but with all basic necessities (like WiFi, free breakfast but no TV or any fancy hotel like things I never need) and cheap at $52/night! I had a librarian friend roommate and we share a joint bathroom with two other awesome librarians I know. Highly recommend checking it out if you are in Chicago for ALA next time
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my room

ALA for me this year was a lot of meetings. As I was taking over as elected Chair of the ACRL University Libraries Section, I had a lot of business related events. Friday began with the ACRL Leadership Council Meeting focusing on Communities of Practices activities. I did like our "cafe style discussions" where we moved to new table every 10 minutes, to talk about the questions "what could we achieve? What challenges do we face? and What would we like to know?" rotating again and again, with a constant scribe staying at the table. Good way to meet others in ACRL outside my usual haunts and hear their ideas and directions. I liked that leaders in ACRL we want to see more of a "pull for knowledge rather than a push."  I also attended the ULS Executive meeting one early morning and enjoyed seeing those who could attend, sharing ideas (such as more ULS webinars or "virtual conversations"  to engage more than just at physical conferences, with more ULS members!) and celebrating our accomplishments.  I look forward to taking over as chair this year with such dynamic, and innovative ULS committee chairs, conveners and members!

I attended a few informative but fun sessions such as one from the GameRT on makerspace and fablabs happening in various libraries. Some public libraries has a fab lab on carts to roll out or move around locations in town. Also the push for STEM to shift to STEAM - adding the A for art - as art and creativity in the STEM environment is also just as important.  The ULS program this year was Busting Out of the Cubicle: Your Creative Self at Work - a fun interactive session where we played with Legos and more. The idea is that we ALL can be creative if given the time, strategies and facilitator. The presenters from U of Guelph were amazing and I highly recommend viewing their slides and ideas:

Busting Out of Your Cubicle (ALA 2013) from M.J. D'Elia

As co-chair of the Distance Learning Section's Program Planning Committee for Chicago, a big role for putting on our program "Is It Worth It? Assessing Online Instruction" We had over 310 attendees for this panel of 3 librarians and a moderator who keep the session interactive and yes NO powerpoints were used - a PBS NewsHour style session. Great ideas were suggested and interesting questions asked by attendees!  Following the program I also had to attend the DLS Exec meeting which is also nice time to meet other DE Libraries, share thoughts and catch up on projects.

As recently appointed co-chair of the Innovations Committee for the ACRL 2015 conference in Portland, OR (woot!) I attended a meeting for those taking over to learn tips and idea from those who were co-chairs for 2013 conference. Good information and I really look forward to this unique ACRL service over the next 2 years - being able to be creative and innovative with ideas and working with people on the committee with that same mindset. Let's see what cool innovations we can bring to 2015 with the theme Libraries Build Sustainable Communities.

SustainRT walk - photo by M. Egherman

This theme wraps into my last involvement at ALA which is the newly formed Sustainability Round Table (SustainRT) which I helped get approval at ALA Seattle in January. In September ALA members will be able to sign up officially for SustainRT and spring 2014 there will be elections. For now its just a number of us sort of leading the way, and drawing in other interested people especially those who want to take the lead (as you can tell I need to cut back on service leadership activities :) Our meeting on Monday morning had an amazing 24 people attending  (at ALA Anaheim last year we had only 3 interested!) and hopefully they will get involved! We even had 2 international librarians from Aruba and St Maarten. These international folks were part of a session "How the Dutch Caribbean Goes Green with Libraries and Other Supporters: A Panel Presentation"Fascinating and inspiring how these islands are advancing in green energy and sustainability. The National Library of Aruba supports the annual Green Aruba Conference, Symposiums,  and a Sustainability Education program. The library in St Maarten had a solar energy project, adding 48 panels on their roof, 200kw hours saving $17700 in 40 months! Out SustainRT folks also met at the Chicago River Walk for a beautiful afternoon stroll along the waterfront.

Lastly there were fun social as well, which often are the best for networking and meting other librarians from all over the globe. The ULS Social was held outside on a rooftop location and I enjoyed seeing many of my DE librarians friends there as well:  (PS Recommended place eat at least once while in Chicago Native Foods Cafe!)

With librarians from Utah State, MS State, U of Central FL, JHU, and Winona

Workshops!

NCLA listserv just post a number of workshops, online, in person, at cost and free....

 Be sure to check out the listings at the Train Station, your one-stop destination for continuing education and professional development opportunities:  http://statelibrary.ncdcr.libguides.com/trainstation

Date	Title
8/1/2013	$ Connecting Readers to Books: Readers' Advisory for All Ages (Simmons GSLIS)
8/1/2013	$ Crafts, Coffee Houses, and Other Cool Programs for School Libraries (Simmons GSLIS)
8/1/2013	$ Integrating iPads, iPod Touches, and Tablets into your Library (Simmons GSLIS)
8/1/2013	Discovery Services: The Future of Library Systems (American Libraries Live)
8/1/2013	$ Harnessing Free Content with Web Services APIs (ALA Editions)
8/2/2013	$ Building Web Applications with HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript: An Introduction to HTML5 (LITA)
8/2/2013	$ Meet Them Where They Are: 6 Steps to Market Research Success (RUSA)
8/5/2013	$ “What do I do with all these Images?” Getting Started with Digital Image Collections (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Bilingual Storytime at Your Biblioteca (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Embedded Librarianship (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Fundamentals of Collection Development & Management (ALCTS)
8/5/2013	$ Introduction to Book Indexing (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Introduction to Genealogical Librarianship (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Introduction to XML (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Planning and Preparing for RDA: Resource Description and Access (ALA Editions)
8/5/2013	$ Social Media for Libraries (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ The Librarian as Scholar: Taking Part in Scholarly Communication (Library Juice)
8/5/2013	$ Building Web Applications with HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript: An Introduction to HTML5 (LITA)
8/5/2013	State of the Field: Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining (EDUCAUSE)
8/6/2013	Get “Siri-Us” - How Voice Enablement Technologies Can Improve Productivity (Training Magazine)
8/6/2013	Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Overview Training (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
8/6/2013	Back to School with the Common Core (Booklist)
8/6/2013	Trainer Smarts (InSync Training)
8/7/2013	Fully Engaged Customer Service (State Library)
8/7/2013	$ Building Web Applications with HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript: An Introduction to HTML5 (LITA)
8/7/2013	$ Best Practices for Apps in Storytime (ALSC)
8/7/2013	Designing Effective Strategic Planning Retreats (Nonprofit Webinars)
8/7/2013	$ Going Solo: Managing the One-person Library (LLAMA)
8/7/2013	$ Rethinking Readers’ Advisory: An Interactive Approach (ALA Editions)
8/7/2013	$ User Experience Research 101 (RUSA)
8/8/2013	Fully Engaged Customer Service (State Library)
8/8/2013	Climbing Capitol Hill: The Basics of Congressional Research (NCLA)
8/8/2013	Health Insurance Marketplace 101 (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
8/8/2013	Where Teens and Technology Meet: engaging teens with digital media (WebJunction)
8/8/2013	$ Using Twitter for Marketing and Outreach (ALA Editions)
8/9/2013	Fully Engaged Customer Service (State Library)
8/9/2013	$ RDA 101 (NCSLA)
8/9/2013	$ Building Web Applications with HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript: An Introduction to HTML5 (LITA)
8/13/2013	$ Creating Great User Experiences: Taking Libraries beyond Customer Service (Infopeople)
8/13/2013	Geek the Library Informational Webinar (Geek the Library)
8/13/2013	Thank Goodness It's Monday TGIM: Enjoy your job, enjoy your life (InSync Training)
8/13/2013	YA Announcements: Falling Into Books (Booklist)
8/14/2013	$ Copyright Decisions: Impact of Recent Cases on Libraries and Publishers (NISO)
8/14/2013	Understanding the Health Insurance Marketplace (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
8/14/2013	$ Is Community Assessment a High Hurdle? Get Over It! (PLA)
8/14/2013	LibPAS Chat (State Library)
8/14/2013	$ Understanding Personalities in the Workplace (ASCLA)
8/14/2013	Advanced Search for Beginners: Navigating the latest release of the American FactFinder – Part 2 (Infopeople)
8/15/2013	$ The Power of Play for Early Childhood Learning in Your Library (ALSC)
8/15/2013	Inspired Reading: New Titles in Christian Fiction (Library Journal)
8/16/2013	People - Difficult or Different? (Effectiveness Institute)
8/19/2013	$ Business Reference 101 (RUSA)
8/19/2013	$ Fundamentals of Acquisitions (ALCTS)
8/19/2013	A Framework for Institutional Adoption and Implementation of Blended Learning in Higher Education (EDUCAUSE)
8/20/2013	$ Readers' Advisory Fundamentals (Infopeople)
8/20/2013	Mobile Learning in Real Life: mLearning Case Studies (Training Magazine)
8/20/2013	Email Marketing 101 – Beyond the Monthly Newsletter (Nonprofit Webinars)
8/20/2013	Inclusive Library Programs for People with Intellectual Disabilities (Infopeople)
8/21/2013	How to Navigate American FactFinder (Census Bureau)
8/21/2013	$ Managing E-Resources Cataloging: Impact and Insight (ALCTS)
8/21/2013	Going First: More from the Edge Pilot Libraries (TechSoup for Libraries)
8/21/2013	Website Accessibility 101 (Accessible Technology Coalition)
8/21/2013	$ Understanding Personalities in the Workplace (ASCLA)
8/22/2013	Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Overview Training (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
8/22/2013	The Economic Census and Other Economic Programs (Census Bureau)
8/22/2013	Collections: Making Smart Choices within a Limited Materials Budget (Infopeople)
8/27/2013	Change Your View of AT to Support Employees (Accessible Technology Coalition)
8/27/2013	PowerPoint as a Graphics Editor: Simplified Visual Design for Elearning (Training Magazine)
8/28/2013	Health Insurance Marketplace 101 (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
8/28/2013	The Importance of Validating Your Statement of Need (Nonprofit Webinars)
8/28/2013	State Library of NC Update August 2013
8/28/2013	$ Understanding Personalities in the Workplace (ASCLA)
8/28/2013	Applying for a Library Job - Don't Do This! (SJSU Colloquia)
8/29/2013	Marketing Libraries: What the not-for-profits can learn from the lots-of-profits (WebJunction)
8/29/2013	Understanding Census Geography (Census Bureau)
8/30/2013	Designing Multi-Device Experiences (O'Reilly Media)

Announcing _Archival Practice_, a new OA journal in OJS

For a number of months now, I've been working with colleagues from around the country to develop a new peer-reviewed, open-access journal for the archival profession. For those who haven't heard, we have now officially launched Archival Practice, which will focus on discussions of real-world applications of archival theories and practices in the modern archival repository. See the inaugural call for papers below (with link to the journal site), and please feel free to distribute the information to any other folks you think might be interested.

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Call for Papers: Archival Practice 

Archival Practice, a peer-reviewed, open-access biannual journal, is now accepting research articles, case studies, position pieces, and other entries for its inaugural issue (to be published in January 2014). Submissions should focus on discussion of real-world application of archival theories and practices in the modern archival repository, and may discuss archival acquisitions, processing, reference, outreach, instruction, preservation, or management in any archival setting (special collections library, government archives, university archives, corporate archives, etc.).

Archival Practice will feature peer-reviewed research articles, case studies, and position pieces related to all aspects of modern archival work. The non-reviewed "From the Field" section allows archivists to share newly-developed policies, procedures, web resources, documentation, or other tools which contribute to the development of archival practice. The journal will promote conversations among readers through commenting features. Publication will be on a rolling basis with submissions made available immediately after passing through the peer review and editing process, allowing for timely distribution of information.

Types of submissions accepted include:

• Research articles (peer-reviewed) 3,000-7,000 words, including bibliography Research articles present and describe original research (broadly defined) on topics of current importance that impact modern archival practice. Manuscripts provide clear and complete methodology and may include all necessary figures, tables, and illustrations. 
• Case studies (peer-reviewed) 2,000-5,000 words Case studies describe mature projects and programs that highlight innovative archival practices, partnerships, programs, spaces, etc., in any archival setting. Case studies should clearly describe the project or program and address the impact of the work. 
• Position pieces (peer-reviewed) 2,000-5,000 words, including bibliography Position pieces are essays intended to inform readers of, or to stimulate discussion about, significant issues in current archival practice. Position pieces may be primary or secondary research and will provide complete references. 
• From the Field (*not* peer-reviewed) 300-1,000 words From the Field submissions allow archivists to share newly-developed policies, procedures, web resources, documentation, programming, or other tools which contribute to archival practice. The text of the submission will serve to provide context for the linked or attached resources that were developed, but this section is primarily intended to publicize resources, not provide case studies of processes or practices. Photographs, links to related files or media, or other visual supplements are highly encouraged. 

As an open-access journal, Archival Practice will be online, free of charge, and free of copyright and licensing restrictions. Authors will retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. The journal will be hosted by the University Libraries at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro using its installation of Open Journal Systems (OJS). This installation will allow the journal to be produced and distributed free of cost to any author or reader.

Additional information about the journal and additional information for authors may be found at: http://libjournal.uncg.edu/ojs/index.php/ap. Additionally, you may subscribe to the journal at this site and receive email updates with each publication.

Archives Leadership Institute Intensive

I have the privilege of being one of 25 members of the 2013 cohort of the Archives Leadership Institute (ALI), a training opportunity for emerging and innovative leaders in the archival profession. ALI (which is sponsored by the NPHRC -- the National Historical Publications and Records Commission) features a group of archivists from around the country, working in a wide variety of archives. A little over half of the group work in academic institutions, from smaller institutions with only a single archivist to huge institutions like Yale. The other half of the cohort are from government, private/foundation, or corporate archives (including the Target corporate archivist, who talked with us about everything from her collection of little Target dogs to the records she has related to opening new stores in Hawaii and Alaska).

From June 16-22, I traveled to beautiful (and isolated!!) Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, to participate in the week-long Leadership Intensive, the kick-off to our year of ALI. There, we discussed a number of key trends affecting the archival profession, received mentorship from the ALI steering committee, and collaborated on a number of projects and activities aimed at enhancing our abilities to effect change in the archival profession.

Our facilitator for the week was Luther Snow (no relation to the Luther who the Lutheran college is named for), who introduced ways in which leaders can make a positive impact and affect change, even when they are not in a position of authority or control. We focused on issues of leadership (leading when you’re not in charge or even the manager), not management (supervising). Throughout the week, he closed each day’s discussion by steering us away from need-based thinking (which we all know is pretty common in archives and libraries), and focusing on our assets, partnerships, and contributions to a greater whole. I can be a bit of a pessimist, and I’m not a big fan of most “motivational” talk using words like “generativity” or “synergy.” But it was really useful at the end of the days to think in terms of what we do have and what we can do, as opposed to simply thinking about what we need to do or what we need to have.

He's supposed to be falling. Not a failure
on the part of his awesome belayers.

We spent Monday afternoon at Luther College’s ropes course, essentially giant logs hoisted in the air that people climbed up, walked across, jumped off, etc. Folks like me -- those who weren’t about to do something like that! -- served as the “belayers,” essentially the weight at the other end of the ropes that kept the more adventurous people from falling. This was a great ice-breaking activity that really helped our cohort get to know each other.

Tuesday was focused on preservation of born-digital and other technology-dependent records. This session was led by Dan Noonan, Digital Resources Archivist at The Ohio State University. Dan focused on leadership thinking and skills needed to approach digital preservation, not the technical skills or competencies. He emphasized, however, that every archivist should be a digital archivist. Modern records creation demands that every archivist at every institution know something about born-digital records. He also used one my favorite quotes: Voltaire’s “Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien” (Perfect is the enemy of the good). Too many archivists are awaiting a “solution” to the born-digital records challenge. I was proud to be able to talk about my work with ERIT on our BDRM system, and our attempt to do something to ensure that today’s born-digital records are not lost, even if it’s not a “perfect” solution (although I think it’s becoming a pretty great one!).

Seed Savers Exchange

During lunch on Tuesday, we traveled to Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit farm dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. Not only was the farm a beautiful spot for a picnic (with awesome cows, chickens, ducks, and geese in addition to the plants), but we learned a lot from their seed curator about ways in which their work is similar to ours in the archives (selection, description, distribution, preservation).

On Wednesday, we learned about Project Management from Sharon Leon, Director of Public Projects at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University (home of wonderful projects like Omeka and Zotero). She emphasized the importance of communicating a clear vision for a project as well as a willingness to jump in and clearly model the work that needs to be done for your staff. She demonstrated a number of project management tools (like Basecamp), but stressed that you should focus on using the tools, not years of set up. My favorite thing she discussed, however, was her hiring practice for new team members. At the CHNM, they focus primarily on hiring based on curiosity and capacity to learn, not on a strict list of skills or knowledge. As she noted, this allows her to have a flexible team that is willing and able to adapt and respond quickly to change.

Field trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park

During the short free time that we had in the late afternoon, some of us made a quick field trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum in nearby Burr Oak, Iowa. For those who are Little House fans, this was the place where Grace was born, but not a place featured in any of the books. Unfortunately the museum was closed by the time we got there, although we did spend time exploring the park. Luckily, Decorah sports a large and surprisingly beautiful trout hatchery that was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, so we traveled there instead.

Thursday’s session featured Chris Barth, Associate Dean at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Chris talked about strategic planning -- particularly about the importance of having a clear vision of where you want to go and a common understanding of how to get there. The vision remains a constant, but libraries and archives must be able to adapt their “how to get there” plan in order to be responsive. He also discussed the importance of assessment, focusing on the fact that we must target our data collection on things we can change in our move towards our vision. His Tumblr focused on major topics in the information profession (http://pulse.infoneer.net/) is one that I’ll be adding to my feed.

Baker Commons at Luther College, site of our Leadership Intensive

On Friday, we looked at issues of advocacy and awareness with Kathleen Roe, the newly-elected Vice President/President-Elect of the Society of American Archivists and the Director of Archives and Records Management Operations at the New York State Archives. Much of what Kathleen focused on echoed my years of working in athletic media relations. Know your audience, be proactive in your outreach, tailor your messages, understand context, and don’t pander. She had us work on our “elevator speech” about archives (prompting one attendee to ask “Why are we always stuck in an elevator?”), and led us through the steps in developing a formal advocacy plan.

Saturday morning, we wrapped up with week with our facilitator Luther Snow tying all of the topics together. We also had time to talk with our Steering Committee mentor about our practicum projects, a year-long project where we will take what we learned at ALI and apply it to our home institutions. Here at UNCG, I will be focusing on building and promoting a records management training program for faculty and staff -- something that ensures that records (digital or analog) that have enduring historical value make it to the archives. Stay tuned for a brown bag session on this at some point in the upcoming year.

2013 ALI Cohort

Overall, ALI was an outstanding experience. Even though I am exhausted and my back hurts from a week spent sleeping on a dorm mattress, I feel like I learned a lot and met a number of wonderful new colleagues from across the country to whom I can turn with questions, ideas, etc. In fact, it was the informal discussions with passionate people during meals or activities or breaks that proved the most interesting and, in many ways, reinvigorated my love of the archival profession. 

We will be continuing our practicums and our conversations throughout the year, including a second formal discussion during SAA’s annual meeting in New Orleans in August. I really look forward to continuing work with this awesome group of archivists (already have a session proposal for the 2014 SAA annual meeting sketched out!) and applying the management skills and techniques learned to my work here.

Metrolina Information Literacy Conference

Here are my notes from the Metrolina Information Literacy Conference 2013 in Charlotte, NC. Great sessions on all aspects of info lit!

IASSIST Conference

Here are my notes from the IASSIST 2013 data conference in Cologne, Germany if you are interested. Some interesting tools and ideas for data support. My attendance was partly funded by the International Programs Center.

ACRL's Stealth Librarianship Webinar summary

UNCG Libraries hosted for NCLA, the ACRL webinar Stealth Librarianship:Creating Meaningful Connections Through User Experience,Outreach & Liaising on April 23, 2013. There were about 20 people in attendance mainly from UNCG libraries. The session was  divided into  three areas.   Part 1: UX for Stealth Librarian Outreach -  Learn to create a practical strategy in order to consciously shape and deliver positive user experience with the library staff in person and online by presenter Bohyun Kim [Digital Access Librarian Florida International University Medical Library   / @bohyunkim]  Bohyun offered a useful UX Environmental Scan worksheet to ponder unsuccessful touchpoints, pain points and how to deal with these problem areas; as well as successful touchpoints including inspirations and how to generate delight.  Part 2: Liaising - Analyze nontraditional opportunities for engagement in order to prioritize and maximize the impact of time allotted to nontraditional engagement by presenter Kiyomi Deards [Liaison Librarian,University of Nebraska-Lincoln / @kiyomiD]  Kiyomi discussed non traditional touchpoints, going where the users are for more informal relationship building such as Attend Guest Lectures,Help Recruit Students, Play a Sport, Participate in Campus Forums, Volunteer. She advised us to “Be genuine! Its all about building relationships, not selling things.” Part 3. Outreach - List specific outreach activities which will engage users in order to build positive relationships between the library and its users by presenter Erin Dorney [Outreach Librarian Millersville University McNairy Library @edorney] Erin probed us on how projects are created in the library - through what we librarians think users will want or user initiated. She covered outreach for Relationship Building and supporting student-initiated projects as well as inreach -  since everyone in your organization represents the library!

• View Tweets here
• View Slides here.
• Presenters encourage you to share ideas here.
• Presenters notes (on page 62)