Congratulations Martha!

The 2009 Fall Conference Scholarship Award was given to Martha Grenzeback. Martha received $100 towards her registration fees for the 2009 NLA/NEMA Fall Conference. On Friday, October 30th, Martha was presented the award by Sally Gibson, now Past-Chair of TSRT.

Long-winded Observations from the 2009 NLA/NEMA Conference

Well, I've finally unpacked my notes from the 2009 NLA/NEMA Conference (“Nebraska Libraries: Bridges to Information”) and am ready to report on a great experience! I would urge anyone who has yet to attend an NLA conference to go to the next one. It is educational, inspiring, exciting, and fun—as well as socially stimulating, since you will run into anyone you have ever met who has any library connection whatsoever. I met former classmates, former teachers, former and current (and probably future) colleagues, people whose libraries I have visited—and a few new people whom I hope to see again next year, if not at other workshops or professional gatherings in the meantime. There is no better way to recharge your librarian batteries (not to mention do a lot of networking)—and if you suffer from financial difficulties, apply for a scholarship! The generosity of TSRT allowed me to attend this year (thank you, TSRT!).

Incidentally, this year some of the pre-conference options were free. I went to Library Camp Nebraska II, sponsored by the Nebraska Library Commission and ITART, and enjoyed every minute of it. This was a great opportunity to talk about things that matter to you with colleagues from different libraries and backgrounds. We decided on the topics to be discussed in our first meeting and then broke into groups, joining whichever discussion most interested us—and the talk was free-wheeling and stimulating. You can see the results at the Library Camp webpage—go to http://librarycampnebraska.pbworks.com/Breakout-Sessions for the schedule and links to the notes taken by people more organized than I was …All you cataloguers might want to look at Angela Kroeger’s excellent summary of the future of cataloging.

And now for the definitive report on the conference itself. Well, some sort of feeble summary, anyway… First of all, the La Vista Conference Center was a great facility—good services, not too vast, free parking, and easy to get to (especially from Omaha...). I tried to attend a variety of sessions, though I now see I was biased towards topics relevant to public libraries. Google made a strong showing at the conference. One of the keynote speakers was Ben Softness, of Google’s User Support Department; he also presented a session on Google’s Advanced Search, which I attended, and two UNO librarians (Rene Erlandson and Rachel Erb) gave a presentation on using iGoogle to develop library Web applications. Although I thought I knew Google pretty well, I discovered there are still new territories there to explore, and ways to improve my search techniques.

I am ashamed to admit here in the TSRT blog that these were the most technical sessions I attended—I was sorry to miss the Technical Services Discussion Forum, which sounded good, but it was at the same time as the iGoogle session. Which brings me to my main complaint about NLA conferences—they always have the most interesting presentations competing in the same time slot! Something should be done about this…..You CAN get some idea of the sessions you missed by checking out the presenters’ handouts and PowerPoints at http://www.nebraskalibraries.org/conference/2009/handouts.html.

After Advanced Google Search with the attractive Ben Softness, I moved on to “Speechless: The Suppression of Student Voices in Nebraska with a Roadmap for Change,” which was depressing and inspiring at the same time. Peggy Adair of the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska showed us how the increasing censorship to which high-school students (and their teachers) are subjected is ultimately bad for us all—and what we can do about it both as librarians and as citizens.

I rounded off that first day with Theresa Jehlik’s discussion of security issues in the library (which elicited quite a lot of participation from the audience—obviously this is a hot topic). Theresa’s two fellow presenters were unable to be there, but she rose nobly to the occasion and gave us a good idea of some of the security problems that arise in public libraries in particular, and some possible solutions—or coping mechanisms, at least.

If you are expecting a review of the NLA Banquet, you will have to go elsewhere, since I did not attend. Since I had been at the La Vista Conference Center since 7:15 that morning, by the time I got out of Theresa’s session at 5:30 the thought of a glass of wine at home with my shoes off was irresistible.

But I was back for more enlightenment early the next day! I attended four sessions the second day, all of them excellent, AND the TSRT Business Meeting, where I learned some crucial organizational secrets (like they’re always looking for fresh blood…take note, you armchair blog-readers). I got some great reader’s advisory ideas from “Speed Reviews” (just what I needed, more books for my “to read” list), attended a fantastic session on getting young professionals into the library (alcohol is your friend), learned how to help genealogists in the library without losing your census (sorry), and ended the day with an attempt to find “An Alternative to Recording Hash Marks.” (Although it turned out not to be so much an alternative as a different way of interpreting them. Hash marks are apparently here forever.)

And that was the last session, and the conference was over! I will admit in this public forum that I was by then so tired that I forgot to return my badge holder as requested. I guess that means I’ll have to go back next year.

--Report from the trenches by Martha Grenzeback

TSRT Scholarship

Now that the NLA Conference Registration is open, consider applying for the TSRT Conference scholarship. The deadline is September 10th.

2009 ALA Conference: RDA Top 10 Things To Know

Allyson Carlyle of the University of Washington iSchool gave a short presentation at the ALA Member Pavilion on July 12th. She provided a very basic overview and said not to worry if your institution has not done much to address RDA and the changes it will bring. Here is her Top 10 List:

1. RDA stands for Resource Description and Access
2. RDA is not AACR2 - it is in some ways more and other ways less than a cataloging code. RDA is an element set; it more clearly presents a set of cataloging elements (like author and title); but it is not a display standard, so it does not require ISBD punctuation.
3. RDA is intended to play well with other metadata standards (other information systems) and communities.
4. RDA is intended to play well with new and emerging document types.
5. RDA incorporates a number of new models/standards, including, among others, IFLA's FRBR and its new Statement of International Cataloging Principles.
6. RDA will be a web product.
7. RDA will result in only a few major changes to records (probably).
8. A few things not to like about it: We don't know how much it will cost to use a new set of rules, and We don't know how much it will cost to access RDA itself.
9. A few things to like about it: GMD will disappear, replaced by carrier type, media type, and content type, More support for non-Roman scripts, No more rule of three, No more (almost) abbreviations, and Authority records can have information about authors like gender and birthplace.
10. Don't hold your breath waiting for RDA - it's not finished yet.

For more information about RDA.

Sally Gibson

Interested in attending the 2009 NLA/NEMA conference in LaVista. TSRT is offering a $100 conference scholarship to TSRT members with limited conference funding. The Scholarship Application is now available. It is due by September 10th and can be submitted to Sally Gibson at sallygibson@creighton.edu

Attending at Unconference

Wikipedia says an unconference is “a facilitated, participant-driven conference centered around a theme or purpose.” Topics are suggested when attendees first meet, and then informal groups discuss these topics. There was an unconference at the Nebraska Library Commission last fall. The unconference I attended was a regional NASIG conference at Hale Library, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. Our Technical Services Round Table was asked to help sponsor this meeting, and this sponsorship qualified as our annual Spring Meeting.

The topics we discussed had been suggested prior to the meeting, and then combined into five main areas, ERM, Cataloging, Acquisitions, Blogs and Wikis, and Professional Development. We had the opportunity to attend three of the sessions.

The advantage of the unconference is that there was an opportunity to spend a lot of time discussing topics that might otherwise be addressed only by a speaker in a formal presentation. I found this to be invaluable. Although I don’t know if I would want to attend an unconference every year, it was a great opportunity to really get to know what others are doing and thinking, without having to miss a session at a regular conference because I was too busy talking with someone over a cup of coffee.

Hale Library is one of the most beautiful buildings I have visited. We were told to look for “the largest building on campus,” and that is what it is. Five stories tall, cherry woodwork, lots of windows. http://www.lib.k-state.edu/help/halemap/ How big is it? On the fourth floor, six times around the stacks equals one mile.

~report by Sheryl Williams

What is the UnConference?

NASIG UnConference Plains is a regional library unconference to be held from 10:00am-4:00pm on Friday March 20, 2009 at Hale Library on Kansas State University's Manhattan campus. It is sponsored by NASIG (North American Serials Interest Group). Participation is open to anyone who is interested in dialogue and conversation about serials and e-resources from acquisition to cataloging to access to ERMs, to share hands-on experience about workflows, working with subscription agents, vendors, and publishers, and to brainstorm ways to improve our services and organizations to meet the needs of our communities.

How does it work?
At the start of the event, all the participants meet together to brainstorm and choose the specific topics to be discussed during the break-out sessions. The number of break-outs can be as high as six. Then, once the schedule is set, participants will be free to attend whichever sessions interest them. Each session will have a facilitator who will start a discussion and encourage sharing and brainstorming. Groups will reconvene to summarize their thoughts for the whole. A wiki is to submit discussion topics and ideas. In other words the participations are picking the topics.

Suggested Topics:
ERMs
Converting from print to electronic journals
What can I tell my subscription agent to make all our lives easier
To catalog or not to catalog: how do you manage electronic journals & databases
Basic how to use blogs, wikis, and feed readers
Preserving continously updated or "latest edition only" electronic resources
Dealing with the serials patchwork of formats, restrictions, changes, refusal to offer pay-per-use options, and very diverse hoops for online access.
How to create an active and motivated statewide technical services round table, how to get people interested and involved.
Claiming electronic access with subscription agents. How to make this process easier for libraries, agents and publishers.

You can suggest additional topics at http://nasigunconference2009.wetpaint.com/

Please register at the Uncoference site. It is $25 for NASIG members and library support staff. $50 for non-members.

If you have any questions please contact Sally Gibson sallyg@creighton.edu