NLA Technical Services Round Table

Congratulations Martha!

2009-11-16T14:48:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-15T22:09:00.000-08:00

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

2009-07-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

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:

RDA stands for Resource Description and Access
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.
RDA is intended to play well with other metadata standards (other information systems) and communities.
RDA is intended to play well with new and emerging document types.
RDA incorporates a number of new models/standards, including, among others, IFLA's FRBR and its new Statement of International Cataloging Principles.
RDA will be a web product.
RDA will result in only a few major changes to records (probably).
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.
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.
Don't hold your breath waiting for RDA - it's not finished yet.

For more information about RDA.

Sally Gibson

2009-06-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-01-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

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

Spring Meeting Registration is now open

2009-01-16T06:58:00.000-08:00

TSRT is trying something new this year. We will travel to Manhattan Kansas for the NASIG Unconference. Information and registration for the NASIG Unconference is available at http://nasigunconference2009.wetpaint.com/

The cost is $25 for NASIG members and paraprofessionals/support staff.
Non NASIG members is $50

Conference attendees can travel in the TSRT van on March 19th for an estimated $35. Final cost will depend on the number of people. Please contact Sally Gibson at sallyg@creighton.edu if you plan to ride in the van or need additional information by February 19th.

TSRT Spring Meeting March 20, 2009

2008-12-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

TSRT will be traveling to Manhattan Kansas for our Spring Meeting. We will be attending the NASIG Regional Unconference. Information about the Unconference is now available.

2009 NASIG Regional Unconference website
http://nasigunconference2009.wetpaint.com/

Hot Topics in Serials and Electronic Resources in Libraries
Date: Friday, March 20, 2009, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Cost: $25.00 paraprofessionals, support staff and NASIG members
$50.00 for Non-members
Location: Kansas State University
Hale Library
Manhattan, KS 66506
Take time to post topics you want to discuss on the website now!
Looking for discussion areas related to electronic resources and serials.

Details about the travel arrangements to Manhattan will be available shortly.

How Books are Made ~ a Summary by Sheryl Williams

2008-11-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

How Books are Made
Presented by Dr. Sheila Siegler, Paper Conservator and Conservation Scientist, and Sarah Ogren, Houchen Bindery, Ltd.
-Sheryl Williams

Sheila described the use of scrolls (first printed on papyrus which had been woven and then beaten flat), and how exciting it was when a “book” with folded papers (“leaves”) was developed, because then writing could occur on both sides of the paper. The printing press came into existence; scrolls were rolled, but books were sewn. This early hand-sewing was very strong, and the paper, until the Industrial Revolution, was also very strong. When cheaper methods of producing paper were sought, developers turned to pulverizing wood and adding acid to breaking down the wood fibers. This acid remains in the paper, and is still breaking down the fibers. That’s why old paper becomes brittle and falls apart.

Binding became quite developed with the invention of the sewing machine. Volumes remained strong, although if a page was ripped out, it was necessary to re-sew the whole volume, more binding edge would be needed. Glue was applied to the outside of the spine to allow the application of a reinforcing strip under the cover. Glue continued to be developed, and the heat-set glue of a “perfect” binding came into existence. It was hardly perfect. You’ll find it in paperbacks that crack apart when opened, and the pages fall out.

Leather bindings look nice, but don’t last as long as you would think. Today’s buckram products are longer-lasting, glue has developed through chemistry, and the double-fan adhesive method of binding, now the practice endorsed by the Library Binding Institute, holds as well as sewing.

Why do the fronts of Victorian family Bibles always come off? Because they were bound without the hinging support necessary to allow frequent opening. And only the front cover fell off, because they weren’t opened from the back.

Dewey or Don't We ~ a Summary by Sheryl Williams

2008-11-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

Dewey or Don’t We?
Presented by Becky Baker, Seward Memorial Library; Kim McCain, Tri-county Schools; and Hilary Sire, Barnes & Noble
--Sheryl Williams

This panel presentation concerned the planning involved and implementation of the change from a Dewey-organization to a subject-based organization in the Seward Memorial Library. This was a well-attended panel, with almost 100 people attending.

The process of reassigning a shelf location involved all staff; everyone contributed to the development of the subject areas. An “authority file” of main subject headings was determined, such as:
Language
Inspirational
New Age
Unexplained
Trivia
Humor
Literature
Sports, etc

These areas were sub-divided, then the author listed, and finally the first word of the title.
For Tom Osborne’s book, What it means to be a Husker, the spine label now reads
Sports
Football
Husker
Osborne
What

The primary consideration before this is undertaken is to determine if users were browsing or research oriented. Also, what are the capabilities of the automated system? Shelves must be clearly marked with the subjects displayed.

This is working well for the Seward Memorial Library.

“Librarians like to think that we're indispensable. While I think that is true to a point, I don't think we should continue to propagate the idea that we're indispensable by keeping a complicated cataloging system.” -- Michael Casey

Pre-Conference 2008: What is a Book Worth? Determining the Value of a Book

2008-10-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

I could be considered prejudiced, but this was a very informative session. Dr. Sidney Berger, director of the library at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, describes himself as a “lunatic collector.” Or maybe that was his wife describing him.

It’s no easy task assigning a value to a book. There isn’t a checklist of items to look for with any book in a box of donations, or on your shelves. There are two primary criteria for determining value: supply and demand, and condition. Age has practically no bearing on the value. A first edition is not necessarily a valuable item, and there is the question of printing run, impression, and state. Condition can range from pristine to fine plus, fine, fine minus, good plus, good, good minus, reading copy (no longer a collector’s copy), poor copy of a scarce book, etc. . . . . Seriously, these are all accepted levels of condition.

Other considerations include author, illustrator, publisher, binder, binding, provenance, and other features. You really have to know what you have, or at least where to find out what you have.

There are paper-based guides to determining a value, but their limitation is lack of currency. The Web abounds with information; some search terms are, book appraisal, book collecting, collecting [subject], book price guides, bookselling. Sample sites are Alibris (now merged with Interloc and Bibliocity), Amazon, Bookfinder (formerly MX Bookfinder), ABEBooks (Advanced Book Exchange), AddAll, and Bibliofind. You have to identify which version/printing/publisher/issue/state/date/points (those identifiers which make your volume different) are applicable to your copy and/or the one on the web. Check out the entries on ABEBooks for Golden Child, http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=golden+child&x=0&y=0 Notice the name of the bookseller and the bookseller’s rating. The description may include a commercial for the seller.

Booksellers set their own prices, and they can vary widely. Many vary without any reason. You’ll need to know the pricing history. As with any merchandise, a book is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Appraisers will set a higher price than a book buyer will pay; expect a bookseller to offer 40%-50% of the appraised value.

That family Bible you have? It has no value outside of your family. The Bible is the most frequently reprinted volume. Even that family history doesn’t make it special.

We had intended to cap enrollment at 40, but we squeezed in 43. In the evaluation, those responding were overwhelmingly satisified with the presentation, although many commented that Dr. Berger skipped around in his outline. There were several requests to have him return for another presentation.

TSRT Silent Auction Item Is Quite A Hit!

2008-10-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

This year's Silent Auction was to have a "Nebraska" theme. After a lot of discussion, your Board decided to put together an "Outdoor Nebraska" offering, featuring a 2009 Nebraska Game & Parks Commission State Park Permit. We also added in a few donated books on scenic Nebraska, plus a cookbook compiled from NebraskaLand issues. A relatively inexpensive basket, as the park permit is only $20. The list of bidders started out strong; we immediately had a list longer than the other auction items. Final bid was $35, which was pretty much what everything else went for, from the Kool-Aid basket to the whole pork loin to the tin painting.

Sheryl

Judy Johnson Retires

2008-10-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

The time has come to say farewell to another long-time TSRT member. Judy has been with UNL for a number of years, most recently as Coordinator, Acquisitions and Electronic Licensing.

We all wish Judy the best that retirement can offer.

-Sheryl

Registration Full - "What is a book worth?"

2008-10-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Registration for our fall pre-conference "What is a book worth?: determining the value of a book" closed on September 19th and we are happy to say that we hit our goal of 40 participants. In fact, we are a little over so we apologize but cannot take any more registrations. The board really appreciates the enthusiasm for this program and look forward to reading your evaluations. If things go well, we may consider it again in the future for a spring meeting or another pre-conference. We could not do this without your help and, in addition, we would like to recognize grant assistance made possible by McGoogen Library-UNMC, Mountain Plains Library Association, University of Nebraska Press, and Houchen Bindery.

Library Camp Nebraska

2008-09-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Library Camp Nebraska

University of Nebraska – Lincoln Wednesday 19 November 2008

Sponsored by The Nebraska Library Commission and the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Libraries

Library Camp Nebraska is the first of what we hope to be a series of unconferences throughout the state of Nebraska. So, just what is an unconference?

An unconference is the best part of a conference (conversing with your colleagues) stripped out and crammed into a fun and informative day-long event. Unconferences have no pre-selected presenters, just group discussions on the topics that you want to talk about with your colleagues. There are many different ways unconferences can be run. Library Camp Nebraska will be using the BarCamp model this time around.

Library Camp Nebraska will be held at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln Union on 19 November 2008. Participation will be limited to just the first 100 registrants and is open to anyone who is interested in dialogue and conversation about customer-friendly libraries, library 2.0 and how we can all improve our services and organizations to meet the needs of our communities. (There will be tech topics covered, but if you aren't a techie, come talk about something else.)

For more details and to register head over to the Library Camp Nebraska wiki at http://librarycampnebraska.pbwiki.com/. Please don’t wait until the last minute to register. Seating will be strictly limited to the first 100 registrants. No additional seats will be made available.

(Please feel free to forward to everyone.)

TSRT Pre-Conference

2008-09-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

I'm so impressed with the turn-out for our first-ever TSRT-sponsored pre-conference. Registrations kept arriving, and we had to stick to our cut-off date of Sept. 19. We have 44 registered for the day. We picked a great topic for this event; the number who responded indicates a need for it.

And the TSRT-sponsored sessions during conference also sound great. I hope all of you will get to attend them.

See you at Conference!

Sheryl

Curious about "What a Book is Worth?"

2008-08-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

Sign up today to attend the pre-conference on Dr. Berger's presentation of Determining the Value of a Book. There are still about 20 spaces left. First come, first serve!

Annual Conference and Pre-Conference Information Posted

2008-07-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

TSRT will sponsor five great programs for the 2008 Annual Conference and one all-day Pre-Conference. For more information, proceed to our page on the annual conference. As always, look for some wonderful reviews post-conference. Better yet, sign up now to be a reviewer.

Spring Meeting Musings

2008-05-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

Another Spring Meeting has sped by. Angela and Laura have posted terrific reports of the meeting; thanks to both of them. It was a bit chaotic at times, but we're an adaptable bunch. There are a few outgrowths of the meeting that I'd like to comment on.

First, we're always looking for topics to consider for presentations, or for the theme of the meeting. Several excellent suggestions were included on the evaluation forms. As time goes on, I inevitably read of a meeting or presentation that sounds like something we could do, but I never have a place to send the suggestion. Now we have a place. Under the "Conferences" section to the right, you'll see a heading for "Suggest a program topic." Anyone with access to the TSRT blog is able to make an entry, and we encourage you to do so. If you are not yet a TSRT blogger, email Casey (casey.kralik@bellevue.edu) and she'll get you set up. And share your expertise; if there is a topic related to something you do, we'd love to hear you present on it!

Secondly, we're also always looking for locations for the Spring Meeting. Of our members, 25% live outside the Omaha-Lincoln area. The question is, how "fair" is it to make these members continually drive to Omaha or Lincoln for a meeting? That consideration is why NLA's annual meeting moves around the state. Aurora is a fairly-central location; if you know of others, please let us know.

Now it's time to move on to the fall conference. We're excited about our pre-conference on "What is a book worth? Determining the value of a book." Dr. Sidney Berger, the presenter, is well-known in his field, and will offer a lot of information in this all-day event. Additionally, we have several presentations being made at conference; we'll look forward to seeing you at them in Lincoln.

-Sheryl

Another TSRT Spring Meeting Report

2008-05-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Spring Meeting out in Aurora, Nebraska, was pretty good this year. The overall topic was "Spelunking or Serendipity: Discovery in the Catalog."

Jeffrey Beal, in his keynote address, "Metadata: Promise and Practice," talked about the need for rich metadata to make online catalogs and other search interfaces work well. He addressed the ideas of "search fatigue" and "Google rage" and posited that we are nearing the point where users will demand better, more accurate search results, the key to which is good metadata. The growing popularity of faceted searching suggests the rising importance of building and maintaining solid metadata for an increasingly diverse body of resources. He compared the strengths and weaknesses of deterministic searching (exact match), stochastic searching (full-text), metatext searching (catalog records and other metadata), and metadata-enhanced stochastic searching (full-text searching using metadata for limits and facets). He suspects that Google's advanced search limits on language, file type, usage rights, etc. are likely metadata driven, but of course, Google's staff-mode, like their ranking algorithm, is a well-guarded trade secret. He finished off with an exploration of Gresham's Law.

Gresham's Law originated in the realm of coin collecting. If two coins have the same face value, but are minted with different metal content, people will hoard the coins with a higher metal value and spend the ones of lower value. Thus, as the "good money" disappears from circulation, the "bad money" becomes the only money. (Think of pennies. Pre-1982 copper pennies are beginning to grow scarce as people squirrel them away in jars, while post-1982 copper-clad zinc pennies are deemed essentially valueless by collectors and remain in circulation.) Applied to other disciplines, the idea is that when something of lower quality becomes popular due to its low cost, the counterpart of higher quality increases in price until it is driven from the market or becomes accessible only to the elite. In this way, it appears that there is a present trend wherein cheap and abundant keyword searching is replacing expensive and accurate metadata searching.

But perhaps next-generation catalogs which rely on facets will reverse the trend, as facets require metadata or "metadata surrogates." (I'm not sure what "metadata surrogates" would be. Wouldn't any new descriptive encoding scheme be, by definition, metadata? Of course, eventually the word metadata will go out of vogue, and then we'll call it something else, even though it will be the same fundamental concept, much in the way that metadata itself is just the trendy name for cataloging.)

After the keynote came the first of the breakout sessions. Jan Boyer and I presented "Classifying Music CDs: Unearthing the Collection," showcasing our recently-completed music CD project. We had about nine people in attendance, and it seemed to be well received. No one threw vegetables at me, anyway. Some of the attendees had done similar projects with CDs or DVDs, and so I learned some new and cool things while talking to them after the session.

The majority of folks went to "Image Indexing: A Philosophical Approach" by Peter Konin. I have heard that this was a fascinating session. The subject material is certainly cool. I would imagine that cataloging images so they could be indexed and searched effectively with keywords would be very challenging, not to mention fun.

After the first breakout session, we had the TSRT business meeting, followed by lunch. Then we had the second breakout session. Jim Shaw presented "Broken URLs and Access to Content via the Catalog." I am sure he did an awesome job, but I attended "Connecting Print Titles with Their Electronic Alter Egos in the Catalog: Analysis and Full Disclosure" by Judith Wolfe, Dana Boden, and Joan Konecky of UNL. I figured, I need to learn all I can about electronic resources and about serials. They presented a project they did to find and correct various searching problems and disjoints between their catalog records. Sometimes the record for a print title would make it appear that it had ceased, and there would be no link or direction of any kind toward the electronic record that superseded it. They had a fairly diverse range of problems they encountered, from simple missing URLs to garbled, misleading records.

The majority of attendees, picked the third option for the afternoon session, Sue Ann Gardner's "LibraryThing and You: One Face of the Future of Catalogs and Cataloging." By all accounts, this was an excellent session. I would have loved to attend that one, as well as Jim's presentation, however the nature of breakout sessions is that sometimes you have to choose and bypass something else of interest. How sad. Everything on the program looked interesting.

Overall, it was a good and worthwhile meeting, even with the high winds whipping the cars all over the interstate on the way to and from Aurora.

TSRT Spring Meeting

2008-04-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

What a good conference!! I have a lot of new ideas to take back to work (like barcoding DVD's inside to force people to check for a disc at CKI and CKO). Like it's ok to have teachable moments at the catalog rather than dumbing it down (or googling it up, whichever). Like there are a lot of us out there struggling with the aboutness and itness of things and how to explain that to non-librarians let alone make it useful to them. Like Gresham's Law and precision and recall, each of which will come in very handy when trying to explain to the PTB why libraries matter and what what catalogers do matters...

Just getting home after a side-trip to see my mom & brother. If you've never been to Aurora's Leadership Center, and the opportunity arises - go see the place. Stay the night - preferably when the weather is nice enough to explore the grounds. Nice facility, comfy bed, great wireless in the main facility. Only drawback - no Dr Pepper products. If you're a Pepsi drinker, you've got it made in the shade...

And yes, Deirdre, I really WILL blog about the dangerous ideas session from PLA soon :)
Laura

Proposed By-Laws Changes 2008

2008-04-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

TSRT members will vote on proposed by-laws changes at the Spring Meeting on April 25th. The proposed revisions can be found under By-Laws in the right column. Major changes include: 1) Removal of the Treasurer position and 2) Changing the terms of office to conform with the NLA year. There are other minor changes. TSRT members who will not be attending the Spring Meeting and have questions or concerns should contact a TSRT officer. Contact information for officers can be found in the column to the right. Click on comments and let us know what you think.

Register Now for Spring Meeting

2008-03-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

The deadline is quickly approaching for registration of our Spring Meeting. Sign up now!

TSRT activities

2008-02-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm not very good at posting news. It's not that I don't think about all of you frequently.

We've got quite a bit going on right now with TSRT. We're planning our spring meeting for Friday, April 25, in Aurora, although it looks as though we won't have a lot of papers; only three submissions so far. This means that they will probably be one after the other, rather than having to chose. Frankly, I would rather be able to go hear all of them. Watch for the registration form, coming out in early March. I know it's a busy time, but this is the best date we were able to work out. There is still time to submit a paper, so just let me know.

One of the matters we will look at during the business meeting in Aurora will be By-laws changes. Jan Boyer has been working hard on these. One change will be the removal of the Treasurer's position, as we will let the NLA treasurer handle the record keeping and check writing. I found it interesting that other sections/round tables didn't move on this until TSRT announced its decision. We're such leaders!

Your board is excited about fall conference as well. We have several papers being done, PLUS, for the first time ever, TSRT is sponsoring a pre-conference. We will have Dr. Sidney Berger ("Please, call me Sid.") presenting his workshop on how to value books. This is the same one that he presents at the University of Illinoise-Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and it's going to be an exciting day. Unfortunately, we're going to have to limit attendance to 40. So far we have received funding from McGoogan Library, which will cover his speaking fee, and we are waiting to hear about other grant submissions.

If you would like to present at this fall's conference, your program proposal needs to be in pretty soon.

We're also looking for candidates for office. This year we have two openings, Vice Chair/Chair Elect, and Secretary. If you'd like to volunteer, let me know. We are looking for individuals who are excited about the group, and willing to serve.

That's about all for TSRT right now. On a personal note, I have a new grandson, Dominic Jeremiah, born February 12. He's absolutely adorable (show me the baby who isn't), and much loved by his sister, Skyler.

Sheryl
swilliam@unmc.edu