Judy Johnson Retires

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?"

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

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

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?"

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

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

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