MLA Conference 2010: Making it Happen, FAST!

Presenters: Brent Husher & Cindy Thompson, UMKC Miller Nichols Library

This presentation is how to incorporate an idea into your library fast.

Beginnings
-How do you make the decisions
-Sometimes if you don't have the authority, you may still need to take the authority

Authority
-If you don't feel comfortable taking the authority by yourself, get others to help
-Understand the culture you work in
-Write a proposal if others initially say no

Buy In
-Politics is a part of most of our work environments
-Negotiate and try to get buy in from those that would be the most involved/interested before throwing it out to everyone
-Think about everyone who will be affected by your proposal and talk to then first
-If you are not the person in charge, make sure you have buy in from your administrator(s)
-Say "I think this is important for our library, I would love to be involved in this, what do you think." Start a discussion, don't just go straight to asking permission. A dialogue should be started which should then lead to permission in the end.

Keep the Ball Rolling
-Need to have frequent follow-up
-Do not necessarily need to have a lot of meetings, but a lot of communication
-Pull a team together thinking who needs to be on the team
-Keep your group focused
-Set deadlines and follow them
-Keep all stakeholders informed as the process is going on

Stumbling Blocks
-Missed deadlines - having a good leader to keep in top of things, and when forming a team if you know they are good at being on top of things can help keep deadlines
-If only one person has the ability to work on a specific area, yet is busy with other things can delay the project. Try to get progress reports and keep communication going with the person.

Finish Line
-With almost any project, there really isn't a finish line. There will always be something that will need to be updated, follow-up, etc.
-Try to have some sort of finish line so that there is some gratification that this process has been completed.

This was a good presentation, with lots of ideas that I can take and use.

MLA Conference 2010: The Role of the Academic Library in the Future

This presentation's full title is - The Role of the Academic Library in the Future: Perspectives from a Sabbatical Visit to the U.K.
Presenter: Genie McKee, Dean of the University Library, Maryville University in Saint Louis

The presenter decided to tour aroung Great Britain looking at modern libraries. She started in Glasgow and finished in London and attended a seminar sponsored by the UNC Library School and UCL Library School: "British Libraries and Librarianship: Past, Present and Future."

The presenter was able to visit with Bodley's Librarian, JISC representatives, SCONUL chair, consultant who focuses on strategic visioning for the future, the author of "Recent Developments in Cambridge College Libraries", and others.

What the libraries do and the services they provide is really tied to the educational purpose of the university.

Libraries use a smart card access. The smart card allows access into the library and also allows the user to self-checkout the book. It also allows for retrieval of statistics.

University of Edinburgh has a HUB Room (Highly Used Book)
-Access to assigned readings
-Secure entrance
-Self check out
-No staff needed

Because they have the self-checkout the circ desk has become a help desk with a combination of library and technology people.

Subject Liaison Librarian
-Paid by the History Dept.
-Office in the Department, not the library
-Does hold a library degree and two degrees in history
-Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

De Montfort University - Combined Service Desk
-Combination of IT and Professional Librarian
-All staff are roving and are expected to have front-facing activity
-Each person has a certain knowldege set

Chartered Librarians
-Librarians apply to be chartered through CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (formerly Library Association)

Glasgow Caledonian Univeristy
The Saltire Center
Services for our students
Active approaches to
Learning and
Teaching, a 21st centruy way of managing our
Information, the repository of our
Research collections, and
Engaging our students

Librarian's Place in the University
Librarians are considered the bes hybrid managers
-operational mangers (offer a big and complex service)
-acadmic orientation
-have professional and technical expertise
Including a 24/7 opportunity for service

Future of the Academic Library
-Technological Assistance to Students
-Library as the Learning Place with Many Services
-Collaborative Spaces for Learning
-Books will still be an Integral Part of Learning

The presenter stated that after this trip, she has learned that anything that helps student learning she is willing to try in her library.

This presentation was really interesting. There was so much more that I didn't write in the blog the information was great and makes me want to take a trip to England to see these libraries in person.

MLA Conference 2010: Firefox Add-Ons

Presenter: Bob Martin from Morenet

Firefox Add-Ons
Do not turn on more than 2-3 add-ons at a time because it can slow down Firefox the first time you bring it up.

Most of these add-ons are version specific, so if Firefox updates, then the add-on may not work. Will need to reinstall the add-ons so that they will work, after updating Firefox.

To find Add-ons, in Firefox, go to Tools and click on Add-ons. Then choose Get Add-ons. Can also click on Browse all Add-ons and it will take you to the Add-ons page for Firefox. Can also search if you know the name of an add-on.

Zotero - collect bib information in one place as you are doing research. It is going to watch what you do and watch where you go. Will not work with Gale and Ebsco, can still put in the information manually.

Amplify - clip and share excerpts from articles, blogs, tweets, and webpages.

Zoodles - Kid mode for Firefox. A safe place for kids to play online.

Video Download Helper - Instead of streaming video, will download it and store it on your desktop. Can also convert the file if you need to.

Similar Web - searches for sites related to the one that you are looking at. You can rate to see how similar it really is. You are allowed to vote if it is similar or not similar.

Cooliris.com - media browser plug-in. Need to prescreen if showing to kids.

Good presentation. Lots of stuff to play with. Can't wait!

MLA 2010 Conference: Web 2.x Tools to Make You Look Cool: The Internet Strikes Back!

Presenter: Cynthia Dudenhoffer, Director of Information Services, Central Methodist University

Will be discussing all free, web based,.com that require no downloads.

Aviary - image editor, screen capture, audio editor, music creator effect editor, eolor editor, image markup, etc.

Analogue - ondemand, anonymous, multi-user chat interface

Bubbl.US - brainstorming tool, do need to create an account to keep. create flowcharts, etc.

Bounceapp - Let's you comment, share, or post stuff to any website, great for comments for webdesign

Cramberry.net - make your own flash cards, also available as an iPhone and Blackberry app

Crappygraphs.com - can make a graph of whatever you want, really just for fun.

Dragontape.com - lets you stream videos together so you can string them together to watch all at once, instead of watching in sections can watch all at once.

Followupthen.com - Time management system that sends emails and reminders to do your work.

Heapr.com - aggregated search engine that allows you to search social networking as well as search engines

Kwout.com - Can highlight and quote a webpage and email it out to someone

Librivox.org - free audio books, or create your own audiobook and share it with others

Lynda.com - free tutorials on anything you can think of.

MyWeboo.com - manages everything that you do on the internet.

Prettygraph.com - lets you make professional graphs for free, and provides the source code so you can put it anywhere you want.

Paper.li - allows you to read twitter as a daily newspaper.

Redkid.net - a safe, educational website for all ages, for tweens, does have image generators, upload image and make into a sign

Replyz.com - People asking and answering questions in real time. Caution: may not always be appropriate.

Scribblemaps.com - Let's you write and more on top of any google map and then share. Can search any google map or google earth.

Sciencestage.com - Includes science tutorials, demonstration videos, lectures, etc. Starts at middle school and then goes up.

ShareSomeSugar.com - Allows you to borrow items from others within your zip code. Allows you to share items without having to buy something.

Smories.com - Original stories for kids, by kids, and read by kids.

Totspot.com - A safe place for kids that allows you to create a safe website for and about your child to share with those you want to see.

Visualizing.org - A creative commons infographics.

XSketch.com - Online pictionary, realtime virtual.

YourFonts.com - Does require a scanner, but allows you to create a font from your own handwriting.

YTTM.tv - YouTube time machine, goes back all the way to 1880 up to current day. You can choose a year and pick a video from that year. Can filter subjects such as commercials, current events, sports, etc. Great for the assignment of students looking to see what happened the year they were born.

ZamZar.com - convert files from one format to another.

This is a great presentation. Lots of websites I want to go home and play with. I can't wait.

MLA 2010 Conference: Mobile Library: What's Important and What's Practical

The presenter for this session is Ying Z. Lin, Electronic Resources and Information Literacy Librarian from Maryville University.

People use mobile phones, especially iphones to get information, so libraries need to go where the users are. Sometimes all the user has is a mobile phone and it is all they can use where they are. Libraries need to provide that information or they will not be used. Users wil find other resources to use.

Mobile Components - smart phone (a phone that is able to use applications in order to find information)

Web App - what you can find on the web to download. Example: http://m.mit.edu
This is what a lot of Universisties use because of cost and time.

Native App - What is developed initially for the phone. Download and install it and can use it across different phones.

Network 3G and 4G - Allows you to call and access the internet at the same time. Only difference between 3G and 4G is the speed. 4G needs to be at least 4x faster than 3G. At this time really can't tell the difference because of the phone rather than the network. The phones at this time can not handle the amount of information.

Important vs. Practical
-Important: what users care about
-Practical: what can we do to best satisfy them with our limited resources

When speaker went to look at to see what libraries had mobile apps and found that a lot of libraries hide their resources.
12 common library website features on their mobile pages. Research on this done in Nov. 2009
-Catalog
-Database Search
-Subject Guides
-Computer Availability
-IM a Librarian
-Text a Librarian
-Feedback
-News/Features
-Hours
-Contact Us
-Help/How to
-Available Computer

What Maryville Mobile page has: Directions, Databases, Hours of Operation, news and Events, and Ask a Librarian

The hours and the news and events are done within a mobile blog page.

Why did they do it that way? They have 5 out of the 6 highest ranking features except the catalog. They did not include the catalog because they can't really make it mobile. Need extra money in ordder to make an open API.

When repeated the research on mobile library pages a year later, the most rapid growth on what was included was text a librarian, database search, and news & events.

More and more libraries are using blogs for their news & events, which means these blogs can be mobilized very easily.

Took a closer look at the catalog search feature. Out of 29 libraries, 20 had the library catalog feature, but only 14 had a real mobile catalog. On the database search, 22 out of 29 libraries had this feature on their mobile page, but only 20 had a real mobile database search.

Out of the 20 real mobile database searches, 15 of them provide users with a partial list of all their database. These are the databases which come with mobile interfaces.

The Trends
On the interface side more icons ad graphics are friendlier and easier to read than text. Citation tools are going mobile. A lot of universities are making a separate page for medical/health professions.

What Now?
Practical: Implement the hours, locations features and give links to databases tha provide mobile interfaces, which from most vendors is free. The important part is to take a look at the discovery service, and text a librarian would be a good way to promote ourselves.

What about Native Apps?
It can do everything that was talked about, plus you could utilize the camera as a scanner to scan the barcode to do self-checkout or to scan the ISBN of a book to see if your library has it, or request it. You would also be able to use smart phone to locate a book's specific shelf location inside the library.

yzhang@maryville.edu

This was a great presentation. Filled with information about apps in general and also about how libraries are using them. I don't know how this speaker was able to provide all the information she did a the little time provided, but I am so glad that she did!

MLA Conference 2010: How to Get Others to Do What You Want: Leadership in the Library

Presenters: Steven Potter, Laura Rein, and Shirley Baker

Steve Potter, Director of Libraries, Mid-Continent Public Library
Topic: Pulling Together So You Don't Pull Apart

Need to make sure that everyone has the same perception of what "real" work is. This includes desk work, helping patrons in the stacks, and doing outreach. It takes all of this to make the library work. This led to writing a vision for the library. If everyone knows the vision of the library and if everyone can articulate it, everyone can be on the same page. Everything that was done needed to be attached to the goals and vision of the library. Strategic environment matters. There are a couple of keys to this. There needs to be buy-in from the highest level. The plan also needs to be presented to the employees. Communication and connecting everything back is key. There is a distinct difference between managing and leading. Take time to plan and make sure that you are moving in the right direction. Need to think of things as one of four criteria: Urgent and Important, Urgent and not important, Not Urgent and important, and Not urgent and not important.

Laura Rein, Dean of University Library, Webster University
Topic: Bottom-up Strategic Planning and Finding ways to say Yes!

2/3 of the students and faculty do not reside on campus. They are either online or at a different campus across the world. Bottom-up strategic planning is writing the goals and objectives from the staff and then up. One of their library goals is take the library to where users are. Another goal is to integrate the library into university life, by saying yes to the groups that want to use the library outside the normal use of the library. Also do continual assessment, which get a high response by allowing the students to entire a drawing for an iTouch. By doing this they get 1000 responses. Basically this director not only listens to the users, but also responds to the user needs by acting on the requests and doing something about what is being asked for. It is not always possible to say yes. Also there are times where some staff are upset, and also some students are upset by decisions, but in the end there is a reward in seeing the users happy with the library overall.

Shirley Baker, Dean of University Libraries & Vice Chancellor for Scholarly Resources, Washington University.
Topic: Fearless and Fair

It is important to look for the potential in your staff and nurture each one. Even if they do not want to be challenged, or to do more than the basic necessities, but it is important to push them to their full potential.

In a new job, 20% will accept you no matter what, 20% will oppose you no matter what, and the rest will sit on the fence and see who wins. A leaders job is to fix those that aren't doing anything. Hold up pay check and say to get this you have to do what I want, If you don't want it, then you can do anything you want. You won't always succeed when doing something brave and firm, but you will succeed more times than not.

Remember: It is either you or your replacement that will do what it takes to get the job done.

This presentation was good. With three presenters each having only 10 minutes there was more that I would have wanted to hear from each one of them. However what they did say was good food for thought which I can take back to my job and incorporate.

MLA Conference Positive Approaches to Organizational Change

Speakers Leo Agnew, M. Jean Darbyshire, and Keith Russell

Session discussing Organizational Development (OD)

Ground Rules
-Confidentiality
-Speak up
-Stay on Point

Parking Garage Concept
-Long-term parking, issues that we would like to deal with in future meetings. Long-term issues

Techniques Used
-Radical Inquiry - 3 stage process
--What happened, What is the impact, Now what do we do about this
Used with employee/employer situations

-Elevator Presentations
--short presentations that can be given in the time you ride an elevator

Principles of Practice
-Values-based
--think of others as we go through these values

Get more accomplished if focusing on the positive
Start with the positive and if that doesn't work, go to plan b

Start off to do everything possible to make sure that your organization is healthy. If there is something that needs to change, note it and make decisions on how to change it if it really needs to be changed.

When there are problems or issues there are three things
-People
-Processes
-Problems

With those there are
-communication
-documentation
-accountability

Ladder of Inference
-Select data from an ocean of data
-Interpret the data
-Draw conclusions
Our conclusions are affected by how we interpret data..the data we select impacts the next steps...currently held conclusions affect the data selected to support the conclusion.

Conclusions are often presented as factual when they are actually inferential.

Personal Responsibility
-See that the organization is successful
-Everyone has the opportunity for input
-Get a mentor
-If you can't get experience at work, look at social clubs and volunteer work

Sidenote: Put on your resume that you are nice. Interpersonal skills

Try to find an organization that meshes with your values.
Higher-level thinking in libraries - brought about by OD

Ask new hires what they think about the organization, you can find out what kind of an organization you really have.

Book: The Power of Appreciative Inquiry

My thoughts: I have never been to a presentation that was made up of mini presentations. It was actually very good and a good way to provide a lot of information in a short amount of time. I was very pleased with this session, however there was a lot of information and a lot of handouts. This is one that I will take back to work and try to digest more slowly.

MLA Conference - Up the Career Ladder

John Furlong and Katrina Stierholz are discussing how to go into library management and some of their experiences.

Presenters are discussing how they fell into librarianship. Sounds like that happens to many of us. I know I did not plan on being a librarian.

General Tips
-Be prepared when searching for a job. Have a lot of different experiences in order to learn and grow. While you are at your current position, look around and see if there are other things that you can do to gain experience.

-Technology is changing the workforce, keep up to date with what is going on in the workforce.

-Reference and collection development are two of the least needed positions to move ahead in the librarian field. (According to a survey). Reference and collection development have always been the corner stone of the library world. This is changing due to changes with technology.

-Partnerships, PR, and Web Development are now the most crucial areas in the librarian field.

-Be proactive by keeping your resume current. Also keep abreast of what opportunities are available.

Lessons learned from experiences
-Think ahead especially with technology. Try to stay ahead of the curve or at least with the curve.
-Think outside the box when it comes to professional development.
-Think of community work/volunteer that can also increase your skills set
-Do something hard, get out of your comfort zone
-If up doesn't work try sideways, because you may be able to go up from there
-Figure out how to motivate yourself and realize when you are at a career plateau
-Get supervisory experience whenever wherever
-Use challenges at work as developmental opportunities

Perfect timing doesn't exist, work life balance is not perfect, If you want to move ahead, sometimes you have to give up some things with your home life. They are all choices that you have to make.

Book: FYI For Your Improvement
Uses the Lominger Model
Includes competencies that most executives and then most managers present
Also talk about career stallers or stoppers
This is a strength based model so capitalize on your strengths, for your weaknesses, you will never get rid of them, but bring up your weaknesses just enough that they don't get in your way.

Career Stoppers
-Overly ambitious
-Lack of ethics and values
-Failure to build a team
-Insensitive to others

Try not to bring emotions into your work. Keep it professional not personal.

It is my experiences that define me.

My thoughts: This session was not what I was expecting, but it was great! It really made me think not just about moving up in my career, but what I need to do where I am at now to improve my experiences. I actually needed this session since things at work have not been the best. I am seeing now that everything that is going on at work, is a learning experience. I can use the negative and turn it around to make it a positive learning experience. Thanks John and Katrina!

MLA Conference - The Net-Geners Are Calling. Can You Answer?

Alice B. Ruleman, Access Services Librarian from the James C. Kirkpatrick Library at the University of Central Missouri is discussing net-geners as library users and how mobile technology fits into the library.

2008 Horizon Report
-Mobile broadband name as one of 6 major emerging tehcnologies
-Expected to have a significant impact on education within 3-5 years
-Students expect mobile access

Pew Internet Report
-The smartphone will be the significant source of how users access the internet

Mobile technology is handheld, accesses the internet and also has some other features.

Net-Geners also called Millennials, have always grown up with technology, they have always been connected.

People would rather give up their computer and tv, than to give up their cell phone.

***I say that makes sense, since you can access tv and computer apps on your cell phone anyway.***

1990 - 11 million mobile phones
2005 - 2.2 billion mobile phones
50% of Americans subscribe to services
90% of Asians subscribe to services

Worldcat is available in a mobile format. Can look up a book, see the library that is closest to you that owns the book, give you the phone number for the library, and also give you the directions to the library.

***It really is amazing how many mobile apps are available - almost anything that you can think of. It shows how people really are wanting mobile services.***

AirPAC - Innovative's mobile online catalog for libraries to use for users.

M-Libraries - wiki on mobile libraries http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=M-Libraries

Reaching your mobile patrons
-Texting reference
-Twitter
-Ebooks for mobile
-Mobile library tours
-Texting courtesy/Holds/Overdue notices

My thoughts - this was a good session that really made me realize how our library is lagging behind. However it is not necessarily because we are not aware, it is more because of money, time, and staffing. Even though we may be lacking in those three areas, we do need to discuss how we could incorporate some mobile apps into our services for our students. Good strategic planning discussion.

MLA Conference Keynote - Library Advocacy from the Frontline

I am sitting here at the Missouri Library Association Annual conference. The keynote speaker is the first line up. I am hoping to be able to blog throughout this conference to keep everyone up to date on what is going on here at the MLA conference.

Dr. Camila A. Alire, the president of the American Library Association is the keynote speaker and discussing how advocacy must start with the library staff and faculty.

She defines advocacy as "active support of a cause or course of action." Her presidential initiative is involving library staff in library advocacy. "We all must advocate for the value of our libraries and all of us must also be able to articulate our value as library employees."

Types of Advocacy
-Legislative
--Library Administrators
--Trustees
--Friends
--Grassroots

What's not happening is frontline advocacy coming from librarians and library support staff.

So how can librarians and library staff advocate for their library?
1. Articulate the value of your respective libraries and the value to their communities.
2. Intermediaries - Improve the quality of resources and services in the library environment.

Typically frontline librarians and staff are not charged to do library advocacy. Usually they are just responsible for services and outreach. The main thing that should be being done is to talk about how good your library is.

Level 1 Advocacy - Involve people by the virtue of their title and/or responsibilities
Level 2 Advocacy - Involve other librarians and library staff

Build an Advocacy Team
-Determine the extent of frontline staff involvement
--Provide scripts and/or "cheat sheets"
-Articulate that involvement and add to job responsibilites

Remember that staff must do advocacy at their comfort level by matching the message with the venues (grocery store, ballgame, etc.), work with staff for input, and then allow the staff to meet so that they can assess the outcomes of advocacy.

"Anyone who thinks they are too small to be effective has never been in bed with a mosquito."

My thoughts - this was a good session with a lot of good things to think about. We don't really think of librarians and library staff needing to advocate for the library, but it really is part of our job.