Professional Development

Earlier this year, Solinet hosted a Webinar for the greener library.Broken into 2 sessions, this class was a 4 hour survey of ways to assess and improve the environmental impacts of current and new facilities in libraries.In the long run, a green library is a cheaper library to build and maintain, but its greatest benefit is the improved environment for staff and visitors.Green buildings are well documented to provide cleaner air, better temperature control, improved comfort and health, and increased productivity.

About half of the presentation focused on the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines for new construction and remodeling.The Solinet presenter did a very good job of illustrating recent improvements in various building systems – water, heating/AC, and lighting – and how they interconnect with one another in terms of operation and costs.These and other cost savings can only be fully realized when they are incorporated at the project’s conceptual design phase.An integrated systems approach ensures that a building is designed as one system rather than a collection of stand-alone systems.Continued advances in environmental design and the rise in fuel prices have combined to drop the average cost of energy-efficient construction to just 2% more than conventional building, while the annual energy costs may drop by as much as 65% compared to an equivalent-sized conventional building.

With this introduction to LEED concepts under our belts, we moved from theoretical to practical examples of green design in libraries.One example actually originated from an unintentional experiment (aka “mistake”) in a Wal-Mart construction project, which demonstrated that customers preferentially collect in areas with natural lighting.The Solinet presenter also mentioned studies that have shown employees are more productive working in natural light.Reynolds Library is very familiar with the appeal of natural lighting and this design feature is being incorporated into many new library buildings as well as in retrofitting projects.

For many libraries, external entities make the final decisions about incorporating green materials and designs into library construction and library personnel may have only limited influence regarding specific changes.Many of the green building options discussed in this workshop have been initiated on the Wake Forest campus by James Alty, Assistant Vice President for Facilities Management.

The final, briefest, portion of this Webinar focused on small-scale greening efforts that can be accomplished by libraries without major structural changes to a building.Once again, this is an area where Reynolds Library leads.As the workshop participants volunteered green tips and solutions from their own libraries, only one idea was really novel – a waste stream audit.That is a smelly and tedious endeavor that requires a strong stomach, but produces a clear picture of what is, or is not, being recycled. Happily, that may well be a project for the new Sustainability Director for the Wake Forest campus.In the meantime Reynolds Library has a number of other green initiatives that it can enhance, to the benefit of visitors and staff.

I attended my first ALA Conference weekend before last in Anaheim, CA. Before arriving I tried to keep an open mind without any agenda or pre-conceived expectations. I just wanted to “experience” this annual librarian event. Turns out I wasn’t the only one thinking about experiences. If I could select one word (and obviously I am) to describe the conference, the state and future of the library, and my personal perspective, “experience” is the word that keeps popping into my mind.

I attended several LITA programs – on Distance Education, Social Showcase, and the President’s Program. (for more details on these programs see Lauren’s blog, seems silly to repeat good summaries) I found them all informative, but even more so I found people who inspired me with their thoughts, ideas and passions for the library and its users. Throughout these three programs we talked about the library not as just a place or service, but also as an experience. One LITA member used the Harley Davidson Motorcycle’s website as an example. The website’s not about buying a motorcycle, but about the experience of owning a motorcycle and all the things you can do with it. Isn’t a library similar? We have tangible resources and services, but maybe it’s the intangible experience of finding and using those resources and the services offered that makes the library unique. As the library moves more and more outside its traditional brick and mortar walls, the experience is central to the users. Whether they are at a remote location chatting via IM with a reference librarian, searching a database or sipping coffee with their friends in the cafe aren’t they “in” or “experiencing” the library? I wonder if this would be something to incorporate into the marketing of the library or designing the website?

I also attended a COSWL program on care-giving and librarians. (again, see Lauren’s blog for details if you’re interested) The speakers were excellent, but there seemed to be more focus on caring for the elderly and not so much on childcare, which is the issue for me. Turns out I wasn’t the only one going through this and to know that it’s not just a personal issue, but a social and political one as well helped empower me, both personally and professionally.

I also attended programs on “Energize Your Instruction” and “Collaborative Digital Initiatives”, both of which were not what I expected. The instruction program wasn’t about things you can do to energize your instruction or pedagogy specifically, but more broadly about energizing yourself, thereby energizing your audience. We took a personality test and the speaker, Andrew Sanderbeck, gave a lively and entertaining slide presentation on keeping your passion, asking for help, taking a day off, and other “tid bits”. Although I would have liked more specific information on classroom techniques or pedagogy, I did come away with a renewed vigor in my step toward teaching.

The digital program included the South Carolina Digital Library, the PALMM project of Florida and the Eastern North Carolina Digital Library. As I have been working with Susan and Erik on the Digital Forsyth Project I had hoped to learn more about the metadata aspects. Turns out they were just showing their websites and explaining their processes, although not in enough detail for me. Quite a few of us left early (only program I did that).

Other experiences I had were catching up with my MLIS Information Literacy professor, Elizabeth Leonard, talking with the former library director at UNCG, and meeting with colleagues for lunch, dinner or wine tasting. I also met librarians who knew librarians here at ZSR (at the IS Soiree, I met Carol Cramer’s college roommate, Ann Brown, a librarian at George Washington University!).

I attended the Lexis-Nexis breakfast where Susan received her award (for the second or third time during the conference?). The speaker, Dana Milbank, is a political reporter for the Washington Post and gave a witty and satirical speech on his new book, Homo Politicus (which I won a copy of!).

Overall, my “experience” as a first time attendee at ALA was quite positive and fortunately not as overwhelming as some had warned it could be. I understand the 2010 conference is scheduled for Las Vegas – now that should be an experience!

This was my second ALA, and I am so glad I went. I attended several sessions on cataloging and the future of the catalog, as well as a session on information literacy standards for anthropology and sociology students.

Below are insights gained from attending sessions by and for sociology and anthropology librarians and information literacy standards for these disciplines.

Before heading out to California, Roz informed me about an ALA session in which ANSS (Anthropology and Sociology Section of ACRL) librarians were meeting to discuss the new “Information Literacy Standards for Anthropology and Sociology” that had recently been published in the June 2008 issue of College & Research Libraries News. Roz, Bobbie and I are currently planning and developing the LIB210 class Social Science Research Sources and Strategies.

Key insights from this session include:
1. The standards document is a library document, not something you would pass out to faculty. Possibly start with one faculty member and together pick out key things in the document that resonates with him or her and start with incorporating those items into the department’s curriculum.
2. The learning of information literacy skills should be integrated into discipline specific classes, not separate. A comment was made that this is an easier sell to faculty if it’s integrated rather than as an add-on. Having a basic information literacy course may make some faculty feel they don’t need information literacy in other courses; there is a difference in basic skills vs. specific disciplinary skills.
3. Special guest Edward L. Kain, Professor of Sociology at Southwestern University, suggested that faculty and librarians think about strategic places in sociology assignments where information literacy goals can be incorporated.
4. Departments are looking for ways to assess what they do. Librarians will gain points with faculty by providing guidance on assessment to faculty.

After the session, I spoke with Patti Caravello, Librarian for Anthropology, Archaeology, and Sociology and Director of the Information Literacy Program at UCLA as well as one of the authors of the document, and she told me of her experiences teaching information literacy in a Sociology class alongside the professor. She commented that the professor was convinced that student papers were better written. She has published an article about her experience and feels strongly that information literacy should be integrated into discipline specific classes rather than being taught as a separate class altogether. She also invited me to come to the Anthropology Librarians Discussion Group the next day, which I did, and I learned much there as well.

At the Anthropology Librarians Discussion Group, a goal of the group is to create a repository of teaching materials (e.g. syllabi, homework assignments, instructional materials) to post on the ACRL ANSS section’s website. Included material in the repository must tie into the newly created information literacy standards. Best practices for graduate students’ instruction programs were also discussed. Even though WFU no longer has a graduate program in anthropology, I believe some of the “best practices” could be applicable or tweaked to fit undergraduate classes. Some of the “best practices” include:
1. Subject specialist or liaison has office hours in department. Usage varied among librarians, but all agreed one-on-one consultation is popular.
2. Have a wine and cheese social in the library’s graduate student lounge. Make this a no-sit-down function so that people will have to mingle. Acquire a list of student names at the social.
3. Conduct workshops throughout the year in Endnote, RefWorks, and how to submit one’s dissertation.
4. There is a need for data literacy skills (i.e. How does one make sense of these data charts/graphs?).
5. Conduct a graduate student workshop at orientation. Have an introduction to the library as well as a citation workshop on academic integrity (i.e. Do students really understand plagiarism?). The citation workshop can be adapted to any discipline and can be an active learning experience; provide short 2-3 sentences scenarios of plagiarism examples.
6. Ask professors to send librarians their graduate students’ subject specialties/research topics. This will aid in collection development and predicting future topics in emerging areas of the discipline.
7. In bibliographic instruction classes, demonstrate citation management program and use students’ topics when demonstrating databases.
8. Audit or take classes in discipline; become an embedded librarian.
9. Offer scanning as a way to see what students are working on.
10. In course management software, ask professor to add your name into specific class. That way one is able to jump into discussions, offer tips on anthropology sources, but unable to view assignments submitted.

The question how does one teach students how to find scholarly articles and which databases to utilize was posed? One person’s comment was to limit to the top three best starting places for the discipline, and if this proves unsuccessful, one can drill down even further.

Both sessions were immensely informative and helpful and because of them, I plan on joining ACRL’s ANSS section. With proposed changes to WFU’s liaison program, I realize I have much to learn about the field of anthropology. I made some great contacts with Anthropology Librarians, especially Patti Caravello of UCLA who was willing to answer my questions and share her knowledge and experience of working as an Anthropology Librarian. After expressing concern to Patti about not having a degree in anthropology, she recommended some titles for further reading and stated that having a desire to further my knowledge and understanding of the discipline and its lingo will go a long way in becoming a better liaison to the Anthropology department at WFU.

Later this week, I will post reflections on the cataloging sessions I attended.

I got to attend the 2008 ALA conference after several years of hiatus.   I had forgotten the excitement and the hustle and bustle of it all.   It was a very good conference and I got to attend several interesting and informational sessions.

“Sustainable Libraries: Shades of Green” discussed how libraries can be built using recycled materials, natural sunlight and new technologies to conserve energy, but at the same time,  inviting.   In the Santa Monica Public library, they have a reserved staff shower to encourage employees to ride their bike to work.

“ILL Data Collection, Definition, & Analysis; why don’t MY data match what i get from various systems?” kind of answered the question those of us in the ILL land have had in years.  Unfortunately, there is no standard regarding when a request is being counted, therefore there is quite a bit of confusion in the reporting of ILL traffic.  What I got from the session is not to worry about the discrepancy between the systems and to monitor the trend of the ILL traffic in our department.

I also attended several copyright related discussions.  As much information as I have received, I am still as confused as ever.   One the one side, the librarians and teachers are encouraging to take advantage of the “fair use” rule, with the lawyers being more cautious on the other side.   However, the best part of these discussions and the ILL copyright poster session is that I walked aways with lots of handouts.  I hope they will come in handy for the new person, who will take on the copyright issues.

The breakfast provided by Lexis/Nexis was nice, and Susan gave a very nice speech about the project for which she won the award.   She thanked everyone involved, Lynn, Caroline, Erik, Giz, Kevin and Tim.  It was nice to hear Wake Forest and those familiar names mentioned in a national forum.

The exhibits are the highlight of the ALA conference for me.   I spent a significant chunk of time at the exhibits learning about the new products.   Since the Access Team has been talking about self-checkout, I made a point to talk to many vendors, and several of them are interested in doing a demo.   I also happened upon an author signing a panda poster and her panda picture book.  Panda is my thirteen-year-old’s favorite animal.  Guess what she is going to have for her birthday?

Overall, this has been a great experience, other than the part about getting up at 3 in the morning to catch a flight.  It was  exhilarating, informative and educational.

This year, I chaired the ACRL-Science & Technology Section(STS) Research Forum at the ALA Annual Conference. Our guest commentator, Patricia Kreitz from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and who currently serves on the Editorial Board of Science & Technology Libraries, provided insightful commentary on the two selected papers:

“Library-based Bioinformatics Support: Who and How? An Exploration of Librarian and Scientist Perspectives,” by Michele R. Tennant, Health Science Center Libraries and UF Genetics Institute, University of Florida. As the use of bioinformatics databases becomes prevalent in biological research, libraries are stepping into the role of bioinformatics support providers.

Where are Bioinformatics Support Specialists employed?

• 45% in university or college health sciences library
• 25% in university or college sciences library
• 5% in university or college “main” library
• 5% corporate library

Summary:

• A number of bioinformatics support specialists reside in libraries; models of employment and activities vary
• Researchers, Bioinformatics Support Specialists, and directors believe that a degree in science and laboratory experience are important for Bioinformatics Support Specialists
• All groups surveyed indicated that bioinformatics support can appropriately be provided through the library

“Subject and Bibliographic Access to Sci-tech Electronic Theses and Dissertations via Digital Institutional Repositories (IRs) and Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs): Perspectives from US and UK Science Librarians,” by Sophie Bogdanski, West Virginia University Libraries; Susan Copeland, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland; Anne Christie, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Over 90% of US institutions provide electronic access to some portion of their theses and dissertations collection. In the survey, one US librarian expressed frustration at not being able to do a topical search for ETDs across institutions and also about not being able to search the IR and OPAC together. The survey results indicate the on-going development of ETD programs in the US And UK.

I also attended the Scholarship Committee meeting of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). The Scholarship Committee awards $1,000 scholarship to a student who is currently enrolled in a graduate program in Library Science. I also attended the ACRL-SPARC Forum on Open Access (already reported upon by Lynn). Overall, this program was great, and I thought that Kevin Smith’s presentation on “Campus Open Access Policies: Legal Considerations” was very informative.

On Monday morning, I attended Susan’s award ceremony, which was one of the highlights of ALA Annual. In the afternoon, I went to the Exhibits and volunteered at the Welcome Desk for the ALA Ambassadors Program, which provides orientation for first-time conference attendees. Although I was busy with STS Council meetings and committee meetings, I was able to attend the ExLibris reception and saw Disney’s fireworks with Susan, Carolyn, Lauren P., and Elizabeth N. Overall, ALA Annual was productive, informative, and enjoyable this year, and the weather was great (always a plus!).

Each workshop participant had all the supplies and tools they needed for the repairs we attempted on June 6, 2008 at ZSR Library.

On June 6, 2008, I taught an Intermediate Book Repair workshop for the North Carolina Preservation Consortium at Wake Forest. There were nine people from various schools across the state: ECU, WFU Professional Center Library, Catawba College and Appalachian State, Warren Wilson College and Campbell University. During the day, I covered a variety of repairs: spine replacement, tipping in pages, end sheet replacement, 4-flap enclosures, paper tears, using heat-set tissue and tightening hinges. We also discussed materials, suppliers and technique. The workshop participants already had some knowledge and experience in repair, so I tried to build on this background. The great thing about these workshops is the opportunity to learn from each other and share our collective knowledge. There’s more than one way of doing many of these repairs, so I enjoyed getting ideas from the participants. The NCPC workshops have a basic, intermediate and advanced workshop structure. The basic workshops are the most popular and cover the most ground. The intermediate workshop adds more complicated repairs to the mix. We’ve only offered the advanced workshop one time. This is a great way to share your knowledge and experience and make contact with others doing similar work across North Carolina. I always have a good feeling after doing these workshops because it allows me to share my knowledge and showcases our great library at Wake Forest.

This ALA was a particularly good one for me… in fact, I think it was the best one I have attended!

I was involved with two programs, both of which went well. I presented a poster on my microtext/govdoc student supervision system twice, and got great responses from the people who stopped by. The Emerging Leaders program has concluded, and it was nice to be able to show the Intellectual Freedom Round Table the project we had worked on for them, to tell the LITA Board about my experiences, and to see the others in the program again. The meetings that I attended were well run and we accomplished things that needed to be done in person. I was able to attend two vendor breakfasts and see Susan win her award. Virtual participation is a hot topic, and is beginning to seem like a potentially viable option. And I met many, many people who before I only knew online.

I know I tend to go into detail, so I’ve spared you that here. If you want to see more, here are my posts:

• Maureen Sullivan on Emerging Leaders: Leadership Principles and Practice
• Leslie Burger on Transforming ALA
• If We Don’t Call It Distance Learning, Does It Exist? (part 2)
• Social Software Showcase and my ULG poster session
• Alexander Street Press Breakfast and WSS Committee Meeting
• Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship program on Caregiving
• Joe Janes for the LITA President’s Program
• Blogger Salon, Ex Libris Reception, and Susan’s Award
• My final poster session, Twitter Meet-up, and COSWL meeting
• I’ll probably post a few more times on ALA over the next week. I know at least three topics I want to write about: the Emerging Leader program, giving a poster, and setting up an ALA program

Though a few hotels were far out, most of the things I did were pretty close together. The things I had responsibility for went well, and I was still able to go to a few extra things. The thing that really set this conference apart, though, was my Twitter network. Before showing up, I knew people. People saw me and knew who I was before we were introduced. Twitter kept me in the loop for programs I wasn’t able to attend. It let us arrange impromptu meet-ups, and meant there was always an option for something to do. Blogging started this trend. From my first ALA, I’ve been keeping tabs on programs by reading others’ reports, and I’ve known a few people because of this. But Twitter expanded on this exponentially. Meebo chat rooms provided another conference back channel. Many very good programs were scheduled at the same time. I was able to attend one, but watch the Meebo chat room discussion for another one, to know what technologies were being discussed in the Top Tech Trends panel or hear quotes from Cory Doctorow (one of my heroes) on privacy– all in real time. It was like being able to attend two conferences at once. Twitter and Meebo aren’t for everyone, but for me they really enriched the conference experience.

So it was a great conference. Things are afoot with the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship, the Women’s Studies Section of ACRL, and the LITA Distance Learning Interest Group. Social Networking is becoming a useful professional networking tool. The big theme of the conference (that I picked up on) is that we’re transitioning from “library as place” to “library as experience.” (That idea was mentioned in at least three sessions that I know of.) People are talking about virtual participation. If you want to chat about anything I posted on, just let me know!

Update: I had to change the title of this post when I realized that both of us Laurens went to the conference!

I am sitting at LAX airport, waiting for my flight to Charlotte and reminiscing on ALA Anaheim. My expectations were pretty low, based mostly on the other horrid Disney/conference experiences ALA has had. I thought this one was not bad, in fact, near idyllic. The programs and meetings were the most compact I have ever seen at ALA Annual. I only had to ride the bus once! The weather was pluperfect - sunny, low 80’s, no humidity, no bugs - unlike other cold, dreary California Junes I have seen. It may have helped that I had no committees or official obligations this trip. I was free to attend the programs that interested me. What luxury! At some ALA’s I have not seen one program, being locked into committee meeting after committee meeting. Except for the lack of non-chain restaurants and non-souvenir stores, it was very, very nice. And what other convention center is lined with palm trees at the entrance?

See you all tomorrow!