Professional Development

Tom Conroy gave the first session of the second day on repairing tools. Tom is a book restorer and fine binder who spent 7 years in formal training under Anne and Theodore Kahle and also earned an MLIS from Berkeley. Tom currently teaches at the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco. Tom spent several hours talking about removing rust from clamps with citric acid (what you call Sprite), repairing wobbly brushes, and re-seating gouges. He explained how various files are made and how to use them. He led an engaging conversation about scissors (who would’ve thought?) and sharpening them using a file. He also repaired several finishing presses as we watched.
I think almost everyone at ZSR has seen my board shear-the large deadly looking cutter with a wooden table as you enter Preservation. Tom insisted the best way to sharpen that tool was to cut a piece of thin brass sheet with it. I looked at the conservator sitting next to me and we both sort of said…what? Not everything in bookbinding is intuitive I guess.

The afternoon session was led by Dominic Riley on Cloth Rebacking. Cloth rebacking is creating a new spine piece for a book using cloth (as the name implies). Dominic was a delightful speaker and in my case-the best was saved for last. Dominic is a bookbinder and film-maker who spent 10 years studying in San Francisco and then moved back to his native England. He has won several top prizes from the Guild of Bookworkers equivalent in the UK-the Designer Bookbinders. He taught a session on creating an invisible repair to a cloth binding which was practical and engaging to all present. He seemed to know everyone by their first name and carried on a light-hearted repartee as he worked.
He lifted the cloth and split the boards to attach color-matched cloth and end-sheets to create-as he described it, an invisible repair. We were also treated to film trailers of two films Dominic has made-one called “Seventy Years in Bookbinding:Portrait of Bernard Middleton” . This film may be on the Preservation “wish list” soon.

All in all, this gathering of the Guild was engaging and has made me want to get more involved in this organization. I was able to meet many nice folks in this gentile crowd who offered information, encouragement and opportunities for the future.

I woke at 4:30 am, arrived at Greensboro PTI in time to see WXII send off the Flight of Honor, checked my bags, went through security and boarded the plane for Philadelphia. The plane left the terminal and the pilot abruptly announced we would be sitting there on the runway in Greensboro for an hour because of delays in Philadelphia. Great luck! But in the end, by some miracle, when I arrived in Philadelphia, I had just enough time to hit the restroom and walk briskly to check-in. I made it just in time for my flight to San Francisco!

The Guild of Bookworkers is an old organization going back to 1906. Every bookbinding “rock star” is a Guild member. The group is made up of conservators, binders, printers and book artists. Each year, the Guild has a conference with demonstrations by its’ members entitled: Standards of Excellence Seminar. To begin the conference, all the conference attendees were bused to the San Francisco Public Library for a reception and showing of the Guild’s exhibit of books entitled: “Marking Time”.

The first demonstration was by Tatiana Ginsberg. She gave a presentation called “The Tradition of Traditionally Dyed Japanese Papers. Tatiana studied at the University of Iowa Center for the Book and received a Fulbright Research grant to study traditional dyeing in Japan. She demonstrated the steps of brush dyeing using natural dyes which she cooked right in front of us.

The next demonstration was Carolee Campbell, owner of Ninja Press. Carolee has designed, printed and bound all the work from Ninja Press since 1984. She primarily designs books featuring contemporary poetry featuring unique bindings that she prints on her Vandercook letterpress. Carolee discussed her process of designing each book using examples she brought with her.

Scott Adair, Ellen Daugman and I attended a webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 27th from Lyrasis. The title of the class was Planning for a Service Disruption and was taught by Dan Wilson, Associate Director of Access Services and Collection Development at UVA Medical Sciences Library. The key concept of this class was protecting core resources and continuity of core services. Dan likened our work in disaster preparedness to a lighthouse-and said we should think of ourselves as theoretical lighthouses who protect our resources just like a real lighthouse protects ships from running aground.
We completed three risk assessment exercises to try to determine what our key services were in varying emergencies, such as flooding, a power outage and a cyber-terrorism attack. We also spent some time discussing H1N1 and it’s affect on libraries. Few libraries in our group have been affected to any degree either in staffing or services by H1N1.
Dan had several ideas for operating remotely during an emergency including using Skype to deal with patrons. His library uses Skype for this purpose as a remote service desk. The other good idea he offered was establishing a partnership with a fellow library who would serve as your backup. UVA has this relationship with UNC-CH. The way it works is if UVA must shut down, they can use Illiad as a transparent interface for ILL services and UNC-CH can just pick up this service for UVA without patrons realizing it. I think this idea of a “Back up Library” is excellent and one ZSR might consider implementing. Locating a remote server is another idea Mr. Wilson discussed. With a remote server in place, web based services can be continued and this service is “always on”. UVA Medical Science Library has a pocket sized response plan for emergencies- whatever form they take. This plan can be carried easily by library staff and referred to during emergencies.
Our Disaster Committee is in the midst of developing such a plan for service continuity and this webinar was helpful in helping us to realize where we are and giving us ideas we can add to our existing strategy.

This forum was organized by Heritage Preservation to organize community groups to respond to disasters. First responders and cultural preservation groups from federal, state and local entities joined in the forum. This was the first such forum in North Carolina and focused on responders in the Triangle area. It was good to see fellow Preservation Librarians Andy Hart(UNC-CH) and Winston Atkins(Duke) before the event. During the morning break, I met with Alix Bentrud, Preservation Services Librarian for Lyrasis. She and I had corresponded about developing the ZSR Continuity of Operations Plan. We discussed our plan and what ZSR is trying to accomplish. Alix is mulling over the idea of a Lyrasis class on this topic, so I passed a copy of our template along to her. This was a good contact and discussion. Each presenter had only 15 minutes- so it was quick and dirty disaster preparedness all day.

Robert James, Executive Director of the NC Preservation Consortium led off welcoming everyone and thanking Heritage Preservation for their sponsorship. Larry Wheeler, Director of the NC Museum of Art also welcomed the crowd and talked about the new NC Museum of Art building (opening in April, 2010).
David Brook, Director, Division of Historical Resources, presented on “Why Protect Cultural Heritage?” He gave an overview of our cultural resources-their value and the threats to them.

Dr. Marty Matthews, Curator of Research, NC Historic Resources presented on “Triangle Cultural and Historical Treasures.” This was a quick summary of cultural resources in libraries, archives, museums, monuments, and State Historic sites in the Triangle.
Jane Long, VP of Emergency Programs, Heritage Preservation presented on ‘Risks and Response: How Emergency Systems Work.” The Alliance for Response initiative was formed to bring together cultural and emergency professionals before disasters occur. These meetings have been held in 9 cities since 2003. It consists of educational programs and training, and networks and policies are developed- (listservs, alert systems and contact systems).

Joshua Creighton, Dir. Wake Co. Emergency Mgt. and John McGrath, Chief Raleigh Fire Dept. presented on “How Emergency Systems Work.” Creighton spoke on threats- natural, technological and man-made; how you must evaluate your threats, and reduce risks to threats and overcome vulnerability. He said we must work with local responders. Chief McGrath spoke about the incident command system during a response to an emergency. He made the same point Creighton did: You have a place at the table during the emergency by interacting with the liaison officer. You should identify yourself to the scene commander, account for all personnel and mechanical operations. After the emergency, those with subject matter expertise must help establish salvage priorities. The Fire Dept. actually provides equipment-including breathing apparatus to allow trained staff into the structure for recovery.

April Cummings, Environmental Historic Team lead-FEMA presented on the federal response to a disaster. FEMA provides individual and public assistance and hazard mitigation after a disaster is declared. Assistance, insurance, disaster, housing assistance, and small business loans are provided. The National Historic Preservation Act takes into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties. FEMA funding for historic sites- reviews the scope of the work, and determines eligibility prior to work beginning. Have a disaster place in place to minimize damage and coordinate response.

Martha Battle Jackson, Curator, NC Historic Sites, presented on” Disaster Team Roles.” She reviewed the ideas of Preparedness(ready at all times, prepare in advance, stockpiling equipment, practicing); Response (fac. Mgt, communication, security, data collection-photographing the recovery process, logging the images, etc. ) and Salvage (review functions, sorting, recording, packing, develop a tracking system).

Bill Gentry, Program Director, Community Preparedness and Disaster Management School of Public Health, UNC-CH presented on “Health and Safety following a Disaster.” He urged us to follow safety personnel after a disaster-do not assume the building is safe, use common sense. Hazards can be electrical, structural, mold, hydration for workers, air pollution/residue, mental health concerns and stress.

Elaine Wathen, Asst. Director, Information and Planning, NC Emergency Management presented on preparedness training. The NCEM provides training: exercises, elaborate discussions, or full scale role playing in a scenario.

Sarah Koonts, Head of Collection Management, NC State Archives presented on bringing people together to protect our vital records and archival treasures. Preparation before a disaster is key and helps during an actual disaster. Council of State Archivists took the lead role in planning how to protect vital records after Katrina and developed new methods and procedures. IPER-developed after Katrina, is web based training and support.

Darryl Aspey, NC Protective Security Agent, Department of Homeland Security presented on strengthening the infrastructure of the state against threats. Homeland Security has developed the National Infrastructure Protection Plan to detect threats, mitigate outcomes and recover. Their plans include protection plans for water, dams, monuments, state and federal facilities, etc. Protective Community Advisors advise local communities.

Carolyn Freitag, Emergency Management Assistance CompaCoordinator (EMAC) presented on mutual aid agreements in NC. All 100 counties have signed agreements supporting aid and assistance among local governments. EMAC is a national agreement developed after Hurricane Andrew. It facilitates efficient sharing of resources between member states during times of disaster or emergency. This is done with response teams.

David Goist, a professional conservator presented on model networks for cooperation and response. He introduced AIC Collections Emergency Response Team (CERT). This group advises on disasters.

Frank Thomson, Curator, Asheville Museum of Art and Andy Hart, Preservation Librarian, UNC-CH, discussed their networks: MACREN(Mountain Area Cultural Resources Emergency Network) and the Triangle Research Libraries Network Disaster Team. These networks respond to emergencies in their areas to recover cultural materials.

It was a day that covered so much, it was hard to absorb it all. The concept of a response team is a great one and I hope the Triangle area is successful in establishing a team.

LSAT Outreach Grant -Day 2- Digitization- Pilot Training

The session today concentrated on digitization. Giz and Audra taught the basics of digitization, along with lots of discussion with the group. Each group has unique materials and needs, so the questions help them sort out their individual questions.

Giz taught Image and Slide Scanning, and Digitizing Video
• Reasons for digitization- fragility, providing access to rare materials
• Equipment description, problems associated with digitizing video/audio-file size, resolution
• Scanning photos on the large bed scanner- resolution of images and what resolution to use for each application: web (100 dpi), print (300 dpi), etc. File formats: jpg, tiff, gif, etc.
• Scanning and saving images onto the computer and saving to external devices
• Scanning slides- file size, resolution, etc.
• Digitizing video- demonstrating EZ Video Converter and the digitization process, saving the file as an mp3
• Using Audacity to edit and digitize audio

Audra taught using Youtube to upload video, Flickr to upload images, and Scrbd for documents.

The group all appreciated the sessions and seemed optimistic about their future projects.

After weeks of planning, the first session of the pilot program for the LSTA Outreach grant was held today.
Giz Womack, Audra Eagle (FCPL) and Craig Fansler are leading a 2-day program which covers preservation concepts, hands-on training and digitization. There were participants from the Forsyth County Public Library and YWCA (both men!).

The morning session covered the basic tenets of preservation:
o Why preservation is important (with focus on light/RH/pests/mold/acidity)
o Preservation terms/concepts
o Environment
o Inventorying
o Organization
o Preservation assessment
o Storage

The afternoon session convened in the Preservation Lab and covered hands-on training: tipping in loose pages, heat set tissue repairs to torn pages, paperback book repairs and storage (enclosures, envelopes, sleeves, boxes).

Kathleen Wheeless, Reference Supervisor from FCPL then spoke on grants and their new Nonprofit Resource Center. It was a full day, and the classes seemed to be helpful to all the attendees. Tomorrow, Giz and Audra teach digitization of photographs, video and audio. When the kinks are ironed out after the pilot phase, four classes will be offered to the public in Forsyth County. The first public session will be held on November 21.

On Tuesday, October 20th, I sat in on an online chat from ACRL. The topic was H1N1 and how libraries are responding to this issue. The chat was led by Marcia Thomas, Director of Collections & Technical Services, Illinois Wesleyan University and Meg Miner, University Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, Illinois Wesleyan University. Lots of the attendees were from schools in Florida, but also Oberlin, SUNY-Albany, Univ. of N. Texas. This was an informal Q&A session-the leaders asked general questions a the 10 or so attendees answered in piecemeal fashion.

As to the issues we covered:

• They asked how many people had H1N1 in their workplace-I mentioned the occurrences here and our Continuity of Operations plan development.
• Lots of schools had issues- not enough vaccine at some. Many universities had H1N1 sites at their university. I mentioned Wake Forest’s site.
• Some universities had H1N1 plans-but one other university left their library out of the plan
• H1N1 Plans on the website?-most said yes
• Extra measures- hand sanitizer, cleaning, hand washing encouraged, signs, staff encouraged to stay home
• Reports of more hand washing, sanitizing, etc by students
• Some actually referred students to health services
• Most students seem to be aware of healthy practices
• The idea was put forward of the library as a refuge if everyone else went home
• Some thought that the library is one of the places on campus that people look to for help
• Most libraries are developing H1N1 plans

I got the distinct feeling the libraries on campuses across the country are often taking the lead on these health related issues. That said, I think ZSR is at the forefront of the current health crisis planing how to continue operations if we have a full or partial campus shut down.

I attended the Handheld Librarian Online Conference on Thursday, July 30th and heard a presentation by Tom Peters. Peters is CEO of Tap Information Services and has 20 years experience in academic libraries. His presentation was entitled: “Mobility and Singularity: People, Communication, Information, Information Objects, and Information Services in Motion.” Peters began by stating that the use of mobile phone technology is a huge, rapid and global technology with an adoption rate that rivals toilets and toasters. According to Peters, 60 countries had a 100% adoption rate of mobile phones (not the U.S.) Peters had three areas to address in his talk: Mobility, Singularity and Our Sense of Place.

Peters addressed the numerous ways handheld devices can be used: gaming, phone, information (dedicated reading devices), communication and entertainment (portable music/media player). For libraries, these devices are being used for any type of content that can be delivered with this device: access to library collections via the catalog, library web site, reference services, tours, and to “push” out information such as coming library events or services. Peters stated (and I’m not sure I agree) that in the future, we will travel less, not because fuel is expensive, but because we don’t need to. Peters believes that mobile phone technology is an entirely different way of creating, interacting with and using information. Shoutbomb is software that enables “dumb” cellphones to send and receive information from online catalogs. This technology could function in a number of settings.

Peters argues that “we will revive a forgotten sense of rootedness and sense of place.” He thinks our fingers will do all our walking for us using handheld devices-and this will be the reason for a decline in mobility (again, I question this idea.) Peters’ idea is that because of handheld devices we will return to a “pre-industrial sense of place” and we will be able to focus more on our relationshsips. More engagement in local surroundings and a fundamental shift in the way we view our relationships with others is a lot to place in the lap of handheld devices. According to Tom Peters, however, these devices will fundamentally alter our sense of place.

Craig Fansler

I volunteered to help with the Inspiration, Innovation, Celebration: an entrepreneurial conference for librarians held at UNC-G. As it was, they had a plethora of volunteer, so I was able to simply attend. However, by the time my dentist was through with my on Thursday, I was only able to attend 1 1/2 sessions.
I hear the conclusion of the session- Horses and Hoops: New Approaches to Oral History in a Digital Environment” given by Doug Boyd from the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky. Mary Beth wrote about this session, which showed an innovative oral history software tool- OHMS- which allows keyword searching. some day, this kind of thing may filter down to us mortals- hopefully after further improvements to voice recognition software. This session was fascinating.
The closing keynote was from Stephen Bell, Associate University Librarian from Temple University in Philadelphia. Bell is considered a rock star of sorts in certain corners of the library world. He was a dynamic speaker and had a lot to say. Bell started by telling us about his Dad, a car mechanic who”could fix anything”. Bell’s Dad devised a way to keep his boisterous kids from accidentally opening the rear door of his 1958 Cadillac by removing the door handle and installing sharp pins (ouch!) in it’s place. I guess this device worked-and I guess it was innovative………you decide.
the next part of Bell’s lecture was video of him asking librarians if they knew any ‘library entrepreneurs’. No one did. They had heard of Bill Gates though, whom most of the video-ees named as an ‘entrepreneur’.
Bell next got to the pith of his presentation and named 7 characteristics of successful entrepreneurs:
1. Opportunistic- example- Israel recycles 70% of it’s waste water
2. Creative Genius- example- intermittent windshield wipers
3. Customer Focus- example given was Zappos shoes
4. Persistence- example- the guy who invented hyperlinking
5. Connect the Dots- ie. spot trends
6. Passion- example- The Blended Librarian community
7. Risk Taking- I can’t remember the example Bell gave-but it might have been his Dad’s back seat child-proofing device

Bell next mentioned a number of ‘design thinkers’. among those mentioned:

Dan Heaton- mountain unicycling
Deep Dive videos- IDEO corporation
Chip and Dan Heath- Made to Stick: Why some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Daniel Pink- A Whole New Mind-Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
Seth Godin- This is broken
To Improve what you Do- Study People- ACRLog, May 15, 2006

Finally, Bell listed 10 tips for “Library Entrepreneurs:

1. Listen/Observe- keep your antennae up
2. Accept hard work
3. Something is better than nothing
4. Break some rules
5. Ask open questions
6. Balance risk and evolution
7. Develop sticky ideas
8. Take time for getting ideas- Google Wave!
9. Keeping up with new ideas outside of librarianship
10. Use the ‘zoom out’ lens look at the big picture
11? (He said there were 10, but…) Know your core values

Bell is intriguing because he is interested in the future of libraries and where we’re goon. I was glad to realize that ZSR is already THERE on many of the points Bell mentioned.

Craig Fansler

On May 20th, a beautiful North Carolina afternoon, Ellen Daugman, Kaeley McMahan and Craig Fansler traveled to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library to present posters in the LAUNCH-CH Research Forum. The Forum is made up of 2 hour-long poster sessions sandwiched around a paper presentation by three presenters. The poster sessions were arranged along a corridor in the library, where presenters arranged their posters, computers and handouts on tables and easels. An electronic version of each of our posters is viewable at: http://www.lib.unc.edu/launcch/forum/

Poster Sessions:

“From Start to Finish: Planning an Interdisciplinary Information Literacy Course” was presented by Ellen Daugman and Kaeley McMahan. The poster outlined the steps we took during the planning of our LIB250 course, what we taught during the course, and what improvements we plan to make for the next time the course is taught. We had great questions from the attendees and gave out lots of handouts. Leslie’s mindmaps were a big hit again!

“The Library in the Classroom” was presented by Craig Fansler. The poster described the process of introducing exhibit projects into classes at Wake Forest. The poster visualized the exhibit design process from idea to finished project through photos and text. There were also handouts which are given to WFU students doing these projects and a rotating Powerpoint with images of students working on each stage of their exhibits. All the comments were very positive and encouraging and it was terrific to network with a group of librarians from across North Carolina.

Paper Presentations:

Each paper presentation at the LAUNCH-CH Research Forum in Chapel Hill on May 20 was heralded as, “And now, for something completely different!” As they indeed all were. I’ll be summarizing the presentation of a unique program underway at one of the branches of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. Kaeley and Craig will each cover one of the other two presentations.

“Programming for Children with Special Needs and their Families in a Public Library”
Tricia Twarogowski, Children’s Services Manager at the Matthews Branch Libray of the PLCMC, described an innovative and need-specific approach to storytelling which she has initiated, in her talk entitled, “Programming for Children with Special Needs and their Families in a Public Library.” It all began in August 2008 when some parents expressed their wishes for library programs that could readily accommodate their special needs children, many of whom are autistic or have Down’s Syndrome. Tricia responded with a questionnaire about these children’s likes and dislikes and a focus group in September 2008, which posed queries regarding what an effective program would be like, tips for interacting well with their children, what resources the library needs, and what challenges they face when they come to the library with their children. In addition, she established a partnership with the Autism Society of North Carolina, attending their meetings, and also with the Allegro Foundation which works with children with disabilities. Avoiding any indication of special needs, the program is listed simply as “Rhythm and Rhyme: a storytime for special needs children and their families.

Children are allowed to roam freely during storytime, or can cuddle with soft pillows and animals. Librarians alternate between sitting in the middle of the group or walking around (in response to contradictory preference feedback). Parents, she said, are more supportive than those in other story groups both in terms of their own children as well as with other children and the librarians. Often children interact in ways other than they normally do with other children, and parents have described the time as additional therapy, sometimes tearfully watching their children blossom in their encounters with their storytime peers. Parents who normally head immediately to the back of the room with their autistic children, admitting to Tricia that they always need to know the nearest and quickest exit, now feel free to approach the center of activity and engagement. There has been local press coverage, and Tricia looks to the future to strengthen partnerships, to modify some aspects based on feedback and experience, and to extend programs through additional PLCMC branches. It was an impassioned and engaging presentation, and one librarian in the audience who has an autistic child testified to the merit of such a program.
Kaeley, Craig, and I enjoyed the time presenting our posters before and after the talks. Numerous people took the time to browse through the variegated assortment filling the hallway of the Wilson Library (Special Collections) and stopped to talk with us about our experiences with developing and teaching an Information Literacy course in the Humanities. -Ellen Daugman

“The Effect of Library Instruction on Undergraduate Library Use”
“The Effect of Library Instruction on Undergraduate Library Use” was presented by Katherine Knott, who wrote the study for her master’s project at UNC-CH. She wanted to study the effect of a one-shot library instruction session on students’ use of the library. She gave an initial survey to 300 students in English 101 and 102 courses before their library session for the course, then gave a follow-up survey a few weeks after the session. There was a control group of 250 students who did not have a library session. The survey consisted of six questions and measured how the students did or did not use the library (students were given multiple choice responses):
1) How many times have you physically entered the library?
2) On average, how long did you stay in the library?
3) What did you use the library for?
4) Where do you do most of your studying and classwork?
5) (She didn’t discuss, wasn’t on her slides)
6) Where do you do most of your research?
The survey results showed that while the number of student visits to the library increased after a library session, the length of time spent in the building actually decreased. She thought this might be because students actually knew how to use the building and how to locate what they were looking for and thus used the resources more efficiently than those who didn’t have a library session. Also, she found an increase in the number of students who used the library as a place to study after their library session, though the preferred place for studying and research remained the students’ dorm or apartment.
-Kaeley McMahan

“Going Global with Information Literacy” was presented by Angela Whitehurst, Distance Education Coordinator at the Joyner Library at East Carolina University. Angela began working with an anthropology class at ECU who was part of their Global Academic Initiatives Program. As a result of the economic climate, ECU experienced impediments to international travel but still wanted to capture a study abroad experience. The Global Academic Initiatives Program has two components: a Global Understanding Course and an International Lecture Exchange. The Global Understanding Course covers multiple disciplines and has 23 partner institutions in 18 countries who link to and chat with partners who also conduct research. The library and information literacy component of this is to pose concepts, find weaknesses, and build each course accordingly. The questions involve finding out:
• What knowledge do students have about the availability and use of country resources when entering the course?
• Would providing instruction to students related to their field increase their information literacy skills?
• Would the quality of student assignments improve after information literacy instruction?
• Would instruction using country/cultural resources be a useful avenue for libraries attempting to integrate information literacy instruction into a globalized curriculum?
The methodology used for this program was to train the faculty first, and then using a pre-test/post-test for students information literacy skills. The tests covered choosing appropriate resources, evaluating resources, and using citations.
Ms. Whitehurst stated that the results of this program were mixed, but that they were encouraged by increases in usage, identification and evaluation of source materials as well as positive feedback.
-Craig Fansler