by Elaine M. Lasda Bergman, M.L.S.
The Special Libraries Association Annual Conference and Trade Show is only weeks away! Join us June 12th through 15th in Philadelphia, PA. Here is a preview of some of the terrific programs by the Academic Division:
Teaching Generation M:
Join this “café discussion” which features editors and contributors to the book Teaching Generation M: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators. The “speed dating” format of the session will provide lots of interaction and liveliness. The Academic Division co-sponsors this event with the Education Division, and it is generously sponsored by Lexis Nexis. Join us Monday 4:00pm-5:30pm for this engaging session.
So They Say You Have to Publish? Some Editors of Journals for Special Librarians Tell You How It's Done:
“Publish or Perish” is the motto by which academics including academic librarians must abide for a promising future at a college or university. Join notable editors Anita Ezzo, Leslie Reynolds, Lisa O’Connor, and Tony Stankus for their perspectives on the process and perils of publishing successfully. The Academic Division co-sponsors this session with the Biomedical and Life Sciences Division and it is sponsored by Taylor and Francis. It all happens on Monday from 2:00pm-3:30pm.
SPOTLIGHT SESSION: Collaborations Across Disciplines:
Learn about a diverse array of efforts being undertaken to help researchers collaborate across disciplines. A six member panel of speakers will include representatives from FriendFeed, Mendeley, Collexis, VIVO, and BibApp. The relevance and usefulness of this program has caused SLA to deem it one of the Spotlight Sessions of the 2011 Annual Conference. The Academic Division co-sponsors this session with the Division of Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition and is scheduled for Monday from 2:00pm to 3:30pm.
This is only a taste of the events the Academic Division has in store for the Annual Conference. If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, there's still time! And remember to show the Academic Division some “brotherly love” by attending our great lineup of programs and events!
See you in Philly!
I recently came across this article from 2003 called "Visions: The Academic Library in 2012". Since we are fast approaching 2012, and SLA has made it's theme for the year and for the Annual Conference "Future Ready", I thought it might be interesting to see where at least one person thought we would be right now.
To me it seems that for the most part our evolution has been slower than expected. Much like the flying car that should have been in every garage by now, reality seems to progress slower than predicted. Interestingly, though, many of the themes remain the same.
By far the greatest number of predictions had to do with technology. In some areas, like nearly ubiquitous wireless and the growth of personal devices, the forecast is quite close to reality. In others, such as automatic translators that allow a person to truly do a global search independent of language, are still farther off.
It is an interesting read as we try to plan for the future. I encourage you to read it and let me know what you think.
In case you haven't heard, on Wednesday Amazon announced the creation of Kindle Library Lending, a service which would "allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States." Amazon is partnering with OverDrive to deliver the KLL, making it likely that academic libraries will be among the first to receive invitations to participate. (In fact, some of you may have heard from OverDrive already.)
Jennifer Howard, at The Chronicle for Higher Education's "Wired Campus" blog, breaks down the issue in more depth, noting the potential persistent (but private) annotations could have for patrons of academic libraries, as well as linking to a post from last year discussing the problems academic libraries have had lending the Kindle devices themselves. While the new service involves lending digital objects rather than the physical e-readers, some of the concerns with electronic documents in general will remain.
Sarah Houghton-Jan raises a number of other questions that all libraries -- public, special, or academic -- should be asking about the Kindle Lending Library.
As academic libraries increase the representation of e-books in their collections and endeavor to provide robust electronic reserves support to faculty and students, there's definite potential to be found in services like the Kindle Lending Library. But we must also make sure that such services will be just as robust in years to come as they are initially, and that our patrons will actually find them useful.
There is one week left to apply to the Academic Division’s new Award, the Springshare Innovation in Academic Libraries Award. We’re looking for that one special, innovative, new service, program, space or tool that offers extra value to your users. Don’t hesitate to apply!
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The Academic Division of SLA is very proud to announce a new award for academic libraries, sponsored by Springshare, Inc., creator of LibGuides!
This annual award recognizes a new program or service that demonstrates an innovative approach to academic librarianship.
A certificate and a $500 US award, donated by Springshare, are presented during the Academic Library Division Business Meeting at the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference. The winning library is also recognized through the Academic Division’s various public relations outlets.
Projects nominated for the award should demonstrate recognized innovation, creativity and quality. Nominated programs or services can have been developed in any facet of the library’s activities, including but not limited to:
Academic or research libraries in a higher education institution are eligible to receive the award. Recipients must have implemented their program or service in an academic or research library no more than two years prior to the nomination submission deadline. Nominated libraries do not have to have a SLA or an SLA-Academic Division member on staff.
Nominations must include a 500-1000 words description of the innovative program or service and must demonstrate usage and/or success of implementation using accepted assessment methods. Include any other supporting print or electronic documentation that would assist the committee in evaluating the purpose, content, impact, and innovative aspects of the program or service.
Send nominations to the Academic Division Awards Committee Chair, Catherine Lavallée-Welch, Director, University of South Florida Polytechnic Library, clw@poly.usf.edu.
Note: Electronic submissions are required.
Submission Deadline: April 1st, 2011
I thought this might interest a few people. I put together this map to share a general idea of where our 477 members call home. You might notice that there are not 477 different locations, as the map only puts one marker for each city and there are a lot of cities that have more than one member of the division. Just a fun visual aid that really took very little time to make. If you want to learn how to do this, I am more than happy to share. Just ask!
This map was created using GPS Visualizer's do-it-yourself geographic utilities.
Please wait while the map data loads...
