SLA Heart of America Blog

13 Ways (and 147 Tools) to Help Your Library Save Money on Technology

I don't know if you have seen the blog by the Librarian in Black, but it is something that I look at regularly.  It has some great free resources and focused on libraries and librarians.  This is a good for all information professionals, plus she has some great commentary and you can't beat free!

The recent post, 13 Ways (and 147 Tools) to Help Your Library Save Money on Technology, is a good list that is focused on technology.  I had never heard of Drupal, a content management system, but I now have it on my list of things to investigate.  I LOVE NEW TOOLS! 

Let us know if there is a free tool that you use on a regular basis by adding a comment below.

New Online Library Career Center

This looks like a great site for info pros looking for employment or just interested in what's out there.  According to the press release from the Library Associates Companies (LAC) today,  it has reached an agreement with the Library Resources Group (LRG) to power the Library Career Center for LibraryWorks.com & LibrariansYellowPages.com.

 LibraryWorks.com & LibrariansYellowPages.com launched their new Career Center, powered by LAC. It is designed to meet the needs of the LRG community as well as students and professionals in library and information science, from the post graduate level to 20-year veterans and beyond. (Jan. 21, 2010 Press Realease).

Social Media Presentation Available - Great Resources for New Users

Jonathan Mast did a great presentation to about 18 SLA HOA members yesterday on social media.  I sit next to him everyday and I still learned something at the presentation yesterday. 

The use of webcast appears to have worked perfectly.  The telephone in the conference room didn't work, but my cellphone appeared to provide a clear sound which everyone could hear.  We will definitely be webcasting for future programs and trying to get those located further outside KC more involved.

Per my promise, I have attached the presentation for both those that did attend and those that couldn't be there in person.  There are some great resources in this presentation for everyone to use as they implement social media.

Download Social Media - What does it all mean

I think it would be great if those that attended could comment on the "aha's" that they got from the presentation for others to look at or let us know where you are in the process of implementing social media.

 

SLA and the Open Book Alliance - Call for Reforms

For those that are following the Google book search settlement, the Open Book Alliance sent a letter to Congress yesterday calling for reforms.  The Library Journal published an article yesterday and below is an excerpt:

"The Google Book Search settlement approaches finality, with January 28 as the deadline for opting out and filing objections or amicus briefs; February 4 for the Department of Justice (DOJ) response; and February 18 for the final fairness hearing.

While major library groups have called for reform of the settlement, notably oversight of pricing, rather than expressing opposition, the Open Book Alliance which includes tech companies, author groups, the New York Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association—has asked Congress to intervene."

Below are links relevant to this story:

Library Journal Article: Open Book Alliance Calls for Scrapping Google Settlement, with Public Guardian 

Open Book Alliance: http://www.openbookalliance.org/

 

New Surveys published by SLA and ALA

I feel like I keep publishing surveys that repeatedly point out funding issues.  I believe the ALA survey represents not only public libraries, but the situation that most info pros are finding themselves - more users and less money! 

The Public LIbrary Funding & Technology Access Study was funded by ALA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In addition, SLA published its 2009 salary survey on January 14th, 2010.  According to the 2009 Annual SLA Salary Survey report, the average salary of an information professional in the United States was US$ 73,880, compared with US$ 71,812 reported in 2008.  The press release and purchase information for the study are available at: 2009 SLA Salary Survey.  

Don't forget about the Social Media event tomorrow afternoon (1/20/2010) at 3:30!

ALA releases a report with the 2010 outlook for libraries

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, the ALA released The Condition of Libraries: 1999 - 2009 on January 12, 2010.  This report is "compiled from a broad range of available sources" and "presents U.S. economic trends (2009), and summarizes trends in public, school and academic libraries across several library measures, including expenditures, staffing and services. The report also highlights trends in services provided to libraries by library cooperatives and consortia" (ALA Press Release). 

The full report is available at on the ALA website: The Condition of Libraries: 1999 - 2009

 

Social Media Program Available to a Limited Number of Distance Members

Since the program on January 20th will be on new media, we have decided to test the capabilities of doing web conferencing to allow our distance professionals to join in.  If you are located too far from Kansas City to join us in person, but are interested in attending then we would like to test our technology on you.

We have limited seats to do this, so if you are interested please let me know at berndthm@bv.com. I will provide you with the guidelines and with the log-in information. 

Event: Social Media - What does it all mean?

Date: Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Time: 3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

Place: Kansas City Public Library - Plaza Location

Welcome to the SLA Heart of America Blog!

I want to personally welcome you to the SLA Heart of America Blog!  This blog is intended to keep you better informed about what is going on with SLA HOA and in the general information profession.  This medium will allow us to keep you informed about upcoming programs, membership, and hot issues in the SLA community. 

As the acting President of the SLA HOA Chapter, I will be the featured blogger for the time being.  However, I will be providing others with the capability to post, so you will be seeing others contribute to the blog in the future.  The intent is to have a dialog with all the SLA HOA members, so I want to see lots of comments!

We have a program coming up in a couple weeks that I am really excited about.  Jonathan Mast, who is one of my colleagues, a guru of social media, and generally nice guy is going to be answering all your questions about blogs, twitter, etc... He is extremely knowledgeable and is responsible for all the social media at Black & Veatch. I hope we see everyone at the Plaza Library on January 20th!

Event: Social Media - What does it all mean?

Date: Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Time: 3:30 - 5:00 p.m.

Place: Kansas City Public Library - Plaza Location