DSOL Conference Blog

Hildy's SLA Sunday

The latest from our Chair...

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Here I am at SLA 2009 already feeling tired and the conference kicked off officially just a few hours ago! My first time rental car was really nice and comfortable ride. The first 2 hours was just terrific, but through a series of unfortunate events I did not get to DC until 12:30 a.m.! After I checked in I headed out to return the car, but had a hard time finding the after hours drop off and was finally in my room at 4:00 a.m. After a live chat and shooting off an angry e-mail to the rental car company, I slept for one hour before I had to get ready for our CE course

 

I am happy to report that Liz Blankson-Hemans from Dialog was a smashing success! The feedback has been very positive and we really thank Liz and Dialog for sponsoring this course. I needed to stick around to make sure all went smoothly, but unfortunately was too tired to do much more than sit outside and wait for our coffee break and and then for Rene, our Past Chair to bring me more coffee! Thank you, Rene!!!

 

I did finally get some sleep last night and got up early to head off to SLA's Leadership Development Institute. After Solos had our board meeting and I was so happy to see some new faces in the group. You will all here more about what was discussed later on. I felt like it was quite successful and a lot was accomplished. Thank you to all members who attended and an extra special thank you to those who volunteered to work on the 2010 conference! We have a great team and the spirit of "Working Together For Those Working Alone" was quite evident.

 

As you may have heard Gen Colin Powell was the keynote speaker. He was smart, funny and, I never thought I would say this, but quite adorable. :)

 

Well, now I have to finish my presentation for tomorrow's Solo Spotlight session co-sponsored with Transportation. Someone asked me if I work well under pressure. Well, yes, I have to since I am a procrastinator when it comes to my own projects! I'm really looking forward to it, but I admit I am a little nervous because this will be the largest group I ever addressed. I'll let you know how it all goes!

 

Hildy

 

Latest and Greatest List of Solo Division Conference Sessions

Straight from the fabulously put together latest edition of Flying Solo...

Saturday 6/13

8:00AM-12:00PM: CE: Best Practices for Information Services: Achieving Operational Excellence (Conv. Ctr. 305)

Sunday 6/14

12:00PM-1:30PM: Solo Librarians Divison Board of Directors (Conv. Ctr. 205)

Monday 6/15

9:00AM-10:30AM: Diversity in Leadership: Generation X - The Changing Paradigm in a Knowledge-Based Society (Conv. Ctr. 144A)

1:30PM-3:30PM: SPOTLIGHT SESSION - How Do You Move Up the Ladder If There Is No Ladder to Climb? (Conv. Ctr. 145A)

3:30PM-5:00PM: The New Face of the Special Librarian: Embedded Librarians (Conv. Ctr. 143C)

8:00PM-10:00PM: Solo Librarians Division Open House (Renaissance Washington DC Hotel, Congressional Hall C)

Tuesday 6/16

7:00AM-8:30AM: Annual Diversity Leadership Development Breakfast (Ticket 700, Conv. Ctr. 202B)

11:30AM-1:00PM: Solo Librarians Division Business Meeting Luncheon (Ticket 810, Conv. Ctr. 149)

1:30PM-3:00PM: Preparedness for Info Pros: Lessons Learned from Recent Disasters (Conv. Ctr. 141)

8:00PM-10:00PM: Government Information, Petroleum & Energy Resources, and Solo Librarians Division Open House (Sewall Belmont House, 144 Constitution Ave. NE)

Wednesday 6/17

8:30AM-10:00AM: Spotlight Session - Creating Groupies: How to Add Value, Make Yourself Irreplaceable, & Beat the Pants Off of Google (Conv. Ctr. 145A)

SLA @ 100 stimulus... fading...

If you haven't yet registered for the upcoming Annual Conference, you only have 2 more days before the $45 stimulus discount disappears forever and ever!  That's right - after January 31, you will be stuck paying the regular old early bird price.  Which is still less expensive than the standard price, but who wouldn't want to save $45?

Head to http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2009/registration/index.cfm to register online.  Don't forget to add the Solo Business Meeting and Lunch to your registration, as well as ticket #205 - Best Practices for Information Services: Achieving Operational Excellence with instructor Liz Blankson-Hermans from Dialog, the Division's CE course on Saturday, June 13th, from 8 until 12.

--Julie

SLA 2009: Solo Division Conference Sessions

Just in from Hildy Dworkin, our intrepid Chair, here is the latest list of Solo Division conference sessions:

Saturday, June 13, 2009

8:00AM - 12:00PM

CE Course (Ticketed event)

Best Practices for Information Services: Achieving Operational Excellence

Instructor: Liz.Blankson-Hermans from Dialog

 

Sunday, June 14, 2009

12:00PM - 1:30PM

Solo Librarians Division Board Meeting (open to all members)

 

Monday, June 15, 2009

9:00AM - 10:30AM

Diversity in Leadership: Generation X--The Changing Paradigm in a Knowledge-Based Society

Solo Librarians Division's 2nd Annual Gerry Hurley Memorial Leadership Session

 

1:30PM - 3:30PM: Spotlight Session!

How Do You Move Up the Ladder if There Is No Ladder to Climb?

 

3:30PM - 5:00PM

The New Face of the Special Librarian: Embedded Librarians

 

8:00PM - 10:00PM

Solo Librarians Division Open House

 

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

11:30AM - 1:00PM

Solo Librarians Division Annual Business Meeting & Luncheon (Ticketed event)

 

1:30PM - 3:00PM

Preparedness for Info Pros: Lessons Learned from Recent Disasters

 

8:00PM - 10:00PM

Joint Open House w/ Government and Petroleum & Energy Resources

 

Wednesday, June 17, 2009: Spotlight Session!

8:30AM - 10:00AM

Mary Ellen Bates: Creating Groupies: How to add value, make yourself irreplaceable and beat the pants off Google

Mark your calendars!

--Julie

Health Statistic Databases CE

I already typed this up once, but I believe TypePad ate my post along the way (and I was rushing since there was a line for Internet access), so I'll update this with the missing CE course.  This post chronologically belongs between patents and public record searching.

At 8 am on Sunday morning, I walked into the Data Detective: Health Statistics That Can't Be Googled course, taught by Hongjie Wang from the University of Connecticut Health Center, and had high expectations.  In my job at AJN, I often need to verify data that has been gleaned from government research data sets, particularly the CDC and the AHRQ, and finding the exact method the article's author used to pull the statistics can be a nightmare. 

I'm happy to report that this course was everything that it promised to be.  We covered many of the major databases and what their purposes were (CDC WONDER for birth/death data, HCUP and MEPS for health care expenditures, etc), and although a live link would have been very nice so we could run impromptu searches instead of canned Powerpoint slides, the point of each database and its capabilities was communicated very well.

Mr. Wang was also an excellent teacher, who has taught this course many times before and was very familiar with the content as well as engaging the audience in regular feedback throughout the course to maintain interest and make sure that he was answering specific problems/scenarios that arise in the course of our daily work.

Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of the CE courses at SLA, and I'm not saying it just to be polite.  Although this is my first conference as an information professional (I attended SLA in 2003 as a student), compared to other CE experiences I've had in various organizations, the best teaching and highest applicability to corporate librarianship is certainly in SLA, in my opinion.  Well worth the money.

-Trish

Public Record Searching CE

Regrettably, I never had access to the full version of Nexis when I was in graduate school, and still do not.  My expectations were public record searching on free sources, not Nexis solely.  As a result, I didn't get nearly as much out of this course as those who actively need to find public records on a regular basis and have Nexis, so my report will be a bit biased.  However, those who were very active in the field were favorably impressed by the course, judging by what I heard, so I think I just missed parts of this since it was over my head. 

Bobby Schrott, from Lexis-Nexis, taught the course, and his skills as an instructor were simply phenomenal.  He was informal and flexible, encouraging real-world examples and audience input the most out of all of the presentations, but covered quite a bit of ground on what to expect to find, what's impossible to find, and even how public records differ internationally.  If you do search public records on a regular basis, find Bobby and get him to teach you.  He'll do a great job.

While I wouldn't take this class again, it was interesting and another field that is very media-based. 

I must run now, since there is a long line for internet access, but will continue with updates as the conference progresses.  I'm off to the Competitive Intelligence Keynote Address!

-Trish

Diving into Patents CE

The afternoon session on Saturday was a primer on patents, an area of research that I've always had an interest in, but didn't really know where to start (besides Derwent and the USPTO) to find out related patents, pending patent applications, and other necessary pieces including the classifications (a world unto itself and possibly more complicated than LC).  The first piece was taught by Michael White from Queen's University, covering the definitions and structure of patents, history, patent classifications, and how exactly this research can be used.  I really enjoyed his talk, but unfortunately the pace was a bit slow and we ran out of time, missing some of the important bits at the end of the Powerpoint presentation (we had the handouts so I knew where he was heading). Overall, it was very informative, and gave me a good background in the purpose and specifications for filing patents (novelty, usefulness, etc).

After the break, Marilynn Dunker from Proctor & Gamble took over, and demonstrated patent searching, patent classification usage, and the limits to what can be interpreted (aka DON'T--patents are legal documents and we are (usually) not attorneys) and presented in acceptable formats and research syntheses to the requestor.  The presentation was quite informative, and I have a more solid backing in the event that I need to do research in this area, but I'm pretty sure that I could never choose this as a profession.  It's very detail-oriented and classification-oriented, and I prefer bigger picture research.  For those who like cataloging, however, check out patent research.  It can have an incredible amount to offer outside traditional libraries.

And best of all, I met two other classmates, and we all met up afterwards for dinner at the Rusty Scupper Restaurant.  I highly recommend that as well; excellent seafood at fairly reasonable prices and a great view of the harbor!

-Trish

Introduction and Legal Research CE

As a new contributor to this blog, I'd like to include a brief introduction.  My name is Patricia Losi (Trish), and I am a solo librarian/information specialist at the American Journal of Nursing.  I also work within the larger company of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins to serve many different types of information needs, and occasionally get requests from our parent company of Wolters Kluwer.  I'm based in New York City, and arrived in Baltimore on Friday.

Starting off with a bang, I had signed up for four CE courses, two on Saturday and two on Sunday.  Saturday morning I attended Basic Legal Research for the Non-Law Librarian, taught by Robyn Rebollo and Abigail Ross, both law librarians for firms in Washington, DC.  It was the best choice I made, as both instructors were excellent--extremely knowlegeable and even managing to make the range of legal research available quite interesting by tying it together in a logical and useful framework.  If you get the chance to attend a class given by either of these two, I would highly recommend it.

They broke the course down into the three different branches, legislative, executive, and judicial research, and I learned quite a bit about the fine differences in each branch.  For example, what is the Code of Federal Regulations (official regulations enforced by executive agencies (FDA, etc) and the Federal Register (proposed regulations, although the final, accepted version that will appear in the CFR also will appear earlier in the Federal Register), and the little ins and outs that make all the difference when searching for the most up-to-date information.

Overall, this class was completely worth it, and the next time I have to perform some legal research, I will be far more confident that I know where, why, and how to find it in the least amount of time.

Plus, there was a Legal Jeopardy round near the end of the course with candy for each correct answer, so the chance to earn a little positive reinforcement with a sugar rush by recalling what we'd just learned never hurts :).

-Trish

Conference Brochure Available!

The Handy-Dandy, one-page Solo Division Conference Guide is now available and can be downloaded via the SLA-DSOL COP at http://cop.sla.org/COP/Solo%20Librarians%20Division/.

The guide is broken down by day and lists each Solo-sponsored event, to include times, location and speakers! The brochure will also be available during tonight's Open House.

Can't wait to see you all there!