Blogging Section of SLA-IT

Introducing SLA Innovation Labs

I mentioned a talk I attended at NJSLA by Stephen Abram a little while ago.  In that talk he mentioned that the SLA was going to have an Innovation Lab available to member.  Well, this via the SLA mailing list:

Be a lab rat!
The SLA Innovation Laboratory is designed to be a place where you can play, learn, and discover uses for the latest emerging technologies. It's a unique resource exclusively for SLA members to discover, and get comfortable with, new technologies. The Laboratory offers a wide variety of Web 2.0 software learning tools to help you become more business savvy and technologically adept.

The SLA Innovation Lab also provides tools to SLA units (chapters, divisions, committees, councils, caucuses, task forces, etc.) to build and implement useful services for members. The initiative adds deep value to acquiring and retaining SLA membership.

Join us in the Laboratory
SLA has a long tradition of successful education initiatives. Learning opportunities abound, but the SLA Innovation Laboratory differs from traditional continuous learning in that it does not necessarily require a course, conference or event. It is something members -- you -- do for yourself, independently or in small groups. By offering the SLA Innovation Laboratory for members to discover, play, and learn, we have the framework for 24/7 independent learning opportunities. This is an expansion of SLA's learning programs, and is designed for you to invest the time and have fun learning.

So, join us in the laboratory! Enter your SLA userID and password and you're on your way to becoming an Innovation Lab Rat!

Check it out at: http://www.sla.org/innovate/

Face of SLA

This via the Inside the Box blog:

Please come have a professional picture taken to be used in a super cool initiative for SLA's centennial celebration in 2009!

The "Face of SLA" project will feature picutres of SLA members, attached to quotes from them about how great SLA is...as well testimonials from their employers about how important and critical information professionals are to the success of organizations! 

Learn more.

Technoriti tags: SLA2008

Combined SLA Feed

This via an email I got today - make sure you subscribe to keep up with SLA happenings across the world & across divisions.

I've put together a combined feed of all the active (in 2008) SLA blogs I could find. This gives you the chance to see and subscribe to all these blogs in one fell swoop.

More info is on a blog (of course!) — in particular, the NJSLA blog, at http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/njsla/2008/05/sla-blogs-meg-1.html

— Eric Schwarz, NJSLA president-elect

Technoriti tags: SLA2008

Reality 2.0: Transforming Ourselves & Our Association

Last night I got to hear Stephen Abram talk about the future of SLA & librarianship.  First (and most important) I have uploaded my pictures to Flickr.

Stephen started with a mini rant (a good rant) about the fact that there is no proof that the book is at risk.  Reading stats are going up and book sales are going up.  That said, do we hear that librarians are at risk? Ever hear this one, “Everything’s on the Internet.”  The fact is that librarians are at risk even if books aren’t.  In short, there are some serious issues we have to get stronger about talking about. 

Stephen mentioned that we’re about to experience some huge changes.  If you think about it, we haven’t had any major changes in a long while.  Our grandparents had a bunch of huge changes all hit them at once (phones, tv, 2 world wars, etc) and it’s time for that to happen again.  North America is way behind the rest of the world when it comes to technology.  In Europe, people are using their phones for everything.  They have free TV delivered through their phone and text messages for everything.  I’m not a fan of this movement - maybe it’s just because of the costs associated with it here - but - I just want a phone - I don’t need it to double as a TV.

When it comes to digitization, China is only 5 years from digitizing everything written in Chinese.  It’s not going to be long before everything is available in digital format.  We’re going to need the tools to take advantage of this content.

So, what does this have to do with SLA?  Everything! The world is changing and librarians have to change with it and SLA wants to help librarians make that change as smooth as possible.  One interesting point that Stephen brought up was the fact that when someone leaves an organization one of the first things they do is clear off their computer - bookmarks and all.  This means that all the great resources that long time librarians have collected are lost.  We have to start storing our data in collaborative spaces so that we can all benefit from each other’s knowledge. I love this! And this is why I took so much pride in working on improving the Jenkins Law Library research links (a pre-del.icio.us project) - I wanted to make sure we were sharing our resources with any one who might need them.

Stephen asks that instead of sharing the myth amongst ourselves that we’re collaborative, why not be collaborative?  I love this!  The fact is that the nature of associations is changing - something I wrote about in library school.  The main selling point for associations used to be networking - but now with tools like Ning, Facebook and LinkedIn - why do I need an association to find fellow peers?  With these tools threatening library associations as we know them, what can SLA do to continue to be important for librarians?  The answer is learning and innovation. 

One way that SLA is setting itself apart (in my opinion) is their Click-U.  Educational events for SLA members.  What I didn’t know is that they have a regular presentation by Gary Price where he shares the newest tools he’s found for researching and they have a monthly free course available.  Being a recently graduated student, I’m a bit too poor to pay for too many classes - so I love to find things for cheap or free!

SLA also offers members access to over 1000 e-books on leadership and management topics (apparently we were told about this - but I missed it somehow - after writing this I’m heading to the SLA site to check out my member profile).  They also offer what they call ExecuBooks Summaries - they are 4 page summaries of new releases.

The thing I’m most excited about hasn’t been released yet, but I’m keeping my eyes open for it, the Innovation Labs.  This area of the SLA site will be a testing bed for members to try out all kinds of free and proprietary software without having to install it or pay for it.  Some of the big names will include Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Blogger, Survey Monkey and Confluence.  It’s basically a place for everyone to play!!  This area of the site will also have over 25000 software training videos from atomic learning.  How great is that???

While this isn’t everything that Stephen talked about, these were the bits that I was able to write down as he sped through his awesome talk.  He certainly made me pay even more attention to what the association is doing for us - I hope he did the same for some of the rest of you.

Technorati Tags: njsla, sla

SLA Survey: New Special Librarians or Current Students

This from my inbox:

The Special Libraries Association (http://www.sla.org) plans to enhance its services for information professionals who have graduated in the last five years.

We're conducting a survey to gather input from new graduates and current students. Please help us by telling us what subject areas interest you, how you prefer to receive professional information, and how you see SLA as a partner in your career development.

There are 11 questions. You can respond in under 10 minutes. Click here to get started:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KSXG_2bpPojuVogVu1G6POrQ_3d_3d

I've already filled it out - took no time at all.

 

Leadership Summit - Friday and Saturday

The agenda was full for the Leadership Summit on Friday.  We began with breakfast, networking, and dissecting the events on Thursday.  (BTW breakfast is available for the attendees on both days, which is a very nice touch.)  Then the meetings began.  First was an update on the new Association management system (AMS) that is being installed.  Then there were concurrent sessions:

• Hands-On AMS Training
• Public Speaking Skills

Those were then followed by the Chapter Cabinet Meeting and the Division Cabinet Meeting, and then by the Joint Cabinet Meeting.  The Chapter and Division Cabinet Meetings are important, since this is where units can formally bring up issues or proposals.  And often useful information is presented during these meetings (as well as the Joint Cabinet Meeting).  Three topics that were touched on were:

• The "green" initiative
• New accounting practices that our treasurers will need to understand  (If you are a unit treasurer, the not-quite-yet-defined banking changes will affect you later this year.)
• Placing unit discussion lists and web sites at sla.org if that would give units a cost savings.  (It would also more closely identify those things with SLA and thus might be seen more as being a member benefit.)

Personally, my hope is that the green initiative doesn't just shift where things happen, but that it truly looks to reduce, reuse and recycle.  [For example, instead printed programs being available at the Leadership Summit, we were told to print our own and bring them with us.  That may have reduced the amount of paper used.  However, what it clearly did was shift the cost of that item from HQ to individual members.]

After lunch, were extremely short (in other words, too short) presentations on collaboration tools available to the units through HQ.  There were also presentations on some of the mentoring activities that units are doing.  Finally, there was a brainstorming session on unit-level ideas for celebrating SLA's Centennial in 2009.  WOW!  The room got very noisy and lots of great ideas where contributed.  I can't wait to see how we (units and individuals) will help to celebrate the 100th anniversary of this organization's birth.

While some people left Friday evening, many stayed.  We got to enjoy more restaurants and the Louisville nightlife.  Someone told me that there was nothing to do in Louisville, but that person was definitely wrong.  Fourth Street Live! is "happening".

On Saturday, there were several division board meetings in the morning.  Some of us spent the afternoon exploring Louisville before heading to the airport.  Three of us went to 21c Museum Hotel, which is an art museum inside a hotel and then to Glassworks, which is a hot-glass studio and gallery.  (These two places are also near the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.)  It was nice to get out and walk, and look at the architecture.  Nope, Louisville is not boring!

The Kentucky Chapter did a wonderful job hosting this event.  Their attention to detail and Southern hospitality were very evident.  If you are unsure what Southern hospitality is, then spend time with members of the Kentucky Chapter.  Some of us also saw evidence of Southern hospitality on the street (sanitation workers who yelled out walking directions to us) and at the airport (where there are one-quart zip-lock bags by security in case you need one). 

HQ has not yet set the location for the 2009 Leadership Summit. Lots of people are hoping for a warmer location.  Perhaps a location will be known before the Annual Conference in Seattle.

Finally, there were a few conversations about how to justify the Leadership Summit to your management. The Leadership Summit is a time to learn more about SLA and how organizations run.  It is also a time to learn more about your role in SLA.  What you take back to the job, though, may not be hard skills, but rather:

• a better understanding of professional resources available to you
• a broader network
• an understanding roles and responsibilities that you may not get from work

If anyone else can add-in other things that you take back from the Summit to your job, please leave them here as comments.  (Thanks!)

Leadership Summit - Thursday

This was a very full day.  Two interesting events happened....

First, the mayor of Louisville proclaimed this the be the Special Libraries Association Week!

Second, Gloria Zamora -- SLA's President-Elect -- was named a Kentucky Colonel by the governor for being the first Kentucky Chapter member to become president of the Association (in 2009)!  Others who have been given this honor include Mae West  and Tiger Woods.  It was pointed out tonight that Gloria is not only a member of the Kentucky Chapter, but that she is also a member of the Rio Grande and Washington D.C. Chapters.   

As for speakers, we heard from:

• Andy Hines on "Anticipating the Future" (keynote).  He noted that they do not predict the future, but instead look for possibilities and indicators in order to construct alternate future.  I have many notes ...
• How do you do foresight?
• Framing
• Scanning
• Forecasting
• Visioning
• Planning
• Acting
• You need to probe beneath the surface.
• What is the current problem?
• What are the driving forces? (trends analysis)
• What are the world views? (breadth and depth analysis)
• What are the archetypes? (myth/metaphor analysis)
• You need to leverage changes in their early stages (when they are just emerging).  If you wait too long, then the flexibility is gone. 
• The Earth is divided into three worlds:
• Affluent -- ~1 billion people -- postmodern (focus on self expression, not possessions)
• Emerging -- Most people -- modern
• Poor  -- 1 - 2 billion -- traditional
• Although the U.S. is affluent, our values are more traditional.
• Think of the postmodern values as being derived from the Woodstock generation that has grown up.
• We are practicing ethical consumption.  We vote our values with our dollars.
• 25% of young adults don't distinguish between those friends that they interact with face-to-face and virtually.  Some have best friends that they are never met.
• 75% of those over 55 years old want to continue to do things (e.g., work, learn).
• Gen-X and Gen-Y don't trust institutions; they trust each other.
• Young adults value friends, family and faith.
• Stephen Abram on "Reality 2.0: Attracting, retaining and engaging the Association 2.0 member." 
• Recession is not good for libraries.
• Toilet seat economy (it goes up and down).
• Relationships -- not content -- are king.
• The future is already here, it just not evenly distributed yet.
• Need to get SLA members to understand the value of their ID and password on the SLA web site.
• Need to promote the resources that are available to members.
• Thousands of Click U courses
• 900+ ebooks
• NewsGator
• Factiva alerts
• In other words...there is a lot of content on the web site that we are not  using.
• Innovation lab and 23 Things (blog post)
• Janice LaChance gave a review of 2007 as well as looked ahead to what will be occurring in 2008.
• New association management system (AMS)
• More outreach
• Interaction with other associations and strategic partners
• Strong financial health of the association
• Took a public stance on issues around the globe that impact libraries
• Strategic alignment project
• Membership growth
• 124 new members during the membership campaign (recruited by 90+ individuals)
• Legal Division gained the most new members (94)
• Knowledge Management Division gain the largest percentage of new members
• Illinois Chapter gained the most new members (65)
• Oklahoma Chapter gained the largest percentage of new members
• A member in D.C. (Jerome ) recruited 11 members
• Members from Fleishman Hillard on "Positioning SLA for the Future."  This is the group that has been hired to work on the strategic alignment project along with Outsell and Andy Hines.  What was important about their presentation is that they have a real process for doing this work.  This work will definitely help us understand who we are, what we value, what others perceive our value to be, etc.  Out of this work then we can set a direction for SLA, decide on how to market the Association, and position the Association for the future.
• In the afternoon, we worked in small groups on "Remembering the Future."  We spent time thinking about our ourselves and our organizations over the next 2.5 years.  (From the perceptive that it was June 2010 and thinking about what had happened since Jan. 2008.)  Then we focused on the Association.  The notes from this will be available online.  The bottom line is that we all saw interesting changes in store for the Association -- changes that we seem very ready for.

After a full day, there were some smaller meetings, then we headed to Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory for the Kentucky Chapter Welcome Reception.  We ate, talked, watched a movie, watched them  make baseball bats, used the batting cage, shopped and  more.

BTW the weather here is colder than we all expected.  We walked briskly to the Reception in 10 - 14 (F) degree weather. Any illusions of Louisville having Southern temperatures have been shattered.

Leadership Summit - Wednesday

Although some of SLA's leaders had been in Louisville for a few days, most of us arrived on Wednesday.  For me, networking began at the Cincinnati airport when I spotted a woman carrying the conference bag from Denver.  "Are you staying at the conference hotel?"  Yup...she was and I had someone to share a cab with.  Then at baggage claim in Louisville, we found two more to add to our cab.  During our cab ride, our driver pointed out a few sites.

The Marriott is a very large hotel.  I learned last night that it replaced several businesses that the downtown no longer wanted.  However, the "boutique" across the street that sells sexual stuff is in a historic building (first poured concrete building in Louisville), so it is here to stay.

The reception last night was fun and a time to catch up with people, talk about job changes (congrats to everyone), discuss how our chapters and divisions are doing, and engage in some work-chat.  Also last night were several dine-arounds.  I went with James Manasco to the Maker's Mark Bourbon House & Lounge on Fourth Street (where the action is).  This Lounge is like something you'd see in NYC.  We sat "on the stage" on couches and looked out over the bar area.  The food was wonderful and the conversation was just as good.  Thanks to SLA for bringing back the dine-arounds!

As I type this, first timers are at breakfast and the rest of us will join them at 8 a.m., then it is a full day of meetings.  Time for me to get moving!

Hello World

Whenever you start learning a new computer programming language you usually start with a "hello world" script.  It's a couple of lines of code that produce either a webpage or a window or some kind of output that reads "hello world."  I think of this post as my "Hello World" post.  Sure I've been posting here for a while now, but never as your chair person - so it's a new beginning for me.

So, who am I? In short I'm a special librarian just like most of you probably are.  I worked in a law library for 6 years in the web department and now work in a special academic library (seminary library) as a Metadata Librarian.  I have never worked in the corporate world, but I do know that special libraries live by different rules than the public and academic and that we need to find out how to use the same tools they're using to our advantage. 

I am a big open source and web 2.0 enthusiast - you will frequently find me recommending tools to make our jobs easier that cost little or nothing to play with.  Along those lines, I'm a big fan of "play." I think that if we all took just a little bit more of our time to play we'd learn so much more about the way technology is changing around us. 

All that said, I'd like to invite you to join me in blogging for our fellow SLA members - and librarians alike.  If you're a member of the section and would like to be an SLA-IT blogger, just drop me an email at nengard [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll get you on the list of authorized bloggers.  Also, if you need me or just want to chat about a post or technology, feel free to comment here on the blog or use that same email address.  You can learn more about me on my resume and about page over at my personal blog.

I look forward to a great year meet as many of you as possible in the real and virtual world!

Conversation with Stephen Abram

This is a quick 4 minute video of Stephen talking about how he became attracted to librarianship, about his use of mentors, and how librarians make a difference in people's lives.