SLA Information Technology Division Blog

Volunteer Opportunity - IT Division Virtual Events (VE) Committee

Description:
Looking for a flexible and virtual volunteer opportunity? The IT Division's Virtual Events Committee needs members to help out with coordinating webinars to keep members up to date on IT-related topics of interest to information professionals. Past events have included talks on cloud computing (in collaboration with the Silicon Valley chapter) and using LinkedIn as a personal career planning, research and business strategy tool. 

 Volunteer tasks include:

- pitch ideas for webinars and invite speakers

- seek out opportunities for collaboration with other chapters/divisions

- act as moderator or tech support during virtual events

 Time commitment: 

Flexible according to interest and role. The Committee has thus far planned two events per year.

Interested? Contact Michael Kim ([email protected]) or Adrienne Smith ([email protected]) to get involved.

Find out what your Webmaster Section is doing

Hello, SLA–IT Webmaster Section Members,

Do you know the best ways to be in touch with your Webmaster Section?  I have recently updated the Webmaster Section website to list the best methods of communication for us.  So here are the ways:

1. Read b/ITe - the IT Division newsletter 

Currently, this is the main channel of communication for the Webmaster Section. I try to write an article for each issue of b/ITe to get the conversation going. In 2011, I will have a series of interviews with Webmaster Section members so we could share ideas and practices on web management

2. Subscribe to the following Electronic Discussion Lists (listservs) - 

• [email protected] - is the list for the Webmaster Section. 
• [email protected] - is the general list for the IT Division. 

You can subscribe to them by sending an e-mail to [email protected] with the subscribe command in the body of the message:

listname your email address first name last name 

e.g. subscribe sla-sitw [email protected] John Doe

To post to the lists, just send messages to [email protected] or [email protected].   

3.  Read the IT Division Blog! 

• If you use a blog reader, you can subscribe to it using RSS
• If you would like blog entries to be delivered to your e-mail address, enter your e-mail address at the upper right corner of the blog

Hope to hear from you.

SuHui Ho

Webmaster Section Chair

 

No Host Dinner on Web Topics at SLA Annual

Sorry for any duplication.

I am this year’s SLA IT Division Webmaster Section Chair.  I would like to arrange a “no host” dinner during SLA Annual in New Orleans for anyone who is interested in using the Web to deliver library public services if there is enough interest.  Please email me at [email protected] if you would like to join us so I can get a head count.  As I am new to New Orleans, any recommendations for restaurants would be great too.  Please read the following article that I wrote for b/ITe, the IT Division bulletin Spring 2010 issue, for the topics that we may chat about during the dinner.  Of course any other topics related to the Web is game. 

SuHui Ho

Webmaster Section Chair

***************************************** 

The Web as an Agent of Transformative Change to Library Services

Nothing is more transformative to the society at large and to the library in particular, than the Web.  Library websites have been around for about 15 years.  To many users this is their first and primary contact with the library, where they access library materials and interact with the knowledge of librarians.  Today's library website is very different from the traditional library website, which primarily informs users of services in the physical library.  Today's library website delivers library services and collection digitally, over the Web.  It builds community on the Web using tools such as Twitter and Facebook, just like we build community in the physical space.  David Lee King coins the concept of a “digital branch,” a library delivered digitally over the Web, which has "real staff, a real building, a real collection, and a real community."   A physical library needs management and upkeep.  Likewise, a web library needs management and maintenance, which includes, but is not limited to web content life cycle management (strategizing, creating, reviewing, updating, deleting, archiving, etc.), web statistics, Google ranking, investigation and implementation of new Web technologies.  Whether we call it a digital branch or a Web library is not significant.  What is important is that the website is our new busiest service point.  We will need to commit staff to explore, develop, manage, and maintain this new space.  The Web is a fast-growing medium, with new “apps” and new methods emerging constantly.  We should always explore and evaluate new technologies such as Web 2.0 tools, but managing a Web library is much more than experimenting with emerging technologies.   On the other hand, digital services/Web services is different from digitization.   Digital library and digitization emphasize on digital preservation of materials, while digital/Web services is library public services and collection delivered digitally, over the Web.  They require different staffing and different sets of skills.  The latter requires participation of not only Web staff but also most if not all public services librarians.   It also requires the establishment of a Web strategy that is in alignment with the library and the institution’s mission.

I hope the Webmaster Section will facilitate discussion of this transformative change, and become a forum to share ideas on how to develop and manage this new Web library.  Over the next few months, I will investigate on the best channels for us to communicate.  If there is interest, I will arrange for a “no host” dinner at SLA Annual in New Orleans for us to touch base.  Watch out for announcements.  As always, drop me a note at [email protected] if you have suggestions or would like to participate in the discussion.

IT and Twitter - part 2

The IT Division now has a presence on Twitter at http://twitter.com/slait . While you don't need an account to see that page, you can create one for the full effect (it's free). It's a great way to keep updated as to what is going on with the Division. It's also a quick and alternate way of getting access to the content of the Divisions' two blogs.

 

#slait is also the hash tag for the Division, for your own tweets.

 

(What is Twitter? It's like a mini-blog. You have 140 characters to give your friends, and followers, an update on what you are doing. You can link to webpages or post pictures. Posts are called tweets. The hash character (#) serves as a tag. It makes it easier to search the Twitter content for a particular topic. For example, you could tweet: "Wow, I had a great time at the IT Dance Party last night #slait" . The IT program planner can search #slait in Twitter after the conference to look for comments and your tweet will come up).

 

Thank you for all of you who have commented and the IT Board for its enthusiastic support.

Twitter hash for IT

Short survey: what hash code should the IT Division use in Twitter?

• #sladite

• #dite

• #sladit

• #slaIT

• other?

Please comment and let's come up with one.

(What is Twitter? It's like a free mini-blog. You have 140 characters to give your friends, and followers, an update on what you are doing. The hash character (#) serves a bit as a tag. It makes it easier to search the Twitter content for a particular topic).

Colleagues need advice: Library Tech Issues

Joshua Neff has a question about Internet browser support for library staff at various libraries.  He is asking for librarians to tell him what is occurrring at their libraries.  Can you use more than one browser?  Can you use FireFox?  Can you run FireFox (or other executables) from a USB drive?  Please go to his blog post and chime in with some answers.

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

According to the introduction in this 16-page document, Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video:

This document is a code of best practices that helps creators, online providers, copyright holders, and others interested in the making of online video interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances.

This is a guide to current acceptable practices, drawing on the actual activities of creators, as discussed among other places in the study Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video and backed by the judgment of a national panel of experts. It also draws, by way of analogy, upon the professional judgment and experience of documentary filmmakers, whose own code of best practices has been recognized throughout the film and television businesses.

With increased use of user-generated video in libraries, this will be an important document to have on hand.

Technology Adoption and Use

I recently read some of the highlights of the report, Information Seeking Behavior of the Researcher of the Future.  I was not terribly surprised at the finding that the Google generation isn't quite as tech savvy as we thought they were.  You can read that report here:

http://www.bl.uk/news/2008/pressrelease20080116.html

Now, that report is focusing mostly on searching behavior and it seems to be showing that younger generations are using the web a lot, but they're not really understanding it or searching it as well as one might hope.  That's the basic reason that librarians should have a fair amount of job security into the future.  Kids (and this probably applies to older web users as well) have come to view the internet like you would TV, it is ever-present but they don't know how that LCD screen works or how the picture is passed through that cable.

For an interesting take on this issue from a super-web savvy individual, I think it's useful to compare a blog post from Astronomy Cast's Dr. Pamela Gay with the report's findings.

Introducing HTML 5

With the last development of HTML occurring in 1999, HTML 5 introduces features that ease the creation of web-based applications.  Coming together to create the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WhatWG), Apple, Opera, and the Mozilla Foundation worked to update the web's core language.  You can learn more by reading this article on IBM's web development page. 

So, do you Jing?

Jing is a new technology that allows people to create screen captures and videos to share with others via email, IM and blogs.  This TechSmith project is being provided along with complimentary hosting on Screencast.com.  Within the site's FAQ, you'll see that Jing is neither a product or beta technology.  Rather, it's a concept delivered as project that seeks feedback from users.  So while the technology and hosting are free for now, be prepared to pay for it later.