Silicon Valley Chapter | SLA

Squid Cagney (Stephen Abram): Proud to Support Learning and Innovation through Second Life

Speaking via voice chat to an audience of over 25 SLA members and interested Second Life participants Wednesday night, outgoing SLA President Stephen Abram (aka Squid Cagney)  exhorted the audience members to continue exploring new technologies. He congratulated the group on the successful launch of a space in SL for formal and informal Association activities -- including learning, information sharing and collaboration -- that challenge assumptions about information organization and sharing. He noted that SL accommodates a variety of learning styles -- visual, aural (if voice chat is used), written word, hands-on and especially play. It's also okay for "learning" to be formal, informal or even incidental, and SL provides opportunities for all three. 

Squid Cagney, aka Stephen Abram, in Second Life

Several times during his hour-long presentation, Squid talked about how the SLA "23 Things" program had provided all SLA members the opportunity to learn many new web 2.0 tools. The program, spearheaded by Deb Hunt, surpassed its goal to have 15% of SLA members sign up and complete the multi-week program. He recommended that everyone take at least 15 minutes a day to experiment with a new technology. In addition to developing new skills that might turn out to be requirements in your next job, you might learn something new about yourself or look at something familiar to you in a new way.

In a surprise announcement, Squid named Jill Hurst-Wahl (aka Jillianna Suisei) the recipient of the SLA Presidential Citation for Leadership, in recognition of her work as Chair of the Association's Second Life Work Group. Her year-end report to the President is posted on SLA's Second Life blog at http://tinyurl.com/4ezbgx   Some of her team's accomplishments this year:

• Established SLA's space in Second Life, which includes a sandbox, areas for presentations, and space for informal gatherings: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City%20II/59/100/22  (Heather O'Daniel, Amilie Anatine spearheaded this development.)
• Developed a wiki for disseminating information: http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLASECONDLIFE/ (Mimi Calter took the initiative to set it up.)
• Created a Google Calendar that can link to other sites and in-world: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=slasecondlifecalendar%40gmail.com
• Created a blog for the group: http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/sla_in_second_life/ (Christy Confetti Higgins set it up; Pat Alderman has been a tireless contributor.)
• Held free Click U sessions on Second Life, followed by in-world training: http://tinyurl.com/3hjodj links to a free download of Part 1. (Christy Confetti Higgins, Scott Brown)
• Provided advanced skills training in-world. (Heather O'Daniel, Amilie Anatine).
• Hosted events in Second Life for SLA members and other interested avatars.

While Squid spoke, attendees were able to communicate with each other via group text chat; after his presentation he answered a few questions. One intriguing idea was floated by attendees:  Would SLA entertain the idea of creating a new association chapter for Second Life residents? Obviously this isn't a simple task, but there was enthusiasm for exploring the idea, possibly at the Leadership Summit next month. Don't be too surprised if an official Virtual Worlds Chapter appears on your membership renewal form for 2010 or 2011. You read it here first.

2008 Highlights of the SLA San Andreas Chapter

1. Information Ethics.  SLA is undertaking a year-long initiative through its chapters and divisions to look at ethical issues that members encounter in providing information services to their users and to determine whether SLA should develop its own ethics guidelines rather than continuing to rely on the ethics guidelines developed by ALA, SCIP, AIIP and ASIS&T. Wynne Dobyns, the Chapter's Ethics Ambassador, organized a Town Hall meeting on July 28, 2008, at Santa Clara University. To provide background, Geoffrey Bowker, Executive Director, Regis and Dianne McKenna Professor, Center for Science, Technology and Society, Santa Clara University, was invited to speak about ethics in information service. Following his presentation, the 16 attendees formed small groups for general discussion and then all attendees shared stories, anecdotes and questions about ethics in using and providing information services. Wynne Dobyns will summarize the findings and suggestions from this event in a report to SLA headquarters.

2. Events. We sponsored three programs, six Solo Librarians programs, two tours and two neighborhood dinner events.

Chapter Programs

Feb. 20—This brown bag event was a live one-hour Webex presentation, followed by a discussion locally hosted by Lee Pharis at Exponent. Martha Haswell, senior research analyst for Best Practices LLC, reported on benchmarks from her study of 24 corporate libraries. About 15 members attended, half of them staying on for the discussion that followed the presentation.

Mar. 17—A virtual meeting using WebEx on the enhanced features of the SLA website was sponsored by Thomson Scientific, who donated the WebEx time and technology that allowed members to attend the seminar virtually. Presenters were Leslie Fisher and Libby Trudell. About 30 members signed up to "attend" this presentation.

Sept. 17—Janice LaChance, CEO of SLA,  speaking on Defending Libraries in a Time of Budget Uncertainties at the Coyote Point Yacht Club, San Mateo. This was the annual Joint Chapters meeting, and it attracted about 65 attendees.  It was organized by Rochelle Richardson and her committee from the San Francisco Chapter.

Dec. 2—This social evening was held at the MacArthur Park restaurant, an historic building designed by Julia Morgan, in Palo Alto. A light meal and social hour for 30 attendees preceded the annual meeting. Sponsors for the event were AIM, Dialog, IEEE, Information Express, and Morgan & Claypool.

Solo Librarians Meeting on January 22nd

The Solo Librarians of the San Andreas Chapter of SLA invite you to join them at their next meeting on Thursday, January 22nd. Anyone with an interest in small libraries is welcome, including students and recent grads of the MLIS programs.

Sonia Dorfman will be hosting the meeting at 6 P.M. on Thursday, January 22nd at NeuroPace, 1375 Shorebird Way, Mountain View. Below is a map link.

We will have Jean Bedord on hand to discuss "eBooks Hit Critical Mass: Where Do Libraries Fit with Oprah?”. There are book databases, and there are downloadable books, not to be confused with ebook readers (Oprah loves the new Amazon Kindle). Jean will explore which of these formats make sense for your library.

Like solo librarians, Jean Bedord wears multiple hats. She teaches part-time at the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University. She is also a findability and search strategist for publishers and vendors in the online information industry (www.EContentStrategies.com). Her articles have been published in Information Today and Searcher, as well as other publications. Jean has just published a book "I've Got A Domain Name – Now What??? A Practical Guide to Building a Website and Your Web Presence" which is available as both an ebook and traditional print format.

We will be serving a light meal prior to the presentation. Those who are planning to attend need to contact Sonia Dorfman by January 15th at [email protected] or (650) 237-2784.

Sonia Dorfman
Eric Kristofferson
San Andreas Solo Librarians

Location map & directions: http://www.neuropace.com/about/contact/map.html

Here is an added tip for locating NeuroPace: Once you are on Shorebird Way, turn right into the driveway at the Accuray sign. The parking lot and building on the left is NeuroPace.

More photos!

George Plosker, as previously mentioned, took several photos of the San Andreas Chapter Holiday Party and Meeting, You can view them here. In particular, you might want to give some virtual applause to one of the editors of the blog.

Stephen Abram in Second Life

SLA President Stephen Abram will give a presentation in Second Life on "Developing a Global Innovation Culture in SL." Stephen's presentation will be given on SLA's land in SL (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City%20II/59/100/22) on Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. SLT). Stephen plans on using voice chat for his presentation. His avatar is "Squid Cagney". Besides being SLA's President, Stephen Abram is the Vice President of Innovation for SirsiDynix. He is a frequent author and speaker on topics such as web 2.0 and the future of librarianship. Whether you are new to Second Life or a long-time resident, we hope that you will come to Stephen Abram's presentation on Wed., Dec. 17 and we encourage you to bring others with you. This event is open to the public and all are welcome to attend.

Joy to the world! San Andreas Chapter Meeting and Holiday Party a Success!

About twenty people came to the MacArthur Park Restaurant in Palo Alto on December 2nd for the Chapter Meeting and Holiday Party. After the buffet and socializing, there was a brief business meeting to approve minutes, discuss the Chapter's plans for 2009, announce incoming officers and thank outgoing officers. Lee Pharis received the Mark H. Baer Award (accepted in her absence by Leslie Fisher) and Wynne Dobyns received the Lucy Steelman Award.

A number of vendors had the opportunity to speak - Bruce Antelman from Information Express, Mike Morgan from Morgan & Claypool, George Plosker from IEEE and Gloria Elia from AIM Library & Information Staffing. George Plosker took numerous photos. The evening culminated in a round of holiday songs led by Cliff Mills, Libby Trudell and Richard Geiger and a raffle of several poinsettias and an English holly.

Thanks to Patricia Parsons for organizing the event!

Lee received her award in person at the end of year turnover meeting on December 11th.

Here are Lee (holding the plaque) and Helen Josephine.