Inforumed

On Thursday, January 29 and Friday, January 30, I joined hundreds of librarians, technicians, administrators, students from across the province at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to attend the annual OLA Superconference. The theme of the conference this year was the role played by libraries as leaders of our communities’ “learning revolution”.

The all-session plenary held on Thursday afternoon, featuring Richard Florida, explored the theme of libraries and related cultural institutions as necessary organs of a livable community.

Although known for his writings about “the creative class”, Prof. Florida stated that the success of a community rests not in its ability to attract the creative class, but the ability of the community to tap into every person’s capacity for creativity. Although he poked fun at his tendency to give long, rambling speeches (he joked that he came “from the Fidel Castro school of public speaking”), Prof. Florida’s more-than-an-hour-long speech was an entertaining one, peppered with anecdotes of growing up in a second-generation immigrant family, and of visits to the local public library that sparked his imagination and life-long interest in learning.

The Superconference also featured a long list of professional sessions. Although it was impossible to attend all of them, I was able to sit in on a few.

Cataloguer’s Journey to FRBR (Session # 312)

Thomas Brenndorfer of the Guelph Public Library gave an introductory overview of FRBR, FRAD and FRSAR, and how these functional requirements can be incorporated into online public catalogues to improve users’ search experience.

New Accessibility Legislation: Standards and Progress (Session #416)

Estelle Small from Serve-ability Ontario talked about some of the requirements of Regulation 429, which currently applies to any organizations with more than one employee:

• Organizations have to establish policies, practices, procedures on providing goods and services.
• Organizations have to make reasonable effort to accommodate people with disabilities.
• Staff must receive adequate training on how to serve people with disabilities.
• Organizations must set up a process to receive and respond to feedback.

At the moment, standards regulating the built environment have not been developed. Online information and resources can be found at AccessON.ca.

OCLC Luncheon

The director of OCLC Canada talked about different products that OCLC is developing. One of the more interesting initiatives that they are looking into is the exchange of data between WorldCat and Google, linking Google’s digitized books to WorldCat records, and embedding WorldCat records to Google Book Search.

OCLC is also looking into establishing an improved union catalogue for OCUL members, with WorldCat records being integrated into the system.

Of interest to cataloguers and searchers is the OCLC's joint project with the Library and Congress, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and the Bibliothèque nationale de France to develop a single name authority service, to be called the Virtual International Authority File.

Beyond statistics: journal collections that meet faculty needs (Session #608)

Two librarians at the University of Guelph analyzed the strength of their journal collection, comparing their holdings with the journals listed in the ISI/Thomson Reuter’s JCR database.
The librarians were surprised to find that even though they provided access to the top ten percent of journals cited in the JCR, their faculty was still dissatisfied with the journal collection at the library. They had been expecting higher satisfaction to correlate with the quality of their journal collection.

The librarians hypothesized that faculty dissatisfaction could be discipline-based, as there were higher levels of dissatisfaction expressed in the humanities than in the social sciences or the sciences. They found that in some cases, titles that faculty requested or placed on their wishlist were titles to which the library already provided access. This has led to the other hypothesis that more instructional training to faculty and marketing the library's holdings more heavily may improve the faculty's assessment of the collection.

Making the grade: meeting requirements for tenure and continuing appointment (Session #1008)

Four librarians from three different libraries, and at various stages of their academic librarian career, talked about the challenges of preparing for tenure review and promotion through the ranks. Common themes discussed by each panel member include the value of having a mentor, gathering documentation for the portfolio early on and maintaining the portfolio throughout one’s career. Some advice that the librarians offered: plan early, develop a breadth of experience rather than focusing too narrowly in one area of the position, and get involved in professional and faculty associations.

Supporting the research endeavours of academic librarians (Session #1207)

The speakers discussed the types of support that encourage academic librarians to continue doing research. The speakers advocated for the following supports:

• Time allocation: more, and clearer, allocations of time devoted to research work.
• Office space, removed from the library and daily interruptions.
• Access to databases, web, software for quantitative research.
• Mentoring.
• Sharing networks, like brown bag lunches and online platforms for sharing findings and research-in-progress.

The speakers also identified some challenges. Faculty and librarians are not always seen as equals, so the amount of research time allotted to librarians are different from those allotted to professors. During a lively question period, the speakers and the audience wondered whether the culture of the profession and the lack of mandatory research experience in the MLIS (or equivalent) education also played a role in hindering academic librarians’ research output.

Library Technicians: Swiss Army Knives of Academic Libraries (Session #1306)

Technicians from University of Guelph-Humber and Humber College demonstrated involvement in a wide array of work activities, some of which have traditionally been within the professional librarian's domain:

• Managing electronic course reserves management (including tracking down copyright requests for faculty and ensuring that users comply with copyright restrictions).
• Providing basic instructional classes to first-year Humber College students.
• Developing pathfinders and subject guides.
• Participating in special project committees.
• Providing reference services at the desk, and virtually through AskON.ca.
• Dealing with online access problems and troubleshooting.
• Marketing the library's resources and services.
  

Attending the OLA Superconference was a worthwhile experience, as I got to hear about the work that libraries outside of the University of Toronto have been involved in, and the issues that are foremost in the minds of those working in the information profession.

Visit the OLA Super Conference 2009 website for session materials.

Labels: conference, libraries

Yesterday, the Toronto-Ryerson-York libraries conference was held at St. Michael's College at U of T. All staff from the university libraries were invited to participate in the day-long conference. The presentations were organized into four categories: Collaboration with Faculty, Information Literacy, Emerging Trends, and Innovative Services. Three plenary sessions were interspersed throughout the day.

I attended mostly Emerging Trends and Innovative Services workshops. I was particularly impressed with The Library, the Academic Community and Beyond, a presentation about Ryerson's ongoing initiative to merge their catalog with some popular web services, including Facebook, Amazon and Indigo; and mobile technology like SMS. Ryerson has made its catalogue searchable from within Facebook--a big step forward from merely establishing a library group on the website. Additionally, with the installation of a script in the Firefox browser, a Ryerson library item's status can be checked from Amazon, Indigo, or Google Books. Finally, patrons who don't have a piece of paper and a pen can text message or email themselves a library item's call number and location automatically from within the Ryerson library catalogue.

I have to say, I think that what Ryerson is doing is really cool. (I am actually not easily impressed by Library 2.0, which seems to consist of getting really, really excited by things like video games (in the library!) and Facebook/MySpace (in the library!), but also doesn't seem to amount to a whole lot. Why should libraries be gaming centers, anyway, and so what if your library has a Facebook group?) Ryerson's mashups are much more dynamic than a seldom-updated group, and they seem to be designed with the user in mind. For instance, when searching for books, I use Amazon first. When I find what I am looking for, I search for it in the Toronto Public Library catalogue or the UTL catalogue. It would be super awesome if these catalogues were linked up with Amazon, and if I attended Ryerson I would be thrilled to see the library catalogue represented there. For more info about what Ryerson is doing, check out the links in the second paragraph above.

Just in time for summer, the Inforum has posted a guide to museum studies electronic resources. Compiled by Instructional Services intern Minakshi Sharma, the annotated guide includes those databases, e-journals, image databases and resources, and more, that are available through UTL or are freely accessible online.

Dean Brian Cantwell Smith, course instructor Vicki Whitmell, and student organizer Erin Murphy gave brief speeches, thanking financial supporters, participating organizations, and hardworking students for their involvement.

The posters were on display in the Inforum from 5-7 pm. Visitors had a bite to eat (catered events are the best), a little candy (or a lot; each of the students had a dish of treats at their station), and checked out the posters.

Pictured above are the Mischief & Malice organizers, including professor Cheryl Meszaros (center)

Once again, the museum studies students have outdone themselves. On Wednesday, April 2, they presented this year's exhibit, Mischief & Malice, to an audience of family, friends, classmates, professors, and others in the Faculty of Information Studies and museums communities.

The event was held at the Gladstone Hotel, which I thought was a great location. Because of the proximity to booze it's a fun space.



Before officially launching the site, there was a keynote address on museum fakes, presented by Adam Sellen. Sellen is an expert on Zapotec urns and their forgeries, and recently identified many fake urns at the Royal Ontario Museum. His talk was engaging, entertaining, and funny -- he discussed what happens when a museum discovers it has fakes (pulverizes them or sells them in its gift shop, if you're a large local museum and it's the '70s), and related the story of Constantine Rickards, a master and prolific forger who sold fake urns to dozens of museums around the world in the early 20th century.



After the keynote address, Nick Gamble and Jes Koepfler, the project managers, launched the virtual exhibit. We raised a glass of champagne to the students who worked hard all year to produce the exhibit and organize the party. The rest of the night was a haze of beer, fake mug shot photos (too naughty for this blog!), conversation and congratulations. I heart museum studies exhibit launches: the exhibits are always professional and beautiful, the students and their supporters are so (rightfully) proud, and it's a great way to spend an evening with colleagues, family, and friends.

Posted on behalf of Charleen Davidson

Mischief & Malice: Crime in the Museum makes its debut at Toronto's premiere and historic Gladstone hotel on April 2, 2008, and you are welcome to come and enjoy the first virtual exhibition from a Museum Studies graduating class! The launch party will provide appetizers and a silent auction with a stunning array of items for you to bid on. All proceeds raised will help fund the project. Hope to see you there!


Date: April 2, 2008
Where: The Gladstone Hotel -- 1214 Queen Street West
Time: 6pm: Symposium Keynote Address by Dr. Adam Sellen
8pm: Launch Party
Dress: Business Casual

Parking: The hotel does not have parking. There is, however, ample street parking and a municipal Green P lot a block east on the south side of Queen and another one a couple of blocks west on the south side.

Check out our e-invite!

LibraryThing Local is a great resource for mapping your city's libraries, bookstores, and book-related events.

I've never been a member of LibraryThing (one more social networking site I don't have time for!), but when I came across the Local application, I thought it would be a great opportunity to add the Inforum. Registering to use LibraryThing was super easy -- all I had to do was enter a username and a password and, optionally, include my email address. No confirmation email? Sounds good to me!

I can see how this would be an awesome resource for travelers -- avid readers often run out of reading materials on long trips, and finding English- or whatever-language bookstores can be a pain. [Can you tell that I'm talking about myself here? I traveled in Spain for 2.5 weeks with a measly 4 books. It got to the point that I read the travel guide cover to cover. Finally, my companion and I found an English-language bookstore in Seville, where I bought the longest book I could find (all three volumes of The Lord of The Rings in one fabulously huge book). Having a resource like LibraryThing Local would've been more than helpful.]

January 29, 2008 (Toronto) - The graduating class of the Master of Museum Studies program in the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto is setting a precedent. They’re launching a completely virtual exhibition.

Mischief & Malice: Crime in the Museum (www.mischiefandmalice.org) discusses current and intriguing ideas based on chosen case studies involving acts of theft, vandalism, and forgery within museums and cultural heritage institutions. Situated under the rubric of authority, ownership, and law, the ambiguities of these crimes inspires critical and compelling debate. For instance,
• To what extent are issues related to the repatriation of museum collections considered forms of theft?
• Is defacement or alteration of cultural property in the name of art, religion, or politics always an act of vandalism?
• Is appropriation art in fact forgery?

As the museum begins to engage in postmodern practice, these issues are increasingly relevant – especially considering the growing challenges in defining who owns material culture and who has the right to interpret it.

Mischief & Malice will offer high-quality museum content in an innovative and progressive format to a broad audience. Although the website will not officially launch until April 2, 2008, at Toronto’s unique Gladstone Hotel, you can visit www.mischiefandmalice.org in the interim to watch the exhibition develop.

For additional information, please contact:Amanda Burrows,
Fundraising and Marketing team leader
647.438.4997
aburrows@mischiefandmalice.org

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, an article about the breakdown of the membrane between IT departments and libraries.

I found it interesting that some of the institutions being discussed in the article have eliminated the job of head librarian altogether. It's an interesting paradigm, and it may work well for smaller institutions, but is it possible that there is some value to having a capital-L Library run by capital-L Librarians?

Beyond that, this seems to just be going right along with the trend, and as libraries try to keep their fingers in more of the campus informatics pie, it seems like it stands to be even more common.

On a somewhat related note, OCLC releases a Facebook app. Now you can search through their catalog while you're spamming your friends with Vampires invitations!

Labels: IS, libraries, random

The idea of using graphical representation to help navigate network space is not a new idea. A lot of big name companies as well as small software developers spend a lot of cycles on making tools that can present highly technical and sometimes convoluted network topographies.

Researchers at the Swineburn University in Melbourne, Australia have built another such tool, but this one uses the Quake III engine to aid in network visualization & management.

L3DGEWorld 2.2

I think the below video is really cool for a couple of reasons:

1) It's neat to see the sysadmin using familiar tools like nmap in the context of the L3DGEWorld interface, and it made me giggle on a Friday.

2) It's really interesting to think about other domains that something like this could be used in. Would it be cool/useful to be able to visualize and relate different areas of knowledge spatially, and allow users to navigate it by walking around?

Labels: information systems, IS, visualization