Harsh reality & blog transition

It’s been just over 5 months since my last post.  My goal with this blog was for it to be a writing exercise.  A place to try to train myself to keep a strict writing schedule.  Unfortunately, all my plans have failed me.  Life intervenes and writing gets pushed to the back burner.

With that being said, over the next few months I hope to temporarily transition this site/blog into something else.  I have recently been selected to be a team member on a Group Study Exchange to Lisbon, Portugal with Rotary International.  This program is a cultural exchange where my group will present to Rotary Clubs all over Lisbon about our state (Alabama).  We will also have the opportunity to visit our vocations (for me, libraries) to exchange ideas and learn what their practices are abroad.  I am very excited about this exchange, and I am very much looking forward to meeting some overseas librarians.

While I am over there, I will be documenting all of my travels, programs, and experiences on this blog.  I know I will learn a lot and I am excited to share all of my experiences with you all.

 

The Conference Reboot (Recaps)

After four-ish months have past, I’m finally ready to post my recap of some of the sessions I attended at the ALLA Convention that was held April 2011.  I had a wonderful time, and I learned so much in the short time I was able to attend.  For any of you reading this that may have attended the conference, please feel free to post comments and help me fill in any blanks.

Poster Sessions:

• iReference: Potential Uses of the iPad for Reference Librarians - Rachel Renick and Brett Spencer
• There is a lot of potential for use of the iPad for reference librarians, but I really think it depends on what kind of institution you are working at.  Smaller libraries may not see the need for roving librarians with iPads, but bigger institutions can really benefit from having a librarian make their rounds with their iPad in hand to help those students that may be too unwilling to ask for help.
• Effective Lesson Planning for Bibliographic Instruction – Todd A. Shipman
• Collection Development in the Humanities – Carley Knight
• LibGuides: Behind the Scenes of the Popular Subject Guide Management Tool – Amia Baker
• I enjoyed this poster, because it was the first one I had seen discussing the background of LibGuides, instead of the how to use them presentations. 
• Does a Cover Make a Difference?: A Collection of Catalog Covers – Debbie West
• This presentation was done by one of my co-workers.  She had a display of various covers from all kinds of catalogs showing that the way a cover works can sometimes sway you more into reading it.  It kind of goes along the age of saying “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover…”, but in reality, you really do.
• The Ups & Downs of Library Marketing – Samantha McNeilly
• This poster described the different ways this library utilized their faculty and students in their library marketing.  They found that some of their administrators and students were willing to pose for pictures and created posters involving their university community.
• All the Kids are Doing It: Using QR Codes in an Academic Library – Elizabeth Rugan
• All I have to say about this is that I love, love, LOVE QR Codes in libraries!  My library within the last few months has actually started introducing QR codes throughout our library.  We have codes by our name plates in our office, and have put a few QR codes around the library for students to scan to have our library hours and contact information.  Sheets have also been made to explain what these codes are and how to use them.  Our Access Services staff is currently in the process of making a display to show case this technology and how the library can use it.
• Doodle Polls & Google Spreadsheets: Web Based Scheduling Solutions - Josh Sahib
• I have been using Google spreadsheets for a while, but had never heard of Doodle.  After talking with this librarian, I learned how useful and helpful setting up Doodle polls can be in scheduling or setting up meetings.  Since this presentation, I have actually tried Doodle for setting up a meeting, and found it to be very helpful in narrowing down a time that was convenient for everyone without having to send 20 emails to decide on one time.
• Project Management Opportunities with Service Learning: Students’ Experiences from a Technology Literacy Program – Audrey T. Mickle, Rachel Renick, Sarah Saxton, and Dan Albertson
• I unfortunately missed their session, but found one of their handouts, which I found very informative.

• Presentations:
• Building Smarter Collections (2 part session):
• Flip Cam use in an English 101 class – Amanda Melcher and Kathleen Lowe
• This session was great!  I loved seeing that the librarians came up with a fun way to get their students to understand how to use the library’s online catalog, as well as how to find a book on the shelf.  Patrons at my library don’t have as many problems searching in the catalog as they do searching for books in the stacks.  They’ll write partial call numbers or just the title and then not know where to look.  I also love that the this library will be turning some of those videos into informational videos on their site.  I do believe that students would rather see their peers instead of “old, stuffy librarians” preaching to them about library services.  Kudos!
• Doing More with Less: RFID Technology in Libraries - Carrie Steinmehl and Patricia Guarino
• The second part of the session discussed how a public library implemented RFID technology in their library.  This library began their implementation in several stages to be able to test how well it would work in their library, and be table to tag the entire collection.  Through several grants and the hiring of extra staff to apply all the RFID tags to the collection, the library successfully implemented RFID in their library, as well as other libraries in their county.

• Mentoring New Librarians – Melissa Koener, John-Bauer Graham, Hal Mendelsohn, and Kent Snowden
• During this panel session, four librarians discussed different ways they have experienced mentoring, some through the traditional route and some that was done informally. 

Panelist 1 discussed the many ways she received some informal or how she put it “drive-by” mentoring from some of her library school professors.  From her comments and stories, you don’t need to have a formal mentor set up, but just someone who helps to push you to your goals.  Sometimes just getting involved and keeping your ears open can lead you to new opportunities.

Panelist 2 discussed the formal mentoring program he had set up at his library between junior and senior librarians.  By setting up this program, he helped to lead all his junior librarians faculty members to tenure–which all have achieved and was the goal of the mentoring program (a library full of professors).  The junior faculty received help with their portfolio or advice to help them in their position, and the senior faculty received service credit and satisfaction knowing they helped a fellow member achieve their goal of tenure.

Panelist 3 discussed the formal mentoring program set up by SELA (Southeastern Library Association).  Through this program, a mentee can be set up with a mentor for a period of one year (with the possibility for extension) to encourage development in the library field.  This program is only open to members to SELA, but anyone at any stage of their library career can be involved in the program.

Panelist 4 discussed his involvement as a mentor for SELA.  He gave positive feedback of his experience helping another librarian, who was in her first library position (director of a small library), become acquainted with the many things demanded of a librarian in her position.

Musical inspiration: Blind Pilot “We are the Tide” –First listen from NPR.

Conference Home Stretch

The end of the American Library Association Annual Conference is only two days away, and I can’t believe how quickly time flew.  A lot of great sessions (sad I couldn’t go to all the ones I was planning on attending, but thank goodness for ALA Connect!), tons of awesome ideas shared (can’t wait until next Annual!), and I got to meet some people I had been hoping to bump into during the conference.  It was also great seeing some old faces–reconnecting with former classmates or coworkers (which I find to always be very important).  Also, it was great connecting with my colleagues in a way we haven’t been able to, since we’re always so segmented with our day-to-day work tasks.  Overall, I’ve had a wonderful experience at ALA.

I’m currently in the process of typing up all of my notes with the hopes for a post highlighting some of the sessions I was able to attend.  I’m looking forward to sitting down with my G. Reader next weekend and reading all the recaps other librarians are sharing via their blog.

Until then….for those of you who were unable to attend the conference, check out just a few pictures I was able to take of the city during some downtime.  The weather has been rather mild, in comparison to what New Orleans is typically like, and the rain has stayed away almost the entire weekend.  Cheers!

St. Louis Cathedral--French Quarter, New Orleans, LA

Downtown New Orleans, facing away from the river front.

Next stop, New Orleans!

I am slowly starting to brim with excitement, anxiety, anticipation, (and so many other things!) for ALA this week.  It is still hard to believe that the conference is only a few days away, and I couldn’t be more ready for it to be here.  I am so happy that this year the conference will be taking place down South and in such a cultural place, New Orleans.  New Orleans has to be one of my favorite places to visit, and I wish I would have spent more time there while I was still living within a day trip’s distance from it.

There are quite a few things I know will happen while I’m at the conference.
1.) I will be surrounded by thousands of amazing people.
2.) I will get to meet a hefty handful of these thousands of amazing people.
3.) Tons of ideas (and business cards) will be shared.
4.) Twitter will be overwhelmed by librarians and their conferences tweets (#ala11!!)
5.) There will be so much going on, that I probably won’t know where to begin each day.
6.) I know that I will be beginning each day with a massive cup of coffee will be in my hand.
7.) I will be connected with tons of people who share the same interests and passions I do.
8.) Delicious food (preferably Cajun or anything New Orleans) will be consumed (Mother’s, Cafe Maspero, Desire, Deanie’s, Port of Call, Mulatte’s, Cafe du Monde, Central Grocery, The Old Coffee Pot Restaurant, etc….).
9.) I will hardly get any sleep, so I can cram everything in that I want to do.
And last but not least, something I’m looking forward to the most…..
10.) I will get the opportunity to reconnect with all of my Mississippi librarian friends/former colleagues.

I hope all of you guys traveling to ALA will have a safe journey, tons of fun, and I hope to meet I get the opportunity to meet some of you there.  If you haven’t already packed like I have, check out Librarian By Day’s post about surviving the conference.  If you see me anywhere in the conference area, feel free to stop me and say hello!

Shameless self-promotion: Come check out my presentation “Merging SIRSI Item Types at Troy University” with my colleagues Ruth Elder and Olga Knyaz at the ALCTS Cataloging Management Interest Group session Saturday at 1:30 at the Hilton, and a poster session “Make Mine to Go: Comparison of Web-based Bibliographic Management Tools” with my friend and former colleague Cynthia Wetzel Saturday at 3:30 in the Convention Center Exhibit Hall!  I hope to see some of you there! 

Musical inspiration: The National “High Violet”

Silence on the interwebs

It’s been almost a month since my last post, which means I’ve gone completely against my personal goal of trying to post at least every other week.  The end of the semester was a very busy time at my library, then I fell ill, and went on vacation to visit my family, as well as, general sightseeing on the way back from visiting family.  I’ve been internet-less for almost 2 weeks now (I started going through withdrawals!), and it’s amazing how lost you can feel without being connected.  Granted, I do have an iPhone, but it’s really not the same as having your computer up and running.

With ALA fast approaching (2 weeks and counting!), I know that I will quickly be thrust back into the library world once I get back to work tomorrow.  With a poster session and a presentation in the process of being complete for the conference (yes, I will be a very busy lady at ALA–which I’m totally looking forward to), I will be back online with tons more information to post.  I’m also hoping to blog about conference, which will help me get back into the swing of things.

For now, I’ll just leave you all with a picture of one of the places I went to during my hiatus.  Cheers!

Cloud Gate, Millennium Park, Chicago