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.

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.

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.

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”

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

“Position of greatest advancement or importance; the forefront”
via Freedictionary.com

Layman’s terms: Being on the forefront or the leader of change(s)–no matter how big or small.  As for being cutting-edge, it a can be a difficult task.  A way to start on your path of being cutting-edge, I suppose, is that it’s not so much about being cutting-edge, but being willing to just embrace whatever it is that’s new and just run with it.  Take chances.  Start small and it could take off into something huge.  Over the last couple of years one thing I’ve learned (and LOVED) about librarians is that they’re not afraid to embrace change and make whatever it is new into something of their own.  I’m not solely talking about librarians newer to the profession, but seasoned vets that have had years of experience learning and reaching out to where the users are.

Quick example:
When all of these social media platforms (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc…) started appearing some of the first people or organizations starting to explore these online havens were librarians.  We’ve learned that we need to go where are patrons are, and that we need to learn how to use these tools to help teach those that come through our doors how to use them.  If they’re on Facebook, we’re on Facebook.  If they’re on Twitter, we’re tweeting right along with them.  By making this connection with our users, being on their level (a more social level), it makes it easier to build some sort of relationship with them and have them not be “afraid” to come to the library for research help or advice.

Ok, maybe a not so quick example, but with all of that said, I guess the only thing I’ve come up with is just DO.  Be brave enough to take a chance on something that you think can really help and get the ball rolling or even take something that has already been done and make it all your own.  A remix, for that matter.  Using something that has already established, but in new ways.  If the world is going in that direction (whatever “that” is), something may spark in your brain, which can then turn into something new, something “cutting-edge.”

Maybe, after all, that’s the answer to my question.  Taking the all too familiar term “remix” and using it to create cutting-edge things.  I know everyone wants to be original and that there are more things that need to be created, but sticking with what already exists and making it better; that sounds like a good start to me.  I think we all tend to think in terms of BIG when the term “cutting-edge” is used.  So many big places are doing things that some of us can only dream of doing, but all of these things start with small ideas.  Starting small and making it big.  Maybe even starting with a blog!

In conclusion, my answer is: I don’t know how to be cutting-edge when everyone else is beating me to the punch.  I wish I did, but for now I’m just going to be open to whatever new and cutting-edge thing emerges in the next 10 seconds.  One way to get some good ideas is to check out the list of this year’s Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers 2011.  I will warn you now, if you haven’t already checked out this list, all of these people will make you tired just thinking about all of the amazing work they’ve done.  I commend them on all of their hard-work, because all of them have inspired me to keep continuing on with making changes for the better.

What do you think about the label “cutting edge”?  Comment below.  I look forward to reading everyone’s comments on this topic.

Musical Influence: Adele “21″ (I’m still stuck on this CD!)

The point of this post is to remember to make time for fun literature.  I know that reading about the latest technology, instruction trend or new web tool can be fun, but sometimes we (namely I) need to set those books down and refresh with something else.

What kind of books do you find yourself turning to when you want to bring your mind back to life?

Musical inspiration: Ellie Goulding “Lights”

My next step in experimenting with this app will be collaborating on a presentation with a colleague that lives several hundred miles from me (hopefully she won’t mind!).  The end result I’m hoping for is that by saving the single file in Dropbox, we will both be able to edit the content without any shifts in format like I sometime find using when Google Docs or that you get from saving and emailing over and over again.

My hypothesis was correct, and it really did making working on the project much easier than actually sitting side by side working on it together.  The person I ended up running my “test Dropbox collaboration” theory with was a coworker on a different floor on my library.  Every time she created new files/art for the project, she was able to simple save her files from her home (or work) computer, and then I was able to immediately access them to start compiling all of our information. This turned out to be a wonderful method for working on our project (a conference poster session), which you can see by accessing this link.  If only I had “discovered” this tool a few months ago, I could have saved a lot of time and energy with projects done with librarians at the other campuses.

What kind of experiences have you tried with Dropbox?  I’d love to hear more stories about its different uses.
Musical inspiration: Adele “21″

Conferences are great because you’re able to see all the amazing things people are doing at their libraries, why they’re doing it, how they came about doing it, and then trying to think of ways to do them at your library.  It also provides a great forum for networking with other librarians.  Finding people that may be in the same “boat” as you, finding newbies to bond with and veterans that are more than willing to answer questions or provide advice about all their years in the field that you’re just now experiencing.  After attending several sessions and talking with a variety of people about their poster sessions, I’ve come away with a lot of really good ideas to “annoy” my colleagues with.  After speaking with a few of them [colleagues] during and the day after the conference, we’ve all come back with quite a few projects to tackle to help develop things we already have going on at our library.  Since summer is right around the corner, attending a conference scheduled in April is perfect because it’s not too much longer until the spring term ends and all of our summer projects can begin.

Here is a list of the sessions I attended this past week at ALLA Conference.  Once I get all my notes in front of me, I’ll be posting more in-depth about all of the sessions I attended, and updating the ones I may have missed on this list.

• Poster Sessions:
• iReference: Potential Uses of the iPad for Reference Librarians - Rachel Renick and Brett Spencer
• 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
• Does a Cover Make a Difference?: A Collection of Catalog Covers – Debbie West (a fellow coworker)
• The Ups & Downs of Library Marketing – Samantha McNeilly
• All the Kids are Doing It: Using QR Codes in an Academic Library – Elizabeth Rugan
• Doodle Polls & Google Spreadsheets: Web Based Scheduling Solutions - Josh Sahib
• 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
• Doing More with Less: RFID Technology in Libraries - Carrie Steinmehl and Patricia Guarino
• Mentoring New Librarians – Melissa Koener, John-Bauer Graham, Hal Mendelsohn, and Kent Snowden

If you noticed, I attended more poster sessions this year than I did presentations.  I find them to be the underdogs of conferences.  So much research is being done and presented that way instead of the typical “full program presentation,” that I didn’t want to miss anything that any of them had to say.  Needless to say, they all provided a wealth of knowledge that I hope to use in developing/enhancing things already going on at my library.

I also had two presentations at this year’s conference.  A poster session, “It’s a Blogger’s World: Libraries and Librarians in Cyberspace” with my coworker (and future MLIS student!) Alexandra Aldridge, and a panel session, “Best Practices for Collaboration in Technical Services and How it Can Filter out to the Rest of the Library” with Ruth Elder, Olga Knyaz and Jana Slay, Technical Services Librarians at the other two campus libraries at my university.

I will be posting briefly about these two sessions, along with all of the ones I listed above, on my conference sessions post later this week.

Musical inspiration: Moxy Fruvous “Live Noise”

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been experimenting with the web application, DropBox.  If you’re like me and either haven’t heard of this or haven’t explored it, click on the link now (we both get some free storage if you click the link!), and start exploring.  As the site states, it’s “an easy way to store, sync, and share files online.”  In layman’s terms, something way easier to keep up with than a flash drive! You can use the web interface, install it on your computer (or any computer you used for that matter), iPod touches, iPads, and even on your smart phones (iPhone, Andriod, Blackberry).  There are free storage options with the ability to get more storage with every friend you recommend to use the application, as well as the option to upgrade your services to get more storage for a reasonable fee each month or for the year.

Now, for putting it to use.  I’ve been experimenting with it for the past two weeks.  I’ve been using some of my friends as guinea pigs (sorry guys!), sharing various files to see how easy the application is to use and how useful it could actually be in any setting.  I have used the web interface, installed it to my iPhone, and last night I decided to installed the desktop application on my computer (Mac).  All in all, all of those options have been a breeze to use, and I have been able to access all of the files that have been uploaded from each device.  By far the easiest way I have found to upload information has been by installing it to my computer and then just sliding files into folders.  The files sync much faster than relying on the uploader.  I have yet to have any problems with sharing folders or files, and have not heard of any problems from the friends that have been using the program with me.  Sharing has been a breeze; a new person can be added to share any folder with two clicks.  My next step in experimenting with this app will be collaborating on a presentation with a colleague that lives several hundred miles from me (hopefully she won’t mind!).  The end result I’m hoping for is that by saving the single file in DropBox, we will both be able to edit the content without any shifts in format like I sometime find using when Google Docs or that you get from saving and emailing over and over again.

If anyone would like a little more “in use” information, check out these ProfHacker links (Stop E-mailing Files to Yourself ; Using DropPhox During Class to Manage Photos), one of Librarian by Day’s Top 10 Links lists, at Collaboration Tools – Higher Education, just to name a few.

Comment away!  I love hearing about other people’s experiences, suggestions, how-tos, etc….

Musical influence: Local Natives “Gorilla Manor”