ALA Midwinter 2012: Why Running Shoes May be Required

I don’t know about you, but my ALA Midwinter 2012 schedule is filling up quickly. Here at Elsevier, we have a lot planned for Midwinter, including our 14th Digital Libraries Symposium (read more about below). We’ll be at booth #2229, where you can get personalized demos and play the SciVerse Apps Game. You can get a preview of the game by watching this YouTube video now.

As if the DLS isn’t enough, we’re thrilled to be unveiling the Power to the Librarian project at Midwinter. The project brings together the experiences of exceptional library professionals who are empowering their users to achieve great success. These experiences are presented as case studies on the Power to the Librarian website. The project also will feature webcasts with some of your librarian peers. The first webcast, scheduled for Thursday, January 19, at 2:00 PM EST, is themed “Where Library Science and IT Meet,” and will feature Jenn Stringer, MLS, and current Director of Academic Technology Services, New York University. Register for the webinar now.

As far as ALA Midwinter goes, below are some sessions, activities and social events of interest. Which are you planning on attending? Let me know by commenting on our blog.

Fun Run 5K & Walk, Saturday, January 21, 7:00 am to 9:00 am, Reverchon Park

Open to all, the Fun Run 5K & Walk once again will take place in Dallas, where it debuted in 1984. Participation includes an event t-shirt, goody bag, and an awards ceremony. The cost is $30 per person. You can register through your personal registration page under the ‘ticketed events’ section, or visit the ‘Special Assistance’ desk during registration hours.

I’m running? Are you? Get more information on the Fun Run now.

New Standards for Libraries in Higher Education, Saturday, January 21, 8:00 am to 10:00 am, Sheraton Dallas Hotel, Houston Ballroom C

Presented by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), this forum will offer an opportunity for academic librarians to learn more about the new Standards for Libraries in Higher Education approved by the ACRL Board and released in October 2011. Attendees will learn how these standards differ from previous standards and learn about the services ACRL will offer to support librarians in applying the standards for the purposes of strategic planning, program review, and institutional effectiveness.

Learn more and register for the session now.

How to Save Your Library Using Grassroots Strategies: Success Stories, Saturday, January 21, 10:30 am to 12:00 pm, Dallas Convention Center, C141

Presented by the ALA Washington Office, this session will feature advocacy guru Stephanie Vance, who will share valuable tips on how to influence policymakers during tough economic times. Attendees also will hear success stories from library advocates around the country and what they have done to influence policymakers in their community. Attendees will walk away with 10 principles for grassroots success.

Learn more and register for the session now. Also, be sure to read the June issue of the Library Connect Newsletter. Themed “Marketing the Library,” it’s all about marketing and demonstrating the value of the library to patrons and stakeholders.

Is a PhD in LIS the next move for your career?, Saturday, January 21, 10:30 am to 12:00 pm, Dallas Convention Center, C149

This session will feature a panel discussion with current PhD candidates followed by an open forum to discuss options and opportunities. This session is being presented as part of the recruitment for the next round of Spectrum Doctoral Fellowships, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Learn more and register for the session now.

Are you pursuing, or thinking about pursuing, a PhD in LIS? You can share your thoughts and experiences by guest blogging on the Library Connect Blog. Please email me if you are interested.

14th Digital Libraries Symposium
Beyond the database: Digital services enabling patrons' success
Saturday, January 21, 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Dallas Convention Center, Room: C155

While offering online content is currently the norm for academic libraries, pioneering librarians now are working on ways to support advanced electronic resources, and develop and implement online applications to support teaching and research at their institutions. With this in mind, Elsevier’s 14th Digital Libraries Symposium (DLS), themed “Beyond the Database: Digital Services Enabling Patrons’ Success,” will explore this topic and feature two technology librarians and a libraries dean. The panelists will speak about how digital services supported by the library impact their patrons’ success.

The DLS panel is scheduled to include:

Jason Casden
Digital Technologies Development Librarian
North Carolina State University Libraries

Rudy Leon
Technology Training and Outreach Librarian
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Steven Smith
Libraries Dean
University of Tennessee

You can register to attend the DLS now.

I’ll be live-tweeting the DLS. For those who want to follow along, submit questions and comments, or can’t make it but want to stay updated on the discussion, follow the hashtag #ElsevierDLS2012. And, of course, you can follow all my conference tweets by following Library Connect @library_connect.

5th Newbie & Veteran Librarian Tweet-up, Saturday, January 21, 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm, Anvil Pub

Music, drinks, librarians…what else do I need to say? The Anvil Pub is located at 2638 Elm Street in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas. You can RSVP today or get more information on the Facebook event page.

ALA MW '12 After-Hours Social, Saturday, January 21, 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm, LaGrange

There's no cover charge…librarians go straight through the silver doors to a separate room and NOT into the line where they will be asking for a cover. Even better? It's only a few doors down from the Tweet-up at the Anvil Pub. View the Facebook event page now.

Academic Library Services to International Students, Sunday, January 22, 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm, Sheraton Dallas Hotel, Lone Star Ballroom C3

Scheduled to be moderated by Victor Baeza, Director of Library Graduate and Research Services, Oklahoma State University, this session will provide academic librarians with a forum to present on and discuss issues related to providing various types of library service to international patrons. Current ongoing project examples for providing quality services to their international constituencies will be discussed.

Learn more and register for the session now.

That’s just a small selection of the open sessions and events going on at ALA Midwinter 2012. Those participating in the Fun Run 5K & Walk might want to leave their running shoes on. As you can see, there are lots of sessions to get to and lots of activities to do this year. I hope to see you (or at least run by you) there!

Joe Walsh
Social Media Manager, Library Connect
j.walsh@elsevier.com

2012 LIBER Award for Library Innovation Abstract Submissions now being Accepted

The 2012 LIBER Award for Library Innovation will honor the three abstracts that best describe innovative work in the overall theme of the 2012 LIBER Conference, "Mobilizing the knowledge economy for Europe." The deadline for abstract submissions is January 31, 2012.

Award-winners will be selected from the abstracts for papers/posters submitted for the 2012 Conference, to be held June 27-30, 2012, in Tartu, Estonia.

Specific criteria for the award selection will be:

Level of innovation

Impact on the wider library community

Scalability of the idea

Expected return-on-investment

The LIBER Award for Library Innovation prize includes the opportunity to present the winning paper/poster at the 2012 Conference, free registration, plus travel expenses and accommodations. The trio of winners will be informed by the LIBER Award Committee no later than March 30, 2012.

According to the conference website, topics of interest include, but are not limited to (visit the LIBER Award for Library Innovation information page for full listing):

Shared services/national and international collaboration, cloud services, cloud computing

End-user needs, end-user feedback, end-user surveys

Primary research data

New skills for library staff

New (mobile) devices

Economic crisis: how libraries have managed, success stories; ideas for cost reductions

Submissions can consist of the following:

Research papers presenting theoretical solutions, but with a clear illustration on how these solutions can be applied

Position papers presenting opinions on some aspect of practice, or describing work that is still in progress, but sufficiently mature to warrant attention

Experiences and case studies specifying requirements, challenges or opportunities

Best practices

For more information, visit the Call for Papers/Posters page and the LIBER Award for Library Innovation information page on the 41st Annual LIBER Conference website. Good luck to those who submit abstracts!

Joe Walsh
Social Media Manager, Library Connect
j.walsh@elsevier.com

Defining a Librarian in the Information Age: Can it be done?

Quick, fill in the blanks:

A Librarian in the information age is most like a ____________________________ because ____________________________.

So what did you come up with? Not easy, is it? To narrow down the multitude of choices for these two blanks is a challenge when you consider how much librarians are expected to know and do in our always evolving information age. What I see out on social media only adds credence to this thought. On Twitter, for example, I’ve seen tweets from librarians that say their job description has changed or new responsibilities suddenly have fallen into their lap. To paraphrase one tweet from a librarian I recently came across: “I mentioned I use Twitter so now I’m suddenly the library’s social media marketing guru!” Can you relate? You might not be your library’s new social media marketing guru, but I’m sure you’ve had some unexpected job responsibilities thrown your way.

With that in mind, can you fill in the blanks yet?

A Librarian in the information age is most like a ____________________________ because ____________________________.

My asking you to fill in the blanks is not without reason. We just released the latest issue of the Library Connect Newsletter, themed “Librarian 2.0 and Beyond.” Just like there are seemingly endless choices to fill in the blanks above, there are limitless ways to define how to become, or what being, a “Librarian 2.0 and Beyond” entails.

According to Helen Partridge at Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia), being a librarian 2.0 is not just about learning new skills, but rather, how librarians view themselves and their profession. In other words, to borrow the headline of Helen’s article, “It's all in the attitude.” Hiroya Takeuchi from Chiba University in Japan echoes Helen’s sentiment when it concerns librarians needing to define their roles. In “The new role of librarians at Chiba University's Academic Link,” Hiroya says librarians need to move toward an active role in education and learning. From his point of view, this approach is one way — and perhaps the only way — to establish a solid professional foundation for librarianship in Japan.

With more than 30 years experience as a university librarian, M. Luisa Álvarez-de-Toledo at the Universidad de Oviedo (Spain) has witnessed many changes to the librarian profession. More importantly, however, she has embraced them. In “Librarians are engaging in new roles, such as helping to improve the discoverability and raise the impact of their researchers' academic publications,” Luisa says librarians’ day-to-day tasks have become more technical and specialized, and it's essential that new knowledge be embraced to best serve the university community. With that in mind, Luisa says three tasks have become prominent in her daily activities:

The promotion, evaluation and marketing of academic publications on the Internet, i.e., academic search engine optimization (SEO);

the development and creation of semantic content for Web 3.0; and

the application of social media tools in Web 2.0

Aaron Tay from the National University of Singapore also has embraced the opportunity to become more technical. In “To connect with today's library users, librarians need to implement and stay abreast of the latest communications technologies and tools,” Aaron admits he’s not a coder, but because librarians deal with information, he says “there is no getting away from the use of information technology.” Aaron also has embraced social media and now manages many of his library's social media and chat channels. You can follow Aaron on Twitter @aarontay.

By showcasing a selection of articles from our latest newsletter, you see there are so many ways to define librarian 2.0…and fill in the blanks. Rudy Leon from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign may have summed this conundrum up best with her article’s headline, “Retooling library staff to take on the future, where a state of flux is the new normal.”

So have you thought of your answers yet? I want to know how you would fill in these blanks:

A Librarian in the information age is most like a ____________________________ because ____________________________.

You can send me your responses through Twitter @library_connect, post them on the Library Connect Facebook page, leave a comment here on the blog, or if you want to keep your answers confidential, email me at j.walsh@elsevier.com. Please send me your feedback by January 31. I plan on doing a follow up post in early February so I can share all the answers provided by you and your librarian colleagues.

Joe Walsh
Social Media Manager, Library Connect
j.walsh@elsevier.com

An Interview with the Apps for Library Idea Challenge Community Choice Grand Prize Winner

This week, we have a Q&A with Andrea Szwajcer, Clinical Librarian at University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), the winner of the Apps for Library Idea Challenge Community Choice Grand Prize for her app idea, JTOCs 2 Go (you also can read the interview conducted with Ke Khoon Low, Librarian at National University of Singapore, who was named the winner of the Judge’s Choice Grand Prize). According to Andrea’s submission, the JTOCs 2 Go app would easily customize a journal table of contents service. As part of this, links would be configured to an institutional license to enable full-text access. Read more about the JTOCs 2 Go app idea now.

Andrea answered some questions for us and shared her thoughts about the Challenge, her app idea, and of course, how it feels to be the Community Choice Grand Prize Winner.

Why did you decide to contribute an app idea?

It was somewhat serendipitous the way I came to know about and participate in the Challenge. I was searching in Scopus and saw the banner advertising the Challenge. There was this issue that my colleagues and I have been trying to address in an efficient way. I saw the Challenge and thought why not submit it? So, I did.

I must confess I forgot about it as I had low expectations of even making it to the finals. The email telling me I was one of the finalists had to be re-read a few times to make sure it was “real” mail and not spam! I then was inspired to harness my own social network tools to get the votes since several people told me that my app definitely was needed. I’d like to thank the medical librarian community, my colleagues, and especially the members of the Canadian Health Libraries Association for their voting support. I would not have received the Community Choice Award without them.

How did you come up with your app idea?

At our institution, and at others I have since discovered, we are trying to find a tool that meets this seemingly simple need: to set up any number of journal table of contents with a clean display and be able to access the full-text via institution affiliation or personal subscription; and share the citation(s) easily via different social media tools (e.g. Mendeley, Twitter). This was the app idea I submitted to the Challenge. When I determined that the Challenge was hosted by Elsevier, I thought well, if anyone can make this happen, surely Elsevier can. Since I won the contest, I’ve been asked about when the app will be available. The hunger for something that comes close to addressing this issue is huge.

What do you think of the Apps for Library Idea Challenge?

I think it is a great opportunity for those in the library community to think of the gaps they encounter day to day and be offered a chance to try and address it, if there’s a technological solution for it. I don’t have any programming expertise, so having the chance to work with someone who does to solve a problem like this is exciting. More importantly, for my idea to work, you need the ability to harness large amounts of meta-data and have it directed in the way that solves the problem. Only by partnering with a large publishing organization such as Elsevier or an aggregator is it possible to attempt to solve problems like this.

What do you hope for the future for applications on SciVerse, or more generally, applications of technology to facilitate research and/or education?

I really was hoping when I submitted my idea that it could be mobile immediately. I was a little disappointed to find out that SciVerse at this time does not include mobile apps but I have hope that, because of the open platform that SciVerse apps are based on, some enterprising programmer will take that next step when my app is available to make it mobile. To make this the ideal current awareness tool that people want, it needs to be mobile.

As for applications more generally speaking, well that’s where it’s going. I mean the number of apps have grown to meet the demand, but there needs to be a better evaluation process. Part of the challenge when I look at an app description is trying to figure out what exactly will it do. I ask myself: will it deliver on what it promises? How does this fit with the other things I use/do?
That is a lot of time expenditure, not only in selecting but seeing how it fits in with how I work. Not everyone wants to take that time. Moreover, there’s a lot of overlap in certain functionalities and/or only slight nuances that differentiate certain app classes. There needs to be a visual mapping and/or standard classification system developed to manage the app explosion to assist people in figuring out the “lay of the app land” to make better choices for their needs.

Incidentally, when I was investigating the Challenge prior to my submission, I confess I was ignorant of the SciVerse Applications gallery. Needless to say, I have got several now working for me as part of my searches and will be promoting them to my colleagues.

Developing app ideas is just one of the many new tasks being taken on by librarians. In the latest Library Connect Newsletter, librarians from around the globe discuss how their roles continue to change and evolve. Read the issue, themed “Librarian 2.0 and beyond” now.

Joe Walsh
Social Media Manager, Library Connect
j.walsh@elsevier.com

An Interview with an Apps for Library Idea Challenge Winner

As I wrote the morning it happened, the winners of the Apps for Library Idea Challenge were announced at the recent Charleston Conference. Ke Khoon Low (pictured), Librarian at National University of Singapore, was announced as the winner of the Judge’s Choice Grand Prize for her app idea, Journal Conferences@Your Fingertips. According to Ke Khoon, this app could be used to identify the top 20 journal/conference titles related to the user’s search results. The app also would provide RSS feeds on the latest table of contents for those top 20 journals.

Ke Khoon recently answered some questions for us and shared her thoughts about the Challenge, her app idea, and of course, how it feels to be one of the Grand Prize winners.

Why did you decide to contribute an app idea?

As an avid user of databases for many years, I have seen the development of databases in many areas, especially in terms of reference lists and results refinement /analysis. ScienceDirect has been my favorite platform since I started my career as an academic librarian, so when the opportunity for me to make a difference arrived, I put my heart and mind into my app idea. It was a lovely surprise to learn my app idea was selected by the judges!

How did you come up with your app idea?

I submitted a total of three app ideas, all of which were derived from my over 10 years of work and research experience as a librarian. Also, through personal experiences of conducting research and writing a thesis for my Masters of Science (Information Studies), and having submitted an article that was published in a journal, I’ve realized the importance of having as much aid as possible from the customizable features of relevant databases.

What do you think of the Apps for Library Idea Challenge?

I think the Challenge was very meaningful. The focus frequently is on the database users only, but the Challenge encouraged app ideas that will help librarians in their daily work and solve the problems they face each day.

We may think some of the app ideas on our wish lists may be impossible to realize, but this event provided us with the much-needed support for the development of the app idea that was on our wish list.

What do you hope for the future for applications on SciVerse, or more generally, applications of technology to facilitate research and/or education?

I hope that future applications of technology will be able to transcend across different database platforms and provide researchers with ways and means to conduct their research easily, whether it is an extensive literature review, a quick background understanding of a topic, or just keeping watch on a current topic trend.

The Challenge may be over but you still can visit the Apps for Library Idea Challenge website to review all the app submissions and comments from your librarian peers. Also, be sure to visit the SciVerse Applications Gallery to review the dozens of free apps available for download today.

Joe Walsh
Social Media Manager, Library Connect
j.walsh@elsevier.com

Winners of Apps for Library Idea Challenge Announced at Charleston Conference 2011

The Charleston Conference 2011 started in an apps-olutely great way this morning, and I’m not just talking about the great cup of coffee I had. Rather, the winners of the Apps for Library Idea Challenge were announced during the conference’s opening plenary session.

Congratulations to the winners, who are:

Grand Prize – Judges' Choice

Ke Khoon Low, Librarian at National University of Singapore, is the winner of the Judge’s Choice Grand Prize for the app idea submission, Journal Conferences @ Your Fingertips. According to Ke Khoon’s submission, this app could be used to identify the top 20 journal/conference titles related to the user’s search results. It would do so by counting the number of articles retrieved from each journal and providing a ranking for the top 20 journal/conference titles that these articles appear in. The app also would provide RSS feeds on the latest table of contents for those top 20 journals. You can read more about the Journal Conferences @ Your Fingertips app idea now.

Grand Prize – Community Choice

The judges have their top choice, and so too do you, the voting community. The Community Choice Grand Prize goes to the JTOCs 2 GO submission from Andrea Szwajcer, Librarian at University of Manitoba, Canada. According to Andrea, the JTOCs 2 Go app would easily customize a journal table of contents service. As part of this, links would be configured to an institutional license to enable full-text access. Read more about the JTOCs 2 Go app idea now.

Congratulations to Ke Khoon and Andrea, who each were awarded €750 (approximately USD$1000) for their respective prizes.

Contributor Prize Drawing

David Bello, Research Administrator at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, is the winner of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 16GB WiFi tablet after his app idea submission, SciVerse Live Chat, was picked in the random contributor prize drawing.

The SciVerse Live Chat app would use live chat technologies to connect library assistants with researchers. Whenever a researcher needs help, they would click the “Live Chat” app and be connected with a local library assistant. According to David, the app also would create an excellent channel to teach users who use SciVerse.

Congratulations to David, as well as the 10 winners of the commenter prizes, who each were awarded a €35 (approximately USD$50) American Express gift card.

The Apps for Library Idea Challenge may be over but the fun is just getting started. Next up is attempting to build the two grand prize winning ideas into actual apps. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on this progress…now time for me to get back to all the happenings at the Charleston Conference 2011.

Joe Walsh
Social Media Manager, Library Connect
j.walsh@elsevier.com

LIANZA Conference 2011: Passion, People and Power…and Sessions

Te Ihi, Te Wehi, Te Wana – Passion, People and Power is the theme for the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) Conference 2011, which is being held from October 30 to November 2 in Wellington, New Zealand. As I’ve done for other recent library conferences (ALA, SLA, IFLA, ALIA, Charleston), I’ve reviewed the LIANZA Conference 2011 program and have identified some sessions of interest for those who are attending (see below).


Attendees can get a head start on the conference by liking the LIANZA Conference 2011 Facebook page. They also can use the ShowGizmo App, which will allow them to go paperless and collect virtual brochures and information from exhibitors. You can scan the Elsevier code (pictured left or click here) after you download the ShowGizmo App to your smartphone (iPhone, BlackBerry or Android). Elsevier, by the way, will be at booth 19 during the conference.

Monday, October 31

The Fearless Librarian: Lessons that can be Learned from the Virtual Librarian

This workshop will explore how, in the absence of the library as a place, the virtual librarian is dealing with patrons. The workshop also will explore if librarians respond differently in the virtual environment than they do in face-to-face situations.

Speaking of the virtual librarian, the next issue of the Library Connect Newsletter will explore how librarians’ roles have changed and evolved. The issue, themed “Librarian 2.0 and Beyond” will be out in November. You can sign up for your free subscription to the newsletter today.

Social Media for Special Librarians

This workshop is designed to engage special librarians in conversations about social media and how they can use it as a marketing tool and/or a listening tool. Issues that will be examined during the workshop include using social media as a research tool, the risks around communicating with the public from within an organization, privacy, communicating with colleagues and use of social media sites at work.

Social media, of course, is just one way to market your library. The June issue of the Library Connect Newsletter explores how librarians at Texas Tech University, Boise State University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, among others, are marketing the value of their libraries. To learn more, read the June issue of the Library Connect Newsletter today.

Tuesday, November 1

E-Readers: Devices for Passionate Leisure Readers or an Empowering Scholarly Resource?

This presentation will discuss a study undertaken at Loughborough University, which sought to determine the ways e-readers might be used in, or supported by, the university library. Devices examined in the study included the Kindle, Sony Touch, iRiver Story and iPad.

Speaking of iPads, don’t forget, if you download the SciVerse Mobile Apps before November 4, you will be registered for a chance to win an iPad2. Learn more now.

Librarians are not Hospice Workers: Best Practice Strategies for Demonstrating Value and Influence in Academic Libraries

As you all know, amidst uncertain funding, increasing expectations, and pressure to demonstrate value, many librarians are required to create new and creative ways to cut back on or outsource library services, collection building and planning. With this in mind, this session will explore how libraries are demonstrating value with return on investment (ROI) research projects.

For more on the ROI of academic libraries, you should read this Library Connect publication:

University Investment in the Library, Phase II: An International Study of the Library's Value to the Grants Process (pdf)

How is your library demonstrating its value? You can share your strategies, tips and tactics by guest blogging on the Library Connect Blog. Feel free to email me at j.walsh@elsevier.com if you are interested.

I won’t be at the LIANZA Conference 2011, but I’m hoping you’ll keep me updated on Twitter by using the hashtag #LIANZA11. I look forward to seeing your tweets. Have a great conference!

Joe Walsh
Social Media Manager, Library Connect
j.walsh@elsevier.com