Well today was my last day in lovely New Orleans. I was scheduled to help rebuild the New Orleans P.L. Children’s Library; but, unfortunately, what started out as being run down turned into being sick. I woke up feeling awful, and I thought that I might still be able to go. Then I got out of bed. I knew at that moment of nausea there would be no helping to rebuild except for the $10 I volunteered to sign up. I really, really, really wanted to do this—to be a librarian who personally helped rebuild New Orleans. To say that I’m disheartened only begins to describe the way I feel. That said…
Looking back over the last five days, I’ve gained and learned so much. From the excellent programs that I attended to the numerous librarians that I spoke with, I am grateful to 3M and to ALA’s New Members Round Table for giving me the opportunity to learn and share this newly acquired knowledge. This experience has been pivotal in my professional development as well as my personal outlook on librarianship. Our profession sometimes struggles with its role within society and how to meet the true needs of our patrons. After visiting and talking with administrators, librarians, vendors, and anyone else who is somehow affected by the library profession, I know we are on the right track to truly be 21st century librarians. This is an extremely exiting time for us. We have the opportunity to reinvent. We have the opportunity to take quality information and make it convenient. We have the opportunity to be catalysts in the 21st century. And from what I’ve seen—we’re well on our way.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Building the Ultimate Portal & More
Today I went to PLA’s Building the Ultimate Portal: Selection Secrets of the Librarians’ Internet Index (LII). Karen Schneider, Director of LII, was very engaging. The way she presented herself and how she spoke about LII—you could tell she is very intelligent. Although primarily for public libraries, Schneider indicated that some academics will use LII as a means for creating bibliographies. LII currently has 3 FTE’s and 1 cataloger. Schneider indicated that everyone comes from a library background, and she spent some time discussing faceted navigation. In all, it was an excellent program
In the afternoon, I stopped by the vendor hall. I met Ohio’s regional sales representative for the H.W. Wilson Company, Lynda O’Connor. OhioLINK was set to drop H.W. Wilson’s Art Abstract database. So, I asked her what I could do to help OhioLINK make the right decision, i.e. keep Art Abstracts. She said she could get me comparable statistics against another certain database producer that does an arts & humanities database. I hope she can come through ;-)
I also stopped by Casalini Libri. There I met the lovely Kathyrn Paoletti. She introduced me to a new line called DE@ARTE. DE@ARTE is a resource for art librarians with a selection of titles from Central & Eastern Europe. It looks great!
Of course I stopped by 3M’s booth. There I met several regional sales representatives as well as Fred Goodman, president of Public Information Kiosk (of e-library fame – See 3M/NMRT Reception & Social below). I was also given a tour of 3M’s products. Heavy emphasis was placed on RFID technologies. A lot I had seen from Nancy Lensenmayer’s Library Automation class at OCLC. However, I was also shown items that I haven’t seen or haven’t seen in practice. The first item was a moveable work station to add RFID tags—very cool. The next item was machine that 3M uses for RFID-assisted shelf reading. I’ve seen other which look like wands, but this one included a thin, yet sturdy, projection so that one can get in-between books or files. This would be very helpful to retrieve the signal from books that may have fallen behind. The entire sales staff at 3M was knowledgeable and cordial. Dave Pointon and Fred Goodman really made me feel at home. Thanks to everyone I met at the booth.
The day kind of ended rather meekly. I felt a little worn down. So, I went to bed early.
In the afternoon, I stopped by the vendor hall. I met Ohio’s regional sales representative for the H.W. Wilson Company, Lynda O’Connor. OhioLINK was set to drop H.W. Wilson’s Art Abstract database. So, I asked her what I could do to help OhioLINK make the right decision, i.e. keep Art Abstracts. She said she could get me comparable statistics against another certain database producer that does an arts & humanities database. I hope she can come through ;-)
I also stopped by Casalini Libri. There I met the lovely Kathyrn Paoletti. She introduced me to a new line called DE@ARTE. DE@ARTE is a resource for art librarians with a selection of titles from Central & Eastern Europe. It looks great!
Of course I stopped by 3M’s booth. There I met several regional sales representatives as well as Fred Goodman, president of Public Information Kiosk (of e-library fame – See 3M/NMRT Reception & Social below). I was also given a tour of 3M’s products. Heavy emphasis was placed on RFID technologies. A lot I had seen from Nancy Lensenmayer’s Library Automation class at OCLC. However, I was also shown items that I haven’t seen or haven’t seen in practice. The first item was a moveable work station to add RFID tags—very cool. The next item was machine that 3M uses for RFID-assisted shelf reading. I’ve seen other which look like wands, but this one included a thin, yet sturdy, projection so that one can get in-between books or files. This would be very helpful to retrieve the signal from books that may have fallen behind. The entire sales staff at 3M was knowledgeable and cordial. Dave Pointon and Fred Goodman really made me feel at home. Thanks to everyone I met at the booth.
The day kind of ended rather meekly. I felt a little worn down. So, I went to bed early.
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