Library Deans and Directors Meeting, California Community Colleges

To hear the presentations of the CCL Deans and Directors meeting, go to:
http://tinyurl.com/3b6t7c

Last year, there were times when I wondered if I had the energy to carry me the next 5-6 years until my retirement. I felt exhausted and drained from my own professional life. I felt overwhelmed by all the new Web 2.0 initiatives in the social networking environment and also felt like I was left behind in the lightspeed movement of new technologies. I decided to take advantage of my college's professional leave which is parallel to a sabbatical leave.

My goal was to step back from administrative responsbilities to look forward to "new agendas, new methods of serving students in the digital arena, a chance to play with new technologies and plan for the digitization of PCC's resources for our college community, for greater access, and for posterity. And, since I was looking at these initiatives for my own college, I decided to look at what we were all doing in the state as well.

I began with a blog. What an incredible way to track my comings and goings, my diverse activities and thoughts and ideas. With my blogger account in hand, I was on my way. I chose three major areas for my year of study:

1. Attend conferences and workshops relating to this agenda especially those sponsored by the OCLC Digital and Preservation Resources Center.
Take online classes and online workshops to enhance my knowledge {OCLC, SIRSI seminars, @One and Infopeople classes)

2. Explore using Contentdm for PCC's digital objects.
Library unit plans since 2001 have indicated the need to fully explore the wide range of information resources on campus and integrate them into a single access path. The Library is positioned to take a leadership role in this integration.
Preliminary focus will be on consolidating and extending access to existing archival as well as departmental resources (art slides collections, digital music collections, photograph collections including the Courier archives and back files, application software, and historical archives.

3. California Community Colleges and the digital arena
Since I have been Assistant Dean, Library Services, I have taken an active role in statewide agendas. I lead the way and managed the cooperative purchasing effort with the Community College League and the CSU. I formulated the framework for funding a minimal core collection of library resources for each college library through TTIP.
Now, as I consider where PCC needs to go to move forward in the digital arena, I will also survey and assess the status of other community colleges in the state.

It has been an incredible year and if I had to pick three activities that changed my perceptions, it would have to be blogging, a website called 43 things, and the online seminars done by Sirsi (not a commercial from a customer---we are Endeavor-Voyager customers!)

1)You too can blog, it is easy and fun AND you can track your progress.

2) Secondly, take the time to listen to Stephen Abrams online seminar at http://sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php Get ready for the roller coaster ride that Stephen Abrams takes you on: 25 technolgies in 50 minutes. Jot down those that appeal to you and then go to the website 43things.com. This website helps you capture all those things you want to do at some time and place in you life.

3. More than anything, schedule the time to play: just once a week, but every week. Take the opportunity to jump into the water and see what social networking is about. Lastly, let's meet them out there where they live and breathe, It is exhiliarating!

RSS--Wikis--blogs--photoblogs (Flickr)--Tags--YouTube--MP3--Streaming media--Google office--Instant messaging--Meebo Trilliam and GAIM--visualization--Second Life--avatars--Retrievr--Podcasts--MySpace--Facebook--Skype--Library thing--Endeca--Virtual Reference--Folksonomies and TagClouds--Blinkx and Singingfish--and more...

Modesto College

Comment from:

Bakersfield College Library

Wednesday February 28th...

I am on the road and will visit libraries as I head to Sacramento for the Deans and Directors meeting on Friday. I left on Wednesday morning and planned to get through the grapevine and on to Bakersfield College. Yeeks! There was a sign at Magic Mountain that the Grapevine was closed...then I had forgotten to fill up my tank so I was sweating it as I pulled into Gorman. And then...snowflakes! I quickly filled up, jumped in the car and headed for the Grapevine. The roads were so empty but the freeway was open. Apparantly it had just reopened an hour before I arrived. How convenient!

I had called ahead to Anna Agenjo and told her I would drop by to see their library. Mapquest took me a little astray but there it was... Bakersfield College...right across from the Panorama Bluffs and the Kern River oil fields. Now, those of you who know me well, know that I am a country girl at heart...and to see a flock of sheep under the Bakersfield College sign warmed my heart!

I always like to circle the campus to get the "lay of the land" and I was so surprised to see the word "LIBRARY" -- the first sign after the College sign...and it was so visible. The debate about what we call the Library (aka the Learning Resources Center, Information Center, etc.) still rangles me...students never get it anyway but LIBRARY stands on its own, in its glory...and is never misunderstood. Again, it is the first building sign you see as you enter the campus. I found easy, short term parking and found my way to the Grace Van Dyke Bird Library...

The computer commons is on the bottom floor and as I entered the building, it was clear that this place was a hub of activity. Two librarians on their feet, engaged in the instructional process that is so important. Students were also responsive and obviously appreciative of all the things the librarians do...It was a spirit about this place...you know it when you enter, you feel it immediately....alive, engaged, open, collaborative...all the things a library should be...

Anna was in a library orientation so I approached the reference desk and met
Marci Lingo, Nancy Guidry, and Patti Brommelsiek. Marci was kind to give me a great tour of the library including Tech Services where I met Kirk Russell and .....

We then met Anna Agenjo (Dept. Chair) after her orientation and went to lunch. It is amazing that one can walk into a library, introduce yourself, and feel so at home with librarian colleagues. There is always so much to talk about and share....
Wonderful place, wonderful people...