Moving forward: think, reflect, play...

This is a test using...Jott to Blogger

2007-10-28T20:54:00.001-07:00

This is a test using Jott to post to my blogger account. listen
Powered by Jott

Note: I use this great program called Jott to capture all those things I need to jot down whether I am in the car, at the market, or at home. Jott.com is a free software that takes my recorded voice and transcribes it into an email...and I can also send a JOTT to other people as well. It is better than leaving a message since the message can be easily misplaced or deleted and an email keeps a nice record. A new feature is that I can call JOTT and send a message to post to this Blogger account. Very cool especially for people who have too many irons in the fire!

Facebook

2007-10-23T07:50:00.001-07:00

After going to the OCLC Members' Council meeting, I was reflecting on all I had heard and although Stephen Abrams' presentation was acidic and negative, I did come away with over 20 things I want to investigate. Now I have tried MySpace and found the site to be less than desirable. My kids said it was easy to "trick out" and then I found out their cousin did all their pages! When I signed up for Facebook, I was able to easily navigate it and select friends through my email lists as well as from my college, location, etc. So, here it is...
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=678663570

I look forward to the experience and will have a much better sense of what it is and the power of it as I use it.

Three days in the life of a OCLC Members Council delegate

2007-10-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

I was happy to be elected to the OCLC Members' Council since I had only served as a replacement for Vickey Johnson when she was elected to OCLC's Board of Trustees. It was a short term and I barely got my feet wet!

Western delegates travel most of Saturday to arrive in Dublin so that they are ready for the 8am Sunday morning meeting of the Western delegation. As busy as we all are, I, like many of the delegates, read on the plane the various documents and background information needed for the meetings. Sometimes it is topical like the E-Content report and sometimes it is more of an adminstrative nature, like the ongoing governance study and the study on the OCLC/vendor relationships. I always take my laptop since most of the information is on the Member's Council working page.

Sunday morning we traditionally meet with just our Western delegation to discuss issues of concerns as well as provide background information about ourselves and our libraries and our statewide activities. This is a great way to meet people so that you feel connected as you immerse yourself in the various meetings. At noon we break and we are free until 5, when the buses leave for the OCLC campus.

After introductions of the OCLC Board of Trustees as well as the Members' Council officers, and OCLC staff, there is official council business followed by a keynote speaker. The keynote speaker this year was Stephen Abrams (Sirsi's Vp of Innovation) who's topic "Information 3.0--What's next" was definitely provocative, to say the least. He seemed irritated tonight at the slow pace at which libraries are moving, or the inertia that slows the rest of the pace driving the social networking environment.

So I spent a year playing with new technologies, and here I am looking at a list of over 30 things I hadn't heard of...such it is when Stephen Abrams (from Sirsi) speaks. He ran through his Powerpoint and my notes were jagged...it was a wild ride through the wide array of 2.0 and 3.0 innovations. There was no mistake that he was frustrated by the naysayers that stand in the way of moving forward.

So, Twine, Schoolrooms, Open Crochet, Podzinger, J2EE, Active Worlds, JSR168, Zotero, Ning and Mozeta are a few of the things I will check out. I just finished today John Kotter's management book/fable called Our Iceberg is Melting, and as Stephen spoke, I couldn't help but draw the parallels to Kotter's first two steps: He set the stage with an urgency that was undeniable; He looked to us as a Guiding Team. Now the develpment of the vision and strategy is up to us to create a new culture.

Blogs in Google Reader

2007-09-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Wow...finding time for this Infopeople course is challenging, especially since I have been on jury duty. These are the blogs that I subscribed to in Google Reader. Since I also have several in my Yahoo account, I chose some other ones.

blogwithoutalibrary.
Books that get "under your skin"
Information Wants To be Free
Librarians' Internet
Library Stuff
Looking forward
manybooks.net
Out On The Stoop
PCC Library Technology Blog

Getting Started with Infopeople's Web 2.0 course

2007-09-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0: Connecting with the Community Using Social Software
Today is the first day of an Infopeople online course on Web 2.0 The entire staff of the Shatford Library is signed up for this course and we will work together on it. It is a great experience to actually take an online course as well as take the time to explore new technologies.

I think there are so many implications for blogs...from a Suggestion Box, to a Staff page (to keep people updated on what is happening in the building), to liaisons to faculty divisions...and then there is always "What we are reading..." to promote general literacy. It really is limitless!

There's something about Gena....

2007-08-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

There is student in our Library tech program who is quite remarkable and no matter when I am with her, I walk away energized. I met her one day in Ann Dallevalle's class when I went in to observe Ann for her evaluation. Gena was making a presentation about new technologies in libraries and I was so impressed with enthusiasm for blogging. I was hooked. I had this idea that a blog could help our students stay in touch with new developments and career opportunities and Gena was the one to shepherd it. This blog http://pcclibtech.blogspot.com/ is Gena's creation and carries her spirit as she discovers resources to share with other library technicians in our program at PCC. And from her influence, my own blogs were born (both personal -- http://maryannlaun.blogspot.com/ and professional --http://steppingbacklookingforward.blogspot.com...and now for my campus --http://underourskin.blogspot.com)

This is how time with Gena goes...she talks, I listen, I take notes, I talk, we brainstorm...and then another project is born....how fun is that?!

Gena notes to check out...
-->free downloads of movies to cell phones Moblog? Check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moblog
-->Pixelodian conference
-->Pasadena journal and a Bloggers in Pasadena search (to promote Under our Skin http://Underourskin.blogspot.com)
-->Read those terms of service (especially regarding copyright)
-->Zoho.com (an office productivity suite)
-->Artful blogging -->Check out this new magazine that is produced by Stampington...Great blend of blogging and art...and would be pgreat for personal pages such as family histories. http://www.stampington.com/html/artful_blogging.html

And I think we talked about "badges" and site meters...and....

Books that get under our skin...

2007-08-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

Books that get "under our skin"...
We have all read books that trouble us, irritate us, yet stay with us for a long time after we turn the last page. Sometimes they "get under our skin" and stay for a lifetime... In celebration of SKIN: the Arts and Ideas Festival in Pasadena, join Pasadena City College in recording these memorable books. The page is open...literature, art, the sciences, music, history or social perspectives. Share your experiences with the books that got "under your skin."
http://underourskin.blogspot.com/

Leo LaPorte, the Tech Guy and Jott.com

2007-08-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

My husband, Jeff is a huge fan of Leo Laporte and it is not an unusual event when when I go to bed before him that he comes in brimming with enthusiasm (Are you still awake?) for something he heard about on The Tech Guy. So it is with Jott.com...

Jott.com is an online service for taking notes...and you do it by calling an 800 number to record a note to yourself (or someone else.) Jott then transcribes your voice into an email message that you send to yourself. Also transcribed is a voice message as well. Jott cumulates these messages into a daily "to do" list and then sends you a daily reminder.

I have used this service as I am in the car (or in an office, waiting...or in a hammock...when things I can't seem to remember when at work (or at home) come to mind. I now can pick up my phone, call Jott and leave a message for myself. No more notes everywhere...no more voice mails to leave...just one daily list. Items stay on the list until you delete them. It is very cool...and has helped me organize things that would continue to nag me at times when I cannot deal with them.
It is worth a try (and it was definitely worth waking up to hear about it!)

Survey software in libraries...the possibilities are limitless...

2007-07-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

Survey software in Libraries…
the possibilities are limitless…

It happened so simply… A few years ago I was looking up something on an educational website, when a quick popup survey asked me one question. I loved the ease of it all and since we were in the midst of writing our self-study for accreditation, I made a note of the name Surveyanywhere http://surveyanywhere.com
and asked our Webmaster Librarian Leslie Tirapelle to investigate using it. We thought we might ask our students in our new computer labs (remember this was 2000) what they were doing…playing games, email, class assignments, etc. In a typical “can do, will do” style, Leslie had the popup survey working the next day and we started gathering “self-reported” data. Easy, quick and at a point of use.

Since that day, we have used Surveyanywhere for easy straight forward surveys:
• Pretests and post-tests for tutorials and orientation sessions
• Faculty surveys
• Class evaluations
• Program evaluations (ALA Let’s Talk about it book discussion series; employment surveys for the Library Technician program)
• Wireless survey (for students)
• CCL interest surveys (deans and directors’ meetings, topical surveys, etc.)
It is quick and compiles the data in a format that can be presented graphically or exported to a spreadsheet.

Then Surveymonkey came along… http://surveymonkey.com

The Library staff was frustrated with having just one style of question in a survey and Surveymonkey allowed a variety of styles (multiple choice, rating scales, open-ended text and others.) Layout could be customized and the design was much more flexible. Tracking of respondents was also available (and that is how I knew who did not respond to the digitization survey.) ;-(

The greatest thing about each of these is that they are reasonably priced AND you can try it free of charge (with a few limitations.)

Try it…you too will find the possibilities limitless…and the data is so valuable in this assessment and validation climate.

Recent surveys include:
Do you want to serve on an accreditation visiting team?
http://tinyurl.com/2b8hqq (Still open for Librarians to respond)

And one that I developed that expanded on Jon Fernald’s Hours Librarians Work : (to be run in the Fall)
http://tinyurl.com/ys3v47

Return to reality...July 9, 2007

2007-07-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

I stepped back for a year to refresh myself after feeling burned out....and today, my first day "back at work" found me in San Diego for the Council of Chief Librarians, California Community Colleges annual board retreat. I was particularly interested in coming to this meeting since I wanted to share my sabbatical report called "On-ramps to digital highways: Digitization activities and trends in California's community college libraries."

It was well received...and these were the goals of this study and the findings:
1. Assess the digitization activities and practices of California’s community college libraries
This study and analysis demonstrated the lack of emphasis and activity for digitization of local history resources in California’s community college libraries. Only ten (of 102 surveyed) community college libraries responded that they are currently digitizing resources. Incidentally, these campuses are defined by the Chancellor’s Office as small campuses, medium campuses and large campuses:
1. Coastline College
2. College of San Mateo
3. Cypress College
4. East Los Angeles College
5. Fullerton College
6. Los Angeles City College
7. Mendocino College
8. Pasadena City College
9. Riverside Community College
10. Sierra College

Primary digitization activities in these ten colleges focused on:
•photographs 60%
•newspapers 50%
•course-related materials 40%
•videotapes 30%
•“Other” resources 30%

In the IMLS study of academic libraries in the U.S, the availability of digital images on the web for small and medium academic libraries was significant (44.4% and 42.1% respectively). In California community college libraries, only (9.8%, 10 libraries) are providing access to historical digital resources on the web

Of these ten colleges, there was a significant difference in the percentage of the college’s awareness of the benefits of preserving resources in a digital archive (60%) as compared to the responses of the 102 colleges overall (41%). Even significantly greater was the difference in the college’s management awareness of the importance of preserving the college’s historical resources in a digital archive (80% for the 10 libraries vs. 18% for the entire group surveyed –102 libraries.)

The value of digitizing local resources for the community colleges was strongly identified in the question on the target audience who would benefit from the resources: 72.6% of respondents indicated that Students at my college would benefit while 57.8% indicated that the College’s Faculty or Staff would benefit. The General public who have Internet access is another target audience that was significant (27.5%).

2. Assess funding and collaborative activities
Ninety libraries (88.2%) received no funding for digitizing resources in the last 12 months and sixty-six percent did not plan on obtaining any funding within the next twelve months. In examining the possible funding sources, it was clear that the few campuses that were receiving funding were receiving it from two sources:
•Institutional operational funds
•Other funds such as LSTA and district funds

Another untapped resource that IMLS libraries use for funding is grants from federal agencies. Community college libraries may want to consider this as a funding resource.

Collaboration is clearly not a current practice at present with only 2 libraries of 102 collaborating with museums in their areas.

3. Identify institutions that are forming “best practices” policies and procedures
The majority of libraries in the California community college study (86%) do not have policies in place or in development. Those that do, have focused on these areas:
•Responsibility and location of Institutional Archives 10 libraries, 9.8%
•Preservation of original documents 8 libraries, 7.8%
•Copyright 7 libraries, 6.9%
•Intellectual Property issues 6 libraries, 5.9%

The percentage of libraries with no policy or procedures or no knowledge of policies or procedures was significantly higher in California than the IMLS study libraries. It was not surprising to find that policy development was also more prevalent in the 10 libraries that are already digitizing resources. (See Appendix E for “Top Ten” Survey Responses).

4. Identify priorities for resources currently being digitized and priorities for those campuses that have not started to digitize resources
Libraries were asked to identify priorities for digitization/preservation:
•Historical documents/archives 59.8 %
•Course material 41.3%
•Photographs 40.2%
•Videotapes 31.5%
•Newspapers 31.5%
These responses are consistent with the IMLS study data for academic libraries.

5. Identify and confirm barriers to digitization activities
The majority of community college libraries in California are traditionally underfunded and these concerns were clearly articulated in the consideration of a digitization project. Responses of barriers to digitization included the following:
•Lack of funds 99%
•Lack of staff time 98%
•Other projects have higher priorities 91.2%
•Lack of an established digitized plan 81.4%
•Concerns about costs of preservation and management 79.4%
•Lack of established policies and procedures 72.5%

6. Raise awareness of digitization activities in the California community colleges
This study and analysis demonstrated the lack of emphasis and activity for digitization of local history resources in California’s community college libraries. Primary digitization activities were outlined as well as priorities were identified. Yet, the major hindrances to a digitization project that community college libraries face are harsh realities. These realities (Lack of funds, lack of staff time, and Other projects have higher priorities are documented in other colleges in the state as well as in other academic institutions nationally.

Additional activities on digitization will be made available on the Council of Chief Librarians wiki: http://cclresources.pbwiki.com

Recommendations
This report will be presented to the Council of Chief Librarians of the California Community Colleges for discussion, review and final recommendations. It is clear that funding options may be explored for demonstration studies on model policy development and best practices, collaboration options, funding strategies.

In addition, it is recommended that the ten libraries currently involved in digitization activities work together to develop a grant to:
•Prepare an inventory of digitization activities already underway
•Collaborate on the development of best practices and procedures models
•Digitize the college newspaper, catalogs, campus historical photographs, and selected historical documents/archives about the divisions or departments

And you think I have been quiet...

2007-06-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

For the last month and a half, I have been concentrating on all my final reports for my sabbatical leave. One report is Onramps to Digital Resources in the California Community Colleges and the other is a similar study for my own campus (which included an inventory of resources that could be digitized)

Check out the survey instruments:
Community College study: http://tinyurl.com/32fdxh
Pasadena City College's study: http://tinyurl.com/2t5gge

And I have now expanded it to include all community colleges in the country:
http://tinyurl.com/24aeaa

Results of the statewide survey will be made available electronically in late July after I present it to the Council of Chief Librarians, California Community Colleges.

Whew! It feels so great to have these surveys analyzed and ready for distribution. Now I am off for a four day cruise to Ensenada with my daughter Amy who just graduated from high school. Then to Washington State for a vacation with my family. You'll find me in the hammock! It has been an incredible sabbatical year and I have learned so much...and will continue to blog about my activities. Hope you will continue to read! ;-)

Naked Conversations / by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

2007-04-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

Naked Conversations: How blogs are chaging the way businesses talk with each other / by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

At the OCLC Members' Meeting in Ontario, CA, one of the speakers mentioned this book. Robert Scoble runs Microsoft's Channel 9 web site and his blog http://www.scobleizer.com had received recognition in Fortune, Fast Company, and The Economist. She Israel is a technology guru and has been involved in Powerpoint, Filemaker and Sun Microsystems workstations.

This book, although it has a corporate slant, has much to say to academic institutions that rings true. Notes to follow...

Excerpt from:
Bloggings's Six Pillars: There are six key differences between blogging and any other communications channel. You can find any of them elsewhere. These are the Six Pillars of Blogging:

1.Publishable.Anyone can publish a blog.You can do it cheaply and post often. Each posting is instantly available worldwide.

2.Findable. Through search engines, people will find blogs by subject, by author, or both. The more you post, the more findable you become.

3.Social. The blogosphere is one big conversation. Interesting topical conversations move from site to site, linking to each other. Through blogs, people with shared interests build relationships unrestricted by geographic borders.

4.Viral. Information often spreads faster through blogs than via a newsservice. No form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog.

5.Syndicatable. By clicking on an icon, you can get free "home delivery" of RSS- enabled blogs into your e-mail software. RSS lets you know when a blog you subscribe to is updated, saving you search time. This process is considerably more efficient than the last- generation method of visiting one page of one web site at a time looking for changes.

6.Linkable. Because each blog can link to all others, every blogger has access to the tens of millions of people who visit the blogosphere every day.

You can find each of these elements elsewhere. None is, in itself, all that remarkable. But in final assembly, they are the benefits of the most powerful two-way Internet communications tool so far developed.

Digitization Policy from ALA's Office of Information Technology

2007-04-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

The Digitization Policy Task Force of ALA's Office for Information Technology has developed a document on digitization policy. In this document nine basic principles are presented as principles or assumptions to move libraries forward in the digitization agenda.

The basic principles include:

Principle 1: Digital libraries ARE libraries. The policies of the Association apply fully to digital libraries including the core values such as commitment to access, confidentiality/privacy, the public good, and professionalism.
---Mary Ann’s first thoughts: Are digital collections the same as libraries? Is there the same commitment to access, confidentiality, public good and professionalism or are these resources so fluid as to provide a wider perspective.

Principle 2: Digital content, like other library materials, must be given the same consideration for collection development, ease of access, freedom of information, and preservation.
--Mary Ann’s first thoughts: Why? In this world of packaged resources (e.g. Proquest’s database collections, we do not “select” or “evaluate” individual titles, but rather, we select an overall database that serves most of our needs. In some cases, we don’t even know of the extent of titles added to a “package” or if it is “balanced” as we would hope a tangible, physical collection would be.

Principle 3: Digital activities and the resulting collections must be sustainable by libraries. Sustainability requires secure and ongoing funding, technology solutions that are appropriate to the longevity of the cultural record, and long-term management capabilities.
--Mary Ann’s first thoughts: While this is a desired goal, how do libraries that cannot sustain their physical collections with secure and ongoing funding lobby to get into this arena. This is not a reality but a goal. Years ago there was a maxim on an OCLC poster that read: “Without technical standards, systems cannot grow.” Now, anyone can publish their intellectual thoughts and records on the web. My question is “Is it even manageable?” or “What is it that we really want to manage?”

Principle 4: Digitization on a large scale requires collaboration. Collaboration enables the building of collections that support research, scholarship and information needs of diverse communities. Collaboration will require strong organizational support and promotion by cultural heritage professionals, their institutions, and their associations.
--Mary Ann’s first thoughts: True for large scale projects. But some of the really “long tail” items will provide intrinsic value in access, even if not through large scale collaboration. A small collection of memorabilia from an aboriginal tribe may be as “valuable” as any large scale projects…and it could be easily made available with minimal collaboration. Collaboration is often a luxury.

Principle 5: Digital activity requires ongoing communication for its success. The library and cultural heritage community must reach out to the public, to government, and to funding institutions with a clear and compelling message regarding the role of digital libraries and collections.
--Mary Ann’s first thoughts: There is merit is digital activity even without communication.

Principle 6: Digital collections increasingly address an international audience. These collections are part of a global information infrastructure that is not limited by geography.
--Mary Ann’s first thoughts: International audience, yes; however, there is still an issue with the digital divide in our national (as well as international) audience.

Principle 7: Digital collections are developed and sustained by an educated workforce. Members of the cultural heritage professions must engage in continuous learning and be able to explore new technology, to work with new partners, and to reach new audiences.
--Mary Ann’s first thoughts: Seems elitist…

Principle 8: Digital materials must be the object of appropriate preservation. Preservation activities require the development of standards and best practices as well as models for sustainable funding to guarantee long term commitment to these materials.

Principle 9: Digital collections and their materials must adhere to standards to maximize their usefulness. Standards must serve the broadest community of users, support sustainable access and use over time, and provide user functionality that promotes the core library values
(http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/corevaluesstatement/corevalues.htm).

OCLC Western 2007 Users' Meeting

2007-04-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

OCLC Western 2007 Users’ Meeting:
“Mapping the User Centric Environment”

Measuring your library’s value
70219762
…for every $1 spent on the library, a community sees an average of $4 in return (St. Louis Public Library”

www.berkandassociated.com/pdf/draft
Google it: “library services calculator” “academic libraries”
Maine State government
Hawaii at Manoa Library
Check academic emphasis

Are we asking the ultimate question? Oclc.org/nextspace
www.oclc.org/roi (return on investment)

Telling your story
http://msl.mt.gov/what’syourstory/home.htm

Advocacy: www.ala.org/ala/issues/freeonlinetraining.htm

Naked conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

Library conflict management: Turning Enemies into Allies

2007-04-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Library Conflict Management: Turning Enemies into Allies (SIRSI seminar with Pat Wagner)

Pat focuses on healthy vs. nonhealthy conflicts in libraries and provides strategies to alleviate conflict situations. In addition to providing an overview of nonhealthy vs. healthy conflicts, Pat presents a 3 point “cure” and the 4 magic words to alleviate negative energy situations. Also outlined are the 10 symptoms of problem organizations.

Some notes that stood out for me (and ones I want to remember)!
• Conflicts cost money…it reduces productivity and distracts the staff from positive customer service; creates a loss of trust and respect
• Conflict personalities may include obsession personalities (obsession with the past…different from venting)
• Take the “true believer” test: If there is nothing I can do to make you happy and if there is only one way, then that person is a true believer…
• Personal vs. personnel issue: Ask myself…if this was a person I “liked,” what would I do…and do the szame (talk to the person, don’t punish them, work on a resolution…)
Healthy workplaces focus on the current problem not the past, focuses on the solution behavior not the person; look for people who can help resolve issues, have a “civility clause” (which insists that people must treat each other civilly---say hello, greet them, etc.)

How you can tell if people can deal with “healthy conflict”:
• Happy home life
• People cheerfully take responsibiolity for their lieves
• People invest intheir futures

The “cure”:
• Ask the person bringing forth the conflict:
• What do you want to happen?
• What do I want to happen?
• What are you willing to accept? Change?

Other issues:
• What do you want to have happen next? Instead?
• Despite the fact that you may have to live with a situation, what would satisfy you and allow you to move forward?

Advice to the manager:
• Think of people as neutral without a hidden agenda
• Assume they are doing the best they can with the information they have
• Decide if it is personal or personality

Ten Symptoms: Copy from Powerpoint
1. Bitterness (people stuck in the past)
2. Exempting themselves (refuse to go to meetings because they feel “entitled”
3. Personal crises…loss of a loved one,

Contact: pat@pattern.com

OCLC’S Workshop on Developing and Managing Digital Programs

2007-04-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

March 27, 2007
In class exercise notes:

Flowchart of Digital Assets
Yes, We will take it!
Move it
Develop paper trail
--Accession it, e.g. 2007-01, 02, etc
--Deed of gift (document it)
--Define it in terms of condition, quantity and date range
--Where did it come from (donor, org, etc.)
--Consider the preservation issues (identify what may be needed, special processing?)
Weed it?
Inventory it for quality
How is it organized? Archivists suggest keeping it in this original organization
•Make a decision and create a plan
--Describe it –as a minimum, abstract
--Store it issues; preservation issues, digitize it?
--Who will do it??
--Create a Finding Aid

Creating a finding Aid:
Collection name Donor’s name(s) Account # Location Begin date End date Number of boxes/linear feet/cubic feet Contact name Notes

Webinar coming up on how you can use Worldcat’s Collection Analysis Tools to assist with digitization activities.

Good example at Wash State Pullman, Bank of Endicott Records
www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/finders/cg332.htm

Refer to MPLP handout ?more product, Less process: answer to a request for a “middle way”
traditional Adequate WSU PCC?
Arrangement
Unfoldered materials into folders Y Y
Folders into series Y Maybe, if size/complexity of collection warrants
Items within folders Y N y
N
Description
Collection/record group Y Y
Series Y Maybe, if size/complexity of collection warrants
Folders Y May list, not describe y May list or describe
Items May list or describe N Y
N
Preservation
Refolder Y N Y: if original folders brittle or otherwise damaged
Remove fasteners Y N
Segregate and/or photocopy clippings, carbons, onionskins Y N
Segregate and/or sleeve photos Y N
Encapsulate or mend torn documents Y N
Interleave scrapbooks or photo albums Y N

Metrics

Hours per cubic foot 15 2-4

Sabbatical leave -- Libraries visited as of April 2007

2007-04-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Public and University Libraries:
Seattle Public Library
San Mateo County Libraries (2)
University of WA
Sonoma State University
San Mateo County—ask Vicki…new library
Camarillo Public Library
Cerritos Public Library
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Community College Libraries:
Allan Hancock
Allan Hancock—Lompoc Campus
Bakersfield
Cerritos
Chaffey
College of San Mateo
College of the Sequoias
Cypress
De Anza
Foothill
Fullerton
Golden West
Grossmont
Mesa (AZ)
Modesto
Mt Sac
Orange Coast
Riverside
San Joaquin Delta

Customer is always right: A Sirsi Seminar with Ulla de Striker……………

2007-04-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Customer is always right: A Sirsi Seminar with Ulla de Striker……………

This seminar could be used as a discussion springboard for a library tech public service class. The presenter urges us to place ourselves in the “shoes of the customer” asking ourselves how we would feel if we were on the other side of the desk.

Although this seminar summarizes so many basic principles of public service, (aka walk a mile in their shoes, working as a “public service team” whether in tech or public service…at the desk on over the phone and online.)

Chatty conversational style based on her own service experiences rather than strongly motivational. Addresses experiences of public service interactions, culture of the organization that fosters customer experiences, challenges of positive public service events, implications of human resources in managing an organization. A little disjointed…common sense approach (have a friend, be a friend). Not recommended as a stellar example of motivation toward excellent public service.

Covered:
• Key characteristics of a positive customer experience
• Special challenges associated with today’s realities
• Simple principles
• Finding out how clients experience us
• Human resources implications

--referred to
• “Emotional public service” presentation (SIRSI?)
• Stephen Arnold March 2005 presentation on user behavior
• Harvey McCay’s 66 things we need to understand about our customers (amazon

Recommends four basic principles” Attention, Engagement, Appropriate result, and Followup.

5 Principles of great public service:

1. It is all about them! Nothing we do in the course of the day that is not related to a quality customer experience (suggest Gallery of Library Staff)
2. Empower everyone to do the right thing at the right time (explain later!)
3. Break the rules!…
4. Talk about public service experiences
5. Be warm, friendly while still professional…build relationahips…

When hiring…look for the strong public service attitudes…everything else is trainable

Learning 2.0 : Make "play" your New Year's resolution / A Sirsi/Dynix Institute with Helene Blowers/ Technology Director

2007-04-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

SIRSI abstract: As the Nationwide insurance commercials taunt "life comes at you fast", it's time for librarians to jump into the knowledge pool of Web 2.0 technologies and discover how these tools are changing the way many library users communicate, collaborate and receive information. Helene Blowers, Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County shares insights and best practices around the creation of Learning 2.0, an online self-discovery program designed to encourage staff to explore new technologies (blogs, wikis, podcasts etc.) and reward them for ’play’.
Helene uses her background and experiences as a Technology trainer to provide a framework for planning strategies to expose new technologies to your staff. Starting ten years ago, she started the delivery of “Tech Talks” to the county library staff of over 350 staff members. The trigger for developing the Learning 2.0 programs was an article in Information Outlook (February 26) called 43 Things I (or you) might want to do this year (http://tinyurl.com/y47cauhttp://tinyurl.com/y47cau).

This is the model for many world wide initiatives including the Infopeople challenge:
http://our23things.infopeople.org
to be continued (trying to just capture some of my recent activities)

CCL Workshop--Robin Shapiro from Portland CC

2007-04-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Portland Community College’s Library presence in the Online Course Environment

Robin described how Porland Community College explored a variety of strategies for integrating library resources into WebCT for distance learners.

When they were first brainstorming techniques to implement library instruction to distance ed students, Library staff developed a wiki (Pccdistance.pbwiki.com) to capture ideas as well as brainstorming sessions. Robin developed a handout for us that provided “library presence strategies for distance learning—from simplest to most complex”

Library fusion.blogspot.com

CHECK IT OUT: Feed2JS.org RSS feed transfer into Java script
CHECK IT OUT: Chatango

Handouts excellent….will be available on the CCL webpage…http://cclccc.org

CCL Workshop on New Technologies

2007-04-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Eileen O’Shea/Infopeople
Preliminary Notes on the CCL Workshop on Web 2.0: It’s all about Social Networking

Powerpoint and glossary available on the Infopeople blog…free to share and use!

Eileen shared an awesome video called Digital Ethnology …well worth watching and sharing with your staff, colleagues, and campuses…

Definition of Web 2.0 and the concepts that “The Web is Us!”

Blogging……Eileen took us through Blogs which are CMS (content management systems) based…Demonstrated Moveable Type as well as Blogger
http://waynnandholly.blogspot.com
• Check out “jolts of Creativity” CHECK IT OUT
• La Guardia Community College website
• Infopeople blog
• Check Pasadena City College and Shatford Library on Bloglines

Wikis…community editing tool (assume the world is going to edit it)
• Look at California State Library as an example
• Infopeople’s “Moving libraries forward to Web 2.0”
• ALA wikis
• Internet Librarian wiki 2005

Photosharing…Merced College Library on Flickr
• Ask Roger to create a Flickr account for Shatford Library
• Library orientation photos
• To do…link photos in flickr to blog

Video Sharing…
• Stumblevideo…aggregator of videos; rateable CHECK IT OUT
• UTube…create an account and get a Utube page…bookmark and save library videos (can’t be longer than 10 minutes; can’t be more than 100 mg
• Check out Utube for Library videos

Social Bookmarking
• Delicious, Digg, Cluztr, StumbeUpon CHECK IT OUT
• Great for Library instruction
•
•

Other notes:
Download Firefox browser since it integrates Web 2.0 so beautifully into the tool bars
Personalize Google page

Keeping track of all this stuff:
• RSS
• Creative commons license “share and share alike” i.e. use our materials but give us credit
• ChartURL CHECK IT OUT
• Rollyo… CHECK IT OUT

Podcasts
• Hipcast or Gabcast—check it out! Talk into a phone and it creates a podcast that can be linked to a blog CHECK IT OUT

Vodcasts
• Rocketboom (daily video of the news of the day) CHECK IT OUT

Life without wireless!

2007-04-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

I am in Washington State working on my report for the digitization survey...How spoiled I have been with wireless everywhere I travel...everywhere I am...

Today I am in the Timberland Library in Belfair...and checking on a few things for my report. How transparent connections have been and how strange it is not to be able to hop over to the web to check a fact, or statistic, or results...

Yet, somhow this is so nice...I sit with a view of the canal, the with just the unconnected pc...

Actually, our lives are filled with so much distraction that I have found it helpful to *not* be connected...I can easily focus on my analysis and writing....

Ah, it is paradise here...at the Hood Canal...

Infopeople Advisory Committee

2007-04-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

For the last several years, I have served as a community college library rep on the Infopeople Advisory Committee. To state in simply, Infopeople is the training arm of the California State Library. What an understatement! Infopeople's mission is to "Improve the quality of information access to the people of California by upgrading skills, resources, and tools available through libraries."

It never ceases to amaze me that when I attend their advisory committee, I am also "advised": two pages of new things I didn't know about or had heard of but hadn't pursued...Here is my "to do" list from the meeting:

...Explore their website (again) especially the Learning 2.0 pages and their wiki (wiki.infopeople.org)
...Sign up for Infoblog
...Check out their podcasts and subscribe?
...What was NING.com/library2.0 and who is Bill Drew?
...Check out Eureka wiki
...Who is Mary Ross (master trainer from Seattle)
...Cary Gordon and librarysite
...Write an article for the Outlook (CCL) on serving on an advisory committee and/or their Web 2.0 workshops/23 things

Tangential ideas....My mind was racing with ideas as we spoke of Infopeople agendas and programs
...Technology survival skills for PCC managers? CCL Deans and Directors, Dept. Chairs
...should CCL contract with Infopeople for Leadership Training
...contact Irene in the Alumni office and develop an alumni reunion "Tell us your story" digital storytelling event
...Explore Western Council and the digitization survey for Western Council community college libraries
...Contact Marie Zimmerman re OCLC Members Council votes as well as running the survey for WA libraries
...Listen to the State Librarians' webcast (especially on digital storytelling)
...subscribe to Infopeople podcasts on iTunes
...check out CLA on iTunes
...Contact Miguel about the John Cotton Dana scrapbook at Santa Monica public
...Zen readers for Library staff? students?
...Send Leslie to the Master Trainers program
...Community College Library Leadership Conference (CCL, CCLC, ACCCA, ACRL?)
...Talk to UCLA and San Jose programs about a "Research projects" wiki
...Check out "Craig" of Craig's list on the Daily show website
--------------------
READ: Corporate blogging book
From Booklist
With citizen bloggers multiplying by the minute, corporations are keen to co-opt the authenticity of this online publishing phenomenon. But while many already understand the concept (GM's Bob Lutz, who wrote the foreword, is a blogger), many more are struggling to make sense of a fairly simple proposition: use your blog as a meaningful conduit to your customers, and watch them become your best advocates; use it as an outlet for stale press releases, and watch the world yawn or walk away. Weil provides background on blogs, offers tips on writing them ("invite a conversation"), addresses common concerns ("what if my employees are blogging?"), discusses tools and technology (including podcasts and wikis), and offers a cheat sheet for convincing the boss that it's time to blog. Bonus resources include sample policies and guidelines, design tips, a glossary, and more. Short and sweet, this is more enthusiastic and personably writtenMake it conversation
-------------------------
READ: Naked Conversation by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
From Publishers Weekly
For the past five years, Microsoft employee Scoble has maintained one of the most popular blogs on the Internet. Mixing personal notes with passionate, often-controversial commentary on technology and business, his blog is "naked"—i.e., not filtered through his employer's marketing or public relations department—a key part of its appeal. In this breezy book, Scoble and coauthor Israel argue that every business can benefit from smart "naked" blogging, whether the company's a smalltown plumbing operation or a multinational fashion house.

----------------------------------
ORDER FOR THE LIBRARY AND READ: The Thriving Library; Successful Strategies for Challening Times by Marylaine Block
Here is a highly readable guide to strategies and projects that have helped over 100 public libraries gain community support and funding during challenging times. Marylaine Block integrates survey responses from innovative library directors with her research, analysis, and extended interviews to showcase hundreds of winning programs and services. The strategies explored include: Youth Services; The Library as Place; Partnerships; Marketing; Stressing the Economic Value; Library 2.0; Outreach; and Helping the Community Achieve Its Aspirations. Projects are described in practitioners own words, with additional examples drawn from libraries long-range plans, annual reports, programs, and Web sites, as well as from news stories and library literature. The result is a rich source of ideas and inspiration for those who want their libraries to thrive, not merely survive. Supported by the author s Web page. (AMAZON product description)

Catching up with my blogging...

2007-04-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Recent activities:
SIRSI seminars on:
...Networking and Politics: Influencing Action to Get The Right Things Done
Gaining and using influence to achieve organizational goals is a critical leadership skill. Networking is an important tool for relationship building that inspires trust. Learn network building strategies as well as gain knowledge on how to understand and influence the decision-making process. Included is a discussion of a baker’s dozen of practical tips on how to practice positive politics in the workplace in order to get the right things done. (SIRSI description)

...Library Conflict Management for Consenting Adults Turning Enemies into Allies
Take advantage of this SirsiDynix Institute and take-away some important tools in resolving conflict at your library. (SIRSI description)

...The Customer is Always Right: Building and Teaching Client Relationship Skills
Ulla outlines key principles for managing customer interactions and comments on ways to foster a consistent customer friendly attitude shared among all staff.
Planning the CCL New Technologies workshop (SIRSI description)

...The Center of it All: How Libraries Can Be in the Forefront of Building Active Communities
Based on parts of previous writings by Kathleen de la Pena McCook (A Librarian at Every Table), Cohen will discuss how social networks, public space theory, and online communities can be used by libraries in any setting (public, academic, and school) to build social capital and become an active part in community building. Learn how other libraries of all sizes and budgets have become active participants in their communities and how a process-based approach can incorporate the above theories into practical methods for community building. If you're looking for innovative, creative ways to inspire and engage your community you won't want to miss this institute.(SIRSI description)

Next in line to review:
The Info Island Project on Second Life

Infopeople advisory committee

Fwd: Last call for responses to the digitization survey....

2007-04-02T17:03:00.001-07:00

Today was my last ditch effort to get the last 15
libraries to respond to the survey. I really wanted a
strong showing so that when I write the report and a
subsequent grant, I have the strong support and
snapshot of where we are in along the digitzation
road. But really, having to pester everyone is a
drag...and so time consuming. At least I was able to
talk to a few colleagues I hadn't seen in a long time.

Just 15 colleges left to have 100% response to this
survey on digitization.

Last day to respond is Monday, April 9th.
I will be extracting the data and doing the
analysis.... and corresponding report.

15 libraries still have not responded:
Berkeley College
College of Marin
Compton College
Cuyamaca College
Feather River College
Grossmont College
Imperial Valley College
Laney College
LA Southwest College
Los Angeles Trade-Tech College
Monterey Peninsula College
Riverside College
San Diego City College
San Joaquin Delta College
San Jose City College

Netflix and libraries

2007-04-02T10:08:00.001-07:00

Note: this Netflix issue seems to be a hoax. Here is the reply from Netflix that I received today. It seems that they are not exploring this as a possibility...
"Thank you for your interest in Netflix. You referenced a "partnership"
with the Brooklyn Public Library, which you must have read about in the
newspaper or heard on the news. The story was misleading. Netflix has
no partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library, and Netflix is not in
any discussions or negotiations for any partnership with the Brooklyn
Public Library or any other library. Netflix delivers DVDs to
individual members who join Netflix for their personal enjoyment. The
company has no services available for public libraries. You can find
more information about Netflix membership at www.netflix.com.

Best,
Netflix"

At ALA midwinter, I heard of libraries collaborating
with Netflix to deliver media to their patrons. What
a great idea, especially for those libraries that are
poorly funded. I love the idea of offering our
community all the resources that Netflix has to offer
with us paying subscriptions for the use. Although
there are some implications such as student damages
the DVD, loses it, doesn't return it, we face those
possibilities anyway. I called Netflix and they are
test marketing a program at Brooklyn Public...
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8O1T6BG0.htm

They
will send me more information as it becomes available.

-------------------------------
email to: Netflix Public Relations:
I am the Dean of Library Services at Pasadena City
College and am on sabbatical leave this year,
exploring new technologies and their implications for
community college libraries.

At ALA midwinter, I heard of collaborations between
Netflix and libraries and am very anxious to know
more. And, if you need a community college library to
test the implications of such a program, I would
gladly offer and agree to write an article to publish
about the collaboration.

Please keep me in the loop!
Mary Ann Laun
Pasadena City College
alternate email: maryannlaun@yahoo.com

Update on the survey on digitization and other random things

2007-03-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Wow...lately I have been all over the place. Into work to work on the library budget for next year which is challenging since our $180,000 in PFE is now bring used for ARC and basic skills. We fund many hourly librarians, student and lab assistants and subclerks to handle just our typical day. I will meet with them again on Monday to strategize.

then, to Long Beach to meet with Gregg Atkins and Eileen O'Shea from Infopeople for the April 27th workshop on social networking technologies: blogs, wikis, RSS feeds and how we can use them to reach out to our students. I can tell already that Eileen is perfect for these presentations. I also asked Robin Shapiro from PCC (but Portland) to come down and demonstrate how they are fusing library research skills into the WebCT environment. It will be great!

Then, I am personally contacting the 30 libraries who have not responded to the digitization survey...wow, is it time consuming but so far, the results have been good. We are now up to 88 respondents (there are some duplicate reponses so I will dela with that). Since I want to do a planning grant, I really want 100% responses...it is very impressive, shows the interest and support, AND the data to be gathered from large as well as smaller community college libraries. Hmmm...I have been thinking of running it nationally as well...a convenient sample would be fine, I think. Not hard to do as well...

Then my campus survey is on the back burner...ready to go but I haven't done it yet. top shelf for next week.

and my sabbatical is whittling away....just 3 more months. I have grown so much this year in so many ways (and I have receded a bit as well since I lost 40 pounds!) All is good...I feel reenergized. Now, if I don't drive the PCC library staff crazy with all my ideas...

"Ah, but a woman's reach should exceed her grasp or what's a heaven for?"
--apologies to Tennyson

Community College Library wikis

2007-03-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that the CCL Resources page is now a wiki:
http://cclresources.pbwiki.com
Please contribute! It is not difficult! If you need help, contact Mary Ann Laun at
maryannlaun@yahoo.com

Also, CJCLS has a new wiki page....jump in and get wet!
http://wikis.ala.org/acrl/index.php/CJCLS

Allan Hancock College and the Lompoc Center

2007-03-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

It has been a long trip...away from home for 7 days visiting libraries along highways 99 and 101 and then a few in between. Last night I was road weary so I stopped in San Luis Obispo to spend the night. Coincidentally, my daughter had just gotten her acceptance that day to Cal Poly SLO so it was great to cruise the campus once more. After a late night e-Scrabble game with my brother in law (till 2 am!), I feel asleep only to wake about 9 am. I needed to get on the road so that I would miss the LA traffic rushhour. I wanted to stop at Allan Hancock College as well as Santa Barbara City College.

I arrived at Allan Hancock and took a tour of newly remodeled library. It is modern and brings in light and brightness. Nice comfortable furniture and a Circulation desk that also wraps around to the Reference Desk. Nancy Meddings, Librarian and Director of Learning Resources was just heading off to a meeting so Leslie Mosson was so gracious and gave me a great tour. The Library also backs up to the LRC which has an art gallery, writing center and open lab for tutorial services.

I asked about Kathy Headke who I had met at a memorial service for Mary Heussenstamm, a watercolor artist who has exhibited at so many of our libraries. (PCC has a permanent display collection of her works.) Leslie called her at the Lompoc campus and she encouraged me to drive down there to see their Lompc Center. since I am going with the wind these days, I headed to Lompoc. It is a beautiful drive down towards Vandenburg and the hills were a glorious green! I had a great tour of the library and the center and Kathy and I enjoyed lunch together. Since I was late in leaving, I decided to skip Santa Barbara since I could easily make that trip from LA another day. Great day! I loved the energy at Allan Hancock!

Foothill College and De Anza College

2007-03-05T21:49:00.000-08:00

My visit with my daughter Mindy near SFSU is done, her cupboards are filled with items from Costco and I am heading south to see my friend Vickey Johnson who is the County Librarian from the College of San Mateo. We are going to visit another one of the new libraries there in Millbrae and then I head south toward 101 to visit Foothill College and then DeAnza.

---later...

It is amazing when you touch base with an old friend who has similar passions as you. You just pick up where you left off the last time you met. Vickey and I used to room together at the American Library Association conference and no one else would room with us since we were known for laughing and talking until 3 or 4 in the morning. It was great to hear of all the initiatives she is engaged in when serving these 11 communities.

The San Mateo County Library system serves "the cities of Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, Pacifica, Portola Valley, San Carlos, and Woodside, as well as unincorporated areas of the County represented by the County of San Mateo."

Before we headed out to lunch, we visited the Millbrae Library. This is the second busiest library in the County, next to the very busy new Belmont Library, which I saw the last time I was in this area. Like the Belmont Library, this architect used the natural surroundings of the neighboring park to to capture brightness and light in the Library. The entrance rotunda's lighting fixtures reminded me of stylized pinecones. One feature that college libraries don't usually do is a self-serve reserve, where patrons walk up and claim their own reserved titles, according to a coded name and pin number. It works beautifully and is an idea college libraries might also adapt for holds and recalls. The only exception would be a textbook reserve where so many students are competing for the same item. I loved the children's room as well as the reading room in the back with comfortable furniture and ottomans...and a fireplace. Very inviting!

Around 2 pm, I headed south towards Foothill College. I called their Reference desk to see "who was home" and found out that Walter Scott, the Library coordinator was not in, but was lucky to find Karen Gillette who told me where to park and where the library was located. Once again, I found a campus unlike any other--not surprising on this college trek of mine. Their architecture is very distinctive and when I searched in Google, Wikipedia reported that it is new-Japanese architecture designed by Ernest Kump and landscape by Hideo Sasaki.

Karen gave me a quick overview of the remodel and then I was off exploring the library while she helped several students at the Reference Desk. There was much activity inthe library, even in the late afternoon, since the Student Center is under construction. After my walk though, I headed down the highway towards De Anza, which like Foothill College, has a top reputation in the state.

-------
It is amazing how accessible these colleges are to the major highways and De Anza is no exception. The Library is centrally located on the campus which, like Foothill, is under major construction. I finally found my way and entered the library and learning center. I had a difficult time discerning where the reference desk was and whether it was a place people could go for information or just online catalog spaces. It was late in the afternoon and the person sitting at the desk never looked up so I wandered away and through the library. Perhaps I was tired... but it seemed that this library was stuck in the 80s, needing to be brought up to date with brightness and light. In one of the offices, I found Lena Chang who told me that Judy Mowry, the interim dean was not on campus that day. I had spoken with her at the Council of Chief Librarians meeting so I made my quick tour and went on my way. My goal was to reach San Luis Obispo by 7:30 or so...

Shift happens

2007-03-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

Ray Giles, from the Community College League, sent me this link:
It is called "Shift happens"
http://www.glumbert.com/media/shift

Sonoma State's Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center

2007-03-05T21:42:00.000-08:00

This was quite a logistical feat...I was on the road as of Wednesday, Jeff flew to Sacramento on Thursday for a meeting at the Chancellor's Office, then he came south to Ripon near Modesto, and I headed to Sac for the Council of Chief Librarians' meeting on Friday. I then came back south and met Jeff and my sister-in-law on the highway 5...and we headed west to Oakland to pick up our daughter Amy at the Oakland airport. We had to squeeze in another college visit to Sonoma State so that she could evaluate her options. This is the first Cal State campus library I have visited that was not a cold "institutional structure", with an modern, imposing presence. With so many Cal State campuses serving so many students, I am always shocked at how uninviting their campus libraries are. I have visited Cal State LA, SAC State, Chico and Fullerton, and all of them are the same vintage, perhaps the same architect (?) and do not invite students in.

But this one, the Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center is beautiful and welcoming. It was hard to believe that it was built in 2000 as a multidimensional, multimedia library and learning center. It looks like it opened yesterday. For more photographs and to read about the 7.5 million in private funding for this library, go to: http://library.sonoma.edu/about/exteriorpics.html and http://library.sonoma.edu/about/interiorpics.html, and http://library.sonoma.edu/about/building.html

Library Deans and Directors Meeting, California Community Colleges

2007-03-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

Comment from:

Bakersfield College Library

2007-03-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

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...

New Blog of Note

2007-02-24T15:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.rss4lib.com/index.html

more later...I am so busy playing with my wiki for our campus technology writing group and for CCL (http://cclresources.pbwiki.com) that i can hardly find time to garden, clean house, and, of course, blog... ;-)

more later...

CCL regional meeting at Cypress College

2007-02-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Carol Welsh, Dean of Library and Learning Resources, for organizing a great lunch for the Los Angeles and Southwest rgions of CCL. Librarians and staff from the following libraries attended a great lunch (courtesy of CCL): Glendale, Santa Monica, LACC, Pasadena, Cypress, Fullerton, Golden West, Irvine Valley, Orange Coast, and Santiago Canyon. Carol Welsh provided tours of their beautiful new Library and Learning Resources building. It definitely has a high tech feel with clean lines and wonderful light. Great day with great colleagues! T!hank you, Carol

You can see a timelapse video on their construction: http://www.cypresscollege.edu/~sc/timelapse/timelapse_llrc.html

Playing with Wikis...and a day of "rest"

2007-02-24T00:04:00.000-08:00

Aaaccckkk! I woke with a horrible sore throat so I decided to lay low today. With my coffee cup near by, and my laptop on an old bedtray that I used to use for my kids, I setup shop in bed. Ah..the joys of wireless!

I decided to spend the day exploring wikis. I had taken an online workshop and had listened to a podcast aabout the great benefits of wikis but today I would use PBWIKI to create one of my own.

From ALA midwinter's wiki, I had entered my blog int their blogger's site, so it looked fairly easy. I was going to update and create a new resources page for the Council of Chief Librarians (California Community Colleges.)

After creating the page, I copied the old html page from our website and pasted it into thw iki. Voila! All of the formatting and links came along and I had my menu page. Then by using th easy wysiwug editor, I created a new page for each link, going back to my original html page to capture the new information. Unbelievaly easy. There were a few formatting issues but I played around with that and a few hours later, voila! http://cclresources.pbwiki.com/

I started thinking of other links and information resources we could provide. I went back to our newsletter and started to add information. Often we ask the same questions every oher year or so like :how many hours a week are your librarians contracted to work," "where do you advertize for new librarian recruitment?" How wonderful it would be to expand this wiki into a mre dynamic vehicle for community college librarians in the state.

My vision:
Tenders of the wiki (key people who will look after a topic and feed it, nurture it...) Information competency issues, succession leadership issues, new buildings in the state, legislative updates, etc. Although the beauty of a wiki is the opn, collaborative part, it would be great to have someone looking in occasionally to check on it.

The same day I did a wiki for Pasadena City Colleges, Tech Plan Writing Group (which I lead) as well as birthday wiki for my daughter's 30th birthday (people are contributing stories about her and I will present it to her on her birthday." I also did an ideas wiki for myslef where I can just capture all of the things that I want to pursue but don'thave time right now...

I am convinced that these wikis are limitless! And they are free for basic wikis.
Try it next time you are sick in bed ;-)

Visit to Ventura College and Oxnard College

2007-02-22T00:02:00.000-08:00

Dona and I continued on our college trek today and headed north to Ventura and Oxnard Colleges. Ventura has a new Library and LRC building and I was anxious to see it. The building is beautiful: the LRC is on the bottom floor and it is a large pit with a "observation deck" around the outside. Faculty offices, including parttime offices flank the perimeter. It is indeed a hub of activity...

I climbed the colored, aggregate steps to the second floor and entered the library. It is another example of a plan that embraces its environment: windows let natural light in and the west side of the building has a beautiful reading room that looks out to the ocean. It was unusually quiet which was unbelievable to me since there were so many groups in the library.

I spoke with Harmony Rodriguez, one of the Librarians who was working at the Reference desk and also preparing a faculty presentation on the Library Services. Peter Sezzi was doing a library orientation so I missed seeing him. Their pride in this library was evident...

I found a great "summary video" of the building of this library on their website:
It is a timelapse construction video that is great: Play RealMedia (450kbps Cable/DSL)

We also visited with Diane Moore who is the Dean. She took us out to the beautiful patio that has a great view of the ocean. Great vistas, great staff, great dynamics on the campus...

Then on to Oxnard College Library...what a contrast (and they are sister colleges in the same district)!

Clearly, this is a college in transition...(at least I hope it is). The library is scheduled for a remodel within three years and this is a good thing. The current building was built in 1977 and the library looks like it was stalled there. I had a great visit with Ray Acosta, the Circulation coordinator who shared information with me about the building plans, collection size, staffing situation. Unfortunatley I was there at lunch time and the only librarian, Tom Stough was at lunch.

Delois Flowers was also not available since (in addition to being the Library dean) she is also the college's evening dean, social sciences dean, coordinator of the Child Development Instructional Program (and she oversees the Child Development Center.) Amazing!

I felt depressed as I left this campus... Obviously this college has issues of funding, but the contrast with Ventura, their sister college was unbelievable.

When I got home, I couldn't stop thinking about the sharp contrast of these sister schools in the same district. I went back to their website to see what was going on. I wanted to look at their accreditation self-study (the link didn't work), looked at their administrative structure (page under construction) and check out what was happening ont he campus. I had a hard time finding the Library since there is no link on any of the dropdowns (but could find it in the Search box.) It is clear that the institution did not think it was a priority. I then tried to select other links, and many of the pages have not been updated since May of 2006.

Kudos to Delois for doing what she can...but realistically, this is what happens when you cannot "tend and feed" a library because you have so many other pressing responsibilities. It is remarkable that the "Dean of Student Learning" is also the eevening dean. She is spread so thinly... but then looking at all of the administrators, it is clear that it is a pattern...

More...5 weeks to a social library

2007-02-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

I may have mentioned that this course accepted 40 people, however, anyone can lurk along...listening and viewing the presentations and discussions. Anyone can participate by commenting on participants' blogs that they created to track their progress. Today I listened to the Webcasts 1 and 2 and as I was listening, I was thinking about what our college library could do...so many things. Favorite books of the library staff (reviews and such), New books just on the shelf, exhibit information, faculty favorite all time books (or websites), new websites for students, etc. It is limitless...and a great marketing tool. Ah yes, what studnets are reading...

Presentations
Webcast 1 - A 21st Century Printing Press: Blogs as Publishing Mechanism - Rebecca Hedreen, Distance Education Librarian, Southern Connecticut State University.

Webcast 2 - Next Steps: Taking Your Library’s Blog from So-So to Superb - Nanette Donohue, Technical Services Manager, Champaign Public Library

to check out:
Ohio University Libraries Business Blog (academic)
Kansas State University Library Blogs (academic)
Virginia Commonwealth University Library Suggestion Blog (academic)

More to catch this week:
Screencast: Duck Soup: Using a Blog to Provide Product Support (blip.tv) - Karen Harker, Digital Infrastructure Research & Development unit, UT Southwestern Medical Center Library

Screencast: From Writer's Block to Library Blog (blip.tv) - Anne Welsh, Bibliographic Services, DrugScope; Editor, Catalogue & Index: Periodical of the CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group.

Screencast: Using the Tools: How Millenials Use the World Wide Web (blip.tv) - Jami Schwarzwalder, Recent Graduate, Indiana University MLS Program

Five Weeks to a Social Library

2007-02-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

Five Weeks to a Social Library "Five Weeks to a Social Library is the first free, grassroots, completely online course devoted to teaching librarians about social software and how to use it in their libraries. It was developed to provide a free, comprehensive, and social online learning opportunity for librarians who do not otherwise have access to conferences or continuing education and who would benefit greatly from learning about social software."

Although I had access to many trainings and conferences, I applied for this course but was not selected. No matter. All of their course resources (webcasts, outlines, blogs, etc.) are available to anyone. You can follow along with the participants and respond via their blogs.

The first week was on blogs. I feel a little like a lurker but actually, now outside readers can post comments on their blog entries. It is a great opportunity not just for those 40 individuals, but for others listening, doing, thinking.

FYI...check this site on Academic libraries' blogs: http://liswiki.org/wiki/Weblogs_-_Academic_Libraries

Blogging_Libraries_Wiki
http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?

Community College Survey of Digital Resources: Activities and Readiness

2007-02-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

The survey I adapted from the IMLS Survey on Technology and Digitization is now out! You can see a review copy at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=138973345797
Unfortunately, after 3 months of discussion with IMLS, they decided that I could not see the community college results from the national survey. Since the response from community colleges was not overwhelming, it seems that the results might have been a violation of the confidential nature of the survey. I had decided that I could no longer wait so I had drafted mine in Surveymonkey.

As of today (just three days after release), 25 libraries have responded. Yea!

Outline of project plan and activities:
--Explore this agenda fully in the literature
--Survey statewide community colleges
--Survey and visit selected community colleges known for their progressive use of technology
--Frame a discussion paper on planning for continued technology growth and development.
--Summarize findings in a document for the Council of Chief Librarians similar to the one I prepared in 1977: Onramps to Electronic Highways: Database Trends, Practices and Expenditures in California's Community College Libraries

Vroman's Bookstore LATimes Festival of Books

2007-02-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

I played with another feature of Blogger today. You can post an entry from your email directly to your blog. Here it is...
it is clear you need to clean it us...this is a mess...I would definitely not use this as is but left it as an example...

--- Vroman's Bookstore <email@vromansbookstore.com>
wrote:

> Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:36:48 -0500 (EST)
> From: Vroman's Bookstore
> <email@vromansbookstore.com>
> To: malaun@pasadena.edu
> Subject: 2007 Vroman's Book Buses
>
> Vroman's 6th Annual Book Bus Ride
> 2007 L.A. Times Festival of Books
>
> It's that time again! Vroman's Bookstore is pleased
> to announce our
> sixth annual Book Bus ride to the Los Angeles Times
> Festival of
> Books, one of the country's premiere literary
> events!
>
> Join us Saturday, April 28 for a day that begins
> with a bagel & juice
> breakfast before our 8:30 a.m. departure, a Vroman's
> Book Bus hat,
> a bag chock-full of books & goodies, games and
> prizes, milk & cookies
> for the ride home, and a 20% off coupon good
> Saturday, April 28 –
> Friday, May 4 at our main store.
>
> And there's more!

Visits to Golden West College and Orange Coast College

2007-02-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

Visits to Golden West College and Orange Coast on 2/14
Dona and I continued on our weekly treks to community colleges. We arrived at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and took a little tour of both the Library and the Learning Assistance Center. I was delighted to know that they have a new building in the works!

I met with the Department Chair, Sue Berman

We discussed their organizational structure, the impending accreditation visit, and their new building. It appears she has a wonderful staff of faculty librarians and paraprofessionals and as we spoke, her rotating display on her desktop illustrated their happy faces. I was also happy to receive a copy of their self-study since I was selected to be on their visiting team. (I declined because of my sabbatical leave.) I am anxious to review it since we at PCC are also starting down this self-study road again.

We then had lunch in Newport Beach with my 86 year old Mom and Dona asked her what I was like a a little girl. From her descriptions, (Mary Ann was always running, two steps ahead of me!), we both agreed that I am who I am...and was as a child. ;-)

Then on to Orange Coast College.

OCC serves as many students as Pasadena but it is amazing to walk on their campus and see their physical facility. A new library is being constructed as well as other campus projects. Their library director is Sheri Sterner who is also the director of institutional research. We spoke of administrative techniques as well as self-study activities and although she is new to her position in the last two years, she has been a strong advocate for the library. In her words, she called herself a business manager while the librarians, and specifically librarian Vinta Oviatt as department chair, addresses professional concerns.

Like Golden West, they look forward to the completion of their new Learning Resources Center and accreditation activities.

A "calm" ALA Midwinter meeting in Seattle

2007-02-13T07:19:00.000-08:00

Johanna Bowen from Cabrillo sent me this YouTube link from midwinter...somehow it did not catch the frenetic pace though...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td922l0NoDQ

I visit YouTube regularly and look for library topics.
The latest is the "March of the Librarians" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td922l0NoDQ

Banned Books at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ONB24Pugc&NR

You can also see the disruption of a library reading room at NYU with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt1bgsvsWms
Johanna Bowen
Cabrillo College Library

Transforming the Future: 20/20 Foresight" An ALA Sunrise Seminar with Bob Treadway

2007-02-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

I am still sorting through papers from ALA midwinter in Seattle. These notes are from the speech by Futurist Bob Treadway, who addressed the early morning attendees of ALA midwinter on Sunday. Bob Treadway is a forecaster and a a professional member of the World Future Society. He used a very common sense approach to looking to the future: Often we have to just ask what the future holds...and then look at the possibilities. Often there are finite choices of what is ahead: Elections, Legislation, Human behavior...all have fairly predictable consequences. If you look at what drives human behavior (he calls it human adoption drivers), you will notice 4 key factos: familiarity (have I seen it?), Gain (what will I get from it?) Ease (how easy is it to use?) and cost (is it reasonably priced?) He used IPOD (remember the walkman for familiarity, gain=days of music, not minutes, ease of use (it is) and cost (reasonable).

Treadway commented on two library-focused forecasts: Libraries will be influenced by privatized competition, and secondly, that "advice" is already a huge industry now and in the future (e.g. classic example of Amazon...customers who liked this, bought that...)

He looked 10-20 years out and predicted that the virtual environments will predominate and that there will be total digitization. He encouraged librarians to capitalize on what we do now--we are high on the knowledge hierarchy and referred to Russell Ackoff's "knowledge hierarchy" where the lowest level "ignorance". Knowledge then progresses upward to data-->information-->knowledge-->expertise--> and finally wisdom. He also stated that the "advice" business will be bigger than the largest industry now which is travel and tourism.

Libraries were encouraged to create for-profit divisions and “Advice on Call” services. Expand what we do well and with the values we hold, obtain funding to stay vital, grow services and provide accessibility. He questionsed "What will you miss if you don't compete for the opportunities to add value to people's lives?" Address these four tough questions now: funding for continued access for all; opportunities for profitable services, the best use of professional librarians, and how libraries will serve the next generations of users.

Referred us to a book called THE WISDOM OF CROWDS: WHY THE MANY ARE SMARTER THAN THE FEW AND HOW COLLECTIVE WISDOM SHAPES BUSINESS, ECONOMIES, SOCIETIES, AND NATIONS.

Ended with a great quote based on Buffet's 'Noah did not start building the Ark when it was raining.', in other words, "Predicting rain doesn't count, building arks does."

Mammoth, snow, and blogging

2007-02-10T08:44:00.001-08:00

Today I am in Mammoth with Jeff and Amy and since I
slept in the car on the way up, I only needed about 4
hours of sleep during the night. So, 5:30 am, the
coffee was on, the fire was crackling, and the
wireless was spinning! I now have an account in
Technorati (to track my blogs) and 43 things (ok,
raising chickens and beekeeping started my life list),
and have been playing for 3 hours with other things I
have not had time to explore. To paraphrase Tennyson,
"Ah, a woman's reach should exceed her grasp, or
what's a heaven for?"

p.s. Today is Sunday and I went into my blog and tried out some of the features of Technorati. It is fantastic! Readers can now put in a topic and search my blog (try it, type in a topic like digitization) and it takes you to Technorati and lists all the entries under that topic. I needed something like this myself since now my blog is quite extensive and I wanted to organize it a bit. Sweet!
Don't know about Technorati? click here for the Wikipedia defintion and links

43 things....how am I doing?

2007-02-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

Stephen Abram wrote an article in Information Today (February 2006) called "43 things I might want to do this year."

He adapted this concept from a website called 43 things: What do you want to do with your life in which you can track all those long range and short range goals. Stephen's list is one that I am personally adopting...

1. Take a digital picture with a camera and/or phone and download it to my PC.
2. Register at Blogger and start a blog. Post every once in awhile and add a photo.
3. Register at Bloglines and aggregate my blog and RSS subscriptions into one reader. Check out what other blogs align with my interests.
4. Look at Facebook and see the next generation of social networking
5. Set up a Flickr account and post a few of my digital photos online. Tag
and annotate them.
6. Look at LibraryElf and see the potential for personal library tools.
7. Check out LibraryThing and catalogue a few books from your personal
collection.
8. Register at MSN Photo Album and build an album to share with my
friends, family or colleagues.
9. Check out Myspace and see how this service has become so huge
globally.
10. Have some fun with the links on the Generator Blog.
For more, go to his article at http://tinyurl.com/p3vow
Join me in this fun adventure!

Visit to Mount San Antonio College (Mt. Sac)

2007-02-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

Dona and I headed out on our weekly "College Trek" to visit with colleagues at Mt. Sac. Although I have been on the campus before, I have not had a chance to visit the library and learning resources center. We met with the Kerry Stern, the Dean of Library and Learning Resources and discussed my sabbatical leave, her responsbilities as Dean, the digitization agenda for colleges, a new Library, and campus changes. Dona also spoke to her about their new Reading Center. We then took a tour of the Library and Learning Resources building and then while Dona was interviewing the Reading Center people, I took a tour of the campus. It is a campus in transition and I was so envious of all their space. Beautiful sycamore trees, nice coffee commons, Home Cooking cafe as well as a traditional cafeteria, fun bookstore and a new Student Services Building that is still not finished.

Visits to Cerritos College and Fullerton College

2007-02-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Dona Mitoma and I have teamed up on our visits to colleges to visit their Libraries as well as their Reading Centers. Dona was a high school librarian as well as a community college librarian (PCC) but for the last several years, she has coordinated the Reading program at Pasadena City College. It is great to visit colleges with her and I have learned much about the varieties of reading programs in community colleges.

Our first visit was to Cerritos http://www.cerritos.edu/library/ where we joined Dean John McGinnis and his librarans for a meeting. I was able to share a draft of my digitization survey and we also discussed some of the policies and procedures they were revising according to the CCLC (Community College League of California) guidelines and Ed Code 78100. We also toured the building and then stopped to visit Bill Farmer (VP Academic Affairs) and Stephen Johnson (VP Student Affairs), both formerly from Pasadena. They both seemed so happy and we had a great visit. Their library is about the same age as PCC and we enjoyed walking around and checking out the similiarities as well as the differences.

Then to Fullerton College http://library.fullcoll.edu/

This is a new building and like PCC, it blends in beautifully with the existing architecture. It is heavily used and offers many diverse spaces for study and collaboration. I loved the bright colors, painted faux tiles and ceilings, and openness. I picked up several brochures and found one that was a great layout for helping students along the way in the many college processes. I know Margaret Ramey will appreciate seeing it! I met Jackie Bolls briefly and look forward to speaking with her again soon.

For more photos of this building, see their website:
http://library.fullcoll.edu/librarypictures.htm

Streaming Audio and SMIL for Oral Histories

2007-01-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

I am behind in blogging my activities so I am posting these course descriptions as a place marker until I have the time to record my notes and thoughts. One thing I will share now is that Trevor Bond from WSU (Pullman, WA) was a great teacher for both of these classes.

Often these all day sessions are a bit overwhelming however, he blends hard background information with examples and activities that stimulate discussion and sharing. The session on EAD was so useful since the "students" shared so much of their interests and experiences. It really enhanced the class.

Course description from OCLC Western webpage:
Making sound files available over the Internet is becoming an increasingly popular method to highlight audio collections, such as oral histories. This workshop will provide a nontechnical, hands-on overview of national standards, best practices, and the equipment required to digitally record oral histories. The workshop will cover the entire process including the planning, recording, processing, editing, cataloging, and streaming of digital oral histories. The implementation of SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) to synchronize streaming audio with transcripts will also be discussed.

What you will learn
Understanding the multifaceted workflow of organizing a digital oral history project;
The ability to plan and implement digital audio projects;
Strategies for converting analog oral history recordings to digital; and
The infrastructure necessary to make digital audio accessible.

OCLC course on EAD (Encoded Archival Description)

2007-01-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

Today, I head for OCLC Western to take this course on EAD. My husband looked a little perplexed as I explained what it is....it seems he thinks I am "all over the place," and I do feel at times like I am a "kid in a candy shop." Yet, that is what this leave is all about...playing and enhancing my learning about a wide, diverse group of areas that I have not had time to keep up with as a Dean. See course description below...Notes to follow...

Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is emerging from theory into practice as organizations expand the number of digitized archival collections that they manage. This workshop provides advice for organizations that want to implement the EAD standard and develop internal best practices for the use of the EAD version 2002 encoding standard. The workshop will cover issues relating to preparation before encoding including the implementation of DACS (Describing Archives a Content Standard) and Greene and Meissner's notion of more product, less process. Includes discussion of techniques and practices for encoding finding aides; reviews national EAD best practices and support sites as well as providing examples drawn from such projects as the Northwest Digital Archive (NWDA) and the California Digital Library (CDL).

What you will learn
Understanding the complexities of managing archival collections using EAD;
Creating practical workflow models for using EAD; and
Practice in applying the principles and theory.

End of a conference...

2007-01-24T19:01:00.001-08:00

After Saturday at the conference, I was tired and a bit overloaded. I headed for Hwy 5 and inadvertently got caught in the express lane heading north. No problem, I was just going to get off and head south when I realized I was a mile away from University of Washington. I have always wanted to see this campus and since my cousin Morgan is a pre-nursing student, I called her and she was home. It was great to get a personal tour.

It is a beautiful campus with an old, gothic style university library. We walked into the third floor reading room and it reminded me of a cathedral. Beautiful and filled with light! Morgan had never seen this room before so I know she enjoyed seeing it as well.

http://students.washington.edu/prabir16/library.jpg

We walked around the campus with its gorgeous trees and views and then I dropped her off at Trader Joe’s for work. Great ending to a great day!

Sunday, I arrived early for the Sunrise Session on Transforming the Future: 20/20 Foresight. A futurist, Bob Treadway outlined planning strategies for the year 2020. I then headed for the exhibits where I attended a exhibit seminar on Library Services in the Web 2.0 environment where the Alliance Library System in East Peoria, IL has established a library place called Info Island on SecondLife.com. It is amazing how engaged their users are in this virtual library space. I then went to a presentation on Overdrive’s audio and video collections and then looked for exhibits that may help us with marketing and delivery of services. I was interested to find Bookletters, a great looking marketing newsletter as well as READ posters customizable with pictures of Library or college staff.

After several hours in the exhibits, I met Gail Palmer from OCLC for lunch and we discussed some of my projects as well as some grant ideas.

Monday--I attended the exhibits picking up some free books for my library and then headed to the CJCLS (Community and Junior College Library Section session meeting. There were 4 table discussions and I joined the one on membership, publicity and publications. I thought I might be able to provide some insights on the Vo-Tech book, but we ran out of time.

On Monday, Sirsi’s drop in session on Social bookmarking introduced me to del.icious and the value of using this service of categorizing and capturing bookmarks for reference (or personal) use. Can’t wait to try it…Also attended the Contentdm Users' Group meeting in the afternoon.

ALA Exhibitors and My Notes

2007-01-20T22:05:00.000-08:00

Saturday:
SIRSI/DYNIX: big crowd there huddled around to hear Stephen Abram talk about the Social Library and 2.0. Since I have been attending the Sirsi/Dynix Institutes online, I was anxious to hear him in person. This guy is amazing...his mind is clicking fast, he talks fast and yes ! I do think he can keep up with all the newest, greatest, latest. He is the first one to look you in the eye and comment on what is wrong with us that eveyone over 25 doesn't get it about Myspace, Facebook, Bebo. He urges us to get our "textheads" into "nexthead" and by the way, watch Spiralfrog from Universal (and it will be free). 80% of all college and university students have a social networking site like Myspace and Facebook. Look out for libraries in Second Life...get an avatar and join in the fun in Infoisland. If nothing else, subscribe to Stephen's blog: Stephen's Lighthouse http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/

p.s. and I am *not* a Sirsi customer...

oh yes, maryann...check out Yub, Zack Mortal in Second life, Schoolrooms, Eastern University's gaming interface, Hennepin County's link from Myspace

Also spent time with Overdrive, Booklist online, and others....but I *must* get to sleep so I can get back to the Sunrise session on Transforming the Future: 20/20 Foresight!

Exhausted (but happy) at ALA...Saturday night 1/20/2007

2007-01-20T21:31:00.000-08:00

Today is Saturday and after I arrived late last night after the CJCLS dinner, I fell into bed and was fast asleep. I woke at ten to 6 and since I wanted to be back at the conference center by 8 for a motivational speaker, I was up, had the coffee pot on and was in the shower by 6. I am staying with Jeff's cousins in Puyullup which is about an hours drive south of Seattle.

Sue Ershler was the first speaker in the Sunrise speaker series. She is is an author as well as a business person and with her husband, was the first husband and wife team to reach Mt. Everest. husband-wide team to reach the top of Mt. Everest.

Ershler tells the story of her "goal" to climb Mt. Everest and Learn how to achieve goals that seem overwhelming through vision, focus, risk-taking and commitment. Now those of you who know me well know first that one summer I read about 6 or 7 Everest stories AND that I am always up for a motivational "shot in the arm." Sue was an engaging speaker and if I ever thought (in my dreams) that I might want to climb Everest, after hearing her speak I decided that vicariously living isn't so bad after all! Just the thought of crossing the cumba ice fall on 60 eight foot ladders strung together, well, if you know me, it just wouldn't happen. I have a hard enough time getting the Christmas lights up!

I liked the three P words Sue used for her goals: Project, Prepare and Persevere.

Project: establish a clear vision where you are going. Once you have the right vision, it drives all the activity to get there. 100% commitment = 100% productivity Focus on writing your goals to help you project your vision. Burn it into your brain!

Prepare: Break it down into managable tasks...little pieces, step by step. When she started out on the Everest climb, her husband encouraged her by saying that each day we will climb, and at night we will rest. Then we will climb a day, a rest. When the day was hard, they focused on a shorter term goal ans some days, it was as "manageable" as one step, then another step. She commented that when we project and prepare that we are truly "ordinary people who can do extraordinary things." Wow! that sounds like the Shatford Library staff!

Persevere: Push through the pain and the pain won't last...but the satisfaction of moving toward your goals will be there . William Durant (founder of General Motors) said it well:
William Durant: Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you going to do now and do it.

As Sue said, we all have our "seven summit dreams." As Robert Collier said:
You can have anything you want -- if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, have anything you desire, accomplish anything you set out to accomplish -- if you will hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.

Community and Junior College Library Section dinner

2007-01-20T06:19:00.000-08:00

It was great to reconnect with people in this section listserve and then, some old friends. This is one of the great things about ALA that aside from the meetings, there are so many informal opportunities to get together and share our common experiences. I saw Dave Dowell from Cuesta, Bernie Fradkim from College of DuPage, Cary Sowell from Austin Community College and ellen sutton from College of Du Page. I finally met Kenley Newell from Santa Barbara College. I enjoyed having dinner with Stacey Nickell from West Kentucky, Mary Lou Sutton from the Keystone Library Network in Harrisburg, PA and Rebecca Schreiner from Morton College (Cicero, Ill.), ...and she is very interested in a resource like Content dm for the Western Electric collection. Very fun evening!

Assessment of Academic Library Effectiveness Using ACRL Standards for Continuous Evaluation/ACRL workshop with Bob Fernekes and Bill Nelson

2007-01-20T06:13:00.000-08:00

Ferneckes and Nelson provided an introduction to the 2004 Standards for Libraries in Higher Education, provided some suggestions on how to apply the standards and provided some collaborative team table discussions on using the standards (by type of library). Workbook participants received a copy of their workbook called Standards and Assessments for Academic Libraries: A Workbook

Highlights:
Translating core values, vision, mission, and strategy
Linking to campus-wide values, vision, etc.
Exposure to a variety of methods of assessment using the workbook
Documentation of outcomes and assessments and linking back to the college-wide agendas
Challenge: “demonstrate ways in which library users are changed as a result of their contact with library services, resources and programs, and assess student learning and impact.
Use your established “culture of evidence” as defined by Bonnie Gratch-Lindauer
Prepare for next accreditation visit using regional standards, ACRL standards, SLO assessments .
Refer back to the established baseline (or establish one if not already developed)
Ideas and actions generated from this workshop:

! Idea! Work with Leslie to design an “automatic” SLO rubric at the point of the faculty request of the instruction session…then have students login and do a pretest..ask for email and then do end of session AS WELL AS end of semester evalution.
! Pull out the original presentation to the Board of Trustees and re-do the peer comparisons in state and out of state
! Krista….When doing a survey, start with the outcome that you want to measure…
! Use accreditation standards or ACRL standards to determine outcomes.

To share: Accreditation based outcomes chart on Library Effectiveness (handout #3)
LibQual…spend time in the exhibits looking at it…
Use first paper (in a portfolio as a pretest) to demonstrate progress of student with citations, resource use, writing ability, etc.
Solinet/Cal Shepard Customer service and assessment mthods…excellent presenter
READ and become aware of the professional association accreditation info for voc-ed areas like paralegal, rad tech, nursing, etc.

General observations: It is interesting to come from a six month period of working fairly exclusively with new technologies and delivery systems (Web 2.0 and social networking software, blogs, wikis, podcasting, anytime/anywhere thinking) to a traditional standards-based assessment evaluations where peer evaluations and ratios of resources/traditional services to enrollments are evaluated. With a whole new generation of students using web-based resources, it will be interesting to see decreases of circulations and increases of search hits, web hit rates, etc. How we evaluate use of programs. resources and services by digital natives will determine dramatically the movement of our institutions to where these users “live.”

Afternoon session consisted of discussion groups where we shared out mission and vision statements and worked on assessments. Not that helpful to me since it was similar to other workshops I have been to. I felt that PCC is ahead of the game in this arena.

ALA Midwinter meeting, Seattle

2007-01-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

Friday morning and I am heading from Puyullup to Seattle for the ACRL preconference on assessment. It seems whenever I arrive in Seattle and walk out into the cool air, I feel like I am home. It is beautiful here and the abundance of trees is such a sharp contrast to the "desert" of Southern California inland areas. It is hard to believe that last week I was in the Anza Borrego desert for an orienteering meet (and so in love with that desert) , and now I am in the cool (ok...cold!) northwest. Ok...I am fickle!

Forecast is for much rain today but at least it has warmed up today so there is *no* snowstorm. It has been a harsh, cruel winter here...or as a canal friend of ours (Wendie) described it -- "brutal!"

My tentative schedule is: (some conflicts so it will depend where I am and how easily I can get there!)
ACRL pre conf on assessment (day long seminar)
CJCLS dinner Friday night
Social networking: best practices for libraries (OCLC sponsored, Saturday morning)
Exhibits, exhibits. exhibits...
Transforming yourself: Reaching new heights/ Sue Ershler (Sunrise program)
Stephen Abram-- Social library 2020: 2.0 in action (SIRSI booth seminar)
Your firefox can do that! (SIRSI booth seminar)
Fish (ALA President's program)
Transforming the future: 20/20 foresight/Bob Treadway (Sunrise program)
Content dm success stories
OCLC update breakfast
Social bookmarking
Next gen portals: the 2.0 ecperience
CJCLS all committee
Content dm users meeting
Digi solutions: NDNP and beyond

Exhibitors I don't want to miss...
Don’t miss Exhibits:
1713 blogger badge
2002 READ poster (get CD on READ from ALA store)
2015 OCLC
2519 Sirsi
2615 Knowledge café
To check out:
Overdrive
ICT
Dual monitors for reference desk

I have also registered as an ALA blogger...how fun!

"Why Johnny can't search" American Libraries column/Joseph James/UW

2007-01-12T16:22:00.000-08:00

When you are feeling a little like the Information Competency/Information Literacy discussion has gotten stale, take a look at the article by Joseph James in the January issue of American Libraries.
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/inetlibrarian/internetlibrarian.cfm

Here is an excerpt: "Students were asked to evaluate these faux websites based on objectivity, authority, and timeliness (only 49% could pick the one site that met all those criteria), to narrow an overly broad search (which only 35% could do), and select a research statement for a class assignment (only 44% picked the one that captured the demands of the assignment)."

There is so much more we need to do! For the original assessment report, go to http://tinyurl.com/ekk46

The pressure to blog ! #$%#@, updating recent events...

2007-01-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Somedays, the novelty of blogging wears off as I move on through this cycle of my sabbatical leave. Yet, it is a great way to capture all the things I am doing. And in the age of information moving at lightspeed, especially in the social networking scene, it is overwhelming.

Lately, I have been working on my campus survey and thesaurus for the archives. Also keeping up with the Sirsi/Dynix Institutes like Learning 2.0: Make "play" your New Year's resolution "As the Nationwide insurance commercials taunt "life comes at you fast", it's time for librarians to jump into the knowledge pool of Web 2.0 technologies and discover how these tools are changing the way many library users communicate, collaborate and receive information. Helene Blowers, Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County shares insights and best practices around the creation of Learning 2.0, an online self-discovery program designed to encourage staff to explore new technologies (blogs, wikis, podcasts etc.) and reward them for 'play.'

Then Dona Mitoma and I are visiting some colleges together. Dona is a Librarian, as many of you know, but she is the coordinator of the Reading Center at Pasadena City College. This week we went to Chaffey College and Riverside College. We visited with Frank Pinkerton at Chaffey and then went to the small Reading and Tutorial Center where the staff gave us a great overview of what they do. Then we trekked to Riverside College and took a tour of the new library. I had seen it before but wanted to visit again since it is a wonderful open architecture library and really gives a sense of the "digital library" as you walk in the door and view 180 computers in a commons area. Then we went to the Martin Luther King building which houses all the major computer labs in one building. We visited the Writing Center as well as the Reading Center and we were impressed with the extensive progrm there.

Today, more work on my thesaurus for the college archive. I also launched a beta of my campus survey so that I could test how Survey Monkey works to track respondents. Seems beautiful! I like it. Still no word from IMLS in spite of the fact that I call almost weekly. Hmmm... I may give up and put it in Survey Monkey however I wanted to play with this survey and mounting it on college's server.

Digital Oxygen: How "natives" behave when media and communications tools are ubiquitous. SirsiDynix Institute Seminar with Lee Rainie/Director, Pew

2007-01-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

Rainie discusses the findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project that explores "the behavior and expectations that result from living in a world that offers media and message delivery through so many different devices, in so many different ways.¨

Rainie traces the development of the digital native, describing the social impacts of the Internet and the web as well as the expansion of the web into Web 2.0. He defines a digital native as someone under 25 who has grown up with the advantages of ¡§connected resources.¡¨ They were born into a world where gaming and the personal computers were taking over the mainframe operations: WWW (1990), Palm (1996), Napster (1999)and now Podcasts, Blogs, Social networking sites, and video blogging (UTube).

He also discusses the 7 new realities in the life of digital natives and what they mean for them and for librarians:
1) Media and gadgets are an ubiquitous parts of everyday life¡KLee uses a great graphic to illustrate the change in Home media ecology and the interrelated nature of it all. What is really remarkable is how much it has changed in the last 4 months! Media is now ¡§consumed¡¨ by so many other ways than traditional radio and television (computers, laptops, IPODS, cell phones, etc.)
2) New gadgets allow them to enjoy media and take it with thm (77% of young adults have cell phones¡KNew features include texting, photography, games, Internet access, email, music, video clips, mobile maps, watch tv and video. Digital cameras now have moved more into the social perspective by including photos and share them online as part of story telling. 51% of teens own MP3 players.
3) The Internet is at the center of the revolution: dynamic changes in the use of the Internet and broadband access. Broadband users are very different users than dial-up users. Brought it into the rhythms of everyday life¡K
4) Different people use the Internet in different ways (slides illustrate the use by the young, Gen /Boomers, Seniors) Also draws comparisons of use by ethnic groups.
5) Multi-tasking is a way of life„³ Linda Stone calls it ¡§continuous partial attention.¡¨
6) Ordinary citizens have a chance to be publishers, moviemakers, artists, song creators and story tellers. They are now ¡§media creators.¡¨ The latest Pew study will look at the social issues of sharing more intimate (aka personal) information on their blogs.
7) Everything will change even more in the coming years. J-curve laws¡Kexpectations of the users of information will drive what happens.
More transparency and findable about institutions and individuals.
Relevant information independent/edited and commercial =¡§uber alles¡¨
Cluetrain manifesto: In a new interactive age, boundary between comsumer and producer breaks down. Expectations that one can interact with institutional information and media.

OCLC Workshop on Contentdm--Advanced Topics

2006-12-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

A workshop designed to assist institutions in understanding how to optimize the use of CONTENTdm software and digital collections management. Workshop exercises include
preparing for metadata batchload import and export, web template customization,
creating customized collection interfaces using CONTENTdm Custom Queries & Results, and review of statistics and report functions.

Notes to follow:

OCLC Workshop on Preserving Born-Digital Collections (with Gail Palmer/OCLC)

2006-12-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Course description: As more and more content is created and maintained in digital formats, it is important to begin thinking about what to preserve and how to preserve it. This workshop focuses on the issues of selecting an appropriate preservation strategy for born digital material, the key issues in maintaining materials in a digital format, and the use of national digital archive prototypes and other preservation options. (from OCLC training course description)

What you will learn: Understanding of the concepts of content, context, structure, reliability and authenticity of digital material and how they relate to preservation; Understanding of the available options for preservation of born digital material; and Ability to make appropriate preservation decisions for born digital material. (from OCLC training course description)

This training course workshop addressed the basic requirements of a digital preservation program including issues relating to content, structure, reliability, authenticity, access, and rights management. While all of these elements were discussed in detail, the overarching element that I took away from this workshop was the need for "bringing people along in the process," policies, planning and resource development to sustain this initiative. Gail focused on the need to determine the "organizational readiness", the technological infrastructure that forms the foundation of any venture, and then finally the resources framework for sustainability.

As I introduce this agenda for my campus, I need to determine if it is a concern for PCC. Are there elements already documented in the planing processes (program, unit and area plans; technology master plan,, educational master plan) that can provide the springboard for further explanation. The campus survey that I developed for release in January will identify some of the resources as well as the concerns for a project. The Technology Master Plan can also integrate Technology Survey (Spring 2006) findings into the new revisions.

There are some models "ripe" for integration into a demonstration project:
•Richshell Allen's "born-digital" photographs
•Library historical photographs (already digitized)
•PCC historical photographs in the Library archives (already scanned)
•Oral histories (to be converted to digital media from audiotape)
•PCC Couriers (microfilmed; ready for digitization if funding is available)
•PCC Courier files (original film, contact sheets for each issue of the Courier/files moved to the PCC Library Archives and are waiting for an inventory)
•PCC Artist in Residence resources (B role tape)
•PCC Biography articles file (to be digitized and loaded into Contentdm)

Sites to explore (or revisit):
Cornell's Digital Preservation Tutorial">Cornell's Digital Preservation Tutorial
http://www.library.cornell.edu/iris/tutorial/dpm/

Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access 1st ed. Maxine K. Sitts, Editor. Northeast Document Conservation Center. Andover, Mass, 2000.
http://www.nedcc.org/oldnedccsite/digital/dighome.htm

Western States Dublin Core Metadata Best Practices Updated Fall 2006!
http://www.cdpheritage.org/cdp/documents/CDPDCMBP.pdf

Library of Congress Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS)
http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/METSOverview.html

Funding resources (on Gail's bibliography)including IMLS, NEA, NEH, NHPRC as well as other preservation organizations and funding: http://www.oclc.org/digitalpreservation/resources/funding.htm

Contentdm thesaurus for Pasadena City College

2006-12-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

Because of the changing nature of divisions and departments over the years, I thought it might be good to experiment with using a wiki to post a draft of the thesaurus. Faculty and staff could add descriptive histories and anecdotes to the terms. E.g., The Media Center has moved from one area of the college to another. Rather than having one person responsible for the "authority" and referral work, I thought it would be good to make this a collaborative project. And, it will give me experience with a wiki! ;-)

I will also be adding the index to Mark Dodge's history as additional index terms. The "historical framwork" of the divisions will also be outlined here.

Thesaurus for Pasaadena City College’s Digital Documents
Administrative and Student Services Areas (non-instructional)

Admissions Office
Advisement Center
Affirmative Action Office
Alumni Office
Articulation Office
ASB Office
Bank
Benefits Office
Board of Trustees
Bookstore
Business Services
Cafeteria
Calworks
Campus Center (General)
Campus Police
Campus use/room reservation
Career/Job Placement Center
Child Development Center
Child Education Center
Classified senate
College Work Study
Commencement Ceremony
Computing services
Contract Education
Counseling/Career Services
Courior
Cross Cultural Center
Curriculum & Instruction
Custodians
Development office
Disabled Student Programs & Services
Economic development
Economic Development
Electronic maintenance
EOPS Office
Facilities
Faculty senate
Financial Aid/Scholarships
Fiscal services: accounting / payroll
Flea market
Flea Market
Foster Care Education
Foundation & External relations
Grant development & management
Health Center
Human resources
Institutional research office
Instructional Computing Lab
Instructional Resource Center
Instructional Television
International Student Admissions & Advisement
Job Placement
Keys
KPCC
Learning Assistance Center
Learning Resources
Lost & found
Management information services
Matriculation
Media Center
Office services
Office Skills Center
Parent Education
Parking
Parking
Pass Office
Police / safety services
President
Printing services
Project Leap
Psychological Services
Public relations office
Publications editor
Purchasing services : property control
Radio Station
Reading Lab
Receiving
Records
Registration
Scholarships and Loans
Student Affairs
Student Business Services
Student Trustee
Study Abroad Office
Testing (Assessment)
Transcripts
Transfer Center
Transportation
Travel & Student Insurance
Upward Bound Office
Veterans’ Office
Vice-President, Administrative Sevices
Vice-President, Instruction
Vice-President, Student & Learning Services
Vocational Education
Weekend College
WIN Center

Instructional Departments
Accounting
Administration of Justice
American Institutions
Anatomy
Anthropology
Arabic
Architecture
Armenian
Art
Astronomy
Automotive Technology
Banking and Finance
Biology
Building Construction
Business (General)
Business Information Technology
Chemistry
Chinese
Communication
Computer Information Systems
Computer Science
Cosmetology
Dental Hygiene
Dental Laboratory Technology
Drafting
Early Childhood Education
Economics
Education
Electricity
Electronics
Emergency Medical Technology
Engineering
English
English as a Second Language
English as a Second Language
Environmental Technology
Fashion
Fire Technology
Food Services
Foreign Language Study
French
Geography
Geology
German
Greek
Guidance
Health Education
Hebrew
History
Humanities
Italian
Japanese
Journalism
Laser Optics Technology
Latin
Legal Assisting
Library
Machine Shop
Marketing
Mathematics
Medical Assisting
Metal Processes
Microbiology
Music
Nursing
Nutrition
Philosophy
Photography
Physical Education Activity
Physical Education Theory
Physical Science
Physics
Physiology
Plumbing
Political Science
Printing
Psychology
Radiologic Technology
Religious Studies
Russian
Sign Art
Sociology
Spanish
Special Education Technology
Special Services
Speech
Statistics
Surveying
Technical Education (General)
Telecommunications
Theater Arts
Welding

Instructional Divisions

Blogs, wikis and more...results of the survey

2006-12-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

I know, I am the "Survey Queen"...but the data I gather is helpful to me in my research this year (and I hope it will benefit your library as well!)

Many thanks to the 69 respondents (that's 62% which is fine.) You can see the survey results at the following URL:

http://tinyurl.com/y4u498

Most significant findings are:
83% of our community college libraries do not use any blogs in their services to students; although 50% of respondents read blogs personally

6 libraries are using wikis; 59 (86% are not)

83% do not use RSS feeds in their Library catalogs and/or resources AND 65% of respondents have not personally or professionally used an RSS feed

Only one library is using a social networking sofware (like Myspace or Facebook) and 86% of respondents have not personally used social networking software

88% of libraries do not use any online photo sharing software although 42% have used one personally

For more information on these issues, check out a brief definition I have provided on my blog:
http://tinyurl.com/yy46vd

More to come...
Mary Ann Laun

Contentdm and Digital Resource Management

2006-12-09T16:03:00.000-08:00

Contentdm is a collection management tool for digital objects: documents, photographs, media, and multidimensional realia. It provides tools for the organization and mangement of digital resources over the Web including cataloging, metadata, thesauri creation and maintenance, and presentation through a public catalog.

As part of my sabbatical leave, I am working to lay the foundation for the consolidation of access to campus resources with a focus on Contentdm.
Library planning agendas 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. Time and staff restraints have limited our ability to achieve this goal.

So many divisions and departments of the college have existing resources that need to be considered. Just recently, we discovered 40 years of our Courier archives in the Journalism division: 56 linear feet of boxes chronicling the newspaper's contributions including each negative shot for each issue, contact sheets, and documentation for each issue. Many of the photos have not been seen since the issue was published. It is a rich collection of our college's heritage. The collection was moved a few weeks ago to our College Archives in the Library. This is one representative collection the is a top candidate for digitization and indexing.

Other collections include archival as well as departmental resources: art slides collections, digital music collections, photograph collections and back files, application software, and historical archives.

This summer, a college assistant prepared the groundwork for a demonstration collection: hundreds of photographs were scanned and added to the Contentdm
database. Metadata was provided when it was available and now the collection consists of the following categories:

Administrative Services
--Administration
--Business Services
--Presidents

Biography
--Campus pictures
--Faculty and Staff
--Unnamed photographs, undated portraits and photographs

Board of Trustees

Campus Photographs by Year
1937-1950
1960-1980
1990-2000
2000-

College Pictures by subject:
Alumni
art
Awards
Communication
English
House Building
Library
Life Sciences
math
Miscellaneous (to identify)
Music
Nursing
Occupational Services
Physical Education (Men)
Physical Education (Women)
Physical Sciences
Social Sciences
Student Activities
Theatre
VIP
Unnamed, undated
Creveling Collection (including numerous personal family as well as college
connections as Student government and OMD)
OMD
Tournament of Roses

The College Archives policy outlines what is collected by the Library. Many of these items could be converted to digital format:
Academic division documents
Accreditation Reports
Administrative division documents
Administrative Memoranda
Alumni Notes and Reunions
Annual Reports
Annuals/Yearbooks
Architectural renderings and building documentation
Associated Student Body resources
Awards
Biographical information/obituaries on staff in all media (The local newspapers are
scanned for PCC biographical articles. Cataloging has biographical scrapbooks).
Board of Trustees (policies, minutes, biographies, elections
Budgets 1945-
Campus Programs (EOPS, CWS, Foreign Students, etc.)
Child Development Center
Class Schedules 1959-
Classified Senate
Collective bargaining
College Calendars
College Catalogs 1924-
College Committee Reports
College Newspaper
Commencement Programs
Council of Department Chairs Reports and Minutes
Dean’s List
Departmental newsletters and publications
Directories
Enrollment Reports
Faculty publications (published books and reports)
Faculty sabbatical leave reports (cataloged)
Faculty Senate Minutes and Reports
Founding Memorabilia (t-shirts, pins)
Goals
Graduation
History of the college
Instructional Division Documents
Instructional Support Divisions Documents
Management Association
Official bulletins
Oral histories
Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA)
PCC Periodicals
Photographs
Planning documents
Policies and Procedures
Press Releases
Program brochures
Retirees
Salary Schedules
Statistical studies of students and graduates
Student organizations documents
Student Services divisions documents
Teacher Load Reports
Textbook lists

In the last few weeks I have been working on the thesaurus as well as the Campus Survey that will help me identify the digital objects to be considered for a repository plan.

Mary Ann's notes on "25 Technologies in 50 minutes"

2006-11-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

RSS: Really simple syndication; “promotes the web of connections”; Check out Hennepin Public Library, University of Alberta, Seattle Public Library; DIGG (breaking news of technology); real benefit is taking the library to the next level within the community

Wikis: PBWiki, Mediawiki; valuable for storing knowledge that is in Librarians’ heads—bookmarks, files, etc.; check out your own organization (PCC) in Wikipedia; allows cooperative editing; knowledge is sustainable

Blogs: Blogger, Technorati, Moveable Type, etc. Interesting part is that you insure that you connect with your community; book clubs, staff use only; directors’ blogs;
use Vox to connect up with your users.

Photoblogs (Flickr): Tampa Bay Public Library; Teens taking pictures of historic buildings and seniors tell the stories; Bradford County Public Library

Tags: Event blogging pulls tags together to organize it;
Blogmarks; del-icio.us, linkfilter, livemarks, Stumble Upon, Wists, openIBM, Dude, Check this out

YouTube: 90 second videos about the library; use trailers to promote DVD collections; authors to promote book clubs; book cart races; Library dominoes;

MP3: Recognize mp3 files in iTunes and on the web; staff have not really been engaged in this media; show them the tools they need; get some players and teach them to do it; Overdrive Talking books now in digital format; Pandora (metadata driven radio station you can make); Limewire

Streaming media: Library TV; Denver Public Library has many streaming video collections; Get your texthead to nexthead; Spiralfrog

Google office: Writely hasbeen purchased by Google; merging with Google calendar; Office style applications to users; bridges digital divide;

Instant messaging:not using instant messaging is unethical (check out Cha Cha search; Search with a Guide has someone helping you with a search; IM bridge to virtual reference);

Meebo Trilliam and GAIM: Meebo is a messaging aggregator; GAIM

Visualization: displaying information rather than excessive links; KARTOO; Touchgraph provides timelines (very interesting); Antarctica application at Belmont Abbey College...

Second Life: Reuters, Second Life Library (some press conferences done ahead of actual press conference); infoisland.org (blog that supports Second Life Library); Check it out for Library instruction...

Avatars: Create a "Librarian Trading Cards" on Flickr; builds online identity;

Retrievr: Playing with sketches to find pictures without using words and when they do not have any metadata

Podcasts: Mp3 or audio file put into a blog; load your recordings into iTunes; content where the users are;

MySpace: combines Web 2.0 interactive events and communication, publishing and creativity 320,000 new users last week in North America; average age is 31; Average age of video player is 32; Hennepin County Library has Myspace in their catalog;

Facebook: Now open; converted her whole high school to Facebook; sfer environment; sustainable social networks for life; major shift in social networking

Skype: long distance for free; conference reports; told stories about what they were experiencing; American storytellers in Africa told a story once a month to her home library

Library thing: 40th largest library in North America (MARC records for your home library collection); book suggester based on what people buy for their home collections; book unsuggester;

Endeca: North Carolina State University Endeca on the catalog; information using metadata, Endeca powers Barnes and Noble and Borders; worth playing with

Virtual Reference: still in primitive stages; VRLPlus; next generation to how IM will work in the future

Folksonomies (professional metadata) and TagClouds: Technorati (what's happening in the blogs); what are people searching on...

Blinkx and Singingfish: Audio and video sites search; new spoken word search engines; searches podcasts, web accessible sources, tv/radio (e.g. how to use Lexis Nexus; distance education uses; Blinkx TV: 6 million hours of TV

Using 43 things to keep track of the 15 minutes a day (Stephen Abram)
article he wrote...

Helen Blowers started this movement; learning 23 things in 9 weeks; Stephen Colbert;

Get started with blogging...

Blogs he recommends: Use bloglines...
Tame the web blog (Michael Stephens)
The Shifted Librarian
Library stuff
Library crunch (Michael Casey)

25 Technologies in 50 Minutes/Stephen Abram (Sirsi/Dynix Seminar)

2006-11-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

"Stephen Abram, SirsiDynix's Vice President of Innovation lists a technology application every 120 seconds in this roller coaster ride of what's out there in LibraryLand and which one's are worth playing with and seeing if they'll be useful to your library and your community of users."
http://sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php

If you can handle overload in a compressed fashion, get out your notebooks! (remember, to review it, it is only a click away!)

Stephen does a great job of introducing you to (mostly free) technologies that can change dynamically the services in your libraries and colleges.

Stephen covers:

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

Although this is only a 50 minute seminar, these overviews set the stage for much further exploration. I loved his idea of 15 minutes a day to play with new technologies...Actually, I would like to see "Free Friday Morning" where library staff could "play" with technologies that will greatly alter how we deliver services to our students and the college community.

Update on IMLS Technology and Digitization Survey

2006-11-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

I heard this week that the Institite of Museum and Library Studies has agreed to let me use the Technology and Digitization Survey to administer to the California Community Colleges. The IMLS will be forwarding to me the survey and the instructions to load it on a Cold Fusion Server (which our college has). I will, in turn, report the results of the survey to the IMLS.

I have reviewed the suvey and have adapted it for our community college libraries. I plan to send it to MIS directors as well as library directors and deans.
Great news!

"The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal upport for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. Its mission is
to grow and sustain a “Nation of Learners” because life-long learning is essential to a democratic society and individual success. Through its grant making, convenings, research and publications, the Institute empowers museums and libraries nationwide to provide leadership and services to enhance learning in families and communities, sustain cultural heritage, build twenty-first-century skills, and increase civic participation." [from http://www.imls.gov/about/about.shtm]

Using Podcasting for Teaching: Part 2: Creating and Syndicating Content/Donna Eyestone (@One Seminar)

2006-11-13T22:49:00.000-08:00

This seminar provided insight into “how to” techniques for podcasting class lectures including planning a podcast and producing it. Donna uses Audacity to demonstrate the process of producing a podcast: recording, editing, compressing, and publishing your recording/podcast as an RSS feed. Donna actively demonstrates use of the Audacity program while teaching in the online environment as well as mapping the html information for the RSS feed to iTunes.

It was a very effective lesson to see her editing a work in Audacity and iTunes. She also demonstrated the use of Creative Commons (http://www.creativecommons.org) or “PodsafeAudio” (http://podsafeaudio.com/) to find recorded and/or graphic material to add to podcasts or vidcasts. Note: MAC users can use Garageband instead of Audacity which does a lot more of the work for you). .)

Hint: save your work as an “Audacity project” and then export it as a MP3. She uses Textedit to code the html.

Some of the demonstrations were hard to hear from her desktop and the application sharing kept bombing…so she had to keep reloading it. You can go to iTunes and click on Podcasts (Educational podcasts) or search under Donna Eyestone to find her recent podcasts.

American Libraries Direct...and directed....

2006-11-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

Amazing how one things leads to another...

I have an RSS feed from American Libraries Direct (admin@aldirect.ala.org) and from that link I noticed that Aaron Schmidt had a column had a column on Instant Messaging at the Reference Desk. Since I had just heard him on an archived SirsiInstitute, I clicked on it...

IM reference talking points
Chicago-area librarian Aaron Schmidt offers some reasons why instant messaging might be a good tool for reference services: “Don’t worry, people aren’t going to get mad if you’re helping people online when they walk up as long as you explain what you’re doing. Use those moments to promote your service!” The University of Guelph Library has already started using it....
Walking Paper blog, Nov. 2

And it also took me to a Wiki called Library Success which listed all the libraries using IM in their Reference work. In California, the following sites are listed.

Claremont Colleges - AIM, gTalk, MSN, Yahoo!
Livermore Public Library - AIM, MSN, Yahoo!
Marin County Free Library - AIM, MSN, Yahoo!
Santa Clara University Library - AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ
University of California Berkeley - Government Information - AIM, gTalk, ICQ, Yahoo!
University of San Francisco, Gleeson Library - AIM, gTalk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!

and then there was Liszen which indexes over 500 library blogs...

Show and Tell The Easy Way - An Introduction to Screencasting (with Paul Pival/(SIRSIDynix Seminar)

2006-11-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

SIRSI Seminar annotation: “Personal assistance is gratifying for library staff and users alike. Limited staff time, however, makes this kind of one-on-one help harder and harder to offer. But we have a solution called screencasting to share with you, which is basically just a movie of your computer screen that records everything displayed on the screen as you demonstrate a procedure, along with your voice, if you wish. The recording is saved to a file for later playback. It's easy to "record" a procedure you frequently demonstrate, and you only need to do it once. Your patrons will find the screencast easy to view, available wherever they are, and repeatable as often as they like. This presentation will introduce screencasting, the software that is available to create screencasts, and the platforms on which they can be run. You'll learn how to plan a recorded procedure (the most time-consuming, yet often overlooked step) and get tips for making effective and engaging screencasts.”

Paul introduces the viewer to screencasting which is a movie of your computer screen displays. This seminar introduces definitions, rationale (patrons, staff, family), a bit of history, and products you can use. Screencasting is a great instructional tool that allows interactivity including quizzes and linking, audio and video demonstrations. Paul provides conrete suggestions and tips for the novice as well as experienced user.

Some of the recommendations I found most helpful:

--Recommendations for screen casts: make it brief (2-3 minutes), small (resolution 800x600), use audio (don’t forget closed captioning), annotations (font balloons, call outs, highlights, etc.). He also urged that you plan ahead (do a dry run or storyboard to see what needs to be screencast effectively).

--Tricks: Sizer (free software that builds a profile to resize browser to uniform dimensions)

--Audio: Use a headset USB microphone so that a uniform distance for volume. Audio quality does make a big difference so make sure audio quality is significant); don’t use built in microphone from the laptop since it will pick up extraneous noise;

--Output considerations: web delivery options like FLASH players (available on 90% of home computers; MOV needs plug-in for PC users; FLASH supports progressive downloads (compressed format); burn to CD/DVD; Camtasia new version allows download to MP4…small image though…
800x600 desirable (700x400=1 mg per minute.

--Vendors:
Screencast.com (TechSmith)
ViewletCentral (Qarbon)

Paul also has a list of resources he discussed on his blog:
http://distlib.blogs.comGreat introduction, good pacing, very informative. Highly recommended!

About the author: Paul R. Pival (MLS, SUNY Buffalo) is the Distance Education Librarian at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and the author of the blog, The Distant Librarian (http://distlib.blogs.com). Prior to his arrival in Canada in late 1999, he supported distance students for four years at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. An early adopter, Paul has been working with screencasts since 2002.

Engaging Youth on their Own Terms: Instant Messaging and Gaming in Libraries (SIRSIDynix Institute seminar with Sarah Houghton-Jan and Aaron Schmidt)

2006-11-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sarah Houghton-Jan (Librarianinblack) and Aaron
Schmidt discuss ways to serve teens by creating a
teen-friendly environment in the physical library as
well as virtual spaces.

The focus of this workshop is on why serving teens is
important, integration of gaming in libraries
(particularly public libraries), and the need to
create teen-friendly spaces. This discussion of
technologies to use with teenagers (as well as others)
who use contemporary methods of communication is
particularly relevant to community colleges as they
seek to meet students where they are.

Discussion focused on “Virtual Reference” and the
issues surrounding why is often is not that effective.
Presenters supplied examples as well as scripts used
with Instant Messaging at the Reference desk.

One of the most amusing parts of this presentation is
the “Environment of No”. The presenters bring in
pictures they have taken of all the ways we say NO to
our patrons. Examples…”NO food or drink,” “Absolutely NO cell
phones on this floor” No, no, no!
They also presented some creative approaches such as
the “Get in the zone: Cell phones zone.”

Blogs and the role they can play cannot be overstated.
Sites worth exploring:
• Library Garden… http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/
(Library Garden has been conceived as an ongoing
conversation among librarians with differing
perspectives (public, academic, consortial, state,
youth, LIS) but one shared goal: ensuring the health
and relevance of libraries.

Library Garden is maintained by a team of contributing
editors. We will each contribute to the blog, offering
our individual perspectives on issues that affect or
relate to libraries of all types. But we will also get
together for regular topical conversations --
conversations with each other, with others, with you
-- and post those conversations to the blog.

• LAPL’s Teen Read http://www.lapl.org/ya/index.html
My Own Cafe is a place where teens in Southeastern
Massachusetts can find out what other teens in their
own, and nearby communities, are talking about,
reading, listening to, watching, playing, and doing.
It's a place to find information and post information.
It's a place to do research and get help with
research.

• Denver Public Library’s Myspace page
http://www.myspace.com/denver_evolver

• And in my wanderings I found a Wikipedia entry on
Myspace and Teens in Libraries
http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=MySpace_%26_Teens

The presenters also spoke about the prevalence of
Ipods and the services that can meet students here:
Podcasts and vidcasts, books on iTunes, teens
recording local book reviews, recording poetry
readings, game nights, etc. (Suggests posting vidcasts
to UTube as well.)
• More Sites worth exploring: Cheshire Public Library
has a Teen driven magazine that is released as a
podcast
• Thomas Ford Memorial Library…books on IPOD
(purchased books from Itunes, cataloged them and put
them in the catalog)
• Cherry Hill (NJ)…ripped entire audio tape collection
to iTtunes
• Gwinnett County Public Library had a “Rock the
Shelves” night…
• Meebo.com…check it out…
• Flickr…easy way to get photos on the web…search
“Library” on Flickr to see what libraries are doing
• Myspace…gets more hits than Google…
• Wikipedia…is PCC in it? Shatford Library in it?

A side light to this conference: SIRSI has an RSS
feed called “Word to the Wise”. You can sign up and
get weekly emails that bring you up to date on new
technologies and the vocabulary needed to understand
them.

Excellent seminar! Recommended for all! It will raise
your consciousness…especially when you ask yourself
“why not?”

Grossmont College Library and Tech Lab...

2006-11-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

I came down to Grossmont College (in El Cajon, near San Diego) since Jeff had a meeting here. I had never been on the campus before and I loved the openness and spaciousness of the campus. Since I come from a landlocked, urban college, this campus environment with its low profile buildings and open spaces seemed so refreshing!

I love to ask students where the library is...and this student I asked actually was walking that way so he escorted me. He suggested that instead of walking around to the main entrance, that I walk through their Tech Mall. Grossmont College now has a "Tech Mall" where the old library used to be. The new Library is at the very end of this large facility that houses approximately 200 open lab computers on the main floor with a second tier of offices of other Learning and Tutorial Resources.

Although it was a little strange to have the main entrance of the library not easily accessible, it was interesting to see how this mall could be kept open 24/7 (it maintains similar hours to the library).

Once I entered the library, I found everything to be easy...walk up workstations in carrels where all I needed to do was to open the browser and begin my work. I had hauled my laptop in since I thought I may want to use wireless (if it was available to me). What really struck me was how seamless everything was...no network logins, no time restrictions, no hoops to jump through. No one asked if I was a student or resident...no problem.

Now granted, their enrollment is 17,000 students compared to PCC's 30,000...so that demands for services and computers is much greater at PCC. You can easily see an online orientation of the Tech Mall, by clicking ont his link...(Unfortunately their was no online orientation to the library that I could find...however, there is a tutorial that students can take.

http://www.grossmont.edu/techmallorientation/

Using Podcasting for Teaching: Part 1 - Find & Use Online Content/Donna Eyestone (@ONE Seminar Training)

2006-11-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

In this one hour session, Donna provided an overview on podcasts: what they are, how to find them, and how to use them in a course or other learning environment.

Podcasting has risen from 28 podcasts in August 2004 to over 379,000,000 in August 2006. Donna walks the viewer through iTunes, the most popular site for accessing podcasts and discusses a variety of podcasts that could be used in the educational arena.

Some of the issues covered in this podcast included:
Accessibility issues (transcripts must be made available)
Advantages in a learning environment (Portable access, Assisting auditory learners, provides unlimited opportunities for “guest lectures”, includes rich media material to complement texts, provides an ability to review materials for classes, tests, exams, etc. (anytime anywhere)

Donna mentioned Duke University’s podcasting experiment where all faculty and incoming students were given IPODS and then were set free to explore the realm of use in the educational arena. After the class, I went to Proquest and found that Stanford and Berkeley are also experimenting with podcasting class sessions. (see http://tinyurl.com/yx5wmk)

To get started, Donna suggested that an instructor select appropriate content, determine instructional goals, design podcast, produce it, and then incorporate it into the course. She also showed how we could produce a podcast.

I thought it was particularly interesting to explore ItunesU -- a shared podcasting in education site.
http://itunes.stanford.edu

Donna also mentioned a MAC resource called Profcast that takes Powerpoint presentations and converts it easily to podcast sessions. She acknowledged that right now it is much more difficult to do in the PC environment. She also mentioned the software Audacity, use of Quicktime Pro, and Live State pro as podcasting resources

A very interesting seminar, especially for me who has used iTunes and podcasts before.

www.ccone.org/de/index.htm

View the PowerPoint slides in your Web Browser

View the CCC Confer archive of the live presentation

Visit to Mesa College, Mesa, Arizona

2006-10-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

Last week, I visited the Paul A. Elsner Library at Mesa Community College. IMesa is one of the 10 colleges in the Maricopa College District. It is a 128,000 square foot library and academic support center (including faculty support services, classrooms and college administrative offices.) It reminded me of Shatford Library in so many ways. It is a building that takes advantage of natural light and open space. It is clear that it was designed to accommodate a variety of learning styles and experiences. There are computers everywhere...over 325 work stations as well as wireless connectivity throughout the campus. One interesting architectural feature is that this library was designed to relect an open book. Marie Brown, the Instruction Coordinator, gave me an extensive tour of the Library as well as the campus. Her enthusiasm was so refreshing and it is clear that she loves this institution.

I spoke with the director Jane Mente and she shared with me the administrative perspective as well as the planning perspective. I was interested in their extensive materials budget as well as some of their unique collections. The Library has 53 databases, 36,000 E-books as well as a special collections room that houses their Southwest collection.

Like PCC, Mesa has a Library Technician program and we exchanged information about our planning processes as well as technology iniatives. Their Strategic Plan is called "Focus on Learning" and she provided copies of the 2002-2005 plan as well as the 2005-2008 plan.

I shared with her the work of the Technology Master Plan Writing Group and offered to send copies of our faculty, staff, and student technology surveys. She will share my blog with her staff and said she will follow along as I pursue various agendas this year. She is also interested in seeing the results of the IMLS technology and digitization survey which I am adapting for use for the California Community Colleges.

Using Writely.com to collaborate, edit, publish

2006-10-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

For a recent review of Writely.com, go to http://tinyurl.com/yl882o

A few weeks ago, I met with my campus's Technology Plan Writing Group which I am continuing to chair while I am on sabbatical leave. We have worked so hard over the last few years and we work together very well, integrating the other planning efforts on campus and extracting technology requests into a plan that is accountable, online (reportable), and accessible. I did not want us to lose our momentum.

However, now that I am on my own schedule, I find I often have conflicts with the established meeting schedule. And, the numerous Friday holidays and monthly Campus Technology Committee meeting always conflicts. I played with a Wiki but it did not have the wisiwig capabilities I was looking for. It seemed cluncky and a little archaic...even though it was rather cool...

Jeff suggested Writely.com I am always amazed how he knows so much about so many things. And he was right! ;-) It is a tool that looks like Word and is intuitive...I loaded our documents and we are going to try it. I think it will be a beautiful resource as we look to our accrediatation self-study. I posted the plan, and we will work on it this week...Part 1 is due by Halloween....
More later...

Dialogue & the Art of Thinking Together by William Issacs

2006-10-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Last Spring, the vice President of Instruction gave each of the deans a copy of this book. The year whizzed by and although I opened it and ready a few pages, other pressing priorities pushed it to the back of my bookshelf. Now there is time to spend with it...

Issacs is a lecturer at the Sloan School of Management at MIT and consults in leadership education. This book invites the reader to think about the ways in which we communicate and to reflect on specific things one can do to enhance communitcation: observing behaviors, quieting the noise within, listening, and respecting another's point of view without being defensive. He advocates these skills so that when we talk together, that an effective result will emerge.

Issacs defines dialogue as "shared inquiry, a way of thinking and reflecting together" (p.9). It is a method to "harness the 'collective intelligence' of those around us as well as an opportunity to open new ways of thinking.

Issacs takes the reader through the historical context of the work dialogue as well as an overview of the art of conversation. In today's world of multiple simulataneous methods of communication, it is a good reminder of what we all really know. When we have a truly good conversation with someone on a level that transcends the banal, we feel the richness of those moments.

Three levels of action in a dialogue are presented: 1) Produce coherent actions (what we say and what we do are in alignmnet); 2) Create fluid struuctures of interaction (understand how others perceive goals and activities); and 3) Provide wholesome space for dialogue (that assists people in trancending their usual conversations and perceptions.) He advocates freeing ourselves from that which is uncomfortable or unfamiliar and loosening ourselves from our fixed ideas. (34) Dicussion and dialogue are compared: dicussion is about decision-making while dialogue is about "evoking insight." (45) By relearning to listen respectfully, and cultivating one's one voice while suspending judgment about others we foster an "intelligence of the heart" that is at the essence of true authenticity. He warns of the dangers of electronic connections tjat "do not of themselves make for an appeciation or curiosity about the underlying cohenrence of the world." (68) hmmm....I disgree with that view, in fact, electonic communications (as evidenced in such studies as the Pew study) show that people are sharing more of themselves through this means of communication...and conversation within the digital arena lends itself to more conversation on a variety of levels.

more later...Part 2: Building capacity for new behavior

More reflections on sabbatical leaves....

2006-10-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

What a gift this is! A chance to set my own agenda and explore the things that I believe will matter to our students at Pasadena City College (and other community colleges.) In a way, each day is a blank slate where I choose the colors of the palette. The design is mine; the dimensions vary, as I experiment with methods of communication not fully explored...blogs, wikis, rss feeds, and all the variations among them.

It is wonderful to complement my work with the explorations of other colleges, universities, organizations and public libraries. I can take direction from their experiences as I narrow my perspective.

Today I heard back from the Institute of Museum and Library Studies and they indicated a willingness and eagerness to work with me on adapting their technology and digitization readiness survey for the California community colleges. Wonderful! Perhaps down the road, I can broaden the survey through a grant to include a national study... In my self-directed mode, I create...and it is exciting as each day unfolds...

Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers

2006-10-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Online journals (also called weblogs or blogs) are changing traditional publishing and communication in the world. It is easy, fun and appealing...and most bloggers use it to describe their personal experiences. The infusion of RSS feeds allows users the ability to have their information delivered automatically to their desktops where they opt to read or not.

Pew Internet and American Life Project (www.pewinternet.org) conducted a national phone survey of bloggers and found the following results...
Source: Lenhart, Amanda and Susannah Fox. Bloggers. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2006

Bloggers: Summary of Findings at a Glance
Blogging is bringing new voices to the online world.

Telephone surveys capture the most accurate snapshot possible of a small and moving target.

Contrary to the impression created by the press attention on political blogging, just 11% of bloggers say they focus mainly on government or politics.

The blogging population is young, evenly split between women and men, and racially diverse.

Relatively small groups of bloggers view blogging as a public endeavor.

The main reasons for keeping a blog are creative expression and sharing personal experiences.

Only one-third of bloggers see blogging as a form of journalism. Yet many check facts and cite original sources.

Bloggers are avid consumers and creators of online content. They are also heavy users of the internet in general.

Bloggers are major consumers of political news and about half prefer sources without a particular political viewpoint.

Bloggers often utilize community and readership-enhancing features available on their blogs.

For more detailed information on the findings, go to the report:
http://tinyurl.com/lptyp

CCL Survey on blogs, wikis and more...

2006-10-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

I am applying for enrollment in a 5 week course called "Five Weeks to a Social Library" and wanted to see what the impact would be as I share this with community college libraries.

I decided to do a quick assessment of library directors in the state of California to see who was blogging, using Wikis, RSS feeds and other social software. I used Surveyanywhere to construct this brief survey (took me about 15 minutes.)

Results can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/ejl45

Creating Online Orientations for Your Campus (@ONE seminar training)

2006-10-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

Creating Online Orientations for Your Campus
with Don Nickel

Don Nickel at De Anza College shares his experiences with the Counseling 100 online orientation course. This course was honored by the CVC for excellence in online instruction.

I was interested in this in a broader perspective, namely that of an introduction to college, not courseware. I had wanted to see if we could adapt this to a general online (free, no credit)orientation and tour of the library. So, the class did not meet my expectations.

Even so, Don takes you through evolution of this WebCT course since it started in Fall 2001. He provides insights from the instructor and student perspective, including navigating through the course design and content including a Student Educational Plan, discussion about the merits and pitfalls of taking an online orientation for first time students, and shows his actual course as well as the new template in Moodle since DeAnza is transitioning away from WebCT and to Moodle this year.
---------------------------------------------------
@ONE serves California Community College faculty and staff by providing workshops and trainings to assist them in using technology to enhance student learning and success.

Funded by the California Community College Chancellor's Office Telecommunication and Technology Infrastructure Program (TTIP).
For more information about @ONE classes: http://www.cccone.org/index.htm

Wikis Seminar with Meredith Farkas (SIRSI/Dynix online seminar)

2006-10-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Sirsi Dynix online semiar on Wikis presented by Meredith Farkas.
The presentation is archived at http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php

Marilyn provides a great introduction to wikis: ease of editing, differences between blogs and wikis, potential problems and issues with spammers, potential uses (community wiki, educational use/courseware, staff collaboration, installation issues, etc.)

She suggested one I am playing with for a Library Tech program wiki glossary:
PBWIKI http://pbwiki.com/(which is free)

EDITME (fee based) thtp://www.editme.com/

Mediawiki(good looking, cascading style sheets)http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

She suggests using one that has a conversation feature threaded comments (available on some but nice!), spamming software (blacklisting or a plug-in) protection, good documentation and a forum for a discussion, permission setting, recent changes and RSS feeds, version conrol (reversing content if hit by spammers),

Referred to www.wikimatrix.com for more information on selection of specific wiki software.

Excellent introductory seminar (thanks to SIRSI it is free!)
Sign up for Meredith's blog through the RSS feed:
http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php

OCLC Western online training on RSS feeds

2006-10-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last week I spent a couple hours taking OCLC Western's course on RSS feed. For those of you who do not know about RSS, it is a technology that delivers content on demand to information seekers. For example, I wanted to be notified automatically whenever Lorcan Dempsey (http://orweblog.oclc.org/) updates his blog on library technology. Lorcan has set up a command that I can go to that "feeds" me the information whenever he updates his page. It is then delived to wherever I want it (I use My Yahoo).

This OCLC Western online course took about 2 hours and although it was expensive ($75) it took me through the basics of RSS: definitions (with a nice thesaurus of terms), basic features, functions, and benefits. The next section gave me concrete ideas on how I could use RSS to merket services to the clibrary community. Finally the last section gave me informtion on how to implement it.

Some of the immediate implications I saw were:
Staff development (selected dissemination of timely information, based on an individuals specific area of specialization

PR for library news and activities, asking for feedback from users and notifying them of changes in hours and/or services

Most of all, the Hennepin County Librry gave the best example of how we can use RSS to publicize our resources by subject area and/or collections. Check it out at:
http://www.hclib.org/pub/search/RSS.cfm

College Students' Perceptions Of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership

2006-09-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) summarized the findings of an international study on information-seeking habits and behaviors. OCLC staff in the Market Research Team developed the concept of this project and commissioned Harris Interactive, Inc. to survey the information-seeking behaviors of a wide range of people throughout the world. Over 3,000 responses were collected from Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A subset of this study was analyzed extracting the college student responses in regard to the following items: Library use, Awareness and use of library electronic resources, The Internet search engine, the library and the librarian, Free vs. for-fee information, and The “Library” brand.

With extensive input from hundreds of librarians and OCLC staff, the OCLC Market Research team developed a project and commissioned Harris Interactive Inc. to survey a representative sample of information consumers. In June of 2005, over 3000 responses were collected from individuals in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"The findings indicate that information consumers view libraries as places to borrow print books, but they are unaware of the rich electronic content they can access through libraries. Even though information consumers make limited use of these resources, they continue to trust libraries as reliable sources of information." (report summary on http://www.oclc.org/reports/perceptionscollege.htm)

I requested that OCLC look at the community college segment of this study to see if there was a statistical sample that is viable so that an analysis of community college student perceptions can be done.

----------------------------------------------------------
10/2/2006
Note: The demographics that Harris Interactive collects about
survey respondents does not have that level of granularity. Respondents
only indicate if they are participating in post-secondary education.

Also, the US system of community colleges isn't duplicated exactly in
other countries. This was an internation survey.
The survey did not ask any of the questions about any
particular library. Respondents were asked, at the beginning, to answer
with the library they had used most recently in mind.

IMLS Survey form on Technology and Digitization

2006-09-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.imls.gov/resources/TechDig05/Agencies_Survey.pdf

IMLS Technology and Digitization Survey

2006-09-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have been exploring a variety of surveys to use in a phase of my sabbatical project that assesses where California community colleges are along the spectrum of readiness and enagagement in the digital arena.

The most significant studies I found were from The Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Institute "is committed to helping libraries and museums take full advantage of the power of technology. Through grantmaking, research, conferences, and publications the Institute helps to create and share best practices and provide important data for administrators, policy makers, and the public."

In 2001, the Institute conducted the first survey of the nations museums and libraries on technology use and digitization. "The use of technology and particularly digital technology has affected nearly every aspect of library and museum services, from the automation of internal cataloging and management systems to the digitization of physical collections, and from the acquisition of new “born-digital” works of art and library publications to the use of technology to present collections and engage audiences."

While the 2001 study surveyed general use, the second study (2004) looked more specifically at how institutions use technology and digitization in their collections.

Part of the survey group was academic libraries, of which community colleges were included. Of the target study, 31.(% (22) junior/community colleges participated: 7 small, 10 medium, and 4 large.

The overall findings include the following summary items:
Small museums and public libraries have made dramatic progress, although they still lag behind their larger counterparts.

Libraries and museums are putting services and activities online to manage their institutions and provide enhanced public service.

Insufficient funding and staff time are barriers to implementing technology.

Assessment of user and visitor needs is strongest among academic libraries and state library administrative agencies and weak among other groups.

Digitization activities have increased for all groups, with state library administrative agencies and archives leading the way..

While more institutions have digitization policies in place than was the case in 2001, many institutions that are digitizing do not have digitization policies.

With a substantial number of materials left to digitize, institutions are held back by lack of funding, lack of staff time, and other pressing priorities.

While collaborative digitization efforts are underway, they are not yet widespread.

Only a small portion of museums and libraries assess user and visitor needs for digitized collections and services.

For more information on each of these items, go to http://www.imls.gov/resources/TechDig05/findings.htm

City of San Mateo--New Central Library

2006-09-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

Since I had planned to go visit Lorrita Ford at the College of San Mateo Library, I met her at a Librarians' tour of the new city San Mateo library. It is a beautiful three story "environmentally-designed" building with underground parking. One of the most striking features was the mezzanine windows that draw you outside as they frame the redwood trees. One of the local patrons called this 90,000 square foot library "university-like" and there is no question that people will be drawn to learning here...

There are Internet stations scattered in a variety of learning locations, an Instruction room, a Biotechnology Center (sponsored by Genetech) and a Fisher Journalism Center (as is the Fisher Investment Letter). There is also a cafe, an inviting children's reading room as well as a teen room. There is no question that this library will bring people in...it is inviting and comfortable and provides so many areas to explore. On opening day, 6,500 patrons came in to see it!

For more information: http://tinyurl.com/nakvra

Santa Rosa Junior College -- Library

2006-09-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

The beauty of a sabbatical leave is the freedom to explore: new ideas, concepts, innovations, what others are doing so well, and what we can do better.

Today I am at the dedication of the Frank P. Doyle Library at Santa Rosa Junior College. I have never been on this campus before (www.santarosa.edu) ...

It is beautiful...beautiful trees, greenspace, brick buildings and openness. This new Library reflects my first impression of the campus...large windows open out to the green campus, it is spacious and uncluttered. It is designed to be "the centerpiece of college life, a valuable resource for the community and a strategic knowledge gateway to the world." [North Bay Business Journal, June 19, 2006]

There are so many spaces allocated for collaborative study, individual study, media rooms, computer stations (282!). the building was designed to free students and the community from the constraints of a central computing. There is wireless connectivity and a numerous learning stations (freestanding, pods, carrels, tables, patios, a coffee bar, AND a silent study room as well!)

I saw Gregg Atkins there and we were invited to be a part of Wil Baty’s guided tour. We first met in the fourth floor conference room that provides a spectacular view of the Santa Rosa hills and countryside.

(from Norberg, Bob. Books and a View Too: College's Most Expensive Building Blends Tradition with Latest in Hi Tech, Press Democrat, August 25, 2006.)

Wil walked a group through the building…speaking proudly of the “green building features” and energy efficiency.
http://tinyurl.com/zyldq AND http://tinyurl.com/h3lbr

It was interesting to me to know that the architects did a sun modeling of the building so that they could maximize the daylight and sunlight. They actually angled the building for maximum sunlight. The building has a central location rotunda so that no matter what floor you are on, you can easily get your bearings and orientation.

I loved the lightness and brightness and the colors of the interior mirror the colors of Santa Rosa. I also loved the alcoves on the fourth floor that sit inside the dormer windows.

I loved this building…and it reflects the 25 years of concept development and planning in Wil’s tenure as director there.

And I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep...*

2006-07-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

This promise was to myself in my junior year of college. I had thought seriously about going to France for my junior year and in my invesigations, I had decided on Aix-en-Provence. When I was making my final decision, my boyfriend said "Well, I am not going to tell you not to go, but why don't we go together after we graduate." Sounded reasonable at the time... I did not go, his draft number was 35 so off he went to the National Guard, and I went on to graduate school at UCLA. Life happened....

Now 33 years later, my journey is here... http://maryannlaun.blogspot.com/

*Quotation from Robert Frost's "Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening"

OCLC Western Digitization and Preservation Center, Lacey, Washington

2006-07-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

July 7th, 2006

Today I met with Gayle Palmer, Digital and Preservation (DPR) Services Manager, OCLC Western.

Gayle joined OCLC in July 2002 and coordinates program services, consulting, training and grant facilitation programs for the DPR Western Center. She has been active as a trainer in the areas of project management, metadata, and web development for government information.
Gayle formerly served as a Principal Library Information Specialist at the Washington State Library. While at the State Library she served as the program coordinator for Washington State’s Government Information Locator Service and conducted the Statewide Digital Images Initiative. Among the past development projects she has directed are the Find-It! Washington find-it.wa.gov/ and Find-It! Consumer finditconsumer.wa.gov/ search engines. She was the coordinator of the Washington State Newspaper Program. She acts as a grant reviewer for the Institute for Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grant office.

Gayle is an active contributor to local history and has served as an editor and compiler of two historical books and the union list of Washington newspapers on microfilm. She received a Masters of Science in Library and Information Science from Case Western Reserve University and a BA in History from the University of Michigan.

Gayle has graciously agreed to serve as one of my project advisors for my sabbatical. We met in Lacey, Washington and discussed the three component parts of my project. In the course of the meeting, we talked about possible campus resources to be digitized:

historical backfiles of the Courier (60 linear feet with film shot for each issue.)
current microfilmed copies of the Courier (microfilmed for the Library several years ago by the Hntington Library)
Oral histories
photograph collections throughout the campus (including Library archival collections, departmental collections, Tournament of Roses years, OMD, etc.)
videos produced for the college promotions
audio cassettes (of historical interest)
art slides from the Art Faculty
online reserves
sheet music collections (not bound by copyright)

Other possbilities she urged me to consider addressed the needs of more global campus uses including

student records
internal documents
research office publications
E-portfolios

In addition, we spoke of grant opportunities including Librarians for the Twenty-First Century, National Endowment for theHumanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS),and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Focus of these grants will be shaped after I survey community colleges in the state to assess where they are in the digital arena. Focus could be on skill development, organizational approach to managing digital projects including development of a demo project that illustrates the effectiveness of a digital asset management system, e-portfolios that encourage student/faculty interactions, policies and procedures.

Gayle and I discussed the possibilities of getting directors from different states together. One possibility would be to look at a grant with the Library Directors from the Western States that would focus on training and planning digital projects.

Gayle mentioned Clark Kelso will paly an integral role in the development of IT in California. Professor J. Clark Kelso serves as Governor Schwarzenegger’s Special Advisor on Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for the State of California. As Chief Information Officer, he is responsible for providing State leadership on information technology policy and for working collaboratively with other information technology leaders throughout state government. http://iwceexpo.com/attendees/bios2006/j_clark_kelso/index.html

More later...

Follow up notes: Western State Community Colleges focused on Managing Libraries in the Digital Age (How flat is your library?) Look at the Silicon Valley History Project
focus on management, funding, strategies, changing environment/skill building
Possible contract with OCLC Western or the Community College League

Visit to Seattle Public Library

2006-07-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (William Butler Yeats)
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

--William Butler Yeats

It's not surprising that Librarians on vacation (or on sabbatical leave) visit other Libraries. So on June 30th, 2006, I did just that. While heading to the hammock at the Hood Canal, we stopped to see the Central Library.

According to their website, "More than 25,000 persons visited the new Central Library on opening day. As expected, it is drawing more than 8,000 visitors per day during its first year of operation (4,000 a day in the old building)." We were there...

We approached this amazing building from the South and stood gazing at the exterior design. Light and angles...diamonds reflecting the beautiful light from the sunny Seattle day. Each of the nine floors presents different concepts in space and use. The visitor can't help but wonder: "If this was my home public library, where would I choose to be..."

Although the building was not filled to capacity, there was no question that the computer commons was one of the most popular zones...all ages and ethnicities, business suits and homeless sitting side by side in this digital arena. RFID and self-checkout was a breeze...
The compact shelving serving the Friends of the Library was one of my favorites...Volunteers close it up and go home!

You won't see the extnsive automated book handling (I saw it when I was at an OCLC Western meeting a year ago) but you can read about it at this site:
http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=branch_central_bookhandling&branchID=1

Check out this photo gallery...don't miss the Dewey numbers on the floor, the yellow elevators, the mixing chamber, the colors, the light, the spaces...the beauty!
http://www.spl.org/images/slideshow/NewCentralSlideshow.asp

What a way to begin!

Ahh...a sabbatical leave...

2006-07-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Time to step back and catch my breath....after 11 years as Assistant Dean of Library Services.

A wonderful opportunity to explore the new technology changes in the information environment that will impact Pasadena City College.

A time to breathe as well as to prepare myself for the exciting challenges that lie ahead.

BACKGROUND: The Library has played a key role in utilizing technology to support education at Pasadena City College. The Library has been at the forefront of technology since 1978 when we became early members of the international cataloging cooperative, OCLC. Since then, the Library has been the first area of the college to use

barcodes
scanners
student IDs for transactions
provide student accessible daatabases over the network
web based services
24/7 available services including remote authentication and access to databases
online request forms
virtual reference transactions
numerous online resource guides for students.

In the last six years, librarians at the Shatford Library have experienced a expansion of their instructional and participatory roles as they work one on one with instructors to deliver appropriate educational resources geared to the curriculum. Information competency and critical thinking skills are integral in academic research and the evaluation of online resources.

Librarians have taken active roles in forming relationships with colleagues in subject disciplines to build library collections to support instruction both in and out of the classroom. Courses and sessions in library orientations have grown exponentially as faculty realize the role Librarians play in supporting them as well as their students in their quest for quality information resources.

Today, in the digital age, librarians are no longer simply information providers or the 'keepers of knowledge'. Dynamics of change in the digital environment dramatically effect how resources are stored, accessed, retrieved and delivered. Information has changed the way patrons and students are able to access, retrieve and use information. Instantaneous access to information through the Web provides vast amounts of information and data available to anyone with a computer and a connection. Although print resources still have a strong following, the use of digital access to information has changed the construct of instructional services and instruction regardless of place, time or format.

I have taken a strong leadership role at PCC, in both institutional planning and advocating for library technologies. With this leave, I will explore new concepts for not only library resources but also resources for the entire college. It is this agenda that I propose to study independently during 2006- 07.

I propose the following framework of activities:

1. Consolidation of access to campus resources with a focus on Contentdm.

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. Time and staff restraints have limited our ability to achieve this goal. I intend to meet with each division and instructional lab to identify existing resources, plan for cataloging/indexing these resources, and finally providing a unified access through web accessible resources cataloged in Contentdm.
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.

Advisory team: Dale Pittman, Robert Cody and Pat Rees

2. 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. This project will include:

Explore this agenda fully in the literature
Survey statewide community colleges
Survey and visit selected community colleges known for their progressive use of technology
Frame a discussion paper on planning for continued technology growth and development.
Summarize findings in a document for the Council of Chief Librarians similar to the one I prepared in 1977: Onramps to Electronic Highways: Database Trends, Practices and Expenditures in California's Community College Libraries.

Project Advisor: Gregg Atkins, Executive> Director, Council of Chief Librarians

3. Explore professional development with a focus on project management and long range planning

Work with OCLC's consultant at the Digital and Preservation Resources Center to create grant opportunities as well as project plans.
Attend conferences and workshops relating to this agenda especially those sponsored by the OCLC Digital and Preservation Resources Center.

Copyright and Intellectual Property Management for DigitalMaterials
Developing and Funding Digital Projects
Kick Start Your Digital Program
Digital Photograph Collections: Long-term Preservation and Management
Digital Project Infrastructure
EAD Encoding Practices and Policies
Grant Writing and Funding Strategies for Preservation and Digitization
Making Newspapers Accessible Via the Web
Managing Libraries in the Digital Age
Metadata for Digitization andPreservation
Preserving Born Digital Collections
Strategies forPreservation of Historical Materials

Project Advisor: Gayle Palmer, OCLC's Digitization and Preservation Center, Lacey, Washington