ACRL Presentation

11:00-11:15 -- bepress introduction

11:15-12:15 – Setting up Your Game Plan: Strategies for Content Acquisition and Growth

Todd Bruns, Michelle Armstrong, Isaac Gilman

·         Developing a mission and setting goals

·         Staffing your repository

·         Identifying partners and collecting early sources of content 

Strategies for ongoing growth

12:15-12:45 – lunch break

12:45-1:45 – Building Your Fan Base: Promoting Your Repository On and Off-Campus

Kim Myers, Marilyn Billings, Lisa Palmer

·         Marketing strategies for maximizing visibility

·         Engaging senior staff

·         Making partners out of individuals and communities on campus

Engaging others in the library

1:45-2:00 – break

2:00-3:00 – The Half Time Report: Measuring Success, Maintaining Momentum

Michael Organ, Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Jean-Gabriel Bankier

·         Rankings: What does success look like?

·         Measuring success

·         Reviewing and evaluating needs and goals

·         Setting your next milestone (lessons learned)

3:00-3:15 – break

3:15-4:00 – Google Group Live! The All-Stars Answer All the Questions You’ve Been Afraid to Ask

All All-stars

Potential topics:

·         Collection guidelines

·         Staffing

·         Displaying content

·         Takedown policies

·         Copyright issues

As I mentioned on the phone, I would love it if you would be willing to present for around 10 minutes in the second session on promoting the IR, especially within the library (though I think you've done wonderful work in all of these areas!) and then participate in the Google Group live tables.  Some of the folks prior to your session will be talking about their staffing situations; for yours, I just love how you got them all on board and excited, which I think has a lot to do with how you promote the initiative.  And of course, I love all the little things you do, like sending e-mails to the author of the paper-of-the-day and so on :)

These are just a few that I thought were particularly interesting, and I'm sure you have lots more!  There's plenty of time to flesh out details, and I'm more than happy to talk at any time if you want to bounce ideas or anything like that.  I'll be sure to keep in touch as things continue to develop for the event, but please don't hesitate to contact me if you come up with questions in the meantime! 

Lastly, here is a link to the expert survey - we would love to have you be part of the database!!!  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lTdW4UzbTSHupJsVfPf2KIk2Ob1qLvGAYHaxYPcQy34/viewform  Also feel free to pass it along to any of your colleagues that may be working in any of those areas.

 Thanks, and talk to you soon,

Professional development - XML Essential Training

XML Essential Training from Lynda.com (through RRLC)
XML has become a widely used standard for storing and exchanging information on the internet. Knowing how to work with XML has become a core skill that every developer needs to have. In this course, we'll start off by learning about what XML is and does, and some of its advantages and drawbacks.Then we'll see how to create and style XML content using a variety of approaches, such as CSS and using the browser's DOM.
We'll investigate complimentary XML technologies like XPath and XSLT, and see how they can be used to manipulate XML content. Finally, we'll see how to use document type definitions and XML schema to help ensure that your XML data is error free. Whether it's working behind the scenes or publishing blogs, distributing data over the web, or bridging the gaps between separate computer systems,XML is a foundational technology that every developer needs to know. Let's get started with XML Essential Training.

In this training, which offers 3+ hours of video instruction, I have learned to use Apanta Studio (a text editor), and am developing a VERY basic awareness of what XML is and does. My ultimate goal in taking this training is to develop the background needed to delve deeper into this subject, so I can use XML to create documents using data from Digital Commons. In the beginning, I carefully followed along and did the exercises with each video. About half way through, I may switch to watching just the videos to try and absorb more of the language, and look for something a little more rudimentary to give me additional background in CSS before taking this over again, with a better working knowledge of the tools they are using.

Professional development for 2015 - Introduction to Cataloging for Non-Catalogers

A few months ago I looked into going back and finishing my MBA, but honestly my heart isn't in it. So instead I decided to try and find professional development courses that would help me build specific skills sets. I took a self paced course Introduction to Cataloging for Non-Catalogers" offered by OCLC through the NYS Library. Here are my notes from this:

In 1952 S.R. Ranganthan stated five laws of librarianship:

1. Books are for use
2. Every reader his/her book
3. Every book its reader
4. Save the time of the reader
5. A library is a growing organism

In the last few years these laws of librarianship have been updated to:

1. Libraries serve humanity
2. Respect all forms by which knowledge is communicated
3. Use technology intelligently to enhance service
4. Protect free access to knowledge
5. Honor the past and create the future

Good cataloging help achieve these goals.

Cutter's Rules

1. To enable a person to find a book of which either the author, the title or the subject is known
2. To show what the library has by a given author, on a given subject and in a given type of literature
3. To assist in the choice of a book as to its edition (bibliographically) and to its character (literary or topical)

There are three parts to cataloging an item:

1. Descriptive cataloging describes the item by notating the title, statement of responsibility (who was responsible for the intellectual content), edition information, publication information (who published the item, where it was published, and the date of publication), various notes and access points.
2. Classification is assigning a call number to a work.
3. Subject analysis uses controlled vocabulary and assigns search terms to the item. 

So why is all this important to my job? Well, the laws of librarianship is something I see referenced when I read library literature, but I've never really come across them spelled out before.This gives me a sense of historical perspective, and I can see how these rules have informed librarianship. The updated laws seem to be a point of divergence in the profession, in terms of how strongly individual librarians embrace individual tenets.

Overall, understanding the concepts behind cataloging should be helpful in my daily work in Digital Commons, as I create metadata records for new items. This course, which 1.75 CEU reinforced some concepts, but did not cover a lot of new ground.

Sokol Contest

On 11/24/2014 RRLC sent out this announcement:

Again this year, the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library will hold the Sokol High School Literary Awards Contest for student writers in grades 9 – 12. 

There are prizes for original poetry and prose, and students can submit their work written or performed. The entries are professionally judged, and there are cash prizes for the top entries.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 30, 2015, and the awards event will be on Thursday, April 30, 2015. The attachment provides additional information.

Flyers will be provided upon request. 

Rebecca Fuss

Director of Programming & Outreach

Friends & Foundation of RPL

Serving the Rochester Public Library

I decided to see if this was something we would be interested in pursuing and checked with Bob and Mary Jo:

From Bob: Interesting idea; do you know if their work is published elsewhere?

From Mary Jo:

Kim,

It's a good idea but I do have concerns about sustainability.  I don't want to start if it is dropped in a year or two. We also need to put energy into getting the Brockport student research award being talked about by 'friends of drake' off the ground.

 Based on their reaction, I contacted Rebecca Fuss by voicemail and email:

From: Myers, Kim [mailto:kmyers@brockport.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 9:46 AM
To: Fuss, Rebecca
Subject: Sokol Contest

Hi Rebecca,

I am following up the voicemail I left you on 12/24/14 about the Sokol Contest. I saw the advertisement, and we would like to offer the opportunity to have the award winners published in Digital Commons@Brockport, The College at Brockport’s Institution Repository (IR). I envision creating a community (group of collections) for outstanding scholarship from local high school students. Digital Commons can showcase a variety of formats, including video. This could be a nice addition to the program, allowing the winners to not only be able to list the prize on their resumes or college applications, but also to provide a permanent URL that people can use to view it. Digital Commons authors receive a monthly email telling them how many times their submission was downloaded, and other information. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have, and look forward to discussing this with you further.

To which she replied:

On 1/2/2015, Rebecca phoned me and expressed an interest in this idea. She asked many questions, and said she would need to talk to the board.

On the Monday following, she contacted me again and said:

Hi Kim,

The Sokol Committee accepts your invitation to post winning entries on Digital Commons@Brockport, conditioned on getting permission from the students.

Our judging will begin in February, and winners are announced in early April. We will get permission then and can get the entries to you shortly afterward.

May we also mention your website at the awards ceremony on April 30? That would give you some publicity, as well.

Thank you for thinking of us!

We are working out details now, including a permission slip.

Hi Rebecca,

I am very excited to work with you on this! I am attaching a draft permission document, for your feedback. If you have something else in mind to use to get their permission, that is fine, we just need to have their informed consent. Also, as far as metadata for the collection, I was thinking of having their name, email, school name, grade level, title and type of submission. Do you see any problem with displaying any of this information? We could collect the email addresses, but not have them visible if you wish. We would be happy to be mentioned at the awards ceremony, and would like to provide the winners with a certificate of some kind with the URL of their submission on it, if that would be all right with the committee.