Thao – The Serious Librarian
Morgan and Kate
Cowboy meets Warrior Princess
Arabella
Our Custodial Staff
Prom Queen – JoAnn
Little Red Riding Hood – Kristin
Archive for October, 2008
Halloween 2008
October 31st, 2008 by Doreen BernierHelp Save the Yellow Cables
October 31st, 2008 by Elin Waagen
Submitted by Elin Waagen
The popular LIS Yellow Cable Program (borrow a cable; put one back) is on the threatened species list. Please return any yellow cables you see floating around work and public spaces to the Circulation Desks at any of the Libraries.
Pictured here is the famous Yellow Cable Hero in full action! Many thanks to Amy Hoffman for picking up cables on her daily walks around the Main Library.
The New Library Eco Book Bags Have Arrived!
October 31st, 2008 by Elin WaagenSubmitted by Elin Waagen
After many months, the new library eco book bags have arrived! We hope to roll them out next week after finalizing a few details. The idea is to replace the use of plastic bags at the Circulation Desks, and to foster re-use of recyclable bags. Borrowers can take a bag when they borrow books and return an empty bag when they return their books.
Bags were funded primarily by an Environmental Council Grant in partnership with LIS.
Last spring we held a contest to solicit design ideas and the winning design was selected in a blind judging by LIS Administration.
Nikhil Ramburn (pictured here holding the new bag) was selected as our winner. He will receive a book bag and a $100 gift certificate to the College Bookstore. Congratulations, Nikhil!
Many thanks to the Environmental Council, Jack Byrne, Carol Peddie and Mary Backus for their support of this project, and to Alyson Bourne ‘08 and Emily Gustavson ‘08 for their help in writing the grant during their busy senior year.
Another Great Picture from the Digital Archives
October 31st, 2008 by Doreen BernierMountain Club Outing-1931
Tasty Web Tidbits – a Web2.Opportunity
October 31st, 2008 by Elin WaagenSubmitted by Elin Waagen
Do you have a fun web tool that you are using for work or play?
Interested in sharing it with others in LIS?
Want to present? Presentations are casual and short – no lengthy preparation required.
Just want to share an idea that we can present for you?
If so, contact Elin or Bryan.
Previous topics have included:
Jott
ChaCha
RTM – Remember The Milk
GrandCentral
Facebook – birthdays
GoodReads
Del.icio.us
Future topics:
Twitter
FeedDemon
CommonCraft
GoogleReader
iGoogle
Save the date and time!
The next Tasty Web Tidbits lunchtime session is scheduled for Thursday 11/6 at 12 noon in Lib 105. The idea is to get together, have some fun and share the web tools we are using. Presentations are about 10 minutes long max. Each session has 3 – 4 presenters with time for spur of the moment sharing. There is a prize drawing at each session. Attendance at all sessions increases the chance to win the grand prize in December.
Bring you own bag lunch.
Come – it will be fun!
Electronic acquisition procedures with library vendor
October 31st, 2008 by William WarrenSubmitted by Bill Warren
We are currently setting up electronic services with our principal vendor of German-language materials, Harrassowitz, from whom we also purchase musical scores. When all is finished, we will enjoy a streamlined ordering and invoicing process, much like that provided by Blackwell, our major English-language vendor. Liaisons will be able to select items to be ordered in OttoEditions, the online bibliographic utility named for the venerated Otto Harrassowitz, who founded the firm in 1872. We purchase various categories of items from Harrassowitz, for each of which we have set up a separate account and profile. Items to be ordered in each category are assembled in a file in OttoEditions, which we import into our library system. The files of brief bibliographic records contain data added by Harrassowitz, in accordance with our specifications, which after processing through our load table causes order records to be automatically created, and encumbers the cost of each item. This eliminates the need to search for and download a bibliographic record, and create an order record, for each item individually. The ordering process is completed when we confirm our intent to purchase by electronically transmitting the order records back to Harrassowitz. We have successfully tested the procedure up to this point. Our colleagues in Cataloging are now making arrangements with OCLC, which will in conjunction with Harrassowitz furnish final bibliographic records (with embedded data that will cause our system to automatically create online invoices) for our purchases through the Cataloging Partners program. Once this second stage is completed, we will be able to implement the entire procedure.
Multimedia Resources
October 31st, 2008 by Patricia HornbeckSubmitted by Patty Hornbeck
Fall term additions to Multimedia Resources include:
A dozen new events in the lecture archive including two faculty panels on the economic crisis and the 2008 Clifford Symposium;
Copyright resources from Pacific Film Archive;
Other lecture archive sites: FORA-TV, Georgetown University Webcasts, and Stanford Humanities Center.
One of the lecture archive sites in Multimedia Resources, Connie Martin Talks Books, offers an unexpected look at a younger Barack Obama. The full interview is available, but here’s a clip (edited with Virtual Cutter): Obama interview 1995.
Suggestions Board in Progress!
October 31st, 2008 by Carrie MacfarlaneSubmitted by Carrie Macfarlane
Have you noticed the new bulletin boards outside the stairwell near the Help Desk? These will soon be the home of a new LIS Suggestions Board.
Here’s the plan:
- We’ll create a sign for the new Suggestions Board.
- People will be invited leave comments on the board or online at the Suggestions Blog (shortcut: go/lissuggestions). Most suggestions that are received on the Suggestions Board will be transcribed to the Suggestions Blog, and vice-versa.
- Responses will be tracked on the Suggestions Blog. Be ready!
We’ll forward each suggestion to someone who has a stake in the issue. Those people should then go to the blog and respond. - When a resolution has been posted to the blog, we’ll post the answer on the board. We’ll probably develop some stock answers for repeated questions. (Too hot? Too cold? Right!)
- If we don’t receive any suggestions at all, or if the board overflows with suggestions, or if anything else happens that we haven’t anticipated…we’ll reassess and figure out what to do next!
One more thing: All comments that we received on the post-it poster last spring have been re-entered on the blog as individual postings. We’ll soon forward those to the people who can respond. Watch your inbox! And, tell us what you think about these ideas, too.
Yammering at MIIS
October 31st, 2008 by Bob ColeSubmitted by Bob Cole, MIIS
I have been personally experimenting with Twitter, the micro-blogging tool. After nearly a year, I’ve discovered there is immense value in personal and professional learning networks. I ‘follow’ edtech professionals, NPR news, teachers, and the humor of ICHCheezburger. With Twitter I am able to post 140 character ‘tweets’ of insight, listen to others, and crowdsource an idea or question. Now that I’ve nearly summited the Twitter adoption curve (see left), I’m evangelizing with students and colleagues here at MIIS. Trouble is it’s an uphill battle.
This, however, changed recently when a TLC colleague, Sarah Springer mentioned a new tool in a brief conversation. She said something about a crowdsourcing tool named Yammer. I didn’t write it down or Tweet about it, but it did stick in my mind. I 
went and checked it out online. Essentially, Yammer is an enterprise Twitter for in-house collaboration, and maybe a gateway tool for future Twitterers. We’ve slowly invited like-minded staffers, students, and faculty to join in on the sharing.
An added feature that Yammer offers is the ability to tag posts with hashmarks. So, it I share an event I could include the #event tag and my yammer msg would be added to that tag archive, very much like blogging categories or tags work as well. I can even follow a given tag in Yammer and receive a digest e-mail of activity.
I’ll continue to tap into my Twitter network as beohbe, but am excited by the possibilities that Yammering in-house learning and sharing will bring as we continue to experiment with communication and collaboration tools here in Monterey.
Highlight of the Fall NEMLA conference
October 31st, 2008 by Doreen BernierSubmitted by Joy Pile
On Friday Oct. 17, I attended the Fall conference of NEMLA (New England Chapter of the Music Library Association) which was held at Bennington College. Among the sessions given, was one that focused on a couple of projects the library helped to sponsor as part of a class. The most innovative of the two projects was one which resulted in the creation of a Lib2.0 book recommendation site – not unlike the one Mary Backus demonstrated in the brown bag session – with physical objects designed to highlight a book in the stacks. For more information, and photos of this very creative project go to <http://bookmarks.bennington.edu>.
LIS Area Director Notes from October 23rd
October 31st, 2008 by Doreen BernierDiscussed Sassafras Keyserver timeline. This project could provide considerable savings, but there are some concerns about security for mobile users. It may be possible to have implementation and communications completed in time for the spring semester
Liaison program discussed by the Faculty LIS Advisory Committee (FLAC). The proposal would shift the existing model from a two-liaison per dept model to a single liaision per dept model. Judy to work with RDS and CTLR on next steps towards implementation.
Institutional Research/Datamart – it would be great to have a DBA dedicated to this project. Jeff has agreed to assist in exploring this, but no firm commitment of LIS resources can be given to this project until we better understand the scope and effort required.
6-month password expirations – Only 1 month away. Campus communications should ask that users make their password changes early. A notice should be supplied to Middpoints and listed on posters throughout the library
All LIS Staff Meeting – The agenda was reviewed for the All LIS Staff meeting to be held on Friday, October 24th
Zipcars – should we use them? Doreen will talk with Tom Corbin for an overview of the program. Does it benefit LIS? Are costs lower than other college vehicle rentals
Travel – the travel budget has been reduced by 20% for the year. ADs will review within individual areas and approve travel for the year, possibly resulting in further savings.
Preparing for budget cuts – Compile all ideas for cuts. Evaluate:
o what we spend now
o what can be cut
o actual costs
o primary group(s) affected
o long term consequences of this change
Print management – time to officially launch. Schedule a kick off meeting for the 1st week of November to devise a detailed plan with timeline of going live by January. Mike will create a draft plan. Who should attend meeting? J. Beauchemin, J. Lahaie, T. Cutter, M. Backus, C. Peddie, J. Rehbach, A. Dobucki, B. Foley, N. Burt, P. Mitrevski, M. Roy and E. Waagen.
Notes from LIS All-staff Meeting
October 31st, 2008 by Michael RoyLIS Staff Meeting
Friday October 24, 2008
3:30-4:30
Harmon Reading Room
Agenda
1. Announcements (5 minutes)
- LIS Holiday Party: Dec. 18, 3pm-5 PM in the lobby
- Jeff is making progress on the Annual Report
- Welcome Jim Beauchemin, new Manager of the Help Desk!
- Web makeover project launched; see http://blogs.middlebury.edu/webredo/
- Print management project underway; stay tuned for details!
- Goals for 08-09 : beyond what we’ve always done, what new things are we going to do (projects, changes in policy, improvements to spaces, etc. )
See https://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/wiki/LIS/LIS_Goals_2008-09
2. College Budget and the LIS Budget (10 minutes)
- Please do try to attend Patrick Norton’s presentation of our financial situation at Dana Auditorium from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 12.
- submit ideas about how to save money to the budget group (need url)
http://blogs.middlebury.edu/budget/ - All travel needs to now be approved by Area Directors
- Hiring freeze means that we will need to focus even more intently on being more efficient in how we do things, and in making sure that we are working on the right things.
- This is a fluid situation: ADs are creating a list of possible areas for savings to avoid ad hoc decisions. We are trying to be creative and do things that will have the least impact on our users, and which will advance other goals (e.g. print management, student dialtone, software licensing via keyserver–> need YOUR creativity and ideas
3. Re-organization Update
Initial thinking of the main areas of LIS is:
user services
collection management
infrastructure & systems
enterprise systems
academic resources and technology
We will be meeting with people who would be most directly affected by these changes (Judy’s group, Tom’s group) to talk about our ideas and the questions we have, and to give people a chance to have input into the decision and provide feedback. Look for posts on the re-org site soon!
Upcoming Open Sessions to Discuss Re-structuring:
11/17 from 11-12 in Harmon
11/18 from 3:30-4:30 in Harmon
12/3 from 6:30-7:30 in LIB
Deadline for SWOT analyses is Monday November 3rd.
We’ll be doing LIS-wide business process analysis in the spring; what that actually means to follow.
4. Brainstorming and critiquing team proposals (40 minutes)
- break-up into groups of 8 (spread out within library)
- appoint a facilitator and notetaker (separate person)
- for 20 minutes, discuss existing proposals for teams (good idea? bad idea? what’s missing? what’s confusing? what questions need to be answered about how this team would function? ) and also brainstorm ideas for new teams
- notetaker posts comments and ideas for new teams to the re-structuring blog
- go around the room and collect from each group 1 or 2 ideas for new teams (10 minutes
We need these notes posted. If you were the notetaker, please POST asap.
New Reading Area at Armstrong Library
October 22nd, 2008 by Carrie MacfarlaneNew Armstrong Reading Area
We’ve increased the size of the reading area on the main floor of Armstrong Library. Come to see the changes!
- We removed over 1,000 volumes of outdated and otherwise unnecessary printed materials, and this allowed us to empty 2 bookcases.
- The floor space that we gained by removing the bookcases has been filled with a combination of tables and armchairs. We’ll add a few more tables and chairs from staff offices soon, once we acquire replacements from storage. Because of a pre-existing budget request, we’ll be able to add 5 new study carrels downstairs, too.
- This combination of tables, armchairs and study carrels was requested by students last year on the comments poster we hung at the entrance to the library. (The new video and laptop viewing equipment in the group studies was requested too.)
- In addition, we eventually hope to add more computers and lamps, but wiring and budgetary limitations might not allow this. We also hope to purchase more dry erase boards, maybe some board games, and who knows what else!
Durable Digital Objects
October 21st, 2008 by Michael LynchDurable Digital Objects Rather Than Digital Preservation
is a provocative article that indicts research and repository librarians for not being aware of the scale of the problem and for not paying attention to existing research in other fields.
Abstract: Long-term digital preservation is not the best available objective. Instead, what information
producers and consumers almost surely want is a universe of durable digital objects—documents and
programs that will be as accessible and useful a century from now as they are today.
Given the will, we could implement and deploy a practical and pleasing durability infrastructure within two years. Tools for daily work can embed packaging for durability without much burdening their users.
Moving responsibility for durability from archival employees to information producers would also avoid
burdening repositories with keeping up with Internet scale. An engineering prescription is available.
Research libraries’ and archives’ slow advance towards practical preservation of digital content is
remarkable to outsiders. Why does their progress seem stalled? Ineffective collaboration across
disciplinary boundaries has surely been a major impediment. We speculate about cultural reasons for
this situation and warn about possible marginalization of research librarianship as a profession.
State of the Blogosphere 2008
October 21st, 2008 by Elin WaagenCheck this link for a report on the state of the blogosphere
http://www.technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/
News Dashboard Beta
October 20th, 2008 by Ian McBridehttp://web.middlebury.edu/systems/newsboard/
I’ve published the latest version of the news dashboard application to the production server. I consider this to be in “beta” now, though the development work on it is very nearly done. The tasks that remain are to swap out a few images and get the background of the list item to change as you mouse over an item in the featured stories sections of the CMS News web part. I also imagine that College Communications will populate the site with some more content now that it’s on a production server and the data is being saved and backed up.
I was slightly apprehensive about this migration since all of my testing involved a personalization database running on a SQL Server instance on the local machine and I hadn’t yet tested the remote database connection aspect of the site. However, this worked perfectly without even needing to restart the SQL Server service or IIS – that’s pretty rare as anyone who’s worked with either of those systems will have to concede.
I started working a bit on the personal dashboard application a bit last week. I’ve got the rough framework done and am now working to refine some of the specialized content. Exchange Web Services requires that you set up a Context object that includes the username and password of the currently logged in user. We don’t keep the password in system memory for obvious reasons, so I’m trying to work around this using several means I won’t get into deeply here. At the same time, I’ve succeeded in creating a widget that shows the current availability of a list of users you give it based on their Exchange calendars. Right now it just shows 0 if they’re available or 1 if they’re busy, but I’m working on making the user interface a little more friendly.
Once I get a couple of these widgets done, I’ll port the site from my desktop to our development server and allow user testing. Stay tuned!
(also, add a comment here if there is a particular type of dashboard widget you’d like to use)
Upcoming Displays at the Main Library
October 17th, 2008 by Joseph WatsonSubmitted by Joseph Watson
- In observation of Breast Cancer Awareness month student organizers will display general information and certificates acknowledging donations that are being accepted in the dining halls.
- The Men’s Advisory Group is presenting a video in the Atrium and elsewhere on campus.
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The Roosevelt Institution, Middlebury’s non-partisan student-run political think tank, will present a display on McCain and Obama’s policy stances on immigration, foreign policy, the economy, healthcare, education, and the environment. This display will be in place for the full week before the election and will compliment the voter registration display already in place. (See previous LISt entry: http://blogs.middlebury.edu/list/2008/09/26/voters-in-the-lobby/
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And finally, LIS will be hosting the Associated Press’ exhibit “The American President” from Election Day until the Thanksgiving break. Joseph is creating panels for the two presidents who were born in Vermont to augment the AP exhibit since both Arthur and Coolidge are not represented in the touring exhibit. We’ve also received brochures from the State of Vermont historic sites for each Vermont born president. Below, please see the press release prepared for us by Blaire Kloman in our Office of Public Affairs. (It’s so great to work at Middlebury College where one can pass this sort of task off to colleagues with the appropriate expertise!)
Here is an example of the kind of photo that will be on display.
LOS ANGELES/ July 1960 U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy, D-Mass., makes his way through a crowd of supporters and journalists as he arrives for the Democratic National Convention. Kennedy turned back challenges by former Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson and U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, D-Texas, who accepted the vice presidential nomination. (AP)
For more information you can visit http://www.ap.org/americanpresident/#
PRESS RELEASE
Media contact: Blair Kloman
802-443-5483/bkloman@middlebury.edu
Oct. 20, 2008
IMMEDIATE
Middlebury College Library to host Associated Press photo exhibit of American presidents Nov. 4-25
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ― “The American President,” an exhibit of more than 80 compelling news photos from the Associated Press (AP) spanning the past 60 years, will be on view at the Middlebury College Library from Tuesday, Nov. 4, to Tuesday, Nov. 25. The display shows American presidents at war and at ease, in victory and in defeat, confronting national crises and facing personal scandals, running for office and leading the country on the world stage.
Amid the extraordinary voter interest in the 2008 race for the White House, the new exhibit helps illustrate one constant in the ever-shifting media landscape. The coverage of the White House by AP reporters and photographers has been the dominant source of presidential news across the United States and around the world.
“We’re especially pleased to host the AP’s American President exhibit at this time, since it coincides with one of the most important national elections in recent memory. These photos of our past presidents capture the human side of those who have served, not just the formal face of the presidency. As with all of our work in the library, we hope the exhibit will encourage not only reflection, but also action,’ said Dean of Library and Information Services Michael Roy.
The exhibit features a number of the AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning images, including Paul Vathis’ view of John F. Kennedy conferring gravely with his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, at Camp David after the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961; Ron Edmonds’ rapid sequence documenting the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan; and White House photos taken during Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment battle. “The American President” also includes memorable shots from the AP Images photo library, which contains more than 10 million film and digital images, and pictures taken in this year’s run for the White House by Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama.
According to exhibit organizers, the college will be hosting the full photo exhibit with the 16 panels as well as a looping video on a monitor. In order to include the two presidents who were born in Vermont, the college library organizers are preparing two additional panels with photos of Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur to augment the display.
Exhibit hours will coincide with library hours, available online at www.middlebury.edu/academics/lis/about/hours_maps/hours_lib/. For more information, contact Middlebury College Preservation and Processing Manager Joseph Watson at 802-443-5487 or jwatson@middlebury.edu.
– end –
Another LIS Staff Web.2Opportunity on Tuesday
October 17th, 2008 by Elin WaagenSave the date and time!
Tuesday 10/21 at 6 pm
This will be a repeat of the Web 2.0 Brown Bag Lunch held on October 9th.
Many thanks to Mary Backus, Mike Roy and Bryan Carson for their fun presentations – and thanks to those of you who attended. Congratulations to our winners!
Pij won a coffee mug AND coffee card
Judy, Mack and Alex each won a fun toy
All who attended will be eligible for the grand prize drawing at the last session in December.
Don’t miss out!
Here is your chance to attend the repeat session!
When: Tuesday 10/21 at 6 pm
Where: Lib 105
What: 2nd in a series of 5 fall semester Brown Bag mealtime sessions to discover and share new web tools in a fun environment. Mike Roy, Mary Backus and Bryan Carson will share Delicious, GoodReads, Jott, Chacha and RTM – Remember the Milk. Each presentation will last for about 10 minutes, with plenty of time for others to share during the last 20 – 30 minutes.
Why: Get together with your coworkers across LIS to get a taste of some fun web tools!
How long: 1 hour max; 3 presentations – 10 minutes each; there will be time for sharing and learning after the scheduled topics.
Bring your own bag meal (sorry – no free dinner!)
But…there will be a prize drawing! And…everyone who attends any of the 5 sessions will be eligible for the grand prize drawing in December. You could be the winner of a coffee mug/coffee card and maybe even a new fun toy! Attend every session and increase your chance to win the grand prize!
Please come – and join your LIS co-workers for a fun time!
Our volunteer presenters for November:
Jeff – iGoogle
Adam – twitter
Alex: Google Reader
Joe A – Facebook
Interested in presenting? Please contact Elin Waagen or Bryan Carson.
Conference Report – Space 2.0: Small-Scale Library Redesign Projects
October 17th, 2008 by Brenda EllisSubmitted by Brenda Ellis
Space 2.0: Small-Scale Library Redesign Projects
October 3rd Dartmouth Conference, 2008-10-09
Attendees: Brenda Ellis, Carrie Macfarlane (presenter), Brendan Owens (co-presenter), Joy Pile, Jean Simmons, Elin Waagen, Joseph Watson
Carrie & Brendan’s presentation: http://dspace.nitle.org/handle/10090/6141
All other presentations available at : http://www.dartmouth.edu/~biomed/services.htmld/OctCon2008/index.shtml
Elin’s notes are on the circulation blog: http://blogs.middlebury.edu/circservices/2008/10/13/darmouth-october-conference-space-20-small-scale-library-redesign-projects/
Informal summary of highlights (combined notes from Jean, Brenda, Joy, Joseph, Carrie) (more…)