Thao – The Serious Librarian
Morgan and Kate
Cowboy meets Warrior Princess
Arabella
Our Custodial Staff
Prom Queen – JoAnn
Little Red Riding Hood – Kristin
Posts Tagged ‘Oct 31 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.