Utah Library Association - May 2010

Photo's from Zion's National Park: Zion's Canyon

Late last fall I submitted an application to speak at the Utah Library Association Conference in St. George with Annie, Regina, and Cheryl. Luckily our proposal was accepted.



Presentation Abstract:
This is a four part presentation on the evaluation, selection and re-evaluation of electronic databases. The first part on evaluation will include demonstrations of free online assessment tools, review sources, rubrics, and ideas for comparing apples to apples instead of tangerines and kumquats. The second section will have tips for decoding the sales pitch into real decision making information. The third part includes advice on dealing with vendors and negotiating the terms of license agreements. Our costly, recent difficulties with existing licensing agreements will be aired. Lastly, the re-evaluation of databases through statistics tracking and assessment will be discussed.

In our application for presentation we had to fill out learning objectives and active learning techniques we would be using during our presentation.

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Sessions on Day 1

First was the Keynote by ALA President Camila Alire. She spoke about advocacy and how all staff, particularly the front line public services staff are advocates. For more information on her speech see: http://www.camilaalire.com/



Next I attended a session on Ebooks from a Business Perspective. BYU surveyed its Business faculty regarding eBooks and presented the results. Some interesting bits:
23% of Business faculty haven't checked out a physical book in the past year.
1 in 10 had never checked out a physical book.
Some business sources - economics are most heavily used
3 of 12 of the most used ejournals for the campus are business ejournals
Libguides stats 182,884 visits for all of them. (18%) 25,783 were for business & economics.
They are using Gale Virtual Reference platform along with Safari, Ebrary and NetLibrary.



I followed up that session with one on 19th Century Periodicals
They shared many URLS:
Victorian Short Fiction Project
http://vsfp.ctlbyu.org/

Wellesley Index (pay or subscription site)
http://wellesley.chadwyck.com/marketing/index.jsp

Waterloo Directory (pay or subscription site)
http://www.victorianperiodicals.com/series2/default.asp

Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/index.php

Victorian Research Web
http://victorianresearch.org/

Research Society for Victorian Periodicals
http://www.rs4vp.org/

RSAP: Research Society for American Periodicals
http://home.earthlink.net/~ellengarvey/index1.html



Lastly I attended a Futures presentation.
Unfortunately the presenter for the Science Fiction part was ill and unable to attend. What we got was a definition of Postmodernism and how it applies perceptually to libraries and librarians.
* suspicion of reference librarians
* class is disingenuous
* hard to use systems seem like control
* library = information hoarder
* librarians are not finished mourning the library



Day 2

Our session, unlike the others I attended really did incorporate active learning techniques. I used the Cephalonian method, Annie used learning teams, and Regina used a hands on exercise. Cheryl began the session with a lecture that had lots of useful and helpful URLS which kept the note takers busy. All in all we did very well, especially for a two hour last session of the conference time slot. Our attendees stayed and a few others came in. Only one left and she told us why during the break.



For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157625367830621/

(Written Dec 2010)

Utah Library Association in May

I will be presenting with my colleagues Cheryl Sebold, Annie Smith and Regina Koury at the Utah Library Association Conference this May 12-14. http://www.ula.org/conference/2010conf/index.php. Our session is Friday afternoon.

Advice from the Trenches: Evaluating & Selecting Databases, Decoding Sales Speak, Negotiating Licenses, Tracking & Analyzing Database Usage

This is a four part presentation on the evaluation, selection and re-evaluation of electronic databases. The first part on evaluation will include demonstrations of free online assessment tools, review sources, rubrics, and ideas for comparing apples to apples instead of tangerines and kumquats. The second section will have tips for decoding the sales pitch into real decision making information. The third part includes advice on dealing with vendors and negotiating the terms of license agreements. Our costly, recent difficulties with existing licensing agreements will be aired. Lastly, the re-evaluation of databases through statistics tracking and assessment will be discussed.

ULA: my last session

CyberInfrastructure Session

For the most part this was a bit over my head and not really applicable to what I do. However, the last bit had a few gems. First BYU has had a decrease in usage of the hardwired computers in the information commons. A reduction to the tune of 50%. Wireless computing has increased until recently and has leveled off. The presenter believes that this too will decrease as more portable cell phone type devices begin to be used such as his iPhone and wireless network cards like the ones offered by Verizon. We need to think about mobile computing and how/where it will impact us.

Cool sign in his presentation: No Shhhh Zone

Favorite Session: Can Library Instruction Be Fun, Yet Effective?

Presenters were Crystal Goldman, Dale Larsen, and Adriana Parker of Marriott Library at the University of Utah. (I had met Dale and Adriana during my sabbatical) They teach an extraordinary number of sessions, up to 45 in a two week period...

Basically they were talking about two active learning methods, Cephalonian and Jigsaw. In summation the Jigsaw method is about small group work and having the groups present on the discovery of the database they were asked to analyze. This works best with large classes 20+ with enough time.

What really hooked me on this workshop was the Cephalonian method. They used the method to teach us the method. It involves a set of colored index cards which are passed out to the audience. (An audience member suggested that shapes could be used instead. Also it was noted that the color of the card should be placed on the card for those who may be color blind.) Each card has a question on it that will be asked when a color card is asked for. The questions are put together by the teacher who then creates a corresponding powerpoint that answers the questions.

BIG TIP: To go to a specific slide in powerpoint, type in the number and press enter. This will pop open the slide you want seamlessly. This is really nifty and makes the teacher look like a mind reader.

For more information on the Cephalonian method check out the article in Wikipeda. Or rather, check out the references at the bottom! Nigel Morgan is one of the originators of this very interactive active learning method.

The other really excellent part of the powerpoint was the pictures of a hired actor who portrayed various patron stereotypes including sleeping student, typhoid patron, and inappropriate viewing guy...

The presenters were entertaining, interactive and managed to keep this last session of the day well worth attending.

Lunch Speaker: Amanda Dickson, KSL Newsradio

Dickson talked about happiness, and how, perhaps it is a commodity not just a state of being. She says that you can't wait till circumstances are perfect to be happy, but that you need to enjoy life as it happens. The basis of happiness is in forgiveness. Not for some spiritual lofty reason, but in order to move beyond the injuries and insults of daily life. Forgiving self and others allows one to be happy in the day or the moment. Releasing the self-talk and rumination of 'bad things that happened so I can't be happy' by forgiving and moving on. Pretty interesting actually.