American Library Association 2014 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas

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American Library Association 2014 Annual Conference and Exhibition

report for Fullerton College

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ala_members/14129762752/in/pool-alaac14

                            

Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves

The 2014 ALA (American Library Association) Annual Conference and Exhibition took place in the Las Vegas Convention Center, June 26-July 1, hosting over 13,000 librarians, library workers, and other attendees. This reduction in attendees --- more than 7K fewer, as compared to the annual conference in Chicago 2013 --- could be, in part, due to the daytime temperatures topping 110°F, and the pricey cabs rides to and from presentations/events/lectures. Deterrents such as the aforementioned high temps and even higher prices are rumored to be among the reasons that Sin City hasn’t hosted an ALA conference since the early ‘70s.

                  The theme of the conference, “Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves,” paired well with the presentations by speakers who focused on encouraging change, implementing new technologies, and reaching out to all library users. The opening session speaker was Jane McGonigal, a game designer who first came to my attention with her 2012 Ted Talk discussion of how gaming reversed her (very serious) health issues. McGonigal addressed a crowd of booklovers, many of whom may be a bit doubtful of the benefits of video gaming, a pastime which is, arguably, characterized by uncontrolled/habitual overuse (in particular by men and boys). The game designer asserts that video games can be tapped to provide unique solutions to global problems, including the crowd-sourcing of community planning and scientific modeling. McGonigal would like to see a videogame enthusiast accepting a Nobel Prize at some point in the future.

Slate Magazine Photo Shoot

Though the wait was long, I greatly enjoyed participating in the Kyle Cassidy photo shoot for an upcoming Slate Magazine piece, “Alexandria Still Burns: Librarians & the Fight for Knowledge.”

Librarian posing for Slate Magazine photo shoot.

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Subjects were asked:

“If I could put you in front of 50,000 people, what would you want to tell them about libraries and librarians?” E.g.,

1)   What are the greatest challenges facing libraries today?
2) What are the most important services that libraries provide?
3) What inspired you to do this?
4) What do libraries do that people might not know about?
5) What would happen in your community if all the libraries shut down tomorrow?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ala_members/14213865977/in/pool-alaac14

Summer Cold-Ridden Acquisitions Librarian Develops Vendor Relationships in Desert over Dessert

I was glad to have this opportunity to meet with current and potential vendors with whom I had previously only had contact via email and/or telephone conversation, including: 1) At Las Vegas Hotel, WT Cox, a vendor of print serial subscriptions whose services are currently contracted by the County of Los Angeles Public Library; 2) Springer at Mon Ami Gabi; and 3) Several others in the exhibit hall. There were over 800 company offerings in the exhibit hall, which keeps an acquisitions librarian running!

Fun times on the exhibition floor included snagging signatures from award-winning authors and illustrators, including Avi and Bad Kitty‘s Nick Bruel. Bruel doodled in the book that I purchased (Bad Kitty vs Uncle Murray).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ala_members/14129368661/in/pool-alaac14/

LITA Instructional Technologies Interest Group

Coalescing during the morning of Saturday, June 28^th, was LITA’s Instructional Technologies Interest

Group, which covered the most popular instructional tech tools, platforms (and toys) for libraries. Panelists included: 1) Moderator and NYU Head of User Experience for Bobst Library Nadaleen F. Tempelman-Kluit; 2) University of Tennessee Faculty Librarian Jason Griffey; 3) Michigan State University e-Resources Librarian Ranti Junus; 4) University of Maryland Associate Director for Library Applications and Knowledge Systems Bohyun Kim; 5) Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Digital Services Director David Lee King; 6) Ithaka S+R Program Director for Libraries, Users, and Scholarly Practices Roger Schonfeld; 7) University of Michigan Library Web Systems Librarian Ken Varnum; and 8) University of Windsor User Experience Librarian Mita Williams.

Trends discussed include: open hardware (Griffey); data and digital assets management (Janus); the DIYbio and bio-hackerspace movement (Kim); philosophy of mobile first (King); anticipatory discovery for awareness of new publications (Schonfeld); personally-tuned discovery system (Varnum); and one-click install server software (Williams).

Additional Ideas Presented

1)     Maker Spaces: Offering library computers with editing software helps creators. Circulating library laptops and iPads is useful to consumers.

2)     Design: Place chairs and tables near outlets. Offer reliable Wi-Fi.

3)     Marketing: Advertise Wi-Fi and outreach services.

4)     New in Search: Anticipatory search is a concept that resembles targeted marketing.

5)     Publishing: Student journals represent an opportunity for library outreach through publication of student work, as demonstrated by SUNY and Columbia University.

6)     On-Campus Partnerships: Utilize syllabi/faculty reading lists to inform library suggestion services for students.

7)     Off-Campus Outreach: How can libraries grow their service offerings during difficult financial times? One option is that libraries may choose to collaborate with civically-engaged technology organizations, such as Hackerspaces.

8)     One-Click Server Installs: These cheaper, easier installs will lower the barriers to the installation of both software and servers for individuals and libraries. For example, Minecraft Realms permits subscribers to access Mojang-hosted Minecraft servers. These private servers cost less than fifteen dollars per month for up to twenty users. This allows for safe, collaborative building for young people and their friends.

9)     ISP Logs: Libraries should continue to rethink privacy, as ISPs keep activity logs for varying lengths of time. Librarians should be aware of the privacy implications of ISP activity logs.

10)  Net Neutrality: ALA supports net neutrality. The ALA asked the FCC to maintain non-discriminatory language.

11)  Mobile: Make infrastructure and processes mobile-compatible. Embracing a Mobile First Philosophy ensures a consistent experience for users --- regardless of device, including phones, tablets, PCs, Macs, etc. Globally, one in five people possess their own mobile device, and 90% of those people sleep with their device within reach. King mentioned that over ninety percent of Americans have smart phones. There was discussion of work bleeding beyond the lines of the standard workday.

Monique’s entry for #WorkCanWait

Notes from Other Sessions

1.     CMS: Many schools are using course management systems (CMS), such as Blackboard, Moodle, and Sakai. The online courses link to related library resources, e.g., embedded chat widgets and LibGuides. The University of Southern Florida embeds LibGuides, and (when possible), the librarians of USF make the LibGuides course-specific.

2.     Equal Accessibility: When checking out eBooks on devices (e.g., iPads), choose fully-accessible devices, such as iOS devices. All users should be able to use all devices without the assistance of another person. Staff should be trained in the use of accessibility features for devices that the library circulates. Libraries should also follow WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0 for online materials.