Midwest Conference Call

...for this year!

It has been fun sharing the experiences of the 2006 Annual Conference with all of you! And it has been a learning experience. So what is your intrepid blog editor's take on this little foray into the world of Web 2.0?

Conference Blog Evaluation:

Overall, I think we were generally successful. I decided to try this conference bloging experiment on very short notice. The software was conveniently available through the chapter's new web services provider, so why not? What this meant was that there was little pre-conference planning. There were significant technical issues, including the fact that I don't have access to a laptop with wireless web capability. (Santa: are you getting the hint?) So thank you Bette, Allan and Mary for your assistance on that score. Uploading photos was an amazingly convoluted experience. I was thankful for the free, fast, reliable wireless access in the hotel's public areas. (Take note conference planners!)

I learned that a conference blog really would work best as a broad, collaborative effort. One person simply doesn't have the time to provide thorough coverage of a conference. Even with the assistance of a couple of chapter member writers, a lot of the conference simply wasn't covered because I didn't get around to it. A special thank you goes to all our blog correspondents! I think that the blog functioned well as one conduit for pre-conference information. Thank you Elizabeth for your assistance on that score!

I learned a lot about Movable Type...I've used my experience with the software to move our chapter newsletter to a "blog format" and used Movable Type to produce the new look MIDLINE.

Conclusion:

Blogging the annual conference as a function of the Communications Committee is a viable and enjoyable experience that I think we should continue for next year's conference. We'll need lots of volunteer correspondents. Please consider working on the blog if you attend next year's conference!

What is your evaluation? PLEASE e-mail your comments to me. I would appreciate your feedback! Did you read Conference Call in your feed reader? Were there any glitches?

I've enjoyed spending this time with you! Hope to see you next year in Omaha!

Quite a lot of important chapter business was conducted as part of the 2006 Annual Conference in Louisville. The executive board met on Saturday evening before the conference and there were two business meetings, one to consider the new bylaws and a second to conduct the customary business of the chapter. Deborah Lauseng, Midwest Chapter Secretary, has prepared summaries of the meetings at the conference for the chapter newsletter.

So for ALL THE DETAILS of the chapter business meetings, visit the new look MIDLINE. You'll also find articles on our award winners and the conference reports from our scholarship winners.

James Burgett has added even more fun photos to the Conference Photo Gallery!

Click Here For More Fun Photos!

Our official conference photographer James Burgett has posted lots of fun photos of the conference activities for your viewing enjoyment at the Midwest Chapter 2006 Photo Gallery.

A good time was had by all!

This year's Tech Forum held on Tuesday was a perfect balance of prepared presentations and audience participation. Our Trio of Technology Gurus, J. Dale Prince, Max Anderson, and Bryan S. Vogh, took us on a trip through Web 2.0 concepts from RSS to del.icio.us to podcasting. Bryan has posted the PowerPoint slides from the presentations here on the GMR website. Be sure to look at Bryan's added presentation on installing the Firefox extension for del.icio.us. He also recommends this list of NLM RSS feeds and podcasts. The most exciting part of this type of program is the audience interaction. Ideas for great library projects generated spontaneously from the give and take after the formal presentations. The panel members weren't the only experts in the room!

Thank you Mary Taylor for submitting this report from the Monday contributed papers session Newer Points of View: The Library Liaison!

This very interesting session featured Sandra Phelps, Making an Impact on the User’s Point of View: The Library Liaison or How I Stopped Waiting for Them to Walk in the Door and Took the Library to Them, and Michael Venner, The Journey of a Liaison: Doing It My Way, talking about their library liaison programs. Ulrike Dieterle, Toolkit for Effective Collaboration, spoke about the related topic of collaboration. Their slides should be posted online soon. So, I will focus on the post-presentation question and answer session.

Michael Venner stressed the need to help out colleagues with other liaison responsibilities and not say, “That’s not my problem.” He is the EndNote and RefWorks specialist and teaches workshops on these topics for other liaisons when asked.

Sandra Phelps was persistent in trying to get her foot in the door and meet with other patrons and departments. She spent time asking patrons about their research interests and teaching needs. When asked what she would do if the demand for her services became too great, she responded that she has already learned some time management tricks. One thing she does is to prepare ahead of time for one-on-one research/teaching sessions, using even small increments of time in order to make sessions productive. She mentioned that she was the liaison to the Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy academic programs and clinicians. She said a big challenge is to present the principles of evidence-based searching in non-nursing allied health fields. She is learning to translate the terminology of physical and occupational therapy when working with indexes designed for doctors and nurses.

Ulrike Dieterle had also mentioned that she had to learn to be “multi-lingual’ when working with nurses in developing online teaching materials. Her own gap in understanding how nursing care was different in focus from medical care was finally budged by a special librarian in the School of Nursing. This librarian spoke both the language of nursing and the language of librarianship helped the members of the project team to understand each other. In response to another question, she stated that collaboration may not be an appropriate method if time was of the essence and the issue involved was one-dimensional.

Charniel McDaniels, Network Coordinator at the GMR attended Sunday's CE course Proactive Librarianship: Knowledge, Innovation & Leadership for Newer Librarians taught by La Ventra Danquah, Shiffman Medical Library
Wayne State University:

This four hour session is slated for new librarians. But, I would recommend it for anyone who may want to take a different approach to your current responsibilities. I enjoyed the varied activities set to soothing music. I plan to put some of the strategies to use right away! The class begins with an overview of the industry, including the expectations of your patrons. The constant underlying thought is that we live in a constantly changing landscape and our services need to reflect that. La Ventra will lead you through several group activities that will give you an opportunity to move beyond your comfort zone. You will have the chance to participate in a self-assessment and use that information to unlock your creative skills as a newly imaginative risk-taker. All of that and four hours of MLA credit! If you notice this class being taught at other meetings, take it! It may be offered in its full timespan of 6 hours and it's worth spending the time.

Thank you Charniel for submitting this report!

Linda Watson guided us through this complex and thorny issue. She wrapped her presentation metaphorically around a visit to Tanzania, with her Serengeti photographs giving eye appeal to her presentation.

Her starting point for discussing the issues surrounding changes in scholarly communication was the 2003 MLA Open Forum. The MLANET Scholarly Publishing Issues page includes links to information from the 2003 MLA Open Forum. What is new in the 2.5 years since the Open Forum? Our users have ever increasing options for access to information (blogs, new Google services, etc.), they are increasingly "digital natives," and interest is growing in institutional repositories, copyright issues and author rights. "Open access" has grown considerably in this time period with the genesis of publishers like BioMed Central and PLOS, some traditional publishers offering OA for a fee, and the development of self-archiving services like PubMed Central which she discussed at length later in the presentation.

She outlined the "real or projected" benefits of OA such as increased dissemination of research and facilitation of data-mining and linkages. Then contrasted these to the "real or imagined" concerns about OA such as decreased quality of peer review, upheaval in the tenure/promotion process, and sustainability of OA journals.

Two other subjects that she covered at length were the NIH Public Access Policy and Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006. Compliance with the NIH policy has been less than 5% with the process perceived to be too difficult. FRPAA has been endorsed by library professional organizations and some universities. Professional societies have some legitimate concerns. The most recent forum on OA issues was held last week, Improving Access to Publicly Funded Research, in Washington. The proceedings and slides from this meeting have ALREADY been posted online.

SO, what's a librarian to do?

Support and respond to MLA advocacy efforts,

Get involved in the discussion at your institution,

Pay attention to your own rights as an author,

Use "Library 2.0" tools in your own scholarly communication,

Share your successes.

By way of example, she encouraged us to contribute to Biomedical Digital Libraries. And she also suggested that as a chapter, we consider instituting an award to authors to subsidize publication fees. Hmmm...

Food for thought!

P.S. From your intrepid blog editor: Linda mentioned Scott Plutchak's suggestion for a commission sponsored by AAHSL and FACEB on the subject of OA. I refer you to T. Scott's interesting blog entries on the subject.

On Saturday evening at the Welcome Reception, we were treated to a performance by the fabulous Senior Birds precision dance team. They strutted their stuff to Old Time Rock and Roll to our great delight:

And just WHO are the Senior Birds? I asked Michel Atlas for details. Named after the University of Louisville Ladybirds dance team, they have marched in parades, appeared on TV, and performed at University of Louisville football, basketball (men's and women's), soccer (men's and women's), field hockey, and volleyball games. Members must be at least 50 years old and have some connection to the university.

Thank you ladies for sharing your Cardinal Red and Black spirit!

Thank you to Wendy Hess for submitting this report with a special focus on the Buckeye State!

Ruth Holst presented the GMR update on Tuesday. Carol Scherrer is now the acting director of the GMR. Ruth Holst is the Associate Director, and Holly Burt continues to be our Ohio Representative.

Highlights of the 2001-2006 Contract:

Ohio has many member libraries in the GMR. There are 193 Ohio libraries, including 20 public libraries.

EFTS use has grown dramatically in the last five years. 125 member libraries are using it, including 25 of the 32 Resource Libraries. Using EFTS greatly reduces paperwork and administrative costs.

The GMR awarded 36 subcontracts, 106 awards, and $1,419,361 in funding to network members. The number of participants in Outreach Activities more than tripled during this contract.

The RAC (Regional Advisory Council) will be restructured, with one group of thirty members instead of five separate committees.

Outreach Libraries are self-designated to assist GMR with outreach services. 16 of 32 Resource Libraries are Outreach Libraries. These libraries offer training, exhibits, Loansome Doc, and more.

GMR announcements are posted on the GMRlist and The Cornflower, the new GMR blog. Check it out!

The GMR started a new five-year contract in 2006. Three key initiatives for this contract are:
Outreach to Public Health Professionals and Community Organizations
Assisting NLM with emergency preparedness planning
Identify collections of historical materials

GMR conducted a Communications Survey to determine when they should use the GMRlist, and when they should use the blog to communicate with members. They would like to thank the 163 respondents to the survey. More information on the results will be forthcoming.

Continue reading "GMR Update" »