ConnectMidwest

These are from a first-timer, and I like linking: this is my disclaimer.

• Clifford Stoll is an incredible speaker and story teller with a whole lot of energy.  These traits make for an excellent keynote, and (jumping from one session to another, in this case, the administration panel) also a librarian who is good at talking to leadership.
  • Here is the inscription from the Hayes Tower bell: "All truth is one. In this light may science and religion labor here together for the steady evolution of mankind from darkness to light; from prejudice to tolerance; from narrowness to broadmindedness."
  • If you ever get a chance to hear Cliff, and you weren't at this meeting, ask him about that inscription.  I loved its meaning, and wanted to share it after looking it up. 
  • Klein bottles!
• This was my first chapter-type meeting, and I much appreciated the number of group sessions!  It was tough to decide which 5/15 papers I was going to go see.  Are the presentations going to be posted somewhere? 
  
  • The Vital Pathways project looking into the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) standards is fascinating, if disappointing.  The current standard for residency programs simply states "ready access" to library without any mention of librarians!  But at least MLA/ACGME are now in conversation, and this is only the beginning.  Education standards for allied health, etc. should also be identified.
  • The University of Michigan group had an excellent survey presentation (2nd one down).  Interesting numbers generate lots of audience response!  Do your users know how to search Google Scholar so that they can get access through your link resolver?  And do you know what an H-index is?
  • Library collaboration with a new department can have major benefits for both groups.  The example in this paper was collaboration with the Research Division, and began when the division approached the library about licensing a tool.  Take advantage of those rare times someone comes to you!  Now the library has several new avenues of promotion (including faculty orientations to the division) and the division's Tech Commercialization department no longer pays lawyers to find patent articles!  The author also noted that sponsorship matters: classes by "the Library" may not get as big an audience as classes by the "Research Division." 
  • I'm biased because this (I'm going to say it) Totally Awesome presentation was done by a co-worker: using web-conferencing software in new ways.  In this case, there was an institutional subscription to Adobe Connect, but the ability to capture simple presentations to post as online tutorials or to use conferencing software to see a patron's screen while they're at home in order to help them can be done through several programs.  And the point was that you may have some great little tool that can be used for so much more than its stated function! 
  • The evidence-based nursing practice presentation has already been described on this blog, so I'll just add that I was excited to get a little of the nursing perspective and vocabulary having just taken the EBHC CE course from one that was more clinical!
• I have several pages of notes from the final two panels, but they're on my laptop.  :)  Fortunately, someone already posted information on the Scholarly Communication one.  I'll just mention that I thought it was an excellant example of two presenters tag-teaming and giving the audience a great overview of the issues at hand.  This was close to my heart since I was physically at NLM when the mandated NIH Policy began, and I'm really excited to see the directions OA is going!  The tech panel, as the last thing, is the most recently (and maybe the most prolificly) twittered #midwestmla09 topic, so check the tweets out while you can!  Maybe someone can capture all of those?  Maybe that'll be my next post.

The day after I got back from the conference I'm still kind of reeling from all the wonderful people I met (both new friends and those I only previously knew at a distance!) and from all the wonderful content.  And so much has been captured online, through this blog, twitter, and the Flickr pool!  Be sure to check it all out.  I'm so glad I got to have this experience, and I'm counting down already until Midwest MLA 2010!  Now time to find some committees...