Rachel Gray – Information Services Librarian

I started out the day bright and early at the Lerner Lecture Breakfast.  I enjoyed both the food and fellowship before enjoying Will Weaver’s insight on writing YA literature for boys.   I have not had a lot of exposure to YA lit, but I was fascinated by how he has tailored his career to these under served young men and boys.  He was a great speaker and almost even inspired me to become an author.  Almost...  He has ablog on writing if you are interested in being inspired by him yourself. 

The first breakout session I attended was “Harnessing Google to Harness Daily Tasks” with Kristen Mastel from the UM.  While a lot of what she covered was review for me, I still learned quite a bit about Google that I didn’t have any inkling about before.  I’ll share a bitGoogle Notebook.  This is a great tool that allows you to copy and paste information you find online and add it to your notebook file on Google’s server – all without leaving your browser.   All you have to do is to highlight the text you want to save, then hit a button you’ve already downloaded as a plug-in.  And *POOF*, the information is saved along with the URL you found it on.  You do need a Google account for this, but these are free and easy to setup.

Another session I enjoyed was Jim Connor’s “Everyone on the Bus” presentation.  He really made the attendees thing about library sustainability and finding ways to get advocates for the library in the community.  I wasn’t surprised to hear him speak about how we are perceived as a luxury, but not a necessity.  But I was surprised to hear him say that communities that lose their libraries really lose their hearts and the community slowly dies as people move out of the area.  This doesn’t just apply to public libraries, but also to academic and school libraries.  He gave all his attendees something to think about.   

I have so many more tidbits from today’s conference sessions, but I have to stop here for now.  I heartily recommend to any and all MN librarians to attend MLA next year.  You do not need to be a MLA member to attend.  The next conference will be in St. Cloud from October 14-16 2009, so mark your calendars!

Jonya Pacey, Help Desk Manager

I spent the first part of the morning talking to people, going through the Silent Auction, more networking, and then stopping back up at my room to work on a couple of tickets assigned to me. So the MILE 2009 session was my first today. I was very pleased that the room was packed and with a strong showing of interested potential attendees. As one of the initial session's graduates in 2005, MILE (Minnesota Institute for Leadership Excellence) has my support and interest and I am thrilled with the success of the 2007 graduates. I see them in strong leadership roles in their libraries, being active in MLA subunits, and advocating for developing leadership skills. MILE is a springboard for anyone wanting to explore their goals and advance their career while getting involved in MLA. As I was not the only SELCO attendee to this session, I will stop here.

Right after this session, I went into the Library Management Round Table business meeting. We spent most of the meeting planning and setting some goals and then for one of them, doing some action steps for me to do right away, over the next few months. And I think this is cool and exciting; we are going to hold a conference call where we can talk about a management topic. The first one was selected today. So LMRT members can call in and talk and I'll take notes, and then get them onto the subunit's blog where people can comment. Then I will send out email encouraging LMRT members to go read and comment, continuing the conversation. So the three areas of communication that seem to be comfortable to a large percentage of library managers - blogging, conference calls, and email - will all be used and hopefully integrated together into a more seamless conversation as time moves on.

Carla Johnson
Cataloging Services Librarian, SELCO

I can only imagine the rolling eyes and snickers at this title (I say this because of my experiences with non-catalogers).  I realize that the thought of entering detailed map information into MARC format does not thrill most people and I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to sitting through a 3 hour workshop on this topic.

I was pleasantly surprised!  Things got off to a slow start as we went over fixed field information, but the session picked up as we moved on to the main body of the MARC record and focused on 2 fields that I was unfamiliar with, the 034 and 255 - Cartographic Mathematical Data (it's fun to say).  I learned how to convert a map scale to a representative fraction and where to find that information if I forget.  Remember latitute and longitude?  Presenter Stacie Traill kept us going with sample maps that she brought in.  She went on to talk about physical description, notes, and map subject analysis. 

Perhaps I became so engrossed in this session because - ah - well -  there's something about cataloging that I enjoy and I love to read maps!  Put the two together and it adds up to one great workshop.  Most catalogers will appreciate this as well as any library staff having to work with map collections.  It was a worthwhile and enjoyable session all around.

Aurora Jacobsen, Information Services Librarian

The most interesting conversation of the day, for me,  was definitely LibraryThing. I've used the product a couple of times and I've liked it, but Tim Spaulding really pressed the audience to rethink the way we've not only started cataloging, but also how we've implemented tagging. I really want  to see our library catalogs move in a similar direction. I shouldn't have to go to LibraryThing to find Zombie romance books. I want to find those in my library catalog. I also liked his point that most LibraryThing users have read the whole book, rather than a cataloger who is guessing on the subject based on the table of contents. Spaulding also reaffirmed the need for subject headings and their value. He also clearly loves books and libraries, and that always makes such constructive criticism easier to take.

The second session I attended was about the change to RDA and how it will incorporate FRBR. I was glad for a little bit of an introduction, and the seed planted to go and research more. However, I am not a cataloger, so I'll leave more details about this session to the experts.

The final session of the day, for me, was "23 Things: Better Than a Deep Fried Twinkie". Four 23 Things participants presented on their experiences with the 23 Things program. Linda Weinmann from the SELCO region was the first presenter. She did a great job covering Picasa. Of course, not everyone pictures will end up looking like hers, even if they used the tools she demonstrated. That takes photography talent. We also got to hear from a librarian from Concordia that adopted Meebo as an IM client for their users. Tim Johnson of the University of Minnesota libraries covered all of the things he's added to his library's blog as a result of the program. Lynn Wyman of the Ramsey County Library  presented on how they implemented the program at their library and mentioned the surprising popularity of Facebook at their institution. Overall, a very exciting session and a good first day at MLA.

Michael Scott, Assistant Director

Well, if that doesn't get some attention, I don't know what will!  More on that in minute.

While my first day at MLA was mostly focused on preparing for the 23 Things Party on a Stick:  Social Networking in Real Life reception put on by the Multitype Library System Directors, I was able to attend a couple of programs.  First, the keynote for the conference, again sponsored by the Multitype Library System Directors, was a presentation Tim Spaulding, the developer of LibraryThing, on the topic of social cataloging and social networking.  He created LibraryThing to catalog his own library for his friends and it is now a huge phenomenon!  It has some really great features that I truly can see anybody wanting to see in their library's catalog.  Things like the possibility of tagging books, DVDs, and other library materials with words that have more meaning to them (cookery, anyone?) or the ability to more easily find a "similar books" or "you might like this" list.

Later in the day I attended a session, Introduction to RDA/FRBR.  Frankly, I was a bit scared of this session but as Resource Description & Access and Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records are the items of discussion amongst catalogers, and as the SELCO Cataloging Team reports to me, I thought I should attend.  Plus, I was just curious.  The update, provided by Chew Chiat Naun from the University of Minnesota Libraries, asked more questions than provided answers.  RDA is a new set of cataloging rules being developed while FRBR is a model used in these new rules.  Essentially, the goal is to find a way to move cataloging forward to continue to meet the needs of patrons (as well as library staff) to electronically access the materials in libraries.  We'll certainly be watching the development here at SELCO.

Finally, I served ice cream during the 23 Things Party on a Stick.  Who knew that ice cream bars (note:  the Blue Bunny Sundae Crunch Bar was the MOST popular) would be such a hit!  Watch the SELCO Flickr site for photos from the party and you'll get to see me at work (and maybe a backup career!) handing out ice cream bars to librarians.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by to talk "23 Things" and enjoy ice cream.  By the way, all ice cream treats were "on a stick" to fit the theme.

Mollie Pherson, Regional Librarian

I put my volunteer hat on early today and helped with the MLA Silent Auction for a good portion of the morning.  What fun!!  It was a blast to visit with conference attendees and to make sure all the items were visible and matched up with the correct bidding sheets.  AND I got to keep an eye on my own items I'd like to win--I tell ya, the selection is great and I'm getting lots of awesome gift basket ideas from the auction!

After volunteering, I attended Creating a Jimmy Choo Staff Wiki on a Shoestring Budget, presented by Rochester Public Library Reference Librarian Brian Lind.  We are thinking of implementing some sort of wiki at SELCO, so his ideas were fabulous not only for me, but for any library staff member that is interested in starting a wiki.  You are able to pick a wiki that meets the standards that you have set.  The five Wikis Brian talked about were Media Wiki, PB Wiki, Wiki Spaces, Wet Paint Wiki, and Zoho Wiki.  There is a website you can visit to see what wiki is right for you--Wiki Matrix.  Wiki Matrix and the Wiki Choice Wizard help narrow down what type of wiki you are looking for to perform the job you want it to do. 

Brian also presented the "8 Commandments of Wiki Implementation":

1.  Make things findable without a search box
2.  Choose navigation links wisely
3.  Think about ALL users
4.  Use specific language
5.  One page -- multiple links
6.  Choose a realistic timeline to get going
7.  Link to redundant information from your public website
8.  Understand your wiki won't be perfect

A Wiki does take a lot of work to set up, but in the end, it's super easy to maintain.  Overall, A highly enjoyable presentation!!!  I'm excited to take the information back to SELCO!