Wednesday, November 5, 2008

ALL DAY PRECONFERENCES

1) “A CRL Global Resources Collection Development Workshop:
News: Paper, Film and Digital” 
Price: $100
Time: 9 am - 4pm
Convener: Bernie Reilly, CRL <Reilly@crl.edu>
 
The rich and detailed record of world events that journalists provide has earned newspapers distinction as “the first rough draft of history.” Newspapers have also earned the opprobrium of librarians, as cumbersome, highly acidic, and bibliographically complex.  Why should things be different in the digital age?  This pre-conference, for CRL members and others, will provide information and discussion to guide research libraries in ensuring adequate access to back news content for their communities in the digital era.  Sessions will explore:

• How today’s researchers use paper, broadcast, and electronic news: text-mining for finance and national security, bias analysis for history and policymaking,  . . . and just plain reading;
• Newspaper digital back file collections: cost, content, and performance from NDNP to LexisNexis;
• What Google’s news strategy means for libraries;
• Strategies for bridging the void: moving from microform to digital without losing the past.

This pre-conference is produced in conjunction with the October 2008 issue of The Charleston Advisor, which will feature reviews of electronic news products.

2) “Out of the Box: Innovating New Service Models" 
Price: $100
Time: 8 am - 3 pm
Convener: Roger Schonfeld, Ithaka <Roger.Schonfeld@ithaka.org>

As collections migrate to electronic format, libraries that want to stay relevant for their users have begun to develop a variety of new service offerings, raising the question of how they can best support teaching, learning, and research in this new environment. A re-evaluation of service offerings provides several important opportunities, especially for academic libraries - reintegrating the sciences into service offerings; taking a more active role in undergraduate education; and engaging more directly with the rapidly changing needs of faculty members. This preconference will explore some of the services that academic libraries have developed in recent years.

We will focus on such services as data curation and preservation, instructional support, and mapping services (intentionally ignoring "movement" services such as institutional repositories). We will spend the morning hearing about the substance of new services that are being offered. In the afternoon, our presenters will assemble as a series of panels to discuss how their services were developed, some of the barriers they encountered and overcame, and some of the leadership and management lessons that emerge from their experiences.

This preconference is intended for librarians who recognize the importance of developing new services and are prepared to act now or in the near future.

MORNING PRECONFERENCES

1) "Subscribing to Journals in Community Web Portals - a survey of librarians' and researchers' needs, views and practices"
Price: $90
Time: 9am –11 am
Presented by: Simon Inger, Consultant <simon@sic.ox14.com> and
Pinar Erzin, Managing Director, Accucoms <pinar.ezrin@accucoms.com>

Simon Inger Consulting and Accucoms are co-presenting the findings of two important pieces of research conducted in May/June 2008 into researcher navigational behavior, and the use of community web portals such as CTSNet, P450 Cafe or Nanohub; and research into how librarians are managing researcher access to journal content via different platforms. There will also be a discussion session where attendees can compare notes on new sites and how they can be incorporated into A to Z lists, Link Resolvers and library Webpages.

2)  “Negotiating with Vendors – Dos and Don’ts”
Price: $100
Time:  9 am - 12 noon
Convener:  Buzzy Basch, Basch Subscriptions <buzzy@basch.com>
Panelists: Janice Lachance, Chief Executive Director, SLA; others TBA

Negotiating plays a major role in library administration and operation: negotiating for a share of scarce personnel and financial resources; developing contracts with vendors and suppliers; and liaising effectively in cooperatives and other common interest groups. Join a seasoned group of library and information industry negotiators who will share their experience in defining objectives, devising strategies, and measuring success in negotiations.

3) “Acquisitions Basics and Beyond”
Price: $100
Time: 9 am - 12 noon
Conveners: Paul Ritlemeyer, Univ. of Virginia Library <pvr3y@virginia.edu>;
Dawn M. Waller, Univ. of Virginia Library <dwaller@virginia.edu>

From approval plans to zoological records, acquisitions staff tread a terrain sometimes familiar but increasingly murky. In this session participants will learn how to utilize staff, technologies and other resources to meet and manage, from A to Z, acquisition challenges now and into the future. The program leaders will also survey preconference attendees prior to the event for specific issues and questions of concern.

AFTERNOON PRECONFERENCES

1) “Serials Resource Management” 
Price: $100
Time: 1 pm - 4 pm
Convener: Buzzy Basch, Basch Subscriptions <buzzy@basch.com>
 
Join a panel of seasoned experts in a discussion of the current issues in SRM. Participate in the exchange of experience and ideas.E-journals, paper,publisher pricing strategies, allocation of staff, and morphing of ERM and SRM.

2) “Weeding, Offsite Storage, And Sustainable Collection Development: Library Space and Collections 40 Years After the Kent Study”  
Price: $150
Time: 1 pm - 4 pm
Conveners: Rick Lugg <rick@r2consulting.org> and Matt Barnes, R2 Consulting LLC

Library shelves are increasingly full.  The 1968 Kent study at the University of Pittsburgh found that 40% of academic collections never circulate, a number that can only be higher forty years later. Abundant offsite storage has allowed libraries to defer weeding decisions, at least until those facilities are full. And more books are being published than ever before. Weeding can be difficult and controversial, and is rarely a priority. But, as new library space becomes harder to fund, and as library administrators seek to increase space available for group study, information commons, writing centers, and cafes, print collections face much more scrutiny.

Current solutions such as compact shelving, consortial collection development, and shared print archives  can provide temporary relief. But hard decisions remain regarding the extent of library space dedicated to low-use print collections. Ultimately, every library will need to define its “carrying capacity” for print, and develop strategies to maintain that balance as new content is acquired—while still assuring the integrity of their collections. R2 will present these issues from multiple viewpoints, and describe tools, techniques, and strategies for achieving and maintaining sustainable collections.
 
3) Open Source Innovations in Next Generation Library Systems
Price: $100
Time: 1 pm - 4pm
Convener: Tim Daniels, Georgia Public Library Service <tdaniels@georgialibraries.org>
 
Open Source Software is fast becoming a major component of Acquisitions and Collection Management departments in our libraries.  Products like D-Space and Greenstone are being used to manage digital collection.  The Open Journal System (OJS) allows libraries to host open access e-journals for their campuses or communities. Many libraries are exploring Open Source Integrated Library Management Systems such as Evergreen and Koha. During the pre-conference we will discuss Open Source philosophy, explore many of the open source tools that are being used by acquisitions and collections management librarians and examine the development of Evergreen’s Acquisitions module.

4) What Publishers/Monograph Vendors Need to Know
Price: $100
Time: 1 pm - 4 pm
Moderator: Mark Kendall, YBP Library Services <MKendall@ybp.com>
Panelists:

• Hope Barton, University of Iowa
  
• Julie Gammon, University of Akron and University of Akron Press
• Scott Perry, University of Chicago
• Tony Horava, University of Ottawa
• Denise Novak, Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
• Martha Whittaker, George Washington University

In 2008-2009, how can publishers/monograph vendors best serve academic libraries? This will include discussions of current selection/acquisition trends and library service expectations.

For 2007 Program information, please see our Archives page.