All Sessions

Do you want to know what your colleagues think the future of academic libraries will be and how we will get there? The PELS Committee of the LLAMA LOMS has conducted a brief survey to identify important planning elements and trends to consider when planning services. In this session, participants will be invited to join a lively discussion of current trends regarding the future of academic libraries and actions needed to address them.

Are you a new library director wearing many hats, including that of being the technology person? Do you find yourself in the position of needing to choose a new integrated library system?

This workshop covers solid information to assist you, such as the pros and cons of writing a Request for Proposal and contract pitfalls. What are the choices? Is open source really free? Gain an overall understanding in order to make the best decision.

Discussions on the concepts of linked data have been everywhere, but practical strategies for its implementation are hard to find. “Linked data,” a recommended best practice for exposing, sharing and connecting pieces of data information and knowledge on the Semantic Web, is expected to be fully embraced by the next generation catalogs already in the later stages of development. During this session, attendees will learn about the basic concepts of linked data and the impacts and benefits of adapting linked data in the area of future bibliographical control. To supplement our discussion, developers from a few next generation catalog systems will demonstrate their implementations of linked data.

Featuring:
Cory Harper (NYU); Phil Schreur (Stanford); Theodore Fons (OCLC); Yvette Diven (Serials Solutions) Jennifer Bowen (eXtensible Catalog)

The group will have a business meeting following our program.

Bring your ideas to this new fundraising incubator. After a lightning introduction round, a variety of experienced peers, mentors/advisors and community partners will be available to talk about successful projects and programs –and epic fails!—and give you advice on how to go forth fearlessly. Get hands-on expert advice in on the care and feeding of your new fundraising ideas without ignoring the importance of fundraising and fund development fundamentals.

Do we know what it takes to successfully position the library as a core service in government and community? We talk to ourselves about what it takes to tell our story and the value we bring, but rarely do we hear from city and county executives about the real truths on how they see libraries, and the skinny on the skills they look for in library leaders.

Join us for a provocative conversation with renowned government executives and proven directors to hear straight talk about leadership and positioning libraries as key partners in city and county government.

Kuali OLE (pronounced oh-lay) is in the first year of building a community-source library management system that takes advantage of existing Kuali Foundation software. Operating since July 2010, and supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Kuali OLE is one of the largest academic library software collaborations in the United States. This program will provide an overview of our current software release and how you can get involved with Kuali OLE at your library.

Uncertain environments call for experimentation. Learn how to develop a framework that leverages library resources in a new way. Address the conditions to attract new customers and resources. Archimedes moved a rock with a small stone. So can you.

Obviously, not all budgets are in decline. But it can be catastrophic if you don’t know the functional service capacities for your library. Researchers say that what people think of as intuition is, at its heart highly developed pattern recognition. This program will help new leaders understand patterns - putting intelligent minds to leverage change.

Learn more about starting a Friends group in an academic setting and participate in an open discussion and idea sharing.

Faced with a mass retirement of librarians, university libraries need to confront the loss of hundreds of years of subject, programmatic, and institutional knowledge, skills, and abilities. This potentially detrimental gap can be lessened and even avoided by fostering librarian leadership and implementing a succession plan. In this session, a group of diverse librarians and educators in higher education will discuss best practices in succession planning at their own institutions.

Rural and tribal libraries around the country are overcoming budget and funding challenges using resources and toolkits that provide step-by-step approaches to advocacy and fundraising efforts. Learn from taskforce members who created ALA’s Frontline Fundraising Toolkit; gain insight into successful legislative advocacy efforts that build local support, use online tools and create networks to reach rural legislators; and hear how libraries are using the newly updated Small But Powerful Guide to Winning Big Support for Your Rural Library Toolkit and the Guide for Building Support for your Tribal Library. Learn how to build a network of support in the community, how to collaborate with other libraries and how to market your library essential to the community.

2011 Diversity Research Grant Recipients share their findings. Join us for discussion of three exciting research projects: “Information Needs and Barriers of Southeast Asian Refugee Undergraduates,” “Diversity in Technology Integration Leadership" and “Achievement Gap of Asian American Professional Librarians at the Top of Career Ladders.”

Speakers will describe major disasters at their libraries and how they responded to them using established disaster plans. They will also discuss how those plans were updated to address aspects that were not originally included. Speakers include (tentative): Nancy Kraft, University of Iowa; Jeanne Drewes, Library of Congress; Julie Page, WESTPAS.

Increasingly, economic, political and human crises, along with natural disasters, constitute a recurrent reality around the world. The effect of large-scale disaster and economic disruption are being felt far and wide and impacting libraries in diverse ways. Libraries are casualties of natural disasters, from earthquakes to hurricanes, as well as civil unrest and wars. Sudden cuts in library budgets have resulted in severe staff reductions, privatization and even closures. Four presenters from around the world will share their experiences about how they have prepared for or coped with profound change.

Bequests from individuals can make a tremendous difference to the long term success of your library. Referencing the successful ALA Legacy Society program and other planned giving programs, you will learn the elements of a successful bequest program, including tips on how to discuss bequests with prospects and donors, marketing, effective administration and bequest-like alternatives that you can you suggest in place of or in addition to a traditional bequest.

Join the RUSA STARS International ILL Committee as they present their findings from a recent international survey of libraries regarding international interlibrary loan. This survey is a follow-up to their paper "Lending and Borrowing Across Borders: Issues and Challenges with International Resource Sharing" which focused on international ILL issues as they relate to U.S. libraries. In addition to presenting the survey results, Committee members will discuss challenges and possible solutions for international interlibrary loan as revealed by the survey.

How to apply the fundamentals of solid IT project management in libraries without alienating everyone you work with: Mining years of experience figuring out what doesn't work, this session will focus on the project management elements that consistently come through in order to get it done: assessing new technologies, getting buy-in, defining scope, staying on task and within budget, demonstrating ROI and actually crossing the finish line and celebrating a successful project.

“In each of us there is a talent and we are capable of leading from where we are” says President Maria Kramer. Association members of every job classification and from every type of library provide the foundation for advancing the vision, while at the same time are placed at the pulse of community library and information needs and dreams. The role of this interactive program is to inspire and instill the member-leader, volunteer-leader, and/or community-leader in all of us!

New Jersey State Librarian Norma Blake and Peggy Cadigan, associate state librarian for library development, will discuss current and future policies and practices that will help libraries survive and thrive.

Some libraries build new Open Source Products, some adopt existing ones and others buy packaged products. How do libraries make the choice? What are the trade-offs, benefits and pitfalls of building something in house, using an existing OS solution, buying something out of the box or building a hybrid solution. Our panelists will talk about how and why they build systems and what drives their decision making processes.

Structured research is an effective way to find solutions to persistent challenges in libraries. Join in this exploration of problem solving.