ALIA blog
Thursday 24 August
Thursday
AM
Institutional Repository Imperative by Jim Neal, Colombia University
Voted 'Best Paper' by the people attending.
'People want it now and they want to do it themselves'
Supporting the needs of big science when Building the Digital Library.
Quality = Content and Functionality
Prepare for accountability and assessment, including
- measures of user satisfaction
- measures of success and impact and cost effectiveness
Fight the Copyright Wars - DRM, Copyright, Trade Agreements, Licensing
Who owns the copyright of institutions work?
Advancing the Repository Movement...
Types of repositories:
Discipline
Institution
Individual
Community
National
Department/School/Faculty
Repositories are in an era of:
1. Ascendancy of the individual and technology
2. Massively distributed collaboration
3. Constant partial attention
Challenge of how to produce new income streams in support of local needs.
Repository as :
Portal
Commons
Enterprise
Jim told the Einstein Story on the Train 'it's a matter of where we are going, rather than finding our ticket' http://www.pipsc.ca/english/sci-tech/dialogue-carty-jul2205.html
Albert Einstein, once boarded a train in Princeton, New Jersey bound for Boston. Einstein immediately began fumbling for his ticket upon finding a seat on the train. He had either misplaced the ticket, dropped it, or just did not have it with him. The train's conductor noticed Einstein's frantic search as he checked the other passenger's tickets in the car. Finally arriving at Einstein's seat the conductor asked the renown scientist if he had his train ticket. Einstein replied that he seemed to have misplaced it and had been searching for it since he took his seat. The conductor said, 'Mr. Einstein, I, and everyone else on this train, know who you are and I am sure you have a ticket, rest assured that you have a seat on this train'. Einstein looked very relieved but still puzzled as to his ticket's whereabouts. When the conductor finished checking the whole car he walked down the aisle and tapped Einstein on the shoulder and said, 'Dear Sir, I have total faith and confidence that you have a ticket. Please take your seat and be sure you can ride this train'. To which Einstein replied, 'Thank you again, kind sir, but I need to locate that train ticket to find out where I am going!'
Our 'real' library community Aura = we do work together and collaborate, but in some things we *don't* work together
We compete in the areas of:
Building collections
Hiring of Staff/People
Visibility
Competition is a part of the world that libraries operate in!
Kate Oliver
International Directory of Institutional Repositories with attention to Health Sciences
Discussed examples of:
ROAR http://archives.eprints.org/
OAIster http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/
Experimental OAI Registry at UIUC
OpenDOAR http://www.opendoar.org/
Penny Carmody [ had a very beautiful graphical and pictorial powerpoint presentation ]
National Library of New Zealand
Referred to the NZ report entitled 'Institutional Repositories for the Research Sector - NLNZ Feasibility Study
Used the analogy of 'baskets of knowledge'
Four Main points:
1. National Library Act revised in May 2003
Electronic legal deposit required as part of the act (from the .nz domain)
2. National Digital Heritage Archive
NZ$24M received in funding
3. NZ Digital Strategy
Connection
Content
Confidence
Formal content
Informal content ('The Anarchic Web')
Business/commercial content
4. Digital NZ
Creating rich content feeds
Warwick Cathro
National Library of Australia
Some of the Risks of Sustaining Research Data:
- Costs of Data management and migration
- Obsolescence due to emergence of other file formats
- Poor Management practices
- Inadequate understanding of digital preservation issues
Spoke about e-prints, d-space, fedora, ARROW and APSR projects in Australia.
The Pandora project harvested the .au domain in 2005.
NLA's report on Preservation Metadata
NLA is represented on the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council Working Group on Data for Science - which will report to the PM in December 06.
Tim Mark, Executive Director of CARL
Spoke on Content Recruitment Strategies
What gets a librarian excited about Institutional Repositories and Metadata schemes?
Answer = Digital preservation, Interoperability and Persistent URL's
What excites a researcher about Institutional Repositories?
Answer = improving Impact, Visibility and Reputation
We need to learn to speak the same language as the research community.
Tim mentioned the Carrot vs Big Stick options to getting academics to contribute to Institutional Repositories.
Closing Ceremony and Council Meeting
It was a relatively quieter closing ceremony (in comparison to the opening) with Alex Byrne and Claudia Lux conveying many thank you's for the conference, including to the 200 volunteer library students who assisted with so much at the conference.
The IFLA Headquarters staff also had a big week and worked very hard.
General Council meeting was this afternoon. While I picked up my voting cards (ALIA gets 30 votes at IFLA) there were eventually no new resolutions to vote on at the actual meeting.
Seoul has been getting hotter and smoggier during the week. I am looking forward to some clearer skies soon....
Wednesday 23 August
Wednesday
8:30am
I gave a short presentation [2.2mb ppt] on the '@ your library' campaign in Australia to a small group this morning together with Mauro from the Italian Library Association. Michael from the ALA Office also gave an update from the USA. I also presented a range of the Australian @ your library materials for participants here to take away, including our wristbands. In Australia, CASL started using '@ your library' in 2002 and ALIA signed the international trademark agreement on behalf of all Australian Libraries this year.Then - caught up with the MLAS (Management of Library Associations Section) Committee again ...
Lunch - another good 'takeaway' meal at the food court at the ground floor of the COEX.I also visited and talked with the organisers of the next IFLA 2007 to be held in Durban. Easy to get to from Perth! and it should be a great conference. In 2008 it will be held in Quebec, Canada.
3:00pm
I attended some of the the School Libraries and Resource Centres Section double-session this arvo with lots of speakers. International Association of School Librarianship reps were also there.
Question posed at this session : What could the international logo for Information Literacy be ?
I also attempted some of the Knowledge Management Section sessions but found the one I ended up at being about a study that was abit out of date... the good thing about the session was that it was being translated so lots of people with headphones listening to the speaker who was from the USA.
As someone has said to me 'IFLA is like no other conference'
And another comment - 'you can get very varied sessions'...
Tuesday 22 August
Tuesday
Pictures from Tuesday
At the COEX Centre there is also a kids exhibition so I met Pororo - a famous Korean kids cartoon character
'Another Association Executive with their back against the wall' - Keith Michael Fiels at IFLA. Keith is so famous he even has his own wikipedia entry!
Found some National Library of Australia Librarians here ...
Best T-Shirt seen at conference so far - 'What happens in the library stays in the library' as worn by Vidar Lund, Vice President of the Norwegian Library Association
American Library Associations' have got together to donate funds to rebuild Aceh Libraries in Indonesia and in Sri Lanka affected by the tsunami
Notes from Tuesday
Metropolitan Libraries Section 8:30am
Liv Saeteren, Deichmanske Bibliothek Library Oslo Norway
New typology - from collections to user orientation
How does the library layout indicate the web/wired world and whether there is a learning culture
'Borrow your local politician for an hour' (this is a another good idea for an outreach program) - unique services are just as important as digital services
'Libraries as Lifestyle' The Library Corporation Patrician Culkin Libraries need to become part of their customers online 'lifestyle'
If libraries don't change soon there will be a retention of users issue - how do you retain their attention and then your funding - and their engagement credibility and respect.
Web 2.0 Basic Concepts =
Participation
Openness
Communications
At the moment there is a current thinking of 'Mother Knows Best' from the libraries to their users. There needs to be more interaction with users in how collections are built, managed and used.
Corporate blogging slightly different as it is often focused on a certain view rather than a true 'what I think' blog.
Web 3.0 ?? =
Gaming technology use http://secondlife.com 3-D virtual world . Creating 'yourself' inhabited by over 230,000 people. Take a look!
Let groups decide they want to talk about.
'Web 2.0 is like an extension of your brain' - you are happy when you look at it - I want to stop here because it is intuitive about what you want to do. The user stays in one frame but the content comes to you from a variety of places and is seemless.
Web1.0 you go off and get lost and can't find your way back. But in the (ideal) Web2.0 you should not lose your way.
Reuse of content an issue in Web2.0 - 'Pushing content around' and exchange of data back and forth.
New Professionals Discussion Group
Andrew discussed some of the issues that the New Professionals discussion group is facing and whether it might become a special interest group of IFLA.
Need convenors from different countries and more of them to continue the work of the group.
Jana Varlejis, Chair of the Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Standing Committee handed out a survey to those attending (I will get a copy for Australian newgrads to complete) to find out more about the educational needs of new professionals.
FAO and Alexandria library translating library training material and will be on the web soon at http://www.bibalex.org.
ALIA New Librarian's Symposium
Monday 21 August
Monday
Added Friday 25
Second session for the day was the Management of Library Associations Section:
Regina Varniene, Deputy Drector General National Library of Lithuania
The Lithuanian Librarian Association was Reestablished in 1991
Country = 4 mil population
2300 librarians in the country
15 representatives on the board of the association
80% of members of the Association are public librarians
Programme on Lithuanian Public Libraries Modernisation for 2003-2013
EU Structural funds support to be launched at 2007 for development of computer infrastructure and creation of e-content and e-services and creation of continuously learning regions on the basis of existing centers
Collections an issue
only 87 new books per 1000 people each year are purchased
'Candles Night - turning off the lights in the library' advocacy program with Lithuanian libraries undertook to highlight issues that the libraries were 'in the dark'
National library week also a main advocacy program
'Best Librarian of the Year' Award - details also on the website
Wages for Lithuanian librarians - wages increased by 20% this year.
Petra Hauke and Christin Mollenhauer
'With a Little Help from our Friends'and Turning an idea into a book - student course at Humboldt University Berlin
Institute of Library and Information Science Berlin Germany
Project with the German Library Association
Libraries need public advocacy ambassadors and public recognition.
Friends of Libraries Groups - Effective supporters in helping to influence decision makers
Students undertook a survey of Issues of concerns of FOL Groups and then created a German handbook of 'Friends of Libraries Groups' with the German Library Association
Title : 'With a little help from my friends'
Bad Honnef, 2005 + info flyers, websites etc in bibliography
The GLA supported the project by printing and issuing 2500 copies for free for their association members and for FOL Groups
http://www.ib.hu-berlin.de
Malaysian Library Association
About the Association:
Elections every two year as Council Election
1500 members and 5 divisions
Golden Jubilee 2005 and one executive officer at the National Library
Reported on Library Redevelopment in ACEH:
Library Association of Indonesia report on Aceh and External aid committee established
PPM Iqra mission to Aceh August 2005
Producing a video of redevelopment of Aceh libraries after tsunami
I walked with Mr Harry Campbell (former Toronto Public Library Director) to the conference venue this morning from the hotel.
Harry is attending his 30th IFLA! Wow!My first session for the day was : Lesley Burger hosting a discussion on Public Libraries and the Democratic Process.
The best quotes from this session were :
The Library is like a 'Salon' as a place to come and chat/talk in an open atmosphere
Referring to what a library really is ..'Library of Dialogue and Discussion' not just collections
'If you aren't thinking that you will be sacked the next day for doing something political ...you're not doing your job as a public librarian' Lesley Burger ALA President
[Left Lesley Burger USA, Right Linda Cook, Canada]
Good ideas for outreach from the 'Two Presidents':
Election Night @ the Library - Princetown had 350 people to watch the election together - being part of the community and the democratic process
World Cup parties @ the library for people to watch the games together
Edmonton Public Library has a Surviver-type book club going on at the moment where teens must read the book then vote it off
And my additional notes from the session are here.
1:45pm
Library and Research Services for Parliament and Government Information
Jane Dysart - Internet Librarian conference organizing extraordinaire Improving the user experience
Dysartjones.com
Folksononomy and Blogosphere (do you know these new terms?)
Article Libraries in the 2.0 world - Stephen Abram
Why should you know about blogs and wikis ? They are 'productivity tools' of today!!
Social Software - Social machines
Technology Review August 2005
Corporate blogging book .com
Technorati survey indicated that 39% English 31% Japanese
Examples to look at --
Library Success: a best practice wiki
Internet Librarian 2006 wiki
Darlene Fichter's website on bibliographies on wikis
'We as librarians want things perfect, but that is not the way the world works, and we need to understand that as a part of these social tools.' Jane Dysart
Web 2.0 tools = 'The Wisdom of Crowds'
Stephen Abram (Sirsi Dynix and Special Libraries Association)Google comments:
'Search' is not the experience - it is the finding !
'Google search is not discovery - it is just web pages and popularity' (this could be a good comeback for librarians to use when asked why should I use the library rather than google)
Information is doubling every eleven months.
Libraries are about Learning, Community and Interaction
How do you interact with your influencers?
Politicians are not text based learners - they are 'people' people, talking and interaction
Expectations 1.0
Search
Retrieve
Link
Post
Navigate
Read
What are the Expectations 2.0??
An information experience is about immersion = Web2.0
Library Thing is now the 50th largest library in US
How are the top ten websites engaging users? E.g. Myspace
What is the psych of your users?
Letting the users manipulate their own experience
Predicting and personalising your experience.
Squidoo and Rollyo - nextgen wikis
Is your services Device Neutral - have you tested your site on a Blackberry or Crackberry - which tool does your politician have in their pocket - and does your library service compatible with this?? Better connectivity in Namibia than Kansas ...
Folksonomies, Tagging and Tag Clouds
Visualization
Stephen talked about the Conservative authority of librarians
We have only just changed Vietnamese Conflict to Vietnam War as a subject heading Cataloguers using tags - but how do our users really search for things?
del.icio.us 'When real people are doing it by the millions , why are librarians not' - referring to using Web2.0 type tools such as blogs, wikis etc
Lorcon Demsey's slide on user environments vs resource environment
Discovery, Creation, Invention, Learning, Insight are all better words to use when describing your library rather than search, retrieve etc
4pm
Announcement of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Access to Learning Award
US$1 Million !!
2006 winner is READ Nepal
Sunday 20 August
Official opening
Today is the official opening of the conference and the thousands of delegates turn up ... this year's opening was very 'flash' and was like a rock concert production!!
A CNN newsreader was the host, there was a pre-video on the big screen, lots of media representatives and cameras recording the event, singers, drummers, a full orchestra in a pit on the stage, a theme song was created for the conference and performed by popular singers. The Korean first lady was the patron for the conference and presented in a beautiful traditional Korean dress.
Sessions today included Australian presentations at the Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Section. The Trade Exhibition also opened this afternoon. My initial impressions are:
Flashiest Stand - Ulibrary
Most Interesting Food Attraction - 3M (chips and cookies)
Best Bag - Bookeye Strawberry Bag
Best lighting and attractive stand addition - Springer (fluro white flowers)
Happiest Vendors - Emerald and Proquest
Saturday 19 August
First day
The first day of my conference is for attending Standing Committees and I am now involved in the Management of Library Associations Standing Committee.
So how do you be a member or get involved in a Standing Committee of IFLA?? Take a look.
Currently, you can also join one of the Discussion Lists with more details.
I also sat in as an observer to the CPD Committee (of which two Australians are members).
I also caught up with IFLA President Dr Alex Byrne (our own Alexander Downer-like international diplomat of the library world) at his 'office' at the conference.
And also President-Elect Claudia Lux from Germany.
Thank goodness that we have found a Starbucks downstairs in the COEX shopping mall as there is no food or beverage provided for this day of the conference ... so we go in search of caffeine ...
Friday 18 August
Hello from IFLA in Seoul
After a day of traveling (an early flight from Canberra that was delayed, a run to the gate at Sydney International, a 9 hour flight and a 1 hour bus trip from Seoul Airport to the Hotel) I have finally arrived at my first IFLA Conference.
Seoul is a huge metropolis of a city and the COEX Convention Centre is also Huge - seeing as there are 5000 attendees from 150 countries.
Friday 11 August
Feedback please
ALIA Members have been presented with two significant documents over the past few weeks:
Our ALIA Planning 2007 document seeks feedback on the future direction over the short term.
The Proposed Changes to ALIA Governance have longer term implications for the Association.
All members are encouraged to submit their feedback and comments on these two documents to ALIA governance or ALIA planning or attend a regional National Advisory Congress Meeting.
Wednesday 9 August
ALIA and PLA
For an update on the progress of ALIA and PLA Collaboration take a look at this article in inCite.