Context, Content, Contraptions

Speakers: Paulette Hasier, DARPA/Advanced Resource Technologies Inc.
Tim ...?
Sponsored by LITA
Sunday, June 26, 2011 - 10:30am - 12:00pm

The environment in which we are operating:

• Users still want the dual worlds of print and online
• in 2010, Amazon announced kindle book sales overtook hardcover book sales 105 ebook to 100 print
• Garner Analysis reports 65% of users have paid for online content (music, articles, newspapers, etc)
•  in 2011, worldwide smart phones sales will pass worldwide PC sales in units

The contraptions people use are not only to read books, but to enhance learning and provide interactive learning.

• Scan on demand and digitization (this was a new feature of the scanning devices being sold by the vendors in the stacks)
• iPads for reference
• Loan of e-readers

The Tim speaker (from Research Services?) shared the goals his library wanted in order to support their users in the field:

• Make the subscription resources search-able through a mobile app. This entailed creating one app which held the logon info to authenticate the user for all the databases.
• Make news updates dynamic. This was solved by making a web design which allowed the user to select the organizational view they wanted based on their science research. For example, the chemists would get the view with links to the chemistry databases and their departmental news, etc. The physicists would get the web view which supported their research needs. 

Websites/ Places etc. mentioned in the session

• Goddard Library: http://library.gsfc.nasa.gov/public/

Sunday at the Conference

When I was a newbie ALA conference attendee I sweetly and innocently thought that I would be able to attend all the programs which interested me. Below is Sunday's list in order by time:

Start: 8am
Picture Books Go Digital
Lost in Translation: the Emerging Technology Librarian and the New Technology

Start: 10:30am
Context, Content, and Contraptions
It's All About Them: Developing Information Service with User Experience Design
Linked Library Data Interest Group
Drupal 101
Pecha Kucha: Teens and Technology

Start 1:30pm
Creating Multimedia Metadata: Controlled Vocabularies Across Time and Space
Science Programming 101: Presenting Excellent Science Programs in Your Library
Top Technology Trends

Start 3:30pm
Sue Garner of Wikipedia
Consultants for Technical Services
Teens Reading Digitally

Start 5:30pm
The Laugh's On Us: Paula Poundstone

The stuff in bold is the stuff I actually got to, and yes, I slept right through the 8am sessions. I actually left Sue's talk early too, b/c I didn't want to miss Paula, but I miscalculated and found myself in the stacks at 4:30pm. I spoke to two separate vendors (one sell digitizing equipment, the other provides Dspace consulting services) before the lights were shut off and we were all escorted out to the shuttle buses at 5pm.

I also actually chatted with people today (whoa!)- standing around the grab and go lunch table talking about upcoming conferences in the Caribbean, on the shuttle bus comparing impressions of Sue Garner and on a street car I met my doppelganger: another metadata librarian student who likes aquariums and attended the same morning session I did!

I have lost any naivety about being able to see it all primarily because one cannot power walk 5 city blocks in heels. I can only hope people who attended those other sessions will blog about what they learned.

Sunday Morning is a Time to Rest

I've been at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans for a few days now and my body still hasn't realized that going to bed at 12:30am is a bad thing. (It thinks it is just 10:30pm). What with the aerobic workout that is the Convention Center, I need more rest. Who thought it was a logistically good idea to place thematically related sessions back to back and on opposite ends of a 5 city block long building with three floors? I should have paid more attention to Connie Willis's short story, At the Rialto.

My partner back home keeps telling me I need to go see the sites, but today Sue Garner of Wikipedia will be speaking and I want to hear what she has to say to a profession of people who spent the better part of 5 years criticizing Wikipedia as "un-authoritative." (Which I think only raised the awareness of citing your sources among the "amateur" contributors and quickly became a non-issue.) If only librarians had thought of Wikipedia! But I think that has to do with the profession's opinion that we collect and organize, we do not create.

Anyhoo- I did find the NOMA and the Edgar Degas House and plan to make side trips either Monday or Tuesday before I leave. And I had GREAT Indian food (a dal, aloo gobi, naan and basmati rice) at Salt and Pepper which has a mix for vegetarians and omnivores.