Inforumed

OLA Super Conference 2009

2009-02-03T18:32:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, January 29 and Friday, January 30, I joined hundreds of librarians, technicians, administrators, students from across the province at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to attend the annual OLA Superconference. The theme of the conference this year was the role played by libraries as leaders of our communities’ “learning revolution”.

The all-session plenary held on Thursday afternoon, featuring Richard Florida, explored the theme of libraries and related cultural institutions as necessary organs of a livable community.

Although known for his writings about “the creative class”, Prof. Florida stated that the success of a community rests not in its ability to attract the creative class, but the ability of the community to tap into every person’s capacity for creativity. Although he poked fun at his tendency to give long, rambling speeches (he joked that he came “from the Fidel Castro school of public speaking”), Prof. Florida’s more-than-an-hour-long speech was an entertaining one, peppered with anecdotes of growing up in a second-generation immigrant family, and of visits to the local public library that sparked his imagination and life-long interest in learning.

The Superconference also featured a long list of professional sessions. Although it was impossible to attend all of them, I was able to sit in on a few.

Cataloguer’s Journey to FRBR (Session # 312)

Thomas Brenndorfer of the Guelph Public Library gave an introductory overview of FRBR, FRAD and FRSAR, and how these functional requirements can be incorporated into online public catalogues to improve users’ search experience.

New Accessibility Legislation: Standards and Progress (Session #416)

Estelle Small from Serve-ability Ontario talked about some of the requirements of Regulation 429, which currently applies to any organizations with more than one employee:

Organizations have to establish policies, practices, procedures on providing goods and services.
Organizations have to make reasonable effort to accommodate people with disabilities.
Staff must receive adequate training on how to serve people with disabilities.
Organizations must set up a process to receive and respond to feedback.

At the moment, standards regulating the built environment have not been developed. Online information and resources can be found at AccessON.ca.

OCLC Luncheon

The director of OCLC Canada talked about different products that OCLC is developing. One of the more interesting initiatives that they are looking into is the exchange of data between WorldCat and Google, linking Google’s digitized books to WorldCat records, and embedding WorldCat records to Google Book Search.

OCLC is also looking into establishing an improved union catalogue for OCUL members, with WorldCat records being integrated into the system.

Of interest to cataloguers and searchers is the OCLC's joint project with the Library and Congress, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and the Bibliothèque nationale de France to develop a single name authority service, to be called the Virtual International Authority File.

Beyond statistics: journal collections that meet faculty needs (Session #608)

Two librarians at the University of Guelph analyzed the strength of their journal collection, comparing their holdings with the journals listed in the ISI/Thomson Reuter’s JCR database.
The librarians were surprised to find that even though they provided access to the top ten percent of journals cited in the JCR, their faculty was still dissatisfied with the journal collection at the library. They had been expecting higher satisfaction to correlate with the quality of their journal collection.

The librarians hypothesized that faculty dissatisfaction could be discipline-based, as there were higher levels of dissatisfaction expressed in the humanities than in the social sciences or the sciences. They found that in some cases, titles that faculty requested or placed on their wishlist were titles to which the library already provided access. This has led to the other hypothesis that more instructional training to faculty and marketing the library's holdings more heavily may improve the faculty's assessment of the collection.

Making the grade: meeting requirements for tenure and continuing appointment (Session #1008)

Four librarians from three different libraries, and at various stages of their academic librarian career, talked about the challenges of preparing for tenure review and promotion through the ranks. Common themes discussed by each panel member include the value of having a mentor, gathering documentation for the portfolio early on and maintaining the portfolio throughout one’s career. Some advice that the librarians offered: plan early, develop a breadth of experience rather than focusing too narrowly in one area of the position, and get involved in professional and faculty associations.

Supporting the research endeavours of academic librarians (Session #1207)

The speakers discussed the types of support that encourage academic librarians to continue doing research. The speakers advocated for the following supports:

Time allocation: more, and clearer, allocations of time devoted to research work.
Office space, removed from the library and daily interruptions.
Access to databases, web, software for quantitative research.
Mentoring.
Sharing networks, like brown bag lunches and online platforms for sharing findings and research-in-progress.

The speakers also identified some challenges. Faculty and librarians are not always seen as equals, so the amount of research time allotted to librarians are different from those allotted to professors. During a lively question period, the speakers and the audience wondered whether the culture of the profession and the lack of mandatory research experience in the MLIS (or equivalent) education also played a role in hindering academic librarians’ research output.

Library Technicians: Swiss Army Knives of Academic Libraries (Session #1306)

Technicians from University of Guelph-Humber and Humber College demonstrated involvement in a wide array of work activities, some of which have traditionally been within the professional librarian's domain:

Managing electronic course reserves management (including tracking down copyright requests for faculty and ensuring that users comply with copyright restrictions).
Providing basic instructional classes to first-year Humber College students.
Developing pathfinders and subject guides.
Participating in special project committees.
Providing reference services at the desk, and virtually through AskON.ca.
Dealing with online access problems and troubleshooting.
Marketing the library's resources and services.

Attending the OLA Superconference was a worthwhile experience, as I got to hear about the work that libraries outside of the University of Toronto have been involved in, and the issues that are foremost in the minds of those working in the information profession.

Visit the OLA Super Conference 2009 website for session materials.

TRY Conference

2008-05-06T16:02:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, the Toronto-Ryerson-York libraries conference was held at St. Michael's College at U of T. All staff from the university libraries were invited to participate in the day-long conference. The presentations were organized into four categories: Collaboration with Faculty, Information Literacy, Emerging Trends, and Innovative Services. Three plenary sessions were interspersed throughout the day.

I attended mostly Emerging Trends and Innovative Services workshops. I was particularly impressed with The Library, the Academic Community and Beyond, a presentation about Ryerson's ongoing initiative to merge their catalog with some popular web services, including Facebook, Amazon and Indigo; and mobile technology like SMS. Ryerson has made its catalogue searchable from within Facebook--a big step forward from merely establishing a library group on the website. Additionally, with the installation of a script in the Firefox browser, a Ryerson library item's status can be checked from Amazon, Indigo, or Google Books. Finally, patrons who don't have a piece of paper and a pen can text message or email themselves a library item's call number and location automatically from within the Ryerson library catalogue.

I have to say, I think that what Ryerson is doing is really cool. (I am actually not easily impressed by Library 2.0, which seems to consist of getting really, really excited by things like video games (in the library!) and Facebook/MySpace (in the library!), but also doesn't seem to amount to a whole lot. Why should libraries be gaming centers, anyway, and so what if your library has a Facebook group?) Ryerson's mashups are much more dynamic than a seldom-updated group, and they seem to be designed with the user in mind. For instance, when searching for books, I use Amazon first. When I find what I am looking for, I search for it in the Toronto Public Library catalogue or the UTL catalogue. It would be super awesome if these catalogues were linked up with Amazon, and if I attended Ryerson I would be thrilled to see the library catalogue represented there. For more info about what Ryerson is doing, check out the links in the second paragraph above.

Museum Studies E-Resources Guide

2008-04-16T12:03:00.002-04:00

Just in time for summer, the Inforum has posted a guide to museum studies electronic resources. Compiled by Instructional Services intern Minakshi Sharma, the annotated guide includes those databases, e-journals, image databases and resources, and more, that are available through UTL or are freely accessible online.

Connecting @ FIS

2008-04-09T11:58:00.003-04:00

Andrea Gagliardi

Last night, the Inforum hosted Connecting @ FIS, the yearly poster exhibit from the management of special and corporate libraries course (FIS2158). The course is seen as a mini-practicum, with placements requiring fewer hours than the full practicum course (FIS2173), but unlike the practicum, students work in a corporate or special library and are expected to present a poster or other visual display to their classmates, host organization, and FIS.

Dean Brian Cantwell Smith, introducing Connecting @ FIS

Dean Brian Cantwell Smith, course instructor Vicki Whitmell, and student organizer Erin Murphy gave brief speeches, thanking financial supporters, participating organizations, and hardworking students for their involvement.

The posters were on display in the Inforum from 5-7 pm. Visitors had a bite to eat (catered events are the best), a little candy (or a lot; each of the students had a dish of treats at their station), and checked out the posters.

Michel Gervais

Jeannette Fong

Mischief & Malice roundup

2008-04-04T10:33:00.003-04:00

Pictured above are the Mischief & Malice organizers, including professor Cheryl Meszaros (center)

Once again, the museum studies students have outdone themselves. On Wednesday, April 2, they presented this year's exhibit, Mischief & Malice, to an audience of family, friends, classmates, professors, and others in the Faculty of Information Studies and museums communities.

The event was held at the Gladstone Hotel, which I thought was a great location. Because ~~of the proximity to booze~~ it's a fun space.

Before officially launching the site, there was a keynote address on museum fakes, presented by Adam Sellen. Sellen is an expert on Zapotec urns and their forgeries, and recently identified many fake urns at the Royal Ontario Museum. His talk was engaging, entertaining, and funny -- he discussed what happens when a museum discovers it has fakes (pulverizes them or sells them in its gift shop, if you're a large local museum and it's the '70s), and related the story of Constantine Rickards, a master and prolific forger who sold fake urns to dozens of museums around the world in the early 20th century.

After the keynote address, Nick Gamble and Jes Koepfler, the project managers, launched the virtual exhibit. We raised a glass of champagne to the students who worked hard all year to produce the exhibit and organize the party. The rest of the night was a haze of beer, fake mug shot photos (too naughty for this blog!), conversation and congratulations. I heart museum studies exhibit launches: the exhibits are always professional and beautiful, the students and their supporters are so (rightfully) proud, and it's a great way to spend an evening with colleagues, family, and friends.

Mischief & Malice debut

2008-03-31T10:00:00.002-04:00

Posted on behalf of Charleen Davidson

Mischief & Malice: Crime in the Museum makes its debut at Toronto's premiere and historic Gladstone hotel on April 2, 2008, and you are welcome to come and enjoy the first virtual exhibition from a Museum Studies graduating class! The launch party will provide appetizers and a silent auction with a stunning array of items for you to bid on. All proceeds raised will help fund the project. Hope to see you there!

Date: April 2, 2008
Where: The Gladstone Hotel -- 1214 Queen Street West
Time: 6pm: Symposium Keynote Address by Dr. Adam Sellen
8pm: Launch Party
Dress: Business Casual

Parking: The hotel does not have parking. There is, however, ample street parking and a municipal Green P lot a block east on the south side of Queen and another one a couple of blocks west on the south side.

Check out our e-invite!

LibraryThing Local

2008-03-28T11:27:00.002-04:00

LibraryThing Local is a great resource for mapping your city's libraries, bookstores, and book-related events.

I've never been a member of LibraryThing (one more social networking site I don't have time for!), but when I came across the Local application, I thought it would be a great opportunity to add the Inforum. Registering to use LibraryThing was super easy -- all I had to do was enter a username and a password and, optionally, include my email address. No confirmation email? Sounds good to me!

I can see how this would be an awesome resource for travelers -- avid readers often run out of reading materials on long trips, and finding English- or whatever-language bookstores can be a pain. [Can you tell that I'm talking about myself here? I traveled in Spain for 2.5 weeks with a measly 4 books. It got to the point that I read the travel guide cover to cover. Finally, my companion and I found an English-language bookstore in Seville, where I bought the longest book I could find (all three volumes of The Lord of The Rings in one fabulously huge book). Having a resource like LibraryThing Local would've been more than helpful.]

Museum Studies Exhibition Goes Virtual

2008-02-02T15:42:00.000-05:00

January 29, 2008 (Toronto) - The graduating class of the Master of Museum Studies program in the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto is setting a precedent. They’re launching a completely virtual exhibition.

Mischief & Malice: Crime in the Museum (www.mischiefandmalice.org) discusses current and intriguing ideas based on chosen case studies involving acts of theft, vandalism, and forgery within museums and cultural heritage institutions. Situated under the rubric of authority, ownership, and law, the ambiguities of these crimes inspires critical and compelling debate. For instance,
• To what extent are issues related to the repatriation of museum collections considered forms of theft?
• Is defacement or alteration of cultural property in the name of art, religion, or politics always an act of vandalism?
• Is appropriation art in fact forgery?

As the museum begins to engage in postmodern practice, these issues are increasingly relevant – especially considering the growing challenges in defining who owns material culture and who has the right to interpret it.

Mischief & Malice will offer high-quality museum content in an innovative and progressive format to a broad audience. Although the website will not officially launch until April 2, 2008, at Toronto’s unique Gladstone Hotel, you can visit www.mischiefandmalice.org in the interim to watch the exhibition develop.

For additional information, please contact:Amanda Burrows,
Fundraising and Marketing team leader
647.438.4997
aburrows@mischiefandmalice.org

Library <3 Computers <3 Library

2008-01-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, an article about the breakdown of the membrane between IT departments and libraries.

I found it interesting that some of the institutions being discussed in the article have eliminated the job of head librarian altogether. It's an interesting paradigm, and it may work well for smaller institutions, but is it possible that there is some value to having a capital-L Library run by capital-L Librarians?

Beyond that, this seems to just be going right along with the trend, and as libraries try to keep their fingers in more of the campus informatics pie, it seems like it stands to be even more common.

On a somewhat related note, OCLC releases a Facebook app. Now you can search through their catalog while you're spamming your friends with Vampires invitations!

Visualizing Network Architecture

2008-01-18T16:40:00.000-05:00

The idea of using graphical representation to help navigate network space is not a new idea. A lot of big name companies as well as small software developers spend a lot of cycles on making tools that can present highly technical and sometimes convoluted network topographies.

Researchers at the Swineburn University in Melbourne, Australia have built another such tool, but this one uses the Quake III engine to aid in network visualization & management.

L3DGEWorld 2.2

I think the below video is really cool for a couple of reasons:

1) It's neat to see the sysadmin using familiar tools like nmap in the context of the L3DGEWorld interface, and it made me giggle on a Friday.

2) It's really interesting to think about other domains that something like this could be used in. Would it be cool/useful to be able to visualize and relate different areas of knowledge spatially, and allow users to navigate it by walking around?

Information Management For the People!

2008-01-11T22:39:00.000-05:00

Came across this interesting post on the blog of Ben Rockwood, OpenSolaris community luminary and storage guru. The whole post is interesting, but one thing struck me in particular: about halfway down, when he talks about managing his own disordered pile of personal data.

We talk so much in our classes about making systems that work for organizations, but rarely do we talk about ways to help individuals manage their own information overload. That someone who successfully makes his living as an information professional finds himself in the same straits that we would normally attribute to the hapless "average user" is perhaps telling. Where does a person find the disk space, the bandwidth, and the organizational know-how to keep their (increasingly digital) stuff secure, preserved, and organized?

Inforum Instructional Series

2007-12-10T18:15:00.000-05:00

Inforum Instructional Series Winter 2008

Registration is now OPEN!

We would like to announce that the Inforum Instructional Series Workshops for Winter 2008 will commence on Wednesday, January 9th.

Who can register: All FIS students, staff & faculty
When: Register today! (space is limited)
Where: Inforum Instructional Series Winter 2008

If you have any questions about the workshops, please contact Kathleen Scheaffer via e-mail: kathleen.scheaffer@utoronto.ca

End of the year tea - December 12

2007-12-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

The Life and Times Committee is hosting the end of the year tea at FIS East. There will be decorations, tea, punch, food and excitement. Come join us to celebrate the end of a semester and the beginning of the December break.

FIS East is located at 90 Wellesley Street West. We will be celebrating in room 160 from 4pm to 5pm on December 12th.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

You are invited to Mischief & Malice!

2007-12-06T17:07:00.000-05:00

In the Spring of 2008, the Museum Studies graduating class will unveil an original exhibit: Mischief and Malice: Crime in the Museum. This exhibit will explore the themes of vandalism, fakes, forgeries, and resolutions as they relate to the museum. Join us on at Friday, December 7th, at 10 am in room 313 for the presentation of the Exhibit Brief. Everyone is welcome!

IS Electives Information Session

2007-11-27T16:57:00.000-05:00

This might be of interest to people either in the IS stream, or with IS leanings. I'm posting it here because I totally missed the email notification that went out, and maybe you did too.

INFORMATION SESSION ON IS ELECTIVES
Tuesday, December 11, 4-5 pm, Room 728, 140 St. George Street
Join faculty members Eric Yu, Andrew Clement, Steve Hockema, Keith
Thomas and Kelly Lyons for a discussion of IS electives being offered in
the winter term. All students are welcome -- it is not necessary to be
in the IS area of focus.

Scan an article, save a tree

2007-11-27T16:10:00.000-05:00

Save money, paper, and toner by using photocopier/printer "C" as a scanner. Scan articles and sections from books and email them to yourself as a PDF--for free.

Step 1: Place originals as you would normally do for photocopying.

Step 2: Press the "Scanner" button (to the left of the touch screen)

Step 3: Using the touch screen, press "Manual Input" tab located next to the "Destination" address box. Enter the destination email and press "OK"

Step 4: Press the green "Start" button

Step 5: Unless you are using the Automatic Document Feeder for scanning multiple pages, you must either press # to email the PDF file or the "Start" button again to scan another page

Step 6: The PDF file will be emailed to the destination email address you specified

Step 7: Press the Clear (orange) button to reset the scanner

Step 8: Press the "Printer" button to return Copier C to normal operation

These instructions are also available as a PDF--which I created by scanning the original document on copier C and emailing it to myself.

Extended Inforum hours in Nov/Dec 2007

2007-11-24T15:57:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

Since it is that time of year again (no, not shopping mall madness time or complaining-about-the-cold time) -- the multiple assignments due, term-paper writing time -- the Inforum will be open for extended hours on Saturday evenings for members of the FIS community.

Starting today (Sat. Nov. 24), and up to and including Sat. Dec. 15, we will stay open past 5 pm and close at 10 pm.

The Inforum doors will be locked, but there will be a white door bell to the right, so ring it for access.

Bottoms Up, FISers!

2007-03-08T13:52:00.000-05:00

posted on behalf of Tasha Caswell

As I'm sure most of you are aware, last night was the opening party for Bottoms Up!, the Museum Studies Program's new exhibition. I attended the party at the Steam Whistle Brewery-possibly one of the coolest spaces for a museum exhibit-last night along with some other Inforum people. There were some familiar Inforum faces in the crowd: Edward and Nalini were there, and I attended with Mike MacSween and Stephanie Fell. The space was pretty well packed when my friends and I arrived at 9 and, though the food was gone (boo! hiss!) the Steam Whistle was flowing.

I had the opportunity to attend last year's exhibition, Collecting Curiosities, and was highly impressed at the effort our soon-to-be-colleagues had put into that exhibit. There was no doubt that I'd be attending this year's exhibit, and it did not disappoint. Aside from the sheer awesomeness of having a museum exhibit in a brewery with a bar close at hand, the methods used to convey information about the history of drinking in Canada are pretty cool. Aside from the standard posters and display cases, there is a really creative and fabulous timeline. The MSP folks also produced a book that contains entertaining and educational (scholarly, lest anyone think these are stories of the "I got hammered last weekend" variety) essays about drinking. That's all I'm going to say, 'cause I encourage everyone to get out there and see it!

Library of Parliament

2007-02-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

posted on behalf of Tasha Caswell

Over reading week, a fellow library student and I had the opportunity to visit Ottawa. I had only two goals: to skate on the Rideau Canal, and to visit Library and Archives Canada. After being informed numerous times by Ottawa residents that LAC is "just this kinda ugly, boring building," Alli and I decided that we'd see the Library of Parliament instead.

Our friend's girlfriend works for an MP, who graciously agreed to give us a behind-the-scenes tour of the centre block of the Parliament buildings. We learned about how committee meetings are conducted-apparently, committees are the places to be for getting the nitty-gritty work done-and saw the Conservative and opposition parties' "waiting chambers" (the only other phrase I can think of to describe them is "chill-out spaces," which somehow just doesn't sound that authoritative) on either side of the House of Commons Chambers.

Janice also arranged for us to have a private tour of the Library of Parliament, and I think we all considered this to be the highlight of our visit to Parliament Hill. Unfortunately, they no longer allow photography in the library, or I would have some super-cool pictures of the gorgeous carvings and the dome. A librarian gave us a tour; he showed us the carvings and explained the designs in the floor (which are covered by desks, of course). We learned a little bit about the collection policy of this unique library, which can be summed up in one sentence: We will acquire anything having to do with Canada and/or parliamentary government.

When he learned that Alli and I are soon-to-be librarians, he insisted on showing us the stacks. The collection extends beyond the books that are shelved in the main part of the library-the stacks are located below this area. Part of the recent renovation of the library included overhauling the stacks so that they feature new compact shelving, which really is pretty cool. (Did I just say that? Wow.)

I'm kind of wondering why FIS doesn't make trips to more libraries like this one. Ottawa isn't that far from Toronto and it wouldn't cost that much to get there if everyone chipped in. It would be a good way of getting out of the city and would be semi-productive to boot.

Job Hunting Resource

2007-02-24T13:40:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have begun your job-hunting process, check out the LISJobs website. It has excellent resources for new grads looking for work, and career development advice for info professionals in general. In the Advice section, you can find a wealth of information on interviewing (e.g. 101+ Commonly Asked Interview Questions; 25 Most Common Interview Mistakes); salary info; getting started advice, and short articles contributed by information professionals.

Finding your way

2007-02-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

During a well deserved break from cutting and pasting terms at the desk to check out what was going on in Facebook, I came across this link to a series of Google Maps mashups tailored to good old Toronto. There's a pretty good range listed at the link, from the obligatory apartment listings and restaurant finders to a couple that will be especially interesting to our readers. I love a good mashup (I also love the word mashup). While I personally don't have the programming skills to put one together, I am impatiently waiting until reading week when I will start playing with the very cool looking Yahoo Pipes (it seems strange to be talking about a cool product from a big search company that is not Google).

Back to work.

One for the archivists

2007-01-27T15:22:00.000-05:00

I came across this in my travels on the web. I thought it was an interesting reminder of the fascinating discoveries and controversial issues that people in the field deal with...

New Acquisitions for December 2006

2007-01-12T13:33:00.000-05:00

The list of new acquisitions received in the Inforum during December 2006 is now available for viewing.

One of our many new books is:

Museums in the 21st century : concepts, projects, buildings, edited by Suzanne Greub and Thierry Greub. (Munich ; London : Prestel, 2006)

Libraries front and centre...

2007-01-10T11:38:00.000-05:00

...in today's Globe & Mail article - "Libraries turn new page to thrive in digital age." The article reports very favourably on the ways in which public libraries in large Canadian cities have adapted to changing user needs, and on the marked increases in visits and circulation. Statistics come from the Canadian Urban Libraries Council.

More detailed 2005 stats with information about number of reference questions answered, hours open, and space, are available from the Council's 52 pg. PDF report on Branch Library Activity.

New Acquisitions for November 2006

2006-12-02T10:28:00.000-05:00

The list of new acquisitions received in the Inforum during November 2006 is now available for viewing.

One of our many new books is:

A place not a place: reflection and possibility in museums and libraries, by David Carr. (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2006)