Author Archive: Web

2010 ALA Midwinter & RUSA Genealogy Event in Boston

The annual American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting will be held January 15-19, 2010 in Boston.

On Friday, January 15, ALA’s Reference and Users Services Association (RUSA) will host an all-day genealogy workshop at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In addition to presenting basic genealogy research techniques, New England-specific resources will also be presented. The event includes lunch, sponsored by ProQuest, and a tour of the beautiful NEHGS facility.

All of the event details are located here: http://rusa.ala.org/blog/2009/10/09/mw10-genealogyinst1/

Important note: you do not have to register for the Midwinter Meeting in order to attend this genealogy event, and you do not have to be an ALA member. Even library patrons are welcome to attend. Registration instructions are at www.ala.org/midwinter.

2010 ALA Midwinter & RUSA Genealogy Event in Boston

The annual American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting will be held January 15-19, 2010 in Boston.
On Friday, January 15, ALA’s Reference and Users Services Association (RUSA) will host an all-day genealogy workshop at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In addition to presenting basic genealogy research techniques, New England-specific resources will also be presented. The event includes lunch, sponsored by ProQuest, and a tour of the beautiful NEHGS facility.
All of the event details are located here: http://rusa.ala.org/blog/2009/10/09/mw10-genealogyinst1/
Important note: you do not have to register for the Midwinter Meeting in order to attend this genealogy event, and you do not have to be an ALA member. Even library patrons are welcome to attend. Registration instructions are at www.ala.org/midwinter.

Annual Public Libraries Report mailing this week

Public Library Directors,

This week the Department of Libraries will mail you information about completing this year’s Public Library Report and your library’s annual Standards Application. Please remember that this year you will complete and file these reports online via a web-based product called Bibliostat Collect. You will not receive any paper forms in the mail.

When you receive your letter, please read through the instructions carefully and make note of your library’s unique login and password. You will need this information to access the Bibliostat Collect site.

The deadline this year for submitting the Public Library Report and Standards Applications is November 23, 2009 (postmark date). If you have any questions as you work on your reports, please contact our State Data Coordinator, Rob Geiszler, Information Technology Manager, Sheila Kearns, or your regional library consultant.

Call for Speakers: NERCOMP Shifting Models of Discovery & Access Day-long Workshop

NERCOMP Shifting Models of Information Discovery and Access SIG
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA February 1, 2010
Deadline for proposals: October 20, 2009

SESSION DESCRIPTION

Libraries continue to migrate from out-of-the-box interfaces that search single collections to new products that promise, in various ways, to do a better job connecting people with the information they desire. OPACs are applying layers of lipstick, going open source, or fading away altogether, supplanted by new types of discovery tools. Federated search is mounting a comeback. Next-gen discovery tools promise to deliver the fabled single search box. Massive digitization projects are opening up the contents of books for discovery and–sometimes–retrieval. At the same time, proprietary, centralized projects like Google Books and OCLC’s WorldCat Local are developing alongside less centralized, more open initiatives like the Open Content Alliance, eXtensible Catalog project, VuFind, and LibraryFind.

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2009 Public Libraries and the Internet Study

The 2009 Public Libraries and the Internet Study (as part of the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study) funded by the American Library Association and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was opened to libraries for participation September 8, 2009. The project is managed and directed by Denise Davis and Larra Clark of the ALA Office of Research and Statistics, and the survey is directed by John Bertot at the University of Maryland College Park’s Center for Library & Information Innovation.

Results from the 2008 survey have already been coming out these last months to inform the Broadband Stimulus debates, library assistance with jobs, and library assistance with e-government. You can find recently released issue briefs and other useful data at the study website (http://www.ala.org/plinternetfunding). The current context makes the data from these surveys even more important, and we hope you will participate in this year’s survey so that this information is complete and widely available.

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NELA 2009 – Register Now to Get Early Bird Discounts!

NOW IS THE TIME!

It’s time to register for the New England Library Association Annual Conference in Hartford, CT on October 18 – 20, 2009.

Why? Just take a look at the great program lineup at www.nelib.org/conference to see the details on this dynamic educational event and networking opportunity.

Why now? Both the Early Bird registration discount and the special NELA rate at the Marriott hotel are good until October 9. Take advantage of the savings by registering now.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU IN HARTFORD!