New SONY Daily Edition eBook Reader, Library Books Included

[via Gizmodo]

It looks like a new ebook reader from SONY has been announced with similar features to the Amazon Kindle, including 3G wireless connectivity that lets you download books anywhere. The most interesting part of this announcement was the new Library Finder application that works in partnership with the ebook company Overdrive. People will be able to check out ebooks for 21 days with a valid library card. They can also find libraries by zipcode. Having to buy a single license for a book seems to defeat the purpose of having an electronic format though. It seems each library will have to buy multiple “copies” of ebooks to have available for lending. If one copy is borrowed, it will not be available until returned. Aside from that, its great to finally see an ebook reader that takes libraries into account. Hopefully this will lead to more library friendly ebook services in the future!

SMART President’s Message for 2009

It was late 2002 when then President Diane Berry welcomed me to the SMART board and I have been hanging around ever since, serving in different capacities. Through SMART I was afforded many opportunities to learn new skills and met a few people that I could call upon with questions about my everyday work. Most importantly I made lifelong friends. What does SMART mean to you? Is it an organization that provides you with valuable workshops and conference programs that enrich your work and further your professional development? It is a place to connect with colleagues from around the state? Whatever SMART means to you, I hope you will take the opportunity to make the most of your membership and help shape the organization. Get involved! Volunteer to serve on the board, tell us what kinds of conference programs and workshops you want to see, or volunteer at the conference booth for an hour and meet fellow SMARTies. There will be many opportunities at this year’s annual conference in Niagara Falls and I guarantee you will have fun. SMARTies always do.

Speaking of Niagara Falls, SMART President Elect and this year’s conference programmer Marcy Strong and her assistant programmers Sarah Maximiek and Zahra Baird have been working hard this year to bring you programs such as Websites on a Budget, Developing Records Management Policies, and Procedures, and Emerging Technology Trends for Librarians. I also hope you will join us for the SMART membership meeting as come unwind and mingle at our section reception (stay tuned for details). See you in Niagara Falls!

Patti C. McCall, M.A. M.L.S.
Corporate Librarian
AMRI

Humor Break: Unshelved – Internet vs. Library

The above shows the current Unshelved strip, but the “I’m the Internet. And I’m a library” part started on Monday August 10, 2009.

SMART Programs for NYLA 2009 Annual Conference

A tentative list of the SMART programs for NYLA 2009 Annual Conference.

The State of RDA
Thursday 1:45:00 PM – 3:00:00 PM
Sponsor: SMART  NYLINK
Tracks: Media & Technology

What’s up with this new kid on the block in cataloging? Find out the latest news on RDA — when will it come to town, what does it look like, how will it act. RDA has been 6 years in the making. The online product is anticipated to be released in June 2009. Discover if the prediction is true and what steps remain in the implementation process before RDA is used in day-to-day cataloging. As technology allows, check out the look and feel of the online interface.

Speaker(s):
John F. Myers, Union College

SMART Membership Meeting
Thursday 3:15:00 PM – 4:30:00 PM
Sponsor: SMART
Tracks: Meeting (Section Membership / Board / Leadership),  Media & Technology

Mingle with fellow SMARTies and share ideas for future programs. Think you’d like to get SMART? Come to the membership meeting and find out what we’re all about!

Speaker(s):
Patti McCall, AMRI
Susan Dague, East Greenbush Community Library

Developing Records Management Policies and Procedures
Friday 9:45:00 AM – 11:00:00 AM
Sponsor: SMART
Tracks: Administration/Management/Career Development ,  Media & Technology

Some librarians may be given responsibility for implementing a modest records management program in their library or parent organization.  Initially, the librarian, acting as a records manager may begin records management improvements with enthusiasm, but over time the librarian will begin to lose control of the organizationˇs records and the records management systems which were put in place will begin to regress. Often this is caused by a lack of adequate records management policies and procedures, or a situation where those procedures are not followed. This presentation will focus on:

• The value of documenting policies and procedures
• How to develop policies and procedures and make sure they are followed
• How to keep policies up to date and relevant

Speaker(s):
James M. Tammaro, New York State Archives

Rudi Weiss Lecture – TBD
Friday 3:45
Sponsor: SMART
Tracks: Media & Technology

Web sites on a budget
Saturday 8:00:00 AM – 9:15:00 AM
Sponsor: SMART
Tracks: Media & Technology     Administration/Management/Career Development

Do you want a new website but donˇt think you have the money, IT staff, servers, or special software needed to do it? This practical workshop will give you the tools and knowledge needed to get an attractive, interactive website for your library or yourself up and running in no time. No money or experience necessary!

Speaker(s):
Kathryn Frederick, Skidmore College

Peace, Love and the Web
Saturday 9:30:00 AM – 10:45:00 AM
Sponsor: SMART
Tracks: Media & Technology

The web is a 20 years old this year, and we are still in the process of realizing its full potential. Nascent in the original design of the World Wide Web as proposed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 is the idea of building a vast distributed database, not only of documents, but of things as well. In 2001 this vision was christened the Semantic Web, and in 2006 the grassroots Linked Data effort began to put the ideas and technologies to practical use. In this talk I will talk about the progress the Linked Data movement have made in the past 3 years, the role that libraries can play in this information environment, and the efforts at the Library of Congress is making to play its part.

Speaker(s):
Ed Summers, Library of Congress

A change is gonna come: Emerging technology trends for librarians
Saturday 11:00:00 AM – 12:15:00 PM
Sponsor: SMART/ASLS
Tracks: Media & Technology

What technologies really matter to librarians? Hear from a panel of technology experts about technologies you can implement in your library today as well as the top technologies to expect in the near future.

Speaker(s):
Ken Fujiuchi, Buffalo State College
Jenica Rodgers-Urbanek, SUNY Potsdam
David Rothman, Community General Hospital Medical Library

. The State of RDA

Thursday 1:45:00 PM – 3:00:00 PM

Sponsor: SMART NYLINK

Tracks: Media & Technology

What’s up with this new kid on the block in cataloging? Find out the latest news on RDA — when will it come to town, what does it look like, how will it act. RDA has been 6 years in the making. The online product is anticipated to be released in June 2009. Discover if the prediction is true and what steps remain in the implementation process before RDA is used in day-to-day cataloging. As technology allows, check out the look and feel of the online interface.

Speaker(s):

John F. Myers Union College

2. SMART Membership Meeting

Thursday 3:15:00 PM – 4:30:00 PM

Sponsor: SMART

Tracks: Meeting (Section Membership / Board / Leadership) Media & Technology

Mingle with fellow SMARTies and share ideas for future programs. Think you’d like to get SMART? Come to the membership meeting and find out what we’re all about!

Speaker(s):

Patti McCall AMRI

Susan Dague   East Greenbush Community Library

3. Developing Records Management Policies and Procedures

Friday 9:45:00 AM – 11:00:00 AM

Sponsor: SMART

Tracks: Administration/Management/Career Development Media & Technology

Some librarians may be given responsibility for implementing a modest records management program in their library or parent organization.  Initially, the librarian, acting as a records manager may begin records management improvements with enthusiasm, but over time the librarian will begin to lose control of the organizationˇs records and the records management systems which were put in place will begin to regress. Often this is caused by a lack of adequate records management policies and procedures, or a situation where those procedures are not followed. This presentation will focus on:

• The value of documenting policies and procedures

• How to develop policies and procedures and make sure they are followed

• How to keep policies up to date and relevant

Speaker(s):

James M. Tammaro New York State Archives

4. Rudi Weiss Lecture – TBD

Friday 3:45

Sponsor: SMART

Tracks: Media & Technology

5. Web sites on a budget

Saturday 8:00:00 AM – 9:15:00 AM

Sponsor: SMART

Tracks: Media & Technology Administration/Management/Career Development

Do you want a new website but donˇt think you have the money, IT staff, servers, or special software needed to do it? This practical workshop will give you the tools and knowledge needed to get an attractive, interactive website for your library or yourself up and running in no time. No money or experience necessary!

Speaker(s):

Kathryn Frederick Skidmore College

6. Peace, Love and the Web

Saturday 9:30:00 AM – 10:45:00 AM

Sponsor: SMART

Tracks: Media & Technology

The web is a 20 years old this year, and we are still in the process of realizing its full potential. Nascent in the original design of the World Wide Web as proposed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 is the idea of building a vast distributed database, not only of documents, but of things as well. In 2001 this vision was christened the Semantic Web, and in 2006 the grassroots Linked Data effort began to put the ideas and technologies to practical use. In this talk I will talk about the progress the Linked Data movement have made in the past 3 years, the role that libraries can play in this information environment, and the efforts at the Library of Congress is making to play its part.

Speaker(s):

Ed Summers Library of Congress

7. A change is gonna come: Emerging technology trends for librarians

Saturday 11:00:00 AM – 12:15:00 PM

Sponsor: SMART ASLS

Tracks: Media & Technology

What technologies really matter to librarians? Hear from a panel of technology experts about technologies you can implement in your library today as well as the top technologies to expect in the near future.

Speaker(s):

Ken Fujiuchi Buffalo State College

Jenica Rodgers-Urbanek SUNY Potsdam

David Rothman   Community General Hospital Medical Library

Humor Break: Lust rears its noisy head in the British Library

All libraries are petri dishes of sexual tension but the BL is extreme
[via Timesonline]

This was a news story left at the Reference Desk when I started my shift. Its an amusing story that starts off with a discussion about the tv personality, Tristram Hunt, complaining about the British Library allowing undergraduates into the library. This later leads to a discussion about why sexual tension might be the leading distraction to studying in the library. Here’s a short excerpt.

Though, personally, my preferred explanation is the silence. Let’s face it, human beings are animals, there is potential for sexual tension everywhere, even in parts of West Bromwich, but normally people’s attractiveness is counteracted by the noises that they make — the grunts, groans and conversation that might reveal they are married, stupid, have an unattractive accent, an obnoxious personality or, very simply, do not fancy you in return. But when everyone is sitting around in silence, you can project what you like on to them and everyone remains a sexual possibility. And the thing that convinced me of this theory is an anecdote a regular reader recently told me about the time she spent working in the Humanities 2 reading room.

Read the rest of this article…

3rd Annual Library Software Users Group Conference

The Library Software Users Group (LiSUG) Steering Committee invites
proposals for conference sessions at the 3rd Annual LiSUG Conference,
Monday, October 12th, 2009, at Dutchess Community College in
Poughkeepsie. Sessions may be on any appropriate topic, and we’re sure
that you can find some way to tie in this year’s conference theme:
Beyond the 400th: Exploring New Domains.

The LiSUG conference provides a fantastic venue to share and learn
from our collective experiences with the software systems and packages
used by SUNY libraries. Dutchess Community College, located in the
Hudson Valley, is easily accessible via NYS Thruway, the Taconic State
Parkway and Metro-North Railroad. We encourage you to share your
ideas, discoveries, and best practices at LiSUG at this fall!

Possible topic areas could include (but are not limited to):

* Outsourcing
* Purchase on Demand
* Access and other database tools for ALEPH/ILLiad reports and
collection analysis
* Project Management
* Project Assessment
* Information Commons
* Electronic Resources Management Systems (ERMSs)
* Distance learning technologies
* Web 2.0 applications (for instruction, outreach, etc.)
* Aleph (reports, management tips, etc.)
* ILLiad (workflows, resource sharing adaptations, etc.)
* Link resolvers (CUFTS, 360Link, etc.)
* Open Source library software
* Website development (usability testing, content management, etc.)

Deadline: proposals are due by Aug. 31, 2009

Submitting: The proposal form is available at:
http://webforms.fredonia.edu/lisug-reg/

All sessions will be 45-minutes in length and scheduled in concurrent
blocks throughout the day. If submitting more than one session
proposal, we ask that you use a separate form for each session. One
registration fee may be waived per session.

Please send any questions to:

Barbara Grimes
LiSUG Conference Chair
barbara.grimes@sunyit.edu