We didn’t think we can win three times in a row, but we managed to walk away with the best section booth for 2009. That makes it three years in a row of being voted best section booth! Zahra M. Baird did a great job decorating our booth, and having interactive activities to get people to visit the booth. We had two boards asking what technologies people couldn’t live without, and what were passerby’s favorite movies. We also put people on the spot with some movie trivia for a chance to win prizes! Thanks to everyone who helped out to make this another great booth display at the NYLA Annual Conference.

[via BoingBoing]

The Government Printing Office reduced the price of Official Journals of the Government from $17,000/year to free! I’m sure that will bring a smile to a Government Docs Librarian out there. In addition, the Federal Register just announced that its finished converting to the XML format. This means you can use the raw data in XML format from the Federal Register. We will have to see what daring database jockeys can come up with using this data. For the full story, visit Boing Boing and the White House Blog post.

We are in need of volunteers to staff our membership booth on Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16.  It’s a great opportunity to meet and get to know your fellow SMARTies.

Please sign up for an hour time slot from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm and 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm on Thursday or 9:00 am to 1:30 pm on Friday.

Don’t forget to attend the SMART membership meeting on Thursday at 3:15 pm Ð 4:30 pm.
Please send an email to Sue Dague dagues@eastgreenbushlibrary.org with your preferred time.
Thank you!

[via Library Videos- the best of...]

Library Videos – the best of… blog just posted some interesting commercials created by Loretta Merlo, Helen-Ann Brown Epstein, Mark Funk, and Judy Stribling from Weill Cornell Medical Library. It looks like they used a presentation software like PowerPoint to create an timed slideshow, and posted it to YouTube. This would be a simple thing for any library to create. My favorite is the Google Scholar one:

SMART Ellen C. Rappaport Professional Achievement Award

The purpose of this award is to recognize the outstanding professional achievements of a current or former member of the Section on Management of Information Resources and Technology. A recipient shall have been a member of the Section for a minimum of three years and shall have made outstanding contributions in one or more of the following areas: acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, collection management, conservation/preservation, serial control, or automation. The recipient selected by the Section’s award committee will receive a plaque and award of $100 to be presented at the NYLA Annual Conference.

Please supply the Nominee’s name, title, e-mail, and address. Please supply your name and title, e-mail, and address. Briefly describe, in an accompanying letter, the candidate’s contributions. Send this information, your letter of nomination, and any supporting documentation by October 9, 2009 to Mary Edgerton (address below).

SMART Fellow Award

Apply now and receive funds to attend the NYLA Conference October 14-17 2009 in Niagara Falls!
This award recognizes a Technical or Computer Services Librarian who is looking to gain professional benefits from the continuing education and professional contacts with librarians and vendors provided by attendance at the NYLA Annual Conference. The award is given based on the applicant’s professional activities in her/his place of employment, and future potential in this area.
To apply, send a letter of application with:

• Name, home address, telephone number, e-mail address;
• Employer, work address, telephone number;
• Brief employment history;
• Statement on how candidate will benefit from attendance at the Conference;

The award includes reimbursement for full conference registration, lodging, meals, and transportation up to a maximum of $250. Send this information by October 9, 2009 to Mary Edgerton (address below).

The Teresa Strozik Award for Innovation in Library Technology

Teresa Strozik exemplified leadership within the New York State library community through innovations in technical services. In 2009, the SMART Board created this award to honor Teresa and those who follow in her path.

This award recognizes a current NYLA member for the innovative use of technology in a library or information setting. The recipient of this award is one who embraces new and emerging technologies by incorporating them into their work and/or programs. For the purposes of this award, technology may be defined as traditional library technologies (cataloging, ILL, ILS, etc.) or other technologies (websites, communication tools, etc.). The recipient selected by the Section’s award committee will receive an award of $100 to be presented at the NYLA Annual Conference. The recipient will also be asked to give a brief overview of his or her technology innovation during the SMART Membership Meeting at the NYLA Annual Conference.

To apply, send an application including:

• Name, title, employer, work address, telephone number, e-mail address;
• Brief employment history
• A description of the candidate’s innovative use of technology stating the benefits or impact of the technology usage (include any supporting documentation, if appropriate)

Send this information by October 9, 2009 to Mary Edgerton (address below).

NYLA/SMART Awards
Mary Edgerton
Collections and Technical Services Librarian Nylink State University of New York State University Plaza
Albany, NY 12246

[ via NYLA Press Release ]
Library Scholar Peter Brantley and Antitrust Expert Gary Reback Spearhead Open Book Alliance to Protect Consumers and Competition in the Emerging Digital Book Market.

Read the full press release and take a look at the resources linked at the end!

[via OnlineCourse.org]

If your interested in seeing how libraries and librarians are using Twitter, OnlineCourse.org has a great list of librarian specific Twitter accounts to follow. If you’ve wanted to get your feet wet with Twitter, this list will give you a good reason to try it out!

100 Best Twitter Feeds for Librarians of the Future

[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!

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

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.