| Networking Dinners I hope that each of you had a great Holiday season! Once again it is time to get ready for the annual neighborhood networking dinners in February. This fun and relaxing event has become one of the most popular events of the chapter. This is a time to informally meet and greet with colleagues and students that live and/or work in your city. If you would like to volunteer to host a dinner (breakfast or lunch are also options), please let me know by January 22nd. I will need to know a date in February, time, place (home or name of restaurant), and your contact information for people to RSVP. I will compile and send out all networking opportunities to the discussion list. I look forward to getting representatives from across the state. If you have any questions about the networking dinners or suggestions for future events, please contact me at tbmccollough@gmail.com I look forward to serving all of you this year.  |
| NCSLA's Annual Award Ceremony and Officer Installation Dinner On December 3rd, NCSLA held its annual Award Ceremony and Officer Installation Dinner at Biaggi's in Cary. Mary Schwarz kicked off the proceedings with opening comments and words of thanks for those with whom she worked closely during 2009. The 2010 officers were then announced and a short board meeting took place thereafter. Later in the evening, the following awards were presented:
The evening was brought to a close by Jamal Cromity who took time to thank and recognize fellow board members for their individual contributions in 2009 and shared his enthusiasm and vision for an exciting 2010!  |
| Chemistry Librarianship Student Scholarship Call for Applications: 2010 Lucille M. Wert Scholarship ? Designed to help persons with an interest in the fields of Chemistry and Information to pursue graduate study in Library, Information, or Computer Science, the Scholarship consists of a $1,500 honorarium. This scholarship is given yearly by the Division of Chemical Information of the American Chemical Society. CINF Awards Committee  |
| Web Integration Webinar On Friday November 13th, Jamal Cromity hosted a well-attended webinar entitled \"Web Integration\". Topics covered included the integration of tools such as Google Ajax RSS Feeds Displayer, Share Point RSS Reader, Image embeds via Facebook and Flickr. LinkedIn and Twitter. The webinar provided basic information on each of these resources as well as tips for using them in special libraries' work. The webinar concluded with an in-depth discussion of the SLA initiative for choosing a new name. Jamal reviewed comments received back on the proposed name from chapter members and walked participants through a report highlighting SLA's research findings on various aspects of the effort to determine the new name.  |
| Changing the way we state our business My latest LMD post is now available: http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/sla_lmd/ Check it out when you can! Jamal  |
JAMAL CROMITY WINS REMCO ROADBUILDERS' AWARD IN SPECIAL LIBRARIES![\"\"](\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bin5MPjxriY/St3cHxEqfrI/AAAAAAAAAGk/mFGAZsaCh3w/s1600-h/mytwitimage.jpg\") At this year?s 58th Biennial NCLA conference, during the REMCo's Author Luncheon on October 8th in Greenville, N.C., our very own President ? Elect, Jamal Cromity accepted an award by the North Carolina Library Round Table of Ethic Minority Concerns. The award recognizes ethnic minority librarians and scholars in library education, academic librarianship, special librarianship and public librarianship, who have served as pioneers in librarianship and who also represent a positive role model in the field. Further, recipients are recognizing as ethnic minority librarians who exemplify courage, integrity, perseverance and who have contributed to the field of librarianship for their specific category. |
| Can the association members learn to grow? My latest LMD Blog is now available... Wow! SLA may finally have a new name?The Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals. Are we all happy now? Well... http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/sla_lmd/2009/10/can-the-association-members-learn-to-grow.html  |
| New NCSLA Wiki - Gov Doc Sources presentation now available! OK! So I created a new wiki for the chapter to collaborate information online. The old wiki will go away very soon! Use the link from this main website to access the wiki going forward. Michael Pepper or I will send out invites per your request. I really want the chapter members to start using the wiki site to post specific content about our workshops. You can also upload documents under 11 megabytes. Let me or Michael know of any other ideas you would like to use the wiki for going forward. Making new pages is very easy! My hope is that you will have a much better experience using the new wiki. I truly want the website and wiki to be more collaborative and user friendly. Check it out when you can! http://sites.google.com/site/ncslawiki/ The Government Document Sources information is now available on the wiki.  |
| Value Continuum and Professional Online Search Services: The Collaborative Stage My latest publication is now available in the July issue of Online Magazine. Check it out when you can: http://www.infotoday.com/online/ Value Continuum and Professional Online Search Services: The Collaborative Stage By Jamal Cromity Page 38 In the article I talk about the real value of professional online search tools and how more search services will need to focus on collaborative features. Through research, I share some of the driving forces behind the call for improved methods of knowledge sharing.  |
| SLA President-Elect Anne Caputo Addresses NCSLA Members at UNCG On May 19th, SLA President-Elect Anne Caputo visited UNC Greensboro and addressed members of NCSLA. Anne acknowledged the difficult economic climate that special librarians are working in and spoke to the need for planning. She emphasized the value that librarians bring to the table in a \"time of information explosion\" and encouraged members to work to improve communication and preparation skills to adapt to change, including changing \"our terminology based on what the world calls it\". She stated that special librarians need to be more in tune to the perceptions of those outside the profession and work to \"align ourselves with the needs of the world\"; studies have shown a disconnect between what those within the profession believe is important versus what others feel is important. In closing, Anne encouraged NCSLA members to \"be positive, flexible, confident and willing to learn.\"  |
Leverage Your Career Workshop was a major success!![\"\"](\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TgDI6KgH_3E/SeEe4bgxKKI/AAAAAAAAABM/nzHyuT_Q7og/s1600-h/SLA+and+Other+Stuff+026.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TgDI6KgH_3E/SeEe4AZdsiI/AAAAAAAAAA8/X5RZ8ruwbuE/s1600-h/SLA+and+Other+Stuff+022.jpg\") On Thursday April 8th NCSLA, along with corporate sponsor InMagic, hosted a well-attended seminar called ?Leverage Your Career?. Drawing both experienced SLA members and guests, as well as area students, the seminar provided an overview on special librarianship along with winning job search strategies and tips for approaching resumes and interviews. Presenters also offered suggestions for staying current in the profession and for making effective career choices. After a networking break, the second half of the program featured career stations where local professionals working in diverse settings offered commentary and guidance along with resume review services. The event was well-received and noted for its timeliness as students and professionals alike work to navigate a treacherous job market. A theme that ran throughout the program was the importance of leveraging professional contacts throughout one?s career and undoubtedly membership in associations such as SLA is a critical first step in building relationships that can foster a successful and fulfilling career in special librarianship.  |
Post \"Copywrong to Copright\" notes![\"\"](\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TgDI6KgH_3E/SeEXbhx7_5I/AAAAAAAAAAU/2Gqje_ux7a4/s1600-h/SLA+and+Other+Stuff+015.jpg\") On Friday April 3rd NCSLA, in partnership with Iconitel, hosted an educational seminar titled ?Copywrong to Copyright?. The event was attended by 16 people from a broad cross-section of local corporate libraries. Presenter Eileen McQuilkin, a Senior Consultant with Iconitel, used a true or false format to address ambiguities in interpretation of copyright law with attention paid to the challenges posed by emerging technologies. The eye-opening discussion prompted audience members to take away a ?proceed with caution? mentality when it comes to the use and redistribution of content.  |
| SLA LMD Blog One of my new responsibilities in 2009 is Co-Chair of the Leadership and Management Division Blog of SLA. Each month I will post a minimum of one article based on a pre-established theme of the month https://owa-aa.proque.st/owa/redir.aspx?C=190f37f7690d489aa05654eb28c50b92&URL=http%3a%2f%2fsla-divisions.typepad.com%2fsla_lmd%2feditorial.html. You can keep up with all my postings on the LMD Blog at: http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/sla_lmd/ Jamal Cromity President-Elect NC SLA  |
| LibraryThing, GoodReads, Shelfari: Social Networking around Books Why Social Networking? Why Books?
LibraryThing Basics
What LibraryThing for Libraries Brings to the Catalog
GoodReads
From Otis Chandler, the founder and CEO of GoodReads: \"Thank you so much for the opportunity [to share with librarians]! ...you may want to mention that Libraries can submit their catalogue as a 'find at' link for Goodreads members to easily look up books via ISBN/title. To submit a link, go to any book detail page, then click \"more...\" to the right of the 'find at' links, then click 'create a new link'. http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/edit_list?book_id=1154887 Shelfari
Things to consider
Coming down the pike
 |
| Flickr and del.icio.us Roundtable summary Flickr is a photo sharing website with tagging capabilities. To register, you just need a free Yahoo account. There are some storage and uploading limitations with the free account, but you can upgrade to a Pro account for only $25/year. See this help page for a more detailed comparison of the two types of accounts. Institutions can sign up the same way as individuals. Libraries are using Flickr for virtual library tours and tutorials, promoting events, networking for marketing and other ideas (see the Libraries and Librarians group). Since many of the pictures have a Creative Commons license, you can also search for images to use in marketing tools and on websites. In our groups, we also talked about using the site to get help in tagging archival photos, and for marketing your digital archives by funneling people through Flickr to another site. For more ideas, see the following resources; http://flickr.com/photos/ha112/sets/129006/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/ http://www.collegedegrees.com/blog/2008/06/24/how-to-make-flickr-work-for-your-library-50-resources/ http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=17624 Tutorials; http://wiki.sla.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=8355871 http://instructionwiki.org/Flickr Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site. As one person at the table mentioned, you can get there from delicious.com, which means you don't have to remember where the dots are! . At its most basic, it is a way to keep all your favorite sites (bookmarks) in a web format so that they can be accessed from any computer. Beyond that, del.icio.us allows for sharing web resources with co-workers or other groups, and exploring favorite websites of other users. Bookmarks can be easily exported from your current browser to this online account, and you can tag them with metadata for easy retrieval. RSS feeds can be set up to export all of your tags onto a blog or website, or straight into an online classroom. Feeds could also be set up to identify new items in a particular subject, or to follow a new technology/trend. Also look at recent and popular websites, and user's notes about a particular website. Make sure to set up the browser buttons for making easy additions without interrupting your workflow. The settings page (which you can access when you are logged in) contains most of the details about how to do things, or see the tutorials below. Tutorials; http://wiki.sla.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=8355878 http://instructionwiki.org/Del.icio.us  |
| Blogs and wikis Roundtable wrapup In addition to the resources I discussed at the RoundTable Wednesday, several other good applications of blogs and wikis in libraries were mentioned. Here are just some of them, and if I'm leaving any out (I was writing a lot down!) please post them in the comments. *Librarian's Guide to Guilford County *Booklover's Blog: readers advisory from the staff of the Greensboro Public Library *Mint Wiki (The Mint Museum Library) Non-specific examples included using a wiki to edit policy documents, an internal professional development blog (with required posts by librarians after returning from conferences), a lunch and literature blog, a wiki for a staff manual/job descriptions, consumer health topics wiki at a hospital library, best practices staff wiki. Some of the other salient discussion points: *Interesting discussions about \"tech timidity.\" In some environments, the librarians are the tech-timid. But more and more frequently, the librarians are actually the advanced users, and our patrons are the tech-timid. *Blogs and wikis are seeing more and more use by librarians, but generating user feedback or content is difficult. Promotion may help, but probably you just need the right sort of project that really gets people participating. In general, you can't expect users to be as enthusiastic about creating content as you. *Many had concerns about security (spam posts or comments in a blog; vandalized wikis). Modern blog and wiki software has ways to combat this and it's less of a problem than it might seem, but it's not negligible. *Privacy concerns - having this content be public raises issues with privacy. Is it fair to require students to reply to a blog post, when this puts information online? This has to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Some communication needs outweigh the privacy needs, sometimes a blog or wiki is indeed not appropriate. *Many questions about platforms. People mentioned support for Blogger and Typepad, PBWiki and WikiSpaces. But there are many other platforms available.  |
| RSS & News Feeds: Summary for Web 2.0 Roundtable Hello NC-SLA Web 2.0 Roundtable Participants, Here are links to a few websites forming the basis of our discussion on RSS and News Feeds: Video: RSS in Plain English, produced by Common Craft. This short movie explains how RSS feeds can save you time and how to set up an account. An excellent overview for the new user. Bloglines: This is my preferred RSS reader. It's web-based, so you can access it on any computer- and it's optimized for the iPhone! Page2RSS: What happens when you come across a website that doesn't publish an RSS feed? Page2RSS works behind the scenes and captures any changes made to the website for you. These changes arrive in your RSS reader just like a usual new RSS post. Google News: The awesome thing about Google News (Yahoo News too) is that you can create a custom keyword alert -and RSS feed- on any word! Now the headlines are delivered directly to you. These links represent just a few examples of how RSS makes keeping up with current events very easy. I look forward to learning about more resources at the roundtable. -Erin  |
| Blogs and Wikis Since this is a blog, and I'm coordinating discussions on blogs, I guess I should share what I'm going to cover! Well, that's misleading since I'm not \"covering\" these things so much as citing them as examples of what people are doing in the library and academic worlds with blogs and wikis.
I look forward to discussing these questions and hearing about other examples from Roundtable attendees.  |
| Free Web Research Tools www.marketresearch.com ? Many people are turned off by the cost of the market research reports available for purchase on this website. However, key statistics, lists of companies, diseases, and drugs can be gathered from the freely available abstract and table of contents of these reports. Also, specific chapters, tables, or figures from reports are often available at a much lower cost directly from marketresearch.com. They will even check to see if specific information is in that section before the purchase is made, to ensure that the money is well spent. www.patentlens.net ? A relatively new patent database, Patent Lens is being provided by CAMBIA (www.cambia.org), a non-profit organization in fda.minesoft.net ? The FDA Orange book is freely available on the web, but can be difficult to search. Minesoft uses the FDA data to create an easily searchable database of drugs, including approval dates, expiration dates, and exclusivity information. The records also include direct links to the relevant patents, where available.  |
| Science indicators revisited Science indicators revisited - Science Citation Index vs. SCOPUS: A bibliometric comparison of both citation databasesThis article reports on a comparison of Science Citation Index, (which the authors describe as the only multidisciplinary database for measuring response to scientific publications for over 30 years), to SCOPUS, a direct competitor to SCI since 2005. Selected bibliometric analyses conducted in both databases for identical periods of time investigated the number of articles covered in each database, the number of non-cited articles, areas of interest in the databases, and the results of a specialized search on the topic of \"fuel cells\". Among the findings from this comparison: SCOPUS covers a broader range of journals than SCI, but only from 1996 onwards, and citations are only fully available from this date onwards; in comparison, SCI's citation coverage extends back to 1945. Another finding reported is that the databases cover areas of interest with varying intensity. Additionally, SCOPUS has half the areas of interest of SCI, and all of the areas of interest represented in SCOPUS are also found in SCI. The overriding conclusion of the authors is that \"the SCI benchmark is still the number one worldwide\", but the choice of database used should be made \"with great care and on the basis of content\". The findings detailed for each area of investigation in this article should be helpful in making this decision.  |
| RSS integration by RSSinclude |
![\"\"](\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TgDI6KgH_3E/SeEe4M2i4CI/AAAAAAAAABE/HEu6YIhOLTg/s200/SLA+and+Other+Stuff+024.jpg\")