summary of ALA

Here's the fun and educational stuff I did: visited the Library of Congress (had a wonderful exhibit of 20th century japanese art and went underground the building to the Coolidge auditorium where Dr. Billington, Librarian of Congress, was interviewed by C-Span) He's an impressive and distinguished representative for American libraries in my opinion. The Library has helped national libraries in Russia and Iraq among others with collection building and supporting digitization projects. Saw the staff room where staff go for good and relatively cheap eats. Walked through the Botanical gardens near the Capitol building and visited the National Archives. Went into the "research room" where they had some databases to do genealogical research and Diane found some things about her family history. All meals good and expensive, obviously many white collar types on expense accounts.
Attended only meetings which were at the Convention Center because it is just too complicated and a time waster to use the shuttle to go to all the different hotels. For me, it worked. These are some topics and conclusions or at least key points. First meeting which I actually managed to arrive for at 8:00 AM was on MARC. Even the presenters admitted it was too early and technical a topic for an early start. For those who are aware, there was a study done on the applicability of MARC fields from the records to the opac and service point, i.e. user. Some 20% of the fields are useful, however, some fields are not among those 20% and would be of extreme importance in some libraries with a special collection or clientele. Questions from the audience at the end brought up some issues which the research did not take into account and the presenters discussed their awareness of the issues and the limitations of the study in drawing any comprehensive or conclusive evidence that only 20% of MARC fields are worth having or keeping. However, it does indicate that MARC's value and applicability is under review. That's my non-scientific conclusion.
Here are just some things that caught my attention or challenged some preconceptions: Friends groups can attract people who are not library users and need to cultivate folks with a philanthropic mind set as well. Maybe create a Friends group for younger crowd. One library talked about a book club meeting at restaurants. That lead to inviting restauranteurs to talk about their experiences in starting a restaurant. The key is to create library supporters, not necessarily users. Program on Generation X, those are folks who are new faculty/staff, grad students and non traditionals. They want personalization and directness and like socialization and networking. Communicate via websites, direct mail without hype and to the point. Word of mouth, personalization, has impact.
Library reorganization--What are libraries key services? That helps to focus on outcomes and strategy. Ask staff what can be given up or changed. What are fantasy changes? What are the bottlenecks? How many people are needed to do a job and why? Right work being done at the right level? Do staff get opportunities to lead? Investigate best practices elsewhere but that isn't always where the innovation is--broaden point of view, include business and retail perspectives. What competencies are expected for staff? Reward culture that wants to try new things.
Presentation by Library Research Roundtable, included doctoral students and Proquest. Ethnographic study of undergrads using software, UserVue, to see how they do research. Found subjects through Facebook. 95% of students used library resources, so library outreach, course instructor, and brand awareness (Lexis, Proquest etc.) are effective. Problems with navigating webstire of Library, search catalog is front & center when e-resources, journal articles are what they want. Most use Google as a lookup. Social networking sites don't factor into student research. Library as place. Study involved going to coffeehouses to observe what students go and why they are there. Users see library as clinical institution as opposed to social place like coffee house. Coffee house concept started in Europe as a place where students could talk freely. Those who don't use Library prefer to study at home and buy their own books. Those who go to the library want to study, research, check out books. Coffee house environment is too noisy and lack of space. Age has a lot to do with learning style and age affects online interactions. Use of humor and get to know the person. Interaction may be the learning experience and not the factual answer. Face to face encounter contributed to more effective online interaction.