Ex Libris Acquires Innovative

The library services platform market continues to shrink with the December 5th announcement that Ex Libris has acquired Innovative. Innovative has long been a major player in the ILS/LSP arena but in recent years has seen a number of its academic customers migrate to Ex Libris products or other systems. Many public libraries remain Innovative customers and this acquisition gives Ex Libris a foothold in that market. Library Technology Guides show that Ex Libris' next-generation platform, Alma, is currently in use in only 6 public libraries. Sierra, Innovative's most current product is in use at 1383 public libraries. The Polaris platform, which Innovative acquired several years ago, is still in use at 1355 public libraries.  While Ex Libris will benefit in gaining customers among public libraries, Innovative, on the other hand, will no doubt stand to benefit from Ex Libris' cloud technology infrastructure and greater pool of development resources.

According to the the FAQ on the acquisition, Innovative will continue to operate as a separate business unit within Ex Libris. There will be no immediate changes to Innovative's management structure, product lineup and technical support system, including third-party integrations with other systems. While current Innovative customers may eventually see the benefits of Ex Libris development resources, ultimately this acquisition means less real choice in the LSP/ILS marketplace. Libraries looking for a new system to support changing needs will have fewer options from which to choose.

Here Come the Bots: Six Tips When Designing Your IR's Metadata for Improved Discoverability

Last week I attended a webinar about "the science of discoverability". Although it was aimed at librarians working with institutional repository (IR) content, it was an excellent reminder that the many best practices I followed as a web developer for our law school's Drupal site were applicable not only with repositories but also with LibGuides (and any other pages we wanted Google to find). Here are six tips to deploy when designing metadata for the bots and increasing your site's discovery:

1. Title Fields Are Important! In fact they are perhaps the most important field of any object or event metadata in your repository. Working as a web developer this was something we struggled with when other users would create webpages. The title did not always match or identify the content. Later on they inevitably call or email to ask why it isn't showing in Google's search results when they put in keywords that they think and assume will definitely retrieve their exact webpage that was literally just created - of course it doesn't work. Almost always the keywords they wanted Google to identify were not in their page title field (or URL). The same rings true for IR content. No matter how many other fields have the data or keywords, if the title doesn't it probably isn't good enough to be retrieved by Google (unless you have big bucks of course - then you can use Adwords to pay your way to the top of that results list as a sponsored item...but I doubt any of us have that kind of money for SEO, hah!).


2. HUMAN-Readable Is Better. This is not your library catalog. Your ILS is a (mostly) closed-off system. It was engineered by ONLY librarians who have strict cataloging rules passed down over decades of meticulous fine-tuning with a field for literally every-single-possible-bit of data. IR's are not an ILS. In the same way Google is not your OPAC. They do not and will never function the same way. Sure, you can use some of the same operators, and you may even form similar strings in each of the search bars. The difference is that Google's algorithm is not a 100% known entity. Most of Google's users are performing natural language searches. Your I.T. or metadata librarian's cannot get into Google's back-end and tell it what you want, what fields to provide searches for, what weight to give certain types of results, or how to display your results list. Google's algorithm not only likes but craves HUMAN-readable, NOT machine-readable. Craft the content in your fields for any given item, event, or landing page with this in mind. You really should design the data carefully. And the key here is not to overdo it! 


3. Don't Use Too Many Keywords. This relates to the last sentence of the last tip - don't overdo it. In addition to not getting overly wordy or technical in your fields, the field to especially watch out for is keywords. In Digital Commons there is a nice keyword field. When I first started adding content to our repository I no doubt went overboard with more keywords than I should have. Although too few could hinder discoverability, if the keywords are on point and you have two to four of them that are appropriate you will hit a sweet spot with Google's crawl. But beware of using too many. Google and other search engines will actually ping or potentially ignore your content (and in some cases as the webinar warned your entire site) for using too many keywords. Excessive metadata makes it assume this content isn't valid. So just be careful here. This doesn't mean you should never use more than four keywords. There may be occasions when less just won't cut it. Perhaps that one article or conference you just loaded is particularly interdisciplinary and really needs more terms. Keeping the majority of your content with three keywords or less will get search engines to take you more seriously and those few instances where you decided to use more keywords won't throw up red flags like twelve keywords for every single items in your repository would. 


4. Frequency, Consistency & Longevity. I can't count how often I was asked as a web developer when Google would crawl our site. This is a mystery to most everyone, and while you can request through some of Google's Webmaster Tools for a re-crawl there is no guarantee the speed at which that will happen. One thing is for sure, you will be re-crawled more often the more frequently and consistently you update any site, no matter what site it is. Long periods of no activity may result in flagging you as a dead site so regular adding or refreshing of content is the key here. Another related factor is longevity. This is simply the idea that the longer a site exists the more time it has had to be crawled, to appear in search results, and as a result to increase site traffic. Then the cycle returns to the beginning since the more site visits you receive from organic Google searches the more your site should rise in the results list as your site and its content becomes more closely associated with a variety of searches over time. Obviously a brand new site will take time to get there, but after many repeats of this cycle (with the help of your frequent and consistent care and feeding) this will happen naturally. 


5. Bots Like Quick Load Times. So since we don't really know when Google or other search engine bots will pay us a visit, how can we make sure that when they do they are finding us at our best? Load times are one big indicator. I know, I know... but there are SO many cool and flashy things we could embed into our content, right? Is that snazzy High-Res image of the latest guest lecturer too much for Google? What about our Issuu flipbooks of scanned symposia programs, or the YouTube video of the three hour panel? Each bit of multimedia needs a different approach here. If your IR system has native streaming this will help cut down on additionally embedded load times. If not, you may need to choose what is more important - the load time or the media keeping your traffic on your site. If traffic isn't a major factor, load times will increase by hyperlinking to the media instead of placing it on the page itself. The same could be true for embedded flip-book style PDFs. For images, as long as you use best practices for the proper resolution on the web you should not have to choose between a crisp, quality image and fast load times. Use the right format for image and other media files (choose MP3's for online streaming instead of WAVs of AIFFs). If you want or need to offer the highest quality original files to site visitors, hyperlink to that file's location instead of providing at their point of entry. This will keep load times up and still give visitors the option of access and retrieval. In the end, the faster your content loads, the more quickly it can be indexed. Bots are impatient - they are bots! Make them wait too long and they just keep moving. 


6. Site Maps Are Critical, Especially for "Dead" Collections. So your content is now in tip-top shape! It has excellent human-readable title fields and abstracts. It has good keywords, but not too many of them. You've even managed to build a beautiful page of content enhanced with multi-media, but you've been careful to follow best practices for these files and your load time is great. Now there is just one problem - this collection is an archive! It just so happens as a librarian you have created a collection of items that will never grow again because it is historical. How can you possibly be frequent and consistent with this set of data? Will Google eventually forget about you (even if the collection exists over a long period of time) because there is nothing to update? No! Not necessarily - this is where your site's skeleton, the trusty site map, comes into play. Depending on the system you are using a site map may be generated for you as you create new content. It never hurts to revisit this though. Particularly for sites that have been around over a long period of time, the site map (generated for you or created by someone else) may be pulling titles and other structural and organizational information that is either no longer accurate or appropriate, or perhaps it is just not as good as it should be. Revisit your site map every so often as a regular maintenance task. It is essentially an outline of your site and all that it contains, and as such can indicate where a collection or series title is not descriptive enough, is too descriptive, or is just not human-readable. Think back to tip #1 and #2 for human-readable fields (especially titles). Page summaries can help here as well. When you conduct a Google search, if a result appeared but had no description at all for the page are you going to take your chances with clicking through to that result, or are you more likely to choose the result that tells you what you will find there? Make titles, related page summaries for what it is about, and if possible even URL strings make sense and describe what you will find there. Adjust your sitemap and related descriptive data as needed, and monitor how your site (hopefully) rises in results over time, as well as how your traffic (hopefully) increases over time. 

Have more tips to share with TechScans readers that were not touched on here? What has worked for improving your website or repository's metadata, and how do you optimize your content for search engines? Share with us in the comments! 

Getting to Know TS Librarians: Joy Humphrey

1. Introduce yourself.
My name is Joy Humphrey, and I'm the Associate Director of the Harnish Law Library at Pepperdine University's Rick J. Caruso School of Law. 

2.Does your job title actually describe what you do? Why/why not?
My job title is broad, so in that sense, it does describe what I do because I'm a bit of a generalist.  At any given moment I can be fielding a question about our noise policy, originally cataloging a board game, or contacting a vendor to pay an invoice. I'm tasked with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the law library, but I am specifically over the Public Services and the Technical Services Departments.

3.What are you reading right now?
I'm on a Ruth Reichl kick right now. I recently finished Save Me the Plums, Reichl's memoir of her time as the editor of Gourmet, then I moved onto her earlier memoir Tender at the Bone, and I'm currently reading the sequel, Comfort Me with Apples. I love food memoirs, especially at this time of year since they get me pumped to do all that Thanksgiving cooking.

4.If you could work in any library (either a type of library or a specific one), what would it be? Why?
I would love to work in an art museum library.  As someone who makes a point of visiting art museums in every city she travels to, actually working in one would be divine. (I expect the reality would not match my fantasy--budgets are probably small, art books are unwieldy and heavy--but at least the collection would be beautiful.)

5.You suddenly have a free day at work, what project would you work on?
I know this sounds prosaic, but I would clean my office. I mean, REALLY clean it. Go through every file, every drawer, every book shelf. I would Marie Kondo the heck out of it. Because clearing out all that is irrelevant is the best way to bring a fresh perspective to what one does every day.

Quick Question: What conferences should I attend?

It feels like every week or two I receive an email promoting a conference to attend. With limited budget and a desire to attend conferences centered around issues related to technical services and resource management, I reached out to the TS and OBS-SIS listservs for recommendations. Keep reading to discover your next favorite conference outside of the AALL Annual Meeting.

Stay local

• Check out your local chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries for their annual meeting. Chapters tend to have more programs relevant to TS and OBS librarians.
• Look for regional TS-based workshops or conferences. If you're a Northern California resident, check out the Northern California Technical Processes Group (NCTPG)
• Your local ALA chapter may also have an annual conference with a technical services or library systems track.

ILS Conferences

• Innovative Users Group (IUG)
• Regional Innovative user groups also host their own conferences.
• ExLibris Users of North America (ELUNA) 
• Regional ExLibris user groups also host their own conferences.
• Another ExLibris resource to check out is the Alma Law Library Special Interest Group. This group meets annually at ELUNA, and also has an active listserv.

E-Resource Management Conferences

• North American Serials Group (NASIG)
• Focuses on serials and electronic resources management.
• Budget friendly: this conference is less expensive than a lot of other conferences - yay!
• Many of our colleagues recommend this annual conference, so you can count on meeting some TS/OBS-SIS folks!
• Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L)
• Held annually in March in Austin, Texas and online.
• The conference is organized into tracks/subtopics, so it's easy to see if there is an area of interest to you.

Other great recommendations

• Charleston Conference: Issues in book and serial acquisitions
• Held every year in Charleston, S.C., the Charleston Conference is devoted to technical services, electronic resources, serials, etc.
• This conference is recommended by many of our colleagues.
• Computers in Libraries 
• Held annually in Arlington, Virginia
• Focus on emerging and leading-edge technology. Great place to network with other information professionals from a variety of library backgrounds.
• Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge 
• Geared towards acquisitions and collection development librarians
• Single-track conference with limited enrollment.
• Society of American Archivists (SAA)
• Joint annual meeting of the Council of State Archivists and the Society of American Archivists 
• Special Libraries Association (SLA)
• Focused on special libraries and information professionals. 
• Explores trends in knowledge and information management.

Is your favorite conference missing? Leave your recommendations in a comment below!

GLA Conference Review: Workshop on Digitization for Small Institutions

A while back I did a post called What About Conferences? aimed at newer members as part of our "Quick Question" series. In that post I specifically talked about memories and experiences from state and regional librarian organization annual meetings. One of those (perhaps the organization I am most fond of!) is the Georgia Library Association. I have been actively participating in this state association affiliated with ALA, ACRL, and SELA since I attended my first GLC (Georgia Libraries Conference) in the fall of 2014. It has always been a welcoming and lively group with a crazy awesome mixture of library types and individuals.

Co-presenting at GLC 2019 with colleagues
Szilvia Somodi and Marie Mize.

What I love perhaps most of all about GLC is that you will find all levels of librarians there (not just "faculty-level" with "Librarian" in their title). The very best sessions I have attended often come from library staff. As a librarian who worked a few public libraries while studying librarianship, and as one with past positions which until recently were entirely "paraprofessional" or I.T. titles this is where the on-the-ground, behind-the-scenes knowledge and skills are found and shared: at the local events candidly. GLC isn't pretentious or intimidating like some conferences and their crowds can feel. It is also not overly techy like many I.T. and web developer conferences I have experienced where all you hear is jargon that feels distant and mysterious. There is a beautiful happy medium at GLC where you can network, actually learn, and find encouragement to follow your interests and grow as a librarian without judgement. It is here that my love of libraries grew stronger, although it took me a few years to get comfortable enough to sign up for one of the pre-conference workshops.

Table of recommended project management
software from DLF's awesome wiki.

This year I finally did it, and I am so glad that I did! The workshop held Wednesday October 9 in Macon,GA gave myself and my colleagues an excellent excuse to spend more time together. It was a long day but definitely worth the trek. Digitization for Small Institutions was presented from 9 am to 12 noon with a short break in the middle of the session. The two presenters opened by talking about the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) and right away shared links to resources including a toolkit for Project Managers from the Digital Library Federation (DLF): https://wiki.diglib.org/DLF_Project_Managers_Toolkit. For folks new to using a project management tool, this wiki has an excellent table of recommended software with summaries of each, links to them and pros and cons side by side. Many of the tools you expect to find are here (Jira, Asana, Trello, Slack, Google Suite) although I was personally disappointed that KanbanFlow was not included (insert sad-face emoticon here), there were a few I had not yet heard of or tested out which is ALWAYS exciting.

Photo from my messy notes of a favorite, useful visual.

In the first hour I quickly learned more about DLF, DLG and DPLA (Digital Public Library of America). This was an extremely interesting portion of the workshop that served as the backdrop for the rest of the session's more detailed "how to" segments. Although I had heard of and visited each of the aforementioned DL sites before it had been quite a while since I had taken a moment to just learn more about them and familiarize myself with the "why" of each site and their respective purposes. This seemed particularly relevant after I returned from the conference as we prepared for Open Access Week just a few weeks later. I did not realize how many wonderful resources DLF made available for free online. The project manager toolkit wiki is invaluable, and even if you are not working on projects that will eventually feed up into a DL site, the kit contains so many best practices and tips that it could be useful for many types of digitization projects. One such best practice was this 5-step process (as seen in my messy note photo here): 1. Selection & Planning, 2. Metadata Creation, 3. Prep & Scanning, 4. Post-Processing (crops & edits), 5. Ingest & Preservation (into institutional repository). Before we had a short intermission the attendees were divided into break-out groups of 3 to 4. In this form we discussed why we were there, what projects we were undertaking and what our role was at our institution. Another takeaway takes me back to what I love so much about GLC: there were more staff than librarians in attendance, and a surprising number of public library or museum attendees.

Slide dissecting "Title"

For the rest of the workshop we were shown workflow charts (I LOVE a good visual aid for wrapping my head around a process and grasping a project's big picture) and given what might as well have been a micro-course on metadata terms with a focus on descriptive data, and specifics on Qualified Dublin Core. There was even a little LinkedData talk! What was most helpful about this section were the slides that included specific examples of Title fields. You know a session is worthwhile when you can take that nugget of info back and start using it immediately at work when you return. This was that particular nugget for me!

Hands-on Digitization Station

I was able to share in my breakout group and with the entire group of presenters out loud the challenges of a certain project I have been collaborating on in our library for properly and efficiently archiving thousands of photographs. Lucky for me our project is dealing with media that is already digital, and I already have a space that exists and is ready for hosting the images and metadata (Digital Commons). It was super cool to hear the stories and challenges of others, including what types of media they are digitizing, organizing and archiving to make accessible to their patrons. Not everyone has a repository in place, and not everyone has the staff or tools to achieve their goals right away. This workshop also provided a hands-on station to practice digitization before you left the room. I love that the session enabled everyone, even those interested in the topic (lots of MLS students were there too) but not currently working in a place or role that allows them to get their hands dirty to do just that!

I left the workshop feeling inspired and with an added confidence for the project waiting for me back in the office. Many of the tips I gained from the workshop I am currently utilizing this very week. I had such a wonderful experience that I will certainly sign up for future pre-conference workshops next year! In particular I have enjoyed taking part in GLA's interest groups like Technical Services and Information Technology, and their division sponsored activities like the Academic Library Division, the New Members Round Table Division, and the Paraprofessional Division. What local, state or regional organizations would you recommend to AALL TS-SIS and OB-SIS members who may be from the same area of the States that you are? Share with us in the comments below and link to the association, group or conference!

Getting to Know TS Librarians: Sidney Lanier

1. Introduce yourself (name & position). 
I am Sidney Lanier and I am the Catalog and Archives Librarian for Syracuse University College of Law.

2. Does your job title actually describe what you do? Why/why not?
Yes and no. We all wear many hats in our library. While I am primarily the cataloging librarian, I have certainly tried to learn some of the ins and outs of database maintenance as well because the two go hand and hand. Sometimes I work circulation and sometimes I work reference. The archival aspect of my job, while probably the most fun part of it, often gets put on the back burner because of more time-sensitive projects. I think most job titles are just an attempt at describing what someone actually does. In reality our jobs often demand cross-training and continuous learning, which I look at as a good thing.. although it can be exhausting at times.

3. What are you reading right now?
Nothing for leisure, haha. I am taking classes in the graduate school, so my free time is occupied by assigned readings and R-coding projects. I look forward to reading for pleasure again after this semester!

4. If you could work in any library (either a type of library or a specific one), what would it be? Why?
I think the library of congress is one that many of us would love to work in and I definitely would love to do that one day. On a divergent note, though, I always thought it would be great to work in one of our national parks’ libraries. The Grand Canyon National Park’s research library would be a very cool experience.  I know they get a lot of high quality research data and it would be amazing to be able to sift through some of it to contribute to our parks’ information databases and publications.  

Getting to Know TS Librarians: Kevin Carey

1. Introduce yourself (name & position). 

Kevin Carey, Technical Services Librarian at The Ohio State University Moritz Law Library.

2. Does your job title actually describe what you do? Why/why not?  

Yes!  I actually love my title, Technical Services Librarian, because it is so general and yet specific at the same time.  We are a small department at Moritz, which provides great opportunities to get involved with all aspects of the work we do—as well as sometimes the obligation to take on tasks which typically might not be assigned to a “professional” librarian.  I primarily oversee the diverse cataloging work of all our print and electronic resources, but I also get to work with serials, microforms, bindery and preservation, collection maintenance, and even our college archives.  There are so many things we get to be involved with simply by virtue of the work being “technical” in nature.  And having a title that connects directly to our half of the traditional library divide is often a great opportunity to explain to colleagues just what “technical services” is, in libraries generally and then in terms of how our work supports the rest of our institution.

I also have an additional title as Building Coordinator for Drinko Hall, which houses the Moritz College of Law, and in that role I am responsible for all aspects of facilities maintenance, housekeeping, security, and emergency procedures for the college, not to mention all our renovation projects, large and small.  That part of my job is probably how most of our faculty and non-library staff know me best—and it always keeps things interesting!

3. What are you reading right now?  

While I was flying Southwest earlier this year, I read an article in the in-flight magazine about their founder Herb Kelleher, who just died in January, and I was really taken by his ethos of “love” as a manager and business leader.   So while I look forward to one day reading a biography of Herb Kelleher the man, in the meantime I have been learning about his company in Nuts!: Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success.

4. If you could work in any library (either a type of library or a specific one), what would it be? Why?  

I have spoken with many of my fellow librarians who would answer the same way: I would love to be a children’s librarian at a public library.  I have two elementary-school age daughters—plus a handful of young nieces and nephews here in town—and I actively embrace the role of personal librarian for these fascinating little people.  In fact, much of my non-work reading relates to children’s literature, as I try to come up with the next just-right recommendation for my growing readers, and I just love to shepherd them through that process of figuring out what they want to read—and why.

Reflections from CALICon19: Two Best Sessions

Looking out over downtown Columbia, SC #CALICon19

Some talk has been floating around in My Communities for covering conferences that may relate to TS, OBS and even CS members. There is understandably a lot of variation in many member job duties and with that plenty of room for overlap of these SIS individuals. Coming from an I.T. department position before my current role this makes total sense, and I can see the benefit to many of us not only having backgrounds in computer science and other technical fields, but also the advantages to continuing education in those areas as library professionals. This is where CALICon comes in.

With Web Developer Leslie Grove at CALICon19

Many of us are familiar at least in some way with CALI the organization (a.k.a. Computer Assisted Legal Instruction). They provide our law students with extremely helpful study aids, plus have resources that help faculty members with all sorts of things. Librarians fit into this section of folks CALI has resources for too. I first heard of CALICon a few years ago when my friend and web developing office-mate Leslie flew to Denver, CO to co-present with our Information Technology Librarian Jason. Their talk titled "Enough to be Dangerous: 00000110 Things Every Beginner Needs to Know about Coding", gave a snapshot of the main programming language fundamentals to the varied CALICon audience. What a neat conference I thought at the time. I had only been to either Drupal Camps full of I.T. guys or state librarian conferences which were full-on librarian attendees, and the idea of a conference that brought librarians, tech-heads and faculty together sounded... well downright phenomenal!

A couple years later I lucked into CALICon coming to Atlanta. Being in Athens, GA it was a short drive. I presented on infographics, and realized I was right - CALICon is pretty amazing. The unique mixture of attendee's makes for interesting discussion and highly useful content that naturally lends itself to collaborative relationships. In true tech-event fashion CALICon live streams all of the sessions and at hyper-speed uploads them all for streaming on YouTube. So, if you have never been to CALICon before, I encourage you to consider it next year. One only has to browse the CALICon playlists of session videos to wonder why everyone doesn't attend.

This brings me to my top 2 sessions from #CALICon19 which I felt would be most useful to  TechScans followers:

• Leveraging eResources for Affordable Course Materials - Mary and Lisa were excellent presenters who didn't just share something cool (maybe their topic wasn't the flashiest on the schedule) but certainly brought one of the more relevant sessions for me throughout CALICon's two-day whirlwind. What institution isn't interested in saving money for their law students? What library doesn't grapple with ways to make things more cost-effective? This session not only discussed measures that would greatly benefit students but also ideas for faculty members who want to publish their own course content. In this session I learned about lulu.com (CALI actually uses them to publish their books! SUPER affordable, 600+ page books for around $25 shipped!), Powernotes, H20 open casebook platform and more. The presenters even shared strategies for liaising with your registrar office and faculty members to offer alternatives before or alongside booklists, and how they reviewed their own booklists from past semesters to locate and suggest cost-saving measures for specific courses. 

John Presents at CALICon19

• Automating Processing and Intake in the Institutional Repository with Python - Wow, just wow is all I could say after this session. Most of us deal with our IR in some form or another. As my own role with our Digital Commons site continues to increase, I went into this session with high hopes and seated next to our law school web developer (the office-mate mentioned before), and we were not disappointed. If you have ever manually entered items into your own IR one at a time as I typically do, you smile at the prospect of batch loading. With a large project of archiving old photos in our own IR looming I have been postponing preparing my own spreadsheets - I know it will be tedious and a worm hole of a project. After John's session I am SO glad I waited. My colleague, the coding goddess, and I sat in awe of the automation John was sharing. I was pleasantly rejuvenated leaving the session with a collaborative game plan which I am happy to say we are already making great progress on. Although the presenter's project was with Law Journals and pulling content from PDF's, our own is actually much simpler since we are pulling titles, image URLs and (hopefully) basic descriptions. By far this session left me feeling the most excited about returning to work with something we could instantly put to use.

Click on the session hyperlinked titles for slides and streaming video. Did you attend CALICon too? What were your favorite sessions or biggest takeaways? Find other sessions from CALICon 2019, or past years in CALIorg's YouTube Playlists.

Getting To Know TS Librarians: Jean Willis

1. Introduce yourself (name & position). Please provide a picture to be posted to the TechScans blog.

Jean Willis.  Currently Interim Director at the Sacramento County Public Law Library.  My “usual” title is Assistant Director for Support Services.  Our Board of Trustees appointed me to the position of Interim Director when my boss, Coral Henning, sadly passed away in late March.

2. Does your job title actually describe what you do? Why/why not?

Interim Director is quite accurate.  However, I feel that my “usual” title is squishy.  What does it mean?  Essentially, it is “Not Public Services.”  I supervise Technical Services and IT for our Library, which is an independent local district government.  So our IT Team handles all of the technology needs for our Library.  We are not part of any overarching organization, such as the County government, despite the Library’s name.

Our Technical Services Team consists of a Tech Services Librarian, who handles Acquisitions and Claims but also works regularly at the Reference Desk, handles virtual reference shifts, teaches legal research basics classes and serves on our Collection Development Team.  We have a Cataloger, who also works at the Reference Desk and handles virtual reference.  Both Librarians also are responsible for updating and maintaining some of website content, including Legal Research Guides, Step by Steps and Everyday Law articles. Then we have a Serials Control Assistant, who checks in most of our materials, handles some copy cataloging, and she also works regularly on our Circulation desk. 

Our IT Team consists of two Systems Analysts who handle everything from soup to nuts involving technology at the Library.  I supervise these two Teams, plus fill in at Reference, teach legal research basics classes, serve as a Passport Acceptance Agent and generally assist in the day-to-day management and administration of the Library.   Of course, the latter duties have increased exponentially since the Director’s untimely demise.  Because our other Assistant Director for Public Services retired about a year ago, and was not yet replaced, I am also now fully supervising our Public Services Department and our Civil Self-Help Center, which is staffed by an attorney and a paralegal.  Yes! I am ridiculously busy right now, especially considering that my “usual” job was already full-time.  Time management plays a huge role in my work life these days.  Plus I am grateful to have super, hard-working staff, who have really stepped up to the plate at this challenging time.

3. What are you reading right now?

Typically, I have several books going at one time.  Right now, I am really fascinated and taken by the Neapolitan Novels authored by Elena Ferrante.  Just wonderful novels about love, friendship and growing up in post WWII Naples.  Today I started book two, The Story of a New Name.  HBO is also dramatizing these works, and the video of the first novel, My Brilliant Friend, is available for viewing and highly recommended. 

The other book I’m reading is called The Betel Nut Tree Mystery, by Ovidia Yu.  This is set in 1930s Singapore and presents an interesting counterpoint to the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, which I also enjoy as light reading.

4. If you could work in any library (either a type of library or a specific one), what would it be? Why?

I am working in the exact type of library that I would choose (really).  Throughout my career, I’ve worked in almost every type of law library: in law firms, law schools, courts, legal aid and more recently public law library.  I’m truly happy to provide such a needed public service to our constituents.  It was exciting, challenging and stimulating to work in all of those other types of law libraries, but this answers my interest in providing true public service to our community plus access to justice for all. 

5. You suddenly have a free day at work, what project would you work on?

We want to expand our Lawyers in the Library program, perhaps to collaborate with the Sacramento Public Library, to offer this service in different areas of our county and on more and different days and times.  I simply don’t have time to develop this project right now but would love to see it come to fruition. 

BIBFRAME goes International

A recording of the Library of Congress webcast BIBFRAME Goes International. 2019. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-8682/ presented April 2, 2019 has been made available. A number of speakers addressed experimentation and implementation of BIBFRAME and/or linked data concepts in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

Some highlights:

Kungliga biblioteket, The Swedish National Library of Sweden has a production BIBFRAME based union catalog available for exploration. They are actively seeking a path out of the MARC environment.

Judith Cannon spoke at length about the PCC/LD4P grant funded group. Seventeen selected PCC libraries are working in a "sand box". Metadata will created and saved using "Sinopia", a linked data platform developed by Stanford University. More information about the project and its goals is available at https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/LD4P2/LD4P2+Project+Background+and+Goals. The Library of Congress is developing initial training material based on LC's BIBFRAME editor. It is not clear when these tools might be available for non-participating libraries to play with.

Paul Frank and Jodi Williamson spoke about Share VDE, a collaboration with Casalini Libri focused on converting MARC bibliographic data to linked data. "VDE" stands for Virtual Discovery Environment. The environment is available for exploration at http://www.share-vde.org/sharevde/clusters?l=en.

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has an experimental Bibliographic Linked Data Learning Platform. With this tool, you can view and compare bibliographic data presented in different serializations, plus information about the work contextualized using Wikidata knowledge cards. The site also has an experimental SPARQL query form that can be run against their bibliographic data.

The National Library of New Zealand has made their Ngā Upoko Tukutuku / Māori Subject Headings available as linked data as an aid to bibliographic description centered on a  Māori world view.

Quick Question: How should I prepare for the AALL Annual Meeting?

In preparation for the AALL Annual Meeting, we asked TS & OBS members for their advice and recommendations for first-time Annual Meeting attendees.

Below are some great ideas that will help prepare first-time attendees for the meeting.

What one session (or event) would you recommend to a TS or OBS member who is a first-time Annual Meeting attendee?

CONELL

• Attend CONELL. It's a great way to get to know the Association and to meet other first-time attendees.
• CONELL attendees get a special ribbon to wear, this signals to others that you are new, and so many people will come and welcome you.

TS/OBS meetings

• Attend TS-SIS and OBS-SIS committee meetings. Anyone is allowed to attend, even if you are not a committee member, unless the session is marked as "closed" on the schedule.
• Attend the OBS-SIS Business Meeting (Sunday at 6:15PM) and the TS-SIS Awards/Meet & Greet (Monday at 5:30PM). Meet people in your SIS and people who are on committees you might be interested in joining. 

More educational opportunities

• Look for round tables. These are typically open to all attendees and allow you to make connections with people who share similar interests. Many are listed on the online schedule under "All Meetings and Events."
• Check out Discussion Dens and Poster Sessions. These typically focus on specific topics and can be great learning opportunities. Go to Calls for Great Ideas for a list of topics.
• Some caucus business meetings have educational programming as part of their meetings.
• Attend one session that is far removed from your regular work. If you read the program description and don't know what it is about, go to that one.

Exhibit Hall

• Spend time in the exhibit hall. It's a good way to understand the profession and get to know the vendors we work with. 
• Check out the "Activities Area" during exhibit hall breaks. SIS's, Caucus, and Chapters have posters there about what they do. There will usually be a volunteer at each poster and it's a great way to have one-on-one or small group conversations with people who share your same interests. This is also a good way to get program suggestions on the fly - ask people at the posters what they're going to next.

Receptions

• Attend as many receptions and focus groups as you can.
• Attend a Dine-Around. It's a smaller group setting where you'll get to know other AALL members better.

That said...

• Don't feel obligated to go to a session during every single block. A conference can feel like a marathon you're sprinting through and you'll be happier if you pace yourself. 

Do you have any tips or advice for first-time attendees that they won't find in the conference brochure?

Prepare

• Create a schedule. If there is a specific session you want to attend, write yourself a note about it now so you can remember why when you get to the conference.
• Before the conference, take time to think about your career goals. With those goals in mind, determine what events/activities at the conference will best help you achieve those goals.
• And/or, create goals for yourself specifically for what you want to accomplish at the conference.

Be a joiner

• If you haven't already, join your respective practice group's SIS, i.e., if you work in an Academic Law Library, join ALL. If you work in a private firm, join PLL. Attend their programming. It's a great way to know what's happening in your area.
• Become active in the organization. Newer librarians can feel uncomfortable joining in right away, but there are ways to be active without being a board member. The Annual Conference is a great time to find out what opportunities are available. 
• Join a caucus. There's no fee to join.

Take breaks

• Make time in your schedule to take a break and get some quiet time. Just a half hour outside of the conference center will refresh you so you can make the most out of the conference. 
• Locate a coffee shop that is the farthest you can walk to in 15 minutes. This one will likely be far less buy than the coffee shops near the conference center.
• Try to follow the 2-4-6-8 plan. Have 2 real meals a day. Get off your feet for at least 4 hours a day. Try to get 6 hours of sleep at night. Have 8 glasses of water per day. Remember: Eat well, relax, rest, and keep hydrated!

Your badge

• Wear your conference badge close to your face so people don't need to read your chest/tummy to find out who you are. 
• Don't forget to take your name badge off once you leave the conference center.

Dress for comfort

• Only wear comfortable shoes. You'll be doing a lot of walking. 
• Dress in layers. It will be hot outside in Washington DC but could be cold in the conference center. 

Freebies!

• Bring a large Ziplock bag for small freebies and pens.
• Take advantage of the free food!
• If you have them, bring your business cards. They can come in handy for entering raffles and of course, sharing your contact information.
• While in the exhibit hall, pick up the freebies and enter raffles, it's a great way to get to know the vendors.

Lastly...

• Find a balance (everyone's is different) between educational activities (programs, SIS programs, exhibit hall, etc.), networking, and fun/socializing.
• Don't be shy! Easier said than done for some, but important to get the most out of the conference.😊

Thank you to all of those who contributed! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave them for us in the comments.

Quick Question: What About Conferences?

Conferences are a part of most of our jobs. Sometimes we are encouraged to pick one to attend annually, and others out there may have institutions with supervisors or directors that want you to attend as many as possible. Whether you have never attended a conference before, or you have attended many but this may be your first season in your current position, I hope these tips will help with navigating the perhaps uncomfortable terrain.

Tip #1: Dress appropriately, but comfortably.

I have attended a few local and regional conferences where at times I felt extremely underdressed and at other times way overdressed. The more I attend a specific conference the more I get a feel for the types of attire others wear and what that says about you in a session audience or an exhibit hall crowd. If you are presenting, of course you may want to dress it up a bit. If you are not, don’t feel like you have to wear interview attire complete with hot blazers and the world’s most uncomfortable shoes! Most conferences happen in the summer so keep that in mind. Bring a suitcase with a variety of options so you can change according to weather and building conditions (or as your sweat-levels increase from social interactions). If you have colleagues who have been to certain conferences before, ask them what they wear and how most people dress for it. Earlier this year I attended my first SEAALL (Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries). Although I had been to many conferences before, this was my first out of state conference as well as my first in my new librarian position. It was a smaller more compact crowd compared to others I had attended, and I quickly realized I had overdressed for this one. I was able to use that fact though as a conversation starter for post-conference email-networking! More on that experience in tip number four.

Fall 2014, overdressed for my first ever conference.

Tip #2: Make your own schedule with your own goals.

I think it is safe to say that the overall goal for most librarian’s conference attendance is professional development. I have found that I personally get the most out of a conference when I make my own schedule in advance, working in times for breaks and leisure. I haven’t seen a conference yet which did not post the detailed schedule in advance. Print yourself a copy, highlight sessions you want to attend, and if there is a specific reason make notes to yourself as to why. Use your goals to determine which sessions you choose to attend. Some example goals I plan to use for an upcoming conference include: (A) Learn about something I know nothing about, (B) Learn more about something I am dealing with in my current job, (C) Meet two new people - more on this specific goal in tip number four too!

Tip #3: It is OK to leave a session early or to enjoy leisure time.

Fire dancers on the Savannah
Riverwalk in Augusta, GA.

Even if your personal schedule that you crafted in advance has lead you astray, do not feel tied to it. If you attend a session that within the first 5 minutes is not what you expected, leave (politely, of course) and use the time for something else productive. Sometimes there are multiple sessions that sound interesting. If a certain block of time has a few, add a back-up to your schedule so you are not scrambling if you leave one early. There also may be cases where not a single session in a given block of time is of interest. Take advantage of this time by visiting an exhibit hall, poster sessions, or just people watching to (hopefully) network with someone you haven’t met before.

The indoor spring-fed
pool in Hot Springs, VA.

It is also OK to plan for down time. Take a nap! See the sights of the city, or enjoy free amenities at the hotel. It always surprises me how few people go swimming or enjoy the game room when staying at a hotel that has those things. Some conference schedules even include recommended activities more officially to encourage rejuvenation in attendees or to make networking easier. Examples include a morning run, vendor-sponsored mixology classes, movie nights, or nature walks. Also, if you like taking pictures, take them! Photos of the location or interesting things you were able to see and do while away from the office can spice up your post-conference report once you are back at work - more on this in tip number five. 

Tip #4: Networking doesn’t have to be awkward. 

OK - so it definitely can be, and if you are like me it more than often is awkward (at least from my perspective, but don’t assume other people think it is!). As an extrovert-imposter I identify much more with the introverts out there and have to really, really make it a measurable goal to speak to people I do not already know (which is like everyone basically). Taking advantage of some of those vendor sponsored activities, or participating in a dine around might help take some pressure off of initial introductions. People at these events tend to go for the purpose of meeting other people, so capitalize on that! Another easy way to introduce yourself is to politely approach a presenter after their session. Asking a follow-up question or just stating you enjoyed their session topic can be a more natural conversation starter and allow for brief introductions to be exchanged. Look for people that look like yourself, perhaps standing off in a corner or keeping the coffee station warm, and approach them with the “I really feel uncomfortable at things like this, how about you?” to start a conversation. Keep business cards with you just in case an opportunity arises from a conversation and you can exchange cards with someone. Don’t feel like you should give a card to everyone you meet, but if you do exchange cards you can use those to keep a tally of who you met as evidence that you can do this! Two networking tips I heard at a recent conference delivered by an introverted presenter were to (A) set a numerical goal for how many people you want to meet, but keep it modest, and (B) check in with colleagues each day of the conference to talk about how many people you met - discussing with others can help you actually remember who you met and what they looked like so you don’t draw a total blank when you see them again next (perhaps the very next day!). If you meet someone, however briefly, and you do not have the time to continue a conversation, follow up with an email. Emailing post-conference can be a lower-pressure form of networking that might actually go further for you than face-to-face chit chat. At a recent conference I wanted SO badly to compliment an acquaintance's outfit but I was too nervous to do it at the time. Less than a week later there was an opportunity by email where questions related to an organization required my response anyway. I seized that email-moment to continue our conference conversation and put the compliment out there. We ended up exchanging longer emails than I predicted about style of dress and within another week were Facebook friends! Networking can still be done effectively with baby-steps.

Fall 2017 at my fourth Georgia Libraries Conference I FINALLY took a photo with a former colleague who was also attending.

Tip #5: Don’t overwork when at a work conference.

By this I mean do not promise to do too much away from the office while at a conference. Plan to check email once or twice a day (maybe work specific times into the schedule you are making for yourself!), but try to be present at the conference. This is a really hard one for me to put into practice because I am always thinking of the things I could or should otherwise be doing were I back at my office desk. Instead remind yourself that the conference IS work! If you have to, reframe the moments when you find yourself reaching for your phone or opening your laptop too frequently that once you return you will be expected (with some colleagues more than others) to give an informal or formal report on what you learned there, and how you or they can use what you have learned. It also helps me personally to be more present in sessions by taking notes or photos. Often a slide is shared with several great points, and taking a quick picture of it with my phone helps me capture more than I could in hand-written notes. Notes and pictures not only give me something more concrete to take back to work for sharing and discussions, but also helps channel that nervous energy when I start to think “I wish I was finishing that project at work instead!” or “How much catching up will I have to do because of this trip?”. Feel confident that you ARE working, this IS a part of your job, and your employer wants YOU there at that moment. It always impresses me when others return from a conference and have photos and notes to share, and this can be a simple way to reinforce not just to others but to yourself that the trip was valuable, rewarding, and time well spent.

To Summarize: Plan in advance, soak in as much as you can, don’t overthink it, and take care of yourself! If you are relaxed all aspects of the conference will flow more smoothly and naturally. Before you know it, it will be over, and you will be back at your desk crouching over work thinking “wasn’t that a great break from this normal day-to-day?” Hopefully you will leave feeling refreshed and with new ideas to bring to the table!

What tips for conference-going do you wish someone had shared with you as a new librarian? Share them with us in the comments!

Quick Question: What’s With All Those Acronyms?

"file under reference"

By Keelan Weber & Rachel Evans

Welcome to the first in a series of new posts we are calling Quick Question. In these posts we will address questions we have wondered or are currently pondering as new librarians, and do our best to answer them while we figure them out ourselves. Navigating librarianship in a niche field can be tough. For this initial post we wanted to discover what is up with not just all of the acronyms, but other lingo and terminology specific to technical law librarian roles as well:

Professional Organization Related:

• AALL = American Association of Law Libraries
• SIS = Special Interest Sections (82 % belong to one or more sections!)
• ALL = Academic Law Libraries
• CS = Computing Services
• DET = Digitization & Educational Technology
• FCIL = Foreign, Comparative & International Law
• GD = Government Documents
• LHRB = Legal History & Rare Books
• LISP = Legal Information Services to the Public
• OBS = Online Bibliographic Services
• GLL = Government Law Libraries
• PLLIP Private Law Librarians & Information Professionals
• PEGA = Professional Engagement, Growth & Advancement
• RIPS = Research Instruction & Patron Services
• SR = Social Responsibilities
• TS = Technical Services
• Working Groups and Roundtables
• VRAG = Vendor-Supplied Records Advisory Working Group
• MPSAG = Metadata Policy Standards Advisory Group
• Other Common AALL Acronyms
• CC:DA = Committee on Cataloging: Description & Access (committee of ALA/ALCTS with representatives from TS-SIS)
• SAC = Subject Analysis Committee (also a committee of ALA/ALCTS, where classification is considered with representatives from TS-SIS)
• MAC = MARC Advisory Committee (has a liaison with representatives from TS-SIS)
• CONELL = Conference of Newer Law Librarians
• Regional Chapters of AALL (there are 30 across the country!)
• MALLCO = Mid-American Law Library Consortium
• ALA = American Library Association
• ACRL = Association of College and Research Libraries
• IFLA = International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

Resource Providers & Vendor Related:

• OCLC = Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (a global cooperative that supports thousands of libraries in making information more accessible and useful)
• WorldCat = World Catalog (a union catalog that itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories that participate in the OCLC) 
• LMA = Library Maintenance Agreement (standard contract, with Thomson Reuters for example)
• FDLP = Federal Depository Library Program
• GPO = Government Publishing Office
• YBP = Yankee Book Peddler
• DDA = Demand Driven Acquisition
• GOBI = Global Online Bibliographic Information (web-based acquisitions tool for finding, ordering and managing e-books and print books from EBSCO)
• EDS = Ebsco Discovery Service
• WLN = Westlaw Next
• WEST = Westlaw
• LEX = LexisNexis
• HEIN = HeinOnline
• KLI ARB = Kluwer Arbitration
• LIPA = Legal Information Preservation Alliance

Other/General Technical Services & Systems Related:

• LCC = Library of Congress Classification (system of library classification developed by the Library of Congress and used by most research and academic libraries in the U.S.)
• MARC = Machine-Readable Cataloging (formats are standards for the representation and communication of bibliographic and related information in machine-readable form)
• MRC = Machine-Readable Code (commonly used file type with machine-readable code)
• MRK = alternate file extension of Machine-Readable Code (a slightly more human-readable form, you will see this if you "break", a MarcEdit format)
• MarcEdit = metadata editing software suite (used primarily to create and manipulate MARC records)
• RDA = Resource Description & Access (new standards, plus a helpful toolkit)
• XML = eXtensible Markup Language (designed to store and transport data, and to be self-descriptive)
• BIBFRAME = Bibliographic Framework (a data model for bibliographic description, designed to replace MARC standards and use linked data principles)
• AUTH = authority records (the most common means of enforcing authority control)
• BIB = bibliographic records
• SUB = subject authority records
• NAM = name authority records
• IR = Institutional Repository
• DR = Digital Repository
• bePress = Berkley Electronic Press (Digital Commons is the name of their popular DR)
• ILS = Integrated Library System
• OPAC = Online Public Access Catalog (quickly becoming an outmoded term)
• III = Innovative Interfaces, Inc. ILS provider (Encore is the name of their OPAC)
• LSP = Library Service Provider
• Alma = Cloud-based ExLibris LSP 
• Primo = Discovery interface from ExLibris (sometimes linked to Alma)

Glossary of Terms:

• AALL Caucuses = Smaller in size and less formal in structure than SIS, caucuses connect members with more focused interests
• Law Repositories Caucus = a platform-neutral group that supports repository coordinators by providing a community for sharing info and resources
• Alphabet Soup Reception = Joint reception of the CS/OBS/RIPS/TS Special Interest Sections)
• "Annual Meeting" of AALL's annual conference:
• Annual Meeting program = a program with a specific topic, often sponsored by an SIS that is open and available to all attendees
• Annual Meeting meetings = SIS special meetings that are either invite-only, open to the entire SIS, or to all attendees interested. The Annual Meeting schedule will indicate what SIS is having the meeting, what time, and if it is a smaller group (executive board, for example) and/or the focus of the meeting.

We are still learning, and know we missed plenty! Let us know what else should be included in the comments below...

Getting to Know TS Librarians: Rachel Evans

1. Introduce yourself (name & position). Please provide a picture to be posted to the TechScans blog. 
Rachel Evans - I am the Metadata Services Librarian at UGA Law Library. I had been at UGA School of Law in the library's I.T. department for close to 7 years in a web coordinator role before taking a position as a librarian last November 2018. As the web coordinator I had wonderful opportunities to work closely with all of the librarians and library staff on various projects, many of which overlapped with my new job title and duties, so applying for and taking the metadata role was a no-brainer! As the Metadata Librarian I work with other librarians on the Leadership team, Systems team, Digital Commons team, and continue to attend law school Web team meetings. 

Here's a link to Rachel's bio: http://law.uga.edu/profile/rachel-s-evans

2. Does your job title actually describe what you do? Why/why not? 
It both does and doesn't. In the sense that metadata is a part of nearly everything created and maintained by the law library, the title obviously applies. I manage several collections in our Digital Commons repository including some conferences and other events as well as librarian presentations and articles. I also do batch loads into our ILS from various vendors, load authority records, manage e-book discovery records, and change our physical back-up tape. The list could go on... metadata is not limited to my individual role though, and in a way it suits my job no more than it would anyone else who edits records in our catalog or adds items to our repository (and there are so many of us that share those responsibilities - aren't we all metadata librarians?!). A better fit might be something like "web" services or "electronic resources"... but now I'm just being picky!! It is a cool sounding title, albeit one that always requires extensive explanation from well meaning but non-librarian family members ("meta-what?!").

3. What are you reading right now? 
I am currently working my way through two books. The first is actually about one of my husband's distant uncles, Torment in the Knobs. It  historically recalls the 19th century story of Mason Evans, legendary hermit for 40 years in the area surrounding Starr Mountain, Tennessee. It is one of several books we recently acquired featuring different versions of Mason's life. The second is one I just started reading, The Piano Teacher. This novel is a continuation of a reading list I started over a year ago to read the novels that served as the basis for films I had seen or wanted to see. I loved the film by the same name which was actually the first Heneke film I ever saw. I have read so many wonderful novels from this list and it continues to grow as I discover more and more books that did not realize were the basis for some of my favorite tales on screen. Other highlights I've read from this series of reading: Pinnochio, Frantic, Spiral Into Horror, Mouchette, Don't Look Now, The Makioka Sisters, Watership Down, Diary of a Country Priest, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Half In Love, and Berlin Alexanderplatz.

4. You suddenly have a free day at work, what project would you work on? 
I am extremely excited about two projects. It would be a very tough call as to which I would focus on if I had a completely and totally free day. One is a usability testing study I am working on with a small team. We hope to screen capture a group of user clicks through our online catalog (Sierra) and our discovery layer (Ebsco) as they follow prompts we have designed. My goal is that the results will not only reveal which platform better serves us, but also allow the library to discover how our users travel through each site and to find problems that need fixing. The other project would be cleaning up and re-organizing our various websites. We have several: Digital Commons repository, LibGuides, and a few Drupal sites (both public facing and an intranet). Part of this clean-up is already underway with Digital Commons, and I am having great fun working with our Archives Librarian Sharon Bradley to simultaneously clear old event photos off of the public law school web server and preserve/re-organize our digital photos in the online repository. There are SO many pieces to the various site puzzles though... a single free day would just not be enough!