MEDIA MONITORING: What Other Bloggers Say

Did you know how many Bloggers are reporting about this superconference (oops!!! super SPACE conference)?

PS. If you have access to a news (aggregating) database, do a search in all the local, regional dailies, please!!!

In the meanwhile see a sample using Google's Blog search:

Ethan Zukkerman at OLA SuperConference
7 hours ago by nobody@flickr.com (David Warlick) David Warlick posted a photo:. Ethan Zukkerman at OLA SuperConference. Photos from David Warlick -

Dinah’s author off to OLA SuperConference
29 Jan 2008 by Alyssa Melanie Jackson is:. about to jump off the CN Tower; admiring the view from the Tower before she heads off to the Ontario Library Association’s SuperConference Friday, February 1 at the Metro Convention Centre to sign copies of the ...Orca Book Publishers Blog -

Building the Social Library Online - OLA Superconference
28 Jan 2008 by librarianmer@slideshare.net(librarianmer) from: librarianmer 12 minutes ago. Tags: socialsoftware technology blogs wikis libraries. Recently Uploaded Slideshows

OLA Super Conference 2008
29 Jan 2008 by your librarian The OLA (Ontario Library Association) Super Conference starts Wednesday, January 30 and winds up on Saturday, February 2 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Here’s what some of our librarians are doing: ...Untitled - http://library.humber.ca/faculty/news.php

code4lib: OLA Super Conference - Collex and Blacklight
14 Jan 2008 by erikhatcher I'm honored to be speaking at the upcoming OLA Super Conference 2008. I'm presenting "Collex: Collecting and exhibiting scholarly materials" (session #406, Thursday January 31, 10:40am) and " Blacklight: the University of Virginia's ...Planet code4lib

Signing Wild Ride at OLA Super Conference
13 Jan 2008 by deas03 This year’s Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference is happening here in Toronto from January 30th to February 2nd and for the second year running, I have the honour of attending. On Friday February 1st, I’ll be at the Orca ...Graphic Guide Adventures

OLA Super Conference 2008
11 Jan 2008 by angelacw OLA Super Conference 2008. I’m attending the OLA Super Conference 2008 from January 30th-February 2nd, 2008. The theme of this year’s conference is Transformation and focuses on 3 R’s: reinvention, regeneration, and rejuvination. ...mélange -

Ask Ontario – Built To Last From The Start: Session # 403

In the news:
Minister of Culture to launch askON library chat-based research service
The Hon. Aileen Carroll, Ontario Minister of Culture will be on hand for the formal launch of Knowledge Ontario’s askON online research and virtual reference service. The launch will be held on Thursday January 31, 2008 at 5pm at the Knowledge Ontario exhibit booth (813/815) at the OLA SuperConference being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. read more

I am delighted that I could attend this session. At OLA Superconference 2007 it had its focus group meetings, orientation, et al. This year it is the Beta (they call it pilot project). And having being associated with it for almost 18 months, as a team member and as one involved in its conceptual meetings, it is a pleasure to see that this project is getting very very good attention.

Virginia Roy, Kathryn Klages and all members of the team need to be congratulated!!!

Ask Ontario is the Knowledge Ontario project focused on delivering and implementing real time, collaborative virtual reference services for the province. ...

Read more about the progress so far, and bookmark this link

Session 316: How and Why to Bring End Users Into The Service and Web Design Process

• two usability consultants + Toronto Public Library "User Experience Project Manager"
• huge system with huge resources, but, the ideas can be scaled down and used anywhere by the rest of us!
• types of user involvement: ongoing / periodic / one off
• this session was FAB for me, as I'm doing a big web site usability project this year...good timing
• provide multiple ways for the peeps to be involved...phone / face-to-face / online + multiple research methods: interview / survey / town-halls / focus groups / usability testing / contextual inquiry...different levels of commitment / effort / anonymity
  
• tools: 2.0 sites to engage users...ongoing dialogue + 1.o tools like surveys, polls, live chat, forums
• capture unsolicited comments (ie. at the desk)...collect and study
• Why involve users?...work WITH them...build understanding
• make your results available widely within your organization
• start / continue / deepen converstaions with users
• pull together ALL info you have from users...customer comments, survey results, informal (from staff) etc.
• usability goals: need to decide goal...ie. is it to have 100% use with no help?...need a goal in order to evaluate success
• determine REAL requirements of users...what they say vs. what they do...tricky
• also consider industry standards and guidelines, including accessibility / best practices
  
• "ethnographic research"...user-shadowing...watching how they use the site
• consider using "personas" to profile typical users + usage scenarios...need to update / keep current as well
  
• S.M.A.R.T. objectives: Specific / Measurable / Achievable / Realistic / Time-sensitive
• new Toronto PL web site to come soon (competing priority with new ILS and Fed. Search)
• "always in beta"...quest for the Holy Grail...which keeps moving...

Thank God for AV guys

I just wanted to send out a thank you to all the dedicated volunteers, staff and AV personnel who are working at the conference. I was convening Joan Giannone's session this morning on Roving Reference and the projector wouldn't show the output from her laptop. It took 20 minutes, 2 AV people, a quick sprint on my part to the OLA office and a walkie-talkie call from Jefferson to get the computer back up and running. It was quite an exciting morning, but I'm happy to report that both presenter and convenor were not scarred by this episode. In fact, I was quite impressed with the way Joan handled herself and presented her topic with ease.

Roving has been on the library radar for a while now, but the inspirational buzz seems to have come and gone. And I know I'm not the only one who has experienced a lull in my ability to leave the ref desk and talk to customers. There were a few session participants who expressed the same experience. Joan's presentation and the comments afterward offered some great tips on re-energizing staff:

- Clear expectations: outline why, where, when, who and how your staff are going to rove. If this means scheduling people to have on floor (strictly roving) and off floor time, then do it.
- Give them the right tools: PACs in the stacks, headsets, clipboards (with tally sheets), ID badges, etc. Give them anything they need to make the experience more effective.
- Work through obstacles and issues: Joan shared an exercise she uses called Group Chaos which involves role playing and creating opportunities for people to practice how they would approach various situations (I think this would work well, if revisited often by staff).
- One participant mentioned that pro-active service is noted in performance appraisals.
- Joan offers a series of follow-up emails, sessions and questions after her staff training sessions that keep staff interested in roving.

Roving is too important to keep in the back of our minds. We need a roving revival!

career and mentoring forces at OLA Super Conference 2008

To tell you the truth, it took me a while; I had to ask at least six people to locate Mentoring services: Speakers in Residence (OLA Super Conference guide, p. 12). Incidentaly, the Web link to this MentorShip [see: CAREER MOVES AND MENTORING] doesn't give a clue about the location. Will the mappers and pathfinders wakeup NOW?

Nevertheless, I did find the invisible counter, at last. I liked this session. I received personal and professional guidance while talking with the montors: Marian, Jim, Caitlin, Patricia and Yvonne.

During the discussions, I found there was a deep felt need for OLA / Education Institute / etc., to intitate a mock-interview (or practice Interview) for librarians.

Ps. Are you reading this Hon. Sam Coghlan (OLA 2008 President). Please consider this when you meet with the new Board of Directors.

NB. To get the momentum, here is a short reading list from a disseminator, which will help both, i.e., in-service librarians and those who are looking for an ice-breaker:

Practice Interview Questions: [Source: LIS WIKI ]
During the phone and in-person interviews you are usually presented with a standard set of questions asked to all candidates. Good reads in preparing for such questions include:

List of Tested Questions from Indiana University Bloomington Libraries

101+ Commonly Asked Interview Questions from an Illinois Library Association conference session

Having a Successful Job Interview from from SLA CapLits

Frequently Asked Interview Questions University of South Carolina School of Library & Information Science

Quiddle Blog featuring interview questions

The people you talk to can have varying interviewing styles, and some questions may be deliberately designed to rattle you. See The 10 Toughest Job Interview Questions for some tricky examples.

See also on the same shelf and aisle:

What is a mock interviews:

Mock Interviews for a Children's Librarian Medical Librarian and

mock reference interview @ YouTube

Poster Sessions on Today!

Just thought I would do a PLUG for the poster sessions, on today and tomorrow at lunch in the EXPO hall. This is your chance to chat with colleagues about special projects they've been working on.

I'll be poster-presenting about the OLA WebSite Poll today, 1:15 - 2:00...stop by and say HI!

BTW, I just realized my "Library Detective" handle is attached to my posts. By way of introduction, I'm Joanna Aegard, Head of Virtual Library Services at Thunder Bay Public Library. This is my third OLA and I'm pumped about the adventure of learning / networking / sharing / connecting!

Off to La Marche for b'fast with a FaceBook friend, and my sister, who is here from Wasaga Beach P.L...extra bonus!

Day One

Learned all about BiblioCommons (BC) today. Three of the presenters (including Stephen Abram -- boo hoo!) were grounded at various airports across the country, so a lot of improvisation went on -- very slickly. Two folks were there via phone / web, and did a great job communicating virtually.

It's late, so here are some quick points of interest:
BC is being used in BC, and is in Beta at Oakville PL now

• libraries are doing a lot of 2.0 stuff, but not a lot of patrons are participating (other libs are though!)...so we need to make the OPAC itself social
• the "best" resources are those that are most relevant to ME
• BC is starting to work with III...yippee!...John Blyberg
  
• set up involves:
• data dump
• mapping
• install thing client on the ils
• Karen Cole talked about cataloging in the age of social networks...info seeking as a CHAIN of activity...we need to bring info together for the peeps
• collectively libs have a lot of info that we're not capitalizing on
• "Quest for the Holy Grail" ...search for the perfect opac...a moving target
• Gail Richardson from Oakville: "using the collections to build connection"
• legal aspects / privacy addressed...choice/control/transparency
• will be a FAQ link on the ConnectOn site

FAB pics by Rebecca L to come soon. :)

I, for one, welcome our Librarian overlords

Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2008 OLA Superconference as I will experience it. Over the next few days, I will be posting about the sessions I attend and some of the interesting things that go on at the conference. As almost everyone knows, a lot of the interesting stuff doesn't always happen in the official sessions - it happens in the chance meetings in the hallways and vendor areas, in the lobbies and out on the street.

I'm looking forward to this conference and hope to see you around.

Superconference is here!

I'm looking forward to participating in this year's conference and blog!

Countdown of another kind... ...welcome aboard

On behalf of our Blogging Team I welcome all Bloggers.

To the the Super Conference organizers, as well as the Librarians who are waiting for the event, I request you to support this Blogging spree in making this effort a grand success.

NB. I have posted a link on my blog: Picturing the Global Library: A Call for Photos of Libraries Around the World that will be eventually a part of the Super Conference 2008.

Best, Mohamed Taher
A disseminator and blogger:
.Information Visualization .Library Technicians .Multifaith Information Gateway .LIS Quotations .Mentors, Masters, Leaders .International and Comparative Librarianship .Librarians as Knowledge Managers .Reviews .Hyderabadiz 2.0.

Welcome to the Super Conference 2008 Blog. Have a great conference.