ALA Annual Part 2

Saturday

On Saturday I went to 4 programs, ACRL 101, ACRL New Members Discussion Group on Publishing, Job Hunting in a Recession, and Collection Development 2.0.

ACRL 101 was interesting and informative, but I don't know that I really needed to go to it because I am familiar with ACRL and its sections from my last conference. I did meet some fellow young librarians which was valuable. And I asked some questions about the ACRL Immersion program, which I would love to participate in soon. The one big tip I got from this program was to volunteer to do instruction. I don't know why it never occurred to me to volunteer to teach, but it seems so obvious now. So I plan on e-mailing some former co-workers to see if I can assist in their instruction classes for a time, to get experience. I also plan on volunteering for some ACRL committees next year.

The new members discussion group was next. This program had 3 mini presentations on getting published in peer-reviewed literature. A lot of what was covered had been covered in a presentation that I saw at UCR, but there were several tidbits that were useful. One was that you have to write to get ideas and to help you get used to the process of writing. Another great tip was about collaborating. Look around and find other, more experienced librarians or faculty that will co-author an article with you. This makes the whole process a bit less intimidating. So for now I have a couple of good ideas that need to be fleshed out, and I just may have the makings of an article.

Job Hunting during a recession was okay, but a lot of the tips were either common sense or things I'd heard before. I did pick up a couple of new job search sites that I had not heard of, and I discovered that there is a recruiting service for librarians, because the founder of the service was one of the presenters. I left this one a little early so I could make it all the way south to McCormick Place. Things were really spread out in Chicago. I hope they are closer together in DC, especially because DC is unbearably hot and humid in July.

Collection Development 2.0 was by far my favorite program of the conference. There were 3 presenters, one from the University of Utah, one from a public library in Georgia, I think, and one from another university (I'll fill in the details when I have my notes near by). The first speaker talked about how they had moved to a centralized collection development department, with the liaisons having only recommendation responsibilities. CD handled all of the selection. They did this in order to save money and build a more balance collection. The speaker said that in the traditional arrangement of liaisons with selection responsibilities, some liaisons were better selectors than others, so some areas of the collection would be better developed than others. With a centralized CD team, each area of the collection will receive equal attention, so the collection will become more balanced over time. The speaker did mention some difficulties with centralized selection, such as the very high work loads that the CD librarians would have to take on. Not only would they be responsible for building the entire collection, but they also must complete all the evaluation and weeding tasks.

The second speaker, from the public library, talked about making the collection more accessible to the patrons by making it more visible. If people know what is in a collection, they are more likely to use it. She suggested having walls of books set up like book stores, with some books placed cover out. This type of presentation encourages browsing and circulation. She did say that librarians and clerks had to be prepared to rearrange these shelves several times during a day because the turnover would be higher.

The final speaker, from the University of Utah, I think. Had some really interesting things to say about going out of your way to get the patron the book or journal that they want. He started off by saying that CD is all a guess, and a staggering percentage of books that are purchased are never used. We can improve that percentage by buying books that patrons will actually use. One way to go about this is to actually buy the books that people request on ILL and get them to the patrons as quickly as possible. With an ILL request, you know that at least one person wants the book, which is more than you know about many of the books that you might select for the collection. So CD and ILL should work much closer together. I don't know why I had never thought of this before, but it makes perfect sense. Also, it goes along with my interest in how CD departments interact with other departments in the library. The speaker also suggested limiting cataloging and processing on requested books, so that they could be used by the patron as quickly as possible. Full cataloging records can always be added when the book is returned after use. Finally he mentioned that they were purchasing an Expresso print-on-demand machine that they will use to fulfill patron requests even faster. They plan on either selling the book to the patron or adding it to the collection when the patron returns it. It is interesting to me that some libraries are in the enviable position of being able to purchase or lease? very expensive equipment, while other are fighting just to keep staff. But it is nifty to see a library so driven to meet patron needs. Patron driven academic libraries are exciting to me, I like it when the needs of students get as much attention as the needs of faculty, staff, and librarians.

I will probably add more to this, or make it more coherent when I have my conference notes.

A little background....

I graduated in August from the University of North Texas's School of Library and Information Science. While attending UNT, I worked as a student assistant and then a graduate assistant in the Preservation Department for the UNT Libraries. I have to say that my job as a graduate assistant there was my favorite job that I have ever held. I enjoyed the opportunities for problem solving and creativity that it afforded me.

As a graduate assistant my duties included the evaulation and repair of books from the Libraries' general collection (Rare Books had their own preservation and conservation squad). Repairs ranged from erasing pencil marks or mending torn pages to replacing the spine or creating protective housing. My boss, Ann Marie, was very hands on at the beginning, but she started letting me do more and more on my own as my skills improved. Ann Marie was also one of the best bosses I've ever had. She was very organized and she always let me know which projects were priorities. In addition she gave me the freedom to make repair decisions for myself, and she challenged me with different types of preservation projects. Such as creating a database to record scraps from a scrapbook, or making it possible for digital projects to scan some very brittle news papers.

During this time, I also volunteered my time to the Rare Books Room at UNT. Where I worked on several preservation and conservation projects, including preserving World War II posters and helping to clean and reconstruct a book from the 18th century. I worked with two great people there, Mary who was head of Rare Books and Edward who was head cataloguer. Both these people were wonderful to work with and learn from (I took several classes from each) as they were very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics realated to rare books and special collections.

When I graduated, I began looking for work in the Austin area for personal reasons. Central Texas, in general is not the best place to look for work because everyone, it seems, wants to live here. If I had had a choice, I would have looked outside the area, but that is how things worked out. So I applied for every library related job I came across, and I had about 4 interviews. One with San Antonio Public Library, one with the State of Texas, one with Austin Public Library and finally Texas State University Library. Only one of the positions I interviewed for was a professional library position (San Antonio), and I think they could tell my heart wasn't in public libraries, though I feel strongly about the services that public libraries provide. So I was hired as a Library Assistant II in the Periodicals department at Texas State's Alkek Library.

I wish that I could have found a professional librarian position, and I still look at the job postings on a weekly basis (More on the lack of pro positions in a later posting). But in the mean time, I'm getting some good reference experience and I'm building my resume in other ways as well (more on that later also). I do miss using my preservation skills, and I try to keep them up by repairing some damaged books at home. I hope to one day continue my education in preservation by completeing at preservation administration course of study.