Library Futures: Redesigning Today's Public Services 11/12/10

This was a College of DuPage teleconference lead by Marie Radford. The discussion revolved around reference services and how they are in transition. She talked about the increased need for collaboration and consortial involvement; librarians no longer need to be the Lone Reference Desk Ranger.
The influence of mobile applications was discussed; this ties with the last College of DuPage teleconference on Libraries & the Mobile Technologies Landscape held on 9/24/10. She gave examples of augmented reality (AR app) and Quick Response Codes (QR Codes). (The 9/24/10 presentation also discussed QR Codes!)
She devoted a good portion of time to the discussion of outreach. Whether that is a public library with a drive-up window (interesting considering that had been on the table for the new Marshall-Lyon County Library building), or an academic library like Penn State University that has an "ASK Cart" that travels around campus with a librarian (a.k.a. Library Dude) at the helm. She also referenced Cornell University's tiered system of having a non-professional librarian staffing the Information Desk so that professional librarians could spend the majority of their time doing professional duties and be called upon as needed to answer true reference questions. (I recall a similar model in place at the University of Iowa when I was completing my graduate program there.) She noted that 85% of questions that come to the Information/Reference Desk are NOT reference questions. She also mentioned a small liberal arts college (Franklin & Marshall) whose librarians make "House Calls" to the academic departments. All of these examples demonstrate ways librarians can make themselves available at the point-of-need while at the same time help change perceptions of librarians (i.e., we're not all waiting behind an intimidating desk for people to approach us).
In response to a listener question about the future of print reference, Marie answered an unequivocal "Print Reference is Dead." She specifically mentioned that the Oxford English Dictionary is 100% an electronic product now and that Encyclopedia Britannica in print has been declining in sales since 1990. This reminded me that my 10-year-old daughter just asked me this week if we have an encyclopedia set at home. I responded that we (along with all Minnesotans) have access to a great encyclopedia online, so we don't need a print one in the house. She responded, "I thought so." :)
Marie's presentation concluded with her thoughts that as librarians we need to continue to thrive and move forward embracing the technologies our patrons are using and find ways to meet them in that environment.

RDA: What It Is, and What It Means to You - November 11, 2010

I tuned in to a Minitex webinar led by Mark Ehlert about RDA (Resource Description and Access.) The presentation included an introduction to the foundations of RDA, FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data), covered what RDA is along with an explanation of the toolkits available, the testing that has been done, and the potential rollout of RDA.

This was a great introduction to the topic and set the stage for learning more details about using RDA when/if that time comes. Mark made it clear AACR2 is not going away any time soon, but it's still a good idea to start planning for the likely change to RDA down the line.
These are the major ideas about RDA to keep in mind at this time:
1) RDA is the proposed successor to AACR2

• rules for creating descriptions of resources
• rules for devising access points to discover resources
• rules follow AACR2 predominantly
• greater reliance on cataloger's judgment
• fewer abbreviations used; words are transcribed instead (e.g., First edition instead of 1st ed.)

2) Based on FRBR/FRAD rather than ISBD

3) Layout of the materials and terminology differ from AACR2 (not as linear)

4) 3 new fields (336, 337, 338) will be required in an RDA record

Surely much more to come on this topic!

MnPALS User Groups - October 28, 2010

I attended the MnPALS User Group meetings at the Wellstone Center in St. Paul on Thursday, October 28, 2010. As the Circulation User Group convener, I had been involved in the planning for this day and was looking forward to seeing librarians from around the state! It was a good, but packed day of meetings. I attended the following sessions:
ILL Subsystem Meeting
Circulation Subsystem Meeting
Systems Subsystem Meeting
Lunch/General Session
Reference Subsystem Meeting
Cataloging Subsystem Meeting
The staff at the PALS Office does a great job of keeping us informed of changes, especially in regards to the upcoming version change. The upgrade to Version 20 is scheduled for January 28-30. Online training sessions will be held with more details, but it was nice to catch a glimpse of some coming changes.
One of the biggest things I pulled away from this day of meetings is to take some time to look at the report options in ALEPH. The Reports Group has been working hard to create new reports that are key to the consortium. There is much clean-up of records that needs to be done, so I've started working on that project.
Overall it was a great day for connecting with colleagues and being active in the consortium.