Notes from our first meeting…
We met at the Cold Spring Harbor Library on April 20, 2009 at 10am.
In attendance: Lauren Gilbert, Rona Dressler, Gary Lutz, Jo-Ann Carhart, Karen Kramer, Elaine Conner, Dave Concar, Bruce Silverstein, Candace Hope, Therese Nielsen, Marion Sullewsky, Teresa Schwind, and Samantha Alberts.
We came up with a new, deliberately vague mission statement that will give us a lot of leeway in deciding on future speakers and topics, and not limit us to current technologies:
The committee seeks to promote the use, awareness, and understanding of all electronic resources as they relate to the work of the library.
The committee will meet four times per year, one organizational meeting, possibly two workshops or panel discussions run by librarians for librarians, and sponsor one speaker. The committee will be able to offer a stipend of approximately $250 for a speaker.
Starting next year we would also like to sponsor a session at the Long Island Library Conference. Because slots are limited, we may want to consider co-sponsoring with another committee. One possible suggestion– co-sponsor with Local History and showcase the use of interactive Web technologies to promote local history collections. We will need to submit our request before December 7, 2009.
We discussed that while in the past the committee focused mainly on proprietary databases, demonstrating new databases at the meetings and giving feedback to SCLS about their utility, in the future the committee will also address non-database issues, including but not limited to the development of library Web pages, new content management systems for the Web, use of social networking in libraries, and presence of library content on outside aggregate web sites (flickr, etc.)
We discussed the ongoing issue of getting patrons to use the databases, the difficulty of use as compared to google searches, the many layers of web pages patrons need to click through in order to access them, problems with barcode authentication and passwords, and the general lack of awareness. As the rest of the Web gets more open, inviting, and interactive, this problem is only increasing.
Possible topics for future speakers:
Use of the Kindle in the library
Mobile technology in the library
Web Copyright issues
Web 3.0-the Semantic Web–What’s next?
Our next meeting will be at SCLS on Tuesday, July 14 at 10am. We will have a panel presentation on the use of collaborative software for in-house staff pages in the library.
Lauren will demonstrate the i-google reference page at Cold Spring Harbor.
Possibly someone from East Hampton will demonstrate their use of google apps as well, including the collaborative calendar function.
Rona will demonstrate the in-house blog at Patchogue-Medford, and someone from Huntington will demonstrate their blog.
We need a librarian to demonstrate the use of an in-house wiki. The children’s department at Cold Spring Harbor uses a wiki, if we can’t come up with an adult services example.
Comments are welcome. Please let me know if I forgot anything. In the next post, we can open up the discussion on our choice of speaker for the fall.
Welcome!
Welcome to the Electronic Resources Committee blog.
Please join us at the Cold Spring Harbor Library on April 20, 2009 at 10am for an organizational brainstorming meeting. Let’s discuss where we would like to take this committee, rewrite our mission statement, and plan our future!
Sign up at our online events calendar.
