InsideOCULA

ONTARIO COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION (OCULA)

REQUIRES A VOLUNTEER POSITION: Deputy Editor, OCULA Online Publications

OCULA is accepting applications for a new volunteer position. The Deputy Editor assists the Editor-in-Chief, who is  responsible for all OCULA Online Publications, including, but not limited to, the online newsletter, website, and blog.

Mission:

OCULA Online Publications serve as a forum to discuss issues, share news of activities, projects, and people; and exchange ideas of concern and interest to the university and college libraries sector in Ontario.

Position Details:

• The Deputy Editor (DE) will assist the Editor-in-Chief in the content development and design of the all OCULA Online Publications.
• They will serve as an ex-officio member of OCULA Council for a 6-year term (3 years as Deputy Editor, 3 years as Editor-in-Chief).
• They will attend OCULA Council meetings, either in person at the OLA office in downtown Toronto or by teleconference. Meetings take place five times per year, including the AGM at Super Conference.
• The workload of this position will vary according to the publication schedule but will be approximately 12 hours per month.

Benefits:

This position is an excellent opportunity to expand your experience and establish your record in writing, editing, and web publishing within a collaborative environment. OCULA editors maintain contact with librarians across the province, developing a wide network of colleagues in the process.

Requirements:

Applicants must be OCULA members in good standing. We are looking a well-organized, innovative and energetic person who is dedicated to making the suite of OCULA Online Publications attractive, useful, and thought-provoking to the readership;

Applicants will demonstrate editing and writing skills and creativity, as well as experience with web content development and web technologies. An interest in emerging web communication tools is an asset. OCULA Council will assign the position of Deputy Editor based on the experience and qualifications of the successful applicants.

Please submit your applications to Nathalie Soini at soinin@queensu.ca by September 30, 2009.

The application package should include:

• A one-page letter indicating your interest in the position and outlining your relevant experience
• A portfolio of your writing, editing and/or web content creation work

This position will commence at the OCULA Annual General Meeting at the OLA Super Conference in Feb. 2010.

Blog posting from a new librarian

Well, this is my final blog posting as a resident OCULA new librarian. I must admit, the year has flown by. This blog has given me the opportunity to reflect back on my first year as a librarian and hopefully, to provide you with some insights and hints which have been helpful to you.

I hope this year has been an exciting and positive experience for each and every one of you. I trust that you have begun to develop your own networks and support systems which will assist you throughout your career.  These networks will become important in the next few years as our profession undergoes a transformation. I wonder what we will be doing in five years. How much will librarianship and libraries change? I believe the changes will be significant. I do hope that as we change, we retain the values which make librarianship so appealing.

There will be much to talk about. …

All the best

Carol Perry

We’re just doing some testing. Please ignore this message.

On May 1, 2009 Ruth Wallace was appointed Head, Metadata Access for a five year renewable term.  This newly created position expands upon the responsibilities of the former Head, Cataloguing role.  The Metadata Access department is responsible for a variety of services including bibliographic control, electronic access management, and database management.  Ruth graduated from Western’s MLIS program in 1998, after earning a BEd (1966) and a BA (Hons) in English and French (1995), also at Western.  She joined Western Libraries in 2001 as a Reference/Collections/Instruction/Liaison Librarian for English, French, Modern Languages and Literatures, and Theory and Criticism.  Prior to this, Ruth was employed at the University of Windsor’s Leddy Library as their first Information Literacy Coordinator paired with Cataloguing responsibilities, during which time she also moonlighted at the Windsor Public Library as a Reference Librarian and Project Coordinator.  Ruth moved from a reference and instruction role to Library Information Resources Management in July of 2007, after a leave of 18 months to care for a newborn son.  This is her first management position.

As of May 1st, Anna Stoute is the new Head of Research and Instructional Services, Allyn and Betty Taylor Library. Anna brings to the position experience as the Head Librarian at Macdonald Campus Library, McGill University, where she has worked since 2002, first as a Liaison Librarian, and since 2006, as the Head Librarian.  She obtained her MLIS in 2002 and BA in 1998 (Sociology and Women Studies) at McGill University. In addition to her managerial duties in the Macdonald Campus Library, Anna has served on numerous library and university committees while at McGill, and is active in both SLA and CLA.

Blog posting from a new librarian

As my second annual assessment approaches, I have been asked whether or not I felt I would benefit from some kind of mentoring program. Mentoring is certainly something new librarians should consider, especially if you have no previous academic library experience. The learning curve is steep and having someone pointing out the basics (and the details) can be very beneficial. Left to your own devices, it may actually take a while before you know what questions to ask.

Finding a mentorship program which reflects your needs should be part of the process. Numerous academic libraries, library associations and library organizations offer mentorship opportunities for new librarians. OLA, as you may know, provides a mentorship program where individuals are matched with a mentor based on areas of interest (http://accessola.com/ola/bins/content_page.asp?cid=105-2843). There are also various organizations such as the Library Networking Group (http://www.libraryng.com/) where you can find information and advice online. 

Many areas of librarianship may be completely new to the novice librarian. Networking, developing research projects, committee or project work, publishing and involvement in community service may not have been part of your educational or personal experience to date. Talking to established librarians can provide valuable insight into methods to try and pitfalls to avoid while you figure it all out.

Of particular importance may be seeking guidance in understanding the whole academic librarian review process.  If you were hired on a continuing appointment track, you may definitely benefit from receiving advice on how to navigate your way through the first few years. Each institution’s criteria for achieving continuing appointment will be different, based on the collective agreement; therefore, you may want to inquire about mentorship through the process at your own library.  It will take time to develop a portfolio that will reflect your professional development leading to a continuing appointment.  

Whether you decide a formal mentorship program works for you or whether you prefer to seek advice on an ad hoc informal basis, knowing you can find guidance when you need it is half the battle. Above all, ask questions. Most of us, by nature, are inquisitive people. We know from our reference experience that asking questions speeds up the learning process. Ask for advice if you feel you are floundering. Don’t feel that you have to figure it all out on your own.  You have a network you can rely on.

I have found that my colleagues have been more than happy to share their experiences and to provide examples of how to write reviews, or suggest opportunities for professional development. Librarians are a generous group.

Cheers

Carol Perry
University of Guelph

Congratulations to Brock University who is the winner of the first OCULA New Librarian Residency Award!

Brock will be awarded $20,000 to be put towards a salary for a New Librarian Residency position.

Brock will issue the job posting shortly and the new librarian (graduated between August 2008-August 2009) will begin by the new academic year.

Watch for the full story in the Fall issue of InsideOCULA.

OCULA Spring Dinner 2009
Tuesday, June 9
5:30pm, $39

Ryerson University
55 Dundas St.
(between Yonge and Bay Streets)

Registration: http://www.thepartnership.ca/partnership/bins/calendar_page.asp?cid=2488-2323-3046

Meet and mingle with your colleagues at this wonderful annual event! This year’s function is being held in the new Ted Rogers School of Management in the Lounge on the top floor – with access to a beautiful rooftop garden for the Reception.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Arne Kislenko, Professor, Ryerson University

Spies, intelligence, national security issues, terrorism, intrigue, international travel–our speaker, Ryerson professor Dr. Arne Kislenko has experienced it all!

While working as a Senior Officer with Canada Immigration at Lester B. Pearson Airport between 1989 and 2002 Dr. Kislenko dealt with many high profile national security cases. As an international scholar on modern international relations he appears regularly in the media commenting on current affairs, including U.S. foreign policy, national security/intelligence, terrorism, immigration, and modern diplomatic history.

Dr. Kislenko has also worked closely with “Paris 1919″ author Margaret MacMillan and co-wrote “The Uneasy Century: International Relations,1900-1990 ” with her. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the International Relations Program at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, and was a Visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin. An avid traveller, Dr. Kislenko has recently authored books on the culture and customs of Thailand and Laos.

Dr. Kislenko has received numerous awards for his teaching, including that of “Best Lecturer in Ontario” by TV Ontario viewers following the first Big Ideas “Academic Idol” television series in November 2005.

Directions:

By Subway:
• From Dundas Station walk west one block along Dundas Street.
• From St. Patrick’s Station walk east along Dundas Street to Bay Street.

By Streetcar: Take Dundas car and get off at Bay Street.

“Get It Where You Can: the Changing World of Collections and Acquisitions”

WNY/O ACRL Spring Conference 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Sheraton Four Points
St. Catharines, Ontario

Limited funds, patron urgency, and new technologies are a few of the factors that drive innovations in resource sharing. Academic libraries have demonstrated ingenuity in addressing these challenges and as a result more efficient models are developed. Ultimately, we strive to improve patron satisfaction, and often, the outcomes are impressive. Buy-on-demand, direct consortial borrowing, and streamlined ILL are some models that are proving to be very effective.

As always, challenges remain. Please join us on May 8, 2009 at the FourPoints Sheridan in St. Catherines Ontario for a conversation on resource sharing and the implications on collection development and library services.

The registration form can be found at: http://www.niagara.edu/library/acrl/upconf.html

Library students who register are automatically entered into a draw for the equivalent of their registration fee. The draw is held at the conference.

Registration fees are:

$75 for ACRL WNY/O Chapter members or library support staff
$90 for non-members who join now**(Join now and save!)
$100 for non-members
$40 for full-time library school students
$50 for attendees presenting a poster session

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Presentations:

“Reconsidering access and resource sharing: service opportunities and strategies for 2010″ by Cyril Oberlander

Cyril Oberlander is the Associate Director of Milne Library at the SUNY College at Geneseo. Prior to that he oversaw Interlibrary Loan processes at University of Virginia Library 2005-2008; and Portland State University from 1996-2005.

Cyril’s presentation will focus on how information trends enable exciting opportunities and transformational strategies for individual libraries and library groups. These opportunities will allow libraries to meet the pressure of growing expectations, despite a long history of declining budgets. Using concepts like cooperative and community collections, and strategies for reworking the fragmented library environment, Cyril shares a number of tools and projects that help libraries remake services like Access Services, Acquisitions, Collection Development, Reference, and Resource Sharing.

“Connect NY and Rapid ILL: Shared collections and speedy delivery for a satisfied patron” by George Emery, Associate Director of the Library for Access Services, Canisius College

Connect NY is a pioneering consortium of libraries in NYS in which individual catalogs have been merged so that patrons can directly borrow books from participating libraries. As a result over 6 million items are available for rapid delivery.

George Emery, the Associate Director of the Library for Access Services at Canisius College, will detail the logistical and technological challenges in implementing this project. He will share recent advancements in the concept, including the use of Rapid ILL for article deliveries among participating libraries, and deliberate coordinated collection development. The consortium has also joined the Center for Research Libraries to further increase the resources available.

The details and benefits of this groundbreaking arrangement are fascinating, and are sure to have repercussions in how libraries will be thinking about resource sharing.

“Purchase-on-Demand and the Perfect Storm”
Cynthia A. Bertuca, Associate Director of Access Services for Document Delivery, University at Buffalo

I’m sure most of us have experienced the following scenario. While performing collection development, we meticulously examine the reviews, assess how the items will fit with our programs, and relate these issues to budgetary concerns. Then, we contemplate whether the item will ever be used. Fortunately many forward-thinking libraries are implementing purchase-on-demand models and with that, we can be assured that the purchased items will be used.

Cynthia Bertuca, the Associate Director of Access Services for Document Delivery at the University at Buffalo will put the concept of purchase-on-demand into context by exploring trends in publishing, available acquisition dollars, consumer expectations and plans for the library of the future. She will review current purchase-on-demand projects across the country, and present the model being used at the University at Buffalo in detail.

“Getting it Right: reshaping and redesigning Acquisitions and ILL workflow in an academic library”
by Kate Pitcher, Collection Development Librarian, SUNY Geneseo and
Tim Bowersox, Information Delivery Services Librarian, SUNY Geneseo

In 2004, SUNY Geneseo joined eleven other SUNY libraries in a new resource sharing endeavor, the IDS Project, created to explore and develop new strategies for innovative resource sharing and eventually, mutual collection building. Since then, the project has grown to over 35 libraries, including private and public colleges, and now includes the New York Public Library and the New York State Library. The evolution of the IDS project provides us with efficient delivery, benchmarking and performance standards, as well as a unique and necessary opportunity for assessing and redesigning ILL, acquisitions and the collecting of materials as one library in a larger pool of shared resources.

Under these conditions, at SUNY Geneseo the Information Delivery Services Librarian and Collection Development Librarian are collaborating to reshape, redesign and improve the access, delivery and acquisition of materials. Purchase-on-Demand is one such means of addressing cost-effective means of resource sharing, but what about reassessing and redesigning the entire materials acquisition process? Who should be selecting for our collection? What is the best and most efficient means of workflow in the ILL and acquisitions departments? What are the implications for collection development and traditional technical services work? Come listen to two librarians discuss the thorny issues involved in redesigning library workflow and shaking up traditional library functions.

Poster presentations:

“Getting Graphic at McGrath Library: Starting a Graphic Novel Collection at an Academic Library”
By Liz Curry, Technical Services Coordinator at Hilbert College McGrath Library

In today’s changing world, it is extremely important for academic libraries and librarians to find new ways to reach out and connect to their patrons. Over the past few years, the popularity of graphic novels, especially among students, has drastically increased. Graphic novels are a great way to get reluctant readers interested in reading. It can also be a way for students to learn about controversial topics or historical events. Many movies, television shows, and video games are based on graphic novels. The most recent example is the movie Watchmen which was just released in movie theaters this month.

McGrath Library recognized this popularity, and decided to start a graphic novel section through collection development. In order to gain more knowledge about graphic novels, and to decide what would be best to purchase for our library, McGrath Library utilized Interlibrary Loan to request many different types of graphic novels from many different libraries. A few librarians took on the task of reading and evaluating these graphic novels. After doing so, the librarians decided on a set number of graphic novels to purchase, and started the collection!

Liz’s poster presentation will explain the process McGrath library went through in creating their graphic novel collection, advice for other libraries, how they promoted their graphic novel collection and where McGrath Library will go from here.

“Get it Where You Can: Students get Reference Assistance Where they Want It!”
By Anita Whitehead, Reference Services Librarian at Genesee Community College

This poster session traces the development of the Roving Librarian at Genesee Community College from initial casual forays to the cafeteria to a full fledged service. It will outline the search for funding, the basic components of a roving station, service schedules, statistics, and evaluation of services provided. Now in its third year, the Roving Librarian has shown its value as a marketing tool and outreach service.

With her strong background in reference and distinctly nomadic lifestyle, it was inevitable that Anita would become a Roving Librarian! –

Jocelyn Phillips

Liaison Librarian (College of Biological Sciences)
University of Guelph
Room 273
McLaughlin Library
Guelph, Ontario
N1G 2W1

Phone: (519)824-4120, ext. 52329
Email: jophilli@uoguelph.ca

Blog posting from a new librarian

Exams are over, the students are on break and it is time to take a deep breath…you have made it through your first academic year. I always look forward to this quieter time to regroup.  You can find a seat in the cafeteria and meet friends for coffee. You can sit outside and enjoy the sun on your lunch break. You now have time to wind down from the hectic pace of the final weeks of the past semester. It is a time to take stock of what you have accomplished, what went well and what you would revise the next time around.

But spring/summer is not necessarily the long, slow, relaxed interlude you may be anticipating. It has been my experience that summer brings with it the mound of work which has piled up and been set aside during the fall and winter. It is also a time for collection moves, weeding projects, planning for new programs/services and, of course, that Part B of your contract. You remember … the part where you delve into your own research questions.

It is important to ensure that before you rush headlong into a new project for the summer that you take the time to regroup and refresh. Clean out your email. Tidy up your files. Toss out all unnecessary paperwork you have accumulated. Catch up on all the little nagging things you have put off until you have time to focus. Enjoy the change of pace. August will arrive sooner than you think….

Cheers

Carol Perry

E-reserves and your Academic Library: a forum on software, video streaming and copyright practices for e-reserve services

Thursday June 11, 2009
9am-5pm

The online environment provides libraries with countless opportunities to expand and launch new services. The use of electronic reserves for course readings is one of those services currently experiencing increasing demand. While users highly appreciate and celebrate having their readings available online, e-reserves stewardship poses legal as well as technological issues and challenges for libraries.

During this forum, we invite you to analyze, share, reflect and discuss the delivery of electronic course materials, as well as its challenges and opportunities.

Topics and speakers include:

• ARES Course Reserve Management Software: Heather Martin, University of Guelph
• Transition to DigiTool: Jennifer Peters-Lise, Seneca College
• RefWorks and e-reserves: Laura Walton, York University
• Integration of E-reserves within Blackboard and e-reserve survey results: Ophelia Cheung, Dana Thomas and Mandissa Arlain, Ryerson University
• Video Streaming, Lisa DiBarbora, Humber ITAL
• Copyright clearance of e-reserves resources, Heather Martin
• YouTube in the classroom, Adam Weissengruber, Humber ITAL

Registration is limited and free, open to post-secondary institution librarians and e-reserve staff. Coffee and lunch will be provided.

To Register: Please confirm by Friday May 1st , 2009 to the email address ghlib@guelphhumber.ca

Location: University of Guelph-Humber (UofGH), 207 Humber College Blvd., Etobicoke, Toronto, ON .
More information about the UofGH : http://www.guelphhumber.ca