LITA and OCLC invite nominations for the 2020 Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology. Submit your nomination no later than December 31, 2019.

The Kilgour Research Award recognizes research relevant to the development of information technologies, in particular research showing promise of having a positive and substantive impact on any aspect of the publication, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of information or how information and data are manipulated and managed. The winner receives $2,000 cash, an award citation, and an expense-paid trip (airfare and two nights lodging) to the 2020 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, IL.

Nominations will be accepted from any member of the American Library Association. Nominating letters must address how the research is relevant to libraries; is creative in its design or methodology; builds on existing research or enhances potential for future exploration; and/or solves an important current problem in the delivery of information resources. A curriculum vitae and a copy of several seminal publications by the nominee must be included. Preference will be given to completed research over work in progress. The intent is to recognize a body of work probably spanning years, if not the majority of a career. More information and a list of previous winners can be found on the LITA website.

Thank you to OCLC for recognizing top researchers in our profession by sponsoring this award.

Greetings again from the Steering Committee of Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures, a proposed division of ALA.

Thank you for all of your questions and feedback about the proposed new division! The Steering Committee has been revising Core documents based on what we’ve heard from you so far in order to share draft bylaws and other information with you soon. We want you to know that we are continuing to listen and incorporate the feedback you’re providing via Town Halls, Twitter Chats, the Core feedback form, and more. 

In our next Steering Committee meeting, we will be discussing how we can support the operational involvement of interested volunteers. If you have ideas on how members should be involved, please share them with us through the feedback form. 

We’re working hard to ensure everyone can participate in the Core conversation, so please let us know what could make Core a compelling and worthy division home for you. Full details for all our upcoming events are below.

• Town Hall 3 — Tuesday, November 12, 2019, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Central — Register
• Town Hall 4 — Friday, December 13, 2019, 1:00–2:00 p.m. Central — Register
• #TheCoreQuestion Twitter Chat 2 — Thursday, February 13, 2020, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Central
• Give Feedback — Any time!

Miss any of the discussion? Catch up here:

• Town Hall 1 — October 9, 2019 — View the recording | View a PDF of the questions asked
• #TheCoreQuestion Twitter Chat 1 — October 18, 2019 — Read the transcript
• Town Hall 2 — October 22, 2019 — View the recording | View a PDF of the questions asked
• We Hear You Q&A

You can always stay up to date on the latest Core news by visiting core.ala.org, but we also need to hear from you. Members like you will shape the future of this proposed division — please participate in these conversations to help develop and refine Core’s division identity. 

Sincerely,

Your Core Steering Committee:

Christopher Cronin, 2019-20 ALCTS President-Elect

Tyler Dzuba, 2019-20 LLAMA President-Elect

Evviva Weinraub, 2019-20 LITA President-Elect

Lindsay Cronk, LITA Representative

Erica Findley, ALCTS Representative

Kate Hall, LLAMA Representative

Cotina Jones, LLAMA Representative

Ted Quiballo, LITA Representative

Chelcie Rowell, ALCTS Representative

New This Week

• Metadata & Research Support Specialist, Open Society Research Services, Open Society Foundations, New York, NY
  
• Head of Public Services in The Daniel Library, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
  
• Engineering and Science Liaison, MIT, Cambridge, MA
  
• Head of Technical Services – Library, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
  
• Analyst Programmer 3, Oregon State University Libraries and Press, Corvallis, OR
  
• Collection Information Specialist, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA

Visit the LITA Jobs Site for additional job listings and information on submitting your own job posting.

New This Week

• Metadata Librarian for Distinctive Collections, MIT, Cambridge, MA
• Electronic Access Librarian, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
• Dean, University Libraries, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO
• Administrative/Metadata Specialist, ASR International Corp., Monterey, CA
• Core Systems Librarian, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, OR

Visit the LITA Jobs Site for additional job listings and information on submitting your own job posting.

The September 2019 issue of Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL) is available now. In this issue, ITAL Editor Ken Varnum announces six new members of the ITAL Editorial Board. Our content includes a recap of Emily Morton-Owens’ President’s Inaugural Message, “Sustaining LITA“, discussing the many ways LITA strives to provide a sustainable member organization. In this edition of our “Public Libraries Leading the Way” series, Thomas Lamanna discusses ways libraries can utilize their current resources and provide ideas on how to maximize effectiveness and roll new technologies into operations in “On Educating Patrons on Privacy and Maximizing Library Resources.“

Featured Articles:

“Library-Authored Web Content and the Need for Content Strategy,” Courtney McDonald and Heidi Burkhardt

Increasingly sophisticated content management systems (CMS) allow librarians to publish content via the web and within the private domain of institutional learning management systems. “Libraries as publishers”may bring to mind roles in scholarly communication and open scholarship, but the authors argue that libraries’ self-publishing dates to the first “pathfinder”handout and continues today via commonly used, feature-rich applications such as WordPress, Drupal, LibGuides,and Canvas. Although this technology can reduce costly development overhead, it also poses significant challenges. Read more.

“Use of Language-Learning Apps as a Tool for Foreign Language Acquisition by Academic Libraries Employees,” by Kathia Ibacache

Language-learning apps are becoming prominent tools for self-learners. This article investigates whether librarians and employees of academic libraries have used them and whether the content of these language-learning apps supports foreign language knowledge needed to fulfill library-related tasks. The research is based on a survey sent to librarians and employees of the University Libraries of the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB), two professional library organizations, and randomly selected employees of 74 university libraries around the United States. Read more.

“Is Creative Commons A Panacea for Managing Digital Humanities Intellectual Property Rights?,” by Yi Ding

Digital humanities is an academic field applying computational methods to explore topics and questions in the humanities field. Digital humanities projects, as a result, consist of a variety of creative works different from those in traditional humanities disciplines. Born to provide free, simple ways to grant permissions to creative works, Creative Commons(CC)licenses have become top options for many digital humanities scholars to handle intellectual property rights in the US. Read more.

“Am I on the library website?,” A LibGuides Usability Study by Suzanna Conrad and Christy Stevens

In spring 2015, the Cal Poly Pomona University Library conducted usability testing with ten student testers to establish recommendations and guide the migration process from LibGuides version 1 to version 2. This case study describes the results of the testing as well as raises additional questions regarding the general effectiveness of LibGuides, especially when students rely heavily on search to find library resources. Read more.

“Assessing the Effectiveness of Open Access Finding Tools,” by Teresa Auch Schultz, Elena Azadbakht, Jonathan Bull, Rosalind Bucy, and Jeremy Floyd

The open access (OA) movement seeks to ensure that scholarly knowledge is available to anyone with internet access, but being available for free online is of little use if people cannot find open versions. A handful of tools have become available in recent years to help address this problem by searching for an open version of a document whenever a user hits a paywall. This project set out to study how effective four of these tools are when compared to each other and to Google Scholar, which has long been a source of finding OA versions. Read more.

“Creating and Developing USB Port Covers at Husdon County Community College,” by Lotta Sanchez and John DeLooper

In 2016, Hudson County(NJ) Community College (HCCC) deployed several wireless keyboards and mice with its iMac computers. Shortly after deployment, library staff found that each device’s required USB receiver(a.k.a. dongle)would disappear frequently. As a result, HCCC library staff developed and deployed 3D printed port covers to enclose these dongles. This, for a time, proved very successful in preventing the issue. This article will discuss the development of these port covers, their deployment, and what worked and did not work about the project. Read more.

Submit Your Ideas

Contact ITAL Editor Ken Varnum at varnum@umich.edu with your proposal. Current formats are generally:

• Articles – original research or comprehensive and in-depth analyses, in the 3000-5000 word range.
• Communications – brief research reports, technical findings, and case studies, in the 1000-3000 word range.

Questions or Comments?

For all other questions or comments related to LITA publications, contact us at (312) 280-4268 or lita@ala.org.

New This Week

• Information Research Specialist, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA
• 2020-2021 Library Residency Program (Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship), New York University, Division of Libraries, New York, NY
• Executive Director, Library Connection, Inc, Windsor, CT
• Associate University Librarian, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Visit the LITA Jobs Site for additional job listings and information on submitting your own job posting. New vacancy listings are posted on Wednesday afternoons.

There’s a seat waiting for you…

Register today for a LITA webinar!

Guiding Students through Digital Citizenship

Presenter: Casey Davis

Instructional Designer (IT), Arizona State University

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

12:00 – 1:30 pm Central Time

As academic librarians, we help build our students into digital citizens. It’s our duty to make sure students have the tools and resources to be savvy tech users, become information literate, and understand the permanence of their digital actions. In this 90-minute webinar, you’ll learn research-based best practices you can implement using the framework of the hero’s journey without creating an additional burden on faculty, staff, and students.

Learning objectives for this program include:

• An expanded understanding of digital citizenship within the context of college/university life

• Examining areas where increased awareness and practice is needed within the college/university community

• Creating authentic training for increasing digital citizenship within the college/university community

View details and Register here.

In-House vs. Outsourced Digitization: similarities, key differences and pitfalls to avoid

Presenter: Marina Georgieva

Digital Collections Librarian, University of Nevada – Las Vegas

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

1:00 – 2:00 pm Central Time

With the rise of digitizing archival collections across academic and public libraries, more librarians are getting involved in project management, but not all of them have the expertise or relevant background in digitization or managing projects. In this 60-minute webinar, you’ll gain tips and strategies for managing digitization projects.

Learning objectives for this program include:

• Librarians new to digitization

• Librarians new to project management

• Librarians new to outsourcing and vendor relations

• Librarians (with expertise in all above) willing to learn new perspective of digitization management and vendor relations

View details and Register here.

Taking Altmetrics to the Next Level in Your Library’s Systems and Services

Presenter: Lily Troia

Solutions Account Manager, Digital Science

Tuesday, November 5, 2019 (rescheduled from October 3rd)

1:00 – 2:30 pm Central Time

Altmetrics are traditionally viewed as the realm of evaluation and assessment, but altmetric data can offer valuable insights throughout the research lifecycle. This 90-minute webinar, you’ll learn how to develop a nuanced, strategic framework for incorporating and promoting wider adoption of altmetrics throughout the research lifecycle at your institution and beyond.

Learning objectives for this program include:

• Understand and articulate the ways in which altmetrics come into play throughout the research lifecycle, with particular emphasis on altmetrics’ role in incentivizing and tracking open data and science initiatives, and other non-traditional publication formats.

• Learn how to align institutional and department goals with altmetric workflows and develop an engagement rubric that identifies unique communication strategies for various stakeholder groups.

• Identify and assess benchmarks by which to measure success of altmetrics initiatives with an eye on sustainability and broader cultural change across the scholarly

View details and Register here.

You Can Keynote!

Presenter: Dorothea Salo

Faculty Associate, UW-Madison iSchool

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Noon – 1:00 pm Central Time

That confident person there on the dais, holding the conference crowd in the palm of their hand? That could be you! In this 60-minute webinar, discover your strengths as a keynoter and learn how you prepare best – it’s not the same for everyone. Learn how to think about talk structure and slide design. Discover useful techniques for coping with nerves. Most of all, learn what to avoid!

Learning objectives for this program include:

• Prepare a compelling talk

• Avoid common talk-design and delivery mistakes

• Overcome nerves

View details and Register here.

Can’t attend the live event? No problem! Register and you’ll receive a link to the recording.

Questions or Comments?

Contact us at lita@ala.org or (312) 280-4268.

Sign up for a repeat of this popular webinar.

Taking Altmetrics to the Next Level in Your Library’s Systems and Services

Presenter: Lily Troia, Solutions Account Manager, Digital Science

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Noon – 1:30 pm Central time

This 90-minute webinar will bring you up to speed on the current state of altmetrics and focus in on changes across the scholarly ecosystem to improve work efficiency.

Learning objectives for this program include:

• Understand and articulate the ways in which altmetrics come into play throughout the research lifecycle, with particular emphasis on altmetrics’ role in incentivizing and tracking open data and science initiatives, and other non-traditional publication formats.

• Learn how to align institutional and department goals with altmetric workflows, and develop an engagement rubric that identifies unique communication strategies for various stakeholder groups.

• Identify and assess benchmarks by which to measure success of altmetrics initiatives, with an eye on sustainability and broader cultural change across the scholarly ecosystem.

View details and Register here.

Participants will have full access (including reuse rights under a CC-BY license) to course slides, notes, and exercises. A recording will be made available under a CC-BY license, following the webinar under agreement with LITA.

Can’t attend the live event? No problem!

Register and you’ll receive a link to the recording.

Questions or Comments?

Contact us at lita@ala.org or (312) 280-4268.

Position Description

The LITA Blog Editor has the following responsibilities:

• Recruitment and training of new authors as needed
• Developing a posting calendar and review process, and coordinating blog topics to ensure a wide variety of content
• Conduct regular meetings with the group
• Attend LITA Communications and Marketing Committee meetings as member
• Managing special topics, inviting guest bloggers, working with LITA leadership to post announcements for awards, scholarships, Forum, etc.
• Performing regular maintenance and updates of the Wordpress platform
• Marketing and promoting the blog in collaboration witth the LITA Communications and Marketing Committee
• Preparing an annual report to the LITA Board prior to the Midwinter and Annual meetings

Term of Service

This is a volunteer position that typically involves about 2-4 hours a month of work, depending on the editorial calendar.

This is a two-year appointment that may be renewed with the approval of the LITA Board.

To apply, please fill out the following form by Friday, October 25th: https://docs.lita.org/lita-blog-editor-application-form/

New vacancy listings are posted on Wednesday afternoons.

New This Week

Firmwide Director of Library and Research Services, Sidley Austin LLP, Chicago, IL

Discovery Librarian, Lander University, Greenwood, SC

Librarian/Media Specialist, Academy of Notre Dame, Tyngsboro, MA

Visit the LITA Jobs Site for additional job listings and information on submitting your own job posting.

Position Description

The eLearning Coordinator is charged with handling all of the logistics for scheduling, running, and completing LITA’s webinars and courses.

The Coordinator holds a 3-year appointment with an option for one renewal for a maximum of 2 terms. The initial appointment will begin on October 1, 2019, and will continue through the end of June 2022. This person is expected to work approximately 4 hours a week for 52 weeks a year, although some weeks will likely require fewer hours while others require more. The total should balance out to 208 hours each year.

Responsibilities

• Works with instructors and LITA staff to schedule webinars and courses at least 10 weeks in advance;
• Maintains a year-round calendar of elearning opportunities based on content selected by the LITA Education Committee and LITA Education Acquisitions Editor;
• Obtains signed letters of agreement from instructors;
• Provides ALA Member and Customer Service (MaCS) with information about each session to list it in ALA’s registration system (or enter the information in ALA’s eLearning site when it goes live);
• Creates a web page with all the information about the session;
• Provides LITA staff with content about each session to market each elearning opportunity;
• Works with instructors prior to each session to guarantee quality of content, including holding practice sessions;
• Provides support to instructors for LITA’s webinar and presentation software;
• Acts as the primary contact for all communication with elearning instructors and registrants; refers registration issues to ALA Customer Service;
• Updates elearning information on the LITA website and/or ALA eLearning site as necessary;
• For courses, sets up the Moodle space and adds instructor(s);
• For webinars and synchronous sessions, opens the online room, runs the session, and records it;
• Provides any necessary support for the instructor and participants during the session;
• Creates the evaluation survey for each webinar and course;
• Follows up with participants to thank them for attending, sends the recording link (for courses, this means after each week’s session), and encourages participants to fill out the evaluation survey; sends reminders to fill out the survey as necessary;
• Works with instructors to display LITA marketing materials created by staff at the beginning of each session;
• Submits instructors’ invoices to the LITA Executive Director for processing;
• Sends thank you to presenter(s) along with a link to the survey results;
• Keeps the LITA Education Committee apprised of scheduled and completed sessions;
• Maintains the LITA Education Data Dashboard of statistics for attendance and evaluation survey responses for all elearning sessions;
• Notifies the Education Acquisitions Editor when an elearning opportunity was popular enough to run again;
• Creates a summary statistical report of elearning activity twice a year for the LITA Board (January and June);
• Tracks and summarizes suggested future elearning opportunities submitted by participants on the evaluation survey;
• Submit a monthly timesheet to verify hours worked.

Requirements

• Previous planning or project management experience to maintain a year-round education calendar;
• Good written and oral communication skills;
• Experience working with people from diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, and other backgrounds;
• Must be familiar enough with LITA’s online meeting and presentation software to provide support to instructors and participants (currently Zoom and Google Slides);
• Must be available between 11:00am – 2:00pm Central Time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays each week;
• Must have your own desktop or laptop computer, webcam, headset, and access to a robust internet connection;
• Must be a member of LITA.

Compensation

The position comes with a stipend of $4,160 each year ($20/hour for 208 hours), payable as two installments of $2,080 each in January and August.

To apply, please fill out the following form by Friday, October 18th: https://docs.lita.org/lita-elearning-coordinator-application-form/

Please help me welcome Chrishelle Thomas as LITA’s new Membership and Marketing Manager.

She comes to us from C200, a nonprofit that connects women from the highest levels of successful public and private companies, where she was the Member Services and Programs Administrator. Before that, she was with the American Bar Association for over a decade, serving as their Membership & Events Coordinator and then as their Membership & Marketing Specialist. She has a wealth of experience supporting recruitment and retention campaigns, online community engagement, and digital marketing communications. High-level customer service with a “can do” spirit is one of the greatest attributes she acquired during her tenure at the American Bar Association.

Chrishelle is a certified dance coach and a faith and fashion blogger, encouraging people to become the best version of themselves. She enjoys podcasts, roller skating, and hanging out with her yorkipoo, Mr. Mixx Saint Charles. She holds a BA in Merchandise Management from the International Academy of Design & Technology.

Chrishelle’s pronouns are she/her/hers. Her email address is cthomas@ala.org, and her direct phone number is 312-280-4268. She will be taking over as the staff liaison for the Communications and Marketing and Membership Development committees, although she’ll also be working with each of our groups to promote and market all of teams’ great work.

Welcome to LITA, Chrishelle!

I also want to thank Mark Beatty, who officially retired at the end of August, for his time and commitment as a LITA staff member. Please contact me with any questions or requests you would have sent to him.

New vacancy listings are posted on Wednesday afternoons.

New This Week

Assistant Director for Library Technology, The New School, New York, NY

Library Services Manager, Contra Costa County, Matinez, CA

Metadata Librarian, Bates College, Lewiston, ME

Visit the LITA Jobs Site for additional job listings and information on submitting your own job posting.

Sign up for a repeat of this popular webinar.

You Can Keynote!

Presenter: Dorothea Salo, Faculty Associate, UW-Madison iSchool

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Noon – 1:00 pm Central Time

That confident person there on the dais, holding the conference crowd in the palm of their hand? That could be you! In this 60-minute webinar, discover your strengths as a keynoter and learn how you prepare best — it’s not the same for everyone. Learn how to think about talk structure and slide design. Discover useful techniques for coping with nerves. Most of all, learn what to avoid!

View details and Register here.

Discover upcoming LITA webinars and web courses

Courses are listed by date, Register here

Taking Altmetrics to the Next Level in Your Library’s Systems and Services

Presenter: Lily Troia
Offered: October 3, 2019

Guiding Students through Digital Citizenship(Re-scheduled)

Presenter: Casey Davis
Offered: October 16, 2019

In-house vs. Outsourced Digitization: similarities, key differences and pitfalls to avoid

Presenter: Marina Georgieva
Offered: October 29, 2019

Questions or Comments?

For all other questions or comments related to the course, LITA at (312) 280-4268 or lita@ala.org

New vacancy listings are posted on Wednesday afternoons.

New This Week

Technical Services Assistant, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME

Web Services and Discovery Manager, American University Library, Washington D.C.

Director, Library Services, West Vancouver Memorial Library, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Technology Librarian, Barton College, Wilson, NC

Visit the LITA Jobs Site for additional job listings and information on submitting your own job posting.

New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday afternoons.

New This Week

Systems Librarian, International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C. (search for “systems librarian” on the site)

Part-Time Librarian, Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory, Rancho Mirage, CA

Visit the LITA Jobs Site for more available jobs and information on submitting your own job posting.

Sign up for a repeat of this popular LITA webinar.

Taking Altmetrics to the Next Level in Your Library’s Systems and Services

Instructor: Lily Troia, Solutions Account Manager, Digital Science
October 3, 2019, Noon – 1:30 pm Central time

Altmetrics are traditionally viewed as the realm of evaluation and assessment, but altmetric data can offer valuable insights throughout the research lifecycle. It can help inform researcher decisions around where to publish or self-deposit, with whom (and where) to collaborate, and provide those tasked with facilitating the scholarly process a richer, more complete view of research attention and influence.

Register here, courses are listed by date

This 90-minute webinar will bring participants up to speed on the current state of altmetrics, and focus in on changes across the scholarly ecosystem. Through sharing of use cases, tips, and open discussion, this session will help participants to develop a nuanced, strategic framework for incorporating and promoting wider adoption of altmetrics throughout the research lifecycle at their institution and beyond.

View details and Register here.

Discover upcoming LITA webinars and web courses

Guiding Students through Digital Citizenship – Re-scheduled
Presenter: Casey Davis
Offered: October 16, 2019

In-house vs. Outsourced Digitization: similarities, key differences and pitfalls to avoid
Presenter: Marina Georgieva
Offered: October 29, 2019

You Can Keynote
Presenter: Dorothea Salo
Offered: November 14, 2019

Questions or Comments?

For all other questions or comments related to the course, LITA at (312) 280-4268 or lita@ala.org

New vacancy listings are posted weekly on Wednesday at approximately 12 noon Central Time. They appear under New This Week and under the appropriate regional listing. Postings remain on the LITA Job Site for a minimum of four weeks.

New This Week

Cornell University Library, Metadata Operations Librarian, Ithaca, NY

MIT, Full Stack Engineer, EngX team, Cambridge, MA

MIT, Lead Engineer, EngX team, Cambridge, MA

MIT, Cloud Infrastructure Engineer, Cambridge, MA

MIT, Manager, Infrastructure Engineering, Cambridge, MA

Harvard Graduate School of Design, GIS, Data, and Research Librarian, Cambridge, MA

City of New Port Richey Public Library, Librarian I, New Port Richey, FL

Shuart & Associates, Law Librarian, Austin, TX

Clemson University, Digital and Preservation Archivist, Clemson, SC

Washington University in St. Louis, Head of Digital Library, Saint Louis, MO

Visit the LITA Job Site for more available jobs and for information on submitting a job posting.