Seminar Series: Digital Asset Management: The realities of modern digital and media asset management

Henry Stewart Talks has released a series of seven seminars on digital asset management.  Samples of some of the sessions are available for free. The entire series is available for $119 for three years.  I don't know anything about this series, except what is on the web site.  I do know that Seth Earley, one of the presenters, has done with with libraries and other information organizations.

Amazon Listmania! List: Digitization, Digital Libraries & Copyright

In the past, I have tended to use an Amazon.com wish list as well as blog posts to track books of interest relating to digitization and copyright.  Earlier this year, I converted those into an Amazon Listmania list and then added other related books from Amazon.  A few people have stumbled across the list and perhaps have found it useful.  If you're curious about what's on it, check it out.

For me, this is truly a list to use to jog my memory.  Yeah...I saw a copyright book that would be useful...what was it again?  If you'd like to create a list to jog your memory, you can do it in Amazon (or another online bookseller), LibraryThing or on other web sites.  (And having it online really is more useful than in a document on your computer.)  The trick is to find a place that you'll remember and that will have or allow you to enter information that you know will be useful.  Not only is that list then available for you, but you can also share it with others.  And perhaps, if funding is available, it could be the list you use to updated your institution's collection.

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FTC Disclaimer: Digitization 101 is an Amazon affiliate and may receive a small commission if you purchase a product or service from an Digitization 101 Amazon link. (Trust me, I'm not getting rich off of Amazon.)

Happy Thanksgiving! (and The Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project)

Here in the United States, we celebrate a day of thankfulness in November that historically is tied to a celebration of the Pilgrims with the Native Americans in 1621. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October, which may be closer to when the first Thanksgiving occurred because that would have been at the end of the harvest...if indeed such an event actually occurred. At any rate, while we do pause to give thanks, the day is actually marked with big meals, big parades, and getting ready for big consumer sales on Friday.

What generally doesn't happen on Thanksgiving is thinking seriously about the people who were here before the Europeans landed.  There are more than 500 federally recognized Native American Nations within the boundaries of the U.S.  An honest map of the U.S. would show lots of spots that are not actually part of the U.S. because they are tribal lands. 

The Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project contains tribal constitutions and codes.  As the web site says:

The University of Oklahoma Law Center Library and the National Indian Law Library work with tribes whose government documents appear on this web site; these tribal documents are either placed online with the permission of the tribes, or they are U.S. Government documents, rightfully in the public domain.

If you're wondering about the First People among us and their laws (including information on land rights), this is a great place to start. 

What I want LIS students to know

Every fall, a new group of graduate students arrives in the classroom on their way to becoming librarians and information professionals.Each group is full of energy and ideas, and ready to take on the world. Each student believes in the power of information, even before they fully realize the power that information holds. Every person is willing to make sacrifices in order to reach his/her goal. While the wide-eyed "this is awesome" attitude remains during the semester, it often becomes tempered as students attend to the details of their classes and their lives as graduate students. We're at the point in the semester where stress and elation are hand-in-hand.  The end of the semester is in sight, but there is so much to do before then!

With that as a backdrop, this is what I want LIS students to know (no matter where in the world you are)...

You have selected a noble professional, no matter what name you use to describe it. Every organization and person needs help locating and using information, and you are becoming poised to assist them. You can help them with its organization and retrieval. You can help with its interpretation and dissemination. You can work to ensure that information is available to those who need it, no matter who the person is or where the person is located.

Yes, what we call ourselves is in flux.  We do seem to be hung-up on labels, which is unfortunate.  What really matters are the knowledge and skills that we have.  Your knowledge and skills will open doors for you, and land you in positions that you might not have imagined when you first said, "I want to be a librarian."

Your coursework won't teach you everything you need to know. While you will learn a tremendous amount during your coursework, LIS programs are not apprenticeships and we're not like medical schools where students do full-fledged residencies as part of their programs.  We aim to teach you theory and introduce you to practice.  We give you opportunities to learn and to dive into your practice through specific assignments and your internship.

Although there are some thing that you'll need to pick up on the job (and this does happen in every profession), you can take opportunities that present themselves to extend your learning outside of the classroom.  If you see an opportunity, grab it!  And if you don't see an opportunity, create one!

Every information professional you meet during your graduate program is a person who can connect you to a job.  It doesn't matter if you see the person in the classroom, at a conference, or on a library tour...that person has connections that could help you, if only you asked. mmm...and there is the problem...you have to engage the person in order to ask about opportunities. I know that it isn't easy talking to strangers, but your joining a profession that likes to share information and be helpful (those really are our traits), so just start with "hi" and let a conversation start.  Remember to exchange contact information and then, when you're comfortable, ask about the opportunities that person sees on the horizon.

Your reputation, CV/resume and portfolio matter.  I believe in having a portfolio of work that you can share with a prospective employer, as well as your resume/CV.  Many people are creating their portfolios online and including in them samples of their work (e.g., papers and presentations).  Keep in mind that your portfolio doesn't need to be fancy; it just needs to be a good representation of you.  Placing this information online -- either on a web site, in a blog, or in LinkedIn (perhaps with a connection to SlideShare) -- allows you to present what you want people to know about you and your work.  It also makes you more findable.  Someone searching on a topic of interest may stumble upon something you have and then be interested in you as a professional. And - yes - you want to be findable.

As you think about your resume and portfolio, also think about your reputation.

According to a Microsoft survey of more than 1,200 hiring managers in December 2009, 79% of companies and recruiters reviewed online information about job applicants and 70% had actually rejected candidates based on what they found. - Information Today, Nov. 2010, p. 1

Take time to clean up that information that is online about you in Facebook and other social networking site.  Review the photos that you're in and make sure that they reflect the you that an employer would like to hire.  And check your profiles - even in places like Twitter - to ensure that they say what you truly want to communicate.   

The bottom line is - Don't lose out on a job opportunity because you either were not findable or what was found wasn't deemed professional.

By the way, this guide can help you think about your resume/CV, cover letter and job interviews.

Use all of the resources that are available to you.  I suspect that you haven't explored all of the resources that are available to you on campus that will help you prepare to find a job as well as ensure that you're prepared for that job.  Have you stopped into Career Services?  Have you done mock interviews?  Have you check out other resources that have been mentioned on syllabi, in classes or during orientation?  Odds are that you haven't and that's a shame.  Those resources are there to help you (and you've paid for them), so you should be using them.

There are also resources on campus to help you when your stressed or when your world seems to be crashing around you.  If you need them, please - please - please use them.  If you don't know what those resources might be, please ask. (Think you have no one to ask, then ask me!)

Yes, there are also fun resources on campus. We tend to get caught up in all the work that needs to be done and forget that relaxation is important.  So do schedule time to walk through a building that you think is interesting or to check out an art exhibit.  Those few moments will help to refuel you.

Ingest more content about the profession.  That includes reading blogs as well as the professional literature, watching videos and presentations, and listening to podcasts.  You might start with:

• Information Today  (magazine)
• Searcher (magazine)
• EContent (magazine)
• Library Journal (magazine)
• LibPunk Radio (podcast)
• Adventures in Library Instruction (podcast)
• T is for Training (podcast)
• Free Range Librarian (blog)
• Tennant: Digital Libraries (blog)
• Book of Trogool (blog)
• David Lee King (blog)
• Walking Papers (blog)

Of course, these are a few of hundreds of resources available to you!  So explore and find those that challenge your thinking as well as inform you. Develop an informed opinion about the profession and what we do (or should be doing).

If you haven't joined a professional association, do so and then read its discussion lists, blogs, and journals as well as attend its meetings.  (I'm partial to SLA, but you should join whichever you believe will help you reach your goals.)

Your view of your future depends on where you are sitting.   Where are you sitting?  By yourself? In a group? With movers-n-shaker? With those that are fearful of the future? With those that are innovative and entrepreneurial? Are you in a vehicle that is moving forward, staled, or headed in reverse?  Think about those questions and, if necessary, switch your seat!

Finally, no matter the day or the time, there are people who are supportive of you and your desire to be a librarian (or knowledge professional or information professional or...).  Grad school is a stressful time for everyone, so do reach out to family and friends and allow them to heap words of encouragement on you and maybe a little help to get you through a rough spell (e.g., dinner, a game of cards or help with laundry).  Don't worry...at some point, you'll repay their efforts by being there to give them or someone else needed support.  Who knows...you might find yourself lending support to a stressed LIS student.

Event: 2011 NFAIS Annual Conference - Taming the Information Tsunami: A New World of Discovery

See the press release below about this event.

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NFAIS 2011 ANNUAL CONFERENCE: TAMING THE INFORMATION TSUNAMI:  THE NEW WORLD OF DISCOVERY

Philadelphia, PA, November 30, 2010 – The National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS - www.nfais.org), the premier membership association for organizations that create, organize and facilitate access to authoritative information, has released the program for its 2011 Annual Conference, Taming the Information Tsunami: A New World of Discovery. The conference will be held at the Hyatt at the Bellevue in Philadelphia, PA from February 27 - March 1, 2011, and will take a look at how publishers and librarians are successfully navigating the exponential growth of digital information to provide scholars and researchers with the reliable, relevant information that deserves their time and attention – no matter what the source, language or medium!

“The Web, search engines and social media have created an information tsunami,” said NFAIS President, Judith Russell.  “We are flooded daily by e-mails, RSS feeds, and postings from blogs, social networks, and other sources.  And Web searching can deliver thousands of results across all media platforms – text, video, audio, datasets and more. Yet, despite today’s wealth of information, finding the most relevant and credible content can be difficult and time-consuming.  Whether you are a publisher, librarian or an information seeker - we all face the same challenge - and that is to ensure that reliable information is not missed and that misinformation is not used.”

Dan Gillmor, author, We the Media, will open the conference with an overview of today’s digital information explosion, the complex problems that it presents, and the entrepreneurial opportunities that it offers.  This will be followed by survey results highlighting the forces that are driving today’s information abundance and offering insights on the exponential growth that can be expected between now and the year 2020. Stephen Berlin Johnson, Contributing Editor, Wired Magazine, will discuss how digital technology is transforming how we create and process information. And a panel of librarians and users will talk about how they are adapting to information overload - the tools that they use, what works, what doesn’t, and how their jobs have changed as a result. Critical issues such as the growth of credible non-English language content, the roles that semantic search, machine-learning, and information filtering play in finding the specific information that users want, and how emerging technologies such as cloud computing and augmented reality can help publishers manage the volume of information required to produce comprehensive products and services will also be discussed. Highlights include case studies from JOVE, Nature Publishing and the Library of Congress who are successfully dealing with the issues of multi-media and information overload, the Miles Conrad Lecture, a plenary presentation by David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, and a visionary closing keynote on the future of information discovery.

“The information discovery process is changing for everyone,” said Russell.   “Publishers and librarians are currently faced with the daunting challenge of identifying, acquiring, processing, transmitting, and storing incredible amounts of digital content across all media and across a growing amount of foreign languages – a challenge that will continue into the foreseeable future as the volume of information continues to escalate. And more than ever before searchers need innovative products and services to help them navigate the information tsunami in order to find credible, reliable answers to their queries.”

For more information, contact Jill O’Neill, Director of Communication and Planning (jilloneill@nfais.org, or (215)-893-1561 phone) or visit the NFAIS web site at www.nfais.org.  Registration is now open and early bird discounts are available until January 7, 2011 at: http://www.nfais.org/page/295-register-for-2011-annual-conference.

Seeking input on your vision for library services in NYS in the year 2020

If you read my NYLA Conference blog post, then you know that the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries is seeking input toward the development of a new statewide plan.  Below is an email from Bridget Quinn-Carey, chair of the Council, soliciting additional input. If you are a library worker in NYS, I hope you'll take a moment to respond.  It would be great to get a lot of input before the Council meets on Dec. 3.

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On Thursday, November 4, 2010, the “2020: What’s Your Vision for Library Services in New York State?” program was held at the New York Library Association Conference in Saratoga. The program was cosponsored by the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, the Library Trustees Association of New York State, the New York Library Association, and the New York State Library.

This discussion was the first step toward developing a new statewide plan for improving library services for all New Yorkers.  The last statewide plan for library services was adopted by the Board of Regents as statewide policy for libraries in 2000.

Session attendees had the opportunity to hear from the following library leaders:

• Bridget Quinn-Carey, Chair, Regents Advisory Council on Libraries
• Roberta Stevens, President, American Library Association
• Kathy Miller, President, New York Library Association
• Jeffrey W. Cannell, Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Cultural Education

Attendees then had the opportunity to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns about library services in the future in small group discussions based on the following questions:

·        What services will New Yorkers expect from their academic, public, school, and special libraries in 2020?

·        What strategies will best position library organizations to deliver those services?

·        What role should the State play in serving libraries and New Yorkers more effectively?

Flip chart notes from the groups are now available at: 

http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/2020.htm

If you would like to contribute to this statewide discussion, please fill out the worksheet at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/wksheet.pdf and send it to either the address listed on the second page or email it to NYSLRegComments@mail.nysed.gov.  Any questions about this program or the discussion toward developing a new statewide plan can be sent to this email address as well.

Jill interviewed on Another DAM Podcast

Henrik de Gyor has a blog and podcast focused on digital asset management (DAM).  He interviews people who are somehow related to digital asset management and recently interviewed me (7 min.).  I talk about me, the iSchool, and - of course - DAMs.

If you're interested in DAMs, you may want to add Henrik's blog and podcasts to your RSS reader.

Event: 2011 Personal Digital Archiving Conference

I've seen that the call for participation in the 2011 Personal Digital Archiving Conference has been released.  The event will be held at the Internet Archive in San Francisco on Feb 24-25, 2011.  Registration information is also available.

Wrap-up of the New York Library Association Annual Conference

The New York Library Association (NYLA) just held its annual conference in Saratoga Springs, NY. NYLA brings together librarians from across the state for three days to share information, learn and network.  Librarians came from the rural and metropolitan locations, from public and school libraries, from library consortia, from the State Library, and from academic institutions.  Great to see LIS students in attendance!  And like every group of librarians that gathers together, it was an energized group  full of ideas and wanting to make a difference.

Throughout the conference, it was apparent the work that NYLA is doing to improve libraries in NYS.  NYLA is working with organizations on training for library staff as well as library administrators.  NYLA gets library school deans, chairs and program directors to talk about the education of future librarians and to hear concerns from the library community.  NYLA representatives meet with members of the NYS Department of Education, attend Regent meetings and visit legislators all in an afford to improve libraries across the state. Sitting in the annual business meeting, I was impressed with the long list of NYLA activities as well as the results those activities are achieving.  Bravo!

One highlight was hearing Commission of Education David Steiner talk about education in New York State.  What impressed me about his talk was that he understands that education must change and is changing.  For some, however, the changes are hard to see and some changes are happening faster than others. He noted that the three "legs" of education - curriculum, assessment and accountability - are all evolving.  Without these changes, the next generation of adults will not have the ability/skills/education to be good wage earners.  If our system does not change, he predicted that these adults will live with their parents because they will not be able to earn enough to live on their own.  (This is different than what is occurring now where some are living with their parents due to a lack of available jobs.  He isn't talking about a lack of jobs, but a lack of skilled workers to fill those jobs.)

Steiner talked about the inequity of education in the state - sometimes in the same neighborhood - depending on what the families can afford.  Children that go to public school are exposed to fewer hours of learning than those that go to private or charter schools.  Not only do charter or private schools spend more hours per days in learning activities, but they also may spend more days per year.  The more hours children spend in learning activities, the better they will be prepared for their futures.  Steiner understands that libraries have a vital role in expanding the number of learning hours and not just school libraries.  In fact, it was interesting that he consistently said "libraries" and not specifically "school libraries" (at least that is what I remember).

Commissioner Steiner noted that the Regents are interested in constructive input about the changes that need to occur.  You can contact them through email (addresses are on their web site).

One final note from Commissioner Steiner's talk...he noted that the state budget is not going to be better next year.  I've heard for months that next year will actually be worse.  I doubt that anyone is prepared for what that will mean to the services that we have available to us.

2020: What's Your Vision for Library Services in New York State? On Thursday afternoon, a group of more than 40 people gathered to discuss their vision for library services in the year 2020. Present at the session where members of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, members of the NYS Department of Education including Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Cultural Education Jeffrey Cannell, ALA president Roberta Stevens, and NYLA president Kathy Miller.  Each table-full of people in the room brainstormed the following questions:

• What services will New Yorkers expect from their academic, public, school & public libraries in 2020?
• What strategies will best position library organizations to deliver those services?
• What role should the State play in serving libraries and New Yorkers more effectively?

I can tell you that there was no immediate consensus around any of the questions and that's okay.   What is important is to know what members of the library community are thinking about the future of libraries, so that the various organizations that are involved in pushing for our future have information that they can use.

Notes from the tables will be used in continued discussions on this topic, including a discussion by the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries meeting on December 3.  Anyone who would like to send in additional comments may email them to NYSLregcomments@mail.nysed.gov.

Late on Friday, I heard Professor James Loewen talk about "sundown towns". Professor Loewen is the author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong, and Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. Professor Loewen has spent years researching and writing about aspects of U.S. history that have been mistold, misremembered or ignored. Although the statue on the right has nothing to do with sundown towns, Loewen spent a moment discussing it because it demonstrated a few of his points.  When you look at the statue which commemorates that purchase of Manhattan island by the Dutch from Native Americans, what do you see?  Do you see two equals?  Do you see one person who seems civilized and one who is barbaric?  Do you see one in summer attire and one dress for colder weather?  Is the head-dress one worn by Native Americans in New York State or by members of a plains nation?  What view of history is this statue meant to reinforce?  (This questions came from Professor Loewen.)

And what are sundown towns?  They are towns where people only people who were white or Caucasian were allowed to live (or be there after sundown).  These towns - and there are thousands of them - primarily adopted these rules (ordinances) between 1890 and 1940.  Without blinking an eye, I can think of two towns in Pennsylvania that were sundown towns.  One was a suburb of the state capitol while the other was a small town on the state's northern border.  In both cases, rules kept minorities from purchasing homes there for many, many years. 

Professor Loewen's work has inspired others to research sundown towns (and sundown suburbs).  He asked the audience to contact him with information on sundown towns that they know of and to even research whatever ordinances helped to create those towns.

People & Food - Finally, I bumped into a lot of people that I know from across the state and enjoyed the few words we were able to share before heading off to the next event.  Although the weather wasn't very cooperative, we were able to go to local restaurants and remember why being in Saratoga is such a treat (Hattie's, Phila Fusion, Scallion's, Max London's, and Mouzon House).

I've been told that NYLA will again be in Saratoga Springs next year.  It is an affordable conference, especially for students, and a great location.  Start planning now to attend.

Copyright owners need to signal their intent (A rant)

I am as guilty as the next person in this, and I know that I need to change AND you do too!

This afternoon I had a conversation with someone who is building a repository.  More and more digital repositories are springing up to collect content of all types and make it more accessible.  While that is a good thing, the problem is that they often find content that they want to collect, but:

• Don't know if the owner wants it to be redistribute  (distribution is a right of the copyright owner)
• Don't know who owns is or how to contact him/her/it in order to seek permission

The universe drove this point home tonight when a colleague forwarded a white paper to me that might be useful to some of my students.  The white paper was created by an organization that is well-versed in copyright and it contains a copyright statement, but it provides no guidance on their expectation of its use.  So I have a great educational white paper on copyright that would be useful to give to students (and others), but unfortunately, the copyright owner hasn't explicitly told me that I can do it.  If I want to redistribute it, I'll need to seek permission...yet it seems stupid that they didn't just say "use this to educate your colleagues!"

In the United States, once words are in a fixed medium they are copyrighted.  Period.  We may want our words (text) to be disseminated or even to 'go viral', but legally they can't unless we give people permission.  The easiest way to give permission is through a Creative Commons license.  If you are unfamiliar with those, please follow the link and then use one of the licenses on works that you want people to share.  Doing so will help all of us.

Event: Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, June 13-17, 2011

Received via email.

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Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL 2011)

June 13-17, 2011 - Ottawa, Canada

http://www.jcdl2011.org

Hosted by the University of Ottawa

Sponsored by ACM SIGIR, ACM SIGWEB, and IEEE-CS TCDL

CALL FOR PAPERS

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The ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries is a major international forum focusing on digital libraries and associated technical, practical, organizational, and social issues. JCDL encompasses the many meanings of the term "digital libraries",including (but not limited to) new forms of information institutions and organizations; operational information systems with all manner of digital content; new means of selecting, collecting, organizing, distributing, and accessing digital content; theoretical models of information media, including document genres and electronic publishing; and theory and practice of use of managed content in science and education. Digital libraries are distinguished from information retrieval systems because they include more types of media, provide additional functionality and services, and include other stages of the information life cycle, from creation through use. Digital libraries also can be viewed as a new form of information institution or as an extension of the services libraries currently provide.

The theme for JCDL 2011 is "Digital Libraries: Bringing Together Scholars, Scholarship and Research Data", in recognition of the changes the digital age is now bringing to scholarship, broadly writ. Publishing models are changing, along with the breadth of digital material that must be managed coherently in the context of users forcing the move from information silos to a landscape of interconnected systems supporting scholarship for both research and education. Additionally in a number of disciplines we are seeing funding agency directives to include with primary scholarship those materials on which the scholarship is based such as data sets both in the sciences and humanities. Further, we are seeing more focus on requirements for managing data for use in the future by other scholars.

The intended community for this conference includes those interested in all aspects of digital libraries such as infrastructure; institutions; metadata; content; services; digital preservation; system design; scientific data management; workflows; implementation; interface design; human-computer interaction; performance evaluation; usability evaluation; collection development; intellectual property; privacy; electronic publishing; document genres; multimedia; social, institutional, and policy issues; user communities; and associated 

theoretical topics. JCDL welcomes submissions in these areas, and submissions associated with the JCDL 2011 theme of "Digital Libraries:  Bringing Together Scholars, Scholarship and Research Data" 

are particularly welcome. The conference sessions, workshops and tutorials will cover all these aspects.

Participation is sought from all parts of the world and from the full range of established and emerging disciplines and professions including computer science, information science, data science, librarianship, data management, archival science and practice, museum studies and practice, information technology, medicine, social sciences, education and humanities. Representatives from academe, government, industry, and others are invited to participate.

JCDL 2011 invites submissions of papers and proposals for posters, demonstrations, tutorials, and workshops that will make the conference an exciting and creative event to attend. As always, the conference welcomes contributions from all the fields that intersect to enable Digital Libraries.

All contributions are to be submitted in electronic form via the JCDL 2011 submission Web page, following ACM http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html  format guidelines and using the ACM template. Please submit all papers in PDF format.