CFLC Chronicles: Training Workshops for Fall 2008

From Marta Westall, CFLC Director:

We have some exciting workshops to look forward to this fall! The new schedule will be posted very soon and here are some highlights:

Book Blitz 2 at Leesburg:

Really good cataloging doesn't come easily. It takes commitment to details to figure out how to handle some of the trickier cataloging problems that can arise. In Book Blitz I, we cover the easy rules. In this workshop, Book Blitz II, we move on to some of the more complex cataloging rules; the ones that make you frown!

Once you are comfortable with finding your way around the basic cataloging tools--the Anglo American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2R), Library of Congress Rule Interpretations (LCRI), and the MARC coding standards (MARC21)--you will be ready to tackle some of the harder stuff, for example:
• Parallel titles
• Part titles
• Confusing statements of responsibility
• More on series
• More on personal, corporate, and conference names, and uniform title headings
• Verifying name and title headings against the LC Authority files

N.B., Although the examples in this workshop are all for books, the relevant rules can be applied to all types of materials. However, this workshop does not cover subject headings, classification, or specific details on cataloging non-print materials.

Attendees are advised that they will be expected to have attended Book Blitz I before coming to this workshop.

Safety, Security, and Preparedness for Libraries at Florida Institute of Technology:

This is a day-long workshop that covers the USA PATRIOT Act and other timely matters related to disaster preparedness planning from the security, facilities management, and library perspectives.

Goals are
1) to identify current trends and challenges related to library safety, security, and preparedness,
2) to hear the perspectives of library personnel, security officers, and facilities staff,
3) to learn related tips, recommendation, and guidelines,
4) to understand the basic components of a strong safety, security, and preparedness plan that protects equipment, materials, buildings, people, and data, and
5) to know where to go for additional information and support.

WorldCat Resource Sharing Basics at CFLC:

Are you ready to learn how you can obtain items for your patrons from almost 1.3 billion holdings all over the world? Come learn how to use OCLC’s ILL platform to borrow the items your patrons need.

Topics covered in this hands-on workshop include:
• An overview of the WorldCat Resource Sharing Staff View
• Searching OCLC’s bibliographic database
• The basics of OCLC ILL Lending and Borrowing.

The workshop is designed for CFLC members with little or no OCLC ILL experience.

Cataloging Interest Group at Barry University:

Discussion topics will include a review of the live, online class on the future of AACR2, RDA and FRBR (co-hosted by CFLC and SOLINET on August 12th) and quality control in technical services (bibs, authorities, and physical processing).

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES; WORKSHOP WEALTH

Reference Riches: Politics and Verification

'Tis the season to receive political e-mails -- good, bad, and ugly. Save yourself from having to retract mistakes by remembering to check out what you receive before passing it along.

Snopes, Urban Legends, and others of their ilk are always a good starting points, but there are times you will receive things before they do. Case in point was a list of books Palin supposedly wanted banned that landed in my e-mail over the weekend. Only as of today did it appear as False on Snopes, but at the time of receipt, nothing.

In researching it, another very interesting post (Librarian No. 9.7.2008 No. 154) turned up in the biblioblogosphere and it references both a Librarians for Palin and a Librarians Against Palin site. The whole case makes some very interesting reading.

SUBJECTS: REFERENCE RICHES

Reference Riches: Successor to EDGAR Announced

For those of you who use the Securities and Exchange Commission's "1980s-era EDGAR database" to find key financial information about public companies and mutual funds, check out this official SEC press release, complete with demonstration video, announcing IDEA (Interactive Data Electronic Applications), EDGAR's eventual successor.

SUBJECTS: REFERENCE RICHES

CFLC Chronicles: A Time of Transition - CFLC’s Bedrock Activities

From Marta Westall, CFLC Director:

CFLC's upcoming 20th anniversary year, fiscal year 2008-2009, will be a “back to basics” year. This comes after a new rule that 50% of the State Cooperative Grant money and 50% of all local funds for Florida's six Multitype Library Cooperatives (MLCs) be spent on bibliographic enhancement activities.

These activities are defined by the State Library as follows:

1. Loading records. Examples include loading a library's bibliographic records for the first time, updating records (adds, deletes, cleanup), creating new records, and/or providing a cataloging utility that adds records to the statewide database such as CatExpress.

2. Training related to resource sharing. Examples of training or workshops include FirstSearch , interlibrary loan, or FLIN (Florida Library Information Network), use of CatExpress, interlibrary loan software, and other training that would simply help develop a library's ability to add and update records on the statewide database.

3. Consultation. Providing guidance, information, and assistance to libraries on the record-loading process; and encouraging libraries to continue to update their holdings.

4. Facilitation. Facilitating services or contracts to assist libraries to load records.

While resource sharing through interlibrary loan has continued successfully throughout the last two decades, investigation into record loading into the OCLC WorldCat database has shown that a number of FLIN and MLC libraries have had difficulty fulfilling their stated intentions to keep their records up-to-date. CFLC will be helping members with these issues in the coming year.

In the meantime, CFLC will still be conducting training sessions at CFLC and at Leesburg and Volusia between now and October 1, 2008. However, because of this anticipated change in emphasis in CFLC services, training offerings will probably reduce in both number and scope after that. As always, CFLC strives to furnish quality training to librarians, staff, and patrons.

A 40% cut in grant funding for 2008/2009 from the State of Florida further complicates matters. We do not know yet the level of federal (LSTA) funding for next year.

As we all face tough budget times, I am reminded of one of the great axioms from Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten:

“When you go out into the world, hold hands and stick together.”

Together we can make it through these rough times; we have a lot of talent right in our back yard that we can tap to learn from each other.

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES

Friday Fun Thing: The Librarian Song

This is hysterical for pretty much any librarian, but for those with a public service background, it's particularly amusing. Enjoy!



SUBJECTS: FRIDAY FUN THING

Technology Tales: Shout Out for the Kids

We've known for a long time that librarians are the best. Now, let's hear it for librarians' children!

Arkansas school has an 11-year-old IT department -- no, really, an 11-year-old

SUBJECTS: TECHNOLOGY TALES

Friday Fun Thing: Article on Libraries

Not Friday, but a Fun Thing nonetheless and I'm demonstrating for a class how to blog...

Check out this cool article from the March 4, 2008 Woman’s Day:

“The library helped me start my business.”

SUBJECTS: FRIDAY FUN THING

CFLC Chronicles: Invitation to Public & Reference Librarians

Posted on behalf of The State Library of Florida:

Invitation to Participate in a Focus Group: Medical and Health Information
Presented by the State Library of Florida
ATTN: PUBLIC LIBRARIANS, REFERENCE LIBRARIANS

The Information Use Management and Policy Institute (College of Information, Florida State University) is collaborating with the State Library of Florida’s Florida Electronic Library (FEL) to assess the use of medical and consumer health information resources offered by the FEL and assist the administrators, librarians, and users of FEL to better utilize the FEL medical and consumer health information. Our assessment includes focus groups of public, medical, and reference librarians. Each focus group will be about 10-12 participants and the session should last 45 minutes. We will be conducting two (2) focus groups in your Region.

Our assessment would benefit from your expertise to help improve the FEL’s medical and consumer health information resources. Your contribution will benefit other librarians and help inform the development of programs that can address the needs of librarians and schools in the provision of consumer health information.

Your participation in this research project is completely voluntary. Please be assured that all of your responses will be kept confidential and any data collected from the focus group will be reported in aggregate form. Only research personnel involved in this project will have access to the data and encoded data will be kept on secure servers at the College of Information for a period of two years after the project ends.

I hope you will agree to participate in the study and I would be pleased to answer any further questions you may have about the study and your commitment. Please contact CFLC (info listed below) to sign up for the focus group.

For more information, please contact Ebe Randeree (eranderee [at] ci.fsu.edu). Thanks in advance for considering this request.

Representatives from Florida State will conduct focus groups at CFLC in Maitland, FL on March 13th at 11:00am and 1:00pm.

To register for either time, please click here to visit our Training Page or call the CFLC office at 407-644-9050.

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES; REFERENCE RICHES

CFLC Chronicles: Help! Are We Making a Difference?

It's grant-writing time around CFLC and we need your input, please!

Does CFLC help you improve your library's service to the public (i.e., end user, student, Web visitor, etc.)? If so, how? These are the questions we are striving to answer as we prepare our LSTA grant application this year.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has conducted a review of Florida's LSTA program. Their concern is that the focus of the grants should be on improving service to the end user. We have been directed by the State Library to show how our programs impact the public, something that is very difficult for us as a non-library to ascertain without asking your help.

If you have any stories about how CFLC's services have impacted your users, please let us hear them by the first week of March. Feel free to make your comments on this blog or via e-mail [contactus (at) cflc.net], or more formally, help us by contributing a letter of support to include with the grant application. Details and more information can be found here.

Thank you for your assistance; your input will help us continue responding to your needs!

SUBJECT: CFLC CHRONICLES

Friday Fun Things: The Book A Month Challenge

Meant to post this a while back, but if you hurry, you can still get in on the second month! The Book A Month Challenge (BAM) is one of those simple ideas that is so great you wish you'd thought of it yourself. Katie posts:

Welcome to the Book A Month (BAM) Challenge. Right around the first of the month, every month, we’ll be posting a theme. All you have to do is read a book that corresponds to that theme and post a review, either on your own website/blog and comment with a link to it or in the comments for the post itself.

And lest you think she hasn't thought of everything, there's even a LibraryBAM and a way to get advance notice of the theme in order to plan your library exhibits around it.

Even if you don't feel you can post a review, she's got some great reading suggestions built around her themes. You've missed January's "time" theme (playing catch up IS allowed!), but February's "heart" theme is still beating. (Sorry!)

SUBJECTS: FRIDAY FUN THINGS