Blogging SARC IV

Somewhat belatedly–but it was a great conference and I’ve had a lot to think about since I got home late on Friday night.

Last week, I attended the SARC IV, a regional conference of the SLA, as a student travel grant recipient of the Florida & Caribbean chapter. The location, St. Pete, was lovely and the hotel had great wireless. Not that I got much chance to use it–I was busy soaking up everything I could.

Here’s a run-down of the presentations I attended:

Collaboration: Erasing the lines in the sand–presented by Ruth V. Fuller

• Team-oriented collaboration is more in vogue than leader-oriented collaboration, but in all cases a variety of political issues are likely to come into play. Successful collaborations are built on mutual benefit and firm deadlines.

Live Library Instruction for Distance Learners–presented by Catherine Levallée-Welch

• Covered the use of Elluminate for distance library instruction. Of particular interest was the use of Elluminate for virtual office hours.

Core Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century–presented by Rebecca Vargha

• Moral of the story: learn how to change and change again. Track your professional and emotional competencies for suriving in the profession.

Managing Space Age Content–presented by Jeff Wolfe

• Just about the coolest presentation ever. Mr. Wolfe discussed his use of InMagic’s Presto to build a digital library of shuttle images for NASA. Specific challenges were supporting diverse users and managing user permissions for SBU (sensitive but unclassified) information.

The Library: the Biographer’s Greatest Asset and Greatest Threat– presented by Graham Farmelo

• Farmelo reflected on his experience at libraries and archives while writing his forthcoming bio of Paul Dirac. He has some questions for us: how can we improve security for unique documents while maintaining user accessibility, how can we offer better external research services such as translation & reasonable scanning/copying, and how can we work to create good archives of contemporary scientists’ lives.

Creating Digital Libraries, Practically Speaking–presented by Barbara Shearer, Inez Dinwoodie, and Deborah Balsamo

• Shearer discussed building the library collection for the FSU School of Medicine, serving med students spread across the state and mandated to be 95% digital. She keeps an eagle eye on database subscription fees as even small fluctuations hit her budget hard. Her advice: if anyone ever offers you the chance to build something from the ground up, take it.
• Dinwoodie discussed the information services at a federally funded research center in VA. Focused on access, maintaining visibility, and delivering value-added, filtered information. Keeping the info hub in the spotlight is important for continue existence. Uses an in-house product for social tagging of info resources.
• Balsamo discussed creating a dig. library for the EPA national library network. Ambitious project to scan over 50k internal documents.

Maybe you can tell, I’m really into digital libraries

Overall, I was impressed and inspired by the professionals that I met, the projects that they are taking on, and the tenacity with which they confront the challenges of operating a library in a setting that may or may not appreciate its value. At least, it needs to be reminded constantly, which is increasingly true for all libraries. Rebecca Vargha used a phrase I particularly liked to describe what it takes to thrive in this world: a determination to accept reality. Phrased like that, it’s quite a strength. Wishing for things to be better never gets you as far as working with what you have.

Fun times, free pens, big questions. This conference has definitely got me thinking, in a broader way than ever before, about what I hope to bring to this profession.