WAAL 2008: Gary Price keynote

Gary Price

• Presentation: http://tinyurl.com/4xqhqn
• ResourceShelf.com
• Started this site
• Updated daily, even during his honeymoon!
• Calls himself an "intropreneur"
• It's one thing to have a website, and it's another thing to keep people coming to your website
• RSS isn't as widely-used as people think it is - many people don't know what it is or how to use it
• I send out a weekly email reminder - everyone still knows what it is
• 25-50 names added to email list a week - up to 50,000 subscribers (?)
• Information overload
• Docuticker.com
• Started this site, maintained by Shirl Kennedy
• Reports from think tanks, government agencies, universities, etc.
• Also updated daily, with weekly e-mail reminders
• People tell me that the only reason they come is the teaser email message: "This is a little bit of what we've posted this week..."
• Both sites popular with journalists
• Comes down to using the right tool at the right time: online tools, books, licensed databases
• Many people have no idea what the library of today or future has to offer
• "Go to the library" is important message, but not the only one
• Share your experiences:
• UW Sheboygan - instruction for Philosophy 101 class, student trying to cite sources, and all were ".com" websites, and the assignment called for books and articles. Were you in my class? Yeah, but I knew where I was going to get my sources.
• Is it the instructors we need to get to?
• UW Stout - depends on instructor. If they emphasize use variety of sources, then students will do it. Sometimes, instructors say I didn't even know you had this.
• Can you use something you don't even know about?
• Comment: Instructors are astounded, and then make their assignments more appropriate.
• What does this mean in the long term? For libraries, licensed tools, companies?
• Audience: If become an instructor, should take a "library course"
• Gary: They're just as Googlified as anyone else?
• Audience: Correct. In grad school, I surveyed high school teachers, and none of them had library training, only knew from being little kids - no one has been teaching the teachers.
• I talked to teachers, and they're getting into turf wars with public libraries, which offer databases. Don't talk to each other. Money wasted.
• Audience: Bigger problem. Teaching distance education for grad school. Assigned annotated bibliography, and grad students only sent websites. They "couldn't find anything"
• Gary: Same thing happened to me. They don't know what their academic library can do for them.
• Audience: I work at the public library in Manitowoc. College students come in and they don't know the difference. I got this at school, can I get it again. Customers are the same. They don't understand what we're doing.
• I don't understand database vendors - they don't help us with their marketing know-how to get to end-users. Told they're afraid of placing ads in school newspapers because they'll step on librarians' toes.
• Told to keep secret, because if too many people use them, vendors will raise prices, and then we won't have any access.
• Once they sell database, should do more to support use of it. Librarians also need to do a better job of marketing - I've seen "Come use EBSCOHost" - federated searching solution?
• BadgerNet is a best-kept secret in Wisconsin
• Audience: Difficult time working with students - convince them to struggle as librarian is struggling.
• Gary: 45 million things in Proquest, ABI, etc. - makes difficult. Remove duplicates. End user doesn't care where it comes from (vendor).
• Audience: Better term than fee-based database?
• Gary: Stuff you're not going to find in Google.
• If we do things RIGHT, we get one of the most valuable commodities that everyone wants - we can save time, effort and aggravation finding the information they need.
• I don't know what Web2.0 means - where do they get these names? some are junk, but we don't know what 2.0 means either.
• KillerStartups.com - reviews the good and bad
• Discussion/message boards are still big, in addition to blogs - some are moderated, without the spam
• Blogpulse - like best, Nielsen Buzz Metrics
• Bloglines
• Technorati
• I'm running Windows and Apple at the same time - had to send back Ask.com computers, I'm addicted to Windows but I wanted an Apple so badly, so got MacBook Pro with VMware Fusion to run both OS's
• Market Research Library - U.S. Commercial Service
• Comment: this was online, then only supposed to be StatsBase, but now it looks like it's back for free
• CiteSeerX - over 10 years - think Google Scholar, but just IT/CS - new interface
• "Autonomous citation indexing"
• Over a million citations - IEEE paper - "My CiteSeer / MetaCart" - list by # cites
• From Penn State U.
• Gotta be backing things up remotely - I learned the hard (and heart) way - your life can feel like it's about to be over
• I use Mozy $100/year for 3 hard drives - every night, automatically to Utah
• Teaching people how to back things up could be an entire instruction session from the libraries
• I've had my hard drive fail on me, and $3,700 later, the data came back
• VTuner and PublicRadioFan.com - trend - multimedia material - in lower grades can learn a language this way
• PRF - what's playing on public radio around the world? listen online or download podcasts.
• I've been told that I could be Michael Feldman's second or third cousin
• CoolIris
• Firefox users? Lots of people. I'm a huge users, so many addons.
• "Price is my name. Free is my game."
• MelissaData - lookups - demographics
• MobiTV
• Comment: Why search blogosphere?
• Gary: Find out what people are talking about, including latest publications
• Topix - 50,000+ mainstream news sources - more than Google News - local and browsable - metrics (?)
• Used to work for chain of newspapers around Chicago called Pioneer Press - we used to learn about how ads placed near articles can change intention - online it's automatic, so you get "Anti-Christ" ads on "Pope" search
• News Now - 31,000 sources, from UK but global news - by subject - auto refresh with new content - virtual news ticker
• Comment: Are sources lasting? here today, gone tomorrow?
• Gary: I try to show things that I think will be around - but alot of Web2.0 funding is from venture capital - they want to know "what's your endgame?" - and that may be to get bought out by Google, etc.
• 99% of Google's revenue is from ads on side of pages, or syndicated to other sites (like NYT)
• Google still a phenomenal search engine
• people have problems with busy Yahoo homepage - now have search.yahoo.com, looks like Google
• Aerial imagery - TerraFly from FL Intl U. - around before Google Earth - great data
• MS Birdseye imagery is remarkable
• MS also digitizing books
• MS Live Search Academic - Google Scholar alternative - I'm sure linking will come in future -
• G Scholar - what's the actual version that's published? Questionable.
• SearchPickr - for different kinds of searches - one-stop search
• "Is this new for everyone? Anyone using this? Good, there's x new resources."
• CustomizeGoogle.com - lots of options - including removing ads! - Search in Google, then run same search on other engines
• What happens when more and more people remove ads from the results page?
• Google used to have 8 ads per page - now up to 11
• Jux2 - compare 2 search engines at one time - what ONLY google, yahoo, MSN found
• Thumbshots - graphic comparison of search results
• Exalead - from France, but in English - I like how results are presented - which can be of huge value to end user - point and click limits
• Clusty - what you know, and what you don't know - dynamically clusters results using words on page (not pre-built categories)
• ClusterMed - PubMed is fielded searching, so allows lots of clusters
• Amazon "Search inside the book" - using to find new books? - metrics - readability - # characters, fun stats (words per dollar/ounce) - concordance of frequently used words - around a little longer than Google Books - determined by publisher for new books (not retrospective)
• The Online Books Page - Univ of PA - full text, out of copyright, this person is completely out of his mind (tons added every day)
• ChaCha - 800-2-chacha - Indiana Univ. - live voice-activated searching - response by text messaging - next generation virtual reference - all results have to come from open web, which is where we started our discussion... - focus on casual user - bar bets
• Pandora - shows power and importance of good metadata - instruments, meter, etc. - several thousand musicians and musicologists to listen to tracks and tag - find related music
• What is the deep/invisible web in 2008? (Wrote book 7 years ago) - General search engines weren't indexing much material - better, but invisible web is bigger than it was then - if it's not in first 5-6 results, may as well be invisible to user - need to show advanced searching and variety of searches and share individualized resources with people who can use them [liaison]
• 85% people don't go to 2nd search results page
• Search engines are also huge marketing tools - spammers do what they can - some optimizers do it above board (white hats) - that's why good to use multiple
• most people do simple searches - used to be 2, now 2.8-3 words on average
• Spock - people searching -
• quality of information is what I worry about - anyone can go in and manipulate - huge on wikipedia
• Zoominfo - takes open web info and builds dossiers - I never worked for Ask S.A, I worked for Ask.com. Ask S.A sells RFID.
• Spokeo - track your online social network friends across 22 networks
• Rubble88 = Gary Price
• HouseFront - also works on mobile - nosy neighbor tool - data by property address - have blog: celebrity houses for sale with aerial views

Made it to Manitowoc!

The WAAL conference site at the Holiday Inn at Manitowoc is fabulous! The sun was out today and the ride up here was great (well, except for the speeding ticket I got). I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow and enjoy the sessions.
I will see many of you at Registration tomorrow, but I hope to also see many of you after the Poster Sessions. I brought my lia sophia jewelry along and invite you to stop by and see what fashion-saavy librarians and teachers already know--lia sophia offers fashion jewelry at great prices. Watch for some pink signs with the time and place.
I also recommend the Applebee's restaurant adjacent to the hotel. The conference planning committee met there this evening and the service was fantastic.
See you all bright and early!!---Julie K.

WAAL 2008: The sun always shines on WAAL

It's a gorgeous Tuesday evening in Manitowoc: the sun is shining, the temperature is higher than it's been for months, the wireless is free, and the WAAL faithful are beginning to assemble for the annual conference. I'm here for the WAAL Board meeting; somewhat ironically, one of our agenda items is discussing a location for the 2010 WAAL conference. Never hurts to plan ahead...

But the schedule for this year's excellent event is available here and now and there's more fun Facebooky goodness going on. So, join in whether you're here or there.

WAPL Conference: Point and Click, April 30-May 2 in Stevens Point

Mark your calendar for the 2008 WAPL Conference, Point and Click, April 30 - May 2, at the new Holiday Inn Hotel and Convention Center in Stevens Point. Keynote speaker is David Ward, the president and founder of NorthStar Economics, discussing the results of the Wisconsin Public Library Economic Impact Study and the general climate of Wisconsin’s economy. Ward will also present a breakout session to show how the results of the study can support and enhance local library operations.

Other breakout sessions will cover Intellectual Freedom for Children and Teens, the Experience of the Local Immigrant, WorkNet, Speed Training, and Strategic Planning, among other topics. Returning favorites include Notable Genre Books along with a book discussion featuring Gary Warren Niebuhr, both sponsored by READ, and Have You Heard About…, sponsored by MATS. Watch this site for more info as it becomes available: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/wapl/conferences/2008/index.htm.

WAAL Conference: Winds of Change, April 15-18 in Manitowoc

Think outside the Google box with keynote speaker Gary Price, library consultant and editor of ResourceShelf (formerly with ask.com), at the Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians (WAAL) Conference, April 15-18, 2008, at the Holiday Inn, Manitowoc. The conference, "Winds of Change: Setting Sail for Manitowoc," focuses on topics of interest to academic librarians in particular, but librarians of all stripes will find worthwhile programs.

Additional presentations will include:

• Will you be my friend...on Facebook? From basics to advanced features.
• Expanding Role of the Academic Librarian: Academic Support Services as Outreach
• Open Editions: An Introduction to Collaborative Environments for the Production of Scholarly Editions
• Super Student Worker to the Rescue!: Developing an Information Resources Internship Program in a Small Undergraduate Library
• Video Gaming and Online Social Simulations: Overview and Issues for Collection Development
• Avoiding the "Library Nerd Loop" - Engaging Students and Creating a User-Friendly Library Environment
• Improving Teaching and Learning through Instructional Partnerships: Building Librarian Relationships with One-on-One, In-depth Conversations

For more information, see: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/waal/conferences/2008/.

NY Study Reaffirms Link Between School Librarians, Student Achievement

A study from Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies that finds language test scores in New York State schools with certified librarians are higher than in those schools without librarians. These preliminary findings indicated a 10-point increase of certain test scores in schools with library media specialists. More information on the research results is available from the New York Library Association.

In Wisconsin, a study conducted for the Department of Public Instruction in 2006 examined the leadership and instructional roles of Wisconsin public school library media specialists required for a quality school library media program. It found a direct relationship with and impact on student achievement and learning across all grade levels when qualified school library media specialists are present.

The WLA Foundation’s Campaign for Wisconsin Libraries produced two ads showcasing the study results. Those are available at http://www.wisconsinlibraries.org/materials/print.asp. (See “Even Rocket Scientists Need Librarians” and “If Knowledge is Power, Libraries are Power Plants”). For a link to the study itself, see http://www.dpi.wi.gov/imt/lmsstudy.html.

Submit Your WLA Conference Program Ideas

Been to a great CE program or heard a dynamic speaker that you’d like to share with other library staff? Wondered about a topic that you haven’t seen presented before? The WLA Conference Committee encourages you to submit your program ideas for the 2008 conference, which will take place November 4-7 at the Madison Mariott West in Middleton. Units are already well underway with their plans to bring you an excellent variety of programming, but it’s important to get ideas from a broad cross-section of the membership. Fill out this form http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/conferences/2008/documents/2008RFPForm.doc and submit it by March 31.

Nominate Someone for Proquest IF Award

The WLA Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) reports that nominations are now being accepted for the 2008 WLA ProQuest Intellectual Freedom Award (formerly the SIRS/ProQuest Intellectual Freedom Award). The award recognizes the contribution of an individual or group who has actively promoted intellectual freedom in Wisconsin. Past winners include retired school library media specialist Helen Adams (2007), journalist Dee Hall (2006), Wisconsin Senator Russell Feingold (2003) and school library media specialist Irene Cooley (2001). Anyone who has actively promoted intellectual freedom in Wisconsin is eligible for the award. Activities within the past five years are eligible for consideration. The award is administered by IFRT. The nomination deadline is May 31, 2008. For more information on the award, and to obtain the nomination form with instructions and criteria, go to: http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/ifrt/wlasirs.html

Strategic Visioning Summit: Website Up

The Department of Public Instruction and the Council on Library and Network Development COLAND) are planning a Strategic Visioning Summit for the spring of 2008; a summit website is available at http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/coland/vision.html.

Track the progress of planning for the Summit, contribute ideas for the Summit discussion and nominate potential Summit participants. DPI and COLAND invites you to please take time to fill out the visioning questions to assist in the planning process and nominate yourself or
others as potential participants.

WLA2007 photos

Just a few amateur photos of a few of us at this year's WLA convention in Green Bay. Author Michael Perry was the most enjoyable to photograph (so animated!), but I managed to capture some nice shots of others.

Thanks to all who tolerated my camera in their faces.