Register now for Peer Council 2014
Registration is now open for Peer Council 2014 – a yearly gathering of those involved in technical services, coming together to share new developments in the field and to connect with one another. Read more
Apr 14
Apr 9
WiLS Spring Webinars
In conjunction with our partner OCLC, WiLS is offering four webinars this Spring: Library Spotlight; OCLC Updating – A Sharing Session; Using the WorldCat Knowledge Base to Save Time and Improve Service; and Best Practices for Managing “Born Digital” Content.
Apr 7
OCLC Learning Opportunity: Tailoring Assessment Strategies for Your Library
OCLC’s Collective Insight series offers this opportunity to learn to define the practice of assessment, explore what drives a successful assessment program, and identify practical tools and techniques that may be tailored to use in reaching the specific assessment goals of your library. Join OCLC and the Boston Library Consortium on April 22nd from 830-12:00 ET for this free webinar.
Apr 7
WiLS April 2014 Vendor Partner Interview: Matthew Goldner, OCLC
At WiLS, we want to bring valuable information to our library partners, including information about the missions and big ideas of the vendors they may already do business with. Each month, WiLS will interview a vendor partner in order to bridge the gap and open the door to valuable collaborations. This month, we are delighted to share insights from WiLS’ vendor partner Matthew Goldner, Product and Technology Advocate at OCLC. (Also, Matthew will be headlining Peer Council as our keynote speaker this year, June 4th at the Pyle Center in Madison. Be sure to register after April 17th.)
Tell us about your company’s background. OCLC began as a group of academic libraries in Ohio that banded together to do cooperative cataloging. This was in 1967, so the idea of using computers to do data management was still pretty new. The libraries formed OCLC and hired Fred Kilgour, a former Yale University librarian, to design the system. The network and database they designed allowed libraries to do online, cooperative cataloging, which began in 1971. Fred’s vision was basically twofold: improve access to information and help libraries control costs. Cooperative cataloging was, at the time, a great way to do both of those. Over time, other services that made use of this shared data—such as interlibrary loan, discovery and back-office management—were added. That database, known as WorldCat, has information about more than 315 million unique materials and more than 2.1 billion specific items in libraries as well as a central index of over 1.3 billion article citations. Today, OCLC is the largest nonprofit library cooperative in the world.
Why do you, personally, choose to work with libraries? Having worked in and with libraries since the 1970’s, I continue to believe in their incredible value to society. We are far more than just the archivist of the human record, but are a dynamic part of society contributing to its advancement and success. We are incredibly fortunate that in the United States a concept of freely available access to information provided by libraries is an ingrained part of our culture, and a value to stand up for and be proud to participate in. It is a great pleasure to work with dedicated librarians around the world, committed to their mission and not afraid to be innovative and sometimes take real risks to make our contribution to society and culture.
What do you like to know about the libraries you work with? What helps you better understand their needs? The word “library” refers to such a huge range of institutions, from small rural, public libraries with just a couple staff up to large, academic research libraries with hundreds of workers. When we think about library needs, I think it’s best to push a little further and ask about the needs of the communities they serve. In many cases, even though two libraries may be vastly different in size or scope, when you ask about user needs, they’re often quite similar. People need access to information. They need it to be fast, and in formats that make sense for how they work and live. One of the great things about working at a large cooperative is that you end up seeing the commonality across many libraries. And we can work on sharing ideas and best practices that are, if not universal, at least widely helpful.
What big ideas are being worked on at your company? What problems are being solved? Right now I think linked data is one of the most exciting “big ideas” we’re working on. It’s a fairly complex topic. But, basically, it’s the idea of breaking data out of industry-specific silos and making it available for sharing and reuse in more areas, across more types of services. For example, while bibliographic records are, obviously, very useful to libraries, the specific format makes them hard to deal with for other types of companies, like search engines, publishers, mapping services… anything, really. But the metadata contained in and about bibliographic records is extremely valuable. Information about authors, topics, characters, places, people, dates… it’s all relevant in many other academic, cultural and business areas. By working to get library information into linked data formats, we’re making it easier for other industries and partners to find value in the unique, important knowledge that’s contained in libraries. In specific cases, this means driving web traffic from popular sites back to library resources from within the workflows that people use every day.
Another big idea that is probably more familiar to most is that of “cloud computing.” Beginning a few years ago, we began to move all our OCLC services into a common, networked, online infrastructure. We call this WorldShare, and it’s begun to show real results for our member libraries. Moving services into the cloud serves both parts of Fred Kilgour’s original vision. When more library management activities are handled in one place, they save time and money that they can then use to better serve their users. It also makes it easier to create connections and partnerships with other service providers, which goes towards improving access to the world’s information.
How can librarians become partners in product or training development? At OCLC, it’s basically a case of just raising your hand. If you want to be involved in development… we’re happy to have your input! As a member owned, member governed non-profit, our libraries are involved at every stage of development, starting with guiding the overall strategy of the organization. Most of our board members are librarians and many have been involved as representatives to our global or regional governing councils. We rely heavily on the participation of member libraries for planning, testing and ongoing feedback about our products and services. As far as training goes, one area that’s unique for us is WebJunction, a cooperative community specifically designed for knowledge sharing among librarians. Individual librarians can join, for free, and get access to all kinds of training resources.
Apr 2
Pew Releases Report on American Engagement with Public Libraries
In an attempt to understand how the digital environment has changed American attitudes toward the public library, the Pew Research Center offers this report, “From Distant Admirers to Library Lovers and Beyond: A Typology of Public Library Engagement in America.” This report, released last month, completes a three-stage research project which began with research into the growing role of ebooks and exploring library services and their value to the community. This typology “explores public libraries’ roles in people’s lives and in American culture writ large—how they are perceived, how they are valued, how people rely on them, and so forth.”
Apr 1
WiLS Takes the Virtual Office to the Next Level!
Increases productivity by meeting in dreams
Since July, the WiLS staff have been working in a virtual office. This arrangement has been going so well that they are now beginning a bold experiment to virtualize themselves and to meet with one another in the dream world.
Meeting in dreams, also known as mutual dreaming, has been the stuff of romance novels and science fiction movies. Now, WiLS is planning to harness that power to hold staff meetings between 2 and 4 a.m. to increase productivity and free up daytime for other projects.
“Once I read that some people believe that it may theoretically be possible, I was sold!” says director Stef Morrill, “We believe in innovation and experimentation – so why not this?”
While their virtual office provides WILS staff with flexibility in dress code, there are higher expectations for attire at dream meetings. The group believes that wearing formal meeting attire to bed increases the chances that the experiment will work. “Sure, it took time to adjust to sleeping in a tie and dress shoes,” says staff member Jeff Brunner, “but it puts me in a meeting frame of mind….and I’ll look snazzy at our future dream meeting!”
While they have not yet had a successful meeting in their dreams, there is progress. Says Morrill, “At first, people were dreaming about cats playing baseball and cover art from the Wisconsin Digital Library. Now, we are all dreaming about meeting. We make steps forward every day, and I can’t wait to see where we go next……in our dreams!”
Apr 1
Daimville Public Library Expands Services for Deer, Elk
The Daimville Public Library has been given a new grant by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to expand its collection and services for deer and elk. The research is well-known; deer have been suffering from “chronic wasting disease” for years due to lack of opportunities for education and quality job training. Since 2003, the Daimville library has worked to offer workforce training to these large mammals, and now, thanks to a generous DNR grant, deer and elk will now have access to specialized materials designed specifically for hoofed animals to read. Professor Wandle Shamblebottoms, pictured here, earned his four year degree in art history before going on to get his PhD. He will offer quarterly seminars at the library with the funding from this new grant. “I’m very excited to reach out to my community,” he said in a recent interview. “But, please don’t wear camouflage to my presentations. It tends to make the others a bit nervous”
Apr 1
WiLS Now Accepts Bacon as Payment
After months of discussions with our vendor partners and the pork banking industry, we are thrilled to announce we are now able to accept bacon as payment for services and databases.
For years members have been asking for a more convenient payment option, so what was a “logical next step”, according to Director Stef Morrill, WiLS started talking with Nueske State Bank. The idea, said Morrill, really came from her staff, in particular when WiLS Community Liaison Jeff Brunner asked “why do we play this game of exchanging money when in the end we all just convert it into bacon.” That “aha” moment started the ball rolling.
Though we know accepting bacon for payments will make things much simpler for many of our members, we also know that there are some who wonder if there will be an electronic payment option in the horizon. We are happy to also announce Nueske State Bank will be introducing the Bacon Bitcoin in 2015!
WiLS will start accepting bacon payments in the beginning of its fiscal year, July 1, 2014. Quotes for services and databases will list both a dollar amount and a bacon equivalent in pounds. WiLS is working with a local soy bank with the hope of being able to accept tofu in the near future to accommodate those member organizations that are vegetarian and vegan.
Please note, due to bacon currency exchange penalties, WiLS will NOT be accepting Canadian bacon.
Apr 1
WiLS Announces Return of Popular ‘Gods of Wisconsin Libraries’ Collection
After a brief hiatus, WiLS is happy to announce that it is again accepting submissions for its popular Gods of Wisconsin Libraries Collection. The Collection celebrates the gods who live with Wisconsin librarians and library workers.
“We’re really excited to re-launch this great community-building project,” said Stef Morrill while playing fetch with Enlil, the Sumerian god of the wind and divine ruler of the Earth and its human inhabitants.
“Isn’t Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of embalming and tomb-caretaker who watches over the dead, just so cute?” gushed Melissa McLimans while trying to get his god to sit still for a photo. “He loves playing fetch, going for walks and weighing the hearts of the dead to determine their worthiness to enter the ancient Egyptian underworld.”
Clearly, WiLS staff are excited about the project and they’re lining up to submit their personal and household deities. But it’s not just WiLS staff. Some members of the Wisconsin library community have gotten wind of the project and have already submitted their favorite gods to the project.
“My god is Freyja, the ancient Norse goddess of love, sexuality, beauty, fertility, gold, war, and death. She’s super active, even though she’s getting older. I imagine she’ll be with us for three or four more centuries at least,” reported Angela Vanden Elzen, Web Services Librarian at Lawrence University.
Ted Mulvey, Information Literacy Librarian at UW-Oshkosh tells us that “Apollo, son of Zeus, Greek god of the sun, music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague and darkness, prophecy, poetry, purity, athletics, manly beauty, and enlightenment, is forever drinking from the toilet. I just can’t seem to train it out of him!”
So don’t delay! Submit a description and photo of YOUR god (as long as his or her divine likeness can be captured by the insignificant technology of mankind) to today!
Apr 1
WiLS Accepts Blame for Long Terrible Winter
Dear North America,
We’re sorry. We didn’t realize that, when we moved, the thermostat in our virtual office actually controls the temperature for all of North America. We promise to be better co-tenants next winter. In our defense, you’d think there would be a better HVAC system for such a large area of land – maybe more controls than just the one thermostat? Of course, if we had been aware of it and raised the temperature, you know California would have just complained that it’s too hot! Haha!
Yours in fleece and double socks,
WiLS
