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Library & Information Technology Association

This is one of our periodic messages sent to all LITA members. This update includes information about the following:

Midwinter Workshop on User Centered Design for Digital Projects
LITA Awards and Scholarships Deadlines Approaching
NISO Standards Reaffirmations
LITA National Forums: 2008 information sources, 2009 call for proposals
LITA Call for Volunteers
LITA Camp-- Save those dates (May 7 and 8, 2009)
Technology Grants Available to LITA Committees and Interest Groups

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LITA Midwinter Workshop: User Centered Design for Digital Projects
Friday, January 23, 2009, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Learn about design process for managing digital projects in libraries, usability theory and methodology. Includes: staff skills and responsibilities, artifacts of the design process, communication channels, Web technologies and standards Receive practical steps to implement a design process in your own library plus a copy of Brenda Reeb's latest book, Design Talk: Understanding the roles of usability practitioners, web designers, and web developers in user centered web design (soon to be released by ACRL).

Speaker: Brenda Reeb, University of Rochester Libraries
Registration: LITA member: $220; ALA member: $315; Nonmember: $495

To register for the workshop only, please call Valerie Edmonds (800-545-2433 x4269) to reserve your place. We will register you on site outside the Workshop room.

To add the workshop to your Midwinter registration, please visit the 2009 ALA Midwinter Meeting registration page.

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LITA Awards and Scholarships Deadlines Approaching

Calls for nominations for the four prestigious LITA Awards have been distributed and are posted on the LITA Web site. The awards include:

The Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology (sponsored by LITA and OCLC);
LITA/Library Hi-Tech Award given each year to an individual or institution for outstanding achievement in communications for continuing education in library and information technology (sponsored by LITA and Emerald Group Publishing Limited, publishers of Library Hi Tech) ;
LITA/Brett Butler Entrepreneurship Award (sponsored by LITA and Gale, a part of Cengage Learning); and
LITA Ex Libris Student Writing Award (sponsored by LITA and Ex Libris).

In addition, LITA has announced the availability of three scholarships:

LITA/Christian Larew Memorial Scholarship (sponsored by Informata.com) for $3,000
LITA/LSSI Minority Scholarship for $2,500
LITA/OCLC Minority Scholarship for $3,000

The scholarships are intended to encourage the entry of qualified persons into the library automation field. The awards committees seek those who plan to follow a career in library and information technology, demonstrate potential leadership, hold a strong commitment to the use of automated systems in libraries and, for the minority scholarships, those who are qualified members of a principal minority group (American Indian or Alaskan native, Asian or Pacific Islander, African-American, or Hispanic).

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NISO Standards Reaffirmations

Be sure to visit the LITA Blog to review a number of messages from Diane Hillmann, LITA Standards Coordinator. The latest message addresses the formation of voting pools for NISO Standards reaffirmations. Specifically, the ANSI/NISO Z39.2 - 1994 (R2001), Information Interchange Format http://www.niso.org/standards/z39-2-1994R2001/
and
ANSI/NISO Z39.47 - 1993 (R2003), Extended Latin Alphabet Coded Character Set for Bibliographic Use (ANSEL)
http://www.niso.org/standards/z39-47-1993r2003/ are under review.

Since these are both important seminal standards for libraries, ALA will opt in to the pools unless a compelling case is presented to Cindy Hepfer, ALA Voting representative to NISO by Dec. 18, 2008 (the ballot closes Christmas week).
Diane I. Hillmann
LITA Standards Coordinator

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2008 LITA National Forum

Over 300 people attending the LITA National Forum in Cincinnati this past weekend were immersed in the leading edges of library technology. Three full days of programming addressed topics including: crowdsourcing digitization, social cataloging, open source software applications, effective IT Management, participatory networking, collaborative web applications, web design, community, literacy, gaming, etc. Forum sessions were 70 minutes long allowing speakers and participants the chance to delve deeply into their subjects and walk away with great ideas and practical solutions. On the other hand, the Five-Minute Madness program allowed each speaker only five minutes to present their topic resulting in a brief overview of the latest technologies available. The Forum’s usual networking opportunities (Friday night reception, breakfasts, lunch, lengthy breaks and networking dinners) were enhanced by the addition of a welcoming reception very generously hosted by the Cincinnati Public Library and by the addition of a gaming night. Generally speaking, there was a lot of energy, excitement and information exchanged at this very dynamic Forum. For more details, see the Web site,
the LITA Blog, American Libraries online, AL Inside Scoop, AL Focus as well as many other blogs and web sites.

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2009 LITA National Forum Call for Proposals
Due Date for proposals February 20, 2009

The 2009 National Forum Planning Committee seeks proposals for high quality concurrent sessions and poster sessions for the 12th annual LITA National Forum to be held at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah from October 1-4, 2009. The theme is “Open and Mobile”.

The Committee is interested in 1) presentations that highlight specific technology implementations, just over-the-horizon technologies that are almost ready for implementation, or information technology research; 2) all types of libraries: public, government, school, academic, special, and corporate and 3) proposals on any aspect of library and information technology are welcome.

Submit proposals by February 20, 2009 online at: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lita2009/
For more details, click here.

If the 2008 LITA National Forum is any kind of indicator, you need to come to the 2009 Forum.

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LITA Call for Volunteers from Michelle Frisque

Do you want to get more involved in LITA but are not sure how to do it? Join a LITA Committee. You still have plenty of time to volunteer. Please log on to the LITA website (www.lita.org) and fill out the LITA Committee volunteer form by March 1st. If you want to learn more about a particular committee visit the LITA Committee's webpage.

In addition, if you would like to represent LITA to an ALA Committee, the following appointments will be made this year for one-year terms to begin after Annual Conference in July:

ALA Advocacy Advisory Group
ALA Chapter Relations Committee
ALA Ethics Committee
ALA GODORT Rare & Endangered Government Publications Committee
ALA Recruitment Assembly
NRMIG
NMRT

Outside of ALA opportunities include the Freedom to Read Foundation and IFLA.

If you want to serve as a representative or liaison or if you have any questions, Please contact Michelle Frisque via email at mfrisque@northwestern.edu.

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Technology Innovation Grants Available to LITA Committees, Interest Groups and/or Task Forces

LITA Technology Innovation Grant funds are available to LITA Committees, Interest Groups and/or Task Forces who would like to improve LITA sponsored services or programs that they provide to LITA members through the application of appropriate existing and/or emerging technologies. The grants may be used to improve or enhance existing services or programs through the application of appropriate technologies; or to introduce a new service or program that will benefit LITA members. For more details including Application information, please go to http://www.lita.org/ala/mgrps/divs/lita/newandnoteworthy/techgrant.cfm

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LITA Camp – The Everywhere Library: Creating, Communicating, Integrating
Save Those Dates: Thursday, May 7 and Friday, May 8, 2009

LITA Camp is a library technology un-conference for anyone interested in libraries using all types and implementations of technology to continually improve services and access for patrons. It features an egalitarian, community-driven format in which most presentations are designed and delivered by attendees.
Librarians, information technologists, students and trustees from the user-centered information community are all welcome and encouraged to attend this un-conference focused on timely discussions of current library issues as determined by the participants themselves.

More information will be available in the near future. Keep an eye on the LITA Web site for more news.

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I want to encourage you to connect with LITA by

Exploring our web site at www.lita.org.
Subscribing to LITA-L (send an e-mail to: sympa@ala.org with the subject line “subscribe lita-l”. (Do not include the “”.) That’s it; Sympa will pick up your email address and subscribe you to the list.
Visiting the LITAblog.org, or LITA wiki , or yourBIGWIG
Reaching out to the LITA leadership at any time (contact information is on the web).

Mary Taylor
Executive Director, LITA
800 545 2433 x4267
mtaylor@ala.org