40th Annual Conference: Day 3

Day 3: Tuesday September 16
Back at it, starting on time.  Today’s presentations are sort of a mixed bag of topics useful to librarians everywhere. Uh, true confession, I did arrive early enough to puruse the items in the Guin auction.  There were some new additions that tempted me to add a bid.  And those ketchup potato chips are still hot item.  I was chastised for not mentioning that the chips are from CANADA!! This is the official notification to IAMSLIC members that Canada’s contribution to our world good include: potato chips (ketchup and dill pickle are my favs), maple syrup, moose, squirrels, Mounties, and hockey (a sport which can not compete with rugby so Fiji and New Zealand remain vital to us as well).

David Baca was lead off speaker and told us about how their library provides writing assistance to students on his campus.  They do this by having student counselors do peer-to-peer training.  They use the TutorTrac software (http://www.tutortrac.com/subpage.php?go=tutor)
to track the service. It makes monitoring the counselors easy.  Counselors are offered flexible schedules and giving lots of training.  They take referrals from faculty and as a bonus the program helps build personal relationships with faculty.  They really promote the program and they have been successful In improving the writing and have the documentation to prove it.  Would be something to look into for those of us concerned about retention on our campus.

Next up Steve Watkins generated a discussion about about how to deliver digital content to those with poor or no internet access.  Besides rural Pacific Islands, research vessels were identified as experiencing such difficulty.  Steve talked about LibraryBox which consists of a portable wireless router and a USB stick to hold the data (aquatic Commons doc files =31GB and metadata records were harvested from the repository to create user interface tools). Cost for router and 64GB USB was about $70US.  He then did a trial where he had two routers and had half the room link to each.  We were able to link up. The data Steve had loaded was the contents and interface for Aquatic Commons and we were able to do searches and download articles.  Router could be used at any remote site and any updates could be mailed or carried on USB whenever needed.  Very Cool!! Ah the potential!!!!

Samuela Nakalevu instructed us next on the value IAMSLIC adds to our libraries.  I loved his explanations to understand the Pacific regions.  The ocean and the land are the drivers of life!  Travel is always a challenge but that too is part of life.  Open willingness to provide service to clients.  IAMSLIC has added networking opportunities, sharing resources, financial and technical assistance, participation increases visibility of home institution = customer satisfaction!

Tea break!  Excuse me, I need to go shop the auction!  BTW food was as good as yesterday, instead of pizza there were squares of egg & ham quiche.  I’m much revived by two cups of coffee as well.  Refrained from more bidding until lunchtime.

Now for a panel on IAMSLIC’s 40th anniversary!  Janet Webster, Joe Wible and Steve Watkins made up the panel. Steve opened with a presentation that mapped its way through the conference locations over the years.  Interesting to see how the organization started on US east coast and then expanded across country, on into Canada and then truly international.  Joe then gave a personal account of what IAMSLIC has meant to him over the years.  Janet spoke about the 2014 survey of the membership – we want to remain viable and useful and vibrant.  Then a challenge went to the group to throw out ideas on what we can do to stay viable but also to better at serve members.  If you have ideas you can contact any of the officers or post something here on the blog.  Looking for ideas regarding communication, training, capacity building, and resource sharing.

Auction!!!!  Gotta go push up price of those chips and whatever Joe is bidding on…

Lunch:  oh my goodness, I’m so full!!  Let me just start with dessert because it was awesomely delicious!  Light creamy dreamy puff of delicate mango yummyness with a few sliced almonds on top.  It followed stir fried mixed veggies, sliced pork, sashimi, shrimp, sliced meats, pickles, rolls and butter…all I can say is OINK!

Group photo taken, always a test of herding cats! Surprise surprise this was actually the most organized photo in IAMSLIC history! And you will be able to see everyone.

You all missed it!  We got to tour the city on “Le Petit Train”. I may have additional comments later.

Humbly submitted by Kris Anderson

September 16, 2014 · Filed under Announcements, Conference News

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