Science Fiction & eBooks Presentations @ MLA2011

At MLA 2011 I participated in 2 presentations, one on Science Fiction Readers Advisory, and one on eBooks. 

“To Boldly Go:  Fantastical Journeys through Science Fiction Readers’ Advisory” was my solo science fiction readers’ advisory presentation.  I started out by making the point that SF is literature, and, in many ways, SF RA is the same as any other sort of RA. Then I talked about how it’s different, and went through various science fiction tropes and subgenres.  In lieu of handouts, I created a blog, a Delicious account (mirrored on Diigo, due to Delicious’ recent upgrade), and a GoogleDocs page, all of which are linked here.  About 30 people attended, which is pretty good for 8:00 am, and the audience was enthusiastic and asked questions.

“E-books:  What’s All the EXCITEMENT About?” was the eBooks panel I participated in and moderated. We kept the discussion philosophical, and some of the topics discussed were what the panelists’ libraries are doing with eBooks, the future of print and eBooks, the library’s role in the future of eBooks, meeting patrons’ expectations, the library’s role in matters of patron privacy in the digital age, the availability of eBooks for lending and what are publishers thinking, anyway. The discussion was wide-ranging and enthusiastic, with lots of audience participation, and it was standing-room only.  We created a wiki including statistics, free eBook sources, and a bibliography of eBook resources. .

I also attended some interesting panels, including “The History of Copyright in 45 Minutes,” “RDA:  DOA or A-OK?  A Town Hall Debate” (on Resource Description and Access – the new cataloging system being discussed), "Things in a Flash:  The Latest Web 2.0 Tools," and the “50 in 60 Book Blast,” which covered Nordic thrillers, teen, contemporary women's fiction, fantasy and science fiction, and paranormal fiction and featured our own Barb Pierce and Jennifer Larson.  You might want to check out the MLA 2011 presentation materials. There was also fairly active tweeting and photo taking; check out the Twitter hash tag #mnlib11 and the Flickr photostream. 

Melissa @ Central.

(A version of this article also appeared in the November issue of Communique.)

RDA: DOA or AOK?

RDA:  DOA or AOK?

MLA2011
Town meeting. 

RDA = Resource Description and Access.  Proposed successor to AACR2. 

This panel was a town meeting of catalogers discussing the still-controversial RDA, and whether it would be implemented wholesale or abandoned.  As this took the form of a debate, the opinions of the presenters was divided, but they did poll the audience and said they’d let us know the results. I haven’t heard yet.  

First, what’s RDA?

Here’s a really good article from Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ) that gives the basics of RDA and some of the implications for reference. ”Resource Description and Access (RDA):An Introduction for Reference Librarians” by Diane Zabel, Editor & Liz Miller, Guest Columnist.

 

The changes mainly have to do with the data model.  AACR2 is based on:

• Limited resources determining the method of providing access - catalog cards only provide description and carefully delineated access points. Space and access points were limited resources in the world of the card catalog and early computing, but are not any more. 
• Linear searching. In a card catalog, there’s a limit to the number of ways you can access an item – author, title, subject.  That’s not true in the current digital world.
• A lot of the semantic weight of a catalog card is in one place – the chunk of text that makes up the description.  Computers have a really hard time interpreting that because it’s not divided up into discrete data points.  Designed for humans, not computers.  

A few things RDA does differently:

• Designed with the user, not limited resources, in mind – richer searching, no abbreviations, all the creators listed, etc.
• Designed for use with the semantic web – data is divided into very small pieces and consists of data points and the relationships between them.  A name, and that name’s relationship to the item being cataloged, for instance. The point of the semantic web is that with the discrete data points and the relationships, the computer can understand the data better and create meaningful data blocks without specific instructions.  The semantic web is not here yet, but it’s coming.
• It’s a lot more flexible than AACR2.  AACR2 is still based on catalog cards, RDA is not.  RDA is based on a digital environment.

RDA has been a long time in development. The original meeting of what became the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA  where RDA was proposed was in 1997, and we’re at a conditional endpoint.  We’re just coming off of an extensive testing program, where a number of libraries all over the country (including MNHS) tried RDA on a limited corpus of documents in real-life conditions. The final decision is that RDA will be implemented by the three national libraries – LC, National Agricultural Library, and the National Library of Medicine - not before Jan 2013, as long as certain conditions are met. Each library will need to decide whether to implement it or not. 

Most of the members of the MLA panel liked RDA, at least in theory.  They agreed that AACR2 has seen its day, and we can’t keep going on as we have been. The main issues the panelists had with RDA had to do with cost. Whether they were AOK or RDA was determined by if they thought the pros outweighed the cons.  Here are some of the points they made, pro and con.

• Pro: RDA is designed to work with AACR2, and theoretically, everything won’t have to be recataloged. 
• Pro: There is a team working on revising MARC.  Con: MARC is a legacy system, as far as the non-library world is concerned, and therefore a huge stumbling block. One of the panelists expressed grave doubt that RDA would work in any meaningful way with MARC.  MARC is a flat, rigid system designed to work with the computer technology of the late 60’s.  RDA does things the designers of MARC might have dreamed of. The panelist didn’t think MARC in any form would be sufficient – the basic construct is inadequate.  We need a whole new supporting software structure, and that means that not only would a new system have to be designed and implemented, but all records would have to be recoded, largely by hand.  MARC still has a lot of data in unwieldy chunks – physical description is all in one field, for instance – height, pagination, illustration, etc, and a computer would have great difficulty in picking it apart with any accuracy. 
• Pro: RDA is based on XML, and is designed for interoperability and data sharing outside the library world. Under AACR2 and MARC, libraries have all this great data that no one else can import in any usable fashion, and vice versa. A specific example given was that libraries might be able to import data directly from publishers so as to cut down drastically on cataloging time. 
• Con:  Current ILS systems wouldn’t be able to implement RDA to anything close to its full potential.  While RDA’s interoperability would mean ILSs would be far less specialized and difficult to build, the initial changeover would be expensive.
• Con: The expense of training
• Con: The extra expense of the RDA Toolkit, which libraries would need in addition many of the cataloging services they use now.

Melissa @ Central.

iPad Features

USING ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES ON THE iPad (or iPhone or iTouch for that matter)

I attended the class “What is an iPad?" at the Vision Loss Resource Center in Minneapolis (there is an office in St. Paul too).  I learned some very helpful information about accessibility features for those that have low vision and I’d like to share them with you.  This helpful information is taken from the teacher’s handout. 

1. The user guide for the iPad can be found in the bookmarks of the Safari web browser.  There is an entire section on how to use the accessibility options.

2. There are four accessibility features on the iPad (and other Apple mobile devices such as the iPhone and iTouch).
• VoiceOver that converts text to speech
• Zoom which enlarges everything on the screen
• White on Black which changes the screen from color to white on black (this is an easier way for some low vision people to read). 
• Large text which can increase the text size up to 56 point font but only in the mail and notes apps.

3. The accessibility features are turned on by going to the icon for “settings” on the desktop, selecting “general” and then “accessibility.”

4. VoiceOver cannot be used when Zoom is on and vice versa.  However, White on Black can be used with both VoiceOver and Zoom.

5. If you are a low vision user and want to toggle between VoiceOver and Zoom, it is recommended that you enable the feature “Triple-click Home” which can be turned on in the accessibility area of “settings.”  If you quickly triple click the home button, a dialogue box will pop up allowing you to choose either Zoom, VoiceOver or White on Black. 

6. VoiceOver has specific gestures associated with it.  These are different from what a sighted user would use.  These are described in the user manual but here are the basics:
• When you put your finger on the screen, VoiceOver will tell you what you are touching.  For example, if you touch the icon for the Safari web browser, it will say “safari.”  If you want to open the app, double click with one finger.
• VoiceOver usually reads text in chunks and puts a black rectangle around what it is being read.  If you want to scroll up or down a page, use a light three finger flick.  VoiceOver will tell you what page it is on.
• If you want to pause VoiceOver as it is reading, tap the screen once with two fingers.  Do the same again to resume reading from the point at which you stopped.  This gesture is extremely handy when you have headphones on and someone begins talking to you!
• To turn VoiceOver off, use a three finger double tap.  It will say “speech off.”  Use another double three finger tap to turn the speech back on.
• To have VoiceOver read an entire document, do a two finger flick upward near the top of the first page.  It will begin reading and not stop until it reaches the end.

7. Here’s the downside of VoiceOver – it works with all the apps that come pre-installed on the iPad, for example, the Safari web browser, iBooks, iCalendar, and notepad.  But it often does not work with third party apps that you buy from the app store, and you often have no way of knowing this until you have bought the app (fortunately many are free or only a few dollars).  Apple encourages its app developers to make them compatible with VoiceOver but many do not.

8. Here are some apps the teacher likes and that work with VoiceOver:
• iBooks – if you can buy it from the iBook store, VoiceOver will read it.
• NPR or National Public Radio app.
• Audible app – gives you access to a store that sells audiobooks.  You can buy them and immediately download them to your iPad.
• Dragon dictation – allows you to dictate e-mails and send them. 
• Read-to-go – this app links you to the Bookshare website and allows you to download any of its content:  books, magazines, newspapers.
• Bamboo paper – if you buy a special pen, you can take notes in your own handwriting on the iPad.  VoiceOver will not read them but with Zoom or simply large handwriting, the notes are easy to see for someone with low vision.

So now, go ahead and practice.  It takes a bit of getting used to but is quite fun to try. 

                                                                                                            - Deb Kerkvliet

Newly Acquired Minnesota State Government Reports Oct 2011

Hello!

The Legislative Reference Library has put out their monthly list of Newly Acquired Minnesota State Government Reports.

Here are some of special interest:

Shepard, Mark. Short Subjects: State Elected Officials' Compensation (Updated). Publication Date: October 2011.  From House Research.

Dyson, Deborah A. Classification of Cities (Revised). Publication Date: September 2011. From House Research

Chun, Randall and Danyell Punelli. Eligibility of Noncitizens for Health Care and Cash Assistance Programs (Revised). Publication Date: September 2011.  From House Research.

Stadium Proposal Risk Analysis. Publication Date: 2011. From Metropolitan Council; Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.

Financing Education in Minnesota. Publication Date: September 2011.  From the MN House of Representative’s Fiscal Analysis Dept.

Department of Human Rights Case Management Summary Report. Publication Date: October 10, 2011.  Mandated by: 1997 Minn. Laws Chap. 239 Art. 1 Sec. 15 Subd. 1

Enjoy!

Melissa@Central

Government Documents Coordinator

EBOOKS: THE NEW NORMAL

The opening keynote of the web conference, Ebooks: The New Normal, gave us a view of the current state of the ever-shifting field of ebooks in libraries. Ian Singer, Library Journal's Vice-President, summarized their recent ebook survey:

• Public libraries have increased their library offerings 185% from 2010 to 2011. That is in spite of three major publishers, McMillan, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster, not offering ebooks to libraries yet.
• 26% of public libraries are considering circulating pre-loaded ereaders or other devices that can be used for ebooks.
• There has been 66% increase in requests for public libraries that don't have ebooks to carry them.
• 48% of public libraries not offering ebooks say they will within two years.
• General adult fiction, general non-fiction and bestsellers are the top 3 categories for public library ebooks, but children's fiction is increasing.
• 75% of public libraries say new users have been brought to libraries by ebooks.
• The top three barriers to patrons' library ebook use are: 1) They are not available for their device (may be changing, now that library books are available for Kindle); 2) Downloading is too hard; and 3) Waiting lists are too long.

The keynote panel then identified some of the main issues libraries have around ebooks:

• We may go for the cheap fix without thinking first.
• Libraries sometimes have restrictive purchasing policies-- purchase orders may not be an option with ebooks.
• The stakes are high-- libraries don't want to pay a lot of money if something will be obsolete in a year.
• There is no digital rights management standard for ebooks, which leads to access frustrations.
• Patron & library concerns are different -- they may be more concerned with easy access than privacy.
• Libraries increasingly license rather than buy.
• We need to design virtual spaces as well as physical spaces--Ebooks don't always come with catalogs that are great for searching and discovery.

John Palfrey, Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School, talked about his work on the Digital Public Library of America. The DPLA is a work in progress. They are trying to create a national digital library that would preserve our cultural heritage without being controlled by a for-profit entity such as Google. Other countries are ahead of us in this kind of project. DPLA is trying to create a Wikipedia-like community and encourage collaboration. They envision going across the country to digitize libraries' unique local collections in an RV called a "Scannabego". Computer software companies like Apple and Microsoft are already on board, but DPLA is trying to get more publishers involved, so they can create the right balance between access and copyright.  This article describes some of the issues around the DPLA.

In the program Ebooks: Strategy (not) Required, public librarians discussed their system's ebook strategies.

The King County Library uses browsing lists such as New York Times Bestsellers List and NPR reading lists as ebook discovery tools. They are committed to a 3:1 hold ratio. King County subscribes to Baker & Taylor's Axis 360. They like it because it is device-neutral, has audio and video, is good for picture-intensive titles like picture books and e-books, and they find the Blio software easier to use than Adobe Digital Editions. The main drawback is that it currently works on tablets, computers, and smartphones only, not on ereaders. They are working on having ePub files for ereaders soon--no word on the Kindle format, however.




The Richland County Public Library is very big on training and outreach, as they feel the greatest barrier to ebooks is patron ignorance of availability. They go out to businesses such as restaurants with a mobile lab containing a Nook, iPad, Kindle, mobile Internet hotspot, and laptop and do ebook training. Richland County uses volunteers for some of the training and partners with nearby libraries. They also have "gadget galleries" with coffee and treats, where patrons can try out devices. This training has increased their circulation of ebooks. Richland County is also interested in the 3M Cloud Library because it provides ereaders to check out as well as ebooks.

The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library is taking a look where their circulation is falling and buying ebooks instead. We have always had to replace old formats with new--compact discs replaced LP's, DVD's replaced videocassettes, the Internet replaced the need for international newspapers and some types of reference books. They have found that patrons read different types of books on e-readers--they may be embarrassed to be seen with a lurid romance cover, but there are no covers on Kindles. Indianapolis-Marion County has not seen a decrease in the hold list for print books, just a total rise in circulation as ebooks are added.

 


I will leave you with some quotes from the conference's chat and Twitter to think about:

"Only 9% of ebook audience think about going to the library. How are we going to make ourselves relevant for digital content?”

"Crazy that publishers don't even know that librarians are doing the best market research - Readers' Advisory research.”

" We are dealing with a patron population that may be more tech savvy than our staff."







A recording of this conference will be available on the Intranet until January 12, 2012.

--Andrea @ Central

The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau

Hello!

The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CPFB), mandated by The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, has officially opened. If patrons come in with financial questions - student loans & debt, mortgage issues, or simply want help with financial planning and challenges, this is a good place to go for information.

Also, we have a local connection; Skip Humphrey is the head of the Office of Older Americans for the CPFB. There's also an Office of Servicemembers.

Enjoy!

Melissa@Central.

History of Copyright - MLA2011 Presentation

History of Copyright

Nick Lavely

Reference Librarian

Metro State.

Copyright is an agreement - the creator can have all the proceeds from her creation for a while, but society want free access after that.

The Past:

Plautus - 1st person to insist on being payed for using his work.

1710 - British Statute of Anne - very similar to a lot of current copyright law.

Each American Colony came up with their own copyright law. This was a very important issue to the colonies. There is, in fact, a copyright clause in the Constitution: “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”

1790

With the first congress came the first copyright law. Closely modeled on the British Statute of Ann.

• Covered maps, charts, and books.
• No prior materials were covered – created a public domain.
• Term was 14 years - renewable once for another 14 years.
• Requirement for a depository copy held by the Library of Congress.

1831

• Widows and children could renew.
• Term grew to 28 years, renewable once for 14 years.

1870

• Expanded author’s rights to include translations & dramatic adaptations.
• Included photographs - the hot new technology.

1906 - 1907

• Congress debated perpetual copyright. Mark Twain was a big fan.

1909 – New copyright law.

• Introduced corporate authorship and works-for-hire copyright.
• Term 28 years renewable once for another 28 years.

The Corporate Authorship and Works-for-Hire clause gave publishers (like newspapers) and production companies (like movie studios) the ability to own the rights of everything that was created under the auspices of their companies. It took away the automatic right for the creator to own what they created, which had previously been assumed by copyright law. All studios took advantage of this. D. W. Griffiths used employment contracts to force creators to sign away rights. It corporatized creativity.

“Authorship could not be considered mystical or romantic after 1909. It was simply a construct of convenience, malleable by contract.” (‘Copyrights and copywrongs: the rise of intellectual property and how it threatens creativity’ by Siva Vaidhyanathan, 2003, p. 102.)

1912

• Amended to include motion pictures.

1952

• Amended to include lectures, sermons and performance of nondramatic literary works.

1971

• Amended to include sound recordings.

New technology = new copyright law.

In this period congress would keep expanding copyright for 3 years when necessary so nothing was entering the public domain. This is messy; it creates a lot of orphan works, questions as to what was actually renewed, who has right to claim, etc. Hard for creators to keep up with.

1976 – New copyright law.

• Included any media known or unknown
• Established Fair Use and the 5 Rights of Copyright Holders
• Established library archive rights.
• Registration not required
• Term: life + 50 years, 75 years for works made for hire.

The 5 Rights of Copyright Holders are:

• To reproduce
• To prepare derivative works
• To distribute - sell, rent, lease or lend
• To perform publicly
• To display publicly

4 factor test of Fair Use from Section 107 of the Copyright Act:

• Purpose and character of the use – how creative? Fictional or Factual?
• Nature of the copyrighted work
• Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
• Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Fair use is determined by case law not public law (law made by the legislature and signed by the president).

Offers restricted rights for copying, distribution, book to movie - make own version

It’s all right to consume media - borrow from library.

Fair use can encompass commentary, parody, limited educational use. It’s nebulous.

Library archiving - Single copy (not digital) for purpose of law

The default is - copyright on. Fair Use switches the paradigm.

Arguments to extend copyright:

• 56 year term is not long enough for an author and their dependents to gain the economic benefits.
• Life expectancy has increased.
• Growth in media has made older media more popular.
• The public already pays for public domain materials.
• Renewal process is time consuming.

1988 - Sonny Bono copyright extension.

• Steamboat Willie (earliest Mickey Mouse cartoon) was about to come out of copyright.
• Copyright holders – with Disney in the forefront, got copyright extended by 20 years.

Nothing new will pass into public domain until 2019.

The copyright agreement is out of balance.

Now

1998 - DMCA

• Signed by President Clinton.
• Works side by side with copyright.
• Limitation against reverse engineering & defeating DRM.
• Anti-circumvention rules.
• Fair use is not a defense.
• Term: ?

Library archiving - Section 108 update - 3 copies, digital; can copy the work if original format becomes obsolete.

What’s obsolete? 8-track is not an obsolete format, nor are LPs - as long as you can find something to play it on, it’s not obsolete.

Basically the DMCA means perpetual copyright as long as a lock exists.

Chilling effects:

• On research, publication, and journalism.
• On legitimate and/or fair use.
• On competition and reverse engineering.

Copyright/DMCA being used as a sword. People are using the DMCA to force removal of unfavorable comments. It’s easy to subvert fair use.

“It appears that the copyright laws are being used as part of a massive collection scheme and not to promote useful arts.” Judge Bernard Zimmerman

Medical Justice is a company that does medical forms. One of the forms you fill out at your doctor’s office might be one of their forms saying that if you review your doctor online, you give up your copyright on the review.

Current academia cases:

• Cambridge U Press v. Patton - Publishers are suing Georgia State University due to the amount and accessibility of content on eReserve system.
• Ambrose Video Publishing vs. University of California - Publishers are suing UCLA for copying a DVD and streaming it to students.
• Authors’ Guild et al vs. Hathi Trust - AG is suing a consortium of universities for sharing digital copies of their works, even though there’s lots of security in place to make sure there’s no access to the full text.

EBooks

• Overdrive, HarperCollins and the 26 loan cap.

There’s a loss of control at all levels. Licensing agreements are also used to subvert copyright laws and rights.

The current use of copyright is locking down our culture.

GoogleBooks (GB) is a fair use case.

• GB changes the paradigm and provides non-linear access by searching the whole card catalog – indeed the whole collection - for a term simultaneously. Highly transformative and does not supplant the need for the original.
• GB is basically creating an index, it is not creative.
• GB requires entire book to be scanned, but the database is secure and only a small portion is shown if copyright is an issue. It’s similar to a quotation. Snippets are not likely to effect purchasing. No need to prove absolute zero damage. Publishers have seen financial gains on GB.

The GB Settlement:

• Will give Google a de facto monopoly
• Setup is similar to ASCAP or BMI without the government controls
• What about library access? Licensing? Orphan works? $150 million immediately? No government oversight? It doesn’t address a lot of questions.
• It was settled out of court.

Afterword

American judgments are way out of proportion to the crimes:

• Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum (student) - He was sued for $675,000 for pirating 31 songs.
• Capitol vs. Thomas - as high as 1.92 mil for 24 songs. This is still in court – decision coming down.

Sweden – someone paid 30 dollars for pirating 24 songs. Much more reasonable.

7 things Google isn’t censoring.

Millions of people have a direct stake in copyright law.

48 hrs of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Since 1909, copyright law has encouraged lawyers for publishers, record labels, motion picture studios and distributors to write law that has benefited them.

ACTA - Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement:

• Taking DMCA global.
• Removing safe harbor exceptions unless ISPs enforce three strikes policy.
• Notice and takedowns.
• Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even for fair use purposes.
• Brings in the government to enforcement private rights – which is ridiculous.

The agreement was passed on 9/30/11 without ratification, going through the Senate, or going to the people.

Wikileaks ha shown how the US has influenced copyright in other countries.

The UK wants to extend copyright for 20 years – The Beatles’ copyrights are ending soon.

It’s all being settled out of court. Nothing is going to court.

--Melissa @ Central

What I learned at MLA 2011

The handouts for all the sessions at MLA 2011 are on MLA’s website: http://mnlibraryassociation.org/2011-handouts/

I attended the following sessions:

The kick-off keynote speaker was Anita Silvey, author of Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book: Life Lessons From Notable People From All Walks of Life. She shared heartwarming stories from her book.

Why Should We Use Social Media to Promote the Library?
Virginia Erbe is part of Rochester Public Library’s (RPL) communications team. She tweets twice a day. During National Book Month, she posted a daily book trivia question on Facebook. She uses Hootsuite to manage her posts. She posts a little game on the library’s Facebook page every Friday; for example, she asks the library’s Facebook friends to list their ten favorite books or some of their favorite authors. When she gets stories from library staff members, she re-purposes them as a Facebook post or a tweet. Virginia recommends using consistent user names for branding purposes. Also, don’t type like a robot—start a conversation with library users. Post as yourself occasionally. Know your audience. Actual posting on RPL’s social media sites only takes 20% of one staff person’s week. Virginia uses the bit.ly URL shortener because that free service provides statistics for how many people clicked on the shortened URL, which is usually a link to RPL. RPL has three facebook pages, three twitter accounts, two YouTube channels, Flickr, and two blogs.

Book Clubs: Hands On to Hands Off:
A panel of four librarians and one civilian presented information for library book clubs, including tips on creating book club in a bag kits, leading a library book club, running an online book club for children and teens, and selecting titles for a book club. Audra Otto, the coordinator of the MinnPost.com Book Club Club, had some great suggestions for reinvigorating a book club including twinning with another book club for one meeting a year and reading one biography, one mystery, one science fiction title each year. She also suggested reading a book that had been made into a film and then attending the film, reading a play aloud together, and meeting at an ethnic restaurant to discuss a book set in that milieu, but these last suggestions don’t seem practical for a library-sponsored book club.

Killer Cocktails/RART Happy Hour:
This event was cosponsored by the Twin Cities Crime Writers and Sisters in Crime (http://www.twincitysinc.org/). There were 17 Minnesota mystery writers at this event, who went from table to table talking about their work. I didn’t realize that a signature cocktail had been created for this event, but several attendees who tried it said it was delicious. Libraries can enter a drawing for $1,000 for their book budgets here: http://www.sistersincrime.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=53. The only requirement is that you need to include “a photo of one or more of your staff with three books in your collection by Sisters in Crime members.”

To Boldly Go: Fantastical Journeys through Science Fiction Readers’ Advisory:
This excellent overview of the science fiction genre was presented by our own Melissa Gray. Some of the titles Melissa suggested for someone just getting started in this genre included I Robot by Isaac Asimov (hard science fiction); the Foundation trilogy, also by
Isaac Asimov (idea driven series); Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (space opera); the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger (steampunk); and the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey (fantasy). Please refer to Melissa’s two-page handout (http://mnlibraryassociation.org/uploads/conf11/handouts/C2.pdf , which includes links to her blog and her Delicious.com page.

Readers’ Advisory Round Table Subunit Meeting:
Several members of RART expressed an interest in staff training in readers’ advisory. Rochester Public Library has instituted some RA training and is willing to share their methods, which include a monthly one-hour meeting for the 10 staff members in their Reader Services Division and other interested parties. Preparation for the meeting involves reading an article related to readers’ advisory and then reading a book in a specific genre and talking about it. The books the group reads and annotates are made into a library display with bookmarks, etc. I believe they call the monthly meeting “breakfast of champions,” but that might be what another library system is doing—my notes aren’t clear. We decided that audiobooks and their narrators would be a topic at our 2012 spring readers’ retreat.

Desert keynote: Engagement through Games: Reaching Library Users
through Playful Ways:
Dr. Scott Nicholson, Associate Professor and Program Director for the Masters of Science in Library and Information Science, Syracuse University, talked about games in the library and also had the audience create a role playing game.

E-books: What’s All the EXCITEMENT About?
This was a panel discussion with audience participation. I didn’t really get any new information from it but it was interesting to hear varying perspectives on the issue. Melissa was on the panel, so she can probably offer more insight than I can.

Things in a Flash: The Latest Web 2.0 Tools:
Five librarians introduced five different Web 2.0 tools. Several people talked about QR codes and their applications at the library. My eyes glazed over because I don’t have a smart phone so QR codes have no meaning for me. Two other topics were Wunderlist and Evernote, two list-making apps for the iPhone and iPad.

50 in 60 Book Blast
Library Associates Jennifer Larson and I joined Stephanie Hall, Director of Director of Libraries, Meinders Community Library in Pipestone, Minnesota; Joan Ennis, Librarian at the Northfield Public Library; and Angie Noyes, Librarian at the Hardwood Creek branch of Washington County Public Library; to present our 50 in 60 Book Blast. Each of us talked about 10 books: Nordic mysteries (me), science fiction/fantasy (Stephanie), women’s fiction (Joan), young adult (Jen), and paranormal fiction (Angie). We were lucky this year to start at the relatively civilized hour of 9:30 in the morning, and there were over 120 people in the audience, it was standing room only. We had one technical difficulty—the laptop quit for five minutes in the middle of our Prezi, but I was able to show our slides by holding up my new iPad 2. Also Stephanie had brought all her books, so I held them up during her portion of the show.

Go Forth!
The luncheon keynote speaker was William Kent Krueger, award-winning author of the Cork O’Connor series, who shared several heart-warming stories about his childhood and books and storytelling and libraries.

--Barb @ Highland Park

FOUNDATION CENTER NETWORK DAYS, PART TWO: RESOURCES FOR CHALLENGING QUESTIONS

The Foundation Center offers an “Ask Us” librarian chat service Monday through Wednesday, 9:30 am - 8:00 pm, Thursday and Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm (Eastern Time). Questions can also be submitted by email. They answered 4,000 chat & email questions in 2010.

A good place to start before asking a question is the Grantspace Knowledge Base, which replaces the old Foundationcenter.org FAQ. It includes tips on how to get started with proposal writing, starting a nonprofit, charitable statistics, and fiscal sponsorship. Fiscal sponsorship is when an individual or organization that does not have 501(c) (3) status partners with one that does. This increases the potential grant pool by a factor of at least 10, although there is usually a 5-10% fee. The new site Fiscalsponsordirectory lets you search for fiscal sponsors by state or area of interest.

In these challenging economic times, the Foundation Center librarians often get questions from people who need help for themselves, rather than getting a grant for their organization. Health and disability needs are the most common. If they need help right away, United Way’s 211 service is a good place to refer them. Benefits.gov offers easy access to government assistance programs. It asks you a series of questions, then gives you a list of assistance you may be eligible for. This makes it a good complement for the Foundation Center databases, since they do not include any government grants or programs. Ed.gov is a good site for adults returning to school or looking for vocational training. For people with disabilities, www.disabilityresources.org has funding information for assistive technology, vocational rehabilitation, and health care.

Although for-profit businesses are generally not eligible for grants from foundations, the Foundation Center offers links on where to get started for business loans and other assistance. Social Enterprise, which combines a social mission with business methods, is a hot trend these days. These are some good links that the librarians recommend to get started.

Nonprofits may need help with legal issues from time to time. The Nonprofit Law Blog is written by attorneys who cover topics like governance, fiscal sponsorship, forms, and intellectual property. If they want to know what to pay their new residence supervisor, the Economic Research Institute has a salary calculator that can be refined by state or zip code. If a nonprofit needs statistics in order to discover giving trends, the Foundation Center has some, as does the Center for Charitable Statistics and the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University.

So, if you have a real foundation-related stumper, the Foundation Center librarians will be happy to help. I have contacted them a few times--once for a scan from a publication in their library, once to find out if they could recommend a title or not, and they were very helpful.


--Andrea @Central

THE FOUNDATION CENTER NETWORK DAYS PART ONE: STATE OF THE FOUNDATION CENTER

At the Foundation Center’s annual conference, its president Bradford K. Smith discussed trends in philanthropy and how they affect the Foundation Center.

The top five philanthropy trends are:


1) Growing--There are more billionaires every day. The Gates Foundation is encouraging all billionaires to give away half their wealth. It is predicted that giving will go up 2 - 4% in spite of the economy.


2) Global--The wealthiest man in the world is Mexican. There are a couple of Chinese billionaires in the top ten. The Foundation Center is adding more international foundations to their databases.


3) Not just about giving money--foundations are increasingly using targeted investing and subsidized loans as tools. They also offer staff, advice, and long-term business plans.


4) Technology--There is an expectation that organizations will be available online, on social networks and through mobile devices. Online giving sites, like Global Giving, connect directly to donors with no mediation. On the other hand, only 23% of foundations have web sites and 76% have 4 staff or less, so they are still filling out tax forms by hand in some cases. The Foundation Center is encouraging foundations to embrace technology by requesting electronic submissions and suggesting grant management software, as well as showing which Foundations are using Twitter, Facebook, etc. Their new web site Grantcraft offers guides, videos and training for Foundation staff who want to learn about best practices in the field.


5) Transparency--in this information age, there is an expectation that information on who gives what to whom is available. The Foundation Center is encouraging this trend with its web site, Glasspockets.org.




The Foundation Center and its cooperating collections help both grant seekers and grant makers deal with the changes in philanthropy. To quote a conference attendee, “The Foundation Center assists doers who want to do better. If your org/enterprise wants to be the best it can be, you need the Foundation Center's resources and services."

--Andrea @Central