Things to Do in Denver When You're... a Docs Librarian

Well, I finally uploaded those photos from the FDLP conference in Denver last month. Oh, and also photos from TLA in San Antonio, which was the weekend before that. Enjoy!

Sunset From Tavern Window (FDLP)

Sunlit Patterns (TLA)

That's Ms. Councilor-Alternate to You!

Yes, that's right, I was elected TLA GODORT Councilor-Alternate. Hooray!

I've also volunteered for the TLA GODORT Website Committee.

TLA/DLC Trump Blogging

...I'll return on April 19th. In the meantime, I've been doing lots of "hard copy" blogging that I hope to transfer to the digital medium.

• TLA - Texas Library Associaton Conference, San Antonio, TX - 4/11 - 4/14
• DLC - Federal Depository Library Council Meeting, Denver, CO - 4/15 - 4/18

Congrats!!!

Our interim department head, the intrepid Melody Kelly (Associate Dean, UNT-L) has been selected as the President-Elect of the Texas Library Association!

Congrats, Mel!

...And now for a little of my own shameless promotion... I'm running for TLA GODORT Councilor-Alternate. Vote for Pedro--er, me!

And I just posted all the recent PR news about the CyberCemetery to LISNews, including my favorite part--where I get to mention that we're now a NARA-affiliated institution.

Unrelated Banter
Effective May 14, 2007, the first-class postage rate will raise from 39 cents to 41 cents.

Tags, You're It!

Tags, CMS, and HTML-email... what a glorious combination! We've been looking at options for the delivery of a weekly internal library publication (that I'm soon to take over). So far, the best candidate seems to be Plone, the CMS that we're moving our whole library website to this summer. The only nifty feature that Plone doesn't offer is email delivery, but it seems like we can pull together a HTML email template pretty quickly. Lilly Ramin and I spent a couple of hours yesterday in my office, nerd-i-ly brainstorming about content types and keywords. We looked at three of the most recent publications and basically assigned content types and keywords until we had a semblance of a system, vocabulary, rules, and even examples. We were both pretty excited about it by the time I had to work my service desk shift.

Now, I just need to migrate the HSU BYA Newsletter to a similarly simple model... ah, well. For now, I'm composing those HTML messages from my Gmail address and sending them to the Alumni Relations office, who then sends out an official copy to everyone. But I have yet to figure out why sometimes this sends images just fine, and sometimes it refuses to display them. I need a button in my Gmail that says "reveal HTML code," dangit.

After about seven unsuccessful tries, I am finally registered for the TLA Conference next month. Whew! I think my husband may be able to join me after all, which would be great--and my mom (who was my high school librarian) will be making the rounds at the exhibits while I'm in sessions. My parents live in San Antonio, so it's nice to have a cheap place to stay for once!

Which reminds me... anyone need a (female) roomie for DLC next month? I have a room reserved already, but I'm open to sharing. Looks like I'll be staying Monday night and possibly Tuesday.

Monday, we're interviewing a candidate for the Head of GovDocs position. It's going to be hard to remind myself to be in Denton for breakfast, but I'm looking forward to it. It's odd being on this side of the interview process, that's for sure. It gives a whole new perspective on the job-seeking process.

More publicity for the CyberCemetery! John Pendolino of WBAP interviewed Cathy Hartman and myself yesterday about the CC--they're airing the show on Monday morning (at some point between 5 and 9am). I'm not sure if they link to audio after airing or not (I'll link it here, if they do), but I've got a copy of the audio file for my own archives.

Card-Carrying Member (as soon as it comes in the mail)

I'm now an official member of ALA, LITA, and GODORT--all for the this-time-only reasonable price of $135 (don't you hate to call anything over a hundred bucks "reasonable?"). Next year on this date, my checkbook will weep, I'm sure.

Last year, there was a lot of frustrated talk among NextGens about ALA, some of which has now quieted. But it seems a little hard to be active in the library community without the membership--first of all, I wanted to be in LITA and GODORT, and second, if I'm going to attend a few ALA conferences a year anyway, then I might as well get a slight discount.

Speaking of professional activity...

• Whew! I just submitted a presentation proposal--my second in two weeks. The first one was a lot easier than this one, on which I procrastinated until the deadline loomed, and then just forced myself to write it and send it in. Sometimes I can spend a week crafting and perfecting a proposal, and sometimes I just blurt it all out in desperation. My philosophy is, at the very least if I just finish it and send it in, I've got a chance.
• It's only a week and a half until DLC--I've got to start planning what to pack! (I'm finding it's hard to pack light when you need a laptop, hairdryer, and iron just for starters...)
• I'm pondering harnessing the power of RSS for the CRS archive and the CyberCemetery. The problem, as a colleague quickly pointed out, is that the batch-uploads to CRS (often 100+ at a time) make for a messy feed. So we're thinking about creating a feed for each of the browse terms (which are actually LIV top terms). I think this would be a great way not only to help researchers, but to market our department's digital collections. I'd love to have links to the feeds on the GovDocs homepage... guess I'll add that to my project wishlist.

And now, for something completely different (but, um, still library-related):

• "Show Your Librarian Some Love" -- great article from the Chronicle of Higher Education about teaching faculty and academic librarians.
• Google's buying YouTube! It's the millennial version of AOL/Time-Warner.
• Back to Sophie Brookover's "Priorities and Professionalism" article about finding that balance of career vs. family, I thought I'd link to LIScareer.com's articles on the topic; in particular, I liked this quote from Susanne Markgren's "Librarianship and Parenthood: Confessions of a New Mother:" "...I feel that working and being able to step outside of the mommy role helps me to be a happier and therefore better mother."
• Just to prove that I'm still in tune with my MA, here's a story on Greece still wanting those Elgin marbles from the British Museum. I remember writing a paper on this topic for my MA... seven years ago, and they still haven't given up. Wow, this is what I call hopeful thinking: "Greece hopes the landmark structure, purpose-built to showcase finds from the ancient Acropolis, will eventually host the collection -- even as a permanent loan -- despite repeated refusals from the British government and British Museum officials."
• In more Art History news, the Vatican opened a Roman necropolis.
• The ultimate nerd-job: Blogger for NPR!
• Did you know that ALA is older than the IRS?
• On making up words (a librarian's prerogative, apparently).
• Teaching in Second Life... at Harvard, no less!
• And while we're on the topic, why not attend one of these Grand Opening events at SL's Info Island?
  
• Here are some resources for ePortfolios.
• Google blog search!
• The nitty-gritty of web typography (aka, Something Else to Waste Time Obsessing Over).

"Unbound, Unabridged, Uncovered..."

Oh gosh. How could I have forgotten?

Yesterday there was quite a mirthful stir in the office when a copy of the Texas Library Journal arrived... complete with cover image and inside advertisement for the "Men of TLA Calendar."

Unfortunately, the cover image (hairy legs in cowboy boots) and inside image (now jeans-clad but bare-chested, lying on a bearskin rug) aren't online that I can see. Just take my word for it. It's a concept that makes "Calendar Girls" seem tame... and serious.

Yes, the title text is taken directly from the order form.