The latest tech news in the Walker Management Library, for the third week of November 2004.

1) Rachel has been invited to participate in the MetaLib Task Force.  What is MetaLib?  "The MetaLib library portal from Ex Libris enables users to access their institution's e-collections, obtain relevant services, and work in a personalized environment."  See more info here:  http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/metalib.htm .  The group includes:

2) The GIS Task Force met last week.  It was an interesting meeting and both Rachel and Rahn learned about the knowledge and experiences the team has with GIS and GIS technologies. Paul Gherman will receive periodic updates from the team as they determine the need for GIS training, exposure, marketing, and an overall evaluation of the value GIS can bring to the various services (like BIS) and to the Vanderbilt community as a whole.  The group will meet every 2-3 weeks.  The group includes:

3) Rachel and Brent are working on developing several possible logos for the Walker Website , as well as some possible slogans (based on talking with people and from the ideas hanging in the workroom).   What do you envision in a logo? Books?  Technology? Abstract?  Modern?  Fun?  Professional?  Business-related? Earthy? (had to put that one in!)  Sharp- looking?  Symbolic?  Traditional?  What about a slogan? Be thinking about it, and as you go shopping or open mail or watch TV over the Thanksgiving break, try to pay attention to the logos and branding you see. Rachel and Brent will share the examples they have developed at the next staff meeting, or shortly thereafter. Brent will draw it, and Rachel will try to duplicate it digitally. Keep in mind, Rachel is not a graphic artist. She just tries her darnedest.

4) Rachel, Rahn and Leslie attended an enlightening presentation on Tuesday, November 16 at the Frist.  The Southern Appalachian Chapter of SLA presented "Libraries in the Age of Amazoogle," by Alane Wilson, Senior Library Market Consultant at OCLC.  It was an enlightening presentation on OCLC's 2003 Environmental Scan on different landscapes in today's culture: social, economic, technical, research/learning, and the library landscape.

Trends seem to be that people want self-service, comprehensive information, immediate gratification, to compete, collaborate, and create. They want “collaborative meritocracy.” Library OPACs are terrible at this, and the economic landscape is grim. The new era is that technology is ever present and people are always connected – we are moving from a computer era to an access era. Learning environments are more about the people and place, not just about the technology or the quantity of books. They want communities, even a “third place” to go to. (Third place refers to not home, not work, but that third place where people go to feel comfortable and escape from the other 2. There is a trend to move away from the traditional, and Alane encouraged people to develop non-traditional positions within libraries. She also encouraged us to read “The Battle for Mindshare: A battle beyond access and retrieval”, by John J. Regazzi, Managing Director of Market Development at Elsevier,  available here: http://www.nfais.org/publications/mc_lecture_2004.htm .

One quote from  the presentation that Rachel really liked: “The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet.”  -- William  Gibson

5) Public Workstation #4 is in Danny's Office. It's not broken. He's just getting the image that  Rachel created so he can re-ghost all the public workstations.

6) Laura and  Rachel are still getting Ariel set up correctly.

Have a good weekend, everyone! Thanks for your attention and time!