SLA PAM Division Blog

International Membership Award: Nominations Open!

2011-11-15T10:08:00.001-08:00

Nominations for the International Membership Award (IMA) are now being accepted by the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The SLA-PAM Division will present this award to a librarian from the developing world.

The award provides a two-year SLA membership for the years 2012 and 2013; a virtual (online) access to the 2012 Annual Conference; and $500 USD worth of SLA professional-development materials in the form of Click U webinars and online courses and/or e-books. For more information about SLA professional development training, please visit the following web page:
http://www.sla.org/content/learn/index.cfm

Please submit nominations to the chair of PAM International Relations Committee (IRC) (address below) by December 5, 2011. The award will be announced in January 2012. More information about the PAM Division and the award can be found at: http://pam.sla.org/projects/irc/

Objective:
The purpose of the award is to provide an opportunity for librarians from the developing world to be an active member of SLA and of SLA-PAM.

Components:

The award will provide SLA membership, including PAM Division affiliation, for a period of two years.
PAM will provide the IMA winner a virtual pass to the 2012 SLA Annual Conference.
PAM also provides the equivalence of $500 USD in professional development through Click U online courses, webinars, and/or books.
The award recipient will send the IMA Chair a short report on the state of scientific information/libraries in his/her country so that the report can be posted on the PAM IRC webpage.
The award recipient will also prepare a final report reflecting on his/her experience with PAM and providing recommendations for future improvements to the award program; this report is to be sent before the end of the second year of the award to the PAM Executive Board and PAM IRC.
The award recipient will serve as a member of PAM’s International Relations Committee (IRC) during the term of the award.

Qualifications:

The nominee must reside and work in a developing country and have basic English skills.
The nominee must be working currently in a library, information center, library school or other information-related capacity, in one of the subject areas related to science and technology. Priority will be given to applicants working in Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics areas.
The nominee should not have had any previous opportunity of active involvement in SLA such as attending the SLA annual conference or any other professional library association meetings in the U.S.

Nomination Process:
Self nominations are encouraged. Nomination documentation should include the following:

A letter highlighting the candidate’s professional career and qualification and explaining why this person should be granted the award.
The candidate’s current professional resume.
Contact information for the nominee: name, position, business address, and (if possible) email address.

Nominations are to be submitted by December 5, 2011, to the PAM IRC chair. Electronic submission by e-mail is preferred. The award recipient will be announced in January 2012. Selection will be made by the PAM Executive Board in consultation with the PAM IRC Chair/Co-Chair.

Please submit nominations to:

Khue Duong
Chair, SLA-PAM International Relations Committee
California State University, Long Beach
University Library
1250 Bellflower Boulevard

Long Beach, California 90840-1901
Phone: (562) 985-2641 | Fax: (562) 985-1703 |
Email: kduong@csulb.edu

2011 Call for Award Nominations

2011-04-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

The PAM Awards Committee cordially invites you to submit, by May 1, your nominations for the 2011 PAM Division Award and/or for the 2011 PAM Achievement Award. Previous recipients of the Division Award include the Jahrbuch Project, the American Physical Society, and John Gardner for developing assistive technologies. Previous honorees of the Achievement Award include Martha Tucker, Bob Michaelson, Kris Fowler, and Molly White. There are many more deserving colleagues and worthwhile endeavors to honor. Please send nominations for individuals or groups to any of the committee members via the e-mail addresses listed below. If you're thinking of someone but aren't quite sure if you can make the May 1 deadline, then please send a message to any of the committee members.

The PAM Division Award is given for significant contribution to the literature of physics , mathematics, or astronomy, or to honor work that demonstrably improves the exchange of information within these three disciplines. The contribution also should benefit libraries or enhance the ability of librarians to better serve their patrons. The contribution should be special - above and beyond the normal job requirements of the individual(s) or group concerned. The honoree(s) may be a member(s) of SLA/PAM, but need not be.

The PAM Achievement Award is reserved for recipients whose professional work is marked by distinction and dedication to librarianship in astronomy, mathematics, and/or physics. The award recognizes those members of SLA/PAM who have made outstanding contributions to the Division.

More details, guidelines for nominations, and a list of previous winners can be found on the PAM Division web site at http://www.sla.org/division/dpam/manual/awards/index.html (PLEASE NOTE THAT WE HAVE EXTENDED THE DEADLINE TO MAY 1 for this year!)

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Your PAM Awards Committee:

Donna Thompson (Chair) dthompson@cfa.harvard.edu (617)496-7660
Michael Fosmire fosmire@purdue.edu (765)494-2859
Danny Dotson dotson.77@osu.edu (614)688-0053

Beyond the Bell(s)

2011-03-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out (and bookmark!) the great new blog from the Philadelphia Hospitality Committee, Beyond the Bell(s)! "Every week we will update readers on some of the best local restaurants, cafes, museums and destinations in the Philadelphia region. We have tasked ourselves to think beyond the typical tourist destinations. You all know about the historic Liberty Bell and the wonderful Franklin Institute. Here you will learn about where to get the best Philly Cheesesteak (and how to order!), where to catch a baseball game (besides Citizens Bank Park), and how to get around like a local."

Thanks so much to Peggy, Lauren, Louise and Sharice - what a great way to share the skinny on Philly!

Congratulations to the 2011 PAM Travel Stipend Winners!

2011-03-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

IOP Publishing, a generous and long-time supporter of libraries and librarians, has provided PAM with funding for four $1,000 stipends to help defray the costs of traveling to the 2011 SLA Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Qualifying applicants had to be recent graduates of a library science graduate program, in their first three years of professional librarianship, employed by a physical sciences library or as a subject specialist for one or more of the PAM disciplines, and first-time attendees of the SLA Annual Conference as a professional librarian. For more information, please visit click here.

We would like to thank all of the new librarians who applied for this stipend. We appreciate the time and effort you put into your application letters and we look forward to welcoming you into the PAM Division. Below are listed the stipend winners.

Margaret Lam is the physical sciences liaison librarian at Fenwick Library, George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She received an MLS degree from Queens College, CUNY in Flushing, NY and graduated with a MA degree in Chemistry from the same college.

Kathleen Lehman is the head of the Physics Library at University of Arkansas. Her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee followed an MAT in multidisciplinary education from Webster University in St. Louis and a BA in physics and astronomy from the University of Iowa.

Andrea Miller-Nesbitt graduated from McGill University’s MLIS program. She began working at McGill’s Schulich Library of Science and Engineering shortly thereafter as a liaison librarian for the School of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Catherine Vu is the science librarian at California State University, Fullerton and is responsible for providing reference and bibliographic instruction. She received an MLIS degree from San Jose State University and graduated summa cum laude with a BS degree in Chemistry from University of San Francisco.

If you have the opportunity, please introduce yourself to Margaret, Kathleen, Andrea, and Catherine at the June conference. Help them feel at home in our division, which as we all know is a very special part of SLA.

The PAM Division is deeply grateful to IOP Publishing for their continued involvement with and support of librarians at the SLA conference, and most especially for their generous commitment to the professional development of young science librarians. Three cheers for IOP Publishing!

Selection Committee Members:

Sharice Collins, Vice President, Marketing, IOP Publishing, Inc.
Ruth Kneale, PAM Chair
Nedelina Tchangalova, PAM Professional Development Chair

One Division, One Book

2011-02-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

Join us Monday in the late afternoon to discuss our Book Group selection for this year, "Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void" by Mary Roach. If you'd like to join in the Book Group discussion, let Julie Arendt know; the details of where and when we're meeting are forthcoming!

PAM Travel Stipend Award - Deadline Extended

2011-01-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

Are you planning to attend the Annual SLA conference in Philadelphia, PA in June? Do you have less than 3 years of professional library experience? Do you work in a library focusing on one or more of the PAM disciplines (physics, astronomy, mathematics, or computer science) or act as a library's subject specialist for one or more of these disciplines?

Don't hesitate and apply yourself or encourage your new librarian to apply for one of the four travel stipends of $1,000 each sponsored by IOP Publishing! The deadline has been extended to February 10, 2011.

For more information see the SLA Blog posting - thanks and hope to hear from you!

All Sciences Poster Session: Call for Posters

2011-01-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

SLA 2001 All Sciences Poster Session

Call for Posters
Deadline: February 1st, 2011

The Biomedical & Life Sciences, Chemistry, Food Agriculture Nutrition, Physics Astronomy Mathematics, Science & Technology and Engineering Divisions of SLA invite proposals for a poster session to be held during the divisions' All Sciences Poster Session and Reception at SLA 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Poster Session and Open House will be held on Tuesday June 14th from 5:30-7:00pm.

Submit your proposal to slaposter2011@gmail.com

SLA Awards: All Nominations Are Officially Open

2010-11-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

Do you know a colleague that deserves recognition for their contributions to the information profession, to their organization, to SLA, or maybe to all three?

SLA is pleased to announce that all awards and honors nominations are officially open. SLA Fellows and Rising Stars nominations formally opened on September 1st, and will remain live until December 15th of this year. Multiple recipients can be recognized for these honors, so if you know an "up and comer" or a colleague that has made considerable achievements within their profession, don't hesitate to let us know!

On November 1st, all other SLA award nominations officially opened, and will remain live until January 15th. These awards include the Dow Jones Leadership Award, the Rose Vormelker Award, the John Cotton Dana Award, and others. For a full list and descriptions of the SLA awards, click here.

Not sure where to start? View a list of tips for submitting a winning nomination and fill out nomination forms here.

If you have any other questions about nominating, or want to know what award your colleague/friend might be eligible for, contact John Walsh at SLA headquarters. We look forward to receiving your nominations, and bestowing these honors on those most deserving.

Call for 2011 IMA Nominations

2010-10-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

Nominations for the International Membership Award are now being accepted by the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The SLA-PAM Division will present this award to a librarian from the developing world; it provides a two-year SLA membership, for the years 2011 and 2012. For complete information, please visit the following web page:

http://units.sla.org/division/dpam/manual/awards/pamimadetails.html

Please submit nominations to the chair of the International Relations Committee (IRC) of the PAM Division (address below) by November 1, 2010. The award will be announced in December 2010. Thank you.

Objective:
The purpose of the award is to provide an opportunity for librarians from the developing world to be an active member of SLA and of SLA-PAM.

Components:

The award will provide SLA membership, including PAM Division affiliation, for a period of two years.
The award recipient will serve as a member of PAM's International Relations Committee (IRC) during the term of the award.
SLA-PAM will fund the award recipient's attendance at SLA's annual conference during the first year of the award, including travel costs, lodging, conference registration, and related expenses. Please note: travel to the conference is contingent on several factors including procurement of a visa to travel to the United States: This is the award recipient's responsibility.
The award recipient will prepare a short report on the state of scientific information/libraries in his/her country, to be presented to the membership at the annual SLA conference either in person or in writing.
The award recipient will also prepare a final report reflecting on his/her experience with PAM and providing recommendations for future improvements to the award program; this report is to be sent before the end of the second year of the award to the PAM Executive Board and PAM IRC.

Qualifications:

The nominee must reside and work in a developing country and have basic English skills.
The nominee must be working currently in a library, information center, library school or other information-related capacity, in one of the subject areas related to science and technology. Priority will be given to applicants working in Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics areas.
The nominee will not have had a previous opportunity to become actively involved in SLA, such as by attending an SLA conference or other professional library association meetings in the U.S.

Nomination Process:
Self nominations are encouraged. Nomination documentation should include the following:

A letter highlighting the candidate's professional career and qualification and explaining why this person should be granted the award.
The candidate's current professional resume.
Contact information for the nominee: name, position, business address, and (if possible) email address.

Nominations are to be submitted by 1 November, 2010, to the PAM IRC chair, and the award recipient will be announced in December. Selection will be made by the PAM Executive Board in consultation with the PAM IRC Chair/Co-Chair.

Please submit nominations to:

Kiem-Dung Ta
Chair, SLA-PAM International Relations Committee
Oklahoma State University
Edmon Low Library, #306
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: (405) 744-9743 | Fax: (405) 744-7579 |
Email: kiem.ta@okstate.edu

Seeking Next PAM Chair-Elect and Secretary!

2010-09-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Seeking Next PAM Chair-Elect and Secretary!
Deadline: 30th September 2010

We are currently seeking nominations for two PAM offices:

• Secretary, with a 2-year term (January 2011 through December 2012). The Secretary participates in all Board decision-making and has specific responsibility for documenting Division business.

• Chair-Elect, with a 1-year term (January-December 2011), followed by 2 years as Chair/Past Chair. The Chair-Elect’s first role is to attend the 2011 Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, 19-22 January 2011, to begin planning—along with those from other SLA Divisions—the program for the Annual Meeting to be held 15-18 July 2012 in Chicago, IL.

Further information on the duties of these offices is available in the PAM Practices Manual.

Please send nominations for either office to any of the committee members listed below by 30th September 2010; self-nominations are welcome. Feel free to e-mail us if you have any questions.

PAM Nominations and Elections Committee:
Jane Holmquist (chair) jane@princeton.edu
Alison Verbeck alison@wustl.edu
Liz Bryson bryson@cfht.hawaii.edu

Thoughts from IATUL

2010-07-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Guest Post by Willow Dressel

E-Science and science data seemed to be hot topics at SLA this year. We heard everything from presentations on what some of our colleagues are doing in the area, buzz about the NSF Data Management Plan grant proposals requirements, and some questions from our colleagues of whether or not librarians can or should be trying to get involved in this new area.

After the SLA conference in New Orleans, several PAM members (myself included) continued on to Purdue for the 31st Annual IATUL conference - The Evolving World of e-Science: Impact and Implications for Science and Technology Libraries. During the Astronomy Roundtable at SLA, one of our colleagues asked if I might be willing to share my thoughts on IATUL with the rest of the PAM division after the conference. I asked some of the other dual conference attendees to share their thoughts as well. Margaret Dominy from Drexel University and Michael Peper from Duke University both had something to add. You will find all of our thoughts below.

You can find the conference program at http://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul2010/program/ and the conference papers are available at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul2010/

Willow Dressel - Princeton University
The conference was very well put together, with presentations from people all along the science data spectrum, including individual projects, collaborations within and across research fields, and even nationwide initiatives. Presenters included librarians, researchers, a Microsoft VP, and more. I’m still reading through the papers of the sessions I didn’t get a chance to attend.

One of my big realizations was that researchers want librarians to be involved. Some even seem to think of working with science data as a natural extension of a librarian’s current roles. To me, the strongest example of this is that of Richard Kron, the project director of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, asking the library at his home institution the University of Chicago for help with coming up with a long term storage solution for the data from the project to map a quarter of the sky.1

Additionally, I identified three things people are doing at other institutions that I think would be a good place for my institution to start getting involved in the e-science conversation.

Create a working group or advisory group to survey the literature and look for ways for the library to get involved.
Collaborate with IT to perform a user needs assessment for researchers.
Develop a Data Management workshop for faculty and graduate students.

Margaret Dominy – Drexel University
Although, instinctively, I am aware that different disciplines will have different data collecting practices, habits and needs, I was totally impressed by the “lightning round” of scientists presenting their data practices. In this session three scientists from agriculture, engineering and nutrition discussed some of their research processes and data collection with varying degrees of data management. I rarely involved myself (hardly more than curiosity) in this aspect of the research process, since I believed one of my key roles was to be sure my researchers had access to information to perform their research and publish. This “lightning round” session sparked in me the resolution to approach my researchers to assess their data habits and how I might be able to give support. All this is just one part of the whole data curation discussion which I found to be enlightening in all the IATUL sessions.

Besides this, the opportunity to meet librarians from all over the world in the “working” conference and the evening social events was for me, who is quite socially awkward, a wonderful experience. My “library” world expanded. Also, the Purdue librarians were fantastic hosts!

Michael Peper – Duke University
My overall take-away from the conference was that there is clearly a role for libraries to collect, describe and provide services for research data. However, this doesn’t mean that libraries need to play every role in the data life cycle and each institution should try to find the role that makes sense locally.

------------------

1. B. Kern et al., “The SDSS and e-science archiving at the University of Chicago Library,” in International Association of Scientific and Technological University Libraries, 31st Annual Conference, 2010, 9. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=iatul2010

2010 Award Winners

2010-07-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the 2010 division award winners!

Pavlinka Kovatcheva, International Member Award Winner
Donna Coletti, Division Award Winner
Michael Fosmire, Achievement Award Winner
Lance Utley, Khue Dong, Stacey Kuzcewski and Cynthia Hudson, Travel Stipend Winners

Cheers to you all!

SLA 2010 Roundup

2010-07-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Apologies, everyone - we were tracking the conference this year in so many other ways we seem to have neglected updating our division blog! Here are some blog posts from division members:

I went to New Orleans and all I got was... by Ruth Kneale
A Brief Observation of SLA's Money Troubles by Christina Pikas
Notes from SLA-PAM Physics Roundtable 2010 by Sara Tompson
Shirley Zhao, a new member, shares her thoughts in Conference Day 1, Conference Day 2
2010 Conference Report by Joe Kraus

If you blogged the conference elsewhere, drop one of us a line and we'll add it to the list!

Don't forget to follow @SLA_PAM on Twitter, and join PAM's Facebook group - LinkedIn coming soon!

Call for Nominations: PAM IMA

2009-10-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division is now calling for nominations for the International Membership Award. The SLA-PAM Division will present this award to a librarian from the developing world; it provides a two-year SLA membership, for the years 2010 and 2011. For complete information, please visit the following web page: http://units.sla.org/division/dpam/manual/awards/pamimadetails.html

Please submit nominations to the co-chair/s of the International Relations Committee (IRC) of the PAM Division (address below) by ~~November 1, 2009~~ November 30, 2009 (revised). The award will be announced in December 2009. Thank you.

Objective:

The purpose of the award is to provide an opportunity for librarians from the developing world to be an active member of SLA and of SLA-PAM.

Components:

The award will provide SLA membership, including PAM Division affiliation, for a period of two years.
The award recipient will serve as a member of PAM's International Relations Committee (IRC) during the term of the award.
SLA-PAM will fully fund the award recipient's attendance at SLA's annual conference during the first year of the award, including travel costs, lodging, conference registration, and related expenses. Please note: travel to the conference is contingent on several factors including procurement of a visa to travel to the United States. This is the award recipient's responsibility.
The award recipient will prepare a short report on the state of scientific information/libraries in his/her country, to be presented to the membership at the annual SLA conference either in person or in writing.
The award recipient will also prepare a final report reflecting on his/her experience with PAM and providing recommendations for future improvements to the award program; this report is to be sent before the end of the second year of the award to the PAM Executive Board and PAM IRC.

Qualifications:

The nominee must reside and work in a developing country and have basic English skills.
The nominee must be working currently in a library, information center, library school or other information-related capacity, in one of the subject areas related to science and technology. Priority will be given to applicants working in Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics areas.
The nominee will not have had a previous opportunity to become actively involved in SLA, such as by attending an SLA conference or other professional library association meetings in the U.S.

Nomination Process: Self nominations are encouraged. Nomination documentation should include the following:

A letter highlighting the candidate's professional career and qualification and explaining why this person should be granted the award.
The candidate's current professional resume.
Contact information for the nominee: name, position, business address, and (if possible) email address.

Nominations are to be submitted by 1 November, 2009, to the PAM IRC chair, and the award recipient will be announced in December. Selection will be made by the PAM Executive Board in consultation with the PAM IRC Chair/Co-Chair.

Please submit nominations to:

Mangala Krishnamurthy
Chair, SLA-PAM International Relations Committee
Rodgers Library for Science & Engineering
University of Alabama Libraries
The University of Alabama
P.O.Box 870266
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Phone: (205) 348-2109 | Fax: (205) 348-2113 | Email: mkrishna@ua.edu

Or

Kiem-Dung Ta
Co-Chair, SLA-PAM International Relations Committee
Oklahoma State University
Edmon Low Library
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078
(405) 744-9743 | Email: kiem.ta@okstate.edu

PAM Sessions at SLA

2009-07-13T10:30:00.001-07:00

Cross-posted to my blog, here are my writeups of SLA PAM events (sorry they're late!)

SLA Days One and Two. Includes the Newcomer's Lunch and my thoughts on the opening session.
Day Three. PAMwide Roundtable, Book Group, and the USNO Tour.
Day Four. Business Meeting, History of PAM session (look for a big writeup in the next Bulletin!)
Day Five. Astronomy Roundtable and the closing session.

Hoping to see writeups from others!

Conference Photos

2009-06-24T13:48:00.001-07:00

Collections of photos from the recent conference! Also check the Facebook page for more.

The Photo Group: http://www.thephotogroup.com
Click on Online Images, enter access code: sla09

Joe Kraus': http://picasaweb.google.com/jokrausdu/SLA2009#

Jeff Bond's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24397090@N00/sets/72157619860326453/

Ruth Kneale's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertlibrarian/sets/72157619596380629/

Have a set to share? Add in the comments!

Social networking stuff at the conference

2009-06-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

If you are using Twitter at the conference

The general Twitter hashtag for the SLA conference is #sla2009 (case sensitive), the hashtag for the PAM Division is #slapam.
Twitter accounts to follow, http://twitter.com/sla2009 for general conference postings, also follow Joe Murphy (libraryfuture on Twitter) and other PAM members for updates about the conference, such as Joe Kraus, Ruth Kneale, Christina Pikas, Carol Hutchins, Catherine Lavallée-Welch, Randy Reichardt, Sara Tompson, SLA Headquarters, others?

SLA PAM on Facebook

The SLA PAM Division Facebook Group is a great place to share or check events info and discussions and to post photos.

Joe Murphy will be available to assist in social networking at the conference and beyond.
joseph.murphy@yale.edu, http://twitter.com/libraryfuture

Schedule of PAM events

2009-06-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the schedule of PAM events for the 2009 SLA Conference in Washington, DC.

Data Curation and Special Libraries: Education, Trends, and Developments

2009-05-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

While you're finalizing your DC schedule please don't forget about the Computer Science Roundtable (and complimentary lunch), Tuesday, June 16th, 11:30am-1pm. Co-hosted by PAM and Sci-Tech. The complimentary lunch comes as a result of our wonderful co-sponsors ACM and IEEE.

Agenda:
Data curation panel presentations and discussion with:
>>> Richard Huffine, National Library Coordinator, US Geological Survey
>>> Jane Greenberg, Associate Professor and Director, SILS Metadata Research Center, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina
>>> P. Bryan Heidorn, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Open forum and discussion regarding CS being incorporated into SciTech
Note: IEEE and ACM plan to have representatives available to answer questions during the open forum.

Do not miss the chance to talk to experts in the field of data curation.
Some of the questions that they will be addressing:
What is data curation? What are the current trends in the field?
What can people do to train their organizations and self-educate?
What are the community standards?
What resources are needed (e.g. funding, staff expertise and technological infrastructure)?
What policies and processes need to be in place?
What are some of the challenges (e.g. technological change, sustainability)?

If you have any questions please contact me!

Jeanine Scaramozzino
College of Science and Mathematics Librarian
California Polytechnic State University
jscaramo@calpoly.edu

LISA VI Call for Papers

2009-04-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

Library and Information Services in Astronomy VI
"21st Century Astronomy Librarianship: from new ideas to action"

hosted by the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and
Astrophysics (IUCAA) Library and the National Centre for
Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) Library

Pune, Maharashtra, India, February 14-17, 2010

The LISA VI Scientific Organizing Committee cordially invites you to submit contributed talks and poster presentations. Papers are solicited in particular, but not exclusively, on the following topics:

* Future of Librarianship
* Web 2.0/3.0
* Use, Access and Metrics
* Resource Management & Intellectual Property
* Preservation, Archiving and the Virtual Observatory

The conference Keynote Speaker will be Professor Jayant V. Narlikar, Founder-Director, IUCAA, internationally known for his work in cosmology. He is also well known as an author and populariser of science.

If you are interested in giving an oral and/or poster presentation, please submit an abstract in English using the proposal submission mechanism at the conference website. The full Call for Papers can also be seen there. Submission deadline will be May 30, 2009.

Information about previous LISA conferences is also available.

PAM-wide Round Table Proposal

2009-03-12T15:29:00.000-07:00

Here is what I propose for the PAM-wide RT.

See http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLAPAM/PAM-wide+Round+Table+2009
(If you don't feel like signing up for this wiki, just give me [jokraus at du dot edu] your text, and I will slap it onto the wiki for you.)

I would like to propose that we take a good amount of time to introduce ourselves at the beginning of the session. In past years, the names of people and institutions would just "fly by".

As librarians, we are affiliated with our institutions, but the institution and the job does not define who we are.

For each person, we would like to hear:

Your name
Where you happen to work
A hobby of yours
Something that is on your mind (maybe something you are worried about, thinking about, or something you would like to learn at this session/conference.)

Once the introductions are done, then we can start to discuss the challenges of the day. Please keep your "presentations" to 5 minutes or less. In order to keep the presentations short, I would like to recommend oral presentations of topics. I would like the session to be "conversational" instead of "presentational".

If you need to present some slides (3 slides or less) for visual enhancement of your topic, please post them to a website or to the SlideShare event page ahead of time. This way, the "computer jockey" (volunteers?) can display the slides or provide the URL.

Here are some proposed agenda items for the second half of the meeting.

E-Science
Institutional Repositories that are worth their expense
Science Library Services through Mobile Applications for iPhones and other smart phones.
Budget issues
Academic librarians reaching out to K-12 teachers
Put your topic here...
Etc., etc., etc.

How does all this sound?

Please let me know what other agenda items you think might be hot topics.

Joe

2009 Innovation in Technology Award: Call for Nominations

2009-02-23T08:35:00.000-08:00

We're looking for you!

The SLA Innovation in Technology Award Committee, sponsored by J.J. Keller, is looking for nominations for the 2009 award. This award is "granted to an SLA member in good standing for innovative use and application of technology in a special library/information center setting." This award includes a $1,000 cash prize!!

We are looking for people that meet the following criteria:

* Must be an innovative project (Innovation definition: "a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation").

* Must be led by or heavily involving a SLA member.

* Should be an exemplar of how librarians/information professionals effectively and efficiently serve as the human connection between technology, the information, and the user experience.

* Should be a model of applying Section D "Applying Information Tools & Technologies" to Sections B "Managing Information Resources" and/or Section C "Managing Information Services" of the SLA Professional Competencies [http://www.sla.org/content/learn/members/competencies/index.cfm].

To self-nominate or submit your nomination for an outstanding candidate, please submit your nominations online at: http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/awardsrecognition/awardnomfrm2007.cfm, or e-mail the form with supporting materials directly to cara@sla.org.

All nominations must be received by midnight (Eastern Time) on March 31, 2009.

Computer Science Roundtable Speakers

2009-01-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

I will be moderating the Computer Science Roundtable at SLA this year.

Previous calls for CSRT topics resulted in this draft agenda:
- Data curation presentations (no more than two)
- Discussion regarding CS being incorporated into SciTech
- Open forum
Note: I will ask for IEEE and ACM reps to be available to answer questions

I have contacted a number of individuals that are versed on the current trends and challenges regarding data curation and about how library and non-library organizations can support stewardship programs, etc. I have not yet been successful in securing speakers.

I am looking for people that are equipped to discuss data curation trends AND are attending SLA. Any suggestions or volunteers?

Special Librarians Reaching Out

2009-01-06T09:30:00.000-08:00

I am preparing to give a talk at the joint AAAS/AAPT meeting in Chicago next month on the topic Social Networking for New and Cross-over Physics Teachers. At Cornell our Vice Provost for Outreach has made it a priority to reach out to the wider education community. I have several projects designed for use by science teachers at all levels.

My first step in preparing a talk was a literature review. I came across the TappedIn system. The more I learn, the better I like it. I wondered if anyone out there has had experience with it.

Pat

IOP Stipend for New Librarians

2008-12-04T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Institute of Physics generously continues its commitment to libraries by providing financial support for new physical sciences librarians to attend their first SLA annual conference. IOP will give a stipend of $750 to each of four candidates who meet the following criteria:

Is a recent graduate of a library science graduate program;
Is in her/his first year of professional librarianship;
Works in a physics, astronomy, mathematics, or computer science library or is a library's subject specialist for one or more of these disciplines;
Has never before attended the SLA Annual Conference.

Applicants should submit a brief letter outlining how they meet the criteria, and include a copy of their resume or curriculum vita. Stipends will be awarded to the first four applicants who meet all of the criteria.

Applications can be submitted via email to Jane Kinkus, PAM professional development chair, at jkinkus@purdue.edu or Michiko Tanaka, PAM mentorship chair, at mtanaka@bnl.gov. Applications will be accepted until all of the stipends have been awarded.

If you do not meet these criteria, please pass this information along to somebody who does.

--Jane, on behalf of the Professional Development and Mentoring Committees

Stephen Abram struts his stuff

2008-11-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

The Prez of SLA is singing (kinda) at Internet Librarian. Note, this has some rated R language in the verbiage.

Centennial Video Contest

2008-11-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

Go to the SLA Wiki page for more information on the video contest.

The founders of SLA had a vision for how to fill the networking and educational needs of special librarians. With the forming of SLA in 1909, these fabled past leaders created an amazing professional association. For 100 years SLA has grown and transformed itself, and the association that started as one idea, by one person, now serves a global market of over 11,000 information professionals, librarians, and their partners.

In 2009 SLA celebrates its 100th birthday and as we look toward a second century of service, we are asking the questions:

What will the next 100 years of connecting people and information look like?
Can you peer into the future and see SLA's leaders of tomorrow?
Do you have an inspired vision of how SLA's members will change in 25, 50, or even 100 years?

Celebrate SLA's Centennial with your video representation of SLA's information professional of the future.

Promotion

Rules and Guidelines

IMA Nominations Now Open

2008-10-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

The PAM Division is now calling for nominations for the International Membership Award. The SLA-PAM Division will present this award to a librarian from the developing world; it provides a two-year SLA membership, for the years 2009 and 2010.

Please submit nominations to the chair of the International Relations Committee (IRC) of the PAM Division by October 31st, 2008. The award will be announced in November 2008. Submit to:

Mangala Krishnamurthy
Chair, SLA-PAM International Relations Committee
Rodgers Library for Science & Engineering
University of Alabama Libraries
The University of Alabama
P.O.Box 870266
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
mkrishna@ua.edu

YouTube of candidate speeches

2008-09-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Here are the videos.

2009 SLA Board of Directors Election is now open

2008-09-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

Evoting for the 2009 SLA Board of Directors Election is now open. You will be able to cast your online ballot through 5:00 p.m. EDT on 1 October 2008.

Please click on www.sla.org/eVote to vote. Use Your SLA UserID and Password.

If you have any questions regarding the election, or would like to request a print ballot, contact the eVote Information Center at evote@sla.org or call 1.703.647.4950.

We welcome your participation!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR VOTING

Go to the SLA eVote System at http://www.sla.org/evote
Log in to the system using your SLA UserID and Password
Click on the ballot name -- "2009 SLA Board of Directors Election"
Review the board candidates and positions up for election
At the bottom center of the ballot, click on the "Click to Continue" button
Review the choices for each position, then check the box for the candidate of your choice
Click the "Click to Continue" button
Review your selections, then click the "Vote" button
You have now completed the voting process. Congratulations!
You can view and print your receipt or exit the eVote System

Centennial stamps from SLA

2008-07-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sending out any paper mail? Use the SLA centennial celebration stamp. Thanks to Mary Ellen Bates for finding this.

Podcasts from SLA 2008

2008-07-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here are the podcasts of a few sessions from the SLA 2008 Annual Conference. Speakers and facilitators volunteered to have their remarks recorded. While questions were not included in the recording, you will hear the answers to queries from the audience.

Please note: These podcasts are MP3 files; you must have an MP3 player program installed on your machince to hear the recordings. The sound quality varies from one recording to another. In some cases, sound quality varies within a recording.

SLA Photos from the Photo Group

2008-07-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

1. Go to the site, www.thephotogroup.com
2. Select Online Proofing
3. Your password is sla08

Thanks to SLA Connections for the note...

Joe

Photos, photos and a video, too...

2008-06-27T11:41:00.001-07:00

Here are where a bunch of the photos are located.

Jeff Bond
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24397090@N00/sets/72157605705882369/

Flora Grabowska
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036950&l=f71c4&id=8404917

Ruth Kneale
http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertlibrarian/sets/72157605760630002/

Sara T.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2250953&id=3432565 (Sign into Facebook.)

PodBay (You know who you are...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD83JPwSLU8

Judy Matthews
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2499804&id=2366246

Sharice Collins from IOP Publishing
http://www.iop.org/EJ/news/-topic=1327

Christina Pikas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpikas/tags/seattle/

Joe Kraus
These are not really of SLA, but they were taken in Seattle during the trip.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28012082@N03/sets/72157605926208128/

Various photos on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=SLA2008&m=tags

I know of some other pictures, but I am not sure the owners want to the pics to be publicly available.

Joe

Book Group 2008

2008-06-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all 22 members who participated in this year's Book Group discussion! The book chosen this year, "The Bookman's Wake" by John Dunning, veered off into the world of fiction, and was enjoyed by everyone. Dinner at Von's Grand City Cafe was also darned tasty!

I hope to see even more of you join me next year in Washington DC. The book has already been chosen... but you'll have to wait until next spring to find out what it is! :-D

Astronomy Roundtable

2008-06-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

(Thanks once more to everyone who showed up bright and early Wednesday morning for the Astronomy Roundtable after partying the night before at the IT/PAM/LMD dance party!)

The AstroRT this year was, unexpectedly, standing room only. Apologies to folks who had to stand or sit on the floor; we thought seating for 48 would be enough and will plan better next year! Also thanks to my co-moderator Michael Blake; ya did good for first time outta the slot, dude!

Our speakers this year shared a lot of information with us, and I'd like to thank them all again for coming!

Kerry Kroffe, from IOP Publishing, reviewed the publishing contract for the AAS journals and outlined what IOP had to do in a short amount of time to get the Astronomical Journal switched over and ready to go by January 2008. The Astrophysical Journal transition is currently in process, and many exciting things are planned for the future (VO tables, 30-day turnaround between acceptance and web publishing, and Object/Feature linking).
Chris Biemesderfer, from the American Astronomical Society, picked up from where Kerry left off and shared some information about other things to come from AAS (data cubes, digital printing, and print on demand options, along with print bundling and regional delivery options).
Karrie Berglund, representing the International Planetarium Society, shared a brief history of the IPS and discussed collaboration options between IPS and SLA/PAM. If you have any ideas or are interested in collaborating, please let her know.
Donna Thompson gave us the latest information from the Astrophysics Data System (which I kept referring to as "service", eek!), including information about the CrossRef collaboration and the rescanning project for older journals.

We had a few brief announcements, then a round-the-room introduction; then the roundtable closed and became a networking and discussion opportunity. Thanks again to everyone who attended!

External Reviews of the SLA Conference

2008-06-25T11:12:00.001-07:00

Information Today blogged much of the conference. Here is their most recent blog entry. This posting provides some of the "numbers" from the conference.Here are the official numbers from SLA’s 2008 annual conference in Seattle: There were 5,011 total registrants, 845 first time attendees, 1,681 exhibitor registrants, 464 booths, 283 companies, and 50 new exhibitors. This compares with last year’s numbers of 5,047 total registrants, 801 first timers, 1,702 exhibitors, 445 booths, 275 companies, and 38 new exhibitors.

my notes from the cs rt

2008-06-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

are on my blog - and apparently missing at least one line break, which leads to confusion.... :)

PAM Annual Business Meeting

2008-06-17T09:43:00.001-07:00

Just finished up at the business meeting and networking breakfast; it's always good to see old friends and meet new ones! (Welcome again to all our new members.) After a round of committee reports, Travis Warwick presented Martha Tucker with the PAM Achievement Award; congratulations, Martha! (Details and photos will be posted on the PAM site.)

Thanks to our IMA winner, Mandy Taha, we all - as in the entire membership present - gathered for a group photo. There were so many of us we'll have to do a little stitching together of the photos into one picture! Watch this space for a posting :-) and thanks to Monica Ladwig for juggling the cameras and taking our photos.

Just a reminder, the Division Suite has been changed from 2602 to 2502 over in the Sheraton; the Daily Retreat opens in just a few minutes! See you there.

SLA Conference so far

2008-06-16T15:49:00.003-07:00

I am having a great time. First, it was a great early-bird dinner at Madoka on Bainbridge Island. Then, we had a great newcomers lunch on Sunday at Tulio. (Hi New Members!) Immediately following the lunch was a good productive PAM Board meeting. Sunday evening was the LSW "bunching" at the Nite Lite Lounge -- had a great time visiting with some past virtual now First Life Friends.

Monday started with a bang with the session -- the Science of Coffee. Amazingly -- they gave away free coffee. The PAM-wide Roundtable was fantastic -- Mandy Taha had a great presentation on the Alexandria Library!

Right now, I am listening to the speaker on the "Games for Training" session in the background, and it seems pretty good.

Joe K.

Pamwide Roundtable Plus

2008-06-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to the Web 2.0 Tools that I was going to talk about. It is on SlideShare, and it might be on the SLA server, too. I will also put the full .ppt onto PAMnet.

Joe

PAMwide Roundtable

2008-06-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

PAMwide had a new format this year, a series of short presentations. Flora Grabowska talked about open access publishing initatives; Susan Koskinen talked about SCOAP3; Pat Viele discussed information fluency in physics; then Tony O'Rourke updated us about the IOPScience developments. (Tony's always a fun speaker.) After the break, Mandy Taha, the 2008 International Award winner, spoke about science in Egypt and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. (Be sure to look for her handouts on the SLA web site!) To round out the session, Joe Murphy talked about Library 2.0 issues. Well done to Bill and all the speakers!

Our Games

2008-06-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Just finished "first sweep" of INFO-EXPO. This seems to me the first time I've seen in the conf program an index of "giveaways" where that means raffle items. My "game" this time is not to pick up anything bigger than the palm of my hand, and no pens, unless it's something new. Congrats to Annual Reviews, Inc on their ChicoBags as "green" takeaways.

Early Bird dinner, SLA 2008

2008-06-15T09:57:00.001-07:00

Early Bird dinner, SLA 2008
Originally uploaded by carolh12

Lovely ferry ride, great weather and good company as we enjoyed dinner at Madoka, Bainbridge Island. Thanks, Martha for arranging!

Leadership Development Institute

2008-06-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Sally and I are sitting in for Parker and Zari at the Leadership Development Institute; SLA is really doing some neat things with the Innovation Laboratory (I'm a lab rat!) and various innovation activities. I had no idea so much was available in the Lab - I highly recommend everyone take a visit and check it out. I think I'll be participating in the 23Things project myself.

The catchphrase from this session so far is from Stephen Abram's welcome: "Make things happen." Yes!

Early Bird Dinner

2008-06-15T07:31:00.001-07:00

Well done, Martha! The Early Bird dinner at Madoka on Bainbridge Island was attended by 40 members of the division, who carried on in the main dining room and kept Doug the server on his toes. Dinner was very good - and very nicely presented - and the ferry ride was a ton of fun. (Says the person who lives in the desert!)

Cheers to Martha Tucker for doing all the arranging for this great event. Pics will come soon!

Looking for a Good Place to Eat?

2008-06-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

Try Steelhead Diner, near Pike Pl Mkt.

Great food.

PAM Dancecard: PAM Division events at the 2008 SLA Annual Conference

2008-06-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

PAM Division events and events of special ineterest to PAM memebrs at the 2008 SLA Annual Conference.

The PAM Division Suite - Sheraton Seattle Hotel Room 2602

Sunday, June 15, 2008

PAM Newcomers’ Luncheon, 12:00 – 1:30 pm, Tulio, 1100 Fifth Avenue, Sponsors: Turpion

PAM Board Meeting, 1:30 – 3:00 pm, Tulio, 1100 Fifth Avenue

Monday, June 16, 2008

Science of Coffee, 9:00 – 10:30 am, Convention Center 619-620, Sponsors: Annual Reviews, Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, Nature Publishing Group, New England Journal of Medicine, Prenax, Inc.

PAM-Wide Roundtable, 1:30 – 3:30 pm, Convention Center 613-614, Moderator: William Jacobs, Sponsor: SIAM, Speaker: Mandy Taha, International Membership Award Winner, Sponsor: East View Information Services.

E-Lab Notebooks, 3:30 – 5:30 pm, Convention Center, 618, Moderator: Rachel Ellison

Spotlight Session - Games for Training: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, 3:30 - 5:30 pm

Convention Center, 2AB, Sponsors: Thomson Scientific

Book Group, 6:00 – 7:30 pm, Von's Grand City Café, 1531 Seventh Ave

PAM Open House, 7:00 - 10:00 pm, Sheraton Hotel, PAM Suite, Sponsors: AIP

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

PAM Business Meeting and Networking Breakfast, 7:00 – 9:00 am, Sheraton Hotel, Metropolitan B, Sponsors: APS

[BIO] Informatics, 9:00 – 11:00 am, Convention Center, 615-616, Sponsors: Elsevier, Inc, IEEE

Daily Retreat, Sheraton Hotel, PAM Suite, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, Sponsors: IOP Publishing

Computer Science Roundtable,11:00 am – 12:30 pm, Convention Center, 304, Moderator: Brian Quigley, Nancy Kellett, Sponsors: ACM, IEEE

Mathematics Roundtable, 3:15 – 4:45 pm, Convention Center, 618 , Moderator: Sara Rutter , Sponsors: SIAM, AMS

All Sciences Poster Session & Reception, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Sheraton Hotel, Metropolitan B, Sponsors: ACS Publications, ASME, H.W. Wilson, IET/INSPEC, Knovel Corporation, SPIE Digital Library, Springer

Under the Sea Ball Dance Party - PAM/IT/LMD Open House, 9:00 pm – 12:00 am, Sheraton Hotel, Grand C, Sponsors: IOP, Thomson Scientific

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Astronomy Roundtable , 8:00 – 10:00 am, Convention Center room 602, Moderator: Ruth Kneale, Michael Blake., Sponsors: SPIE

PAM Daily Retreat, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm, Sheraton Hotel, PAM Suite, Sponsors: IOP Publishing

Physics Roundtable, 12:15 – 1:45 pm, Convention Center, 307-308, Moderator: Elizabeth Brown, Sponsors: IET/INSPEC, World Scientific

Receptions at SLA

2008-05-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a bunch of receptions for theoretically free food at the SLA Conference in Seattle.

Hope to see you there!

Twit, Twit, Twitter Away at SLA

2008-05-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

Do you Twitter? If so, be sure to follow the SLA2008 twitter feed! The SLA Innovations Laboratory is encouraging conference-goers to twitter the conference. Read the details over at Daniel Lee's blog.

Outreach to othe societies

2008-04-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have become very interested in the interconnections between librarians, library societies and other professional organizations. I would like to meet with others who are intereted in this topic.

Pat Viele

SLA08 PAM Book Group

2008-04-14T11:17:00.001-07:00

This year we're taking a step away from scientific non-fiction and are reading "The Bookman's Wake", by John Dunning. We'll be getting together Monday night, the 16th, from 6-7:30pm to discuss over dinner (location still TBD but it'll be near the conference center, so we can all get back for the Open House!). I hope you can join us!

Edited April 22: We'll be meeting at Von's Grand City Café, in the Roosevelt Hotel. Please contact Ruth for a copy of the prix fixé menu to make your dinner choice!

Congrats to David Stern!

2008-01-24T15:27:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to PAM's own David Stern on his appointment at Brown University as their "first permanent associate university librarian for scholarly resources"! Yale's Stern to fill new library position. Go, David!

SLA Leadership Summit

2008-01-11T12:34:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

The SLA Leadership Summit is approaching, January 23-26. If anyone's going please consider posting to the blog, or send me a summary and I'd be happy to do it!

Internet Librarian's coming up!

2007-10-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! If'n you're interested, I'll be blogging the upcoming Internet Librarian conference over at Random Musings from the Desert. If you'll be attending, join me and a few other SLA folks for dinner Tuesday night - we're meeting at 5:15 (and will wait until 5:30 at least) at the Portola Plaza fountain. Hope to see some of you there!

Term Paper Alternatives

2007-07-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

I lurk on the information literacy-l listserv. This material was mentioned, and I thought it might be of interest to others.

Pat

Comment moderation enabled

2007-06-11T12:04:00.001-07:00

Hi All- we just got a few spam comments so I turned on comment moderation. Comments are encouraged and I'll approve them quickly. Please e-mail me if you have any questions or need help - cpikas {at} gmail {dot} com or the e-mail address listed in the PAM member directory.

Information Today blogged us!

2007-06-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

There's a good review of the E-books on Steroids and Ruth Kneale's Spectacles session.

Updated 6/11: Julie Arendt's poster session is also blogged there!

Astronomy Roundtable I

2007-06-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

A brief bulleted list of discussion topics that came up at the Astro RT I, moderated by Joe Murphy and Sara Russell Gonzales:

* DOI and page number issues and changes. Do we mind if page numbers go away? (Consensus seemed to be yes!) Lots of discussion about this one.

* Introductions around the room.

* A notice that the core lists of astronomy and physics books need to be updated.

* Anyone using PhysMathCentral? (Like biomed central.)

* A notice that the Yerkes Observatory library has been officially closed.

* Does anyone do chargeback or recovery fees to departments for information services provided by the library and/or staff? (Several places do.)

* Institutional repositories - is anyone putting in astronomer's data sets? (Brief mention of the NVO and VSO.)

* Poster sessions and topics.

Gold Digger's Ball

2007-06-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

For more pics, see the SLA Blog entry... these are just my PAM-specific ones! What a blast - I think we should do this every year!

Thank You, PAM...

2007-06-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

...for helping me make my session "Spectacles: How Pop Culture Views Librarians" such a success. You helped pack the room - we were SRO by halfway through! It's thanks to this division and your excellent support that I'm able to carry on like I do on the topic, and I really appreciate it. PAM Rocks!

Book Discussion Group

2007-06-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

We had a lively discussion about the book, "Einstein's Enigma, or, Black Holes in my Bubble Bath", Tuesday night at the Colorado History Museum. While only three participants actually finished the book, their discussions and insights have prompted at least this reader to plan on finishing the book!

PAM Achievement Award Winner

2007-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Bob Michaelson for his PAM Achievement Award!

Chamberlain Observatory Tour

2007-06-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

As Christina has already posted, the tour was fabulous! Many thanks to Joe Kraus for setting it up. There was a heavy sprinkling of non-PAM folks who are science geeks who also signed up the tour. It was great seeing Saturn through the historic 20-inch telescope.

Chamberlain Observatory

2007-06-06T21:32:00.001-07:00

Chamberlain Observatory
Originally uploaded by cpikas

Fabulous trip to the observatory. We all got to see Saturn and learn all about this historical site. See the virtual tour at: http://www.du.edu/~rstencel/Chamberlin/

Its been a great conference, see you in the am, then in Seattle!

2007-06-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hope to see many of you at the ebooks on Steroids panel way too soon, now!
Its been great out here, thanks to Joe for being an awesome host!
Here's some crazed human gliders (I prefer AN ENGINE!) on Lookout Mountain, as a goodbye.

So okay I've been dared to do this...(INSPEC girls)

2007-06-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

Our hotel's (Courtyard by Marriott) Net connection was DOWN, all day today! Finally up tonight!
So I'm behind on posting.
That's my reason (ha! excuse perhaps?!) for not posting this sooner...INSPEC's Wild West party was like a late night saloon, wild!
The dancing girls were actually quite nice young ladies, and we had fun posing with them....
(Christina please erase any inappropriate comments?!)

IOPScience PACS Tags Cloud

2007-06-05T21:39:00.001-07:00

Interesting that IOP, like EV2 of late, is incorporating delicious, connotea, etc. type tagging and the display of "tag clouds," a visual really grabbing my imagination!
Here's a, kind of dark, but edited, screenshot from the IOPScience presentation yesterday.

IRC Panel

2007-06-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

It was so great to actually have Shahid Soroya here!
I was excited to be part of the Board when we reviewed all the worthy applications.
Huge excellent work done by Nisa, Joe, Bob, Shahid himself and others to make this happen!
Here is Shahid's intro slide.

Also great to learn more about Hinari, Oare, et al. Hope USC could do something alone these lines!

As Laurel said, great session!

Annual Business Meeting: PAM Really Rocks!

2007-06-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

The business meeting this morning was an all around good meeting. Minutes of the past year were reviewed and approved, as was a proposed change to the governing document. The treasurer's report was also presented. (Details will appear here or on PAMnet later.) The PAM Award was presented to Bob Michaelson (more on that later, including photos), and after brief reports from various committee members and an update on the 2008 conference planning by Parker Ladwig, our illustrious chair Joe Kraus surprised many of the members with a thank-you certificate for division work throughout the year. These included pieces of fossilized dinosaur bone, and meteorite chips - as the saying went, "PAM Really Rocks!"

Thanks to APS for their sponsorship of our breakfast meeting.

International Issues in Developing Countries

2007-06-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

There was a good turnout for this session. I was sitting next to Jane Kinney Meyers, who won an SLA award yesterday for her work creating the Lubuto Library Project.

The IMA winner, Shahid Saroya, gave an interesting presentation on his institution and the HEC National Digital Library in Pakistan.

Evivva Weinraub from Yale spoke on the OARE project, providing free access to research in the environment for developing countries.

Daviees Menefe from Elsevier talked about their involvement in the HINARI (health research), AGORA (agricultural research) & OARE projects.

View from the PAM Suite

2007-06-04T14:22:00.001-07:00

View from the PAM Suite
Originally uploaded by cpikas

Suite (or is that sweet or sueeeeeeettt!) Retreat... come on over.

PAMwide Roundtable Speakers

2007-06-04T14:06:00.001-07:00

Thanks again to Zari Kamarei, Pat Viele, Donna Thompson, and Tony O'Roarke for speaking at the PAMwide Roundtable!

Networking Breakfast

2007-06-04T14:05:00.001-07:00

Some photos from the Networking Breakfast:

PAM Early Bird Dinner

2007-06-04T14:03:00.001-07:00

Some photos from the PAM Early Bird Dinner:

Synergy Session

2007-06-04T09:32:00.001-07:00

I just attended the opening general synergy session with Eugenie Prime, Clifford Lynch and Stephen Abram... very energetic and enjoyable discussions about where we are as a profession, and where we are going. Questions ran the gamut from "how can we persuade business leaders that we are worth investing in?" to "how do we create the best user experience?", through questions about what is SLA going to do as an organization to support and promote librarians. The answers from the panelists were passionate and emphatic, and many of them looped back to the same basic answer: we need to have confidence and courage in ourselves, the strength to present that confidence when we provide results to our users, and the courage to present ourselves as necessary and important to our user community and upper management. There was also a lot of discussion about new technology tools and how we can take advantage of them, including the social networking aspect. Another common consensus was that we need to take ourselves to the users and not wait for them to come to us.

All in all a good way to start what promises to be a very busy day!

Al Gore keynote

2007-06-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

A few notes, since I'm in my room early, with slight tummy trouble.

Sorry, but the light was so low my shots did not turn out. (Also the stage is ill-lighted; when walk-about speakers like Gore would leave the podium, one could not see them that well on the projected screens due to the dim light!) {Or, is it just my old eyes?!}
Anyway....as expected, Former VP/Pres. (!) Al Gore was VERY well received! Also as expected (per my colleague MFM who's heard him before) he had lots of self-deprecating jokes. They were pretty funny, however, and he stopped just before they got to be too many, in my opinion.
LOVELY to have a keynoter who gets it re librarians! [In stark contrast to John Waters, whom I used to like, at ACRL, not even mentioning libraries/librarians!!]
Apparently pals w/ CEO Janice LaChance, from both their Beltway days
"I'm a recovering politician; on about the 9th step" [making amends]!
Librarians "now more than ever" in net info glut age
Information<->Democracy<->Freedom a recurring theme for him since journalist days
a middle quarter to third on global warming, but mostly info themed
Glad I went!

Scitopia

2007-06-03T20:06:00.001-07:00

INFO:
Frederick Dylla, new AIP Pres., launched, then there were marketing language oriented remarks from Barbara Lange of IEEE then ? did a live demo for us. I agree, Christina, there is lots more for them to do!
The basic search screen is shown here. Very basic, but the cleanness is nice.

Random Notes:

But it is an interesting start for a cross-disciplinary when you mean engineering and physics, mostly, search.
Actually, I am thinking of promoting Scitopia as a basic international PATENT search engine. We learned in response to Randy's question that one cannot search by patent classes ("yet" the vendors said; and, to be fair, it is beta), but nevertheless the fact they index and link to USPTO, AND EPO and JPO, makes it attractive!
Also, like the OSA and SPIE additions...I can see some of our engineers could like this for cross platform (more than the physicists I am thinking)
The "today's clippings" has GOTTA go as the name for marked records! AND they GOTTA have a "my Scitopia" so one can save these results.
Of course, the societies' databases to which they link do have personalization functions, and lots of the other stuff we were all asking for....

Scitopia Launch

2007-06-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

A bunch of PAM members attended today's launch lunch. There were also a lot of our sponsors and vendors there (hi all!).

My notes are on my blog but I thought we should open some conversation here or on PAMnet about this new thing.

I think there were pretty mixed reactions including uncertainty over how this fits in with other things, things that haven't been added to it yet, a few interface choices we could quibble with...

What did you think? Give it a try and leave comments here.

Newcomer's Luncheon

2007-06-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

The Newcomer's Luncheon, held at the historic Brown Palace Hotel, was an enjoyable time with tasty food, good talk, an impromptu historical lecture on the hotel, and several first-timers dipping their toes into conference waters. Welcome to you all! We had some pictures taken - sadly the ones from my camera didn't turn out so well, you can see some dark and shady blobs behind the flags. (So much for the new camera's ability to take distant photos!) I hope one of the other folks who gave Dennis their cameras got better shots - we'll post 'em if we do! Thanks to Turpion for their sponsorship.

"A butte, and right purty, too"!

2007-06-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

The road to Golden has lots of
sites to recommend it!!

Union Station is lovely....

2007-06-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

One of the nation's many beautifully classic (at least from the outside, my friends from Queens U. and I did not venture inside) Union Stations is in Denver.
Along the excellent 16th Street Mall, with the GREAT free, hybrid vehicle buses!
Ours for dinner tonight was crowded but friendly.
Denver seems a friendly city; chatty folks to my now-LA-accustomed ears!
8-)

Beware the blue bear?!

2007-06-01T20:14:00.001-07:00

Or, maybe he's our hero,
holding up the
convention center?!

Here's our book discussion tome....

2007-06-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Here's the book we'll be discussing! (See post below.)
I'm not sure the narrative device works, but more on that Tuesday night!
8-)

And here's a closeup of the welcome sign....

2007-06-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

Nice Welcome to Denver!

2007-06-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Baggage Claim/Ground Transport "Terminal" at DEN is surprisingly lovely!

The SLA welcome sign looks great behind the fountain!

Book Discussion Group

2007-05-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys and Gals,

You know who you are. Let us all meet near the doors of CC Room 506-507, Tuesday, June 5th between 6:30-6:45. If that is not convenient for you, then we will see you at the museum. (13th and Broadway)

Parker Ladwig and I will be finishing up the "Division Cabinet Meeting" at 6:30, so we all could start walking to the Colorado History Museum together around 6:45 and get there at 7:00pm. The sandwich place should have the food ready before we arrive.

Note that we do not have "free" use of the museum, just the conference room. However, it should be a nice little escape from the CC rooms.

PAM Early-Bird Dinner

2007-05-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

The Early-Bird Dinner is at the Wynkoop, 1634 18th street. Here is a map thanks to Mapquest.

Map of 1634 18th St Denver, CO 80202-1212, US
(16th Street is there, just zoom in to see the 16th street mall.)

From the Convention Center
Walk 2 blocks North East to the 16th Street Mall
Shuttle bus. Take the shuttle North to Wazee St.
Walk 2 blocks NE along Wazee and hang a left on 18th St.

My SLA2007 Google Map

2007-05-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

The title above links (I hope) to a map I created of some of the event locations. I thought it might be helpful to people trying to get their bearings.

Your name here!

2007-05-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

I already posted this to PAMnet, but I'll repeat here. If you're in SLA's PAM division, please consider posting to this blog. If you'd like to sign up, drop me a line at cpikas {at} gmail {dot} com or my e-mail listed in the SLA directory and I'll get you signed up. It's a great way to contribute to the conference experience.

SL

2007-05-19T21:14:00.001-07:00

So I've spent a bit of time on Second Life, and it is rather fun....our USC library system (aka the campus overall libraries admin) tech guy and I got on together about a mo. ago and got a tour of Info Island from the famous Donna Upshaw. I would love to do chat reference (we do QuestionPoint IM at USC), actually, with avatars, so we'd get a bit more clue of what the user was up to! Seriously. Also I have visions of how useful the place could be if vendors had presences - buildings, walls, etc., so my libn avatar could drag users to, e.g. the Web of Knowledge wall, and say, "see, here" this is how you do a cited ref. search....! Etc.!
But currently it seems a time waster for academic libraries. Other thoughts, disagreements?!

Sara T. aka Rosalie Sewell on SL

blogs, and wikis, and social software, oh my...

2007-05-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hello: This is my first post to this blog. I hope I am not too far off-topic.

This week is Professional Development Week for Cornell Librarians. I just attended a session this moring on the topic Social Networking Tools Used for Reference and Outreach. I presented my blog "Physics Information Fluency" and demonstrated connotea.

I look forward to seeing you all at SLA.

Cheers,
Pat the Librarian

Newcomers Lunch

2007-05-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

Are you a PAM member attending your first SLA conference this year?

You are cordially invited to the PAM Newcomer's Lunch. This complimentary lunch is sponsored by Turpion and will be on Sunday, June 3rd at noon. Get acquainted with your fellow newcomers and meet PAM Chair Joe Kraus, Chair-Elect Parker Ladwig and Past Chair Laurel Kristick.

If you will be attending the Newcomer's Lunch, please RSVP to me by Wednesday, May 23rd at laurel dot kristick at oregonstate dot edu.

SLA Denver Wiki

2007-03-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

The Rocky Mountain Chapter has their conference wiki up and running - be sure to check it out as you start planning for SLA 2007!

Persistence of Memory Conference

2006-12-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

For those who might be interested, I'm blogging the NEDCC's "Persistence of Memory: Stewardship of Digital Assets" conference over on Random Thoughts from the Desert.

One Division/One Book Dinner

2006-06-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

The PAM One Division/One Book dinner was held on Tuesday and was a great success. 11 PAM-ers met for an excellent dinner at Luna Del Sea, a bistro across the street from the Convention Center. I also enjoyed the interesting discussion of the book Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World's Toughest Math Competition by Steve Olsen.

I hope this is the first of an annual event at the conference.

Math Roundtable

2006-06-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

I just posted Hilary Davis' summary notes on the MathRT to the 2006 Conference Session page. Thanks, Hilary!

2005 Meeting Minutes

2006-06-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

I just posted the approved 2005 Meeting Minutes on the 2006 Conference Sessions page, and will be attaching it to the 2005 conference page as well. Thank you, Sara Tompson!

Blogging LISA

2006-06-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

If anyone's interested, I'm blogging LISA V over on Random Musings from the Desert. If you're blogging LISA too, please add your blog link!

Web Development Roundtable

2006-06-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

I attended the last half of this roundtable discussion (literally; the podium and projector sat unused, while the webmasters gathered around an oval table to talk), which comprised most of the division webmasters and a representative of SLA's IT department. Topics focused mostly on RSS, Wikis, and how to effectively use them in the libraries, although there was a side discussion that rapidly grew about the dissatisfaction some webmasters feel towards SLA IT and their predilection for changing things on the SLA website (or changing login requirements for FTP) without notifying any of the webmasters about it. It was a bit reassuring to hear that other divisions are having the same problems we are.

Hopefully we as a team can present our concerns to SLA IT in a calm, reasonable manner and maybe get them resolved in the coming year. I have my fingers crossed.