On Oct. 15 I attended the MLA conference in St. Cloud. It was a bit of a long day with driving to & from, but well worth it! There really were a wide range of presentations to attend--split into four sessions. Here is a summary of the presentations I attended:
Best Practices for Creating Online Tutorials by Matt Lee
Matt noted that tutorials are most effective in situations where there is a task to learn, the content is fact-based, the content provides introductory knowledge, when it is an advantage for the learner to move at her own pace, when it is difficult to bring the group of learners into one place at the same time, and when a multi-media/multi-learner style is preferred.
· Be clear about audience (focus the content, take users point of view into account)
· Be clear about outcomes (define the scope of the tutorial)
· Be clear about content (make the structure & scope clear)
· Encourage interaction (engage active learning & multiple learning styles)
· Employ varied design (keep it interesting)
· Be a resource beyond the tutorial (encourage follow-up & periodically review & update tutorials)
He also mentioned that one may not always be able to incorporate all of these practices into a tutorial, but it is a guide for things to think about when planning the design of an online tutorial. He also gave a demonstration of Camtasia a video screen capturing software that can be used to create online tutorials (Captivate is another).
Trends in Tech Services presented by Emily Asch (SCU)
Emily Asch outlined some trends that the tech services community is following and finding ways to engage in: digitization, institutional repositories, electronic vs. print resources, social cataloging/tagging, discovery layers, and tech services 2.0 (creative ways to utilize technology in work-flow). Other challenges/opportunities include re-thinking the functions and work-flow of tech services and working with non-traditional resources and people with which tech services don't normally collaborate.
RDA Update presented by Mary Huismann (U of Minn)
Resource Description and Access (RDA) will be the new standard to replace AACR2 cataloging. Its main features include being compatible with the digital environment (both the descriptive elements and the usability of the records), being compatible with international standards, being adaptable for use outside of the library community, and incorporating FRBR. New to the descriptive elements, it will include "core" elements and the General Material Designations (GMD) will be replaced by Content Types, Media Types, and Carrier Types.
Twenty-three institutions & vendors were chosen to test RDA, and formal testing and assessment will happen in 2010. It was discussed at the session that RDA won't be approved until after Oct. 2010, and that after that time institutions will make the change when it makes sense for them. Its availability through an institution's current ILS may be the first factor to take into account in planning the move to using RDA.
Workflows for Outsourced Technical Services
This panel discussed their experiences in receiving and using vendor supplied cataloging records. It seems that overall, the librarians thought that it was a cost saving measure over original cataloging, but that one must factor in time needed to fix up unsatisfactory records and the changes in work-flow to accommodate this--a time vs. cost savings challenge. Some were very frank in admitting that there needs to be minimum "good enough" established within an institution's tech services in order to keep some sort of standard, while making the best use of time. From the panel's experiences, they listed main questions to ask before entering a vendor agreement:
The work-flow for working with these supplied records when received within a consortia was also discussed. Factors to consider are if a record is shared or for the individual institution, how to coordinate the loading of records, if downloading affects the speed of the system, and how to avoid overlay of records by another institution in the consortium.
Strategic planning for E-Resources Management
Presented by Minn. State Mankato librarian and E-resources Librarian and Serials Manager of Gustavus Adolphus. The presentation started with overview of how a strategic plan for this aspect of library collections can be useful and followed up with experience in creating strategic plan at Gustavus Adolphus. It was used as a way to clarify and define roles and workflow for overlapping resources between the E-resources Librarian & Serials Manager.
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