WiLS Hour: WLA recap; Workflow Analysis;
Collection Development and Resource Sharing; Drupal in Your Library (recording)
Miss any of the WLA sessions? Come to the November 3 WiLSHour
for a recap of presentations by WiLSians Eric Robinson, Mark Beatty,
and Jane Richard.
Eric was on a panel discussion on "Collection Development and
Resource Sharing," which involved academic and public librarians sharing
their thoughts on collaboration between the two areas.
Discussion topics included: the acceleration and transition from print
to electronic collections, the expansion of library partnerships and
redefinition of the library marketplace for the licensing of electronic
resources, trends of interlibrary loan supplementing an institution's
own collection, effects of decreasing collection budgets and evolving
patron expectations toward immediate material access.
Mark was also on a panel discussion, "Drupal in Your Library." What's Drupal?
According to Wikipedia, it's a "free and open source ... Content Management System (CMS)"
It is used as a "back end" system for many different types of websites -- including
library Web sites! During this panel discussion, early adopters
from several types of libraries related their experiences -- in the words
of one, it is not the easiest to use, but we like it.
Jane co-presented "Public Library System Technical Services
in the 21st Century," and 44 of us broke into 4 smaller groups to discuss
these broad topics:
* The OCLC influence (mulitple versus single symbols, etc.)
* Quality control (training, policies, versus costs)
* Local cataloging practice (what gets special treatment, how to document,
how much time does it take, related to quality control) Several consistent
themes sprang up through the groups, regardless of public and academic
or practitioners and administrators.