Current Forums   Past Forums January February March April May June July August September October November December 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

All library staff members are invited to attend the forums pending supervisor approval.

2008 Forums

January

1/8: Scholarly Communication 2.Oh!

Forum by Greg Tananbaum,

Representative activities include the development of a Web 2.0 strategy for a high-impact publisher, the review and critique of a strategic master plan for an ARL-member library, the creation of a business development plan for a high-tech startup seeking to enter the academic space, and the refinement of a service plan for one of the largest academic libraries systems in the world.

Greg Tananbaum is a consultant focusing on activities at the intersection of technology, content, and academia.  He has served as the President of the Berkeley Electronic Press, as well as Director of Product Marketing for EndNote. Greg writes a regular column in Against the Grain covering emerging developments in the field of scholarly communication.  He has served as an invited speaker at dozens of conferences, including the American Library Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing, the Association of Professional and Learned Society Publishers, and Online Information UK.  He holds a Master's Degree from the London School of Economics and a B.A. from Yale University.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 3:00-4:30 pm
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

February

2/20: Race on the Stand: African American History in the Law Library's American Trials Collection

Among Yale’s many rich special collections is the American Trials Collection of the Lillian Goldman Law Library, an important repository of historical legal material. This collection contains some particularly significant holdings related to African American history, including records of the Amistad trials (1839-1840). Mike Widener, Rare Book Librarian for the Lillian Goldman Law Library, will discuss the depth of these collections and their significance for scholars of African American history.

SML Lecture Hall, February 20, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

March

3/3: Promotion Review for Library Management and Professional (non-Librarian) & Their Supervisors

3/4: Promotion Review for Library Management and Professional (non-Librarian) & Their Supervisors

Although the deadline for submission of promotion requests by Library M&Ps (non-Librarian) is still over a month away, now is the time to begin assembling your dossier. 

At this forum University Librarian Alice Prochaska, Associate University Librarian for Human Resources Diane Turner, and outgoing Chair of the Managerial Promotion Review Committee Marybeth Bean will review the application process, go over important deadlines, and offer advice on assembling promotion dossiers. 

Significant time will be allowed for a question-and-answer session.  Promotion candidates and their supervisors are strongly encouraged to attend.

Monday, March 3, 2008, 3:00-4:00 p.m.,
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall
 
Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 1:00-2:00 p.m.,
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

3/24: Why We Collect What We Collect: Collection Development of Photography in the Yale University Libraries
(Co-Sponsored with the Photography Interest Group at the Yale University Libraries)

Forum about photographs recently acquired by the libraries at Yale University, as well as learn why and how selectors for various collections develop these rich and varied photographic collections.

Libraries and collections presenting materials in this enlightening forum include:

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, consisting of curators from the General Collection (Modern), Collection of American Literature, and Collection of Western Americana
 
Divinity School Library, Special Collections
 
Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Medical Historical Library
 
Sterling Memorial Library, consisting of selectors for the African Collection and Manuscripts and Archives

Monday, March 24, 2008, 2:30-4:00 PM,
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

May

5/8: Collaborative Development of Visual Literacy Tools

A presentation by

Ian McDermott, Visual Literacy Instruction Fellow
Barbara Rockenbach, Director of Undergraduate and Library Research Education
Danuta A. Nitecki, Associate University Librarian for Public Services and Literacy Teaching and Learning
 
Visual literacy remains an elusive topic for librarians, despite its prominence in museum literature and other academic disciplines.  A team of Yale librarians is collaborating with experts across the campus to create a toolset to support student and faculty development of visual literacy skills as part of the newly established Collaborative Learning Center in the Bass Library.  These colleagues work in the libraries, Center for Language Study, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Instructional Technology Group.
 
The panel will present a summary of current literature, propose a working definition of visual literacy, describe the center and their collaborative development of an instructional toolset, as well as highlight three of the instructional settings used to design and assess the toolset.

Thursday, May 8, 2:00-3:30 PM
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

5/15: ArcPad Mobile Mapping Application Development and Instructional Support Project
A presentation by Stacey Maples, GIS Assistant (see the final report)

The Professional Development Grants Program supports innovative research and investigative projects undertaken by members of the Managerial and Professional staff of the Yale University Library. The grants are intended to provide incentive and financial assistance for projects that contribute to the Yale library community through such avenues as scholarly research, creative program applications, or feasibility/ pilot studies. The program is administered by the Library's Standing Committee on Professional Awareness (SCOPA).

Stacey Maples was awarded a SCOPA Grant in 2006 to explore mobile mapping technology and during this forum he will discuss his project.

This project provided Map Collection instructional staff the opportunity to experiment with mobile mapping technology for creating and using spatial data, specify supported hardware/software systems and create instructional materials for the further support of the Yale research community.   Using equipment acquired through the requested SCOPA grant and software already licensed by the Yale Map Collection, a field mapping system was developed and field tested. 

First, the project allowed the development and evaluation of a set of hardware specifications for an affordable and rugged mobile mapping system that can be effectively supported by the Yale Map Collection’s GIS Services.  These specifications are provided as a starting point to Yale Community researchers who are concerned with using mobile mapping equipment that they can be confident are supported by the Yale Map Collection GIS Services.

Second, the field-testing activities produced a geodatabase (including examples of the three generic spatial entities used to model geographic objects: points, lines and polygons) that  provided the base data for a set of instructional materials to assist Yale researchers in the development of mobile mapping applications for the collection of their own spatially organized data.  The project will culminated in the development and delivery of the “Out of the Office and Into the Field: Introduction to ArcPad and ArcPad Application Builder” workshop, as part of the Yale Map Collection GIS Workshop Series. 

Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, Thursday, May 15, 1:15-2:30 PM

5/19: Mentoring for Library Professional.
by Karen L. Kirchner, M.S., Learning Consultant, Career Management Consulting

Mentoring can benefit library professionals at different stages in their careers, whether they are librarians, archivists, mangers, conservators, or students of library and information science. Mentoring helps individuals when they enter the profession, move to a new institution, prepare for promotion review, or assume more active and visible roles in professional organizations.  Studies show that professionals with mentors, or those whohave acted as mentors, feel happier about their career progress and their work in general.

Individuals interested in being a mentor or a mentee should attend this forum to learn more about the Mentoring Program sponsored by SCOPA.  In this forum you will learn how to connect with a mentor or mentee, discover the necessary commitments, and define goals for a successful mentoring relationship.

This forum represents a shorter version of the Mentoring Workshop offered by Karen Kirchner at the Learning Center.  She has designed it specifically for the Yale University Library community.

Objectives:

1. Learn about the benefits and rewards of a mentoring relationship
2. Develop an understanding of roles and responsibilities
3. Find out about how the mentoring program can help future, new and experienced professionals to grow and develop.

Presenter:

Karen Kirchener is a learning consultant specializing in mentoring, coaching and team building, who has worked with professionals in a wide range of fields and industries. She recently developed a successful mentoring program for the New York Public Library.  

Sterling Memorial Lecture Hall, 1:00-2:30 PM

5/28: New Library Professionals Orientation.

This is a time for new librarians, managers, and professionals to learn about SCOPA and its programs, and receive a general overview of Yale University Library committees and organizational structure. 

Alice Prochaska, University Librarian and Diane Turner, Associate University Librarian for Human Resources, Staff Training and Security, will join us to speak about library governance, the promotion process for professional library staff, and opportunities for professional activities, growth and advancement. 

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
11:30 am to 1:00 pm, Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

6/16: Building on Experience:
Library Architecture and the LIBER Architecture Group Conference

The LIBER Architecture Group, a division of the Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche/Association of European Research Libraries, “furthers the exchange of experience between librarians and architects throughout Europe” and “attempts to raise the level of awareness of new projects and trends” in library building.  Its most recent conference, “Building on Experience: Learning from the Past to Plan for the Future,” was held in Budapest and Debrecen and explored some of the exciting new directions in European library construction.  Hannah Bennett, Interim Assistant Director of Yale’s Art and Architecture Library, attended the conference and will report on its highlights, particularly as they relate to some of the recent major library construction projects at Yale.

  All Yale Library staff are invited to attend, pending supervisor approval.

Monday, June 16, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
SML Lecture Hall

9/10: Yufind: The “Next Generation” Interface to Orbis
-Current State and Future Prospects of Yufind (see the presentation)

 The Library has launched a beta version of Yufind (http://yufind.library.yale.edu/), an experimental alternative interface to our catalog. Yufind is not a replacement for Orbis, but rather provides a new kind of discovery experience for users, one that better fits current search expectations and incorporates a variety of Web 2.0 tools.

Additional background:
Orbis transaction logs show that searches have often failed because of spelling errors, use of natural language (versus librarians' controlled vocabularies), or terms entered in inappropriate indexes (e.g., title words in the author search box). Many users have come to expect a Google-like search interface that is more forgiving of initial query terms and that employs sophisticated relevancy ranking and faceted navigation to help users display and narrow their results. We are now in a position to provide this kind of interface through Yufind.

Yufind helps make catalog data "work harder" by transforming bibliographic data elements (e.g., a resource's "language" or "format") into navigable facets. For example, a large result set on the key word "finance" can be filtered by language, geographic area, time period, or format, down to the most relevant set of titles. Previously, these data elements were largely hidden and unused deep within the catalog record.

Yufind currently offers a powerful keyword relevance ranking algorithm, RSS feeds, formatted export of bibliographic citations, integration of cover art, book reviews, sample book chapters, tables of contents, and real-time circulation status.

Near term enhancements will include the ability to bookmark and annotate records and to send them to one's email address, cell phone, or PDA.

Longer-term goals include integration of EAD finding aids and visual image records, an authority file, and new facets that will allow results to be narrowed by item availability and location.

As the project adds these enhancements and make subtle changes to the search algorithm you may notice changes. The team will be tracking these on the Yufind updates site, linked from the bottom of each Yufind page.

Yufind holds great promise, but of course it is not perfect and there are still some issues to be worked on to improve its functionality for users. The Yufind team sincerely invites your participation and feedback to make this application as useful as possible. The team will soon activate a dedicated feedback address at yufind.feedback@yale.edu. In the mean time concerns and questions about Yufind can be sent to daniel.lovins@yale.edu (project manager), kathleen.bauer@yale.edu (usability librarian), and scott.matheson@yale.edu (library web master).

Wednesday, September 10, 10:00-11:30 a.m.
SML Lecture Hall

10/27/08

The Standing Committee on Professional Awareness (SCOPA) is pleased to announce a forum: Promotion Planning for Library M&Ps (non-Librarian) Monday, October 27, 2008 10:00-11:00 a.m. SML Lecture Hall Marybeth Bean, Circulation & Business Manager for the Kline Science Library; Susan Burdick, Circulation & Interlibrary Loan Manager for the Divinity Library; and Regina Romero, Associate Director of Finance for the Beinecke Library, will give a panel presentation for Library M&Ps (non-Librarian) and their supervisors, outlining the promotion review process and suggesting strategies that all M&Ps can follow in preparing for promotion, whether in the 2009 round or in later years. From knowing where to find useful documentation to understanding expectations of professional performance to assembling a dossier, the forum will help prepare Library M&Ps to navigate the promotion review process with greater confidence and dexterity. This forum is open to all library staff, with supervisory permission. Additional information on the promotion process can be found at: http://www.library.yale.edu/lhr/pp/promotion.html. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. For SCOPA, Tom Bolze Catalog Librarian Rare Book Team Yale University Library P.O. Box 208240 New Haven, CT 06520-8240 203-432-8302 thomas.bolze@yale.edu

10/08/08, 10/13/08, 10/21/08

SCOPA, the Standing Committee on Professional Awareness, is pleased to present: University Librarian's Report to the Staff Presented by Alice Prochaska, University Librarian Three sessions will take place at the following dates and locations: Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 3:30-4:30 pm in the Lecture Hall, Sterling Memorial Library University Librarian's Tea to follow at the Memorabilia Room Monday, October 13, 2008, 10:00-11:00 am in the Beaumont Room (second floor of the L wing), Medical School Library Monday, October 21, 2008, 10:00-11:00 am in Latourette Hall (S223), Yale Divinity School All members of the Yale University Library staff are welcome to attend this forum, pending approval from their supervisors.

10/28/08 & 10/30/08

The Standing Committee on Professional Awareness (SCOPA) is pleased to present a forum: Promotion Planning for Librarians Thursday, September 18, 1:00-2:00 p.m. SML Lecture Hall Joan Swanekamp, Chief Catalog Librarian and outgoing Chair of the Librarian Promotion Review Committee, will give an overview of how Librarians and their supervisors can prepare for the promotion process at any point in their career at Yale. This forum addresses general promotion issues; it will not review details specific to the 2009 promotion year (those details will be covered in the Promotion Review for Librarians (2009) forums on Oct. 28, 1:00-2:00 p.m., SML Lecture Hall and Oct. 30 Thursday, October 30, 9:30-10:30 a.m. SML Lecture Hall) This forum is open to all library staff, with supervisory permission. Additional information on the promotion process can be found at http://www.library.yale.edu/lhr/pp/promotion.html. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. For SCOPA, Tom Bolze Catalog Librarian Rare Book Team Yale University Library P.O. Box 208240 New Haven, CT 06520-8240 203-432-8302 thomas.bolze@yale.edu