joy at moll projects dot com
Oh yeah, and the reason I can't do all the items on my MLA to do list tomorrow is because I'm working again. I have been for a month or so, actually, I just didn't get around to blogging it.
I'm at the Missouri Botanical Garden in the Archives. The photographer whose work appeared in 25 years of Missouri Botanical Garden calendars retired last year. He turned his slides over to the Archives, so my project is to catalog them. We think there's about 2500. Then, we'll choose a couple of hundred to scan for the web site.
The timing is fortuitous. Next year is the 150th Anniversary of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Okay, if you live in Boston or England, say, that might not sound that old, but in St. Louis, we all say "wow!" when we hear that one of our institutions is turning 150! So, the Illustrated History website (which is already pretty impressive) will get a nice addition of more recent color photos just in time for the anniversary.
It's a pretty good gig. Basically, I get to look at pretty pictures of flowers all day! I'm working about 10-12 hours a week, 2 short days, and we think I'll be done this month or early next month. Oh, and I get to walk across the Garden each morning, lunch, and evening that I work.
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The Missouri Library Association Conference last week was the most fun I've ever had at a conference. Get involved, folks! It makes all the difference. It's even worth the pre-conference stress and hassles.
This week and month is the time to wrap up and debrief. The quickly-needed items for a SIG chair are to thank the speakers and session hosts and solicit feedback. That's done.
Since I ended up more-or-less in charge of the session evaluation forms, I need to mail the ones that didn't get picked up at the conference. That will probably happen Saturday. I also need to figure out how to summarize the things and share that information with the other SIG and Division Chairs. Maybe Saturday or Monday?
There's an item due for the newsletter next week. A few other things. Feels like a small but steady stream of to-do items this month.
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Off to the Missouri Library Association Conference. As a member of the Hospitality Committee and the Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC), my on-site responsibilities start tomorrow, the day before the conference begins.
At 10:00, I'll be driving one of several cars carrying programs and other goodies from Washington University where they've been collecting to the Millennium Hotel for the Conference. The CAC meets at 1:00, just to see how everything is going, and then we stuff bags.
The CAC meets every morning at 7:25 which I think is splendid idea, even if it is a bit early for someone who sets her own hours and almost never sets the alarm for earlier than 7:30.
Here are the places you're most likely to catch me during the conference because someone is depending on me being there. I'll be doing other things, too, but I'm going to choose those on the fly.
Wednesday, October 1
11:45 - 12:45 Welcome to MLA
3:45 - 4:30 Securing Public Access Computers
Thursday, October 2
8:15 - 9:00 Welcome to MLA
9:15 - 10:00 Missouri Digital Heritage
12:15 - 1:30 Librarians who Lunch
2:30 - 4:00 Hospitality Desk (call R at a quiet moment to remind him to pick up the CSA box!)
4:30 - 5:30 Annual Business Meeting
8:00 - 10:00 VP Debate
Friday, October 3
7:45 - 8:15 Executive Board Meeting
8:15 - 9:00 CIT SIG Meeting
9:15 - 10:00 The Virtual Book Scene (that's my presentation!)
11:00 - 1:00 Hospitality Desk
In between those times, I'm always up for a walk (bring a jacket! we're transitioning to fall weather) or coffee or a meal or a drink. OK. Maybe I should pack now.
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I've been too busy working on things for the Missouri Library Association conference to blog about them like I promised! I'll try to do better because the two future chairs of the Computer and Information Technology SIG have said they think these will be useful when it's their turn.
Last year when I attempted to recruit session hosts, people to introduce each program session that the SIG sponsors and to mention the SIG in the process, I got no takers. This year, with three times as many programs, I managed to get them all covered. Here's what I learned--start earlier and ask twice! Last year, I started about two weeks in advance and took a non-answer as a "no." This year, I started about a month in advance and took a non-answer as "I haven't worked it out yet." In the end, everyone that I asked said "yes" and seemed happy to do it; it just often took a second prompt or a more detailed "how about hosting this session?" request.
This year the Conference Chair wanted to have evaluation forms for each session of the conference. In the past, that was something that one or two Divisions and SIGs did for their own sessions, but was not widely practiced. I had planned to steal the idea and form from MACRL (the Missouri Association of College and Research Libraries, one MLA division that has used session evaluation forms consistently for years), especially since one of our speakers last year hinted that she would like to have session evaluations.
So, once the Conference Chair came up with that idea, I volunteered, figuring that it wouldn't be much more work to handle the session evaluation forms for the whole conference than for just the CIT SIG's sessions. As it turned out, it was less work because I got a lot of help. The chairs of the SIGs and Divisions worked collaboratively to create the form. Margaret Booker, the MLA Executive Director, offered to print them and bring them to the conference.
We're asking our session hosts to handle the evaluation forms for each session. Since one of my other conference hats is working on the Hospitality committee, the blank forms will be in the Hospitality area along with a file box for the filled-out forms. Filled-out forms will go in a file labeled with the sponsoring Division or SIG. The Division or SIG chair will pick up his or her file at the end of the conference to analyze and summarize the forms.
I'd be curious how other conferences handle analyzing and summarizing forms. Our Executive Director, who summarizes the evaluation forms for the conference as a whole, recognized immediately that the real work would start after the conference and would be too much for her to handle, maybe too much for any one person to handle. Since the history in our organization was for Divisions and SIGs to do their own evaluation forms, if they wanted to, it seemed natural to ask them to take care of it. Of course, it hasn't happened yet, so I'm hoping that doesn't turn out to be too much of a burden for the officers of Divisions and SIGs. Since my SIG is sponsoring the most programs, I felt pretty comfortable taking the lead on this -- I'm not asking anyone to do more work than I am!
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If you live in the St. Louis area, are you going to Chautauqua? It starts tomorrow at Kirkwood Park. More details on my other blog.
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Chautauqua is an entertaining cultural event -- portrayals of historical figures by actors, usually in an outdoor venue. In early June, Kirkwood Public Library is hosting That's Entertainment! -- a Chautauqua put together by the Missouri Humanities Council. I volunteered in memory of my parents who were big supporters of the Pike County Chautauquas. The summer before he died in 2001, my dad sent me emails each day about what he learned at Chautauqua. I attended the 2005 Chautauqua in Pike County with my mother and kept an online diary.
I'm very excited about the That's Entertainment lineup -- Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Margaret Mitchell, and P.T. Barnum.
I was first tapped to find people and equipment for lights and sound, but it looks like most of that is going to get pulled in by the person in charge of the facility. So, instead, I'm going to work on the website.
We need money in case anyone is looking for a good cause. Our community was exceptionally generous after the shooting tragedy at City Hall. The normal sources for funds are pretty well dried up, having gone to support the families of the police officers and other victims. We could use some angels from afar. My hope is that Chautauqua will be a healing event.
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The Computer and Information Technology SIG sponsored or cosponsored 17 sessions submitted to the Missouri Library Association Conference Committee. That's just over twice as many as last year--and I was happy with last year's number. It may be too many sessions, given limited time and space for the conference, but I'm hoping the Conference Committee will appreciate having a choice and being in the position to put things together in a way that makes an exciting conference program. Meanwhile, we're thinking about how to turn some of these into Table Talks or Poster Sessions if there's just no way that all of them can be program sessions.
So, here's how to get lots of progam proposals:
June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 June 2008 September 2008 October 2008
