The Summit will be held Thursday & Friday, May 20-21, 2010. Cost for the Summit is $150 for two days, which includes breakfast and lunch both days. Single-day registration is not available.

More conference and registration information:  http://calcweb.org/
Register here: http://tinyurl.com/calcsummit

Also, don’t forget to register for one of the hands-on preconferences happening May 19:
http://calcweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43&Itemid=135

In this and future posts I’ll tell the story of how we selected VuFind from a list that included AquaBrowser, Encore, Drupal SOPAC, and WorldCat Local. I’ll write about testing and launching open source software originally developed at Villanova University. We might blaze a few interesting trails, taking software currently running in university libraries, and adapting it to our multi-type consortium on the Western Slope.

“We’re getting open source!”

VuFind was a very much a dark horse until a few stars aligned. When I joined Marmot last October, it was not clear we could implement let alone enhance an open source solution. When I visited Colorado State University to learn about the first implementation of VuFind with Millennium, I was encouraged that CSU could help Marmot get started. After we hired a new web developer, and identified a contract developer to expand our capacity for a few months, we had everything we needed to take VuFind seriously.

Lucene at the heart of VuFind is no stranger to supporting public and school libraries as well as academics. Lucene powers Encore by Innovative Interfaces, LS2 PAC by The Library Corporation, and many other web apps. The remarkable thing about VuFind for Marmot was how well it met overlapping and conflicting needs of 19 separate Marmot institutions in spite of its academic roots.

Mary Katherine told me how much fun she and CJ were having looking at the code where MARC tags and subfields get handled for indexing and faceting. “I can’t remember the last time I actually enjoyed reading MARC documentation and chasing down fixed field codes.”

Some of the fun comes from feeling in control, from the optimism of being able to solve unique local problems without waiting for a vendor to weigh our priorities with those of a thousand other ILS customers. Mary Katherine can see what’s happening inside the system instead of being shut out of a vendor’s black box. CJ can make changes without filing a bug report. Marmot library users will love the results.

Read a full review of The Maltese Falcon here. For a full list of books available from the SWIFT Book Club, look here.

Beginning Feb 1, they will all use the same web-based customer-support and communication technology, InstantService.

In the last few years, libraries have seen an explosion in online communication tools available for reaching and serving patrons. The use of IM, text messaging, online chat and related technologies are becoming embedded in the fabric of libraries’ online service offerings. Given this changing landscape in technology and the evolving need for libraries to flexibly serve their patrons, the AskColorado community and AskColorado Steering Committee have endorsed a migration to this new software platform, InstantService.

AskColorado

On February 1, Colorado’s statewide virtual reference provider will begin using the software developed by InstantService. In addition to serving some well-known companies across a range of industries, InstantService is currently used by Florida’s AskALibrarian virtual reference service. The Florida AskALibrarian service, which has 102 participating libraries of all types, has been using InstantService for nearly a year and raves about the company’s service. The AskColorado Software Selection Committee, which was comprised of library representatives from public, academic and school libraries from across the state, chose InstantService after reviewing several vendor options.

InstantService offers the expected, basic function of live chats with a librarian, but the (NEW!) integration of email to provide patrons with a communication option if the AskColorado service is busy or closed for a holiday IS A SIGNIFICANT improvement to the former software system.

Additional features and functions:

• fully integrated staff service module, which will allow libraries to offer different communication channels to their patrons while interacting with and responding to patrons at a single service point;
• entirely web-based, compatible with more operating systems and browser platforms than the previous software;
• works on both PCs and Macs;
• the ability for participating libraries to add an embedded IM widget box within their web sites, similar to Meebo.

Looking forward to the spring…text messaging will be added as an option so that patrons can communicate with the AskColorado library service using a handheld device like a cell phone.

If you have any questions, or would like further information about joining and supporting the AskColorado Collaboration, please feel free to contact Susie Whiteford [swhitefo@denverlibrary.org]of Denver Public Library, currently Chair of the AskColorado Steering Committee.

And if your library is already a member of AskColorado, welcome to a bright new era of virtual reference service and sophisticated electronic communications with your patrons!

The Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) is offering financial assistance to library staff enrolling in the certification program.  CLiC will reimburse selected individuals for half the registration cost (up to a $175 value).  The deadline for submitting the financial assistance application  is February 28th.  Contact Judy Van Acker, 719-640-5979, with questions.

New ALA report details economic trends in libraries and 2010 outlook
CHICAGO – At every turn, news reports and research indicate fairly dramatic changes in U.S. library funding, services and staffing – most occurring in the last 18 months. According to a new report prepared by the American Library Association (ALA), libraries of all types are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn while managing sky-high use.

Compiled from a broad range of available sources, The Condition of Libraries: 1999-2009 presents U.S. economic trends (2009), and summarizes trends in public, school and academic libraries across several library measures, including expenditures, staffing and services. The report also highlights trends in services provided to libraries by library cooperatives and consortia.

“This report was prepared to inform and assist library leaders as they plan in these very difficult times,” said ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. “It succinctly brings together diverse strands of data from the past decade to provide a useful benchmark for the library community and its advocates.”

As communities and academic campuses develop future fiscal plans, it is clear that all types of libraries are visibly hard hit. In a fall 2009 report prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 34 states had reported cuts to higher education, which impacts academic libraries; and 25 states had cut funding to K-12, which impacts school libraries. Total state budget shortfalls for fiscal year 2010 are $178 billion, and FY2011 are estimated to be roughly the same.

Public libraries also have been affected. While the full impact of the economic downturn remains fluid and the data challenging to assemble, what is known is that flat funding has been an obstacle – perhaps even a chronic problem – for many libraries this entire decade. Confirming evidence from a 2006 ALA study of public library funding, a 2009 survey conducted as part of the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study revealed a worsening of funding – about 20 percent reported flat funding continuing in FY2010 and a majority reported budget reductions. Of those with budget cuts, about 20 percent reported 5-to-10 percent reductions in FY2010 from FY2009.

Library trends include:

School Library Media Centers

• At a time when school enrollment (K-12) is growing, almost all schools reported in 2009 a decrease in funding for information resources, with a median per-student expenditure of just over $12; and
• Fewer school libraries served more students in the 2006-2007 school year compared with the 2002-2003 school year; and
• Total SLMC staff grew slightly, then declined in the 2006-2007 school year compared with 1999-2000.

College and University Libraries

• While student enrollment at colleges and universities has declined since 2004, library use continues to increase. During a typical week in 2008, academic libraries reported more than 20.3 million visits, up from 18.7 million in 2006. They also provided more than 498,000 informational services to groups attended by more than 8.9 million students and faculty, up from 471,000 sessions attended by 8.3 million in 2006;
• In fall 2008, 72 percent of academic libraries reported providing library reference service by e-mail or the Web, about the same as in 2006; and
• Operating expenditures rose modestly during the period 2002 to 2008.

Public libraries

• Total public library circulation and circulation of children’s materials continue to rise.  Circulation of children’s materials has accounted for between 32.9 and 35 percent of total circulation between FY2002 and FY2007. Total circulation of public library materials has grown each year – up to 7.4 items per capita from about 6.8 items in FY2002;
• Most public library Internet services have grown between 2006 and 2008, most notably audio and video content; and
• Total public library operating expenditures have varied little year-to-year and typically align with inflation rates. Staff account for the largest portion of expenditures, followed by “other” expenditures (technology, utilities, programming, etc.) and collections.

The full report is available at http://www.ala.org/ala/research/initiatives/Condition_of_Libraries_1999.20.pdf Individual reports by type of library are available at http://www.ala.org/ala/research/index.cfm.

Denise M. Davis
Director, ALA Office for Research & Statistics
50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611
dmdavis@ala.org | 312-280-4273 | fax 312-280-4392

The Colorado Academic Library Consortium Summit planning committee seeks proposals for presentation and poster sessions for the fourth CALC Summit.  The Summit will be held at the Sheraton Denver West Hotel (6th Ave & Union) on May 20-21, 2010. 

We’ve all heard that collaboration is important, but how can academic libraries forge lasting, effective partnerships both within and outside their institutions? What makes some partnerships succeed, and others fail?  Come share your successes, failures, research, and innovative ideas related to academic library collaboration. We’re particularly interested in proposals that address:
*        Collaboration to expand library services or improve student success
*        Collaboration to develop Web 2.0 applications
*        Strategies for building and maintaining partnerships
*        Inter-institutional collaboration
*        Institutional barriers to collaborative efforts, and how to overcome them
*        Assessing the success of collaborative efforts
*        Collaboration with non-library partners

Presentation Options:

1.     Concurrent Presentations:
 A speaker or team of speakers presents for 45 or 75 minutes, with a 15-minute Q&A session after the presentation. Presentations that involve discussion, audience participation, or activities are strongly encouraged.

2.     Poster Sessions:
A graphical presentation (paper or digital) of research results, case studies, projects, or ideas. Poster presenters will discuss their work with attendees during the poster session time slot (likely to be 1 hour long.)

Details: Presentation and poster proposals will be reviewed and competitively selected by a committee of academic librarians.

Proposal Requirements:
*   Names and full contact information of presenter(s)
*   Title of presentation or digital poster session
*   Abstract and brief outline (200 words max)
*   Desired presentation length (45 or 75 minutes) or poster session

Submit proposals using this online form: http://www.calcweb.org/

Proposals are due by February 12, 2010. You’ll be notified about the status of your proposal by March 12, 2010.

For more information visit www.calcweb.org or email jay.devaughn@ccaurora.edu

Sponsored by: CALC – Colorado Academic Library Consortium CLiC – Colorado Library Consortium CoALA – Association of Colorado Libraries – Academic Division

We all know that Web 2.0 tools are essential for communicating and creating in today’s fast-paced world. If there are tools that you or your staff want to learn more about, or if you just need to brush up on the basics, please visit the Colorado Libraries 2.0 website.

Colorado Libraries 2.0 is a FREE learning program to help library staff become familiar with Web 2.0 tools. The program is designed in modules associated with categories of tools:

1. Communication
2. Collaboration
3. Visual Communications
4. Personal Learning Environments (PLE)
5. Productivity Tools
6. A capstone project – Your PLE

Additional modules will be available in 2010.

Join with others from your library to get the most from the program !

Colorado Libraries 2.0 was created by Reach – Leading Learning in Libraries – a group of library staff members committed to sharing continuing education opportunities with others.

Two people meet in nonfiction and fall in love. A boy finds salvation in his local library and becomes the first in his family to attend college. A suburban mother of four relies on the library’s expert reference service to start her own business, and later is named “Entrepreneur of the Year.”

Come visit the State Library’s booth at the CAL exhibit hall to share YOUR story! You can write it, type it, or tell it (we will have flip cameras). Read fantastic stories of your colleagues and celebrate the many ways libraries transform lives.

Need more reason? Submit YOUR story and become eligible to win one of these fabulous prizes!

• A “flip” digital video camera
• Library stories journals
• A tricked-out messenger bag
• Summer Reading Fun Pack

State Library at CAL schedule (PDF)