Next Gen Discussion with time for General Questions

Summary of What Patti's Group Discussed

• Large search results from Next Generation Melvyl (NGM) are difficult to adjust.
• Facets should be customizable.
• People are confused by the overlap of the First Search version of WorldCat with our WorldCat Local.
• Clients have expressed that they would like to be able to make simultaneous interlibrary loan requests and NGM does not handle this.
  
• People don't like to use or teach NGM.
• People are worried that the FirstSearch version will going away. Patti mentioned that, like Melvyl, this is not anticipated to happen anytime soon. (Karen might have said that, but I was typing quickly.)
  
• Some felt strongly both pro and con about Amazon results appearing in NGM search results. Karen noted that only librarians were bothered by this feature in testing and focus groups.
  
• Right now librarians have difficulty locating conference proceedings in NGM.
  
• People would like to be able to limit by publisher.
• People wanted to know when or if NGM should be re-named.
  
• People want a more customizable interface than NGM currently has.
  

Martha's Group

• See Mitchell's blog notes because they were read off from his notes for the most part.
• One interesting comment (made by Patti) is that she'll send out an example of the Hathi Trust (see the link in the comments for this entry)
  
• Someone wondered how or whether OCLC could scale up all its projects and library management service. Karen replied that they have tried to model have circulation transactions based on 5% of the world's libraries participating in WorldCat as an integrated library system (ILS) and that the amount is staggering. It's how it would or will work.
  

Jim Dooley's Group

HOTS survey about language expertise led to a discussion of using those skills of bibliographers.
Another question was raised that NGM was because UC has budget troubles, but we are actually try to be able to try and get efficiencies that really concentrates on the hidden or the unique. To give attention to the resources that have been off the radar.
Questions about user service input other than saying it will be there. There is no indication of the form it will take, but don't really know. Martha comments that people may not have the "bandwidth" to do this kind of work.
Jim relates that doing surveys uncovering expertise is nice, but doing something with it is what remains critical.
Issue of finance climate makes it difficult to cooperate and move around money and it needs to be worked on. The human factors (amount of work, etc.) in terms of what we do and how we work, will have profound impacts on people. The people who need to do the work, need to buy into the process.

Karen's Group
The group mostly asked questions. The nuance of groups was felt to be important. Karen re-emphasized the common elements, but that the differences were in the report referenced in the OCLC report in her slides.
Also discussed the importance of working on CJK.
Feels its important to emphasize the beta nature of the FAS tags. There was a lot of interest in this issue. Had a discussion of why users don't tag. Noting that there needs to be a self-interest is a tag. The current look for WorldCat is more static.
Fiscal year '10 is the time for the getting more metadata exposure. For example, Ebsco will be allowing its metadata in WorldCat.
Also talked about what will catalogers do if mainstream publications are represented. Talked about the concept of redeploying labor to provide access to hidden or unique collections. The conversation also went in the direction of verification and selling it to faculty.
The use of Dewey for international resources. Outside the U.S. in Europe and in Australia, the Dewey work is used heavily for multi-language use. Pulls together information without using labor intensive subject analysis.

Question from General Audience
Placement of NGM encourages undergraduates to use it erroneously. Wonders how the stats will change.
How do you evaluate that a user is coming back?
Either it's a zero sum, or they don't shun it.
Karen suggests a click stream analysis. In her examination of some of these is that there are a lot of click throughs via Google. She says that knowing that kind of information buries that data. Using Armature, which is a tool that WorldCat uses, we might be finding more information on this. Patti is interested in this type of analysis and would like to do a presentation on the statistics. Karen noted that 80% of traffic coming from another location.

Summary of Sessions

After a short refreshment break we had small group discussions with the three panelists, and then a closing summary session. Then each panelist summarized the group discussion.

Some thoughts and observations:

• Librarians worried about commercialism of Amazon ads on World Cat Local, but no other user group worried.
• Conference proceedings would be a useful limit--exists in current Melvyl
• A customizable interface would be a nice enhancement to World Cat Melvyl.
• Question: Are we overly simplistic about what user needs are? Amazon model not always relevant.
• Next Generation Technical Services group must consider impact of the Hathi Trust agreement for mass digitization.
• Big challenge: Ingesting non-Roman scripts.
• OCLC tagging systems using LC subject headings is currently in research phrase.
• Why do users tag, or who is more likely to tag? One view here: http://mstrohm.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/why-do-users-tag-detecting-user-motivation-in-tagging-systems/
• How can user-contributed metadata be trusted? Faculty sometimes concerned about Wikipedia etc.
  

Discussions with Karen

Question 1:
Undergraduates and consistent results from user groups?
Answer:
They weren't consistent, but they were common. In another section, there were differences among librarians and also commonalities.
Question:
How to incorporate the differences
Answer:
Through focus groups found that well suited to undergrads. More than the undergrad wants and less than what the expert user wants. There's an academic tinge to it. Wanted to emphasize the common. A lot on the delivery v. the discovery. All wanted the digital first. For the physical in nature, wanted abstracts or summaries. Convenience across every group.
Question:
What are some solutions for delivery systems? What solutions do you propose?
Answer: Valerie Horton and writes on a lot of delivery services. Experience of clicking on a link and getting to something. The message is one for libraries and what the user experience is and does it met there expectations.
Question: who does the abstracting for articles in WorldCat.
Answer: mostly from the British Library. Other sources are beyond what OCLC has but it will expose the metadata
Question: the quality control is a serious problem. One librarian gets really bad records and has to work hard to change them. Looking for quality control.
Answer: looking at national library agreements from those like that from the National Library of China (duplication of records are a serious problem). CJK matching algorithm is not great, but the idea is to attract the libraries into the system. They are in conversations with Callus and things look good.
Question: Tell us more about non-Roman cataloging
Answer: Not an expert, but subject-level expertise is growing. Most major growth is occurring outside the United States. Need to be respectful of those other standards in other countries. For subject heading schemes in other countries and languages. Will bring headings into a record and try to match OR will do an authorized duplicate record. Outside the U.S., some countries are adopting Dewey.
Question: have you found that conversations with vendors helped with getting records that would otherwise not be available to OCLC
Answer: Fastest growing segment/division in OCLC is contracts for records (e.g. Springer, Elsevier, etc.). Openly Infomatics was purchased by OCLC to basically help with stuff. [seems like it duplicates the SFX stuff or would want to replace it]
Question: Won't catalogers be less useful.
Answer: Golden opportunity for uncovering hidden collections. Thinks that normalization, etc will free up time to do more that is unique.
Question: Library Thing
Answer: LC promoting FAS approach to cataloging. OCLC has a file of FAS subject heading list and decided to create a FAS headings with authors. Karen mentions a reference to "who will tag" Karen will send the citation to Sam Dunlop.

Breakout sessions with speakers

Patti Martin:
Specific responses to WorldCat Local features:

• WCL sets
• facets set by OCLC, let people choose
• Large results sets
• Overall WCL/OCLC database
• Multiple copy requests will not be in initial Request launch

Pilot label - people resistant to using, teaching
Michale Athern OCLC - quote that WorldCat interface going away

• a gradual development are future

Amazon ads - pros and cons
Librarians - concerned; no other group concerned

Helpful to Amazon review, scholarly

Conference proceedings focus

• Limit by publisher
• Design limits
• New name for Melvyl?

Going out to other databases - journal/scholarly sources
Customizable interface

Martha Hruska:
Didn't get into details about technical services for non-tech services librarians.

Shared cataloging issues at UCSD
Cataloging monographs in the social sciences, with some electronic resources. Work with non-Roman language original catalogers

Questions about collaborative acquisitions. Discussions with CDC
Collecting in areas where the local campus has language ability or expertise

"Commonly held" collections - materials where languages or subjects are on several campuses
Domestic UC press, Canadian UC press titles

The conversation about collections has been going on for years, but the technology and motivation has changed.

Inventories of campus expertise levels for languages, technical experience

Non-catalogers spending time with catalogers to be work in areas outside of job positions.

Challenges with stakeholders, including people currently doing the work, to promote buy-in with projects. Changes with department culture to look to "larger world view to make changes.

Is attention being paid to other formats, such as online newspapers that may not be archiving themselves?

Survey of Shelf-ready resources on campuses and where costs fall. CDC collaborations of collaborative purchases as groups.

Anectdotal experiences with commercial services (Amazon) for the common needs, with the unusual to be handled by all campuses.

User needs may be overly simplistic - without teaching people about other ways to approach the options or expertise in locating or working with materials.

Scalability of operations to campuses, with Technical Services, Public Services, and administrative functions at campus levels
Calhoun: Recommends sending email to Andrew Pace. Looking at issues of have processes would be addressed in large implementations.
Example: How many circulation transactions if you captured 5% of all circulatiosn worldwide.

Dooley:
Some similar with Hruska and others difference.

Question: Talk about HOTS survey of language and format expertise among catalogers, can the same be used to leverage bibliographers expertise across campuses?
Dooley: Not yet talked about in HOTS but may be of interest.

Question: Is NGTS a smokescreen that campuses are broke and concern about being able to afford.
Dooley: Seeing if there are efficiencies to highlight unique, hidden materials within UC system that are not found elsewhere.

Question: Composition of task groups. Would there be public services, other groups.
Dooley: They will be there but don't have a timeline to be involved.

Observation. Doing surveys of expertise but then to do something with the expertise. methods of cooperation where expertise can be used.

Question: Cooperative approval plans. The whole UC finance climate that makes campus interaction to move money between them in an inhibitor. This needs to be addressed.

Comment: Human factors that will have influence on people and how they do their jobs. People doing the work will need to have their buy-in.

Calhoun:
A theme of other groups - when talking about user needs, you need to use a nuiansed approach.
Different users with different needs.
Referral to the study on user needs - things that were common among the users but also how they differ

Spent time talking about records with non-Roman scripts - Chinese. Loading of records from Taiwan, Hong Kong making a mess in the database. Seeking records with content from East Asia but noting the work within record fields to make the records usable over time.

Intrigued by vast cloud tags in displays in the research display slides.
Diane Bison-Getts (OCLC)
Where do the tags come from, are they more than user submitted tags, or researcher contributed tags.
If a social environment created to allow/encourage people to submit tagging.

Record sets - helping libraries to acquire these data sets

How can WorldCat Local and WorldCat.org point to more electronic resources beyond article metadata. British Library is a huge source of article metadata and FirstSearch. Plans for fiscal year 2010 for metadata for e-resource aggregation. Agreement with Ebsco to expose metadata (not full text) to OCLC.
'Expose your metadata, then more people will use your material."

Talked about subject in all sessions.
What will catalogers do if records are included in collection aggregations? Redeploying labor to enhance hidden collections.

Hidden collections. How can user contributed metadata be verified?
Selling faculty that the metadata is accurate. Will faculty question the metadata?

How much description of collection is enough for special collections? Who should supply the metadata? Is it better undescribed in the value or have something that is incomplete?

Use of Dewey in non-English worldwide. Dewey translated into 32 languages and descriptions. In U.S. seen as a second class structure but in UK, research on using Dewey numbers and captions can be used for non-English collections. Mapping to concepts within other languages, then used to group back to groups with different languages.

Making the materials already cataloged affordable for the world users.

Question: Is placement of Next Generation Melvyl on webpage influence use? How do statistics reflect the placement?

Question: Next Generation Melvyl slower to display holdings, similar to Google interface, breaks the rules of traditional online catalogs by including article records.

Question: NGM users are coming back to NGM. Either the same people are returning or the non-returning users are being replaced with new users.

Comment of web-optimization and clickstream analysis. Study of patterns of clickstreams, where data comes to library sites and then goes. What strikes is there are a lot of click-throughs from Google. Knowing that information for Melvyl that buries details - using Amature (analysis tool) about how the clickstreams are working.

WorldCat.org 80% traffic from other websites - only 12% from original website such as bookmarks or direct links.

Next Generation Technical Services--Martha Hruska Presentation

Great deal of work in last four years, in response to 2005 Bibliographic Services Task Force Report.

Redefining collections--great opportunity to expose hidden collections throughout UC.

Next Generation Technical Services charge:

• Move technical services to network level, away from local level.
• Identify areas of coordination and collaboration across UC.
• Quickly implement any "low-hanging fruit" changes, with approval from Executive Tea

Goal of Next Generation Tech Services project is to address the "backend" recommendations from 2005 report.

Next Generation Tech Services values:

• Speed up processing
• View all aspects of tech services as single, system-wide; eliminate redundancy
• Start with existing metadata that is "good enough" and go from there

Guiding values--partial list:

• Tech services "critical infrastructure" for collections

Information resource types--not perfect taxonomy, but a useful framework:

• Commonly held content in Roman script
• Comminly held content in non-Roman script
• UC unique collections
• 21st Century Emerging Resources--blogs, wikis, tweets?, etc.

Task groups will be formed to consider how best to provide technical services for each type of resource.

Mind shift: from "cataloging" to "technical services" needed to support a collection.

Next Generation Technical Services task force just beginning its work. Possible outcomes:

• Reduced silos in technical services work
• Collaborative approval plans
• Collaborative outsourcing
• Improved tools for system-wide acquisitions & cataloging
• "Shared Print in Place" norm rather than exception
• Less redundant work, which frees time to focus on local campus priorities

Web site for more information here: http://uclib-s10.cdlib.org/about/uls/ngts/

Martha Hruska on Next Generation Technical Services

This is becoming mostly a reflection on our successes and our failures from that taskforce report called the BSTF Report of 2005 at libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/sopag/BSTF/Final.pdf . Check out all of these acronyms:

• BSTF (2005 Bibliographic Services Task Force Report)
• CAMCIG (Cataloging and Metadata Common Interest Group)
• UC CONSER (UC CONSER Funnel Program)
  
• CDL (California Digital Library)
  
• HOTS (Heads of Technical Services)
  
• HOTS SCP (Shared Cataloging Program Advisory Committee (SCP AC))
  
• JSTOR (JSTOR - short for Journal Storage)
  
• IEEE (Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers)
  
• CDC (Collection Development Committee)
  
• ACG (All Campus Group)
  
• ACIG (Acquisitions Common Interest Group)
  
• PAG (Preservation Advisory Group)
  
• PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging)
• HOSC (Heads of Special Collections)
  
• NGTS (Next Generation Technical Services)

Undoubtedly you know most of these.

The issues covered here are clearly some of the big picture type.
Next Generation Technical Services (NGTS) Charge that hopes to move to the network level and take advantage of collaboration among the UC. Also interested in low-hanging fruit of UCs.
Interesting that she leaves some of the needs up to bibliographers when I think that they have less and less time to contribute to these broader issues. Or is that really the case? Hm.

The difficulty Martha and most others have either pointed out or ignored is still one of whether there are enough people with interest or sufficient expertise to provide assistance in technical (metadata/cataloging/tagging/?) areas outside libraries. Do others with skill care enough to work on things that are not clearly of value to them right now?

Says that workflow models are not really great or discovered yet for various types of grey materials (e.g. scholarly websites).

The proposed models, funding and organizational structures are the more critical aspects of changes of this sort.

The other critical half is clearly the evaluative aspect. Martha has some ideas about how this works.

Martha refers to shared collecting and stuff like UCM being the repository for Springer books (those purchased online I presume).

libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/uls/ngts

Martha Hruska - Nex Gen Technical Services

Martha Hruska, Chair of the UC Next Generation Technical Services Steering team and member of the NGTS Executive Team, AUL Collections Services, UC San Diego

NGTS Context
BSTF report 2005: next steps
UC related inititatives over the last four years
Catalysts for Change
NGTS Charge

BSTF Report 2005

• Looking at workflow and practices within infrastructure.
  
• Adopting New Cataloging Practices
• Supporting Continuous Improvement

• Rearchitecting cataloging workflow
• Appropriate metadata scheme
• manually enrich metadata in imprtant areas
• Automate Metadata Creation

UC Inititatives over the last 4 years+

• CAMCIG Reports
• UC CONSER Funnel
• CDL/HOTS agreement to fund temporary SCP Chinese cataloger
• SCP Scope Statement review
• HOTS Cataloging Expertise Spreadsheet
• Shared print Projects CDL/CDC

• Journals (licensed journals, JSTOR, IEEE)
• Canadiana
• CDC Prospective Shared Print Monographic task force

Catalysts for Change: Beyond Cataloging and Bibliographic Services

• LC Final Report of the Working Group on the future of Bibliographic Control
• NG Melvyl
• Requires harmonization of UC cataloging policies and process revisions
• Requres cooperative approaches to acquisitiosns approaches
  
• Mass Digitization
• Hathi Trust
• Web archiving
• Expose Hidden Collections
• Mange the life-cycle or born digital and other emerging formats
• UC-wide and campus financial pressures

NGTS: Charge

Develop a framework for the next three to five years for NGTS for the Uc Libraries. the steering team will:

• address the broad transformative changes that will move technical services to the network level and that will reap the benefits of collaborative technical services
• identitfy areas of coordination and collaboration among the UC Libraries techncial services operations
• quickly implement identified 'low-hanging furuit" changes 9with approval from the executive Team)

Shared Print - join approval plans across UC system to reduce duplication on campuses
HOTS survey - How many campuses use shelf-ready services from vendors

Rationale

• Both user expectation and financial realities to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of processes
• NGTS
• Position UC libraires to support NGM and address "backend" recommendatons to BSTF report

NGTS Scope: Values

• Speed processing throughout technical services function
• View all aspects to technical services as s system-wide, single enterprise
• Start with existing metadata that is 'good enough" from all available resources
• All for continuous improvement to "good enough: including from the world beyond UC Libraries: expert communities, vendors, other libraries

Guiding Principles

• TS provide infrastructure for library collections
• TS services provide broad access to and facilitate discovery of library collections

Graphic based on Lorcan Dempsey at RGL Partners Meeting (2008)
Relationship between users, libraries, publsihers, vendors in search, discovery, and retrieval

Information Resource Types

1. Commonly Held Content in Roman script
2. Commonly held Content in Non-Roman Script
3. UC Unique Collections
4. 21st Century Emerging Resources

Task Group Charges
Each task group to develop 1-3 models for each information resource group

Each model must

• Address process for selection

NGTS Process
Web site http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/uls/ngts/
The website is now active - at least they have the name, more details will follow.

Proposed models vetted
Explore workflow, policies

Phase 1 - May - Sept. 2009

• Best practices and current initiatives within UC and beyond

Phase 2 - Oct. 2009 - Jan. 2010

• Outline proposed models
  

Phase 3 - Feb.2010 - March 2010

• Analyze proposed models

Possible Outcomes

• Redefine, break down silos in TS functions
• Collaborative approval plans
• Collaborative outsourcing and other vendor services
• Improved tools for system-wide acquisitions and cataloging
• 'Shared Print in Place' becomes norm rather than exception
• less redundant work -> campus focus on local priorities

Where to afford and keep materials. May not be in RLFs
UC Merced taking on responsibility for shared print holdings for Springer E-Books package

Less copies but sharable across system

Questions to Martin

Question: There was an announcement that the pilot would be expanding with a July roll-out date. Can you talk about this?
Martin: July rollout date pulled back.

Question: If pilot extended and Melvyl phased out, is WorldCat Local really a pilot?
Martin: If pilot is accepted, steps for decommissioning Melvyl.

Martin - Where are we at with the WCL pilot

Melvyl usage still outpaces use of WorldCat Local (combined)

There is still enough interest in WCL and Melvyl to use and return.

What has happened since May 2008?

Usability studies
Log analysis
1/4 searches generate more that 500 results
~10% of searches produce zero results
Relationship building
Learning to describe UC culture to OCLC and learning to talk to each other

What is the Pilot?

• Look and feel is similar to University of Washington version
• Ten campus specific views and one UC-wide view
• not able to ingrate with multiple campus OPACS

The Basics

• Interface usability
• Interoperability with ILSs
• Seamless interoperability with UC-eLinks and Request
• the ability to lead, access and display non-traditional records
• Digital assets, journals, mass digitization

How Will the pilot be evaluated
Enhanced discovery functionality
Enhanced delivery resources

Fully integrate Request functionality

In progress

• OCLC working hard on fully integrating Request functionality
• Need to accommodate RLFs, campuses with more than one ILS
• Speed!
• Coding, local holdings records (LHRs)

What are LHRs
LHRS will make response time faster

• Summary
• Holdings
• Digital assets

Next Steps for LHRs

• Currently testing LHRs at UCLA, UCD, UCI
• Voyager, Aleph, III
• Plan to automate weekly synch with OCLC

Timetable

• Currently in pilot
• Pilot extended until all outstanding requirements are met by OCLC
• Melvyl not going away just yet; planned phase out
• Look for communication about ramping up this Fall

Testing in fall to test response under loads

Information
University of California

• http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/about/oclc.html

Next Generation Melvyl at UC--Patricia Martin Presentation

Patricia Martin, Director of Bibliographic Services at CDL, is speaking about the implementation of Next Generation Melvyl at UC.

She begins with a summary of key findings from the 2005 Bibliographic Services Task Force report:

• Focus on what users want--Users care about delivery as much as discovery
• Reduced click streams key, even at expense of good description

In this light, remember that Next Generation Melvyl is meant for end users. Expert searchers, such as librarians, can still use First Search.

Still need to understand user behavior--do people click on something because it's at the top of the list or because it's what they want?

Need to define collections in new ways; print-digital distinction blurring. Also, unique special collections are more widely available.

Embed services where users are, such as learning environments, Web sites, desktops, and other applications.

Meet user needs and solve user problems. Try something, assess it, and change quickly if needed.

We need more Clickstream analysis and eyeball tracking to better understand user behavior.

The Ubiquitous Librarian is a strong proponent of innovative uses of Twitter in libraries. He recently joined staff at UCSB.

Librarians are a distinct class of users; will always have tensions between needs of end users and those of librarians.

Many reasons to partner with OCLC:

• Amazing record base--140 million records, 60 million in queue
• Similar visions/goals/interests
• Chance to leverage investment across institutions

Status of pilot: Melvyl still outpaces WorldCat Local. However, it hasn't fully been promoted and isn't always highly visible on library web pages.

10% of searches return no results at present. Could suggest alternate spellings in future.

Pilot: 10 campus specific views and 1 UC-wide view. Only one ILS represented per campus, which is sometimes a problem.

Interoperability with UC eLinks and Request is crucial; so far better success with UC eLinks than Request, in pilot.

Future task: Mining authority records for recommender services, a la Amazon.

For large record sets, retrieval speed will need to improve. Changes in the works.

Pilot to be extended until all outstanding requirements are met by OCLC--Request, multiple ILS's at one campus, retrieval speed. No firm time for when pilot concludes; "Melvyl not going away just yet."

Patti Martin, CDL Directory of Bibliographic Services

BTSF task Force recommendation
Goals and Strategies
Why pilot with OCLC


Call to Action: The university of California Bibliographic Services Task Force Report, December 2005
http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/sopag/BSTF/Final.pdf

Overarching recommendations

Focus on what users what

• Worldwide pool of information
• Search simplicity
• Immediate satisfaction/delivery
• Quality results
• Web 2.0 tools

Focusing on What users Want
Users expect to cover a wide information universe
Enriched metadata, i.e. TOCs, cover art
Aside: Ubiquitous Librarian - hired recently at UCSB
A survey of undergraduates revealed they would not look at a review without cover art
Full text availablle

Next Generation Discovery/Delivery Strategies
1. Provide strategies geared toward end usrs
2. Define colelction in new ways
3. Embed collections and services where users are
4. Meet user needs and solve user problems, over and over again

For librarians who want more control over search, use OCLC FirstSearch for expert users; WCL focused on undergraduates
People may start with Google but return to catalogs

API: Google Book Search, Quickstart, SCOPUS

40 or more present return more than 500 results
Use author or keyword searching

1. Provide Strategies geared Toward End Users
navigae and managemlarge retreival sets
Intutitive interface, nort simple searching
Wring meaximum value from metadata
Recognize different use cases: broad overivew, in-depth scholary


2. Define Collection in New Ways
* Collections - selected materials that can be accessed in a reasonable period in time
* Distinction beteeen print and digital collections is blurring
* Significance of local ownership is changing
* Unique special collections more boradly available

MELVYL includes more that ten UC campus, with other affiliated libraries?
Does it make sense to have non-UC affiliated libraries in NG Melvyl?

BSTF committee and HOPS to bring to UL meeting about affiliated and non-UC libraries in NGM

Materials available in other libraries; changes in local collections

Special Collections on campus are becoming more widely known

3. Embed Services Where Users Are

• Service and collection packages that live in learning environments, Web sites, desktops, other applications
• Focus on adding value in the target environment
• let users re-package and re-use

4. Meet user needs, solve user problems

• Our close and easy access to faculty and students is enormous untapped asset
• find creative ways to really study user needs
  

Creative ways: Eyeball tracking, weblog analysis, clickstream analysis, sociology of user activiites

Ubiquitous Librarian recommending WCL following Twitter feeds of authors: what they are thinking, what they are doing.

• Look for points of pain, problems, unmet needs
• Know when to teach and when to listen, when to lead and when to follow
• Do it, try it, assess it, change it quickly if needed.
  

Understanding Users and Uses

Just at beginning of working in cloud computing and sharing. On the front step of the frontier.

• Consider how to aggregate for service in the virtual world
• by campus organization
• by academic status 9undergrad, faculty, grad)
• by discipline
• by use (quick answer, broad overview, in depth research)
• by individual
  
• Consider library staff as another class
  

Why OCLC?

• Provide access to global resources as well as campus and ssytemwide resoruces
• Size of database (over 140 Million records, growing at rate of over 10 Million per year - grew over 40 M in 2009)
• Integration of mass digitization output
• Integration of digital assets
• integration of journal article metadata and full text
• similar vision/goals/interests
• opportunity to partner/contribute to research agenda
• leverage investment with peer institutions

Interest in not having a customer-vendor relationship but a partner relationship
Invited to contribute ideas and listened to from both sides.

Questions from the audience

Louise Ratliff: Who are the users?
Calhoun: Users included in the report.
Undergraduates, faculty, expert users, community groups in report.
Librarians: in different roles and locations
Undergraduates more open to user contributed reviews. Faculty preferred authoritative authors to write reviews.

Sally Weimer: What software for the Integrated Library System be loaded?
Calhoun: Software would reside on the network and would not require maintenance on the local sites.

Calhoun - In Conclusion

1. Take collections to a wider audience: be where their eyes are; expose your metadata!
2. Open up metadata silos; support metatdata exchange, reuse, and management
3. Develop user-centered definitions of metadata 'quality'; engage with users as metadata contributors
4. Move metadata management to the cloud.

5. Moving "Into the Cloud"

Moving on to the Grid

YouTube video: What is cloud computing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?y-6PNuQHUiV3q
Web 2.0 Expo with Tim O'Reilly (10 minutes)

How Might OCLC help?

Harness cooperative by enabling libraries to share hardware, services, and data 'in the cloud'
WorldCat Local as a network-level end-user interface

OCLC Cooperative Web-scale Library management Services
OCLC Quick Start services

Web-scale

• Circulation and Delivery
• Print and Electronic Acquisitions
• License management
• Self-configuration (configure workflows for the site)

http://www.oclc.org/productworks/webscale.htm

Interview with Andrew Pace (OCLC) in Library Journal
OCLC’s Andrew Pace Talks with Talis about Web-Scale ILS
Andrew Pace Talks with Talis [00:50:08m]

"To find out about OCLC’s move in to providing hosted, Web-scale, Software as a Service functionality for managing libraries, who better to ask than the person responsible for the programme."

Moving Tech Services to the Cloud: What Would We Need to do Differently?

Incrementally move technical services to the network

Think of selection-ordering

Opening metadata Silos

Metadata Communities for:

Text

• print
• licensed

Digital

• Archival

Data
images
Sound Video
Multimedia
Objects
more

New Models for Creating and Sharing metadata

Crosswalks between data formats

• mapping between technologies
• Shared authority works

Metadata Reuse and Exchange: OCLC Next generation Cataloging

Ingests publisher and vendor metadata in ONIX
Crosswalk to MARC
Enhance publisher metadata
Output MARC records
Output enhanced ONIX format

http://www.oclc.org/partnerships/material/nexgen/nextgencataloging.htm

FY09 objective; Launch Next Generation Cataloging
Working to have process in place by end of OCLC fiscal year 2009

OCLC FRBR Work-Set Algorithm

Provides a FRBR-based view of the data

Definition: FRBR - Functional Requirement for Bibliographic Records

Summary snapshot of work sets used by OCLC Research

• FRBR work set count
• Cover art
• Summary/abstract
• Table of Contents
• Total work sets
• Single record sets
• Multi-records sets

4.87 records/work set for multi-record sets

Share data elements across a FRBR work set

Work The Novel
Expression The Text
Manifestations Summary Cover Art Subject Terms

Summaries and Table of Contents ranked high is user expectations.
Assembling a bunch of resources from several locations at the time of view.
Relationship - bibliographic, subject headings, holdings
Amazon includes user purchasing histories for further groupings

Multithreaded, mashed-up, Assembled, from Various Sources..

Multithreaded, Mashed-up, Assembled, from Various Sources, Dynamic/Changing, Social

Could move away from single format record

SoundUnWound

Ex. Bob Dylan
Remixes data from IMDb. Amazon's music catalog, MusicBrainz, Mechanical Turk, more. 'Views' by artist, album, genre, more. Links out to excerpts, content, other sites. Entries are editable by the community of users.

Moving in the direct of FRBR/RDA

OCLC's Expert Community Experiment

Experiment in "social cataloging" with OCLC expert community - began Feb.15

Interest and motivation from WorldCat Local pilot sites that what WCL as their "database of record"
- allows member libraries with full-level Cataloging authors to make additions and changes to almost all fields in almost all records

End user Engagement: John MacColl's "Are Archives the New Libraries?" (PDF)
OCLC EMEA Dutch Customer Contact Day (The Hague, Netherlands)

• "I'm John MacColl, and I was in The Dutch National Archives last month with Karen Calhoun, where we were both speaking at the Dutch Customer Contact Day, which OCLC EMEA runs each year for their many Dutch customers. Following Karen's presentation, I gave a presentation whose tongue-in-cheek title was inspired by the organisation hosting the meeting - Are archives the new libraries? It also reflects our growing interest in helping research libraries digitize their unique and rare materials - archives as well as rare books and manuscripts - and to put these materials onto the web as a priority. Are archives the new libraries? was therefore a teasing title, suggesting that much of the business of archives is now coming to the fore for research library managers. Source"

Do not describe everything in painstaking detail

• Start with basic description, then ...
• Allow serious researchers to contact you for more detail, and ...
• ... engage your user community with adding to the descriptions.

Detail: January 16, 2008: LC photographs on Flickr

• Library of Congress photographs on Flickr: The Commons
• Within 24 hours later
• 650k view
• 392 views on photostream
• 492 with user comments

LC found the user comments helpful in identifying details of photographs.

Three "S"s of Sharing

• Synchronization
• Syndication
• Sharing

Synchronization update of UC libraries for loads done or in process; about 2/3 along the way to be finished on on schedule to be finished within timeframe

2. User Driven
"Quality" in the use workflow from discovery to delivery
"How does what end users say they want relate to what catalogers want?"

Report: Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want 9downloaded two thousand times within first few hours of posting)
http://worldcat.org/oclc/311870930

Available as PDF or print version ($10)
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.html

3. Social
Blurring of the lines between metadata or content consumers and creators (e.g. SoundUnwound, Wikipedia, more)

• Expert community
• End user community

Calhoun - What does "Next Gen" Mean to Me?

Aspects of cataloging and metadata environment
1. Coordinated global, collective and local metadata management

Reliable local effort at the regional and global environment
The same data with many different views of the data


Data Sharing, Syndication, Synchronization, linking

Outward integration, exposure, and linking of collections (e.g. Google Books, WorldCat, other aggregators, national library consortia)

(back and forth between services)

"Metadata Switch"

Data needs to be located on many different places on the web. "globally coordinated system"

Calhoun - What is not Next Gen?

Redundancy

Collecting, storing materials in separate locations (libraries)
But the Internet allow for new ways to explore possibilities

Slide from CNI Project Briefing, Slide 35 (2008)
http://www.cni.org.tfms/2008a.spring/abstracts/PB-worldcat-jordan.html

Presentation: next Generation Library Collections Management

Karen Calhoun, OCLC
Vice President, WorldCat and Metadata Services

Presentation document will be posted to LAUC website and blog.

Talk about phrase "Next Generation"
Getting tired of the phrase? Audience: Yes
As a fashionable term, we need to redefine what it means for things "over there"

Robert Young OCLC survey at user meetings at OCLC Western
"What Does 'next Generation Cataloging' Mean?"

Ten mentioned NG cataloging responses

• FRBR/work sets
• RDA
• simpler/easier tools
• Lots of e-resources
• Authorities, thesauri
• Web-like linking, etc.
• User-supplied data
• More automation
• Subject analysts+
• Special collections

A long tail toward the end, "a lot of pieces but not a collected whole"
Calhoun: a 'cloudy idea' of the notion of NG in our cataloging environment

What is not NG? Redundancy in library operations: collections and cataloging services

Next Generation Library Services Panel - Karen and Patti

Karen Calhoun, VP of OCLC
Martha Hruska, Chair of the UC Next Generation Technical Services Steering Tem
Patti Martin, Chair of the UC Next Generation Melvyl Steering Team and member of the NGM Exec Team.

Karen tries to clarify what Next Generation means in this context and infers that it becomes dates. Still wants to consider it as new and exciting. References Robert Young at OCLC Western spring 2009) user meetings (citation hidden by chairs from my view). Looks at the survey results from technical services people. Talks about the things that technical services practitioners wanted such. Karen wants to talk about what it is not, i.e. redundancy in collections and in services. References to Jordan, Bill and Pozenel, Mindy. 2008. Presented as a CNI Project Briefing. Slide 35. Karen talks about how once OCLC records downloaded, they are not re-uploaded once corrected, so there is a duplication of effort that should not occur. Karen puts up a visual inverted triangle that has global at the top, group in th middle, and local at the point. On the left side is: Data sharing, syndication, synchronication, linking. On the Right side: outward integration, exposure, and linking of collections (e.g. Googl books, WorldCate, Other aggregatiors, nationa libriries, consortial) with a back and forth two arrows with Local/group authantication, discovers and delivery services. All of this comes under the heading of Coordinated global, collective, and local metadat managment. The clear implication to me is that OCLC wants to be our ILS. Yet, Karen's next slide has the header "metadata swithch": Click 3 Times and You're Back in Kansas (er, UC Riverside). The idea is that you start anywhere and you end up at your library. I'm not sure how or why you would need to choose this over Google Scholar and SFX (i.e. UC-eLinks). There is also the issue to me of marc records not covered
Synchronization
Syndication
Sharing

Looking at the synchronization issues.

Next covering the user driven part of OCLC.
Reference to www.worldcat.org/oclc/311870930. This one looks at what librarians and users want.

Karen doesn't want to talk about the qualities of this report now. Not sure what she's telling us that is new.

Now talking about how the catalog is social. The "Blurring of the lines between metadat or content consumers and careators (e.g.SoundUnwound; Expert community; End user community

Looking at OCLC Expert Community Experiment
Began Feb 15
Interest and motivation from those that want to use WC as cat of record.
End User Engagement: With Thanks to John MacColl's "Are Archives . . ."
Advising that should not describe everything in detail. Start with basic description
Looks at Library of Congress experiment with images available via Flickr. Notes that the new tags were useful as well as the comments. OCLC was able to find out more about each of these topics.
Multithreaded, mashed-=up, assembled from Various Sources, Dynamic/Changing, Social. That is to say that it opens up the possibility to creat editable entries by a community of users. [There's a lot of reference to what users _might_ do to help. What does that mean for those object that people don't do anything about?]. Karen uses the example of "Bob Dylan" in SoundUnwound. This is seen as a way to implement FRBR.
OCLC FRBR Work-Set Algoritghm.
Provides a FRBR-based view of the data
Recods clustered into works using author and title fields from bibliographic records, etc. [lots of data listed lots here]
Audience as what FRBR means to a public services person. Shows example of Blade Runner in which you have a faceted tag-cloud representation. The next example was "In defense of food : an eater's manifesto". This example uses the related works section.
Karen conceives of this as opening up metadata silos.
The slides for Karen's presentation will be on SlideShare, so I'll try to do my of my thoughts.
The irony of Karen's metaphor of using our own generators v. using an electric grid is not lost on me considering how we want to move in a slighty difference direction with power (e.g. using solar cells and wind power to generate our own power).
If Karen sees the advantage of OCLC as a sharing tool to get cloud computing going, what does that really mean.
This issue concentrates on how an invisible community can do what individuals can't and how a community can do it more cheaply and more efficiently. Yet, she later puts library employees back into the picture in the next slide. So, holding out the promise of "free stuff", the discussion turns to what we do, which costs money. This is confusing because it promises something for everyone and is open to odd interpretation. I'm sure I'm not quite getting this right, so I'll have to clarify my thoughts later. I'm also not sure, of those who were asked about it, how many of those who would view content would add to it or supplement it.

Patti Martin

Starting back to BSTF recommendations (this was gone over in another assembly). This report from 2005 is still being looked at. Reminds us that users wanted worldwide pool of information, simplicity, immediate satisfaction/delivery, quality results, web 2.0 tools. I'm not sure that we done better. Confused how content delivery has been made easier (some UC-eLinks go to text, some don't. Sometimes you have to go to menus, if you know what a menu might contain. Sometimes you have to just keep clicking.). Know, from working at reference, that tools like WorldCat local that look like they are wide and deep and aren't do a lot of harm and only add opaque complexities. Has not touched on issue of records purchased by universities that we cannot share by contract agreement. Talking about why we went with OCLC. Size is the major reason (more than 140 million with 60 million from non-US libraries in the queue). I've noticed that both Holly Tomren and I are trying to Twitter this. Check #LAUC as a search. Showing the chart of Melvyl v. NGM noting that the pilot sees plenty of usage despite lack of promotion (I would dispute that based on UCI's front door, Front door real estate=promotion and other studies have shown increases in such an instance). Patti notes that OCLC and UC have had to try and be very specific and detailed because we, as an organization, have very different cultures and ways of communicating. I don't think that many of the changes being discussed regarding unique branding, etc for WorldCat will be all that great if the past is any indication. Let's find out. Patti is promising local holdings (LHRs) and is testing with Aleph, Innovative, and Voyager at three campuses. Timetable pilot is extended until our needs are met. In this economic climate, I wonder who pays for the NGM pilot when it doesn't meet its goals?
Find more at libraries.universityofcalifornia/......... Suggests subscribing to Ellen Meltzer's list (UC Users Council).

Late breaking news: LTAG announces collaborative software

Lorelei Tanji (I) announced LTAG has selected ReadyTalk as a collaborative communication tool for the UC system.
Updates to be included in the SOPAG minutes posted to the CDL website.

ReadyTalk
http://www.readytalk.com/

Questions for RDP

Irvine: Could the program be changed to allow for rolling awarding of funds?
Diamond: The UCOP process is set to distributed on July 1.

Report for Research and Professional Development Lucia Diamond

Research and Professional Development

• 4 research grants
• 16 mini and presentation grants
  

One research grant not funded due to considerable revision. Plan to resubmit.

One mini grant not awarded because the proposal was not research related. Gave person ideas to change to make research grant.

Recommendation for research grants forwarded to UCOP for approval.

Two major issues:
1. Purchase of software and equipment. Materials purchased from grant is the property of the UC system. Software would have to be supported by campus systems office.

Guidelines are one large document. need a faster way to search and work with guidelines.

More "tweeking" of mini-grant and presentation guidelines.

2. Presentation grant recipients would not have prior notice of the acceptance of proposals, does not fit into 1.5 year process of research grant review cycle.

Conversations at UCOP for funding presentation before the July fiscal years. Lucia has submitted a research proposal to encumber the remaining research funds in the current year for distribution next year.

Figures in final report.
Represented librarians: $10,000
Non-represented librarians: $8100 - recommended $700 and $900

Dunlap: Mini-grants and presentation grants this year helped with money spending this year.

SOPAG Committee - Mary-Lin Berstrom

Update from Systemwide Operations and Planning Advisory Group (SOPAG)

New UL at Santa Barbara, Brenda Johnson
Laine Farley position at CDL approved as executive director of the California Digital Library (CDL)

SOPAG representatives

Current Members

Campus	Member's Name
UCB	Bernie Hurley
UCD	Gail Yokote
UCI	Lorelei Tanji, Chair
UCLA	Susan Parker
UCM	Bruce Miller
UCR	Diane Bisom
UCSD	Luc Declerck
UCSF	Julia Kochi
UCSB	Lucia Snowhill
UCSC	Kate McGirr
LAUC	Mary Linn Bergstrom, UCSD
CDL	Felicia Poe

HOPS - working on "Next Big Idea" for Public Services
Electronic Chat has become very popular

Review of statistics collected and reported to ARL, ACRL, UCOP
Looking at statistics collected and how they are used for?

Next Generation Melvyl pilot continues

UC digital collections review, infrastructure and requirement
Task Force on Digital Collections

Initiative looking at project management across the UC system
Following on VDX implementation process and to develop skills for project management expertise moving forward.

LTAG focusing on collaborative work tools and those to recommend across the UC system, with pressure on travel funds and systemwide workgroups

LTAG experimenting with workgroup wikis

Review of contracts, such as Elsevier
Springer E-Book contract with Open Access clause
CDC briefing document for UC collections going forward.
The space crunch in RLFs - what to do with physical collections, perhaps linking with other groups across the country

Electronic project on ETD pilot taking place.

Committee Reports

Committee Reports will be posted to the LAUC website

• Nominations
• Research and Professional Development
• Diversity
• Professional Governance

Questions for Janet Lockwood

Miki Goral (UCLA): Question about review of Affiliate Organization memo mentioned in LAUC President Dunlop about memo from VP Dan Greenstein.
Dunlop will share documentation with Lise Snyder (UCLA) and Janet Lockwood.
Goral: LAUC recognized in APM as a recognized affiliation similar to Faculty senate.

Karen Calhoun Presentation--Summary

Karen Calhoun, Vice President of OCLC, is speaking about the possibilities opened by the Next Generation Melvyl project. Below are some stream-of-consciousness reflections.

Definition of "next generation": Moving away from purely local Integrated Library Systems, toward more local and coordinated action across a larger system. Essential components for such a system:

• Data Sharing
• Syndication
• Synchronization
  
• Linking

"Metadata switch": Ability, within very few clicks, to start anywhere and end up at your local library's holdings. Example: Search in Google Books that ends up in UCR catalog.

Catalogs should be user-driven. Report to read: Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want. Presentation version, from Charleston Conference 2008.

Blurred lines in metadata creation between experts and end users--another trend in cataloging.

OCLC currently conducting an "expert community experiment" that allows expert catalogers to make more changes to records than they could previously.

For detailed information, consider allowing users to add content to the record. From John MacColl, "Are Archives the New Libraries?"

Library of Congress had great success with adding images to Flickr. Similar plans in works for the University of California Digital Special Collections.

Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) a current project that seeks to understand how to make data more shareable across systems (see requirements above.) One aspect of FRBR: Generating tag clouds from LC subject headings that already exist.

Amazon can suggest related works based on people's purchases, an option not available within WorldCat. Can use clustered subject headings to suggest related works.

Law enforcement has strong interest in authority control, to ensure they are dealing with the right people.

Goal for FY09: Launch Next Gen Melvyl cataloging. Hoped for announcement at ALA.

"Cloud computing" similar to serving up electricity from the grid. Eventually don't even think about it. YouTube video (10 minutes): "What is cloud computing?"

OCLC wants to build cloud services on top of WorldCat to support library resource management.
More info: OCLC Web Scale management services.

Imperatives, in closing:

• Expose your metadata!
• Open up metadata silos
• Develop evidence-based, user-centered definitions of metadata quality; engage with users as metadata contributors
  
• Mobe metadata management to the cloud
  

Janet Lockwood, UCOP

Janet Lockwood, UCOP
It's very good to be with you to give an update on Office of the President activities.

Brief Announcements
Regents met last week and approved UCOP budget 2009-10
A brief idea of the restructuring at UCOP
In protracted reorganization but feel that majority has been completed - redesign phase complete
Reorganization of academic affairs
Units under Provost Pitts
53 positions posted at UCOP and right now going through posting of new positions
Hope to complete phase by July

The scope of change at UCOP
From VP Dan Greenstein - staff reduced from FTE 1800 to about 1100-1200 FTE
"Major, major changes at OP" - phasing into implementation
"Cultural and climate change" implementing services changes

Glad that UCOP was useful in the bylaws process and hope to be called upon for bylaws revisions

2008-09 salary and professional development issues still in mediation
Mention of proposed draft amendment for Standing Order 100.4x "Policy Governing Employee Furloughs And Compensation Reductions During Fiscal Emergencies And Amendment Of Standing Order 100.4x "
President intends to process have broad consultation and review

No discussion of implementing any program around salary reduction and furloughs
Process around emergency actions around specific actions
President has correct policies in place before any actions are taken

Budget Office anticipating May 19 election and disposition of effect on UC budget
If Prop 1A and 1B were to fail, the UC would be faced with $250-350 million on top of current $150 Million already in place.

Concern of Library Budget - President's Report summary

From the President Reports:
Complete notes to follow.

Survey of library budget will be drafted and distributed to campus LAUC executive boards for consideration and contribution.

Fall Assembly, December 3 at UC Berkeley

Travel Grant Award winners

Travel Grant Award winners for Spring Assembly 2009

• Angela Boyd, Santa Barbara
• Jeffra Bussmann, Irvine
• Tony Lin, Irvine
• Teal Smith, Merced
• Yen Tran, Santa Barbara
• Nina Meechoonuk, San Francisco

Welcoming remarks from Diane Bisom, UCR AUL for Technical Services

Welcome from Diane Bisom, Assoc University Librarian-Information Technology & Systems
Welcome from UC Riverside.

UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center

"The UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center expands the reach of University of California, Riverside into one of the fastest growing regions of California. Established as a teaching and research center, the UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center is a catalyst for diversification of the inland desert region by providing relevant regional research, offering innovative graduate programs that attract and retain world class talent to the region, convening and creating partnerships that advance the public good, and impacting the cultural life of the community."

Source: http://www.palmdesert.ucr.edu/

UC Riverside Palm Desert known for graduate programs in business.
Known for its Virtual library collections and Shirley Bigna mentions "non-virtual" librarians.

Announcements
University of California Berkeley LAUC-B Fall Conference
Oct.23rd Program "Getting What you Want When You Want It."

UCB Library School reunion
Sunday Night during ALA

From Order to Reports - dp

Clank! It begins.
We are reminded once again that we are recording for posterity.
The virtual dial-in for Diane begins.
Diane speaks - Technology AUL for UCR.
Notes its virtual collections and non-virtual librarians.
Overview of today's program - mostly on Next Generation Melvyl
LAUC-B Conference announcement on Friday Oct. 23?
Rollcall
President's report highlights
Two appointments
UCALIST, Feb. 3 meeting on scholarly communication. Update on Google stuff and open access

Transition to zero-based budgeting beginning Nov. 3, 2009. Need projections to 2011.

LAUC-LA concerned about standard order 10o.4, which does emergency salary reductions, sent a letter to UCOP.

Janet Lockwood, Associate Director, Academic Personel, Academic Advancement, UCOP comes in via Skpe with projection on wide screen.

Regents met last week and approved 2009/10 budget. Restructuring process in progress. Finished with re-org of Academic Affairs- this means that Provost Pitts is going over provisions made last year and 53 positions have been posted and hope to have positions filled by July. FTE has gone from 1800 to 1100-1200 at Office of the President. In process of implementation and climate change in which making themselves a more "service-oriented" group. The brief update on collective bargaining, which includes 08/09 salary and professional development monies. Re: 100.4, knows that President hopes for broad consultation. Says that no program in place for furlough, etc. for immediate future. However. wants policy and procedure in place. Budget Office is looking to May 19 election, which will have a large effect on UC budget. If 1A and 1B, then we will have 250 to 300 million on top of 200+ million already absorbed.
Questions for Janet
What is an affiliate organization in terms of how LAUC is defined?
Janet hasn't heard of it.
Sam will give her the documentation
Micki points that APM indicates that LAUC similar to Senate, so wants to know if that would be considered an affiliate.
Sam will share documentation.
Reports
Highlights from SOPAG (Systemwide Operations and Planning Advisory Group)
Changes in personnel - New UCSB UL and new CDL person
Reps called out. Mentions that all of the minutes, etc. have been available online.
Discuss 24/7 QP. NGM monitoring. Consortial technical services.
[trying to work digital camera, but had problems with it]

Lucia on Research Grants and Mini-Grants - 4 apps and 16 apps
There were 4 applications for research, one could not submitt. The 16 had 15 that worked. They forwarded them to OP. Noted that software purchased had to be supported and that it was then owned and could be used by anyone in UC. It was thought that the guidelines for these purchases and more should be changed. The other big issue had to do with presentation timelines - funding is allocated before acceptance to a conference is known. Awardees will be notified at the end of the month. Money remaining from the budget will be in the final report because there the money comes from two sources - contract for represented librarians and money OP gives for non-represented librarians.
Questions: Mitchell Brown asked about the possibility of having mid-year awards. Lucia still notes that there is still a timing issue. The money is swept out by June 30. Money is encumbered to your university and, if not used, will revert back to OP. No way at present for money to be given out throughout the year.
Lorelei mentions that LTAG will be supporting Ready-Talk for conference software.

People with computers

The assembly has begun. There are thirteen+ computers at today's event.

The mini 9" computers are the coolest today


but Lisa Spagnola (Davis) has a green Dell - the most stylish.

Dana starts up

As if. The drive was simple. The power, not so much. If it weren't for Mitch's Boyscout tendencies, we'd be out two bloggers. No outlets=typical 20th century meeting space. The campus is small, tidy and pretty. We have yet to begin, but I've managed to exceed my cookie quota already. Looking around I wonder if everyone is blogging about this event. The event begins and Twitter crashes. Hm.

Spring Assembly getting ready to start

Assembly delegates from all campuses have arrived at the Palm Desert campus. It's 89 deg F and clear. [The temperature hit 99 deg F by midday. mcb]

The LAUC Riverside members have done a superb job of welcoming the delegates, with coffee, cookies, and drinks for the beginning session that will start at noon.

Thanks to: Shirley Bigna, Stella Barker, Marie Bronel, Kuei Chiu, Christina Cicchetti, Ken Furuta, Patricia Hargis, Margaret Hogarth, Heidi Hutchinson, Lizabeth langson, Ying Shen, Particia Smith-Hunt, Manuel Urrizola, Geetha Yapa, and Michael Yonezawa.