Several University Librarians Attend the 2007 American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

In June 2007, the American Library Association held its Annual Conference in Washington D.C. for a record attendance of 28,635 according to the ALA Conference website. Several librarians from the University Libraries attended and took advantage of the opportunity to hear and discuss ideas, give presentations, see exhibits and displays, and speak with colleagues.

Following the conference, the University Libraries’ attendees met to discuss the ideas, products, exhibits, and demonstrations for possible implementation at the Ball State University Libraries. While discussing the Conference experience, attendees observed that many of the current programs and services offered by the University Libraries are in line with activity at other academic libraries. In some cases, we are offering activities that other libraries had singled out as creative and inventive to talk about at the Conference.

Some of the Conference take-a-ways the group discussed include the following:

• CONTENTdm 4.3 upgrade major enhancements, a release that is scheduled for Fall 2007
• Current status of e-books and audio books in library collections
• Discussion about the future of the MARC record and MARC field usage patterns
• Information on long-term digital asset and metadata preservation research
• Mobile Reference, using text messaging to connect with library users
• New service opportunities for Find It @ BSU (SFX Link Resolver)
• Opportunities for social networking, social bookmarking, and other 2.0 based services
• PBS Point of View (P.O.V.) 20, offering independent TV documentaries for local PBS stations
• PennTags, which are a form of social bookmarking with applications for academic library users
• Use of wiki technology to manage internal projects and workflow
• Using video objects to address information literacy
• Using WorldCat Local in the academic library

For more information on these and other ideas generated by the ALA conference this year, contact Bradley D. Faust, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu, (765) 285-8032.