Krafty Librarian

Last week the Library of Congress Blog announced  that it acquired the entire Twitter Archive.  Anybody who has ever sent a tweet publicly, their tweet along with the billions of other tweets will be housed in the Library of Congress.  Major events such as the controversial Iran elections, Barak Obama, and the Hudson River plane will be collected along with the tweet I recently sent about renewing my AHIP.  (Hey Mom, something I wrote is in the Library of Congress ;).) The noteworthy and not-so-worthy all together on about 5 terabytes of digital storage. 

So why on God’s green earth would the Library of Congress be interested in something like Twitter?  Well that is part of their mission.  They collect everything and digital is just one area of collection.  According to “Q&A: Twitter Goes to the Library of Congress” on the Wall Street Journal blogs, Matt Raymond, communications director at the LoC said a congressional mandate requires them to identify and aquire materials that are “born digital.”  These items would be web pages, blogs, government records, data sets, etc. 

When you apply that mandate, Twitter would be one of those things that was born digital. It also doesn’t hurt that the folks at Twitter actually contacted the LoC about their data and whether it would be of value. 

To me there is little doubt that there are definite nuggets of sociological gold, but researchers will be have to do a lot to separate the wheat from the chaff because there is also a lot of unimportant chatter out there, like my AHIP tweet or the tweets about somebody’s breakfast.  I wonder how people will access this stuff and how they will do it in a way that makes sense.  To view President Barak Obama’s tweet after he won the Presidency is relatively easy to do, you just look at his account.  Following the thread of chatter about an event such as Hudson River plane might be a little more difficult but doable if there are certain common words or they used a hashtag.  Just think, we will be able to look through the archive of tweets happening at the MLA meetings.  However, there are a lot of other tweets that are still floating around in those 5 terabytes of data, and I have no idea how somebody can find logic within that mess. 

It will be interesting to see how it all works out.  I don’t think we will know for quite a few years what value the archived tweets hold, if any.  I am glad the LoC is collecting electronic information.  It makes me wonder what NLM is doing.  I am not criticizing NLM, I just would like to know what kind of electronic information are they collecting.

Tomorrow, April 21st is the deadline to register at the Early Bird rate for MLA in Washington DC. 
The deadline to be an Official Blogger is TODAY April 20th, and Official Videographer is due  April 30th.

If you are going to MLA this year, it is about time to sit down with your planner (online or paper) and figure out your schedule.  MLA’s Online Program Planner will have the details on most of the scheduled activities. 

If you want to get in a little sight seeing or other non-librarian type activities, check out Kathel Dunn’s post  on behalf of the LAC Hospitality Committee for things to do in D.C. that require some advanced planning.  Sarah Cantrell has a great post about bicycle sight seeing  in D.C. on a tour or on your own.

As many veteran attendees know, a lot of MLA activities are unscheduled and are equally interesting and fun.  There are librarian rock concerts (Bearded Pigs Sunday May 23rd. Hilton 8:00-11:00pm) vendor parties, and possibly some tweet ups. 

Information on the unofficial news and unscheduled events can be a little hard to come by.  Like Kathel who didn’t find about the food court behind the hotel in Dallas until the last day of the conference, there are plenty of times where I was unaware of things or events.  In order to try and keep on top of those ephemeral unscheduled things you will want to think about doing some of the following:

• Watch your snail mail and email!  Most of the vendors your library subscribes to will be sending out information about lunches, dinners, parties, prizes at their booths, etc.  Don’t delete it or toss it without looking at it. 
  *These are great way to meet other librarians using the products and to discuss issues, new products, etc. with the vendors.  I have yet to win anything at the booths but I have had many great discussions in the
• Book mark the MLA ’10 Official Blog on your mobile device. If you don’t have a smart phone check out the blog at the Internet cafe.
  *Based on past experience, many of the posts are done during down times and in the evening, so it might not be ideal for up to the minute info.
• Follow the MLA ’10 Official Twitter feed.  If you are already on Twitter and want to contribute to the group feed don’t forget to turn the feeds on your account from Private to public (you can switch it back to private after the meeting) and use the #mla2010 hashtag.
  *Twitter is definitely up to the minute, but if you aren’t used it it, you might find there is a small learning curve to sift through the chatter.  Best way to monitor it is either on your laptop or mobile phone.  Not as effective if you check it sporadically at the Internet cafe.
• Join MLA’s CrowdVine to connect and chat online with others at meeting. Currently some Lost loving librarians are seeing if there is any interest in watching the series finale as a group.
  *Totally new this year, so I don’t know how exactly it will play into distributing news and information to people.

MLA has a nice Conference Community pagelisting other online ways to connect to the conference and try and stay on top of everything that is going on.  And of course there is always the low tech but very enjoyable and effective method of networking and talking to people face to face.  I can’t tell you how much I enjoy meeting all the different people at these meetings.  It is so nice to connect a name (which I may only see on MEDLIB-L or other online place) with the face and the person.  It’s great to hear them talk about  issues we are facing, success stories, and humorous anecdotes.

If any body has any other unofficial events or information they would like to share or suggestions for finding out about what is going on, please comment.

You bought a new iPad, but you are still carrying around that dinky little 4.5 x 2.5 inch outdated piece of technology called an iPhone because you still need a phone.

Never fear Mark Frauenfelder at BoingBoing  found out that the folks from Native Union created the retro looking Moshi Mosi 01H handset that can turn your iPad into a phone while using VOIP. According Native Union, “the Retro Handset combines classic style with a contemporary edge and is finished with a luxurious soft touch texture.”

Makes a great gift for those you are into steampunk or who subscribe to the whole one ring mantra.

“One Device to rule them all,
One Device to find them,
One Device to bring them all
And in the technology bind them.”

I think I will stick with my iPhone and spend my time trying to score a pair of Dots gloves.

The CDC has created a free “Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals Online Training” program to help educate public health professionals about issues with health literacy (patients and the public lack of health literacy) and their role in addressing it. 

The CDC is offering a free online course which can be accessed any time any where you have a computer with Internet access and 1-2 hours of spare time. After taking the course health professionals will have a better understanding of the significance of health literacy and will learn practical steps to deal with health literacy daily. 

This course qualifies for continuing education credit for nurses, physicians, pharmacists, health information specialistis, etc.  

Go to the training program at:
http://www2a.cdc.gov/TCEOnline/registration/detailpage.asp?res_id=2074.

Program must be completed before 9/14/2011 to receive credit.

Last week I was in Washington DC for the Allen Press 2010 Emerging Trends in Scholarly Publishing Seminar and I thought I would scout out the conference hotel for next month. 

Originally I mixed up my Washington DC Hiltons and erroneously thought the Hilton I was staying at last week was the conference hotel.  (Both Hiltons are in middle of construction/restoration of guest rooms which is what helped cause my confusion.) After discussing locations and logistics with other librarians on Twitter I quickly realized my mistake.  I grabbed the tennies and decided to walk to the conference hotel and check out a few things.  Here are some of the things I learned.

The conference hotel is the Hilton Washington at 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW.  It is a 25-30 minute walk to the White House.  Lots to see, eat, and buy on that walk, should you decide go.

Dupont Circle has a lot of cool restaurants, bars, shops, and is a very vibrant busy area.  The closest Metro station to the hotel is Dupont  Circle.  It is about a 10 minute walk of approximately four blocks. The walk from the station to the hotel is up hill.  It is not like climbing Mt. Everest but it may (or may not) be a factor with your luggage from the airport, or if you are commuting in from another hotel each day.

A Rite Aid pharmacy is across the street from the hotel (it is on Connecticut) should you forget something at home or want to buy a cheap bottle of water or snack.  (I always seem to forget saline solution, tooth brushes, or my make up foundation gets confiscated at the airport, so it is nice to have a pharmacy nearby.)

I encourage everybody to stay at the conference hotel, but if that is not possible for some reason, there is a Courtyard Marriott directly across the street from the Hilton. 

You have your choice of three airports to fly into; Reagan National (DCA), Dulles (IAD) and Baltimore/Washington (BWI).  Both Reagan and Dulles are in Washington DC, they are often more expensive to fly into and they can be very hectic on Fridays or break times when members of Congress are trying to get home.  BWI is often cheaper to fly into but you need to plan for plenty of travel time to/from the airport and the hotel.  According to Bing Maps the drive is technically 48 minutes, but clearly you would have to be in a flying car (ala the Jetsons) to make that kind of time.  The traffic between BWI and DC is very heavy.  It can sometimes take 2 hours to get from one to the other. 

DC has very good public transportation.  You can use it to get from any of the airports to the conference hotel. I suggest using the Metro Trip Planner if you are going to use the Metro. If you are flying into BWI or Dulles you will have to take the Metrobus for about a 1/2 hour ride to a Metro station and catch the subway train(s) to Dupont Circle.  You don’t need to take the Metrobus for Reagan National.

Other ground transportation you can take to get you from the airport to the hotel are taxis and SuperShuttle.  Taxis from BWI and Dulles are expensive.  BWI is about $100 one way. Dulles is about about $60 one way.  Reagan is cheaper and at best guess it is around $20 one way. (All the fares are from the taxi companies’ sample rates.)  If you don’t want to use the Metro and you don’t mind riding in a shared van, SuperShuttle is cheaper than a taxi.  From BWI it is about $37 each way.  From Dulles it is about $29 each way and from Regan it is $14 each way.  The nice thing about SuperShuttle is that you can book your round trip ahead of time online and you can always find a coupon code online to knock a few bucks off the fare.   

Final note: Washington DC is a walking city.  Think of comfy shoes if you are planning on doing any walking anywhere.

Tired of using your laptop as a wifi divining rod?  Too busy to apply to be a Type 1 Official Wireless Blogger?  You might be interested to know that MLA staff have negotiated a 10% discount on wireless aircard rental from Event Radio Rentals for MLA members attending MLA 2010.  Sarah McCord posted information about the aircard and discount at the MLA’10 Official Blog.

So how much does an aircard cost after discount?  According to Sarah it is approximately $12/day plus shipping.  They offer 24/7 toll free technical services if you have any problems. 

Check out Sarah’s blog post and Event Radio Rentals, if you are interested in wifi.  If you decide to use them make sure to add “Medical Library Association Member” to the Company Field in the Personal Information Section so they can keep an eye out for us.

It is getting closer and closer to the annual meeting but there is still time to apply to an Official MLA Blogger.  There are several types of blogger positions available and all are good for AHIP points. 

Are you a connected type of person, can’t live without being online and checking email, tweeting, and updating your Facebook status?  You might be interested in the Type 1 Official Wireless Blogger position.  Wireless Bloggers receive a free wifi card so that they may be able to post up to 2 posts about the conference each day.

Are you already going to be taking notes for the folks back at home manning the library fort but you are too busy to commit to writing 2 posts per day?  You might be interested in the Type 2 Official Blogger position.  While the Type 2 bloggers are responsible for finding their own Internet access, they only have to make one post per day about the conference.  So if you already have something written up (like your conference notes for back home) you might be able to quickly and easily upload them from your lap top in the Internet Cafe. 

Would you love to go to MLA this year but it just isn’t in the cards?  But in order to keep up you decided to virtually attend via e-Conference?  You might be interested in becoming a Type 3 Official e-Conference  Blogger.  These e-Conference Bloggers will post their entries to the MLA 2010 blog from wherever they are viewing the conference. e-Conference bloggers will need access to their own internet solution and are asked to author at least one post per day.

Lots of options for people to help contribute to the profession and earn 3 AHIP points. Don’t delay, apply now! Deadline is April 20th.

This morning, before my morning caffeine infusion, I was asked to do a search for a doctor.  I hopped on to my trusty Ovid MEDLINE database and conducted the search.  It was a pretty straight forward search so I was kind of focused on getting in and out so I could get my morning Coke and wake up to the world. 

It wasn’t until I was done with search did I notice a blue stripe banner up at the top of my screen advertising to try the new OvidSP.  It was actually the gold button “Try It Now” that caught my morning (still caffeine free) brain.  I have yet to really kick the tires and play with the new OvidSP but according to the Ovid Resource Center the following are now live within the new OvidSP:

• New search filters
• “Widget” approach to results management
• More citation management options
• “My Workspace” allows you to create work projects, organize research materials like articles, search strategies, and images into a dedicated area. (My thoughts, this appears to be similar to My NCBI in nature) 
• Downloadable Ovid Toolbar which lets yo save research to My Workspace while working outside of OvidSP
• Main search page design changes for more effective searching, browsing and navigating. 

 

Once I get my jolt of caffeine I am going to have to take this baby for a test drive see how it handles the slow driving of an easy search and also whether it can hug the curves of a twisty turny ugly search.  Of course I am going to load it up to see its cargo capacity for those long extended drives one sometimes has to take for a meta analysis and while I am at it I am going to see how efficient it is when dealing with stop and go traffic of picking through citation results to build a complicated search or find a specific article.   (Can you tell that lately I have been shopping for the next Krafty mobile?) Once I have taken it for a spin I will compile my thoughts for you all to read, I will also link to or include any thoughts from others testing the system.

No this is not a belated April Fools joke, if you are a Midwest Chapter member and are you going to MLA then you can apply to win a free lunch  at the Chapter Sharing Roundtables lunch on Tuesday, May 25th at MLA. 

Not only do you get a free lunch, but you also can listen and discuss issues with other librarians. This year’s roundtable topics include; Career and Leadership Development, Clinic Decision Making Tools (UpToDate, MDConsult, etc.), Economic Survival in Libraries, Electronic Medical Records-Role of the Library, and many more. 

The Roundtables lunches are a great way to meet other librarians and pick their brains.  All you have to do to apply is fill out the application form and write a brief essay on “Why I Deserve a Free Lunch.”  According to the Connect Midwest Blog, “essays are evaluated on the basis of ‘conciseness, creativity, humor, pathos, and/or neediness.” 

Deadline is Monday April 5th. Get typing!

 These days more and more librarians are being asked to justify the libraries existance or budget and why administration should continue to support the library.  Joan and George from Infopeople discuss (podcast) mission statements, specifically how libraries describe their business and how they communicate their value in an effective manner. 

Often times our mission statements don’t describe what our users are going to get out of the library or how our customers benefit from our services.  So often our mission statements talk about collaboration, leadership, etc. but it doesn’t always translate to what we do for our users very well.  We need to connect what we do and how it benefits the users to better justify our case to our users and our leadership.

George’s and Joan speak about several great and not so great mission statements in libraries and other industries.  George’s example of a UK Academic Library’s 5 word mantra to describe the library to users, “Save time. Get better grades” is great. 

George and Joan primarily discuss public and academic libraries but a lot of their ideas can be applied to medical libraries.  It is an interesting dicussion that can cause you to think about your mission statment and how it might be reworked so that you can easily explain what your libary does for users.