More QR Codes ...

More discussion regarding QR codes and libraries! This link to Guided by Barcodes, an American Libraries Magazine article by Meridith Farkas, provides a nice overview of QR codes and a few more workable ideas on how they may be incorporated into library instruction, accompanying handouts, and web pages.

Even more fun, the power of Facebook ... I was led to the ALA article from OhioLINK's Facebook page re-posted by a "Facebook Friends" (thanks, Susan).

PCIRC Conference: OhioLINK

OhioLINK 2010 PCIRC Conference
Navigating the Future

June 11, 2010

Conference Location:
Crowne Plaza Columbus North
6500 Doubletree Avenue
Columbus, OH 43229-1145

“The Genesis and the Journey; or, How the Heck did we get here?”

Phyllis O'Connor, Associate Dean of University Libraries
The University of Akron

O’Connor, who has been on OhioLINK inter-campus lending and delivery services committees since 1987, will talk about how patron-initiated circulation started and discuss some of the major milestones that have marked our progress throughout the years.

“Construction Zone Ahead: Paving the Way for a New PCIRC”
Anita Cook, OhioLINK

A brief introduction to the new development underway to establish a new way of doing resource sharing in the State, not only within OhioLINK, but also with thepublic libraries and K-12 schools. It is the dawning of a new age of PCIRC.

Afternoon Breakout Sessions include these programs:

• Dials on the Dashboard
  Lorna Newman, Head, Interlibrary Loan Services and Government Documents
  University of Cincinnati
  
• Copyright: The Long and Winding Road
  Cynthia Kristoff, Head, Access Service
  Kent State University
  
• Young Drivers and Your Liability
  Katy Mathuews, Circulation Librarian, Shawnee State University; Mary Ayers, Learning Resource Manager, South Campus, Southern State Community College; and Mike Wells, Manager of the Center for Information Management, King Library at Miami University.
  
• The Road Less Traveled: Navigating the OhioLINK OSTAFF Website
  Jim Buchman, Head of Patron & Catalog Services, State Library of Ohio
  
• Planning the Trip Calendar
  Lila Andersen, Circulation Manager, Ohio State University, Thompson Library; Ashley Quinn, Coordinator of Access Services, University of Dayton, Roesch Library; and Rebecca Raeske-Grinch, Resource Sharing Supervisor, Otterbein College, Courtright Memorial Library
  
• On the Road: A Mad Dash Through PCIRCLand
  Bo Butler, Materials Management Unit Supervisor, Bowling Green State University

Additional information is available on the OhioLINK OStaff Page. The PCIRC Conference preliminary program and registration form is available online.

OhioLINK on Facebook

I am not the first person to the party here, 144 other people precede me, but today I became a fan of OhioLINK on Facebook.

OhioLINK news mentions they are using a Twitter feed for updates as well.

Check it out!

Attention OhioLINK Libraries!!!

Here is info from Candi Clevenger, Chair of the OhioLINK Marketing Taskforce:

The Idea Gallery Contest is back!
It’s simple to enter, just send me your promotion and publicity materials by June 6, 2008 and you could win up to $250 worth of promotional items! The more items you submit, the more times your library will be entered to win.

Complete details follow below and at http://www.ohiolink.edu/ostaff/marketing/gallery/igcontest

What items are eligible for submission? Just about anything you've created to promote your library, which has not been submitted previously. This includes brochures, bookmarks, posters, blogs, Web sites, pictures of promotional items, videos, marketing/communication plans and market research instruments (including surveys, usability tests, etc.). Market research submissions should include any questions asked/instructions given, a brief description of how you did the research and the results (the raw data or a summary will do).

Visit the Idea Gallery to see what's included for more ideas. Don't be dismayed if your item does not fit in an existing category; new examples are especially welcome.

How to enter: E-mail entries to Candi Clevenger by June 6, 2008. Most file formats are acceptable for this contest including PDF, Microsoft Office/Publisher, Adobe and graphic files (JPEG, GIF, TIFF, EPS). If you already have the item posted on your Web site, please just send the URL. Each item that is submitted will be entered in the prize drawing, however items are subject to review by the OhioLINK Marketing Task Force before being added to the Idea Gallery. Please include any helpful information about each submission, such as who created it, how it is used, and the name, title, and e-mail address of who to contact for more information.

Candi is also looking for some print promotion pieces to make over and use to illustrate design principles, so if you have a project you'd like to be considered please note that in your entry e-mail.

Drawing details: The prize drawing will be held on June 9. You'll earn one drawing entry for each item you submit to the Gallery. First prize is $250 to spend in the OhioLINK store, second prize is $150 and third prize is $100. You can even use your store credit to purchase items customized with your library's URL as part of this summer's upcoming group promotional order (order information will be distributed in June; orders will be due in early July).

Please contact me if you have any questions about the contest.

Happy Anniversary, OhioLINK!

I received the latest copy of OhioLINK's Snapshot, their annual report. In it, there are many interesting items about what OhioLINK has accomplished in the last 15 years. It has provided and continues to provide:

• an affordable approach to expanded information access
• quality teaching and learning research resources
• assisting students and faculty in finding and accessing scholarly information 24/7
• enabling world-class research with rich information resources
• helping scholarly communities share and discover research materials
• increasing information access with anytime, anywhere delivery
• anytime, anywhere access
• KEEPING IT AFFORDABLE for libraries and insitutions in the State of Ohio

The future plans have all the member libraries looking at ways to reinvent OhioLINK, to provide for a fresh new vision for the coming years, especially in light of Gov. Strickland's University System of Ohio and his 10-year Higher Education strategic plan.

Ohio should be proud of OhioLINK and what it has given to Ohio colleges and universities over the last 15 years. Changes and evolution was certainly a given as new resources, new technologies and new services were developed. I know Ohio librarians are proud to say that they are a part of the OhioLINK consortium and when it is mentioned, respect from other librarians is evident. OhioLINK is a model of collaboration and cooperation among library systems and even within our State government and Board of Regents

I know that our students and faculty receive a much higher caliber of resources and access than was possible when I was an undergraduate in 80's. I only wish OhioLINK had been around then. I would have had fun searching the on-line catalog, much like I did the stacks.

I wish you OhioLINK, a very Happy 15th Anniversary and I look forward to the next 15 years, to see what we can develop and implement together!

INFOhio flyers from OhioLINK

Once again OhioLINK (Ohio Library and Information Network) and INFOhio (The Information Network for Ohio Schools) are providing fliers to education librarians for distribution to their education faculty and student population. The fliers, Think INFOhio, detail "information to inform education faculty and students about the tools available to preservice teachers" and include many of the resources available to K-12 educators. Candi Clevenger, OhioLINK, and Cythia DuChane, INFOhio's Project Coordinator, provided additional links in the letter accompanying the fliers.

• INFOhio
• INFOhio Core Collection
• INFOhio Core Collection FAQ's
• What is INFOhio? (video)
  

I have already placed my fliers in the handout rack outside of the IRC and encourage other education librarians to do the same. The resources available to teachers through INFOhio are exceptional.

Tags: OhioLINK, INFOhio, Preservice teacher resources, Teacher resources, Academic libraries

OhioLINK 10 million unique titles

Last week Candi Clevenger sent out an email detailing the 10 Millionth book unique book entered in the OhioLINK catalog. Putting this into perspective, Candi mentions an interesting FAQ:

"To visualize how many items 45.5 million is, imagine a bookshelf that stretches from Columbus to Portland, Maine. That would be 878 miles of shelf space, just twenty miles short of the amount needed to accommodate all 45.5 million items.*"

"*Using an average book width of 1.25 inches, 45.5 million books lined up side-by-side on a bookshelf would cover a distance of 898 miles. The distance from Columbus, Ohio to Portland, Maine is 878 miles according to MapQuest.com"

To learn more about this milestone read What's New: Now Providing 10 Million Unique Titles, and the OhioLINK press release Ohio Academic Libraries Now Provide 10 Million Unique Titles.

Tags: OhioLINK, OhioLINK's 10 millionth book, Academic Libraries, Ohio Academic Library consortium

OhioLINK Marketing Workshop

If you are planning to attend the ALAO conference on November 3rd, consider going a day early and attending Marketing Research for Libraries 101, sponsored by OhioLINK. This pre-conference workshop is scheduled for Thursday, November 2nd, from 2 to 4 pm at the Crowne Plaza Quaker Square in Akron. The workshop is free of charge, advance registration required.

"Join Diane Cellentani - president of Marketing Backup and marketing research consultant to OCLC - for an introduction to the marketing research process. This two-hour workshop will introduce you to the market research techniques that will help you gather reliable information for the library service planning, service/resource development, and marketing and communication efforts." - Workshop flyer, 9/13/06

Thomson Gale is sponsoring an ALAO Welcome Reception in Crowne Plaza boardroom after the workshop from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Come early to the conference and stay overnight at the Crowne Plaze Quaker Square; to get the ALAO rate hotel reservations must be made by October 3.

For more information, or to make your reservation, email Candi Clevenger (candi@ohiolink.edu) with your contact information. Remember, there is no cost to attend this marketing workshop.

Tags: OhioLINK, OhioLINK workshop, Marketing Research for Libraries 101, ALAO, ALAO Conference, Academic libraries

OhioLINK & OA

So I've finally survived my first orientation week & first week of classes as a librarian. Diane has been blogging for both of us up until now, but now that I actually have a moment to catch up on some reading and think about something other than getting others oriented I will take this opportunity to write.

I came across this item at OA Librarian praising OhioLINK's recently released recommendations for Ohio faculty and students to retain intellectual property rights. The reasons behind these recommendations are summarized pretty effectively in the corresponding press release. I have to say that these recommendations make me very proud to be affiliated with OhioLINK.

For those who do not want to click through and/or are not familiar with the ins and outs of scholarly publishing, I will summarize why OhioLINK did this and why it is important. Ohio colleges and universities produce a lot of journal articles every year through the research of their faculty and students. The works of the students and faculty are a result of the classes and research at these IHEs (Institutions of Higher Education). Yet when they turn these works over to journal publishers, often the author signs over their copyright which means they no longer have control over what they just worked so hard on. The publisher then charges the library of the author's IHE for access to that article via a subscribition, in effect that IHE has paid twice for that item. In the case of electronic access, the library may have to continue to pay large yearly licensing fees for that journal or else they will lose access to all the previous years they've already paid for, including articles written at their own institution.

What OhioLINK is recommending is for scholarly authors in Ohio to negotiate a bit with publishers. Maintain control of works that you have published by retaining some or, if possible, all of your rights under copyright. Deposit items into your institution's or another open access electronic depository. Do something to make sure that your work is and will continue to be accessible to you and others in your field and won't simply disappear because that's what the publisher decided. I hope faculty, staff, and students in Ohio take these recommendations to heart. Read more about this situation and the new recommendations at OhioLINK's page devoted to this issue.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!