Twitter at the SLA Annual Conference -- Some Tips!

In preparation for the Annual Conference in New Orleans June 13-16th, we've put together some tips on using Twitter to connect with fellow conference goers and with those who cannot attend but would gain from following the events. This list of tips will help you whether you plan to "live tweet" the conference (go here for some useful types on live tweeting, some of which I include below), post Twitter updates or comments as you feel inspired, or just want to be able to find out what's going on at the conference and around New Orleans.

If you tweet:

• Configure your applications on your laptop or smartphone. Be sure to have tools, such as TweetDeck or Twitterrific loaded and ready to go so you can tweet easily and on-the-fly. (from Mark Stelzner's Live Tweeting Tips)
• Use hashtags, which allow users to group posts together by topic (want to know more about hashtags? Click here for info) Use #sla2010 for all goings-on at the conference. Here's an example from Liz McLean. Try to note when DC/SLA members are presenting using hashtag #dcsla (a potential example: Jane Doe from DC proposes paradigm shift in reference! #sla2010 #dcsla)
• Link to useful pages/conference materials in your twitter updates, if appropriate. Use a URL shortening tool such as or http://is.gd. Here is an example of this in action from Chris Olson.
• Use @ symbol when "ReTweeting" posts from other Twitter members or writing to other Twitter members. Here is an example from Peggy Garvin
• Use attributions when mentioning topics or concepts that come up in conference sessions (from Mark Stelzner's Live Tweeting Tips). Here is an example from Marie Kaddel's LibraryFocus Twitter account, covering April's Computers in Libraries Conference.

If you don't tweet, Twitter can still be helpful. Here are some tips:

• If you have a Twitter account, be sure to follow sla2010
• If you don't have a Twitter account, you can just search sla2010 on Twitter's search engine . Here's a direct link to sla2010 search.

Librarians Buck Convention for Cinco de Mayo

By Chris Vestal

The heart and soul of Cinco de Mayo is defying the odds in the face of overwhelming adversity (to read about the history of the holiday see http://tinyurl.com/n4sd6). While no one actually engaged in combat this year, DC/SLA honored the holiday by keeping this theme in mind with speakers in unconventional careers.

Barbara Ferry and staff at the National Geographic Society Library hosted a lively celebration in the library’s space. Beginning with a trivia/scavenger hunt in the library stacks. The National Geographic Society’s library staff provided the trivia questions, posted them throughout the stacks, and even made some of the library’s resources available to answer them. Attendees entered their answers into a drawing for prizes, including Amazon.com gift cards, jewelry, and books published by National Geographic. Questions really ran the gamut of history, geography, and culture and included challenging ones, such as “What fruit is traditionally eaten in the evening to break the fast of Ramadan?” To hear all the questions and see the prizes see http://tinyurl.com/2vvwbgl.

Following the scavenger hunt and networking over tacos and margaritas, attendees broke into small groups and rotated among five speakers. Each speaker talked with individual groups about their non-traditional careers in this challenging economy.

Dave Hemingway-Turner, sales consultant for Innovative Interfaces, wowed some of the attendees by admitting that in the last 15 years he hasn’t had to apply for any of the jobs he’s had. He stressed the importance of forming connections with colleagues through professional associations like SLA.

Jennifer Whitfield, Outreach and Communications for the Joint Bank-Fund Library, spoke about the value of marketing and the challenges of developing communications and training material for multicultural environments. Whitfield is also a member of the Internal Association of Business Communicators and quipped that she hasn’t yet encountered any librarians who are also members.

Larry Lempert, Director of Product Research and Planning with BNA, noted that he enrolled in an MLS program to learn about Information Architecture and enhance his work at BNA, years after earning his law degree. He believes that librarians’ technical skills are easily transferable to positions that involve optimizing users’ experiences.

The National Geographic Society also contributed a speaker to the program: Ariel Deiaco-Lohr, account representative in the Society’s International Licensing and Alliances, talked about her experience in international publishing. Deiaco-Lohr spoke about the work she does to facilitate more localized content in the Society’s Traveler magazine.

View all the videos from the Cinco de Mayo event at the DC/SLA group on Youtube at http://tinyurl.com/2uqkw3v or view one of the videos of the scavenger hunt below:

DC SLA 2010 Student Scholarships -- Application deadlines 7/16/10

The Washington, D.C. Chapter announces its 2010 scholarship program:

• Catherine A. Jones Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by IOP Publishing $2,000
• IOP Publishing Scholarship $2,000

These two scholarships will be awarded by the chapter in August 2010 for studies leading to a Master’s Degree from an ALA accredited graduate Library Science program.

DC/SLA encourages talented men and women to join us with a career in special librarianship by assisting students who are preparing for a Master’s Degree in Library Science. In support of this goal, the Washington, D.C. Chapter is offering two cash awards again this year:

Selection criteria include:

• An essay describing the applicant’s interest in special librarianship and professional goals, including anticipated contribution to the profession (two – three pages, 1,000 – 2,000 words)
• Letter of academic or professional recommendation
• Membership in the Washington, D.C. Chapter of SLA (If you aren’t a DC/SLA member yet, SLA student dues are only $40 per year. Join today at http://www.sla.org/content/membership/joinsla/index.cfm. Remember to choose the Washington, D.C. Chapter on your SLA membership form.)
• Enrolled or accepted in an ALA-accredited Library Science program

The scholarship application form and additional details are available on the DC/SLA website at http://units.sla.org/chapter/cdc/yp/scholarship.html.

Application deadline: July 16, 2010.

2010 SLA Conference Stipend Award Winner Michael Chesnes

by Diane Schnurrpusch

As chair of the 2010 Awards Committee, it is my honor to announce that the winner of the $1,500 SLA Conference Stipend Award is Michael Chesnes, a reference librarian at NASA Goddard Library. Michael has been active in the DC Chapter and SLA. He served as the Chapter Cataloging Committee Chair, organizing three Dine-Arounds and one program for the group. The Physics-Astronomy-Math Division (PAM) benefited from his talents as he assisted and later took over as full editor of the PAM Bulletin. Michael's latest accomplishment was his selection to share his poster, "A Year of Mobile Librarianship at NASA Goddard," at the SLA "All Sciences Poster Session" in New Orleans.

Michael and his colleagues (also SLA members) planned and executed the project that placed reference librarians at several locations throughout the Goddard campus. The project succeeded in increasing the number of reference questions, as well as serving patrons who had stopped coming to the physical library. As Michael explained in his stipend application, "The project fulfills two of the Poster Session's three broad themes. It is a project that expresses a new strategic alignment for Library services within our parent organization and it created a new tool for information literacy, user instruction, and e-learning."

Michael's leadership and innovative spirit made him an ideal choice for the 2010 SLA Conference Stipend award. If you are going to the SLA Conference, be sure to visit him at the Poster Session on June 15. And, watch for more on Michael's conference experience in a future issue of Chapter Notes.

Celebrating International Special Librarians' Week with DC/SLA's International Relations Committee

By Elizabeth Ann Blake

On April 29, 2010, the International Relations Committee of DC/SLA celebrated International Special Librarians Day at Kiplinger’s where three distinguished speakers spoke about their careers as international special librarians and how they represent their home cultures abroad through librarianship. Victor Monti, the chair of the International Relations Committee and the evening’s moderator, introduced the speakers.

Nadia Pazoulis-Gabriel delivered an overview of the mission and purpose of the library at Alliance Française and discussed her job as the head librarian and her role in promoting French language and culture.

Next, Barbara Conaty spoke about how the State Department makes a piece of American culture available overseas through the American Corners program. Although the program is not as well funded as it could be, she makes the most of her resources as the administrator of the program, holding American movie nights and making welcoming, accessible American cultural centers available to library patrons.

Finally, the sponsor of the program, Mohammed Eliwa, took the podium. Eliwa, the founder of Arabia Inform, discussed how he started his company, the many challenges involved with collecting, obtaining, and indexing information in the Middle East, and his company as it is today.

Following the evening's presentations, attendees enjoyed the opportunity to network over the food and refreshments provided by the evening's sponsor, Arabia Inform.

SLA Conference in New Orleans: Tips for Eating, Birding, and More!

New Orleans Here We Come!

To help us out once we get there, James Manasco and Alison Raab Labonte put together the these sites on eating in New Orleans (an NO major attraction) and bird watching.

New Orleans food:

• http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/sla/sla2010/public/Content.aspx?ID=94&sortMenu=109002
• http://www.neworleansrestaurants.com
• http://food.yatpundit.com/

New Orleans gluten-free/friendly restaurants:

• http://www.urbanspoon.com/t/57/1/New-Orleans/Gluten-Free-Friendly-restaurants

New Orleans vegan- and vegetarian-friendly restaurants:

• http://www.urbanspoon.com/t/57/2/New-Orleans/Vegan-Friendly-restaurants
• http://www.happycow.net/north_america/usa/louisiana/new_orleans/
  

Birding in New Orleans:

• http://www.tulane.edu/~bfleury/neworleans/BirdingNO.html

New Orleans Blogs:

• http://www.blogs.com/topten/10-popular-new-orleans-blogs/

New Orleans Yelp page:

• http://www.yelp.com/new-orleans-la

Any one else have some tips for those of us bound for New Orleans for the SLA Annual Conference? Please leave a comment if you do!