Future Ready 365 Needs You!

You may have already seen this years online initiative to help info pros share their experiences so we can all be more Future Ready, the FutureReady365 Blog http://futureready365.sla.org/    The FutureReady365 Blog is a community focused on sharing knowledge, ideas and insights on how we are prepared for the future. The intention of the blog is to have a different information professional post every day in 2011.

       Future Ready has been described by SLA President Cindy Romaine as an attitude---an attitude of being more adaptable, flexible, and confident in displaying the key skills that employers need. It's a "strategic shift" toward adding value to the information product to surprise and delight our constituents. DC/SLA  is filled with so many members working at the forefront of the profession and I'd love to see posts from DC/SLA members on the blog.

     Please send a post of 250-500 words or a few images to futureready365@sla.org.   Meryl Cole and her team will take care of the rest!

Summaries of SLA 2011 Conference Sessions

Missed the SLA 2011 Conference? No worries, Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant with LexisNexis, has you covered! She's posted summaries for several conference sessions that you might find interesting on her blog Government Info Pro.

We link to the summaries below but just to give your an idea of what you're in store for she has info on what Philly is like, how SLA used QR codes at the conference, Stephen Abrams ideas on innovation in the profession, how to effectively integrate Social Media into your organization's tool kit, how to create a following among your clients/patrons, the state of government info pros and what might change in the future, communicating ROI, and how use the goldmine of info in public records.

Hello Philly

QR Codes at the SLA Conference

Stephen Abram Looks to the Future: Getting Out in Front of the Curve

Using Social Media in the Workplace

Creating Groupies Info-Pro Guerrilla Marketing

Government Information Professionals Now and Into the Future

ROI and Beyond

Mining Public Records

"2011 Best Practices for Government Libraries: e-Initiatives and e-Efforts: Expanding Our Horizons" is now available

By Marie Kaddell


The 2011 Best Practices for Government Libraries:  e-Initiatives and e-Efforts:  Expanding Our Horizons is now available:  2011 Best Practices for Government Libraries in PDF. Best Practices for Government Libraries for 2011 and prior years are all available from the right sidebar of the Government Info Pro at http://www.governmentinfopro.com.
Best Practices is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, LexisNexis Consultants, and more. As the editor of Best Practices for Government Libraries, I want to thank the contributors for sharing their knowledge, experience, and thoughtful perspectives in this year's Best Practices. If you did not write for this year's Best Practices, I invite you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro.
The 2011 Best Practices for Government Libraries:  e-Initiatives and e-Efforts:  Expanding Our Horizons is broken into six sections:

• EMBRACING NEW AVENUES OF COMMUNICATION
• ADAPTING TO NEW AND EVOLVNG TECHNOLOGIES
• ALTERING OUR PLACES AND SPACES
• TACKLING CHANGING EXPECTATIONS, RESOURCES, AND JOB DESCRIPTIONS
• PRESERVING WHAT WE HAVE AND PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
• EXPANDING HORIZONS

Here is a sampling of the articles in each section:
EMBRACING NEW AVENUES OF COMMUNICATION

• Blogging at the Largest Law Library in the World
  Christine Sellers, Legal Reference Specialist, and Andrew Weber, Legislative Information Systems Manager, Law Library of Congress
• "Friended" by the Government? A Look at How Social Networking Tools Are Giving Americans Greater Access to Their Government
  Kate Follen, MLS, President, Monroe Information Services
• Podcasts Get Information Junkies their Fix
  Chris Vestal, Supervisory Patent Researcher with ASRC Management Services, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and DC/SLA‘s 2011 Communication Secretary
• Getting the Most from Social Media from the Least Investment of Time and Energy
  Tammy Garrison, MLIS, Digitization Librarian at the Combined Arms Research Library at Fort Leavenworth, KS
• Thinking Outside the Email Box: A New E-Newsletter for the Justice Libraries
  Kate Lanahan, Law Librarian, and Jennifer L. McMahan, Supervisory Librarian, U.S. Department of Justice
• Bill’s Bulletin: Librarians and Court Staff Working Together to Develop an E-Resource
  Barbara Fritschel, U. S. Courts Library, Milwaukee, WI
• Proletariat’s Speech: Foreign Language Learning with a Common Touch
  Janice P. Fridie, Law Librarian, U.S. Department of Justice
• Social Media Comes Together with Storify
  Chris Zammarelli, Contract Cataloger on behalf of ATSG, LLC for the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs, Office of Information Resources

ADAPTING TO NEW AND EVOLVNG TECHNOLOGIES

• EBooks in Special Libraries: Final Report of the Federal Reserve System Libraries Work Group on EBooks
  Luke Mueller, Technical Librarian, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
• Kindle Lending Programs in Libraries
  Montrese Hamilton, Librarian, Society for Human Resource Management
• Intranet Case Study: Government Agency
  Lorette S.J. Weldon, MLS, BSIFSM, BA
• Putting the E in Library
  David E. McBee, Federal Government Librarian, ww.librarybuzz.blogspot.com
• Web E-Accessibility to Reach Full E-Audience: "Expanding Our Horizon" to Better Honor Diversity
  Ken Wheaton, Web Services Librarian, Alaska State Court System Law Library

ALTERING OUR PLACES AND SPACES

• Embedded Librarianship and E-Initiatives: The Dynamic Duo
  Rachel Kingcade, Chief Reference & CSC Direct Support Librarian, USMC Research
• Utilizing Electronic Databases During a Library Relocation
  George Franchois, Director, U.S. Dept. of the Interior Library
• E-Reference at the Library of Congress
  Amber Paranick and Megan Halsband, Reference Librarians, Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room, Serial & Government Publications Division, Library of Congress
• Best Practices: Telework
  Robert Farina, MSLIS, Entrepreneur, Minor Potentate of Logogrammatic Research & Analysis, Data Wrangler, etc.
• Best Practices for Virtual Reference
  Susan Ujka Larson, MLIS
• To Build a Virtual Embedded Information Role, Start at the Top
  Mary Talley, Owner, TalleyPartners, 2011 DC/SLA President

TACKLING CHANGING EXPECTATIONS, RESOURCES, AND JOB DESCRIPTIONS

• Accidental Advisors: There’s GOT to Be a Better Way!
  Compiled by Nancy Faget and Jennifer McMahan (Eugenia Beh, Blane Dessy, Aimee Babcock-Ellis, Marianne Giltrud, Jessica Hernandez, Rich Louis, Virginia Sanchez)
• I Need a Library Job: Finding and Filling a Need on the Fly
  Naomi House, Reference Librarian, Census Library
• Rebranding the Library
  Julie Jones, Hartford Branch Librarian, U.S. Courts, Second Circuit Library
• NIH Handheld User Group: Library-IT Collaboration
  James King, Information Architect, NIH Library
• Cats and Dogs – Living Together: Leveraging IT Resources for Library Use>
  Sarah Mauldin, Head Librarian, Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP, Atlanta, GA
• Broadband Plan and the Provision of Public Libraries
  Christian Jiménez Tomás, Information Specialist, The World Bank Law Resource
• E-Gov Sites to Go Dark?
  Kim Schultz, Outreach Specialist at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, operated by Chugach Federal Solutions, Inc.
• E-Gov on the Web: A Brief Summary of Electronic Access Through On-Line Resources
  Jennifer Klang, Head of Reference Services, Department of the Interior Library
• Public Records Resources Online: How to Find Everything There Is to Know About "Mr./Ms. X"
  Jennifer L. McMahan, Supervisory Librarian, U.S. Department of Justice
• The Challenge of E-Legislative History for the "51st State"
  Lisa Kosow, Law Librarian, U.S. Attorney‘s Office for the District of Columbia
• E-Gov Resources on Native Americans and Tribal Issues
  Kathy Kelly, MSLS, C.A.
• LexisNexis 2010 International Workplace Productivity Survey: Executive Summary of Results for Legal Professionals

PRESERVING WHAT WE HAVE AND PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

• Federal Libraries on the E-Horizon
  Blane K. Dessy, Executive Director, FLICC/FEDLINK, Library of Congress
• Research Metrics: Measuring the Impact of Research
  James King, Information Architect, NIH Library
• When I Walk Across My Library I Think…
  Edwin B. Burgess, Director, Combined Arms Research Library
• E-Initiative Liberia: Creating a Legislative Library in the Rubble of War
  Mary Nell Bryant, M.A., M.L.S., U.S. Foreign Service Information Officer, retired
• JustSearch at the Department of Justice
  Lila Faulkner, Diane L. Smith, and Jane Sanchez, Library Staff, U.S. Department of Justice Library Staff
• Real Libraries, Virtual Fundraising
  Biblio Latte, Volunteer Reference Librarian, Community Virtual Library
• Accessible Libraries: Ensuring All May Read
  Jane Caulton, Head, Publications and Media Section, NLS, Library of Congress
• A Model Lessons Learned System – The US Army
  Nancy M. Dixon, Principal Researcher, Common Knowledge Associates

EXPANDING HORIZONS

• Ten Scary Issues: Future Directions for Military Libraries
  Edwin B. Burgess, Director, Combined Arms Research Library
• Future Ready 365
  Cindy Romaine, SLA President 2011
• Expanding Horizons with E-Learning: VA Librarians Develop Online Tutorial for EBN Training
  Priscilla L. Stephenson, MSLS, MSEd, Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA; and Teresa R. Coady, MLS, VA Central Iowa Healthcare System, Des Moines, IA
• Library Connect Newsletter: Information Industry Explorations by and for Librarians
  Colleen DeLory, Editor, Library Connect Publications, Elsevier
• Building a Framework to Embrace the New and Expand Your Horizons
  Bruce Rosenstein, Author, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker‘s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life
• All About E
  Peggy Garvin, Founder & Principal, GarvinInformationConsulting.com

Want more Best Practices? View the 2010 Best Practices:  The New Face of Value in PDF version. 

Good Reading!

Join DC/SLA for these Events in June/July

Join DC/SLA with these events and beat the heat!


Mid-Atlantic Chapters Reception at the SLA Annual Conference

Mon, June 13, 7:30pm-10pm

Where: Marriott Hotel, Salon C

Sponsored by Leadership Directories and Thomson Reuters.  The Washington, DC Chapter has partnered with the Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Princeton-Trenton, and Virginia Chapters to throw a party you don’t want to miss!!

DCSLA Fiction Book Club

Wed, June 15, 6pm – 7pm

Where: Barnes & Noble bookstore at the corner of E Street, NW and 12th Street, NW - just down 12th Street from the Metro Center station

The topic for June is books that are done as a series of letters.   Please RSVP: Barbara Folensbee-Moore at bfolensbee-moore@morganlewis.com

It’s 6 pm in Mumbai, what time is it in NY? The role of information services in global/IT consulting companies

Thu, June 16, 6:00pm – 8:30pm

Where: Latham & Watkins, 555 Eleventh Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC

BP Prakash, General Manager of the Library & Information Center at Tata Consultants will talk about managing a global information center from an international perspective. Mr. Prakash is also the President of SLA’s Asia Chapter, the fastest growing chapter in the Association and is sure to have a compelling vision of the future of the profession! Refreshments and networking from 6 pm to 6:30 pm; program begins at 6:30. Register and pay. $10 Students/Retired/Unemployed Members $15 SLA Members $20 Non-members Contact dcslaprograms@gmail.com with questions

New Professionals Happy Hour

Tues, June 21, 6pm-8pm

Where: RFD 810 7th Street Northwest

www.lovethebeer.com/rfd.html

Association Roundtable Brownbag Lunch
Wed, June 29, 12:00pm – 1:30pm

Where: Location to be announced

Information discussion of the Association Information Services Caucus. Group meets monthly. Topic TBD

2011 SLA Annual Conference Wrap-up
Wed, July 13, 6:00pm – 8:30pm

Where: The Catholic University of America

If you didn't get to attend the SLA Annual Conference (or just had a schedule conflict and couldn't be in two places at once), come hear impressions and takeaways from chapter members. Co-sponsored by DCSLA and The Catholic University of America Special Libraries Association (CUA SLA) Location: The Catholic University of America School of Library and Information Science Information Commons Marist Hall Room, 132 Time: 6:00pm -9:00pm Networking with pizza 6:00pm - 6:30pm Program begins at 6:30. Cost: $15 for non-members; $10 for members; $5 for students/retirees/unemployed

New Professionals Happy Hour

Wed, July 20, 6pm-8pm

Where: Vinoteca 1940 11th Street NW

http://www.vinotecadc.com/

DCSLA Fiction Book Club

Wed, July 20, 6pm – 7pm

Where: Barnes & Noble bookstore at the corner of E Street, NW and 12th Street, NW - just down 12th Street from the Metro Center station.

Please RSVP: Barbara Folensbee-Moore at bfolensbee-moore@morganlewis.com

Association Roundtable Brownbag Lunch
Wed, July 27, 12:00pm – 1:30pm

Where: Location to be announced

Information discussion of the Association Information Services Caucus. Group meets monthly. Topic TBD

NonFiction Book Club Meeting

Thur, July 28, 6:30pm

Where: Zorba's Cafe 1612 20th St NW Washington, DC 20009

Discussing Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From

More Advice on QR Codes

By Jill Hurst-Wahl

Older cell phones do not have autofocus cameras, so they can have a hard time reading small QR codes.  If possible, create a “larger” QR code, like 1.5 inches square (or bigger if on a poster, for example).  That should work with older phones.

Print the QR code using a laser printer, so that the image is crisper.

Try to limit glare on the code, since that will inhibit readability. So putting it behind plastic, for example, may limit the codes usefulness if there is glare.

Have a good color contrast on the code, e.g., black on white, again to enhance readability.

Create your code using software provided by the QR code reader you are going to use (or that you are going to recommend others use).  So, for example, use Scanlife software to create the code, and recommend Scanlife for reading the code.  Again, this helps readability.  This piece advice works if you’re in a situation where you can indeed recommend to people the ‘preferred QR code reader to use.

Try your QR code with several different readers, so you’ll see how it works.  Vcards (in a QR code) don’t always work well with different readers.  Also try out the code in different settings.  So if you going to put the code on your badge, test it on a badge to see how it is going to work.  (You might also consider how people will read the code and where the best place is to put it.)

If you plan on using your phone to read QR codes, download several different readers, since they all do not work the same (and sometimes you’ll need to try a different reader).

If you are using the QR code as a replacement for a URL (or some other information), have that information handy in a different form for those that do not have a QR code reader.

A Diverse Universe: Exploring the World of Intelligence Analysts

By Dr.  Edna Reid

What do intelligence analysts (IA) do? How can I participate in a red cell exercise* about the use of social media in the Middle East uprisings? What are the current issues in intelligence analysis in the U.S. and overseas? How can I identify recent books about these issues and meet the authors? Are these authors available to speak at my institution? What certificate programs are available in intelligence analysis and where can I meet their representatives? If any of these questions spark your interest then register to attend a D.C. conference (June 2011) on intelligence analysis or check out intelligence.gov!

Yes, the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE) is having its seventh annual conference in Washington, D.C., June 6-9, 2011. The mission of IAFIE is to advance research, knowledge, and professional development in intelligence education (http://www.iafie.org). Members of IAFIE are involved in various intelligence disciplines such as intelligence analysis, national security, and competitive intelligence. Members are active in developing and diffusing intelligence studies and programs that emphasize the need for intelligence professionals (e.g., intelligence analysts, collection specialists, cyber threat specialists, staff operation specialists).

CNNMoney.com, in 2009, identified intelligence analyst (IA) as among the ten best jobs in America. Intelligence analysts are involved in identifying, evaluating, and analyzing information for decision makers in the intelligence community (IC). It is a challenging yet almost invisible career field that has some overlapping specialization and expertise requirements like those in library and information science, e.g., the emphasis on identification, evaluation, and analysis of information.

However many information professionals overlook intelligence analysis as an alternate career path! Reid’s article on Information Professionals as Intelligence Analysts describes the analytical skills required of intelligence analysts as somewhat similar to those of open source (publicly available information such as news) researchers and/or political analysts. Additionally, the article posits that intelligence analysts come from diverse formal education backgrounds such as degrees in social sciences, engineering, psychology, economics, library science, history, business, computer science, or political science.

In order for information specialists to become intelligence analysts, they will need to hone their analytical skills and enhance their knowledge about IC agencies (e.g., DHS, CIA, NSA). Those who intend to explore this alternate path or just seek additional insights can check out the IAFIE conference or intelligence.gov because they will open their eyes to other ways of framing (packaging) library/information science competencies.

An important aspect of framing competencies for intelligence analyst positions is being able to translate your industry’s jargon into that which is used in the IC so that you can be effective in communicating your interests. Toward this end, Reid’s article provides a useful comparison of terminologies used in library/information science with those used by the U.S. intelligence community. For example, unclassified information is Open Source INTelligence (OSINT), cataloging is metadata tagging, and spying is Human INTelligence (HUMINT).

So consider exploring the world of intelligence analysts or just pass this information to a friend or family member who may want to consider a nontraditional career path that has many opportunities and challenges that can lead to a global adventure!

*Red cell exercise is an analytical technique for pretending that the analyst is the bad guy.

Dr. Edna Reid is an Intelligence Analyst with the DOJ.

References

Careers in the Intelligence Community (We Have Thousands of Positions in All Types of Fields), Accessed May 19, 2011. http://www.intelligence.gov/careers-in-intelligence

CNNMoney.com Best Jobs in America 2009. Accessed May 19, 2011. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/2009/snapshots/9.html

Intelligence.gov, Accessed May 19, 2011. http://www.intelligence.gov/about-the-intelligence-community

Reid, E. Information Professionals as Intelligence Analysts: Making the Transition. Best Practices …, 2009. Accessed May 19, 2011. http://www.governmentinfopro.com/federal_info_pro/2010/01/information-professionals-as-intelligence-analysts-making-the-transition.html

Join Us at the Mid-Atlantic Chapters Reception During the SLA 2011 Conference

By James King

The SLA Annual Conference is coming up quickly and I hope to meet many of you there!

I’d like to personally invite you to the return of the Mid-Atlantic Chapters Reception on Monday, June 13^th from 7:30-10:00 pm in the Marriott Hotel, Salon C – sponsored by Leadership Directories and Thomson Reuters.  The Washington, DC Chapter has partnered with the Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Princeton-Trenton, and Virginia Chapters to throw a party you don’t want to miss!! 

To ensure an accurate head count, tickets are on sale through your conference registration for $5 each or can be purchased on-site at the registration booth.  At the reception, we will essentially refund your ticket in the form of a drink ticket. 

Please plan on joining us for this event!!