Virginia Library Association » Technical Services and Technology

VLA Technical Services & Technology Forum Presents: “Understanding XML” with Matthew Gibson

Lisa Varga — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:43:28 +0000

Tuesday, March 20, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA

This one-day hands-on workshop will explore XML with a specific focus on fundamentals of design, markup, and use. The workshop will explain why XML is important, particularly in the domain of describing, storing, and delivering information in a library setting.

XML Workshop Flyer (please print and post in your library.)

Topics to be covered include:

XML: What is it?
What is the difference between XML and HTML?
Why should librarians care about XML?
Understanding XML validation: What is it and why is it important?

Prerequisites: No prior knowledge of XML is required; familiarity with markup languages such as HTML is helpful. All students should be very comfortable navigating Windows operating system, and should be able to save files from the internet to the local computer, and understand how to find and open those files. The computers in the workshop classroom run Windows 7.

Matthew Gibson is Director of Digital Programs at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH). At the VFH, he oversees Encyclopedia Virginia, a digital publication about Virginia history and culture, and guides the short- and long-term planning for the organization’s digital efforts and scholarly communications. Matthew is an experienced conference presenter and author in the field of digital library standards. For the past nine years he has taught week-long XML application building workshops as an independent consultant and for the Association of Research Libraries. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia.

VLA Members: $85 per person / Non-members: $125 per person (Includes lunch in R-MC dining hall)

Click for online registration form.

Click for directions to Randolph-Macon College Library.

(Parking readily available during Randolph-Macon College’s Spring Break.)

Questions? Please contact Lynda Wright, Chair of the VLA Technical Services & Technology Forum for the Virginia Library Association at lwwright@rmc.edu

Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) informational webinar, 12/13/11

Lisa Varga — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:01:54 +0000

Hello Colleagues and Potential Candidates!

The Library Support Staff Certification Program (LSSC), a national certification program that allows library support staff to demonstrate competencies and be certified by the American Library Association (ALA), will offer an hour-long informational webinar at 2 p.m. CST on Tuesday, Dec. 13. The presentation will explain the value of this certification to library support staff, employers and library users. Attendees will also have the opportunity to have their questions answered by program staff members.

For more information on the webinar and how to register, please visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/867921969. For more information on LSSC please visit our website!

Exciting News for OverDrive Partner Libraries in Virginia

Jenny — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:23:15 +0000

For all those Virginia Libraries that subscribe to OverDrive’s service, the wait for Kindle compatible eBooks is over! See OverDrive’s announcement below (September 21, 2011)

Library eBooks now available for Amazon® Kindle

OverDrive is pleased to announce that Amazon® Kindle compatibility with your U.S. public or school library’s eBook collection is here. See the press release. This update, which is included at no additional cost to OverDrive partner libraries, allows most existing eBooks in your library’s collection to be read on all Kindle devices or by using free Kindle apps for iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ and other mobile devices.

OverDrive is quickly updating all U.S. public and school library partner websites to support Kindle compatibility and will complete this update as soon as possible. Sections of your website, including My Help wizard, Help pages and FAQs, will also reflect these changes and help new Kindle users.

Here is the process for checking out a library eBook for Kindle:

Visit your library’s ‘Virtual Branch’ website
Browse and check out a Kindle book.
Click the ‘Get for Kindle’ button. This opens the Amazon.com website. You may be required to sign in with your Amazon.com account if you are not already logged in.
Select a Kindle device or Kindle reading app. Click the ‘Get library book’ button and sync your device or app to download the book, or choose to send it to your device via USB.
An active Wi-Fi connection is required for wireless delivery to a Kindle device. If your Kindle is not Wi-Fi capable or you do not have an active Wi-Fi connection, read Amazon’s instructions for transferring files via USB.

Kindle compatibility with library eBooks also takes full advantage of Amazon’s Whispersync technology. If you check out the eBook again at a later date or choose to purchase the eBook from the Kindle Store, all of your notes, bookmarks and highlights will be preserved. The last page read will also be synced between your Kindle and free Kindle reading apps.

For more details, please check the Help pages and FAQs on your library’s web site.

Brianne Carlon is a public relations specialist at OverDrive.

(copied from OverDrive’s Digital Library Blog)

Call for submissions to Virginia Libraries: special issue on electronic collections & access, due Nov. 1

Lisa Varga — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:38:13 +0000

Virginia Libraries seeks input on a new theme: electronic collections and digital developments in the library world. With a deadline of November 1, we challenge you to share your experiences with electronic collections, resources, and access–the triumphs, the pitfalls, and the process along the way. With a submission deadline of November 1, we hope to recruit articles on a wide variety of topics: e-books and e- readers; digitization of special and historical collections; interesting solutions for online catalogs, collections, and projects; new web and social media techniques; problems and solutions in serving up electronic content; and much, much more. We welcome interviews with key players in the field, as well as collaborative articles you might write to highlight digital repositories or projects that you admire. What are some of the most exciting developments you’ve seen in the last ten years? How have they developed–and changed our perspective? What will the library universe look like in the next ten to fifteen years? What do patrons want–and expect? How can we prepare? Join us in exploring this new universe by sharing the challenges and triumphs of today, while we speculate about the wonders that await us tomorrow.

Please send queries and submissions to both Lyn C. A. Gardner, cgardner@hampton.gov, and Cy Dillon, cdillon@hsc.edu.

Guidelines for Submission to Virginia Libraries

1. Virginia Libraries seeks to publish articles and reviews of interest to the library community in Virginia. Articles and interviews reporting research, library programs and events, information of particular interest to libraries in Virginia, and opinion pieces are all considered for publication. Queries are encouraged. Brief announcements and press releases should be distributed via the VLA listservs and blog (www.vla.org).

2. Please submit manuscripts via email as attachments in Microsoft Word, rich text, or plain text format. Articles should be double- spaced with any bibliographic notes occurring at the end of the article. Please avoid using the automatic note creation function provided by some word processing programs.

3. Work published in Virginia Libraries conforms to the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Accepted pieces are subject to editing for style and clarity. Authors will be consulted on points of fact.

4. Articles should generally fall within the range of 750-3,000 words. Please query the editors before submitting any work of greater length.

5. Reviews should consider works produced by Virginia creators or concerning Virginia subjects that have been published within the last two years. The reviewed works can appeal to any age or audience or appear in any format or area of the arts, sciences, and humanities. Reviews generally fall within the range of 500-1,500 words and must include a bibliographic citation in Chicago style and an evaluative statement supported by evidence from the text. Please query the editors before writing or submitting a review.

6. All work submitted for consideration will be reviewed by the editors and may be refereed by the editorial board. Material not selected for publication will be returned within three months.

7. VLA holds the copyright on all material published in Virginia Libraries. Contributors receive one copy of the issue in which their work appears.

8. Illustrations are encouraged and should be submitted whenever appropriate to accompany a manuscript. Hard-copy illustrations will be returned if requested in advance. Digital images should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Authors are responsible for securing legal permission to publish photographs and other illustrations.

9. Each contributor should provide a brief sketch of professional accomplishments of no more than fifty words that includes current title, affiliation, and email address. Unless specified otherwise, this information will be shared with readers of Virginia Libraries. Physical addresses should also be provided for the mailing of contributors’ copies.

10. Email manuscripts and queries to both Cy Dillon, cdillon@hsc.edu, and Lyn C. A. Gardner, cgardner@hampton.gov. Please be sure to include both editors.

11. Virginia Libraries is published quarterly. The deadlines for submission are November 1 for Number 1, January/February/March; February 1 for Number 2, April/May/June; May 1 for Number 3, July/ August/September; and August 1 for Number 4, October/November/ December.

Seeking Editor(s) for Virginia Libraries, VLA's Quarterly Journal

Lisa Varga — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:44:35 +0000

Virginia Libraries, the quarterly journal of the Virginia Library Association, is currently seeking an Editor or Co-Editors to take over leadership in preparation for the first edition of 2012. For more information and to apply, please contact VLA President Matt Todd at Northern Virginia Community College, mtodd@nvcc.edu. Interested applicants will need to submit to Matt Todd a letter of intent, and examples of your writing by October 1.

2012 VLAPF Conference/Concurrent Session Proposal Form

Lisa Varga — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:51:03 +0000

The 20th Annual Virginia Library Association Paraprofessional Conference, “Communication 2012 – Paraprofessionals have come a long way, 1992-2012″ will be held on May 20-22, 2012 at the Holiday Inn Koger Center in Richmond. Now is the time to submit YOUR Concurrent Session Proposal Form! (Deadline for submissions is October 3, 2011).

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact Co-Chairs Deloris Thomas and/or Susan Carroll.

Nominations are open for the 2011 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award

Lisa Varga — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:55:28 +0000

The award invites library users nationwide to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community. Nominations are being accepted online at atyourlibrary.org/ilovemylibrarian through Sept. 12.

Up to 10 librarians will be selected. Each will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and will be honored at an awards ceremony and reception in New York, hosted by The New York Times, in December.

Over the past three years, 30 librarians from across the country have won the I Love My Librarian Award. Last year, more than 2,000 library users nationwide nominated a librarian. Previous winners have been lauded for starting community gardens, helping students with severe disabilities read classic works of literature, for helping non-traditional students learn new technology to get better jobs and more. For more information on previous winners, visit atyourlibrary.org/ilovemylibrarian.

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award is administered by the Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations.

Tech Soup needs your help! Chime in on the Public Access Technology Benchmarks Project

Jenny — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:23:14 +0000

(August 2011) TechSoup is part of an unprecedented national coalition designing and piloting public access technology benchmarks for public libraries, supported with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These benchmarks support continuous improvement and local advocacy efforts in public access technology at libraries, including positioning libraries for success by:

Creating a common language for discussing public libraries and public access technology in supporting community goals
Setting clear, achievable and measurable standards for public access technology for libraries of all sizes
Supporting strategic planning, budgeting and advocacy processes
Providing an extra layer of legitimacy and authority to library technology discussions
Helping you find new and clearer ways to tell your library’s story

This project relies on feedback and expertise from you, from libraries large and small, to create meaningful and useful benchmarks. As always, TechSoup is interested in hearing from you, so please share your thoughts with the project team. [copied from the August 2011 issue of Tech Soup for Libraries Newsletter]

Visit Sarah Washburn’s blog for more details on this project and to leave your feedback or simply complete a short two-question survey.

2011 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Lisa Varga — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:29:56 +0000

The VLA Annual Conference will be held Oct. 27-28 at the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel in Portsmouth, VA. Please join us for “Nature is a Language, Can You Read? Literacy and Sustainability in Virginia’s Libraries.”

Click here for the 2011 Annual Conference Preliminary Program. This .pdf document includes Preconferences, Schedules, Session Descriptions, Maps, and information about the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center. Don’t miss your chance to win $100 toward your conference expenses from the VLA Professional Endowment Committee (page 5) and/or a free conference registration (page 10).

Make your Hotel Reservations by September 26 to receive the group rate! The VLA discount code will appear on the hotel website when you use this link.

Register online using the 2011 Conference Registration Form. Send via email or print and fax it to VLA at (757) 447-3478. Members of VLA, VLACRL and/or the Virginia Association of Law Libraries qualify for the VLA member registration rate. New this year: a discounted Student registration rate! Join us today by completing the Membership Form.

Want the Preliminary Program on your smartphone? Scan this code:

NEW VLA PHONE NUMBER EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: (757) 689-0594

Lisa Varga — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:37:50 +0000

Cox Communications alerted us today that they needed to change Virginia Library Association phone number. Please note, the VLA Phone number is now (757) 689-0594. We are working diligently to update all pages of our website and all forms to reflect this change. You can also reach us by email at vla.lisav@cox.net. Thank you for your patience and understanding.