Presentations from the GTRIC Roundtable session, Sunday June 12, 2011 (Philadelphia, PA)

• Implement EAD Now – Paul Burley, Northwestern Transportation Library
• Transportation Librarians Roundtables: A Look Back at Their Effectiveness and a Topical Analysis – Bob Cullen, AASHTO
• E-reader Pilot Project: Amazon Kindle – Karen Neinstadt, MnDOT Library
• Gift Management for Transportation Libraries:  Observations and Recommendations – Roberto Sarmiento, Northwestern Transportation Library
• Organizing a Local History Collection in a Small Library – Hank Zaletel, Iowa State University Institute for Transportation/Iowa DOT Library

Hello Transportation Division members:

I wanted to send out some much overdue thanks to our members who helped enormously in making sure that our Division had a worthwhile annual conference in Philadelphia.
Knowing that these economic times have made travel difficult for many,  I sincerely hope these travel struggles aren’t as prevalent next year and that many more of our members can attend.
I’ve been very lucky to have such dedicated help on many fronts – there was never hesitation from anyone in helping out when asked:

and so, my thank you list:

• Sheila Hatchell — for her great help on planning GTRIC and making everything run smoothly as moderator as well as being an exceptional sounding board when talking items concerning the division.

• Betsy Aldridge — for keeping on top of our division finances, creating our division budget and responding quickly to requests from SLA Headquarters … and Jane Minotti has been crucial in the smooth transition between our division treasurers.

• Kendra Levine — for migrating our electronic content to our new, easier-to-use Web interface (http://transportation.sla.org)

• A.J. Million — for his solid work as Secretary and  coordinating the collection and ultimate display of our division archives – Roberto Sarmiento and Kay Geary deserve thanks for housing our print archives.  (Extra thanks to both A.J. and Kendra for strategizing on things we can do to better communicate within our division using SLA’s new Web tool.

• Maggie Sacco and her team – for making travel arrangements seamless in getting over half of this years attendees to the conference via the Library Connectivity and Development Pooled Fund.

• Arlene Mathison — for helping me by readily sharing her advice, notes and wealth of experiences when she was Chair last year.  Also, her work on the Nominating Committee and strategic planning.

• Bob Sweet – for his superlative work at fund-raising and keeping solid relationships with our vendor sponsors, along with working with Rita Evans in revising our currently outdated Recommended Guidelines and Practices.  Also for passing on his vast knowledge to Karen Neinstadt, our new fund-raising Chair (thanks Karen for stepping into this role)

• Rita Evans – for her tireless efforts in working on the Recommended Guidelines and Practices, especially in light of her increased time commitments at her job at UC – Berkeley.  Rita was sorely missed this year!

• Sabina Tannenbaum – for her efforts in organizing a smooth no-host dinner as well as maintaining excellent logisticial control during our division-sponsored tour of the Arcadia Fine Arts Library at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  About a half hour before the tour,  I had a head count of about 10 people.     The number swelled to 41 right before the tour started and Sabina helped immensely in making sure  everyone arrived at the library on time.

• Carol Paszamant – For her first-class  job in chairing the Awards Committee, and in creating the actual award and presenting it to Roberto …. and speaking of …

• Roberto Sarmiento – for taking the time to work on an award-winning document that is of benefit to the entire transportation library and information community.  He is very well deserving of our first ever Innovation Award!

• Bob Cullen, Hank Zaletel, Kim Edwards, Amanda Wilson, Paul Burley, Karen Neinstadt for creative and interesting presentations on a variety of visionary and technical topics … from TLRs to eReaders to Archon to archival digitization to cooperative cataloging … we covered a nice array of topics important to all of us.  (Hint:  Bob’s talk on TLRs as an entity in our community would make a great TR News piece

• Marie Manthe, Kay Geary and Laura Whayne – for their continued commitment working on the Awards and Nominating Committees

Special congrats to Hank for correctly answering the transportation quiz question!

For members that were not fortunate to attend, please consider making it to Chicago next summer if at all possible.  With Sheila as Chair and Kendra as Chair-Elect next year, the Transportation Division is in great hands!

Please thank the above people individually in the future if you can … for they make me look far better than I deserve!  If I have missed anyone who should be thanked, my apologies.

Best,

John

GTRIC
(Government Transportation Research Information Committee)
Transportation Division – Sunday, June 12, 2011 – 8:00 am to 3:30 pm
Convention Center Room 103A
At the SLA Annual Conference, Philadelphia
Agenda

Casual networking breakfast - 8:00 – 8:30 am

• 8:30 – 8:40 -  Welcome:  (John Cherney, Chair-Transportation  Division)
• 8:40 – 9:40 – Introduction/overview/round robin/library updates (Sheila Hatchell, Director, Minnesota DOT Library, GTRIC Moderator and Chair – elect, Transportation Division)
• 9:40 – 10:00 – New Transportation Division Web site update/goals – (Kendra Levine, UC- Berkeley and Chair Elect-Elect, Transportation Division)

Break – 10:00 – 10:15 am

• 10:15 – 10:35 – New Library Connectivity and Development Pooled Fund, TPF-5(237) - overview/update – (A.J. Million, Missouri DOT Library and Maggie Sacco, HSInFocus Library Consultants)
• 10:35 – 11:30 – NTKN (National Transportation Knowledge Network) update and open forum (Amanda Wilson, United States DOT Library/all)

Lunch – 11:30 am – 12:15 pm

• 12:15 – 12:55 – Use of eReaders:  MnDOT Library’s experience using Kindles (Karen Neinstadt, Minnesota DOT Library)
• 12:55 – 1:35 – Transportation Librarian Roundtables: a look back at their effectiveness/topical analysis (Bob Cullen, American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO))

Break – 1:35 – 1:45 pm

• 1:45 – 2:20 Organizing a local history collection in your library: the Iowa DOT experience (Hank Zaletel, Head Librarian, Iowa DOT/Iowa State University Transportation Research Institute)
• 2:20 – 2:40 – Gift Management for Transportation Libraries  – Summary – (Roberto Sarmiento, Northwestern Transportation Library)
• 2:40 – 3:30 – Use of Archon for Encoded Archival Description to describe archives, historical materials, gray literature, and gifts.  (Paul Burley, Technical Services, Northwestern Transportation Library)

Adjourn – 3:30 pm

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Reminder:  The session,  Energy Issues in Libraries (Wed. June 15, 10:00 – 11:30 am) has been cancelled by the Environment and Resource Management Division.

Saturday, June 11

• Transportation Division no-host dinner
  6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
  Portofino Restaurant
  1227 S. Walnut St.
  Philadelphia, PA  19107
  215-923-8208
  Reservation under ‘SLA Transportation’
  Contact:  Sabina Tannenbaum (w) 215-641-8833, (cell) 215-837-8652 and email (preferred) stannenbaum@ltk.com

 Sunday, June 12 

• GTRIC Roundtable
  8:00 am – 3:30 pm
  Convention Center Room 103A
  Breakfast/informal networking from 8:00-8:30 am
  Program starts at 8:30 am (final session agenda forthcoming shortly).
  Lunch will be served at 11:30 am

 Monday, June 13 

• Transportation Division Board Meeting
  8:00 am – 9:30 am
  Convention Center Room 300
   
• OMG: The Millennials Are Coming!
  2:00 – 3:30 pm
  Convention Center Room 114
  Co-hosted with Education Division and the Retired Members Caucus.
  Speaker: Mary Ellen Bates, Owner, Bates Information Services, Inc.
  Abstract:  Mary Ellen Bates presents another one of her ever-popular sessions, this one focusing on the digital perspective of Generation M as they enter the workforce, bringing with them different ways of working and different expectations. “Older” workers are accustomed to working face to face, not with those who communicate primarily by texting. Let’s see what we can learn from each other.
• Success Stories of Solos
  4:00 – 5:30 pm
  Convention Center Room 104B
  Co-hosted with Solo Librarians Division
  Speakers: 
  Eileen Boswell (from our Transportation Division!), Information Specialist, Community Transportation Association of America
  Beth Maser, Senior Director Professional Services, LAC Group
  Lee Ann Benkert, Resource Center Manager, National Security Space Institute.
  Moderator:  Susan Morley, Manager, Information and Knowledge Management.
  Abstract:  Success is measured in a variety of ways. In a reception-style atmosphere, participants will share their stories of solo librarianship success. Come find out how others have broken down walls and created innovative services, and share your own story!  Attendee participation is encouraged.

 Tuesday, June 14 

• Transportation Division Business Meeting and Luncheon
  12:00 – 1:30 pm
  Convention Center Room 110AB
• Transportation Division Networking Reception
  6:30 – 8:30 pm
  William Penn Room
  McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant
  1 South Broad Street
  Philadelphia, PA 19107
  *Please note that the SLA online scheduler incorrectly states our time for this event as 7:00-10:00 pm

Wednesday, June 15

This session has been cancelled by the Environment and Resource Management Division

•  Energy Issues in Libraries: Biofuels and Other Alternative Energies
  10:00 – 11:30 am
  Convention Center Room 106A
  Co-hosted with Environment & Resource Management Division,
  Biomedical & Life Sciences Division, Chemistry Division, Food, Agriculture & Nutrition Division and Petroleum & Energy Resources Division
  Abstract:  Learn more about biofuels and alternative energies as we discuss major initiatives and state and federal regulatory efforts. We’ll also explore how libraries can be prepared to handle questions on these hot topics. 



• Field Trip to the Arcadia Fine Arts Library at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
  12:00 – 1:30 pm
  Arcadia Fine Arts Library
  Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building, third floor
  128 North Broad Street
  215-972-2030
  Speaker:  Brian Duffy, Head Librarian
  Abstract:  Visit includes a tour of the library’s new space, information about digitization activities via their scanner station and slide collection, and a look at their online digitization project, ARTstor. The library is one block from the convention center.  Please contact John Cherney (608-320-4531 or john.cherney@dot.wi.gov) ahead of time if you plan on attending to give Brian a head count for the tour.  We will meet at the Registration Center in the Pennsylvania Convention Center. 

Dear colleagues,

I’m excited and honored to be chair of the SLA Transportation Division for 2010, following in the footsteps of Rita Evans, our new past chair. Thank you, Rita, for your excellent leadership of the Division; you are a true role model!

A few initiatives the Board and I hope to focus on this year include:
1) A new award for Division members, to be unveiled at the SLA Annual Conference in June
2) The development of a strategic plan for the Division
3) Membership growth

The SLA Annual Conference will be June 12-16 in New Orleans, Louisiana. I encourage all of you to attend. Registration is now open at http://www.sla.org/content/Events/conference/ac2010/index.cfm; register by April 2 for the best rate.

Highlights of the conference include:

* All-day networking and learning from each other at GTRIC, on Sunday June 13
* Keynote speeches by James Carville & Mary Matalin, and a provocative talk by Nicholas Carr of the Harvard Business Review on why IT is no longer relevant
* Educational sessions to help you refresh your professional skills
* Dinners and receptions for fun and socializing
* Continuing from last year’s conference: Unconferences and free wi-fi

I just returned from the Leadership Summit in St. Louis, Missouri. It was so motivating to learn more about SLA, the benefits the Association provides, and its future direction. Did you know that most of the resources in  Click University are free to members? Topics range from search strategies to web site management tips to career development tips.  SLA also offers free access to book summaries from execuBooks, so we can all stay up-to-date on the latest business and management books. Not to mention the resources of the Career Center, Information Outlook magazine, discounts on other library association memberships and conferences, and outstanding networking opportunities. Check it out at www.sla.org.

If you have questions or suggestions, or if you’d like an opportunity to become more involved in the Division, please call or e-mail me.

Regards,

Arlene

Arlene Mathison, Chair
Transportation Division, SLA

Director of Digital Information and Library Services
Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota
mathi032@umn.edu
612-624-3646

(Originally posted by Arlene Mathison)