Category: May

LITA Committee Recognizing Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction – May 2020 Report


The group met 4-6 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
As a committee, we have met six times since Midwinter — April 9, April 30, May 21, June 18, July 9, and August 6 via Zoom, and are in touch in between via Connect and Slack. Independently, we are making our way through both publisher submissions (with 150 evaluations submitted as of August 7) and other titles we have identified as potential for the three lists that make up the Notables.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development

Second Activity
Tis group has been very conscientious in attending online meetings, especially considering we have a wide range of time zones, from Maritime Canada to Pacific island.s. Past-chair and current administrative assistant Dena Heilik is in touch with publishers to solicit submissions, and we have designated Jodi Purcell as chair-elect.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
We are moving to the stage of finalizing the lists, and will be reading intensively over the next few months as well as creating the annotations for the website. We will notify publishers after the Youth Media Award announcements.

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
WE are very grateful for the Zoom platform availability, it has been indispensible.

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
Since we were not able to conduct an author program at Annual, we are hoping that we can showcase the list in the future via a virtual event.

Additional comments or concerns:
Thank you for all of the communications regarding the transition to CORE.

Submitted by Wendy Stephens on 08/07/2020

Joint Working Group on eBooks and Digital Content in Libraries – May 2020 Report


The group met 1 time this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
We discussed Macmillan dropping their embargo on libraries being able to purchase ebooks in the wake of COVID-19. Chair Kelvin Watson discussed his opinion piece in Library Journal https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=addressing-econtent-issues-in-times-of-crisis
The group finds that determining what deliverables we want to present to ALA is a moving target as the world around us changes and has changed drastically since this group was formed. We have a meeting in August that will focus on the deliverables and our path forward.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Information Policy

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Finalizing the form of what our deliverables will be to ALA.

Submitted by John Klima on 08/04/2020

Membership Development Committee – May 2020 Report


The group met 4-6 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
The committee coordinated a joint LITA/LLAMA/ALCTS "happy hour" during Midwinter at Roy Pitz Barrel House, led by Pauline Stacchini. The event was well attended, attendees represented a mix of divisions, and received positive feedback.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement, Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Second Activity
The committee's Vice Chair, Anne Pepitone, led a series of LITAchat events beginning in April that covered both lighter-hearted topics, such as favorite zoom backgrounds, more serious topics, such as self care and morale management during alternate operations, and professional development topics, such as tools that aid productivity working from home. Anne's ability to make these social media enabled discussions interactive, fun but also earnest in their tone made them a success.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement

Third Activity
The committee hosted a virtual "happy hour" event for LITA/ALCTS/LLAMA divisions in June, alongside ALA's virtual annual conference. The event was held using Zoom and was co-hosted by Anne Pepitone and Ida Joiner, and featured comments by outgoing division presidents, games and a general social/networking time.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement, Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Under the leadership of Anne Pepitone, the committee will take part in transitional exercises as the divisions comprising the future Core work to align themselves toward a unified, reoriented structure and mission.

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
This was a difficult, transitional year characterized primarily by uncertainty of the future. As such the committee, with no differing guidance, focused on the already established annual events and items left to it, such as LITAchat and the happy hour events.

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
Establishing, during this transitional phase, a series of outreach "touch points" with membership will be vital as Core collectively defines itself to its members. Within LITA this falls across both the MDC and Communications committees. In Core it will be important that whomever owns this responsibility that individual members are communicated with frequently to facilitate a new, group sense of community as Core, not as refugees of LITA.

Submitted by Leland Deeds on 08/02/2020

Communications and Marketing Committee – May 2020 Report


The group met 0 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Continued to post marketing requests to appropriate social media channels.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
I anticipate that our work will be absorbed into a new Core committee in August, which is a recommendation I have made to working groups. We will not be doing any other work prior to that.

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
I think this year had a number of special circumstances given the shift to Core and COVID. Staff were busy and committee members had to prioritize other work. We may have benefited from more direction or communication, however I understand the strain everyone was under.

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
I have made this recommendation to at least one working group, but I think that ideally CAM's work should be absorbed into a larger committee. CAM's work over the last few years has largely become rote social media dissemination. The work no longer really resembles the group's charge. Realistically, social media could be one aspect of a larger committee's work, with a few volunteers charged with supporting it. Marketing and communication strategy would do better tied to groups like member engagement, development, or education, etc. I think this is an opportune time to re-examine the structure or charges of any communications and marketing focused committes.

Additional comments or concerns:
In December we had started working with staff to pivot our work towards better understanding what content did well on social media and engaging new LITA members. However, with the change in our lives due to COVID-19, lead up to the vote, and then the transition to CORE, that work largely stopped so we just kept up the operational aspect of posting marketing requests to social media over the last few months. However, marketing requests have also diminished over the last year.

Submitted by Cameron Cook on 07/29/2020

LITA / Library Hi Tech Award Committee – May 2020 Report


The group met 1 time this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Posted a call for nominations for the LITA/Library-Hi Tech award (December, January)
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Second Activity
Scored applicants and selected an award recipient (February)
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Nothing. Our group's work is completed, and I believe Emerald does not plan to sponsor this award going forward.

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
I was new to this committee, so I would have appreciated some contact and guidance between agreeing to be chair and when the work needed to begin. I was unclear about what needed to happen, so we got a late start. That said, all worked out well in the end.

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
I'd love to see the award continue, even if Emerald will no longer sponsor. We need ways to recognize those who make a significant impact.

Submitted by Janet Crum on 07/29/2020

Appointments Committee – May 2019 Report


The group met 4-6 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
We completed the appointments for 2019-2020 with the exception of two committees that require a large number of members, for which we still have some outstanding invitations.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement, Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Finishing the last couple of appointments, then handing over the reins to the next iteration of the committee. Further, after discussion with the incoming presidents of ALCTS and LLAMA about a joint presidential program, I will be looking for two people for a new assignment, participating in a committee for the program.

Submitted by Emily Morton-Owens on 06/18/2019

Open Source Systems Interest Group – May 2019 Report

Recent Activities

First Activity
We will be hosting a panel at ALA Annual with a couple of speakers. In addition, we will be trying again to bring in a new chair and co-chair to the IG.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement, Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Planning for ALA Midwinter, and finding people to lead the IG.


The incoming chair is Rob Nunez

Submitted by Rob Nunez and Jake Ineichen on 06/07/2019

E-rate and CIPA Compliance Interest Group – May 2019 Report

Recent Activities

First Activity
We will be hosting a discussion during ALA on eRate Audits. There was going to be a presentation, but the individual decided to be apart of another panel.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Conduct this event at Annual, and renew the IG.


The incoming chair is Vicki Teal Lovely

Submitted by Robert Nunez and Vicki Teal Lovely on 06/07/2019

Heads of Library Technology Interest Group – May 2019 Report

Recent Activities

First Activity
LITA Heads of Library Technology Interest Group
Saturday, June 22

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Location: Marriott Marquis, Supreme Court

Discovery Layer Decisions and Configurations – A Panel Discussion. Decisions abound when implementing a discovery layer. Does the library use one discovery layer to access all their materials? Or select multiple products? Or create different instances of the same product? For the different products/instances, which parts of the collection are targeted? This session will be a panel discussion between three libraries on how they reached their decisions, how they implemented them, and how they assessed their impact.

· Allen Jones, The New School

· Michael Paulmeno, Skidmore College

· Cynthia R. Schwarz, Temple University

· Moderator: Ray Schwartz, William Paterson University

ALA Unit/Subunit: LITA
Meeting Type: Discussion Group, Interest Group
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Closed: Open

https://www.eventscribe.com//2019/ALA-Annual/fsPopup.asp?Mode=presInfo&PresentationID=519677
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
LITA Heads of Library Technology Interest Group
Saturday, June 22

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Location: Marriott Marquis, Supreme Court

Discovery Layer Decisions and Configurations – A Panel Discussion. Decisions abound when implementing a discovery layer. Does the library use one discovery layer to access all their materials? Or select multiple products? Or create different instances of the same product? For the different products/instances, which parts of the collection are targeted? This session will be a panel discussion between three libraries on how they reached their decisions, how they implemented them, and how they assessed their impact.

· Allen Jones, The New School

· Michael Paulmeno, Skidmore College

· Cynthia R. Schwarz, Temple University

· Moderator: Ray Schwartz, William Paterson University

ALA Unit/Subunit: LITA
Meeting Type: Discussion Group, Interest Group
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Closed: Open

https://www.eventscribe.com//2019/ALA-Annual/fsPopup.asp?Mode=presInfo&PresentationID=519677


The incoming chair is Kelly Kobiela

Submitted by Ray Schwartz and Kelly Kobiela on 06/02/2019