It's Academic

With practically all of the Pennsylvania Library Association’s in-person conferences and gatherings moved to virtual platforms this year, it may seem distressing for the association’s divisions, chapters, and round tables to find constructive means of coming together to collaborate on projects. Without the benefits of face-to-face contact to feed off of one another’s energy, laughter, and critiques, projects have had to be mulled over and refined through an endless parade of Zoom or BlueJeans meetings and emails. Nonetheless, we have proven time and again to be a resilient association that has often faced its fair share of stumbling blocks and hurdles, only to surmount them. To that end, I am pleased to announce the latest project in development among members of the Technical Services Round Table (TSRT). 

Librarians and library associates who have technical services skills — acquisitions, collection development and management, systems management, cataloging and classification, preservation and archives, continuing resources, etc. — will soon have the opportunity to share with other members of the association that they are knowledgeable about details of these practices through the Technical Services Round Table Experts Directory. Our round table will be notifying the association when we are ready with our survey tool, where participants will be able to fill out what skills they possess and become a part of the resource directory. This makes it easier for other librarians and library associates to reach out to a technical services “expert” should they be faced with a question, challenge, or just good ol’ curiosity about this aspect of our profession. 

The Technical Services Round Table would like to especially thank Megan Babal, the Public Service and Outreach Librarian with the Henry Buhl Library at Grove City College. With her direction and assistance, we have been creating a template for the survey that we will use to gather the information necessary to create  content for the directory. Babal has also been instrumental in guiding us through the components of Google Data Studio, which will allow for interactive use of the directory once placed on PaLA’s website. It is my sincere hope that those of you with technical services skills/knowledge will consider completing and submitting the survey to be included in the directory so that your contact information will be readily available for those who need a helping hand or a question answered. While our Annual Conference will be much different this October, the TSRT is aiming to have more information ready to present to our fellow PaLA members at that time.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our communities in unique ways. It is for this reason that the Villanova University Archives, Falvey Memorial Library’s Digital Scholarship Librarian, and the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest are collaborating on the “Documenting COVID-19” collection effort.

In this initiative all Villanova students, faculty, full and part-time staff, and alumnae/i are invited to:

• Submit their story;
• Share photographs;
• Create or submit a video or audio recording;
• Create or submit a collection of digital objects;
• Share any reflections from this unique period. This may include experiences about school, work, home, or events surrounding the BLM protests.

The stated goal is to ensure that future generations will have original sources of information regarding the lives and times of Villanovans who experienced this global pandemic.

According to Preservation & Digital Archivist Beaudry Allen, collecting will be ongoing throughout the pandemic and in the subsequent weeks after the pandemic has passed. People are allowed to submit as many times as they like as events or emotions change. All submissions will be preserved in the University Archives at Falvey Library.

Also, unlike traditional collection initiatives, this collecting process is spontaneous and premised upon “crisis collecting.” This means that collecting activities occur simultaneously to events unfolding. The policies are based on the University’s Archives collecting policy and on best practices developed by the Tragedy Response Initiative of the Society of American Archivists. Read the policy and scope documents here.

If you have any questions about the project please contact: documentingcovid@villanova.edu.

-Adapted from Falvey Memorial Library’s “Documenting Covid-19: Submit Your Story!” webpage, which also has more information about the project leaders.

I took a cataloging and classification course back in the spring of 2016 while I was working on my Master of Library Science. While the course proved to be my Achilles’ heel, RDA seemed very intriguing to me, so I am happy to announce that the North American RDA Committee is holding its first online RDA Update Forum on Monday, August 3rd from 3:00 to 5:00 PM EST.

This free webinar will feature presentations from members of NARDAC and other RDA experts on recent activities and key RDA topics. The session will be recorded and publicly shared. Register now!

Program line-up (order and title of presentations subject to change)

• RDA Hot Topics, Thomas Brenndorfer, NARDAC Representative to the RSC
• RDA/PS conversion project update: the LC/PCC policy statements, Melanie Polutta, LC Representative to NARDAC
• Getting ready for the new RDA Toolkit: updates from Library and Archives Canada, Thi Bao Tran Phan, CCC Representative to NARDAC
• Translating the new RDA Toolkit into French, Daniel Paradis, Translations Team Liaison Officer
• RDA Toolkit Update, James Hennelly, Director of ALA Digital Reference
• RDA conformance in a complex environment, Stephen Hearn, ALA Representative to NARDAC
• 3R is almost done – what’s next? Kathy Glennan, RSC Chair

This notification comes courtesy of sent on behalf of Dominique Bourassa, ALA Representative to/Chair of NARDAC.