ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

Coexisting with Wildlife

When most people talk about "wildlife," said Stephen Vantassel in an SLA session today, they think of Bambi. 

But sooner or later most of us will have to deal with critters we would do anything to be rid of.

Vantassel, from the University of Nebraska, operates a Web site that your patrons, employers or you yourself may need to consult. 

He described his Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management site  (http://icwdm.org)  as a place to find "out of the way information" on research-based techniques to solve or prevent animal problems.  Among the tools available on the site are decision trees that drive the user to a conclusion about what animal is involved in a specific type of damage and what to do about it. 

Speaking at the same session Ken Logan (puma expert and currently working with Colorado Division of Wildlife on a project to study human interactions with puma), drove the point home for anyone living in the Western United States. 

A million new people are expected to move to Colorado in the next 10 years, Logan said.  The area being developed, along the front ridge of the Rockies and to the west of Denver, is "prime puma habitat."  Though documented Puma attacks on humans over the last 100 years are low, they have increased in recent years and children are vulnerable.  If you go skiing or hiking in puma habitats, he recommended, you keep your children with you.  If confronted, don’t run.  Most of his tagged cats either fled or stayed put when approached.  But in a small number of incidents they have charged him as he attempted to get close enough to count their cubs. 

Dick Kaser
ITI,VP. Content

Dr. Logan’s book on Puma is reviewed here:  http://www2.nau.edu/cpscb-p/DesertPumaPBReview.htm

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

The Transportation Division sponsored a session on “The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) in Transition”.  It featured a representative of NTIS and a long-time user of its products.

When people hear NTIS mentioned many of them say, “Oh, NTIS is still around?”  According to Ellen Herbst, its Director, the good news is that after some difficult years, NTIS is now out of survival mode and is making strategic moves for growth going forward.

 From its small beginning after World War II, NTIS, whose first job was to translate captured German and Japanese documents and disseminate them, has grown into a major information service of the US Government, gathering reports of technical information, adding bibliographic control, and then disseminating it as widely as possible.  Along with the rest of the information industry, NTIS has seen major changes as the Web has impacted it.  Most agencies now put their technical reports on their Websites, so NTIS has had to change its operating methods from print, microfiche, and microfilm to receive most of its content electronically.  And since Web sites change or disappear with great regularity, a major challenge is to get copies of reports before they disappear.  Despite major advances in electronic information delivery, NTIS does not plan to discard the older formats; as long as customers want them, NTIS will produce and deliver them.

The NTIS document collection has about 3 million titles, mainly from the Federal sector.  (Private sector publications are added only if the underlying research was funded in whole or part by government money.)  About 20% of the collection is electronic; studies are underway to develop methods to digitize the remainder.  This is a huge task; the average report is 138 pages long, so millions of pages will be included in this project. 

A current key initiative of NTIS is to determine what it should look like in 2010.  A “roadmap” is being developed to achieve the goals.  NTIS has recognized is that just having a technical report and making it possible to view it online will not ensure its survival.  It must be provided in multiple ways that people use information, such as subscription services (SRIM), alerting (NTIS Alerts). 

Studies have shown that the NTIS Website, NTIS.gov, is not the first place people go to find scientific and technical information in reports, so NTIS is working on how to make the site more visible and enhance the user experience. 

Rita Evans, from the Institute of Transportation Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley described how they have used NTIS’s products and services for many years.  The Library has 75,000 technical reports in microfiche, print, and electronic form.  Evans described a number of issues that they face and concerns they have.  Some of their concerns include:

Converting their significant collection of microfiche to electronic form,
Difficulties finding reports in the NTIS database,
Falloff in the number of reports deposited at NTIS by government agencies, and
Different approaches to accessing and preserving digital documents.

Don Hawkins
Columnist, Information Today

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

The 16th Street Mall is a wonderful pedestrianized street lined with shops and restaurants of all descriptions, as many attendees have undoubtedly discovered.  But did you know that the whole mall is a large free Wi-Fi hotspot?  It’s a great place to enjoy the beautiful weather while checking e-mail and, yes, reading this blog.  Best of all, it’s only a block north of the Convention Center.  Enjoy!

Don Hawkins
Columnist, Information Today

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

 One of the most entertaining and interesting conference sessions I have ever attended was the one sponsored by SLA’s Sci-Tech Division yesterday on The Science of Beer.  Charlie Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis had everyone laughing uproariously at his humorous description of how beer is made and what happens during the process.  Fortunately, it was light on the basic chemistry and heavy on the description–see the charts below which show the process involved in making beer, and some of its characteristics.  (Who would have thought that there was so much to learn about beer?)

Bamforth lost no opportunity in poking fun at his friends and those who also drink that beverage made from grapes that "only comes in red, white, or pink versions", and he said that there is infinitely more variety in beer–that Golden Nectar.  Of course, that was his opinion, and he made that clear.

So why was this in a conference of information professionals?  Well, Bamforth has written several books on the subject, and it’s always good for subject specialists to have some background expertise in the subjects their customers are interested in.  Judging from the enthusiastic receiption of the audience, the program planners came away with a major success.  The only thing they could have done to improve the session was to provide samples of the products that Bamforth descibed!

Don Hawkins
Columnist, Information Today

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

Barb Brynko and I were coming down the escalator and spotted this Native American at the bottom.  Many people thought he was a statue, and he seemed to enjoy moving his spear around, with the predictable results!

Don Hawkins
Columnist, Information Today

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

Here is Information Today’s president, Tom Hogan Sr., replete in his new Hawaiian shirt, moderating the synergy session yesterday morning.  Dick and Paula have provided some thoughts; here are some more.

There seemed to be a universal concern running through most of the questions, and that was how can special librarians prove their worth to their organizations, especially the business leaders.  Eugenie Prime was adamant that  we must be sure that we are worth investing in because if we don’t believe it, there will be no continuity.  We must deliver results and communicate them well.  You need real-life stories and examples, not a Powerpoint presentation or statistics.  It’s not natural for business leaders to think of information professionals.  This is a difficult task and will not work overnight. Eugenie feels that SLA has a very important role to play.  Steve Abram agreed, saying that  when we hand somebody an article, we must tell them how hard it was to find it and why it meets their needs.  We must improve our self-esteem and make sure that people understand that their competiitive advantage is lowered if they don’t use the services of an information professional.  Cliff Lynch said that we must make a case for value, and that real-life stories do that.

One questioner wondered what are the core competencies needed by information professionals.  The panel was unanimous that they were not technological because technology rapidly becomes obsolete.  Eugenie said that we should always operate according to business principles.  You can lead from the bottom of the hierarchy, especially if you have confidence in your skills and what you offer.

One interesting suggestion from the panel was that SLA should put ads about the profession in business publications such as Fortune or Business Week.

Don  Hawkins
Columnist, Information Today

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

As Marydee noted in her post (below), we had a full dance card of invitations for last night’s vendor receptions.  We were able to attend only a few.  We ran into many old business associates and made some new contacts in the process. 

Photos

Upper Left:  Jay Trolley (Thomson) , second from left, poses with members of the ITI editorial staff:  Barb Brynko (far left), Dick Kaser and Paula Hane (right) at the Thomson/Dialog reception, Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Upper Right:  ITI’s Walter McQuillen and Scott McFarland (Wolters-Kluwer), left, at Ovid’s reception, Palm Restaurant.

Lower Left:   At Elsevier’s reception, a generally camera-shy Marydee Ojala gave me a big smile . . .

Lower Right:  . . . and big smiles all around.

Dick Kaser
ITI, VP, Content

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

Denver at night. View from top of the the Grand Hyatt. Thanks to Elsevier for inviting the ITI blog team to its dessert reception a mile and 38 stories above sea level.

Dick Kaser
ITI, VP, Content

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ITI Bloggers June 5th, 2007

Somehow Monday night of SLA has become party night. I suppose it’s because the exhibit hall opens on Sunday, the keynote is Sunday night, leaving Monday free for vendor parties, since they’re packing up after the exhibit hall closes on Tuesday. Sessions, of course, continue on Wednesday for conference attendees.

When SLA was in Seattle — and I confess I can’t remember which year that was — Ruth Pagell and I decided to set our personal best record for parties attended. This was helped by the fact that vendor parties were almost all within walking distance. We clocked 7 — and managed that by drinking water (mostly) rather than wine. I think I had a beer at one place.

Since Denver is another walking town, I thought maybe I could best our record. I’m here to report that, although I failed, I still had some wonderful experiences at parties. I talked with Clare Hart at both the International reception at the Hyatt and the Dow Jones (aka Factiva) party at the Denver Athletic Club. I had a profound discussion with some folks at the EIU party at the Brown Palace Hotel (what a gorgeous place!), and danced at the Elsevier party at the Pinnacle Club at the Grand Hyatt with its spectacular views of the city. Did other parties as well, but you’ll have to ask me about those privately.

Seattle is next year and another opportunity for record setting!

Marydee Ojala

Editor: ONLINE: The Leading Magazine for Information Professionals, www.onlinemag.net

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