ALABI

During ALABI 2009, ALABI President Kent Millwood led the breakout session on User-centered Practices in Libraries. Kent has graciously compiled notes used for the session and provided them for members of ALABI. Kent has some great content here, and he provided an excellent bibliography to help interested ALABI members pursue becoming even more user-centered.

The document is embedded below. If you would like to download a copy, click on “more,” then select “save document.”

User Centered Practices in Libraries

Tags: Annual Meeting, Technology // Comments Off

OCLC’s newly released WorldCat Local online catalog solution has quickly gathered a number of implementers. This new search and discovery service offers a number of advantages over traditional ILS catalogs. One Baptist library, the James P. Boyce Centennial Library at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently implemented a WorldCat Local instance to help them better serve their patrons. Rob Brunansky, the IT director at SBTS, shared this library’s “success story” on the OCLC site. Anyone is welcome to try the SBTS WorldCat Local instance if you would like to see how this solution differs from traditional catalogs.

Tags: Libraries // Add Comment »

The Virginia Baptist Historical Society has opened to researchers the 16 volumes of diaries, 1885-1889, kept by Dr. William Heth Whitsitt, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The diaries have been opened following the publication earlier this year of the biography W.H. Whitsitt: the Man and the Controversy by James H. Slatton (Mercer Press). Research appointments are required and contact should be made to Darlene Slater Herod, research assistant, at (804)289-8435 or VBHS, P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.

Tags: Collections // Comments Off

The minutes from the 2009 ALABI meeting are now available. They can be found on the meetings page, or you can click here to access them directly.

A hardy thank you to Eldonna Deweese for taking good minutes and distributing them in such a timely fashion!

Tags: Annual Meeting // Add Comment »

The 2009 annual ALABI conference was held at the Southern Baptist Convention building in Nashville, June 3-4. Sixteen attended the pre-conference workshop – “Exhibits on a Wing and Prayer: Effective Displays on Limited Budgets” – presented by Taffey Hall and Allan Lefever. There were 26 conference attendees.

In addition to the wonderful pre-conference, there were several superb conference presentations on user-centered libraries and archives, and a special video on Early Southern Baptist Films and Film Makers, which was in and of itself a wonderful documentary. There was also an informative discussion of current Baptist Digital initiatives at four of our institutions. We are grateful that several of the presenters have given us permission to post their presentations online. These will be announced as added.

Other successfully completed business this year includes the approval of the new constitution and by-laws, the tentative selection of Georgetown, Kentucky as the site of next year’s meeting, and the approval of next year’s conference theme – Archiving Electronic Records – including legal aspects, involving the Administration and IT Department as well as other leaders and gatekeepers, writing policies and procedures, identifying and using new information technology, and more.

A big thanks to Bill Sumners and his staff for hosting the conference, for Jason Fowler for creating the program, and for all the presenters and attendees for making the 2009 ALABI Conference a wonderful success.

Tags: Annual Meeting // Comments Off

I want to thank everyone who participated in this year’s ALABI meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Over the course of the next few days, I will try to post some of the exceptional presentations that our speakers brought this year.

One of the presentations that we heard this year was from Paul Roberts, the Director of Patron Services at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Paul’s presentation was was entitled “From MySpace to OurSpace: Fostering Community through Patron-Centered Spaces,” and he has graciously provided his manuscript for our consumption. His topic was weighty, and I am very grateful to him for providing a manuscript for us to review.

Tags: Annual Meeting // Comments Off

One thing always looms larger than anything else in the minds of Certified Archivists: recertification points. Yes, recertification points. Those little slips of paper that help one avoid ever having to sit through the CA exam again .

This year, ALABI can assist you in your quest for those recertification points. A pre-conference workshop is being offered at ALABI this year for an additional registration cost of $15.00. The workshop is entitled, “Exibits on a Wing and a Prayer: Effective Displays on Limited Budgets,” and is being presented by Taffey Hall of SBHLA and Alan Lefever of the Texas Baptist Historical Collection. Taffey has recently informed me that the Academy of Certified Archivists awarded this workshop two recertification points. This is yet another reason to plan to attend this year’s ALABI meeting in Nashville on June 3-4.

If you have not already made plans to attend this year, you still have time. All of the details about this year’s meeting can be found on the meetings page.

Tags: Annual Meeting // Comments Off

Some of you may be interested in this report that appeared on MSNBC last night about the value of libraries in difficult economic times.

Tags: Uncategorized // Comments Off

A colleague brought this article to my attention, and I thought some of you may find it interesting.

How do you think this recent development will change the way libraries and archives do their work?

(HT: Paul Roberts)

Tags: Books and reading, Technology // Comments Off

Theology, Religion, and Philosophy Librarian

The Baylor University Libraries seek an innovative, service-oriented professional to fill an Academic Professional position in the Reference & Library Instruction Unit of the Baylor University Libraries.  For position details and application information please visit  http://www.baylor.edu/hr_services/index.php?id=22640

Baylor, the world’s largest Baptist university, holds a Carnegie classification as a “high-research” institution.  Baylor’s mission is to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.  Baylor is actively recruiting new faculty with a strong commitment to the classroom and an equally strong commitment to discovering new knowledge as Baylor aspires to become a top tier research university all while retaining our Christian mission as described in Baylor 2012 (http://www.baylor.edu/vision/).

Baylor is a Baptist university affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.  As an AA/EEO employer, Baylor encourages minorities, women, veterans, & persons with disabilities to apply.

Tags: Employment Opportunities // Comments Off