MLA Tech Meeting

I've become slack with posting about the meetings I attend so, in an attempt to rectify my lazy ways here's what went down at the most recent MLA Technology Committee Meeting on November 29th.

Any MLA members are welcome to join the Tech Committee. Just contact Stuart Ragland for more information.

In-house equipment for MLA 
The Tech Committee would like to get the MLA office their own laptop, projector, and screen for use during meetings and presentations at the MLA office (and potentially at off site locations like the annual conference). Some team members, including myself, were asked to gather some more information about the options available to us so we can make more informed decisions when we get the green light to buy, buy, buy.

Staff development meeting follow-up
There is a subcommittee of the statewide staff development coordinators that is headed by Joanne Trepp that has agreed to take on the task of coordinating online learning exchanges. The first event they are hoping to do is an online follow up to an LMD (leadershp and management division) event. Joanne wanted to check with Margaret to make sure it'd be OK for her subcommittee to hold an online learning exchanged fueled by the LMD event that is free. The concern here being that most MLA events charge a fee but Margaret said that due to past discussion and decisions made by the PDP (professional development panel) that MLA does not charge for discussion group events - regardless of whether they are held in an online or physical location). In the end, Margaret decided that she'll get back to Joanne and let her know that she indeed has MLA's blessing, zero charge and all.

Recording the annual conference
Stuart recommended considering live streaming parts of the conference in 2013 using such technology like Ustream. I let him know that there is going to be a Ustream test on Dec. 10th with some folks, including myself, from across the state. So, the committee agreed to wait and see what the Dec. 10th event finds and to go from there.

The committee also selected preconferences and programs that at-first-read sound worthy of being recorded. Margaret is going to compile a list of the programs we selected so we can check for overlap in the schedule and finalize our first picks. MLA will need to get the presenters' consent for recording in advance so, the sooner we make our decisions the better.

We also talked about the need to increase the amount of video cameras we have access to at the conference. Right now we have 3 which greatly limits our recording capabilities. If anyone reading this has a proper video camera and tripod that you wouldn't mind letting the Tech Committee borrow for three days in May, will you please let me know?

Praise for photocopier subcommittee
Yes, there once was a photocopier subcommittee and they did a fantastic job of hooking the MLA office up with a brand spanking new super scanner/copier extraordinaire. Yay!

MLA Tech Committee Meeting

Hidy Ho,

I was getting ready to write up my thoughts from today's MLA's Technology Committee Meeting and I thought, why not post these things to the Learning Journal Blog? So, here's to trying something new. Plus I think this will help aid WMRL's efforts in being more transparent to our colleagues in Washington, Allegany, and Garrett counties.

I was recently asked by Margaret Carty, Executive Director of the Maryland Library Association, to represent the Synchronous Trainers group on the MLA Tech Committee and so, today was the first time I attended a meeting with this group. Below are some of the most pressing issues we discussed and I'd welcome your thoughts and comments on the matters so that I may share them with the committee via email and/or via our next F2F (face to face) meeting.

SMUG: Social Media Users Group
The tech committee recently received a request from Mary Baykan to consider creating a social media interest group for the purposes of:

1. Focusing on eLibrarians and other colleagues across the state who are responsible for maintaining our libraries' virtual spaces such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, etc. and to give those folks a support network so they can collaborate and share efforts. (Mary, if you're reading this, please feel free to clarify because I'm paraphrasing Stuart Ragland's and Amanda Bena's words)
2. Creating social media focused staff development programs at the MLA annual conference and as stand-alone programs throughout the year.

The committee decided that we are definitely within our limits of creating such a group but Margaret is going to approach Elizabeth Hulett to find out who exactly from the Maryland Library Leadership Institute was interested in working on this project and then after that, we as a committee can just help get the ball rolling and perhaps offer one of our members up as a liaison to the SMUG. So, a lot of this is still in the works.

Tech Committee's Conference Review:
We took some time to review the committee's role during MLA's most recent annual conference. The majority of the heavy lifting was done by Carroll County - who provided the majority of the technology and the tech support during the event - plus Stuart Ragland (EPFL/SLRC) and Scott Reinhart (CCPL) who were the two primary videographers. This lead into a discussion about if and how library systems are awarding CEUs for staff who watch the videos of the recorded conference programs.  Margaret asked me to send out an email to the Maryland Staff Development Coordinators listserv to informally poll what the systems are doing. I've asked - at least of the WMRL staff - that in order to earn CEUs they must watch a video in its entirety and then post a learning reflection to this blog. Both must be completed before I will award a CEU.

We then discussed how we record the individual programs and if there is a better way of recording them to make them more valuable - for instance, is there a way for us to videotape a program and then synch the audio/visual with the presenter's PowerPoint slides? There was also a request from one library system that we find a way to make the videos closed captioned so, we're going to look into that as well.

Charging for MLA Webinars:
Margaret asked the committee to make a recommendation to the Professional Development Panel (these folks screen and approve/disapprove all MLA non-conference programs that are received throughout the year based on content, presenter, etc) regarding the idea of charging for MLA programs that are webinars. We decided to recommend that any MLA programs that are going to be offered in webinar format should follow the same guidelines as those programs being offered F2F which pretty much comes down to charging a minimum of $10 per contact hour awarded; the price could increase to cover any presenter fees.

Podcasting

When I attended Mid-winter I received a really nice handout about how beginners can get started with podcasting. It is pretty informative and lengthy, but I'm going to try and set up some of the main points here. You could probably get more information by going to www.ala.org/yalsa and looking at the resources for Teen Tech Week.

What is a podcast?: It's a digital recording that you can put on your computer or personal communication device.

Why do podcasts with teens?

• Record major events such as talent seaches, author visits, open mic nights
• Booktalking-this is a great way to get teens to review books and to share the reviews
• Showcase creative projects
• Discussions or information that you may want to share
• Archive important stories or information

Equipment Needed:

PC microphone or digital voice recorder

Recording/editing software

Computer

For more information on he recording and uploading of the podcast, check out the YALSA site listed above!

Podcasting Resources:

Teen Podcasters Network www.teenpodcasters.com

Podcasts & Teens-Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki- www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Podcasts_%26_Teens

Podcasting 101 www.infotoday.com/cilmag/apr06/Eash.shtml

Podcasting Toolkit http://mashable.com/2007/07/04/podcasting-toolbox/

I am really interested in getting some of this going with my county. I know that Allegany is also working on this. If you are working on podcasting in your county/branch, please share your ideas!