SLA 2014 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO

This session will provide an overview of the World Bank's open data projects featuring Tariq Khokar, Data Scientist  from the World Bank.

Program Take-Aways

1. Participants will learn about the concept of open data and about the World Bank's specific open data initiative.


2. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how the World Bank's open data has benefited a number of projects across the globe. 

Part One of Two-Part Series on "The Irreplaceable Info Pro". Special librarians have always managed information centers within larger organizations, but we don’t always see ourselves as business owners. Mary Ellen Bates gives you the tools to think like an internal entrepreneur, negotiate painlessly, stay customer-driven, and use “un-marketing” techniques to communicate effectively with your clients.

Program Take-Aways

1. Participants will learn to recognize opportunities to become an intrapreneur, however reluctant.


2. Participants will learn how to negotiate successfully, with Mary Ellen’s Joyful Negotiation strategies.


3. Participants will learn how to effectively “un-market” the info center to stakeholders.

Fish and shellfish provide a vital source of protein and essential fatty acids for the human diet around the world. They are wild caught or aquacultured at the rate of 150 million tons annually by industrial fleets and farm operations nominally regulated by national governments which have often have drastically diverging interests from those of other nations with whom they must share the seas. Many species are endangered, some aquaculture practices have been found hazardous to the environment, and the livelihood of small-scale, subsistence fishermen everywhere is imperiled. Corrective multinational seafood conservation treaties require massive data compilation & the development of an international scientific & political consensus on best practices. But informed consumers making wise choices in the market may well be the most influential factor in making seafood a sustainable resource. Information professionals have an important role to play at every step of the process.

Program Take-Aways
Participants will have a better understanding of the complexities of what is truly an international dilemma, will see how important fact-finding is, and yet understand how competing interests can look at the same set of  facts and come to very different conclusions.

Part Two of Two-Part Series on "The Irreplaceable Info Pro". To fully leverage our value, info pros must look beyond information retrieval and organization to providing strategic analysis and insights Gulp! Mary Ellen Bates offers strategies and approaches to recognizing where the greatest needs for higher-end analysis are and creating high-value services and products that amaze your clients.

Program Take-Aways

1. Participants will learn to see their role as an info pro in a challenging new light.


2. Participants will learn how to strategically manage their resources to provide the highest value possible and best ROI.


3. Participants will learn how to create information services that create fierce client loyalty. 

The 2014 SLA Annual Poster Session will showcase projects that are in keeping with the 2014 theme of Beyond Borders. Attendees will have the opportunity to talk directly and informally with those who have been selected.

Within an increasingly competitive funding landscape and with the push toward interdisciplinary research, a unique role exists for librarians and information specialists in facilitating collaborations and research dissemination through new and traditional means of scholarly communication. Promoting the use of social media and research sharing tools to connect with potential collaborators, keeping up with new developments in ‘altmetrics’, and providing embedded services and tools for measuring research impacts for grant reporting and promotion processes are just a few ways information professionals are making a difference. This program will illustrate some of these new roles for librarians in supporting the research mission of their institutions. This will take place in the form of brief talks followed by a facilitated panel discussion. The panel will include a librarian actively involved in these activities, and the viewpoints of faculty/researchers and/or administrators will be represented. In addition, I hope to invite a representative of an altmetrics tracking tool such as Impact Story or Plum Analytics to lend a more in-depth view on the role and future of this interesting trend.

Program Take-Aways

1. Participants will learn new tools of the trade for measuring research impacts and altmetrics.




2. Participants will be able to better support researchers and faculty in their use of traditional and new means of scholarly communication. 

All major officers of the division present their reports to the membership in which the previous year's progress is reviewed, current year's agenda confirmed, and the outlook for the coming year is projected. Suggestions for next year's convention programs are taken from the floor. Annual Awards are presented. Calls for candidates for next year's officers are issued.

Why should we care about copyright of state government information? Isn’t it all in the public domain? It’s public information just like federal government information, right? WRONG!

The ability of states to assert copyright over their publications still exists to this day. The consequences of this significantly impacts and impedes knowledge institutions' ability to digitize historic state publications, capture and archive born digital publications, and freely disseminate them to the public via library catalogs or digital repositories.

Bernadette Bartlett, Library of Michigan, and Kris Kasianovitz, Stanford University, have embarked on a project to demonstrate the constraints that copyright law places upon citizens, researchers, academic institutions and digital repositories, like HathiTrust, to release scanned post-1923 state government publications into the public domain as well as chart a paths forward to bring about change to this little discussed but major issue. Join us for a lively discussion of our project and find out how you can help!

Program Take-Aways

1. Participants are aware of the problems libraries face as stewards of state government information collections, especially when they want to reformat from print to digital or capture born digital materials.


2. Participants are introduced to the Free State Government Information project in order to generate support and grassroots connections that will result in fruitful policy clarification or change."