President's Message

The music has begun to play and the hook will no doubt be employed to pull me off the stage. So ends my five minutes of fame. Alas, all my campaign promises did not become reality, but then again I ran unopposed so there were not all that many anyway. Seriously, there were a number of things that I hoped to accomplish while I was President. CARL made tremendous headway in a number of areas due to the strong commitment of its board and members. We worked to get people involved in CARL activities. As a result, we had actual races for board offices, over 40 volunteers helping with the CARL conference, and people contacting us about getting more involved. We streamlined content and focused board discussions, which resulted in two online and two in-person board meetings that were well attended and productive. Deliverables included a means for interest groups to accept credit cards for program registration, a new home for our physical archives at Chapman University, a signed hotel contract for the 2014 CARL Conference, and possible new configurations for interest groups to flourish. We even tried some new things that were well received at the conference, including an evening poster and exhibit session to kick off the conference, accepting more sessions that encouraged activities and discussion, and hosting the annual business meeting within the conference to encourage broader attendance.

Unfortunately, we still have a tremendous way to go. For a group of librarians, our use and preservation of information is appalling. CARL has information and documents on the CARL Website, Board Only Site, and a Board Wiki. As mentioned in my first column, there is a ton of redundancy and information noise. Twice this year I thought that I had the most recent document and began revising and planning; only to find out that it was not the most current version and my and others’ work was all for naught. As Past President, I promise to work to improve our information preservation and devise systems and tools that will aid transition from one board to another. This process has already begun with revision to key documents by various board members, most notably Pam Howard (Treasurer) and Ned Fielden (Northern Vice President). Melissa Browne (Secretary), Mira Foster (Newsletter Editor), and Hesper Wilson (Webmaster) have also helped tremendously by updating and communicating board, committee, award, and scholarship information. However, this is a huge project and required much more time than I had as President and CARL Conference Chair. Therefore, I promise to continue working on this daunting but beneficial project as your past president.

The good news is that as I am yanked kicking and screaming off the stage, there is a President with an expansive vision and a razor sharp wit to take the stage. His name is Ned Fielden, and his returning cast includes Stephanie Brasley (Southern Vice-President), Pam Howard (Treasurer), Melissa Browne (Secretary), Kelly Janousek (Membership Director ), Les Kong (ACRL Chapters Council Delegate), Shana Higgins (Private Institutions Director-at-Large), and Billy Pashaie (Community Colleges Director-at-Large). They will be joined by Kathlene Hanson (Northern Vice-President), Lise Snyder (Director at large UC), and Liz Ginno (Director at large CSU). With Ned’s passion for mentoring students and new professionals, outreach commitment to potential CARL members, and creative program ideas, I see many rave reviews in CARL’s future.

Amy Wallace
CSU Channel Islands

CARL Business

CARL Election Results

CARL Elections took place via secured Survey Monkey voting from October 27 through November 9th. The winners are:

• Vice President- North: Kathlene Hanson, CSU Monterey Bay
• Membership Director: Kelly Janousek, CSU Long Beach
• Director at Large for University of California (UC): Lise Snyder, UCLA
• Director at Large for California State University (CSU): Liz Ginno, CSU East Bay

Special thanks to Brena Smith, Matt connor, and Ken Lyons for also running for CARL office.

Treasurer's Report

CARL is solvent. We have reduced the 2010 Executive board costs by adopting virtual meetings for 2 of our yearly meetings. Note that the donations at the 2010 conference to support awards and scholarships were a whopping $5,400.00. These awards/scholarships funds are brought in once every two years to support awards and scholarships every year. That begs the question: where are we picking up the extra for awards/scholarships in 2011?

CARL’s operating expenses to support all activities of CARL (accountant, insurance, etc) are a little over $4000.00 per year. Stipends to CARL officeholders (Web Coordinator, Newsletter Editor, Treasurer, and Membership Coordinator) are $300.00 each; for an outlay of $1,200/year. Summing these two yearly expenses ($4,000.00 + $1,200.00= $5,200.00) illustrates why CARL raised the membership dues last year, and why special interest programs that have a positive income balance for a program contribute to the overall well-being of CARL.

Pam Howard
CARL Treasurer
San Francisco State University

Interest Group News

SEAL-S Fall 2010 Program Report
The ABCs of Data Curation and Scholarly Communication
October 15, 2010
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

The fall program included a continental breakfast, presentations from four speakers, lunch, and a tour of the newly renovated University Library at Cal Poly Pomona. There were general presentations on both data curation and scholarly communication followed by specific examples. Each speaker was asked to give a forty minute presentation to allow time for questions and discussion.

The first two speakers covered the topic of data curation. Jeanine Scaramozzino (jscaramo@calpoly.edu), College of Science and Mathematics Librarian, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, offered a general overview of data curation, with specific emphasis on science and engineering implications. Karen Baker (kbaker@ucsd.edu), Information Manager, Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, offered examples of her experiences as an information manager collaborating with various groups while at Scripps. Both talks were so interesting and the attendees so engaged that lunch had to be shortened!

The final two speakers covered the topic of scholarly communication. Kimberly Douglas (kdouglas@library.caltech.edu), University Librarian, California Institute of Technology, presented on markets in scholarly communication and used the SCOAP3 model to illustrate the challenges that the library community faces in contemplating change. Karen Butter (Karen.Butter@ucsf.edu), University Librarian and Assistant Vice Chancellor, University of California, San Francisco, presented on the recent topic of the possible UC system wide boycott of Nature Publishing Group.

These talks were also extremely interesting and the attendees so engaged that everyone had to be encouraged to follow up with additional questions after the program. At the conclusion of the program, Ann Morgan, Engineering Librarian and Collection Management Coordinator at Cal Poly Pomona, provided a tour of the library for anyone interested. A good time was had by all!

For additional information on SEAL-South and its past programs go to http://www.carl-acrl.org/ig/seals/.

Submitted by Christina Mayberry
SEAL-S Program Chair
CSU Northridge
christina.mayberry@csun.edu

CARL-DIG South Fall Program Report
“How Do I Assess That?”
December 3, 2010

“How Do I Assess That?” was the title of a well-attended fall program held on Friday, December 3, 2010, at the Von der Ahe Suite of Loyola Marymount University’s William H. Hannon Library. Hosted jointly by the California Academic Reference Librarians Discussion Interest Group – South (CARLDIG-South) and the William H. Hannon Library at LMU, the program was dedicated to the memory of Karin Durán, Ph.D., who served as librarian at the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge. The event’s focus was the assessment of reference services, and it provided attendees with information about available programs and strategies for learning how their users take advantage of reference services and the type of assistance users receive—both in person and online. Featured presenters included Cynthia Johnson, Head of Reference at UC Irvine Libraries; Will Breitbach, Library Instruction Coordinator at CSU Fullerton’s Pollak Library; and Georg Romero, Library Director at Cabrillo College.

In her presentation, Cynthia Johnson described an assessment of the QuestionPoint cooperative digital reference service, particularly in relation to how it meets the information needs of UC Irvine students. Prior to participating in the QuestionPoint reference service, UC Irvine had only participated in a cooperative digital reference service among the ten UC campuses. The assessment was not only concerned with the accuracy of the information provided to users, but also with the quality of the reference transaction. To help determine effectiveness and quality, assessment was based on a rubric developed by the Maricopa Community Colleges. Chat transcripts were analyzed for a set of reference questions answered by non-UCI librarians. Scores were assigned in the following areas: greeting, reference interview, quality of sources, factual information, instruction, interpersonal skills, and conclusion. Johnson also shared an assessment of the top ten digital reference questions, ranging from finding an article, to beginning research on a specific topic, to locating a book in the library. The transcript analysis not only confirmed the effectiveness of the QuestionPoint cooperative reference service, but it also allowed the UCI Libraries to assist their users in navigating its website and services more effectively.

Will Breitbach discussed the experience of Cal State Fullerton’s Pollak Library in using the Wisconsin Ohio Reference Evaluation Program (WOREP) to assess its in-person reference service transactions. Based at Kent State University in Ohio, this program has a nominal cost and requires a minimum of 100 paired surveys completed by librarians and library users. Service cost includes data analysis that provides the library with local results as well as comparative results for similar libraries. The Pollak Library assessed reference transactions only for research-related questions, sampling the first two measurable transactions of operating hours selected to reflect all hours when in-person reference service is offered. Breitbach explained that libraries also may opt to assess all measurable questions within a sampling hour. In addition, he discussed the need to minimize impact on assessment results by presenting the user with a survey at the end of the reference transaction. Libraries also need to consider training implications prior to the assessment to ensure consistent administration procedures among librarians, especially with respect to coding the subject area(s) of each question. Breitbach shared favorable results from the Pollak Library’s participation in WOREP and described both positive and negative perceptions of satisfaction levels from the user’s perspective. He concluded with considerations for future implementations of WOREP.

For the final presentation, Georg Romero described the process of assessing student learning outcomes (SLOs) at Cabrillo College’s library—from stakeholder buy-in through the multi-faceted discussions surrounding the library’s role in impacting and measuring learning in its user community. After sharing his library’s decision to focus on a practical and relevant assessment strategy, Romero provided a detailed description of the following assessment options: narrative descriptions; statistical measures; student self-assessment; focus groups; post-transaction sampling surveys/interviews; other survey models. In the case of the Cabrillo College library, multiple assessment strategies have been implemented. One self-assessment by students indicates positive results in four competency areas (i.e., finding and evaluating information; using the library to learn new information; communicating more effectively as a result of using library services; and improving group participation skills through library-related activities). Romero underscored the importance of not being afraid to engage in assessment. The practice of regularly collecting data, discussing it, and acting upon it may offer both anticipated benefits (e.g., improving a library’s effect on student learning) as well as unanticipated benefits (e.g., increasing a team approach throughout the library).

The program included discussion moderated by CARLDIG-South Chair Michael Yonezawa (UC Riverside), who provided a wrap-up at the conclusion of the event. CARLDIG-South would like to express its sincere gratitude to Cynthia Johnson, Will Breitbach, and Georg Romero for their time and preparation and also acknowledge the program attendees and CARLDIG-South members who contributed to making this event a success.

For more information on the CARLDIG-South interest group as well as related links to material presented at the fall program, please visit: http://www.carl-acrl.org/ig/carldigs.

Submitted by Adolfo Prieto
CSU Fullerton
aprieto@fullerton.edu

CARL Awards

2010 CARL Honorary Outstanding Member Awardee

The late Dr. Karin Duran, a librarian at CSU Northridge, was a staunch and enthusiastic supporter of CARL. She was the consummate volunteer, readily helping where needed, often behind the scenes. For her tireless efforts in advancing the mission of CARL, her commitment to students, and her dedication to promoting academic library services in California and beyond, Dr. Duran has been awarded the 2010 CARL Honorary Outstanding Member award. CARL is having the National Forest Foundation plant twenty trees in her honor to recognize her deep-rooted contributions to CARL. She is sorely missed, but her legacy will live on!

Submitted by Stephanie Brasley
CARL-VP South
California State University
sbrasley@calstate.edu

SCIL 2011 Professional Development Scholarship

SCIL is proud to present its first SCIL Professional Development Scholarship to Nancy Almand of Fresno City College. Nancy will received subsidies to attend the upcoming SCIL Works Mini-Conference on January 7, 2011. For more information about the Southern California Instruction Librarians interest group go to http://www.carl-acrl.org/ig/scil/. Congratulations Nancy!

California Library Snapshot Day

A Snapshot of California Academic Libraries

68 Academic libraries throughout the state of California participated in California Library Snapshot Day on October 4, 2010. Sponsored by the California Library Association (CLA), the Snapshot Day efforts will assist in educating our users, communities, and stakeholders as to the critical role that libraries play in supporting literacy and educational goals. While by no means scientifically valid, or research-based, the data gathered, nevertheless, will help to inform California libraries’ future decision-making and strategic planning efforts.

Participants included 22 CSU libraries, 8 UC libraries, 9 private universities and 29 community colleges.

There were 1,825,974 registered academic library users on October 4th, with 304,385 visitors on that day. Academic libraries got 467,730 web site “hits,” only 2.4% for all types of libraries participating. However, there were 306,678 licensed databases accessed by academic library users, 88% of the state’s use for the day. Of that number 195,463 came from CSU libraries.

On one October Monday academic librarians answered 13,040 in person reference questions and 5,475 individuals attended library instruction sessions. 57,158 people used computers in academic libraries, which was 33.7% for all California library computer use for the day. Over half of the counted laptop users could be found at academic libraries, a total of 8,413. Participating libraries counted 6,207 students using their study rooms.

54,818 items were checked or renewed from academic libraries on October 4, 2010, with UC library patrons leading the pack at 22,480 items. Users accessed course reserves 16,651 times and special collections 11,227 times. Over 6 thousand patrons used academic library group study rooms.

Here are some selected statistics from CLA's snapshot day results:

Submitted by Les Kong
ALA Chapter Councilor for CLA
ACRL Chapter Council Delegate for CARL
CSU San Bernadino
lkong@csusb.edu

People News

Awards and Scholarships

CSU San Bernardino's Reference Librarian Bonnie Petry is the John M. Pfau Library's 2010 Librarian of the Year! Bonnie was elected by her peers for her extensive work as chair of the Library Evaluation Committee and for her editorship of the library newsletter, Peacock.

Marina Torres Aiello, Health Sciences Branch Coordinator at the University of the Pacific Library, has been selected by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Committee on Diversity and Leadership to participate in the 2010–2012 Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce as an ARL Diversity Scholar. The ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce offers stipend funding in support of MLIS education of up to $10,000 over two years to students from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups who are interested in careers in research libraries.

Eleanor S. Uhlinger has won the Federal Librarian of the Year Award! Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) announced the winners of its national awards for federal librarianship, which recognize the many innovative ways that federal libraries, librarians and library technicians fulfill the information demands of government, business and scholarly communities and the American public. Uhlinger, University Librarian, Naval Postgraduate School/Dudley Knox Library, Monterey, Calif., is recognized as a transformational leader who championed library involvement in campus accreditation and review, and oversaw library renovations. FLICC states, "Uhlinger’s emphasis on assessment, metrics, budget oversight and improved efficiency, combined with her commitment to the collection, preservation and access to the school’s research, publications and history, made the Dudley Knox Library more proactive in serving the current and emerging needs of the faculty, students, staff and alumni of the Naval Postgraduate School."

ALA Emerging Leaders 2011

Congratulations to these CARL members selected for the American Library Association's (ALA) Emerging Leader program for 2011. They are among eighty-three librarians who will enjoy special events and opportunities starting at the January 2011 midwinter conference.

• Tony Aponte, UCLA Science and Engineering Library
• William Breitbach, CSU Fullerton
• Martha Camacha, John Burroughs H.S.
• Melissa Cardenas-Dow, University of Redlands
• Pearl Ly, CSU San Marcos

Publications and Presentations

Henri Mondschein of California Lutheran University's Pearson Library co-authored the following journal in LaMoure, Jennifer, Robert Meadows, Henri Mondschein, and Susan Llewellyn. 2010. "Interviewing male and female jail inmates sentenced for drug offenses: findings and implications." Criminal Justice Studies 23, no. 1: 85-95.

Norma Kobzina, librarian at the Bioscience and Natural Resources Library, UC Berkeley, published an article, "A Faculty—Librarian Partnership: A Unique Opportunity for Course Integration" in Journal of Library Administration, 50: 4, 293 — 314, May 2010.

California librarians have invaded the current issue of British Journal of Information Literacy. Volume 4, number 2 includes, "They can find it but they don't know what to do with it: describing the use of scholarly literature by undergraduate students" by Stephanie Rosenblatt of CSU Fullerton; and "Crossing the Rubricon: evaluating the Information Literacy instructor" by Ned Fielden and Mira Foster of San Francisco State University.

Other CARL member invasions include the Internet Librarian 2010 Conference, where Char Booth of UC Berkeley participated in Failcamp and Holly Tomren of UC Irvine presented Think Mobile: Ebook Collections and Patron-Driven Ebook Acquisition.

Retirements

After more than twenty years at Laney College and forty-plus years in the Peralta Community College District, Instruction Librarian Margaret Traylor retired at the end of May. Quintessentially student-focused, Traylor has engaged generations of students with her accessible, respectful, relevant approach to education. Traylor’s appreciation of the vital role that libraries play in education led her to South Africa where she spent two summers in Mpumalanga Province assisting teachers to organize the DD Mabuza Comprehensive High School library. Fortunately for Laney College, Traylor continues this fall on a part-time basis.

Former CARL President (1987) Tom Carter is retiring at the end of December. Tom has most recently served as Dean for Academic Resources and Library Director at Saint Mary's College of California. Previously he served at Gonzaga University, Loyola Marymount University, San Jose State University and the University of the Pacific. In addition to serving as President, Tom was active in CARL as Vice President and also served as Vice President and President of CARLDIG. Tom was also active in ALA, and recently served as Chair of the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium and on the Executive Committee of the Link+ Directors.

Places News

California Rapid Pod Launches with 14 Public, Private University Libraries

A new “California” Rapid ILL pod launched in August 2010 with fourteen participating academic libraries.

RapidILL (http://rapidill.org) is a resource sharing system designed by the Interlibrary Loan staff at Colorado State University Libraries that provides fast, cost-effective article requesting and delivery services between cooperating libraries.

Participation in the California pod’s discounted pricing is open to public and private not-for-profit universities that are eligible to join one of Rapid's other established resource-sharing pods, for ARL libraries, libraries of Carnegie-classification Academic E, I, or M institutions, or participating consortia.

Once a library has joined the California pod they may join other Rapid pods for which they are eligible at no extra cost, giving them access to an even larger network for resource sharing. All California Rapid pod participants are contracting individually with Rapid on a fiscal year schedule (July-June). Beyond direct payments to Rapid, there are no additional fees or membership costs to belong to the California pod.

The initial group of California Rapid pod participants includes the libraries of these fourteen universities and colleges:

The California pod was organized by Anna Gold, Associate Dean for Public Services at the Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; and pricing negotiated by Barbara Preece, Dean of the Library at California State University San Marcos. For questions about participation in the California pod, libraries may contact Anna Gold, agold01@calpoly.edu; or Barbara Preece, Dean of the Library, bpreece@csusm.edu.

For more information about Rapid ILL, please see http://rapidill.org/ or http://rapidill.org/PublicContent/AboutRapid.aspx.

Submitted by Anna Gold
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Celebrations!

Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center Celebrates 10th Anniversary

The Sonoma State University Library just celebrated its 10th anniversary in the Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center.  We decided it was time for a party!

Our month-long celebration included something for everyone, thanks to the creativity and hard work of the Library’s staff and faculty.

We wrote a special 10-page supplement for the North Bay Business Journal that highlighted our accomplishments in the past ten years.

We had daily contests for the students —trivia questions; random messages on one of the library’s computers saying “You’re a winner!” name that tune on the Library’s clock tower carillon (Lady Gaga was a hit!). Three lucky winners also won Golden Tickets-- a netbook computer; a copy of EndNote; gift certificates for fine dining, cooking lessons, and specialty markets. Our third annual Big Brain Bash 3D pub trivia contest was a hit, with cool door prizes such as an iPod Shuffle.

Our vendors were generous in sending us swag to fill our prize bags with flash drives, pens, notepads, highlighters, calculators, t-shirts, games, and lots of cool tote bags. Local businesses added gift certificates for everything from fine dining to fencing lessons. 

The thought-provoking speakers series kicked off in the spring with John Wilinsky taking about open access, and then continued in October with Dale Dougherty, editor of Make and longtime O'Reilly Media guru, stirring excitement about the DIY movement, and Roy Tennant talking about what we might expect in the next ten years. Our Talks on Texts 2 series featured some of our newer SSU faculty reflecting on "texts" they found to be influential, with fascinating ideas about anthropology, film, art, computer science, dramaturgy, kinesiology and more.

The Library’s Art Gallery featured a dynamic show called, The Message and the Medium: The Library Turns 10, a contemplation on the transmission of information in its myriad forms as seen through the eyes of the nine participating artists from throughout the country. Our First Fridays @ Noon, a collaboration with the music department, featured great music by SSU students in the Library’s lobby.

Our final event was a party!  We recognized our long-time benefactors, welcomed community members, thanked all who had contributed to the success of the Library, and had cake!

All in all it was a festive celebration!

About the CARL Newsletter

The CARL Newsletter (ISSN: 1090-9982) is the official publication of the California Academic & Research Libraries organization and is published online quarterly. The RSS feed for this newsletter is available at http://www.carl-acrl.org/newsletter/feed.xml.

Deadlines for submissions: February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15.

Newsletter submissions, including creative contributions, People News and Places News should be sent to carlnewsletter@gmail.com. For corrections, questions and comments contact the editor, Mira Foster (mira@sfsu.edu), J. Paul Leonard Library, San Francisco State University, 1630 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132.