So, I never did get to try red beans and rice, but I still had a good time in Baton Rouge. In addition to the room service gumbo, there was what I assume was a sausage and chicken jambalaya at Friday night's reception at the LSU Rural Life Museum that was quite good. I wish I'd decided to bring my camera to that event, as the mostly outdoor museum was beautiful, and it would have been a good opportunity to get some non-touristy pictures with librarians in them.

I didn't blog our plenary session, which was a talk by a Blues agent and manager. You know you're a library geek when you don't find someone in the music business as interesting as the librarian presenters. He was followed by a short concert by blues musician Larry Garner, whom I enjoyed. Great music, and fun interaction with the audience. Several otherwise respectable law librarians were accused of being gin-joint women. And all at 9am, which seems an unlikely hour for singing the blues. Acquiring or wallowing in them, perhaps, but not singing.

I had hoped to sneak out to the USS Kidd or the Planetarium, but there wasn't enough time to do any other touristy things on the trip. I hope to do a better job of that in New Orleans.

SEAALL Session D3
Market Your Library Services: Brand Them Like Coca-Cola
Saturday April 14, 2007

Speakers: Megan Garton, Evening Reference/Instruction Coordinator, Tulane University Law School
and Margaret Hall, Reference/Student Services Librarian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law Library

Notes:
Measure twice, cut once (don't change materials yearly)

Logos need to work on multiple surfaces, "even a dog"

Pick other brains

Steal, borrow

Ask questions to save time

M&M had to market marketing to administration

Added buddy nametag logo to computer desktops as wallpaper

Recycle--backs of posters, etc.

Find out what work the local Kinko's can do

UNC Summer Success program

• walks students through a sample legal research problem like they might get from their boss
  
• low attendance; needed revitalization
• wanted to make sure students knew what it was, that it came from library not LRW

Summer Success poster

• Logo inspiration started with section symbol
• city background - most summer jobs for UNC law students in same city
• font - "more than just Times New Roman"
• no dates, so reusable every year
• words - less is more

Candy for taking survey on dates/times

Tabling - sat in rotunda, got to know students to get them to sign up

Develop content and marketing together

Oversized bookmarks can't be missed, good fit for law books

Cross promotion

Where to place promo materials: posters, computers bookmarks, displays, handouts, website

Use MS Publisher; Word is more challenging (use drawing toolbar)

Clipart, Google images, or copy photos by recreating them to avoid copyright worries

17"x19" page printer cost about $150; ink expensive, so used ONLY for marketing materials

Marketing was focused on 1Ls - had more chances at orientation

Free lunch and coffee important (Summer Success program)

Dos

• ask for a budget (bring a prototype)
• ask others
  
• find ideas everywhere
• report success

Don'ts

• need marketing training
• do it alone
• underestimate buzz
• give up!

Marketing can benefit you

Don't buy cheap tape

Shop at K-12 and craft stores

Thoughts:
Like the licensing session, this session wasn't exactly what I expected, but was still quite useful. I expected to learn about branding the library as a whole, but focusing on individual services and programs is something I'm even more likely to be able to apply. Lots of small, great, highly practical ideas here. I've been reluctant to use Publisher in the past, sticking to Word for making posters and handouts. No more. I just created a shortcut on my desktop.

SEAALL Session C2
Negotiating with the Bizarre: Strange Questions at the Reference Desk
Friday April 13, 2007

Speakers: Sharon Blackburn, Reference Librarian, Texas Tech School of Law Library
Amy Hale-Janeke, Head of Reference Services, U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeal Law Library

Notes:
"Patrons of differing outlooks on reality" - Unshelved

Amy and Sharon's patented bizarre questions pyramid:


Note: most murdered attorneys work in family law

Slain in the spirit at the reference desk

Ways to tell the difference:

1. dress
2. smell
3. excessively suspicious (low cowboy hat in TX!)
4. unusual perceptual experiences (listens to no one, invisible friends, rapidly shifting eyes)
5. claims to be special
6. sudden mood swings
7. inappropriate personal questions
8. difficulty staying on point (can be a symptom of meth use)

Be the voice of authority if they are inappropriate

National Alliance on Mental Illness or Mental Health America (formerly National Mental Health Association) can provide guidelines and speakers for librarians.

Treat the question seriously

Treat the patron respectfully

Clarify

Two ways to handle:

1. Factual ("Dr. Phil")

• bottom line
• takes less time
• sets out choices
• 1 in 4 responses
• they don't usually come back

2. Empathetic ("Oprah")

• validating
• emotional connection
• takes more time
• leads to choices
• patron usually leaves calm
• patron will usually come back

Solutions:

• treat bizarre questions routinely
• use creative solutions: step into the alternate reality, treat routinely
• take them to the resource
• the benefits of watching sci-fi! (Sharon)
• tell them it's a secret
• practice saying absurd things with a straight face (if you can do Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch without cracking, you're ready)

Remember:

• never argue
• repeat, repeat, repeat (policies, limitations, etc.)
• colleagues
• boundaries

Dealing with feelings; think about more positive reference experiences

Thoughts:
Talk about practical! This session was it. As a new reference librarian, I'm sometimes uncertain how to best deal with the more challenging pro se patrons. After listening to Amy and Sharon, I won't hesitate (because it doesn't feel "nice") to categorize them using the bizarre questions pyramid. I'm convinced there's something to being honest with myself about what kind of problem I could be dealing with.

Though the session title focused on the bizarre, and the tips like dealing with people who may not be all there by stepping into and answering from their alternate reality logic may well come in handy in extreme cases (which I hope will be few and far between), I think the sorting out of sane patrons is just as valuable. I've seen that dealing with the law as a layperson can be incredibly frustrating, and figuring out how that frustration is manifesting itself--anger, stubbornness--could be very useful for finding the best way to help a particular patron.

SEAALL Session A1
Licensing and Copyright: Negotiating Licenses Rocky Balboa Style
Friday April 13, 2007

Speakers: Jim Heller, Director of the Law Library & Professor of Law, College of William & Mary
and Claire Engel, Director of Library and Records Services, Troutman Sanders LLP

Notes:

Jim Heller:
Access - ownership

Copyright - federal issue

• but licenses are contracts, thus governed by state laws

UCITA - attempt to create uniform computer/information law

• biased toward publishers/providers
• MD and VA are the only states that passed it

When you own your own amusement park, you can do what you want

• When you visit Disney, you must follow their rules
• Access rules for resources we don't own can prohibit fair use, copy making, ILL

3 documents handed out-

• Special Library Association's Principles for Licensing Electronic Resources, 1997
• National Library of Medicine's Policy on Acquiring Copyrighted Material in Electronic Format
• Licensingmodels.com's academic: single institution sample (UK-based site, but models for public and private libraries)
  

Some courts hold click-through licenses as binding; some don't

Salespeople will say anything - take advantage of this and get them to go to bat for what you want

Avoid "licensor can change at anytime" clauses, or specify that changes must be sent in print form (because if it's an email from a vendor, it could be deleted before we read it)

Rights of users

Commercial use: this usually means reselling or repackaging content rather than using it at a for-profit institution

Hold harmless clause - in case publisher is infringing

Claire Engel:
All databases go into the library budget, even if a marketing database for the advertising department

Time issue in negotiating due to lawyer demands for products

Ground rules for dealing with licenses:

• everything is negotiable
• what can't you live without?
• prioritize
• be prepared to walk [sounds like buying a car!]

Engel starts with dollars - no point negotiating something that's definitely out of budget

Some questions to ask:

• How do summer associates fit in? Contractors?
• What happens if a practice group leaves the firm (or if there is a merger?)

Watch for clauses about availability of resources

Get a clause that articles mentioning the firm can be posted on the intranet

Most contracts want to turn librarians into copyright Nazis

Acts of god/force majeure - watch out: these used to be one line, but now include everything and the kitchen sink

Tips:

• check list
• keep files of good clauses
• good relationship with sales reps
• remember licenses are for limited $$ and limited time - prioritize which to negotiate

Thoughts:
With the name Rocky Balboa in the subtitle, I expected this session to focus on going head-to-head with vendor reps in negotiating licenses. It was more going over various contract clauses, what to watch out for, and how to prioritize, and that was fine. In fact, I was surprised by how interesting I found it all.

Reviewing and negotiating licenses isn't part of my job description, but if it ever should be, I now have more confidence that it's something I could both handle with some competence and enjoy to some extent.

SEAALL Keynote
Public Legal Information: Picture's from Life's Other Side
Friday April 13, 2007

Speaker: Tom Bruce, Research Associate and Director, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Notes:
[in these notes, LII is short for legal information institutes in general, as opposed to the Cornell Legal Information Institute]

LIIs are preoccupied with statutes and regulations as opposed to law schools, which are obsessed with cases

LIIs do what 19th-century public libraries were supposed to do

showed picture of Metadata license plate, owned by a Cornell librarian

Google as slot machine

problems of educating the public about legal information - there is more focus on public medical info than public legal info

law reviews: "moribund societies for the perfection of footnotes"

web 2.0 issues: balance of authority and participation

Thoughts:
Once again, a presentation where I listened in the moment at the expense of taking extensive notes. I was also interested in Bruce's use of FreeMind (I think) mind-mapping software, which was also used in his and Lori Martin's Institute presentation. A different experience than watching a PowerPoint presentation. In some ways almost MORE distracting, because it was intriguing to see the concepts all mapped out and organized. Much more interesting than PowerPoint, though less flashy, and sometimes difficult to read the text.

SEAALL Institute
Law Librarians and Legal Technologists:
Building Synergies in the Net Age
Thursday April 12, 2007

Interpersonal Success in the Workplace:
How to Make the Relationships and Interactions Work
Speaker: Courtland M. Chaney, PhD, SPHR, J. Trigg & Bettye Baskin Wood, Jr. Endowed Professor and Instructor, Rucks Department of Management, Louisiana State University

Notes:
I didn't take more than a couple lines of notes for this presentation, either because Chaney said it wasn't necessary because of his handouts, or because I was enjoying the engaging style of the presentation so much. I confess that from the title, I fully expected to be bored by the content of this session, but it was quite the opposite.

Some highlights, taken from the handout we received:

• Definition of Interpersonal Perception and Communication: the successful transfer of an idea or thought from one person to another. Communication is the foundation of all management functions (planning, organizing, staffing, directing, controlling, etc.)

• The Johari window - a concept for how things we know and don't know about ourselves and things others know and don't know about us affect the communication process.

• Inference level - guesses we make, often based on limited data that we observe about others. "Things we need to know about other people, but never know for sure" - motives, intended meanings, etc.
  

• Content/process - the words (content) and music (process) of communicating need to match for successful interpersonal communication (demonstrated with an example of incongruence: saying "I love you" in an angry, sarcastic voice)
  

SEAALL Institute
Law Librarians and Legal Technologists:
Building Synergies in the Net Age
Thursday April 12, 2007

Making the Law Librarian and Legal Technologist Relationship Work: Cooperation and Collaboration Models
Speakers: Kenneth J. Hirsh, Director of Computing Services, Duke University School of Law Library
Constance (Connie) M. Matzen, Director of Research Resources, Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP
Billie J. Blaine, Supreme Court Librarian, Florida Supreme Court

Notes:

5 Principles (the speakers shared their experiences focusing on these ideas)

1. Every organization is unique, but can adapt practices from other organizations
ACM - campus computing section
2. Blaming issues on personality - no, must work together for organizational goals
3a. Customers - optimize work to serve them
3b. service orientation - librarians are born with this - is it teachable?
We should reciprocate what we expect by providing high quality service when IT calls us
4. For every complaint librarians have, techies have an equal and opposite reason to complain
about librarians; complaints tend to fester (a version of Newton's Third Law - KH)
5. No one knows the priority of a need unless it is stated - need for technology reference
interview

Perhaps the funniest example was one shared by Billie Blaine. IT staff were planning to use a room in the library for some other purpose. Billie received an email inquiring when the library was planning to move their old equipment out of the room. She couldn't figure out what the equipment could be, since there were only some old books in the room. Yes, the books turned out to be "equipment" in question!

SEAALL Institute
Law Librarians and Legal Technologists:
Building Synergies in the Net Age
Thursday April 12, 2007

Dispelling Stereotypes That Affect Services and Users
Speakers: Tom Bruce, Research Associate and Director, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
and Lori D. Martin, Library and Research Services Manager, Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP

Notes:
musical prelude to this session: Dueling Banjos!

TB
prefaced that the session was going to be deliberately provocative

fading topic – lingering tensions

cosmic factors

• different perception of the business
• perceived zero-sum game

LM
lack of connection – no more water cooler
in firm, everyone is below the lawyers
in firms, IT is now the budget with a target on it
IT staff with one year of technology college paid double what MLS librarians get

TB – top five IT complaints about librarians

1. librarians undervalue process
2. librarians won’t experiment (dismissing not-fully-developed and open source technology)
3. librarians demand resources without planning or notice
4. having been a subordinated profession, librarians are looking for someone to subordinate
5. bundle of complaints common to all users seeming worse because more is expected of librarians (in other words: librarians should be more competent)

#1-4 made up 15% of complaints, #5 was 85%

librarians personalize technology problems: “YOUR network is down” (no one ever says “your book has a bad typeface”)

LM – top five librarian complaints about IT staff

1. IT believe that end users can’t do anything right
2. IT inconvenience people for no reason (server shutdowns and upgrades are cruel psych experiments)
3. they hide
4. IT want us to be self reliant, but won’t explain
5. IT staff keep all the good toys

how to respond to those who don’t want to learn?

LM comment on Tom’s list: people DO ask how books work

Thoughts:
Being new to the profession and technically inclined, I can identify with and understand items on both lists.

Ironically, complaint number two about librarians (won't experiment) is an issue--less than a full-blown complaint--I sometimes have with some of our tech staff. Example: groaning that I installed Firefox on the reference desk computer.

Complaint number five about librarians is something I wholly empathize with, having been through library school with quite a few classmates who couldn't open a PowerPoint presentation from a flash drive and switch it to presentation mode, to name just one example. One hopes they will catch up at some point before they graduate, but it is Not Good that there isn't some kind of technology skills requirement for entering LIS programs, or at least a tutorial requirement for those who need it. Ability to work with technology is an absolutely necessary foundation of library and information science.

I've felt mild cases of all the complaints about tech staff, but more as an accumulation over the course of other jobs than anything I feel specifically as a librarian. Here is a good place to say that going into the Institute, I wondered how much value I would find in it, because I don't feel any particular conflict with or resentment of our IT staff, but I did find it quite worthwhile, especially the practical ideas in the first session.

SEAALL Institute
Law Librarians and Legal Technologists:
Building Synergies in the Net Age
Thursday April 12, 2007

New Territory and Technologies: Getting What Our Users Need When They Need It & Working Together to Meet That Need
Speaker: Pablo Molina, CIO, Georgetown University Law Center

Notes:
Educause

Most breakthroughs come in new uses of existing technology, rather than brand new technology

Freakonomics – information as currency

List of technologies: 2.0, blogs, wikis, repositories, electronic casebooks

GU Systems Management Council

• members: university librarian, law librarian, medical librarian, university CIO, law CIO, others

Museum management software [I can't remember why this was mentioned]

GU Campus Web Group

• campus-wide website – input from multiple areas
• co-chaired by publications/ media director and CIO
• annual web plan

Exchanges

• annual presentations to law librarians and law center administration

Faculty and staff technology retreats

• librarians present at these
• sponsored by the dean

Printing charges go back to library/IT dept for computing expenses

• even though charged, students use due to convenience

Technology Reference Desk

• changed name of help desk to technology reference desk
• made location more prominent (not in back corner)
• changed staffing to 9am-6pm, professionals only (no student workers)
• not just help, but instruction (for students, not faculty)
• some resistance from students at first, but they were told tech learning is part of their educational experience
• satisfaction changed from 50% to 80% then 90%

Annual Student Technology Survey

• items like how many students have Macs
• satisfaction with IT dept
• track diffusion of innovation

Conflicting priorities

• distrust of those we don’t understand – too much jargon
• must be bilingual – English/techie

Thoughts:
Molina's session was full of practical ideas.

I especially like the student technology survey, which sounds like a great way to find out what students' actual tech expectations and skills are and what they're using, as opposed to assuming that because they're young "digital natives" they know what they're doing.

Also: the technology reference desk sounds very cool, and I think it's fabulous that they're insisting students accept instruction instead of just fixing their problems. Teach a person to fish...

I'm back in the office, and feeling somewhat caught up.

I sorted through my conference bag this afternoon, and realized that I filled the entire hotel notepad we received at the SEAALL Institute with notes. It wasn't the thickest pad ever, and I didn't use both sides of the pages, but hey, it sounds good. Transcription will begin tomorrow.

In catching up with my blog reading, I'm loving the reports from Computers in Libraries. I really wish I could've been there, but there was a family get together early this week. Plus, two conferences back to back would have been too much.

--

The first leg of my trip back, Baton Rouge to Atlanta, was the worst flight of my life. Strong turbulence + small plane = misery. The worst part was that Delta apparently keeps their air sickness bags in the lavatories, which isn't very convenient when confined to one's seat due to turbulence. Luckily it didn't come to that.

The second worst part? I was seated next to a professional colleague I'd just met that morning, and air sickness wasn't the sort of impression I wanted to leave. Afterward, she told me that she'd almost got sick as well, as did a couple others who were closer to the front of the plane.

And the blackly humorous worst part? At the airport that morning, about a dozen of us who had been at SEAALL realized we were on that same flight to Atlanta. I'm not sure who started it, but someone joked about how, if the plane went down, the best and brightest law librarians in the country would be on it. Someone else added that the association would naturally create a scholarship in our honor. We would be the SEAALL 12. It was quite funny while waiting and worrying that we would all miss the flight in question anyway due to pilot paperwork printing problems one of the airports claimed to be having.

Boy, was I glad when that flight landed.