I was lucky enough to go for a 1/2 day this year thanks to
Health Libraries Inc. I went down on the train on Wednesday morning and did the Trade Exhibition (brilliant) then did sessions in the afternoon. Notes from the sessions I attended:
Developing Trove: by Warwick Cathro & Susan CollierTrove, as in treasure trove
For the public and end user
Streamlined and integrated
Interactive, adding tags/reviews etc.
Looking at adding RSS feeds
Journals should come online in the second half of the year
Libraries at the network level: by Roy TennantAPI - method for one software application to communicate with another (ie. using book images in your catalogue from Amazon/Library Thing)
Linked data - naming things and stating relationships; expose data; link your data to other data.
Cloud computing - a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often visualised resources are provided as a service over the internet
Open source software:
Cons - no control; network space; connectivity/speed
Pros - no need to store; pay as go; no big upfront fees
Xerses: Worldcat(books), Metalib (journals)
Problem - the data needs to be continued and accessible in the future
WOW - very full on, a bit overwhelming and most went right over my head!
The Louvre DNP: by Stephanie OrlicUsing multi-lingual system
Using tagging/reviews/leaving impressions
Touch screen/Audio/PDA user guides?RFID tickets/3D design
Interactive, enlarge/zoom/step into painting
Deconstructing/reconstructing layer by layer - going beyond the naked eye
Top trends panel: user generated contentHow to check user content. Is it authoritative? Should we use the info/tag?
Could treat them as "letters to the editor" rather than sensing them.
But still need a degree of control. ie. user must identify themselves.
Leave it as a comment.
Cannot "fact check" everything.
Users will then discuss amongst themselves and the authoritative answer will emerge.
However, moderation is required to an extent.
Don't look at barriers to including user content. Make it easier.
As long as the original library data cannot be changed and the user data is clearly highlighted then all is good.
Tags make this more accessible rather than using LCSH/DDC which can be outdated. This data can be used with synonym lists to make content more relevant/accessible.
Librarians make mistakes as they aren't necessarily subject specialists in the field they are cataloging.
You can track "search terms" with some systems then see what it is your users click through to.
Users only tag if it delivers something back to them.
LCSH/DDc is the seed/structure. Users can go from this starting point.
All in all a great (exhausting day).
I got quite sick so didn't read much for a while and instead opted for trash in the form of a Mills and Boon. Only read it because it was about a librarian. Easy trash, happy ending yadda, yadda....
Summary: This work was set in Berlin, 1942. When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But, Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than what meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.
Summary: Flora Parker is sassy and stylish with a mouth as big as Wembley Stadium and a tendency to act before she thinks, which is how she ends up getting drunk and on the front of a newspaper in her Wonderbra and not much else. Filled with self-loathing she retreats to her aunt's house in the country to look for a little meaning in her life. Instead she finds an overbearing uncle, a farm on the brink of bankruptcy, a child who won't come out of the airing cupboard and a precocious 10-year-old who lists all Flo's faults. As if she didn't already know them. But, being Flo, instead of running away she itches to put it all right...especially when the farmer next door announces an intriguing bet: he will give his farm and glorious farmhouse to whichever of his handsome nephews finds a wife by Michaelmas. So Flo takes up matchmaking full-time, ignoring the fact that it might be she who is the object of their affections. Meanwhile she finds she's falling in love herself...with a way of life that is muddy, smelly and under threat. But is she prepared to put her head on the altar to keep it?
Summary: Blue Skies tells the inspirational story of a young woman battling to save the family farm no matter what it takes. Armed with an honours degree in Agribusiness, Amanda Greenfield dreams of employing all the skills she's learnt at college to help her father turn the family farm from a debt-ridden, run-down basket case into a thriving enterprise.
Summary: In RaW Voices: True Stories of Hardship and Hope, Vanessa Feltz meets men and women who have overcome great difficulties to change their worlds, and asks each to tell their own story.These extraordinary people were brought together from all walks of life by the BBC's Reading and Writing campaign (RaW), and they all show us what we can do to take control of our future, achieve new goals and reach ever-greater heights. These amazing real-life journeys are a tribute to the strength of the human spirit. Gripping, funny, sometimes sad and always inspiring, they will strike a chord in us all. 
Summary: Kathy and her partner had spent months agonising over whether to have a third child, then, at thirty-five, Kathy decided it would be now or never. When Caoimhe was born there was nothing to suggest anything was wrong. The following day a midwife baldly told Kathy her baby had Down syndrome. Tuesday’s Child tells of Kathy's journey through shock, anger and grief to, ultimately, a kind of acceptance. From the bombshell of diagnosis - the defining moment that was to reshape her life - she charts her initial obsession with 'Why?', the impact on the family, the often hurtful, ignorant responses of strangers (and friends), and, most importantly of all, the battle to reclaim Caoimhe as an individual, not just a 'Downs child'. As Kathy wrote in her original article: ‘I don’t know where she fits in society, but a family is a world in microcosm. And I do know that right here, right now, she fits perfectly within my arms.’ A compelling mix of heartfelt personal story and insightful journalism, Tuesday’s Child highlights society's attitudes to difference and the ongoing ethical debate about genetics, as well as examining the minefield that is prenatal testing.
