The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Library recently gave students the chance to win $1,000 in the UTS LIB:Flicks 2009 competition.

Students submitted short videos (less than 2min) to promote UTS Library services and resources to new undergraduate students

The winners were announced the other day at a premier event held in the Library and the prizes were: 1st $(1000), 2nd ($600) and 3rd ($200).

Their videos can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/utslibrary or below.

Which video did you like the best?

Need a jump start to your day? Then watch this 9minute clip of Mr Bean visiting a library and all the disasters that take place subsequently .. you will laugh and quite possibly cry as well!

WARNING: Librarians who deal with rare books may find some scenes disturbing (seriously)

Libraries Interact already has an Aussie Library Blogs list which is great but it would also be nice to be able to chat with other people in the Australian Library Industry one on one

Twitter is a popular new way for people with shared interests to chat with each other

I know of quite a few people in the Australian Library Industry who use Twitter and it would be great if their twitter nicknames could be listed on this page so:

• We could all virtually meet and chat with each other, and
• Also because it would give Aussie librarians who are new to Twitter a list of friendly people to begin chatting with when they join

To kick things off these are a few Aussie librarians I’ve come across on Twitter in no particular order:

Warren Cheetham

Kathryn Greenhill

Andrew Finegan

Kate Bunker

Michelle McLean

Peta Hopkins

Judy O’Connell

Kate Davis

Morgan Wilson

Fiona Bradley

Neerav Bhatt – note I work as a casual librarian as well as in other industries. All the other people on the list are full-time librarians so they chat about libraries more than I do.

If you’d like to be added to the list submit your twitter nickname as a comment on this blog post.

If you’ve just joined Twitter and have no idea how to use it read my Guide To Twitter Etiquette and Efficient Use To Achieve Your Goals

It’s time to register to attend Information Online 2009, the leading conference and exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region for Librarians, Information/Knowledge managers and the online information industry.

Get an early bird discount for Information Online 2009 by registering before November 7th!

ALIA members get a further discount off the regular conference registration price

Information Online will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney Australia from Tuesday 20 to Thursday 22 January 2009 with a number of engaging satellite events available (PDF) on Monday 19 and Friday 23 January.

The Information Online trade exhibition has grown to become the largest event of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region and showcases a diverse range of exhibitors and the 2009 conference is no exception.

Secure the early bird discount by registering before 7th November online or by phone 02 9437 9333

You can also Join the email newsletter to stay up to date with the latest Information Online news

Reflections on Information Online conference 2007

I participated as a student volunteer during the conference in 2007 and this time around I’m one of the junior members of the organising committee!

If you’re an Australian studying a library/information industry degree (especially Sydneysiders) you should seriously consider registering for this conference, you will learn a lot and potentially make many contacts in the social/networking sessions that can help you learn more and achieve your career goals.

Students are especially encouraged to register with a massively discounted registration price of $300 (Students who are ALIA members) or $400 (Students who aren’t ALIA members). This is a huge bargain when you consider this gets you:

• Entry to all conference sessions over 3 days
• Entry to trade exhibition
• Morning/afternoon teas and lunches during the event
• Social functions: Welcome Cocktail Party & Farewell Drinks
• Satchel & Final Program Book

Several people blogged about their experiences at Information Online 2007, you might want to read their blog posts to help you to decide whether you will register:

• Peta Hopkins – Information Online 2007, Conference photographs, Information Online 2007 – one I left out, Rumours of our imminent demise are greatly exaggerated, Librarians Rule the World – and then there was silence
• Fiona Bradley – Information Online
• Michelle McLean - Many blog posts about Information Online
• Neerav Bhatt – ALIA Information Online Conference

When I heard that a half day Virtual Reference (VR) training session was going to be held in Sydney I immediately paid the nominal $30 fee because I thought it was a valuable skill to learn and until now I’d never heard of Virtual Reference training offered anywhere in Sydney.

The session was run by Sue Rockwell, one of the co-administrators of the Australian Chasing the Sun (CTS) virtual reference service and the Senior Librarian at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.

The aim of the Chasing the Sun (CTS) service is to provide an after business hours on-line professional reference service for patient care. The service takes advantage of global time differences between countries to offer out-of-hours librarian support for clinicians.

The training session explained the background behind CTS and used the OCLC Questionpoint system (example shown below) to teach participants basic VR skills

Skills You Need For Effective VR

“Even the most savvy reference librarian needs to learn new skills and develop new habits or behaviours to be successful in the virtual environment – especially when using chat technology or other synchronous communication medium” Anne Grodzin Lipow

VR via instant messaging live chat systems will be most effective if you use the same language and types of words as the user

So if they ask questions using abbreviations and SMS language reply that way and vice versa if someone asks you questions using full English language sentences reply that way.

Some rules of conversational behaviour do not work in live chat eg: taking turns at talking. Feel free to send several short messages in a row rather than typing a one single long response.

Non verbal ques are not there – therefore you need to keep replies short and use standby messages like “Searching … Back in a min” to indicate that you still have more to say.

Remember that you never get up from the reference desk or put the phone down to go and look something up without telling your user what you are going to do and how long it will take.Just the same for live VR chat. Remember silence in VR is the same as you ignoring a person during a face-to-face reference session.

• Keyboard proficiency and ability to type quickly
• Familiarity with multitasking in a multiple window environment
• Obtain the greatest, most precise information about what is needed.
• Understand at what level the material is needed and how much is required
• Complete the interview and arrive at the necessary key data in as short a period as possible.

Best Practice During a VR Session

• Greet the user and use his/her name in the conversation if they tell you it.
• Identify yourself by name. You can use a false name, but use one. This is very important to establish rapport with the user.
• Use scripted “Cut and Paste” messages for common statements because they’re much quicker than typing. For example: “Hi, this is the State Library. My name is Bob, how I can I help you?”
• All users aren’t the same. Some will want an answer in 5 seconds, others will be willing to wait 5-10 minutes.
• Some queries are unreasonable to be answered in a few minutes. Tell the user this and get their email address to send them your search results later.
• Ask the question – are you in an urgent hurry for this? You need this info to make a judgement on how to deliver an answer.
• Remember to make contact frequently – “little and often” is the best motto! Tell the user what you’re doing constantly
• Conduct the reference interview as you would on the phone – ask for clarification to ensure you understand what the user needs.
• An Internet search may not provide the best answer – remember the range of library resources available. Use them.
• Don’t overwhelm the user with too much at once. Ask if more is needed.
• Confirm which library resources the user can access (you can’t send a database search result web-page – you had to log on to do the search remember)
• Ask if the information is on track. Get clarification all the way through the session.
• Thank the user and ask for an evaluation of the service if they have time
• Cite the source for any information you give the user.

Health libraries or groups of health libraries interested in learning more should contact the Chasing the Sun service co-ordinators. It costs a mere $50/yr for your health sector library to become a member of the Chasing the Sun service!