ALAO Fall Conference

For those of you planning on attending the ALAO conference next month, I wanted to let you know what our sponsored session is going to be. Our featured speaker will be Michael Pawuk, nationally known authority on graphic novels. Michael is the teen services librarian at the Brooklyn Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library system, and is recognized as one of the leading experts in the country on the subject of graphic novels. In 2002, he chaired the YALSA pre-conference session “Get Graphic @ your library,” and he regularly speaks on building graphic novel collections in libraries. In his session at the fall conference, he will discuss the differences between graphic novels, comic books, and standard trade books. He will also discuss how to decide if a book belongs in a collection, the major publishers and what kinds of books they publish, and Japanese Manga. He will also bring along a large number of graphic novels for us to see.

Please plan on joining us at our session, which is scheduled for 1:30.

OhioLINK Marketing Workshop

If you are planning to attend the ALAO conference on November 3rd, consider going a day early and attending Marketing Research for Libraries 101, sponsored by OhioLINK. This pre-conference workshop is scheduled for Thursday, November 2nd, from 2 to 4 pm at the Crowne Plaza Quaker Square in Akron. The workshop is free of charge, advance registration required.

"Join Diane Cellentani - president of Marketing Backup and marketing research consultant to OCLC - for an introduction to the marketing research process. This two-hour workshop will introduce you to the market research techniques that will help you gather reliable information for the library service planning, service / resource development, and marketing and communication efforts." - Workshop flyer, 9/13/06

Thomson Gale is sponsoring an ALAO Welcome Reception in Crowne Plaza boardroom after the workshop from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Come early to the conference and stay overnight at the Crowne Plaze Quaker Square; to get the ALAO rate hotel reservations must be made by October 3.

For more information, or to make your reservation, email Candi Clevenger (candi@ohiolink.edu) with your contact information. Candi has mentioned "anyone who is interested should sign up early. We have a minimum attendance number we need to reach in order to have the workshop. We're slightly less than halfway there as of today." (Comments, Library Cloud, 9/14/06)

Remember, there is no cost to attend this marketing workshop.

Tags: OhioLINK, OhioLINK workshop, Marketing Research for Libraries 101, ALAO, ALAO Conference, Academic libraries

ALAO 32nd Annual Conference

Early bird registration deadline for this year's conference is next Wednesday, September 20th. Be sure to have your registration post marked for that date in order to receive the discounted price of $70 - save $10. Other items of interest from the Conference web site include:

• 2006 Conference Program
• Conference Schedule At A Glance (pdf)
• Information on the Key Note Speaker

Double check the program on the day of the conference, but according to the schedule at a glance, CMCIG's session on Graphic Novels is Session 3 (1:30 - 2:15), Conference D:

Michael Pawuk - Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn Branch

CMCIG's sponsored session at the annual Fall Conference will feature Michael Pawuk, nationally known speaker on graphic novels. Michael is the teen services librarian at the Brooklyn Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library system, and is recognized as one of the leading experts in the country on the subject of graphic novels. In 2002, he chaired the YALSA pre-conference session "Get Graphic @ your library," and he regularly speaks on building graphic novel collections in libraries. In his session at the fall conference, he will discuss the differences between graphic novels, comic books, and standard trade books. He will also discuss how to decide if a book belongs in a collection, the major publishers and what kinds of books they publish, and Japanese Manga.

Hope to see you there!

Tags: ALAO, ALAO Conference, Graphic Novels, CMCIG, Michael Pawuk

Wiki Books

Really, K-12 classroom textbooks. I have read articles about students considering electronic texts more cost effective for college courses, but have to admit not ever considering Wiki's to replace K-12 textbooks. This option (innovation?) seems to be growing as districts struggle to balance budgets against their the need for updated textbooks. Case in point, the California Open Source Textbook Project's K-12 World History Project (COSTP). The project is part of WikiBooks, the open-content textbook collection of "sister project" Wikipedia.

The COSTP home page states: "It is important to note that COSTP's mandate does not replace printed textbooks; it simply makes them less expensive to produce; and, in doing so creates many additional benefits, economies, and efficiencies that will fully leverage California's activities in the K-12 textbook publishing domain."

How will projects of this sort influence CMC's and their curriculum textbook collections?

More about the textbook project:

• Welcome to the California Open Source Textbook Project
• COSTP World History Project
• COSTP World History Project: Contents

More about Wikibooks:

• Wikibooks
• Wikibook FAQ's

Articles about Wikibooks:

• eSchool News Online: Wikibooks to offer free eTexts for education
• Philadelphia Inquirer: Imagine Textbooks in a new form
• ZDNet Education: Watch out for Wikibooks

ALAO News Blog

Hot off the presses, and the ALAO leadership retreat, the ALAO news blog! A press release will be issued shortly detailing the mission, vision, and policies of this newest venture. Below is a blurb from the spring press release detailed to the board.

"The blog will be a forum for information about workshops and conferences sponsored by ALAO and its interest groups. The blog may include summaries of events, pictures, comments, and links to related items."