Prof. Jeffrey Pomerantz (School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has written this initial evaluation of librarian participation in Slam the Boards:

http://ils.unc.edu/~jpom/conf/ASIST2008_ERef_Panel.pdf

He recognizes some issues in the data collection...limited sets of questions from Yahoo, the fact that not all librarians consistently used "librarian" in their signatures, etc.


Your thoughts?

--Bill Pardue

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The complete program for A Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends is now available on the conference website.

This exciting two-day event features keynote speaker David W. Lewis, Dean of the University Library at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, who will talk about Reference in the Age of Wikipedia, Or Not... and the implications of the technological and social transformations brought on by Google, Wikipedia, and answer services such as ChaCha. On day two of the conference, a plenary panel discussion, Theory Meets Practice, made up of educators and library directors will highlight what’s being taught in schools of library and information science and what’s being implemented in libraries. This panel features Dr. David Lankes (Information Institute of Syracuse), Dr. Marie L. Radford (Rutgers University), Jamie LaRue (Douglas County Libraries, CO), and Carla J. Stoffle (University of Arizona).

Other sessions cover the full gamut of reference and information services in public, academic, and special library settings. Learn about “predatory reference” techniques, screencasts for distance reference, gathering meaningful statistics, the impact of serious leisure on reference services, new staff training initiatives, widgets, IM, marketing in-person services – and more! Meet and network with your colleagues from all over the U.S., Canada, and other countries, and spend time with exhibitors showcasing a variety of reference focused products.

Early bird registration has been extended thru June 30 at a rate of $150; regular registration is $175. Registration includes all sessions on both days and access to the exhibits as well as breakfast and lunch both days. A special hotel rate of $105 (+tax) per night is available for reservations made before July 11.

http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance
Contact: Justine Shaffner jshaffne@bcr.org.
Nework/Socialize: http://referencerenaissance.ning.com/

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Registration for the Reference Renaissance, to be held in Denver, Colorado August 4-5, 2008, is NOW OPEN!

Head on over to http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance to register and for updates on programs and speakers. Early Bird Registration is $150 by May 31st. Regular registration is $175.

We're expecting 300-400 attendees from all over the US and from all types of libraries!

Contact Brenda Bailey-Hainer at bbailey@bcr.org or 303.751.6277 ext. 117 if you have any questions.

About the Conference:

A Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends

August 4-5, 2008, Denver, CO

Sponsored by BCR (Bibliographical Center for Research) and RUSA (Reference and User Services Association), an ALA Division

Rumors of the “death of reference” have been greatly exaggerated! Reference and information services now encompass not just traditional forms such as in-person point-of-service, telephone, and e-mail, but also Instant Messaging, Text Messaging (SMS), blogs, wikis, library pages on MySpace and Facebook, and virtual reference desks in Second Life.

A Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends conference will explore all aspects of reference service in a broad range of contexts, including libraries and information centers, in academic, public, school, corporate, and other special library environments. This two-day conference will incorporate the multitude of established, emerging, and merging types of reference service including both traditional and virtual reference. It presents an opportunity for all reference practitioners and scholars to explore the rapid growth and changing nature of reference, as an escalating array of information technologies blend with traditional reference service to create vibrant hybrids.

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Program Funding
Program Funding


It did not help my feelings for the student girl to laugh at me at my difficulties on the internet the web pages would not open in the MAIN lieberry today as soon as eye opened the computor and got the SAME web site address the thing popped open like a three dollar clam at the science and engineering place the boy student next to me claimed he was having trouble at the main lieberry. His web programs worked but he thinks he is not even on the internet eye suppose he is not enlightened yet. EVERYTHING that moves on the computor is on the internet. The computor does not operate off line there just is not a function for a no legged beast to find unless it is the ether zone that funds it. Check again on program funding.

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Hello, all! I hope some of you got to do a little board slamming yesterday.

I spoke with Jay Bailey, the Director of Marketing & Community Development for WikiAnswers last Wednesday. He brought up some very interesting suggestions in regard to working with Slam the Boards librarians.

1) Creating a "badge" that could be applied to Slam librarians when they create their accounts. This would mean that you should put "Slam the Boards" in the "Where Are You From" field of your WikiAnswers profile.

2) Serious PR, e.g, mentioning/welcoming us in a monthly newsletter that goes out to the full WikiAnswers community (he claims 300K members). They'd also mention the participation of trained librarians in PR materials to emphasize the value and "maturity" of their service. They also have a blog at http://www.nostupidanswers.com in which we could be mentioned.

3) They're thinking of having an AnswerThon in early March (in which top answerers--subject to their rules--could get some serious prizes. One thought is a $500 amazon certificate...but it's not finalized yet). If a Slam librarian is among the winners, that affiliation would be mentioned.

For their part, they'd like to see some significant numbers from librarians before creating the badge. I understand this, but I promised no specific numbers. The main thing is to get a bunch of us participating and see what we can do over the course of a week/month/etc. I emphasized that we're all doing this on top of our regular library duties and that WikiAnswers has to share time with Yahoo and everyone else, so it's going to come from lots of librarians contributing a little bit each. That said, they're still happy to play up that librarians are contributing, even if we're not doing it at a "badge" level just yet.

So, who wants to dive in and create a profile?

--Bill Pardue

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I use Answers.com's WikiAnswers (http://wiki.answers.com) There are more than 100 supervisors moderating the site and consolidating the responses, and the site quality is a result of this supervisor involvement.

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The empire expands:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9325045378

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i may not have been in physics but I'm still proud of a Best Answer. yay!

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not too soon to limber up the fingers - the next date is a Saturday - it will just be us die-hard weekend warriors. Here's to slamming in Spokane, WA.

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In my first spurt of answers for Yahoo Answers I was pleased to get a few 'bests.'
I'm still amazed at how many opinion questions get posted, how many blatant 'do my homework' questions (and how they get called out usually), and how many lovelorn questions.
When I looked at Just Answer, I was troubled by the serious medical questions - I could lose sleep worrying about whether these folks are getting help!
Maybe it's just the end of a long week catching up with me!

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