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28 May 10 ITTS News Meeting – May 25, 2010

New Content Management System Selection Update

Sherri gave an update on where we are in the selection process for a new content management system for http://www.ala.org.

  • Altogether ALA received 47 proposals from which the CMS Task Force, comprised of members of the Website Advisory Committee (WAC) and staff, selected  7 candidates.
  • The same Task Force then completed a 41 page survey created by Louise Gruenberg that evaluated the proposals submitted by the  7 candidates.
  • The results of that survey identified our top 3 candidates and those candidates have now been given a document with additional questions so we can compare all 3 candidates equally on their responses.
  • The names of the top 3 candidates will be announced once we notify the 44 vendors who were not selected.

ALA Connect Update

The Opportunties Exchange

Jenny encouraged any unit that has opportunities such as scholarships, grants or internships to add them to ALA Connect’s Opportunity Exchange (OppEx). OppEx is a database where anyone can search for assistantships, awards, calls for proposals, volunteer opportunities, and more.  Connect members can indicate within their individual profiles the opportunities that they seek  and will get additional email notices when new opportunities are added to the OppEx.  Anyone who is posting an opportunity needs to login to ALA Connect to access the form.

Staff Liaisons Should Notify Committee Members about Access to Connect Groups Change Over on June 30th

Jenny reminded everyone to have their iMIS Committee Rosters up-to-date with the correct term dates for all members. All committee members whose terms end on June 30, 2010 within an iMIS Commitee Roster will only have access to their Connect groups until midnight that night.  Any incoming committee member whose term begins July 1, 2010 will not have access to the Connect group until July 1st at 12:01 AM

Chat Upgrade

Jenny discussed where we are at with updating the  Chat Module.

MemberFuse Pilot Project Update

Jenny discussed the MemberFuse Pilot.

Tech at Annual

A Networking Uncommons area will be set up at Annual Conference as it was at Midwinter.  This is a location where groups can meet informally and have access to resources such as projector, digital recorder, iPod with microphone, a webcam and a flip cam.   If any group wants to gather in the Uncommons and have any of these resources available to them at a specific time, they can go to the ALA Annual Wiki at http://annual.ala.org/2010 and on the index page go to Connecting with Other Attendees>New at Annual: Networking Uncommons.  On the Networking Uncommons page is a link to a Schedule. There is a page for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday with reservation times slots from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Add a Presenter/Convenor Name, Topic and make sure to list what technology resources you would like to use in the Resource column.

Web Editorial Board (WEB)

WEB is adding taskforces to involve staff stakeholders in the following four areas:

  • Social Media
  • Archiving & Digital Asset Management
  • Branding, Marketing & Design
  • Communication & Education

If any staff member would like to be a part of any of above groups and help move the association forward in these areas please contact webeditorialboard@ala.org.

The Social Media Working Group has already met to discuss strategies and created an ALA Connect Community.   As part of this group, Jenny will be offering “Let’s Talk About Twitter” Lunch and Learns in the weeks before Annual. 

All sessions will take place in the training room from 12:00-1:00 pm.

  • Thursday, May 27
  • Wednesday, June 9
  • Wednesday, June 16

The sessions will highlight some Twitter basics, such as the difference between replies and direct messages, the use of hashtags, why you should use URL shorteners, and more. Our focus will be on how to use Twitter well during Annual, but the concepts will be applicable to your unit’s general use of this interactive channel.  The official ALA hashtag for Annual is #ala10.

Annual Base Camp is currently planning showing a Twitter Feed on the www.ala.org home page to showcase the excitement of Annual Conference.

All units are encouraged to contact the Web Editorial Board for guidance with their web presence.  Currently WEB is assisting the units with the creation of an eGovernment Tool Kit and possibly merging the Help Get a Job site with JobList.

New Internet Administrator: Rob Berquist

Rob Berquist was introduced at the meeting.  He has joined ITTS as our Internet Administrator and he will be responsible for the administration of Blogs, Wikis, Moodle, Sympa and other internet resources. 

Other

Please be sure to sign up for email updates from the ITTS News blog at http://itts.ala.org/news because it is one of our primary communication channels.

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