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The LITA Program Planning Committee (PPC) is the committee that collects, reviews, and schedules LITA-sponsored programs for the ALA Annual Conference. The illustrious Jason Griffey is the chair of the committee for the 2008-2010 term. I was lucky to be appointed to the committee this year, at a time of significant transition for the program planning process.

For the upcoming ALA Annual Conference 2010, Jason Griffey and the LITA Program Planning Committee decided to switch the program proposal process from a paper form and in-person interview to an electronic exchange: a Google Form and email correspondence this year, and hopefully a conference planning system by next year. (The PPC ProgramProcess TaskForce recommends the Open Conference System, an open source application from the Public Knowledge Project.)

With generous help from Ranti Junus, Systems Librarian at Michigan State University Libraries, a senior member of the committee, and Chair of the PPC ProgramProcess TaskForce, I learned that the process used to be very involved:

1. The chair, co-chair, or vice chair of the Interest Group (IG) sponsoring the program would fill out the paper form and make many copies for each PPC member to read. (The information requested on the paper form was exactly the same as that requested on the Google Form this year.)
2. The IG would arrange an appointment and meet with the PPC for 20-30 minutes.
3. Feedback from the PPC was immediate: clarifications, potential audience, etc. PPC sometimes suggested the IG collaborate with other IGs within LITA or with other divisions. Typical collaboration usually entailed asking the other IG/division to co-sponsor to share information about the program with their own members. Time slots were also discussed. (Usually, the PPC chair had the timetable with her so she could check with the conflicts.)
4. The PPC would then come to a consensus.
5. A PPC liaison who was assigned to the IG would take over communication to the IG proposing the program after ALA Annual. The liaison was the go-to person for the IG for all PPC-related communications and was responsible for making sure that the IG would get the information they needed in a timely manner. Liaisons were also responsible for reminding the IGs about turning in other information such as the names of the speakers, communicating PPC discussions related to the respective IGs, and informing PPC about the IG’s progress preparing the program.

This year, with the use of Google Docs, Griffey was able to set up a Google Form for program proposals. The information from the Google Form was funneled into a Google Spreadsheet shared by all the members of the PPC. This was the process so far this year: (more…)

Hello from Southern California, where the weather is fantastic and the food is even better!

There have been some big changes afoot: I am now engaged, I left my job in Rochester, and I’ve moved across the country. We moved to Los Angeles for my fiancé to pursue his Masters in Interactive Media Design (AKA game design) at the University of Southern California, and he starts this Fall semester. We’ve been here for a little over a week so far. Things are starting to settle now, but we still have a bit to iron out. I am unemployed again as the searching and applying for jobs in this area has not yet returned any rewards. I still have a lot to do.

ALA Annual is coming up! This will be my third consecutive ALA Annual Conference, and, since I was accepted to a LITA committee for the 2009-2011 term, I will be going to at least 3 more ALA conferences in the near future (including Mid-Winter). As a bonus this year, I will be roommates with none other than the Library Scenester. (Aren’t you envious?) With the lovely Erin around, I’m sure to have a fantastic time.

The LITA committee I will participate in after this upcoming ALA Annual Conference is the Program Planning Committee. My use of Twitter (@library_chan) and information from other librarians I follow were instrumental to my volunteering and getting accepted to the committee.

I follow several people on Twitter who are very involved in the American Library Association. As most know, Jenny Levine (@shifted) works for them, but Amy Harmon (@infowidget) was, and continues to be, an ALA Councilor-at-Large. I also follow Jason Griffey (@griffey), a very active member of LITA and the Program Planning Committee Chair. Aaron Dobbs (@awd) helped me greatly via Twitter. An active LITA and ALA member (and now an ALA Councilor-at-Large — congrats!), he lobbied the LITA president to include me in a LITA committee. Thanks, Aaron!

How did this come about? During the past ALA Mid-Winter Conference, many people were tweeting from sessions and meetings. In particular, Amy Harmon tweeted from ALA Council meetings and encouraged more of us to get involved. Though I love going to the conferences, I find the ALA hierarchy mind-boggling, and I had preconceptions about the inner-workings of ALA and its divisions. Amy Harmon’s call for more involvement coincided nicely with an announcement from the LITA Twitter account that LITA was looking for committee volunteers. What better way to get involved in ALA than to pick one of the most interesting and exciting ALA divisions? So I joined LITA (finally!) and signed up (and tweeted about signing up)!