FRBR and Dracula

Nod to my friend Mario Rups over at the Smithsonian for posting this on Facebook. I just had to share with the rest of you (and so timely too with it being October)!

Cataloguing Humour: New FRBR Model

A little Friday humour I’m sure many of you have seen, but I thought I’d post anyway:

APLA 2009: Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Atlantic Provinces Library Association Conference is taking place in Halifax, Nova Scotia this year.  At the pre-conference tomorrow, I’m presenting at the RA in a Day session.  This is exciting and a great opportunity for cataloguers.  I’m speaking on social catalogues and what impact social software and social catalogues have and will continue to have on Readers’ Advisory services.

To my knowledge, this is the first time a cataloguing component has been incorporated into one of these RA in a Day sessions.  To be able to discuss why our library catalogues should play a role in Readers’ Services (as well as how) is a great opportunity.  It’s not often we get to “sell” ourselves to frontline staff in an attempt to bridge the gap between backroom library services and frontline staff. 

APLA Thursday, June 11th through Saturday, June 13th

I would like to promote one session in particular that will be taking place on Thursday, June 11th. Barbara Tillett has been kind enough to come up to Halifax to speak to Atlantic library professionals about FRBR.  However, it isn’t just a tech services and cataloguing session.  Barbara has opened up her presentation and is gearing it toward branch staff too.  Basically, what does FRBR mean for reference librarians?  What about staff on the reference desk or the children’s librarian?  And, of course, what does it mean for cataloguers?

I think this is a great opportunity for all librarians and library technicians to really understand that the changes that are occuring in traditional cataloguing will impact the entire profession, not just cataloguers.

We are very fortunate to have a professional from Library of Congress, especially one of Barbara Tillett’s experience and knowledge, attend APLA and share her knowledge and expertise with us.  So – I urge all of you to attend!

For those of you looking for me at APLA

In addition to presenting at the pre-conference, I am convening Barbara Tillett’s session, as well as giving another presentation on Thursday morning (a repeat of my CLA presentation).  The last session I will be convening is When Tuples Sparql: Weaving the Semantic Web, which also takes place on Thursday.

I will be at the conference all day on Friday too, as well as attending the Banquet Friday night and the brunch Saturday morning.  I look forward to seeing some of you there!