NASIG's Call for Poster Session Proposals

The NASIG Program Planning Committee (PPC) invites poster session proposals for the 25th NASIG conference in Palm Springs, California, June 3-6, 2010. The theme of the conference is "An Oasis in Shifting Sands: NASIG at 25."

Posters will be on display 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, June 5th. Presenters must be available to discuss their topics during the afternoon break on this day.

Poster sessions provide an opportunity to share innovative ideas and new applications of technology. Sessions may present a report of a research study, an analysis of a practical problem-solving effort, or a description of an innovative program that may be of interest to the serials community. In keeping with NASIG tradition of non-commercialism, poster sessions focusing solely on a commercial product will not be accepted.

Deadline for submission: Proposals must be received by Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 5 p.m. EST. Members of the PPC's Sub-committee on Poster Sessions will evaluate abstracts. Presenters will be notified in April 2010.

Please submit proposals online: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RXXMKM3

Inquiries may be sent to the PPC co-chairs, Morag Boyd and Anne Mitchell at: prog-plan@nasig.org

Established in 1985, the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc. is an independent organization that promotes communication and sharing of ideas among all members of the serials information chain--anyone working with or concerned about serial publications.

For more information about NASIG, see: http://www.nasig.org

Conducting Research and Writing for Publication

In honor of the "Year of Cataloging Research," I'm highlighting a couple of editorials from Library & Information Science Research on the research and writing processes. Whether you are brand new to conducting cataloging research or a seasoned veteran, you will likely find some tips to improve both your research process and the resulting write-up.

Make Sure Your Research has a Purpose!
Hernan, Peter, and Candy Schwartz. "What is a Problem Statement?" Library & Information Science Research 29, issue 3 (2007): 307-309.

Reporting Your Findings and a Few Style Tips
Nitecki, Danuta A. "Finalizing a Research Paper--Findings through Conclusion." Library & Information Science Research 32, issue 1 (2010): 1-3.

“Me and My Shadow: Observation, Documentation, and Analysis of Serials and Electronic Resources Workflow” by Kristen Blake and Erin Stalberg

Blake and Stalberg's “Me and My Shadow” outlines a project done at North Carolina State University Libraries to document and review serials and electronic resources workflow. This three-stage project looked at the entire serials lifecycle and began with a staff shadowing component where a librarian directly observed tasks being performed. Workflow mapping was the next step, where the information gleaned from shadowing was documented in a graphic representation showing what steps were involved in various processes and by whom. Finally, the workflow was analyzed to look for areas that could be made more efficient. This article provides a nice literature review, highlighting several articles looking at library workflow analysis. The authors identified a gap in the literature regarding shadowing techniques in libraries as a tool for workflow mapping and analysis and sought to fill that gap with detailed sections on the shadowing process and outcomes. This article will be of interest to librarians preparing to engage in a serials workflow analysis. A link to view the workflow mapping diagrams created in this project is an added bonus.

The article can be found in the Serials Review, vol. 35, issue 4 (Dec. 2009), pages 242-252.

doi:10.1016/j.serrev.2009.08.018