91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — for exciting webinars offered this fall by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS). From MOOCs to metadata, patron-driven acquisitions to assessment for cataloging, each session is taught by topic experts and is an excellent value. Individual registration fees are $43 for ALCTS members and $59 for nonmembers. Find complete pricing and registration details on each session’s webpage.

ALCTS is proud to offer this series on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as libraries and librarians carefully watch them develop and sweep the nation. This series of four webinars will help librarians gain an understanding of the complexity of the MOOC “movement,” learn how to support students and faculty engaged with MOOCs, become familiar with the copyright and intellectual property requirements in relation to MOOCs and hear what the future may hold for MOOCs.

On Sept. 25, Mike Eisenberg, dean emeritus and professor at the University of Washington Information School, will set the stage by examining the origins of online learning and explaining why MOOCs continue to thoroughly capture the imagination of students, educators and administrators in “”.

On Oct. 9, presenter Steven Bell, associate university librarian for research and instructional Services at Temple University, will outline his views on the role of the librarian as a solutions provider to the online learning community. Whether presenting a traditional online course or a MOOC, librarians should be recognized as full partners throughout the development process. Bell will discuss how librarians can get into the conversation in this session, titled “”.

Libraries have become more proactive about educating users with regard to their rights and responsibilities vis à vis copyright. In “” presented on November 6, Kevin L. Smith, Director of Copyright and Scholarly Communication at Duke University Libraries, will offer insights into the library’s role in settings beyond the traditional classroom model.

Are MOOCs here to stay, or are they a flash in the pan? The MOOC movement is still in its infancy. On Dec. 11, Jonathan Grudin, principal researcher in the Natural Interaction Group at Microsoft Research, will let us know whether he is optimistic or pessimistic about the future in “”

Special pricing is offered for this series of webinars: for individuals, get all four sessions for $138 for ALCTS Members and $189 for nonmembers; for groups that view the webinars together, get all four sessions for $317 for ALCTS Members and $413 for nonmembers. The sessions can also be purchased individually—see the webpage for each session for pricing.

Missspelings, extra spaces, random; punctuation/ and wEird capitalizaTion: Are any of these issues with your metadata? Open Refine (formerly Google Refine) is a powerful tool that can solve all of these problems with a single click. Even more amazing, Open Refine allows you to transform your data from one format to another, extend it with Web services and even connect it to linked data sources like Freebase. This presentation will show just how useful this tool can be for local database projects like the Minneapolis Community & Technical College Zine Collection as well as messy MARC records in your ILS. The world of metadata has been rapidly changing and it's time to get your data out of the 90s, clean it up and be ready to link to the wider world of information! Sarah Weeks and Elissah Becknell will present this session on Sept. 18.

This webinar, held on Oct. 23 and presented by Dawn Hale, Kari Schmidt and Laura Wrubel, will cover key points to consider, tools and workflow options in managing electronic resources. Most libraries use multiple tools and approaches to manage e-resources, which brings benefits and challenges. Speakers will provide insights and perspectives on ERM systems, supplemental processes to fill gaps in functionality and those systems' interoperability with patron-facing interfaces.

On Nov. 13, Suzanne Ward and Rebecca Richardson will describe two patron-driven acquisitions (PDA) models: buying print books based on interlibrary loan borrowing requests and the current e-book model working with an e-book aggregator or a library book vendor. The session will describe several approaches for evaluating the success and effectiveness of both models. Evaluation points include considerations such as subsequent circulation, appropriateness to the collection of purchased titles, subject analysis, cost analysis and even a peek at the difference in future performance between user-selected and librarian-selected e-books.

On Nov. 20, Rebecca Mugridge will look at qualitative assessment activities, which, when conducted regularly and methodically, can help managers and administrators understand the impact and value of the work that we do for our customers. Are we meeting our customers' needs? Are there services that we could provide but currently do not? What are our customers’ priorities? Are we responsive to their questions and issues? Are we working as effectively as we can? This webinar will explore the use of customer service surveys, focus groups, quality initiatives, benchmarking and other methods to evaluate and assess the work that we do.

For more information on these webinars and all upcoming continuing education from ALCTS, visit

ALCTS is a division of the 91´«Ã½.