April 08, 2024

In This Issue

• 2024 WRLC Annual Meeting Proposals Due Friday!
• 2024 Spring Forum
• An Easier Way to Log in to the Library Staff Intranet
• Community Highlights
• Events
• WRLC Job Listings

Latest News

We are excited to announce that the WRLC Annual Meeting will take place on May 21-23rd, 2024 via Zoom.

This three-day virtual event is an opportunity for us to come together as a community and celebrate our achievements, share our experiences, and plan for the future.

We are planning a packed agenda filled with engaging discussions and opportunities for networking. Whether you are a new member or a long-time supporter, you won't want to miss this chance to connect with your colleagues and peers.

Be a Presenter!

If you are interested in presenting at this year’s Annual Meeting, please fill out the form below.  This year, we will be organizing several lightning rounds around various topics.  If you have a project you have been working on or a topic you are passionate about but do not want to fill a full 45 minute session, this is the perfect opportunity to share!

Proposals are due by Friday, April  12th.

We look forward to seeing you in May!

- WRLC Sharing Expertise Committee

Safeguarding Research and Innovation: The Impact of Generative AI on Research

Wednesday, April 24th, 1:00pm - 2:30pm

-via Zoom-

Presenters: Rhea Siers (Senior Advisor, Teneo) & Fay Cobb Payton (Expert, NSF and Professor Emerita, NC State University), with opening remarks from Dr. Diana Burley (Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, American University, and Cybersecurity Expert)

Join Rhea Siers and Fay Payton for an insightful exploration into the unique challenges and opportunities of AI at the intersection of research. This session will emphasize strategies to enhance digital resilience, protect intellectual property, and foster a secure environment for innovation. Gain valuable insights into safeguarding your research endeavors in an era where boundaries between technology and academic continue to synergize!

Starting later this week, the WRLC Library Staff Intranet (https://www/libraries.wrlc.org/) will use campus logins to authenticate university staff rather than requiring users to maintain separate login credentials. In addition, the proxy server previously used to provide off-campus access to the Intranet has been replaced by this new single sign-on (SSO) process. This means that when off-campus (and not on your campus's VPN), once you authenticate to access the site you will also be logged into the Intranet.

Existing Library Staff Intranet accounts will be matched with campus logins based on email addresses, so if your campus's SSO system uses the same email address in your Intranet account, the new login process will log you in to your already existing account with all the same posting privileges you had before.

In the event that these email addresses don't match, a new account will be created when you log in that won't have those same privileges. If this happens to you, please contact Joel Shields (joel.shields@wrlc.org) who will update your existing account to use the same email as your university SSO system, restoring all of your old account privileges.

Reparative Cataloging at the WRLC

Each month, members of the WRLC Reparative Cataloging Subgroup take turns sharing news related to reparative cataloging and recent updates to the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSHs). 

There are only tentative lists for March and April, but some notable headings on the lists waiting to be approved:

• Subject heading “Deaf” will become “Deaf people”

• Subject heading “Hearing impaired” will become “Hard of hearing people”

• Subject heading “Gender binary” as a narrower term of “Gender identity”

• Genre form term “Queer television programs” as a broader term of “Transgender television programs”

 Professional development opportunities around the profession:

• February CritCatenate

• ALA/CORE Interest Group week occurred in early March, but recordings of interest group meetings are available. Below are Interest Group meetings and specific talks that may be of particular interest.

  • Faceted Subject Access

    • “Conducting a pilot for Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms”

  • Creative Ideas in Technical Services

    • “Homosaurus Usage in the OCLC Database: an exploratory analysis”

  • Role of the professional librarian in technical services

    • “Diversity audits and the role of technical services staff”

 As always, if you see headings or descriptions that you feel should be updated or changed, please submit the Reparative Description Heading Reporting Form created by the Reparative Cataloging Subgroup or join us at our next meeting on April 24, 2024. Reach out to Chair, Alisha Struther (alisha.strother@howard.edu) from Howard University with any questions.

APAC's Idea of the Month:
Add all Enumeration and Chronology fields to the Inventory Information tab of an Import Profile

The Alma/Primo Advisory Committee's (APAC) April Idea of the Month seeks to broaden the functionality of the Enumeration and Chronology fields.

Currently, only Enumeration A - C and Chronology I - K are listed in the Inventory Information tab of our Import Profiles. Our consortia uses Enumeration A-D; Enumeration D specifically is used for free-text phrases that do not conveniently fit into the category of volume, number or issue; so "index", "part", "box", etc. are all written in EnumD. This is why it is frustrating that this enumeration field cannot be imported via an import profile.

It would be immensely helpful for us if all enumeration fields were listed in the import profile. There is no point in having so many enumeration fields available if you can only update some of those fields via an import profile.

If you don't have an Idea Exchange account, just find the "New here? Create an account" link on the idea page. Then enter your email address to start the account creation process.

APAC welcomes nominations for future Ideas of the Month. Anyone can highlight an idea on the WRLC Idea Exchange Basecamp or you can submit ideas to your APAC representative.

- Aaron Krebeck (WRLC)
On behalf of the Alma/Primo Advisory Committee

2024 Spring Forum

See the featured article above for details.

• Serials Librarian - Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

• Acquisitions Coordinator - Georgetown Law Library

View this email in your browser