Home About LITA The Organization, Policies and Procedures Board of Directors 2000-2001 Annual Report

LITA, a division of the American Library Association, is an international division of nearly 5000 members. Although LITA focuses on current and future technologies related to library and information technology, it is also concerned with the impact of technology on people, their potential, and the wider uses of technology.

Vision
LITA envisions a world in which all information technology is available to everyone.

Mission
LITA ...
Educates through: programs for every level of skill; continuing education; publications; LITA's Web presence
Serves through: developing and disseminating best practice guidelines; mentoring
Reaches out to: a broad membership; new professionals, systems librarians, library administrators; standardizing bodies, library educators: vendors.

Summary

This was a year of building on previous strengths while looking at transitions within the organization. The transition came with a change in Executive Director in late spring. The strengths came in continuing to provide high-quality programming and educational opportunities for its members. The highlights for the organization follow below.

Executive Director

Jacqueline Mundel's resignation as LITA Executive Director was effective April 27, 2001. She held the position since 1996. Her hard work during her tenure was much appreciated by the membership. A search committee consisting of Pat Ensor (chair), Sara Randall, Tamara Miller, Mary Ghikas, and Karen Muller was formed in January with the goal of moving quickly to fill the position. The position was widely advertised leading to a strong candidate pool.

Mary Taylor accepted the position and began as Executive Director on May 1, 2001. She was previously in the ALA Office on Accreditation and has also brought division experience from her stint with ACRL. LITA is fortunate to have attracted an enthusiastic and well-qualified person for this important position.

LITA National Forum

LITA held its third National Forum "High Tech/High Touch: The Human Aspects of Technology" in Portland, November 2-5, 2000. The forum's success can be measure by how quickly the Forum sold out. Attendance has grown from 125 registrations at the first forum to a sell out crowd of 441 for the Portland Forum. The Forum attracts librarians from a variety of library types. The forum continues attract both LITA members and non-members. In Portland 52% of the attendees were LITA members, 25% ALA members and 23% non-members. The number of concurrent sessions has grown from 18 at the Second Annual Forum to 28 in Portland and three general sessions. Two preconferences were also well attended.

Planning is well underway for the next Annual Forum in Milwaukee on October 11-14, 2001. LITA anticipates another sold out Forum. The number of possible registration has been increased to 500.

The LITA Board has selected Houston as the site for the 2002 Forum.

Programming

The LITA's Presidents Program features a distinguished panel (Cliff Lynch, Daniel Greenstein, and Priscilla Kaplan) speaking on issues in distributed digital libraries. There are three pre-conferences: Handheld computers in libraries, Portable e-libraries, and The Future of Serials Control. In addition LITA is sponsoring 16 programs on a wide variety of technology topics.

LITA has continued to grow in the area of regional institutes and has sponsored several popular regional institutes. Over 200 hundred people took advantage of a LITA regional institute this year. LITA sponsored the following regional institutes:

1. Database Driven Web Sites (Kristin Antelman):

• 8/3/00       UC Irvine
• 12/11/00    State Library of North Carolina
• 3/22/01      Loyola Campus (Chicago)
• 4/20/01      PALINET

2. Proxy Web Servers & Authentication (Peter Murray)

• 8/11/00     OCLC Campus
• 3/23/01     Loyola Campus (Chicago)

Publications

LITA has published a new guide, Usability Assessment of Library-related Web Sites: Methods & Case Studies, LITA Guide 7, Nicole Campbell, editor. This guide includes eight case studies draws from a variety of types and sizes of libraries. It also covers popular techniques including card sort, category membership expectation, cognitive walkthrough, site usage logs, questionnaires, surveys, and focus groups.

LITA published the usual 4 issues of Information Technology in Libraries (ITAL) Telecommunications Electronic Reviews changed its name to Technology Electronic Reviews with Volume 8, Number 1. This reflects the broader range in topics currently covered by the publication.

Membership Campaign

LITA was selected by ALA to participate in a direct-mail membership campaign. Marketing General, Inc designed the campaign. A letter and brochure highlighting the benefits of LITA membership was sent to non-ALA members culled from the ASIS and Computers in Libraries (conference and journal) mailing lists. Preliminary information indicates that we have a return rate of .028%. The return rate was better from the Computers in Library lists than ASIS. The intent of the campaign was to try directly marketing LITA membership rather than ALA membership.

LITA adapted the campaign material to send a similar mailing to targeted ALA members who self identified as having technology related job, but were not LITA members. Results of this effort are still pending.

Town Meeting

In a continuing effort to improve communication between the LITA board and LITA members, Vice-president Flo Wilson moderated a town meeting at the ALA midwinter meeting. Much of the discussion focused on communication issues within the organization. The need for information to flow more quickly between the Board, committees and the membership was highlighted. A theme of using the LITA web site more affectively to help improve communication emerged from the meeting.

Several items that have already been addressed since the meeting include:

• Posting action minutes of the LITA Board and Executive Committee to the LITA-L list and on the web site
• Changing the LITA-L list from moderated to unmoderated (but limited to subscribers)
• Redesigned committee report form

Changes in LITA Web Site Management

After the 2000 Annual meeting the oversight of the LITA web site moved from an editorial board within publications to a committee structure. The change reflects the Boards belief that the web site serves many purposes in addition to the publication function previously identified. Martin Kalfatovic began his term as chair of the committee.

Participation within ALA

Tamara Miller, LITA’s Councilor and Board member represented the division at the Second Conference on Professional Education in November. Karen Coyle and Joan Kuklinski represented LITA at the workshop "Developing an Agenda for Libraries and Information Policy Issues" sponsored by ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy in the spring.

Awards

Scholarship Winners

LITA Board of Directors

Sara L. Randall, President
Flo Wilson, Vice President/President-Elect
Michael Gorman, Past President
Tamara Miller, Councilor
Thomas Dowling
Susan Harrison
Susan Jacobson
Joan L. Kuklinski
George S. Machovec
Scott P. Muir
Colby M. Riggs
Mary Ann E. Van Cura, Parlimentarian (Ex Officio)
Mary Taylor, Executive Director (Ex Officio)

LITA Staff

Mary Taylor, Executive Director Rebecca Felkner, Program Officer
Tel Aviv Barbee, Administrative Secretary
Valerie Edmonds, Secretary

LITA has continued to grow and gain momentum. This is through the hard work of the committees, interest groups and its Board. I wish to thank the efforts of all members that actively work to make LITA a dynamic, flexible organization. In a year of staff transition, it was particularly helpful to have an organized and committed staff that made the transition between Executive Directors seamless.

Respectfully Submitted
Sara Randall
May 30, 2001