Minitex Technical Services Symposium

Join us for the second Minitex Technical Services Symposium, this year focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Technical Services.

Brief Schedule

8:45 Registration opens

9:15 Welcome

9:30 Keynote speaker: Amber Billey

10:45 Break

11:00 Change the Subject screening and Q&A with Tina Gross

12:30 Lunch

1:45 Breakout sessions

2:35 Break

2:50 Breakout sessions

Full session information, including descriptions, below. 

Full Schedule

8:45 Registration opens

9:15 Welcome

9:30 Keynote speaker: Amber Billey

Amber Billey is the Systems and Metadata Librarian at Bard College in beautiful Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Prior to joining Bard, she was the Metadata Librarian at Columbia University Libraries from 2015-2017 where she worked on the LD4P project contributing to ontology development, tool testing and development, and MARC to RDF mapping. Billey was the Co-Chair of the PCC BIBFRAME Task Group, and is a member of the PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO. She is also on the Advisory Board for the Digital Transgender Archive, and the editorial board for the Homosaurus – a linked data thesaurus for the LGBTQ+ community. Billey worked as the Cataloging/Metadata Librarian at the University of Vermont Libraries from 2011-2015. From 2009-2011, she was the metadata specialist for CollectiveAccess open-source collection management software for museums, archives, and historical societies.  She served as the Vermont Library Association President from 2013-2014, and she is the incoming Chair-Elect for CaMMS. Billey received her MLIS from Pratt Institute in 2009 with certificates in Archives and Museum Librarianship.

When she isn’t thinking about metadata best practices and the future of library data, Billey enjoys hiking with her wife and their two dogs in the mountains or swimming in oceans.

10:45 Break

11:00 Change the Subject screening and Q&A with Tina Gross

Change the Subject shares the story of a group of college students, who from their first days at Dartmouth College, were committed to advancing and promoting the rights and dignity of undocumented peoples.  In partnership with staff at Dartmouth, these students – now alumni – produced a film to capture their singular effort at confronting an instance of anti-immigrant sentiment in their library catalog.  Their advocacy took them all the way from Baker-Berry Library to the halls of Congress, showing how an instance of campus activism entered the national spotlight, and how a cataloging term became a flashpoint in the immigration debate on Capitol Hill.

12:30 Lunch

1:45 Breakout Sessions

Diversifying Collections, Jessica Schomberg

Hands-on activity to help participants find a diversity of materials to support their communities and expand their collections. This will range from identifying relevant book and media awards to finding ways to promote these materials. We will also include discussion of how to advocate for policy statements expressing the value of diverse, accessible collections as well as ways to advocate for funds to support these collections. Participants will be encouraged to share their insights.

Imagine the possibilities: RDA-LRM, authority, and social justice, Violet Fox & Stephen Nonte

The incorporation of IFLA’s Library Reference Model into RDA will change how we conceptualize metadata on a fundamental level. While the language of RDA 2.0 is not for the faint of heart, these changes present opportunities for flexibility that will make our catalogs more responsive to our patrons’ needs. This is the perfect time to reconsider the way we gather and display information about people and concepts to create a more collaborative practice. Join us in thinking beyond the limitations of our current structures to a better future.

2:35 Break

2:50 Breakout sessions

Think Globally, Catalog Locally, Christie Kess

Dakota County Library has recently created local subject and genre headings to better reflect the diverse community the Library serves. Headings are tailored for community needs and cover a broader view than is currently available thorough Library of Congress approved headings. Hear Dakota County Library staff share about creating local subject and genre headings to meet local needs and cover global perspectives. Hear examples of local headings to highlight LGBTQ+ topics and characters, local headings to serve the need of new readers and English language learners, and local subject and genre headings in languages other than English.

Conscious mentoring and foreign librarians: Models of mentoring schemes applied to ethnically diverse librarians entering current technical services workforce, Anita Kazmierczak-Hoffman

Ethnically diverse librarians in training need a special kind of mentorship, one that combines professional guidance with personal motivation and an example. It is best if the mentorship is not provided in the library schools directly but rather is offered as a part of fieldwork experience with professional guidance from fellow librarians. This is why an internship is a crucial part of the training for new librarians. Based on my experience, the mentorship relationship has to be built on both professional and personal linkages and similarities. Mentorship that comes directly from librarians with similar paths should be valued as a training method. The relevance of a professional and personal level only increases the value of a mentor and its impacts on the mentee. Therefore, it is imperative that “LIS students and professionals develop informal or situational mentoring relationships.” The mentor’s role is to guide individuals on how to adjust to new surroundings and to provide acceptance, perhaps what they need more than anything in a time of professional and personal transition.