• Academic Library Representative
• Public Library Representative
• Research Library Representative
• School Library Representative
• Special Library Representative
• At-large Representative

Each seat, except the At-Large seats, will have one representative from Indiana and one from Michigan. There will be two representatives from each state for the At-Large seats. There are a total of 14 seats open for election.

To assist you in nominating candidates, read these sections from the board’s policy manual, for an overview of the board’s work and responsibilities of board members. Under MCLS’s Bylaws, only designated Member Representatives or alternates from MCLS member institutions may be nominated. This is your opportunity to nominate candidates to the board. A slate of 14 candidates will be chosen from the nominations and presented to the membership at the October 1 membership meeting. Nominations will not be accepted from the floor at the meeting. If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors or wish to submit the name of a nominee, please complete this form.

Deadline for submission of names is 5:00 p.m. on September 10, 2010. If you would prefer to mail or fax your nominations please send them to MCLS Nominating Committee, 1407 Rensen Street, Lansing, MI 48910-3657, fax: 517-394-2096.

The new set has been posted to MLC’s Flickr photostream. Keynote speaker was R. David Lankes. Lankes discussed how library service should match how people build knowledge, as well as the obligation and power of libraries participating in their communities and society as a whole. Colleen Hyslop (Michigan State Univ), Larry Neal (Clinton-Macomb PL), and Anne Heidemann (Canton PL) comprised a response panel offering their views on Lankes’ theories and how such ideas can be put into practice. A stream of Lankes’ talk can be found at http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/blog/?p=826.

Following the feature presentation was MLC’s annual business meeting. This year the meeting highlighted a discussion by MLC Board Chairperson Pamela Grudzien, Interim INCOLSA Director Marnie Maxwell, and MLC’s own Randy Dykhuis regarding the current status and future of MLC/INCOLSA merger activities.

Lankes’ keynote is “The Times They Are A’Changin’ – the Logic of Participatory Librarianship,” a discussion of how library service should match how people build knowledge.  He also discusses the obligation and power of libraries participating in their communities and society as a whole. The keynote will be followed by a panel of local librarians reacting to Dr. Lankes’ presentation.

After lunch, we will reconvene for the MLC Annual Meeting, which will include an update on the merger between MLC and INCOLSA, followed by the Director’s Annual Report and business meeting.

AGENDA
9:00 a.m. Registration

9:30 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
Welcome – Randy Dykhuis, MLC Executive Director
Keynote – R. David Lankes, “The Times They Are A’Changin’ – the Logic of Participatory Librarianship”
“Reactor” Panel – Colleen Hyslop, MSU Libraries; Larry Neal, Clinton-Macomb Public Library; Anne Heidemann, Canton Public Library

12:00 Noon – 1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Annual Meeting
Merger Update – MLC and INCOLSA Board members
Director’s Annual Report – Randy Dykhuis
MLC Business Meeting

We have a great line-up for the “Open Source, Open Libraries” program, including keynote speaker Daniel Chudnov from the Library of Congress.

In addition to our keynote, members of the Michigan library community will highlight some of their favorite open source applications:
Terry Robertson and Steve Sowder, Andrews University, on Eprints, open source software for institutional repositories.
John Rucker, Branch District Library, on Dansguardian, open source filtering software
Mark Szidik, Michigan Library Consortium, on Mozilla Firefox and GiMP.
Bill Ott, Grand Rapids Public Library, on Open Office applications.

For further information and to register online, go to:
https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/viewcourse.html?id=191

We’re excited about Mr. Chudnov keynoting our “Open Source, Open Libraries” program.  Among his many accomplishments, he started the oss4lib weblog and listserv in 1999 to promote open source software in libraries.

In addition to Mr. Chudnov, we have an impressive line-up of Michigan library staff talking about their successes using open source software.  Steve Sowder and Terry Robertson of Andrews University will present on their experiences with open source Eprints for their university’s digital repository.  John Rucker, Bill Ott, and Mark Szidik will highlight a few of their open source favorites for libraries.

For further information, see MLC’s News and Announcements.

In light of MLC’s annual meeting earlier this month, “Libraries Build Communities,” this is a timely report. Chrystie Hill, who was the keynote speaker at our annual meeting, blogged about OCLC’s latest report, saying:

“…bottom line: the creation of the ’social web’ is well underway. in general, users (and librarians) do not see a place for the library there. to me this is sad news, but i remain hopeful …” Read her entire post here.

Earlier OCLC reports (Perceptions and Environmental Scan) sparked a lot of discussion, and change, among MLC member libraries. I’m looking forward to hearing what our MLC members have to say about OCLC’s newest report.

She gave many examples of the things libraries are doing to help people connect with each other. Many of those activities revolve around the use of technology and the web. Libraries are exploring and innovating through the use of Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. My favorite line in her talk, though, came when she was describing her epiphany about libraries and the their efforts to foster people-connections. As she was describing some of the things she’s seen and discovered, she almost had to force out the words that technology is only a means and that there are many other ways to connect people. After she sort of stumbled over the words, she looked up and said, “There, I’ve said it. It’s not about the technology. It’s about connecting people.” It was a cute moment. And a sentiment that many of us share.

Facebook and Flickr are wonderful tools. They’re a lot of fun and it’s easy to while away a couple of hours on the sites. But the type of community found there pales in comparison to the real thing. Reading and commenting on sites about Darfur may help me gather information and make a start at connecting with people. But it’s not until I go to a rally at the state capitol and hear in-person about the tragedy ongoing in the Sudan that I really connect emotionally.

It’s not an either/or proposition. Libraries need both: We need to be on Facebook. We need to share our photos on Flickr. But we also need children’s story-times. We need programs on personal finance, gardening, and henna painting. And, yes, we need book groups. All of these – from Facebook to henna painting to book groups – foster community and they connect people with each. Chrystie is right: We’re not just about content. We need to help people find connections to other like-minded folks.