What’s that interest group doing in Anaheim?

Before I pack up to fly out tomorrow, I did a last-minute check on one of several things that concerns me about LITA (and it will be, to some extent, part of my agenda as incoming LITA Publications Committee chair–just as fair warning).

To wit, what are the LITA Interest Groups planning to discuss during ALA Annual?

As far as I can tell, there are 19 active LITA Interest Groups (and another 17 inactive).

I was able to get some information on 10 of the 19…but only by going to four different resources. I’m also being generous–in some cases, the only info was on formal programs, with nothing about business meeting or discussions.

  • The LITA database, seemingly the most natural place to start, and the place you get to from ALA as the “key resource” if you search LITA: Zero. Not one IG had notes on Annual 2008 plans.
  • The LITA blog: Two interest groups had posts that related to ALA 2008, and both were appropriately tagged.
  • The LITA wiki–seemingly the second most natural place to go, as you’d assume there would be a nice neat page with links: Two interest groups (not the same two as in the blog) had notes relating to ALA 2008.
  • LITA-L, the LITA list–seemingly the least likely place, especially if LITA’s trying to attract newbies to the fold, and especially since you have to do some work to find this stuff: Eight, but two of those were also in the blog. Six new.

In the division of ALA that should be most concerned with effective communication through technology, barely over half the interest groups provided any information. (Maybe they did on their own lists, but that really doesn’t count: IGs should not be closed circles.) And only four out of 19 provided such information in “contemporary” formats.

LITA doesn’t lack for the tools–hey, there’s a database, a blog, a wiki, a list! What more could you ask for?

What’s lacking is the content. I sometimes wonder whether unused or barely-used tools are worse than no tools at all…

Well, that’s my final pre-ALA grump. And for my frends in ERM, Internet Resources, NextGen Catalogs and Open Source Systems: Congratulations. You’re the few and the proud.

Now to pack and make ready for Anaheim, sun screen and all. See some of you at the LITA Happy Hour? (Not at the beginning, but eventually.)

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