The Association of Jewish Libraries is conducting a brief survey to assess how well our conventions serve our membership. We want to hear from those who do not attend our conventions as well as from those who have attended.

We will consider these survey results in conjunction with other tools and data being used in the evaluation process. Our goals are to support the professional needs of members with innovative and less costly conventions.

Results of the survey will be shared in the summer AJL News and at the 47th Annual AJL Convention in Pasadena in June of 2012. Recommendations for any convention changes will be presented at the AJL Council meeting, to take place on June 17th in Pasadena.

You have until Thursday, May 10 to complete the Association of Jewish Libraries survey about conventions.  It should take no more than 10 minutes of your time.  Please visit the link below to participate.  

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6DGMSYQ

Many thanks to those who have already submitted opinions!

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) will hold the 47th Annual Convention in Los Angeles, California June 17-20, 2012. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, authors and others will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship and related topics. AJL is soliciting proposals for papers and presentations on aspects of Judaica librarianship as it pertains to libraries, archives, museums, schools, synagogues and related institutions. Past topics have included literature and other resources, collection management, programming, reader advisory services, special and rare collections, cataloging and classification, digital and electronic resources, technology and local Jewish history.

Submissions should include the following:

Presenter's name, address, affiliation, telephone and email contacts.
Brief biography
Title of proposed presentation
Summary of proposal
Specific technology or equipment requirements, if any

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2011.

Please submit proposals by email to:

benamou@library.ucla.edu

or by mail to:

Sharon Benamou
UCLA Library Cataloging & Metadata Center
11020 Kinross Ave. Box 957230
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7230

Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Planning Committee, which is composed of national and local AJL members. Notification will be made in January, 2012.

Did you present at the 2011 AJLConvention in Montreal? Would you like your work to be included in the published proceedings that are available on AJL's website?

Please consider sharing your paper with those who were unable to attend your session. For submission guidelines and examples from previous years go to http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Events/PastConventions/ConventionProceedings.aspx.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!

Jasmin Nof
Proceedings Chair

I went the RAS meeting to hear what our various committees have been up to.  I sometimes feel a little out of it - if it doesn't involve money, I don't often have the time to keep up with the various programs and committee work we do.  As always, I was impressed at the passion that everyone brings to their work.  I'm especially eager to see what the digitization committee comes up with for gateway to the many digitization projects our libraries are dong.

At the general meeting we voted on some constitutional changes to change out budget year so that the convention is in the middle of the year, instead of the at the edge.  This will make my job (and future treasurers) much easier.

And finally at the convention wrapup meeting we went over what worked and what didn't to plan for next years.  2 themes kept coming up.  One is that much of the planning is place specific.  Different hotels, caterers, cities, have different requirements, charges, setups, etc.  The other is that we need better communication from one convention to the next. 

I know that the LA people are already working hard to to plan next years convention.  They're going to be experimenting with some different scheduling and formats.  While I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to travel to some wonderful new place for convention, there is so much going on in LA that I'm sure it will be an exciting convention.

As always, one of the highlights was seeing people in person that I mostly know through email for facebook and being able to reconnect with colleagues from all over the world.

Thanks to the Montreal committee! and see you all next year in Los Angeles!

p.s. I was going to post a picture of me happily snoozing on my couch, but I'm just too tired ;-)

In what has to be one of the most colorful sessions I've been to at AJL, Steven Bergson and Elliot Gertel provided feasts for the eyes as well as the mind.

Steven started us off with "Judging a Book by its Cover"  Part graphic design critique, part symbology discussion, part marketing tricks, Steven took us on a whirlwind tour of both effective and problematic covers. The covers, his comments, and a bibliography are on his blog http://jewishbookcovers.blogspot.com/
And, in case you were about to judge Steven by his cover - he was looking especially spiffy in a suit and comic-themed (of course) tie.



His presentation was followed by Elliot Gertel's presentation "Kalman at the Bat : a webography of Jews in Baseball"  While many people (even non-baseball followers) can name Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, Elliot showed sites with information about many other Jewish baseball players throughout baseball history.

Here are some notes and pics from Kathe Pinchuk.  We're having lots of quality time at the airport while waiting for our re-scheduled fligths.

Clever "Mirka" brought her knitting to keep herself amused, while this sad blogger/quilter forgot all her projects at home.



Jo Taylor Marshall, daughter of Sydney Taylor and sponsor the the Sydney Taylor book awards, attended the conference and shared a few stories about her mother.  She mentioned that the character Sarah in the books was based on her mother. Since it was difficult for women to get published, her mother wrote under the name "Sydney".  Jo still get letters addressed to "Mr. Taylor"



Mirka and STBA winner Barry Deutsch accept the award for older readers for his book  Hereville



The award winners, honorable mentions, Jo Taylor Marshall, and committee members.

Monday morning started bright and very early with a session on digitization projects. Joyce Rappaport from YIVO began by walking us through the process of editing the 2 v. Encylopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe and how it grew and transformed into a website.  She spoke of the challenges that all we catalogers can relate to: standardizing the spelling of personal names; figuring how to refer to places that have changed names and national boundaries, multiple language submissions, and multiple author entries. Joyce also mentioned the lively discussions that determined the boundaries of "East Europe"  (for their purposes; east of Germany, north of the Balkins) and the time period covered.  It was very important to YIVO that this NOT be a Yizkor book, but rather a celebration of Jewish thought, life, customs, arts, biography, life cycle celebrations, political involvement and much more from medieval times to the near current day.

Transforming the paper volumes into web pages allowed them to add many more color pictures, interactive maps, multi-media, and to keep the articles current.  There is a tab for educators and researchers with lesson plans and curricula.  I was surprised and thrilled to hear that the online version is free and open to anyone.  YIVO is understandably proud that they are the first to post a major reference source online that is open access.  http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/

The next speaker was just as exciting. Rebecca  Jefferson spoke about digitizing one of the quirkier collections at the Price Library of Judaica at the University of Florida.  The collect anniversary issues of journals and newspapers and festschriften of all kinds. The show a fascinating glimpse at what the editors thought were the important milestones for the Jewish community at that time.  They also include ads and notes of congratulations from individuals, businesses, and organizations which show the make up of the community.  http://ufdc.ufl.edu/anniversary

The last speaker of the session, Rachel Boertjens, spoke about the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana's project to digitize the correspondance between the "Pekidim & Amarkalim," a philanthropic organization, and the individuals and yeshivot that wrote to them asking from money from the early to late 1800's.

The next session was a sort of catch-all on Israeli life and culture.  Anna Levia gave a surprisingly interesting and engaging talk about sewage.  Yes, I said sewage.  As part of a large collection on Tel Aviv that the University of Stanford acquired, was a collection of correspondence to the municipality on the subject of waste processing and removal in pre-state Palestine.  While not the most appetizing of subjects, this topic is of obvious importance to anyone studying the development of a city.


The next speaker might have started with the immortal words of Monty Python "And now for something completely different"  Daniel Scheide and  Sharon Benamou gave a whirlwind tour of Israeli hip-hop, rap, and other related genre's.  They demonstrated (by showing videos - not by singing) how rap is used by both religious and secular Israelis as well as among many of the different ethnic groups in Israel.  Some use it to show their differences while others to make a case for toleration and understanding.

Yaffa Weisman then took us in yet another direction by examining the book and television series HaSaMBaH, the Hebrew acronym for the Extreme secret Gang.  This series showed a group of Israeli teens working together to solve crimes and nab the bad guys.  The teens represented many politicals, economic, and social classes within Israel. She spoke about how the series was used to indoctrinate Israelis on the values of equality and cooperation.  The books were revived and reprinted several times and were made into tv series.  You could definitely tell who the Israeli's were in the audience by how much they were nodding in memory of the characters.

'Cause it doesn't seem possible to do all I did or learn all I learned in just one Monday.

I'll start with last things first, since that is freshest in my mind. I just returned from an amazing Yiddish performance of the Megillah of Itzik Manger at Centre Segal. Even though I don't speak Yiddish, the lyrics appeared on a screen above the stage and the actors were so expressive that it was easy to follow.  The show was followed by a lively Klezmer performance.  The place was packed with people of every age.



Before crossing the street to Centre Segal, we spent the afternoon at the Jewish community campus.  I hear a couple of interesting talks on archives.  The first speakers  talked about combining 2 different archives into one virtual space.  The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network has lots of search options and includes some great lesson plans using their documents and photographs.

The next speaker, Zev Moses, talked about his work in progress, the Interactive Museum of Jewish Montreal. While there isn't a lot on the site, it will start to fill up in the next few weeks.

I unfortunately could stay to hear the 3rd speaker - but the first 2 talks really showed how forward thinking archives can be.

After my post meetings snooze, I went down to the opening reception in the exhibition area.  I munched on tempting goodies and examined tempting books.  I was very happy to see several bids on my quilt.  Even though I thought I did a good job - its always a little nerve-wracking to see if anyone else agreed.

After the reception, we gathered for dinner.  I caught up with some of my HUC colleagues and met a few other librarians from around the states.

Our keynote speaker was Dr. Ruth Wisse.  She posed the question "What do we do about Yiddish?" She gave an engaging talk about the role Yiddish played and plays in Jewish life. Dr. Wise pointed out that the development of Yiddish shows 2 contradictory things.  1. Jews had close contact with the surrounding German community since and 2. Jews lived separately from the surrounding community.



Today Yiddish speakers seem to fall into 2 camps - the secular, and the ultra-religious.  This separation does a disservice to both Yiddish and to Jews.  Yiddish was the vehicle for many Jewish authors and thinkers to grapple with issues of modernity.  They struggled with many issues that we are still addressing today: G-d vs. individuality; individuality vs. peoplehood; men & women's roles; sexuality and love; Jews & politics, etc.

She also talked about how Yiddish shows the development of language and peoplehood across language and political borders.

To paraphrase the answer to her question ... ask not what you can do with Yiddish - ask what Yiddish can do for you.

Registration went very smoothly.  As always, helpful volunteers got me checked in quickly and gave me my bag of convention goodies.



I took a sneak peak at the vendors who were putting finishing touches on their booths. Looks like lots of great deals.



Tucked in the middle of the exhibit area, is our silent auction.  Many members donated all kinds of wonderful things.  Nancy Sack coordinated this international effort.



and now for the shameless self promotion.  BID ON MY QUILT!  I made and donated this kid's quilt.  Notice the carefully chosen fabric - Jewish themes, reading themes, kid-friendly animals.  It would be perfect for your child, grandkid, kid-next-door, etc. ....

The conference has begun!  The Board met this morning and the Council is meeting even as I type (don't tell the pres. that I'm blogging while he's talking.)

While I can't say that I love sitting in meetings (especially in windowless basement rooms), I have to say that I am always inspired by this group of people.  AJL is not anyone's day job - this is extra (unpaid) work for each of the board and council members.  It's always invigorating to spend time with people who are passionate about their work

Lest you worry that your intrepid blogger was spending too much time in the Catholic Churches ... fear not! we also toured some Anglican ones.



This is Christ Church Cathedral.  The bright floral booth in front of it is the entrance to Montreals underground shopping network



in the back of the church was a monument to Raoul Wallenberg.

We also took a long walk through the antique district to the Atwater Market. 



We walked back along the Lachine canal.  Originally flanked by factories - most have been converted to condos.

I grabbed a couple more librarians (Jim Rosenbloom and Fred Isaac) to walk with Noni and I to Old Montreal.




There are several blocks of a pedestrian walk



There was some wonderful creative artwork.

I arrived in Montreal last night; just in time to have a late dinner with my friend and colleague Noni Rudavsky.

We started off this morning to explore the neighborhood.  With our sense of irony firmly in our hands, we started our explorations by taking a tour of the Mary, Queen of the World, Cathedral. This magnificent building was originally dedicated to St. James and is a 1/3 scale model of St. Peter''s in Rome.  Our very patient and informative guide explained all the mysterious to us Catholic imagery and icons.

After church, we randomly picked a street to walk along.  We saw some great street art and a wonderful exhibit by the McCord museum.  The showed beautiful historical photographs and then "Pieces of Pictures" a detail of the photo that somehow exemplified or changed the story of the photo.



This inspired us to find the museum itself.  The McCord show a great glimpse of early life in the region through photo''s, clothing, and sports equipment.

We were also impressed with the many "rent a bike" stations that we saw.

Hi all,

I'm excited to once again blog at the AJL convention.  And I can't wait to explore Montreal.   I've never been to that corner of the continent.

  I'm one of Librarians on the Jack Skirball campus (Los Angeles) of the Hebrew Union College.  Besides the typical tasks of cataloging, reference, bibliographic instruction, clearing the copy machine, and pointing the way to the bathroom, I'm the library webmaster.  I love trying out new technological toys and at the moment, I'm playing with all the buttons and crap settings on this "new to me" blog.


When I'm not at the library, I'm home quilting, gardening, or fighting with my 2 teenagers.


 

As the 2011 AJL Convention approaches, AJL will be publishing the remaining podcast episodes from the 2010 Convention at an accelerated rate! Watch Hasafran, Facebook, and Twitter for notices of new episodes. You can listen to any podcast episode at jewishlibraries.org/podcast.

If you're not familiar with podcasting, you can become a maven by reading the primer below. Enjoy!

What is a podcast?

A podcast is an audio or video program on the Internet. What makes it different from any old audio clip or YouTube video? A podcast is an ongoing show that has multiple episodes, and you can subscribe to it. The same way you can subscribe to a magazine and have each issue arrive at your house, you can subscribe to a podcast and have each new episode arrive on your computer. Subscriptions for podcasts are usually free.

What will you find on the AJL Podcast?

AJL’s podcast is made up of audio recordings of sessions from our conventions and other regional AJL-related events. We have been podcasting since 2008.

How do you get the AJL Podcast?

You can find the podcast at jewishlibraries.org/podcast.  At that location, you can read instructions for subscribing to the podcast. ***You do NOT have to subscribe to the podcast in order to listen to it!*** Just like you can buy an individual issue of a magazine at a newsstand without  subscribing to the magazine, you can listen to individual episodes of the AJL Podcast at our website without subscribing to it. It’s your own choice.

How is the AJL Podcast page organized?

When you go to jewishlibraries.org/podcast, you will see a complete list of all our audio recordings, alphabetically arranged by the last name of the speaker. You can click on the title of any recording to be taken to its individual page, where you can click the PLAY button to listen. If you would like to narrow your search, you have two options. You can click on a broad category of interest: RAS, SSC, or Children’s & Youth Literature. Alternatively, you can click on Index to be taken to more specific subject headings.

When scrolling through the complete list of audio recordings, you may notice that some speakers have multiple recordings. That is because so  many wonderful authors and AJL members return to our conventions with new information to share year after year!

Who’s in charge of the AJL Podcast?

The AJL Podcast is overseen by Heidi Estrin, who has been podcasting since 2005 at her synagogue library. Her library’s podcast is called The Book of Life, and it receives some support from AJL, making cross-promotion possible. You can hear episodes of The Book of Life at http://bookoflifepodcast.com.

Ready-set-go! Get out your passports and cash in your air miles because it's time to book your travel and hotel reservations for June 19 -22, 2011 in Montreal! All AJL Convention 2011 registration and preliminary program information isnow available online. Early bird registration deadline is April 10. To receive the AJL Convention Hotel rate you must book before May 20. Please check out the AJL website for more information:

Click here for full convention information.

Click here for the registration form, which you will need to print and mail in with your check.

Association of Jewish Libraries

Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division

Call for Papers, 2011 Annual Convention

The Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division (RAS) of the Association of Jewish Libraries is soliciting paper proposals for AJL's 46th Annual Convention, to be held at the Marriott Chateau Champlain in Montreal, Quebec, June 19-22, 2011. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, and authors will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship, Jewish literacy and related topics.

We solicit paper proposals on aspects of Judaica librarianship as it is practiced in research libraries, archives, museums, and special collections and as it pertains to higher education. Examples of suitable topics include, but are not limited to:

§  Technological developments and tools in higher education institutions: cloud computing, academic social networks, e-book platforms, mobile devices and virtual reference;

§  Resource sharing: database access, union catalogs, reference sources, cataloging services;

§  Cataloging in RDA (Resource Description and Access).

§  The future of print book collections in academic institutions, seminaries and Hebrew colleges, as revealed in collection development practices and policies, or other library operations;

§  Changes in Jewish Studies methodology as they are portrayed in libraries.

A special focus this year will be the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Montreal Jewish community. Appropriate topics may include archives or special collections in the area, history of the Canadian Yiddish theater, programs about Jewish Canadian notables such as Mordechai Richler or Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg, as well as Canadian women writers, history of local synagogues and other community landmarks, or unique Jewish communities in Montreal (Moroccan, Iraqi, Spanish-Portuguese).

Proposals should be emailed to ajlconvention@gmail.com, with the following: presenter's name, address, affiliation, telephone and email address; brief biography; title of proposed presentation; paper abstract (up to 250 words); and specific technology or equipment requirements, if any.

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2010. Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Planning Committee, which is composed of national and local AJL members. Notification will be made in January 2011.

Association of Jewish Libraries

Call for Papers 2011

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) will hold the 46^th Annual Convention at the Marriott Chateau Champlain in Montreal, Quebec June 19-22, 2011. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, authors and others will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship and related topics.

AJL is soliciting proposals for papers and presentations on aspects of Judaica librarianship as it pertains to libraries, archives, museums, schools, synagogues and related institutions. Past topics have included literature and other resources, collection management, programming, reader advisory services, special and rare collections, cataloging and classification, digital and electronic resources, technology and local Jewish history.

A special focus this year will be the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Montreal Jewish community.

Submissions should include the following:

Presenter’s name, address, affiliation , telephone and email contacts.

Brief biography.

Title of proposed presentation.

Summary of proposal.

Specific technology or equipment requirements, if any.

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2010. Please submit proposals by email to:

ajlconvention@gmail.com

or by mail to:

Marsha Lustigman,

Bialik Library,

6500 Kildare Rd.,

Cote St. Luc, QC, Canada, H4W 3B8

Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Planning Committee, which is composed of national and local AJL members. Notification will be made in January, 2011.

Posted by Marie.

The following is a summary of the AJL's Facebook feed from yesterday's convention proceedings.

• Feinstein lecture. One of our resident librarian-scholars, Yossi Galron, gave the lecture Monday night. Dressed in a tie! He led us through the history of Jewish bibliography. I would like to have seen of his own online bio-bibliography, but he modestly left it out. http://library.osu.edu/sites/users/galron.1/


• April Wayland Halpern tells the group about writing New Year's on the Pier.