CALAMW 2006 Annual Program

four picture of
Cleveland Public Library

CALAMW 2006 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Cleveland, Ohio, May 6 2006
Cleveland Public Library, Co-Host

President Report
The Midwest Chapter of the Chinese American Librarians Association held its 2006 annual conference at Cleveland Public Library in Cleveland OH from 5 to 6 May 2006. The theme of this year's conference was "Challenges for Libraries: Chinese American Librarians' Perspectives."
The Cleveland Public Library (CPL) co-hosted the conference. This is the very first time ever the Midwest Chapter has held its annual conference in a public library, in this case, CPL, the third largest public research library system in the U.S. It was also the first time for the Chapter to hold its conference in Cleveland OH, a city at one end of the Midwest Chapter region.
The conference was formally opened with a short welcome from Li Fu, the Chapter President. Holly Carroll, Deputy Director of CPL greeted the participants warmly. Milos Markovic, the Head of Foreign Literature Department, and Co-chair of the New Americans Committee of the CPL, started the full session with his inspiring keynote address. Followed were six other informative panel presentations by eight panelists.

The keynote speaker, Mr. Markovic, talked about how CPL has overcome challenges to serve many ethnic communities, built its fantastic Chinese collection, reached out with their resourceful collections, and how the patrons have benefited from their community-centered services. The audience listened with great interests and was very much impressed by the awesome collections and super services.

Junlin Pan, Ph.D. associate professor, coordinator of reference desk services at Northern Illinois University, began the panel session with her presentation: "Understanding Librarian Performance Assessment: A Case Study". From both theoretical and practical perspectives, she discussed challenges in performance assessment that academic librarians face.
Yangyang, Lu, a software engineer and owner of an IT firm in Cleveland Ohio, presented his "Sit back & relax - enjoy the tech-services". From an IT professional and Chinese American's perspective, he shared his view on the googlization and library phenomenon. He also gave an overview of the website he has designed for the local Chinese Community.
After a networking lunch, the panel presentations continued in the afternoon. Minjie Chen and Xiao Hu, both doctoral candidates in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), gave their talk on "A Cradle of Chinese American Librarians - The GSLIS Chinese Group". They focused on how the GSLIS Chinese Group of 24 students has provided leadership opportunities for Chinese students at UIUC; and served as a bridge between GSLIS and China in library information science on research, practice, and education.
Haiwang Yuan and Jen-chien Yu seconded the afternoon's session with their "Library Application of Blogs and Podcasts". Haiwang Yuan is the Web Site & Virtual Library Coordinator in Western Kentucky University Libraries, and Jen-chien Yu is an Electronic Information Services Librarian/Data Specialist at Miami University Libraries. They challenged the audience with some terminologies, like, "Web 2.0", "RSS," "blogs" and "podcasts", etc. By showcasing exemplary blogs and podcasts, the presenters explained how blogs and podcasts can be used in library environment, and what are the "do's" and "don'ts" in their design.
A Taichi session was taught during the break by Haipeng Li, incoming president of CALA and a former president of the Chapter. Everybody enjoyed the time stretching their legs and arms, accompanying with the music, and following the coach for a free lesson.
The panel session resumed with Wei Bender's presentation "What's new at OCLC?" Wei is a Senior Segment Analyst in OCLC Corporate Marketing Division. She briefed the listeners with the newest updates, including: new membership services, recent acquisitions, open WorldCat, and link to QuestionPoint 24/7 to Blogging, etc.
The last panel discussion was presented by Xudong Jin and Haipeng Li on "Promoting Global Librarianship: CALAMW-China Collaboration". Xudong is Associate Director of Libraries and Head of Technical Services at Ohio Wesleyan University. Haipeng Li is Reference Librarian/Outreach Coordinator at Oberlin College in Ohio. They reported on their pilot project of Yunnan's collaborative work. By providing training/teaching opportunities in China starting this summer, they expect to bring a significant impact for CALA members on the professional development and Chinese American librarianship.
The conference was a great success. We had over 30 participants from five states in the Midwest. Thanks to a new initiative of the Chapter for Student Travel Assistance Grant, this year, we had more student participants who came on this fund. More students came from University of IL at Urbana Champaign, and one from University of Iowa. Two others applied but had to cancel it due to some personal matters: one from Nebraska, and the other from Missouri. All the students who applied got funded: 100% on some expenses and 50% on others. There were many new faces --more than one third were library school students, and others include professors, library directors, and professional librarians.
Our goal has been reached, which was to stimulate our attendees to discuss and share their thoughts on the opportunities and challenges of being a Chinese, Chinese American, and Chinese American Librarian. The audience was provided with an opportunity and forum to learn more about current trends in the profession, how others had handled the various twists and turns at their work, and discover new ways to turn challenges into drives and skills.
The Q&A sessions that followed each presentation clearly showed that participants were eager for more professional development opportunities. Conferences like this are critical to those who need assistance, guidance and advice. Most agreed that as Chinese American Librarians, we're challenged with more obstacles from the culture, language, and hi-tech trend, etc. Yet, as long as we get involved, network with our peers, take advantage of opportunities, practice our leadership skills, and, contribute more to the building of the community, our organization will get stronger, and we'll grow along.
The conference included a tour, conference dinner, keynote address, six panel presentations, and Ha Jin’s event. There was also a continental breakfast, two relaxing Taichi sessions, an exciting photo taken break, and a networking lunch.
At the tour, the participants were shown around the CPL, brought to several departments, and introduced to the wonderful Chinese collection. Participants browsed the Chinese collections in the formats of DVDs, videos, journals, and many new books. Everyone was amazed at the beautiful environment, fabulous collections and helpful and friendly staff at CPL.

After the tour, the conference dinner started at Bo Loong restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious and tasteful. Each committee chair reported their committee's work for this past year. Haiwang Yuan, on behalf of the Program Committee; Xiaofang Han, Local Arrangement Committee; Guoqing Li, Archive Committee; Xiao Hu, Membership Committee in Haiying Qian's absence; Shuyong Jiang, Public Relations Committee; Jen-chien Yu, Web Committee; and Treasurer, Lisa Zhao all shared with the participants their reports. Some brought up a lot of constructive ideas, and others made valuable

We thanked our speakers with beautiful gifts of cups with a Cleveland logo. Our special thanks to Xiaofang Han, and the Cleveland Public Library, who have been such a great contributor and supporter.

The conference was closed with a call for action: Get involved!
Fore more details, photos and video clips, please visit our conference website at: http://tigger.uic.edu/depts/lib/projects/resources/calamw/2006/archive/

Li Fu, President
2005/06 MW Chapter

Call for Presentations | Hotel/Travel Information | Program/Local Arrangement Committee | Registration