Re: [CODE4LIB] VPNs - free to low cost

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Charles -- 

Also make sure that they are aware of the assistance available from the 
Lifeline program: 
https://www.fcc.gov/general/lifeline-program-low-income-consumers
Even an inexpensive smartphone should be able to handle this kind of 
transaction, and a device might come in handy in other ways as well...

Ed Sperr 
esp...@uga.edu


On Thu, Oct 5, 2023 at 9:19 PM charles meyer  wrote:

> My esteemed listmates,
>
> Patron on living on modest Social Security alone is exploring if 
> there's any free to low cost ($5-10 a month) VPN for her once a month 
> electronic payment of her bank credit card from her checking account 
> using a free library hotspot.
>
> Her bank for her credit card has no brick and mortar locations.
>
> I wasn't sure what others used as reliable tech sites for comparing 
> and contrasting VPNs?
>
> Just Googling this, I found these sites but I'm not sure how a 
> accurate any of them are?
>
> https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/best-free-vpn-wifi-hotspots/
>
> https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hotspot-shield-vpn
>
> https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/surfshark-vpn-review/
>
> https://www.usnews.com/360-reviews/privacy/vpn/hotspot-shield
>
> Thanks so much,
>
> Charles.
>
> Charlotte County Public Library
>

Re: [CODE4LIB] DSpace multiple frontends?

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Maybe something like this? 

https://omeka.org/s/docs/user-manual/modules/dspaceconnector/

Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
Clinical Information Librarian
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
 
St. Mary's Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606
 
(706) 389-3864
esp...@uga.edu | esp...@stmarysathens.org

>>>From:Kayla Abner 
Subject: DSpace multiple frontends?

Hello all,

I have a question about possibly using DSpace as a "database" / server and 
whether or not we could design multiple frontends that draw from it. Here's the 
ideal situation I have in mind:

   1. A faculty member wants to build a "digital archive" for their stuff
   2. We upload their stuff into our DSpace instance
   3. We or they design a unique frontend for people to interact with the
   stuff in DSpace.

For step 3, could this be done in Omeka? Wordpress? Something else? This would 
enable each "archive" to have its own plane of existence on the internet, and 
allow for customization if someone wants a map, or drop-down menus to search 
the archive, etc., depending on their needs.

I usually recommend things like Airtable, Omeka, and eHive for this type of 
project, but more and more these platforms don't meet the needs of academics. I 
have an intermediate understanding of hosting and websites, so I appreciate any 
ideas you all have!

[CODE4LIB] Reminder: seeking participants to help test an approach to constructing search validation sets

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

A quick reminder that I am still actively seeking participants to assist with 
my study (UGA IRB ID# 1362) that tests a method for streamlining the 
process of constructing the sort of validation sets that are typically used to 
evaluate new MEDLINE search hedges.

You will be using a specially modified version of PubMed Search Tester, a 
clinical question as well as a rubric for evaluating which MEDLINE citations 
might contain the answer to that question. You can sort items for one, two or 
all three questions (each question should take around 7-10 minutes to 
complete). Your answers will help assess how well this approach to refining 
PubMed searches works in the real world.

Interested? Please review the formal Consent Agreement at 
https://esperr.github.io/assets/Random_Screen_Consent_Letter.pdf. Then start 
with a *very* short demographic questionnaire at 
https://ugeorgia.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a98cyq7oTo6Hkbz before you 
continue on to the questions.

Thanks so much for your help!


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS

AU/UGA Medical Partnership

Office of Graduate Medical Education

Clinical Information Librarian



St. Mary’s Hospital

1230 Baxter Street

Athens, GA 30606



p: 706-389-3864

e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu

w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

[CODE4LIB] CFP: Testing an approach to constructing search validation sets

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Searchers who construct very complex MEDLINE searches sometimes use a technique 
where they test different strategies against a “validation set” of items that 
they know represent what they are looking for. It is an effective process but 
constructing that validation set can take a lot of time and resources. I am Ed 
Sperr, Clinical Information Librarian at the Augusta University/University of 
Georgia Medical Partnership, and I’m inviting you to participate in a research 
study (UGA IRB ID# 1362) to test a method for streamlining this process.

Specifically, I am trying to determine how large such a set needs to be. If you 
agree to take part in this study, you will be directed to a specially modified 
version of PubMed Search Tester 
(https://esperr.github.io/pubmed-search-tester/) where you’ll find a clinical 
question as well as a rubric for evaluating which MEDLINE citations might 
contain the answer to that question. Armed with that rubric, you will evaluate 
a series of randomly selected citations from a predetermined search strategy 
and decide whether each citation is a “Good” citation that might answer that 
question or a “Bad” one that probably would not. Once you complete a question, 
your choices will be recorded, and you will have the option to continue to 
another. Each question should take around 7-10 minutes to complete.

If you agree to participate, please begin by reviewing the formal Consent 
Agreement at https://esperr.github.io/assets/Random_Screen_Consent_Letter.pdf. 
Then start with a very short demographic questionnaire at 
https://ugeorgia.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a98cyq7oTo6Hkbz before you 
continue on to the questions.

Thanks for your help!



Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS

AU/UGA Medical Partnership

Office of Graduate Medical Education

Clinical Information Librarian



St. Mary’s Hospital

1230 Baxter Street

Athens, GA 30606



p: 706-389-3864

e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu

w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian

St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606

p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

Re: [CODE4LIB] PubMed API

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Elizabeth --

What kind of discrepancies are you seeing? Is it when you are checking your 
results against the New PubMed interface?

Besides a tweaked UI, the new iteration of PubMed 
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) features a different default sort order 
("Best Match") that can show slightly different results from the traditional 
Most Recent sort. Note, this happens not only with general searching, but even 
when retrieving known items.

I note this because the PubMed API returns items in Most Recent order by 
default and indeed can not show a Best Match view (I think it also uses the 
older iteration of Automatic Term Mapping). There has been communication from 
NLM/NCBI that a new version of the API is coming at some point, but I don't 
know about a schedule...


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS

AU/UGA Medical Partnership

Office of Graduate Medical Education

Clinical Information Librarian



St. Mary’s Hospital

1230 Baxter Street

Athens, GA 30606



p: 706-389-3864

e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu

w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu



--

Date:Thu, 26 Mar 2020 16:35:07 -0500
From:Elizabeth Huggins 
Subject: PubMed API

Hi all,

I hope everyone is doing well during these ever-changing times. I work at a
health sciences library and we're using an NCBI's API (E-utilities)
 to search PubMed. We work
with IT to use the API to retrieve our faculty's citations monthly. I've
noticed some discrepancies in the results of the API over the last few
months and I would be grateful for insight from anyone else using this API.

Here are a few of specific questions I have:

   - Does anyone else use NCBI's API in PubMed on a regular basis to
   retrieve faculty publications?
   - If so, what's your experience with it and how does your library
   implement?
   - Has anyone encountered any challenges with the results of a regular
   retrieval?

I'd love to hear from you and learn from your experience. Please email me
at ehugg...@luc.edu, my university email.

Thank you, and stay safe and well!
Elizabeth

Elizabeth Huggins
MALIS '11
www.linkedin.com/pub/elizabeth-huggins/43/417/172

--

Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note [admiistratativia]"

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Git flow does not by itself equal a democratic process.

I imagine that the organizing committee for the last Code4Lib conference had 
some sort of formal step to *ratify* the code of conduct that bound its 
participants. That is what is needed here as well.


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian

St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606

p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu<mailto:esp...@uga.edu> | 
esp...@augusta.edu<mailto:esp...@augusta.edu>
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu<http://www.medicalpartnership.usg.edu/>



From: Code for Libraries  on behalf of Jenn C 

Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2019 7:43 AM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note 
[admiistratativia]"

[External Sender]

This PR to the CoC was merged more than a week ago:

https://github.com/code4lib/code-of-conduct/commit/b6cc99c7b7e16cdf278b5c4565d661ba53c011ea


I think (? see GH comments previously) that is different from the
PR that was announced for comments. This PR introduced (again I think??)
this language which talks about how anonymity should be handled. I don't
think this implies any fundamental change to the functioning of the list. I
am a little confused why this PR was merged without discussion but the
other PR announced and what process is actually happening.

jenn

### Anonymity

In general the community prefers to know who is writing. Exceptions may
arise when the you feel at risk; in that case, the you may contact one or
more [Community Support Volunteers](css_volunteers.md) for help forwarding
your message. At the least, your message should include a *reason* for why
you are choosing to be anonymous. For example:

* "I'm looking for advice on how to present myself for another job, but my
boss doesn't know I'm looking"
* "I'd like some advice in dealing with a programming
conflict, and other members of the team are on this list"

### Surveys

If you wish to ask people on the listserv to participate in a survey, you
should minimally identify:

* yourself
* purpose of the survey
* the reason you're asking **in this listserv**
* what kinds of information you're collecting
* (if collecting identifying information such as email address, name), what
you plan to do with it, and how you'll keep it secure.



On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 7:26 AM EDWIN VINCENT SPERR  wrote:

> I personally agree that requiring verified identities for posters is
> potentially *really* disruptive to the list. It seems a disproportionate
> response to what is still mostly a theoretical risk.
>
> I also trust that any changes to the fundamental functioning of this list
> would only be undertaken after a period of broad discussion followed by a
> (very)  formal vote. This list is common property and is still a primary
> communication channel for this community. Decisions regarding changes to
> it's function (or the rules that govern its participants) should be made
> democratically.
>
>
> Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
> AU/UGA Medical Partnership
> Office of Graduate Medical Education
> Clinical Information Librarian
>
> St. Mary’s Hospital
> 1230 Baxter Street
> Athens, GA 30606
>
> p: 706-389-3864
> e: esp...@uga.edu<mailto:esp...@uga.edu> | esp...@augusta.edu esp...@augusta.edu>
> w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu<http://www.medicalpartnership.usg.edu/>
>
>
> 
> From: Code for Libraries  on behalf of Natasha
> Allen 
> Sent: Monday, July 15, 2019 4:29 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note
> [admiistratativia]"
>
> [External Sender]
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> Thank you for responding with your clarifications. Much appreciated.
>
> Natasha
>
> ---
> Natasha Allen (she/her)
> System and Fulfillment Coordinator, University Library
> San José State University
> 1 Washington Square
> San José , CA 95192
> natasha.al...@sjsu.edu
> 408-808-2655
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 1:08 PM Tom Johnson <
> johnson.tom+code4...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > > As both a woman and librarian, i think i'm qualified to point out that
> if
> > someone is asking for me to give them private, potentially damaging
> > information, I have a right to know who they are and their motivations
> for
> > asking, because lord knows there are plenty of bad actors who would use
> > sensitive information for ill purposes. I can only speak for myself when
> i
> > say this but it's a matter of safety, not intimidation.
> >
> > my apologies. my implication was not at all meant al

Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note [admiistratativia]"

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

I personally agree that requiring verified identities for posters is 
potentially *really* disruptive to the list. It seems a disproportionate 
response to what is still mostly a theoretical risk.

I also trust that any changes to the fundamental functioning of this list would 
only be undertaken after a period of broad discussion followed by a (very)  
formal vote. This list is common property and is still a primary communication 
channel for this community. Decisions regarding changes to it's function (or 
the rules that govern its participants) should be made democratically.


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian

St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606

p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu



From: Code for Libraries  on behalf of Natasha Allen 

Sent: Monday, July 15, 2019 4:29 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note 
[admiistratativia]"

[External Sender]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for responding with your clarifications. Much appreciated.

Natasha

---
Natasha Allen (she/her)
System and Fulfillment Coordinator, University Library
San José State University
1 Washington Square
San José , CA 95192
natasha.al...@sjsu.edu
408-808-2655





On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 1:08 PM Tom Johnson 
wrote:

> > As both a woman and librarian, i think i'm qualified to point out that if
> someone is asking for me to give them private, potentially damaging
> information, I have a right to know who they are and their motivations for
> asking, because lord knows there are plenty of bad actors who would use
> sensitive information for ill purposes. I can only speak for myself when i
> say this but it's a matter of safety, not intimidation.
>
> my apologies. my implication was not at all meant along these lines.
>
> on the contrary, i think the transparency issues in this case are utterly
> clear. the work undertaken by yourself and others to address them has my
> complete support.
>
> what i object to is the idea, as exemplified in Eric's posts of June 28,
> that unsigned posts to this board constitute suspicious activity and that
> the normal administrative response is to de-anonymize in order to "get rid
> of them". i'm not aware of that being a practice here. if it has been, i'm
> extremely uncomfortable with it. in either case, Eric's reference to this
> enforcement practice was sudden, apparently unconnected to any documented
> policy or process, and coupled with claims that the entire subject matter
> of sexual harassment is unwelcome on this board. this combination seems
> chilling to me; it certainly makes /me/ reluctant to continue my limited
> participation here. this is what i meant by "intimidation".
>
> again, apologies for the confusion. i was initially reluctant to be so
> direct about attributing issues to specific posts or people. it's clear to
> me now that if i'm going to chime in, that directness is called for.
>
> - tom
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 8:50 AM Natasha Allen 
> wrote:
>
> > >finally, i think it's regrettable that demands for discussants to
> identify
> > themselves came up in the prior thread. even in this case (with
> legitimate
> > concerns at hand about methodolgy and the nature of the information being
> > solicited) it seemed to me that these demands did more to intimidate than
> > anything else. i fear adopting this as policy would codify that
> > intimidation.
> >
> > As both a woman and librarian, i think i'm qualified to point out that if
> > someone is asking for me to give them private, potentially damaging
> > information, I have a right to know who they are and their motivations
> for
> > asking, because lord knows there are plenty of bad actors who would use
> > sensitive information for ill purposes. I can only speak for myself when
> i
> > say this but it's a matter of safety, not intimidation.
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Natasha Allen (she/her)
> > System and Fulfillment Coordinator, University Library
> > San José State University
> > 1 Washington Square
> > San José , CA 95192
> > natasha.al...@sjsu.edu
> > 408-808-2655
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 8:23 AM Tom Johnson <
> > johnson.tom+code4...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > i'll put in another word strongly against a name/signature policy.
> > >
> > > as professionals who work regularly with authorship, surely we can
> > > understand that people use and attach their ideas to many names in both
> > > private and public life for a wide range of reasons. the argument that
> > > restricting naming here would improve the quality or civility of posts
> > > appears unsupported. absent a compelling need for the restriction, any
> > rule
> > > would seem only to provide tools for excluding certain people and

Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note [admiistratativia]"

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. My issue with our collective loosey-gooseyness is less 
about the discussion list itself (Eric seems to be doing a fine job here), but 
with...basically everything that we do.

Take the example given just now of the Community Support Squad. I personally 
think such an organization is a great idea, but under what charter does it 
operate?  Who is qualified to speak on behalf of Code4Lib *as an organization* 
to sign off on its mission or how it is implemented?


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian

St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606

p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu<mailto:esp...@uga.edu> | 
esp...@augusta.edu<mailto:esp...@augusta.edu>
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu<http://www.medicalpartnership.usg.edu/>



From: Code for Libraries  on behalf of Josh Welker 

Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 2:53 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note 
[admiistratativia]"

I am initially repelled by the idea of formalizing an organization and the
bureaucracy it entails. But then I realize that's probably the only way to
moderate the community without depending on a benevolent-dictator
moderation model. Now I am just depressed that we live in such a world
where those are our two choices.

Joshua Welker
Library Systems and Discovery Coordinator
James C. Kirkpatrick Library
University of Central Missouri
Warrensburg, MO 64093
JCKL 2260
660.543.8022



On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 1:46 PM EDWIN VINCENT SPERR  wrote:

> This seems like an excellent time to re-up a call for semi-formalizing
> Code4Lib as an organization.
>
> I know that folks really aren't thrilled with things like committees and
> quorums, but ultimately, groups that take collective decisions need a
> *mechanism* for doing so.
>
>
>
> Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
> AU/UGA Medical Partnership
> Office of Graduate Medical Education
> Clinical Information Librarian
>
> St. Mary’s Hospital
> 1230 Baxter Street
> Athens, GA 30606
>
> p: 706-389-3864
> e: esp...@uga.edu<mailto:esp...@uga.edu> | esp...@augusta.edu esp...@augusta.edu>
> w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu<http://www.medicalpartnership.usg.edu/>
>
>
> 
> From: Code for Libraries  on behalf of Kate
> Deibel <001fd0f2bb98-dmarc-requ...@lists.clir.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 2:02 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note
> [admiistratativia]"
>
> Yes, you, Francis, and Mark publicly committed to working to expand the
> role of the CSS/CSVs at C4L19 via Mark's lightning talk. You three did drop
> the ball in announcing the conference volunteers would be continuing their
> roles. They were vetted and approved for the conference only. People may
> have objections to them serving community conduct roles in other venues.
> Furthermore, you have restricted participation to a narrow group. Not
> everyone could be a CSV at a conference. Maybe they weren't able to attend?
> Maybe they had additional duties to perform?
>
> All that is a separate issue from the "request" (really a directive since
> it comes from a place of authority) being told to stop posting. Yes, it
> does effectively hinder future harm from that conversation, but it also
> constrains any productive conversation as well. This is where the
> opaqueness debate comes in. There was no awareness of the CSS, its
> membership, and its authority (which the current CoC implies they have no
> enforcement). Furthermore, halting a conversation until the CSS group
> issues a PR is opaque because we have no timeframe or window into that
> process.
>
> Finally, I ask you all to consider the effects of basing CoC conversations
> around git terminology. Not everyone uses git or has a GitHub account. Not
> everyone gets git terminology. It took me more than a few minutes to
> remember what else PR could mean besides "public relations." How will the
> CSS support people ensure that git is not a barrier to community
> participation.
>
> Katherine Deibel | PhD
> Inclusion & Accessibility Librarian
> Syracuse University Libraries
> T 315.443.7178
> kndei...@syr.edu
> 222 Waverly Ave., Syracuse, NY 13244
> Syracuse University
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Code for Libraries  On Behalf Of Anne
> Slaughter
> Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 1:36 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note
> [admiistratativia]"
>
> Seconding Francis' points, and adding that this "fa

Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note [admiistratativia]"

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

This seems like an excellent time to re-up a call for semi-formalizing Code4Lib 
as an organization.

I know that folks really aren't thrilled with things like committees and 
quorums, but ultimately, groups that take collective decisions need a 
*mechanism* for doing so.



Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian

St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606

p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu



From: Code for Libraries  on behalf of Kate Deibel 
<001fd0f2bb98-dmarc-requ...@lists.clir.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 2:02 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note 
[admiistratativia]"

Yes, you, Francis, and Mark publicly committed to working to expand the role of 
the CSS/CSVs at C4L19 via Mark's lightning talk. You three did drop the ball in 
announcing the conference volunteers would be continuing their roles. They were 
vetted and approved for the conference only. People may have objections to them 
serving community conduct roles in other venues. Furthermore, you have 
restricted participation to a narrow group. Not everyone could be a CSV at a 
conference. Maybe they weren't able to attend? Maybe they had additional duties 
to perform?

All that is a separate issue from the "request" (really a directive since it 
comes from a place of authority) being told to stop posting. Yes, it does 
effectively hinder future harm from that conversation, but it also constrains 
any productive conversation as well. This is where the opaqueness debate comes 
in. There was no awareness of the CSS, its membership, and its authority (which 
the current CoC implies they have no enforcement). Furthermore, halting a 
conversation until the CSS group issues a PR is opaque because we have no 
timeframe or window into that process.

Finally, I ask you all to consider the effects of basing CoC conversations 
around git terminology. Not everyone uses git or has a GitHub account. Not 
everyone gets git terminology. It took me more than a few minutes to remember 
what else PR could mean besides "public relations." How will the CSS support 
people ensure that git is not a barrier to community participation.

Katherine Deibel | PhD
Inclusion & Accessibility Librarian
Syracuse University Libraries
T 315.443.7178
kndei...@syr.edu
222 Waverly Ave., Syracuse, NY 13244
Syracuse University


-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries  On Behalf Of Anne Slaughter
Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 1:36 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] From the Community Support Squad wrt "Note 
[admiistratativia]"

Seconding Francis' points, and adding that this "failure" does not rest on his 
shoulders. Mark, Francis, and I publicly committed in San Jose to working to 
expand the role of the CSS/CSVs to better support the community in situations 
like this. This work unfortunately hasn't been on any of our front burners yet 
for all the reasons you might suspect in a volunteer leadership role. But we 
have a systemic issue with the community's code of conduct. It is written to 
specifically restrict enforcement to the annual conference, which by definition 
doesn't give any clear or transparent guidance in dealing with issues outside 
of the conference proceedings. The work to address that starts now with the 
process Bobbi introduces in her message, and I assure you that we are committed 
to doing it openly. It's absolutely not ideal that it's happening in a reactive 
rather than proactive state, and for that I apologize as well.

Anne Slaughter
Director of Technology Services
Reaching Across Illinois Library System
Burr Ridge Office
Phone: 630.734.5127
Fax: 630.734.5050
anne.slaugh...@railslibraries.info
https://www.railslibraries.info



On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 11:50 AM -0500, "Francis Kayiwa" 
mailto:kay...@pobox.com>> wrote:


Heya Kate my responses interleaved. For starters if there's any opacity I will 
take this as my fault/oversight. You, Anne, Mark and I spoke in San Jose about 
the transition to the CSSCSV group after the conference and promised to work on 
this once we were done. Unfortunately I've been dealing with lots of personal 
grief and this took less priority

On 7/3/19 12:37 PM, Kate Deibel wrote:
> Honestly, this is worrisome to me.
>
> First, who are the members of the Community Support Squad? I can find no 
> mention of it anywhere on the website or the wiki. And it's disturbing that 
> such a group let such a coincidence in lack of coverage occur. Yes, there 
> were people listed for the 2019 conference, but to our knowledge, that was to 
> be only for the conference.

It is the same group that was volunteered at the conference.

https://2019.code4lib.org/conduct/#officers

We didn't

Re: [CODE4LIB] Spanish-language ILSs

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Eduardo -- 

Thanks so much for the input!


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian
 
St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606
 
p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG] On Behalf Of Eduardo 
Rivero
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2018 1:40 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Spanish-language ILSs

Hi Edwin, I have been using Koha in Spanish for a long time, but I did make 
some code changes, since the opac works pretty well with some exceptions the 
intranet is really not that case, the administrator is not a Spanish based 
system, so you will be facing a big time challenge there. My Koha is an old 
version and I haven’t been able to upgrade so I could not talk about the most 
newer versions.



> On Jun 14, 2018, at 8:11 AM, EDWIN VINCENT SPERR  wrote:
> 
> Can anyone speak to the usefulness of the Spanish-language interfaces for 
> Koha or Evergreen (or anything else for that matter)? I know a library in 
> Bolivia that is weighing options for a new system...
> 
> Thanks! (y Gracias!)
> 
> Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS, AHIP
> AU/UGA Medical Partnership
> Office of Graduate Medical Education
> Clinical Information Librarian
> 
> St. Mary's Hospital
> 1230 Baxter Street
> Athens, GA 30606
> 
> p: 706-389-3864
> e: esp...@uga.edu<mailto:esp...@uga.edu> | 
> esp...@augusta.edu<mailto:esp...@augusta.edu>
> w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu<http://www.medicalpartnership.usg.edu/>

[CODE4LIB] Spanish-language ILSs

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Can anyone speak to the usefulness of the Spanish-language interfaces for Koha 
or Evergreen (or anything else for that matter)? I know a library in Bolivia 
that is weighing options for a new system...

Thanks! (y Gracias!)

Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS, AHIP
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian

St. Mary's Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606

p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

Re: [CODE4LIB] mini-catalogs

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Don't forget that there are existing tools out there that cover at least part 
of this use case. 

For example, Zotero does a nice job of scraping the most relevant bits off an 
OPAC item page, and you can later dump it out in just about any format you 
please. There's even some limited functionality for sharing selected libraries 
of citations online. [not intended as a commercial for Zotero; I'm sure that 
one could do similar things with Endnote Web, etc.]
 

Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS, AHIP
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian
 
St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606
 
p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG] On Behalf Of Karen 
Coyle
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 11:35 AM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] mini-catalogs

I like this idea.

We could add any reviews we can find, let people annotate the entries, and call 
them bibliographies. There is an obvious (to me) need for something other than 
a dump of bibliographic data based on a search. The hard part will be 
facilitating selection, the wheat/chaff problem.
Not all of the items in our libraries are of equal import, but we have no way 
to provide a ranking. (I think OCLC does this based on # of
holdings?) If a sub collection could be a SELECTION based on INTELLIGENCE that 
would be ideal.

kc

On 10/24/17 7:56 AM, Eric Lease Morgan wrote:
> I think a “kewl” (as well as cool) idea is the creation of mini-catalogs.
> 
> Our libraries have large collection. That’s nice. But often the 
> student/scholar only wants to look at a smaller subset of the collection. For 
> example, they might want to look at only the books about painting. 
> Alternatively, they might want to only look at items in a particular sub 
> collection — a “special” collection. Unfortunately, and to the best of my 
> knowledge, our library catalogs are not really amenable to such things. 
> 
> In order to facilitate greater use & understanding of these sub collections, 
> I think it would be fun to:
> 
>   1. dump all the MARC records describing a sub collection
> 
>   2. generate a set of text files intended for printing, 
>  and these text files would manifest a VERY traditional 
>  library catalog [1]
> 
>   3. generate a computer-searchable index designed to be
>  used by a hand-held device [2]
> 
>   4. promote the use & availability of the outputs of
>  Steps #2 & #3
> 
> What’s kewl is that the text files can be given away, printed, and even 
> (“Gasp!”) written in. They require zero technology, and can last a long, long 
> time. Heck, they are even portable and copies can be placed at the head of 
> the collection(s). In days of old, librarians paid hundreds of dollars for 
> these sorts of “catalogs”. They can still be valuable today.
> 
> What’s more, the computer-searchable indexes and can be carried into the 
> stacks and used like a Star Trek tricorder to home in and browse the 
> collection(s). A bar code reader on the “tricorder” would be a helpful 
> interface. 
> 
> Fun with the blending of newer and older library techniques?
> 
> [1] example set of printed catalogs/indexes - 
> http://dh.crc.nd.edu/sandbox/pamphlets2indexes/
> [2] example computer-searchable index - 
> http://dh.crc.nd.edu/sandbox/pamphlets2analysis/search.cgi
> 
> —
> Eric Morgan
> University of Notre Dame
> 

--
Karen Coyle
kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net
m: +1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet/+1-510-984-3600

Re: [CODE4LIB] Fiscal continuity vote now open [radical idea]

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Once again, this is a periodic reminder of why *formally* organizing (which may 
or may not involve incorporation in a State) is such a great idea. 

This kind of thing (Who is a member of the community? How do they vote? How do 
you determine whether a vote is properly held and binding?) is *precisely* the 
concern of parliamentary procedure. 

For what it's worth, Robert's is clear on this; a non-vote is just that, a 
non-vote. Only actual votes for yea or nay get tallied and count towards a 
result.

Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS, AHIP
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian
 
St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606
 
p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG] On Behalf Of Carol 
Bean
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 5:20 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Fiscal continuity vote now open [radical idea]

Or, you could post to the web site, the list, all the channels, saying "raise 
your hand if you consider yourself part of the code4lib community,"
and count hands.

Sheesh, people.  Coral's right:  "membership" in this group is amorphous.
It's by self-identification, and can (and does!) change constantly.

Carol

Carol Bean
beanwo...@gmail.com

On Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 4:01 PM, Butler, Paul Raymond 
wrote:

> One method would be to count all unique emails that posted to the 
> listserv in say the last 3 years as a baseline for "Active membership" 
> and require say 51% of that number to be consider a quorum for this 
> vote. Another baseline would be the average conference attendance over a 
> period of time.
> So many ways to slice and dice this, if it wasn't established prior to 
> the vote.
>
> Cheers, Paul
> -
> Paul R Butler, mlis
> Library Technologies Support Analyst
> Library Information Technology Services (L.I.T.S) Ball State 
> University Muncie, IN  47306
> P: 765.285.8032
> E: prbut...@bsu.edu
>
> The University Libraries provide services that support student 
> pursuits for academic success and faculty endeavors for knowledge 
> creation and classroom instruction.
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG] On Behalf Of 
> Coral Sheldon-Hess
> Sent: October 24, 2017 4:25 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Fiscal continuity vote now open [radical idea]
>
> That isn't a dumb question, Jason; no, we have not set up a minimum 
> percentage of voters, in part because “membership” in Code4Lib is such 
> an amorphous thing. We definitely do not have 3500 active members, no 
> matter what our listserv subscription looks like. But we do get close 
> to 500 attendees at conferences, not all of whom are the same from 
> year to year, so I will be disappointed in us if we don’t get at LEAST that 
> many votes.
>
> Speaking purely practically, I hope that we will see enough votes come 
> in that nobody tries to argue for invalidating the election results 
> because of it. I will be furious if all of this work was for naught.
>
> Please vote.
>
> Best,
> Coral
>
> On Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 4:02 PM, Jason Bengtson 
> 
> wrote:
>
> > I apologize if this is a dumb question, or something I've just 
> > missed or forgotten, but is there a minimum percentage vote tally 
> > required to certify a result?
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > *Jason Bengtson*
> >
> >
> > *https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww
> > .j 
> > asonbengtson.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cprbutler%40BSU.EDU%7C13ba8a3039f8
> > 4d
> > 676f8508d51b1d66fe%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C6364
> > 44 
> > 735451074274&sdata=HrecQio34Qyx7D3SAMf7BQriz%2BAOudSoKvoE8qPISaw%3D&
> > re
> > served=0
> >  > .j 
> > asonbengtson.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cprbutler%40BSU.EDU%7C13ba8a3039f8
> > 4d
> > 676f8508d51b1d66fe%7C6fff909f07dc40da9e30fd7549c0f494%7C0%7C0%7C6364
> > 44 
> > 735451074274&sdata=HrecQio34Qyx7D3SAMf7BQriz%2BAOudSoKvoE8qPISaw%3D&
> > re
> > served=0>*
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 2:55 PM, Kyle Banerjee 
> > 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I would be leery of interpreting abstention in that way. Similar 
> > > logic
> > has
> > > been employed in some states to prevent referendums involving tax
> > increases
> > > to be passed.
> > >
> > > My sense is that the low vote total reflects that people 
> > > understand this
> > is
> > > a serious issue requiring an informed decision. Those who don't 
> > > have the time or background to fully digest what each option means 
> > > might well hang back rather than unintentionally indicate a 
> > > preference that could lead to serious problems.
> > >
> > > In any case, people who feel the current system is fine and don't 
> > > want to pursue alternatives can affirmatively choose that we kee

Re: [CODE4LIB] Announcing Search Workbench

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Thanks!

It exists in the land of no-discernable license, being an independent passion 
project. The code however can be found at 
https://github.com/esperr/search-workbench. 

It's an elaboration of a couple of other projects I presented at Code4LibSE a 
few months ago -- basically a framework that ties together Google charts, 
venn.js (https://github.com/benfred/venn.js/) and the awesome NCBI API 
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/home/develop/api/).


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS, AHIP
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian
 
St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606
 
p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG] On Behalf Of Jonathan 
Rochkind
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2017 11:07 AM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Announcing Search Workbench

This is pretty neat!  Is the code open source, and what language is it written 
in?  I'm intrigued by expanding to other search APIs with suitable 
functionality.

On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:02 AM, EDWIN VINCENT SPERR 
wrote:

> Search Workbench ( https://searchworkbench.info ) is a stab at using 
> interactive visualizations to assist in the process of constructing 
> and refining a search against a very large citation database.
>
> I hope it's useful for folks who do PubMed searching and think it 
> might also serve as a proof-of-concept for using visualizations in 
> other search applications...
>
>
> Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS, AHIP
> AU/UGA Medical Partnership
> Office of Graduate Medical Education
> Clinical Information Librarian
>
> St. Mary's Hospital
> 1230 Baxter Street
> Athens, GA 30606
>
> p: 706-389-3864
> e: esp...@uga.edu<mailto:esp...@uga.edu> | 
> esp...@augusta.edu<mailto:espe r...@augusta.edu>
> w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu<http://www.medicalpartnership.usg.edu/>
>

[CODE4LIB] Announcing Search Workbench

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Search Workbench ( https://searchworkbench.info ) is a stab at using 
interactive visualizations to assist in the process of constructing and 
refining a search against a very large citation database.

I hope it's useful for folks who do PubMed searching and think it might also 
serve as a proof-of-concept for using visualizations in other search 
applications...


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS, AHIP
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian

St. Mary's Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606

p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | 
esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu

Re: [CODE4LIB] Managing syllabi?

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Folks may have already seen this, but if not:
https://opensyllabusproject.org/


Edwin V. Sperr, MLIS
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Office of Graduate Medical Education
Clinical Information Librarian
 
St. Mary’s Hospital
1230 Baxter Street
Athens, GA 30606
 
p: 706-389-3864
e: esp...@uga.edu | esp...@augusta.edu
w: medicalpartnership.usg.edu


-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG] On Behalf Of Cynthia 
Harper
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2017 12:02 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Managing syllabi?

My hobby-horse is data that helps users choose from many books/resources to 
choose what are the most recommended. I'd love to have syllabus data across 
many institutions to identify these.  So I applaud this idea.

Cindy Harper

Re: [CODE4LIB] Governance for Code4Lib (was: What's so bad about bylaws?)

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

Sounds like a start! 

Don't have a copy of Robert's handy, but I think there are more-or-less 
established procedures for bootstrapping governance structures to get one 
started. Once initial bylaws are in place, you have a formal process for 
getting input for further iterations.

One point of order -- if we're going to call a vote on an important issue, it's 
vital that all stakeholders know what's going on. So, a separate message (with 
a suitably "officialish" subject line) to the list announcing the vote? Is 
there any need to send a separate message to recent conference attendees, or is 
it a safe assumption that they are all subscribed to the list?

Ed Sperr
Clinical Information Librarian
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Athens, GA
esp...@uga.edu | esp...@stmarysathens.org

-Original Message-
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG] On Behalf Of 
Andromeda Yelton
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2017 9:32 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Governance for Code4Lib (was: What's so bad about 
bylaws?)

In my experience on the LITA board (which Code4lib most emphatically is not), 
there are sometimes discussions where all the substantive issues have been put 
on the table but we have not managed to make a decision, and eventually I 
realized that is because unstructured discussion is not a mechanism for making 
decisions. In the LITA context, the remedy for indecisiveness is to *call the 
question* - to put a motion on the table and make a vote happen, because votes, 
unlike discussions, are decisions.

I believe this discussion has already put the substantive issues on the table, 
and Code4lib is failing to reach a decision - the same decision it failed to 
reach last year - because it lacks a mechanism for calling the question; 
discussion thus eventually peters out without a mechanism for closure. 
Do-ocracy has been, and I hope and expect will continue to be, a fantastic 
means for Code4lib to produce deliverables - conferences, journals, discussion 
spaces, codes of conduct - but those are all situations where self-nominating 
do-o-crats speak for the *project*, for the deliverable, and not for the 
governance of the community as a whole. I don't think any one of us, or even 
defined group of us, has the legitimacy to speak for us all in that way.

So we are...not making decisions about governance because we lack a governance 
structure with which to make decisions?

That said, I have seen an actual decision-making mechanism proposed in this
discussion: fire up the diebold-o-tron and vote on incorporation/do 
nothing/fiscal sponsorship (with a second vote, if needed, to choose among 
sponsors). This seems like a very *Code4lib* way of doing things. Assuming we 
reached some quorum (to put a number on the table, say "70% times the number of 
posters to the list in the last year"), is there anyone here who would not find 
the outcome of that decision to be legitimate?

On Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 6:36 PM, Kim, Bohyun 
wrote:

> Jonathan is right, Cary. I am on this year's LPC for the next year's 
> C4L conference at DC, and we are already working with DLF as a fiscal sponsor.
> No legal entity status was required.
>
> Bohyun<http://www.hshsl.umaryland.edu/>
>
>
> 
> From: Code for Libraries  on behalf of 
> Jonathan Rochkind 
> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2017 6:18 PM
> To: CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Governance for Code4Lib (was: What's so bad 
> about
> bylaws?)
>
> > The bottom line is that we need some sort of entity if we want enter 
> > into
> an agreement with a fiscal agent or sponsor. Otherwise, there is no 
> "we” to enter into said agreement.
>
> I've said this before and I'll keep saying it, this is not true that 
> you need a legal entity to have your project fiscally sponsored by a 
> fiscal sponsor. I know of many projects (not library related, 
> generally
> 'charitable') which become fiscally sponsored without having any legal 
> incorporation or other legal entity. The project is legally a project 
> of the fiscal sponsor.
>
> It is very common. It is a common way for "charitable" projects to 
> start out, without legally incorporating at all, perhaps to legally 
> incorporate and separate from the fiscal sponsor at a later date.
>
> If the people we are talking to for fiscal sponsorship are fine with 
> this, it is a common thing.
>
> Jonathan
>
> On Mon, Jul 24, 2017 at 6:04 PM, Cary Gordon  wrote:
>
> > This is what the FCIG has been working on.
> >
> > The bottom line is that we need some sort of entity if we want enter 
> > into an agreement with a fiscal agent or sponsor. Otherwise, there is no 
> > "we”
> to
> > enter

Re: [CODE4LIB] Governance for Code4Lib (was: What's so bad about bylaws?)

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

OI0y2-ilg=w1200-h630-p]<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m-9VtL7L_fUxl2hTF_YZSdFRfucaLtmHvLSzom6XPVM/edit?pli=1#heading=h.99orczg96qj5>

Code4Lib 
indoctrination<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m-9VtL7L_fUxl2hTF_YZSdFRfucaLtmHvLSzom6XPVM/edit?pli=1#heading=h.99orczg96qj5>
docs.google.com
How do we make code4lib a more inclusive place for newcomers? or, how do we 
quickly indoctrinate newbies to our values and ways of doing things? If any, 
what made you feel like an “outsider” at the Code4Lib community (IRC, Listserv, 
etc)? Inside jokes in IRC or listserv suggestions? Maybe we s...

[https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/QNBNsGIckkoGTAfhTZn3mAJGHTD-1AGkFTMViVGoNiYuMAADkx94tfyT-JrQgOI0y2-ilg=w1200-h630-p]<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m-9VtL7L_fUxl2hTF_YZSdFRfucaLtmHvLSzom6XPVM/edit?pli=1#heading=h.99orczg96qj5>

Code4Lib 
indoctrination<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m-9VtL7L_fUxl2hTF_YZSdFRfucaLtmHvLSzom6XPVM/edit?pli=1#heading=h.99orczg96qj5>
docs.google.com
How do we make code4lib a more inclusive place for newcomers? or, how do we 
quickly indoctrinate newbies to our values and ways of doing things? If any, 
what made you feel like an “outsider” at the Code4Lib community (IRC, Listserv, 
etc)? Inside jokes in IRC or listserv suggestions? Maybe we s...


https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md
 
<https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md>
[https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/1158447?v=3&s=400]<https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md>

antiharassment-policy/code_of_conduct.md at master 
...<https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md>
github.com
antiharassment-policy - Code4lib anti-harassment policy drafting space

[https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/1158447?v=3&s=400]<https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md>

antiharassment-policy/code_of_conduct.md at master 
...<https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md>
github.com
antiharassment-policy - Code4lib anti-harassment policy drafting space



It may be useful to further document Code4lib's consensus-based procedures and 
policies for the benefit of legal entities that need to work with us, but a 
formal governance structure for the community (as opposed to that of an asset 
trustee) is something that I don't think the community needs or wants.

Also, I think the notion that we're indebted to "dumb luck" forgets that "luck" 
is created by a lot of hard work.

Eric


> On Jul 24, 2017, at 11:01 AM, EDWIN VINCENT SPERR  wrote:
>
> It is true that the Community has held 12 annual conferences without 
> formalization. And yes, it is likely *possible* to continue with the current 
> model of every conference being essentially a separate entity, and support 
> from the larger community being on an ad-hoc basis. But the reason we are 
> having this discussion is that this is not a particularly good option -- it 
> depends not only on good will, but (as Coral has noted) dumb luck as well. It 
> also means more stress and effort on the part of each year's organizers than 
> necessary.
>
> However, if we *do* form a relationship with another entity (or 
> self-incorporate), some person or persons will sign an agreement that binds 
> us, however you define "us", to a course of action that will likely span 
> several conferences. This is indeed a significantly different type of 
> decision than has come before, and it requires a different way of doing 
> business. Everybody has had a bad experience or two with bureaucracy, but the 
> current approach of trying to maintain Code4Lib as an amorphous entity with 
> no systematic way of arriving at a decision or definable point of contact has 
> real and tangible drawbacks.
>
> So, in the spirit of the current way of doing things, I propose the formation 
> of an ad-hoc, self-nominated committee (perhaps the last of its kind) to 
> investigate a formal governance structure for Code4Lib and then assist the 
> Community with its implementation.
>
> If you're interested in joining me, please contact me off-list: esp...@uga.edu
>
>
>
>> Date:Fri, 21 Jul 2017 16:35:13 -0400
>> From:Adam Constabaris 
>> Subject: Re: What's so bad about bylaws?
>
>> It's an interesting question, but code4lib -- whatever exactly that is --
>> has managed to make all sorts of decisions, about where to hold
>> conferences, keynote speakers, etc. for over a decade without formalizing.
>
>> I am unclear on the exact details, but there is some carryover of
>> conference funds from year to year and if I had to guess --

[CODE4LIB] Governance for Code4Lib (was: What's so bad about bylaws?)

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

It is true that the Community has held 12 annual conferences without 
formalization. And yes, it is likely *possible* to continue with the current 
model of every conference being essentially a separate entity, and support from 
the larger community being on an ad-hoc basis. But the reason we are having 
this discussion is that this is not a particularly good option -- it depends 
not only on good will, but (as Coral has noted) dumb luck as well. It also 
means more stress and effort on the part of each year's organizers than 
necessary.

However, if we *do* form a relationship with another entity (or 
self-incorporate), some person or persons will sign an agreement that binds us, 
however you define "us", to a course of action that will likely span several 
conferences. This is indeed a significantly different type of decision than has 
come before, and it requires a different way of doing business. Everybody has 
had a bad experience or two with bureaucracy, but the current approach of 
trying to maintain Code4Lib as an amorphous entity with no systematic way of 
arriving at a decision or definable point of contact has real and tangible 
drawbacks.  

So, in the spirit of the current way of doing things, I propose the formation 
of an ad-hoc, self-nominated committee (perhaps the last of its kind) to 
investigate a formal governance structure for Code4Lib and then assist the 
Community with its implementation. 

If you're interested in joining me, please contact me off-list: esp...@uga.edu



> Date:Fri, 21 Jul 2017 16:35:13 -0400
> From:Adam Constabaris 
> Subject: Re: What's so bad about bylaws?

> It's an interesting question, but code4lib -- whatever exactly that is --
> has managed to make all sorts of decisions, about where to hold
> conferences, keynote speakers, etc. for over a decade without formalizing.

> I am unclear on the exact details, but there is some carryover of
> conference funds from year to year and if I had to guess -- and this is a
> guess -- it relies on the good will of the previous year's fiscal sponsor(s)
> transferring the funds to the upcoming year's fiscal sponsor(s). However
> exactly that process works, it's happened multiple times at the direction
> of the community; each time, though, different parties are involved.

> The F*C*IG is attempting to address (among other things) the tenuousness of
> that arrangement, and they've identified a number of proposals that appear
> to yield enough formal organization to ensure continuity.   The
> decision doesn't strike me as more momentous or different in kind from the 
> ones code4lib has
> made in the past, and shouldn't require any new mechanisms.

Ed Sperr
Clinical Information Librarian
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Athens, GA
esp...@uga.edu | esp...@stmarysathens.org

[CODE4LIB] What's so bad about bylaws?

[EDWIN VINCENT SPERR]

I realize this is late on a Friday, but I did want to take a moment to tease 
out an important distinction between establishing a governance structure for 
Code4Lib and incorporating Code4Lib. While formal incorporation requires 
governance, we could certainly formalize things without going to the trouble of 
incorporating. Indeed, I would argue that it's long overdue. 

I get that most rational people don't geek out on Robert's Rules of Order, but 
Parliamentary procedure serves a real purpose. It gives folks a chance to have 
their voices heard, and confers democratic legitimacy on the decisions taken by 
the whole. Self-nominating ad-hoc groups are a nimble way of handling things 
(and many thanks to those that have served so far!), but they don't scale well. 
We're running into the tangible limitations of that approach right now. 

Frankly, I think it's problematic to talk about Code4Lib "deciding" anything 
going forward without a better definition of what the organization actually is 
and how it is supposed to make decisions. 


Ed Sperr
Clinical Information Librarian
AU/UGA Medical Partnership
Athens, GA
esp...@uga.edu | esp...@stmarysathens.org