At least two vendors in the Exhibit Hall gave out pedometers. If you have been using yours and wondering how it works, here is place that gives an explanation as well as tips for getting your pedometer to work more accurately.
I've written about the digitization-related vendors that were in the exhibit hall in my blog. You can read those posts at:
Technorati tags: 
sla2007, 
Digitization
.: As mentioned in a previous post, Scitopia.org was launched at SLA on Sunday, 03 June 2007. Scitopia.org is a "free federated vertical search tool", covering the digital libraries of 15 major scientific and technical societies. Additionally, Scitopia searches patents from the USPTO, Japan Patent Office, and esp@cenet (European), and the US DOE Information Bridge. At the launch, presenters from IEEE and ASME noted that the philosophy underlining this new search engine includes: "get past search to research", and "reduce distraction" by eliminating "noise", i.e., irrelevant search results. To date, approximately 3,000,000 documents have been indexed, with one or more of the societies' coverage dating back 150 years. The search engine is free to the public, but is designed for researchers. No new subscriptions are required to get access to the full-text of these documents, provided your institution already subscribes to one or more of the societies' digital libraries and/or packages.
For the moment, Scitopia.org is focused on technology: physics, mathematics, computing science, and engineering. Scitopia.org hopes to expand and include more technical societies to broaden and increase its coverage.
The product still needs work. The author search does not work beyond the search of an author's last name only. As well, there is no facility to export results to one or more bibliographic management programs such as EndNote or RefWorks. There is also no facility for a "My Scitopia"-type feature, which would allow for the storage of search results, or regular running of stored searches as RSS feeds. However, the product offers an index to the digitized publications of many of the world's major scitech associations and institutions, and will only get bigger and better. The representatives from the societies present at the launch indicated clearly that they are open to and welcome any and all feedback to improve the product and make it better for its users. To be fair, the problem with the author search is a tough one, as it is difficult to gather together name authority structures from 15 societies and index them accordingly, but they do plan to work towards a solution.
Scitopia looks good, and I look forward to using it soon. The societies involved to date are:
Acoustical Society of America
American Geophysical Union
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Physics
American Physical Society
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
American Vacuum Society
The Electrochemical Society
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
Institute of Physics Publishing
Optical Society of America
Society of Automotive Engineers
Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics
SPIE
The BookScan machine has been called the "Most Interesting Demo" by another conference blogger. You can watch the video above or head over to booth # 907 before the end of this day to see it in person.
Note that in the video you can also see recently-scanned pages on the screen next to the machine. This is worth noting because, as has been mentioned in countless sessions, we need to be able to communicate effectively. And this doesn't always have to be done through words. In the case of this vendor, the machine is the gimmick.
For more information about BookScan, check out the website of Kirtas Technologies.
Download taming_the_sla_expo_beast.doc
Read my current and past articles from Information Outlook here - including the May issue's interview with closing keynote speaker Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert.
Facing down a giant roomful of vendors at the SLA Conference can be a bit daunting, so I thought I’d share what I learned this week so far. I think you’ll find that these tips might help your navigation through the maze, and you might even enjoy yourself! First, I’ll give you some strategies to get though the maze with your brain intact. Then I’ll review the best free journals, magazines, information, and more, as well as the fun stuff – collecting and enjoying the best of this year’s marketing goodies.
Get Through The Expo Expediently
Prepare your Entrance
95% of the Vendors have nothing to do with my field which is Education data and research, so there is just about zero point to them wasting their time with me and vice versa. They’ll ask you what you do right off (a needs assessment) so be re ady to tell them in a short sentence. If you really aren’t interested and/or it’s not a good match, it’s fine to simply say “it looks like we’re in different areas, but thank you very much!” They’ll be just as glad to let you move on so they don’t have to waste their spiel.
Prepare your Exit
I tell almost every Vendor that I’m on my way to a class so they know I don’t have a lot of time to hang out. This way, if they start droning on I can say “oops, I’m late, gotta go!” Easy exit and gets us both off the hook.
Allow the Good Vendors and Marketing Goodies to Pull You In
It’s pretty much impossible to read and absorb what every single vendor does. So walk slowly through the vendor area and browse, as you would in a grocery store. When I saw some marketing goodies that I wanted – even if I knew I probably didn’t need the service – I simply went up and expressed some interest in the goodies: asked a question, showed surprise, whatever. If the vendors aren’t busy they’re happy to have someone to chat with because it can get boring there and they often prefer to look like they have some interest from someone even if it’s artificial for the moment. They understand that some of us will be there just for the fun stuff and that’s okay too. Thank them nicely, and go on your way. If the product really does interest you then listen in.
Bring a Rolling Briefcase – Yeah I really Mean it!
It’s going to be a long day – so bring along a rolling briefcase, or one of those gadgets that you can put your bag on and roll it along. Your shoulders will appreciate it and then you’ll be able to carry as much as you like without worrying how much it weighs.
Get a BIG Bag
That wee bookbag from SLA is nice – but it doesn’t fit much more than the conference materials. On the other hand, vendors like McGraw Hill are giving away a stunningly huge bag that will fit a medium-sized dog!
Filter and Sift when you get back to the hotel
I got a lot of junk that I knew I’d never use, so when I got back to the hotel – into the recycling bin it went. I try to limit this to save on trees, but sometimes I get it anyhow. You might leave some chocolates along with your tip for the room service. They’ll love you for it.
Take advantage of the free food and save on your work meal per diem
The free food at the Vendor EXPO is actually quite good. If you wander around there’s different food at different areas and you can find fruit, veggies, and other healthy stuff. Be sure to drink lots of water as you’ll be walking a lot. There are water stations all over the area.
Best Free Reading Material – Do Take Home For Your Library and For Your Brain!
1. The University of Chicago has a huge selection of journals available – all free samples. From education to humanities to religion. Some are hardbacks even. Very friendly and helpful salesperson – I came away with about seven very interesting and useful items.
2. American Psychological Association – Another wide variety of free journals on many subjects dear to our heart – not just psychology! I picked up ones on education, cultural diversity, and the psychology of aesthetics, creativity and the arts.
3. Excellent information related magazines and journals. I can’t remember which publisher has these but I got free copies of Information Today, Computers & Libraries, Searcher, Online, CyberSkeptics, Econtent, and Knowledge Management World. They’re over on the right side of the booth.
Most Interesting Demo
1. Do check out Kirtas Technologies which has a giant mechanical scanner which automatically scans books and saves them electronically. Can’t beat this for a library needing to get many large books into e-format. Not for the financially faint at heart however – but an extremely cool demo!
My Guilty Secret – I Love Marketing Goodies!
Call me a silly fool, but I simply love all the fun giveaways at the conference. I probably keep less than 5% of it, but I can tell you that the children and grandchildren of my colleagues will be thrilled when I get back. I know that when I was a kid, these kind of tchochkies, not to mention the mini shampoos and such from the hotel really made my world. Here’s my list for the winners and losers of this year’s conference:
Best Marketing Goodies – i.e. they actually sell the product
1. Goggle’s colored fortune cookies with Google questions inside, along with their set of posters which are useful to put up in your info center/library.
2. IBIS World’s Paddle Ball (the little paddle with the ball attached with an elastic string). Their motto is “keep your eye on the ball.” Fun and perfect match to their sales slang.
3. Reuter’s business card sized folded map of Denver. Great salespeople too.
4. Gigantic bag from McGraw Hill. They aren’t listed in the SLA Conference Book so you’ll have to wander the aisle until you find them. Just look for the big orange bags. They’re toward the front.
Most Useful Even if they Don’t Have anything to do with the product being sold
1. Luggage tags in fun fluorescent colors from the University of Chicago Press – which also has a remarkable variety of free journals available. Definitely check out this vendor!
2. Square 5x5” hardback blank notebooks from Annual Reviews.
Most Entertaining Sales Pitch and/or Product
1. A charming guy from SRN Strategic Research Network came up to us in the line waiting for Al Gore to autograph our books giving out boxes of mints, suggesting that we might want to have minty fresh breath for our meeting with the president. Love it!
2. Hoovers.com gives away blue balls (I got two of course). They’re squeezable for stress. I found these hilarious and so did everyone else at the conference. Apparently Hoover didn’t make the connection between the color… and the balls. I bet they come in a different color next year!
Best Edible Goodies
Boo’s to the cheapskates who put out starlight mints and cheap Halloween candy from the grocery store that we can get anytime. Kudos to the better vendors who at least offer Lindt, Ghirardelli, Toblerone and other quality chocolate for my more sophisticated palate.
Most Useless and worst Marketing Baddies
1. Post it notes from Skyminder.com. Do I need more post it notes? NO.
2. Green one foot long pen with fuzzy thing on the end with a giant E. A cheap pen designed for eight year old kids and I have no idea what company this is from.
3. Yet another mousepad? Hell, there’s no need for mousepads in the first place, why would I need another freaking one?
The cleverest "gimmick" was getting the people who lined up for handwriting analysis to write—voluntarily—what the vendor wanted them to think.
I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the vendors at the Info-Expo. (Or is it INFO-EXPO...as if it were to be said shouting.) Yes, I read all the message to first-timers about this before I came. But, I feel a little intimidating talking to vendors who hard-selling when I don't have any purchasing power. I just want to get my passport stamped and try to win their giveaways. Don't get me wrong, there are some vendors I sought out to talk to and had things I needed to address with them. It's some of these others who don't exactly fit into my work sphere that are the hard pursuers!
ProQuest CSA, the new company formed from the February 2007 merger of ProQuest Information and Learning and CSA, will now operate under the name ProQuest, a decision guided by customer research. CSA will continue to be used in product names, such as CSA Illumina, CSA Illustrata, and others.
The name ProQuest was first used in 1995 as a name for a product and became a company name in 2001.
The name is accompanied by a new logo that incorporates a pathway and horizon and a new company slogan, "Start Here."
In addition, ProQuest and Scopus have announced a reciprocal searching and linking partnership that will expand the research capabilities of mutual customers of CSA Illumina and Scopus. This integration will enable users of CSA Illumina to find 4,500 Scopus titles in natural sciences, business, and economics directly integrated in their search results. In turn, Scopus users will be able to view records from selected ProQuest databases in social sciences from the CSA Illumina platform.
Copyright Clearance Center has announced several enhancements to Rightsphere, the company’s rights advisory and management service. The service enhancements are designed to improve implementation and use of Rightsphere for CCC’s corporate customers. Rightsphere was launched at last year’s SLA conference and has been adopted by Boeing, Eli Lilly, Novartis, and AstraZeneca. A set of new Web services capabilities now makes it easier for customers and third parties to display rights information within other content workflow applications. For example, it is now easier to integrate Rightsphere into popular collaboration applications, such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft SharePoint, in which users frequently share published content and need to know quickly if they have permission to do so. In addition, Rightsphere can now be integrated into customer-developed applications, such as document ordering or content management tools. The result: Rightsphere can be integrated into a broad variety of corporate content workflows, offering greater configurability and flexibility.
The exhibit hall was sold out, and some vendors had some fun gimmicks to attract attention. I personally preferred the pedometer giveaway/contest because it encouraged participants to keep walking.
For those who'd just like to relax, there are chairs scattered in the hall, and occasionally, some entertainment, as shown in the video below.
