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Arizona Convocation 2006

The eighth annual Arizona Convocation was held in Phoenix, March 5 & 6, 2006. Nearly 200 librarians, archivists, historians, and museum professionals from around the state attended. 96% of participants who completed evaluations reported that they learned something new that would help them do their job better. 97% reported that they met people with whom they will collaborate.

The Arizona Convocations were begun in 1999 to build collaboration and partnerships among libraries, archives, and museums and to preserve Arizona’s cultural heritage. Convocations include speakers, panels, and valuable networking opportunities which:

Turtle Award
Each year the Director of the State Library, Archives and Public Records presents Turtle Awards to recognize individuals or organizations who cherish Arizona’s rich cultural heritage and who have supported the agency’s efforts to accomplish its mission. The award’s name derives from the similarity of the agency’s logo to the shape of a turtle. The recipients, like the award’s namesake, have helped the agency move forward through extra effort – perhaps even by sticking their necks out.

GladysAnn Wells presented Lisa Maxwell with an award for staff excellence due to her wonderful support for the work of the agency. An award for support and advocacy on behalf of the Arizona Friends of Talking Books was given to Dr. David Rockwell, President of Arizona Friends of Talking Books, Leslie Rachels, Vice-President of Arizona Friends of Talking Books, and Yvonne Anderson, Member of the Board of Directors of Arizona Friends of Talking Books.

Agenda

Sunday, March 5, 2006

6:00 Evening Program and Dinner
Welcome & Awards - GladysAnn Wells, Director, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
7:00 Keynote speaker – George Needham; Living in the Amazoogle World

 

Monday, March 6, 2006

9:00 Welcome – Stephanie Gerding
9:15  Presentation Recap - George Needham
9:30   Breakout Discussions by Institutional Type
10:45 Centennial Feature – Karen Smith; Arizona's Crucible" Water Management in the 21st Century
11:30 Arizona Memory Project – Marisa Ramirez
12:00-1:00 Networking Lunch
1:00 Breakout Discussions by Geographic Area
2:00 Centennial Update from the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission & Facilitator Observations
3:00 Chocolate, Coffee, and Closing Remarks

 

Session Information
Read George Needham’s Keynote Speech

"Living in the Amazoogle World." George Needham offered findings of the OCLC Environmental Scan and the new "Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources" report, and examined what cultural organizations can do to be relevant and useful in this new world.

George Needham is the Vice President for Member Services at OCLC Online Computer Library Center in Dublin, Ohio, a position he's held since March 1999. In this capacity, George is responsible for Members Council, WebJunction, and QuestionPoint at OCLC, and is one of the three contributors to the blog "It's All Good." He is also the advice columnist for WebJunction, the “George” of I’m Curious, George. During career, he has held a variety of public and state library positions, including State Librarian of Michigan and Executive Director of the Public Library Association. He earned MLS and BA degrees from the University at Buffalo, New York.

"Arizona's Crucible": Water Management in the 21st Century
In 1987, Karen Smith, deputy director at Arizona Department of Water Resources, made some predictions concerning Arizona's water situation. Some were correct and some weren't! She discussed what changed since that time and laid out some new questions confronting Arizona's water realities. With an eye towards Arizona's Centennial in 2012, Dr. Smith also discussed the information needs necessary to continue to tell this vital story of Arizona's water resources.

Karen Smith is the Deputy Director at the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Prior to this, she served as the Water Quality Director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality for 7 years and also worked for the Salt River Project for 16 years in a variety of positions, including Water Resources management. She holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, specializing in the history of technology, and has written several works on water resources, including The Magnificent Experiment: Building the Salt River Reclamation Project. Dr. Smith is currently an adjunct professor at Arizona State University where she teaches in both the graduate and undergraduate programs. Karen has served as president of the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators, has served on the board of directors of the Arizona Center for Disability Law and is currently a member of the Trial Court Commission for Maricopa County.

Arizona Memory Project
Marisa Ramirez is the Digital Repository Coordinator at Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records. TheArizona Memory Project provides an online shared space to store and display digital collections from Arizona libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and other cultural institutions. The Arizona Memory Project is designed to manage small and large collections alike – and can handle virtually all file formats, including digital documents, images, video and audio files, URLs and other electronic resources for a variety of items including photographs, newspapers, maps, manuscripts, oral histories and more. The Project is designed to support a multitude of digital collections from geographically distributed organizations.

The aim of this initiative is to create a central online repository to provide access to digital content representative of the history and culture of Arizona. Visit: http://azmemory.lib.az.us

Facilitators for Discussion Groups

Dana Braccia, Community Relations Coordinator, Scottsdale Public Library
Catherine May, Senior Historical Analyst, Salt River Project
Mitch Menchaca, Local Arts Development Director, Arizona Commission on the Arts
Susan Secakuku, Owner, Secakuku Consulting
Deborah Tasnadi, Library Manager, Peoria Public Library
Tom Wilson, Executive Director, Mesa Southwest Museum

Arizona Historical Advisory Commission Members

Shelley Cohn, Executive Director, Arizona Commission of the Arts
John Driggs, Chairman; Phoenix Heritage Commission Tovrea Castle Project
James W. Garrison, SHPO, Arizona State Parks
Melodee Jackson, Director, Constituent Services, Office of the Governor
Hartman Lomawaima, Director, Arizona State Museum, The University of Arizona
Richard Sims, Director, Sharlot Hall Museum, AHACChairman
Noel J. Stowe, Chair/Professor of History, Senior Director/Public History Program, Arizona State University
Betsy Stunz-Hall, Consultant
Ken Travous, Director, Arizona State Parks
Beth Vershure, Station Manager, KAET-TV Channel 8, Arizona State University
Catherine L. May, Senior Historical Analyst/Archivist, Salt River Project
Juliana Yoder, Executive Director, Arizona Humanities Council
GladysAnn Wells, Director, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
Dr. Anne Woosley, Ph.D., Executive Director, Arizona Historical Society

2006 Convocation Committee
GladysAnn Wells, State Librarian
Stephanie Gerding, Continuing Education Coordinator, Chair
Jane Kolbe, Director of Library Development
Carol Tapia, Administrative Assistant

Comments from Participants:

Regarding George Needham, Keynote Speaker
“Excellent talk.” “5 stars.” “Exceptional.” “Quite stimulating.” “Lots to think about.”
“Excellent-challenging.” “George was the best speaker ever at convocation!” “Excellent kick-off.” “Set the tone and “planted a crop” of ideas to be pondered.” “The presentation was really a good one. Got a lot of information.” “Excellent reminders of why we’re there and who we’re for.” “Excellent and very relevant to public libraries.” “Brilliant.” “Useful insights and challenging questions!”

Regarding Speaker Karen Smith, Centennial Feature
“Very informative.” “Made me think “outside the box” H2O is not something I think about regularly!” “Great choice!” “One water Arizona-great idea!” “Excellent presentation.”
“Fascinating.” “It is our responsibility to educate everyone we can on this issue.”

Regarding the Breakout Discussions
“Lots of good questions and discussions on what we do and why we exist.” “Good information exchange.” “Very useful and thoughtful.” “Best session!” “Nice opportunity to talk in greater detail, on opinions and experiences.”

Marisa Ramirez: Arizona Memory Project
“Wonderful overview with enough detail to demystify.” “I look forward to really using this site and telling others about it.” “Excellent. Arizona is very lucky to have Marisa. She is fantastic!”
“Excellent.”

Overall Convocation Comments
“The convocation is a great place to learn and share. Good job!” “I’m excited about the leadership I’ve seen!” “Good to have opportunities to flexibly network!” “I met lots of people outside my “little bubble”. This was beneficial.” “Unique and innovative gathering.” “I interact with more people at this event than I typically would.” “The State Library is playing a great leadership role with this event.” “Wonderful opportunity to annually see old friends and to meet new contacts.” “I felt very welcomed even though I am not a library/archive!” “Diverse group and provided a unique time and opportunity to share – agree to disagree.” “Great to get us all together.” “GREAT JOB! Really an outstanding way to meet many people across all arts/cultural organizations (and interested parties!)” “I loved the opportunity to network!” “Great location and wonderful people! Thanks AZ library staff.” “Excellent. Best in several years.” “Great job!!” “Interesting and informative.” “Very well done this year.” “Thank you for this terrific opportunity!!! From my perspective 1st rate!” “Very good-excellent. Food and facility much better this year.” “Superbly organized. Thanks!!” “Empowering is the key word!”  “A+. Thank you.” “Excellent, well organized and informative.” “Wonderful conference center and organization!” “Excellent facility and speakers!” “Good job! Best convocation I’ve attended!” “As always the convocation gets better each year.” “Enjoyable, informative, learned more about the organizations and institutions.” “Wonderful, just wonderful.”

Arizona Convocations: building collaboration between libraries, archives, and museums to support preservation of Arizona’s cultural heritage and to promote resource sharing

Sponsored by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records and supported, in part, with funds granted by the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Institute of Museum and Library

For Additional information on the 2006 Convocation, please contact:

Stephanie Gerding
Arizona Convocation 2005
Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records
Library Development Division
1100 West Washington, Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Phone:
AZ WATS:
Fax:
E-mail:		 (602) 926-3604
800-255-5841
602-256-2834
sgerding@lib.az.us

 

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Updated:  12/20/2006

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