Andromeda4LITA

Meet Andromeda

Hi! I'm Andromeda Yelton, and I'm running for LITA Board of Directors, as a Director at Large for 2013-2016. The election opened March 19 and will continue through April 26, 2013, via email. I would really appreciate your vote.

For more of my thoughts on the association, you can read the LITA and LITA Board tags on my blog.


Vision

Technology is for everybody.

I love technology because code lets you see how to change the world for the better. It empowers you, and empowerment is for everyone. This means I want to use the vantage point of the Board as a way to see and connect the amazing people and projects that are already there: breathe sparks into fire. It also means I want more librarians, and more diverse librarians, to improve their technological confidence and competence. I want a LITA that represents a broad range of librarians, library types, and use cases, collaborating to build a better world.

Communication equals engagement.

I started observing the Board because I didn't have a good answer to the question, "What is LITA?" I still don't. We need to do a better job articulating our value, which in turn will aid member attraction and retention. The Board specifically needs to do a better job communicating to members, and soliciting communication from members, not only so that it can facilitate collaboration and professional development, but also so that it can be held accountable. As a Board member, I would tell you what I'm doing, and I would ask you to tell me if it fell short of your expectations -- which I hope are high. LITA members are some of the most creative, intelligent, dynamic, innovative, friendly, fun people I've ever met, and you deserve a stellar board. I want to make it easy for you to demand and verify that you have one.

Stewardship matters.

I see Board service as an opportunity to be a steward of the tribe that has given so much to me. This means facilitating the professional development and sense of personal reward we get from from association membership. It also means safeguarding the association itself. LITA has been spending down its reserves for years to cover shortfalls in its operating expenses, and this scares me. The ALA budget process is complex and has a lot of moving pieces, not all of them under LITA's control; however, I would use Board membership to shine a light on these moving pieces and think creatively about how we can shift them. I care about LITA decades from now as well as today.

LITA Listening Tour

I've been chatting with library technologists about their experiences with LITA. I'd like to learn more LITA's strengths and challenges and where people would like to see it go in the future, from as broad a range of people as possible. Participation doesn't constitute endorsement of my campaign. You can see the whole tour on my blog.
Episode 4: Emily Ford
Episode 5: Evviva Weinraub Lajoie

Resume

Work Experience

Member of Founding Team, Unglue.it, 2011-

Library Consultant, The Fessenden School, 2010-2011

Library Intern, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, 2010-2011

Latin Teacher, The Fessenden School, 2003-2008

Scheduler, The Fessenden School, 2006-2008; 2011

Awards & Honors

2013 Library Journal Mover & Shaker

ALA Class of 2011 Emerging Leader

2010 LITA/Ex Libris Student Writing Award

2010 ACRL/NEC Annual Conference Scholarship for Library School Students

Listener contestant on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me

ALA Involvement

LITA National Forum 2013 Planning Committee, 2012-

LITA/ALCTS Library Code Year Interest Group, cofounder & cochair, 2012-

LITA / Ex Libris Student Writing Award Committee, 2011-2012

Degrees

MS in Library and Information Science, Simmons College

MA in Classics, Tufts University

BS in Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College

Selected Publications & Presentations

“Ebooks Choices and the Soul of Librarianship”. Library Journal’s Digital Shift, July 30, 2012.

“The Future of Ebooks” (panel), Computers in Libraries, March 23, 2012. (video)

“Battledecks”, Computers in Libraries, March 22, 2012; winner.

Bridging the Digital Divide with Mobile Services. ALA TechSource, January 2012.

“Real-Life Strategies for Successful Library Job Hunting”, ALA Editions webinar with Tiffany Mair. (recap and archive)

“Talk About: Publishers, Distributors & the Future of Ebooks” (panel discussion), Internet Librarian, October 19, 2011.

“There is no spoon” (invited keynote), ACPL Library Camp, September 16, 2011. (slides)

Librarians’ Perceptions of Automation Systems: Survey Results 2007-2010. Marshall Breeding and Andromeda Yelton. ALA TechSource, May/June 2011.

“How to Build Five Libraries in One Month,” TEDxPrincetonLibrary, June 1, 2011. (watch it on tedxtalks.ted.com)

“A Simple Scheme for Book Classification Using Wikipedia.” Information Technology and Libraries, 30(1), March 2011. ([pdf])

“Personal Branding for New Librarians” (panel), ALA Midwinter Conference, January 8, 2011.

Code

Front end, and occasional back end, work on Unglue.it -- Python, Django, JQuery, CSS

@fixit, a #code4lib irc zoia plugin written in Python (documentation, github)

#libday8 visualizer, a high-level, realtime, visually oriented overview of Library Day in the Life, Round 8 (documentation)

@jaguarbot, a Twitter bot based on my 2011 Emerging Leader project, written in Python (manifesto, github)

Jaguar ALA Timeline, a visual guide to what happens, when, in ALA; 2011 ALA Emerging Leaders Team Jaguar project (I did the Drupal part).

DCKX, the Directory of Curricular Knowledge in XKCD, a subject index in PHP, SQL, HTML, and CSS


Endorsements

I'm incredibly grateful and honored that these fine people have endorsed me. If you'd like, you can endorse me too.
Andromeda is wicked smart, hilariously insightful, and scary effective. I met her when I was the member-mentor for the 2011 ALA Emerging Leaders Team J project "ALA Timeline" which presents a graphical display of various ALA events, deadlines, and publications. Andromeda coded up the back-end of the display in Drupal at http://jaguars.andromedayelton.com. She has been an active observer and participant in LITA Board meetings for several years, has the organizational skills needed to make the ideas and desires expressed there happen, and will be one of the most effective LITAns for years to come.
Aaron Dobbs
Systems Librarian and Assistant Professor, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
I enthusiastically endorse Andromeda Yelton as a candidate for the LITA Board of Directors. As a collaborator on research and writing projects, Andromeda demonstrated keen analytical and communications skills as well as perseverance to keep the project on track. In the broader profession, she has been on the forefront of confronting some of the key issues that challenge libraries, as exemplified by her work for Unglue.it to create an alternative business model for publishing.
Marshall Breeding
Independent Consultant
Andromeda Yelton is willing to take on any challenge with grace and good spirits. She is passionate about transparency and inclusiveness in organizations and planning processes. She is able to push for continuous improvement and reflection while still moving forward. Her professional experience also gives her hands-on experience with truly innovative practices for libraries. She will be a valuable member of the LITA Board.
Margaret Heller
Web Services Librarian, Dominican University
Andromeda Yelton is intelligent, articulate, hard-working, and the right candidate at the right time for the LITA Board. Having known Andromeda both personally and professionally for close to four years it is without hesitation that I offer my endorsement for her to serve in this important role as I know she can help move LITA forward at this crucial time. I can assure you that she knows how to get things done and is always willing to put in the time and effort to move projects forward to completion.
Janie Hermann
Public Programming Librarian, Princeton Public Library

I enthusiastically endorse Andromeda Yelton for the LITA Board-- or anything else for that matter. Andromeda is certainly one of the smartest people I know in the profession today. Her smarts and brilliant analytical skills would be reason enough to support her for LITA Board.

But beyond that -- and what sets Andromeda apart in my opinion-- is the deep humanity that infuses her thinking and writing. Oh and she's very practical and reality-based. Oh, and she writes with amazing style, clarity, and wit. And did I mention she is kind and generous, and of good humor?

In short, I believe that Andromeda is one of the shining lights in our profession, continually adding value to our ongoing professional dialogue through her writings and postings. I am deeply appreciative of her contributions and I believe she would be a positive addition to the LITA Board.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you'd like to hear me riff for another hour on all of the ways Andromeda is aces.

Peter Bromberg
Associate Director, Princeton Public Library
Why do I believe Andromeda Yelton should be on the LITA board? Because she is an awesome and super positive wrecking ball of goodness. She listens, thinks, and acts with the greater good of the community always at the forefront. Simply put, she cares. And that's what the library world needs more of....people that care. If you're looking for someone who will get the job done and do it better than everyone else, go with Andromeda.
Justin Hoenke
Teen Librarian, Portland (ME) Public Library

From the minute I met her, Andromeda has been engaged and passionate about LITA. She is a candidate focused on ensuring that all members of LITA feel welcome and able to participate and has regularly demonstrated her belief that learning and improving technology and coding skills have application across library job titles. Her dedication to the division and consideration for its members make her an ideal Board candidate.

Assistant Information Services Librarian and Assistant Professor, Health Sciences Library, University of Illinois at Chicago