As another tech person in a medical library, I will second this.  It does pose a bit of a dilemma, since I'm not interested in paying 2 sets of membership dues either.  IMO, there's a particular need for a web user experience group within MLA - after all, every medical library has a website.  If you ever decide to make another push for a section within MLA, I'd be game to help out.



Andy Hickner
Web Services Librarian
Cushing/Whitney Medical Library
Yale University
p 203.785.3969
[log in to unmask] 
http://library.medicine.yale.edu 

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jason Bengtson
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2015 8:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] lita

It's funny; I work in medical libraries, although I've been considering attempting a move to regular academic libraries for a while now. In the Medical Library Association we don't really have a LITA. We may have some kind of technology interest group in there somewhere, but I find tech interest on this side of the discipline to be very spotty. I approached the responsible party at MLA about creating a technology section and couldn't even get them to return my emails. I turned away from my AHIP (MLA's
Academy) membership a while back in disgust at some of their policies, although before I did I noticed with some interest that you could (and I
did) get points for developing some apps or digital tutorials and the like; nevertheless it felt very tacked on. The one case study I submitted to JMLA (the association's main journal), on an XML/XSLT based staff list tool I created for the website of the University of New Mexico's medical library, was flatly rejected as being too technical for the journal.

Best regards,
*Jason Bengtson, MLIS, MA*

Head of Library Computing and Information Systems Assistant Professor, Graduate College Department of Health Sciences Library and Information Management University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center 405-271-2285, opt. 5
405-271-3297 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__library.ouhsc.edu&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=5fy2ggMUErpmpHWhhxP_wWZLydYimmqEaUWUOm_laNw&m=r-R0sjhlA05odOKZwONi73E9xLUj6bkuZe9-Aij2MLU&s=EddcnjSYcfczczLEeTFnCTqpe-ZyQCYLgn3C7ogDQcQ&e=
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On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 2:51 PM, KLINGLER, THOMAS <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ...and maybe a little influence by the current ALA membership payment 
> options.  Used to have to pay your base membership and a division (or
> two?)   Recently, you can go cheap and pay ONLY the base membership cost!
>   No forced division membership.
>
> TK
>
>
> Tom Klingler
> Assistant Dean for Technical Services
> University Libraries, Rm 300
> 1125 Risman Drive
> Kent State University
> Kent, Ohio 44242-0001
> 330-672-1646 office
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf 
> Of Roy Tennant
> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2015 11:42 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] lita
>
> Also, I would point out that libraries increasingly hire 
> non-librarians in technology positions. That likely means that even if 
> said persons might eventually find Code4Lib, their allegiance to a 
> profession as epitomized by ALA is unlikely.
> Roy
>
> On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 8:37 AM, Debra Shapiro <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > LITA is now the smallest ALA division.
> >
> > Personally, as someone who’s been involved with LITA for 20 years, I 
> > think the decrease is due to all the reasons Kevin cites below, and 
> > also because of something of an identity crisis - related to the 
> > advent of the Internet, as Eric says.
> >
> > LITA is the technology division of the ALA. *Everything* in 
> > libraries is done with technology now, so ALA members who once 
> > might’ve chosen to join the technology division choose instead to 
> > join other divisions, related to their other interests. Look at the 
> > list of ALCTS (the cataloging division) programs for any given ALA 
> > conference, or ALCTS list of CE webinars, and it’s all topics that 
> > might’ve once been
> more the purview of LITA.
> >
> > Of course I ran for LITA prez on that platform 6 years ago and lost 
> > so what do I know …
> >
> > deb
> >
> >
> > On Jan 5, 2015, at 10:28 AM, Kevin Ford <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > > I think this just goes to show, with the advent of the Internet, 
> > > > centralized authorities are not as necessary/useful as they once 
> > > > used to be. —ELM
> > > >
> > >
> > > -- Maybe.  I think it it recession-related.  The high water mark 
> > > for
> > nearly all of the groups on that list is 2007 (2006 for one or two). 
> > The overall stats for ALA show the same membership pattern 
> > (increasing until 2007, decreasing thereafter):
> > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ala.org_memb
> > ership_membershipstats-5Ffiles_annual-5Fmemb-5Fstats&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2
> > m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=5fy2ggMUErpmpHWhhxP_wWZLydYimmqEaUWUOm_laNw&m=r
> > -R0sjhlA05odOKZwONi73E9xLUj6bkuZe9-Aij2MLU&s=ueeQLFVBkT1z5i0EA2SaUsj
> > iBAD1TBqhkUuLSWC_Bjc&e=
> > >
> > > I'd be interested to know if LITA's membership decrease is greater 
> > > (as
> a
> > percentage) than the others.  Perhaps that would suggest forums such 
> > as code4lib peeled off some of those would-be LITA members.  
> > Otherwise, it just looks like a broader decline in ALA membership, 
> > probably for a few
> > reasons: fewer librarians in the workforce, fewer institutions 
> > willing to pay professional membership fees, less willingness to pay 
> > those fees out
> of
> > pocket, etc.
> > >
> > > Yours,
> > > Kevin
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 1/5/15 10:12 AM, Eric Lease Morgan wrote:
> > >>>> I’m curious, how large is LITA (Library and Information 
> > >>>> Technology Association)? [0] How many members does it have?
> > >>>
> > >>> Apparently it has around 3000 members this year. I found this on 
> > >>> the
> > ALA
> > >>> membership statistics page:
> > >>>
> > >>>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ala.org_member
> ship_membershipstats-5Ffiles_divisionstats-23lita&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWu
> uDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=5fy2ggMUErpmpHWhhxP_wWZLydYimmqEaUWUOm_laNw&m=r-R0sjhl
> A05odOKZwONi73E9xLUj6bkuZe9-Aij2MLU&s=bUv0Pay6jJ0BKzkc0Utrq8KuVX5aRPeF
> 5t1uVFZPFxk&e=
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Interesting and thank you. Code4Lib only needs fifty more 
> > >> subscribers
> > to equal LITA’s size. I think this just goes to show, with the 
> > advent of the Internet, centralized authorities are not as 
> > necessary/useful as they once used to be. —ELM
> > >>
> >
> > [log in to unmask]
> > Debra Shapiro
> > SLIS, the iSchool at UW-Madison
> > Helen C. White Hall, Rm. 4282
> > 600 N. Park St.
> > Madison WI 53706
> > 608 262 9195
> > mobile 608 712 6368
> > FAX 608 263 4849
> >
>