Congratulations to Steve Watkins and Kristen LaBonte who were elected as President Elect (2016-2017) and Treasurer (2014-2016) respectively. They will join Guillermina Cosulich who is our new President, Kristen Anderson, President Elect (2015-2016) and Elizabeth Connor, Secretary (2013-2015). For their contact information, please see: http://www.iamslic.org/people/executive-board

The membership also voted in favour of amending the Bylaws. Thank you to the Bylaws Committee (Barbara Butler, Amy Butros, Angela Clark-Hughes) for their work in updating the Bylaws to align with our current practices.

It’s been a wonderful conference (thank you Mary-Clare and Guillermina!), and a lovely way to end my term as President. I’d like to thank the Officers, the Regional Group Representatives, the Committees and Task Forces, and the individuals who keep IAMSLIC moving forward.

IAMSLIC accomplished a lot this year! I encourage you to read my President’s Report and the annual reports of the groups and individuals who contribute to our organization. They are available at: http://www.iamslic.org/member-access/members-area/annual-reports

Sally Taylor, now a happy Past President

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Day 5: Thursday September 18
After Mary-Clare’s announcement that the name tags Proqest sent via a boat that encountered rough voyage arrived yesterday, we embarked on the final day.

Verenaisi Bavadra was first speaker of the day to talk about managing open data in the Pacific. USP and SPC fisheries use Greenstone but SPC/SOPAC uses  software that is more map friendly because they do mapping and bathymetry.   There are a number of open databases built and maintained by the different entities serving the region.  The challenges tend to revolve around the diversity of technology and the distance influencing communication.  There is often duplication because it’s hard to know who is doing what.  Also one has to consider the problem of knowing the quality of the data included.  There are many agencies all discussing the topic of open data but what is supposedly open is not always really open – some want to keep their data under “control.”    One of the directions planning is focusing on is utilization of cloud computing.

Dang Tai Hai Yen then told us about preservation of rare books in the Vietnam Institute of Oceanography by digitizing them. The library had been founded in 1922 and has books from the 1800’s.  Important rare books were identified for preservation as the environmental conditions and human impact on them has been quite detrimental.  For example, they have digitized all 32 volumes of the HMS Discovery reports.  This project was an important component of capacity building in Vietnam.  The benefits of IODE participation have been invaluable.

Next up was supposed to be Alice Endra of Uganda but she was unable to attend so Samuela gave the highlights of her presentation from the PowerPoint she had sent about digitizing historical fisheries information in her country.

I moderated the last session which started with Daryl Superio, information assistant at SEAFDAC.  He talked about the damage typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) had on Phillipines. 195 mph winds. His study was conducted in Western Visayas region.  18% of the libraries had a disaster management plan (DMP) and 83% plan to have one! Major reason to not having plan is lack of personnel and second is no budget.  When asked about priority level of library to management in a disaster, a discussion ensued about library’s are not high on any priority list so we need to be ready to take care of ourselves.  We need to be prepared.

For the panel discussion on DMP, Lyra started with some training and preparedness that would be beneficial within each institution.  Have a plan and practice it.  Daryl talked about a fire at his library caused by lightening hitting an air conditioner unit which burst into flame.  The fire department response added water to the damage.  Then they had a flood in their storage room where their extra publications are stored when construction guys hit pipe to the staff toilet and broke it.  It’s not just typhoons and tsunamis we need to prepare for.  I was last speaker and attempted to legitimize my participation by showing pictures from my library’s flood.  I then handed out the disaster pocket plan form and directions on how to make canopies in case of leaking roofs.  You can find links to disaster planning tools here: http://library.manoa.hawaii.edu/departments/preservation/d-resources.html

Tea time!  Our last tea break offered the usual delicate pastries and today’s special? A canoe of tea sandwiches!  No, not a real canoe, but two great big loaves of bread that had been hollowed out and filled with assorted sandwiches cut in triangles.  We had our choice of salami, prosciutto, potted meat, or brie.  We have been totally spoiled!

Back to the meeting room for the second business meeting.  I was taking the minutes so you’ll have to look up the full report later.  For now I’ll let you know the highlights are the changing of the guard – Sally is now past president and Guillermina steps into the presidency.  It was announced that Steve Watkins is the jr. President-elect and Kristen LaBonte was elected treasurer.  Helen Wibley then invited us, on behalf of Maria Kalentsits, to Rome for IAMSLIC 2015, 7-11 September.  FAO will host.

Thus ended the 2014 conference!  The PIRG group had actually sung us farewell at the end of last nights banquet as some members departed earlier today.  This was truly an excellent conference – Mary-Clare and company really put on an awesome show.  Thanks to you all!

Due to technical difficulties the Aquatic Commons work party spent the afternoon lolling on the beach and some of us visited the aquarium.

Modestly submitted by Kris Anderson.  See you in Rome!

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Joe Wible
Hopkins Marine Station

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Day 4: The Banquet 
It was a lovely evening in Noumea. The air slightly warm and a light breeze rustled through the palm fronds. I had watched the sky meander through its sunset colors, pinks and oranges, with the sinking sun backlighting the clouds. Beautiful.

I wandered over to the hotel where the annual banquet was to be held. We walked along the beach, hearing the oceans rhythmic shoosh of water up the sandy beach.  Along the way we passed groups of people playing planque – quiet chatter, the thump of the balls hitting the packed earth with an occasional clink as one ball hit another. Low laughter.  Oh so pleasant.

We were early so we hung out by the pool as everyone gathered. Finally Mary-Clare told us to be seated.  As wait staff poured wine, we were told a buffet awaited and we should help ourselves. As you know if you have been flowing these posts that we have eaten quite well this week.  This buffet was spectacular, a true feast – a true ocean feast!  

Two kinds of sashimi, whole crab, shrimp, oysters, green lipped mussels, salmon, sushi (5 kinds), crab salad, a beef salad, tuna tartare salad, deviled eggs topped with caviar,  potatoes gratin, green beans, white rice, rice pilaf, chicken with mushrooms, veal with mushrooms, fish with almonds, rolls and butter. 

Then the entertainment began.  Tahitian dancers who were AWESOME!  I’d like to say we all lost weight just watching the intensity with which they danced, but hat would be a lie.  The dancing was very engaging, in fact Ataban and Mark (Amy’s husband) got to dance with the girls and Kristen LaBonte and Jeanine danced with the boys.  But if you have any real questions, you should ask Vere as she has more intimate knowledge of the outfits being worn!  We admired the tattoos on both the men and women.

So full and then the dessert buffet was opened with cream puffs, giant chocolate filled macaroons, chocolate mousse, fruit tarts, fruit salad… But the HIGHLIGHT for our group was the entrance of the a BIRTHDAY cake with candles indicating 40 years and led by the PIRG members we sang Happy Birthday to IAMSLIC!  A most EXCELLENT celebration!!!

Humbly submitted by Kris Anderson

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Day 4: Wednesday September 17
Welcoming remarks from the current Officer in Charge of SPC lead the day.  He had been unavailable on Monday but so pleasantly made up for that today.  I was most taken with his point that innovation happens faster where there is lots of communication between many people and how much more difficult this is in the Pacific Region where there are small populations widely dispersed.  I also reiterate his point that climate change has huge impacts on lives so closely tied to the ocean.  

Moses Amos of the fisheries division of SPC was the keynote speaker.  He summarized the importance of offshore and inshore fisheries – while offshore may provide 90+% of a country’s GDP, the inshore fishery provides 90+% of the protein intake of the local populations.  16,000 direct jobs from fishery industry in the region.  The SPC fisheries division does scientific research, advocates for sustainability (including aquaculture), does stock assessment, monitors the fisheries, produces and dessimates information to all levels of users and management in the region.  A lively question and answer session followed the talk.

Guillermina Cosulich moderated the poster session – the posters are in the hall outside the meeting room but only one of the poster presenters is physically present – so Guillermina just summarized the posters submitted.  Kathy Heil was the only poster presenter to discuss her poster in person.  The posters were all very well done and we quite appreciate them.

Tea Break!!  Better yet, some last minute bidding in the Guin auction! Tea this morning included a platter of fancy little delights – some sweet and some savory.  One of the savory was a mini croissant with an itty bitty little sausage inside! Cute and delicious!! We were a bit shocked by one of the darling little cakes with fruit on top which looked so innocent but turned out to have a fairly high rum content!!! Meanwhile, back at the auction, I hope some more bidding happens today because I just realized how many items I’ve bid on!  Better go count my pennies…

Back in my chair to hear David Baca proposing partnerships with those persons or entites who manage the coastlines in our communities. They have created a repository called the Beach Management Information Portal.  As librarians we can offer research support and serve as a source of dissemination and storage of data and educational information to the public. Some examples are: reports, wading depths, history, sediment studies, bathymetric data, economic impacts, inventories, management plans.  If you have any or know of any such items for your neighborhood, contact David about inclusion in the repository.

Next up Kristen LaBonte explained a study she concocted and performed regarding data citation rates in GIS data in the marine sciences.  She talked about what data you should consider citing and why you should cite it..  Then talked about her study to see who, what, and where data is being cited in scientific literature.  Michigan State University library has a guide on how to cite GIS data. Kristen finished her talk with some ideas how librarians can promote data citation.  Contact her if you have questions or wait and check out her paper in the proceedings.

Last presentation of the day was Janet Webster, who with Barb Butler, looked into the present and future of Open Access (OA). There is no such thing as a free lunch!  Articles, depending on publishers, can be open (you can deposit to an IR anytime), delayed or embargo on OA, or a hybrid where there is a delay or author can pay and have immediate OA privileges.  Janet then talked about the predatory sites and publishers and introduced this site which attempts to track all such predatory and fake sites:  http://scholarlyoa.com
I was quite impressed that our friend Barb Butler has been elevated to a doctor and invited to be an editor by one of those predatory publishers – be sure and congratulate our pal Dr. Butler.  
This really is an interesting topic.  It’s not always feasible for an author to pay the publishing fees and it’s often confusing to even determine what author costs and rights will be.  As librarians, we need to be knowledgeable about the journals, about OA, and speak honestly to our constituents.
As an aside, Dr Barb Butler thinks we should start our own online journal of general interest on marine science to appeal to the public.  If you have ideas or comments, you should contact her at OIMB.

Lunch!!  Today we were blessed with chicken, a starch gratin – sweet yam, pumpkin, banana, potato – tuna tartare, stuffed tomato, rolls and butter. A tart fruit salad was the dessert offering.  So for third day in a row I’m stuffed!  Hope I can stay awake for the business and exec meetings this afternoon.

The Guin auction ended just before the business meeting.  The was a GREAT last minute scramble to get in final bids.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that  I didn’t buy everything on the tables.  I do know that I did NOT get the ketchup chips as David made a preemptive bid of 5000 cfc ($50US)!  After all the bantering and handling of product, we remember that this auction benefits a great service and Mr Baca those will be the most appreciated tasty potato shards in IAMSLIC history!!!

See minutes and reports for the wildly exciting 1st business meeting.

Second Exec Meeting, see the website.

Brian will be showing interested participants how to navigate and post to the IAMSLIC website and blog.  Joe will be demonstrating and promoting the Aquatic Commons. Steve will be showing off the Z39.50 database and Helen Wibley will be helping with folks with ASFA.

Humbly submitted by Kris Anderson

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Could it be because she will become “past president” in a few more days?

Joe Wible
Hopkins Marine Station

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City tour of Noumea on Le Petite Train

The tour of Noumea was quite fun and very informative. The tour guide had great stories and provided insight to the history of the country. The driver would toot the whistle from time to time and people would wave – this was especially fun when little kids would wave!

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This morning, we had a panel discussion about the history of IAMSLIC with a summary of the 2014 membership survey. That led to a discussion around three themes. Under each, the participants suggested actions that we could take to make IAMSLIC thrive.
1. Communication
The Pacific Islands Regional Group need a discussion list to improve communication within the region.
We all need to contribute to the IAMSLIC blog and discussion list. Posts to the blog automatically go to the discussion list.
Posts can include projects that individuals are working on, descriptions of the work we are doing locally as well as regular updates from regional group coordinators.
The blog is a way to share training ideas and resources.
2. Professional Development
ASFA is working on short interactive training videos.
We should have a spot on the IAMSLIC web site for training materials. This could be something of a ‘tip’ box and a listing of useful resources from YouTube videos to our own local training materials.
Suggested topics for workshops and training were disaster management and digitization procedures.
3. Resource Sharing.
Almost everyone at the conference uses the Z39.50 Library. Several had suggestions and questions. Steve Watkins gave a demonstration after lunch for those who wanted a refresher who had questions.

If you have suggestions for training topics or anything else under these categories, let me know. I’ll be writing up a report for the IAMSLIC Executive Board.

Janet Webster
Oregon State University

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Day 3: Tuesday September 16
Back at it, starting on time.  Today’s presentations are sort of a mixed bag of topics useful to librarians everywhere. Uh, true confession, I did arrive early enough to puruse the items in the Guin auction.  There were some new additions that tempted me to add a bid.  And those ketchup potato chips are still hot item.  I was chastised for not mentioning that the chips are from CANADA!! This is the official notification to IAMSLIC members that Canada’s contribution to our world good include: potato chips (ketchup and dill pickle are my favs), maple syrup, moose, squirrels, Mounties, and hockey (a sport which can not compete with rugby so Fiji and New Zealand remain vital to us as well).

David Baca was lead off speaker and told us about how their library provides writing assistance to students on his campus.  They do this by having student counselors do peer-to-peer training.  They use the TutorTrac software (http://www.tutortrac.com/subpage.php?go=tutor)
to track the service. It makes monitoring the counselors easy.  Counselors are offered flexible schedules and giving lots of training.  They take referrals from faculty and as a bonus the program helps build personal relationships with faculty.  They really promote the program and they have been successful In improving the writing and have the documentation to prove it.  Would be something to look into for those of us concerned about retention on our campus.

Next up Steve Watkins generated a discussion about about how to deliver digital content to those with poor or no internet access.  Besides rural Pacific Islands, research vessels were identified as experiencing such difficulty.  Steve talked about LibraryBox which consists of a portable wireless router and a USB stick to hold the data (aquatic Commons doc files =31GB and metadata records were harvested from the repository to create user interface tools). Cost for router and 64GB USB was about $70US.  He then did a trial where he had two routers and had half the room link to each.  We were able to link up. The data Steve had loaded was the contents and interface for Aquatic Commons and we were able to do searches and download articles.  Router could be used at any remote site and any updates could be mailed or carried on USB whenever needed.  Very Cool!! Ah the potential!!!!

Samuela Nakalevu instructed us next on the value IAMSLIC adds to our libraries.  I loved his explanations to understand the Pacific regions.  The ocean and the land are the drivers of life!  Travel is always a challenge but that too is part of life.  Open willingness to provide service to clients.  IAMSLIC has added networking opportunities, sharing resources, financial and technical assistance, participation increases visibility of home institution = customer satisfaction!

Tea break!  Excuse me, I need to go shop the auction!  BTW food was as good as yesterday, instead of pizza there were squares of egg & ham quiche.  I’m much revived by two cups of coffee as well.  Refrained from more bidding until lunchtime.

Now for a panel on IAMSLIC’s 40th anniversary!  Janet Webster, Joe Wible and Steve Watkins made up the panel. Steve opened with a presentation that mapped its way through the conference locations over the years.  Interesting to see how the organization started on US east coast and then expanded across country, on into Canada and then truly international.  Joe then gave a personal account of what IAMSLIC has meant to him over the years.  Janet spoke about the 2014 survey of the membership – we want to remain viable and useful and vibrant.  Then a challenge went to the group to throw out ideas on what we can do to stay viable but also to better at serve members.  If you have ideas you can contact any of the officers or post something here on the blog.  Looking for ideas regarding communication, training, capacity building, and resource sharing.

Auction!!!!  Gotta go push up price of those chips and whatever Joe is bidding on…

Lunch:  oh my goodness, I’m so full!!  Let me just start with dessert because it was awesomely delicious!  Light creamy dreamy puff of delicate mango yummyness with a few sliced almonds on top.  It followed stir fried mixed veggies, sliced pork, sashimi, shrimp, sliced meats, pickles, rolls and butter…all I can say is OINK!

Group photo taken, always a test of herding cats! Surprise surprise this was actually the most organized photo in IAMSLIC history! And you will be able to see everyone.

You all missed it!  We got to tour the city on “Le Petit Train”. I may have additional comments later.

Humbly submitted by Kris Anderson

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