CALL Business Meeting Roundup

Ninety-one people attended CALL’s first business meeting of the year, September 23, 2010. The meeting, sponsored by Law Bulletin, was held at Lloyd’s Chicago. The guest speaker was CALL member Deborah Ginsberg. She introduced CALL’s entry into social media. CALL President Heidi Kuehl introduced new members Katelin Anderson, Loren Turner and Sarah Glassmeyer. Vice President/ President Elect Juli Jackson introduced and thanked Law Bulletin for their sponsorship of the meeting and LexisNexis for donating the gift cards.

Debbie Ginsberg, Educational Technology Librarian at Chicago-Kent, spoke about incorporating social media into CALL. Debbie explained how Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be used not just for personal reasons, but by organizations to market to potential members, to keep current members informed, and to provide additional member services. Debbie also introduced CALL’s social media plan.

CALL now has a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/CALLChicago) which we will use to post upcoming events and other information about CALL. Pages differ from typical Facebook profiles in that they are specifically designed for public entities like businesses, celebrities, educational institutions, and organizations like CALL. Facebook users click the “Like” button on Pages to receive updates. Note that “liking” a page doesn’t mean that the page owners can see any personal information about the user. CALL already has over 40 “likes,” but be sure to stop by and click the “like” button if you haven’t yet had a chance.

Updates to CALL’s Facebook page will automatically also be posted to Twitter (http://twitter.com/callchicago). For those not familiar with Twitter, it is a site where users can post short status updates of 140 characters or less. Typical status updates on Twitter include interesting links, breaking news, and information from libraries and other organizations. Other Twitter users then choose to “follow” their favorite Twitterers and track these updates on the web or using a special desktop program like TweetDeck. By posting our Facebook status updates to Twitter, members and others who are on Twitter can follow CALL there as well.

Finally, CALL has formed a LinkedIn group. LinkedIn is a social network used to connect professionals. On LinkedIn, users post online resumes describing their current and past positions, their education, and professional accomplishments. Users then “connect” to other LinkedIn users, forming a virtual professional network. LinkedIn also lets users connect as “Groups.” Using Groups, users who are who are not directly connected but share a particular interest (like libraries) or characteristic (like alumni of a school) can start discussions, post job openings, and contribute other information. CALL now has its own LinkedIn group, which members can join (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3417602).

The slides from this presentation are available at: http://bit.ly/callsnpresentation.

Three committees made announcements. Community Service thanked everyone for their generous donations of school supplies for the Chicago Public Schools’ Educational Support for Students in Temporary Living Situations, monetary donations for the Anti-Cruelty Society, and pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. The Continuing Education Committee announced plans for a library tour of the Cook County Law Library. Please watch for upcoming announcements with all the details. Also, the Committee will have an Institute Day in May 2011. Public Relations announced the next CALL-Up event being held October 12, 2010 at the Elephant and Castle located at State and Lake. President Kuehl announced the next CALL Business Meeting to be held November 17, 2010 at Maggiano’s. The door prize drawing followed and the meeting adjourned about 1:10 pm.

Again, thank you to Law Bulletin for sponsoring the meeting and LexisNexis for donating the gift cards.

All photos courtesyof Julienne Grant.