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Conferences

Conferences, Technology Planning, WebJunction Staff
Technology Planning in Texas
April 22nd, 2008 | Permalink | 1 Comment

When I tell people that part of my job at TechAtlas is to introduce libraries to the idea of writing and developing technology plans - I sometimes get some painful looks. I know, I know, technology planning definitely isn’t the glamorous side of library work (whatever that side might be), BUT it so truly important and I believe that good planning helps to build good libraries. And I’m pretty much a geek at heart and I love what I do. Hopefully I get to reach people that are ready to invest in the future of their library by carving out some time for planning.

This past Tuesday I was fortunate to spend the day with a group of librarians at the Texas Library Association Conference who came to spend the whole day learning about technology planning and how TechAtlas can help them work through the steps. I co-presented with Tine Walczyk from the Texas State Library and Archives and it was really a great experience for me to get to train with her. She brought up some great points for libraries to keep in mind as the work through the planning process.

So thanks to all of the attendees in Texas and I hope that you enjoyed the session!
CIL2008, Conferences
Keynote ‘out of the box’
April 8th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

Computers In Libraries 2008 is my first conference in Library world and I am really enjoying myself and learning a lot. There is a lot of great discussion and the audience here is keen on trying new things. It is a great view for someone who has experienced the world of Libraries from a patron perspective in the past.

Over the years as a product manager I have attended, worked booth duty, or presented at a large number of industry tradeshows/conferences in the software industry. I have always had a fun time seeing how others get their message out to the audience. Some do it quite well while others get lost in the gimmickry of having card tricks, song and dance, or skits. (more…)
CIL2008, Conferences
Greetings from Computers In Libraries 2008
April 8th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

Greetings from Computers In Libraries 20008 I am blogging right from one of the conference sessions as I await the Innovation and Change Track part of the program.

Yesterday I presented with Rebecca Ranallo Kahl from Cuyahoga County Public Library on Staff Training: High Tech and High Touch. Noticing our 4:15 slot on the schedule right before the cocktail reception in the exhibit area both of us were concerned that we might have a sparse turn out for our presentation. We surveyed our room where we were presenting and it was big, meant for about ~200 people….

Well our fears didn’t come true, we had a very large crowd with few empty seats, and the turnout was FANTASTIC! (more…)
Conferences, PLA2008
PLA 2008: That’s a Wrap!
April 3rd, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

With spring conference season in full swing, we figured it was worth taking a few minutes to share some thoughts and links from our PLA 2008 experiences—before we got sucked completely into the next event (CIL 2008).

Personally, I really enjoyed the PLA Virtual Conference, and that’s not just because we were sponsors! I think there’s a definite online conference need for those in our library community who can’t (budget? staffing?) or won’t (environmental issues?) travel to a national conference venue.

The technology infrastructure and bandwidth is almost there, and the virtual production values are pretty darn smooth—the next step is to find a programming model that works for the genre. I’m not sure what that is, but I can tell you we may do more harm than good by trying to cling to our physical format in a virtual sphere.

One thing is for sure, a Virtual Happy Hour has none of the redeeming characteristics of its physical world cousin! I’m hopeful though, and am excited to see tons of online conference innovation in the coming years. (more…)
CIL2008, Conferences
Computers In Libraries 2008
April 3rd, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

I am excited to be presenting and attending Computers in Libraries 2008 in Arlington, VA next week April 7-9. This will be my first conference while working at WebJunction and I am looking forward to the conference sessions and meeting others. I will be presenting on Monday April 7 at 4:15 PM on Library Staff Training: High Tech and High Touch with Rebecca Ranallo Kahl of Cuyahoga County Public Library.

In addition to my presentation I am excited to see what Libraries are doing around Learning as well as innovation and integration with new technologies in both the sessions and exhibits. A number of WebJunction and OCLC staff will be joining me at CIL, with Michael (Libraryman) Porter also presenting.

We hope to see you there.
Conferences, PLA2008
PLA Virtual Conference, Day 1 Thoughts
March 27th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?
I spent a good chunk of my day following the PLA Virtual Conference action. Coming on the heels of Jen’s “blended conference” post, this seemed like it would be good time for a virtual recap.

I had planned to start the day off with my old (not in age, of course) reference professor Joe Janes’ session: “What Does it Take to be Good at Reference” but I had two (two!) flat tires on my bike this morning. Let me tell you, that makes for a long commute.

I finally made it to Nancy Pearl’s Q&A and then stayed through to the day-ending Virtual Happy Hour. Here are some of my brief thoughts on the event:

The Virtual Conference Format/Tools

All this stuff worked surprisingly well. The PLA folks, along with the Learning Times production team, did an outstanding job of keeping things on time and engaging. The conferencing platform—Adobe Connect—works similarly to Wimba, WebJunction’s conferencing tool, allowing participants to see slides, video, listen to audio, and chat with the hosts or other participants. Sure, we’d occasionally lose sound or a video feed, but considering the challenges of running live, streaming media for a national conference, these were tiny blips.

Nancy Pearl

The term “rock star” is way overdone in the library world but if anyone qualifies for the title, it’s Nancy. The session was billed as “conversation” and lived up the expectation. Nancy took questions during an open chat hour and covered them all, frankly and in rapid-fire succession.
- On the new Seattle library: “It is not my taste in a libraries. It’s a bit too industrial and cold for what I like in a library.”
- On why a librarian was chosen as an action figure: “The people who really perform miracles are librarians. Every single day.”
- On how she became a librarian. “”I knew when I was 10-years old that I wanted to be a librarian … I wanted to be a children’s librarian mainly because I had such wonderful children’s librarians at my library in detroit…”
- On Graphic Novels: the “whole graphic section is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger.”
- On LibraryThing: “I am a happy user of LibraryThing.”
And on and on… Needless to say, the hour went very fast.

The “Why Do We Dewey” Session

This was a very interesting, info-packed presentation on how the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library embraced an experiment to merge the best of the bookstore shelving format, foundations of Dewey, and their staff expertise to develop a customer-centric shelving/display “neighborhood.” They piloted the project for their travel collection and shared their best practices and lessons learned from the project.

My favorite item from the talk could work anywhere—travel bags! What they do is pull together bags of travel guides, brochures, maps, and more for popular travel destinations such as Napa Valley. The bags are designed to give patrons all the information they need to have a successful trip, all in one bag. As a bonus, people who check out these bags also get a T-shirt: “I booked my Trip at Topeka and Shawnee County Library.” Patrons are asked to send in a picture of them wearing the shirt on the trip. What a great marketing hook!

Check out the presentation as well as the photos in their flickr collection (and while you are there, take a look at their website preview. It’s lookin’ good).

Virtual Happy Hour

I’m sure many of you are wondering what a Virtual Happy Hour is. I know I was.

It turns out there was little in the way of bargain-priced well-drinks or marinaded chicken wings, but there was plenty of conversation in the form of a lightly-moderated chat that allowed participants to share their thoughts about the day’s programming.

Though I felt slightly duped by the Happy Hour moniker, I agree it was a great way for the organizers to collect feedback on the day while encouraging participants to interact with each other in a fashion similar to how they would at a face-to-face conference happy hour (tomorrow, though, I’m going to find a way to have a cocktail).

That’s it for today. If you attended a session (or not), and have thoughts to share on the virtual conference experience, please post them here in the blog comments.
Conferences, PLA2008
Watching PLA 2008 through the eyes of bloggers
March 26th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?
For those of us who can’t attend PLA 2008 in Minneapolis this week, we are relying on reports via blogs, Twitter, Flickr streams, and more to keep up on the happenings. With the conference getting underway, I thought I’d share some notable links to get started:
- The team at the PLA Blog are sharing all the ways they are getting there - if you’ve seen Planes, Trains, and Automobiles you might get a bit of a flashback. Highlighs include a heroic road trip from Brooklyn with the flu, a story of climate shock, a strong argument to pack good walking shoes, and a comparison of Seattle to Minneapolis (seriously, how does anyone survive with that sparse of a Starbucks population?).
- Got a Twitter fix? Also on the PLA Blog, Andrea Mercado is suggesting use of a Twitter hashtag (#pla08), which you can follow on tools like Twemes. There’s already a nice bit of activity - subscribe in your favorite RSS reader to keep track.
- Hopefully this idea from LISNews pans out, so podcast fans can hear about reflections on the conference directly from those who were there. Attendees can phone in their thoughts to a special phone # for inclusion in a post-conference edition of the LISTen podcast.
- Apparently if you see giant rhinos on the exhibit show floor, that’s the LibraryThing crew. Off to troll Flickr for evidence…
- Need a photo fix? Over 80 so far up on Flickr with the PLA2008 tag. Our own WebJunction team has been busy taking pics as well.
Keep an eye out for some posts from the WebJunction attendees as well!
Community Building, Conferences, PLA2008
The people behind the .org–Meet the WJ team at PLA 2008
March 21st, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

At WebJunction, we can’t get enough of of the public library community. Which is why so many of us are winging it to Minneapolis next week for the PLA National Conference. Our reception and other events, provide a chance to meet with many of our members and partners. But outside of these “official” events, we’d like to extend an open invitation to contact us and try to arrange a time or strike up a conversation about almost anything you might be interested in.

Everyone listed following the jump will be at the show. You’ll find our email addresses, plus some topics we’re especially passionate about. Or stop by our spot in the OCLC booth (#617) if you don’t see an email. However we connect, we’d love to meet at PLA 2008!

(more…)
Conferences, PLA2008
Come join WebJunction at PLA 2008!
March 17th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?
It’s time for the Public Library Association’s National Conference, and the WebJunction team will be there! We have several great events happening and we’re hoping you can join us. For the latest updates, see our WebJunction @ PLA 2008 page which also includes some information about our sponsorship of the Virtual Conference. To let us know you’re coming, and to set up reminders for these and related OCLC events, check out the OCLC PLA registration tool.

Here’s the quick list of where WebJunction will be, to get you started:

WebJunction Member Reception: Thursday March 27th from 5:30pm-8pm, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. Registration is not required (though it helps us plan for food and drink quantities…)

That’s right - the opportunity to mingle, chat, and share drinks that you know and love from ALA Annual is coming to PLA 2008! Stop by after a long day of conference sessions, unwind, strike up some conversations, meet new people, and connect with the WebJunction staff. Jay Jordan and our own Marilyn Mason will share a bit about why 2008 will be such an important year for WebJunction and our partners and members.

Feel like taking a stroll through the exhibit hall? Meet us at the WebJunction station in the OCLC booth (#617). Hours are:
- Wednesday, March 26 - 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm (Opening Exhibit Hall Reception)
- Thursday, March 27 - 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
- Friday, March 28 - 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
Grab some coffee and join us for breakfast, at the WebJunction tables in the OCLC Update Breakfast: Thursday March 27th, 7:30-8:30am; Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, Regency Room

Sessions we’re supporting:

Preconference 5: Spanish Language Outreach
Tuesday March 25th, 8:30am - 5:30pm, Minneapolis Convention Center, Room M100 A-B and I-J. Advanced registration via the PLA conference site is required.

WebJunction’s Spanish Language Outreach Program equips library staff with knowledge and resources to reach out to Spanish speakers to increase their access to technology. The workshop provides library staff with information on proven marketing techniques, understanding cultural differences, providing technology training, partnering with local community organizations serving Spanish speakers, and highlights free outreach resources available on WebJunction. The workshop is part of a national grant funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With WebJunction’s Laura Staley, and Presenters: Bertha Huertero, Circulation Services Manager, San Diego County (Calif.) Public Library; Bruce Pomerantz, Library Development Specialist, Minnesota State Library Services, Roseville; Rachel Rubin, Adult Services Librarian, Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library.

Mix It Up: Using Blended Learning for Staff Training
Thursday March 27th, 2:00pm; Minneapolis Convention Center, Auditorium Room 2

Join us for a discussion of panelists’ experiences implementing staff training programs with an e-learning focus. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of how your organization could harness the benefits of e-learning. You’ll also understand how to demonstrate the value of e-learning to stakeholders and build “learning communities.”

From Hype to Help: Making a Difference with New Technologies
Saturday March 29th, 10:15am; Minneapolis Convention Center, Room 101 A-C

Library agencies working to support library staff often struggle with the staff-time and financial resources required to reach and engage everyone. New tools for developing online community and cooperative content management for library staff can help. Looking beyond the hype towards practical applications and workable solutions, panelists will discuss their experiences creating customized online communities and cooperative programs for library staff. They’ll share stories from their experiences with interactive, shared content management and collaboration tools on the Web—with a focus on tools that don’t cost a fortune to implement or maintain. Panel members will describe how community-based content and program development saves resources, shares best-practices, and engages more of the library staff they seek to serve.

As a side note, the PLA team is doing a nice job blogging about events, guides, and activities at the conference. [PLA Blog]

See you in Minneapolis.
Conferences, News, Spanish Outreach
Diversity Fair Scholarship
March 4th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

WebJunction is excited to announce we are awarding a scholarship for a past workshop participant and a state trainer from our Spanish Language Outreach Program to attend the Diversity Fair at the American Library Association Annual Conference in June. Scholarship applicants will be selected based on the impact of the outreach activities they have implemented to Spanish speakers following their participation in the SLO program. The winners will receive a scholarship to design and present a poster describing their outreach project at the ALA Annual Conference Office for Literacy and Outreach Diversity Fair Poster Session in Anaheim, CA. The deadline to submit applications is April 11, 2008. The winners will have their project featured as a case study on WebJunction.

Sara Peté, 2007 Scholarship Winner

Former workshop participants and trainers are invited to apply for the scholarship.This is a great opportunity to showcase your library’s accomplishments in Spanish outreach as well as help inspire other librarians interested in creating and sustaining Spanish outreach services at libraries across the country. Check out more scholarship details, get the scholarship application, and read about last year’s winner, Sara Peté from the Olympia Timberland Library.
Community Building, Conferences, Meet Ups, News, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Web 2.0, chrystie
connecting with old friends at WJ Arizona
November 15th, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

My last fall trip is just now over. I’ve been sitting in my house for, I don’t know, twenty minutes or so, and I’m very happy to report that the trip and the talk went very well. For the first time I tried pulling together some of the ideas and research for my (extra-curricular) Libraries Build Communities project into a talk about the community building we do at WebJunction - the two are obviously very connected for me but not necessarily for everyone. But guess what? It worked! I was relieved and pleased that it seemed to be the right mix of community building for library staff and community building for patrons. Viola! Connections made!

I left out the Putnam stuff I’ve been talking about in some of my recent presentations and instead focused on our community building roots and how in-person community building and online community building share the same principles and practice; then I connected what our patrons are doing with web2.0 tools to what library staff are doing with the same, and with projects like WJ.

I was a little nervous about the mix, with only one hour for a joint presentation with my co-presenter, Mala, the team lead for WebJunction Arizona, but at the end of it all, one of our audience members come up and says something like: thank you for your overview of social networking and what it means for WebJunction; now I understand why this stuff is important. I work in a rural library and I’m trying to help my community understand how to use this stuff and understand what it’s all about; this was really helpful.

Does it really get more libraryland luscious than that? Maybe. I’ll be here for it if it does. I only posted a few pictures from this very short visit, but you’ll find them here. Many, many thanks to the organizers of AzLA for having me. I had a great time and it was wonderful meeting and talking with so many of you and your library staff in Arizona.

(reposted on Libraries Build Communities)
Conferences, IL2007
Making connections
October 31st, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?
As a first time IL attendee, the conference experience for me has been all about making connections. And that has happened in more ways than one. Yes, there are the mental connections - I’ve had the opportunity to meet with librarians in the U.S. and Canada who are trying out social networking tools and they’re talking about the huge impact these tools are having on their communities. But there are also the personal connections. Meeting these librarians and hearing about the work their doing is inspiring! The other thing is that IL is big enough to have really great speakers and leaders in the profession but small enough that serendipitous moments of meeting these leaders are always happening. Case in point: Yesterday, I saw Helene Blowers presenting on Lego Building: Learning through Play! It was a great presentation full of helpful tips (I love helpful tips and easy take-ways). And just now, guess who sat down right next to me? Helene freakin’ Blowers! How cool is that?

So let’s go back a second to Helene’s presentation – it was actually both Helene and Meredith Farkas, of 5 Weeks to a Social Library fame. Meredith repeatedly mentioned the idea of “paying it forward” when it comes to learning from one another. So I want to quickly pay tribute to that – and hopefully make some connections for others. Helene talked about the importance of thinking of ourselves less as “experts” that have to know EVERYTHING (because we all know how do-able that is) to becoming “guides” – people who can exhibit and explain points of interest. The difference being the ability to create a level of engagement that allows us to learn as well as empowering our learners. Here are Helene Blowers Five Tips for Becoming a Discovery Guide:
1. It’s all about ~~training~~ learning!
2. Remove the classroom.
3. Remember exposure is the first step towards learning.
4. Learners have as much to share as guides.
5. Focus on fun!
Conferences, Gaming Presentations, IL2007, Meet Ups
Games, Presentations, Info, Pictures and Friends: mid-IL2007
October 29th, 2007 | Permalink | 4 Comments

Oh Internet Librarian, you are the best! Actually the people that are here and the things they are doing and talking about are the best (and let’s face it, Monterey doesn’t hurt either). For the majority of folks reading this though, Monterey is a long way off. Happily we’re trying to share the experience of being here this year as best we can. Along those lines, some pretty spiffy photos have started to show up already (check the WebJunction flickr photo stream or do search on flickr for the tag IL2007 to see more). Here are a couple WJ related shots that might be fun to take a peek at:

Last night Jenny Levine, Aaron Schmidt, and myself (Michael Porter) co-hosted an open gaming event/flickr and/or twitter meet-up, which was a total blast. It felt great to be able to say: “this even brought to you in partnership with ALA, WebJunction and ITI“. Collaboration abounds! As does some gaming night competition. Here are the two Guitar Hero competition winners David Free and Michael Sauers proudly standing in the project’s glare with their fabulous prizes:

*Just a side note, this event was held right after Jenny and Aaron’s “Gaming in Libraries” pre-conference which was SO worth the time and money. Gamer and non-gamer librarian alike are encouraged to seek out this type of content and these two speakers in particular to understand the importance and value of gaming in Libraryland. The connections are surprising and VERY real. Thanks Jenny and Aaron for your excellent work!*

But that was yesterday. Today the morning started off for Chrystie and I in a pretty public way as we gave this presentation together:

Here is a shot of the audience (can anybody spot themselves in this pic?):

Here is Chrystie in action during the presentation:

While those are fine shots, in my mind there is already stiff competition for fave IL2007 photo between these to pics:

and…

What’s your vote?

For now, it’s back to the conference sessions and the wonderful people here at this years’ Internet Librarian conference. I’ll look for you here or online!

-Michael
Conferences, IL2007
WJ @ Internet Librarian 2007
October 26th, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

Good news, Monterey - WJ is coming to town! Check us out (no, really - you can check out our IL profiles): Chrystie, Michael, Rachel, Sharon, Jennifer, Laura, Dave & Zola will be attending this year’s Internet Librarian conference and sharing our experiences here on BlogJunction. I know we’re all really excited - for lots of different reasons. On Monday, Chrystie & Michael are presenting Blending In: Librarians in the Networked Community. Those two are seasoned IL veterans so they’ll be catching up with friends and hosting fun events like “Open gaming with Guitar Hero, DDR, and Wii” (co-hosted by ALA & WJ’s Jenny Levine, Aaron Schmidt, and Michael Porter in the Colton Room 1, 4:30-7:30pm on Sunday) followed up by an evening of Twittering and Flickring around the town, and Tuesday at 9pm people are meeting at the Portola Plaza lobby to head out for a night of karaoke!

Others of us fall squarely into the “IL newbie” camp - so we’ll be bringing you updates and lessons learned from that perspective, as well. There’s a lot of really great conference sessions and we’re looking forward to connecting with attendees and presenters.

So if you’re joining us virtually, let us know what you’d like to learn from the conference and we’ll do our best to be IL conduits! And if you’re there, we hope you to see you!
Conferences, News, Online Collaboration, WebJunction Staff, chrystie
WebJunction Illinois - ribbon cutting
October 11th, 2007 | Permalink | Comment?

Today at the Illinois Library Association’s annual conference, WebJunction Illinois was publicly unveiled at a ribbon cutting ceremony. Community Partner team leads Dawne and Lisa were joined by our very own Rachel, Lisa, and Kevin - giving WJ-IL a great kick off!

The WJ-IL home page looks great (check out the video and the toolbar -first WJers to do these!). We’re excited about all the ways the IL State Library has customized their WJ service for library staff there, and we really look forward to working with them to build out our online communities for library staff development. We expect our work with IL to not only push us forward with new tools and formats, but also provide a model for delivering online community services through a single spot for the whole state.

Congrats to the state library and especially to Dawne and Lisa - you’ve worked hard and it shows!! Welcome to WebJunction - we’re glad you’re here!