Libraries in different parts of the world carry out their work in all sorts of creative and interesting ways. While libraries worldwide hold some common traits such as creating, managing, and providing access to collections, each region of the world brings its distinct challenges and opportunities. How each makes use of technology, designs its physical facilities, or shapes its services informs us of new possibilities. Breeding shares the valuable and inspiring lessons he has had the opportunity to observe in his travels and helps to expand our thinking on what libraries are able to accomplish — often with very sparse resources. His photo essay gives a virtual visit in pictures while his stories entertain and inspire.

Online is social and mobile these days. Do you know what’s out there, and how to make it work for your library? King introduces you to the different types of social interactions available on today’s web, such as status updates, likes, or check-ins. More importantly, you’ll leave knowing how to improve each type of social interaction for your customers and your business, and how to make it rock. Houghton-Jan discusses how augmented reality and other location-based tools can connect residents and visitors to rare and original local history materials, have a positive impact on the community, and engage stakeholders.

Scott shares various ways to use new technologies to invigorate traditional programs. She discusses Skyping Toddlertime (children’s program director was home when she read a book and did a craft over the TV), technology camp (game development and movie creation); adding music via iTunes for Recycled Fashion show; using Cooking Mama for the Wii at Cooking Camp; partnering with the Cub Scouts to do a program on videogame responsibility (earned belt loop); creating READ posters of local community leaders for the library’s open house and more! Gain ideas and insights from this library’s creative programs, blog, and YouTube channel.

Many libraries have been using games as a way to draw patrons in, to get them engaged with other library materials, and to lower barricades between different user groups. These programs typically involve commercially purchased board, card, computer, or console games. There is another type of library program involving games in which patrons create the games. A game creation program can do everything that a game playing program can do (as participants do get to play the games) but also brings out creativity, teamwork, motivation, and other traits that can take a gaming program to a new level. These game creation programs can be successful as education or training programs, or work well to create gaming experiences that tie into a special event or aspects of a community. Nicholson discusses different models for game creation programs in different types of libraries and for different types of games.

Google’s 80/20 innovation model has produced many of Google’s greatest Eureka! Moments, including Gmail, Google News, AdSense, and the Google shuttle buses which transport workers to the company’s headquarters. Google encourages employees to spend 80% of their time on core projects, and roughly 20% (or one day per week) on “innovation” activities that speak to their personal interests and passions, but is something company-related that interests them personally. So if you have a great idea, you always have time to run with it. One library department recently introduced the Google innovation model. Hear about their decision-making process, the implementation model, and the results to date —positive, negative and just plain funny!

Tagging can enhance the accessibility of your library’s collection for users and can make librarians’ jobs easier! Through keywords that are intuitive and known by a community, librarians can lead patrons to undiscovered resources and simplify the creation of customized like-item lists. Find out how two different libraries’ have used tagging in their library’s catalogs with great success. Graham shares how an academic library cataloging staff is involved in tagging and Caserotti illustrates examples of innovative uses of tagging by both public library staff and their community.

Look at a snapshot of the current state of public and academic OPACs and their pursuit of the next-generation catalog. The first presentation is based on an examination of 260 colleges and universities, about 10% in North America. This first-of-its-kind study rates 12 features of the nextgeneration catalog: single point of entry for all library resources, state-ofthe-art web interface, enriched content, faceted navigation, simple keyword search box with link to advanced search, relevancy, “did you mean” spell-checking, recommendations/related materials, user contributions, RSS feeds, integration with social networking sites, and persistent links. Hear the results and their implications. Breeding highlights the current state of public libraries and their implementation of next-gen systems.

Hear about the latest offerings and how they are currently being used in different types of libraries. Our panel uses real examples to showcase their products and services.

Hear the results of a pilot project providing a small group of students with iPads for the academic year which they integrated into their daily study and learning activities, including classroom activities and library research. Students blogged weekly documenting their experiences with the device and checked in with the library team leading this project on a monthly basis. Hear about the findings, the challenges, successes, and potential of using the iPad as a tool in the academic learning process.

As libraries consider investments in RFID-based equipment, such as selfcheck stations, anti-theft systems, automated material handling, or inventory control, it’s vital to have a solid understanding of the technology, standards, and best practices. Breeding gives an overview of the technology, some interesting applications enabled by RFID (including the freeing up of staff to hire 11 community managers in one library system) and addresses the issues and controversies brewing on the topic.

This panel of ebook distributors discusses the models under which they make ebooks available and looks at the plethora of plans available. They represent leading providers of ebook solutions to libraries: Ebrary, NetLibrary, MyiLibrary and OverDrive. Hear their strategies, plans, and experiences with libraries in the ebook world.

New examples of digital reading material—ebooks, emagazines, enewpapers—are appearing every day. So are devices and software to read them. But is epublishing a growing trend or a passing fad? Is it a valuable tool or a solution in search of a problem? Speakers explore the jungle of acronyms for formats and DRMs, the many types of readers, and more. They don't have all the answers, but they will provide sensible planning guidelines and opportunities to make a difference for your patrons.

Ebook suppliers discuss the different models emerging for ebooks and the challenges faced by vendors, libraries and institutions including textbook publishing, supporting content delivery to mobile devices, the standards conundrum, e-readers, DRM, Google Books/Editions, and more.

This facilitated double session starts with a series of short talks. The first is by two contributors to the recent ALA publication No Shelf Required: EBooks in Libraries, and looks at the economic impact and value of ebooks in academic and public libraries and how best to position your organization’s collection within the rapidly changing landscape of the ebook market. The next talks share how ebooks popularized an adult summer reading club and provides strategies on building digital collections using the Internet Archive’s collection and open policies. The facilitated discussion then focuses on ebook issues, challenges, real-world solutions, and speculations on what might happen in the next few years.

In 2008 and 2009 General Motors received billions in government bailout funds, completed massive reorganizations throughout the company, and filed for bankruptcy, emerging in July 2009 as the New General Motors. Leading up to and throughout the reorganizations, the GM Library’s staff was reduced dramatically, and like the New General Motors, the GM Library emerged as a more focused, leaner organization. Surviving such events is an achievement, but the process invigorated and provided a renewed spirit to the library. The GM Library focused on what could be done better and what needed to change, as well as what services are essential. Nielsen shares the process, strategies, and outcomes that breathed new life into the library and help them stay relevant to customers. She discusses implementing live chat, creating a SharePoint site to facilitate external publication review processes, introducing a new logo, and updating their website.

Partnering and connecting with your stakeholders and customers in the organization can ensure your library’s ongoing success and sustainability. Brown explores the concept and practices of “organizational intelligence”; looks at ways to find out about people in your organization and seek them out where they are; and talks about how to engage with them in various ways to raise your value, visibility, and credibility within the organization. It’s not stalking, but it’s the next best thing. With an increasing emphasis on performance improvement in both the private and public sectors, business process improvement is now part of libraries’ daily requirements. Pacifici then discusses leveraging programs, applications, people, and resources, including branding, SharePoint, blogs, video tutorials and Twitter, to strengthen your library's visibility and value.

NPR’s library is a production center, research service, knowledge hub, digital collections resource, archive, and contract manager. Although it is not a cultural heritage institution, NPR curates, preserves, and cares for cultural heritage every day, relying increasingly on internal and external partnerships to prove value and to grow. NPR librarians share lessons learned in keeping strategic goals aligned with organizational goals, aligning library goals to the broader objectives of the organization, and the exciting outcomes including new strategic partnerships, reinventing roles, and finding the library in the driver’s seat on technology projects. Stiles & Marlatt discuss the development of a learning management platform and a digital library to support an “in residence”/web-based learning program. The initiative also included publishing an online journal, building games and simulations, and enabling numerous Web 2.0 features. They highlight key challenges faced and the lessons learned in evolving from using vendor products to open source products, and ultimately customizing to create a wide variety of systems.

The first presentation describes the Mobile Librarian Program at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developed to meet the information needs of its employees. With more than 30 buildings spread out across a large campus, and reference librarians in one building, employees needed more. Speakers outline their successful outreach program, describing the user communities researched and served, the planning and support for the program, new partnerships, and the lessons learned from the first year of field operations which has increased the total number of reference questions received by 11%. Pollock discusses a 6-month pilot project to evaluate the various dedicated e-reader models available on the market, as well as Apple’s iPad, in order to determine their capabilities, usability, compatibility with the library’s purchased electronic book and journal content, and potential for use within the Sandia information environment. She summarizes the results and lessons learned and offers recommendations for possible future strategies for use of dedicated e-readers and multifunction devices such as the iPad by libraries and researchers.

There are up to four generations of workers (Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen Y, and Millennials) in most companies and organizations; getting the generations to work together has become a topic catching even top executives’ attention. Information commons have been around academic libraries for almost 20 years, and students who used them are in the workforce. During the same time period, corporate libraries and information centers have pushed databases, electronic journals, and books to their clients’ desktops. As a consequence, many have seen fewer and fewer clients coming to the physical space. If these three factors are considered, what are the impacts and options for libraries in research organizations and companies? JPL transformed both the physical space and its website into the BEACON Information Commons with a goal of providing a space for informal collaborations among all JPL personnel. Hear about the transformation process, experiences in collaborating with other units, and current status and plans.

What actually happens in a student’s mind during online research? How is it different from an adult’s experience of the same process? What induces a young learner to adopt better research methods? Research skills trainer Tasha Bergson-Michelson uses case studies from her work with 2nd to 8th graders in public and independent schools to illustrate the surprising things we can discover by listening to the way students talk about their own online and offline research experiences. She uncovers elements of literacy that are unique to online environments—and sometimes contrary to traditional methods of literacy learning—and demonstrates a refined set of research teaching methods focused on identification, visualization, iteration, and pursuit. She illustrates how these methods help students (and even adults) develop new forms of reading that transform their confidence, competence, and engagement when undertaking research, both online and off.

HomeworkNYC Apps: A Decentralized Approach to Homework Help, is an IMLS-funded grant project awarded to New York City’s three library systems. The project is the outcome of research conducted by New York City’s public libraries which showed that students were not strong users of the libraries’ homework help resources and tweens and teens were looking for homework support from the online spaces they inhabit— Facebook, MySpace, Google, Wikipedia, and so on. Librarians working on the project realized that in order to support students, libraries needed to be in the web spaces where students spend their time and also to work with teachers and parents to inform them about the positive role that Web 2.0 technologies and social networking play in student lives. Hear from the project’s outreach specialist about its components, including the development of a suite of apps for use with Facebook, iGoogle, and via the HomeworkNYC website.

You can really engage students by integrating Web 2.0 tools into your curriculum. Learn from Glogster ambassador and Star Discovery educator Robin Metaj how to collaborate with teachers to integrate Discovery Education streaming media, podcasting, Google Lit Trips, Voicethread, and more to promote meaningful communication about literature between students and teachers. Metaj examines the tools and shares implementation strategies with you while focusing on curriculum integration. Come away with new tools for interacting with your students. This session highlights applications in the language arts and humanities curriculum areas.

This session shares how a 8th grade classroom teacher and her media specialist—presenter Susan Grigsby—collaborated on a lesson that involved the writing process, photography, book creation, and the Web 2.0 tool BeFunky. Using language arts Georgia Performance Standards, Grigsby’s colleague designed a lesson in which her students would write a personal hero story but in graphic novel format. Grigsby used a range of other Georgia Performance Standards to enhance the lesson with technology. Students were exposed to a variety of graphic novels with special attention to style, word/graphic choices, and design. They were then instructed on the use of digital cameras and the web-based tool BeFunky.com, where they uploaded photographs and digitally altered them according to the graphic style they selected for their stories. Learn how the technology-, content-, and creativity-rich process worked, right down to the creation of personal graphic novels and the development of an assessment rubric that included design, spelling, word/picture relationships, and proper grammar.

Do you Glog? Got Prezi? This session highlights the last 2 years of the ALA’s Best 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning, covering everything from online note-taking to presentation. Go beyond PowerPoint! Excite your teachers and students with these exciting, innovative, and free sources. Leave with a tool box of all sorts of great web resources.

Join our famous evening of fun and learning. Hear from our authors, speakers and Computers in Libraries experts on their views of dead and innovative technologies affecting our libraries now and as we create the future. Open to all.