In his position as founder, curator and voice of “LIVE from the NYPL,” Holdengraber thinks up “programs that will stimulate intellectual fervor, inspire discussion and dissent, and create forums to bring books and people together–cognitive theater.” Following his interview of Vint Cerf, Holdengraber is himself interviewed about why he believes public conversations are a fundamental way to make libraries irresistible, ensuring their everlasting importance; how to take advantage of the “afterlife of the conversation”; how to create moments of magic; and tips for oxygenating and transforming libraries for the future. Join this funny, knowledgeable, and insightful speaker; he'll make your day!

Wondering what experience design is all about and how it can improve your library site? Follow along as King guides you through his library website’s extreme makeover, focusing on experience design elements, then shares five ways to jump-start your own experience design makeover. You’ll leave this session with new ideas for your own site and concrete steps to get started.

Webpages, research guides from Springshare’s LibGuides, licensed content, full-text journals, subject experts, digital collections ... and books online and offline. How is a library patron to figure out what’s what in this complex environment? Using independently developed tools from various systems to build a seamless whole, the UM library rebuilt its website, bringing the information patrons want into the forefront and the byzantine path to get it in the background. Speakers share  results of extensive user studies, how they iteratively designed the site, and discuss the opensource technologies (Solr, Lucene, Drupal, XML, VuFind) that make it work.

Come explore the most-pressing usability and user experience issues on library websites today. Each panelist explains how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with today’s public or academic websites and recommend two or three “doable” options for improvements that will have the highest impact. Audience members vote to pick the top improvement idea. Each speaker also has the opportunity to be a “Fairy Godmother of Library Websites” and grant one wish that would make library websites fabulous. Join us for this informative session with a panel of experienced library web designers who are experts on usability and user experience.

Breeding discusses how search engine optimization, or SEO, tunes a website so that its contents are easily retrieved through Google and other search engines and results in higher visibility for the library web presence. Proper use of SEO involves providing the mechanism for search engines to easily discover and index your site. Breeding highlights specific SEO techniques that have been successful for sites that he manages, including Library Technology Guides and the Vanderbilt Television
News Archive. White discusses a variety of assessment tools for making informed and effective decisions as well as gauging the value of virtual services. He focuses on web traffic statistics to show the value of library websites, subscriptions, and virtual services; usage statistics to decide to continue a web service, market it more effectively, or redesign your website; and other web metrics applications, both paid and free (Google Analytics, Woopra, and WebTrends), that libraries can use to gather information.

This session discusses NCSU Libraries’ fast-tracked user-centered redesign of its web presence for library development activities. It presents the design team’s tips for effective user research in a hurry, shares the team’s experience with convincing stakeholders that user design is necessary, harnessing available resources for recruitment of subjects, and creating “good enough” usability tests and card sorts. Get a synopsis of the results, what was learned about donors’ website preferences, and see the final website design developed with Drupal. Stier discusses the implementation and use of content management systems; how to develop and deploy practices and standards to assist staff with publishing content; methods for introducing ideas such as SEO, semantics, and usability to staff who are new to managing online content; using Google Analytics to ensure that goals are being met; and what’s likely in the next phase.

This session shares the process followed by the RAND Corporation in moving to a digital model in the delivery of RAND reports and noncopyrighted content. It covers the specifics of scanning, OCR, document conversion, web optimization, metatagging, cataloging and retrieval with search engines and the OPAC—and how all of this was integrated, with very little special accommodation—into an existing web and library infrastructure. This practical guide illustrates the choices, hardware and software, results, and lessons learned by one organization.

In tough economic times, it is important to maximize information and knowledge management efforts by using cost-effective tools to repurpose information the library staff is already gathering. Law libraries are often behind the times in terms of technology; however, Lapachet and Reynolds discuss Web 2.0 tools for the intranet to refeed information to attorneys, using 2.0 tools to push the boundaries of information-sharing and collaboration in the law firm/corporate environment, as well as some of the successes and failures of the tools tried. Levine discusses how transportation libraries are engaging their organizations with new technologies and education to
impact all users. She illustrates with a website put together for the transportation industry.

Information and knowledge management roles in the enterprise are evolving and expanding. Kneale presents snapshot profiles of modern librarians and discusses them in the context of survey results of librarians’ perceptions and image. O’Connor-Fix discusses how an embedded librarian in the marketing department collaborated with team members to devise individual information plans, specialized databases, and internal sales tools that would be available globally through a corporate portal and have a positive impact on the bottom line. Reamy uses a number of case studies and experience using librarians as consultants on a variety of information and knowledge architecture projects to look at the skills librarians need to add to their resume, the kinds of project activities available, and how the role of knowledge architect is essential to the future of knowledge management.

Intel Library’s Virtual Research Library (VRL) database was initially developed to enable company employees to access technical papers and presentations authored by other Intel employees. Through the years, the VRL has taken on more “duties,” features have been added to enhance usability, and historical content has been added to make the content more robust. Presenters discuss how the VRL has evolved from a simple document archive to a sophisticated tool that Intel authors use to initiate and track the manuscript approval process required by the legal department. We will also show Web 2.0 features that are being added to increase the value of the VRL for employees who use it to research technology questions and how the content is being repurposed to create new products, including an expert-finding tool.

In today’s competitive corporate environment libraries must continually innovate to thrive and survive.  Electronic book readers, or e-readers, and other mobile devices provide an opportunity to use new technology and virtual content delivery methods. This session focuses on corporate libraries’ results of two pilot programs with e-readers, including the Amazon Kindle and Sony Portable Reader. Qualcomm preloaded purchased content on the devices and announced the program to its local campus of about 10,000 employees, loaning out the devices to individuals who had placed themselves on a wait list. General Mills identified 60 individuals to create a pilot program, loaning out the devices for a week at a time, and providing open wireless access for users. Details of the two programs, insights into the lessons learned, and successes and challenges are shared.

Ipri and Griffey start this double session by explaining why you can’t just replicate your existing website for mobile users—needs and technologies are different in the mobile world. They discuss how libraries must rethink their services and go with completely new models in light of ubiquitous computing and connectivity. Greenwalt discusses the Skokie Public Library’s “going mobile” LSTA grant project to develop a suite of mobile tools, including a mobile website, catalog, text messaging alerts, and mobile reference service. Clark talks about delivering video and images through optimized websites that work with the next generation of smartphones and mobile devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry Storm, Palm Pre, Google Android). He discusses challenges and advantages of developing mobile sites, the debate between native smartphone apps versus mobile web apps, best practices for mobile web design, and the lessons learned in development processes. Benzing discusses creating alternative versions of a website for mobile users, utilizing information needs of users from surveys, focus groups, and usability testing. The last segment of the session focuses on mobile reference, as Sauers and Burns look at the basics of using the Internet on regular cell phones as well as smartphones.

This demo and lively panel discussion highlights what OCLC has learned so far in reaching library users through their mobile phones. Hear from three different developers about how they approached working with WorldCat library data in the mobile format, and how each one designed the optimal user experience—it’s so much more than screen size. Learn more about how to approach “going mobile” with your library, what factors to consider from the library side, and see what’s possible technically.

Mobile marketing is being touted as the next big thing in marketing. Studies say it is the best way to reach Hispanic and African American parents, 20-somethings, and teens, but is it right for  libraries? Dowd reports on the NJSL’s four pilot programs designed to answer this question for small, large, urban, and county libraries, and shares what was learned—the pros and cons of mobile marketing including specific campaign ideas and costs.

As smartphones become ubiquitous on campus, they are changing and will continue to change the way that students find, access, and use information. As information professionals, academic librarians must quickly adapt their reference services and library instruction to these new means of information usage. The first presentation looks at the functionality and capabilities of smartphones and how the devices can either help or hinder students’ achievement of the learning outcomes outlined in the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The second set of presenters addresses the challenges involved in providing library content and services to mobile users. They discuss offering an entire library experience to mobile users, discovery tools available (mobile-friendly OPACs, union catalogs, library webpages and subject guides), best practices for cataloging electronic resources specific to mobile devices, as well as IT issues, collection development trends, licensing issues, and gathering usage statistics.

After more than a decade of VR services, problems persist: absence of a reference interview, communication limitations, extended transaction times, concerns about the quality of instruction, and technological problems. The first presentation looks at how to address these problems using simple-to-use and free technology, including Jing (for on-the-fly videos); on-the-fly webpage annotation with text, graphics, audio, or webcam; harnessing the power of YouTube; embedded IM, and more. Bedwell shows how, by experimenting with free online communications tools, strategic online placement, and other innovative solutions, the Novanet Live Help online reference service has established itself as a highly valued and much-used service. In 1 year, during which Dalhousie cancelled their virtual reference software subscription and adopted chat widgets in its place, usage statistics skyrocketed fivefold.

Our experienced information specialists evaluate and discuss relevant social media tools. Searching and repackaging data from blogs, wikis, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Delicious, and many other social media applications is becoming one of the most important skills for info pros. Hear about Radian6, Filtrbox, Infogen, and BuzzMonitor, tools to help you spot emerging trends, customize your results, identify prospects, deliver on-time content, monitor the “buzz” about your client, and uncover rumors and reports.

PSU Libraries are focusing on new technologies for innovative ways to connect with and provide new services to their users, experimenting with the use of iPod Touches and Skype to offer point-of-service reference as well as voice, SMS, and IM connection with its main reference desk and other roving reference staff members. They have partnered with Sony to test the Sony Reader in the library environment, and are using the reader as a teaching tool, offering preloaded course titles and course reserves and as a device for leisure reading, offering multiple titles with a single checkout, and investigating the possibilities of downloading on-demand materials to the reader for a more user-centered experience. UH Libraries, which trialed the use of the iPod Touch as a tool to enhance the work of librarians, outlines its successes and pitfalls so you’ll learn ways in which you can jump-start a similar program at your own library. You’ll get recommendations on cool and useful apps, and suggestions on which popular library resources are best and currently available for mobile devices.

The Caledon Library is a community-based library system in Second Life. A main library and eight branches serve a virtual community with a unique demographic, which has dictated both the profile and the implementation of collections. The community provides both financial and intellectual support and is a partner in an ongoing conversation about the direction and evolution of the library. This panel discusses the nuts and bolts of developing and maintaining such a virtual library, community collaboration, volunteer coordination, real costs, cross-platform collection development, vital Web 2.0 tools, and choices and challenges related to digital collection management.

In the era of Web 2.0, libraries can offer a wider variety of digital services than ever before, but how do you decide which services? Reuter outlines the comprehensive process used by Worthington Libraries to complete the recent redesign of the library website and to determine their range of digital services. Learn how the libraries incorporated the extensive feedback gathered to deliver a usable new website and dynamic online presence. Booth considers how environmental scanning and other methods of user research can inform library decision-making. She discusses her April 2009 ACRL research report based on the findings of the 2008 Ohio University Libraries Student Technology Survey project and proposes ways in which libraries can better consider local needs and cultures in public, technology, and access services.

How do you relate with the Millennium Generation who constantly interact, form networks, gather information, and assess reliability of information? Explore ideas on what types of information services will be relevant to the new generation of workers and how info pros can build a presence in the social network sites that the Millennium Generation use in order to effect relevant outreach to this group.

This cybertour presents multimedia web resources for all types of gaming in all types of libraries: informational resources, review sites, and even game design tools. Put the fun into your library with tips from this cybertour.

Drupal is a free, open source web content management system that has been gaining interest in the library world. Drupal offers a flexible modular configuration that allows website creators to incorporate functionality such as content description, blogs, forums, tagging, groups, and more! This intro gives you the basics on Drupal and demos some Drupal-based library websites.

Join our finding expert for tips and tools for getting the most out of your, or your clients’, mobile devices.

Hear about an innovative federated search solution that integrates several cutting-edge technologies in order to provide increased retrieval precision, relevancy, and productivity for its users. This cybertour demonstrates how semantic searching is utilized at every step of the federated search process: automatic query enhancement, semantic search result clustering, information mashups, and more.

This cybertour provides tips to use for raising a library’s profile through hyperlocal social networking sites.

This how-to presentation shows you how to start with a digital camera and a scanner, and end with a full website complete with word search capability, OAI-PMH server, and archive stability test. See how to do this in under 20 minutes and all with free downloaded software.

Podcasting is a low-cost, innovative way to reach out to users and supplement in-person teaching. Get tips on setting up a podcasting program, ideas for content, ways to integrate podcasts with other instructional activities, free and inexpensive podcast technologies, pitfalls to avoid, and incorporating podcasts into iTunes U.

Clay Shirky said, “Communications tools don't get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.” Wikipedia has now reached that stage. We take its usage for granted, but what can we learn from its popularity and creation process? Is it redefining knowledge as we know it? This cybertour highlights ways in which Wikipedia is being used, the nitty-gritty details of how it is edited, and discusses implications for information professionals as we design and direct individuals to information sources.

With the increasing amount of real-time information sources on the web (FriendFeed, Twitter, Facebook) and new services enabling more and more instant communication (pubsub, CloudRSS), library services need to start thinking about how to deal with the real-time web. Come see what the buzz is about with Jason Griffey as he explains why the real-time web changes library services.

HOST: Janie Hermann, Princeton Public Library
MUSICIANS: Richard Geiger, Information & News Consultant, & Tim DeWolf, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
PRESENTERS: Greg Schwartz, Louisville Free Public Library; Amy Buckland, McGill University; Nancy Dowd, State Library of New Jersey; Michael Porter, WebJunction; Michael Sauers, Nebraska Library Commission
JUDGES & SLIDE CREATORS: Sarah Houghton-Jan, San Jose Public Library; Aaron Schmidt, DCPL; Amanda Etches-Johnson, McMaster University; Jeff Wisniewski, University of Pittsburgh; Rebecca Jones, Dysart & Jones Associates; Stephen Abram, SirsiDynix; Richard Hulser, Library Consultant

Join our evening of fun and music featuring our first-ever “Battle Decks Spectacular!” Also known as “PowerPoint Karaoke,” our willing participants make a coherent presentation based on hand-selected, seemingly unrelated slides that they see for the first time live on stage. After a fantastic musical interlude, the participants face judgment, with the winner to be determined based on overall awesomeness. Hilarity, along with some learning, is guaranteed for all!