• Tips for Getting More From the Top Search Engines: Learn about the newest changes to the major search engines
• The Best of the Rest: A review of the best alternative search engines for info pros and researchers
• Searching the NEW Web: Learn about what’s new in searching podcasts, tracking memes, social graphing, and other portions of the new web
• Going 2.0 Yourself!: Tips and strategies for getting the most out of real-time collaborative and social web sites
• Cool Tools & Techniques: Learn about new resources and tools for searching more effectively
  

Does your library website need to move to the next level? Consider how to do a visual makeover, add social media tools, or new embedded services. Where do you start? What’s your strategy? See how other libraries are using content management systems (CMS), user generated content, and database-driven content to provide customized and personalized user content. Explore how social software applications, including blogs, wikis, tagging, and RSS, fit in the mix. Learn how to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your current site using analytic tools and usability studies. Pick up new usability methods that can help you test proposed revisions early so that the new design doesn’t just look better but also works better for the users. Pack your toolbox and take home tips, tools, checklists, and new design techniques that you can immediately put to use. Learn about common pitfalls and success factors for library redesigns. Put what you learn into practice. By working in small groups, you will immediately apply what you learn throughout the day to an ongoing “extreme makeover of a library website.” Topics and exercises include the redesign process; practical project management; web content management systems; usability, engagement, and participation.

This workshop offers you a toolbox of techniques to help your clients, staff, and even students learn what they need to learn. By understanding and recognizing adult learning motivations and styles/preferences, training can be designed to help adults connect to the curriculum and be more learning ready. This workshop first emphasizes the importance of the learner and making learning relevant and then walks you through the basics of building courses, lesson plans, and learning outcomes; applying techniques/strategies for the classroom; and teaching tips for handling issues and problems that come up in class. It uses humor to focus on tips, strategies, shortcuts, tricks, and useful approaches that are based on sound principles. Come to discuss adult learning principles, styles and preferences and how to create effective learning environments that accomplish this with humor and panache!

This workshop introduces the concept of a wiki and illustrates how to set up a wiki in a library environment for maximum effect. In an age of increasingly small budgets, a library wiki can help maximize the effectiveness and stretch the library’s resources beyond business hours.  The workshop looks at various wiki types, including their advantages and disadvantages, showing examples of their use in libraries. Learning from the variety of creative, productive, and effective wiki examples, attendees will set up their own wiki. Learn tips for good wiki structure, how to set up secure sites, working with IT administration to use wikis, and introducing the wiki to library staff and clients. Take home advanced tips and tricks to supercharge the wiki along with a gift from PBWiki.

Podcasting is one of today’s hottest social computing applications. But what can this emerging technology do for libraries? What is a videoblog and why use one on your library’s website? This in-depth workshop, featuring two experts in the field of library podcasting and videocasting, answers these questions and more. Come explore and discuss how libraries are using podcasts and videocasts for outreach and learning through a variety of case studies, including tips on what types of content work best for different types of libraries. Detailed information on what to consider when planning for and implementing pod/videocasting at your library are provided along with an up-close and personal look at a variety of creation tools. Gain some hands-on experience in making podcasts and videocasts by producing content live during the session.

As web content continues to grow and the noise-to-signal ratio increases, it has become important for libraries to find ways to get into users’ common web paths: the social networking sites such as Facebook, the web portals such as iGoogle, learning management systems such as Blackboard, even mobile devices such as the iPhone. Our panel of experts looks at creating widgets or gadgets that allow users to have basic library search and browse functions in these new user environments free from the catalog or library website. They demo and teach how to build live applications that provide gateway searching for library journals, books, articles, and much more. Come learn how to play in these new environments and to give users options for searching and consuming library materials in their own learning spaces.

As we embrace new technologies and ways of working, we often find ourselves in the new role of project manager, even though many of us have not been formally trained. In this train-the-trainer workshop, speakers will share a simple and practical approach that empowers staff and takes the fear and uncertainty out of project management. Based on a 3-hour workshop being delivered to library personnel at the UCSF Library, this session is full of practical ideas with step-by-step guidelines and two easy-to-use templates. Workshop leaders walk participants through the process, discuss the benefits of planning upfront, help eliminate the fear of setting deadlines, and talk about communication and participation issues. They demystify user roles, use case scenarios, and functional requirements.

The term “digital libraries” encompasses a diversity of collections and services, protocols and standards, platforms and applications. This workshop provides methods for understanding the landscape, explanations of common technical terms, and exemplary examples of innovative projects. Attendees will emerge with a broad understanding of the current digital library landscape as well as pointers to specific solutions that may work for your organization.

So what’s the difference between going to work in a building and seeing and talking with your colleagues and patrons and going to work digitally, connecting with your colleagues and clients via web, voice, and webcam? And what’s the difference managing a team that works in the same building, and managing a team that has no building at all? Quite a bit, actually. Simply connecting people with technology doesn’t mean things are going to go well. This workshop looks at things to consider when working digitally, whether you are the manager or the team member — the roles, working approaches, and competencies that help make digital working environments work. Speakers share their years of experience and learnings, and use an emerging digital library branch as a case study and model to help you prepare to evolve your library to a digital model. Learn how to change your strategies and practices for the digital world.

Online tutorials can be extremely time-intensive to create. With the increase in reference and instruction to distant users in all types of libraries and the need for just-in-time learning in many organizations, screencasts offer quicker ways to create informative tutorials that demonstrate online library resources. New tools make it quick and easy to create screencasts and host them online. These programs record screen actions and add a voice commentary. Explore using software such as Jing, Camtasia Studio, and Wink to quickly create online tutorials for your distance users. Compare hosting options at Screencast.com, YouTube, Blip.TV, or Freescreencast. In addition to proven tips, techniques, and tricks to quick screencast creation, see examples of advanced
editing features such as call outs, transitions, zooming, highlights, and other advanced features.

This workshop discusses different strategies and frameworks used by practitioners to manage projects in their libraries. These practitioners share their challenges, tips, tricks, and lessons learned in a variety of situations. Etches-Johnson focuses on project management in web redesign and discusses managing a project on a small scale when the project manager is also the project team! Blowers describes a systemwide approach to project management complete with sponsors, process owners, etc., at the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML). She also talks about project management from the IT perspective. Join this interactive session for practical approaches and techniques that you can use in any library or information environment.

Get the most out of your camera by joining our experienced photographers and hearing their tips and tricks. Whether you have a standard website, a blog, or a wiki, text-only just won’t cut it anymore. Come learn all you need to know to create, edit, and add images to your website, market your library’s events, and how to take advantage of Creative Commons licensing to use others’ images on your site. This workshop not only covers licensing options, tips on choosing a digital camera, taking photos in your library, and managing your images, it also helps you take your digital images to the next level. Whether you have a pocket-sized, “point-and-shoot” camera or an expensive digital SLR, learn how to capture a great photo every time by understanding how camera exposure and existing light work together; how to manage hundreds of images effectively; and how to gather tips and tricks for processing your photos on your computer, including correcting white balance, working with tone curves and contrast, saving the right image size for the job, and basic portrait touch-ups. Experienced picture-takers already familiar with their cameras and with downloading images to their computers will get the most out of this workshop.

Delicious for subject guides, Flickr for library displays, YouTube for library orientation …Mashups and APIs (application programming interfaces) are becoming staples of modern web design. Libraries, as repositories of data, have a wealth of information that could be placed within the mashup context. With new tools and scripts available daily, it’s becoming easier and
easier to bring pieces of the web together and enable users to find and build new web services with library data. This workshop focuses on what an API is and what it can do, the standard components of web services, how to build a simple mashup with JavaScript, how to work with PHP to consume a web service and create a mashup, what web services and mashups mean for libraries, and how to start consuming and creating web services for your library with available tools and scripts. Come learn how open data standards and a little “know-how” can change your library services. Hear what others are doing and what you can do too. (Participants should be comfortable with HTML markup and have an interest in learning about web scripting and programming.)

If you just can’t find the time or inspiration to start an organized marketing program, then this course is for you. It reviews the basic terms and definitions of marketing and moves quickly to discuss the tools you’ll need for success. Through instruction, group discussion, and brainstorming, you’ll begin to create a marketing plan. Each attendee ends up with a customized marketing plan to take back to work. Bring your teammates and create the plan together. Best practices, hot tips, and innovative ideas are shared throughout the session.

Join our gamers and gadget lovers for an evening of fun and playing. Bring your latest games and gadgets and try out each othersí. See if you are a guitar hero, winning Wii bowler/golfer, or rank as a dancing DDR expert. Led by gamer/gadget gurus Aaron Schmidt and Erik Boekesteijn, this evening is filled with fun, networking, and of course, learning and laughing. Refreshments included.