Ever wanted to run maker activities at your library? These activity workshops are designed to be run at your own spaces, and come with teaching materials to show you how! Activities are designed to be 15 to 30 minutes long to allow for a maximum number of participants. They serve as introductions to their respective topics, with an emphasis on how to prepare for and teach them. Immerse yourself in the makerspace mentality and maker spirit and learn how to present workshops including Arduino Robots designed to demonstrate an electronics class in action; 3D Printing—the basics, different printers and necessary software; Stop-motion Animation designed to show how a combination of shop skills and hightech equipment can be used, including iPads with inexpensive stop-motion animation software to film masterpieces; HTML & CSS—since they are included in YouTube, Wikipedia, and the websites we click on every single day. Using Mozilla Thimble, the workshop illustrates how kids can learn HTML and CSS basics by hacking pre-existing text, links, images, and videos on various templates and then use their skills to create their very own websites from scratch. Video Game Programming with Scratch combines the power of play with basic design and programming skills to make video games! Learning by doing is definitely part of this workshop!

More than ever, it’s important not to only understand what people are searching for, but how users are searching— using a computer, tablet, and mobile device. Multiple data sources from information architecture (IA) and usability projects also provide important clues as to why users are searching and can affect the experience you offer them. In this interactive session, information architect and findability expert Shari Thurow focuses on the 7 Key Facets of the User Experience and how information architecture directly impacts each facet. Topics covered include:

• Defining the user experience (UX)
• Ambient findability and pervasive information architecture
• How to measure facets of the user experience
• Common myths and misconceptions
• Do’s and don’ts of IA and UX

By setting clear goals and expectations, info pros can make the most of meetings and develop mutually beneficial relationships with content salespeople. Get strategies, tips, and techniques from a longtime salesperson, supporter of libraries, and recent author. Filled with real-life situations and real solutions, this interactive workshop provides practical strategies, tips, and tricks for successful negotiations around content purchase and licensing. Be prepared to participate! Bring your latest negotiation frustrations—vendor names not necessary—and get expert views on how it could have resulted in a better ending for the library and how a better plan will help the info pro face future negotiations with more confidence. Gruenberg provides the tools that you can use in your very next negotiation.

Are you a solo web developer with an interest in learning basic web scripting? A newbie thrown into your library web programming role? Have a little more experience but always looking to improve your programming skills? This workshop provides basic web programming skills for adding value to library apps and highlights resources to continue learning. Its emphasis is on mashups and web services as a means to practice these skills. Featured topics include REST and Structured Data (e.g., JSON); common programming routines and functions; building simple video widgets with YouTube API; mapping data with Google Maps; and learning how JavaScript (jQuery) and PHP work together to create advanced search mashups with the WorldCat API. Note: Attendees should bring a laptop to play along with the examples and have some familiarity with HTML and a scripting language.

Agile project management has been a hot topic for several years in the programming community, but it was primarily developed for and by the private sector, with large teams of developers and a specific, external client in mind. Libraries, however, generally have much smaller teams, and rather than a single, paying client, a diverse set of users whose needs must be divined. This workshop provides: an overview of the Agile process, with a focus on the Scrum methodology. (Scrum is one of a number of competing flavors of Agile, and its methods are transferable to non-programming projects.), discusses tools, costs, and the time or resource commitments necessary to proceed with a Scrum project, runs through a real example project, and shares how the Scrum methodology might be modified to work better in the library environment.

Got the latest new techniques and tools from the Searchers Academy? Or didn’t have a chance to attend? Check out unusual and advanced search techniques from our expert. Learn to be a Google Grand Master using specialized tools and tricks to become a Google Superuser. Explore alternative search engines to learn their unique advantages and capabilities. Take this opportunity to raise your searching skills to an even higher level.

With the incredible rise of the mobile and handheld platform, library users assume that your library can be accessible from anywhere, at any time, and on any device. Now is the time to be ready! During this workshop, you learn the differences between native and web apps, understand the various technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and how they work together to build mobile web apps, and gain hands-on experience using jQuery Mobile to develop a fully functional mobile-optimized web app. You also have access to a free web server so you can continue to work/test your project live on the web and work directly with speakers so you can have a mentor during and after your project. Come and learn how to move your library content into the mobile setting. Note: Familiarity with HTML and CSS is required, as well as access to a text editor. Participants need to bring a laptop or tablet with access to these tools.