Our keynote speaker, one of the world’s leading search engine gurus and internet pioneers as well as a popular IL speaker, examines how things have changed in the search space, and makes his predictions of what we should be looking at in the coming year. He discusses the implications of the evolving changes for internet librarians and gives us some insight as to what to expect in 2009.

So you’ve got an intranet. It’s OK but it’s not shaking the organization’s foundations. What next? You’ve got a platform now that links everyone in the organization to you and your content vault. You’re licensing external content, and you’re building links to internal content and resources. What are the trends to build on this foundation? This session discusses the big trends in the enterprise space—mobile, white label social networks, visual search, faceted search, software as a service, OpenURL, federated search, and more. Join one of IL’s most admired speakers who has tracked trends in the library, technology and information space for more than a decade and blogs these trends at the popular Stephen’s Lighthouse blog.

Organizations large and small recognize that intellectual capital goes largely unused because it is not findable. Staff reinvent the wheel every time a new project or proposal is undertaken when they could repurpose already existing in-house resources and information, if only they could find it. Instead of using their time to create new information, they are spinning their wheels recreating content. Using two case studies from the nonprofit and corporate worlds, this session discusses finding and sharing information using enterprise-wide search software, Web 2.0 tools, better organization, and staff training.

Dissatisfied with out-of-the-box OPAC interfaces, some libraries have recently introduced third-party search technology to resuscitate their catalogs. In 2007, the IDA Library took this approach and partnered with an enterprise search and clustering technology company to provide not only a face-lift to its catalog but to create a single, enterprise-level information discovery tool. The first presentation explores how librarians can transplant and revitalize catalog metadata in a new host recipient of enterprise search. The second case study focuses on communicating content to clients and how one team promotes research and library resources to audiences around the company through as many channels as they can, including blogs, wikis, mailing lists, RSS, surveys, social bookmarking, old-fashioned tabling, and other methods. The third talk discusses the use of alerting services, including the different types of topics and ways in which information can be searched and retrieved as well as the many delivery mechanisms available.

How do you introduce 2.0 technologies into the law firm library? Law firms are notoriously slow in adopting new technologies and are often steeped in the traditional. In the first presentation, learn how creative law librarians spearheaded a project to create a firm intranet in a culture that doesn’t embrace technology or sharing easily. Working with several other departments the speakers bridged the gap between many different user groups with competing ideas and helped lead the change through collaboration as they introduced the law firm to new technologies. They share how they used focus groups, marketing, and involved key users to “sell” the intranet, first to management, then to staff; what tools were used to create buy-in; and the strategies that were involved, as well as experiences with an internal wiki as a project management tool for the intranet and a way to introduce library staff to 2.0 technologies in a user-friendly format that spawned other uses, including collaboration, policy development, resource sharing, training, and more. Drawing from her experience as a law firm library director, Crosby provides additional examples and describes where law libraries are headed next.

Combining WYSIWYG web editing with blogs, calendars, discussion boards, RSS, and other Web 2.0 innovations, Microsoft SharePoint has been adopted by many institutions as an easy way to create a self-propagating intranet. With staff able to edit pages, upload documents, and have discussions, SharePoint can seem to be a panacea. Two expert library web managers who have been through pilots, implementations, and staff rollouts share their experiences and give you the best advice they have on rolling out similar projects in your own library. Take away tips, tricks, and hacks to make your own library’s Share-Point rollout that much easier.

Moving from “best practice” to “fresh practice” means more then just tuning up a successful idea. To truly create “fresh practice,” you must reexamine, revisit, and readjust to new trends and changing community indicators to avoid merely redoing yesterday’s leftover ideas. This session explores current cultural indicators affecting digital services in libraries and suggests a framework for developing strategies in fresh practices.

When trying to foster new learning and innovative services in libraries we often hear from staff that there’s not enough time set aside to do that kind of work. What if staff could have a good chunk of time to work on a self-directed project that had essential and strategic benefit to the library? It would be like having your own Fulbright Scholar’s program. PLCMC started a new program that offered any staff member who proposed a viable project, a 6-month sabbatical from their regularly assigned duties to learn, develop, and design a new program or service. This session showcases two of the four projects that have been completed, discusses staffing implications, offers a viewpoint from other library departments affected by these new projects and workloads, and shows how this program has seeded new ideas and innovations.

The change imperative facing libraries challenges us to become proactive partners in the academic learning environment, collaborating with faculty and instructional technologists as courses are developed to integrate resources and learning objects, support the implementation of information-rich and research-based learning activities, and participate in the learning assessment and course evaluation. To develop this level of collaboration, librarians need new frameworks, new tools, and new capabilities to engage in these dynamic partnerships. Hear how one library, an early adopter, has embedded expertise and services in the learning process as a strategic imperative. Learn about the strategies, frameworks, and capabilities being used to leverage today’s technology.

After 50 years observing, using, and developing library technology, Dan Lester has learned things that will help libraries to do better with further developments of services to clients. Librarians who succeed do so because they’ve been willing to experiment and to fail; they’ve tried technologies that died and some that never really lived, as well as those that have evolved. So few are willing to discuss their “failures” that it is often difficult for others to learn from them. As with all electronic technologies, those used by libraries have gotten smaller, faster, and more interconnected, thus improving the services libraries can provide and giving them the opportunity to develop ones unimagined a decade or two ago. Few libraries can deal with all of them at once, but trying many and developing a selected few will lead to greater successes for the library and for the clients. Which ones should you try? How can you improve your chances of success? How do you convince your managers to let you try new things? Our experienced IL veteran discusses these and shares his learnings.

Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) is defined as “a model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities.” As opposed to the desktop paradigm, in which a single user consciously engages a single device for a specialized purpose, someone “using” ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems simultaneously, in the course of ordinary activities, and may not necessarily be aware of it. Ubicomp will soon be a lynchpin for libraries attempting to be more meaningfully integrated into patrons’ everyday lives, both online and offline. This session provides a glimpse of the future and discusses how the latest ubicomp tools relate to the mission of libraries, research, forecasts, and evolving implications.

Live Online Learning brings your library’s programs to remote staff and patrons. Eliminate travel, save money and time using synchronous web conferencing tools and virtual environments. This session covers key considerations in live online learning, from selecting synchronous learning platforms (conferencing/virtual environments) to developing a staff training plan, creating and facilitating online events, and finally, web development and IT considerations, including archiving online programs for 24/7 access.

For many instruction librarians, the challenge of Library 2.0 isn’t the technology, it’s the users. Despite the extreme 2.0 savvy attributed to the Millennials in the buzz that dominated early 2.0 reports, the media is finally catching up to what many instruction librarians have known all along: The Google Generation may need some help moving from passive consumer to active participant in the read/write web. Join two academic library instruction librarians for a discussion of challenges in and suggestions for bringing students, professors, librarians, and IT staff onto page 2.0 and why doing so is an important first step in bringing about Library 2.0 services and technologies our communities can embrace.

The first presentation offers an analysis of available free and fee screen capture software, as well as strategies, techniques, and tips for creating videos that will get the point across and engage users to create effective learning tools. It covers what software may be right for you, how to create a video with Camtasia, guidelines to follow when scripting and capturing your video, and where to market your videos so they are as accessible as possible. The second presentation looks at a variety of creation tools and outlines "must do's" for planning, creating and using podcasting and video training tools in the public library setting.

As enrollment in online and distance courses grows, academic libraries can’t afford for out-of-sight students to be out of mind. This session offers ideas, tips and tricks for retooling library services to address the needs of online students via voice and video over the internet and web-based interactive tutorials. SJSU SLIS, the number one elearning library science program in the world, offers students, faculty, alumni, and the broader library community a large body of content through its website using the SLIS Media Player. Speakers explore the tools and technologies utilized to deliver streaming content, as well as the production process of organizing speakers and collaborating with professionals in the field to create compelling web content.

Do you have an online tutorial or instruction session that needs a little 2.0 face-lift? Hear first how a group of librarians and students at UMBC Library used a mix of basic video production and screen recording and capture technologies to create a video clip for library promotion and instruction. The blending of technologies, digital storytelling, and embedded learning objects has led to greater interest in its potential. Then see how the Learning Information Literacy Online (LILO) tutorial at the University of Hawaii uses interactivity and 2.0 tools to teach fundamental information literacy concepts as it reinforces the skills students need to produce college-level research papers and presentations. It also looks at how information literacy can be integrated into assignments, courses, and academic programs, enabling users to create personalized research journals and more.

The Darien Library’s new building will have a virtual reference department, roving librarians with hand-held internet tablets, and no reference desk. Sheehan shows how the library is moving reference beyond the desk, beyond the technological trappings of Library 2.0, and revolutionizing public services. Murphy and Peterson detail the results of their reference via SMS programs. Suggested best practices and guidelines for iPhone applications and mobile reference services are shared.

Once upon a time in a small town in the West, a girl looked at her library’s 1990s-style FrontPage website and thought, “I could do better.” Or more precisely, she thought, “Hey, anything Aaron Schmidt and Jessamyn West can do well, I can do poorly.” One Word-Press download, a few Google accounts, some shoestring usability testing and she was on her way. Crossett shows how you too can use open source software, free web tools, social networking, and sheer dumb persistence to create a website for your library. Articles and blog posts about Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 can sometimes seem impossible to implement in smaller, poorer, and/or under-technology-staffed libraries. This doesn’t mean that these librarians can’t offer excellent online services to their users! Houghton-Jan covers 20 easy steps that libraries can take to improve websites with ease. If your library hasn’t yet implemented the newest and greatest technologies on its website but wants to, this is the session for you.

SOPAC (Social OPAC) has come a long way since first released in January 2007. Blyberg highlights some of the features behind version 2.0 and explains the three-tiered architecture—the ILS-independent abstraction layer, the Drupal module, the open social repository—and demonstrates how easy it is to install and deploy SOPAC 2.0. Barr focuses on strategies for building a well-integrated website, and uses as a case study the launch of Villanova University’s library site. He demonstrates how making intelligent design decisions and implementing the open source OPAC overlay VuFind enables his website to enhance library brand recognition.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, the behavior of youthful offenders who have been exposed to video games, the internet, Web 2.0 tools, and even Teen Second Life has significantly improved. Czarnecki gives details about the program and illustrates how it can be useful for your library. Macias and the librarians at Portland Community College worked hard to interact with their students through MySpace. He’ll tell how they moved beyond having a stagnant presence on the site and used it to develop real connections and generate interest in the library.

One of the central issues in implementing new technology in the library, even if it does a good job solving problems, is staff and management buy-in. We’ll learn from the successes of the day’s speakers and find out how they dealt with resistance and communication issues.

Author of six online research books, Bates provides tips for conducting business research online and staying current on new business and finance information.

Come and hear the highlights of Google’s new browser, Chrome, and why you may or may not want to use it. Join this up-to-the-minute briefing which is filled with insights and tips.

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.

How do you relate with the Millennium Generation who constantly interact, form networks, gather information and assess reliability of information, particularly through the use of social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Come 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.

Microformats are a set of simple open data formats used to describe people, events, and things that humans can read and from which computers can also read and extract information. Learn what microformats are all about, see how to create information in microformat format using easy online tools, and learn about the benefits of making microformats part of your website today!

This cybertour looks at the cool Web 2.0 tools and government information resources that can help you to keep up with the huge amounts of government information available today.

This cybertour discusses an initiative launched by the U.K.’s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) as part of its mission to provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of ICT (information, communications and technology) to support education and research.

Traditional methods of distributing library content are failing to keep up with the quickness and accessibility of online distribution models. Google, iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon are working to move data to users faster than libraries can. This cybertour takes a look at the new  options libraries have for pushing full-text content and other media to where our users are.

This cybertour provides a quick tour of the resources and facilities available on Info Island in Second Life. Seeing is understanding, and this tour allows you to see Second Life – and Info Island – for yourself. Info Island was the first land mass purchased for libraries, librarians and library patrons. Since its founding, a growing number of allied islands have joined what is now called the Info Island Archipelago.

So you know how to use the basics of Twitter, but are you getting the most out of microblogging posts by others? Learn how you can use Twitter feeds from conferences, and more.

Join the Shanachie Tour and hear about the latest excursions and findings from libraries around the world - Jamaica, the Netherlands, North America, and more! Over coffee and cookies, be inspired by the Shanachie groupís enthusiasm and video skills and learn about some exciting practices around the world.