QR codes are little images containing information that transmit the contained information when a person snaps the image with their cell phone. QR codes can contain all kinds of information, from contact information and VCards of librarians to links to websites, tutorials, pages with chat widgets, and more. This cybertour explores different options for creating and using QR codes and potential uses in libraries. 

This session case study illustrates how a fully manual library operation (closed for more than 2 years) was able to do a fast start into the 21st century of information management and access using a cloud-based ILS as the base. Hear how a solo librarian challenged with a very tight budget and limited IT support is using technology as a catalyst for change and collaboration, turning the perception of the library from a passive warehouse of materials into an active source of information and education.

Librarians and info pros are in a position to provide businesses with the information needed to thrive in a tough economy. Learn the key resources for helping companies understand their customers and competitors, including the demographics and economic, political, social, and other issues that make each market unique.

There are many ongoing and successful efforts inside and outside of government to make government information available on the internet free to all. Advocates for open government, as well as the disseminators and users of government information, have encouraged the release of caselaw, statutes, public records, publication and other data held by federal, state, and local governments. Learn what information is out there, how it’s being used, and how you and your users can access it and contribute to Gov 2.0.

Tim Berners-Lee has often lamented the way so much of the world’s information remains locked away and inaccessible to those who could build great things with it. This cybertour looks at an effort to assemble a crowdsourced research catalog, collecting “attention metadata” on content usage, then making this data available in a structured manner via Open API. With nearly 1 million researchers and 80 million research documents uploaded, the service is approaching the scale that enables genuinely useful insights to be reached.

Hear about one tech librarian's cool tool picks as she shares her experimentation and thoughts on their possible use in libraries. She has been playing with one tool for easily creating tutorials, with "mother blogs" using Posterious, and getting deep into sharing and bundling features for info dissemination on Google Reader. Hear her tips and opinions!

Wish you had more hours in the day?  Join our learning expert and hear about new tools and processes that could help you find extra hours in your day and be more productive.

So exactly what does it mean to move data and services to the “cloud”?  This cybertour discusses the concept; the advantages of cloud computing, where your documents and data live on the internet; how you can utilize web services in the cloud; and what libraries are currently doing in the cloud.

Delivering library services in new formats is becoming the norm. This cybertour looks at using YouTube, the world’s largest and best-known online video brand, which has a convenient way to organize user-created videos into collections.  Learn how to create and customize your YouTube channel and playlists, excel at video selection analysis, and understand the various types of YouTube accounts and their benefits. Filled with lots of tips on how to integrate YouTube playlists into other library while dealing with the use of third-party content.

This cybertour illustrates how libraries can provide an online video library to clients with a computer and internet connection and discusses the technical aspects  as well as other challenges and considerations.

So what’s all the excitement about Google’s new social networking service?  What can it do for you that all the other social media can’t?  How can you use it to provide better services for your clients or streamline your business?  Get an overview from a Google+ user and gain insights and ideas for applying G+ to your environment.

Learn about the Chicago Underground Library’s (CUL) replicable model for building community collections using the lens of an archive to examine the creative, political, and intellectual interdependencies of a city, tracing how people have worked together, where ideas first developed, and how they spread from one publication to another through individuals.  It utilizes community volunteers and catalogers, search and browse capabilities, and a map to see where each publication came from to discover what’s been published in their neighborhood and to provide their own historical notes and additions to any catalog entry in the Drupal content management system (and others are using Joomla).

To better respond to e-resource problem reports based on a robust academic program, UCF established a multi-department team, created a workflow and ticketing system, and defined service benchmarks.  Building buy-in and improving comfort levels took training, discussions, encouragement, and benchmarks.  Get tips and tricks based on the speakers’ experience to build skills for your teams!