From one academic library’s nearly three years’ experience of provisioning and supporting 3D printing services across disciplinary and organizational boundaries, this exploration of the realities of 3D printing discusses who’s using the services, and for what, problem resolution tips, and more.

Mobile devices are an integral part of everyday life. As mobile device adoption tops 90% globally and nearly 90% of people’s time is spent in apps, your library needs to be equipped to reach this mobile population. A mobile app is no longer a technology of the future—it’s a must for staying relevant in today’s digital world and connecting with your customers in a way they are accustomed to.

Imagine having a Google-Analytics-style dashboard for your library building: number of visits, what patrons browsed, what parts of the library were busy during which parts of the day, and more. Measure the Future is going to make that happen by using simple and inexpensive sensors that can collect data about building usage that is now invisible. Making these invisible occurrences explicit will allow librarians to make strategic decisions that create more efficient and effective experiences for their patrons. Come learn about this new project, and how it might help your library.

Is your budget tight? Space limited? Have great ideas but just need help getting them going? The library world is full of great thinkers and creative people. Through talking with other libraries across the country, here are some great ideas that were done on a small or no budget at all. Attend this session for tips on how to get your next BIG idea implemented. We will discuss everything from program ideas to cool tech solutions.

Capturing machine printed text can reach 100% accuracy with basic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for searchable content and metadata extraction, but what makes hand-printed and hand-written content such a challenge and how is the industry responding? Get an overview of the current trends in document capture and hear about the advances in current capture technologies to include Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) and Intelligent Word Recognition (IWR).

It sometimes seems as though every individual and organization is on popular social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, making it imperative for your organization to be there too. At the same time, new platforms emerge on a nearly daily basis. What is the best response to the overwhelming demands social media places on your limited time and resources? Get some basic strategies, including setting goals for your communications, selecting and managing platforms, and matching content to platform.

Hear about the societal trends that IFLA (the International Federation of Library Associations) identified in a recent report after consultation with information industry leading thinkers. Scheeder, a long-time industry practitioner, looks at the societal trends identified by the IFLA report and discusses what they mean for the change agenda for libraries and librarian.

gRaphael is one of several available JavaScript libraries for creating pie, bar, and other data charts. Combined with some additional scripting, these tools make it possible to add dynamic and animated charts to your website without relying on commercial software or the cloud. For Drupal websites, an integration module makes gRaphael especially easy to use. Get lots of tips and tricks!

Big Data and its transformative potential has exploded but what about changing the “culture” of research to facilitate greater collaboration. Researchers are increasingly being asked to preserve their datasets, and to adopt widely recognized best practices to encourage the re-use of data. Universities and their libraries are working hard to develop coordinated services that can ease the burdens—and raise the potential—of data management initiatives. Huwe provides an overview of some of the leading projects and their goals, new roles for librarians, and the challenge of bringing about the necessary cultural changes to make Big Data initiatives thrive. Listen to his intro and join Track A on Wed for lots more on the topic!

Our eagle eye industry watcher shares his top ten “must watch tech” for the coming year. Not to be missed!

The public library is advancing as a third room community platform for Reading - Learning - Inspiration - Creativity – Meetings. How does the library work digitally to support these changes? Are Twitter and Facebook enough? This cybertour discusses these themes and shows how libraries in Scandinavia and the world have started to cope with the digital world and the library’s future. It includes a look at the necessary structural and technical changes and tools for that future.

As more libraries are setting up digital collections, a number of digital asset management systems (DAMS) are emerging into what used to be a limited field. Islandora, CONTENTdm and Hydra are some of the frontrunners in what’s available. This cybertour discusses what digital asset management systems do, gives a brief demo of Islandora, and shares how it differs from ContentDM and Hydra, and touches on cost and skills.

Using Shoutbomb, the Vaughan Public Libraries (a soon-to-be-8-branch municipal public library in the suburbs outside Toronto) brought text-based notification services to their patrons. Hear about the difficulties, work-arounds, adaptations, and successes encountered on the route to texting patrons.