Sunday, April 26, 2015

Now that our smartphones can search the web for us, how do info pros set themselves apart from anyone with access to Google? This full-day workshop brings the basic principles of hacking—curiosity, creativity, collaboration—to advanced web research. Searchers Academy allows you to interact with a series of industry experts who share their search hacks and expertise in the field of web research. There’s always something new to be learned from these leading-edge info pros. Participants should have basic experience with web searching, but even searchers with an extensive searching background will come away with a new attitude and new resources and tools. Academy topics include:

• Hacking Google: Learn about the new and little-known search features that enable you to out-Google anyone … even your clients!
• Hacking the Deep Web: Today’s best techniques for identifying and searching the rich content within the deep web
• Hacking the Social Web: How to get the most value from social media—for research and professional development
• Hacking Your Deliverables: What you can do with your search results to make the information even more valuable
• Hacking Subject Searches: Specific tools and resources for searching in a variety of specialized topics

This full-day, intensive, hands-on workshop is for new and novice Drupal users. It covers Drupal 6 and 7 skills, including installation, configuration, core functions, and theme development. This introductory workshop touches on most every aspect of the core Drupal framework: how to install Drupal and all the modules that a common site would use; adding, editing, and moderating content; creating user accounts and understanding Drupal’s permissions system; setting up menus and other design elements on a page; creating human-readable URLs; categorizing content using Drupal’s taxonomy system; and editing your own Drupal theme. Bring your laptop, and at the end of this Drupal day, you’ll have a simple but complete Drupal site.

This workshop brings together the strengths and expertise of practitioners, provides hands-on participation, and shares a number of models libraries are borrowing from service businesses. Begin the morning by working with Gartner’s Magic Quadrants to identify where your library leads and then map out how to use the customer service approach of successful retailers with staff equipped with headsets, mobile devices, and internal instant messaging. In the afternoon, explore how the service portfolio management model can help your library identify the services to grow, maintain, or divest, and investigate form and function in organizational structure as well as staff development models that incorporate learning as a part of daily operations.

This intro to “massively open online courses” (MOOCs) is led by an expert who has designed, developed, and run extremely popular MOOC for the profession. Hear what worked and how to evaluate MOOCs. Get tips and techniques for designing and developing a MOOC as well as what type of partners will help to support and market your MOOC. Definitely the A–Z of MOOCs, this workshop helps you find the magic for your MOOC!

Library collections today have become more complex than ever, with proportions of electronic and digital resources increasing relative to print and other physical materials. To manage these complex, multiformat collections, libraries need to consider many different options, both in the technology tools used and in their operational workflows. Many different types of technical options are available for libraries to manage their collections and operations, including traditional integrated library systems and a new generation of library services platforms, with open source and commercially licensed options and locally installed or cloud-based deployment possibilities. This half-day workshop explores the realm of library resource management technologies, helping attendees understand the relative strengths of each of the many alternatives and which automation scenarios may be most appropriate to pursue for their library. Filled with real-world examples, this workshop presents many possible strategies, technologies, and possibilities for managing library collections.

How can the popular tool from Business Model Generation be used to map library value? What insights or opportunities exist when we tweak one of the building blocks? This workshop helps to understand the interconnected parts of your organization and what can push people to think of different models that might be applied. Join our business thinking librarian and learn how to use business models that work for your community and create value propositions that you can sell to your stakeholders.

This workshop introduces attendees to creating short animated educational videos using PowToon, a free online tool. Tips and tools for planning and story-boarding a video, writing a script, adding audio and making the most of the free software are provided. It includes an overview of best practices for creating educational videos. Bring your laptop and create your own short animated educational video using PowToon. Accessibility and video sharing are also discussed.

In recent years, libraries of all kinds have begun producing economic impact studies. While these studies are often useful in demonstrating impact at the time of publication, data planning and collection over the long term is much more powerful, informing short- and long-term strategies, prioritization, and decision-making. Join Kim Silk and Bill Irwin to learn how you can use data-driven metrics to in- form your strategic plan over the long term, and determine day-to-day decisions in the short term.

Technology has changed the face of libraries, and is continuing to change how we work and how we deliver services to customers. This workshop introduces emerging technology trends, and how those trends are reshaping library services. Examples are provided of how to incorporate these emerging trends into libraries. Attendees learn what trends to look for, the difference between a technology trend and a fad, and get ideas on how their library can respond to emerging technology.

Libraries are about enabling people in our communities to learn, unlearn, and relearn. This workshop has a focus on the library as a strategic learning institution that makes the community smarter. Learn more about 23 mobile things and how you can build your own mobile learning experience for staff and customers or members. Take part in a discussion about how we frame the library as an important way to make the community smarter, and find out more about current trends in learning that affect our libraries and the way we enact with people who want to learn.

When we bring up the term “content” in a library context, we most likely think of it in terms of informing our users about how to find articles, books, maps, music, get a library card, or where and when events are going to be held and what they’ll cover. But the world of content has changed. Ten years ago, Facebook was just being coded. Five years ago, there was no Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, or Pinterest. What exactly is content marketing? It’s content that’s strategically designed and deployed, using appropriate platforms, to tell a story, to entertain, to inform, and to engage. In this workshop users learn the following:

• How to create and deploy a strategic content plan for your community
• How to create and curate engaging content
• How to evaluate the effectiveness of your content and your content plan
• Ways to discover how your content is perceived by your audiences

With the growing ocean of data, from Big Data to Small Data, to analytics, usage statistics, and search logs, we are awash in the data tide. Learn tactics, techniques, and tools for adding meaning to data for your library patrons, community leaders, students, faculty, researchers, and administrators. Visualization tools explored range from stand-alone apps to spreadsheet plug-ins to data websites. Explore tools and techniques for visualizing a variety of data using infographics, word clouds, simple pie charts, maps, Gantt charts, timelines, and many other charts and diagrams.

In order to demonstrate value and relevance, libraries and information agencies must have good data to back up their story. The key to gathering good data is understanding what research methods are most effective for speaking to different audiences; one size does not fit all! In this workshop, review the most commonly used methods for doing research in assessment and evaluation projects and look at inexpensive tools you can use for crunching your data. Leave with practical ideas and tools for your own assessment and evaluation efforts.

Do you work in a team? Are your team members in different locations? Online project management tools can be a lifesaver, but some can be complicated to use and/or expensive to license. This workshop discusses project management techniques for the remote team and demonstrates two free online project management tools—Asana and Trello. These two freely available project management tools can be used online or on a mobile device by an individual or a team to revolutionize the team working environment. TBLC staff members use a hybrid telecommuting environment to work together and collaborate on projects—working distant and in-office. Online project management tools keep the team on the same page and foster collaboration and communication. Join TBLC’s representatives to learn more and be ready to implement with your team.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, ello... Social media platforms are becoming “the Internet” of 2015, and info pros are finding that social networks are gold mines of useful intelligence. In fact, for many info pros, to not include social media in their search portfolio amounts to information malpractice. Our long-time social media denizen and searcher Bates gives you the skills you need to effectively mine social media—both text and images—while protecting your confidentiality. Even if you never intend to tweet, like, or tag, this workshop offers tools and techniques to gather insight through social networks.

Join our gamers and gadget lovers for an evening of fun, playing, learning, and networking. See how you can transform your thinking, your programs, and your spaces with the latest games, gadgets, and ideas! Share with a poster about what your library is doing with creative making and makerspaces in your library. Led by Brian Pichman this event will start your conference experience with lots of learning and laughing! Refreshments included.