Monday, March 27, 2017

Now that our smartphones can not only search the web for us but also predict the fastest route to work, how do info pros set themselves apart from anyone with access to Google? This full-day workshop looks at what is innovative, creative, and unexpected in advanced web search, research, and analysis. Searchers Academy allows you to interact with a series of industry experts who share their ideas and expertise in the field of research on the web and in social media. 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 for more effective and strategic searching. Expect to have your assumptions challenged about effective search techniques, strategies, and approaches.

Academy topics include:

Getting More From Web Search: Learn about today's search engine features and techniques that enable you to out-Google anyone ... even your clients! 

Digging Deeper: Find out how and where to look for rich the content within the deep web and open access content

Savvier Search Strategies: Forget the tricks from a year ago and learn new search approaches that work today

Upping the Value: What you can do with your search results to make your deliverables decision-ready

Change is hard-how can we do it better? Learn from a longtime practitioner in the museum and tech industries who shares models, strategies, and recommendations for creating dynamic organizations that can deal with, and master, change. Be inspired and take home solid ideas for moving your organization forward and engaging its community. 

Private, family, corporate, and place-based foundations are a key part of today's library funding ecosystem. Foundation funding is an opportunity for libraries to diversify their income and to fund unique, innovative programs. However, as foundation fundraising isn't something typically taught in library school, many library professionals often wonder, "How canweget a grant?" This workshop introduces the tools critical to successfully identifying grant opportunities (including a first look at the Visualizing Funding for Libraries portal), explores what it means to find the "right fit" in grant-seeking, and begins building a library's unique case for support to present to funders. It an opportunity for participants to learn essential guiding principles and take away practical strategies for approaching grant-makers and successfully applying for grants. Whether your organization operates from a single branch or is large enough to have its own fundraising division, this workshop is for you.

Libraries, like all public sector, academic, and not-for-profit organizations, need three types of measures: operational statistics, satisfaction indicators, and outcome measures. These performance measures are as much about operational effectiveness within the library as they are about demonstrating value to external shareholders. This hands-on, practical workshop allows you to develop meaningful outcomes to evaluate your library's programs and initiatives and  to align these with operational statistics to manage improvements, processes, staffing, customer engagement, and communication to board, city, or campus influencers. 

Library marketers crave media attention and coverage, but most don't know how to get it. The first step is having a Press Room as part of your library's website. This workshop, led by a member of the media who's also a library marketing expert, shows you how to build a Press Room that works. It includes how your library benefits from having an online Press Room, even if you don't have a marketing department; where it belongs in your website hierarchy; what content members of the press expect to find there; SEO basics and PR tactics to lead reporters to your online Press Room; why building relationships with the media is vital; how press coverage affects your library's usage, funding, brand recognition, and position in the community. Help ensure positive coverage by adding this strategic tool to your website. 

Author of the "International Library Technology Perceptions Survey," workshop leader Breeding gives an update on the current state of the library technology industry and what we need to watch for in the future to factor into our technology decisions today. He includes an overview of the current state of the library technology industry and highlights recent developments, providing an early look at the findings of the 2017 Library Systems Report. Get a jump on planning the technology your library will need in the future by getting a thorough grounding by an industry expert! 

Since identifying making as a core part of its mission more than 5 years ago, FFL is happy to share its experiences and strategies. If you are in the process of starting a maker's club, applying for a making grant, developing a makerspace, building a STEM learning or entrepreneurship program, or exploring possibilities around making at your library, this workshop is a must-attend for you! Full of practical tips and tricks, this workshop provides you with a road map for building a makerspace for your community. 

In this half-day workshop, a former advertising executive and trainer of strategic storytelling in marketing shares secrets on how to create video that has an impact on your community. Join her to shoot, edit, and polish a video while gathering tips, techniques, and strategies to create your own video-a medium which grabs communities in exciting new ways!

The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming widespread in academia as well as industry. It refers to connecting smart objects with built-in unique identifiers and sensors to communicate with each other autonomously. This enables actionable insights and ultimately makes the environment around us smarter. This workshop looks at how libraries can incorporate the IoT and reviews different aspects of developing an IoT infrastructure and creating your own application. It is based on four layers of IoT application architecture: the physical layer, the communications layer, application and services layer, and data analytics. Our speakers discusses the potentials and challenges of IoT applications, including the footprint of IoT applications, i.e., a high volume of sensory data, the tools and methods for data analytics. As a case study, the focus is on location-aware applications using iBeacons and smartphone sensors to show how all the IoT elements work together. Gain a better understanding of the usefulness of IoT in libraries, learn the main elements and underlying technologies of IoT applications, and understand the difference between a wide range of IoT devices, protocols and technologies to choose the right ones for your IoT application. Get budget and resource estimates and more. Come with a basic understanding of JavaScript/ HTML5/ CSS and your laptop for hands-on development practice. An instruction document will be provided for the attendees to prepare their system before the workshop. 

Imagine leading one of the largest public libraries in world, with 18 million visitors yearly, more than 2,000 staff, and 100-plus years of history. You serve an immensely diverse population- from famous novelists doing research to new immigrant populations and school-aged children in the poorest neighborhoods in the U.S. How do you do innovation successfully? NYPL and others were able to accomplish significant results and, no matter how large or small, your institution you can too. This workshop shows you how-through alignment of a strategy with structured conversations with staff, a process that embraces an agile mentality, and a socially networked mindset-to achieve deep, scalable, innovation. Special attention is given to how to draw in staff and the community to actively and passionately participate, providing the necessary support for success, and the real service results that can be achieved. 

Academic fundraisers know little about the libraries. And libraries do not always do a great job of communicating how relevant they are to the community of users and potential donors. Get strategies, tips, and techniques to increase giving to the academic library. Get insights and ideas on how the library can be positioned through the traditional mechanisms that development officers know well. Find out how to make sure your library gets funds from academic fundraising! 

Measurement and evaluation are key activities required to design effective programs and services and to demonstrate library value to stakeholders. This workshop teaches you how to design a research program for your library-or any information environment-to provide insight on library activities and to prepare for the future. Specific topics include the importance of measuring and the danger of doing nothing; understanding ways of doing research and creating a plan; putting the Logic Model to work; deciding what to measure; looking beyond economic impact to approaches that measure cultural, social, and educational impacts; presenting your findings; and more. Get strategies and plans for initiating the research of impact in your library. Geared to the non-academic library researcher!

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 shows how those trends are reshaping library services. Examples are provided of how to incorporate these evolving trends into libraries. Attendees learn what trends to look for, find out the difference between a technology trend and a fad, and get ideas on how their library can respond to technology as it emerges.

While patrons have embraced using online technology to access their public library, most of these interactions are limited to borrowing transactions. If libraries are to be truly relevant in the digital world, we need to nudge patrons out of the well-worn pattern of log-in/transact /log-out and find ways to get them to linger long enough to discover the richness the library has to offer beyond borrowing items, while offering them opportunities to add their own voice to the library's online community. This workshop explores design patterns and techniques for introducing content to patrons at appropriate moments in their learned workflows. It considers how to encourage patrons to add their voice to the library community and overcome concerns about privacy and security. It shares research and experience from BiblioCommons and Hennepin County Public Library's efforts and looks at analogs from other domains. Workshop participants will be asked to participate actively in a hands-on session to solve a specific design challenge in teams.

We all know we should use good passwords, keep everything updated, and follow other basic precautions online. Understanding the reasons behind these rules is critical to help us convince ourselves and others that the extra work is indeed worth it. Who are the bad guys? What tools are they using? What are they after? Where are they working? How are they doing it? Why are we all targets? Experienced workshop leaders discuss how to stay safe at the library and at home. They discuss ways to keep precious data safe inside the library and out-securing your network, website, and PCs-and tools you can teach to patrons in computer classes. They tackle security myths, passwords, tracking, malware, and more. They share a range of tools and techniques, making this session ideal for any library staff. Become more security savvy so you can be the expert in your community! 

Interested in applying Google's Material Design to your next web project? This hands-on workshop offers an introduction to Materialize CSS, a modern responsive front-end framework based on Material Design. Learn to control layout using a responsive grid system, add components to display content and navigation, and incorporate select custom jQuery plug-ins. Participants should come with a basic understanding of HTML/CSS, a laptop, and an opinion (or two). Topics include comparing Materialize to other frameworks, downloading the framework and incorporating it into an HTML document, designing pages utilizing Material Design's layout tools, adding basic page elements using CSS and customizing the CSS, creating navigational elements, and enhancing interaction through JavaScript plug-ins.

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 & Tod Colegrove this event will start your conference experience with lots of learning and laughing! Take the opportunity to chat with library winners of the 2016 Knight News Challenge. Refreshments included.