Monday, April 16, 2018

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 digitally transforming 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 the following:

• 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 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. 
• Increase Value: What can you do with your search results to make your deliverables decision-ready? 
• Digital Transformation: How to use artificial intelligence and chatbots to transform search and research and streamline your processes.

Life online presents many risks: to privacy, safety, relationships, reputations, and resources. These risks apply both to us personally as well as our organizations and customers. In this workshop, we explore the most important aspects of cybersecurity that your information organization should have in place. Using the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Cybersecurity Framework as our reference point, you learn what tools, procedures, standards, and processes you should implement to protect the data of your organization, staff, and customers. At the end of the workshop, you will have a toolkit of resources and information that you can apply immediately to make your organization and people more secure online. Become more cybersecurity savvy so you can be the expert in your community!

Libraries require appropriate technology in order to best fulfill their strategic missions. They invest in many types of tools for managing their collections, enabling discovery for patrons, and to fulfill access in the most efficient way. As the proportions of electronic and digital content continue to increase, libraries need to align their technology infrastructure. In this half day workshop, Breeding outlines some of the types of technology products and services available to help libraries face these challenges. The workshop focuses on the issues raised by the attendees to help guide their development of technology strategies that best serve their organizations.

How do we design for changing technologies and flexible smart spaces? How do we incorporate new gadgets, apps, and technologies to engage our communities? Get some insights and ideas for planning for the future for successful user library experiences.

To create a lasting impression with target audiences, making smart decisions when it comes to marketing and branding is the key. Commonly, when an organization is not getting the marketing results it wants, research has proven that the problem lies within the “intuitive visual design.” Visual identity design creates the “look and feel” of the marketing and branding campaign. By strengthening the overall marketing and branding strategy, your organization will have a firm foundation to ensure consistency in all branded communication. Ultimate success is much more than the logo, statistics, and benefit analysis; it also involves forming an emotional connection that is both informative and persuasive. Branding consultant and visual artist Payne introduces participants to the world of visual identity design and how to develop a sustainable model for their institutions. In this hands-on workshop, participants learn the following: What is visual identity design and why it should be a crucial part of your marketing strategy; elements that have to be present in excellent design; what the most common visual branding flaws are and how to make practical and quick adjustments; and core elements that are used to create emotional connections with the target audience to increase loyalty, advocates, and support systems for your organization clients.

Librarians are increasingly finding reasons to create taxonomies or related knowledge organization systems. They may need to classify a special collection or local archives, develop a thesaurus to index a local or institutional periodical, create a controlled vocabulary for tagging pages or posts in a web content management system, or merely categorize a large collection of resource links. This workshop, taught by the author of The Accidental Taxonomist, provides instruction and best practices tips on designing and maintaining taxonomies for practical use. Design considerations include whether to create a taxonomy or thesaurus, whether a taxonomy should be primarily hierarchical or faceted; how large it should be; whether synonyms/variants are needed and if so, how many; what the sources are for the terms; and what the guidelines are for properly creating hierarchical relationships. The outline of the workshop is as follows: introduction, definitions, types, uses, benefits; creation and wording of terms; sources for terms; synonyms, alternative labels, nonpreferred terms; term relationships; structural design: hierarchies and facets; maintenance and governance; and taxonomy management software.

This half-day workshop, presented by early adopters and library practitioners, shares what it takes to start a community program based around augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). During the workshop, participants gain an appreciation of the history of this bleeding-edge technology and learn how all the basic hardware/software components work to create engaging experiences in your library and far beyond it. An HTC Vive, Microsoft HoloLens, Google Cardboard, a DIY hologram viewer, and other technologies are present, so participants have an opportunity to play with all the latest and greatest AR/VR technologies as well as to identify opportunities to use these technologies in their communities.

Do you want to get a better handle on taming the technological beast in your library? This lightning-paced interactive session offers a brief preview of the new bookManaging Library Technology: A LITA Guideand offers you a chance to kick-start a technology plan for your library. The book is based on Carson Block’s ALA-APA CPLA class, Management of Technology, and features ideas and practices that have been field-tested for years, offering a solid approach to understanding and managing the things that remain constant in an ever-changing world. While a true technology plan takes more than 90 minutes to create, this session helps you get off the dime. Attendees are given a worksheet to guide table conversations in key areas of technology planning, as well as opportunities to share their ideas with each other.

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.

Amp up your relevance to stakeholders by providing them with actionable insights using scholarly metrics such as citation metrics and altmetrics. Scholarly metrics are an effective tool to demonstrate the effect of your organization’s scholarly research and related activities. Learn how your understanding and ability to apply altmetrics in your organization serves to clarify the reach, influence, and impact of your organization’s research output. This workshop is of value to librarians and information managers who work with researchers in institutions of all types, whether academic, cultural, government, or corporate. After a brief refresher on traditional citation metrics (bibliometrics), this hands-on workshop delves into the components of indicators from several popular altmetrics purveyors: PlumX, ImpactStory, and Altmetric.com. Learn the answers to these questions: Where are altmetric indicators starting to appear and what do they tell us? What are the strengths and limitations of various altmetric indicators versus traditional citation metrics and reputation-based indicators? Once the fundamentals are covered, real-life examples demonstrate the application of altmetric indicators to the advantage of various types of enterprises, including academic and nonprofit.

The concept of project management is becoming more widely adopted in libraries and recognized as one of the major skills necessary for the 21st century. Is it working for you, your ideas, your initiatives, your projects? Set yourself up for success by utilizing accessible techniques for initiating a project and bringing it to closure. Attendees share a basic vocabulary, an understanding of project management processes, and how to identify roles in the organization essential for project success. With many libraries beyond the basics, the presenter adjusts workshop content as needed to support the challenges faced by the accidental and intentional project managers in attendance. Pick up lots of tips and tools for, and “plan” to have fun!

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 standalone 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.

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. Led by Brian Pichman & Tod Colegrove this event will start your conference experience with lots of learning and laughing! Refreshments included.