Sunday, October 25, 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, cre- ativity, 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 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. Get the latest tips and tricks from our super searchers!

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 new 1-day event brings together libraries with a makerspace, idea lab, hackerspace, or fab lab to share ideas and programs as well as many of their suppliers. Hear from public and academic libraries as well as research institutions about their programs and plans for expansion. Hear from Little Bits, Ozobots, and other suppliers about their products and plans for the future. This interactive day is all about sharing and exchanging ideas, building new insights and possible programs, and collaborating on new products and services! Have a blast, join the conversation and participate in a groundbreaking day with experienced practitioners, developers, creators, and passionate makers!

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, multi-format 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.

Discovery systems offer the current best hope of a single search across disparate library sources and seamless delivery of content. As such, they have become a nearly ubiquitous feature of library homepages. The simple search form presented on our pages exist in a complicated environment. Discovery systems must smoothly interact with the library and organizational websites, OPACs, patron accounts, OpenURL resolvers, and learning management systems, and work well on a slew of devices, browsers, and operating systems. The complexity of discovery ecosystems creates significant UX challenges. This workshop examines user experience across all of these systems, considering where libraries may fall short of creating a quality discovery UX. It introduces UX methods and guides participants through applying the techniques to discovery ecosystems. It covers the state of the discovery ecosystem, ecosystem mapping, assessing usability of local discovery ecosystem by applying a variety of usability tests, and more. While this workshop focuses on UX techniques and applying them to the discovery ecosystem, it is complementary with the afternoon workshop, Hacking Discovery for Better UX, which delves into discovery tool back-end systems, implementing changes, and applying hacks to improve discovery UX.

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.

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.

You want to create great online and offline experiences that delight your users, but don't know where to begin? This workshop provides a practical introduction to user experience (UX) design: the process of understanding users' behaviors, needs, and motivations in order to meet their needs with a simplicity and elegance that makes libraries a joy to use. Learn why UX matters, and the various methods used to understand user behaviors, including usability, iA, UI, IxD, visual design, and customer journey mapping. Learn how to apply UX principles and techniques to move from insight to action to create a positive user experience for the people who use your library.

Compelled to change the perception of the library as an antiquated and boring institution, Bizzle and the team at Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library developed an aggressive technology and marketing strategy in order to better serve their community and increase public awareness of the library. Join Bizzle as he shares their award-winning marketing approach and learn how you too can engage your community and increase awareness of your local library.

Discovery systems offer the current best hope of a single search across disparate library sources and seamless delivery of content. They must smoothly interact with the library and organizational websites, OPACs, patron accounts, OpenURL resolvers, and learning management systems and work well on a slew of devices, browsers, and operating systems. This workshop examines user experience across all of these systems, considering where libraries may fall short of creating a quality discovery UX. It delves into tools and hacks to improve discovery UX, highlights real world implementations, dis- cusses partnerships for UX success, looks at how backend system options affect UX, shares options for CSS and hacks in discovery systems, and more. This complements the morning workshop, UX in Discovery, which focuses on UX techniques and applying them to the discovery ecosystem.

Do you want to push the boundaries, drive change, and transform your library? Do you wish for a staff that is eager to learn new skills and change work behaviors? In order to create and maintain this culture of learning, it is essential that your library provide support for staff and cultivate learning experiences. Learn five practical steps to sustain this culture in your library staff and volunteers, brainstorm ways to encourage staff learning and growth, and more. Join this experienced librarian and trainer in an interactive workshop filled with useful tips and techniques for creating a learning culture in your organization.

Our rapidly changing society requires libraries to review the technologies we use as well as reconsider the services we offer our users. This workshop highlights major technology trends in libraries as well as broader changes in society and the business environment that can affect libraries. New methods of information discovery, new collaboration opportunities, new services, and new tools are intro- duced and explained. This workshop is filled with tips and tricks for monitoring these new opportunities as well as anything that turns up in the future.

A strong online community can help strengthen a library's in-person community and contribute to community resilience in times of stress. But how do you develop this? The answer is as varied as there are kinds of libraries. This interactive workshop, filled with experienced social media folks from a variety of academic and public libraries, shares how they develop, run, and troubleshoot their libraries' online communities. Bring your current programs, share, and gather intel for strengthening your social media and community engagement strategies!

Based on a number of information gathering events and discussions, this workshop focuses on the challenges ahead for all types of libraries. It provides a forum for discussion and looks at possible strategies that libraries are using to meet the challenges. The workshop leader is one of the foremost gatherers of library research in the world and shares that knowledge with workshop attendees.

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, making, 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, Joshua Zimmerman,andTodd Colegrove,this event will start your conference experience with lots of learning and laughing! Refreshments included.