Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Hear about three different innovative approaches to engaging communities. Our first speakers talk about libraries as places for incubation of new technology. In the Stacks (book recommendations from a Librarian Brain) has been in residence at the Mechanics’ Library, a most inspiring workspace in downtown San Francisco. Hear about its startup demo day, exhibition of women in tech and the products invented, and other programs. NYPL library staff talk about how coding is where it’s at and how they created a successful coding program to help their communities, how NYPL TechConnect built and launched a free coding training program from scratch and now has a waitlist of over 5K, how to hire and train staff, create partnerships, technology needs, best practices, and more. Opened in the CSU Library’s Learning Commons, the CMS provides students from all majors access to the tools they need to create multimedia projects. It includes a recording studio, advanced iMac computers, and media production equipment checkout and has become a significant part of the library’s innovation strategies. Hear about new services, staff and student assistants, roadblocks, funding strategies, and more.