Wednesday, October 25, 2017

At the cross-section of innovation, open data, and education, our speaker shares her thoughts of the challenges and opportunities for communities in the coming years. She discusses empowering members of our communities and improving services using new tech like AI, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, internet of things, predictive analytics, gamification, and more. Join our knowledgeable speaker and gain insights to build your successful community!

Breeding coined the term “library services platforms” to describe the new genre of products for the management of library collections and operations, which differ substantially from the long-standing category of integrated library systems. This session includes an updated view of the characteristics of library services platforms, how they differ from ILS, as well as status of the current products and projects. Those that follow a hybrid model or which partially incorporate the characteristics are also discussed. Breeding shares his insights as to whether library services platforms have lived up to their promises.

Does your catalog vendor fall short on providing patrons with easy online access to your collections? First, learn how the Schaumburg Library used the open source online catalog VuFind to improve its online user experience without an ILS migration or costly discovery-layer subscription. The second case study discusses creating a catalog with open sourced ILS Koha for a 900-plus bed teaching hospital and several institutes and research branches. After tracking the publications of hospital-affiliated authors for years, the library began on Authors Day 2009 to recognize its associates’ contributions to medical literature. After the library migrated to Koha in 2013, they put local author information online using a modified version of Koha. Hear what steps were taken to change Medline records from a citation manager format to MARC, how Koha templates were changed to display additional information, lessons learned, and more. TIND provides a lightweight open source ILS, a web-based solution for managing print, electronic, and digital assets in a single, unified platform. Using an academic case study, it illustrates the focus on digital e-resources and a different approach to the traditional ILS interface design.

The library card catalog has gone through many evolutions, with the current one being the web-based library services platform (LSP). This new system is cloud-based with an advanced set of features from searching to managing electronic/digital collections. The integration of print and e-collections has become a demand from patrons. Although the decision to migrate library data from a current integrated library system to a library services platform can be daunting, it may be necessary to remain relevant to your library patrons. The Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) processes are time-consuming yet necessary steps to help ensure a proper choice that will fit your metadata, patron needs, and budget. DALNET (Detroit Area Library Network) completed a system migration in under a calendar year. Because its consortium runs 16 separate library catalogs, as well as using the same integrated library system (ILS) for 20 years, this process was all-encompassing. The presentation includes timeline structure and includes everything from the RFI stage to adjustments after the go-live date, including lessons learned, tasks that went well and some that could have been improved, the importance of communication, and, most pivotal, helping their membership manage change.

Celebrate the excitement of NASA exploration and discovery through upcoming national events and resources provided through the STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net)! Seventy-five libraries across the nation were selected through a competitive application process to become NASA@ My Library partners. Join STAR_Net and NASA@ My Library partners for tips on leading educational, fun STEM programming for all ages. Take home resources and ideas for hosting science events in your community.

Innovation is about process as much as performance. Transforming a creative idea into a functional reality is not a one-person job; it requires collaboration, coordination, and flexibility across teams and organizations. C4 works together with partners and experts to generate, disseminate, and implement creative solutions to complex social issues: behavioral health and recovery, trauma, substance use prevention, poverty, homelessness, healthcare, and more. Learn how C4 operates at the edge of change to produce dynamic results, identifies opportunities to provide innovative support, and how C4’s team engages with technology tools and platforms (e.g., JIRA, Slack, Asana, and more) with colleagues and partners, and ultimately, with each other to refine processes, improve performance, and expand relationships and reach. Real-life examples; specific, actionable recommendations; and tools and techniques for project and product management are featured.

A modern library is all about making and maintaining connections: connections to library customers, connections to community partners, and even helping some customers connect to the library and the web for the first time. All are important in today’s library. In this presentation, King shares examples of how libraries can use data to better connect with customers; innovative ways to create new community partnerships; and how some libraries and other organizations are using technology tools to help all customers connect to the library and to the world.

Based on work done during the last few years, TPL tackles the evolving nature of librarianship in a changing service environment. Libraries everywhere are responding to users’ changing interests and new ways of sharing information. The Role of the Librarian initiative creates opportunities for librarians to maximize the use of their professional skills. Get the details about new models for service delivery, learn about capacity building through a mandatory professional development (PD) program, and hear the top competencies for 21st-century librarians.

What if a local Google search for “the great gatsby” showed a result from your library at the top? Hear about the process and the outcome for several libraries including how one library took the fight to Google and gained 100,000 new views in the process. Presenters detail the planning, implementation, funding (through Google Ad Grants), and results.

At Nevada State College, the first digital library in the state, the instructional design librarians are moving beyond one-shot instruction sessions and collaborating with faculty to integrate information literacy directly into their research assignments. In 2016, the Library’s two-day workshop led participants through the redesign of their research assignments using the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework. TILT framework has increased student retention and graduation rates, particularly of underserved and first-generation college students. The presenters describe the positive impact the workshop had on faculty perceptions of student research and future collaboration with the library; innovative ways the librarians are collaborating to integrate information literacy more broadly throughout the College; and how participants can use the TILT framework to positively impact student outcomes and reimagine the library’s roles and services.

Investment in staff training brings great returns in connecting customers to library products and items. Learn how an interdepartmental team at Sno-Isle Libraries collaborated to identify the need, select the devices, and put together a training curriculum in device kits to guide staff’s learning. 

Ten years ago it was recommended that the University Library shouldn’t be “outside” the Course Management System (CMS) but “Instead, the CMS serve as a door to the library.” This session focuses on Oklahoma State University Library’s experiences being embedded CMS; the outcomes of reviewing this situation and moving to a cloud-based CMS; and an overview of today’s design, success and changes.

Academic and public libraries face the same challenges of enticing people to learn in an increasingly digital environment with different devices and digital resources. Luster starts the conversation describing how Bloomingdale Public has shifted their patron workshops to meet the needs of multi-platforms. Penn State U speakers report on the process and results of creating a connected library experience for new online learners. Using microcredentialing (digital badges), librarians created an orientation to introduce students to essential library skills that has sparked a new level of engagement for the students.

Social media has proven to be an effective marketing and customer engagement tool to create community and raise awareness. But it is also becoming an increasingly important platform for delivering customer support and library services, and is central to an effective customer experience strategy. This session shares practices and insights on how libraries can: link social to an overall content strategy, integrate social into broader organizational objectives and goals, explore and evaluate new platforms such as Snapchat and Reddit, begin to involve a wider range of staff in social media, and measure results and communicate the value of social media in your organization.

When North Park University made a sudden decision to place the Library, IT, and online learning in the same division under a librarian, many of the employees failed to see the connection to their new colleagues. The division dean clarifies—warts and all—how she helped carve out a new joint identity using an alternative strategic planning method that emphasizes collective aspirations while honoring the departments’ very different cultures. She shares templates that provided her tech-oriented colleagues a way to share their opinions electronically while (gently) nudging them out of their comfort zones. The second case study focuses on the first “bookless” academic library in the state of Nevada which has transitioned from an emphasis on collections to a focused effort on improving outcomes for the College’s largely first-generation, diverse, and underrepresented student population. The library has rebranded itself as a network of services, spaces, and expertise dedicated to leveraging technology and evidence-based practices to create successful outcomes for the College’s students. The library partners with faculty on course redesigns; has reduced traditional collection development activities to focus on enhancing the affordability of course content with open educational resources; and collaborates with faculty to integrate new technology such as 3D printing into the curriculum. The library also has a deep collaboration with the Office of Institutional Research that has led to research findings indicating that students who use the library’s digital collections and services have improved research assignment grades, semester GPA, academic standing, and one-term retention. This transition has led to a sunsetting of traditional library services to make progress in these new areas.

As libraries become increasingly data-driven, the need for usable data that demonstrates outcomes in our strategic planning expands. Learn how and Richland Library and Sno-Isle Libraries are creating and navigating data and project processes to inform decisions and measure organizational and community impact. Attendees will also learn about how our roles in data analysis and project management help service managers to implement and operationalize our strategic plan. Our lessons learned are applicable to libraries of all sizes and geographic distribution. Please join the discussion and help our learning too!

Inspired by Patrick Losinsky of Columbus Metropolitan Library, David Lankes, and an analysis of major societal trends, a wholly new strategy for Copenhagen Libraries was undertaken. A large sum from the city to implement the new strategy, led to major changes in service, physical space and competence development programs. Now, the libraries are working on a digital overhaul and reconceptualisation at a time when the status of e-lending itself is being hotly debated in Europe following a bold ruling by the European Court of Justice. Hear about their decision making process and get insights and ideas from our speaker!

With tight budgets and overloaded schedules, libraries are often challenged to invest the funding or time needed to effectively promote themselves to the communities they serve. However, lack of investment is likely costing far more than it’s saving. Join library advocate, marketer, author, and entrepreneur, Bizzle as he discusses strategies for increasing the return on investment of library services and offers tools for convincing decision makers of the value of library marketing.

Our experienced practitioners from one of the world’s largest public libraries share strategies and practices for enhancing customer experience in libraries, from customer service, easyto- use digital resources, creative innovation and making spaces, and a huge range of programs. Get lots of tips and techniques.

Finding the right staff is one of the biggest challenges for all organizations, including libraries. And long term talent management, succession planning, and skill building are right up there in staffing challenges. This session focuses on sizing up the organization to see if it has the right ecosystem (staff and community) for your goals, researching the right steps for building your skills, evaluating teams to see what skills are missing, coaching and mentoring, and other topics to be considered for building the best staff for your community success.

There is a lot of research being conducted that benefits libraries, but it only reaches a fraction of the people and libraries that would find it useful. This research helps libraries show their value and can be extended and replicated to show specific results for individual libraries. Learn about the latest research that you can use to demonstrate how libraries make a difference in their communities, and how your library can replicate these methodologies to tell your story.

Our panel discusses their thoughts about the ROI magic sauce for the library and information community of the future. What combination of learning, technology, and collaboration will spark innovation and creativity? Have an impact on our various communities? Ensure we are vital to the communities which thrive? From a tech expert, an engagement specialist, and our other panelists – they will make you think!