Tweet using the following hashtag about this year's member conference: #strikingabalance
Keynote Speaker: Michael StephensDay/Time: Wednesday, May 14, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Session Title: Finding Balance: Reflective Practice & the Profession
Session Description: Maintaining balance in everything we do is difficult. It is a fragile thing. It’s something we have to work at all the time: balancing our own practice, technology and the human touch, services and outreach. How do we find balance?
We must always keep working to be there, to be present, to be at the edge of what’s happening, and to be very visible while focusing on people, not technology, not the collection. Those are merely tools.
Speaker Bio: Jose State University. He was the 2009 CAVAL Visiting Scholar in Australia, consulted and presented for US Embassies in Germany, Switzerland, and Turkey, and presents to both national and international audiences about emerging technologies, learning, innovation, and libraries. Since 2010, Dr. Stephens has written the monthly column "Office Hours" for Library Journal exploring the issues, ideas, and emerging trends in library and information science education. To review Dr. Stephen’s archive of work, visit his Tame the Web website and blog http://tametheweb.com.
Speaker: Jacqueline ReedDay/Time: Wednesday, May 14, 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Session Title: How Self-Service Can Balance Service
Session Description: This session will explore how implementing self-checkout stations in your library can allow you to allocate resources towards creating new service opportunities. Learn how one branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library system using a Customer Centered Transaction Model is balancing service in-house with providing service throughout the community.
Speaker Bio: Jacqueline Reed has been the Manager of the Blue Springs South branch of Mid-Continent Public Library since 2005. She is a member of the MALA Continuing Education Committee and is a two-time MALA Trainer of the Year. She is active in community partnerships and is constantly striving to raise the visibility of the library on everyone's radar.
Speaker: Tom PetersDay/Time: Wednesday, May 14, 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Session Title: The Library, The Museum, and the Theme Park: The Balanced Information Experience of the Near Future
Session Description: This session will address how to balance the traditional library functions (collections, services, etc.) with a more inclusive concept of the complete, balanced information experience. The speaker suggests that librarians can learn from and work with museums, other cultural institutions, and even theme parks about complete, immersive, worthwhile experiences.
Speaker Bio: Tom Peters is the Dean of Library Services at Missouri State University. He's been a librarian for 27 years, including 8 years as a rogue librarian.
Speakers: Nancy Hill, Lisa Borden, Richard Dugan, Sol Maria Lopez, and Virginia RassaeiDay/Time: Wednesday, May 14, 11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Session Title: Holistic Librarians: Balancing Technical Services Work and Teaching
Session Description: At the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Library, technical services librarians and technology support staff are encouraged to participate in information literacy instruction, work a few hours a week at the reference desk, or even teach whole sections of UTEP’s freshman seminar. This presentation will address the philosophy behind these crossover roles and how we developed this model. We’ll talk about how we balance our time and training to include teaching duties in our technical services schedules. Finally, we’ll review the benefits to students and staff when technical services staff participate in teaching.
Speaker Bios: Mrs. Hill & Mr. Dugan teach their own sections of UTEP's freshman seminar. Ms. Borden, Ms. Lopez, & Ms. Rassaei participate in information literacy instruction, and the latter two work some hours at the Reference Desk each week.
Speakers: Bobbie Williams and Howard MarksDay/Time: Wednesday, May 14, 12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Session Title: TLC: Technology Literacy Course for Library Support Staff
Session Description: Bobbie and Howard propose to balance the opportunity for continuing education to library support staff in often under served rural libraries with their short course titled: TLC: Technology literacy course, a little TLC goes a long way.
Speaker Bios: NTSU. After holding library jobs in rural and urban locations in Texas, Bobbie's present position is Instruction Librarian at UT Permian Basin where she works with many rural and first time college students in a variety of settings.
From Los Angeles, CA Howard was formerly in advertising prior to attending UNT to gain his MLS. After working in the Ft. Worth Public library Howard moved to Snyder, TX to serve as Director of Western Texas College Library.
Each of them have a vested interest in library services to rural libraries and in expanded training opportunities to library support staff.
Speaker: Lanette GarzaDay/Time: Wednesday, May 14, 12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Session Title: Establishing an E-Content Statistics Schedule: Get it Together and Manage the Chaos of Usage Stats
Session Description: For years, the Coates Library at Trinity University has collected detailed usage statistics, but this valuable data was not reviewed on a consistent basis and most librarians did not know where to look for the data. In my first few months as the new E-Content Analysis and Assessment Librarian, I became overwhelmed by the amount of data I was pulling and distraught over how to organize the many reports I was to provide to the librarians and administrators. It quickly became apparent to me that I would need to get it together and timeline the reports. Not only would this help me organize all the work I was doing, but more importantly help the library to anticipate when data would need to be reviewed and why. Establishing an E-Content Statistics Schedule for the year, allowed me to prioritize my responsibilities so that I could balance gathering statistics with all of my other E-Content duties!
The objective of this discussion is to share our methods for organizing usage data as well as help others to start thinking about creating a timeline for all of the data reports that are often required and useful. I will be sharing the schedule with them as well as providing attendees with any usage data templates, on the schedule, that they may want to see.
Audience members will be asked to consider some of the following questions: what data needs to be reviewed consistently, how often does the data need to be reviewed, who will collect the data, who will review the data, and what is the purpose of the data. Having an E-Content Statistics schedule for the year can help provide more powerful and meaningful reports that will enable a more strategic approach to future library planning and purchasing.
Speaker Bio: Native Texan, Lanette Garza, joined the Coates Library at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX in March 2013 as the E-Content Analysis & Assessment Librarian. She previously served as the Director of Institutional Research at Palo Alto College as well as the Editorial Assistant to the American Journal of Chinese Studies. She earned her B.A. in Government and Politics from Widener University in Pennsylvania and holds both an M.A. in Political Science from UTSA and a Master of Library Science degree from Texas Woman’s University. Lanette loves working in Excel, creating dashboards, and her job!
Speakers: George Needham, Vice President, Global and Regional Councils, OCLC and Jennifer PearsonDay/Time: Wednesday, May 14, 12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Session Title: Creating Community Connection
Speaker Bios: (George Needham) - George was appointed Vice President of Member Services in 1999 and was named to his current position in 2009. During his tenure at OCLC, he has been deeply involved with transforming the cooperative into a global membership organization with a new governance structure—a more inclusive, representative model designed to extend participation to more libraries and cultural heritage institutions around the world.
(Jennifer Pearson) - Jennifer is the Senior Manager of Advocacy Programs for OCLC. She works with other OCLC staff and members to advance OCLC's advocacy work.
Jennifer came to OCLC from Ingram Library Services where she served as Manager of Cataloging Services for five years. Jennifer has worked in almost every aspect of the library industry—including time as a publicist for a small publishing house, an elementary school librarian, student worker at a University law library, ILL staff member at a University library, and bookseller/barista at one of the finest independent book stores in America (Square Books, Oxford, MS).
Speaker: Robert HallisDay/Time: Thursday, May 15, 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Session Title: Not Enough Time? Flip Your Instruction!
Session Description: Library Instruction frequently devolves into quick-talking sales pitches as we rush to cover everything a student needs to know to effectively complete an assignment using library resources. While students need a familiarity with a wide range of library services and materials, it is unrealistic to try to cover everything, and library experience varies greatly within a single class. Pairing face to face instruction with online material can turn these encounters into a manageable encounter: focusing on the assignment in a workshop environment, and providing links to additional material. This session uses two examples of flipped instruction to illustrate these principles.
Speaker Bio: Rob Hallis, Ph.D. is an instructional librarian at the University of Central Missouri. Most recently, he presented at state and regional conferences on flipping library instruction, integrating library instruction in Blackboard, and immersing students in hands-on activities during library instruction. He has been actively involved in incorporating technology to enhance the educational environment for 25 years, introducing a multimedia authoring station in 1996 at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, administering the Harmon Computer Commons at the University of Central Missouri, and most recently embedding instructional material in Blackboard at University of Central Missouri.
Speaker: Jon GoodellDay/Time: Thursday, May 15, 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Session Title: Careers, Kids, and Aging Parents: Stories and Strategies for Balancing Work and Life
Session Description: Whether establishing a career, raising young children, assisting aging parents, or working through poor health, all of us face challenges throughout our careers. Based on real-life examples, this session will provide tips and advice on how to thrive when facing challenges from work and personal life.
Speaker Bio: Jon Goodell is the Reference and Outreach Librarian at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Website Committee Chair of the Arkansas Library Association, and the 2013/2014 recipient of the NN/LM SCR and SCAMeL Emerging Leaders Award. Jon is involved with a number of outreach and collaborative projects with community based organizations and partners throughout Arkansas.
Speaker: Christine Peterson, Continuing Education Librarian (Technology), Amigos Library ServicesDay/Time: Thursday, May 15, 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Session Title: Playing Catch-Up with Technology
Session Description: Technology is constantly changing – so much so that it is difficult to keep up.
What did you miss during the past year? Find out – we’ll discuss what’s new, what’s different . . . and what’s surprising!
Speaker Bio: Christine provides training, support and consulting services for Amigos member libraries in the areas of Internet and technology. Prior to joining Amigos, Christine worked for eight years as the automation consultant and then manager for the Continuing Education and Consulting Department of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Before that, she was the systems librarian for both San Antonio College and the Florida Institute of Technology. She holds Bachelor of Science in Music and Master of Library Science from Indiana University, Bloomington.
Christine teaches and consults in the areas of ebooks and ereaders, teaching in online environments, CONTENTdm (OCLC's digital asset management system), technology planning, social media, open source software, RFID, HTML, website design, website accessibility, cascading style sheets, mobile website creation and design, and XML. She tries very hard to keep up with changes in the technological landscape and annually presents the interesting and engaging session "Playing Catch-up with Technology," which covers what we missed in the past year.
Speaker: Christina PryorDay/Time: Thursday, May 15, 11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Session Title: Balancing and Expanding Services: Embracing Change in Reference Services
Session Description: Christina will discuss new services and procedures that have been implemented at the St. Louis County Library's (SLCL) Reference Department in the past few years and how these changes impacted library staff. The methods used to provide training and gain staff support will be covered for specific initiatives including online eCourses, SLCL's Mind Your Business Lecture Series, and roving reference. Chris will also discuss challenges and lessons learned.
Speaker Bio: Christina is the Reference Manager for the St. Louis County Library District in St. Louis, Missouri. She has experience in public and corporate libraries. Chris has a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Missouri Columbia and a Bachelors degree in Journalism with a specialization in Advertising and Marketing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Speaker: Gretchen McCordDay/Time: Thursday, May 15, 11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Session Title: Copyright is the Gate; Balance is the Key
Session Description: Copyright law is like a gate between creators and users of protected works. If the gate is closed too tightly, there will be very little interaction between the two; copyrighted works may be strongly protected by the tight gate, but they will also be minimally used for the same reason. If the gate is open too wide, the result is a commons, with the accompanying tragedy. It is only when we find just the right spot, balancing the needs of creators and users, that copyright can function to achieve its purpose: Encouraging creation and innovation.
For users, such as libraries, fair use is the essential tool for maintaining that balance. In the digital realm, however, a powerful movement among copyright owners has declared war on fair use. Find out what’s happening, where libraries stand right now, and what the library community must do to ensure our continuing ability to provide access to information to the American public – to maintain the balance.
Speaker Bio: Gretchen McCord is an attorney licensed by the State of Texas, specializing in privacy and copyright. Gretchen provides a wide range of training in the areas of privacy law, copyright law, and legal issues associated with social media. Her training focuses on assisting libraries, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations as they transition into the digital world.
After practicing in law firms for almost nine years, Gretchen opened her own practice in 2010, providing training services as well as legal consultation. Prior to establishing her own practice, Gretchen spent six years at the international law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. and over two years at the prestigious intellectual property boutique of Wong, Cabello, Lutsch, Rutherford, & Bruculerri, LLC.
Speaker: Tamara RemhofDay/Time: Thursday, May 15, 11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Session Title: Are You a Champion or a Dragon? Weeding Collections to Balance What Students Need With What the Faculty Wants
Session Description: Academic Libraries today need to be aware of the different wants and needs of their customers, the students and faculty that are on and off campus. Each customer group has different requirements. Students, who may be living with other people, need a meeting place and a space for quiet study. The faculty want books and journals for their research. Students need easy access to information and faculty want all the information they need to be in the library. This sets up a competition for scarce resources in today’s economy and libraries need to be able to strike a balance between the two customer groups. This session discusses how to weed collections so more space can be created for the students, how to keep the faculty happy by ensuring they have what they want to support their research, and how to provide for both with a limited budget.
Speaker Bio: Tamara Remhof started her career in academic libraries as an Instruction/Reference Librarian, then became a Collection Development Librarian, then a Head Librarian and is now the Head of Technical Services at Texas A&M University – Commerce.
Speaker: Steven J. BellDay/Time: Thursday, May 15, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Session Title: Collections Are for Collisions: Let's Design It Into the Library Experience."
Session Description: We talk about collections all the time. How to build and share them. How to provide access. How to enlist the community in selecting. How to prove the value of collections. How to use collection statistics. We even talk about collections that are hidden and how to get rid of the ones we no longer need. What we infrequently discuss is how to get community members connected with the collections. A hot topic of conversation, particularly in the design of work environments, is how to create collisions that lead to good outcomes.
In this plenary session Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian at Temple University, will share insights into why we need to start talking about designing our libraries, both physical and virtual, with engineered serendipity in mind. As the print-to-digital shift accelerates librarians will need to balance futuristic information access with the preservation of traditional browsing. If the whole point of collections is to facilitate interactions with discovery, research and learning, then we have to come up with better ways to design it into the library experience.
Speaker Bio: Steven J. Bell is the Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at Temple University. He is serving as the past-president of ACRL for 2013-14. He writes and speaks about academic librarianship, learning technologies, library management, higher education, design thinking and user experience. Steven is a co-founder of the Blended Librarian’s Online Learning Community on the Learning Times Network . He was the founding blogger of ACRLog, ACRL’s official Weblog, and currently writes at Designing Better Libraries, a blog about design thinking and library user experiences. He authors two columns for Library Journal Academic Newswire, "From the Bell Tower" and "Leading From the Library". He is co-author of the book “Academic Librarianship by Design”. For additional information about Steven J. Bell or links to his projects, point your browser to http://stevenbell.info .