CARL 2012 Virtual Conference
CARL Virtual Conference brings you interesting and useful sessions - perfect for those who can't make it to the CARL Conference 2012 in San Diego as well as those who did and are ready for more - right from your own computer. CARL is offering 3 virtual-only web sessions and 9 streaming events, with chat window, from the conference on Thursday, April 5, Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7. Virtual participants will be able to interact with other attendees and presenters through our conference web portal. The virtual conference includes the keynote speaker and both invited papers. The only technology required is an internet connection and the ability to run Java and Flash applications on your computer. All sessions will be recorded and available for viewing after the conference. The conference will be 8:00am-5:00pm on Thursday, 8:30am-5:30pm on Friday, and 8:30am-3:45pm on Saturday. Interact with speakers and other attendees during each of the 12 sessions on a variety of exciting topics. Enter the Virtual Conference Portal!
Virtual Conference Abstracts
Plenary title and abstract: Saying Yes: Building innovative libraries by killing fear and getting the job done - Live-Streamed Presentation (Friday, April 6, 7:45-10:00am PST)
Jenica P. Rogers
Libraries, like farmers, have never had a good year. Our budgets wither and die, our goals shift with the seasons, and our entire foundation feels like it's shifting as technology continues to change our economic and information landscape. And if you listen to the professional discourse, it sounds like we're scared of what that all means. I will suggest that our fear doesn't actually matter, and propose that what we need is leadership that lets go of the idea of doing it all, doing it right, doing it carefully - whatever limiter you've placed on how to do your work "correctly". Instead of limiting ourselves, we need to simply focus on doing the job, like the adaptable, innovative, confident professionals we all strive to be. To that end, I'll share some strategies and approaches to management and leadership that can bring us closer to getting the job done in a way we can be proud of.
Invited Paper Title: Strategic innovation: More than a myth? - Live-Streamed Presentation (Friday, April 6, 3:15-4:00)
Elisabeth Leonard
Libraries mention innovation in strategic plans and in mission statements. There are numerous innovation awards. But what exactly does innovation mean and what value does it provide? Is there more to innovation in academic libraries than is represented by award winners? This paper seeks to provide context for the buzz and purpose to the hype surrounding innovation.
Invited Paper Title: Understanding the Learner Experience: Threshold Concepts and Curriculum Mapping - Live-Streamed Presentation (Saturday, April 7 10:00-11:30am)
Char Booth and Brian Mathews
In order to improve library instruction, we need to develop a richer understanding of the holistic learning and teaching experience of our institutions. Threshold concepts are core ideas in a particular area or discipline that, once understood, transform perceptions of that subject. Curriculum mapping is a method of visualizing insight into the courses, requirements, and progressions a learner negotiates as they pass through a particular department or degree. When understood and applied in tandem, these strategies provide a powerful means of developing actionable insight into the learner and faculty perspective, and highlight pivotal points at which to provide library instruction, resources, and research support. This presentation will explore theoretical and applied applications of of threshold concepts and curriculum mapping, as well as feature an interactive portion devoted to collaborative mapping of threshold concepts key to teaching and learning in libraries.Using the Gifts the University and the Internet Gave Me to Teach Critical Thinking and Relevant Workplace Skills in Information Literacy Courses - Virtual Presentation (Thursday, April 5, 10:30-11:45am PST)
Carolyn Schubert, Health Sciences and Nursing Librarian, James Madison University
Information literacy, digital literacy, and transliteracy have all grown in importance with the rapid increase of technology in the academic and personal world. The ACRL information literacy standards have traditionally served as a backbone for many information competency and literacy courses in undergraduate education. Despite widespread adoption, these standards fail to address the evolving need for libraries to teach students lifelong applications of these literacies for their professional and personal development. This presentation highlights my unique opportunity to teach information literacy courses at a community college and a California State University, as well as documenting my successes and challenges in implementing non-traditional information literacy assignments to engage students in the larger concepts of information creation, distribution, and use. Techniques include open-ended discussions regarding mashups as information creation or plagiarism, cloud computing opportunities within the academic environment, and the role of social media in news and history. Furthermore, the presentation will compare and contrast different institutional approaches to large-scale information literacy teaching initiatives.
Exemplary Leadership and the Value of Relationships - Virtual Presentation (Saturday, April 7, 11:45-1:00pm PST)
Angela Boyd, Reference Services Librarian, University of California, Santa Barbara Library
Marlo Maldonado Young, Virtual Education Coordinator, University of California, San Diego Libraries
Annette Marines, Instruction and Outreach Coordinator, University of California, Santa Cruz Library
We've all worked with great and not-so-great leaders, but have you ever paused to think about the research-based characteristics that great leaders possess and develop? Amidst this period of tremendous transformation for academic libraries, it is imperative that we are all prepared to effectively lead ourselves and our colleagues, no matter what position we hold within our organizations. Accordingly, this virtual presentation contains four panelists from ARL's Leadership and Career Development Program who will discuss the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership model and the value of relationships in leadership development based on their first-hand experiences in the LCDP. Attendees of this presentation are sure to be empowered and inspired in this interactive session.
The Remote Library Internship: A Mutually-Beneficial Enterprise - Virtual Presentation (Friday, April 6, 11:45-1:00pm PST)
Marina Torres Aiello, Manager of Library Services; Kaiser Permanente - Fresno Medical Center
Elena Heilman; Librarian; Yuba College
The College Library has been participating in the San Jose State University (SJSU) internship program since January 2011. In the spring, the College librarian initiated a remote library internship, which allowed the librarian to guide SJSU library students through specific professional job tasks in the virtual environment, rather than requiring them to be physically present at the College campus. The changing nature of library work is increasingly calling for more Internet-based skills as well as the ability to collaborate successfully with students, staff, and faculty both on campus and remotely. By offering remote internship opportunities, the College Library has facilitated a unique experience for students, which includes learning how to communicate effectively online, becoming familiar with emerging technologies, and meeting deadlines without constant oversight. In Summer 2011, the College Library partnered with an SJSU intern in order to maintain the library’s social media presence, produce relevant online training content, and revise/manage library web pages on the College website and the college portal. The novel internship program allowed the SJSU library student to complete course material, fulfill professional work responsibilities, and gain interning experience with College, even from an entirely different geographic location. Despite the common challenges of limited time and lacking resources, the College librarian was able to partner with the SJSU remote library intern in order to successfully complete projects, learn about current trends in academic libraries, and discover the advantages and demands of virtual collaboration.
Journey to Team Leadership: Case Study in Transforming Library Organizational Structures - Live-Streamed Presentation (Saturday, April 7, 2:30-3:45pm PST)
Robin Lockerby, Assistant Director, Library Outreach Services
Anne Marie Secord, Library Director
National University Library
Finding ways to break out of traditional department and subject area silos has been an ongoing process. This last year, teams were identified and began to shape a new, more positive work environment. A side benefit is that productivity has increased. This session identifies the growth process and the subtle organizational changes that have taken place in lean fiscal times. The teams are project-based and are created by a team leader who has overarching responsibility for tasks. One of the early teams to be organized is responsible for collection development. As a subject area is identified for the institutional program review cycle, a team is pulled together of librarians across public services, technical services, and multimedia/systems to review program needs and library collections. Not only does the report becomes part of the university assessment documents used in accreditation, it strengthens the collaborative support between faculty and librarians across all traditional structures. The newest teams include instruction and outreach. The identified projects include development of research guides, tutorials/instructional learning objects, and outreach initiatives. As faculty are drawn into discussions of content needed to support course learning outcomes, more data is produced that becomes part of program review documentation in support of the library. The role of the library in a culture of assessment can take many forms, but the opportunity to provide unique collaborations and collection of data that support institutional goals and objectives is a great use of the new teams. With the bottom line an ever present reality, the team initiatives allow for a leaner, more focused collection of library support services. Through projects tied to institutional assessment initiatives, the library has found another way of showing sustainability.
Transforming Research into Practice: Using Project Information Literacy Findings to Revitalize Instruction and Outreach - Live-Streamed Presentation (Friday, April 6, 4:15-5:30pm PST)
Michele Van Hoeck, Instruction Coordinator, California Maritime Academy Library
Ann Roselle, Library Faculty, Phoenix College
Cathy Palmer, Head of Education and Outreach, UC Irvine Libraries
Michele Van Hoeck, Research Analyst for Project Information Literacy and Instruction Coordinator at the California Maritime Academy, used PIL's "Truth Be Told" report to refocus the Library's instruction program. Her presentation will highlight two major PIL findings: students reported the most difficulty getting started with research and students often work collaboratively when evaluating sources. She will describe changes made to curriculum to address these findings, as well as present original results from subsequent assessment of student learning. Ann Roselle of Phoenix College (AZ) in the Maricopa Community College District used PIL's 2010 "Assigning Inquiry" report as the basis for developing an interactive faculty training workshop, a LibGuide, and evaluation tools to create better handouts for course-related research assignments. Her presentation will also include original assessment results on the impact of the workshop. Participants will receive all the necessary materials to implement this workshop at their institutions.
Cathy Palmer, Head of Education and Outreach at the UC Irvine Libraries led Irvine's participation in the Project Information Literacy (PIL) Team content analysis of handouts instructors distribute for course-related research assignments. The PIL study collected 191 handouts from instructors teaching undergraduates at 28 different U.S. institutions of higher education. Six handouts from UC Irvine faculty were included in the study. Her presentation will include details of how the results of UCIrvine's participation were used to inform the design of a major information literacy assessment project undertaken with first year students in 2010-11.
#Doesthatreallywork? Transforming the Traditional, Rethinking, Letting Go - Live-Streamed Presentation (Friday, April 6, 1:30-2:45pm PST)
Sally Bryant, Head of Access Services
Michelle Jacobs-Lustig, Librarian for Instructional Design, Outreach and Training, Pepperdine University
After a critical examination of the "traditional," Pepperdine University Libraries has made many dramatic, yet cost effective changes in Fall 2011. We have adopted an attitude of perpetual Beta for products and library services. We learned that sometimes it is not just out with the old, but out with the too new. Twitter just isn't for our campus, and QR codes may rock it in the Graduate libraries but the undergrads have no clue. Join us for a session where we cover:
- Conducted a space and student survey through design, with a Pop-Up Lounge Contest.
- Completely redesigned our roles for our student workers to include learning outcomes and better customer service.
- Transformed our marketing of events and services (no more relying on the student newspaper)
- Staff consolidation by merging our circulation and reference desk, creating the new iPoint (Get all of your library needs met in one place!)
- Revamped the super simple: library wayfinding, in a cost effective way.
- Developed a system of Data Driven Service by improving our statistics gathering through new innovative, inexpensive products.
- Used student input to improve usability and simplified the usability of our website, without doing a website overhaul.
- We even allowed student workers to create LibGuides !!
Of course, we ran into some hiccups along the way! Learn from our mistakes and successes and bring some cost effective, easy to implement ideas back to your campus. Join us for our version of a show tell.
The LibRAT Program: The Power of Peer Reference and Instruction - Live-Streamed Presentation (Saturday, April 7, 8:30-9:45am PST)
Brett Bodemer, General Education Instruction and Reference Coordinator, Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian
California Polytechnic State University
In the face of budget cuts, retirements, and diminished staffing, how can you expand and improve your reference and instruction services to students? Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has managed to do exactly this by leveraging the dynamics of peer-to-peer learning. The LibRAT (Library Reference Assistance Technician) Program originally began as a Pilot to post undergraduates in residence halls to provide on-site research assistance.
However, they soon filled staffing needs at the Research Help Desk in Kennedy Library, and in spring of 2011 began leading instructional sessions for our Information Literacy Instruction Program aimed at lower division GE classes. As the online evaluations of their sessions proved comparable, and often superior, to librarian-led sessions, we soon expanded their teaching role. In fall of 2011, they provided more than 2/3 of nearly 60 sessions - and still beat the librarian scores. The Research Help Desk is now staffed by LibRATs and one half-time librarian, and in this academic year is on track to record more transactions than last year. This program should be replicable in other environments where budgets and staffing are in tight supply.
This session will examine the pedagogical theory behind the program, give a brief history of its local unfolding, and then provide the nuts and bolts of strategies for hiring, training, and assessing student-led instruction and student reference provision. It will also offer some speculation as to why such programs might be even more successful as "Discovery" tools become more prevalent.
Creating your Own Peer Learning Community: Using the World Café for Creative Thinking through Active Group Learning - Live-Streamed Presentation (Thursday, April 5, 1:00-5:00pm PST)
Susan E. Parker, Ph.D., Deputy University Librarian, UC Los Angeles
Martha Hruska, Associate University Librarian, Collection Services, UC San Diego
Linda Garnets, Ph.D., Principal, Angelo + Garnets Consulting
Nancy Angelo, Principal, Angelo + Garnets Consulting
For people who desire success in leading and living through change, we offer a model of community building and self-management to help you realize effective contributions to change in your own organization. This positive approach gives individuals tools that enable them to influence outcomes and collaborations. In an intentionally built community of effectiveness, this helps to forge bold collaboration by focusing on common issues, stimulating creative thinking, and sidestepping a feeling of loss that can come from other kinds of change. A group of AULs and organizational consultants will describe their self-generated learning community. Participants will hear how the AULs worked with the consultants to build a learning and support community together. The World Cafe concept will be introduced and through facilitated interaction, participants will generate an inventory of core critical issues and engage in a dynamic process in which they build communities of interest and experience immediate results. The AULs and consultants will engage participants in active learning and intentional processing of these issues. World Cafe uses a set of integrated design principles for managing conversations with deeper meaning, designed to give groups traction to move forward with discussions of critical issues. It stimulates creative thinking and provides a journey in which the process is shared. We think it will help people to experience the powerful phenomenon the workshop leaders created among themselves: finding and building a peer group for support and learning, and using to help break through old models to achieve greater value for library users.
Mas con menos: lessons on innovation from Cuban libraries - Live-Streamed Presentation (Friday, April 6, 10:15-11:30am PST)
Amy Chatfield, Information Services Librarian, Norris Medical Library
University of Southern California
How would your reference practices change if you only had four computers in the entire library? What if you had to access all your online resources through a 16 kb per second connection (versus the average speed of 4000 kb per second in the U.S.)? How would you conduct interlibrary loans if there was no union catalog? How would you preserve rare books if you had no climate-controlled areas in the building? These may seem like good discussion questions for a disaster management staff retreat, but for Cuban libraries, they are the realities of everyday life. Despite major shortages of food, goods, and oil, Cuba's libraries and librarians have maintained their high standards and provided excellent service to Cubans in their personal and professional lives. Learn about innovative methods and techniques developed during the "Special Period" (1990s) and still used in the present day in Cuban libraries, including the National Library, The Natural History Museum Library, a public library branch in Havana, the National Center for Medical Sciences Information, the University of Computer Sciences and Information Technology, the Antonio Nuñez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Humanity (FANJ), and the libraries established by the U.S. government's Interest Section. The innovations include methods of instruction and reference, data curation practices, restoration/preservation, and setting up and populating intranets. Many of the innovations in use have potential applications in U.S. libraries. The creative problem-solving mindset of Cuban librarians and administration will also be discussed to aid U.S. librarians in adopting their problem-solving strategies.