Reskilling librarians

January 20, 2009 at 11:25 pm | In library | Leave a Comment
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Ralph Kiel & Mark Pegrum

Reskilling librarians
• online course
• broadening understanding of elearning in post web2.0 world
• pedagogical grounded
• 5 weeks and start using new skills
• wiki
• project based
• Reflection
• evaluating training program model (Kirparick &. Kirpatrick) used
• positive feedback

Difficult to know what the impact on student learning will be but librarians appreciated the opportunity to improve their skills and get a better understanding of elearning and pedagogy.

#io2009 strategic directions and initiatives library of congress

January 20, 2009 at 10:04 pm | In library | Leave a Comment
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Laura Campbell – Strategic directions at Library of Congress

Increasing access and digitizing to push content out.

1. increasing accessibility opening collections to general public

2. Engaging the interactive audience – new partners, collaboration internationally, national digital newspaper program, flickr program, YouTube

3. Network strategies -

A. national preservation program
• at risk digital heritage
• preserving national heritage
• distributed network
• advisory board
• 130 partners collecting

B. Internet archiving internationally

• Preserved 248 terabytes in collaboration with partners

Strategies:

• Took early action
• Learn by doing
• Be catalytic
• Collaborate
• Multiple platforms
• Use national distributed networks
• Share resources
• Lots of goodwill!
• www.digitalperservation.gov more detail about investments

C. World digital library

• 25 partners
• Browse by geographic material
• Video
• multiple languages
• users can add content
• UNESCO endorsed

Strategy
• content acquisition
• Sustainable network
• State of art website
• 193 countries

Recognising that we need to meet the audience where they are. They are the drivers.

Takeaways:

  1. Working with others in networks has real value. Complexity in the human elements not technology
  2. Assembled a bunch of technology gurus… writing may be a thing of the past. Multimedia/video the way?
  3. Creativity and collaboration the future…

Interesting presentation… Amazing projects.

Happiness engines…

January 20, 2009 at 3:08 am | In library | Leave a Comment
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Liz Lawley – assistant professor of Information Technology at RIT in Rochester, NY

Elements of happiness – gaming / happiness

1. Satisfying work
2. Being good at something
3. Time spent with people we like
4. Chance to be of something larger…

Takeaway: Is happiness your business! Maybe it should be.

Happiness is not overrated but many people using gaming to escape. Sense of control, good at it for eg WoW.

Virtually all American teens play games
* 40% of American woman game
* 26% of people over age of 50 play games (wii bowling leagues)
* games assisted technology
* guitar hero – jumping off point to learn other things

Challenge: Gaming day in library at Swinburne?

  • Often no sense of play in library.
  • Sense of fun… Spoon full of suga helps the medicine go down. Make everything a game. Find the fun… task is not a grind (refer Mary Poppins).
  • See Chore Wars for share houses…
  • Serosity – virtual currency for email! Costs more to send important emails.
  • Social genius (microsoft) – recognise people u know, find out more about people in your organisation. Get points, leader board.
  • Participating in games… Liz gets together twice a week to kill things in WoW it builds community
  • Partcipatory culture – libraries are emersive spaces…
  • Games a great way to get people in…

Predictions

  • Check out Ravelry – social objects, libraries good at the tangible… Potential of this type of social software in libraries.

Thought-provoking and interesting presentation. Education conferences I have attended also talk about successful outcomes using gaming technologies and platforms in teaching delivery.

Meg Biness, UWA Academics limited awareness of ebooks

  • Users found them difficult to use
  • Copyright issues
  • Issues with WebCT
  • Liaison librarians felt lacking knowledge to fully promote resources difficulty in keeping up to date.

Recommendations:

  • Redesign programs
  • More input into webct linking with library resources
  • Worked with vendors who came out and gave sessions for library staff Staff completed assessment tasks. Then formed teams to go out to academics.
  • Resources evaluated resources with against specific criteria
  • Embedding ebooks/resources into learning management systems vital

Sandbox to search box

January 20, 2009 at 12:05 am | In library | 2 Comments
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John Law Proquest

Research:

  • Observational
    Online focus groups with students
    Focus groups with librarians
    Surveys
  • Library is the best place to do research by students/researchers. But library difficult to use prefer web search engines.
  • Access points – library catalogue not representative of the eresources library holds. Federated search: time lag, relevance ranking and expectations there is a divide.
  • Users often go straight to Google… But not effective as a research tool.
  • ITHAKA research report importance of library as a gateway falling! Recommended read by Laws.
  • Libraries online presence weak. So researchers go elsewhere because they don’t know where to start. Looking for a Google experience. They want simple interface.

Takeaway: Simplify… User interface. Training, Market, access points in context, unified discovery service (single search box)

Lili Wilkinson – state library of victoria – website “ergo” and “inside a dog”

Ergo – research skills/history/ critical literacy/ evaluating resources for secondary schools

Inside a dog…

  • Book reviews written by teenages
    Recommended by peers
    Writer in residence
    Target audience 10-18 mostly 13-15years

Nice presentation… Humour, passion and enthusiasm.

Information online keynote 1

January 19, 2009 at 9:52 pm | In library | 1 Comment
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Getting seated for first keynote… Awesome!

Aboriginal welcome underway… with music! Welcome, welcome, welcome! The performer is He’s animal noises on his didge. Oh no train and areoplane noises…

Senator Conroy is talking about internets filtering… Government going to protect all the children from the EVIL. How can technology help? No threat to freedom of speech. Evidence-based approach testing the filters etc. Libraries have a strong part to play in this discussion.

Keynote – Sherman Young Macquarie University. The future of the book!

What is the value of books. Rethink books in post web 2.0 world. How can we make books work?

Oral
Written
Book
Electronic (tv & radio)
Internet

Books= literacy + education
Then came the book and it was good.

Electronic age – people of the screen replaced reading and the emergence of a zombified population entranced my the screen! Versus savvy media users and then came the internet age!

We are still people of the screen and many embrace the change despite doomsayers. Users can engage in the Internet age.

Web 2.0 garden shed… Build and playground.

Web 3.0 semantic web – simple question and simple answer – giving a complete answer and capable of giving meaning.

What’s next? Info online unit!
Invisible
Ubiquitous devices or mindset with different affordances
Connected (always)
Multimedia – screen fluency

Everything is already online! What then of books! The trouble with books they are dead! Google it – dont use a book.

Books not a priority on devices like iPhone! Book culture confused with print culture. Print is where books go to die.

What is a book if not printed?
Demands time
Books can survive in the online world if integrated into online world. All books, online for everyone…
Books slow things down. We need them.

Loved it great speaker!

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