Librarian X

Earlier this week I gave an online presentation about LibGuides for the GALILEO initiative here in Georgia. Once again they were good enough to archive it. It’s partly how-to/demo and partly suggested best practices and examples.

Leave the password blank, just click Enter. Pop-up blockers may need to be disabled.

LibGuides presentation for GALILEO, August 4 2010

I gave an online Zotero talk for GALILEO last week. Here’s the audio and video archive. It’s part software how-to and partly a discussion of how I teach and support Zotero in our library. EDIT: No password needed — just leave it blank and click Enter.

I’m doing another one for them in November (and one on Libguides in early August), and I hope to be a little less awkward with the Wimba presentation software at that point!

Before I get too tied up in travel/conference prep, I thought I should post briefly to mention that I’ll be at Computers in Libraries 2010 in Virginia next week. My co-podcaster Rachel Borchardt and I are speaking about podcasting as part of a session called “From Podcasts to Blogs and Beyond.” The relevant bit of the session description is:

Podcasting is a low-cost, innovative way to reach out to users and supplement in-person teaching. Speakers discuss both instructional design and technological how-to, drawing on their own and other libraries’ experiences producing library podcasts for undergraduate students, and ways to integrate podcasts with other instructional activities.

We’ll also be talking (a little bit) about our podcast Adventures in Library Instruction.

That’s Wednesday April 14 at 1:30, in Track E, “Learning: Expanding Our Knowledge.” I’ll be there for the rest of the conference too, of course. Say hi.

I’m giving an online presentation for ACRL next week:

Superpower your Browser: Open Source Research Tools

Libraries are harnessing the power of digital resources, moving tools and resources not only onto the Web but into the browser software itself. Open source browser plug-ins such as LibX and Zotero can help researchers at every stage of the research cycle, from search and discovery to writing and citation.

The LibX search toolbar can be customized to search your library’s catalog and databases, insert library links into sites like Amazon and Wikipedia, and more. Zotero is a citation manager and bibliography creator that is as easy to use as iTunes. New features such as online storage and shared libraries make Zotero a strong competitor to proprietary software.

This webcast will examine these two powerful browser tools as well as others. By using free, open source tools, libraries can offer assistance and resources with little cost and foster skills that patrons can use throughout life, regardless of location.

If you’re interested in seeing how LibX and Zotero can benefit libraries and researchers, join me and ACRL on March 23 at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern. My C&RL News article by (almost) the same title will give you an idea of what I’ll be talking about, but the online format gives us a chance for some live demonstration, Q&A and discussion. Also probably some funny pictures of superheroes and my cat. Register here.

(See ACRL’s e-learning site for more details)

For a couple of years now my friend Beth Gallaway has been asking me to submit a proposal with her for a Simmons College LIS continuing education class. We finally did it this year, and I’m pleased to say we’re co-teaching an online workshop together this spring:

They’re Googling You: Online Identity for LIS Professionals

May 1 – 31, 2010

Should you separate your professional online identity from the personal, and if so, how? Self-promotion and branding is becoming increasingly important as library professionals face dwindling traditional employment opportunities, due to layoffs, downsizing, budget cuts, and library closings. On a more positive note, library staff wishing to contribute back to the profession may want to hone a professional identity that makes one marketable for teaching and training purposes, conference speaking or consulting. Developing a professional online identity for either purpose may be a challenging and rewarding endeavor.

More info on the Simmons site, and you can register here. If you’ve never set up a blog or personal website, you’ll learn how — if you have, we’ll talk about how to use it and how to augment it. Topics will include privacy, professional development, personal branding, and technology how-to.

I’m teaching a webcast for ACRL: “Superpower Your Browser: Open Source Research Tools.” I’ll cover the search and discovery tool LibX and the citation and bibliography tool Zotero. Learn the essentials of both programs, ideas for supporting them at your library, and a little about how open source is good for libraries and library users.

The session is March 23 at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern. More details and registration info on the ACRL site.

Hi!

So what have I been doing since Internet Librarian a month ago? Anna rightly called me out for not blogging much this fall.

Well, we did another episode of Adventures in Library Instruction a couple of weeks ago, but you knew that.

I’ve been writing a lot for the last month. I wrote an article about LibX and Zotero for College and Research Libraries News, which I’ll link here once it’s up. It’s also sort of a tie-in for a webcast I’ll be doing for them early next year.

I also did an article for Georgia Library Quarterly, which I’ll post here after it goes to print. It’s for a column called “My Own Private Library,” about librarians’ personal libraries. I wrote about free audio books and fiction podcasts.

I’m trying to finish an article on DRM before I go out of town for the holidays, and I hope that’s it for this year. (If I mention it in public maybe I’ll shame myself into finishing it.)

Coming up next year, I’m doing a presentation on LibGuides and Zotero for the staff of GALILEO, a Georgia virtual library initiative. I’m also been asked to give an online Zotero workshop for librarians and staff of a New Jersey library system, and there’s that ACRL webcast in March. In April, I’m giving a podcasting presentation at Computers in Libraries.

Plus, you know, doing my actual job too. In some ways my first fall back at GSU Library has blasted by like a jet-powered monkey-navigated rocket car across the alkali flats, and in some ways this has seemed like the endless semester. Lots of changes, and I’m looking forward to my new role as a subject liaison. I’m really enjoying learning my way around collection development and I’m looking forward to working on outreach next semester and getting to know the Comm department.

This is a quickie post — I’m just back from Internet Librarian 2009, and several people at my podcasting cybertour asked me to post my slides. So, here!

I’m never really convinced that my slideshows are much use on their own (otherwise why bother presenting? You could just look at the slides).

I had a good time slot and a lot of people turned up for this session — I’m just sorry I only had 15 minutes!

Tomorrow (Thursday October 8th) I’ll be giving a presentation at the Georgia Council of Media Organizations (COMO) in Columbus, Georgia. My friend and colleague Sarah Steiner and I are presenting a session called “Finding Your Voice: Creative Ideas for Beginning a Pod- or Vidcast Series.” Say hi if you have a chance to attend.

We’re postponing my October 1 webcast “Podcasting for Libraries.” Whether due to fall craziness or low professional development budgets, there just weren’t enough people registered to do it next week. I’m starting to wonder if podcasting just isn’t news to most people any more. I’m also talking to ACRL about other topics I might present on in the near future.  Anyway, we’ll reschedule it for later in the school year and give it another go and I’ll post the new date here when I know it.