I'm teaching two classes for Simmons College's Continuing Education program in the next few months.

February 2012: Zotero: Using and Supporting the Research Power Tool: This is my four-week class on Zotero. We'll cover the basics of installing and using Zotero, all the way up through best practices for supporting and teaching Zotero in your library. (And you get the e-edition of my book along with the course.)

May 1-June 11 2012: Instruction Librarian Boot Camp: We just expanded this course to six weeks based on students' requests to make it longer! This is a great class for new LIS grads looking for your first instruction librarian jobs, or seasoned instructors looking to improve your skills. We cover learning outcomes, technology tools, active learning, and assessment. I'm co-teaching this class with my GSU colleague Sarah Steiner.

New episode of Adventures in Library Instruction! Get it here.

We observed Open Access Week at Georgia State for (I think) the first time this year. Our Digital Repository Services Librarian Amy Elliott organized a series of workshops for faculty this week, and we kind of blogged the hell out of it on the library's website.

I contributed a short post this morning about why OA should matter to undergraduates, and plugging the Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Journal, a multi-institutional OA journal hosted by the GSU Library.

I'm really pleased that GSU is actively advocating for OA now. It's something I've personally believed in for several years and it's cool to see my institution stepping up. (The recent copyright lawsuit has brought access issues like OA to the attention of more people on campus, which is a positive side effect of a bad situation.)

I'll end by co-signing a statement that my friend Amy Buckland made a month ago on her blog -- I decided this a while back, but it's a good public statement to make during OA Week:

"from now on, i will only review articles for, sit on editorial boards of, and publish in, open access journals."

Right on, Amy -- me too.

My former GSU colleague Casey Long and I recently gave a presentation called "LibGuides: Working Inside the Box" at the Georgia COMO library conference.

We talked about best practices for design, content, and structuring LibGuides or other online research guides. We got a good reception and had lots of excellent questions and discussion as part of the session.

Casey had the great idea to make a LibGuide to accompany the presentation itself, with links, resources and references, and a copy of our slides. I'm pleased to say that Springshare is going to add it to their Best of LibGuides site.

On November 9th, I'll be appearing on a panel discussion at the LYRASIS Annual Members' Meeting: Content, Access and the Role of Libraries in a Connected World.

The cool part is that the keynote speaker for the session is Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of The Googlization of Everything. I heard Dr. Vaidhyanathan speak at the Library of Congress earlier this year, and I'm really looking forward to meeting him and actually being able to have a conversation. The panel discussion will center around the role of libraries in the near future of the connected world. I'm honored that LYRASIS has invited me to take part.

The meeting will be broadcast online and is free for LYRASIS members. More details from LYRASIS.

For episode 30 of  Adventures in Library Instruction we were joined by guests Theresa McDevitt andRyan Sittler, editor of and contributor the book Let the games begin!: Engaging students with field-tested interactive information literacy instruction. We talked about the role of games in the library classroom and their value as a teaching tool. Thanks, Ryan and Theresa!

I'm slowing down from fall semester madness just long enough to mention that there are now not one, but two Zotero-related apps available for sale in the Android store:

Zandy, a client allowing library access/viewing/editing from your mobile device, and

Scanner for Zotero, an app that replicates some of the Zotero "magic wand" function by allowing you to scan ISBN barcodes to add items to your Zotero library.

I've tried Zandy just a bit and it seems to work fine for what I've done with it so far -- I haven't yet tried out Scanner, but both apps look promising and interesting. (Obviously, I'm not affiliated with either project.)

Edited to add: iPhone/Zotero users should take a look at BibUp, a project of the University of Fribourg.

I'm co-teaching a new online course for the LIS Continuing Education program at Simmons College. In November, my GSU colleague Sarah Steiner and I are teaching:

Instruction Librarian Boot Camp

Location: Online
$250 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni Price $200)
November 1 - November 30, 2011 - PDPs: 15

Whether you’re a new instruction librarian learning the ropes or a seasoned instructor seeking some new skills, this workshop will help you to become a more adept and learner-centered instructor. Learn skills and tools that you can apply to any teaching situation, from one-shot sessions to semester-long courses.

Contents will include an overview of technological and active learning tools that you can use to make your instruction more engaging and memorable, and techniques that will help you to direct, assess, and meaningfully reflect upon your teaching.

Participants will learn how to accomplish the following activities in their library instruction sessions through a combination of reading, discussion, and the construction of individual examples. Participants are welcome to use their own upcoming instruction sessions as the basis for their assignments.

Week 1: Create and use learning outcomes

Week 2: Select and use engaging technology tools

Week 3: Construct active learning classroom activities

Week 4: Design and conduct assessments

Registration is now open! (We're not sure what we're doing about Thanksgiving break. We'll either extend class a couple of days into December or just try to compress the material. We'll let students know the first week of class.)

My Adventures in Library Instruction comrades and I were featured on the Librarian Wardrobe blog today. If you're dying to know how we dress for work, and why, you're in luck!

(Spoiler alert: bowling shirts and slacks.)

This month on Adventures in Library Instruction (well, technically last month, since we're still counting it as July's episode) we talked to Lynda Kellam, data librarian at UNC Greensboro.