Librarian X

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.

I guess I got busy and forgot to mention this, or something. ACRL has very kindly invited me back for an encore presentation of my webcast “Podcasting for Libraries” on October 1. I’ll try to include as many other words as I can think of that include the suffix “-cast.”

Webcast description:
Podcasting is like an Internet radio show, or a blog with audio.  It uses the power of RSS syndication to automatically deliver new episodes to listeners.  There are millions of podcasts available, covering nearly any topic imaginable.  Any library can produce a podcast using free software and inexpensive hardware.  If you can post to a blog and talk into a microphone, you can create a podcast.  How can your library use podcasting as a tool for teaching, promotion, outreach and programming?

This session will explore:
• What a podcast is and isn’t
• How RSS makes a podcast work
• Free and cheap hardware and software for podcasting
• Recording and production
• Publishing and sustaining a podcast
• How libraries can use podcasting
• Finding the right voice to reach your audience

Registration is open now. I’m sure I’ll mention it again here closer to the event.

I try not to just link to other posts very often, but I’ve been in catch-up mode since returning from Computers in Libraries late last week and haven’t had time to blog about it.  However, among the many other cool things I did and saw at CiL was meeting Catherine Pellegrino, who this morning posted on her blog about What Instruction Librarians Could Teach The Rest Of Us About Conference Presentations.

This is one of those head-slap moments.  I’m supposed to know how to be a good teacher; why don’t I use any of those active learning techniques in my presentations?  I have no idea.  I’m going to think about this before the next time I give a presentation.

I’m very pleased to say that I’ll be presenting to the Atlanta Emerging Librarians group again on September 27.  I gave a 20-minute talk last month on Promoting Yourself With a Personal Website.  I was really sick that day, and I’m glad they liked me well enough to ask me back!  For 50 minutes this time, even.

Anyway.  I’m tentatively titling next month’s talk “RSS Tools for Emerging Librarians.”  The organizers have asked me to include discussion of blogs and podcasting, and I’m looking forward to making this more than just a 101-style basics talk.  I’ll probably do a 5-minute “What is RSS” bit at the beginning and then get into some nitty gritty examples of actual applications and what I think of as “stupid RSS tricks.”  (And by stupid I mean “clever,” of course.)

I love presenting to this group.  I feel like they’re my peers, and it’s informal enough that I can include LOLcat slides and dumb jokes to keep it fun, as long as I don’t sacrifice the good information.  I’m planning to record the audio and post it here, of course.

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These are my slides and notes from a talk I gave on July 12 at the Atlanta Emerging Librarians meeting at Georgia State University.  I had a great time presenting, despite having a 101 degree fever and a voice rather like Dr. Girlfriend’s.  I promised that when I posted these I’d also include a link to Creative Commons, which came up during the Q&A.  Grab the Powerpoint file, or the slides are also up on Slideshare.

(continue reading…)

Attention Atlanta MLIS students, new grads and other library job-seekers.  Copying and pasting from the event flyer:

Join us for the second meeting of the Atlanta Emerging Librarians Meetup Group! This group is intended to help library students and new librarians in the Atlanta area to learn and network.

Belinda DeLisser of Cadence Group will discuss how  to prepare and interview for open positions and demonstrate an incorrect and a correct interview.

Jason Puckett of Emory University will discuss creating a personal website as a tool for networking and personal promotion: how to set up a site, how to make it a portfolio that’s more engaging than your resume and how to use it to connect with other online librarians.

There will also be time for you to mingle and snack with your colleagues. Library science students, new librarians, and job seekers are all welcome to attend.

When: Saturday, July 12, 2008, 3:30-5:30pm

Where: Georgia State University Library, Classroom 1 (on the first floor of Library North)

Cost: Free!

Getting There: Detailed directions from the roads and MARTA are available here:
http://www.library.gsu.edu/directions/.

Visitor parking in G Deck (located off Collins Street) is $6.00. If you’d rather not drive, The Five Points and GSU MARTA train stations are within close walking distance of  the University Library. Campus map: http://www.gsu.edu/map.html

Registration: Seating is limited to 60, so please register for this event at:  http://www.library.gsu.edu/gla/emerginglibrarians.asp

Hey, that’s me!