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)

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.

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