It's Academic

Soaring to New Heights!

Here’s a link to the full Conference Program.

In addition to the CRD workshops posted by Bonnie yesterday, here’s a few more that will be of definite interest to PA academic librarians:

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14
2 – 3:15 pm – Academic Librarianship by Design: The Blended Librarians’ Perspective on Enhancing Library Instruction
John D. Shank, Instructional Design Librarians, Penn State, Berks Campus
Sponsor: Library Instruction Round Table

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15
9 – 10:15 am – Low-Cost Techniques for Creating an Interactive Web Site
John Houser, Senior Technology Consultant, PALINET
Sponsor: Electronic Resources Round Table

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16
9 – 10:15 AM – The Impact of the Internet on Politics
Lee Rainie, Project Director, PEW Internet & American Life Project
There have been many predictions about the impact of the Internet on
politics. Is the Internet the lever for direct democracy? Or is it a wedge
for political polarization? Either conclusion may prove too simple. To
understand how technology might reshape politics, consider what has
been learned from the initial decade of online campaigning, and how
various fears and hopes have fared.
Sponsor: College & Research Division

Garrison Keillor was the speaker at the closing session. He talked about libraries and librarians for about 45 minutes and was delivered with his usual dry sense of humor. (cf. his article on libraries in Salon which touches on some of what he said to us.) This session was taped for broadcast on C-Span and the auditorium was packed. I was fortunate to be able to attend the Awards Ceremony and the Inaugural Banquet later that evening in support of Charles Kratz, the Dean of the Library at the University of Scranton, who is joining the ALA Executive Board. I saw Barbara Cole from Commonwealth Libraries and Debbie Malone, Library Director at DeSales University and Co-Chair of PaLA’s Legislative Information Committee.

This morning I attended “Once Upon a Furl in a Podcast Long Ago: Using New Technologies to Support Library Instruction.” This was a panel of four librarians: Joan Lippincott gave an overview of emerging technologies and library instruction; Kathy Burnett is teaching future librarians at Florida State Unviersity how to use technology tools in the classroom; Kathryn Shaughnessy is using the tools with Social Justice students who are in Third World countries; and Heather Tompkins shared lots of tips about using the social web tools.

Poster Session – This afternoon was devoted to my poster session, “You Asked, We Responded: Redesigning an Academic Library’s Web Site Based on User Input.” Several people who are thinking about redesigning their Web sites asked quite a few questions. When I get back to the library, I’ll add a picture.

Although I never did manage to hook up with Barbara Burd, I did see several more librarians from Pennsylvania, including Christie Roysdon and Evelyn Minick. There are two Internet cafes here at the conference and there is a kiosk at the hotel that also has some computers with Internet access which have made my ability to blog while I’m here possible.