Reference and Adult Services Conference
University Plaza Hotel and Conference Center
September 13-14, 2006
Make your hotel reservations by August 23 to receive the OLC Conference rate.
Agenda
Wednesday, September 13
 10:30 AM
Opening General Session:
Wrapping Our Buildings in Barbed Wire
Aaron Schmidt, Reference Librarian, Thomas Ford Memorial Library, Illinois
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| Libraries like to talk about getting people in their buildings and on their Web sites. The desire to do things our way often marginalizes these nice intentions. In this session, Aaron Schmidt will discuss how and why libraries prevent themselves from providing the best service to their users. All aspects of the library–from in-house signage to library Web sites–will be considered. With a healthy dose of "get over it," Schmidt will make the case for the radically user-centered library. Aaron Schmidt is the author of the weblog, walkingpaper.org. As Reference Librarian at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs , IL , he uses blog software to manage the library's Web site. He has presented internationally on the topic of library technologies, including instant messaging, weblogs, and information gadgets. He was selected as a 2005 Library Journal Mover and Shaker. |
11:30 AM
Lunch
12:30 – 1:45 PM
The New Customer Service Model
Jack Hedge, Principal, Design Group
Currently many libraries are seeking ways to stretch resources while more effectively serving their communities. Library planner and architect, Jack Hedge, will review the new service model showing how libraries can be reconfigured to provide better customer service. He will show examples of how new libraries are being designed and cost effective solutions for converting existing libraries. Examples will include incorporation of self-check, customer book return, self-serve holds, library greeters, customer friendly desks, flexible materials display, teen and children's areas, technology, group study/quiet study, and food in the new service model.
Web 2.0: An Overview for the Layperson
Laura Solomon, Web Applications Supervisor, Cleveland Public Library
There's a lot of buzz around “Web 2.0” and the online services that have been labeled as such. What are Flickr, del.icio.us, and RSS, and what can they do for your library? Is your library missing the boat or avoiding the hype? Get the low-down on these and other aspects of Web 2.0 in terms that don't require a techie translator.
Fear of Music: Develop and Promote a Viable Listener's Advisory
Brian Stambaugh, Associate Librarian, Clark County Public Library
It briefly seemed that the rapid-fire advances in music technology (e.g., satellite radio, digital cable, CD, MP3, and podcasting) might kill music in libraries. One virtue will forever remain true: no one wants to pay for it! That said, libraries still need to compete with these burgeoning media. Discover new methods of tracking and marketing what's hot in music. Figure out how to connect patrons to your music collection and take it a step farther by introducing patrons to music with which they are unfamiliar. Brian Stambaugh will explore the resources and means through which libraries can advise and connect with their patrons and establish themselves as hip music havens that simultaneously follow and inform trends.
Finding Legal Forms: What the Court Clerk Won't Tell You! Melissa Barr, Legal Resources Specialist, Cuyahoga County Public Library
“The clerk sent me to the library to get the form. Where is it?” The question every librarian dreads now has an answer. Government agencies and courts are adding sample forms to their Web sites, free to anyone who can find them. OPLIN now offers Thomson/Gale LegalForms where many sample forms from courts, state and county agencies, and other authoritative sources have been conveniently gathered in one subscription database. This program will focus on unauthorized practice of law (or how to “just say no” to practicing law without a license), the LegalForms database, and free Web sites containing legitimate, commonly-used forms and sample forms such as eviction notices, small-claims court complaints, modifications of child support, notarized affidavits, quit-claim deeds, wills, living wills, and powers of attorney that conform to Ohio law.
The Amish Are Coming! The Amish Are Coming!
Marty Lavigne, Outreach and Bookmobile Associate, Holmes County District Library
If your library serves a rural or farming area, don't be surprised if you begin to see some Amish patrons! The Amish population in Ohio is undergoing a significant demographic shift. Because of lack of farmland and overcrowding in Holmes/Wayne/Geauga counties, Amish are moving in groups to rural areas all over the state. In this session you'll learn the best ways to find and serve local Amish populations. Holmes County Library has extensively served the Amish, and Lavigne has 13 years of experience visiting Amish schools and communities. Frequently asked questions include how to make contact and open communication with this community, what services are used and appreciated by the Amish, and how to develop library collections in areas that appeal to the Amish. The Amish community has the potential to be very supportive of library services and is a group worth cultivating.
1:45 – 2:00 PM
Break
2:00 – 3:15 PM
Partnering With Business Organizations
Rachelle Ramsey, Reference Librarian, and Travis Bautz, Manager of Adult Services, Dayton Metro Library
There were an estimated 834,000 small businesses in Ohio in 2003 and more than 22,000 of them were new businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Dayton Metro Library has partnered with several community organizations to provide information to these entrepreneurs as well as to people who are just starting a new business. Their programs focus on small business funding and the basics of starting a new business. The library also offers drop-in, one-on-one business counseling sessions. A Lunch N Learn series brings entrepreneurs together for networking. The library's community partners include the Small Business Administration, Dayton SCORE, and Aileron, an operating foundation dedicated to providing education for entrepreneurs.
Gadgets and Gizmos Galore
Glen Horton, Technology Coordinator, Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium
As libraries provide more information in digital formats and make wireless networks available, more patrons will be bringing their own technology to the library with them. Call them gadgets. Call them toys. Patrons are hungry to access content on these devices. Can your library support them? Come learn about present and future gadgets that may show up at your library.
The “Other” Reference: Reader's Advisory
Nancy Bruck, Reference Librarian; Jan Nottingham, Branch Manager; and Cheryl Wirtley, Branch Manager, Dayton Metro Library
More than just a collection of titles to recommend, this program will take you through the Readers' Advisory transaction from start to finish. Learn about print and Internet sources, trends in literature, and new, emerging authors. The session will include audience participation, so be prepared to share a book you've enjoyed or even one you didn't enjoy.
Job Hunters: How Can Libraries Help?
Bonnie Easton, Librarian, Cuyahoga County Public Library
Job hunters today have many questions. Where do I look for information about different careers? What will be the hot jobs for the next 10 years? How do I write a resume? How can I locate job openings online? The librarian from the Career Center of the Cuyahoga County Public Library will help you find answers from both print and online sources to these questions and more.
Tell Julia Where to Stick It! A Panel Discussion on Collection Conundrums
Julia Walden, Branch Manager, Clark County Public Library
Come on…you know you want to! Come to this exciting discussion on collection placement and tell Julia where to stick it! If you've ever debated the practice of interfiling paperbacks with hardbacks or DVD's with books, or maybe you display your magazines by subject and shelve your 790s with your AV collections, then experience this unique panel discussion on where libraries put things and why. What collection collaborations work for some? What moves have been disastrous for others? Is there a right or wrong way to file materials? Join us for what will prove an interesting and open dialogue on 101 places to stick your collection.
3:15 – 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 – 4:45 PM
Helping the Nonprofit Sector with Foundation Center Resources
Virginia Palmer, Dayton Metro Library and David Holmes, The Foundation Center
Standing as the "third sector," alongside business and government, the nonprofit sector employs about a 10th of the U.S. workforce, contributes significantly to the economy, and supplies vital community needs. This sector carries sufficient size, scope, and impact to warrant targeted service from local public libraries. Learn in this session about the Foundation Center and its system of Cooperating Collections. The Foundation Center offers a wealth of print and electronic resources–including an information-rich Web site–useful to staff, board members, volunteers, friends, and funders of nonprofit organizations. This session will also discuss the development of Dayton Metro Library's Grants Information Center and methods for any public library to provide supplemental programming and outreach activities that connect resources with the community of grantseekers and grantmakers.
What's a Card Catalog Again? Emerging Technologies That Will Change the Way You Work
Patty Fonseca, Assistant Director and Matt Naylor, IT Manager, Clark County Public Library
Just when you thought it was safe to get back behind a book! You finally learned that an MP3 player is not an ESPN sportsmanship award. Or that a USB port was not where Aunt Lucy's cruise docked in the Caribbean . But RFID? And self check-ins? And tablet PCs? When did we arrive in 2050? For many libraries across the nation, the future is now. Join Patty Fonseca and Matt Naylor as they introduce new technologies that will directly impact the way you work with materials, library space, and your partners–presented in library lingo!
Proactive Reference: Meeting Customers on Their Terms
Jodi Lee and Christopher Korenowsky, Managers, Columbus Metropolitan Library
Remove reference desks and approach customers before they approach us? What!?! These ideas are part of an innovation known as proactive reference. At the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), proactive reference is leading your team to understand and embrace a proactive, hand's-on, service model that gives individual attention to each customer. Reference teams strive to make floor-walking, proactive, high-touch service the minimal expectation as staff focuses on anticipating and responding to customer needs. Creating an environment that empowers staff to provide above and beyond reference service all day, every day is the library's goal. Attend this session and learn how CML is making a difference in the lives of their customers and their community.
Perceptions and Realities: Building the User-Driven Library
George Needham, OCLC
OCLC's Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources reports on the results of a survey of nearly 3,400 online information users in six countries. The report has sparked considerable discussion of the ways people understand and evaluate the services provided by libraries, search engines, and bookstores. In this program, George Needham will look at these results and lead an open discussion of what they mean for library staff, administrators, board members, and, most importantly, users. ( Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources , OCLC, 2005; available at http://www.oclc.org/reports for free download.)
Marketing Your Funding Challenged Library
Susan McClellan, Director, Avalon Public Library, Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
What are some low-cost, effective ways to market your library? What new services will you have to market in the future to your customers? What are the best ways to market your library inside and outside the community? This session will examine how to conduct a successful marketing campaign, identify low-cost marketing tools and methods, enhance your marketing plan to support your library in the rapidly changing environment, and promote discussion about library marketing in the future.
5:00 PM
Conference Reception
Unwind after a busy conference day with your colleagues from across the state. There'll be relaxing piano music, complimentary hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar. OLC will provide ample information on popular restaurants and destinations within the city for your evening's enjoyment. You can make plans to have dinner with your friends or just relax in your hotel room with your current favorite book.
Agenda
Thursday, September 14
8:00 AM
Breakfast Buffet
9:00 – 10:15 AM
Bridging the Gap: How to Use Zines and Graphic Novels to Bring Teens and Lost Patrons Back to the Library
Anastasia Diamond, Librarian, Popular Library and Angeline Kapferer, Teen Librarian, Cuyahoga County Public Library
Are you familiar with zines? What about Bust or Giant Robot magazines? Zines are DIY magazines published by everyone from your local librarian to teens living in your community. Zines and alternative publications have the potential to allow your library to connect with disenfranchised, younger adults who may have stopped visiting the library. Find out how the Cleveland Public Library's zine collection was created, with buy-in on every level, from the circulation department to the administration. Learn how to incorporate zines and other alternative media into your collection with positive results.
Destination Your Space: The Art of Browsing @ Your Library
Julia Walden, Branch Manager, Clark County Public Library and Evelyn Janoch, Adult Services Manager, Rocky River Public Library
Examine. Flip through. Peruse. Read. Survey. Wander. Whatever name you give it, society's love of browsing has set the course for the modern library. If your stacks see more dust than people, or if your patrons stay fixed at the “New Arrivals,” then join Janoch and Walden as they offer simple, affordable, and practical suggestions that will move patrons past the reserve pick-up desk and into every collection of your library! Learn how to create engaging and interactive seating areas, organize breakout collections, and modify floor plans to transform your library from storage space to destination place.
Purchasing and Marketing Materials for Generation X in Public Libraries
Karen Sykeny, Collection Development and YA Librarian, Massillon Public Library
This program discusses and builds on the basic skill of collection development. Attendees will learn and define Generation X, and explore the differences between the four major living generations in the U.S. today. You'll learn how to use marketing information and strategies; in-house, low-cost public service and collection surveys; circulation statistics; and behavior and interest characteristics to create excellent, comprehensive, all-format adult fiction and non-fiction collections that best serve Gen-Xers. Learn the tools and resources to help you stay tuned into the culture, background, and experiences that shaped this generation's reading tastes.
Balancing Act: Privacy and the Public's Safety
Mary Stansbury, Associate Professor, SLIS, Kent State University
How's your sense of balance? Reauthorization of the Patriot Act has done very little to clear up the difficulties of balancing the protection of individual privacy with the potential for endangering the public. The layers of services provided by libraries, from local to statewide, cause library staff to walk multiple tightropes when it comes to patron privacy. This session will describe the current state of the Patriot Act, other privacy-related policy efforts, and the obligations to consider when participating in networked services. This session will also introduce tools and methods for libraries to use when confronted with a situation that requires a new policy, procedure, or operation related to protecting patron privacy.
A Million Little Memoirs: (Mostly) Nonfiction Reader's Advisory
Wendy Bethel, Adult Services, Upper Arlington Public Library
Memoirs have exploded onto the publishing scene in recent years. There are even now genres within the genre of memoir. There are foodie memoirs and books about not eating at all; there are stories of addiction and recovery and addiction and not recovering; tales of good childhoods and bad ones; and accounts of finding a faith, and of leaving one. Then there are the books about not much in particular written by authors who make even the minutiae of daily life fascinating. Come prepared to share your favorites and listen to a truly obsessed librarian talk as fast as she can on her favorite subject. And, yes, there will be booklists!
10:15 – 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 – 11:45 AM
A KnowItNow Update
Kristen Pool, Project Coordinator, and Noah Himes, Project Specialist, KnowItNow Online Reference Service
KnowItNow , Ohio 's 24x7 online reference service, celebrates its 2 nd anniversary on September 7, 2006. Over the last two years, KnowItNow has become the busiest online reference service in the world, thanks to strong marketing, partnerships with other Ohio educational and library organizations, and support from dozens of libraries around the state. In this presentation, KnowItNow Managers will give an update about the service, discuss goals for Year 3, share creative ways libraries have promoted the service to patrons, and let you know how your library can become a more active KnowItNow supporter, either as a promoter or as a provider. KnowItNow is a service of the State Library of Ohio through an Institute for Museum and Library Services Grant.
The Price of Fees and Services
Mary Stansbury, Associate Professor, SLIS, Kent State University; Panelist's names forthcoming
What does it cost public libraries to charge fees for their services? Some of those costs are easy to identify such as the costs charged by a collection agency for late materials. Other costs are harder to pin down. What is the expense of losing a patron? What is the public relations cost? The public relations gain? What is the expense of prohibiting access to information? This session will explore the mechanical aspects of fees for services including recent Ohio legislation and will explore the big issues that are related to fees for services–intellectual freedom, access to information, and the public library as public good.
Listener's Advisory: Recommending Great Audiobooks
Gary Branson, Director, London Public Library
What makes books so good on audio and some books real duds? This session will discuss what makes a good audiobook–from narrators to story, from authors to genres, and from abridged to unabridged. We will talk about audiobooks and help you to make better recommendations. Also come prepared to talk about your personal favorites.
A Fresh Look at Databases: Yarmando's Perspective
Don Yarman, Library Services Manager, OPLIN
Other speakers are talking about new models of proactive services, interactive and emergent technologies, and changing user expectations. What effect does this evolving environment have on the development, selection, marketing, and use of research databases? Learn about new trends in interface design, information delivery, and database subscription management in Ohio and beyond. We'll look at subscription resources that may soon be accessible from Google, authentication of unaware remote users, and the growing need to push information out to where people are rather than making them come through our physical and virtual doors to find it.
Copyright in the Age of Electronics
Jon Iten, Legal Counsel to OLC, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease
Does the proliferation of electronic resources in public libraries complicate issues of copyright? Consider these questions: What are the legalities of patrons burning CDs and DVDs from library copies? Watching DVDs on library computers without public performance rights? Downloading copyrighted music on library computers and burning to disk? Copying music to iPods and MP3s? And what about WiFi? Should the library monitor what people are doing with their personal laptops in the library? Can libraries monitor? In this session, OLC's Legal Counsel Jon Iten will present the answers to these questions and more–helping you to keep on track with variations on the themes of copyright law in a digital age.
11:45 AM
Lunch
12:30 – 2:00 PM
Closing Summary Session
Aaron Schmidt is not only a presenter at this conference, he also is a participant–attending breakout sessions, sharing meals with participants, and networking. During this closing session he and other major participants including Rick Rubin, Margaret Danziger, and Steve Wood will share insights into what they've learned at the conference and interact with audience members during a Q & A session.
2:00 – 2:30 PM
Adjournment
