Know More

Two Upcoming Webinars

I heard about the following webinar from Leah Langby at Indianhead Federated Library System. The webinar is free and registration is not required.

Title: Welcoming People with Disabilities - Etiquette Dos

Date: Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010
Time: 2:00PM - 3:00PM PDT (that would mean 4-5 pm our time)
Where: CforAT Webinar Room at: http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsa723520317e3  (no password is required)
Trainer: Jennifer McDonald-Peltier, MS ATP

Description: This is a presentation of some of the environmental, material, and attitudinal barriers people with disabilities face, and ways to minimize these obstacles in your organization. We will discuss ways to arrange your space to be inviting to people with various access needs, ways to format outreach materials to be accessible to a wide audience, and general codes of conduct for respectfully working with clients with various disabilities.

This next webinar opportunity arrived in my email this afternoon and sounds really interesting:

Title: Content, Focus and Quality in the Library Discovery Experience

Date:    Tuesday, September 7 at 2 p.m. EDT (that would mean 1 p.m. CDT)

Internet search engines provide access to knowledge and information with speed, convenience, and on a mind-bendingly vast scale. What does this mean for libraries that have seen themselves as a first stop for general reference as well as serious research? What does a library have to offer when the search for entertainment, knowledge, and information almost always begins somewhere else?

National Public Radio’s longest serving librarian, Kee Malesky, will lead a panel of librarians who are demonstrating to their communities of users that the library can provide a context, quality, and audience-focused discovery experience that is beyond what the search engines offer. These three very different institutions from across the country will discuss the strategy, technology, local content, and best practices they are developing to deliver a differentiated user experience.

Registration is required for this free webinar.

Advocacy for Libraries: In Our Own Interest

The next Sirsi-Dynix Institute is scheduled for Wednesday, August 18 from noon to 1 p.m. (CDT). The topic for August is advocacy and features Stephen Abram, former VP at Sirsi-Dynix and currently a VP for Gale Cengage.

As promised at the event on Capitol Hill in D.C. at ALA Annual 2010, SirsiDynix and Gale Cengage Learning present a webinar on advocating for libraries. Advocacy has two main goals - to promote the library and to gain support, funding and endorsement of libraries' roles in our communities and society. Stephen Abram has been involved in both internationally for his entire career. This session will explore both tried and true methods as well as some of the emerging strategies that are gaining traction. As the world of information and technology changes rapidly, it is even more critical that libraryland positions itself well for the future. Libraries matter. 

Registration is required for this free webinar.

Upcoming programs

I heard about two upcoming programs in my email this week and wanted to pass the information along to you.

First, the next SirsiDynix Institute program is all about advocacy. Advocacy for Libraries: In Our Own Interest  with Stephen Abram presenting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 3 at noon. Register here.

Description from the SirsiDynix Institute page:

As promised at the event on Capitol Hill in D.C. at ALA Annual 2010, SirsiDynix and Gale Cengage Learning present a webinar on advocating for libraries. Advocacy has two main goals -  to promote the library and to gain support, funding and endorsement of libraries' roles in our communities and society. Stephen Abram has been involved in both internationally for his entire career. This session will explore both tried and true methods as well as some of the emerging strategies that are gaining traction. As the world of information and technology changes rapidly, it is even more critical that libraryland positions itself well for the future. Libraries matter.

Second from Library Journal and School Library Journal. They're holding a Virtual Summit called Ebooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point. This sounds like a timely and interesting program featuring speakers Ray Kurzweill, David Lankes, and Kevin Kelly. It's not a free program, but the cost is only $19.95 until July 30th and $29.95 after that. Here's the description:

ebooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point will bring together public libraries, academic libraries, and school libraries (K-12) in a day-long virtual conference environment. The day will include keynote presentations and panel discussions on the evolving concept of the book in a digital world and will keep participants future-focused and actively engaged in visioning and assuring an exciting role for libraries.

• Librarians and library administrators will learn about current best practices for library ebook collections and explore new and evolving models for ebook content discovery and delivery.
• Publishers and content creators will learn how to effectively identify and develop the right content offerings for each segment of the relatively untapped library ebook market.
• Ebook platform vendors and device manufacturers will learn just what libraries need and want in this rapidly changing environment.

CE Grant funds may be used for the registration fee. Register here.

SirsiDynix Instititute: From Libraries to Lifebraries

I know I've mentioned this one before, but I want to highlight it again. The featured speaker for this program is Helene Blowers, Director of Digital Strategy at Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio. You may recall that we had Helene present Innovation Starts with I back in May and her presentation was phenomenal!

Here are the details for next week's program:

Wednesday, December 9 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (Eastern) - that's noon to 1 p.m. for us here in the Central Time Zone

More information and registration can be found here.

Hope to "see" you there!

SirsiDynix Institute Webinars

The SirsiDynix Institute is back! I was pleased to see the announcement today of two upcoming SirsiDynix Institute programs. I find these free webinars to be very useful and applicable to all types of libraries.  SirsiDynix Institute programs use Adobe Connect* to present their programs. 

• We can count 'em...but do they count? Challenges in assessing ROI from information services, Tuesday, November 17 at 12 p.m. (CST) with Ulla de Stricker presenting
• From Libraries to Lifrebraries, Wednesday, December 9 at 12 p.m. (CST) with Helene Blowers presenting.

For more information or to register, visit the SirsiDynix Institute. If you're not able to attend the programs live, SirsiDynix maintains an archive of the programs on their site. Watch one at your convenience!

* LINK Libraries - I checked with Brian at the Help Desk about the system requirements for Adobe Connect and LINK PCs should meet the requirements. If you decide to attend one of these programs and have problems, please contact the Help Desk.

Online Conference

In case you don't read Stephen's Lighthouse, today's blog posting is all about an upcoming online conference called "The Art of Fundraising and Grant Writing: an Online Conference."  Here's a preview of the conference agenda:

Keynote speakers include the amazing Peter Pearson who is President of the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library in Minnesota. This organization is unique in that it is both a Friends Group and a Foundation. The organization has assets of approximately 12 million dollars at its disposal. Pearson recently spoke at ALA and will discuss how the economy is or isn’t affecting fundraising and basics to keep in mind for success at fundraising. Kitty Pope, Executive Director of the Alliance Library System, is the second keynote speaker. She will speak on grant writing and how in today’s world, it takes a team to plan and implement successful grant writing and projects. No longer is grant writing done by one person; now successful grant projects require the support of the entire organization and staff on all levels with various expertise to see a successful grant from start to implementation of and reporting on the project.

The conference is scheduled for Thursday, November 19th and will run from 10 a.m. CST through 4:30 p.m. CST. The cost for the day-long online conference is only $69 - CE grant funds may be used towards this fee.  What a deal!

I attended my first online conference back in June or July and enjoyed it - for the most part.  There were a few technical difficulties, of course, but it was nice to be able to participate in a conference without leaving my desk.  An new and intriguing way to attend a conference.  If you attend, let me know how it was!