I am back from three great days in Toronto. Thanks to all at the Ontario Library Conference for such a wonderful conference experience. It was nice to see friends and colleagues and talk with the librarians from all over Ontario. My slides are from the two presentations are here: January 29: Hyperlinked Learning Experiences at Libraries: MOOCs & Beyond: Download the Slides January 30: MOOCs for Librarians: Key Takeaways from Two Large Scale Professional Development Courses: Download the Slides
Monthly Archives: January 2015
9 posts
Dynamic disruption: transforming the library Submissions deadline 15 April 2015 Val Skelton Programme Director Katherine Allen Conference Director Information Today invites you to submit your presentation ideas for this year’s Internet Librarian International (ILI) – the fast-growing innovation and technology conference that attracts hundreds of global library and information professionals each year. We are seeking innovative case studies and discussions on the ideas, strategies and practical implementations that are helping you make a difference to your organisations, clients and communities. ILI is all about the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience and this year we will also be exploring the ‘big questions’ […]
January 29: Hyperlinked Learning Experiences at Libraries: MOOCs & Beyond. Ontario Library Association, Toronto, Ontario. January 30: MOOCs for Librarians: Key Takeaways from Two Large Scale Professional Development Courses, Ontario Library Association, Toronto, Ontario. February 27, 2015: Keynote – Learning Everywhere: Transformative Power of Hyperlinked Libraries, Alaska Library Association Conference, Juneau, Alaska.
Don’t miss this new venture from Ellyssa Kroski and a great group of writers. It’s a great way to explore some of the ways libraries are reaching out to fan communities of all kinds. http://ccgclibraries.com Welcome to Cosplay, Comics, and Geek Culture in Libraries! This is an exciting time for geeks of all kinds to be involved with libraries as today’s savvy libraries have begun to embrace new ways to engage library patrons such as fandom events, comic book and graphic novel collections, comic cons, cosplay events, and more. The intersection of these interests with libraries is a perfect match […]
And my last column of 2014 – for got to post! http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/11/opinion/michael-stephens/its-about-time-office-hours/ Have you said this in a meeting or a discussion with a colleague? Has this rolled off the tongue when confronted with an unexpected change, a new technology, or another initiative? Many of us are stretched to our limits. I applaud the folks I meet who have absorbed more and more duties as staffing patterns have changed. Just recently, at a meeting of the Council of State Library Agencies in the Northeast in Cape May, NJ, I dined with librarians who were wearing many hats in their evolving […]
My new column is up at Library Journal: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/01/opinion/michael-stephens/actions-and-answers-office-hours/ The attitudes or reflective action, highlighted in an article by Grant and Zeichner (2001), includes open-mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness. All are important and resonate deeply with me and my philosophy of what librarianship should be about. Approaching something with a sense of wholeheartedness means we are all in all the time, not just when it’s convenient. It means bucking the status quo to do the right thing at the right moment. It means owning our actions as professionals. I am most excited about this evolution of who we are and what we do […]
The ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education Task Force has completed a final draft of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. This draft is working its way through the infrastructure of ACRL. (I have previously posted about the Framework on this blog: The New Information Literacy Framework and James Madison, Information as a Human Right: A Missing Threshold Concept?, and Using the New IL Framework to Set a Research Agenda. I should note that I am a member of the Task Force but that I do not officially speak officially for the Task Force in this […]
Don’t miss Michael Casey’s piece at LJ: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/01/shows-events/inside-the-harwood-institutes-innovators-lab-for-libraries/ The idea of asking people about their aspirations (“what kind of community do you want to live in?”) consumed much of the first day of training. Students participated in exercises designed to help them better understand the powerful responses that result from simply asking somebody about their dreams for the community. These conversations help the library focus outward and better understand the rhythms of the local community, gaining a wealth of public knowledge for the library. In one of the first exercises, students broke off into small groups to examine the “stages […]
During my recent commutes to work, I have been enjoying the audio of Jane McGonigal’s 2011 book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World . This is one of those titles that I have always meant to read, and I am just now getting to it. McGonigal’s general thesis is that the compelling aspects of game-play (especially online gaming) can be applied to many areas of life (social problems, routine tasks, etc) in an effort to make life more engaging. While McGonigal has much to offer the library community, her discussion of collaboration […]