Tuesday Night: Web Faceoff 2.0 was great!!!

This was a wonderful, FUN gathering.  I took the afternoon off (major info overload).  The whole idea of teams competing to present the "kewlest" Web 2.0 tools was great....and I'm gonna look into this "unconferencing" thing I've been hearing about.  I suspect it's more like tonight's session and less like today's (no offense meant to the speakers who put a lot of hard work into their shows).  It's just that something looser is more my style, I think.

That said, let's be clear: I haven't heard the words "student learning outcome" or "accreditation" ONCE during this conference...and I'm delighted to have taken a respite from that before I head back to SoCal and reality.

Day 2 Workshop: Creating Web 2.0 Apps w/ SharePoint

By Danielle Pollock, Sandia National Laboratories.  Excellent presentation on using SharePoint for both in-house and outside users.  In a college environment, that would be staff and students, respectively.  Since my college already subscribes to this service, using it for blogging with students would be a natural.  Also, I like the idea Danielle suggested of creating an announcements page.  This could be a game-changer for my library.

Great Opening Keynote Speech/and Today's Workshops

Dr. John Seely Brown (author of "The New Culture of Learning") spoke about "entrepreneurial learners in the digital age".  It was a packed house here at IL.  He described education as moving from a "world of stocks" to a "world of flows".  In this new world, canons will have much less sway over thinking.  Most importantly it seems, the entrepreneurial learner is moved by his/her own curiosity.  Still processing all this.

20 Steps to Creating Web-Based Library Services/just what I need to learn!  And great to meet Sarah Houghton, the well-known "Librarian in Black" in person.

Advances in Discovery Engines/I've sung the praises of discovery searching on this blog and am pleased that Oxnard College and its sister colleges will be adopting Primo Search in our new Voyager catalogs.  However, it was good to hear a "reality check" from Greg Notess of Montana State University in a "blunt update".  Maybe discovery searching's results aren't what vendors crack them up to be.

Best Betas for Learning & Navigating/An engaging talk from Gary Price on the newest, coolest and greatest Web tools.  I need to find his presentation notes, etc.

Developing a Mobile Presence/ Good, practical advice from three librarians in very different settings, including a public library in Denmark.  Hearing all this makes me realize:  we MUST learn how to integrate mobile services into OC Library.

E-Collections and E-Devices/Two librarians from Univ. of Nevada-Reno  spoke at this session.  Tod Colegrove talked about the Apple Store as a great model for libraries to follow.  Apple's service model is based on creating an ongoing relationship with its customers.  Tod mentioned Best Buy as...well.. the opposite of Apple and a poor example for libraries to use.  I completely agree.  Libraries tend to focus too much on their "wares" and not enough on their services.  Lisa Kurt described setting up an "e-reader bar" to let patrons "test drive" the new technologies, again patterned after what the Apple Store does.  Definitely food for thought here.  Elena M. from the World Bank gave us a taste of working for such a large, worldwide organization and the challenges of handling mobile devices for hundreds of employees.

For me, there was also an unrelated "aha" moment:  realizing that Tod and Lisa's library is called the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, Univ. of Nevada, Reno.  I like that idea a lot: "knowledge center" to collectively describe library, learning resources, tutoring, etc.  Also well worth considering!

Great "Dine Around" at Ambrosia

A tasty and networking-filled meeting was had by seven of us at Ambrosia in downtown Monterey.  Excellent Indian food.  Thanks to the Information Today folks for organizing these get-togethers.  Ready to learn about library web pages and mobile computing in libraries tomorrow morning.

Headed Over to the "Gadgets Petting Zoo" in a bit...

...and I realized some things I should have brought on this trip:  cables for transferring photos!  Oops.  Some Internet Librarian blogger I am...oh, well...my erudite prose will just have to make up for it.~~Tom

Arrival in Monterey!!!

...and the "adventure" begins again...but conference will start for real tomorrow afternoon.  Time to figure out some tourism with the family for Sunday morning.

Back Online for Internet Librarian 2011 in Monterey, CA

http://www.infotoday.com/il2011/

Hello, world--I started this "excellent adventure" blog back in Spring 2011 for my sabbatical leave from Oxnard College.  This morning, I saw the invitation to join with bloggers at IL 2011.  What the heck...a "library adventure" is an ongoing thing, eh?  It doesn't have to end just because a person's leave is over.  So...I'll be checking in from this great conference.  Here's to blogging (and F2F) encounters in the wonderful beach city of Monterey.