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!