Oxnard College Library Learning Resource Center Dedication, May 9, 2012

It was a beautiful day a week ago when we dedicated our new building.  The weather was perfect, the speeches were short and heartfelt and we heard lots of great comments about the building.  We haven't moved it yet; that takes place over the intersession, which starts today.  We'll be officially moved in and opened at 8:00 am on Monday, June 18, the first day of summer session.  Best wishes to the College's Spring 2012 graduates, whose commencement is today at 6:00 pm.

Without further ado, the photos...

 One of the second floor areas where the reference books will "live".

 Second floor periodical reading area.

 Jeff Erskine, IT manager, looking over the new library classroom/computer lab, where library instruction will take place.

 Yep...this is me, your friendly associate librarian, Tom Stough. 

 Beverley Young, Ray Acosta and Tina Sasaki.

 Connie Campos, Dean Marjie Price and a student worker from the Liberal Studies Division.

 Derek Stalcup, former student worker in our old Media Center.  Derek will be a library science intern for us during the summer and fall semesters and we're glad to have him help us with the transition.

 Former library dean Delois Flowers, my boss from 2000-2007.

 Delois' daughter Kenna and a friend.

 Outgoing student health director, and emcee extraordinaire Mary Jones, being honored for her years of service to Oxnard College.  She is transferring to Ventura College soon.

 Unveiling the plaque...

 ...and the plaque itself.

Another view of the classroom with Diva Ward, learning resources supervisor and Ellen Carey, librarian from Santa Barbara City College.

Community colleges, and the State of California, face many challenges these days...but let's take a moment to mark this special  new beginning of improved library and learning resource services begin at Oxnard College.  We shall prevail.

Unconference @ Santa Barbara City College Library

 Organized by SBCC Library Director Kenley Neufeld and his able band of librarians and staffers...this Unconference on May 5, 2012 had some excellent presentations for California community college librarians in general.  I learned about new and innovative ways to collect and use reference desk usage data, for example.  Digesting all the ideas from this and previous conferences will be one of my summer projects.

With views like the one above, how does anyone ever get any work done at SBCC??  I've been wanting to try an unconference since I first learned of the concept in October at Internet Librarian.  It's great:  cheap, easy and informal....

 ...did I say, "informal"??  I never quite got the rhythm to keep the Hula Hoop spinning, but had fun trying!

From my deep, dark past at Los Angeles Public Library:  the infamous "shelvers from hell" T-shirt!  Thanks to Sarah Bosler for taking these shots.

Come one, come all to the dedication of the new Library Learning Resource Center (LLRC) at Oxnard College.  It's on Wednesday, May 9 @ 4:00 pm.  Please consult your "engraved invitation" at:  LLRC Dedication

Please note:  the building will not be officially open to the public until Monday, June 18 (the first day of summer session).

Regards/Tom

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.