Marketing Library Services: From Posters to Platforms

No matter how visible your reference desk is, no matter how many information literacy session your librarians teach, no matter how many students come through your library doors each day, there is a need in all libraries for savvy, creative marketing campaigns. We can no longer rely on word-of-mouth to get the message out about what the library can do for students, faculty and staff. This presentation will examine the ups and downs of creating and, especially, maintaining several social media platforms. We will also present some kick-it old school techniques that have proved successful and suggestions on how to promote them. Time and money are always issues, so we will also include time and money saving tips and suggests for your marketing campaigns

Universal Design, the Library, and Assistive Adaptive Technologies

The effort to find ways to make everything from doorways to websites more accessible to people with physical and learning disabilities is synonymous with the term “Universal Design”. In this presentation we will explore how Universal Design principles, guidelines, and performance indicators can be applied to library instruction, information technology, physical spaces, and student services. Attendees will walk away with tips and tricks, resources and best practices that will help make instruction, educational products, and environments accessible to all students, including those with disabilities.To access the session handout, click on the Download button on the right

A Community of Practice: Librarians in a Biomedical Research Network

Providing library and reference services within a biomedical research community presents special challenges for librarians, especially those in historically lower-funded states. These challenges can include understanding needs, defining and communicating the library’s role, building relationships, and developing and maintaining general and subject specific knowledge. This article describes a biomedical research network and the work of health sciences librarians at the lead intensive research institution with librarians from primarily undergraduate institutions and tribal colleges and universities. Applying the concept of a “community of practice” to a collaborative effort suggests how librarians can work together to provide effective reference services to researchers in biomedicine

And One Device Will Rule Them All: Make Way for Mobile Technologies

We are well aware that most members of our campus communities are highly dependent on mobile technologies. What are the implications for libraries? What are the implications for teaching these technologies and via these technologies? How can we keep our colleagues up to speed in this maelstrom of technology? We can now use WorldCat.org on our mobile phones, and EBSCOhost just released its customized application for mobile device users. How can we integrate these new services into an already full menu of services? How do we get started, and which services should we be providing? How can we best integrate these devices into formal and ubiquitous learning? As with most technological developments, the move towards mobile is rapid. This is not a time to sit on the sidelines and wait while other campus units develop services for mobile users, and license content for mobile devices. However, smaller libraries with limited budgets and staff cannot simply jump on the mobile bandwagon without due deliberation and planning. Libraries must make informed, deliberate choices. This group panel will lay out issues that should be discussed within individual campuses that might wish to examine their own role in the move to mobile services. What types of mobile devices are being used on your campus? Are there disciplines already implementing mobile devices in their curriculum? Which user groups might you target specific library services towards? Should the library serve as a training center for mobile devices and the use of mobile content? What are a few ways libraries might provide instruction and information literacy for mobile device users? How can libraries most effectively integrate mobile devices into formal and informal instruction? What are usability and functionality issues that libraries must address as they provide website access to mobile users? A demonstration will be provided on how libraries can use Smartphone Browser Emulators to test applications. What are the implications for the physical spaces in libraries given the use of mobile devices

Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus

Launched in 2005, this open-access, online journal provides a forum for scholars, artists, and practitioners to share their work and promote critical dialogue on new media art. The initial edition was created from papers of the New Media Caucus at the College Art Association (CAA) conference

Health, education, and social care provision after diagnosis of childhood visual disability

Aim: To investigate the health, education, and social care provision for children newly diagnosed with visual disability.Method: This was a national prospective study, the British Childhood Visual Impairment and Blindness Study 2 (BCVIS2), ascertaining new diagnoses of visual impairment or severe visual impairment and blindness (SVIBL), or equivalent vi-sion. Data collection was performed by managing clinicians up to 1-year follow-up, and included health and developmental needs, and health, education, and social care provision.Results: BCVIS2 identified 784 children newly diagnosed with visual impairment/SVIBL (313 with visual impairment, 471 with SVIBL). Most children had associated systemic disorders (559 [71%], 167 [54%] with visual impairment, and 392 [84%] with SVIBL). Care from multidisciplinary teams was provided for 549 children (70%). Two-thirds (515) had not received an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP). Fewer children with visual impairment had seen a specialist teacher (SVIBL 35%, visual impairment 28%, χ2p < 0.001), or had an EHCP (11% vs 7%, χ2p < 0 . 01).Interpretation: Families need additional support from managing clinicians to access recommended complex interventions such as the use of multidisciplinary teams and educational support. This need is pressing, as the population of children with visual impairment/SVIBL is expected to grow in size and complexity.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

There is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch: Free Software for Ease of Access AND Improved Productivity

Technology provides a terrific way to remove obstacles to learning. Many of the available tools are free, but what are they? This session will highlight tools such as Evernote products, GoogleDocs, Natural Reader, Fire Vox, ssOverlay, MindMeister, Windows built in products, and more. While these products can be used by libraries as adaptive technologies to provide access, they also can be used to increase day-to-day productivity of library staff and patrons

Bending the Ties that Bind: Navigating Technological Change as a Member of a Consortium

Library consortia exist for a number of reasons and have the main benefit of increasing access to a greater number of resources for its members. As with any muscle-bound entity, it is strong but not always flexible. The politics of decision-making within consortia vary as intra-consortial power is often dependent on the working dynamics of the different institutions within the larger system. The presenters for this session represent two different consortia and different institutional roles within their consortia. One is from a public flagship university within a system and the other is in a library that is geographically and programmatically removed from the flagship. Even with these differences, they both confronted similar difficulties when trying to establish institutional access for their library resources. Topics that will be addressed include a single sign-on system, configuring RSS feeds from the library catalog, customizing databases and other resources within the consortium, and negotiating licenses. The presenters will compare stories of how they were able to effect institutional change within their respective consortia and share the challenges of each

Is Your Library Compliant? Online Access Reviews From the Office of Civil Rights

Is your online content truly accessible to individuals with sensory disabilities? Do you know who your institution\u27s Section 504 coordinator is? (What is a 504 coordinator?) Does your library strategic plan ensure the accessibility of all your online content? Recent compliance reviews by the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights have demonstrated the need for online content from college and university libraries to be fully accessible. All online materials--from an institution\u27s home page to online courses--must be proactively accessible. Accommodation is no longer an acceptable strategy. Presenters will provide information on recent compliance reviews, student complaints, and consent decrees related to online accessibility in higher education. Discussion will ensue on what libraries can do to institute changes