All Sessions

Targeted at library directors, department heads and senior staff from public, academic and special libraries, this hands-on workshop will train participants in dialogue facilitation skills with proven success in strengthening partnerships, building effective teams across departments and organizations, and raising the profile of the library as a center for community life. Participants will leave with valuable facilitation skills that can immediately be put to use for their libraries and communities.

Changes in the economic and information landscape of higher education and technology demand that academic libraries develop new solutions to meet changing user expectations, and prepare our organizations for future directions. All academic library Associate University Librarians, Associate Deans, Assistant Directors, or equivalent ranked senior personnel who are interested in discussing organizational change are welcome to attend.

Discussions of interest to trainers for the Program for Cooperative Cataloging.

Do you belong in RUSA? Come learn more about this the Reference and User Services Association--a division of ALA. We represent librarians, library staff and leaders in readers' advisory, collection development, genealogy, reference services, adult services, business reference, archives, interlibrary loan and resource sharing, reference technologies and more. Current members looking for ways to get involved with the division are also welcome to attend.

Come hear the latest news about book and journal collections on Project MUSE. Share ideas and questions with fellow users of the platform.

Discovery systems are powerful tools to help users find information resources across the breadth of the library's online holdings. Many of these tools offer APIs for libraries to build their own user interfaces to the search index, allowing a library to keep site visitors within the library until the time they access the full text of a resource. What are the pros and cons of keeping discovery local? This talk will explore the user interaction, interface design, and user expectations of such homegrown interfaces.

The ACRL Arts Discussion Forum

In the evolving research and learning environments, users’ needs have changed and will continue to change. At the same time, budgets are shrinking and greater efficiencies must be realized. Libraries are increasingly looking for new paradigms to deliver improved and completely new services to users. You’ve heard the buzz. Now is your chance to see how Ex Libris’ next-generation management system, Alma, provides a platform for the library of the future. In this session, we’ll discuss some of the key concepts behind the development Alma and see how they’ve been realized through a live demonstration.

Patron-driven acquisition and purchase-on-demand models are being tested in multi-type and same-type library systems and consortia in several pockets of the country. These pilots empower patrons to select print materials, e-books or both for their local library collection while meeting their own immediate information needs. These initiatives allow libraries to test specific theories to gauge the impact a patron-driven acquisition model will have on local and regional collections, circulation, budgets, usage and user services. Join us as we learn from a panel of speakers about some of these initiatives and their outcomes.

As budgets tighten, ensuring maximum usage of the collection is more important now than ever. Libraries are increasingly supplementing their collection development policies with “just-in-time” models of collection development—purchasing and delivering resources at the point of need. Ex Libris’ next-generation library management service, Alma, is designed to allow libraries to shift toward user-driven models of purchasing for both print and electronic resources, in order to increase usage and decrease the overall cost of their collections. Come see how Alma will help libraries build out their collections just in time, rather than just in case.

Increasingly under pressure to demonstrate their value to the objectives of the institution or consortium, libraries are looking for ever more creative ways to improve efficiency and productivity. Powerful analytic capabilities enable libraries to put numbers on their value and to expose tangible evidence of their leading role in the academic lifecycle. From usage data and onwards, analytics shed light on the inner workings of the entire institution, as well as those of the library. Valuable insight into libraries’ operation can be gained via purchasing trends, comparative analysis, and even predictive analysis—helping managers to better to plan their daily operation. During this session will explore ways in which Alma Analytics can take libraries into the next generation.

The greatest challenge for discovery systems is providing users with the most relevant search results out of the immense landscape of content. Similar to human interaction between two parties, where people adjust in tone, language, and subject matter, discovery systems need to “understand” the user’s context as well as the materials’ scholarly value. The session will describe Ex Libris Primo’s approach to relevance ranking. In addition to employing traditional information-retrieval methods that have been adapted to scholarly data, ScholarRank takes into account the intrinsic academic value of materials along with information about the user and the user’s research needs.

A forum where users communicate experiences, ideas and technical expertise related to the use of Ares reserves automation software.

Join us for conversations about new and ongoing issues and opportunities related to collaborative digitization initiatives across a diverse array of consortia, libraries, archives, museums, and cultural heritage institutions. This meeting is open to all and will feature a main presentation (see below) and brief project updates from attendees.

Join us to celebrate ASCLA's annual award recipients, and then participate in organized networking festivities to meet colleagues who share your interests. From ebooks to prison libraries, from collaboration to LSTA, from special populations to independent consulting--we have a topic for you! This event is open to all. Co-sponsored by ASCLA and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA).

A forum where users communicate experiences, ideas and technical expertise related to the use of Aeon Special Collections management software.

Discussion of issues surrounding physical delivery of library materials; courier services; workflow; processing; safety; ergonomics; labeling; and related interlibrary loan topics.

Topics and discussion of interest to participants in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging.

New services from OCLC provide opportunities to create and share at Webscale. Built on the OCLC WorldShare Platform, OCLC WorldShare Interlibrary Loan will replace WorldCat Resource Sharing and help library staff and users quickly and easily obtain the resources they need from libraries worldwide. Plus, new discovery features in WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local give staff the expert features they require. Learn more about how planned changes will benefit your library and its users, the timeframe for their introduction and how you can prepare.

In an overwhelmingly competitive information landscape, the library is forced to find creative ways to showcase its value and prove its relevancy within its user community. Now, the library can reach users wherever they are on the web. This session will introduce the new suite of services based on bX technology, including Hot Articles for your subject, use analytics and data-mining of raw usage data to enrich and expand the researcher’s discovery experience.