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.

This full-day interactive workshop is designed for new business librarians; generalists who have assumed responsibility in business librarianship; or librarians who handle business reference-related inquiries in all types of libraries including academic, public and special libraries. This workshop will provide librarians with a broad conceptual understanding of business topics in four major business disciplines: Accounting, Finance, Marketing, and Management. This preconference will complement Business 101, which focuses on business reference, business resources, and collection development. This is a repeat and updated version of the 2009 preconference.

Looking for inventive ideas for promoting library services? The New Jersey State Library developed "The Outspoken Library" to promote free online services that are available for print-disabled people. This program allows library customers to access services administered through the State Library's Talking Book & Braille Center (TBBC), including audio newspapers (TBBC's Audiovision and NFB's Newsline) and the Library of Congress's Braille and Audio Reading Download service. Find out how to establish and market these valuable resources.

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.

The Santa Ana Public Library has developed a proven method of mentoring and professional guidance to recruit bilingual Spanish-speaking high school students, college-age youth, and MLIS students in a combined volunteer and paid internship program that provides exposure to the profession, hands-on experience, and mentored training in library-specific tasks. The presenters are all participants of the library's "Seeds to Trees" program at various stages of educational development: high school, community college, college, and LIS programs.

Learn how libraries are serving as safe and neutral places to promote engagement and civic discourse. Nancy Kranich, Chair of the American Library Association's Center for Civic Life Advisory Board presents an overview of civic engagement programs taking place in libraries today. Librarians from across the field will share specific examples of different types of successful civic engagement programming that can work for you.

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.

This session focuses on how public libraries in regionally, economically, and ethnically diverse communities deliver, promote, fund, and sustain essential literacy services for adult learners -- native English speakers and English language learners . This broad examination of library literacy services will illustrate the importance of establishing the public library as a literacy partner and community asset, resource, and advocate. Attendees will have access to print, digital resources including toolkits, assessment tools, and tips sheets. Sponsored by ALA’s Committee on Literacy in collaboration with California Library Literacy Services (CLLS), a service of the California State Library.

Be it strategic planning, tracking operational performance, report filings, stakeholder relations, customer satisfaction, accreditation, etc., data management (collecting and report output and sharing) is increasingly "mission critical." This session will demonstrate a practical, integrated and affordable solution for these issues.

"21st century challenges require 21st century solutions."

Sponsored by Counting Opinions.

Do you still need to convince others of the value of using graphic novels in your libraries and schools? If so, this session will provide you with research, circulation data, and strategies for justifying the use of graphic novels with patrons and students. A panel of graphic novel gurus will provide the ammunition you need to convince others of the validity of having graphic novels in your collections.

Speakers:
- Robin Brenner, Young Adult Librarian, Brookline Public Library, MA
- Karen Gavigan, Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina
- Kat Kan, School Librarian, St. John's Catholic School, Panama City, FL
- Robin Moeller, Assistant Professor, School of Library Science, Leadership and Educational Studies, Appalachian State University
- John Shableski, President of 4ColorPerspective, Consultant, Wildcat Comic Con

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).

Novelty and innovation are needed to respond to today's challenges. Libraries and librarians are hungry for new and creative approaches to asking questions and finding answers.

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

A case study of the partnership between the Queens Library and the Exploratorium. How to bring children and science together in a fun and hand-on environment.

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.

The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf is an NEH initiative, co-presented with ALA, that seeks to increase Americans’ understanding of the rich cultural heritage associated with Islamic civilizations around the world by providing public libraries with a new set of resources, vetted by scholars, that will introduce Muslim cultures to Americans and foster appreciation of the pluralism of cultural forms and traditions within the Muslim world. Attend this session to learn more about applying for the collection and developing related community programs.

There’s an e-reader in one of every four hands, but users can’t easily access digital content through your library. Your library has local content you need to digitize and make more visible, perhaps to the world. Your community is creating unique, born digital content at a rapid pace, but these collections aren’t yet connected to your library services. These are common concerns, now connected through a complex ecosystem driven by trends in digital content and the near ubiquity of personal technologies. But as a library leader grappling with all this at once, how do you decide where to start? Cathy De Rosa (OCLC) and Martin Gomez (USC and former Los Angeles Public Library director) will host and facilitate a panelist and audience discussion on how trends in digital content could impact public library services; panelists will discuss the outcomes of a November 2011 convening of public library leaders regarding digital services and public libraries, will present on the primary themes emerging from national conversations about public library digital services, consider ongoing activities and likely partnerships, and make recommendations for future discussion and action.

PLAmetrics (PLA PLDS Statistical Report data)
Learn more about how to innovate and optimize your library's use of http://plametrics.org

The MARS Conference Program Planning Committee has produced a program on the use of mobile devices in libraries as communication tools between librarians and library patrons. Mobile devices are increasingly being used to provide libraries with the opportunity to disperse information at the exact point of need. This program will explore the importance of libraries supporting mobile technologies for the dissemination and acquisition of information.

Joan Lippincott, Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information, will speak about why libraries should embrace communicating with patrons through mobile devices.

Kristin Antelman, Associate Director for the Digital Library at NCSU Libraries, will speak about mobile initiatives at NCSU including WolfWalk, a photographic guide to the history of NCSU optimized for mobile devices.

David Lee King, Digital Branch & Services Manager at the Topeka Public Library, will discuss the social media used to communicate with patrons at the Topeka Public Library.