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MPR Library Broadcast

Changing technology and the future of libraries

Broadcast: Midmorning, 12/21/2010, 10:06 a.m.

Eager to attract digitally savvy readers, public libraries across the country are expanding their electronic book collections. That’s just one of the ways that today’s libraries are evolving to meet the changing needs of the 21st century library patron.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/12/21/midmorning2/

Guests

  • Lois Langer Thompson: director of the Hennepin County Library.
  • Kit Hadley: director of the St. Paul Public Library.
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Library Futures Kickoff Event

Registration deadline is Wednesday, October 13

“We’re all practical futurists now. The future happens so quickly that we need
to make plans here and now for what will happen next.” –Michael Rogers

Monday, October 18, 2010
University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center, St. Paul
8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (Registration opens at 8:30)
Registration fee: $25.00 (Parking is on your own, $6 for the day)

The Minnesota Library Community is invited to Kick Off the Minnesota Library Futures Initiative. This event will begin the focused conversation that addresses how we can meet the changes occurring in Minnesota libraries now and in the future.

The 24 Minnesota Library Futurists are asked to Envision the Library in 2025. To get them—and the library community—off to a good start the speakers will talk about how to think at the future and offer some action steps. Join them to hear the keynote speakers and then take the opportunity to share your ideas with them during lunch.

To register, visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/lfikickoff
Featuring
Michael Rogers: The Practical Futurist
Michael Rogers, the Practical Futurist, will speak about what it means to be a futurist, how to think about the future, and trends through 2025 including the Virtualization of America. At the end, Michael will give us actions steps.  More information about Michael at http://www.michaelrogers.com/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PracticalFuturist

Christine Lind Hage
Christine Hage is a former president of the Public Library Association and ALA Councilor for the American Library Association (ALA).  She currently serves on ALA’s Office for Information Technology Advisory Committee and chairs the Committee for America’s Libraries for the 21st Century. Christine was involved in the production of the 2010 ALA Checking Out the Future Report. She will speak about the report including the process used to produce it. She will also talk about future trends in libraries and innovative programming already happening that is futures-based.

Questions?  Email info@metronet.lib.mn.us or call 651-646-0475

Academic, Check this out:

Value of Academic Libraries Report

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Value of Academic Libraries ReportThe ACRL publication Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report is a review of the quantitative and qualitative literature, methodologies and best practices currently in place for demonstrating the value of academic libraries, developed for ACRL by Megan Oakleaf of the iSchool at Syracuse University. The primary objective of this comprehensive review is to provide academic librarians with a clearer understanding of what research about the performance of academic libraries already exists, where gaps in this research occur, and to identify the most promising best practices and measures correlated to performance. Find the following items at http://www.acrl.ala.org/value/

  • Full report (PDF)
  • Executive summary (PDF)
  • Bibliography (PDF)
  • Report author Megan Oakleaf and ACRL President Lisa Hinchliffe discuss the report in this ACRL Podcast
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Report for the DrupalCon Conference: A CMLE Scholarship

The following report was submitted by a recipient of our new CMLE scholarship program.

Submitted by Alex Jarvis

 With the generous support of the CMLE, I was able to attend the DrupalCon conference in San Francisco from April 17-22. Drupal is a free, open source content management system and framework that allows for the rapid development of websites and web services. The conference was an excellent opportunity that will have a direct impact on my work on Great Riverʼs web presence. The sessions were highly informative, giving me insights into new technologies Great River should consider adopting (such as Solr search), as well as optimizations and best practices for the online services we already provide. It also gave me the opportunity to meet with other libraries from across the country and talk with them about innovative ways of implement Drupal-based library products and services. These invaluable interactions have opened up exciting collaboration opportunities; some of the libraries I talked to have worked more extensively with Drupal than Great River has to date, and can help us improve our offerings, while others are still evaluating their options and would like to talk to us about our experience migrating a legacy site.

 Attendance at the conference will also help further Great Riverʼs goal of eventually hosting a Central Minnesota Drupal conference for libraries. At DrupalCon I spoke to several conference organizers who were kind enough to share their invaluable insights and suggestions for organizing a successful Drupal-oriented gathering.

 Overall the conference was a fantastic learning and networking experience, and I would like to thank the CMLE for sponsoring my attendance. I would also recommend Drupal to any library that is considering revamping their online presence. More information about Drupal can be found at www.drupal.org.