Tag Archives: Future

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

The Future of Libraries: American Libraries Live

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Were you too busy to watch the January 8th  American Libraries Live Webinar? Me too…..but it is not too late!

The moderator was David Lee King, the format was a Google Hangout. King is the digital branch and services manager at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, where he plans for, implements, and experiments with emerging technology trends. He speaks internationally about emerging trends, website usability and management, digital experience planning, and managing tech staff.

• Joseph Murphy, Director of Library Futures, Innovative Interfaces
• Marshall Breeding, Library Technology Consultant, Speaker and Author
• Bohyun Kim, Digital Access Librarian at Florida International University Medical Library

Many interesting ideas emerged including….

  • Libraries as change foundries and local change experts
  • Libraries as laboratories
  • Libraries as canaries in the coalmine, testing the changing environment
  • Libraries are settling in as a filler of gaps

Listen for yourself! The archived hangout is available at http://americanlibrarieslive.org/

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Kids Feet Power Schools

Confetti.Jessica M. CrossAs we dream of a future of schools and libraries being powered by wind or sun, let’s not forget other possibilities. PaveGen is a new technology that harnesses the power of footsteps to produce electricity. It is possible that cities could be powered by foot traffic too, but it would  be imperative to keep that foot traffic going! Although the trial happened in London, Fast Company reminds us of exciting possibilities for our future. Read the full post at http://tinyurl.com/o5fckv9

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

2014 Ed Tech Trends

Image by Mosi. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Mosi. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

It is easy to see how ed tech trends cut across all types of libraries. As K-12 students experience more tech integration in their classrooms, it affects how they approach learning, and flavors the experience they expect at the public library and upon entering college too. Some of our medical librarians feel the increased expectations too for digital learning objects and more integrated information sources. The short list of seven ed tech trends shared by iLibrarian recently are listed below, but don’t stop there, see her blog post which includes  infographics and more information on all of these trends.

  1. 3 D Printing
  2. MOOCs
  3. Big Data
  4. Digital Textbooks
  5. Gamification
  6. The Flipped Classroom
  7. Mobile Learning
Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Futuristic Libraries by Design

Image by Steven A Johnson. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Steven A Johnson. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Good design takes into consideration 1) what the structure will house/display, and 2) determine how people will interact and move within the space. In the future, will libraries require large structures to secure volumes of collections? Will they be characterized as meeting spaces to inspire various creative pursuits? Or, some unique combination of the two reflecting the mission based on the intended library type? Only time will tell the fate of tomorrow’s libraries. However, this week just for fun, CMLE highlights existing national and international libraries sporting futuristic designs.

Click here to see 10 Futuristic Libraries  identified by Open Education Database (OEDb), August 2013.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist

Taking College Credit in High School a Successful Strategy

Some rights reserved by Walt Stoneburner
Some rights reserved by Walt Stoneburner

A new brief from Jobs for the Future reports that over 75,000 high school students nationwide—most from underserved populations—are learning college-level material and earning free college credits in early college high schools. In Minnesota, our terminology is slightly different, but we certainly see how popular our PSEO and Senior to Sophomore programs are in a down economy. The brief reports that 94 percent of early college students earn some college credit for free, an average of 36 college credits, saving 30 percent toward a bachelor’s degree or 60 percent toward an associate’s degree. We know that families appreciate the financial break on college tuition, but what does it mean for the student after high school? It is also interesting to note the increased graduation rates and no great surprise that these students attend college at higher rates. And, we know how depleted media center budgets have been during the last decade. We need to ask ourselves if our high school collections contain the materials to best support these students? Read the full press release at http://tinyurl.com/cyrrm6x  and be sure to click on the Fact Sheet in the left frame too!