Many of this year’s presenters approached interactive technologies for libraries from theoretical and practical perspectives. One recurring theme, as Char Booth, and her mother or grandmother (?) before her so eloquently put it, was that “one size fits no one.” While large, broad research initiatives published by organizations such as ECAR, Pew, and the New Media Consortium are getting a lot of attention and calling on librarians to respond to the needs of the 21st century college student, individual libraries are zooming in on their specific populations and getting dramatically different results from each other and from the broader national and global samples. Lynn Sutton of Wake Forest University and Rosann Bazirjian of UNC Greensboro replicated the OCLC Perceptions study at their institutions, and found that what mattered to their students about the library differed as much as their respective universities do, and that neither population resembled the global sample. Char Booth and Christopher Gruder revealed in their presentation about surveying Ohio University students on their web 2.0 interests and habits that their data didn’t match national averages or other universities’ samples either. The obvious conclusion, emphasized in both presentations, and which Jackie B. highlighted in her post below, is that college and university libraries need to understand their local patron cultures and design and implement services accordingly. But I think the fact that this was a recurring theme at this year’s conference begs a question, at least among those of us who are fairly new to the profession and to higher education. One can assume that, due to socioeconomic variables, there have always been differences among student populations. But can demographics/socioeconomics totally explain what’s going on today? Why do many students at one university blog, for example, while practically no one at another school does? And, in terms of increased student engagement and learning, what are the broader implications of understanding these differences?

This was my first time attending an ACRL national conference and unfortunately I was only able to attend for a couple of hours due to a family emergency.  I am a LIS student in my first semester at SJSU and work full-time WSU Libraries as a paraprofessional.  This conference was an excellent opportunity for me to network and understand the issues that face academic and research libraries across the nation, to find out what the hot-button topics in our specific field really matter.  Unfortunately, I was not able o explore those topics to my full satisfaction.  However, I am reticent in the idea that I will be able to come back to the ACRL’s website after the conference and peruse the goings on and follow up on those topics I missed. 

For the one aspect of the conference I was able to attend, the poster presentations on the morning of Friday, March 14th, I will say that it was intense.  My experience could not have been better, my team member and I were busy the entire session with questions about Edentity, assessment, and e-portfolios!  Every question led to more questions by attendees and with each question there was an exchange of information that benefited us all, every participant gained something from the interactions and it was a thrill!  So I would like to thank all the poster session attendees and poster session organizers of the Friday morning session, you are all awesome!!!!

For everyone interested in more information about the poster presentationa my teammate and I gave, I will have more information posted to the virtual conference site.  Thanks again ACRL-Seattle attendees!!!!!

Kind regards,

Brian McManus

bmcmanus@wsu.edu

This year’s conference has been filled with enlightening and informative sessions about library technologies. The best ones, in my opinion, have been focused not just on the technologies themselves or what they can do for librarians, but rather, on what they mean for our users. This morning, I attended Lynn Silipigni Connaway’s invited talk about engaging students in virtual reference. Connaway offered all kinds of information on what makes people use (or not use) virtual reference, including a number of illuminating and often humorous direct quotes from research participants. One method Connaway and her colleague Marie Radford employed in their research was the “critical incident technique,” a qualitative method wherein participants are asked to describe their most memorable event or experience. Users and non-users alike of virtual reference most often described the interpersonal aspect of the reference experience, and indicated that a positive attitude on the part of the librarian toward both the user and the task at hand was the hallmark of a successful interaction. (Naturally, the reverse was also true.) This got me thinking about the cues according to which we perceive others’ attitudes, and how those cues manifest in the virtual environment. In the absence of body language, etc., how are we letting our users know that we truly are happy to help?

The heady experience of being a first-time ACRL conference-goer has also caused me to fall behind on reading & responding to posts! I’ve had some interesting conversations with other MLIS students from around the US, vendors, and roundtable presenters. Sherman Alexie was fascianitng and funny, as always (as a longtime Seattle resident, I ‘ve been fortunate enough to attend his readings during the past 16 years or so).

The resume review I had at the Placement Center this morning may very well change the course of my job serach during the next several months…and I have yet to use the Virtual Conference to catch up on presentations I missed (there’s so much good information here, and many interesting presentations were simultaneously scheduled). 

I’ll have to catch up later  and post more.

Last night after getting off of work, I went back downtown for game night. It’s been a while since I’ve played Rock Band and DDR (dance dance revolution), but I joined in the fun and had a really good time. There were not only video games, but also card and board games and I thought the event was well organized.

Thanks to the University of Pittsburgh for sponsoring and organizing the event!

I must say librarians are the most fun to play games with.  I felt like the youngest person in the room. I think others had an advantage, because they knew all the older songs on DDR  and Rock Band.

Towards the end of the night I had a few discussions with  some experienced librarians about gaming  and libraries. They were curious to  find out if  any of our  libraries had gaming.  I  don’t think UW has gaming in the library, but I know when I was at UofA we had a computer services department that loaned out video game equipment (xbox) to students. I had friends who took advantage of this service and they had huge Rock Band parties!

I think video games is a good idea for academic libraries, because it invites students into a space and allows them to release some stress and have a good time with friends. I don’t think that video games need to be in the library, but I do think academic libraries could sponsor events and programs for  students involving video games. As a student I would defiantly welcome gaming in the library, but there must be a designated space or time for gaming that does not disrupt students studies.

What do you think about gaming in academic libraries?

Today is not a normal day here in Seattle. Today is the day when thousands of academic librarians from around the country and around the world gather in sunny Seattle for the  ACRL National Conference! I am so excited! I attended the first-time attendee orientation this afternoon with my fellow MILS students and I was surprised by the size of the room and the number of librarians and future librarians who are first-time conference attendees. This eased my fears about attending a large national library conference! I met a sweet librarian from UMASS Amherst. I went to Smith for a year and took many classes at UMASS and love that UMASS has such a huge library.

In the network session after the orientation I met two cool librarians (future) from Japan! We talked a little and I learned a little about them. Turns out both worked at the National Library of Japan and had never met before! I was happy to have introduced them to one another. This experience was funny, because in a large room of people they stood only a few feet away and turns out they have the same boss in Japan! I now regret not having ordered any business cards to give out, but I told them I would find them on facebook. I remember the guy because his last name was Yoda (like from Star Wars). I will search for him later tonight.

Before leaving the networking/ connecting event I stopped by the science and technology group to say hi and pick up a brochure. The woman a the table was from University of Michigan and very friendly. Turns out she knows my boss.  Maybe I will consider becoming a science and engineering librarian, but right now I am happy just assisting them. I love working with engineers and if I went back to college I would study aerospace engineering!

My real interests are Tribal libraries, access to information for Native American communities and  incorporating Native American languages into Native community libraries, but I am also interested in international education especially in American academic libraries. I spent my junior year abroad in Germany and experienced a totally different University library system. I think that international students that come to the U.S. to study are amazed by American libraries.  Even today while talking to the Japanese students I asked many questions about libraries in Japan. 

 Today I learned that although each library is different, we can all learn something from each other. I think this is the main lesson from today’s ACRL first-time orientation.I am looking forward to learning more about what’s going on in libraries across the U.S. and around the world!

P.S. some cool places to visit:

 Seattle Public Library Central Branch-downtown

Suzzallo Library- University of Washington

Luke Wing Museum- International District Chinatown

Museum of Flight- near Boeing Field (bus available from downtown)

Seattle Art Museum- downtown and  Asian Art Collection on Capitol Hill

Ballard Locks- Ballard

Hey there ACRL first timers!

Are you ready for some fun next week in Seattle?

I sure am. This is my first library conference and I am excited! I don’t really know what to expect from ACRL, but I am ready to experience my first national conference.  This blog will tell you all about my experience as a first time MILS student at the conference. I must confess I did not get to sign up for any workshops because I had trouble with the links and pre-registration. I tried several times to register, but it just didn’t work out. A friend of mine told me to call, but I never got around to it, so I won’t be attending many workshops, unless someone doesn’t show up or I sneak into one. I am still hopeful for a  great conference experience!

I will try my best to keep this blog brief, fun, and informative.  I am looking forward to next week! See ya soon!

P.S. Part of this blog will include my favorite things to do in Seattle, because I just moved here six months ago and there are a lot of fun things to explore! Here are just a few fun places in the city:

Woodland Park Zoo, Pike Place  Market, Seattle Public Library Central Branch, Ballard Locks, and Golden Gardens.

Good Eats and Yummy Treats:)

Green Leaf -Vietnamese food in the International District

Mighty O Donuts- Greenlake

Red Mango- Frozen Yogurt U-district

Trophy Cupcakes-Wallingford