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?

Session Description:
Many constituents who hold higher education accountable for quality of student learning approach the conversation with the same lens in which they hold a business accountable for a quality product. This presentation will address the differences and similarities between measures of success used in business and higher education, within the context of general education. Understanding how the public may be holding higher education accountable for what could be considered learning that is general to any institution will frame questions that may encourage some to re-frame how they plan the delivery and evaluation of general education.

Presenters:
Marilee Bresciani, San Diego State University, United States

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Session Description:
This paper differentiates between student outcomes and student learning outcomes. The former are accountability metrics that characterize institutional success in simple terms and that are important to outside stakeholders. The latter might involve a partnership among those teaching in a program of study, and the goal of such a partnership is to improve the quality of the educational experience while holding institutions accountable to their declared mission.

Presenters:
Peter Hernon, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, United States

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Session Description:
In order to engage new users and sustain current ones, academic librarians need to explore new opportunities to extend current services. The largest current and perspective cohort is the Net Gen, whose members demonstrate distinctly different behaviors from older cohorts. This presentation reports the results of online surveys with virtual reference services (VRS) users and non-users, emphasizing Net Gen students. The findings provide insight for the improvement of VRS regarding the integration of new technologies and services.

Benefits/Objectives:
1. Identify the perspectives and preferences of Net Gen students.

2. Learn why this cohort needs a variety of reference modes (including virtual reference) to meet these needs.

3. Describe how librarians can develop new and improve current services to meet these information needs.

Presenters:
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, OCLC, United States

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Session Description:
Libraries have always been a cornerstone of Chase’s personal life: a place to discover new ideas, stumble upon new connections, and to do so in a welcoming and safe environment. She will discuss and lead conversation around the roles libraries can play in shaping minds and ideas in a new world of increasingly scarce global resources. She views sharing books as much like sharing cars. Chase will share her Zipcar work and experiences. She will also address the questions of how libraries can move beyond the ideas of “collaborative consumption” to those of collaborative production and user-generated content, the larger promises of the 2.0 phenomenon; how libraries might model useful approaches to the crises of resources; and how they might help shape minds to think in multi-disciplinary and collaborative ways, cognizant of multiple stakeholders?

Presenters:
Robin Chase, GoLoco, United States

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Session Description:
Elson S. Floyd, President of Washington State University, will talk about the joys and challenges of being the president of a higher education institution in challenging times. He will talk about his philosophy of leadership and what he considers to be the highest priority for a university president. To quote Floyd, “In the end, our success will be determined not just by how many students we bring in, but by how many earn degrees and how those graduates transform the world in which they will live.” Floyd believes in high standards, for himself as a leader and for all of the faculty and staff who work in the university that he leads. He will share his guiding principles for leadership and for living the high standards each day of his life. He will motivate and inspire his audience to stand tall in the face of economic and other challenges and lead with integrity, ethics, and joy.

Presenter: Elson S. Floyd, Washington State University, United States

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AUDIO ONLY - Invited Paper Elson S. Floyd - A University President in Challenging Economic Times: Focusing on the Students and the Mission of Higher Education