Category: Conferences Notes

TEDxOKC: Anthony Shadid: “Democracy in the Middle East, Elusive Dream or Coming Reality?”

I had never taken the time to polish and publish my notes from TEDxOKC last spring. Tonight’s tragic news that NYTimes Reporter Anthony Shadid suddenly passed away in Syria is prompting me to dust off my notes from his incredible talk and finally publish them as I took them. I will never forget his talk that day, his sudden hope and optimism for the future of Middle East. Portions from his talk are posted online, and I’m embedding that video below. My notes from Anthony’s talk appear below the video. To his family, friends, and colleagues, my deepest sympathies, thoughts, and prayers. The world has lost an incredible journalist. 

My Notes

Journalist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Shadid (Had to look him up; out of the loop on the news the past few weeks)

Stories about people. Change in Arab world will be tragic, but he feels optimistic. We’re on the verge of a moment in the Arab world that we haven’t seen since WWI.

Relationship bw Arab world and America being redefined. The world and the Arab world.

War creates misunderstanding and conflict. Dehumanizing. Past 10 years. Both for Arabs and Americans.

He felt like he was witnessing an epiphany in Egypt. In Libya in a jail cell. 1 million people there trying to imagine a different country. Imagining identities, culture, society. People were trying to imagine Cairo, Egypt. Young people believed they were better than what the government told them. Walking into a different world. Power of imagination. Crossing a border from old Cairo into new Cairo into Tahrir Square. The imaginative Cairo. Power of Egyptians to reclaim their destiny and narrative. It’s revolutionary. Notion of identity is changing. Gives me hope.Are we Sunnis. Shiites? 18 different sects. Identification by religious sect determines you. It suffocates you.

Tahrir Square. We’re not Sunni or Christian. We’re citizens of Egypt. Identity is going to be broader not smaller. 

Ability to forge a new identity. For the first time in a region, a relationship that has caused so much hardship. It’s about to change forever. To be able witness and bring meaning to what’s going on. Libya is an example of how difficult it is going to be. Bloody. But Tahrir Square. Optimism. Hope.

Dignity more important the wealth. 

RA 4 FB: Reader’s Services on the Social Web

Risks and Rewards of Reaching out to Readers on the Social Web

(On program: From Suggesting to Engaging: Reader’s Services on the Social Web)

Susan Brown, Lawrence Public Library (LPL)

  1. Overview of what has been done at LPL.
  2. Where ideas have come from?
  3. Inspiration to do even more

This isn’t a:

  • Why to do social media
  • How to do social media

“Reader’s advisory is one of the most social services libraries offer. It’s no surprise that talking about books so easily made the leap to the Internet. This discussion is a natural extension of the RA conversation” –Kaite Mediatore Stover

This is a:

  • What to do with social media
  • What to say and how to say it

Lawrence asks lots of questions in its social media.

Marketing is about image: libraries shouldn’t fight books image. Market this — Reader’s Advisory!!

Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents: from his idea, libraries can use social media to be shown as a knowledge agent with books and reading. Susan has directed the social media efforts at LPL to reflect this idea.

LPL started a conversation by asking questions on social media, especially Facebook. Lots of involvement here. Every Sunday the library asks, what are you reading?

Build user involvement virtually much easier than in person — and connects with other readers.

Other questions:

  • Best of the Year Book?
  • What’s the most romantic book you’ve ever read?
  • What’s the most ___ book you’ve ever read?
  • Timely questions
  • What did you get for Christmas — paper? audio? electronic?
  • Favorite nonfiction?
  • “Hidden gem?”
  • Favorite holiday movie.

Makes people think of the library in a different way. And the responses are mixed gender.

On social media, you reach out to a different group of library users.

Don’t want to be snarky — but don’t want to take yourself too seriously.

Repurpose content that you’ve done on social media: take a question and its responses and make a blog post, or a bookmark.

Social media: mobile user-friendly: link directly into catalog so people can put holds on a book.

Some questions will tank; others will succeed. Lots of factors for why that happens.

Share book news so people can see that the library is an expert in books and reading:

Early Word blog and Huffington Post books section two good sources

Crowdsourcing from fans/friends/followers: they can share ideas on your wall or stream as well. Even authors and businesses.

Doing Social Media So It Matters: A Librarian’s Guide rec’d book for librarians.

LPL helps readers find their next book through Facebook.

Chat or in-person recs aren’t public. Helping readers find their next book through social media: it’s public, everyone benefits!

Can get into deeper conversations through social media you never could face-to-face at a desk.

LPL has fun!

Twitter:

We ask questions, similar to ones on Facebook. But, it’s a different platform. Laura Solomon’s book on Social Media has great examples of what works on FB and Twitter.

Be a knowledge leader? Twitter is great for this. Post teasers — not just regular statements. Make fun, fresh, interesting. Easy fast — makes you look up things.

Early Word is good for seeing who’s going to be on the media.

Google Reader RSS feeds for Local Book Bloggers in Lawrence: library posts their posts to Twitter.

We suggest books. Must be concise and creative in your posts.

Facebook and Twitter: can plug into Pop Culture with your posts.

We tweet about more than fiction. Linking to catalog searches in their posts.

We deliver traditional RA.

We offer backstage passes — give them something special. New orders tweeted just before posted to website.

We empower readers — tweets about databases.

We have fun.

Susan’s slides will be online.

Risks:

Commitment of time; attention; staff. Have to listen AND respond. Blows up the RA desk; Crowdsourcing RA. Everybody on staff can recommend.

Rewards:

No focus on RA in the building. Virtual RA desk. Ongoing conversations. Stretch RA skills. Regular users of this medium. New demographics reached. Four articles written about the library in 2011 summer after 0 in 2010. Library now seen as the place to talk and books and reading in lawrence and connect with them.

Beyond the ‘Flick’ and ‘Lit’: Integrated Advisory for Readers of Women’s Stories

I’m at TSCPL’s Celebrate the Book Readers’ Advisory Conference today in Topeka. See Sharon Moreland’s notes from Nancy Pearl’s keynote this morning. Handouts from the entire conference are available online from TSCPL.

Kaite Mediatore Stove, Readers’ Services Manager

The Kansas City Public Library

Integrated Advisory Service — Book edited by Jessica E. Moyer.

Neal Wyatt has written a lot about this.

Integrated Advisory is doing RA beyond fiction. Film, digital collections, teen collection, and other format.s

New way of thinking about library materials. Finding connections between formats and genre.

Patrons are watching dvds, playing games, downloading podcasts, listening to audiobooks, reading magazines, reading graphic novels. These aren’t just separate collections. Integrated advisory helps patrons find connections in other parts of the collections they wouldn’t have made otherwise.

How does this work with Women’s Stories?

Women’s fiction has contemporary feel — modern issues and concerns of today. Women’s stories in other media are reflecting this as well. Women’s stories reflect on women’s relationships with family, work, world, etc.

TV Shows: Sex and the City, Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls. Large casts. Lots of dialogue. Lots of snappy dialogue.

Less over-the-top drama. Less glitz. More focus on political social issues.

Bones, The Good Wife, Criminal Minds.

Plots: Women in Love; A Woman’s Place; Different Cultures, Similar Lives

Characters: Mothers & Daughters; Sisters & Friends; Women without Men; Working Girls

Themes:

Birth, Death, and other Journeys

Coming of Age

Marriage & Family

Friendship & Community

Women of a Certain Age

There’s so much material out there on these topics.

Making Connections and the Future

Women make sense of their lives through conversation. Talking with each other. Make sense of our lives through story, no matter the format.

Media surprised at success of strong female role movies: Dirty Dancing; Eat Pray Love; My Big Fat Greek Wedding; The Help — shouldn’t be surprising!

Women want good story, likeable characters, realistic characters.

Handouts from Kaite from this session and previous ones.

I’ll finish linking to this content later today or the weekend.

What’s on my iPad?

People find out I have an iPad, and always ask me what’s on it. It’s always awkward trying to show & explain all the apps that are on it, while at the same time choose my favorites (which is near impossible). To help quickly answer that question, I’m putting out a list of what’s on my iPad. Any favorites will be marked by an asterisk. If possible, I’ll also mark today’s price for these apps. But for the sake of the length of this post, I will not explain what each app is or what is does. Maybe in a future post

 

. Do I use all of these apps in the list? No. But they’re on there, just the same. Finally, here’s a few good resources about iPads and apps, especially with an education focus.

Apps on my iPad

Dock (Apps across the bottom of the screen)

Screen One

No Folder

Books Folder

Cooking Folder

Multimedia Folder

News Folder

Office Tasks Folder

Productivity Folder

Social Media Folder

Websites Folder

Screen Two

Education Folder (#1)

Education Folder (#2)

Games

Reference

For Kids

Kids Books

Librarians Know How to Find Stuff

Using Innovative Techniques to Promote Information Literacy and Student Buy-in

Matt Upson (formerly of Miller Library, McPherson College) and C. Michael Hall (who couldn’t be present)

Creators of Library of the Living Dead

http://blogs.mcpherson.edu/library/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Library-of-the-Living-Dead-Online-Edition.pdf

Guide can be printed from here

Downloaded 1.3 million times. Cited in LJ, SLJ, ALA journals.

This isn’t how to make a comic. It’s more to inspire the audience to do what works for their libraries & inspire creativity. The comic book worked for McPherson College.

Developing the relationships.

Quotes from Education Nation; one by George Lucas in the foreword & George Leonard quote on p21.

“We want students to know how to find information, how to assess the quality of information, and how tto creativiely and effectively use information to accomplish a goal.” –George Lucas, foreword to Education Nation

“We must consider the possibility that students are justified in being bored, that we have been too cautious and unimaginiative….Perhaps the moment has come to show our young people that school [or a library] is where the action is” p21 of Education Nation

 

Before Matt came to McPherson, the library was pretty deserted; didn’t come into study; didn’t even know the library existed. Handouts in in-class instruction were about as useful as a seatbelt in trying to reach students.


How to get the students in the building?

They published a comic book.

Mike was an illustrator, non-conventional student.

Introduction to the book explains the purpose of the comic book/guide.

Made it attention-grabbing, yet informative. Followed the ACRL standards.

It was a small college–they saw a need and tried to meet it.

In creating a unique guide, break stereotypes, poke fun at yourself.

12 page introduction to the library. Their attention was grabbed. Then the instructional handouts are then incorporated into the comic book.

Goals to do so…

  • Provide an excellent intro to library services
  • Be creative and a little irreverent
  • Save time
  • Encourage familiarity with the library
  • get students involved in the process
  • let the students know that the library cares about their academic success and is actively involved in their education
  • quality product
  • took the talents they had in-house to develop it

Unintended Results

  • Well over 1 million hits — provided great marketing for McPherson College
  • McPherson wants to hand these out at college fairs
  • Unique artifact that no other school has.
  • Advocacy tool. Unique resource that grabs the attention of your school board or board or leaders.
  • Other libraries are now using this tool; didn’t plan for it to be utilitarian.
  • It looks fantastic as a digital version on mobile devices and tablets.
  • Quickly got around library community, as a digital resource, thanks to social media.

Milton Chen comment: This is proving: A lot of the best curriculum can be taught through story.

Back to the comic.

They took cues from the real library, photographs, photos of people to build it. The characters are never named. It’s just a story in a familiar place. Students were transferred over into comic form.

Get your community involved

  • teaser poster of the cover
  • Facebook
  • Signing Party: 40 students showed up
  • QR Codes

He contacted LJ, American Libraries, pestered them to look at his resource. People finally did and wrote about it, and it took off.

He’s connected with many people all over the library community in the US and the world.

Anyone can use it and has, in their libraries.

What can you do?

  • Fun: The OH COOL Factor
  • Different: Make them (students, faculty, parents, admin) see the library in new ways
  • Quality: do something that can be done well
  • Involvement and Buy-in: include reps from all areas of your school. Who are the stakeholders? Can you find a sponsor or collaborator?

Can share your ideas and resources with the entire world, even unexpectedly.

They are working on comic guides for several other libraires.