How do you share information with your patrons in online environments? In the past decade, the tools available for sharing information and instructing our users have evolved in amazing ways. And happily, the past few years have seen a profusion of excellent tools that give all of us the opportunity to deliver top-notch reference and instructional services without dropping a dime. In this seminar, we’ll look at some of the more interesting tools that can help you deliver your services in new ways and gain a level of comfort with these tools through in-depth demonstrations.

This three and a half hour preconference workshop is a variation on Getting It Online
, reworked with a focus on archives and special collections.

Past training sponsors, locations, and dates:

• Society of American Archivists 2009 preconference workshop, University of Texas Perry Castaneda Library, Austin, Texas. August 11, 2009.

By now most librarians are familiar with a host of 2.0 tools, but many are still wondering how best to take advantage of them. This class will demonstrate a few ways that librarians can harness the power of RSS to broadcast quality information into the places that matter most to our patrons: library Web sites, patron iPods or other community-centered sites. Tools explored will include RSS-enabled sources such as blogs, podcasts and Web 2.0 favorites like del.icio.us, twitter and RSS, to Javascript converters such as Feed2JS or Widgetbox.

Taught as both a 3 hour presentation with lots of demonstrations, or as a 6 hour hands-on workshop.

Past training sponsors, locations, and dates:

• Washington State Library, Tumwater Regional Library District, Tumwater, Washington. March 24, 2009. (3hr)
• South Central Kansas Library System, South Hutchinson, Kansas. September 24, 2008. (3hr)
• Colorado Library Consortium Workshop, Greeley, Colorado. September 12, 2008. (6hr)
• Colorado Library Consortium Workshop, La Junta, Colorado. August 29, 2008. (6hr)
• Colorado Library Consortium Workshop, Grand Junction, Colorado. August 26, 2008. (6hr)

Google definitely has made a name for itself as the frontrunner in web searching, but they didn’t stop there. The bright minds at Google have been turning out more fantastic tools to help you tackle the ever-growing mass of information on the net. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll take a look at Google Reader, iGoogle, Google Books, and Google Scholar. Time permitting, we might check out a couple more, too! If you don’t have a Google account already (e.g. Blogger, Picasa, or Gmail), you might want to set one up before the workshop – you’ll definitely use it!

Past training sponsors, locations, and dates:

• Utah State Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. May 5th, 2009.
• Washington State Library, Tumwater Regional Library District, Tumwater, Washington. March 24, 2009.
• South Central Kansas Library System, South Hutchinson, Kansas. September 24, 2008.

Many people become librarians because of a love of books and reading or a strong commitment to public service – not because they love getting up in front of groups and teaching. Yet many of us find ourselves thrust onto the teaching stage with some regularity, either as instructional academic librarians or as public librarians involved in educational programming.

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The past few years have seen a profusion of tools that give libraries with caviar dreams and ramen budgets the opportunity to deliver top notch reference and instructional services without dropping a dime. In this session, we’ll take a peek at some of these tools, explore possible applications of them, and discuss ways your library might be able to use them.

Also delivered as “Big e-Ref on a Little Budget,” and delivered both as a conference presentation and a hands-on workshop.

Past training sponsors, locations, and dates:

• Nevada State Library Sponsored Workshop, University of Nevada Las Vegas,Las Vegas, Nevada. March 6, 2009.
• Nevada State Library Sponsored Workshop, Round Mountain Public Library, Round Mountain, Nevada. March 4, 2009.
• Nevada State Library Sponsored Workshop, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada. March 2, 2009.
• Nevada State Library Sponsored Workshop, Great Basin Community College Library, Elko, Nevada. January 30, 2009.

Many people become librarians because of a love of research and reading or a strong commitment to public service – not because they love getting up in front of groups and teaching. Yet academic librarians are more and more frequently finding themselves thrust into the teaching spotlight by the increasing demand for library skills and information literacy programs. This six-hour workshop uses a little lecture mixed with a lot of discussion and meaningful activities to explore some pedagogical fundamentals that will help you become better in the classroom. What we’ll cover:

• Planning effective content and negotiating with teaching faculty
• Improving delivery for increased student outcomes
• Evaluation and assessment

Past trainings:

• ACRL Sponsored preconference at ALA Midwinter Meeting, Denver, Colorado.  January 23, 2009.
  Co-taught with Laura  M. Coons.

Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with Wikipedia. But are you familiar with the power and flexibility of the technology behind it? Wikis are wonderful things! They allow groups large and small to collaboratively build websites and pages, with no technological expertise required!

This workshop will take a look at what makes Wikipedia and a few other high profile wikis unique, and how wiki technology can be used in the library environment. In this half-day, hands-on workshop, attendees will:

• Gain an understanding of what wikis are and the technology behind them.
• Explore Wikipedia and other public wikis and learn about the psychology and sociology of wiki-based resources.
• Modify an existing wiki, and build one of their own!

Past training dates and locations:

• Washington North Central Regional Library District, Wenatchee, Washington, October 16, 2008
• Idaho State Library workshops, Lewiston, Idaho. March 29, 2007
• Idaho State Library workshops, Post Falls, Idaho. March 27, 2007
• Idaho State Library workshops, Boise, Idaho. March 23, 2007
• Idaho State Library workshops, Twin Falls, Idaho. March 21, 2007
• Idaho State Library workshops, Blackfoot , Idaho. March 19, 2007

By now you have probably heard of blogs (short for web logs), and you might even be reading some – whether you know it or not. Many of us, though, are still wondering just how we can use this exciting new web-publishing platform in our libraries. This three-hour, hands-on workshop will introduce you to the wide world of blogging. We will explore how to use blogs to keep up with our professional (and personal) reading, as well as how to use these great new tools to spread the word about the valuable services your library is offering.

Participants will:

• Gain an understanding of blogs and blogging
• Learn about RSS, a cool technology that powers some of the magic behind blogs
• Learn to use an RSS aggregator to keep up with their blog reading
• Build their own blog using the popular blogging platform WordPress.com
• Explore exciting ways to use these powerful tools in their libraries

Past training dates and locations:

• Washington North Central Regional Library District, Wenatchee, Washington, October 16, 2008

You’ve heard the buzz about MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, and more – now find out what the buzz is all about! This 3 hour workshop will explore what makes social networking sites unique, and what about them is drawing in users by the millions. We’ll also take some time to discuss ways that your library can take advantage of these tools to promote your services and resources. Sites explored will include MySpace, Flickr, Facebook, and more!

Past trainings:

• Iowa OCLC User Group’s Annual Meeting Pre-conference, Cedar Falls, Iowa. May 15, 2008.

You (and your patrons) have got something to say! Saying it has become a lot easier with the advent of these two super-simple web publishing platforms.  In fact, if you can use a mouse and a keyboard, you can use these tools! In this three hour workshop, we’ll discuss what makes blogs and wikis so revolutionary, and explore the strengths of each.  In addition, we’ll take time to play with a couple of different free options for blogging and wiki-ing, and brainstorm ways that you can use these great tools in your library!

Past trainings:

• Iowa OCLC User Group’s Annual Meeting Pre-conference, Cedar Falls, Iowa. May 15, 2008.