library+instruction+technology

Susan Avery, Meg Burger, and Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign comprised the panel for this session. They shared what they are doing to make the Undergraduate Library at UIUC more relevant to the lives of Millennials. Lisa played a new video that showcases what students can do at the Undergraduate Library. The postings by Shana Fair, Laurie Bridges, Amanda Izenstark, and Amy Harris on the conference blog provide a comprehensive picture of the session's content.

I had higher expectations for this session and was a bit disappointed by the lack of implementable ideas for my own library. I think my disappointment may be related to scalability. Or, maybe my Gen X cynicism is kicking in on what is and is not possible on an anemic materials budget.

Don't get me wrong, they did share great ideas.

"Restructure your space to reflect how millennials use space. Provide more room for collaboration, consolidate service points, provide as much public space as possible, provide for media viewing needs, develop virtual library spaces using blogs, wikis, Second Life, Facebook, or MySpace where they can interact with you. Inbed access to your resources in places they actually use. Look at your collections—don’t just limit yourself to purchasing text. Add e-books, graphic novels, gaming, increase your media collection" (from Shana's post)

Our blog is read, but doesn't receive many comments. Our Library had a Facebook profile, before the purge. A Facebook group for the Library was recently created, we'll see how that goes. We don't have a MySpace profile. We already buy a lot of media (DVDs and CDs) and have access to a lot of electronic content (including streaming+downloadable digital videos) through OhioLINK. We don't collect many graphic novels, but there is potential for use by the undergraduate and graduate education programs.

I'm not sure about buying games, due to previously mentioned anemic materials budget.  Not much can be done about the physical space of our building, other than weed, weed, weed, and weed some more to create more usable space.  I still think a lot of my disappointment goes back to scalability. I can't off-load low use books to another building on campus. I can weed it and rely on OhioLINK, which I already do to some extent. I think I still need to chew on the ideas discussed during this session.

The one idea that I believe is actionable locally is consolidating service points. Our reference desk is maybe 15 feet from our circulation/reserve desk. I started socializing the idea of merging the two over the summer at a staff meeting last week. Have any other small liberal arts college implemented a single service point? Is it working for your students?  Is it working for you?

technorati tag: acrl2007

Kate Wenger and I presented on podcasting at the Ohio Library Council's Children's and Young Adult Services Conference held on August 16-17 in Columbus. Our write up for the conference materials:

Many new and innovative technologies have been rapidly embraced by young patrons. One of these new tools that you can use to reach young adults and children is podcasting. Podcasting is the creation and publication of audio to the Web for automatic download via a subscription. You don't need an iPod or a lot of Web development skills to get started. Come to this interactive presentation to learn how you can use podcasting to meet your young patrons where they are! Find out how to create your own podcasts and discover some of the many different ways you can use podcasts to engage young patrons at your library.

We had a full room (forgot to take a picture).  Our hour and fifteen minute presentation covered:

• an overview of podcasting and web feeds,
• why podcast,  
• brainstorming session (where the participants came up with ideas of what they could podcast),
• how to create a podcast,
• what we do at Muskingum,
• listening to and finding podcasts,
• marketing and evaluating your podcast,
• challenges,
• and beyond podcasting.

We created a short podcast during the presentation. A nice young woman volunteered to read a book review for a YA novel and be recorded. We edited the file and uploaded it to the Liberated Syndication account created for the presentation.

We also demonstrated how you don't need to have a computer to record a podcast. Odeo Studio (plus others) allow you to call a number and record your podcast on a voicemail like system. For that demo we had another young woman read a brief piece on the Ohio Web Library.

Once again, there doesn't seem to be a lot of academic libraries podcasting. I recorded the Author Talks held in the library last academic year. That's been the basis for our podcasts. Both Kate and I agree that we don't have the time to create content on a regular basis. We're hoping to leverage additional content opportunities this coming year. One idea is to work with the children's lit class to see if we can do something.

I created a companion wiki for the participants. The seemed to be very appreciative of the wiki when we showed it at the end of the session. A copy of the presentation (both PowerPoint and a PDF version) are available on the wiki. The password to make changes is also listed on the wiki if you are so inclined to add your knowledge.

Here is a list of the songs I played for my last radio show of the summer. 

1. Hide and Seek / Imogen Heap
2. Free (Jason Nevins Mix) / Ultra Nate
3. Streets of Tomorrow / Carla Vallet
4. Sanctuary / Origene
5. Traffic / DJ Tiesto
6. Foolish Mind Games / Jason Walker
7. Dragostea Din Tei / O-Zone 
8. We Share Our Mother's Health / The Knife 
9. Everybody Everybody/ Black Box
10. Dance till the Morning Sun / Brazillian Girls
11. Tribal Dance (Radio Edit) /  2Unlimited
12. I Cross the Rubicon / Army of Lovers
13. Forbidden Love / Madonna
14. Deep Forest / Deep Forest
15. 24 / Jem
16. Better Off Along / Alice Dee Jay
17. Ya Shosla S Uma / t.A.T.u.
18. Rapture / iiO
19. 3 A.M. Eternal ( Live at the S.S.L.) / The KLF
20. Love U More / Sunscreem
21. Holding OUt for a Hero / Frou Frou
22. Silent Shout / The Knife

I read the Ohio Web Library PSA again during the second hour of the show. 

I played James Bond theme songs in order for my August 1 radio show. For each song, I also shared with anyone listening (I know of at least 2) if it was on the charts and also fun facts about the songs. The Bond songs took up most of the show. I ended up playing two other movie theme songs at the end to fill in the time.

Playlist

1. The James Bond Theme Song / Monty Norman Orchestra
2. From Russia with Love / Matt Munro
3. Goldfinger / Shirley Bassey
4. Thunderball / Tom Jones
5. You Only Live Twice / Nancy Sinatra
6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service / John Barry Orchestra
7. Diamond's are Forever / Shirley Bassey
8. Live and Let Die / Paul McCartney with Wings
9. The Man with the Golden Gun / Lulu
10. Nobody Does it Better / Carly Simon for The Spy Who Loved Me
11. Moonraker / Shiley Bassey
12. For Your Eyes Only / Sheena Easton
13. All Time High /  Rita Coolidge for Octopussy
14. A View to a Kill / Duran Duran
15. The Living Daylights / a-Ha
16. License to Kill / Gladys Knight
17. Golden Eye / Tina Turner
18. Tomorrow Never Dies / Sheryl Crow
19. The World is not Enough / Garbage
20. Die Another Day / Madonna
21. Brokeback Mountain Theme: The Wings (Manny Lehman, Tony Moran, Warren Rigg Collaboration Remix) [Edit] / Gustavo Santaolalla, Manny Lehman, Tony Moran & Warren Rigg
22. He's a Pirate (Pete n' Red's Jolly Roger Trance Remix) / Klaus Badelt, Redtop & Sneaky Pete

I read the Ohio Web Library PSA around 7:45. 

I created a Flickr photostream for the Library a week and a half ago. I've added a flash based Flickr photo badge to the library's blog. I also have listed it with our other RSS feeds . I got the idea to try this out after reading several of Michael Stephens's (Tame the Web) posts on the use of various social software tools in mostly public libraries.

The University of Winnipeg Library is using a flash Flickr badge on their web site as a virtual library tour. I haven't seen or found many academic libraries publishing a Flickr photostream. I think Flickr is a great and cheap (unless you want to upload a lot of photos in a month) way to get students and faculty more aware of what is going on in the Library even if they don't come to the building. We need to use more visual images on our web sites to show what we are doing and to reach those who have a preference for visual learning (like the Millennials).

Update 8:30 p.m.: There are lots of library accounts on Flickr.  How many of them actually link their Flickr photostreams back to their home page?

I couldn't do my radio show last night. The power went out on campus at 5:20. I left campus as 6:20. The paper reported that power was restored at 7:10. It appears to be another squirrel related power outage. 

My library PSA for last night was for the Ohio Web Library. It will have to wait until August…along with the Bond movie theme songs.

I'm having some fun this summer sharing a two hour show on the college's radio station with a coworker.  Our show is Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  No streaming available, so unless you live within a 20 mile radius of New Concord, Ohio…you can't hear our fine audio production skills.

My first solo show was on June 27 and consisted of techno and house. We play public service announcements instead of commercials. I wrote my own PSA that I read during my show. I'm hoping to work with the station manager to get some recorded in prep for the Fall term. I'd also like him to download ALA's Banned Book Week PSAs. I think I also have another coworker talked into recording a sweep for the station. 

My PSA is based off of samples on the ALA website…tailored to the handful of graduate students on campus in June…

Your research paper is due tomorrow for ECSTI. You have no idea what to bring to tonight's dinner party and you could really use some help in deciding about that new car you're thinking of buying. Where do you turn? How about the library? The Campaign for America's Libraries remind you that whether you need is in print or online, the library will help you find what you're looking for…Everything you want to know about everything you want to know…@ your library. You can learn more about the Muskingum College library by visiting www.muskingum.edu/home/library. You can learn moe about the Muskingum County Library System by visiting www.muskingumlibrary.org and about the Guernsey County District Public Library by visiting www.gcdpl.lib.oh.us.

If you're curious…I played (not in this order) these songs during my show:

Late 80's/Early 90's 

• O Fortuna (Apocalypse Chours Mix) / Apotheosis
• Stand by the Jams / The KLF
• Go, Speed Go / Alpha Team
• Supermodel (You Better Work 7"Mix) / RuPaul
• Don't you Want Me / Felix Feat featuring Jomanda
• Pressure / Sunscreem
• Show Me Love / Robin S.
• Crucified / Army of Lovers
• Strike It Up / Black Box
• 100% Pure Love / Crystal Waters
• Rhythm is a Dancer / Snap
• More and More / Captain Hollywood Project

Late 90's/Now 

• Adagio for Strings / DJ Tiesto
• You're Not Alone (Airplay Mix) / ATB
• Fly Again (K & S Project Radio Edit) / Kristine W.
• Everday / Kim English
• Some Lovin' (Peter Rauhofer Mix) / Kim English
• Hide U / Kosheen
• I See Right Through You / DJ Encore
• At the End (Scumfrog Remix) / iiO
• Silence (DJ Tiesto's In Search of the Sun Remix) / Sarah McLaughlin

I'm playing the James Bond movie theme songs, in order, for my July 18 show.