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Friday, November 20, 2009
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SirsiDynix OneSource June 2007
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VOLUME 3
ISSUE 6
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SirsiDynix Institute in the Middle of a Successful Year
by Kathryn Dilworth, SirsiDynix Institute Coordinator
June is the perfect time to stop and reflect on the first part of the year for the SirsiDynix Institute and discuss the direction for the rest of the year. Regarding the SirsiDynix Institute, I have been honored to work with some fabulous presenters from the library industry. I believe that the library community shares my enthusiasm, as they have attended the Institute’s live webinar events in record numbers.
Helene Blowers, award-winning innovator, author, and inventor of the Learning 2.0 program and technology director for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, hosted the first SirsiDynix Institute event for the 2007 year. There were nearly 500 registrations for this event. She spoke about her program that instructs and inspires library staff to learn and use new technology in the library with and for their users.
Immediately following in February, a Library 2.0 convert, Christine Mackenzie, the chief executive officer of Yarra Plenty Regional Library in Melbourne, Australia, spoke about the huge impact this implementation had on her staff and her patrons. Christine’s event marked the first time a speaker from a library outside North America had presented on the Institute.
Incidentally, both women nominated their libraries for the 2007 Building Better Communities Awards, and both were recently named finalists in that program.
In March, Darlene Fichter, head of the Indigenous Studies Portal and coordinator of Data Library Services, University of Saskatchewan Library, led a successful event on Mashups that maxed out with more than 500 individuals logged on for the live event. This was the most diverse group of library professionals attending this year with a good balance of public, academic, special, and K-12 professionals represented. This is a wonderful development for SirsiDynix Institute as we expand our mission within and beyond the industry at large.
The presenter introduced a Web site during her presentation and encouraged attendees to visit it. Dozens of new accounts were created on Frappr (a mashup site) at Darlene’s suggestion. The site actually built a live/evolving map of Institute attendees where each individual was mapped in the city of their residence. Many also posted photos. Have a look – it’s fabulous! http://www.frappr.com/mashups/
Just a week later, we were proud to have a true library celebrity present on the popular and controversial issue of gaming in the library. Jenny Levine, Internet Development specialist and Strategy guide, American Library Association, led another high attendance event. She fielded a large number of questions from a record number of K-12 librarians who attended this event.
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Alliance Library Systems presented
on Second Life, a popular topic on
the SirsiDynix Institute.
| April and May were focused on the Second Life phenomenon with events that explained and discussed the role that libraries are taking in this virtual world and how that role will expand in the near future. Michael Sauers, Technology Innovation librarian, Nebraska Library Commission, and Rhonda B. Trueman, reference librarian, Johnson & Wales University – Charlotte, discussed the Alliance Library System project on Second Life called Info Island. Part of the event was dedicated to a discussion of Info Island (which SirsiDynix sponsors along with Teen Info Island) and what its success says about the future of library users and how the library industry should respond. The presentation struck a good balance between introducing Second Life and delving deeper into some of the ways that it is impacting and will continue to impact libraries. Alliance Library System is also a Building Better Communities finalist for its project on Second Life.
Teen Second Life was the topic for May 22, as Kelly Czarnecki from the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County led an event on the Teen Grid on Second Life and actually took participants on a live tour of the island.
This month, David Free, Public Services librarian for the Decatur Campus Library of Georgia Perimeter College, presented on podcasting. He discussed the latest trends in podcasting and talked about ways this tool can be used in the library. This was Part 3 of a series of events on the topic of podcasting. All three events are archived on the SirsiDynix Institute Web site.
The rest of the year should prove to be just as popular on the SirsiDynix Institute with exciting events on the schedule. Stephen Abram will lead two events – one in July and the last event of the year in December. Other presenters will discuss RSS feeds, social bookmarking, and the larger picture regarding the library industry.
Special guest presenters include Paul Pival from the University of Calgary, Meredith Farkas from Norwich University, Rachel Bridgewater from Washington State University at Vancouver Library, Gina Millsap and her staff from the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, Ulla de Stricker, consultant, de Stricker Associates, and Pat Wagner, president of Pattern Research.
In many ways, the second half of 2007 is going to be a combination of practical technology tools for library professionals and a frank discussion of the industry as a whole and what is required to keep up with the trends and stay in front of the pack in order to ensure that the library is the community’s first choice in information seeking.
Events for 2007 are posted on the SirsiDynix Institute Web site, http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com. All the events ever hosted on the Institute are available as podcasts, videos, and slides in the archives section of the Web site. Go to http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/archive.php to find a topic that interests you.
The mission of the SirsiDynix Institute is to support librarianship and advance the work of librarians around the world. We hope you’ll take advantage of our free webinars, if you haven’t already.
Kathryn Dilworth, SirsiDynix Marketing Programs manager, is coordinator of the SirsiDynix Institute. She may be reached at kathryn.dilworth@sirsidynix.com.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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