CLiC at CAL - 2007

CLiC at CAL 2007: Your source for finding CLiC activities!

THURSDAY

6:00 Nancy Pearl: The Pleasures and Perils of a Life of Reading: CLiC sponsored keynote

10:30-2:30 Celebrating a Winning Team – co-sponsor of preconference. Celebrate & acknowledge your principal for supporting an effective school library program

FRIDAY

8:00 – 5:30 Vive la France! Café (Booth 85 & 86)

10:15 Managing Your Boss without Kissing Up! (Steamboat Room)
Your career success is tied to the most important relationship you have at work -- your boss! Valerie Horton, CLiC Executive Director

2:00 Leo’s First Birthday Bash (Booth 85 & 86)
Stop by for birthday cake and to enter a drawing for a Nancy Pearl Action figure

SATURDAY

8:00 – 1:00 Vive la French Café (Booth 85 & 86)

10:45 Time Management the GTD Way (Aspen)
Getting Things Done (GTD) in a less stressful way is David Allen's
time management system.
Shelley Walchak, SW Regional Consultant and CE Director

Job Fair

3:00-5:30 Resume Critiques (Cooper Mountain)
CLiC staff and other librarians are available to review your resume
3:30-4:30 Career Connections—Panel (Telluride Room)
School, public, academic, special and consortium library staff offer tips and insights for the job searchers
4:30-5:30 CLiC table (Atrium)
Stop by and learn what it takes to be a CLiC employee

Happy Halloween from Internet Librarian

There were many session on Gaming this year at Internet Librarian. It sounds like a great way to get kids into the library and I'd like to share these tips from Jenny Levine's session on Gaming.

o Small library allows each person to play two hours a week. Additional time can be gained by having a library card, writing book reports …
o Librarians have created trading cards – if kids get all trading cards, get a cookie (Look up examples in Flickr.com – "Librarian Trading Cards")
o Runescape – bogs down the network, 3 – 5 on Thursday and 5 – 7 on Friday. Have set hours rather than banning because it bogs down your network.
o Dance, Dance Revolution – great way to get kids to behave, tallest vs. shortest contest (brings high school and middle school kids together) Hey I want to try this! How about a parents and kids night.
o Wake Forest has a gaming space – students bring their own equipment and organize themselves
o Set up Guitar Hero during finals allows students to let off steam

Day 2 at Internet Librarian

Hi Everyone -

Day two was filled with many wonderful learning experiences. There are so many free tools that we could explore to help keep ourselves connected while saving funds for other resources.

I saw a video of Judy Van Acker singing about the new Open Source ILS system at her library, Koha. Nice job Judy!

Tip of the Day:

How can you help others navigate the Library 2.0 learning maze?
o Throw away teacher/trainer title – become a learning guide (you don’t need to know everything)
o It’s about Learning not Training
o Remove the classroom – encourage participants to learn from one another
o Exposure is the 1st step towards learning
o Learners have as much to share as guides
o Focus on fun

Internet Librarian - Day 1

I'm attending Internet Librarian in Monterey, CA and enjoying the stimulating and inspiring sessions. I plan to share a few practical tips each day from the conference. I hope you'll share with the Blog your comments and ideas.

Tip # 1: Web/Library 2.0 can be overwhelming. Before diving too far into these technologies find out which your patrons are using. You don't have to be everywhere - blogging, Facebook, MySpace, SecondLife, and producing Podcasts or YouTube videos. Learn from your users where they are and go there. Remember if you do go there with them, it's a commitment. This is social networking and it requires you to be "social" on a regular basis.

Tip # 2: You're a small library and need extra technology help. Look as far as your local high school. Chances are there will be a budding technology expert looking for a project and it could be @ your library!

Tip # 3: If you're looking to redesign your website or create one for the first time, go for simplicity and allow the user to personalize their experience on your website. One example is the Johnson County Library in Kansas City, MO, http://www.jocolibrary.org/.

Tip # 4: Looking for Readers Advisory online. Check out Hennepin County's new site, bookspace.com.

Tech Support for Public Computers

Have you heard about the MaintainIT Project through Techsoup? It is a 3 year project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to promote technical support for public computers. They will be working with public libraries throughout the United States and Canada to identify best practices in dealing with tech support for Public Computing. The goal is to produce 4 cookbooks (manuals) on various topics and audiences. The first one, The Joy of Computing Cookbook, is already published and available for download at their website, http://maintainitproject.org/. Some of the topics covered are, Developing a Tech Plan, Practical Maintenance Techniques, Using Volunteers, and Staff training.

There is a lot of useful information here, especially for those libraries without a dedicated IT Staff.

Job Fair at CAL

The CAL conference is hosting it’s first ever Job Fair. Here’s a chance for you to learn about how to get hired and how to energize your career. A resume review session will provide you with a chance to polish your documents. Best of all, employers from Colorado’s library will be available for questions and informal interviews. Please join us!

If you already have a job, consider attending the presentation: Managing you Boss without Kissing Up! Friday, November 9 - 10:15 a.m. Your career success is tied to the most important relationship you have at work – to your boss! You can improve your workplace skills, organizational awareness, and professionalism by adopting 'managing up' techniques – and you can do it without pandering or kissing up!

Valerie Horton

Career Connections at CAL
November 10, 2007

2:00 p.m.
From Surviving to Thriving: Using Change to Energize Your Career. Change can be your strongest ally when it comes to building a resilient—and rewarding— career. Yet most of us struggle to accept change, often overwhelmed by a sense of disorientation, loss of control, and sometimes fear. Are there ways we could help ourselves move beyond the resistance factor and instead embrace the opportunities change often offers? Absolutely! This presentation will walk you through the attitudes and actions that will enable you to not just survive the changes going on in the profession, but thrive on them. Kim Dority, Dority & Associates, Inc.

3:30 p.m.
Career Connections Panel
The panel of representatives of various types of libraries talk about characteristics they look for in job applicants. The panel will highlight issues for new employees, and provide suggestions for successful resumes, cover letters, and interviews.

Panel members: Chris Brown, University of Denver; Mark Estes, Holme, Roberts & Owen, LLP; Jody
Gehrig, Denver Public Schools; Art Glover, Douglas County Libraries; and Valerie
Horton, Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC). Panel Moderators: Rochelle Logan,
Douglas County Libraries and Clara Sitter, University of Denver.

3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Resume Critiquing—One-on-One
Resume critiquing is available in a one-on-one setting with experienced reviewers representing various types of libraries. Participants can sign up in advance for 10 minute sessions. Sign up sheets will be posted beginning at 2:30 p.m. Contact: Valerie Horton vhorton@clicweb.org

4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Atrium
Career Fair
Representatives of library systems, districts and information settings will be available to talk about employment in their organization. They will provide information about job openings and answer questions from participants. Contact: Rochelle Logan
For additional information see: www.cal-webs.org/conference.html

Surfing Beyond Search Engines – What to do if you missed it or attended and want a refresher!

On September 27 & 28, 168 people assembled at the Denver Public Library – Central Library to learn and share information about electronic information resources. The keynote speaker, Rick Cline from the Utah Education Network, talked about marketing resources in academic, school, and public libraries. Sessions ranged from how to select a database to understanding usage statistics and negotiating with vendors to vendor demonstarations. Many of the presenters have agreed to share their PowerPoint presentations and these are available on the conference website, http://www.clicweb.org/searchengines/. Rick Cline’s keynote address was recorded and you may listen to it from the website. A database buyer’s handbook may be downloaded and includes a checklist of things to think about when deciding on a database purchase, the organizations that provide cooperative purchases, authentication guide, and glossary of terms. This conference was developed by the following people and organizations.

AIRS Committee - Rita Hug
BCR – Gillian Harrison
Cherry Creek Schools – Mark Ferguson
CLiC – Lisa Priebe
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries – Terry Leopold and Rose Nelson
Colorado State Library – Jim Duncan
Denver Public Library – Michelle Jeske

Cooperative Purchases and Subscription Renewals

CLiC is currently offering subscriptions to LearningExpress Library (test preparation and e-books), ChiltonLibrary 2.0 (Do-It-Yourself Auto Repair) and 6-month prorated subscription to Consumer Health Complete. You may access the trials from the CLiC website. Contact me if you have pricing questions. Be sure to include the population of your community (public libraries) or Yearly FTE (academic and school libraries) when requesting a quote.