Sessions

Keynote:  How Search Engines Have Changed the Way We Consume Information

In the last 15 years, we've experienced a great behavioral shift in the ways we consume information. This shift has caused significant disruption for traditional content delivery, such as newspapers, television, and libraries. But the good news is that this shift has caused us to place even more value on content. But as information becomes more accessible, we are missing key curation tools to help us evaluate it. How can those in libraries use knowledge about searcher behavior to better engage with their audiences? How can libraries, as a key medium for delivering information, adapt with changing audience behavior? And how did Buffy the Vampire Slayer indisputably prove to society the true multifaceted value of librarians?

kthx! :>) working with teens online

Ian Duncanson, Beaverton City Library
Susan Smallsreed, Multnomah County Library

Have you ever wondered how to deal with the questions young online patrons ask?  Do you wonder if they are serious?  Are they pranks?  Or, is it just part of being a teen?  Join OYAN members Susan Smallsreed & Ian Duncanson to learn more about why teens are teens, what it means for online reference and how to handle them online. 

:) R Us: Being There in VR

Bob Schroeder, Portland State University

We all have an image that we project at the reference desk – professional yet approachable, knowledgeable yet warm. How can we transfer this persona online, and why is it even important that we do? Come to this interactive session to find out how others manifest their good librarian selves online, and leave with some great tips you can apply in your VR session tomorrow.

How far would you go? Reflecting on theories and practice of reference

Karen Munro, Univeristy of Oregon
Caleb Tucker-Raymond, Multnomah County Library

What makes a question a reference question? Formal definitions of "reference" attempt to generalize a process that is highly individualized from library to library, from librarian to librarian and from patron to patron. But we use this phrase "reference question" all of the time. What do we mean by it? Participants will talk about it and decide for ourselves.

Intentional Reference: A Mindful Approach to Making Good Even Better

Dale Vidmar, Southern Oregon University

According to scholars such as Robert Slavin, a primary characteristic of an outstanding teacher is intentionality—having a purpose with which to cultivate informed reflection. If we consider our virtual reference in the same way we consider teaching, then would it not make sense to approach our L-Net shifts with the same kind of intentionality that a teacher does before entering the classroom.
 
Imagine asking yourself the following questions prior to your L-Net shift:

•    What do you intend to do to make the session productive and meaningful as a teacher?
•    What skills will you focus on to improve the teaching and learning process?
•    What will you do to engage and connect with the patron?

Perhaps, more importantly, do you ever take the time to reflect upon what happened during a reference session? If the objective is to become more purposeful in our approach to virtual reference, then taking the time to reflect upon what occurs during a shift would allow librarians to use an L-Net session as a transformative learning experience to improve our craft.  
 
To facilitate and promote intentional reference, this session aims to actively demonstrate and involve each participant in a process to think about what you are going to do before you begin your shift. Rather than taking the approach of fielding questions, you will actively engage in thinking of virtual reference as your craft which you improve upon through mindful practice. Simple, direct, and meaningful is the best description of this process to improve the art of virtual reference.

Be prepared to actively engage in conversations about your personal practice.

Gems of Oregon

Anne Hiller-Clark, Oregon Institute of Technology Shaw Historical Library
Beverly Stafford, Multnomah County Library
Cris Paschild, Portland State University
Steve Silver, Northwest Christian College

Uncover unique resources in our midst!  This panel will feature representatives from around the state highlighting a variety of unique special collections.  Ever wonder where you could find historical information on the Land of the Lakes region (Southern Oregon, Northern California and Northwest Nevada)?  How about how to get your hands on muscial scores?  Comic books?  Former Portland Mayor Vera Katz's papers? Rare Bibles up to 600 years old? Captain Cook's journals?  

In support of this session we've started an interactive "Gems of Oregon Field Guide".  The content is user generated, so please, add your collection today!  http://www.oregonlibraries.net/gems

Where's a Lawyer When I Need One?

Laura Orr, Washington County Law Library

Learn how to respond to online legal reference questions:  Legal reference questions can and should make you nervous, very nervous.  Detect questions that are potential sinkholes of sadness or ditches of despair, or sometimes just loaded with laughs.  Acquire sample disclaimers and warnings and listen to a few scary, but also teachable-moment, legal reference stories.

Speaker biographies

Keynote Speaker

Vanessa Fox, called a “cyberspace visionary” by Seattle Business Monthly, is an expert in understanding customer acquisition from organic search. She shares her perspective on how this impacts marketing and user experience at ninebyblue.com and provides authoritative search-friendly design patterns for developers at janeandrobot.com. She’s also an entrepreneur-in-residence with Ignition Partners, Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and host of the weekly podcast Office Hours. She previously created Google’s Webmaster Central, which provides both tools and community to help website owners improve their sites to gain more customers from search and was instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search. She was recently named one of Seattle’s 2008 top 25 innovators and entrepreneurs. Look for her book Marketing in the Age of Google in early 2010.

Concurrent Session Speakers

Ian Duncanson is one of the teen librarians at the Beaverton City Library, where he has worked for the past three years. Prior to that, he worked in various capacities at the Free Library of Philadelphia and Indiana University. He is also an active OYAN member, and is the chair of the OLA / OASL joint committee for 2010. He loves Facebook, but like Susan, is still a bit “Twitter-phobic!”

Anne Hiller Clark is the Shaw Librarian, responsible for all aspects of the Shaw Historical Library’s operations, including in-depth research assistance to scholars and researchers, collection development and management, and production of the library’s publications.  She also works as an instruction services and collection development librarian at Oregon Institute of Technology. She has published papers in scholarly scientific and historical journals, including the Journal of the Shaw Historical Library. Anne’s interest in local history dates back to her undergraduate days. She feels that historical libraries both create and collect local history and working at the Shaw Historical Library is a wonderful opportunity to put that belief into practice.

Dale Vidmar is a full professor and the Information Literacy and Instruction Coordinator/Education, Communication, Health, Physical Education, & Leadership Librarian at the Southern Oregon University Hannon Library. He is the author of several publications and presentations about reflective teaching, peer facilitation, and intentionality in teaching and reference.