Joanna Milner (Multnomah County Library) facilitates a panel with Laura DeGeer Baca (Cedar Mill Community Library), Emily-Jane Dawson (Multnomah County Library), and Thea Evenstad (McMinnville Public Library) at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

Pick the brilliant brains of a panel of past notable transcript winners as they discuss what makes an excellent transcript. Learn about their tips, tricks, and favorite information sources, as well as what they wish they had known before they started doing virtual reference. Share your own success stories, too!

Joanna Milner (Multnomah County Library) facilitates a panel with Laura DeGeer Baca (Cedar Mill Community Library), Emily-Jane Dawson (Multnomah County Library), and Thea Evenstad (McMinnville Public Library) at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

Pick the brilliant brains of a panel of past notable transcript winners as they discuss what makes an excellent transcript. Learn about their tips, tricks, and favorite information sources, as well as what they wish they had known before they started doing virtual reference. Share your own success stories, too!

 

Heidi Senior from the University of Portland gives a lightning talk, “Chat Happy? University of Portland Clark Library’s Chat Satisfaction Survey” at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

The talk describes the process for evaluating patrons satisfaction with their chat survey and presents the results.

 

Liz Paulus from Cedar Mill Community Library presents a lightning talk, “Statewide Databases and Answerland: Make the Connection” at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

 

Michele DeSilva of Central Oregon Community College presents a lightning talk at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

 

Sara Q. Thompson of OSU-Cascades presents “Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Visual Strategies for Reference Questions” at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

It’s one thing to guide a patron sitting in front of you through a library website. It’s another thing entirely to guide a patron through that same website over the phone, in an email, or via chat. Some reference interactions need visual assistance to effectively “teach them to fish” but how do we do this without taking too much time or getting too complicated?  This session will look at the pros and cons of three different strategies for adding visuals to mediated reference interviews: 1) screenshots, 2) video capture and 3) screen sharing. We will also look at free online apps for each strategy and practice describing our own library home pages to our neighbors in the room.  By the end of the session, participants will have a tool belt full of approaches, platforms, and accessibility considerations to take back to their home libraries.

 

Caleb Tucker-Raymond of Multnomah County Library presents a lightning talk, “FAQ Systems for Self-Service Reference” at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

The talk describes examples of FAQ software systems to help patrons answer the easy questions for themselves.

 

Peter Morville, author, presented “Inspiration Architecture: The Future of Libraries” at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

To understand the future of the library, we must look beyond its walls, to the tools and contexts—both physical and digital—where learning takes place. In school, where the disruptive innovations of open access and online courses are changing the architecture of education, virtual reference, the “embedded librarian” and the “single search box” aren’t just nice ideas: They’re mission-critical. And, in society, where citizens don’t know how to search, who to trust, or what to believe, our failure to advance information literacy threatens the very fabric of civilization. Morvilleconnects the dots from ebooks to ecosystems, framing the library as both a cultural keystone and a courageous act of inspiration architecture. This is a story that’s colorful— both kaleidoscopic and contrarian—with an argument that just may change the way you think.

 

Jonathan Betz-Zall from Shoreline Community College presents “VRS White Paper Development: Pre-Publication Peer Review” at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16th in Bend, Oregon.

After an introductory presentation outlining preliminary research and some basic issues, we’ll use Open Space Technology to identify discussion topics of most interest to the audience, then break up into groups to consider them.

 

Emily Ford of Portland State University talks about digital badges at the 2014 Oregon Virtual Reference Summit, May 16 in Bend, Oregon.

Digital badges–much like their analog predecessor the scouting badge– can tell us a lot about a badge bearer’s accomplishments and skills. We all know that someone who has earned a First Aid badge is proficient in doctoring small wounds, and perhaps even providing CPR! Digital badges function the same way. They certify and communicate an individual’s knowledge, skills, and/or achievements.

Digital badges have been adopted by social media sites such as 4Square to recognize users’ achievements and are growing in popularity. They are being used by educational institutions as a way “gamify” learning and promote student engagement; professional organizations like Educause use badges to certify professional development accomplishments; and the Dallas Museum of Art even uses badges as part of its Friends Membership Program. With the growing popularity of digital badges in social media and education, librarians can learn a lot about this new way that students and communities communicate their knowledge and skills. Maybe some libraries in Oregon will even consider using badges to “gamify” local library and community engagement!

This session will be a primer and workshop on digital badges. Participants will learn the basic theories driving the use of digital badges and be introduced to different badge platforms and tools (such as Credly and Mozilla’s Badge Backpack) to create, collect, and share badges. Moreover, participants will engage in discussion about how badges might be used in their libraries and communities. Session participants are encouraged to plan ahead and bring their laptops, tablets, or other devices so they can explore these platforms during the session.