2016 Conference Highlights – Making Connections with the One Button Studio

Each week between now and the 2016 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held May 4-6 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page. And follow along on social media at #MLADLA16

Making Connections with the One Button Studio

Friday, May 6th
10:45-11:45am
Presenters: Michael English, Jason Byrd & Patricia West, George Mason University

In 2014 George Mason University’s Gateway Library implemented the One Button Studio (OBS), a simplified video recording space that allows users with no knowledge of lights, cameras, or video production to create high-quality video projects with the push of a button. Originally created in 2012 by Penn State University Libraries, the OBS relies on the OBS app and can be replicated by other libraries with customized configurations. We will discuss how the OBS is being used to support unique user populations, such as distance students and instructors, and wider applications of the OBS, such as student presentation practice. We will also address challenges of using this technology and the marketing potential of the OBS for your library. The OBS has equally great potential to assist populations in the public library setting, and we will discuss applications for several public library user populations such as Toastmasters, English-language learners, and job seekers.

Welcome to the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference!

The 2015 MLA/DLA Conference has finally arrived! If you’re still trying to figure out what sessions to attend on Thursday and Friday, try taking a look at the Lanyrd site. You’ll find descriptions, speaker information and more. Pre-conference workshops will finish up at 4:00 p.m. today. Here’s what you can expect tonight:

4:30 – 6:00 p.m. – Keynote by Dr. Jack A. Kaye
This talk will include examples of what is being learned about the Earth system and how that information is being shared with and utilized by an ever-increasing set of domestic and international partners, and provide a guide to the future evolution of our capability and its projected and potential utilization.

6:00 – 7:00 p.m. – All Conference Reception
Enjoy some hors d’ouevres while mixing and mingling with friends old and new!

7:00 – 9:00 p.m. – Librarians’ Happy Hour with ACRL MD
After the All Conference Reception, continue the conversations with colleagues from across the state at Liquid Assets, just a short walk from the conference hotel. We’ll provide some hors d’oeuvres, and there will be a cash bar with specials. Librarians of all stripes are invited to join us, so we hope to see you there!

9:00 – 11:00 p.m. – Dance party
Join DJ Dusty McCowsky at the Horizon Oceanfront Restaurant for a star-studded night. Come dressed as your favorite science fiction character for what should be an inter-STELLAR time!

2015 Conference Highlights: Poster Sessions, Silent Auction, and more

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

The conference is just a week away! Here are a few more things to know before you get to Ocean City.

Librarians’ Happy Hour with ACRL MD
Wednesday, May 7
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
After the All Conference Reception, continue the conversations with colleagues from across the state at Liquid Assets, just a short walk from the conference hotel. We’ll provide some hors d’oeuvres, and there will be a cash bar with specials. Librarians of all stripes are invited to join us, so we hope to see you there!

Poster Sessions
Thursday, May 8
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Poster authors will be present from 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. and 2:45 – 3:30 p.m.
Visit the Poster Session at this year’s MLA/DLA conference in Room 5. Here you will find presentations from some of this past year’s amazing projects in Maryland and Delaware libraries. On Thursday, you can stop by at any time of the day to investigate the posters yourself, or you can drop in during the designated times (10:0-10:30 and 2:45-3:30) when the poster session authors will be there. Hear from professionals in every area of library service: what they are doing and how they are doing it. Get ideas, network with colleagues, and see what is new all in one place.

Silent Auction
Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. – 10:40 a.m.

Once again the conference will feature a silent auction with something for everyone! Be sure to check out the display in the vendor lobby on the first floor and find something you just cannot go home without!  Winners may pick up their items after 11:15am on Friday.

Hospitality Suite
Once again we will have the Hospitality Suite in Room 318 – stop by and kick up your feet and unwind. Complimentary amenities, including snacks, television and games will be available. Take a moment for yourself or to catch up with others amongst the hustle and bustle of the conference.

Networking Uncommons

Take part in the MLA/DLA Networking Uncommons Suite in Room 317 to make connections with other conference goers. Sign up in advance or at the conference to schedule a meeting, discussion, lightning talks, brain-storm – it’s all up to you!

2015 Conference Highlights: Supporting Student Success

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

Supporting Student Success: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Your Library
Friday, May 8
9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an instructional design framework focused on accommodating learner variability, removing unintentional barriers to learning, and developing expert learners. The UDL framework suggests flexible goals, methods, materials, and assessments which transform teaching and learning. The presenters believe that infusing UDL into information literacy instruction supports students’ learning and mastery of critical information literacy concepts. The presenters will model UDL techniques as they introduce the UDL framework, help attendees take stock of their current information literacy instruction methods and introduce resources available to implement information literacy curriculum and assessment. Participants will explore UDL, incorporating the active learning and self reflection that ensure learners’ success.

This program is worth 2 contact hours of continuing education.

Presenters:

Claire Holmes – Research & Instruction Librarian, Towson University

Sarah Gilchrist – Research and Instructional Librarian for Visual Arts and Education, Towson University

Sarah Espinosa – Residency Librarian, Towson University

2015 Conference Highlights: Bringing it Back to Earth

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

Bringing it Back to Earth: Using Assessment Data to Drive Change
Friday, May 8
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Examine an entire assessment cycle in one hour and learn how to use data to rethink your own instruction! The presenters will discuss their experience using assessment data to design and implement changes to information literacy instruction in a required writing course. Presenters will share the results of the ongoing assessment of those changes. The audience will then participate in a structured activity interpreting sample data to propose changes to a hypothetical instruction program and reflection how they can apply these techniques to their institution.

This program is worth 1 contact hour of continuing education.

Presenters:

Catherine Johnson – Head of Information Literacy Initiatives, University of Baltimore

Natalie Burclaff – Reference and Instruction Librarian, University of Baltimore

Stephen “Mike” Kiel – Reference and Instruction Librarian, University of Baltimore

2015 Conference Highlights: New Frontiers in the Library

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

New Frontiers in the Library: Library-led Student Leadership Programs for Student, Library and Institutional Success
Thursday, May 7
4:45 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.

Leadership opportunities and experiential learning are more than buzzwords on today’s college campuses. They are increasingly what students expect from their college experience and what a university is expected to provide. However, these opportunities do not need to come exclusively through the classroom or student affairs; the library – with its central role on campus – can and should play an active role in this important university goal. By developing a library leadership program, libraries and institutions benefit through student leadership in creative visioning, marketing and outreach, research assistance, technology projects, and much more. In this session, you’ll hear from a librarian and a student about the A-LIST program at Towson University.

This program is worth 1 contact hour of continuing education.

Presenters:

Carissa Tomlinson – First Year Experience Librarian, Towson University

Kelly Langford – A-LIST Student, Towson University

2015 Conference Highlights: Measuring the Success of a 21st Century Center for Learning

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

Measuring the Success of a 21st Century Center for Learning
Thursday, May 7
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Learn from architects and a library director how Anne Arundel Community College conducted a post occupancy building assessment 18 months after opening a new library in August 2012. The new library, which focuses on student success, won industry awards and was featured on the covers of two magazines. But how does the building perform against the project goals? This session will analyze data and information gathered in the assessment. All types of libraries can use the same techniques to measure the success of new or renovated facilities.

This program is worth 1 contact hour of continuing education.

Presenters:

 

Cynthia Steinhoff – Director of the Library, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, MD

Jolin Wang – Library Planner, EwingCole, Philadelphia, PA

Charles Rudalavage – Principal, Director of Higher Education, EwingCole, Philadelphia, PA

2015 Conference Highlights: Inspired Spaces, or Home Away From Home?

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

Inspired Spaces, or Home Away From Home? Academic Affordances of Peace, Quite, Comfort and Technology in the Library
Thursday, May 7
1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Learn how a community college library team, an ethnographic research coordinator, student researchers, and faculty from across the college are collaborating on a multi-year ethnography project producing data informing and explaining what students do in the library. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches in ethnography and participatory design, we are learning how the library’s facilities and services are being used, and what the unmet students needs are. The data gathered is being used to implement short term change, and to inform our strategic plan for longer term facilities and service modifications in a rapidly changing, technology rich environment.

This program is worth 1 contact hour of continuing education.

Presenters:

Tanner Wray – Director, Montgomery County Libraries

Sarah Fisher – Campus Library Manager, Montgomery County Libraries

Beth Thoms –
Reference Librarian, Montgomery County Libraries

2015 Conference Highlights: Applying “Information Creation as a Process” to Library Instruction

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

Applying “Information Creation as a Process” to Library Instruction
Thursday, May 7
1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Salisbury University Libraries has an innovative program that can be scaled up from a small college setting to a larger graduate university system. The program incorporates one of the threshold concepts in ACRL’s new Information Literacy Framework known as “Information Creation as a Process,” which centers around the concept that the usefulness and quality of an information source is partially determined by how it was created. The instruction program provides flexibility while sticking to a consistent scaffold of “Information Creation as a Process” and has opened new windows of opportunity for all science and business classes. Capable of spanning any discipline, this approach has allowed SU librarians to quickly and effectively provide instruction sessions, with all librarians using a LibGuide template as a starting point to tailor instruction to a research assignment. This capitalizes on the small liberal-arts classroom feel in a larger university setting.

This program is worth 1 contact hour of continuing education.

Presenters, all from Salisbury University Libraries:

James Parrigin – Information Literacy/Instruction Coordinator,
Angeline Prichard – Research and Instructional Librarian,
Sarah Loudenslager – Business/Instructional Librarian,
Susan Brazer – Science Research and Instructional Librarian

2015 Conference Highlights: An Unholy Alliance: Faculty, Writing Tutors and Research Librarians in Support of Student Success

Each week between now and the 2015 MLA/DLA Conference, we’re highlighting one of the conference sessions sponsored by ACRL MD. The conference will be held from May 6-8 at the Clarion Resort Hotel in Ocean City, MD.  For more information on the conference, please take a look at the conference program (PDF). To register, visit the MLA conference page.

An Unholy Alliance: Faculty, Writing Tutors and Research Librarians in Support of Student Success
Thursday, May 7
1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

This program explores a successful model of cross-discipline, cross-administrative collaboration in which writing tutors, research librarians and faculty provide expert assistance to students who need help with writing, researching and citing in any discipline. The presenters discuss their project for an online Virtual Writing Center, which won the 2014 Innovations Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College. The project has been heralded for its impact on student success and retention and for its innovative use of technology.

This program is worth 1 contact hour of continuing education.

Presenters:

Janice Lathrop – Reference Librarian, Anne Arundel
Community College, and Jessica Rabin – Director, Virtual
Writing Center, Anne Arundel Community College