Session #1: Librarians’ Instructional Roles (Great Room C)

Moderator: Dr. Sung Un Kim, The Catholic University of America

Social Media for Reading Instruction: The Benefits and the Challenges
Presented by Laura Owen, The Catholic University of America; Dr. Sung Un Kim, The Catholic University of America

This presentation aims to understand how social media is used as an instructional tool for reading promotion to increase students' reading level in the K-12 school environment. Using social media as a tool for teaching reading is still relatively new. Supported by a CUA Grant-in-Aid research fund, we conducted interviews to obtain an understanding of how teachers involved in literacy education - school librarians, English teachers and ESL teachers - use social media for their instruction. Research questions include 1) How do teachers use social media for their reading promotion and instruction?, 2) What benefits do teachers see from using social media?, and 3) What challenges do teachers face using social media and how do they address them? This session will address those questions.

Outcome Evaluation of the Library Media Program on Information Literacy Skills
Evaluation Brief
Presented by Gail Bailey, Montgomery County Public School System; Myra Paul, Retired: Montgomery County Public Schools

Those in the school library media field have known for years that students who have access to an effective library media program score higher on state reading assessments. Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools (MCPS) School Library Media Programs, in collaboration with the Office of Shared Accountability designed a research study based on an online assessment of students' information literacy skills in grades 5, 8, and 11. This presentation will answer two research questions: (1) How does the instruction provided by school library media programs in MCPS effect students' acquisition of information literacy skills?; and (2) How does students' acquisition of information literacy skills influence their academic achievement as measured by the Maryland School Assessment in reading and the High School Assessment in English? This briefing will explain how the MCPS School Library Media Department promoted the assessment culture and continues to advocate for library media program accountability.

Special Collections + Developing a Primary Source Literacy Curriculum
Presented by Rodney Obien, Keene State College

In conjunction with the overall Information Literacy Program at Wallace E. Mason Library, Keene State College (Keene, New Hampshire), the Archives and Special Collections department is currently developing a primary source literacy curriculum. College Archivist Rodney Obien will give a briefing on the development and progress on the new curriculum. It will focus on how undergraduate students are taught the necessary skills to use and analyze archival and special collection materials in their research. Additionally, the presentation will help participants develop their own initiatives to teach students about historical preservation and the importance of cultural memory.

The Classroom/Research Information Services (CRIS) Model at American Public University System
Presented by Bradley Wiles, American Public University

The Classroom/Research Information Services (CRIS) model at American Public University System represents a leap forward in the traditional role of libraries as a academic liaisons, advisors, and research intermediaries. Under this model, course materials are increasingly driven by librarian subject expertise, the availability of open-web resources, and the incorporation of original scholarly work into the online classroom. This presentation will discuss the CRIS model at APUS and the role of its constituent parts - library, university archives, ePress, and course materials - in helping to shape web-based pedagogies through coordinated efforts.

Session #2: Innovations in Library Services & Resources (Great Room B)

Moderator: Dr. Bill Kules, The Catholic University of America

Assessment and Liaison Librarians: Documenting Impact of Engagement and Outreach
Presented by Daniel Mack, University of Maryland; Gary White, University of Maryland

Assessment is already central to higher education, and will continue to increase in importance. Tight budgets and scarce resources demand accountability. Librarians must be prepared to document the impact of the programs they create, the collections they develop, and the services they offer. Liaison librarians in academic libraries focus on engagement with academic units and outreach to students, faculty, and the community of scholars. This presentation will offer a programmatic framework for academic libraries to assess liaison activities. Attendees will learn how to create and implement an assessment program to document the impact of liaison activities. The presenters will discuss how to identify fundamental assessment measures for collection development, bibliographic instruction, reference and research consultation, outreach activities, and other liaison duties. The focus will be on using quantitative metrics and qualitative assessment measures to create clear and meaningful documentation of the positive impact that liaison librarians make on the university.

Digital Device Lending Practices
Presented by Jonathan Smith, California State University, San Bernardino

California State University, San Bernardino launched its’ first ever library laptop lending program in the fall of 2012. During research into policy creation and technical implementation questions of a more general nature emerged. Is the need for library provided laptops declining? Are library provided tablet computers such as iPads replacing laptops? Are libraries providing devices to access eBooks? This session will present two case studies at CSU, San Bernardino, and the preliminary results of a survey into digital device lending by libraries. The first case study reports on the newly launched laptop lending program. The second case study reports on a pilot iPad lending program in which the iPads are preloaded with eTextbooks. We will conclude by asking the “bigger” questions and reviewing preliminary results of the library survey.

Creating the Ideal Research Environment within an Academic Library
Presented by Karen King, Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia

The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia engaged in a strategic space planning study to understand their future space needs for scholarly research activities. The goal of the study was to inform decisions about space renovation as well as improve the quality and quantity of space used for research activities in the library. The study consisted of three phases. This session will provide an overview of the process and results from each of the phases of the strategic space planning study. It will conclude with images and a discussion of the Darden Camp Library renovations that reflect the preferred space design concepts that were discovered and documented during the study.

Androids, Apps and eResources: Using a Technology Petting Zoo to Teach about Downloadable Ebooks
Presented by Karen Cooper, National Defense University; Brianna Buljung, United States Naval Academy

The Library at the National Defense University (NDU) has stopped issuing laptops to students. Faced with a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment, NDU librarians implemented a technology petting zoo to inform patrons about the availability of the Library's resources on personal computing devices. The team overcame technology and security issues inherent in the NDU computing environment, and used the event to connect patrons directly with a variety of computing devices and the library's electronic resources. While the petting zoo event encompassed a variety of devices and operating systems, the briefing will focus on Android devices. There has been much discussion and development for Apple devices in the library setting, but Android devices are less well documented and therefore require special attention. Session attendees will learn about connecting users to ebooks via Android applications and will also learn workarounds that can be used to improve the functionality of ebook databases.

Session #3: Adaptive Services Panel (Room 331)

Web Accessibility at the DC Public Library
Presented by James Patrick Timony, DC Public Library

This panel focuses on the District of Columbia Public Library's work on a web accessibility curriculum for training library school students. The panel will also describe the DCPL's work with the ALA Universal Accessibility Interest Group. This work has produced a website called Universal Accessibility which will distribute the process of assessing the Section 508 accessibility of academic library databases. Additionally, DCPL's work with Wikimedia Foundation, which has resulted in their proposal and willingness to fund a Wikimedian in Residence position at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library will be discussed.

Wikipedia Book Club for the Blind
Presented by Christopher Corrigan, DC Public Library; Venetia Demson, DC Public Library

The Adaptive Services Division of the DC Public Library seeks to make the library more accessible to people with disabilities. To that end, we house the regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the library for the deaf, and an adaptive technology (AT) training program. The AT training program has led to a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity for our visually impaired computer learners. In May, we began to use the screen reader Job Access With Speech (JAWS) to create Wikipedia articles about books. Current participants in the Book Club are graduates of Adaptive Service's training program who continue to come in order to foster their ongoing learning and enjoy the camaraderie they experience with each other, as would occur in a typical book club setting. This panel will discuss how the program was developed and how the program has evolved over time.