Rethinking Reference:Impressions from the Reference

Renaissance Conference (a Pecha Kucha experiment…with some

later annotations)

Lorena O’EnglishWSU Libraries

16 October, 2008(Conference Archives)

oenglishATwsu.eduYahoo/AIM/MSN IM - wsulorena

“Martha and Mary in the Academic

Library*”•Someday soon I’m really going to write this essay…

Christy Z. provided a theoretical take on this conference in her report; I’m going for a more practitioner perspective.

From Chris Anderson’s Free to Kevin Kelly’s Better than Free (Keynote by David W. Lewis, “Reference in the Age of Wikipedia…Or Not”)

http://www.customguide.com/quick_references.htm(Laurie Van Court, “Virtual Services Librarian: Bridge Between the Public Desk and IT”)

Tech Questions: Make a library of available resources

So much for the wireless world. My laptop battery gave out quickly – a good reminder about the need to provide good workspaces and OUTLETS for our users!

“You Bought It, Now Sell It! Creating a Reference Renaissance in the Public Library by Merchandising Collections and Services” (Panel)

Market your Reference Collection! Suggest complementary resources.

Bill Pardue, “Implementing "Predatory Reference": Fun and Innovative Approaches to Moving Reference Beyond the Library”

Reconfigure our brand to be more than books. Get out of the library to do it…

screencasting

Greg R. Notess, “Quick Screencasts for Distance Reference“

Screencasting is really easy…why not make one and send it (or link) to patrons?

Working Collaboratively: Creating and Sharing

• Documents, Spreadsheets, etc.

– Google Docs & Spreadsheets• http:/docs.google.com

– Zoho Suite• http://zoho.com

(Wayne Bivens-Tatum,”Everything Google Workshop”)

Know online applications and alternatives.

Greg R. Notess, “Embedding Screenshots in Email: New Software Approaches”

http://www.ptbed.orgDavid Lankes (listen to the Theory Meets Practice

Plenary via podcast )

“Focus on knowledge creation over artifacts…”

Carla Stoffle, listen to the Theory Meets Practice Plenary via podcast U of AZ library study: 85% ref questions no need libn – do outreach!

Intro - title

Laurie Van Court, Douglas Co. Libraries Note: the dog is my Heidi!

No more room for Lone Rangers in the library…

Get a work cell phone. With text messaging. Give out your #.Respond.

Wired Magazine 16.01Build local apps and widgets, hosted on library servers.

• What happens when information skills become a mass amateur activity?

• Can we survive with one foot in the world of proprietary content and one foot in open source/access?

• What is the role of institutional-level access in a world of network-level tools?

• Users: Info consumers or info creators?

• What keeps you up at night regarding libraries?• What’s the key element of house design (and

how does it factor into libraries?)• What 21st -century tool can you not live without?

Questions from David W.Lewis’s, “Reference in the Age of Wikipedia…Or Not” presentation and Rosario Garza’s “Reworking Reference: A California Project” presentation.image

“Renew your personal commitment to service quality. Share positivity [and possibility!] with your colleagues.”

Marie Radford

loe

http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance/presentations.html

…

• (Lorena describes a picture that is sitting in her laptop at home of the book-for-a-buckshelf in Union Station…)

People still need something to read, and librarians can provide that and much, much more.