The three days of Internet Librarian 2014 featured some excellent information and thought-provoking speakers. As Adam mentioned in an earlier post, in a technology-focused conference it was interesting to observe the recurring theme of the possible dangers of that technology. We received some warnings about pitfalls to avoid, along with some ideas about how libraries can use technology to expand not only programs and services but also our relevance and outreach.
Highlights for me included the museum director whose programming intentionally sought to bring diverse patrons together: Radical Transformation & Co-Created Magic!) iBeacons were mentioned in several sessions and seem like something we could make excellent use of. There were a lot of practical tips provided for whatever Makerspace options we decide to explore. And I'll definitely have a conversation with our IS department about ensuring our website security.
This conference featured hosted dinners at local restaurants. I attended one of these and had the chance to meet and talk with an interesting group of librarians, including a law librarian from Chicago, an oil company librarian from Texas, and public librarians from northern California and even Alaska.
Overall it was a very worthwhile conference, and we appreciated the opportunity to attend!
I want to thank each of you for a really enjoyable and informative blog. Don, I'm super impressed with your ability to listen, take notes, and convey readable, detailed info to your blog audience. Adam, I appreciate your unique perspective of the conference - and the photos of Don - and I'm glad you were challenged and able to connect with what was going on. Nice job to both of you and A+ for blog effort!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Glad that we were able to share some of what we learned from an especially interesting conference.
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