I was pulled into the "NCompass Live: Tech Talk with Michael Sauers: Live from Computers in Libraries!" It was a great opportunity and I'm thrilled to have been in the right place at the right time. I learned a lot from the other participants as well as met people I look forward to spending time with at future conferences. We ended up having lunch together after the recording where we indulged in an amazing dessert of grilled cupcakes.
The "Planning & Realizing the Fourth Place" session was of particular interest to me. Jill Hurst-Wahl, Maurice Coleman, and Paul Signorelli led a session on the ways "people are using space differently in order to engage in learning." A few Penn State locations have worked through and begun implementing a Knowledge Commons concept for their libraries, and my library is the next logical location. Soon I'll put together a committee on campus. I have a superb road map courtesy of head librarian Val Lynn at Hazelton. Combining it with the "Fourth Place" session made this session a must attend. I think that many of us, myself included, will think about "how a library can create a fourth place using existing or recycled space", but need to be actively reminded about "the library services and resources that would support fourth place activities."
Speaking of those resources, Skype and Twitter were mentioned as tools useful in creating the fourth place. Ironically, this became very important to the session. Paul was joining the panel via Skype, but due to some technical difficulties Maurice was unable to bring him in. As Maurice started presenting Paul's portion of the session, I tweeted "Listening to @baldgeekinmd present Paul Signorelli's session on the fourth place". Paul saw this tweet, and he was alerted to the technology disconnect. Paul started tweeting to me and Maurice, and they were able to incorporate Paul via chat. Maurice told the audience "librarycourtney created the fourth place." It was pretty cool.
The "Fourth Place" session gave me additional food for thought not only for the library, but also for the campus. At the March campus faculty meeting, there was significant discussion regarding quiet spaces and student study spaces on campus. These discussions revolved around the limited number of places for students to work and an even smaller number of true quiet spaces on campus.
My last session of the day was Brian Hulsey and Gretchen Caserotti's session "Transliteracies: Libraries as the Critical "Classroom"".
Gretchen talked about the role of transliteracy in working with children. Gretchen mentioned "kids are learning leaders" and "flexibility is key". She noted library staff training is important to success of transliteracy making it everyone's job. Brian focused on transliteracy in higher education. One of my favorite parts of Brian's presentation was when he channeled Rhianna and invites everyone to stand under his transliteracy umbrella (ella-ella-A).
It was a useful, engaging and thoughtful session.. Be sure to check out the Libraries and Transliteracy blog.
That evening Boyhim Kim organized a tweet-up. Attendees included Bohyun Kim, Tiffini Travis, Jacob Berg, and Greg Hardin. I finally had the opportunity to meet David Lee King in person during the gathering.
Very nice meeting you, too!
ReplyDelete