This four-part webinar series will present information on technology. You can register for the entire series, or you can register for one or more webinars within the series.
Core Webinar Series on Technology
Webinar Series Start/End Dates: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 - Wednesday, April 13, 2022
The Core Forum Webinar Series on Technology is a four-part webinar series that highlights a variety of topics, including the ways in which makerspaces address information needs of library users and provide a frame to create a unified path forward to establish guidelines, standards, and support for makerspaces in libraries; the landscape of authentication technologies and how to implement them; and how to develop a student worker program that improves skills and creates experiences tailored to helping students build a strong resume for their eventual job hunt. Originally part of the cancelled Core Forum, the presentations are geared toward library workers in technology positions. Core members and non-members are welcome to attend.
Webinar Part 1: The Evolving Authentication Landscape
Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2022Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm CT
Description: Individuals no longer access library resources from a single device or location and expect a single-sign-on experience. SAML authentication and federated identity management are important tools to meet user and institutional needs for security standards and privacy needs. Yet navigating layers of connection to create good user experience while maintaining privacy can be overwhelming. This presentation will introduce the landscape of authentication technologies followed by a description of implementing this infrastructure. We will end with an explanation of on-going challenges of current federated authentication, advocate for community collaboration by libraries as well as in the broader federated identity management community.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this webinar, attendees will:
- be able to understand the basic definitions of SAML-related and federated authentication technologies;
- gain a knowledge of the connection between SAML-related technologies and single-sign-on for security and better user experience; and
- be able to make a plan for establishing or improving single-sign-on infrastructure in their local environment.
Who Should Attend: Anyone with an interest in the topic can benefit from this session and is welcome to participate.
Presenters:
Hong Ma is the Head of Library Systems at Loyola University Chicago and assumed a new role as the Interim Associate Dean for User Service in January 2021 to oversee the work of the library’s Access Services, the Information Commons, and the Assessment Librarian. She played essential roles in LITA (Library Information Technology Association) and serves on the Core Board as Director-at-Large. She services as Steering Committee member of ELUNA (Ex Libris Users of North America). She also has been active in ER&L (Electronic Resources and Libraries), CNI (Coalition for Networked Information) and Educause community. She is a regular writer and speaker on implementing technologies in user-centered library services. Her research interests focus on developing value stream driven technology framework and processes to enhance library services.
Margaret Heller is Digital Services Librarian at Loyola University Chicago, where she works on front-end web development, digital collections, and scholarly communications. She currently serves as President-Elect of Core. Her scholarly interests include library technology community success, women in library technology, and improving access to digital resources. She also writes frequent book reviews for Library Journal and chairs the ELUNA Primo Working Group. In her personal life she enjoys taking her kids on tiny adventures and is slowly learning to play the guitar.
Webinar Part 2: Makerspaces and Libraries: Advocacy, Needs, and Moving Forward
Date: Wednesday, February 2, 2022Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm CT
Description: Makerspaces in all types of libraries have common needs. Through a panel presentation we will present the ways in which makerspaces address information needs of library users, and provide a frame to create a unified path forward to establish guidelines, standards, and support for makerspaces in libraries. How might we establish a shared advocacy platform to generate support for all types of makerspaces? Learn from panel presenters about the goals of makerspaces in public, school, and academic makerspaces, and generate awareness regarding how this important work advances all kinds of literacies.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this webinar, attendees will be able to:
- define the various goals of different types of library makerspaces in order to advocate for makerspaces in their communities or on a wider scale;
- understand how makerspaces advance multiple literacies in order to effectively utilize their makerspaces for learning; and
- discuss the common needs of library makerspaces to create inclusive and empowering makerspaces that serve all of our users.
Who Should Attend: Anyone with an interest in the topic can benefit from this session and is welcome to participate.
Presenters:
Laura Hicks is the Education Specialist for School Library Media at the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). She provides leadership in the area of school libraries to school districts and other organizations, and speaks for school libraries on state governing boards and committees. Previous to working with the MSDE, she was a secondary school librarian for 14 years.
Cara Kouse is the Innovation and Makerspace Manager at Greene County Public Library in Ohio. Cara has degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, and a Masters in Library and Information Science. She has worked in academic and public libraries during her career, working in branch management prior to starting at GCPL in 2016. Cara created the makerspace department, built out the makerspace, and has since been running and growing the makerspace and maker programming.
Leanne Nay is the Digital Engagement Librarian at Indiana University where she manages the Wells Library Makerspace. Her research focuses on gender imbalance in makerspaces and creating mobile makerspaces.
Webinar Part 3: More Than a Desk Job: Skills for Student Workers
Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm CT
Description: Since opening in January 2015, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library Studio has operated with a rotating group of five to seven student workers. While a few start with knowledge of some equipment and software, many do not. To get them up and running as quickly as possible, we have a series of training exercises, followed by Weekly Challenges that introduce new skills and keep others fresh. Over the past six years, this has evolved into a program that graduates young professionals with skills many of their peers are missing, and we’ll show you how we did it.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this webinar, attendees will be able to:
- develop training for specific service points that can be self-directed;
- create ongoing tasks that encourage the continual improvement of needed skills; and
- develop a student worker program that improves skills and creates experiences tailored to helping students build a strong resume for their eventual job hunt.
Who Should Attend: Anyone with an interest in the topic can benefit from this session and is welcome to participate.
Presenters:
Emily Thompson is Director, Studio, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Originally from Montana, she got her BA in Theatre from Drake University. After spending several years working as a costume designer and director, she moved to South Korea to teach English. She then moved to Taiwan before heading to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to get her MSI in Library and Information Services. Prior to UTC, Emily was the Learning Technologies Librarian at the State University of New York at Oswego.
Jonah Lasley is an Instructional Technology Specialist in the Innovation and Research Commons at the Auburn University Library, providing expertise to support innovative teaching, learning, and research. Prior to joining Auburn in 2021, he worked as the Studio Manager at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library, where he assisted users with multi-media software, A/V equipment, and 3D printing. Originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jonah attended East Tennessee State University and graduated with a BS in Digital Media.
Webinar Part 4: Reaching People in Juvenile Detention Centers
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm CT
Description: This presentation considers an underserved population that has likely been further left behind during the pandemic–young people in juvenile detention centers. In a collaboration between two public libraries serving very different communities in the same county—a county with numerous juvenile detention facilities—the librarians identified the opportunity to provide programming for these young people in person prior to the pandemic and to re-imagine and redesign the programming for a virtual format. The project provides the opportunity for the librarians to tailor programming, combining technology, team building, problem solving, reading and writing for individuals in a particularly isolated setting.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this webinar, attendees will gain:
- enhanced understanding of the young people in juvenile detention centers, who disproportionately experience negative outcomes educationally and otherwise;
- increased awareness of one example of the use of virtual programming to foster engagement and learning among a group of young people, who experience a particular level of isolation and other challenges; and
- expanded familiarity with one educational model that uses technology, selected reading and writing content and examples, and customized, hands-on activities to foster engagement and learning.
Who Should Attend: Anyone with an interest in the topic can benefit from this session and is welcome to participate.
Presenters: Mark Winston is the Executive Director of the J. Lewis Crozer Library, in Chester, Pennsylvania. He has spent most of his career in library management and university faculty positions. His library and academic affairs roles have included the positions of Development Officer and Head of Adult Services, Engagement Officer, Assistant University Librarian, and Assistant Chancellor and Library Director, as well as full-time teaching faculty member. He has also served as a leadership, organizational development, and diversity consultant and trainer, working with a range of academic, corporate, and public sector client organizations. His research and publications, focusing on various aspects of leadership, diversity, ethics, access to information, and economic inequality, have included three books and more than forty authored or co-authored journal articles and book chapters.
Mary Gazdik has over 25 years of experience providing library services to the community. She is the Director of the Middletown Free Library in Media, PA. Mary founded the library’s makerspace, CreateSpace@MFL in 2013, to provide hands-on creative learning experiences to children and teens. She has published two books on maker learning in libraries and is a frequent speaker at conferences and Maker Faires. Mary’s library experience includes work at a Teen and Children’s Librarian at the New York Public Library and Free Library of Philadelphia. She received her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Minnesota and her Master of Library Science from Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. She has received two Best Practices Awards from the Pennsylvania Library Association’s Youth Services Division for her Minecraft in Real Life Club and TechniGals Summer STEAM Camp.
