Alliance Library System and TAP Information Services
Announce Trendy Topics 2010: Social Networking for Libraries!

Start your New Year right with a resolution to keep up with quickly changing library trends! Alliance Library System and TAP Information Services are pleased to announce a dynamic monthly series of online workshops you can enjoy right at your desktop on these hot topics.

The first conference on Social Software for Libraries is scheduled for Tuesday, February 9. Meredith Farkas of Norwich University and columnist for American Libraries, will be the opening keynote speaker at 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time, 10:00 Central, 9:00 Mountain, and 8:00 Pacific. She will address “Building Collaboration, Participation, and Community in Libraries.” Farkas will talk about how social software is opening up new opportunities for reaching out to patrons, providing library services, and transforming our websites.

Other speakers for this inspiring day-long conference include:
Lauren Jensen talking about “Facebook and Libraries”
Joe Murphy speaking on “Twitter’s Impact on Libraries”
Rhonda Trueman talking about “Social and Professional Networking in Second Life: What We Didn’t Expect”
Beth Duttlinger on “Technology Training Wheels”
Rebecca Teasdale on “Using YouTube to Promote Libraries”
Alison Miller on “Delicious and Other Tagging Technologies”
Matt Gullett on “Participate in the Story”
Cynthia Hart on “Social Metrics”

A full informational flyer can be found at http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/TrendyTopics/workshop1February9.pdf.

This is the first workshop in a series planned by ALS and TAP Information Services. Alliance Library System Executive Director Kitty Pope is internationally recognized for her annual Library Trends Report (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/TrendsReport.cfm) which discusses the latest trends and how they affect libraries.

“ We wanted to take the Trends Report to the next step and create a forum and community for ongoing discussion and recognition of the wonderful work librarians are doing in these areas,” stated Pope. “With this series, librarians can both read about and have the opportunity to interact with experts, movers, and shakers in these areas.”

Register at http://www.eventbee.com/view/trendytopics/event?eid=65537

Registration for librarians for the one day conference is $40; for students $30; and for groups $100.

For more information on these workshops please contact Lori Bell at ALS, lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com or Tom Peters at TAP Information Services at tpeters@tapinformation.com.

Alliance Library System is one of nine regional library systems in Illinois serving 260 libraries of all types in a 14,000 square mile area.
TAP Information Services (www.tapinformation.com) helps organizations innovate.

January 26, 2010
For Immediate Release

Everyone is invited to participate in The Future is Now: Libraries and Museums in Virtual Worlds, an online conference to be held on Friday and Saturday, March 5-6, 2010 in OPAL, the webconferencing collaborative service, in Second Life, and in other three-dimensional virtual worlds.

Throughout this two-day conference there will be dozens of presentations, panel discussions, poster sessions, demonstrations, tours, and social events. You need not be proficient in virtual worlds to participate in this conference. Orientation sessions will be held prior to the conference dates.

Keynote Speakers:
• Marilyn Johnson, author of the new book, This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. She also wrote The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries.
• Tom Atkinson teaches Instructional Technology at the U. of Central Florida and has over 30 years of experience in designing, producing, delivering, and evaluating interactive instruction on mobile learning platforms and in virtual worlds
• Sharon Tettegah and Cynthia Colongne, co-authors of the 2009 book, Identity, Learning and Support in Virtual Environments.

Conference Website: http://bit.ly/7L8M1j

Registration Fees:
• $25 for individuals who are members of the American Library Association (ALA).
• $45 for individuals who are not members of ALA.
• $10 for individuals who are students, retired, or between jobs.
• $75 for Groups (A group is defined as two or more individuals who are currently directly affiliated with an organization. Participating members of the registering organization need not be in the same location in the real world when they attend conference events.)

Register Now: http://bit.ly/7cB88t
Twitter Hashtag: #FIN10

Poster Session Proposals: Although the deadline for submitting program proposals has passed, the deadline for poster session proposals is Monday, March 1, 2010. See the conference website for details.

Sponsor: LearningTimes (http://www.learningtimes.org/), an open community of education and training professionals.

Conference Co-Organizers: ALA VCL MIG (Virtual Communities & Libraries, Member Initiative Group), ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group, the Alliance Library System, and TAP Information Services.
Conference Archive: We plan to record and archive as many events as possible. Only paid registrants, presenters, and members of the conference planning team will have access to the conference archive for 3 months after the conclusion of the conference. On June 6, 2010 the conference archive will be made available to everyone.
More Information: Please contact Tom Peters (816.616.6746; tpeters@tapinformation.com)

AURORA, Colo., January 26, 2010 — A Reference Renaissance 2010: Inventing the Future, co-chaired by Marie Radford and Rivkah Sass, will be held August 8-10, 2010, in Denver, Colorado. This exciting event will feature numerous presentations showcasing the latest reference trends and techniques that will give you new ideas and tools to better serve your customers. Also included are vendor exhibits, presentations specifically focused on products and services of interest to reference and information staff and plenty of opportunities for networking and sharing with colleagues.

Information about registration and the Call for Proposals for this conference will be coming soon. In addition to Virtual Reference, conference tracks will include Meeting Our Users Where They Are and New Roles and Future Directions for Reference Librarians. We welcome submissions from public and academic librarians. In addition to more traditional presentations, lightning round and Pecha Kucha submissions are also encouraged.

To receive email announcements about the Call for Proposals, registration or other information about this event, please send an email to refren@bcr.org.

For more information about Reference Renaissance and to see the 2008 presentation programs, please visit http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance/.

The Proceedings of the 2008 conference will be published by Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. in February 2010.

About BCR
BCR brings libraries together for greater success by expanding their knowledge, reach and power. They offer a broad range of solutions and their hands-on, personal attention to each member enables them to deliver effective and timely solutions that help libraries keep pace with new developments in technology and services. BCR is the nation’s oldest and most established multistate library cooperative. Since 1935, the BCR team has helped libraries learn new skills, reach patrons, increase productivity and save money. BCR (Bibliographical Center for Research) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit headquartered in Aurora, Colorado. For more information, visit www.BCR.org or email info@BCR.org.