We just sent out the Call for Participation for the Reference Renaissance 2010 conference, so please look at all the cool things your Adult and/or Youth Services departments are doing and consider submitting a proposal for the August conference by the April 1, 2010 deadline.

We’re looking for reports from the field, panels, demonstrations, and workshops that range in time from a half hour to an hour and a half.  You can also present a research paper or use the really short Pecha Kucha format to discuss your topic.  And later on we’ll make a call for lightning round entries.  Conference tracks include Staffing & Managing User Services; Collaboration, Consortia and Sustainability as well as Virtual Services.  There’s even a Wild Card track for controversial issues or creative and innovative services etc.

Public libraries have responded to the economic turndown in so many helpful ways – but we all need to hear about your ideas and programs.  Tell us what worked and what didn’t and what you’d do differently the next time - don’t keep your brilliant new outreach efforts all to yourself – share the knowledge so we can all make our patrons lives better, without reinventing the wheel.

And if you can’t submit a proposal, remember, the conference is an excellent learning opportunity.  Conference chairs Rivkah Sass and Marie Radford and the planning committee are putting together a great program.

I’m really excited to announce that BCR’s second Reference Renaissance conference will be in Denver August 8-10, 2010.  The conference rose from the ashes of the Virtual Reference Desk conference, but has been expanded and this time includes tracks on Meeting Our Users Where They Are and New Roles and Future Directions for Reference Librarians. 

The Call for Participation should be going out next week, and we really want to encourage public librarians to submit proposals.  I realize everyone’s so busy that preparing a presentation might seem like an overwhelming task, but if you get a few people together and do a panel, you can share the work.  Also, you can submit a Pecha Kucha style presentation (20 slides for 20 seconds each, for a total time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds), or a lightning round (the call for these extremely informal submissions will be made later).

The 2008 conference was wonderful – jam packed with over 80 presentations and talks in six tracks ranging from Virtual Reference to Innovative Service Models to Managing Reference Services, it was an incredible value.  In fact if you’re looking for free library continuing education opportunities, many of the presentation materials are available online (not to blow my own horn, but do a “find” here on “Find Your Market” for the slides and full text of my presentation on how to promote your services to customers).  The proceedings will be published on 2/28/10.

So contact me at jshaffner@bcr.org if you want to stay informed about this conference and I’ll put you on the email notification list.  And when you book your flight, consider staying a few extra days - Colorado is a fabulous place for a summer vacation – our mountain valleys become magical patchwork quilts of flowers.

A BCR colleague, Laura Olson, recently told me about the concept of Reader Development, which originally started in the UK.  Laura and her fellow library school students are really excited by this holistic approach.   

I took a look at the website of the woman who came up with this idea and was intrigued.  Reader’s advisory is great, but it’s mainly about helping people continue reading the same types of books they are already familiar with, though interest in a specific subject can introduce them to new genres. 

I’m very guilty of sticking with my favorite authors (as a kid I often reread favorite books three or four times).  Though JCPL’s Personalized Reading Recommendations have introduced me to some new writers, now that I no longer work in a public library, I don’t hear about books I’d never even consider reading (I particularly miss one former colleague who got me to read political titles I’d normally eschew like Don’t Think of an Elephant).  I used to try lots of new stuff on cassette while commuting as the passive listening approach made it easier to give new authors a chance.  But books on cassette are quickly being weeded from my library and I don’t like books on CD (I can never find my place again) and have been learning Spanish in my car, and feel stuck in a reading rut.

So I could really relate to this explanation -

“Most of us protect ourselves as readers and always go for our own tried and tested favourites which we are confident will deliver the hit we’re looking for.  We’ve all had the experience of coming across something by chance, quite different from our usual kind of read, and being surprised to discover we really enjoy it.  Even though we may have experienced this occasionally it is still very difficult to actively go seeking those surprise hits.”

 and to this sentiment -

“…if you feel baffled or infuriated by a book, you keep wondering whether anyone else had the same reaction or if something’s wrong with you.
Reader development is about creating opportunities to do this  - sometimes face-to-face in reading groups, sometimes on slips of paper inside a book passed from reader to reader, or on readers’ noticeboards.  Reader to reader communication is the most powerful form of promotion there is.  If another reader tells you a book is good, that’s much more likely to persuade you to read it than rave reviews, media hype or literary prizes.”

I know after reading The Da Vinci Code I went straight to a religion expert to find out what was true and what was made up, and my sister and I were just discussing what was really supposed to be the “truth” in The Life of Pi.  BTW, I also love the idea of slips of paper inside a book  telling people what you thought about it – of course patron generated reviews attached to books in your catalog is a more modern way of doing this.

Since I prefer humorous stuff like Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal to Sartre or Joyce, “…poor reading experience with a book that has been accepted as brilliant.” really struck a chord with me too.

So take a look at the website and let me know if any of you are doing this or have heard from others who have.  I’d love to get some feedback on how it’s working/what you think…

Don’t you just love how MLS students always see things with fresh eyes and bring you wonderful new ideas?

While The Librarian is IN is exclusively about public libraries, BCR has several other blogs with much content  relevant to public librarians, especially catalogers, trainers and local historians as well as marketing, public relations, IT and e-resources staff. 

I’ve already mentioned Get Used, our marketing blog, but Trailhead and Scanning the Horizon both debuted recently. Take a look and make sure your coworkers in the appropriate areas know of these sources.  There’s a lot there that will be of interest to them.

Trailhead is written by Heather Clark, Shelly Drumm, Linda Gonzalez, Anne Marie Lyons and Marisa Wood in our training department and covers a variety of training related topics as well as subjects in their various areas of expertise.  Recent posts have discussed cataloging, copyright, digitization, interlibrary loan, resource sharing, technology (including lots of free web tools to make anyone’s life easier) and work flow analysis. 

Scanning the Horizon is from our digital and preservation services department and covers news, trends and cutting-edge tools for the cultural heritage community.  Liz Bishoff, Leigh Grinstead, Anne Marie Lyons and Steve Wrede have blogged about art displays, storage, innovation, audio, digital rights management, the World Digital Library and the American Alpine Club Library among other things.

So check it out and pass on this tip – your colleagues will be glad you did.