All Sessions

The Chapter Leaders Forum, presented by the ALA Chapter Relations Committee at each ALA Midwinter and Annual, provides a great opportunity for Chapter Leaders (especially incoming leaders) to meet and discuss a full agenda on topics to help prepare them to lead an association. Topics have included Membership Development and Retention, New Revenue Ideas, Social Media, and Advocacy. This event requires advance registration and includes lunch. No on-site registration.

This important meeting focuses on the need for an up-to-date educational preparation of catalogers and other metadata specialists, so that the educational system will continue to produce professional librarians whose skill sets match the needs of the marketplace that they will be entering.

Consecutive panel discussions will address two hot topics and take questions from the audience. The first panel from 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. will examine the current state of orphaned works. Panelists will discuss how institutions are "unlocking" orphans, best practices developed in doing so and possible paths forward.

The second panel from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. will review the landscape of digital libraries including the HaithiTrust Digital Library, Internet Archive and the proposed Digital Public Library of America. Panelists will discuss how the models work, ways in which they differ and how each digital library is approaching orphaned works.

This forum offers an opportunity for academic librarians to learn more about the new Standards for Libraries in Higher Education approved by the ACRL Board and released October 2011. Learn how these standards differ from previous standards and learn about the services ACRL will offer to support librarians in applying the standards for the purposes of strategic planning, program review, and institutional effectiveness.

Learn first-hand from the librarians on the front lines of Occupy Wall Street. Betsy Fagin, Mandy Henk, Zachary Loeb, Daniel Norton, and Jaime Taylor share their experiences participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement and building the People's Library.

Betsy Fagin was an ALA Spectrum Scholar in 2004 at the University of Maryland where she received her MLS degree. She has also received degrees in Creative Writing and Literature from CUNY - Brooklyn College and Vassar College.

Mandy Henk has been a librarian since 2003. She has experience working reference and doing instruction, but her main focus has been Access Services. Mandy's research interests include sustainable librarianship and the political economy of academic publications.

Zachary Loeb earned an MSIS from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2011. His areas of interest include archives, library technology, young adult services and the democratization of the public record.

Daniel Norton: Student, advocate and pre-professional librarian, Daniel serves as a liaison for educational outreach with the People's Library of Occupy Wall St. As an activist employed in NYC, he engages with the practice of librarianship through a fresh lens and a desire to impact the profession with forward-thinking ideas.

Jaime Taylor earned her BA from Smith College in 2006 and her MLS from Simmons College in 2009. She is the art librarian and archivist at Poster Auctions International in New York City, and one of the People's Librarians at Occupy Wall Street.

Combined meeting of the ALA Committee on Education from 9:30 -11:30, followed by the ALA Library Education Assembly from 11:30 - 12:30.

A demonstration and discussion of ACRL Metrics for current (and prospective) subscribers. Demonstration will highlight key capabilities including peer group comparisons, built-in report templates, and export capabilities.

Listen to the Advocacy Guru Stephanie Vance share valuable tips on how to influence policymakers during tough economic times. Also, hear success stories from library advocates around the country and what they have done to influence policymakers in their community. Attendees will walk away with 10 principles for grassroots success.

Creating digital collections is only the beginning of successful digitization projects. Ensuring access to and discoverability of those collections beyond library, archive, or museum websites relies on search engine visibility, directories, or large-scale portal projects. Building on the OITP Perspectives Paper, “Digitizing Hidden Collections in Public Libraries,” this panel will address initiatives aimed at providing increased access to the invaluable small and medium-sized digitization projects created by countless libraries, archives, and museums. Panelists Susan Currie, director of the Tompkins County (N.Y.) Public Library; Rachel Frick, Director, Digital Library Federation Program, Council on Library and Information Resource; Robert Horton, Associate Deputy Director for Library Services, Institute of Museum and Library Services; • Patrick Murray-John, Research Assistant Professor and Omeka Development Team Manager at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University; and Carol Linn, Library Consultant will discuss how to ensure access to and discoverability of digitization projects after their creation and best practices for collaborating with other institutions.

Join us for two fascinating presentations during the Games and Gaming Round Table's first ever forum/update.

Dave Pattern will talk about Lemon Tree (https://library.hud.ac.uk/lemontree/, http://library.hud.ac.uk/blogs/projects/lemontree/), a project to “gamify” the library experience at the University of Huddersfield (UK). The project is still in its infancy, but the aim is to make using the library fun and, by hooking into the social network of the players, to attract students who otherwise might not have engaged with the library. This session will also include findings from the Library Impact Data Project, which investigated the link between library usage and academic achievement at 8 academic universities in the UK.

ALA's National Gaming Day @ your library is a fairly new event created to promote the “educational, recreational, and social value of all types of games”. The University of North Texas Library has participated for two years and has organized their event to offer fun along with a focus on research and development opportunities available for people interested in all aspects of gaming. In this talk, Diane Robson and Bethany Ross will detail the planning and organization of NGD at an academic library.

Afterward, ALA staffer Jenny Levine will talk about changes coming to this year's NGD event.

IFLA representatives will provide an update about the IFLA Conference and IFLA's events and programs.

Is a PhD in LIS the next move for your career? Join us for a panel discussion with current PhD candidates followed by an open forum to discuss options and opportunities. This program is presented as part of the recruitment for the next round of Spectrum Doctoral Fellowships, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The forum will allow ALA members an opportunity to hear the platforms of the ALA presidential candidates prior to the spring election.

Dallas Public Library is rethinking everything as it transitions out of the Great Recession of 2008. Mobile technology allows staff to deliver service at point of contact; an innovation incubator provides opportunities for assistance to those wanting to start a micro-business; and a renewed commitment to library services in a digital age has staff focused on the customer’s experience.

Empowering Voices, Transforming Communities: join these conversations and leave Midwinter with new tools to become a better advocate. Libraries rely on partners within the community to advocate on their behalf more than ever before. But how can libraries stay relevant to these stakeholders in an environment of ever-changing priorities? Join visionary professor David Lankes, author of “Atlas of New Librarianship” ( (http://www.newlibrarianship.org), in two afternoons of innovative and interactive conversations about harnessing the evolving role of libraries, and strengthening the librarian’s voice to help shape community perception.

Facilitators from the graphic recording company, Sunni Brown (http://sunnibrown.com/), will help create visual images of the plenary conversations that conclude each afternoon. The Saturday, January 21, 2012, session focuses on “Understanding Your Communities.” The Sunday, January 22, 2012, session focuses on “Transforming Librarianship.” Both run from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Sessions are open to all Midwinter Meeting attendees; please add them to your Scheduler to indicate that you plan to attend. Attendees will also receive a coupon for 5% off the price of David Lankes’ galvanizing “Atlas of New Librarianship” (ACRL/MIT Press, 2011) at the ALA Conference Store.

The conversation continues on Sunday afternoon (http://alamw12.scheduler.ala.org/node/1073).

A forum and group discussion on the Edge Initiative, a national effort to introduce benchmarks for high quality public access technology in libraries.

What do we mean when we talk about ‘emerging technology’ and being a ‘technology catalyst’ in libraries? How is emerging technology integrated effectively into library operations and services via residency programs?
The SJSU SLIS and its grant partners are conducting a planning grant to explore a new residency model for recent MLIS graduates, focused on integrating emerging technology into libraries. We will share our findings and insights to date, and then open it up to participants to solicit their experiences, thoughts and best practices. If you’re interested in emerging technology in libraries and residency programs, we encourage you to attend!