Emerging Library Technologies II: Innovation

Innovation is our theme! Sessions include how to make innovation work at your library,geo-based Internet services, and gaming. The keynote session, on how the Internet and associated technologies affects your brain, will be presented by Professor Deborah Gagnon, PhD, Wells College, who specializes in cognitive psychology. Speakers include Stephen Abram (Gale Cengage), Scott Nicholson (Syracuse University), Meredith Farkas (Portland State University), and Sarah Glogowski (Tompkins County Public Library).

Speakers

   Stephen Abram, MLS, is Past-President 2008 of SLA and the past-President of the Ontario and Canadian Library Associations. He is the Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and Markets for Cengage Learning (Gale).  He was Vice President Innovation for SirsiDynix and Chief Strategist for the SirsiDynix Institute. Stephen was listed by Library Journal as one of the top 50 people influencing the future of libraries. He has received numerous honours and speaks regularly internationally. His columns appear in Information Outlook, Multimedia and Internet @ Schools, OneSource, Feliciter, Access, as well as Library Journal. His blog, Stephen's Lighthouse, is a popular blog in the library sector.

  Meredith Farkas is the Head of Instructional Services at Portland State University in Oregon and an adjunct faculty member at San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science. She is also the author of the book "Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication and Community Online" (Information Today, 2007) and writes the monthly column "Technology in Practice" for American Libraries. Meredith writes the popular library blog Information Wants to be Free. Her professional contributions earned her the 2009 LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology.

  Deborah Gagnon, Ph.D. is associate professor of psychology at Wells College in Aurora, NY, where she currently serves as chair of the psychology department and coordinator of cognitive and brain sciences. In a previous lives, Dr. Gagnon spent time at both the University at Buffalo Libraries and the Cornell University Library. Dr. Gagnon is intrigued by all the ways in which computer science, cognitive psychology, brain science, information and library science, and information technologies intersect.

  Sarah Glogowski is an Adult Services Librarian and the Community Read Coordinator at the Tompkins County Public Library.  She also provides readers’ services to library patrons by overseeing the fiction and literature collections at the Library.  Sarah received her Masters in Library Science from SUNY Albany and has worked at TCPL since 1999.  She is a member of the Leadership Tompkins Advisory Board and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Build Steering Committee.

  Dr. Scott Nicholson is an associate professor at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. His book, Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages, was published by Information Today in 2010. He is also a professional board game designer and was the host of the video series, Board Games with Scott , from 2005 to 2010.  He was the founder of the Games and Gaming Members Initiative Group for the American Library Association and continues to explore how libraries and schools can motivate patrons and students through games and game design.