On June 19-20, 2013, the 8th Handheld Librarian Online Conference will take place, an online conference about encouraging innovation inside libraries.

Register now, as an individual, group or site, and receive access to all interactive, live online events and recordings of the sessions!

Program: the latest tools and strategies for libraries

On day 1 librarians on the leading edge of their profession will hold presentations on the latest tools and strategies, from creating videos for libraries to implementing a successful text reference service.

The keynote presentation is delivered by Michael Edson, Smithsonian Institution’s Director of Web and New Media Strategy, and is entitled “Faking the Internet”. His central question:

"Why don’t libraries get better the more they are used? Not just a little better—exponentially better, like the Internet. They could, and, in a society facing colossal challenges, they must, but we won’t get there without confronting a few taboos about what a library is, who it’s for, and who’s in charge."

Day 2 is dedicated to a workshop on MakerSpaces which will be led by Tod Colegrove, University of  Nevada, Reno. The objectives of this workshop are to help librarians decide what kind of space will work in their library and how to get started on implementing this new service for their users.