finally going through my conference notes

I'm down to 1 hour and one minutes til I am officially done with AA. Glad its being spent "on the desk." I was quite late though - blame the boss, he took me for lunch.

So, more on Denver.....

Virtual Reference

Using library school students for VR – what do we think of that folks?

Actually, the panel with the library school students had some of the most interesting stuff

In a recent study – the reference interview is the most important skill in VR

General Reference

That Professional Development is optional not manditory

Lifelong learning has been identified as a critical reference skill, as well as being patron centered and committed to the idea of “the library” – this means being very aware of what “the library” is from inside AND outside

Part of “new reference” – beyond just finding stuff – packaging the information

Clever ploys – using a hotdog cart to set up an “information kiosk” at the library

Touting that your library can find the cheapest place to find gas in your community

Embed the library where the customer is

We can be facilitator of conversations

Resurgance of telephone reference - kind of a "duh" moment for me - working real life and virtual reference and forgetting about the old phone.....people may not always be able to go to a brick and mortar library, and may not always have a computer in front of them, but by gum, people very often have a phone in their pocket. Some libraries are REALLY pushing their phone service. Like ChaCha

Funny, as I write this up I am on my last AskAway desk shift and we are getting plagued by a serial goofoff. And here I am thinking I will miss all this.