Kindle, iPhone, Twitter, and Libraries
October 3, 2009 - 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
Amazon Kindles, iPhones and Twitter are just a few of the new technologies that are changing how we read and how we communicate. Come immerse yourself in the details, learn how they work and how they are changing user behavior. This in-depth workshop will provide a detailed overview of each technology, including tips and tricks, and a look at how libraries and other cultural institutions are using them. We hope to spark your creative ideas about services your institution could provide.
Instructor: Nicole Hennig is the Web Manager &
Usability Specialist for the MIT Libraries. Her field of expertise is usable web design and usability
testing, and she has spoken on this topic at conferences such as National Online and Internet Librarian. In
2001 she won the Infinite Mile Award for Innovation and Creativity given by her peers in the MIT Libraries,
and in 2006 she won the MIT Excellence Award for Innovation Solutions. Before coming to MIT in January of
1999, she was the Systems Librarian for Bose Corporation in Framingham, MA, where she designed and managed
the home page for the corporate Intranet. She has worked in academic, corporate, and non-profit libraries for
over 15 years and was formerly a classical musician, playing pipe organ and harpsichord in the Boston area;
hennig@mit.edu
Creating a Mashup Using RSS Feeds
October 17, 2009 - 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to create easy and interesting mash-ups. We will use tools like Feed Informer or Yahoo Pipes to build something new from merged RSS feeds. Possible sources of feeds include: Worldcat custom lists, LibraryThing, Delicious, CiteULike, Connotea, YouTube, and search results from Google or Google News. You don't need to be a programmer. Basic knowledge of HTML is all that is needed for this class. Come get inspired by seeing examples of interesting sites you can create with these easy-to-use tools.
Instructor: Nicole Hennig is the Web Manager &
Usability Specialist for the MIT Libraries. Her field of expertise is usable web design and usability
testing, and she has spoken on this topic at conferences such as National Online and Internet Librarian. In
2001 she won the Infinite Mile Award for Innovation and Creativity given by her peers in the MIT Libraries,
and in 2006 she won the MIT Excellence Award for Innovation Solutions. Before coming to MIT in January of
1999, she was the Systems Librarian for Bose Corporation in Framingham, MA, where she designed and managed
the home page for the corporate Intranet. She has worked in academic, corporate, and non-profit libraries for
over 15 years and was formerly a classical musician, playing pipe organ and harpsichord in the Boston area;
hennig@mit.edu
Using Visual Display Tools on Your Website
October 17, 2009 - 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
In this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to use some visual display tools to create beautiful slide shows on your website. We will look at several different free or low-cost tools, such as CoolIris, Flickr slideshows, Dippity, and Slideshow Pro. You don't need to be a programmer or Flash coder to work with these tools; only a basic knowledge of HTML is necessary. You can make beautiful slideshows using images from your institution's image collections or photos of your spaces.
Instructor: Nicole Hennig is the Web Manager &
Usability Specialist for the MIT Libraries. Her field of expertise is usable web design and usability
testing, and she has spoken on this topic at conferences such as National Online and Internet Librarian. In
2001 she won the Infinite Mile Award for Innovation and Creativity given by her peers in the MIT Libraries,
and in 2006 she won the MIT Excellence Award for Innovation Solutions. Before coming to MIT in January of
1999, she was the Systems Librarian for Bose Corporation in Framingham, MA, where she designed and managed
the home page for the corporate Intranet. She has worked in academic, corporate, and non-profit libraries for
over 15 years and was formerly a classical musician, playing pipe organ and harpsichord in the Boston area;
hennig@mit.edu
Indexing Applications in Print and Digital Media
October 17, 2009 - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
$220 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $175)
In this workshop, participants learn the theoretical guidelines and practical skills for writing a back-of-the-book index, and then apply that knowledge to indexes for online media: hypertext documentation, online help, and basic information architecture. Fundamental topics include topic inclusion, sub-entry construction, locators and cross references, language selection, entry sorting, and usability concerns. Lively in-class discussion is encouraged, and any additional topics (e.g., tools, careers, deadlines, subject specialties) will be introduced by request.
Instructor: Seth Maislin is a leader in the indexing industry. He is a managing partner of indexing firm Potomac Indexing, past-president of the American Society for Indexing, and founder of the techindexing community. He teaches a comprehensive remote-learning class on indexing and has spoken at numerous conferences and companies. His indexing expertise extends into consulting and training work in information architecture and taxonomy; seth.maislin@potomacindexing.com
Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies
October 24, 2009 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
$220 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $175)
Taxonomies are becoming popular for organizing information in business knowledge management, enterprise content management systems, and intranets. Are these taxonomies different from literature retrieval thesauri? How does one go about creating a taxonomy? This workshop will provide recommended best practices for how to create terms, relationships, and variants for different kinds of taxonomies or controlled vocabularies, and will also introduce different software tools for doing so. Whether you need to create a taxonomy to organize information on a web site, classify information in a content management system, establish a controlled vocabulary for a periodical or database indexing project, or simply understand how to use them better, this workshop will get you on your way.
Instructor: Heather Hedden is Principal at Hedden Information Management, manager of the Taxonomies & Controlled Vocabularies special interest group of the American Society for Indexing, formerly a Controlled Vocabulary Editor at Gale/Information Access Company, and author of "Indexing Specialties: Web Sites" heather@hedden.net
Video Tutorials - When, Why and How to Use Them
March 6, 2010 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
$220 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $175)
Video tutorials are a great tool for reaching your users and grabbing their attention. In this workshop, we will look at best practices for tutorials and then apply those to tutorials used by libraries in both public and academic settings. Then, participants will learn about the tools available (even on the cheap) that can be used to create tutorials for marketing, teaching, demonstrating processes and more. Participants will have hands on time to practice storyboarding and creating tutorials.
Instructors: Stacy Schwartz - Library Assistant for Reference and Information Literacy, Simmons College; stacy.schwartz@simmons.edu
Rex Krajewski - Reference Services Librarian, Simmons College; rex.krajewski@simmons.edu
Project Management 101
WORKSHOP CANCELED
November 14, 2009 - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
$220 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $175)
Have you ever been asked to manage a research project and have no idea how to go about doing it? Who should work on it? What should everyone do? How do you plan the work load to meet your deadline? When do you hire an outside consulting firm and how do you work with it? The goal of this class is to learn how to manage a fairly simple research assignment. The one-day class will introduce you to project management skills that can be applied to any type of project. The day will be spent understanding how to determine the scope, put together a plan, create and manage a team, assign tasks, and pull the results together to meet your deadline. In addition to lecturing, there will be exercises that help internalize the lessons. At the end of the day, you should be able to start up and manage a simple project with confidence.
Instructor: Jennifer Swanson has over 25 years experience doing project management competitive intelligence, market research, and many types of analysis and model building in a wide variety of industries. She has worked on both sides of the equation — demand side (ARAMARK, Draper, MITRE) and supply side (Fuld, Gartner). She is currently a Sr. Market Analyst at Draper Laboratory, providing custom research to internal groups and building the market intelligence function. As a consultant, Jennifer has worked in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and business services, with an expertise in technology (Digital Equipment, Gartner, MITRE, Draper). She started the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) Boston Chapter in 1991 and was a member of the board twice. Jennifer has presented at conferences as well as written articles on CI and project management. She has an MBA from Boston University Graduate School of Management and an MLS from Simmons Graduate School of Library & Info Science; jenswanson@comcast.net
Dreamweaver 1 for Information Professionals
November 14, 2009 - 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
Webpages are becoming the foremost point of contact with patrons. Thus, information professionals must have the tools to create attractive and effective websites. Dreamweaver is a powerful web editor that gives you the tools to build sophisticated interactive sites with ease. In this hands-on workshop, we will cover the basics of getting started with this program. Topics will include page properties, text editing, inserting images, browser preview, text and image links, page and site links, and e-mail links. Class limited to 12.
Instructor: Kathleen Horton, Instructional Designer at Fidelity Investments, Boston; misshorton@aol.com
Dreamweaver 2 for Information Professionals
November 14, 2009 - 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
Webpages are becoming the foremost point of contact with patrons. Thus, information professionals must have the tools to create attractive and effective websites. Once you have mastered the basics of Dreamweaver 1, come to Dreamweaver 2 to explore more sophisticated possibilities for your webpages. In this hands-on workshop, we will cover tables, frames, templates, image maps, navigation bars, animated rollovers, and site builder. Class limited to 12.
Instructor: Kathleen Horton, Instructional Designer at Fidelity Investments, Boston; misshorton@aol.com
Photoshop for Information Professionals
December 5, 2009 - 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
Do you have digital images that you would like to post on your organization's website or on your personal one? If so, this class is for you! This hands-on workshop will teach you how to use Adobe Photoshop to create web graphics. We will examine image resolution for web images vs. print images; and we will work with the web's two most important graphic file formats, GIF and JPEG. You will learn how to create the best-looking web images with the lowest file sizes possible. Through step-by-step, hands-on exercises, you will learn the techniques for sizing and cropping photographs, making color adjustments, using web-safe colors, working with type and layers, creating GIF images with simple transparency, and creating navigation devices, such as banners, buttons, triangles and navigation bars. Class limited to 12.
Instructor: Kathleen Horton, Instructional Designer at Fidelity Investments, Boston; misshorton@aol.com
How Much Space Do You Really Need and How Much Will It Cost?
March 20, 2010 - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
$220 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $175)
This one-day workshop is designed to explore all facets of library space planning for all types of libraries in order to determine in a clear and logical manner how — in the early stages of planning — a library can accurately develop its space needs whether planning for a totally new facility, expansion of an existing structure, or renovating an older library building. The different types of spaces, e.g. meeting rooms, bookstacks, IT lab, are discussed and the elements that constitute each space are discussed. Participants will know how to project the space needs of their library over a 20-hear period. The final segment of the workshop will deal with cost estimating — planning costs, design costs, construction costs, furnishing costs, contingencies — how to arrive a reliable total project cost. All workshop participants will receive, at no additional cost, a copy of the consultant's "An Architectural Dictionary for Librarians."
Instructor: Richard Waters is a full-time library consultant with 23 years of full-time experience. He has consulted with libraries in 44 of the 50 states as well as internationally; rlwaters37@gmail.com
Managing Social Media to Lead Digital Natives
March 20, 2010 - 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
How can digital immigrants -- those of us who didn't grow up with the web -- use online tools like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and texting to serve, inspire, and educate young patrons? This workshop will help you become fluent in the basics of social media, understand some ground rules in cross-generational on-line connections, and learn shortcuts, tips, and tricks to use these tools well without wasting time and money.
Instructor: Mitali Perkins is the author of several
award-winning books for teens and tweens, including SECRET KEEPER (Random House) and FIRST DAUGHTER (Dutton).
She travels far and wide speaking to librarians about how books can help us cross borders, as well as about
mastering social media to cross the border between generations; info@mitaliperkins.com
Practical Tagging and Keyword Invention
March 20, 2010 - 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
$160 (Simmons GSLIS Alumni price $125)
Knowing how to control a vocabulary is important, but what if you don't have a vocabulary? This workshop provides participants with a simple algorithm for inventing all those words you forgot to invent last time, along with several practical examples, followed by critical suggestions on where and how to apply them. Whether you're an indexer looking to lengthen your index, or a website owner looking to get more Google hits, you'll appreciate a fast, fresh look at words, words, words.
Instructor: Seth Maislin is a leader in the indexing industry. He is a managing partner of indexing firm Potomac Indexing, past-president of the American Society for Indexing, and founder of the techindexing community. He teaches a comprehensive remote-learning class on indexing and has spoken at numerous conferences and companies. Also, his indexing expertise extends into consulting and training work in information architecture and taxonomy; seth.maislin@potomacindexing.com
