For immediate release | March 5, 2013

Serving the DIY Patron, with Meredith Farkas

American Library Association Techsource Workshop
American Library Association Techsource Workshop

CHICAGO — ALA TechSource announces a new workshop: Serving the DIY Patron: Library Instruction at the Point of Need with Meredith Farkas.

With the emergence of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, librarians have been granted a new opportunity--to use the Web and mobile devices to provide immediate services and resources to library users at their point of need. What DIY patrons want most isn’t traditional person-to-person reference services, but rather Web- and mobile device-based resources so they can serve themselves through the library. In this first-of-its kind workshop, Meredith Farkas will explore the DIY mindset and ways to embed online instruction and live virtual reference help at patrons' points of need, whether online, in the library or out in the world.
Topics include:
  • Characteristics of the DIY patron and changes in usage of reference services;
  • Designing instructional content for the DIY generation;
  • How to determine where users hit barriers in their information seeking;
  • Making instructional content findable at library users’ points of need.

This workshop will last 90 minutes and will take place at 2:30 p.m. Eastern/1:30 p.m. Central/12:30 p.m. Mountain/11:30 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, May 16.

Registration for this ALA TechSource Workshop is available on the ALA Store. Registration is available at both individual and group rates.

Meredith Farkas is the head of instructional services at Portland State University in Oregon and a lecturer at San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science. Author of the book "Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication and Community Online," she also writes the monthly column "Technology in Practice" for American Libraries and maintains 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.

ALA TechSource Workshops are designed to give you and your staff the opportunity to participate in a hands‐on learning experience that will help you make the best technology decisions for your library.

ALA TechSource is a publishing imprint of the American Library Association. ALA TechSource publishes Library Technology Reports and the ALA TechSource Blog.

ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide.

Contact:

Dan Freeman

Editor

ALA Online Resources (AOR)

dfreeman@ala.org

(800) 545-2433 ext.5413