Browsing by Author "Vacek, Rachel"
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Item Apps in Facebook & Google OpenSocial: Why Librarians Should Pay Attention(2008-06-25) Vacek, RachelLooking at Google OpenSocial & Facebook Apps (in their early stages) and what it means for libraries.Item Assessing Your Library Website Using User Research Methods and Other Tools(2015-11-06) Vacek, RachelThis is a presentation given to the Oklahoma chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries. It's about using web analytics and content audits as well as a variety of user research methods to better understand your users and assess and improve your website.Item Bridging the Gap Between Print and Digital Environments(2010-11-11) Vacek, Rachel; Riley, AnitaEmerging technologies like QR Codes and Augmented Reality can help faculty, staff, and librarians extend services, promote resources, and widen access to instructional material to students in exciting and innovative ways. Using simple and free technologies, QR codes can be created easily and embedded almost anywhere. These oddly shaped barcode-like icons are processed by camera phones to direct the user to online websites, videos, or they can simply provide more information. Augmented reality takes existing visual or video information and adds additional layers of computer-generated graphics, pattern recognition, and other visual effects. This session will highlight how other academic institutions are using these technologies to promote market, outreach, teach, and engage with users in new and exciting ways. There will also be time for participants to discuss present and future applications of these tools, and other possible uses for enhancing resources and services in their institutions.Item Building a Better Mousetrap: Developing an Easy, Functional ERM(Proceedings of the Charleston Library Conference, 2013-07-12) Brett, Kelsey; Castro, Jeannie; Vacek, RachelThe need for various stakeholders in the library to access licensing information is critical when various departments are working with electronic resources. Managing these electronic resources can be a daunting task for those who have little experience working in the Resource Manager interface. This paper offers the process of developing an easy, functional ERM that is user-friendly. It offers the steps that electronic resource coordinators at the University of Houston took to create a new resource called the Electronic Resources License Repository (ERLR) and the feedback they received. The paper serves as inspiration for other library coordinators who wish to create similar resources.Item Building a Single User Experience(2011-10-18) Vacek, Rachel; McHale, Nina; Battles, JasonThe modern library web environment consists of multiple content sources and applications that perform essential functions that often overlap and could potentially create a fractured user experience. For example, content in a library’s Drupal website may be replicated in LibGuides or WordPress blogs. Search functionality in a discovery platform may be replicated in a federated search tool or the ILS OPAC. This presentation provides tips, tackles technical and political challenges to building a single web experience for users, discusses solutions and use of APIs (application programming interfaces), provides concrete examples, and more.Item The changing nature of web design and user expectations, and how libraries can respond(2015-04-08) Vacek, RachelThis was a presentation given to the Houston Area Law Librarians Annual Meeting at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, TX, on April 8, 2015.Item Collaborating in the Clouds: The Tools(2009-10-26) Vacek, Rachel; Creech, AnnaDo you collaborate on documents within committees that are made up of members scattered around the world or your institution? Are you looking for alternatives to email discussion groups that will push your content out to committees and beyond? And, most importantly, are you interested in tools that manage documents that can easily be transferred as staff and committee rosters change? This presentation discusses the pros and cons of some of the best online and open source tools for simultaneous creation, sharing, and management of content.Item Considerations for your Mobile Library(2012-04-17) Vacek, RachelWe all know by now that the ubiquity of mobile devices, from smart phones to e-book readers to tablets, is changing when, where, and how people are accessing information for personal and professional use. What does this mean for libraries? It means our libraries not only need to have a mobile presence but that they also need innovative and desired services which utilize the native features of today’s mobile devices. This presentation will walk you through some things to consider when thinking about the needs for your library’s mobile environment, and it will point to useful tools for designing, implementing and managing the content on a mobile website. You’ll hear about the benefits and drawbacks of building a mobile website versus building a mobile application. You’ll also learn about ways many libraries are integrating library resources and services into their mobile environment. Objectives: Clarify distinctions between mobile app and mobile webpage; Consider concepts beyond just replicating content on your library's mobile site but taking advantage of other features; Generate ideas about your own mobile library environment by seeing examples of what other libraries are doing.Item Considerations for your Mobile Library(2011-08-03) Vacek, RachelWe all know by now that the ubiquity of mobile devices, from smart phones to e-book readers to tablets, is changing when, where, and how people are accessing information for personal and professional use. What does this mean for libraries? It means our libraries not only need to have a mobile presence but that they also need innovative and desired services which utilize the native features of today’s mobile devices. This presentation will walk you through some things to consider when thinking about the needs for your library’s mobile environment, and it will point to useful tools for designing, implementing and managing the content on a mobile website. You’ll hear about the benefits and drawbacks of building a mobile website versus building a mobile application. You’ll also learn about ways many libraries are integrating library resources and services into their mobile environment. Objectives: Clarify distinctions between mobile app and mobile webpage; Consider concepts beyond just replicating content on your library's mobile site but taking advantage of other features; Generate ideas about your own mobile library environment by seeing examples of what other libraries are doing.Item Content Contribution & Distribution(2009-10-28) Vacek, Rachel; Porter, MichaelThis presentation was given at Internet Librarian in Monterey, CA, on October 28, 2009.Item Contextual Inquiry: How Ethnographic Research Can Impact the UX of your Website(2015-11-14) Vacek, RachelA contextual inquiry is a research study that involves in-depth interviews where users walk through common tasks in the physical environment in which they typically perform them. It can be used to better understand the intents and motivations behind user behavior. In this session, learn what’s needed to conduct a contextual inquiry and how to analyze the ethnographic data once collected. We’ll cover how to synthesize and visualize your findings as sequence models and affinity diagrams that directly inform the development of personas and common task flows. Finally, learn how this process can help guide your design and content strategy efforts while constructing a rich picture of the user experience.Item Cool Tools to Help Libraries Bridge the Gap Between Print and Digital Environments(2010-10-30) Vacek, RachelEmerging technologies like QR Codes and Augmented Reality can help libraries extend services, widen access to resources, and promote events to users in exciting and innovative ways. Using simple and free technologies, QR codes can be created easily and embedded almost anywhere. These oddly shaped barcode-like icons are processed by camera phones to direct the user to online websites, videos, or they can simply provide more information. Augmented reality takes existing visual or video information and adds additional layers of computer-generated graphics, pattern recognition, and other visual effects. This session will highlight how other libraries are using these technologies to promote, market, outreach, teach, and engage with users in new and exciting ways. There will also be time for participants to discuss present and future applications of these tools, and other possible uses for enhancing resources and services in their institutions.Item Crash Course in Web Design for Libraries(Reference & User Services Association, 2007) Vacek, RachelThe article reviews the book "Crash Course in Web Design for Libraries," by Charles P. Rubenstein.Item The Current Landscape of Mobile Devices(2009-10-17) Vacek, Rachel; Dasler, Robin; Gola, ChristinaLearn about the current status of mobile devices, applications, and e-readers, and how they are affecting libraries. The live version of the presentation also provided a show and tell of the resources and devices.Item The Current Landscape of Mobile Libraries(2009-12) Vacek, RachelThis is the opening keynote at the Central Texas Library System's 2nd Annual Technology Conference: The Mobile Library. My presentation sets the stage for mobile device use among library users, discusses mobile services that users expect from other institutions, and highlights several libraries currently providing a variety of mobile services.Item Discovery at the University of Houston Libraries(2011-06-26) Vacek, RachelThis presentation is part of a larger program, "The Age of Discovery: Understanding Discovery Services, "Federated Search, and Web scale" at ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 23-28, 2011. This presentation in particular is an overview of the implementation process at the University of Houston Libraries.Item Drupal 101(2012-04-17) Vacek, RachelLearn the basics of this open source content management system and how you can create a robust website quickly and full of tools that will engage your users. This presentation will also focus on configuration, popular modules for libraries, and tips for best practice and ongoing maintenance.Item Examples of what you can do with the DPLA API(2014-04-04) Vacek, RachelThis presentation was part of a pre-conference, "Hacking the Digital Public Library of America” at the Texas Conference on Digital Libraries in Austin, TX, on April 4, 2014.Item Funding Mobile Innovation in the Library: The Why and How(2010-04-29) Vacek, RachelThis is the keynote for the Spring 2010 CALLR Meeting (http://www.callr.us/). Mobile technologies are having a big impact on libraries today. This presentation covers why libraries should be paying attention, highlights libraries that are doing innovative things with mobile technologies, and how to get funding to bring mobile devices into your library.Item Get Your Game On in Instruction(2009-11-12) Vacek, Rachel; Dasler, RobinAuthor Zora Neale Hurston said that "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” The same could be said about video games, where a gamer explores new and unfamiliar areas, asks questions along the way, consults with outside resources to help understand the objective, learns new things, gains experience, and collaborates to achieve the prize at the end. In this presentation, Robin and Rachel discuss how gaming strategies can be applied to both in-classroom and online library instruction, and how these strategies can help retain students' attention as well as enhance their learning experience. They will discuss how the strategies used within the research process are remarkably similar to the strategies of gamers. The presenters will also highlight several academic libraries successfully incorporating games and gaming concepts into instruction through inexpensive or free open-source technologies. Should you choose to view this session, you will gain +10 to your toolbox of gaming resources, +15 to your ability to connect with students, +10 to your gaming strategies knowledge, and +5 to your creativity.
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