Contact Information:Barbara Allen520-621-2373[email protected]
Related Web site:Conference Information including registration and hotel accommodations can be found on the web athttp://www.library.arizona.edu/conference/
Event:"Living the Future 4: Collaboratively Speaking."
When:April 24-27
Where:Sheraton Park Hotel, 5151 E. Grant Road, Tucson, Ariz.
Cost:Registration fees until March 15 are $280. After March 15, the registration fees will be $320. Institutional group and student rates are also available. Pre-conference fees are $150 per person.
The University of Arizona Library will host an international conference on organizational change, "Living the Future 4: Collaboratively Speaking." It will focus on how libraries can be effective, creative, and user focused.
The conference will examine team structures and accomplishments at the University of Arizona Library and other libraries around the country that are in the process of implementing new structures to better prepare for the future.
"There has been a continuing interest in our organizational developments since we reorganized into teams in 1992," says Carla Stoffle, Dean of Libraries. "It is important for our library to share our story, both the from the successes and the challenges. Also, we need to learn from each other. Many other libraries are now involved in reorganization processes, taking different paths, having different experiences."
The first day will focus on developments at the University of Arizona Library since the previous international conference, "Living the Future 3: Telling our Stories, Sharing our Visions, 2000." Library teams will present organizational efforts initiated to cope with technology change. Other topics include partnerships with faculty on scholarly communication issues, the integration of information literacy across the curriculum, and the evaluation of reference services in the virtual environment.
Other highlights include collaboration across team, local and regional boundaries, and the challenges of anticipating and meeting higher expectations of users in a fluid and increasingly electronic environment. Progress in designing and implementing performance measurement, compensation, and reward systems will be featured, and there will also be presentations and discussions on efforts to reach diverse audiences and how to make the library welcoming for students from diverse backgrounds.
On the second day, other creative organizational initiatives will be shared by invitees from a wide range of libraries, including Emory University, University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Brown University, George Washington University, University of Connecticut and the University ofVirginia. Presenters will focus on changes and challenges inherent in reorganization efforts to assess and improve services. Both days will include panel presentations, invited speakers, community dialogues, and poster sessions.
On Saturday, April 27, participants will come to the University of Arizona campus, tour the new Integrated Learning Center/Information Commons, and the renovated Special Collections. The focus will be on the special challenges in serving customers in a digital world. Suchchallenges include how to staff new spaces to support learning technologies, partner with campus units, develop consortia, recruit, and train for skills to serve the new generation of customers.
On Wednesday, April 24, the following pre-conference workshops will be offered:
* Library Project Planning: Learn how to use an integrated problem-solving model to manage a project to its successful conclusion; learn how to use tools such as Gantt charts, and to apply new skills and concepts to a real and specific project.
* Advanced Facilitation Skills: This laboratory allows intensive practice for experienced facilitators. Participants in this lab will work in small groups and receive feedback on their facilitation, communication, and group process skills. Of specific focus will be overcoming group and organizational dysfunction, surfacing and testing assumptions, and building shared meaning.
* Conducting User Surveys in Academic Libraries: Presents the, basic concepts and steps in conducting a user survey, including defining objectives, sampling, measurement scales, logistics, data analysis and report writing.
* Constructive Dialogue: Using the constructive dialogue model will improve participants' abilities to have honest and meaningful conversations, even during difficult situations. Using their own and others' experiences, participants will practice the steps required to develop successful and productive working relationships.
Conference accommodations are at the Sheraton Tucson Hotel and Suites, a recently remodeled garden hotel. The hotel provides a buffet breakfast to all registered guests and includes amenities such as a swimming pool, restaurant and lounge. While the conference provides intense learning opportunities, the conference schedule also permits exchanges that are more informal in the relaxed atmosphere of the Sheraton Tucson. Rooms should be reserved early by calling the hotel directly.
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