The second of the online mini-conferences sponsored by founding partner San José State University School of Information will take place on June 15, 2016, and focus on the theme of “Library as Classroom.” The call for proposals opens April 1.

A number of impressive speakers are already confirmed for the second of the online Library 2.016 mini-conferences sponsored by founding partner San José State University School of Information (iSchool). The Library 2.016: Library as Classroom online mini-conference will take place on June 15, 2016, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. PDT online via Blackboard Collaborate. Registration is free.

Dr. Michael Stephens, assistant professor at the iSchool, will moderate the opening keynote on “Defining the Library as Classroom” with panelists Michael Casey, Dr. Brian Kenney, Dr. Joyce Valenza, and Jessamyn West. Crowd-sourced presentations will be scheduled thereafter, and Sean Casserley will give the closing keynote address.

Information professionals are encouraged to share their ideas and experiences for using the library as a creative classroom and community learning space with the global audience by submitting a presentation proposal. The call for proposals opens on April 1 and closes on May 31, 2016, but session slots may fill before that time since proposals are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

The crowd-sourced sessions will be made up of 15-20 minute presentations with 5-10 minutes for Q & A between the presenters and attendees. Submitted proposals will be posted on the Library 2.0 website so that interested participants can view, comment, and “like” proposals, thereby assisting conference organizers in selecting proposals garnering the highest interest.

Using the same format, the first Library 2.016 Worldwide Virtual Conference, held on March 16, 2016, focused on the topic of “Privacy in the Digital Age.” More than 1,500 participants from around the globe registered to attend the free event. The mini-conference featured an opening keynote address by Barbara Bailey, Peter Chase, and Janet Nocek on the infamous Doe vs. Gonzalez case and the issues libraries face protecting privacy in the age of the Patriot Act. Jamie Larue, director of the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, told a true story about his experience with companies collecting personal information during his closing keynote “Welcome to the Truman Show: Privacy and Surveillance.” 

Participants in the March mini-conference were active on Twitter, sharing resources, tips, and ideas gleaned from the 11 keynote and crowdsourced presentations using the hashtags #library2016 and #privacy. D’Arcy Hutchings, an instructional design librarian at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, tweeted, “Safe browsing issues: web trackers, cookies, passwords, malicious websites/plugins. Use privacy settings!” Rebekah Golden, a Drupal web developer with Multnomah County in Portland, Oregon shared her thoughts on Twitter and noted, “Librarians are serious about privacy. Tech needs to learn to hoard less.”

All Library 2.016 conference presentation recordings are freely available on the conference website.