The San José State University School of Information’s Library 2.018 web conference series will feature three open-access, topic-specific online conferences with the first one set for March 8 on design thinking. Registration is free.

Since 2011, the San José State University School of Information has been delivering free Library 2.0 web conferences for information professionals worldwide. The 2018 Library 2.0 series will feature three open-access, topic-specific online conferences with the first one set for March 8.

The Library 2.018 Worldwide Virtual Conference Schedule

• Design Thinking: How Librarians Are Incorporating It Into Their Practice – March 8, 12 to 3 p.m. Pacific Time
• Blockchain Applied: Impact on the Information Profession – June 7, 12 to 3 p.m. Pacific Time
• Libraries and Social Crises – October 2018

The Library 2.018 design thinking conference was developed in collaboration with Steven J. Bell, associate university librarian for research and instructional services at Temple University and adjunct instructor at the SJSU iSchool. Bell will moderate the opening panel discussion among experts on design thinking processes for libraries and provide the final thoughts.

Keynote panelists are Sidsel Bech-Petersen, head of projects and co-creation at Aarhus Public Libraries; Rachel Ivy Clarke, SJSU iSchool alumna and assistant professor at Syracuse University; and Gregory Diaz, children’s librarian at the Chicago Public Library.

Several crowd-sourced presentation proposals were submitted from university educators and public and academic librarians for the design thinking conference. Among the eight accepted proposals are:

• Design Thinking in School Libraries: Theory and Practice as a Cousin of Traditional Inquiry
• Embracing Change: Design Thinking, Technology, and the Library
• Cupcakes, Not Wedding Cakes: Sparking Small Scale Innovation in Public Libraries
• Improving Research and Analytical Writing Skills through Applying Design Thinking Model

To attend live, please register for the conference. The final conference schedule with links to join the sessions will be emailed to all conference registrants. Those who register in advance will also receive recording links.

Participants are encouraged to use #library2018 and #librarydesignthinking on their social media posts leading up to and during the event. A resource packet was created for the conference attendees and is available at Design Thinking.

The second conference in the three-part Library 2.0 virtual conference series is scheduled for June 7 and will focus on the hot topic of blockchain technology. Organized in collaboration with Dr. Sue Alman, an instructor at the SJSU iSchool, the conference will expand upon Alman’s nationally funded grant study of how libraries and librarians can incorporate blockchain technology into their practice to support community goals.

A call for proposals for the blockchain technology conference will be open until May 1. Proposals will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, and presentations of all types—discussions of possible ways to use blockchain technology, research, or examples of blockchain projects—are encouraged. However, presenters do not have to be experts in blockchain technology to contribute. For more information on how to participate as a presenter, visit the call for proposals page.

Co-founded by the San José State University School of Information, the Library 2.0 conferences are participatory events where information professionals around the globe are encouraged to not only attend the online sessions, but to also share their knowledge by submitting presentation proposals.

For more information about the Library 2.018 free and online conferences, visit the conference website. Details for the October social crises conference will be posted in the summer. Past conferences, including the October 2017 Makerspaces are also archived on the conference website with all the presentations openly available.