Jenn meets Penn. Penn Gillette gave the opening keynote at the DevLearn conference. His talk was titled “The Magic of Storytelling and Learning.”

The Spring edition of the biannual Professional Development Forum held on March 17 featured five presenters of timely topics. Elizabeth Roke kicked off the session with an overview of the “Always Already Computational” project looking to transform libraries’ digital collections into datasets for use in research. The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded a grant for $100,000 to a group of librarians and archivists to explore the role repositories can play in exposing and re-working existing collections for analysis and data-driven scholarship. The project team recently held a national forum in Santa Barbara; learn more about the project and follow their progress at #AACdata.

Jenn Young shared “5 tools in 5 minutes” from the DevLearn Conference, any of which should be of interest to all of us working on projects or instruction. From mind mapping and brainstorming, to creating rich visual content, and infographic and design inspiration, each of the tools Jenn spotlighted has a free trial or basic version with limited functionality to explore. Working on instructional materials? Your interest may be piqued by Genially to help you create more interactive content to embed in Canvas pages.

Freshly returned from the Code4Lib Conference, Laura Akerman highlighted the open, inclusive, and user-centered focus of this annual gathering that goes beyond discussions of pure technology. High notes included a breakout session with Ex Libris about Alma and Blacklight functionality using APIs, and a pair of thought-provoking keynotes about the role of systems in the wider world. Videos of those talks and many other sessions are on the Code4Lib Youtube channel [link] Take note: Emory will host Code4Lib Southeast on Friday, April 21.

Ann Cullen provided a quick review of her takeaways from attending The Academy of Management conference last year. As the largest organization in the world for management scholars, she found the very international focus and perspectives of members from 126 countries resonated with her own scholarship and qualitative comparative analysis for her forthcoming dissertation defense. Ann’s one regret was not taking time to visit Disneyland while in Anaheim.

The session closed with Erin Grant’s overview of two API-based programs developed by the libraries’ Core Systems to reduce repetitive cataloging tasks. Now when the Stacks team initiates the process to remove lost or missing books from the Emory library catalog, the custom solution scripted by Alex Cooper automatically removes those holdings from OCLC using Alma and WorldCat APIs. And the best part is the program can be used in reverse to automate adding new item records.

Attending a conference or professional seminar later in 2017? The Professional Development Forum will return in late summer or early fall with more opportunities for LITS staff to share and learn about professional development experiences.