LOEX 2008

This was held May 1-3 at Oak Brook, Illinois. As usual there look to have been some really interesting presentations, which supplement our book very well!
The official site is gathering in the Powerpoints. Here are a few which I noticed :

When the World Grows Smaller: Renewing Your Instruction Methods for International Students Using the Cephalonian Method : Merinda Kaye Hensley, Instructional Services Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Wiki-ing Your Way into Collaborative Learning Molly Beestrum, Systems Librarian, Dominican University, Kenneth Orenic, Instruction/Reference Librarian, Dominican University.

cn u hlp? Collaborative Chat Reference and Instruction Kenneth Furuta, Reference/Information Technology Librarian, Rivera Library, University of California, Riverside
Gayatri Singh, Reference and Information Services Coordinator, Social Sciences & Humanities Library, University of California, San Diego.

Library Instruction and Student Engagement in the Age of Google
William H. Weare, Jr., Access Services Librarian, Valparaiso University
Michelle Kowalsky, Adjunct Professor and Reference Librarian, William Paterson University.

Research 2.0: Research Blogs as Windows of Opportunity Olivia Reinauer, Social Sciences Librarian, University of Richmond, Terry Dolson, Faculty Development Specialist, University of Richmond.

“Why Does Google Scholar Sometimes Ask for Money?” Leveraging the Economics of Information and Scholarly Communication Processes to Enrich Instruction
Scott Warren, Associate Director, Textiles Library and Engineering Services, North Carolina State University Libraries, Kim Duckett, Principal Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning, North Carolina State University Libraries.

There's really interesting material here. For a good summary of some of the presentations see the post on Please Be Quiet blog.

Virtual Reference survey using instant messaging

One of the book's contributors Anne-Marie Deitering is conducting a brief survey on virtual reference services. Below is the description and link.
Do you provide reference assistance using instant messaging and/or integrated virtual reference software? If so, please consider completing our survey gathering information for a study on librarians' attitudes towards instruction during virtual reference transactions. This survey is anonymous and should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Results will be used to improve virtual reference services and will be distributed via conference presentations and publication. We will collect responses for 2 weeks, from April 21 through May 5. The survey website can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=wjtou978Ke_2fscmtKjUkSfA_3d_3d