Tech Camp 2020 is going virtual!
Join us August 17-20, 2020 for four half-days of interactive online learning!
Registration is now open for our annual Rochester Librarian Tech Camp conference! This FREE event is open to all school, public, academic, and special library staff!
Through a variety of online sessions, learn from industry professionals on topics related to technology, education, and collaboration (TEC) in library services and practices. Attend all of the sessions or just register for the ones that fit your schedule and learning needs best!
Conference attendees may earn up to 9.5 hours of continuing education credit. NOTE: Attendees will need to register for each session they plan to attend. Sessions will not be recorded.
By attending this conference, you agree to our Code of Conduct.
NOTE: Vendor coffee breaks, while hosted independently by vendors, are also expected to follow RRLC’s Code of Conduct.
Conference Schedule Overview
Monday, August 17
- Information Literacy: Real Skills Our Students Need to Fight for Democracy | 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Session Registration
- Truth Online: Inspiring Information Literacy | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. | Session Registration
- Green Engineering Design Projects & Resources | 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. | Session Registration
- Monday Vendor Coffee Breaks: See Vendor Overview
Tuesday, August 18
- Allyship and Racial Equity in the Children’s Library | 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Session Registration
- Health Issues in the Headlines: Learning to Read Between the Lines | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. | Session Registration
- Tuesday Vendor Coffee Breaks: See Vendor Overview
Wednesday, August 19
- Customize Destiny Discover | 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Session Registration
- Donalyn Miller’s 40 Book Challenge/NFL Draft Mash Up! | 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. | Session Registration
Thursday, August 20
- Transforming Interest into Impact: Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing in Your Library | 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Session Registration
- Best Practices for Working With Teachers This Fall | 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. | Session Registration
See below for full session descriptions.
If you have any questions, contact Tina Broomfield.
Detailed Conference Schedu
Information Literacy: Real Skills Our Students Need to Fight for Democracy
Monday, August 17, 2020, 10:30-11:30am
Acculturation is the process of adjustment from the start of a revolution to full assimilation. The Digital Revolution has happened and we aren’t prepared. Our Democracy is at risk because of the lack of information literacy skills. All students need access to an information and media literacy curriculum and yet not everyone has this opportunity. Librarians from across the state designed an online course to teach these skills to high school students, taking away barriers such as lack of staffing, lack of scheduling and lack of awareness. This session will show participants the process, the piloting and the future of this class. We hope this course will inspire NYSED to mandate an Information Literacy Curriculum.
Presenters: Janice Murray, Instructional Support Specialist, OHM BOCES
Betsy Hartnett, Oneida/Herkimer School Library System Director, Media Coordinator, OHM BOCES
Register for this session
Truth Online: Inspiring Information Literacy
Monday, August 17, 2020, 2:00 – 3:00pm
Teaching information literacy skills is a critical component of the librarian’s job. This workshop will provide a framework to teach the public and students how to strive to find truth online. Learning outcomes include:
– Understanding the misinformation and disinformation landscape
– Learning the knowledge, tools, and skills of information literacy
– Beginning the practice of being an upstanding digital citizen
Presenter: Miranda Stefano is a graduate of the University of Maryland and RIT. She works as the District Librarian for Hillside. She enjoys spreading her love of information literacy and following research rabbit holes.
Register for this session
Green Engineering Design Projects & Resources
Monday, August 17, 2020, 3:30 – 4:30pm
Join WXXI Education as we explore tools and resources to engage students and patrons around environmental stewardship and engineering design. Participants will learn about PBS KIDS Design Squad Inventing Green, tools from the film Inventing Tomorrow, PBS KIDS, and partner resources to encourage and foster environmental problem solving, making, and engineering. Participants will receive physical materials (Design Squad Inventing Green engineering kit, Foldscope, Water Quality Testing Kit, and more).
Presenter: Cara Rager, Manager of Educational Training & Family Engagement, WXXI Education
Register for this session
Allyship and Racial Equity in the Children’s Library
Tuesday, August 18, 2020, 10:30-11:30 am
“Allyship” is a lifelong process where people in positions of power and privilege work to dismantle practices, policies, and attitudes that harm marginalized groups. Join children’s librarians Laura Lintz (Henrietta Public Library) and Amy Holland (Irondequoit Public Library) for a discussion on their personal journeys to allyship, as well as what this practice might look like in the children’s library. While allyship can take many forms, this session will focus on how we can work towards racial equity in our libraries.
Presenters:
Amy Holland, Children’s Services Librarian, Irondequoit Public Library
Laura Lintz, Children’s Librarian, Henrietta Public Librar
Register for this session
Health Issues in the Headlines: Learning to Read Between the Lines
Tuesday, August 18, 2020, 2:00-3:00 pm
Dark chocolate, red wine, and stem cells – what do these have in common? All have been reported in the news as having health benefits. Often the first way people hear about health issues is in via some form of media. This session will introduce participants to the environment of health reporting. Participants will learn about how health is reported in the news as well as how to evaluate the accuracy and validity of science and health stories. Misnformation regarding health topics will also be discussed, as well as the Network of the National Library of Medicine’s Wikipedia edit-a-thons and other efforts to increase health information literacy. Participants will be better equipped to look more critically at health issues that are being reported in the news media.
At the end of this session, participants will be able to: define news literacy; describe sources of health news stories; list challenges journalists face in reporting health research; use a rating tool to analyze health news stories; and identify the difference between health news stories and unverified information.
This session is eligible for MLA credit.
Presenter: Tess Wilson is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Network of the National Library of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region. She serves as the YALSAblog Manager and recently co-authored All Ages Welcome: Recruiting and Retaining Younger Generations for Library Boards, Friends Groups, and Foundations, a United for Libraries Action Planner published by ALA Editions.
Register for this session
Customize Destiny Discover
Wednesday, August 19, 2020, 10:30-11:30 am
Learn how to tailor the ADA-compatible Discover interface for your school. We’ll walk you through all of the options available to you–regular vs. simplified, ribbons, learning links, topic buttons, a welcome message–and show you how to create different experiences for different users.
Presenters:
Randy Meyer and Patti DiPassio are members of the Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES Library Automation team.
Register for this session
Donalyn Miller’s 40 Book Challenge/NFL Draft Mash Up!
Wednesday, August 19, 2020, 2:00-3:00 pm
How can you inspire high school kids to read? During the school year? Show them that teachers read and make it competitive!
This unique competition pits teams of teachers against each other to see which team can read forty books first! One teacher team represented each high school class, drafted in a NFL draft style assembly by class officers. The session will cover the ways in which this fostered literacy throughout the building, including the many interdisciplinary activities that sprang from the event as teachers and students became in engaged in the competition, fueled by school spirit and the love of books! Google Forms, Canva, and Moment Cam were the primary tech applications for our event. Resources to run a similar competition in your school will be shared.
Presenter: Alicia Charland, Library Media Specialist at Kendall High School and Boy Mom
Register for this session
Transforming Interest into Impact: Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing in Your Library
Thursday, August 20, 2020, 10:30-11:30 am
What do Gregor Mendel, Benjamin Franklin, and Caroline Herschel have in common? They were all citizen scientists! Millions of people of all ages have made invaluable contributions to scientific research in their communities by counting birds, testing their tap water, or reporting flu symptoms. Citizen science and crowdsourcing programs leverage natural curiosity to accelerate research and are an excellent way to engage with patrons of all types of libraries. Anyone from schoolchildren to college students and faculty to senior citizens can participate in citizen science or crowdsourcing projects, with no prior experience required! Session participants will learn about citizen science library program models tailored to various types of libraries and explore ways to engage different levels of tech literacy. We will present freely available National Library of Medicine, our partner SciStarter, and other trustworthy information resources to support programs, and promote our avenues of funding that could be used to purchase citizen science kits, educational tech, or support community research efforts. This will be an interactive session, wherein we will contribute to a crowdsourced project together and explore other potential citizen science projects as a group.
Presenter: Tess Wilson is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Network of the National Library of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region. She serves as the YALSAblog Manager and recently co-authored All Ages Welcome: Recruiting and Retaining Younger Generations for Library Boards, Friends Groups, and Foundations, a United for Libraries Action Planner published by ALA Editions.
Register for this session
Best Practices for Working With Teachers This Fall
Thursday, August 20, 2020, 2:00-3:30 pm
This fall is guaranteed to be like no other! Join Jen and Jim in this hands on session to explore best practices for working with and supporting teachers in your building. Time will be provided to explore resources that can be used in face-to-face, fully online, and hybrid settings to help you prepare for whatever the fall semester may bring.
Presenters: Dr. Jen Cannell, Director, Library Media Specialist Program, St. John Fisher College
Jim Belair, School Library System Director, Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES
Register for this session
Vendor Virtual Coffee Breaks
Virtual coffee breaks will be scheduled throughout the course of the online conference. Meet with vendors to view demos, ask questions about products and services, and enter raffles and giveaways!
See below for the coffee break schedule overview or click here view the Detailed Coffee Break Schedule.
NOTE: Vendor coffee breaks, while hosted independently by vendors, are also expected to follow RRLC’s Code of Conduct.
Vendor Coffee Break Schedule Overview:
Monday, August 17
- Virtual Coffee Break with Kids Discover | 12:00 – 12:20pm | Join meeting
- Virtual Coffee Break with FactCite | 1:30 – 1:50pm | Register to attend
Tuesday, August 18
- Virtual Coffee Break with Mackin | 11:30 am – 11:50am | Register to attend
- Virtual Coffee Break with Eduporium | 11:40am – 12:00pm | Register to attend
- Virtual Coffee Break with OverDrive Education | 11:45am – 12:05pm | Register to attend
- Virtual Coffee Break with Bound to Stay Books | 1:00 – 1:20pm | Register to attend
- Virtual Coffee Break with Rosen Publishing | 1:00 – 1:20pm | Register to attend
- Virtual Coffee Break with Gumdrop Books | 1:30 – 1:50pm | Register to attend