Making the most of MLA 2015 in Austin

Transcript: http://bit.ly/1bHYcFQ

Making the Most of MLA 2015
Thursday, April 30, 2015
9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific
Led by @eagledawg (who will not actually be there) - others who will be needed!

Join in #medlibs on Twitter to get ready for the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting (#mlanet15) in Austin, TX which is just around the corner in May!

Here are some helpful pre-planning steps, and we'll edit to add more during the discussion. See you then!

• MLA 2015 Blog - stay on top of the latest pre-meeting news with fun contests
• Set up your schedule - by planning ahead of time, including some alternate options for crowded sessions and emergency nap sessions, you'll  
• Colleague Connection - sign up by May 4th to pair up new/first-time attendees with those who are experienced with the MLA meetings to network and make the most of the meeting
• Restaurant Guide - get the locals' take on the places to go, also available in Google Maps
• Bring a book to donate - support the Relevant Issues Section book drive for Texas prisoners 

Journal Club: Harnessing the Power of Game Dynamics

Transcript: http://bit.ly/1bmWQzW 

Journal Club: Gamification

Thursday, April 23, 2015

9:00 pm Eastern / 6:00 pm Pacific
Led by @TonyNguyen411

We're having a Journal Club discussion Thursday! #medlibs will have a chat on the following article:

Kim, B. (2012). Harnessing the power of game dynamics. Why, how to, and how not to gamify the library experience. College & Research Libraries News, 73(8), 465-469. Available at: http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/8/465. 

I have a few reasons why I selected this article, but that'll likely come up during the discussion. Here are a few questions we'll consider:

1.    What examples mentioned in the article sound implementable within your institution?

2.    Have you already applied game dynamics at your work? Why/Why not?

3.    What lessons have you learned if you have applied game dynamics?

4.    Are there any tools that you can share with the group who are looking to implement game dynamics within their institution? What about tools used for instruction?

Join me Thursday with your choice of beverage as we discuss this article and how we can utilize game dynamics within our profession. 

Chat with new MLA Executive Director

Transcript: http://bit.ly/1NTQ4na

Medical Library Association Executive Director #medlibs chat

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Led by Teresa Knott (@tlknott) & Michelle Kraft (@krafty)

Hey #medlibs, have you been curious about the new executive director of the Medical Library Association (MLA), Kevin Baliozian?

Kevin joined MLA on January 15, 2015 and has worked with the MLA Board to move rapidly to assess and refocus our energies on addressing strategic issues. These efforts are being shared in the MLA Full Speed Ahead blog.

Have you been reading the new MLA Full Speed Ahead blog? To date, Kevin has shared three blog posts:

Words I Can Do Without

Action Is the Secret Sauce

You Can’t Be Everything to Everybody

Polish up your questions and your thoughts about MLA’s future for our special guest on Thursday, April 16 with @KevinBaliozian, we look forward to having you join us! 

Reverse mentoring

Transcript: http://bit.ly/1D0PxaD

Reverse Mentoring #medlibs chat

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Led by Teresa Knott (@tlknott) 

What does reverse mentoring mean? To me, it acknowledges that while we tend to think of mentoring as being a hierarchical relationship, it can and should be a relationship based on sharing expertise or knowledge regardless of a perceived hierarchical relationship. People at every stage of their career have expertise and knowledge that is valuable to the community and colleagues.

If I don’t know how to use Twitter beyond sending a simple tweet, I can use the expertise of someone who leverages Twitter to gather information and build relationships with experts. My best source of such information could well be from someone like Nikki Dettmar (@eagledawg), who has a great deal of expertise in social media and readily shares what she knows.

From my perspective, the most successful mentoring relationships are mutually beneficial – each party gains valuable knowledge from the other.

Questions to consider:

1. Have you had a successful experience in a reverse mentoring relationship? What made it work well?
2. What areas of expertise do you believe are ripe for reverse mentoring?
3. Would this be useful to add to the Medical Library Association’s expertise database?

Here are some articles that you may find useful:

Reverse Mentoring: What Age Can Learn from Youth from American Express Open Forum

Reverse Mentoring: What is it and Why It is Beneficial from Forbes

Best quote from the article comes from Alan Webber, co-founder of Fast Company, explaining reverse mentoring:  “It’s a situation where the old fogies in an organization realize that by the time you’re in your forties and fifties, you’re not in touch with the future the same way the young twenty-something’s. They come with fresh eyes, open minds, and instant links to the technology of our future.”

Reverse Mentoring from Clutterback Associates

Reverse Mentoring: The Big Benefits to Learning from Younger Employees from INC

Reverse Mentoring Cracks Workplace from the Wall Street Journal