Category: Presentations

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Presentations Tech Tuesdays

Presentation Templates

I want to share a great source of presentation templates, Slides Carnival. The website provides free PowerPoint and Google Slides themes for your presentations. You can search the themes by color or by categories such as playful, inspirational, creative, or formal.

The templates are free to use with a Creative Commons License and created by Jimena, a designer living in Spain.

Some of my favorites templates so far include:

The website also has presentation design tips. If you need help finding images for your presentation, check out my previous finding images post.

It is always good to have a backup plan if you have technical difficulties with your presentation slides. In graduate school, I attended a training about what to do if technology doesn’t work. As luck would have it, the campus network was down during the presentation and the speaker didn’t have a backup plan. In contrast, I attended a recent presentation online at my campus’ professional activity days and when the speaker’s slides didn’t work, she didn’t miss a beat and worked through the problem by paraphrasing her slides and asking participants to respond to questions in the chat. It is always good to have a backup plan!

What presentation templates or tips do you have to share?

Categories
Instruction Presentations Tech Tuesdays Technology

How I Use Google Docs as a Community College Librarian

For years, I mostly used Google Docs as a tool to jointly write, give feedback, and edit documents with colleagues. More recently I’ve been experimenting with different uses of Google Docs that leverage anonymous participation and the fact that all contributing can see what others are writing in real time. Below are a few ways I use Google Docs in my job as a community college librarian. I’d love to hear how you use Google Docs.

Warm up for Library Instruction

When I do instruction for Composition 2 classes, I like to start by finding out what students already know. When teaching in person, I sometimes do this using post it notes. Teaching online, I started giving students 5 minutes at the beginning of class to respond on a Google Doc called Share Your Experiences with Research. I ask students to share either a research tip or a question. Then we discuss what they wrote. It is a great way to warm up and get students active at the beginning of class. Later in the class, I use the same Google Doc to ask students to brainstorm keywords for their topic. It is helpful to have all of these activities together in one document, so I can share one link for the interactive parts of the lesson.

Shared Document for Online Resource Fair

When our face to face college resource fair couldn’t happen last year due to the pandemic, we wanted to figure out a way to put it online. I set up a Google Doc for the Online Resource Fair and asked representatives from the different student service and academic affairs areas who usually attend the fair to add the top 3 questions that they get from faculty and/or students. Then, during the faculty professional activity (PA) days, we provided access to the Google Doc from the PA Day Website. We told faculty they could read the information and also add questions. Staff checked the document at the end of PA Days and responded to questions. Although only two questions were added to the document, faculty did report that they found the information was helpful. And using Google Docs was an easy way to gather information from many different units on campus and present it to faculty. I did some editing after the information was added to standardize the format, but it was a lot easier that putting together information from a lot of emails.

Interactive Transcript Review Activity

At a recent online conference presentation about virtual reference, I used a Google Doc to help facilitate an interactive Transcript Review Activity. I put the directions for the activity at the top of the page, provided the text of a transcript to review, and gave space for librarians to share their observations. Then we discussed the observations as a group. I plan to repeat this activity with librarians at our college as it was a great way to review virtual reference best practices in an online format.

Group Brainstorming during a Staff Meeting

Last year, our Library was part of a renovation project and we needed to discuss what to name our new space. It was a difficult issue to discuss as we all had very strong feelings about the topic. For our online meeting, I created a Google Doc and asked all staff to spend 10 minutes making suggestions and asking questions on the document before we had a discussion. Because it was something people felt very strongly about, it was helpful to have time to write down our ideas first, before speaking. More staff had a chance to weigh in, as some might have been reluctant to speak up during the meeting. And we coiud all see a variety of ideas on the shared document before we started to discuss them as a group.

Your Ideas

How do you use Google Docs in your work? Are there other technology tools you’d like us to feature in this monthly column?

Categories
Events Outreach Presentations Programming

CJCLS Events in June

CJCLS Virtual Awards Ceremony

Thursday, June 3, 2-3pm EST

Come join us as we honor our section award recipients this year! Following the award presentation, the awardees will be doing presentations on their work. Register for the Awards webinar online by June 1.

Yumi Shin of Lamar State College, Port Authur has been awarded the CJCLS EBSCO Community College Learning Resources Leadership Award. 

Photo of Yumi Shin

Yumi will present on various leadership roles she has had, including: managing a grant to promote library services to high school students, creating a student centered learning environment, and adapting to Covid-19.

Anjali Parasnis-Samar and Alice Wilson, both of Monroe Community College have been awarded the CJCLS EBSCO Community College Learning Resources Program Award. 

Anjali Parasnis-Samar photo Alice Wilson photo

Alice and Anjali will present the MCC Libraries’ College Researcher Badging Program, a set of online tutorials intended to help community college students learn college-level research skills.

Please contact Laura Mondt, CJCLS Awards Chair, with any questions or concerns: lmondt@necc.mass.edu.

Scholarly Research Committee Webinar

Thursday, June 10, 3-4pm EST

Are you a community college librarian interested in publishing in LIS Journals? Want to learn more about when, where, and how to submit? Are you curious about workflows for review, editing, and publication? Register for the Scholarly Research webinar online.

Join us for a panel discussion and lively Q & A with editors from three key LIS publications. Our participants include:

  • Kristen Totleben, College & Research Libraries
  • Marianne Ryan, portal: Libraries and the Academy
  • Matt Roberts, Journal of Library Outreach and Engagement
College and Research Libraries journal cover
Portal journal cover
Journal of Library Outreach and Engagement Cover

This event is sponsored by the Scholarly Research Committee of the Community & Junior Libraries Section of ACRL (CJCLS). Free, and open to all community college librarians.

CJCLS Executive Committee Meeting

The CJCLS Executive Committee will be meeting on Monday, June 28, 2021 from 2-3pm EST. We will be reviewing the accomplishments of this last year and brainstorming plans for 2021-2022.  Please join us. 

In June, the Zoom meeting link will be shared on the CJCLS Section page.

Categories
Collections Instruction Outreach Presentations Resources

Conference Time is Almost upon us

acrl-2017

By Alyse McKeal

Are you heading to Baltimore, Maryland next month for the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference?  There’s quite a diverse selection of presentations, programs, papers, panels, contributed posters and much more geared towards junior and community college librarians and libraries! Here is a sampling of the offerings. (This is by no means a comprehensive list.)

Are you heading to Baltimore, Maryland next month for the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference?  There’s quite a diverse selection of presentations, programs, papers, panels, contributed posters and much more geared towards junior and community college librarians and libraries! Here is a sampling of the offerings. (This is by no means a comprehensive list.)

Fostering Diversity Through the Human Library (Poster Session)

Maximizing the Impact of the In-Person One-Shot: The Case for Targeted Library Instruction Outreach in Community Colleges (Contributed Paper)

Next-Gen Collection Policies: Developing Templates to Aid Collection Managers (Round Table Discussion)

If You Build It, Will They Come: Re-Framing Your Instruction Program (W0rkshop)

Steering Change in Liaisonship: A Reverse Engineering Approach (Contributed Paper)

The Coach in the Library: Coaching Undergraduates to Academic Success Through a Diversity and Inclusion Library Coach Program (Poster Session)

Scaffolding the Framework: Bridging the Gap Between 2-Year and 4-Year Institutions (Roundtable Discussion)

Confessions of a Teaching Librarian: Teaching Anxiety, Growth Mindset, and Resilience for Library Instructors (Roundtable Discussion)

Applying the Framework to an Online Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Course (Poster Session)

What’s Social Justice Got to do with Information Literacy (Panel Presentation)

Reclaiming Knowledge as a Public Good: Librarians Leading Campus OER Initiatives (Panel Session)

Pathway to Your Future: Roadmaps for Community College Student (Chair’s Choice Invited Program)

Casting a Wide Net: Assessment Strategies Community College Libraries Use to Stay Afloat (Panel Session)

Evolving Evidence-Based Practice: The ACRL Information Literacy Framework in Action (Roundtable Discussion)

Tending the Garden: Sharing Projects that Strengthen Communities within the Academic Library (Roundtable Discussion)

Going O’ER: Using Open Resources as the Path to New Pedagogy and Information Literacy (Panel Session)

Exploring Evidence-Based Approaches to Using the ACRL Threshold Concepts (Roundtable Discussion)

IT Security and Privacy in Today’s Connected Library (Panel Presentation)

Anchoring Instruction Through Design: Creating a Team with Diverse Skills to Transform our Process (Contributed Paper)

Diversity, Change, and its Discontents: The Role of the Library in Campus LGBTQ Transformation Efforts (Invited Paper)

From Request to Assess: Using Cloud-Based Tools for the Library Instruction Life Cycle (Poster Session)

Taking a Different Tack: Adapting First-Year Information Literacy Instruction to the Online Environment (Panel Session)

Using the Framework to Frame: Cataloging Policy and Practice as Seen Through the Lens of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Contributed Paper)

Every Day is a Winding Road – or Our Long Circuitous Journey to Assessment (Poster Session)

Open Educational Resources: It’s Time for Libraries to Take the Plunge (Contributed Paper)

Consortial eBook Purchasing for the Rest of Us (Contributed Paper)

Turning Lemonade into a LibGuide (Chair’s Choice Invited Program)

Diversifying the Academy: Librarians Coaching Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Through the Scholarly Research Cycle (Poster Session)

Does ProQuest Research Companion Improve Community College Student Information Literacy Competency? (Poster Session)

If possible, take advantage of the discounted, advance registration rates and register by February 10th! Enjoy the ACRL Conference and Baltimore.  We hope to see you there!

Categories
Graphics Presentations

Presentation and Infographic Design Tools for Librarians on a Budget

Presentation & Infographic Design Tools for Librarians on a Budget

Presentation & Infographic Design Tools for Librarians on a Budget

by Lindsay Davis

Like many of you, I’m in full-swing with research instruction and have been spending time fine-tuning presentations. While I am not a designer, I like to keep visual content fresh, so I am always experimenting with online tools for presentations and graphics. Check out the list of free (or cheap) resources below. These tools do require users to create accounts, and while full functionality may not be available for the basic versions, many have upgrades available at reduced rates for educators.

Which have you tried? Are there other tools you can recommend?

Canva can help you create social media images, presentations, infographics, and more. While Canva is free, many of the pre-made layouts have special elements that cost $1 each. However, you can upload your own images and icons and draw inspiration from the existing layouts for free. Designs can be downloaded as JPEGs, PNGs, and PDFs. You can also share them to social media. Canva for Work is the upgraded version of Canva, which allows you to resize images without recreating them from scratch, but it is $9.95 a month with an annual plan.

Easel.ly can help you create infographics with templates and design objects. You can also upload your own images for free. You can share your infographic via a link or get the embed code. The pro account is $3 a month.

With a Google account, you can access Google Slides and import a PowerPoint presentation—or download a Slides presentation as a PowerPoint. With Slides, you can also share your presentation via a link or embed it.

Piktochart is another tool that can help you make infographics. The free account has free templates and icons, and you can also upload your own images. You can download your designs as JPEGs, PNGs, and PDFs or share your designs via a link, email, or through social media. You can also export them to a variety of services. To get more functionality, you can upgrade to the pro account. The Education Pro price for an individual is $39.99 a year.

Prezi is presentation software that works spatially. You can share your presentation via a link or get the embed code. If you sign up with your college email, you can elect for one of three levels—Edu Enjoy, which is free; Edu Pro, which is $4.92 a month; or Edu Team, also $4.92 a month.

SlideShare allows you to upload files so that you can share them via email, social media, as links, or embed them. You can also create presentations directly in SlideShare with Haiku Deck, although the functionality is little limited through SlideShare.

If you design presentations directly in Haiku Deck, you get more functionality and more ways to share your design. You can share to social media, email, get a link or the embed code, or you can embed directly to a WordPress blog. With a pro account, you can even export your presentation as a PowerPoint or PDF. The cost for the pro version with the educator discount is $4.99 a month or $2.49 a month billed yearly.

Smore helps you make online newsletters or flyers. These can be shared via a link or through social media, and you can also get the embed code. You can also create an email list within Smore. The free account allows you to make five newsletters for free. The personal account, which allows you to make as many newsletters are you want, is $15 a month, but the educator rate is $59 a year. Once a year, there is a sale for educators—$39 for the whole year.

With a Microsoft email account, Sway can help you can create and share interactive reports, presentations, personal stories, and more. You can upload your own images, and you can share Sways via social media or get the embed code.

Visme can help you create infographics, interactive presentations, reports, and more. The free account is limited, but if you sign up with your college email, you can get full functionality for $5 a month through the education discount. With full functionality, you can download your designs as JPEGs, PNGs, or as PDFs, get the embed code, share to social media, or even download to present offline (HTML5).