The IUG (Innovative Users Group) conference was a great experience. Keynote speaker, futurist, and ex-IBM engineer Thomas Frey from the DaVinci Institute kicked it off with a fascinating peek into the future of libraries and how they are entering a period of rebirth. With information exploding everywhere, libraries are becoming the “crown jewels” of their communities. He ignited enthusiasm by stating libraries may offer a mix of media and book havens with a real-time info wall, virtual world areas, rooms to create videos, a place for gaming and music use, blogger studios, etc. The conference offered a complete variety of classes. I attended Circ and media-related classes and forums (Mill Time Savers, Circ Forum, Mill Circ Update on Products & others). I spoke with conference attendees about specific work procedures. It was fun to be a part of the info exchange in these forums by informing others of why, how, and what we are doing (i.e. condensing Music Library into Davis Main) and also to listen to them. It was interesting to see how other schools handle their media, which often depends upon academic programs. Some schools offer gaming courses so they loan iPads (generally revving up, Kindles remaining strong). If you want to check out a variety of conference programs, go to: http://www.innovativeusers.org/index.
I placed a few Power Point presentations in the folder on the O drive, so please add any that might be useful to your area O:\orgs\LIS\LISstaff\ILS III Millennium User Materials\IUG2011 materials
There were brief presentations each day by Innovative and SkyRiver staff highlighting tips and support info. They also had a poster area which showcased new ideas.
The Innovative Interfaces Info Center was available during the entire 3 days, and the staff told me the new product, “Sierra” is coming very soon (no date). What I was told about Sierra is that it is a service-oriented architecture, acts as an integrated resource management and work flow with one piece of software (no modules), and users have a choice of a cloud or local-based deployment. Millennium will continue to be supported of course, with a new release underway.
If you would like to contact the Innovative Interfaces service rep Deborah Devine, she welcomes communication:
Internet: http://www.iii.com
Email: ddevine@iii.com
Follow Innovative on Twitter http://twitter.com/iii_Innovative