Brian Smith, Applications & Web Developer at the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, gave several presentations at this year’s Computers in Libraries conference. The event took place in Washington, D.C., from March 8 to 10. Smith’s first presentation, “Learned From Our First Drupal 8 Site”, discussed the RAILS project to upgrade its website to Drupal 8 last year, including the drawbacks to switching. The upgrade was part of the SHARE (Share Holdings and Resources Easily) collaborative project to make staff-initiated interlibrary loans easier. Smith’s second presentation, “Incremental Experimentation = Runaway Success”, examined the process of launching the RAILS Job Board. Even though there was no guarantee of success at the outset, the Job Board soon became the most-visited part of the RAILS website.
The Computers in Libraries conference is an annual event exploring the latest trends and ideas in managing library digital resources, expanding access to online tools, and improving information-sharing and learning among library users. Attendees have an opportunity not just to hear from fellow librarians, but to interact with leaders in the information industry as a whole and take away ideas that could apply just as much to a library as they do to corporations. The theme of this year’s conference was “Library Labs: Research, Innovation, & Imagination”, emphasizing the evolving role of libraries as creative spaces fostering cutting-edge innovation and collaboration, including engagement with other community institutions. Next year’s conference will take place from March 21 to 23 in Washington, D.C. For more information about this year’s conference, and for upcoming news on next year’s gathering, go here.