91´«Ã½

CHICAGO - The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) is offering three full-day educational workshops on Friday, June 24, 2011 in New Orleans.

Getting Started with Drupal

Intended as a thorough introduction to the Drupal content management system, librarian Drupalers Rachel Vacek (University of Houston) and Nina McHale (University of Colorado Denver) will guide attendees as they create Drupal sites in a sandbox environment, covering the basics of content creation, themes, modules and user management. The workshop will conclude with demonstrations of innovative Drupal sites, including library sites, library intranets and an electronic journal. Previous Web experience is helpful, but not required; participants should bring their own laptops.

User Experience Design for Websites

Learn how to create positive user experiences in your interactive digital spaces. Work with an expert in library Web design and user experience design to learn tips, tricks and best practices that you can implement immediately. Discover best practices for designing interactive digital spaces: websites, catalogs, mobile apps and sites. Come and learn to do the following: improve the overall usability of your digital spaces; design to meet user needs and goals as well as your own organizational objectives; improve the elegance and beauty of your designs; reduce the number of steps users must take to meet their objectives; reduce excessive features that do not meet user needs; and create manageable project plans to implement user experience design at your library. Sarah Houghton-Jan of San Jose Public Library is presenting.

Virtualize IT: Laying the Foundation for the Library of the Future

Explore how to create a virtualization strategy with a vision toward the library spaces and services of the future. Participants will: use a technology profile of their organization in assessing readiness and fit for virtualization; examine how forms of virtualization map to library services and spaces; receive tools for estimating savings in hardware costs, utilities and carbon emissions; learn how virtualization and cloud technologies inform planning and transform library spaces. Maurice York of North Carolina State University is presenting.

Visit the 2011 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference page () to register for these events. More information is available at the LITA website (). Please note: you do not have to register for the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in order to attend these workshops.

(LITA) members are information technology professionals dedicated to educating, serving and reaching out to the entire library and information community. LITA is a division of the 91´«Ã½.