You've likely already seen a link to the 2021 KLAS Users' Conference Attendee Feedback Form created by the KLAS Users' Group Officers and Program and Logistics Committees. With this being such a different year, it's more important than ever for us to hear from you!

In addition to getting feedback from attendees, though, both Keystone staff and the committees have each gotten together to discuss their own observations about the conference. By digging into the conference's schedule and content, as well as the PheedLoop platform, we can make sure we learn from what went wrong and take note of where we got it right.

Today I want to share some of our notes from these conversations so you know what's been our minds. (Agree? Disagree? Have thoughts on something else entirely? Please let us know--starting with the Feedback Form!)

Schedule

No schedule will be perfect for everyone, but our discussions looking back on this trended positive. We managed to offer a lot of sessions, and time them reasonably for everyone, regardless of time zone. Other ideas were discussed, but on the whole, this schedule seemed to work well for an online conference, with one exception: the month of June can be a difficult time for IRC / IMC KLAS Users to attend. 

We also had split opinions on the strict enforcement of session times. On the one hand, it kept everyone on track and moving. On the other hand, it also resulted in some pretty abrupt cut-offs... as did ending sessions manually without accounting for the 10-second broadcast delay--sorry about that! 

Content

We were thrilled with the amount and variety of user-proposed and user-led sessions! The Keystone staff especially appreciate the effort made by the committees to recruit and involve more users throughout the conference. 

One complication we identified was that some sessions applied to more "tracks" or topics than we'd initially thought, and ended up scheduled against too-similar content. It's probably impossible to avoid schedule conflicts entirely, but one idea from our discussion was to provide a better way for the presenters themselves to identify the topics their session will cover and / or intersect with. 

Platform

While we were satisfied with the PheedLoop virtual event hosting, there was definitely plenty to discuss on this front. It was a little surprising which features generated a lot of interest, and which fell flat. We made sure to consider whether that was the platform itself, people taking time to learn it, or just a matter of leaving time for it. For example, the Networking rooms were barely touched. If we want to try them again, we need to make sure there's a designated session block instead of expecting people to give up their valuable breaks to try it (especially since many people need to use those breaks to keep up on their day-to-day work). 

We really liked a lot of their back-end and event management tools, but we have a long list of suggestions, feedback, and feature requests to pass on to the PheedLoop team. One strong positive: since signing on with PheedLoop, we've seen a lot of activity in terms of useful updates, so we're very hopeful that it will get better and better over time.

Final Thoughts

Virtual conferences have their pros and cons. Going online meant a lot of expanded access to new user presenters (plus other attendees) who may not have been able to attend otherwise. On the other hand, we saw mostly very familiar names, in the chat boxes and especially unmuting and speaking up in the Zoom sessions. It's impossible to replicate a lot of in-person conference experiences, but we wondered if we were doing enough to help new attendees get to know the Users' Group and feel comfortable participating.

Remember: this is your conference--so don't be afraid to let us and / or the committees know what we're doing right, what can get better, and what we haven't even thought of. We hope to hear from you!

The Program Committee and Keystone staff are excited to announce three upcoming opportunities to expand and share your knowledge of KLAS. The first will be an open Q&A session for our Instructional Resource Center users, the second is our next online KLAS Administrator Training session for Library for the Blind and Print Disabled staff, and the third is the upcoming 2024 KLAS Users' Mini-Conference.

2/15/2024 KLAS IRC User Q&A with Marion

On Thursday, February 15 at 3 PM Eastern / Noon Pacific we invite ALL KLAS Instructional Resource / Materials Center (IRC / IMC) users to join us for an open Q&A session with Marion, our resident IRC / IMC customer support guru. Do you have a question about a report or setting up a query, need to troubleshoot a WebOrder issue, or have a suggestion for how to improve IRC workflow? Marion will try to answer any and all questions posed to her during this session. If she can't, we'll be sure to take it back and get you a reply as soon as possible. Mark your calendar now, and join us there!

• Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87243860587?pwd=TmFvSHpINkxmVUZXalBqVVlGRmYvZz09
• Dial-in for Audio: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/ki2f3Rw3C
  • Meeting ID: 872 4386 0587
  • Passcode: 932252

This free, online session is being offered via Zoom and will be recorded and posted to klasusers.com for later review and reference. Feel free to email questions / features you want demonstrated in advance to  or post them as a reply below.

Online KLAS Administrator Training

March 2024 KLAS LBPD Admin Training

Our next Online KLAS Administrator Training session for library for the blind and print disabled users will be held March 25-28, 2024. Admin Training is an excellent opportunity to get in-depth training on all the features and settings that can help KLAS better support your library, staff, and patrons. During Admin Training, Keystone staff will get down into the nitty-gritty of the Admin menu walking you through the many options for Duplication on Demand, the WebOPAC, Reports and Queries, and more! 

Admin Training costs $600 / person, is held on Zoom, and runs from 1:00-4:30 PM Eastern Time each afternoon. Also, session attendance is kept small so each person receives the individualized attention they need. If you are considering attending, please note you must have:

• A KLAS Administrator role in your local system
• Authority to change records and policies for your KLAS system

The Online Administrator's Training article includes more detail about the training structure and content as well as a link to the registration form.

KLAS IRC Admin Training

We know there is interest in scheduling another Instructional Resource / Materials Center KLAS Administrator Training session, but we also want to put it on the calendar for a time that works for you! At this time, we need a commitment from at least two users from separate IRCs to schedule a session. The best part about being one of those is: you get to help use choose when it will occur! Like KLAS LBPD Admin Training, training will occur across four afternoons and will be an in-depth look with Keystone Trainers into the the available KLAS Admin Features and Functionality you can use to support your IRC's workflow and service models. We know control files and security setting can be very overwhelming, which is why we offer this training. All interested attendees should have:

• A KLAS Administrator role in your local system
• Authority to change records and policies for your KLAS system

We invite you to review the Administrator’s Training – What to Expect article to help you decide if this is something you want to attend. Then, head over to the KLAS Administrator Training Registration Form linked in the Online Administrator's Training article to indicate such.

2024 KLASUsers' Mini-Conference

Our final upcoming online training opportunity is FREE and open to ALL KLAS USERS! This is your heads up to mark yourself as BUSY from 1:00-5:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM-1:00 PM Tuesday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 15.

Sessions will be presented and moderated by Keystone staff and other KLAS Users', held via Zoom, and offer IRC and LBPD-focused as well as general KLAS content.

Please reply to this article with topic suggestions and / or if you're willing to present or moderate.

2020 and 2021 were a challenging time for many of us, including our KLAS Users' Group Program Committee. Many members joined the committee with the intention of helping to plan an in-person conference. Then COVID happened, and we all came together to plan and execute a fully online conference instead. This shift meant evaluating and learning new software, preparing presenters for the new format, rethinking the conference schedule, and more! I am more than grateful to those who did this work. Understandably, when it came time to start planning content for this year, all but one committee member was ready for a break and stepped down from the committee.

In the past few months we've assembled a new team to plan ongoing content for our KLAS Users! Yesterday afternoon they met for the first time. Four new faces who have never served on a KLAS Users' Group Committee before, a new Users' Group Officer who is beginning their first term, and one seasoned Officer / Program Committee member are coming together to help bring you new webinars, online roundtables, and more in the next year!

2022 Program Committee Members:

• Jared Leslie, KLAS Users' Group Vice President & Program Committee Chair, Arizona Instructional Resource Center
• Michael Lang, KLAS Users' Group President & Former Program Committee Chair, Kansas Talking Book Library
• Lori Brown, Wolfner Talking Book and Braille Library (Missouri)
• Amanda Trawick, Alabama Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
• Kate Kosior, South Dakota Braille & Talking Book Library
• Crystal Grimes, Oregon Talking Book and Braille Library
• Katy Patrick, Keystone Systems
• Drea Callicutt, Keystone Systems

1/25/22 Cataloging for Duplication Webinar

As their first piece of business, your new Program Committee scheduled a Keystone-presented webinar for Tuesday, January 25 at 2 PM Eastern / 11 AM Pacific. During this online training session, Katy Patrick will be discussing "Cataloging for Duplication" including handling withdrawn titles, updating new title records without physical copies coming in, and what eDocs are and where they come from. Mark your calendar now so you can join us Live! Connection information will be shared closer to the webinar.

What topics / presenters do you want?

Now, our newly reformed committee wants to ask: What kind of content you want? Is there a particular topic or presenter you'd like to hear about / from? Do you have something you'd like to present about, or are you willing to moderate a Roundtable or Birds of a Feather session? 

Comment on this post or send an email to any committee member to share your thoughts, requests, and input! 

Since this is an off-year between KLAS Users' Group Conferences (and what good timing that was!), we've been working with the Programming Committee and your fellow users to bring you periodic online content to help keep you connected and tide us all over to the next conference.

We hope this is a good opportunity for folks who can't usually attend the conferences to get a taste of them, and that they've helped you keep up-to-date and involved. But to make sure we're succeeding--and to get even better--we need to hear from you!

If you haven't yet taken the KLAS Users' Online Programming Survey, please take a few minutes to provide your feedback. It's incredibly valuable, and will help bring you even better online content in the future. We've done our best to keep the survey short and sweet, and it'll inform not only our Fall programming, but maybe even online offerings at future in-person conferences!

Of course, if you have more opinions on the matter than you can fit into the survey, we're always happy to add more voices to the Programming Committee. As Erin says in her invitation for new members, "Being a part of a conference planning committee is a terrific way of getting to know other colleagues and putting a voice to the names!" If you're interested, or just want more info, shoot an email to .

Finally, you know what one of the best things is about online content? That you can always catch up after the fact!

So if you've finished the survey and still find yourself with a little down-time, make sure you're logged in and then follow these links to catch up on what you've missed:

• 5/19/2020 Online KLAS Users' Meetings (Includes links to the Overview of Keystone Systems Updates, KLAS Updates & New Featuresfor Talking Book Libraries, and KLAS Updates & New Features for Instructional Resource Centers sessions)
• 04-23-20 KLAS IRC Users' Roundtable
• 03-19-2020 KLAS Users Roundtable: Duplication on Demand
• 02-20-20 KLAS Q&A with Katy Recording
  
  

The KLAS Users’ Group Program Committee is seeking new members and new ideas!

UC2023 is a wrap—so it’s time to roll over the committee, look ahead to creating new online content, and get back to work. This committee is a great starting point for folks wanting to get more involved in the Users’ Group, whether they’re new to using KLAS or an old hand. With just one meeting a month, this is a low-commitment volunteer opportunity.

Everyone is welcome, but we will especially welcome people from IRCs (Instructional Resource Centers) or other less-represented organizations.

Even if you aren’t ready to hop on board as a committee member, we’d still love to hear from you! Is there a KLAS topic you want to learn more about? A past webinar you think needs an encore performance with updated information? Or is there a roundtable or open discussion topic you think everyone could get together and dig into?

Don’t be shy! Leave a comment, or email , , or . The Users’ Group is for you, and this is a great way to help make sure you’re getting the most and best out of it.

The KLAS Program Committee has been hard at work and has a new, freshly updated Overview Schedule for the 2019 KLAS Users' Conference ready for you. This is still a draft schedule but has several changes from the version published two weeks ago.

So, how did the committee get here and what do they still have to do?

Here's a brief look at our 2019 KLAS Users' Conference Program Committee Planning Timeframe...

October

• Establish Committee
• Set meeting schedule & expectations
• Begin reviewing feedback from the previous conference

November

• Publish initial Overview Schedule with conference framework with no specific session topics or speakers based on info from the site visit, logistics committee, etc.
• Send out a call for proposals
• Continue reviewing feedback from the previous conference

December

• Continue reviewing feedback from the previous conference
• Review session proposals as they are received
• Identify / discuss other possible session topics

January

• Finalize list of session topics based on conference feedback, proposals received & ideas presented by committee members
• Slate session topics based on the type of session
• Publish updated Overview Schedule with slated session topics

February

• Review & Update Overview Schedule document
• Assign committee member liaison for sessions
• Refine session titles & descriptions
• Recruit additional moderators / presenters

March

• Continue refining session titles & descriptions
• Publish the first draft of the conference agenda
• Communicate deadlines to moderators / presenters

April

• Continue communicating with moderators / presenters
• Review / update Agenda as needed

May

• Publish finalized Agenda document
• Send out presentation template
• Collect presentations for publication

June

• Conference!