About Helene ...
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Contact: Helene Blowers helene.blowers[at]gmail.com hblowers[at]columbuslibrary.org aim: hdblowers |
I've long contended that I have Sheri R (a high school classmate) to thank for my start in libraries, who at the age of 16 decided it was more glamorous to butter popcorn and serve Laffy-Taffy at the local cinemaplex then to continue to work as a page for minimum wage at the local public library.
Yes, during my high school years I shelved my share of non-fiction (including sewing patterns) and retrieved many burlap sacks full of books from the external book drop and lugged them up Carnegie's sandstone steps. My current position as Director of Digital Strategy for the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) is fortunately both a bit more rewarding and a lot more challenging.
Before my recent move to CML, I worked just a year shy a baker's dozen for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) serving in leadership roles for web services, technology training and public services technology and during college I honed my researching and processing skills with a 2 year workstudy in Interlibrary Loan. Outside of libraries, I've also earned a living as a corporate trainer, system's implementation coordinator, courseware developer, community college instructor and hotel manager (Yup! my career looks like it has bounced all over, but if you connect the dots the progression makes perfect sense).
When I'm not trying to keep both myself and CML from falling off the ever-surging technology wave, I enjoy my 'first' career as mom to two daughters (ages 6 & 8) and wife to a talented software developer -- yes, dinner conversations at our house can get a bit geeky at times. :)
Psst... if you're looking for the "other bio" (aka - the one that most people ask for), please scroll down :)
Author:
Weaving a Library Web: A guide to Developing Children's Web Sites
ALA Editions 2004
H. Blowers & R. Bryan
Trainer:
Creator and developer of Learning 2.0,
an online discovery program designed to encourage library staff to
learn about emerging web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc)
and other user-centric tools that are changing the way users and
libraries communicate, collaborate and share information.
More information: About & Program Notes
Presenter:
Here's a sampling of some recent presentations:
- Community, Connecting and the Great Blogging Universe, screencast for 5W2aSL 2/2007
- Jumping into the 2.0 Pool ... without getting wet, TBLC 1/2007 (.pdf)
- Make Play your New Year's resolution, SirsiDynix webinar 1/2007 (.pdf),
- Learning 2.0, Internet Librarian 2006 (.pdf)
- Information Literacy 1.5: Expanding the toolbox and building the bridge, MLA 5/2006 (.pdf)
- Library Webscapes: The Changing Terrain, North Carolina/South Carolina SLA, 03/06
- SmartConnections: Building Community Partnerships, Southeastern Museum Conference, 10/05
- Building a Library Web Presence, Lexington County Library System Technology Summit, PA 10/04
- Developing Service Point Websites for the Virtual Patron,NC-RASS 2004
- Round the Clock Readers' Advisory, PLA 2004
- Making a STATEMENT with your Staff Intranet, NCLA 2003
- Readers Club: The evolution of a Readers' Advisory Website, PLA 2002
- Web Services: The Next Generation of Public Outreach, PLA 2002
- PLCMC Web Services: A Focused Approach, ALA 2002
- Creating Websites for Children, ALA 2001
The other bio: (The one that most people ask for)
Helene Blowers is the Director of Digital Strategy for the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) in Columbus, Ohio. Previous to her move to CML, she was the Public Services Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC), Charlotte, NC where she provided leadership for many groundbreaking and award winning library services, including StoryPlace.org, BookHive.org and ReadersClub.org. Among her professional contributions she is widely known as the architect and developer of Learning 2.0: 23 Things, an online discovery program designed to encourage library staff to explore new technologies, which has been duplicated by hundreds of libraries world-wide.
In 2007, Helene was named a Mover & Shaker, by Library Journal and is the co-authored of the book Weaving a Library Web: A Guide to Developing Children's Websites. She is a frequent presenter at library conferences and regularly shares her thoughts on libraries and technology on her blog at LibraryBytes.com. Helene holds a BS degree in Organizational Communication from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and is a certified project management trainer. When she is not busy trying to keep CML from falling off the ever-surging technology wave, she enjoys travel, exploring new finds, and spending time with her husband David and young daughters, Kathryn and Jessica.
