I had the privilege of presenting at the 2017 Computers in Libraries (CiL) Conference in Arlington, VA this year. It was recommended that I attend, and when I saw a call for presenters I decided to apply. I was scheduled for a Cybertour of my program Picture Yourself Online! which meant I got to talk for 15 minutes in the vendor area. In return the fee to attend was waived (which is very rare).
Half way there!
Tuesday, March 28th
I got a Bolt Bus near my apartment and arrived at my Air B&B in the early afternoon. The conference was a short walk away and I arrived just in time for the last session of the day. The way the conference is set up there are 5 different tracks with a specific theme that you can follow or you can mix and match. The session I chose was Community Relationships with Collaborative Apps and involved two very different things: Discover & Go California and the Patron Incident Tracking System (PITS) for disruptive patrons.
First up was Discover & Go which sounds amazing. It’s kind of like the museum pass aspect of the IDNYC, but it has a lot of additional benefits. Basically the company talks to museums and other attractions and asks for passes for library patrons. Many of these places give out educational passes anyway, so this becomes an easy way to distribute them. The program started in just 2 of the library systems in California and has now expanded (and continues to expand) quite a bit.
The program doesn’t make library systems compete with each other: it’s collaborative so members of one system are able to access whatever the other system(s) have access to and visa versa. They use a virtual ticketing system with eliminates people fighting over tickets in person and crowds rushing the desk when new tickets are available. The tickets work just like any other eticket and no separate card or anything is needed. Makes life simple for patrons and librarians alike.
Patrons can go on their library website and click the Discover & Go link. Then they can put in where they’d like to go or what day they would like to visit or what attraction they are interested in and up will come a list of available places. Their definition of museum has expanded greatly: they give out passes to the aquarium, theaters, local pools, zoos, botanical gardens, and even the Napa Valley Wine Train! Some places limit how many passes are given per month or year, some welcome as many as they can get. So far over 500,000 cultural visits have been made possible through the program.
The company provides a bunch of content for library web pages so the librarians don’t have to deal with content creation if they don’t want to. No patron info is given to the museums so there’s no privacy concerns and the more libraries that sign up the cheaper the service is for everyone. The best news? They have been talking to the NYPL about possibly setting up a similar program here. With so many cultural institutions in the area this could be an amazing new feature!
The second half of the session only touched on PITS enough to mention that it exists and is a service that allows libraries to track problem patrons. They also briefly discussed the importance of having an actual plan in place to deal with disruption. It's important to actually plot out exactly what is and isn’t acceptable behavior. Then you can train your staff on the rules and including how to follow up and what responses are acceptable and appropriate. Definitely document what happened, and what you did about it. ALA also has great resources on safety and security in libraries.
Mostly the talk focused on what services other libraries across the country (and a few outside of it) are offering to help patrons in need. It’s a pretty amazing list of things, and rather long but highlights included:
First up was Discover & Go which sounds amazing. It’s kind of like the museum pass aspect of the IDNYC, but it has a lot of additional benefits. Basically the company talks to museums and other attractions and asks for passes for library patrons. Many of these places give out educational passes anyway, so this becomes an easy way to distribute them. The program started in just 2 of the library systems in California and has now expanded (and continues to expand) quite a bit.
The program doesn’t make library systems compete with each other: it’s collaborative so members of one system are able to access whatever the other system(s) have access to and visa versa. They use a virtual ticketing system with eliminates people fighting over tickets in person and crowds rushing the desk when new tickets are available. The tickets work just like any other eticket and no separate card or anything is needed. Makes life simple for patrons and librarians alike.
Patrons can go on their library website and click the Discover & Go link. Then they can put in where they’d like to go or what day they would like to visit or what attraction they are interested in and up will come a list of available places. Their definition of museum has expanded greatly: they give out passes to the aquarium, theaters, local pools, zoos, botanical gardens, and even the Napa Valley Wine Train! Some places limit how many passes are given per month or year, some welcome as many as they can get. So far over 500,000 cultural visits have been made possible through the program.
The company provides a bunch of content for library web pages so the librarians don’t have to deal with content creation if they don’t want to. No patron info is given to the museums so there’s no privacy concerns and the more libraries that sign up the cheaper the service is for everyone. The best news? They have been talking to the NYPL about possibly setting up a similar program here. With so many cultural institutions in the area this could be an amazing new feature!
The second half of the session only touched on PITS enough to mention that it exists and is a service that allows libraries to track problem patrons. They also briefly discussed the importance of having an actual plan in place to deal with disruption. It's important to actually plot out exactly what is and isn’t acceptable behavior. Then you can train your staff on the rules and including how to follow up and what responses are acceptable and appropriate. Definitely document what happened, and what you did about it. ALA also has great resources on safety and security in libraries.
Mostly the talk focused on what services other libraries across the country (and a few outside of it) are offering to help patrons in need. It’s a pretty amazing list of things, and rather long but highlights included:
- The San Francisco Public Library hired licensed marriage and family therapists in 2009.
- San Jose Public Library, The Free Library of Philadelphia, and many others also have Social Workers in the Library. Many utilize nearby schools that require their students log a certain number of hours volunteering, but others actually have hired them as staff. Washington DC has health and human services librarians who are full time Social Workers
- Philadelphia Public Library’s H.O.M.E. Page Café employees were once homeless. The cafe was set up by Project H.O.M.E. which looks to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness with such initiatives.
- My old stomping ground in Arizona, Pima County was the first to hire public health nurses to come to the branches and provide health services in the library.
- Richland South Carolina library works with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control directly to create programs and outreach opportunities.
- Here at The New York Public Library we have BridgeUp which is an educational antipoverty program that landed a $15 million grant.
- Denver Public Library has a Homeless Services Action Committee and their Community Tech Center team pays visits to area day shelters.
- Baltimore County Public Library has the Street Card Program, created in cooperation with the Baltimore County Communities for the Homeless which provides employment services, food and emergency assistance, health, financial support, legal help shelters and more.
- Pikes Peak Library District works with police dept to provide active shooter training.
- Dallas Public Library has Street View podcast hosted by homeless patrons.
- A Turkey University Library actually provides shower facilities for patrons.
When that ended, the vendor floor opened and I wandered in along with several hundred other librarians. Many of the booths had very interesting things to offer, and one of them, Socialflow was actually using the NYPL main account to show off their social media management tools. I discussed how to get our individual branch accounts verified which would unlock new abilities. They didn't have a way to fix it but said they would look into it and hopefully a solution will be found. I also learned that Envisionware offers RFID chip services which gives me hope that someday we might utilize that tech in the library.
I spent some time at the Recorded Books booth chatting with the people there about Qello which is a service they offer that lets your patrons stream concerts and music documentaries. It sounds really cool and may be a good program for the smaller swing space out library will be moving into while Mid-Manhattan gets renovated.
While I was there a man walked up and joined in. He turned out to be Tim Spalding, founder of LibraryThing. Very interesting guy, and I use his site quite a bit for work so it was awesome to meet him. I also began collecting material for my next blog: What are you Reading: Computers in Libraries Edition.
A few people from Brooklyn Public Library an I hung out for a while after that, including one who had some excellent librarian ink:
I spent some time at the Recorded Books booth chatting with the people there about Qello which is a service they offer that lets your patrons stream concerts and music documentaries. It sounds really cool and may be a good program for the smaller swing space out library will be moving into while Mid-Manhattan gets renovated.
While I was there a man walked up and joined in. He turned out to be Tim Spalding, founder of LibraryThing. Very interesting guy, and I use his site quite a bit for work so it was awesome to meet him. I also began collecting material for my next blog: What are you Reading: Computers in Libraries Edition.
A few people from Brooklyn Public Library an I hung out for a while after that, including one who had some excellent librarian ink:
Wednesday, March 29th
My presentation wasn't until 2pm, but there was plenty to do until then.
First up: Getting Your Hands on History: How Teachers & Students Are Unlocking Records of the National Archives. This was one of my favorite things at the conference, and I think there is at least one program in my branch's future that will come out of this session. Plus there was a game that I volunteered for and used my skills from the photo studio to dominate. Always fun.
First up: Getting Your Hands on History: How Teachers & Students Are Unlocking Records of the National Archives. This was one of my favorite things at the conference, and I think there is at least one program in my branch's future that will come out of this session. Plus there was a game that I volunteered for and used my skills from the photo studio to dominate. Always fun.
The National Archive's website allows anyone to create an account and become a Citizen Archivist who assists in adding metadata and transcriptions to the billions of pages of digitized photos and documents. The Citizen Archivist Dashboard provides an easy way to navigate to things you would like to work on. There are Transcription Missions you can take, Featured Records that have to do with current events, and a Don’t Leave Us Hanging section of records that are almost complete, but missing something. Many of the latter are transcriptions where there is a word or line that is hard to read. What's better than having one archivist try to decipher bad handwriting? Having a few hundred take a stab at it!
Citizen Archivists are encouraged to add a unique tag to each item they work on, that way they can look up that tag later and see all the things they have contributed to. So far more than 300,000 tags and 15 million descriptions have been added. That's a lot, but there are 27 million items and 13-15 BILLION pages so the work is not likely to be done anytime soon! Citizen Archivists can also edit each other's work, so if they see something that is incorrect they can fix it. There is even a newsletter about what’s going on, interesting and new projects and all sorts of things to get people excited about tagging and transcribing.
At that point they asked for volunteers for a game that they invented that I think will make a great program here (perhaps using our own archives since NYPL has a large digital collection of its own).
Citizen Archivists are encouraged to add a unique tag to each item they work on, that way they can look up that tag later and see all the things they have contributed to. So far more than 300,000 tags and 15 million descriptions have been added. That's a lot, but there are 27 million items and 13-15 BILLION pages so the work is not likely to be done anytime soon! Citizen Archivists can also edit each other's work, so if they see something that is incorrect they can fix it. There is even a newsletter about what’s going on, interesting and new projects and all sorts of things to get people excited about tagging and transcribing.
At that point they asked for volunteers for a game that they invented that I think will make a great program here (perhaps using our own archives since NYPL has a large digital collection of its own).
There were four of us, two to a team and we were given markers and each team shared a large poster-board. When the first image came up we went to town tossing out any keywords we could think of. When the dust settled my team had one more unique keyword than the others. My photo tagging skills won out, but just barely. However, round two was different: my team came up with nearly twice as many unique keywords as our opponents. Those words will be added to the tags for those photos and two more pieces of history will be easier to find and access.
They also provide several other useful tools such as:
When that session ended I decided to scout out the Cybertours area to make sure I knew where I was going and what the set-up was. The stage was towards the back of the vendor floor and when I arrived Robert Berkman from the University of Rochester was presenting his talk: Fake News 101. This theme came up many times during the conference.
They also provide several other useful tools such as:
- DocsTeach, an online tool for teaching with documents from the archives.
- History Hub Support Community for researchers and archivists allows them to collaborate and help each other with research and archival issues.
- Innovation Hub and the Citizen Scanning Project where researchers commit to scanning at least a whole file of documents in a sitting. They can then tag and transcribe these as well. The Archives also holds scanathons, tagathons, transcribeathons where people get together and process large quantities of documents and photos as a group. These have online participation as well which might make for a good program in the new space as well.
When that session ended I decided to scout out the Cybertours area to make sure I knew where I was going and what the set-up was. The stage was towards the back of the vendor floor and when I arrived Robert Berkman from the University of Rochester was presenting his talk: Fake News 101. This theme came up many times during the conference.
This form of "weaponized information" has been around for a long time, but there has been a tremendous uptick of late, with a major spike in the term's use coming in September of 2016. The problem is exacerbated by social media's tendency to create bubbles prompting the Wall Street Journal experiment Blue Feed, Red Feed which allows you to "see liberal Facebook and conservative Facebook, side by side."
He also covered how the meaning of the term Fake News has evolved in the last few decades. The Daily Show called itself fake news, though to be fair the stories it reported on were real, just presented in a humorous way and threaded with satire. The definition is actually hoaxes and biased/out of context reporting, but he pointed out that currently it has come to mean anything the speaker just doesn't like or agree with, a practice started by our current Commander in Chief. As more people use the term this way, I realized, it becomes fake news itself.
He also covered how the meaning of the term Fake News has evolved in the last few decades. The Daily Show called itself fake news, though to be fair the stories it reported on were real, just presented in a humorous way and threaded with satire. The definition is actually hoaxes and biased/out of context reporting, but he pointed out that currently it has come to mean anything the speaker just doesn't like or agree with, a practice started by our current Commander in Chief. As more people use the term this way, I realized, it becomes fake news itself.
So how do we judge what’s real or true? He suggested that scientific consensus was one of the best tools we have. Many organizations have begun pulling resources together to fight the influences of fake news. Libraries are putting together libguides and Proquest has a great one Real News Vs Fake News plus a checklist. We can also set up training exercises and create Find the Fake News games as programming.
Finally, he provided a link to a brainstorming guide he'd put together: Tinyurl.com/fakenewsbrainstorm
Lunch was served around the time he was done and I ate mine while going over my presentation notes. My Cybertour was happening in the slot between lunch and a coffee break so I would miss a session, but I was pretty excited to get up there.
I caught the last few minutes of the session before mine which was about using inexpensive Linux laptops in the library. Apparently they are pretty close to indestructible and the security is obviously better. The presenter had one plugged in to the projector so I ended up setting the presentation area up again. Good thing a have a lil experience doing that ;)
All told there were 13 people in the audience, plus the people eating along the side of that area who looked like they were paying attention too. They were very responsive to the idea and a few had questions about doing the program in their own libraries. One said that in Florida even the lowest jobs require some kind of photo, and that anything involving the government requires that they be shot on a blue background. I'd like to look into whether this is something that not only Florida is going to want, because it might be worthwhile getting a blue background for the program.
I think it went really well and I'm a little annoyed that it wasn't recorded. From all the paperwork I filled out it sounded like it would be. If I'd thought about it I could have just hit record on my phone and had the audio. Ah well. Also a woman named Doriann Dawkins came up at the end and said she'd worked at Mid-Manhattan from 1988-1995. Always cool to meet alum!
The next panel I went to was a double: Open: Framework, Resources, & Practices.
First they went over what is and isn't OK to share with the public. USC title 17 provides some guidelines, and in general public libraries are much simpler than academic when it comes to avoiding copyright issues. When it comes to Creative Commons, “copy-left” prevents a copyright troll from copyrighting something you created and then suing you for the pleasure of using it. This type of material is free to use for educational purposes, even though created by someone else.
When using free materials, don't think you can just put them out there: Even free stuff can hurt you. If a resource is too massive or complex it can scare those who are new to research and library resources. At the same time it's also bad to bore your veteran patrons who know what they are doing. It's a fine line to walk. It can also be a bad idea to segregate the resources that are free and the ones your library pays for because people tend to attribute value to things that charge and may think free resources aren't as useful. It's best to mix them all together and let people find what they need without knowing the cost.
Some sources like Archive.org are so massive that people easily get overwhelmed and intimidated. If you link to certain sections you will see more people get more out of it. As a side note, I could see us doing a whole class on the stuff archive.org has available.
You also have to stay politically neutral while not falling into the Fake News trap. Vet your sources, though this is even getting difficult as purveyors of fake news are getting more savvy. For example, the Center for Immigration Studies is a fake news group. Sound completely legit and they go so far as to publish a journal that looks like a real peer reviewed academic work, but is really just pushing Alt Right white supremacy. The Southern Poverty Law Center has a Hatewatch site that does a lot of good fact checking on people, so if you look up the author of a source on their site and red flags come up beware!
When deciding whether to add content or not it's important to ask yourself: Is this material accessible for my patrons and is it free from advertising and wing nuttery? If the answer is yes then ask does this item pertain to an information need my patrons are likely to encounter and will it delight my middle of the road patrons? If that's a yes too you've really got something good!
When it comes to providing content, don't get overly fancy, just make things easy to find. Animated drop-downs and such may look cool, but if people can't find what they need right off the bat they will give up and go elsewhere. He also encouraged us to think like marketers and to avoid stuffiness. Nothing makes people as comfortable as a little humor.
The next speaker covered . This approach is basically just to throw content up so people can access it. Is it correct? We don't know. It exists and here it is. This method ascribes no interpretation, it just provides it.
He argued that libraries are well suited for providing open data for three reasons:
1. There was a Pew study and the Public Library came up as the #1 most trusted public institution, beating out the military, government, and police, and that our strategic plan, business plan and stakeholder communications should reflect this.
Finally, he provided a link to a brainstorming guide he'd put together: Tinyurl.com/fakenewsbrainstorm
Lunch was served around the time he was done and I ate mine while going over my presentation notes. My Cybertour was happening in the slot between lunch and a coffee break so I would miss a session, but I was pretty excited to get up there.
I caught the last few minutes of the session before mine which was about using inexpensive Linux laptops in the library. Apparently they are pretty close to indestructible and the security is obviously better. The presenter had one plugged in to the projector so I ended up setting the presentation area up again. Good thing a have a lil experience doing that ;)
All told there were 13 people in the audience, plus the people eating along the side of that area who looked like they were paying attention too. They were very responsive to the idea and a few had questions about doing the program in their own libraries. One said that in Florida even the lowest jobs require some kind of photo, and that anything involving the government requires that they be shot on a blue background. I'd like to look into whether this is something that not only Florida is going to want, because it might be worthwhile getting a blue background for the program.
I think it went really well and I'm a little annoyed that it wasn't recorded. From all the paperwork I filled out it sounded like it would be. If I'd thought about it I could have just hit record on my phone and had the audio. Ah well. Also a woman named Doriann Dawkins came up at the end and said she'd worked at Mid-Manhattan from 1988-1995. Always cool to meet alum!
The next panel I went to was a double: Open: Framework, Resources, & Practices.
First they went over what is and isn't OK to share with the public. USC title 17 provides some guidelines, and in general public libraries are much simpler than academic when it comes to avoiding copyright issues. When it comes to Creative Commons, “copy-left” prevents a copyright troll from copyrighting something you created and then suing you for the pleasure of using it. This type of material is free to use for educational purposes, even though created by someone else.
When using free materials, don't think you can just put them out there: Even free stuff can hurt you. If a resource is too massive or complex it can scare those who are new to research and library resources. At the same time it's also bad to bore your veteran patrons who know what they are doing. It's a fine line to walk. It can also be a bad idea to segregate the resources that are free and the ones your library pays for because people tend to attribute value to things that charge and may think free resources aren't as useful. It's best to mix them all together and let people find what they need without knowing the cost.
Some sources like Archive.org are so massive that people easily get overwhelmed and intimidated. If you link to certain sections you will see more people get more out of it. As a side note, I could see us doing a whole class on the stuff archive.org has available.
You also have to stay politically neutral while not falling into the Fake News trap. Vet your sources, though this is even getting difficult as purveyors of fake news are getting more savvy. For example, the Center for Immigration Studies is a fake news group. Sound completely legit and they go so far as to publish a journal that looks like a real peer reviewed academic work, but is really just pushing Alt Right white supremacy. The Southern Poverty Law Center has a Hatewatch site that does a lot of good fact checking on people, so if you look up the author of a source on their site and red flags come up beware!
When deciding whether to add content or not it's important to ask yourself: Is this material accessible for my patrons and is it free from advertising and wing nuttery? If the answer is yes then ask does this item pertain to an information need my patrons are likely to encounter and will it delight my middle of the road patrons? If that's a yes too you've really got something good!
When it comes to providing content, don't get overly fancy, just make things easy to find. Animated drop-downs and such may look cool, but if people can't find what they need right off the bat they will give up and go elsewhere. He also encouraged us to think like marketers and to avoid stuffiness. Nothing makes people as comfortable as a little humor.
The next speaker covered . This approach is basically just to throw content up so people can access it. Is it correct? We don't know. It exists and here it is. This method ascribes no interpretation, it just provides it.
He argued that libraries are well suited for providing open data for three reasons:
1. There was a Pew study and the Public Library came up as the #1 most trusted public institution, beating out the military, government, and police, and that our strategic plan, business plan and stakeholder communications should reflect this.
Librarian school students are all about free info maaaaaaannnnnn
2. Libraries & librarians cultivate valuable relationships. Many data owners and creators are our co-workers, we usually have plenty of support from the top and there are tons of external collaboration opportunities: everyone wants to work with the library!
3. Librarians have the skillz. Did you find an open data source that's poorly constructed? It probably wasn't created by a library. Keep that in mind, and don't skimp on the talent! Make sure people you work with know how to extract, transform, and load (pull data from where it lives, turn it into open data & post it.)
Then there was a section on Open Educational Resources (OERs) which listed a ton of sources for open data and educational resources. These resources increase equity, keep content flowing and save money.
That night was a happy hour for presenters and vendors to do a little networking. It was on the top floor of the hotel with a view of the airport and some of the city in the distance.
3. Librarians have the skillz. Did you find an open data source that's poorly constructed? It probably wasn't created by a library. Keep that in mind, and don't skimp on the talent! Make sure people you work with know how to extract, transform, and load (pull data from where it lives, turn it into open data & post it.)
Then there was a section on Open Educational Resources (OERs) which listed a ton of sources for open data and educational resources. These resources increase equity, keep content flowing and save money.
- USA.gov
- Occupational Handbook
- Library of Congress has a ton of teaching resources.
- Europeana
- Smithsonian
- DPLA
- DocsTeach
- IWitness
- Newseum
- OpenStax (includes textbooks!)
- Curriki (k-12)
- CC0
- Learning Registry
- OER Commons
- Edmodo
- Open Access Button
- Amazon Inspire
That night was a happy hour for presenters and vendors to do a little networking. It was on the top floor of the hotel with a view of the airport and some of the city in the distance.
Thursday, March 30th
The first session I headed to was Zero to Maker: Invention Literacy & Mobile Memory Lab.
The Brampton Makerspace has three levels of maker events:
1. The first level is for beginners, targeting children, families and novice makers of all ages and consists of a variety of hands on, play to learn activities. Programs include Family Tinkertime, Inventor’s Workshop, Kids Discovery Club, LEGO Robotics and STEM Station where they give open ended challenges to patrons: use the materials here to make something that moves, or something that makes sound, or lights up, etc. Even when people fail to achieve the goal they learn and usually succeed the next time.
2. The Maker to Maker level targets teens and adults and promote collaborations while offering access to expertise. The programs usually have real-world applications and include 3D Modeling and Printing, App development workshops, a Maker Meet-Up and a Repair Café. The latter is my favorite as far as programming ideas for our library: through social media but mostly word of mouth the library got 25 "fixers" to volunteer. These people know how to repair small electronics, or clothing, or other random things, and they pair up with patrons who bring things that need to be repaired. Together they get the item fixed, and the patron leaves with (hopefully) a repaired item and the knowledge to maybe fix it next time it breaks. This is the ultimate teach-a-man-to-fish type program in the age of disposable everything! The fixers can bring their own equipment if they like, and the college supplies the rest.
3. At the Maker to Market level there are programs targeting teens and adults in an attempt to demystify entrepreneurship and encourage networking and mentorship. Patrons work on patents, grant-work and other market related necessities for an inventor/maker.
In this way the Brampton Makerspace covers the bases, from the basics through learning the physical work, to taking their creations to the next level and applying them to the real world. It's an impressive and comprehensive program.
The Mobile Memory Lab half covered how DC Public Library Memory Lab was born, and why. Digitization is important not only for preserving memories and history, but also for organizing and sharing. The DCPL wanted to provide patrons the hardware and training to preserve not only photographs, but audio and video as well. They did a lot of research and crowd-sourcing of other libraries that have memory labs and came up with a solid list of electronics to purchase.
The Brampton Makerspace has three levels of maker events:
1. The first level is for beginners, targeting children, families and novice makers of all ages and consists of a variety of hands on, play to learn activities. Programs include Family Tinkertime, Inventor’s Workshop, Kids Discovery Club, LEGO Robotics and STEM Station where they give open ended challenges to patrons: use the materials here to make something that moves, or something that makes sound, or lights up, etc. Even when people fail to achieve the goal they learn and usually succeed the next time.
2. The Maker to Maker level targets teens and adults and promote collaborations while offering access to expertise. The programs usually have real-world applications and include 3D Modeling and Printing, App development workshops, a Maker Meet-Up and a Repair Café. The latter is my favorite as far as programming ideas for our library: through social media but mostly word of mouth the library got 25 "fixers" to volunteer. These people know how to repair small electronics, or clothing, or other random things, and they pair up with patrons who bring things that need to be repaired. Together they get the item fixed, and the patron leaves with (hopefully) a repaired item and the knowledge to maybe fix it next time it breaks. This is the ultimate teach-a-man-to-fish type program in the age of disposable everything! The fixers can bring their own equipment if they like, and the college supplies the rest.
3. At the Maker to Market level there are programs targeting teens and adults in an attempt to demystify entrepreneurship and encourage networking and mentorship. Patrons work on patents, grant-work and other market related necessities for an inventor/maker.
In this way the Brampton Makerspace covers the bases, from the basics through learning the physical work, to taking their creations to the next level and applying them to the real world. It's an impressive and comprehensive program.
The Mobile Memory Lab half covered how DC Public Library Memory Lab was born, and why. Digitization is important not only for preserving memories and history, but also for organizing and sharing. The DCPL wanted to provide patrons the hardware and training to preserve not only photographs, but audio and video as well. They did a lot of research and crowd-sourcing of other libraries that have memory labs and came up with a solid list of electronics to purchase.
Once they received a new piece of hardware they would test it using materials of varying quality: testing a audio or video digitizer on a new, perfect quality tape is not all that useful, so librarians would bring their own old, beat up tapes. This had the added benefit of getting the librarians there interested in the program so more of them got involved.
The ones who were interested also trained themselves how to use each piece of equipment, and created their own instruction manuals for them.The manuals that come with things are usually not all that user-friendly, so they created new ones with lots of pictures (and complete with arrows and circled buttons) so that patrons would have an easier time of it.
The software bundled with the hardware was sometimes not very user friendly, or wasn't compatible with many patron computers. Sometimes 3rd party software was available that worked well, but in general if the bundled software didn't work they would try one, maybe two 3rd party versions, but they wouldn't waste too much time. If it didn't work it got sent back and something else was ordered to replace it.
One thing to watch out for is the time constraints: some of this takes a very very long time. If someone is digitizing a 90 minute tape it generally takes that long to transfer and then more time to render and save.
They offer a three tiered approach:
Some libraries who have similar programs actually lend their equipment out so people can do the work at home. This is convenient but risky as you have to set up a system to ensure patrons are accountable for the equipment should something go awry.
Feedback has been amazing, with some patrons even crying at the fact that their Family history and precious memories are not only safe, but shareable. This is truly a great service to provide!
Up next was Rocking the Small Screen: Video & Libraries.
The ones who were interested also trained themselves how to use each piece of equipment, and created their own instruction manuals for them.The manuals that come with things are usually not all that user-friendly, so they created new ones with lots of pictures (and complete with arrows and circled buttons) so that patrons would have an easier time of it.
The software bundled with the hardware was sometimes not very user friendly, or wasn't compatible with many patron computers. Sometimes 3rd party software was available that worked well, but in general if the bundled software didn't work they would try one, maybe two 3rd party versions, but they wouldn't waste too much time. If it didn't work it got sent back and something else was ordered to replace it.
One thing to watch out for is the time constraints: some of this takes a very very long time. If someone is digitizing a 90 minute tape it generally takes that long to transfer and then more time to render and save.
They offer a three tiered approach:
- They offer one to two demo classes per quarter. These were general overviews, providing a short description and demo of each item available.
- Next up, they provided open labs with librarian guidance. There was a group dynamic in these that some patrons responded well to, and many were able to get comfortable enough using the equipment for the next step which was
- Private sessions with the equipment, by appointment. This is where the librarian generated instructions with screenshots and such would come in very handy.
Some libraries who have similar programs actually lend their equipment out so people can do the work at home. This is convenient but risky as you have to set up a system to ensure patrons are accountable for the equipment should something go awry.
Feedback has been amazing, with some patrons even crying at the fact that their Family history and precious memories are not only safe, but shareable. This is truly a great service to provide!
Up next was Rocking the Small Screen: Video & Libraries.
I used to make video tutorials for the University at Buffalo when I was in grad school there, and later for NYU, so I was interested to see what they had to offer on the subject. I was not disappointed!
It started with some of the general stats you can find almost anywhere and that basically just point to the fact that tons of people watch videos for all sorts of reasons, and that many people prefer to learn from a video instead of text. I was one of three people who wrote a chapter on the subject, and if you are really interested in reading about the ways video reaches all types of learners and how they work with cognitive load theory and such, pick up a copy of Technology-Centered Academic Library Partnerships and Collaborations and read chapter 3, or take a look at some of the articles Nadaleen Tempelman-Kluit wrote on the subject.
Suffice to say: people like watching videos online, and so it is a good idea to make them when trying to reach out to the public. So what kind of videos should we make?
And what are some best practices?
It started with some of the general stats you can find almost anywhere and that basically just point to the fact that tons of people watch videos for all sorts of reasons, and that many people prefer to learn from a video instead of text. I was one of three people who wrote a chapter on the subject, and if you are really interested in reading about the ways video reaches all types of learners and how they work with cognitive load theory and such, pick up a copy of Technology-Centered Academic Library Partnerships and Collaborations and read chapter 3, or take a look at some of the articles Nadaleen Tempelman-Kluit wrote on the subject.
Suffice to say: people like watching videos online, and so it is a good idea to make them when trying to reach out to the public. So what kind of videos should we make?
- Instead of just tip sheets on how to best search databases, videos can be very effective ways to show people how to best find what they need. Indeed, the tutorials on Boolean searching I did for NYU were pretty popular.
- Does the library have a new service or program? Shoot a fun short video promoting it!
- When the library switches to a new catalog video tours can help the public (and us) adjust.
- Short interviews with some of the authors and musicians who come to the library for programs.
- Short story-time videos for kids.
- Music parodies and little comedy skits from the stacks.
- What's your favorite Dewey section shorts where librarians head to the section for a mini-tour.
- Once the Facebook page has people paying attention to the Live posts, have a librarian take 5-10 minutes to go live and interact with whoever is watching.
- Have an aquarium or library pet? Or even a library ghost? Cam that thing!
And what are some best practices?
- The first 15 seconds of the video make or break people's attention span so ditch the repetitive intro and just dive in!
- Try some simple animations. There's tons of online resources for this, but you can also just do paper cut outs and have a hand moving them around. It works out really well.
- Add some amount of interactivity so people feel like they are contributing.
- Use fun current stuff! Fun fonts from new popular shows or video game memes etc.
- Closed captioning is required for ADA compliance. There are captioning programs out there, but you usually will have to go through it all and make sure it's working.
- Storyboard it! This takes a little time, but once you've got it done it will save you scads of time later down the line. Without it you end up redoing stuff a lot and it really helps organize your thoughts.
Tools to use:
- Canva has Youtube custom thumbnail makers. Don't just let the thumbnail be some random still.
- Adobe animate and Photoshop makes decent vids
- Turningpoint and Kahoot add interaction with the videos.
- Youtube has a great audio library with music and sound effects that you can use in the background of your videos, but you can ONLY use them for Youtube vids. If you use it and upload directly to Facebook or any other video site they can take it down.
The last talk of the conference was AI in Libraries: Reference Robots and Autonomous Machines.
Clearly we already have some of these in the form of self checkout machines and Kiosks for finding items and running searches. Robots are getting better at unexpected things. Oncologists are using Watson to come up with more effective treatment plans for specific patients. There's even a salesbot now named Pepper who can read people's facial expressions to better tell what tactics will work on them. Why not put such tech to use in libraries?
Libraries with a good budget for such things are buying robots and letting patrons and staff learn how to use and program them to do different things. Some even tell stories to patrons. One library even made robots that can guide patrons to the shelf their book is on.
Clearly we already have some of these in the form of self checkout machines and Kiosks for finding items and running searches. Robots are getting better at unexpected things. Oncologists are using Watson to come up with more effective treatment plans for specific patients. There's even a salesbot now named Pepper who can read people's facial expressions to better tell what tactics will work on them. Why not put such tech to use in libraries?
Libraries with a good budget for such things are buying robots and letting patrons and staff learn how to use and program them to do different things. Some even tell stories to patrons. One library even made robots that can guide patrons to the shelf their book is on.
The next segment of the panel was about a library that incorporated biometrics into their day-to-day.
The Paul Sawyier Public Library invested in a set of biometric scanners, basically fingerprint readers akin to what is found on many cell phones. These do not actually store an image of the scanned print, it only registers a series of unique points therein. This ensures that the patron's privacy is not violated by these devices, nor anyone who has access to them. Much like how we cannot give the FBI a record of what patrons check out because we do not keep such a record, the library is simply unable to provide a patron's print to law enforcement if asked. Additionally the records are kept on an encrypted server separate from the rest of the patron records.
Patrons register their finger by swiping it a few times on the reader. Then they register a second finger as a back-up in case something happens to the first one (ouch!). The process takes about a minute and once registered there is no need to do it again. The one exception being children: children's fingers grow and stretch and so it is important for them to re-register every once in a while. Patrons under 18 must have their parent's permission to participate in the program.
So why invest in this technology?
For the patrons, having their fingerprint registered means an end to needing their library card for most things. They still need the number in order to log in remotely, but for any in-library activities all they need is their fingers. Checking materials out takes literally 10 seconds: all books, DVDs & CDs are implanted with RFID chips. Patrons place the stack of items on the checkout machine, swipe their finger, take the receipt and leave.
For the library it means more security and accountability when it comes to expensive equipment, and less time spent looking up accounts when patrons don't have their card anymore. In order to use a computer, check out a laptop, or the Mediaboxes they have which resemble Redbox. No longer can patrons argue that it wasn't them that checked an item out, that someone must have stolen their card, or patrons lending each other cards for extra time. The system is very robust and almost never goes down.
Patrons do occasionally raise concerns. Some refuse to be registered, and the library director meets with them one on one to hear their concerns. The vast majority of them leave the meeting happy to sign up, fears of privacy violations assuaged. If they still refuse, a special exception is made, but this is rare.
The Paul Sawyier Public Library invested in a set of biometric scanners, basically fingerprint readers akin to what is found on many cell phones. These do not actually store an image of the scanned print, it only registers a series of unique points therein. This ensures that the patron's privacy is not violated by these devices, nor anyone who has access to them. Much like how we cannot give the FBI a record of what patrons check out because we do not keep such a record, the library is simply unable to provide a patron's print to law enforcement if asked. Additionally the records are kept on an encrypted server separate from the rest of the patron records.
Patrons register their finger by swiping it a few times on the reader. Then they register a second finger as a back-up in case something happens to the first one (ouch!). The process takes about a minute and once registered there is no need to do it again. The one exception being children: children's fingers grow and stretch and so it is important for them to re-register every once in a while. Patrons under 18 must have their parent's permission to participate in the program.
So why invest in this technology?
For the patrons, having their fingerprint registered means an end to needing their library card for most things. They still need the number in order to log in remotely, but for any in-library activities all they need is their fingers. Checking materials out takes literally 10 seconds: all books, DVDs & CDs are implanted with RFID chips. Patrons place the stack of items on the checkout machine, swipe their finger, take the receipt and leave.
For the library it means more security and accountability when it comes to expensive equipment, and less time spent looking up accounts when patrons don't have their card anymore. In order to use a computer, check out a laptop, or the Mediaboxes they have which resemble Redbox. No longer can patrons argue that it wasn't them that checked an item out, that someone must have stolen their card, or patrons lending each other cards for extra time. The system is very robust and almost never goes down.
Patrons do occasionally raise concerns. Some refuse to be registered, and the library director meets with them one on one to hear their concerns. The vast majority of them leave the meeting happy to sign up, fears of privacy violations assuaged. If they still refuse, a special exception is made, but this is rare.
That was it for the Computers in Libraries 2017 Conference. I made my way to a different Air B&B, this one in Washington DC proper.
Friday, March 31st
It was rainy and chilly so I headed to the Library of Congress. I'd never been there so I thought this would be a fitting way to spend the day. Without setting up an appointment to do serious research you can't get into the library part, but they have a fishbowl type area far above it where tourists can look down upon researchers at work, like some strange academic zoo.
I sat in there for a while listening to tours go through. A little girl got up to the glass and exclaimed "Ooooooohhhhh… we're in the LIBRARY!!!" all smiles and excitement. Future librarian right there :)
The entire building is thick with symbolic artwork. Pantheon's of the mystic and fantastical. Not only eagles but swans, Griffins, and all sorts of fantastical beasts I don't have names for. Before I headed down into the rest of the building (including an exhibit on WWI and another on South America) a woman named Liz Uhlik took my photo and recommended I go to the big greenhouse next.
I did and she was totally right.
The entire building is thick with symbolic artwork. Pantheon's of the mystic and fantastical. Not only eagles but swans, Griffins, and all sorts of fantastical beasts I don't have names for. Before I headed down into the rest of the building (including an exhibit on WWI and another on South America) a woman named Liz Uhlik took my photo and recommended I go to the big greenhouse next.
I did and she was totally right.