Connecting Librarian

“Promoting “2.0 Training” with “Fantastic Freebies” and other innovative programs. Janie & Bob from Princeton whom I spent time with last week.

Inspired by Computers in Libraries 2006. You can do more than basic tech training. Several easy to implement paths to grow at Tech training program - low cost in money and staff time.

Position yourself as Tech Gurus. Get involved with local users groups, present for local groups, develop and/or join technology mailing lists, create a tech training blogs, sell up at each and every class, tease with new content. Never underestimate the power of a full colour poster.
Databytes program - brown bag session for an hour at 1pm, each librarian takes a turn at it, open to staff and public.

Bringing them in - 15 freebies in 15 minutes. Locate freebies through PC Magazine, SEOmoz’s Web 2.0 awards, Time Magazine’s 50 coolest websites, Filehippo. Constantly scan tech blogs, library blogs, tech news sites and the popular media. ie. Slashdot.

Text editing freebies - Google Docs, YourDraft, Ajaxwrite
Organisation freebies - Tadalists, Cozi Central, Google Calendar
Productivity freebies - LogMeIn (control a remote computer), CCleaner
Photo and Video freebies - GIMP, Everystockphoto, Flickr, OneTrueMedia

Future class plans at options. Photoshop to GIMP and Pixer/Picnik. Blogger to Wordpress. Bloglines to Google Reader. Social Bookmarking. Podcasts. YouTube/OneTrueMedia/SplashCast. Digital scrapbooking. Classes are alway in constant beta, keep things fresh and keep innovating.

Slides will be on Library Garden Blog.

Tech Freebies Program Ideas - Matt and Robin who I will see at Charlotte tomorrow!

People are coming to us, wanting to create. Kids are Media Snackers (check their website).
Make it happen from painting to pixels, from crayons to cameras. Use what you already have - ie. Office suite. Use Freebies - ie. Tux Paint - basic painting program for kids.

More - Game Maker, Architect Studio 3D, Google Sketchup, YouTube, Picasa, GIMP, Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, flickr, Audacity, MySpace, Second Life and Wink (debug mode). Do some simple things to address the interests of kids.

Purchased software and activities - Youth Digital Arts CyberSchool, iMovie, Garage Bank, ACID Music Studio, pinnacle, Stop MotionPro, Fraps, Kudlian Soft, Digital Storytelling.

Robin explained all about ImaginOn - more about that after I visit it tomorrow. In house creation, including animation using Stop Motion Pro, Pinnacle Studio, Sony Acid Music Studio, Garage Band (Mac) and Final Cut Studio (Mac). Have a portable animation station. Next steps - “Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement.”

youthtech.wordpress.com

Great to hear the formal presentation of what I saw and learnt about the new Darien Library when I spent the day there last week.

Louise Berry - 3 principles guiding their building project, which is ultimately based on their library creed of extreme customer service

• Covenant with our patrons
• Stay ahead of expectations
• First of the new libraries, not the last of the old

Two goals: - Design and build an absolutely fantastic new library - as the most important institution in their town, where everyone wants to come
- Use technology, whatever it will make us more efficient and effective and however it will meet our patrons’ demands. Its supply and demand, not supply and need.

One rule is to tolerate uncertainty. Hard mindset for some staff to handle.

Continuing vision - eternal values of extreme customer service, friendly and helpful surroundings
- new technology

Architect Peter Gisolfi :
Creating an interior streetscape on the ground floor, aiming to be the centre of activity in the library. First floor is traditional library. Building is green with heating and cooling fed by groundwater, using recycled rainwater and many more green features, which will give the building certification and mean that’s it energy rating will be half of that of similar buildings.

Building is 3 levels - basement which holds the power (tech) library, technical services etc. First floor is popular materials, childrens area etc. Second floor is traditional library with non-fiction, reference and more. They also have a mezzanine level with lots of study space. Exterior has a New England feel, as required by law.

Three levels are popular (ground floor), traditional (first floor) and power (basement).
Lots of spaces for collaborative work on all levels. Dilemma is the issue of permanence and change - a civic building of importance which responds to the galloping rate of technological change. Response: Permanence is the town itself, the building itself and its timeless interiors.
Flexibility with open warehouse/functions change, changing technology, changing patterns of service. Connections are the building to the town setting, to regional traditions, to the environment/sustainability, interior streetscape, horizontal connections/open floors, vertical connections/open shaft, institution to community.

Alan Gray:
Not just putting a layer of technology over a new building. Its the patrons library, taking real risks, failure IS an option, get it right and then keep changing to stay ahead. Need a library failure wiki to learn from all our mistakes.

Technology layers: infrastructure, administrative, staff, patrons indirect, patron direct and patron to patron. Most important tech implementation - a materials handling system that happens to have an RFID front end. Self check works for the benefit of the patron, materials handling can have a major benefit for the library. No Tech services, no Circ back office and no cataloguing. Workflow managers not clerks, with only a small workspace to deal with exceptions. Majority of materials come to Darien shelf ready. Outsource everything related to Technical Services - outsource shelvers? What would a library be if it needed no trolleys? Would it be full of knowledge workers instead? Active items back on shelf in 20 minutes, inventory turns per item doubled, cost per circ halved, time for order to first circ - 18 hours, annual circulation per FTE: 40,000.

Have a fast second order, direct order and ship direct to patron (overnight), delivery from distributor same day. Everyone out in front of their desks, circ staff become readers advisors, information staff are at remote reference points, technology staff work in partnership with patrons, a virtual library too.

Tom Peters, Lori Bell, Matt Gullett, Kelly Czarnecki. Celebrating its first year of existence.

• Second Life is a virtual world, not a game
• Alliance Library System and PLCMC were the first libraries established in it
• 2 main projects, adult Second Life and Teen Second Life (13-17 yrs)
• Over 5.5 million registered avatars
• Complete online community - cultural programs, business, recreation, buildings, property and services
• 5,000 visitors per day to the AL Archipelago
• 2-3,000 teen visitors a day to the Eye4You Alliance Island
• used for meetings, workshops and education (ie. ALA)

Avatars

• digital representation that represents you in-world
• they can walk, talk, fly, swim, teleport, anything you want them to do
• each participant creates an avatar in any physical description you want

Commerce

• SL has its own currency - lindens ($US=$350L)
• purchase clothing, hair, housing etc
• growing business

InfoIsland: Main Library and Welcome Center has 40 hours a week or reference service, using Question Point. They have a science-fiction and fantasy portal, with books, podcasts, authors etc. Pantheon Performance Center - live concerts. Open air auditoriums, medical library, Imagination Island (donated by grieving parents) - Rachelville (for their daughter) and Vendorville (just starting), Renaissance Island - with Henry VIII who is the apartment manager - period space.

Eye4You Isle - adults involved who want to work with the teens have to have extensive background checks before being allowed to do so. Teens in E4Y come from all over the world, don’t always use their local library, but they are there in SL. Working with a developer and the teens to develop the island.

Ideal for E4Y was to create a space where the teens could explore what they want from a library. Its a space for interactive programming and building relationships, mentoring. Only 2 out of 90 Teen Second Life island are available to all teens - E4Y is one, the other islands are closed school spaces etc.

Services provided:

• Reference
• Programs
• Exhibits - World War II posters, Alzheimers, author Vachel Lindsay, Sept 11 remembrance
• Collections - web resources, Second Life formatted e-books and audio books
• Book and gentre discussions
• Training

Most visits to Info Islands are for exhibits and events. Librarians from around the world volunteer their time to provide library service on Second Life. People like having the avatar to avatar interaction.

Why are Librarians in SL?

• Its a new professional frontier - need to be trying it out
• Where many library users and non-users are - be where your users area
• To attract new users to the traditional library through referral - back to physical libraries
• To investigate library service in virtual worlds - trying out new options
• To provide library services 24/7
• To meet and work with librarians worldwide - collaboration
• To learn and use the 3D Web, the emerging web interaction interface

How it all started

• April 2006 first rental building
• May 2006 - first island odnated
• October 2006 - Grand opening of Info Island I
• December 2006 - grant for Health Info Island - one of the busiest spots
• December 2006 - Cybrary City for librarians donated by Talis
• January 2007 - Sirsi-Dynix sponsors InfoIsland I and Eye4You Alliance
• February 2007 - Rachelville, Vendorville, new ALS building, opera building, ALA building and coming soon the Renaissance building.

Weather is always great, but you can force the sun to stay out. Can fly, walk, teleport and get around really easily.

Challenges

• funding and sustainability - got lots of donors giving time and talent, how to cover things like the monthly maintenance fee
• volunteer burnout - people get enthused, spend too much time then something has to give
• parternships are the key - not being paralleled in the real world - ie. with museums etc
• steep learning curve
• what library services do virtual world users want?
• What, you’re working in SL? Right…..
• Robust hardware & Internet connection are essential
• No integrated audio and web yet - trying to get real life resources integrated into it
• Highly addictive and time intensive

What have we learned

• virtual world residents do want a library - they come in droves
• collaboration is the key and partnerships are essential
• exhibits - very popular, events attract crowds
• SL is fun - fun factor as catalyst for amazing growth
• Speed with which this is unfolding is unbelievable - lost an island this morning, had to spend time finding it and putting it back in its proper place
• People still ask for books in a virtual world
• ALS & PLCMC have received huge national and international attention - recognized as key innovators

What’s next

• Permanent virtual ALS staff working out of the ALS world headquarters, same for PLCMC
• More traditional info resources available - eg. audiobooks
• Pioneer meeting technologies to facilitate virtual meetings eg. adding audio to meeting protocols
• Integrate Info Island and Eye4You into ALS & PLCMC dilay operations so all staff are SL functional
• Actively promote the Alliance Information Archipelago
• Improve transportation around the islands - eg. people mover, better teleporting
• Create an Info Island for kids

Why is it good for libraries

• Be seen as leaders in the library community
• Provides national profile and recognition as innovative library systems
• Easier to recruit excellent board members and staff
• Easier to land big grants to provide better service for our members
• As requested by members, testing new technologies and services ie. virtual library services

Info Island - http://www.infoisland.org/
YouthTech Eye4You Alliance blog - http://eye4youalliance.youthtech.info/

A project from Cuyahoga County Public Library.

Patron needs were changing, the library profession was changing as was library service. Device evolution put pressure on staff who were uncomfortable with the new technologies. Needed to adapt staff, services and website to meet the changing needs of their community.

Wanted more than a site, wanted a portal, a customisable experience that enabled them to access the same services that they would experience in the virtual library. Wanted people to enjoy and dwell in the space, so the experience needed to be multi-faceted. Wanted to be able to draw in new audiences and that would allow them to partner with more community organisations.

They wanted to integrate web content, catalogues, databases, news and events, calendar features, branch info, and web 2.0 tools. Also wanted to know what their users wanted, they were just guessing. Put out an RFP to help them to develop the site and get a CMS in place to manage it all.

The process:

• discovery - internal constituent focus groups, customer focus groups, competitive research, best practice analysis, recommendations, wire frames
• strategy - mini portals (subjects, demographics, branches), CMS which now has 200 contributers and includes blogs, RSS and mobile CSS, event functionality, audience segmentation, enhanced search functionality, ended up with an out of the box CMS (Ektron) integrating with their III catalogue, Federated Search (Webfeat), text messaging, email (Exact Target), Online Store (CT Pro), Digital Assets (Fedora), Fundraising (e-commerce)
• design - focus groups wanted inspired, functional, intuitive, accessible, integrated, efficient, integrated, energetic, supportive, innovative, realistic, scaleable
• development - created subject and demographic portals, which dynamically pulled in events from the calendar and incorporated blogs and a relevant link collection, have segmented audience email - subject interest and geographic relevant info sent to patrons, sent 90,000 text messages for holds/overdues etc.
• launch/promotion - through print advertising, radio advertising, newspaper features = results blog readership up 40%, homepage visits up 64%, then named Ektron site of the year.
• evolution - platform defines the functionality, think ahead to where the web is going, memberships are the driving force behind web 2.0, libraries as a prime mover in new technology, additional features - metadata, federated search, geomapping, data portability.

Megan Fox - Web and Electronic Services Librarian at Simmons College.

Our users are relying more on cell phones and hand-held tools, so expect that they will turn to them more for their information needs. Want a large range of music, books, movies etc to be able to access, rather than the limited number that they can carry. Devices such as Treos, Blackberry’s, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, iPods, GPS devices, portable gaming devices, even smart watches (M300 out of Australia), etc.

Mobile Market:

• 75% of adults and 90% of college students have mobile phones
• 1 in 8 homes no longer have a landline phone
• 62% of subscribers use text messaging regularly
• 80% of world is covered by mobile networks

Can use mobile devices to watch multiple TV shows, upload photos to Flickr, use operating systems and slide out keyboards, have great audio quality that means you don’t need a separate iPod or MP3 player. Apple iPhone is more like an iPod than the new smart phones coming out.

New means of using devices includes motion sensing - move the device towards you and it scrolls down, tip up and it scrolls back up. Ultra Mobile Personal Computers - UMPC, now in 2nd generation, much smaller and lighter than laptops, with improved battery life.

Much content has been created for access by mobile devices. New .mobi domain which specifies that the content is accessible from their mobile device. ie. CNN, New York Times, Time Magazine, Pub Med have it, so does the Fremont Library, which gives news, directions, hours and contact details.

ILS vendors are starting to make Mobile Optimized Catalogs - so that patrons can access library catalogues through their mobile device. Sirsi-Dynix, Innovative and even Library Thing have this option. Ready Reference in the form of various e-book publications is available for a wide range of mobile devices, also search with Mobile Ask. E-Books are being provided by Overdrive, NetLibrary and more, which can be used on mobile devices.

As not all content is optimized for the mobile network, so the Transcoded Web is developing to transcribe content to fit into a mobile device. Its not perfect and some content is lost, but its happening. There is mobil.licio.us, mobile blogger and a mobile My Space version.

Database development has slowed, most being done by transcoders, but watch the industry, it should restart. Can get your content to the mobile device using special RSS feeds - many ways of doing this.

Librarians will need to become proficient in using these devices to enable us to help our users to access content using them.

Mobile search - check out Megan’s Monday presentation.

Content via SMS - you can send a message to Google to do a search and get a snippet back which answers your question. Merriam-Webster has partnered with Ask to provide definitions via SMS, can also do a yellow pages search. Publishers are sending extracts from books out via SMS. Websites are now giving the option of sending content to IM addresses and via SMS.

In Victoria, SMS has been added to the English curriculum at high school(thats my home state!).
Librarians are extending reference services - Altarama in Australia provides a SMS to email to SMS service for librarians/library users. Teleflip and Gizmo SMS are other new services.

Youngest users are still the heaviest users of mobile devices, but the gap is decreasing.
Wakeforest provides a Mobile U service - check hours, search the catalogue and selected databases, they also have voice activated interaction. Mobile devices can be sued to provide instant feedback within classes and can include live polling.

Mobile Audio and multimedia - South Huntington Public lends iPod shuffles with content pre-loaded. Audible Air lets you download audio books wirelessly without having to connect to a desktop. iTunes U is for university’s audio support materials.

Guide by cell for iPods or mobile phones for guided tours, is also being used by libraries not just museums. Could also be used for storytimes and instruction sessions.

Mobile TV can be accessed on phones - over 25 channels available - “place shifted television”. TiVo is also now available on mobile devices. YouTube and Second Life are working on mobile versions. Libraries have produced videos particuarly for the mobile screen.

Library Staff are using mobile devices for behind the scenes work - Sirsi-Dynix has mobile circ, III Wireless Workstation for inventory work at the shelves.

What’s next - many big companies are working on getting ads on mobiles, in each exchange for discounted bills and points systems. Visa and Mastercard are working with phones to make them the credit card to pay for items. Displays are developing, tablet PCs, sunglasses displays, screening onto a seat in front of you. Evovling input - ZenZui using content bookmarked on tiles or icons, zoom in to the see the options until you get down to the content you want. Microsoft Labs is working on a mobile browser - shows a full but small webpage, but can quickly zoom in to the sections you want.

There are still many input problems, some solutions include laser keyboards, photo search where you take a picture and it sends you relevant info ie. barcode brings back product info, book brings back reviews. GotVoice uses voice interaction, Tell Me has been bought out by Microsoft. A lot of work in voice to text. NASA is developing sub-vocal voice recognition.

Location based services - uses GPS to give you the information you require for the location you are at. Involves geotagging. Could we get the library catalogues opening on mobile devices as the user walked in the door?

web.simmons.edu/~fox/mobile

John Van Oudenaren is Senior Advisor, World Digital Library Initiative at the Library of Congress.
Vision - to create a digital library of significant original materials representing all of the major cultures from across the globe and make it accessible to students, educators and the general public.

Objectives:

• promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness
• provide a resource for educators that matches the needs of a globalised, wireless world
• acquire rare and unique content of interest to scholars and the general public

Partners: UNESCO, National Libraries and other cultural institutions (not Oz) and the technology community, including Google, Yahoo, Apple and Stanford University.

Dates:

• June 2005 - World Digital Library proposed to UNESCO
• November 2005 - Google gives LC $3 for planning phase of the project
• 2006 - Conclusion of agreements with partner institutions internationally
• December 2006 - Site mockup and draft proposal presented to UNESCO
• 2007 - conclusion of agreements with UNESCO and additional partner institutions
• October 2007 - World Digital Library prototype will be unveiled at UNESCO General Conference in Paris
• September 2008 - Completion of World Digital Library plan and full-scale launch of the project

Creating not just a big website. Three pillars: content acquisition; construction of a sustainable network for production and distribution of content; the website - http://www.worlddigitallibrary.org/

Content acquisition - work with partners to digitise content in places where little or nothing is being done - bring to light ‘hidden treasures’. Maintain and build on existing scanning operations. Establish additional scanning operations. Pursue other methods of content acquisition - repurposing of already scanned material.

Construction of the network - both a technical and infrastructure and a community of institutions, scholars, curators, linguists and technologist. A lot of translations to be done. Network nodes for creation, including digitisation, cataloguing, translation, development, etc of the WDL and for distribution, including mirror sites.

Web Site - must appeal to all users, both in the US and internationally. Prototype under development, multilingual (7 languages), high quality user experience - fast and seamless, ability to search and browse a large volume of content. Prototype will show multilingualism and fast search and browse. Will be able to search in the 6 official UN languages (Eng, Ara, Chi, Fre, Rus, Spa + Portugese) as well as searching content that is digitised in other languages.

Multi-format - print, maps, 3-D presentations, sound and video clips. Special features with experts, scholars and curators, educational content for teachers and students. Will include social networking features, such as blogs, chat spaces, tagging etc - My Digital Library type initiative. Adjustments to developing country conditions: ie low bandwith and mobile device solutions.

Showed a great video at the end which showed the vision of the World Digital Library. Check it out on YouTube.

Couldn’t get to a power or get my laptop out in this crowded session, so had to use treeware and now is the first chance to type this up. This session was Monday morning, so sorry for the delay.

Karen Huffman spoke of her experiences at National Geographic (NG). Web 2.0 is what we are already in, it’s where our users are and where our desktops are going. Adapt, adopt or die. We envision Web 2.0 in different ways, but are all still figuring it out and have different ways of applying the same solutions.

NG has RSS and podcasting hosted externally. Started with RSS feeds posted on a simple web page, then using Magpie RSS and php, they started streaming RSS to the homepage. Started with current content and recorded it as podcasts, then educated their users. Relaunched podcasts into iTunes and NG is now rated at No. 8. Have a staff news area which includes RSS feeds from NG blogs.

They use Newsgator for intranet news feeds instead of the external Bloglines. Newsgator can give mobile access to feeds which staff can access via their Blackberrys.

They are investigating Google gadgets to enhance their website. One gadget they are using on the their intranet is a Word Press plugin which shows a thumbnail image of the commenter on their blog comments. Simplified wiki page creation with a widget that gives them a “Create a new project” button. Also investigating Mind mapping software, including Gliffy and Mind Manager. They are also using Google Maps and Google Earth mashups in their Women Explorers wiki and BioBlitz projects as well as mapping out recipients of NG grants.

Lessons learned:

• need the right people on board
• work in the white spaces
• collaboration
• understand organic culture
• prototype ideas, keep it simple
• communicate
• adapt if the strategy doesn’t match needs

Derek Willis from Washington.com spoke on creating browsable data with Django.

Information gap includes:

• what doesn’t make it into the news
• the data you don’t use
• what you can do about it

Can search it and searching is fun, but what happens when you don’t have a clear search term - are your users good searchers?

Django users a python web framework, takes data and puts it on the web. It is open source and automated as much as possible. More info and software available at http://www.djangoproject.com/ Presently django is used to run chicagocrime.org - a database of crime reported in Chicago and several Washington Post projects including the congressional votes database, Faces of the fallen and Recipe Finder. It is mainly browsable, although it can be free text searched or browsed/searched by category.

Need the Python script language on a web server, a database such as MySql. It runs on all operating systems and is free. Advantages include control over your data, using your data is easier, has built in admin interface, plus it supports syndication, generic views, authorisation, forms, file uploads and is used for about 15 smaller newspapers around the US.

Things to do to make it happen:

• become or find a geek
• scavenge for hardware
• think about your data

Give your users the value in the information you already have.

Tonight at Computers in Libraries was the first Info Tubey Awards.

From the Computers in Libraries website:

“The First InfoTubey Awards:
YouTube Productions@CIL 2007
InfoTubey Award Winners

These awards will be presented to those organizations or individuals for outstanding YouTube productions. Premiering at the 2007 Computers in Libraries conference, these awards recognize those creating YouTube library-related productions. Awards will be presented to the top five productions that demonstrate creativity, humor, and sincerity (of course!) in marketing a library or library services or enhancing the library’s value. The winning productions will be shown at CIL 2007 on Tuesday evening, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Sponsored by:
“

The evening included free drinks and popcorn, free dessert and the red carpet on entry. The judging panel, who also hosted the evening, were dressed up for the evening with host Bill Spence resplendent in his tuxedo and the ladies on the panel looking delightful with their tiaras. Interpretive dance at each of the announcements, plus amusing introductions and the winning videos themselves made for a very fun night out.

Info Tubey Awards were handed out to 5 winners, coming from a nomination pool of 60 entries - a phenomenal first year entry pool which will only continue to grow.

And the winners are…….

Check out my Info Tubey set at flickr and click on the InfoTubey awards powerpoint for the live links to the winning You Tube videos. Also its worth checking out the Honourable Mention “March of the Librarians“. Enjoy!