Connecting Librarian

I am so excited.  Just as well, because I was very sad about not being in the thick of things at Computers in Libraries this year, after the awesome experience I had there last year.  Its great to be already reading all of the blogging reports coming out of this year’s conference. Thanks all!  Keep ‘em coming!

The reason I am so excited is that the mailman has just delivered my book!  Well its not just my book, I am just one of 19 contributors, but still excited anyway.  I’m a published author!  In a book, not only a journal!  Information Literacy meets Library 2.0 ‘addresses the impact of the adoption of these (Web 2.0) technologies on information literacy teaching’.

I wrote Chapter 5 - “Information Literacy, Web 2.0 and public libraries: an exploration”.  Most of the content came out of my study tour last year and coincidentally from what I learnt at last year’s Computers in Libraries conference.  For Australian readers, Judy O’Connell from Hey Jude authored Chapter 4 - “School Library 2.0: new skill, new knowledge, new futures”.  I am honoured to be in such great company in this book, with not only Judy, but 17 other great library experts.

I was surprised and delighted to also discover that it is a hardback edition.   I really like the cool cover (although this image does not do it justice) and the detailed information (including the list of contributors) on the back.  Thanks to the editors Peter Godwin and Jo Parker for inviting me to be involved.

Peter and Jo are following up the book with a blog - Information Literacy meets Library 2.0 where both the editors and the contributors will be able to continue to update the contents.  Also hope to do some related podcasts.  Come check it out!  I’ll just go back to exploring the crisp white pages of my book!

I’ve been thinking about this for quite a couple of months, probably since I started getting queries from other librarians about virtual services after doing my study tour. Its been further churning away in the back of my mind since not long before the VALA conference, as besides the showcase session I did there, I have another 3 presentations coming up on Libraries and Web 2.0 - one of them a day long workshop!

So how did I come to get these ‘gigs’ - what makes me the expert?

In my case its a combination of things. First off, I know a bit about Web 2.0 and libraries. After all, I have been reading about, immersing myself in it and blogging about it for over 2 years. Which is more than most people in libraries. So my expert status comes from having a degree more knowledge than my audience.

But there are many librarians who know more than me on this subject, so what else is there? Another important consideration is geography. Two of the upcoming presentations are in Melbourne, the city I live in. Always easier to get a local - cheaper too.

However, the workshop I am doing is in Sydney - so that limits geography a little. I say a little, because there are some great Library 2.0 experts in the US - I read their blogs regularly - but again there are limits to what people and organisations will spend, especially if expertise can be found more locally. (and Sydney is only an hour’s flight away).

So, I know a little more than my potential audience, I have geography on my side - the more local the better. Then there is another issue altogether. Availability. The Sydney thing again - I was not the first person asked. From what I can gather, I was at least the fifth person asked (if not further down the list than that). So even considering all that’s come before, you have to be willing and available to be that expert.

Now that’s a personal decision. I don’t know why the others asked before me didn’t take up the invitation - could be many reasons: time, priorities, not interested, etc, etc - it doesn’t matter really. The opportunity came to me and I decided to take it - which makes me the expert in this particular situation, regardless of how far down the list I was.

And how did my name come up to be asked (even down the list) - somebody was kind enough to recommend me. I don’t know who, but I thank them for this opportunity.

Its been an interesting journey already this year for me, as I have never considered myself to be a public speaker - in fact the only other presentation I did before all this was at a conference in 1999 and I was so nervous - got through it by will alone I’m sure. But I have done 2 presentations since my study tour, (and 1 before) with 3 still to go and I am getting more confident each time. Maybe its because I am older, know my stuff a bit better, know myself a lot better and have a real passion for the subject. Maybe I’m just a late bloomer.

Whatever it is, I think it finds its roots in something that Kathryn at Librarians Matter blogged on not long ago in “My raucous week of putting my meat in the game” - its about putting yourself out there. I have been blogging about these things for going on 3 years, have been initiating them in my library and have been encouraging others to look at them for their libraries. I haven’t been worried about putting my name to any of this, but neither have I been seeking anything, except the chance to share my experience.

So what makes an expert? Someone who has learnt more than most about a subject dear to them (its easier when you have a passion for it), in a good location, who’s available, recommended and putting themselves out there.

But an expert is not what I planned to be - all I planned to be was a librarian loving what she is doing - which happens to be Web 2.0 and Libraries. If people want to hear what I have to say - then I am happy to go and share that with them - not for my benefit, but for theirs. I have learnt a lot from other people’s experiences, so its only fair that others may be able to learn from mine.

I have been so busy, tired and distracted of recent months, that I have barely been able to keep a straight thought in my head. Things have been changing, unsettled and unsure, nothing special really, just life I guess, but it has meant that my motivation to blog has taken a bit of a back seat of late. Many thanks to those who have stuck with me, I appreciate knowing you are there, checking out what I have to say and hopefully getting something out of it.

Which brings me to the point of this post. I have been thinking about the biblioblogosphere and all the library bloggers out there, sharing experiences, successes and failures, thoughts and processes and more. I started thinking about what these faithful people have done for me, without them even knowing about it and I had to start making a list.

If it hadn’t been for library bloggers I would never have:
- started reading blogs
- started reading the library literature more widely
- started writing book reviews for the library literature
- started reading outside my profession for parallel experiences and new ideas
- started my own blog, to share my own experiences
- discovered the amazing resources and programs available out there
- participated in Learning 2.0 and become a champion for my library’s staff when doing the same
- been invited to participate in a librarian group blog - Libraries Interact, with a great group of motivated librarians from around Australia
- been motivated to apply for and receive the scholarship and conduct the study tour I did in April this year
- pushed for my library to start its own blog
- started using mashups on my library’s website - only just scratching the surface here though so far
- developed increased confidence in myself, my skills and the new skills and inspiration I was receiving from your posts
- asked to participate and then actually write a chapter for a book being published in the UK next year
- gathering new inspiration and ideas to play with and hopefully translate into something my library service can utilise and better serve my patrons
- had the confidence to submit proposals to library conferences in Australia
- had the inspiration to write for the library literature in Australia (still working on that one).
…. and that list is just off the top of my head, without any long consideration.

I have progressed more professionally in the last 3 years, than I had in the previous 19. Even though my job title hasn’t changed much, the work that I do, my love of it and my wider knowledge of the profession has grown exponentially (and there is potential in the job situation, so that may better reflect this development soon too).

And it’s all because library bloggers out there unselfishly decided to take the time to share their thoughts, experiences and more. They took a risk, put themselves out there, not knowing whether anyone would read and I again want to say thanks. I am more in love with my profession, my work and the life-long learning process that I am again engaged in, than I have ever been before. They are an inspiration to me, they give me inspiration to make the changes, small and large, to help make my library service better for our users - as a professional, I could not ask for a better gift from my profession.

So I am freshly motivated. By the posts I am reading, the motivations behind them and the people who create them. It is an honour to be numbered amongst them.

There has been a lot of discussion lately around the biblioblogosphere on Library 2.0 and whether its over, whether it should ever have been, what it is, whether its new or not and much more. If you want to follow the discussions, I suggest you check out Annoyed Librarian, David Lee King, Information Wants to be Free and many more.

I started thinking about it more when Ryan Deschamps at The Other Librarian came out with “We asked for Library 2.0 and got 2.0 Librarians.” Although I agree with his premise, I wailed when I read the part that said that he sensed that the “prominence of the Library 2.0 moniker has plateaued”. Why did I wail? Because we had only just started! Our library blog is now a year old (had to stop to do a blogiversary post on that blog!), but it is just scratching the surface of what we hope to do.

Anyway, that got me thinking out what Ryan was saying and yes a lot of the changes at my library have been driven by me, a 2.0 librarian and initially I think my attitude was of the “cool tools, how can we use them” kind. Fortunately, that time passed quickly and I have been refocusing back on our users. Nicole at What I learned today took the words out of my mouth -
“I’m all for everyone learning everything they possibly can, but not all the tools are the right fit in all organisations….. I just want to bring every tool I can to your attention, because one might just be the one you were looking for to solve that one pesky problem you were having.”

At the same time, our users have been changing. Our library website use is just starting to skyrocket - we have seen an over 200% increase in virtual visitors to our website in the past year. Our website is a destination for our library users, more than ever before, I think partly because of our new library system, but also because of the development of our users as computer literate people. Apart from the catalogue, a few select webpages and the blog, our website is an online brochure, which is fine in itself. However, my aim now is to try and make the virtual experience of the library at least equal to the physical experience and an online brochure doesn’t do it. We don’t have programmers on our staff and there are only 2 staff here with html skills, so the only way to provide better service through our website is by using Web 2.0 tools. We have started with simple things like booklists linking directly to our catalogue (not web 2.0 I know), a Flickr account and a Google Maps mashup for our branches and mobile library stops.

I’m not alone in this either. A big group of our library staff have enthusiastically started the Learning 2.0 program, in a project driven by the State Library of Victoria, which I am very excited about. We will have staff knowledgeable about Web 2.0 tools which is great for them and our users, but hopefully some them will also be full of ideas for projects and the motivation to be the ones to drive it. I can’t do everything, much as I try, so it will be great to have others on board to contribute, especially in areas where I have neither the skill, interest or motivation.

There’s so much more I can say here, but it would go on forever if I let him. So for me and my library, Library 2.0 is just entering the building, so its far from over for us. We may not call it Library 2.0 and in a way its something we have been doing for forever, but its also a new frontier that we are going to explore and have fun doing it too!

For yet another perspective and well worth readings is Kathryn’s post at Librarians Matter - “What’s new about Library 2.0? Shift in power“. She makes some great points and it brings home to me that the definition of Library 2.0 is not only different to each library, but to each librarian, all depending where they are at, as institutions and individuals. You have to love something that is that flexible!

On a final note. There was a ton of feedback on Annoyed Librarian’s post - the “Cult of Twopointopia“. The post was fascinating, both in its biting wit and its ability to make me think. The numerous comments on the post were even more fascinating, for a couple of reasons. First - it was nice to see the passion of librarians on both sides of the argument. That’s one of the great things about our profession - we are generally very passionate about what we do. I guess it makes up only a bit for the less than professional level wages we generally earn. Second was that the arguments and flames were flying thick and fast and all I could think was that we are all supposed to be on the same side, so why are we turning on each other like this. We all have our interests and specialities, why aren’t we more grateful, accepting and understanding of the differing viewpoints that make us such a great profession?

That’s my 2 cents worth on the topic. Would love to hear what you think!

Second day at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County. Today Helen introduced me to Charles Brown, PLCMC’s Director. That was an honour and a privilege to enjoy our short chat together about our respective parts of the world.

Helen then took me to their CheckIt Outlet, a small shopfront library at the other end of the Charlotte city centre. (Check out the flickr photos) It is a small popular materials library with 3 staff, open only during business hours Monday to Friday and they do roaring business, particularly at lunchtime. Very cool!

It was then back to the Main Library where Helen gave me a quick rundown on what they want to do with the Virtual Village. This includes changing an unused part of the service desk to a collaborative space between library patrons and staff, plasma screens to inform and engage library patrons and to be used for on the spot teaching as required and a digital display area. They are planning to pipe music into the Virtual Village to help contain the issue of noise. They will also add more equipment to a studio to enhance music creation and make it a more collaborative space and reorganise a 2nd studio into another smaller PC lab. They will hope to reorganise some unused office space for gaming.

Back upstairs, we chatted about some other things that PLCMC is doing or has done. They have an IT department of 12 staff, who do everything in house. They host 75 servers and service over 1500 PCs throughout their admin areas and 24 branches, including help desk assistance.

Their website has recently included podcasts on their Readers Place website. Book reviews are easily uploaded through a simple form interface. They have filtering on all PCs, a condition of federal funding and have found it works well, with no real issues arising from its use. They have a MySpace page (Library Loft), which includes a library catalogue search box and has over 1100 friends.

Patrice Ebert, Head of Public Services took me on a tour of one of PLCMC’s regional libraries - Freedom and one of their branches - Sugar Creek. It was very interesting seeing what their libraries are like away from the Main Library. I’ll let the photos on flickr tell the story.

When I got back, I grabbed a few quick minutes from Matt Gullett, the Emerging Technologies Director. He spoke about libraries needing to be more interactive, collaborative and having a life-long learning facet. I have copies of some plans that they have and they look awesome. They want to use emerging technologies to help develop experience and learning opportunities.

Matt would like to develop programs that attract a lunchtime crowd, appealing to the corporate culture that is their neighbour, the banking town. Ideas include a digital art exhibition, guest speakers and more.

They still have those experiencing the digital divide. They want to give them training to enable them to get basic certification, which will open job opportunities for them. Want to offer enrichment, learning and Web 2.0 tools type training to the public.

They are having a big open night at the Main Library, partnering with local restaurants who will provide food for the evening. There will be wine tasting, gaming to enjoy and speakers. Should be a ball and I’ll be there. Will blog it later.

In the meantime, thanks to Helen and the team at PLCMC (particularly Kelly), I have had a ball here in Charlotte and have a lot to take back with me about virtual services. I really appreciate the time, effort and attention you have spared for this visitor from down under.

An amazing service is provided from the lower area of ImaginOn. Storytimes to go (STG) provides pre-literacy kits for preschool teachers and carers. The kits are themed and aimed at getting children interested in reading. The kits have 8 to 12 picture books, a booklet of original activities written by the staff (of 4), flannelboard activities, recordings of activity songs, a puppet or educational toy and a family activity sheet. They also have art kits, adversity kits which explain cultural diversity, meet the author kids (including one on Mem Fox) and bilingual (English/Spanish kits). They have over 560 kits on over 100 themes.

The way it works: a teacher from the local county contacts them. They must first attend an orientation workshop where they learn the rules, about the kits and how to use them and how to care for the materials. Once they have completed orientation, they get the list of themes. The teacher calls and asks for a kit, STG sends the kit to their nearest PLCMC kit to collect. They have it for 4 weeks and all loans are managed from the STG office. There no overdues on the kits and late kits are returned after a follow up phone call. STG also offers workshops on storytelling and other skills.

They have now expanded their services to their website. Between 1000 and 2000 free activities are available online over 50 themes, with more being added which will eventually number between 150 and 200 themes. This is all the supporting material that is available within the kits. Teacher resources are also available.

I spent the afternoon talking with Chuck Rigney - Web Services Manager about PLCMC’s internet presence. If you haven’t checked out the PLCMC websites, you really should and allow some time to do so, as they have so much content online. They have 16 websites with their own domain names plus their intranet. Initially they got the domain names because they didn’t want people to know it was the library providing the content. They are considering leveraging the content back to the PLCMC website, but may keep the domain names.

Web Services comprises Chuck, with 2 developers and a graphic designer based in their Main Library. They have 5 active web teams who provide the content for their website, each with a different focus and comprising 6 to 8 people. They focus on book reviews, childrens, adults etc and meet monthly with someone from Web Services attending every meeting. Unlike other teams at PLCMC, these are not arbitrarily rotated - librarians move on when they want a change. When this happens, their position is internally advertised and potential members can be interviewed.

They use Active server pages and built the interface themselves, making it flexible and adaptable. It may take longer than off the shelf packages, but they get exactly what they want. The IT department maintains all their servers in-house, for the website they have 2 production servers and a development server. A recent access issue resulted in content being split between the 2 servers and a clean-up of superseded files which resolved the issue. Apart from the PLCMC website, the others use templates to call on the content from the database as required.

Some content has been developed off-site as it came for a grant - including the Smart Collection and Hands on Craft. StoryPlace is by far their biggest website, so now has its own T1 line to manage the traffic. They have considered hosting it out due to the bandwith requirements.

Looking at new options, such as creating content in a blog and then pulling content from the RSS feed into a HTML webpage.

Their Intranet was developed in-house and is 6 years old. They will be updating the look and functionality soon, getting complaints about not being able to find things. At present Chuck is the only one updating the intranet, they want to share the content management and are considering replacing it with a wiki.

They use a system-wide calendar, with the branches entering all their own data. Proprietary software then pulls this content from this and into the website. On their intranet they have a link on each page, “Does this need an update” and the equivalent on their webpages “Comment on this page” which is on the same level as the breadcrumbs, which enables their users to easily let them know of any problems on a Intranet or webpage.

Their latest website design, which was launched last year, was user tested. They took the 2 prototypes of the website which they designed in-house and a consultant user tested it with focus groups. The feedback included: patrons interested in their local branch, not the wider service, wanted to see people, not buildings. As a result, users can set their local branch and its info as their homepage, but as a result they can miss out on regional happenings as it appears further down the page. They have over 1600 individual webpages, although some were created for one off events and have yet to be removed from their servers. The main PLCMC is the biggest in terms of pages and management as the others use dynamically driven content.

They used to host external websites, but it became too expensive for them to do so. They may consider doing it again if it was revenue generating.

Chuck ensures that he and his team have time to play, learn and find out what’s out there on a daily basis. Its the best way to ensure that they stay current and are using the best means and options for their websites. They are looking to use more of the Library 2.0 tools to add more functionality to their website, particularly patron content, including patron comments on their catalogue (Sirsi-Dynix’s Horizon ILS).

Will blog some post conference thoughts on Computers in Libraries 2007 soon. In the meantime, here’s my notes from my first day at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC). PLCMC is a regional service, with 24 branches, the main library being in downtown Charlotte.

Helen welcomed me to their main library and Branch Manager Susan Herzog took me on the tour. Lots of photos, so check them out on my Flickr account. I loved their columns out front, where each of the four sides has a book or library related quote - check out their list of quotes. I will only describe the buidling briefly here, the pictures tell a better story, so check them at Flickr. The building is over 4 levels, the ground floor level is circulation, the popular library, gallery and music and movies. The second level is reference and non-fiction, the third is the admin area and Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room which is their local history collection. In the basement area is the Virtual Village, their funky tech area. The library was first built in 1903, demolished the rebuilt on site in the 1950’s, then extended in 1989. They are now looking at their options for the future development of the library.

Helen then took me to ImaginOn which is 2 blocks away. (check the Flickr account). Lois Kilkka the manager, took me on a fascinating tour of this amazing facility. It is a purpose built shared building which houses the children’s and teens area of the library as well as their partner the Charlotte Children’s Theater. It is a green building, which uses a lot of recycled materials, including feature walls built of recycled headstones and the toilet walls made of recycled detergent bottles - fascinating! There are 2 theatres in the building - one seating 270+, the other 560+, which are used for children’s programs as well as the theatre performances.
They have experienced a lot of challenges with their shared facility, including the need for shared staff in the theatre spaces.

Their story lab, which contains the Story jar is a place to inspire creativity and collaboration. Using the items hanging from the jar, they encourage children to create stories. They also have individual computers to do the same and group collaboration is possible on their “create a scene” with each child contributing costumes, music, characters and more to a production which they then perform. After they complete their story or scene, the children can scan their library card and their creation is published to the web.

They also have dedicated literacy PCs in the children’s area, but also had to install the same software in their tech area upstairs, as the demand for group visits far exceeded their expectations and needed to be accommodated. Lois explained that they needed to adapt their thinking about the facility and look at it a bit more like a children’s museum than a traditional children’s library - it is a real destination for groups of children of all ages.

They had to create a parents space and added activities for preschoolers to better accommodate families. The parents space has magazines, a paperback exchange and the whole facility has wireless internet access throughout.

The teen tech area upstairs includes 4 rooms which are used for theatre camp, school activities and are occasionally hired out. This space has 30PCs and 5 Macs for use. They have a 15 PC training lab and have run programs like MySpace for parents here.

The Loft is the teen library, with the teen library collection as well as drop in activities such as crafts/games and affinity group programming (ie. Anime group etc). The only rules here are respect yourself, respect others and respect the facility. They have Blockbuster events quarterly where they open up to the public after hours. The PCs in this area have Photoshop and productivity software for film post production. They also have 11 laptops for use in this area and there is plenty of seating available.

The jewel in this crown is iStudio, where teens can create animation, music and more. They have 2, 2-dimensional animation stations, a 3-dimensional animation and a live action station as well as music creation equipment which has been wildly popular. They have library staff and high school interns to assist students with their works, with some of them available on YouTube. Check out Troy Story which was created at ImaginOn and won a national award.

ImaginOn also holds the offices for the Children’s Theater, including costumes, set design and 2 large rehearsal rooms. The facility has a vibe as a result, because there is always creation going on somewhere in the building.

Kelly then took me on a tour of Teen Second Life which PLCMC manages in partnership with the Alliance Library System and is only accessible to teens and background checked adults. We went to the robotics labs, were a teacher meets with teens to create robotic examples, at present they have a machine making cookies! There is a Teen Art Gallery where they display works created in real life. A radio station plays resident created content (a Linden Labs initiative) so you can stream music into Second Life. It has a park which has a memorial for Virginia Tech, which was created by a teen and has the facility for leaving messages. The area is still under development and includes teaching space, performance space, meeting space and a coffee shop!

The animation studio is used by girl scout and boy scout groups as well as teens in general, who come in to learn about the processes involved, as well as creating content. They have recently added a Mac with Garage Band (music creation software), with a midi keyboard coming. Another Mac is coming with more editing software.

Will blog more about my day later. I will finish with a summary - WOW! This facility is amazing and really reaches to teens and kids - it is all about creation and collaboration and I would love to have something like this in my city.

Wow, what a great time I had at Computers in Libraries 2007 and what a conference.

I was very fortunate to spend time and make friends in the bloggers corner with Michael Sauers (Travelin Librarian), Louise Alcorn (Librarian Rants), Laura Solomon (Library Greek Woes), Connie Crosby and also with David Free (David’s Random Stuff) and David Lee King at various times during the conference. Hi all! And thanks for the powerstrip access Michael!

It was also fun to be Twittering and meeting with these great people and many others such as Meredith Farkas (Information Wants to be Free), Nicole Engard (What I learned Today), Jenny Levine (Shifted Librarian), Aaron Schmidt (Walking Paper), Roy Tennant (Tech Essence), Jane Dysart and many more.

I also got to meet some great people who I will/have visited since the conference, including the delightful Helene Blowers (Library Bytes) (watch for her in Australia in the next year, including at VALA), Karen Huffman - who I shared a lovely dinner and speaking session with, John Blyberg - (but only in passing), Glenn Peterson and other great librarians from Hennepin and the inspiring Chrystie Hill from Web Junction. I was definitely on a biblioblogger junkie trip. Thanks also to Polly Farrington and the other Library2.0 Ning network members, it was cool dining and chatting with you.

So to sum up, the networking was awesome! I got a few books and had them signed by the authors - awesome, as well as taking away some awesome stuff for the conference. I don’t know if it was the conference, the focus of it, or both, but it didn’t matter what sort of library you came from, or what sort of library was presenting, you could take something usable back to your library service. I have enough from the conference alone to keep me busy and inspired for at least a year. And I’ve also added a few more blogs to my feed reader which will keep me even busier. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

The conference was great, the networking was awesome and I feel like the potential for me and my library is almost limitless. I’ll calm down a bit before I get home though, because I do want to achieve something - the biggest problem will be what to start with!

“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.