Connecting Librarian

I was at a meeting in the city today, walking up the Paris end of Collins Street back to catch my train, when I realised my whole viewpoint of that area had changed. I used to be reticent about having to be in that area, as I didn’t know it. However, after having had to venture there on a regular basis, I found I wasn’t even thinking about it anymore, I just did it.

So I got to thinking about how we keep doing things that we have been doing for a while in our libraries, because that’s what we do, without necessarily thinking about whether its appropriate to do so anymore.  We get so set in our ways, that we don’t always think about whether our ways could be improved by changing, tweaking or removing all together.

So imagine my amazement, when I got back to work later in the afternoon and whilst talking about various things to some of my colleagues, I asked if there was a better way of dealing with a process we have in place ( the query triggered by a comment in passing from a library user) – which is currently putting blocks in the way of our users accessing our self-help services (such as self-check, renewals, holds etc) and one of my wise colleagues suggested we get rid of it altogether!

I was delighted! The suggestion was well received by other staff we polled, but it will have to go to the managers for consideration and approval, because its quite possible there are implications we haven’t thought of.

Which makes me wonder and will probably get me to looking a bit more closely, about what other things we are doing, which we may not have to do anymore. I will deliberately try to look at things through our library users’ eyes and maybe query our new library staff about their other library experiences more closely to discover what they are (and there will be more, I’m sure).

Have you had these moments of revelation? What happened?  Love to hear your stories, as they might give me some inspiration and direction.

We are moving towards roving reference at our library. This is a very new concept for us, as we have always been tied to a desk. However, with the introduction of RFID, we have the potential to move out from our desk.  The potential is not yet fully realised, so until it is, we will start taking baby steps in this journey.

So what will roving reference look like at our library?

At the moment, it looks like it usually does – we are away from the desk, doing some admin type work, like shelving holds (they are self-serve), find items to fulfill holds or emptying trolleys to the appropriate collection areas. And as we do, people grab us as we go by and ask questions. And whenever we go to do a shelf check or help a user find a particular area in the library, we are always waylaid with further queries.

So what will be different? Hopefully, we will be able to spend more time with these people when they ask questions and not feel the need to complete it and get back to the crush that is our typical desk traffic, as soon as humanly possible. We will be more observant about library users around us and actively seek to help them where they are at – daunting as the prospect might seem.

And we will get our staff trained up a bit more so that its not just the librarians doing this. We will develop scenarios to give confidence to those who don’t like to stray from the desk and we will buddy up with these newly trained staff, to help them ‘get their feet wet’.

But we will do so only where it is not to the detriment of those we serve at our desk. They will remain our first priority, but our customer service will expand to those who don’t approach the desk. Customer service is one of strengths and we plan to capitalise on this opportunity and improve it – whether its deliberately seeking out those to help, or its incidental on our way to doing other things.

What does roving reference look like in your library?

 

There’s been a lot of talk about the future of libraries, but it is mostly coming from librarians and naysayers predicting the end of the book. I am looking forward to the results of research our library is conducting on the topic, which will include input from our library users.

But in the meantime, they are already having their say about what they want. With their hands and feet and voices.  Pretty much as they have always done, lol.

They are saying with their loans, that CDs are maybe now just starting to go out of lending fashion – with our loans starting to go down in the Rock and Pop genres (but not in the other genres). What’s next is yet to be determined. Finding a workable library model for music is a challenge in itself.

They are saying it with their queries and feedback forms about scanning. We don’t. Yet. We are getting new photocopiers shortly which will scan to USB as well as copy though.

They are saying with their feet, that they need space to study and work.  We are a single floor building – so no quiet study areas. We have usually been busy with studying students at exam time, but this year, as never before, its been all term round, for quiet study and group work. Wandering through the collections at various times, you would think it was empty, but you get to the seating areas and there are people as far as the eye can see – double and tripled up and even sitting at kids tables and on the floor, when there are no other options.

We also know that there are mature aged learners and business owners who use the library for the space and free wifi even more than the students do. And that we have run out of tables and chairs too often to ignore. Fortunately, we are getting more of those as well and eventually a new building which should accommodate the growing demand for quiet study space. In the meantime, we have more furniture coming, just need to figure out where it will go!

So although its important for us to think about what libraries will be, do and have in future and we need to ask our users this question as well as our staff, its even more important that we are listening to what they are telling us about their needs now in other ways – through their hands, feet and mouths.

How do you ensure that everyone you serve gets equal service, as well as good service?

This comes to mind as I was dealing with a library user the other day, who was also a former neighbour. We got to catching up (as you do), but the catch-up went longer than the transaction that was being conducted. Normally not a problem, but I was very aware that there was  a queue of people waiting to be served and that there were no other staff available to do so.

I know as a customer, the frustration of waiting in line to be served and having to wait longer because the staff member and customer are having a chat. So I am always aware of this, when I am on the other side of the counter.

But I also know that for many library users, the contact with staff is just as important, if not more so, than the transaction being conducted.  So how do you find the balance?

I have known staff who will give exemplary customer service to a library user, but in doing so, many others have to wait longer at their turn and ultimately have less customer service, as the demand far exceeds the supply. One person may walk away happy, but many others won’t.

Ideally we would love to be able to give this level of service to every library user, but it is far from being realistically possible.

Having to find this balance pretty much every hour of every day in the library, means that I have become quite expert at the wind up – making sure that the transaction is completed in a timely manner, but also to the satisfaction (as far as possible) to the user.

It has helped that now with RFID in place we sometimes have a staff member who can get out from behind the desk and to the queue, to see if there is any way they can be helped without having to wait at circulation. This has helped both our queue management and our customer service immensely, but is not always possible in peak times (which somehow seems like most of the time, lol).

Do you have any policies regarding this or any practices you have found particularly helpful in achieving this balance?

I am not a very spontaneous person generally. Although I’ll often get it in my head to add one more thing to the list that I have to do, because I can do it in time. But I am spontaneous on the odd occasion and I discovered there is reason to be so, ‘cos its fun.

My daughter is off on school camp tomorrow and needed a new pair of shoes. So a quick planned trip to the local shopping centre to buy a pair (she’s growing so fast) was the plan. Just before we left, I spontaneously changed the plan and then again once we got there. We got her shoes but also had a lovely relaxed morning tea together and extended our shopping time to successfully wander around shopping for her presents for her upcoming birthday. We  had a great time and are planning (or not) to do it again – it will happen again sometime, planned or not.

Spontaneity in the workplace is a bit more difficult however. You can’t spontaneously break out in song in the middle of the library – you’d be carted away for a psych evaluation. And other activities may bring you into conflict with a range of issues including privacy, policies and the law in general.

However, you still be spontaneous in other ways. When I was acting Branch Manager, I quickly became known for bringing in cheesecake to celebrate milestones. I then also, once or twice, just brought a cheesecake in for no reason whatsoever. I have brought in flowers to a staff member who has seemed to be under appreciated and I have shouted another lunch for the same reason (not by our staff – we appreciate the quality in our midst).

These were all spontaneous events which just seemed like a good idea at the time and fortunately its turned out not only were they are a good idea, they were fun (and also delicious – the lunch and cheesecake, not the flowers).

But the question I have to ask is – How can you be spontaneous in the library in a way that is fun, not only for you, but for library staff and library users? I would love to hear your stories.

This morning I got a call from my mum, saying she had seen on the news that there had been a fire at my kids’ school. A bit of quick research on my part and we discovered that overnight, a fire had severely damaged the new gym. The gym has taken 18 months to build, was 6 months late and handover was going to be Monday. The gym was a joint use facility, with the school using it during the day and local Council using it for basketball comps and other events after hours.

We are all a bit distressed about it. From what I could see of the building this morning, at least half of the building has fire and/or water damage from floor to ceiling. The one thing that I quickly picked up, from both conversations around the school and then from talking with people at the shopping centre next door, was a sense of community ownership. This event hasn’t happened to an objective building, it has happened to a community. People who have no vested interest in the school, but who just live or work locally, are just as outraged as those of us who do. Its gratifying to experience that sort of camaraderie.

Which got me thinking about this in relation to the things I have blogged about in recent days, as part of Blog Every Day of June.

Do our communities have that same sense of ownership of our libraries?

Do our communities actually see the library as their own, or do they see it as being owned by the library service and the library staff that work there? I am sure that there are many users who do see it as their library, but how many?

I think of it in relation to all the library closures overseas in the US and the UK. Do our communities feel the ownership enough to fight for us, if we were threatened with the same closures? I know they have fought and won in the fight to build new libraries, would they fight to save the old ones.

I’d like to think they would. But we have to make sure that we continue to give them something worth fighting for. Do what we do well, connections, in whatever form that takes.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the 3rd annual Emerging Technology Forum 2011 in Geelong, which is a collaboration between Deakin University, Geelong Regional Libraries and the Gordon Institute of TAFE on Tuesday 17th May. A long way to go, but well worth the travel.

Stephen Abram – The future: Frankenbooks, social collaboration and learning on steroids

We have right on our side, we know that  learning matters.

Sweet Mona Lisa smile with bubble saying Moron – over the heads of people who say that libraries are no longer needed. If you confuse having libraries with having know-how then you are mistaken. Know how counts, not know that. Its the know how that matters, the professional skills. As content becomes more accessible, we are drowning people in know that.

We all start with Google, because it does a great job at who, what, where, when. It sucks at how and why. Drug info online is provided by drug companies – if even its not their website.  Should we be happy with only that information being acceptable?

We are not a scalable solution for small questions. Google answers more questions in one day than all the librarians do in 25 years.

We only get so many once in a lifetime chances to do great things. Internet and we did. Mobile and social are our opportunities.  Biggest negotiations are in copyright – worldwide, telling us what we can do with information and taking away rights that we already have.

Is it the end of libraries as we know them? Hope so, at least the public perception of us as big warehouses. Google adjusts their results if it comes through a campus (geo-tagging), so the results reach that lucrative market. How much money do we make out of our searching?

We need to be defending the right to read, not the book. Defending toxic glue, human cells etc – its the memory that it evokes, not the smell itself. Can’t defend libraries over librarians, should be about the community spaces.

What will the roles be for libraries and librarians?

Has been a lot of change in the early part of the century, in the 20s and 30s. We had an infrastructure shift in the last 20 years, but it wasn’t a major change, that is coming.

As we move forward, we don’t know what the right answer is. We don’t know what learning is going to do, but we know that humans will be involved and the best way is to PLAY. Watching just doesn’t work. For those librarians who don’t connect on social networks, you are missing out on what is happening with your major market. Libraries are social institutions are should be on social networks. By not being there, we are not connecting with our clients, we are choosing to be transactional rather than transformational.

So what is changing – everything! We are connected to the world. We have to be smarter, nimble and more connected. The tools available now can make this happen.

Librarians are being the glue in communities of practice in very innovative areas including health and technology. Feeding in information as it is needed. We need to be in the spaces and being the glue – delivering the content at point of need.

School libraries are the best improver of school test scores, apart from parents reading to their child.  (25%) School/public library partnerships increase score by 5%+.  Libraries and information content and technology leadership are critical to Higher Ed.

Its not about what you find, librarians are about understanding what you find when you search.

Communities with libraries as an investment receive very high ROI – average 650%.

Most library content is organised like grocery stores – both in our physical and virtual spaces. How do libraries package our content in ways that our users want. Its getting harder to separate out content and making it easily findable for those who want it.

Librarians play a vital role in building the critical connections between information, knowledge and learning. There are 7 different learning styles – we need to be presenting our content in those different styles. We are text based, which isn’t even the most common learning style.

The elephant in the room is how do we deal with the depth of people and their styles. Do our collections support how they take in content.

Need to be collaborating across institutions, not competing against them.

Strategy is a choice. Emboldened librarians are the key – try things out with little projects.

The Internet and technology have now progressed to their infancy – they are toddlers.  We need to find our voice.

Should we be letting our technology dictate what we can or can’t access via our devices? We are about freedom to read – but that should mean freedom to read whatever we want!

We should be talking to the people we are uncomfortable with in our communities – its from them that we will learn the most. We are very comfortable talking to people who are similar to us. You may find that these are your best market.
If we want to serve all, its not just about reading, we need to support the culture, the people and their learning styles, not just their reading habits alone.

People are changing – IQ is up overall, increased educational attainment, playing video games improves brain development, device proliferation, sectors are very tech dominated, reading is up, library use up particularly due to e-books, ebook sales higher than print.

Need to be aware of eye movements- millennials are O frame, gen Xers are F frame. Need to ensure that our services are meeting the needs of our users, not our own needs.

Can libraries keep up with change? Formats have died before and we can deal with the death of books as we have survived the death of other formats.

Re-intermediation – how do we put librarians back into the space. Trust yourself to make a difference and have an impact. Don’t roll over and play dead – challenge false assumptions.

Two kinds of librarians – those who just watch and those who get involved. If we are to survive, we need to be the latter. We need to talk about our value, communicate better, advocate for ourselves and our users, market better.

The power of libraries is not information, it’s clarification. It is the value we deliver.

Have great library projects, but then we take the personality out of it – Inside a dog is an exception.
(only librarians will argue over spine labels rather than the content of a book)

Questions:
We need social connections which are both deep and superficial, to make changes in our communities.  So we need things like both Twitter and Facebook.

Social media @ Deakin – Kat Clancy
The key to using Twitter is following the right people. @sabram is a good person to follow. There are plenty of librarians to follow and many more people depending on your interests.

Yammer – has been used by Deakin for the last 2 years, but only seeing good results in the last few months, with a big take-up by library staff. Yammer is for private communication within an organisation or between pre-designated groups. Its Enterprise social software which enables communities – allows external groups to connect as well, if  you choose.

Similar to a forum, but easier to use. Can tag topics, include attachments, social bookmarking, integrates with Twitter or reply using email or SMS and apps on various devices, can be customised and has security features.
Deakin using Yammer to share info within work groups – between different areas of university – between students and alumni, problem solving, having questions answered, networking, events, polls, staff focus.

Deakin has Facebook page rather than group, more functionality, better promotion and more public. Got more likes when advertised on their website. Have users posting to their page.

Dealing with social media – you will receive negative feedback – deal with them as you would normally, you may have to deal with inappropriate comments and engage. Don’t have to be formal, works better if you are casual.

Dos and Don’ts for social media:

• Do be informative – tell what you are about
• Don’t be a parrot – will lose followers doing this
• Do make a tradition – eg. follow Friday, Wednesday resource of the week
• Don’t neglect replies – engage with your users, don’t be there just to be there
• Do call for action – use ‘like this status” – it gets you great feedback
• Don’t rely on text alone – photos are a great tool
• Do have a crisis plan – be ready for negative and inappropriate comments
• Don’t be impolite – commonsense, same as dealing with user in person or on phone

www.facebook.com/deakinlibrary
@deakinlibrary

Questions:
How much time do you spend monitoring and answering questions?
Kat checking twitter when checking her own account. Facebook is getting checked first in the morning, then 2 – 3 times during the day. Working on getting people who can answer the questions, there on social networks, so that it becomes part of their workflow. Are working on a social media policy at present. Getting a question a day during peak times, around 3 a week other times.

Aggregation services?
They monitor mentions of Deakin Library as twitterers won’t always put the @ tag in their tweets. Tweet Deck is the aggregator she uses.  It enables her to check tweets, mentions, direct messages and searches in one screen. Hoot Suite is an aggregator which includes both Facebook and Twitter.

How often do you tweet?
Most often post things which link to a news item.  Have put up fun things, like Old Spice ad library adaptation and some things about the University too. Uni has presences now, but is very formal. Need to put personality into what you do in social media.

Deakin’s e-book device loan trial – Sarah Sherman
E-books were useful for their users because they were available immediately, 24/7 access, portable. For the library, immediate access, less space, cheaper etc. Big growth in e-book content in the last 8 years.  Now have 125,127 e-books.

Expect tipping point from print to e will be in the next year or so.

Acquiring e-books via patron driven purchasing model (EBL), subscription to packages, publisher packages, individual title purchases, gratis (mainly government publications).

e works for Deakin, as it allows equity of access and flexible learning, have great support and they can trial new resources.  But more could be done…..

2010 – what did they know about students mobile technology use?  No iPads, netbooks and smart phones increasingly popular.

Educause study of undergraduate students and information technology 2010. Laptop is already highest percentage, with Internet capable handheld device more popular than desktop computers.

Kept all this in mind when looking at which e-reader to buy. Pre-iPad, so considering their requirements, including price, existing market share, content available (free and paid), connectivity, battery life and general usability.

Originally tried Iliad, Eco reader and Kindle.  FIrst has gone out of business now, Eco not large market share, so Kindle was chosen.

Project brief – considered: content, how many, size, security, promotion and license issues.  Bought 15 devices of varying sizes, split between 4 campuses. Bought cases from store and placed 3 fiction and 3 non-fiction titles on each.  Included conditions of use, FAQ, removed charging cord. Amazon approved use, as long as individual content was bought for each device.

Benefits of pilot – gaterhing information on the scholarly application of it, raise awareness of e-reader technology, promote the library as a leader in new technology/change/ideas, provide information to the Uni community on these devices.

Mostly positive response to the trial. Some issues included: not including cable so users couldn’t download more content, no holds allowed on the devices, unfulfilled fear that users would register the devices to their own Amazon account – didn’t happen.

General feedback – more textbooks – just weren’t available, choice of content – wanted more – can now email their team once they have the Kindle and suggest for purchase, colour – e-Ink is easier on eyes for sustained reading, so not available, touch screen – all want to pinch, drag and drop.

Issues with lending technology included: laptops or net books are possible, check your applications (some licences restrict it so cant lend device with software loaded on it), they can be useful even if you can”t lend them – testing, tech zone for play. What are the devices offering – tools, content, portability, productivity, iPads for mobile/roving reference, iPad touch for shelvers who work night shifts – for quick ref help, provide flexibility and choice for our users.
Other things to think about? Who will look after the devices – charging batteries, setting up  wireless etc. Who will – pay for apps and connectivity, administer authentication and subscription logins, manage content. Who provides training, instructions in best use, repair and replace and the list goes on.

Amazon sold more ebooks than print in 2010. Publishers ebook policies will affect use – loans between devices, loans from libraries etc are all in flux.

Have tried some more devices – Cybook (loaned from vendor) wouldn’t sync with their laptops and wouldn’t bookmark or highlight. Also looking at Kobo, which is slow and doesn’t have a dictionary.Now looking at tablet devices including the Handii tablet – heated up too much and short battery life, hard to read, Samsung Galaxy Tab (runs on Android) – limited apps and no e-Ink, iPad – no eInk and have to buy the quality eBook apps and just a bit too big. (want something between iPad and Galaxy Tab). More new devices coming out – Cisco Cius, BeBook Neo, Microsoft may be working on something, Kno. Didn’t try out Nook.

Ideal e-device:

• not locked to a single source
• able to handle multiple formats
• multi-functional
• web-enabled
• wireless
• run multiple programs
• colour and touch screen
• long battery life
• lightweight

Til that happens its about the Apps. There are apps for Kobo, Kindle, Sony, Nook, Martview, Borders and Stanza.
They may still go down the Netbook/Laptop path in the meantime.

Showed the PushPopPress ebook demo that has been getting a lot of attention lately: check it out at http://www.pushpoppress.com/

Future long term: ebooks in the cloud.
Showed Google e-books promo -http://youtu.be/ZKEaypYJbb4. Business model not out yet, but will be using HTML 5 enalbing them to use video. They have already signed up top 400,000 publishers worldwide.

Questions:
iDevices used by staff ARE heavily secured so that they have the same standard operating environment – no customising by library staff allowed.

Each device has its own Kindle account. Content is purchased using a university credit card for the Kindle and purchase orders for the iPad.

Came across a few geographic restrictions on the Kindle.

e-Paper, print disappears in temperatures under 30 degrees. (Steve Abram)

Exploring ways to spread OSS through public libraries – Open Source Workshop – Camilo Jorquera
Camilo was wanting to make open source more accessible to the public . Ideas included: software kiosk, preloaded USB sticks (which could be plugged into and run on any computer), online links to resources – eg forums, support networks etc, using it!, having Linux computers and having OSS installed.

Ask yourself – seems strange that libarires access to and don’t provide these free tools to the public. By not doing so, it contributes to the digital divide, so access, distribution and educating the public on quality and freely available software.

OSS is less about programming and more a philosophical approach to community driven and supported software.

Obstacles to use are restrictions put in place by IT departments, in trying to establish a Standard Operating Environment (SOE). Great for IT, not for a public requirements point of view. What should our focus be?
Support of software is an issue – IT depts know infrastructure well, but not software specialists. It really isn’t an IT issue, so expertise is not generally easily available.

A new approach – a better way. Camilo created a USB of open source portable content containing a wide range of excellent tools. They don’t affect the SOE as they are running off the USB.

He then handed out a USB drive with that software for us to try out and then keep! Device does an auto open and uses Portable Apps (portableapps.com) to access the menu. Some of the apps were added by Camilo, but many are available as is from Portable Apps. These are designed for PC, not portable devices – its the software thats portable.

Simon Goodrich – Portable – Future trends in technology
Much of Simon’s talk was the same as was given at the Yarra Plenty unconference – check out my report from that event.

Games applications can influence companies. Australian government is looking to get game developers to work with businesses on interactivity – ISIS project (http://cci.edu.au/post/the-interactive-skills-integration-scheme-isis)

Half of Australians now access the mobile internet.

SMS was initially only used to get a message to someone when they weren’t answering their phone.

Color – new service – take pictures together – has apps for iPhone and Android etc. Demo at http://www.color.com/

60% of Australians have smart phones – the other 40% might be our clients wanting to learn about these technologies.

Fast growing apps:
Instagram – growing faster than Facebook – share photos
Foodspotting – food guide, not a restaurant guide
Sound tracking – what are you listening to
They all use geo-location.

5 Pillars of social media

1. Innovation is key
2. Brand web literacy
3. Increased engagement
4. Next generation audience of fans, followers and subscribers in social media
5. Mobile is here

Practical ideas right now:
Install recording booths in library for users to come and record their recollections of the local area and/or times and events.

Scanning parties at the library – come in and scan your photos – build a local history of the area – geotag it.

Book reviews – encourage users to contribute to your reviews – using the “do you want fries with that” concept.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the very popular (and long waiting listed) event presented by VALA , the State Library of Victoria and the Public Libraries Victoria Network. Here’s my notes from the afternoon seminar.

Libraries after the iPad – Christine McKenzie – YPRL

Our world is changing fast, so fast that the paper that Chris wrote four months ago and was presented at LIANZA is already out of date.

Kurt Vonnegut quote – ……………the people on the edge see them first.

Being on the edge is not the place to be, being well prepared, with the right equipment and safely landing is (parachuting story).

So what makes now ‘the edge”?  Digital books are here – is one of the tipping points. Books are no longer just books. Stories are all around that have predicted the demise of the book.

Beyond the book summit at Columbus. Will libraries be part of the digital world circulating materials? How sure are we that vendors will let us in?  What does a non-circulating library look like ? Are we asking the right questions?

The container is changing, after being the same for hundreds of years. The book is still the most ubiquitous format we have.  E-readers are mimicking books because they are the ideal size for the aim of the device.

Books will be longer in dying because we have a love affair with them – they have been around for 500 years and we have a personal relationship with them. The change will be multi-generational.

What is you personal comfort with digital readiness?  Do you think libraries are digital ready?  What about our users?

Need to be thinking about:

Making information accessible: who needs a reference librarian when you have the internet. The librarian CAN be a better friend than Google.

Provide free access to information: internet is like the mind of god – its all free. Libraries are providing quality info and provides context.

Promoting literacy: how do we engage the kids today when they are more comfortable with digital devices. Having said that, there is still a demand for literacy at all levels.

Encouraging reading:  article “Is Google making us stupid?” “The way we read is changing. “Most of the arguments against the printing press were correct” – but nobody could predict the myriad blessings.” (Clay Shirky)

Community connectedness:  libraries are non-institutional, non-welfare facilities which are open to all.

Free flow of information: don’t let our line of thinking be dictated by the funding bodies we report to. Having Chopper Read as a speaker or Philip Nitzschke. Last place where you can promote both sides of an argument.

Monopoly on lending:  leisure time can be spent in many different ways. There is no secondhand in digital, but libraries are in the secondhand business.

Traditional library skills:  cataloguing is not even a compulsory subject  at library school anymore. But cataloguers are the ones who will make taxonomies work.

Biggest challenge is – are we even going to be at the table?

Content control – big players are Amazon, Google and Apple. Will vendors let libraries into the circulationless environment. The interfaces are clunky at present. Freegal is coming – music offerings – not the best model, but models are changing.

Worrying restrictions – Harper Collins only 26 loans and UK ebooks can only be downloaded in libraries. In Victoria, libraries were told they couldn’t link to SLV which has databases which they no longer subscribe to.

Public Library Manifesto – IFLA.
Top 10 things about libraries:

1. Libraries have good stuff. Community learning spaces give none of the visual cues that libraries do. Content is recreational, information, directional, inspirational and more.

2. Literacy – programs in the US are run so that children are ready to start reading before they start school. This program changes generational illiteracy. YPRL partnered with the train system and handed out books which were Book Crossing listed and encouraged to leave the book to be left in the wild….

3. Innovative and adaptable – libraries embraced the internet. What lessons can we learn from our excitement and foresight from the introduction of the internet into public libraries. Web 2.0 also brought excitement, new services, training both staff and members of the public.  We are moving more to apps, so mobile computing is the way we are going, but we don’t have the excitement we had in the early days of internet introduction. How can we get that back?

4. Trusted brand – Far Rockaway, Meetingpoint@latsapalatsi, Book Dispenser in Singapore, are these libraries? Tank U at DOK – recognises mobile phones nearby and allows users to download audio, e-books or music – like a top-up of fuel. The Edge at SLQ – digital productions and installations, Swedish libraries are using RFID and PIN numbers to get entry to the library even after staff have gone from the day – cameras and gates keep the libraries secure. (Sonderborg)

5. Physical spaces – the heart of the community – Nilimbuk residents were polled on this question and their response was the Eltham Library because the library takes them to new places – knowledge and discovery, inspirational, everywhere is here, has all they need to study and focus, provides material in their language and in learning new lagnauges, library has taught them what they never thought they could learn, marketplace of ideas, connected, social – allowed them to meet new people and learn new things, world away – a place of serenity and quality time. Libraries – infinite possibilities. Libraries are a great place to be alone.

6. Physical destinations – they can be tourist attractions. Amsterdam – transformed from a lending library to an adventure library. Is the  most popular building in the city.

7. Wifi – changing the way that people use the building – using it for business, study and social and the provision of it encouraged use of the library.

8. Community initiatives – fight cancer in Queens – Queens library Helathlink program is improving early diagnosis na dtreatment. YPRLS Nemi butteflies project resulted in jobs and award wins for participants.

9. We add value – economic, social and environmental – demonstrates the value that libraries provide to their communities. Providing safe spaces, virtual spaces etc, how do you put a value on that?

10. We have stories – libraries need to give out stories – not about the container. Powerful stories – Sarajevo Library – Hatzida Demiorvic.  The library remained open, being refuge, inspiration, relief and more for the residents of Sarajevo during the four years of war.

Planning for the future: What is the added value of the library to the participation culture. Is it only the space?  How do we develop the combination of media, staff and users. Victorian project is looking to 2030.

We don”t know what happens when DVD and CDs disappear or what will happen with DRM. Will newspapers and magazines survive? What will happen with e-readers?  We know we have value and that people are still using us – new libraries are still being built. Its what we don’t know that we don’t know that’s the problem.

Where to now? Get mobile – more quickly. Get social – in there and creating our own. Get active – get a seat at the table, with publishers and providers Get a partner – the right one, makes life easier.

Fortune favours the prepared.

Library Hack 2011 – Hamish Curry
(Online Learning Manager – SLV)

http://libraryhack.org

Hack has a different meaning these days.

Library Hack is a mash-ups competition. Its about gathering library data from Australian and overseas, bringing it together to create new mash-ups.   There are already reams of data and ideas gathered on the library hack site. Encouraging library data and turning it into something else.

Some real life examples include Flinklabs, Visuwords, Timeglider, Trendsmap, We feel fine, Spezify, Personas.

Trying to take libraries away from just being consumers, to also being providers of data which can be reused for wider purposes. Information from the social space can be accessed and used in libraries.

Library hack is open to everyone. You don’t need to be a programmer – ideas are very welcome.

A lot of the data has been added to the data.gov.au website.

End of May, SLV is running some events – check the Library hack website for details.

John Blyberg – Tomorrows library: top technology trends & user experience design for the 21st century library – Darien Library

Data is the 21st century version of clay, which can be molded into a new product – digital clay=mash-ups.  Take the opportunity to look under the hood and check out the data and how it may be able to be mashed up.

How can technology be used to enhance the library experience?

Last ten years have been interesting in technology change. Today we all have mobile devices, ten years ago not many had them and they were just phones. Today’s phones have more computing power than the computers of yesterday. The rate of change is still growing.

Showed Microsoft  Labs 2019 montage. All the technology seen on the video is available today, but in a primitive form. Its all going to be a part of our reality in the not too distant future.

What does that mean for libraries? We need to be very good at customer service, so that people walk away having experienced an ideal interaction.

Why do we provide good customer service? Because the users like that. Its a feel good thing.

What is user experience (UX)? Its a design method that looks at the interaction between users, machines, environment etc, as an ecology rather than a discrete set of elements. It includes industrial design, interface, physical experience. Everything from the shrink wrap to the product itself is part of the user experience.

At its core, it is a planned, positive, desirable experience.  It needs a synthesis of multiple discrete interactions – everything in our collection, our staff expertise, what our users bring in with them, all need to be considered and brought together in systems which meets the aim of a desirable experience.

It is more than the sum of its parts. It can be the little things, like what you call your library users, all brought together to create a unique experience for your library attendees.

It doesn’t happen on its own, it needs successful process management. Fourth level of economy is the experience business.  Disney is the ultimate experience, although libraries aren’t on that level, but we can still bring something special to our users experiences.

Design context – Michael Cummings – the four legs of interactive design – users, resources, technology and organisation. Need to have a balance, but with technology always changing, the balance in other areas also need to change to address the balance. Changes in one area, will lead to changes in another and so the balance is always changing and needs continuous adjustment.

Have our community, with its culture and then its different levels of sub-culture. Twitter has a lot going on, which we can’t possibly consume, so there are sub-cultures online too. The library is a node in our society, which sits out there where anyone can access it, we provide and expect very little in return.

Libraries need to be major players in the voluntary networks. Social media is a very voluntary network – these are networks that people choose to be a part of – at some level (may be partial).

The Road ahead – constantly scanning ahead to see what the future might be like and to position ourselves for our users. We need to accept reality and fold it into our business practices.

In order to stay relevant we need to commit to a process of continuous sustainable change. Innovation is a necessary part, it helps us to move forward, to be a part of the future. It takes short term resources however, to achieve long term gains. This can be hard to achieve. Once you have made that commitment, it becomes a stable resource.

At Darien, they allow innovation to drive change and its not just about technology. They removed the circulation desk, introduced a new classification system that encourages browsing and re-organised the picture books into subject areas which in turn dramatically increased circulation.

Scary thing about innovation is that it can lead to FAIL. Failure is a good thing – lessons learned have helped drive us to where we are today. eg. Steam engine was very inefficient,but many people worked on top of the original work to develop it into the combustion engine we have now. You don’t get to a Eureka moment until you have had failures. But how do you fold your failures into your organisation? Adapt and make mid-course corrections. Waste of time to berate on failures, but instead invest your time in trying new things. No-one will die if we screw up. Our resilience to failure is one of our strengths.

Interface design – the veneer that gets put over everything. Its the first impression that people have.

People – (training + talent) x (temperament+communication style+ability to collaborate). We are institutions of people, so we need to make sure we have the right ones on staff. If we were making loads of money and were hoarding ideas, we wouldn’t be librarians.

Presentation – don’t have a messy home when you invite someone over for dinner – you want to show your visitor that you respect them. We invite thousands to come into our institutions everyday, so think of their visit in terms of hospitality. This is our library, which has some rules, but its your place too whilst you are here.

Content – core part of what libraries are about, but its form is changing, as is what is inside.

Persona – how is the library personified in the minds of your users. How would they describe you. You need to be thinking about that.

Physical space – there is still the need and if anything it is growing.

Convergence – mobiles are convergent devices – they are no longer phones alone. Social is happening both online and in person – need to be aware of this.

Events and programming – never used to have spaces for these things – its such a key part of what we are doing now.

Openness – openly show how we are making the decisions that we do – but also about open data and open source – we want to be able to access open data, so we can do interesting things and view the world in new ways.

“The library encourages the heart.” (Dr Michael Stephens). The most succinct description of what libraries are all about. We want to inspire wonder, discovery and connection, inspire imagination and help people build on it.

Simplicity – we need to make everything as simple as possible for our users, even if it is illusion. We need to hide the complexity – to take that burden on ourselves.

Resilience – we need ensure that our users are our biggest fans, they will tell the stories that ensure our future existence. We do this by engaging them at the experience level.

Coordination and collaboration makes this easier.

Feedback helps to stay the course -want the one on ones with our users so that we can get the qualitative feedback from them. So they will tell us what value we provide, whether we are providing what they want and how we are doing in their eyes.

Personal transformation – the fifth economy beyond the experience economy. That’s where libraries want to be – not every visit will be an epiphany, but every visit should have the potential for a transformative experience.

Inhibitors of UX:

Security = lack of trust. If you don’t trust your users, it becomes a one way experience, transactional rather than collaborative. We focus so heavily on prevention – stop them because they might do something.  Move our resources to mitigation – what will we do if it does happen – if it does, how will we respond – what framework will we have in place so front line staff can deal with it if it arises.

Dis-organisation – how are you going about achieving the goals you have started for your service.

Apathy – a lack of purpose. Generally systemic. Everyone will know about it, but how do you address. None of us are doing it for the money – we felt the calling – we need a sense of purpose. You can then end up saying No a lot. Next time, when you feel the need to say no – say yes and see what consequences will you have to deal with – the world will not end. Try to be an organisation that says yes, and only says no in extenuating circumstances.

Darien Library has highest circulation and door count in Connecticut. Get users from neighbouring cities, due to the quality of the library. Got the inspiration for their new library from Lockheed Martin who took staff, gave them a space and a large budget and told them to design what they wanted.  Some of their most successful projects came out of this. Darien’s user experience department was based on this premise.

IT department was eliminated as a separate entity and folded into the user experience department. Brought programs, strategic planning and teen programming into this department. UX team is charged with evaluating every point of contact with users and systems and users and staff.

Implications:

Tethering. They spent a lot on making the building totally wireless.

Mobility: can be a 100 devices logged in during the day – staff are moving around so are using VOIP .

Roving staff: all want to be doing it, but difficult to get happening. Small desk with ability for users to page them if they were roving. Roving staff now have iPads. Have to think about practicalities – can’t carry phone, ipad etc especially if no pockets.

RFID: all business practices are based upon a successful implementation of RFID. Have same staff  as 2005, but in a building twice the size. Has paid for itself in 6 years (including automated returns system). All materials purchased, come pre-processed and ready to go. No time spent in tech services – just get unpacked, put straight into the returns system and then straight to the shelf. Once item returned, can be back on the shelf in 20 minutes.

Marketing – don’t do paper signage anymore – all electronic – with display screens throughout the library.

Display – used for movies and promotion.

Immersion – build the wow factor into the building – smart whiteboards etc.

Education – teaching about technology.

Control – over the environment, from a central location.

Convenience – access to power and the network, in central as well as wall locations.

Sharing – surface table installed but weren’t sure how to use it – children’s librarians built a sharing component into it.

Gaming – for teens, where they can engage socially with other people, whereas at home it is a solitary experience.

SOPAC : a module for Drupal which they use for their website. User usually clicks on library website, then goes to the separate OPAC.  SOPAC brings the catalogue back to the website.  John wrote and developed SOPAC.

Think about technology not only in terms of coolness, but how it will enhance the user experience.

And that was it for an interesting afternoon, which intrigued me with ideas relating not so directly to technology after all.

The presentations will soon be available on the Victoria’s Virtual Library - Infonet – podcasts will follow later.

Today, Monday 26th July, 2010 was Round 5 in the Library Day in the Life, where librarians around the globe write about what they did. Its a snapshot in the working life of librarians and builds an amazing picture of the wider ranging work that librarian’s do.

So anyway, here’s my contribution to the big picture.

Speaking of which, let me set the scene first. I am currently Acting Branch Manager at a large public library, which is part of a regional service in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. On a Monday, I have about 12 staff working at our branch and we have a weekend’s backlog to recover from.  So here goes….

8.45am – Arrived at work and noticed one of our emergency exit lights was annoyingly on the blink. As I needed to log a maintenance call to get it fixed, I did a quick review and noted other lights that needed fixing/replacing, before placing said call.

9.00am – Touched base with staff arriving for work and with some managers who were meeting with another staff before meeting with me.

9.05am – Made sure that all people who worked the weekend turned up and were paid appropriately. Very happy that this process is all computerised now and very straightforward. Last time I did this (many moons ago), it was all paper based.

9.25am – Adjusted our daily roster to accommodate changes arriving from the absence of one staff member and the addition of extra hours for another.

9.35am – Meet with our Customer Services Manager and our Adult Collections Manager to do a quick wander around our adult collections, to discuss needs, over stocking and collection maintenance. Our users will be happy to know that one of the immediate impacts will be that we will be getting more romances.

10.30am – More rostering and report completion.

10.40am – Assessing donations, dealing with duplicates discovered on our collection review.

11.15am – Started work on next week’s rosters as I realised I was going to be away on training the next two days. This involved compiling the weekend roster for two weekends ahead and beginning the desk roster for next week.  Got the first draft done, to be completed when I get back to the branch on Thursday.

12 noon – Lunch.

1.00pm – Short staffed over lunch, so spent the next hour trying to make an impact on the 33 boxes that arrived from our headquarters and other branches in our region. Along with one of our branch staff, we managed to get through about half of those boxes. Left the work in the capable hands of other library staff.

2.00pm – Dealt with stock rotation items that had appeared on the courier run. Assessed, made decisions on which titles I wanted for our branch, added them to our collection and sent the others on.

2.15pm – Did some website updating and created one of our e-newsletters – this one on suggested reading on the topic of Mind and Body Fitness.

2.50pm – Answered the email enquiries that had come in over the weekend. Queries ranged from “I returned that item” to “Can I do this…..”

3.00pm – Posted a staff created book review on our adult reading blog.

3.10pm – Briefed one of our librarians on what’s happened whilst she has been on holidays and what might be happening during the two days that I am away.

3.20pm – Added a range of CD’s from another branch to our collection and spent time accommodating them on our shelves.

4.15pm – Dealt with a couple of user issues – including payment for a damaged DVD and a disputed return of an item.

4.30pm – Spent the last of my day on desk which was uber-busy and involved a circulation desk overflowing with returned stock. Our process has been significantly slowed by the RFID tagging process, so an extra hand was very much required.

5.15pm – Finally headed home once I realised two things – one, that the staff could handle it and two, that if I didn’t leave, I could be there all night.

So that’s been my day. Not entirely typical, but not atypical either.

Hope your day was interesting, I look forward to reading of all you have been up to as well.

Its Day 11 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and as promised, here’s my notes from yesterday’s seminar.

Insight into Victorian Public Library Experience with Downloadables – Thursday 10th June 2010 101m-4pm

Kenneth Harris – Port Phillip Library

They have recently implemented Wave Sound eaudio downloads.

Not many choices in terms of vendors.

They use IP addresses for inhouse downloading. External was organised through referring URL, with authentication provided by the library itself.  Clunky but it works.

Raised awareness through high level links in the catalogue, which link back to the referrer page. Unfortunately you have to login to the catalogue first to get authenticated, so it then has a quick link to the ebooks from the account page.

Once you have logged in, you have to create a Clipper account. Once that is done, you don’t need to authenticate a second time.

Marc records are part of the sub. Links are displayed to everyone – so they needed to be changed to the link to ebooks info.

Took a while to upload the records (588) – took some fiddling and lots of discussion to get it right.

Stats can be retrieved on use, including popular titles, users, checkouts and renewals, activity by subject and more.

Have a 10 item limit for users.

In 6 weeks, they have had 245 accesses 197 checkouts ad 48 renewals.  95 User accounts have been created.

What they’ve learnt so far:
- not much they didn’t already know
- problems with DRM – macs cant play wma files (1/3 of files are wma)
- public PCs can’t  download the wma files due to an issue with DRM and PC deployment
- WMA files wont play on your car stereo
- users find it difficult to locate files they can download
- if it takes more than couple of minutes, people give up
- needs to be improvement in catalogue and subscription integration
- authentication should be done by the vendor, done off the library catalogue login (not by the library)

Marketing – didn’t tell people it was coming. When it came, they used a screensaver on their catalogue PCs, Wavesound provided brochures and posters and want to come and talk to users and staff about the product. Have to promote more – difficult at this time due to RFID project in process.

Authentication: after initial authentication with library card, and setup Clipper account, they can go to straight in to the Clipper page. When they setup, it refers to Port Phillip, so that’s where the account is based and Port Phillip’s limits etc apply.

EZ Proxy authentication is available, but only if it is done by the library. Don’t offer SIP2. However, they may be able to connect using WebFeat, which is what Port Phillip has – but will still be adding extra steps.

Stats don’t show where people come from to get there – whether its from the catalogue or direct from the website (once the account has been created).

Knowing what they know now, they still believe that they made the right choice. A major reason for going with them was that there were no extra software requirements. Works on a yearly contract – they start with a base library and get an extra supply of titles each month. You can opt to choose titles or let them be chosen for you. You have the option to change titles.

Loan period is 3 weeks and can be renewed. Up to 10 titles at a time. Files disappear at the end of the loan period. Can’t return early.

Its a totally separate loan system to the LMS. All statistics are kept separately. Could happen in the future if we get SIP2 connections with our ebook providers.

All the products run using an online store model like Amazon.

No limit on simultaneous users. Fees based on population.

Wavesound has both ebook and eaudio, but Port Phillip only has eaudio.

As login is based on username and password, can’t tell age, where joined etc, etc.

Jennifer Khan, Greg Evans and Tony Brooks from Melbourne Library Service
Melbourne has had Overdrive eaudio books for 12 months.

Have introduced downloadable audio first not ebooks – due to degree of uncertainty in ebook market. Used a staged approach. As there are a limited field of vendors, decided to go with Overdrive because of their proven track record and a good market share. Overdrive provide professional and free marketing support and a very slick product.

Once they signed up, they sorted out policy definitions such as circulation, connection and IP issues, membership exceptions and different card types, which was all pretty straightforward with good technical vendor support. Got access to a development site for testing.

Support from local rep was not good, so dealt mainly with the US via email and teleconferences (6pm there to 9am here).

Greg had already introduced it at ACT, so had great experience to begin with.

Collection management:  never handed it over to Overdrive but eaudio content has been limited. Shifting market makes things very difficult as titles can change with changing publishers agreements.  However, users have taken to them with great enthusiasm.

Overdrive have a number of specialists – Collections, IT and marketing and the support is fantastic. Did a user survey to gauge interest and find out what they would be interested in. Got a lot of people provide email addresses and become their testers and feedbackers.

Marketing – lots of support from Overdrive. Library branding throughout. Got media engagement. Day after it was written up in the Green guide, everything went out. Had to buy more titles. Have about 400 titles now.

Have concluded that they will need to use more eaudio vendors. Next challenge is how to create a seamless interface to all the content being provided by these different vendors.

Vendor training to staff user group was very complex – consisting of a teleconference from the US which was very thorough but over the top. Too much information delivered. Had a overarching marketing emphasis however, rather than technical/user experience. Once completed, they played with the product some more.

Cascading information to general staff was simplified to customer needs and
was compulsory for all staff. They quickly learned what issues may be encountered in a real environment, the key features and bugs and then
redesigned the training again for the public.

Training public was easier as they were all keyed up and ready to go by the time they launched, the integration with LMS was seamless. Public sessions were very well attended – running 2-3 sessions a day for 2 weeks – many people brought own laptops. They also did some individual follow up with special need users and they are getting constant feedback and making minor changes as they go.

Needed a lot of patience throughout the launch process, to help get people on board. Overdrive provides a help service, where individual issues can be addressed – has a 4 hour turn around.

Interface is seamless with the Melbourne website. Although the Overdrive site is external, it looks like the Melbourne website. Overdrive has 2 to 1 WMA to MP3 format. WMA files can be downloaded to a PC however and then transferred to an iPod, during which it gets reformatted to a iPod readable.

However, you do need to download an Overdrive media console to access the content.

Future:
ebooks next – would be easy to go with Overdrive as DRM is less problematic and they have a great range of titles, a nice interface and great support. Checked out different options and have gone with Overdrive.

Issues for ebooks included limited reader functionality and availability, in a market where there is a huge range of devices. Sony ebook readers and Nooks will play the content, but not available here yet.

However, users are fascinated with mobile devices and readers. May yet lend some of the older generation ebook readers that they own, with pre-loaded content. They area also considering the options of bookstores vs vendors and online sellers. iPhone app is also now available for Overdrive. Have been advised to go with ePub format with ebooks.

Issues: format issues – ie WMA vs MP3, licensing vs ownership – different models and some vendors let you own the book, DRM and access to content and limited Oz content. Overdrive is licensing, Bolinda is ownership.

Check out BLIO? – downloads the software with the content and can be played on any device. May be major DRM issues so getting content from publishers may be difficult.

Success factors: critical mass strategy, group of early adopters, DRM minimal vendor, concurrent users, Marc records, ease of circulation, availability of stats, review and user group.

Lot of success due to holistic approach – collections, IT and marketing working together with staff. Staff are enthusiastic and the service has had great use and feedback from users.

Overdrive – one copy one user model. If you want more users, then have to purchase more copies.

Authentication – user is presented with a login screen – uses SIP2 to library system. Overdrive manages the user account, SIP2 is only used to verify that it is a valid user. If you login to catalogue, you still have to login to Overdrive.

Offer optional load periods – one or two weeks. Items cant be checked in, you have to wait for it to expire. Some titles are available in a single file – many titles are in multiple files to download (like CD based audio books). Can download progressively over your loan period.

User stats – have not done much as yet.  Will now look at it now that they are 12 months down the track.

User Experience panel

I was then on a panel of three committee members, who used the Overdrive and Wavesound services as brand new users, using a PC, a Mac and an iPhone (that was me). We are still compiling experiences and hope to add more. If you are interested in the report thus far, let me know and I’ll get a copy out.

Vendor presentations

The early part of the afternoon was taken up with presentations from Wave Sound, NetLibrary – newly purchased by Ebsco, and Bolinda. The first and last only offer eaudio at this time, NetLibrary does both. Overdrive does not have an Australian based rep at this time. Each vendor gave a short marketing spiel and then demonstrated the user interface and answered questions relating to the IT structure of their product.

Vendor panel

We finished the day with a panel involving the vendors answering questions from the attendees. They were:

Will you be offering streaming content now or in the future?  Not yet, but its on the radar for all of them.

Can you see a future where all content is device neutral?  Yes, but no timeline though, everything is changing so fast and at different rates. Eaudio market is much more mature than the ebook market, which is why its much more device adaptable.

What do you mean by fully accessible?  Bolinda downloads can be used by all – including screen readers. Files can be played on most devices – they are all MP3. All titles are remastered into chapters with logical breaks.

What do you mean by exclusive rights?  Why exclusivity?  Lots of money is involved in purchasing rights and publishers aim to get the best possible deals for their content. There are licences for print, audio and downloadable. Not all arrangements are exclusive.  Rights are for a certain length of time, somewhere between 5 and 10 years.  Also depends on the model – purchase model means you have it forever, subscription model means you only have it whilst you have the sub and the vendor has the rights.

Will we end up getting this content from multiple vendors? Yes, the issue then becomes how to make the whole process seamless so that the users experience one process. Library processes are changing. Moving from print to digital including how we join and access collections. Is getting to the point where the whole interaction that users have with the library will be totally digital. Collections offered are different, but so are our users. So we will have to pick and choose from vendors.

Is reciprocal borrowing available? It is through Overdrive in the US, where you can borrow between different libraries. Publishers much prefer consortium purchase, rather than reciprocal borrowing.  Ebsco does consortial arrangements, as does Wavesound. Bolinda does not do consortia, because they believe they are affordable and give each library service flexibility.

Do you have plans to intergrate with LMS’s? Definitely on Ebsco’s radar. Libraries would like to have all their account information in one location, so they can check all their holds, all their loans etc, in the one setup. Bolinda says it can be done because the technology is available.  Importing this data back into our circulation modules for statistical purposes is a lot more problematic. Bolinda has established Web Services with Aurora and SirsiDynix LMSs. In discussions with other vendors, but have confirmed that they will be establishing a SIP2 connection with Civica. This will also require an extra software install at both ends to help improve security.

Do you have any thoughts on offering other media for download?  eg. Film, games, media etc. Bolinda is already looking to do this. Not Wavesound, but Ebsco will look at this as well.

Are there any plans to integrate back into social media platforms? Ebscohost has a module EIT – which has an array of tools with widgets etc, that can be inserted into a range of tools. Bolinda is looking at it. Wavesound works on Ebsco’s platform so they have access to the same tools as Net Library, through Ebsco.

Summary

The day was well received and well attended with about 50 people coming from over half of Victoria’s public library services, most for the whole day and some from quite a distance away. As an organiser and attendee I was very pleased, not only with how the day ran, but from what I got out of it. I feel much better prepared for when we venture into the world of downloadable eaudio, which will be soon.