Connecting Librarian

I was fortunate enough to attend Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service’s 3rd Unconference, held on Friday 18th March, being one of a few who has attended all three. This time was a bit different, in that we began the day with short presentations on Broadband related themes.  So here’s my notes from those presentations and from the breakout sessions I attended later in the day.

Brad Wynter – City of Whittlesea

We are moving from physical products and services to virtual.

Libraries are now managing over 30 media types.

Broadband will be the new transport system for the information economy. Local communities will become more reliant on electronic rather than physical transport. They will also become more sustainable, as people won’t have to leave their local community for work, education and health – as they will be able to access them electronically.

City of Whittlesea has a current release site for the National Broadband Network in South Morang. Where in the scheme of things does your local community fit in releases? You should find out.

Tony Gibbs and Sean Casey – NBN Co.

NBN Co is a government business enterprise like Australia Post. The National Broadband Network will connect 100% of Australian premises to high speed broadband. 93% will be through fibre, the other 7% through fixed wireless and satellite. Fibre will be to main population areas.

It is an open service, meaning any ISP can be used to access it.

Three trial sites in Tasmania are already operational. First release sites include Brunswick, Bacchus Marsh and South Morang.

On a global scale we don’t even rate on fibre access. This leaves us at a poor economic competition advantage. Bandwith demand is still growing – Google is trialling 1 Gig per second.

The NBN will be rolled out over 9.5 years. 10 million premises are involved. At peak construction, 5900 premises will be added per day, with 15,000 FTE staff.

The NBN will use the Telstra network as far as possible, with the copper networks turned off once fibre has taken its place.

Libraries can play a big part in educating our communities about the NBN.

Australia Post is reexamining their business practices, in the light of NBN and the reduction of physical post.  They are looking at electronic offerings. (potential competition to libraries? – my thought)

Check out Thomas Frey’s Future of Libraries trends.

Transitioning from a product-based to an experience based economy. Important for libraries to tap into this. Libraries can transform from a centre of information, to a centre of culture, a centre of the community.

Future of libraries:

• Information Centres for NBN, Applications and digital literacy
• Search specialist and knowledge navigators
• Community builders and archivers
• Creation spaces – hi definition experience
• Transliteracy

Sue Hutley – ALIA

There is currently no National Broadband Strategy – most major nations have one. Sue is working with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on the creation of such a strategy. Both the US and the UK have them and subsidise libraries as part of that strategy.

Part of our role is telling the stories of people who aren’t connected. Need to ensure that NBN is being taken up.

Check the ALIA Website for more info at: http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/broadband.html

Tom Denison – Monash University

Broadband brings both opportunities and threats. It brings the potential to reorganise industries. We need to drive the changes, not sit and wait for them to happen.

What will change?

• Massive growth in online video – projected to be 91% of traffic
• Massive interest in e-health
• Massive growth of devices connected in homes, both the number and type (check out Chumby as an example

Will build on changes brought about by mobile devices, social networking and cloud computing – less will happen with traditional websites.

We can learn from the UK experience: Huawei – Connecting Communities is looking at how the UK has worked and learn from that for the Australian experience. It focuses on two agendas:

• digital inclusion
• improved public service outcomes (relations between government and citizens)

UK benefits have included:

• health
• senior care
• environment
• education
• isolated, minorities
• public service efficiencies
• responsiveness of public servants

Technology on its own is not enough – communities need to take advantage of it. Need social capital. Access is the start, which the NBN will provide, but effective use also requires skills.

Opportunities for libraries:

• Access
• Content and services
• Education and training

Content and services could include:

• Engage with communities and build apps and services that build social capital
• Physical community spaces

Check out:

Sunderland’s digital community at: http://www.sunderland.gov.uk

Digital Panopticon – IBES and others at: http://www.broadband.unimelb.edu.au/main.php?id=134

Collaborative Internet Innovation Fund (Multimedia Victoria) at: http://www.mmv.vic.gov.au/CollaborativeInternetInnovationFund

The rest of day was filled with breakout sessions.

Devices:

Scott Lewis from the ATO is developing an open source app for mobile devices that will be a gateway to our libraries. Talked about using NEER, a location based service, to provider reminders etc.  Find out more about his plans, coming soon to: http://libraryopenphone.info.

Discussed the issues surrounding the plethora of mobile devices and how we design websites that can be read on them and what it means for our existing sites. We also discussed making such devices available in our libraries to use and to try out and the implications of that.

Portable Content – Simon Goodrich

Simon is Managing Director of Portable digital studio and National President of AIMIA. He presented on emerging trends.

Changing face of television:

• role of TV networks is changing too
• people will watch what they want, when they want to
• Netflix has 20% of online traffic in US – mostly downloads rather than disc – watch what happens here with Quickflix and Big Pond
• Apple TV – which is IP TV, using wifi connection,  can stream from your computer to your TV – also has a rental service – look out for Boxie, like Apple TV but with no restrictions
• Google TV not far away – will be very interesting
• Not going to happen quickly though

He sees libraries as being providers of quality content.

Applications:

• Why would you need to search, when you can get an app for your interests
• Apple is big now, Android will be bigger
• Mobile optimised site vs app? sites are still good for now as long as they are usable, functional and look good. However, having an app is a good marketing direction

Library Thing has the Library Anywhere app for the iPhone.

Continued rise of the mobile phone:

• More mobile phones in Australia than people
• Rise of the Android phone
• Mobile payments – Square app
• Location based – FourSquare, Gowalla or Facebook Places

Augmented Reality:

Layar – big role for libraries here with local history

Social Impacts

Sue Hutley got our feedback on what we are doing that can and will be impacted by the introduction of the NBN.

• community engagement policies – check with your Council’s community development strategy
• internet training
• engage with stakeholders
• train staff in NBN speak
• teach how the community can check they are getting the Internet speed they paid for
• see a need and speak up about it
• work with other organisations in the local community – get the info out – pointed out that we should be talking to our local Centrelink manager

The Age commented on this new environment in “It’s the digital community, stupid“.

We need to speak to our government representatives about this. And if we have any stories about how libraries are helping the community in the digital age, email them to advocacy@alia.org.au.

And that was that for the day.

It was a very different Unconference, but I really did appreciate all the information, especially as we are looking towards the future and how the NBN and other factors will affect that for libraries.

Hope you got something out of these notes too.

UPDATE – 11th April 2011

The presentations from the day are now available online at:

http://www.yprl.vic.gov.au/about/organisation/unconference

Its Day 30 of 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and I tried very hard to resist, I really did. But it’s the last day, so I have succumbed.

Here’s my one and only meme post in the 30 days challenge – the 30 things meme, with an extension. Mine is 30 things I did, as well as 30 things I didn’t do in the challenge period.

So as you can see, another quiet month.

Its been a challenge in a number of ways, but I have really enjoyed coming up with something every day. I hope you were able to get something out of them too. For me, I hope it will help me to blog more often, although the plan is closer to once a week, rather than the once a month it was before the challenge.

Thanks for following during this challenge. Your reading and comments have made it easier and much more enjoyable. I really appreciate it.

Its Day 22 of 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and I was wondering why is it always……?  It is nearly 10pm after a late shift, so I think I’m entitled to have a wondering/wandering mind at this time of night, lol.

So, why is it always:

• That you just served the last of what seems like hundreds of people and waved them goodbye and the next person comes in commenting how quiet it is
• That you spend a good half hour catching up and cleaning up after a rush and the next person to come across the desk comments on how quiet it is
• That the person who comes in to pick up a last minute loan/print a file/copy a document before you close, always takes three times as long as they expect and keep you beyond closing/knock-off time
• That when looking through one of the browsing collections, the item you seek is the very last one
• That the quick job that you take a timeout to do, takes twice as long as you expect and you have to finish/redo it again later anyway
• That people DON’T READ SIGNS, regardless of how clear, obvious and really helpful they are

BTW, all these did happen to me at my library today and I know that these things don’t ALWAYS happen, but they do happen often enough to make them annoying, time consuming, frustrating etc.

What are your “Why is it always…….”

Its Day 21 of 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and its been one of those days.

You know the ones, where one thing after another keeps happening, just building on top of the last disaster/issue/event/happening.  Yep, one of those.

And it was on top of similar things that happened each on Saturday and Sunday, and some of those with staff who worked in the branch today.

So how do you deal with that sort of situation? When everything seems to be working against you all, when you can’t get on top of things, when it only seems to be getting on top of you?  When you don’t feel like you are making much progress at all?

Uploaded on October 19, 2006 to Flickr by Balaji Dutt

First you support each other in any way you can. You encourage each other, really listen, make sure everyone is OK.  And then to top it all off, you bring in cheesecake for afternoon tea.

Cheesecake makes all the difference in staff morale, when everything seems to be working against you.

What do you do to perk yourself and your staff up that little bit more when everything seems to be going wrong?

Its Day 20 of 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and today I can sum up your average day in a public library with this Unshelved cartoon.

We serve a fantastic supportive community and the majority of the people are wonderful, its just the few……..

Its Day 19 of 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and today’s post is inspired by a special moment that happened on our drive home today.

I was just driving down our street with the kids, when I noticed a crow taking a bath in a deep mud puddle. He had his feathers fully spread and was immersing himself with great gusto, causing water and mud to fly everywhere. It was such a special moment, that we stopped in street to watch for a few minutes, then drove carefully past him. Despite our care, he edged away from the puddle, but by the time we had pulled into our driveway a few houses down, he was back again, so we watched a bit more.

Made me think about the special moments at work that help to make it the job that I love.  The ones I could think of immediately included:

• being able to fix what is wrong – whether it be an errant computer, photocopier or process that is not working the way it should
• being appreciated in general by word or by written comment, particularly the latter as most of the time our user comments are complaints of one form or another
• being able to help a library user find what they need when they haven’t been able to find it themselves
• watching our library users help each other, when we are too busy with the crowds to help them as quickly ourselves
• the laughs of the kids during our children’s events – like our forthcoming school holiday program
• and I admit it, I do experience some glee when I can thwart a library user who is being rude (and sometimes other behaviours), by unswervingly sticking to the rules

Unfortunately, quite often there is not enough time to stop and savour those moments, like we did today with the crow, but I’ll take them anyway.

There is much joy too, in the satisfaction that comes out of my job, but these are some of the special moments I enjoy. Would love to hear some of yours.

A little light-hearted fun to herald Day 16 and the 2nd half of 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge.

I will be interested to hear your responses to it. Did you enjoy it, did you think it was appropriate/inappropriate for a library setting and why?

With thanks to Stephen Abram for the link.

Its Day 15 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge, the halfway point and I’m very tired after working the late shift.

So instead of trying to come up with something deep and meaningful, when the only thing I am really interested in is my pillow, I’ll mention a couple of things that have happened with Connecting Librarian of which I am particularly proud (and thankful to my readers for helping to make possible).

The first is that Connecting Librarian has been accepted into PANDORA. From the relevant email:

The National Library of Australia aims to build a comprehensive collection of Australian publications to ensure that Australians have access to their documentary heritage now and in the future.

PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive, was set up by the Library in 1996 to enable the archiving and provision of long-term access to online Australian publications. Since then we have been identifying and archiving online publications that meet our collecting scope and priorities. Additional information about PANDORA and access to archived titles can be found on the Library’s server at: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/index.html

We would like to include the Connecting Librarian web site http://connectinglibrarian.com/ in the PANDORA Archive.

I accepted, after all who doesn’t want a little bit of immortality.

Second was being nominated for a Salem Library Press Blog Awards. I don’t know how I got nominated, but I was in sterling company. I didn’t win, but I did get a gold star:

Blogs listed with a gold star were considered by our judges to be of significant quality that they stood above the norm.

And thanks all for your wonderful support of Connecting Librarian over nearly five years.  I’m not done yet, so stay tuned.

Its Day 14 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and a beautiful spring like day in wintry Melbourne, so of course I got all deep and meaningful.

I decided in Grade 6 that I wanted to be a librarian and never really faltered from that course, moving straight through secondary school and then onto to my Bachelor of Arts (Librarianship) and straight into my first library job without a break.

That didn’t mean that I didn’t question it from time to time. I did. But my questions were usually around the idea of how important librarians are to society. The way I thought around it was if we went to war tomorrow – would I still be a librarian or would I be redirected to what were considered more important jobs. What can I say, I was a teenager, set on being someone qualified to help save the world. I figured that that teachers and nurses would be that important, but I didn’t want to be either of those, so reassured myself with the idea that we wouldn’t be going to war and if we did, I’d deal with it when the time came.

I’ve long since changed my mind. Librarians are too important for our society to lose. Librarians have been a part of many wonderful discoveries and creations in this world, from science to literature and more. And although I can’t see anything world changing happening in my public library, that’s OK. Because I’ve decided that I’m in an environment which reminds me of the starfish story – if you dont’ know it, read on, if you do, just skip to the end.

Uploaded to Flickr on May 12, 2010 by tibchris - CC Attribution 2.0 Generic

The Starfish Story

Two men were walking toward each other on an otherwise deserted beach. The beach was littered with starfish, washed up by the tide. Thousands of starfish were doomed to die in the warm morning sun.

The first man watched the second pick up starfish one at a time and toss them back into the ocean. The first man thought, “Why is he doing that? He can’t save them all.”

As they came near one another, the first man felt compelled to point out to the second the futility in his action. “You know,” he said, “you can’t save them all. You really won’t make any difference.” The second man bent down, picked up a starfish and tossed it into the water. He smiled said, “It made a difference to that one.” Then he walked on, picking up starfish and tossing them back into the sea.——-

Even in a public library the librarian is important. I may not help find a cure for cancer (then again I might), but the way I help a person, might help them make an important decision, it might help them relax and escape from a stressful situation or it might be an important piece of human contact that they are otherwise missing. Its not up to me to dictate the importance of my interaction with each library user, it is for them to decide. What I can do however, is make sure that they get my best each and every time and that I do all I can to help them get what they need, however inconsequential it might seem to others.Whatever makes a difference to that one.

So whether it be in normal every day times, in a global economic crisis or in a war, librarians are important, for the content we provide, for the things we save, for the human interaction and for so much more.

Its Day 13 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and I was thinking about my online life yesterday and how much its changed in a few short weeks.

My blogging of course has gone through the roof.  So far in this challenge, I have posted more in a month than I have in a year, but I’m grateful, because it has kept me in touch with my library colleagues, even as I’ve lost touch in other ways.

The main one I’m missing is Twitter and I am feeling in on two levels. At Twitter itself and on Facebook because my feed goes there as well.

Why? Well when I worked part-time, I spent a lot of time in front of the computer, both at home and at work, so it was easy to have Twitter open and just check it periodically. I use Twitter as a constant presence.  However, in my new role I am not near the computer anywhere near as often, either at home or at work and when I am, I usually have a long list of things that need doing (by yesterday!) and so Twitter is usually one of the last things on my mind.

And I’m missing it. I’m missing the constant presence of my friends and colleagues just brushing against my day. There for a bit of support, to keep me informed, amused and in touch with the wider world.

So I’m going to try something different with Twitter. I never really liked the idea of dipping in and out of Twitter, I did like the constant presence idea. But at the moment that’s not possible. So I’m going to try it. I apologise if that means I’m not around to respond to a DM or @ mention as quickly as usual, but I would rather do this than miss out altogether.

After all, its likely it will all change again in future.