Wednesday, October 29, 2014

“For nearly 20 years I had read between 200 and 300 pages a day. There was nothing I’d choose over reading. Nothing. In 2008 I enrolled in a distance program to earn my MLS degree. I spent more time online that year than probably in all my other years combined. When I finished my degree, I found that my reading—pleasure reading—felt more difficult. I couldn’t focus. It felt like more work. As I began to read books like Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains—I realized that it WAS more work than it used to be.” Hear our popular Internet Librarian 2013 keynote speaker, Josh Hanagarne, discuss how our brains have changed with the internet, whether we should be concerned about the changes, and, if so, what can be done, if anything.

This jammed-packed session shares many ideas and tools you can use to introduce maker services to your library, both virtual and physical, on any sized budget. Learn how TechCentral at CPL is “making makers” from the ground up by incorporating a variety of creative and hands-on services aimed at everyone from children to retirees. Discover ideas for low- or no-cost maker programs such as Create Your Own Font, Make a Tough Wallet Out of a Mail Envelope, and Learn to Code. Also, find out what it took to create MakerSpace at TechCentral, featuring a laser engraver, vinyl cutter, 3D printer, photo/ video/music production, and how your library can create a dedicated “make” space that fits community demands and funding resources.

As rare books become more delicate with time, making them available to the public becomes harder. Hear about an application that makes it easier to view rare books without ever having to touch them. It combines the Leap Motion hands-free device and 3D-rendered models to create a new virtual experience for the viewer, allowing them to rotate and zoom in on a 3D representation of a rare book. The user can open the virtual book and flip through it using a natural user interface, swiping the hand left or right to turn the page. The application is built on the .Net framework and is written in C+. 3D models are created using simple 3D software such as sketchup or Blender. Scans of the book cover and spine are created using simple flatbed scanners. The inside pages are scanned using overhead scanners. Denzer and Andrus discuss the technologies used in developing the application, giving tips for any library to implement the application with virtually no coding at all. The second presentation discusses transforming a physical exhibition into a virtual one, adding value to a library’s outreach mandate without overburdening IT. Using its existing web content management system, Drupal, this rare book library moved to a model that empowers librarians to mount their own virtual exhibitions, largely independent from the library’s ITS staff. Partnering with the university’s Museum Studies Program staff began a pilot project using the free, open source CMS Omeka, which is being adopted by museums and libraries of all sizes for the curation of online digital collections, and as a platform for creating born-digital exhibitions. Get practical advice for launching virtual library exhibitions of any size and content, including collaboration, streaming, user experience, creating digital content, web design, and podcasting and videocasting.

Last year, SDPL opened its brand new Central Library, and had the first-ever San Diego Mini Maker Faire. Learn what the maker movement is about, what it means to be a maker, and how you can leverage the maker community to create a low- or no-cost maker environment in your library. In 3 months, with two 3D printers, no programming budget, and only one staff interested in the maker movement, SDPL worked with community volunteers to keep the lab open and expand programming to include Raspberry Pi programming classes, a 3D printing club, classes on 3D design, Nerdy Derby events, and other maker programs. At Burke’s, the library and makerspace are deeply complementary. Through research and literature-based activity, the library encourages students to generate information, wrestle with ideas, and tap into their imaginations. The Makery allows students to then turn information, ideas, and imagination into real-life and virtual products that further learning, creative confidence, and self-expression. The Burke’s Library and Makery together inspire a new adage: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Denver Public Library, sometimes called the people’s university, is working on using badges to capture and enhance a portion of what its community is learning. Whether it’s for a Photoshop project created in its teen makerspace (ideaLAB) or as a prerequisite for enrollment in a community college course, DPL is exploring how badges for in-library learning can be useful for its customers, at varying levels of formality. Come to hear what DPL learned from its experiences so far, and what’s next.

The big tech trend this year is wearables and that will not change! This market brought in $8B in 2013, and by 2017, it is projected to be more than $20B. Learn about wearable tech and apps in this fast-paced session. Here are a few examples: Jawbone’s “Up Coffee” tracks your caffeine intake; smartwatches track your health and contacts your doctor; smartbands for wireless calling; personal trainer trackers; mood nail polish; live logging cameras; smart socks; tag reader gloves, etc. What would this bring to the landscape of the information professional? Imagine the possibilities: Big Data consumption and how to apply it to your clients, GPS for information location, unique training opportunities, new tech positions, and much more.

Discover library ebooks. Borrow immediately. Read anywhere, anytime—all in three clicks or less. Introducing Library Simplified, or Readers First, a North America-wide project led by NYPL to employ technology and innovation in library policies to deliver a customized ebook experience for library patrons. Get a sneak peek at this exciting, open source tool.

In 2013, DCL won a grant to do a statewide ebook pilot project in Colorado. Partnering with the Spanish company Odilo, DCL designed the framework to offer ebooks throughout the state. With a combination of signed contracts with publishers, in-browser ebook readers, and the use of an Adobe Content Server, DCL has been able to encode DRM and circulate ebooks. Along with implementing a recommendation engine in the catalog and touchscreen displays in branches, they’re finding new ways to market and promote ebooks to its users.

Hear how Amigos has been building an ebook platform that enhances ebook services libraries already use or becomes a library’s only ebook service. Beginning with the DCL model, changes were made to include the number and types of libraries able to use the service, as well as the functionality. Get an update on the project, learn the issues Amigo confronted, and the changes that had to be made to make this a working service, as well as the development that is currently underway.

The rapid rise of the ebook has meant public libraries across Europe are scrabbling to keep up, and the road has been littered with catastrophes. Many are similar to the U.S., such as the reluctance of publishers to “sell” to public libraries and the difficulties of coping with DRM software, but some are different—as the multitude of languages and small publishers, or the problems of European copyright law, and the nonsense of the fact that “Public Lending Right” (the law that means authors get paid per book loaned) only applies to print books. There are a number of campaigns going on, from Shelf Free in the U.K. to EBLIDA’s “Legalise it!” to Sweden’s “Say Hello to Your New Librarian.” Leech provides an overview of e-lending in Europe from the point of view of a public librarian who’s been working with the Society of Chief Librarians in the U.K. to try and move the situation forward.

LIVE has provided statewide ebook access to North Carolina’s public and academic libraries since the early days of NetLibrary. Like most consortia, the licensing approach always included a set number of simultaneous users or ungodly fees for unlimited use. In late 2013, NC LIVE began working with North Carolina’s publishing community to put together a pilot project that will enable the consortium to purchase ebooks in perpetuity while also providing an affordable avenue for unlimited use for all 200 member libraries. Join representatives from NC LIVE, participating publishers, and member libraries who talk about the successes and challenges of heading out Into the great wide open world of ebooks!

Join Marin County Free Library staff as they share their tips and tricks for their innovative and comprehensive staff training. eBook Academy is a 4-week intensive, hands-on program that covers all of the library’s downloadable and streaming media: ebooks, e-audiobooks, and digital magazines. Foust and Arencibia share their training modules, best practices, and tips and tricks.

Libraries worldwide spend almost $2 billion/year on technology hardware, software and services and are constantly considering prudent strategic technology investments. Author of the “Automation Marketplace Industry Report” (Library Journal, 2002–2013) and the “Library Systems Report” (American Libraries, 2014), Breeding has the incredible ability to explain the current state of the industry and what we need to watch for in the future to factor into our technology decisions today.

Is your library considering open source technology? Open source technology is largely considered to be an affordable option for budget-challenged libraries because it is, theoretically, free. In reality, the true costs of open source technology may not become clear until the project is well underway. Libraries need to evaluate the total resource requirements of open source technology before embarking on this digital direction. San Mateo County Library launched a Drupal-based website in 2010 and is now embarking on a redesign using the BiblioCommons BiblioCMS. Santa Clara County Library District, after having seriously considered an open source solution, decided to move from one proprietary system to another. Speakers share their experiences with evaluating and implementing both open source and vendor-based technologies.

No post-lunch slump in this session! Hear overviews of some great tools and their applications in 60 minutes from a variety of interactive and engaging technologies. Learn what tools can be used to help education your patrons to program and develop new ideas. Discover new ways to further engage your users; from building robots, making iPad games, creating circuits, or even learning basic shapes.  Questions like "what technology is out there to keep the library relevant in its local community" will be answered in this fast paced multi-panelist adventure.  

Think digital signage is too expensive or too technical for your library? These case studies show otherwise. Learn from Stanford University Libraries’ partnership with the MobiSocial Computing Laboratory, where researchers in the MobiSocial Lab provided expertise, programming, and hardware, with the library providing the display monitors, test environment, and feedback for the new digital signage technology. The Oalla software system transforms a passive display monitor into a digital community board that users interact with using their mobile phones. Two-way communication with text messaging, visible posts, and ratings of services provide patron interaction with library information, other users, and campus services. Then hear how San Diego PL’s Public Tech Services team created interactive visual displays of digitized collections on iPads mounted on stands throughout the new Central Library. Patrons flip through pages of rare manuscripts and other materials that otherwise can’t be handled. iPads are leveraged for digital signs, built-in Photo app, JavaScript source code, and image optimization.

KLS at the Harvard Business School recently completed a study to identify and address the evolving research needs of HBS faculty and students. Hemment summarizes the findings of the investigation and discusses some of the key infrastructure and organizational changes being developed for “Baker 3.0”: a new information management and technology infrastructure, strategic partnerships with HBS IT and Harvard Business Publishing, and a more collaborative and adaptive KLS organization. He shares some of the most popular digital scholarship products and services being developed by KLS.

Two librarians at a large public university, with the aid of a computer science research assistant and an IMLS Sparks! Ignition grant, created a crowdsourced library help system, CrowdAsk, to test the viability of a crowdsourced reference model. CrowdAsk provides a centralized and engaging platform for students in a class to receive assistance, and experts, including librarians, faculty, and students, to share knowledge and experience within the user community. CrowdAsk is a gamified system, relying on points and badges to encourage user activities. Asking questions, answering questions, and voting up/down questions and answers lead to points and badges to encourage learning and engagement. There are many levels in the system with various privileges, many of which can be reached through points while administrative privileges are assigned. This talk covers the development of CrowdAsk over a year, as well as beta-testing with 500 users in entry-level information literacy and English composition classes and usability testing of CrowdAsk with experienced and novice users.

Two libraries share their virtual, hacked, and successful journeys. UMR is a new campus with a totally virtual library. Students conduct research exclusively online. The librarian’s role, instead of being diminished by the absence of books, has increased in importance and urgency. Teaching students to access information and disseminate its importance is the focus of information literacy for UMR’s campus. At DeLaMare, the library went from being full of books (and no students) to a vibrant knowledge hub. Incorporating maker resources and encouraging a hacking mentality, DLM successfully changed its library culture from passive to passionate. The staff’s dedication to the success of their students created an organic space where students learn, make, hack, discover, geek out, and hang out. Adopting the maker culture helped DLM become a central figure in the university’s mission for excellence in teaching and learning.

For a variety of reasons, even an extensive usability test may fail to uncover user needs. Persuasive technology, or persuasive computing, is a new way of thinking about usability and how technology can change people’s experiences and behaviors. Learn how this cutting-edge technique is applied at IUPUI University Library to give users an engaging digital user experience and connect them with the library’s valuable resources and services.

Join us to hear about strategic marketing principles and strategies to help you connect with your social media customers and stakeholders to strengthen your social media communication. Speakers discuss information on identifying and involving stakeholders, a 4-step marketing model, market research, market segmentation, market mix strategy, and evaluation. Along with strategies, speakers also present case studies illustrating the value of social media communication when directed by and built upon strategic marketing principles. Grab lots of tips and insights and go beyond promotion to develop a planned and deliberately managed marketing campaign.

Our knowledgeable marketing practitioner shares the key elements of a marketing plan and highlights new social media practices which can make an impact on your community.  For instance, using Facebook advertisements which is easy, inexpensive, and measurable. McGough focuses on best practices and discusses the resources that go into creating Facebook ads and using other social media.  

There are lots of great initiatives, projects, changes, and improvements we would all like to make. However, moving ideas and plans forward is always a challenge, but in trying economic times, it is even more difficult. Hear from a librarian who built the world’s largest library school exclusively online in 4 years, has terrific political and influencing skills, and is willing to share strategies and techniques to help you accomplish the priorities you would like to push forward.

The involvement of libraries, archives, and museums at one of the biggest tech conferences in the world reached a fever pitch in 2014. A number of organizations and partners (including ALA, PLA, DPLA, ER&L, the Harvard Library Test Kitchen, EveryLibrary, and library vendors) organized under the banner of #sxswLAM (Libraries, Archives & Museums) to connect with the technology and creative community at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin Texas. From presenting at the conference (getting in is no small feat) to hosting houses (#ideadrop house), purchasing booth space in the vendor hall, and hitting the streets with one-to-one guerilla advocacy, libraries are getting noticed. Come to this session to learn about this growing presence and how you can get involved!

Haycock summarizes the challenges facing libraries today. Our panel reacts and discusses those challenges then addresses strategies for dealing with those challenges. Hear what strate- gies leaders in our field are using to solidify a positive destiny for the future.