Top Ten List: Number One (LibTech Keynote)

For those who may be just now bumping into my blog, I'll fill you in: my most recent posts have been recapping two conferences I attended in March, the Iowa Library Association/ACRL Conference and the Library Technology Conference (hosted by Macalester College in the Twin Cities). I decided, since I attended ten sessions between the two conferences, to do my own top ten list of Library-Related Conference Sessions (a la The Late Show with David Letterman)! Here's the last post of my list!

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

1. "The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)" by Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia

• What does Google do in our society? Google's mission is to organize information and make it universally accessible; however, inherent in the organization of information is the (unintended or intended) hiding of some information and revelation of others. This can be easily seen in the "Google Bombing" process where an organized campaign to raise the page rank of a website is implemented.
  
• Why do we (I) love Google so much (and I really do), if it is hiding information from us? Consumers tend to have blind faith in Google. It provides some pretty amazing services, but are we receiving this speed, power, and convenience at the cost of something greater? At times the question of regulating Google has arisen. What once began with strict regulations (attached to the use of NSF grant funds, copyright, and imposed by the FCC) has shifted, in part due to the increasing size and influence of Google.
  
• The first model of content delivery: Google began as a rank-and-link search engine wherein the material lived beyond Google's control, and were not responsible for content. The service they provided was that of connecting two points.
  
• The second model of content delivery: Google expanded to host and deliver information providing users with information storage via YouTube, Blogger, Google Buzz, etc. The information is integrated within Google's search results and requires registration to upload content. Consumers are the ones who monitor appropriate use (i.e. reporting copyright violations).
  
• The third model is to capture and serve: With advances in Google Maps' street view, Google Earth, and the Books project (all stored on a Google-owned server, and integrated into search results), is there a greater level of responsibility for Google to adhere to copyright and fair use laws? Vaidhyanathan noted that, for the most part, Google uploads whatever content they think is part of their mission to make available, and those not wishing to have their content freely available must "opt out" in order for Google to remove it. (This can also be said for social networking privacy issues, i.e. Facebook, where information must be made private as opposed to choosing to make certain information public.) In this, the third model, Google is no longer a conduit for knowledge, but rather plays a greater role.
  
• Going back to the management of information, whenever information is managed, editorial (value) decisions are made by people. According to Vaidhyanathan, Google seems to not care that "Jew Watch News" is employing Google bombing techniques, but in Germany such sites would not be displayed because of strict laws against distributing hate speech. There has to have been a modification in the algorithm. In the instance of Vaidhyanathan's example, "Jew Watch News," he asserted that Google chooses this morn hands-off approach. He continued saying Google states their ranking is determined by their algorithm but don't reflect the "beliefs and practices of those who work at Google. But, the ethical question is not whether they agree with the content, but rather, is that Google's responsibility here in the United States to not only allow this page to be searchable using their site, but also to be promoted as a result of their code? Google recently reworked their algorithm which lowered the rankings of websites considered "low quality" (i.e. E-How.com) and yet the website Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination remained in the top five results when I searched "Martin Luther King Junior."
  
• Google continues to add personalization, localization, user satisfaction, and speed to their services, but do we as consumers have to hold them to higher standards when it comes to corporate social responsibility? This was one of many ethical questions Vaidhyanathan put forth, questioning not only Google's responsibility, but also our responsibility as consumers. At this point the solution is to remind ourselves of corporate weaknesses (and our own weaknesses as consumers) and diversify our searching in order to diversify our results.
  

Top Ten List: Number Two

From the Library Technology Conference:

Getting Back into the Library Business: Moving Library IT to the Cloud, Marc Davis, Drake University

• Marc Davis began by noting there can be a resistance to completely dismantling the server systems we have depended on and invested money in. The goal with cloud computing is to refocus our attention away from the hardware and back onto service. The assumption is that cloud computing is inevitable, at least to some extent, as the "old" server infrastructure is inefficient to sustain in the long run. By sharing on an extremely large-scale resulting electricity costs, network bandwidth, operations, software, and hardware costs were dramatically decreased as compared to providing similar results via local servers. Other benefits include elasticity and transference of risk. Cloud computing is not necessarily web based, rather services outside of the campus firewall. This may include using software and storing data outside of the library.
• Three terms to know:
  
  • SAAS: Software as a Service: use of hosted services, i.e. Springshare Libguides; though you have no access to the underlying infrastructure, you are also not responsible for managing the underlying software
  • Infrastructure as a Service: is "Utilizing a provided server environment but retaining responsibility for configuration and operation" i.e. Amazon Web Services
  • PAAS: Platform as a Service is an environment that supports "building, testing, and deploying (Web-based) applications" i.e. Windows Azure, twilio, and Boopsie (discussed in this post)
• Moving IT infrastructure elsewhere, to vendors or others out-of-house (i.e. centralized campus IT) is one characteristic of Library Cloud migration. Of course, you need to make sure that what your doing meets your needs, both financially and in terms of your goals and priorities). At Drake, they moved the information they supported on their servers from the library to a centralized IT location.
• An interesting question Marc Davis brought up was: are libraries uniquely positioned to migrate from on-site to cloud IT? While libraries do have expertise with hosted solutions, contracts, and discovery layer services, and are part of a service-rich environment, they may not necessarily be uniquely positioned because such services must be considered with local needs/conditions, sustainability, organizational culture, and other factors specific to the users you serve in mind. If there is extreme resistance based on campus culture, or concerns over information security, cloud computing may be dismissed as an IT possibility for where you are.
• Benefits of Cloud Migration
  • Experience vs. Hype: cost effectiveness, keeping in mind availability, data integrity (continuous back-up), provisioning, capacity (bandwidth); cloud costs tend to be more predictable, identifiable, and incrementally adjustable (to align with actual usage amounts)
  • Flexibility: quick service without infrastructure costs or system administrator duties, the focus is moved from hardware/operating systems to service
  • Innovation: service effectiveness, budgeting and planning, partnerships develop into collaborations
  • IT Skills: IT professionals develop managerial, project management, and budgeting/contract skills
• Services:
  
  • Free (SAAS-like): Meebo, Vimeo, Dropbox, Social networks
  • Hosted Services (SAAS): ILLiad by OCLC, Docutek E-reserves by SirsiDynix, DSpace by Longsight, ContentDM by OCLC, Wikis (i.e. Wikispaces, PB Works), Springshare Libguides, Discovery by Ebsco Discovery Service, Web Help Desk by MacsDesign Studio
• Drake is looking to continuing the transfer of resources from on-site IT to the cloud over the next several years (with a select few pieces remaining on-site for security or licensing reasons). While some of their data is processed through on-campus, centralized servers, other is done off-campus. You may learn more about the details of this transition in the presentation found here.

Top Ten List: Number Three

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

3. Go Mobile with Your Library Website, Meghan Weeks, Loyola Marymount University

• Why go mobile? Many reports indicate the increase in the use of mobile technologies is on the rise and here to stay (the presenter noted studies by the Pew Research Center, Horizon Report 2011, and the Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010). Mobile technologies are increasingly becoming a student's first choice.
• Things to consider: Is your library website ready? What do your users want? Surveys may be an effective way to determine which features you need to include in your mobile website, though the speaker did not mention focus groups (which could be quite helpful, as was the case of the Kent State library).
• Features to consider:
  
  • Direct link to call
  • Link to text message ("Ask Me" instant messaging)
  • A customizable mobile environment--What are the tools/resources each individual patron uses most frequently? Can they add that to their customized mobile library page?
  • LibGuides mobile interface
  • Ebsco and other mobile databases
  • The ability to reserve spaces (i.e. group study rooms, computers with specialized software, scanners, etc.)
  • Perhaps a library QR code tour or podcast
  • Encourage interaction with the library's social media presence
  • Easy access to e-books, streaming videos/music on demand
• Programming considerations from the library's end:
  
  • Are you willing to write native apps (specific to each type of device: Android, Blackberry, iPhone)? The benefits of this are that it is easier for users to navigate, faster than mobile web, and the app can capitalize on device features (i.e. GPS). Having an internet connection may or may not be necessary (bandwidth), and the apps are usually written in Objective-C or Java. Updates do need to be installed, and the program does need to be marketed in app stores (which means it is up to users to download).
  • Would you rather scale down your website to be accessed using a smaller browser, taking a mobile web approach? Things to keep in mind when using this approach are that the page needs to be optimized for use on a smaller, mobile device. Also, there is the need to connect to the server. Usability tends to be lower because of the many steps it takes to navigate the links and time it may take to connect via a server. Programming is typically HTML, with CSS and Java. While mobile web sites tend to be designed with simplicity in mind, they are not targeted at one specific platform, making the user experience less customizable. The benefits include the ease with which such websites are created and maintained, and that the user does not need to install updates as they might with apps.
  • The hybrid approach (combining apps and mobile web) may work best for some libraries. The app is installed on the mobile device, is platform specific, and can utilize device features, but some of the areas accessed may be mobile web. Some features may need to be periodically updated (app) but some will be instant (and require network access).
• Names to know when it comes to integrating a mobile version of your website into your offerings:
  
  • MOPAC: Mobile OPAC is a customized catalog for mobile devices. AirPAC, by Innovative Interfaces, is one example. Another is the Mobile PAC by Polaris Library Systems.
  • BookMyne from Sirsi Dynix offers library users with iPhones the ability to scan bar codes (to see if the item in the store or at a friend's house is available via the library), social recommendations powered by Goodreads, the ability to cross-reference books in the library with the New York Times best sellers, and the ability to view their account information (i.e. fines, fees, current holds, checked out items). Libraries running SirsiDynix Symphony 3.3, Horizon 7.5 or higher may use BookMyne.
  • Discovery services include: Primo by Ex Libris, Serials Solutions Summon, and EBSCOhost Mobile.
  • Third party vendors include Blackboard Mobile Central (an app with a library portion to it, very limited, just one page of information and no access to user library account information), Boopsie for libraries (users can log in, place holds, renew items, and the app utilizes phone model features), Library Anywhere (by Library Thing), and Mobile Bridge (by Quipu Group).
  • Open Source options include the Washington D.C. Public Library iPhone app, Molly (the opens source mobile portal from Oxford University), or librarians may develop their own apps.
• Usability considerations: Just as we consider those with disabilities in designing standard HTML websites, we must also do so with mobile pages. Issues with typing, viewing, etc. occur. The W3C has released their Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0; their aim "is to improve the user experience of the Web when accessed from such [mobile] devices." Other testing tools include EvalAccess 2.0, and Mobi Ready.
• Analytic tools: chartbeat, Clicky, Google Analytics for mobile, Piwik, and Sitemeter.
  
• App development tools: Appcelerator, Mother App, Netbiscuits, PhoneGap, and Rhomobile.


• Mobile helper utilities: Skweezer.com, Mobile Site Generator, iWebkit, Google App Engine, and JQTouch.

Top Ten List: Number Four

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

4. Things in a Flash: The Latest Web 2.0 Tools, Amy Springer, St. John's University/College of St. Benedict; Jenny Sippel, Minneapolis Community and Technical College; Martha Hardy, Metropolitan State University; Diana Symons, St. John's University/College of St. Benedict; LeAnn Suchy, Metronet

This session gave an overview of six Web 2.0 technologies that may be used in libraries.

• Prezi was presented by Amy Springer. While I was glad this technology was included, and some great points did come up when attendees were asking questions, the presentation of Prezi was somewhat lacking. Prezi, like any presentation software, is just a tool. The important message you are trying to convey is that of your lesson content. Some are hesitant to use Prezi because of the "sea sick" factor. When presenters get lost in the excitement of flipping, turning, outlining, and the seemingly infinite zoom, the audience looses the message and is concentrating instead on keeping their lunch down. I think Becky Canovan describes it well--Prezi should tell a story. As I mentioned earlier, there were some good questions that came out of the attendees. Prezi can be embedded into another webpage, downloaded as a flash file (should you need to present somewhere where internet is not accessible, and the flash file is only editable if you purchase Prezi Pro or Edu Pro licenses), and the recent upgrades make embedding a YouTube video a snap!
• QR Codes, presented by Jenny Sippel, was a great introduction for those unfamiliar with QR codes. QR codes originated in Japan and are the trademarked name for a 2D barcode. The codes are scanned with a device (usually a smart phone with a camera and scanner app). This can be very useful for connecting users with polls (i.e. Google Forms), facilitating library tours, linking to electronic versions of handouts or slides (making information accessible in a variety of formats), instant ask a librarian link, and when you use bit.ly to create the QR code (by adding ".qr" after the created short link) allows for analytics when you add "+" to the end of the shortened link.
  
• Dropbox, presented by Martha Hardy, is a user-friendly cloud storage account that comes with a desktop client. It not only provides cloud storage, but also performs auto back-up and version control for your files. Any file type can be stored, including photos and music, and you can easily share work (it syncs documents through multiple computers for those files in your shared folder). I have been using Dropbox since the conference and LOVE it--especially since now I no longer have to carry around a flash drive (and/or lose said flash drive). Currently storage for the free account is limited to 2 GB, with expansion possible when you invite new users or when you purchase additional storage (up to 100 GB). Dropbox works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
• Diana Symons spoke about Diigo, a bookmarking/annotating tool with social networking possibilities. It allows you to highlight, add sticky note comments, choose whether your content is public or private, download the Diigo toolbar, and tag websites. You can take screenshots of just the content you would like to share. The annotations stay every time you return to the same page. You can upload a snapshot (to make sure you have the information, even if the site disappears in the future) and it is saved as html and as an image. A great tool for those who do a lot of online reading or for those just wanting to keep track of information they find online.
• Posterous is one of the easiest blogging tools around today, and was presented by LeAnn Suchy. You set up your account (it can be either a group or individual blog), add the email accounts that can update the blog, and ready, set, blog! Just send an email to post@posterous.com, or you can use the web interface. If posting via email, the subject line is the post title and the body is the text. If you send an attachment, the file becomes embedded within the blog; you can even attach mp3 files. You can set up your account so you have to click to approve a blog post (particularly helpful when having a class post to a group blog, as it gives you a chance to proof the post to make sure it is appropriate).
• Last, but not least, is Topicmarks, also presented by LeAnn Suchy. Topicmarks allows you to log in using an existing account (i.e. Yahoo or Google) or you may create an account specific to Topicmarks. New since the end of 2010, this program summarizes documents you upload (i.e. Word documents, PDFs), text you paste into the box for analysis, or web links (and there is a bookmarklet you can use to have Topicmarks analyze the website with one click instead of copying and pasting the link url). Your uploads are automatically visible to "friends" you have added on Topicmarks, but keep in mind when you upload a copyrighted document you have to remember to change the security settings to "private." While this tool is still very much in the beta stage, it can be a helpful tool for analyzing your own writing, and for identifying key words and basic facts (though, keep in mind, just as is the case with citation tools, the final result may be far from perfect so users have to keep in mind this is a tool to help them understand the item they uploaded, not an authority or necessarily accurate interpretation of the work).
  

More information may be found here: http://libtech2011.pbworks.com/w/page/37057543/FrontPage

Top Ten List: Number Six

From the Library Technology Conference, in reverse chronological order:

6. E-learning: Tips, Tricks, and Tools of the Trade, Susan Kane, Harvard Office of Information Systems

• Susan Kane presented a wide range of tools and approaches to online instruction. She began with a brief introduction, asking which tools attendees had used in the past (see list below), to get a sense of our backgrounds/levels of experience. Then she dove into the "why?" questions. While there is nothing wrong with teaching face-to-face, particularly if instruction is an accepted and promoted part of your institution's culture, there are sometimes barriers to instruction delivery. They include scheduling conflicts, poor attendance at sessions when offered independent from a class (particularly when not tied to grades), and users may prefer to have things available online to be viewed and reviewed at their convenience. The benefits of online instruction are the flexibility of when the content is delivered (at user's convenience), reusability of tutorials when applicable, users may go a their own pace (supporting multiple learning styles when well done), instructor consistency (when delivering in-person instruction to multiple sections, some information may be accidentally excluded, creating inconsistency), and ease of standardized scoring, and that these technologies and the way information is presented is becoming more and more native to today's users. Drawbacks include a disconnect between students and librarian, potential for learner distraction (i.e. checking other web pages or doing other things while the instruction session is happening), watching tutorials can be boring, high-speed internet is usually required to successfully run online tutorials, computer proficiency, software updates "fix" or cement content (making it harder to update content). There is a trade-off between face-to-face instruction and online instruction. Face-to-face may require complex scheduling, man power, and cooperation from faculty, etc. Online instruction may be perceived as time-saving; however, production and maintenance is quite costly when examining the staff time it takes. An interesting figure presented was, for every hour of training you are trying to convert to online presentation/format you will spend between 49-127 hours in production. 49-127 production hours/1 hour of product. Making content reusable can help alleviate some of this strain, but then you risk lowering the relevance or context which may make it less valuable to the user. Kane recommends being as specific as possible within your goals for reusability. By determining what does and does not need to be taught in context, you are allowing for the potential of greater reusability.

Planning and Pre-production

• Determine what you are starting with. Notes from an in-person lecture? PowerPoint slides? A website or other documents? Nothing?
• Determine your goals. Does everyone agree (what are others' expectations)? What are your limitations on staff time or policy objectives? Service objectives? How much content is presented and how interactive will it be? What are the key objectives (choose one or two).
  
• Do you have the tools to accomplish what you want? The hardware, software, staff time (assumption is that this will save time, but people often forget about the behind-the-scenes work in producing the content), expertise, and delivery platform?
  

Other helpful things to keep in mind when producing online instruction content

• Will you need to convert the files to another format in order to deliver the content (i.e. post to Moodle, etc.)?
• Why reinvent the wheel? Will some of your older content work with your new software (i.e. pulling in PowerPoint slides)?
• How easy is it to add audio, what is the quality like, and how can you edit as necessary?
• What are the costs associated with what you are using? Several options are free or quite reasonable, but do the free products offer you the flexibility you need? Are the more complex programs too complicated and clunky? Find that balance.
  

Resources mentioned throughout:

• Snag It
• Jing
• Adobe Presenter
• Adobe Captivate
• Articulate Engage
  
  • Example Articulate tutorial from UW La Crosse
• Audacity

Week Ten: On the Road

Week ten was filled with road trips, random music, librarian chats, conference sessions, and (of course) a Pulitzer Prize winning musical. The week began with the faculty and staff gathering to listen to run-through presentations for those presenting at the Iowa Library Association/ACRL Conference and the Library Technology Conference. The run-throughs allowed presenters to share what they are doing and work out some of the bugs before the "real deal." It was also a good reminder to me about what is expected of presenters (not that I haven't seen my fair share of conference presentations*).

Becky Canovan, Reference and Instruction Librarian at UD, and I then hit the road for the Twin Cities. She was presenting at LibTech and I was planning on going before I even knew that I would be at UD for my internship, and certainly before I knew she'd be presenting. It worked out nicely that we could carpool together. We arrived in the Twin Cities on Wednesday, in time to grab dinner with some awesome folks. Becky and I were staying with her friend from grad school, Amy Commers (Youth Services Librarian at South St. Paul Public Library), and met up with Rachel Slough (E-Learning Librarian at UW La Crosse) and Vicki Gruzynski (Information Services Instructor at South East Missouri State). Rachel was a classmate of mine at Indiana University, and Vicki is another IU alum. I always love spending time with librarians who love their jobs--thanks for being an inspiration, ladies! Throughout the next couple of days we attended sessions, shared ideas, caught up on some of the things happening in each others' lives. After LibTech wrapped up, Becky and I hit the road to Pella, this time for the ILA/ACRL Conference. Stay tuned for my "Top Ten List" of Library-Related Conference Sessions (a la The Late Show with David Letterman)! I wrapped up the weekend by visiting with a former teacher-colleague of mine, spending time with family, and catching Next to Normal with some Dorian Camp counselor friends at the Civic Center in Des Moines. Busy is the best way to be--especially when your time is shared with folks who are so excited about what they do and who they help.

* So far I've attended the following library-related conferences:
ILA/ACRL, Pella, IA, March 2011
LibTech, St. Paul, MN, March 2011
Brick & Click, Maryville, MO, November 2010
ILA, Coralville, IA, October 2010
ILA/ACRL, Cedar Rapids, IA, April 2010

Non-library-related conferences:
Iowa Music Educators Association, Ames, IA, November 2005-2010 (serving as Assistant to the Conference Registration Chair, 2007-2010)
International Society of Bassists Convention, Oklahoma City, OK, June 2009 (assisted with merch and registration)