Report Out! Library Technology Conference 2017
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Library Technology Conference at Macalester College in St. Paul. It was the second time I have attended this conference and found it so enjoyable and engaging that I felt compelled to share it with our members.
The conference takes place every year at Macalester College while it is closed for Spring Break and the free-range librarians can wander the charming campus at will for two whole days. Each day featured a morning keynote and each time slot housed eight interesting breakout sessions. The account that follows is not comprehensive, but highlights and takeaways from the sessions I was able to attend. In addition, Angela Vanden Elzen, Lawrence University’s Reference & Web Services Librarian and Assistant Professor, presented on her library’s makerspace and she generously provided us with an account of her presentation as well.
– Andi Coffin
Wednesday, March 15th
Keynote Speaker: Lauren Di Monte
Keynote speaker Lauren Di Monte is a librarian and data scientist who encourages librarians not just to learn and participate, but to lead the charge in adopting data science in our libraries and teaching data science principles to our communities. Incorporating data science in our work (such as in data preservation and technology adoption) and our programming (including STEM and maker programs) ensures open and accessible data for our communities in numerous ways by lowering barriers to access and knowledge, fostering interdisciplinary engagement, and developing an engaged community of practice.
OBLIque: A New Slant on Library Statistics
OBLIque is a tool developed by a former Boston College faculty member for the needs of and in partnership with the library staff at Oberlin College. OBLIque is a Window-based tool that allows analysis and transformation of any sort of data you can get in tabular form: acquisitions, circulation, cataloging, and on and on. This particular tool’s strengths is providing subject-based analysis because of its built-in support of Dewey and LCC. The project and resulting tool is a fantastic example of need-based local collaboration between librarians and computer scientists.
Getting Unstuck: A Collaborative Approach to Getting Started with Digital Preservation
This collaborative, consortium-driven approach to digital preservation among the Five Colleges of Ohio is an excellent story of how the members moved forward with their initiative despite institutional and collection differences. I was struck in this presentation by how many different opportunities there had been in their process to get permanently stalled, but each time a difference of opinion or differences in need arose, the consortium found ways to compromise, innovate, and continue to move forward.
What Happens after You’ve Set up an Academic Makerspace?
By Angela M. Vanden Elzen
At LibTech 2017, I had the opportunity to speak to a wonderfully engaged group about experiences from our first year running an academic library makerspace. The intention of the presentation was to provide colleagues with a realistic picture of the rewards as well as the challenges that come with managing a makerspace. It was great to share how we got our space, what’s in it, and some of the really cool projects that have been possible as a result of these new technologies. At the same time, it was cathartic to share some of the major challenges we’ve faced; maintaining enthusiasm, equipment repair and upkeep, and training, as well as some of the more minor challenges such as gathering and organizing statistics and learning 3D design. While honest, the session was not just an excuse to complain for an hour. My goal was to share these challenges along with the steps we’ve taken (or plan to take) to overcome them. For example, to counter the declining demand from faculty and rising demand from individual students, we’ve changed the focus of our space from faculty- to student-focused. The attendees at the session seemed happy to hear an honest, but still positive, report from our makerspace. While we may have come from different types of libraries, the questions and discussion made it clear that the challenges many of us face with makerspaces are similar.
Win-Win: Hennepin County Library and Hopkins Public Schools Join Forces
Another example of a fantastic collaboration in action! This partnership between a public school district and a public library has spawned a number of expanded services and opportunities to get books into the hands of kids. One way is the development of an afterschool program in which a pack of schoolchildren travels from school to the library in the “Fun Bus” for programs and other library resources. Another is the mass distribution of library cards to students, with a goal of 100%, each of whom has access to a tablet on which they can read books and store their library card number.
Interpreting Student Searches: Enriching Library Outreach through Search Query Analysis
From two campuses of Indiana University, this is an example of a very interesting approach to gathering data about both library catalog use and the library collection. From each campus, random samples of 1700 search queries were selected, standardized, classified with LCC, and aggregated. In addition to revealing interesting searching behavior and collection use, it provided an excellent opportunity to start a conversation with faculty about how their students were using library resources and how the library staff might better serve the information needs of the course. Also, this project created a partnership between the library and the digital humanities department, who developed visualization of the data that was gathered.
Thursday, March 16th
Keynote Speaker: Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier is a founding member of WeRobotics, an organization devoted to “robotics for good” across multiple sectors. During this presentation, Meier discussed dozens of ways that “digital humanitarianism” can help us respond to a disaster, monitor the environment, improve public health, develop expertise in communities, and generally enrich lives. This was a fascinating exploration: the potential of drones that fly and swim, gamers who create digital maps, robots that transport and record, and so much more.
Building an Ebook Platform from Scratch: Are You Daft?
Amigos Library Services, a Texas-based library consortium, endeavored to build their own ebook platform in response to a number of shortcomings, including licensing instead of owning content, among those available in the marketplace. The platform, eShelf, builds upon the previous efforts of Douglas County Library and Marmot Library Network and incorporates an open source library portal, VuFind. Despite growing adoption and continued efforts with publishers and developers, the project is unfortunately being halted in June due to ongoing expense, and Amigos is joining forces with Minitex to support SimplyE.
This session, from St. Cloud State’s Emerging Technologies Librarian, explored what it means to be an emerging technologies librarian and her role in discovering, researching, implementing, and supporting new technology adoption in her university. Among many other interesting things, attendees learned about a few publications to stay abreast of cutting-edge technologies that have the potential to affect the work of libraries and the expectations of its users, including the MIT Technology Review and OZY. A very interesting question was raised about how wedded to a particular technology such a librarian should be – if she doesn’t go far enough, the technology isn’t likely to be adopted even if it’s valuable, but if she goes too far, it may limit her ability to be open to better options as they develop.
Build a Better Survey: Develop Surveys that Really Tell You Something About Your Users
Ah, surveys! I love surveys. I love making them, thinking of just the right question and wording it in just the right way, and I love the results that are brief conversations between you and strangers that have the potential to offer insights you are too close to your services to see. In this very helpful workshop-style breakout session, UW-Eau Claire librarians shared their experiences developing their library’s surveys, including how to develop high-quality questions and when to know if a survey is a good way to get the answers you need (as opposed to other data sources like your ILS or focus groups). One new type of question I had not encountered before – and I’m excited to try! – is one in which you can gather emotional responses to a certain thing (let’s say, the library’s entryway) by asking respondents to select from a set of words they might use to describe it (warm, grand, stinky, chilly, industrial, modern, cozy, etc.).
Thank you for reading! I hope there were some new ideas or new approaches to old ideas here that can help you and your library continue to do the good work!
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