LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 2017: PART TWO

Keynote Speaker: Patrick Meier

Patrick Meier started in digital humanitarianism with the 2010 Haiti tsunami. He created an app with volunteers from Tufts and crowdsourced information from the worldwide Haitian diaspora to make the most detailed map of Haiti ever, aiding relief efforts.

For the 2015 Nepal earthquake/tsunami, clouds were making it hard for satellites to see areas that needed help, so We Robotics sent drones in to take pictures. Local communities were taught how to program and repair the robots, learning new skills. Lakes could be mapped to warn of tsunamis in the future.

Book: Digital humanitarians : how big data is changing the face of humanitarian response.

Live Chat: Librarians Using Simple Technology to Provide Access to Justice (Social and Legal) to Patrons in Distress - Sheri Huppert, Minnesota State Law Library and Elvira Embser-Herbert, Minnesota State Law Library

Here are Ron P.’s notes for this session:

The people from the Minnesota Law Library gave a presentation on their chat services.   Of particular note are the two web sites they talk about--Minnesota State Law Library and LawHelpMN.  These two sites have a lot of information about various aspects of the law in Minnesota--particularly their Legal Guides, which explain in layman's' terms various aspects of individual legal problems and how to navigate the system, and their County Sheets, which list legal resources (free legal advice, etc.) available in individual counties.

Slides for this presentation are available here.

Look Ma, I'm on YouTube! Creating Impactful Library Tutorials - Stewart Van Cleve, Winona State University

I was unable to attend this session, but I’m bookmarking Carla Pfahl of Minitex’s blog post for when I need to create a video tutorial.

Slides for this presentation are available here.

New Tools for E-Publishing in Libraries - Matt Lee, Minitex and Andrea McKennan, MELSA

Minitex & MELSA are planning to offer Minnesota authors a platform for e-publishing using Pressbooks for formatting and Self-E for web hosting. Anyone can apply, there is just a screening for copyright issues.

That’s Pretty Neat: Free and Easy Resources to Boost Your Small Business and Entrepreneurship Programming - Nate Nins, Macalester College

Nate shared his list of top free websites for small businesses:

• Google Drive - has forms, word processing and spreadsheets. Works on mobile
• Zipbooks - free accounting app
• Hubspot Academy -free classes on marketing -registration is required
• Wix - easy to make a web site, no page limits - includes small adds, doesn’t include web hosting
• Freenom - free domain names - can sell your name with no warning, will charge if you get too much traffic
• Cyberplanner - security planning tips from the FCC - both physical & data security
• Small Business Trends - hot topics in small business world
• Local tools - find nearby tool lending libraries and rentals.

Links for this session are available here.

--Andrea H. and Ron P.

LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 2017: PART ONE

The Library Technology Conference for 2017 was once again full of interesting and useful content. This year SPPL was represented by the following sessions:

Innovation at Work: Artists, Entrepreneurs and Jobseekers in the Makerspace - Amanda Feist, Andrea Herman and Xenia Hernandez

Createch/SPNN: Partnering to Engage Youth with Media in Saint Paul Libraries - Erica Redden with contributions from Alaina Kozma

Here are some highlights from other sessions:

Circulating Laptops - Brent Palmer, Iowa City Public Library

In 2016, the Iowa City Library started circulating laptops for at-home use. IAPL has only one large branch downtown. They wanted to give more options to patrons who had trouble getting to the library or needed more computer time than 2 hours a day. According to Pew Research Center, 10% of Americans are "cell phone dependent" and 20% do not own laptops or PCs.

Laptops help patrons with important tasks that would be difficult to do on a mobile device:

• Applying for jobs
• Legal case documents
• Learning new skills
• Taxes

The library was deciding between Windows and Chrome OS due to ease of use and price point of $500, but decided Chromebooks were too hard to use without Internet access.

ICPL recently started circulating Wi-fi hotspots as well from Mobile Beacon. The price is good - $5 per hotspot, $10/month unlimited data, but the Sprint coverage can be spotty. They circulate iPads in-library only with apps geared to kids.

Brent’s tips for circulating laptops:

• Offer drop-in tech assistance.
• Teach patrons to save their work with Google Drive.
• Kiosks may lessen staff time, but they are very expensive ($33,000 not including laptops) and geared more to in-house circulation.
• Have a sturdy laptop case - they are moving to nylon as the faux-leather ones didn’t hold up.
• Use Clonezilla to save the desktop image & install on all computers so you can set the laptops back to a default with a simple "restore this laptop" button.
• Refresh the laptop upon return with a physical and software cleaning. Don’t check it in until the process is completed. Keep a copy of the disk image on every computer.
• Update software every few months. Place a hold on all the computers with a staff library card and update as they come in.

ICPL has had 301 laptop circs since March 2016 and only 3 laptops were not returned. One laptop had a cracked bezel, which they didn’t charge the patron for.

Slides for this presentation are available here

iLAB: Year One - Mary Wussow, Holly Carlson, Shawn Foster-Huot, Dakota County Library

ILab Year One:

Dakota County Libraries iLab, a makerspace for all ages, opened July 2016. Their use of desktop computers was decreasing, so they decided to repurpose their computer lab.

Steps to creating iLab:

• Created a team including Reference, IT, Circulation, Administration.
• Did lengthy research on the community including an environmental scan.
• Had a walk-through with Risk Management.

• Created a liability waiver and had legal department look at it.
• Sent out a Surveymonkey survey of the community for equipment ideas.

The Dakota County Library service area had an active quilting group, so they purchased a fabric cutter and quilting software. Digitization of photos and slides is also very popular. There are many homeschoolers, so they decided to make it an all-ages space that families can work in together.  

Learning teams were created for each activity. Teams were responsible for:

• Unboxing equipment
• Training staff
• Making user guides
• Making usage policy
  

They discovered that one size did not fit all when it comes to learning. Each team worked a little differently. 9-10 AM became a regular time for staff to meet and share tips.

The staff person in iLab should be able to get a patron started - if they need more help, Dakota County offers a “Book a Librarian” service.

What they have learned so far:

• Figure out who you are trying to reach.
• Get Administration & funders on board with your vision - align with agency goals
• The Makerspaces & the Participatory Library Facebook page has good equipment recommendations.
• Evanced Spaces is not ideal for booking equipment - patrons don’t always receive emails. They are looking for new software.
• Give up what you can to make it happen - certain tasks assigned to Westcott branch

were given to  other branches.

• Word of mouth is the most effective publicity.
• Avoid consumables - they get lost too easily (e,g., Legos).
• Avoid equipment that has risk to safety.
• Find out what you staff is  interested in learning.
• The NextEngine 3D scanner may have been too complicated for its cost.
• Made sure to have patron training on evenings and weekends.
  
  

Plans for Phase 2:

• Community partnerships
• Beyond the basics classes
• Volunteers

• Mobile Maker Kits

All of fears they had for issues coming up haven't occured - physical injury, damaged equipment, 3D printed weapons. They have been able to offer consumables for free so far, so they don’t have to charge patrons for mistakes. Patrons are saying they have come to the library for the first time in years.

Handouts are available here.

Photos are available here.

--Andrea H.