Author: dwakimoto

Geeky web fun for Friday

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! I thought today it might be nice to have a round-up of some fun and geeky web tools, you know, because it’s Friday and Fridays should be fun. (Or if you are really in weekend mode, just skip to the end of the post where you will find a fun video. Don’t worry, I won’t tell and there won’t be a pop quiz on the post next week. Promise.) So let’s get into some of the interesting and helpful stuff that has come up over the feeds lately. And yes, you can definitely use most of these tools for work in the library (or archives).

Lifehacker wrote a great post on the best language tools for geeks. A great resource to share with your library patrons and anyone in your life who loves language or is learning a new language and needs help with pronunciations.

For those of you who are inspired to get your own domain name, check out the five best domain name registrars. And for a great, fast, easy, and secure way to search for available domain names, check out domize.

Also falling under the umbrella of helpful to share with your library patrons, Lifehacker has issued its top 10 must have browser extensions: 2010 edition. This year’s edition has extensions for browsers other than Firefox making it infinitely more useful.

And while you are spinning around the web checking out the cool links above, don’t forget to head over to WebWorkerDaily to check out the article on EtherCodes: online collaborative code editing. Seems like it would be helpful, though I can definitely see it getting a bit crazy with a bunch of people trying to edit at the same time–but that happens any time there is group editing!

Oh, and in the category of not geeky per se, but just an example of good design, check out the volunteer-built website for the Lafayette Library and Learning Center (in California, not Louisiana). Not only does the Lafayette Library have an enviable physical building (I just toured the library with the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter of SLA and spent most of the tour alternately saying, “Wow” and “I’m so jealous.” It’s a beautiful space and I highly suggest a visit if you are in the Bay Area.), the library has a lovely, tranquil, and usable website. It’s color-coordinating, doesn’t use horrible fonts and there are no horrible flashing, animated GIFs. More libraries should take this simple, elegant approach to designing a usable website.

Finally, check out this great video clip from The Big Bang Theory because who doesn’t like a great big ball pit?

Enjoy your weekend, read a lot, and relax. But before I let you go, I have one last piece of information to share: it’s the Litbrarian’s birthday today. So if you are feeling in the spirit, go give him a birthday shout out on his blog or go say happy birthday via Twitter @litbrarian. That’s it for the public service announcement, I’ll be back next week with more library and geeky fun.

Middle of the Week Inspiration

/ dwakimoto / 1 Comment

Dear readers, it is a gloomy Wednesday morning here, so I thought we could all use a little inspiration for getting things done (especially as tomorrow is a holiday). With that in mind, I have a very short post on productivity, ending with an awesome video (courtesy of Hanna who wonderfully alerted me to its presence).

Do like Post-it notes? I happen to love them, as can be easily deduced from a quick look around my office. It should come as no surprise that I’m quite partial to this article, “If it won’t fit on a post-it, It Won’t Fit in Your Day” on managing your to-do list and getting things done. This is especially helpful for those of us who try to cram way too much into one day and feel a bit stressed when we don’t accomplish the 23rd item on our task list for the day. So say it with me, “Post-it to-do lists for the win!”

One of my favorite non-library blogs is WebWorkerDaily. I highly recommend subscribing to the feed if you don’t already. One of the recent posts is especially pertinent to any discussion about productivity: Top 3 Productivity Pitfalls Disguised as Work-Boosting Tools. I know for those among us that love what we do (and are probably slightly Type A by nature) could definitely do with taking at least some time off on the weekends from work. Give yourself permission to relax a bit and you’ll probably be more productive when you get back to work. Another tip: get over the myth of multi-tasking and just focus on one task at a time–you’ll get your work done faster.

Finally, not a tip on productivity, but just basic inspiration, check out John’s blog post over at Ink and Vellum on Getting back into Research Mode. (And, by the way, isn’t that a great name for a blog?) It’s a lovely post on the transitions John’s made from researching in the humanities to researching in the LIS field and a great read for those of us who are constantly researching and writing in this profession. And personally, I can definitely relate to needing to change my perceptions of research and translate my research skills when I began in the LIS/archives field; however, I came from a biological sciences background and not the humanities. Luckily, our field and profession is so interdisciplinary and broad that I think it is only strengthened by those of us coming from non-social science backgrounds who have chosen to apply our research skills to LIS/archival research.

Feel inspired to get up, get your Post-it to-do list finished, and start a research project? Or do you just really want that third cup of coffee? No worries, either way, let’s end with this fantastic trailer from TRON Legacy:

Have a great rest of your week and I’ll be back on Friday with some technology fun for the library.

Pressure and Burnout in the Library

/ dwakimoto

Happy Friday! I hope that you have a lovely weekend planned. But first we must all get through the last day of the workweek. And I don’t know about you, but I have been feeling a wee bit stressed lately. By the middle of the term I’m definitely fighting against not burnout exactly–more like an uphill battle against looming deadlines and lots of stress. Even if you are like me and love your job, some days it feels like “it just doesn’t pay to gnaw through the leather straps” (Emo Phillips). So today we’re going to define burnout, figure out what you can do to combat it, and then end with some Friday fun.

The wonderful Lifehacker recently published a great article on burnout and how to deal with it. Read it to get the facts about burnout (and have the ability to recognize burnout in yourself) and some tips on dealing with it (and more importantly, preventing it). Personally, I find that getting enough sleep, practicing yoga, and talking with friends helpful (saying no to pointless committee work whenever possible is definitely very helpful too).

Burnout and pressure go hand in hand, obviously. And while we can’t avoid all pressure-filled situations, we can understand 4 reasons why you choke under pressure and how to avoid them. Yes, this article is helpful even if you don’t participate in sports. Let’s be the people who are graceful and productive even under pressure because goodness knows that librarians are under enough pressure these days. What do you do to stay calm under pressure? I’d love to hear your tips in comments.

Speaking of (or really writing about) stress and libraries, check out 3 punk rock lessons for surviving 21st century library hell. I love this post; funny and informative. Take a break and read the post.

Hopefully some of the above articles will help you deal with stress and avoid burnout, but even with good advice reading about stress can be, well, stressful. So I thought we’d end the informative part of the blog with Seth Godin’s I spread your ideas because… post. It’s a great list of reasons why a person would spread information and ideas. It’s a great list of reasons why a person would try to build a community. And it’s a great list of reasons that we should consider whenever we are communicating with our patrons and thinking about services, marketing, programs, and design.

And finally, for some fun, check out this great video for Neil Gaiman’s Instructions, illustrated by the wonderful Charles Vess. (I’m almost positive I’ve shared it before, but it doesn’t hurt to share it again and the ending line is a perfect way to end a post about burnout.)

Have a wonderful weekend filled with good reads, good company, and good rest. The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library fun.

Internet Librarian Wrap-up

/ dwakimoto

Internet Librarian 2010 wrapped up on Wednesday and it was a great conference. It was wonderful meeting people in person that I have been following on Twitter or reading about their ideas via their blogs. There were many fantastic presentations (some of which I’ve already written about) so today I just wanted to write a little bit about some of the recurring themes at the conference.

Community
One of the overarching themes of Internet Librarian 2010 was the importance of community. Whether John Blyberg of Darien Public Library was discussing how the library stayed open very late to provide people a place to go when there was a snowstorm knocked out power to most of the town, or Jody Turner telling us how getting attention for our organizations requires us to be empathetic and social, community was the strong concept that tied together much of what was talked about at the conference. I was reminded again and again of Seth Godin’s book, Tribes (excellent book, by the way) while listening to the sessions; we need to not only understand the tribes, as Mike Ridley said, but we need to become part of the tribes and make librarians integral via fostering community.

Community was also evident in the interactions among the librarians, both those physically present in Monterey and those linked in via Twitter, blogs, the virtual conference, and other social media information streams. It was great to be around so many passionate, creative, and knowledgeable librarians. I had a blast, and yes, being recognized as The Waki Librarian was one of the highlights of the conference for me (it’s nice to know I’m not sending out these posts into the abyss without anyone reading them.)

Innovation
Obviously, we come to Internet Librarian to hear about innovation and all the creative, wacky, successful (or not) projects and programs that our fellow librarians have created and implemented. It was amazing and very useful to hear about not only the successes but the failures of innovation at this year’s conference so that we can help each other move forward instead of using up our limited resources by re-creating the wheel at our separate institutions.

I hope we can all take back this spirit of innovation to our organizations and create more wonderful projects to share next year.

Design
There were many wonderful talks on the importance of design in creating an awesome user experience (UX). As a bit of a geek when it comes to design, I was excited to hear all about branding, typography, and designing both for the built environment and the online environment. Beauty is not just for beauty’s sake, but because it makes the experience in our libraries better for our patrons/users/collaborators/participants/selves. If you are passionate about design, I highly suggest checking out the Before & After magazine website for tips, tricks, and advice on design.

Mobile Web
With the Mobile Monday track, sessions and information about mobile content, resources, and design dominated much of the conference (with good reason). Mobile is definitely one technology that no one can ignore without seriously bad consequences for their organizations. I learned a lot from the sessions on mobile technologies and one of the themes within this track was that we should focus on designing and creating content for the mobile web rather than standalone apps that are specific to a device. Not only does this focus in our design and efforts save us time, but, as was mentioned in one session, more librarians can probably code for the web versus for apps. So go Team Mobile Web! (And hopefully I can get my colleagues to buy into this idea as we work towards optimizing our site and services for the mobile world.)

Conclusion
Internet Librarian was filled with wonderful people, great sessions, and more information than anyone can process in a few days. Hopefully more insights and conversations will continue to be shared even though the conference is over.

Have a fantastic Friday and a lovely weekend filled with reading and relaxing. The Waki Librarian will be back next week with more library and technology fun.

Getting to Yes with Senior Administrators

/ dwakimoto

A conversation with Rebecca Jones (managing partner, Dysart and Jones) and Frank Cervone (Vice Chancellor for Information Services and CIO, Purdue University Calumet) about what will influence administrators to okay your ideas and projects.

Assumptions are your boss:

  1. Isn’t crazy
  2. Isn’t completely clueless about technology
  3. Isn’t a trained monkey

In most cases, people are in decision-making roles because they are competent. Frank says the majority of his time is spent on issues that are university-wide issues and not specific to the library or IT.

You need to give a clear vision of what you want to do and how you are going to get there. Therefore, you need to understand your boss and his/her issues. Make your initiative align with larger goals and priorities of the organizations.

Decision-makers are individuals: each with their own priorities, communication preferences and assumptions. Figure out who are the decision-makers, what type of relationship you have with them, their priorities, and their preferred communication styles.

You also need to understand how you express yourself. You need to understand how other people perceive you. Body language is as important (if not more) as verbal communication.

“Listening is not waiting to talk.” Listening is a critical skill to use and is an active task (not to mention an art).

“You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time” J.S. Knox

Some things to avoid:

  • Surprises are always a bad thing: never blindside anyone
  • Hiding and hoarding information will not make you anyone’s friend: this doesn’t get you power, it breeds hostility, stress, and distrust
  • Cowardly lions aren’t very useful: if you don’t speak up in the meeting, don’t whine after
  • Don’t be a yes person: bring up the issues in a constructive way
  • No one wants to be around an erupting volcano: need to know how much detail to give; know your audience (also, don’t be angry all the time)

What to do:

  • Stick to objective facts: opinion undermines the whole argument, but if asked for your opinion, give it in a constructive, fact-based manner
  • Be clear: know what your objective is and what you want out of the interaction
  • Be proactive: this helps with communication issues
  • Present solutions, not problems: never go into a meeting with a problem you don’t have at least one solution to fix
  • Give options: give multiple options to fix a problem and the preferred option
  • Don’t destroy your credibility: trust is super-important
  • Follow through: make sure you do what you say you will do
  • Respect people’s time: end meetings on time; make sure everyone understands why they are there and what needs to be accomplished; don’t waste people’s time; make sure people are prepared for the meeting
  • Make others look good: this will help you get to yes on what you want to get done
  • Admit to your mistakes: get it out in the open and deal with it

If you get told no, ask what is in the way of getting to yes. Ask how you can get them to yes.

Summary
This talk was basically Communication 101 with some good tips about what to avoid and what to do when you want to get approval for projects and initiatives.

Planning & Designing for Attention: Now & Next Generation

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by Jody Turner (design and culture trend spotter)

How do we leverage people’s need to connect in order to stay vital in the changing information landscape? We must recognize the very human desire to belong to a community.

“Beauty is a great thing, but we want to be at the beginning of the line.”

Librarians are at the beginning of the line–how do we leverage this position?

We have an information glut. Librarians give value to the information because people need context and “smart” information. “Need information that will feed the soul.”

We are feeders of information to many groups/generations. Focus on humanity and balance.

New model, “Be who you are and figure out what happiness/having is for you.” People redefining who they are and what they want/what is important. “Data is the new social capital.”

New framework: Social Capital
Empathy=Innovation= 360 Degree Design
It is about culture in order to reconstruct community. People want to belong.
“I like to think outside the quadrilateral parallelogram.” (love this)

As content curators, it is about bringing people together in meaningful interactions. Everything is about connecting and community.

Trends

  • Collective Craft Intelligence: we want to come back to touch and creation (it’s a maker’s world)
  • DNA of Community: people need human community connection in order to excel
  • Knowledge Evolution: self-responsibility for learning, lifelong learning

Success for planning to get attention: from DreamCompany.dk

  • Engage the SenseMakers: they make everything make sense; use words to capture what is happening and make sense of trends for others, Trend Watching (Right/Intuitive brain)
  • Need the Factuals: down to earth, statistic-driven researchers (Left/Creative brain)
  • Innoventors: outlaw creative, innovative, stand outside and willing to take action to create a shift (Left-Right)
  • Connected Community: willing to support and amplify your vision/passion

Need a mission statement. Important because it is your center/rudder to stand tall even with all changes in the world. “Design for betterment.” There should be a transparency in your own personal message in order to have people believe and follow you. (Check out the books: Unstuck, The Art of Innovation, A Whole New Mind, Baked In, The Power of Pull)

Online Attention: 4 Basics: Story of You, Story of Us, Story of Me, and Story of We.
Trend of reductionism: Cult of Less. Minimize the amount of tech gear you have by combining functions in one gadget (i.e. smartphones).

Trend toward online education. (This is more about changing the philosophy of teaching and pedagogy, from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side.” You don’t have to be online in order to foster lifelong learning and collaborative learning.)

Curation happens with experience and information–it’s about how you put things together in new and unique ways.

Trend: Infographics
Visualizing and displaying information in graphics–very cool.

Summary
We need to focus on humanity and balance in order to give information that is meaningful for individuals who are part of many social groups. People want to belong. Don’t market to create a need, market to create community.

How to Use Design Thinking to Enable Innovation in Your Workplace

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Explanation of design thinking and applying it to libraries.

Talk by:
Kim Silk Data Librarian, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
Jeffrey Veffer, Partner, Brandsential

What is Design Thinking?
Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO basically came up with this concept. Think like a designer–think about problems in a different way. Resist the urget to jump to the solution right away. Look at the problem in front of you and the solution will present itself.

Design Thinking and Innovation
Creativity: The process of having orignial ideas that have value
Innovation: Applied creativity!
by Sir Ken Robinson (great speaker–can see his talks on TED)

Need an innovative approach to looking at problems.

Designer Personality Profile: empathy, integrative thinking (hold opposing ideas in mind at same time), optimism (even when things are looking dire), experimentalism (willing to try something new and try multiple avenues), collaboration.

Kim thinks that the personality profile of a designer is very similar to personality profile of information professionals/librarians.

Design is not a linear process–it is more cyclical and rambling (kind of like Doctor Who’s explanation of time).

Design Thinking in Business and Libraries
“Roger Martin has been leading the charge to apply Design Thinking in the business world.” Design is about the entire experience. Good example is Apple: people buy experiences, not just products.

In libraries, design thinking= focusing on the user experience. Need to have great spaces, great services, and great products. Need to rethink the design of spaces; spaces affect how we feel in the space.
Also need to think about design online. Example: creating online browsing of materials, using book covers and titles so users can have the experience “looking through the stacks.”

Think: Design + Creativity
Use exercises to “trick the brain” into thinking creativity. Ex. random word associations
Exercise: How can we improve services to Millenials?

  1. Words: Umbrella, rain, shade, overarching, lost, collapse, cover, colorful
  2. Associations: now have to find associations with the words. Ex. Overarching is about caring/everything together
  3. Bring it back to the problem: How can we provide caring, one-to-one relationships with Millenials? Get feedback and then it could develop on an organic basis.

Worry less about content; provide an awesome user experience. Create an environment where we are welcoming, enjoy our work, and are innovative.

It’s not about the library, it’s about the librarians and the participants.

Questions

Other exercises?
Concept extraction: What makes Lexus a great car company? Figure out a concept and then figure out how you can apply that concept to your problem. Could also read the book, Innovation Games.

How do I introduce these approaches without seeming gimicky?
“Stealth design thinking”: Do it yourself! You don’t need to take it to a meeting to present; try to open your own mind to new ways of thinking and then you can spread it once your ideas take hold. You must be gentle when introducting design thinking because it goes against the grain (i.e. lots of people don’t like change so you have to be stealthy about introducing new concepts).

Summary
We are all designers. It’s a good time to think more about creating fabulous user experiences and less about content.

Mobile Reference in a Changing Library

/ dwakimoto

The use of texting is increasing. How do libraries leverage this technology successfully? Librarians need to seriously think about starting to offer text reference service for their users.

My Info Quest
by Ann Ownes, Sacramento Public Library

My Info Quest was started by a grant and is run by librarians–it is collaborative. Texting is increasing in use, while talking on cell phones is decreasing. Goal is to be 24/7 but right now open for text reference about 65 hours a week.

How does it work?
Users send a text, Altarama translates into an email and send it to Gmail, and then send an email that is translated into a text for the user. Do not answer legal or medical questions. Gmail account for the texting service looks exactly like a regular Gmail account.

Sacramento Public Library used a QR Code on the website that users could scan and it would add the phone number for the texting service to their phone’s contacts list. (This is a fantastic use of QR Codes.)

Have created a Google Group that is active to share information among the librarians and an iGoogle Reference Workspace. Great feature of the workspace is the character counter that librarians can use to make sure that their messages are not longer than 160 characters. Also they make use of link shorteners. Use Google Calendar to see who is assigned to which shifts.

Is it being used?
Yes. Answered over 8,400 questions since launch in July 2009. Largest user group is from Oklahoma City (Sacramento is second).

What we learned

  • Text reference has the same problems as a physical library
  • we can’t assume users’ phones are web-enabled
  • it takes talent to craft a good answer in 160 characters
  • text reference fills a need and many participants will remain on a paying basis in 2011: going with a different vendor (Text a Librarian) in 2011

SMS Landscape
by Ann Schoenenberger, Kenton County Public Library

Text messaging is second most popular thing to do on a cell phone (taking a photo is the most popular), from Pew Internet study.

Businesses are creating services around texting: ChaCha, kgb (charges $1/question), Google SMS, etc.

Library options: Text a Librarian, QuestionPoint, twilio, AltaRama, Agent511, Microsoft Outlook SMS.

People want answers, not instructions or keyword searching, in mobile reference (especially with text reference).

Lots of research is coming out now on text reference. Dr. Lili Luo from SJSU is doing research into text reference so be on the look out for her articles.

People ask questions via IM and text reference that they wouldn’t ask in person. Sometimes you get goofy questions (just like at the reference desk) or rude questions. Favorite goofy question: “If a taco and a hot dog got in a fight, who would win?”

Action steps:

  • Try it for yourself (309-222-7740 for My Info Quest)
  • Help put libraries in people’s pockets
  • Encourage people to use text reference services
  • Tell your story

You can go to @smsbib to get articles referenced in the talk.

Question:

Why changing from AltaRama to Text a Librarian?
Had a vendor fair in July and listened to presentations, libraries discussed it and had a vote. They liked the interface a lot and there was the cost issue–got a great discount.

Who staffs the texting service?
Has to be someone who is not on the physical reference desk. Having a collaborative allows even smaller libraries to have a text referencing service.

Summary
Having texting reference service allows librarians to tap into an existing workflow for many young people. The use of texting is increasing so much that it would be foolish for librarians to not at least consider implementing text reference.

Applying User experience (UX) Design

/ dwakimoto

Presentation of two libraries, Darien and Eastern Kentucky University, that have successfully applied user experience (UX) design to improve services and design new, innovative services.

Darien Library UX
by John Blyberg, Assistant Director, Innovation & UX, Darien Library

User experience design is kind of a nebulous term–still discussion about what it means. UX encompasses customer service, but they are not equivalents–it is one of the experiences we need to think careful about designing.

It’s not about the content; it is about the people. (Yay!) Need to think about Digital Natives, changing relationships with technology, and changing perceptions of libraries. People are using libraries differently.

Library as place is a very important concept: library as a third place. Need to think about the design that will enable the library to be a third place by building community. It’s about designing spaces that are flexible and have the possibility to become what the users want.

Think about the space in new ways. The purpose is to build a space that allows people to be more connected to their community. It’s also about designing a space for reading, studying, researching.

Need to look at where we should be putting our resources. Play to strengths–don’t try to compete with Netflix–play to what you do well in the communities.

Build efficiencies around moving materials, making sure all patron interactions/transactions work well, and the technology works. Natural use of technology is part of user design as well. A lot of time was spent designing OPAC (created the open source SOPAC); users create profiles and can tag and review the materials in the catalog.

Signage is very important! “Signage is a pet peeve.” Darien doesn’t allow paper signage. Why do we put up signage? Because we don’t want to deal with the problem directly or don’t know how to deal with the problem. If people want signs, it goes to a study group that figure out another way to solve the problem that doesn’t involve quiet signage. Need to look at expectations and come at the problems from another angle. “Signage is almost always indicative of another problem.”

“It’s amazing what will come back to you if you trust your users.” Create an atmosphere of trust–but the latest hot gadgets don’t hurt either.

We need to see ourselves as an essential service.

We need to get rid of silos and all work together.

Darien Library’s staff is doing awesome work, but also has a huge advantage of being well-funded. However, a lot of these concepts can be applied to less well-funded libraries.

For great UX, hire self-motivated, creative, energetic people and trust them to do the work and don’t micro-manage them.

While signage is annoying, branding is essential. Need to have a consistent brand.

UX @ EKU
by Cindi Trainor, Library Technology, Eastern Kentucky University

UX is “about the pure joy of the simple things”; you know where you need to go, can find what you want, and can do what you want to do.

EKU has an Online UX team, created by combining two other technology committees. Have as much Public Services representation as possible because Public Services actually interacts with the public.

Redesigned SFX (OpenURL link resolver) to make easier to use and to include more services. EKU also has an Usability Team–uasbility testing on catalogs and website redesign. Also has a LibGuides group: created template for guides so there is consistency. Also a web design group that analyzes and upgrades the website. They have good IT support from university too (lucky!).

EKU has gone to a single desk staffing model (circulation and reference are at the same desk). This makes it easier for the users: only one desk to go to no matter what your question is at the library. Also rethinking library instruction to make it as good as the teaching in the other disciplines.

EKU, like Darien, has put a lot of thought into the design of the physical and online library space. It shows in their innovative use of space and design of online services.

Summary
It’s all about designing with the user in mind= user-centric design. Try to think sideways to solve problems creatively. Think about design and how it will help your users. Signage is often bad (very bad), so figure out a way to deal with problems or issues without putting up more signage. Again, figure out what your users need and want to determine how to best design, deploy, and optimize services.

Innovation, iPhones, & Paging!

/ dwakimoto

An Agile Approach to Library IT Innovations
by May Chang: Head of Library IT Services University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Article will be published in an upcoming issue of Library Hi Tech. (If this is disjointed it is because May Chang talks faster than Megan Fox!) The situation: lagging behind in development and innovations, limited resources, lots of students. Only thing she had control over was software project management.

Use predictive approach (i.e. Waterfall) good if low uncertainty
Adaptive (i.e. Agile) good for high uncertainty, “beta mode” thinking, working software is more important than documentation (Ach! From an archivist’s perspective.)

She picked Agile project management approach: read more via the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Used Crystal methodology: “Crystal is a family of methodologies because every project is slightly different and has needs of its own.” You can read more about Crystal methodologies via Alistair Cockburn’s book, Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams. (aka “Google approach,” just get the product shipped in beta and then fix it) Also used mind maps for brainstorming and designing.

Products Learning spaces promotion, digital dashboard and digital dashboard mobile for IT operations, QR Codes, campus tour via augmented reality

Roving Reference & Patron Notification
by John Blyberg, Assistant Director for Innovation and UX, Darien Library

Re-envisioning patron service. Opened a new building in January 2009. In old building, say that reference stats were going down, circulation of materials were increasing. (Reference=knowledge and information services at Darien) The staff was concerned about people not using information services at the library. Nature of the way space was being used was changing as well as a changing demographic. During the day had traditional adult users, but after school a lot of teens came to the library.

Wanted to use a roving reference model: get out from behind the desk and go look for people to help in the stacks, in the learning commons, etc. Instead of “defending the desk,” getting out and being proactive about helping patrons. Wanted to change the experience of the user at the library (break down the barriers between librarians and patrons). Wifi makes this possible (huge investment in the wireless infrastructure of the new building); all parts of the building have wireless access (this if fantastic). Experimented with netbooks, wireless phones (VoIP) for roving reference. But it didn’t work really well because “librarians like to wear skirts and they don’t have pockets.” Now have remote desktop access via OPACs (virtual desktop) which is easier to use than a netbook (and you don’t have to carry a lot of stuff which is annoying if you don’t have lots of pockets).

But how do you find the librarians when they are “roving”? Patrons needed to know how to find the librarians. Wanted an “easy” button. Looked into different technologies: pagers (but need a network plan), Vocera (good for staff to staff communication, but not what they wanted), restaurant pagers (but it was a reverse of what they wanted to do), LifeAlert (tested it, but wasn’t a good workflow).

Opted for an easy button: needed it to be easy, use existing tools, fit into workflow, effective, reliable, and fast. They bought touchscreens for the desks and have a screen that says “Touch Here for Assistance” that patrons can use when there isn’t a librarian at the desk. Just touching the screen pages a librarian. Decided to use notify.io for notification “router”: it is free to use and you can download it to host it on own servers. Can send notifications via IM, email, and Prowl/Growl. Gave librarians iPads and iPod Touch running Prowl so that librarians could be notified when not on the desk. It shows information about where the patron is located and a link to click to notify the patron via the touchscreen that a librarian is coming to help the patron.

Had a service model in mind (stats showed the model was working) and then dedicated development time to make the model work better. Service models should meet user needs.

Major props: Code will be available open source for other libraries to use in the near future.

Summary
May Chang’s presentation: Very interesting models and methods for increasing speed of software development and efficiency of project management, but way too fast to summarize yet alone internalize or interpret information. I highly recommend reading the Library Hi Tech article when it is published.

John Blyberg: It’s about being agile and adaptable to changing needs–think outside the box about reference. This is such a fantastic way to deploy a roving reference model and a great way to respond to patron needs.