Author: Cynthia Ng

TRY 2012: Digital Signage at the Robarts Library (UTL)

This presentation actually not only talks about digital signage itself, but also the work culture change that happened in the systems department at UTL.

Presenters

  • Sian Meikle
  • Bilal Khalid
  • Graham Stewart

Good Signs Can Make a Difference

  • brief
  • consistent
  • easily read

Writing the Message

  • simple
    • reduce: punctuation, pictures, words
    • headline: 22 characters
    • body: 10-18 words
    • short URLs
  • brief
    • 5 seconds per slide
    • 8-10 seconds total
    • usually less is more
  • clear
    • call to action e.g. Chat with a librarian
    • photographs can be powerful
    • coherent design

I don’t know that I agree with all of these, but then it was clear that it depends on the size and distance of the sign as well as where it is.

Presenting the Message

  • Chunking
    • group things together
  • Coding
    • add headings
  • position
    • prime spots on a list: first and last get noticed the most

What Makes Digital Signage Different?

  • easy to update
  • can differentiate content by
    • time of day
    • audience
    • viewing time

What Users Say

  1. Help me make better decisions
    • chat with a librarian, workshops
  2. Save me time
    • maps: library, stacks, workstations
    • directories: by floor, service, name, library
  3. Show me something relevant to me
    • news, community content
  4. Tell me something new and interesting
    • exhibitis, events, news
  5. Give me ideas
    • collection highlights

This is not what their actual users were saying. These ideas were based on a talk done by someone outside of the library and the list here is how those ideas might be applied in a library setting.

Touchscreen Kiosks

  • PHP – CodeIgniter
  • jQuery
  • MySQL
  • Closed Environment – not open to the Internet
  • Javascript Keyboard

Interaction

  • Most Frequent Pageviews
    • since May 2011
    • Libraries & Hours
    • Robarts Directory
    • Workstations
  • User Feedback
    • Let me find a book
    • Let me access this information from my phone

What’s Next

  • catalogue search
    • entire catalogue available
  • StackMap
    • map of physical item location, with directions
  • Responsible Design
    • designed to be used on any device

This is interesting, because we’re working on something similar at our library and we were considering how responsive to make the site. Obviously, we need to seriously consider designing from desktop down to mobile.

Overhead Signage

  • 4 vertical screens
  • PHP + AJAX
  • Media Commons
  • JavaScript video player
  • Fishers Rare Book
  • screensaver

Features

  • auto refresh
  • detection of new content
  • remote control
  • ability to have different slideshows
  • control to switch between slideshows
  • control through phone

What’s Next

  • Scala software across all overhead screens
    • content regions e.g. time at bottom of screen
    • RSS Feeds to Drupal based on another content type
    • Scheduling e.g. times of day

Building Directories

  • one PHP + JavaScript page per vertical pylon (two vertical screens)
  • alternating event feed display (from Drupal, via AJAX)

Development – Devops Movement

  • focus on increase collaboration and cooperation
  • agile methodology applied to system administration
  • agile development and teams (self organizing, cross functional, quick daily meetings, open environments, face to face meetings, encourage input)

On System Administration

  • timeframes all shrink
  • web presence critical
  • software is developed much faster and changes are more frequent
  • massive growth in automation tools
  • growth in OSS: sharing and collaboration

Devops Goals

  1. Eliminate stereotypes
    • developers are careless, arrogant while sysadmins always say no and work all night
  2. Increase communicatin between developers, operations, and management
  3. Continuous systems improvement
  4. Break down barriers and silos
  5. Develop methods to encourage all team members to see the organization’s goals

Advantages

  • all staff use all their skills
    • diversity
    • use knowledge outside defined roles
    • roles expand
    • cross pollination
    • creativity
    • “many minds”
  • enhanced mutual respect and communication
    • greater trust
    • shared responsibility
    • everyone feels a sense of ownership over the end product
    • greater commitment to the product
    • everyone focused on the organization’s end goal
  • happier, move productive staff

Implementing DevOps With Digital Signange

  • operations and development involved jointly from the start
  • weekly full meetings and as necessary (often daily) with quick interrupts/one-on-ones for specific issues
  • fast code releases: several times/week
  • “many minds”
  • two screen display: one browser? 2 PCs?
  • disabling right click
  • URL shortening
  • Planning and execution
    • browser choice
    • OS choice
    • development options
    • design decisions
  • New and experimental project
    • innovative methods required

I thought it was interesting that they spoke a lot about the more technical aspect as well as development methodology. I think it’s a good lesson for a lot of library IT departments that agile development with integrated back and front end staff can be very beneficial, particularly because it makes more development faster and more flexible.

One of the things that came up during the code4lib conference too is that developers should have a small amount of time to work on whatever seems interesting to develop new tools or services.

TRY 2012: Library FAQ and Answers: Reimagining Email Reference

Presenters

  • Judith Logan – Robarts Library, UTL
  • Michelle Spence – Engineering & Computer Science Library, UTL

The Basics

  • LibAnwers: User Knowledgebase FAQ database powered by SpringShare
  • Contact Information if question not answered

Implementation

  • Designed to have one FAQ system per library, but too many libraries at UTL
  • 3 libraries grouped together: Gerstein, OISE, Robarts
  • launched Dec 2011

Training

  • relied on Springshare’s training materials and FAQ

Workflow

  • Questions come into system
  • => access & information staff member reads and answers questions
  • or assigns questions appropriate for other libraries/services
  • send on to specific library if needed

Guidelines and Best Practices

  • developed collaboratively
  • ensure questions get answered in a timely manner
  • ensure answers are up to date (each library check their questions)
  • tips for writing for the web
  • default settings/entering questions manually (private by default, so not in knowledgebase because frequently includes personal info)
  • applicable to all libraries (in most cases)

On Website

  • FAQ under Quick links
  • E-mail contact link now goes to submission form to cut down on spam
  • FAQ browse and search on Contact Us page
  • Library FAQs button under every Ask Us chat – widget includes tag cloud and contact info

Statistics

  • Knowledge Base Explorer that tracks public and private questions
  • Query Spy tracks user interaction with the system
  • Custom analysis queries

Typical Month

  • 57% find an instant answer
  • 13.5% receive an answer within one business day
  • 30% do not find their answer (successive queries or outside scope of FAQ service)
  • unanswered usually using the wrong search: searching for staff, database, or research question

Future

  • analyze query spy data further
  • integrate with other reference service vehicles
  • promote as a resource for staff
  • expand to suburban campuses and more St. George libraries
  • create workflow to maintain currency and accuracy of articles
  • enrich resources with multimedia (images & videos)

TRY 2012: Mobile Device Loans at the Library

Panelists

  • Mandissa Arlain – RULA
  • Monique Flaccavento – OISE Library, UTL
  • Ricardo Laskaris – YorkU Libraries
  • Fangmin Wang – RULA
  • Jenaya Webb – OISE Library, UTL

Loaning Device

  • Laptops
  • iPads (with covers & cables) at OISE
  • York also provides many other gadgets & accessories
  • most 4 hour loans (York 1-4 days), restricted to university community

Marketing

  • posters
  • social media: twitter, facebook, blog
  • LCD screens
  • website
  • branding of bags

Popularity

  • iPad > laptop at OISE
  • 12.5% of circulation stats at Ryerson
  • laptops & iPads at York

Security

  • sign waiver first time
  • replacement fee for losts
  • personal data cleared by deep freeze software once powered down
  • iPads cleared manually (~20 minutes each time) whenever returned
  • theft reported to security & IT
  • repairs sent to IT

Staffing Considerations

  • training sessions for staff including hands on experience
  • basic use and troubleshooting help
  • technical support & issues to IT
  • working group meeting to discuss issues
  • chargers with devices

Financial Support

  • education commons as pilot project at OISE
  • library itself & one-time funding from provost office to upgrade at Ryerson
  • library paid & some donations at York
  • apps purchased with gift card so as not to associate credit card #

Software & Apps Selection

  • laptop software same as what’s on desktop
  • productivity apps e.g. Dropbox
  • educational
  • preferred free, but some money to purchase apps

Age & Replacement Schedule

  • no formal refreshment cycle
  • mostly depends on budget, try to repair existing laptops
  • replacements determined by IT

User Feedback

  • informally, anecdotal
  • from student committee
  • studies planned for future: focus groups, survey

Future Directions

  • meeting demands, so unlikely to expand
  • no money to expand
  • future to encourage students to bring their own devices

 

How to Manually Update Firefox on MAC

I thought I’d put up this short post because I was having problems with this last week.

For whatever reason, Firefox would not update automatically through its update channel and was still stuck on version 9.0. So, I figured why not just manually install it?

When trying to update it, as usual, I dragged it into the Applications folder and tried to replace my existing one. Only to get this message:

The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items.

I unlocked the Firefox.app file and made sure I had proper permissions, but still got that error. When I wanted to look up a solution, my Firefox had ceased to work!

After much searching, I finally found a thread on the Firefox support forums that provided the simple solution: delete the old app (just the .app, don’t use an app cleaner) then drag the new one in.

I would’ve reported it, but I can’t seem to reproduce the problem now… maybe they fixed it.