Category: Events

including conferences and workshops

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

 

ARLIS/NA 2012: Designing for Diversity

This morning, I attended the ARLIS/NA 2012 Conference workshop on designing for diversity presented/facilitated by the OCAD Inclusive Design Research Centre. There was a lot of discussion on barriers and challenges with some discussions on solutions. Honestly, I’m not sure I learnt anything new, but there were some interesting discussions that happened.

IDRC

Goal: digital inclusion

All their projects are open source, and include:

  • Engage: museum vistor experiences
  • CollectionSpace: collections management system, primarily by museum
  • Decapod: document digitization
  • Floe: inclusion in open education resources
  • Fluid: inclusive user experiences, umbrella project
  • Tecla via Komodo

User Experience Examples

We started with a discussion of general examples of good and bad user experience elements in our own personal experiences.

Bad

  • cord tangle
  • lack of browser interoperability
  • inconvenient touch keyboard layout
  • lack of flexibility in filling out forms e.g. 2 last names, accents
  • downtime
  • having to relearn interface of new version
  • can’t link direct to article
  • lack of search features
  • locked font sizes on email
  • meaningless error messages

Good

  • responsive design
  • transparency
  • alternative interactions i.e. touch
  • augmented reality layer
  • switch languages
  • filter searching
  • free wifi
  • autologin
  • RSS
  • cloud sync e.g. dropbox
  • social bookmarking
  • bibliographic managers
  • citation linking
  • security
  • consistency

Barriers

With respect to inclusion, what are some of the challenges or barriers at visual-based libraries/collections, image management, or other related products, services, organizations?

  • facilities concerns (i.e. older buildings)
  • alternative formats e.g. descriptions for image collections
  • cost/resources
  • expertise
  • attitude/awareness
  • vocabulary, translation
  • non-standardized vocabulary, but standardized doesn’t work as one size fits all
  • arranging physical collections to make sense
  • equipment/software inflexible

User Focus

Think about the user’s

  • goals
  • abilities and needs
  • expectations
  • pain points/frustrations
  • physical/environmental context
  • workflow context
  • current solution (if it exists)

User Modelling

While no linear or checklist, there are some important steps including working out scope (hunting and gathering of what are the possible problems), and behaviours (what happens when you interact, what want to achieve). Always a constant iterative work.

Personas

  • fictional, archetypal profiling of groups of users
  • humanizes abstract users

User states & contexts

  • enumeration of the various states and contexts users might be in
  • much more granular understanding of users
  • e.g. sensory, dexterity, cognitive, communication

One Solution Fits All

No one solution fits all, but if you’re restricted to one solution, then the key is to make a:

flexible, configurable environment.

Case Example

One of the situations we discussed is the physical reference desk. While the goal is for the desk to be a welcoming place where people know that’s where they can get help, the desk is frequently a place where there is a big standing only desk, which can be uncomfortable, tiring, and inaccessible.

Solution? Possibly, separate desks for different types of questions, with double monitors and possibly double keyboards for more in-depth or look up questions.

Do we need the desk? Particularly for directional questions, perhaps a desk isn’t even needed. For in-depth reference, the suggestion is to have two chairs on the same side of a table.

Media Access & Media Accessibility

Captioning is important to compensate to audio (poor, noisy background, not allowed), to quickly browse a video, catch details, show correct spelling, support for ESL, accessible, and it’s compliant. Description is important for similar reasons.

Captions and transcripts could greatly help with searching of media as well.

Few Media Players & Internet Plug-ins

  • Flash (DFXP, QTText)
  • Quicktime (QTText, SMIL, tx3g subtitles, CC tracks/Line 21 braodcast captions)
  • Windows Media Player
  • Silverlight
  • VLC
  • Flow Player – fallback to non-flash video
  • NCAM Player – find feature
  • JW Player – fallback to non-flash video
  • Magpie – Windows Captioning
  • Capcat (s?) -MAC Captioning

Information & Resources: Inclusivemedia.ca

Future Tools

  • HTML5 video with track tag once built into browsers

Supporting New Librarians for Conferences & Events

While I admit that I have not gone to many library conferences, I thought I would reflect on attending my recent outing to Seattle.

Funding & Limitations

Fairly obvious, but it was important for me to know how many conferences I might be able to attend in a year. If hired as a permanent position, most librarians get a set budget for attending conferences and other events, but on contract, it’s a per-event approval process (as it tends to be at most institutions).

Based on what I heard from others, I think it is key to know what kind of policy administration usually has. I’ve heard from some that non-permanent full-time librarians get absolutely no funding, and even permanent full-time librarians sometimes have to wait 1-2 years before getting funding.

There is, of course, the choice of funding a trip yourself on your own time, but these costs can be prohibitive for new graduates or those with lesser financial means.

Choosing the Right Conferences

On a bit of a side note, I think it is also up to the individual to pick and choose what’s right for them. There are so many conferences being held all the time, it can be very difficult to choose. Being able to only choose 1-2 conferences in a year, I decided against the larger, more general conferences (such as CLA, ALA, or the provincial ones) because I felt that many of the sessions were just not relevant to my interests and position. Instead, I decided to focus on technology related conferences, namely Access and Code4Lib.

Other more local events, which only involves work time, with little or no fees and travel costs can help to supplement or be alternatives to larger events as well, especially regional versions of larger events. Once again though, depending on the policies of the organization, this might involve an individual paying their own way and using vacation time to attend.

How Can We Help?

One of the discussions I got involved with while in Seattle was, how can we help new graduates/librarians (and librarians in more restrictive positions perhaps) attend conferences?

While many conferences offer discounts on registration fees or free attendance for volunteers, registration fees are not usually that high (at least not at library conferences). Even airline tickets are fairly low cost when flying within the US (though admittedly to/from/within Canada can be quite expensive). What makes a trip prohibitive then is usually the hotel, which generally costs at least $100/night.

Then, what can be done to help with these costs?

  • Scholarships: many have student scholarships, which is great, but maybe they can be opened up or a couple can be made for those in need (who are not necessarily students) – it was the only reason I could attend Code4Lib this year
  • Roomshare/Rideshare: while we had this at Code4Lib, I’m not sure how well it was advertised (but then I got in late in the game). Maybe if it was advertised on the main webpage or somewhere in the registration process, a list of people willing to share can be generated.
  • Hostel Room: Similarly, facilitate a way for a group to get a hostel room together (while they might still be strangers, personally, I would not mind so much with fellow conference attendees as opposed to complete, possibly unfriendly strangers).
  • Ask Locals to Offer a Couch/Floor/etc.: I admit that this would be probably difficult for large conferences, but if locals could offer a place to sleep to those in need, I think it would be a great way to encourage new folks to attend. (Organizers can consider writing a simple guideline, such as only if a person doesn’t have any funding sources to attend.)

I’d love to hear other ideas, which might be passed on to conference organizers, especially for Code4Lib 2013.