Final Thoughts from IL2009

When I first read the preliminary program for Internet Librarian 2009, I made a few mental notes about which sessions were going to be of the greatest interest for me.  First and foremost, I wanted comparisons of CMS open source programs so I could move ahead in planning for one at our Library.  Second on my “must attend” list was the Track on mobile platforms for Libraries.  Learning more about the role of digital photographs in a library setting was of great interest to me as was the topic of mashups. 
I attended all of the sessions I had listed as well as others that proved to be highly entertaining as well as informative.  Did I come away with all of the data I had hoped to obtain – no, not even close, especially in the area of CMS.  But I have enough parts of the puzzle to start planning new strategies in determining which system we’ll use.  In the meantime, I want to move ahead with inserting a mashup or two in our existing web site to make it more user-friendly.  On the mobile end of things, I discovered that we can’t just try to “squeeze” our current webpage into a micro version.  With mobile, it’s a whole new ballgame and we have a  chance to make the page correctly to start with – with fewer graphics, only essential text, and the ability to perform tasks with the fewest keystrokes.  I walked out of the Digital Photographer Boot Camp with a renewed enthusiasm to complete our Libs365 project on Flickr, even if it’s a bit late – but better late than never.
In addition to the individual sessions, I learned so much from other librarians I met in informal settings thoughout the conference.  I was able to get together with a former PDL intern who was attending IL2009 for the first time.  And, of course, I enjoyed the beautiful setting of Monterey and the sea lions.

Day 3, IL2009 -Mashups for Library Data with Nicole Engard

I was looking forward to hearing Darlene Fichter as part of this presentation on Mashups, but Nicole did a supurb job all by herself in explaining mashups and showing how they can be used in a library setting. She first defined the term Mashup as a “web application that combines data from more than one souce into a single integrated tool.”

Types of Mashups –
Mapping 35%
Photo 10%
Shopping 9%
Video 8%
Search 8%
Travel 6%
Social 6%

Mashups & Libraries: why?

Provide better services to our patrons
Added value to our websites and catalogs
Promoting library services where the patrons are
It’s a learning experience – and we never turn down learning experiences!

Mashups & Libraries: How?

Ask vendors for APIs
Mashup library data with popular web services
Put your library and your library data out there whenever possible
Create RSS feeds for library content.

What kinds of mashups for Libraries can we use? – - simplest mashup – location mashup – tool on Google Maps website that will generate the code for you.

Collections on Flickr – share your collection on Flickr and then bring it into your website.  http://flickr.com/commons
Read Flickr’s api page !!

Website Mashups – Join any service with an RSS feed – blogs, wikis, flickr, calendars, bookmarks, etc.

Among the tools Nicole discussed was Yahoo! Pipes.  Although I’d done some very basic work with Pipes before, Nicole showed us some very interesting things we can do with this free tool.  Delicious.com is another site that is easily able to be used in library-related mashups, especially in compiling unique resource pages for our patrons.  It seems like it’s much harder to turn our OPACs into mashups because of the proprietary nature of the systems and the difficulty in getting the APIs from our individual vendors.  We need to be pro-active in working with our OPAC vendor to get the data needed to create mashups to better serve our users.
I thought Nicole Engard made mashups easy to understand and gave us some examples of these applications not just for work but also for fun!

Day 2 – IL2009 – Dreaming, Designing, & Using Mobile Library Platforms

Mobile Technology for Libraries was the topic for an entire Track on Day 2.  The morning was taken up with a great panel discussion including Tom Ipri, Jason Griffey, Toby Greenwalt, Jason Clark, Matt Benzing, Christa Burns and Michael Sauers.  Christa and Michael started off the session with a quiz for all of us.  We had to guess which tasks Michael and Christa accomplished using a mobile device vs. using a laptop.  As it turned out, everything they had to do regarding the conference over the past two days they were able to do from a mobile phone.  After this humorous warm-up, the other panel members each touched on different aspects of Mobile Platforms in a library environment.

Getting a Second Chance at a First Impression – Tom Ipri   www.slideshare.net/tombrarian

Mobile Devices – another paradigm shift
Let’s not screw up again like many libraries did with web pages.
No crappy mobile sites made from our crappy web sites!
Libraries need Feedback from their patrons before starting:
            Should there be a site?
            What should be on the site?
            What is realistic?
            What is best for YOUR population?

Mobile device will be primary connection tool to the Internet by 2020.

Considerations
            Mobile web is mobile
            Transactional not browsing (DO things)
            Very different devices are being used today – screen size, input, poor curser control
            If web text is brief, mobile text should be uber-brief
            Simple navigation
            Even good connections are slow
            Essential Information only – skip the large graphics

 Mobile web of 2009 = desktop web of 1998
             Average mobile success rate – 59%
             Better the phone, better the success rate
             Touch phones: 75%
             Smart phones: 55%
             Feature phones: 38%

Mobile – the future!  Jason Griffey 
            What we can expect in the next 18-24 months:
                    3G is now – cellular protocol.  5mg/second on iPhone
                   4G is coming:
                             WiMax  10megabits/second but has huge coverage
                             LTE 100megabits/second – top is 300 megabits/second – always on 

Future of Content:
            Text – reasonably easy
            Audio – also reasonably easy
            Video – also reasonable easy – copyright issues must be addressed in all of these.

            Augmented Reality – new kind of media – type of virtual reality – gives you realtime information about where you are at the time.  Layar is an example.  Hold your phone up and it queries the thing you’re pointing at.

            Local libraries have unique archives that would be great in augmented reality.  Only we have those kinds of archives.

            Library patrons often don’t really know what they want.  We have to push the boundaries of what these new tools will do.

            Clay Shirky – “Tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.”

These are but two of the many informative presentations done in the morning session.  What was stressed in each of these talks was to find out what sort of mobile phones our target audiences are actually using now.  Also, rather than try to shrink our existing web page into a small format, we need to totally RE-THINK a mobile library application.  Strip out all non-essential items, especially graphics which will slow down the process.  Forget about browsing.  Mobile users want to find specific information such as library hours, directions, phone numbers, and if a book is currently available.

Day 2, IL2009 – Libraries of the Future – Places of Desire – Paul Holdengarber interviewed by Erik Boekestejin

  After Day 1’s lively Keynote intervew of  Vint Cerf by Paul Holdengarber, we all eagerly awaited today’s Keynote.  This time the tables were turned and Paul Holdengarber was interviewed by Erik Boekestejin.  The program started with a video of Erik talking to Paul inside the New York Public Library.  It then went live with the two men entering our room and taking their seats for the interview process.  Following are some of the excerpts and snippets from this interview. 

Paul’s  goal is to make the lions roar – “to oxygenate the NY Library.”

He believes in the friction of dialog.

Dr. Holdengarber wants to make the library a lively place for exchange of ideas.

There is a direct connection between being interesting and having interests.

Sometimes meeting people in the flesh can be a great disappointment.  Just because you can write well doesn’t mean you can speak well.

Reading is a private experience, not a group activity.

Gaming in a library environment can be one thing among many.  Sometimes the desire to get a young audience at all costs might be a bit desperate.  Does gaming lead to another activitiy?

In discussing his very successful programming at NYP, Paul had these suggestions for all libraries - 
 - You need more than just to have a program – have a HAPPENING!! 
 - In smaller libraries, get to know your audience.  Surprise them from time to time.  Get to know about their tastes. 

The time just flew by with the live interviewing intersperced with short videos.  I actually hated to see the lively and humorous exchange of ideas come to an end.  For more information on LIVE from NYPL, see their website – http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/pep/index.cfm.

Day 1 – IL2009 – Super Searcher Shares: Search Tips Spectacular! Mary Ellen Bates

www.batesinfo.com/IL2009

Mary Ellen jumped right in with high energy to do this annual IL favorite!  In direct contrast to the previous speaker, Mary Ellen actually likes Twitter and sees searching possibilities.  She feels thatTtwitter is just like the web and like blogs – lots of noise, but the 140 characters limit the tweet to only important words.   You don’t bloviate on Twitter!  She then went on to highlight other search tips :
 - Wolfram/alpha
  Search-and-compute engine
  Works with factual queries
  Indexes “systematic knowledge”  data
  What is amazing is what it DOES with the data – makes data visible.
  Patrons want “added value” – more than just Google.

-  Google Squared
Works for categories of things
Generates table of facts.
You can edit this table.
Visualization is worth 1000 words.
 You can export this to an Excel Spreadsheet!!

 -  Search Cloudlet   (Customized google as an add on for Firefox)
 Tag/site/TLD cloud of results.
You can modify your search quickly.
Works on both Google and on Twitter.
http://Getcloudlet.com

-  Google News Timeline
 Skim the news by timeline – just particular days
Hyperlinked version of FastFlip

-  Google Domestic Trends
Visual display of CSEs of Google Insight
 Tracks search queries over time.
Compare search terms with sites
 http://Google.com/domestictrends/

-  One of Mary Ellen’s “can’t do without” sites is http://reQall.com –
Call a phone #, IM, email, text to reQall and leave a message.
Receive transcribed message in any medium
            Organized by categories
           dates/times, buy, note, meet, ask/tell/remind
            Time, Things, People

Mary ELlen left us with one final great tip – although not for the web.  It’s {MS} Office Tabs.  With this small app, you can create tabs in MS Office applications.  Find this at http://Bit.ly/2saSe

Internet Librarian 2009, Day One – Opening Keynote

In years past, the opening Keynote talks have served to energize and set a tone for the rest of the conference.  This morning’s event was no exception!  Rather than a one-person presentation, we were treated to an interview of Vint Cerf , VP & Chief Internet Evangelist, Google by Paul Holdengraber, Director, Public Programs, N.Y. Public Library.  At times, the exchange seemed like a duel of wits, often funny but always thought-provoking.  Among the more memorable moments of this exchange are these:
-  Googol was original spelling and referred to a mathematical term – Lawyers misspelled it by accident and incorporation papers were filed as Google.  Rest is history.
-  Only 25% of world’s population is online now.   We still have to help the rest of the people  with how to use it .
It’s  early in the evolution of this system.  Internet still has 99% of its possibilities to be discovered.
- Our culture is tending towards brevity which suggests shallowness.  Born Digital talks about this.
-  Bit rot problem – as we build up more and more digital archives, what good is it if the mechanisms used to create them are no long around.  Older files may no longer be properly interpretable.  What good is it to preserve bits if we have nothing to play it on?  Cloud Computing may well be an answer to this problem.
-  Google would like to see some common standards arise for electronic texts/e-books.  Concerned about rights that you may or may not have with ebook texts.  Unlike paper books, you can’t loan them, give them away, sell them etc.
-  Don’t expect traditional books to disappear.  Certain feel and smell to holding a book. Bulk of materials we’re likely to work with will be in electronic form within 50 years.  Books are too static – need something more dynamically rendered.
-  Google is getting involved more with schools.  Traditional books are less well suited in today’s world since it’s changing so quickly.  We should expunge “Teach” from vocabulary and replace it with “Learn”.  People often learn best by doing things than by hearing about things.  Teachers might become “coaches” in the learning by doing environment.

The interview ended with an exchange about privacy vs. protection as it relates to the Internet.  It was a lively and entertaining kickoff for the General Conference.

Preconference Day 2 – Open Source CMS Playroom

Amanda Hollister and Karen Coombs teamed up to deliver an afternoon packed full of good information on choosing an open source Content Management System for our libraries.  Starting with defining a CMS – a system for creating, organizing and publishing web content – they then went on to give us the purpose for using such a system.  A CMS can  give other librarians the ability to update their own subject content on a web page rather than depending on the web developer to perform these tasks.  The web developer then focuses on site management rather than content management.

Three different open source solutions were discussed during the afternoon - WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal.  Each had their own strengths and issues.  This is a very brief summary of what I learned:
WordPress: (Based on PHP and MySQL) - 
Strengths:
Easy to use
Lots of plugins available
Easy to create new themes or modify existing themes
Large user base. – VERY active community with a wide range of users.
Won’t handle program registrations, but will handle forms – plugin for emailed forms.
Content to handle javascript if on your own server. 
WordPress Issues
Can’t easily create custom content types
Lacks flexibility to deal with complex types of objects with different types of fields out of the box.
Customizing display of group of page/posts requires knowledge of PHP.

Joomla - (Needs PHP 5.2, MySQL & Apache)
Strengths
Exceptional flexibility
After a few hurdles, Joomla is easy to use.
Good community support
 At least 3 front-end and 3 back-end levels of access
Joomla Issues
 High learning curve
Many extensions are not updated to 1.5X
 Many templates are not updated to 1.5X

Drupal as CMS – powerful in its ability to do so much stuff. (PHP and MySQL backend)
Strongly recommended using PHP5
Drupal Strengths:
Exceptional flexibility
Easy to create new content types
Substantial user base particularly in libraries
Drupal Issues
Some modules are buggy and problematic
 High learning curve
Not as many modules and filters developed as one would like.
Library-related modules in particular missing in some areas.

BOTTOM LINE:
WordPress best for small sites.
Joomla is best for medium sites, average complexity, relatively easy user interface.
Drupal can handle multiple, large, complex sites

Lessons Learned:
Learning a CMS takes time.
Important to map out your site’s content to know what modules, widgets need to be installed.
Need to decide how you want your site to look in order to choose an appropriate theme
Understand each CMS’s strengths and limitations.

I’m still not sure which CMS I’ll recommend for our Library’s web content, but this workshop certainly gave me lots of food for thought and a clearer vision of the issues involved in the process of selecting a system.

IL2009 – Digital Photographer Boot Camp

I had been looking forward to this preconference for over a year, and it lived up to my expectations!  Our three presenters (Michael Porter, Amanda Hollister and Michael Sauers) introduced themselves by discussing their ten favorite photographs.  It was an effective tool to not only see a bit of their personalities, but also the kinds of photographs they liked to take. 
Michael Porter started his part of the presentation with the who, why and how of  marketing our library events through photographs.  Normally, we are the who – although it can be anyone on the staff who actually enjoys taking photographs.  The why is also pretty obvious.  Photographs are a great tool to communicate what our library is about – to our local patrons as well as the world at large.  The how is a bit more difficult.  Michael showed us several slides listing the seven principles of design  and the seven main elements of design.   Michael and Amanda both discussed the Rule of Thirds, which I should have known about, but I need to obviously research in a bit more detail.  One of the really interesting things Michael stressed is to plan to reuse your library photos.  Don’t take a photo to use just once – while you’re planning the shoot, be thinking of later ways to use it again

Watching our breakfast being made this morning.

Amanda Hollister was next to give us her great Tips for Taking Great Snaps.  Amanda gave us some great technical info regarding sensor size (yes, size does matter !), exposure and using our histogram, shutter speed and aperture.  She also showed us how to use a piece of white paper to “bounce” a flash off the ceiling to avoid red eye.  She then discussed some basics of composition in taking photos.  But her final message was to practice, practice, practice.  Don’t take just one picture of a subject, but many.  From the many, you may come up with one good one that you’ll want to use.  Post processing was a term I had never heard before, but a practice I normally love to do.  This involves cropping, changing color or exposure levels to make your photos even better.  Software to use can be sophisticated – such as Photoshop – or free, like Gimp.   Just remember, when saving your images for the web, keep them under 100kb in size, with a resolution of 72-96 dpi.
Michael Sauers brought up the whole topic of sharing and using photos online.  He answered many of my personal questions regarding Creative Commons – give credit to creator and not for commercial use.  (Default with Flickr is “All Rights Reserved.”)  Michael showed us several groups for libraries and libraians on Flickr and suggested that we join them.
I came away from this session with renewed energy to resume documenting our Library’s life in photographs.  I also found the answer to the question “Which is the best camera.”  The answer is ”the one you have with you!”  Thus, the photo in this posting was taken with my “point and shoot” Canon this morning as I watched the skilled chef at Monterey Crepe Compay make my crepe.  It’s not a great shot, but it certainly captured his work!!  Did I pass the class, guys??

IL2009 – Saturday Morning in Monterey

Portola Plaza Conference Center

Good Morning from scenic Montery California!  Registrants are starting to trickle in for the preconferences this weekend.  The weather here is mild, with full sun yesterday.  Mornings tend to be overcast with lots of fog over the Bay.  There is a great arts & crafts fair being held today and tomorrow right in the large plaza behind the hotel.  We’ve gotten unusual handcrafted  silver jewelry in past years at one of the booths – Christmas gifts for our daughter-in-laws.  Trader Joe’s was doing a brisk business this morning when we arrived to get some fruit for snacks.  As usual, lots of  joggers and dog walkers were out and about.  I’m looking forward to my first preconference – Digital Photographer’s Bootcamp in a few hours.  See you there!!

My IL2009 “Must Do” List

Each year I peruse the Internet Librarian Conference program weeks prior to actually attending the event.  I make a mental list of presentations I must attend and people I need to see.  This year is no exception!  Here is my list, subject to revision on a moment’s notice:
1.  Renew old friendships and meet new librarians throughout the conference.  I get so much information and great ideas by talking to others in my field, whether it’s over a quick breakfast or chatting in one of the conference halls.
2. Hone in on the sessions dealing with mobile technology.  Our web page looks pretty darn awful on an iPhone screen and I need lots of help in that area.  I see an entire track dedicated to mobile tech on Tuesday, so you can count on me being there.
3. CMS – Oh yes, content management systems are calling to me.  By the time IL09 is over, I plan to have a firm decision as to which software we’ll be using to re-do our Intranet and then our web page.  While I see more sessions dealing with Drupal, I know Joomla! will also be covered in the preconference workshop.
4.  There are certain “not to be missed” sessions that I attend each year.  Among these are Mary Ellen Bates with her Search Tips Spectacular, Gary Price with what’s new at the Resource Shelf and just about any session with David Lee King , Sarah Houghton-Jan or Darlene Fichter.
5. In my off-time, I have a standing date with the hundreds of sea lions who claim the rocks in Monterey Bay as their home turf.  I love to stand there and listen to them bark.  Strange as it sounds, I find it very soothing.