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.

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.

Upcoming Internet Librarian 2009

In just a little over a month, I’ll be boarding a plane for Monterey CA to attend the annual Internet Librarian Conference.  I’ve been privileged to attend every year but one since its start, and each time I go, I return to Michigan with lots of enthusiasm and new projects for our Library.  I know this year’s conference will be no exception! 

I find the Preconference Sessions especially valuable since we are in small groups and focus on a topic for several hours in a row.  Last year I was disappointed to learn that the Digital Photographer Boot Camp was cancelled, but it is being offered again this year and I’m signed up to attend.  As an avid photographer who loves to “play” with my photos in Photoshop Elements, I can’t wait to learn more from presenters Michael Porter, Michael Sauers and Amanda Hollister.  The next day I’ll be in the Preconference Session called Open Source CMS Playroom.  In this class I’ll have hands-on practice creating web pages using Drupal, Joomla! and WordPress and then compare their features.  After this experience, I’ll be able to recommend which CMS we’ll be using at Plymouth for our Intranet…. and eventually our public web page.

These two classes are just the start of what I anticipate being another info-packed week of library technology.  Then I get to return to reality and see which of my new proposals will “fly” at work.  Be on the lookout for my updates from Monterey since I’ll be an official Blogger for the conference.

Thoughts from my first ALA Conference (amost)

I call my recent trip to Chicago my almost conference since I was only there for one day – and then it was a preconference workshop.  None of the exhibits were open and I didn’t get much of a chance to network with either vendors or fellow librarians.  However, I was able to get a hint of what was in the works for the full conference opening day after I left.  That in itself was awesome!

My preconference workshop was sponsored by LITA , so I knew it would be highly technical in nature.  Karen Coombs was an excellent presenter and I’m thrilled to be signed up for one of her workshops at Internet Librarian in October.  Hopefully, I will learn more from that one than I did at the one I just attended!!  In all honesty, it wasn’t the fault of the presenter but rather my own lack of knowledge of XML, especially as it related to MARC records and OCLC WorldCat.  This is just something I’ve never worked with nor had a desire to learn.  Thus, much of the subject matter discussed in the API and Mashup conference went right over my head.

The fun part of myday came when we were introduced to Yahoo Pipes.  Again, another new concept for me, but it’s very easy to use and I can see practical reasons to use it on our Library web page.  While on the Pipes page, it occured to me that I must be a visual learner since looking at those nice boxes resembling flow charts looked much more appealing than the pages of PHP code that I later studied.  Using Pipes, I created a customized RSS feed combing four different science sites and then sorted them by date.  The resulting piece of code can then be imbedded into a regular web page.  I also made a mashup using a Google map and photos from Flickr tagged with specified subjects.  It was simple but looked impressive! While I will probably never be a huge fan of MARC XML , there is great potential in the information I brought back with me on creating web services for our Library using Pipes and mashups.