Computers in Libraries, April 2008

Computers in Libraries is always a revelation. Sometimes, attending a session, I’ll think, “In two or three years, when this technology is everywhere, then maybe I’ll understand it a little bit.

From the two keynotes I heard, the most interesting thing to me was an interview with Paul Holdengräber of NYPL. He seeks to "oxygenate" and "levitate" that formidable institution, which now is undergoing a $1-billion (yes billion) transformation.

I heard about an experiment in remote reference using video communications and Skype at Ohio University. So far, it hasn’t been a successful use of technology. Good to know. The only time I used Skype I thought,"Cool!—I wonder if we can use this for AskaLibrarian?" Well, if it doesn’t work very well for that purpose on a university with lots of international students who use Skype frequently, it’s probably not going to work very well in our environment.

I learned a little bit about Drupal, which is open source content management software. It organizes and displays web pages, including many features like blogs, polls, discussion forums, RSS. The presenter made it sound easy to do. Then the techies started asking questions, the presenter floundered, and other techies responded. Might not be so very easy! It is being considered as a possible platform for our new MCPL Intranet. Here's an example of a drupal website deployed by the Skokie Public Library.

I learned more ways that librarians are collaborating via the social web. Take a look at LibGuides, where (mostly) university librarians are sharing their pathfinders.

Sometimes you’re introduced to solutions when you never even recognized the problem. For example, there is software that enables any laptop to communicate wirelessly with library printers. I’d assumed that laptop folks would rather print for free. But let’s consider if we began to “lend” (very) inexpensive laptops for use within the library. Those patrons would like to print, I’m sure.

I learned the term “bookmarklets,” which is essentially a bookmark that executes a small program, allowing you, for example, to move your search terms from one search engine to another with a single click. Can we create and give away a bookmarklet for our catalog? Would this be more acceptable to users than our LibX toolbar? Right now, there seems to be a security issue with doing so. However, other libraries do it. Hmmmm.

From hepped-up speed-talker Steven M. Cohen (librarystuff.net), I found out about Page to Rss , a service that helps you monitor web sites that do not publish feeds. It will check any web page for updates and deliver them to your favorite RSS aggregator.

On the marketing front, Louisville Free PL gave out yard signs to its summer reading finishers, “LFPL Summer Reading Champion Lives Here.” Let the folks do our advertising for us! Perhaps in security-minded, homeowner-association-dominated Montgomery County, this would not work.

One always comes away from this conference with a boatload of URL’s to explore. I think you’ll want to know about slideshare.net for posting presentations (with audio even!) online.

Finally, CIL gave me renewed hope for our catalog. We can institute a “discovery layer,” that will improve vastly the user experience and, one hopes, success in searching. Faceted search results, tagging, customer reviews, read-alikes, results sorting: all of this is doable and can happen SOON!