Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The Right Click v2.0
The OLC IT Division held its second showcase of library technology projects, The Right Click version 2.0, on August 19 at the State Library of Ohio. The presentations were a diverse collection of the many ways libraries go about using technology to support their services. An important thread running through the presentations was that technology doesn't stand alone; these projects succeed because a great deal of attention was put into planning, managing, supporting, and promoting the work.
All of the projects could be clustered into two types: the showcasing of homegrown solutions, and the discussion of local experience implementing commercial solutions.
Homegrown Projects
Up first was Evelyn Janoch presenting Rocky River Public Library's Reading Room (which was previously featured here). They call the Reading Room a "match-making tool for readers." It began with "Book Talk" index cards, with information for each title about other authors and titles that people who like this book might enjoy. Describing the development, Evelyn tells a familiar story: librarians have trouble communicating to tech consultants what they need, tech consultants have trouble understanding library processes. But clearly, they've perservered, creating an excellent, home-grown, Amazon-like service. (It's a shame, though, that these Amazon-like services have to be home grown, and haven't been standard functions of library catalogs for the past 5 years).
Staff from the NOLA Regional Library System discussed some of the tools they developed to assist them with their portion of the KnowItNow project. NOLA manages the "AfterDark" operations, the live reference services that run from 8:30 PM to 9:30 AM. They created the KIN-AD Extranet to facilitate the selection, management, scheduling, and payment of their 63 AfterDark operators -- all done remotely and with minimal paperwork.
Four local history/digitization projects were presented. Two of them, Findlay-Hancock County Public Library and the Hayes Presidential Library, offer obituary indexes on the web. GCLC's Greater Cincinnati Memory Project was first implemented on commercial ILS service and later migrated to open source Greenstone software. Rodman Public Library's Alliance Memory Project runs on the popular library digitization platform, CONTENTdm, customized for local needs. I think all of these projects are great examples of what the OCLC Environmental Scan identified as an important new role for public libraries: the opportunity to be "the aggregator of community information" and specialize on local grey literature.
Implementing Commercial Solutions
Not every problem requires the invention of a new wheel. One of the greatest commercial solutions to a common library problem is the Polaris Wireless Access Manager. Patty Fonseca and Matt Naylor of Clark County Public Library gave a presentation that went far beyond being a commercial; they covered the many reasons why a solution was necessary, and gave a detailed explanation of their experience implementing this solution. I was most impressed with the patron information flier they created, and the other promotional steps they took to get community buy-in.
Similarly, Dave Mezack's presentation about implementing a "Voice over IP" system at Clermont County highlighted not the technology work but the management work necessary. He made a great business case for the technology, but told a more compelling story of how implementing such a system doesn't just involve tech work, but a great deal of planning and preparation.
Award for Most Disappointing Presentation
Most disappointing for me was the presentation about downloadable, digital audiobooks. This audience didn't need an explanation of what they are; we all know by now the general landscape of this service. What we needed to hear is what Clark and Clermont County provided: tales from the trenches. What should we consider before implementing? What pitfalls did you encounter and how should we avoid them? There's plenty of controversy about these new services; I am particularly taken with Jenny Levine's tales of digital rights management woes. Shouldn't we be made aware of the issues? Shouldn't we be enjoined to advocate for better services from the providers?
Award for Most Educational
Always always always listen to Laura Solomon when she has something to say. Her presentation wasn't just a description of the RSS feeds she implemented for Cleveland Heights-University Heights; it was a demo and tutorial of how each of us can make RSS work for us. The audience was riveted.
Yarmando Develops a New Pet Peeve
Too many presentations began with disclaimers: "I am not a techie." It's time library workers stopped saying that. Information technology cannot be separated from the day to day business of libraries; like it or not, we are all techies now. Programs like the Right Click are terrific opportunities for all walks of the library community to come together, share our experiences, see what others are up to, and (if necessary) find ways of coping with being a reluctant techie.
All of the projects could be clustered into two types: the showcasing of homegrown solutions, and the discussion of local experience implementing commercial solutions.
Homegrown Projects
Up first was Evelyn Janoch presenting Rocky River Public Library's Reading Room (which was previously featured here). They call the Reading Room a "match-making tool for readers." It began with "Book Talk" index cards, with information for each title about other authors and titles that people who like this book might enjoy. Describing the development, Evelyn tells a familiar story: librarians have trouble communicating to tech consultants what they need, tech consultants have trouble understanding library processes. But clearly, they've perservered, creating an excellent, home-grown, Amazon-like service. (It's a shame, though, that these Amazon-like services have to be home grown, and haven't been standard functions of library catalogs for the past 5 years).
Staff from the NOLA Regional Library System discussed some of the tools they developed to assist them with their portion of the KnowItNow project. NOLA manages the "AfterDark" operations, the live reference services that run from 8:30 PM to 9:30 AM. They created the KIN-AD Extranet to facilitate the selection, management, scheduling, and payment of their 63 AfterDark operators -- all done remotely and with minimal paperwork.
Four local history/digitization projects were presented. Two of them, Findlay-Hancock County Public Library and the Hayes Presidential Library, offer obituary indexes on the web. GCLC's Greater Cincinnati Memory Project was first implemented on commercial ILS service and later migrated to open source Greenstone software. Rodman Public Library's Alliance Memory Project runs on the popular library digitization platform, CONTENTdm, customized for local needs. I think all of these projects are great examples of what the OCLC Environmental Scan identified as an important new role for public libraries: the opportunity to be "the aggregator of community information" and specialize on local grey literature.
Implementing Commercial Solutions
Not every problem requires the invention of a new wheel. One of the greatest commercial solutions to a common library problem is the Polaris Wireless Access Manager. Patty Fonseca and Matt Naylor of Clark County Public Library gave a presentation that went far beyond being a commercial; they covered the many reasons why a solution was necessary, and gave a detailed explanation of their experience implementing this solution. I was most impressed with the patron information flier they created, and the other promotional steps they took to get community buy-in.
Similarly, Dave Mezack's presentation about implementing a "Voice over IP" system at Clermont County highlighted not the technology work but the management work necessary. He made a great business case for the technology, but told a more compelling story of how implementing such a system doesn't just involve tech work, but a great deal of planning and preparation.
Award for Most Disappointing Presentation
Most disappointing for me was the presentation about downloadable, digital audiobooks. This audience didn't need an explanation of what they are; we all know by now the general landscape of this service. What we needed to hear is what Clark and Clermont County provided: tales from the trenches. What should we consider before implementing? What pitfalls did you encounter and how should we avoid them? There's plenty of controversy about these new services; I am particularly taken with Jenny Levine's tales of digital rights management woes. Shouldn't we be made aware of the issues? Shouldn't we be enjoined to advocate for better services from the providers?
Award for Most Educational
Always always always listen to Laura Solomon when she has something to say. Her presentation wasn't just a description of the RSS feeds she implemented for Cleveland Heights-University Heights; it was a demo and tutorial of how each of us can make RSS work for us. The audience was riveted.
Yarmando Develops a New Pet Peeve
Too many presentations began with disclaimers: "I am not a techie." It's time library workers stopped saying that. Information technology cannot be separated from the day to day business of libraries; like it or not, we are all techies now. Programs like the Right Click are terrific opportunities for all walks of the library community to come together, share our experiences, see what others are up to, and (if necessary) find ways of coping with being a reluctant techie.
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I thought the review you present of the event is very balanced (if somewhat too glowing of my own...heheh), but I do want to point out, in defense of the digital audiobook presentation, that the presenter was a last-minute replacement for two other speakers (including the one who originally submitted the proposal) who were directly from the IT department of the sponsoring library. That being said, it still would have been extremely useful to have addressed the DRM controversy, which Jenny Levine has brought to the forefront.
OK, that is true. And I too have stepped into speaking engagements as a replacement and talked about what I was comfortable talking about instead of what I was expected to discuss.
I'm a fan of digital audio. I think the distribution of temporary licenses to digital content is the wave of the future for libraries. But I'm getting very frustrated as a library patron. The obstacles to reading/listening to the content I want to on the device of my choice make it ironically much easier for me to steal the content than to borrow it legally. And the choices libraries have now -- OverDrive, NetLibrary, or circulate hardware -- are appalling. Maybe the next Right Click will have some presentations about how libraries have made this awful situation better.
If anyone is bothering to read this comment, there's a relevant post this week by Chris Anderson on his Long Tail blog about DRM needing Just Enough Piracy. He argues that the DRM should be weak enough to make it easy to use. Not so weak that the company loses business, but not strong enough to be inconvenient to the user.
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I'm a fan of digital audio. I think the distribution of temporary licenses to digital content is the wave of the future for libraries. But I'm getting very frustrated as a library patron. The obstacles to reading/listening to the content I want to on the device of my choice make it ironically much easier for me to steal the content than to borrow it legally. And the choices libraries have now -- OverDrive, NetLibrary, or circulate hardware -- are appalling. Maybe the next Right Click will have some presentations about how libraries have made this awful situation better.
If anyone is bothering to read this comment, there's a relevant post this week by Chris Anderson on his Long Tail blog about DRM needing Just Enough Piracy. He argues that the DRM should be weak enough to make it easy to use. Not so weak that the company loses business, but not strong enough to be inconvenient to the user.
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