Brandt A. Ensor,
Director
Jean Barnett Trone Memorial Library of East Berlin

Like many who are fairly new to professional librarianship, I have heard many good things about the Computers in Libraries Conference. The conference, a three day affair, brings together multiple tracks of learning from many experienced technology experts in and around the library community. You could take one track each day that covered similar items, or, as I did, pick from one track or the other that fits your particular needs and interests.

Working in a smaller, more rural library with a modest budget, the word ‘technology’ is a word that most of us only dream of, as anything more than the basic computers and printers for public and staff work is only a pipe dream. I was glad to see however that a lot of the sessions were on how to do things on a shoestring, with materials you might already have, or even how to do programming using totally free apps and learning tools. These were more of the sessions which I attended. There were other sessions on fundraising, marketing, and even a school (k-12) track which I didn’t visit. Below are some short highlights from some of my favorite sessions. Feel free to send me an email if you would like the PowerPoint presentations from any particular session as they are mostly available online.

“30 for 3D Services and Programming Tips”: This session was my utmost favorite of the entire three days. The presenter described 30 apps, services, and programming ideas for 3D printers… I didn’t have time to catch them all, but here are the 15 that made the most sense for me… The PowerPoint has all 30 ideas of course…

1. Use for rapid response giveaways… like a Pokémon go keychain
2. Original Giveaways
3. Gaming Miniatures
4. Tinker CAD… free browser based tinkering with shapes… great for students
5. Blokify… the Minecraft of 3d printing… great for short classes. App costs $3 in the app store…
6. Collaborative Projects Program… Make a chess set… each person who attends make a piece and the instructor makes the board using 3d printer. The set then resides in the library for all to enjoy.
7. Mobile 3D scanning… structure sensor for iPad… Scann3d app for android. Teens can scan friends faces using these apps and print on 3d printer.
8. Remixing Class… Create new designs out of preexisting ones… utilize creative commons licenses
9. Hold a Teen Art Show…. Over summer possible? They can design at home and come in and print on the library’s 3d printer…. Then put 3d printed items on cardboard for sturdiness. And have a vote for the favorite by the public
10. You can use generic filaments… but try it out before using for a program as they can be tricky to use.
11. Buy budget saving miniature printers… top of the market miniature printers make smaller items but cost less and you could get 2 or 3 for the price of one big one.
12. Eco-Friendly Filaments – PLA filaments can be sent to a composting facility… ABS filaments (which are standard) do have bio friendly options now.
13. Policy is Important for the library patron usage and for programming rules
14. Perform regular maintenance and keep it covered when not in use
15. While conducting a program… take videos of the printer printing the final products to use on Facebook and YouTube for promotion purposes.

“Library Services Platforms: The State of the Art”: Another interesting session I attended was on the “next set” of Library Service Platforms. These used to be called the Integrated Library System or Circulation System. The speaker came up with the name of Library Service Platforms for this new group of systems because they do so much more now than our traditional library systems we know and (sometimes) love.

The following were the new genre of products that were highlighted in the presentation:

• Ex Libris: Alma – Universal Resource Management
• OCLC WorldShare Management Services – Web-scale management services
• Proquest Intota
• Kuali OLE – Open Library Environment

All of these are new age systems available in the last 5 years or so. The presenter made it very clear that his highlighting these four new age systems is not necessarily a value judgment against what is out there on the market which are viable for library ILS systems.  Public libraries generally do very well with traditional ILS systems, but with the eBook, e-resources, and open link environments, which are common even for public libraries today, the traditional ILS systems don’t always have the capabilities to have everything on one page at one time. All of these platform characteristics are common framework, multitenancy, as well as high level structure. I wish he would have spent a little more time showing off each one. He only briefly described each one and encouraged everyone to Google them and see the promotional videos online.

“Changing Models and Roles of Librarians”: The Toronto Public Library gave several presentations throughout the week all around different aspects of how technology is involved in every aspect of our library lives. A little first on the scale of the Toronto Public Library. The Toronto Public Library has 100 branches and some 400+ professional librarians. Both making them the largest in the world, even larger than the New York Public Library, which I would have thought was the largest in the world. Serving a very diverse group of patrons, it became critical to see how patrons interacted with technology and how librarians and paraprofessional staff provide the programming for the library. The initial sessions went into detail on these programs, but what shocked me was, the cumulative effect of these projects on the library system and the complete rewrite of their public service policies because of it.

• First, the library established a workgroup of professional librarians across the 100 branches ensuring each “neighborhood” type and library size was included. The examined the following topics over several months including: the Changing Service Environment, the Impact of Technology, Customer Expectations, Current and Future Staff Training Needs, Strategic Planning Update/Comparison.
• Their objectives were: to Understand Current Roles of Librarians, Assess Professional Development Opportunities that were needed, Explore New Roles and Job Descriptions, and Develop a Vision for the Future Role of the Librarian.
• They surveyed professional librarian staff on the amount of time spent on doing the variety of jobs that they do on a daily basis. Topics included administrative, collections, programming, and the other major duties of library work. The pie chart was in the full presentation.
• At the same time that was going on, administration conducted observation studies of the circulation/reference desk… tally marks were conducted of the following topics: Direction help, Reader’s Advisory, Tech Help, and Standard Reference. Staff was asked to mark down the topic of each transaction after the patron left. The results of this study was also in the full presentation.
• Out of all this informational data, the following six roles of modern Toronto Public Librarian were written.

1. Service Leader: Models Service Excellence; leads project. They then created a two week course for new librarians to be emerged in the services and tools of the library. New librarians went one afternoon per month for the first year to work on specific topics… so all staff hear the same message. Experienced librarians completed 6 learning activities each year on a variety of different topics, some of which are mandatory.

2. Information Professional: Provides Service at Point of Need… customized individual service, technology support, embedded librarianship, Book-a-Librarian. Book-a-Librarian is a 30 to 60 minute guaranteed appointments with a librarian for assistance with how to do research, get readers advisory assistance, or learn how to us and access library resources and services. Toronto Public Library scheduled 3200 sessions in 2016. The Embedded Librarianship program is where the public library embeds a professional librarian in key need places in the community, such as the detention center, social services office, and large public learning centers. The librarians work with the staff at each center to provide better service for the users while also working directly with the clients in the waiting room as they wait for their appointments. This program has been highly successful.

3. Collections Curator: Build, Maintain, Make Collections Accessible, and Merchandising… Created Multi-Channel Promotions utilizing month long themed promotions… in branch displays, programming, website promotion, booklists, and blog posts. Saw increased circulation by 5% in the area for the month. Example would be GED Prep, Gardening, Debt Reduction, etc. They sometimes focused on sections of the collections which weren’t moving.

4. Learning Catalyst: Support self-directed and continuous learning with digital innovation hubs… They created pop up learning labs which stay at a branch for one month with a dedicated staff person who travels with the lab and teaches staff and users about the equipment. Recently they created after school youth hubs providing quality after school homework help, food, and music in communities of need.

5. Culture Creator: Connecting people through cultural activities by engage with arts all across the area. Volunteer mentors help with each cultural activity to help library staff.

6. Community Activator: respond uniquely to community needs…. Library responds to emergencies, population changes, and needs of the community as they come up. Examples included the numerous Syrian Refugees who moved into the area. They provided ESL, job searching, and other programming specific to these refugees taught by someone who spoke their language as well as translate everything into English.

These were just some of the very interesting presentations heard this week. I would like to thank the selectors and Office of Commonwealth Libraries for the professional development grant funding which allowed me to attend this conference. My library budget simply wouldn’t have let me attend otherwise.