Integrated library systems (ILS), as well as the new genre of library services platforms, are offered to libraries primarily as proprietary products controlled by a single vendor. Libraries that use these products remain dependent on that vendor for ongoing software development, solutions to systemic problems, and service enhancements. While proprietary software remains the dominant approach, … Continue reading Open Source Software
But I found myself wondering the other day: The cloud is a new kind of information territory, so where is the open, public space within it? Where are the libraries? What if libraries offered truly free, no-strings-attached cloud storage to their communities? That would provide security, privacy, permanence, and continuity—just the kind of foundation that … Continue reading Gathering in the Clouds
First-person shooter games. Military training exercises. Those are the applications most often associated with the words “virtual reality” (VR). But as new library offerings at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh demonstrate, VR represents an amazing, state-of-the-art resource that can enhance just about any discipline, from cartography to psychology, architecture to English. No recordings … Continue reading Making Virtual Reality a Reality
I probably spend more time in the exhibit hall than most conference attendees—you may have seen me browsing the aisles or rushing to my next appointment. The meetings I have with company executives and product experts inform much of my research and writing for months to come as a chronicler of the library technology industry. … Continue reading Tech Power
Providing this support in user-centered and responsive ways fulfills the librarian’s obligation to offer service to all users. However, paying attention to accessibility for visually impaired patrons is not just the right thing to do. It may also protect your library from legal trouble. Legal precedents for access In 2012 the National Federation of the … Continue reading Library Websites for All
American Libraries spoke to library tech leaders—members of the Library and Information Technology Association’s popular Top Tech Trends panel from the 2017 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits—to get the apps, devices, software, and best practices that you can adopt for your library right now and in the near future. 1. Take patrons on a virtual tour … Continue reading Top Library Tech Trends
In the same rooms where the final planning sessions establishing the DPLA were held five years ago, Executive Director Dan Cohen announced that the archive now held more than 16 million items from 2,350 member institutions and is on track to have hubs in all 50 states. The Open eBooks program, launched in 2016 to provide free access … Continue reading DPLAfest: Inclusion, Community, and Outreach
But how are we doing? What is the state of inclusion in technology, and what work is left to do? Two panels at South by Southwest Interactive on March 11 in Austin, Texas, tackled some of these questions. Inclusion and funding “Inclusion and the Digital Neighborhood” panelists Kimberly Bryant, founder and executive director of Black Girls … Continue reading Closing Tech’s Diversity Gap
At the “Humans, Robots, and Microbes: The Challenge of Mars” panel on March 10, NASA scientists Monsi Roman, Robert Ambrose, and Kimberly Hambuchen and National Geographic Mars miniseries producer Jonathan Silberberg discussed the challenges and opportunities that lie among microbes, humans, and robots in getting to Mars. “Microbes are an incredible factory of harm,” said Roman, microbiologist and … Continue reading The Path to Mars
At many libraries, digital “cards”—which usually consist simply of numbers that patrons use to access digital items—have become standard. The Harris County (Tex.) Public Library (HCPL) introduced its version, the iKnow Digital Access Card, as a way to “reduce as many barriers as possible,” says Library Director Edward Melton. IKnow card holders can access the … Continue reading The Future of Library Cards
This question was posed to three panelists at a policy hackathon, cohosted by ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) and the Internet Association on November 17 at Google’s Washington, D.C., office. Chaired by ALA President Julie B. Todaro and with welcome remarks by Google’s Head of Global Industry Relations Carley Graham Garcia, the session … Continue reading Partnering with Tech
Haines is a youth services librarian and media mentor at Homer (Alaska) Public Library, and Campbell is a children’s librarian, author, and founder of LittleeLit.com. An excerpt from their book was published in the November/December issue of American Libraries. What made you want to write this book? Haines and Campbell: Over the past few years there has been a … Continue reading Discussing Media Mentorship
