Though turnout was a bit lighter than usual (16,597 total attendance), many exhibitors mentioned that traffic was brisk. Vendors appreciated the opportunity to engage with current and potential library customers. Consistent with the consolidation of the industry, there were fewer booths, and many vendors showed off an ever-expanding portfolio of gadgets and devices. Technology products … Continue reading Hot Venue, High Tech
The panel included: moderator Breanne Kirsch, public services librarian at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg; Joelle Pitts, instructional design librarian at Kansas State University Library in Manhattan, Kansas; Camille Chesley, reference and instruction librarian at the University of Montevallo in Alabama; Jami Schwarzwalder, teen librarian at South Hill Pierce County (Wash.) Library; … Continue reading Gamification for Teens and College Students
The panelists were Blake Carver, LYRASIS; Lauren Comito, Queens (N.Y.) Library; Laura Costello, Stony Brook (N.Y.) University; Carolyn Coulter, PrairieCat Library Consortium; and Nick Grove, Meridian (Idaho) Library District. Here are some of the questions: What is the next top tech trend? Comito: Teaching underlying concepts, not specific devices. Costello: Real-time library data: What are … Continue reading LITA’s Top Tech Trends
This landmark decision confirms that internet service providers (ISPs) cannot engage in “paid prioritization” and must keep the internet open to all users, content providers, and application developers. This decision has a direct impact on library services: It ensures that libraries and library patrons can post and distribute information over the internet without having to … Continue reading ALA and Libraries Win the Day on Net Neutrality
Apollo automation at Biblionix Public library automation provider Biblionix has updated its award-winning integrated library system, Apollo, with new functions to make life easier for librarians. Apollo helps public librarians streamline their day-to-day tasks such as circulation management, collection management, and new patron sign-up. Because of its multi-tenant design, changes and updates are available as soon … Continue reading Streamlined Software
Secure communication on the web provides two important benefits: identifying the website authoritatively enabling encrypted communications between the user’s browser and the server that provides the resource Encryption algorithms transform the data into a seemingly garbled form that, if intercepted, cannot be deciphered. The use of a secure communication protocol (HTTPS) provides the best approach … Continue reading Protecting Patron Privacy
Libraries have much at stake in products that align well with their strategies, resonate with their patrons, and facilitate the work of their staff. Previously established products are evolving to gain long-overdue modernization. In an era of web-based and cloud computing, library technology has held fast to aspects of the previous age of client–server computing. … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2016
The largest LMS companies in the United States in terms of numbers of institutions served are (in ranking order) Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, BrightSpace (D2L), and Sakai, as reported in an October 22, 2014, post in the e-Literate blog. Blackboard currently is the market leader in the US, even without including installations of ANGEL Learning, a … Continue reading Learning Management
In speaking at the early morning Big Ideas session today at the Public Library Association 2016 conference in Denver, sponsored by Penguin Random House, Turkle drove home her point with numerous studies and anecdotes about people of all ages who find their phones have interfered with developing personal relationships. In the last 20 years, she … Continue reading Time to Put Your Phone Away and Talk
In response to a controversial January 10 opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal by librarian Steve Barker, librarians around the country wrote to the paper to set the record straight about their real roles in the age of Google. ALA President Sari Feldman and President-Elect Julie Todaro also wrote in, though only a small portion of … Continue reading Librarians in the Digital Age
Today when we say “technology,” it is often shorthand for “computer technology.” Of course this is not the only technology in our lives, but it is the one that defines our modern age. A century and a half ago, the defining technology was electricity and all things electric. The light bulb was literally the bright … Continue reading The Evolving Catalog
Technology staffers at public libraries should be asking themselves continually: How do we make this technology fit the library? How do we make and keep technology nimble and adaptable? Can we ever make technology dynamic enough to ensure we can keep up with unforeseen problems? How do we do this so we can help patrons … Continue reading The Right Technology
