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Re-think It: Libraries for a new age conference

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In lovely Austin TX in early January, this Re-think It conference was small, focus and full of a variety of types  of sessions: from keynotes, to lighting rounds, to panels, to 20 min talks, to visits of various spaces.  Mainly academics and hosted on UT Austin campus, there were architects, planners, public librarians and even school librarians there. We presented on the Studio project, more so on the process of rapidly creating this space in our library.

 

Skim the tweets #rethinkit18   to hear about the conference conversation  or view photos from all the library visits and Austin highlights. This conference only happened once before and may not happen again, but it was a great topic, theme and very well organized. Great for people looking at space design and informal space use.

Libraries and Archives in the Anthropocene Colloquium

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Fabulous colloquium in NYU – May 13-14, 2017 – small, everyone attending the same sessions all day, lots of discussions in break and diverse content and perspectives to share.  This first time event was created and planned by:

WATCH THE RECORDINGS + read a great summary on the SustainRT blog
+ read my detailed notes below:

Saturday

9:00-10:00 Keynote, Roy Scranton, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene
We failed to stop climate change. Period. Hope is a 4 letter word.
To imagine something different in the present and future, to save something of the past for the future is a Utopian presence. Is it really all that bad you think? We are growing our renewable energy for one example… but it would be prudent to act on the evidence – we know that those in power won’t care. things have just gone downhill over the recent decades.  Those in power do not care about the future. Capitalism. Greed. We need a survivalist ethos now.
You want answers?  How might we imagine ourselves in the late Anthropocene dead state?  Look at authors who discuss post-apocalyptic futures. Sci Fi.  Suggested reads :

  • The Collapse of western civilization novel by Oreske and  Conway
  • William Gibson’s  novel Peripheral
  • A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr
  • JG Ballard’s the Drowned World

So what does this mean for the future of our work?
Keep in mind the reality: History will be rewritten again and again by the winners
What do we need to do?  Best option Go Local. Build sustainable communities.

10:00-12:00 – 20-minute papers – Archival Theory and the Crisis

  1. Rick Prelinger: Collecting Strategies for the Anthropocene
    Be careful about our priorities when outside forces are controlling what we can prioritize.
    How are we responding to the effects of the anthropocene in collecting?
    Collections need to be protected but so does the process and the archives themselves. EX: internet archives building a mirror site outside the US
    Communities should own and collect their assets yes but how can/are they being preserved/maintained/accessible? … specially if that community does not survive?
    Twitter share:   “at stake… are not the worlds these collections claim to represent, but… the worlds they invite us to imagine and even realize “#archivesFail (@bspalmieri )
    He suggest we use permaculture principles apply to archival work:

  1. Jen Hoyer and Nora Almeida: Living Archives*
    They are librarians who volunteers at the Interference Archive in Brooklyn! Open stacks, volunteer run, community funded. The local place in the community is important. Collection policy defines the community.
    A living archives – a place for social interaction, a nexus between communities, a bridge between past and future.
    Anthropocene is framed in a narrative – ideological, post political, disconnected from socio political reality, a place that is not quite this place now.
    Problems with this narrative – mainly from wealthy countries, that frame capitalism and tech as neutral, etc. this undermines our agency
    Environmental change as social change – a continuum of events that we are both in and affected by
    Reimagine Anthropocene as discipline, cultural and social
    It might look like – activism, art, scholarship, civic engagement documentation… need to open to other voices so all voices can be heard
    Archives and silence – change cultural expectations and make alternative narratives heard
    Archives can foster dialogue btw time and space.
    Propaganda parties!
    Check out their “anthropo-zine”
  2. Jill Kubit: DearTomorrow
  • Climate change communication has not been effective … need more narrative storytelling, visual imagery and trusted messages
  • She created a digital platform for people to personalize climate change and share message with others to influence the public education on the topic “Dear Tomorrow”  #deartomorrow
  • Stand in the future and talk to someone in the present they care about and will that make it more personal
  • Research shows legacy is a strong driver to people’s actions now for the future. (BUT HOW DO YOU GET THE PEOPLE WHO NEED TO HEAR THIS AND THINK ABOUT LEGACY TO PAY ATTENTION OR CARE???)
  • Scale – distributed model works best
  • Other narratives are weaved into this story (ex blacklivesmatter & climate change in one letter)  Also – they are asking people to make a public commitment in their lives and share it.  They put together a video of the letters (its on FB)
  • Biking to work for political reasons, getting a CSA or going to a farmers market is such white privilege
  • 3 main groups they work with: Mothers out front, Moms  ???,  Climate parents — but she feels its not limited to moms, the narrative can expand to others groups too
  1. Aruna Magier: Water, Land, and Forests: Documenting India’s Environmental Activism
  • overview of the litany of environmental degradation in India. Irresponsible farming, mining, rivers full of plastic.
  • A young girl has filed a law suit against the govt of India about the environmental conditions and she blames them for not taking care of their people. Farmers protesting the management of repeated droughts. Protests against mining.
  • Historical social movements in India are critical to where they are today
  • Magier speaking on documenting these movements
  1. Ben Goldman: Things the Grandchildren Should Know: Archives and the Origin of an Ecocentric Future
  • Grew up in a very different sheltered conservative upbringing – took a while for him to become educated on the reality of climate change.
  • How can his role in archives make a difference he ponders. How do you talk to your kids and grandkids about this? And your irresponsibility?
  • His goal – how can archives make a difference in capturing the environmental issues as stewards
  • Archivist appraisal is critical (there is still no consensus on how to do this) Look to our planetary evidence. Records of environmental activists. Need to become more engaged across disciplines to capture data & stories   – need to listen to key communities!
  • Keep in mind to preserve something in an archives we also add to the problem – aka fossil fuels used to keep these materials : (

Q/A summary:  Tension between fighting the capitalistic society but we need a space/place and to pay for it and make sure we don’t take money from those we disagree with but …its complex.

Less is more.

 

1:15-2:50 – 20-minute papers – Crisis and Survival

  1. John Burgess: Adaptability and Resilience: A Core LIS Value
    A report from the field – a case for resilience and adaptability as lis core values (LIS grad school in Alabama) – aka how he slips in sustainability to his students on the down low.
  2. Personal stake  – Never mention the word ethics or people think you are judging them. But really its whatever you find a way to growth toward what is most meaningful to you. some days you are down and loose hope but you recover and keep at it to give passion to others.
  3. Moral imperatives of Anthropocene /4 moral obligations– awareness and memory (L Floridi) – moral imperative to fight entropy and what is your mission on earth?; rational agency and continuance (I. Kant) – cant bend humans to your will ;fairness (j. Rawls, D. Parfit, G. Wolf) – social responsibility is Rawls; authentic otherness (A. Naess) – diversity of ways of thinking, cognitive justice
  4. Are the core values of LIS sufficient to address those imperatives?  Core values such as Access, confidentiality/privacy, democracy, diversity, education, lifelong learning, IF, preservation, the Public good, professionalism, service, social responsibility… whats lacking?  If you disuses these as LIS core values and label them “from ALA” students will follow along.
  5. Are  (personal, community, country) resilience and adaptability LIS values?  Do these core values +resilience + adaptability sufficiently address those imperatives? Or is it just my personal stake (we think both) Maps the core values  3 to moral imperatives 2 and rational agency included adaptability and resilience.  Collective Action with all our policies and process in the library, cross dept. with many different ways to do this. Changing habits.
  6. Billy Templeton: School Libraries and the Anthropocene: A Curricular Hail Mary to the Future   Teaches in a public school.  Married to a librarian 🙂
  • Terrible story about a school, science teaches climate change but the english teacher does not and makes then debate their belief (these are adults, people of power over kids and poisons then kids open minded school culture)
  • Incompetence in our federal school system for teaching about climate change. Though we are supposed to “teach kids how to succeed in global economy” how can we when we are not allowed or have to be careful in taking about climate change ?!
  • Heartland institute is trying to get a copy of its book – why scientist do not believe in climate change –  into every science teaching and is succeeding in some states – scary https://www.heartland.org/topics/climate-change/
  • his idea – place based learning for students to do service learning, hands on, library innovation lab, etc. Teaching children problem solving skills is our moral imperative.
  1. Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco: Next Epoch Seed Library: An Archive of Weedy Species (*love*)
  • Nextepochseedlibrary.com   – lend seeds, collect seeds – the gaps between what most seed banks do (Most seed banks are mainly agricultural). They collect weed seeds in the city!  Are there really a bad thing – but a weed can be a positive (imagine them coming up in cracks in the cement) and useful.  But these weeds are becoming endangered.  What they do:
  • They look for “junk spaces” to collect them
  • Have installation at various places of their finds.
  • Have a seed walks too
  • Did a seed viability test. Grew many of them!
  • Want to work with children more  – share, grow, educate
  • Creating better documentation
  • Did you know …. Ceramic is a great material in which to store seeds!!! (800 year old squash seeds were found in a ceramic container and grew)
  • Reminds me of https://www.amazon.com/Weed-Any-Other-Name-Learning/dp/0807085529
  • Chalking to promote weeds around town!!!!  (they wrote with chalk around “weeds” around town to tell people what these things were good for  … an act of Resistance)
  1. Fred Stoss: Preparedness Matters: Library Roles in Planning for Disaster

How do you become and stay prepared for upcoming disasters in your library?  The role of public libraries. Good science, good data. Lots of info on slides  – LOOK FOR HIS RECORDING OR SLIDES! I missed some of this session….

2:50-3:30 – Five minute lightning talks with 15 minutes for discussion

  1. Jennifer Bonnet: Engaging with the Human Dimensions of Climate Change – films, books with a professor to create a series/program and discussion. virtual displays of materials in the library; included twitter posts of their discussions.
  2. Monica Berger and John Carey: Open Scholarship and Climate Change: The Imperative for a New Information Ecosystem for the Anthropocene – our scholarly com system is broken – neoliberalism, a commodity. Global south has lots of scholarly lit but they will also be the ones most effective. Open Science!
  3. Robert Chen: Enabling Interdisciplinary Use of Scientific Data on Human Interactions in the Environment – manages a NASA data center on social and natural sciences at Columbia (need both these disciplines of social + natural sciences to study climate change); some barriers of two disciplines – focus on people vs pixels
  4. Hannah Hamalainen: Humanitarian Crisis Mapping in the Library – earthquake in Haiti. Live tweets and asking for help. They mapped the tweets of people’s needs. And it was overlaid on satelight maps then used by gov’t and military. Crisis mapping! map-a-thon for humanitarian crisis mapping – librarians can teach these skills, connect people, host event

Q/A  Listen to this https://soundcloud.com/generation-anthropocene   Storytelling is key but does depend on the audience – public might want stories but economist might need facts.  Also look at archival evidence too – make your own narrative.

3:40-5:00 – Plenary and end of day discussion: Howard Besser, Eira Tansey, Jill Kubit, and John Burgess *

  • What are we going to do for new fuels? no  what’s  really wrong? That we need so many fuels to begin with. Capitalism.
  • Mitigation or adaption side? Adaptation ?  Doesn’t get to the root cause and masks the real issue. To find a solution.  The root cause is really that we are a consumption based society, a disempowered society, not just “climate change” .  It’s a continuum not are we going to fix it or not
  • Reject the narrative –  “We fucked it all up and now we are fucked”  – this dissolves us of responsibility.
  • Several disagree with the keynote – we need to keep up with HOPE.  Read the Hope in the Dark book  “hope is an ax that you use to knock down doors with” – rebecca solint
  • Record whats happening or play a role in shaping whats happening. Teaching more than info lit,  teach political rhetoric.
  • Reclaiming the language of climate change, use other words or use the words….
  • IMLS grant transforming communities – training libraries to be facilitators of dialogues in their communities
  • Think about end of something and beginning something new era –  Should be called the Capitalisocene not Anthropocene
  • Look to the tribal infrastructure –  knowing your neighbors and communities.
  • Physically living off the land is hard but spiritually being a part of capitalistic society is really harh
  • “patriarchal theocracy”
  • Collapse of the world as we know it, has been happening to many already.
  • What is the tipping point to get people to realize this issue? Insurance underwriting might be it? really until the water is at their door, people will not wake up to it!

Sunday

9:00-10:30 – 20-minute papers – Rethinking Libraries

  1. Amy Brunvand: Re-Localizing the Library: An Environmental Humanities Model
    • Seeing.climatecentral.org
      • The end of nature 1989 by bill mckibben . The age of missing information bill mckibben – idea of placelessness; people are losing the sense of place,
      •  the university is sort of like this; but Amy says the library can help create a local sense of place
      • Environmental humanities grad program stated by terry tempest williams of U of U.  Field course to engage in the community and create a sense of place
      • Libraries are mainly about licensing electronic publications etc, that everyone else is buying. Yes it should be a portal to information but it should also represent the local, unique collections. Libraries should aim to be the local node in a global information system representing their local.
      • Environmental humanities model— “ecology of residency
      • Tell stories that can make change. Share books that made a difference
      • Movie “Wrenched” – people inspired by The Monkey Wrench Gang  with Tim Dechristopher http://www.timdechristopher.org/about
      • Geographic distribution of libraries  if perfect to create many nodes representing their local.
      • Poetry reflects the local landscape too:

        Poem from http://littlestarjournal.com/blog/2010/10/%E2%80%9Cbreak-the-glass%E2%80%9D-by-jean-valentine/

        Poem from  http://littlestarjournal.com/blog/2010/10/%E2%80%9Cbreak-the-glass%E2%80%9D-by-jean-valentine/

      1. Jodi Shaw: Climate Change, Libraries, and Survival Literacy: A Practical Guide *
      • Get away from centralize infrastructure (the grid) and go uber local, libraries can help be a force to achieve this transition. Focus on cities. More than half global population lives in cities.
      • Grid – for water, energy waste, sewage, transport people and commodities, transmit communications.  It’s all getting old, but we all depend on it and are vulnerable because a of it.
      • Local infrastructures are more resilient  – have the local create them so they support them.
      • Our current high tech is using the old grid (one power line down it all goes out)
      • Even renewables depend on minerals harvested from the earth and live on the grid
      • How can we create and build the infrastructure locally?  Libraries! We can teach and offer resources:
      • Air – no good answer
      • Water – humans need 5 liters a day, need for growing food (animals), basic hygiene, sanitation (?)  – when cities flood then we are walking around in our own feces. Waterless sanitation!
      • Going off the pipe – rainwater harvesting, stormwater collection (italians are using coffee filters and other things to figure out how to get rid of heavy metals) – see her slides for other ideas. Maybe libraries can have examples of these for people to see – maerkspace-ish.
      • Food – rooftop gardens,  ( vertical farming (not a viable solution right now – still uses the grid and only for lettuce and herbs –  but ideas here that we can apply and learn from), hunting/gathering (picking local, what you can pick and how to eat it – libraries can offer resources and classes on this!)
      • Shelter – learn from slum dwellers who live very local – maybe we can learn from them?
      • Sanitation – we need to start composting our feces instead of putting it in the water.  Joe Jenkinds “humanure Handbook” been composting his feces for 30 years!
      • Energy –  going off grid but on the grid house.
      • Information – find it in the library
      • Teach Survival literacy 

       

      1. Jennifer Gunter King: A Changing Library for Rising Tides
      • Adapting to change – Designing off site collection spaces for materials for libraries that are in critical places
      • Start first with what is a library, question what we are and what we do
      • Hampshire college 1970 to prepared students for changing world; the library was also
      • “The library and information transfer center” a good read from 1969 that predicted trends of today
      • Library – knowledge commons – libraries teaching exposition skills, along with writing etc
      • Fastest rate of sea level rise in the world is from Cape Hatteress to Maine.
      • Are archives primary repositories?  Then how are we dealing with various local collections everywhere around the world. Can we share print regional repositories and get over the ego of ownership and come together, save energy in high density, shared space.
    1. Jacob Berg, Angela Galvan, and Eamon Tewell: Academic Libraries and the False Promises of Resiliency 
    • Libraries need to learn to say NO . We are professional martyrs.
    • It should be libraries save not save libraries
    • Angela Galvan: Resilience offers an individual response to a structural problem
    • We should pay more for salaries PEOPLE over things MATERIALS since those costs go up 5% each year our salaries do not.
    • Center for the future of libraries  – resilience theme. Does not like this.  Libraries have been resilient over the years  but  now it’s turned into librarians and archivists not the library as an institution
    • What we need is to Give people space to fail. (uh yea that is behind the maker movement)
    • Collection dev can offer counter narratives
    • Neoliberal  fight for resilient resources
    • “Think like a marxist” – who benefits from these narratives about resilience?
    • Supervisors: Encourage risk taking, give space to fail, staff time to be melancholy 
  21. Q/A I really connected to sense of place  (placelessness) theme in the talks today!
    Adaptation? Or not? Words. Nuances. Hidden meanings. Narratives. Discussion  ensued on the 2 ideas of resilience  – and its connection to what we came here today to solve. Conflation of resilience term.  The term is used here in terms of resiliency of communities (and their libraries)  facing environmental change not people.  Are libraries now pushed in competition for funding and existence –  which in turns is pushes the burden on the staff/the people after collections?————————————————————————————————————————————-10:30-12:00 – 20-minute papers – Maintaining Access, Digital Resilience
  22. 1.Heather Christenson: The Large-scale Digital Library and Response to the Anthropocene
    • Research library at large scale Hathi Trust, 128 libraries (north america) mission is preservation and access.
    • Digitizing resources even though they are from the past, the ideas/concepts can be used again, learned from. Such as solar power or electric cars – might give us ideas we can apply now.
    • Bethany Nowviskie   – digital humanities in the anthropocene 
    • Check out the “Other lab” in san fran

2. Sarah Lamdan: Improving Access to Environmental Information and Records (Lawyer and librarian)

    • We have no good laws in the US on what environmental info is and parameters on what we collect and save.
    • According to the EU –  What is environmental information?  See slide
    • Decentralized information. On so many location – national and local. Can be really frustrating to find the info needed. Multitude of sources. From researchers to govt to polluters  so …. She wrote a book on it/coming out soon:  Environmental information: research access and decision-making by sarah lamdan
    • Quick review of govt processes:  Legislature branch passes laws and create documentation. Judicial interprets what that documentation means and how it applies.  Executive is where most information is created (NASA, EPA, etc) and executive orders tell those agencies to do it …. Legislative branch = congress –  grants admin authority to the agency to figure out how to carry details out. These agencies can response quickly more so than legislature.
    • Why is it so impt?  3 key reasons: Much of our environmental data is in gov databases.  they use this info to make decisions, and we have a right to know what our government is up to!
    • Data Refuge! FOIA is broken – we need central hubs for this information and experts to help us understand it, advocate for open access of information and quick access.
    • Recommends re read (have in our library) and comment on laws and proposals —  the art of commenting beth mullins 

    1. Robert Montoya: Documenting Biodiversity: Information, Libraries, and Professional Ethics

    The catalog of life: nomenclature and hierarchy  http://www.catalogueoflife.org/  Global database of species

  2. 1:00-2:40 – 20-minute papers – Architectures of Resilience
    1. Paulina Mikiewicz: The Library of 2114

    Not a librarian but studies libraries.

    Examples:

    • Library of water
    • Global seed vault in Norway
    • Baltimore aquarium seeking status to be a living library (?)
    • Liyuan library in china

     

    1. Charlie Macquarie: Libraries, Landscapes, Stewardship: The Library of Approximate Location
    • Its easier to imagine the end of the world then the end of capitalism!
    • The American West as living Space by Wallace Stegner
    • End of capitalism we could start to organize things much like we do as libraries.

     

    1. Eira Tansey, Ben Golditman, Tara Mazurczyk, and Nathan Piekielek: Climate Control: Vulnerabilities of American Archives to Rising Seas, Hotter Days and More Powerful Storms
    • Intense session on climate change and climate modeling and how scary it really is!
    • Next Steps – archives need to start collecting data about ourselves (archive local data), open data for public reuse
    • “what if it’s a big hoax and we created a better world for nothing”  cartoon

     

    1. Mark Wolfe: Efficiency: Friend or Foe of Sustainability? Exploring the Impact of Jevons Paradox on the Archival Profession
    • In economics, the Jevons paradox (or effect) occurs when technological progress increases the efficiency with which a resource is used, but the rate of consumption of that resource rises because of increasing demand. EX: More lanes on a highway = more traffic!
    • What would jevons drive a prius or a hummer? (actually the hummer has its own carbon tax built into it aka user has to put more $$ into their commute) Paradox of fuel efficiency. It actually increases use of fuel.
    • Dream of the paperless office – a falsehood.  Rise of the PC gave rise to MORE paper docs
    • Moore’s Law – really an observation – “the number of electronic components which could be crammed into an integrated circuit was doubling every year”
    • Invest in people not things
    • More greener repository means less carbon tax so you can build MORE spaces; growing means more use instead of less. And we end up with more “dirty” activities (like I saved a lot of money so I can take a long hot shower!)
    • Suggested read – Peter Senge Thinking of System

     

    2:40-3:30 – Five minute lightning talks with 15 minutes for discussion

    1. Carla Leitao: Foundation Landscapes of Massive Oblivion
    2. Wendy Highby: The Tesseract, The Tesla, and the Anti-Reflexivity Thesis: How Librarians Can Save the World
    3. William Denton: GHG.EARTH
    4. Andrea Atkins: Libraries and Sustainability in the Former Soviet Union
    5. Beth Filar Williams: Integrating Sustainability into the Daily Work Practices: Lessons Learned as a Manager
    6. Evi Klett: Supporting Regenerative Practices in Denver: Programming and Networking @DPL
    7. Sarah Burke Cahalan: Libraries and Laudato Si’
    8. Amanda Avery: Our Dark Materials: A Steampunk Future for Libraries?

     

     

 

Mindfulness in Libraries

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marys river photo by bethIn the cold, icy, snowy, dark, month of January I took an unusual (I thought for librarians) course called “Mindfulness for Librarians: Handling Stress and Thriving Under Pressure.”  Having read a number of books over the years on mindfulness, and tried to practice (often unsuccessfully) in my personal life, and through inspiration from librarian colleagues I respect applying these concepts in their librarianship and teaching,  I thought I would try it out this course.

Though the course was 100% online (no virtual synchronous meet ups) – which is not always my best style to learn –  over the 4 weeks,  the engagement of students as well as instructors, keep my attention. The class  size was large, making it hard to read everyone’s posts and respond, but I managed to pick up tips and ideas.  Simply realizing everyone else enrolled was also struggling with an information overload, too many meetings/projects and not enough staff, etc scenarios too and looking for ways to be mindful and present in these situations was helpful and bonding.   I enjoyed readings  and discussions about “job demands-resources theory,” librarians and burnout, why relationships are important in libraries, mindful reference interactions, and job crafting – and I  recommend  an article by Schein “learning leader as cultural manager.” I found the mediation exercises (such as the Insight Timer Mediation App,  these from UCLA, this loving kindness meditation, and Jon Kabat-Zinn resources.)  and discussion about our struggles to practice very helpful. I joined a Facebook group  with others from the course, that is sharing and virtually meeting up for synchronous  mindfulness sessions. Others are now taking various online/in person  Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses.

photo of clouds by bethI hope to bring some of these ideas and methods into my work place by sharing applicable ideas/reading with others,  encouraging being present for my staff and role modeling that behavior, and bringing mindfulness and mediation moments throughout the work day. Wish me luck!

Other Recommended Readings for the Course:

  • Charney, Madeleine. Contemplative Studies LibGuide. UMass Amherst Libraries.
    http://guides.library.umass.edu/contemplative
  • Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. NY: Harper & Row, 1990.
  • Eng, Kim. “Kim Eng – Guided Breathing Meditation.” YouTube. YouTube, 4 Oct. 2011.
  • Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon, 2006.
  • Institute for Mindful Leadership. Institute for Mindful Leadership.
    http://instituteformindfulleadership.org/  –> this looks interesting to attend! 
  • Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment–and Your Life. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2012.
  • Mindful Magazine. http://www.mindful.org/magazine/
  • Moniz, Richard J., Joe Eshleman, Jo Henry, Howard Slutzky, and Lisa Moniz. The Mindful Librarian: Connecting the Practice of Mindfulness to Librarianship. MA: Chandos/Elsevier, 2016.
  • Neff, Kristin. Self-compassion: Stop Beating Yourself up and Leave Insecurity behind. New York: William Morrow, 2011.
  • Rinzler, Lodro. The Buddha Walks into a Bar–: A Guide to Life for a New Generation. Boston:
    Shambhala, 2012.
  • Salomon, Gavriel. “To Be or Not to Be (Mindful).” Paper presented at the American Educational
  • Research Association Meetings, New Orleans, LA, 1994.
    Salzberg, Sharon. Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace. NY: Workman, 2013.
  • Shen, Lan. “Improving the Effectiveness of Librarian-faculty Collection Development.” Collaborative Librarianship 4(1), 14-22.
  • Hạnh, Nhất, and Mai Vo-Dinh. The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation. Boston: Beacon, 1987.

 

Library Assessment Conference 2016

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” If you are not at the table you might be on the menu”

Plenary Session 2 – Keynote III: Brian Nosek, University of Virginia, Promoting an Open  Research Culture http://projectimplicit.net/nosek/

Space:

Reading Library Spaces: Using Mobile Assessment to Complete Your Library’s Story by Tobi Hines, Cornell University, Camille Andrews, Cornell University and Sara Wright, Cornell University

  • SUMA – most useful for asking a specific question
  • Improvements — Optimizing the screen real estate, adding a multiplier button, managed list of the most popular configurations

Evidence-Based Decision Making Using New Library Data, by Heather Scalf, University of Texas Arlington

  • Sampled 4 times a day for 3 weeks – found over 400 students studying at 2am (we generally have only 40); learning who is in the library by having swipe cards in and out  – used that for example to keep coffee shop open past 10pm; found out it’s mainly engineering students. Used EZproxy to determine habits of online students.

Driving the BUS: A Multimodal Building Use Study and Needs Assessment  by Mandy Shannon, Wright State University  

  • Building use study (Current use patterns and constrained needs)and needs assessment (prospective and unconstrained needs) – two different apples. Study – Semester, week, day. 2 days a week, 6 times a day, 6 weeks a semester.
  • Data: gate counts; used SUMA (zone based analysis – as a whole on some floors and zones on other floors according to noise levels, and grabbed info on tech use, furniture, and size), white boards for voting and why; questionnaire on random tables; photographs by those doing use counts that can’t easily come up in other data count methods. (ALL DONE IN SPRING TERM). Needs assessment survey in Fall with office of institutional research. Analyzed data = variety, diverse, it depends.  Still value quiet.
  • Tip – build in planning time! Work with a non library entity for perspective.

Don’t Dismiss Directional: Analyzing Reference Desk Interactions to Develop an Evidence-Based Content Strategy for a Digital Wayfinding System Christine Tobias, Michigan State University 

  • Developed their content via Ref desk transaction — looking at directional questions (like we are doing with concierge data!) 
  • MSU Digital Signage Working Group: allowed library to centrally manage signage, created formal guidelines for future digital signage installations (this was in collaboration with the whole university). This group included UX librarians/staff
  • Content strategy:  Signs had to include school brand, campus maps, emergency information in addition to wayfinding;  organized directional questions into broad categories (ex. events/exhibits, photocopiers etc) Renovated floor maps, directory, event scroll, weather on 1 screen

Shh Stats: Mining the Library’s Chat Transcripts to Identify Patterns in Noise Complaints Jason Vance, Middle Tennessee State University

After the Ribbon Cutting: Creating and Executing an Efficient Assessment Plan for a Large-Scale Learning Space Project Krystal Wyatt-Baxter, University of Texas at Austin Michele Ostrow, University of Texas at Austin

  • Repurposed staff space into media lab, active learning classrooms, and writing center.
  • Tips – use mixed methods, show users the changes, start with loose policies and grow them, maybe sure you are super granular in assigning who does what. And – Take workflow into account to schedule time intensive methods for when you are less busy

Lead Users: A Strategy for Predictive, Context-Sensitive Service and Space Design Ameet Doshi, Georgia Institute of Technology  Elliot Felix, brightspot strategy

  • “The future is already here but it’s just not evenly distributed”  – william gibson
  • Eric Von Hippel –  book – Democratizing Innovation  “lead users”
  • Everett M Rodgers  – book  – Diffusion of Innovations  “early adopters”
  • Methodology:
    • ID Lead users (early adopters) top 15%  – ask around in the library for who falls in this group; looked to advisory boards
    • Engage through interviews (1st), workshops,  shadowing (quietly, unobtrusively), journaling (for a week) –  then they synthesized the data with post it notes to get insights.
    • ID workarounds, innovations — looked for key moments, discovery times, when they were growing, creation times, showcasing moments
    • Compare their behaviors to how other users are trending – what could they learn from those people?
    • Create  concepts based in lead users ideas and new ones to meet their needs. (gave some examples)
    • The methodology will only get you so far, you have to cultivate the empathy of your users so they will open up, share and be willing to allow you to shadow them.

From Data to Development: Using Qualitative Data to Create New Ideas and Solutions Ingela Wahlgren, Lund University, Åsa Forsberg, Lund University

  • 2nd largest university in Sweden.  A 62 foot reference desk!!
  • Touchstone tours – users showed librarians a tour of the key touchpoints the person used when visiting the library (30 min)
  • Cognitive mapping – had users draw their vision of the library, change color pen every 2 minutes (for 6 min total) so you can see what they saw as important (drew first) then interviewed them for 10 min afterwards (EX:  first showed the cafe, then commented on the so-so exhibit, then drew the restrooms, and then sits in his spot, then nothing much else except he lastly wrote “I do not know what happens in here”  haha!)
  • Then spent 2 days in a conference room to analyze data and do affinity mapping and analysis.  EX change – moved their digital sign to near the restroom where people were queuing and would see and read it!
  • Sorted using how now wow matrix http://gamestorming.com/games-for-decision-making/how-now-wow-matrix/
  • Insights:  Can gain many insights from just a few people &  Asking people in person gives a much higher response rate —  went into the library and just asked people instead of sending an email to a ton of people

Space: Describing and Assessing Library and Other Learning Spaces Bob Fox, University of Louisville, Steve Hiller, University of Washington, Martha Kyrillidou, Quality Metrics, LLC Joan Lippincott, CNI

 

 

Assessing to Transform an Aging Learning Commons: Leveraging Multiple Methods to Create a Holistic Picture of Student Needs Jessica Adamick, University of Massachusetts Amherst Sarah Hutton, University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • Desk stats (libanalytics)  – from  3 different service points in one area. Use Tableau to visualize. Headcounts –  every hour for a 6 weeks a year
  • Microclimate spaces  analysis – classroom, presentation style practice and group study space (what worked and what didn’t, place to test before developing long term)
  • Focus Groups  – Had school of management, do it they did 10!
  • Ethnographic research  – used anthropologist on campus, and her students did the work, part of their syllabus,  they with many different methods
  • Workflow studies too
  • Findings and Recommendations!
    • Wayfinding and communication problems identified.
    • Consolidated ref, ill and circ
    • Individual spaces in open area (semi-enclosed seating).  Students like microclimates – smaller areas within the larger area.

Consulting Detectives: How One Library Deduced the Effectiveness of Its Consultation Area & Services Camille Andrews, Cornell University Tobi Hines, Cornell University

  • Context/Goals
    • Mixed methods  assessment for consultation area
    • Multiple help desks in 2014 which was confusing with different hours
    • Declining reference traffic,
    • Wanted to improve the visibility of the internal and external consult services
  • Methods:
    • Completed lit review, site visits and environmental scan
    • Focus groups
    • Interviews with staff
    • Prototype spaces and surveys
    • Space observations
    • Reference transaction analysis
    • LED TO: people don’t mind separate desks, but need to know where to get what ⇒ Wayfinding!  Highly visible first point of contact, but a quieter area for longer ref consultations. Also – improve signage, merge poster printing and circ, made room for in depth consult services.
  • RESULTS:
    • New, eye-catching signage that listed each service available.
    • Everyone that works at the combined circ/printing desk knows how to do everything, student coverage has improved.
    • Reconfigured space using existing furniture and tech for consult space, available for group study after 6pm.  Used SUMA to get info on size of groups using it after 6pm.
    • Added a (paper?) survey so students could complete
    • Staff survey to ask what worked and what could be improved.
    • More visual and acoustic privacy wanted — will be purchasing furniture that will work for this.
    • Will add digital signage at entrance  and will have tablets on stands at various workstations
    • NOTE: Important to know what other institutions are doing BUT make sure you listen to YOUR users.

Public Workstation Use: Visualizing Occupancy Rates Jeremy Buhler, University of British Columbia

  • Assessment as map-making – showing a rough sketch of how/where people are and what they’re doing/using.
  • Multiple campus study.  But hadn’t researched basic questions about numbers, distribution, placement.
  • Simple data – how many logins/logouts – but doesn’t tell about occupancy.  Excel allows to extract occupancy rates, which gives a much richer dataset – same pattern, but the bars show concurrent occupancy rather than number of logins/logouts.  These bars show when they’re at full occupancy.
  • Studied occupancy rates/patterns at specific locations – realized they were under-occupied in some spaces (people don’t know they’re there), at 100% occupancy in others (that are obvious).
  • Set up for anything that has target based time stamps so that they could set goals for workstation use.  (see slide for url to show tableau data visualization)

Library Snapshot Day, or the 5 Ws—Who, What, When, Where, and Why Are Students Using Academic Library Space: A Method for Library User Experience Assessment Gricel Dominguez, Florida International University Genevieve Diamond, Florida International University Enrique Caboverde, Florida International University Denisse Solis, Florida International University

  • one day library snapshot day!
    • 1 day, 3 hours, observational
    • 6 public floors, 9 zones
    • Teams of 2-4 per zone (2 single researcher in 2 zones)
    • 34 factors in 3 categories under observation
    • IRB
    • A little ethnographic work too, tweet campaign across campus including the provost, marketing
  • Purpose – to ID user behavior and needs and find areas for improvement and promote library as a place
  • Methods – sweating sweeps and observation
  • What they did:  ID zones/locations to observe, came up with factors, choose a time of term, created an intense checklist, scheduled it with everyone, did practice run through, include staff too!

 

Organizational Issues/Other 

Assessment by Design: A Design Thinking Project at the University of Washington Libraries Linda Garcia, Washington State University Vancouver (linda.garcia@wsu.edu) Jackie Belanger, University of Washington    http://libraryassessment.org/bm~doc/belanger-handout.pdf

Space Assessment Via Tableau  – U of Washington Libraries  https://visualibrarian.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/library-space-assessment-in-tableau-a-step-by-step-guide-to-custom-polygon-maps-and-dashboard-actions/

Used Tableau to visualize the data https://public.tableau.com/profile/libraryviz#!/vizhome/REACH_1/REACHDashboard

Using Peers to Shed Light on Service Hours for Librarians
Hector Escobar, University of Dayton @greenghopper Heidi Gauder, University of Dayton

  • Staffs a ref desk about 40 hours a week
  • Surveyed peers institutions about their reference staff on the desk
    • What does your reference staffing model look like now
    • What are the roles of your librarians
    • Have there been shifts
  • Combined service desk was most, then traditional service desk, then other then ref consultations only (smallest)
  • Results:
    • Mixed bag of who staffed – (see slide)
    • Have the number of public service hours for your professional librarians declined?      60% Yes 40% No
    • 12 of the 17 will change or have changed service approaches by decreasing service hours.
    • Decreases because of liaison activities, less consultations, more chat reference
    • How can you be equitable Workload Policy. (fairness important)
    • http://www.slideshare.net/HectorEscobar20/using-peers-to-shed-light-on-service-hours

Active Learning with Assessment
Katharine Hall, Concordia University Meredith Giffin, Concordia University

  • Developed staff 2 part workshop with active learning exercise to learn about assessment
  • Workshops also met strategic plan initiative to increase skills/share expertise
  • The same people who did not like it before still did not not like it afterwards!
  • Scenario breakout groups good chance to work with others and get different perspectives on assessment
  • Active learning component of the workshop was successful

 

A Comparison Study of the Perceptions, Expectations, and Behaviors of Library Employers on Job Negotiations as Hiring Employers and as Job Seekers
Leo Lo, Old Dominion U  Jason Reed, Purdue

  • 74% of our profession have negotiated a job offer in the past.  This is low compared to national average which is 82%.
  • Why don’t some people negotiate? Afraid to jeopardize the job offer.
  • What you should know:
    • Employers expect candidates to negotiate.
    • Only 71% have withdrawn the offer.  If so, it’s because salary demanded was unreasonable. Or issues arose during background check, or candidates did not accept one or more elements of the offer. Or they suspected the candidate was holding out for another position.
    • Didn’t find significant gender diff in negotiation, but older respondents were less likely to negotiate
    • People who had more jobs tended to negotiate MORE
  • How much flexibility is there for salary?  Seems like there is more depending on how senior the position was.
  • Human psychology at work here  – as employers we believe there is flexibility but (same people) as job seeker do not see there is flexibility!
  • Australians (this was presented at an Australian Library Association conference) believe Americans are “more proactive” and more likely to negotiate. So cultural norms or assumptions about cultural norms may affect behavior.  
  • Questions for these researchers to ask later: did you distinguish between staff-level and faculty-level (tenure specific) librarian positions? did you take into account whether job seekers were “currently employed” at the time of their search?    
  • READ: “You’re hired! An analysis of the perceptions and behaviors of library job candidates on job offer negotiation”   The Southeastern Librarian 64(2), 2-13.

Impact of Academic Libraries on UG Degree Completion  http://crl.acrl.org/content/early/2016/09/27/crl16-968.full.pdf

 

 

 

 

2016 Designing Libraries for the 21st Century Conference Summary

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The Designing Libraries for the 21st Century conference held in Calgary, Canada in September 2016 was attended by Margaret Mellinger, Beth Filar Williams and Victoria Heiduschke. It included a pre-conference day on Learning Spaces and one on Data Visualization.  

Overall key takeaways:

  • All space design must be purposeful and intentional
  • When doing even minor redesigns of space it’s most helpful to bring in outside consultants to help with the process and planning
Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning (TITL)

The Learning Spaces pre-conference was held in the brand new Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning (TITL)

Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning (TITL)

Key Highlights:

  • When designing spaces think first of the intention and purpose, not the furniture and arrangement. It’s all about the LEARNING–not the things in the space.  What are the gaps on campus? Should be intentional, but note duplicating a space might really have a new intention or group or bring together multiple disciplines as like the real world.
  • Foundational design  characteristics to consider
    • Flexibility – Versatility such as all movable furniture so the space can rearragned for a new intent.  For example, the TITL had a large lecture hall room which could be pushed back like bleachers to make any sort of active learning classroom
    • Transparency such as rooms with glass walls or open spaces to see learning in the process
    • Collaboration
    • Technology  – the backbone- a critical aspect for 0918161020all space.  For example, TITL has the tech boxes throughout the space in the floor.
  • System architect – create blueprints for students workflow and instructors workflow while in the design process. (hint: this is service design thinking)
Reflection Loft area

Reflection Loft area

Conversation Pods hang from up high!Key highlights:

Conversation Pods hang from up high!Key highlights:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Core values of design concepts within a space and with partners:

  • Intention —Everyone need think “how does my work contribute positively to student learning?”
    • Think about regular practitioners, and the occasional practitioners, and the students…but also the consumer – those who will not do these big research projects, but chat, connect with others on campus, etc.
    • Offer  “Seeding SoTL” initiatives – (http://www.ucalgary.ca/taylorinstitute/seed-SoTL) – form a reading group, a teaching square, a community of practice, hosts a small unconference. Note: often instructors learn in small, informal conversations, than big former presentation settings.
  • Flexibility/Versatility —  Adapt to specific context and recognize that quality and effectiveness are informed by these contexts: existing experience, local context, knowledge catalysts (networkers and connectors) … and connect these networks and groups by providing resources and meaningful opportunities to connect these networks.
  • Transparency — Share process and products with other out of respect, trust, and desire to contribute to knowledge growth. EX: the teaching academy (highlighted on the wall of honor) goal is to make teaching and learning open and shared.  EX: open classroom week, where 20 instructors allowed over 200 observers to come to their classroom, to see the real authentic learning and teaching in process – not for telling these people what they did wrong but to simply observe. Teaching is tough, let’s share with each other.Core Values image
  • At VCU they classify their spaces into three areas:   Destination space, study space and campground spaces..

Ideas to consider at OSULP:

  • Photo diary interviews with our users.  Here is an example:   Understanding user in our Learning spaces, by Susan Beatty U of Calgary Studying students on their perceptions of library learning spaces. Why do they choose specific spaces to learn? They learn in different spaces and different ways.  Have them photograph specific types of spaces, then interviewed them about photos such as “what are the features, what would help you learn, how top you use them”  Recruited by asking “do you study in the library?”  gave $25 gift card for the interview. Used social media to recruit along with posters. Hoped for 20 and got 50 interested, all types and levels.  Results: learning awareness, even if they did not use the space they knew what it was best used for. (See my photos) Though she didn’t ask the value of the library, they told her — functionality, they want to be able  to move to various spaces and access various services, in one place….also a sense of belonging or Ownership, and key to academic success. (see her slides for details) Also mood and motivation – comfort zone, not necessity comfy seats,  but safe, space to be open to learn and achieve their goals.
  • Student Videos: Ask students to a 1-5 min video on why they love the library. Give a prize to winner. Use these to show the trustees! (Purdue libraries); and  make use of stairwells, for quotes, poetry, of students or former students, or art by students; helps students make this space, their space. Could be a great partnership with SMS. 
  • Visiting Libraries: Bring a student or multiple students with you when visiting other libraries for ideas on creating intentional spaces.  
Data Viz wall

The Data Visualization pre-conference was help in the Taylor Family Digital Library  (http://tfdl.ucalgary.ca/faqs)

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Key Insights | application to OSULP:

  • Because screen technology is changing so quickly, Edmonton Public Library will wait until 2019 to finalize hardware decisions.  
  • The programming that will happen in the space is more important than the space – it is also the more difficult part. While we have been talking with faculty about the data vis space, we also need to interview students, analyze curricula and frame the need for this space in broader digital and data literacy terms.
  • What I liked about the Auraria Library was the examples of low cost applications that could be employed and displayed when curriculum or research based content was not available. Good for keeping content fresh and for attracting tour groups to interact with the wall.
  • Hire a part-time, dedicated project manager (outside of the contractors, vendors, facilities people) –  someone to represent the libraries’ interest and schedule.
  • Form a group to prior to installation
  • SANDBOX VR in public spaces  – this would be a fabulous event for us to do with Ecampus people  (NCSU is doing this)

Closing Panel: Rethinking the organization as you redesign space

Organizational Change:   For major renovations or organization structure changes, Murray-Rust suggest these important lessons:

  • Actively manage and socialize change  – protect people’s self esteem and minimize fear and anxiety.  
  • Seek out and accept outside help. There are reasons for change and outsiders can help
  • Offered Mindfulness training for staff 12 – 1:30 once a week.

University of Rochester New Service Model in Old Spaces

  • New space includes:  New desk called   “Q&I” (questions and information); Computing and Tech “Sandbar” ; Very few fixed workstations; Research consults throughout the space “YOU ARE THE REFERENCE DESK” ;  Popup programming; 3 digital screens
  • Process for organizational change over 3 years: started with strategic plan and a facilities master plan; Created a series of working groups to arrive at a service models for access and reference (hired Brightspot for this); THEN did the space design
  • Key points: staff drove the changes, which were a series of incremental ones – renaming spaces, creating new services, making service desks smaller

Important Lessons:

  • Gained important lessons from Leading Change by John Kotter.
  • Everyone has to see themselves in their roles and understand the narrative.
  • Moved from “my library” to “our library” learned to work in groups (not always in consensus – there are gradients)

University of British Columbia, Barber Learning Center

  • How does the organization respond to space changes and when are spaces no longer viable?  They consolidated a bunch of libraries and service points.  
  • Process for organizational change was a “seismic shift”  There was a strong initial vision, but they also have staff who work in community-driven ways.  They have a governance council.
  • Staff organized a community of practice to take charge of their own development and this was particularly effective.  

Important Lessons:

  • If you are the person with the drawings, you must go beyond communicating change and socialize change.  
  • Make your first teams as big as possible – people support what they help build
  • Imagine the project as a chapter in the library’s story
Studio Bell - National Music Center

Studio Bell – National Music Center

Studio Bell Music Makerspace

Studio Bell Music Makerspace

Mount Royal University Library - reclaimed skateboard wall

(new) Mount Royal University Library – reclaimed skateboard wall

Mount Royal University - Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts

Mount Royal University – Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts

Beth’s ALA 2016 Summary

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flying

Window views: from Portland, to Phoenix, to Orlando!

atlas rocker

…got to see an rocket launch from my Aunts porch!

After taking vacation on the front end to see family….

ocean

West coast beaches are beautiful but you can SWIN in the Atlantic!

…I headed friday to ALA in Orlando!  As I have been rotating off many of commitments and committees this past year, it was nice to wrap up many things and enjoy ALA networking with new and old friends.  My main focus this year was seeing the ALA Sustainability Round Table (of which I was a founding member & published an article on) finally have a real presence at ALA. Check out these   to hear more and read about two of the sessions SustainRT hosted in American Libraries Magazine:

Carribean Libs at ALAAlso, a panel of Caribbean Librarians spoke about The National Library of Aruba: Promoting, Enhancing and Embracing Green Education  0701161555

Did you notice the name badges had no plastic sleeve, thank  SustainRT folks for pushing back on that!

atwood

Margaret Atwood was hilarious  – so witty – I found myself laughing out loud. I cant wait to read her book this fall as part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project!

browns posters

I also got to see my former colleagues from UNCG as we celebrated the much deserved award to one of my favorite folks at UNCG Brown Biggers as LJ’s Paralibrarian of the Year.

I enjoyed small group discussion at the Heads of Public Service DG meet up where we discussed space allocation and staffing with no miraculous answers but nice to connect with others in similar roles.  The  ACRL ULS Taking Our Seat at the Table: How Academic Librarians Can Help Shape the Future of Higher Education was a little disappointing in content  – hmm or maybe we are already doing many of the things discussed – though I did hear some large libraries say they are stopping their Gov Docs collecting (!), and much on affordable textbook initiatives. I did really like this slide quizzing us on what we should know/be able to answer about our schools.

2 min quiz on your school

and this humorous one on how to earn your seat at the table!

earn a seat at the table how

 

 

OLA debrief….

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A few of us met to share what we learned at OLA and ideas on what we might be able to apply here:

Library of Things Lightning Talks:  Giveaway boxes – seeing libraries as a cultural center. What people need and what people want along with academic mission  EX: seed library, partner with food pantry; tool lending library.  Issues: staff problem to maintain and lack of space.  Ideas:  do we have to be the keepers?  facilitate where to go to get these types of things? like a libguide?  OR could be have a spinning rack to display but store them elsewhere.
Follow Up???? 

Better connection with public library and Valley library? a think session between the two entities? when they get a new adult services manager we should connect. Getting public library card applications in our library so students can get cards to access resources?
Follow up: Maybe Beth should be the liaison to this new adult services manager? 

“doing more with less” marketing in libraries. what do we want the users to get from the libraries rather then everything that is overwhelming to them.
Follow Up: spotlight feature on website needed, to highlight events/items/info – is this happening? Beth/Uta will ask Mike 

The Edge Tools – assessing & measuring your technology needs and usage; free for basic set; ts for public libraries from Gates foundation but can our land grant mission help us get access?
Follow Up:  brooke/lori will follow up on possibilities of getting access to this 

Other good sessions:

  • Curiosity Session – people loved it and would love to see it again. 
  • Auto ethnography Session  -telling your own story; approaches to research; your story; gather a wide collection of stories; self assessing reactions to an event, content, etc. emotional intelligence based. Beth still doesn’t quite get this 🙂 
  • OR Readers Choice Awards Books  https://oregonreaderschoiceaward.wordpress.com/  Ideas: maybe kelly could do book talks like this? How about a poetry slam on 4th floor rotunda once a month/quarter? maybe talk to Marty about book talks for Press Books?  Follow up:  Korey will contact Marty about this idea

Designing For Digital 2016 Conference (Austin, TX)

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Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 9.19.07 AM

Opening Keynote: Jesse James Garrett  

What do you want people to say about your product? “Can’t live without it”

Picture a triangle: Tech is the base but features are the next layer to consider (ex, first word processor “word star,” then word with all toolbars turned on,  but that overwhelms users with too much). Experience sits at the top of the triangle.  1984 Steve jobs quote: “When you start looking at a problem, it seems really simple—because you don’t understand its complexity. And your solutions are way too oversimplified, and they don’t work. Then you get into the problem and you see it’s really complicated. And you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s where most people stop, and the solutions tend to work for a while. But the really great person will keep going and find the key underlying principle of the problem and sort of come full circle with a beautiful, elegant solution that works.” 

Key concepts:

  • Start w the customer experience and work backwards
  • Human engagement key
  • Products are people too (ex, people give names to their cars!)
  • Use repeatedly, recommend to a friend, would buy again
  • Experiences with products build relationships (and create loyalty)

My presentation:  Ask Me! A Mobile Concierge Station as a Library Wayfinding Solution

photo by Rachel V of Beth presenting

Beth, using her hands too much as usual

Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/filarwilliams/ask-me-a-mobile-concierge-station-as-a-library-wayfinding-solution

Q/A/suggestions:

  • Consider taking it around campus
  • Try using it on other floors
  • Using for other events
  • Try working with web folks to determine if we can make changes there as well
  • Hire students just to do this, where a vest, super outgoing and friendly (another university does this)

 

Journey from subjective to objective capturing user experience

By Librarians at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
(their presentation was not uploaded to the site yet – lame!) 

It is the norm to conduct usability testing for library’s websites. Often, these tests focus only on effectiveness or efficiency rather than measuring users’ experiential perspectives This presentation covered UX research conducted in the fall 2015 semester.

  • User experience testing during library instruction
  • Screencastomatic , preloaded on computers
  • Testing website navigation
  • Learned tips as an instructor on improving teaching too
  • Used lemon tree software (?)
texas chili parlot

lunch with my former boss who was in town visiting his family, at the famous Texas Chili Parlor

Serve Design  – afternoon workshop – by Matt Franks, Faculty, Austin Center for Design

Book Recommendations:   Exposing the magic of design by Jon kolko  and Innovation X by Adam Richardson

“Services are co produced by people using them”

Independent touch points:

  • Perceived by users as a single functioning entity
  • Used together over time to solve a problem or achieve a goal

Process to service design-  Ethnography, Synthesis, Prototyping

Customer journey map exercise:

  • Perished state, what people working there think
  • Actual state, observe.
  • Do both and compare!

People-

  • Thoughts and perceptions
  • Feeling and emotions
  • Actions and behaviors

Researching the systems –

  • Environment
  • Recognitions and response
  • Affordance and indication

Activity Service Design Timeline (Journey mapping): Reflection timeline, draw a line, choose a time scale, intro a frame of reference, create first point “you are here now”, ask someone how did you get here, why did you come here. Shoot for 10-14 people

  • Do this in the environment where you are researching so thy can think about it visually and point to things.
  • Cut up all the things said and put on a wall to try to get patterns and theme
  • Mix the data up regardless of person
  • Sketch a visual flow of the data, touch points (sometimes have to infer touchpoints), visually add smiley faces etc.
  • Scale can be flexible, small timeframe or large
  • Learn to take better notes!
  • Create vignettes that illustrate a potential solution to a problem. One page.

notes from exercise sample timeline journey mapfinal ideas/prototyopes

 

 

 

 

Applying this back to our libraries:

  • There is a difference between Demographic vs User Group!
  • Don’t be predictive but provocative
  • Pay them with food (since we cant pay them $60/hour!)
  • Try these as the topic: “I want to get an understanding of your perception of the library” OR   “How does the library fit into your world”  perhaps walk through library with them, record with audio, and write while walking, always 1:1
  • Be concerned about everything – and be prepared to do it yourself
  • Get out of the building
  • Stop talking and make something

Screen printing the bags at the conference reception!

Screen printing the bags at the conference reception

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Constant strategy – morning workshop –  by Sarah Kznarich  @kznarich

Book: How to make sense of any mess by Abby Covert
Sarah says:  Learn to write if it’s the one thing you do!

“Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful usable content”

  • Vision, goals and planning: What are your core values? Take them to the next level, why and how.  (Core messaging mad lib exercise)
  • Business goals now and users needs/tasks are key to understand and connect. (exercise).
  • Golden or core content-  Venn diagram of biz needs overlapping with user needs is core content.
  • Voice and tone leads to brand personality.
  • What we can do at OSU, take our core values and find ways to integrate that and get that in tone and voice in our library web site.

Margot Bloomstein, godmother of message architecture. @mbloomstein

brand sort exercise with a bought stack of cards:

  • Gather stakeholders
  • Categorize
  • Facilitate
  • Filter
  • Prioritize
  • Yay

Check out  Voiceandtone.com

“Be human, think about people at their worst and they’ll work much better when they are at their best too”

Organizing content:

Example:  menu bar that says just “resources, recommendations, research”as over arching categories, super menu below shows subcontent, a good way to organize.

Tools to use:

  • Optional sort  -$
  • Board thing – free
  • Trello – free

Content audit tools: CAT (content analysis tool)  OR Screaming frog

determining your biz objectives slide by @kznarich

used to define each page on the website

qualitative slide by @kznarich

who is in charge or what and when slide by @kznarich considering those involved and regular updates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intro to Tableau
By Sarah  Tudesco Assessment Librarian, Yale University

  • Works in Mac and PC
  • Tableau public version too (less filters)
  • Started at Stanford, 7 years ago, VizQL for Data viz
  • Good for… Visual analytics, ad hoc analysis, dashboards
  • Not good for… Data warehouse or spreadsheet replacement, extract-transform-load tool

Our walk through in the session:

  • Once data in tableau, choose live or extract. Being new or needing to be fast then choose extract.
  • Filter next before bringing into tableau
  • At bottom click on the orange highlighted “sheet 1” – now you are in the work interface
  • Note dimensions and measures
  • Started by clicking # of records… Then can add other data points…can add other data points by dragging to “marks” box then choose way to add it.
  • Circular colored buttons are called pills.
  • Measure, right click to change the data type
  • Commons Z to undo
  • Different things happen when you click on things in different order, but you can always undo and go back.

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Something borrowed: interactive space planning and design
By Marisa Ball Florida International University Libraries

  • Iteration in space planning, small incremental steps, but over all plan/timeline.
  • It will be a lot harder to undue bad space design than it is for web design
  • End result or product — critique or review — analysis of data and feedback — insights identified — back iteration again
  • How to ID problems? Twitter was huge. Observational studies, student projects,

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Did not attend this one but the slides/content are great! Write Responsively: Content as a Touchpoint    https://www.dropbox.com/s/00tkiu0hei0jluf/D11%20-%20Write%20Responsively%20Content%20as%20a%20Touchpoint.pdf?dl=0

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Understanding Service Design Principles in Creating Effective Library Services and Spaces by Kris Johnson (MSU)  

Book recommendation – Encoding Space: Shaping Learning Environments That Unlock Human Potential by Brian Matthews and  Leigh Ann Soistmann

Need of an overall Master plan for your space, do not do in small pieces – holistic is key! First did lots of small manipulations to spaces over the years  … But then slowed down and started thinking about the library as a whole.

Steps/Timeline:

  • Think about if you do yourself or a consultant
  • RFP for a master plan. Selected 2 from 6 proposals, selected a firm that is both architectural and design focused, particularly focusing on service design.
  • First step in master plan- talk to lots of people, both in the library, all stakeholders, etc.
  • Service design task force was carefully selected with right ethos of being open minded and constructively and from the whole library
  • 30/55 library staff came to the visioning session for library staff
  • To recruit students don’t do rsvps. They did push digital flyer to digital boards around campus.. But table in lobby of library and clip board to sign up was best

Cool Tools!!!

Visioning cards – pick a card that represents the library today and one you wish the library episode be; translates to flip card with keywords and orally report out. Design team took this and translated to key themes.

Headline activity – it’s a opening day of the library and pick a headline that would encapsulate, as individuals and then in groups, then on sticky notes on the wall. Design team then translated them into key themes.

Trends (I second that) – controversial statement, quickly agree or disagree “the future of a library is about technology but not books” then you vote on 1-2 you like, and then articulate and advocate on why.

Keep/toss/create – what you still really like about the library, what would you toss, and waists something news.

Ideal user experience map – think about one task to accomplish, think about everything that goes into that process (columns of 5 E’s

What makes a great service? Activity –  Creating  group created the service philosophy

This took 2/3 of the process.

The building plan now, is last 1/3 of the process.

The architects sat through every single meeting until now!

Service design feedback steps:

  • Identity patterns
  • Share back to stakeholders
  • Understand organizational implications – not all is space related
  • Make decision based on previousLy defined priorities or set priorities and make decisions.

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Closing Keynote: Library Innovation By Design
by Michelle Ha Ticker formally of IDEO now with FLUX

Design thinking for libraries: http://designthinkingforlibraries.com/

Desire – feasible – viable, where they connect is innovation!

Inspiration then ideation then iteration (see photo)

Inspiration- Field work, get our from desk have people show you not just tell you or do a survey check a box

Ideation – is best when working off ideas of other people, be visual, encourage wild idea, defer judgement

Iteration -think with your hands

All you need is  creativity, curiously,  fresh eyes

Rethink our thinking  from … to…

  • Reflecting on data … Imagining a future
  • Secondary research answers questions…. Design research opens up new questions
  • Org is structured by operational teams … Org is driven by strategic teams
  • Failure is avoided… Failure is invited

T shaped people very good in one area

X shaped people come from more than one field…better!! They are more diverse and play well with others.

Innovation is a verb not a noun. A process and an outcome.

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Thinking big but starting small Libraries are a living lab | Librarians are great service designers!

 

My first ACRL WA/OR … in the Pack Forest!

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On the way to the Pack Forest for the ACRL WA/OR joint conference, Uta and I visited a few academic libraries  — slide show will be forth coming.  But this post is about my first visit to the amazing retreat center, in the woods at the Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest.

 

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There were about 90+ people in attendance, from a variety of academic libraries including research libraries and community colleges, for this 2 day event.  OSULP had about 7 of us in attendance (including our ACRL OR President Uta!).  Susan Barnes Whyte was the keynote to open up the day  “Your ACRL: An Update from the Board” so she mainly talked about ACRL nationally – its mission,  goals, demographics in the association etc. There was some discussion on ACRL nationally, should it be a part of ALA or its own entity (I feel strongly it should stay in ALA as we can learn from each other regardless of what type of library we are working in currently and we NEED to work together not in silos!) . Another short discussion was on if ACRL is supporting/recruiting  more paraprofessionals and offer more continuing ed leading to certification (not much time to discuss and this could be a great small group discussion at another time).  An interesting note in the national ACRL membership trends shows membership drop off after 5 years  is this perhaps until they get tenured?  What can ACRL do to keep people involved regardless of tenure?  Susan also noted that the  ACRL Plan for Excellence might be adding a 4th goal relating to how libraries effectively navigate changing landscapes.  She mentioned some upcoming library themes  (external pressures)  ACRL was researching:

  • credentialing/badges – might relate to non MLSers
  • curriculum/assessment
  • changing roles of librarians
  • future roles of conferences?
  • academic library as publisher
  • other HE organization
  • budgets!!!
  • professional ethics and large corporations and privacy

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Session 1: BLURRING THE LINES:  Encouraging Undergraduate Student Success Through Partnerships  (U of W librarians)

Key themes:

  • odegaard library  — focuses on UG/student learning focused
  • partnerships – for diverse viewpoints + collaboration –but be prepared to collaborate DEEPLY (more than colocation); sharing cultures, do not underestimate culture clashed, rethink what you want to assess together.
  • holistic view of the student – student support must transcend divisions
  • A need to support the “Hidden Curriculum” – understanding scholarship and inquiry which use to be the expectation by college – and includes subject content, college prep, working with new populations (1st generation, transfers), no GED curriculum —  so, how to transfer skills across courses?

odegardresearchwriting They created the OWRC (Odegaard writing and research center) 70+ tutors, 5 LIS students, 4 librarian tutors. both writing and research tutors collaborate: key:  “writing is where research issues come out, librarians need to be in the midst of that process”   … metalanguage for processes of inquiry – threshold concepts, joint writing and research librarians, recursive process employing reading, writing and discussion to create knowledge.

Other collaborative programming ideas from UW:

  • Health and wellness programming:  peer health educators in the library
  • Music Programming: 1 hour pop up performances such as a campus String Quartet.   “take a study session with a soundtrack”   Quiet areas for students too. Assessment show it calmed students and made them feel good while studying; Also it  connected them to the space and was a shared experience.
  • The gallup purdue index 2014 states  “feeling supported and having deep leaning experiences mean everything when it comes to long term outcome for college graduates” 

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Session 2: Let Your Love Open the Door To – Student Development Theories  (OSU Librarians!)

Their presentation will be better than me summarizing… and since they are local, just go ask them about it! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_xclEG6DYt7Rng1SVgyOVJoOEE/view

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LIGHTENING ROUNDS

1 – Emma at Pierce College discussed opening doors to work with adjunct faculty in teaching and working at the ref desk.  Spend time on boarding, allowing them time to share ref desk questions and project work, give them a chance at co-teaching,  integrated reflective practices, and host an in-service. Adjuncts need to be part of and understand the culture of the library, they need time to debrief on ref questions etc.  See more:  goo.gl/1FimYU 

2 – Beyond Academia “what happens after I graduate?” AND #3 – University of Western States in PDX  both spoke about similar ideas:   why not teach a workshop/class for those getting ready to graduate. They will not have access to library resources so show them Open Access resources, ILL options, where is your local public library, information through their prof organizations, etc .  One library now offers a class the last quarter of their study  “so you are graduating now what?”  Students are surprised they can’t access literature after graduating!  It’s about managing vs meeting expectations.  Offer them options to help guide them once they graduate. She actually shows them a license agreement contract that says “no alumni”  (so they know we arent just being mean 🙂  She also shows how to set up alerts for TOCs and RSS/Feedly and of course open source and government stuff.

DAY 2

Library as a Lightning (talk) rod for Cross Campus Collaboration (Poppy, UW Tacoma) 

  • determine the gaps saw in grad students
  • created TAC  talks (as in Tacoma – aka “TED talks”
  • like Scholars Studio at UW Seattle
  • one topic 10 lightening talk events, 20 slides, 15 sec each, timed
  • gives grad students a chance to practice presenting
  • why the library? already the connecting to research, neutral territory, interdisciplinary
  • refreshments and reception afterwards
  • materials added to the IR
  • then integrated a peer review process as well

Reference in your Pjs (Nano Burling WSL)

virtual reference – after hours references study what was asked during the night. found they asked a lot of high level research questions

Bringing the stacks to Buzzfeed (Emily, UW)

Taught 5 sessions of a course that was in both jewish & Spanish departments that was everything from stacks to spec collections.  Cool idea – had them do a browsing activity instead of scavenge hunt – send to a general section in the library to review books related to their specific area. She also asked them : where are you actually doing your reading (buzzfeed, blog, facebook, etc). She let them posted their final work on Blogs or Buzzfeed.

Library as Open Education Leader Grant Summary (CC librarians)

LSTA grant  for CC in WA – a need to put librarians within the Open Ed process; a need to create open education advocacy plans by librarians . These librarians  created a course to teach how to talk to people and create your advocacy plan (beyond what is OER).  They used Press Books for it. Suggested best practices:  envio scan and find your support networks;

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Trivia Night was also a lot of fun!