SPLAT - Special Projects Library Action Team

My friend Carolyn Todd just forwarded a link to this CNN story.  It turns out that only about 20% of cell phone owners have smart phones. 

I'm looking forward to trading ideas at ILA.  For instance, how can we utilize QR codes in libraries?  But, it's important that we look all around from our SPLAT "crow's nest" perch and not just look forward at the newest technology.

Here's the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/09/30/gahran.smartphone.ownership/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

This is well over a year old now, but I just stumbled across the article in the past month, and I'm finding that I really like the idea. The Darien Statements on the Library and Librarians was written by John Blyberg, Kathryn Greenhill, and Cindi Trainor. They list the role of the library as follows:

• Provides the opportunity for personal enlightenment.
• Encourages the love of learning.
• Empowers people to fulfill their civic duty.
• Facilitates human connections.
• Preserves and provides materials.
• Expands capacity for creative expression.
• Inspires and perpetuates hope.

The list the role of librarians as follows:

• Are stewards of the Library.
• Connect people with accurate information.
• Assist people in the creation of their human and information networks.
• Select, organize and facilitate creation of content.
• Protect access to content and preserve freedom of information and expression.
• Anticipate, identify and meet the needs of the Library's community.

(Taken from http://www.blyberg.net/2009/04/03/the-darien-statements-on-the-library-a... where you can access the entire document.)One of the writers (I can't remember which at the moment), commented that nowhere in the document did they mention buildings or places. Theoretically, all of this library-stuff can be done on the internet, without patrons and librarians ever coming face to face. What do you think? Is this where libraries and librarians are headed? Are these duties as easy to fulfill on the web as they are in person?

Are you aware of how or if your teens are using the library?

I've noticed a trend in public libraries that allows individuals to volunteer time to work off their fines. What an amazing proposition that is! I can imagine all of the fined individuals shelving books, helping with storytime, dusting, etc. and I see a great place - a world where everyone is pitching in to help out with their local library. Not only that, I picture a place where library staff can learn from teens. Maybe teens could benefit by teaching library staff how to use technology? Or how the teens themselves use technology? Cool, huh?

Here is one at the Neenah Public Library in Wisconsin: http://www.neenahlibrary.org/About/volunteer.html

An article from the Evanston Daily: http://evanstonnow.com/aggregationitem/education/evanston-review/2010-04-21/library-gives-teens-a-break-on-fines

And, unfortunately, here is an article about how late fees stopped a teen from coming to the library: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6410502.html

"That’s why I wasn’t surprised when the Columbus (OH) Metropolitan Library surveyed their young patrons and discovered that 41 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds said their library cards were blocked due to overdue materials. These kids weren’t using the library because they couldn’t afford it."

Lastly, here's a link to a Texas library doing this: http://texascity-library.org/LibNews/LibNew7-10.pdf

"Teens can choose to use their volunteer hours to gain community service credit for school honor societies or college applications, or they can use the volunteer hours to “work off” their library fines. Every 15 minutes spent listening to a child read will take off $3.00 in library fines. Volunteers working toward service credits will receive a letter from the library documenting their time. A brief orientation is required to participate."

My Internet connection can be spotty at times, and when it goes down, my productivity suffers (or my Tweets, Facebook sharing, mail, etc.). One of the more innovative things some smartphones can do is to become modems themselves, using the phone's 3G or wireless signal to play the part of a modem (also called "tethering").

This feature varies depending on your Internet service plan & cell phone provider, and I have only tried tethering with my HTC Hero from Sprint. However, when my Internet goes down, tethering is the next best thing.

But you ask, if I need Internet access, why not just use the phone itself? Well, you can certainly do a lot of things on a phone's screen, but for some things you need the screen real estate only a netbook or laptop can provide. Besides, you may need to know this eventually, right?

You can tether your Android mobile device to your computer via an application called PdaNet. There are several tools that do the same thing, but PdaNet is fairly easy to set up and use. Download PdaNet to your laptop from http://www.junefabrics.com/android/ and to your phone via the Android Market. You'll also need an USB cable to connect your computer to your phone.

Once you download it to both devices, go to your phone's settings--this is the only geeky part of the set up--and check "enable USB debugging" before you tether. That's it. When you're ready to try, click the PdaNet icon tray and connect it to your mobile device and you're set. The download/upload speed will vary, depending on your phone's signal strength, but overall it's fairly decent.

In a pinch, it doesn't get better than this. If you have a favorite way to tether your phone, or recommend an app that works for you, please let us know!

Photo by blakespot

A July 2010 report from The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project had this summary on the state of mobile computing today:

Cell phone and wireless laptop internet use have each grown more prevalent over the last year. Nearly half of all adults (47%) go online with a laptop using a Wi-Fi connection or mobile broadband card (up from the 39% who did so as of April 2009) while 40% of adults use the internet, email or instant messaging on a mobile phone (up from the 32% of Americans who did this in 2009). This means that 59% of adults now access the internet wirelessly using a laptop or cell phone—that is, they answered “yes” to at least one of these wireless access pathways. That adds up to an increase from the 51% who used a laptop or cell phone wirelessly in April 2009.

The proliferation of smaller & more powerful computers...sorry, I meant smartphones, means that more individuals are using highly powerful mobile devices to perform tasks normally done on a static desktop.

The wired and connected is now highly portable and connected. However, we haven't reached a saturation point yet--not everyone has a smartphone, nor have they portable devices that can do everything online and on the go...yet.

By contrast, given the steady rise of the availability and multifunction applications of these new devices, competitive pricing, and a greater comfort level of "I can do X on the go & online," means that the steady rise in adoption & use of mobile computing will soon be an upward jump towards mobile-friendly everything. Not only day-to-day tasks like e-mail, document editing & dissemination, etc., but fully engaged users who create content (movies, presentations, documents) and disseminate it at the point of production via a wealth of social networks.

How do you think libraries fit into this equation? What steps is your library taking to engage the mobile user? What suggestions do you have to be a with-it institution? Let us explore and help shape this mobile evolution, eh?

Last weekend I returned to the US with an entirely different perspective on my access to information.  I had just spent the week at the PNLA Conference in Victoria, BC where connectivity was a major challenge for me.

When I've traveled in the US, Ive always been confident that hotels and convention centers will offer me free, reliable wifi.  I admit now that I was incredibly naive as I crossed the border between 2010 and the 1980s.   

I, unfortunately, was so caught up in getting ready for, and getting to, the conference that I forgot to plan ahead--I forgot to arrange for international calling and data transfer for my iphone.  It was quite the shocker to be able to turn on my phone once landing in Canada to be told by my trusted, omnipresent phone, that I have no coverage.  I was then advised that data transfer would by $15+ per certain amount of data transferred if I accessed the web.  Airplane mode went right back on at that point!

I stayed at the historic Empress Hotel--which was lovely but did not offer wifi access.  Nor did it readily offer internet access--it was a land line and cost $15.64 Canadian per 24 hours.  I grumbled and bemoaned my fate and ponied up the credit card number.  i needed to access all that information I had so cleverly stored in the "cloud" for portability!  I whined to my fellow board members--who told me that the conference planners had been unable to negotiate internet access for conference attendees at the hotel or at the conference center for anyone except 1 presenter per room.  (I must have missed that vital piece of info during a board meeting.)  On a good note, I could join the hotel's VIP club and then get free internet access.  Well, for some reason I couldn't do it from inside the bubble of what I had paid for so I waited until the conference started and signed up at the internet cafe.  (Thank the heavens for internet cafes at conferences!!!!)  I found out that wifi was offered in limited ways to conference attendees for the pre-conferences and that because of a horrible technological glitch that day, attendees in a particular session were refunded their preconference fees by the conference center.  Then, sometime during the conference the conference center began offering wifi.  I found out about this on the last day of the conference at the end of the conference sessions when i was thanking the internet cafe vendor for their services.  i told him my story and he said he'd been using wifi all day! 

So, what is the moral of my story?  What great truths were revealed to me?  Well, I learned that I really should plan better for international travel.  I learned that I am way too dependent upon my phone and computers for what I need (and yes, I am chagrined to admit that).  I was lucky enough to recall the 1980s when technology was only just becoming available to the masses.  The internet was not available to the public yet.  I was forced to "look up" and be more involved in my sessions rather than tweeting and blogging about them while they happened.  In some ways I was more engaged and in others i was thinking to myself--"wow that was great! I wish I could share that with folks RIGHT NOW!"   I'm glad I was reminded of how far we've come, but ever-so-thankful to be connected again!

Did you miss the PNLA/WLA conference in Victoria, B.C.?  Many of the conference presentations and handouts are available at http://nwcentral.org,a local library continuing education clearinghouse.  The easiest way to see all the PNLA/WLA materials is to enter pnla/wla into the search
box. 

I'm grateful to Hofstra's "Ernster the Library Cat" blog for this link to a New York Times article about a new hybrid blogging/networking site called tumblr.  It seems to have attracted some major media participants.  May be worth a look.

Here's the link:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407EEDA143CF931A3575BC0A...

I'm grateful to Hofstra's "Ernster the Library Cat" blog for this link to a New York Times article about a new hybrid blogging/networking site called tumblr.  It seems to have attracted some major media participants.  May be worth a look.

Here's the link:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407EEDA143CF931A3575BC0A...

Want to let people text reference questions to your library? Now is a great time!

Wow, there are now so many services you can use for text message reference, and so many reasons to do it, I wonder why people are not doing it! First of all, almost everybody texts. Secondly almost all younger people text. Thirdly, some texting options are free or super close to free.Oh, but you also need to know that SMS stands for "short message service" and it also means texting. Texting=SMS. Yup.

Why do it?

• Librarians can provide more value added answers than ChaCha
• Librarians provide more value added answers, and cost less, than KGB
• Google's texting an answer service only really provides crappy answers
• 88% of all teens are texters (Pew Internet)
• 65% of all adults send or receive text messages (US Census/LA Times)
• Go where your users are!

Check out some of the libraries offering a text message service: http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Libraries_Offering_SMS_Reference_Services

Things to think about:

• Who is your audience? Teens? Public? Students?
• How can you market it to them?
• Can you market this service on a regular basis (it helps)?
• How much money can you spend? some are free, some have minimal costs with perks!
• decide on a service: use InfoQuest - a consortium or Google Voice or Springshare's product or  something else
• Determine staffing: will reference desk people staff it? Staff in their offices?
• Determine the hours available: one cool thing about the Springshare product is that it offers after hours auto replies to say that the library will get to the question in the morning!
• Will this service replace an existing service? Keep in mind that some research shows that offering many virtual reference services can cause competition among them, and not compliment one another.

Phew. Got all that? What do you think? Let's talk! Post a comment below!