A Technology Pledge

A great discussion is ongoing in the blogging world regarding technology competencies for librarians. Fortunately, much of this information on what library staff should or shouldn't know is available through resources such as TechAtlas, Webjunction, and other sites.

What I didn't like about the discussion was the "beat you over the head approach" to anyone who is not technology savvy. I commented on a few blogs stating that we need to be patient with the non-techie people so that they will learn. Furthermore, library staff will not remember any training unless they are using it in their day to day jobs. They can be trained and require a competency, but if it is not something that comes up regularly, that information will not be retained. We need to be more patient and more clear in our training and how we provide assistance. Otherwise, many technology experts can look like some IT jerk who thinks everyone is stupid unless they know what they know. What is basic to someone that is familiar with technology is definitely not basic to everyone. Therefore, I make a plege:

"I pledge that I will help those who do not possess the knowledge of our changing world, and help them navigate it in the way that they are comfortable with. I pledge to remember times, in which, I did not know how to do something, yet someone took the time to teach me. I understand that everyone is different and each person's learning style requires something different of me. It is my responsibility to teach them and if a student does not learn that I take responsibility for that."

A library should have a technology plan in place to deal with new technology, staff training, and sustainability. TechAtlas has full host of services for free so that libraries can do this. Send out surveys to staff and develop a training schedule accordingly. Training staff on technology that they will actually use and that the library will implement is very key. If they don't use it, they will lose it.

Here are some sample questions with the results from my staff. It covers familiarity with Word, HTML, tech plans, Public Access Computers, and sustainability.

(Don't worry, it's anonymous) Keep in mind that I run a rural library that serves a population of 38,000 people.

Red means basic, not a great indication depending on who you are asking. I included everyone from librarians to pages in the survey. When I train staff on technology, it is only the technology that is necessary for their jobs. I am introducing new concepts that are more advanced, but only to those who have an interest in the exploration. Staff cannot be forced if it is not necessary.

Here's our six month plan based on information from the survey and recommendations from TechAtlas:

Enhance Training Resources
· Provide all employees with email accounts
· Develop a staff technology-training plan
· Document and maintain a staff technology-training plan
· Create simple, non-technical computer troubleshooting procedures
· Develop anti-phishing materials for training of library staff
· Increase staff awareness and command of computer anti-virus skills and resources
· Create a centralized collection of documentation for the most frequently used library software applications (POLARIS)

Formalize the Training Program
· Make the library a learning organization by supporting on-going and peer learning
· Design and communicate a clear procedure for training requests
· Identify training needs via staff technology skill assessment
· Maintain up-to-date records of library staff technology skillsets
· Develop competencies and learning goals based on each staff member's role
· Proactively market training opportunities to the library staff
· Develop a procedure for evaluating the success of training.

Emphasize Continuous Learning
· Plan for the design and delivery of training
· Support library staff in self-assessing their learning styles
· Support multiple learning styles to increase staff learning success.
· Allow library staff to participate in training events 'on the clock'
· Provide recognition for library staff members who achieve learning goals.

We need to convince libraries to implement technology plans to ensure technology is created and sustainable and that staff are trained appropriately. Without that, all this talk goes nowhere. For some good ways to convince your boss, the Librarian in Black provides some excellent suggestions.

Subscribe in a reader

I am indeed honored

When I first began blogging, I had set some goals for myself to test my relevancy. At the beginning, I said if I can't sustain my blog, I would delete it. I had some close calls, but was able to stick with it. This week was very fulfilling as I accomplished some of my goals.

The most important to me was to show up in Walt Crawford's Cites and Insights (corrected) for July 2007.
It is in the section titled Making it Work - Commentary on personal balance and library service balance, p. 14 and 15 (mentions my post about libraries, good cheap, but not fast)
civ7i8.pdf (application/pdf Object

This was personally important since I remember reading Walt's analysis of blogs before I began blogging. I always wondered if once I started blogging, my blog would show up there. It was very exciting to read that this week, thank you Walt!

The next important was This Week in LibraryBlogLand. Again, I remember reading this blog as a connection to other great blogs. I wondered if my blog would ever show up. A few weeks ago, it did.
http://twil.lisnews.org/TWiL/07/06/04/1611235.shtml
(Under Librarian Education for my post on What I learned in Library School)

I also contributed to a technology "cookbook" for rural libraries. This was from my technology handbook I created for my library I mention on this post.

The Joy of Computing
http://maintainitproject.org/files/TheJoyofComputing-061807.pdf

Last, I was included in David Free's Presentation on Twitter at the ALA Unconference. Unfortunately, I have never been able to go to ALA Conference, so to have my library mentioned for my twitter efforts was very exciting. Thank you to David for the mention.

So a big thank you is due to all those who think this blog is relevant. I am indeed honored.

Cell Phone is computer of future

The cell phone is perceived as something that has practical and entertainment value. Even people who can't afford much can get a cell phone. The same can't be said about the computer. Many don't see the computer as a high priority and not an investment they can afford. In situations where it is a choice between a car and a computer, the computer is not always the top priority. The cell phone has a practical advantage as a way to communicate and also entertain. Now phones are coming out with the same praticality of a desktop computer.

The IPhone is the answer to that, now they get the entertainment and the information all in one device. The entertainment piece brings them to the pratical piece of a way to communicate and gather information. The cell phone will be the major communication device that will help bridge the digital divide. The IPhone is the first major step.

Now libraries must think of ways to engage using the cell phone. Library elf is one (even though it is not a library service, but an ad supported agency that runs it), twitter and jaiku are other ways. Find a way to notify library activities, collections, and reference by cell phone. This is the future. It will get easier over time and it won't be so expensive to text nor will it be restricted to just text.

Here are some articles:


Is It Time To Call It Quits On The PC?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20070430/072706.shtml
With Vista having failed to ignite a boom in the computer industry, some analysts are starting to turn dour on the future of the PC. David Daoud, an analyst at IDC, thinks it's time for computer makers to rethink the traditional PC, and to work on developing more innovative products. He notes that the basic PC (with its big monitor and QWERTY keyboard) has basically been the same since its inception, and that things like ultra mobile PCs, tablets and other forms that have yet to be invented will come to play an important part role in the industry. Of course, people have been talking about all of these things before, and despite grandiose ambitions, nothing has made a dent in the market. The latest, the ultra mobile PC (UMPC) has pretty much been a dud, despite plenty of backing and hype. This isn't to say that manufacturers shouldn't be exploring alternatives, but as Apple has shown with its resurgent computer business, there's plenty of room for innovation and growth within the traditional confines of the PC.
END SNIP

AND

Mobile minitablets still grounded despite new tech
http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-6180026.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news
By Tom Krazit
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: April 30, 2007, 4:00 AM PDT
PDAs (personal digital assistants) are pretty much dead; smart phones are the domain of the cellular industry; and the newest push, the ultramobile PC, hasn't met with much early success. Of course, new technology isn't always embraced by the masses, especially when it's expensive and people don't understand why they need it.
....
Yet, mobile smart phones are precisely where Intel's eyes are trained. "When you look at the high end of the smart-phone category, that will likely get replaced by the UMPC," Chandrasekher said in comments after his keynote speech in Beijing.

A lot of dominoes will have to fall in the right places for that to happen: Intel will have to deliver its low-power chips, get its hardware partners to build compelling devices, convince developers to write software with a mobile experience in mind, and figure out a way to deliver an always-on Internet connection. And the final product has got to cost around $400.
END SNIP

I didn't know the ultra-mobile PC would be such a bust. Probably just as successful as the sony reader, and now the Dell Axim. (I own a dell axim. In my opinion, this is the best alternative to a smart phone if you don't want a RIDICULOUS phone bill, wi-fi is free.) People want technology in their pocket and there has to be incentive in using it beyond just practical applications, like doing homework or working on a resume. People make purchases largely based on entertainment. So when a practical product comes out that looks like entertainment, good things can happen.

SNIP
Over a year ago, Microsoft began the big move to put the poor online via cell phone:
Microsoft Would Put Poor Online by Cellphone
By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: January 30, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/technology/30gates.html
Craig J. Mundie, Microsoft's vice president and chief technology officer, said in an interview here that the company was still developing the idea, but that both he and Mr. Gates believed that cellphones were a better way than laptops to bring computing to the masses in developing nations. "Everyone is going to have a cellphone," Mr. Mundie said, noting that in places where TV's are already common, turning a phone into a computer could simply require adding a cheap adaptor and keyboard. Microsoft has not said how much those products would cost.
END SNIP

Of course, not sure if Microsoft ever came out with something. Steve Jobs must of understood the same thing, since he pushed the product faster.

Why Apple shifted coders to iPhone
Written by Om Malik
Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 6:37 PM PT
http://gigaom.com/2007/04/12/why-apple-shifted-coders-to-iphone/
Anyone looking for proof of the strategic importance of iPhone to Apple doesn’t have to look beyond Apple’s press release page — the company is delaying the next version of its Operating System, code-named Leopard, by four months, and instead shifting resources to iPhone, now slated for late June 2007 release.
END SNIP

He will make more money on the IPhone than on any other product Apple could put out this year. Once a new version comes out, the masses will really have access to this powerful device. Of course, power may still be an issue. We don't have to wait for the IPhone to stay connected either.

Social Networking Leaves Confines of the Computer
By BRAD STONE and MATT RICHTEL
Published: April 30, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/technology/30social.html?ex=1335672000&en=980ae5cc2c0428b9&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

The social networking phenomenon is leaving the confines of the personal computer. Powerful new mobile devices are allowing people to send round-the-clock updates about their vacations, their moods or their latest haircut.

New online services, with names like Twitter, Radar and Jaiku, hope people will use their ever-present gadget to share (or, inevitably, to overshare) the details of their lives in the same way they have become accustomed to doing on Web sites like MySpace.

END SNIP

This becomes critical because it is another avenue businesses, organizations, and libraries need to get into to get to their users. The cell phone is taking over the laptop and the pc and to get the message across, we need to go there too. This is why the use of twitter becomes important. People can be just as connected to your organization and what it is doing as they are connected to their friends. They can see the benefits of what you have to offer through a free subscription service.

The future of computing is online and mobile. I never thought I would see the laptop as the heavy one. I remember teaching classes about computer stating the advantages of the laptop is its mobility. Things are changing.

Ultramobile Geek:How much mobile internet do you need?
http://www.ultramobilegeek.com/2007/05/how-much-mobile-internet-do-you-need.html
A doctor can take his smartphone with him everywhere and have his schedule of upcoming appointments at hand and get text messages, Email, and reminders without added bulk. However, a doctor on call may want an ultra-mobile PC to carry around encrypted patient histories and pull them up on demand.
END SNIP

The article categorizes the laptop as large and heavy. Not as mobile as a smart phone which looks like the way things are going.

Lastly:

Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/education/04laptop.html?ex=1336017600&en=0da7ad13de3693ef&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Yet school officials here and in several other places said laptops had been abused by students, did not fit into lesson plans, and showed little, if any, measurable effect on grades and test scores at a time of increased pressure to meet state standards. Districts have dropped laptop programs after resistance from teachers, logistical and technical problems, and escalating maintenance costs.

Such disappointments are the latest example of how technology is often embraced by philanthropists and political leaders as a quick fix, only to leave teachers flummoxed about how best to integrate the new gadgets into curriculums. Last month, the United States Department of Education released a study showing no difference in academic achievement between students who used educational software programs for math and reading and those who did not.

Those giving up on laptops include large and small school districts, urban and rural communities, affluent schools and those serving mostly low-income, minority students, who as a group have tended to underperform academically.

Matoaca High School just outside Richmond, Va., began eliminating its five-year-old laptop program last fall after concluding that students had failed to show any academic gains compared with those in schools without laptops. Continuing the program would have cost an additional $1.5 million for the first year alone, and a survey of district teachers and parents found that one-fifth of Matoaca students rarely or never used their laptops for learning. “You have to put your money where you think it’s going to give you the best achievement results,” said Tim Bullis, a district spokesman.

END SNIP

We see this in our library too. Many students wasting too much time on Myspace instead of getting their assignments done. Of course, when they are short on time, they pull the old "I am a student working on a research project, can I get more time?"


Some advice to not get too deep into the next new technology. Yes we need to keep up, but going too far can just end up blowing up in your face. The right piece of technology at the right time can connect with your users or blow them away. It is more the analysis of how effective an organization can be in making the connection using web 2.0 products. In most cases, it can't trump traditional services, especially in rural areas. The cell phone has its advantage, but knowing how to make the right connection is much more difficult than just dumping rss feeds into twitter.

Six Time-Wasting Practices CIOs Need to Stop Doing to Improve Performance

Great post on Chief Information Officers:

SNIP
http://www.govtech.net/magazine/story.php?id=105126
Gartner's 'hit list' advises CIOs to:
Stop Being the Budget-Priority Police -- Ensure that your IT organization minimizes boundary disputes when business units use technology, particularly if business units have control over discretionary spending. It's more important for CIOs to ensure that the enterprise uses technology effectively than to provide all the technology through their own IT organizations. Initial support and education may be needed so people can regulate their priorities.

Stop Using Enterprise Architecture as a Command and Control Tool -- Rigid standards and policies might make it easier to reduce risk in system changes, but this approach reinforces the traditional view that the IT organization doesn't understand how the enterprise needs to respond quickly to business or market changes. Don't use architecture to control priorities and direct details of business applications; rather, use it to enable coherence.

Stop Communicating Using IT Metrics; Focus on Business Performance -- The focus should be on a manageable number of IT value indicators that are meaningful to business leaders. They should be linked to familiar business measures, such as business goals, business strategies or business processes, and should show the current status and progress to date. Ideally, these indicators should be jointly reported on with the appropriate business unit, or included in the business unit leader's dashboard.

Stop the Proliferation of Applications, Infrastructure and IT Governance Committees -- There's often a common, underlying cause of ill-disciplined enterprise decision making. The critical action to fix these problems is to create and repeatedly exploit a strategic portfolio of applications and infrastructure capabilities, with associated rationalization of IT governance. This means using enterprise architecture and related mechanisms to ensure coherence.

Stop Defining Services in Technical Rather Than Business Terms -- The key recommendation is to simplify the number of services offered, bundle them into a logical group and describe services so they reflect user-based activities or processes -- for example, "adding new employees," which might include a suite of services, including PC, telecom and mobile device support; or "Work space design and installation."

Stop Wasting Time Apologizing for Past Problems -- Credibility requires building strong personal relationships. It means being politically smart, integrating IT objectives with enterprise objectives and anticipating business needs to deploy a predictable stream of technology that enables business solutions. Repeated apologies diminish that.
END SNIP

In some organizations, IT is set up to be reactionary instead of proactive. A forward thinking CIO would see the potential savings in projects instead of creating a command and control environment.

Tough Road for library funding

Some library funding stories from the past few weeks around the nation:

Town library will get funding, Plainfield leader saysBy JESSICA DURKIN Norwich Bulletin
April 4, 2007 (Norwich, CT)
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/NEWS01/704040317/1002
SNIP
PLAINFIELD -- First Selectman Kevin Cunningham said Tuesday selectmen will continue funding the Plainfield Public Library in next year's budget.
Six members of the library board and the librarian attended a Board of Finance meeting Tuesday, upset selectmen eliminated the library's funding for next year, which threatened closure.

Library officials asked the money be put back into the selectmen's proposed budget.
"I'm sure many people would be very angry to find out the town will have no library," Librarian Nancy Wilcox told the board.
END SNIP

Yes I would imagine people would be unhappy that one day they have a library and one day they don't without any public input. Its amazing how flippant city officials can be with the library budget and operations.


Library funding approved, tax rates same as last yearBy Anita J. Firebaugh
Craig County, Virginia April 21, 2007
http://mainstreetnewspapers.com/articles/2007/04/11/new_castle/news/news01.txt

SNIP
The county has also put $13,850 in the regional library line item and allotted $6,000 for tourism.Prior to the budget hearing, Marjorie Hodge, president of the Friends of the Library, told the supervisors the library is a necessary service to citizens and that use numbers continue to increase.She asked the supervisors to include funding for a part-time paid library employee in the upcoming budget.The county had to give back $5,176 in state funding to the Library of Virginia because the local library had failed to meet its obligations. One of those obligations is a paid staff member.
END SNIP

Its too bad that local governments don't understand the value of libraries and too often they are found on the chopping block. I like that many state libraries provide a punitive incentive to fund libraries. The availability of books and library services should be as commonplace as the streets one drives on.

Cap to library funding considered
By NAOMI SMOOT / Journal Staff Writer
http://www.journal-news.net/news/articles.asp?articleID=8445
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Berkely County, West Virginia
SNIP
During the meeting, commissioners told delegates that they would also be interested in finding a way to cap the amount of money that they put toward libraries. In the past five years, the county’s library funding allocation has increased from $289,000 to more than $500,000, Overington said. Commissioners agreed that the increase had been sizable, and questioned whether their budget could continue to accommodate this expansive growth in the library’s funding requests.“Everybody else comes to petition before the County Commission,” Commissioner Bill Stubblefield said. “We can’t afford this continual escalation.”Commissioner Ron Collins agreed, noting that he was beginning to question the amount of funding that the county is being asked to put towards libraries each year. He said it was time to consider a cap on the amount of money that they would allocate for the library. Stubblefield said he would be interested in seeing a cap placed on the library’s funding, perhaps at the 2007 budget level.At present, the library has a $1.5 million budget, $540,000 of which comes from educational funding.
END SNIP

Goodness, you mean that the people who want library services and have asked for an increase in library services shouldn't get it? Why is that? Why should there be a cap on library services, is there a cap on other government services? I also have a difficult time in the complaint about the rise of library funding a mere $200,000 in five years, that's only $40,000 a year! How cheap can you get! I always find it surprising how governments want to squeeze libraries instead of putting a general squeeze on all services. I am also surprised how much service these libraries can provide in the midst of these trying situations.


Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks' battle with Central Library
Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Feb 23, 2007 by Tara E. Buck
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4180/is_20070223/ai_n18638906
Poll: Readers split on Internet policy, APril 20, 2007
http://www.rbj.net/fullarticle.cfm?sdid=66185
Rochesther (Monroe County), New York

SNIP
RBJ Daily Report readers are divided sharply on Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks’ threat to withdraw all county funding of the Central Library unless it acts immediately to “halt the public viewing of pornography and other graphic materials” on computers at the library.
END SNIP

To filter or not to filter can be discussed in a reasonable matter. Libraries must comply with federal law unless the local municipality should choose to refuse federal grant money. Libraries are cash strapped as it is, so its difficult to get such an extreme reaction from a funding source. To say "Filter or I will close your library" seems extraordinarily extreme, especially since computer and internet access is just ONE of many services the library provides.

Times can be very tough for libraries. All I know is that the more the financial decision makers use libraries, the more they understand their use, the more funding that usually follows.

Implementation Files

I keep a file called library technology plan for ideas regarding libraries in the future. It helps me plan for short range and long range plans and issues my library may face. Most of those resources came from the blogs you can see on my sidebar. I have categorized them this way to help me gather the information in the subject areas. Most of the resources I collect were created by these blogs, or they led me to resources. I will give a list of links to all of those projects and post them here, then provide a list of what I am using each for.

Some posts lead to actions, some posts lead to ideas for the future, and some I delete as unimplementable.
Right now there are five files, Catalog, General, PDF reports (big files), Spanish, Staff, Technology, and Youth.

I will post each project separately and provide one week for issues and my thinking on the topic. Some will just really be a single post.

Think of this as the tiny hair on the edge of the long tail. Or the last of the surf caressing the beach after the mighty wave has already crashed.

This week, Catalog files.

Transforming Libraries/Transforming communities

This blog is intended to document the success and failures of a Library Manager at a semi-rural/semi-urban mid-sized public library. (In other words a community in transition.) I got the inspiration from this blog from Leslie Burger's President's theme of Transforming libraries. This blog will discuss the changes I have made here, the changes the future holds, and change indicators (how to adjust your sails).
I will also include anecdotal stories of library activities (good and bad), library stories from my experiences, library trends and Arizona library news.

It is my hope that I can sustain this blog, but if I can't keep up, I will delete it.

Here's to sustainability!