Techies Talk Turkey at PLA Boston

Librarians cover technology planning, digitizing on the cheap, and LII

By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 4/15/2006

The Public Library Association's (PLA) 11th national conference consumed Boston's Hynes Convention Center, March 21–25, with a record 11,000 attendees and over 400 exhibitors on two floors. The numerous panel sessions were distributed over eight different tracks. The technology talks were especially lively, with speakers offering hands-on advice rather than speculative imaginings on “where it's all going,” allowing attendees to walk away with information they can apply immediately to their own facilities and jobs.

Getting results

Diane Mayo of Information Partners and Deborah Duke of the Fort Worth Public Library, TX, hosted Technology for Results, a dynamic session on developing a library technology plan. Mayo offered the consultant's perspectives in an A–Z list of what you should and shouldn't do, while Duke, who used Mayo's guidelines to build a tech plan at her facility, filled in the librarian's angle on what worked and what didn't. “There are no national standards” for building a tech plan, said Mayo, so it is different for every library. “You have to decide what you want to achieve,” she said. She emphasized thinking the process through thoroughly and keeping logs on every step so you can easily review and clean up your plans. “Technology is a financial sinkhole,” she said. “There's never enough money,” so you must carefully scrutinize what you hope to accomplish in your facility before deciding how much you're going to buy.

Mayo insists librarians also need to “plan the plan: Who's the plan for? Deciding this will help you focus.” Technology that is mostly for staff work and convenience is quite different from technology that is mostly for the public. Although it might sound simplistic, Mayo said that many forget this when formulating their plans, and it ends up costing them. “Talk about what you want to do with PCs before deciding how many you need,” she said.

Another paramount facet of plan building is deciding on who needs to be on the inevitable committee. Her advice: use a combination of staff and tech support people from within the library/university and both those who have the power to approve the plan and the power to derail it, either from university administration or local government. Any staffers on the committee also need to be relieved of other duties in order to commit themselves fully. Another important element is a time line, and Mayo warns not to take too long because technology becomes outdated very quickly.

Digitizing on the cheap

Every library wants to offer users its specialized collections in digital archives, but doing so isn't cheap. With budget's tight, many librarians have begun to create archives in-house with existing staff and community volunteers. Laurie Thompson, Marin County Free Library's California Room librarian, and Sarah Houghton, the facility's e-services librarian, detailed how they created a digital archive for the library's California Room collection without breaking the bank.

They warned that it's crucial first to assess carefully whether the collection would be physically damaged by the handling, light exposure, etc., that is involved in the digitization process. Under most circumstances, a single exposure to the bright light generated by scanners won't hurt materials, but work at the highest resolution possible first to avoid repeated scannings if image quality is poor. Although only high-res scans should be used, be sure to resize the files so they don't take several minutes to load. Long time lags on sites is a total turnoff to users.

Another, often overlooked element is copyright, said Houghton. Just because your facility has the only copy of an item doesn't mean it still isn't another's intellectual property. Check donor agreements and secure permission to post on the web before gearing up. Thompson and Houghton said that to get your own look and feel, there are many free pieces of art and multimedia available on the web that can add zip to your archive. Lastly, they advise adding a Google search box.

Schneider stocks the good stuff

Karen Schneider, Librarians' Internet Index (LII), and Buff Hirko, Washington State Library, delivered a primer on the wonders of LII. The free Library Services and Technology Act–funded site is no stranger to librarians (it enjoys ten million hits weekly), but the jubilant Schneider gave a behind-the-scenes tour. Besides the site, LII offers a free weekly e-newsletter featuring new finds. While not Google-bashing, Schneider said that the sites featured on LII are hand-selected by librarians: “There might be a good site on page 30 of a Google search that we make more available,” she beamed.

Hurko was more blunt, saying that searchers “might flounder in Google, [but] we'll take you right to it.” LII includes commercial sites, and roughly one in ten sites scrutinized is rejected. It's not all work, though. Schneider humorously has included Easter eggs such as liisilly, featuring lighthearted sites.

Schneider lamented that LII recently suffered a 50 percent budget cut, which might force it to construct a paywall. To avoid that scenario, LII is looking for partners beyond its relationship with the Washington State Library (see News, LJ 4/1/06).