LITA Forum 2018 Schedule

Thursday, November 8

Preconference block: 1:00pm — 5:00pm

Great Lakes A1

Cybersecurity & Privacy in Libraries and for Librarians

This preconference will focus on how to protect your patrons through practical and low cost methods. We'll cover how to protect your library starting with basics like good password hygiene and how to keep your systems updated. We will also cover how to keep your library safe (protecting your patrons Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and your library's IT infrastructure) and basics for your own personal information security. We'll talk ways to keep data safe inside the library and out — securing your network, website, and PCs, and tools you can teach to patrons in computer classes. We’ll tackle security myths, passwords, tracking, malware, and more, covering a range of tools and techniques…this preconference is perfect for anyone who feels unsure about the security of the technology at the their library or in their home.
Collaborative notes

After hours

Please join us for a Joint Reception with the Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference at the Minneapolis Institute of Art from 6:00 - 8:00pm.

Friday, November 9

Morning Coffee & Donuts: 8:45am

🍩
Great Lakes B
Forum menus

Opening Keynote: 9:15am — 10:15am

Great Lakes C

Risk and Reward: Public Interest and the Public Good at the Intersection of Law, Tech, and Libraries

The library world tends to be a bit risk- and conflict-avoidant — often for pretty good reasons related to our public interest values! The non-libraries tech world tends to be more cavalier about risk, and embrace confrontation, in ways that create both benefits and harms for many people. Nancy will offer some thoughts through the lenses of her legal and tech background, in how libraries need to take savvy risks and engage in strategic confrontation to forward our public interest values and reduce harms to our users and our communities in a time of increasing instability.
Collaborative notes

Welcome to Forum: 10:15am — 10:45am

Great Lakes C
Learn how to Forum with your fellow attendees, be they first time or repeat attendees. We're glad that you're here.

Block 1: 11:00am — 12:00pm

Great Lakes C

Library System Migrations: Issues and Solutions

Discuss library service platform system migration and electronic resource management system migration at this hour-long session. Whether you have just migrated and want to share issues and solutions with colleagues, or you are looking forward to a migration in your library's future: attend to connect with people to brainstorm (or complain) about this challenging topic.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

Accessibility for All: Screen Readers

  • Kelsey Flynn, White Oak Public Library District and Joliet Public Library
Over 25 million Americans are blind or have low vision and would benefit from access to a computer equipped with screen reading software. There are many different options available to libraries when choosing which screen reading software to make available to their patrons. This session will compare the five most popular screen readers and different types of accessibility aids. We will also discuss making your library website more accessible, creating partnerships with outside organizations, and how to better extend outreach to include all patrons. Attendees will also learn about resources and opportunities to improve their ability to assist patrons who are blind or have low vision. Time will be allotted at the end for a question and answer session.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
11:00 – 11:20

Engaging the campus community in the deaccessioning process with an innovative discovery interface

Portions of the print collection at an academic library will be deaccessioned to free up space for new library services. Library IT has modified the discovery interface to allow faculty and staff to review items that have been identified for possible removal from the collection. The interface allows anyone from the campus community to quickly provide feedback to the subject selectors so that deaccessioning decisions can be reversed. This presentation will share details about the design of the system and lessons learned from its implementation.
11:20 – 11:40

stackR: An Open-Source Tool for Collections Analysis

Collections analysis tools can be expensive, and they further libraries’ reliance on vendors for understanding data that we already have in-house. We decided to take ownership of our own data by creating an open-source alternative. Using the R programming language and the popular Shiny package, we’ve created an interactive, web-based program for libraries to understand their collections without having to pay vendors more from our ever-tightening budgets. We hope that other libraries will take a look at the source code, adapt it to their own purposes, and help develop this tool into a robust alternative to expensive collections analysis services.
11:40 – 12:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
11:00 – 11:20

Gender Equity in Library Technology: How Do We Get There?

A decade ago, research on gender, libraries, and information technology (IT) substantiated the over-representation of men in IT roles within the female-dominated profession of librarianship. Our research indicates the inequities persist. Session participants will discuss and identify factors that contribute to ongoing gender disparity such as gender bias, gender roles, educational access, and organizational culture and how we can disrupt this legacy. Lastly, we will address issues of diversity beyond gender and what libraries need to do to reflect the technology needs and experiences of the communities they serve today.
11:20 – 11:40

Technological Microaggressions: How to Notice Them, How to Undo Them

This program features a trio of experienced workplace librarian-activists who work to undo discrimination against trans and gender nonconforming employees in their organization. We will quickly introduce concepts of trans identities and microaggressions. Then we will share case studies of technological choices, such as how database fields are coded, that help or hurt trans folks. Our goal is to help well-intentioned technologists realize the real, human impacts of work that can be falsely construed as objective, through conversation with knowledgeable laypeople.
11:40 – 12:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Lake Superior A

40 Million Pages of Law at your Fingertips: Hands-on Intro to Legal Hacking using case.law

The Harvard Library Innovation Lab just launched case.law, an API and bulk data service enabling access to over 6.4 million digitized court decisions covering our nation's entire history. In this session, two members of the project team will introduce you to the API and show you how to get and explore the data using some basic coding and text analysis techniques. All levels of expertise are welcome!
Collaborative notes
Lake Superior B

Sparking Into Online Creativity

  • Wesley Smith, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library
For libraries who typically engage in media literacy or visual rhetoric sessions, they might find it difficult to deliver the same level of engagement for online and hybrid classes as they would in physical sessions. This is often related to the limitations placed on online and hybrid instruction. Multimodal assignments should not be discouraged from online and hybrid classes due to the lack of access. This presentation looks at Adobe Spark, a free online and mobile platform design tool, as a method to engage students in online and hybrid environments to help them accomplish multimodal assignments.
Collaborative notes

Lunch: 12:00pm — 1:00pm

🍔
Great Lakes B
Forum menus

Block 2: 1:00pm — 2:00pm

Great Lakes C

Through the Looking Glass: Overcoming Self-Centered Design

We often unknowingly (or knowingly) build content and interfaces for ourselves, which may not fit the diverse and ever-changing needs of our users. The University of Minnesota Libraries web development team incorporates universal design principles, inclusivity, accessibility, and awesomeness. We’ll look at our own biases and address four main considerations, first examining physical limitations, then diving more deeply into the emerging areas of environmental, cognitive, and emotional.
Collaborative notes (continues in Block 3)
Great Lakes A2/A3

Using Design Thinking — Do we really want a makerspace?

The library wanted a makerspace. But’s that not what libraries do…Learn how design thinking allowed this comprehensive university library to find out what our users really wanted in a new library technology space. Learn about how it energized campus discussions about alternative learning spaces. Learn how to use this iterative process will help you identify what they really want, rather than what you think they want.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
1:00 – 1:20

Escape From The Dark

Mistakes made in managing an integration software development project, and how to fix them.
1:20 – 1:40

Towards an Ethics of Data Visualization

Information ethics, media ethics, and computer ethics all intersect in interesting ways when technology allows us to take enormous amounts of data and condense them into an image. To create a data visualization, a person has to select a topic, obtain relevant data, clean that data, perform data analyses, select aspects of the data to convey in visual form, and design the visual form. All of these steps involve value-laden decisions. We need to be conscious of the ethical implications of these decisions to ensure we visualize data responsibly.
1:40 – 2:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
1:00 – 1:20

Building the Foundation for Women in Library IT Leadership

The issue brief "Finding a Way from the Margins to the Middle: Library Information Technology, Leadership, and Culture" points to various issues in the Library IT community. This presentation continues the discussion regarding the current state of women in library IT leadership, a concern expressed in the brief, and digs deeper to draw conclusions and present solutions. The presenters will invite attendees to participate in the ongoing scholarly conversation in library science, computer science, and higher education leadership with an open dialogue regarding personal experiences, potential solutions, and avenues for further research.
1:20 – 1:40

Who put ME in charge??

Have you ever: Taken on your first-ever management role--as the successor to someone with institutional memory longer than your entire lifespan? Been that software person who’s suddenly in charge of all the hardware *and* all the hardware experts? Found so many errors in your budget spreadsheet that you’re terrified of the errors you haven’t found? Wished you knew other library tech managers who might be able to provide advice, or at least let you cry on their shoulders? If you’ve had these or similar experiences (or if you can empathize!), come talk about it. We’re not alone!
1:40 – 2:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Lake Superior A

DELAYED UNTIL 2PM DUE TO WEATHER

Playtime: Not just for Kids, Part 1

The Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas is an interdisciplinary research group that works at the intersection of art, technology, and education. Whether developing Squishy Circuits, helping chefs create interactive pastry, developing Circus Science curriculum, or helping the band OK Go build a new platform for educators, collaboration is at the heart of our work. In this session we will look at how "play" is at the heart of all that we do, and why you should consider a playful approach for your own organization.
Collaborative notes (continues in Block 3)
Lake Superior B

MetaLab – Library Kitchen, Part 1

Wifi-proof booths; study carrels for napping; digital campfires for charging devices convivially—in the "Library Test Kitchen" seminar at the Graduate School of Design, metaLAB (at) Harvard has been exploring participatory innovation for libraries through fun, creative, improvisatory projects. And what's a test kitchen without recipes? In this session, members of metaLAB will be on hand to demo their new platform for sharing such "recipes" for playful innovation in libraries—and to invite participants to contribute recipes of their own.
Collaborative notes
(continues in Block 3)

Block 3: 2:10pm — 3:10pm

Great Lakes C

Through the Looking Glass: Overcoming Self-Centered Design

We often unknowingly (or knowingly) build content and interfaces for ourselves, which may not fit the diverse and ever-changing needs of our users. The University of Minnesota Libraries web development team incorporates universal design principles, inclusivity, accessibility, and awesomeness. We’ll look at our own biases and address four main considerations, first examining physical limitations, then diving more deeply into the emerging areas of environmental, cognitive, and emotional.
Collaborative notes
(continued from Block 2)
Great Lakes A2/A3

Accessibility Awareness: Beyond the Basics

Access to information changes everything. With technology, astutely deployed, we can open the information of the world to people in ways unimaginable not-too-long ago. With technology, naively deployed, we can fall short of that. You might already know that digital images need text alternatives to be accessible to people with visual disabilities. You might already know about captioning audio content. But there is a lot more to be aware of. Learn what to look for, and when you might need to consult an expert, when planning, evaluating, designing, building, adding content to, or otherwise contributing to a website.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
2:10 – 2:30

Article Shortcuts

A proof-of-concept search index application designed to speed users' access to known articles using data gleaned from proxy server logs.
2:30 – 2:50

Talk To the Phone (Because the Human Is Overwhelmed)

Libraries as physical spaces inundate users with information: our policies, events, news, and URLs, and so, so many floor plans, maps, and way finders. The amount of information we're trying to provide is overwhelming, and the channels for getting physical-world users to online content are error prone and buggy. This presentation will discuss several technologies available to provide information more directly to users' mobile devices, bypassing the physical-to-online bump in the road. Attendees will learn about bluetooth beacons, NFC labels, the 2018 renaissance of QR codes, and the potential for augmented reality.
2:50 – 3:10

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
2:10 – 2:50

Unlocking Awesome: Libraries, deliberate practice, and instructional technologies

This session will explore the science of expertise and deliberate practice in the context of library instructional technology. Participants will learn concepts anchored in research, and then apply those concepts in a hands-on discussion directly to the challenges library technologists and instructors face. Librarians are uniquely positioned to synthesize traditional information expertise, teaching skills, and new ideas to amplify expertise in their communities. Come to this session to discover concrete ways to influence learning and supplement expertise for all members of your community, and leave with a toolkit that will help you raise the bar for skills across disciplines.
2:50 – 3:10

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Lake Superior A

Playtime: Not just for Kids, Part 2

The Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas is an interdisciplinary research group that works at the intersection of art, technology, and education. Whether developing Squishy Circuits, helping chefs create interactive pastry, developing Circus Science curriculum, or helping the band OK Go build a new platform for educators, collaboration is at the heart of our work. In this session we will look at how "play" is at the heart of all that we do, and why you should consider a playful approach for your own organization.
Collaborative notes
(continued from Block 2)
Lake Superior B

MetaLab – Library Kitchen, Part 2

Wifi-proof booths; study carrels for napping; digital campfires for charging devices convivially—in the "Library Test Kitchen" seminar at the Graduate School of Design, metaLAB (at) Harvard has been exploring participatory innovation for libraries through fun, creative, improvisatory projects. And what's a test kitchen without recipes? In this session, members of metaLAB will be on hand to demo their new platform for sharing such "recipes" for playful innovation in libraries—and to invite participants to contribute recipes of their own.
Collaborative notes
(continued from Block 2)

Afternoon Break: 3:10pm — 3:30pm

🍓
Great Lakes B
Forum menus

Block 4: 3:30pm — 4:30pm

Great Lakes C

The Price is Right — promoting and giving away free textbooks

Come on down! Learn how promote and give away free textbooks. Our library needed a simple and functional way to distribute OER textbooks created as part of the Wise Open Textbook Initiative, which offered faculty a stipend to develop or adopt OER textbooks. This presentation introduces OERx, a textbook delivery system, built using Modx and Adopt an OER Textbook suggestion site to aid faculty with selecting OER textbooks. The OERx software is free to all and you’ll learn how to get it for your library.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

Using Scripts to Evaluate and Compare Metadata Completeness

  • Stacie Traill, University of Minnesota Libraries
Using Python scripts to evaluate MARC record sets for ebooks, the University of Minnesota is able to quickly determine overall record quality and make data-driven choices for metadata source (among OCLC's WorldShare Collection Manager, the Alma Community Zone, and content providers). This presentation will shares evaluation data and discusses its implications.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
3:30 – 4:00

Virtual Reality in the Academic Library: what students want

We recently started offering virtual reality equipment for use in our library. After conducting a survey to learn what programs students are using, what they want to use, and how virtual reality in the library can benefit them academically; we’d like to share what we learned!
4:00 – 4:30

Video 360, Augmented Reality and Gaming and Gamification in the Library

Virtual Reality for guided and self-paced library orientation; Augmented Reality for self-paced orientation and gamification of the library instruction is our proposal for revamping classic lecture-based library orientation and instruction into more constructivist-based opportunity for students to build their own knowledge. We seek a low-cost solution for application of latest technologies by applying Video 360 degrees and employing students mobile devices (BYOD). We would like to use our project as a nexus for conversations and ideas around such low-end approach toward the application of modern technologies and methodologies in education.
Collaborative notes
Discussion to follow in Block 5
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
3:30 – 4:00

Scalability and Sustainability for a Mobile Hotspot Checkout Program

An overview of how libraries can begin, and continue, a Hot Spot lending program. We will highlight work that has been done in the past, and the impact it has had in libraries that have incorporated this program.
4:00 – 4:30

Imitating Google, or Invading Privacy?

We are undertaking a survey of our students to learn about their level of understanding and their acceptance of use of student data at their college library. The survey seeks to answer the following questions: What understanding do students have concerning their privacy rights in general? What understanding do students have concerning their privacy rights in the college library? Does the understanding and acceptance of privacy rules and ethics change generationally with the level of the student? Are students comfortable with universities and libraries using data about them, and if so, in what situations?
Collaborative notes
Discussion to follow in Block 5
Lake Superior A

OK Go Sandbox: Using the videos of OK Go to engage learners with art, music, and STEM, Part 1

OK Go Sandbox is a new website for educators which has content related to OK Go's music videos. New videos, educators' guides, and hands-on activities allow learners to explore sound, sensors, art, math, and more. During this session we'll jump into the sandbox and try out some of the activities and discuss ways that they can be used in libraries.
Collaborative notes (continues in Block 5)
Lake Superior B

Inclusivity Through Documentation: Using Gestalt Principles and Plain Language to Create Effective Documents, Part 1

Library workers provide instruction and training materials to students, faculty, staff, and colleagues. Document creators must include accurate information and follow guidelines for materials to be readable and accessible. We should keep the needs of people with visual, motor, and cognitive impairments in mind when creating materials. This can improve usability for all users.The presenters will demonstrate how adhering to these and other guidelines will improve accessibility and functionality. We will direct attendees to resources to help librarians create usable documentation. Workshop attendees will apply knowledge learned through an interactive “document redesign” activity.
Collaborative notes
(continues in Block 5)

Block 5: 4:40pm — 5:40pm

Great Lakes C

Crafting community: Town and gown connecting in makerspace

The public library has a mission to serve different patron groups. The academic library has a mission to support student success, including via high impact practices such as collaborative learning, and community involvement. Each library is exploring what “makerspace” means for our patrons. As part of that process, we’re identifying opportunities for college students to participate in makerspace initiatives off-campus, and bring their expertise back to campus. We are discussing technology needs, ways to promote new initiatives, teaching opportunities, and other aspects of growing maker culture. This interactive discussion will be a conversation about planning, what works, challenges and aspirations.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

Demo, deploy, or die: maintaining and sustaining experiments that make it to production

A freewheeling discussion of the challenges facing any organization that makes something persistent: who works on it, after it's done? Who pays for it? Do you hand it off, and to whom? On the other side, if you're the department the thing gets handed off to, what does that look like? The thing in question could be software, but could be some other form of human organization.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
4:40 – 5:10

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) for Library Orientation: A Scalable Approach to Implementing VR/AR/MR in Education

We propose an inexpensive constructivist-based model to supplement/replace traditional library orientation. We compare a video 360 degrees self-guided tour of the library, to a self-guided AR tour. At the end of each touch, we administer short survey to establish learning outcomes and determine the opportunity to supplement real-person tours with VR/AR opportunities. Lessons learned from the process will be further applied for more complex didactical application of VR/AR/MR in the academic library, in particular and in education, in general. The current experiment is the POC (proof of concept) needed for further investment in these technologies.
5:10 – 5:40

Discussion of both Block 4 & 5

Collaborative notes
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
4:40 – 5:10

Developing Communication Plans to Support Technology Changes

Technology change is difficult for everyone, even under the best circumstances. A collaboratively-developed communication plan can ease stress and foster buy-in. Come participate in a workshop where we will show-and-tell best practices and examples of successful communication plans, then offer structured activities where you will develop your own plan, either for an actual project or a sample scenario we will offer. You’ll get immediate peer feedback on your ideas, and will have the opportunity to ask facilitators and other participants questions about specific challenges.
5:10 – 5:40

Discussion of both Block 4 & 5

Collaborative notes
Lake Superior A

OK Go Sandbox: Using the videos of OK Go to engage learners with art, music, and STEM, Part 2

OK Go Sandbox is a new website for educators which has content related to OK Go's music videos. New videos, educators' guides, and hands-on activities allow learners to explore sound, sensors, art, math, and more. During this session we'll jump into the sandbox and try out some of the activities and discuss ways that they can be used in libraries.
Collaborative notes
(continued from Block 4)
Lake Superior B

Inclusivity Through Documentation: Using Gestalt Principles and Plain Language to Create Effective Documents, Part 2

Library workers provide instruction and training materials to students, faculty, staff, and colleagues. Document creators must include accurate information and follow guidelines for materials to be readable and accessible. We should keep the needs of people with visual, motor, and cognitive impairments in mind when creating materials. This can improve usability for all users.The presenters will demonstrate how adhering to these and other guidelines will improve accessibility and functionality. We will direct attendees to resources to help librarians create usable documentation. Workshop attendees will apply knowledge learned through an interactive “document redesign” activity.
Collaborative notes
(continued from Block 4)

After hours

Please enjoy Forum's social and networking activities and networking dinners.

Saturday, November 10

Morning Coffee & Bagels: 8:45am

☕
Great Lakes B
Forum menus

Block 1: 9:10am — 9:50am

Great Lakes C

Building Digital Strategies from the Bottom Up: Leading Technology Projects Effectively

Any library might have a lengthy backlog of digital projects that aren’t integrated with their other services or overall institutional strategy. When projects are understaffed or without a strong administrative voice, it’s easy to get overwhelmed without a basis for making decisions about what new projects to take on or make improvements to existing practices. This session will guide participants to develop stronger digital strategies from the bottom up as practitioners through strategically evaluating needs, identifying resources, and focusing on important values. Some successful projects the presentation will highlight are privacy, user experience, and collaborations with the central information technology department.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

Innovation on a Shoestring: Free & Cheap Tools

Libraries everywhere are dealing with tight budgets and shrinking staff. Small and medium libraries are particularly hard hit by these issues. So, how are they maintaining a respectable level of technology and library service innovation with little or no money and staff? They are starting new programs, bringing in new resources, and developing new partnerships by harnessing the full potential of new internet tools, technologies, and websites. This session will highlight some very creative responses from small and rural libraries in middle America. Attendees will pick up some great ideas they can take back and use at their own library, no matter what the size, to provide innovative library services and programming.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
9:10 – 9:30

Blockchain Explained

Join Jason Griffey for a quick Blockchain Explainer: what it is, how it works, and why you probably don't need to worry about it just yet.
9:30 – 9:50

Blockchain and its impact on Libraries

Blockchain technology uses a distributed database that organizes data into records (blocks) that have cryptographic validation and are time stamped and linked to previous records so that they can only be changed by those who own the encryption keys to write to the files (Marr, 2017). The underlying technology of blockchains will most likely represent a second era of the internet (Kris Seeburn, 2016). This technology could impact the library in many different perspectives such as possibility of a new Interlibrary loan system; community collection building platform; ebook distribution system, etc. I would like to talk about how Blockchain can change library operation and what are the applications currently piloting in the library field.
Collaborative notes
Discussion to follow in Block 2
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
9:10 – 9:30

Access to Humanities Scholarship through Public Search Engines

While research has shown search engine coverage of science and social science scholarship rivals traditional library databases, the coverage or utility of public search engines for the humanities needs further exploration. This presentation will report results from at least two empirical research studies that investigated access to humanities scholarship via public search engines (e.g. Google, Google Scholar, Google Books, Microsoft Academic). We will propose additional research ideas that we hope will inspire future studies.
9:30 – 9:50

Implementing Rights Statements with Existing Digital Collections

We’ve been misleading our users for years, suggesting they need permission to use items from our digital collections when they don’t! Rights Statements are labels that describe the copyright status of items in digital collections in a more standardized, accurate, and human-readable way. We’ve been working to implement them with our existing digital collections, and are pretty excited about their potential for improving user experience. However, we encountered some challenges implementing them — our systems needed some configuration tweaks, and we’re still working out how they’ll display publicly. Come hear about our challenges and tell us what we should do differently!
Collaborative notes
Discussion to follow in block 2
Lake Superior A

KML for Dummies: Using Excel, Earth Point, and Notepad++ to Create Google Earth Visualizations of Geographic Data Encoded in Catalog Records, Part 1

In this session attendees will learn how to create an Excel spreadsheet that can be fed into Earth Point to generate a KML file. They will then edit that KML file to include an image on each data point. If time permits, additional considerations, such as adding or changing styles, adding layers, etc. will also be discussed. Attendees will leave this session with a template Excel spreadsheet, a KML file that displays their data points on Google Earth Pro, and references to other column headings and icons they may use in future Excel to KML conversions.
Collaborative notes (continues in Block 2)
Lake Superior B

MetaLAB – Library Kitchen, Part 1

Wifi-proof booths; study carrels for napping; digital campfires for charging devices convivially—in the "Library Test Kitchen" seminar at the Graduate School of Design, metaLAB (at) Harvard has been exploring participatory innovation for libraries through fun, creative, improvisatory projects. And what's a test kitchen without recipes? In this session, members of metaLAB will be on hand to demo their new platform for sharing such "recipes" for playful innovation in libraries—and to invite participants to contribute recipes of their own.
Collaborative notes (continues in Block 2)

Block 2: 10:00am — 11:00am

Great Lakes C

Spaces, Cases, and Faces: Libraries as Emerging Technologies Hubs

After researching emerging technologies professional positions, it became clear that it is not a widespread position. Evidence was found for ~60 positions across the US. The interesting aspect of this fact is that organizations that have implemented an Emerging Techonologies position typically become champions of the position and expand it into a team/department. Highlighted will be the way we these teams create value for libraries and their plans to expand that value in the future. Our hope is that this will serve as an inspiration to other libraries to build ET teams and become the go to tech resource for their patrons.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

No budget, no deliverable, no problem: Scrappy, web-based user experience research to inform assumptions about users’ dispositions

This presentation will cover easy-to-execute website UX with the goal of understanding users to inform and disrupt assumptions and to collect baseline data to inform future projects. We will share our experience of doing UX work with little to no budget, and with a small number of willing students. Our approaches are low-tech, low commitment, and require no previous UX experience. Approaching UX projects using simple methods and without ties to a larger design project removes some of the challenges of UX work which will appeal to attendees who want to attempt UX but are unsure where and how start.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
10:00 – 10:20

How Does/Should Library IT?

  • Brian Rogers, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library
What is the appropriately-sized Library IT department? Should it be a department? What positions should we hire? How do we determine IT needs and projects? Should their projects be managed differently? What kind of infrastructure should we build? How should libraries distribute technical skills and responsibilities? Who should be the models to accomplish this? All this and more!
10:20 – 10:40

The Bibliometric Study and the New Science Librarian

For the first-time librarian, a bibliometric study is simple to implement, utilizes tools the library already has access to, does not require a budget other than a time investment, and working as a team member allows the first-timer to collaborate with other professionals who may be naturally more experienced in the craft of implementing a research project. Discover how the implications of a bibliometric study are endless and a great way to get started in practice-based research for the librarian-scholar.
10:40 – 11:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
10:00 – 10:40

The Open-First Approach to Systematic Literature Reviews

This presentation describes an approach to searching databases that emphasizes the use of APIs over traditional GUIs for the purpose of making systematic review methodologies more: (1) reproducible ; (2) accessible to those who do not have access to paid database subscriptions. The presentation outlines the rationale or the new approach, its limitations, and a use-case. The focus of this work is on systematic reviews outside of the medical sciences, and is centred on the social sciences.
10:40 – 11:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Lake Superior A

KML for Dummies: Using Excel, Earth Point, and Notepad++ to Create Google Earth Visualizations of Geographic Data Encoded in Catalog Records, Part 2

In this session attendees will learn how to create an Excel spreadsheet that can be fed into Earth Point to generate a KML file. They will then edit that KML file to include an image on each data point. If time permits, additional considerations, such as adding or changing styles, adding layers, etc. will also be discussed. Attendees will leave this session with a template Excel spreadsheet, a KML file that displays their data points on Google Earth Pro, and references to other column headings and icons they may use in future Excel to KML conversions.
Collaborative notes
(continued from Block 1)
Lake Superior B

MetaLAB – Library Kitchen, Part 2

Wifi-proof booths; study carrels for napping; digital campfires for charging devices convivially—in the "Library Test Kitchen" seminar at the Graduate School of Design, metaLAB (at) Harvard has been exploring participatory innovation for libraries through fun, creative, improvisatory projects. And what's a test kitchen without recipes? In this session, members of metaLAB will be on hand to demo their new platform for sharing such "recipes" for playful innovation in libraries—and to invite participants to contribute recipes of their own.
Collaborative notes
(continued from Block 1)

Block 3: 11:10am — 12:00pm

Great Lakes C

Building Together: Librarians and Developers Changing the Future

As librarians become developers, they become more involved in open source projects and standards creation. Historically, non-librarian/developers have taken the lead in this work, with librarians providing support. But now, librarian/developers are envisioning and developing projects themselves, with and without non-librarian/developers. Christine and Paul will discuss their recent experiences with two national projects, the open source SimplyE app and the NISO FASTEN work, and provide suggestions for other multi-type groups that include librarians, librarian/developers, and non-librarian/developers that work together. Each group brings their own strengths and weaknesses, but the result can now much richer for the merging.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

Library Disrupted! Introduce Innovation. Challenge the Status Quo.

With an imaginative technology director on board, a library IT department introduced new technologies and services that disrupted the status quo of the library system. The presenters will share tips on how to implement new technologies such as mobile hotspot checkouts, meeScan express self-checkout, digital signage, and online library registration at your library. Learn about vendor relations, gaining staff buy-in, and the best ways to begin offering these types of services at your library. Note: This is a variation of my TLA 2018 presentation.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
11:10 – 11:30

The Other Data Management: Applying Data Internally to Motivate Your Team

Data can be a powerful tool for motivating teams and goal setting within organizations. Librarians frequently use data to represent their work to patrons and administrators, but applying this data to reflect and assess our own work has the potential to be even more powerful. This presentation will explore management and gamification applications for data that can be used within the library to inspire and motivate staff. These applications can be used by library managers in hierarchical institutions, but they are particularly effective for team leaders in peer-led settings. This presentation will provide examples of data used internally to establish goals, assess practice, and celebrate achievement with special consideration to managing peer-led teams in library technology roles.
11:30 – 11:50

One Record at a Time: Student Success, Collection Visibility, and Linked Data in the Mid-sized University

What is the role of Linked Data at a mid-size university library? Is a plan for implementation necessary for all libraries? Many mid-sized universities have no plan for implementing Linked Data. Why is this? A pilot project compared traditionally cataloged books and archive documents in a collection to records with Linked Data to show the results of higher visibility for a smaller targeted, more manageable project. Learn the benefits for starting an initial plan now.
11:50 – 12:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
11:10 – 11:30

Making Library Agile Teams Work

The four moderators of this discussion session have worked on an agile team using Scrum for two years, and have practical tips to share about making agile practices work for library teams. After a brief overview of agile practices and terminology, the moderators will present successes and lessons learned from our own experience. Then, we will facilitate conversations about four areas of focus: building agile teams; working iteratively; dealing with stakeholders and external dependencies; and documentation and tools for agile teams.
11:30 – 11:50
To Be Announced
11:50 – 12:00

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Lake Superior A

Service Design: Thinking Holistically about Services & Technology

In Spring 2017, our library started to transform how it designs and implements its virtual and physical services iteratively through user and staff engagement and service design thinking. Service design is a user-focused technique that involves understanding and planning for user needs, service touchpoints, and employee and user workflows. This presentation will use a case study to illustrate how we integrated user needs, current and future library services, and technology in the redesign of a web application and the service offering. Attendees will learn the basics of how to create a service blueprint.
Collaborative notes
Lake Superior B

Developing Your Own Zooniverse Projects

This session will focus on an introduction to the Zooniverse "Project Builder" platform, which allows anyone with a Zooniverse account to build their own project on the crowdsourced research platform. The session will cover examples of cultural heritage uses of Zooniverse (for things like metadata remediation and document transcription), the ethics of working with volunteers, and discussing a road map from basic to advanced uses of the platform.
Collaborative notes

Lunch: 12:00pm — 1:00pm

🥗
Great Lakes B
Forum menus

Block 4: 1:00pm — 1:40pm

Great Lakes C

DPLA Update and Information

Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

Libraries, Educational Technology, and the TPCK Framework

How can we use technology to increase the impact of our information literacy (IL) instruction? How can we empower librarians to use technology as an integral part of their teaching, and not just an add-on? In an IL classroom, technology is often used to spice up our teaching repertoire. This presentation provides librarians with a theoretical construct as a basis for effectively incorporating educational technology into IL instruction. The TPCK framework — technological pedagogical content knowledge — defines knowledge domains that are necessary to construct a coherent, technology enhanced classroom experience.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
1:00 – 1:20

Vendor VPAT Analysis and Policies for Accessibility

Vendors working with government institutions may complete Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) assessing their databases' accessibility for persons with various disabilities but do librarians understand these templates or which elements are most important to their patrons? Can they tell if these documents are accurate? By drafting policies for usability analysis and communication with vendors, and by exploring general VPAT elements (including the new Section 508 Revised standards), session attendees can prepare their institutions to have an intelligent and ongoing conversation about the needs of their patrons with disabilities, and how libraries and vendors can help them thrive.
1:20 – 1:40
 
Collaborative notes
Discussion to follow in Block 5
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
1:00 – 1:20

The Maker Mindset

This presentation will focus on the managerial and cultural side effects of encouraging library staff to become makers. Couched as a series of expectations that reflect the necessary changes in attitude and response to technology and learning participants will learn what they are getting into when they create a space for making.
1:20 – 1:40

Library as innovation and entrepreneurship incubator

This session will talk about a new role libraries start to take as innovation and entrepreneurship incubator. As more and more libraries established makerspace on campus, libraries’ unique advantage as “heart” of the campus started to lead library to be in the position to help community members who have some product idea to create the product, implement it and promote it. Speaker will talk about how her library take on the incubator role to help students from College of Arts and Science and School of Business to connect ideas to real life inventions and leading to market.
Collaborative notes
Discussion to follow in Block 5
Lake Superior A

Neutrality and Digital Architecture

The idea of neutrality is floated around a lot in our profession these days, but I believe there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what neutrality is and how it functions for libraries. I would like to highlight how our inherent biases and digital architecture undermine our core values of intellectual freedom and open access.
Collaborative notes
Lake Superior B

Step-by-step process for building a metadata-driven library web presence

A library’s web presence includes multiple content management systems for different purposes. While each serves its purpose, duplication of content often exists. At our library, the technology team undertook a project to unify the descriptive metadata applied to content across several systems and to index this content and metadata to make it discoverable.This hands-on session will go through each stage of the project. Participants are encouraged to think about their own library web ecosystem as they go through the same exercises that the library staff went through to review content, assign categories, create descriptive metadata and establish a governance process.
Collaborative notes

Block 5: 1:50pm — 2:30pm

Great Lakes C

HPL FindIt: Smart maps come to the library!

A smart map searchable directory of Houston Public Library locations, services and events. In the 4th largest city with the most diverse population, residents, new immigrants and visitors could easily search for and find the services and resources they need across library locations and nearest to them using any Internet connected computer or smart phone.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A2/A3

Curated Metadata and Digital Humanities: Using JSON Exports to Reimagine Data Access for Online Catalogs in vHMML

The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library has developed a new method that allows scholars to easily curate metadata from HMML's online catalog, vHMML Reading Room. Selected metadata can be exported as JSON for scholars to use in a variety of formats suitable for building unique digital humanities projects based on metadata needs. The presentation will discuss and demonstrate the implementation of vHMML's Data Portal, the underlying technical aspects of harvesting and exporting the metadata from the database, and how the data portal reimagines the online catalog as a research technology for scholars.
Collaborative notes
Great Lakes A1
1:50 – 2:10

Maintaining Standards for Research Guides Without Making People Hate You

If you work with research guide administration, you know that the best thing about guides is also the worst thing: they allow librarians who may not have web design experience to put anything they want online. To be effective public-facing web pages and instructional tools, research guides need to meet certain standards of consistency, usability, and accessibility, but how do you enforce those standards without constricting and alienating their content creators? In this session, learn how one guide administrator established processes to ensure guide quality while allowing librarians their independence, and maintaining buy-in and goodwill - and you can too.
2:10 – 2:30

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun)
1:50 – 2:10

Library as Innovative Technology Center

We are reimagining the library as a destination for innovative technology. Students already use the library's public computing and public printing resources; we are now engaging them with newer and more specialized technology. We opened a Virtual Reality Lab in January 2018 and we will be opening a Makerspace and Graduate Student Commons by Fall 2018. In its first semester of operation, the VR Lab saw 1,185 patron sessions plus 13 workshops on VR content creation with 44 attendees. We are also in the planning stages of offering multimedia editing suites, a one-button recording studio, and Learning Glass.
2:10 – 2:30

Discussion

Collaborative notes
Lake Superior A

Go With the Flow: NiFi for Automation and Data Processing

Our library has started using Apache Nifi for systems automation and interoperability improvements, as well as to replace decade-old CGI scripts. I will discuss what NiFi is, the benefits and drawbacks, and how we're using it, then the audience will be able to make a paper prototype of a NiFi flow.
Collaborative notes
Lake Superior B

Building websites and leading librarians to a new level of project engagement

Web design seems a complicated task and librarians often think, “It’s definitely not my thing”. The numerous opportunities for grant-funded projects bring the need of websites that promote the initiative and showcase the outcome. The constantly developing and improving librarian skill set requires a new toolbox to keep up with the new trends – fundamental web design and web development skills and free technologies to make sleek websites. This session will demonstrate how easy (and sweet!) web design can be! Attendees will learn the fundamentals of web design and will add practical skills in their toolbox. They will leave the session with confidence that they can immediately apply their new skills in real-life projects.
Collaborative notes

Conference summary: 2:30pm — 3:00pm

Great Lakes C
Break

Closing Keynote: 3:00pm — 4:00pm

Great Lakes C

Librarians Email Me

Librarians email me…and call me…and tweet me…and float messages in bottles to me…often because they find themselves in a tough situation in their library and hope I can help them find a way out. What common threads run through these sad, worried, sometimes angry or despairing stories? What happens to the message-senders? And what do these messages mean for library technology leadership, and the technology our libraries can build and maintain?
Collaborative notes