Computers in Libraries 2014 - Day 2 - Good Not Perfect!

This was a well-meaning but not particularly enlightening presentation was presented by Andrew Shaping of the Jack Tarver Library at Mercer University.  The basic point was that it is important to call projects finished, or at least ready for prime-time once they've reached a level of "good enough" rather than holding onto them until considering them perfect.  Striving for perfection is a noble goal, but as there is no clear definition of perfection for any specific project, striving for perfection can mean never completing the project or delaying the release of a project unnecessarily.  In a worst case, a fixation on perfection can make something worse, for which the presenter gave the example of the Cake Wrecks website showing cakes that people should have stopped decorating several tubs of fondant ago.

 Instead it is better to have unfinished, but functional, products out as perpetual betas (ala Google Mail) and to be willing to recognize quickly when something is not working and to discard it.

Computers in Libraries 2014 - Day 2 - What Does the Dashboard Tell Us?

Amy Deschenes of Simmons College gave this presentation on the implementation of a statistics dashboard for the college library's collection and display of statistics.

The library had been storing all of its statistics in a shared Excel file.  This was cumbersome and not particularly efficient.  They decided that they would develop a new system for data collection and reporting.  They went about doing this in three steps.

The first step was to define a data collection process.  To do this they asked their stakeholders for what information was needed to be collected and they determined the different sources of the data, how the data would be sliced up, and how frequently it would be collected.

The second step was to implement the best tool.  They determined that Excel was beyond what they needed for data collection.  They looked at using MySQL and a service called Zoho Creator.  They decided that MySQL would provide too many technical difficulties and went with Zoho Creator's cloud-based database service, which offers a single database in the free version of the product.  They then setup a fixed schedule and had a student input the previous year's data and made sure everyone knew the data input schedule

Now that they had a database that was being regularly updated with the information they created a way to view the data.  This was the third step of creating an online presentation.  They used a JavaScript library called Sheetsee.js which can take the contents of a Google Docs spreadsheet and make a nice interface to filter data and see charts (see their implementation).  They manually copy the data from Zoho each month and put it into the Google Docs spreadsheet for their reporting.

After doing this, they decided to also make a more exciting, interactive, visual and student-focused dashboard.  This they built using a responsive HTML 5 framework called Foundation.  After looking at some other dashboards for ideas they created a friendly dashboard with both quantitative and qualitative data.  The results are quite attractive and friendly.

Although much of their process solved problems that we solved in our own way some time ago, there were approaches here I found useful and I think there are some good things to be learned from their experience.

Computers in Libraries 2014 - Day 2 - Library Data Mashups

In this session Mike Crandall, Samantha Becker, and Becca Blakewood from the Information School of the University of Washington described what data mashups are, where to find data, and how to mash it up.

They began by describing the concepts of mashups in general, where for instance, audio from one source has been mixed with video from a different source to create a new, doubly-derivative work that is entertaining in a way that neither of the original works are on their own.  Data mashups do this with data, and can be fun in their own way.  The presenters suggested that using data mashups can be an effective way to advocate for your library as mixing data from different sources can build powerful statements on library service need, reach and utilization.

On the topic of data sources to mash-up, the presenters suggested these sources as a starting point:

• National Sources: IMLS Public Library Survey, Edge Initiative, Impact Survey, Census Data
• Local Sources: Community indicators, City/county data, community anchor institutions or agencies
• Your Sources: Library use statistics, circulation statistics, patron surveys

After discussing and other sources some, they went on describe approaches to mashing up data.  The first approach is to get a "conceptual mash."  A conceptual mash doesn't make for a pretty graph, largely because it can be a bit of a mismatch of data.  However it can point in a direction that is ripe for further intelligence gathering.  The following example was given of a conceptual mash.

The presenters took national, Texas, and local information for New Braunfels, Texas.  On each level they compared married couple family, never married, families with elementary school children, Hispanic, and non-English speaking households.  That data indicates a higher level of Hispanics living in New Braunfels compared to other places.  This information can then be compared against the Pew Library Typology report and that indicates that statistically more Hispanics are in the "Distant Admirers" group than are in any other group.  Based on that it might mean that there is something to be gained in reaching out to the Hispanic community in New Braunfels.  This information needs to be validated, but it creates a working hypothesis that can be explored.

A second type of data mashup is an "Actual Mash."  This is where there are datasets from different sources that can be directly compared or joined using data points that are in both sets.

As an example of this, the presenters looked at the Edge assessment of library technology access and linked that up with data from the Public Libraries Survey to try and determine if there is a correlation between a high edge score and library size.  The Public Libraries Survey had library size available, the Edge assessment information had Edge scores available, and both had the names of the libraries being evaluated.  That meant that the data sets could be joined up to create a greater data set.

In this case they pointed out some pitfalls of not looking at data very carefully.  A simple bar graph would seem to indicate a correlation between Edge score and size, but a closer analysis actually shows that very small number of extremely large libraries generally have extremely high Edge scores while other libraries across the spectrum tend not to have much of a correlation between size and Edge score.

 With the amount of data available from different agencies and from libraries themselves, the possibilities are strong for being able to create complex actual mashes of data using a variety of data sets and matching points.

The presentation had a handout with data sources on one side and tools for data analysis on the other.  There was a brief overview of some of the many tools available.  Here is a quick list of the tools mentioned on that handout:

• Infogr.am
• Datawrapper
• Jolicharts
• Statwing
• Excel pivot tables
• Tableau Public
• Google Fusion Tables
• ManyEyes
• Census Scope
• City-Data
• Google Charts API
• D3
• R Shiny

Computers in Libraries 2014 - Day 2 - Change in Action

This session was a great followup to the session that came immediately preceding which had covered steps that need to be followed to effect successful change.  In this session there were two presentations from two rather different libraries that had made significant changes to their buildings and cultures.  I was able to see in the descriptions that they gave of their change the general patter which had been described in the prior presentation.

The first presenter was Tod Colegrove of the DeLaMare Science & Engineering Library.  He described the academic library that he had started working in as being quiet and empty.  This troubled Colegrove concerning the library's future and he knew that change was needed.  The dean of the library provided a vision of a knowledge center, and following that vision, in three years they had increased tenfold the amount of the building that was in active use on a daily basis.

A primary goal of the transformation seemed to be changing how students thought about and used the library.  A key concept used was that of changing the space from something analogous to cropland, a highly-organized uniform space, to something analogous to a  rain forest, a space with many different uses and many different kinds of programs and materials.  3000 square feet of library walls were covered in whiteboard paint to encourage students to have meetings and brainstorming sessions in the building.  The library started circulating a lot of non-traditional materials to students that were quite appropriate for an engineering school, such as Lego mindstorms sets and Arduino inventor kits.

For their process Colegrove described seven rules that they followed:

• Breaking rules and dreaming
• Opening doors and listening
• Trusting and being trustworthy
• Experimenting and iterating together
• Seeking fairness, not advantage
• Erring, failing, and persisting
• And a seventh "rule of the rain forest" that Colegrove ended with was "Pay it forward"

Following Colegrove, Nate Hill of the Chattanooga Public Library described some radical changes that they made to their building.

Hill described the Chattanooga Public Library in its pre-change state as a dump, "assessed as one of the crappiest libraries out there."  There was a concerted effort to change it from a dump into an innovative space.  As it happens, Chattanooga is a great place for this since they have one of the fastest Internet access networks in the country (gigabit fiber for the entire city).

The fourth floor of the library was wasted space.  It was unclear to me if there had been books on the floor in the recent past (Hill at one point said "you can do all kinds of interesting things if you get the books out of the way") but certainly there was a lot of junk in storage there that no one had had the heart to throw away.  It was decided to turn this entire floor into a "beta space" where they could try things out.

They contacted a local Linux User's Group and started on a process of converting the space. They auctioned off all of the crap and partnered with the AIGA to redesign the floor now that it was empty.

After the space was cleared out they started coming up with programming to have in it that could utilize the space in many different ways.  They've also added furniture, movable walls, and signage (a huge sign saying "You are in the right place") to make the space customizable to different kinds of needs and to make people feel more comfortable in the space.  So far a sampling of programs they've offered there includes:

• Their first program, a class on HTML and CSS basics
• They worked with an organization called the Company Lab for a program to test small business ideas which 450 people attended
• The held a Maker Day where makers were encouraged to bring their own 3D printers and there was a kind of fair in the space
• A dance program which involved dancers manipulating projected screens by moving them around with their hands and throwing them to a different building across town over the gigabit connection (kind of strange and a little difficult to describe)

Going on from this remodeling of space, they have implemented or are in the process of implementing several other programs and changes.

• They have trained staff in a fashion loosely modeled on the Apple Genius Bar using the term "Smart People" to help the public with certain kinds of computer and technical issues.  
• They are now using the library to serve civic data from data platform in the library.
• A contingent of staff went to SparkFun in Colorado and were hackers in residence for a week, increasing their hacking skill-set.
• They have a program called Arduino Thursdays that encourages Arduino experimentation
• They are currently working on developing a video remixing platform called Hyperaudio as well as the creation of a music lab on the second floor of the library being called Adagio.

Both of these libraries seem to be doing a lot of exciting things and I think we can find models of programs and spaces in what they are doing.

Computers in Libraries 2014 - Day 2 - Ready for Change? 8 Steps

This was a really unusual session for Computers in Libraries, but I thought it was very good.

Myles Miller is an author and business coach (Facebook page here) who travels around the country talking and consulting on the topic of change.  It was more the kind of thing I'd expect at a staff development day rather than a Computers in Libraries session, which tend to be more library staff talking about things they've done or tried to do.

In this case Miller provided a quick overview of John Kotter's 8 step change process.  Miller is an excellent and engaging speaker and this talk actually dove-tailed nicely with the next session in which two libraries described successful change.

Miller went through the eight steps indicating that they need to be followed in order and that they should not be rushed.

Step one: Create Urgency

For change to happen it helps if the whole company really wants it.  Develop a sense of urgency around the need for change.  This may help you spark the initial motivation to get things moving.

• Open an honest and convincing dialogue about what's happening in the marketplace
• If people start talking about the change you propose, the urgency can build and feed on itself
• For change to be successful 75% of a company's management needs to buy into the change

Step two: Form a powerful coalition

• Convince people that change is necessary
• This often takes strong leadership and visible support from key people within your organization
• Managing change isn't enough - you have to lead it
• Find people who have power throughout the organization

Step three: Create a vision for change

• When you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around
• Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember
• A clear vision can help everyone understand why you're asking them to do something
• Create a vision that can be expressed in less than 30 seconds

Step four: Communicate the vision

• What you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success
• Don't just communicate the vision at special meetings, but at every chance you get
• Use the vision to make decisions and solve problems daily
• Resolve conflicts.  If you can work through the conflict together you will have a stronger relationship

Step five:  Remove obstacles

• Find people, processes and structures that are getting in the way (emotional thinkers vs. rational thinkers)
• Put in place the structure for change and continually check for barriers to it
• Removing obstacles can empower the people you need to execute your vision and help the change move forward
• When responding to people ("I don't like it.") use the grand pause, don't react immediately.  **Silence** "OK. Tell me what you don't like and why?"  At the heart of most obstacles to change is fear.  Find out what people are truly afraid of.
• Document concerns -- it shows that you are listening

Step six: Create Short-term Wins

• Nothing motivates more than success
• Give the organization a taste of victory early in the change process
• Within a short time frame you'll want to have results your staff can see

Step seven: Build on the Change

• Don't declare victory too early
• After every win analyze what went right and what needs improving
• Set goals to continue building on the momentum you've achieved

Step eight: Anchor the Changes in the Organization's Culture

• New staff and leaders need to be initiated
• Talk about progress every chance you get
• Acknowledge the people who got you there

This was a great session.  Even though it had little direct bearing on the typical things that are discussed at this conference it was completely relevant and appropriate for a conference the frequently inspires a desire to bring about change.

Computers in Libraries 2014 - Day 2 - Keynote

My second day of Computers in Libraries 2014 officially began with a keynote presented by Mary Lee Kennedy, the Chief Library Officer at New York Public Library.  Ms. Kennedy titled her talk Hacking Strategies for Library Innovation and began with a quick list of four strategies that she then explained in depth in her presentation.  Those four strategies were:

1. Know what we are fundamentally about
2. Identify the target areas of opportunity
3. We need to make changes - head off in the direction even when we don't know what the outcome might be
4. We need to have fun

On the topic of "knowing what we are fundamentally about" Kennedy described the role that the New York Public Library plays.  On a local level it provides a variety of services to the city of New York.  It is free for all to use and books, archives, and documents are in its collections.  

But because the New York Public Library has an Internet presence, its potential for a community it can serve expands to the 2.5 billion people who use the Internet.  In addition to its physical materials it is now a place that can offer digital media and data offering APIs for that community to use to access that information.

As for opportunity, the New York Public Library has historically focused on access to information.  Going forward there is an opportunity to move from a passive role of just providing access, to an active role of engaging with users. 

Kennedy laid out some strategies for changes that can be made to capitalize on this opportunity.

Make knowledge accessible 

NYPL has started the following initiatives to make knowledge more accessible:

• NYPL Map Warper - takes sheet maps and puts them into Google Earth to give context, like showing what families lived where in Manhattan 100 years ago.  NYPL encouraged users to make corrections to the Google Earth overlays in a game-like fashion, and as a result what would have taken staff months was accomplished very quickly.

• Children's' books - Has an intuitive mechanism for quickly narrowing down titles of interest from a list of recommended children's' books.

• NYPL Archives & Manuscripts - This system allows traditional textual links that exist between different archives and manuscripts to be expressed in a graphical way.

Turn the Library Inside Out (or Take the Library Out)
Rather than requiring people to come to the library for services, we need to export library services out so that the public can benefit from them in many different contexts.  Here are some examples of how NYPL is attempting to do that:

• Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon - Many people use Wikipedia as a starting point and librarians have the expertise and the resources to improve it; it is an area where we can help

• Zooniverse - NYPL has partnered with this citizen-science site to use crowd-sourcing to turn text into structured data

• Hackathons - If we can connect people who know common kinds of things wonderful things can happen.  We need to get inside of the life of the people in our communities.

• Bit by Bit - the NYPL has helped people to collaborate in digital storytelling for this project.

Spark Connections
Libraries are all about connecting people, but we are a part of a network ourselves.  Focus on what we do best and focus on what others will do better with us.

• ReadersFirst  - 292 library systems subscribe to the principle that it should be easy for people to read an ebook.  They now have a guide to library ebook vendors.  Working on an ebook api.

• Broadband lending - literally lending out Internet connections via wireless connection boxes.

• MyLibraryNYC - Teachers select titles and title sets.  NYPL delivers the books to schools and they pick them up when the teachers are done.

In all of these kinds of endeavors Kennedy encourages us to have fun.