ACRl/NEC ITIG program on new technologies, 12-9-05, report

On Friday, December 9, 2005, I attended the Association of College and Research Libraries/New England Chapter, Information Technology Interest Group’s program on "Communication & Collaboration: Blogs, Wikis, and RSS Feeds" at Bryant University.

The program consisted of two speakers.

Megan Fox, Web and Electronic Resources Librarian at Simmons College http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/, was the first speaker. Megan, who is an engaging and interesting speaker, gave a whirlwind overview of new technologies in libraries, i.e. new tools and how libraries are using/can use them.

She began with new handheld devices: computer notebooks; PDAs; Ebook readers; tablet PCs; smart phones; gaming devices; smart watches; IPODs, etc.

 Palm: the company is struggling in today’s competitive market. Megan mentioned the “life drive,” for everything: music, pictures, chat, email, etc.
 Smart phones: Nokia cell phone most popular example; includes calendar; mps player, etc.
 Blackberries: full-fledged phone; designed to augment but not to replace a PC.
 Ultra-personal computer: all-in-one device with drop-down keyboard (so the keyboard is only exposed when needed).

Library uses for handhelds:
• Good for content that changes often or that needs to be referenced quickly, i.e. library hours; call numbers; ebooks. ILS vendors are marketing mobile online catalogs for small screens (Innovative’s is the AirPAC).
• Reference on the go: dictionaries, encyclopedias, health textbooks: download to a pda or smartphone.
• Subscription content: both book content and subscription journals; databases are being formatted for the small screen; this is driven by the professional markets, i.e. medical.
• Point-of-need search.
• Use for instant feedback during library instruction sessions; students with specially-equipped pdas could click a button indicating if they are following the presentation; could be useful for students who would not be confident enough to admit in the class that they need further explanation.
• Library staff services on the go: barcode attachment to simplify repetitive tasks; provide instant checkout; etc.

Megan next discussed blogs or weblogs, which are searchable; updated automatically (no need to wait for a third-person or webmaster to update); are easy to organize and keep up-to-date. Blogs are good for current information because they are updated immediately after each posting. Some libraries are using them to manage both internal and external communication (our library has a public blog at http://phillipsmemoriallibrary.blogspot.com/
She demonstrated several library blogs including RWU’s (I didn’t catch the URL).
RSS feeds, “really simple syndication” or “rich site summaries”. The feeds are a wonderful way to organize and keep track of multiple blogs, without the need to look at each blog individually. One subscribes to the feed for a blog; then the RSS aggregator service indicates whenever there’s a new post to the subscribed blog. The subscriber can see at a glance which blogs he or she needs to go to since there are new postings. This is one way to decrease the amount of e-mail one receives. (I subscribe to this via http://www.bloglines.com/) The Kansas City Public Library provides an RSS feed for every subject guide they produce; folks can keep track of when the guides are updated (I wonder if we could do this for our Find your way guides?)

Personalized RSS: “Library elf” is a free web resource which can be set up by the patron to manage all library accounts, from disparate libraries. A family could, for instance, add everyone’s library accounts and keep track of notices, overdues, etc., all in one place.

Podcasting is syndicated web audio (not text) content. Some public libraries are checking ipods out to their patrons with e-books already downloaded. This technology also can be used to enhance course assignments, etc.

Wikis are collaborative web tools which differ from blogs in that wikis include a much larger group with full editing rights, even the right to edit what someone else has written. It is easily possible to revert to a previous version, though. UConn uses a library staff wiki for staff documents and files (example of student procedures manual).

Instant messaging/chat: Live, real-time communication. The millennial generation uses IM or text-messaging far more frequently than they use e-mail. Megan mentioned that librarians must let go of perfection in order to use IM; messages can’t be too long; it isn’t important to check for good grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. The reference librarians at Providence College are using Trillian to provide chat reference service; it has been very popular since we implemented it in September of 2005.

Smartphone services: Example of Montclair State University’s “Campus Connect”: students can get registration information; details about upcoming events; can check if a classroom is available for use; can track the location of the campus shuttle bus, etc, all from their cell phones (must be a smartphone).

Social software: Folksonomie: how regular folks, not librarians, classify information. How to tag data so that “real” users can find it? Example of photo of new books: click on the photo to go to the catalog record for that book; also bookmarks that normally reside only on an individual’s computer: could put on a remote web server in order to let others use what the person’s done (including the changes he or she made to the name of the web site). For example, instead of “Welcome to the AAA site”, the user might use “Travel directions.” Those changes are useful to others.


Submitted by Janice Schuster, 12-12-05

ACRl/NEC ITIG program on RFIDs, 10-28-05, report

On Friday, October 28, 2005, Paul Bazin and Janice Schuster attended the Association of College and Research Libraries/New England Chapter, Information Technology Interest Group’s program on Radio Frequency ID technology at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Jim Salisbury spoke at this program about PC’s experiences with RFID. Janice, Paul, and Jim wrote this report collaboratively.

The program consisted of three speakers: Jim Salisbury was one of the speakers, as Janice mentioned at our staff meeting this week.

Mark Shughart of 3M Library Systems was the first speaker. He gave an overview of RFID technology and its uses in libraries and beyond. RFID is used in the physical world for item identification, tracking, and management (as opposed to the virtual world of digital information) An RFID system consists of a database of items (the library catalog); tags that are placed inside each book that relate that book to its record in the catalog; hardware that is used to read the tags; and software programmed to recognize the tags and relate them to the corresponding record in the catalog. RFIDs enable:
easy self and staff check in/out; automated sorting and materials handling (Mark mentioned libraries with self check-in where the patron checks in the materials and the system indicates which colored chute to place the book in); interlibrary item tracking using the scanner; smart shelf management and inventory control (Jim mentioned this yesterday at the staff meeting as one use that PC is making of this technology); security; and patron authentication. Currently 8% of libraries have RFID; global growth is projected at 30% per year through 2006. The reasons libraries are implementing RFID include: the ability to provide higher-quality customer service; faster performance of circulation and inventory operations; improved ergonomics (don’t need to open the book/item to check in or out); it’s simple and easy-to-use with consistent handling of all media types. There are also reasons libraries are NOT implementing RFID, including: they don’t perceive a need for it; don’t see the value of it; can’t handle the conversion; it’s too expensive, especially the tags ($0.55-$0.75 per tag, but the return on investment is the savings in time and the heightened knowledge of what’s in the collection); concern about limitations of RFID, that it’s a fad. RFID limitations include: the tags are visible (the tattle-tape for the security system remains invisible); some interference from metallic material in book covers, CDs, and DVDs); the tags are relatively easy to shield or peel off; and the tags are more expensive than barcodes. Mr. Shughart’s suggested roadmap for RFID success: Start with your goals: what do you want RFID to do for you? Ask yourself what has the library done in the past 5 years and what are our plans for the next 5 years? Clarify your priorities around the RFID limitations; for example, if security if a huge concern, as with very valuable or rare collections, then RFID might not be the right thing. Conduct return-on-investment analysis to measure the value RFID will deliver to your library. Assess your technology style and resources (level of staff, do you have an automated system?) Consider your ILL partners: who do you share with? What system do they use? Plan for the conversion process: estimate how long it will take. Prepare your organization for change (consider other changes that are taking place. Will there be multiple changes at once? Might be too much change at once. Choosing a vendor: Mark suggested that we educate ourselves about the range of RFID products and features available; look for money-back guarantees; ensure products comply with safety and regulatory requirements (example of electrical codes); determine how committed the vendor is to libraries; consider the future. What is RFID?: At its simplest, RFID replaces a barcode with a tag that has an antenna and an integrated circuit. An RFID system consists of: A tag or marker which can be attached to or concealed within a library item; hardware; software; and an interface to a database which maintains the item information (the library catalog in our case). There are different types of systems and tags; some with a low shelf-life (Wal-Mart example) and some with longer shelf-life (libraries). RFID technology benefits: don’t need to be able to see the barcode; tags can hold additional data; tags can be updated/re-written (if change library systems, etc.); multiple tags may be processed simultaneously. Where is RFID going in next few years? Standardization needs to be done by libraries (ALA is starting to work on it); lower price; more memory; better performance; more applications. New features and applications coming in future: more tag memory; more variety in tag size, shape, memory capacity; more applications (i.e. use for keeping track of furniture, etc); vendor dependent. Mark spent the last few minutes of his session going over various 3M RFID products, such as tags, conversion stations, detection systems, circulation workstations, inventory equipment, etc.

Patrick Dillon, Reference Librarian, University of Massachusetts Boston, discussed the privacy implications of RFID. He stated that privacy today is not so much an issue for libraries as it is for private companies that choose to gather significant amounts of information. He stated that one of the problems with library tags is that they cannot be turned-off whereas as those used in commercial applications can be. However, the amount of date gathered by libraries is very limited although the potential for capturing information is not. Patrick used the example of placing wireless readers in various location in a library to monitor patron movement as a potential violation of privacy. As the technology evolves and greater use is made of the tags the potential for abuse increases. The tags are getting smaller, some no larger than a grain of sand and are getting more powerful and smarter.

To date the primary challenge to RFI has been a lack of consistent standards. He referenced a 1973 HEW report that recommended the following:

There be no personal- data, record keeping systems whose very existence is a secret.

There must be a way for a person to find out what information about the person is in a record and how it is used.

There must be a way for a person to prevent information about the person that was obtained for one purpose from being used or made available for other purposes without the person’s consent.

There must be a way for a person to correct or amend a record of identifiable information about the person.

Any organization creating, maintaining, using or disseminating records of identifiable personal data must assure the reliability of the data for their intended use and must take reasonable precautions to prevent misuse of the data.

He also noted a proposed RFID Bill of Rights by Simpson Garfield a leader in the field. Simpson has been quoted as:

Users of RFID systems and purchasers of products containing RFID tags have:

The right to know if a product contains an RFID tag.

The right to have an embedded RFID tag removed, deactivated, or destroyed when a product is purchased.


The right to first class RFID alternatives: consumers should not lose other rights (e.g. the right to return a product or to travel a particular road) if they decide to opt-out of RFID or exercise and RFID tag’s kill feature.

The right to know what information is stored inside their RFID tags. If this information is incorrect, there must be some ways to correct or amend it.

The right to know when, where and why an RFID tag is being read.

It is an industry that is beginning to grow out of its infancy. However, global standards need to be developed standards and privacy concerns addressed. The technology represents exciting opportunities as it moves forward.


Jim Salisbury was the last speaker of the day. Jim began his session with a bit of background: he was hired as access services librarian here at Providence College in the summer of 2001, during the library’s inventory project. We learned from that process that physical inventory is dirty and takes longer than expected (11 months in our case). The inventory identified fewer than 1% of the collection as missing or unidentified. RFID arrived at PC shortly thereafter when the library director told Jim that he would be in charge of the conversion project for the library. Jim mentioned problems with the conversion: the books had up to 6 different old security detection devices; we decided to physically remove the existing strips from each book, since our sources (3M, etc.) weren’t sure whether the existing strips would conflict with the new RFID system. We ended up tattle-taping and RFID-ing all of the books at the same time, which was very time-consuming. Staff, etc. All library staff were involved in the conversion, including student workers. We rented a 611 workstation, but some of our aisles were too narrow for the machine to fit, so we had to bring some of the items to a central location for processing. In the first month of the project, (May of 2002), we completed 1000 volumes.


Jim developed a process to maximize efficiency:

 Pulled books from the shelf
 Lined books on a cart
 Removed the existing security tags from each book
 Tattle-taped and RFID-ed simultaneously

With this process, we were able to process approx. 800 books per hour. The entire conversion process took 6 months. Due to library renovations, shifting of the collection, and the RFID project occurring at the same time, there was only a small amount of chaos!

Jim found that staff increased accuracy as they learned the best way to read the tags. Results: As mentioned above, after the inventory was finished in 2002, we identified 1% of approx. 300,000 volumes which were missing or unidentified. After the RFID project, when the circ staff performed inventory with the new system in May of 2005, there were only 262 items unaccounted for, out of approx. 350,000 books, or 0.075% of the collection. We previously had done only one physical inventory of the collection. Now, we do a complete inventory of the collection 3 times per year. Jim mentioned the sense of community which developed among the staff as a result of the conversion process.

After his presentation, Jim fielded approx. 15 questions from the attendees covering topics such as:

 How are new books currently processed by cataloging? (We still use barcodes due to HELIN consortium; cataloging staff put the tattle-tape in the new books; circulation staff insert the RFID tag)
 Do we have self check-out? (No, PC emphasizes personal contact)
 Do the student i.d. cards have RFID tags? (No; Mark from 3M commented that such a practice is not endorsed by ALA)
 How did users respond? (Most were either curious or suspicious; faculty were more suspicious than others)
 Has it cut down on theft? (Not much to begin with; “Catholic guilt”!)
 How do we locate a book that’s misplaced? (We scan in the section where the book is supposed to be. The scanner tells if a book is out of order; makes it easy to find misshelved items.)
 Why did we decide to remove all of the existing security strips? (Jim asked about the effect on the tags; the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, the first library in the country to implement the 3M system, recommended removing the old strips. Jim wanted to err on the side of caution, so he decided to remove all of them).
 Compatibility with other ILS systems? (Mark from 3M mentioned that the tags are re-writeable; Jim said that PC is the only library in HELIN to have RFID, which is why we decided to continue with barcodes).

Submitted by Janice Schuster, Paul Bazin, and Jim Salisbury, 11-3-05

NELA conference report 10-18-05

On Tuesday, October 18, 2005, I attended the New England Library Association conference at the DCU center in Worcester, MA.

The first session I attended was “E-resource management systems: from vision to reality”, presented by Ivy Anderson from Harvard University Library and Ellen Finnie Duranceau of MIT Library. The Digital Library Federation Electronic Resource Management Initiative (DLF ERMI) is a project to develop standards and best practices for electronic resource management in libraries. Ms. Anderson provided an overview of the project, and Ms. Duranceau described her library’s experience in working as a co-developing partner and the process of evaluating whether to implement an e-resource management system based on DLF standards.

I missed the first part of the session (Ms. Anderson’s part), and I must admit that I was a bit lost during Ms. Duranceau’s portion (I arrived after she had begun). She mentioned the Verde system from ExLibris; it sounded like they were involved in the testing of Verde. Their previous system was called Vera; I’m not sure what that was. She mentioned the key features of the co-development process, that MIT had an impact more on what the system could do then on how it looks. ExLibris listened to the MIT librarians’s feedback and adjusted their design based on the feedback.

Verde takes a knowledge-based approach with no public end-user interface. The Vera system that MIT used previously did have an end-user interface. Ms. Duranceau felt that if they were to replace it, that it would need to be with something better than Vera, not just something that was as good as it. They formed a committee to investigate how to deliver e-resources information without a system that offers a front-end (i.e. without a public end-user interface). The committee presented 2 options to the library administration:

• Build integrated custom user-interface using ExLibris’s MetaLib Xserver
• Implement Verde as is, without an end-user interface, but use the various functions to point to the OPAC, SFX, MetaLib, etc. (again I must admit that I’m not too sure what this means!)

ERM systems are not just an issue for large academic libraries; all libraries need to re-think how they offer their content to users.


Next I attended a session on “Generate great results with great meetings.” Dee Kelsey is the co-author of Great meetings! Great results and is a professional trainer and facilitator. She distributed a very useful handout which corresponded to her interactive session. The first part covered stopping meetings before they start or assessing the need for a meeting: Do we need interactive communication (to discuss ideas; to develop group ownership of a problem and its solution or group commitment to an idea, goal, or project; or to make recommendations or decisions)? If the answer is yes, then we need to decide how to meet (face-to-face; phone or video conference) and to design the meeting (define its purpose; decide on desired outcomes; determine agenda). If the answer is no, then decide what do we need? (delivery of information; training; boost to team morale), and choose the right action (send memo or e-mail; schedule training; have a team-building event (social, etc.)

We broke into groups and discussed 2 case studies, then reported back to the large group. Common themes were: be careful of making a decision and then getting input (i.e. having a meeting after something has already been decided and making it look like you’re asking for input when really the decision will not be changed); meetings must involve interaction and discussion, otherwise they are not meetings; use memos/email to communicate information and then have a follow-up meeting to answer questions, discuss, etc.

Ms. Kelsey talked about know what train you’re on and where it’s headed or agenda planning next. Always ask what the purpose of a meeting is. Why are we having the meeting? Is a meeting the best way to accomplish the purpose? Also ask what the desired outcome is: What tangible products (e.g. lists, decisions, etc.) do you wish to have at the end of the meeting? Elements of a good agenda:

Sections (timed): Topic/Content Method/Tool Who

Opening Introductions How you will Who’s
Review purpose, outcomes, do each section? in
agenda, roles, rules, time charge
frame of each section?
Set up a “parking lot” (to record ideas that don’t fit the current meeting’s agenda; example of someone wanting to talk about the dress code when the meeting is about employee benefits; those ideas will be discussed, just not at the current meeting (i.e. not a trash can)


Task Work to be done
Sequence it logically
Generate ideas/vision
Narrow/evaluate
Make decision

Closing Review decisions
Acknowledge accomplishments
Identify next steps
Evaluate meeting

Always have a Next steps section, including: What needs to be done; who will do it; and by when.

The last section covered keeping meetings on track. Steps to prevent meetings from going off track: Get agreement on a clearly-stated purpose statement, desired outcomes and agenda, including time frame; establish specific ground rules about the boundaries of the discussion and behaviors that will help keep the meeting on track; set up a “parking lot” to put ideas, concerns, etc., that don’t fit in the current meeting or portion of the meeting. Getting the meeting back on track: If someone is rambling or is off the topic: listen carefully in order to understand the person’s key point(s). Then interrupt the person using his/her name and summarize the person’s key point and check to make sure you have it right “Jed, am I right that you are concerned about the impact of the homeless situation on our library’s functioning?” Ask for clarity about how this relates to the topic or current section of the agenda. Lean on the time frame “That would be great to talk about, but we only have 5 more minutes; could we put that in the parking lot to talk about another time?” Go back to the person who was originally speaking and summarize where he/she was: “Thank you, Jed. Now, Lydia, you were talking about the budge.” This pulls people back to the agenda.

Remember that whether you are the facilitator, leader, or a participant, treat each person with respect. Assume they have a valuable contribution to make. Be aware that some people are more articulate and succinct than others.

The luncheon speaker was Stewart O’Nan, who, with Stephen King, wrote Faithful: two diehard Red Sox fans chronicle the 2004 season. He was a delightful speaker. He grew up in Pittsburgh, across the street from the Carnegie Library. In those early days, the library became the place where he goes to find out about what he doesn’t know. For example, he told his local librarian that he was writing a book on the Hartford circus fire of the 1940’s: he needed information about Hartford, circuses, fires, etc. He read an excerpt from his most recent novel, The good wife, then he answered quite a few questions from the audience, including:
• What is his relationship with Stephen King: SK writes very quickly and clearly; Mr. O’Nan writes more slowly and needs more revisions.
• What is his relationship with his editor? Both he and the editor wanted the Red Sox book to be as succinct as possible.
• Is there a new curse on the Red Sox due to Curt Schilling’s support of George Bush? Schilling’s problem was that he would not sit on the bench long enough to get completely well.
• What is his writing style? He likes to read all kinds of different books, so he likes to write in various genres as well. He knows his writing is going well when something unexpected happens: he goes further with a character than he intended, etc.
• What is the solution to the Edgar Renteria problem? Make him a second baseman and add someone else to play shortstop.

The final program I attended was sponsored by the Information Technology Section of NELA and was a question and answer session on technology issues led by Rick Taplin of the MA Minuteman Library Network; Rick Levine from Central MA Regional Library System, and Laurie Welling from Assumption College. The questions asked and answered included:

 problems with virus protection software (McAfee)
 databases not working properly with the Firefox browser but working fine using Internet Explorer
 problems with Gateway computers
 how to “lock down” computers to access only designated web sites?
 policies on use of flash drives?
 wireless networks

I asked if they had any idea how to solve the problem we’ve been having with main level back printer, that it does not pull from tray 3 (bottom tray) when tray 2 (top one) is empty. They suggested it might be the drivers installed on the computers (which is similar to what the printer technician told me a few weeks ago). The suggested that we install the Jet Direct Management software, included on the original installation c.d. for the printers, which will allow us to easily see the drivers that are installed on the computers. Jim, Beatrice, Connie, and Ed: Let’s talk about this.

Submitted by Janice Schuster, 10-20-05