Exhibitor Spotlight

EBSCO is a leading provider of online research content and AI-enabled search technologies for libraries, healthcare, corporations, and government agencies. It offers comprehensive solutions, including discovery services, research and development, and clinical decision support.

EBSCO was a Diamond Sponsor of Computers in Libraries.

Three Questions

Let’s hear from Chappy Floyd, EBSCO Information Services’ director of SaaS innovation, who attended the Computers in Libraries conference as an exhibitor.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about the Computers in Libraries conference?

A: One of the things I appreciate most about Computers in Libraries is how it brings together librarians, technologists, and industry leaders to discuss real-world applications of technology in information discovery. The conversations at CIL go beyond theoretical discussions—attendees are actively looking for ways to enhance access to information and improve the user experience. This aligns perfectly with what we do at EBSCO, where we focus on making content more discoverable and actionable through platforms like EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and our AI-supported research solutions. Seeing the enthusiasm for innovation and engaging in discussions about how AI is transforming information retrieval was a highlight for me. 

Q: What do you think are the best ways for exhibitors to draw attendees to their booths?

A: The best way for exhibitors to attract attendees is by showing, not just telling. At EBSCO, we’ve found that hands-on, interactive demonstrations of our AI-supported research solutions—such as the latest advancements in EDS and our personalized research recommendations—spark meaningful conversations. Attendees are looking for practical solutions to streamline research workflows, so offering tailored demonstrations that address their unique challenges makes a big difference. Additionally, engaging with attendees beyond the booth—through thought leadership sessions, discussions on open access initiatives, or AI ethics—helps reinforce the value of the solutions we bring to the table. And, of course, thoughtful giveaways never hurt!

Q: What’s a takeaway from this year’s conference you’d like to share? 

A: A major takeaway from this year’s CIL is that AI is no longer a future concept for libraries—it’s a present reality. From search and discovery to automated metadata enhancement, AI-supported tools are reshaping how users interact with information. However, the conversations at CIL made it clear that AI adoption must be thoughtful, transparent, and aligned with the core values of librarianship—ensuring accessibility, accuracy, and ethical use of data. The dialogue around balancing innovation with responsible implementation was one of the most valuable aspects of the conference.

Exhibitor Spotlight

Meescan is a self-checkout solution with kiosks and a smartphone app that’s simple for libraries to install and effortless for patrons to use. It allows librarians to get on with what they do best: organizing the library’s database, reaching out to their local community, helping people track down information, and engaging with patrons.

Three Questions

Let’s hear from Robyn Petrik, manager of business development at Meescan, who attended the Computers in Libraries conference as an exhibitor.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about the Computers in Libraries conference?

A: It was Meescan’s first time exhibiting at Computers in Libraries, and we really enjoyed it! We found the leads and conversations to be of high quality and did notice that general technical knowledge was higher than average—without getting too technical or into the weeds. 

Q: What do you think are the best ways for exhibitors to draw attendees to their booths?

A: Unlike large conferences, participants weren’t as drawn in by swag. Instead, having a quality product and service, effective communication leading up to the conference, and positive word of mouth is what drove participants to our booth. 

Q: What’s a takeaway from this year’s conference you’d like to share? 

A: We heard a lot of buzz about AI from attendees after one of the keynotes. It’s a great reminder that even as an exhibitor, it can be valuable to take the time to attend some of the keynotes and sessions. There’s so much good information being shared!

Exhibitor Spotlight

StackMap, the global leader in library mapping, has been helping users find resources more quickly, efficiently, independently, and privately, all over the world, since 2011. It assists libraries with the following:

• Providing users with a map and written directions directly to their desired item right from your library’s catalog or discovery layer.
• Allowing your users to see which computers are available at a given time while also highlighting any specialty software and hardware.
• Helping your users see where rooms and places of interest are located in a facility: study rooms, lecture halls, conference spaces, offices, restrooms, elevators and more.

Three Questions

Let’s hear from Maggie Browne, public library sales lead at StackMap, who attended the Computers in Libraries conference as a company representative and as a presenter.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about the Computers in Libraries conference?

A:  Favorite thing about the conference is the wide variety of attendees we see from so many different types of libraries. I also love the location—it’s incredibly easy to get to.

Q: What do you think are the best ways for exhibitors to draw attendees to their booths?

A:  I think the best way for vendors to initially draw attendees to their booths is to have some type of useful swag visibly available on the table (bookmarks, notepads, pens, etc.). 

Q: What’s a takeaway from this year’s conference you’d like to share?

A: Presenting with three of our library clients was a phenomenal success. The conference organizers made everything seamless and super easy and our moderator was kind and helpful. I look forward to the possibility of presenting in future years, as well!

They talked about Weinberger’s realization, early on, that the web took a sledgehammer to old structures of knowledge and organization, as hyperlinks restructured everything. Generative AI is doing much the same today. He focused on the unknowability of our world and how difficult it can be to understand how the future happens. He added, “The only real law in the universe is irony.”

For libraries, Weinberger thinks AI can be used to develop a sense of community and what the community values based on data the library already has. He is firmly convinced the AI will have a major effect on libraries.

After a day filled with workshops—Mary Ellen Bates, Gary Price, Arthur Weiss and I presented an all day one about search in all its many manifestations—Computers in Libraries attendees gathered for a networking event to explore games, gadgets and makerspaces. Thanks to Amanda Sweet and Brian Pichman for putting it all together!

The Computers in Libraries conference and exhibition, organized and produced by Information Today, Inc., provides a unique, annual opportunity for library and information professionals from all over the world to gather and discuss the myriad of ways technology impacts libraries and the people who use them. Join us in Arlington, VA this March 25 – 27 to learn, share, and celebrate the technologies and people that are shaping the future of libraries.

Register now!

Matt uses scenario planning to discover blind spots as organizations and governments try to foresee the future. He is not in the prediction business, preferring his role to be that of a listener. Reminding us that since we don’t have any actual data from the future, we have to recognize that the future is uncertain and can’t be adequately represented by a graph. One thing that is clear, however, that life after 2020 will be different, due to the pandemic and an economic downturn. Libraries, he thinks, are very likely to encounter drastically reduced funding.

Given that scenario, Matt recommended asking what your library can give up. You can’t continue to add services without the money to support them. Another recommendation: Look for partnerships that can help with the funding issues. Also, become friends with your procurement department. Procurement will be vital going forward.

As user experience, buildings also need future thinking. Matt applauded the National Library of the Netherlands for showcasing the library building to Parliament.

What is the future of the written word? Just think about a future where technology has perfected speech to text and text to speech. What would that mean for libraries, given that their mission is very tied to written to word. Whose voices have power? Who gets heard and who doesn’t?

Reimagining the digital experience raises difficult questions. If librarians are just gatekeepers, why does anyone need us? Librarians can be seen as obstructing value not adding it. When it comes to news, are librarians viewed as paternalistic, telling people that we can differentiate between true and fake news. He also noted that law librarians are becoming knowledge managers.

Librarians used to swim among the physical shelves of their libraries. But we have a different power dynamic from, say, physicians or lawyers. We create place where people can swim by themselves. Now we are swimming in new information environments. The trick for libraries: How do we help people navigate information without saying we know what is right and what is wrong?

We should respect that people have different perspectives and help a movement to a more compassionate world.

Here are some highlights from this morning’s interview of Alex Clifton, Artistic Director of Storyhouse, by Erik Boekesteijn: Storyhouse is in an art deco building in Chester, a mid-size U.K. city that serves about 138,000 people. It is a combination of library, cafe, theatre and cinema, open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. The building integrates all those elements and has no lockable doors. Alex says it’s full of life,  a busy and playful place where people can discover new ideas. It puts poetry on its walls and floors.

Before the pandemic, it has 2,000 activities and 1 million visitors. Now that it offers many services online, it hosts 80 events every month. To deal with the inevitable digital exclusion, it sends materials, such as arts & crafts activities for children, through the mail. Volunteers on bikes also deliver materials.

The library is a hybrid organization that reflects its vibrant and diverse city, empowering minority communities. It works with 113 charities to do this.

Intriguingly, Alex once performed Storyhouse’s annual report on stage. The Young Leaders program gives marginalized youths the opportunity to build program activities within the building, giving them full access to the building. That has also moved online.

Storyhouse has a very local focus and believes relationships with local libraries are very important.

People have mental models about libraries and what the library does. Is Google omniscient?

How people search, identify, locate, evaluate sources.

How does Google work? Is it: Completely keyword search; Fulltext indexing; Partial text indexing; Link anchors; Blended results; What’s covered in the index?

When he asks people to draw a picture about how search works: 33% have the word “magic” in them.

Without a mental model, you can’t make predictions. What breaks your mental model of Google? It has a staggering amount of books, video, images, and documents.

But there are still difficult questions

What was the population of Japan in 1490?

How much apartment housing should San Francisco have?

It’s good to know what you can and cannot search. You can search on symbols, images

He can search on an image of what looks like an insect bite and surrounding rash on his son’s arm, but it’s not likely to tell him much

There’s an app that will identify mushrooms but how reliable is it? (only survivors get to rate the app)

Aerial photo of building in Palo Alto from years ago– Use time slider on Google Earth

What can you search for? What’s possible? Where to look? Google StreetView, Earth, others

Go through various iterations to get to answer.

He then told two search stories based on his experience, one about a phone number in Warsaw and the other a historical account of Perry on Delos. These are taken from his book and well worth reading.

It’s important to remember that not everything is on the web

Use CTR-F to find on a page. Surprising to me, Dan claims that 90% of people don’t know this trick.

Know the conventions of the culture:

Spoof sites (part of genre of internet culture is creating spoof sites

You tube is where people go to learn – do we know how to point people to high quality videos

The way we’re asking questions is changing

It’s always been a skill

Now it’s a critical skill

An interesting trick to find information about a website without going to the website is to search sitename –site:sitename

Site assessment is a basic skill

EPA Facts (EPA.gov versus EPAFacts.com) Environmental Policy Alliance

We need to design info systems to support informacy and continual learning

We need to teach our students about how to use all of our information systems

Augment skills of ordinary people

Search is not intuitive.

The latest post on SearchResearch is all about how  and how often searchers fact-checked. Well worth the read!

How did Christine get interested in libraries? She grew up on dairy farm as one of 8 children. Her great loves are reading and cooking. Devoured books so she could be in other people’s lives. She’s been a librarian for over 40 years. Biggest influence on her career:

1.A job exchange in 1990 at the Baltimore public libraries, changed her whole focus about customer service and what libraries could be

2.Did management course and was challenged to do something you can’t do: She jumped out of an airplane (with a parachute on). “Well, then I can do anything.” (Erik still hasn’t parachuted out of a plane

3.Bertelson Foundation of public librarians around the world – led to her interest in international librarianship

IFLA (www.ifla.org) has been around for 93 years. What does it mean to library world? It’s the global voice of libraries and very involved in advocacy work.

IFLA Global Vision

Strategic Plan

Structure to support strategy

IFLA Roadmap is transformative

SDGs (U.N. Sustainable Development Goals)– how should we move toward sustainable libraries

Librarians can make people aware of goals. We should all learn about SDGs

Library Map of the World

Her presidential theme: Let’s work together: Great examples of libraries and library associations working together and working together with government and industry. Great barrier to working together is us. We need to have an open mind. Removing the barrier that is us and become part of solution. People loved learning new things when she initiated the 23 Things project in Australia.

Encourages librarians to take what they need from the strategic plan.

We are becoming location agnostic. Librarians’ role in 3D, AR, traditional ways of cataloging, describing may not be appropriate.

She would love to be able to travel again, see other libraries, and talk to colleagues in person. Great advance in virtual conferences and workshops and we’re getting better at it. It is very exciting time.