RISG New Technologies

Gizmodo

2012-02-15T11:15:00.000+11:00

Gizmodo is not afraid of quirky (or even strange) and is another great site for keeping up with ideas on new technology (and being reminded about a bunch of older tools tool). You can explore gadgets, mobile, online and so much more,

CollectionHQ

2012-02-14T11:16:00.000+11:00

Last week I attended VALA in Melbourne and was lucky enough to attend the off-site launch of CollectionHQ.

CollectionHQ is an evidence based subscription tool for analysing your library's collection in order to make the best possible decisions about its development. It utilises the information which already exists in the LMS and raises it to the surface in defined ways which then enable comprehensive and relevant analysis of the library collection. As the person responsible for developing the collection at my library, my attraction to this product is simple - I want it.

CollectionHQ is currently used by over 50% of UK libraries, 120 US/Canada libraries (including Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library), and prior to the Australian/New Zealand launch of the product on February 8th had already been subscribed to by two Australian libraries (Brisbane City & Sunshine Coast) and four New Zealand libraries (Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Wellington).

CollectionHQ provides a set of tools for selection, management, and promotion. The selection tool allows you to build spending plans, monitor your application of the plan, and discover how you compare to similar (anonymous) libraries. The management tool builds mechanisms for maintaining the collection (what's missing/lost?), remove stock (because it's missing, lost or 'grubby'), and refresh the collection (what do your patrons really want?). The promotion tool the helps you to develop campaigns, experiment with a series of what if? scenarios, and chart your success/failures.

It may seem that this is something we already do - but I doubt we do it as well or as efficiently as CollectionHQ allows for. To find a product that with provides such a valuable ROI like this and thus allows for my time to be better and more efficiently spent is quite exciting. Trust me, I'd much rather be actively developing the collection than spending hours if not days poring over spreadsheets and looking for relationships. CollectionHQ tells me what I need to know.

Sold yet?

What have you learned lately?

2012-01-31T09:30:00.001+11:00

With delightful regularity the team at the State Library of NSW keep library staff across the state up-to-date with new developments through the Public Library Services blog.

The helpful categories on the right side menu make it easy to find a post on an area you may be interested in.

What have you learned from the PLS blog that has helped you provide Reference & Information Services in your library? What new technology have you explored as a result of reading the regular posts?

Techcrunch

2012-01-30T11:12:00.000+11:00

Techcrunch is a very useful blog to follow to find out about new technologies, ones already available as well as ones at the planning stage.

There are lots of ways you can connect with Techcrunch, so choose the method/s which will work best for you.

What new technology have you recently discovered?

2012-01-25T10:25:00.001+11:00

Sometimes discovering a 'new' technology is not so much about exploring something that's just been released and is brand spanking new but finding a tool that suddenly makes sense and works for you, one that you haven't discovered before.
Lately for me, that tool has been Storify. I've heard about it for quite a while but it wasn't until I started messing about with it that I really fell in love with this great story-telling tool. It has immeasurable possibilities for use in libraries.

Storify allows you to pull together various social media to create a story. I've used it to pull together the tweets from the Biblio Turismo ride I was on last year. I've also used it to pull together Facebook expressions-of-support from the community for my place of work. I can certainly see its value in creating a social history from a local history perspective. I've also created a Storify for the ALIA Biennial conference in July and one for my very own personal log of my year of reading (both are works in progress).

The thing I like best about Storify though is that it's fun and entirely dependent on my imagination and my skills (which have certainly grown as I developed a work-around for the fact that Facebook posts from a library page were a little tricky to try and bring across). I also like the idea that even though I can create and publish a story, that doesn't mean that's the end. I can go back and update and edit it until I am completely finished - ie, the ALIA Biennial conference is over & the National Year of Reading is finished.

So, what 'new' technology have you recently discovered?

Read write web

2012-01-20T09:13:00.000+11:00

Read write web is a very useful blog to follow for finding out about different new technologies and it is a good starting point for thinking about how these tools may be able to be used at your library. You can subscribe to updates from this site in numerous ways. You might even like to experiment and see which works best for you (or which you are most likely to read).

One of today's headlines says "Google+ Has 54 Million Daily Active Users, 90 Million Total" Have you tried out Google+?

Amazon Kindle to allow lending of eBooks

2010-11-18T12:55:00.005+11:00

An interesting post on the Amazon Kindle Community Blog suggests that Kindle Owners will soon be able to loan some of their titles (dependent on publishers) to other individuals.

This would appear to be aimed at general users and not public libraries.

What is new?

2010-11-17T16:22:00.002+11:00

When exploring new technologies it is important to keep thinking about new ways of using older technologies, or different ways of using them.

In a completely non-library context it has been found that playing tetris can reduce some elements of post traumatic stress disorder and that bacteria can do suduko. Neither of these may immediately present a library application, but who knows where these ideas will lead in the future. Maybe there is a library application waiting to emerge.

When looking at new technologies or new uses of existing technologies you should be thinking creatively about what may be possible. Don't self edit the ideas too early.

Augmented reality seems to have really exciting opportunities for libraries, however people are not thinking about this in big enough terms. We need to be able to bring images, sounds and videos from many collections together, so that the reality really can be augmented.

What technologies would you like to see occur? What technologies which already exist would you like to see being used in a library context?

Google acquires Metaweb - another step towards semantic search

2010-08-17T08:50:00.003+10:00

An interesting post on federatedsearchblog.com
discusses Googles acquisition of Metaweb. The aim is to use the Metaweb open data platform Freebase to improve Googles search capabilities. Another step towards the semantic web!

Take a look at the below video for an overview of Metaweb.

New URL for RISG New Technologies

2010-04-11T01:00:00.000+10:00

As a result of Blogger's decision to cease support for publishing blogs via FTP we have had to change the URL for the RISG blogs.

This blog is now located at http://risg-newtech.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/RisgNewTechnologies

The End of the Publishing Industry?

2010-03-19T09:22:00.000+11:00

This video is a very clever look at the changes impacting the publishing industry with the rise of e-books and other developments. It is, however, just as relevant to libraries.

Watch it all though...

Trove Plans to Expand Coverage to Electronic Resources

2010-03-01T13:19:00.000+11:00

The plan to expand the Trove service to encompass Electronic Resources caught my eye in the recent Electronic Resources Australia newsletter.

The National Library is planning an expansion of Trove in the second half of 2010, to encompass journal articles and licensed e-resources. This expansion will be supported through collaboration with e-resource vendors. The National Library has issued a discussion paper dealing with the user authentication aspects of this expansion.
NLA Labs Wiki

Basically, they want to work with database vendors to aggregate their holdings into the Trove service. When a user locates an article of interest they hope to implement seamless authentication to the article content. To make it work people will need to register with Trove and provide their library affiliations as part of their Trove profile. Libraries will also need to provide a list of resources their members have access to.

This could have interesting possibilities and ramifications in terms of managing online databases.

Changes in the Library Management System Landscape

2009-11-24T20:38:00.000+11:00

Are we about to see major changes in the way Library Management Systems work?

I've been a bit more interested in the developments around the traditional ILS lately. With the probable demise of Horizon from SirsiDynix there are many libraries who will be looking for a new system and/or supplier over the next little while, MPOW included. And from what I'm reading and hearing, there could be a great deal more variety in the market in coming years.

There seem to be a number of themes emerging, such as:

The rise of Open Source alternatives such as Koha and Evergreen, and the associated challenges that Open Source presents for libraries and commercial vendors.
Exciting developments in the way an ILS works, typified by the Open Library Environment (OLE) project. Especially the restructuring of the ILS using the principles of Service Oriented Architecture and Web Services.
Vendors offering the ILS as a hosted service (SAAS) and the intention of the OCLC in the US to enter the ILS market with a cloud based product.
Libraries implementing discovery layer products as a replacement for their vendor supplied OPAC. Especially those products that have been developed from the ground up to take advantage of social data typical of Web 2.0 such as Bibliocommons and SOPAC 2.0.

One of the best resources I have discovered for making sense of all this is the Library 2.0 Gang podcast. Over the last few months they have discussed most of these issues. They make some complex stuff fairly accessible. If you're interested I can highly recommend taking a listed to some or all of the following (in order):

Happy listening!

Google Wave

2009-11-12T14:20:00.004+11:00

Google wave promises to revolutionise the way in which individuals can communicate and collaborate. Unlike conventional email where by a message once sent cannot be edited a wave conversation facilitates continual online collaboration by all participants allowing for a diverse range of mediums to be embedded into the conversation at any point. Well that's my initial impression at least.

What does this mean for libraries? Well it may provide a new platform by which we can communicate with our clients or influence the evolution of the exiting communication platforms that we are using.

For a detailed overview of the beta version have a look at the Google Wave Wiki manual.

eBooks Overtake Games as Most Popular Apps

2009-11-10T08:45:00.000+11:00

I was interested to read in a number of places lately that books have taken over from games as the most downloaded apps for smartphones such as the Apple iPhone. This appears to have come from the following report: Flurry Smartphone Industry Pulse, October 2009.

Here's a bit...

This September, however, we observed another category, Books, usurping Games for the first time ever. To illustrate the surge in the supply of books to the App Store, the chart below compares the number of books and games released to the App Store per month, over the last four months, as a percentage of all released applications.

I think this gives us an indication of the importance of convergence in devices. Dedicated ebook readers have not yet really taken the market by storm, although Amazon's Kindle may be beginning to have an impact. But they are still an extra device to carry.

The attraction of ebooks on a smartphone is that you always carry the device with you. It appears that people are willing to accept a lesser reading experience for the convenience of the device that does everything. Depending on your mood you are in a position to surf the web, listen to music, read a book or watch a video.

I don't think we should under-estimate the importance of convenience to users. This has wider implications for libraries than just the make up of our collections. With the rise of Google and Wikipedia we have seen this attitude of convenience being preferred over quality in the general information seeking behaviour of people - an attitude of 'good enough'.

Libraries need to consider how convenient they are for users as they plan and develop their services into the future.

DOK and Microsoft surface

2009-10-13T17:00:00.011+11:00

If you have not caught up with some of the developments from DOK have a look at this video about how Microsoft surface (and some nifty design and programing) can enable a local studies resource discovery tool.

Multitouch Microsoft Surface: Cultural Heritage Browser from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.

You can also look at some photographs from library based tests of this.

Apple eReader and battle for Australian newspapers

2009-08-17T16:18:00.003+10:00

There was an interesting article in today's Sydney Morning Herald about the battle for the eBook format rights for Australian newspaper content. Supposedly Fairfax has rejected an offer by Amazon (kindle reader) which leaves Sony and Apple still in the market.

Now let us consider a few fascinating possibilities. Does this imply that Amazon is considering launching their kindle reader in Australia? Perhaps even more exciting for those interested in eBooks is the indication that Apple is in the process of creating an eReader. Now if you consider the impact of Apple's Ipod on the music industry it is a tantalizing prospect as to what the implications of an Apple "Ibook" might be for the publishing world and for that matter public libraries.

Make Your Data Location Aware... NOW!

2009-08-08T07:58:00.004+10:00

Don't think that mobile computing and ubiquitous access to the network will fundamentally change what information people will expect, when they will access it and how they will interact with it?

Take a look at this video...

How will this type of access affect libraries?

thanks to @b3rn via twitter for the link.

Print on Demand Bookstores

2009-07-31T15:20:00.004+10:00

I came across this interesting blog post about the perfect bookstore and it got me thinking about what impact Print On Demand might have on future libraries? Surely, one of the big points of difference between libraries and bookstores, apart from price of course, is access to the long tail - out of print and hard to find books.

If (when?) Print On Demand takes off will it do for books what iTunes did for CDs and music publishing - fundamentally change the game? Or will we all be reading ebooks by then and printing itself will be thought of as an odd idea, in the same way that digital cameras have changed the demand for printed photos?

Catalogues

2009-06-18T13:13:00.000+10:00

The recently published M-libraries: information use is on the move states on page 8 Staff at Cambridge University Library have observed customers using their camera phones to take pictures of the catalogue results screen, rather than noting class marks on a piece of paper. 50% of respondents at both universities said they take photos of signs, books, etc...

The University of Arkansas Library allows people to send a text of a catalogue search. Both of these options save writing, and allow for a permanent, portable record, like a piece of paper but also completely unlike.

Some libraries make a mobile version of the catalogue available, others make a mobile version of digital objects available or a widget to access the catalogue. RSS feeds are becoming more common from catalogues and some are even browseable.

All of these increase findability.

What friendly catalogue solutions have you come across?

Communication, but not as we know it?

2009-05-29T10:49:00.000+10:00

Google intends to launch a new groundbreaking communication application that is a mashup combining email, instant messaging and document maps plus image and video sharing all neatly integrated into the one interface. Google wave will offer conference style calls between multiple people. Furthermore the application requires no special software download or plug-in to operate and can be easily used from any computer or 3g phone.

I can see a number of exciting applications for this technology from the perspective of facilitating collaborative initiatives such as the NSW Reference Information Services Group. It may also prove to be a powerful tool for providing reference services. Who knows virtual book groups may be just around the corner.

Google Wave was developed by the Google team in Australia, good old Aussie ingenuity. For further details please refer to the Sydney Morning Herald article.

Government 2.0

2009-05-28T14:36:00.000+10:00

Twenty Theses for Government 2.0, Cluetrain Style highlights some useful points to think about when considering web 2.0 applications. The risks of not acting can be higher than taking action.

Making the World's Knowledge Computable

2009-05-23T09:39:00.000+10:00

Has anyone had a go at the latest search engine - WolframAlpha?

They have an ambitious goal - to make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. (more about WolframAlpha). It is no Google killer yet but it seems to do a pretty good job of questions that have an exact answer. Try a search for city sydney for instance and you get a map, coordinates, population, current time and temperature amongst other things.

Is this bringing us closer to the possibility of having a completely free, all digital reference collection?

Reference Excellence 2009 - welcome to the Ref-Ex wiki

2009-05-13T12:56:00.000+10:00

The slides from my recent presentation at the Reference Seminar are also available on Slideshare (helpful, 'cause the accompanying notes are listed there as well).

Reference Excellence 2009

View more presentations from CatyJ.

Reference Excellence is an online training tool using a wiki as the delivery tool. The Ref-Ex project has been a long time coming (since 2004) but it's now finally up and running. Covering modules from introductory reference through to reference interview skills and legislation and policy the aim of Ref-Ex is to expand across all areas of reference and information services (readers advisory, local studies, and so on) providing core training for public library staff across NSW.
Take a look and start your own professional development today!

Reference Excellence

RSS 4 Libraries

2009-05-11T09:47:00.000+10:00

Here is the presentation I recently gave at the Reference @ the Metcalfe Seminar about using RSS feeds in Libraries. It covered three areas - professional development, connecting with your community and syndicating content on your web site.

I tried to demystify RSS and show people that it's very easy to get started using this technology. It's a relatively simple, time saving tool non-techies.

RSS At Your Library

View more presentations from Martin.

RSS is only a starting point. As libraries start employing staff with a few more technical skills (programmers, developers, etc.) we can start taking advantage of all the data that's available and growing in the cloud. If you want to see a glimpse of this type of what this might look like have a look at Paul Hagon's slides from his talk at the seminar. He gave a fascinating talk about how he's combining the data from the National Library with the services and APIs available from online services like del.icio.us and Flickr to create exciting new ways for users to discover the NLA collections.