LITA National Forum

Citation

Riggs, C. (2001), "LITA National Forum", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2001.23918cac.001

LITA National Forum

Colby Riggs

The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) a division of the American Library Association (ALA) held its third annual National Forum in Portland, Oregon on November 2-5, 2001. The forum format, which began three years ago, is relatively new for LITA. The forums are characterized by a smaller attendance of around 450 attendees. They are held in locations scattered throughout the USA every year, usually in cities where the ALA does not meet. This format allows the attendees the chance to meet in smaller-sized sessions, become acquainted with colleagues interested in the same issues, and provides LITA with the opportunity to reach out to members and potential members. The theme of the successful, sold out 2001 LITA Forum was High Tech/High Touch: The Human Aspects of Technology.

The Forum consisted of three plenary sessions and over 25 programs in six concurrent sessions, covering a multitude of topics on the human aspects of technology. A few of the session topics were:

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  wireless computing;

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  e-books;

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  second generation Web design and usability testing;

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  virtual reality uses in libraries;

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  assistive and adaptive technologies;

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  authentication schemes for servers to provide access to electronic resources;

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  privacy and policy issues and concerns;

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  strategies for managing technological change.

Plenary Sessions

The opening General Session, entitled "Human Values in a Technological Age," was presented by Michael Gorman, past president of LITA and the Dean of Library Services at California State University, Fresno. Mr Gorman proposed that we are NOT living now in a time of such drastic technological change "but we are at a point in the ever-evolving history of technology and society that is foreshadowed by technological innovations over centuries." He contrasted innovations and inventions affecting people's lives in 1901 to those in 2001. These comparisons clearly illustrated that most of the technology used in human communication today existed in some form in the early part of the century, such as the telephone, phonograph, microfilm, camera, and the typewriter. Gorman also described many technological innovations, methods and machines that affected the librarian profession at the turn of the century and which are very similar to what we see today.

After comparing and contrasting the technological innovations, Gorman stressed it was not the fact that technological change is different now but that we are made so aware of technology that people feel their lives "are mastered by technology rather than enhanced by it." Technology was previously viewed as a method for improving library services, but now it seems "the tool has grown to be bigger and more important than the service." He described eight human values, which we should consider in this time of so-called technology revolution: democracy, stewardship, service, intellectual freedom, privacy, commitment to literacy and learning, rationalism and equity of access. These values will help librarians focus on the human aspects of technology so "we can build a new librarianship of harmony and balance that exalts the human over the technological."

The lunchtime General Session, "Complicate Yourself: Sustaining a Common Good in Competitive Space," was presented by Carol Hughes of Questia Media. Dr Hughes described the "competitive space" that librarians now occupy and the various strategies to help us sustain critical services. To Hughes, "competitive space" is based on the notion that information forms the basis of economic wealth and that there is going to be competition for market share for all kinds of goods and services. The library's prime competitors in this "competitive space" will be individuals who mount high quality information on the Web for free; higher quality libraries offering better services than the local library; non-profits that turn into a profit mode for non-primary clientele; and commercial vendors who foresee opportunities to increase their products, such as publishers who offer products directly to purchasers, where in the past the products were sold only to libraries. Hughes concluded that the role of the library as the primary source of information is less unique now.

Hughes stated our users' behavior toward information gathering is different than in the past. Users prefer to be self-sufficient in their information seeking. Users want control of their own information environment, such as owning some information to be used for convenient personal use. They do not want to be dependent on anyone else for their information needs. The users will more often seek information from a friend or co-worker because the person already has an idea of the users' context for the information need. Users want to have information supplied in a variety of formats to support different types of access.

For the libraries of today to stay competitive in this evolving information space Hughes looked to organizational psychologist Karl Weick's suggestions for an effective organization in a period of chronic ambiguity. Weick suggests that to be effective an organization should be "garrulous, clumsy, wandering, superstitious, octopoid and grouchy." Librarians can successfully meet the challenges in this competitive space "but it will take energy, an in-depth knowledge of our users' preferences and the changes they face, and a willingness to grapple with ambiguity and complexity on a daily basis."

The third Plenary Speaker was Anne Marie Gold, Executive Director of the Stanford-California State Library Institute on Twenty-First Century Librarianship. Ms Gold described the changes in the information supply chain where more information is directly accessible to users. She described the new roles for librarians as facilitating, information organizing and accessing as opposed to our more traditional roles of gatekeeping, information gathering and selecting. The new users of the library are now characterized as needing to filter information, not just acquire it. The new users internalize information as opposed to merely adopting information. They are more flexible. The new user defines how they want information and they expect it to be available on their own terms of 7/24/365 and to be location independent.

Ms Gold concluded with these remarks: "the concept that we are the last of librarians as we know them today is absolutely true and thought-provoking. I believe that we get so caught up in the here and now that we don't take time to put our current experiences in perspective and to think about the best strategies for the future. It's given me a broad perspective, helping me to see that as a group ­ whether as public, academic, school, or special librarians ­ we are leaders and have strength in our ability to articulate the purposes of libraries, to model the principles of providing access to all, and to master the nuances of the new technology and adapt it to our goals."

Concurrent Sessions

There were over 25 programs in six concurrent sessions at the 2000 National LITA Forum. In keeping with the LHTN format, of concise conference reports, the following are descriptions of several program offerings. A full listing of the programs including the papers and presentations are available on the LITA Web site at: http://www.lita.org/forumY2K/index.htm

Wireless Computing

An informative presentation on a wireless pilot project called "Going Wireless: Library Access via Wireless LAN" by Hye Ok Park, Head of Library Systems, at the Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno. Ms Park described a wireless LAN available for use with laptop and/or handheld computers brought by patrons. Her presentation described the selection process of the wireless LAN technology; the hardware and software used; the standards employed; the testing and troubleshooting process; preparation of the computer interface and public relations efforts; preparation of the handheld computers for circulation to patrons; staffing implications; findings of the pilot project; and future plans.

As interesting aspect of their pilot project is the use of handheld PCs. The handheld PCs are small, 5 x 6.5 inches, and light, 2.5 pounds. The operating system is Windows CE and the handheld PCs have no hard disk, floppy disk or CD drive. The choice of the handheld PCs was based upon the lower cost of purchase, $500-$600 for the handheld PC versus $1,500-$2,000 for a laptop. There is also a lower cost of maintenance and replacement of the handheld PCs. The handheld PCs offer a WWW browser with access to the library Web catalog and library Web site with links to all electronic services, Microsoft Office and file saving, retrieving and printing via a terminal server.

E-books

Mark Beatty of the Wisconsin Library Services (WiLS) presented a through discussion and demonstration of the e-book environment in a program called "... and E-books for ALL." Mr Beatty has hands-on experiences with e-books through a two-year grant to incorporate e-book usage in the WiLS collections. The following is a summary of what is available now in the e-book marketplace and the types of text available via each type of e-book reader.

Project Gutenberg ­ Started it all by creating digital text files of "classic" books. They digitize works in the public domain and operate on the volunteer and open source models. They are currently at about 3,000 titles that are available for free on their Web site. Access is provided by downloading to a PC and using a word processor to read the text.

Peanut Press ­ They produce versions of e-books for reading on PDAs, particularly the Palm format, but also for Windows CE devices. They have freely available reader software to download onto your PDA. You can get free e-books (see Gutenberg above) that have been formatted to work with the Peanut Reader, or you can buy new titles. They use a standard online bookstore model for ordering e-books.

Rocket eBook ­ This is a dedicated e-book reading device. Gemstar has recently acquired them both. The Rocket eBook device is more common. It is the size of a paper back book and the Pro version can store between 20 and 30 novels. Free e-books formatted for the Rocket eBook and lots of new titles are available from Barnes and Noble or Powells Books and other Web vendors. The Rocket eBook is linked to a particular PC which you designate for obtaining, loading and organizing your ebooks on your reader. Gemstar has announced new readers will be coming soon with some format changes.

netLibrary ­ They are primarily a library vendor. The library purchases book titles from netLibrary which then makes them available via the Web to patrons to read. NetLibrary handles circulation etc., for the library. Patron access is all Web-based so a patron can check out a book on one PC and continue reading it on another. Patrons set up accounts that are linked to their library's netLibrary collection. There is also an offline reader software package freely available that allows patrons to use e-books directly on their PCs. The circulation status travels with the text when it's downloaded to the patrons' PC. The one-patron-at-a-time circulation model is maintained. An actual printed copy of all titles is held for the purchasing library and a back up electronic copy is also held at OCLC for the library. The free and for-sale titles number over 30,000.

Etext Center ­ Another Project Gutenberg-like service is available from the University of Virginia. It has two sections, one contains 50,000 titles in 12 different languages which can be read either online in a Web browser or offline, depending on the title. The second section has 1,200 titles of classic literature all available either online using a Web browser or offline using the highly proprietary Microsoft Reader Software.

Second Generation Web Design and Usability Testing

As we all know library Web sites have expanded in size and complexity over the last several years. Web managers and designers are grappling with control of their sites and are seeking ways to better meet the needs of the users of these complex Web sites.

Kristin Antelman, the Head of Systems and Networking at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Library presented a program on "Creating Dynamic Web Pages: One Solution Using Cold Fusion." The use of Cold Fusion creates dynamic Web pages in real-time using a live database against a live server. This solution greatly streamlines the maintenance of large and complex Web sites. The creation of the dynamic content can provide greater control and productivity of Web content because the data is maintained in only one place, the content (data) is separate from its container (HTML).

Jennifer Merrill, a Senior Systems Librarian/Analyst at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), presented a session called "So You Say You Want to Redesign: Usability, Accessibility and the Constraints of Designing a Database-Driven Web Site." Ms Merrill approached the use of the Cold Fusion-driven Web site from a less technical point of view and focused more on the usability issues.

She described the NLM's comprehensive process for gathering feedback and evaluation from users of the NLM Web site. Experts, such as researchers at the University of Maryland Computer Interaction Lab and a professional team from an information design firm, evaluated the interface design and provided a gamut of feedback. The NLM also used the more traditional in-house usability testing, customer service inquiries and data from comments links on every page. The usability issues they found encompassed more than just the look and feel but also the database structure, content linking, and human readable URLs.

Moving to the database-driven Web site at the NLM also posed some challenges, such as the difficulty in translating user mockups to incorporate database queries and insuring functionality. Other challenges were the incompatibilities of style sheets between browsers and defining the text.

After sharing helpful advice on redesigning a complex Web site, Ms Merrill shared some lessons learned:

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  Develop user profiles and do task analysis.

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  Design for the most used system configuration.

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  Don't always trust first designs.

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  Having a database is better than not having one!

Virtual Reality Uses in Libraries

David Bennett, Systems Librarian at the Robert Morris College in Moon Township, Pennsylvania presented an intriguing program called, "Verbots in the Library." A Verbot or verbal robot is natural language voice animated software which enables virtual communication with users. The user types their question at a keyboard and the verbot animation character responds in both speech and text with the answer. The response is in the form of an animation and speech synthesis. The Verbot is controlled by easy to use scripts. The scripts control the Verbot's facial expressions, including the eyes and mouth, to emphasize a point. A powerful feature of the Verbot is the ability to launch another software program or document in response to a query. The use of the verbot is limited but gives the "illusion of human intelligence that engages the user and creates excitement."

Conclusion

The third LITA National Forum was a great success based on conference evaluations. I heard from many attendees that the Forum has now become the "must attend" event in their choice of conferences. The next LITA National Forum will be held October 11-14, 2001 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The theme is "Integrating Innovation: IT in the Transformation of the Library" and is predicted to be another high quality and quickly sold-out event.

Colby Riggs (cmriggs@lib.uci.edu) is a Systems Librarian at the University of California Irvine, and co-editor of LHTN.