Assignment 4 - Raspberry Pi in Libraries

Raspberry Pi Usage in Libraries

Patrick Spurlock

06/06/14

Valdosta State University

Introduction – What is Raspberry Pi?

Introduced in early 2012, the Raspberry Pi is a small, credit-card sized (3.37” x 2.21”) computer, built on a single circuit board (also known as a single-board computer or SBC), that is developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The original goal of the Raspberry Pi was to provide a low cost computer that would serve as a teaching aid for promoting basic computer science in schools.

The Raspberry Pi comes in two variants. Model A features 256MB of RAM, one USB port, and no Ethernet (network) connection. Model B has 512MB of RAM, 2 USB ports, and an Ethernet port. Both models use Broadcom BCM2835 SoC (System on a Chip) architecture. SoC is a method of placing all essential electronics for running a computer on a single compressed chip. The Raspberry Pi SoC contains an ARM ARM1176JZFS 700Mhz CPU (central processing unit) and a Videocore 4 GPU (graphics processing unit). The graphics processor is capable of High Definition video playback using the H.264 video codec at a rate of 40MBits/s. The Raspberry Pi has been ported to use several Open-Source operating systems (from Linux to Android and Chrome OS), and its default operating system is a port of the Linux-based Debian OS known as Raspbian. The suggested programming language for us on the Raspberry Pi is Python (Raspberry Pi Foundation, n.d.).

"RaspberryPi" by Jwrodgers - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Literature Review  

To date, the Raspberry Pi is not being as widely discussed in library literature as other emerging technologies such as 3D printing, but its potential applications in library environments has been addressed in academic, public, and school library literature. While there is not currently a lot of literature on the Raspberry Pi, Sansing (2013) states that the “slim $25 computer is hot and showing no signs of cooling off” in the devices potential applications for schools and that tools such as the Raspberry Pi will bring the “Maker” movement into libraries and schools.

While Mays (2013) sees the Raspberry Pi as being the perfect way for libraries to introduce skills such as computer programming to communities for skill development that will be important in the future job market, Iglesias & Schlegel (2013) and Cooper & Knight (2014) see the Raspberry Pi as being an inexpensive display device for applications such as OPAC (library catalog) machines. Wells (2014) however, feels that library applications can go beyond simple OPAC machines, to fully operational librarian kiosks that are integrated with the ILS (Integrated Library System) and house ready reference information. Additionally, Web (2014) shows how the Raspberry Pi can be used to host content management platforms such as WordPress and for smaller rural libraries can run as fully operational web portals for patrons as a significant cost savings to libraries needing to build Internet access labs.

Application in today’s library and information centers

As illustrated in the literature, the Raspberry Pi has the potential to make an impact of today’s library and information centers. The Raspberry Pi can be used in libraries as a low-cost OPAC access device and as a computer that runs information displays/digital display device for library users (Cooper & Knight, 2014). In both of these scenarios libraries would be able to forgo purchasing expensive standard computers in favor of adapting the Raspbian software to meet single purpose needs. In the area of digital signage, libraries would be able to make digital displays advertising information ranging from meeting room availability to library hours or open computer availability. In addition to OPAC Machines and Digital Display devices, the Raspberry Pi could be potentially integrated with library ILS software to create circulation and reference stations (Wells, 2014). Wells (2014) also suggests, that given the very small size of the Raspberry Pi, libraries could use the device in places where computers could not traditionally go such as on the end caps of library stacks attached to flat touch screen monitors that could be used my patrons and staff alike for checking for item availability and virtual shelf browsing.

Challenges     

While the potential for the Raspberry Pi to be used in libraries as low-cost solutions to devices such as OPAC machines, potential problems in processing power might arise. For instance, the Loughborough University Library in its initial testing of the Raspberry Pi as an OPAC computer found that while the Raspberry Pi worked well with Ex Libris’ Primo the Raspberry Pi worked, but was sluggish or was not acceptably responsive to the library’s Online Reading List System. Initial testing demonstrated that what the Raspberry Pi was fully capable of functioning as an OPAC PC, the lack of a hardware accelerated video driver for the graphical user interface, resulted in the processor having to render more of the processing functions which resulted in slow response times (Cooper & Knight, 2014). However, Cooper & Knight (2014) stated that through community support a hardware accelerated version of the graphical user interface is expected for release and that further testing of the devices as OPAC machines will prove more fruitful.

Another potential challenge for libraries in implementing the Raspberry Pi is the very nature of the systems being open-sourced and Linux-based. In a world where the majority of PC users use Microsoft Windows-based computers, patrons might have difficulty adapting to a stripped down Linux-based operating system. This challenge however can be overcome by strictly using locked-down kiosk (or OPAC/Internet browser only) terminals. However staff and or library IT works will need to be familiar with Linux-based systems and computer programming, otherwise partnerships will need to be made with professionals or able-bodied community users that are willing to provide technical support to libraries.

Conclusion

At the cost of $25 for a simple open-sourced computer system the Raspberry Pi has the potential to make a significant impact in libraries of all types. Whereas a library might currently pay ten times (or more) the price of a Raspberry Pi for a fully functioning Windows-based computer, libraries have the potential to utilize this technology in areas where a fully-functioning PC might be unwarranted for using in single-use tasks such as OPAC of Digital Signage. Beyond this libraries might in the future be able to integrate these devices into their own Integrated Library Systems or take them into areas where computers have traditionally not been able to go such as book-stacks. More than providing libraries with low-cost technological hardware however, the Raspberry Pi has the potential to make real impact in its educational uses within libraries in the areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) learning through computer programming in library Makerspaces and enrichment programming. As Mays (2013) states, “ by having devices such as Raspberry Pi’s in our libraries, we can help in educating and illuminating our public.”

References

Cooper, J. L., & Knight, J. P. (2014). Evaluating Possible Uses of a Raspberry Pi in an Academic Library Environment. D-Lib Magazine, 20(5/6), 10. doi:10.1045/may2014-cooper http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may14/cooper/05cooper.html

Iglesias, E., & Schlegel, A. (2013). Using a Raspberry Pi as a versatile and inexpensive display device. Code4lib Journal, (21), 11. http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/8644

Mays, D. (2013). The tiny, affordable Raspberry Pi. Arkansas Libraries, 70(1), 14.

Raspberry Pi Foundation (n.d.). Faqs. Raspberry Pi Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/

Sansing, C. (2013). Life with Raspberry Pi. School Library Journal, 59(8), 34.

Wells, M. (2014). Addressing rural library technology budgets with single board computers: Testing the APC 8950 Rock Circuit Board Computer for patron access. Journal of Library Innovation, 5(1), 1-12.

Assignment 3 - Option 1

For the purpose of this assignment I arranged an in-person interview with the librarian in charge of maintaining the website content for a small university library in southwest Georgia. The librarian that was interviewed is a recent MLIS graduate and in addition to this being their first professional job, it is their first experience in an academic library. While the librarian’s main job duties are currently in cataloging, they were given the task of web maintenance shortly after they began working for their university when they were occupied as the circulation librarian previous to an organizational restructuring within the library. As presented in the interview, the librarian has no experience with web maintenance and had not previously taken any courses in the technology track.

_____________________

Me - Good afternoon! I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to ask you a few questions about maintaining the website at your library.

Librarian - Not a problem.

Me – How long have you been a librarian?

Librarian – I have been a librarian for two and a half years

Me – When did you graduate from your MLIS program?

Librarian - I Graduated in May 2010

Me - When you were completing your MLIS program did you take any courses in technology?

Librarian – No, I mainly took management and public library courses.

Me – How did you end up becoming the website manager for the library that you currently work at?

Librarian - Well, I think that came about because there was no one at the time that was in charge of that in the library and the IT department was not on top of getting things done for the library website. When the library was given the opportunity to have input with the website I was the one nominated for the position.

Me - Before you were nominated to take over had you previously had any experience with HTML coding or building a basic website?

Librarian - No

Me - When did you first hear about content management systems such as WordPress or Drupal?

Librarian - The first time that I really heard about those is when I attended the first training session my second semester here when I was trained on how to make changes to the website. Thats really when I became aware of that.

Me - What’s the name of the content management system that your university is currently using?

Librarian - We are currently using WordPress.

Me - What has the university used previously?

Librarian - Umm… the one that we had used before was Liferay.

Me - Do you know what was the criteria that the University had for choosing WordPress?

Librarian - Umm… I was not involved in that selection process, but from some of the conversations that I heard I think they were trying to select a content management system that was a little more user friendly for the web management people that were going to be using it as well as something that was a little more up to date in their eyes, because they wanted to be able to compete with other academic systems as far as with the website was looking.

Me - What are the benefits or advantages of using WordPress over Liferay?

Librarian - Since I am still new to all of this I am not really sure, but from what I can tell so far it is a lot easier to access and is user friendly, more like Facebook where you can just click and drag things. It’s just a lot easier to use compared to what we were using.

Me - What has the learning curve been in picking up how to use a content management system without having any previous experience in web management?

Librarian - It hasn't been as hard as I expected it to be. I’ve received a lot of training to help me along and since I have a lot of computer experience it hasn’t been that bad. I am still trying to play catchup with learning WordPress because I have missed a few sessions.

Me - Finally, do you think that MLIS students would benefit from taking classes that incorporated building and maintaining websites?

Librarian - I think the best thing is to just do it on the job, you can’t learn it from books or in a class or anything.

Me - Alright thank you for your time!

________________________________

Reflection

Overall I was surprised to find out that this librarian had no previous experience when it came to web design or web management. While I do personally feel that this librarian is a good example of the thought that anyone can learn to use a content management system, I believe that they are incorrect in their belief that MLIS students would not benefit from learning about building or managing websites in an MLIS course. I also believe that they are incorrect in the belief that web design, coding, and management are not subjects that you can learn in books on in classes. If anything, rather than focusing on classes in public libraries and management as stated, this librarian might have benefited from taking the 7500 or 7505 course to aid them in their future work. I am unfamiliar with the Liferay CMS, but I have personal experience with installing and working with WordPress using MAMP. Like this librarian I feel that it is very intuitive, but the comparison to Facebook was a little off in my experience with using that CMS. I must say that I was overall somewhat disappointed in this librarians answers during the interview.

Assignment 2: Joomla

For this assignment I had to create a website using Joomla (http://sparrowlakepm.cloudaccess.net/)

I had some previous experience installing and setting up websites based on WordPress and Drupal using MAMP (which if you want to get some practice working with CMS sites I highly recommend doing this).

First and foremost I did not really like my experience with using Joomla. Unfortunately after setting up my Joomla account I had a hard drive failure that I have spent the better part of 72 hours attempting to recover from (as of writing this I am still having issues with recovering my backed up files onto a clean install of the Operating System), so I am probably always going to associate the frustrations I have been having with my laptop with my Joomla experience.

The first issue that I had with Joomla came when I made the mistake of deleting the the initial Article site. Relating the term article to a blog or magazine post I did not associate the initial article with being essentially the index.html file. This forced me to completely reset the site, but no big deal since I had not added content yet right? As soon as I was set up again I decided to try to install a third party template like I would with WordPress or Drupal, but somehow this did not only erase my website, but it somehow magically erased my administrative site as well, website reset number 2. On my third go I decided to play it safe(r) and followed the instructions for setting up a Joomla site using this guide:

While this guide was helpful I noticed right away that the version of Joomla that the person in the video was using was different than the version of Joomla that the demo version offered (version 3.3). This was not really a big deal until getting to the part about adding the scrolling photos to the main page, as you can see by the lack of scrolling photos on my live site, I could never quite figure it out. At first they were completely warped in appearance, then after a few tweaks they just disappeared entirely and I could never get them to come back.

Overall I think that Joomla is a fairly straightforward interface, but in general I have had a better experience with Drupal and Wordpress (or even Tumblr for that matter). I believe that given more time I could develop a fully functioning website using this platform, but given the short amount of time that Maymester allows I feel like I open a can of frustrating worms and am not sure that I would really recommend Joomla to someone just starting out (or dealing with a crashed hard drive during a school project at least!).

Assignment 1: Finding a Wiki for a Library

The public library that I formerly worked for, the South Georgia Regional Library system, is currently in the process of starting a wiki for patrons to find out information about title holdings, reference resources, and other information of patron interest as well as for hosting information of interest to staff such as training materials and Library Science related information and links. In order to make the decision about which wiki package that the library will use as the backbone of their wiki site, the library has asked for my opinion to help aid them in implementing their new wiki.

The library system serves a diverse population in a mixed urban and rural environment spread across three counties in southern Georgia and is part of the Georgia Public Library Service. The budget for the system is lower than the state and national average for libraries serving a population size in excess of 100,000 and anticipated funds for creating and maintaining a wiki are estimated to be low.

In order for the library’s wiki to better serve the interests of their patrons, staff, meet the library’s budget requirements, and be user-friendly for staff editing, the wiki must meet a few requirements: 1. The wiki must have a free and open-source backbone, 2. The wiki must be windows compatible, 3. The wiki must have a freely available community support base, 4. The wiki must have the ability for user interaction via comments, posts, etc., 5. The wiki must allow for a fully functioning calendar., 6. The wiki must allow rich media content in the form of images, video, etc. 7. The wiki must have the built-in capability for statistics gathering such as ranking content by popularity, etc., 8. The wiki must allow for HTML tagging and WYSIWYG editing., 9. The wiki must be able to filter SPAM and have security features., 10. The wiki must be user friendly!

Based on the libraries requirements and budget my suggestion would be to use the MediaWiki (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki) platform. MediaWiki is a free software and open source wiki package geared towards education that is written in PHP and is the backbone of Wikipedia. This wiki package meets and exceeds all of the library’s designated requirements when comparing this package to other comparable packages found at http://www.wikimatrix.org/.

For more information about MediaWiki and Wikipedia check out this talk with Brian Vibber (known as Wikipedia's "only paid employee"):

Hello MLIS-7505!

This is my second course in library technology after taken 7500 in the Spring of '13. I am formerly the Community Relations Coordinator for a large mixed urban and rural library system in South Georgia. I currently work as a senior library assistant in technical services at medium-sized public university (HBCU) in Southwest Georgia.

Generally speaking I have been around computers since 1983 and have been online since '92-'93 (including pre-WWW dial up BBS'). I am very familiar with Web 2.0 technologies such as Social Media, RSS, Podcasting, and Blogging. I hope to have a great experience in this class and look forward to getting to know my fellow classmates!

Anyone else been paying attention to their page stats?

SPAM Champ might find this one interesting:

I've been checking on my stats the past two weeks out of interest as to which of my classmates have been visiting my site (not really accurate because anyone could click on anyone else's blogroll to get to this site), but I noticed a lot of traffic out of Russia for some odd reason. A quick web search for information on vampirestat.com, Adsensewatchdog.com, et al and you quickly learn that they are spam sites. No spambot comments yet at least! *crosses fingers*

World's First URL Restored By CERN

As some of you might have discovered when creating your Chronologies, the first website (and thus the birth of the world wide web) went live in 1991 lead by the WWW team at CERN.

CERN, recognizing the importance of preserving the first website, has initiated a project to restore "the world's first website."

So far the earliest copy of the site that team members have been able to find dates back to 1992, and as of yesterday it has gone live at the original URL: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

Take a minute to look at a piece of history that has had a major impact on the past 20 years of LIS technology.

Can you copy this for me?

I recently saw a situation similar to this at librarianproblems.com, but this recently happened to me at our reference desk.

Little Sparrow: I need you to make a copy of this for me.
*Man pulls out a black & white copy of a driver's license*
Me: No problem, that will just be $.15 for a black & white copy.
Little Sparrow: I actually need a color copy.
Me: No problem, I just need your original license.
Little Sparrow: You mean you can't turn this *holds up black & white copy* into color?

Me: I'm sorry, it doesn't work like that. If you can come back with the original I will be more than happy to help you out.


***

Hope everyone has enjoyed this blog and has a great summer! (unless you are taking Genealogy for Maymester, in which case I'll see you there!)

Panoramic & Time-Lapse Photography for Libraries Pt. 2

In Part 1 I discussed uses for panoramic and time-lapse photography in libraries. For Part 2 I will take you through the Basic steps of how to create your own.

To create a video like the one I produced for my library you will need:

• DSLR Camera
• While you can use a point and shoot to create time-lapses and panoramic photos, it often requires that you modify the firmware of your camera with third party software (especially with time lapse photography).
• Another added benefit is that DSLR cameras can shoot in the uncompressed RAW format which allows for easier editing if you had some of your initial settings wrong.
• A wide-angle lens
• Use a wide angle for panoramas especially. A standard lens (35mm and up) could be used, but would require more photos to be taken. For the videos and images above I used a Canon 20mm and a Tokina 11-16mm lens.
• For time-lapses use whatever lens fits your needs, however in the videos above I used a wide-angle lens.
• Tripod
• Preferably a tripod with a panning head and 360 degree markings.
• An Intervalometer or camera with modified firmware such as Magic Lantern with built-in intervalometer.
• An intervalometer is a device that you connect to your camera that can take a set number of photographs over a set period of time, as well as holding the camera's shutter open for a desired period of time (this is good for shooting night time photography).
• A Computer
• I use Macs for editing preferably.
• Adobe Lightroom
• For managing and editing the photographs and for exporting the final time-lapse video.
• LRTimeLapse
• This tool aids you in your Lightroom time-lapse workflow.
• Hugin
• Open Source panorama stitcher for OS X, Linux, and Windows. 
• Presentation/Slideshow software with the ability to pan large images such as FotoMagico for Mac.
• Optional but helpful: Extra batteries and memory cards.
• Time and Patience.

Creating Panoramic Images

Creating panoramic images is a really simple process. Modern Android and iPhone smartphones have the ability to create panoramic shots with their built in camera software. While you can take shots by hand, using a tripod helps to eliminate shake and allows for you to eliminate a lot of overlap (which can cause artifacts in your final image).

By using panoramic stitching software such as Hugin you will be able to take individual shots such as the ones directly below and turn them in to one final shot (to she the original images go here).

The above images stitched together in Hugin:

Steps

1. Find something that you want to take a panoramic image of and mentally frame the shot.
2. Set up your camera, frame the shot, adjust your settings, and take a test shot. Repeat as necessary.
1. When you are ready to take your first real shot be sure to take it at the extreme edge of the final image you wish to create (you will either be panning your camera left to right or right to left).
3. Take the shot.
4. Pan your tripod head left or right (depending upon where you started from) in incremental degrees based upon your distance from your subject and the lens you are using. 
1. For the above shot I was using a 50mm lens at a distance of 30 feet from my subject, so I moved my tripod in 20 degree increments. If I was using a 20mm lens at the same distance I would have moved the tripod in smaller increments because more of the building would have been in view originally.
5. Take your next shot and repeat step 4 as necessary until satisfied.
1. For the image above I stitched together 5 images (you can stitch together as few as two images).
6. Upload your images to your computer.
7. Import your images into your photo managing software of choice (in my case Adobe Lightroom) and edit your first shot.
1. It is important to make sure that each shot has the same White Balance and Exposure. You can either do this by taking your photos in manual or by taking your photos in the uncompressed RAW format (not a compressed jpg). 
8. Copy the settings of your first shot and paste them into your other images to make sure that they all have the same settings.
9. If you shot in Raw export your images to jpg or tif once you are finished editing.
10. Open Hugin and load your images.
11. Select align.
12. Once the alignment is finished you will have the option to change the alignment and orientation of the image as well as crop the image to your desired setting.
13. Once finished with step 12 select "Create panorama," name the file, and select save.
14. The last step is to open your finished tif file to check for errors, and if satisfied convert your image to whatever format you wish to use (jpg, gif, etc.).

There are a number of tutorials on Hugin's site that will give you a more in depth walk through, as well as video tutorials on YouTube such as this:

Creating Time-Lapse Videos

For the most part you approach creating time-lapses the same way that you approach creating panoramic images, but instead of stitching/blending the images together you are presenting them sequentially in a video format. Depending on the settings and the rate of images taken there are similarities to “stop motion” videos.

Here is a time-lapse example I created last night using the following steps:

Steps

1. Locate something that you want to take a time-lapse of (library computer lab, reference desk, front entrance, etc.).
2. Set up your camera and tripod and adjust your cameras settings. Set your focus, white balance, and exposure to manual to insure all settings match.
3. Set your intervalometer to your desired settings.
1. Set it to take a shot every x-amount of seconds/minutes/hours.
2. Set the desired amount of shots to take (my intervalometer can take up to 9999 shots for instance)
4. When you are ready to begin take a test shot to check your settings. If the shot meets your needs start your intervalometer.
1. If your camera does not need to be attended and your shooting is going to be over several hours be sure to check back occasionally to monitor your battery and memory card.
5. When you are finished import your images into your photo manager. The rest of the steps are Lightroom and LRTimeLapse specific.
6. Open up LRTimeLapse
1. Locate the image folder that you imported your images to.
2. Select Initialize
3. Once the previews have loaded (this can take quite a while) define the area of brightness in your first image (be sure to select something constant, in the video above I selected the blender in the background).
4. Preview the time-lapse
5. Select your keyframes and save.
7. Open up Lightroom and select the images you previously imported
1. Select grid view and select all of your images
2. Select the Metadata menu option and click on “Read metadata from files.”
3. Find the first image in your sequence with a star (this is your keyframe) and edit the image according to your taste. By default LRTimeLapse changes the white balance and crops the image. You can change the crop and white balance to your tastes.
4. Copy the images settings and select your other images. Paste the first images settings into your other images.
8. Save the metadata and switch back to LRTimeLapse
1. In LRTimeLapse select reload.
2. Click on Auto transition.
3. If there is a lot of “flicker” in your preview video select “deflicker” and adjust the settings as necessary.
4. Click on Save and return to Lightroom.
9. In Lightroom go to grid view and select all of your images again.
1. Reselect “read metadata from files”
2. Go to the Slideshow tab and export your slideshow into the video format of your choosing.
3. For the video above I exported in 720p at 24 frames per second.
4. After a very long wait your video is finished.

As with Hugin, there are several written and video tutorials out there to help you such as this one:

I hope you found this basic how-to interesting. If you are interested in photography and would like to learn more just let me know!

Panoramic & Time-Lapse Photography for Libraries Pt. 1

As Community Relations Coordinator for my current library system, part of my job's duties consist of being the chief photographer for the system as well as maintaining our social media presence. When our system was forced in August of 2012 to replace the carpet in one of our branches I had the idea to take before and after panoramic shots of the carpet and to make time-lapse videos of the whole "renovation" process. There are several ways in which you can apply panoramic and time-lapse photography in a library setting, from architectural photos to time-lapses of library use. Below I will briefly introduce you to what panoramic and time-lapse photography are, and in Pt. 2 I will provide a simple how-to for creating your own.

The finished presentation video from our 2012 carpet replacement (my tattooed leg makes a cameo while I was painting on a ladder):



While my library system does have a couple of "point and shoot" digital cameras, I prefer to use my own Canon DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera and lenses for different events (oddly there is a DSLR on the cover of our textbook but not really mentioned). One of the major advantages to using a DSLR vs. using a point & shoot, apart from the image quality, is that I can use a lens with a higher aperture and a higher ISO setting to allow for natural light shots.

Aperture in digital photography generally refers to the size of the hole in the lens that allows for light to travel through to the camera sensor (a lens with a 1.4 or 1.8 aperture would be able to shoot in darker environments than a lens with an aperture of 2.8 or 4 because of the holes being larger, but generally the higher the aperture the higher the cost of the lens).

In digital photography ISO generally refers to an exposure index, while in film photography ISO would refer to the film speed.The higher the ISO setting, the more darker the environment you are able to shoot in, albeit with the introduction of digital artifacts (or noise) into the image.

What this simply means is I am often able to get more candid event pictures without the distraction of using a flash

Such as this:

So what are panoramic photos and timelapse videos?

Panoramas

Panoramic photos are, for the most part, multiple photos taken sequentially with a tripod, and then stitched together using specialized software (such as Adobe Photoshop or Hugin) in order to present a wider field of view. While the majority of panoramic photos you will find on the Internet are of natural landscapes, you can utilize panoramic stitching in any setting.

As an example of just how versatile panoramic stitching is, this is a macro shot I took last year of a Rosy Maple Moth made by stitching together nine separate macro images shot at a 1:1 ratio:

In the context of a library you can construct 360 degree images of interior rooms, capture large events (note that movement might cause artifacts in the stitching process), construct Facebook cover photos, or take exterior building shots.

This is an example of one of the 360 degree interior images featured in the presentation above (to see it larger click here):

Time-Lapses

In general, time-lapse photography consists of several photos taken in sequence incrementally (1s, 5s, 10s, etc.) over a set period of time. In order to construct a time-lapse video you would convert the sequence of photographs into a video file using specialized software such as Adobe Lightroom in addition to LRTimeLapse.

The standard video frame rate is anywhere from 24 to 30 frames per second, so at 24 frames per second you would have to take 1440 photographs in order to have 1 minute of video. This would mean that if you were planning on capturing 1 minute of video over a 4 hour period you would need to shoot at 10 second increments.

Here is one of my first time-lapse videos of an Orb Spider constructing a web:

Professional time-lapse videographers utilize several different techniques to construct their videos which might include automated dolly systems, computer control systems that can adjust camera settings over time, and external lighting to highlight subjects (especially for night shots).

Here is an example of a professionally shot Time Lapse:

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

For the purpose of shooting a time-lapse in a library setting, while an automated dolly would be nice, a simple set-up should be sufficient. Examples of potential uses for time-lapses in libraries could include footage of daily computer use, a library building project, shelf maintenance and shifting, creating murals, or daily/weekly library use in general.

To be continued.

On the off chance you were wondering "Why Sparrows?"

A lot of my fellow classmates' blogs have fairly self-explanatory titles, so I thought I might should make a little posts explaining mine.

The first reason is fairly simple: it's my last name.

The name Spurlock roughly means Sparrow+Lake (although I have seen it listed in name origin books as meaning "a person dwelling beside a lake infested with sparrows"...really).

The second reason is somewhat multifaceted: For starters my wife and I are both first semester MLIS students and work in public libraries (separate systems), hence Sparrows being plural. The other being that looking towards the future I intend to keep this blog so that we can reflect on library life, etc.

Reflection is really what my whole third reason for naming this blog the way I did. I absolutely love the Song of Ice and Fire series of books and the Game of Thrones HBO adaptation. In the series, one of the main auxiliary characters, named Lord Varys, continually refers to his network of spies as being his "little birds." It isn't so much the idea of spying on library users that makes me think of patrons sometimes as "little birds," rather how we are given small glimpses into our patron's lives (often times humorous). So with humor in mind, I had initially planned on offering glimpses into some of my interactions with my "little sparrows" whenever I found an anecdote appropriate. Unfortunately I haven't really found a place for technology-related anecdotes yet, but I will leave you with one now:

Little Sparrow: "Your computers are broken."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Little Sparrow: "I trying to insert my card in and it won't give me my card back."
Me: "You put your card in the computer?"
Little Sparrow: "You told me to."
Me: "..."
Me: "Hold on."

At our library we use EnvisionWare's PC Reservation to manage our computer labs. We have a first-come first-served policy when it comes to computer use, but since different systems have different policies a lot of patrons come up to our service desk to be placed on a computer. When this happens we usually state, "You can get on any computer with a blue log in screen. Just type your card number and your last name in and you can get on." Apparently, this patron heard me say, "Insert your card and type your name." So what happened was that the patron stuck the card in wherever they could fit it:  in this case, with our computers being 10 year old Pentium 4's the patron stuck their card into the floppy drive. One pair of tweezers later and they were properly put on the PC.

Lessons learned: Always make sure your patrons heard you correctly.

The Privacy Double Standard Libraries Are Currently Faced With

My Foundations course last week focused on the user privacy issues that libraries are currently faced with. One thing that stood out to me in our readings is an apparent double standard when it comes to how libraries treat patron book and account records vs. how libraries treat computer users.

According to Rubin (2010), the ALA has long affirmed the right to privacy for library users (p. 390). From protecting a library user’s personally information to what material a user circulates, the belief that patron’s actions within the walls of a library are private and confidential is a core ethical principle of the library profession. With the belief that library patrons will not feel free to use library materials or research controversial topics if a library user does not feel free of governmental spying or the risk of public exposure, the collection of personally identifying information should be limited to what is necessary to complete the day-to-day operations of the library (Rubin, 2010, p.391).

In Georgia PINES libraries, library patrons are asked for proof of residency and contact information in order to register for a library card. PINES policy however prohibits the use of a Social Security card as a method of identification. The information retained about a library patron is used solely to contact a user in regards to ILL/PINES holds, contact a patron in regards to late fees/overdue materials, or to contact a patron in regards to collections. In this same regard, e-mail addresses may be added to an account, and users may opt-in to e-mails from the library in regard to library news. In PINES libraries, the only record of what a user checks out is related to what a patron currently has checked out, any outstanding fees for overdue materials and the materials that those fees are attached to. It is possible to look at the last user that checked out a specific item, however once fees are paid for that record is not attached to an account and is only viewed in an items details. This is so that if it is found that an item is damaged, the last user may be tracked down for billing, but if a patron asks for a list of what they have checked out in the past, this information is not accessible. In addition, patron account information cannot be given out to law enforcement without a court-ordered subpoena.

Noticeably lacking in the weekly readings were the use of Internet connected computers by library patrons. In my library system we have measures in place to protect user’s information on our public access computers. For instance we use Faronics' Deep Freeze to hard-image our PCS in order to make sure that any data or open login sessions that a patron might have on our PCs is erased as soon as the computer is rebooted, yet at the same time our system’s computer use policy specifically states that library users accessing computers are under no obligation to privacy or confidentiality. 

Our Network Administrator states that this is so that the library can remain in accordance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which he states we legally have to abide by in order to receive State funding, but what this translates to is that at any time a library worker can go and monitor what a patron is doing on the computer they are logged in to and that at any time our Network Administrator may remotely access a computer through software like TeamViewer to monitor what they are doing regardless of suspicion or activity (downloading music, accessing pornography—a violation of our policy, installing software, filing taxes, writing resumes, etc.).  

This would seem to me to be in a direct violation of the ALA’s standards and ethical codes in regards to privacy and confidentiality, and would seem to go along with what Solove (2008) was conveying through the words of Deborah Caldwell-Stone:

 “Libraries are under increasing pressure to discard this longstanding commitment to readers' privacy rights. Law-enforcement agencies are exploiting fears about terrorism and child safety to encourage lawmakers to strip away statutory privacy protections for library records, eliminate anonymity in the library, and encourage the philosophy that "good" people should have nothing to hide. Federal laws use gag orders and national security claims to prevent judicial review of potential privacy abuses.” (p.58)

Different states and different libraries however approach computer privacy issues differently, some standing up for patron's right to the free access and flow to information, while other States further restrict user access:

How Texas and Arizona view things.






How Colorado views things.

In addition to Public Library employees in Georgia being exploited to fears about of child safety in regards to CIPA, public library workers as of July 1, 2012, are now required to be “mandatory reporters.” As mandatory reporters, if any library employee suspects a child or teen of being abused mentally, physically, or sexually…or even suspected of being neglected, we are to report that patron to our local Department of Family and Child Services (DFCS) agency. Failure to do so and you are at the risk of fines and/or jail-time. In my opinion being mandatory reporters is a clear violation of maintaining a library user’s privacy and confidentiality.

When I first started working at my current library, one of my first patron’s that I assisted was checking out several materials that dealt with surviving domestic violence. In addition, the patron had visible bruises on her body. At the time I made the comment to a co-worker that “sometimes I wish we didn’t have to see what a person checks out, because there is nothing we can do to help them.” I ended up in a disciplinary hearing with our then Director, because the co-worker somehow interpreted what I was saying to being pro-domestic violence, however my then Director understood where I was coming from and I didn’t get written up for it, but was given the advice that I should never talk about what a patron checks out, regardless of my personal feelings (even though I am doing it now), and this is spelled out clearly in the ALA’s code of ethics. Yet, according to our status as mandatory reporters, if this woman had been under the age of 18 I would have legally been obligated to report her to DFCS!

Personally, I think the ALA, GLA, PLA, etc. need to revise their standards to incorporate patron privacy when it comes to computers; otherwise, if we sacrifice our principles to one aspect of library use, we run the risk to sacrificing our principles entirely. Luckily it seems as though the ALA's office of  Intellectual Freedom recognizes this double standard, and it seems as though as of 2012 it has become a top priority. Maybe in the next edition of Rubin's Foundations I will have less to be concerned about?

What do you the reader think? Is it a double standard to treat patron records as confidential while at the same time not treating their internet use the same? Further, when, if ever is it ever ethically ok to check a person's usb drive for content? Never? If you are trying to track down the owner of a lost drive? What happens if you look at a patron's drive contents and there is questionable content such as child pornography or pirated music, do you turn the owner in to the authorities, or do you maintain your ethical principles to respect the patrons privacy? 

References:

http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2013/intellectual-freedom

Rubin, R. E. (2010) Foundations of Library Science. (3rd Ed). New York: Neal-Schuman.

Solove, D. J., (2008, Sept.) The Future of Privacy. American Libraries, 39(8): 56-59.

Chronology of LIS Technology 1900 to Present

For my Chronology I focused on LIS technology from 1900 to Present. There was a lot that I felt was left out or expanded on.


The chronology was made with Timeline 3D in OS X 10.6.8, before being exported to Keynote to add the introduction and conclusion slides (to submit it for grading the extra step of exporting from Keynote to PowerPoint had to be taken), before being exported as a *.mov and uploaded to YouTube.

Podcasting & The Future Future Reference Librarian Pt. 2

In my Digital Audio Formats presentation I had originally intended to include a slide about podcasting but let it slip by (just as I had originally intended to talk about FLAC and OGG formats but opted for WMA instead). As Burke (2009) defines it, podcasting is the process of creating and sharing audio content with interested recipients, either through downloading MP3 files from the producer’s site or by receiving updated content through RSS feeds (p. 265). As the name would suggest, podcasting was originally tied to the iPod. Still to this day the main method of managing and syncing podcasts is through Apple’s iTunes (which Burke refers to as RSS feeds).

Some of the most popular podcasts according to the iTunes Store’s Top Ten chart come from National Public Radio (NPR), with This American Life, Freakonomics Radio, and Radiolab taking up the top three slots respectively.

The number three podcast, Radiolab, actually got me thinking about my first blog post on Siri and the future of library reference again. In the premiere episode of season ten entitled “Talking to Machines” (available for streaming below) the entire hour is devoted to the blurring lines between interactions with humans and  robots (or artificial intelligence).

In the first segment entitled “Clever Bots” discusses how modern day programming has allowed for people to carry on conversations over the Internet with what are thought to be people but are in fact bits of code which are so convincing to some people that they might even trick themselves into thinking they are in relationships with the programs. Further still the program called ELIZA, developed by MIT in the 1960s, is discussed. ELIZA was originally programmed to give answers that mimicked the responses of a therapist (originally intended as a joke by its creator), but as the creator discusses on Radiolab when students and the creators secretary were exposed to ELIZA he found that they would end up talking with the program for hours as if they were talking to a human.

When I think even further, basic reference questions can already be answered by technology such as Siri and Google now. Whereas you might have in the past asked a reference librarian for directions to a destination, now you simply have to say, “Take me to insert destination.” To make matters worse, if someone actually calls the reference desk (at least at my library) and asks for directions, a phone number, movies show times, etc. the first thing that we do is go to Google for the answers.

So thinking further about Siri and Google and their technologies taking over library reference, it isn’t a matter of when ‘will’ it happen, in some instances it already has.

Reference:

Burke, J. (2009). Neal-Schuman library technology companion: a basic guide for library staff (3rd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Digital Audio Formats

I've been a recording musician since the late 90s and was an early adopter to Mp3 technology. I started recording and editing audio on CoolEdit (now Adobe Audition) and since transitioning to Apple computers about five years ago now use Logic Studio, the open source Audacity, and Ableton Live to record and mix audio. I admit to sharing Mp3's and RealAudio "mix-tapes" through a private Ftp server that a friend ran in the mid 90s prior to the release of Napster (and later the more indie-music friendly Soulseek).

I only say this to say that I know my way around audio codecs, compression rates, etc.

But that's my "other life." For my day job I function as the Community Relations Coordinator for a large, mixed urban and rural public library system. When I am not performing my regular tasks I often have hours at our Reference Desk. Part of working in reference in any public library is leading continuing education classes such as "basic computing for seniors."

It was with continuing education in mind that I approached my PowerPoint presentation for MLIS-7500. I wanted to make sure that I demonstrated knowledge of the subject, but at the same time I wanted to make sure that I did not get bogged down into topics such as sample rates and why 96Hz audio using AAC compression has superior audio to an Mp3 at the same bit rate.

Without further ado:

When I heard Google was shutting down Reader...

I  don't know about you, but I for one was devastated when Google announced that Reader was including in their "Spring Cleaning"list. SoI was wondering how my MLIS-7500 classmates are keeping up with each other's blogs?

I have been using RSS (Rich Site Summary/Real Simple Syndication) ever since the Sage extension was released for Firefox in 2004, but started using Google Reader as my primary RSS reader when Firefox changed it's extension handling around 2007 and the Sage developer went M.I.A. Since purchasing my first smartphone in 2009 the Reader app has been my post used phone app, and Reader is permanently pinned open in all of my Chrome browsers (when I am at work I keep my browser on my usb drive for ultimate mobility between office and services desks btw, if you haven't tried this head over to portableapps.com, usb run apps are great for work flow enhancement).


A Google Reader Primer if you unfamiliar with the service.


Here is a basic primer on how to install portable apps on a USB drive if you are interested. You don't have to run the portable apps software if you do not want to (I just install individual apps and create top-level shortcuts in my drive home folder) but it does make it easier for upgrading.


Since the majority of my Internet browsing is done through RSS, the first thing that I did once people started posting their blogs was to add all of them to an "MLIS-7500" folder in the Google Reader feed. It's great for keeping up with your blog posts, but when it comes to comments, it's pretty hard to follow what's going on (unless the comments are left on my blog of course). I guess this is one reason why I like Blazeview so much in my other class, discussions are a lot easier to follow.

So who else uses RSS? Who else wanted to have "Spock Smash" when they heard Google was shuttering Reader, and if so what are you planning to use once Reader shuts down shuts down (Feedly, The Old Reader, etc.)?

***Note: If you enjoy Internet memes and have had a good laugh over "Hitler reacts" videos look for "
Hitler finds out Google Reader is shutting down" on YouTube. I would embed it, but I don't think the foul language would go over too well.

Late Introduction

By way of introduction, my name is Patrick Spurlock. I am the current Community Relations & Development Coordinator for the public library system in Valdosta, GA. In my current position I do everything from grant writing to social media, graphic design, and photography. My wife and I are both first semester MLIS students and undergraduate alumni (my B.A. is in Philosophy & Religious Studies, with a prior A.A. in Journalism & A.A.S in Computer Information Systems). In my spare time I write and record music (formerly a member of the avant garde collective known as To Live and Shave in L.A., occasionally release solo stuff, and have maintained a guitar/synth ambient-noise group with my best-mate B.P. under the name of ...Of Gods and Men {really old link} for going on a decade), hang out and watch Batman with my 4 year old daughter, experiment with macro and landscape photography, and try to keep our Weimaraner puppy Luna from destroying everything.

The purpose of this blog will be to discuss topics relative to the Library & Information Science course MLIS-7500 being taught at Valdosta State University for the Spring 2013 semester. Issues that will be addressed on this blog over the course of the semester might include media use in libraries (from audio to visual) as well as issues concerning the future of technology in libraries.