The Googlization of Everything

I'm pretty sure I remember the first time I discovered Google books. It was probably around 2007 during my Undergraduate career. I thought it was amazing! I would get really mad when there was only a Preview option of the book. I didn't use Google books to read leisurely. I mostly used it as a reference for school, or a random fact on health, well random chapter. Mainly I used it for school. And although I did cite the source, never did I site it as a digital book. It was five ears ago, I don't even think MLA had an option to cite a digital book. Did copyright cross my mind? Yes. Did I consider the future of libraries? Maybe.

Looking at it now, Siva Vaidhyanathan's article "The Googlization of Everything and the Future of Copyright" is a bit apocalyptic. It was written in 2007, just as I was becoming aware of Google Books. Vaidhyanathan's says that the Google Library Project was announced in 2004. Google and participating libraries were able to digitize millions of books in 3 years. Amazing. Reading the article now, I am curious if in fact there were copyright laws put into place. I notice that more and more it is hard to find a complete book on Google. Most are previews. Some previews are almost the complete book with a few pages missing. Some are just a few pages from a 200 page book. Although Vaidhyanathan tries to remain fair, it seems pretty evident that he was hoping copyright laws would prevent the growth of Google books. Which I think is what happened. Google books certainly didn't become the threat the article was making it out to be. Most of this is probably due to the success of Kindle, ipad, and other eReaders.

On the other hand, the privacy issues brought up in Karen A. Coombs article "Protecting User Privacy in the Age of Digital Libraries" is still very evident. It is interesting to see that in 2005 librarians were concerning themselves with issues that the public had not yet fully become aware with. It makes me proud to be entering such an ethical profession. Most of the processes Coombs practiced in her case study seem to be standards now. Although, as is very clear, there will always be a battle with privacy and how technology is compromising out privacy.

Web Accessibility & DCPL

Last year I worked in the San Francisco Unified School District with the disabled population. This included both the mentally and physically disabled population. Mostly all classrooms were equipped with computers with accessibility tools. As we were on the tour I was thinking about the young adult population that I worked with. They used some of the tools described, but mostly I was wondering if the teachers I worked with knew about all these programs.

In one classroom of severely disable students the teacher utilized the San Francisco Public Library’s Library for the Deaf and Blind. They have a room similar to DCPL’s Adaptive services, with a substantial collection of books on tape, brail books, as well as large print books. There were probably about two accessible computers. We never used them, and I’m sure the technology was not as good as D.C’s Public Library.  

With my experiences last year in mind, I was extremely impressed and pleased with the work that DCPL is doing, the Adaptive services Library is an incredible resource for any handicap person, whether physical, mental, temporary, or onset. It’s really pleasing to realize that many websites are accessible too. I realize its time consuming for people to review the websites to make sure they are accessible, but in this case, I prefer this method to having a program check for errors. It is very important that the websites are as accessible and easy to navigate as possible.

The Usability Test

Today the library website is probably the most important variable for academic libraries. Of all their tools their website is going to be used the most often. Therefor it is extremely important for their website to be user friendly or easy to navigate. Both Toliver and Thomsett showcase usability testing as the best way to improve the academic library website.

Website for Baron-Forness Library of Edinboro University of PA, my alma mater.

I think about the academic library websites I have used in my undergraduate and Graduate careers. Both articles were written when I was an undergraduate student. At that time and I’m sure still today all undergrads are given tutorials for how to use the library website. I think that in at least three separate classes the professor used a whole class period for library tutorial. We would meet in a computer lab in the library and a librarian would show us all the different ways to search for an item. This shows how difficult it is to use an academic libraries website. I also understand the difficulty in making it more usable. There are many resources on these websites. In Tolivier’s example we are only looking at a smaller library within the university system. Can you imagine the system for the main library? Indeed as the articles point out it is necessary to constantly improve the website, the best way to do this is through usability testing.

Everything these articles point out is very useful and would help a library looking to improve their websites navigation. Thomsett is a very helpful article for libraries beginning their process to improve a website. As a general overview of the different usability tests and how they work, the library looking to improve their website could use the article as a guide to decide what type of test would work best for their needs. Toliver’s article is useful for a library to learn from their process, as a case study the library could learn from their findings and save on testing costs. In both cases, I agree with the authors that usability testing is the best way to improve a website. I would even say it is imperative for an academic website in order to ensure they are providing their users with the information they desire or need, as most academic careers these days depend on retrieving information from the library website off campus. 

OPAC and Integrated Library Systems

            Marshall Breeding writes in 2005 that libraries and “the industry marketing marquees [were tending] to give top billing to link resolvers, metasearch interfaces, and electronic resource management”. He did believe that these new interfaces were a great benefit for libraries, but he was worried they would in fact “fall short” of library needs. He makes a very good argument that all the different programs are needed in order for the library to keep up with user needs and unfortunately these programs are not interoperable. Making the library website non-user friendly, which of course is the ultimate goal.

            Fast-forward five (five) years, Sai Deng conducts a study with the Wichita State University Libraries. Wichita State is trying to increase user operability on their website. They use local author search as their project model. Immediately I observe that five years after Breeding observed that there needed to be a single system and the current systems Innovative, Sirsi, Horizon, and Voyager all together is too confusing and not efficient for libraries. Fiver years after his article was published Deng is commenting on the same issue.

            Deng doesn’t raise new problems. Both talk about interoperability, the library needs to buy different programs. And a single program option is too expensive for most libraries. One progress is made that is worth talking about and that is appealing to the user. Deng mentions the Wichita University library adds pictures to their search, which helps the user identify what they’re looking for. It will prevent them from “losing attention […] to the ever-popular nonlibrary interfaces such as Amazon.com and Google” as Breeding puts it. Which is still an increasing fear among libraries.

            My conclusion? Something is not addressed and maybe it is a good research topic, why are we still facing these same problems? Is it just financial problems? What systems exist that can help libraries create a user friendly, efficient online public access catalog? 

Human Computer Interaction

"Integrating Human Computer Interaction Development into the System Development Life Cycle." The title of Ping Zhang's article study almost sounds like the plot to some cult sci-fi novel. The computer interaction has gone too far! Computer robots are taking over the earth!

No, but really, this is a very interesting article. All persons studying or involved with creating and/or organizing Information Systems should  read this study and consider applying it to their library. What good is the information we are organizing if it is not user friendly and practical?

Zhang mentions the use of HCI in the education field. Last year I worked in special education for the San Francisco Unified School District. Yes, even the worst inner city schools are on board with practical computer human interaction. And truly, it is a success with education. I'm excited to see the progress that HCI will be in education in coming years. I'm sure parents are constantly blown away by the information their children are able to access on school computers. But, as Zhang points out, this is old news. We have succeeded in HCI in Education. How can we increase the Information Systems Development Methodology with in Public HCI? We need practical, sufficient information systems for adults, for the general public, researchers, students, etc. And they need to be user friendly.

I finished my History degree with an internship at the Erie County Historical Society. The Director of Library and Archives is amazing, she's a great librarian who has been in the profession for many many years. I spent the summer helping to organize the different artifacts. But I couldn't help to observe that nothing was digitized! Not even the catalog. It is such a shame, there is so much information and unfortunately, if Annita isn't there, no one is able to access it. I'm not looking for an opportunity to vent about my Undergrad internship. This article made me think about how useful a user friendly computer information system would be for the Erie County Historical Societies Library and Archives. Patrons could easily access information about their relatives, their property, images of their home town when it was a great industrial city. Really neat things that no one gets to enjoy because its too hard to access it. Maybe if there was a user friendly practical IS, created using the methodology that Zhang suggests, then community members would utilize their Historical Society, in all small cities. And maybe they would then donate more money to keep the Historical Societies open.

To say we have come a long way from the first computers use ability is an understatement. Which were of course the complete opposite of user friendly. Zhang raises a great point for libraries and archive's to address. The information field would benefit from sufficient human centered information systems. There has been progress since the article was published in 2005. Mostly in University libraries. Perhaps there needs to be a re-evaluation on HCID in SDLC.





I do want to say that I really enjoyed my internship at ECHS, it was a wonderful opportunity where I learned so much about Libraries and Archives. Thank you ECHS.