Michelle McLean Information Services Librarian Community Technology: giving public library users access to specialist hardware and software Michelle McLean Information Services Librarian Michelle McLean – Information Librarian CCLC Public Library Service in outer SE Melbourne – 2 Councils, one of fastest growing areas in Australia. Fourth largest library service in Victoria. 7 branches and a mobile library, serving population of nearly 340,000. 1

Library Plan 2013-14 Council elections 2012, needed new library plan. LMT special meeting – feedback and anecdotal Reformat of plan and 8 new strategic directions, including Outreach, Space, Professional Development and Community Technology.... Read “provide increased...”

Existing Tech Internet PCs Kids PC Info Kiosk iMacs Interrnet PCs in all branches - Windows Kids PC – Tumblebooks/Busy Things 2 Info Kiosks – showcasing online resources WiFi in all branches 4 iMacs in 3 branches, running creative software - specify 3

Initial rollout iPad Samsung Galaxy Kobo e-Reader Money re-allocated from the collections budget One iPad for three main branches, later rolled out to other four 2 Samsung Galaxy S3 tablets to all branches 1 Kobo e-reader – just started getting e-books – pre-loaded with titles from Gutenberg Didn't end up getting a second e-reader as planned Nothing for Mobile Library at this stage

Survey Staff and Users Online Hardware & software Limited options Comments 26 staff, 29 users Find out what users wanted and what staff think they want Survey run online from library website – social media, catalogue link Chose hardware and software options and limited choices to get better idea Opened up comments to see what else would come up Run for four weeks – Staff in January 2014, Public in March 2014

Survey results CAD Skype iTunes Typing Acrobat Resume 3D Simulator Statistics 9 12 8 18 10 11 4 Staff 17 13 16 3 Explain options Compare staff and user results Didn't think through all of them properly eg. Resume options are freely available online – Job Support webpage set up

Survey results Stop motion Device Charging 3D Printer A1 Printer Touch table Simular Gaming PC 4 19 10 6 Staff 5 20 8 13 9 Explain choices Compare results Device charging – changed mind and investigating extra powerpoints

Selected Community Tech Treehouse A0 Printer Touch Table Adobe Acrobat Skype/iTunes Statistical Package/CAD CAD Software Explain what they are

Promotion Newsletter Posters Website/catalogue Brochures Mail outs Social media Press releases Explain what they are

Take up Mobile devices iMacs Touch table Mobile Devices – slow so we are re-examining Imacs show – but developing a clientele and looking at how to best utilise Touch tables – hugely popular Rest – yet to be rolled out fully – issues including policy, licensing, PC admin etc.

Issues Inappropriate use Under-use Securing Promotion Conditions of use breach – only one that we know of – luck in catching them Sitting in secure bings or un-used on desktop People leaving their logins on devices Lots of people still don't know we offer this tech

Staff Varying knowledge Varying responses Training needed Documentation needed Play Not all staff know how to use them Varied levels of enthusiasm Limited training so far – Apple Store great Documentation being developed as quick as we can Need to be able to make time for staff to play with the tech – needs to be built in to our work culture

What would we do differently? Research Policies established Training completed Documentation Pre-promotion Do our homework earlier and in more detail and listen to it more fully Have a Tech Plan but came after the tech was purchased – needs to be re-written to drive it Have as much training as possible completed before roll-out Same for documentation Wider promotion, both pre and post – including signage, press releases etc

Future Review plan Roll out remaining Research Develop policies Review our community tech rollout and what we plan to do in future. Still finalising the printer and rolling out Acrobat/Skype/iTunes, CAD/Stats (this all absorbed into current staffing) Research – placement student doing research project on mobile devices - need to do our own Community Tech Policy will be developed to better drive the project, which will be ongoing in the short term

Future Tech for mobile Class sets - tablets Makerspace? Other options Built into budget Investigate options for community tech on the Mobile Library Potentially purchase class sets of tablets for staff and user training No space for a makerspace but are looking at a pop-up space, prior to new large library in 2017 Other options – don't know what next big thing is, so need to be flexible Build these things into budget so that the project is driving the money and not the other way around

Thanks michelle.mclean@cclc.vic.gov.au @michelleamclean