Mini Conference 2016 Library Hack Presentations

The ALIA Queensland Group would like to thank all presenters who helped make the Mini Conference 2016 such a great success! A special thank you to our keynote speakers, Dr Matt Finch and Jane Cowell from the State Library of Queensland. Attendees were treated to a variety of presentations addressing the theme: "Library Hacks"

If you were unable to attend, or would like to refresh your memory, we have provided some of the links to the presentations below. The recordings of the conference are also available on the ALIA Queensland Facebook page.

How I learnt to write some code, and why you might too - Richard Vankoningsveld, Librarian, Legal Aid Queensland

A quick tour of how I improved my coding skills using free online resources, and why librarians should think about learning at least a little code too. I'll focus on what languages I learned, what resources I used to learn - mostly MOOCS, and what I've been able to do with my skills that has benefited the library I work in.

How to hack your program and articulate impact - Deb Miles, Executive Manager, Regional Partnerships, Regional Access and Public Libraries, State Library of Queensland

Galleries, libraries, archives and museums are constantly thinking of clever and creative ways to advocate for the value of their services – to Councils, to Government Departments, to the community.

Libraries are increasingly designing spaces and programs that are inspiring, fun, dynamic, and inclusive; and are transforming services to incorporate the rise of digital technologies, to provide hubs of creativity and places for civic engagement and the pursuit of knowledge. The challenge is however, how to articulate the outcomes of creative programming in terms that will be valued by all players.

This presentation provides a toolkit for capturing the impact evoked by a single visit to a GLAM space.

You will hear how The Impact of Libraries as Creative Spaces research package developed by Queensland University of Technology and commissioned by State Library of Queensland can be applied to revitalise existing programs and introduce new transformative programs to both staff and the community. You will walk away with an advocacy tool to help strategically articulate the impact of libraries – a resource that can also be applied to diverse cultural institutions.

DIY games for non-hackers - Becky Heath, Learning Support Librarian, University of the Sunshine Coast

This presentation will show you how to create your own games using free online game creation tools and highlight some potential pitfalls.  Anyone can create a game, whether you use Google Docs, PowerPoint, Twine, or Construct2.  When the coordinator of our largest first year course asked the library to think of a fun way to teach students the key elements of a scholarly journal article, we decided to create a game.  Having never done anything like this before, I created a drag and drop game using Construct2 and it only took a week.

Since then I have created a scratchy game about Academic Integrity and a “guess who” style game to teach Boolean and phrase searching.  Currently I am working on creating a 3D version of pong and a “choose your own adventure” game to illustrate Boolean search techniques.  All of this without knowing any programming.

In the presentation I’ll put together a game to show how easy it is.  Afterwards you will want to try creating your own game, even if it’s only using PowerPoint.  Links will be provided so you can explore the wonderful world of games for your library.

Connecting content and communities: Exploiting open data - Maree Adshead, Founding CEO, ODI Queensland, Anna Raunik Executive Manager, Discovery, Content Development State Library of Queensland and Katya Henry, Project Officer State Library of Queensland

“Open data is data that is made available by organisations, businesses and individuals for anyone to access, use and share. It has the power to transform and create a better future for everyone.” - ODIQ

Maree Adshead, CEO of Open Data Institute Queensland (ODIQ), will kick off this workshop with an introduction to open data and how it drives innovation and digital transformation.

Following on from Maree’s presentation, Anna Raunik and Katya Henry, State Library of Queensland, will identify the connections and opportunities for libraries in the open data world. Making content available is not new for libraries, but are we exploiting our strengths in managing and making content accessible in this new open data environment?

We will explore the opportunities of open data in a 20-minute workshop, inviting participants to investigate the following critical areas:

• What open data content do I release?
• What are the challenges of open data?
• How can we build the capacity and confidence of staff and our communities in the open data space
• How else can we support the community?

Open data has the power to transform our communities and library services. How will we be part of the transformation?

Poll results:
What is open data
Has your library released open data
Has your overarching organisation released open data
Have you ever used open data
What did you use it for
What is your Open Data persona
What was your number one data issue
What would you like your Open Data persona to be
Who owns public open data

Getting to know you: understanding what students wantthrough place activation - Christopher Norlander, Library Adviser and Helen Hobbs, Branch Library Manager (Gardens Point), Queensland University of Technology Library

Getting to know you: understanding what students want through place activation.

This year, QUT Library had an opportunity to influence the design of a low-cost outdoor space next to our Gardens Point library building. The result included a large (3 metre high) chalkboard, fixed to the outside of the library. Using concepts of place activation (O’Rourke and Baldwin, 2016) and student engagement (Bailin, 2011) we explored how the chalkboard can inform our engagement with students in this space, and how it may inform library services generally. Students’ reactions to the chalkboard – and our responses to this – have been varied and sometimes surprising.

In this workshop, we first invite participants to respond to “chalkboard” handouts in groups, and we explore reactions to this activity. We then present information about the QUT experience with the chalkboard. The workshop finishes with participants working through how they can develop a process for utilising client feedback in their own library.

Dealing with data & the digital environment – a DigitalScholarship dilemma - Bill Beach, Manager, Centre for Digital Scholarship, University of Queensland

Students from all disciplines are increasingly expected to produce assessment outcomes using data rich sources for their content. Library staff provide access to software and training, with support in text mining and analysis, data analysis, GIS, visualisation and image manipulation. The use of a range of new & increasingly more sophisticated technology to support research in digital scholarship is requiring library staff to acquire a different skills & knowledge base. The ability to apply & use appropriate software packages or code & manipulate the raw data provides opportunities for researchers to identify and evaluate large quantitative datasets with well supported qualitative narratives. Alternatively, qualitative data sets can be mined and expressed in quantitative visualized outputs.

The University of Queensland Library has established a Centre for Digital Scholarship to provide an open space for students to meet, work and be supported as they work in the digital scholarship environment. Experts in the various areas provide workshops on the technologies and face2face support is provided within the Centre.

Informal activities as a means to foster student engagement - Zoe Dyason, Regan Bensein and Rhiannon Reid, Assistant Library Campus Coordinators, Griffith University Library

Research shows that “students who utilize academic libraries within their first year have higher cumulative grade point averages and retention, on average, than their peers” (Soria, Fransen & Nackerud, 2013, p. 91). To encourage students to greater utilise our libraries, Griffith University has implemented a number of informal activities to engage with our students and foster a sense of community and support within our libraries. These activities complement the formal workshops and services available. Our libraries are a place for students to not only study, but also to display their work, collaborate with their peers and connect with the University and the wider community (Andrews, Wright, & Raskin. 2016).

This presentation will cover the successful Music in the Library series and other initiatives including star weaving as part of the One Million Stars to End Violence project; Hands Up for the Homeless; Storytime; and library space redevelopment consultation and competitions. In discussing these activities and others this presentation will explore how the use of informal library activities can be used as a method to improve student engagement with academic libraries.

Andrews, C., Wright, S. E., & Raskin, H. (2016). Library learning spaces: Investigating libraries and investing in student feedback. Journal of Library Administration, 56(6), 647-672. doi:10.1080/01930826.2015.1105556

Soria, K., Fransen, J., & Nackerud, S. (2013). Stacks, serials, search engines, and students’ success: First-year undergraduate students’ library use, academic achievement, and retention. The Journal Of Academic Librarianship 40(1), 84-91. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2013.12.002

Hacked agile: an alternative approach to workload management - Elisha Bignell, Librarian, Research Outputs, Sarah Brown, Manager, Research Outputs & Impact and Ellin Tewari, Librarian, Research Outputs, University of Queensland Library

With a busy team of ten librarians who have training, report writing and resource development commitments, it is not always possible to see what our team member’s priorities are with traditional tools (e.g. Outlook).

This talk will demonstrate how University of Queensland Library’s Research Outputs & Impact Team use a hacked and lightweight version of agile process management (traditionally used in software development) to balance workloads and facilitate continuous improvement of the services we deliver.

We will share:

• How we visualise individual workloads to effectively delegate tasks
• How we monitor present, upcoming, and conceptual projects and adapt to fluctuating workloads
• How we analyse and assess our work capacity and capability over time
• How we effectively incorporate the use of technology without inhibiting the friendly & communicative work environment that occurs in our physical space

Fast, Free and Easy: Taking Advantage of Google Forms to Enhance Library Services - Sarah Dern, Faculty Librarian, Bond University English Language Institute (BUELI) and Daniel Walker, Librarian, Law Library, Bond University

It sometimes seems as though Libraries view Google as some sort of Evil Overlord trying to take over our world. Who knows, perhaps they are, but until the dark clouds begin to converge and swirl around their headquarters we should relish the chance to take advantage of Google’s free online tools.

Bond Library have been utilising Google Forms in a number of ways to enhance our services. All that is required is a Gmail address, a little bit of time and a healthy dose of creativity and imagination to create fast, free, user friendly content that will automatically timestamp and collate results in a spreadsheet.

In this session we will run through and showcase a few of the ways Bond University Library services have been using Google Forms in the library, such as to:

• Run interactive orientation games
• Record service desk statistics
• Create quizzes for use in library classes/sessions
• Use as an online booking form

Followed by a real time demonstration on how quickly and easily you can create and share a working Google Form.

Design thinking in libraries - Chenoa Pettrup, Program Coordinator, Asia Pacific Design Library, State Library of Queensland

How might we use design thinking practices to engage library stakeholders in library processes?

In this 15 minute presentation, we will investigate the Asia Pacific Design Library's Design Minds model and how it might be used to provide pathways for users and stakeholders to participate in the design of library services. Along the way, we will look at small scale and large scale case studies; consider local and global perspectives when applying design thinking in public places; and examine our own successes and failures, while identifying opportunities for future development.