Developing & Running your own E-reader Seminars and Gadget Labs

1. Developing & Running your own E-reader Seminars and Gadget Labs Sarah Felkar, MLIS Public Services Assistant, West Vancouver Memorial Library 10 am, October 19, 2012 Netspeed 2012, Edmonton, Alberta

2. Outline • Introduction • Why? • Goals • Planning • Execution • Ensuring Success • Evaluation • Discussion

3. Why?

4. Goals What are your organization's Mission, Vision, Goals, Values?

5. Goals How might working with gadgets support those goals?

6. Planning • What are you already offering? • Ask your community • Find out what other local libraries are doing • What can your library support?

7. Purchasing

8. Execution Types of programs • Staff Training • Seminar Style • Hands-on All need • Tech-savvy staff member • Some gadgets

9. Staff Training Types • One-on-one sessions • Small groups (pop-labs) • Webinars • Self-paced lessons

10. Staff Training One-on-One Pros • Able to give staff excellent, customized training on any number of tech topics Cons • Time consuming

11. Seminars Types • Device Information Session • Library Downloadables Information Session • Group Q&A

12. Seminars West Vancouver Memorial Library's "Ebook & E-reader Information Session" Pros • Lots of people at once • Answer questions some people might not know to ask • Only one staff member necessary Cons • Expectation of very specific answers • Unable to offer one-on-one assistance

13. Hands-On Types: • One Staff Member, 6-12 patrons • Downloading Library ebooks or audiobooks, or music • Using a Kindle / Sony / Kobo • Using iPads • Many Staff (and volunteers), Many patrons • Drop-in gadget labs • Gadget/e-Reader Fairs • No Staff, many patrons • Gadget Library

14. Hands-On London Public Library's Gadget Labs Pros: • Able to help a variety of patrons on a diverse number of topics • Staff used as content experts • Volunteers as hardware experts Cons: • Need to organize volunteers • Lots of staff needed

15. Others What other types of activities have you heard of? How might we set them up?

16. Ensuring Success • Soft launch • Advertise • Make sure your staff & board buy-in

17. Ensuring Success Be aware of: • Documentation • Circulation procedures • Resetting • Troubleshooting • Cataloguing Questions • Do we? Don't we? • Continual Change • New devices all the time

18. Evaluation Decide on your method of evaluating before launching so that your can work in into your activity • Collect comments • Use feedback forms • Ask staff about their experiences

19. Evaluation Did it work? • Set an evaluation period • Collect information • Analyse Then adjust the program as necessary.

20. Summary • Match the program to library's goals and mission • Discover Community Needs • Choose the right program to fit your community • Run over a trial period • Evaluate and adjust

21. Discussion Questions?

22. No Questions? 1. Which activity would work best for you? 2. Which one seems the hardest to put together? 3. What hurdle seems highest? 4. Does evaluating seen daunting?

23. Helpful Resources Blogs: • No Shelf Required: http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/ • Lori Reed/Library Trainer: http://lorireed.com/ • Teleread: http://www.teleread.com/ • Digital Reader: http://www.the-digital-reader.com/ Publications: “Growing a Technology Equipment Service in an Academic Library” by Sean Anderson and Sue Weatherbee (Computers in Libraries July/August 2012) Gadgets and Gizmos: Libraries and the Post-PC Era by Jason Griffey (Library Technology Reports vol 48 no 3) Overdrive's Test Drive Center: http://www.overdrive.com/resources/testdrive/approved-devices.aspx

24. Thank you! Email: sfelkar@westvanlibrary.ca Twitter: @SarahFelkar Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/sfelkar/planning-gadget-labs-netspeed-2012-14714202