Demonstrate proficiency in identifying, using, and evaluating current
and emerging information and communication technologies;
Introduction
A librarian’s trade is information. Technology provides the means to supply it. Information professionals need to embrace new technologies that would provide benefits to their clients or boost the productivity of personnel. Since my first exposure to a personal computer through my elementary school’s Apple II computer lab, I have been drawn to new technologies. This trait has served me well in my current career in public librarianship. Information science professionals should be knowledgeable of technical standards such as the Dublin Core Metadata Element Librarians should remain apprised of developments within the field of information science, such as the impending adoption of BIBFRAME 2.0 framework to replace the MARC encoding schema for bibliographic records. Information professionals should not wait until current technologies are obsolete. They should proactively seek emerging technologies and seize opportunities to implement high-tech solutions.
Many technologies (such as scheduling software for meeting room reservations) have two sets of users: clients or patrons for the first set and staff comprising the second set. In contrast, other technologies—such as the library analytics package BlueCloud Analytics—interact primarily with the staff. Regardless of what classes of users interact with a technology, operational considerations such as how easily a technology can be modified should be considered prior to acquisition. Flexible technologies can be more easily integrated into future hardware and software acquisitions and be modified to meet the evolving demands of an institution’s clientele.
Not only do information professionals and librarians comprise the leading positions that oversee the acquisition and implementation of new technologies, but they are also called upon to manage the content of their organization’s website. Personnel that specialize in the technical services side of information science must be familiar with programming and scripting languages (such as HTML and CSS) in order to establish policy and make sound decisions (especially in regard to the revision and maintenance of an institution’s website). Such personnel may also be called upon to fulfill a plethora of other duties, such as managing the social media accounts of their institution, overseeing meeting room and study room reservations, or keeping self-checkout machines operational.
Whether or not a librarian specializes in technical services, they should be knowledgeable on the technologies that they work with. As leaders in their respective institutions, they share some of the responsibility of maintaining these technologies. For instance, public library staff collectively share the responsibility to ensure that their integrated library system (ILS) database wholly and accurately details the contents of their institution’s collections and other library resources.
Explication
Evaluating New Technologies
The introduction of more sophisticated technologies has changed the way libraries and related institutions fulfill their respective missions. Information professionals and librarians facilitate and oversee the acquisition and implementation of these new technologies. I am knowledgeable about the process of evaluating new technologies for adoption and modeled the process on a small scale when applying for a mini-grant to replace the Woodward Park Regional Library’s non-functional projector. The funding for mini-grants was offered through a contest held by the administration of the Fresno County Public Library (FCPL). The administration sought to develop the grant writing skills of the library’s employees while simultaneously being responsive to the needs of individual branches.
As the first step for my proposal, I developed a list of prerequisites that projector models would need to satisfy in order to meet the needs of the Woodward Park Library. Ceiling-mounted capability was an obvious requirement. The Woodward Park Regional Library’s meeting room was originally furnished with a ceiling-mounted projector. There was no need to add the awkwardness of a cart setup to the meeting room’s user experience when the infrastructure for a ceiling-mounted projector was already in place.
Cheap digital light processing (DLP) projectors are known to blur and create a rainbow distortion during fast-moving sequences as bright areas move across dark areas (Asher, 2022). To support movie screenings at the library, the projector needed to minimize the rainbow distortion that can occur when projecting fast-moving action sequences. The model of the projector should also have minimal lag to support gaming programs. I paid particular attention to brightness (measured in lumens) so that the projection would be viable in an environment of ample ambient light. At the time, I initially sought to future-proof the projector by acquiring a machine that could support the highest screen resolutions. Unfortunately, budgetary constraints made such a prospect unfeasible. I settled for projectors capable of 1920×1080 resolution used by the Blu-ray format.
With these requirements, I then proceeded to compile a database on the specifications of commercially available projectors. In the spreadsheet, I was able to highlight the pros and cons of each projector. Then through side-by-side comparison, I narrowed down the prospects to three candidates that would offer the FCPL the greatest value. From the three candidate projectors, I referenced user reviews to measure reliability and selected the Optoma HD37 projector, the most reliable candidate, for my grant proposal. My mini-grant proposal was ultimately rejected on the grounds that there was not an unlikely chance that the ITSD (information technology services division) of FCPL would be seeking to replace and upgrade the projectors in all library branches in a batch purchase.
Evaluating new technologies includes asking questions such as “Are there long-term resources, both financial and staff, to manage it properly?” or “What is the lifespan of the hardware or software?” While compiling the grant proposal, I simulated many of the processes one would take to propose a change in the library. This included calculating estimates for the cost of the manpower to install a ceiling-mounted projector as well as estimating outlays for ongoing maintenance in terms of materials and personnel hours. One of the key takeaways I gained from this hands-on experience was to have requests or grant proposals “oven ready” to increase the chances of success.
As a library assistant of the Fresno County Public Library, I was not involved in the acquisition of new technologies, but I had the opportunity to witness several changes in the software used to conduct the normal business of the library, including the replacement of the online public access catalog (OPAC) with the Enterprise application.
When choosing between software applications, one of the largest considerations is whether or not the software is open source or proprietary. The differences between the two can substantially impact future operations. “Open source refers to a software program or platform with source code that is readily accessible and which can be modified or enhanced by anyone” (Frankenfield, 2021). Users are free to alter the original code of an open source application by either fixing flaws or enhancing the features of the software. When issues such as evolving client demands arise, programmers can immediately begin modifying an open source application to accommodate such changes. In comparison, proprietary applications or closed source programs are controlled by their respective owners. Only the ownership of proprietary software may legally modify and update said software. Client libraries who seek to have changes made to a proprietary software application must notify the owner of the modifications that are desired and then wait until the owner can implement those changes. Sometimes, this wait can be considerable. In addition, for proprietary applications, the frequency of software updates and the accompanying disruption to service is dictated by the software’s ownership. Another advantage that open source software holds over proprietary software is cost. Open source software is free, while using a proprietary software program requires a license and its accompanying license fee to operate.
With that being said, there is no way to completely eliminate risk when it comes to adopting new technologies. One strategy to manage the risk of adopting a new technology is for libraries to lease equipment on a trial basis instead of outright purchasing the technology (Gilman, 2017, p. 59). By reducing the investment in utilizing a new technology, it becomes easier to reject its adoption in the event that unforeseen circumstances crop up during its implementation or if said new technology is rendered obsolete due to further technological advancement.
Website Design and Management
A library’s website provides a major access point for the public to interact with the library, often through the utilization of the library’s online resources. From the homepage, users can navigate to the catalog, programming calendars, and online resources—including the research databases.
Librarians whose duties include updating the content of their institution’s website should have a firm grasp of the traits that make a webpage mobile friendly to broaden the website’s accessibility to the general public. They should also be familiar with how to construct a website by coding multimedia content into HyperText Markup Language (HTML) webpages and enhancing the resultant HTML code with corresponding Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). CSS controls where and in what manner each piece of content of an HTML webpage will appear in a web browser.
The starting point for all webpages—no matter how complex—is an HTML file. At its essence, HTML wraps webpage content inside HTML tags to form HTML elements. These HTML elements convey the object type of a specific body of content to web browsers so that the content in question may be treated appropriately. Syntactically, angle brackets differentiate HTML tags from the rest of the HTML script. Tags are intuitively named. The <header> and <h#> tags will contain text that function as the headings or titles to specific sections of the webpage. <img> tags contain the location of image files that a web browser can grab and place in the layout of a webpage. With HTML script, webpage content can also be organized into HTML tables or HTML lists.
CSS controls the layout, formatting, and presentation of a webpage. It accomplishes this by assigning rules to different HTML elements. These rules can apply to a single HTML tag, multiple HTML tags, a single webpage, or multiple webpages. CSS rules control color, background image, font, font size, font emphasis (italics, bold, and underline), and a variety of other properties. The CSS is also responsible for the placement of HTML elements on a webpage. For example, a programmer may elect to place an image in a sidebar or the main body of the webpage. Through CSS, web developers can control the layout of multiple webpages.
In the information age, computers are no longer the only means of accessing the Internet. The myriad of devices used to surf the World Wide Web demands that websites accommodate the limitations of mobile devices. For some libraries, the COVID-19 pandemic shined a spotlight on how difficult non-mobile layouts can be problematic for mobile devices, as I witnessed on a personal level. During the pandemic, the Woodward Park Regional Library had entered the initial phase of allowing the public into the building to browse its collections. One patron found themselves needing to pay down her fees in order to checkout. Cash transactions were still restricted. Instead, the patron turned to the FCPL website using her smartphone to pay her fees.
Unfortunately, without the CSS instructions to reshuffle the layout to prioritize functionality, the smartphone shrunk down these webpages until they fit on its screen. As the dimensions of the webpages decreased so too did the webpages’ text—to the point where the webpages were impossible to decipher. Any text on these webpages—including the labels of buttons and hypertext links—was unreadable. Luckily, I was familiar with the webpages of the online payment process and provided the patron with step-by-step instructions on how to pay her library fees. These instructions ran counter to my previous training. Normally, I would provide minimal guidance to avoid any appearance of working with a patron’s credit card or debit card information. Unfortunately, the non-mobile layouts and the COVID-19 pandemic created a set of circumstances where the patron required my step-by-step verbal instructions. Clearly, all webpages should be coded to accommodate smaller screens.
Mobile webpage layouts are designed to be used by the smallest screens. While some websites sidestep this by rerouting mobile users from their main website to an alternative website for mobile devices (e.g., https://mbasic.facebook.com/), the prevailing strategy is to have a responsive mobile-first website. The word responsive refers to the development of a webpage’s CSS coding so that as a screen narrows, the webpage’s layout reacts and reshuffles to accommodate and change in the dimensions of the screen or viewing window. Sometimes this reshuffling involves the removal of HTML elements.
The adjective mobile-first refers to how the reshuffling is coded. Webpages should be written so that the mobile layout loads first. When a larger screen accesses a mobile-first webpage, CSS code overwrites the initial mobile layout in favor of a layout that utilizes more features and superior aesthetics. The order is important because it prevents a generally less powerful mobile device from loading elements that are not needed for the webpage to function, which would unnecessarily slow the user experience.
In addition to this adaptive layout, mobile-friendly websites implement several other features. The first feature is the simplification of navigation across a webpage through the elimination of side scrolling. This follows common practice by restricting users to vertical scrolling when they seek to view additional content from a webpage. Navigation can further be enhanced by eliminating small hypertext links. Mobile-friendly layouts should replace these hypertext links with larger buttons or even larger discrete tiles for navigation between webpages. In addition, webpages should utilize hover interactivity through CSS’s hover selector. Specifically, certain elements should have tooltip messages, which would appear when a cursor mouses over or hovers over an image, hypertext link, or other HTML element (Oxford Languages). Tooltip messages increase usability by allowing the presentation of useful explanatory information without cluttering a webpage’s layout.
In many cases, the size and complexity of library websites have made it unwise to appoint the maintenance of a website to one individual, but having multiple persons update the website comes with its own pitfalls. In either case, poor management of a website—whether a single webmaster lacks the time to properly manage and update web content or a team of information professionals loses track of all of the tasks that they should be attending to—leads to outdated webpages as well as the proliferation of dead links. Content management systems (CMS) can alleviate these problems. A CMS is software that helps keep a website up to date through the planning and publishing of new content without having to deal with the minutia of coding in HTML and CSS. A CMS allows a website expert to spread the workload to a team of staffers who may not necessarily be fluent in HTML and CSS. There is a wide variety of content management software. SquareSpace, Magnolia, Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, and LibGuides are all examples of content management systems.
While Libguides was intended as a way to create research guides, several libraries use it to construct sections of their website. While LibGuides have many useful templates, it is also one of the more restrictive content management systems and lacks the customization of other software platforms such as WordPress.
While it may be surprising to discuss the blogging tool WordPress as a CMS, WordPress provides a user-friendly editing interface. Of the websites that are maintained by a CMS, a quarter of them are powered by WordPress. WordPress is an open source platform. Libraries who opt to use WordPress to anchor their library websites have the option of hosting their website through WordPress.com or maintain their own local server.
Some content management systems can control access and authorize select employees to modify a specific set of webpages. This allows institutions to coordinate the distribution of the workload of managing the library website over multiple personnel. If budgetary constraints are a consideration, “wiki software can also be used for managing online content. … Examples of popular wiki tools include MediaWiki, an open source product” (Gilman, 2017, p. 186). Other open source solutions include Drupal and Joomla.
When a user is surfing the web, their first point of contact with an institution’s website may not be the homepage. Therefore, each page of a website must, in effect, act as a landing page—a surrogate homepage—where users will be able to navigate from the initial webpage to other sections of the website. This commonly accomplished by installing a navigation bar at the top of each of the website’s webpages.
Internet Access
The public often turns to the library to meet their technological needs. This is especially true for low-income residents and rural libraries. Through the library, residents are able to fill out critical government forms. They also rely on libraries to fill out online job applications. They are able to print a variety of documents, from resumes to mailing labels. Children come in to use the computer as their only access to computer games.
The quality of this access is determined by the speed of the Internet connection. Remote and rural areas often lack the fiber optic infrastructure needed to provide their patrons with high-speed Internet. Without a fiber optic connection, libraries located in such areas must look for alternatives to providing high-speed Internet. In the United States, such libraries are often relegated to DSL or less commonly known as direct service line for their Internet (Abbreviations.com, n.d.). DSL is transmitted through phone lines. When it was introduced, it was hailed as high-speed broadband, but its maximum speed of 100 Mbps is relatively slow by today’s standards. Satellite Internet is not much better, with its performance ceiling also hovering around 100 Mbps (Pensworth, 2020). Libraries in cities typically offer the public faster speeds because they utilize preexisting fiber optic infrastructure.
For-profit utilities will only build fiber optic connections to areas where the client base justifies such investment, and it is beyond the scope of libraries to excavate and install a fiber optic connection themselves. They have to turn to alternative means to provide high-speed Internet to remote locations. One method in which they may accomplish a high-speed Internet connection is through microwave radio transmission. Microwave transmission of the Internet begins from a fiber optic access point or point of presence (PoP), from which a library can then beam an Internet connection towards a remote location. Microwave transmissions require line of sight; so for mountainous regions, service providers bounce signals off of hilltops. These designated hilltops are often located away from any infrastructure; but through solar power and battery banks, equipment on the hilltops can last up to five years of continuous 24/7 off-grid operations (Geolinks, 2022). By bouncing a microwave signal around obstacles, microwave radio transmission enables libraries to provide high-speed Internet access to the most remote communities, such as the Red Cloud Branch Library located in Mariposa County, California.
While microwave radio transmissions are capable of sustaining an Internet connection of 10 Gbps, client institutions often only use a fraction of that capability (APC Solutions. 2022). Like other types of Internet service providers, service charges increase as the speed of the Internet connection increases.
One of the drawbacks of microwave radio transmission is the cost of installation. The cost of installation erects a barrier to many who wish to utilize the technology. Libraries often have to seek grants and government funding to cover the cost of installation; but according to Aaron Lusk—a network system engineer—once installed, the monthly cost of a microwave Internet connection is comparable to a fiber optic connection.
Dublin Core
One of the technologies that libraries may choose to embrace is the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set or, less formally, the Dublin Core. Dublin Core was originally developed in Dublin, Ohio, to describe web resources. It has subsequently been implemented to describe a variety of physical and digital resources. One notable application of Dublin Core metadata is its implementation in the EPUB ebook format (International Digital Publishing Forum™, 2007). The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is comprised of 15 metadata elements to describe electronic and physical resources.
These metadata elements are:
title
subject
description
creator
publisher
contributor
date
type
format
identifier
source
language
relation
coverage
rights
(University of California, Santa Cruz [UCSC], University Library, 2017).
These Dublin Core metadata elements are native content standards that define what kinds of information each metadata element should contain and in what manner the data should be entered into a Dublin Core metadata element. The simplicity of Dublin Core distinguishes it from other metadata schema.
The example below—that was extracted from a UC Santa Barbara webpage—attests to the simplicity and readability of Dublin Core metadata by both personnel and machines.
<meta name=”DC.Title” content=”Library Guides: Metadata Creation: 3. Dublin Core Metadata Schema”/>
<meta name=”DC.Creator” content=”Rachel Jaffe”/>
<meta name=”DC.Subject” content=””/>
<meta name=”DC.Description” content=”Brief guide that explores the topic of metadata: What are metadata? What kinds of metadata are there? What is the process of creating metadata?”/>
<meta name=”DC.Publishers” content=”University of California, Santa Cruz”/>
<meta name=”DC.Rights” content=”Copyright University of California, Santa Cruz 2021″/>
<meta name=”DC.Language” content=”en”/>
[Dublin Core in HTML] (UCSC, University Library, 2017).
These metadata elements can be further enhanced through the “Qualified” Dublin Core set. Qualified Dublin Core makes use of qualifiers to further refine Dublin Core metadata elements. These qualifier terms were implemented in such a way that if an application does not understand a specific metadata element refinement term, it should be able to ignore the qualifier and treat the metadata as the (unqualified) broader metadata element. The Qualified Dublin Core set also adds three additional metadata elements. They are audience, provenance, and rightsHolders (Primidi.com, 2017). Archival and manuscript repositories find the addition of these three metadata elements particularly useful when cataloging the contents of their collections.
The Dublin Core TM Metadata Initiative (DCMI) oversees the current iteration of Dublin Core: DCMI Metadata Terms. DCMI was issued on January 20, 2020. This updated provides compatibility with RDF frameworks. This is accomplished by identifying each term “with [a] Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), a global identifier usable in Linked Data.” (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative [DCMI], 2020).
BIBFRAME 2.0
In 2012, the Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME Initiative) sought to create a single global standard for future bibliographic description. One of the primary impetuses of this project was to provide a replacement for Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC). In addition, this new BIBFRAME system was developed to accomplish three priorities: firstly, to “Differentiate clearly between conceptual content and its physical/digital manifestation(s);” (Library of Congress [LC], n.d.); secondly, to have relationships between different entities clearly described (which will allow users to leverage those relationships for their own advantage); and thirdly, to accommodate current and future content models and cataloging rules or content standards. BIBFRAME 2.0 models linked data where BIBFRAME works, instances, and items will reference information entities such as subjects, agents, and events through relationships such as “Work-to-Agent relationships” through controlled identifiers. While MARC employs controlled identifiers in some instances, such as geographic codes and language codes, BIBFRAME 2.0 makes controlled identifiers the rule and not the exception (Library of Congress [LC], n.d.).
BIBFRAME is still a work-in-progress. After an early pilot of BIBFRAME was conducted by the Library of Congress, the resulting expert and community feedback concluded that the BIBFRAME vocabulary needed to be reworked. The BIBFRAME 1.0 vocabulary was then reformulated into the BIBFRAME 2.0 vocabulary, hence the term BIBFRAME 2.0 (Library of Congress [LC], n.d.).
When the system is ready for implementation, libraries and the larger information science community “will need time to adjust services to accommodate it” (Library of Congress [LC], n.d.). Millions of existing MARC records will need to be transformed into BIBFRAME resources. Information science personnel will be expected to work in a mixed environment for an extended period of time (Library of Congress [LC], n.d.). Whatever teething problems the adoption of BIBFRAME 2.0 poses to the profession of information management, the advantages of the BIBFRAME 2.0 framework will outweigh those considerations.
Evidence
Evidence 1: Privateer Press Website Analysis
To attest to my knowledge and comprehension of user-oriented websites, I submit an analysis of Privateer Press’s website. This document demonstrates the importance of user-oriented design. If they had done this, then their community would have told them that the company Privateer Press is not well known enough to boost the marketability of their products. Their website should be produce-oriented instead of company-oriented. This begins with the domain. The website should have an Iron Kingdom domain instead of a Privateer Press domain.
This paper stresses the need for sensible hierarchical organization of webpages. Many of the menu bar links are nested inside a dropdown menu haphazardly, with little consideration given to where users would look when wishing to navigate to specific content. An example of this is the haphazard manner in which Privateer Press’s social media counts were scattered across its homepage. My team recommended that they nest these social media accounts in a single location in the dropdown menu. The website should.
Part of my contribution to the group’s analysis was to play the role of a newcomer. As a member of this group who was unfamiliar with Iron Kingdoms and tabletop games in general, I found the organization of the webpage made it difficult for me to access introductory content. The website did a poor job of explaining the mechanics of the game as well as introducing the two opposing factions Warmachine and the Hordes. Part of the difficulty originated from the lack of organization of this content. The other part of the difficulty arose from the amateur presentation of this material that is designed to attract new players to the game.
Members of my team expressed disappointment in how basic Privateer Press’s website was. For instance, it relied on basic solid color backgrounds. The paper addresses the benefit of multimedia content by drawing attention to the website’s lack of video clips to bring the lore of its Iron Kingdom tabletop game to life. Videos that bring the sights and sounds of the game world are a surefire way to boost the attractiveness of the Iron Kingdom, which could be further enhanced with a steampunk aesthetic for a visual theme. Without it, newcomers may elect to spend their time playing competitors within the tabletop game genre such as Warhammer 40,000.
The team also emphasized the importance of a user-friendly layout. One of its primary recommendations is the relocation of the search box to a more prominent area of the search bar, using contrasting colors to emphasize.
The paper also touches on the need to update the website with new content to drive traffic to the website. In particular, this paper criticized out-of-date game rules as well as a lack of blog entries to its hobby blog.
The design of the Privateer Press website was so lazy and so flawed that the team recommend a complete overhaul to bring the company’s online presence up to 21st century standards. Because of this recommendation, the group discussed the importance of alpha testing and beta testing a new website to generate user feedback to identify design flaws and programming bugs using a cross-section of likely users while maintaining the current website to ensure continuity. Websites are crucial contact points for any information science institution. The concepts discussed in the website analysis of Privateer Press’s online footprint still hold true today.
Evidence 2: Storytime Visualization of the Tour de France
I am including this one-page infographic (from INFO 246-11 Information Visualization) as evidence of my insight into the technologies used to process data and translate the data into a meaningful message. In this assignment, the professor directed me to analyze a data set of past Tour de France races and create a one-page infographic for the purpose of storytelling.
This assignment comes in three parts. The first part addresses my analysis of the data and the thought process underlying the creation of infographics to express that analysis. The second part breaks down the components of the final submission. The third part is a PDF representation of the one-page Tableau infographic.
I relied on color selection to differentiate variables using color contrast to increase the readability of my charts. The project illustrates the importance of identifying one’s target audience when creating information visualizations. In the proffered infographic, my target audience was “school-aged children and young adults interested in learning about the Tour de France.” Sharing many of the traits of a partitioned poster, my infographic follows a linear narrative structure using numbered annotations to form a flow chart.
The original Tableau infographic had an intermediate amount of interactivity. (The simplified PDF does not have this interactivity.) Interactivity refers to when an environment—in this case, the digital infographic—responds to a user’s action. The Tableau infographic can filter out the data by country for the frequency graph and the scatterplot. Another form of interactivity that was enabled was brushing—where highlighting data points or a range of data points on one graph would highlight the corresponding data points on the other graph. The infographic also applies tooltip functionality. In the case of this infographic, when a cursor hovers over an image, a small message of text containing the year, the name of the victor, the country he represented, his average speed, and the distance of that year’s Tour de France.
The Tableau application was difficult to master, but this project demonstrates my ability to gain fluency in a program over a short period of time. For instance, I had to be careful with the line graph. When I tried to apply filters to the line graph that tracked the average speed of the victor over time, Tableau would smooth over the gaps that I had created to demonstrate the World War I and World War II suspensions of the Tour de France. The one-page infographic showcases my ability to portray data using diagrams as a means to articulate a message and demonstrates my awareness of how interactivity can enhance the user experience. Libraries are constantly looking to optimize information for their clientele. The principles of information visualization used in the submitted assignment are vital to the pursuit of this endeavor.
Evidence 3: Declaration of Independence Lesson Plan [Google Sites]
The lesson plan is hosted at: https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/declaration/home.
As evidence of my ability to utilize technology in a library setting, I offer as an artifact the lesson plan (from INFO 250-10 Design and Implementation of Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals). In this assignment, my partner Alyssa Van Duzee and I were directed to create a lesson plan involving a collaboration between a school librarian and a teacher and post this lesson plan online in the form of a website. This submission is hosted at the URL https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/declaration/home.
This lesson plan was constructed using the Google Sites CMS and provides evidence of my capability to work with others which is a common trait of technologically centric projects and vital to the field of information science as a whole. This assignment also demonstrates my fluency with the Google Sites CMS and the ability to create webpages with no instruction of HTML or any programming or scripting languages.
This is important because the lesson plan demonstrates how school librarians partner with teachers to leverage technology to enhance the learning experience. The unit teaches students how to use the Internet to search for information sources and challenges them to determine the credibility of those information sources. A reflection has students measuring their own research skills, including their ability to credit research sources in their own submissions. The lesson plan also requires small groups of students to film a debate and post that debate on YouTube. In essence, the lesson plan, instead of merely studying the Declaration of Independence, has students simultaneously studying technology, persuasive writing and argumentation, and the fundamentals of research, maximizing their students’ time while preparing them for life outside of the classroom.
CONCLUSION
Technology is the channel through which librarians conduct their work. An information science professional needs to be open to adopting new technologies by being proactive. Curiosity, engagement, and a willingness to take appropriate risks are important qualities for librarians. Appropriateness can be ascertained by weighing a variety of factors. These factors include whether or not the institution can marshal the resources—including human and financial resources—to maintain the technology across its expected lifespan. For software, whether or not the source code is open source or proprietary will influence deliberations. An example of how the adoption of new technologies can be found in the Mariposa County Library and its implementation of microwave radio transmission to extend the bandwidth of a fiber optic Internet connection to remote areas.
The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set is a widely recognized method of encoding metadata for electronic and physical resources that libraries would be advised to adopt. For far too long has the complexity of MARC interfered with the recall of search queries; libraries should be looking to transition from a MARC environment to the simplicity of a BIBFRAME 2.0 environment to be rid of the problems that have long plagued MARC bibliographic record keeping.
San Jose State University’s Master of Library and Information Science program has enabled me to stay current on developments in information communication technology. I was able to familiarize myself with the Zoom video conferencing platform through various class lectures. During the program, I created WordPress blogs and uploaded a YouTube post. I created a website using a text editor Notepad++ while learning the basics of HTML and CSS, designed infographics using Tableau, and used the file exchange software CyberDuck. During the course of my career as a Library Assistant at the FCPL, I have worked with various technologies, including the integrated library system Horizon, the Enterprise OPAC, and RFID self-checkout stations. I have engaged in various meetings using technology, including conference calls of the VoIP phone system and Microsoft Teams. Information and communication technology a prodigious range of solutions for information science professionals. I look forward to observing how future technological developments will shape the field of information science.
References
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