Virtual Reality (ALA Trends)

 APA Citation:

Virtual reality. American Library Association. (2017, June 16). https://www.ala.org/future/trends/virtualreality

Posted by: Federwisch, Erik

Summary:

This article provides a detailed overview from the ALA about the importance of AI in libraries in the upcoming years. While the article is from 2017, it provides several useful insights into the role AI might play in the future. Some of these reasons include providing equitable access to an emerging technology, assistance for patrons overcoming phobias, increased social interaction and implementation of new learning environments made possible through a 360 degree virtual space that users can traverse. The "Notes and Resources" section is where this article shines, though. It provides 30 resources to give librarians and library workers a better scope of the possibilities AI presents libraries.

Opinion:

While the article mostly provides an overview of AI as it applies to libraries, the resources it compiles in the "Notes and Resources" section are invaluable to understanding how you may implement VR in your own library to create better connections between patrons and resources

Link to full article:

https://www.ala.org/future/trends/virtualreality

AI in Indian Libraries: Prospects and Perceptions from Library Professionals

Posted by:

McQuiston, Regina

APA Citation

Subaveerapandiyan, A. & Gozali, A. (2024). AI in Indian Libraries: Prospects and Perceptions from Library Professionals. Open Information Science, 8(1), 20220164. https://doi.org/10.1515/opis-2022-0164 

Summary

    A 2024 study which uses a survey of 386 information professionals in a variety of institutions (“Colleges, Universities, Technical Institutes, Management Institutes, Medical Institutes, and Research Institutes”). The survey focuses on five areas: socio-demographic information about the participants, their fundamental comprehension of AI, a self-assessment of their proficiency with AI systems in libraries, Perspectives on AI Libraries, and usage of AI tools and services. Overwhelmingly, these surveys demonstrated that these information professionals recognize that AI is crucial, support its utilization as a tool, and believe that AI cannot replace librarians. The results indicate that these information professionals have a strong understanding of AI and its potential use as a tool that further enhances the capabilities of ever-necessary human librarians. Below is a figure of some of the survey's relevant findings.

Opinion

    While exploring AI’s (nearly inevitable) role in the future of libraries, I found myself wondering about Library Professionals’ experience with - and opinions of - the practical application of AI in libraries. Much of the discussion surrounding AI revolves around how AI works, what it can do, and the risks associated with its use. Many of the articles I have explored - even ones specific to the use of AI in libraries - have been centered on the technology itself, largely neglecting the perspectives of the professionals who will be expected to use it. This study, however, offered a more human-centered insight into relevant professionals’ understanding of AI as well as the way AI can be utilized as a tool to maximize library offerings. It was interesting to see such a positive outlook from information professionals regarding the use of AI as a tool to supplement human capabilities and further the advancement of libraries and information professionals.

Assemblies: An Impactful School Library Initiative

 The School Assembly

    One of the most impactful library initiatives in the elementary school experience is undoubtedly an assembly. It serves as a unique platform for students to interact with individuals who offer invaluable lessons and motivation, often not found elsewhere. As we gather in the gym, students practice assembly expectations, aligning with our school charter. These assemblies are not just about learning; they are about celebration, discovery, and community, introducing students to fresh perspectives and ideas. The atmosphere crackles with excitement and anticipation. 

    At Emerson Elementary, I have helped plan numerous assemblies, made possible by the unwavering support of the specialist team. From coordinating decorations to supervising students during planning times, from managing cleanup to setting up microphones and seating charts, the specialist team plays a pivotal role in ensuring the success of these events. Their dedication and assistance are essential in creating memorable and enriching experiences for our students.

    These assemblies serve as wellsprings of inspiration, as students are exposed to authors, speakers, or performers who share their experiences, insights, and creativity, igniting motivation and aspiration within them. Furthermore, the exposure to artistic performances nurtures creativity and encourages students to explore their own artistic talents and expressions. Witnessing individuals overcome challenges or adversity instills resilience and determination in students, fostering empathy, critical thinking, leadership, and a deeper appreciation for diversity—all essential skills and values crucial for their holistic development.

    Our assemblies have been a tapestry of experiences, hosting a diverse array of guests ranging from authors and illustrators to break dancer Jeromeskee, symphonies, Olympic gold medalists, professional cheerleaders, mascots, football players, Seahawks and Sounders, high school drum lines, and even girl scouts. And the excitement doesn't stop there; we're eagerly anticipating the upcoming visit from the reptile lady later this month. However, among all these remarkable guests, one stands out as a favorite: author and illustrator Peter Brown, renowned for "The Wild Robot." Peter Brown's visit was nothing short of magical. With his book, he not only shared tales of hope, perseverance, and dreams but also provided our students with a rare opportunity—to meet a real-live author and illustrator. It was a moment of connection and inspiration that left a lasting impression on everyone and continues to as the students draw Roz the Robot and write stories based on the characters and inspiration. We are so thankful for the invaluable role that community support plays in enriching our experiences. Whether it's through partnerships with local businesses like Third Place Books, organizations like the Everett Public School Foundation, or the dedication of our PTA, their support ensures that we can provide diverse and engaging opportunities for our community. the transformative power of literature and the arts in shaping young minds and hearts.

References:

 Gillum, S. & Williams, N. (2019, August 5). Promoting Library Visibility Through Creative Programming. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 38 (3) 236-251. https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1080/02763869.2019.1623616

 Harlan, M.A. (2022). Literacy and Media Centers. In S Hirsh (Ed.) Information Services Today (3^rd ed., pp. 91-101). Rowman & Littlefiel

Hermon, A. (Host). (2024, March 1). Inclusive Programming (No. 262) [Audio podcast episode]. In School Librarians United. https://schoollibrariansunited.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=inclusive+program

Video game authorship for Libraries

 Smith, Eric

Cho, H., Hubbles, C. and Moulaison-Sandy, H. (2022), "Individuals responsible for video games: an exploration of cataloging practice, user need and authorship theory", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 78 No. 6, pp. 1420-1436. http://search.proquest.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/scholarly-journals/individuals-responsible-video-games-exploration/docview/2720241279/se-2?accountid=10361

    For my 5th assignment, I chose to look at research articles regarding video games in the library. I began to explore both how they are used in programs and how they are used in the collection. However, since this is a class about collection development, I wanted to focus on that topic first and foremost. Through my research on the subject I came across an interesting article about video games and collections that I wanted to share with the class. The topic of the article is about authorship theory in regards to video games. As an avid video game play, I can attest to the normal ways we categorize video games. Titles are the most common way to organize video games, but we also use the date of release as well as the genre. In most cases, the company that published the game is one of the most well know aspects of how to categorize a video game. Sonic is made by Sega, Street fighter is made by Capcom, Mario by Nintendo, etc. This is a very unique aspect of video games that has just been accepted for the past several decades of video games' existence. This article begins by questioning this practice and seeks to define what a creator would be for video games. This is particularly challenging due to the fact that most video games area created by a large collection of people. 

    In the context of libraries, the metadata involving the authorship of an item is very important for classification. Currently, most libraries use the established method of authorship, crediting companies. Even Worldcat uses this standard. While it make sense from the perspective of the company commissioning a work, it is still important to note the actual humans that worked on the piece of media. One argument has been to classify video games just as one would classify a movie. However, this issue with this stems from the lack of uniformity of jobs in the video game space. For a game like Devil May Cry, you might include in the metadata the "combat lead" because that person was important to the game. But if you play a puzzle game without any combat, whose name do you put in the "combat lead" category. This is why I find this article to be so interesting, to deals with this conundrum, how it's been tackled in the past and suggestions for the future. 

    To begin, the article defines authors and auteurs. Authors are those directly responsible for a work. With books, and even some specific indie games, this is very clear and obvious. Auteurship starts to come into play when more people work on a piece of media. An auteur is defined as a single person who's decisions shaped the work. With a lot of movies, the director is credited as being the auteur behind a film. This phenomenon is already present in the video games industry. Auteurs such as Shigero Miyamoto (Mario) and Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear) as examples of this. As useful as this method of authorship is, it also does still discount all of the other creatives that worked on the same games. 

    Ultimately, a user should be able to find, identify, select, obtain, and explore the video games they are looking for at the library. The authors of the article gave some suggestions to ensure that they are able to do this, regardless of the complexities of cataloging a video game. For one, further research should be developed to understand the commonalities between video production studios and what jobs commonly appear. Developing a controlled vocabulary for this would be helpful. Additionally, there should be a focus on looking at user generated data for video games and seeing how they do it. Wikipedia currently has a system that identifies programmers, artists, directors, composers, etc.  The website, Mobygames.com acts as a sort of IMDB for video games and has an abundance of standard parameters that they use.

I find this to be a very interesting conundrum. I'm a massive fan of the medium and I love to see further acceptance of it. From day 1 I've been an advocate for adding them to the collection and I'm happy to see more research and discussion surrounding it. 

A SWOT Analysis Approach to AI in Libraries

 

Petro, Corinne

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. (n.d.). Developing a Library Strategic Response to Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.ifla.org/g/ai/developing-a-library-strategic-response-to-artificial-intelligence/

Summary:

This is a working document created by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions to create a strategic response to artificial intelligence (AI). First, the authors provide multiple definitions of AI, and discuss some of the ethical concerns that have arisen with the introduction of AI into the workforce. Then, the authors move to discussing how AI has impacted libraries in ways that are both “wide and deep.” There are various ways in which AI is currently used in libraries such as improving accessibility to library collections, aiding in metadata creation, supporting data scientist communities, translation, and text generation. Looking towards the future, AI’s predictive capabilities may be able to help libraries better understand user behavior and inform decision-making processes.To meet these changes, the authors stress that AI literacy is integral for both staff and patrons. In addition, libraries must think and act strategically within the context of AI’s impact on libraries by positioning themselves within institutional, sectoral, and national priorities and/or policies. The authors identify three categories of AI policies that are popular in different areas of the world: development, control, and promotion. Where a library is located will impact how it can develop and use AI. Then, the authors create a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) for AI in libraries. One of the strengths they found is that libraries are trusted sources that have values like access to knowledge and privacy protection. These values could counteract some of the challenges that come with AI. One of the weaknesses is that commercial AI products can be costly and many libraries have limited budgets and limited technical capacities. One of the opportunities is that AI automates routine tasks and aids in professional tasks. Lastly, one of the threats is that there is a lot of fear surrounding AI, both in the public and in libraries. The authors move on to name ten institutional approaches to AI in libraries. These approaches involve hiring new staff that are already familiar with AI, upskilling current staff to be competent in AI, engaging with the library’s user base to see how they are using AI, studying best practices, etc. The authors state that some of these institutional approaches may be combined. They also list the pros and cons for each institutional response. Lastly, the authors outline what they believe to be the three most important strategies for libraries today. The first is using library AI capabilities to model responsible and explainable applications of descriptive AI. This includes using descriptive AI to improve the description and retrieval of library collections, ensuring usability and explainability of AI tools used in a library, documenting AI related projects thoroughly and openly. Some challenges with this include prioritizing collections, solving conceptual issues, and establishing sustainable services. The second strategy is using librarians’ data competencies to enhance organizational AI capability. This strategy includes using librarians’ data expertise to support data scientists and future AI applications. Activities include finding data sources, promoting data sharing and standards, and ensuring data quality and compliance. The third strategy is promoting AI literacy to enhance organizational and societal AI capabilities. This strategy includes libraries taking the lead in promoting AI literacy, especially in educational and public settings. Challenges with this strategy include librarians needing to understand the complexity of AI, including algorithmic literacy. Librarians will also have to grapple with the opacity of AI in infrastructure, especially Big Tech.

Opinion:

I found this article to be helpful in understanding what librarians can do now to facilitate the integration of AI into libraries. There are many articles on this topic that theorize a lot and do not offer much in the way of solutions beyond general advice. Although AI integration into libraries is still very new, the authors of this piece provide multiple strategies that librarians can use depending on their area’s relationship with AI. I liked that the authors used a SWOT analysis to break down this issue. Overall, I like how this article offered multiple approaches to a complex problem. Each approach was unique which allows for librarians to assess their current position in the AI landscape, and adopt whichever approach works best for them.

Dealing With Controversial Material

Preer, J. L. (2014). Prepare to Be Challenged. Library Trends, 62(4), 759–770. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2014.0018  11 pages

McKenna, Charmagne

Preer wrote this article about a controversy that happened at West Bend Memorial Library over homosexual content in the young adult section. It eventually went as far as a public hearing in which the library required support from the Deputy Director from the ALA office for Intellectual Freedom. The Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Act was referred to in terms of the necessity of presenting all points of view from different members of the community. In response the complainant stated they felt their values were being put on trial. In the end the board ruled to keep the work in question, but revised their challenge policy and procedure. This situation demonstrates how important it is to have a reasoned collection development plan, and a challenge policy and procedure that is complex enough to handle controversial situations, is expeditious, fair, and focused on the offending work, not the offended patron. The language of the challenge form even sets the stage- using the term complainant instead of concerned patron, for example, is adversarial in nature and can change how things are perceived. This article gives further examples of collection development plans, challenge forms, policies and procedures from other Wisconsin public libraries, gained through an online survey. Patrons were also surveyed about intellectual freedom and most seem to be in support of the concept but didn’t understand how that translated to concerns with library materials and procedures in place to address those concerns. 

This article gives a great deal of good information about how to handle controversial book content in the collection and ensuring a library has the policies and procedures in place to deal with any challenges. There are examples of appropriate and useful formats and wording for book challenge policies and procedures as well as good advice on how to maintain and support freedom to read with diverse material from all walks of life.

Best Platforms for Diverse E-Books

Lear, B. A., & Pritt, A. L. (2021). “We Need Diverse E-Books:” Availability of Award-Winning Children’s and Young Adult Titles in Today’s E-Book Platforms. Collection Management, 46(3–4), 223–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2021.1908194  24 pages

McKenna, Charmagne

This article by Lear and Pritt discusses a research project by the two authors to compare the availability of award winning and professionally recognized PreK-12 titles on 7 different platforms. These included: EBSCO, Follett, Hoopla, Mackin, Overdrive, ProQuest, and Tumblebooks. The authors looked specifically at topics including themes about gender, race/ethnicity, disability diversity and LGBTQ+. COVID was the impetus for Lear and Pritt to begin this project as the importance of curating digital children’s and young adult (YA) material became evident. These authors included 2000 juvenile book titles with awards/honors or on a best books list (2015-19) recognized by professional organizations for teachers or librarians. These included ALA, ILA, NCSS, NCTE, and NSTA. The conclusions found there was disparity by grade level and publisher, but in terms of topics it was generally similar to what was available on all other titles in the database. The results by platform were that EBSCO and ProQuest had 37% and 33% of these topics available. It was speculated though that these platforms tend to serve older students and might have better availability of titles in an older age range. School based platforms Follett and Mackin were similar in providing access to about 75% of the titles. Tumblebooks only provided access to about 5% of the titles. Overdrive and Hoopla usually serve public libraries but had quite a discrepancy. Overdrive had the best access with 80% and Hoopla provided access to 24% of the titles.

This information would be very useful for a teacher or librarian, particularly considering the expense to subscribe to book platforms and the need for inclusive and diverse material for children and young adults.