Presentation Tools in libraries by Jen Davis

For the average middle aged adult, technology can be overwhelming.  So, as I was researching a presentation tool to present on our Blog, I came across Jing. Jing as well as Snagit are tools designed by Tech Smith. Jing was designed to allow you to take screen shots or videos capture it, and upload to a presentation or document. Snagit is similar to Jing but currently Snagit is supported by the web browser. You can still visit the site to view Jing tutorials. 
https://www.techsmith.com/jing-tool.html 

Libraries in the digital age by Jen Davis

How can libraries survive in this digital era? Over the last fifteen years many wondered how libraries would handle the changes needed to survive in this digital time. As the years have unfolded, many still have a focus on the digital aspect but others also realized the importance of print and beautiful spaces full of balance. In the article "This Is the Future of Libraries in the Digital Age" by Kim Velsey, written for Architectural Digest. One of my favorite quotes from the article is “The idea that everyone will read everything on screens has not proven to be true,” said Meredith TenHoor, an architectural historian and associate professor at Pratt Institute School of Architecture. “There is a place for old-fashioned paper books. The publishing industry knows this, and it is reflected in high-quality library design, too.” To check out some amazing images of some outstanding libraries  click on the link below.
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/future-of-libraries-in-digital-age 

Virtual Reality and Libraries by Laura Bisagna

Remember that song that Madonna used to sing back in the 80s?  Where she said she was a material girl living in a material world? Well, these days she might be singing an entirely different tune, something more along the lines of being a material girl living in a virtual world!  Virtual reality is here to stay. What does that mean for the library tech and specifically for presentation tools?  

As mentioned in one of my other LT130 blog posts, students first turn to Google to find the answers to all of their research questions; a fact of which, I’m sure, you are all well aware.   So can libraries compete with this new reality, this virtual reality, and change this course of action when it comes to the educational needs of the student, more specifically for their school-related research?  In the article, Your Library Goes Virtual: Promoting Reading and Supporting Research, the author Audrey Church believes that we can, and must.   She states that “Your school library Web page is your library’s presence outside of the physical library walls.  It provides you a space and an opportunity to inform, guide, and instruct.  It can be an advocacy tool, a visibility tool, and a public relations tool.  Through it, you can provide for your students the scaffolding needed to promote reading and support research." How do we, as library techs, do this? 

While Church recommends that the library webpage be an important search tool, a portal to “support research and promote reading,” I believe one way to effectively do this is by incorporating virtual presentation tools that guide the user through the steps it takes to research their online catalogs and databases.  One powerful way to do this is through an effective PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation, meeting the virtual user with a virtual tutorial, showing step-by-step how easy and effective it can be to research things in the library’s database to find unique and interesting information that cannot be found floating around on the web, but can only be found in these special databases.  It’s like finding virtual gold!

I recently completed a Google Slides presentation tutorial on just this topic: How to research the Palomar College Database, specifically, for the Berg Fashion Library.  I post it here in this blog as an example of one possible way for library techs to inspire, educate, and inform virtual-reality-style researchers and library users, to let them know what incredible content is available in countless library databases and how easy it is to do in-depth searches on the webpages of many libraries.

Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BiIas22ylc0-NAVPaX-93J-BX6n0Auelmii1r2Y1ptw/edit?usp=sharing

Work cited:

Your Library Goes Virtual: Promoting Reading and Supporting Research, Church, Audrey. Library Media Connection, v25 n3 p10-13 Nov-Dec 2006.

Digital Storytelling by Laura Bisagna

I hope you all had a good laugh from the comic-strip-style digital story I created for you! (At least a little smile or a chuckle?) But does it really fit the definition of digital storytelling?  From the database research I did on this topic, the initial definition of a digital story seemed mainly to revolve around creating a short, first-person story through the use of video technology.  However, in the article, Keeping up with… DIGITAL STORYTELLING, the author Sara S. Goek states, “Current trends suggest the definition of digital storytelling has expanded over the course of the last twenty years as it shifts from referring primarily to video to encompassing a variety of mixed-media formats.” So that means, yes, my comic strip is an example of digital storytelling.  WooHoo!

As library techs, why should digital storytelling be important to us? According to Kelly Czarnecki in the Library Technology Reports “…digital storytelling can be used to build important skills.  Like traditional storytelling, digital storytelling helps to build conceptual skills like understanding a narrative and using inductive reasoning to solve problems, but the creation of digital stories also requires the creator to build technology skills through the use of software and other tools. These skills are useful to both children who need them for increasingly technology-oriented future job market, and adults, who need them to keep up with a changing world.” (p.15)

Creating a comic strip is a great way to get started in digital storytelling.  Here are a few places where you can create your own for free:

Strip Generator: http://stripgenerator.com/

PIXTON: https://www.pixton.com/

ToonDoo: http://www.toondoo.com/

Work cited:

Keeping up with… DIGITAL STORYTELLING, Sara S. Goek, Association of College & Research Libraries

Digital Storytelling in Practice, Kelly Czarnecki Library Technology Reports. Oct2009, Vol. 45 Issue 7,

p13-21. 5p.

Presentation Tools in Libraries - Laura Bisagna

Hi There! Did I get your attention? I sure hope so, because, let’s face it, no one likes a boring presentation, and teachers are increasingly having to compete with Netflix, YouTube, and gaming apps to get the attention of their students.  They are having to consistently rely on more interesting and engaging presentations, presentations that are similar to what children have now become accustomed; teachers and other professionals are having to go beyond the basic PowerPoint or Google Slides presentations and must keep up with the ever changing technology trends to remain relevant.   In order to remain competitive, teachers and students, as well as adult professionals, must keep abreast of presentation apps if they are to develop marketable technological skills.

Who is there to support these teachers, students, and professionals alike? The library tech, of course.  In today’s techie world, the library tech needs to be a media specialist.  Not only do we need to know how to use the school’s old projector, we must also know how to use apps and smart phones and Youtube, etc., and to become knowledgeable of presentation apps that both students and teachers will be using in order to help them facilitate teaching instruction and student learning.

Whether you need a presentation tool to market library offerings/events or to assist teachers, students, or professionals in their own presentations, posted below are several apps for you to learn about and explore:

Voki: www.voki.com (This presentation was created with Voki).

Powtoon: https://www.powtoon.com/home/? 

Emaze: https://www.emaze.com/

Educreations: https://www.educreations.com/

Prezi: https://prezi.com/

Works cited:

The High Tech Advocate, 8 Must-Have Classroom Presentation Apps and Tools, by Matthew Lynch, January 19, 2018

Libraries in the Digital Age by Laura Bisagna

Yes, it’s here! The Digital Age has arrived!   People have often heard me say that the Digital Age is the “Age of NOT, Not Knowing” since the answers to our questions seem to be just a quick “google-search” keystroke away.  Everyone, including students, first think to look to the internet – Google -- to find answers to all of their questions and to research information on any and every subject imaginable under the sun.   Ask someone a question and they often say, “I don’t know, just google it!”  No one says, “Look it up in the encyclopedia.”  (What the heck that?!)  or “Drive down to your local library and see if you can find some material on it.”  Is this trend something libraries will be able to change in the future?  Possibly, if we build a better clicks-and-mortar library.  So what do we mean by clicks and mortar?

According to the article,  Building a Better Clicks-and-Mortar Library,  author Ken Vesey describes clicks and mortar as follows: “…an adjective describing an enterprise that conducts business both online (clicks) and from physical retail outlets (mortar).”   He also states that “We need to remind patrons of the strength and tradition of our bricks-and-mortar service: that at which we have excelled for decades.”  He continues by saying, “The long-term success of school libraries with homepages will involve the successful integration of their digital and print sides.” 

How can we do this as library techs in terms of presentation tools?  Luckily, we have an array of presentation tools at our fingertips, too many to list here in this blog post; however, one way I might suggest is: putting together a book trailer to post on your library’s webpage.  This is a great way to bridge the gap between using the library services online and bringing patrons through the doors of the brick-and-mortar library.   Through this tool we can entice people to come into the library to check out a particular book, to bring their kids in for storytimes or author visits.  I have posted a link to an example of a booktrailer I put together, along with details on how you, too, can easily make a book trailer and other promotional presentations for your library events.  

Work cited:

Building a Better Clicks-and-Mortar Library, Vesey, Ken, Library Media Connection. Apr/May2004, Vol. 22 Issue 7, p28029. 2 p.

Virtual Reality and Libraries by Holly Verdugo

Virtual Reality (VR) is now being explored in school, academic, and public libraries! It can be used for staff training, virtual filed trips, virtual labs, and much more. Some libraries are using more contained devices, such as Google Cardboard and Google Daydream, which are available for checkout at the libraries. Other devices, such as HTC VIVE, are permanently installed in designated game development rooms. In the article, "Virtual and Augmented Reality in Libraries", Hannah Pope states "Although it is in the beginning stages, there are already a multitude of successful programs out there that will pave the way for more VAR programming in the future" (11). It is going to be exciting watching how Virtual Reality lands in the libraries everywhere!

Works Cited:

"Pope, Hannah. "Virtual and Augmented Reality in Libraries." Library Technology Reports, vol. 54, no. 6, Aug. 2018, pp. 1-25. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9hAN=131380062&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 16 April 2019.

Link to Virtual Reality Videos:

https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/c.php?g=821576&p=5863291

"Virtual Reality Makes its Way to Libraries" Video: