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“Inspiring the Technological Imagination: Museums and Libraries in a Digital Age”

This is the first of several postings that will report on the literature review conducted as part of the project: “Inspiring the Technological Imagination: the Future of Museums and Libraries in a Digital Age.” Funded by the MacArthur Foundation this project addresses one of the four key questions that defines the Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning initiative:  How might institutions change to take advantage of the learning opportunities provided by new digital media? The work discussed here seeks to contribute to the development of a field in new media and learning by focusing on museums and libraries as important learning institutions.


Getting Started:  Blogging Scholarship

In discussing the organization of this literature review—as it serves as one of the deliverables of the MacArthur grant—the research team investigated the conventions of “blogging” as a mode of scholarly communication.  Inspired by the efforts of Mimi Ito and her research team in creating the Futures of Learning blog, we came to appreciate the emerging conventions of scholarly blogging, such when to use web links, embed dynamic media, and add typographic flourishes.  One of our greatest challenges was designing the organization of the series of blog posts such that each post could be read individually and make sense as a “dispatch,” but would also contribute to the overall report on the year-long investigation.  The initial scope of our research activity—to review the literature that describes the digital media practices currently used in libraries and museums—was extremely broad.  Although these institutions share many common interests in serving their various “publics” through the use of digital media, they also have significant differences in terms of their cultural mission, of modes of public access, and levels of resources (for example).  While we want to encourage the cross posting of insights and experiences with digital media among institutional contexts, we decided for the purpose of this blog series to separate our discussion of the literature and practices of libraries from those of museums.  (For an informative discussion of the history and futures of collaborations among libraries and museums see:  Dilevko and Gottlieb, The Evolution of library and Museum Partnerships, 2004)

We address multiple audiences with these postings: we are keenly interested in communicating with museum professionals and library professionals, but also with digital media and learning researchers, design researchers, technologists, humanists, and other cultural workers who are interested the role of museums and libraries as learning sites in a digital age.  We recognize that some of these audience members are extremely knowledgeable about the use of new digital media practices, not only in libraries and museums, but in other learning contexts as well.  This is one of the exciting developments of the use of blogs for the communication of scholarly research: every posting creates the opportunity to expand the research effort through the feedback of readers.  This truly makes the scholarly blog an example of what John Seely Brown famously described as a “living document.”

Not surprisingly, what we discovered during the literature review effort is a range of documentation of these discussions:  there are books of course that address relevant issues, but because of the emergent nature of digital media and learning efforts in the context of the development of Web 2.0 applications, recent discussions are not often documented in print form.  So, unlike a traditional literature review, this series of blog posts will also discuss practices and activities that are not published in traditional print formats.  In some posts we include references and links to particular institutional activities—such as the development of websites—to illustrate specific ways in which museums and libraries are creatively engaging digital media.  In this case, references to the online activities of specific institutions are not offered as case studies or even best practices; they are described as noteworthy illustrations of new efforts that we “read” as part of our cultural review of the development of digital media practices for learning.  Blogs then not only offer the opportunity to reconfigure conventions for the circulation of scholarship, but also offer the opportunity for reconfiguring the genre of the literature review to include reference to and discussion of other modes of expression.

Indeed, finding an appropriate and “comfortable voice” for this form of scholarly communication was a significant part of the authoring/designing work involved in creating these blog postings.  Individual research team members will author or co-author each posting, and when possible will make reference to earlier postings.  Although the entire research team collaborated on the overall outline and trajectory of each posting, the individual author(s) will determine the tone and voice employed within a specific post.

This initial post offers an overview of the general context for the project including an introduction to some of the key theoretical notions that were explored in the course of the year long research effort.  I begin with a brief elaboration of the title of the project: “Inspiring the Technological Imagination” before launching into a discussion about the framework that guided specific research efforts to find relevant literature and practices.  Because the initial scope of the project was deeply informed by the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning (DML) initiative, I provide a brief review of some of the defining claims of that initiative.  The end of this posting includes a table of contents for the other blog postings that will appear over the next several weeks.


The Technological Imagination Defined

The MacArthur sponsored project, “Inspiring the Technological Imagination,” grew out of a recently completed (but not yet published) transmedia book project called: Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work (Duke UP, forthcoming).  (An early excerpt was published in 2005 as “Taking Culture Seriously: Educating and Inspiring the Technological Imagination.”) In this project, I define the technological imagination in the following way:

A character of mind and creative practice of those who use, analyze, design and develop technologies.  It is a quality of mind that grasps the doubled-nature of technology: as determining and determined, as both autonomous of and subservient to human intentions.  This imagination embraces the fact that all technologies have multiple and contradictory effects.  This is the quality of mind that enables people to think with technology, to transform what is known into a set of possibilities, and to evaluate the consequences of possibilities from multiple perspectives.  (Balsamo, forthcoming)

It is not appropriate here to elaborate the details of this transmedia book project. Suffice to say that the MacArthur grant was designed to explore the notion of the development of the technological imagination within the context of libraries and museums.  The broader argument is that the technological imagination is a key sensibility of lifelong learners who reside in the 21st century.  As such, this imagination needs to be explicitly cultivated and, more importantly inspired.  The transmedia book project, Designing Culture explores (and presents) a range of digital projects that were designed to address and inspire this imagination.  Several of these projects involved the development of new museum exhibits and public interactive experiences.  Thus the title of the grant “Inspiring the Technological Imagination” reveals the more specific focus of our investigation into the use of digital media in museums and libraries:  to study how these cultural institutions might utilize digital media for the purposes of cultivating and inspiring a particular mode of imaginative engagement with technology that is simultaneously critical and creative, informed by the histories of technology as it also is engaged in the practice of imagining technological futures.  Investigating how this imagination is cultivated in the context of museums, especially science and technology museums/centers, was a key point of connection between the transmedia book project and the MacArthur DML initiative.


Stakes in the Ground: New Spaces, Identities, and Learning Practices

For many young people learning no longer happens within a specific physical location—the formal school classroom or the after-school program.  While this may have always been true to some extent, learning places now include domestic (home) environments and various school locations, and also recreational facilities, religious centers, and cultural institutions (to name a few).  Moreover, through the use of digital media, homes and schools provide digital access points to websites created by cultural institutions and entertainment companies that sponsor on-line learning activities.  Since the advent of the WWW, the physical “place of school” has given way to a proliferation of online “educational places” that create entirely new “spaces for learning.”

French sociologist Michel deCerteau (1984) makes a poetic distinction between “space” and “place” when he writes:  “a space is a practiced place.” A place has stable boundaries and a fixed location; a space is created in time through actions and practices.  In this sense, school is a place; and learning is a spatial practice.  This insight is not merely theoretical.  It captures something important about the nature of learning in a digital age.  Through the use of the Internet, educational places are now part of broadly distributed digital learning spaces.  When learning design researcher Katie Salens provocatively asks “where is school in a digital age?” she invites us to shift our thinking about education from a focus on the “physical place of school,” to a consideration of the “nature of learning spaces” that emerge from the digital connections among physical places, virtual environments, and mobile practices of access and interaction.

In keeping with this insight, one of the key “stakes in the ground” established by the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning projects describes the space of learning (in a digital age) as a networked distributed learning environment (space) that is comprised of several elements:  1) physical places; 2) virtual places; 3) designed learning activities; 4) opportunities for social interactions; 5) information resources; and 6) access entry points.  The diagram below represents this space as a network that is created through the connections among different physical locations (home, recreation, school, after-school, museums and libraries).  These physical locations are represented as nodes within the learning network.  They are distributed geographically as well as temporally.  Temporal distribution means that although they are always part of the network by virtue of their web availability, the nodes are accessed and experienced by learners at different times as part of their travels through the mesh of digital sites.

Several projects in the DML initiative focused explicitly on specific nodes within (this model) of a networked distributed learning environment.  The following is a partial list of DML projects that investigate the use of digital media in schools, after-school programs, in the home, and as part of youth leisure and recreational activities.  Henry Jenkins’ New Media Literacies Project identified the core skills that comprise literacy in the 21st century.  This work guided the development of curriculum for schools and after-school programs.  Katie Salens is working on the creation of Quest to Learn, a fully accredited public school (6-8th grades) in New York City that incorporates game-based pedagogies.  Nichole Pinkard, the Director of Technology at the Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago, is PI on a multi-year project to develop an after-school curriculum and program to foster new media literacy.  Mimi Ito, now a research scientist at the University of California at Irvine, designed and directed an extensive longitudinal (3-year) ethnographic investigation of how youth participate in digital media in the home, through mobile devices, and as part of online recreational (game-based) communities.  These projects were instrumental in establishing a set of understandings not only about how young people engage digital media, but also about the way in which digital media can enhance learning.  These projects also suggested new research questions:  1) how must institutions change to address the changing nature of knowledge creation in a digital age ; 2) how should learning environments be designed to address new forms of digital engagement; 3) what kinds of sensibilities emerge in the young people who grow up in digital environments?

This diagram provides an abstract approximation of the structure of a networked distributed learning environment; it is less useful in communicating the dynamic nature of the environment and identifying those who travel through it. The network is never static; it is animated through the practices of access, use, retrieval, storage, and creation.  People activate the network through their communication practices with other people (with peers, with adults, with geographically dispersed community members), with applications, and with digital agents.  They engage in these practices not only from fixed places that provide access (such as homes and schools), but also increasingly while they are on the move through the use of mobile communication devices.  So even as this diagram calls out the important physical nodes within a networked distributed learning environment, it must also be understood that the environment is constituted by dynamic flows of interaction among people, between people and computers, and among digital devices.

The people who participate in a networked distributed learning environment manifest a host of new identities.  They are simultaneously users of computer systems and creators of a learning experience. In Henry Jenkins’ (2006) words, they are productive consumers, prosumers who simultaneously produce digital experiences as they engage in the consumption of digital applications, services, and environments.  The formation of a singular identity, gives way to the notion of shifting multiple identities.  Teachers have to become learners so that they can better understand how to facilitate learning in these new digital environments.  As students participate in peer-to-peer networks, they become teachers, not only for their peers for often for adults as well.  The old distinctions between online and offline are blurred; the very notion of “identity” is under revision.

Although there is no age limit on those who participate in networked learning environments, most of the MacArthur Foundation DML projects focus on the learning experiences of a category of young people who have been variously named “digital natives,” the “born digital generation,” and “digital youth.” Faculty researchers from the Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, John Palfrey and Urs Gasser (2008) offer this snapshot profile of the digital native:

They were all born after 1980, when social digital technologies such as Usenet and bulletin board systems came online.  The all have access to networked digital technologies.  And they all have the skills to use those technologies (p. 1).

“Digital natives,” as Palfrey and Gasser assert, “live much of their lives online” and in so doing challenge traditional notions of identity as “singular,” “fixed,” or tied to an embodied persona. There is little separation between the creation of an online identity (that might happen through the design of an avatar or game character) and the embodiment of an offline identity.  For digital natives, identities are fluid moments of experience that are expressed as they participate in online spaces; this participation is often part of a practice of rapid attention shifting.  Online is a ubiquitous quality of embodied life.  This observation about the changing “nature of identity” of digital natives leads Palfrey and Gasser (among others) to rethink notions of the “self,” “sociality,” and of “learning” more broadly.  Identity, for digital natives, is multiple and mutable.  Palfrey and Gasser speculate about how this changing notion of identity influences our understanding of the process of cognitive development in young people.  Digital natives process information differently, which in turn, influences the dynamics of concept and knowledge formation.  In another context, “the born digital generation” have been described as “just-in-time learners” who have learned first and foremost that when they need to know something they can always “Google it” (Anderson and Balsamo, 2008).  Knowledge for digital natives is not as much “learned” as it is “harvested” and “synthesized” from the information flows they visit and travel through on a daily basis. Palfrey and Gasser describe their practices of knowledge construction as an iterative multi-step process that involves: 1) “grazing,” 2) a “deep dive,” and 3) a “feedback loop” (p. 241).  Of particular interest for the purposes of the libraries and museums project is the nature of the “feedback loop” activity.  This is Palfrey’s and Gasser’s term for the activity whereby a digital native engages with the information in a creative way by (for example) posting critique on a website, contributing to a wiki page, creating a podcast or a YouTube video, or disseminating the information to friends and network companions.  The key dynamic captured by the notion of the “feedback loop” is the sense of participation:  the learner actively engages with the information to do something else with it.  It is not merely “memorized,” although it may indeed be “remembered,” rather it is actively woven into a set of meaning making practices that (might) involve the use of digital media (podcasts), authoring environments (wikis), and/or networks (e-blasts and blog posts).  Participation is the foundation of learning within the context of a networked distributed learning environment.  This is the key building block in the use of digital media in libraries and museums as they invent new ways to contribute to learning in a digital age.


Libraries and Museums as Specialized Learning Nodes: The Focus of this Blog Series

The projects mentioned in the previous section provided a general context for the design of the “Inspiring the Technological Imagination” research effort.  Our more specific focus was to contribute to discussions about how libraries and museums might incorporate new digital media for the purposes of enhancing informal learning in a digital age. These cultural institutions have important educational missions, and through the use of digital media they are already making significant contributions to the learning experiences of digital youth.  Our goal in this literature review was to delve into the context and the key issues under discussion by library and museum professionals about the use of digital media in their respective institutions and to make the connections between these conversations and the insights from the MacArthur DML initiative.  Thus our blog postings will summarize key reports, resources and discussions that address two guiding themes:  1) the relationship between the use of digital media within libraries for the purposes of broadening participation in digital culture; and 2) the use of digital media in museums for the purposes of informal education. As mentioned earlier, we separate the discussion of these topics to focus first on the use of digital media in community libraries, and then on the use of digital media in museums.  We know that there is much to be learned from the practices going on in each setting that would be valuable for professionals in other settings.  The discussions are separate only for the purposes of organizing insights and archiving the literature review. 

The last blog postings look to the “edges” of digital culture for insights about the future contribution of libraries and museums to the inspiration of the technological imagination.  A third theme of the literature review thus focuses on the notion of tinkering as a mode of knowledge production, specifically to investigate the role of tinkering in the creation of cross-generational community relationships and as a context for the development of lifelong (informal) learning habits. This part of the research was informed by the theoretical assertion that “tinkering” is an important mode of knowledge production in a digital age because these practices 1) enable important cognitive developments, 2) engender social and cross-generational face-to-face community-creating relationships, and 3) cultivate the technological imagination.  Following this, the research team also investigated a range of tinkering practices, from those that involve the use of physical materials to those that involve digital tools and applications. As part of this literature review, we discuss specific examples of practices within community libraries and museums (specifically science/technology centers) that facilitate tinkering-based learning activities.  The focus on tinkering was to suggest new horizons for practices and activities that might be adopted by libraries and museums in the future. 

In brief, my argument is that the technological imagination needs to be actively cultivated.  Too often, we leave the tending of this imagination to serendipity or superstition.  We believe, erroneously I argue, that simply by providing access to technology (computers, mobile devices, games) young people will develop a robust technological imagination.  And yet, as I elaborate elsewhere (Balsamo, forthcoming), a cultivated technological imagination requires more than just understanding how to use technology.  It requires an appreciation for historical precedents and an ethical investment in the creation of our futures.  The exercise of the technological imagination is always a work of time-travel: between the many pasts that create the conditions of the (technocultural) present, and between the present and the many (technocultural) futures we are in the process of enacting. This connects the work of the literature review with the broader aims of my ongoing project to consider how museums and libraries as important cultural institutions contribute to the cultivation of the technological imagination as the foundation for the creation of humane, responsible, and ethical futures. 

While this project was only one year in duration, it has yielded several outcomes (in addition to this literature review) that will serve the basis for future research, design, and practice:  1) an article on the notion of tinkering as a mode of knowledge production, 2) an interactive map on DIY culture, 3) a prototype of an evocative learning object that melds the physical and the digital to serve as a creative platform for informal learning experiences within museums and libraries.  These efforts will be described more fully in the final grant report that will be disseminated on Anne Balsamo’s website:  www.designingculture.net. The blog posts that will follow will be authored by members of the “Inspiring The Technological Imagination” project research team:  Anne Balsamo, Cara Wallis, Maura Klosterman, and Susana Bautista.  The following is a list of postings and a tentative schedule for publication. 


Posting Topic Outline

Inspiring the Technological Imagination: Museums and Libraries in a Digital Age
Anne Balsamo

“Libraries: Setting the Context.  From National Efforts to Create Digital Archives to Local Efforts at Access Equality.”
Maura Klosterman

Digital Media in Communities Libraries, Part 1:  From Information Access to Creative Participation.
Cara Wallis

Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 2:  Teen Websites
Susana Bautista

Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 3: Games and Gaming
Anne Balsamo and Stacy Ingber

Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 4: The Case for Virtual Libraries
Anne Balsamo

Digital Media in Community of Libraries, Part 5: Media Workshops
Maura Klosterman

Museums: Setting the Context
Anne Balsamo

Mobile Eperiences in Art Museums
Susana Bautista

Museums Collections: Digitization-Dissemination-Dialogue
Susana Bautista

Virtual Museums: Where to Begin?
Anne Balsamo

Online (art) museum Experiences
Susana Bautista

Learning from the Edges, Part 1:  The Importance of Play.
Cara Wallis and Maura Klosterman

Learning from the Edges, Part 2: Tinkering in a Digital Age.
Anne Balsamo

Libraries and Museums in a Digital Age: Resources and Web links.”
Anne Balsamo


References for Blog Post #1:
Literature Review:  “Inspiring the Technological Imagination: Museums and Libraries in a Digital Age”

Anderson, Steve, and Anne Balsamo. (2007).  “A Pedagogy for Original Synners.” Ed. Tara McPherson. Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected (The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning.) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 241-259.

Balsamo, Anne.  (2005). “Taking Culture Seriously: Educating and Inspiring the Technological Imagination.” Academic Commons.  http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/balsamo-taking-culture-seriously

Balsamo, Anne. (Forthcoming).  Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work. (Duke University Press).

Brown, John Seely. “New Learning Environments for the 21st Century.” http://www.johnseelybrown.com/newlearning.pdf

deCerteau, Michel.  (1984).  The Practice of Everyday Life.  Trans. Steven Randall.  Berkeley, CA: U of California Press.

Dilevko, Juris and Lisa Gottlieb. (2004).  The Evolution of Library and Museum Partnerships: Historical antecedents, Contemporary Manifestations and Future Directions. Westport, CN: Libraries Unlimited.

Jenkins, Henry.  (2006).  Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.  New York: NYU Press.

Palfrey, John and Urs Gasser.  (2008).  Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. New York: Basic Books.

Author Bio:
Anne Balsamo directs the Interactive Media Division’s Co-Design Lab in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.  She teaches courses in design across the curriculum, public interactives, and culture and technology for the Interactive Media Arts and Practice program, the Interactive Media Division, and The Annenberg School of Communication at USC.  She is also a freelance museum exhibit developer and curator who has created interactive exhibits for the International Museum of Women, the San Jose Tech Museum, the Papalote Children’s Museum in Mexico City, Liberty Science Center, and the Singapore Science Center.  Her new research effort called “The Tangible Culture Research Project” investigates the design of evocative (mixed reality) knowledge objects and the role of tinkering in a digital age.  For more information about her current work and new transmedia book project, Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work visit http://www.designingculture.net (to be launched July, 2009).

     

Libraries: Setting the Context

From National Efforts to Create Digital Archives to Local Efforts at Access Equality

Libraries and museums have a common core characteristic as stewards of collections that can be made available to others. There is a drive toward preservation informing the mission of both kinds of institutions, what Derrida (1995) has called “the archontic principle.” As digital technology made impacts on the modes of preservation available to libraries, several efforts were made at the national level to bring together research and practices for digital preservation, along with the means for institutions to share access to their collections. As digital technologies and personal computing grew more ubiquitous among the general public, community libraries were recognized for their potential to serve as an internet resource for people who did not otherwise have access to the web. These two strands within the literature on digital media and libraries inform this post. The focus here is on the United States, in part due to the US based nodes the MacArthur Foundation plans to support in its efforts at establishing distributed learning networks mentioned in the previous post.

Digital Archives and Distributed Networks of Preservation

Efforts to digitize library holdings go back to the 1970s, with Project Gutenberg as an early example (Maidenberg, 2008). In 1995, a group of organizations working to digitize their holdings formed the Digital Library Federation as a way to pool resources for infrastructure research and best practices based in collective experience (Kresh, 2007). Funding and institutional support from the US government came around the same time as millennial panics about the loss of digital data and increased circulation of the terms information society and knowledge economy (Ross & Hedstrom, 2005). Smith (2006) writes “in December 2000, recognizing that born-digital content of value to the nation is at risk of being lost to current and future generations, Congress created the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program - NDIIPP." The Library of Congress was charged with oversight of the program, which funded research for digital infrastructures that would support a distributed network of multiple kinds of digital objects (LeFurgy, 2005). Over time, Congress has approved the extension of this network to include state, regional, and international organizations and an increasing number of private sector partners with stakes in preservation technology (Smith, 2006). Funding for the technical architecture was meant to address four critical areas of investment:

1. building a distributed storage platform to help preserving institutions attain redundant and geographically disbursed storage of digital materials at low cost;
2. establishing protocols for preservation-quality data transfer;
3. developing and testing tools and services for ingest, storage, metadata, and formats and
4. developing practices and standards for assessing the quality of preservation systems (Smith, 2006).

The National Science Foundation also sought to support a distributed network of specialized digital holdings in the form of the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Educational Digital Library (NSDL). The NSDL “comprises a set of projects engaged in a collective effort to build a national digital library of high quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational materials for students and teachers at all levels, in both formal and informal settings” (Zia, 2001). As a repository for learning environments and educational materials, the NSDL faced distinct challenges from the NDIIPP or other projects that have focused on knowledge stored in print form.

References to the library at Alexandra come up repeatedly in reflections upon the possibility of interconnected digital libraries that would together serve as a repository for all the knowledge produced by humankind (Kresh, 2007).  Since its announcement in 2004, Google’s Google Books project has received the most attention for its attempt to digitize every book that has been published and create such a repository (Coyle, 2006; Jeanneney, 2005; Maidenberg, 2008; Toobin, 2007). The company began working towards this goal through partnerships with university-based libraries and publishing companies and are currently working with US courts to create a settlement agreement from (Pickler, 2009) a class-action suit by the US Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. The embedded nature of Google’s profit structures and the search tools that serve as access points for users has caused concern among many in the publishing, preservation, and copyright trades since 2004. Responses include the creation of the Open Content Alliance (OCA), which is simultaneously undertaking the mass digitization of books with the goal of creating a digital repository for shared digital media, including its metadata (Maidenberg, 2005) and international outcry against Google’s cultural politics and economic structure ("German Authors,” 2009; Jeanneney, 2005; Picker, 2009)

On one of Google’s self-published blogs, the company emphasizes the ways their project will create access for larger populations to works that can be difficult to find (Smith, 2009). Leetaru (2008) describes Google’s project and those of its competitors as one of access digitization rather than preservation digitization. The difference mostly comes down to the digital formats used to create a digitized version of an analog form. Coyle (2006) creates a similar distinction between “mass digitization” and “non-mass digitization.” The expense and technical support required for digital preservation contributes to the willingness of preservation institutions to collaborate with other institutions or digitization projects as part of their mission to sustain the relevance of their collections for digital publics.

Access and Digital Inequality

The emphasis on access in the mission statements of both Google Books and the OCA fits with discourses surrounding the term the digital divide, which emerged in the mid 1990s as more households and business connected individuals with the web (Estabrook et al., 2007; Gates Foundation, 2004; Hargittai, 2003; Jenkins et al., 2006; Kafai et al., 2007; Warschauer, 2003). Beginning in 1995, the US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) produced a series of reports titled Falling Through the Net that provided empirical grounds for recognizing stratification “in the use of information technology, attributable largely to socioeconomic factors of race, income, education, and geography” (Gates Foundation, 2004, p. 6). Over time, the term itself has been criticized for oversimplifying how inclusion and participation in digital economies and publics works in relation to the socioeconomic factors mentioned above (Hargittai, 2003; Jenkins et al., 2006; Kafai et al., 2007; Warschauer, 2003). The NTIA has changed the title of its reports to A Nation Online. Hargittai (2003) proposed the term digital inequality: “a refined understanding of the ‘digital divide’ that emphasizes a spectrum of inequality across segments of the population depending on differences along several dimensions of technology access and use.”

The MacArthur Foundation’s DML Initiative is part of the shift away from what Warschauer (2003) and others have characterized as a device based model for understanding the benefits of access to ICT. Research reports from Jenkins (2006) and Ito (2008) are rooted in a literacy based model of ICT access (Warschauer, p.46). This shift came about in part from the disappointing results of early efforts to put computers in the hands of people who were considered to be on the wrong side of the gap (Kafai et al., 2007; Warschauer, 2003). Hargittai (2003) and others have advocated for public policy that supports “affordable access to the telecommunications network” in the form of universal service and promotes autonomy of use or “the freedom to use technologies when, where and how one wishes.” The series of posts on this blog that provide information on new media practices in globalized regional contexts point to specific manifestations of digital inequality as well as ingenuity in efforts at autonomy of use.

Two key reports (Estabrook, 2007; Gates Foundation, 2004) that address US public libraries as sites where people make use of the Internet’s resources mirror an increasing emphasis among library professionals to serve their communities in ways that incorporate digital technologies (Kresh, 2007). University libraries are focusing on comprehensive digital resources for their students through subscriptions to digital archives of scholarly publications like JSTOR, while public libraries are developing strategies for utilizing their physical spaces to connect patrons to digital resources and learning opportunities (Kresh, 2007).

In the 2004 Gates Foundation report Toward Equality of Access: The Role of Public Libraries in Addressing the Digital Divide provided statistical data supporting libraries as a site of Internet use for groups that categorically lacked other means of access. The report also acknowledged libraries as a site that facilitated the learning of computer-related skills through its staff and computer training classes. The 2007 report Information Searches that Solve Problems sponsored by the Pew Internet & American Life project and the University of Illinois School of Library and Information Science presents results from a national survey of how Americans across socioeconomic factors utilized various resources to deal with specific types of problems. The study found that the Internet was the top source of information for problem-solving and that

65% of adults who went to a library for problem-solving help said that access to computers, particularly the internet, was key reason they go to the library for help. And 62% of adults who went to the library for help actually used the computers at the library (Estabrook, 2007).

Conclusion

Although the Library of Congress initiated its NDIIPP program with the aim of creating a shared infrastructure and policies for the preservation of national heritage, it is also currently focused upon access and participation, with the launch of a collaboration with Flickr.com as a key example (Springer et al., 2008). This collaboration leverages existing commercial social media networks to facilitate forms of user contributions such as comments and tags. A report on the success of the pilot program mentions that the collaboration between the Library and Flickr led the website to establish The Commons and serve as a link between digital image archives and various publics. On its website, Flickr claims its twin goals with the project are

1. To increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and
2. To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge.

While the Library of Congress seeks to make its collections available to more visitors than could reach its physical location, as will be discussed in our next posting, local libraries are working to create physical settings that promote learning in the digital age.

References

Coyle, K. (2006). Mass digitization of books. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(6), 641-645.

Derrida, J. (1996). Archive Fever. (E. Prenowitz, Trans). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (original work published 1995)

Estabrook, L., Witt, E., Rainie, L. (2007, December 30). Information searches that solve problems: How people use the internet, libraries, and government agencies when they need help. Pew Internet & American Life Project: Washington, DC. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/Pew_UI_LibrariesReport.pdf

Gates Foundation. (2004). Toward equality of access: The role of public libraries in addressing the digital divide. Retrieved June 1, 2007, from http://www.gatesfoundation.org.

German authors outraged at Google Book Search. (2009, April 27). Der Spiegel. Retrieved from: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,621385,00.html

Hargittai, E. (2003) The digital divide and what to do about it. In D. C. Jones (Ed), New economy handbook. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Ito, M., Horst, H., Bittanti, M., boyd, d., Herr-Stephenson, B. Lange, P.B. et al. (2008, November). Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. Retrieved from: http://digitallearning.macfound.org

Jeanneney, J.-N. (2007). Google and the myth of universal knowledge: A view from Europe (T.L. Fagan, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (original work published 2005)

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A.J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st
century. The MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved from: http://www.digitallearning.macfound.org.

Kafai, Y. B., Peppler, K. A., & Chiu, G. M. (2007) High tech programmers in low-income communities: Creating a computer culture in a community technology center. In Steinfield, Pentland, Ackerman, and Contractor (eds.), Communities and technologies: Proceedings of the Third Communities and Technologies Conference, Michigan State University, 2007, London: Springer, 544-563.

Kresh, D. (Ed.). (2007). The whole digital library handbook. Chicago: American Library Association.

Lagoze, C., Arms, W., Gan, S. Hiiman, D., Hoehn, W., Millman, D. et al. Core services in the architecture of the national science digital library (NSDL). Proceedings of the 2nd ACM/IEEE-CS joint conference on Digital libraries, July 14-18, 2002, Portland, OR, USA.  doi: 10.1145/544220.544264

Leetaru, K. (2008, October 6). Mass book digitization: The deeper story of Google Books and the Open Content Alliance. First Monday 13(10). Retrieved from: http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2101/2037.

LeFurgy. W. (2005). Building preservation partnerships: The Library of Congress National Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). Library Trends, 54(1), 163-172.

Maidenberg, K. (2008). The race to create a digital library: Google Books vs. the Open Content Alliance. Scroll, 1(1). Retrieved from http://jps.library.utoronto.ca.

Picker, R. (2009, April 29). Antitrust updates: Google Book Search; Section 2 Ssymposium; The mediated book. The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog. Retrieved from: http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2009/04/antitrust-updates-google-book-search-section-2-symposium-the-mediated-book.html

Ross, S. & Hedstrom, M. (2005). Preservation research and sustainable digital libraries. International Journal on Digital Libraries, 5(4), 317-324. doi: 10.1007/s00799-004-0099-3

Smith, A. (2006, June). Distributed preservation in a national context: NDIIPP at mid-point. D-Lib Magazine, 12(6). Retrieved from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june06/smith/06smith.html.

Smith, Adam (2009, April 29). Google Book Search settlement will expand access. Google Public Policy Blog. Retrieved from: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-book-search-settlement-will.html

Springer, M., Dulabahn, B., Michel, P., Natanson, B., Reser, D., Woodward, D. et al. (2008, October 30). For the common good: The Library of Congress Flickr pilot project. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/flickr_pilot.html.

Toobin, J. (2007, February 5). Google’s moon shot. The New Yorker, 82(48), 30‐35.

Warschauer, M. (2003). Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking the digital divide. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Zia, L. (2001, Novemeber). The NSF National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Digital Library (NSDL) Program: New Projects and a Progress Report. D-Lib Magazine, 7(11). Retrieved from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november01/zia/11zia.html.

     

Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 1: Mobile Media

Over time we have seen how public libraries have expanded their services to provide a wider range of informational and entertainment media, such as music cds, videos and dvds, and books-on-tape.  With the widescale distribution of books and multimedia available via the Web, community libraries are once again reconsidering not only the range of services they provide, but also their mode of outreach and incorporation of new digital technologies.  This post reviews noteworthy efforts by community libraries to adapt to and make use of new mobile media. 

Mobile phone use in the U.S. has shown tremendous growth in recent years. As of 2008, there were over 260 million mobile phone subscribers, representing about 85 percent of the population (Singh, 2008). 88 percent of college students own mobile phones and 27 percent have a Blackberry or PDA (Rainie, 2008). According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control, 20 percent of U.S. households had only mobile phones (i.e. no landline) as of the end of 2008, and about one third of those aged 18 – 24 and one fourth of those aged 25 – 29 live in mobile phone-only households (Fram, 2009). While young people are more likely to have no landline, about one third of people who live in poverty also only have mobile phones. According to a report by comScore, as of January 2009 some 22.4 million mobile phone users were accessing the mobile web on a daily basis, and this usage had doubled since one year prior (Burns, 2009).

This shifting landscape of mobile communication use intersects with the evolving role of the library discussed in the previous post. There are three main reasons that libraries have embraced the use of mobile technologies:  (1) to expand the range of content available to patrons, (2) to offer a fuller menu of services, and (3) as a new mode of public outreach. In terms of content, the question posed is, how do wireless devices such as mobile phones and PDAs allow libraries either to distribute content in different forms or to expand the field of information about a library item?  For services and outreach, how do mobile devices enhance customer service and expand the patron base?  And yet, to argue that the use of mobile media is a NEW manifestation of the desire to expand outreach efforts (or provide a wider range of information and services) would be to ignore an important element of the history of community library efforts.

Consider the humble bookmobile. Yes, the bookmobile, the traveling RV bibliothéque that many of us remember (with delight in my case) gracing our elementary schools once a month with its glorious presence. At the bookmobile one could conveniently have access (service) to books (content) unavailable at one’s own school library, and even the kids with the most lackadaisical attitude toward reading were drawn to the bookmobile because its monthly appearance in and of itself made it special and because it was a chance to be dismissed from class for 30 minutes to go and look at books with groovy titles and fun images (outreach). Of course, the mission of many bookmobiles today aligns more closely with the vision set forth by Mary Titcomb when she came up with the idea of the traveling wagon full of books in 1905 – to provide books to those without any access to a library in their local community (http://www.whilbr.org/bookmobile/index.aspx). Bookmobiles also make available books and services to seniors and others with limited physical mobility. More recently, with his Internet Bookmobile (http://www.archive.org/texts/bookmobile.php), Brewster Kahle, director of the Internet Archive, traveled around the U.S. printing and binding books in the public domain (such as Alice in Wonderland), raising awareness of the Internet as a free digital library for all, and challenging copyright extension legislation that continues to be passed in Congress (Cisler, 2002; Koman, 2002).

Taking the bookmobile as a starting point, in what ways are community libraries engaging with mobile communication technologies to enhance content, services, and outreach for the purposes of learning? How is mobility a part of both the physical and the virtual library? It should be noted that the following discussion is by no means exhaustive and is meant to point to interesting applications and projects that are in the works. For additional links to important “mobiles and libraries” interfaces, applications, and resources (not limited to public libraries) see “M-Libraries – Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki” (http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=M-Libraries).

Content
Mobile technologies clearly allow libraries to expand the range of forms for distributing content. For decades, libraries have offered books on tape and CD in order to provide content for those unable to read a physical book, such as the sight impaired, and for people who desire content that they could enjoy on the go (driving, walking, etc.). More recently many libraries have begun offering e-books and digital audio books for download. For example, since 2005 cardholders of the New York Public Library have been able to download audio books from the Internet any time of the day or night simply by going to the library’s website and entering their card number and a PIN (http://www.gizmag.com/go/4157/). They can check out as many as ten audio books at a time for up to three weeks and play them on their computer, CD player, portable digital music player, or cell phone. The New York Public Library and thousands of others use OverDrive’s technology, and OverDrive’s website allows users to search for libraries offering free digital downloads (http://www.overdrive.com/). Libraries have also begun offering not only digital content, but also the means by which to use it. As Ellyssa Kroski (2008) discusses in her recent report, On the Move with the Mobile Web, institutions such as the Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs, Illinois (http://www.fordlibrary.org/) allow patrons to check out iPod Nanos with audio books loaded on them.

In addition to storing digital books, mobile devices are also being used to expand the field of information around books. One way is through the use of QR (quick response) codes, which are a type of two-dimensional barcode that can store a lot of information that can then be downloaded via a mobile phone. They are already quite popular in Japan and parts of Europe where they are used mostly for promotional/marketing reasons. However, QR codes could have multiple uses in libraries. As librarian Lex Rigby explains, currently in libraries while conventional barcodes are used to link an item to its catalog record, the information is limited and it can only be accessed by scanning the barcode at the check-out desk. On the other hand, QR codes could be used to store descriptions, images, useful links, etc. for all types of library materials. A library patron could use their mobile phone to scan the QR code to access this information (http://www.lexrigby.com/2009/03/26/qr-codes-in-libraries-and-higher-education/). The library at the University of Bath is at the forefront of using QR codes to link to their catalog (http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/qrcode/2009/03/23/uni-of-bath-library-including-qr-codes-in-catalogue/). This expanded range of information available at the click of a (camera phone) button is obviously time-saving and efficient. Thus far, however, the use of QR codes in public libraries in the U.S. does not seem to be widespread although such two dimensional barcodes have been generated for the web spaces of each branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (http://natehill.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/the-physical-internet-10-at-not-your-library/).

Services
In addition to providing a new mode of content provision, mobile devices are also being used to enhance library services. In this regard, text messaging (or SMS – short message service) is an obvious means of inexpensive and efficient communication, and several public libraries have implemented message options for their cardholders. Orlando, Florida’s Orange County Library System (http://www.ocls.info) allows patrons the choice of receiving text message reminders about upcoming due dates for materials and start dates for courses (Kroski, 2008). The Skokie Public Library in Skokie, Illinois offers such alerts as well as updates on holds placed and the option of renewing items via SMS (http://www.skokie.lib.il.us/s_about/mobile_services.asp). For similar purposes, some libraries are also using Twitter (http://twitter.com/about#about), a micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (tweets) to their “followers” and receive tweets from those they signed up to follow. Posts can be viewed on a computer or an Internet-enabled mobile phone.

In addition to using mobile-enabled messaging, many libraries are designing their websites to be mobile friendly, which involves making the information concise, limiting the number of links, using descriptive icons, and including “home” and “parent-link” icons (West, Hafner, & Faust, 2006). At the current moment, however, there are still issues with display quality across different devices (Liston, 2009). Again, among community libraries the Skokie Public Library emerges as an exemplar as the library has designed a version of its website specifically for viewing on the small screen of a mobile device. The library catalog can also be browsed using a phone or PDA (with AirPAC, a mobile version of OPAC). In a recent presentation, Megan Fox (2009) has outlined numerous types of library friendly applications designed for the iPhone and other smartphones. Such applications enable users to find public libraries, organize notes, and conduct mobile searches. For example, the Washington D.C. Public Library has an iPhone application specifically designed to navigate its services. Some libraries also provide audio tours via mobile phones (http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=2383). A final mobile service deserving mention is the WorldCat Mobile pilot project (http://www.worldcat.org/mobile/default.jsp), which enables users to search for library materials as well as libraries, maps, and directions.

Outreach
In 2008, 62 percent of those aged 18 – 30 years old visited a public library for a range of purposes, including checking out books, using computers, seeking reference materials and the like (Rainie, 2008). Despite this figure, public libraries feel it is imperative to continue to reach new users and to maintain the users they have. The mobile content and services mentioned above are offered as opt-in choices for patrons. However, outreach generally means reaching out to those not already enjoying the library. Mobile phones may not be the most ideal devices for this purpose because of their extremely personal nature and people’s profound disdain for mobile spam (due to cost and irritation factors). However, some libraries are finding success using Twitter via mobile phones to make more connections in their communities and to promote their services and programs
(http://lis5313.ci.fsu.edu/wiki/index.php/Twittering_Libraries#Libraries_Using_Twitter). Such tweets might concern everything from pointers to the library website, to information on upcoming events, to research about the library’s role in society (Milstein, 2009).

Many libraries have also created Facebook and MySpace pages, such as the West Palm Beach Florida Public Library (http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Palm-Beach-FL/West-Palm-Beach-Public-Library/27487304991). While many users view such pages on desktop or laptop computers, accessing social networking sites via mobile phones is becoming a popular activity and one that is growing rapidly (Burns, 2009). For this reason, Rainie (2009) recommends that libraries try to become “a news node for information and interaction” in the lives of young people. As Rainie adds, “The internet is ‘personified’ in some people’s lives and [libraries] can provide information and social support in the same ways that social networks can.” Since people often build their social networks via social networking sites such as Facebook through “friending” their friends’ friends, libraries could tap into this networking function as a form of outreach. Dempsey (2009), however, questions whether users will be motivated to participate in such networks.

Conclusion
There are clearly several interesting projects and applications joining together libraries and mobiles at this current moment. As library professionals participate in Google groups (http://groups.google.com/group/mobilelibraries), blogs (Gerry McKiernan’s http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/), and conferences (http://m-libraries2009.ubc.ca/) dedicated to exploring mobile libraries, the future promises to bring more ways that mobile phones and PDAs can be used to serve the library’s mission in terms of expanding content, services, and outreach. However, one word of caution should be added in this conclusion. Aside from text messaging services, most of the initiatives highlighted above necessitate a mobile phone with Internet access. Considering that most data plans are only compatible on more high-end phones and cost upwards of an additional $20 per month, clearly not everyone can participate in such mobile-enabled initiatives. As Horrigan (2009) discusses in his recent report, The Mobile Difference, only 39 percent of the U.S. adult population are “motivated by mobility” and have “largely positive and improving attitudes about how mobile devices make them more available to others” as well as high levels of usage for “non-voice data applications such as text messaging and internet browsing” (25). However, 61 percent are defined as “stationery media will do,” meaning they do “not feel the pull of mobility – or anything else – drawing them further into the digital world” (4). As Horrigan emphasizes that “the bar that qualifies as high-tech among users has risen” (p. 16), we must continuously ask whether such mobile services and applications will broaden participation in libraries or perpetuate an insurmountable knowledge gap.

References

Cisler, S. (2002). Letter from San Francisco: The Internet bookmobile. First Monday [Online] 7(10). Retrieved May 2, 2009, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/999/920

Dempsey, L. (2009). Always on: Libraries in a world of permanent connectivity. First Monday [Online] 14(1-5). Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2291/2070

Fox, M. (2009, April 1). Mobile practices and search: What’s hot! Paper presented at the Computers in Libraries Annual Conference. Arlington, VA. Retrieved May 8, 2009, from http://web.simmons.edu/~fox/mobile

Fram, A. (2009). More cell phone users dropping landlines. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 8, 2009, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/06/national/w090056D59.DTL&type=tech

Horrigan, J. (2009, March). The mobile difference: Wireless connectivity has drawn many users more deeply into digital life. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/5/-The-Mobile-Difference-Typology.aspx

Koman, R. (2002). Riding along with the Internet bookmobile. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002/10/09/bookmobile/index.html

Kroski, E. (2008). On the move with the mobile web: Libraries and mobile technologies. Library and Technology Reports 44(5). Retrieved January 11, 2009, from http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/on-the-move-with-the-mobile-web-libraries-and-mobile-technologies.html

Liston, S. (2009). OPACs and the mobile revolution. Computers in Libraries 29(5), 6-16.

Milstein, S. (2009). Twitter FOR libraries. Computers in Libraries 29(5), 17-18.

Raine, L. (2008, April 17). The role of libraries in a networked world. Paper presented at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference. Dallas, TX. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2008/The-role-of-libraries-in-the-digital-age.aspx

Raine, L. (2009, January 14). How libraries can survive in the new media ecosystem. Paper presented at the HELIN Library Consortium. Bryant University, Smithfield, RI. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/How-libraries-can-survive-in-the-new-media-ecosystem.aspx

Singh, S. (2008). U.S. raises $19b in spectrum sale. The Times of India (March 25). Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_raises_19b_in_spectrum_sale/articleshow/2896443.cms

West, M. A., Hafner, A. W., & Faust, B. D. (2006). Expanding access to library collections and services using small-screen devices. Information Technology and Libraries 25(2), 103-107.

Author Bio
Cara Wallis recently completed her Ph.D. at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her research interests include the social and cultural implications of new media technologies, particularly as these relate to issues of identity, power, and social change.

     

Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 2: Teen Websites

Teen websites are separate (cyber)spaces within the library environment (or places as Anne Balsamo cited Michel deCerteau’s distinction between the two). Contrasted to the offline, “brick and mortar” libraries typified by quiet and decorum, these websites represent spaces only for teens, and appropriated by teens. Just as libraries are now embracing mobile technologies, evidenced in Cara’s last post, so too are they embracing Web 2.0 technologies. As long as libraries have had websites, they have had pages dedicated to kids and teens (as well as other patron groups like teachers and adults). This recent iteration of teen websites represents a marked progression from merely providing information to opportunities for participation, creation, and social connection. We are calling these web sites and not web pages because of the extent to which they go beyond the one-way transmission of information and utilize new digital technologies, offering numerous links that truly contribute to a “networked distributed learning environment.”

The Pew Internet and American Life Project study cited by Maura Klosterman in a previous post (Estabrook et al, 2007) found that “more people turned to the Internet than any other source of information and support, including experts, family members, government agencies, or libraries” (p. v). Libraries have websites for the same reasons they embrace mobile technologies. Cara stated the following reasons; 1) to expand the range of content available, 2) to offer a fuller menu of services, and 3) as a new mode of public outreach. Teen websites, however, are targeted to a more specific group defined solely by its age, but possessing features such as informal, sociable, with a propensity for play and experimentation. Teens are more eager for participatory experiences, more receptive to visual and aural stimuli, and more comfortable using new technologies. This is also a group marked by personal struggles and peer pressures as teens pass through this transformative life stage. As community libraries, these modern institutions surpass their historic charge to preserve their collections by providing a public service and fostering a sense of community (in the all-embracing modern sense of a public, not the Habermasian elite public). It is this social responsibility – directed partly, but significantly to youth – that drives libraries to provide greater access to their collections online, to have strong educational programs and offer opportunities to participate, share, and contribute, both onsite and online. Teenagers are future library patrons, writers, and even funders and public officials, and libraries are keen to cultivate their interest, involvement, and loyalty from an early age, much like the corporate sector that fosters early habits of consumption with their brand communities.

New Efforts
First let us look at a few noteworthy library teen websites in the US, and then we can discuss what is meant by these online communities, as well as some of their benefits and repercussions.

In Colorado, the Denver Public Library named their teen website eVolver, because evolving minds want to know… The sidebar has the following sections: Homework Help, Ask a Librarian, Look it Up, Find a Good Book, Get Involved, Entertainment/Media, and Life. The site features staff and teen picks for books, teens’ top ten nominees, a tag cloud for their new catalog, sign up for e-newsletters, my library card (personal account), teen events and classes, and a link to their MySpace page with a teen blog. eVolver also has an account on Flickr for teens to post their photography and art, and on Twitter. Teens can post original writings in the Writer’s Realm and write book reviews, there is help on how to start a blog, links to an external teen chat forum, and podcasts created by teens during the Teen Tech Week podcast workshop. An online scavenger hunt encourage teens to get a book from the library and read it to win prizes, and there is live chat 24/7 with a librarian, as well as contact email and telephone information. There are numerous external links for writers’ resources, online games, comics/anime, online magazines, and information related to many personal topics in the Life section (money, sexuality, spirituality, safety, body, future, world, relationships, etc.). The Get Involved section also provides information and links regarding activism and volunteering.

The New York Public Library’s teen website is called Teenlink. Much like Denver, there is Homework Help, Events @ the Library, Library Services, and lists of recommended books by the library. Wordsmiths is “a Web anthology of writings by teenagers” including poems and short stories that can be submitted online. Link-o-Rama has links to authors, books and ‘zines, and NYC Teen info; also Weird & Wacky has other fun links, and a link to eNYPL provides free video/audio/eBook downloads. Teenlink’s account on Facebook currently has 6,539 fans, and they present MP3s created by teens at the library called Turn it Up! @ the Library (NYC Teens Talk out LOUD). Also like Denver, there is a section called Teen Life with information and external links on issues including consumer education, spirituality, family, health and well-being, relationships and sexuality, activism, and links to jobs and hotlines.

The Chicago Public Library’s website is called For Teens (Teen Volume), and includes Library Programs and Partnerships, Popular Topics, How to…, Book Reviews by teens, Homework Help, Teen Volume Reads (author interviews by library staff), and Internet Safety. There is also an online events calendar for teens, Ask a Librarian (by telephone, email, or physical visit), and a section called Brain Candy listing books related to personal topics such as money, dating, sex, teen rights, parents splitting, and getting fit.

It is important to note that public libraries in smaller communities are just as successfully incorporating digital technologies on their websites. The teen website of the Jacksonville Public Library in Florida (JPL for teens!) contains a chart on its homepage labeled library 2.0 with links to its pages on Flickr, MySpace (featuring a teen drawing contest), YouTube, their teen department blog (institutional), feeds, and teen book review podcasts. The Sonoma County Library in California is called teenspace, and has a blog with book reviews by teens, a list of teen events, tags, RSS feed, sign-up for email subscription and Next Reads (monthly book recommendations by email).

Online Communities
A community is comprised of individuals connected to other individuals, which are then connected to a larger entity that brings these individuals and groups together through a common bond based on shared interests, goals, or activities. An online community, much like any physical community, requires that individuals feel they belong to a group and understand the norms or rules of that group, that they share not only interests, but also goals, traditions and activities, that there is direct interaction and communication between individuals within the community, and that individuals contribute to the community. This last aspect is especially critical to knowledge-sharing communities of practice such as businesses, academia, open-source software, online publishing, as well as the modern community library.

Robert Putnam (2000) urges us to think about social capital as a public good that can be nurtured and used for the greater benefit of society, but today he cites a decline in civic involvement and a “breakdown of community.” By using their websites to facilitate social interaction, bonding already existing relationships and bridging new relationships, libraries can play their part in fostering a greater sense of community with their online patrons. Social capital can be accrued through social interaction and networking, both offline and online, based on reciprocity and trust, mutual obligations, and norms of conduct. While individual networking and communication is important, the larger social network is more important to provide the infrastructure for strong connections (links) within society. The well-connected library provides for well-connected individuals to achieve social capital that can then be used to benefit the community.

Communal action and a sense of community (to both the library institution and the general public) provide teens with valuable skills needed for a deliberative democracy. Robert Asen (2004) talks about how citizenship engagement is necessary for democratic societies, formed through the acts of “generativity, risk, commitment, creativity, and sociability” (1). Pluralism is prized within a democracy, and respect for pluralist ideas, opinions, and backgrounds is generated by these websites that present diverse examples of writing and artwork, and also diverse opinions and reactions by teens. By empowering teens with some decisions about the website design, book reviews, author interviews and podcasts, teens are learning to become more active and involved in public acts, thereby helping to produce a more engaged citizenry with strong leadership skills. The US Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) final report of their youth programs from 1998 to 2003 (Koke & Dierking, 2007), as well as their companion publication, Nine to Nineteen: Youth in Museums and Libraries, discuss how to best include youth in the design and implementation of programs and provide valuable suggestions for practitioners (57). 

In his recent MacArthur Foundation white paper (2007), Henry Jenkins presents a list of what he considers to be the literacies that youth need for the 21st century (play, performance, simulation, appropriation, multitasking, distributed cognition, judgment, networking, negotiation, transmedia navigation, collective intelligence). Jenkins describes these literacies as “cultural competencies and social skills” for a participatory culture where the focus has shifted to community involvement, collaboration, and networking. Furthermore, he calls for “policy and pedagogical interventions” in order to foster these literacies, specifically mentioning schools, afterschool programs, and parents. We can add libraries to this list as a place of informal learning, and one already engaging youth in a comprehensive manner. Jenkins states, “Everyone involved in preparing young people to go out into the world has contributions to make in helping students acquire the skills they need to become full participants in our society.”

Analysis
Teen websites have the potential to actively engage teens for the purpose of encouraging reading, writing, and other creative and scholastic pursuits that are at the core of library goals. To accomplish this great feat, libraries must provide an online experience that is fun, relative to their lives, and allows for social interaction (both online and onsite). Teens must be given ample opportunities for discourse and self-expression (verbal, visual, and written), and also space for opposition to normative values that are often embodied by the very institution of libraries. In writing about online motivational factors for Wikipedia, Rafaeli and Ariel (2008) cite a study by Joyce and Kraut (2006) that determined “users who contribute more content to an online community were more likely to repeat their participation in that community” (249). Also a study by Ling et al. (2005) found that users contribute more “if they believe that their contributions are important to the group’s performance, if they believe that their contributions will be identifiable, and if they like the group they are working with” (250).

The following nine categories comprise a contextual framework for analyzing individual elements of teen websites to determine if they constitute online communities: 1) generates feeling of belonging to a group, 2) promotes shared activities, 3) promotes shared goals and interests, 4) dissemination of museum information, 5) provides an understanding of museum norms/goals, 6) provides for peer-to-peer connection, 7) community contributions, 8) connection to a physical community/museum group, and 9) provides for interaction/dialogue. It is important for teens to receive information about the overall library community, but it is equally important for them to be able to participate and share their opinions and creations with peers and the general public. Providing links to external organizations and institutions is also vital to creating a networked environment; the IMLS states that “many funding agencies consider partnerships an effective strategy for reaching audiences, leveraging resources, and building organizational capacity” (51, 2007).

Yet teen websites also might have unforeseen consequences to their success. In creating their own content, teens contribute to a displacement of hierarchical knowledge within the library as a pedagogical institution. Do libraries maintain their authority by controlling content from teen websites, and does this explain the marginalization of “teen” content that is labeled as such? Is the Internet an appropriate space for this struggle; is the library an appropriate place? Specific points for further study on the matter could focus on how online teen spaces differ from their physical programs (teen advisory councils), how the production value of these websites are incorporated back into the library, how much the websites are open to public participation, and what is the motivation to view and/or contribute. Also of interest is, if the segregation of the physical and online spaces is a factor of their success, what is the nature of such relationship, and how is success measured. The website participants may start as library visitors (and repeatedly return as members of library-based teen programs), but new visitors may have no knowledge of or even interest in the physical library. Does that even matter, and to whom?

Conclusion
Teens are now highly valued as representing the “pulse of contemporary culture.” Teens are studied extensively throughout the academic world, and they are the focus of market researchers and trend forecasters that depend on their constant search for the latest product, on their free spirit of experimentation, and on their strong social networks to spread information virally.

Feminist theorist Nancy Fraser states that public spheres are “arenas for the formation and enactment of social identities” (1992, 125). The teen websites are such a public sphere, critical for individual development because they reflect societal norms; they are spaces where public opinions are formed, and where participation and discourse are encouraged. Teens determine not only their individual proclivities through action, but also how they fit into society and negotiate their own identities. This is probably the best argument to maintain basic institutional control.

During times of change in our society, it is important to identify the spaces where change is taking place, where “public opinion” is being created, and where future leaders are being formed. Teen websites not only benefit teens with an alternative space for expression and sharing, but they also benefit the libraries that depend on teens as their future patrons and to fulfill their social obligation. The great challenge for museums will be to encourage the formation of individual teen creativity and identity within a larger communal (institutional) space that also has its own identity and history.

References
Asen, R. (2004). A discourse theory of citizenship. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 90, 189-211.

Estabrook, L., Witt, E., Rainie, L. (2007, December 30). Information searches that solve problems: How people use the internet, libraries, and government agencies when they need help. Pew Internet & American Life Project: Washington, DC. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/Pew_UI_LibrariesReport.pdf

Fraser, N. Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. In Craig Calhoun, ed. Habermas and the public sphere (Studies in contemporary German social thought). Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1992.

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robinson, A. J. & Weigel, M. (2007). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Chicago, The MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved from: http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf

Koke, J. & Dierking, L. Museums and libraries engaging America’s youth: Final report of a study of IMLS youth programs, 1998-2003. Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2007. Retrieved from: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/3c/18/f2.pdf

Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Rafaeli, S., & Ariel, Y. (2008). Online motivational factors: Incentives for participation and contribution in Wikipedia. In A. Barak (Ed.), Psychological aspects of cyberspace: Theory, research, applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 243-267.

Author’s Bio
Susana Smith Bautista is a Ph.D. student and Provost Fellow at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, where she also received her Masters degree in Art History/ Museum Studies. Her Bachelors degree is in Government from Pomona College. Susana has many years of experience in the art world in Los Angeles, New York, and Greece working with museums, commercial galleries and non-profit art spaces, curating exhibitions, lecturing, and writing art criticism. She was Executive Director of the Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles, Editorial Director of http://www.LatinArt.com, and Associate with the Daniel Saxon Gallery. Susana also served the city of Pasadena, California, as Arts and Culture Commissioner for six years. At USC, Susana is researching the role of museums in the digital age, how new technologies are affecting traditional museum practices, and the global network of museums, arts institutions, and governmental bodies.

     

Digital Media in Community Libaries, Part 3:  Games and Gaming

On November 15, 2008, libraries across the United States participated in a simultaneous nation-wide video game tournament.  It was part of the American Library Association’s (ALA) National Gaming Day @ your library.

The playful objective of the day was to set the record for the most number of people to play the same board game on the same day.  The more serious objective was to raise awareness about the use of games as a library program.  On that day in 2008, more than 14,000 people participated in National Gaming Day at 597 libraries.  The level of participation demonstrated a way for libraries to reach beyond their traditional patron base to reach new participants.  ALA organized the National Gaming Day to suggest that games may be a way for libraries to creatively fulfill the part of their mission to “provide cultural, recreational, and entertaining materials” as they continue to also provide academic curriculum support and resources for industries and professions.  As Jim Rettig ( ALA President, 2008-2009) writes:  “Games of every type play an important role in developing fundamental competencies for life.  They require players to learn and follow complex sets of rules, make strategic and tactical decisions, and increasingly, collaborate with teammates and others: all things they will have to do in colleen and in the workforce.”

Beth Gallaway:  “The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming!”

To assist libraries in their efforts to develop meaningful game-related activities, the ALA has developed a toolkit for libraries to use that includes resources, guidelines, and best practices.

The ALA asserts that the development of gaming services and events demonstrates how the community library functions as a “third place” for people to inhabit BETWEEN school and home.  The library as “third place” offers not only information access for the purposes of learning, but also recreational and social experiences.  The value of games is clear, according to the ALA website: “Board games, card games, and videogames are, in essence, information, and the human act of telling stories, presented in new formats that involve the player.” Over the past two years, several resources have been developed to guide libraries in creating appropriate game-based events and policies.

The Games in Libraries podcast began in April 2008 as a transmedia site that included links to relevant blog discussions, ALA press releases, articles on games, mainstream press articles, a flickr site for game photos, interviews with librarians on gaming, and an announcement of the National Gaming @ your library day.  The Games in Libraries podcast is produced by Scott Nicholson and created by a slate of regular contributors including Beth Gallaway who created the YouTube video (above) on the “Librarian’s Guide to Gaming.” Gallaway also maintains her own blog called “Game On: Games in Libraries.”

Other Blogs that address topics of Library and Gaming include:

Jenny Levine’s blog called “the Shifted Librarian” often reports on games and libraries.  Her blog is active and frequently cited among those interested in games and libraires. On March 18, 2009 she reported on the “Library Mini Golf” event held at the Downers Grove Library in Illinois that she will use as a case study in her forthcoming article in Library Technology Reports.

The blog by Scott Rice and Amy Harris called Library Games. http://librarygames.blogspot.com/
Although it appears that this hasn’t been updated since 2007, there are useful links on it.  Several other blogs refer to Rice and Harris’ “information literacy game” that is discussed in several posts on the site.

Bibliographic Gaming ia a blog for librarians interested in using video games to teach.

Brian Mayer’s blog, Library Gamer chronicles his thoughts on libraries and literacy.  See also his creative “comic book” piece called “Libraries Got Game” that makes connections between modern board games and the new American Association of School Library standards for the 21st Century Learner.”


Key Issues:  The Public Value of Games

In the November 2008 GamesinLibraries podcast, the issue of game violence came up--particularly in the case of first person shooter games (for example, Halo3).  This points out one of the key issues discussed among librarians about the role of gaming within libraries in terms of the characteristics of “appropriate game playing” experiences.  Game events and services use library resources, spaces and people.  As librarians investigate the range of games and game playing that is available for collection, circulation, and staging, they are finding that not everyone agrees that games belong in libraries.  For example, one community library in Nebraska was rebuffed by the state Auditor of Public Accounts who responded that “the purchase of gaming equipment is a questionable use of public funds.” The audit and the auditor’s evaluation prompted a joint conference of the Nebraska Library Association and the Nebraska Educational Media Association where participants discussed how libraries might appropriately integrate games into their programming.  (See the ALA report of the exchange: 
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/february2009/nebrgamingaudit.cfm

Nebraskan librarians who supported the use of public funds to purchase library game resources reported that they did so because library patrons were requesting game demonstrations.  Before the purchase, librarians brought their personal systems to the library to share and show to library patrons.  The auditor’s report also took issue with the use of “state equipment” for the purposes of playing games and accessing virtual websites (sic)” by library employees.  What is revealed in the occasion of the auditor’s evaluation, and the resulting discussion is that there are debates about the value of game collecting, circulating, and playing as part of library programming. 

In the Nebraska case, the games in question included Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band.  It is unclear at this point the extent to which libraries are making distinctions between types of games for the purposes of restricting the use of some, in favor of others.  The games that allow users to create content and to modify game environments might be less contentious acquisitions than those that include simulated violence.

An Annual Survey of Games in Libraries

In his forthcoming book, Go Back to Start: Gathering Baseline Data about Games in Libraries, Scott Nicholson presents the results of surveys conducted in 2007 that asked a random sample of 400 public libraries about their use (or non-use) of games as part of their services.  (An early article on the 2006 survey is available online at:  http://boardhameswithscott.com/pulse2007.pdf)

Nicholson reminds readers that public libraries have a long history in allowing game playing (such as chess and Go) in their spaces.  What’s new, he argues, is not the presence of games within libraries, but the type of games and game-based activities that libraries are now exploring as part of their programming efforts.  Some of the key findings from his 2007 surveys:

77% of those surveyed stated that they had some sort of gaming program. These games range from chess sets to Web-based games.

38% support a formal gaming program.

13% said they offered console games like Nintendo and Xbox.

20% had game circulation.

82% allowed library patrons to play games on the library computers.

In discussing the results, he notes that the size of the library matters in terms of the inclusion of gaming activities.  Larger libraries (those that serve more than 50,000 patrons) are more likely to include gaming activities than smaller libraries (those that serve less than 3000 patrons).  Common types of games most frequently circulated and supported in libraries include board games and traditional games, fewer libraries report circulating video console games.  One of the most surprising finding is that more than 80% of the libraries (regardless of size) allow patrons to play PC/Web games on library equipment. 

Some of the reasons that libraries report as objectives for their gaming initiatives include: to provide a source of entertainment for members of the community; to provide an additional service to active library users; to attract an under-served group of users to the library, and to increase the library’s role as a community hub.  The single most cited reason (when asked to pick one main objective): to attract an underserved group of users to the library.

Nicholson reports that the survey documented two negative outcomes that libraries encounter in the context of game programming:  1) 15% of librarians report that patrons who participate in gaming events did not return for other events, and 2) 10% of respondents indicated that other patrons were annoyed with the gaming activity.  While Nicholson admits that it is difficult to draw broad conclusions from survey data, he does assert that gaming services do serve the public community library’s mission in serving community members.  He argues for the development of additional surveys a more systematic investigation of the incorporation of gaming in library programming. 

Citations and References

Braun, L. W.  (2004). “What’s in a Game?” VOYA, August: 89.

Gallaway, B. (2006). “Get Your Game On: What Makes a Good Game, Anyway? VOYA. http://pdfs.voya.com/VO/YA2/VOYA200608GetYourGame.pdf

Levine, J. (2006). “Gaming & Libraries: Intersection of Services.” Library Technology Reports 42 (5).

Mayer, B.  “Libraries Got Game.” http://slsgvboces.org/gaming

National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). ‘’Public Library (Public Use) Data Files’’

Neiburger, E.. (2007).  “Gamers ... in the library?” American Libraries Association 38 (5), 58-60.

Nicholson, S.. (2007) “The Role of Gaming in Libraries: Taking the Pulse.”
White paper available from http://librarygamelab.org/pulse2007.pdf

Nicholson, S.. (Forthcoming).  Go Back to Start: Gathering Baseline Data about Gaming in Libraries.”
(Preprint available at http://librarygamelab.orgbactostart.pdf

Scalzo, J.. (2009).  “Video Game Librarian.” http://www.videogamelibrarian.com. January 5, 2009.

Schmidt, A. (2006).  “Are you Game?” School Library Journal 52 (6), 52-54.

Submitted by Anne Balsamo with research assistance from Cara Wallis.

Author Bio:
Anne Balsamo directs the Interactive Media Division’s Co-Design Lab in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.  She teaches courses in design across the curriculum, public interactives, and culture and technology for the Interactive Media Arts and Practice program, the Interactive Media Division, and The Annenberg School of Communication at USC.  She is also a freelance museum exhibit developer and curator who has created interactive exhibits for the International Museum of Women, the San Jose Tech Museum, the Papalote Children’s Museum in Mexico City, Liberty Science Center, and the Singapore Science Center.  Her new research effort called “The Tangible Culture Research Project” investigates the design of evocative (mixed reality) knowledge objects and the role of tinkering in a digital age.  For more information about her current work and new transmedia book project, Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work visit http://www.designingculture.net (to be launched July, 2009).

     

Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 4:  The Case for Virtual Libraries

The Public Library in a Google Age

In February 2008, Witold Rybczynski wrote an image essay called “Borrowed Time” for Slate magazine that focused on the question, “How do you build a public library in the age of Google?” As the architecture critic for Slate, he was interested in the fate of the physical library building in a digital age:  will the brick and mortar (or in some cases steel and glass) buildings that house the library as an institution continue to serve useful cultural objectives in the age of Google, Wikipedia and Kindle?  Or should the institutions be “retired” and the buildings repurposed to serve other needs?

“Borrowed Time” by Witold Rybczynski, 2008.

In the essay, Rybczynski reports on the findings of a Washington D.C. task force that concluded that the District of Columbia’s central public library was “an outmoded structure erected long before the advent of the digital world.” In addition to noting that the library was missing revenue streams (by not sending out overdue notices), the Task Force concluded that the Washington D.C. library needed a “dramatic overhaul that would combine new high-tech buildings with virtual branches in cyberspace.”

The idea of a “library” that exists only in computer space (cyberspace) is not entirely new.  Perhaps the earliest practical example of a “virtual library” was the on-line catalogs that were available to French Minitel users starting in 1982.  As a technological antecedent to the development of the Internet and the WWW, the French Minitel system offered a range of on-line services ranging from telephone numbers, computer dating announcements, home banking, local shopping, government documents, and library catalogs (Kessler, 1995).  Not surprisingly perhaps, the national library of France (The Bibliothèque nationale de France) was one of the “first wave” of institutions to experiment with the creation of a digital library (Dalbella, 2008).  But the DREAM of a virtual library was evident much earlier.  It shows up in the science fiction of H.G. Wells ("The Time Machine,” 1895) as well as the hypertext system originally called Xanadu by Ted Nelson (Dream Machines, 1974) (Pennavaria, 2002).  Several technological visionaries--who are noteworthy because they always seriously considered culture in their technological projections--believed that technology could serve culture in the form of lbiraries that would make materials available “just-in-time” to any and all cultural participants. For example, Internet pioneer J.C.R. Licklider (1965) wrote one of the first books on the technological promise of networked computer systems to serve as the foundation for Libraries of the Future (1965).  In the 1945 article that essentially lays out the foundation for contemporary network computing as a “information processing system,” engineering scientist Vannevar Bush argued that one of the most pressing issues of the day was the need to find a way to enable people to make sense of the prodigious “human record.” He noted that the expansion of research and scholarly documents made it difficult for scientists to keep up on (what he referred to as) the “summation of human experience” (“How We May Think,” Bush, 1945).  It was in this article that he proposed the term “memex” as the name of the device “in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications” as well as his (sic) traces through the network of materials.  According to Bush’s vision, the personal memex would be (kn turn) connected to “books of all sorts, pictures, current periodicals, newspapers.” Building on the creation of a personal memex and an individual’s traces of travels through that memex, collections would accumulate such that “wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear.” As Bush elaborates:

The lawyer has at his touch the associated opinions and decisions of his whole experience and of the experience of friends and authorities.  The patent attorney has on call the millions of issued patents…. The physician…runs rapidly through analogous case histories…. The chemist has all the chemical literature before him in his laboratory…. The historian can follow at any time contemporary trails which lead him all over civilization at a particular epoch.  There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing successful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.  Thus science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores and consults the record of the race (p. 8).

We return to Bush’s vision of a networked human record as a reminder that the notion of the digital library has been an abiding goal and guiding objective for the development of computer communication systems from early on.  As we review (in this post) research on the development of digital and virtual libraries, we assert that the notion of the digital library is in some respects the enabling foundation of learning in a digital age.  This post reviews some of the research on the development of digital libraries before examining some of the emergent efforts to connect brick/mortar libraries and digital spaces.

To begin to map the discussions about digital libraries and the relationship with brick and mortar institutions, consider the following distinctions between “electronic,” “digital” and “virtual” as types of libraries:  (From the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE)

An electronic library is a library consisting of electronic materials and services. (As the article notes, this term is not used any longer).

A digital library is a library consisting of digital materials and services.  Digital materials are items that are stored, processed and transferred via digital devices and networks.

A virtual library is a library that ONLY exists virtually.  It can consist of materials from a variety of separate libraries that are organized in a virtual space.

The U.S. Library of Congress American Memory Project is offered as an example of a “digital library.” This project provides free and open access through the WWW to digitized materials from the Library of Congress collections that document the American experience.  In its early years (1990-1994) during the pilot stage of the project, copies of the digitized materials were distributed on cd-rom to several dozen libraries.  By the mid-1990s, the WWW enabled the wider distribution and circulation of digitized materials. As a consequence, in 1996 the American Memory Project became part of the National Digital Library Program (NDLP).  The current vision for the sees it as: “a set of distributed repositories of managed content and a set of interfaces (some of which will resemble traditional catalogs) to that content.”

The challenges in building the NDLP as a true network of digital libraries are significant.  The issues that have to be explored and have not yet been fully addressed include technical concerns such as the 1) development of improved technologies for digitizing analog materials, 2) the design of search and retrieval tools that compensate for abbreviated or incomplete catalog information, and 3) development of standards for interoperability.  Beyond the technical challenges are legal issues such as concerns about access, copying, intellectual property, and dissemination of materials, as well as several social issues such as developing protocols for user generated tagging and meta data creation and developing modes of access that are meaningful for different communities of users.

On April 21, 2009 the World Digital Library, in preparation by the Library of Congress, was officially inaugurated at UNESCO in Paris.  Currently there are more than 1,170 items archived from 26 partner institutions. Primarily established as a browsing site, the main page offers a geographic depiction of the world, with item counts by region.  An impressive aspect of the site is that it is completely usable in seven different languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.  All information is translated including the descriptive metadata for each item.  This effort represents the latest and most ambitious attempt to realize the dream of a network of digital libraries. 

Review of Work in the Creation of Digital Libraries

In 2005, Clifford Lynch. the executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information (and professor of at University of California Berkeley’s School of Information) edited a special volume of D-Lib Magazine that reviewed efforts from the previous 10 years to create digital libraries.  In his introduction to that volume, he offers the following overview:

“One way to characterize the period from about 1994-2004 is that it represents the first time that digital library research could really get substantial programmatic funding from the major research funding agencies in the United States through The Digital Library Initiative and DLI-2…. Through [these efforts] researchers in higher education systematically engaged in the construction and analysis of digital library prototypes and research in both the underlying technologies and social implications surrounding these systems.  This funding legitimized digital libraries as a field of research.”

Lynch points out that the funding coming from NSF and its collaborator institutions (in the early 1990s) successfully contributed to the formation of a multidisciplinary community of researchers, technologists, librarians, and professionals from industry, government, and higher education that could share ideas, technologies, and prototypes that advanced everyone’s thinking about digital libraries.  The community-building effort, he argues, was absolutely critical to the creation of full-scale digital libraries.  His point in reviewing these early efforts to pose the question:  where does this community (and its concepts, technologies and engineering know-how) go next?  To this end, he identifies several horizons of research and development:

1) Research on cyberinfrastructure is critical to the creation of a network of digital libraries. 
2) E-research requires new production systems to support research in various scholarly, scientific and engineering fields. These production systems will need to focus on the management of large data sets and networked digital information resources.  (This, according to Lynch, will require advance technology development in areas such as high-performance computing.)
3) This will entail the development of systems and services for digital asset management, digital collection creation, and institutional repositories.  To this end, he argues that previous digital libraries efforts can offer “a relatively mature set of tools, engineering approaches, and technologies” to the creation of new information management projects.

Beyond that though, he points out that the information management issues on the near horizon are broader than those that deal with questions of digital preservation and stewardship of cultural heritage materials.  As Lynch concludes his editorial overview, the most compelling emergent issues that address the interests of the digital library community (as it is incorporates issues of technology, social science, and culture) include:

1) Personal information management;
2) Long term relationship between humans and information collections and systems;
3) Role of digital libraries in supporting teaching, learning and human development;
4) Environments for computer supported collaborative work.

For Lynch, these issues define the next wave of projects that will draw on the expertise and experience of digital library researchers, technologists, and librarians.  Some of these issues are on-going obviously.  The question about the long-term relationship between humans and information collections is less a technical problem to be “solved” as it is a process of cultural reproduction.  How will people interact with (and indeed learn to value) the record of human experience in the form of digital documents, archives, and repositories?  In this sense, the challenges to building an extended digital library (as a national effort such as the NDLP, or a pan-national project such as the World Digital Library) include technological issues, the development of new social practices, as well as the confrontation with competing cultural values (pertaining to issues such as language use, copyright, and literacy standards).  As a project to build a new kind of official “institution” the effort is burdened by a host of official requirements: the creation of cataloging standards, protocols of interoperability, and access and privacy filters (to name just a few).  Not surprisingly, progress is slow.  In the meantime, some of the most creative efforts to expand the role of libraries into new digital realms are going on at the grass roots level as community libraries develop innovative ways to incorporate new information sharing applications into their menu of services that they provide community patrons.

Connecting Real and Virtual Libraries

Brick-and-mortar libraries are now experimenting with social networking sites as a method to connect with new groups of patrons.  These libraries are using the sites to augment their basic web presence—where they include such information as hours, catalog information, and special event notices.  Some libraries are now offering links to downloadable e-books, blog sites, teen blogs, local community information, and live chatting with a librarian. Indeed, recent applications such as Rollyo, Swiki, and Google-Co-op have provided local libraries with tools to customize their digital offerings by allowing for easy creation of search engines relevant to the library’s community.  In these cases, the library website serves as portal to a range of services and other information sites.  For example, the New Haven Free Public Library allows patrons to renew books, ask a librarian questions, use specialized search engines, access issues of the New Haven Bulletin and the New Haven Register, download audio books, search the World Book online, and peruse book award lists (with links to award winning books).  In a similar vein, the Champaign Public Library portal provides links to answers and facts; books; downloadables; a TeenSpace; Event Calendar; Community News; and a Parent site. 

Several libraries provide local content on social networking sites to enhance the community’s cultural and historical identity through their website, email newsletters, or even RSS feeds.  The Louisiana Digital Library offers an online library of digital materials about Louisana’s history, culture, places and people.  The Bethlehem Pennsylvania Digital History Project offers digitized primary sources, transcriptions, translatios and contextual information about the early history of Bethlehem (1741-1844).  This site has been singled out by the National Endowment for the Humanities as “one of the best online resources for education in the humanities.”

Traditional librarians and associations are actively discussing how to expand the role librarians in a digital mediated world.  While the American Librarian Association has a specific set of standards that guide library policies and librarian practices relating to media collections, it is now also considering how to address the skills required to interact with patrons within social networking sites.  In this case, librarians have to assume responsibility for understanding and articulating the nature of these sites and their contribution to other library services; librarians not only need to know how to evaluate and apply information available through this sites, but they also need to learn the pedagogical skills to help patrons gain familiarity and proficiency in using these sites.  For a discussion about the kinds of networking compentencies required of librarians, see the paper by Joe Murphy and Heather Moulaison, “Social Networking Literacy Competencies for Librarians:  Exploring Considerations and Engaging Participation” presented at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 14th National Conference, 2009.

It is interesting to note the rapid transformation in the notion of “virtual library” that occurred in the space of decade.  In the mid-to late 1990s several sites were developed such as Infomine to provide public access to large collections of scholarly resources.  This was only one noteworthy effort to create places and portals that offered access to an increasing collection of internet-available scholarly materials.  In 1995, a noteworthy consortium of colleges and universities with program in information science developed the Internet Public Library.  Founded by the University of Michigan and hosted by Drexel University’s College of Information Sciences and Technology, the IPL began in a graduate seminar in the School of Information and Library Studies at the U of Michigan.  The idea for the library was to 1) ask interesting questions about the interconnections of libraries, librarians, and librarianship within a distributed networked environment, and 2) to learn about these issues by actually designing and creating an online library.  The IPL officially went live on March 17, 1995.  Now in its 14th year, the IPL is poised to merge with the Librarians’ Internet Index (LII) to create a new web presence.  The winning name for the new merger has yet (as of June 8, 2009) been announced. 

That same year, 1995, the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) program was initiated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education.  It held its first formal funding cycle in 2000; since then more than 200 projects have been funded to create collections, services, and tools for teachers and learners in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.  The idea was to create a web-based resource for the dissemination of STEM instructional materials, assessment instruments, and high-quality digital learning activities.  In 2008, the NSDL entered a new phase of development and will transform into a Resource Center and Technical Network Services.

Throughout the previous decade (1999-2009) there have been several more specialized attempts to created virtual libraries.  These include local “home grown” virtual libraries created by helpful information providers (see for example the one by Andy Hold called the “Andy Hold Virtual Library.” In 2002, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) collaborated with the IPL to create a virtual library of resources by, for, and about Native Americans.  More recently, we’ve seen the development of state-wide extended digital library networks.  For example, the state of Maine supports MARVEL:  Maine’s Virtual Library that makes thousantds of magazines, newspapers and reference books available to patrons anywhere in the state through the Maine InfoNet system. 

Virtual Libraries in Third Spaces

The notion of a digital library (which according to the definition offered above is a digital repository of holdings within a physical library) differs from the concept of a virtual library as a “third space” of information archive, access and retrieval. 

The WWW Virtual Library (VL) is the oldest virtual library on the web.  Started by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991, its catalog of holdings is organized by expert volunteers who compile pages of key links in particular topic areas.  Individual indices live on hundreds of different servers around the world.  Topics include:  the arts (art history, classical music, theater, and drama); business and economics (finance, marketing, transportation); commercial media, education, computing and computer science, education, engineering, architecture, history, languages, museums, information and libraries, international affairs, law, mathematics, biosciences, anthropology, sociology and many others.

In the past four years several “third space” libraries have been created to take advantage of the community presence of participants in virtual worlds.  Probably the best known and most frequented are the library initiatives in the virtual world, Second Life.  As many readers of this blog understand, Second Life is a virtual world developed by the software company, Linden Lab.  First launched in 2003, Second Life “residents” interact with each through through avatars—digitally created and manipulated characters that represent the user in the virtual world.  Currently there are more than 200,000 residents in Second Life.  Over time, communities of avatars coalesce around specific issues such as health, education, business, and special interests (music, art, activism).

In 2006, Lori Bell (Second Life avatar, Loreli Junot) created the Second Life Alliance Library System in collaboration with librarians all over the country.  Dedicated to creating a new library experience for the residents of Second Life (SL), the Alliance Virtual Library organizes public programs such as lectures, discussions, and presentations.  The Alliance also includes an in-world genealogy research center, library gallery, mystery manor, performance center, science center, and si-fi/fantasy center. The growing popularity of the Second Life library has led to two conferences on libraries, education, and museums in Second Life.  This purpose of these conferences was to provide a place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds.  In 2009, presentation topics included:

• Educators and librarians as information providers in a virtual world;
• Designing for emotion in a virtual world;
• Collaboration among virtual world librarians;
• Virtual libraries in the immersive education initiative.

There are actually several virtual libraries in Second Life.  For example, in the companion virtual world called Teen Second Life (created for teens between the ages of 13 and 17) there is a library called Eye4YouAlliance that focuses on age appropriate materials and services..  Other Second Life library sites include:  Pieta Revolutiei (Virtual Bucharest)—the first Romanian city accurately represented in Second Life; Law Librarians in Virtual Worlds—a site for law librarians, law students and library students. 

One of the most active virtual libraries within Second life is the Caledon Branch Library located in the capitol city of the fictional Caledon on the Caledon Victoria City sim.  This Branch includes a Reading Room just off the Victoria City Telehub.  The Caledon Branch maintains an outdoor reading room, the Vannevar Bush Memorial Reading Garden.  Here visitors may browse a display of recent acquisitions, find a comfortable tree under which to read, or treat themselves to refreshments while they peruse their findings. The Caledon Branch hosts monthly book discussions, art exhibits, and other cultural activities. With the Clan of Seafarers and Storytellers, it co-sponsors story-telling sessions at a local pub. It also publishes, on its own and with the Caledon Tesla Society, works of scientific and technical interest.  The collection policy of the Caledon Library focuses on two main topics:  (1) the 19th century and (2) Caledon’s defining literary genres.  Within these areas, Caledon librarians collect primary source material (including 19th c. novels, periodicals, etc, or materials from earlier ages considered important in the 19th century) and research materials concerning the world of the 19th century and its imagination.  This virtual library is tied to a fictional place in Second Life and has been a popular site for many residents.

Cybrary City in Second Life provides a virtual home to many public and academic real life (RL) libraries.  Several universities and colleges have built sites in Second Life to expand their RL services:  Saint Leo University Virtual Campus (Florida Education University); San Jose State University Library and Information Sciences; Orange County Library System (Central Florida); Texas State University San Marcos Educational Virtual Campus; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Stanford University.

In May 2009, the Second Life Alliance Virtual Library sponsored the first “Library Career Fair & Library Fair in Second Life.” This in-world conference provided Second Life residents with the opportunity to promote and discuss various SL library projects and activities.  There was also a job fair for RL job seekers.  The Career Fair events included: orientations for new avatars (librarians, students, and staff), a Library and Information Science Career Resource Center with links to global job postings, speakers on survival skills for getting a job in a bad economy, resume tune-up, and what employers are looking for in today’s media-rich Web 2.0 information environments.

Other social networking sites are also supporting library networking activities.  For example both Facebook and Myspace support public and university library connections.  Libraries with Facebook pages include:

•Cophenhagen University Library: Network for users and employees of Copenhagen University Library (at The Royal Library), Copenhagen, Denmark.


• Hamner Public Library (VA): A virtual portal for the patrons of the James L. Hamner Public Library in Amelia, VA.


• Palestinian Holocaust Virtual Library: This virtual library’s goal is to be a depository for all information that is out there regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


• VIVA, The Virtual Library of Virginia: The Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) is the consortium of the nonprofit academic libraries within the Commonwealth of Virginia.


• Virtual Jewish Library on German-Jewish Intellectual History: Supports the college in setting up a virtual library on German-Jewish literature and intellectual history.


• Scottish Poetry Library: Discussions, photos, poetry news: virtual membership of the Scottish Poetry Library.


• The Jones School of Law Library Java Lounge: A virtual library hangout designed to keep ones School of Law students informed.

Libraries with innovative MySpace pages include:

• The Jefferson County Library
• Wilmington (DE) Stroop Branch Library
• University of California Santa Barbara library
• Contra Costa (CA) library

References and Citations

Bush, Vannevar.  1945.  “As We May Think.” The Atlantic Monthly 176 91): 101-108 (July). 
http://ww.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush/4

Kessler, Jack.  (1995).  “The French Minitel: Is there Digital Life Outside of the US ASCII Internet? A Challenge or a Convergence?” D-Lib Magazine, December 1995.  Available from:  http://www.dlib.org/dlib/december95/12kessler.html.

Licklider, L.C.R. (1965). Libraries of the Future. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Lynch, Clifford.  (2005) “Where Do We Go From Here?  The Next Decade for Digital Libraries.” D-Lib Magazine 11.7/8 (July/August).  Available from:  http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july05/lynch/07lynch.html

Murphy, Joe and Heather Moulaison. 2009. Social Networking Literacy Competencies for Librarians: Exploring Considerations and Engaging Participation.  Paper presented at Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 14th National Conference, 2009.

Pennavaria, Katherine. (2002).  “Representations of Books and Libraries in Depictions of the Future.” Libraries and Culture 37.3 (Summer, 2002):  229-248.

Rybczynski, Witold.  2008.  “Borrowed Time:  How do you Build a Public Library in the Age of Google?” Slate Feb 27, 2008.  http://www.slate.com

For an extended list of resources on Digital Libraries see the EDUCAUSE website that includes publications, presenations, podcasts and blogs.  http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/DigitalLibraries/17142

Research by Anne Balsamo and Stacy Ingber, 2009.

Author Bio:
Anne Balsamo directs the Interactive Media Division’s Co-Design Lab in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.  She teaches courses in design across the curriculum, public interactives, and culture and technology for the Interactive Media Arts and Practice program, the Interactive Media Division, and The Annenberg School of Communication at USC.  She is also a freelance museum exhibit developer and curator who has created interactive exhibits for the International Museum of Women, the San Jose Tech Museum, the Papalote Children’s Museum in Mexico City, Liberty Science Center, and the Singapore Science Center.  Her new research effort called “The Tangible Culture Research Project” investigates the design of evocative (mixed reality) knowledge objects and the role of tinkering in a digital age.  For more information about her current work and new transmedia book project, Designing Culture: The Technological Imagination at Work visit http://www.designingculture.net (to be launched July, 2009).

     

Digital Media in Community Libraries, Part 5: Media Workshops

In their research on digital media and learning, Jenkins, et al. (2006) and Ito, et al. (2008) highlight the importance of informal learning environments in the acquisition of new media skills for young people. Libraries, like schools and after-school programs (Peppler & Kafai, 2007) can provide access to media production tools and become sites where young people ”hang out, mess around, and geek out” with these tools together. Along with the game based activities mentioned in a previous post, community libraries have recognized their potential to be sites that foster multiple modes of learning. Libraries have long hosted traditional literacy programs and within the ALA and its Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), game programs and other media workshops are seen as a continuation of those efforts. Skills training with digital tools can also be understood as a continuation of libraries’ role in teaching patrons information seeking skills (Tuominen, Savolainen & Talja, 2005). Media workshops in music, video, blog, podcasts and game production are also considered outreach efforts that can bring young people into the library space and introduce them to other library services like loaning books. The ALA and YALSA provide guidelines for ways librarians can utilize free software programs and platforms to create workshops and resources for young people to produce media content from blogs to short films. Many successful media programs in public libraries result from partnerships with media professionals within the local community as well as funding through local arts councils and other grant-making bodies.

Teen Tech Week

Beginning in 2005, The YALSA has sponsored annual Teen Tech Weeks and provides resources for libraries to create technology themed activities. One resource is a wiki site where librarians can share best practices and their plans for Tech Week. For 2008’s “Tune In @ Your Library” theme, Joseph Wilk created a “Getting Started Guide” for ”Making Music with Teens.” The guide lists specific web-based software and freeware programs teens can use to mix audio selections found through the Freesound Project database. The YALSA also sponsored a song contest for teens to create and record their own songs. The winner was Michelle Visent, a student at Felix Varela Senior High School in Miami, FL, with her song “Library.”

“The Library: teen tech week song” on http://www.archive.org

On the wiki for the 2008 Teen Tech Week, Stephanie Iser of the Kansas City Public Library system shared her experience partnering with a local arts organization, Hip Hop Academy KC, which held showcases and workshops on hip hop elements, such as break dancing, turntablism, and rhyming.

While many Teen Tech Week activities are based around video games and consoles, library programs included digital photography workshops and video creation activities. The YALSA has run mini grant competitions in which libraries submit plans for Teen Tech Week that yield $400-$500 to support the library’s creative use of technology programs for the week. Libraries have used the funds to purchase Flip video cameras and audio editing software. The 2008 Teen Tech Week Mini Grants were made possible by Teen Tech Week 2008 Corporate Sponsor Dungeons & Dragons, a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Other sponsors supported the 2009 Teen Tech Week grants.

A 2009 mini grant winner was the Hennepin County Library in Minnesota. According to the wiki, the library planned to use the

“Teen Tech Week Grant a “Party Like It’s Teen Tech Week” event to celebrate creative uses of technology by and for teens. The party will be hosted by our Teen Advisory Group from whom the idea for the grant originated. The main event will be a workshop on Circuit-Bending led by Librarian Camden Tadhg, who will be trained by the Science Museum of Minnesota. In having a staff member train for this event, rather than bringing in an outside presenter, we hope to spread this knowledge throughout the Hennepin County Library system with a “train the trainer” model. Additionally, our Teen Tech Squad will work one-on-one with teens in using rich media creation software such as Scratch, GIMP, Audacity, and ArtRage. The highlight of the day will hopefully be a Circuit Bending Jam Session where we will record the teen participants making music with the instruments they create during the Circuit Bending workshop.”

Ongoing Workshops

Many libraries host workshops that do not involve digital media, with poetry and comic workshops especially prominent. Crafts such as knitting and bead work are also taught in library classes and workshops. The following are a few examples of libraries and their media workshops:

The Carvers Bay Digital Arts Experience (DAE) is a collective effort of the Georgetown County Library System and the Cultural Council of Georgetown County, with funding from the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and the Francis P. Bunnelle Foundation. The 12-week course was designed to expose middle school students to the basic concepts and skills required to complete digitally oriented audiovisual projects. The ALA Gaming Toolkit site lists the workshops as exemplary of digital arts workshops.

-webjunction.org

As part of ALA’s Libraries, Gaming and Literacy Initiative funded by the Verizon Foundation, 10 libraries nationwide received grants to implement creative game design and gaming programs. The San Pablo Library of California’s Contra Costa County Library System received a grant to implement a music literacy program called Make Music at the San Pablo Library. According to the Library Journal blog,

“activities include: music enrichment assemblies, creative writing workshop featuring a song writing contest, musical Jeopardy, performances by local teen musicians, music composition workshop featuring hands on experimentation with music composition software, music video games like Wii Music and Rock Band, an “Iron Musician” competition, a build your own musical instrument contest, and more.”

The South Orange Public Library in South Orange, NJ hosted a 3 part poetry video workshop run by a local poet and video teacher. Funded by the Edison Media Arts Consortium, the workshops led participants through creative writing, filming and editing processes. The library also hosted a night that featured a screening of all the videos.

The Metropolitan Library Service Agency of the Twin Cities region in Minnesota will be sponsoring video workshops as part of its ”Quiet on the Set” competition this summer, in which people are invited to create short videos about local libraries.

The Pioneer Library System in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma is partnering with a local video teacher to hold videography workshops in several branches this June. The two hour workshops are meant to take small groups through pre-production, filming and editing steps. The events are part of the library system’s “Express Yourself” Summer Reading Program and are sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Additional Resource:

The book Get Connected: Tech Programs for Teens is a compilation of tech programs from YALSA and compiled by Rosemary Honnold.

References

Ito, Mizuko, Sonja Baumer, Matteo Bittanti, danah boyd, Rachel Cody, Becky Herr, Heather A. Horst, Patricia G. Lange, Dilan Mahendran, Katynka Martinez, C.J. Pascoe, Dan Perkel, Laura Robinson, Christo Sims, and Lisa Tripp. (with Judd Antin, Megan Finn, Arthur Law, Annie Manion, Sarai Mitnick and Dan Schlossberg and Sarita Yardi) Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media.  Cambridge: MIT Press, Forthcoming.

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robinson, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Building the field of digital media and learning, 1-68.

Peppler, K. A., & Kafai, Y. B. (2007). From SuperGoo to Scratch: Exploring Creative Digital Media Production in Informal Learning. Learning, Media and Technology, 32(2), 149-166.

Tuominen, K., Savolainen, R., & Talja, S. (2005). Information Literacy as a Sociotechnical Practice. The Library Quarterly, 75(3), 329-345. doi: 10.1086/497311.

“A Closer Look at the Winning Libraries” http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/1130000713/post/1940043994.html

“Videography workshops coming to area libraries” http://www.news-star.com/arts/x1083525314/Videograhphy-workshop-coming-to-area-libraries

“Teen Poetry Video Workshop” http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/newsandeventsb/teenpoetryvideo.cfm

“Video Production Workshop” http://dentonlibrary.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/video-production-workshop-the-north-branch/

Teen Tech Week Wiki http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Teen_Tech_Week

“Summary of Effort and Result for the Carvers Bay Digital Arts Experience” http://www.webjunction.org/programming-and-outreach-for-young-adults/articles/content/454476